Back to Work

After some brief shucky-jivey, the boys resign themselves to discussing the big Apple announcement. They ponder why and how the message was delivered in the way it was as well as what it means . Dan has thoughts on modularization and Merlin reveals a new unified field theory. Then, yay, lots more responses to excellent questions from listeners. Links for this episode: Weezer - Paranoid Android - Y...

After some very important follow-up, and more than a little shucking and jiving, your hosts answer questions from listeners. This is a good one! Links for this episode: Brian Regan - Stand Up Comedy Full HD - Best Comedian Ever - YouTube Bacon Ray - “Tomfoolery” 7-inch (AAJ Records, 1995) Source of that song "Sundays in a Row" AND the Back to Work closing theme. Download 'em for free! Hard Boiled...

This week, Dan and Merlin have one of their beloved "odds and sods" episodes. Something for everyone in this diverse and bewildering episode. " Same day delivery! " Links for this episode: Bacon Ray - “Tomfoolery” 7-inch (AAJ Records, 1995) Source of that song "Sundays in a Row" AND the Back to Work closing theme. Download 'em for free! Sorry for the Delayed Response - The New Yorker A Prairie Hom...

TOPIC : "Delivery Attempted." This week, Merlin struggles with his coffee-making options, and Dan recalls his days of fishing lures. USPS deliveries, several TV shows, and Wolverine's disturbing bone claws are also discussed. Listener Jackson writes in to ask about dealing with failings of self-discipline. Links for this episode: Stop Auto-Play Videos from Annoying You in Your Browser on macOS | K...

TOPIC : "Remember this film is supposed to be a comedy." This week: Dan struggles with his progressive lenses, but he really liked the movie, Logan . Merlin's daughter has made four piles, and he finally accepts that he really should be watching more movies for his "work." Then, there's follow-up on that crazy S3 typo and some pretty poor Oscars® OPSEC. Then we're on to answering listener feedback...

TOPIC : You can't perfect life. This week opens with the carnage of today's Amazon S3 problems and why so much of the internet seems broken. A brief history of outage monitoring is provided and a praxis for improving the process is proposed. Dan and Merlin debate what can be learned from how kids and other non-olds use technology "wrong." Should they be learning from us or should we be learning fr...

TOPIC : You're living in the future! This week, Merlin is in a bit of a tizzy as he tries to make coffee, redo his ads, and change his productivity system at the same time. Todoist and the evolving landscape of task apps are discussed. Dan likes Trello and Merlin likes tearing everything down and maybe just starting over. iPhone call ID and blocking apps get the treatment and Merlin has some recom...

TOPIC : Alice hopes to hear from you. This week's episode is packed—literally, packed —with useful tips, tricks, and even a crazy challenge. Psyching yourself into falling asleep, learning how to breathe, using your iPhone's secret trackpad, and a gauntlet thrown (or maybe dropped?) to make yourself do everything with your voice for a day. Links for this episode: Ungainly X-Mann Meetup #15 — Merli...

TOPIC : My place is here—I fight with you! This week, Dan and Merlin cover a meetup announcement, Merlin's Les Mis obsession, Dan's new Hackintosh Method , and the Benjamin Family's slippery bar problem. Merlin advocates for "The Tiny Life Improvement Project." Pens and pencils are recommended, desks are discussed, and LBJ speaks out about his bespoke slack needs. The boys talk about the FTC's act...

TOPIC : Celebrating your successful failures. This week, Dan and Merlin kick off with discussion of night bears, the ascendance of Netflix, and some very nice emails from listeners. Merlin also shares an important life hack for Twitter. Merlin brings in a new thought technology via Jen Kirkman guesting on John Moe's wonderful podcast, The Hilarious World of Depression : learning how to talk back t...

TOPIC : Act like you're somebody that you like. This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the evolution of voice recognition and touch interfaces and reminisce on the early days of making the turtle move. Dan brings in the topic of how fears of both failure and success lead to missed opportunities. Your hosts talk about how to track down the nagging bad feelings about these regrets and troubleshoot wha...

TOPIC : Youth is the aberration. This week, Dan provides updates on his Hackintosh project, which leads to a discussion of finding reviews and advice with context. The hosts realize, acknowledge, and quickly move past their program’s 6th anniversary, spending more time on that drum sound Merlin makes with his mouth. Recent email pitches are discussed, and advice is offered on smarter ways to pitch...

TOPIC : Reframing the conversation with yourself. This week, Merlin talks about his weird mortgage ads and compliments the literally fancy pants he got from the silver underpants people. Suggestions are offered for running a dehumidifier in a “smart home.” Dan and Merlin have a lot to say about terlets (hey, it’s been a while). Merlin shares a service for intelligently correlating personal trackin...

