We're now located at UnwindMedia.com/FutureChat, so move your bookmarks, because this website is going to disappear completely very soon!

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

#42 - Happy Saturnalia, Everyone!


This week, we wrapped up the year in a neat little bow, learned a little bit more about solar power, and mourned Mike's mauling from the wild Alberta bear.

Links:
Subscribe to the podcast (for the higher-quality audio version of the show) here: http://feeds.feedblitz.com/futurechat/all.

Seriously, by the end of the year, all your feeds will automatically update to this version, so if you don't want to subscribe to the new format of the show, now is your chance to get away! You have been warned!

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to mail@futurechat.me.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

#41 - That'll Cook Your Phone


We discuss the science and tech movies and trailers that have come out in the last few weeks, get into the nitty-gritty of magnetic induction, and Nick finally gets Teksavvy internet hooked up!

Links:
Subscribe to the podcast (for the higher-quality audio version of the show) here: http://feeds.feedblitz.com/futurechat/all.

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to mail@futurechat.me.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Future Chat #40: Well That Went Well


This week on Future Chat, we did an experiment, ran into a few bumps along the way, but overall had a great conversation.
**FYI, as you will hear, we had some audio issues in this episode (hence the delay from the usual weekend posting). I have cleaned it up as much as I could, but that's what you're hearing.**

Links:
Subscribe to the podcast here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/futurechat/all.

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to mail@futurechat.me.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Future Chat #39: Light


This week's show is a special science AND technology extravaganza. We talked about some scientific and technical applications of light of all energy, from radio waves to gamma rays.

Links:
Subscribe to both science AND tech episodes of the podcast here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/futurechat/all.

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Future Sci Chat #12: GMOs



Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Future Tech Chat #26: Automation


We had a great time this week with the help of Alex from the UK talking about automation. We also had a heated discussion about political science and voting systems. +CGP Grey would be proud of this episode, and you can find links to several of his projects below.

Links:

You can also check out the next episode of Future Sci Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern. We'll be discussing transportation and engine science, it will be an excellent episode.
Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Future Sci Chat #11: The Paranormal


On a very special spooky episode of Future Chat, we talked about ghosts, psychics and the psychology of being scared.

Stay tuned for the aftershow where we also talk about brunch, a little about religion, and get into a discussion about MRIs, and Rob tries to explain the science of magnetic resonance.

Links:

Hello Internet #20.

Russell’s Teapot



You can also check out the next episode of Future Tech Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern. We'll be talking about the new Google Y projects, like building a model city of the future (think EPCOT).
Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Future Tech Chat #25: Social Media in Crisis


On Future Chat this week, we talked about how social media and the Internet can be used and abused during crises and emergencies. We discussed how social media was important to us during the 100 year flood in Calgary last year, and during the Ottawa shooting this past week, as well as in the protests going on in Hong Kong right now.

Links:
http://blog.robattrell.com/2012/10/the-future-of-morality.html
We talk about this in the aftershow, weirdly it was written 2 years ago today.

You can also check out the next episode of Future Sci Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern. We'll be discussing transportation and engine science, it will be an excellent episode.
Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Future Sci Chat #10: Health


We tackled health this week on Future Chat, with talk of vitamins, the debunking of homeopathy and the placebo effect. We also spent the aftershow coming up with the best way to talk about death for a whole episode, so don't miss it!

Links:

Dog Breeds - Collegehumor

Poop Transplants - Minute Earth

Skin Microbiome Post - NY Times
*I think we took the discussion off the public forum at that point.

We are taking a week off next week, but we'll be back in two weeks with all new energy!

You can also check out the next episode of Future Tech Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern. We'll be talking about the new Google Y projects, like building a model city of the future (think EPCOT).
Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Future Tech Chat #24: Google Y


This week on Future Chat, we chatted about Google 2.0, the BIG projects wing of Google Inc. responsible for things as big as building model cities and more efficient airports. We talked a lot about those projects, as well as some big projects that we think they could be working on to improve everybody's life!

