WEBVTT - The Team's Favorite Tech Toys

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

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<v Speaker 1>tech stuff from how stuff Works dot com. Hither everyone.

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<v Speaker 1>My name is Chris polettam an editor here at How

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Works, And as usual I have sitting next to

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<v Speaker 1>me senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Chris, is just me? Or

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<v Speaker 1>does this seem like a crazy week to you? Oh?

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<v Speaker 1>It's a very crazy week, But then again they're all crazy. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>They pretty much all are here at How Stuff Works,

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<v Speaker 1>and so there are certain things that that all of

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<v Speaker 1>us do, um that help keep us from going absolutely

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<v Speaker 1>bunkers while we're here at work. Uh. It's a very

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<v Speaker 1>intense process writing and editing for How Stuff Works, because

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<v Speaker 1>we really throw ourselves fully into these topics, and occasionally

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<v Speaker 1>we need to take little breaks and divert ourselves just

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<v Speaker 1>so that we don't go nuts and you know, run

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<v Speaker 1>around the office cackling madly. Sometimes it involves lasers, pointy hats,

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<v Speaker 1>and cottage cheese, but more likely than not, we're sort

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<v Speaker 1>of on our own with our own little gimmicks and

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<v Speaker 1>gadgets and things that kind of help us take the

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<v Speaker 1>edge off. Yeah, yeah, we there, there's an interesting array

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<v Speaker 1>of toys and devices and UH and favorite websites here

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<v Speaker 1>in how Stuff Works, and we thought we'd talk a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit about some of ours. And this is this

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<v Speaker 1>is really you know, Chris's favorites, my favorites that we

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<v Speaker 1>can't really speak for the rest of the office. That's true,

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<v Speaker 1>that's true. And I know that I've got a couple

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<v Speaker 1>on here, right Jonathan probably already has listed. I'll just

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<v Speaker 1>chime in if you've got one that I've got as well,

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<v Speaker 1>and why do the same. I'm I'd even be willing

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<v Speaker 1>to bet that you have this at the top of

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<v Speaker 1>your list has the very first one on my list. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>Streaming music, you know, it's a it's a really good thing. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>Sometimes it can be very difficult to listen to things

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<v Speaker 1>with words in it while you're trying to write or

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<v Speaker 1>edit an article, right, but it's very useful for things

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<v Speaker 1>like we we also gather art and edit art and UH,

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<v Speaker 1>and often I will crank Pandora up while I'm doing

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<v Speaker 1>that because it's you know, I don't have to formulate

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<v Speaker 1>sentences while I'm doing while I'm doing artwork, so that helps. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>And of course Pandora, you know it. It's this great

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<v Speaker 1>little service where you put in a band name or

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<v Speaker 1>or a song name, and then it starts grabbing other

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<v Speaker 1>music that has some sort of similar aspect to the

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<v Speaker 1>song you originally identified and builds a radio station based

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<v Speaker 1>off of that, and then you can tell it if

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<v Speaker 1>you like a song or if you don't like a song,

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<v Speaker 1>and you kind of build up an entire radio station.

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<v Speaker 1>It's really really cool. Yeah. As a matter of fact,

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<v Speaker 1>they have people that listen to different tracks and identify

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<v Speaker 1>themes or instrumentation or vocal style. Vocal yeah, vocaling, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>that's great. Vocal styles, yes, And there are all sorts

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<v Speaker 1>of things, which is which is unlike a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>the other music services. But I do not use Pandora exclusively. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>I also like UM. I have a whole list, and

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<v Speaker 1>we'll run through last FM, which actually uses user tags

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<v Speaker 1>UM to sort of group different stations together. UM a

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<v Speaker 1>O L Radio. UM sort of works with CBS to

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<v Speaker 1>UH to program some different stations and they have some

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<v Speaker 1>really good stuff. It's one of the nice things about

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<v Speaker 1>all these different services is that they have all kinds

