Tech Tho(ugh)ts

[Intel & AMD Duopoly Mini-Arc]

Oh, Intel. Once a powerful CPU manufacturer… okay, they still are- but Intel has historically not tried terribly hard to improve their products. Does that sound harsh? Well, we here at Tech Tho(ugh)ts think they deserve it, and we’ll start that explanation.. right now. Welcome to our first mini-arc, the Intel & AMD Duopoly.

Sources:

• Gamers Nexus @ Youtube.com, 4 August 2021, “Intel Ditches “Nanometers,” Renames 10nm to “7” & 7nm to “4””
• Ars Technica, 17 November 2020, “A history of Intel vs. AMD desktop performance, with CPU charts galore“
• The Verge, 26 July 2021, “Intel has a new architecture roadmap and a plan to retake its chipmaking crown in 2025“
• Tom’s Hardware, 23 July 2020, “Intel’s 7nm is Broken, Company Announces Delay Until 2022, 2023“
• PCWorld, 1 May 2019, “Should you buy a laptop with 8th-gen or 9th-gen Core CPU? It’s all about cores and clocks“
• Rock Paper Shotgun, 24 April 2019, “Intel Core CPUs: Everything we know about Intel’s 8th and 9th Gen Coffee Lake Refresh processors“
• Tom’s Hardware, 23 April 2019, “Intel Unveils Full Desktop Coffee Lake Refresh Lineup“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Synthetic Pleasures by MOKKA

[Gaming Arc 1/6]

Here we are, starting off Season 4 (y’know, without that update episode taken into account) with a bang, it’s time… for GAMERS. Welcome to the gaming arc, where we’re starting with a little history lesson on home video game consoles, by generation.

EPISODE MISTAKES: We talk about a separate lawsuit that was, in fact, just an additional lost case after the actual original ruling (regarding the Video Game Crash of 1983). The oriignal lawsuit was with Activision in 1979, – a company that was actually spawned off from former Atari employees. Atari attempted to stop the sale of Activision products, which ended with Atari being forced to pay royalties to Activision. This likely contributed to making third-party publishers a legitimate force.

Sources:

Merriam-Webster.com, Accessed: 20 August 2021, “Definition of Video Game”

The “First Video Game”:

• APS.org, APS News [October 2008 (Volume 17, Number 9)], “October 1958: Physicist Invents First Video Game”

Magnavox Odyssey:

• National Museum of American History, Accessed: 20 August 2021, “The Brown Box, 1967–68”
• National Museum of American History, Accessed: 20 August 2021, “Magnavox Odyssey Video Game Unit, 1972”

VGLegacy.com, Accessed: 20 August 2021, “1st Generation of Video Game Consoles”

Second Generation:

• University of Michigan Library, Accessed: 20 August 2021, Online Exhibits, “CGVA Disassembled – Second Generation (1976-1984)”
• VGLegacy.com, Accessed: 20 August 2021, “2nd Generation of Video Game Consoles”

Video Game Crash of 1983:

• The New York Times, 17 October 1983, “VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY COMES DOWN TO EARTH“
• Wikipedia.org, Accessed: 20 August 2021, “Video game crash of 1983”
• Bugsplat.com, Accessed: 20 August 2021, “What Was the Great Video Game Crash of 1983?”
• University of Houston, Engines of Our Ingenuity, Accessed: 20 August 2021, “No. 3038: THE VIDEO GAME CRASH OF 1983”
• Journal of Intellectual Property Law, Volume 20 | Issue 1, University of Georgia Law, September 2012, “Copy Game for High Score: The First Video Game Lawsuit”
• The Washington Post, 29 March 1983, “Judge Restrains Atari on Method Of Distribution“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Dark Synthwave by MOKKA

We’ve had a whole episode on CPUs last season, but we never really got into the nitty-gritty of architecture. You’ve heard of Apple ditching their long-term relationship with Intel for something with more… ARMs- but does that make a difference to you, the consumer?

