Tech: Off-topic

Tech: Off-topic

By Mike ElsmoreTechnology
Download on the App Store

Tech: Off-topic episodes

  • DevRel, DevEx and Video All The Things with Jake Ward

    A first for Tech: Off-topic, our resident internet denizen Mike Elsmore gets to interview Jake Ward (https://x.com/Jacobmward), the CEO of Data Protocol (https://dataprotocol.com/).


    Mike learned how Jake came up with the idea for Data Protocol, how he started it, and what it does. They also chatted about Developer Experience and learning and Developer Relations in general.

    1 hr 19 min
  • Multitenancy, 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

      1 hr 22 min
    • Stuart 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.

        1 hr 24 min
      • The 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

            1 hr 19 min
          • What 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.

              1 hr 43 min
            • Big 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.

                1 hr 32 min
              • New 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.

                  1 hr 29 min
                • TikToks, 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.

                    1 hr 19 min
                  • Generative 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

                      1 hr 25 min
                    • Some 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.

                        1 hr 18 min

                      About Tech: Off-topic

                      From the publisher's feed

                      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 for all to enjoy.