Solid State Podcast
Episodes
Episode 138 - The thing about Wearables in 2026
07 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It’s honestly very funny to me how you can look at a gadget and think one particular way about it… have a stray thought… and then suddenly look ...
Episode 137 - Four Years (and one week) Anniversary Special
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast… we’re another year older, certainly no wiser, and somehow just as not-on-time as ever… Yep, you guessed ...
Episode 136 - Samsung Unpacked, MWC, and Apple Announcement Week
10 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast I… get to speak to you from the past. No, not in a Back to the Future kind of way… though that’d be pretty ...
Episode 135 - The News... Parts Bin Style
13 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Many times we come to this show, whether it sounds like it or not… relatively prepared. The topic is clear, the message has been more-or-less though...
Episode 134 - The thing about the RAM-pocalypse
27 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When something get’s sufficiently commoditized… it almost reaches a point where you start thinking about that one “thing” as a single, cohesiv...
Episode 133 - This year at CES 2026
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Well… there’s no other way to say it… welcome to 2026 everyone! Yes I know, the more things change the more they stay the same and all that. Res...
Episode 132 - What's next... in 2026?
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A new year somehow always presents a… certain type of friction. We’re tempted, all at once, to think back reflectively on our most recent past w...
Episode 131 - A look back at the Tech of 2025
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you want a sneak peek of the future, you just have to take a close enough look at the past… Different versions of that overall premise have poppe...
Episode 130 - What does $1,000 (and less) get us on Black Friday 2025?
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The meaning of things can just… change with time. It’s inescapable, nostalgia is very much a thing, and it’s honestly a tired trope at this poin...
Episode 129 - OpenAI launched the Atlas browser... that's good, right?
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes it’s hard to remember a time before the internet, but I do remember shelves in my bedroom growing up dedicated to an Encyclopedia collecti...
Episode 128 - Parts Bin of all the things (Goodbye Windows 10, hello Apple M5, and more...)
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast… well there’s no sugar coating it… we, forgot to set a topic… Now let’s take stock of the positives f...
Episode 127 - Looking at each other during
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The age-old saying “The more things change the more they stay the same” couldn’t be… more accurate for this week’s show. It’s no secret ...
Episode 126 - The Gadgets of Gadget Season 2025 (Hands-on... mostly)
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This show has a whole lot of… “whys” behind it… Education(ish) for sure, its just fun is a definite top three, but right atop the mountain for...
Episode 125 - Are those new iPhones in the Air? (iPhone 17 Launch Event)
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Listen… some weeks I more-or-less bore you with pieces of my own tech history that, honestly, you only just barely signed up for… Other weeks thou...
Episode 124 - The thing about "Handheld" Gaming in 2025
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So it’s not going to exactly be a big secret, you’ll undoubtedly hear it in today’s recording (sorry about that…) but I… have a cold. It’s...
Episode 123 - Can Jimmy Fallon save the Google Pixel?
22 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve talked, quite recently actually, about my “island of misfit toys”… my shelves upon shelves of yesterday’s tech, lost to time maybe but ...
Episode 122 - The thing about roleing a Nat Twenty...
07 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Origin stories are a funny thing… they’re one part history lesson, two parts Science Fiction often times, and just a dash of self-indulgent FanFic...
Episode 121 - Solid State's "Back to School" Tech Picks of 2025
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The saying “time flies” has always troubled me… time feels like one of those constants we should be able to rely on yet, as it indeed goes by, I...
Episode 120 - We unfold Samsung Unpacked 2025 with the Z Flip and Fold 7
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On a shelf in my office is a line of phones… No they’re not spares, or “extras”, heck the vast majority of them probably don’t even turn on ...
Episode 119 - A show about Nothing
24 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, we talk about… Nothing… No, really… Nothing actually has new headphones, and we talk about them! In case y...
Episode 118 - WWDC 2025 (Did Apple finally hear us?)
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, well… there’s just no other way to say it… it’s WWDC! That’s right, it’s summertime in 2025 and th...
Episode 117 - We got a Nintendo Switch 2 and now we're happy
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Technology, in a weird way, is at its best when it makes us feel like a kid again… It’s hard to ignore the swell of emotion and nostalgia… as ga...
Episode 116 - Google I/O 2025 (Let's party like its 2013...)
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
About twelve years ago I got onto a coast-to-coast flight in the cheapest seat of the worst airline I’ve ever been on to attend a a tech event. It w...
Episode 115 - Microsoft has new Surfaces... sort of
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s kind of funny, in the office lately we’ve been half-joking about being careful how you manifest things… it’s great when you “put out th...
Episode 114 - We didn't get a Switch 2 and now we're sad...
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, we realized something… odd. We’ve mentioned it off-hand on several recent episodes, but it has come more a...
Episode 113 - The thing about AI & Cybersecurity
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast… well there’s just no way of sugar coating it… Jet Lag reigns supreme… See, it turns out that when you ge...
Episode 112 - The (growing) Cost of our Smart Homes
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Image with me for a moment, if you would, the start of a perfectly normal day in the “modern smart home”… Your alarm goes off right on time, and...
Episode 111 - Selling your Tech in 2025
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast… Spring in the air! Okay, it’s actually 80 degrees outside already, but hey that’s life in the swamp that I...
Episode 110 - Finding the "Plus" in Amazon's Alexa Plus
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast we’ve got a little bit of everything on tap… honestly just the way we like it! Framework made a splash on sev...
Episode 109 - Surprise, there's a new iPhone! Kind of...
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve talked many (many) times on this show about the cycle of things… and what I find very interesting at this particular moment is the relativel...
Episode 108 - What's next for the Switch 2 and the Galaxy S25
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Do you remember the mid-90’s cartoon Pinky and the Brain? Stick with me here, but it was one of my favorites. Few things can illicit instant laughte...
Episode 107 - This year at CES 2025
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jeremy Clarkson once said, rather infamously on Top Gear, “New is better…”… Now he was talking about new cars being, at the end of the day, ob...
Episode 106 - What's next for Tech in 2025...
03 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The New Year, like so many things, seems to mean many different things to many different people… but its also not much of a stretch to say that some...
Episode 105 - A look back at the Tech-of-it-all in 2024
26 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, we start our seemingly-annual tradition of turning our eyes forward by… looking behind us. Yep, as 2024 approa...
Episode 104 - End of Year Cybersecurity Best Practices
05 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve all gotten that email, right? It was from someone you knew, about a topic you might even expect from them, but something just didn’t seem qu...
Episode 103 - The Deals and Don'ts of Black Friday 2024
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast we try something genuinely novel… to provide actually useful Consumer advice… No but seriously, please don’...
Episode 102 - Solid State games like it's 1994...
15 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Several years ago, a now-long-forgotten false start of a gadget in the VR / AR space made the lofty claim that they were going to “hack the GPU of t...
Episode 101 - Return of the Mac (Mini)
08 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Listen… we’re not going to beat around the bush here… when Apple’s fall Mac-centric event / infomercial / whatever they are these days turned ...
Episode 100 - The one where they did 100 episodes...
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I think its pretty fair to say most (if not all) of us could stand to have fewer “things” in our lives… if the town you live in is anything like...
Episode 99 - New Sonos, "New" iPad Mini's, and Cybersecurity Awareness Month
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A few years ago I wrapped up a particularly crazy work day performing some seemingly “normal” tasks. Several emails were sent and received, some a...
Episode 98 - The thing about the Sony Playstation 5 "Pro"
21 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast things go… a little wide… I solemnly swear, we sat down for our “news” segment to simply touch on the fac...
Episode 97 - Apple's "Glowtime" iPhone 16, Apple Watch, and AirPods Event
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s Solid State Podcast, well there’s no other way to say it… it’s iPhone time! We’ve talked plenty of times before about the mor...
Episode 96 - The State of Headphones in 2024
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When I sit down to help someone pick out a new piece of tech, whether its a big new television, a laptop for work, or a server to run diligently in a ...
Episode 95 - Google's Pixel 9 Launch Event
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, it’s all-Google all-the-time… thankfully not (as much) in a “how badly are they getting sued this time” ...
Episode 94 - Google's a monopoly and the Apple Vision Pro 6 (ish) months in...
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve been even remotely nerd-culture adjacent, then chances are pretty good you’ve seen an episode or twenty of Star Trek, in the case of thi...
Episode 93 - Things are happening in the CPU and AI chip space...
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Quite a ways back, we did an episode about our first computers… Cody’s was recent enough to almost be usable today, Eric’s was long enough ago i...
Episode 92 - The thing about Starlink and "Space Internet"
19 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A couple short years ago I sat down in this very chair, in front of this computer, and recorded the intro for an episode of this show. It would have b...
Episode 91 - Samsung's Summer Unpacked Event with new Galaxy Foldables, Watches, Earbuds, and Ring
12 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, we tricked ourselves into thinking this would be a “quick one”… See, at first you can’t really blame u...
Episode 90 - Film Photography is back and we review Meta's Ray-Ban Wayfarer AI smart glasses
05 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, we mix things up a little bit… Not just by constantly going off the rails, because let’s face it you just ex...
