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Episode 26 - Gary vs. The Reality Distortion Field - 9/1/2010

This week Will, Norm, and Gary talk about the new iPods, the update to AppleTV, iTunes 10 (and Ping), the crazy new Xbox 360 controller, the third-gen Kindle, the T-Mobile G2, Cyanogen 6.0, and a whole lot more, on this week's episode.

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16 Comments
Dude on Sept. 1, 2010
Woo, another podcast :)
 
Keep up the great work guys.
W0lfbl1tzers on Sept. 1, 2010
Sweet
simian online on Sept. 2, 2010
Gotta say I very nearly stopped listening the first time I heard 'retina display'.
Bowlby on Sept. 2, 2010
The thing is with the Android system is that those who don't want to fiddle around with rooting, homebrew and updates don't have to. What makes it mass market is that it does what iOS does but on cheaper handsets/call plans and on a variety of networks. As long as iPhone keeps its high price and restricts itself by network it will never be mainstream and will remain a niche product.
AaronChance on Sept. 2, 2010
Surprised you guys were wanting Square-Enix to release a fully featured JRPG on iphone when they already have. Chaos Rings is a 20+ hour game that controls great and sold pretty well on release for $13. I believe there's an ipad version now. There's also a port of a PSP RPG, Crimson Gem Saga, which is about as full fledged as you can get. The controls are poor, but that's more of a fault of a poor port than any problem with the device. Other impressive games would be the two Cave shooters, Espgaluda 2 and DoDonPachi R, which sport fantastic graphics, incredible controls, and many features.
 
Then there are games like Street Fighter 4, Command & Conquer, Civilization Rev, and GTA: Chinatown that might not quite match the level of their originals, especially in the case of the first two, but offer a lot of content and gameplay beyond the five minute bursts of most iphone games. Just about all of these games have originally sold for $10 or more, and have been successful. Square is even bringing Final Fantasy Tactics and one of the Mana games to iphone in the relatively near future.
 
So while the selection for DS level games is currently lacking, there are already a number of strong titles available, and more to come in the future.
Scotty_Gun on Sept. 2, 2010
As much as I like the whole tested brand, Will never hesitates to say something that pisses me off.  This week's gem was in the context of entertainment news.  Will says he likes to read Entertainment Weekly, because it's a one stop source for everything thats coming out. 

"That's the only reason I read entertainment weekly, is to know what's coming out, without reading 15 million different websites.  Who reads the internet, really?"

Okay, Entertainment Weekly still has some value.  Fair enough.  Who reads the internet?  For starters, the users of this site.  Will's attitude and outlook on the blogosphere disturbs me.  For someone who is trying to make a living writing on the internet, you would think he wouldn't be so down on the format.
Tartarus on Sept. 2, 2010
So many WM podcasts too little time.
sdreelin on Sept. 2, 2010

Why would anyone want to carry a 160 Gb iPod Classic? Well here are my reasons. I started with the 4 Gb mini and quickly ran out of room for my music. It was frustrating trying to figure out what I wanted to load and what I wanted to leave behind. So I upgraded to the Classic. I don't have to think about what to put in there...I just synch it all....music, movies, audiobooks, podcasts, etc... You can also use the Classic as a USB drive, so I can store other documents and programs on there to transfer between computers. With everything I have in iTunes loaded in there, now I have a backup of my iTunes should my PC die. An added bonus....the iPod Classic isn't always in the same place as the PC so if the house burns down while I'm out, I haven't lost my whole iTunes collection. If I go on vacation, I load it up with movies and bring along the video cable to watch on a TV. I'm never having to worry about the room. Now click wheel vs. touch screen - I use my iPod Classic religiously in my car and it's much easier to keep my eyes on the road and use the click wheel to jump to the next song, pause or skip ahead. So I think the Classic does have a place, even if it's a niche market group.
Lepton on Sept. 2, 2010
 You gents are such technology fanboys.  You are all OK with paying 180 dollars for an overglorified mp3 player in the form of the 16GB Nano when you can get a iPhone 4 8GB on contract for 200 bucks???!!!  Are you all insane?!!!!  What's the value proposition here?  One could buy a DS or a PSP for less than that or any of the high end Android phones on contract for the same amount of money.  For 180 dollars one could buy any number of devices with a larger screen that run apps or plays games.  How can the Nano possibly be worth 180 dollars for the functionality that you receive at that price point?    
will on Sept. 2, 2010
@Lepton: $200 iPhone on contract + ($70-120/month plan X 24 months) = between $2000 - $3000. That's substantially more than $150 for an iPod.  For people who don't want to pony up for a smartphone + dataplan, $150 is highly compelling. And, if you're like me, my smartphone is simply too big to run with, so a Shuffle or Nano is pretty compelling. 
 
