Crossed Wires

In what feels like a full-circle moment, James is joined by Alex Lowe and Jim Starling from the Charging Status EV Podcast, which as many of you will know started life here as a co-production between Crossed Wires and The Interface before James has to give up the show to take a job at a CPO. Now he's free of the shackles of that CPO, we chat the latest EVs, discuss the confusion around charging, look into how car infotainment has changed, and go on random tangents related to Greggs and caravans. What are your thoughts on EVs, do you have some horror stories about charging, or maybe a great EV you've driven? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Charging Status EV Podcast YouTube Apple Podcasts Alex Lowe The Interface The Interface Cars on YouTube Jim Starling DefinitelyNotAGuru on YouTube Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:14:00: Creating with Macs 00:20:35: Talking EVs 00:26:29: Charging Confusion 00:46:25: Infotainment 01:03:47: Security Concerns 01:10:28: Self Driving Future 01:15:21: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

We're always delighted to have returning guests on the show, and so we're pleased to have Gedeon Maheux from The Iconfactory join us again. This time we're talking about the Kickstarter for their wonderful retro gaming app, Ollie's Arcade. We also delve into retro-gaming memories, have a very open discussion about Apple, Nazis, ICE, and why little acts of kindness can really make a difference in our not so great world at the moment. What are your retro gaming memories, do you remember playing Snake, or even the original Frenzic? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Mastodon Links: Jae: [email protected] James: [email protected] Gedeon: [email protected] IconFactory: [email protected] IconFactory Website Ollie's Arcade on KickStarter Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:05:13: The Elon Evilness Update 00:08:36: Ollie’s Arcade Kickstarter 00:37:09: Retro Gaming 00:51:55: Apple, Nazis, and Acts of Kindness 01:10:57: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW Chapters (00:00:04) - Introduction(00:05:13) - The Elon Evilness Update(00:08:36) - Ollie’s Arcade Kickstarter(00:37:09) - Retro Gaming(00:51:55) - Apple, Nazis, and Acts of Kindness(01:10:57) - Wrapping Up

It's been a lot longer than we planned between episodes, but we're happy to be back in 2026 with a great chat with Mike Saunders from The Document Foundation who maintain the wonderful LibreOffice suite. We chat about why it's important to have alternatives to Microsoft Office, the history of LibreOffice, why a truly open document format is so important as well as random detours into the concept of modern word processors for vintage hardware! What's your view on LibreOffice and the reasons for needing alternatives to things like Office 365 and Google Docs? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Mastodon Links: Jae: [email protected] James: [email protected] LibreOffice: [email protected] The Document Foundation [email protected] LibreOffice The Document Foundation Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:07:39: Apple’s Open Source Contributions 00:10:10: Proprietary Software 00:13:39: Libre Office 00:18:26: Why Do We Need Alternatives to Microsoft Office 00:34:13: Misconceptions About Document Formats 00:43:04: Cloud & Privacy 01:05:08: The Importance of Updates 01:16:28: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW Chapters (00:00:04) - Introductions(00:07:39) - Apple’s Open Source Contributions(00:10:10) - Proprietary Software(00:13:39) - LibreOffice(00:18:26) - Why Do We Need Alternatives to Microsoft Office?(00:34:13) - Misconceptions About Document Formats(00:43:04) - Cloud & Privacy(01:05:08) - The Importance of Updates(01:16:28) - Wrapping Up

What makes a beautiful app interface, a stunning icon, or that little bit of UI magic that shows the care poured into the design process? Our returning guest is Gedeon Maheux, co-founder of Icon Factory, who joins Jae and James to talk about how human design will always beat out generative AI and how the latter is having a substantial impact on their business. Do you have a favourite app design, or maybe an icon that always gives you a certain feeling? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Mastodon Links: Jae: [email protected] James: [email protected] Gedeon: [email protected] IconFactory: [email protected] IconFactory Louis Mantia's Blog Previous Appearances by Gedeon: Can You Hear Me - iPhone 16 Event Weaving a Tapestry A Good Day to Podcast Ollie, Space Karen, and an API Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:07:17: The State of the IconFactory 00:16:36: App and Icon Design 00:27:22: Designing for Liquid Glass 00:46:26: Icon Variety 00:52:51: More Than Just Icons 01:13:10: Closing Thoughts Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW  

Did you grow up wishing you could make real 3D objects from your computer, maybe if you're British you remember the cartoon 'Penny Crayon'? Well, in this modern world we live in, you can do all of that with a 3D printer. Our guest is friend of the show and all-round self-hosting nerd, James Smith, who has been working on Manyfold which is a self-hosted project you can use to manage all of your 3D model files. Of course, none of that will make any sense if you don't know your Z-Axis from your extruder, and so James and James attempt to give a comprehensive guide to 3D printing, with an unintentional bias towards filament based printing. Have you gotten into 3D printing yet, maybe you've got some horror stories to share of prints gone wrong, or want to share your amazing creations? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion Backblaze "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Hetzner Need to host your own instance of Manyfold, or any other app or service that can run on Linux, then check out Hetzner, with hosting in the EU and great rates on both AMD and Ampere powered ARM servers, as well as great pricing on storage including object storage and hosted NextCloud. Episode Links James Smith on Mastodon Manyfold: Website / Mastodon / Public Instance Benchy - Public domain 3D printer test model Ender-3 V3 SE Bambu Labs Cloud Dependancy - Louis Rossman on YouTube Slicers: OrcaSlicer Slic3r 3D Design TinkerCad - Free web based model creation from AutoDesk FreeCad - Open-source CAD software for Mac, Linux, and Windows Online Model Sites: Thingiverse Printables Mentioned models: NES Switch Cartridge Case V2 by flyingpurplecow - Thingiverse

Yes, we're back again, and you'll get to hear exactly what's kept Jae and James so busy over the last several months. We're joined again by Alex Lowe from The Interface to dissect an Apple keynote, this time the one from WWDC 2025.What do you think to Liquid Glass (or Liquid Gas, though that's a whole different discussion), and are you as excited as we are about the new multi-tasking features coming to iPadOS 26 on more iPads than we had expected. Oh, and you'll be pleased to know we got the website back up and running! We're still adding more features, but this new site is very much focussed on Crossed Wires as a tech and creative services provider. As always, we'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links WWDC 2025 Keynote - Apple Developer / YouTube Tom's Guide Interview with Craig & Joz - Tom's Guide / YouTube The Interface AirPlay video coming to CarPlay - 9to5 Mac Mentioned Episodes Build-A-Browser with Jon von Tetzchner The Ferrite Attraction with Canis from Wooji Juice Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:08:15: Keynote Focus 00:12:32: Version Numbering 00:14:54: Liquid Glass 00:21:59: iPhone 00:31:59: Apple Intelligence 00:35:36: Camera App 00:37:26: Apple Wallet & Digital ID 00:45:24: iPad 00:47:07: Meeting Tim Cook 00:54:56: Back to iPad 01:01:41: HomeKit and CarPlay 01:08:13: watchOS 01:09:45: macOS 01:21:39: Apple TV 01:27:37: Random Stuff 01:35:43: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs b...

It's been a hectic few months here for the team, but on November 4th 2024 we sat down with Alex Lowe for coverage of Apple's end of October announcements for their new m4 powered Macs. Apologies this episode is so late in coming to you, but we hope you enjoy the Christmas Present! We discuss how these style of announcements works better for content creators, the power of the new m4 chips, and the unbelievable size of the new Mac mini. Apple Intelligence played a major role in all of the product announcements, so we discuss our thoughts on the utility of Apple's AI efforts. Of course, this was recorded before Apple Intelligence came to the UK in the latest iOS and macOS updates. Have you picked up any of the new m4 based Macs, or maybe you have some views on Apple Intelligence? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Charity Support: To Write Love on Her Arms As you'll hear in the episode, Jae has recently gone through a difficult mental health journey and so as well as sharing her story, we're also trying to raise $1,000 for the wonderful mental health charity, To Write Love on Her Arms, and you can donate directly via https://crossedwires.net/charity. We use Tiltify, which means all of your donations go directly to the charity. Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Apple's Product Announcements: iMac Mac mini MacBook Pro All of Apple’s Macs now start with 16GB of RAM (The Verge) Apple’s Craig Federighi Explains Apple Intelligence Delays, Siri’s Future and More | WSJ (YouTube) A new home for Pixelmator (Pixelmator Blog) Chapter Times 00:00:04:...

