One of the things that frustrate me the most about my eyesight issues, along with a few other problems, is that I can’t tinker with hardware as much as I’d like to. So, when I discovered Action Retro on YouTube, I admit I became hooked on Sean’s videos of doing unthinkable things to old Macs and many other systems.

Sean and I discuss what inspired him to get started with his channel, some of his more exciting systems to work with, as well as a slightly random detour to talk about Mike Judge’s inspiration for Office Space. Sean also shares some valuable tips for those wanting to tinker with vintage systems.

We’d love to hear your stories of crazy upgrades you’ve done to vintage tech, so please do leave a comment below, email us via [email protected] or start a discussion over on Goodpods.

If you liked this episode, or indeed any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our new Ko-Fi page.

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I’ll be the first to admit my music taste doesn’t usually extend to Hip Hop, beyond some very cheesy 90s Christian tracks. Still, when Manny reached out via the fantastic SquadPod community, I knew we had to chat about how technology and Hip Hop go hand in hand, and how Hip Hop has influenced so much and can have such a positive impact on the world.

It’s very clear from chatting with Manny that Hip Hop’s roots are in innovation and doing new things with existing content and technology that were never meant to be used in the way they were and still are.

Do you have stories of how music, especially Hip Hop, has influenced your life, we’d love to hear from you, so send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

A lot of my memories of being younger revolve around summer holidays to the seaside, where there was always a reasonably well stocked arcade not far away. I’d spend a lot of my summer spending money on various games, which at the time were so engaging.

This week, a chat with Alex who has a huge collection of arcade machines, and is working with Neil from RMC Retro to open a wonderful interactive arcade museum in the same mill that houses The Cave. It’s also the last ever episode of the show to be recorded in the old studio at my previous flat, I moved out literally a few days after this was recorded.

Alex and I discuss the early days of arcade, where the arcade started to decline, not to mention the amazing story of an unreleased Nintendo made game, Sky Skipper, which Alex and friends were able to lovingly re-create.

If you have fond memories of the arcade, this is absolutely an episode you’ll enjoy and I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below, on Goodpods, or just drop us an email to [email protected].

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

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It wouldn’t be an Apple Event without every tech podcast in the world gathering to share their thoughts on what the fruit company had to announce. We’ve tried to take a bit of a different approach and share what we genuinely thought was interesting, as well as our personal views on whether you should upgrade.

Before we recorded, we opened up a little discussion thread on our original Substack site to get your thoughts about the event, and we’d like to take the chance to say a huge thank you to everyone who has already commented. If you have any thoughts about this event, we’d love to hear from you, so send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods.

Just a quick note to say that we recorded this on 8th September, just over 24 hours after the actual event. Since we recorded, we’re aware there’s been more information come out about some of the things we talked about.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit crossedwires.substack.com

Although we’re not a retro-exclusive show, we do seem to have a lot of guests from the retro community; this week is no different as it’s my delight to be joined by Dan Wood and Ravi Abbott who make up two-thirds of The Retro Hour podcast.

Rather than looking at specific systems, we had a more broad chat about what makes retro so fascinating for us all, what some of our favourite systems are, as well as reliving some fond memories and self-incriminating confessions.

What are your views on retro? Do you disagree with what we consider to be a retro system, do you have memories about encounters with systems, or maybe you had involvement in the development of the systems themselves, or software for them? We’d love to hear from you, so send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

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Yes, it’s another retro-themed episode, but with a focus on not only vintage Macs but also the world of desktop publishing and pre-press that was shaken up by the arrival of the Macintosh and tools like Aldus PageMaker and QuarkXpress.

It was a genuine pleasure to chat with Dan, I hope you find his experience and knowledge as informative and entertaining as I did.

I’d also like to say a huge thank you to everyone all for your patience, this episode was delayed by a week due to me having to move home and all the fun and games that entails.

Do you have memories of using older PowerPC or 68k Macs, maybe you worked in print or desktop publishing. If so, we’d love to hear from you, so send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods.

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

For those of you wondering about the title of this episode, well you’ll have to listen to figure that out. Pig eating habits aside, it was a genuine pleasure to chat with Ryan about his time supporting various Sim-related titles by Maxis, as well as hearing the rather innovative way he got the job.

We also take a look at a console that, I have to admit, I didn’t know much about until this episode. Known in Japan as the PC Engine and the TurboGrafx in North America, it was a 4th generation game console with some impressive features.

Ryan has also recently launched his own line of replacement inlays for the PC Engine / TurboGrafx and NES controllers. We chat about some of the challenges he faced in getting these made and launched.

Do you have memories of the PC Engine / TurboGrafx, or any of the Maxis games? If so, we’d love to hear from you, so send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

With such a diverse range of stories being told online through platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and more, it’s crucial that we look at the journey to make the ability to share those stories more accessible.

It was great to chat with Pam about how things have changed so much in filmmaking over the years and get her valuable insights into why art and storytelling are so important in our digital age.

Please do make sure you check out her podcast, and of course if you have experience with digital storytelling, we’d love to hear from you, so send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

As I hope comes across in the episodes, great audio is something I really believe is essential for any content creator; there’s nothing worse than a great-looking YouTube video that has audio that sounds like it was recorded in the bathroom.

That’s where the new Vocaster range from Focusrite comes in, and so with the kind help of Arielle from SquadCast, I was able to arrange a chat with Dan to go a bit deeper into what Vocaster is and why it may be the right fit for podcasters, YouTubers, and many other storytellers.

I want to say a huge thanks to Dan for taking the time to chat, and for how open and honest he was when we talked about the competition. You can genuinely hear Dan’s passion for audio and Focusrite come through.

It’s worth mentioning that this isn’t a paid promotion episode, no money has changed hands and Focusrite haven’t asked for any editorial control of the episode. However, for full transparency during our chat Dan did very kindly arrange for a Vocaster One to be sent out to me at no cost, but this was not based on any conditions or content requirements.

What’s your experience been with audio interfaces and recording setups? We’d love to hear from you, so send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods. 

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

As many of our regular listeners will know, I’m a bit of a smart home addict and my platform of choice is Apple’s HomeKit. To dive a bit deeper into the platform I invited Stephen Robles from the HomeKit Insider podcast to come and chat about the good, the missing, and the frustrating parts of the HomeKit ecosystem in 2022.

What’s been your HomeKit experience so far, good or bad, we’d love to hear from you, so send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW