Topical

Cars are at a tipping point right now, where electric motors are starting to be more and more common. The question is, however, when will buying an electric car be as reasonable and normal as buying a fuel-powered car, and will the concept of self-driving cars be ushered in as part of this move towards an alternative power source?

Cars are a fairly big part of most adults’ lives, and it’s almost like they live a life of their own. Jelly and Russell share stories about the cars they’ve had over the years, their first experiences buying a car, and the accidents they’ve had.

If you’re a software developer, and you’ve ever been asked how long it’ll take to build an app, your reaction was probably to back away slowly… or maybe to just turn and run. But why is it so hard to figure out how long it takes to write software, and what can you do to avoid the process being drawn out indefinitely?

Apple’s caught flak for both not innovating enough, and also not spending enough time nailing the bugs in their software. But are these two issues contradictory? Russell and Jelly look at their experiences as product developers, why hard calls have to be made, and how all this relates to the issues Apple faces with their software.

The first day of April is loved and reviled by people all over the world for it’s practical jokes. From joke features in our favourite websites and apps, to joke articles and press releases from blogs and news sites. Every year, the April Fools phenomenon gets larger and larger, and idiots that think they’re big comedians record hilarious podcasts about random nonsen… UGH. I give up, this episode is a flippin’ joke, and not in a haha funny way, it’s just SAD. Why do these two losers even bother? COPY WRITER OUT.

Shopping can be fun, and it can be excruciating, but we all have our preferred approach when it comes to buying things. Russell and Jelly take a look at Retail based on their experience on both sides of the counter, sharing stories and techniques on how to make it through the sale.

Russell has some pretty specific ideas about homeschool, and given that Jelly spent a good most of his teens actually getting homeschooled, he’s on a mission to find out how it all really works. Is it different to normal school? How do grades work? Do you have to be chained to a desk in a cellar somewhere?

Having just had solar panels installed, Jelly’s getting pretty keen about living off the grid, or at least relying less on it. He and Russell talk about ways that you might reduce your reliance on utility companies, why you’d do it, and whether you have to go full dreadlocks.

Jelly and Russell have been on both sides of the beta testing process, and talk about what it’s like across the spectrum: from those that just post new builds and are otherwise quiet, to the betas that are more like being a part of a community, with Slack channels and cats.

The topic on everyone’s lips is the case of Apple vs. the FBI over the unlocking of an iPhone formerly used by a terrorist. With the government wanting Apple’s assistance bypassing some of iOS’s security features, the case has potential for consequences that reach much further than what’s apparent at first glance. But how far?