Podcasts about DRM

It's always a sunny day when Patrick Horvath wanders into our Love Nest. Two years after his first appearance on the podcast, he's back with another first issue, and this time, it's the sequel to the comic that made him a sensation. Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring takes us back to Woodbrook, years after the events of the original series, where Sam the Bear nearly lost control and many furry citizens lost their lives. Sequels are scary. We crave them desperately, but too often, they leave us full of regret and not satisfaction. With our hands on our bellies, we grumble, frustrated at how we fooled ourselves into a second taste, knowing it could never be as delicious as the first. Patrick Horvath wickedly understands sour sequelitis and subverts its toxicity through revelation. Danny the Duck, the first victim we saw Sam take in Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, haunts every panel of Rite of Spring #1. His sister, Monica, takes center stage, as does her tremendous grief, which threatens to annihilate the person she was and the person she could have been. We didn't know it at the time, but Danny's death would slowly drill Monica toward Sam, and we both fear and delight at their eventual confrontation. In this episode, we ask Patrick Horvath why he couldn't stay away from Woodbrook. We discuss the function of the time jump between the first series and its new sequel, Monica's prominence in Rite of Spring #1, Danny the Duck's vengeance, and the beauty of childhood cliches. Final Order Cutoff (FOC) for Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring #1 is Monday, June 2nd. The first issue will arrive in shops from IDW Publishing on July 9th. Continue this conversation with Patrick Horvath by following him on Bluesky, Instagram, and his Website. This Week's Sponsor We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: The Ultimate Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees Spoiler-Filled Episode Patrick Horvath at NYCC 2024 Our First Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees Episode CBCC's Comic Shop Road Trip Patreon Exclusive: Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Club Support Your Local Comic Shop Free Patreon Series Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

After half a year, our Spectrum Book Club podcast series with collaborators Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm finds its ending. It's bittersweet but equally exhilarating. The sixth issue in the Mad Cave Studios series lands the thesis, connecting every reader to every creator and revealing their powers in the process. You. Yeah, you. You're probably a maker, whether or not you're actively aware of your creations, and your tiny results forever bind you to those who came before, those who surround you today, and those who will come after you. Through Spectrum 6, Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm plot a course through human history, and damn, we're super excited to follow. Our final Spectrum Book Club session explores endings, forces our interpretations upon Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm, and sits in their squirmy silence as they let us hang with our unconfirmed story solutions. These episodes are a unique set within the Comic Book Couples Counseling catalog, and we're thrilled with those who have followed along from November 2024 to nearly June 2025. Even more exciting are those ears that will discover these conversations months and years from now. All six Spectrum issues are currently available from Mad Cave Studios, and the trade paperback release is scheduled for July 15th. Make sure you're following Dave Chisholm on his Website, TikTok, Instagram, and Bluesky. And follow Rick Quinn on his Website, Bluesky, and Instagram. This Week's Sponsor We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: CBCC's Comic Shop Road Trip Spectrum Book Club Part One Spectrum Book Club Part Two Spectrum Book Club Part Three Spectrum Book Club Part Four Spectrum Book Club Part Five Patreon Exclusive: Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Club Support Your Local Comic Shop Free Patreon Series Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

Everyone has a Batman opinion. Inside your imagination is a definitive Batman: a Batman who should behave this way, and a Batman who should not behave that way. Your tight grip on your Batman is why Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta's carefully considered Absolute Batman works so damn well. They fully understand and appreciate how the character has congealed over the last eight decades into a rock-solid idea. For the last eight months, alongside collaborators like Gabriel H. Walta, Marcos Martín, Frank Martin, Muntsa Vicente, and Clayton Cowles, Snyder and Dragotta have chipped away at the quintessential Dark Knight. They've altered elements of his origin, removed his social position, and rearranged his relationship with his rogues. Their Absolute Batman is a Bruce Wayne in motion, moving toward the impenetrable idea in your head, but struggling to match it. Here is a character growing into something, evolving into a recognizable hero for 2025. After confronting Mr. Freeze in issues seven and eight and facing the final days of Matches Malone, Bruce Wayne must reassess his war on Gotham City crime. What lessons did he learn from that awful day at The Zoo? Do his nights as Batman honor his father's sacrifice? As he fights to find himself, a grotesque demonic doppelganger appears - Bane, the nineties sensation who once broke a bat from another universe. FOC for Absolute Batman #9 is today (5/19/25)! Tell your retailers to order a copy for ya. With this comic, Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta have cooked an undeniable banquet. As the best alternate reality stories should, they've weaponized your knowledge of these characters against you, subverting in radically compelling ways, while delivering what should never be manipulated. Today's podcast features two conversations. Up first, Scott Snyder joins us for a lengthy look back at the last eight months of Absolute Batman. We discuss Bruce Wayne's continuing development into the Dark Knight, his complex relationship with Joe Chill, his father's killer, and why Bane had to arrive sooner rather than later. Secondly, Nick Dragotta pops in for a conversation about his ultra chonky Bane design, and how what we've seen so far is only a hint of his true monstrosity. Absolute Batman #9 will finally arrive in stores, courtesy of DC Comics, on June 11th. Follow Scott Snyder on Bluesky and Instagram, and subscribe to his Substack. Follow Nick Dragotta on Bluesky and Instagram. This Week's Sponsor We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: Scott Snyder on CBCC: The First Absolute Batman Episode Nick Dragotta on CBCC: The Second Absolute Batman Episode Join Comic Book Club in Person Patreon Exclusive: Married to Singles - Sarah Myer on The Duck Knight Returns Patreon Exclusive: Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Club Support Your Local Comic Shop Free Patreon Series Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

Kids can take it. You can coddle them. You can protect them with everything you have, but life is not simply coming for them; it already has them. Last year, Armored, the spectacularly spooky adventure story from writer Michael Schwartz and artist Ismael Hernandez, struck a deep emotional chord in us. The series seemingly came out of nowhere and walloped us with a powerfully relatable ghost story about family, loss, and perseverance. We gave it the Stampie for Best Surprise Comic, and the more times we re-read it, the more comfortable we are with that declaration. Armored traffics in recognizable tropes, but executes them perfectly through a singular vision. At the story's core is Andy, a child forced into the foster system after his parents mysteriously vanish. He's planted in a home dealing with its own awful tragedy, which propels him into a confrontation with a haunted suit of armor. With the ghostly Sir William by his side, Andy seeks to solve the disappearance of his folks while stumbling into battle with ancient evil. Having devoured the single issues from Clover Press, we patiently awaited word of a proper hardcover collection. Friends, we're ecstatic to be the first to tell you this: the Armored hardcover is almost here, and its Kickstarter Pre-Launch Page is already up and running (CLICK HERE AND GET NOTIFIED). Not only that, but we also have the first look at the new Armored hardcover collection artwork by artist Francesco Tomaselli. Please bask in its beauty while you listen to this week's podcast with author Michael Schwartz discussing Armored, how the theft of his comic book collection only intensified his comic book addiction, and why kids need stories with emotionally dark realities. Armored is published by Clover Press, written by Michael Schwartz, illustrated by Ismael Hernandez, lettered by Ferran Delgado, and edited by Chris Stevens. To continue this conversation, follow Michael Schwartz on Bluesky and Instagram. This Week's Sponsor We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: Married to Singles: Michael Schwartz on Darkhold: Iron Man Spectrum Book Club with Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm Join Comic Book Club in Person Patreon Exclusive: Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Club Support Your Local Comic Shop Free Patreon Series Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

With the Invincible animated series propelling more and more fans to the comic books, now is the perfect time for Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley to reteam on a new series. In a universe populated with numerous rich, wild characters, they could have revamped an infinite number of ideas. They chose Battle Beast, the white lion-like humanoid cursed with an unquenchable rage, and in doing so, Kirkmann and Ottley create an opportunity to reframe the character's original narrative. Battle Beast first appeared in Invincible #19 (2004) and did not return until Invincible #55 (2008). Between those comics is a massive swath of time, and the new series, Invincible Universe: Battle Beast, will explore it fully. The first issue arrives in comic shops next Wednesday. If it's any indication, when this series is over, it will radically alter our understanding of Battle Beast's narrative and its place within the larger Invincible storyline. This week, we trap Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley in our Zoom room. We examine how this first issue challenges our previous interpretation of the title character, the pain at Battle Beast's core, and the brilliant action that erupts from it. Having built a utopia on his homeworld through violent combat, Battle Beast seeks an end through a worthy opponent. You should know that this episode ventures into conversations about suicide and mental health crises. Helplines are available if you do not already have a support system. For the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline - dial 988 or visit www.988lifeline.org to chat with someone online. You can reach the Mental Health Hotline in Virginia by dialing 1-866-903-3787 or CLICK HERE. Invincible Universe: Battle Beast #1 is written by Robert Kirkman, illustrated by Ryan Ottley, colored by Annalisa Leoni, and lettered by Rus Wooton. It's published by Skybound Entertainment, operating in partnership with Image Comics. To continue this conversation, follow Robert Kirkman on Bluesky and Instagram. Also, follow Ryan Ottley on Blueskyand Instagram. This Week's Sponsor We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: Robert Kirkman on CBCC: The Energon Universe Robert Kirkman on CBCC: Invincible CBCC on Invincible: Modern Family CBCC on Invincible: Reboot? CBCC on Invincible: Full House CBCC on Invincible: The End of All Things Patreon Exclusive: Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Club Support Your Local Comic Shop Free Patreon Series Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. Don't forget to grab your tickets for our May 11th Alamo Drafthouse Winchester screening of DREDD, co-sponsored by Four Color Fantasies. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

First issues are hard. Last issues are hard. Second-to-last issues are hard. Maybe...all issues are hard? Book Club is back in session with creators Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm, discussing Spectrum #5, the penultimate issue in their brilliant Mad Cave Studios series. With the end just around the corner (the final issue arrives in shops on May 21st, as does our final Book Club episode with Quinn and Chisholm, so mark your calendars), Spectrum #5 must elevate and explode a bunch of grandiose ideas about art that the comic has so far been teasing or suggesting. Spectrum #5 is a BIG comic following two central characters while traversing multiple timelines and encountering alternate-dimension stand-ins for iconic cultural figures and places from our world. Quinn and Chisholm might not say it, but we will: PBGBs is CBGBs, and Gloria Bell is Patti Smith. Half the pleasure of reading Spectrum is tracking their sci-fi alternatives of real-world legends, which recalls similar joys had when devouring Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. However, as Spectrum #5 ramps toward its fiery conclusion next month, the fervor with which Quinn and Chisholm explore vital artistry is the ultimate appeal. Why do humans sing? Why do they paint? Why do they tell stories to one another? During a moment when artistic expression is recklessly dismissed or downright eradicated, Spectrum #5 shows its readers how they're constantly engaged with creative expression and why only the most vile and pathetic people are detached from it. Last month's Spectrum Book Club was extremely process-heavy in its conversation. Now, for the penultimate issue, it's time to dig into the thematic weeds, have a serious chat about human connection, and worry not about labels of pretension. We're all friends here. Spectrum 1 - 5 are currently available from Mad Cave Studios, and the final issue will arrive in shops on April 21st. Make sure you're following Dave Chisholm on his Website, TikTok, Instagram, and Bluesky. And follow Rick Quinn on his Website, Bluesky, and Instagram. This Week's Sponsor We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: Spectrum Book Club Part One Spectrum Book Club Part Two Spectrum Book Club Part Three Spectrum Book Club Part Four Four Color Fantasies Charity Sketch Cover Auction Patreon Exclusive: Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Club Support Your Local Comic Shop Free Patreon Series Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

June. 1962. Two men do the impossible: break Out of Alcatraz. The legendary escape almost immediately caught the public's imagination, becoming fodder for TV, film, and prose. Maybe you've encountered a few of these stories; maybe you haven't. Whatever the case, you certainly have not read an interpretation like the Oni Press comic from Christopher Cantwell and Tyler Crook. Their Out of Alcatraz begins in the crashing waters outside the prison. From there, it dips into a storm of speculation, terror, and hope. Through their story, Cantwell and Crook explore a critical moment in the American narrative. The Civil Rights movement hasn't quite popped off. John F. Kennedy still stands righteously in the White House. The confidence of Post-war America is about to burst. Three criminals taste freedom with all its bitterness and desperately attempt to choke it down. This week's podcast considers the American story and those who were left out of it or forced from it. We chat with Cantwell and Crook about the real men who broke free from Alcatraz and the fictional men they became in Cantwell and Crook's imaginations. We discuss the allure of prison narratives and the cells we all find ourselves in at some point. Issues one and two of Out of Alcatraz are now available wherever rad comics are sold, and issue three will arrive in shops on May 21st. Continue this conversation by following Christopher Cantwell on BlueSky and Tyler Crook on BlueSky, Instagram, and his Website. Also, you can listen to his music through his Bandcamp page (although it's also available on Spotify, Apple Music, and the like). This Week's Sponsor We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: Tyler Crook on CBCC: The Ultimate Lonesome Hunters Interview Tyler Crook on CBCC: Mage - The Hero Discovered Brad Appears on The Oblivion Bar to Review Sinners and Warfare Four Color Fantasies Charity Sketch Cover Auction Patreon Exclusive: Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Club Support Your Local Comic Shop Free Patreon Series Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

Surprise, friends. Grant Morrison joins the show for Superman Day! As the writer behind the seminal All-Star Superman, which observes its 20th anniversary this November, we cannot think of a better person to help us celebrate the Last Son of Krypton on his 87th birthday. Action Comics #1, featuring the first appearance of Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, hit newsstands on April 18th, 1938. It is the source of everything you love about superhero comics. When Action Comics first arrived, America was in economic ruin. The world was about to enter its second great war. Despair was easily accessible, but two Jewish kids from Cleveland imagined a Man of Steel who could do the impossible and would act for those who could not act for themselves. As we look outside our windows in 2025, we see an incredible darkness, but we strive for a future beyond it. We can imitate the devils in the dark, or we can seek Superman, who reflects the best version of ourselves. Like most people, probably, we first encountered Superman through television and film; it was the All-Star Superman comics by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Jamie Grant, Phil Balsman, and Travis Lanham that solidified our passion for the character. Those twelve issues showcased the joyous, awful, absurd, and adventurous universe Superman populated, making us fall in love with it and our own realm in return. As Morrison writes in Supergods, we are the stories we tell ourselves. In Superman, we see who we've been, who we are, and who we could be. We're positively chuffed to chat Superman with Grant Morrison. We discuss their approach to the character in All-Star Superman and how it differs from the version they wrote in JLA, Action Comics, Final Crisis, and other stories. We discuss the significance of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and what it means for Grant and others to extend their great idea. We talk about Lois and Clark, Lex Luthor, Samson, and Atlas, and Grant Morrison reveals their next big comic project somewhere along the line. Continue our conversation with Grant Morrison by visiting their Website, Substack, Instagram, and Bluesky. This Week's Sponsor: We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: Dan Slott and Mark Waid on Action Comics #1 Joshua Williamson, Dan Slott, and Mark Waid on Summer of Superman Missing Frames: Celebrating Superman Geeksplained: All-Star Superman - Chapter 3 w/CBCC CBCC on Grant Morrison's New X-Men Four Color Fantasies Charity Sketch Cover Auction Patreon Exclusive: Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Club Support Your Local Comic Shop Free Patreon Series Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

Did y'all catch that Daredevil Born Again finale? Cause that was pretty damn good. Everyone in the industry comments on the Switch 2, Xbox has some leaks, and and CD Projekt Red is fighting rumors. Plus Ubisoft is trying to say we dont own our games???? Meanwhile HBO confirms some of its Harry Potter Cast, The Oscars finally are going to recognize Stunts, and Star Wars is getting a different kind of re-release.

Get ready for a theme park tech adventure and some unexpected ambient Apple features in this special birthday episode!

Get ready for a theme park tech adventure and some unexpected ambient Apple features in this special birthday episode!

Welcome to THE CONCUSSIONOLOGY Podcast where Inch BY Inch Concussion Recovery Is A Cinch! Together with Dr. Mladenoff we will unravel the intricate complexities of concussions and embark on a profound journey of discovery and recovery. This podcast is designed to not only educate but also inspire and uplift, providing a supportive environment where patients can connect, share their stories, and find hope in their healing process. AND now Dr. Mladenoff shares with us today's episode “The Consequences of Concussions?”” . . . . . . . . DrM

If you listen to comic book podcasts beyond Comic Book Couples Counseling, you've probably already encountered Aubrey Sitterson. The writer has been making the rounds, discussing his radical new science fiction series Free Planet, made in collaboration with artist Jed Dougherty, colorist Vittorio Astone, letterer Taylor Esposito, and designer Mark Kaufman. Sitterson LOVES comics, and he LOVES talking about comics. He's spent years percolating in the medium, absorbing the code of how to make the best comics in the best way possible for his particular talents. Aubrey Sitterson has developed something he calls "The Approach." It's a new method of storytelling discovered during the making of other such comics as The Worst Dudes, No One Left to Fight, and Savage Hearts. Sitterson is not just design-focused; he's design-obsessed, and it was a delight to chat with him about this intensely, carefully sharpened obsession. We're in the weeds this week. We wanted to double down on a comics-making meal, possibly inspired by the last episode's heavy process conversation with Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm about Spectrum #4. Aubrey Sitterson appears reinvigorated by Free Planet, and his enthusiasm for the craft is infectious and should encourage your leap into storytelling. Final Order Cutoff for Free Planet #1 is Monday, April 14th (That's Today!), and Image Comics will finally drop the first issue in shops on May 7th. It's not a title you want to sleep on. Everyone involved is going for it, swinging for the fences. You can view the Preview Pages here, which are overwhelming in the best way possible. Follow Aubrey Sitterson on Bluesky, Instagram, Substack, and his Website. We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode Four Color Fantasies Charity Sketch Cover Auction Patreon Exclusive: Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Club Support Your Local Comic Shop Free Patreon Series Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

In this enlightening episode of Nodes of Design, we sit down with Prof. Amaresh Chakrabarti to explore his journey into design. We discuss how designers can create meaningful societal impact, the evolving role of artists in the AI era, and key takeaways from the DRM method. Prof. Chakrabarti also shares valuable recommendations for designers looking to innovate and push boundaries. Tune in for a masterclass in design thinking, research, and real-world application!Amaresh Chakrabarti is a Senior Professor and current Chair, Department of Design & Manufacturing, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore. He did BE from IIEST Shibpur, ME from IISc Bangalore, and PhD from the University of Cambridge UK, where he led the Design Synthesis group of its Engineering Design Centre (EDC) for 10 years before joining IISc as an Associate Professor. He published 35 books, over 300 peer-reviewed articles, and has 13 patents granted/pending. He co-authored DRM, a methodology used widely as a framework for design research. He founded IDeAS Lab – India's first Design Observatory, and India's first indigenous Smart Factory. He is the founding chair for the Intl Conf Series on Research into Design (ICoRD) and Intl Conf Series on Industry 4.0 & Adv Manufacturing (I4AM). He received the Careers360 Faculty Research Award 2018 for being the 'Most Outstanding Researcher' in Decision Sciences, and among the global top 2% of researchers in 'Design Practice & Management'. He received IISc's Alumni Award for Excellence in Research in Engineering (2022). He is a Fellow of the Design Society, an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineering Designers, UK, and the current Editor-in-Chief of Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing Journal (AI EDAM) published by CUP.Springer Book Series Design Sc. & Innov: http://www.springer.com/series/15399Webpage: http://cpdm.iisc.ac.in/people/ac/ac.htmCitations: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=VvD5STUAAAAJ&hl=enThank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favorite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more.If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and join the knowledge-sharing community Spreadknowledge.This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

There are not many opportunities like this one. Every month, we devour the latest Spectrum comic and then jump on the phone with creators Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm. It's an intimate, super nerdy book club, and you're all invited. But you gotta bring your own wine. With issue four, we're more than halfway through the series, but we're just getting started regarding a thorough excavation into their creative process. Spectrum #4 is the most dense chapter in the series so far. Multiple threads weave the narrative, and several of those introduce new concepts and characters. We travel to "The Twilight of the Gods," witnessing a massive mythology dump while our heroes Melody and Ada traverse time through song. We witness the beginning of everything and must prepare for its end. This week's podcast starts with Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm taking ownership of the Book Club, wrestling the reins from us, and guiding us to the discussion topics they want to tackle. We discuss how the series has swerved unexpectedly, resulting in radical issues like Spectrum #4. We got tangents and anecdotes, wild theories, and sidequests. But before all that, we must discuss our recent WonderCon excursion, offering a little recap on dollar bins and panels. The Anaheim convention rests in the shadow of Disneyland, offering a unique vibe from other comic cons. It was Lisa's first time. Will she return? Spectrum 1 - 4 are currently available from Mad Cave Studios, and the fifth issue will arrive in shops on April 23rd. Make sure you're following Dave Chisholm on his Website, TikTok, Instagram, and Bluesky. And follow Rick Quinn on his Website, Bluesky, and Instagram. You wake in a hospital bed. Your hand feels heavy, there's a ringing pain in your head. Machine parts have replaced what could not be repaired with flesh. Did the doctors save you, or strip you of your humanity? This is the question facing Adam in Futility Shapes, a one-shot comic live on Kickstarter now! Created by Edward Kane and Dave Fowler. Futility Shapes is a weird blend of The Terminator, The Machinist, and Mass Effect. What shapes you? Visit EdwardKane.net. We're also sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: Spectrum Book Club Part One Spectrum Book Club Part Two Spectrum Book Club Part Three Patreon Exclusive: Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Club Support Your Local Comic Shop Free Patreon Series Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. Join us at the Alamo Drafthouse in Winchester, Virginia, on 4/13 at 5:00 PM for Robert Altman's Popeye, co-sponsored by Four Color Fantasies. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

