Technology Chat Thread

Because the techies need a chat thread too.

 

Favorite tech blogs and podcasts?

I listen to a majority of the shows on RelayFM, ATP, and The Talk Show. I read Daring Fireball, Six Colors, Macstories, and The Verge primarily.

 

Great idea. Following.

 

Favorite podcasts:

• The Talk Show
• Accidental Tech Podcast
• Exponent
• Developing Perspective
• Pragmatic
• Debug
• Hello Internet
• Cortext
• Under the Radar
• Rocket

Favorite tech sites and blogs:

• Techmeme
• Product Hunt
• DaringFireball
• Marco
• Stratechery
• Parislemon
• Matt Gemmell
• Kottke
• Benedict Evans
• Nick Bilton
• Joanna Stern
• The Wirecutter
• Very Nice Website
• Aleen Mean
• Hypercritical
• Inessential
• Asymco
• SixColors
• MacSparky
• Casey Liss
• Cal Newport
• CGP Grey
• Ben Brooks
• Katie Floyd

 

Overcast gets a dark theme in the new update. Review from Mac Stories:

When it launched in October with support for streaming and chapters, Overcast 2's patronage model was positioned as a way to directly support the app without the promise of anything exclusive in return. With Overcast 2.5, launching today on the App Store, Marco Arment is introducing the first features available only to Overcast patrons: a dark theme, and the ability to upload audio files to Overcast's cloud.

(Sidebar: Viticci listens to good podcasts.)

 

Also I hope it's ok if I post updates / news in this chat thread.

 

Awesome to see Encore in that screenshot!

 

Big smile over here.

 

Wow thats awesome!

 

They @tyler2tall welcome to the forums!

 

The upload feature totally eliminates the need for Huffduffer for me when I'm listening to first and second cuts of Bantha Fodder. What a great feature. The dark mode is nice to look at too.

 

Exactly. I was using that to push some audiobooks to Overcast. I now don't need to.

Time go to add Harry Potter to Overcast.

 

Oh wow, from Dropbox? It's been a few months since I last listened to Jim Dale's readings. Good call. I'll likely do the same when I upgrade.

 

Would any of our more tech inclined members be able to point me in the right direction in terms of brand or just overall for a laptop?

I can spend up to $800 on it and mainly just want to use it for web browsing, music/video streaming, and light gaming (like nothing released after 07ish probably). The only other thing that sticks out to me would be wanting a DVD drive if at all possible and the more storage the better.

There's just so many brands and different kind of laptops out there, it's a bit overwhelming.

 

I'd suggest giving this a read from The Wirecutter.

 

Not looking for a new laptop, but thanks for the Wirecutter link. Had never come across this website before, definitely bookmarking for later.

 

It's an awesome resource. I check it before buying basically anything these days. Their sister site The Sweethome is also a really good one to bookmark when looking for things for around the home.

 

The Epic Story of Dropbox’s Exodus From the Amazon Cloud Empire

If you’re one of 500 million people who use Dropbox, it’s just a folder on your computer desktop that lets you easily store files on the Internet, send them to others, and synchronize them across your laptop, phone, and tablet. You use this folder, then you forget it. And that’s by design. Peer behind that folder, however, and you’ll discover an epic feat of engineering. Dropbox runs atop a sweeping network of machines whose evolution epitomizes the forces that have transformed the heart of the Internet over the past decade. And today, this system entered a remarkable new stage of existence.

In fleeing the cloud, Dropbox is showing why the cloud is so powerful. It too is building infrastructure so that others don't have to.

 

I'm debating whether I should get a Chromecast or Vudu Spark for my daughter's tv. Vudu Spark only plays from that app, but it costs $10 less and comes with five months of $5 credits on their store.

I also don't want her jumping between Netflix shows and YouTube videos in her bedroom like she does in the living room, because typically that tv is only on if she's in bed and supposed to be falling asleep. So not having those apps isn't a terrible thing.

 

Anyone here use f.lux?

I'm curious because the site says it adjusts for your rooms lighting but there is not options for me to do any of that? I only have one lamp in our office and no over head light so I wanted to make it compensate for it. I guess its just using my web cam or some sort of light sensor on my mac going through their FAQ.

 

@Jason Tate what was the RSS reader you recommend on your blog? Was it Reader 3?

 

On iOS? Yeah. I use and really like Reeder. It's a great Mac app too, but I use ReadKit on the Mac these days because I like the Instapaper/Pocket/Pinboard integration for my news posting workflow.

 

I was looking for the Mac. Is that what you put on your blog. I would steal so many recommendations from that and now its gone. :(

 

It's not ... gone gone. Haha. It'll be back soon! In fact this will even be the link you'll want!

Favorite Software

But yeah, Reeder's the one I've recommended for a very long time and for pure RSS reading is my favorite. Readkit is my current pick for what's best for me because of how I use it to store things to make sure I post on the website.

 

I too like Reeder as my idealistic choice for RSS, but I'm often just aggregating links for my various blogs and Twitter feeds which means Pocket and Instapaper integrations are a must. I've looked for an app like Readkit for a while. Weird it never popped up on my Google Radar... Thanks for this.