Techstream with Shelly Palmer and Seth Everett

After twenty-five years, Netflix is ending its DVD-by-mail business. Will anyone wax poetic about its demise? We talk about the most surprising thing of all - that the DVD rental business still existed in 2023 - and we share fond memories of being able to sell still-wrapped pieces of outdated media. We also look at the other notable piece of Netflix news: the password-sharing crackdown is nigh. We try to make sense of how this will work for college students, road warriors, and everyone else with valid (and roaming) use cases. We also talk a bit more about HBO and share our picks of our favorite listener-submitted titles for the new Warner Bros. Discovery app.

HBO Max is no longer called HBO Max. With all the options at their fingertips, the new idea Warner Bros. Discovery came up with was… Max. There are bigger problems in the TV and streaming space than what to name a new service, though. We discuss. Seth has run into more issues with technology that may or may not be artificial intelligence. Shelly talks about how to define intelligence and how tools like ChatGPT work, think, and reason. Meanwhile, companies are talking about transferring consciousness from people into machines to make synthetic grandmas… by the end of this year? We talk about the reality of this promise (and how it sounds like the plot of the show Upload). Seth rants about MLB.tv. Shelly poses a challenge to you, dear Techstream listener.

The war between Elon Musk and journalists rages on, and Seth (as a broadcaster and journalist) is taking these attacks against the media personally. This episode is (once again) about Twitter as we (once again) try to make sense of the changes and decisions being made at Twitter HQ. We discuss Twitter and the anonymity business, the different forms of verification, and the confusion surrounding blue checks on the platform. As there really are no true 1:1 replacements, we also offer tips on how to best use Twitter and ensure that the information you are seeing is as accurate and fact-checked as possible.

The time has come to celebrate our hundredth… and first… episode! Television is also celebrating its centennial, though it is turning 100 years old, not 100 weeks. Commemorating that occasion (as well as the past, present, and future of the medium) is the 2023 NAB Show (April 15-19 in Las Vegas, NV). The trade show, organized by the National Association of Broadcasters, has always been a must-visit for Shelly, as it showcases the best broadcast tech and offers clear insights into what is new and what is next. We preview some of the incredible artificial intelligence tools on display at NAB Show – stuff you can get your hands on now, stuff that leaves Seth dumbfounded. Plus, of course, we talk about Star Wars.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew spent last Thursday on Capitol Hill, getting grilled about the potential threat of TikTok to U.S. consumers. This episode of Techstream has Seth reflect on his time on The Hill, while Shelly remembers the time Mark Zuckerberg made the trip and proved how technologically clueless the politicians who grilled him proved to be. We talk about the hearing, the real issues facing TikTok, and what the politicians are missing. Also, this is Episode 100 and we completely forgot to celebrate it. Oops.

Our last episode was pretty heavy, so this week marks a return to one of our favorite (and fairly light-hearted) topics: streaming TV! YouTube TV is raising its price from $65 to $72.99, citing the rising costs of content. We talk about how the streaming business model is totally different from the broadcast model, and why much of the power resides in the hands of the viewer. Shelly shares a few tips on how to ditch your landline and cut the cord once and for all. We talk about what we have been watching, like Poker Face and Picard. Seth shares some details about his participation this week in Gamers Outreach.

Techstream is back! While we were gone, Apple announced a new yellow iPhone and Bob Iger echoed a superhero sentiment Shelly once shared. We catch up on some quick news stories. Silicon Valley Bank had a rough week last week. The government came to the rescue and the FDIC guaranteed depositors will get their money back. We talk about what happened, the “self-fulfilling prophecy” at play, and the true magic of SVB. Speaking of money, the show has tracked quiet quitting to laying flat to new layoffs, but we have not seen a lot of changes in sociological attitudes. Everything is more expensive now, yet every restaurant you visit is packed. How is this possible? We try to make sense of it. Are you looking for the next must-attend tech event? Shelly shares details on the Possible Conference and NAB Show, and why you need to be at each.

This episode of Techstream is a return to our origin story: a grab bag of top tech news! Last week, Pres. Biden gave Elon Musk a call as the United States wants to make all-electric vehicle (EV) charging stations universal in an effort to quell range anxiety and help improve the ability to quick-charge your EV. It is reminiscent of the EU forcing Apple to pivot from Lightning connectors to USB-C. We discuss the upsides (and the annoying drawbacks) of universal chargers. Meanwhile… Dapper Labs, creator of projects like NBA Top Shot and NFL All Day, has become mobile-compatible. We discuss how this move to mobile will contribute to – and benefit from – the power and promise of Web3. Then… the Academy Awards are just a few short weeks away. We offer a multiversal roundup of some of the biggest and buzziest movies we have recently found on our screens.

Diamond Sports Group is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and may not make some annual payments they normally make to sports teams. How will this change the sports TV landscape? We have covered the intersection of professional sports and streaming television many times before, but the fallout from this could dynamically impact the way fans watch sports on TV and where the rights to these games wind up. In this episode, we talk about the impact of teams losing out on real money, what it means for them, and what it means for fans, as well as how it impacts long-term fan development.

OpenAI just announced the launch of ChatGPT, a paid tier for their popular language model. In this episode, we discuss the ways to help users get the most out of using ChatGPT, whether or not you are the type of person who might want to pony up twenty bucks a month, and the requisite bits of education you must bring to ChatGPT to use the tool to its fullest potential. We go toe-to-toe with opposing viewpoints about the usefulness of and need for ChatGPT, we look ahead to the upcoming war between Microsoft and Google, and we tease upcoming products Techstream Plus, Shelly Palmer Plus, and Seth Everett Plus! If you are a fan of ChatGPT, if you are tired of hearing about it, or if you are simply curious about the latest developments in AI, make sure you do not miss this episode.