Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss Miso Robotics and White Castle, McDonald's broken soft-serve machine map, Samsung's chargers and earbuds going away, GM's electric Hummer, and more.

Our guest this hour:

Craig Knudsen, Marketing Consultant - Yamaha Corporation of America

James in Murfreesboro, Tennessee listens online and is calling via the App and asked: "I'm in the market for a new laptop and I keep seeing something about a new type of SSD. Can you explain to me the difference between the old standard SSD and the new ones that are coming?"

https://www.intotomorrow.com/media/podcasts/2020/10-30-2020/10-30-2020-H2S1.mp3

James, youre probably seeing NVMe SSD.Its not really all that new at this point but its slowly becoming the norm.

If you think of an older SSD looking like an HDD, a rectangular box meant to fit in the same spot the HDD took up, NVMe SSDs look like a stick of RAM memory.

SSD drives that used SATA connectors had to implement some standards that werent really optimal for SSDs, NVMe drives are better suited to the technology, and may be result in better performance (though any SSD will be good, really), and can make better use of multicore processors. They will also take up a lot less room, which may or may not matter to you. If youre just buying a new laptop our guess is that it probably doesnt matter.

You cant really go wrong with any type of SSD though, they will all be performant and energy efficient, so dont obsess too much about the type unless youre a real power user.

Ed in Wilmington, Delaware listens on Delawares Newsradio WDEL and asked: "I'm a 74 year-old retiree and I'm not a "tech person." I'd like to know the difference between a smart TV and the "normal" TV I have, before I buy one."

https://www.intotomorrow.com/media/podcasts/2020/10-30-2020/10-30-2020-H2S4.mp3

Ed, a smart TV is a TV that has built in access to some internet services.

The most prominent are Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube, but the list varies a lot with many TVs including services like Pandora or Spotify, and others including a full Roku stick which allows users to download new services as needed.

The reality of smart TVs is that 99% of the time you wont use the smart features and, instead, youll get a 3rd party much better streaming stick or set top device instead.

Smart TVs with proprietary software are usually clunky and rarely updated, so dont pay too much attention at the smart features, odds are that youll want to upgrade to something more usable anyway.

John in Fairbanks, Alaska and asked: "What would you recommend for a smartphone for someone who has low-vision problems and trouble focusing? Takes a while to focus and sometimes the things on the screen go too fast."

https://www.intotomorrow.com/media/podcasts/2020/10-30-2020/10-30-2020-H2S4.mp3

John, the options are really Android or iPhone. There are no truly good smartphones that are marketed a users with low vision.