Technically Working

Damashe Thomas and Michael Babcock

"Welcome to 'Technically Working', the go-to podcast for tech enthusiasts and productivity seekers alike. Hosts Michael Babcock and Damashe Thomas take you on a journey through the ever-evolving world of technology and productivity. As Mac OS and iPhone users, they share their personal experiences and tips on staying productive while using these tools. But they don't stop there - they also explore other platforms like Android and Windows to bring you a comprehensive view of the tech landscape. Tune in each episode to hear them keep each other accountable, discuss the latest tools and strategies, and share their journey to reaching their goals. Whether you're a small business owner, freelancer, or simply looking to boost your productivity, 'Technically Working' is the perfect podcast for anyone looking to level up their tech skills and get things done."

  1. 3天前

    Push to Talk, Pull to Cloud

    Technically Working Episode 160: Push to Talk, Pull to Cloud Episode 160 opens with the numbers. Total downloads across the lifetime of the show have hit 33,505, with episode 159 pulling 137 listens and episode 158 sitting at 157 after 14 days. The average is holding around 150 per episode and has been gradually climbing even without any real marketing. Word of mouth and the occasional Mastodon post have done all the work so far. If you want to help, leave a rating in Apple Podcasts or Pocket Casts. From there we get into Apple news. Tim Cook announced he'll be stepping down as CEO, with John Ternus taking over. Michael bought one share of Apple stock and is hoping for the best. Damashe has thoughts on Tim's legacy as an operations-focused leader, where Apple got comfortable, and what services growth has cost the company from a user experience standpoint. Neither of us are financial advisors. Please do not take investment advice from this podcast. Michael also turned a year older this week. Happy belated birthday from the show. Then: AirPods Pro 3. Michael got a pair as an early birthday gift and called Damashe immediately. The volume adjustment from the stem alone was worth the upgrade coming from first-gen. The adaptive listening feature is useful but aggressive, and Comply foam tips are probably going to be necessary for a secure fit. Damashe is sticking with his Pro 2s for now but is more likely to buy than he was before this conversation. Community Builder Tools is going to the cloud. Michael walks through the current setup: developing on Windows, pushing to a Raspberry Pi running Ubuntu, deploying from GitHub, with automated database backups running on a cron job and syncing to Dropbox via rsync. He's now using a web-based version of Builder to manage convention events, which work similarly to the ACB Community schedule across multiple Zoom accounts. A training is happening the next day. More details coming soon. Waymo. Michael is flying into San Francisco on May 20th for the GitHub hackathon and plans to take a Waymo just for the experience. Damashe is less enthusiastic than he was ten years ago, not because the tech isn't impressive, but because he's seen enough things break to have questions. The power outage in San Francisco that left Waymos sitting in the road is a real example. The conversation goes wide from there: onboard compute versus network dependency, insurance liability, the limits of LLMs, rural connectivity, and whether the companies working on this are solving the right problems in a meaningful way. Damashe would still take one in Austin this summer. He just has more conditions attached. The POC radio. Michael ordered the Lucid Budget Radio, a push-to-talk over cellular device that costs $99 with cellular plans starting at $20 for a year. It does not make the Nextel chirp sound, which is a disappointment. It does work across AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon via a smart SIM. It's accessible — the manufacturer responded to a blind user's feedback within three weeks with a working solution — and Michael is already thinking about using it for convention communications. Damashe also covers a dual-SIM router he picked up for his work van, how he's using a physical eSIM card to load up to eight profiles, and a new office space he's moving into next weekend. He's looking for suggestions on door access solutions, a security system, and sound panels. Send ideas to feedback@technicallyworking.show. Todoist check-in: Michael is at 7,425 completed tasks and sitting at Grand Master status with 15,000 points to go until Enlightened. His current streak is seven days after breaking it. Damashe broke his for the same reason: things got done, the app didn't get opened. Links and Resources Technically Working: technicallyworking.show Send feedback: feedback@technicallyworking.show Lucid Budget Radio: simpleptt.com/product-page/the-2026-lucid-budget-radio Comply foam tips for AirPods Pro 3 (get the version made for the 3, the connector is different from the 2) Tip jar and supporter info: technicallyworking.show Michael on Mastodon: @payown@dragonscave.space Damashe on Mastodon: @damashe@technically.social Bot: @tw@technically.social Hashtag: #TechnicallyWorking (capitalize the T and W so NVDA reads it right) Ready for social posts when you are. Support Technically Working by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/technically-working Find out more at https://technically-working.pinecast.co Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/technically-working/c4281865-99ac-49ce-b773-398c47afece8 This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-431b7d for 40% off for 4 months, and support Technically Working.

