Technically Working

Audio Gear Talk Damashe kicks off with an audio interface mishap. He shipped most of his demo gear to Austin for the NFB National Convention, including his usual recorder, and had to quickly set up the Zoom H5 Studio instead. After a few minutes of confusion over gain knobs, the fix turned out to be simple: turn the right one. He walks through his thoughts on the Zoom H1, H4, H5 Studio, H6, H6 Stu...

What We Cover This Week <h4>Earshot Development Progress and the Claude Workflow</h4> Michael walks through where the Earshot podcast app stands after another round of Claude-assisted development. The improvements keep landing, the test loop is tightening, and Michael shares what's working in the build process. If you want to kick the tires yourself, the public TestFlight link is below...

Recorded on Father's Day, episode 168 opens with Michael and Damashe wishing each other a happy Father's Day before diving into everything going on in the world of AI, coding agents, Earshot, and more. Support the Show If you enjoy Technically Working, you can make a one-time tip or set up a recurring subscription at technicallyworking.show. Click the support link to get started. The Big Earshot N...

This week, Mike and Damashe dig into Earshot build 99, react to WWDC 26, and ask the big question: are AI agent devices actually ready to replace your phone? Spoiler: your ride might end up in the wrong city. What We Talked About Earshot Update - Build 99 The new alphabetical library picker is live, with a count of how many podcasts are under each letter Per-podcast playback speed is now working:...

Passkeys are supposed to make your life easier. So why is Amazon still asking for a six-digit code after you just proved who you are with one? This week, Michael and Damashe dig into what companies are getting right and wrong with passkey implementation, including PayPal's rocky start and how one hardware security key can save you from a bad day on macOS. They also talk about Damashe's new office...

Michael kicks things off from a proper setup. Damashe kicks things off from a boom arm clamped to his nightstand — because he's mid-move and the show must go on. From there, the conversation covers a lot of ground: Michael is beta testing Quill, a new cross-platform Markdown writing app from BITS that runs on Mac and Windows, written entirely in Python. Damashe shares a LaunchBar trick he'd never...

Michael's been frustrated with his current podcast app for months, so he did what any reasonable person would do: opened Claude, wrote a PRD, and started building. Thirty-six versions later, there's a working iOS podcast app with a cross-platform plan, real testers giving feedback, and a list of features pulled straight from what blind podcast listeners actually want. We get into the build process...

Michael and Damashe catch up from two different locations this week. Damashe is recording from a hotel room in Orlando with the Beta 87A he found at the bottom of his AT Guys backpack. Michael shares an exciting podcast launch and a new writing experiment on Substack. Topics covered in this episode: ACB National Convention 2026 in St. Louis: registration opens May 28 for members, June 4 for non-me...

Mike's back from a workation and Damashe is recording from a cardboard box in his old office because the new office already isn't big enough. We get into audio app updates, the travel boom arm setup, a new podcast project called Our Perspective, and answer a listener question about starting an email list without breaking the bank. Damashe shares the news that he's already moved to a bigger space,...

Technically Working Episode 161: If I Can't Hear Me, They Can't Hear Me Episode 161 comes to you from a hotel room. Michael is on the road with Mallory, recording over hotel Wi-Fi with the DJI wireless mics, and Damashe is at his desk for one last show before move day. What started as a check-in turned into a full walkthrough of portable audio setups, why monitoring yourself matters, and the boom...

Technically Working Episode 160: Push to Talk, Pull to Cloud Episode 160 opens with the numbers. Total downloads across the lifetime of the show have hit 33,505, with episode 159 pulling 137 listens and episode 158 sitting at 157 after 14 days. The average is holding around 150 per episode and has been gradually climbing even without any real marketing. Word of mouth and the occasional Mastodon po...

TW 159: Zoom Bloat, NVDA Wins, and the Great BlindShell Retreat Mike and Damashe catch up on a Wednesday (weird, we know). Damashe wraps up his BlindShell experiment after about three weeks, shares news about a new commercial office space, and both hosts get into why Zoom keeps bolting on features nobody asked for. Mike talks about his growing comfort with NVDA, useful add-ons he's found, and what...

