Byteside: technology + digital culture: Recent Episodes
Byteside
It's the world through the lens of technology and digital culture. How tech has come to influence everything around us. How do we make sure it's all happening for the benefit of humans? The world is dominated by all things geek and nerd today. So what happens next? We're here to work it out. Send us your input via @byteside on Twitter!
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Usually I spend my time on the Byteside podcast chatting to creatives or engineers about things they've been hard at work building for the future. So on the surface it seems strange to say we're here to talk to two people from the Wizards of the Coast marketing team - but, for me, Greg Tito and Shelley Mazzanoble come to the show with the same sense of creative energy.
As the co-hosts of Dragontalk, the official Dungeons & Dragons podcast, they do a lot more than just talk about the latest news and new release updates about the game. They have spent 7 years and 350+ episodes becoming part of the heartbeat of D&D, interviewing the team behind the scenes and introducing us to guests from across the worldwide to deepen our shared love of the game and its community.
The podcast has been so wonderful they are just about to release a book about the Dragontalk podcast and the lessons they've learned about the game but also life, the universe and everything else.
This episode was sponsored by IBM
The nature of trust and security online has been a big challenge throughout the pandemic, but the events of 2022 have tested these issues like never before. We had been planning this sponsored episode for many months, but when it fell into place this turned out to be an excellent time to talk to Chris Hockings, APAC CTO at IBM Security about the state of security and trust in Australia today.
We're talking to Elaine and Craig Beckett from Sydney's Trackdown Studios about how the studio has built a stellar reputation across the world for the quality of its audio production for film, TV and videogames. From Mad Max Fury Road to The Crown, World of Warcraft to The Boys, Trackdown has been involved with making some of the world's biggest productions sound their very best.
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Rosie Barnes is a mechanical engineer working in wind farm and clean energy technology and during the pandemic she started sharing her knowledge via YouTube. From explaining the basics to going deep with other experts, she's working hard to build that clean energy future – and help the rest of us understand it better while she's at it.
We talk about her career, her YouTube channel (Engineering with Rosie), the value in working to communicate niche knowledge to online audiences, and the journey for women in engineering, and more.
You can also catch this episode as a video on the Byteside YouTube channel here.
Slack proved its value during the past few years and its addition of Huddles in 2021 helped to find a great new middle ground between formal video meetings and text chat for general updates. Huddles is now being extended with new features to make it even more useful for quick creative brainstorms and catch ups that help end the game of hunting people's calendars for 30 minute timeslots.
We're chatting to Rob Seaman, Vice President of Product at Slack, to learn more about what's new in Huddles and how Slack has learned about its value to customers during the pandemic.
It's great to get back into a pub and have a draft of the good stuff again. But moving beer from brewery to bar is a logistical mess that only got harder during lockdowns. Konvoy has been helping brewers make all that easier with data-enabled kegs and a system that not only makes moving them around more efficient but also lowers their carbon footprint. Win, win. We're talking to Adam Trippe-Smith, owner and founder of Konvoy, about making beer easier to move around.
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For a long, long time, Australian federal governments have left game developers out in the cold when it comes to simple support mechanisms like tax offsets. In 2021, the government announced the Digital Games Tax Offset – a big step forward for supporting investment in game development in Australia.
But how good is the detail in the DGTO? Yes, broadly, it's great that it exists, but Ben Thompson from Techlever, an expert in R&D tax support structures, has noticed there's a lot of exclusions that make it very difficult for small and mid sized developers to feel like they can rely on this new mechanism. We chat to Ben on this episode!
Submissions for feedback on the DGTO draft close April 18! Details here.
Read Ben's summary of his concerns at Techlever here.
And follow the industry body's insights on all things Australian game development here.
Games publishers usually have a notorious reputation for being money grubbing beasts who want to wring every last drop of creativity from talented game makers as quickly as possible until the talent loses faith in the games industry and quits, making room for new talent. Rinse and repeat.
And then there's Devolver Digital.
Devolver is a games publisher that has specialised in publishing quirky indie games - like Disc Room, Carrion, Fall Guys and Inscryption - and helping everyone have a pretty great experience through the process. And building its own weird, wonderful persona along the way.
I wanted to understand how Devolver has pulled it off, so late last year I caught up with Robbie Paterson, Marketing Manager of Devolver Digital. I've been particularly fasciated by Devolver's infamous, bizarre - and utterly compelling - series of E3 video press conferences that really seemed to take Devolver to a new level of anti-marketing craziness that has also had some Black Mirror style moments where...
Honestly, I adore how Devolver has managed to stay super weird while it seems to have grown in stature in the industry. If anything it's only gotten weirder. If you don't know them, it's hard to describe it all just by talking about it. You need to hear some of this insanity for yourself to even scratch the surface.