    1 小时 14 分钟
  2. 4月17日

    Zoom Bloat, NVDA Wins, and the Great BlindShell Retreat

    TW 159: Zoom Bloat, NVDA Wins, and the Great BlindShell Retreat Mike and Damashe catch up on a Wednesday (weird, we know). Damashe wraps up his BlindShell experiment after about three weeks, shares news about a new commercial office space, and both hosts get into why Zoom keeps bolting on features nobody asked for. Mike talks about his growing comfort with NVDA, useful add-ons he's found, and what it took to make the switch feel natural. Plus vibe-coded tools, Stream Deck planning, a great file upload tip, and the state of LaunchBar in 2026. In this episode: • Damashe's BlindShell experiment wraps up (and why) • Missing SD cards and the Raspberry Pi graveyard • Damashe has office space news • Zoom Pro, Google Meet, and the "why am I paying for this" question • Apple, Spotify, and platform owners competing with their own marketplace • Android vs iOS, and the lies people have been telling for 15 years • Why Gmail on Android is still painful • Mike's move to NVDA: what helped, what tripped him up • The Eloquence voice that made everything click • Caps Lock as a VoiceOver modifier and the shortcuts it breaks • Stream Deck planning, vibe-coded utilities, and Farrago timing • Rogue Amoeba, AppleScript, and why it matters • New LaunchBar 6.23 with VoiceOver improvements • VOCR 3.0 beta 2 is broken on current macOS (heads up) • A killer file upload tip: paste from Finder directly into upload dialogs • Mac/iOS developers: explain why your app needs Bluetooth and network access Mentioned in this episode: • NVDA add-ons: Speech History, Virtual Window, shortcut utility • AT Guys Eloquence SAPI 5 voices • LaunchBar 6.23 • VOCR 3.0 beta 2 • Farrago (Rogue Amoeba) • BlindShell • Parallels for macOS • Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Guess the mic: Damashe is using a different setup this week. Can you identify the microphone? Bonus points for the interface. Send your guesses to feedback@technicallyworking.show. Support the show: Tip jar subscriptions and one-time tips keep the lights on. Thanks to subscriber number one, still going strong. Connect: • Email: feedback@technicallyworking.show • Damashe: @ damashe@technically.social • Mike: @ payown@dragonscave.space • Bot: @ tw@technically.social • Hashtag: #TechnicallyWorking Support Technically Working by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/technically-working Find out more at https://technically-working.pinecast.co Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/technically-working/19f4814d-749f-4948-8879-a7e93c6cabec This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-431b7d for 40% off for 4 months, and support Technically Working.