Episode 89 - We review Microsoft's Surface Copilot Plus PCs
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve unboxed a lot of gadgets through the years… maybe too many? Okay, that’s a lie, and one of them I sincerely will never forget was shockingl...
Episode 88 - (Almost) Everything from Apple's WWDC 2024 announcements
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If it hasn’t come up before (and I’m pretty sure it has), we really love to cover tech events around here… they’re gadget-fueled bonding exper...
Episode 87 - We review the Apple iPad M4 Pro and M2 Air
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s no secret, we’ve talked a lot about iPads lately… first it was what did we want Apple to announce… then it was what did Apple actually an...
Episode 86 - We recap Google I/O 2024 and Microsoft's Surface / Copilot+ Event
24 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I will admit, some weeks I struggle more than others to come up with this intro… occasionally though, the struggle is still real, but very different...
Episode 85 - Apple's "Let Loose" iPad Event with the M4 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air
10 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, we engage in a bit it of loose “deja vu”… You might remember last time we were together it was all-things-...
Episode 84 - What if the 2024 Apple iPad was good?
26 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, we grab our crystal ball and do our best to tune in to the future… a future of one device to rule them all, a ...
Episode 83 - The Humane AI Pin reviews and What's Next for 2024?
19 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, we play a little game of “What if” versus “What’s next”… See, we’re at an interesting time of the ...
Episode 82 - The United States sues Apple
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, we go a little bit… wide….. You should be used to it by now, but especially on what many consider a “slowe...
Episode 81 - The "Fad" or "Future" Scale: AI
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“Any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic”… it’s a quote we’ve all heard countless times and these days is dange...
Episode 80 - We return to the Metaverse!
22 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Several aspects of the “human condition” will forever remain funny to me… one of which is our never ending desire for “the next best thing”…...
Episode 79 - What's in the box with the Apple M3 MacBook Air
16 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Several years ago, we had a fire in our garage that claimed several of our cars… I am (if you haven’t figured it out yet) something of a creature ...
Episode 78 - The thing about Encryption... and why you should use it
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are a lot of tired cliches in the world… everything from “bring an umbrella and it won’t rain” to “a watched pot never boils”… but...
Episode 77 - Full Circle with FreeWrite, Xbox, Fuji X100VI, and Palworld
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, we’re trying something a little bit different, while shockingly still the same… See we realize, very intenti...
Episode 76 - What's next for the Console Wars (and Microsoft Xbox)
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Loss is one of the most inescapable aspects of the human condition… so many things that we have and enjoy can, in any number of ways, “go away” ...
Episode 75 - The Free Write Alpha, Return of the Cassette, Project ORCS, and more...
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, there’s no getting around it… we’re all over the place in (hopefully) all the best ways possible! We kick ...
Episode 74 - What's in the box with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
02 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve talked many times on this show about how the smartphone space is reaching a state of… let’s call it “advanced maturity”… On any give...
Episode 73 - Parts Bin: 40 years of Mac, iOS 17.3, Palworld, and more...
26 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s Solid State Podcast, your three presenters get a much-needed chance to “return to form” after a seemingly endless run of events, ...
Episode 72 - Samsung's Winter 2024 Unpacked Event
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Most groups of friends have their go-to inside jokes… the things you know will get a rise out of someone because, frankly, they just know you that w...
Episode 71 - Hot takes from CES 2024
12 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a new year on the Solid State Podcast, and we’re kicking it off the only way we know how… In the middle of the Nevada desert, surrounded ...
Episode 70 - What’s next... for 2024
29 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s no other way to say it… 2023 was a year. Frankly, at times it literally felt like a year and a half… It’s been a year of incredible hi...
Episode 69 - 2023 Solid State ”How Much Tech Can You Get” Challenge
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s no easier way to say it… we buy a lot of tech on this show! It is, after all, literally or jobs… but long before that, from childhood it...
Episode 68 - Parts Bin with the Steam Deck OLED and Meta Quest 3
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Some sights are just not uncommon, and this time of year possibly the most common site is a small (or not so small) pile of cardboard boxes adorning t...
Episode 67 - What’s next for Open AI (and the return of CEO Sam Altman)?
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Some stories around tech are entirely too predictable because, well… there are humans involved and at the end of the day there’s just only so many...
Episode 66 - What’s next for the AI marketplace?
17 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, the full band is back together and we’re here to pick back up on the ever-evolving conversation around AI and ...
Episode 65 - What is a Photo (Part 2) - Sony Alpha 9 III and its Global Image Sensor
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the Solid State Podcast, Eric and I go a bit rogue and record a whole episode… well, there’s no other way to say it… without Cody’...
