AwesomeCast: Tech and Gadget Talk

AwesomeCast 800: 800 Episodes Later: Tech Got Weird

October 13th, 2026  |  1 hr 5 mins

Apple TV, Katie Dudas, Michael Sorg, Vine, adobe alternatives, adobe creative cloud, ai coding, ai software, airport robotics, apple homeview, apple vision, apple watch apps, artcraft, cat collector, chatgpt, dave podnar, dimension 20, dropout tv, eli manning, filmcraft, game changer, google glass, google plus, google stadia, homepod mini, jay and silent bob joint venture, meerkat, microsoft office alternatives, midjourney, normal tools, pebble smartwatch, periscope, peyton manning, pittsburgh international airport, siri ai, smart home, smarty pants, sorg, sorgatron media, street fighter II, t-bell compass, taco bell, tech news, tech podcast, technology podcast, tecmo bowl, vibe coding, xbridge

Eight hundred episodes later, the gadgets are stranger, the software is coding itself, and AwesomeCast is still here.

Sorg, Katie Dudas and Dave Podnar celebrate Episode 800 with a look at ArtCraft and the rise of vibe-coded alternatives to Adobe and Microsoft, Apple’s new HomeView smart display, Katie’s discovery of Dropout, and more than 16 years of AwesomeCast tech history—from Google Glass, Pebble and Stadia to ChatGPT, Periscope and Vine.

Plus, Chachi has gaming news, an Apple Watch can now point you directly toward Taco Bell, Cat Collector turns neighborhood cats into a real-world collecting game, Normal Tools provides a giant toolbox of simple web utilities, and Pittsburgh International Airport continues experimenting with robotics and analytics.

Get geeky, get awesome, and find more from the Sorgatron Media Podcast Network at SorgatronMedia.com.

Running AI at Home, 5G Internet and Mike Tomlin’s Minecraft City | AwesomeCast 799

October 6th, 2026  |  59 mins 29 secs

5g home internet, Michael Sorg, NASA, adriana ocampo, ai models, apple silicon, artificial intelligence, at&t internet air, chicxulub crater, creator automation, dave podnar, dungeon crawler carl, game preservation, grand theft auto vi, gta 6, humanoid robots, iphone photography, john kane, lm studio, local ai, mac ai, machine learning, miami heat, mike tomlin, minecraft, new frontiers, pittsburgh steelers, pittsburgh technology, planetary geology, pocket city, private ai, protect our games act, qwen 3.5, robotics, rockstar games, simcity, sorg, star trek strange new worlds, technology podcast, telly tv, terminator 2, vice city heat, webtoon, wireless internet

A Minions Router, Windows 98 Solitaire and Fast-Food Emo | AwesomeCast 798

September 29th, 2026  |  54 mins 26 secs

Castlevania, Katie Dudas, NASA, Xbox, activision, boeing starliner, book it, call of duty, castlevania 40th anniversary, commercial spaceflight, crew dragon, dave podnar, davolink minions router, gadgets, gaming news, grimlock, internet culture, kevin minion router, little free library, microsoft gaming, minions router, optimus prime, pittsburgh great race, pittsburgh podcast, pittsburgh technology, pizza hut, retro computing, retro gaming, solitaire, solitaire alone together, sorg, sorgatron media, spacex, symbiote studios, tech podcast, technology news, technology podcast, transformers, weird tech, wendy's emo album, wi-fi 6e, windows 98

The Minions made a Wi-Fi router — and somehow it’s actually good.

Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar are back for AwesomeCast 798 with a wonderfully strange collection of tech, gaming, nostalgia and Pittsburgh stories.

Apple Shortcuts + Fast & Furious Coaster Chaos | AwesomeCast 797

September 23rd, 2026  |  1 hr 8 mins

Carplay, Michael Sorg, NASA, Siri, TMNT, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, ai automation, ai generated art, ai graphics, apple automation, apple carplay, apple intelligence, apple maps, apple shortcuts, artificial intelligence, astronaut, baja sae, barbie, cody rhodes, dave podnar, ellen ochoa, engineering students, fast and furious, fast and furious hollywood drift, formula sae, guile, haas foundation, hispanic heritage month, instagram automation, ios shortcuts, iphone automation, nissan rogue, pittsburgh podcast, popcorn bucket, roller coaster, sae international, santa monica, social media automation, sorg, street fighter, technology podcast, tmnt pizzeria, universal studios hollywood, waze, women in stem

Sorg and Dave Podnar dive into Apple Shortcuts’ increasingly powerful automation tools, including a shortcut that can generate Instagram captions and hashtags from a photo and prepare the post for sharing.

Then Sorg brings stories back from California: a visit to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pizzeria in Santa Monica, a wild experience aboard Universal Studios Hollywood’s new Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift coaster, and a useful Nissan Rogue CarPlay setup that let him run Waze and Apple Maps at the same time.