Sources:

• TechSpot, 2 January 2020, “How CPUs are Designed and Built“
• CNX-Software.com, 27 January 2020, Accessed: 23 August 2021, “Linux 5.5 Release – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS and RISC-V Architectures”

Apple and Rosetta 2:

• AppleInsider.com, Accessed: 23 August 2021, “Rosetta 2”
• Computerworld.com, Accessed: 23 August 2021, “Everything you need to know about Rosetta 2 on Apple Silicon Macs”
• InfoQ, 30 November 2020, “How x86 to arm64 Translation Works in Rosetta 2“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Synthetic Pleasures by MOKKA

Welcome to Season 4 of Tech Tho(ugh)ts! We’ve had a great (fake) break, and are excited to start you off with an update episode. Things have been happening in the right to repair world, and it’s actually for the better. (Also, some updates for your general privacy concerns!)

Sources:

Right to Repair Definition:

• iFixit.com, ‘Right to Repair’
• Eff.org (Electronic Frontier Foundation), ‘Right to Repair’

Recent US Government Action:

• NYT Wirecutter, 15 July 2021, “What You Should Know About Right to Repair“
• The Washington Post, 13 July 2021, “The Biden administration thinks you should be allowed to fix the things you buy“
• AppleInsider, 11 June 2021, “New York State Senate passes right to repair legislation“
• The White House Briefing Room, 9 July 2021, “FACT SHEET: Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy”
• WIRED, 9 July 2021, “Joe Biden Wants You to Be Able to Fix Your Own Damn iPhones“

FTC Voting to Enforce Right to Repair:

• WIRED, 21 July 2021, “The FTC Votes Unanimously to Enforce Right to Repair“
• 9to5Mac, 1 July 2021, “British right to repair law comes into force today, but excludes smartphones and computers“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Dark Synthwave by MOKKA

Hello, the future.

A fond farewell for Season 3, and a look towards our future. We discuss our favorite parts of the last season, changes to the show release schedule, and our plans for an overall revamp.

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Another World by BETTOGH

[Distributed Networks Arc | 2/2]

Welcome back to a talk on Distributed Networks, here to finally discuss Apple’s Find My network, and whatever competitors we could find in the deep trenches of the internet. (There are a few! …but not too many)

Find My/iPhone:

• DailyDot.com, Updated: 21 May 2021, Accessed: 30 June 2021,”These simple steps will ensure you never lose an Apple device ever again”
• Apple.com Support, Accessed: 30 June 2021, “Set up Find My on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac”

Find My (Network):

• Apple.com Developer, Accessed: 30 June 2021, “Connect to the Find My network” (Third Party Support)
• Apple.com, 7 April 2021, “Apple’s Find My network now offers new third-party finding experiences”
• WIRED, 5 June 2019, “The Clever Cryptography Behind Apple’s ‘Find My’ Feature”

AirTags:

PCMag, 29 April 2021, “How Do Apple AirTags Work? Ultra-Wideband Explained“

Tile:

• Pocket-Lint.com, 19 April 2021, “What is Tile, how does Find with Tile work and what devices can you use it with?”
• TechCrunch, 5 January 2021, “Tile to launch a new tracker powered by ultra-wideband technology, add AR finding to app”
• Tile.com, 4 September 2020, “How Does the Tile Network Work?”

Tile’s Complaints against Apple:

• The Washington Post, 21 April 2021, “Tile will accuse Apple of worsening tactics it alleges are bullying, a day after iPhone giant unveiled a competing product“
• TechCrunch, 20 April 2021, “Tile bashes Apple’s new AirTag as unfair competition”

Marquest Brownlee (MKBHD) @ Youtube.com, “Apple vs The Paradox of Choice!”

AirTags Stalking:

• The Washington Post, 5 May 2021, “Apple’s AirTag trackers made it frighteningly easy to ‘stalk’ me in a test“

Google’s Rumored Network:

• The Verge, 18 June 2021, “Google may be working on an answer to Apple’s device-locating network“
• Engadget, 18 June 2021, “Google may be adding Bluetooth detection to its Find My Device service”
• XDA-Developers.com, 17 June 2021, “Google may be working on an Android version of Apple’s “Find My” network”

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Another World by BETTOGH

[Distributed Networks Arc]

Distributed networks. A term covering… a lot of technologies: (i.e. the Internet) – but for this conversation, we’ll be covering Amazon Sidewalk. How does it work, and- more importantly, does it have your best intentions in mind?

