Accidental Tech Podcast

466: There's Probably a Wizard for It

January 20, 2022 01:47:49 • Download (104 MB)

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, iMessage vs. green-bubble people, and a gaming PC finally doing what PCs do best.

Pre-show: Windows woes and the challenges of loading modern trucks
- TPM
- yt-dlp
- DeCSS
- SGX
- FairPlay
- Pirated movie release types
Follow-up:
- Printer Murder Rooms
  - John Tsombakos
  - Richard Smith
- LG UltraFine 5K Repair Video (via Brian Almeida)
Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion
- Wall Street Journal
- Activision Blizzard’s abhorrent culture
- Prior acquisitions (via Jon Erlichman)
  - Activision Blizzard: $68.7b
  - LinkedIn: $26.2b
  - Nuance: $19.7b
  - Skype: $8.5b
  - ZeniMax: $7.5b
  - GitHub: $7.5b
  - Nokia (phone unit): $7.2b
  - aQuantive: $6.3b
  - Mojang (Minecraft): $2.5b
- Perfect Dark
Green bubbles ruin everything 🙄
#askatp:
- Will macOS last another 20 years? (via Daniel Begqvist)
- What game system for a casual gamer who hasn’t had a console in ten years?
- Do programming languages cause problems for people with hyphenated last names?
Post-show: Marco’s Jerk-Store Moment
- L’esprit de l’escalier

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January 13, 2022 02:11:03 • Download (126 MB)

More on display tech, App Store payment processors, AirTags PR, and gross printers.

Follow-up:
- Fi dog-collar pronunciation
  - Discount code ATP100 for $100 off (not a sponsor)
- New Ford Mustangs will be available in 2023–2024
- Sony did show PSVR2 controllers
- Mirrorless advantages and the longevity of Canon DSLRs (from Justin Krohn)
- TV technology
  - WRGB OLEDs do have white backlights
  - QD-OLEDs have RGB “filters”/diffusers
    - Samsung’s 2019 $11 billion investment in QD-OLED
  - Micro-LED
- On “Weird & Complicated” Analog TV (via Moe Rubenzahl)
  - Technology Connections on Analog TV
- Apple will Allow Alternate Payment Systems in the App Store in 🇰🇷, with a catch
John’s gross printer
- Theranos
- John’s printer
- Casey’s printer
- Marco’s laser all-in-one with the buggy networking
- Marco’s beloved giant printer (price is currently inflated; it cost $449 in 2016)
- Marco’s 11x17 inkjet all-in-one (also currently overpriced; it cost $249 in 2018)
#askatp:
- What do we think about React/React Native? (via Asajz)
- How can there be a huge ∆ between data in Photos and the actual Photos Library on disk? (via Todd Vaziri)
  - SQLite VACUUM
Post-show: Some responses to our health/veganism/leather discussion last week
- Slow Boring: Is Healthy Food Actually More Expensive?
- BBC: Climate Change: Which vegan milk is best?
- iMore: Apple should ditch leather (not mentioned, but meant to)

Sponsored by:

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January 6, 2022 02:28:21 • Download (143 MB)

iPad Pro and Thunderbolt, QD-OLED TVs, a potential UWB future, dog-tracking, and leather.

Follow-up:
- Stuart Hay on chroma sub-sampling, 4:2:2, 4:1:1, 4:2:0
- Hyper Thunderbolt 4 Dock
  - Hyper USB-C Media Hub
- A not-too-short aside about iPad connectivity and expandability
- Xcode and setting up for Apple Watch development (via Andy Norman)
- Slideshow App Recommendations
  - Fotomagico
  - Adobe Premiere Rush
- Canon’s flagship DSLR line will end… eventually.
  - Single-lens reflex
CES: QD-OLED TVs from Sony
- OLED explained
- Quantum dots explained
Interview with Gary Geaves, VP of Acoustics at Apple
- MaxTech video
- Regarding latency
- About the UWB spectrum
- An aside about Apple TV interruptions
  - Settings → Remotes and Devices → Bluetooth → Suggest Nearby AirPods
#askatp:
- How much do we sleep? (via Nathaniel Gori)
  - An aside about dog tracking collars
    - Fi smart dog collar — Use the code NEWYEARS100 for $100 off. Not a sponsor. Promise.
    - Update: Fi actually made a discount code just for us: ATP100. They’re still not a sponsor, though.
Post-show:
- Should Apple stop using leather?
- Thoughts on meat alternatives
- Late-episode follow-up:
  - Fun Fact #52: We’re off Track
  - Congratulations to David Sparks!

Sponsored by:

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Iodyne: Introducing the all-new Pro Data.
Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.

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December 30, 2021 02:08:04 • Download (124 MB)

Holiday tech that we love and holiday tech that we don't.

Pre-show:
- Marco’s desk situation
- Casey’s desk situation
Follow-up:
- Jonathan Dietz Comes Through
  - Glenwing’s page and calculator and forum post
  - Chroma Subsampling
- USB4/TB4 bandwidth (via Dimitri Bouniol)
Marco’s Christmas-movie Adventure
Holiday tech we love
- Casey joins 2019 and gets AirPods Pro
  - HiFiMAN HE-6
  - Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (250-ohm)
- Marco’s new Switch
- Tina’s new iPhone car mount
#askatp:
- Would we rock a full-on iMac as an external monitor if Target Display Mode still existed? (via Jeff Fowler)
- Does Apple like the drama and rumors around it? (via Erik Neu)
- Do we close all our apps before rebooting our computers? (via AdamMHead)

Sponsored by:

Linode: Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. New accounts get a $100 credit.
Trade Coffee: Incredible coffee delivered fresh from the best roasters in the nation. Get $20 off your first three bags.
Memberful: Monetize your passion with membership. Start your free trial today.

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December 22, 2021 01:59:54 • Download (116 MB)

The kids these days don't understand our good-ol’ computin’ metaphors.

Pre-show: “Web3”
Follow-up:
- Thank you, ATP members
- Casey has changed up his setup yet again
- “☝️ Well, actually ☝️”s on Marco’s Synology
  - J-series Synology devices cannot use btrfs (via Squozen)
  - 64TB maximum limit (via Matt Sullivan)
- Marco’s jugs
  - Capillary action
- Apple Silicon in forthcoming LG displays
- Clarifications on attention-aware features (via Gui Rambo)
- Marco’s New iPhone Case (via Oliver Ames)
macOS 12.2 beta
- Improved scrolling in Safari with ProMotion
- Apple is rebuilding Apple Music as a “full native app”
:::✊🏻::: Kids these days :::✊🏻:::
- PICO-8
- Swift Playgrounds 4
Post-show #askatp:
- When did Corvettes start looking so different? (via Rob Knight)
  - C8 Corvette
- What vaporware would we love to see Apple work on? (via Juno Orion)

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