**The podcast version of the show will be up later today.

Links:
Google 2.0

You can also check out the next episode of Future Sci Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern. We'll be discussing transportation and engine science, it will be an excellent episode.
Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Future Sci Chat #9: Transportation


This week on Future Chat, we shared our thoughts on transportation systems of the future, learned a little about the efficiency of various kinds of transportation, and dreamed about how we'd like to get around in the future.

We also decided to stay on air for an aftershow this week, so stay tuned for that around the 1 hr mark. We get to talking about the future of the show and request your feedback on what you'd like to see/hear.

You can also check out the next episode of Future Tech Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern. We'll be talking about the new Google Y projects, like building a model city of the future (think EPCOT).

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Future Tech Chat #23: Computing


This week on Future Chat, we had a really fun chat about computing. We talked about fanboyism, early adoption of technologies, open source software and so much more. Enjoy the episode!

You can also check out the next episode of Future Sci Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern. We'll be discussing transportation and engine science, it will be an excellent episode.

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Future Sci Chat #8: Nutrition


This week on Future Chat, we had a very special guest, +Anna On, join us. She's a food scientist, and together we broke down some common food and nutrition-based misconceptions. Enjoy the episode!

While you're at it, check out this video I made this week about how much salt and sugar can hide itself in your food and drink without you knowing:


You can also check out the next episode of Future Tech Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern.

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Future Tech Chat #22: Gadgets Wrap-up


This week on Future Chat, we talked all about this season's worth of gadgets. From virtual reality, smartwatches and trackers coming out this fall, to futuristic technologies like flexible screens and shape-shifting smartphones.

Links:

Also, we have a special request for you to give some feedback on +Nick Maddox's post about graffiti in the washroom walls of academic institutions, so go check that out too!

You can also check out the next episode of Future Sci Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern. We'll be discussing nutrition and food science, it will be a VERY enlightening episode.

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com


Monday, September 1, 2014

Future Clip - Nick's Bike



In this excerpt from the bicycles episode, we talk about some of the cool stuff about +Nick Maddox's bike, the Trek Soho Deluxe 2012. If you like the clip, be sure to check out the full video here, and subscribe to Future Chat on your favourite social network.

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Future Sci Chat #7: Public Funding for Science


In the most important episode we've tackled so far on Future Sci Chat, we talked about the changes in North American political policy with regards to public and governmental funding of scientific research. This topic is very important to all of us as scientists, but it's also important to the public in general, and it is important to be informed about just how this can affect you.

If you want to learn more, which you should, here are some links:



Check out the next episode of Future Tech Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern. We'll be discussing gadgets, it will be a really fun episode!

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com.

Visit http://futurechat.me
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/futurechats
Like us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/futurechat
Check out the Google+ Page: http://google.com/+FutureChatMe

Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/futurechats


Sunday, August 24, 2014

Future Tech Chat #21: Bicycles


In this episode, we talked about bicycles, making it seem like our episode is sponsored by Trek bikes, which it is not. We chatted all about materials used to make bikes, interesting designs, and how the city of the future will incorporate bicycles much better. Enjoy the episode!

Links:
http://www.trekbikes.com/ca/en/bikes/road/performance_race/


Check out the next episode of Future Sci Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern. We'll be discussing government funding of science, it should be a VERY interesting episode.

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com


Sunday, August 17, 2014

Future Sci Chat #6: Climate Change


We talked this week about causes of climate change, ways to get carbon out of our atmosphere and why throwing nuclear waste into a volcano might make a better action movie supervillain scheme than climate change solution! Hope you like it.

If you want to know more about carbon sequestration, or the IPCC, Wikipedia has a ton more information than we could cover!

Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzUKPYw6UsA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7so8GRCWA1k
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change


Check out the next episode of Future Tech Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern.

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com


Sunday, August 10, 2014

Future Tech Chat #20: Music


This week on Future Chat featured a special guest musician, the great +Damien Broomes! He's a member of +Sons of Pluto, and we discussed some of his experiences with live shows and technology triumphs and malfunctions. We also talked about streaming music vs. downloading or buying CDs, the resurgence of vinyl records, and how concerts have evolved over the years as music technology improves. We also touched on the music piracy discussion from the point of view of a young artist trying to break into the music industry.

