Goodbye to All That
Uncanny Valley | WIRED10 Joulu 2021

Goodbye to All That

Good thing 2021 was the year we fixed all of the brokenness of 2020, huh? OK, not even close. But for some people, 2021 was a year of reassessing, recommitting (or resigning), and reconnecting. And technology was a big part of that, whether through cloud services that kept us all occupied and sane, or game-changing vaccines that let us actually hug some of our friends and family members again.

On this week’s Gadget Lab, Michael Calore and Lauren Goode are joined by Adrienne So and Julian Chokkattu to discuss which tech products or services had the most impact on their lives in 2021—for better or worse. And while the Gadget Lab team knows better than to make any bold predictions or resolutions for 2022 (who knows what will happen next year!), they offer some tips for establishing a healthier relationship with tech in the new year.

Show Notes:

Read more about cloud gaming, e-scooters, Peloton, and unplugging from the internet.

Recommendations:

This week’s tech recommendations … all have nothing to do with tech. Adrienne recommends Andrzej Sapkowski’s book series The Witcher book for its dry, nihilistic humor. Julian recommends Fine & Raw Chocolate, both for eating and drinking. Lauren recommends subscribing to physical magazines, such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and, you know, WIRED. Mike recommends Pilsner beer, which is delicious and refreshingly low in alcohol content.

Adrienne So can be found on Twitter @adriennemso. Julian Chokkattu is @JulianChokkattu. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@booneashworth). Our theme music is by Solar Keys.

If you have feedback about the show, or just want to enter to win a $50 gift card, take our brief listener survey here.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Jaksot(426)

The Making of Adam Savage

The Making of Adam Savage

You might know Adam Savage as the co-host of the television show MythBusters, as the editor of Tested.com, or as the host of countless web videos that show him building machines, sewing costumes for C...

3 Touko 201951min

Preserving Your Right to Repair Your Gadgets

Preserving Your Right to Repair Your Gadgets

What happens when your drop your phone and shatter the screen? Or when its battery starts to grow noticeably weaker? These common technological woes are things that you should be able to remedy yourse...

19 Huhti 20191h 8min

What Happens to Uber After Its IPO?

What Happens to Uber After Its IPO?

Uber filed to go public this week. No big surprise there; everyone in the industry has been waiting months for the ride-hailing giant to hit the accelerator on its IPO. What did raise an eyebrow were ...

12 Huhti 201945min

Introducing Citadel Dropouts: A Game of Thrones Podcast

Introducing Citadel Dropouts: A Game of Thrones Podcast

We’re confused about what exactly this hoped-for Targaryen Restoration is about, politically. And is Game of Thrones, like, good anymore? Laura Hudson and Spencer Ackerman preview the political and so...

12 Huhti 201946min

Reporting From Syria

Reporting From Syria

This week, we’re joined by a special guest: freelance war correspondent Kenneth R. Rosen. Ken is working on a series of stories for WIRED about the reconstruction efforts in Syria. The first of Ken’s ...

5 Huhti 201921min

The Case for Male Birth Control

The Case for Male Birth Control

Hormonal male contraception is not a new idea––in fact, researchers have been working on solutions for men the pill was invented for women. But early tests around male contraceptives were inconclusive...

29 Maalis 201947min

Game On at Google

Game On at Google

Google’s Project Stream, first unveiled last October, gave gamers a taste of what it would be like to stream heavy games directly from the cloud – from a Chrome browser, even. That effort has now evol...

22 Maalis 201948min

Flickr Cofounder Questions Big Tech

Flickr Cofounder Questions Big Tech

“Should this exist?” is not typically a question that technologists ask themselves, Caterina Fake says. The Flickr cofounder-turned-investor says that most entrepreneurs and engineers will ask themsel...

15 Maalis 20191h 7min