YATS 44: Wazer Shot

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“That industry is ripe for disruption.”

Come get your fresh YATS. I’m Ant Pruitt and this is episode 44 of Yet Another Tech Show. Thanks for coming out to check out our show and joining Mat Lee, Mike Rothman, Larry Press and myself. We’re here to bring you informative yet entertaining tech discussions. You’re gonna love our show. We have some guests joining us this week. We have Anthony Farrior joining us from AreYouAnAndroid.com as well as folks from SpikedStudio, Chris Miller and Kathy Brown, in the house this week. We appreciated them joining our show and talking some entertaining tech this week. Check out the YATS team by going to our Crew page above.

One of Mat’s favorite apps for mapping and navigation, Waze, has been updated and it is continuing to look like a game changer in navigation tools. You now get real-time notification of streets closing in your area. As long as the other users of the Waze (a.k.a. “Wazers”) are reporting road closures, the data will be reported in real-time. We look at differences between Waze and other services such as Google Maps.

Ok, is there something relevant to talk about with BlackBerry? Let me think. Well Chris and Kathy were able share some news on Android apps that were ported to BlackBerry 10. BlackBerry has to intrigue the masses by getting popular apps in its ecosystem. BlackBerry touts a nicer payout to developers, but the apps also cost more to the consumer. Kathy shared concerns with ported Android apps to BlackBerry 10 as she mentions the apps don’t seem to be updated once they’re ported. As if there’s no true motivation to further develop for the ecosystem. Time will tell what’s to be said of BlackBerry.

CBS is rumored to be considering original content to deliver online to its customers. Sounds familiar? Neflix has had success with this model based on the ratings of its series House of Cards. There has to be more to this strategy. CBS makes billions of dollars in revenues from syndication and ads each year. Does the broadcast giant want to risk ruining relationships with its current partners for getting content to the masses? The YATS panel feels this is a good thing in the news. Maybe we are all getting closer to better content and better rates by way of cutting cable costs.

Spotify has announced a its “follow” feature in it’s desktop application. I found it interesting that Spotify seems to be trying to get away from the farm of users in Facebook. Spotify was originally integrated with Facebook for its user base. Mat asks what happens if Google gets into the music streaming game. Not streaming of your own library, but streaming radio-like service.

We have discussed the Leap Controller several episodes back. This is a device that’s approximately four inches in length that acts as a track bar for your computer. Similar to the functionality of the XBox 360 Kinect, this device will allow you to control your computer with gestures. You can even gesture to “write” on the screen similar to how a stylus performs on capacitive screens. I wonder if the Leap Controller will be a gimmicky fad or will it be useful for the long run. Even the Kinect has lost some of its luster and glory for gameplay. The device will be available in mid May of this year at Best Buy.

We now have some realistic trips to Mars planned. Well maybe not realistic, but somewhat. Dennis Tito has devised a plan to allow an 18 month “visitation” to Mars. The trip would be round-trip in 18 months. One caveat, the travel doesn’t stop in Mars. It’s just a fly by. Is this worth the trip?

Larry has shared more MOOC information he’s dug up. More universities around the world are coming online with this education model. Coursera has added 17 universities to its list of collaborators almost doubling its collaborators list up to 33 total. As an educator, Larry is passionate about these opportunities being made easily available to the masses.

Remember the meteor hitting Russia the other week? Well more scientist have stated that the magnitude of the sonic boom was “earth shaking” to say the least. Sensors from Greenland to Antarctica caught the boom’s reading making it the largest registered reading in history.

That wraps up this week’s episode of Yet Another Tech Show. Thank you all for the continued support of our podcast. We have fun doing this each week and appreciate you listening. Now that you listened to our show, tell someone else to check us out as well. You can find us on the major social networks under our social buttons above on the upper right of the page. Or you can subscribe via RSS and iTunes. Thanks YATS Squadron!

Check out the hangout video below. If you want to watch us live, check out YATS tv Wednesday nights.