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.
562 clips, strongest first.
Dr. Dave argues that Google Plus would still have accomplished something useful if its only effect were to make Facebook improve, because a serious challenger can raise the standard even when it does not become the winner.
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Dr. Dave reacts to Microsoft announcing tabbed browsing for Internet Explorer 7 after competitors had offered it for years. He treats the company’s cautious explanation and warning not to expect too much as evidence that it still did not understand why people were choosing other browsers.
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The late arrival of Zune leads Dr. Dave to describe Microsoft as a company whose size creates enormous inertia. It may enter slowly and clumsily, he says, but once that mass begins moving the same momentum can make it extraordinarily difficult for competitors to stop.
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The OpenOffice and LibreOffice split gives Dr. Dave a way to explain the structural tension when a volunteer community depends on a conventional corporation whose incentives may change after users become committed.
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As satellite-radio prices rise, Dr. Dave predicts that its original attraction of paid, advertising-free programming will erode just as cable television’s did. He says he will not pay a monthly fee only to hear advertisements again.
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Early 3D printing and prosthetics news prompts Dr. Dave to marvel at what computers make possible while warning that technological ease can also encourage needless complexity and inefficiency.
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At a friend's birthday party, Dr. Dave tries to stay quietly off duty but is soon answering questions about Linux, Vista and above all the first iPhone. His extended prelaunch assessment recognizes Apple's extraordinary visual appeal and likely demand while examining the original phone's touchscreen, messaging, network, software and keyboard limitations.
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Dr. Dave contrasts dot-com hype with the unglamorous infrastructure and repeatable processes that allowed Amazon and Netflix to become durable companies.
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Discussing secure corporate instant messaging on mobile devices, Dr. Dave says end users are forcing technology companies to respond rather than simply accepting whatever companies choose to provide. It captures an early stage of the move from desktop messaging to mobile business communication.
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Android competition leads Dr. Dave to hope that a weaker economy will make buyers more discerning and push manufacturers away from frivolous features toward products that genuinely improve productivity. He admits that optimism may be his rose-colored view.
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Dr. Dave and Evil Steve look at a hardware market where Dell, HP, Acer and Lenovo compete at enormous scale and ask how a small local shop could survive by building desktop PCs. They remember the hobbyist market booming in the early and mid-1990s, then shrinking toward upgrades, replacements and specialized gaming systems.
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Google's experimental glucose-sensing contact lens leads Dr. Dave and Evil Steve to Kelly's Ride and the family's connection with JDRF. After humor about the islets of Langerhans and surveillance, Dr. Dave says this is the kind of research that excites him: technology aimed at reducing the burden of repeated glucose checks and making a meaningful difference in people's lives.
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Dr. Dave explains Bitcoin as autonomous digital money and then uses the reported misuse of gaming anti-cheat software to show that the new system can still be exploited. The brothers imagine a Bitcoin wallet stranded on a failed drive and arrive at the simpler analogy that, without a bank or central record, it behaves much like cash.
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A listener reports spending hours every week maintaining three computers. Dr. Dave observes that broadband helped threats such as spam and spyware scale while also making security downloads and updates manageable, then recalls how expensive basic software once was.
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After Evil Steve imports years of accumulated sound files, Dr. Dave explains why the Rivendell radio-production system feels immediately familiar from the stations they have worked in. The exchange preserves a rare behind-the-scenes account of rebuilding the show's technical library and running its automation on Linux.
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The brothers consider whether a growing Christian music market and new game systems could bring faith-based video games into the mainstream. Dr. Dave sees room for biblical stories and sophisticated games while also expressing concern about violence in popular titles and the cost of entering the industry.
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On the morning of the original iPad launch, Dr. Dave separates genuine technical excitement from media hype and asks whether the new device can really replace the other things its defenders cite.
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Dr. Dave and Evil Steve joke about the Large Hadron Collider's first transformer and helium problems, then Dr. Dave steps back: when people build unprecedented machinery to ask what happened moments after the Big Bang, breakdowns are part of changing history and creating science, not proof that the attempt should never have been made.
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Dr. Dave and Evil Steve trace recorded information from Edison's cylinders through records, tape and hard drives, all dependent on moving parts, then look forward to solid-state storage. Even amid their excitement, Dr. Dave rejects the fantasy of an infinitely reliable device and explains why wear leveling is needed before the new medium can fulfill its promise.
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A 2007 reading study surprises the brothers by suggesting that online news readers may stay with chosen articles longer than print readers. Dr. Dave reasons that the broader choice of subjects online may help people select material they genuinely want to read in depth.
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Dr. Dave and Evil Steve point out that television, satellites, cell phones, Wi-Fi and microwave ovens all belong to the same crowded radio-frequency world even though most people reserve the word radio for AM and FM. A microwave oven door becomes the familiar example of metal screening keeping intense energy contained.
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Near the close, Evil Steve reminds listeners that DaveMason.com already holds about seven months of aired shows. He calls it a reservoir where people can return to what Dr. Dave said, preserving a direct contemporary statement of why the original radio archive existed.
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A comparison of old and new memory cards gets the brothers wondering what another fifteen years might bring. They discuss failed predictions and how Star Trek may have inspired children to build the technology they imagined.
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Dr. Dave and Evil Steve reason through why dedicated handheld organizers were losing their place as phones gained features and laptops became smaller, then test the idea against a caller’s device choices.
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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.
