AwesomeCast: Tech and Gadget Talk

Artificial intelligence is everywhere. But are businesses actually seeing results from their AI investments?

On this special edition of AwesomeChat, Michael Sorg talks with Victor Coimbra, Partner and CTO Americas at Artefact, about what it really takes to transform exciting AI technology into something useful, scalable, and profitable.

Victor explains why AI adoption isn't simply about giving employees better tools. It's about rethinking how businesses operate, how they generate revenue, and how humans collaborate with increasingly autonomous AI systems.

Topics include:

The big takeaway: Before attempting to automate your business, start documenting how your business actually works. The experience, judgment, and context behind daily decisions may become your most valuable AI resource.

Guest: Victor Coimbra, Artefact

Adopt AI Summit:

Host: Michael Sorg

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Can an old streaming box become useful again? This week, Sorg uses ChatGPT to troubleshoot a retired Loop TV Android device and turn it into a potential digital signage solution for the Sorgatron Media studio.

Michael Sorg, Katie "Dudders" Dudas, and Dave Podnar explore practical AI experiments, affordable technology, internet nostalgia, and some of the weirdest things happening online.

This week's awesome topics:

AwesomeCast brings positive, geeky technology conversations from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Thanks to Slice on Broadway, Sidekick Media Services, and our AwesomeCast Patreon supporters!

🔗 LINKS FROM THIS WEEK'S AWESOMECAST

Pittsburgh Student Goes Viral Playing Thunderstruck

L.L.Bean Comfort Carry 32L Backpack

AbleSign – Digital Signage for Android TV

Mary Golda Ross – Aerospace Engineering Pioneer

Inside Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works

BioWare / Star Wars Battlefront 3 Report

Mass Effect Fan Petition

The Onion's Voting Simulator

LEGO Godzilla

AI Job Interview Comedy

Google's Zelda Search Easter Egg

Spelunkr TV – Retro Television Channel Surfing

ConCat – Free Open-Source Video Editor

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00:00 Opening and introductions

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What happens when an AI assistant starts reminding you about the deadlines you've been ignoring? Sorg has been testing Muse, which noticed important emails, offered action plans, and kept following up. Helpful productivity breakthrough or a little too much access to your inbox?

In AwesomeCast 802, Michael Sorg, Katie “Dudders” Dudas, and Dave Podnar get geeky about useful security tools, Apple's newest hardware and creator software, retro tech, and the delightfully strange corners of the internet.

In this episode:

Have an awesome thing of the week? Join the conversation on AwesomeCast.

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Story links mentioned in the episode's show notes

00:32 Welcome to AwesomeCast 802

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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 also checks out MapQuest’s new surveillance-camera layer and Pittsburgh’s Flock camera map, explores tools for locating data centers and submarine internet cables, and previews the rumors surrounding Apple’s upcoming professional hardware event.

Plus: a wearable Guile popcorn bucket, worldwide radio with Somewhere FM, Hello Kitty at Burger King, the Star Wars Super Bowl broadcast, Margaret Hamilton’s legacy, and the ChachiSays Video Game Minute.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/awesomecast

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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 Taco Bell, this episode is both a look back at where we’ve been and a pretty accurate snapshot of where technology is heading next.

Sorg takes ArtCraft for a spin, looking at its collection of creative tools, simplified video editing and AI integrations. The bigger conversation is about what happens when an experienced developer uses AI-assisted coding to recreate pieces of expensive subscription software.

The hosts discuss:

ArtCraft / FilmCraft:

Background:

Microsoft Office alternatives:

Dave breaks down Apple’s new home-focused announcements, including updates involving Apple TV, HomePod mini, Siri AI and the new Apple HomeView.

The HomeView discussion focuses on its square display, Apple-style interface, home placement, FaceTime functionality and ability to recognize different household members. That last feature leads to one of the episode’s best practical questions: if a shared HomeView can know who is looking at it, why can’t a family iPad do the same thing?

The bigger question is price. At $299 before some mounting options, does HomeView solve enough problems to become a normal household device—or is this mostly for families already deep inside Apple’s ecosystem?

https://9to5mac.com/2026/10/13/apple-homeview-announced-features-price-release-date/

Katie’s Awesome Thing is Dropout, the independent streaming service behind shows she had already been discovering through social clips.

The crew talks about Game Changer, Smarty Pants, Dimension 20, the service’s CollegeHumor roots and why some of the programming works almost as well as an audio experience as it does on video.

For Katie, the revelation was basically: “This is where these shows come from.”

https://www.dropout.tv

Then it’s time to look backward.

