This week we have a discussion on what each of us did to stimulate Amazon’s profits by participating in Prime Day. There were some interesting purchases and purchase recommendations made to friends and family. Then a discussion on the MacOS Sierra adventure Kevin has been having. That leads to a discussion of the oddities that Elisa and Mike have seen in iOS recently. Fun for everyone.

We round out the show with our picks. Mike wants to continue with his home automation expansion and chooses a ceiling fan that is bluetooth enabled. Next Elisa wants to get her cleaning done in a big way and with more power so she chooses a Generac Power washer. Lastly Kevin needs to replace his current desk chair and decides to go big with a LazyBoy chair to cushion his backside. 

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Mike can be found at http://twitter.com/dscchipman or about.me/mikemcpeek
Elisa can be found at http://twitter.com/senseidai or www.threegeekyladies.com
Kevin can be found at http://twitter.com/Big_in_Va or about.me/KevinAllder
Melissa can be found at http://twitter.com/themacmommy or www.themacmommy.com

So Skype decided to plague us with issues but, we managed to record the show despite the problems. We open our discussion talking about Amazon Prime music and streaming music services in general. Is Prime music worth $0.99 for 4 months of service? Can Mike and Elisa convince Kevin it is? Next we move on to Mike’s topic about home brewing a “Google Home” with his new Amazon show. Why would anyone do this you ask? Because, as geeks we like to home brew things. Mike shares a link to a video for the 31 step process to add the “Ask Google” skill.

We round out the show with our picks. Elisa decides to spend her play money on a Nintendo Switch even though she isn’t a gamer. Next up Mike wants to expand his Bluetooth speaker capabilities with the Cassia Hub Audio kit. Lastly Kevin needs more HDMI ports for all his gear so he chooses a Dennon AV Receiver. 

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Mike can be found at http://twitter.com/dscchipman or about.me/mikemcpeek
Elisa can be found at http://twitter.com/senseidai or www.threegeekyladies.com
Kevin can be found at http://twitter.com/Big_in_Va or about.me/KevinAllder
Melissa can be found at http://twitter.com/themacmommy or www.themacmommy.com

This week we have a focus on random topics. We start out with a discussion about fireworks that we have seen or purchased over the years. Kevin recommends checking out fireworks.com one of his favorite places to purchase pyrotechnics for any holiday. Next is our main topic for the evening, video gaming. We hear Mike’s impression of the Nintendo switch to date. Kevin also discusses his early impressions of the Switch. Next Kevin mentions his recent semi-retro gaming purchase of a Nintendo DS Lite. He may have Mike convinced he needs one or that he needs the yet to be released Nintendo 2 DS XL.

We round out the show with our picks. Mike chooses a  way to power his bike up those tough hills on the way to work. It is the GeoOrbital Wheel a battery power assist to modify any bike. Kevin then shares his pick of a 12.9” iPad Pro fully tricked out.

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Mike can be found at http://twitter.com/dscchipman or about.me/mikemcpeek
Elisa can be found at http://twitter.com/senseidai or www.threegeekyladies.com
Kevin can be found at http://twitter.com/Big_in_Va or about.me/KevinAllder
Melissa can be found at http://twitter.com/themacmommy or www.themacmommy.com

Well we have 3 out of 4 hosts this week so that is pretty good. First up we find out about Elisa’s travels to Northern Virginia and the traffic she faced. Next Kevin wants to share more of his thoughts on WWDC with Elisa and Mike. We discuss the iPad Pro’s at some length and the coming of iOS 11.  How the iPad and iOS 11 combined bring us closer to replacing laptops in some use cases. Elisa shares how her co-host has all but replaced her Mac with just such a combination.  Mike shares that he may be coming back to the iPhone. Then we discuss an article about Amazon killing off the unlimited cloud storage option.

We round out the show with our picks. Mike chooses a foldable Travel Bike that is really cool but, will it kill him. Elisa is up next for an outdoor pick of a lovely screened in Gazebo to get Kevin outside. Lastly we round out our picks with Kevin’s choice of a System 76 Linux laptop.

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Mike can be found at http://twitter.com/dscchipman or about.me/mikemcpeek
Elisa can be found at http://twitter.com/senseidai or www.threegeekyladies.com
Kevin can be found at http://twitter.com/Big_in_Va or about.me/KevinAllder
Melissa can be found at http://twitter.com/themacmommy or www.themacmommy.com

Well we are down two hosts again this week. Mike and Elisa pick up the torch and discuss their thoughts on what was announced last week at Apple’s WWDC Keynote. Their loves, likes and I don’t care about it thoughts. They also talk about how the presentation style has changed for these Keynotes and what they do and don’t like about that. We wrap up the show with a short contribution from Kevin and his thoughts on WWDC.