Without fail, Apple released their next iPhone, a new Apple Watch and some new software for their range of devices. What we didn't expect was for Apple to take a step into the hearing aid market with new firmware coming ot the AirPods Pro 2 later this year. As with any other Apple event, Jae and James are joined by Alex Lowe from The Interface and this time returning guest Gedeon Maheux from The Iconfactory comes along for the ride, which far less Star Trek diversions than you may expect! What did you think about Apple's new products and their latest software? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Watch the Apple Event The Interface - Alex's tech and automative news and review site. The Iconfactory - Great apps and services from Ged and co! Walaroo - Fantastic wallpapers for your Mac and iOS devices Gedeon Maheux on Mastodon Educating AI - Our chat with Zack about how AI impacted his high school graduation. Using the Passwords App (Apple) Chapter Times 00:00:05: Introductions 00:04:27: Event Thoughts 00:09:11: iPhone 16 00:19:02: Apple Watch Series 10 00:29:54: Apple’s Health Focus 00:36:30: AirPods 00:56:15: iOS & iPadOS 18 01:13:12: Passwords 01:19:57: Math notes 01:26:12: EU Regulators 01:33:53: RCS 01:36:52: Apple Intelligence 01:47:25: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

Do you remember when smartphones weren't just running Apple or Google's OS, when you really did need a stylus to do anything, and when the very idea of connectivity to the Internet was a expensive affair involving PCMCIA, CompactFlash, or SD based adaptors? Our panel does! Joining us once again are the wonderful Dan Vincent, Sean (aka. Action Retro), and Steve (aka Mac84) to dive into the world of handheld computing before the iPhone and Android era. We try to stay on topic, which proves a challenge with Sean's unusual definitions of handhelds cropping up along the way. What are your handheld computing memories, where you in camp Palm or firmly in the Pocket PC / Windows CE... pocket? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Guests Dan Vincent: Userlandia (YouTube) / Mastodon Sean: Action Retro (YouTube) / Mastodon Steve: Mac84 (YouTube) / Mastodon yBasic - Palm DB - The BASIC app Sean used on his Palm Graffiti (Palm OS) - WikiPedia Casio Cassiopeia E-125 - WikiPedia Springboard: the secret history of the first real smartphone (Full Documentary) - The Verge on YouTube The Cybiko Experience: a Handheld Computer for Year 2000 Teens - LGR on YouTube Nokia N-Gage QD - WikiPedia Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:07:14: Our First Handhelds 00:18:32: The Pen Computing Era 00:32:42: Palm 00:40:04: Cybiko 00:44:15: Windows CE & PocketPC 00:52:21: The Appeal of Handhelds 00:58:28: The Demise of Standalone Handhelds 01:06:55: What Do We Miss? 01:19:59: First Dumb & Smartphones 01:32:18: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme:

It's Apple Event time again; recorded a few weeks after Apple's WWDC 2024 Keynote, James, Jae, and Alex sit down for a chat about everything Apple announced at the June 10th event. Apologies this has taken longer than usual to get out to you, work and other commitments have definitely gotten in the way. We will have more amazing episodes coming at a more regular pace for you going forward. What do you think to Apple's AI (Apple Intelligence) future, are you concerned because of the growth of AI in general, or reassured based on their privacy first approach? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links The Interface - Alex's tech and automotive news site. Apple Events - Watch the WWDC24 Keynote Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:33: Skydiving Intro 00:09:55: Apple TV+ 00:16:03: visionOS 2 00:24:39: iOS 18 01:05:05: tvOS & HomeKit 01:13:06: watchOS 01:17:44: iPadOS 18 01:22:12: macOS Sequoia 01:26:12: Passwords 01:33:28: Apple Intelligence 02:05:41: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

Apple held their 'Let Loose' event on May 7th, 2024 and not long after the 'dream team' of Crossed Wires Apple coverage gathered to discuss the new iPads, the rather confusing line up of Apple Pencils. We also take a detour to look into why WiFI 7 not being included in the new iPads is not as big of a factor as some may think. Finally, we discuss the powerful new features in Apple's pro apps for iPad, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro and how these new features make iPad a powerful creative tool more than ever before. Are you planning to buy a new iPad, are you excited by the new features of Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro on iPad? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links The Interface - Alex's fantastic tech and automative news site Watch the Event - Apple Events iPad Pro - Apple.com iPad Air - Apple.com Apple Pencil - Apple.com, including showing features and helping you see compatibility for the different pencil models. The Case for iPad Pro - Vergecast iOS 18 Accessibility Features - Apple Pressroom Final Cut Pro for iPad - Apple.com Logic Pro for iPad - Apple.com Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:04:30: The Let Loose Event 00:08:17: Crushed 00:16:22: iPad Air (M2) 00:25:33: iPad Pro (M4) 00:42:22: Apple Pencil Shuffle 00:55:16: Why No WiFi 7? 01:02:31: Choose An iPad 01:11:36: iOS 18 Accessibility 01:13:55: Pro Apps 01:25:49: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

As centralised social media platforms become more and more hostile, with not only toxicity from undesirable elements but also massive privacy concerns, the Fediverse has become somewhat of a refuge for those who want to share freely and openly, without the worry of appeasing the almighty algorithms. There are some fantastic Mastodon issues for you to join, but what if you want a bit more control, or want to build your own community, or represent your brand? You could setup your own server, assuming you have the skills and patience to do so, or you could take advantage of a service like Masto.host. Our guest, Hugo, provides what he describes as 'Shared Hosting for Mastodon' at incredibly affordable prices and with some much appreciated transparency on infrastructure and update policies. We talk about how things got started, his encounter with TERFs and the freedom to refuse service to anyone because of the decentralised nature of the fediverse. We also do a bit of a deep dive into the infrastructure setup for Masto.host and the measures Hugo has put in place in the aim to give everyone a great experience. Do you have your own instance, or maybe have some stories to share of instances gone wrong? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Masto.host - Hugo's Mastodon hosting service [email protected] - Masto.host on Mastodon Infrastructure | Masto.host - Details of how the Masto.host infrastructure works, as Hugo describes in the episode. Mastodon - Into the Fediverse - Our chat with James Smith of Mastodon.me.uk Mastodon on GitHub Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:05:57: Shared Hosting for Madtodon 00:11:26: Ditching Twitter 00:14:43: Turfing out TERFs 00:22:21: Why Have Your Own Instance? 00:33:59: Infrastructure 00:50:07: Masto.host Pros & Cons 00:58:50: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

The hype around AI continues to grow, often muddling genuinely useful elements like machine learning, pattern recognition, and properly and ethnically trained large language models with tools like ChatGPT and generative AI tools that have questionable data sources. With returning guests, Prof. Catherine Flick and our very own Zack, we talk about the challenges of AI in the academic space. Zack also shares his own experience of being caught using ChatGPT to complete a final essay he, by his own admission, had left until the last minute. Are you academia, have you been tempted to use AI shortcuts or maybe are a teacher or professor who has had experience with students taking those shortcuts? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Prof Catherine Flick - Website / Mastodon Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:05:11: Zack’s Story 00:14:55: Assistive Tools vs AI 00:24:38: Due Diligence & Alternative Assessments  00:45:33: Generative AI  00:51:45: AI Hype vs Machine Learning  00:55:00: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

If you’ve ever purchased a new laptop, you’ll know only too well the pain of configuring your new system to get your dream setup. With some manufacturers, looking at you here Apple, your choice of storage and memory are there for the lifetime of the laptop. Worst still, if you have a failed component on your laptop you’re often faced with expensive and proprietary repair options that can often cost nearly as much as the laptop itself. Nirav Patel founded Framework to tackle these issues by creating laptops that push the boundaries of what we’d expect to be upgradable in our modern thin and light world. What do you think about the Framework laptop, is it something that may be on your tech wish list? Do you think laptops, and tech in general, should last longer than a podcast episode? We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion “Don’t you people backup? I backup, and I don’t even know what backing up means!” – Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that’s important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you’ll want to make sure it’s kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn’t really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn’t in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Framework – The Framework laptops Framework Marketplace – See all the various components you can buy for your Framework laptop Linux on the Framework Laptop – Details of Framework’s official support for both Ubuntu and Fedora Dell Inspiron 9100: $4,800 Pentium 4 Laptop from 2004 – LGR (YouTube) Checking on my Investment in Person – Framework Laptop Factory Tour – Linus Tech Tips (YouTube) Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:02:15: Right to Repair & Sustainability 00:05:38: Upgrading a Mobile Platform 00:08:42: The Framework Laptop 00:11:05: Linus Drop Tips 00:12:48: Modular IO 00:15:52: Memory & Storage 00:16:50: Main board and more ? 00:18:47: Framework 16 Input Deck 00:21:28: Reusing a Framework Mainboard 00:23:35: Framework 16 GPU 00:26:07: Linux Support 00:27:53: Final Thoughts from Nirav 00:29:30: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

It’s our pleasure to be joined again by The Iconfactory’s Gedeon Maheux, this time we’re talking less Star Trek and more Tapestry, no not that episode with Q and Picard! Project Tapestry is their latest KickStarter project, and the goal is to create a one-stop-shop for reading the influx of things that matter to you on the web. As long as the site has an open and accessible endpoint for you to get the data, you should be able to bring that into Tapestry. We also talk about some of the challenges of designing apps for changing design styles, different platforms, and of course take some minor course corrections into sci-fi and Apple in general. Will you be backing Project Tapestry? At the time of posting this episode, there’s just 7 days left to go and the team have some really cool rewards still up for grabs.  What are your thoughts on how apps are designed? What’s your favourite Q appearance in The Next Generation? We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion “Don’t you people backup? I backup, and I don’t even know what backing up means!” – Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that’s important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you’ll want to make sure it’s kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn’t really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn’t in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links The Iconfactory – Website | Mastodon Gedeon Maheux – Mastodon Project Tapestry – Kickstarter Why Tapestry? – Iconfactory Blog Ollie, Space Karen, and an API – Gedeon’s first appearance on the show talking about the demise of the Twitter API Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:01: Why Kickstarter? 00:05:54: What is Tapestry? 00:13:47: Endpoints 00:18:43: Rewards 00:22:23: Looking Back at Design Trends 00:30:59: An AI Tangent 00:33:59: An Apple QuickTake  00:41:32: Designing for New Platforms 00:54:01: The Joy of Design 01:02:28: Wrapping Up  Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

With so many choices in browsers on desktop, mobile, and even our vehicles, it’s important to look under-the-hood to understand the differences between the engines that power your favourite browser.  Be that Chromium, WebKit, or Gecko, not all browsers are created equal and have varying features and views on the rights of their users. We’re honoured to be joined by Jon von Tetzchner, the CEO of Vivaldi, an open-source and privacy first Chromium powered browser that could replace Google Chrome. Jon also explains why we need regulation on the increasingly scary amount of user-profiling that’s happening across the web itself, not to mention many browsers and services.  Do you remember using the early versions of Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Opera, or something equally vintage? Or, maybe you had to develop sites that required myriads of tweaks to make them work across platforms and interpretations of web standards.  We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion “Don’t you people backup? I backup, and I don’t even know what backing up means!” – Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that’s important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you’ll want to make sure it’s kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn’t really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn’t in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Vivaldi – Website | Mastodon Jon von Tetzchner – Mastodon Mosaic – Wikipedia Opera Mini – Wikipedia W3C – The World Wide Web Consortium Secure DNS – Chromium Blog Fastmail – Privacy focussed email, get 10% off your first year with this link. Digital Identity – Our chat with Helen Horstmann-Allen from Fastmail Vivaldi steers in-car browsing: Now available in the all-new Ford and Lincoln infotainment system Chapter Times 00:00:05: Introductions 00:04:20: Why So Many Browsers? 00:18:33: What Makes Vivaldi Different? 00:26:24: Is Chrome Becoming IE6? 00:33:06: App Stores 00:38:36: User Profiling 00:54:23: A Browser in Your Car? 01:03:13: Wrapping Up ...

