It’s time for our annual postdictions of 2015. James nails is and Matthew… We’ll… Let’s just say there’s room for improvement. We start off recapping the big stories of the year and then dive into how well we called things. Enjoy the show!
221: Spoiled by Star Wars
This week we talk about Star Wars… A lot actually. We also dive into the world of self-driving cars, gaming, monopolies, and the future of medicine. All in all, it’s a solid show. Enjoy!
220: The Death Of Standalone Virtual Reality
Standalone apps were all the rage at the beginning of the year. Now they’re suddenly dying. Virtual reality seems poised to be all the rage next year. Will they also experience a quick death (like the hoverboard), or will they be around for the long-haul?
219: Swiftly Covering the Unifying Theory Of The Forbidden Fruit
So… It turns out that this week was full of Apple news. We swiftly run through they Unifying Theory of products, and then get into specific thoughts on products. Matthew is particularly excited about Swift, and I don’t blame him.
Also listen for Adobe’s product name change and PlayStation’s moves to bring back some classic games. Check out the show notes below.
218: Watching Football And Eating Raspberry Pi
This week we talk about the news that happened during Thanksgiving. Perhaps the best part is Matthew’s explanation of the difference between Raspberry Pi and Arduino. We also talk about drones, ESPN, surveillance, and a few really good stories. Check out the show notes below of the details.
Special: Discover A New Form Of Local Discovery With Evlo
In this special episode we interview Nick Larson, the CEO of Evlo. Evlo is a commerce and discovery app (iOS only for now) that helps users explore local home furnishings without all the driving. Initially launching in San Francisco, the Evlo team wants to change how you shop for products to decorate your home.
Usually it involves searching online for unique shops. Then driving to each one to see what they have. If you’re really diligent, you’ll only hit a couple stores, or it’ll takes months (if not years!) to fully explore all your options. Who has time for that?
Instead, Evlo let’s you explore furniture and art near you right on your phone. You can easily see what’s available (including large pictures and often the price) before driving to the local seller to “touch it” before buying. It’s a good idea that brings a technological solution to a pain point millions of people share.
During the show, we talk with Nick about their app and how it was built. We probe him on the process of co-founding a startup, covering topics from forming a team, getting legal support and pursuing capital investors. He told us about the trials of being a founder and the perks (hint: his answer is “a great team”).
Finally we wrap up with a quick exploration of his favorite browser and more. You know, the important stuff.
217: 📱👍😂🚖💾
So it turns out that we were already on the edge of pop culture. I went looking for the tears of joy emoji to use as your picture, when I remembered it look very familiar… and it was! We used it back for episode 203 and talking about LOLs. See below for all the links and details of what we talked about.
216: Overpriced Watches, Tablets and Stocks
How much is something worth? Exactly as much as someone is willing to pay. The next question: how many people do you want to be willing to pay? Sometimes products are overpriced, and thankfully customers make that clear by not buying that item. Case in point: even though TAG’s new Connected Watch is cool, $1,500 might be a bit much to entice many people to purchase it.
215: The Economics Of Homemade Chips
We cover a ton of news this week because so much of it is interrelated. If you take away one concept from this week, let it be this: Artificial intelligence continues to expand it’s capabilities and is aiding on the road, in the classroom, and on your face. AI will struggle to make surprise moves that turn out to be genus, and we need to often ask ourselves if it’s worth it.
214: Bold.ly Killing Operating Systems
The internet browser is under attack! Google is killing Chrome! Countries can shut down TLDs! It’s chaos! Thankfully, the solution already exists: Apps that are basically highly specific browsers.