List Envy

Technology writer and drone expert Adam Juniper joins Mark to discuss machines that go bleep.

Adam spent many years editing and publishing books on photography, which over the years has become more about technology than chemicals.

He and Mark discuss the fun and frustration that can be had when delving into the world of smart home tech, and you can read more of Adam’s thoughts on this — and other desirable tech — on his Tech Yearning blog.

Like Mark, Adam had a Game Gear, which you can hear discussed in episode 2 of this very podcast.

The pair also discuss the “Privacy: It’s a Crime” campaign.

As a listening note: the pair do talk about the Amazon Echo devices and the lady that lives inside them, but rest assured, thanks to the ingenious editing technique of cutting out a bit of the word Alea*, your costly egg timer won’t be set off.

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As well as Adam’s blog, you can also buy his books on Amazon, follow him on Instagram and on Twitter, listen to the Photographer Podcast and That Option No Longer Exists, and ask him about publishing.

Mark speaks down-the-line with product designer, Simon Heap, as the two share their top five world-changing products, and gently collide over what can be construed a “product”.

Simon has dedicated his life to making, as he calls it, “a better mouse trap”, and now specialises in designing products for sport. You might know Simon’s work from Dragons’ Den, or perhaps you’ve bought his potato masher?

Simon once designed a CD player and argued for a sense of jeopardy within the mechanism (in the same way that there is a way to put a record on wrong), and Mark finds another member to join the ranks of those who mourn the passing of the MiniDisc. He also discovers that the Japanese may have the word he’s long searched for, to describe that wonderful sense of joy and satisfaction you get from a mechanical interaction: a good button, a sturdy spring or a crunchy click.

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Follow Simon on Twitter and LinkedIn, check out his latest business, Rugged Interactive, and his consultancy, Design for Sport.

Mark takes flight with speaker, author and “the entrepreneur’s godmother” Alison Edgar, to build a list of the best places it takes too long to fly to.

Alison flies a lot, and finds pinning her destinations on a map lends itself to a sense of perspective. Mark responds by finding another way to tie this into his favourite sci-fi series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Alison, like Mark, enjoys — or enjoyed - a Bloody Mary, which has — for reasons best known to others — become de rigueur for those who enjoy boozing above the clouds.

Public service announcement: if you have Netflix and are on a long-haul flight, do remember to download a season of something to watch before you fly. No-one wants to be caught short if the in-flight media selection is sub-par.

Born in Glasgow and a self-styled extravert, Alison is not content with spending all day every day on the beach or in the local British theme pub, watching endless Only Fools repeats. She wants to mix it up with the people that make up the places she visits.

As well as a couple of good cocktail recommendations, this episode also includes a game you can play at the airport.

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Alison is the Managing Director of Sales Coaching Solutions, author of Secrets of Successful Sales, and business speaker. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, and on LinkedIn.

Prepare to have your face melted clean off as you enter a whole new world of mouth noise, with guest Tani Levitt. And remember, if you’re sitting in the plash zone, you will get spittle all over you.

Tani presents SpeshFX, a narrative podcast that dives deep into the fascinating world of competitive beatboxing. If you’re familiar with the rap battle scene, it’s like that but nicer, and where people make their O face when being hit by several megatons of sick beats (just helping ease you in with the lingo).

Tani got into the scene via his brother, and started charting not only the beatbox battle scene, but also his own education, through SpeshFX. If you want a primer, start with his Beatboxing Basics YouTube playlist.

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If this has got you ready for more, you can follow the scene on YouTube via SwissBeatbox, the host of the Grand Beatbox Battle, or Beatbox Battle who host the World Championships every two years, and on Instagram via Alem, Hiss, and Madox for the shoutouts, or Swish Beatbox for the goofs.

You should subscribe to SpeshFX (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts), to learn infinitely more about the beatbox scene than you will here.

This week, Mark embarks on a journey of musical discovery, with Oliver Wang, co-host of the Heat Rocks podcast. If you’re not familiar with latin boogaloo, it’s time to get acquainted.

Oliver loves this fusion of more traditional latin melodies — with complex chords and meandering melodies — and the growing soul music movement, prevalent in 1960s New York, not just because of its inherently physical nature — this stuff just makes you wanna move — but because of what it teaches us about the culture at the time.

Just as a previous generation of immigrants embarked on a cultural exchange with the US and established themselves as the kings and queens of mambo and cha-cha-cha, so a new wave of second-generation American-raised Puerto Ricans, Cubans and Dominicans (to name a few) brought their musical heritage and mashed it up with the popular doo-wop and early R&B styles of the day.

Latin boogaloo wasn’t a lauded genre by purists, who saw it as a bit of a debasement of the complex and intricate style they were used to. It’s a story as old as time.

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To follow our Spotify playlist, full of all the songs we mention, sign up to Extra Envy, our free newsletter. It’s the perfect antidote to the encroaching autumn (the playlist, not the newsletter).

As we recorded, Heat Rocks, the podcast he hosts with music supervisor Morgan Rhodes, was celebrating their 100th episode. You can, and absolutely should, check it out. You can follow Oliver on Twitter and on Instagram, and read his long-running music blog. All of his links can also be found on his website.