The Sniffer

Listen to writer/broadcasters Nora Young and Cathi Bond as they freak over the future. They can't believe it. Neither will you.

This time, Cathi Bond talks about Cover, an architectural startup that aims to give people customized, small houses - based on their preferences - at a lower cost than hiring an architect to design a home, but with more options than just buying a regular prefab (via PSFK) Meanwhile, Nora Young talks about Adidas' plan to partner with innovative 3D printing company, Carbon, to produce customized midsoles for sneakers (via Technology Review)

Listen to writer/broadcasters Nora Young and Cathi Bond as they freak over the future. They can't believe it. Neither will you.

Welcome back to the podcast! This time, Nora Young talks about this article over at Backchannel, and why some service-based startups are rejecting the 'Uber for X', gig economy model in favour of hiring actual employees. Meanwhile, Cathi Bond points to this Gizmodo article questioning why people still need to use Word. Cathi's been having her own frustrations, and wonders whether she should find an alternative. In the comments, Gizmodo's readers, however, seem to like Word. How about you? Is it still the industry standard where you work? If not, what do you use instead?

Listen to writer/broadcasters Nora Young and Cathi Bond as they freak over the future. They can't believe it. Neither will you.

Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web and recent winner of the Turing Award, has been sounding the alarm about the sad, sad state of the Web (read it here in The Guardian). Cathi Bond has heard the alarm bells loud and clear. Is the promise of the Web as an open, democratic place dead? People have been talking about modular smart phones for a while now, where you swap out parts of your phone that need upgrading, instead of trading them in for a whole new one. Are they ready for their close-up? Nora Young says there are a bunch of modular phones around (see the comparison at CNet) including a new version of the Fairphone (via PSFK), which ethically sources materials. What would it take to make modular phones sexy rather than just worthy? Finally, astonishingly, people watch a billion hours of content on YouTube per day! What if people actually did something for the public good with all that time?

Listen to writer/broadcasters Nora Young and Cathi Bond as they freak over the future. They can't believe it. Neither will you.

Cathi is a fan of "tap and pay" credit cards. But now she's wondering if they're really secure. She also mentions this security report about malware on phones installed somewhere along the supply chain.  Nora looks at Kerv, a cool-looking ring that gives you the ability for contactless payment without a card, or a phone, at all (via Tech Radar).

Listen to writer/broadcasters Nora Young and Cathi Bond as they freak over the future. They can't believe it. Neither will you.

Cathi Bond talks about Swiss research into a process that supposedly stores summer heat for use in the frosty winter months. Read about the process here. Meanwhile, HOLY CATS! Nora Young talks about Boston Dynamic's cool/freaky new robot, Handle (via Mashable)