I caught up with Robbie well ahead of the company's IPO in November, when the company listed on the AIM in London at a valuation of over a billion Aussie dollars. So, with that billion dollars in mind, let's dive into my chat with Devolver Digital Marketing Manager, Robbie Paterson.
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We speak to the two creative developers behind the Fortnite ANZ project – Simon Bell from Alliance Studios and R-leeo Maoate from Zen Creative – and get their thoughts on how Fortnite's creative tools are evolving to give them increasingly exciting capacity to make huge virtual experiences. From the fun of building this new ANZ experience to how far things could go in the future, it's a fun chat with two creative talents who are excited by just how far these tools can go in the years ahead.
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We last spoke to Media Molecule Studio Director Siobhan Reddy just before the pandemic rocked the world. For a studio so focused on highly creative games, from Little Big Planet to Tearaway and their amazing current focus, Dreams, how has the crisis impacted on their own creativity? And what does it mean to make cool experiences that also give users the chance to create? It's always a treat to chat with this Australian industry leader killing it on the world stage, so settle in and enjoy.
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Pentanet has grown rapidly in just four years, though it's still only available in Perth. But in our chat with Founder Stephen Cornish we learn why perfecting one of the world's most advanced wireless mesh network technologies in one city is the best way to prepare it for wider deployment in future. We also talk about the origins on Pentanet, his love for League of Legends, the potential of an Australian esports hub in Perth to get better connections to Asian servers, and what GeForce Now cloud services mean for the future of every digital experience we have.
Cornish is building local but thinking global. Fascinating insights abound.
We talk to Far Cry 6 Narrative Director Navid Khavari about putting a story with heart into a game best known for its flambuoyant and chaotic open world environments. With a great line up of actors and an effort to dig a little deeper on building a believable story, Khavari talks about his team's effort to make Yara a place you could feel something for.
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Back in March, Meason Camille became the first Australian drafted into the NBA 2K League. Maybe some of you misheard me and were thinking "hang on, there's a bunch of Aussies in the NBA" we're talking about the esport, NBA 2K. It might be digital but Meason, or Mace, or Milo, had to be drafted by a real NBA team to get his shot at going pro. He worked hard, he missed out more than once, but in the fourth season of the pro league he got the call he was dreaming of – the Detroit Pistons wanted him on their team. So now, with a full season under his belt and hoping to get home... eventually... we're having a chat with our Aussie 2K star to hear all about the journey.
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Feeling a little sad because the Tokyo Olympics finished last week? I am too. With so much of life in lockdown right now we had a great timezone match up here in Australia to enjoy the event, and while there was no one in the stands it was great to see it happen in the midst of such a tough time for the world.
In good news, you won't have to wait much longer for your next hit of Olympics action because the Beijing 2022 Winter Games is actually just months away – it kicks off February 4.
And this week on Byteside we're talking to one of the Irish athletes preparing for those winter games in one of the craziest sports ever conceived. Brendan Doyle is an Irish skeleton racer – that's the one where they throw themselves face first down the high-speed ice track.
I'm speaking to Brendan because it turns out that virtual reality headsets are actually a fantastic way to practice and visualise tracks when you're not on the actual track. So in this chat we talk about his choice of sport, his arrival at using VR gear to help up his game, and how having a headset for training offers other benefits to his routine.
You can go find him yourself online too, he's @facedoyle on Twitter and slidingirish.com is his home on the web.
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If you've been watching the Olympics at the moment you may well be feeling inspired to get fit or get into a sport, but the pandemic is also still out there so gyms aren't as attractive as they have been and team sports also pose their challenges right now. In that sense it seems like a great time for home cycling – a sport you can experience on a bike in your own home. But if you want to make it compelling, you need some kind of smart tech or video game idea to guide and motivate you.
You can see where I'm going with this, can't you. Yes, Zwift has carved out a patch in this space as a video game experience that is all about cycling and doesn't take the fitness class approach to exercise in the home.
Today I catch up with Wes Sulzberger, the Country Manager for Zwift in Australia and New Zealand, to find out a lot more about the thinking behind Zwift and the video game / exercise hybrid sim experience it offers. Wes actually joined the company from a background in professional cycling, so we talk about his own journey of discovering and accepting that indoor cycling can feel rewarding.
We spoke ahead of the Olympics, while the Tour de France was still in full swing, and shortly after Zwift had run a series of Olympic Virtual Series events in the build up to the Tokyo Games.
I ask a lot of questions to try to tease out as clear an understanding as possible about what Zwift really is and how the experience works. I'm sure the proof is in the pudding, but hopefully this helps paint the picture of how Zwift balances the entertainment of a video game with a true riding simulation for those eager to focus on the fitness experience.
