Episodes

Being able to see and be seen when riding in the dark is critical. Does the Urban 500 have what it takes for daily ridership?

Brandon, Brian, and Ryan are back yet again, talking about the Black Lives Matter movement and Recoil and React state management.

The PodKitters prepare for the show! It's a good episode so I hear.

Being able to change an inner tube on the road won't help you if you can't pump up the new inner tube! A frame pump like the Pocket Rocket will help you get back on the road.

A bike is a significant investment, one that you should protect with a proper lock. Folding locks are a recent innovation in the bike lock space; is the Foldylock a useful, durable lock, or just a gimmick with a cute name?

Having access to navigation on one's phone while bike riding can be quite essential. Also essential: making sure that your phone won't fall off of your bike. Ian has been using the Roam Co-Pilot phone mount for several years, and he is here to review it for you!

The Pizza Rack is easily the most unique aspect of Ian's bike build. It provides not only railings for panniers to attach to, but also a generous platform to place objects on top. Come find out how well Ian likes it!

The PodKitters catch up with sheltering-in-place, preparing for the show, and probably some banter somewhere.

Brian and Ryan made a Canvas Animation, Brian used Svelte, and the trio discussed React frameworks and platforms with the new Vercel and Remix announcements!

The illnesses that we have faced over the course of human civilization have been heavily influenced by the cultural and technological contexts that they interacted with. Rebecca Dean, Professor of Anthropology comes on the show to teach us about it!

Ian and Rebecca make an unexpected connection late in the recording of The Extra Dimension #53.

The Ortlieb Back Roller Classics come with a serious pricetag, do they have serious performance to match?

Ian used this pannier set for his daily commute for a couple of years. How well has it stood up, how easy is it to use? Find out in today's review!

Ryan reviews the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra: the most expensive mainline phone ever from Samsung and a merely OK camera -- why not!

Brian has fun with Snap Camera while the trio prepares for the show.

COVID-19, react-placeholder, NPM Acquisition, Tailwind CSS, React Native, and New Twitter Followees!

Bikes are fairly simple machines, but very finely tuned. What things can you do maintenance on yourself, and what things require the services of a bike shop? Crystal Sursely of Lowertown Bike Shop joins us to answer all your pressing bike maintenance questions!

Before the show, Crystal and Ian try to figure out how technical they can get in an audio format.

Ian's sunglasses fog up when riding his bike during the winter. Will these over-the-glasses ski goggles solve his problem?

Ian has been wearing a pair of Tifosi Slips for cycling and as general-purpose sunglasses for over seven years. They aren't sold anymore, but they hold a lot of lessons for what to look for when buying a pair of sunglasses.

HyperDot is a new "dodge everything" arcade game from Twin Cities developer Charles McGregor. Ian really enjoys these kinds of games, let's find out how HyperDot stacks up!

New year, new travels, Yarn 2, Brandon's new computer, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and new Twitter followees.

Your classic pre-show banter, featuring the aftermath of Brandon spilling coffee.

COPPA is not a new law, but there are certainly some new developments for how it applies on YouTube. Content creators are now required to mark their videos as "made for kids" or not. What does this mean, and what are the consequences?

Ryan reviews the standard Nvidia SHIELD TV 2019. The verdict: the remote is kind of confusing, but at least it's a good remote.

The Google Nest Mini (the second generation of the Google Home Mini) is the new entry-level Google Assistant device. Join Ian to find out what changes and improvements have been made in this new iteration!

Ian was recently invited to guest on the IEEE RAS Soft Robotics Podcast, hosted by Marwa ElDiwiny. They chat about how robotics and podcasts can be used in a high school education setting, as well as home automation and how robotics is affecting society in general.

Apple has brought the "Pro" moniker to the iPhone line! Join Brandon Johnson as he explores what makes this not just a new flagship phone, but a Pro phone.

Getting into podcasts can be a daunting task, since there are so many choices to make. How do you find interesting shows? How do you listen to them? Is there an app for that? We're here to help! This episode will give an overview of the different options you have for listening to podcasts, and serves as a companion to our Podcast Players Roundup on Second Opinion Reviews.

You love listening to podcasts, so you deserve to be using the best podcast player to consume them! In this roundup, Ian R Buck exhaustively reviews over 20 different podcast players to help you find the one that is best for you!

We dive in to Ryan's holiday card site and then discuss budgeting!

We finish off the year with holiday cards, static site generators, React Query, React Spring, and Redux Toolkit!

New 16" MacBook Pro, The Pragmatic Programmer, React Conf 2019, and Redux Style Guide!

The PodKit trio talks about Redux, something about DAWs in there too...

Ryan reviews the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 1, and the verdict is there are not enough apps for this to even be a smart watch.

Brian overviews the AirPods Pro!

A very brief Fringe where Ian and Naomi talk about their breakfasts, as well as PodMN and the baffling proliferation of local sports podcasts.

Ian sits down with author Naomi Kritzer to chat about her brand-new book, Catfishing on CatNet! They talk about the book, its themes of online friendship, privacy, and tracking, as well as digging into some delightful local references. Plus, a few details about the sequel came up as well!

Ryan reviews the Anker Soundcore Motion+ Bluetooth Speaker, and describes his criteria for using and purchasing a modern speaker against the alternatives.

The full interviews from The Extra Dimension #47: Eco-Friendly Technology.

We all love our technology: it does many many things to improve our everyday lives. But what is it doing to our planet? How can we use our technology in an environmentally responsible manner? Ian interviews experts from LineageOS, iFixit, the Rebble Alliance, the Washington County Environmental Center, and Tech Dump to talk about the many different aspects of reducing the environmental impact of consumer technology.

Brian Mitchell gives a quick 12 minute review of the new Apple Watch Series 5.

Brandon got a new microphone!

This episode is about as standard as it gets, new Apple hardware, new React news and updates, and Twitter Followees!

Ryan reviews the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ review: it's a great big phone, it looks better than any previous model, the headphone jack does not matter and so much more!

There were audio problems when trying to record PK52, so we stopped recording and are releasing this stand-alone Fringe episode!

Steve updates everyone on how his farm is doing. BONUS PODCAST AT 19 MINUTES!

RASPBERRIES! Andrew and Steve are back at it again with some news about Microsoft, Google, Mozilla, and... music formats?

The story about why Ian is naming Android 10 "Quiche."

Android 10 is here, and brings with it dark mode, gesture navigation, and tweaks to many many things! Ian has been using it for a little over a week, and he's ready to tell you all about the changes.