There's a lot of technology that goes into the music we all love, and I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did!

You can learn more about Damien and Sons of Pluto at http://sonsofpluto.com.

Check out the next episode of Future Sci Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern.

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Future Sci Chat #5: Space


We talked this week about space exploration, the search for exoplanets, new civilian rocket technology, and many other topics! Hope you like it.

If you want to know more about Dyson Spheres, the Drake Equation and the Mars Project, Wikipedia has a ton more information than we could cover!

Links:
www.spacex.com/
www.virgingalactic.com/
http://NASA.gov/


Check out the next episode of Future Tech Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern.

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com


Sunday, July 27, 2014

Future Tech Chat #19: Activity Tracking


This week, we talked about different ways our technology uses sensors to track our activity. We talked about location services and how apps know where you are, running and cycling apps that help you keep track of distances and calories burned, as well as sleep monitoring apps to make sure you're getting a good night's sleep and waking up rested. I hope you enjoy the show!

Apps we talked about:

Withings Aura - http://www.withings.com/us/withings-aura.html
Strava - http://www.strava.com/
Azumio Sleep Time - www.azumio.com/apps/sleep
Sleep as Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid.sleep

Check out the next episode of Future Sci Chat, live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern.

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Future Sci Chat #4: Beer

We are changing things up a little on Future Chat as of this week. You'll notice that as you read this, the webcast has already happened. If you want to follow the chats live, they normally happen on Saturdays at 12:30 PM. Subscribe to Future Chat on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or Google+ to keep up to date on when the live webcasts are happening. However, by the time you see this article now, it means that you can watch the video itself, and it also means you'll be able to go listen to the podcast version of the episode. These should in most cases appear within 24 hours of the airing of the show.

I'd love to hear from viewers if you like this system more or less than the old way, and to everybody else, I hope you enjoy our episode on beer, which can be found below!



In this episode, we talked about beer! Nick is brewing his own beer, so we chatted about his experience and results in brewing, how you can absolutely tell beers apart by taste, and how provincial regulations are taking money from beer out of Ontario.

Links:

Interesting Beer Links
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/beer

https://www.google.ca/search?q=facts+about+beer&oq=facts+about+beer&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.6609j0j7&bmbp=1&sourceid=chrome&espv=213&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8

Ontario "Propaganda" paid for by the big profitable breweries.
http://www.ontariobeerfacts.ca/

Craft beer facts
http://www.foodbeast.com/2013/11/14/22-craft-beer-facts-you-can-toast-to/

Sixty Symbols - Guinness

Subreddit on Homebrewing


Next week we will be chatting about activity monitors, including run/bike apps, heart monitors, and sleep monitoring apps. Check out the episode live on YouTube next Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern.

Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Future Tech Chat #18: Sports Tech



This week on Future Tech Chat, we will be taking it to the pitch, as we discuss the world of sports and all the technology used in professional and amateur sports alike.

Starting with slow motion cameras, going all the way through the FoxTrax puck to the goal-line system used in the World Cup going on right at this moment. We will take a look into the possibility of future technological upgrades to your favourite sports, and I'm sure we'll also get into wishful thinking about tech advances in our favourite sports.





I hope you'll tune in live at 12:30 PM EDT on Saturday, July 12th for the episode, and you'll be able to watch it in full above live or after it's aired.

You can direct any questions you might have to the Q&A on the event page (https://plus.google.com/events/c8idnr8qeghbvialb9ll82gnlms), or on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. We look forward to seeing you here live!

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Future Sci Chat #3: Vaccinations

Outbreaks in North America of measles (red), mumps (brown), and whooping cough (bright green). Source (retrieved 2014-07-02).
So, The handsome gentlemen co-host of Future Chat and future new-media baron Rob Attrell has asked me to write a brief summary on vaccinations in preparation for Future Sci Chat #3.  I told him I'd do what I can, and you may see the results below.  For those of you wishing to read the post I wrote in 2011 on the very same topic, have a link.

So what's a vaccination?