    1 小时 22 分钟
  3. 4月12日

    Push to Talk

    Michael's audio is doubled and nobody knows why. What starts as a deep dive into Audio Hijack routing, virtual devices, and a suspicious SoundSource redirect turns into a full troubleshooting session that anyone running a complex audio setup will relate to. Damashe shows up with a new Earthworks Ethos microphone and the two get into mic comparisons, boom arm weight limits, and whether the RE-20 is worth the investment. From there, the conversation shifts to coding workflows. Michael shares progress on a Flask project built with Claude, and Damashe walks through Git branching, atomic deployments, and what happens when your LLM decides to push to production without permission. Both talk about using Claude, Gemini, and GPT for different tasks, and Damashe shares early impressions of the Claude desktop app. Then Michael highlights an affordable tri-band ham radio with braille on the keypad and built-in voice output, and gives a quick rundown of how ham radio works, why it matters for emergency communication, and how linked repeaters let him talk to someone near Seattle from a handheld in Coos Bay. The two wrap up discussing Artemis 2's laser communications, the case for alternative communication networks, and yes, Outlook failing in space. feedback@technicallyworking.show | Mastodon: @tw@technically.social | #TechnicallyWorking Support Technically Working by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/technically-working Find out more at https://technically-working.pinecast.co Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/technically-working/0246b25b-4842-4bcd-9520-3c5916f59e27 This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-431b7d for 40% off for 4 months, and support Technically Working.

    1 小时 18 分钟
  4. 4月4日

    This Is Fine, Everything Is Fine

    Episode 157 opens with a VoiceOver volume bug on Michael's Mac that resets to 100 percent every time he command tabs. Damashe suggests the nuclear option: reset your VoiceOver settings. Back them up first. From there, Damashe gets into his Blindshell Classic 3 experiment. He's been using it as his actual work phone, which means carrying it when he leaves the house, taking calls on it, and finding out what it can and cannot do when theory meets reality. The short version: phone calls work fine, T9 input is usable with a tip Michael drops about the down arrow shortcut, Be My Eyes camera quality genuinely surprised him, and the dual SIM situation does not work. At all. Whatever is in SIM slot 2 does nothing. Switch the cards around and the other one works fine in slot 1. Damashe has a hypothesis. Blindshell, he is sending you this episode. He also paired a Bluetooth keyboard to the Blindshell, got his Meta Ray-Bans connected, and found out phone calls come through the glasses just fine. Screen reader audio does not, at least not by default. That test is still pending. A few other Blindshell notes worth knowing: there is no company name field in contacts, apps access your microphone without asking permission, and the lock screen keypad instructions are printed right on the lock screen, which is not exactly a security feature. Damashe is not bashing the phone. He is just reporting what he found. There is also a broader point he makes about what Blindshell missed. The community already named the product. They call it the shell phone. Blindshell should have listened to that, leaned into it, and used it to market the device beyond just the blind community. A well designed keypad phone with accessible Android underneath could appeal to a lot of people. Instead the branding closes the door before anyone outside the community even considers it. The Clix Communicator gets a mention here as a device that might actually do this right, if it ever ships. Then there is Graphene OS. Damashe has it running on a separate Android device, kept completely isolated, for reasons he will describe only as just in case. If that makes sense to you, run with it. If not, everything is fine. Messaging apps come up next. Damashe breaks down Signal versus WhatsApp in plain terms, including a genuinely useful explanation of metadata using a letter in the mail as the analogy. He also wants Signal to add device linking because it would make recommending it a lot easier. Michael mentions an ACB affiliate mailing list that uses Signal groups, which he did not know was a thing. Michael's OpenClaw setup gets a proper rundown. He is running the assistant named K on his Raspberry Pi, connected through Telegram, using three models depending on the task: OpenRouter free for simple back and forth, GPT-5.4 mini for emails and scheduling, and GPT-5.4 for deeper content work. He burned through $35 in a weekend before the API cut him off at negative two cents. The system now sends him a daily recap at 7:30 PM, manages its own memory, and archives previous days into markdown files. He has not set up the 1Password skill yet but it is on the list. Damashe spent the entire week not using AI and felt strange about it. Not unproductive, just strange. He also has thoughts about the Claude code leak and whether anyone is actually reviewing what gets pushed. He does not have answers. Neither does Michael. Proton Workspace gets a quick mention as a direct competitor to Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. If you use Proton Mail already and want to talk about it on the show, email them. The Keychron folding keyboard arrived. Damashe opened it, looked at it, and said it is not what he expected. He has not paired it to anything yet. Full report coming. Episode closes with a shout out to tip jar subscriber number six, whoever that is. Topics covered: VoiceOver volume reset bug and how to back up your VoiceOver settings Blindshell Classic 3 as a daily work phone: what works and what does not Dual SIM on the Blindshell Classic 3: broken, probably by design T9 input tip: down arrow shortcut to speed up letter entry Be My Eyes camera quality on the Blindshell Meta Ray-Bans paired to the Blindshell: calls yes, screen reader no Blindshell's missed opportunity: the shell phone name and broader market appeal Clix Communicator as a phone that might get this right Graphene OS: no further questions Signal vs WhatsApp: features, metadata, and why Damashe is on WhatsApp now Metadata explained with a mail analogy Michael's OpenClaw setup: three models, one budget, daily recaps GPT-5.4 mini, GPT-5.4, and burning through $35 in a weekend The Claude code leak and vibe coding concerns Proton Workspace as a Google and Microsoft competitor Keychron folding keyboard: first impressions, not great Send feedback: feedback@technicallyworking.show Support the show: technicallyworking.show Follow on Mastodon: Michael: @payown@dragonscave.space Damashe: @damashe@technically.social Show bot: @tw@technically.social Support Technically Working by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/technically-working Find out more at https://technically-working.pinecast.co Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/technically-working/e519280c-f74a-4875-be3b-2dffe2b22ed0 This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-431b7d for 40% off for 4 months, and support Technically Working.