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<v Speaker 1>of styles, so you know, you're not listening to simply

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<v Speaker 1>Top forty radio or you know, have a choice of

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<v Speaker 1>country or pop or you know classical. You actually have

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of control over different kind UM fine Tune

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<v Speaker 1>which actually lets you put together a playlist with specific songs,

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<v Speaker 1>which is pretty cool. But they let they limit you

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<v Speaker 1>to the number of songs you can add from a

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<v Speaker 1>particular artist or a particular album on a playlist, so

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<v Speaker 1>you might have to create two or three playlists to

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<v Speaker 1>get it just right. But if you're looking for that

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<v Speaker 1>particular song you find too may have the answer because

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<v Speaker 1>not all of them let you do that. UM. Django

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<v Speaker 1>is also pretty cool. Let you do different genre stations

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<v Speaker 1>and uh, all of them are are really groovy as

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<v Speaker 1>far as being able to let you, you know, have

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<v Speaker 1>that personal touch on there. And of course if you

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<v Speaker 1>are a longtime listening you probably know that I am

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<v Speaker 1>a serious XM radio subscriber, UM, and I listened to

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<v Speaker 1>XM a lot. You mean as a non humorous right, Well,

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<v Speaker 1>you know since the name change they have that has

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<v Speaker 1>I'm sure cause some interesting conversations. UM. And then one

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<v Speaker 1>dark horse in the race, uh Stitcher, which is really cool.

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<v Speaker 1>I discovered it actually as a UM little program for

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<v Speaker 1>the iPod, Touch and iPhone. Um, but it is a

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<v Speaker 1>website too, and it puts together essentially talk radio stations.

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<v Speaker 1>That's what I've used it for mostly. And I can't

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<v Speaker 1>do this while I'm actually editing or writing, but you

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<v Speaker 1>can if you're interested in the tech news of the day.

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<v Speaker 1>It grabs all the podcasts from places like CNN, Money

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<v Speaker 1>and Bloomberg and things like that and knits them together

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<v Speaker 1>into a coherent station, so you go from podcast to

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<v Speaker 1>podcast without actually having to go pick them up yourself,

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<v Speaker 1>which is which is pretty cool. Um. I didn't know

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<v Speaker 1>anybody was was doing that, so that's pretty cool. So

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<v Speaker 1>the streaming music stations and radio as was my first

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<v Speaker 1>contrast big one. That's yeah. Um, I've got another one

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<v Speaker 1>that's that's along the same lines. Hulu. It's just streaming video.

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<v Speaker 1>Hulu is something that I've you know, take a lunch

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<v Speaker 1>break set at my desk and uh eat lunch and

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<v Speaker 1>watch a episode of the Office or The Simpsons, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>on Hulu. It's a it's a nice little break from

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<v Speaker 1>the middle of let's say, like I'm writing about the

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<v Speaker 1>large Hadron collider. It's nice to take a break from

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<v Speaker 1>particle physics and watch um people be crazy in a

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<v Speaker 1>goofy sitcom. Well, that's sort of like watching everyone else

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<v Speaker 1>here at the office. Yeah, no, it really is. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>And and my contribution to the particular segment will probably

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<v Speaker 1>be the slingbox, um, which allows me to basically take

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<v Speaker 1>over my DVR at home and it's connected to the internet,

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<v Speaker 1>so I can watch what's on my DVR or my

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<v Speaker 1>TV tuner from the office. Not that I have ever

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<v Speaker 1>done that, but when I need that. Prices right, fixed

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<v Speaker 1>in Chief is listening, right, because we know he does

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<v Speaker 1>listen occasionally. Probably not this one, right, I hope not.

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<v Speaker 1>Um so, uh, we will don't know. Yeah, So streaming video,

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<v Speaker 1>streaming audio, those are those are two pretty pretty obvious ones.

