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 Sunday, January 19, 2025, and this is show number 1028. Buckle up everyone, this is going to be a mammoth show so you might want to pace yourself. We’ve got four CES interviews and one full-length review by me of the products you’ll hear about in one of the interviews. It’s also a Security Bits week and that segment is nice and meaty too.
PBS Tidbit 11 Part 2: A PowerShell Teaser
in Programming By Stealth, as promised, Bart and I are back with part 2 of the Powershell Teaser. We pick up where we left off, starting with learning about parameter definitions and the advantages such a structured language affords us, including automatically generated help files and error checking. Bart updated the shownotes to include valuable resource links to take your PowerShell to a higher level.
We walk through our plan for 2025, where Bart is going to teach us about GitHub Pages (which power the Programming By Stealth shownotes) and then how to change the style you see with Bootstrap to make it your own. After that, we expect to get back to PowerShell but that’s a ways down the road so things could change.
Clockwise #588: Neither, But Sorta
I got to be on Clockwise again, this time sharing the guest chair with Brian Guffey, along with hosts Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren. As you probably remember, it’s four topics, four guests. Dan asked whether we use CarPlay, and my answer became the title of the episode: “Neither, But Sorta”. I asked for examples of unusual uses of AI they might have seen because I had two crazy cool ones I wanted to talk about. We discussed Sonos’s struggles including how they dropped the ball on accessibility. Finally, we talked about the probable demise of TikTok.
Even though that last topic was sad for me, overall it was a rollicking good time as always. You can find episode #588 of Clockwise in your podcatcher of choice, or you can follow the link in the shownotes.
Articles
CES 2025: Lili Display and Lamp Help Dyslexics Read More Easily
CES 2025: Flic Smart Buttons for Home Automation
Flic Button, Hub LR, and Twist are the Least Fiddly Devices I’ve Ever Tested
CES 2025: 10minds AI Motion Pillow
CES 2025: Magic Shields Impact Absorbent Flooring
Support the Show
This week I got an interesting email from a lovely gentleman named John Denning. He was writing to tell me that he was having trouble with the donate option for the podcast that lets you use a credit card or Apple Pay. To show me where the problem was, he included a video screen recording from his phone showing where the Buy Me a Coffee website wasn’t as easy to read with VoiceOver as it should have been. One of the interesting problems was that instead of saying “How many coffees do you want to buy?” it said “Hot beverage” and then multipliers.
If you know that the emoji for “hot beverage” looks like a coffee cup, maybe he would have had a chance. There were a few other places the interface could be improved for accessibility, but John persevered and successfully made a nice donation.
I especially like what he wrote about the show:
Love the podcast. It’s great to hear people who appreciate research and facts versus just taking things on faith because they like the source. Also love the photos you share on Mastodon. I’m blind, but the descriptions you include enable me to enjoy them. Thank you.
One of the things I love about Mastodon is that alt tags (descriptions of the images) are expected. I’ve been getting more positive feedback on my descriptions from Mastodon than any other service and it motivates me to do an even better job of describing my images.
All of this is a long-winded way to say that John is awesome guy for writing such a nice note and for making a generous donation. You two can write me nice notes and go to podfeet.com/donate to show your support for the show.
Security Bits — 29 January 2025
Transcript of NC_2025_01_19
That’s going to wind this up for this week. Did you know you can email me at [email protected] any time you like? If you have a question or a suggestion just send it on over. Remember, everything good starts with podfeet.com. You can follow me on Mastodon at podfeet.com/mastodon. If you want to listen to the podcasts on YouTube, you can go to podfeet.com/youtube. If you want to join the conversation, you can join our Slack community at podfeet.com/slack where you can talk to me and all of the other lovely NosillaCastaways. You can support the show at podfeet.com/patreon or with a one-time donation at podfeet.com/donate with Apple Pay or any credit card, or through podfeet.com/paypal. And if you want to join in the fun of the live show, head on over to podfeet.com/live on Sunday nights at 5 PM Pacific Time and join the friendly and enthusiastic NosillaCastaways. Thanks for listening, and stay subscribed.