    1 小时 7 分钟
  5. 3月29日

    Streaks, Macs, and Smart Locks

    Episode 156 opens with some breaking Apple news: the Mac Pro is officially dead. Damashe breaks down why that decision probably came down to Apple Silicon's unified memory architecture and what it means for professionals who relied on the Mac Pro's expandability. We trace the full arc from the original cheese grater to the ill-fated trash can and back again, and talk about why the Mac Studio is likely where Apple thinks that story ends. From there, we get into recording setups. Michael is back in the garage with a rug, a mic stand from Damashe, and the Vocaster running into an OWC dock. Damashe is on the Zoom P4 Next, and he breaks down how that compares to the Vocaster for anyone thinking about a step up, including what he likes, what he doesn't, and why locking XLR ports matter more than you'd think. We also share a few honest tips for improving your recording environment without buying new gear. Rugs, soft surfaces, and where you point your microphone matter more than most people realize. Then: the Todoist situation. Michael came home from CSUN with a 114-day streak that didn't survive the trip. He explains what happened, how he's building back, and what his 7,000-plus completed tasks say about how he actually uses the app. Damashe broke his streak around the same time for a much more relatable reason. The back half of the episode is dedicated to a question from Chad, who just closed on his first house. Congratulations, Chad. He wanted follow-up on cameras and smart locks, so we go wide first: start with your ecosystem, know your priorities around cloud storage versus local recording, and think about who else in your home is going to be using this stuff. Damashe is using Reolink cameras with a network video recorder for fully local storage, a Level Lock Plus for his front door, and Aqara devices throughout the house. Michael is running Eufy cameras through HomeKit Secure Video and has had mixed results with the Level Bolt. Both of us agree: Aqara makes solid, affordable hardware, and if you own your home, power-over-ethernet cameras are worth planning for even if you can't run the cable today. We also make a case for water leak sensors, which are less exciting than smart lights but probably more important once you own the place. We close with a tease of something new coming likely by end of April. If you follow Michael on Mastodon, you'll probably hear about it there first. Topics covered: Apple kills the Mac Pro: what it means and why it probably happened Mac Pro history: cheese grater, trash can, 2019 refresh, and the M2 Ultra version that didn't save it Apple Silicon unified memory and why it complicates expandability Recording environment tips: rugs, soft surfaces, closets, and mic placement Vocaster vs Zoom P4 Next: comparing two portable interfaces Shure Beta 87A and why condenser vs dynamic matters for your space Todoist streaks, gamification, and what 7,000 completed tasks looks like Smart home ecosystem advice: start with what you're already in Cameras: Reolink, Eufy, Ring (why Damashe won't recommend it), POE vs battery HomeKit Secure Video and what it means for local vs cloud storage Smart locks: Level Lock, Aqara retrofit deadbolts, U-Bolt (avoid) Water leak sensors and why they matter if you own your home New show incoming Send feedback: feedback@technicallyworking.show Support the show: technicallyworking.show (Support Us link) Follow on Mastodon: Michael: @payown@dragonscave.space Damashe: @damashe@technically.social Show bot: @tw@technically.social Support Technically Working by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/technically-working Find out more at https://technically-working.pinecast.co Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/technically-working/4ecaf69e-1b6b-459e-85eb-66b367628ae9 Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-431b7d for 40% off for 4 months, and support Technically Working.

