Interface: 28. Sticks of Gum for Controllers

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You just got off work and get on the bus to head home. Instead of checking Twitter (again), you decide to do a little gaming. You pull out your portable console and the 2 bite-sized controllers, only to notice the person across from you is watching curiously. You offer up one of the controllers and play a round of Mario Kart. Turns out™, it’s hard for both of you to see such a small screen, and that little thumb drive of a controller is pretty awkward to maneuver with 2 hands. It’s the future of console gaming – and it’s awkward at best.

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Interface: 27. 100% of Your Money On Sticker Packs

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First thing this morning, I bought $12,000 worth of “premium” stickers for email. The problem is, they’ve all degraded and now I can’t tell what any of them are. Due to a glitch in the sticker implementation, only I see the degradation — everyone else can tell what they are. That’s why Oma got a sticker of a drone holding an offensive sign and my wife got a picture of Chase. Even that would be okay, but the worst part is that I can’t even make myself breakfast because I don’t have any money left to renew my smarthome lightbulb subscription.

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Interface: 26. I’m Such a Green Bubbler

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Chase was a smartphone skeptic, until he owned a smartphone. Then he was an Android lover, until he tried the iPhone. Now he’s weighing his options and trying to choose the right device for his needs. What can the Android do that the iPhone can’t? Where does the iPhone excel? Can his workflows be adjusted to work with a new platform, or is the cost of switching too high?

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Interface: 25. The Original Gangsters of Minecraft

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Andrew wrote the following paragraph of the show notes. It is meaningless. Devin Sloan chats with Andrew about video games (huge surprise…). Topics include arcades, local multiplayer, playing games online, the origin and rise of Minecraft, and board games

Son, meet Pac-Man. Daughter, meet Pac-Man. Wife, let’s Pac-Man. Pac-Man, prepare for doom. Dark Souls, hardcore, normcore, co-op. Play on your couch, don’t play with your internet friends! Unless you play Minecraft, but then only play it next to each other. Don’t look at their face, just focus on the controller. She’s a Killer Queen / quiplashing, drawful / dynamite with Rocket League / guaranteed to kick your butt / UpDown.

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Interface: 24. A Trunk Full of Adapters

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One misty morning, you enter your garage. It’s dark, light streaming between the cracks of the door (don’t forget to call the door guy). You don’t remember driving home last night but you must have; there’s a car in here. Wiping the sleep from your eyes, you walk around to the driver’s side door. Weird, your car is bigger than that. Something slithers by, leaving a trail behind it. You whirl around at the faint sound of clattering hooves. The motion detector triggers the light, and all is revealed. A Chevy Bolt, a sniffling snake, an ill ibex, a podcast.

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Interface: 23. 100 Words a Minute on Glass

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Andrew is convinced that giving every student in a class a computer is a bad idea. Ian thinks it’s the way of the future, and almost a necessity for the kids of 2016.

Who is right? Who is wrong? Will these 2 ever agree on anything?

Find out as we discuss the use of technology in the classroom, and ways technology and the internet can be used to truly improve the classroom experience.

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Interface: 22. A Receipt for Your Vote

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It’s a weird year to joke about elections, but the current inconsistencies and design of many voting systems is a bit of a joke. Some votes are cast on paper, others on an electronic machine, and the layouts of the ballots can vary widely from precinct to precinct.

This week, we discuss some critical flaws in various ballot designs, and how the entire process could be simplified to offer a more frictionless and transparent experience.

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Interface: 21. A Lack of Clarity

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So you bought a 4K TV. And the new Xbox One S. And you’re paying the extra $2 to Netflix for “Ultra HD.” You fire everything up, and suddenly you realize – there’s not much worthwhile content to take advantage of all those bonus pixels. Finally, you settle on “Smurfs 2” (available in 4K), only to be greeted by buffering every few minutes.

There are many hurdles to 4K right now, but is it a consumer gimmick?

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Interface: 20. If You Can Touch it With a Finger, You Can Touch it With a Mouse

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After a long weekend, Andrew heads in to work, only to realize that his wireless keyboard and mouse are on his desk at home. After checking around the office, he decides his best option is to just suffer through using the touchscreen of his Surface 4 to work on editing a few pictures in Photoshop.

After an hour of effort, and almost no progress on the task, he downloads Pixelmator for his iPhone, and is able to edit the images in a matter of minutes, leaving him to wonder what good a touchscreen is if you’re stuck using mouse-based apps.

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Interface: 19. A Sock You Have to Charge

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Chase is a dad of 2, and Ian is about to be a dad, and Andrew was away on business, so this week, we take a quick dive into smart devices for kids (babies).

We also discuss how fitness wearables for adults offer motivation, and the desire for social elements in a fitness tracker.

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