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Data center opposition became a powerful campaign issue in this week’s midterms, with several winning candidates promising restrictions. The days following the election results, tech stocks suffered their worst beating since April 2025, raising the question: Will data center restrictions slow tech adoption, or is the tech bubble finally about to pop? Plus Robert Heron is here with advice on what should shoppers look for in a deal for a new TV as the gift buying season starts to warm up. And finally our third question of the week is could and or should Google offer schools a version of...

This week Apple released the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR display, a touchscreen laptop. Something Steve Jobs called an “ergonomically terrible” idea. Will this move to other MacBook models? Will it cannibalize iPad sales?

Starring Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Jason Howell, Nate Lanxon, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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The top stories of the week are about AI discovering a critical bug in the Web, Responsible Disclosure and patching systems breaking down, and how nation-states may be getting a jump on bugs before they even become public. And it's all the same story. Plus, the iPhone Duo's horrible launch bug!

Starring Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Huyen Tue Dao, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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This week Apple announced its Home View smart home hub along with several smart home devices in cooperation with LG and Schneider. So our BIG QUESTION this week is: Do you want Apple to run your smart home?

Starring Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Jason Howell, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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Brandon Thomas of Artcraft has used that declaration to get attention on his Artcraft product. But does he have a point? When you can vibe code whatever you want, what role do the big software makers play? Plus, whether you need a smart lock or a simple lock.

Starring Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Jason Howell, Huyen Tue Dao, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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OpenAI introduced Dots this week; proactive agents that run in the cloud and act for you without being asked. Meta’s Muse and Manus offer similar capabilities. The big question: Do you want your AI agent to be proactive? Plus Amazon unveiled a new Kindle lineup this week aimed at new readers. Amazon says 60% of buyers are first-time Kindle owners. The second question of the week: Ebook or real book?

Starring Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Jason Howell, Huyen Tue Dao, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe

Link to the Show Notes.

Can Googlebooks replace a MacBook or PC laptop? Are AI charms the future of personal AI or just a dead end? We discuss these important topics plus answer this important viewer question "Which jobs will be looked upon as buggy whip manufactures in the near future?"

Starring Sara Lane, Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Huyen Tue Dao, Iyaz Akhtar, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe

Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.

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Molly Wood joins to talk about the upgrade cycle of devices, whether you should get permission from people before summarizing your conversations with them and does anyone need smart glasses?

Featuring Tom Merritt, Roger Chang, Amos, Joe, Jenn Cutter, Sarah Lane, Len Peralta, Molly Wood.

Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.

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Scott Johnson joins us to talk about Apple's ever-growing list of iPhones and whether we still want or need game consoles. Plus, if AI is unsafe, what do we want done to make it safe? It's the Friday BIG TECH QUESTIONS episode. Join us!

Show notes found here.

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What does gaming look like without discs? As companies race toward a future where physical media becomes a relic of the early 21st century, will gamers embrace the all-digital future—or will the industry have to change to keep them on board? Plus Apple new CEO John Ternus has only three days in the office. So we judge his three day performance like some supercilious alien race from Star Trek. And Thomas Wilde from Geek Wire argues that the video game industry is heading towards a big crash in an opinion article.

Starring To...

Ransomware is a looming threat for any business or entity that has an online footprint. But we ask the big question. Should companies pay ransomware or not? We engage each other in a debate for the ages. Plus Walmart began accepting Apple Pay and Google Pay at its Walmart and Sam’s Club locations. Robb wants to ask us why aren’t more people using tap to pay? Xbox announced its disc-to-digital program that will let owners of physical game discs claim digital copies. You can use those digital copies in Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

How is generative AI impacting creatives who have had their worked copied or used without permission. Meta’s trial in Oakland, California began this week. 29 US states allege that Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to drive compulsive use by children and tried to hide known risks of using their products. Plus we explore what media executives think what the TV market will look like in three years.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Len Peralta, Don Komarechka, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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Android Faithful’s Jason Howell is here with details on the Pixel 11 phone. Plus Anthropic announced this week it would embed watermarks in text. And a plea for a revival of reading from 120 years ago. Finally we end our week with the Great Debates: Smartphones that can always find the perfect place to eat or a phone that can always find the right things to say in any conversation.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Jason Howell, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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David Spark joins us fresh off the pane from Black Hat, where he heard a lot about agents, a lot about tokenomics, and possibly some real promises and trustworthy pitches somewhere underneath it all.

Featuring Tom Merritt and David Spark.

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OpenAI and Anthropic have confirmed their AI models were involved in separate third-party cybersecurity testing incidents resulting in a real website being breached and social engineering attacks against sites outside the intended testing boundaries. Plus Bending Spoons to buy Airtable for $1.2 billion. We ask everyone what they think of Bending Spoons track record so far in managing the companies they’ve acquired so far. And we close the week with a quiz about desserts! Or was that deserts? Find out on today’s show!

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Roger Chang, Joe...

As computer RAM and NAND prices continue to go through the roof, other PC components are feeling the effects besides memory and solid-state storage. Is open-source AI the key to cybersecurity in the age of threats powered by LLMs, tech companies think so.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Nate Lanxon, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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Samsung announced new foldables including a phone with an unfolded aspect ratio that makes it wider than it is tall. Plus OpenAI released some details about how one of its agents broke out of a sandbox and hacked Hugging Face to find the solutions to a benchmark challenge. And we debate a recent Redfin poll on how Americans feel about data centers being built in their neighborhood. Finally its the end of the week and we got some Zillow game show action. Can you figure out the price before the panel does?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah...

Can AI help improve the lives of wildlife and people who enjoy them. Meta is leading the pack in smart glasses, but people have a negative view of them often causing owners to not wear them in public.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Len Peralta, Blair Bazdarich, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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Digital photographer, Ant Pruitt, is here to talk about his 30-day personal photography challenge and how it made him a better photographer. Plus Netflix, ElevenLabs and the Gene Wilder estate recreated the voice of Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka to use as the narrator for its new reality show “Wonka’s The Golden Ticket.” We discuss the implications and what it really means for the afterlife of well-known actors likenesses being used after their death. Sony announced it would end production of physical game discs starting in January 2028. Roger shares how he feels about losing physical game discs. And we end...

Tom Merritt and Jenn Cutter look back on the biggest tech stories of June

Starring Tom Merritt and Jenn Cutter.

Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here.

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Sarah shares her experience Vibe coding her new website. Tim Cook warns customers that prices for iconic Apple products are going up. We check out the new prices and share what we think of them. Plus the prices for the new Steam Machines have been made public and aren’t cheap. Finally we end our week with a quiz on American culinary delights.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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Show regular Andrea Jones-Rooy decided to challenge themselves by facing their fears and posting videos on Instagram every day for 100 days. Andrea explains how the experiment worked and if it did indeed help them overcome their fears. Plus this week the US Government ordered Anthropic to restrict access to its Fable 5 and Mythos models to only US citizens causing Anthropic to restrict its access for everybody. And we end the week with a horror quiz!!

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Andrea Jones-Rooy, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show...

Live from Nerdtacular, Dr. Niki, Huyen, Bobby and Tom talk about the battle between science and tech.

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Nica Montford and Terrance Gaines from the snobOS podcast, share their thoughts on the announcements from WWDC 2026. Plus 2026 FIFA World Cup has started and we talk about all the tech being used to keep track of the games and elevate security at the different venues. Finally its the end of the week and we have another great debate around what we would give up for a million bucks. 

Starring Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Nica Montford, Terrance Gaines, Len Peralta, Roger Chang

Show Notes Here:

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Iyaz Akhtar joins the Friday hangout to talk about decades of covering tech and what lies in the future.

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The CEO of Sophia Space, Rob DeMillo, is here to explain what’s different about space startups in 2026 vs. five years ago. Plus Nvidia announced a new SoC the RTX Spark which combines 20-Core Grace CPU With a 5070-Like Blackwell GPU and a partnership with Microsoft that will see a version of Windows for the platform. And we’ve got a special space movie quiz to help end the week.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Len Peralta, Rob DeMillo, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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Ferrari unveiled its EV supercar and Tim Stevens is here with a first hand appraisal of the new machine. Plus DuckDuckGo, provides an AI free version of its search engine at noai.ducduckgo.com. Is this backlash against Google’s AI search implementation? And would you be interested in test driving old and obsolete Operating Systems from days of yore? Then the Virtual OS Museum is the place for you. Finally we end the week with a road trip quiz!

Starring Sarah Lane, Tim Stevens, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

Tom talks through his mobile setup in his hotel room in Las Vegas. And yes, it starts with the wrong mic. Troubleshooting on the go. It gets fixed pretty fast.

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Google I/O 2026 was this week and Google unveiled a new Gemini search tool allowing you to add images and video to your search query. TechCrunch says “Google Search as you know it is over”, we discuss what that means. Plus Warby Parker worked with Google and Samsung on new smart glasses that were also announced at Google I/O. Is the smart wearables market big enough for another entrant? And we end the week with a weighty debate.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Nica Montford, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link...

Tom and Huyen (and Hammond a little bit) chat about the DTNS show they just finished recording.

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Google announced a number of new initiatives and products this week. Ron Richards from Android Faithful is here with the big highlights. Plus A professor and research fellow at Sheffield Hallam University posted five tips on The Conversation for using screens as a parent. We review what was said and share what we think of them.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Ron Richards, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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Amos and friends chat about audio editing for podcasts and beyond. Tom may reminisce about his old tape cutting days.

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What are options for running Intel Mac software on an Apple Silicon Mac? Bloomberg’s Nate Lanxon shares his top favorites with us. Plus what does the data say about the effects of cell phone bans on student behavior and classroom performance? And we have a quiz lined up to test your knowledge of translations in history!

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Nate Lanxon, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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A new study finds that AI chatbots can be addictive but are the way they’re designed partly to blame? Plus Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI is going on this week. We share if we find the story interesting from an information point of view because of the details that will be divulged or because it's just entertainment? And we do another round of our popular Name The Price on Zillow game!

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Amber Mac, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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Tom, Hammond and Amos chat about how tech made it possible for them to go from very different backgrounds into a job that didn't even exist when they were growing up.

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Tim Cook steps down as the CEO of Apple with chief of hardware development John Ternus taking the reins. Is this a shrewd move for the Cupertino company? Will Framework latest version of its modular laptop take modular laptops and Linux mainstream? And we see if the panel can out guess the riddles on today’s quiz!

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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Brian Ibbott drops by to chat about music podcasting, music tech, and to give his review of his first time seeing the group Twice in concert. If you're a Once you'll love this part.

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Main Show starts at 8:39

Ramageddeon continues to inflict financial pain on consumers looking up the prices for new laptops, flash memory, VR headsets and storage. Plus we discuss findings from the Australian Recording Industry Association that show that people are listening to less new music in favor of old favorites.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Patrick Norton, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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Tom Merritt, Robb Dunewood, Hammond Chamberlain, and possibly Amos and whoever else happens by, chat about their lives in podcasting. 

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We discuss the implications of the Artemis II mission that saw humans fly the furthest distance from the earth and observe the dark side of the moon. Plus Gen Z is growing less excited about AI than previously. Anthropic decides to limit its latest model to a select number of companies. And we have a quiz on the innovations space exploration has gifted the human race.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Nica Montford, Roger Chang, Joe.

Link to the Show Notes.

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