They're a good thing.  A vaccination is often an injected dose of a live, or sometimes dead virus.  The virus has either been sterilised (no reproduction means no infection) or treated in such a way that it will not be able to harm the patient.  The body then produces the antibodies required to fight off the virus, which are then able to fight off or otherwise discourage a future infection of the same virus.  It is not uncommon for the patient to experience symptoms similar to viral infection such as elevated temperature, fatigue, and/or soreness because the body earnestly believes it is fighting off an infection.

Sounds unpleasant, why bother?

Short answer?  Because people die.  Significant investment was made by North Americans in the mid-twentieth century to cure things like polio, smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella, and whooping cough because those diseases cost lives.  Further, when governments are on the hook for health care costs (as is the case for the Canadian provinces), vaccinating the citizenry is a lot easier than dealing with hoards of sick and potentially dying people.  This is compounded by the fact that diseases can spread through hospitals, which is why health care professionals are the first to be vaccinated.

So what's the catch?

You have to deal with a needle and the associated symptoms for a day or two.  There are some instances in which people have had adverse reactions to vaccinations, but this is usually due to an allergy to one of the ingredients (or often a preservative agent), or due to a pre-existing complication.  Healthy people are not normally in jeopardy.

Doesn't the MMR (Measles-Mumps-Rubella) vaccine cause autism?

No.

But Jenny McCarthy said - 

Jenny McCarthy isn't a doctor, nor is she in any way trained to formally review or interpret the relevant literature.  The medical journal The Lancet published a since-[thoroughly]-discredited paper suggesting a causal link between the MMR vaccine and onset of childhood autism.  Recent research has indicated that autism develops while the baby is still in the womb, and therefore cannot be caused by vaccinations.

What if I don't vaccinate my child(ren), aren't they safe because all the other kids get vaccinated?

Ah, I see you've heard of "herd immunity."  See that map at the top of the page?  That's what those parents thought, too.



You will be able to watch Future Sci Chat episode #3, on Vaccines, live at 12:30 PM EDT on Saturday, July 5th, either here below, or by clicking on the link that is this sentence.


Be sure to direct any questions you might have before, during, and after the show to Google+, Facebook or Twitter, or send them via email to futurechats@gmail.com.

Monday, June 30, 2014

Reaching into the Future

I'm holding myself to keeping this short, but this is an issue which has come up multiple times for me in the last few months, has been covered by media establishments, and tested by people like Derek at +Veritasium.


The issue, which affects most of us, but especially those of us who like to make things on the Internet, is that getting through the noise on the Internet is very difficult. Especially on sites like Facebook, where there is lots of advertising money at play, it is very important that only the "best" content gets through our "social filters" and makes it to our eyeballs. For people who manage Facebook pages, this means that we are vying for an increasingly smaller slice of time-pie. As networks like Facebook reach total permeation in a society, we are bombarded with important stuff from friends, family, advertisers and others all the time.

Facebook has allowed brands to purchase additional promotion for their posts for some time now (at least a year or two) and in the last year has also decidedly limited the number of people who see unpromoted posts. I hope you can see how the simultaneous ideas are in conflict here:

Facebook only wants to show you posts you're likely to comment on or like (ideally there would only be 3-4 of these at the top of the news feed, given the size of our friendship networks) so you're basically guaranteed that you're not going to see content from everybody, especially with default settings where nobody is given any preference over anybody else.

However, sometimes, Facebook brands are BAD at advertising, which means that posts which companies pay to have people see will not reach very many people organically, and will not be liked very much. In those situations, the choice Facebook has made is to send those posts to only people who like content from all kinds of pages blindly (either spambots, or clickfarms).

For the average person trying to be seen on Facebook, this means that they end up paying money to outsource likes overseas, where people are paid to click like or follow Twitter accounts, but don't actually engage at all with the content. Obviously, this looks the same on the surface, as your pages are being viewed, but interaction goes WAY down on those posts compared to those which are organically popular.



