Tech Byte with MARK STROSS

People spend a lot of time taking care of their things. Regular oil changes, cleaning your gun, and cleaning the lint filter are routine ways to keep your machines running. What do you do to keep your PC running?  With more than 2 billion PC's in the world today, what are people doing to maintain them? In this episode, Mark gives you valuable ways to maintain your tech, keep it running, and avoid early death of your machines.   

During this time of rising gas prices, escalating food prices, and inflation, Mark brings a bit of fun to this episode with not-so-secret ways to save money on Amazon. Learn how you can access returned or barely used merchandise from this giant retailer, find deals of the day, and spend less money. 

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is playing out right before our eyes. Like never before, we are watching the new Iron Curtain grinding into place. Technology has changed the way we watch this war, as well as the way the war is being fought. Propaganda is unfolding continuously online as brands take sides. This episode takes you inside a technologist's view of this modern war and the role technology plays in how it impacts all of us. 

In this episode, Mark talks about his direct connections with programmers in the Ukraine. Hear about their experience with the outbreak of war, their current situations, and how you can help.

In this show, Mark takes a look back at previous shows, how many times he got it right, told you what was about to happen, and how things played out exactly like he said they would. This is why you should listen to this guy every week 

This is about work-life balance. As robots do more work for us, we should have more free time, right? Decreasing our productive work time may actually be essential to keep up all gainfully employed; as AI and hardware with AI-brained software will get rid of 50% of jobs over the next 20 years. Japan and Iceland have 4-Day work weeks and found productivity is the same, and people are happier. Will other nations follow suit? 

Facebook lost a lot of money. The social media giant may be dying because of lack of trust. Meta, formally known as Facebook, had the worst performing day on the stock market in its history on Thursday. It lost nearly $240 billion from its market value. The loss follows a $10 billion dollar loss in 2021. What does this mean for the platform, for Zuckerberg, for you? This episode is also full of other fun conversations besides just talking about Facebook. Mark Stross and the Ocean 98 team bring you another fun and informative episode. 

Some things are clear: Stealing is wrong. Cancelling or censoring content is also wrong as another form of stealing. What about ad blocking? If the content creator relies on income generated from ads on the digital platform, would it be stealing if you block their ads? Interfering with their ability to make money? Many consider ad blocking as stealing money from the producer of digital content. Many online influencers are furious. What do you think?   

Signals is a new social media platform taking on "Twitter". Perhaps you've heard of it. Hear how the leadership of this new platform making news by standing up for user's privacy. When the government came knocking on Signal's door looking for user data, the company said, "Sorry, we don't have any." Nice!

Hear what's new in 2022, and what Mark Stross thinks of it. A bulb that scans the room to make sure you are still alive as you sleep. A telescope 1 million miles from Earth. Automatic doors that open and close like Star Trek. And more.