TechStuff

We look at some more companies and services that launched after TechStuff became a show back in 2008, including some stuff that didn't get the chance to stick around. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TechStuff has been a podcast for 10 years. In that time, several companies and services have launched. In this episode, we look at some familiar names that were unknown back when TechStuff first aired. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TechStuff launched in June, 2008. What has changed in tech over that decade? Jonathan looks back at 10 years of the biggest hits, flops and stories in tech. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What was HitchBot all about and what happened to it? From hitchiking across Canada to a violent end in Philadelphia, we tell the robot's story. Scott Benjamin guest hosts. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It only took a couple of years for eBay to go from a hobby to a multi-million-dollar corporation. In this episode, we trace eBay's journey to its initial public offering, which turned its founder into a billionaire overnight. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TechStuff listener Niel asked that we take a look at eBay. How did a Mac programmer get the idea for the auction web site? What was the first thing sold? And how did it take off? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Several TechStuff listeners have asked me to do an episode about radar. In this episode, we take a quick look at several of the people responsible for the design and deployment of radar and how it works. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After producing two critically acclaimed but low-selling games, what did Tim Schafer and his Double Fine Production company do next? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Area 51 factors into stories about everything from weather-control devices to aliens. Ben Bowlin joins the show to look at the mythology of Area 51. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TechStuff listener Juan asked that we talk about Tim Schafer, a computer game designer famous for making clever, quirky adventure games. In this first episode, we look at his years working for LucasArts games and the early days of his own Double Fine Productions. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Where did the WiFi standard come from? What are the differences of the various flavors of WiFi? And why should you care? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shortly after Instagram launched, Facebook moved to acquire the company for a billion dollars. What made the photo sharing service so valuable and what's happened to it since? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listener Nelly asked me to look into the story of Instagram. In this episode, we learn about the co-founders and the abandoned app that ended up spawning the popular photo-sharing service. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How did hackers take over a television signal in the late 1980s? Stuff You Should Know's Chuck Bryant joins the show to talk about the Max Headroom Incident. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Robert N. Hall died in 2016 at the age of 96. The New York Times published an obituary two years later. What were Dr. Hall's contributions to technology? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A popular gadget in science fiction is the cloaking device, a technology capable of rendering entire vehicles invisible. Recently, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania created what some call a cloaking device. What's going on? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A project dedicated to bringing artificial intelligence into military operations in a real combat theater has prompted more than a dozen Google employees to resign and 4,000 more to sign a petition urging the company to get out of the project. What's going on? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alfred Loomis created the long range navigation system called LORAN. How did it work? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do toilets work? What's the secret behind using a Japanese toilet? And can you enter a toilet race? Josh Clark joins the show. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listener Kris asked that I do a profile on Alfred Lee Loomis, an inventor and philanthropist who had a huge impact on world history and the funding of scientific research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listener Carter asked us to take a look at the technology behind the humble baseball bat. Is it just a stick or is there more to it? From manufacturing to the regulations that define a bat's performance, we find out. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A century after its founding, the Finnish company Nokia entered the world of electronics. How did Nokia come to dominate the cellular phone industry and why did it lose enough ground to sell off its mobile division to Microsoft? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marcus asked me to look into Nokia, and so this episode is about how the company started and grew over several decades. Did you know Nokia is more than 100 years old? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly Frey from Stuff You Missed in History Class joins the show to talk about the sewing machine and how it shaped patent law. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

By the 1960s, Gibson was well established as a premier electric guitar manufacturing company. But the following decades brought strife to Gibson, and in 2018 the company declared bankruptcy. What went wrong? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From a humble luthier in Kalamzoo michigan to the introduction of the Les Paul signatue guitar, we take a look at the early days of Gibson. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How does a speaker generate sound? What does an amplifier do and how does it work? We learn more about the science and tech behind our audio equipment. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Where did the loudspeaker come from? How did we go from acoustic horns to electronic speakers? We learn about the inventors who made speakers possible. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How did the Death Star's superlaser work? Is such a weapon even possible? And what the heck was up with that ventilation shaft? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recently, a year-long isolation experiment simulating a mission to Mars concluded. What were the results? And why did it happen in Hawaii? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From its propulsion systems to artificial gravity, we explore the greatest weapon in the galaxy. May the 4th be with you! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In part three of our series, we explore what kept the database software company called Oracle busy between 2000 and 2018. Learn about the acquisitions, the executive shuffling and the controversies! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the early 1990s, Oracle found itself teetering on the edge of disaster. What nearly sunk the company and how did it recover? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has earned himself a flamboyant reputation among the tech elite. How did a self-taught programmer help start the second-biggest software company in the world? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How does a computer program decide which bits of an audio file to keep and which to ditch during compression? We learn about the mp3 algorithm and Jonathan talks about math a lot. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Where did NetSuite come from and what does it do? We look at the story behind the world's first cloud computing company. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TechStuff Listener Gellert asked that I cover DJ tech in an episode. That includes a lot of stuff, so today's episode is specifically about turntables. Where did they come from and how have they changed? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What are some of the modern uses for cloud computing? How safe is it? And who owns all that data anyway? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What exactly is cloud computing? We trace the development of cloud computing from the days of mainframes to the modern Internet. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From phonautographs to the early record players, we take a look at the birth of the turntable as an entertainment device. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An anonymous listener wanted to know more about end to end encryption. How is it possible to encrypt information across the Internet so that only the right person can read it? We explore the world of cryptology. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How is audio recorded digitally? In this first episode on a series about mp3 and digital audio, Jonathan breaks down how we convert sound into 0s and 1s. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is MIDI and how does it work? We answer a request from listener Jesse and take a look at the history and evolution of MIDI and what it is (and is not). Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometimes, I get requests for topics that aren't quite robust enough for a full episode. Here I'll cover several requests and give shortish answers to them. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been two years since we last detailed the course of Nintendo. What has the company been up to since April 2016? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

IBM was known for its business-to-business operations. So when the corporate giant decided to get into the home computer market, people took notice. How did IBM establish the PC as the de facto standard in home computing? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After introducing the Macintosh computer, Apple struggled a bit to ensure its future. As it continued to rely upon the sturdy Apple II platform, the company tried to forge a new path. How did it go? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1976, two Steves got together and created a startup company called Apple. Their computers ushered in an era of home computers. But the journey didn't always go smoothly. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We know about Macs and PCs, but there used to be a lot of other personal computers on the market. This is an episode about those machines and what happened to them. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How did investigators unravel the truth behind Stuxnet? And exactly how clever was this piece of malware? We take a closer look at the first documented evidence of a cyber warfare weapon. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.