Tea: Qimen Caixia (“Sunrise Keemun”) black tea. Damon discusses tech that makes cochlear implants more versatile. Michael looks at methodologies of language learning. Also: little black worms, high quality science from Jurassic Park, listener

Tech Tea 030: The Episode of Titles Episode

Jul 31st, 2017 1h 8m

Tea: Dian Hong Jin Ya (“Golden Buds”) black tea. Damon talks about shoe technology. Michael tackles the basics of blockchain. Also: ice cream and bitterness, asparagus, Latin problems, the Pope, building a base, gas masks, extra bones, cylons

Tech Tea 029: The Spirit of Tea

Jul 17th, 2017 1h 11m

Tea: Meng Ding Mao Feng green tea. Damon explores his own DNA and also covers new technology for the visually impaired. Michael ponders how the future we envisioned in the 1980s differs from the future we’re living now. Also: Finnish vs. Lati

Tech Tea 028: Happy Day Between Independence Days

Jul 4th, 2017 1h 12m

Tea: Fo Mei (Buddha’s Eyebrow) green tea. Damon talks about his experience making something in augmented reality. Michael shares his thoughts as a non-driver on autonomous vehicles. Also: getting the date wrong, throwing tea into the lake, bre

Tech Tea 027: Happy Birthday To Us

Jun 19th, 2017 1h 4m

Tea: Jun Shan Yin Zhen yellow tea. Damon describes recent photography projects he was involved in. Michael talks about his Father’s Day “miracle.” Also: getting confused about geography, tea prices, GitHub, making movies with strong female lead

Tech Tea 026: It’s Morning Somewhere

Jun 6th, 2017 1h 26m

Tea: Gu Zhu Zi Sun (Purple Bamboo Shoot) green tea. Damon recaps the keynote from Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference. Michael takes a hard look at Facebook’s corporate ethics. Also: pouring boiling water on things, getting grossed out

Tech Tea 025: Jazz Musicians We Are Not

May 22nd, 2017 1h 5m

Tea: Bi Luo Chun green tea. Damon reviews the WannaCry virus and its brethren. Michael summarizes the news out of the Google I/O conference. Also: quitting caffeine (and color vision), bad water, the need for tea tasting vocabulary, the Saga

Tech Tea 024: Bag of Words

May 8th, 2017 1h 6m

Tea: Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) wulong. Damon explores land line phones and the WeChat app. Michael takes on the episode title: the bag of words technique. Also: embossing printers, rubber fingers, another trip down Saga Street, a mea culpa,

Tech Tea 023: The March for Science

Apr 24th, 2017 1h 5m

Tea: Da Shan Tian (Sweet Mountain) sheng puer. Damon and Michael head off to the March for Science to interview people about their favorite science and technology topics. Also: being cool, fingerprint readers, Apple ripping off a Google desig

Tech Tea 022: 50 Shades of Yellow

Apr 10th, 2017 58m 2s

Tea: Meng Ding Huang Ya (Mt. Mengding Yellow Buds) yellow tea. Damon plays with wires as he automates his home. Michael finds the previous week’s news pulling him back to discussions of government-grade privacy. Also: describing something vs

Tech Tea 021: Tea Drunk

Mar 27th, 2017 57m

Tea: Liu An Gua Pian (“Melon Slice” or “Sunflower Seed”) green tea. Damon talks about the developing drama around a purported iCloud ransom. Michael touches on where you can and where you can’t make choices about your information online. Als

Tech Tea 020: Spider-Mike

Mar 13th, 2017 1h 14m

Tea: Golden Peacock (Jin Kong Que) black tea. Damon talks about automating work. Michael looks at different fountain pen technologies. Also: second floor windows, daylight saving time, tea farm ownership structures, confusing Mandarin and Sp

Tech Tea 019: Fuzzy Bits from the Misty Mountains

Feb 27th, 2017 54m 27s

Tea: Meng Ding Mao Feng green tea. Damon covers the “Cloudbleed” vulnerability that’s in the tech news recently. Michael considers cybernetics and machine learning. Also: hobbit feet, paper and pens in the news, being insecure, passing out,