    1 小时 26 分钟
  6. 3月21日

    Walking In With Confidence: CSUN, Braille Displays, and Server Shenanigans

    Damashe and Michael are back for episode 155 of Technically Working, and this one is packed. They start by addressing the episode 153 publishing mishap where Michael's audio track was accidentally left out of the Auphonic template, leaving listeners with a two-person conversation missing one of the people. They break down exactly what happened, how their podcast production workflow contributed to the issue, and what they're changing in their Dropbox and Auphonic setup to prevent it from happening again. Next up, the technically.social Mastodon instance went offline after a billing issue with masto.host. Damashe walks through the full story of how a separated email alias caused him to miss payment failure notifications, how the hosting provider cancelled the account with no option to reactivate, and how he rebuilt the Mastodon server on CloudRun. The Technically Working bot is back online, refederated, and ready for followers at @tw@technically.social. Damashe is recording on the Shure Beta 87A, and both hosts take time to explain why this super cardioid condenser microphone is their top recommendation for podcasters and content creators looking to upgrade to XLR. They cover the mic's pickup pattern, durability, price point (typically around $200 on sale), and how it compares to alternatives like the Samson Q2U, the Audio-Technica ATR 2100X, and a brand new Audio-Technica 2500X that neither host has tested. They also discuss the Focusrite Vocaster One and Vocaster Two as affordable audio interfaces with phantom power for anyone building a home podcast studio setup. Michael brings a detailed CSUN 2026 recap from Anaheim. His hands-on impressions cover a wide range of assistive technology and accessibility products including the Dot Pad X multi-line braille display from AT Guys, the Mnemonic portable Bluetooth braille labeler that embosses onto DYMO and metal tape from a phone app, and the Cadence, a 48-cell refreshable braille tablet with four lines of 12 cells, an impressive refresh rate, and the ability to daisy-chain up to four units together. Michael also visited the DOT and LG booth where they demonstrated a fully accessible self-checkout kiosk with speech output, headphone jack, and a 12-cell braille display built into the unit. LG showcased accessible home appliances including a washer, dryer, refrigerator, and dishwasher with braille labels, adaptive features for users with upper body limitations, and the ThinkQ smart home hub with voice control. Samsung's accessibility sticker program for appliances also gets a mention. On the braille display side, the episode covers the Thinkerbell Labs 40-cell braille display running Linux and targeting a $1,200 price point, the Orbit Flow (a USB-only 40-cell aluminum braille display, and the Orbit Strata with combined braille and speech output. Michael also shares his experience with the Orbit Optima and discusses the differences between Piezo and True Braille cell technology. Damashe and Michael discuss braille on business cards, why QR codes linking to vCard contact information should be the standard at conferences, and the challenge of scanning business cards accessibly. Damashe puts out a call to listeners for accessible business card scanning app recommendations. Damashe introduces changedetection.io, a self-hosted website monitoring tool he installed on CloudRun to track product pages for stock changes. He set it up to watch for Ubiquiti mobile routers that were out of stock, got a Pushover notification when they came back, and grabbed them before they sold out again. He explains how he's planning on using the routers with SIM cards to provide cellular Wi-Fi for security cameras at his rest area vending locations, and discusses the tradeoffs between rugged outdoor-rated routers and cheaper alternatives with 3D-printed enclosures. The episode wraps with a podcast download stats update: 31,092 total downloads, 409 in the last seven days, and 142 downloads for episode 154 in just three days. Damashe teases the new Technically Working website, confirms the URL structure will support direct episode links like technicallyworking.show/155, and shares plans to expand the show's social media presence to Blue Sky. They celebrate three years of weekly podcast publishing with no missed episodes and welcome new listeners who discovered the show at CSUN. Links and resources: Technically Working: technicallyworking.show Send feedback: feedback@technicallyworking.show AT Guys Braille Apps for Dot Pad: braille.atguys.com changedetection.io Support the show: technicallyworking.show (tip jar link on podcast page) Mastodon bot: @tw@technically.social Damashe on Mastodon: @damashe@technically.social Michael on Mastodon: @payown@dragonscave.space Hashtag: #TechnicallyWorking Support Technically Working by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/technically-working Find out more at https://technically-working.pinecast.co Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/technically-working/6662e615-658f-4b52-a8b1-70dc332c802e Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-431b7d for 40% off for 4 months, and support Technically Working.