Brandon Liu is an open source developer and creator of the Protomaps basemap project. We talk about how static maps help developers build sites that last, the PMTiles file format, the role of OpenStreetMap, and his experience funding and running an open source project full time. Protomaps Protomaps PMTiles (File format used by Protomaps) Self-hosted slippy maps, for novices (like me) Why Deploy Protomaps on a CDN User examples Flickr Pinball Map Toilet Map Related projects OpenStreetMap (Dataset protomaps is based on) Mapzen (Former company that released details on what to display based on zoom levels) Mapbox GL JS (Mapbox developed source available map rendering library) MapLibre GL JS (Open source fork of Mapbox GL JS) Other links HTTP range requests (MDN) Hilbert curve Transcript You can help correct transcripts on GitHub. Intro [00:00:00] Jeremy: I'm talking to Brandon Liu. He's the creator of Protomaps, which is a way to easily create and host your own maps. Let's get into it. [00:00:09] Brandon: Hey, so thanks for having me on the podcast. So I'm Brandon. I work on an open source project called Protomaps. What it really is, is if you're a front end developer and you ever wanted to put maps on a website or on a mobile app, then Protomaps is sort of an open source solution for doing that that I hope is something that's way easier to use than, um, a lot of other open source projects. Why not just use Google Maps? [00:00:36] Jeremy: A lot of people are gonna be familiar with Google Maps. Why should they worry about whether something's open source? Why shouldn't they just go and use the Google maps API? [00:00:47] Brandon: So Google Maps is like an awesome thing it's an awesome product. Probably one of the best tech products ever right? And just to have a map that tells you what restaurants are open and something that I use like all the time especially like when you're traveling it has all that data. And the most amazing part is that it's free for consumers but it's not necessarily free for developers. Like if you wanted to embed that map onto your website or app, that usually has an API cost which still has a free tier and is affordable. But one motivation, one basic reason to use open source is if you have some project that doesn't really fit into that pricing model. You know like where you have to pay the cost of Google Maps, you have a side project, a nonprofit, that's one reason. But there's lots of other reasons related to flexibility or customization where you might want to use open source instead. Protomaps examples [00:01:49] Jeremy: Can you give some examples where people have used Protomaps and where that made sense for them? [00:01:56] Brandon: I follow a lot of the use cases and I also don't know about a lot of them because I don't have an API where I can track a hundred percent of the users. Some of them use the hosted version, but I would say most of them probably use it on their own infrastructure. One of the cool projects I've been seeing is called Toilet Map. And what toilet map is if you're in the UK and you want find a public restroom then it maps out, sort of crowdsourced all of the public restrooms. And that's important for like a lot of people if they have health issues, they need to find that information. And just a lot of different projects in the same vein. There's another one called Pinball Map which is sort of a hobby project to find all the pinball machines in the world. And they wanted to have a customized map that fit in with their theme of pinball. So these sorts of really cool indie projects are the ones I'm most excited about. Basemaps vs Overlays [00:02:57] Jeremy: And if we talk about, like the pinball map as an example, there's this concept of a basemap and then there's the things that you lay on top of it. What is a basemap and then is the pinball locations is that part of it or is that something separate? [00:03:12] Brandon: It's usually something separate. The example I usually use is if you go to a real estate site, like Zillow, you'll open up the map of Seattle and it has a bunch of pins showing all the houses, and then it has some information beneath it. That information beneath it is like labels telling, this neighborhood is Capitol Hill, or there is a park here. But all that information is common to a lot of use cases and it's not specific to real estate. So I think usually that's the distinction people use in the industry between like a base map versus your overlay. The overlay is like the data for your product or your company while the base map is something you could get from Google or from Protomaps or from Apple or from Mapbox that kind of thing. PMTiles for hosting the basemap and overlays [00:03:58] Jeremy: And so Protomaps in particular is responsible for the base map, and that information includes things like the streets and the locations of landmarks and things like that. Where is all that information coming from? [00:04:12] Brandon: So the base map information comes from a project called OpenStreetMap. And I would also, point out that for Protomaps as sort of an ecosystem. You can also put your overlay data into a format called PMTiles, which is sort of the core of what Protomaps is. So it can really do both. It can transform your data into the PMTiles format which you can host and you can also host the base map. So you kind of have both of those sides of the product in one solution. [00:04:43] Jeremy: And so when you say you have both are you saying that the PMTiles file can have, the base map in one file and then you would have the data you're laying on top in another file? Or what are you describing there? [00:04:57] Brandon: That's usually how I recommend to do it. Oftentimes there'll be sort of like, a really big basemap 'cause it has all of that data about like where the rivers are. Or while, if you want to put your map of toilets or park benches or pickleball courts on top, that's another file. But those are all just like assets you can move around like JSON or CSV files. Statically Hosted [00:05:19] Jeremy: And I think one of the things you mentioned was that your goal was to make Protomaps or the, the use of these PMTiles files easy to use. What does that look like for, for a developer? I wanna host a map. What do I actually need to, to put on my servers? [00:05:38] Brandon: So my usual pitch is that basically if you know how to use S3 or cloud storage, that you know how to deploy a map. And that, I think is the main sort of differentiation from most open source projects. Like a lot of them, they call themselves like, like some sort of self-hosted solution. But I've actually avoided using the term self-hosted because I think in most cases that implies a lot of complexity. Like you have to log into a Linux server or you have to use Kubernetes or some sort of Docker thing. What I really want to emphasize is the idea that, for Protomaps, it's self-hosted in the same way like CSS is self-hosted. So you don't really need a service from Amazon to host the JSON files or CSV files. It's really just a static file. [00:06:32] Jeremy: When you say static file that means you could use any static web host to host your HTML file, your JavaScript that actually renders the map. And then you have your PMTiles files, and you're not running a process or anything, you're just putting your files on a static file host. [00:06:50] Brandon: Right. So I think if you're a developer, you can also argue like a static file server is a server. It's you know, it's the cloud, it's just someone else's computer. It's really just nginx under the hood. But I think static storage is sort of special. If you look at things like static site generators, like Jekyll or Hugo, they're really popular because they're a commodity or like the storage is a commodity. And you can take your blog, make it a Jekyll blog, hosted on S3. One day, Amazon's like, we're charging three times as much so you can move it to a different cloud provider. And that's all vendor neutral. So I think that's really the special thing about static storage as a primitive on the web. Why running servers is a problem for resilience [00:07:36] Jeremy: Was there a prior experience you had? Like you've worked with maps for a very long time. Were there particular difficulties you had where you said I just gotta have something that can be statically hosted? [00:07:50] Brandon: That's sort of exactly why I got into this. I've been working sort of in and around the map space for over a decade, and Protomaps is really like me trying to solve the same problem I've had over and over again in the past, just like once and forever right? Because like once this problem is solved, like I don't need to deal with it again in the future. So I've worked at a couple of different companies before, mostly as a contractor, for like a humanitarian nonprofit for a design company doing things like, web applications to visualize climate change. Or for even like museums, like digital signage for museums. And oftentimes they had some sort of data visualization component, but always sort of the challenge of how to like, store and also distribute like that data was something that there wasn't really great open source solutions. So just for map data, that's really what motivated that design for Protomaps. [00:08:55] Jeremy: And in those, those projects in the past, were those things where you had to run your own server, run your own database, things like that? [00:09:04] Brandon: Yeah. And oftentimes we did, we would spin up an EC2 instance, for maybe one client and then we would have to host this server serving map data forever. Maybe the client goes away, or I guess it's good for business if you can sign some sort of like long-term support for that client saying, Hey, you know, like we're done with a project, but you can pay us to maintain the EC2 server for the next 10 years. And that's attractive. but it's also sort of a pain, because usually what happens is if people are given the choice, like a developer between like either I can manage the server on EC2 or on Rackspace or Hetzner or whatever, or I can go pay a SaaS to do it. In most cases, businesses will choose to pay the SaaS. So that's really like what creates a sort of lock-in is this preference for like, so I have this choice between like running the server or paying the SaaS. Like businesses will almost always go and pay the SaaS. [00:10:05] Jeremy: Yeah. And in this case, you either find some kind of free hosting or low-cost hosting just to host your files and you upload the files and then you're good from there. You don't need to maintain anything. [00:10:18] Brandon: Exactly, and that's really the ideal use case. so I have some users these, climate science consulting agencies, and then they might have like a one-off project where they have to generate the data once, but instead of having to maintain this server for the lifetime of that project, they just have a file on S3 and like, who cares? If that costs a couple dollars a month to run, that's fine, but it's not like S3 is gonna be deprecated, like it's gonna be on an insecure version of Ubuntu or something. So that's really the ideal, set of constraints for using Protomaps. [00:10:58] Jeremy: Yeah. Something this also makes me think about is, is like the resilience of sites like remaining online, because I, interviewed, Kyle Drake, he runs Neocities, which is like a modern version of GeoCities. And if I remember correctly, he was mentioning how a lot of old websites from that time, if they were running a server backend, like they were running PHP or something like that, if you were to try to go to those sites, now they're like pretty much all dead because there needed to be someone dedicated to running a Linux server, making sure things were patched and so on and so forth. But for static sites, like the ones that used to be hosted on GeoCities, you can go to the internet archive or other websites and they were just files, right? You can bring 'em right back up, and if anybody just puts 'em on a web server, then you're good. They're still alive. Case study of news room preferring static hosting [00:11:53] Brandon: Yeah, exactly. One place that's kind of surprising but makes sense where this comes up, is for newspapers actually. Some of the users using Protomaps are the Washington Post. And the reason they use it, is not necessarily because they don't want to pay for a SaaS like Google, but because if they make an interactive story, they have to guarantee that it still works in a couple of years. And that's like a policy decision from like the editorial board, which is like, so you can't write an article if people can't view it in five years. But if your like interactive data story is reliant on a third party, API and that third party API becomes deprecated, or it changes the pricing or it, you know, it gets acquired, then your journalism story is not gonna work anymore. So I have seen really good uptake among local news rooms and even big ones to use things like Protomaps just because it makes sense for the requirements. Working on Protomaps as an open source project for five years [00:12:49] Jeremy: How long have you been working on Protomaps and the parts that it's made up of such as PMTiles? [00:12:58] Brandon: I've been working on it for about five years, maybe a little more than that. It's sort of my pandemic era project. But the PMTiles part, which is really the heart of it only came in about halfway. Why not make a SaaS? [00:13:13] Brandon: So honestly, like when I first started it, I thought it was gonna be another SaaS and then I looked at it and looked at what the environment was around it. And I'm like, uh, so I don't really think I wanna do that. [00:13:24] Jeremy: When, when you say you looked at the environment around it what do you mean? Why did you decide not to make it a SaaS? [00:13:31] Brandon: Because there already is a lot of SaaS out there. And I think the opportunity of making something that is unique in terms of those use cases, like I mentioned like newsrooms, was clear. Like it was clear that there was some other solution, that could be built that would fit these needs better while if it was a SaaS, there are plenty of those out there. And I don't necessarily think that they're well differentiated. A lot of them all use OpenStreetMap data. And it seems like they mainly compete on price. It's like who can build the best three column pricing model. And then once you do that, you need to build like billing and metrics and authentication and like those problems don't really interest me. So I think, although I acknowledge sort of the indie hacker ethos now is to build a SaaS product with a monthly subscription, that's something I very much chose not to do, even though it is for sure like the best way to build a business. [00:14:29] Jeremy: Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people can appreciate that perspective because it's, it's almost like we have SaaS overload, right? Where you have so many little bills for your project where you're like, another $5 a month, another $10 a month, or if you're a business, right? Those, you add a bunch of zeros and at some point it's just how many of these are we gonna stack on here? [00:14:53] Brandon: Yeah. And honestly. So I really think like as programmers, we're not really like great at choosing how to spend money like a $10 SaaS. That's like nothing. You know? So I can go to Starbucks and I can buy a pumpkin spice latte, and that's like $10 basically now, right? And it's like I'm able to make that consumer choice in like an instant just to spend money on that. But then if you're like, oh, like spend $10 on a SaaS that somebody put a lot of work into, then you're like, oh, that's too expensive. I could just do it myself. So I'm someone that also subscribes to a lot of SaaS products. and I think for a lot of things it's a great fit. Many open source SaaS projects are not easy to self host [00:15:37] Brandon: But there's always this tension between an open source project that you might be able to run yourself and a SaaS. And I think a lot of projects are at different parts of the spectrum. But for Protomaps, it's very much like I'm trying to move maps to being it is something that is so easy to run yourself that anyone can do it. [00:16:00] Jeremy: Yeah, and I think you can really see it with, there's a few SaaS projects that are successful and they're open source, but then you go to look at the self-hosting instructions and it's either really difficult to find and you find it, and then the instructions maybe don't work, or it's really complicated. So I think doing the opposite with Protomaps. As a user, I'm sure we're all appreciative, but I wonder in terms of trying to make money, if that's difficult. [00:16:30] Brandon: No, for sure. It is not like a good way to make money because I think like the ideal situation for an open source project that is open that wants to make money is the product itself is fundamentally complicated to where people are scared to run it themselves. Like a good example I can think of is like Supabase. Supabase is sort of like a platform as a service based on Postgres. And if you wanted to run it yourself, well you need to run Postgres and you need to handle backups and authentication and logging, and that stuff all needs to work and be production ready. So I think a lot of people, like they don't trust themselves to run database backups correctly. 'cause if you get it wrong once, then you're kind of screwed. So I think that fundamental aspect of the product, like a database is something that is very, very ripe for being a SaaS while still being open source because it's fundamentally hard to run. Another one I can think of is like tailscale, which is, like a VPN that works end to end. That's something where, you know, it has this networking complexity where a lot of developers don't wanna deal with that. So they'd happily pay, for tailscale as a service. There is a lot of products or open source projects that eventually end up just changing to becoming like a hosted service. Businesses going from open source to closed or restricted licenses [00:17:58] Brandon: But then in that situation why would they keep it open source, right? Like, if it's easy to run yourself well, doesn't that sort of cannibalize their business model? And I think that's really the tension overall in these open source companies. So you saw it happen to things like Elasticsearch to things like Terraform where they eventually change the license to one that makes it difficult for other companies to compete with them. [00:18:23] Jeremy: Yeah, I mean there's been a number of cases like that. I mean, specifically within the mapping community, one I can think of was Mapbox's. They have Mapbox gl. Which was a JavaScript client to visualize maps and they moved from, I forget which license they picked, but they moved to a much more restrictive license. I wonder what your thoughts are on something that releases as open source, but then becomes something maybe a little more muddy. [00:18:55] Brandon: Yeah, I think it totally makes sense because if you look at their business and their funding, it seems like for Mapbox, I haven't used it in a while, but my understanding is like a lot of their business now is car companies and doing in dash navigation. And that is probably way better of a business than trying to serve like people making maps of toilets. And I think sort of the beauty of it is that, so Mapbox, the story is they had a JavaScript renderer called Mapbox GL JS. And they changed that to a source available license a couple years ago. And there's a fork of it that I'm sort of involved in called MapLibre GL. But I think the cool part is Mapbox paid employees for years, probably millions of dollars in total to work on this thing and just gave it away for free. Right? So everyone can benefit from that work they did. It's not like that code went away, like once they changed the license. Well, the old version has been forked. It's going its own way now. It's quite different than the new version of Mapbox, but I think it's extremely generous that they're able to pay people for years, you know, like a competitive salary and just give that away. [00:20:10] Jeremy: Yeah, so we should maybe look at it as, it was a gift while it was open source, and they've given it to the community and they're on continuing on their own path, but at least the community running Map Libre, they can run with it, right? It's not like it just disappeared. [00:20:29] Brandon: Yeah, exactly. And that is something that I use for Protomaps quite extensively. Like it's the primary way of showing maps on the web and I've been trying to like work on some enhancements to it to have like better internationalization for if you are in like South Asia like not show languages correctly. So I think it is being taken in a new direction. And I think like sort of the combination of Protomaps and MapLibre, it addresses a lot of use cases, like I mentioned earlier with like these like hobby projects, indie projects that are almost certainly not interesting to someone like Mapbox or Google as a business. But I'm happy to support as a small business myself. Financially supporting open source work (GitHub sponsors, closed source, contracts) [00:21:12] Jeremy: In my previous interview with Tom, one of the main things he mentioned was that creating a mapping business is incredibly difficult, and he said he probably wouldn't do it again. So in your case, you're building Protomaps, which you've admitted is easy to self-host. So there's not a whole lot of incentive for people to pay you. How is that working out for you? How are you supporting yourself? [00:21:40] Brandon: There's a couple of strategies that I've tried and oftentimes failed at. Just to go down the list, so I do have GitHub sponsors so I do have a hosted version of Protomaps you can use if you don't want to bother copying a big file around. But the way I do the billing for that is through GitHub sponsors. If you wanted to use this thing I provide, then just be a sponsor. And that definitely pays for itself, like the cost of running it. And that's great. GitHub sponsors is so easy to set up. It just removes you having to deal with Stripe or something. 'cause a lot of people, their credit card information is already in GitHub. GitHub sponsors I think is awesome if you want to like cover costs for a project. But I think very few people are able to make that work. A thing that's like a salary job level. It's sort of like Twitch streaming, you know, there's a handful of people that are full-time streamers and then you look down the list on Twitch and it's like a lot of people that have like 10 viewers. But some of the other things I've tried, I actually started out, publishing the base map as a closed source thing, where I would sell sort of like a data package instead of being a SaaS, I'd be like, here's a one-time download, of the premium data and you can buy it. And quite a few people bought it I just priced it at like $500 for this thing. And I thought that was an interesting experiment. The main reason it's interesting is because the people that it attracts to you in terms of like, they're curious about your products, are all people willing to pay money. While if you start out everything being open source, then the people that are gonna be try to do it are only the people that want to get something for free. So what I discovered is actually like once you transition that thing from closed source to open source, a lot of the people that used to pay you money will still keep paying you money because like, it wasn't necessarily that that closed source thing was why they wanted to pay. They just valued that thought you've put into it your expertise, for example. So I think that is one thing, that I tried at the beginning was just start out, closed source proprietary, then make it open source. That's interesting to people. Like if you release something as open source, if you go the other way, like people are really mad if you start out with something open source and then later on you're like, oh, it's some other license. Then people are like that's so rotten. But I think doing it the other way, I think is quite valuable in terms of being able to find an audience. [00:24:29] Jeremy: And when you said it was closed source and paid to open source, do you still sell those map exports? [00:24:39] Brandon: I don't right now. It's something that I might do in the future, you know, like have small customizations of the data that are available, uh, for a fee. still like the core OpenStreetMap based map that's like a hundred gigs you can just download. And that'll always just be like a free download just because that's already out there. All the source code to build it is open source. So even if I said, oh, you have to pay for it, then someone else can just do it right? So there's no real reason like to make that like some sort of like paywall thing. But I think like overall if the project is gonna survive in the long term it's important that I'd ideally like to be able to like grow like a team like have a small group of people that can dedicate the time to growing the project in the long term. But I'm still like trying to figure that out right now. [00:25:34] Jeremy: And when you mentioned that when you went from closed to open and people were still paying you, you don't sell a product anymore. What were they paying for? [00:25:45] Brandon: So I have some contracts with companies basically, like if they need a feature or they need a customization in this way then I am very open to those. And I sort of set it up to make it clear from the beginning that this is not just a free thing on GitHub, this is something that you could pay for if you need help with it, if you need support, if you wanted it. I'm also a little cagey about the word support because I think like it sounds a little bit too wishy-washy. Pretty much like if you need access to the developers of an open source project, I think that's something that businesses are willing to pay for. And I think like making that clear to potential users is a challenge. But I think that is one way that you might be able to make like a living out of open source. [00:26:35] Jeremy: And I think you said you'd been working on it for about five years. Has that mostly been full time? [00:26:42] Brandon: It's been on and off. it's sort of my pandemic era project. But I've spent a lot of time, most of my time working on the open source project at this point. So I have done some things that were more just like I'm doing a customization or like a private deployment for some client. But that's been a minority of the time. Yeah. [00:27:03] Jeremy: It's still impressive to have an open source project that is easy to self-host and yet is still able to support you working on it full time. I think a lot of people might make the assumption that there's nothing to sell if something is, is easy to use. But this sort of sounds like a counterpoint to that. [00:27:25] Brandon: I think I'd like it to be. So when you come back to the point of like, it being easy to self-host. Well, so again, like I think about it as like a primitive of the web. Like for example, if you wanted to start a business today as like hosted CSS files, you know, like where you upload your CSS and then you get developers to pay you a monthly subscription for how many times they fetched a CSS file. Well, I think most developers would be like, that's stupid because it's just an open specification, you just upload a static file. And really my goal is to make Protomaps the same way where it's obvious that there's not really some sort of lock-in or some sort of secret sauce in the server that does this thing. How PMTiles works and building a primitive of the web [00:28:16] Brandon: If you look at video for example, like a lot of the tech for how Protomaps and PMTiles works is based on parts of the HTTP spec that were made for video. And 20 years ago, if you wanted to host a video on the web, you had to have like a real player license or flash. So you had to go license some server software from real media or from macromedia so you could stream video to a browser plugin. But now in HTML you can just embed a video file. And no one's like, oh well I need to go pay for my video serving license. I mean, there is such a thing, like YouTube doesn't really use that for DRM reasons, but people just have the assumption that video is like a primitive on the web. So if we're able to make maps sort of that same way like a primitive on the web then there isn't really some obvious business or licensing model behind how that works. Just because it's a thing and it helps a lot of people do their jobs and people are happy using it. So why bother? [00:29:26] Jeremy: You mentioned that it a tech that was used for streaming video. What tech specifically is it? [00:29:34] Brandon: So it is byte range serving. So when you open a video file on the web, So let's say it's like a 100 megabyte video. You don't have to download the entire video before it starts playing. It streams parts out of the file based on like what frames... I mean, it's based on the frames in the video. So it can start streaming immediately because it's organized in a way to where the first few frames are at the beginning. And what PMTiles really is, is it's just like a video but in space instead of time. So it's organized in a way where these zoomed out views are at the beginning and the most zoomed in views are at the end. So when you're like panning or zooming in the map all you're really doing is fetching byte ranges out of that file the same way as a video. But it's organized in, this tiled way on a space filling curve. IIt's a little bit complicated how it works internally and I think it's kind of cool but that's sort of an like an implementation detail. [00:30:35] Jeremy: And to the person deploying it, it just looks like a single file. [00:30:40] Brandon: Exactly in the same way like an mp3 audio file is or like a JSON file is. [00:30:47] Jeremy: So with a video, I can sort of see how as someone seeks through the video, they start at the beginning and then they go to the middle if they wanna see the middle. For a map, as somebody scrolls around the map, are you seeking all over the file or is the way it's structured have a little less chaos? [00:31:09] Brandon: It's structured. And that's kind of the main technical challenge behind building PMTiles is you have to be sort of clever so you're not spraying the reads everywhere. So it uses something called a hilbert curve, which is a mathematical concept of a space filling curve. Where it's one continuous curve that essentially lets you break 2D space into 1D space. So if you've seen some maps of IP space, it uses this crazy looking curve that hits all the points in one continuous line. And that's the same concept behind PMTiles is if you're looking at one part of the world, you're sort of guaranteed that all of those parts you're looking at are quite close to each other and the data you have to transfer is quite minimal, compared to if you just had it at random. [00:32:02] Jeremy: How big do the files get? If I have a PMTiles of the entire world, what kind of size am I looking at? [00:32:10] Brandon: Right now, the default one I distribute is 128 gigabytes, so it's quite sizable, although you can slice parts out of it remotely. So if you just wanted. if you just wanted California or just wanted LA or just wanted only a couple of zoom levels, like from zero to 10 instead of zero to 15, there is a command line tool that's also called PMTiles that lets you do that. Issues with CDNs and range queries [00:32:35] Jeremy: And when you're working with files of this size, I mean, let's say I am working with a CDN in front of my application. I'm not typically accustomed to hosting something that's that large and something that's where you're seeking all over the file. is that, ever an issue or is that something that's just taken care of by the browser and, and taken care of by, by the hosts? [00:32:58] Brandon: That is an issue actually, so a lot of CDNs don't deal with it correctly. And my recommendation is there is a kind of proxy server or like a serverless proxy thing that I wrote. That runs on like cloudflare workers or on Docker that lets you proxy those range requests into a normal URL and then that is like a hundred percent CDN compatible. So I would say like a lot of the big commercial installations of this thing, they use that because it makes more practical sense. It's also faster. But the idea is that this solution sort of scales up and scales down. If you wanted to host just your city in like a 10 megabyte file, well you can just put that into GitHub pages and you don't have to worry about it. If you want to have a global map for your website that serves a ton of traffic then you probably want a little bit more sophisticated of a solution. It still does not require you to run a Linux server, but it might require (you) to use like Lambda or Lambda in conjunction with like a CDN. [00:34:09] Jeremy: Yeah. And that sort of ties into what you were saying at the beginning where if you can host on something like CloudFlare Workers or Lambda, there's less time you have to spend keeping these things running. [00:34:26] Brandon: Yeah, exactly. and I think also the Lambda or CloudFlare workers solution is not perfect. It's not as perfect as S3 or as just static files, but in my experience, it still is better at building something that lasts on the time span of years than being like I have a server that is on this Ubuntu version and in four years there's all these like security patches that are not being applied. So it's still sort of serverless, although not totally vendor neutral like S3. Customizing the map [00:35:03] Jeremy: We've mostly been talking about how you host the map itself, but for someone who's not familiar with these kind of tools, how would they be customizing the map? [00:35:15] Brandon: For customizing the map there is front end style customization and there's also data customization. So for the front end if you wanted to change the water from the shade of blue to another shade of blue there is a TypeScript API where you can customize it almost like a text editor color scheme. So if you're able to name a bunch of colors, well you can customize the map in that way you can change the fonts. And that's all done using MapLibre GL using a TypeScript API on top of that for customizing the data. So all the pipeline to generate this data from OpenStreetMap is open source. There is a Java program using a library called PlanetTiler which is awesome, which is this super fast multi-core way of building map tiles. And right now there isn't really great hooks to customize what data goes into that. But that's something that I do wanna work on. And finally, because the data comes from OpenStreetMap if you notice data that's missing or you wanted to correct data in OSM then you can go into osm.org. You can get involved in contributing the data to OSM and the Protomaps build is daily. So if you make a change, then within 24 hours you should see the new base map. Have that change. And of course for OSM your improvements would go into every OSM based project that is ingesting that data. So it's not a protomap specific thing. It's like this big shared data source, almost like Wikipedia. OpenStreetMap is a dataset and not a map [00:37:01] Jeremy: I think you were involved with OpenStreetMap to some extent. Can you speak a little bit to that for people who aren't familiar, what OpenStreetMap is? [00:37:11] Brandon: Right. So I've been using OSM as sort of like a tools developer for over a decade now. And one of the number one questions I get from developers about what is Protomaps is why wouldn't I just use OpenStreetMap? What's the distinction between Protomaps and OpenStreetMap? And it's sort of like this funny thing because even though OSM has map in the name it's not really a map in that you can't... In that it's mostly a data set and not a map. It does have a map that you can see that you can pan around to when you go to the website but the way that thing they show you on the website is built is not really that easily reproducible. It involves a lot of c++ software you have to run. But OpenStreetMap itself, the heart of it is almost like a big XML file that has all the data in the map and global. And it has tagged features for example. So you can go in and edit that. It has a web front end to change the data. It does not directly translate into making a map actually. Protomaps decides what shows at each zoom level [00:38:24] Brandon: So a lot of the pipeline, that Java program I mentioned for building this basemap for protomaps is doing things like you have to choose what data you show when you zoom out. You can't show all the data. For example when you're zoomed out and you're looking at all of a state like Colorado you don't see all the Chipotle when you're zoomed all the way out. That'd be weird, right? So you have to make some sort of decision in logic that says this data only shows up at this zoom level. And that's really what is the challenge in optimizing the size of that for the Protomaps map project. [00:39:03] Jeremy: Oh, so those decisions of what to show at different Zoom levels those are decisions made by you when you're creating the PMTiles file with Protomaps. [00:39:14] Brandon: Exactly. It's part of the base maps build pipeline. and those are honestly very subjective decisions. Who really decides when you're zoomed out should this hospital show up or should this museum show up nowadays in Google, I think it shows you ads. Like if someone pays for their car repair shop to show up when you're zoomed out like that that gets surfaced. But because there is no advertising auction in Protomaps that doesn't happen obviously. So we have to sort of make some reasonable choice. A lot of that right now in Protomaps actually comes from another open source project called Mapzen. So Mapzen was a company that went outta business a couple years ago. They did a lot of this work in designing which data shows up at which Zoom level and open sourced it. And then when they shut down, they transferred that code into the Linux Foundation. So it's this totally open source project, that like, again, sort of like Mapbox gl has this awesome legacy in that this company funded it for years for smart people to work on it and now it's just like a free thing you can use. So the logic in Protomaps is really based on mapzen. [00:40:33] Jeremy: And so the visualization of all this... I think I understand what you mean when people say oh, why not use OpenStreetMaps because it's not really clear it's hard to tell is this the tool that's visualizing the data? Is it the data itself? So in the case of using Protomaps, it sounds like Protomaps itself has all of the data from OpenStreetMap and then it has made all the decisions for you in terms of what to show at different Zoom levels and what things to have on the map at all. And then finally, you have to have a separate, UI layer and in this case, it sounds like the one that you recommend is the Map Libre library. [00:41:18] Brandon: Yeah, that's exactly right. For Protomaps, it has a portion or a subset of OSM data. It doesn't have all of it just because there's too much, like there's data in there. people have mapped out different bushes and I don't include that in Protomaps if you wanted to go in and edit like the Java code to add that you can. But really what Protomaps is positioned at is sort of a solution for developers that want to use OSM data to make a map on their app or their website. because OpenStreetMap itself is mostly a data set, it does not really go all the way to having an end-to-end solution. Financials and the idea of a project being complete [00:41:59] Jeremy: So I think it's great that somebody who wants to make a map, they have these tools available, whether it's from what was originally built by Mapbox, what's built by Open StreetMap now, the work you're doing with Protomaps. But I wonder one of the things that I talked about with Tom was he was saying he was trying to build this mapping business and based on the financials of what was coming in he was stressed, right? He was struggling a bit. And I wonder for you, you've been working on this open source project for five years. Do you have similar stressors or do you feel like I could keep going how things are now and I feel comfortable? [00:42:46] Brandon: So I wouldn't say I'm a hundred percent in one bucket or the other. I'm still seeing it play out. One thing, that I really respect in a lot of open source projects, which I'm not saying I'm gonna do for Protomaps is the idea that a project is like finished. I think that is amazing. If a software project can just be done it's sort of like a painting or a novel once you write, finish the last page, have it seen by the editor. I send it off to the press is you're done with a book. And I think one of the pains of software is so few of us can actually do that. And I don't know obviously people will say oh the map is never finished. That's more true of OSM, but I think like for Protomaps. One thing I'm thinking about is how to limit the scope to something that's quite narrow to where we could be feature complete on the core things in the near term timeframe. That means that it does not address a lot of things that people want. Like search, like if you go to Google Maps and you search for a restaurant, you will get some hits. that's like a geocoding issue. And I've already decided that's totally outta scope for Protomaps. So, in terms of trying to think about the future of this, I'm mostly looking for ways to cut scope if possible. There are some things like better tooling around being able to work with PMTiles that are on the roadmap. but for me, I am still enjoying working on the project. It's definitely growing. So I can see on NPM downloads I can see the growth curve of people using it and that's really cool. So I like hearing about when people are using it for cool projects. So it seems to still be going okay for now. [00:44:44] Jeremy: Yeah, that's an interesting perspective about how you were talking about projects being done. Because I think when people look at GitHub projects and they go like, oh, the last commit was X months ago. They go oh well this is dead right? But maybe that's the wrong framing. Maybe you can get a project to a point where it's like, oh, it's because it doesn't need to be updated. [00:45:07] Brandon: Exactly, yeah. Like I used to do a lot of c++ programming and the best part is when you see some LAPACK matrix math library from like 1995 that still works perfectly in c++ and you're like, this is awesome. This is the one I have to use. But if you're like trying to use some like React component library and it hasn't been updated in like a year, you're like, oh, that's a problem. So again, I think there's some middle ground between those that I'm trying to find. I do like for Protomaps, it's quite dependency light in terms of the number of hard dependencies I have in software. but I do still feel like there is a lot of work to be done in terms of project scope that needs to have stuff added. You mostly only hear about problems instead of people's wins [00:45:54] Jeremy: Having run it for this long. Do you have any thoughts on running an open source project in general? On dealing with issues or managing what to work on things like that? [00:46:07] Brandon: Yeah. So I have a lot. I think one thing people point out a lot is that especially because I don't have a direct relationship with a lot of the people using it a lot of times I don't even know that they're using it. Someone sent me a message saying hey, have you seen flickr.com, like the photo site? And I'm like, no. And I went to flickr.com/map and it has Protomaps for it. And I'm like, I had no idea. But that's cool, if they're able to use Protomaps for this giant photo sharing site that's awesome. But that also means I don't really hear about when people use it successfully because you just don't know, I guess they, NPM installed it and it works perfectly and you never hear about it. You only hear about people's negative experiences. You only hear about people that come and open GitHub issues saying this is totally broken, and why doesn't this thing exist? And I'm like, well, it's because there's an infinite amount of things that I want to do, but I have a finite amount of time and I just haven't gone into that yet. And that's honestly a lot of the things and people are like when is this thing gonna be done? So that's, that's honestly part of why I don't have a public roadmap because I want to avoid that sort of bickering about it. I would say that's one of my biggest frustrations with running an open source project is how it's self-selected to only hear the negative experiences with it. Be careful what PRs you accept [00:47:32] Brandon: 'cause you don't hear about those times where it works. I'd say another thing is it's changed my perspective on contributing to open source because I think when I was younger or before I had become a maintainer I would open a pull request on a project unprompted that has a hundred lines and I'd be like, Hey, just merge this thing. But I didn't realize when I was younger well if I just merge it and I disappear, then the maintainer is stuck with what I did forever. You know if I add some feature then that person that maintains the project has to do that indefinitely. And I think that's very asymmetrical and it's changed my perspective a lot on accepting open source contributions. I wanna have it be open to anyone to contribute. But there is some amount of back and forth where it's almost like the default answer for should I accept a PR is no by default because you're the one maintaining it. And do you understand the shape of that solution completely to where you're going to support it for years because the person that's contributing it is not bound to those same obligations that you are. And I think that's also one of the things where I have a lot of trepidation around open source is I used to think of it as a lot more bazaar-like in terms of anyone can just throw their thing in. But then that creates a lot of problems for the people who are expected out of social obligation to continue this thing indefinitely. [00:49:23] Jeremy: Yeah, I can totally see why that causes burnout with a lot of open source maintainers, because you probably to some extent maybe even feel some guilt right? You're like, well, somebody took the time to make this. But then like you said you have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out is this something I wanna maintain long term? And one wrong move and it's like, well, it's in here now. [00:49:53] Brandon: Exactly. To me, I think that is a very common failure mode for open source projects is they're too liberal in the things they accept. And that's a lot of why I was talking about how that choice of what features show up on the map was inherited from the MapZen projects. If I didn't have that then somebody could come in and say hey, you know, I want to show power lines on the map. And they open a PR for power lines and now everybody who's using Protomaps when they're like zoomed out they see power lines are like I didn't want that. So I think that's part of why a lot of open source projects eventually evolve into a plugin system is because there is this demand as the project grows for more and more features. But there is a limit in the maintainers. It's like the demand for features is exponential while the maintainer amount of time and effort is linear. Plugin systems might reduce need for PRs [00:50:56] Brandon: So maybe the solution to smash that exponential down to quadratic maybe is to add a plugin system. But I think that is one of the biggest tensions that only became obvious to me after working on this for a couple of years. [00:51:14] Jeremy: Is that something you're considering doing now? [00:51:18] Brandon: Is the plugin system? Yeah. I think for the data customization, I eventually wanted to have some sort of programmatic API to where you could declare a config file that says I want ski routes. It totally makes sense. The power lines example is maybe a little bit obscure but for example like a skiing app and you want to be able to show ski slopes when you're zoomed out well you're not gonna be able to get that from Mapbox or from Google because they have a one size fits all map that's not specialized to skiing or to golfing or to outdoors. But if you like, in theory, you could do this with Protomaps if you changed the Java code to show data at different zoom levels. And that is to me what makes the most sense for a plugin system and also makes the most product sense because it enables a lot of things you cannot do with the one size fits all map. [00:52:20] Jeremy: It might also increase the complexity of the implementation though, right? [00:52:25] Brandon: Yeah, exactly. So that's like. That's really where a lot of the terrifying thoughts come in, which is like once you create this like config file surface area, well what does that look like? Is that JSON? Is that TOML, is that some weird like everything eventually evolves into some scripting language right? Where you have logic inside of your templates and I honestly do not really know what that looks like right now. That feels like something in the medium term roadmap. [00:52:58] Jeremy: Yeah and then in terms of bug reports or issues, now it's not just your code it's this exponential combination of whatever people put into these config files. [00:53:09] Brandon: Exactly. Yeah. so again, like I really respect the projects that have done this well or that have done plugins well. I'm trying to think of some, I think obsidian has plugins, for example. And that seems to be one of the few solutions to try and satisfy the infinite desire for features with the limited amount of maintainer time. Time split between code vs triage vs talking to users [00:53:36] Jeremy: How would you say your time is split between working on the code versus issue and PR triage? [00:53:43] Brandon: Oh, it varies really. I think working on the code is like a minority of it. I think something that I actually enjoy is talking to people, talking to users, getting feedback on it. I go to quite a few conferences to talk to developers or people that are interested and figure out how to refine the message, how to make it clearer to people, like what this is for. And I would say maybe a plurality of my time is spent dealing with non-technical things that are neither code or GitHub issues. One thing I've been trying to do recently is talk to people that are not really in the mapping space. For example, people that work for newspapers like a lot of them are front end developers and if you ask them to run a Linux server they're like I have no idea. But that really is like one of the best target audiences for Protomaps. So I'd say a lot of the reality of running an open source project is a lot like a business is it has all the same challenges as a business in terms of you have to figure out what is the thing you're offering. You have to deal with people using it. You have to deal with feedback, you have to deal with managing emails and stuff. I don't think the payoff is anywhere near running a business or a startup that's backed by VC money is but it's definitely not the case that if you just want to code, you should start an open source project because I think a lot of the work for an opensource project has nothing to do with just writing the code. It is in my opinion as someone having done a VC backed business before, it is a lot more similar to running, a tech company than just putting some code on GitHub. Running a startup vs open source project [00:55:43] Jeremy: Well, since you've done both at a high level what did you like about running the company versus maintaining the open source project? [00:55:52] Brandon: So I have done some venture capital accelerator programs before and I think there is an element of hype and energy that you get from that that is self perpetuating. Your co-founder is gungho on like, yeah, we're gonna do this thing. And your investors are like, you guys are geniuses. You guys are gonna make a killing doing this thing. And the way it's framed is sort of obvious to everyone that it's like there's a much more traditional set of motivations behind that, that people understand while it's definitely not the case for running an open source project. Sometimes you just wake up and you're like what the hell is this thing for, it is this thing you spend a lot of time on. You don't even know who's using it. The people that use it and make a bunch of money off of it they know nothing about it. And you know, it's just like cool. And then you only hear from people that are complaining about it. And I think like that's honestly discouraging compared to the more clear energy and clearer motivation and vision behind how most people think about a company. But what I like about the open source project is just the lack of those constraints you know? Where you have a mandate that you need to have this many customers that are paying by this amount of time. There's that sort of pressure on delivering a business result instead of just making something that you're proud of that's simple to use and has like an elegant design. I think that's really a difference in motivation as well. Having control [00:57:50] Jeremy: Do you feel like you have more control? Like you mentioned how you've decided I'm not gonna make a public roadmap. I'm the sole developer. I get to decide what goes in. What doesn't. Do you feel like you have more control in your current position than you did running the startup? [00:58:10] Brandon: Definitely for sure. Like that agency is what I value the most. It is possible to go too far. Like, so I'm very wary of the BDFL title, which I think is how a lot of open source projects succeed. But I think there is some element of for a project to succeed there has to be somebody that makes those decisions. Sometimes those decisions will be wrong and then hopefully they can be rectified. But I think going back to what I was talking about with scope, I think the overall vision and the scope of the project is something that I am very opinionated about in that it should do these things. It shouldn't do these things. It should be easy to use for this audience. Is it gonna be appealing to this other audience? I don't know. And I think that is really one of the most important parts of that leadership role, is having the power to decide we're doing this, we're not doing this. I would hope other developers would be able to get on board if they're able to make good use of the project, if they use it for their company, if they use it for their business, if they just think the project is cool. So there are other contributors at this point and I want to get more involved. But I think being able to make those decisions to what I believe is going to be the best project is something that is very special about open source, that isn't necessarily true about running like a SaaS business. [00:59:50] Jeremy: I think that's a good spot to end it on, so if people want to learn more about Protomaps or they wanna see what you're up to, where should they head? [01:00:00] Brandon: So you can go to Protomaps.com, GitHub, or you can find me or Protomaps on bluesky or Mastodon. [01:00:09] Jeremy: All right, Brandon, thank you so much for chatting today. [01:00:12] Brandon: Great. Thank you very much.