Tech Tea 018: Green Granola

Feb 13th, 2017 1h 20m

Tea: Golden Guan Yin wulong. Damon talks about full drive encryption and encrypted chat apps. Michael considers encryption and security from a behavioral perspective. Also: water boiling technique, rhyming, sniffing microphones, automated re

Tech Tea 017: A Bag of Mice

Jan 30th, 2017 1h 5m

Tea: Emperor’s Orchid (Wang Zhe Zhi Xiang) green tea. Damon talks about permission concerns in the hot new app, Meitu. Michael considers the friction between different levels of technology. Also: brown towels, InCoWriMo, Sprinting, the plan

Tech Tea 016: The Miscellaneous Sounds Episode

Jan 19th, 2017 56m 36s

Tea: Qimen Caixia (“Sunrise Keemun”). Damon talks about the shift to a new studio. Both discuss public information as a security risk. Michael looks at a new VR experience coming in early 2017. Also: buzzing phones, dripping rain, spilling

Tech Tea 015: My Tasty Strips

Jan 3rd, 2017 1h 6m

Tea: Palace (Gong Ting) Puer. Damon discusses some problems with ebooks and other cloud-storage solutions. Michael talks machine learning, language, and translation. Also: inappropriate names for digital assistants, cellphone problems and impro

Tech Tea 014: It’s a Five not a 7

Dec 22nd, 2016 1h 22m

Tea: Yellow Sprig (Huang Zhi Xiang) Dan Cong. Damon discusses the innovations of 2016. Michael covers web projects that make people safer. Also: Hacks and hacking, confused assistants, searching in Latin or when you don’t know how to spell,

Tech Tea 013: These Tea Balls Smell Good

Dec 5th, 2016 1h 31m

Tea: Silver Dragon Jasmine Pearls. Michael differentiates between “scented” and “flavored.” Damon describes his week in Vegas learning about Amazon’s AI services. Also: helicopters coming to get us, watermelons, getting a lei in Hawai’i, cran

Tech Tea 012: The Jet Lag Is Real

Nov 21st, 2016 57m 4s

Tea: Qi Dan (Da Hong Pao). Damon talks about his recent trip to Japan and Michael talks about taking the long view of technology and language. Also: tea and mental powers, sources of aftertastes, empathising with old plants, getting tongue-tied

Tech Tea 011: Mistakes and Bad People

Nov 7th, 2016 1h 53m

Tea: Bai Hao Yin Zhen (“White Hair Silver Needle”), a white tea. Damon talks about a sea change in internet usage and recent attempts by bad folks to take down the web. Michael goes over the basic ideas of machine learning and how you may alre

Tech Tea 010: The Google Dreamcatcher

Oct 24th, 2016 1h 14m

Tea: Shi Feng Long Jing (“Lion Peak Dragonwell”). Damon covers fresh water from thin air. Michael talks about Google’s recent hardware launch event, including the new Google Pixel phone. Also: talking in binary, tourist traps, the difficul

Tech Tea 009: Secret Tea Machine

Oct 3rd, 2016 1h 5m

Tea: Zi Juan Purple Leaf Sheng Puer. Damon and Michael change things up and take a field trip to the Northwest Tea Festival. Technology mentioned includes drain tables, steaming vs. wok-fired processing methods, non-drip teapots, matcha grind

Tech Tea 008: The Time Travel Episode

Sep 21st, 2016 1h 13m

Tea: Que She Sparrow’s Tongue 2016. Damon talks about the new iPhone. Michael talks about technological approaches to reduce sexism and racism. Also: Time travel, payment systems, Damon threatens violence, Michael holds his tongue, scienti

Tech Tea 007: Shaken, Not Stirred

Sep 6th, 2016 1h 14m

Tea: Yiwu Sheng Puer. Damon talks about going to PAX. Michael talks about spy technology. Also: Michael calls Damon a lush, Damon threatens to slap Michael, Kenny G, nuns, D&D, liquids on electrical equipment, not knowing how to speak langua