This is Only a Test

By Will Smith, Norman Chan, Jeremy Williams

Technology Tech News Science & Medicine

What's This is Only a Test about?

This is the official podcast of Tested.com. Tested brings you the week's technology and science news, with hosts Will Smith, Norman Chan, and Jeremy Williams. There's no jargon here, just solid explanations of the week's news--and plenty of wacky tangents. Make sure you stick around after the outro for fake outtakes!

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LAST EPISODE

Pockets of Fomenting – This...

09.23.2022

Norm's back from Disneyland just in time to discuss the debut of Andor, the GTA VI leak, and Nvidia's latest generation of graphics cards. Plus, what surprised iFixit about their iPhone 14 teardown, Logitech's curious cloud gaming handheld, and a ...

This is Only a Test episodes:

09.23.2022 Pockets of Fomenting – This is Only a Test 665 – 9/23/22 Norm's back from Disneyland just in time to discuss the debut of Andor, the GTA VI leak, and Nvidia's latest generation of graphics cards. Plus, what surprised iFixit about their iPhone 14 teardown, Logitech's curious cloud gaming handheld, and a ...
09.15.2022 Avatar Stans – This is Only a Test 664 – 9/15/22 We recap the big news out of this past weekend's D23 expo, including announcements from the lands of Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Disney+. Plus, a new trailer and title for Breath of the Wild's sequel, and the trailers from Sony's ...
09.09.2022 Dynamic Island – This is Only a Test 663 – 9/9/22 A lot of news to go over this week as we recap Apple's big fall product launch and the most interesting features of the new iPhone. Disney+ Day goes head to head with Star Trek Day in which we see ...
09.01.2022 Props To History – This is Only a Test 662 – 9/1/22 We're back from SiliCon! Joining us this week is Mike Corrie aka Props To History, a new friend and one of the guests we met at this past weekend's convention! We share our favorite sights, cosplays, and memories from the ...
08.23.2022 Building the MakerVerse – This is Only a Test 661 – 8/23/22 SiliCon is upon us! Jen Schachter joins us to talk about what to expect from the MakerVerse panels and workshops at the convention, as well as guests and makers we're excited to meet up with at the show. Plus, we ...
08.05.2022 Crisis on Infinite Streaming Services – This is Only a Test 659 – 8/5/22 What a week. From the passing of cultural icons like Nichelle Nichols and Bill Russell to the chaos around the Batgirl movie, we could take a breath to process major news as it broke from minute to minute. We discuss ...
07.28.2022 The Multiverse Saga – This is Only a Test 658 – 07/28/22 We're back after a week off to talk about our blitz through San Diego Comic-Con and all the bit movie announcements from the weekend's Hall H panels. We discuss the vibe on the show floor and our favorite booths as ...
07.15.2022 Strange New Worlds – This is Only a Test 657 – 07/15/22 It's a big week for science and science fiction as Norm and Kishore are joined by science communicator Ariel Waldman to geek out about the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope (aka. Jelly Welly Space Telly). We also ...
07.08.2022 Super Size Cosplay – This is Only a Test 656 – 07/08/22 As convention season starts to pick up, this week's episode is all about the incredible large size cosplay builds we've seen. Special guest Allison Chase joins us to talk about her journey making showstopping cosplays such as her Power Loader ...
07.02.2022 Star Trek Starships – This is Only a Test 655 – 7/1/22 We have an interview special for you this week as Norm is joined by Tested contributor Sean Charlesworth and modelmaker Bill Krause to geek out about Star Trek's starships, and pay tribute to modelmaking legend Greg Jein. We recap our ...
06.22.2022 Visual Turing Test – This is Only a Test 654 – 6/22/22 The prodigal podcaster returns! Jeremy comes back for a special episode of the podcast as we discuss our recent trip up to Reality Labs Research to demo Meta's prototype VR headsets. We also chat about Top Gun in 4DX, LEGO's ...
06.11.2022 Fandom Propaganda – This is Only a Test 653 – 6/11/22 Kishore and Norm return from some travel and share some of the things we saw at Monsterpalooza as well as at the National Air and Space Museum in Virginia. We fawn over Strange New Worlds and break down the incredible ...
06.03.2022 Celebration 2022 – This is Only a Test 652 – 6/3/22 Norm and Kayte are joined by special guest Adam Russell of the Thank the Maker podcast this week to recap their adventures at this past weekend's Star Wars Celebration convention! We talk about our favorite sights from the show floor, ...
05.26.2022 Choose Kindness – This is Only a Test 651 – 5/26/22 We take a moment to acknowledge the tragedies of the past two weeks, and attempt to keep the rest of the show light to take a breath from the intensity of the news. From an upcoming family road trip to ...
05.19.2022 Pop Culture Power Hour – This is Only a Test 650 – 5/19/22 As we approach the debut of the Obi-Wan show, we discuss all the nuggets of Star Wars news revealed in the recent Vanity Fair feature. Kishore and Norm also react to the She-Hulk teaser, ponder Stan Lee's future in the ...