Episode 64 - Apple’s ”Scary Fast” M3 MacBook Pro and iMac Event
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve talked several times on this very show about how valuable it is for some things to be a little bit predictable… its comfy, it feels safe, yo...
Episode 63 - The Thing About Travel Tech
27 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not always overly obvious, but more often than not we do put a certain amount of planning into our episode topics… they vary greatly from rec...
Episode 62 - What is a Photo (Part 1) - Hands on with Nikon’s ZF
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hanging on the wall in the next room, in some cheap-ish frames that came from insert-big-box-store here, are a series of architectural photos of some ...
Episode 61 - What’s in the box with Google’s Pixel 8 Pro
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The concept of a “thing” being greater than the sum of its parts is one of those recurring topics on this show… mostly because it’s so true ac...
Episode 60 - Microsoft’s 2023 Surface Event and iPhone 15 Pro Max Review
09 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Solid State, things are definitely a little more… laid back. You see, every so often, you just believe with all of your heart that a co...
Episode 59 - Amazon’s 2023 Device Event
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Let’s set the stage… you’re driving down the interstate (hmm… haven’t we been here before?)… and while attempting to make a pass in the le...
Episode 58 - Apple’s 2023 ”Wanderlust” iPhone and Apple Watch Event
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Nostalgia is a thing we talk about on this show every so often… Okay… maybe a little more frequently than that but you get it… So when September...
Episode 57 - Parts Bin... Gadget Season 2023 Event Kickoff
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In our last episode we led off with gadget season being “upon us”… and we weren’t wrong. Samsung came out early with their fall lineup of devi...
Episode 56 - What’s in the box... Samsung’s 2023 foldables, watches, and tablets
18 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gadget season is upon us and that just makes me… happy… We do this job for a whole lot of reasons, but one of them is the genuine love of an unope...
Episode 55 - The Cost of Working Remotely
14 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Technology is really supposed to do a lot of things… make us more efficient, remind us to be healthier, solve our most complex problems… while at ...
Episode 54 - Samsung’s Foldable Unpacked Event 2023
28 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Let’s just get it out of the way… I tend to change phones… shall we say… about as often as most people get their hair cut… So when I get to ...
Episode 53 - What’s next... for the Right to Repair?
14 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Anyone who knows me personally is aware of a few things… I love my gadgets, I tend to talk too much, and I drop things… a lot I wouldn’t say I...
Episode 52 - The thing about building a PC in 2023 is...
08 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A lot can change in year… I mean heck, a lot can change in a minute… but in this case we’ll settle with the last twelve months or so… Thinking...
Episode 51 - Failed Technology Brands... a History
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The technology field, like any other business sector, is made up of… well… businesses… Those businesses have their own brands, and they fight to...
Episode 50 - What’s Next for Augmented and Virtual Reality
18 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
At first glance, the setting here in my office is much like any other morning… From the vantage point of my desk chair, I’m surrounded on all si...
Episode 49 - Apple WWDC 2023
06 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the best parts about doing this show for over a year now is, every so often, we get to take a look back… to size things up in the past with a...
Episode 48 - Xbox... a History
30 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s certainly not unique to tech or gadgets… but I hear people say all the time “we’re not allowed to have favorites”… Well, I hate to br...
Episode 47 - The Cost of Collaboration
23 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Collaboration is important… like really important. At our infamous “day job” its even one of our core values… without it what we do every day,...
Episode 46 - Google I/O 2023
12 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Let’s just come right out and admit it… it’s been a weird few years in tech… Pandemic-driven development cycles, evaporating supply chains, ev...
Episode 45 - What’s Next... for Display Tech?
28 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I’m probably about to date myself a little bit… but amongst my fondest early tech memories was shopping for my first computer. No, not the first c...
Episode 44 - Parts Bin: What Matters for your Smart Home?
14 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve said it many, many times here on Solid State… some things are just supposed to… work… Chief among them are basic functions like lighting...
Episode 43 - Playstation... a History
07 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s kind of funny to me how many people end up in their career because of a childhood love or hobby… You have the architect that couldn’t get e...
Episode 42 - The cost of (no) competition...
27 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Competition is one of those things that, whether you like it or not, makes sense right? If I make bicycles and you start making a better kind of bicyc...
Episode 41 - What’s next... for Over the Air TV
17 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Some pieces of technology eventually reach the point of truly becoming ubiquitous… a computer on every desk, a smart phone in every pocket, a dro...
Episode 40 - Hacking the Human
10 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s really frustrating when something breaks… this is true of everything from a garage door not opening to a lightbulb burning out… we just wan...
Episode 39 - What’s in the box... Razer Blade 16
03 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In just about any product category, ideally you should have options… entry level, mid-range, consumer, pro-sumer, the list is nearly endless… But ...