Shows
Tricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveWWDC 2025 PredictionsEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!It's that time of the year again...WWDC!Last year's conference was dominated by Apple Intelligence...which never really materialized...what's this year's conference going to bring us?Rob, PJ, and our new co-host, Dave Lewanda (bio episode coming soon) get together to discuss what will be this year's focus.Will we finally get an answer around Apple Intelligence?Are there new features and/or hardware around the bend?Could this "Developer Conference" actually...
2025-06-0946 minTricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveGraphics APIs - History and TodayEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Way back in the 1960s...computer graphics were born with Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad...then in the early 80s, James Clark at Silicon Graphics publishes his paper on the geometry engine...becoming the birthplace for IRIS GL (later, OpenGL).Then came DirectX...along with a flurry of also-rans...With the explosion of commodity hardware in the mid-90s, games, graphics, and APIs would never be the same. Join Rob Wyatt and PJ McNerney as they take a l...
2025-06-031h 11Tricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveApple Intelligence - Where is the Promised Magic?Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!25 years ago, Avery Brooks of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fame, was on a commercial for IBM...where, after decades of promises, asked the question that was on everyone's minds: "It's the year 2000...I was promised flying cars. Where are my flying cars?"In a similar vein, this latest episode explores the current state and historical context of Apple's AI venture, Apple Intelligence. The Steve Jobs's era ended announcements with 'available today'; and yet the present-day promise of AI features...
2025-05-051h 14Tricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveMoving and Grooving to RISC-VEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Exploring NVIDIA's Move from ARM to RISC V in GPUsRob and PJ return to discuss NVIDIA's strategic shift from Falcon and ARM microcontrollers in their GPUs to the open-source RISC V. The conversation delves into the history, technical considerations, and licensing challenges of microprocessors. They examine why ARM's longstanding presence is being challenged by RISC V, especially for embedded controllers, its flexibility, and cost advantages, alongside security concerns and the future potential of open-source hardware.00:00 Welcome Back...
2025-02-271h 00Tricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveWWDC PredictionsEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!WWDC is coming up and Rob and PJ have some opinions!AI is in the air for everyone this season and WWDC is likely going to be no exception....but with so much AI processing happening in the cloud and Apple having been so focused on data privacy, security, AND user experience...how IS Apple going to thread this needle?Will they push more stuff to the cloud to bring the widest support to folks?WIll they...
2024-06-0252 minTricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveMicrosoft's Arming with ARM for the Future...But Is This a Break From History?Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Microsoft recently introduced its CoPilot + PCs as a fully integrated lineup...based on ARM processors (Qualcomm's Snapdragon specifically), unified memory, and requirements around the onboard TPUs.Hmm...sound very Apple-like, no?With an apparent revitalized push back into the consumer space, what does this mean for the future of the hardware? Specifically, the Wintel era meant infinite flexibility, configurability, and backwards compatibility, stemming all the way back in time.Will the voices of prosumer builders be...
2024-05-2752 minTricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveThe Emperor Has No Clothes : Tech is BoringEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Hype is all around around the tech stories that are out there....Apple has a terrible ad for a thinner iPad!Google is leaving San Fran and moving jobs overseas!Announcements around AI that is going to revolutionize everything!!!Tech companies are acting like big corporations!!!Maybe it is just us...but does anyone get the impression that tech news is actually a bit boring right now? Perhaps we are just exhausted from t...
2024-05-1846 minTricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveCPUs, GPUs, TPUs, Neural Engines, and the RestEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!CPUs have been around for forever as the heart of computers....then came GPUs to enable cool real time graphics...and later bitcoin mining...then some clever folks figured out how train AIs on them...which leads to a new explosion of processing units tuned specifically for AI development (see Google's TPUs, Apple's Neural Engines, Meta's MTIAs).Why do we have them all? And what the heck do they all mean? And why should we care? Come explore a...
2024-04-2643 minTricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveHacking the Apple M-Series via Prefetching ExploitsEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!In the arms race of computational performance gains and big market splashes...security issues can pop their ugly head, something going all the way down to the hardware level...and when they happen, they can be brutal.In this episode of Tricky Bits, Rob and PJ discuss a recent article and research on hacking into the M-series chips, using clever attacks to extract data that is, ideally, supposed to be kept secret. What are the nitty gritty details o...
2024-04-1647 minTricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveInterview with NeuroSync LabsEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Ever wondered why a virtual rollercoaster can leave your stomach in knots, despite never leaving your living room? Strap in and brace yourself as we unpack the enigma of VR-induced nausea with the expert insights of Nemanja Milosavljevic from Neurosync Labs. Our latest episode of Tricky Bits zooms in on the battle between our eyes and our inner ear when diving into the digital deep end, bringing to light the vestibular system's pivotal role in the physical disorientation we face in virtual...
2024-04-0950 minTricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveWhy is Hardware Hard?Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Hardware is where the digital meets up with physical reality.In the modern world, software can be developed and deployed worldwide in timescales measured in minutes....but despite advances in development, consumer hardware at scale still presents many difficult challenges.Although there are many modern avenues to prototyping hardware solutions, making the leap beyond RPi, Arduino, ESP level projects into mass market devices encounters challenges including funding, development, manufacturing, shipping, supply chains, and revenue models.In...
2024-04-011h 16Tricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DavePotpurri: Big and Small Media PrequelEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!So much of Tricky Bits is an ongoing conversation between Rob and PJ about various tech topics. This particular episode revisits some old topics around game development, its history and costs, and what factors come into play that shape the market today.As a heads up...this one is more conversational than some of the past episodes as we build up to a larger discussion for a future conversation around big and small media in various contexts (games, movies, television).