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The most obvious part of the work from home era has been the need to stare at webcams while wearing headsets to hear and be heard as clearly as possible. These are the tools we've either put up with in their most basic form directly through our built-in laptop parts or we've hunted for upgrades – and often found stores sold out of anything at all.
Today I'm talking to Andy Hurt, Managing Director of Poly ANZ, about his company's perspective on this shift in our needs. Poly has over half a century of pedigree in business-grade AV conferencing tools – it made the communications headsets worn by the Apollo 11 crew when it landed on the moon. When office life was the norm you probably used their equipment in a conference room or as a headset if you take lots of calls each day.
Poly has had a lot of change in its own business over recent years, not just as the pandemic has seen it increase its availability of hardware designed for work from home users. The company used to be known as Plantronics, and in 2018 acquired Polycom before changing its name in 2019.
I'll stop there, because I kick off the conversation with Andy by asking for his version of how Poly has evolved in recent years. Let's jump in there and let him explain the rest.
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Steve Cottam is the CEO of Antstream Arcade, and I caught up with Steve for Byteside to talk about the origins of his plan to launch an independent game streaming service and all the ways they're adding features to make playing classic games through the Antstream platform feel that little bit extra.
Check out Antstream Arcade via https://www.antstream.com/
If you're hearing this, you're in the right place. We're consolidating our wider shows about games and technology into the One True Byteside podcast, so we'll have lots more interview shows appearing here going forward alongside our episodes with journalist friends discussing the news and weirdness of any given week.
If you need to find us in a specific app, or want to share Byteside details with a friend, here's all the details.
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Seamus has Nic Healey back as a guest host this week to discuss the Gravitas Glory esports beer, Nic's desperation in still trying to get his hands on a PlayStation 5, and our thoughts on whether we're really enjoying the Loki series on Disney+ or just in love with its aesthetic.
Plus we count down some of the shows we're really excited about coming soon, including the Alien series being led by Noah Hawley, Good Omens Season 2, Succession Season 3, and Ted Lasso S2.
As mentioned in this episode, we're consolidating the Byteside podcasts into this main show going forward, so if you're subscribed to Byteside then there's nothing else you need to do! If you've been following the rest of our shows but not Byteside then it's a great time to subscribe for all our regular interviews with great minds across games and technology.
The Byteside podcast is back, and it's got a familiar ring to it. We catch up on the first half of 2021 and what we've been watching and playing, then we look at some of the most interesting updates out of WWDC and wonder whether Fastly outage was a big deal or a small one.
This week we explore the state of imaging technologies across a wide range of areas, from Adobe's new Super Resolution technology to deepfakes. The tech is amazing and clever but are the creepy parts doing OK at not being too creepy? Plus a look at recent announcements for virtual and augmented reality interfaces, including Facebook's new wristband technology and the PlayStation VR 2.0 controllers. All this and a tangent or three along the way.
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This week it's a WandaVision deep dive, with spoilers galore now that the series has wrapped. The first Marvel series at Disney+ became the most watched show ever on streaming (so far), so how do we feel about it all now it's done? What does it say about the future of Marvel TV? And is it more 'comic book' in style than the movies can be?
We went live on Twitter Spaces while recording to get Byteside listener input, which brought in some extra perspectives from some superfans too.
Byteside episode 55
This week we've caught up on the latest news from Nintendo Direct and Sony's State of Play to talk about what's looking good on the gaming horizon. And will digitally packaged 'event' drops like this become the norm with yet another year of no E3?
Plus we look at some of the news from Microsoft Ignite and how the company is aiming to push AR and XR technologies forward, from the fun of Pokemon Go to making remote virtual meetings better than staring at our webcams.
All that as well as a rant about the Online Safety Act from Seamus and a shout out to our favourite Aussie tradie turned global superstar game streamer, Lazarbeam.
With the addition of Star to Disney+ this week, Alice, Chris and Seamus take stock of the state of the video streaming scene today. The services we use personally, the ones we love best, how we juggle getting the best value, and whether it's good or bad to have so so many services out there these days.
Plus wins and fails this week cover LastPass, MQFF, and Daft Punk.
Seamus, Alice and Hope discuss their own experiences with smart home technology – across lights, doors, appliances, sound and more. We look at the pros and cons, both technical and social, and even end up with some stories of where the tech gets horror movie creepy when it goes wrong. We promise we mostly won't trigger your voice assistants while you listen (at least, we hope not... until near the end when we kinda do it on purpose...)
Plus new diverse emoji, playing Hades, and Disney saying 'seeya' to bad people.
An all-new, all-different Byteside as Alice and Chris join Seamus for the start of a new era.
