August 30, 2008

The August 30 show repeatedly asks whether technology works for people rather than merely looking impressive. Dr. Dave praises Google for putting effectiveness before flash and making serious testing available to small businesses, then later shows Evil Steve how a nearly imperceptible interface change can produce a measurable response. His consulting instincts appear most clearly with two callers: he says a six-week technical victory may not be worth the battle, and when a construction worker proposes a simple locked paper log as proof of a site visit, Dr. Dave readily admits it may be better than his digital-camera idea. The program is also a vivid 2008 time capsule. Bloomberg accidentally publishes Steve Jobs's obituary, Psystar challenges Apple's control of Mac OS X hardware, Comcast prepares a monthly bandwidth cap and Dr. Dave predicts that expensive enterprise solid-state storage will soon reach laptops and then become mainstream. Across gaming, texting, promised phone features and cloud software, he keeps returning to responsibility and autonomy: technology is not evil, but it must remain in perspective and customers should not surrender control simply because an industry has found a steadier way to charge them.

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