October 13, 2020 at 2:30PM •
55 minutes
DISCUSSED: Merlin is reporting live from the show floor; Dan is due for a new phone; nostalgia for buying a carton of cigarettes; praise for Netflix's "Challenger" series; Merlin shares some updates on his big resource-leveling project; gotta find those big rocks, amirite; interruptions are the death of the tech person's day; remember, your work is part of your life—not separate from it.
October 6, 2020 at 1:45PM •
1 hour 19 minutes
DISCUSSED: Merlin craves an easy visit with Floyd; Spirit's lawsuit no longer winds on down the road; Question: what obligation does a company have to support their developer tools? And for how long exactly?; when are new film editions not "the good one?"; despite swearing not to do so, a popular service for monetizing indie content is, as they say, put on blast; lot of talk about business things; waiters shouldn't lie to people who used to be waiters; exciting developments in the Drafts ecosystem; and, finally, Merlin unleashes an old school stem-winder on taking a recent stab at resource-leveling—using technology!
September 29, 2020 at 1:15PM •
1 hour 22 minutes
DISCUSSED: the boys update one another on some very good media they're enjoying; everybody loves a movie with a big world; Merlin pitches Dan on the improbable magic of Ted Lasso; talk turns to some new features of Apple's recent OS updates; at length, Merlin makes a case for exploring the amazing new functionalities of widgets, complications, and especially the apps of Underscore David Smith; Guardian gets an exciting update and a pro plan; there's some talk of the challenge in finding a VPN that actually does what you think it's doing; it seems like the show is over, but then there's twelve minutes of movie talk with a focus on children and boobs; finally, Merlin kinda busts a gut about trying to run a Mr. Rogers on the kids you care about.
September 22, 2020 at 1:00PM •
1 hour 13 minutes
DISCUSSED: Folks, this one is a doozy, and that's all I'm gonna say about that.
September 15, 2020 at 2:30PM •
1 hour 14 minutes
DISCUSSED: Merlin is reporting live from the show floor; remember to photograph your kid's room; some bearded dragon updates; some thoughts on pets; Merlin's grandfather was a reluctant dog obsessive; Dan wants to read you a label; Merlin met a fellow cadet; check out Dan's videos; Merlin is loving iOS 14, especially the smarter Siri suggestions; speculation on how machines learn; your hosts still want Macs to be Macs; Big Sur notifications are basically a Bop It; are we getting diminishing returns from theoretical Mac improvements?; Dan has a really good analogy involving wrist watches; there's a reason normal people don't like their apps to change; Merlin puts review requests on blast; an edit button would still be nice; Merlin finds himself with an unusual opportunity to field test some disused home tech; and, finally, it is hoped that Frasier will leave of his own volition.
September 8, 2020 at 1:30PM •
1 hour 12 minutes
DISCUSSED: California has no shortage of crises; Dan's got a brand new bag; thoughts on exercise as prophylactic medicine; extremely anecdotal data on the rise of fake ratings and reviews on Amazon; the return of "A cool thing I learned this week" brings some very neato apps, tips, and whatnot.
September 1, 2020 at 2:00PM •
1 hour 11 minutes
DISCUSSED: Rabbit, rabbit!; Dan wants to be sedated; at some point, Merlin had most of the optimism bred out of him; a lot of problems and small beefs get overlooked for survival and sanity reasons right now; Dan shares listener recommendations for movies like the Missions Impossible; time was, you went to the weird video store and just hoped you got the good guy; Dan wants to remind you that he signed a letter of agreement—a CONTRACT; maybe it's time we abandon that increasingly meaningless term, "screen time"; Merlin thinks you can give a baby a name that's funny in only one way, but never in more than one way; every generation demonizes a new technology that they're sure will corrupt the youths; Dan has strong thoughts on the Indiana Jones trilogy (yes, there are exactly three and only three); no one is as persuasive as Sean Connery; Merlin made some movie lists; sometimes you get something that's "mostly for your kid" when it's totally not for your kid; Dan draws inspiration from Roald Dahl's work setup; this is probably a pretty good time to be risk-averse; a reminder that there are still always opportunities to improve how you operate; this leads to an examination of "desire paths" and learning from what your intuition and previous behaviors are trying to tell you; Merlin's Infrastructure Week is extended as he goes ham on speeding up his Mac; and, finally, Merlin discusses a useful Mac utility before putting it on blast.
August 25, 2020 at 12:00PM •
1 hour 25 minutes
DISCUSSED: Merlin has a lot of infrastructure going on; your hosts share strong feelings on time zone discrimination and its attendant big-timing; Dan has more cool videos coming to his channel; some boring nerd talk on voice recording options; Dan needs your suggestions for more movies like the Missions Impossible; in Follow-Up, there's some good news and some bad news related to both COVID and San Francisco; hurricanes are coming!; Merlin figures out why Safari on his Mac got so slow; thoughts on DNS Server choices; Merlin endorses a podcast episode that involves some very Back To Work ideas; everything is copy; and, finally, some concerns about nicknames plus several important questions about the consensuality of Jake Robert's titular snake.
August 18, 2020 at 2:45PM •
1 hour 7 minutes
DISCUSSED: time is hard; X-Men for eight cellos; in follow-up, Dan has some clues for troubleshooting his jumpy screen; it's valuable to understand what problem you didn't solve; then, of course, comes the extended weekly airing of COVID grievances; Merlin needs advice on choosing a Zoom recorder; check out Dan's new thing!; recommendations for Ted Lasso and Ethan Hunt; some lessons to bring home from vacation; plus, some more reckons on life after COVID.
August 11, 2020 at 8:00AM •
1 hour 6 minutes
DISCUSSED: Dan is joining a campaign, and Merlin's eyesight now precludes him from being an AD&D dungeon master; Dan has a concern about his laptop screen and needs your help; then, the boys settle in for a good, old-fashioned recommendations episode; podcasts, pens, video editing apps, a 3D printer, a new SoundSource, hard drives, and even a moisturizing cream for your little patch.