AwesomeCast 796: The Deepest, Darkest Statsand Apple’s $2,000 Foldable iPhone Has Us Talking

September 15th, 2026  |  1 hr 3 mins

911th air wing, Apple Watch, Duolingo, Katie Dudas, Metroid, SNES, Super Nintendo, Tetris, apple, apple intelligence, artificial intelligence, banger in the hangar, captcha, carnegie mellon university, chachi says video game minute, dave podnar, foldable iphone, hispanic heritage month, image playground, ios 27, iphone 18 pro, iphone 18 pro max, iphone duo, jimothy questy, luis von ahn, mapquest, mario kart world, nintendo, nintendo switch 2, ocarina of time, pittsburgh robotics, pittsburgh technology, prospect pro wrestling, questies, recaptcha, rufus questy, siri ai, siri ai beta, sorg, sorgatron media, ssd prices, tech news, technology podcast, technology trends, zelda

Apple’s foldable iPhone is finally here, but is a $1,999 phone actually useful enough to justify the price? Sorg, Katie Dudas and Dave Podnar break down the iPhone Duo, iOS 27 and the Siri AI waitlist, Apple Watch listening features, rising storage prices and what Apple’s latest hardware could mean for creators.

Plus, Nintendo brings back more of its past with the Switch 2 Ocarina of Time remake and classic Mario Kart tracks, MapQuest adds new Questies, Chachi reports on the disappearing White House Tetris clone, and Dave celebrates CAPTCHA and Duolingo co-founder Luis von Ahn for Hispanic Heritage Month.

Sorg also takes us behind the scenes of producing professional wrestling inside the 911th Air Wing’s massive hangar.

Support the show at Patreon.com/AwesomeCast and find more at www.SorgatronMedia.com.

AwesomeCast 794: Xbox Discs Go Digital, Gamescom’s AI Problem, $100K Keyboards & Retro Tech

September 2nd, 2026  |  1 hr 3 mins

Katie Dudas, NASA, Xbox, ai in video games, brütal legend, cable management, chachisays video game minute, commodore 64, cyberpunk, dave podnar, dolly parton, donkey kong country, double fine, exoplanets, game preservation, gamescom 2026, generative ai, lego advent calendar 2026, luxury keyboards, mechanical keyboards, nancy grace roman space telescope, nintendo eshop, nintendo switch, nintendo switch sale, peter cullen, physical media, physical video games, pittsburgh podcast, pro football hall of fame, retro computing, retro gaming, roku city, sorg, sorgstock, tech news, technology podcast, tim curry, usb-c cables, virtual races, xbox discs to digital

Xbox is finding a new way to bridge physical and digital gaming, Gamescom 2026 has restarted the debate over generative AI in game development, and somehow we’ve found a keyboard that costs around $100,000.

Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar discuss Xbox’s Discs to Digital program and what it could mean for used games, delisted titles and game preservation. ChachiSays looks at AI use in Gamescom titles and the continuing decline of physical game sales. Katie explores Roku City’s tributes to Dolly Parton, Tim Curry and Peter Cullen, while Dave dives into the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

Plus: LEGO Advent Calendars arrive early, Brütal Legend honors Tim Curry with 666 minutes of free gaming, the bizarre Donkey Kong Country CGI cartoon returns to our lives, the Nintendo Switch bargain bin gets weird, Katie labels a slow USB-C charger, Dave finds luxury keyboards with unbelievable prices, and a Cyberpunk-themed Commodore 64 sends us back into retro-computing memories.

Hosted by Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar.

Apple M6 Macs, Grogu & RC Racing | AwesomeCast 793

August 25th, 2026  |  1 hr 28 mins

3D printing, Katie Dudas, Michael Sorg, Star Wars, airport gaming, apple, apple m6, artificial intelligence, bathroom finder app, cloudrc, dave podnar, disney nfl, dolly parton, dungeon crawler carl, field museum chicago, gameway, grogu, gta 6, gta vi, hasbro pulse, hot wheels, kingdom hearts 4, kingdom hearts disney plus, linus torvalds, linux, linux 35th anniversary, local ai, m6 chip, mac mini, mac studio, mattel game studios, minecraft, nature calls app, pittsburgh international airport, pittsburgh podcast, pittsburgh steelers, pittsburgh technology, plastic fun time, pokemon, pokemon fossil museum, racing simulator, rc cars, rc racing, rockstar games, sorg, technology podcast, thunderbolt 5, transformers, transformers minecraft, ultimate grogu, unix, uno

Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar are back with a packed AwesomeCast covering the latest intersections of technology, gaming, gadgets, and geek culture.
The show opens with a remembrance of Dolly Parton and her extraordinary charitable legacy before diving into RC cars controlled through full-size racing simulators and Apple’s updated Mac mini and Mac Studio hardware. Dave explains the M6 chip, Thunderbolt 5 clustering, and why running AI locally could become increasingly attractive for businesses and creators.
Chachi takes us inside Chicago’s Pokémon Fossil Museum exhibit and delivers gaming news on Kingdom Hearts 4, Mattel Game Studios, and the latest GTA VI leaks. Katie opens a box full of 3D-printed Dungeon Crawler Carl collectibles, while the crew celebrates 35 years of Linux.
Plus: Transformers invades Minecraft, Hasbro creates a $600 interactive Grogu, the Nature Calls restroom finder launches, Pittsburgh International Airport gets a gaming lounge, and Disney characters are being paired with NFL teams.
Get geeky. Get awesome.