    1 小时 13 分钟
  7. 3月16日

    Backing Up Right, The Vocaster Deep Dive, and How We Actually Got Started with AI

    Michael and Damashe open with a hard-learned lesson about database backups after an update to the Builder tool wipes fresh data, and why separating your database from your app files matters more than you think. From there, the episode shifts into the next chapter of the audio gear mini-series: a thorough look at the Focusrite Vocaster 1 and 2. The hosts cover what makes these interfaces stand out for screen reader users, including the accessible Vocaster Hub software, auto gain, the bidirectional aux port, Bluetooth on the Vocaster 2, and one major trade-off you need to know about before you unplug your laptop. Listener feedback from Chris leads to a candid conversation about how Michael and Damashe each got started using AI tools and writing code. Michael traces his path from a 2024 Python class through GitHub Copilot to building accessible desktop apps with PySide6. Damashe reflects on using LLMs to debug server logs, review code, and solve real problems without spending hours in Stack Overflow. Together they make the case for starting simple, finding a problem worth solving, and not letting the hype push you somewhere you're not ready to go. The episode wraps with thoughts on the Samsung event, Apple's AI missteps, Google I/O timing, and the launch of an AI-powered Mastodon bot for the show. Send feedback to feedback@technicallyworking.show. Support the show through TipJar . Find Michael on Mastodon at @payown@dragonscave.space and Damashe at @damashe@Technically.social. Follow the show bot at @tw@technically.social using #TechnicallyWorking. Support Technically Working by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/technically-working Find out more at https://technically-working.pinecast.co Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/technically-working/45edf9b5-ad76-4133-80d9-1bd6fe08c46a Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-431b7d for 40% off for 4 months, and support Technically Working.

    1 小时 24 分钟

评分及评论

5
共 5 分
2 个评分

关于

"Welcome to 'Technically Working', the go-to podcast for tech enthusiasts and productivity seekers alike. Hosts Michael Babcock and Damashe Thomas take you on a journey through the ever-evolving world of technology and productivity. As Mac OS and iPhone users, they share their personal experiences and tips on staying productive while using these tools. But they don't stop there - they also explore other platforms like Android and Windows to bring you a comprehensive view of the tech landscape. Tune in each episode to hear them keep each other accountable, discuss the latest tools and strategies, and share their journey to reaching their goals. Whether you're a small business owner, freelancer, or simply looking to boost your productivity, 'Technically Working' is the perfect podcast for anyone looking to level up their tech skills and get things done."

你可能还喜欢