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<v Speaker 1>Um and and Chris and I haven't really talked about

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<v Speaker 1>what was going to go on on this podcast, so

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<v Speaker 1>from this point on, I think it's pretty much going

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<v Speaker 1>to be a surprise. Um. Well, I guess I could

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<v Speaker 1>go ahead and throw in my iPod as well. That's

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<v Speaker 1>also that's one of those tech stuff toys that if

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't have it, I'd really would go nuts because

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<v Speaker 1>that's that's got all the podcasts I subscribed to on it.

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<v Speaker 1>And uh, that's how I keep up to date with

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<v Speaker 1>tech news. When you know, when you're in the middle

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<v Speaker 1>of researching a very specific topic, you can't necessarily stay

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<v Speaker 1>right on top of the latest breaking news unless you're

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<v Speaker 1>you know, got your eyes peeled on Twitter or something

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<v Speaker 1>along those lines. So, um, yeah, that's I guess we

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<v Speaker 1>can move on from the audio and video into other

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<v Speaker 1>stuff unless you've got something else that fits that category. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>just my iPod Touch, which allows me to watch the

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<v Speaker 1>video podcasts, you know, lunchtime too, which I have done

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<v Speaker 1>and uh, you know, the little games and stuff like

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<v Speaker 1>that for two minute brain palette cleanser if you will. Yeah, okay,

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<v Speaker 1>all right, Well I've got another category, web comics. There

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<v Speaker 1>are two specific web comics that I check on a

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<v Speaker 1>regular basis, and then there are a lot of other

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<v Speaker 1>ones that i'll kind of I'll let slide for a

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<v Speaker 1>while and then I'll just catch up in a batch. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>but x K C D is one of the ones

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<v Speaker 1>I love. I actually sent one to Chris this morning. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's not always you know, it's sort of an

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<v Speaker 1>s FW. You know, I guess we should have we

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<v Speaker 1>should preface this by saying some of the stuff we'll

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<v Speaker 1>talk about here is probably not appropriate for all ages

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<v Speaker 1>necessarily or all work environments we happen to work in.

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<v Speaker 1>One that's a little uh, it's it's it's a nice

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<v Speaker 1>relaxed working environment. From that kind of standpoint, I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>we're working really hard. At least it was until they

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<v Speaker 1>heard us and right, yeah, and then yeah, might know

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<v Speaker 1>if some of these some of my favorite sites are blocked. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>the other one was p v P Scott kurt Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>Scott Kurtz is uh web comic again another one that

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<v Speaker 1>as questionable content from time to time. Nothing too bad,

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<v Speaker 1>but there are a lot of you know, kind of

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<v Speaker 1>sophomoric jokes on there. Um, but those are those are

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<v Speaker 1>things that you know, again like I'll have a a break,

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<v Speaker 1>or you know, if if I finish an article, there's

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<v Speaker 1>a there's a moment of elation, um of relief when

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<v Speaker 1>I yeah, when the when the light comes down from

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<v Speaker 1>the heavens and the angelic choir strikes up, or when

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<v Speaker 1>you finish an article and you're about to hand it

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<v Speaker 1>over to your editor, Um, I assume I'm not alone

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<v Speaker 1>in this and during that moment, the last thing you

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<v Speaker 1>want to think about is, hey, I need to start

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<v Speaker 1>on my next article, so you need to take a

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<v Speaker 1>little moment to appreciate that time and take a short

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<v Speaker 1>break before diving right back into the research. So that's

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<v Speaker 1>when I'll check up on my web comics. That or

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<v Speaker 1>if I hit like writer's block in the middle of

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<v Speaker 1>a page, which does sometimes happen. I have a joke there,

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<v Speaker 1>but I'm not gonna make it. Okay, Well, do you

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<v Speaker 1>have another one you can share with us? I was

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<v Speaker 1>going to suggest for my part Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited Wow,

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<v Speaker 1>which to which I have a subscription and bought right

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<v Speaker 1>before I started graduate school and became unable to use.