Michael's audio is doubled and nobody knows why. What starts as a deep dive into Audio Hijack routing, virtual devices, and a suspicious SoundSource redirect turns into a full troubleshooting session that anyone running a complex audio setup will relate to. Damashe shows up with a new Earthworks Ethos microphone and the two get into mic comparisons, boom arm weight limits, and whether the RE-20 is...

Episode 157 opens with a VoiceOver volume bug on Michael's Mac that resets to 100 percent every time he command tabs. Damashe suggests the nuclear option: reset your VoiceOver settings. Back them up first. From there, Damashe gets into his Blindshell Classic 3 experiment. He's been using it as his actual work phone, which means carrying it when he leaves the house, taking calls on it, and finding...

Episode 156 opens with some breaking Apple news: the Mac Pro is officially dead. Damashe breaks down why that decision probably came down to Apple Silicon's unified memory architecture and what it means for professionals who relied on the Mac Pro's expandability. We trace the full arc from the original cheese grater to the ill-fated trash can and back again, and talk about why the Mac Studio is li...

Damashe and Michael are back for episode 155 of Technically Working, and this one is packed. They start by addressing the episode 153 publishing mishap where Michael's audio track was accidentally left out of the Auphonic template, leaving listeners with a two-person conversation missing one of the people. They break down exactly what happened, how their podcast production workflow contributed to...

Michael and Damashe open with a hard-learned lesson about database backups after an update to the Builder tool wipes fresh data, and why separating your database from your app files matters more than you think. From there, the episode shifts into the next chapter of the audio gear mini-series: a thorough look at the Focusrite Vocaster 1 and 2. The hosts cover what makes these interfaces stand out...

Episode Summary This week, Michael and Damashe are joined by Chris, an assistive technology professional who is one of the few people in the accessibility community using both of the major multi-line Braille displays currently on the market: the APH Monarch and the DotPad X. The conversation covers what these devices do, how they compare, and how Chris is using them in her teaching and personal li...

2. Show Notes Episode 152 - Technically Working Michael and Damashe are back with a packed episode covering gear, passwords, transactional email, and how to get the most out of your AI tools. Plus, Mike hits a milestone and there's a guest teased for next week. Topics covered: Mic Talk (Mini-Series Continues) Damashe is back on the Audio-Technica ATR 2005 over USB, and explains why this style of m...

This week, Damashe and Michael dive into a hands-on comparison of the DJI Mic Mini and DJI Mic 2, talking through what makes these wireless lapel mics shine for video content and where they fall short for audio-only podcasting. You'll hear Damashe's mic in action throughout the episode. Damashe kicks off a new series where he'll rotate through several audio interfaces, using the same Beta 87A micr...

Episode 150 - Published February 15, 2026 Michael and Damashe celebrate episode 150 with a technical troubleshooting session that turns into a masterclass on VoiceOver settings, Audio Hijack experimentation, and podcast marketing strategies. In This Episode: VoiceOver Menu Fix (Critical for Mac Users) The solution to broken menu bar navigation in VoiceOver Why "Mouse pointer follows VoiceOver curs...

Episode 149: Hiring Claude as a $100 Virtual Assistant Episode Description This week, Damashe considers canceling his Claude subscription... only to immediately sign up for a more expensive plan to hire Claude as his virtual assistant. Meanwhile, Michael tackles a Stream Deck accessibility project with help from Claude Code, and the guys make potentially dangerous plans to unleash OpenClaw on thei...

Show Notes This episode covers a wide range of real-world tech experiments, AI tools, and the line between helpful automation and “maybe don’t give that full access yet.” We start with money talk (not advice). Damashe shares that he finally opened a Fidelity account and bought his first stock, while Michael talks about using watch lists and trade notifications. They also explore how accessible inv...

This week starts nerdy and only gets nerdier in the best way. Michael and Damashe bounce from Apple rumors to AI customer service fails, with plenty of practical tech talk in between. 🤖 Apple, AI, and the Future of Siri We dig into the rumors around Apple’s AI direction and what it might really mean for Siri, a possible Home hub device, and Apple’s partnership with Google’s AI models. Are we fina...

Show notes (Technically Working, Episode 146) This week starts with a dramatic voice demo and turns into a practical conversation about TTS quality, accessibility, and the friction that slows down real work. In this episode, we talk about: More expressive on-device voices (and why “emotion” in TTS can be impressive but unpredictable) Why some AI voices drift over long reads (like losing low end af...