A year ago, Scott Morse found himself adrift, severed from a stable income and a defined creative path. Panic was an option. So was fear. Instead, he chose collaboration and creation. This Ink Runs Cold: Short Stories from the Space-Crime Continuum smashes two of his favorite genres between its pages. It's an anthology of one-page pulp stories written by 89 different writers, all drawn by Scott Morse and colored by José Villarrubia. Many of these writers are seasoned comic veterans, animators, and filmmakers. The table of contents includes Mike Allred, Brian Michael Bendis, Jorge Gutierrez, Derek Kirk Kim, Dave McKean, Fábio Moon, Scott Mosier, Eric Powell, Stan Sakai, and on and on and on. Even better, for our purposes anyway, This Ink Runs Cold includes numerous comic book newcomers, including us - Brad and Lisa Gullickson! As of this writing, This Ink Runs Cold has one week left on Kickstarter. Scott Morse and Allen Spiegel Fine Arts offer two editions: the Full-Color version featuring José Villarrubia's wizardry and the limited Black and White Noir version, showcasing Scott Morse's beautiful brushwork. Having knocked out some stretch goals, those backing the Bookplate and Noir/1-2 Punch tiers will get an extra book, The Brush-Offs. This is a 24-page bonus book featuring unused art, abandoned pages, scripts, an alternate prologue/epilogue, and an analysis of this unique writer/artist collaboration. We're beyond honored to contribute one page to This Ink Runs Cold; we're practically in disbelief. Today's podcast is the first time we have featured a story we helped create, and it's an incredibly emotional experience. We're grateful to Scott Morse for coming on the show, explaining how This Ink Runs Cold grew from a mini-devastation, and why this intense injection of collaboration reinvigorated him. We also had the opportunity to explain what our short story "The ADHD P.I." means to us and how it helped us process some anxiety and self-loathing. Working with one page was ridiculously challenging, and what's most exciting is seeing how 88 other writers tackled that challenge and used that finite space in infinite ways. We also start this week's episode with our recent trip to WonderCon and an LAX nightmare we will never forget. If you're here only for the Scott Morse chatter, we won't begrudge you for skipping ahead, but you'll miss out on another outlandish story. This Week's Sponsors: You wake in a hospital bed. Your hand feels heavy, there's a ringing pain in your head. Machine parts have replaced what could not be repaired with flesh. Did the doctors save you, or strip you of your humanity? This is the question facing Adam in Futility Shapes, a one-shot comic live on Kickstarter now! Created by Edward Kane and Dave Fowler. Futility Shapes is a weird blend of The Terminator, The Machinist, and Mass Effect. What shapes you? Visit EdwardKane.net (spell out the name for ease) We're also sponsored by the sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. Plus, the Beyond the Cape Podcast. If you enjoy Comic Book Couples Counseling, you'd undoubtedly enjoy their show. Beyond the Cape is a laid-back talk show in which every episode highlights their love of this beautiful comic book medium, their personal journey with it, and the respective artists they feature on each podcast. This June will mark their second anniversary, which we certainly recognize as a massive accomplishment. So, follow them on Instagram @BeyondTheCapePodcast and Spotify with The Uncensored Nerds Network. Other Relevant Links: Patreon Exclusive: Read The ADHD PI Script Patreon Exclusive: Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Club Support Your Local Comic Shop Free Patreon Series Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. Join us at the Alamo Drafthouse in Winchester, Virginia, on 4/13 at 5:00 PM for Robert Altman's Popeye, co-sponsored by Four Color Fantasies. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

Monolith Productions, the studio behind 'Shadow of Mordor,' 'Shadow of War,' and 'FEAR,' is being closed by Warner Bros. In this episode, hosts Paul John Spaulding, Kyle Haglund, VP, Audio Engineering at Cybercrime Magazine, and Sam White, Video Producer at Cybercrime Magazine, discuss this decision, what it means for the broader gaming industry and game preservation, including the value of DRM-free stores, and more. • For more on cybersecurity, visit us at https://cybersecurityventures.com

If you're not reading Juni Ba comics, you're missing out on a living legend pushing the form to its extreme potential. Since Djeliya, we haven't missed a panel from the cartoonist, and we've watched him develop into an undeniable talent, producing one essential comic after another. Just when we think he can't possibly top himself (seriously, did you read Mobilis: My Life with Captain Nemo and The Boy Wonder?), he drops Monkey Meat: The Summer Batch, his sequel to the Image Comics anthology series. It's a radical, rageful commentary on the world we're all trapped on, but it contains profound joy through its creation. THIS. IS. COMICS. Today's podcast is a thorough conversation with Juni Ba about Monkey Meat: The Summer Batch. Why did he adopt a new aesthetic for this series? Is it too hopeless to be considered dystopian? What does Britney Spears have to do with Monkey Meat: The Summer Batch? We dig in and chow down. The first issue of Monkey Meat: The Summer Batch is now available wherever rad comics are sold. The second issue will arrive on April 2nd. We're begging you not to let this series, destined for legendary status, slip through your fingers. Be sure to continue this conversation with Juni Ba by visiting his Instagram, Bluesky, and Twitter. This week's episode is sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. We're also sponsored by the Beyond the Cape Podcast. If you enjoy Comic Book Couples Counseling, you'd undoubtedly enjoy their show. Beyond the Cape is a laid-back talk show in which every episode highlights their love of this beautiful comic book medium, their personal journey with it, and the respective artists they feature on each podcast. This June will mark their second anniversary, which we certainly recognize as a massive accomplishment. So, follow them on Instagram @BeyondTheCapePodcast and Spotify with The Uncensored Nerds Network. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: Juni Ba on CBCC: Djeliya Juni Ba on CBCC: Mobilis Juni Ba on CBCC: Nightwatcher This Ink Runs Cold Kickstarter Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Club Support Your Local Comic Shop Free Patreon Series Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