Distributed Network Definition:

• International Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing, IJCSMC, Vol. 4, Issue. 4, April 2015, pg.761 – 767, “Security Enhancement in Distributed Networking”

Zigbee:

• Metageek.com Support, Accessed: 30 June 2021, “ZigBee and WiFi Coexistence”
• ZigbeeAlliance.org, “What is Zigbee?”

Amazon Sidewalk:

• CNET, 9 June 2021, “Amazon Sidewalk is officially here. Here’s what to know before sharing your home’s bandwidth”
• PCMag, Updated: 8 June 2021, Accessed: 30 June 2021, “What Is Amazon Sidewalk and How Do You Disable It?”
• The Washington Post, 8 June 2021, “Amazon is about to share your Internet connection with neighbors. Here’s how to turn it off.”

Bluetooth Frequency Hopping:

• Bluetooth.com, 15 November 2020, “How Bluetooth Technology Uses Adaptive Frequency Hopping to Overcome Packet Interference”
• BankInfoSecurity.com, 3 June 2021, “Amazon Sidewalk Raises Privacy and Security Concerns”
• Amazon, Sidewalk Privacy and Security Whitepaper

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Another World by BETTOGH

We’ve covered batteries- but you may be wondering… how do they charge so quickly now? Recent developments have brought down the time to charge a phone to full to 8 minutes – but how does that even work? And, well… is it safe?

Sources:

Voltage, Watts, and Amps:

• learn.adafruit.com, Accessed: 16 July 2021, “Voltages”
• learn.adafruit.com, Accessed: 16 July 2021, “Power Capacity and Power Capability”
• Owlcation.com, Accessed: 16 July 2021, “How to Understand Electricity: Watts, Amps, Volts, and Ohms”

Lithium Ion Charging:

• electronic-notes.com, Accessed: 16 July 2021, “Li-ion Lithium Ion Battery Charging”
• BatteryUniversity.com, Accessed: 16 July 2021, “BU-409: Charging Lithium-ion”
• How-To Geek, 25 May 2020, “What Is Fast Charging, and How Does It Work?”

Qualcomm Quick Charge:

• Belkin.com, Accessed: 16 July 2021, “WHAT IS QUALCOMM® QUICK CHARGE TECHNOLOGY?”
• The Verge, 27 July 2020, “Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 5 standard promises 50 percent charge in less than five minutes“

Xiaomi HyperCharge (200W):

• Tech Times, 14 June 2021, “Xiaomi HyperCharge 200W Comes with One Disadvantage, Sacrificing Your Phone’s Battery Life!“
• The Verge, 30 May 2021, “Xiaomi says it can now fully charge a phone in eight minutes at 200W“

USB Power Delivery (USB-PD):

• Android Authority, 21 April 2021, “USB Power Delivery explained: What you need to know about ubiquitous charging“\
• ZDNet, 2 July 2020, “USB Power Delivery is the fastest way to charge iPhone and Android devices”

Oppo VOOC / OnePlus Warp Charge:

• Digital Trends, 23 March 2021, “How does fast charging work? Here’s every single standard compared“
• Techpp.com, Updated: 9 April 2020, Accessed: 16 July 2021, “Qualcomm Quick Charge vs OnePlus Warp Charge vs Oppo VOOC vs USB-PD”
• Wccftech, 24 June 2018, “OPPO Super VOOC Fast-Charging Technology Explained – Shaming Other Fast-Charging Alternatives in the Process”
• Android Authority, 23 April 2016, “VOOC fast charging – everything you need to know“

Extending Lithium Battery Lifetime:

• University of Michigan News, 17 February 2020, “Tips for extending the lifetime of lithium-ion batteries“
• Wired, 25 August 2019, “How To Get the Most Out of Your Smartphone Battery“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Another World by BETTOGH

Batteries- love ’em or hate ’em, they’re ubiquitous in our mobile-technology world. Is the battery in your phone the same kind that is in your car? Why do things get so hot when you charge them? How can a battery be powered by acid?? Answers to that and more, in the actual episode.

