This week we’ve got a fun bit from George from Tulsa on why you should get an Amazon Fire tablet, then I’ll tell you about the great network migration of 2020. After that Jill McKinley is back with three products she uses to help her sleep better. Every time Kaylee joins the show I get emails and Slacks and Facebooks and Tweets saying “MORE KAYLEE!!!” Your wishes are granted this week.
Hi, this is Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast Apple Podcast, hosted at Podfeet.com, a technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Apple bias. Today is Saturday, January 4, 2020, and this is show number 765. Steve and I are off to CES tomorrow so that’s why I’m giving you the show early.
DTNS 2020 Tech Predictions & Clockwise
This week I got a text from Dr. Garry that said, “You are on nearly every podcast in my feed this week. It’s like having a house guest who never leaves.” Isn’t she sweet? She wrote that because, as I told you last week I was on the 2019 DTNS predictions results show, but then this week I was on the DTNS Predictions show for 2020 too.. Jenn Cutter, Shannon Morse, and Scott Johnson were on the show too along with Sarah and tom. Just like last year, I crowdsourced my tech predictions by using the collective brainpower of the NosillaCastaways. Here’s what you and I came up with:
- Amazon will get into wearables with a smartwatch with A-Lady. Don’t think it will be called Fire Watch, maybe Echo Watch?
- Apple will come out with a new health feature on Apple Watch that’s not as amazing as blood sugar, but as more useful than the decibel measurement. Tom wasn’t buying that as specific enough. I think he was hard on me because we nailed both of our predictions last year. So I went out on a limb and said that the watch would detect seizures. He loved that and the other folks said it was bold and risky.
- Then I gave a bonus prediction. I said that there would be a discussion on DTNS about why VR isn’t really taking off and someone will say, “But VR is in early days…”. I have been yanking Tom’s chain about this for years and even sent him a video by Stewart Cheifet on the Computer Chronicles in the 1980s where they were looking at early VR.
Thanks to all who contributed, here’s hoping we win again!
But those two shows alone weren’t enough to prompt Dr. Garry’s lovely note to me. The third show I was on was Clockwise. This was an interesting appearance because I wasn’t scheduled to be on the show at all. I was minding my own business on Tuesday night, when the shared Google sheet Dan Moren and Mikah Sargent use for Clockwise sent me an email notification. I have never seen one of these before and don’t know why I got one then but it was lucky I did.
The notification was triggered when the guest they were supposed to have on the show the next morning wrote a comment saying they weren’t going to be able to make it! It was pretty poor form for them to tell them this way and at such late notice, but luckily I got the message. I sent Dan Moren a note (who by this time was sound asleep on the East Coast) telling him what happened and asking whether he’d like me to step in.
Dan was sure happy I noticed it and I could change my day to make it. when I got on with them I started singing, “Here she comes to save the daaaaay!!!” I was pleased with myself too. Anyway, the show was great fun. Mikah wasn’t actually there so Jason Snell had stepped in to take his co-chair spot back. The other guest was Alex Cox whom I’d never met before but they were cool. We talked about tech stocking stuffers, why the Mac community exists (that was my topic), Apple’s rumored interest in making satellites and whether the rumored portless iPhone could be modular. Check out Clockwise #326 at relay.fm if you want to listen.
Chit Chat Across the Pond
This week’s Chit Chat Across the Pond was an absolute blast. When Steve and I went on the Space X tour I told you about, we were actually there for a Women Who Code event. We met a woman named Eleanor Mazzarella who has a fascinating career story to tell. She was a classically-trained, professional musician who decided to become a programmer. I simply had to have her on Chit Chat Across the Pond. She’s delightfully nerdy and yet comes with a full-fledged artistic bent as well. She’s a great storyteller and the whole conversation made me smile from beginning to end.
You can find the interview with Eleanor as Chit Chat Across the Pond Lite #620 in your podcatcher of choice, and of course over at podfeet.com CCATP #620 — Eleanor Mazzarella on Moving from Musician to Programmer
Next week Bart will be back with us, but we’re taking a break from Programming By Stealth as he brings us an update on all of the fun health gadgets he’s been using.
Blog Posts
10 Reasons to Get an Amazon Fire Tablet — by George from Tulsa
Moving from Netgear to eero
BedJet, Hue Lights, Sleepcast to Aid Sleep — by Jill McKinley
Support the Show
If you’ve been making New Year’s resolutions, maybe one of them could be to support your friendly, local on the Internet podcaster. You could set aside a little bit of money to put into Patreon to help keep the Podfeet Podcasts running like a Swiss clock. I don’t do this for profit but it is quite nice to have the bills not actually cost me money. If you get value out of the podcasts, and can afford to help out, I’d be most happy if you’d go to podfeet.com/patreon and sign up. My great thanks to the many many people who already pledged their support. Ok, Frank, wake up, the show’s coming back on now.
Kaylee Goes Retro Tech (no blog post)
Last week I told you about the 36 distinct things that went wrong for me in tech on a single day. Thank goodness I didn’t run that test when I was working on moving my IoT devices to a new network! Anyway, this next bit from Kaylee rings very true to me after how many finicky things are going on it tech these days.
That’s going to wind this up for this week. Don’t forget to send in your Dumb Questions, comments and suggestions by emailing me at [email protected], follow me on twitter @podfeet. Remember, everything good starts with podfeet.com/. podfeet.com/patreon, podfeet.com/paypal, podfeet.com/facebook, podfeet.com/slack! And if you want to join in the fun of the live show, head on over to podfeet.com/live on Sunday nights at 5pm Pacific Time and join the friendly and enthusiastic NosillaCastaways. Thanks for listening, and stay subscribed.