It's not about the plot. That's why Matthew Rosenberg was not worried about spoiling it all in the solicits for We're Taking Everyone Down With Us, his new Image Comics series done in collaboration with artist Stefano Landini, colorists Roman Titov and Jason Wordie, letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, and designer Becca Carey. For the writer, the comic is everything surrounding the narrative: character, emotion, theme, style, etc. AKA, the perfect Comic Book Couples Counseling comic. The first issue of the new sci-fi spy thriller releases this Wednesday (March 26th) and celebrates numerous influences, but it's sharpened into something extraordinarily fresh. The tropes will be familiar to any James Bond obsessive, but We're Taking Everyone Down With Us shifts the perspective from problematic double o to the child of one of his greatest mad scientist rivals. Thirteen-year-old Annalise merely wants more time with her father, but he's too busy plotting earthly destruction in his lab. So, she's stuck with her robot babysitters. We're Taking Everyone Down With Us starts with a bang, and it reveals a whole new world to the child, and that revelation will become quite the problem for any wannabe James Bond lurking in the plot. Matthew Rosenberg makes his CBCC podcast debut, and we're eager to discuss the inspirations behind We're Taking Everyone Down With Us and his relationship with super spy melodrama. We also discuss the personal saga behind the story, our frustration with spoiler culture, and why no artistic expression feels as good as comic book collaboration. Stay current on Matthew Rosenberg by following his Substack, Podcast, Bluesky, and Instagram. This week's episode is sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. We're also sponsored by the Beyond the Cape Podcast. If you enjoy Comic Book Couples Counseling, you'd undoubtedly enjoy their show. Beyond the Cape is a laid-back talk show in which every episode highlights their love of this beautiful comic book medium, their personal journey with it, and the respective artists they feature on each podcast. This June will mark their second anniversary, which we certainly recognize as a massive accomplishment. So, follow them on Instagram @BeyondTheCapePodcast and Spotify with The Uncensored Nerds Network. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: We Should Improve Society Somewhat by Matt Bors How to Resist Amazon and Why by Danny Caine This Ink Runs Cold Kickstarter Support Your Local Comic Shop - Episode 2 - Now Or Never (San Diego, CA) Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. Join us at the Alamo Drafthouse in Winchester, Virginia, on 3/09 at 5:00 PM for Popeye, co-sponsored by Four Color Fantasies. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

With Usagi Yojimbo: Ten Thousand Plums, Stan Sakai enters his forty-first year as the rabbit ronin's chronicler. Each decade represents about a year in the title character's life, which you can track if you're paying attention to the seasons surrounding Usagi's adventures. If you're paying even closer attention, you can map his footsteps across sixteenth-century Japan and anticipate his next conflict or reunion, but don't worry if you lack such concentration. As you'll hear in today's episode, Sakai certainly does not. Usagi Yojimbo Ten Thousand Plums begins with a fox spirit and her daughter struggling to survive. Sickness has taken the child, and the mother seeks help from a nearby village. They reject her despite having access to the Shogun's prized plum orchard and the healing umeboshi (pickled plums) it produces. By the time Usagi, his cousin Yukichi, and the bounty hunter Gen arrive, fury has rained down upon the town, creating a dangerous suspicion of outsiders. With Ten Thousand Plums, Stan Sakai continues to explore the themes of deceptive appearances, selflessness, and selfishness, which he thoroughly dug into with the previous Usagi Yojimbo storyline, The Crow. We chat with Sakai about this current preoccupation, how it challenges Usagi and Yukichi, and where it could lead the cousins. No major spoilers lie within our conversation, but Stan Sakai does tease a few things that will undoubtedly spark intense curiosity for longtime Usagi Yojimbo readers. The Sword of Narukami is in play. Could another famous sword re-appear, too? Following Ten Thousand Plums' first three issues, a new story entitled "Tabo" should prove to be Stan Sakai's most personal comic yet. It was written shortly after his younger brother Kenneth passed away, and Sakai kindly expands on what this tale means for him and his family. You'll hear how "Tabo" places Usagi and Yukichi on a pilgrimage in search of the miraculous goddess called "The Mother," forcing Usagi to confront his skepticism in ways he never has before. The first issue of Usagi Yojimbo Ten Thousand Plums is now available from Dark Horse Comics and Dogu Publishing. The second issue will arrive on April 16th, and we have an exclusive preview of its first five pages on the Comic Book Couples Counseling website. Make sure to keep up to date on all things Usagi Yojimbo by visiting Stan Sakai's website and Instagram. This week's episode is sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. We're also sponsored by the Beyond the Cape Podcast. If you enjoy Comic Book Couples Counseling, you'd undoubtedly enjoy their show. Beyond the Cape is a laid-back talk show in which every episode highlights their love of this beautiful comic book medium, their personal journey with it, and the respective artists they feature on each podcast. This June will mark their second anniversary, which we certainly recognize as a massive accomplishment. So, follow them on Instagram @BeyondTheCapePodcast and Spotify with The Uncensored Nerds Network. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: Stan Sakai on CBCC: Samurai Rabbit Stan Sakai and Julie Sakai on CBCC: Ice and Snow This Ink Runs Cold Kickstarter Support Your Local Comic Shop - Episode 2 - Now Or Never (San Diego, CA) Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

Steam's Year in Review reveals 330 million hours of Deck usage in 2024, hacking AMD FSR 4 support into DLSS games, Zink murders Nouveau GL, Box64 gains bonus DRM compatibility, and running Steam on Rockchip-powered single-board computers because why the hell not.

Some of the minor news discussed include Defiance coming back 4 years after servers were shut down, BlizzCon 2025 not happening, Moon Studios going full indie, buying No Rest For the Wicked's publishing rights from Take-Two and Final Fantasy 16 PC version removing Denuvo Anti-tamper DRM. The Gaming Flashback is 2015's Bloodborne. The news includes: Humble Games Showcase Killing Floor 3 delayed to later in 2025 Next-gen Xbox reportedly coming in 2027, handheld rumored for this year Let us know what you think.

Some of the minor news discussed include Defiance coming back 4 years after servers were shut down, BlizzCon 2025 not happening, Moon Studios going full indie, buying No Rest For the Wicked's publishing rights from Take-Two and Final Fantasy 16 PC version removing Denuvo Anti-tamper DRM. The Gaming Flashback is 2015's Bloodborne. The news includes: […] The post Episode 747: The Next Xbox first appeared on .

Reading Judge Dredd in 2025 is a helluva thing. The gap between Anycity USA and Mega-City One shortens seemingly with every passing second, causing us to re-evaluate dystopia's purpose. A Better World, the latest 2000 AD collection from writers Rob Williams and Arthur Wyatt, featuring gorgeously gnarly art from Henry Flint, Boo Cook, Jake Lynch, and Jim Boswell, is a vicious mirror to gaze into. And anxiety rests in what to do after you pull your head away. The story begins with Judge Maitland discovering the impossible amongst her accounts. If the Chief Justices would allow her to reallocate a few resources, say feed money into education and a few other social services, crime in Mega-City One would likely plummet. They give her a sector to manage, and her theory becomes reality. Oh, no. Judge Dredd: A Better World knocked us flat when we first read it last year. We, and a lot of other comic lovers, ranked it as one of 2024's best stories. Now that it's properly collected, we were eager to get Rob Williams and Arthur Wyatt on the podcast to break it down and challenge our understanding of Mega-City One's top cop and the people he polices. We discuss how and why they brought Judge Maitland to her findings, how she relates heavily to Dredd, and why he responds so warmly to her. Or as warmly as Dredd possibly can. Our conversation dips into the joys of dystopia as well as the danger that can occur when folks give it a light reading. The trick being to make light readings impossible. Follow Rob Williams on Bluesky, Instagram, and Twitter. Follow Arthur Wyatt on Bluesky, Instagram, and Twitter. Yes, this week's episode is sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10. We're also sponsored by the Beyond the Cape Podcast. If you enjoy Comic Book Couples Counseling, you'd undoubtedly enjoy their show. Beyond the Cape is a laid-back talk show in which every episode highlights their love of this beautiful comic book medium, their personal journey with it, and the respective artists they feature on each podcast. This June will mark their second anniversary, which we certainly recognize as a massive accomplishment. So, follow them on Instagram @BeyondTheCapePodcast and Spotify with The Uncensored Nerds Network. Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: Rob Williams on Judge Dredd: End of Days This Ink Runs Cold Kickstarter Support Your Local Comic Shop - Episode 2 - Now Or Never (San Diego, CA) Married to Singles: Michael Schwartz on Darkhold: Iron Man Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

In this week's episode, we take a look at five lessons for writers from Barnes & Nobles' turnaround. I also discuss indie author advertising results from February 2025. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Blade of the Elves, Book #3 in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store: BLADE50 The coupon code is valid through March 28, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 242 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is March 7, 2025, and today we are looking at writing lessons from the dramatic turnaround of Barnes and Noble. We'll also look at my ad results for February 2025 and we'll also have Coupon of the Week and an update on my current writing projects and Question of the Week.   First off, let's start with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Blade of the Elves, Book Number Three in the Dragon Skull Series (as excellent narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store. That coupon code is BLADE50. We'll have the coupon code and the link in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through March 28th, 2025, so if you need a new audiobook for spring, we have got you covered. Now an update on my current writing and audiobook projects. The rough draft of Ghosts in the Assembly is done and I am 16% into the second phase of editing. If all goes well, I am planning to publish the book on March 14th, assuming there are no unanticipated interruptions, which is always risky to rely upon, but things are going well with it and I'm optimistic we can do that. I'm also 13,000 words into Shield of Battle and after Ghost in the Assembly is published, that will be my main project.   In audiobook news, Orc-Hoard, the fourth book in the Half-Elven Thief series (as narrated by Leanne Woodward), is now available and you can get it at all the usual audiobook stores. Half-Elven Thief: Omnibus One (which is a combination of Half-Elven Thief, Wizard-Thief, and Half-Orc Paladin, the first three books in the series) is also now available in audio (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward), and you can give that omnibus edition at Audible, Amazon, and Apple. So that is where I'm at with my current writing projects.   00:01:49 Question of the Week   Question the Week is designed to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question, when you have an unpleasant chore that must be done, do you prefer to split it up into smaller parts over a number of days or just to get it all over with at once? No wrong answers, obviously. The inspiration for this question is the fact that it's tax prep time here in the United States, and I have spent a lot of time this week working on that.   Justin says: I prefer to get it over with all at once if possible. Extending your example, I have somehow become the tax preparer for other family members, so there are a few days where that is what I do. I also set aside a few hours every month for vehicle maintenance: check fluids, tire pressure, top off everything, look at belts (replace if worn). It's amazing how more reliable cars are when you look after them a bit.   That is very true. Good car maintenance advice from Justin.   Catriona says: Procrastinate. I love to procrastinate, then the mad dash to the very last second of the deadline. Retired now, so no longer need to be efficiently organized.   Jenny says: Oh, split if I can, procrastinate if I can't. Dishes? Do some or put some away, do more later or let my laundry pile up until I have no pants.   And Juana says: Let's get this over with. (Transcriptionist's note: this was posted in the form of a GIF of Liz Lemon from 30 Rock)   For myself, I suppose the answer is that I essentially get to do both since I'm technically a small business owner as a publisher, I do some tax stuff every month and then usually have a couple of days in March that are all tax prep. Other than that, it really depends on the size of the task in question. My preferred way would be to split a task up into smaller pieces and do 'em until they're done. But if you have something like snow shoveling, for example, you really do have to kind of bite the bullet and get it over with all at once.   00:03:21 February 2025 Ad Results   Now let's see how my ads did in February 2025. February is generally a better month for advertising than November, December, and January. The reason for that is that Valentine's Day and the Super Bowl drives some consumer spending, though not nearly as much as the Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays, and so therefore the cost per click is often lower and you can usually have good results with ads.   First up, Facebook ads. In February, I advertised both Cloak Games/Cloak Mage and all the Ghosts on Facebook. For Cloak Games/Cloak Mage, I got back $2.98 (USD) for every dollar spent, with 6.8% of the profit coming from the audiobooks. For the Ghosts, I got back $3.24 cents for every dollar spent, with 15.4% of the profit coming from the audiobooks. I also ran a few different Amazon ad campaigns. Remember that for an Amazon ad campaign to work, it needs to generate a sale or a complete Kindle Unlimited page readthrough for every six to eight clicks. For Half-Elven Thief, I got back $2.30 for every dollar spent, with a sale for every 0.68 clicks. In other words, we had more total sales than we had clicks. For Stealth and Spells Online: Creation, I lost $2.52 for every dollar spent, with a sale for every 8.1 clicks. For The Linux Command Line Beginner's Guide, I got back $1.86 for every dollar spent, with a sale for every one click and 32% of the month's profit coming from the audiobook. I think this shows how badly I misjudged the LitRPG market with Stealth and Spells Online. The ads for Half-Elven Thief actually get more search terms for LitRPG related searches than Stealth and Spells actually does. I ran BookBub ads for Sevenfold Sword and The Ghosts on Apple, and here's how they did. For The Ghosts, I got back $5.26 for every dollar spent. For Sevenfold Sword, I got back $4.35 for every $1 spent. Finally, for the Demonsouled series, which is currently in KU, I did a combined Facebook and Amazon campaign, and when you run multi-platform ad campaigns like that, the most valuable metric tends to be honestly money back for dollar spent. So for Demonsouled, I got back $2.58 for every dollar spent. So good results, all in all, and I didn't actually lose that much money on Stealth and Spells. So thanks for reading everyone and hopefully I'll have more good books for you to read soon.   00:05:47 Main Topic: Lessons for Writers from Barnes and Noble's Turnaround   So now onto our main topic this week, lessons for Writers from Barnes and Noble's Turnaround because it is fair to say Barnes and Noble has had a turnaround recently. For a while at the end of the 2010s and the early 2020s, people would have their self-publishing predictions for the year, and one of them was almost always that Barnes and Noble is going to finally close, which was a reversal of fortune for it because if you remember in the ‘90s and the 2000s and even the early part of the 2010s, Barnes and Noble was the juggernaut in the publishing industry. They had forced out of business a lot of smaller indie bookstores and what Barnes and Noble wanted in the publishing industry, Barnes and Noble got. Then just as Barnes and Noble disrupted all the smaller book chains and independent bookstores, Amazon came along and disrupted Barnes and Noble. And so for a while it looked like Barnes and Noble was going to go out of business, but Barnes and Noble's revenue actually grew 1.6% in fiscal year 2024, and their foot traffic is up significantly. They're planning 60 new stores after a wave of closures in previous years.   A few years ago, as I said, they seemed headed for extinction, yet a combination of unpredictable factors and good decisions helped turned around Barnes and Noble. What are some of those factors leading into it? I suspect one of them is that many people are forced to be on screens all day and can find this frustrating or stressful, especially when schooling and work were virtual. I've talked to some teachers over the past couple of years and they would tell me stories of, for example, younger children who will burst into tears at the site of a Chromebook just because the experience of remote learning via Chromebooks was so stressful and miserable in 2020 and 2021 (and places that held onto that policy for probably longer than they should have). So much socialization nowadays is conducted online too through TikToks and chats and text messages and so forth. Because of this, many now feel like print books are a break from being constantly online. Various social media people such as TikTokers and Instagrammers make Barnes and Noble trips and hauls, showing off giant stacks of the latest books, filling up feeds. Home book displays are also a trend online, as collectors show off carefully style collections of books. Owning physical books and browsing the shelves at Barnes and Noble has become cool again. Truly history is a wheel that keeps on turning.   So what lessons can you take from this turnaround as a writer (even if your physical books aren't stocked by Barnes and Noble and you don't sell that many eBooks through them)? How they approach their relationship with their readers and their customers still has a few lessons to provide writers.   #1: Focus on your primary mission and also double down on what actually works. Barnes and Noble started to devote much of their store space to a confusing, aimless mixture of toys and gifts mixed in with the books. The stores began to look cluttered and much of this merchandise did not actually sell to their customers. They also wasted a large sum of money trying to compete with Amazon, Apple, and tech companies with their Nook tablets and kept Nook ereaders as a strong store presence long after it was clear they had lost the battle for the ebook market. There was even an extremely ill-advised foray into Barnes and Noble restaurants. Customers were quick to reject $13 avocado toast and $7 oatmeal from a mall chain bookstore.   One, when the company focused on returning to selling print books and making the store a better place to browse, sales improved. Many stores moved the gifts and games away from the book areas and back into the dedicated sections, which cleaned up the layout and made it easier for customers wanting non-book items to find what they were looking for. Since most of the customers were actually there to buy books, that made it easier to buy books.   How to apply this as a writer? Your job as a writer is to create and sell books. Getting lost in side quests, like overly frequent social media posting, creating courses or webinars, and selling merchandises are only taking time away from what your readers actually want the most from you: more books. So double down on writing more books, just as Barnes Noble doubled down on selling more books.   #2: Target the right people. Barnes Noble's display spaces and tables were taken up by books that publishers paid to place there. This led to their prime store space being taken up by books that were often poor sellers or not a good fit for their local customers. It was better to turn down the short-term money but have more targeted displays, including putting similar books in “thematic nooks.”   By focusing much of their marketing on the BookTok/Bookstagram groups of heavy readers, they were able to find ways to appeal to a younger and growing customer base. Since this group loves books both as content and décor, showcasing exclusive or “aesthetic” special editions was a way to bring these customers back into the store and keep them from buying cheaper copies online. These readers were also willing to spend a few dollars extra for the experience and to ensure that the books they were buying weren't damaged, which is often a complaint when you buy books online, that they sometimes aren't packaged properly and arrive damaged in transit. Store space was also devoted to manga readers, another group that reads voraciously and enjoys the experience of reading the print version and later collecting the print version as opposed to the electronic one.   Now, how do you apply this as a writer? Appeal to your core audience. Instead of trying to appeal to everyone, find your core “thematic nook” (as Barnes Noble puts it), meaning similar authors and titles. There are resources like Publisher Rocket that can help you do this. Focus your advertising on finding these readers instead of the general population.   For myself, I've experienced this lesson personally in the last four years because in the last four years I've tried three different new things: The Cormac Rogan Mysteries, the Stealth and Spells LitRPG book, and the Rivah Half-Elven series. And of the three, Rivah was by far the most successful because it was another form of epic fantasy, which I think is what my core audience really wants from me and not contemporary mysteries or LitRPG. So this is the lesson I can attest to through personal experience.   #3: Give customers a good experience. Barnes and Noble spent money on repainting, installing brighter lighting, and changing store layouts. The CEO James Daunt stated it was their aim to make the store feels like “places of discovery.” Chairs were even added back to some stores to allow readers to browse in comfort.   Now, how can you apply this to being a writer? First, you want to make sure that your readers have the easiest possible experience, the most pleasant possible experience in buying books from you. One way to do this is keep your website updated and check for broken links, which is easier said than done. I know, especially for me since Ghost in the Assembly will be my 160th novel, and that is a lot of links to check and my website had gotten complex enough that I finally hired someone to overhaul it and make sure all the links were working. But I think we've had good results since traffic is up and I get much fewer complaints now about dead links. It's often a good idea to refresh ad images to keep potential readers' attention. For Facebook ads, I think based on my experience, the best you can hope for is two to three weeks of good results with a single image. For BookBub, maybe three or four days. So it's good to have a supply of ad images you can rotate out often. Finally, incentivize readers to read your newsletter by keeping it brief and providing some kind of special reward, like a discount or bonus content, which is why I give away a lot of short stories in my email newsletter.   #4: Be willing to change it up or try new things. Barnes and Noble's leadership also ceded more control of the selection and displays to the individual stores, allowing them to better customize the stores towards the taste of the community. For most of Barnes and Noble's history, if you walked into the store and you saw the displays in the front and on the end caps where books were highlighted. Publishers paid through the nose for the privilege of having their books stocked that way. And while there is still some of that, obviously the new regime at Barnes and Noble has changed things around so that more local stores have greater control of what to put where, which means they can put out more books that their local community is more likely to buy. If you walk into a Barnes and Noble in Illinois, for example, you're much more likely to see a large display of Illinois local history than you would have otherwise.   For another example, I once visited a Barnes and Noble in a large suburb that had a very large teenage population that had the Young Adult section wedged in a single cramped back corner by the bathrooms. It was extremely unpleasant to browse, especially if one person was already in the aisle. And of course, if there was a line for the bathroom, which is often the case, teenagers typically want more physical space from strangers. This decision to put the Young Adult section in a cramped corner in the back of the store was clearly made by someone who did not a lot of experience talking to or working with teenagers. After Daunt's changes, Young Adult was moved to the center of the store. The aisles in the new section were extra wide to accommodate groups of teens browsing together, and it was now full of colorful displays, many of which were handmade by staff members. In the times I visited this Barnes and Noble since, it is always the busiest part of the store.   Another surprise area of growth was the refreshing of the stationery and planner section. The previous selection was stale and heavily reliant on older licensed properties like Disney. It wasn't reflective of the trends in the category being popularized (once again by Instagram and TikTok), such as dot grid notebooks with high quality paper and guided journals (like the influencer favorite, the Five Minute Journal, which offers a few brief prompts to reflect on the day). Barnes and Noble bought the stationery brand Paper Source, which brought in fresh designs to its cards and stationery. They also changed their selection to adapt to two of the biggest trends in stationery, bullet journaling and customizable Japanese planners. Stationery enthusiasts were willing to pay a premium to be able to see stationery items in person before buying, since that allows you to avoid counterfeit versions that are sold online and ensure that the product was in pristine condition and would not arrive through the mail damaged. Since the margins on stationery are way higher than they are in books, this was a wise decision.   Now how can we apply this lesson as a writer? One of the advantages of being self-published is the ability to change quickly based on data and reader feedback. For example, the Stealth and Spells Online series was originally called the Sevenfold Sword Online. Once I realized that readers were confusing this series with the main Sevenfold Sword series, I changed the title to help prevent confusion and emphasized that the series was in fact a separate one. I also changed the cover to reflect trends in the LitRPG series, such as characters' faces usually not being shown and a more diffused, animation-influenced color palette.   If one of your books isn't connecting with readers, it may be worth your time to update your blurb and cover trends based on your categories. Another similar experience I had was with the Silent Order covers where I went through five different iterations with that cover before I settled on the version I have now, which definitely sells the best.     #5: Do what Amazon can't. The new CEO of Barnes and Noble focused on what Amazon couldn't do: provide a physical environment for browsing.  Browsing aisles of books with a cup of coffee (from the Barnes and Noble Café) in hand is a relaxing experience for many people. Amazon famously tried to set up its own chain of physical bookstores, and it didn't work out because the experience for customers tended to be industrial and unpleasant in a way that made an airport newsstand seem downright cozy in comparison. The bookstores were stocked with just a very limited selection of popular books on plain shelves with electronic price tags. Nothing about it inspired browsing or finding new books, the most important way physical bookstores inspire readers to buy additional books.   This was an example of Amazon doing the opposite of our first lesson. Rather than doubling down on what was working, they tried something that was away from their core competency of low prices and fast delivery, which was a physical bookstore. In fact, one of these Amazon bookstores opened across the street from author Ann Patchett's Parnassus books, which is an indie bookstore in Nashville that provides lots of help from friendly, knowledgeable staff, autographed books from authors like Patchett, and a full calendar of events with local authors. Reviewers who have visited this indie bookstore rave about the friendly and helpful staff and the cozy atmosphere. Even though Parnassus offered higher prices than the Amazon bookstore across the street, the experience was so much better that it's not surprising that the Amazon bookstore did not work and that Parnassus outlasted this physical Amazon bookstore that opened across the street. As many people have found out the hard way, it is very difficult to compete with Amazon on price. Instead of constantly discounting books with buy two get one free promotions or providing steep discounts through its membership program, Barnes and Noble stopped trying to compete with Amazon on price and turned their attention to something that Amazon couldn't do, which is the physical experience of the store. Events like children's story times and special events (complete with gift bags) for popular releases like Onyx Storm brought in people who hadn't been to a physical store in a while.   Now, the point of this isn't to indulge in Amazon bashing because Amazon does get criticized a lot, sometimes fairly, sometimes not fairly. The point is that trying to compete with Amazon on its core competencies of low price and fast delivery is not a good idea. And so instead, you need to try and find a way to do something well that Amazon can't do or Amazon isn't interested in doing. Even if Amazon remains a big part of your business as an indie writer, you can diversify your profits and readership by looking beyond Amazon.   What can't Amazon do for your readers? You can engage with your readers directly through your newsletter and social media. That's why I try to post at least once a day and respond to comments when possible. You can find ways to provide special content for loyal readers, which I do personally in the form of free short stories, discounts, Coupon of the Week (which we always talk about every week). Giveaways, et cetera provide something that Amazon can't or won't. For example, direct sales platforms like my Payhip store can provide DRM free ebook files, multiple file formats with each purchase, and special bonus content for readers buying direct and so forth. If you buy a book off My Payhip store, you can download the epub file and a PDF file, which you can't do from Amazon anymore.   On a related note, give people who don't want to buy from Amazon a place to buy your books, whether that be other ebook vendors or your own direct sales page (or ideally both). I should mention that personally of my (soon to be) 160 books, only 14% of them are currently on Kindle Unlimited (which means Amazon exclusivity), which is a fortunate position I'm able to be in because Kindle Unlimited is also a big part of the market. I'm able to essentially play in both worlds where I have the majority of my series available wide (and available on my Payhip store with files and the other things we were talking about), while also providing some books for Kindle Unlimited readers, which also is a big part of the pool. I'm fortunate enough to be able to play in both worlds there and continue to do that.   To sum up, Barnes and Noble recovered by focusing on what it does best and finding the people who respond best to that. As a writer, I think your main focus should be on putting out new books and targeting your advertising is the best way to make that approach work for you. If you have a long series, it might be a good idea to make the first book free and advertise that if you want to connect more with your readers, giving away short stories is a good way to do that, especially in your newsletter. So to sum up, perhaps the best way forward for all writers is to remain flexible and to double down on your core competencies and core strengths.   So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com, often with transcripts. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.  