Xbox Games on Mac & Linux? Freddy Fazbear Goes IRL & Video Stores Return | AwesomeCast 791

August 11th, 2026  |  59 mins 40 secs

EA, Five Nights At Freddy's, Michael Sorg, Netflix, Xbox, adobe project indigo, ai photo editing, ai photography, american dream, amusement parks, atari, betamax, binge buster, cedar point, cloud gaming, computational photography, dave podnar, diablo, digital ownership, doom the dark ages, dvd, electronic arts, forza horizon, freddy fazbear's pizza, gaming news, geforce now, grand theft auto vi, gta 6, lawrenceville pittsburgh, lewis latimer, linux gaming, lost lizard pittsburgh, mac gaming, movies anywhere, nature calls run, nvidia geforce now, physical media, pittsburgh apps, pittsburgh tech, pittsburgh technology podcast, pittsburgh weather, quake, quake 30th anniversary, reddit pittsburgh, restroom finder, running apps, six flags, sorg, stormfreak, streaming movies, streaming services, tech news, technology podcast, vhs, video stores, xbox game pass, xbox on linux, xbox on mac, xodus

Sorg and Dave Podnar explore what happens when new technology collides with some very old ideas. Binge Buster turns streaming discovery into a virtual video-store experience, Pittsburgh's Lost Lizard is actually renting VHS, DVD, and Betamax again, and disappearing digital movie purchases have Sorg wondering whether physical media deserves another look.

AI Graphics Get Smarter + Xbox Classics on PC & LEGO Star Trek | AwesomeCast 789

July 28th, 2026  |  54 mins 51 secs

AI, Katie Dudas, Michael Sorg, Star Trek, Xbox, accessibility technology, adobe photoshop, ai education, ai image editing, artificial intelligence, atari, atom smasher, audible, audiobook, audiobook history, autobot blaster, centipede, chachisays video game minute, chatgpt, chatgpt images, commercial street bridge, dave podnar, dungeon crawler carl, education technology, game preservation, generative ai, graphic design, hasbro, humanoid robot, jem and the holograms, lego, lego smart play, optimus prime, peter cullen, photoshop, pittsburgh history, pittsburgh tech podcast, pittsburgh technology, pong, retro gaming, robosen, robotics, sorg, squirrel hill tunnel, steam deck, tech news, technology history, technology podcast, transformers, universal pictures, uss enterprise, video game news, westinghouse, xbox backward compatibility, xbox pc

AwesomeCast 788: Pew Pew - Retro Gaming on Apple TV, Minimalist Flip Phones & the AI Backlash

July 21st, 2026  |  1 hr 6 mins

Katie Dudas, Sae, adaptive cruise control, ai ethics, ai image editing, ai video production, apple tv gaming, arduino, artificial intelligence, ask photos, browser games, consumer technology, creative ai, cruise control, data centers, data-center electricity, dave podnar, digital detox, digital ownership, digital privacy, diy electronics, dumb phones, dungeon crawler carl, flip phones, gadget podcast, gamestop, garmin connect, garmin fitness tracker, generative ai, google gemini, google photos, google photos search, gta iii, gta san andreas mod, gta vice city, light flip phone, machine learning, maeve chocolate, maker technology, mama’s night off, mars flyby, mike sorg, minimalist phone, minimalist technology, nasa psyche, nintendo wii remote, openmote, pastfinders, physical media, physical video games, pittsburgh bridges, pittsburgh film office, pittsburgh movie locations, pittsburgh podcast, playstation 5 emulation, ps5 emulator, ralph teetor, retro gaming, retro technology, retroarch, retroarch apple tv, screenless fitness tracker, smart-home controls, society of automotive engineers, sony physical discs, sorg, sorgatron media, space exploration, tech news, technology news, technology podcast, technology regulation, video game emulation, wearable technology, wiimote

Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar explore the return of retro technology and the growing demand for digital tools that give users more control.

Katie shares the Dungeon Crawler Carl-inspired Mama’s Night Off browser game. Dave introduces Garmin’s new screenless fitness tracker, while Sorg explains how he set up RetroArch on Apple TV to play games from classic consoles and computers.

The crew also discusses PlayStation 5 emulation, GameStop’s response to the decline of physical discs, and why consumers are returning to vinyl, CDs, cassettes, flip phones, and other forms of physical technology.

An extended conversation examines how AI is being incorporated into creative tools, business software, search, image editing, and video production. The hosts consider responsible AI use, the difference between generative AI and other machine-learning features, and the environmental and infrastructure concerns surrounding rapid data-center growth.

Other stories include NASA’s Psyche spacecraft capturing a Mars flyby, Pittsburgh movie locations in the Pastfinders app, the minimalist Light Flip phone, the OpenMote Wii Remote development board, Google Photos restoring classic search, and Ralph Teetor’s invention of cruise control.

Support AwesomeCast at https://www.patreon.com/awesomecast and find more shows at https://sorgatronmedia.com.