First of all, I have received so many positive wishes from friends and colleagues about last week’s Techsploder announcements. I am ecstatic about the future and excited to kick everything off! Later in this email, I reveal the very first guest on this Friday’s premiere of the Techsploder podcast!!
But before that happens, here’s what happened last week!
AI Inside #14: Rabbit R1 First Look
I was elated to find the latest episode of AI Inside racking up more views than any previous episode on the channel (and actually, it’s one of the most viewed videos overall on the channel now too). It was a matter of perfect timing. The Rabbit R1 release party happened the night before we recorded, and I had seen a number of my tech friends at the event with the device in hand. So I did what I would have done when I was a co-host on Tech News Weekly: I reached out and invited them on the show! Mark Spoonauer, EIC of Tom’s Guide, joined me and Jeff Jarvis at the top of the show to give his first impressions of the device. That gave us the chance to label this is a “First Look”, also a “Hands-on”. It turns out, many people on YouTube were looking for that and the views shot up!
Not only that, upon poking around in analytics to see what I could learn for future videos, I noticed a bunch of traffic coming from Decrypt.co. Looking into it, I found that the video was included in a roundup of early impressions from across the web! YAY, Yellowgold Studios and AI Inside got their first media callout (that I’m aware of, anyway!) Those kinds of things go a long way in increasing visibility.
Aside from the backstory, Jeff and I also discussed a few other AI devices that may or may not be the next big thing, Meta’s big week of announcements related to AI including Llama 3, and the closure of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute. Also, I get my Rabbit R1 sometime in the early Summer and will share my thoughts then!
SUBSCRIBE: https://aiinside.show/episode/rabbit-r1-first-look
DONATE: https://www.patreon.com/aiinsideshow
Tech News Weekly 334: Meta Goes Open With XR
Mikah Sargent took some time off from TWiT and I was asked if I would be open to filling in for him as host of Tech News Weekly while he was out. And, I mean, YES. PCMag’s Emily Driebelbis joined me for the first half of the show where we discussed her article about the moderator of the Chat-GPT subreddit as well as the current state of consumer AI hardware. Then I spoke with Scott Stein from CNET about how Meta is opening up its XR software, now called Horizon OS, for third-party hardware development. Finally, I chatted with Victoria Song from The Verge about the Meta Ray-Ban AR sunglasses getting new multimodal AI processing support. I think by the end of the conversation, I convinced myself that I should probably get myself a pair as they really seem like some of the most effective consumer AI tech on the market right now.
SUBSCRIBE: https://twit.tv/tnw
Android Faithful #41: The Great Google Un-Silo-ing
In this episode of Android Faithful, Mishaal gives a thorough review of the new Nothing Ear(a) true wireless earbuds, we talk all about Google’s big hardware and software re-org that brings everything closer to its AI efforts, more Android 15 feature goodness, and Google Maps gets a ton of features aimed at EV drivers. Whether we discussed it on the show or not (I can’t recall), we all continue to get super excited about the fact that we’ll all be at Google IO May 14-15. It’s early to say, but we might have some really cool stuff planned while we are there too. (No, not a party.) But that’s all I’ll say about that.
SUBSCRIBE: https://androidfaithful.com/episode/the-great-google-un-silo-ing
DONATE: https://www.patreon.com/androidfaithful
Techsploder: Why 360 Treadmills May Never Work The Way You Expect
I was watching one of Marques Brownlee’s latest videos where he was invited to the Disney Imagineering Labs to test out a new 360-degree treadmill… of sorts. Little pucks that rotate around allowing the walker to stay mostly in one place while they walk around in VR goggles. It REALLY reminded me of my time testing out the Infinadeck technology that you all saw in the movie Ready Player One. The same challenges I encountered back in 2018 seem to be present in Marques’ video last week which tells me there are some serious hurdles that might never be solved when it comes to walking NORMALLY on pads like these.
Now, aside from the content itself, and pulling the curtain back a bit: I recognized with this video that I had a perspective coupled with an experience that not many people have had (my time on the Infinadeck) and that might make for a compelling video. I went pretty scrappy with the production, and really pared it back a bit. Not quite as overly produced, simplified. I’m trying to find a solid balance point where I can record and release videos that don’t require literally HOURS of edit after the fact. But one big trick here is what we always hear about “title and thumbnail.” It’s like a code, trying to crack that sometimes. I’m not so certain I like the thumbnail I created. But I will admit I get a bit impatient! I just want to release it and move on with my life! hehehe
Anyway, I did release this video to the Techsploder Patreon patrons a day before the public release as I begin to deliver on my promises within the Patreons I am running. Would this video have done better if I had released it the day OF Marques’ video on the same topic? Does waiting a single day impact potential views THAT much? All these questions I have as I learn the art of YouTube day after day.
SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/@techsploder?sub_confirmation=1
DONATE: https://www.patreon.com/jasonhowell
AI Inside Patron Exclusive: Testing Meta.ai
I also belted out a video for AI Inside patrons who donate at the level that gets them access to exclusive AII content! This time, I spent some time learning and working with Meta’s new (and free) Meta.AI site. It can do some pretty cool stuff aside from the usual things like text generation, summaries, and image generation. You can also very easily animate still images (though the frame rate is pretty low for the time being). And the image generates with every word you type in real time which is a neat trick! If you want exclusive content like this, well, consider becoming a Patron!
DONATE: https://www.patreon.com/aiinsideshow
On the Horizon: Techsploder podcast!
This week, I have so much to look forward to. Not only do I have another excellent hang with my Android Faithful friends as well as some time with Jeff Jarvis on AI Inside… This Friday is the premiere of my newest podcast, the Techsploder Podcast!
Anyone who knows me and my background can probably guess who I might reach out to for my premiere episode. None other than Tom Merritt of DTNS fame! Tom has been my mentor in podcast literally from the very beginning, so it really seemed like there was no other person I’d rather have right out of the gate.
I’ve been siphoning off some cool topic and question ideas. Basically, I’m creating a pool of directions that I can pull from with each episode, all in an effort to get a better understanding of the tech original story of each guest, and hopefully make some connections around what we all (as tech aficionados) have in common.
PLEASE be sure you are subscribed and following so you don’t miss the first episode! Yes, we are streaming the episode live as well, so you can take part in the live chat if ya like! It'll be great to see you all there. Man, I can not WAIT to kick this project off.
Good luck with the new podcast