TOPIC : This is a feeling I'm feeling. This week, your hosts look at the announcement of Dish's new Air TV box, along with the rapidly evolving landscape for cord-cutters. Also, fantasies of monk holes are entertained. The big topic this week is a discussion of a listener's question about the role of positive thinking. [This is a good one.] Links for this episode: Dish unveils a 4K Android TV stre...

This is the Best of 2016 Compilation Episode, featuring your favorite moments of the show over the last 12 months. Each clip was suggested and submitted by you, our amazing listeners. Have a great new year! Links for this episode: Jane Krakowski - Wikipedia Brought to you by: FreshBooks (FreshBooks is offering a 30 day, unrestricted free trial. Just go to FreshBooks.com/backtowork and enter Back t...

TOPIC : Is Tim firing us? This week, Dan and Merlin talk about the challenge of dealing with email that's only kind of from a real person. There's some follow-up on Apple and wishing they'd just give us a "Get out of here!" Merlin recommends some podcasts and a terrific new clipboard manager from Tapbots. Dan talks about why he finally gave in and treated his eyes to a bigger phone. Just don't get...

This week, the boys talk about slicing sand, unboxing videos, Overwatch, and some recommended TV viewing. Odds and sods, as you say. Main topic is follow-up re: listener feedback on recent Apple conversations. Links for this episode: Hour of Code | Disney Partners LOVE BOAT INSANITY Satisfying Sand Videos (@icutsand) • Instagram photos and videos Amazon.com: moon sand: Toys & Games Overwatch A...

TOPIC : Vaio Life! This week, Dan and Merlin respond to listener feedback and talk about the tightrope walk of caffeine consumption. Merlin suggests a new AudioDharma talk, which leads to a discussion of whether you have to be an X to learn about Y . Spoiler Alert: you don't . Dan updates us on his son's hot new gaming PC, and your hosts can't stop themselves from ruminating (again, again ) on why...

TOPIC : Kipple and Boomboxes This week Dan and Merlin start by talking about purging junk and answering listener feedback about kids and phones and teachers dealing with email. Main topic this week is whither Apple ? Based on how the company is evolving, who do we think their future products will be for? Links for this episode: Plex Gets Its Own Kodi Add-On, Plex Media Player Now Available to Ever...

TOPIC : Your "backstage" vs. their "onstage" This week, Merlin shares some useful thoughts (via Patrick Rothfuss ) on being careful about how we compare ourselves to others. The hosts also share some terrific listener suggestions for fantasy books for kids. Also, Dan has strong feelings about poultry. Links for this episode: Diffen - Compare Anything. Diffen. Discern. Decide. Diffen:About - Differ...

This week, Dan and Merlin do another of their beloved Odds 'n Sods episodes, with tons of great recommendations for movies, TV, apps, services, and nighttime medical appliances. Links for this episode: Word to Markdown Converter The Gyroscope App · your health tracking dashboard Snapseed - Wikipedia plantar fasciitis sleeping - Google Search Junecloud A Wrinkle in Time - Wikipedia Satanists &...

This week, Dan and Merlin are a little out of sorts, so, after some chat and followup, they talk about some of the things that make them happy. Plus, awesome Mac key commands. Links for this episode: GitHub - Obbut/iCloud-Control: User-controlled selective sync for iCloud Drive The Talk Show: Ep. 172, With Special Guest Merlin Mann Merlin Mann returns to the show to discuss the election, by which...

TOPIC : Leaving Dropbox Vegas Merlin survives a sleepover, and Dan has a concern about Dropbox. Links for this episode: Microsoft OneDrive iCloud - iCloud Drive - Apple Google Drive - Cloud Storage & File Backup for Photos, Docs & More SpiderOak Secure File Sharing, Storage, and Collaboration | Box Syncthing Insync is Google Drive sync & backup with multiple account support ChronoSync...

Dan's still a little under the weather What home automation is good at right now (and what it mostly isn't) Updates on Hiya and call-blocking apps not working so much Merlin is getting pretty good at making Trump hands Hey! Follow-up and listener questions! Listener Greg wisely reframes the communication problem If you want to help people: offer something specific John Siracusa just wants toast in...

TOPIC : How to pester people responsibly. Dan's a little under the weather. Maybe kids should be in balls. Who knows? " Wrap a hot towel around your head ." Westworld . It's definitely a thing. Follow-up… TaskPaper 3.5 is awesome . Yes . There are good board games. Sorry about that. How Merlin made Candyland more interesting. But only a little. Followup on smoke detectors. What a mess! More advice...