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<v Speaker 1>So Wednesdays are big, big days for you. Huh, Well,

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<v Speaker 1>they actually have. They actually put up several new issues

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<v Speaker 1>a day. They digitize their comics and it's uh, it's

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<v Speaker 1>got a pretty cool comics reader, uh that allows you

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<v Speaker 1>to zoom in on panels or you know, flip from

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<v Speaker 1>page to page, so you can actually get a pretty

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<v Speaker 1>good look at what what the art is there. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's got access to a lot of stuff that's

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<v Speaker 1>you know, so far out of print that it's ridiculous.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's um and growing every week. It's very impressive. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, I don't usually check that out of work,

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<v Speaker 1>but I have on at lunchtime a couple of times.

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<v Speaker 1>And you know, we also sometimes have to work at

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<v Speaker 1>home true, which true occasionally means that we have to

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<v Speaker 1>take hard at work. When I'm working at home, I'm

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<v Speaker 1>not taking breaks like that. I even worked through lunch. No,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean working at home like after work hours. I

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<v Speaker 1>don't mean like like taking a work day at home.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, um, which I have done on occasion as well. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>but okay, well, let's move on to some other ones.

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<v Speaker 1>I've got a couple of blogs that I like to

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<v Speaker 1>check out when I've got a couple of minutes. Um. Actually,

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<v Speaker 1>here are three in particular that I like, and they

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<v Speaker 1>have a similar theme. See if you can spot it.

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<v Speaker 1>Skep Chicks, Bad Astronomy and Skeptic Blog. Well, you know

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<v Speaker 1>it's pretty obvious that, yeah, I guess. So. I find

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<v Speaker 1>it difficult to believe that you are that skeptical. There

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<v Speaker 1>are times where you look at the world and you think, Wow,

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<v Speaker 1>it's really flipping crazy, and it's it's websites like skep

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<v Speaker 1>Chicks and Skeptic Blog and Bad Astronomy that helped me

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<v Speaker 1>ground myself and think there are some pretty sane critical

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<v Speaker 1>thinkers out there who don't just immediately jump on anything

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<v Speaker 1>and and and validate it. They give it some real thought.

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<v Speaker 1>So yeah, once in a while I have to touch

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<v Speaker 1>touch ground there, and that's those are the ones I

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<v Speaker 1>go to for that, all right. Um. I have every

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<v Speaker 1>once in a while when I have time, which is

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<v Speaker 1>not that often these days. UM, I log into a NewsGator,

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<v Speaker 1>which is an RSS aggregator, and there are just tons

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<v Speaker 1>and tons of different blogs that I check out, you know,

0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.079
<v Speaker 1>things like um plaid stallions dot com, which is all

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<v Speaker 1>seventies related pictures from catalogs and things like that. And

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<v Speaker 1>of course you've got that weird commercial obsession. Yeah yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I have been uh known to visit the Internet archive

0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:40.840
<v Speaker 1>on occasion and check out some old commercials or YouTube

0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:44.360
<v Speaker 1>and uh you know, I'm just saying that in my

0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.840
<v Speaker 1>end two and a half hour playlist of game show

0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:51.319
<v Speaker 1>tunes on my iPod, Chris is a real wild man

0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:57.080
<v Speaker 1>in the office. Yeah, um, all right, hey, fail blog

0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:01.520
<v Speaker 1>Fail Blog, and it's counterpart I can ask cheeseburger, right,

0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:05.000
<v Speaker 1>all right, both of which can occasionally be not safe

0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:08.040
<v Speaker 1>for work. Actually I can ask cheeseburgers usually Okay, Well,

0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:09.560
<v Speaker 1>I mean, if you're going that way and you really

0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:12.520
<v Speaker 1>need something safe for work, you can always go to uh,

0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:16.520
<v Speaker 1>you know, Cute Overload or the Chiba you New Puppies can.

0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:20.760
<v Speaker 1>Fail blog just gives me so much joy. Uh there's

0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.640
<v Speaker 1>some that are literally painful to watch. Like you just

0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:26.680
<v Speaker 1>if you're like if you're like me, it is because

0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.840
<v Speaker 1>I empathize occasionally with the poor schleps who who have

0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:34.080
<v Speaker 1>suffered under fail Blog. There is occasionally a video that

0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:39.840
<v Speaker 1>will have some really terrible um accident in it, like

0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:42.080
<v Speaker 1>the guy who was winning the bicycle race and he

0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.040
<v Speaker 1>threw his arms up over his head which caused him

0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:45.400
<v Speaker 1>to lose his balance and the guy who was right

0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:48.079
<v Speaker 1>behind him past him because he fell right. Or the

0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:52.280
<v Speaker 1>soccer game where the guy throws the soccer ball into

0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:56.040
<v Speaker 1>the field and and it smacks the other soccer players

0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:58.400
<v Speaker 1>straight in the face and he just crumples like like

0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:01.760
<v Speaker 1>a lead weight. That made me laugh so hard. I'm

0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.520
<v Speaker 1>a horrible person. Yeah, I bet you don't watch America's

0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:08.000
<v Speaker 1>Funniest Own venuos No, I can't stand it. Completely different

0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:10.560
<v Speaker 1>from watching somebody get hit in the face with a soccer. Yeah.

0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:12.720
<v Speaker 1>I don't know. I can't. I can't explain it all right,

0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:16.040
<v Speaker 1>but okay, uh, there's a game I like to play

0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:18.880
<v Speaker 1>it every now and then, Kingdom of Loathing. Have you

0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.440
<v Speaker 1>heard of it? Yes? I have? Have you played it? Okay?

0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:24.360
<v Speaker 1>Kingdom of Loathing is like a role playing game, except

0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.440
<v Speaker 1>it's very very geek oriented. It's got a lot of

0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:31.680
<v Speaker 1>pop culture references, geek culture references. There are monsters in

0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.720
<v Speaker 1>there that are modeled after they might be giants songs.

0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.640
<v Speaker 1>There's an entire environment that is that takes its inspiration

0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:44.920
<v Speaker 1>from John Hodgeman's obsession with hoboes. Um that sounds completely

0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:48.120
<v Speaker 1>unlike you. I am shocked. Well, the nice thing about

0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:50.160
<v Speaker 1>Kingdom of Loathing is that they put a cap on

0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.760
<v Speaker 1>how many turns you can spend per day playing the game.

0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:58.000
<v Speaker 1>So under a single player account, you can only play

0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:01.000
<v Speaker 1>up to forty turns. All the you can get some

0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:07.040
<v Speaker 1>items and and other like buffers to boost that number up.

0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:12.000
<v Speaker 1>I think as high as two, but most people don't.

0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.720
<v Speaker 1>Most people have surround like maybe a hundred or whatever. Anyway,

0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:17.080
<v Speaker 1>the turns go by very quickly, so it's not like

0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.120
<v Speaker 1>you're going to spend an entire day playing the game

0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:22.320
<v Speaker 1>unless you've made multiple accounts. But it's definitely one of

0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:24.720
<v Speaker 1>those things that keeps me saying because it's just so

0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:28.600
<v Speaker 1>bizarre and uh, it really does appeal to my sense

0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:32.440
<v Speaker 1>of humor. I'm really surprised that you haven't mentioned Twitter yet. Yeah,

0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:36.720
<v Speaker 1>I kind of put that under Digsby said, the Digsby umbrella,

0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:39.640
<v Speaker 1>which is all the instant messaging, email and Twitter all

0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:43.200
<v Speaker 1>put together. Well, you know, it does keep me sane.

0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:46.600
<v Speaker 1>It's funny because, uh, you know, I don't know if

0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:49.720
<v Speaker 1>I'm speaking for Jonathan accurately here, but we joined some

0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:53.880
<v Speaker 1>of the social networking services partially so we could try

0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:55.880
<v Speaker 1>them out and talk to you about them, but you know,

0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:58.400
<v Speaker 1>to do a little uh networking, and then ended up

0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:01.320
<v Speaker 1>sort of checking out of the people and getting caught

0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:04.040
<v Speaker 1>up in it. Right at least. I follow a few

0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:07.480
<v Speaker 1>a few celebrities as well, which I swore I would

0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:10.200
<v Speaker 1>not do when I started on Twitter. Um, and some

0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.440
<v Speaker 1>of them aren't really not necessarily big name celebrities, but

0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:17.320
<v Speaker 1>people that I admire for their work, like Will Wheaton. Yes,

0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.560
<v Speaker 1>I follow Will Wheaton, who has has given me a

0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:23.920
<v Speaker 1>shout out and turned on his blog, which was very rewarding.

0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:26.480
<v Speaker 1>It's kind of crazy though. I was like, hey, I've

0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:29.400
<v Speaker 1>been on yeah who's homepage? But Will Wheaton look, Will

0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:34.760
<v Speaker 1>mentioned my large Adrian Collider article. Um Felicia Day from

0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:38.680
<v Speaker 1>the Guild and Dr Horrible and various other Buffy the

0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:42.240
<v Speaker 1>Vampire Slayer anyway, follow her as well. And the celebrities.

0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:46.920
<v Speaker 1>There are a few fake yeah, Stephen Colbert, um, but

0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:51.680
<v Speaker 1>yeah they're John Hodgman is another one. I follow John Clice. Yeah,

0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:54.080
<v Speaker 1>there's a ton. And then also I follow a lot

0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:56.480
<v Speaker 1>of tech journalists to keep up with that as well,

0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:59.280
<v Speaker 1>so I have a nice balance. But yeah, it's definitely

0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:03.440
<v Speaker 1>one of those sand D preservation uh toys that I

0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:07.560
<v Speaker 1>like to rely on. Interesting. Interesting, And there's you know

0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:11.800
<v Speaker 1>Gmail Gmail. Uh yeah, Gmail actually keeps me saying just

0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:15.480
<v Speaker 1>because it it's a very effective filing system for email,

0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:18.760
<v Speaker 1>so that that's also very helpful. I was gonna say

0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:22.040
<v Speaker 1>Google Earth. I use Google Earth occasionally just to you know,

0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:25.359
<v Speaker 1>it's such a neat tool. And just recently they added

0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:29.160
<v Speaker 1>an ancient Rome you can you can you can explore

0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:33.520
<v Speaker 1>Ancient Rome. I think it's three twenty BC Rome, and uh,

0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:36.520
<v Speaker 1>they have the three D model buildings up so you

0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:38.679
<v Speaker 1>can actually kind of go through and see what the

0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:41.439
<v Speaker 1>streets were like back in three twenty BC. That's just

0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:51.640
<v Speaker 1>cool room if you want to, uh rock lobster. Alright, So, um,

0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:53.440
<v Speaker 1>I wanted to talk about two that are no longer

0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.359
<v Speaker 1>with us, two toys that we can no longer rely

0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.920
<v Speaker 1>upon to keep us sane. I'm sorry, hands go off, Pounds,

0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:06.800
<v Speaker 1>We'll miss you, Pounces. Pounce has gone under. The people

0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:09.359
<v Speaker 1>who were working on Pounds, which is one of Kevin

0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:13.520
<v Speaker 1>Rose's projects, are now working on other projects. So hopefully

0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:16.679
<v Speaker 1>they're you know, still gainfully employed, but the services no

0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:19.800
<v Speaker 1>more as they have joined the six apart family, which

0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:25.679
<v Speaker 1>you may know from such hit projects is Movable Type

0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:32.280
<v Speaker 1>than Movable Type and the former owners of live journal

0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:41.640
<v Speaker 1>and well, the other was Valley Wagg. Valleywag was a

0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:45.720
<v Speaker 1>rumor and gossip site on the tech industry, one of

0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:48.280
<v Speaker 1>those things that that Chris and I've said, we hope

0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:52.800
<v Speaker 1>we never make it onto Valley Wag, but we made it.

0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:56.520
<v Speaker 1>We survived. Yeah, we we we outlived Valley Wag. Now,

0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.280
<v Speaker 1>granted they're the fellow who was in charge of Valley Wag.

0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.439
<v Speaker 1>He's still blow gugging, but it's no longer under the

0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:06.320
<v Speaker 1>Valley Wag name exclusively, and there aren't as many updates

0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:10.840
<v Speaker 1>to that blog now, so um yeah too, too fewer

0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:15.159
<v Speaker 1>things for us to clutch onto and keep us saying

0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:17.879
<v Speaker 1>yeah and uh. For for my part, I would have

0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:20.560
<v Speaker 1>to add all the political sites that I had been

0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:23.359
<v Speaker 1>surfing over the past few months to find out what

0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:26.359
<v Speaker 1>was going on and who was saying what and fact

0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.359
<v Speaker 1>check yes and yeah. There were a lot of a

0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:31.400
<v Speaker 1>lot of yeah. I went to a lot of political

0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:33.119
<v Speaker 1>sites to Actually I don't think that those help me

0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:38.359
<v Speaker 1>keep me sane though opposite effect. So fortunately that the

0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:43.399
<v Speaker 1>election season is now over, there's an election site whole

0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:46.080
<v Speaker 1>in my daily routine. I see, So you have to

0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.080
<v Speaker 1>find something. Might I recommend Kingdom of Loathing? Actually, I

0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:52.560
<v Speaker 1>was thinking at this point, work, that's true, that's true.

0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:55.720
<v Speaker 1>There's it is a busy time, all right. Well that's

0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:57.439
<v Speaker 1>a good I think that's a good wrap up of

0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:00.800
<v Speaker 1>the toys that keep us saying um. You know. This

0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:03.960
<v Speaker 1>discussion also reminds me of another podcast that's in our

0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:07.000
<v Speaker 1>how Stuff Works podcast family. It's called Stuff You Missed

0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:11.080
<v Speaker 1>in History Class that's hosted by Kendice Gibson and Jane McGrath.

0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:15.080
<v Speaker 1>They did an episode about presidential salaries, so you want

0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:19.600
<v Speaker 1>to talk about insane, Yeah, but definitely check that out.

0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:22.520
<v Speaker 1>If you haven't subscribed to it, you should definitely definitely

0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:25.480
<v Speaker 1>look at that because it's a great podcast. It's very

0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:28.600
<v Speaker 1>educational and very entertaining. So if you'd like to learn

0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:30.720
<v Speaker 1>more about some of the topics we've talked about today,

0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:34.440
<v Speaker 1>things like streaming audio and video and Twitter, be sure

0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:36.440
<v Speaker 1>to check those out at how stuff works dot com,

0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:39.840
<v Speaker 1>which is also a great site for you to take

0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:41.720
<v Speaker 1>a look at while you're looking for ways to keep

0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:45.280
<v Speaker 1>yourself saying at your day job. So thanks for listening

0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:48.520
<v Speaker 1>and we'll talk to you against you. For more on

0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:51.320
<v Speaker 1>this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works

0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:54.520
<v Speaker 1>dot com. Let us know what you think. Send an

0:20:54.520 --> 0:21:01.480
<v Speaker 1>email to podcast at how stuff works dot com. Brought

0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:04.720
<v Speaker 1>to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camry. It's ready,

0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:05.280
<v Speaker 1>are you