We chat with Marcin Paczyński, Senior Business Development Manager at Good Old Game, and Adam Ziółkowski, Technical Engineer, to hear about their new Preservation Program. Launched in November 2024, this initiative is dedicated to ensuring classic games remain playable on modern and future systems. We hear about the challenges of maintaining compatibility, the process of updating and bug-fixing classic titles, and GOG's commitment to DRM-free gaming. GOG Preservation Program: https://www.gog.com/en/gog-preservation-program Contents: 00:00 - The Week's Retro News Stories  44:05 - Good Old Game Interview Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show: Bitmap Books - https://www.bitmapbooks.com Take your business to the next level today and enjoy 3 months of Shopify for £1/month: https://shopify.co.uk/retrohour The Retro Hour Book: https://retrohour.myshopify.com/ We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you'd like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://theretrohour.com/support/ https://www.patreon.com/retrohour Get your Retro Hour merchandise: https://bit.ly/33OWBKd Join our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/GQw8qp8 Website: http://theretrohour.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theretrohour/ X: https://twitter.com/retrohouruk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retrohouruk/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theretrohour.com Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theretrohour Show notes Terminator 2D No Fate: https://tinyurl.com/2jcsa8mn RIP Skype: https://tinyurl.com/3ahrj2cp Lost PC game Big Brother archived online: https://tinyurl.com/33kt64td Sonic Unleashed 360 Recomp: https://tinyurl.com/pe34prja Bandai Namco want to license out classic IPs: https://tinyurl.com/4ez98jhn

संयुक्त किसान मोर्चा आज से चंडीगढ़ में लगाएगा पक्का मोर्चा, दिल्ली नॉर्थ रेलवे के DRM सुखविंदर सिंह का ट्रांसफर, हरियाणा में 2002 बैच के एचसीएस अधिकारियों को आईएएस में पदोन्नत करने का मामला राष्ट्रपति द्रौपदी मुर्मू के पास पहुंचा, पहाड़ी राज्यों में बर्फबारी के बाद हवाएं चलने से मैदान इलाकों में ठंड और अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति के ‘ग़ज़ा प्लान' के विकल्प के रूप में अरब नेताओं ने 53 अरब डॉलर की एक अलग ‘अरब योजना' को मंज़ूरी दी. सुनिए सुबह 10 बजे तक की बड़ी खबरें सिर्फ 5 मिनट में

Lords: * Andi * Casey Topics: * Lifehacks as communion with the divine * I decided to fire my computer * Winston is starting to forget things Microtopics: * A Star Trek watchalong podcast that doesn't exist yet. * Positing that what you said is no longer an NDA violation by the time this episode comes out. * Plugging a fake game that you worked on. * Astrobot. * Horror movie clinky noises that you can't hear over the PS4 fan noises. * Caffeine-infused mints with Tux the Penguin branding on Think Geek dot com. * The pre-eminent source for Life Hacks. * Using a hotel shower cap to bake bread. * Anime girls that are happy to see you. * That one time Film Crit Hulk broke character. * The joy of moving efficiently through the world. * More efficient ways to set the microwave timer. * Hotel rooms that you can bake bread in. * Whether bread should contain hair. * Tricking yourself into not being bored while doing something you have to do. * Reading 50 life hacks and applying none of them because. * Viral Life Hack that's killed 33 people. * A life hack that already had a body count in the double digits before someone made a TikTok about it. * Getting really fed up with computers. * Cryptographic signing processes that you can't participate in. * The HDCP certification board taking steps to ensure nobody can take a screen shot of their Crunchy Roll anime. * The analog hole. * Open source web browsers that can't see DRM content. * Microsoft-authenticated Linux installations. * Designing a circuit that solves a math problem. * Stamping a circuit onto your circuit clay. * An independent circuit re-implementation of video game hardware. * Should you use FPGA to do a thing? * Ridiculous multi-level memory caching systems. * Bootstrapping an FPGA design tool that runs on an FPGA device. * Every single circuit doing something on every single cycle. * Voltages going high and/or low. * Making a bunch of CPUs and testing them afterwards to see how many GHz they have. * Why the PS3 Cell processor had 7 SPUs * The industrial uses of the Cell processor. * A GLSL compiler that outputs FPGA circuits. * Mr. MiSTer. * Open-hardware laptops. * Inventing an open-source GPU. * Multics or Minix. * Writing a Breakout clone in Rust targeting the weird CPU your friend just invented. * Making a terrible first effort that is the right kind of good enough. * A laptop that has a FPGA where the CPU/GPU usually goes. * 1970s-era TV games. * The Epoch Cassette Vision. * A game console with interchangeable cartridges where the CPU is on the cartridge. * The Glasgow Interface Explorer. * Describing your FPGA circuit in Python. * Manufacturing homebrew Cassette Vision Homebrew cartridges for the audience of zero Cassette Vision owners. * Making art just for you, in the most overly elaborate and overly complicated way possible. * The programmer equivalent of going to swim with the dolphins. * Diagonal pixels. * Childhood amnesia. * Remembering your memories. * Using 10% of your brain. (And also the other 90%.) * Knowing things about stuff. * When one brother dies, the other brother gets their memories. * Memories that are formed before vs. after you learn to talk. * Being persecuted for being friends with a girl. * Rules of heteronormativity being enforced by three year olds. * Getting off of Wordpress.

Segui Melambrosia su Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melambrosia/ Con il codice DAILYCOGITO7 puoi iniziare un percorso su Serenis per prenderti cura del tuo benessere mentale a un prezzo convenzionato. Scopri di più su https://bit.ly/serenisdufer MITOLOGOS a fine marzo: https://www.cogitoacademy.it/prodotto/seminario-mitologos/ MITOLOGOS a maggio: https://www.cogitoacademy.it/prodotto/seminario-mitologos-maggio/ ⬇⬇⬇SOTTO TROVI INFORMAZIONI IMPORTANTI⬇⬇⬇ Il video che ti spiega come togliere il DRM dai tuoi ebook kindle per poterli convertire in PDF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIjvNB2Ojk0 Abbonati per live e contenuti esclusivi ➤➤➤ https://bit.ly/memberdufer I prossimi eventi dal vivo ➤➤➤ https://www.dailycogito.com/eventi Scopri la nostra scuola di filosofia ➤➤➤ https://www.cogitoacademy.it/ Racconta storie di successo con RISPIRA ➤➤➤ https://cogitoacademy.it/rispira/ Impara ad argomentare bene ➤➤➤ https://bit.ly/3Pgepqz Prendi in mano la tua vita grazie a PsicoStoici ➤➤➤ https://bit.ly/45JbmxX Il mio ultimo libro per Feltrinelli ➤➤➤ https://amzn.to/3OY4Xca La newsletter gratuita ➤➤➤ http://eepurl.com/c-LKfz Tutti i miei libri ➤➤➤ https://www.dailycogito.com/libri/ Il nostro podcast è sostenuto da NordVPN ➤➤➤ https://nordvpn.com/dufer #rickdufer #amazon #kindle INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/rickdufer INSTAGRAM di Daily Cogito: https://instagram.com/dailycogito TELEGRAM: http://bit.ly/DuFerTelegram FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/duferfb LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/riccardo-dal-ferro/31/845/b14 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chi sono io: https://www.dailycogito.com/rick-dufer/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- La musica della sigla è tratta da Epidemic Sound (author: Jules Gaia): https://epidemicsound.com/ - la voce della sigla è di CAROL MAG (https://www.instagram.com/carolmagmusic/) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Microsoft's Activation Cracked, Comark Ransomware Crisis, Fusion Milestone & Grok 3 AI In today's episode, Jim Love covers a range of pivotal IT topics. TS Forge has cracked Microsoft's activation, offering an unauthorized DRM bypass for both Windows and Office, potentially prompting security concerns. Comark Holdings, a Canadian retail chain, succumbed to insolvency following a damaging ransomware attack compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. France has set a new nuclear fusion record by maintaining plasma for over 22 minutes, highlighting leaps in fusion technology. Lastly, Elon Musk's Grok 3 AI model from XAI is showing promising but confusing results with a massive infrastructure backing, aiming to push the limits of AI reasoning models. Tune in to stay updated on these crucial stories impacting the tech world. 00:00 Introduction and Headlines 00:35 TS Forge: A New DRM Bypass Tool 02:25 Ransomware Attack on Canadian Retail Chain 04:28 France's Fusion Energy Breakthrough 06:08 Elon Musk's Grok 3 AI Model 10:56 Conclusion and Contact Information

Vi ofrer de første minutter af programmet til platformsguderne. Vi adlyder kedsomhedens guder. De er stærkere end os. Men vi er klogere og noget mere talstærke. Sammenholdet bygger i høj grad på en uspecifik kærlighed til det brogede musikområde, der er langhåret musik. Såkaldt "hippie-musik". Vi lader os tryllebinde af den langhårede musik, når vi tager første spadestik til et mixbånd med langhåret dansksproget hippie-musik. Du skulle tage at være med og sende alle dine musiktips til hallo@hallohvemerdet.dk Vi arbejder med en bred definition af langhåret dansk-sproget hippie-musik. Vi er mere optagede af musikkens attitude og dens møde med verden end nogle bestemte politiske holdninger eller sociale grupperings-forhold. Har du eller din moster noget langhåret råbånd liggende hjemme i kælderen, der skal med på vores langhårede mixbånd? Bed dem skrive til os på hallo@hallohvemerdet.dk Glem ikke bibliotekernes streaming-tjeneste Filmstriben! Du kunne bruge nogle af dine månedlige Filmstriben-point på at se disse to film: 1) dokumentarfilm om flamenco-guitaristen Paco De Lucia [https://fjernleje.filmstriben.dk/film/9000004213/paco-de-lucia] 2) australsk tv-film instrueret af Peter Weir om at få langvarigt upålideligt besøg af blikkenslageren "The Plumber" [https://fjernleje.filmstriben.dk/film/9000006845/the-plumber]. (Hvis du ved hvordan man gemmer en DRM-beskyttet videostream, så send gerne how to-info til hallo@hallohvemerdet.dk). To do-liste (vi er i gang med følgende opgaver): – Lytternes reklamebureau, ny opgave, stillet af lytter DJ LCAnders: budskab til verdens 1% rigeste om at de skal blive nogle bedre mennesker. Arbejds-spørgsmål: hvad er formålet med at fortælle dem det? Hvordan fortælles de det, er ønsket at de skal afgive deres rigdom for at hjælpe til med at løse nogle af verdens problemer? Kan det evt. tages videre så vi også undersøger i hvilket omfang de 1% rigeste menneskers rigdom kommer til dem af retfærdig, etisk forsvarlig vej, forestillinger om meritokrati, hvem har fortjent hvad? Den socialistiske tøjvirksomhed “Comrade Workwear” har fået lukket sit online-betalingssystem og alle SoMe-konti lukket (af flere omgange), efter de forsøgte at publicere et sæt spillekort med verdens rigeste direktører. Denne ‘de-platforming' af Comrade Workwears virksomhed er er brud på ytringsfriheden og et resultatet af et samarbejde ml. private virksomheder (betalingstjeneste, SoMe-platforme) politiet og den amerikanske stat. En udvikling det bliver interessant at følge. Læs mere her. Måske kan spillekorts-formatet som kommunikationsform være til inspiration for ‘lytternes reklamebureau'. – Identificere sange fra lytteren ‘Age of Empires 2': sang 1, dansk hippie-sang med txt-linjen “så skal vi ha det rart igen + og aldrig ride ranke igen”, sang 2, “jeg plukker fløjsgræs” i funky dansktop-version, sang 3 “dansevise” i instrumentalversion med funky blæsere. Musik spillet i showet: 001 - José Feliciano - Samba Pa Ti (Album Version) 002 - (lytterønske) The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole 003 - Paco De Lucia - Rio Ancho 004 - (lytterønske) Cheb Tarik - Sidi Rabi 005 - Sublime Frequencies (CD-kollage udgivelse) - Radio International 006 - Naji Almahdi, Cheb Arab - Law Kan I الشاب عراب - لو كان 007 - Jordens Salt [Ulfborg] - Imorgen skal vi danse 008 - Hyldemors Grønsaligheder - Kære sol (Live 1975) 009 - (Ukendt) gadesanger - (gadesang) 010 - (lytterønske) Young Flowers - Oppe i Træet (stk. 3) 011 - Anne Linnet - Så'n helt almindelig dag 012 - Omah Lay - Holy Ghost 013 - Lynx, DSL, St Lennon, Boijake - High 014 - 070 Shake - Under The Moon 015 - (lytterønske) Gruppen - Klubben 016 - (lytterønske) Anne Linnet - Hun fletter sit hår

We cover a comical saga of vulnerabilities and variants from incomplete fixes in macOS, as well as a bypass of Chrome's miraclePtr mitigation against Use-After-Frees (UAFs). We also discuss an attack that abuses COM hijacking to elevate to SYSTEM through AVG Antivirus, and a permissions issue that allows unauthorized access to DRM'd audiobooks.Links and vulnerability summaries for this episode are available at: https://dayzerosec.com/podcast/273.html[00:00:00] Introduction[00:00:23] Attacking Hypervisors From KVM to Mobile Security Platforms [00:01:35] Endless Exploits: The Saga of a macOS Vulnerability Struck Nine Times[00:11:02] The Most "Golden" Bypass of 2024[00:44:55] Leaking the email of any YouTube user for $10,000[01:11:52] Unmasking Cryptographic Risks: A Deep Dive into the Nym Audit w/ Nadim KobeissiPodcast episodes are available on the usual podcast platforms: -- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1484046063 -- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4NKCxk8aPEuEFuHsEQ9Tdt -- Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9hMTIxYTI0L3BvZGNhc3QvcnNz -- Other audio platforms can be found at https://anchor.fm/dayzerosecYou can also join our discord: https://discord.gg/daTxTK9

In this episode of Intentional Wisdom, Greg speaks with Kevin Smith, CEO and co-founder of Snipd. They discuss Snipd's journey, integrating AI to enhance the podcast listening experience, managing the emotional roller coaster of startups, and future ambitions. The conversation also touches on leveraging AI in education and personalized learning. Episode segments: (01:27) - Meet Kevin Smith: CEO of Snipd (04:08) - The Journey of Building Snipd (06:37) - Dealing with the Emotional Roller Coaster of Startups (09:05) - Daily Routines and Wellness Tips (11:16) - How Snipd Enhances Podcast Listening (12:59) - Using Snipd with Readwise and Evernote (15:31) - AI-Powered Podcast Features (27:25) - Future of Podcast Discovery and Learning (37:05) - Innovative Ways to Review Information (37:46) - Creating Custom Podcasts with AI (38:03) - Using AI for Summarizing Content (39:50) - Voice Interaction with AI Models (42:55) - AI in Education and Personalized Learning (45:01) - Future of Audiobooks and Snipd (50:00) - Challenges and Innovations in Podcast Apps (56:00) - Potential Acquisitions and Licensing (58:30) - Final Thoughts and Recommendations   Offer Link to get 1 month for free of Snipd Premium:  https://link.snipd.com/Cx7S/intentionalwisdom Company selling audiobooks with DRM:  https://libro.fm/ Open-source software to get your Audible audiobooks out of the closed Audible system for personal use:  https://getlibation.com/ Travel tips for exploring Zurich & Switzerland (from a Zurich lens):  https://www.notion.so/kevinbensmith/Exploring-Zurich-Switzerland-c466fe4b2f7147cc93544dfac375e5f7 Follow Kevin on Twitter/X: https://x.com/KevinBenSmith Follow Greg: https://x.com/gregorycampion Intentional Wisdom newsletter: https://gregcampion.substack.com

In this enlightening episode of Nodes of Design, we sit down with Prof. Amaresh Chakrabarti to explore his journey into design, the gap between industry and academia, and how to bridge it. We discuss how designers can create meaningful societal impact, the evolving role of artists in the AI era, and key takeaways from the DRM method. Prof. Chakrabarti also shares valuable recommendations for designers looking to innovate and push boundaries. Tune in for a masterclass in design thinking, research, and real-world application! Amaresh Chakrabarti is a Senior Professor and current Chair, Department of Design & Manufacturing, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore. He did BE from IIEST Shibpur, ME from IISc Bangalore, and PhD from the University of Cambridge UK, where he led the Design Synthesis group of its Engineering Design Centre (EDC) for 10 years before joining IISc as an Associate Professor. He published 35 books, over 300 peer-reviewed articles, and has 13 patents granted/pending. He co-authored DRM, a methodology used widely as a framework for design research. He founded IDeAS Lab – India's first Design Observatory, and India's first indigenous Smart Factory. He is the founding chair for the Intl Conf Series on Research into Design (ICoRD) and Intl Conf Series on Industry 4.0 & Adv Manufacturing (I4AM). He received the Careers360 Faculty Research Award 2018 for being the 'Most Outstanding Researcher' in Decision Sciences, and among the global top 2% of researchers in 'Design Practice & Management'. He received IISc's Alumni Award for Excellence in Research in Engineering (2022). He is a Fellow of the Design Society, an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineering Designers, UK, and the current Editor-in-Chief of Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing Journal (AI EDAM) published by CUP. Springer Book Series Design Sc. & Innov: http://www.springer.com/series/15399 Webpage: http://cpdm.iisc.ac.in/people/ac/ac.htm Citations: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=VvD5STUAAAAJ&hl=en Thank you for listening to this episode of Nodes of Design. We hope you enjoy the Nodes of Design Podcast on your favorite podcast platforms- Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many more. If this episode helped you understand and learn something new, please share and join the knowledge-sharing community Spreadknowledge. This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.

The first part of the podcast is actually about me getting two new kittens! It takes up the first 15 or so minutes. EA is retiring the Origin PC client, which means that they are no longer supporting DRM for titles on 32-bit PC's, so older computers won't be able to launch The Sims anymore. US spending on physical video games has halved since 2021, spelling doom for people who don't want to lose access to their purchases. The Video Game History Foundation has brought most of their library online for research purposes - magazines, dev notebooks, and other things that aren't the games themselves. Then we talk to Rob about the Video Game History Foundation and what he'd search for first when it goes online.