2024-03-1354 minTricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveApple and Generative AIEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Could Apple be quietly gearing up to redefine the AI landscape? With all eyes on Siri's evolution and Apple's famed secrecy, we delve into the tech giant's delicate dance between user privacy and the cutting edge of AI innovations. Join Rob and PJ as we unravel Apple's enigmatic strategy, considering the possible hardware constraints and their steadfast commitment to a reliable assistant amidst the whirlwind of AI advancements.Apple's Siri has been a household name, but it's not without its c...
2024-03-0758 minTricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveWho Gets Hired, Fired, and Why?Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!2024 and Tech Layoffs still continue...more than a headline; they're a wake-up call to evaluate the true resilience of our skills in an ever-changing industry. In this episode, we take on a tough subject to better understand the realities of job security, debunking the myth that exceptional programmers are safeguarded from the chopping block. We also challenge the notion of generalist vs. specialist and instead focus on the all important question of "what is the value delivered" and "what skills d...
2024-02-281h 01Tricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveWhy Are Maps Hard? - Interview with Cory WhittakerEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Maps...we use them almost every day of our lives.....but...what makes maps hard? From the paper maps we used to pull out on car trips to the digital and dynamic maps that we have our smart phones, the problems around making and maintaining maps have been with us for a while. Fortunately...we've got an expert to help us out here.Cory Whittaker, a long time self professed "map nerd", takes Rob and PJ on a journey on...
2024-02-2059 minTricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveXBox Predictions and AnnouncementsEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Rumblings of a major XBox announcement in a post Activision/Blizzard acquisition world slated for mid-Feb 2024 started a number of rumors around what might happen...would all XBox games go cross platform? What would this mean for the XBox hardware?!?Then on Feb 15th....Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty fulfilled the special announcement...with a whopping 4 games (all unnamed) slated to go cross platform...followed by a lot of corp speak. And, ahead of that, there was an i...
2024-02-1856 minTricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveApple Vision Pro + Amazon and Alphabet DividendsEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!We chatted about the Apple Vision Pro previously and now the reviews are in....how are they stacking up for the Vision Pro and how did our predictions work out for themselves, so far? And what predictions to we have from here?Also...Meta announced dividends at its last earnings call...and now Goldman Sachs analysts are (maybe) portending that this will lead Alphabet and Amazon to do the same. But do we actually think that this is as imminent...
2024-02-1335 minTricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DavePerformance Reviews, Company Culture, Bad IncentivesEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Performance Reviews! Everyone's most beloved topic and favorite activity...but how does that impact company culture...and what kind of incentives do they give rise to? Rob and PJ dive deep into these questions and explore how much past behaviors that gave rise to success....actually become more important that the pursuit of success itself?
2024-02-071h 04Tricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveGame Consoles - History and Future...How does that Impact the Market Today?Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!In this episode, Rob and PJ explore the history of consoles. How did some of the technological advances from the 80s and 90s influence the rise of capabilities we see today?With the increasing convergence in hardware between the XBox and Playstation towards a PC model, where does the market go from here? Is Nintendo the big winner?Finally, does this convergence play into the current set of layoffs, where skills become more fungible across platforms?...
2024-02-021h 06Tricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveAugmented Reality - Part 2 - Vision Pro and Killer AppsEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!In the second of their two part series on AR, Rob and PJ discuss the Apple Vision Pro, the use case displayed thus far, and whether this thing has legs in the marketplace.They also explore the social (or more precisely, anti-social) aspects of the AR, VR, XR space and question whether this is the right direction to be going in.Finally, they also ask the question...how big a resolution do you actually need before it really...
2024-01-3046 minTricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveAugmented Reality - Part 1 - Deep DiveEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!In our first two parter...Rob and PJ explore VR, AR, and XR, discussing some of the challenges that these related pieces of technology have faced off, how companies have tried to solve these problems, and where limitations still exist.Unafraid to dive into the deep details, Rob and PJ discuss optics, latency, cameras, and displays, going down the rabbit hole of technologies that form the backbone of all things VR, AR, and XR today....and help explain...
2024-01-2647 min
Tricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveWhy This Podcast + Rob and PJ's Origin StoriesEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!“What, another tech podcast? Why?!?”Having been in the tech industry for multiple decades across a slew of different companies, Rob and PJ may not have seen it all…but they have seen a LOT.More specifically, they have seen what works, what doesn’t and everything in between.This podcast is a deep dive into the technical side, unafraid to take on the nitty gritty details. It also covers recent tech news with Rob and PJ’s hon...
2024-01-191h 11
Tricky Bits with Rob and PJ and Dave1.16.2024 - Tech Layoffs 2024 Opening RoundEnjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!Barely in 2024, the week of January 8th saw layoffs across multiple tech companies: Google, Twitch, Discord, and Unity. To be sure...this is foreboding sign for 2024.How did we get here? What happened from high flying, highly profitable tech companies that once touted that "they would be different" to becoming just like any other business?In this episode, Rob and PJ discuss how any why why got here, what effects we think it is going to have on...
2024-01-171h 03
Tricky Bits with Rob and PJ and DaveInsomniac Leak - What Happened and Where Do We Go?Enjoying the show? Hating the show? Want to let us know either way? Text us!On December 20th, Insomniac Games was hacked and had games, financial, and HR files leaked to the world. Having both worked there, Rob and PJ dive into the particulars of the situation and analyze where things are and where they might go from here.
2023-12-2126 min