Tech: Off-topic

By Mike Elsmore

Interested in Technology, Development, and all the random stuff around it? So are we! This podcast is the sidebar discussions that you'd normally hear at a tech event but broadcast over the internet f... more

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FAQs about Tech: Off-topic:

How many episodes does Tech: Off-topic have?

The podcast currently has 25 episodes available.

Tech: Off-topic episodes:

January 22, 2024Multitenancy, nerdom, and down with capitalism (even though it's how we earn money) with Ollie Read (@ollieread)
Hello 2024, it's Tech: Off-topic here!
Mike (⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/ukmadlz⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://mastodon.social/@ukmadlz⁠) has brought in Ollie Read
(⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/ollieread https://phpc.social/@ollieread) to talk tech and what's happened recently. However, that barely happens and the tangents are strong. We end up talking about:
Multitenancy in software (you can ask Ollie about that all you want)

RGB & Camera stuff (thanks to tech difficulties)

Gundam, Warhammer, and hobbyist "plastic crack"

Corporations and patent fights https://news.sky.com/story/apple-watch-to-lose-feature-after-us-court-reinstates-sales-ban-over-patent-dispute-13050692

Super rich (plenty of tech money) spending lots of money to build a city...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/17/tech-billionaire-new-city-plan-california-forever-san-francisco

Pothole robots
https://news.sky.com/story/hertfordshire-worlds-first-pothole-preventing-robot-to-hit-roads-in-test-rollout-13045036
This episode has plenty of side quest adventures so enjoy the chaos
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1h 22min
April 03, 2023Stuart Langridge (@sil) is a true wonder of the world, off-topic is default setting!
Mike (⁠⁠https://twitter.com/ukmadlz⁠⁠ https://mastodon.social/@ukmadlz) and co-host Jim (https://twitter.com/secondej https://phpc.social/@SecondeJ) gather for the first time in a while and are joined by Stuart Langridge (https://twitter.com/sil https://mastodon.social/@sil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Langridge). The usual variety of social tech chat goes truly off the rails to the point where it's more teachable moments than tech discussion. But some of what we cover is:
Elon is against Chat GPT 4+ https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/pause-ai-development-open-letter-warning/

Don't deploy on Friday horseshit is BACK https://twitter.com/allenholub/status/1637111242610610182?t=EBkSZzQ6-zVpZ0I5lC4s4g&s=19

Dilbert

Twitter outage two weeks ago was because they fired everyone with access to mint certs https://izzodlaw.com/@IzzoD/110001516908481048

You can't avoid politics in tech sometimes https://twitter.com/AlyssaM_InfoSec/status/1637383087020548096
The topics list was a lot longer, and this is all we got to. I think we hit a new level of off-topic with this episode, so enjoy.
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1h 24min
March 14, 2023The one where Jim got replaced with Diana
Mike (https://twitter.com/ukmadlz) couldn't bring Jim with him to Japan so we replaced him with Diana (https://twitter.com/dianasoyster) and she was the best co-host/guest you could ask for! The one is a truly off-topic session, so much so that we didn't actually follow many of our starter points. But we did cover:
Bidets
Vending machines

VR influence to save the virtual world https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-64862006

Mushroom clothes! https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64810935

Robot restaurant servers

Square watermelons

Parking garage elevators

Driving system
Enjoy the truly random conversation we had, we enjoyed having it
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1h 19min
February 27, 2023What the heck does international tomato trolling have to do with time shares?
Mike (https://twitter.com/ukmadlz) and Jim (https://twitter.com/secondej) are at it again, did you miss the tangential chat? The odd directions the conversation goes in this episode are truly off-topic, but our starter topics are:
Trongate, the legendary new PHP Framework

New Relic is hiring! That was an expensive mistake

ChatGPT Articles and Avatar 2 gaslighting - https://twitter.com/MovingToTheSun/status/1625156575202537474

Google wants people to share a desk - https://fortune.com/2023/02/23/google-returning-staff-share-desks-partner-maximize-office-space-tidiness-expectations-rotational-model/

The tomato thing is real - https://www.itv.com/news/2023-02-24/europeans-mock-uk-shoppers-over-tomato-shortage-but-is-brexit-to-blame

What on EARTH did Purple Bricks DO https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64678984

15-minute cities are a MARXIST CONSPIRACY
And the usual off-topic tangents.
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1h 43min
February 06, 2023Big biz has been weird this month, let's talk about it
Mike (https://twitter.com/ukmadlz) and Jim (https://twitter.com/secondej) missed a few weeks due to life but they're back talking about some of the weird and terrible things that have happened in software land:
Twitter turning off the API with a week to spare https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/2/23582615/twitter-removing-free-api-developer-apps-price-announcement

Netlify buys Gatsby https://thenewstack.io/netlify-acquires-gatsby-its-struggling-jamstack-competitor/

Netlfix canning shared passwords https://news.sky.com/story/revealed-how-netflix-plans-to-stop-you-sharing-your-password-12800510

More layoffs, this time PayPal with 2000 and Pinterest with 150

Jamstack man all over promoted Twitter

Microsoft is doubling down on OpenAI https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/01/23/microsoftandopenaiextendpartnership/

Amazon closing AmazonSmile, one of the actually good things they’ve ever done https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-closing-amazonsmile-to-focus-its-philanthropic-giving-to-programs-with-greater-impact