Bookshop.org is now offering a Kindle alternative. How hackers are hijacking WordPress sets to put out malware. And how people are freaking out about DeepSeek since it made a huge splash this past week. Dan Moren is joining Mikah Sargent this week! Dan talks about how Bookshop.org is now selling e-books, but Dan has concerns about how this could present technological challenges with DRM and app store fees. Mikah shares how hackers are hijacking WordPress sites and using them to push out malware for both Windows and Mac machines. Mikah also talks about how DeepSeek has made a huge splash in the technology world since this past Sunday and what has happened with the technology community and AI as a whole. And Eric Migicovsky, founder of the smartwatch company Pebble, joins Mikah to talk about exciting news with Pebble. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren Guest: Eric Migicovsky Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: uscloud.com zscaler.com/security veeam.com

Bookshop.org is now offering a Kindle alternative. How hackers are hijacking WordPress sets to put out malware. And how people are freaking out about DeepSeek since it made a huge splash this past week. Dan Moren is joining Mikah Sargent this week! Dan talks about how Bookshop.org is now selling e-books, but Dan has concerns about how this could present technological challenges with DRM and app store fees. Mikah shares how hackers are hijacking WordPress sites and using them to push out malware for both Windows and Mac machines. Mikah also talks about how DeepSeek has made a huge splash in the technology world since this past Sunday and what has happened with the technology community and AI as a whole. And Eric Migicovsky, founder of the smartwatch company Pebble, joins Mikah to talk about exciting news with Pebble. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren Guest: Eric Migicovsky Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: uscloud.com zscaler.com/security veeam.com

Bookshop.org is now offering a Kindle alternative. How hackers are hijacking WordPress sets to put out malware. And how people are freaking out about DeepSeek since it made a huge splash this past week. Dan Moren is joining Mikah Sargent this week! Dan talks about how Bookshop.org is now selling e-books, but Dan has concerns about how this could present technological challenges with DRM and app store fees. Mikah shares how hackers are hijacking WordPress sites and using them to push out malware for both Windows and Mac machines. Mikah also talks about how DeepSeek has made a huge splash in the technology world since this past Sunday and what has happened with the technology community and AI as a whole. And Eric Migicovsky, founder of the smartwatch company Pebble, joins Mikah to talk about exciting news with Pebble. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren Guest: Eric Migicovsky Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: uscloud.com zscaler.com/security veeam.com

Bookshop.org is now offering a Kindle alternative. How hackers are hijacking WordPress sets to put out malware. And how people are freaking out about DeepSeek since it made a huge splash this past week. Dan Moren is joining Mikah Sargent this week! Dan talks about how Bookshop.org is now selling e-books, but Dan has concerns about how this could present technological challenges with DRM and app store fees. Mikah shares how hackers are hijacking WordPress sites and using them to push out malware for both Windows and Mac machines. Mikah also talks about how DeepSeek has made a huge splash in the technology world since this past Sunday and what has happened with the technology community and AI as a whole. And Eric Migicovsky, founder of the smartwatch company Pebble, joins Mikah to talk about exciting news with Pebble. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren Guest: Eric Migicovsky Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: uscloud.com zscaler.com/security veeam.com

Bookshop.org is now offering a Kindle alternative. How hackers are hijacking WordPress sets to put out malware. And how people are freaking out about DeepSeek since it made a huge splash this past week. Dan Moren is joining Mikah Sargent this week! Dan talks about how Bookshop.org is now selling e-books, but Dan has concerns about how this could present technological challenges with DRM and app store fees. Mikah shares how hackers are hijacking WordPress sites and using them to push out malware for both Windows and Mac machines. Mikah also talks about how DeepSeek has made a huge splash in the technology world since this past Sunday and what has happened with the technology community and AI as a whole. And Eric Migicovsky, founder of the smartwatch company Pebble, joins Mikah to talk about exciting news with Pebble. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren Guest: Eric Migicovsky Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: uscloud.com zscaler.com/security veeam.com

Bookshop.org is now offering a Kindle alternative. How hackers are hijacking WordPress sets to put out malware. And how people are freaking out about DeepSeek since it made a huge splash this past week. Dan Moren is joining Mikah Sargent this week! Dan talks about how Bookshop.org is now selling e-books, but Dan has concerns about how this could present technological challenges with DRM and app store fees. Mikah shares how hackers are hijacking WordPress sites and using them to push out malware for both Windows and Mac machines. Mikah also talks about how DeepSeek has made a huge splash in the technology world since this past Sunday and what has happened with the technology community and AI as a whole. And Eric Migicovsky, founder of the smartwatch company Pebble, joins Mikah to talk about exciting news with Pebble. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren Guest: Eric Migicovsky Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: uscloud.com zscaler.com/security veeam.com

