In appreciation of everyone who supports us and listens to the show, we want to feature YOU on Zengineering Podcast's 50th Episode, scheduled for release in the first week of 2018. SHARE YOUR VOICE WITH US! 1) Pull out your smartphone (plug in those earbuds if you have 'em) 2) Open an audio recorder app (Voice Memos on IOS) 3) Send your message to hello@zengineeringpodcast.com 4) Send as many messages as you want WHAT SHOULD I SAY? Tell us what you love about Zengineering. Tell us what irks you,...
Sep 09, 2017•17 min•Ep. 46
Today we’re joined by Leah Culver, entrepreneur, avid podcast listener, and CTO of Breaker (the app we both use to listen to podcasts). Leah has joined us to discuss her business, the tech behind podcasting, and the state of the medium. Podcasts are a strange phenomenon. They’ve existed and have been quietly growing in the creative underbelly of the internet for decades, but only recently have they become mainstream thanks to astronomical successes like, Serial. On the surface, podcasts are just...
Aug 29, 2017•52 min•Ep. 45
Welcome back, Zengineers. We’re finally doing it. Yes! Wait, what are we talking about? Star Wars versus Star Trek! YAY!!! Do you think the Millennium Falcon is the greatest ship of all time? Do you think Captain Kirk is the ultimate hero? Are photon torpedoes better than blaster cannons? Ahhhh ... so many things to discuss. Well ... we picked just a few in this first of likely MANY episodes discussing Star Wars and Star Trek, two of our favorite fictional universes. We tried to stay away from a...
Aug 15, 2017•47 min•Ep. 44
This week our guest is Lin Qiu, Senior Software Engineering at Upside Travel! Lin's an old friend and a co-conspirator on a number of projects with Adam and Brian… and a couple of whole companies with Adam. Our plan in pre-production convos was to talk about our experience with those various projects, but wow did we barely make it through the first step. This episode turned into a weighty meditation on what motivated each of us to start our own companies: whether it was right out of the gate, or...
Aug 01, 2017•45 min•Ep. 43
Howdy Zengineers! Today we're talking about Music with industry expert, Scott Bauer. Not just any music, either. We're talking specifically about Pop Music. Cringe! What's that you're feeling right now? Are you upset that we're giving Katy Perry an entire episode? Are you embarrassed about your guilty pleasures playlist? Maybe you're stoked because pop music fires you up! Well, however you feel, you should know that you're not alone, and that's why we've brought our good friend Scott in to help....
Jul 12, 2017•58 min•Ep. 42
Welcome home, Zengineers! This is the final episode in our three part series on Artificial Intelligence. This is the deep dive into the big questions. Will computers be smarter than us some day? What the heck does that mean anyway? Are terminators already coming for us through time and space? Who knows? The emergence of Artificial Intelligence forces humanity to face so many of life’s big questions in practical ways that have only been the job of philosophers and ministers in the past. What are ...
Jul 04, 2017•59 min•Ep. 41
Howdy, Zengineers. Welcome to our second episode on Virtual Reality. We start this episode by examining the five traditional senses (evolutionary technologies?) that our bodies have in the “Real World.” From there its a wild ride through perception and experience as we dive into the digital technologies behind modern VR that attempt to convince your mind that VR is not V at all! Our recent experiences with the HTC Vive have left us absolutely floored by the near fully immersive Virtual Reality s...
Jun 20, 2017•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 40
Hey Zengineers! Let me ask you a strange question. How would you feel if you knew that all your hard earned money was just going to be converted into a digital bit stream and saved on some centralized databases maintained by a handful of global businesses? Does this sound like a scary idea? Well, it’s already what’s happening when you deposit your money with any modern bank in the world. The gold standard no longer exists. Physical paper still has value, but exists only ephemerally during small ...
Jun 06, 2017•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 39
In this episode, we discuss “alternate” realities, aka virtual realities. To do so, I travelled to Los Angeles to visit Adam (this is Brian, btw). Why you may ask would I slug my 215 pound, 6 foot 8 inch body all the way there? Well, I needed to be physically in Adam’s living room so that my mind could enter into the virtual reality of an HTC Vive VR system that Adam has recently setup. It was mind blowing. The current generation of Virtual Reality Technology is “The jetpack we’ve been promised....