It is exactly this reason that I don't want to pay for promotion of my content, because I know that it is cheap and will not result in anything positive except people who aren't real liking my content. However, I also want real people to see what I am working on, even though I do have a very limited budget and time, we obviously all want the best for the stuff we make/do.

Really, the only way to get stuff seen on social networks is the same way it has always been, getting people you know to help you by sharing what they see, and by sharing it yourself, either from the page or manually. This is unfortunate, but nobody said making stuff was easy, and making stuff people actually want to see is WAY harder.

I'd love to hear from you guys about this issue, if you think there's something I could improve about +Future Chat or my other projects, feel free to drop me a line in the comments, or on Facebook, Twitter (@futurechats) or by email at futurechats@gmail.com or to my personal email at me@robattrell.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Future Tech Chat #17: Sunday News Edition



This week on Future Tech Chat, we will be slowing down a little bit, taking some time to relax. This week has featured a TON of news from Google Inc. (as we discussed in the I/O predictions episode), so we will definitely reflect on what we saw from I/O, and how our predictions fared.

We'll also be taking a look at some of the biggest news stories of the year from Microsoft, Apple and others, and how they might affect the tech world over the next 6 months. May/June is technology conference season, so there have been quite a few different announcements about new products and features. This week is also a great opportunity to answer a few questions from viewers and talk a little bit about our technology backgrounds. It's going to be a great episode!

News stories




I hope you'll tune in live at 12:30 PM EDT on Sunday, June 29th for the episode, and you'll be able to watch it in full above live or after it's aired.

You can direct any questions you might have to the Q&A on the event page (https://plus.google.com/events/c03kvc0burjbci0jitev73ug5fs), or on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. We look forward to seeing you here live!

Friday, June 20, 2014

FTC Special Edition #16: Google I/O 2014

Tune in live for a special 30-minute episode

Ahhhh it's that time of year again! The flowers are blooming, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and Google is holding its annual I/O conference! The conference runs next week starting on June 25th, and we'll all have our eyes glued to the tech news sites to see what is announced.

This week's Future Tech Chat mini-episode will feature +Rob Attrell and myself, along with special guests +Carolyn Higman and +Ross May!

These types of corporate events are greatly anticipated forums for product releases and company developments, and it is a time-honoured tradition to make predictions and wish lists of what we'd like to see come out of them. In this week's special edition mini-episode, we will be sharing these predictions and thoughts with each other and all of you!

Apple recently held its WWDC event and made big splashes with the iOS 8 developments and features they announced, along with the health-conscious app and functionality integration they will begin focusing on. We still haven't seen much in the way of Apple-branded wearables, so the time is ripe for Google to be first-to-market with a Google watch and possibly expanding the Google Glass Explorer program to a geographically broader customer base.

Links to stuff we talked about:



The ball is in Google's court, let's keep our fingers crossed for a slam dunk!


I hope you'll tune in live at our special mid-week time slot of 9:00 PM EDT on Thursday, June 19th for the episode, and you'll be able to watch it in full below live or after it's aired.

As usual, you can ask us any questions you might have on the Q&A in the event page (https://plus.google.com/events/ckl1neak16gksfkmkgudn1ne6g8) on FacebookTwitter and Google+, or by email at futurechats@gmail.com. So far we have answered or addressed every question submitted, and you can expect that trend to continue!

We look forward to seeing you there live on Thursday!

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Future Sci Chat #2: Alternative Energy



You might have seen or heard about Future Tech Chat, but have maybe found it to be a little inaccessible. I really hope you'll enjoy some of the science topics we plan to discuss on this new show (GMOs, robotics, pharmaceuticals, etc.), we have a lot of great stuff planned to discuss in the coming months.

In this episode, we will be getting into the nitty gritty details of alternative energy (basically anything that isn't "classical" non-renewable energy, like coal, oil and natural gas. There are a baffling number of problems with these resources' use in our world, and the alternatives are getting cheaper and more beneficial with each passing year. I really hope you enjoy our conversation!

We always love when we get questions from interested parties, and there is a Q&A section on Google+ where the chats are hosted, as well as in the comment section on YouTube.