In this episode: Justin goes to a birthday party, drives a Tesla, and configures your BIOS. The compliments department is, as always, available at podcast@searls.co. Have some URLs: This is the combination air fryer / grill I bought Microsoft dropped support for non-SecureBoot PC updates last month Aaron's puns, ranked Nobody Cares Things we learned about LLMs in 2024 Judge ends man's 11-year quest to dig up landfill and recover $765M in bitcoin The Consensus on Havana Syndrome Is Cracking (News+) Meta kills diversity programs, claiming DEI has become “too charged” Google kills JavaScript-free searches Sonos still seems kinda fucked 5090s seem kind of like a scam The official Elder Scrolls: Oblivion remake leaked Switch 2 was unveiled Guy with 200bpm heart rate complains his watch isn't working (before admitting his heart isn't working) The Diplomat Conclave Severance Season 2 is out Marvel Rivals is a hit (with the Thirstlords) Indiana Jones and the Great Circle P.T. A Short Hike Transcript: [00:00:29] Well, good morning, everyone. If it's evening, where you are, well, it's not here. So that's just what you get. You get a good morning. You can save it for later, put it in your pocket, and then the next time the sun comes up, you can just remember, ah, yes, someone did wish me a good morning today. [00:00:48] You are currently, your ears are residing inside of Breaking Change, which is an audio production. Not to be confused with Breaking Bad, certainly not Breaking Good, just broken. [00:01:03] You know, now that officially, officially or unofficially, TikTok is down. It's unreachable in the U.S. Aaron has reported, our Seattle correspondent, for the broadcast, that even over his VPN, he can't get to TikTok. [00:01:24] His arms are itchy. He's scratching. He, ah, I hope, wherever you are, I hope that you and your loved ones and your teenagers are okay. [00:01:33] But yeah, anyway, now the TikTok is down. Maybe some of you are here, because you've got nothing else to do, and you need something to fill that void. So thank you for joining. [00:01:45] Something that I've been meaning to do at the beginning of this, of the show, for the last, well, seven versions, has been to kindly ask that you go into your podcast player of choice, and you rate and review the show. [00:02:02] I would prefer five stars on a five-star scale, but if it was a ten-star scale, you know, ten stars would be better. [00:02:10] Thumbs up, or whatever. Write a little review explaining why the fuck somebody would want to listen to an explicit language, you know, tech-adjacent programmer-ish gaming movie, whatever the fuck this is. [00:02:23] Dialogue, uh, because, uh, I have found that breaking change is a really hard pitch, you know, when, when, when, when explaining to people, it's like, oh, this is me talking, just like drive-time AM radio used to be, except instead of talking about a bunch of politically charged propaganda, uh, we're just hanging out, uh, and instead of having a commute, you know, you're walking a dog, or you're doing the dishes. [00:02:50] Although, I guess, you know, maybe you listen on a commute. [00:02:53] I, I, I've heard, I've heard from, from listeners on road trips, listening to entire episodes all in one stretch, and that's something else. [00:03:03] Uh, I have not heard from a lot of commuters, so if you listen to this while you're commuting, shout out at podcast at searles.co, uh, you know, if you're driving, don't, don't try to rate and review, you know, in a distracted fashion. [00:03:16] But, but next time you think of it, you know, you, you, you slam that five-star button. [00:03:20] You know what, it's, it's, I got a lot of subversive elements, you know, in my cadre of people, because I am a total piece of shit, and I attract, I attract the good and the bad, everyone in between. [00:03:32] But some of us, you know, we, we, we appreciate a good troll. [00:03:35] There is no better way to stick it to the man and, and confuse the hell out of people than for all of you to go and give this five stars in, in, in iTunes and, in your podcast player. [00:03:46] And then have a whole bunch of people, you know, have it surface in the algorithm for others. [00:03:51] And then they listen to this, and then they're like, what, what, what the fuck is going on to my ears right now? [00:03:55] Uh, I am very confused. [00:03:57] And if that's you, hell, you know what? [00:03:59] Oh, shoot. [00:03:59] But I'm, I'm speaking from the past. [00:04:01] Maybe this is the, the future where this is a lot of five-star reviews and some, some, some rando outside of Argentina is, is, is getting this put into their feed for them. [00:04:11] And now they're like, four minutes have passed. [00:04:14] What am I doing with my life? [00:04:15] Well, hello. [00:04:16] You are also welcome. [00:04:17] Good morning to you as well. [00:04:18] Uh, by the time you're listening to this, you know, I'm recording Sunday morning. [00:04:24] First thing, uh, I know from experience that it can be hard to pretend to work during a Trump inauguration. [00:04:33] So, uh, I figured that instead of pretending to work, you could be here with me instead if you're listening on Monday. [00:04:41] And if you're, if you're fortunate enough to have Monday off, um, you know, I guess one difference between the, uh, uh, the previous Trump inauguration. [00:04:51] And this one is that the, you know, inclusivity backlash against the Trump admin, you know, that has now recently receded. [00:05:02] If you're to believe the Bezos and billionaire class, uh, uh, has resulted in way, way more people who don't work at post offices getting MLK junior day off. [00:05:13] So I suppose many of us are not working on Monday, but regardless, this is a version 29 of the program titled super switch. [00:05:24] Which, you know, depending on the audience, I think a lot of, you know, probably what I mean by that. [00:05:29] We'll, we'll talk about it later. [00:05:30] Uh, in life news, it feels like it's been a way more than two weeks since I talked to y'all. [00:05:37] Uh, uh, uh, when you live in a theme park, there's just a lot going on. [00:05:42] People coming and going stuff to do, uh, uh, stimulation overload. [00:05:49] That's why I sound so just, you know, demure downbeat chill here is because I am exhausted permanently all the time. [00:06:02] Cause every time I leave the house, I am, I am just overstimulated. [00:06:05] Uh, last night we went to a birthday party of a friend, uh, in the, uh, Orlando proper part of Orlando, [00:06:12] whereas we live in theme park, Orlando. [00:06:14] So we had to, uh, drive over the, uh, the treacherous terrain known as I four, the deadliest stretch of highway in the United States in terms of, uh, only in terms of the number of people who die on it. [00:06:26] And the party was, uh, it was funny cause our, our friends, uh, they're building a house on this beautiful lake, huge property. [00:06:34] It's, it's absolutely gorgeous. [00:06:36] It's going to, the house is a custom build. [00:06:39] And a couple of years ago, uh, the one who's, whose birthday ended up being said, you know, we're going to have my 45th birthday party here at the house. [00:06:47] After it opens the water slide, you're going to DJs. [00:06:50] We're going to have, it's going to be a big blowout fest. [00:06:52] It's going to be awesome. [00:06:53] And then his husband was like, you know, it's, it's not going to be ready yet. [00:06:57] Don't get your hopes up. [00:06:58] And, uh, uh, sure enough, uh, both things came to pass. [00:07:04] The house is nowhere near ready. [00:07:05] It is an active construction site. [00:07:07] And they trolled us hard. [00:07:08] They said, Hey, come to this hotel. [00:07:09] We're going to have, you know, uh, uh, free valet or whatever. [00:07:12] And then like, like we go into like a normal kind of like typical ballroom thing and you get a cocktail. [00:07:19] And then these construction workers show up and they, they, they, they heard us into buses. [00:07:24] Uh, and so people are in their cocktail attire, you know, Becky wore, uh, I don't know if you'd call them heels, [00:07:32] but elevated shoes for, for first time in a while, more of a flats person, which I respect. [00:07:39] Cause I'm also a flats person and, uh, we all get into the bus and everyone's dressed up. [00:07:44] And then, uh, they, they, they drive us to, uh, the active construction site. [00:07:47] That is our friend's house. [00:07:49] And, uh, they had, uh, the events planners and everyone like, like actually just decorate the shit out of, you know, what, what is a lot of concrete block first floor of most homes around here is concrete. [00:08:01] And so the bones of the house are up and they just decorated it with kind of construction paraphernalia, orange cones. [00:08:07] All of the staff had, uh, you know, orange vests on, uh, we were all given hard hats. [00:08:11] Uh, the theming was truly on point. [00:08:15] Weather was perfect. [00:08:16] Uh, and, uh, you know, it was a big raucous affair, raucous raucous, you know what I mean? [00:08:23] So that was great. [00:08:24] Uh, we didn't even stay out that late, but I feel like I got hit by a truck, uh, this morning. [00:08:29] Uh, I, I kept it to a two drink maximum, which is my new go-to rule of thumb. [00:08:34] Uh, uh, cause I always end up barely regretting the third from a, from a, an ability to sleep perspective. [00:08:43] Afterwards, uh, other life stuff, you know, like the logistics following the death of my father. [00:08:48] First of all, thank you very much for many of you wrote in to express sympathies, uh, probably don't, don't need to put them all in the mailbag. [00:08:55] Cause that after a certain point, it started reads like, you know, reading birthday cards on air, uh, in terms of they all, you know, not to diminish anyone's, uh, extension of grief, uh, or, or, or sharing their own stories. [00:09:08] But there's a certain, you know, beginning, middle and end format to, to, to, to, to, no one knows what the fuck to say. [00:09:15] I don't know what to thank you. [00:09:18] Um, but yeah, like I know just sort of like finances and, and forensics front of trying to figure out how to tease out all the complexities of his life that he never really told anyone about and didn't certainly didn't document, uh, that the work continues still trying to help my mom consolidate her situation. [00:09:36] It's been, you know, just a lot of very procedural. [00:09:42] All right, find all the stuff, organize the stuff, come up with a to-do list, figure out how to like approach this, make all the phone calls that you need to make to all these institutions to, to, to, to, to iron it out and to, to continue fact finding or to, to, to give, you know, furnish whatever documentation they need. [00:09:57] And, and, and because it's been so, uh, I guess transactional wrote, like not to say it's colored my perception of dad or anything, you know, one way or another. [00:10:11] Uh, but it's definitely, when I look back on this era of my life, of course, his passing is going to stand out in sharp relief, but like, that was like a week of stuff. [00:10:21] And then the rest of it is going to be like three months of stuff. [00:10:25] Uh, and so I wonder how that's going to affect how I, how I, how I look back on it. [00:10:28] But one of the things I noticed is a lot of different service providers, uh, like banks, for example, that have, uh, uh, you know, bills coming up, you know, you got a credit card bill and let's say it's due. [00:10:45] Uh, I, I don't know why I'm blanking, but January 25th and then January 18th comes around and it says, Hey, you have a statement due January 25th. [00:10:54] Or you got an upcoming bill or you, your bill is ready to be paid. [00:10:58] And when I get an email like that, so I just got one from dad or, you know, for dad's account from us bank. [00:11:05] And I was like, shit. [00:11:07] Cause I know he didn't have auto pay set up in a lot of places. [00:11:09] Uh, and like, do I have that login? [00:11:12] Like, you know, do I have to coordinate with mom to get the SMS thing? [00:11:15] Like I get into it. [00:11:16] And then sure enough, like, cause I thought I'd set up auto pay. [00:11:19] I even had a to-do list that said, set up auto pay for this. [00:11:21] And, uh, auto pay was set up. [00:11:23] It was just emailing me unnecessarily anyway. [00:11:25] You know, if you're going to have a recurring payment or an auto payment set up, it, you know, it's, it's okay to notify the customer that there's another bill coming, but it would be really sweet. [00:11:36] If like auto pay is enabled, just so you know, you're going to, you're set to auto pay this on X and X date, uh, because if you got, you know, as many cards as some people have, uh, it can get kind of exhausting to, to just worry about, uh, well, I hope that's, that's all set up. [00:11:53] So it's, uh, things like that are just like random nonsense stressors and the amount of context switching, because you're constantly getting emails and calls from different, from all corners. [00:12:03] I normally screen my calls really aggressively, but you know, this month I've got a pretty much [00:12:08] answer it no matter who's calling, which is not my favorite. [00:12:10] And I've, I've found myself falling into something that I never thought I would do. [00:12:17] Uh, maybe it's cause I turned 40 this week, but I'm, uh, I've always associated this with like [00:12:24] an old, a generational thing. [00:12:26] When somebody asks me a yes, no question, I've started saying yes or no. [00:12:31] Like the literal word, yes. [00:12:33] And that might sound mundane to you, but in my family growing up, the word, yes, always felt [00:12:41] violent because everyone always had more to say, or they had a compulsion to soften it, you know, [00:12:49] like, yeah, sounds a lot, um, neutral, accepting, open, soft. [00:12:58] Then yes, there's a certain like hardness to yes. [00:13:01] You ask a yes, no question. [00:13:02] The person says, yes, it feels like there's a period at the end of that. [00:13:05] And when you say, yeah, or okay, or all right, or, you know, you give some sort of like, you know, [00:13:11] like an invitation to either continue with a follow-up question or, you know, be, be open to maybe a retort or something. [00:13:20] And so I had a colleague once who is, you know, the previous generation who is my superior. [00:13:25] And, uh, his name was Daryl. [00:13:28] Daryl's a lovely person. [00:13:29] But every time I asked Daryl a question and I was asking him a lot of questions because I didn't know shit about fuck. [00:13:34] And he knew a lot of things about everything he would, he would answer every yes, no question with just the word yes or the word no. [00:13:43] And it felt so stifling and cruel and like, you know, like, why is he shutting me down like this? [00:13:51] Even though he's literally answering in the affirmative, there's something about the word yes. [00:13:55] When unadorned with any sort of softeners or explanation or exposition or, or, or, or, or justification or, or invitation to, to, to follow up that feel there's the finality of it feels just rude, even though it is very literally fine. [00:14:12] So I caught myself doing that and I guess I've become a yes man. [00:14:16] Other life stuff. [00:14:22] Our ninja, we have a, uh, we seem to have like every ninja kitchen appliance, um, just in some sort of rotation around, uh, you know, our, our kitchen and it feels to me like every modern home that every year, the, there's like a, a counter surface inflation where the counters keep getting bigger. [00:14:44] The kitchen islands keep getting bigger. [00:14:46] And then the, almost a, um, sort of like how a, a gas will expand to fill its container. [00:14:54] Like ninja appliances will continue getting invented to fill all available counter space in every home. [00:14:59] Uh, and the reason that ninjas been so successful is that unlike Hamilton beach and Cuisinart and stuff like their, their products are actually pretty good and do what they say on the tin. [00:15:09] But we had a, uh, one of the air fryer units that can also, you know, pretend to be a grill, even though like all that's really happening is a hairdryer is blowing downward onto your food and any sort of heating element underneath is indirect. [00:15:20] Uh, we had one of those and, you know, it just kind of got grody and gross from lots of oil and, and repeat washings and, you know, food stuck to the basket. [00:15:31] And it was, it was, it was no longer, you know, how sometimes you use one of these appliances, you don't clean it as intentionally or as frequently as maybe the instruction manual tells you to. [00:15:42] And eventually your food starts tasting like, you know, the bottom of the, uh, the, the, the, the, the deep fryer at, at McDonald's, like, just like that oil tarry kind of like, you know, afterglow. [00:15:55] Which makes, it takes, it really takes the shine off of, uh, whatever the omega threes that you're trying to get out of your fishes. [00:16:00] Uh, so, so we, we bought a new one and what I really wanted out of a new one was one with like multiple heating elements. [00:16:08] Like where, where there was an actual grill that could sear stuff and cook from the bottom up, but also a convection oven that could crisp it up and, and, and, and sort of dehumidify. [00:16:18] And amazingly, Ninja does sell this product. [00:16:22] Uh, it was called, uh, see if I can link to it. [00:16:25] The Ninja convection plus grill. [00:16:27] Oh no, that wasn't it. [00:16:28] It's, it's got a name. [00:16:29] Uh, something, something, grid IG 651. [00:16:35] Okay. [00:16:35] There you go. [00:16:35] I'll put a link in the show notes. [00:16:37] Uh, so the IG 651, whatever, it's got like a barbecue griddle on it. [00:16:41] It seems, it seems nice. [00:16:43] Uh, and it does exactly that. [00:16:46] It's got like a big wide surface element. [00:16:48] You can, you, you plug it in. [00:16:49] It's a very complicated, unnecessarily. [00:16:51] So a complicated thing where it's, it looks like you kind of take a George Foreman style griddle. [00:16:55] It's angled forward, meaning like it's got, you know, uh, I said griddle at just like the slabby kind of, of, of metal slats, slats, you know, where you, you put the burger on it. [00:17:07] And then it's like, you know, remember the George Foreman marketing? [00:17:10] I'm sure you do like, you know, like it's like at the, like, like the, the squeezing iconography to, to indicate like the fat is coming out and then that will make this healthier, even though the fat is often the best part. [00:17:20] Uh, so it's, it's got that it plugs into some like electrical, you know, electrode input thing with two little donguses. [00:17:28] I don't know why I'm even trying to explain this. [00:17:30] It's fine. [00:17:30] And you plug that in, you can wash it separately, but you can put a griddle on top that kind of maps to it. [00:17:36] So it'll pick up that heat. [00:17:37] And that is a flat surface, which can be nice. [00:17:40] If you're, if you're maybe, you know, toasting a sandwich or something. [00:17:46] And yeah, the thing about it, the thing about that search was that trying to answer the question of what heating elements are in this smart cooking appliance proved to be extremely difficult. [00:18:00] You go to the Amazon listing, you go to the product page. [00:18:03] I read up on every single Ninja product that does this. [00:18:06] I started looking at other products that do this. [00:18:09] I started looking at things that ran themselves as smart ovens that, you know, advertise having, uh, multiple heating elements, you know, like the June oven did this. [00:18:16] I think that's out of business now. [00:18:18] Tovala did this. [00:18:18] I think that's going out of business now where they would have, you know, like, um, maybe a microwave element plus a steam cooking element, or maybe they'd have a convection fan inside and also, um, an induction plate underneath. [00:18:31] And none of them have really taken off in the U S unfortunately, uh, such that. [00:18:39] It is a product category that the consumers are educated about, like what they're getting into in Japan. [00:18:45] There's a product called health. [00:18:46] You know, like literally like health EO, but THs are hard and it's got like the basic models have four or five different ways to heat your food. [00:18:56] And then like, it's really smart in that you, you punch in a code, like a recipe code, and it'll just do everything cradle to grave for you with the advanced sensors that it has. [00:19:04] And kind of move between whatever combination at whatever point in the cooking process, all of those heating elements need to be arranged. [00:19:11] And so things come out almost better than a human could do them because they never have to be removed from this hermetically sealed environment, you know, for people's hands to come in and, and, and adjust how the thing is being heated. [00:19:26] Because in Japan, that product has been so successful that the two or three different tiers of that product, not only are they all good, but like, no one needs to be explained what's there. [00:19:36] Like the, the, the, the, it could just be like the higher level of literacy and, and, and education generally in Japan. [00:19:42] But in general, like, it's just, it's really straightforward. [00:19:46] And here, it seems to be that like people just want a device that they can throw food in. [00:19:52] And then as long as they're picking off a menu and it has words like grill, they will feel good about it. [00:19:58] And no one's going to ask, where's the heat coming from? [00:20:01] How is this getting cooked? [00:20:02] Which now that I say it, of course, like Americans don't give a fuck how the thing gets accomplished or without it gets accomplished well, typically, uh, just that, uh, you know, they know what box to put the food in and then the button to hit, which is, you know, a little bit condescending, but, you know, y'all have earned it in my opinion. [00:20:20] Uh, so yeah, we got it. [00:20:22] It works. [00:20:22] Uh, uh, as far as I know, I turned it on the preheating started. [00:20:26] We have not yet, you know, broken the seal and actually cooked with it yet, but I'm glad, I'm glad to have that because I think, I think, I think. [00:20:32] Shit will turn out better, especially salmon, which is increasingly the number one thing that we were using our air fryer for, which was an inefficient, uh, use case. [00:20:40] Speaking of the parks being really busy, uh, and, and life here being overstimulating on Friday, I found myself really testing the fences on this new being 40 year old thing. [00:20:55] I, uh, got up at 5am with Becky. [00:20:59] We had a special event at Disney's Hollywood studios that started at six. [00:21:03] We got there. [00:21:04] There were other people there. [00:21:05] We went to bed early, you know, to, to, to, to be able to, to do this and not be super groggy and miserable, had a great time. [00:21:13] And then we had some friends coming into the park just about an hour after that, that, that event wrapped. [00:21:18] And so we went and visited with them for a little bit. [00:21:20] Then we came home and tried to recover some sort of a productive day by then it was noon. [00:21:25] Uh, and then that evening, cause the same friends that they had their big day, I wanted to debrief with, uh, uh, my buddy before he, uh, John, his name is John. [00:21:35] He is a listener of the program. [00:21:38] So hi, John. [00:21:38] Hello. [00:21:40] Uh, when to do debrief with him. [00:21:43] So we went over to a bar called trader Sam's, which is a grog grotto. [00:21:47] It's in the Polynesian resort hotel. [00:21:49] And it's one of my favorite bars because it's got like a lot of like little imagineering knickknacks and stage elements that, that have since become very common at Tiki bars. [00:21:58] But we got in there, we spent a couple hours and then pretty soon I realized, Oh fuck, it's midnight. [00:22:03] And I've literally been Disney it up to some extent, uh, since 6am. [00:22:10] And so, you know, I actually, I got a second wind in there, but I ultimately didn't get, get to bed until like two. [00:22:16] Uh, so that was a, it was a big day. [00:22:19] I feel like I did all right. [00:22:20] Uh, from an energy level perspective, I think I, I was the person that I needed to be in all of the interactions I had that day. [00:22:28] And that's probably the most I can say. [00:22:29] Uh, I'm simultaneously finding that my body is falling apart. [00:22:33] My, my, uh, left hip is pretty grumpy. [00:22:38] Uh, it's just some sort of like a constant dull discomfort, uh, feels like a dislocated shoulder, but no matter how much PT I do, [00:22:46] I, I, I seem to never fully, fully beat it. [00:22:49] Um, I need a smart, the smart oven equivalent for, for, uh, you know, muscle therapies that people do. [00:23:00] It's like, Oh, you can get some of the, it'll, it'll apply the icy hot and also, you know, drill you with a Theragun and also massage you and also use the, you know, resistant bands exercises to strengthen it. [00:23:09] Uh, just all simultaneously. [00:23:10] Cause it's like this round robin of, of attempts I've had to, to restore this fucking hip. [00:23:17] Uh, it has been great. [00:23:19] So that's been a constant thing. [00:23:21] New things are like my right knee now hurts like hell. [00:23:23] My left, my left heel, just the skin started cracking from how dry it's been here. [00:23:28] And of course it's still way more humid here than the rest of the nation, but apparently my skin is so used to the humidity, uh, that I just woke up one morning and it hurt to walk because all my skin was exposed because all my skin and my foot had cracked. [00:23:40] You know, like what the hell's going on? [00:23:42] So, uh, if you're, uh, approaching 40 and you're worried about it, good. [00:23:48] I don't know that I recommend it so far, uh, but I'm still here, still kicking. [00:23:53] Uh, uh, well, I, so far I almost didn't make it to be honest. [00:23:59] Uh, you know, well, I, if I'm going to talk about this next topic, uh, it's something that's come up in the show before. [00:24:09] And so I think that technically makes it follow up. [00:24:11] So let me hit this button right here. [00:24:13] Yeah. [00:24:20] So speaking of dying right before you turn 40, I, I'd mentioned that I four interstate four that runs east, west in, uh, through bisecting Orlando. [00:24:37] It's, uh, known to be, and I fact checked this against GPT cause I knew I'd probably end up talking about it. [00:24:45] Deadliest stretch of highway in the U S and you know, I'm a, I'm an experienced driver insofar as I've been driving for 24 years. [00:24:54] I don't like love it. [00:24:56] I'm not a car guy. [00:24:57] Uh, I, I feel like I drive fine, relatively safely, probably more on the conservative side. [00:25:05] Overall. [00:25:06] I do speed from time to time, but you know, as long as if you're in America and you're speeding, as long as you use the phrase flow of traffic, uh, you can do whatever you want. [00:25:17] And the problem is that when you live in theme park Orlando and you need literally anything that is not entertainment and hospitality related, uh, like for example, you know, I, I, and this is what puts this into the followup bucket of content. [00:25:35] Uh, I've been talking on and off about having, uh, struggling with snoring. [00:25:38] You know, I've been, uh, uh, doing that thing that a lot of middle-aged husbands start doing and deciding to interrupt their spouse's sleep by, by, by suddenly picking up this cool new habit. [00:25:49] That is just making wheezing sounds all night long. [00:25:53] And mine's really inconsistent. [00:25:56] It's clearly triggered by something. [00:25:57] Couldn't really tell what, you know, is it diet or whatever. [00:26:00] It's like clearly like none of the symptoms of apnea. [00:26:03] So that's probably not it. [00:26:04] Given that I feel fully rested after like four hours and I've never feeling short of breath. [00:26:08] Uh, you know, the new Apple watch has an apnea detection and it seems to not be detecting any apnea. [00:26:16] So I finally got a sleep study ordered and the doctor who is a very nice lady, she, you know, she's just like the reality of insurance right now is, uh, I will put in a request for an in, in a let in lab sleep study. [00:26:33] So we can watch you because the alternative is an at home sleep study. [00:26:36] And based on everything you're saying, there is a 0.0% chance that that at home sleep study is going to find anything. [00:26:44] Uh, and then I was like, well, then let's just do the in lab. [00:26:46] Like you're saying, well, she's like, oh, the insurance will surely deny based on what you're saying, uh, an in lab sleep study. [00:26:53] Uh, you have to do, you have to go through the motions of this at home sleep study first, and then it has to show nothing. [00:27:00] And then I can put in a script again for the in lab. [00:27:04] Uh, and, and then the prior authorization will go through and then you'll be able to do that. [00:27:09] And so I have to kind of do this performative nothing operation, just nothing like procedure, operation procedure. [00:27:18] It's over, you know, like diagnostic, you know, just to check some boxes and money is changing hands invisibly to me at every step. [00:27:27] Of course, for the most part, thanks, thanks to having health insurance. [00:27:30] So I, I, I schedule this and it's an at home sleep study. [00:27:36] Like there are services that mail these units, you know, they could ship it. [00:27:40] I could, I don't know, find a courier or something, but nope, this one, I have to drive to the other fucking side of Orlando, which is, you know, it's 20 miles, but it's like a 45 minute hour long adventure. [00:27:49] And I have to calling them the rules of the game were that I had to, uh, drive there Sunday night to pick it up, come back Tuesday night to drop it off. [00:28:00] And they, because of sleep study locations, this is like an actual, you know, testing center. [00:28:07] Uh, they literally open at 6 30 PM in the evening. [00:28:10] Uh, you know, so that's when their shift starts. [00:28:13] So I had to get there at 6 30. [00:28:15] So that means like, I'm basically fighting through rush hour into town and then pick it up and now I'm coming back home and now it's like eight. [00:28:22] So I guess I'll just eat dinner by myself or whatever. [00:28:25] Uh, and it's not like in a part of town where it's like, Hey, we can go downtown and like make a date, make a night date night out of it and go to like a fun restaurant. [00:28:33] It's like, this is a, I don't know what I, I have many times in this program suggested you should move to Orlando. [00:28:41] Orlando's great. [00:28:41] I love life in Orlando, but like whenever I leave the bubble of like theme park party time, Orlando, where everything's just really, really nice and customer service is incredible. [00:28:50] And the food's really great. [00:28:52] And, and it's just a party. [00:28:53] Uh, and I go to like real Florida. [00:28:56] I'm like, Oh yeah, I need to stop recommending people move to Orlando. [00:28:59] Cause this is like the median experience. [00:29:01] And I wouldn't, I would not, I can't do this for an hour. [00:29:05] I don't know how I would possibly live here. [00:29:07] No offense to Orlando, but I, uh, I went and I picked it up. [00:29:12] I drove my car there on Sunday night and traffic was pretty bad, but it's always pretty bad. [00:29:18] I had numerous cases of people jumping in front of the car on the way onto the highway. [00:29:23] Once I was on the highway, I get into the new express lanes, which do make things easier. [00:29:27] You pay a toll and you get, uh, you know, expedited traffic. [00:29:30] Um, and somebody had pulled over into the shoulder. [00:29:34] And as soon as he pulls over, he just whips open his, his driver's side door off of the shoulder. [00:29:41] And now the door is in my lane. [00:29:43] And there's of course, somebody on my left causing me to, uh, flip out and have to slam the brakes to, to the point of like, you know, bad enough that smoke is happening. [00:29:53] Right. [00:29:53] Like you can smell the burnt tire because this dude is just like, I'm on the highway. [00:29:57] I can open my door. [00:29:58] I'm a, I'm a big man. [00:29:59] I'm driving a truck. [00:30:00] So I chose not to blow his door off. [00:30:05] Uh, then on the way home, it was one of those ordeals where, uh, it's a, a sign said congestion, like eight, four miles ahead. [00:30:16] I was like, oh, four miles. [00:30:17] Okay. [00:30:17] Maybe I'll find an opportunity to take, get off the highway or I'll get onto the express lane and try to avoid it. [00:30:21] And, uh, Apple maps was saying I should turn right at the Kia center, which is like where the Orlando magic play. [00:30:27] And then take three more rights and then get back on the highway. [00:30:30] And I was like extremely convinced that this was just some sort of, you know, Apple maps fuckery. [00:30:36] Uh, and, and the nav and the computer being wrong because it often is, I was like, I'm going to stay on the highway. [00:30:42] I'm a smart guy and the instant that I passed that exit that it wanted me to take, everything became a parking lot and, and such a parking lot that it became road ragey pretty quickly with people driving and shoulders and honking and trying to edge each other out and motorcycles going between lanes. [00:30:58] And, and, and there's just a, you know, there's probably a metric that you could use for any civilization called like, uh, TTMM time to Mad Max. [00:31:10] And Florida has a very low TTMM, you know, it doesn't take long at all for every man for himself, uh, instincts to seemingly kick in. [00:31:22] So I, I did the rerouting and now, now the phone is telling me, all right, well, you know, literally it's so demoralizing. [00:31:32] You see the ETA to your home arrival move literally 40 minutes immediately because I chose not to take it's very wonky prescription of three right turns. [00:31:42] And now I realized in hindsight, the reason it wanted me to do that is there's a direct entrance onto the express lane. [00:31:47] And so not only did the ETA go up, not only do I have the regret that I didn't listen to the computer for, for telling me to do a stupid thing, but I also now am shamed by the insult on wounds here. [00:31:58] The left of me, the express lanes are wide open and there's just like five cars just having a great time going 80 miles an hour to get to where they want. [00:32:05] And everybody else is left in just this, this, this, this absolutely falling down style, uh, traffic jam, uh, or just after dark. [00:32:17] I did get home, I, I took a side street and it was one of those ordeals where you, you know, you take the side street, go up a couple of blocks, you go, you know, uh, turn left, kind of go, I don't know, maybe a half mile just past wherever, whatever accident was causing the congestion. [00:32:34] Then you get back on the highway. [00:32:34] And the problem was, of course, we all have automated navigation systems. [00:32:41] They all reroute us. [00:32:42] And so that was immediately backed up there that it was three traffic lights of people in the left lane, trying to, to turn onto that third traffic light. [00:32:52] And I, it would have been another 20 minutes just waiting for those light changes. [00:32:56] And so I just, you know, fortunately I had a brain and I was like, all right, I'm going to just blow past this and go in the right lane and drive forward three, three intersections and then do a U-turn turn right. [00:33:08] And then I, I successfully beat the rush and I got home and I, it merely only wasted 20 minutes of my time, but here, this story has already wasted five minutes of your time. [00:33:16] So it was death defying because even once off the highway, virtually none of those drivers had ever been on those side streets or in that neighborhood before. [00:33:27] And they were all driving like it and they were all driving like it and it was dark and there were not adequate streetlights. [00:33:31] So, uh, you know, it's not just that like Florida drivers are bad, but like you are surrounded by a certain number of frazzled dads who just picked up rental cards, cars from MCO, who are trying to get to their Disney hotel, who just had a flight delay, whose kids are screaming. [00:33:48] And nobody's happy like that is the default and that is the best case energy because like, you know, that's before you consider the, the, the capital F capital M Florida men and the tweakers and everyone else that just kind of contributes to this diverse fabric of society that we live in. [00:34:08] So, uh, that was a bad experience. [00:34:12] I, I did get home, you know, I am still with us, but by the time I got home, I was, I was so fried. [00:34:18] Like I, I, I, I, I didn't want to hang out. [00:34:22] I didn't want to talk to Becky. [00:34:22] Just wanted to like pour a whiskey and collapse. [00:34:25] Uh, the stress level is so high. [00:34:28] Like, and you can, I looked at my watch, right. [00:34:30] And I was looking at like the heart rate history and I was like, you know, I was white knuckling it. [00:34:34] Um, and that's, and that's partly on me, right? [00:34:36] Like I just, I don't, I don't like that kind of driving. [00:34:39] I don't like that stress. [00:34:39] Two days later, when I had to drop this device off, uh, the device itself was terrible, by the way, it was probably less sophisticated than my Apple watch and probably reading like less accurate, uh, heart rate. [00:34:57] And, and even the, the modern Apple watch like does track breathing. [00:35:00] That's how it does a sleep apnea thing, uh, uh, through the magic of gyroscopes. [00:35:05] And, uh, this device is a piece of shit and I'm sure somehow the rental fee for, for a one-time use was $1,500 to my insure. [00:35:12] Uh, and I'm sure it found nothing. [00:35:15] I can totally, like, I don't know how it would find anything. [00:35:17] Uh, it looked like it was built out of, you know, Teddy Ruxpin era, you know, technology in the mid eighties with, with the, the quality of the, the, the straps and the plastic. [00:35:29] I could just, but when I had to, when it, when time came to drop it off, I really did not want to repeat that experience on a weeknight when you, you know, traffic would be even worse. [00:35:41] And so I, I humbly asked my brother who has a Tesla, I said, Hey, uh, there's another follow-up item. [00:35:48] We, we, we, we picked it up together just in October. [00:35:51] I think, uh, I said, Hey man, like, can I swing by or you swing by drop off your Tesla? [00:35:59] He did some stuff to do at our house anyway. [00:36:01] And he's got the full self-driving like, like, uh, they keep renewing a 30 day trial for him. [00:36:09] And, uh, you know, full self-driving isn't, it is, uh, the car will drive itself. [00:36:14] You don't have to touch the wheel. [00:36:16] It, it, it, it, it's very conservative. [00:36:18] It has three modes, chill, uh, normal and hurried or hurry. [00:36:23] I've never tried hurry. [00:36:24] I don't need to try hurry. [00:36:26] I just stick on chill because at the end of the day, as long as I get to where I'm going, [00:36:29] I sort of don't care. [00:36:30] I'm not in a big rush. [00:36:32] Uh, I have the luxury of not needing to be anywhere in any particular pace. [00:36:37] As long as I leave on time, you know, I'm, and I'm going to get there by the time I promise [00:36:41] the chill is good with me and the, you have to supervise it. [00:36:48] And it was the case when the full self-driving crap and Tesla's first hit that people were, [00:36:55] you know, at first it was just like pressure testing the steering column. [00:36:58] And so people would like use like, uh, uh, weights, like, like weighted wristbands and [00:37:04] stuff to like make it trick the steering column into thinking that somebody was holding onto [00:37:08] the wheel. [00:37:08] Uh, and now they have cameras that look at you like inside the cabin and that, that camera [00:37:15] is using some amount of intelligence to determine that you're distracted or not. [00:37:19] So if you are looking a lot at the central, uh, tablet, it'll bark at you and say, Hey, pay [00:37:23] attention to the road. [00:37:25] If you're looking at your phone, it'll do the same. [00:37:26] If you're looking at a watch, you know, like I've had it even like when I'm talking to the [00:37:30] watch and looking forward, have it bark at me. [00:37:31] And as soon, as soon as it does it, it makes a beep and then it gets increasingly aggressive [00:37:36] and beeps louder. [00:37:37] You impressively. [00:37:39] I say this because like, you know, I'm sure that the reason it's like this is because Tesla [00:37:43] is trying to minimize it's like legal liability for accidents caused by its system. [00:37:47] If, if, if, if you ignore its beeps three times in a day, uh, you, you get a strike, the system [00:37:56] will disengage and you will be forced to manually drive your car like a plebeian for the rest [00:38:01] of the day. [00:38:01] At least that's how Jeremy explained it to me. [00:38:03] If you get five strikes, I want to say it is, um, you're just exited from your, you're ejected [00:38:12] from the full self-driving program. [00:38:14] And I am impressed not only that it's as aggressive as it is, like, you know, if you got to look [00:38:22] at the screen for something, you've got to adjust it. [00:38:23] You basically have seven or eight seconds to, you know, fix the mirrors or whatever it is [00:38:28] before you got to be looking at the road again. [00:38:29] I'm also like finding myself that when I'm driving his vehicle, I actually am significantly less [00:38:36] distracted than in my own Ford escape, which has car play. [00:38:39] And I typically don't touch the phone itself, but I, um, you know, I tune out a little bit [00:38:44] or, uh, you know, might look at something or might be tapping away at the, uh, you know, [00:38:49] the eye messages and, and, and, and whatnot seemingly longer in those cases than like what the Tesla [00:38:55] would let me get away with. [00:38:56] So I'm paying more attention to the road because the computer is telling me to, or forcing me [00:39:01] to, and I am also doing less of the driving. [00:39:05] So, you know, my foot's off the pedal, my foot, my hands are off the steering. [00:39:08] And when they say supervised, it's actually like the right word, like it is doing the [00:39:14] driving, but like the, it feels almost like a pilot co-pilot thing where I, your head's [00:39:22] on a swivel. [00:39:23] Like I can look to the left and I can look to the right and I have far greater situational [00:39:27] awareness as the car is driving. [00:39:28] Now, granted a lot of these like semi-autonomous and, and adaptive, you know, uh, uh, uh, assistance [00:39:35] in cars will for most people lull them into a false sense of security and result in further [00:39:44] driver inattentiveness and unsafety, right? [00:39:46] Like people will, you'll train them out of the vigilance that you need at all times when [00:39:52] you're the one driving a vehicle or being driven in a vehicle. [00:39:55] However, like the particular, and maybe it's just cause I'm kind of coming in and chapter [00:40:00] four of this particular saga of full self-driving and robo taxis will be here in six months as [00:40:05] Elon Musk. [00:40:06] And of course they're not there, but it seems like at least the way that I've experienced [00:40:13] full self-driving when I've used it, it seems to me like I feel a thousand times safer because [00:40:21] the combination of the car, mostly doing the right thing, mostly making the conservative [00:40:25] choice, absolute worst case. [00:40:27] It haunt, it blares at you and you need to take over, uh, combined with my own hypervigilance [00:40:35] of not, you know, I constitutionally do not trust computers and you know, Jeremy doesn't [00:40:41] either. [00:40:42] And so when we're driving these things, we're looking around all the time where we're, we're, [00:40:45] we're sort of, because we have a curiosity and how the technology works, like trying to think [00:40:49] about how is it thinking through this? [00:40:51] Like, like we have a lot of, for example, um, automated gated communities where like the, [00:40:56] the gates will open and closed when you're, when you're entering and exiting. [00:41:00] It's like, we, we look at the little like computer screens, like how does it, how does it, what [00:41:04] does it think is in front of it right now? [00:41:05] It sees that there's an obstruction. [00:41:07] Uh, and if it opens too slowly, is it thinking it's a permanent obstruction or is it going to [00:41:11] wait and then proceed after the thing opens automatically? [00:41:14] Like there's a lot of little moments like that, where it's actually kind of interesting [00:41:17] to see how, you know, how the car reacts and then it gets a software update and then how [00:41:22] the car reacts after that. [00:41:23] And then additionally, there's the typical ebb and flow of software updates generally where [00:41:28] there's regressions, right? [00:41:29] Like there was a version of this, uh, system that, that the ability, like it used to blow [00:41:35] past this one particular speed bump, uh, uh, near our neighborhood, uh, because it didn't [00:41:41] have sufficient paint on the road to indicate that it was a speed bump. [00:41:45] And then there was a software update and then it perfectly negotiated all four speed bumps [00:41:49] just right in a row every single time. [00:41:52] And then there was another update and now it blows past the third speed bump again. [00:41:56] And so, uh, I think that people who are technology enthusiasts who maybe follow this stuff and [00:42:05] understand how, what software is, how it works, that updates are not a pure linear, you know, [00:42:11] march of progress, I think the idea that there would be regressions in software releases or [00:42:18] even, uh, non-determinism in how the, how the computer car operates, that's totally natural [00:42:24] to me. [00:42:24] And I expect it now. [00:42:25] I, I grown at it and I think like, this is, this is probably a bad idea in aggregate and [00:42:31] at a population level. [00:42:33] I suspect that the average driver would be confused by that the same way that like the [00:42:38] average person is terrified of updating their phone or their computer because they associate [00:42:43] software updates with, uh, uh, you know, newness and unawareness and, and, and, and, and, and all [00:42:51] the things that they finally had working, no longer working. [00:42:54] And when they, but when you talk about the, the march of progress and technology, they sort [00:43:00] of have a, what it is, is whenever anything goes wrong with technology, if you're not, if [00:43:08] you're not primed to know that it's burning you is, it seems like people mostly blame themselves [00:43:13] instead of blaming the technology. [00:43:15] And if that's your, if that's the way you use your phone or your computer, uh, you [00:43:21] know, when, when the car makes a mistake, you might not realize it as a car making mistake [00:43:26] and you might not have the hypervigilance. [00:43:27] That's like, you know, a more adversarial, like, like, I feel like I'm constantly spot checking [00:43:31] it. [00:43:31] And I, and while I am surprisingly impressed with how well it's been negotiating everything [00:43:37] that we've thrown at it so far, it's made one or two mistakes and I've, I've, I've, [00:43:41] I've, I've dealt with it, but on net, like it's driving waste. [00:43:45] Way more safely than I am way. [00:43:47] And it's, it's taught me a few things. [00:43:49] It's like, Oh yeah. [00:43:49] Like whenever I do this at an intersection, like that's really dumb. [00:43:52] Like it's doing this way better. [00:43:53] Uh, I can't think of a specific example, but like, I'm pretty impressed. [00:43:58] And so I thought, well, I'll ask Jeremy to borrow the car because I've got this natural [00:44:03] experiment now, same time of day, uh, same location. [00:44:07] So I already know how to get there. [00:44:08] It's a, it's a little bit goofy, but like, because I was just there, I'm not going to feel [00:44:12] like I'm learning how to get, get there and also learning how to use this. [00:44:15] Auto driving system simultaneously. [00:44:17] And, uh, holy shit. [00:44:20] Like, yes, I had people jump out in front of the car. [00:44:23] It was even worse this time at the particular intersection before you get to the, to, to [00:44:27] I four and the car like saw them out of its blind spot while it was turning, right. [00:44:32] It saw them on the left camera and breaks perfectly. [00:44:37] Uh, and I, uh, my first reaction was like, I would not have caught that. [00:44:40] I probably would have cut it real close. [00:44:44] Uh, almost hitting these people. [00:44:45] Uh, you get onto the highway and then this is why I emphasize like I four is like the deadliest [00:44:51] highway in America because it's, it is, it is not like driving on the highway, wherever [00:44:59] the fuck you live like anywhere I was ever in Michigan or Ohio or anywhere else in the [00:45:04] U S or certainly anywhere I've driven in Japan. [00:45:06] Those are the only places I suppose I've driven or Canada. [00:45:09] Like, yes, sometimes it's a little stressful driving on the highway. [00:45:12] Like that's not what this is. [00:45:14] This is, you have to practice extreme defensive driving. [00:45:18] And if you actually want to get where you're going, you also have to practice offensive [00:45:21] driving. [00:45:21] Uh, so having, uh, you know, nine cameras and nine directions is just necessary for basic [00:45:28] like assurance of survival. [00:45:31] Like when I'm on I four, I, I feel constantly under threat. [00:45:35] Uh, and something happens every time. [00:45:39] So we get on the highway and that stuff does happen. [00:45:42] Uh, you know, the car on its own decided to take the express lanes by itself, which was [00:45:46] incredible, but like people were like, I was trying to merge into a lane. [00:45:50] And then as, as the things, well, it was trying to merge into a lane. [00:45:53] And as it was changing lanes, somebody who didn't even have a blinker on starts edging in [00:45:58] and the car knows I'm going to back off. [00:45:59] Uh, there was another case of somebody swerving into our lane, like very close to the car and [00:46:05] the car, you know, defensively, you know, switch to the right lane, which was wide open [00:46:11] to prevent the risk that like, you know, it might have to break. [00:46:14] Suddenly there wasn't enough distance between the cars. [00:46:16] And that was stuff that like, I only was actually even able to piece together. [00:46:19] What the fuck was it doing after the fact? [00:46:20] Like looking at the map and looking around me, it's just, it went great. [00:46:28] Got there, dropped the shit off, turned around, you know, the parking is wonderful too, because [00:46:34] it'll back into every parking spot. [00:46:36] You just tap the screen. [00:46:37] Like it'll see the parking spots. [00:46:38] You just tap which one you want and just, it handles it for you. [00:46:40] It parks way better than I park. [00:46:42] I don't know, man. [00:46:43] And on the ride home, not only, you know, everything around me felt like it was on fire and chaos, [00:46:50] but because I had a buddy who was doing the driving and I could just kind of be, you know, [00:46:54] patrolling and looking around, I actually got a, a low heart rate notification on my watch, [00:47:00] which I get, I get them frequently. [00:47:01] Cause I have a low resting heart rate, but like it would say, Hey, your, your heart rate's [00:47:05] been under 40 beats per minute for the last 10 minutes. [00:47:08] And, uh, which I, if that's not you, that's like, if that's not typical for you, that might [00:47:14] sound scary, but like, no, my, my resting heart rate when I'm actually like de-stressed and, [00:47:17] and just chill is like typically like 38. [00:47:20] So the fact that I could be on I4 with a heart rate under 40 feeling completely safe more than [00:47:27] anything, it's not about going fast or whatever. [00:47:29] It's like feeling like I've got a team of two that are dedicated to getting me home safely, [00:47:32] me and this computer. [00:47:34] Uh, it was a revelatory experience now that look, I realized it's a complicated situation [00:47:44] because Elon is a big old bucket of assholes and the politics of it are all fucked. [00:47:50] Uh, you know, the right time to buy a Tesla was, was when, uh, everyone agreed that, that [00:47:54] they were cool and EVs were good and the planet deserves saving. [00:47:57] Uh, but yeah, I got, I totally saw where, where my brother was coming from and all of his friends [00:48:03] who, who, who, who are similar technologists who, who have these things and who are, you [00:48:07] know, who got on board in the very recent hardware three or hardware four era of Tesla. [00:48:12] Um, particularly with like the, the, the entry level models that are higher volume and therefore [00:48:17] kind of more, uh, consistently produced, you know, the cyber truck, for example, more, most [00:48:26] expensive, but lowest volume and has the most problems. [00:48:29] The model Y at this point is pretty boring and dull, but like, you know, if, if you, if [00:48:34] you are like me and just kind of think of cars, the modern day car is just a tablet with wheels. [00:48:40] This is a, you know, and I, yes, I had, I had low expectations. [00:48:46] I had a high level of suspicion, but it went great. [00:48:48] And, uh, uh, I, I, I successfully dropped off my snoring thing. [00:48:55] I can't wait to get the results. [00:48:57] That'll tell me that, uh, you know, nothing happened. [00:48:59] Another bit of follow-up. [00:49:01] I think I'd mentioned that I, uh, I had used rocket money. [00:49:05] So, you know, it used to be called true bill and then quick and loans bought it. [00:49:08] And, uh, the, as quick and loan started branding itself as rocket and having this rocket suite [00:49:13] of products, rocket money became, it's, you know, a consumer entree into upselling it to [00:49:18] other products and rocket monies, you know, promises. [00:49:21] It's going to help you, uh, visualize all your subscriptions and even negotiate a tiny, tiny [00:49:27] sliver of those subscriptions. [00:49:28] And the one that I yielded to it was my spectrum account. [00:49:32] So my ISP had, had gradually been charging me more and more to the point where it was [00:49:36] like $145 after tax every month for the same internet program. [00:49:39] That was like a hundred dollars when I moved here. [00:49:41] And I was very skeptical when rocket money said, Hey, we just saved you $893 a year, uh, by, [00:49:48] by lowering your monthly bill to 70 bucks. [00:49:50] And they sent me a new modem as well. [00:49:53] And I was like, I don't need a new modem. [00:49:55] It's the, it's, it's the model number. [00:49:56] It looks almost identical. [00:49:57] And I, I was actually at UPS returning that modem. [00:50:01] And I just thought to myself, what if this modem is somehow better? [00:50:04] Cause I had not been super blown away by the performance of my current one. [00:50:09] And so I, I went to the trouble of unplugging the old one, plugging in the new one, setting [00:50:13] it up, calling to activate and it, my, my connection now is rock solid. [00:50:19] So, so just by doing this price hack thing, I now have a modem that works way better. [00:50:23] I was able to activate it myself without having some tech come over here. [00:50:25] So that's a, that's a win, but the statements were still showing up $140. [00:50:29] And I was really skeptical that like this would materialize, but sure enough, this week I got [00:50:35] a statement for $70. [00:50:36] Uh, and I guess that means I owe rocket money 35% of whatever it saved me. [00:50:42] And I don't know how that's, I don't know how that's paid or when that works. [00:50:45] I'll figure it out. [00:50:47] But if you're, if you're willing to, basically I would recommend rocket money to anyone who [00:50:52] is currently paying sticker price for whatever utilities, it's probably mostly ISPs and cell [00:51:00] phone bills. [00:51:01] If you're paying for like a normal plan that is still available and you're paying top dollar, [00:51:06] uh, call them, give it a try. [00:51:08] But if you're like, you know, like I am with T-Mobile grandfathered in on some 12 year old [00:51:13] plan that has been replaced five times. [00:51:15] And there's no like, like the most likely case then is it's going to put me on the latest plan [00:51:19] and sign me up for all of the new throttling and four ADP video and the shit that you don't [00:51:24] want, uh, in terms of limitations. [00:51:26] So check out rocket money. [00:51:30] I, I, I was extremely skeptical and now this is, this is a rocket money ad. [00:51:34] Uh, although it is unpaid. [00:51:36] If you want to be a sponsor of the program podcast at seerls.co, uh, another followup item. [00:51:47] I, let me tell you what it took to connect. [00:51:53] My Xbox controller to my, to my gaming PC. [00:51:58] So, uh, I have an Xbox series elite to whatever you call it. [00:52:04] A nice, the fancy Xbox controller that costs like $170. [00:52:07] And I like this controller. [00:52:09] It's got the little paddles in the back. [00:52:11] It's got, you know, a nicer grip, uh, interchangeable thumb sticks and D pad and stuff. [00:52:16] It's a very nice product, but it's, it's, you know, talk about low volume things that [00:52:21] aren't as reliable. [00:52:21] It has a lot of reliability issues and my right bumper button, like next to the right [00:52:27] shoulder, it had been like very, very, um, it would miss like 70% of the clicks. [00:52:36] And because the right bumper isn't the most important button in the world. [00:52:39] Like it just meant like, uh, I guess I'm just not the kind of guy to throw grenades or whatever [00:52:43] the right bumper is typically assigned to, I got a replacement relative, like a, a, a cheap [00:52:50] replacement through Microsoft support channel. [00:52:52] I think they charged me $70. [00:52:53] They didn't require me to ship back the old one. [00:52:55] Uh, the replacement came and I plugged it into the computer to start set up and pairing. [00:53:00] And the Xbox accessories app was like, this is too out of date to be able to configure your [00:53:06] controller, which was weird because windows update, which I checked frequently had said [00:53:10] that I was up to date, but there was a little message at the bottom saying, uh, windows is [00:53:16] up to date. [00:53:16] Important security updates have not been applied. [00:53:19] Make sure that your computer is turned on, which is weird because if I'm manually updating [00:53:22] and nothing's saying that it's like, where are these secret security updates that aren't [00:53:26] happening? [00:53:26] And when I dug into my actual windows version, it said I was on 21 H two. [00:53:32] So the naming scheme for these major windows releases seems to be the, the two digit year [00:53:39] followed by H one for first half of the year and H two for second half of the year, which [00:53:44] is, um, real dumb. [00:53:47] I'm going to say just a dumb way to name things, you know, numbers are good. [00:53:52] You know, I, I, I get it now why it's named that. [00:53:56] But 21 was, uh, if you, if you decode the version several, several numbers ago, it was [00:54:02] three, at least it was at least two H one ago. [00:54:05] And why was I on such an old version? [00:54:10] It turns out I'll share like a, an article from, from just December, the, the windows 11 [00:54:16] required computers to have secure boot enabled using the trusted platform module or TPM equivalent [00:54:22] encryption. [00:54:23] And that's to certify or to be able to attest that like the, the operating system has not [00:54:28] been tampered with and so forth. [00:54:29] And then this has all sorts of like DMCA, DR, DRM, um, uh, and, uh, HDCP, all this sort [00:54:36] of a content encryption, copyright protection, uh, ostensibly it's quote unquote security. [00:54:41] And it, and it's the, like making sure from a malware perspective that the veracity of [00:54:45] the system files are all in place and so forth. [00:54:47] But like a lot of nerds were not on board because they want to rip blue waves or whatever it is. [00:54:51] And this might make it marginally more difficult, but gaming motherboards were like the last ones [00:54:57] to the party to support secure boot. [00:54:59] And even though I built my gaming PC, well, after windows 11 launched the BIOS that it [00:55:04] shipped with did not support secure boot. [00:55:06] Um, it didn't support, uh, I don't think like booting from UEFI drives correctly either. [00:55:13] So I'd set it up just like a normal basic fucking computer and it worked for however long it [00:55:18] worked. [00:55:18] But apparently in December, Microsoft was just like, and you get no more updates at all. [00:55:22] No more security updates, no more, nothing, which is why I started getting that message. [00:55:25] Uh, if you want to be on the latest and greatest version of windows 11, you must have secure boot. [00:55:30] Problem now is like, it's been several years. [00:55:34] And so figuring out what kind of motherboard I even have, I'm too lazy to like open the case [00:55:38] up and look at it. [00:55:39] And so I, I found the particular model number in my Amazon orders. [00:55:42] So step one, you know, I figured out what was happening. [00:55:45] I guess step, step zero is I get this new controller and I immediately regret it. [00:55:49] Uh, step two, figure out what's happening. [00:55:52] Step three, check my Amazon orders, identify the motherboard. [00:55:55] Uh, step four, I went to the motherboard website. [00:55:58] I find that there, a BIOS update is available and it's, it adds the secure boot functionality [00:56:03] because apparently the encryption software hardware is on the device, which is great. [00:56:07] So I download the BIOS and then I start flashing it. [00:56:12] Uh, not, you know, not that kind of, get your head out of the gutter. [00:56:15] I, it, it requires, uh, you know, identifying there's a, there's a particular USB port on [00:56:23] the back of the, of the motherboard. [00:56:25] That is the only one that can flash the BIOS and you have to look for it. [00:56:30] This is like M dash flash on it. [00:56:31] So you put it in there, you know, you restart, you, uh, boot into the BIOS and I, uh, got [00:56:39] it to update that, that part was actually pretty easy. [00:56:41] Then you go into the, the BIOS and it, you know, I don't know what BIOS stands for. [00:56:45] So if you're not like a PC person, this might not make sense, but you, you, the, the, it's, [00:56:49] it's the little bit of software that runs before the computer really starts. [00:56:52] And you can typically get there by hitting a key like F12 or delete. [00:56:55] And it's, you know, if you weren't raised on windows, uh, it's, it's, it's a weird [00:56:59] under, underbelly that sometimes you have to go into. [00:57:02] It's got a lot of arcane settings. [00:57:04] None of them make any sense. [00:57:05] It's a lot of acronyms that aren't explained, even though modern BIOS systems typically have [00:57:09] tooltips, it'll be like, what is, you know, what is MDR? [00:57:12] And it's like this, this option determines whether you have MDR turned on and off. [00:57:16] And there's like room for two more paragraphs to just maybe spell out what the fuck MDR is. [00:57:20] Uh, I turned on the secure boot, figure that out. [00:57:25] Uh, chat GPT is wonderful for stuff like this. [00:57:27] Like it gave me step-by-step directions because like, there's probably 800 forum, forum posts, [00:57:31] like detailing the same thing. [00:57:33] Uh, after reboot, nothing worked and like the computer would not boot. [00:57:39] I turned on secure boot, which required turning on UEFI, which is like a related technology of [00:57:44] like a more modern boot system for computers. [00:57:46] And it turns out it's because that my drive partition map is master boot record MBR, which [00:57:51] is like from the DOS era. [00:57:53] And that was the default when I set it up in 21 or 2020. [00:57:56]

