DaveMason.com
ComputerTalk with Dave Mason
The official archive of all available ComputerTalk with Dave Mason radio shows. Spend some time with Dave. Listen to a full show or explore clips by topic.
3,475 unique clips. Each clip appears in one section. Historical conversations, not current advice. Full episodes remain available separately by date.
364 clips, strongest first.
As online video and news indexing strain old copyright rules, Dr. Dave says he has always believed a person should be paid for their work and wonders whether Internet rights management might develop along lines familiar to radio. The passage records his attempt to balance access, linking and creative ownership during a formative online-media dispute.
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Before describing an Internet threat, Dr. Dave explains that he does not want to copy the mainstream media’s tendency to overstate danger. His goal is to report accurately, preserve perspective and still tell listeners when common-sense precautions matter.
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Dr. Dave and Evil Steve describe how television animation placed viewers inside the Flying Tigers’ experience and made wartime choices feel immediate in a way once limited to expensive films. Dr. Dave says that bringing history to life created a different level of appreciation for the people whose service made the broadcast possible.
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The small second-generation Apple TV impresses Dr. Dave as hardware, but its rental emphasis revives his concern that convenience should not eliminate ownership, independence and the ability to keep one’s own media.
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Dr. Dave and Evil Steve reason that the confidence needed to run a criminal operation can become its undoing when arrogance prevents the operators from seeing the one weakness that exposes them.
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Dr. Dave says risk and incompetence exist on almost every front, but constant fear and paranoia create a miserable life. His compact answer is to pay attention, remain skeptical and then go have fun and live.
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During the Sony battery recall, Dr. Dave says that blogs and alternative media give people access to information that was not available only a few years earlier. He argues that the resulting scrutiny makes it harder for a manufacturer to remain behind the scenes when its work contributes to a public problem.
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Discussing a film-download lawsuit, Dr. Dave and Evil Steve reject the idea that copying is harmless simply because the downloader keeps the file personally, emphasizing the creators’ time, gifts and investment.
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Dr. Dave observes that once governments, companies or individuals can collect data, the ability itself becomes difficult to resist. He calls the result digital hoarding and a Frankenstein monster, then asks the practical question that runs through the episode: what can a person control, and what is worth trying to control?
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A DLP display chip leads Dr. Dave and Evil Steve back to research intended to improve airline ticket scanning. They use that unexpected path to defend ambitious research such as space exploration, arguing that the most important discovery may happen in the work required to reach a destination rather than at the destination itself.
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A report about an employee destroying company records after a pay dispute leads Dr. Dave and Evil Steve to separate understanding anger from condoning retaliation. Their rule is direct: two wrongs do not make a right, and a person cannot become the bad guy in order to get even with another bad guy.
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After reporting Apple’s recycling program, Dr. Dave and Evil Steve say an old computer may be more valuable when given to a nonprofit such as the Salvation Army, whole or for parts, so someone who needs a machine can benefit. Dr. Dave calls that the ultimate form of recycling.
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Dr. Dave responds to the first iPhone launch by separating rational enthusiasm from blindly following technology. He admires Apple's physical design, interface and marketing, but warns that devices, games and work can consume both income and time unless people keep them in perspective.
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Wondering whether professional photographers still prefer film, Dr. Dave and Evil Steve compare arguments about film and digital images with the warmth people hear in vinyl records and tube amplifiers. Dr. Dave suspects that loyalty to the old way can shape what people believe they see and hear, while allowing that real processing differences may still matter to a discerning observer.
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Reflecting on the difficulty of translating long, intelligent discussion to television, the brothers argue that chasing too many formats can drain the time and energy needed for the work a person actually enjoys and does well.
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Dr. Dave measures technological importance by whether it genuinely makes life better. Entertainment can contribute to happiness, but an endless flood of entertainment is like living entirely on candy: more amusement does not necessarily produce a happier life.
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After a tragic report about an extended gaming session, Dr. Dave and Evil Steve compare compulsive game playing with other addictions. They distinguish people who can stop and return to ordinary life from those who may be unusually susceptible to losing control.
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After expressing sympathy for everyone killed or injured in the Reno air-race crash, Dr. Dave and Evil Steve worry that eliminating every dangerous activity would leave people watching simulations of achievements no one is still permitted to attempt.
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Google's plan to OCR scanned books makes previously inaccessible contents searchable. Dr. Dave is thrilled by the scale of access but insists that avoiding misinformation and information overload requires its own skill and discipline.
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A Bill Gates statement that organizations still need more information leads the brothers to separate access to useful data from an obsession with constant connection and multitasking. Evil Steve teases Dr. Dave about doing everything at once, while Dr. Dave agrees that overload can become real even when more information is valuable.
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Dr. Dave distinguishes being recorded while breaking a rule from simply existing in public under constant observation. His concern is who controls the recording and how an innocent awkward moment that once drew a passing chuckle can suddenly be placed on the Internet.
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Microsoft’s Skype purchase prompts Dr. Dave to compare cloud subscriptions with the old mainframe era and defend the autonomy that made the personal-computer revolution personal, while predicting online Office services and Skype integration.
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Considering Microsoft and Google’s movement toward online services, Dr. Dave explains that the defining value of a personal computer is autonomy. Internet services can be useful, but he wants people to retain control of important data, applications and backups and argues for a deliberate balance between online dependence and local ownership.
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Watching early PlayStation 3 resale prices far above retail, Dr. Dave and Evil Steve describe opportunity cost as the value some buyers place on having a scarce device immediately. They treat the listings as an example of emotion and irrationality inside consumer technology.
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Browse by year, then month, to find the episodes from that month.
442 proposed broadcast dates, plus 2 undated entries. Dates are based on archive filenames and may be approximate. Some broadcasts survive as separate parts or incomplete recordings.