05.13.2022 Ctrl-F For Real Life – This is Only a Test 649 – 5/12/22 On the night after Google I/O, Kishore and Norm pod up to discuss the new Pixel devices announced and teased, and break down the augmented reality demos shown. We also share thoughts on the Moon Knight finale (spoilers within!) and ...
05.05.2022 Punished Props Catch-Up – This is Only a Test 648 – 5/5/22 On Revenge of The Fifth day, we catch up with our friends Bill and Brittany Doran of Punished Props Academy to talk about their recent prop builds, 3D modeling for prop building, and diving in to CNC machining for their ...
04.28.2022 A Disturbance In The Timeline – This is Only a Test 647 – 4/28/22 A whole lot of news to cover this week as Norm and Kishore digess Twitter's takeover and potential future, the trailers and announcements from Cinemacon, Meta's Quest gaming showcase, and the coolest drone video we've ever seen. Plus, an update ...
04.22.2022 Wilsonnnnnn! – This is Only a Test 646 – 4/22/22 Love and Thunder are upon us as we react and break down the new Thor trailer, get excited for a new Star Wars game announcement, and discuss the hand-tracking 2.0 update for Quest. Prop maker Ben Eadie also joins us ...
04.14.2022 Mid-Season Thoughts – This is Only a Test 645 – 4/14/22 Kishore's back from a hiatus and we catch up with our sweet quiche to talk about Picard, Moon Knight, and swoon about Severance. Plus, the first look at PlayDate hardware in the hands of reviewers, driverless cars shenanigans in San ...
04.07.2022 Video Production Q&A – This is Only a Test 644 – 4/7/22 Joey joins Norm for a duocast to pick up where we left off last week answering some listener questions about Tested's video production, and to chat about his new pizza-making video series Getting Doughy with Joey! We talk about virtual ...
03.31.2022 One Perfect Shot – This is Only a Test 643 – 3/31/22 The tambola of guest hosts continues to revolve this week as Norm is joined by Tested's own Joey Fameli and new producer Josh Self in his podcast debut! The three talk about Josh's backgound in production and the making of ...
03.24.2022 Galactic Starcruiser – This is Only a Test 642 – 3/24/22 We're talking Star Wars this week as Norm is joined by guest host Kayte and special guest Adam Russell of the Thank the Maker podcast to talk about Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser! Adam and his friends actually embarked on the ...
03.19.2022 Star Gazers – This is Only a Test 641 – 3/18/22 Science communicator and explorer Ariel Waldman guests on the podcast this week to talk about her recent and upcoming expeditions, what it's like packing for a monthlong trip to Antarctica, and the joys of microscopy. Plus, we discuss the first ...
03.10.2022 One Last Keynote – This is Only a Test 640 – 3/10/22 We break down Apple's recent Peek Performance event and discuss the potential of the new M1Ultra processor, the design of their Mac Studio computer, and what we'd like to see from Apple's reentry into the consumer monitor space. Plus, it's ...
03.03.2022 Steam Deck Debrief – This is Only a Test 639 – 3/3/22 After a week off, we're back with a duocast to answer questions left over from our recent Steam Deck review, give a little insight into the testing and review process, and speculate about the future of handheld computing. Plus, Jeremy ...
02.17.2022 It's a Mad, Mad, Multiverse – This is Only a Test 638 – 2/17/22 The gang's all back after this past weekend's big game to talk about that nostalgia-filled half-timed show, the swarm of crypto and electric vehicle commercials, and the first looks at The Rings of Power. We then dive deep into the ...
02.10.2022 Futurama Returns – This is Only a Test 637 – 2/10/22 No bigger news this week than the revival of Futurama, one of our favorite science fiction shows ever. Our resident Futurama expert Kishore talks about where the show left off and what he hopes to come, and Will joins this ...
02.03.2022 All About Halo – This is Only a Test 636 – 2/3/22 Tested's head of production Joey Fameli joins us this week to talk about a topic near and dear to his heart: Halo! With the announcment of Sony's acquisition of Halo's original developer Bungie and the debut of the live-action Halo ...
01.28.2022 Star Wars Fans, Serviced – This is Only a Test 635 – 1/27/22 It's all about Star Wars this week and we discuss EA's annoucement that it's working on three new Star Wars games, and guest Dan Stapleton of IGN joins us to talk about the latest Steam Deck news. We devote the ...
01.20.2022 Microsoft, Big Spender – This is Only a Test 634 – 1/20/22 There's only one place to start this week as we discuss the massive acqusition of Activision/Blizzard by Microsoft, its implications, and how it's not a metaverse play. Plus, the saga of a Dune concept art book bought at auction, the ...
01.13.2022 Resin Printing Questions – This is Only a Test 633 – 1/13/22 Special guest Clayton aka Uncle Jessy joins us this week for a full episode discussing the latest in resin 3D printing! We hear how he got started with rapid prototyping and his thoughts on new innovations being introduced to resin ...