AwesomeCast traces its history to 2010, which means the show has lived through an absurd number of supposedly world-changing technologies.

Among the flashbacks:

The retrospective also turns into a reminder that changes feel incremental while they are happening. Look back across 800 episodes, however, and the difference is enormous.

Chachi returns with three quick gaming stories:

The T-Bell Compass might be one of the most specifically useful Apple Watch apps AwesomeCast has ever encountered.

Its job is simple: show you the direction of the nearest Taco Bell.

Sorg demonstrates it in the studio, immediately inspiring requests for an In-N-Out version and possibly an entire Pittsburgh Taco Bell rating system.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tbell-compass/id6761598622

Cat Collector turns spotting neighborhood cats into a real-world collecting game.

Photograph cats you encounter, add them to the map, see what other cats people have discovered nearby and even turn your finds into iMessage stickers.

Naturally, Sorg has already found himself pulling over because there was a cat he needed to collect.

https://catcollector.app/

Normal Tools is basically a digital junk drawer where everything is actually labeled.

The hosts browse tools for image conversion, CSV viewing, QR codes, aspect ratios, projectors, building calculations, game controllers, screens, batteries and much more.

The appeal is straightforward: find the little utility you need, use it, and move on.

https://www.normaltools.com/

The episode closes locally with another look at technology being tested through Pittsburgh International Airport’s innovation efforts.

The hosts discuss robotics that can potentially help monitor terminal conditions—including passenger flow, cleanliness and environmental conditions—along with analytics intended to give airline teams better information during boarding.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1527880259386316&set=pcb.1527880329386309

Supporting Pittsburgh podcasting with the perfect pepperoni pizza:

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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 Optimus Prime from Symbiote Studios and gets excited about an upcoming Grimlock puppet. Dave recaps completing both the 5K and 10K at Pittsburgh’s Great Race and celebrates the runners who have participated since the event began.

Plus: Castlevania celebrates 40 years, Call of Duty experiments with turning off goofy skins, Microsoft continues reshaping Xbox, Wendy’s releases an actual emo album, Pizza Hut teams with Little Free Library, the crew talks about the future of U.S. astronaut transportation, and a viral Minions Wi-Fi 6E router turns out to have surprisingly serious hardware.

It’s nostalgia, gadgets, gaming, Pittsburgh and the wonderfully weird side of technology on AwesomeCast 798.

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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 coaster, and a useful Nissan Rogue CarPlay setup that let him run Waze and Apple Maps at the same time.

The crew also celebrates astronaut Ellen Ochoa and her Barbie tribute, discusses a $1.5 million Haas Foundation commitment to SAE University Programs, reacts to the incredible Street Fighter Guile popcorn hat, and gets into the growing problem of low-effort AI graphics appearing everywhere from small businesses to major corporations.

Show Notes

Apple Shortcuts automation demo:

Dave’s Instagram shortcut:

TMNT Pizzeria:

Sorg’s TMNT Pizzeria video:

Ellen Ochoa:

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/05/03/ellen-ochoa-sdsu-graduate-and-first-latina-to-travel-in-space-awarded-presidential-medal-of-freedom/

CarPlay multitasking:

2027 Haas registration information:

Guile popcorn hat:

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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, touchscreen, QR code, or an attendee’s own phone. What started as a necessary pandemic pivot has developed into AI photo experiences, highly personalized AI Stories, and new ways for brands to combine entertainment with lead generation.

The conversation also gets beyond the AI hype. Sam discusses the unpredictability of image models, why prompt engineering still requires humans, how Snapbar tests and switches between different AI models, and why brands need to understand that generative AI is not simply automated Photoshop. Snapbar’s system remains cloud-based, meaning connectivity and third-party model reliability are still real considerations for live events.

Topics and products discussed:

Learn more about Snapbar at https://snapbar.com, which Sam specifically shares at the end of the interview.

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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 on the robot. HEBI CEO Bob Raida helped get the crowd going as “Renegade” played during the demonstration.

Trevor also explains the technology behind the robot, including HEBI’s modular platform and R-Series smart actuators. Their mobile robots are designed to carry tools and equipment into muddy, dirty and hard-to-reach environments while remaining easy to control.

Katie also gets a look at HEBI’s industrial robotics work and how the company uses robots to make dangerous jobs safer while keeping skilled human operators in control.

It’s Pittsburgh robotics, Pittsburgh football culture and a robot that knows exactly when it’s time to Play Renegade.

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