This week all three have spent time with Apple’s Fitness+ service during the summer, so all have opinions to share on the value of having fitnesses classes on tap through your Apple Watch. What’s good? What could be better? And will they stick with it?
And Magic The Gathering’s new expansion, Kaldheim, has been bringing the Norse mythological noise to the game. Alice and Seamus have been playing it a chunk so how are they feeling? This is less an analysis of expert strats and more about style and art and the vibe of the new fun on offer.
Plus Batwoman, JRPGs and Hearthstone all get a mention in this weeks wins and fails.
Listen here, or get it in your fave podcast apps.
We're back for 2021 and it's CES week so Seamus and Nic explore what's caught their eye during this virtual, online version of the show. TVs? Yes. Rollable mobile screens? Indeed. Toilets? You betcha. Plus Nic's commitment to the Telstra Xbox deal and Seamus finding it's too late to save himself with a left-handed gaming mouse.
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On the last episode for 2020, Nic and Seamus deliver a full dose of "tech, gaming and digital culture" angles. We talk NBN upgrade pricing, the government's new plan to deal with spam and scam calls, and whether we really will miss something now that console games have ridiculously short loading times. Plus we look at the weird Instagram fraud issues Byteside faced while running the recent Xbox Series X giveaway and those weird monoliths and our hopes for what they turn out to be (or maybe that we should never find out what the deal was at all?)
We've now launched a Byteside supporter membership system! Head over to byteside.com/membership/ to directly support our effort to run a paid team of writers, a cool network of podcasts, and our weekly newsletter. You can become a monthly contributor or just give us a one-off donation. Every month we'll have prize packs to draw for our supporters, and the first pack is a pack of SteelSeries gaming hardware, including:
- Arctis 1 Wireless gaming headset
- Aerox 3 gaming mouse
- Apex 5 gaming keyboard
- Dune Haggar SteelSeries QcK large mousepad
- SteelSeries x Dune Haggar hoodie
- SteelSeries x Dune Haggar cap
Join the Byteside supporter crew to get in the draw!
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This week we're looking at a bit of spy agency "incidental" capture of some COVIDSafe data and what that means, as well as what we're subscribing too for our entertainment and how YouTube has big plans to take over the full range of what anyone might want from a music service (musicians included?). Plus a little bit of fleeting follow up and why Seamus is still in love with World of Warcraft.
Don't forget to enter the Byteside Xbox Series X giveaway! All the details at the Byteside website.
Nic and Seamus discuss the M1 again now that the benchmarks are in, plus the end of Google's free photo storage and what that means not just for the future but for the past five years of innovation in photo services. Plus Twitter rolls out fleets (not that we've seen them yet) and we wonder what the point of it all might be. We're struggling for answers...
If you're in NSW, don't forget your free $100 of vouchers will be coming soon to your Service NSW app! And Seamus recommends the GoCube as a great toy for yourself or for someone else this Christmas. Check it out here: https://getgocube.com/
This week Nic's back and we're looking at a mixed bag of shiny new tech and some digital dilemmas. We check out Apple's new laptops with its own chips – and how should we talk about amazing speed claims before we've had the chance to test the benchmarks for ourselves? Plus Yondr in Australian schools – do we need to enforce self control around our smartphones? Do adults need it just as much as teens? All that and QR codes becoming mandatory for contact tracing in NSW, and why Seamus is way too keen on Netflix Direct while Nic things it's all a tragic joke.
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We've got a special double episode of Byteside to share over the next two days. In the last show, Seamus Byrne and Alice Clarke looked at the Xbox Series X (and Series S), with both having review units over recent weeks. This time it's the PlayStation 5's turn! What's the future of PlayStation look like? How is the new DualSense controller? And we wrap things up by looking at the 'Xbox vs PlayStation' question and how the console market looks for the new generation.
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Seamus Byrne and Alice Clarke discuss and debate the merits of the new Xbox Series X, with both having review units over recent weeks. What does the future of Xbox look like? And what about the new controllers? Should you be running out the door to knock people over to find one? Or is it OK to wait?
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This week we talk about two areas the government wasted money on technology – COVIDSafe... but Quibi too? We talk about the death of Quibi, the failures of COVIDSafe, what both could have done to be better, and Seamus even has an idea for how COVIDSafe could have been pivoted to help better as stores and restaurants reopen.
Wins and fails links for this week:
Fallout 4: get it wherever you get your games
Solid State: https://solidstateformen.com (Seriously, Shay just likes it, no deals are being done here!)