Whether you work in tech, produce tech content, or just happen to use a smartphone, a single question can spark debate and an explosion of extreme views from both sides. That question is simple, iPhone or Android? We’re joined by our Zack, one of Jae’s nephews and a longtime Android user and advocate to have an honest discussion about why we like the platforms we’ve settled on and where we see potential issues.  Our chat touches on some core issues like security updates, the challenge of a multitude of Android OEMs, cross-platform messaging, ecosystem lock-in, and the important of right to repair and the longevity of hardware. What’s your daily driver, do you have strong feelings about the Fruit Company or the one with all the Droids? If you can keep it respectful, we’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion “Don’t you people backup? I backup, and I don’t even know what backing up means!” – Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that’s important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you’ll want to make sure it’s kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn’t really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn’t in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Android Open Source Project – The core of Android, that isn’t always Google powered. iPhone Models Compatible with iOS 17 – Apple Support Samsung Commits to Four Years of Security Updates – Samsung Newsroom (2021) Signal – Cross platform, end-to-end encrypted messaging iFixIt.com – Guides for device repair Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:43: Our Daily Drivers 00:06:57: Personal Choice Matters 00:12:13: Android is not Google 00:15:26: Side loading: Android’s Freedom of Choice?  00:33:15: Android Versions & OEMs  00:42:18: An Expectation of Updates?  00:47:38: Picking Your Device  00:51:05: The Right to Repair  01:07:34: Platform Services & Ecosystems  01:18:17: Beeping iMessage  01:29:01: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

You’ll have heard James and Jae wax lyrical about their love for the UniFi line of networking gear on our live streams and in past episodes with Alex, as well as with Cody from MacTelecom Networks, but this episode is a fairly deep look into why we love UniFi. We’re joined by Alex Lowe and Evan McCann, the hosts of UI Chat, a monthly Ubiquiti focussed podcast that is definitely our go-to resource for the latest news from the UniFi maker.  We talk about some of the new products, though it’s worth mentioning that this episode was recorded in mid-December 2023 and so pre-dates the new U7 Pro and Swiss Army Knife Ultra access points, as well as the new Pro Max switches. Have you used UniFi at home or at work, or maybe you disagree with our views and prefer [insert other brand name here] for your network. We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion “Don’t you people backup? I backup, and I don’t even know what backing up means!” – Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that’s important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you’ll want to make sure it’s kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn’t really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn’t in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links UI Chat on Apple Podcasts The Interface – Alex’s great tech news site McCann Tech – Evan’s blog with wonderful deep dives on UniFi gear UniFi Products Express – The new all-in-one gateway, controller, and access point that Jae now uses to replace her previous eero setup. Dream Router – The R2D2 like gateway, switch, controller and access point that James uses Talk – Affordable VoIP platform which has less features than a traditional PBX, but is incredibly easy to configure. Meet UniFi (YouTube Playlist) – The Jack Quaid (aka Lt. Bradwert Boimler) UniFi ads Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:05:42: A UniFi Overview 00:21:17: Routing  00:25:30: No Subscriptions 00:27:11: The UniFi Magic  00:37:20: Switches, Switches, Switches  00:38:58: WiFi Standards  00:44:21: UniFi Express  01:01:49: UniFi Talk & Protect  01:24:26: PPSK  01:26:25: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: 

Imagine a time when internet access meant using an analogue modem to dial a phone number in order to connect to the internet at speeds of up 7 kilobytes a second! Now imagine trying to play online games such as Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Euro 96, and even Bridge, over that connection. Our guests this week, Phil and Stu Ashby, helped to create and run Wireplay, a dial-up based online gaming service from BT (yes, the telephone company) in the mid-nineties. We go on some really deep tangents on the workings of modems, why just enabling anonymous dial-up internet access may spark some questions, and the challenges of keeping latency in online gaming at a (for the time) remarkable 100ms over dial-up. There’s also a discussion of how having Windows Servers in your backend can be somewhat painful. Do you remember using Wireplay, or a similar service? We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion “Don’t you people backup? I backup, and I don’t even know what backing up means!” – Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that’s important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you’ll want to make sure it’s kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn’t really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too.  Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn’t in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Do you remember Wireplay? How BT helped to pioneer online gaming around the world – BT via Archive.org Wireplay: creating the first online gaming platform in the UK – Phil Ashby on Dev.to Wireplay calling – hello 1996! – Ashbysoft Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary – Valve on YouTube Wireplay invades Brisbane – AusGamers – Adam Williams on YouTube Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:05:00: BT Primer 00:10:07: Internet in the 90s 00:16:58: The Rise of Multiplayer Games 00:29:14: The Birth of Wireplay 00:53:22: The Incident  01:04:08: Windows Servers In The Backend  01:12:06: Half Life 01:22:51: The Aftermath 01:36:43: Museum Pieces 01:41:23: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

In what’s starting to become a Crossed Wires tradition, James, Jae and Alex gather to discuss Apple’s latest event, which was scarily short at just over 30 mins long, making this possibly our shortest event coverage episode to date! We unpack what the new m3 powered Macs mean in terms of performance, with Apple specifically targeting those who have yet to convert from Intel based Macs and early m1 adopters, why 8 GB of memory is probably enough for most average users.  We’re also very honoured to join our friends at The Iconfactory in celebrating 20 years of xScope. Make sure you listen to the end of the episode for a wonderful offer. Apologies this episode has been delayed in releasing, a few family issues have meant James has been rather distracted from his editing duties. We are working to get episodes out on a more frequent schedule, but we really do thank you all for your patience and continued support of the show. What do you think to the new m3 lineup, is there anything you think Apple should have done differently? We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion Of course, if you’ve decided it’s time for a new Mac, you’ll want to make sure all your important data is kept backed up – especially when you’re on the go and maybe don’t have access to that huge external drive you use for Time Machine.  Well, may we recommend Backblaze’s cloud backup, at just $9 / month for unlimited backups your new Mac will thank you. Use this link to sign up for your free 15 day trial and help support us here at Crossed Wires. Episode Links The Interface – Alex’s fantastic site covering tech and more!  Scary Fast – Watch the Apple event MacBook Pro (Apple.com) iMac (Apple.com) Behind the scenes at Scary Fast: Apple’s keynote event shot on iPhone and edited on Mac Happy Anniversary, xScope! – Use code XSCOPE20 through December 4th, 2023 for 60% off the regular price. Thanks to Gedeon and the team for extending this wonderful offer to our amazing listeners. Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:35: The Scary Fast Event 00:07:13: The M3 Family 00:17:21: iMac 00:25:38: M3 Performance 00:31:47: MacBook Pros  00:48:16: Filmed on iPhone  00:53:54: 20 Years of xScope 00:56:01: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

When we think of programming, we may tend to think of Matrix-esque nerds sat in front of green-on-black screens absorbed in code that makes less sense than a chocolate teapot, or we may think of super-star game developers bashing out the latest GTA or similar. The reality is that programming is very much a problem solving exercise, and languages like Ruby provide a set of tools for how to map out logic and present results to the average computer user.  Our guest this week is a long-time friend of the show, Joel Drapper, who has recently been working on some powerful new open-source Ruby libraries that can help developers speed up their work and save a lot of confusion. Joel also tells us a bit about his own journey to becoming a programmer, and points to some great resources for those who are interested to get started themselves. We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Joel Drapper: Mastodon / Naming Things / GitHub Rooftop Ruby – Joel and Colin’s Ruby podcast. Practical Object-Oriented Design, An Agile Primer Using Ruby – A starting guide to Ruby. Grokking Algorithms – An illustrated guide to understanding how algorithms work. Treehouse – A great online resource for learning Ruby and other tech stuff. Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:12: Self Taught 00:15:00: Front-end vs backend 00:18:52: Learning Resources 00:26:14: Solving Problems 00:28:36: Open Source Software Libraries 00:51:02: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

Accessibility is essential to allow everyone to enjoy experiences that they may have, in the past, missed out on due to a lack of vision, a lack of hearing, or so many other factors. As many of you will know, both Jae and James are visually impaired, and so making one of our favourite pastimes more accessible for those with a wide range of sight conditions is a truly exciting topic for us.  So, Jae reached out to Brandon Cole, an incredibly talented and respected accessibility consultant with credits within the Forza series, not to mention his incredible work on The Last of Us games, so we could sit down and have a chat about all of the work he does as well as a discussion on why accessibility for the blind and visually impaired poses many challenges we may not have considered before. Do you have any experience with accessibility features in games, or maybe the lack of them? We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links BrandonCole.net – Brandon’s website @SuperBlindMan – Brandon on Mastodon Last of Us Part II: Is this the most accessible game ever? – BBC News Virtually Superior: A Playstation VR 2 review – Brandon’s PS VR2 review Retro Collective – The Cave and Arcade Archive Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:36: Why is Gaming Accessibility Important? 00:08:37: Blind vs Visual Impairement 00:13:25: Game Studio Attitudes 00:21:13: Channels of Information 00:31:04: Unfair Advantage? 00:36:06: Controls 00:43:14: What Has Driven Accesibility Forward? 00:50:26: A Good Day’s Pay 00:53:19: Accesible Retro Gaming? 00:58:42: What’s Missing? 01:06:30: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

