Favoriting Techtonic with Mark Hurst: Playlist from May 14, 2018 Favoriting

Mark Hurst's avatar View Mark Hurst's profile Favoriting

Conversations with creators and thinkers who are charting the way forward in a tech-saturated society. Tech, community, video games, and whatever else is next.

Monday 6 - 7pm (EDT) | On WFMU | 91.1, 90.1, 91.9 FM & wfmu.org
WFMU LIVE Audio Streams (Get help):   Pop-up  |  128k AAC  |  128k MP3  |  32k MP3

iTunes Feed Also available as an MP3 podcast. More info at our Podcast Central page.

<-- Previous playlist | Back to Techtonic with Mark Hurst playlists | Next playlist -->


Favoriting May 14, 2018: David Sax, author, "The Revenge of Analog"

Listen to this show: Pop-up listen Pop-up player!


This week: David Sax, author of the new book The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter

Pointers to David's work:

@saxdavid on Twitter

Book site for "Revenge of Analog"

Our Love Affair With Digital Is Over (NYTimes, Nov. 18, 2017): "Analog, although more cumbersome and costly than its digital equivalents, provides a richness of experience that is unparalleled with anything delivered through a screen. . . . Analog excels particularly well at encouraging human interaction, which is crucial to our physical and mental well-being."

Other tech news

Google's New Voice Bot Sounds, Um, Maybe Too Real (NPR, May 9, by @laurelwamsley): "On the first day of Google's annual conference for developers, the company showed off a robot with a voice so convincingly human that it was able to call a salon and book a haircut – never revealing that it wasn't a real person making the call. CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrated the new AI technology on Tuesday at the Google I/O conference."

Google insiders claim that "the final version of Duplex, the stunning AI bot that sounded so real it fooled humans, may be purposefully made less scary." (Business Insider)

What Google is doing with your data, by John Rolfe in the Queensland Times (May 14): "Experts from Oracle claim Google is draining roughly one gigabyte of mobile data monthly from Android phone users' accounts as it snoops in the background, collecting information to help advertisers. . . . The information fed back to Google includes barometric pressure readings so it can work out, for example, which level of a shopping mall you are on. By combining this with your coordinates Google knows which shops you have visited. . . . Only turning off a phone prevents monitoring."

How to Keep Google From Owning Your Online Life, by David Pierce in the WSJ (May 8). Interesting that the Wall Street Journal is offering alternatives to Google services.

• Oh, and Facebook's share price has recovered. "Facebook wiped out all of its losses following the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. Shares hit an intraday high of $185.99 on Thursday."

- - -



Subscribe to the Techtonic podcast

Artist Track Album Label Images Approx. start time
  Vinyl is back! And so are other analog technologies. Mark interviews David Sax, author of "The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter," to discuss why analog is making a resurgence over digital alternatives.
Tomaš Dvořák  Game Boy Tune   Favoriting Machinarium Soundtrack  No label     
  Mark's intro      
Favoriting
 
  Interview with David Sax, author of "The Revenge of Analog"      
Favoriting
0:19:18 (Pop-up)
Kosmischer Läufer  Morgenröte   Favoriting The Secret Cosmic Music Of The East German Olympic Program 1972-1983 - Volume 2  Unknown Capability Recordings    0:40:48 (Pop-up)
  Your calls and comments 201-209-9368      
Favoriting
0:41:40 (Pop-up)
The Tweeds  I Need That Record   Favoriting Single  Autobahn    0:53:58 (Pop-up)


<-- Previous playlist | Back to Techtonic with Mark Hurst playlists | Next playlist -->

RSS feeds for Techtonic with Mark Hurst: RSSPlaylists feed | RSSMP3 archives feed

| E-mail Mark Hurst | Other WFMU Playlists | All artists played by Techtonic with Mark Hurst |

Listen on the Internet | Contact Us | Music & Programs | WFMU Home Page | Support Us | FAQ

Live Audio Streams for WFMU: Pop-up | 128k AAC | 128k MP3 | 32k MP3    (More streams: [+])


Listener comments!

Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:04pm
Bas NL:

Hi Mark!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:04pm
ultradamno:

Hello Mark and Techtoinc Plate Spinners!
Avatar 6:05pm
βrian:

I'm voting for Techtonite, where 'ite' has the sense of indicating a division of a body or organ: somite, dendrite, etc.
Avatar 6:05pm
TDK60:

Hello. Soupcans and wire?
Avatar 6:06pm
βrian:

Print-on-demand is even a thing for those long-tail items.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:06pm
northguineahills:

Teching!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:07pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Hello, 'tonnies!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Roger Anderson, 10/23/2017: www.wfmu.org...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
Michael 98145:

... to be effective, the bot should say "like" more often ...
Avatar 6:12pm
βrian:

Like, hell no!
Avatar 6:13pm
βrian:

"3 pm? Okay, could you rapesh canoodle the skeeter-pants?"
Avatar 6:14pm
TDK60:

Is it like "Hal" in 2001 Space Odyssey? Sounding human and emotional: "Dave, take a stress pill..."
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:14pm
Michael 98145:

on the flippedy flop
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:14pm
ultradamno:

Patton Oswalt has chunk about this kind of thing in his most recent Netflix special (a robocall that interjects "let me adjust my earpiece")
  6:14pm
Dean:

Call me paranoid, but I'm now concerned that DJ Mark's occasional um's and ah's, his reflexive discussion of how humans, as opposed to automata, really sound, are evidence that this show is *hosted by a robot*!
Avatar 6:17pm
βrian:

Cross ref barometric pressure with arthritic distress level and feed that to an analgesic broker!
Avatar 6:17pm
Jeff Moore:

Pretty cool, huh?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:17pm
Michael 98145:

good job, Jeff
Avatar 6:17pm
βrian:

Our motto: "Do evil."
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:18pm
northguineahills:

Wouldn't they need to know the local barometric pressure of the location to figure it out?
Avatar 6:19pm
Jeff Moore:

Wait, you're taking the word of Oracle? Emissaries of that evil tool Ellison?
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Yeah, if I'm sitting stationary and a low front is approaching, it might think I'm levitating.
Avatar 6:22pm
TDK60:

I'm still on Google's Gmail, would like to get off. // Another topic: Mark are you aware of the radio program "Off The Hook" on WBAI FM in NYC? They're from the 2600 magazine (and conference). They have similar views. It might be good to have one of them on the show. Just an idea.
Avatar 6:23pm
βrian:

And for the O.C.D folks: "Be the first to lick this post!"
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
chris:

i came for the news and stayed for the reightous indignation. let 'em have it, Mark!
Avatar 6:23pm
βrian:

"Techtonites," I say.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
northguineahills:

βrian: Wow, I need to clean my screen, that was gross!
  6:23pm
Warren in Australia:

All ears.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:25pm
northguineahills:

My work still uses Google products, and still about 1 year from migrating off of it for cloud and other services. (started last Friday on said endeavor)
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:26pm
Michael 98145:

yes, Outlook and Google are the outsource wonderland of choice in many places
Avatar 6:26pm
βrian:

U of M migrated to G-mail. I opted out of sheeeeit.
Avatar 6:27pm
βrian:

"that sheeeeit," I mean.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:27pm
northguineahills:

I keep my phone on my desk in my studio when I sleep (but, that's so I don't oversleep by turning off my alarm when I'm still half-asleep).
Avatar 6:28pm
βrian:

It's POP. Print on Paper.
Avatar 6:29pm
TDK60:

I have an email in my inbox from Google entitled "Improvements to Our Privacy Policy and Privacy Controls" -- haven't had time to open yet.
  6:29pm
Dean:

More righteous indignation here, but for some of us analog never went away.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:29pm
northguineahills:

I still read my analogue The Wire magazine (and I have a digital subscription as well) at pubs as I don't want to have beer spilled on my tablets, or get it sticky.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:29pm
northguineahills:

βrian: You must be a millennial, I heard they don't use top sheets.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:30pm
medson:

The downside to this growth are the small record labels I've been buying from all along are being bumped by major labels. Major delays that they really cant afford
It sucks because the major labels are pressing things you can get in any $1 bin around the country.
  6:30pm
Dean:

Neither promise nor hope. It was hype, from the get-go.
Avatar 6:30pm
βrian:

I love top sheets.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:31pm
Bas NL:

In my workplace they are currently try to ban the use of paper books. You hand over your books and they put it through a scanner.. it is stopped now because of copyright issues. Phew! (Still got my books!)
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:31pm
Michael 98145:

ah, yes, @TDK60, "Nothing is changing about your current settings or how your information is processed. Rather, we’ve improved the way we describe our practices and how we explain the options you have to update, manage, export, and delete your data."
  6:32pm
Robert Tables:

We were discussing at work how this Duplex tech could be abused. "Hey mom/dad I'm in trouble and need some money." Families would need to come up with code words to verify each others' identity over the phone.
Avatar 6:32pm
βrian:

@Bas NL: I hope that doesn't happen where I work. (An academic library.)
Avatar 6:32pm
TDK60:

In 1989, when many were ditching their LPs, I did no such thing! I was low on $ and didn't want to buy new CDs of the same music. Now, I have LPs and CDs and computer files. (Oh yeah, cassettes too.)
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Bas NL:

You never know @βrian.. I'm working at a university!
Avatar 6:35pm
Revolution Rabbit Nov63:

Kevin Shields ('MyBloodyValentine') in depth on the Analog v. Digital Audio science...; In the beginning - they had no idea how best to present music Digitally to the masses... :
www.npr.org...
  6:35pm
Andy the painter:

as i’m not so well versed in these issues, could someone please tell me: are the reasons to opt out of instagram pretty much the same as to opt out of google and/or facebook?
Avatar 6:35pm
βrian:

Now, what's linkdin?
Avatar 6:35pm
Revolution Rabbit Nov63:

A spectacular Model in my area wants to Friend me on faceborg! ...I so lucky...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:36pm
northguineahills:

The only thing I've ditched was my 8-track tapes (and I didn't start collecting them until 97, and I only abandoned them b/c my 8-track player was a part of a giant wardrobe.)
Avatar 6:37pm
Revolution Rabbit Nov63:

Re Linkedin: www.acast.com...
  6:37pm
Dean:

Over the weekend I read Langdon Winner's "Do Artifacts Have Politics?," published in Daedalus in 1980. Well worth reading even at this late date.
Avatar 6:38pm
βrian:

BTW, I heard a report of corporate headhunting consultant who bragged about her credentials of promoting diversity. She said candidates without a social media presence were ingnored.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:39pm
mrdonutsu:

I dunno man, everything I learned at school, I learned from a Wollensak...
  6:39pm
Dean:

In fact, that entire issue of Daedalus was devoted to "Modern Technology: Problem or Opportunity?" Plus ca change.
  6:39pm
herb.nyc:

So, can VR be made more analog? (I'm half serious)
Avatar 6:41pm
Revolution Rabbit Nov63:

...I think it was called 'Theater'...
Avatar 6:41pm
βrian:

C'mon now, Dean: Option + c = ç
  6:42pm
Dean:

I'm on a typewriter, βrian.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:43pm
northguineahills:

Thanks Mark and David!

and Thanks Rev Rabbit for the Shields link!
Avatar 6:43pm
βrian:

Oh. Well, I love me some Olivetti.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:43pm
northguineahills:

Leaving work at a sane time!
Avatar 6:44pm
βrian:

Did Olivetti make AZERTYs?
  6:45pm
Dean:

Have also been reading, again, about Luddism. Such an abused epithet.
Avatar 6:45pm
βrian:

@NGH: Maybe avoid the curse of working at home. It can work, but ...
Avatar 6:45pm
Revolution Rabbit Nov63:

@ngh: It's quite an interview.
...They're all damned Monopolies, man!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:46pm
Michael 98145:

actually the history of mp3 is quite interesting : _How Music Got Free_ by Stephen Witt.
Avatar 6:46pm
βrian:

We should aspire to "techtonite" being an epithet, too.
Avatar 6:47pm
βrian:

Techtonites and luddites, hand in hand ...
Avatar 6:48pm
Jeff Moore:

Robert Tables?

Little Bobby Tables?

xkcd.com...
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:48pm
Phil with the phone:

Wanna brag about the obsolete analog technology you're stubbornly still using? Call in at 201-209-9368!
  6:49pm
JeremyB:

Great episode
  6:49pm
Robert Tables:

You got it Jeff Moore
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:49pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Also note that phones are always listening in case you summon them with the "Hey Google now" phrase.
Avatar 6:50pm
βrian:

Instagraham is for crackers.
Avatar 6:50pm
Jeff Moore:

"Analog"... as in "in Meatspace".
  6:50pm
Dean:

QED.
  6:51pm
herb.nyc:

From a sci fi angle, maybe parents of dead children want to have conversations w their children via Duplex. Google can help them.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
Michael 98145:

"Alexa" ...
Avatar 6:52pm
Revolution Rabbit Nov63:

Yes We Replican.
Avatar 6:54pm
βrian:

Whatever happened to Mr. Ed Tech?
Avatar 6:54pm
TDK60:

"Off the Hook" is on at 8 PM on Wednesdays on WBAI, 99.5 FM via olde fashioned broadcast. // I saw there's a new "Fahrenheit 451" film. Why? The old one was fine I thought at the time.
Avatar 6:55pm
Revolution Rabbit Nov63:

www.quotehd.com...
Avatar 6:55pm
βrian:

I'm reminded of the Codex Tech Support video.
  6:56pm
Emily:

I had Langdon Winner as a professor in college. Really great guy, and such an important professor to have at an engineering school.
  6:56pm
Dean:

That is *very* cool, Emily!
Avatar 6:57pm
βrian:

@RRabit: or "No, we Republicant."
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Bas NL:

Ohh and we'll have no more wastebaskets in the offices! Train of thought: No paper, no waste!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Michael 98145:

the monetary goal of AI is the elimination of 'human resources'
Avatar 6:58pm
TDK60:

Ken, can we get this show up to 90 minutes someday?
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
Webhamster Henry:

Hi folks - coming in really late here! But I am actually working up some kind of intelligence - that is, having original thoughts and thinking about them.
Avatar 6:58pm
βrian:

@Emily: Have you noticed a difference between European engineers and US?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
Michael 98145:

thanks again, Mark H
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
Bas NL:

*Types quickly* Thanks Mark!
Avatar 6:59pm
Mayuko:

This was super interesting from the beginning to the end. Thanks Mark!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

In automotive technology news, it seems that cars with keyless ignitions are killing people who come home and leave their cars running in the garage. They forget to push the button to turn off the car.
Avatar 7:00pm
TDK60:

This show um, "rocks" Mark.
  7:00pm
Dean:

Oh, boy, have I got an automotive technology story, based on painful experience late last week. Will relate it some other time.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:01pm
Mark Hurst:

Thanks, everyone! Great comments. Have a good week & see you next time.
Bottom
Comment!
Name
Email
(C) 2024 WFMU. Generated by KenzoDB, written by Ken Garson