Sources:

How (Rechargeable) Batteries Work:

• HowStuffWorks.com, Updated: 11 February 2021, Accessed: 9 June 2021, “How Batteries Work”
• Panasonic-eneloop.eu, Accessed: 9 June 2021, “How do (rechargeable) batteries work?”

Nickel-Based Batteries:

• BatteryUniversity.com, Accessed: 9 June 2021, “BU-203: Nickel-based Batteries”

Lithium-Ion & Polymer:

• Android Authority, 8 May 2021, “Lithium-ion vs lithium-polymer: What’s the difference?“
• BellTestChamber.com, 8 July 2020, “Why does the lithium ion battery explode?”
• How-To Geek, Updated: 16 January 2018, Accessed: 9 June 2021, “Why Do Lithium-Ion Batteries Explode?“
• BatteryUniversity.com, Accessed: 9 June 2021, “Is Lithium-ion the Ideal Battery?”
• BatteryUniversity.com, Accessed: 9 June 2021, “BU-410: Charging at High and Low Temperatures”
• Clean Energy Institute – University of Washington, Accessed: 9 June 2021, “What is a lithium-ion battery and how does it work?”
• Dfrsolutions.com, 24 May 2018, “Why Do Lithium-Ion Batteries Swell?”
• US Department of the Interior, 2012, “Lithium Use in Batteries” (PDF)

Lead-Acid Battery:

• Nationalmaglab.org, Accessed: 9 June 2021, “Plante Battery – 1859”
• BatteryUniversity.com, Accessed: 9 June 2021, “BU-201: How does the Lead Acid Battery Work?”
• AltEnergy.org, Accessed: 9 June 2021, “Introduction to Lead-Acid Batteries”

Supercapacitors:

• The Verge, 17 August 2018, “Supercapacitors power the Note 9 stylus — but are they ready to replace batteries?“
• Gizmodo, 2 September 2015, “A Supercapacitor Stylus Is The Best Thing About Lenovo’s New Laptops“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Another World by BETTOGH

Ah, good ol’ wearable devices! There are so many options today, from the slew of Wear OS based watches, to the many fitness trackers from the usual suspects (Fitbit, Garmin)- and of course the Apple Watch. Are any of these… better than the other? And really, what makes a watch… “smart”?

Sources:

Apple Watch:

• PCMag, Updated: 9 November 2020, Accessed: 31 May 2021, “Apple Watch Series 6 Review“
• Wareable, 2 October 2020, “​Apple Watch Series 6 review: The best may not be the right choice“
• Apple.com Newsroom, 9 September 2014, “Apple Unveils Apple Watch—Apple’s Most Personal Device Ever

RTOS:

• Gadgets Now, Updated: 21 May 2021, Accessed: 31 May 2021, “What is RTOS, the ‘most popular’ smartwatch OS for Android phone users”
• The Verge, 13 April 2021, “OnePlus Watch review: big, basic, and boring“

Samsung Galaxy Watches/Tizen OS:

• Tom’s Guide, 19 April 2021,”Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 review“
• Samsung.com, Galaxy Watch3
• Tizen.org, About

Fitbit Sense:

• Android Authority, 31 January 2021, “Fitbit Sense review: A work in progress“
• PC Mag, 22 September 2020, “Fitbit Sense Review”

Wear OS Problems:

• Droid Life, 12 May 2021, “In a Year, We Got Exactly 1 Snapdragon Wear 4100 Watch“
• SmartwatchCrunch, 27 January 2021, “Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 vs 3100 vs 2100 [Plus Comparison with Exynos vs Apple s5]“
• Notebookcheck.net, “Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8226”

Wear Partnership (announced Google I/O 2021):

• Wareable, 19 May 2021, “Samsung ​Galaxy Watch 4: Wear OS and big changes confirmed“
• Ars Technica, 18 May 2021, “Google, Samsung, and Fitbit team up to save Wear OS“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Another World by BETTOGH