Before we go into this week’s new episode, we’d like to thank everyone for their patience whilst both Jae and James have had what can only be described as an insanely busy (and great!) summer. We’re planning to keep new episodes coming out weekly going forward, and we really do have some great episodes already recorded. We sat down to record with good friend of the show, Alex Lowe of The Interface, to take a look at Apple’s most recent event and their new iPhone and Watch product lines. We’ve tried to focus on the big features, rather than rattle through the entire keynote verbatim, and we really hope you enjoy our analysis. We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion: Backblaze With macOS Sonoma recently released, in fact on the day we recorded this episode, it’s always important to remind ourselves to ensure we have good backups before any major system update.  Our friends at Backblaze make backing up your Mac, or even your Windows PC, incredibly easy with truly automated backups with simple restoration should anything happen. Their recent pricing change means that now for just $9 / month per computer everyone gets the same great unlimited storage but now with a year of file history at no extra cost. Find out more, and get your 15 day free trial, by following this link. Episode Links The Interface – Podcasts, tech news, and more from Alex Apple Event – Watch on Apple’s website Chapter Times 00:00:00: Podcast Promo: Creator Spotlight 00:00:30: Introductions 00:03:43: What Did We Buy or Not Buy? 00:06:18: Event Thoughts 00:16:52: Apple Watch 00:28:48: iPhone 15 / 15 Pro 01:10:16: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

Cloud Gaming is something you might have heard about; you may have even used a service like GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud Gaming or even the recently departed Google Stadia. Jae and James sat down with Jay Hamilton and Omega of Thoughtable Network to talk about OnLive and also the modern cloud gaming services. OnLive is the technology that PlayStation Now is built on and understanding the past is important to understanding the present. We wanted to look at the past to learn how it may portend to the future of cloud gaming. Have you used OnLive? Have you used a Cloud Gaming service? What is your experience? We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion Interested in launching your own cloud gaming service or any type of online service? Then you need an amazing hosting platform like Linode by Akamai. If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Thoughtable Network – Jay and Omega’s Network OnLive – WikiPedia PlayStation Now – Sony’s Cloud Gaming Platform Google is shutting down Stadia – The Verge GeForce NOW – nVidia’s Cloud gaming Platform Amazon Luna – Amazons’ Cloud gaming offering, a mix of Prime games and offer subscription models Xbox Cloud Gaming – Includes Game Pass Boosteroid – Bring your own games streaming platform Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:04:20: Remembering OnLive 00:16:37: The State of Cloud Gaming 00:31:51: The Key to Cloud Gaming 00:48:27: Cloud Hesitancy 01:02:52: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

It’s been over 6 years since Nintendo released their hybrid-console, the massively popular Switch to the world and it would be fair to say that this combination home console and portable gaming device has had a huge impact on the gaming world.  For the longest time, the Switch was my only games system (not including my iPhone and iPad of course), and the wide range of games certainly makes it an attractive system for many people. Many a family gathering has inevitably ended up in a Mario Kart Grand Prix, or a humiliating defeat at the hands of my nephew in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. I’m joined this week by Chris from Switch Weekly to take a look back at the last 6 years of the Switch, why it’s so appealing, where there are some potential improvements, and what the future may hold for Nintendo’s next system. Do you have a Switch, have you experienced joy con drift, or maybe you’ve got a game recommendation from the vast eShop library! We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Switch Weekly: Newsletter / Mastodon Chris Brandrick – Mastodon overkill.wtf – Gaming news site Chris edits.  The State of Switch 2023 – Switch Weekly Survey Results Skull & Co. Jump Gate Dock Review – Crossed Wires on YouTube Nyxi Wizard – GameCube like joypad for Switch Hori Split Pad Pro – Alternative joy con style controller PXN 9607X – James’ Switch Controller Switch Online – Nintendo UK Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:49: The Appeal of the Switch 00:12:52: Hardware 00:22:07: The Joys of Joy Cons 00:28:46: Other Controllers  00:32:01: LABO & Mario Kart Home Circuit  00:36:40: Games  00:50:31: Switch Online  00:58:53: The Future  01:05:18: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

If you’re like me and enjoy a good novel, with gripping stories, fleshed out characters, and developed worlds of intrigue then you may wonder how it all comes together into the finished product.  My guest this week is self-published author and tech nerd, Matt Gemmell. We talk about how Matt uses just his iPad to plan and write his stories, how he self-publishes his work and all the elements that need to come together to get a novel onto the bookshelves, both digital and physical. We also talk about the importance of a good keyboard, and do a bit of a beginners guide into the world of mechanical keyboards, a hobby that has no doubt raised many a financial question in any writer’s relationship! Have you delved into the world of writing, or maybe you’re a mechanical keyboard nerd who has stories to tell of your most intrepid builds? We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links mattgemmell.scot – Matt’s website including links to all his socials, podcast, and novels. Ulysses – macOS and iOS writing app that Matt uses Markdown – John Gruber’s original documentation for the text-to-HTML language ISBN (Wikipedia) Mechanical Keyboard Switches Explained: Types, Colors, & More (How To Geek) Ducky – Very popular line of mechanical keyboards Keychron – A great range of mechanical keyboards for Mac, iOS, and Windows Chapter Times 00:00:05: Introductions 00:03:31: iPad and Markdown  00:21:34: The Publishing Process  00:31:27: Support Your Library! 00:33:49: The Importance of a Keyboard  00:52:15: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

First of all, sincere apologies for the delay in getting this episode out to you all. Editing a nearly four hour recording session down really is somewhat of a mission, especially with a full-time job and live streaming in the mix. Fear not, though, we’ll be back to our weekly episodes from now on, with new episodes every Monday morning (UK time) to cure those Monday blues! It wouldn’t be a big Apple event without gathering in a SquadCast session to dissect all of announcements and give our take on what’s coming up in the next major software releases, as well as looking at the latest hardware, especially the Vision Pro. We’re delighted, as always, to be joined by Alex Lowe and the occasional contribution from our live-stream chat! What was your opinion on what Apple showed off this year? Whatever your thoughts, we’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit for 60 days with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Thanks to our friends at SquadCast for making this epic recording session possible. If you want a great way to record your remote podcast with studio quality audio and video you can find out more here Episode Links The Interface – For all your tech news needs!  Crossed Wires Live – Make sure you catch our live streams on Twitch WWDC 2023 Keynote Video – Apple Developer Website Apple Vision Pro Impressions! – MKBHD (YouTube) Apple adds pronoun fields with privacy focus to Contacts app on iOS 17 – 9to5 Mac iOS and iPadOS 17 drop support for iPhone X, first iPad Pros, and other old devices – Ars Technica macOS Sonoma drops support for another wide swath of Intel Macs – Ars Technica Apple TV hardware will get VPN access with tvOS 17 – Android Authority Cloud Backup & Storage – Our chat with Pat Patterson from Backblaze Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:28: Keynote Delivery 00:06:21: 15 Years of the iOS App Store 00:07:23:  Vision Pro 01:00:32: AFFILIATE: Grinding Coffee           01:02:12: Mac Hardware 01:02:58: 15” MacBook Air 01:10:10: M2 Max / Ultra Mac Studio 01:14:10: Mac Pro 01:30:37: iOS / iPadOS 17 02:35:51: macOS Sonoma 02:49:24: Audio & Home 02:56:51: tvOS 17 03:04:40: Gaming on the Mac 03:09:15: Presenter Mode 03:1...

Over the last few months, we’ve been looking for a home for all of the data we generate for the whole of Crossed Wires, everything from artwork, show notes, episode plans, all of our stream layouts, and much more. We tried iCloud shared folders, since we’re both firmly in the Apple ecosystem, but to be blunt they just aren’t built for large amounts of data or more flexible sharing options. We were reluctant to trust our data to Google, and we certainly didn’t need all the functionality of Office 365. Then, along came Nextcloud, an open-source, self-hosted solution that brings together so many different features like file storage across multiple storage solutions, collaborative document editing and much more. This week, we talk with Jos Poortvliet, the co-founder and marketing director over at Nextcloud, to dig deep into the history of Nextcloud, what makes it such a compelling option and a genuinely strong alternative to things like Office 365 and Google Workspace, as well as nerding out on some of the available apps and other little gems. Do you use a cloud service for your own data, or maybe you look after the systems for your business, big or small. Whatever your experience, we’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, including running your very own Nextcloud instance, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Nextcloud – Website Nextcloud – Mastodon Your Data in Nextcloud – Great details on how your data is managed Nextcloud Ethical AI Rating – Looking at how to rate different AI solutions based on their openness Related Episodes Open (Source) for Business – Talking about how important Open Source is for business with Tom Lawrence Experimenting with Linux – A chat with Nick from The Linux Experiment about all things Linux Chatting AI Ethics – A discussion with Dr. Catherine Flick about AI Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:07:04: What is Nextcloud 00:21:48: Why You May Need An Alternative to Office 365 etc. 00:35:30: Monetisation of Nextcloud 00:40:48: Nextcloud Hub 00:45:11: Storage Backends 00:51:19: Deployment Options 01:04:19: Talk, Office, and File Sync 01:21:59: Apps 01:32:11: Nextcloud AI 01:41:35: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