@Scotty_Gun: I think that's pretty clearly a joke. I think that the blogosphere is a very valuable tool and think that the Internet is the most interesting thing happening in media today. After all, I quit my cushy job at a print magazine to come work on the web. I read EW because I don't care enough about the stuff that they cover to follow it every single day. I can skim the mag in a few minutes to find the stuff that's of interest to me. To be 100% clear, I am very much not down on the format or I wouldn't have left my comfortable, stable job to work at an Internet startup ;) 
   
@Bowlby said:
" The thing is with the Android system is that those who don't want to fiddle around with rooting, homebrew and updates don't have to. What makes it mass market is that it does what iOS does but on cheaper handsets/call plans and on a variety of networks. As long as iPhone keeps its high price and restricts itself by network it will never be mainstream and will remain a niche product. "
Yes, this!

@AaronChance: Good info. I'll give Chaos Rings a try.
Scooper on Sept. 2, 2010
Great podcast again but no Ana is bad!
RobReindl on Sept. 2, 2010
Thanks for another great pod cast.
will on Sept. 2, 2010
@Scooper: Ana will return in You Only Live Twice. 
stonyman65 on Sept. 2, 2010
@will:  Yeah we want Ana on the podcast! she's awesome.
LikeABossk on Sept. 2, 2010
I'll have to give this a listen and find out myself, but does Gaz respond to Gordon's comments?
Scooper on Sept. 3, 2010
@will: She was pretty good in the first movie so I got high expectations.
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Archive
Episode 25 - Goat Prawn - 8/26/2010

Will, Norm, Ana, and Matt sit down to talk tech on this week's show. Matt goes hands-on with Windows Phone 7, Will rants about Blu-ray load times, Norm wonders what Apple's going to show on September 1, and Ana talks about treating life like a RPG. All that, plus our first audio reader question, general silliness, a truly awful joke, and a whole lot more, on this week's episode of This is Only a Test.

Episode 24 - Tested vs. Unsexy News Week - 08/19/2010

This week Norm, Will, and Ana tackle the unsexiest news week so far this year, tackling Facebook Places, Intel buying McAfee, and a whole bunch of reader questions on this week's unsexy episode of This is Only a Test.

Episode 23 - It's Just Like Solomon - 8/11/2010

Will, Norm, and Gary have another fabulous conversation, where they run down the latest rumors about the next AppleTV, the brand-new Droid 2, why Will's avoiding the Dell Streak, the current feeling about Microsoft's Kinect, and a whole lot more. Also, we talk about crazy liquids.

Episode 22 - The Norville Barnes Appreciation Episode - 8/5/2010

This week Will and Norm are joined by Gary Whitta wherein they discuss an absolutely astounding amount of news. Topics include the new Kindle 3, the Blackberry Torch, the increasing sales of Android, how magic the Magic Trackpad really is, cold brewing coffee, Siggraph, some iPod rumors, Froyo updates for old phones, and a whole lot more. PUT THIS IN YOUR EARS.

Episode 21 - Massive Outtakes - 7/28/2010

Norm makes his triumphant return, and the gang celebrates by talking tech. On the docket this week: the Samsung Captivate, the Library of Congress vs. the DMCA, new stuff from Apple, Panasonic's crazy 3D camera, reader questions, and a whole lot more!