May 23, 2017•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 38
Hey it's a shorty! This week we've got a quick convo on podcasting versus writing, how each is used to convey info, and where it's easier to be dishonest. Dig it! Share it! Let us know what you think. Enjoy! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support
May 17, 2017•18 min•Ep. 37
Alan’s back, to help us bring you Procedurally Generated Content. What the hell is that? Well it might be our every day reality, but we’ll start simple where you may or may not be aware of it ... games! We’ll do a little on roleplaying like D&D, and then dive into video games like Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto. Then it gets weird ... small talk, genetic algorithms, music, DNA, jet engine design, and more. Nope, we didn’t leave out zombies, the Library of Babylon, or a deeper philosophical c...
May 09, 2017•59 min•Ep. 36
It's a shorty! Just a little something something to get you through the week. This one's about some of the problems and complications inherent in the idea that we're going to "bring manufacturing back" to the United States. Of course we can't talk about this stuff without a little Elon Musk and asteroid mining in there. Enjoy! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support...
May 02, 2017•17 min•Ep. 35
The March for Science happened this last weekend all over the world. Did you know about it? We almost didn't. How awkward. Did we attend? Nope. Why not? Urrrrr ... Ummm ... well, let's talk about it. In this episode we take a shallow dive into some of the most fundamental aspects of our Podcast. What is the March for Science? What impact is it attempting to produce? Will it be successful? How do Bill Nye and other science communicators (like us) play into that mission? WHAT IS THE FREAKIN' MISSI...
Apr 26, 2017•52 min•Ep. 34
Hey Zengineers! We're taking this week to introduce a new format you'll be seeing/hearing on our feed more often. The SHORTY! We'll explain in the episode. This one's about all different kinds of sex. Yep, there are many. Enjoy this one. And keep exploring! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support
Apr 18, 2017•10 min•Ep. 33
We've wanted to up our stoke recently, so after a lot of consideration, we decided to launch a three part series on PLANETS. We love em. We love em a lot!! Heck, we better, cuz we live on one!! In this first part of our series on planets, we talk about what we know, how we know it, why we care so much, the history of our motivation to explore, and what we know about Earth. We bump into a lot of interesting crossover between astronomy, the scientific method, and the history of humanity's scientif...
Apr 04, 2017•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 32
Hey! It's a bonus 'cast! When we had Mike Rosolio on last week we failed to make it out of the intro for the episode we planned before time ran out. After that we ran through some actual logical trick plays you'll see everywhere once you know how they work (logical fallacies.)It didn't quite fit after the killer convo you heard last week. So, if you dug episode 30, and you want to listen to us get more technical, this one's for you. Enjoy, and let us know if you like it. --- Support this podcast...
Mar 28, 2017•39 min•Ep. 31
We missed the Rhetorical Theory and Semantics class in school, but our guest this week got his degree in it! What's that mean? He's really good at arguing, and persuading, and finding holes in your BS!! In this episode, the three of us set out to introduce logical fallacies, but ended up lost in a discussion about just, well ... how to have a reasonable discussion. Why is it that so many conversations these days end in a fight? What's up the state of discourse in modern society? We talk about lo...
Mar 21, 2017•52 min•Ep. 30
We're back, with our second conversation on Artificial Intelligence. Last time we mostly talked about the past, while we tried to dissect what AI actually is. We mused on older technologies we dubbed Artificial Memory, like books, calculators, and hard drives. In this episode we discuss how video games (during humanity's never-ending quest to recreate reality) got us to the computational capacity for natural language processing, machine learning, and neural networks. Where is this technology now...
Mar 07, 2017•1 hr•Ep. 29
Hey everybody! We’re back with more Zengineering goodness. This week we’ve got guest Ryan Zaffino hanging out. He’s a Crossfit coach, personal trainer, and studying to be a physical therapist. Crossfit has come up before but this week we’re diving in on what it really is and Ryan’s talking fitness, health, happiness and how he works mindfulness into types of training that you might not think of that way. Enjoy! As always, let us know what you think on the socials, or hello@zengineeringpodcast.co...
Feb 22, 2017•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 28
Howdy, Zengineers! A lot of season one danced around the topic of Artificial Intelligence, so we decided it was time to dive in for realz. This is part one of a three part series on Artificial Intelligence. What the hell is it? Where'd it come from? How does it play in our lives right now? Where are we headed? It's a crazy time and there's a lot to be aware of. We're really excited for this one. Enjoy, and, as always, hit us up with your thoughts and ideas! --- Support this podcast: https://podc...