Dyson has made headphones with an air purifier… and you WILL look stupid https://www.dyson.co.uk/newsroom/overview/news/march-2022/dyson-zone-announcement

Ring doorbells are terrible for onboarding
And the usual off-topic tangents.
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1h 32min
January 10, 2023New year, same noise, but it is shenanigans
Mike (https://twitter.com/ukmadlz) and Jim (https://twitter.com/secondej) start the year with shenanigans, and the usual madness covering:
Mastodon rejecting funding https://technology.inquirer.net/120533/mastodon-rejects-funding

Tech salaries https://mastodon.online/@chaosmonster/109545607020550255

CES provides https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/loreal-brow-magic-eyebrow-printer-ces-2023-news/

Salesforce ELT wouldn't understand Slack https://fortune.com/2023/01/05/leaked-slack-all-hands-meeting-reveals-a-strong-culture-clash-and-growing-rift-with-parent-company-salesforce/

AWS nuclear layoffs https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/05/tech_workers_in_the_firing/
And the usual off-topic tangents.
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1h 29min
December 24, 2022TikToks, Tantrums, Leaks, and some Christmas Cheer with Steve Goode & Christopher Miller
Mike (https://twitter.com/ukmadlz) couldn't get Jim to come to play, so instead dragged along Chris Miller (https://twitter.com/ccmiller2018) and Steve Goode (https://twitter.com/sociablesteve1) to keep me company during this holiday episode:
Myspace Tom to replace Elon Musk https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/myspace-tom-twitter-elon-musk-ceo-position/

SBF got out of jail for $250m https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64068810

LastPass leak https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/12/lastpass-says-hackers-have-obtained-vault-data-and-a-wealth-of-customer-info/

TikTok reading data from Journalists https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/22/23522808/tiktok-journalists-data-accessed-bytedance-internal-audit

Twitter to have public view counts https://www.searchenginejournal.com/twitter-adds-public-view-counts-to-tweets/475185/

Pokemon Samsung Accessories https://www.androidpolice.com/pokemon-samsung-accessories/
And the usual off-topic tangents.
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1h 19min
December 12, 2022Generative AI, Perpetual Late Stage Capitalism, and Naruto Running: A Conversation with guests Julia Biro and Eli Holderness
Mike (https://twitter.com/ukmadlz) and Jim (https://twitter.com/secondej) drag along Julia Biro (https://twitter.com/juliadoesthat) and Eli Holderness (https://twitter.com/EliHolderness) for a genuinely unruly and off-topic conversation. Any yes, one of the topics did generate the title of this episode:
Was anything interesting from DevRelCon?

That new OpenAI chatGPT bot

Lensa and its considerations

New Pokemon called Spidops in the Scarlet/Viole

Raspberry Pi managed to hire some nutter - https://twitter.com/adacable/status/1600830256780570626

Literal killer robots - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-63883235
And the usual off-topic tangents.
Bonus content: Mike did in fact break the chair and hurt himself https://twitter.com/EliHolderness/status/1601239042967801862
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1h 25min
November 27, 2022Some spice and odd takes on events and open-source with Alistair Hey
Mike (https://twitter.com/ukmadlz) and Jim (https://twitter.com/secondej) have our usual chat and pseudo spicy takes, this episode with guest Alistair Hey (https://twitter.com/alistair_hey), and cover:
Modern Frontends Live!! https://dylanbeattie.net/2022/11/22/modern-frontends-2022.html / https://www.cassie.codes/posts/modern-frontends/ / https://dev.to/thisisjofrank/my-experience-of-modern-frontends-conference-1cgg

Going through a lovely bit of MongoDB marketing fluff https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/25/mongodb_marketing_movie_dross/

Black Friday. Really. Is it a thing anymore here

"The backend shouldn't exist" - Conversation with bootcamp mentees

Hive to replace Twitter (and mastodon) https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-competitor-hive-social-run-by-24-year-old-founder-2022-11?r=US&IR=T

Linux Foundation pays Linus 1.6 mill a year
And the usual off-topic tangents.
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1h 18min
November 24, 2022Every topic ends with Elon Musk and special guest Luke Browne
A quick note to start, sorry about the audio... teething problems with the new kit

Mike (https://twitter.com/ukmadlz) and Jim (https://twitter.com/secondej) have our usual chat and weird humour, this episode with guest Luke Browne (https://twitter.com/lukebrwne), and cover:
The regular cycle of layoffs

Finding some amusing takes about Musk’s Twitter bin fire

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT ATTEMPT TO LAUNCH ON DISCORD, RESULTS ARE HILARIOUS https://kotaku.com/uk-britain-treasury-discord-government-bullied-tories-1849787589

Evernote has been bought!!! EVERNOTE! Remember that? https://www.engadget.com/evernote-bending-spoons-acquisition-201505825.html

Maybe Sam Bankman-Fried, if we can be arsed with crypto shit https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/cryptocurrency/ftx-declares-bankruptcy/

HelloFresh accused of using coconut milk obtained from monkey labour https://futurism.com/the-byte/meal-kit-hellofresh-monkey-labor

VR kit that kills you if you die in VR https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy7kbq/palmer-luckey-made-a-vr-headset-that-kills-the-user-if-they-die-in-the-game
And the usual off-topic tangents.
...more
1h 30min

FAQs about Tech: Off-topic:

How many episodes does Tech: Off-topic have?

The podcast currently has 25 episodes available.