Episode 20 - This is a Zed-Free Zone - 7/22/2010

Norm's on the road at Comic-Con, "working hard" and taking lots of pictures of scantily clad cosplayers down at Comic-Con, while Will is holding down the home office. In his stead, Tested.com's Matt Braga is signing in, and he and Will talk about Alien Swarm, the Tested TF2 server, the current crop of Android phones, the problem wtih the iPhone 4, and then take a whole lot of reader questions.

Episode 19 - Can We Stop Talking About the iPhone 4's Antenna?

On this week's show, Will sits down with Gary Whitta (who's subbing in while Norm has a cold) and talks about 1 vs. 100, the Team Fortress Engineer update, and the never-ending controversy around the iPhone 4's antenna death grip.

Episode 18 - We've Got New Digs Baby! - 7/8/2010

We've moved! We've sunny Sausalito for the fog-shrouded shores of San Francisco. Yes, our new offices are in a basement, but it's a really, really awesome basement, with a bar. We talked about the new office, all the stuff we've gotten into in the last two weeks, and all the tech news that's happened since then--Froyo is out and in people's hands, Firefox 4 went beta, YouTube launched a living room-friendly feature, and the Kin met an untimely end. All that, and a whole mess of reader questions on this week's episode of This is Only a Test.

Episode 17 - iPhone 4 is Here! - 6/23/2010

The iPhone 4 has arrived, so Norm, Will, and special guest Gary Whitta sit down to talk about the latest version of Apple's wunderphone, plus all the latest news, including details about the imminent release of Froyo, the svelte new Xbox 360 S, and Motorola's super-sized Droid X.

Episode 16 - Tested Takes on the Electronic Three - 6/17/2010

The Tested crew took a magical day trip to LA to see what hardware E3 had to offer. Here's all the info you wanted to know about the Nintendo 3DS, Microsoft's new Xbox 360 design and Kinect, the new Rock Band 3 hardware plus talk about Sony's E3 offerings and the imminent OnLive launch.

Episode 15 - This Week in iNews

It's WWDC week, so that means it's finally time for the official reveal of the iPhone 4 and iOS 4. Will, Norm, and a special guest talk about all the latest Apple news, plus a whole lot more, including the latest on Windows Home Server, the HTC Droid Incredible, and of course, churros. All that, plus the latest on the WDTV Live, RIAA vs. Limewire, and Bing's Treasure Maps, on this week's episode of This is Only a Test.

Episode 14 - A Day Late and a Dollar Short - 6/3/2010

Computex! D8! Ballmer! Jobs! Zuckerberg! Tablets! Lots and lots of tablets! It's time for another riveting episode of the This is Only a Test, where we discuss all the days news, enjoy a tasty beverage or two, and still get done in time to take out the trash--proverbially speaking, of course.

Episode 13 - Maker Faire is Full of Wonder - 5/27/2010

Will and Norm recount their adventures at Maker Faire 2010, talk about the amazing Gothic Rocketship and the Mondo Spider, as well as the new info on Android Froyo, Google TV, J Allard and Robbie Bach leaving Microsoft, and a whole lot more, on this weeks episode of This is Only a Test.

Episode 12 - Lobot Strikes Back - 5/20/2010

Big news today on the Google front. Will and Norm talk about the new WebM video codec, Froyo dreams, Google Chrome's new app store, more new iPhone OS 4 news, the latest iPod Touch rumor, the Twitter client formerly known as Tweetie, and tech to help you exercise better. All that, plus reader questions in this week's episode of This is Only a Test.

Episode 11 - The Eleventh Episode Spectacular - 5/13/2010

On a very special celebration of their 11th episode, Will and Norm talk about a bunch of stuff, including the Sony Dash and the history of alarm clocks, rumor's of Google's tablet, pricing for the Evo 4g, the second iPhone that Apple lost track of, and the upcoming Firefox 4.0. All that, plus lunch options and a brief interlude on Friendster's problems, on this week's episode of This is Only a Test.