Some links to check out:

https://plus.google.com/+AlexP/posts/9gNzhzcVMpZ
http://media.cns-snc.ca/ontarioelectricity/ontarioelectricity.html




I hope you'll tune in live at 5:00 PM EDT on Saturday, June 21st for the episode, and you'll be able to watch it in full above live or after it's aired.

You can direct any questions you might have to the Q&A on the event page (https://plus.google.com/events/c8ab48ipg1bshgkfs3v5ujdk1is), or on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. We look forward to seeing you here live!

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Future Tech Chat #15: Parenting (Father's Day Special)


Starts live at 12:30 PM EDT on Saturday June 14th, 2014!

In this special Father's Day episode of Future Tech Chat, we will be talking about the technology that goes in to all aspects of modern parenting. From watching TV with toddlers, to giving teens tablets, we will discuss all varieties of electronics that can be involved in the child rearing process.

This is a topic that should be relevant to most people in their 20s, as technology has become an integral part of all of our lives. I, for one, am very interested to find out what raising a child will be like given the huge increase in technology that is available while raising a child, and how parents are now expected to be tracking their child and knowing their whereabouts 24/7, when my childhood was such a free experience and all the generations up to mine were all fine with the more "laissez-faire" parenting.

Should be a good one!




I hope you'll tune in live at 12:30 PM EDT on Saturday, June 14th for the episode, and you'll be able to watch it in full above live or after it's aired.

You can direct any questions you might have to the Q&A on the event page (https://plus.google.com/events/csgv3crtinj971cahd48rsuknn4), or on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. We look forward to seeing you here live!

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Future Sci Chat #1: Electric Cars


Starts live at 12:30 PM EDT on Saturday June 7th, 2014!

Welcome everyone to Future Sci Chat. This weekend we will be having the first episode of this new series, covering electric cars. We will talk about reservations people have about going electric, difficulties companies have faced for a century trying to sell this idea, and the current limitations of the technology. All in all, it should be a very fun episode!

Some of you might have seen or heard about Future Tech Chat, but have maybe found it to be a little inaccessible. I really hope you'll enjoy some of the science topics we plan to discuss on this new show (alternative energy, GMOs, robotics, etc.), we have a lot of great stuff planned to discuss in the coming months.

This show will have the same format as Future Tech Chat, that being a 45-60 minute live show taped (usually) on Saturdays, but that can be watched at any time thereafter. We always love when we get questions from interested parties, and there is a Q&A section on Google+ where the chats are hosted, as well as in the comment section on YouTube.

Links:
teslamotors.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqSDWoAhvLU - Self-driving Car
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/electric-car-with-massive-range-in-demo-by-phinergy-alcoa-1.2664653 - Electric Car with Greatly Improved Range.





I hope you'll tune in live at 12:30 PM EDT on Saturday, June 7th for the episode, and you'll be able to watch it in full below live or after it's aired.

You can direct any questions you might have to the Q&A on the event page (https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cgm4ttq6b8c025plru7cru6naig), or on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. We look forward to seeing you here live!

Friday, May 30, 2014

So Close, Yet So Far

Obligatory wingtip pic

In case you don't already know, I'm currently away from my familiar Alberta stomping grounds as I spend a couple days away at a training course. This involved stuffing a carry-on roller bag on Wednesday night (what, you really think I'm going to trust baggage carriers to get a checked bag to me through a connecting flight?) and taking a cab to the airport at 4:30 AM yesterday morning with nothing but my pairs of socks and undies and the anticipation of a productive couple of days getting my learnin' on.

How is this related to technology you ask? Well let me tell you! Not only did Google Now reap my itinerary information from the document I received from my email and let me know when I had to leave my house to make my flight, tell me the weather in Houston and Dallas, and present to me my hotel info - but to my great delight, my flights offered in-flight WiFi! Man, I have never seen a 4-hour travel day go so quickly! $10.95 bought me all-day access to all the cat videos and doge pictures I could ask for at blazing-fast 0.5 Mbps upload/download speeds.

Okay so the connection speed wasn't breaking any records, but it beat thumbing through the SkyMall catalog and wondering if the life-size bronze bald eagle statue would fit in my living room.

