AwesomeCast: Tech and Gadget Talk
Everything awesome in the world of technology, social media, and entertainment! Join us as we discuss the latest gadgets, web sites, and talk with people doing awesome things in tech! www.AwesomeCast.net
Episodes
AI is no longer just answering questions—it’s starting to rewrite the technology around us.
On AwesomeCast 801, Sorg, Katie Dudders, and Dave Podnar look at people using AI to strip ads and bloat from smart TVs, AI conducting job interviews with other AI, Sorg’s first vibe-coded production tool, Google Playgrounds generating a playable custom game, and Xbox exploring AI-assisted software decompilation.
The crew ...
Eight hundred episodes later, technology is somehow getting more ridiculous—and AwesomeCast is still here to talk about it.
Sorg, Katie Dudas and Dave Podnar celebrate AwesomeCast 800 with a mix of brand-new gadgets, weird apps, AI-powered software experiments and a trip through more than 16 years of tech history. From Google Glass and Pebble to vibe-coded Adobe alternatives and an Apple Watch that literally points toward Ta...
The Minions made a Wi-Fi router — and somehow it’s actually good.
Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar are back for AwesomeCast 798 with a wonderfully strange collection of tech, gaming, nostalgia and Pittsburgh stories.
Sorg discovers Solitaire Alone Together, a browser experience that recreates Windows 98-era Solitaire while letting you watch people around the world play alongside you. Katie unboxes an adorable Optimu...
Sorg and Dave Podnar dive into Apple Shortcuts’ increasingly powerful automation tools, including a shortcut that can generate Instagram captions and hashtags from a photo and prepare the post for sharing.
Then Sorg brings stories back from California: a visit to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pizzeria in Santa Monica, a wild experience aboard Universal Studios Hollywood’s new Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift coas...
Michael Sorg and Katie Dudas are joined by Sam Eitzen, CEO of Snapbar, for a deep dive into how artificial intelligence is changing experiential marketing, trade shows, conferences, brand activations, and the humble photo booth.
Sam explains how Snapbar evolved from physically hauling hundreds of photo booths to events into building a web-based platform that lets brands create interactive experiences accessible from an iPad, touch...
Katie Dudas visits Pittsburgh Robotics & AI Discovery Day 2026 and catches up with Trevor Sibley, Marketing Manager at Pittsburgh-based HEBI Robotics, to meet a robot with a very Pittsburgh story.
When the NFL Draft came to Pittsburgh, HEBI had the opportunity to appear on the main stage alongside Carnegie Mellon University. Naturally, they decided their robot needed a local upgrade: “PLAY RENEGADE” displayed right...
Apple finally gave the tech world its foldable iPhone, and the biggest question on AwesomeCast 796 isn’t whether it looks impressive. It’s whether anyone needs a $1,999 phone.
Sorg, Katie Dudas and Dave Podnar spend this week’s episode looking at where Apple is going next, while also catching up on Nintendo, MapQuest, Pittsburgh technology and some unusually revealing internet analytics.
Siri Gets Smarter &m...
Xbox cloud gaming limits are changing Sorg’s living-room setup, MapQuest is turning navigation into a pixel-art adventure, and a rooster alarm app wants you to work for your snooze button.
On AwesomeCast 795, Michael Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar explore gaming news, gadgets, apps, and geek culture from Pittsburgh.
• Xbox Cloud Gaming limits: Sorg explains why he moved his Xbox Series S back downstairs. The hosts discu...
How do you preserve physical video games in a world increasingly designed around downloads? How much would you pay for a really good keyboard? And what exactly happens when you sort the Nintendo Switch store from cheapest to most expensive?
Those questions—and several much stranger ones—come up on AwesomeCast 794 with Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar.
Xbox Finds a New Use for the Game Disc
One of the episo...
Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar are back for another round of geeky tech, gadgets, games, collectibles, and Pittsburgh happenings. The episode opens on a somber note with a tribute to Dolly Parton and the impact of her philanthropy, including her work supporting childhood literacy.
Then the crew gets into everything from simulated RC racing and Apple’s latest Macs to a life-size Grogu, Linux history, Pokémon fossils, GTA ...
Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar explore an AI pocket pet that grows up with its owner, clues pointing toward camera-equipped Apple AirPods, TikTok’s concerning voice-call feature, robots building electric vehicles, changes to YouTube view counts, retro Mario experiments, and more technology news from Pittsburgh.
This week’s stories and gadgets:
Pittsburgh Shootout preview: Sorg and Katie prepare to photograph ...
Sorg and Dave Podnar are back for another AwesomeCast packed with Pittsburgh tech, gaming, streaming, photography, AI, retro media, and a surprisingly practical app for finding a bathroom when you really need one.
The episode starts locally with Dave highlighting Stormfreak, a Pittsburgh-area weather enthusiast who has built a following on Reddit by offering practical, level-headed forecasts without the sensationalism that often a...
What happens when a PC gamer turns downloadable Steam games into physical cartridges? Sorg, Katie Dudas and Dave Podnar explore that inventive project alongside an AI-generated reality show starring romantic fruits, Xbox’s possible plan for preserving physical game collections, Fitbit’s long-awaited Apple Health support and a 9,000-pound rocket stage headed for the Moon.
The crew also discusses a travel app that automa...
What happens when drones go somewhere they’re not supposed to go?
In this AwesomeChat, Sorg talks with Logan Harris, CEO of Spotter Global, about the technology being developed to detect drones, track their operators, protect critical infrastructure, and give security teams a better picture of what is happening across large areas.
Spotter Global began by shrinking ground-surveillance radar technology that once required larg...
Can AI make you better at Photoshop instead of replacing Photoshop? Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar explore that question on AwesomeCast 789 as Sorg shares a workflow for turning AI-generated concepts into editable graphics while keeping control of the final design.
The crew also gets into Pittsburgh technology history with plans to preserve Westinghouse’s Atom Smasher, the impressive Commercial Street Bridge replacement,...
This week on AwesomeCast 788, Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar explore the growing appeal of retro technology, screen-free devices, customizable gadgets, and digital tools that give users more control.
Katie begins with Mama’s Night Off, a browser game inspired by Dungeon Crawler Carl and the Maeve Chocolate Dirty Shirley bar. Dave introduces Garmin’s new screenless fitness tracker, an alternative to smartwatches and...
AwesomeCast 787 gets practical, futuristic and increasingly strange as Sorg, Katie Dudas and Dave Podnar explore family-safe phones, connected health gadgets, USB-C mysteries, robotic limbs, Instagram’s latest AI privacy controversy and Fortnite’s revealing new take on the DC Universe.
Sorg also begins downloading the iOS 27 public beta during the show, despite Katie’s warnings and a few concerns being saved for ...
AwesomeChat welcomes Frédéric Guitton of iTargetGolf to talk about the future of interactive golf technology and how driving ranges are becoming more social, competitive, and game-like.
Frédéric explains how iTargetGolf uses interactive targets, animated lights, in-bay feedback, and integrations with systems like Toptracer, TrackMan, and Inrange to make golf practice feel more like a real-life video game. We also discuss Cash Cup ...
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