Episode 10 - What's the Right Price for a Kin? - 5/6/2010

This week, the Tested crew talks about the KIN One and Two, HP's new Envy notebooks, some more iPhone OS 4 news, the new Netflix UI for Roku owners, Bumptop and Google, Google's New UI, and a little about Chrome 5. Check it out.

Episode 9 - Rest in Peace Bill - 4/29/2010

Big happenings in the tech world this week. Norm and Will talk about HP buying Palm, the cancellation of Courier, Steve Jobs' memo on Flash, the HTC Incredible, Ubuntu 10.04, and Flash acceleration on Mac. All that, plus reader questions and a lot of talk about the MakerBot on this week's episode of This is Only a Test.

Episode 8 - The Week of 1000 Leaks - 4/22/2010

All sorts of exciting stuff happened this week. Norm and Will talked about a whole lotta leaks. Apple's next-gen iPhone leaked to Gizmodo, Dell's next-gen tablets and cell phones leaked to Engadget, and Hulu's plans for a pay-service leaked to the LA Times. All that, plus listener questions on this week's This is Only a Test.

Episode 7 - Saved by the Ustream - 4/15/2010

Sorry for the shitty audio quality this week, there was an accident with a time machine, three condoms, and our new podcasting mixer that resulted in stripping the audio from a FLV and editing that to make a podcast. This week, we talk about a ton of stuff that isn't the iPad, answer reader questions, and eat pie.

Episode 6 - Oops, We Did It Again - 4/8/2010

This week, Norm and Will are joined by special guest, Gary Whitta--editor, screenwriter, and Apple enthusiast--to talk iPad, iPhone OS 4.0, and coffee on an almost exclusively Apple podcast. Despite some technical difficulties that were entirely Will's fault, the show must go on, and Norm's audio comes in about 10 minutes into the show. Sorry about that.

Episode 5 - The iPad (Almost) - 4/1/2010

It's iPad launch week, so naturally we talk about all the awesome stuff we've been working on for Tested, including the real reason the Lord of the Ring Blu-ray discs look shitty, the best way to make a single cup of coffee, and yes, the iPad. The first wave of reviews are online, so it's the first new info we've gotten on the unicorn tablet since January 25. All this, on the official podcast of Tested.com.

Episode 4 - Las Vegas Follies - 3/26/2010

It's CTIA week, so there's a lot of talk about cellphones, MIDs, and tablets. This week, Norm and Will talk about the Sprint/HTC 4G Android phone, the Joo Joo, Samsung's latest Android phone, Windows 7 Phone, Netflix on the Wii, America's Next Top Model, South Park, Adobe's upcoming CS5 suite, Nintendo's 3Ds, Microsoft's Project Natal, and the first leaked iPad apps.

Episode 3 - Taking the Sniffles and Making Them Better

This week, Will and Norm talk about the latest Windows Phone 7 Series details, the Nexus One on Sprint and AT&T, pirates, LCD and LED technology, lossless audio compression, and a whole lot more. Oh, and the Xbox 360's rumored upcoming support for non-Microsoft USB keys.

Episode 2 - The Over Caffeinated Edition - 3/11/10

This week, Norm and Will talk about the happenings at the Game Developer Conference, OnLive, Nvidia's Fermi, Intel's 6-core CPUs, Sony's motion controller, and Air Video. Also, check out the (very NSFW) in the forums--and linked below in the comments.

Episode 1 - In Search of the Digital Unicorn - 3/5/2010

On this week's show, Norm and Will discuss our Norm's first week, the Nexus One, our first video test, the iPad's release date, Windows Phone 7, Microsoft Courier, Nvidia's driver woes, and a whole lot more.

Episode 0 - Preview Edition - 3/01/2010

Welcome to Tested.com's very first podcast. In this episode we talk about what we've been doing since departing Maximum PC, podcast time travel, the PS3's latest Renaissance, and even Norm's irrational hatred of Starcraft. We also talk about the new site, what our mission is, and why we're both excited.