Not only did the flights have WiFi, but the hotel has complimentary WiFi as well! This meant I could check in with the wifey once I arrived using Google Hangouts video chat, and was able to say goodnight to my baby daughter before going to sleep. I don't believe there has ever been a time in the history of our civilization when we've had this kind of opportunity to stay so connected even while being (and whilst traveling) hundreds (even thousands) of kilometers apart.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Future Tech Chat #14: Tablets

This episode of Future Tech Chat will cover tablets and e-readers, and discuss their implications on reading, learning, and media consumption in general.

Brand new teacher +Keegan on will be joining the show for an inside view of technology in education, among many other things. Blackberry Playbook fans should definitely tune in for this one!

I hope we can discuss the new Microsoft Surface Pro 3, and what we can expect tablets to be able to do for us in the near future.

I hope you'll tune in live at 12:30 PM EDT on Saturday, May 31st for the episode, and you'll be able to watch it in full below live or after it's aired.


As always, you can ask us any questions you might have on the Q&A on the event page (https://plus.google.com/events/ch5433rt3i7e5sdkfhdl6f37qu0), or on Facebook, Twitter and Google+, or by email at futuretechchat@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you there live!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Future Tech Chat #13: WWDC Predictions/Apple Inc.

This week's Future Tech Chat features +Carolyn Higman and I (+Rob Attrell). In this episode, we'll be discussing Apple's WorldWide Developer Conference, a yearly event for developers and media where Apple shows the world the software updates it has been working on for the last year, and usually a platform for them to launch new product lines.

There are always a LOT of rumours about Apple products this time of year, and it's typical that there is a lot of baseless nonsense thrown into the mix. In this episode we will try to cut through that and make sense of what you can expect at WWDC. There will be lots of interesting questions to deal with this time.

I hope you'll tune in live at 12:30 PM EDT on Saturday, May 24th for the episode, and you'll be able to watch it in full below live or after it's aired.


As always, you can ask us any questions you might have on the Q&A on the event page (https://plus.google.com/events/c614t8rhfpcn5aloeptn9oehr24), or on Facebook, Twitter and Google+, or by email at futuretechchat@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you there live!

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Future Tech Chat #12: Net Neutrality


This week's Future Tech Chat will feature +Mike Attrell and I (+Rob Attrell), along with special guest and one of the biggest proponents of Net Neutrality, +Keegan on.

We'll be discussing Net Neutrality this week, an issue that is hugely important for our time, with Sen. Al Franken equating it to free speech in the constitution in the US. In case you're not up to speed on what that could mean for you, check out these videos:


In case you're interested in learning more about Net Neutrality, here are a few links to get you started on the discussion this last week:

http://www.businessinsider.com/fcc-net-neutrality-decision-2014-5
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/05/network_neutrality_dinosaurs_like_time_warner_and_at_t_have_nothing_to_worry.html

Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAxMyTwmu_M - Vi Hart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtt2aSV8wdw - CGP Grey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc2aso6W7jQ - Vlogbrothers (Hank Green)
There's a ton to know about net neutrality, but this (and watching this episode of +Future Tech Chat), is a good start!

And some great news this week, this webcast is officially also a podcast! You can find the podcast version of the show on iTunes! (what!?) so if you find you don't have time to watch the video, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or at http://feeds.feedburner.com/FutureTechBlog for anybody without an Apple device. Obviously, the format of the show will stay visual since it's a live webcast, but we will try to be mindful of the fact that some people won't be able to see what's going on, and there will always be a link to the video in the podcast description.

I hope you'll tune in live at 12:30 PM EDT on Saturday, May 17th for the episode, and you'll be able to watch it in full below live or after it's aired.



As always, you can ask us any questions you might have on the Q&A in the event page (https://plus.google.com/events/c97l6m7ofqsu21rqhuipfj4qbgk) on Facebook, Twitter and Google+, or by email at futuretechchat@gmail.com. So far we have answered or addressed every question submitted, and you can expect that trend to continue!

We look forward to seeing you there live!