As many of you may know, or figured out very quickly, I’m a massive Star Trek fan, to the point that I can probably quote many episodes and movies line-for-line, with or without my dubious Shatner impression. Growing up in the late 80s and through the 90s, there was always Trek on TV, be it re-runs of the original series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and even Voyager.  Seeing the wealth of technology, like a computer you could talk to, devices as thin and light as a paper notebook that you could work on and view data on wherever you went. It seemed so far into the future, but yet here we are in 2023 with more voice assistants than Tribbles, iPads as far as the eye can see, and wireless communication that would make even Data jealous. This week, my returning guest is a fellow Trek nerd and all round interface design guru, Gedeon Maheux from The Icon Factory. It was so much fun to nerd out with Gedeon, whilst narrowly avoiding Picard season 3 spoilers for you all. We dissect how technology has been inspired by Star Trek, and where we may have advances beyond some of the things we saw, certainly in earlier Trek. Are you a Trek nerd like us, or maybe you’ve just seen bits of it but don’t know your Warp Core from your Genesis Device? Whatever your experience of Star Trek, good or bad, we’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links gedblog – Gedeon’s Blog with links to socials The Icon Factory – great design, apps and freebies Ollie, Space Karen, And An API – Gedeon’s first appearance on the show to talk about Twitter’s API Mike Okuda – Twitter via Nitter.net Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:02:31: A Quick Twitter Update 00:05:54: Star Trek Picard Season 3 00:09:32: Tech Clearly Inspired by Trek 00:23:40: Communications & Voice Assistants 00:36:17: Security Codes 00:45:10: Reconciling TOS Tech 00:52:39: The UI of LCARS 01:03:33: Favourite Trek Moments 01:11:52: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

As our politicians and elected officials debate the dangers of TikTok and end-to-end-encryption (E2EE), we need to look beyond the hysteria and scapegoating to the actual issues and how we have sensible discussions about what the risks of social media platforms actually are. We’re joined by Rachel Hanson, a parent and elected official herself, to try to unpack what the real issues are and why simply banning social media services can lead to far more dangerous information control by our governments that could lead to more and more marginalisation of those already in need of accurate and verified information. We know this episode may spark some different views and discussions, and we really do want to give you space to share thoughts thoughts. As long as you can follow our community guidelines, please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Rachel Hanson – LinkTree Montana becomes first state to ban TikTok – Gizmodo ‘TikTok bill’ is far too broad and could apply to almost any tech – Ars Technica Hands off My TikTok. Banning It Would Hurt the Most Marginalized | Opinion – Newsweek TikTok fined £12.7m for UK data protection law breaches – The Guardian  Factsheet: Amendment to the Online Safety Bill to help tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse online  – UK Home Office Don’t Scan Me – Open Rights Group Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:43: The Impact of TikTok 00:16:08: The Negatives of TikTok 00:26:56: Privacy & Consequences 00:40:59: The Control of Information 00:57:12: Social Media for Elected Officials 01:06:24: E2EE & The Challenge of CSAM 01:20:52: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

As I’m sure long time listeners will know, we use Ferrite by Wooji Juice for all of our editing here, it really has become indispensable to our production workflows. From being able to remove sections of unwanted audio with a simple swipe, quickly strip away swathes of silent audio, and easily exporting audio in the format we need to get the podcast out to you. So, it was my great honour to sit down with Canis to talk about his developer pedigree, going all the way back to the BBC Micro and the birth of ARM, all the way through to wrangling multi-channel audio, digging through a locked filing cabinet in a disused lavatory to find details about the ALAC format, and turning what can be a frustrating experience into one of the easiest audio editing tools I’ve used for a very long time. Do you have stories of audio editing nightmares, have you used Ferrite to produce audio, or maybe you’ve got some questions about editing audio on the iPad. Whatever your experiences, we’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Wooji Juice: Website / Twitter (via Nitter.net) Ferrite – Apple App Store Electronic Dreams: How 1980s Britain Learned to Love the Computer – Amazon UK Steve Jobs Introduces the App Store (2008) – YouTube Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:05:05: What’s in a Name? 00:07:31: The First iPhone & App Store 00:11:09: The Creation of Ferrite 00:21:53: Recording on iOS 00:37:24: Pre Production 00:42:38: The Pricing Model 00:47:06: Editing Experience 00:58:08: Dealing with Silence 00:59:47: Handy Features 01:04:44: Exporting 01:15:11: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

We’ve probably all had fun recently giving ChatGPT, or other AI chatbots from the likes of Google, Microsoft and others, what we think are fun and innocent prompts to work on, but do we stop to consider what we’re actually feeding these tools and where the data they return comes from and what biasses may be in the machine learning models they’ve been trained on? We’re delighted to have Catherine join us again to take a deep dive into the ethics that surround the hype that is AI. We talk about the issues around copyright, data accuracy and vetting, biasses in datasets, as well as how these AI tools can never be sentient in the way that everyone’s favourite artificial intelligence, Lt. Cmdr Data was shown to be in Star Trek. What are your views on the world of AI, do you have experience using machine learning and AI models in your own work or studies? We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Catherine Flick: Website / Mastodon ChatGPT – We are not endorsing the use of this or any LLM (Large Language Mode), simply pointing to a credible source to access ChatGPT. Tay: Microsoft issues apology over racist chatbot fiasco – Early AI chatbot my Microsoft Google Photos labeled black people ‘gorillas’ – Example of AI Messing Up Adobe Unveils Firefly, a Family of new Creative Generative AI – Adobe merging AI together with their products Sharing sensitive business data with ChatGPT could be risky – Example of the risk of AI and sensitive data Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:40: What Do We Mean By AI? 00:13:55: The Failures of Narrow AI 00:24:46: Where Does the Data Come From? 00:34:57: Dealing With Copyright 00:44:19: Creative AI and ML Tools 00:49:12: Using AI in Work and Academia 01:02:50: Feeding Personal Data 01:10:57: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

We’ve all had those moments, when the WiFi signal drops right in the middle of our favourite episode, or in that long-overdue catch up call with a friend or family member. But, do we know why our WiFi can drop out, or do we simply refer to any internet issues as “The WiFi is down again!” when really it’s a problem with the ISP and nothing to do with our home WiFi network. Our guest, and good friend of the show, Alex has worked with wireless technologies for quite some time and kindly agreed to give a fair chunk of his time to help us explore some of the common myths around WiFi, the history of the technology, how mesh WiFi is a far better solution than the plethora of range extenders and boosters that really don’t help a poor WiFi signal. What’s your experience with the wonderful world of WiFi, do you have any burning questions you want us to address, or pro tips you’ve found for your own setup? We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the disscussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Alex: Mastodon / The Interface WiFi Standards Explained – Lifewire Should I Worry About Mobile Phones – YouTube What is Mesh WiFi – TechQuickie (YouTube) How the Internet Saved Florida – 2 Days with the ITDRC – Crosstalk Solutions (YouTube) UniFi Dream Router – Ubiquiti Store TP-Link Deco – Product Page Eero by Amazon – Product Page Eero DFS Support – Eero Blog Wireless ISP Starry Files for Bankruptcy – The Verge OpenWireless.org – EFF Chapter Times 00:00:01: Adopt a Listener 00:01:07: Introductions 00:07:27: What Does WiFi Stand For? 00:08:15: History of WiFi 00:14:09: WiFi 6E 00:14:50: Frequencies 00:19:27: WiFi Router vs Access Point 00:21:21: Crowded WiFi 00:23:28: HomePods and WiFi 4 00:25:43: Ethernet Is Always Better 00:29:41: Common WiFi Misunderstandings 00:37:08: Is Wireless Dangerous? 00:41:42: WiFi Extenders & Boosters 00:46:37: Mesh WiFi 01:00:45: Should You Replace Your ISP Router 01:05:34: Subscription Features 01:07:35: UniFi Dream Router Pricing 01:10:18: HomeKit Routers 01:13:53: WISPS 01:24:49: Making The Most of Your...

Hello it’s Jae here, let me set the stage for this episode: Hop in your Delorean and travel back in time with me, to the year of our Lord 2018 when World of Warcraft was soon to be heading into its 15th year, and World of Warcraft Classic was due to come out in Summer of 2019.  Back then, I went by the name of Frazley and ran FrazlCast, which was a World of Warcraft fan podcast. I showed this episode to James, and we both thought that it would be great to bring this episode to you as our first in a series we’re lovingly calling “From the Archives”. I was given the honour to sit down with John Staats, who designed and built half of Vanilla WoW’s dungeons and raids. This was a lovely look into game design and the challenges that John and his team faced while building the iconic game of World of Warcraft. My friend Ali of the Dungeon Fables podcast joined me for this fun interview! I know some of you will be have been listeners of my former podcast as well! Thank you for being along for my journey. Did you ever play World of Warcraft or Vanilla WoW? We’d love to hear from you, so please do send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server. Support Us If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion Whilst your WoW data is nice and safe in the Blizzard cloud, you’ll definitely want to make sure that your preciously crafted macros, your carefully configured add-ons and UI settings, and those all important DPS reports (Hello, Peter?) are backed up. For simple, stress free, cloud backups from just $7 per month, try our friends Backblaze for 15 days for free, and get your backups in order. Episode Links Dungeon Fables – Ali’s podcast about the lore of the dungeons in World of Warcraft The WoW Diary – John Staats’ book about designing and developing the World of Warcraft Loki’s Minions Capture The Flag Mod – John Staat’s Former Mod Tabletop Board Game Cafe – A cafe in Ohio Malted Meeple – One of John’s favourite drinks Interviews and Articles with John about the Dev Diary – For more interviews and articles by John Staats Credits Intro by Brandon T. Blaylock Outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

Growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, Sega were in a console war with their fellow Japanese rivals, Nintendo. Keen to show what they could do, they created more and more add-ons for the Mega Drive (or Genesis to our North American friends) like the Mega CD and 32X. Sega were really doing what Nintendon’t, for very good reasons! As the 90s came closer to the millennium we also saw a new craze from Japan for dancing games, notably Dance Dance Revolution by arcade legends Konami, or Dancing Stage as it was known in Europe. These dance based games really saw a following and even to this day dance games are incredibly popular. My guest this week is here to talk about both nostalgic experiences, especially as he’s working on a one-quarter sized all-in-one DDR mini-Arcade build using an Intel NUC, a custom input board and more lights than Blackpool Illuminations. We delve into lots of nerdy details on the famed ‘Sega Tower of Power’, as well as pondering what may have been if Sega hadn’t ended their console hardware with the too-little-too-late DreamCast. We’re sure this conversation is going to spark some debate, especially as we may have trash talked more than a few rivals, so we’d love to hear from you; send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit for 60-days when you sign up here with our friends Linode, cloud computing by Akamai Episode Links Naoki’s Retro Corner – YouTube Channel Making my own Dance Dance Revolution Cabinet – Naoki’s Retro Corner (YouTube) Exploring The Wild World of DDR Controllers – kkclue (YouTube) Project OutFox – Rhythm game sim for the Raspberry Pi Dance Dance Revolution – Wikipedia MiSTerCade – JAMMA for Mister The Sega Genesis Mini is getting its own ridiculous mini tower – Polygon Mega CD – Wikipedia 32X – Wikipedia Sega Saturn – Wikipedia Chapter Times 00:00:00: Adopt A Listener 00:01:05: Introductions 00:06:20: A Brief iMovie Chat 00:09:08: Why Arcade Builds? 00:13:44: Quarter Scale DDR 00:36:33: Modern Dance Games 00:39:32: Project Outfox 00:43:02: Arcade Experience Scale 00:47:11: Saga Mega Drive 00:57:23: Mega CD 01:09:44: 32X 01:14:55: Tower of (Unstable) Power 01:23:35: Saga Saturn 01:38:23: Sega’s Legacy Today 01:46:17: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: 

As we hear more stories of systems and services being compromised by malicious attackers, often simply referred to as ‘hackers’, we need to be aware of the basics of how these attacks work and what we should be looking out for in our daily tech lives. We’re probably all fed up of the increasing complexity of logging into our favourite websites and apps, but the reality is that passwords, multi-factor authentication and now ‘passwordless’ ways of proving our online identity are more important than ever. Talking with Sascz, we try to address some of the common questions around keeping ourselves safe in a digital world, as well as wincing at some of the painful examples we’ve seen of bad security habits that make even 16309, 12345, or 000 Destruct 0 look like strong password choices. This is absolutely an episode where we want to hear your feedback, your experiences, and maybe things you’ve learned from our discussion. Maybe you have a different viewpoint on some of the things we’ve raised, so please send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit when you sign up with our friends Linode here. Episode Links Alexander (Sascz) Hermann: Website | Twitter Time-based one-time password (TOTP – WikiPedia You Should be Afraid of SIM Swaps – Malicious Life iCloud Hide My Email Fastmail Masked Email Free Password Generator by 1Password Password Managers 1Password BitWarden KeePass iCloud Keychain WSJ Journal Article: Criminals Use iPhones To Steal Digital Lives Password Entropy: The Value of Unpredictable Passwords (Okta) About the Security of Passkeys (Apple) Windows Hello Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:02:16: AFFILIATE PROMO: Linode 00:03:12: Guest Intro – Alexander 00:08:27: An Old Problem 00:11:51: Vulnerabilities 00:15:10: Social Engineering 00:26:38: Being Mindful of Social Media Posts 00:31:44: Software Updates 00:36:47: Endpoint Security 00:40:15: Protecting the Average User

Do you remember sitting in front of your computer with a miniDV camcorder hooked up by FireWire and waiting patiently for the footage to capture to your editor of choice, possibly iMovie or Windows Movie Maker? Maybe you were a professional editor who had to log and capture hours of footage into Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, or even AVID, and then crafting your masterpiece only to then have to render your audio separately for some random reason. Well, Jack and Sam braved the wild west of the early days of DV cameras and editing, even using an Amiga powered NLE, to produce a video on some old film cameras for their blog. We chat about not only the experience of capturing and editing, but also talk about how sometimes the older ways of capturing moments can be more enjoyable. Do you have any fun, or even haunting, memories of working with digital video in the pre-iPhone and SD Card era? We’d love to hear from you, so why not send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit when you sign up here with our friends Linode. Episode Links Jack & Sam’s Blog Sam’s Instagram Cannon XL1 Bronica EC-TL (CameraQuest) Pentax ME Super (Wikipedia) Digital Video Editing with a 68060 | Macrosystem Casablanca (WHAT CRAP HAVE YOU BOUGHT NOW? – YouTube) iMovie (Wikipedia) Apple Power Macintosh G4 1.42 DP (EveryMac.com) Final Cut Pro (Wikipedia) MicroMV and me – Tiny Videotape, big impact (Techmoan – YouTube) Chapter Times 00:00:01: Podcast Recommendation: Art Heals All Wounds 00:00:34: Introductions 00:05:02: Let’s Male A Video 00:10:01: Canon XL1 & Early DV 00:17:06: iPhone Transfer Frustration 00:19:43: Is Capturing Easier? 00:21:31: FireWire 00:25:10: The Attraction of Film 00:30:19: Macrosystems Casablanca 00:39:09: An iMac, Jamming Cameras, and a Power Mac G4 00:49:17: Final Cut Woes 00:57:03: Are Old Tools Better? 00:59:14: The Impact of iMovie 01:04:57: Wrapping Up 01:17:28: PODCAST TRAILER: Art Heals All Wounds Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

It’s hard to believe that we’ve already hit our 50th episode, but it’s here and a lot of that is thanks to you, our amazing community who keep listening, subscribing, and intereacting with us across social media, email, and our Discord. For this milestone episode, we thought you may like a bit of an insight into how each episode of the show reaches you after we record and edit it.  We reached out to Craig Hewitt the founder of Castos, our hosting provider for the podcast, and he kindly agreed to come and chat to us about what podcast hosting is, why good quality hosting is important, as well as looking at some of the challenges of distributing podcasts across so many platforms. Are you a podcaster yourself, or maybe you’d like to learn more about Castos, or maybe you’ve had some fun stories with podcast hosting over the years. Whatever your experience, we’d love to hear from you, so please send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion As you’ll hear in the episode, we’ve had our own data loss incident here at Crossed Wires and if we didn’t have Backblaze powering our backups we’d have had to spend hours re-exporting every MP3 we’d ever created for the podcast. They provide simple and elegant backups for just $7 a month, and because it’s running in the background, you never have to worry about if your files are being safely backed up to the cloud. Sign up for your 15-day free trial here and make sure you never lose those important files again. Episode Links Sign up for Castos (Affiliate Link) Craig Hewitt on LinkedIn RSS (Wikipedia) Castos Blog Castos Academy Castos Pricing Audience – Castos Original Podcast Dynamo by Castos – Free podcast artwork generator Chapter Times 00:00:01: Podcast Recommendation: Art Heals All Wounds 00:00:34: Introductions 00:06:28: What Is Podcast Hosting? 00:11:21: Self-Hosted vs Paid Hosting 00:16:51: Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress Plugin 00:19:51: The Importance of Support 00:22:09: The Unexpected RSS Feed Impact 00:29:45: Analytics 00:37:40: Pricing & What You Get 00:43:57: Automatic Transscription 00:46:08: Democratisation of Podcasts 00:48:43: AFFILIATE PROMO: Backblaze 00:50:46: Importing a Podcast 00:53:25: Free Tools for Podcasters 00:54:58: Private Podcasting 01:01:09: Wrapping Up 01:09:14: PODCAST TRAILER: Art Heals All Wounds Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

Whilst many of us have grown up with technology being such a core part of our lives, often glued to our devices for far more of the day than we’d like to admit, the older generations have had technology thrust upon them without nearly enough though about how to make it accessible. My guest this week is Nancy May of the Eldercare Success podcast; we have a chat about how technology can be used to help with the care of elderly relatives, how we can keep our older tech users safe online, how even the simplest gadgets can help in a care situation, and possibly most importantly we look at the concept of the accessibility of modern services which are taken over by digital payments, self-service checkouts, and ask the question if we’re doing tech for tech’s sake. We’d love to hear your thoughts on how tech can be both a blessing and a problem for the older generation, especially if you have stories to share. Why not send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server Affiliate Promotion During this episode, we talked a lot about keeping things simple for our older tech users. One of the most critical parts of our digital lives is ensuring we have proper backups of our treasured memories within our photos, videos, and many other documents and messages. Our friends at Backblaze provide a simple, set-and-forget, unlimited cloud-based backup solution for just $7 / month, why not start your 15-day free trial here. Supporting the Show If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Episode Links Eldecare Success Podcast – Website / Apple Podcasts Caremanity – Twitter / Facebook How to Survive 911 Medical Emergencies – Caremanity Telecare (AgeUK) Apple Watch Family Setup (Apple Support) Using HomePods as an Intercome (Apple Support) Power of Attorney (Wikipedia) Chapter Times 00:00:00: Podcast Recommendation: Art Heals All Wounds 00:00:36: Introductions 00:09:24: A Quick POA Primer 00:10:42: Aggressive Marketing & Scams 00:28:32: Elder Care Home Hacks 00:35:35: TVs & Remotes 00:39:49: Smart Home & Voice Assistants 00:47:08: The Problem with Wearables 00:48:51: The Accessibility of Services 01:05:50: Tech for Tech’s Sake? 01:14:04: Wrapping Up 01:16:59: PODCAST TRAILER: Art Heals All Wounds Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