It's not all about the new iPhone 12. It's more about how good the MagSafe era is going to be. But we also look at electric vehicles in the regions, game soundtracks hitting the ARIA awards, and the World of Warcraft Shadowlands pre-patch and why 16 years later is the perfect time to try WoW. We even find time to explore the Australian Game Developer Award winners and the majesty of Jordan Raskopoulos on Twitch!
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Hand on heart, this is the loosest show yet. Very 'two white guys doing a podcast' loose. Apologies in advance. But we do talk a lot about tech! This week, Seamus and Nic talk more about the new NBN plans, and a surge in TIO complaints with ISPs disappearing call centres causing major distress. Then there's everything from the new Ring drone, a Shazam for plants app, plus the dramas around the new Nvidia 30 series graphics cards. All that and a big shout out to Legacy Esports and its outstanding efforts at League of Legends World Championships, and Nic heading back to Diablo for some mindless demonic destruction.
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Turns out it's still hard to pre-order a game console when online stores fall apart. We check in on whether Nic or Shay decided to pre-order anything or wait it out post-launch. This slides into the whole Microsoft buying ZeniMax Media thing and all the studios that brings, and whether this leads us down a path of more or less platform exclusive games in future. And then, as the news keeps developing in real-time, we discuss the decision to expand the NBN to giving more people fibre to the home. How could they have known people might eventually want faster broadband?
Get your HeroQuest here: https://hasbropulse.com/products/heroquest-game-system
Watch the classic HeroQuest YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/Cx8sl2uC46A
Last week was Xbox Series X news, this week we get Playstation 5... but not quite yet, so we make our bold predictions that are sure to be wildly inaccurate within 24 hours. Plus a look back at how incredibly perfect our predictions were about Xbox last week (if you could check for us that'd be great). Plus all the Apple news on the Watch, the iPad and the One Plan To Rule Them All. Then there's Paul Rudd keeping it real like the certified young person he is, and Nic discovers the phreaker can now own our door locks. WTF?
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How do we deal with viral videos that can put "things you can never unseen" into the social media feeds of every user of a platform? And the trolls that keep trying to beat the algorithms in their attempt to stop the spread? Plus we look at the new Xboxes again now we know US pricing and the fact there's not one but TWO options hitting the market in November. Plus PAX Online kicks off this weekend and Nic has a warning on visiting the zoo in the springtime.
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This week, Nic and Seamus talk about the battle over digital ad revenues and the effort to demand Facebook and Google give money to the media industry. Is this a hangover from the wild west days of the internet? Does this really fix anything?should be regulated, what might that be? Plus Nic has another amazing customer service situation to share -- it's the most poetic let down yet! And then there's tips on stopping Google Calendar from putting invites in a blackhole, and Nic's been falling in love with Wasteland 3.
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This week Seamus and Nic look at the Epic battle between Apple and the company that makes the Unreal Engine and Fortnite (yes, that's Epic), and why Seamus still loves Apple but just wants it to focus on controlling the right parts of its App Store. Plus we look at the DC Fandome event and how we're seeing digital event formats mature quickly to keep us excited about what's happening even when we can't get together in person Plus tips that will have you freaking out and getting excited about our VR future.
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This week Nic and Seamus look back at the things in old games that young kids won't understand, and then forward to what kids today might experience that one day will feel like a relic of the past they get to call their own.
Plus Google fights Australia and what is going on with all this? Is anyone in the right? Can anything really fix the media industry if it keeps doing what it's always done?
All that and some hot tips on Lovecraft Country and why you should read before you watch, and on Microsoft Flight Simulator (the new one) and that feeling of simulating the things we genuinely cannot do anymore.
It's a game-y sort of week at Byteside, kicking off with a book that included accidental game references in its very real historic fiction. When you do your research, double check your research...
Plus game narratives and the difficulties in embracing the story while also trying to enjoy the game as it's intended -- to be played as a game? Then more game in your game chat as we look at what it means for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to head to our mobiles.
We leave games behind for our tips of the week, with two streaming service picks -- one to warm your heart, the other to chill your spine.
What's the deal with all the new cassette tape sales out there? Is this a legit kind of love or just some performative nostalgia? Then we leap into the cutting edge of home theatre as Seamus explains his struggles to get Dolby Atmos working with a Sonos Arc and an LG CX OLED TV – but once he did, was it worth it?
Plus this week's recommendations hit games and TV shows, plus a little bit of chat about the new positions available at Byteside if you're after a little more insight into what that's all about.
Seamus and Nic the case of the missing SBS OnDemand from consoles, the mystery of what's gone wrong with the pitch versus the reality of COVIDSafe, and the bizarre realm of a Global Esports Federation that doesn't seem to do things that actual esports people would understand. Plus WWDITS and why the BOM app is now the answer to Shay's weather woes!
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Seamus quickly admits that he can't quit Facebook and Nic can't get money back from Wish. But at least there's flying cars coming to outback New South Wales! All this plus another story of dodgy online deliveries and a great upgrade to D&D Beyond for the D&D nerds that can help us play anywhere, anytime.
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Nic hits Seamus with a surprise grilling about his intentions to make a permanent exit from Facebook. Can he genuinely follow through on his threats? What are his plans to solve all the gaps it creates in communicating with friends and family?
Then the show turns to lighter fare, like the COVIDSafe app and whether it's ever going to become a useful part of the solution in Australia. Plus a little more Quibi before the launch window free trial ends, Nic shares his 'Pilot Night' concept, and Seamus falls in love with a London Underground circuit board map.
Nic shares a baffling experience from a recent online shopping expedition, and Seamus explains the Mixer mess and what it means for having a viable live streaming ecosystem that isn't just the one backed by Bezos billions. Plus WWDC news and some hot tips of the week!
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In an already very weird year, this undoubtedly takes the trophy with six months left to play. It's got cockroaches, pig masks, and senior executives of one of the biggest tech companies in the world. What a journey this one is. Expect the movie in 2022.
Plus Nic and Seamus look at the latest Playstation 5 news now that the big reveal has happened, and offer up their two tips of the week:
Nic: Audible (watch for special deals when you unsubscribe)
Shay: Photoshop Camera app (iOS / Android)
And here's the links to the insane eBay story:
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/06/ebay-execs-sent-cockroaches-and-bloody-pig-mask-to-harass-journalists-feds/
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/six-former-ebay-employees-charged-aggressive-cyberstalking-campaign-targeting-natick
https://www.ebayinc.com/stories/news/ebay-inc-issues-statement-regarding-indictments-of-previously-terminated-employees/
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Yep. It's the latest Byteside with Nic and Seamus. Get it in your earholes.
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The social media problems with no easy answers keep Nic and Seamus clawing for answers. Plus pandemic and protest dilemmas for the games industry, Zoom the big winner in its latest financial reports while self-driving cars face big issues in a more hygiene-focused future than anyone was expecting.
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Ready to Binge the latest shows and movies? Or is there still a commitment issue behind Foxtel's latest streaming service? Seamus and Nic think back on Presto, Foxtel Now, Foxtel Play, Foxtel Go, and where you'll go to play now. Wait... And then they rabbithole about all the little quirks and issues they have with what all the streaming services keep getting wrong!
Plus Twitter adds a 'Get the facts' link to some Trump tweets. Is it enough or too little too late? How do the socials fix the misinfo problem from here?
Seamus and Nic are loving the memes right now, and find they really do help take the edge off a tricky time. But can we please stop trying to turn everything into an industrialised meme factory? Not everything needs to be commodified!
This leads to Joe Rogan's new Spotify deal, which leads to apps and tech we will definitely use differently after the 'rona times calm down a bit, which leads to Assassin's Creed telling us the next one is even bigger makes us both a little less excited for it (but we'll still love it).
If that wasn't a weirdly literal rundown I don't know what is, but there's plenty more I'm sure I've forgotten along the way...
A synthetic Instagram star signs with the biggest talent agency in the world? Sounds like the perfect week to get extra virtual as we deep dive on our own experiences with the HTC Vive Cosmos over recent weeks. Is VR ready for prime time yet? If not yet, when and how?
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After a nod to Star Wars Day letting loose some first rate indie talent in the new and expanding universe, Nic and Seamus discuss Tom Cruise really actually going into space with SpaceX to make a movie. Is it actually Mission: Impossible or just eventually improbable?
Plus an extended uncomfortable examination of Elon Musk's trajectory as a person who shouts weirdly on the internet, and then an actual examination of Apple's new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro. Just how close are we to the official "iPads are laptops now" debate being settled?
And then Nic opines for access to his beloved gym because tech just doesn't cut it for replacing what he wants from his exercise experience. Is there anything out there that can?
Along the way we shout out Peloton, Mirror, Ring Fit, Just Dance 2020, and lots more.
From Cameo to the Academy's big announcement to let pure streamers enter the Oscars, it's an interesting time for Hollywood stars. Plus we look at the Fortnite Travis Scott event and what we thought of it and its 27.7M audience numbers, Facebook's new Messenger Rooms and whether we need more video chat options... and, yes, COVIDSafe was unavoidable.
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On this week's show we talk coronavirus tracking apps and if we're going to do one we should make sure we do it right. But thankfully that doesn't dominate the show, and we get into fun stuff like digital boardgames, Minecraft getting pretty with RTX, Pac-Man at 40, and the next big Fortnite concert happens this weekend so get into it!
Here's the Fortnite link to all the details - seriously, download it and experience this event:
https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/news/astronomical
We're living up to our "tech, games, digital culture" tagline this week, with stories from every corner of the Byteside domain.
From when are Zoom hacks not actually Zoom hacks, to why games seem to have a much better handle than film on the idea of doing remakes. Plus hard drives for consoles when you're running out of room, exciting new phones from LG, and even a little more Quibi and some old school Homestar Runner.
When this episode started we weren't sure about Quibi. By 15 minutes in we've decided that's all the show is about from now on. Then somehow we manage to move onto other topics anyway, including Riot's Valorant being ready to take over the FPS scene, Xbox All Access deals on Telstra plans, Skype finding its mojo, and those Zoom backgrounds everyone is using.
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No, don't unsubscribe from Byteside! That's not the experiment!! Seamus has been unsubscribing from all his video streaming services... but he's still using them all exactly the way he always has. Huh? How's that work? Listen to find out!
Plus changing NBN plans, those CVC questions, and testing speed upgrades. And playing tabletop roleplaying games over the internet – is there a good way to do it?
All that and Friday Zoom drinks, Audio Technica's microphone giveaway, and more.
Digital services are blowing up in all kinds of ways, whether becoming the new hotness or collapsing under the weight of all this new work from home traffic. What are we searching for? Efficient work, entertainment or a sense of real connection?
All this plus random acts of kindness, esports replacing real sports, and more.
As the coronavirus crisis continues to worsen, tech has a massive role to play in keeping us together while we're physically isolating ourselves to avoid the virus. We look at the places where tech can help, from education to entertainment, and where it is failing. Plus how the world will be different in the adoption of remote presence tech on the other side.
Plenty of that plus a look at the new OS heading to Sonos hardware.
Find Seamus on Twitter: @seamus
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Find this and all the rest at byteside.com
42 years of Megadodo Publications great work, The Hitchhikers Guide, leads off the show with immortal advice for our age.
From there, Nic and Seamus explore the TV adaptation of 'The Last Of Us' – Will it be good? And why do we still keep chasing the dream of game-to-filmed-entertainment crossovers when they've all been so bad?
Also - should Jack Dorsey leave Twitter? Surely something has to give? Plus we look at the magic of @ Home distributed computing for good, with Folding@Home now working on Covid-19 and SETI@Home closing down (but in a good way).
And what's the deal with 'Contagion' being so popular on Bittorrent right now?
Find Seamus on Twitter: @seamus
Find Nic on Twitter: @dr_nic
Find this and all the rest at byteside.com
This is the week Seamus loses it over the push to sell us 8K TVs. Don't miss it!
But first, Seamus and Nic talk about whether Covid-19 will be the moment when remote working and remote presence technologies are permanently elevated beyond novelty or nuisance value. They explore the discovery of fun mobile games and the rediscovery of classic titles and the magic of playing a beloved series again back to back all the way through.
Then Seamus goes spare on 8K, as a long held position based on the science of living room viewing conditions gets added firepower thanks to a Warner Bros double-blind test that leaves nothing to chance. The result? Yes, Seamus feels vindicated and will keep shouting about it as the resolution wars continue.
Here's some links!
The Techhive article analysing the Warner Bros test:
https://www.techhive.com/article/3529913/8k-vs-4k-tvs-most-consumers-cannot-tell-the-difference.html
The big Petnet Internet of Fail story:
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51628795
Find Seamus on Twitter: @seamus
Find Nic on Twitter: @dr_nic
Find this and all the rest at byteside.com
There might be no MWC in 2020, but it's still phones, phones, phones this week here on Byteside.
Nic (@dr_nic) and Seamus (@seamus) talk folding form factors and the raw pleasure of seeing anything new, price wowsers and why phones are now more important than laptops, and a nod to the Vodafone-TPG merger news.
Nic and Shay talk about Melbourne stealing IEM from Sydney and why they 'get' it when no one else seems to. Plus our lack of Oscars preparation, why the NBN finally making it to Walgett feels seriously busted, how PTSD for content moderators is going to become a bigger and bigger story in coming years, and a clever Google traffic hack cum performance art piece.
And some tips for Safer Internet Day!
This week Seamus and Nic explore ten years of iPad, how Sonos is struggling to kill old products, and the return of the Motorola Razr... all somehow revolving around questions of how our tech is meant to evolve, to last and to be the right tool for the right job.
On the ten years of iPad, we think about how we both dismissed it at launch but have had very different perspectives on it in the years since. Has the tablet market grown? Have laptops changed?
Seamus is a massive Sonos nerd so he's right in the thick of the tension between the need to kill old tech in the name of new features but the faith Sonos lovers have in the company always supporting its speakers. Is there something unique about audio tech that makes it feel wrong to see it die?
Motorola's new folding screen Razr hits the market in February so we debate if it's the right kind of folding screen or not, and whether folding screens really are the future.
Plus a look at Activision Blizzard's new YouTube deal for its esports broadcasts – is this going to hurt Twitch?
Some links related to our conversations:
https://www.ejectejecteject.com/statistics/24-tablet-market-share-statistics-and-analysis/
https://www.imore.com/history-ipad-2010
https://www.imore.com/10-years-gaming-ipad-how-its-changed
https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/27/21083369/apple-ipad-10-years-launch-steve-jobs-tablet-market
https://twitter.com/stevesi/status/1221930690586894337
https://killedbygoogle.com/
Send us your thoughts on our amazingly accurate predictions and opinions, or ask us for our thoughts on something that is on your mind. Email via ask@byteside.com or reach out on the socials. @byteside on Twitter, /byteside on Facebook and @TheByteside on Instagram.
And catch Seamus and Nic on Twitter via @seamus and @dr_nic.
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Byteside Prime is back for a new year, nay, a shiny new decade! Seamus and Nic are back together to discuss just how different this 2020 we're now living in is from the 2020 we expected in our childhoods, plus a whole lot more.
The TV they watched over the holidays, the robotic limbs they don't have, and why CES is a bit confused about what we actually need in our lives and our homes. Sorry, Ballie – you're cute, but we're not your biggest fans.
Plus some thoughts on where we're going next, from AI to privacy to the fun and free Internet we've lost along the way.
Send us your thoughts on our terrible opinions, or ask us for our thoughts on something that is on your mind. Email via ask@byteside.com or reach out on the socials. @byteside on Twitter, /byteside on Facebook and @TheByteside on Instagram.
And catch Seamus and Nic on Twitter via @seamus and @dr_nic.
What does Xbox Series X mean for the future of consoles? And why are Michael Bay and Martin Scorsese going direct to Netflix? Does their latest work compare favourably to the greatest era of television ever - and which shows have had the best single season drops of all time? All this and more, including Nic and Shay giving a mixed bag of their biggest moments of 2019.
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Nic's been watching the fantastic Watchmen while Seamus has been annoyed at just how few people will get to watch Tokyo 2020 in 4K. But then they're both annoyed at Star Wars 'fans'. Plus two happy anniversaries - RunPee at 10, and Playstation at 25! All that and another bewildered look at the Cybertruck.
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It's a week of nuisances for our intrepid hosts this week. Nic wants to see the death of calling anything cyber again, and Seamus is bemused by Facebook's PR talking points chatbot for its workers. And do drone noise regulations need federal rules before it all gets out of hand? Plus queen conspiracies, Star Citizens and can't we get a 'just right' phone plan that doesn't apply the cinema popcorn pricing rule?
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This week Nic and Seamus talk Minecraft Earth and get a little sidetracked reminiscing about the first days of Pokemon Go. Seamus delivers a double dose of good security hygiene with Brave browser 1.0 and Yubikey (by Yubico). Nic explores the state of subscription services in gaming, including the new Telstra deal, and the big question - is Disney giving us too much Star Wars?
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This week we talk about why Seamus has quit Facebook (but not exactly deleted it), how Nic is preparing to automate his new home, and the Disney+ 4:3 ratio Simpsons problem. Plus we talk Outer Worlds, Death Stranding, and loving games because they exist even if we never want to play them. And some breaking news around the launch of a new 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Also... while recording the show it was officially revealed that The Simpsons will indeed be on Disney+ at local launch. So ignore Seamus when he talks about it not being on there when it launches next week.
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This week Seamus and Nic talk about Shay's trip to BlizzCon 2019 - the games and the politics - before looking into retro RPGs on the Switch, the new Airpods Pro, and their vibes on the new Watchmen TV series. And a big shout out to Chorus: the adventure musical! Go back it now!
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Nic and Seamus talk Pixel 4, Sonos Move, and the whole "Is Marvel cinema?" conundrum, plus Disney, err, Plus. Seamus also has a big problem with big gaming keyboards.
Find the Fallout Five-0 here: https://www.falloutfive0.com
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Homework: Nic wants everyone to watch at least the first episode of Watchmen before we discuss it next week!
Nic and Seamus catch up face-to-face at PAX Australia in Melbourne to talk about the show and a few tangents that arise along the way.
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Seamus Byrne and Nic Healey deliver the first ever Byteside podcast (because the Byteside from 10 years ago was never actually a podcast!) They talk about criminal trials in Fallout 76, D&D, Vampire, esports corruption, that amazingly nasty Goose Game and more.
Tell us what you think about the topics, the show, and whatever else you like via ask@byteside.com.
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