TechStuff

The semiconductor chip shortage continues to be a huge problem for multiple industries around the world and has brought new attention to Taiwan, the manufacturing capital of semiconductors. But how did it get that way?

What are the six simple machines and why are they so important? Joe McCormick joins the show to explain.

The tech news today is filled with stories about lawsuits and scams, from Apple paying employees for the time they spent being searched to Kim Kardashian getting name dropped in a lawsuit about an alleged cryptocurrency scam. Plus, Disney files an interesting (and potentially creepy) patent.

What are/were content farms, and what conditions allowed them to flourish? And what changed? From junk articles to clickbait, we look at how web sites would try to gamify the system to get more views.

A law in South Korea forces Apple and Google to offer alternatives to their respective in-app payment systems. A former Amazon employee will testify to lawmakers that the company's employee review system is incomprehensible. And Razer changes up how it markets its new Zephyr masks.

Digital Rights Management has a bad reputation. Is it earned? (Yes, yes it is). We look at the history and evolution of DRM and why critics say it's broken.

The FCC Chairman has proposed reclassifying ISPs as common carriers under Title II. Wait, what does that mean? Jonathan explains.

I talk about some of the stuff coming out of CES that I found interesting. Plus we hear about Google alienating its employees and get a story on an NFT art heist.

Travel the world and you'll discover that you will need some special gear to plug in your electronics as you go from place to place. Plugs, outlets and even voltages vary around the world. We're going to talk about why.

A jury returns a verdict on the case against Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos and it's a mixed bag. AT&T and Verizon both agree to delay 5G rollout, but only for a couple of weeks. And CES gets underway in Las Vegas, Nevada.

We learn who invented the lawnmower, how lawnmowers evolved, and why we even have lawns in the first place. Hint: it has to do with castles in the Middle Ages.

Electric bikes aren't a new idea. How do they work? Scott Benjamin joins the show to talk about e-bike tech.

It's been a while since I did a tech predictions episode. What trends are going to be big in 2022? From Web3 to the Great Resignation, we look ahead at what will shape tech in the year to come.

As we wrap up our look back on 2021, we talk about some of the big stories involving space missions. We also look at what Tesla was up to in 2021 and we look ahead at a very different CES 2022.

We continue our look at the big tech stories of 2021, including a truly tumultuous year for video game company Activision Blizzard. Plus, Jonathan rants about cryptocurrencies and a vaguely-defined Web3.

It's time to look back on some of the big tech stories of 2021, and golly this past year was a doozie. In this first episode, we look at tech's role in the spread of misinformation, how it played a part in the US capitol riots, and Jonathan once again rails about NFTs.

What are all the connections on the back of a television? From HDMI to composite to component cables, we explain what each means.

What is electronic waste? What makes it so problematic? And what's the best way to deal with it?

What's the difference between a Gaffer and the Best Boy? What do all the roles on a movie set actually mean? We look at the tech and terminology of film sets.