Crossed Wires Crossed Wires Podcasts
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- Technology
A technology podcast that aims to take a positive look at technology and computing. We aim to have genuinely engaging chats with folks doing interesting things in tech that make a positive impact.
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Crushing It!
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 podcast@crossedwires.net, 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 -
Hosting a Mastodon
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 podcast@crossedwires.net, 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
Masto.host@mastodon.social - 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 Clu -
Educating AI
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 podcast@crossedwires.net, 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 -
Framing a Better Laptop
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 podcast@crossedwires.net, 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:  -
Weaving a Tapestry
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 podcast@crossedwires.net, 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: -
Build-A-Browser
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 podcast@crossedwires.net, 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: W