With more and more cloud services hosted in data centres consuming massive amounts of energy, our devices becoming ever more power-hungry, and the constant pressure to always have the latest tech, it’s probably fair to say that we don’t always consider what the cost of our tech ownership and usage has on the environment. We’re thrilled to have Chris Adams join us for this week’s episode. We take a deep dive into how we can try to understand the impact our tech usage has on the environment, and some cool things happening across the industry to try and improve energy usage and the environmental cost of manufacturing.  What are your views on the relationship between technology and the environment? We’d love to hear from you, so please send your thoughts to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server Promotion As of this episode, we’ve partially completed our migration to Linode because they have a bit more transparency about their green credentials. If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux-based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit when you sign up here. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Episode Links Chris Adams on Mastodon ClimateAction .tech The Green Web Foundation Green Web Check The Green Web Library CO2 .js Backblaze Rides the Nautilus Data Center Wave A way to think about the environmental impact of streaming services like Netflix Microsoft will soon push Xbox owners into energy-saving Shutdown mode [Ars Technica] Greening of Streaming Working with RIPE NCC and the IETF for a greener internet Could Coal Waste Be Used to Make Sustainable Batteries? Sören Enholm – How to navigate toward more sustainable digital equipment? [Green IO Podcast] Previous Episodes Mentioned Cloud Backup & Storage with Pat Patterson Something, Something, Blockchain with Dr. Catherine Flick Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:02:40: C...

James and Jae both have a family history of health problems. One of the biggest areas of concern is heart health. Family members have had heart attacks, had to have stints added, had bypass surgeries, and struggled with strokes, seizures, and more. That’s why for Heart Month 2023, and every February since 2021, we have been supporting the American Heart Association on Twitch. We also plan to begin raising money for the British Foundation every September. On this episode, James and Jae talk with Bradly of the American Heart Association. We discussed his background in charity work and the steps that the AHA has gone through as they’ve been embracing the medium of streaming as a charity fundraising tool. While discussing the work that AHA does, we also talk about aspects of heart health that individuals may not realise, and some steps we can all take to improve our daily heart-health. As a fair warning, this episode contains a number of heartfelt puns from Jae.  We’d love to hear your stories and experiences with not only heart-health, but also ways in which technology may have helped you raise funds for charities. Drop us a note to [email protected] or come join the discussion in our Discord Supporting Crossed Wires This week, we’d love yout o support AHA where possible, but if you’re also able to help us pay the bills around here it would be hugely appreciated. The best way to do that is to head over to our KoFi page and drop us a tip for as little as $1. If you’re looking for a home for your latest Linux based project, our friends at Linode provide top-quality servers and have been doing so since 2003. Best-of-all, their pricing is incredible! So, if you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux-based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit when you sign up here. Episode Links American Heart Association American Heart Association on Tiltify American Heart Association Discord Charity Fundraising Tools: Tiltify Twitch Charity Functionality PayPal Giving Fund YouTube Giving Crossed Wires on Twitch Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:34: Why AHA Is So Important 00:09:21: Why Fundraising? 00:18:25: Streaming to Fundraise 00:30:53: Incentives to Donate 00:38:23: Other Ways to Give 00:41:23: Hands Only CPR & FAST 00:44:32: Some Closing Thoughts Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW TranscriptJae: Hello, and welcome to Crossed Wires. I am Jae. So James minus the Ms.James: Oh, dear, no. that’s not how we’re going to do stuff. No. At this point, our guest is thinking, what have I come into? What’s goingJae: I’ve known Bradly a little bit. We’ve talked in voice chat before,...

Over the years, I’ve switched operating systems many times; the big one being from Windows to macOS, but there have been many periods of time when I’ve chosen Linux as my OS of choice. However, the term Linux can get somewhat confusing, does it refer to the underlying kernel or a specific distribution and its desktop experience? It doesn’t help that some Linux fans can become very passionate when talking about their favourite distribution and why it’s the only one you should even remotely consider. To try and untangle this mess, I’m joined by Nick from The Linux Experiment to clarify exactly what the different parts of a Linux-based operating system are, why some people may be scared to give it a try, as well as looking at the hardware requirements, software availability, as well as taking a look at the future of Linux on ARM, and what Valve’s Steam Deck has done for gaming on Linux in general. What’s been your experience with Linux? Do you daily drive a particular distribution that you love, or does the thought of moving away from Windows or macOS send shivers down your spine? We’d love to hear from you, so please send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Promotion Since we’re talking about Linux, and as we mentioned in the episode our website is running on a Ubuntu server which we’re in the process of moving to our new partner, Linode – now part of Akamai. If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux-based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit when you sign up here. Episode Links The Linux Experiment – YouTube / PeerTube / Website Nick on Mastodon The Linux Foundation Distributions Fedora Ubuntu Linux Mint Pop!_os Tiny Core Linux Puppy Linux Asahi LInux Desktop Environments GNOME KDE Cinnamon Software GIMP Audacity KDEN Live LIbreOffice 1Password for LInux BitWarden Unofficial OneDrive Client for Linux Videos FRANCE BANS MS Office 365, Google Docs in schools: Linux & Open Source newsv – The LInux Experiment (YouTube) How to use APPLE and iCloud Apps and Services on LINUX – The Linu...

To many people, the idea of Massively Multiplayer Online RolePlaying Games (MMORPGs) can be summed up by the image of an individual sitting in their parent’s basement, endlessly defeating dungeon bosses whilst consuming copious amounts of Mountain Dew and less-than-healthy snack foods. To challenge this perception, we take the opportunity to sit down and talk with Bezerker of Unshackled Fury on aspects of MMORPGs we might not think about: How these types of games can foster a community, and how they help individuals who might not feel connected to people in the physical world. Ethically we also talk about the dangers of MMORPGs. We tried to strike a fine balance between not having Jae, a self-confessed WoW fan-girl, talking too positively about these games and potentially risking missing the deeper intrinsic problems that these types of games create. Have you had any experience in MMORPGs whether being a player yourself or someone whose family/friends were players? We’d love to hear from you, so please send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Episode Links Unshackled Fury Podcast Berzerker on Twitter World of Warcraft Deaf community guild beats WoW Sepulcher of the First Ones Chapter Times 00:00:21: Introductions 00:08:22: Understanding MMORPGs 00:21:45: What can you play WoW on? 00:26:36: The Addiction Factor 00:35:36: The Birth of Team Chat 00:44:13.: The Good & Bad of The Community 01:06:12: A Special Announcement 01:11:48: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW Dialogue from South Park episode ‘Make Love, Not Warcraft’ used under fair-use. South Park and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Comedy Partners. Episode Transcript[00:00:00] Butters (South Park): I don’t play World of Warcraft[00:00:02] Cartman (South Park): Butters, you said you’re on your computer all the time.[00:00:04] Butters (South Park): Yeah, but I’m playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure[00:00:07] Cartman (South Park): Butters, go buy World of Warcraft. Install it on your computer [00:00:10] and join the online sensation before we all murder you.[00:00:12] Butters (South Park): Oh, oh, all right. All right then.[00:00:20][00:00:21] Jae: Hello and welcome back to Crossed Wires. I am Jae, and today I am joined by my co-host who is again [00:00:30] confirming that Squad Cast is indeed Steam Deck certified. Hey James, how are you?[00:00:36] James: Uh, I’m good. Yeah, this, this works great on deck. [00:00:40] Honestly, this is the second time we’ve done a session. The only challenge this time is that I do currently look like I’m recording from like one of us outdoor scenes in total [00:00:50] recall.[00:00:50] Like, get your butt to Mars.[00:00:53] Jae: Yes.[00:00:54...

If your experience in business IT has, like mine, been very heavily focussed on Microsoft’s ecosystem and lots of propriety systems that have a strong “Don’t look behind the curtain” vibe to them then my guest today may help shine some light on how open source solutions can be a great fit in the business. It’s my pleasure to have Tom join us, having been a fan of his YouTube content for quite some time. He’s become one of the most recognised sources of knowledge for the wonderful open-source firewall project, pfSense, and sharing valuable insights on other projects such as XCP-ng, TrueNAS, and many more. We take a look at what we mean by open source, why many businesses still prefer closed source solutions from big names, the security considerations of both closed and open source projects, and talk a bit about Pop!_os by System76. What’s been your experience with open-source solutions, particularly in business, have you had any good or bad experiences you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you, so please send a note to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Episode Links Tom Lawrence on Mastodon Lawrence Technology Services Lastpass December 2022 Security Incident: What Happened and What’s Not Encrypted – Lawrence Systmes (YouTube) XCP-ng BitWarden LibreOffice Nextcloud TrueNAS Pop!_os by System76 Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:07:48: What Does Open Source Actually Mean? 00:16:06: A Bit On XCP NG 00:19:04: The Attachment to Closed Source Solutions 00:25:57: What About Google? 00:31:41: Microsoft Loves Open Source? 00:33:28: Cloud vs On Premise 00:43:17: Software Bill of Materials 00:49:14: Tech YouTubers 00:51:31: A PopOS! Confession 00:59:16: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

