Podcast

PCM Techcast 19: The World of Drones, Wearables, and $10,000 Business Cards

With so much noise coming from the world of tech these days – it can be hard to tell to what you should pay attention.

That’s why this week we talk about what you actually need to know in no-geek-speak terms about things like wearables (Apple Watch, Google Glass), drones, live video streaming and apps designed to turn you into an instant astronomer.

Mike and producer Andrew Dietderich even talk about some business cards from the world of tech fetching $10,000 for charity at auction, proving you should never,  ever throw anything away. Ever.

All that on episode 19 of the PC Mike Techcast!

[spp-player]

Shownotes from episode 19 of the PC Mike Techcast

The World of Wearables: Apple Watch Watch, Google Glass Back in the News

Many people, including PC Mike, continue to wait for their Apple Watches to arrive. Mike talks with Andrew about what he might do if his doesn’t show up soon.

At the same time, Google Glass is back in the news thanks to a new patent and eyewear giant Luxottica saying last week that the next version of Glass is coming soon.

The World of Drones: FAA Addresses Drones, Kinda, With Announcements This Week

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration made several announcements regarding model aircraft and unmanned aircrafts (aka drones) at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Unmanned Systems (AUVSIUS?) 2015 conference in Atlanta.

Some of the announcements involved the FAA partnering with companies to gather news, monitor crops, and inspect train tracks. Most relevant to consumers/drone hobbyists, however, is the announcement of an app called B4UFly, which Andrew swears he saw on a vanity license plate while covering EAA in Oshkosh, Wisc. years ago. (Read more)

The World of Meerkat: Live Streaming Now on Facebook

PC Mike did a report for NBC in March about Meerkat. A lot has happened in the world of Meerkat since – namely, Meerkat has dumped Twitter for Facebook with its Meerkat Update #2 (Read more)

[spp-player]

Apps of the Week: Stargazing Apps to Up Your Astronomy Game

In PC Mike’s report for NBC-TV this week, he takes a look at apps that up your astronomy game – just in time for warmer summer nights under the stars. Two of the best are SkyView and Star Walk.

SkyView is an easy to use smartphone or tablet app that provides an impressive look at space. Aim your camera at the skies and get a detailed display on your screen of the galaxies, stars, constellations, planets, even satellites that your device is seeing. Move your camera across the sky and your screen will change, allowing you to explore space from your backyard. Or want to find something specific, like the International Space Station? Arrows will guide you. Skyview is $1.99 and available for Android and iOS, including Apple Watch.

Star Walk is another stargazing app that shows celestial objects in the exact positions above you. It, too, uses your phone’s camera and augmented reality to get a detailed map of stars, galaxies and planets on your screen. There are also cool animated and 3D graphics to make watching the skies even more fun. For all major platforms and the Apple Watch. It’s between $2.50 and $2.99 depending on your version.

Check out Mike’s TV report here.

One Last Thing: Steve Jobs’ Business Cards Fetching $10,000+ in Charity Auction

stevejobs3-1A high school in California is auctioning three Steve Jobs business cards for charity. The cards were obtained by someone who did catering for Jobs. With a couple of days left in the auction as of this writing, bids for the cards were over $10,000. (Read more)

[spp-player]

Online Learning – Free Trial for PC Mike Listeners

I get asked a lot about finding online courses for learning how to use photography software such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom CC, which are both on my recently updated list of tech gear. I talk about how I benefited from taking online courses as well as a special deal available only to PC Mike Techcast listeners at pcmike.com/lynda, where you can even try it free for 10 days and see if online learning works as well for you as it has for me. By the way, they have more than 3,300 courses to pick from – including more than 100,000 video tutorials – in subjects ranging from photography, video and audio to graphic design and web development. With Lynda, you can get:

– Unlimited access to all 3,314 courses – more than 100,000 video tutorials
– Learn new software and stay up to date

Listeners of the PC Mike podcast can get a free 10-day trial. Try any course. Start your trial now and see what you can learn. Just go to https://pcmike.com/lynda to get the free 10 day trial.

[spp-player]

We Need Your Help!

As we begin a new podcast like this, it’s very important to get a bunch of reviews to be able to show well in the iTunes listings. So if you can, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d subscribe and leave me your rating and review.

Here’s how:

First, open up the iTunes app on your computer or mobile device. Click on Podcasts on top
> From the iTunes Podcasts page, use the “Search Store” field up at the top right corner of the page. Type in PC Mike Techcast under the Podcasts category.
> Click on the logo image of the PC Mike Techcast on the search return page
> From there, you can:

1) Subscribe

2) Choose and Click on a star (1-5) that reflects your rating. Five stars means you really like it, one star not so much.

3) Leave a written review.

Thanks to all for the kind reviews we’ve received so far. I read and appreciate every review! If you haven’t left a review please do so. I will be so grateful!

And remember, you can appear in future episodes. Ask a question or voice your comments by clicking the Leave Voicemail tab on the right side of this page here at pcmike.com. You can then use the microphone on your computer to record your question.

Thank you!

Mike is a veteran journalist whose video "PC Mike" reports have been distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations since 1994, making him one of the most experienced tech reporters in the country. His tech stories and videos have appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, the Today Show, The New York Times, USA Today and in numerous national newspapers and magazines. In addition to the PC Mike tech blog, he also publishes the Roadtreking.com RV Travel Blog in which he travels North America in an RV reporting about interesting people and places.