Feb 07, 2017•50 min•Ep. 27
Hello Zengineers! We're back with our second guest episode of Season 2. Have you ever been listening and thought, "These guys are really really good looking, but what they just said is total BS!" Well, our good friend Alan Gilbert has come on to help us kick off a new Error Correction Program here at Zengineering Podcast. We revisit quantum computing, historical number systems, and even touch on the Sacajawea One Dollar Coin ... what? Hope you enjoy, and have a great week! --- Support this podca...
Jan 24, 2017•43 min•Ep. 26
Welcome to 2017! In celebration of a New Year, we're hosting two of our good friends that are launching their New Podcast (I Don't Know Shit, with Borson & DAbel). We've wanted to discuss the merits of doing a podcast for a while, and in this cast we cover a little bit of how and a little bit of why. Borson & DAbel's energy has really inspired us, so if you've ever dreamt about launching your own cast, then this episode will definitely get you off the couch and into your own studio. Rock...
Jan 10, 2017•59 min•Ep. 25
Happy Holidays! This week we're giving out some holiday safety tips to keep the family from experience too many Chevy Chase Christmas-Vacation moments! We're talking about where holiday flavors come from, mischievous cart thieves at CostCo (maybe elves that got fired last year), and how to prevent lighting your dried out pine tree on fire and burning your house down by over energizing too many strands of artificial holiday merriment. Dig it! Share it! Let us know what you think! --- Support this...
Dec 27, 2016•40 min•Ep. 24
Hey Zengineers! Episode 22 was our Season One finale so we took some time off to invite new listeners (welcome!) and to clean up our digital landing pads so we can communicate with all of you more easily. We’re definitely not taking it easy on this episode, though. This week we’re talking about fake news, how to understand the media landscape, and how we might be able to make political conversations more than just a frustrating and seemingly useless shouting match. This is our first cast since t...
Dec 13, 2016•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 23
Holy cow! 22 Episodes. That’s a whole season! This week Adam and Brian are talking about plans for season 2, our big move to Patreon, microtransactions, and of course, all kinds of things you might find down the crowdfunding rabbit hole. Tune in! And stick around if you want to know why it turns out that the only real currency is time. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support...
Nov 08, 2016•59 min•Ep. 22
Hey there Zengineers! Did you notice the podcast wasn’t streaming for a bit last week? Worried about catching Malaria or Zika? Then this one’s for you. This week Adam and Brian are talking about the big Internet of Things DDoS attack that took down a chunk of the internet last week, and the Debug Project breeding mutant mosquitoes to combat diseases like malaria. Check it out! Questions? Concerns? get us at hello@zengineeringpodcast.com, or @zengineeringpod on the socials. --- Support this podca...
Oct 26, 2016•50 min•Ep. 21
Is the pharmaceutical industry headed for a Napster moment, is every industry? Adam & Brian are back, and they’re working through this one. First they're talking about how it’s not Millennial’s fault they couldn’t watch the Olympics, and how that actually has a lot to do with Epi Pencil “hack" video that was going around a couple weeks ago. Drugs are just chemical compounds, so what happens when the formula is out there, and people have the means of production in their garage? --- Support th...
Oct 12, 2016•59 min•Ep. 20
What’s up Zengineers!? It’s been crazy over here, but we owe you an episode, so Brian is Skyping in from the road. Sorry if it sounds a bit wonky. Anyway, this week we’re talking about using canned responses to avoid uncomfortable silences, why the Star Wars API proves we’re living in a simulation, and we reveal how many (or few) Star Wars characters we can think of off the top of our heads. Enjoy! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support...
Sep 27, 2016•26 min•Ep. 19
What’s up Zengineers!? We’re flexing our new production workflow this week, and giving you an episode we recorded just this morning. Because it’s been in the news and we’ve wanted to talk about it anyway, we’re talking digital audio and why it’s so important to humans. From sound wave coming out of your mouth, to sound wave going into your ears we’re talking about what’s happening to the data, where quality is lost, and what this all means in the context of Apple deciding that the headphone jack...
Sep 13, 2016•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 18
Damn Daniel! Back at with a podcast! (That’s probably dead by now, huh?) Well, Adam & Brian are back with a doozy. This week we’re talking about things that are uncomfortable to talk about…as a topic. Why are we doing this? Why is it important to talk about things that we don’t really want to talk about? You know, things like profanity, sexy Han Solo, and of course, poop. Enjoy! Got an idea? Get us on the socials @zengineeringpod or hello@zengineeringpodcast.com --- Support this podcast: htt...
Sep 06, 2016•45 min•Ep. 17