When Apple announced new M2-based Macs, a new HomePod, and the launch of Advanced Data Protection with little more than a press release and video on their site, we were caught a little off guard. Whilst we’re not a news show, per se, we wanted to chat about the impact these new systems, particularly the M2 Pro-powered Mac Mini would have on the Apple ecosystem. Returning guest, Jeff Butts of The Mac Observer, was kind enough to join us for a discussion of not only the new products, but also a few detours into gaming on the Mac, some of Apple’s new HomeKit features, and a few thoughts on the state of the Apple Silicon transition. Are you going to be buying any of the new M2-based systems, maybe as your first Apple Silicon Mac? Are you as happy as we are to see the HomePod return? We’d love to hear from you, so please send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Episode Links Jeff Butts on Mastodon The Mac Observer Apple introduces new Mac mini with M2 and M2 Pro (Apple Newsroom) Apple unveils MacBook Pro featuring M2 Pro and M2 Max (Apple Newsroom) 2nd Generation HomePod How To Use Your HomePod’s Temperature and Humidity Sensors (The Mac Observer) Apple advances user security with powerful new data protections (Apple Newsroom) Jeff’s previous appearance ‘Green Bubbles’ Our chat with Noah about the Steam Deck Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:47: Apple’s Change of Announcement Style 00:11:37: More M2 Chips 00:11:57: Mac Mini 00:22:44: Mini Goes Pro 00:26:17: Gaming on the Mac 00:31:58: Mini Size Changes? 00:33:07: MacBook Pros 00:41:27: New HomePod 00:47:48: Sound Recognition for Smoke Alarms 00:52:43: The Benefits of the Apple Ecosystem 00:54:32: Advanced Data Protection 01:06:26: How Are Apple Looking for 2023? Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

The last week or so has seen some extraordinary rubbish behaviour from Twitter regarding their API for third-party clients, like Twitterrific and Tweetbots. Users found themselves unable to access their timelines via anything but the official app and website, and developers had no communication to tell them what on earth was going on. On Thursday, Twitter announced that this was intentional and that many third-party apps would no longer have API access. This caused no end of frustration for developers like Iconfactory. So it’s my pleasure to be joined by Gedeon, their principal and designer, to try to unpack what exactly happened, and the impact this has had and will continue to have on their business. What are your memories of the good old days of Twitter, did you have a favourite third-party app you used? We’d love to hear from you, so please send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server. Of course, you can also follow us on Mastodon If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Episode Links Gedeon Maheux on Mastodon Iconfactory: Website / Apps / Blog Twitter bans third-party apps (TechCrunch) Ivory by Tapbots Our chat with James Smith on Mastodon and the Fediverse Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:06:27: The Original Twitter App Experience 00:08:55: The Last Big API Changes 00:11:32: What Happened to the API? 00:16:54: The Importance of 3rd Party Apps 00:20:27: Moving to Mastodon? 00:25:03: The Financial Impact 00:35:19: Why Do We Think This Happened? 00:49:34: The Core Twitter Experience Rule? 00:53:12: APIs on Other Platforms? 00:58:53: The Future is Mastodon 01:03:35: A Done Deal 01:08:07: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

For those of us who grew up with Game Boys and Game Gears, maybe even an Atari Lynx, the concept of full desktop gaming in a portable form factor has been on our wishlist for a very long time. So, the question we discuss with Noah from Steam Deck HQ can be summed up as “Has Valve’s Steam Deck made that dream come true?”. We talk about the hardware itself, the impressive software stack built upon SteamOS, how many games perform, as well as looking at where it holds up against things like the Nintendo Switch, and the powerful emulation made possible in such a portable platform. it’s also worth mentioning that James’ side of recoring was done entirely on the Steam Deck, and that’s in no small part due to how awesome SquadCast is. Have you got your hands on Steam Deck, or is there something holding you. back? We’d love to hear from you, why not send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Disclaimer: This episode was recorded in December 2022, before the current investigation into allegations of domestic violence made against Justin Rolland. We won’t comment on this further, but we wanted to be transparent that the episode does mention his studio’s game, ‘High on Life’. For those who, for whatever reason, want to skip any mention of the game, we talk about this between 00:29:00 and 00:31:21; we’ve marked this as a chapter in the episode. Episode Links Steam Deck HQ: Website / Mastodon / YouTube Steam Deck Tech Specs (Valve) Bugsnax (Steam) ProtonDB Decky – A Steam Deck plugin loader Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:06:14: Missing OLED and Game Gear Homage? 00:09:17: Hardware and Verified Games 00:14:57: Proton 00:18:44: Price Points & Storage Options 00:25:16: Controllers 00:29:00: High On Life 00:31:21: Software & Performance Tweaks 00:37:38: Challenges with Certain Games and Launchers 00:43:32: Sony Games on Steam Deck 00:44:41: Nintendo, the Switch, and Emulation 00:50:11: What Could Valve Have Done Better? 00:55:52: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

The idea of a non-taxed, non-regulated, digital currency can sound incredibly appealing for many uses, but are cryptocurrencies all they’re cracked up to be and should we be advocating their use? That’s what we discuss with the published researcher, Dr Catherine Flick, known on BBC local radio as being able to explain Bitcoin in 15 seconds. Catherine brought so much insight to help us understand what exactly cryptocurrencies and the blockchain are, and why they’re not as great as those involved in them think. We also dig into how NFTs got into the video game industry and of course the environmental impact of the blockchain. We know this topic can stir up a lot of discussions, and we’d love to hear from you (as long as we can all keep things civil). So, send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server Episode Links Dr Catherine Flick: Mastodon / Website WWF UK faces backlash over ‘destructive’ plans to sell ‘eco-friendly’ NFTs (Sky News) ACM Code of Ethics A critical professional ethical analysis of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) The Missing Cryptoqueen: Apple Podcasts / BBC Sounds Cross-cultural patterns in mobile playtime: an analysis of 118 billion hours of human data Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:16:05: Privacy & The Ick Factor 00:24:17: What Is Blockchain? 00:34:26: Lack of Financial Protection 00:39:42: Regulation? 00:43:15: Virtual Currences vs Proof of Work / Stake 00:49:57: The Environmental Impact 00:54:32: Decentralised 01:00:20: NFTs & Video Games 01:18:17: Solving Actual Problems 01:22:40: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

As many of you know, we use SquadCast to record every episode of Crossed Wires, and indeed Charging Status. It’s been such a genuine pleasure to build a relationship, mostly thanks to Jae’s existing connection, with the team at SquadCast. In this episode, Zachariah Moreno joins me again, this time to talk about how things have been going for them since we last spoke, including their hugely ambitious V5 launch, and what 2023 holds for the platform. We even do a bit of brain-storming on how streaming could work within SquadCast. Up front, Zachariah and I talk about the way in which SquadCast are directly helping us here at Crossed Wires. For full transparency, in exchange for our continued feedback and testing of features, we are being kindly provided with their ‘Studio’ plan at no cost. I can’t express how grateful we are to the team, in particular Zachariah and Arielle, for their continued support and encouragement. If you do want to check out SquadCast, please do use our affiliate link either in the links or at the bottom of our site. Our affiliate links really do help to pay the other bills around here, and one day will make it possible for Jae and I to make this our full time jobs. Do you have any experience of remote recordings, or maybe you want to ask about some of our workflow? We’d love to hear from you, so send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Episode Links Zachariah Moreno: Twitter / Website SquadCast (Affiliate Link) Dynamo by Castos– Podcast image generation tools Descript Edit Eddy by Headliner SquadCasting – Zach’s previous appearance on the show Zach’s video on echo cancellation (YouTube) Chapter Times 00:00:05: Introductions 00:01:20: Some Transparency 00:05:01: SquadShots 00:06:24: Pricing Simplifcation 00:11:30: Backstage 00:13:54: Equipment Management 00:18:39: State of Play on iOS 00:22:49: The V5 Launch 00:30:36: Mastering with Dolby 00:32:58: Beyond Podcasting 00:45:23: The Importance of Quality 00:49:39: Streaming? 01:02:00: Fix It In Pre 01:05:31: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and closing theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

With the Macintosh having such a long history, and Apple doing so much over the platform’s life I wanted to get a panel together to discuss all things Mac collecting and our thoughts on past and present. I’m really pleased to be joined by returning guests Dan Vincent and Sean from Action Retro, as well as new guest Steve from Mac84TV. We had a truly enjoyable and insightful chat about Apple’s world-changing computer. As well as plenty of comedic moments, our improvised ‘Desert Island Mac’ spot, and plenty of tangents, we talk about our ‘Report Cards’ for Apple in 2022 (at least at the point we recorded back in October), and what got the panel into collecting Macs. This is a bit of a longer episode, but I really hope you enjoy this panel style episode We’ll absolutely be doing more episodes like this going forward. — James Do you have memories of classic Macs, maybe you’ve been there the whole journey, or have a favourite Mac you’d love to tell us about. We’d love to hear from you, so send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or start a discussion in Goodpods. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Episode Links Due to the current state of Twitter, we’re not actively promoting Twitter links where possible. Thankfully, all of our guests are on Mastodon, so please do find them there Dan Vincent: Userlandia/ Mastodon Sean (Action Retro:) YouTube/ Mastodon Steve (Mac84): YouTube / Mastodon / Website ‘Digital Identity’ – Our chat with Helen from Fastmail Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:07:17: What Got You Into Macintosh? 00:17:13: A Mobile GPS Diversion 00:25:13: Mac Collections 00:48:27: From Beleaguered to PowerPC and Intel 01:02:59: Apple’s Report Card 01:22:09: Desert Island Mac 01:32:24: Windows Competition? 01:34:52: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and closing theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW