Crossed Wires

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: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

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: Why So Many Browsers? 00:18:33: What Makes Vivaldi Different? 00:26:24: Is Chrome Becoming IE6? 00:33:06: App Stores 00:38:36: User Pr

Whether you work in tech, produce tech content, or just happen to use a smartphone, a single question can spark debate and an explosion of extreme views from both sides. That question is simple, iPhone or Android? We're joined by our Zack, one of Jae's nephews and a longtime Android user and advocate to have an honest discussion about why we like the platforms we've settled on and where we see potential issues.  Our chat touches on some core issues like security updates, the challenge of a multitude of Android OEMs, cross-platform messaging, ecosystem lock-in, and the important of right to repair and the longevity of hardware. What's your daily driver, do you have strong feelings about the Fruit Company or the one with all the Droids? If you can keep it respectful, 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 Android Open Source Project - The core of Android, that isn't always Google powered. iPhone Models Compatible with iOS 17 - Apple Support Samsung Commits to Four Years of Security Updates - Samsung Newsroom (2021) Signal - Cross platform, end-to-end encrypted messaging iFixIt.com - Guides for device repair Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:43: Our Daily Drivers 00:06:57: Personal Choice Matters 00:12:13: Android is not Google 00:15:26: Side loading: Android’s Freedom of Choice?  00:33:15: Android Versions & OEMs  00:42:18: An Expectation of Updates?  00:47:38: Picking Your Device  00:51:05: The Right to Repair  01:07:34: Platform Services & Ecosystems  01:18:17: Beeping iMessage  01:29:01: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

You'll have heard James and Jae wax lyrical about their love for the UniFi line of networking gear on our live streams and in past episodes with Alex, as well as with Cody from MacTelecom Networks, but this episode is a fairly deep look into why we love UniFi. We're joined by Alex Lowe and Evan McCann, the hosts of UI Chat, a monthly Ubiquiti focussed podcast that is definitely our go-to resource for the latest news from the UniFi maker.  We talk about some of the new products, though it's worth mentioning that this episode was recorded in mid-December 2023 and so pre-dates the new U7 Pro and Swiss Army Knife Ultra access points, as well as the new Pro Max switches. Have you used UniFi at home or at work, or maybe you disagree with our views and prefer [insert other brand name here] for your network. 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 UI Chat on Apple Podcasts The Interface - Alex's great tech news site McCann Tech - Evan's blog with wonderful deep dives on UniFi gear UniFi Products Express - The new all-in-one gateway, controller, and access point that Jae now uses to replace her previous eero setup. Dream Router - The R2D2 like gateway, switch, controller and access point that James uses Talk - Affordable VoIP platform which has less features than a traditional PBX, but is incredibly easy to configure. Meet UniFi (YouTube Playlist) - The Jack Quaid (aka Lt. Bradwert Boimler) UniFi ads Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:05:42: A UniFi Overview 00:21:17: Routing  00:25:30: No Subscriptions 00:27:11: The UniFi Magic  00:37:20: Switches, Switches, Switches  00:38:58: WiFi Standards  00:44:21: UniFi Express  01:01:49: UniFi Talk & Protect  01:24:26: PPSK  01:26:25: Wr

Imagine a time when internet access meant using an analogue modem to dial a phone number in order to connect to the internet at speeds of up 7 kilobytes a second! Now imagine trying to play online games such as Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Euro 96, and even Bridge, over that connection. Our guests this week, Phil and Stu Ashby, helped to create and run Wireplay, a dial-up based online gaming service from BT (yes, the telephone company) in the mid-nineties. We go on some really deep tangents on the workings of modems, why just enabling anonymous dial-up internet access may spark some questions, and the challenges of keeping latency in online gaming at a (for the time) remarkable 100ms over dial-up. There's also a discussion of how having Windows Servers in your backend can be somewhat painful. Do you remember using Wireplay, or a similar service? 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 Do you remember Wireplay? How BT helped to pioneer online gaming around the world - BT via Archive.org Wireplay: creating the first online gaming platform in the UK - Phil Ashby on Dev.to Wireplay calling - hello 1996! - Ashbysoft Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary - Valve on YouTube Wireplay invades Brisbane - AusGamers - Adam Williams on YouTube Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:05:00: BT Primer 00:10:07: Internet in the 90s 00:16:58: The Rise of Multiplayer Games 00:29:14: The Birth of Wireplay 00:53:22: The Incident  01:04:08: Windows Servers In The Backend  01:12:06: Half Life 01:22:51: The Aftermath 01:36:43: Museum Pieces 01:41:23: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace

In what's starting to become a Crossed Wires tradition, James, Jae and Alex gather to discuss Apple's latest event, which was scarily short at just over 30 mins long, making this possibly our shortest event coverage episode to date! We unpack what the new m3 powered Macs mean in terms of performance, with Apple specifically targeting those who have yet to convert from Intel based Macs and early m1 adopters, why 8 GB of memory is probably enough for most average users.  We're also very honoured to join our friends at The Iconfactory in celebrating 20 years of xScope. Make sure you listen to the end of the episode for a wonderful offer. Apologies this episode has been delayed in releasing, a few family issues have meant James has been rather distracted from his editing duties. We are working to get episodes out on a more frequent schedule, but we really do thank you all for your patience and continued support of the show. What do you think to the new m3 lineup, is there anything you think Apple should have done differently? 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 Of course, if you've decided it's time for a new Mac, you'll want to make sure all your important data is kept backed up - especially when you're on the go and maybe don't have access to that huge external drive you use for Time Machine.  Well, may we recommend Backblaze's cloud backup, at just $9 / month for unlimited backups your new Mac will thank you. Use this link to sign up for your free 15 day trial and help support us here at Crossed Wires. Episode Links The Interface - Alex's fantastic site covering tech and more!  Scary Fast - Watch the Apple event MacBook Pro (Apple.com) iMac (Apple.com) Behind the scenes at Scary Fast: Apple’s keynote event shot on iPhone and edited on Mac Happy Anniversary, xScope! - Use code XSCOPE20 through December 4th, 2023 for 60% off the regular price. Thanks to Gedeon and the team for extending this wonderful offer to our amazing listeners. Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:35: The Scary Fast Event 00:07:13: The M3 Family 00:17:21: iMac 00:25:38: M3 Performance 00:31:47: MacBook Pros  00:48:16: Filmed on iPhone  00:53:54: 20 Years of xScope 00:56:01: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

When we think of programming, we may tend to think of Matrix-esque nerds sat in front of green-on-black screens absorbed in code that makes less sense than a chocolate teapot, or we may think of super-star game developers bashing out the latest GTA or similar. The reality is that programming is very much a problem solving exercise, and languages like Ruby provide a set of tools for how to map out logic and present results to the average computer user.  Our guest this week is a long-time friend of the show, Joel Drapper, who has recently been working on some powerful new open-source Ruby libraries that can help developers speed up their work and save a lot of confusion. Joel also tells us a bit about his own journey to becoming a programmer, and points to some great resources for those who are interested to get started themselves. 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 If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Joel Drapper: Mastodon / Naming Things / GitHub Rooftop Ruby - Joel and Colin's Ruby podcast. Practical Object-Oriented Design, An Agile Primer Using Ruby - A starting guide to Ruby. Grokking Algorithms - An illustrated guide to understanding how algorithms work. Treehouse - A great online resource for learning Ruby and other tech stuff. Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:12: Self Taught 00:15:00: Front-end vs backend 00:18:52: Learning Resources 00:26:14: Solving Problems 00:28:36: Open Source Software Libraries 00:51:02: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

Accessibility is essential to allow everyone to enjoy experiences that they may have, in the past, missed out on due to a lack of vision, a lack of hearing, or so many other factors. As many of you will know, both Jae and James are visually impaired, and so making one of our favourite pastimes more accessible for those with a wide range of sight conditions is a truly exciting topic for us.  So, Jae reached out to Brandon Cole, an incredibly talented and respected accessibility consultant with credits within the Forza series, not to mention his incredible work on The Last of Us games, so we could sit down and have a chat about all of the work he does as well as a discussion on why accessibility for the blind and visually impaired poses many challenges we may not have considered before. Do you have any experience with accessibility features in games, or maybe the lack of them? 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 If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links BrandonCole.net - Brandon's website @SuperBlindMan - Brandon on Mastodon Last of Us Part II: Is this the most accessible game ever? - BBC News Virtually Superior: A Playstation VR 2 review - Brandon's PS VR2 review Retro Collective - The Cave and Arcade Archive Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:36: Why is Gaming Accessibility Important? 00:08:37: Blind vs Visual Impairement 00:13:25: Game Studio Attitudes 00:21:13: Channels of Information 00:31:04: Unfair Advantage? 00:36:06: Controls 00:43:14: What Has Driven Accesibility Forward? 00:50:26: A Good Day's Pay 00:53:19: Accesible Retro Gaming? 00:58:42: What's Missing? 01:06:30: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

Before we go into this week's new episode, we'd like to thank everyone for their patience whilst both Jae and James have had what can only be described as an insanely busy (and great!) summer. We're planning to keep new episodes coming out weekly going forward, and we really do have some great episodes already recorded. We sat down to record with good friend of the show, Alex Lowe of The Interface, to take a look at Apple's most recent event and their new iPhone and Watch product lines. We've tried to focus on the big features, rather than rattle through the entire keynote verbatim, and we really hope you enjoy our analysis. 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: Backblaze With macOS Sonoma recently released, in fact on the day we recorded this episode, it's always important to remind ourselves to ensure we have good backups before any major system update.  Our friends at Backblaze make backing up your Mac, or even your Windows PC, incredibly easy with truly automated backups with simple restoration should anything happen. Their recent pricing change means that now for just $9 / month per computer everyone gets the same great unlimited storage but now with a year of file history at no extra cost. Find out more, and get your 15 day free trial, by following this link. Episode Links The Interface - Podcasts, tech news, and more from Alex Apple Event - Watch on Apple's website Chapter Times 00:00:00: Podcast Promo: Creator Spotlight 00:00:30: Introductions 00:03:43: What Did We Buy or Not Buy? 00:06:18: Event Thoughts 00:16:52: Apple Watch 00:28:48: iPhone 15 / 15 Pro 01:10:16: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

Cloud Gaming is something you might have heard about; you may have even used a service like GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud Gaming or even the recently departed Google Stadia. Jae and James sat down with Jay Hamilton and Omega of Thoughtable Network to talk about OnLive and also the modern cloud gaming services. OnLive is the technology that PlayStation Now is built on and understanding the past is important to understanding the present. We wanted to look at the past to learn how it may portend to the future of cloud gaming. Have you used OnLive? Have you used a Cloud Gaming service? What is your experience? 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 Interested in launching your own cloud gaming service or any type of online service? Then you need an amazing hosting platform like Linode by Akamai. If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Thoughtable Network - Jay and Omega's Network OnLive - WikiPedia PlayStation Now - Sony's Cloud Gaming Platform Google is shutting down Stadia - The Verge GeForce NOW - nVidia's Cloud gaming Platform Amazon Luna - Amazons' Cloud gaming offering, a mix of Prime games and offer subscription models Xbox Cloud Gaming - Includes Game Pass Boosteroid - Bring your own games streaming platform Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:04:20: Remembering OnLive 00:16:37: The State of Cloud Gaming 00:31:51: The Key to Cloud Gaming 00:48:27: Cloud Hesitancy 01:02:52: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

It's been over 6 years since Nintendo released their hybrid-console, the massively popular Switch to the world and it would be fair to say that this combination home console and portable gaming device has had a huge impact on the gaming world.  For the longest time, the Switch was my only games system (not including my iPhone and iPad of course), and the wide range of games certainly makes it an attractive system for many people. Many a family gathering has inevitably ended up in a Mario Kart Grand Prix, or a humiliating defeat at the hands of my nephew in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. I'm joined this week by Chris from Switch Weekly to take a look back at the last 6 years of the Switch, why it's so appealing, where there are some potential improvements, and what the future may hold for Nintendo's next system. Do you have a Switch, have you experienced joy con drift, or maybe you've got a game recommendation from the vast eShop library! 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 If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Switch Weekly: Newsletter / Mastodon Chris Brandrick - Mastodon overkill.wtf - Gaming news site Chris edits.  The State of Switch 2023 - Switch Weekly Survey Results Skull & Co. Jump Gate Dock Review - Crossed Wires on YouTube Nyxi Wizard - GameCube like joypad for Switch Hori Split Pad Pro - Alternative joy con style controller PXN 9607X - James' Switch Controller Switch Online - Nintendo UK Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:49: The Appeal of the Switch 00:12:52: Hardware 00:22:07: The Joys of Joy Cons 00:28:46: Other Controllers  00:32:01: LABO & Mario Kart Home Circuit  00:36:40: Games  00:50:31: Switch Online  00:58:53: The Future  01:05:18: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

If you're like me and enjoy a good novel, with gripping stories, fleshed out characters, and developed worlds of intrigue then you may wonder how it all comes together into the finished product.  My guest this week is self-published author and tech nerd, Matt Gemmell. We talk about how Matt uses just his iPad to plan and write his stories, how he self-publishes his work and all the elements that need to come together to get a novel onto the bookshelves, both digital and physical. We also talk about the importance of a good keyboard, and do a bit of a beginners guide into the world of mechanical keyboards, a hobby that has no doubt raised many a financial question in any writer's relationship! Have you delved into the world of writing, or maybe you're a mechanical keyboard nerd who has stories to tell of your most intrepid builds? 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 If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links mattgemmell.scot - Matt's website including links to all his socials, podcast, and novels. Ulysses - macOS and iOS writing app that Matt uses Markdown - John Gruber's original documentation for the text-to-HTML language ISBN (Wikipedia) Mechanical Keyboard Switches Explained: Types, Colors, & More (How To Geek) Ducky - Very popular line of mechanical keyboards Keychron - A great range of mechanical keyboards for Mac, iOS, and Windows Chapter Times 00:00:05: Introductions 00:03:31: iPad and Markdown  00:21:34: The Publishing Process  00:31:27: Support Your Library! 00:33:49: The Importance of a Keyboard  00:52:15: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

First of all, sincere apologies for the delay in getting this episode out to you all. Editing a nearly four hour recording session down really is somewhat of a mission, especially with a full-time job and live streaming in the mix. Fear not, though, we'll be back to our weekly episodes from now on, with new episodes every Monday morning (UK time) to cure those Monday blues! It wouldn't be a big Apple event without gathering in a SquadCast session to dissect all of announcements and give our take on what's coming up in the next major software releases, as well as looking at the latest hardware, especially the Vision Pro. We're delighted, as always, to be joined by Alex Lowe and the occasional contribution from our live-stream chat! What was your opinion on what Apple showed off this year? Whatever your thoughts, 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 If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit for 60 days with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Thanks to our friends at SquadCast for making this epic recording session possible. If you want a great way to record your remote podcast with studio quality audio and video you can find out more here Episode Links The Interface - For all your tech news needs!  Crossed Wires Live - Make sure you catch our live streams on Twitch WWDC 2023 Keynote Video - Apple Developer Website Apple Vision Pro Impressions! - MKBHD (YouTube) Apple adds pronoun fields with privacy focus to Contacts app on iOS 17 - 9to5 Mac iOS and iPadOS 17 drop support for iPhone X, first iPad Pros, and other old devices - Ars Technica macOS Sonoma drops support for another wide swath of Intel Macs - Ars Technica Apple TV hardware will get VPN access with tvOS 17 - Android Authority Cloud Backup & Storage - Our chat with Pat Patterson from Backblaze Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:28: Keynote Delivery 00:06:21: 15 Years of the iOS App Store 00:07:23:  Vision Pro 01:00:32: AFFILIATE: Grinding Coffee           01:02:12: Mac Hardware 01:02:58: 15” MacBook Air 01:10:10: M2 Max / Ultra Mac Studio 01:14:10: Mac Pro 01:30:37: iOS / iPadOS 17 02:35:5

Over the last few months, we've been looking for a home for all of the data we generate for the whole of Crossed Wires, everything from artwork, show notes, episode plans, all of our stream layouts, and much more. We tried iCloud shared folders, since we're both firmly in the Apple ecosystem, but to be blunt they just aren't built for large amounts of data or more flexible sharing options. We were reluctant to trust our data to Google, and we certainly didn't need all the functionality of Office 365. Then, along came Nextcloud, an open-source, self-hosted solution that brings together so many different features like file storage across multiple storage solutions, collaborative document editing and much more. This week, we talk with Jos Poortvliet, the co-founder and marketing director over at Nextcloud, to dig deep into the history of Nextcloud, what makes it such a compelling option and a genuinely strong alternative to things like Office 365 and Google Workspace, as well as nerding out on some of the available apps and other little gems. Do you use a cloud service for your own data, or maybe you look after the systems for your business, big or small. Whatever your experience, 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 If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, including running your very own Nextcloud instance, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Nextcloud - Website Nextcloud - Mastodon Your Data in Nextcloud - Great details on how your data is managed Nextcloud Ethical AI Rating - Looking at how to rate different AI solutions based on their openness Related Episodes Open (Source) for Business - Talking about how important Open Source is for business with Tom Lawrence Experimenting with Linux - A chat with Nick from The Linux Experiment about all things Linux Chatting AI Ethics - A discussion with Dr. Catherine Flick about AI Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:07:04: What is Nextcloud 00:21:48: Why You May Need An Alternative to Office 365 etc. 00:35:30: Monetisation of Nextcloud 00:40:48: Nextcloud Hub 00:45:11: Storage Backends 00:51:19: Deployment Options 01:04:19: Talk, Office, and File Sync 01:21:59: Apps 01:32:11: Nextcloud AI 01:41:35: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

As many of you may know, or figured out very quickly, I'm a massive Star Trek fan, to the point that I can probably quote many episodes and movies line-for-line, with or without my dubious Shatner impression. Growing up in the late 80s and through the 90s, there was always Trek on TV, be it re-runs of the original series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and even Voyager.  Seeing the wealth of technology, like a computer you could talk to, devices as thin and light as a paper notebook that you could work on and view data on wherever you went. It seemed so far into the future, but yet here we are in 2023 with more voice assistants than Tribbles, iPads as far as the eye can see, and wireless communication that would make even Data jealous. This week, my returning guest is a fellow Trek nerd and all round interface design guru, Gedeon Maheux from The Icon Factory. It was so much fun to nerd out with Gedeon, whilst narrowly avoiding Picard season 3 spoilers for you all. We dissect how technology has been inspired by Star Trek, and where we may have advances beyond some of the things we saw, certainly in earlier Trek. Are you a Trek nerd like us, or maybe you've just seen bits of it but don't know your Warp Core from your Genesis Device? Whatever your experience of Star Trek, good or bad, 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 If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links gedblog - Gedeon's Blog with links to socials The Icon Factory - great design, apps and freebies Ollie, Space Karen, And An API - Gedeon's first appearance on the show to talk about Twitter's API Mike Okuda - Twitter via Nitter.net Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:02:31: A Quick Twitter Update 00:05:54: Star Trek Picard Season 3 00:09:32: Tech Clearly Inspired by Trek 00:23:40: Communications & Voice Assistants 00:36:17: Security Codes 00:45:10: Reconciling TOS Tech 00:52:39: The UI of LCARS 01:03:33: Favourite Trek Moments 01:11:52: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

As our politicians and elected officials debate the dangers of TikTok and end-to-end-encryption (E2EE), we need to look beyond the hysteria and scapegoating to the actual issues and how we have sensible discussions about what the risks of social media platforms actually are. We're joined by Rachel Hanson, a parent and elected official herself, to try to unpack what the real issues are and why simply banning social media services can lead to far more dangerous information control by our governments that could lead to more and more marginalisation of those already in need of accurate and verified information. We know this episode may spark some different views and discussions, and we really do want to give you space to share thoughts thoughts. As long as you can follow our community guidelines, 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 If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Rachel Hanson - LinkTree Montana becomes first state to ban TikTok - Gizmodo 'TikTok bill' is far too broad and could apply to almost any tech - Ars Technica Hands off My TikTok. Banning It Would Hurt the Most Marginalized | Opinion - Newsweek TikTok fined £12.7m for UK data protection law breaches - The Guardian  Factsheet: Amendment to the Online Safety Bill to help tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse online  - UK Home Office Don't Scan Me - Open Rights Group Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:43: The Impact of TikTok 00:16:08: The Negatives of TikTok 00:26:56: Privacy & Consequences 00:40:59: The Control of Information 00:57:12: Social Media for Elected Officials 01:06:24: E2EE & The Challenge of CSAM 01:20:52: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

As I'm sure long time listeners will know, we use Ferrite by Wooji Juice for all of our editing here, it really has become indispensable to our production workflows. From being able to remove sections of unwanted audio with a simple swipe, quickly strip away swathes of silent audio, and easily exporting audio in the format we need to get the podcast out to you. So, it was my great honour to sit down with Canis to talk about his developer pedigree, going all the way back to the BBC Micro and the birth of ARM, all the way through to wrangling multi-channel audio, digging through a locked filing cabinet in a disused lavatory to find details about the ALAC format, and turning what can be a frustrating experience into one of the easiest audio editing tools I've used for a very long time. Do you have stories of audio editing nightmares, have you used Ferrite to produce audio, or maybe you've got some questions about editing audio on the iPad. Whatever your experiences, 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 If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Wooji Juice: Website / Twitter (via Nitter.net) Ferrite - Apple App Store Electronic Dreams: How 1980s Britain Learned to Love the Computer - Amazon UK Steve Jobs Introduces the App Store (2008) - YouTube Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:05:05: What's in a Name? 00:07:31: The First iPhone & App Store 00:11:09: The Creation of Ferrite 00:21:53: Recording on iOS 00:37:24: Pre Production 00:42:38: The Pricing Model 00:47:06: Editing Experience 00:58:08: Dealing with Silence 00:59:47: Handy Features 01:04:44: Exporting 01:15:11: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

We've probably all had fun recently giving ChatGPT, or other AI chatbots from the likes of Google, Microsoft and others, what we think are fun and innocent prompts to work on, but do we stop to consider what we're actually feeding these tools and where the data they return comes from and what biasses may be in the machine learning models they've been trained on? We're delighted to have Catherine join us again to take a deep dive into the ethics that surround the hype that is AI. We talk about the issues around copyright, data accuracy and vetting, biasses in datasets, as well as how these AI tools can never be sentient in the way that everyone's favourite artificial intelligence, Lt. Cmdr Data was shown to be in Star Trek. What are your views on the world of AI, do you have experience using machine learning and AI models in your own work or studies? 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 If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Catherine Flick: Website / Mastodon ChatGPT - We are not endorsing the use of this or any LLM (Large Language Mode), simply pointing to a credible source to access ChatGPT. Tay: Microsoft issues apology over racist chatbot fiasco - Early AI chatbot my Microsoft Google Photos labeled black people 'gorillas' - Example of AI Messing Up Adobe Unveils Firefly, a Family of new Creative Generative AI - Adobe merging AI together with their products Sharing sensitive business data with ChatGPT could be risky - Example of the risk of AI and sensitive data Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:03:40: What Do We Mean By AI? 00:13:55: The Failures of Narrow AI 00:24:46: Where Does the Data Come From? 00:34:57: Dealing With Copyright 00:44:19: Creative AI and ML Tools 00:49:12: Using AI in Work and Academia 01:02:50: Feeding Personal Data 01:10:57: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

We've all had those moments, when the WiFi signal drops right in the middle of our favourite episode, or in that long-overdue catch up call with a friend or family member. But, do we know why our WiFi can drop out, or do we simply refer to any internet issues as "The WiFi is down again!" when really it's a problem with the ISP and nothing to do with our home WiFi network. Our guest, and good friend of the show, Alex has worked with wireless technologies for quite some time and kindly agreed to give a fair chunk of his time to help us explore some of the common myths around WiFi, the history of the technology, how mesh WiFi is a far better solution than the plethora of range extenders and boosters that really don't help a poor WiFi signal. What's your experience with the wonderful world of WiFi, do you have any burning questions you want us to address, or pro tips you've found for your own setup? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to podcast@crossedwires.net, or why not come join the disscussion 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 If you want great pricing with fantastic customer support for all your Linux based cloud computing needs, you can get $100 of free credit with Linode, cloud computing by Akamai, when you sign up here. Episode Links Alex: Mastodon / The Interface WiFi Standards Explained - Lifewire Should I Worry About Mobile Phones - YouTube What is Mesh WiFi - TechQuickie (YouTube) How the Internet Saved Florida - 2 Days with the ITDRC - Crosstalk Solutions (YouTube) UniFi Dream Router - Ubiquiti Store TP-Link Deco - Product Page Eero by Amazon - Product Page Eero DFS Support - Eero Blog Wireless ISP Starry Files for Bankruptcy - The Verge OpenWireless.org - EFF Chapter Times 00:00:01: Adopt a Listener 00:01:07: Introductions 00:07:27: What Does WiFi Stand For? 00:08:15: History of WiFi 00:14:09: WiFi 6E 00:14:50: Frequencies 00:19:27: WiFi Router vs Access Point 00:21:21: Crowded WiFi 00:23:28: HomePods and WiFi 4 00:25:43: Ethernet Is Always Better 00:29:41: Common WiFi Misunderstandings 00:37:08: Is Wireless Dangerous? 00:41:42: WiFi Extenders & Boosters 00:46:37: Mesh WiFi 01:00:45: Should You Replace Your ISP Router 01:05:34: Subscription Features 01

Hello it's Jae here, let me set the stage for this episode: Hop in your Delorean and travel back in time with me, to the year of our Lord 2018 when World of Warcraft was soon to be heading into its 15th year, and World of Warcraft Classic was due to come out in Summer of 2019.  Back then, I went by the name of Frazley and ran FrazlCast, which was a World of Warcraft fan podcast. I showed this episode to James, and we both thought that it would be great to bring this episode to you as our first in a series we're lovingly calling "From the Archives". I was given the honour to sit down with John Staats, who designed and built half of Vanilla WoW's dungeons and raids. This was a lovely look into game design and the challenges that John and his team faced while building the iconic game of World of Warcraft. My friend Ali of the Dungeon Fables podcast joined me for this fun interview! I know some of you will be have been listeners of my former podcast as well! Thank you for being along for my journey. Did you ever play World of Warcraft or Vanilla WoW? We’d love to hear from you, so please do send a note over to podcast@crossedwires.net, leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server. Support Us 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 Whilst your WoW data is nice and safe in the Blizzard cloud, you'll definitely want to make sure that your preciously crafted macros, your carefully configured add-ons and UI settings, and those all important DPS reports (Hello, Peter?) are backed up. For simple, stress free, cloud backups from just $7 per month, try our friends Backblaze for 15 days for free, and get your backups in order. Episode Links Dungeon Fables - Ali's podcast about the lore of the dungeons in World of Warcraft The WoW Diary - John Staats’ book about designing and developing the World of Warcraft Loki's Minions Capture The Flag Mod - John Staat’s Former Mod Tabletop Board Game Cafe - A cafe in Ohio Malted Meeple - One of John’s favourite drinks Interviews and Articles with John about the Dev Diary - For more interviews and articles by John Staats Credits Intro by Brandon T. Blaylock Outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW