Podcast - This Is Only a Test

Episode 272 – Norm’s vs. Soylent – 9/18/2014

This week, Will and Norm are joined by Veronica Belmont to discuss fine dining in Portland, the merits of drinking vinegar, the board and video games of XOXO, the sale of Minecraft to Microsoft, rumored (now confirmed) new Kindles, and the current status of Norm’s large bowel. Enjoy!

Comments (18)

18 thoughts on “Episode 272 – Norm’s vs. Soylent – 9/18/2014

  1. Home automation using Speakercraft for multi room audio, DVDO for Video and Rako Controls for lighting housed in a half height server cabinet and hidden out the way.

  2. Trust me, there will always be companies in China who will go through the effort of faking an Apple watch, if they think they can make some money off it.

    Shortly thereafter, it will be for sale on websites like AliExpress..

  3. Minecraft cloud hosting of servers is already an official product, called Minecraft Realms.

    However, it’s currently built on Amazon’s AWS, so I could see Microsoft trying to move it to Azure or something in the future.

  4. Yeah, I think you’re right. The console versions don’t really have servers that users can set up like on PC. I think it works more like Call of Duty style multiplayer.

    For PC, I think the server hosting could be a way Microsoft plans to make money. I don’t think they’ll get everyone in the cloud by 2015 though, so that may be a more long-term thing.

  5. There is ZERO chance Windows 9 is coming out this year. Hell, Microsoft still doesn’t even know what they’re going to call it. After the event this month they’re going to release the Technical Preview in October that focuses on new desktop features (Start menu, virtual desktops, windowed Metro apps, notification center). The reason the event is so limited (and won’t be live streamed) is because this is focused on enterprise, hence only new desktop features in this preview build.

  6. My 4s seems to handle iOS 8 just fine. It seems to be faster than 7 was on it. Battery life on the other hand seems to suffer. I barely made it to lunch before I was at 20% I did download an audiobook over 3G which I’m sure really hurt it. My battery is also losing capacity. I usually make it to 5:00 or so with 20% if I forget to charge it at work.

  7. Speaking as a watchmaker for the second largest luxury goods company in the world (I’m personally working on watches with retail prices of $30k up to more than $150k on a day to day basis), I can say the Apple watch isn’t going to be competition for legitimate and already established luxury brands. The gold model will be expensive no doubt, but the metal of the watch head itself is likely going to be fairly thin due to the electronics inside taking up a lot of space, in itself it won’t have nearly the materials cost of an equivalently sized traditional watch. If they offer a solid gold bracelet that will be the bulk of the cost. That said, I’d be amazed if the gold version ends up costing less than $2500 or so. $5000 wouldn’t surprise me either. I’d also be unsurprised to see some sort of upgrade program come with the gold models when they release updated versions down the road.

    The stainless steel version shouldn’t bring a huge premium over an aluminum version though, as it’s not hugely more difficult or expensive to work with- a Seiko 5 can be had in stainless steel for under $100 and you’ll have a legitimately good watch. I’d expect at most $100 or $150 more than the aluminum version for one in steel.

    All the other watchmakers I’ve talked with find the Apple watch interesting, but not at all a threat to any higher end brands. The brands that need to worry are those you see in Mall and department stores- Citizen, Bulova, Movado, and the common fashion designer brands etc. They will probably see a hit as most of their product is in that $200-500 range. Luxury brands aren’t really worried, we target a clientele who buy for craftsmanship, design, and status, and while Apple may have those things they aren’t at all on the level of the Swiss brands. An Apple watch won’t at all be considered appropriate in a professional setting over a traditional watch as it sits now. I don’t see the middle aged and older crowd opting for one over a traditional watch either.

  8. Hamfisted advertising shite squared

    http://sponsor.adverstitial.com/

    Right after the talk about XOXO night, and getting into food, the above popped, showed me nothing, and then reset the video. Way to go, advertising assholes. Will and Norm, kick these bozos to the curb, and find people who respect the audience enough to freaking test their code. I’m down with ads, but not when you blow up the crew.

  9. hey @norm , i’m totally with you on the Mars thing.

    It would be awesome for 5yrs but what folks forget is the excitement of a one way trip to Mars will quickly wear thin once you realize that you’ll be living the rest of your life in confined conditions in a smelly, noisy Hab, only experiencing the dusty monotonous Mars environment through a spacesuit.

    there will be none of the luxuries we take for granted here. you will never again feel the sun or wind on your face or swim at the beach (or take a bath for that matter) or feel the rain or smell the sweet air after a thunderstorm while eating a sumptuous meal at a cafe or restaurant (at least not this generation). some people don’t think it matters ’cause they hardly pay much attention to such things but once its gone you’ll realize that subconsciously our connection with our environment really matters.

    nor do we know enough about the long term detrimental effects of 1/3 gravity on our physical health (even here, with all our amenities, balancing the health of mind and body can be a struggle).

    so if i ever got the chance to go to Mars it would definitely only be to visit.

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