01.06.2022 The Wait for PSVR 2 Begins – This is Only a Test 632 – 1/6/22 The new year commences with CES in full swing as we recap how we spent our holidays, the movies we watched, and the gifts we gave and received. The gang discusses the big tech announcements out of CES, including details ...
12.23.2021 The Year That Was 2021 – This is Only a Test 631 – 12/23/21 For our last podcast episode of the year, we go over the top technology and science stories from the past 12 months and give our retrospective takes on what trends were fads and what technologies may have legs into the ...
12.16.2021 The Tech Demo Awakens – This is Only a Test 630 – 12/16/21 We geek out over the truly Epic Unreal Engine 5 demo released in The Matrix Awakens and discuss the technology that makes it possible. Kishore also gives an update on the research being done on the Omicron variant, what to ...
12.09.2021 New Holiday Classics – This is Only a Test 629 – 12/9/21 Duocast this week! Jeremy and Norm catch up on the first three episodes of Disney's Hawkeye show, warn you not to watch the newest Matrix trailer, and get excited for the upcoming Spiderverse sequel. Plus, we can't get enough of ...
12.02.2021 The O Word – This is Only a Test 628 – 12/2/21 After a restful Thanksgiving holiday, we're back with an extended Moment of Science for Kishore to answer our questions about the Omicron coronavirus variant. We also give a spoiler-free review of the first two episodes of Haweye and recap the ...
11.25.2021 Thanksgiving Break – This is Only a Test 626 – 11/25/21 The crew are break this week for the Thanksgiving holiday, but Norm gives an update of what to expect on the channel in the coming week and we rebroadcast a recent livestream q&a for those of you who may have ...
11.18.2021 You're The Genius Bar – This is Only a Test 626 – 11/18/21 After returning from DesignerCon, Norm and the team get together to discuss the new Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer drop, our IMAX enhanced home-viewing experience, and Apple's shift in right to repair policy. Plus, Valve gives more details about Steamdeck ...
11.11.2021 VR Friendships – This is Only a Test 625 – 11/11/21 The full squad is back this week to talk about Tested's short film shoot and spacesuit build, an incredible AT-AT Lego set, IMAX formatted movies for the home, and Unity buying Weta Digital. Plus, extended impressions of the Lynx R1 ...
11.04.2021 Talking LEGO – This is Only a Test 624 – 11/4/21 joined by special guest Brent Waller, a LEGO fan designer who's had several of his creations turned into official LEGO sets (including the Ghostbusters Ecto-1 and Seinfeld apartment). Brent joins us to talk about our halloween adventures, his journey submitting ...
10.29.2021 That's So Meta – This is Only a Test 623 – 10/28/21 It's a big week for virtual reality as Jeremy and Norm discuss all the news to come out of Facebook Connect, including the brief glimpses of new hardware teased for next year. Plus, the Dune sequel gets greenlit, Pixar's Lightyear ...
10.21.2021 Pro, Max, Notch – This is Only a Test 622 – 10/21/21 We react to the trailers and footage shown at DC's recent Fandome event, including the new trailer for The Batman and our first look at Black Adam! The team also discusses Valve's plans to verify games for the SteamDeck, and ...
10.15.2021 Should've Sent a Poet – This is Only a Test 621 – 10/14/21 We're back from New York Comic Con to talk about the cosplay we saw there, the Ghostbusters: Afterlife panel, and testing the iPhone's cinematic mode on the show floor. Plus, Kishore's close encounter with the earthquake in Hawaii, Shatner's spaceflight, ...
10.07.2021 Windows 11 – This is Only a Test 620 – 10/7/21 We're finally all back together this week to discuss the launch of Windows 11, the recent social media outage, and William Shatner's upcoming trip to space! Plus, the problem with Seinfeld on Netflix and what's the deal with the movie ...
10.01.2021 Cinematic Mode – This is Only a Test 619 – 9/30/21 The duocast streak continues as Jeremy tags in this week to discuss real world use of iPhone's cinematic video mode, the nitpicking of iPad Mini's jelly roll screen effect, porting Medal of Honor to the Quest 2, and Amazon's slate ...
09.24.2021 Visions – This is Only a Test 618 – 9/24/21 Norm and Kishore check in to talk about the success of the Inspiration 4 mission, the just-announced Mario movie, and what surprised us most about the Star Wars Visions series. Plus, Microsoft's revamped hardware lineup, new iPhone reviews, and the ...
09.16.2021 Apple's Diminishing Returns – This is Only a Test 617 – 9/16/21 Another duocast this week, as Jeremy joins Norm to recap the announcements and disappointments from Apple's California Streaming event, including the new technolgoy in the latest generation of iPhones and Apple Watch. Plus, more thoughts on The Matrix, the launch ...
09.10.2021 Resurrections – This is Only a Test 616 – 9/9/21 So much to go over this week! Kishore and Norm give a lengthy spoiler-free review of Shang-Chi, dissect the incredible The Matrix: Ressurections trailer, ponder the future of holographic concerts, and break down the challenges of "smart glasses" for both ...
09.02.2021 Parental Control – This is Only a Test 615 – 9/2/21

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