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Mike can be found at http://twitter.com/dscchipman or about.me/mikemcpeek
Elisa can be found at http://twitter.com/senseidai or www.threegeekyladies.com
Kevin can be found at http://twitter.com/Big_in_Va or about.me/KevinAllder
Melissa can be found at http://twitter.com/themacmommy or www.themacmommy.com

Well four minus two equals two and that is the number of hosts we have this week. This weeks primary discussion leads off with what we would like to see announced at the WWDC Keynote. This is based off an article Mike links to on ARSTechnica about what may be announced at WWDC. Mike and Kevin both share their wishes and some fears related to the announcements. Then we move on to talking about the newly released book “A God in the Shed” by our friend JF Dubeau who was a guest on the show a few months back. Kevin’s first impressions of the book are great and well worth the read. We also talk about some of JF’s other projects.

We close out the show with our picks. Mike leads off with his choice of something to keep himself and maybe others cool. A portable room AC unit by Black & Decker. Just the thing to help Kevin keep his cool. Kevin has another semi weather related pick he chooses a big UPS by APC to help him keep his gadgets running when the weather knocks out the power. 

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Mike can be found at http://twitter.com/dscchipman or about.me/mikemcpeek
Elisa can be found at http://twitter.com/senseidai or www.threegeekyladies.com
Kevin can be found at http://twitter.com/Big_in_Va or about.me/KevinAllder
Melissa can be found at http://twitter.com/themacmommy or www.themacmommy.com

Well Kevin returns and Melissa is out, so the Whack-a-Host game continues. We start out discussing the issues Kevin faced trying to finally update to MacOS Sierra. Needless to say it didn’t go very well. However with the wisdom of the crowd a new plan of attack is conceived. Elisa also wants to talk about issues she has been having with her MacBook Pro and the idea of her first ever nuke and pave.  Next up is a discussion of how Amazon has angered Kevin and the fact he may go full geek on them when he calls. We finish out with a discussion on music triggered by the recent extension of Google Music trial. 

We close out the show with our picks. Mike leads off with his choice of a really cool little workbench that gets him back in control of his garage. Next up Elisa chooses the Amazon Echo Show so that she can peek in on Kevin and Mike. Lastly Kevin feeds his retro gaming addiction by choosing the Retron 5 and a wireless controller to play all of the old cartridge games from Nintendo.

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Mike can be found at http://twitter.com/dscchipman or about.me/mikemcpeek
Elisa can be found at http://twitter.com/senseidai or www.threegeekyladies.com
Kevin can be found at http://twitter.com/Big_in_Va or about.me/KevinAllder
Melissa can be found at http://twitter.com/themacmommy or www.themacmommy.com

Well Melissa returns and Kevin is out, a bit like a Whack-a-Host game. The show must go on and the rest of the gang soldier forth. We start with a great discussion about how best to share photos amongst a group both privately and publicly. How we do it with our friends and family. What services work and what services don’t and the ones that have disappeared. Speaking of which Melissa points us to an article at The Mac Observer about cloud services. This article looks at defunct cloud services and how to protect yourself. Then Mike Reveals his newest purchases an iPad and an Android tablet as he evaluates his tablet strategy.

We close out the show with our picks. Melissa leads off with her choice of a year of Amazon Prime for a pick. Next up is Elisa with her choice of a turntable to play physical records on. If you would like to read her review of this very turntable follow this link to it on the MyMac website. Mike rounds us out with his pick of a universal dock that makes your Android phone into a full fledged laptop. It is called the Superbook.

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Mike can be found at http://twitter.com/dscchipman or about.me/mikemcpeek

Elisa can be found at http://twitter.com/senseidai or www.threegeekyladies.com

Kevin can be found at http://twitter.com/Big_in_Va or about.me/KevinAllder

Melissa can be found at http://twitter.com/themacmommy or www.themacmommy.com

Yes we are back again and Melissa isn’t so we push on without her. We start off with Elisa telling us about her latest musical adventure to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and what she saw there. She finds the ear worm song by Mouth and MacNeal. She then tells us about all the other fun she had. Then Mike and Kevin try to expand Elisa’s music collection even more with some Johnny Cash songs. The main discussion moves on to Amazon and Elisa points us to an article about the benefits of an Amazon Prime subscription. That leads us to Mike’s topic about digital assistants and how we use them in our lives. Followed by a discussion of Amazon’s latest announcements for Echo View and how we could torture Mike with it.

We close out the show with our picks as usual. We start off with Elisa’s that goes right along with her recent travel and that is a membership to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Next is Mike’s desire to carry all of his gadgets within easy reach so he chooses a ScottEvest. We end with Kevin’s desire to wrap himself in screens by choosing a Dell Ultrasharp display.

Download and listen here
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Subscribe in iTunes

Mike can be found at http://twitter.com/dscchipman or about.me/mikemcpeek
Elisa can be found at http://twitter.com/senseidai or www.threegeekyladies.com
Kevin can be found at http://twitter.com/Big_in_Va or about.me/KevinAllder
Melissa can be found at http://twitter.com/themacmommy or www.themacmommy.com