The panel discusses CES 2025 How Watch Duty's wildfire tracking app became a crucial lifeline for LA Worst in Show awards 2025 Aaron Swartz v Sam Altman We've not been trained for this: life after the Newag DRM disclosure All the Meta stuff (fact checking, etc.) Heritage Foundation plans to 'identify and target' Wikipedia editors The Government Wants to Protect Robux From Hackers Twitch Streamers Come Home After Big-Money Contracts at Rivals Dried Up Candy Crush, Tinder, MyFitnessPal: See the Thousands of Apps Hijacked to Spy on Your Location Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Nicholas De Leon, Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, and Cory Doctorow Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: coda.io/twit expressvpn.com/twit threatlocker.com for This Week in Tech uscloud.com bitwarden.com/twit

The panel discusses CES 2025 How Watch Duty's wildfire tracking app became a crucial lifeline for LA Worst in Show awards 2025 Aaron Swartz v Sam Altman We've not been trained for this: life after the Newag DRM disclosure All the Meta stuff (fact checking, etc.) Heritage Foundation plans to 'identify and target' Wikipedia editors The Government Wants to Protect Robux From Hackers Twitch Streamers Come Home After Big-Money Contracts at Rivals Dried Up Candy Crush, Tinder, MyFitnessPal: See the Thousands of Apps Hijacked to Spy on Your Location Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Nicholas De Leon, Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, and Cory Doctorow Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: coda.io/twit expressvpn.com/twit threatlocker.com for This Week in Tech uscloud.com bitwarden.com/twit

The panel discusses CES 2025 How Watch Duty's wildfire tracking app became a crucial lifeline for LA Worst in Show awards 2025 Aaron Swartz v Sam Altman We've not been trained for this: life after the Newag DRM disclosure All the Meta stuff (fact checking, etc.) Heritage Foundation plans to 'identify and target' Wikipedia editors The Government Wants to Protect Robux From Hackers Twitch Streamers Come Home After Big-Money Contracts at Rivals Dried Up Candy Crush, Tinder, MyFitnessPal: See the Thousands of Apps Hijacked to Spy on Your Location Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Nicholas De Leon, Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, and Cory Doctorow Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: coda.io/twit expressvpn.com/twit threatlocker.com for This Week in Tech uscloud.com bitwarden.com/twit

The panel discusses CES 2025 How Watch Duty's wildfire tracking app became a crucial lifeline for LA Worst in Show awards 2025 Aaron Swartz v Sam Altman We've not been trained for this: life after the Newag DRM disclosure All the Meta stuff (fact checking, etc.) Heritage Foundation plans to 'identify and target' Wikipedia editors The Government Wants to Protect Robux From Hackers Twitch Streamers Come Home After Big-Money Contracts at Rivals Dried Up Candy Crush, Tinder, MyFitnessPal: See the Thousands of Apps Hijacked to Spy on Your Location Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Nicholas De Leon, Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, and Cory Doctorow Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: coda.io/twit expressvpn.com/twit threatlocker.com for This Week in Tech uscloud.com bitwarden.com/twit

This week on my podcast, I’ve got Wil Wheaton reading the first chapter of the audiobook of Picks and Shovels, the next Martin Hench novel, which is out next month. Please consider supporting my work by pre-ordering the book as a hardcover, DRM-free ebook, or DRM-free audiobook in my Kickstarter! The year is 1986. The... more

Just Some of the Topics Covered in this Episode:Copyright Lawsuit Dismissal: A federal judge dismissed a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, filed by news outlets claiming misuse of their content in AI model training.Truth Social's Stock Drop: Despite a political victory for Donald Trump, shares in his media platform, Truth Social, have plummeted by 22%, leaving investors wary of its future value. Layoffs Roundup:Mozilla Foundation reduces its workforce by 30%, affecting advocacy and global programs.iRobot (makers of Roomba) lays off 105 employees following Amazon's abandoned acquisition attempt.Nissan announces 9,000 job cuts and a CEO pay reduction by 50%.Tech Housing Crisis in San Francisco: High demand for $700 monthly pod-style beds emphasizes the city's ongoing housing struggles.NYT Strikes and AI Replacement Controversy: The CEO of Perplexity offered to replace striking New York Times staff with AI, sparking debate over ethical implications.Disney's New Tech Office: Disney establishes an Office of Technology Enablement focused on AI, AR, and VR, led by former NFL tech executive Jamie Voris.Meta's Halted Nuclear-Powered Data Center: Meta's plans for a nuclear-powered data center face delays due to environmental concerns, including a rare bee species found at the site.AI's Real-World Impact: Thousands in Dublin fell for an AI-generated fake Halloween parade announcement, demonstrating AI's unintended consequences in misinformation.Canadian TikTok Ban: Canada mandates TikTok to shut down operations, impacting the social media giant's presence in the country.Australia's Proposed Social Media Ban for Minors: Legislation aims to limit under-16 access to social media, pushing for stricter age verification.Tesla Summon Feature Update Malfunction: A Tesla owner's vehicle becomes immobile due to recent software changes, highlighting software update issues in electric cars.Sponsors:Mint Mobile - Get a new 3-month premium wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at MintMobile.com/Grumpy. DeleteMe - Head over to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use the code "GOG" for 20% off.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/673FOLLOW UPOpenAI defeats news outlets' copyright lawsuit over AI training, for nowTruth Social Stock Is Crashing Even Though Trump WonIN THE NEWSMozilla Foundation cuts 30 percent of its staffiRobot lays off another 105 employeesNissan is laying off 9,000 workers and giving its CEO a pay cutSan Francisco Startup Sees Big Demand for Sleeping Pods That Cost $700 a MonthPerplexity CEO offers to replace striking NYT staff with AIStriking ‘NYT' workers are asking you to skip Wordle—but they made other games for you to playDisney forms dedicated AI and XR group to coordinate company-wide use and adoptionEndangered bees stop Meta's plan for nuclear-powered AI data centerAI Slop Website Sent Thousands of People to a Halloween Parade That Didn't ExistNew report details ‘vast spying' by China-linked telecom hackersCanada orders TikTok to shut down its business operations in the country due to 'national security risks'Australia proposes 'world-leading' ban on social media for children under 16Tesla updated its summon feature. Now this owner can't get to his car.Google has no duty to refund gift card scam victims, judge findsNvidia ousts Intel from Dow Jones Index after 25-year runNorth Korean Soldiers Deployed to Ukraine Reportedly "Gorging" on Uncensored Internet's PornMEDIA CANDYAI Replaced All the Staff at a Radio Station in PolandYou can now post tracks to TikTok from Spotify and Apple MusicSquid Game: Season 2 | Official Teaser | NetflixThe Apprentice - An American Horror StoryThe Diplomat Season 2THE CURE :: SONGS OF A LOST WORLD :: FULL LIVE STREAMAPPS & DOODADSAmazon Kindle Colorsoft e-reader shipping is cancelledX now lets blocked users see your postsAI Has Come for Sweet, Innocent NotepadNew Apple repair program will fix iPhone 14 Plus' rear camera issue for freeiPod fans evade Apple's DRM to preserve 54 lost clickwheel-era gamesApple Acquires Photo Editing Software Company PixelmatorAmazon reportedly bumped back its AI-powered Alexa to next yearWant to make a website look like Windows 98? You'll be needing 98.cssTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopOnly Malware in the BuildingGuy calls the ISS with an Amateur RadioA New Star Wars Trilogy Is Coming, and It Could Be Episodes 10, 11, and 12Police Freak Out at iPhones Mysteriously Rebooting Themselves, Locking Cops OutCLOSING SHOUT-OUTSGreg Hildebrandt, iconic Star Wars and Lord of the Rings artist, has died at 85Quincy Jones, music legend who shaped Michael Jackson's career, dies at 91Voice of AOL's Iconic ‘You've Got Mail' Alert Dies at 74See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Microsoft jumped into the mp3 player space a little late. Apple had been producing iPods for five years when the first Zune hit shelves. But that was just the beginning of a series of problems Microsoft encountered. We explore the sad (and short) story of the Zune.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.