Guru's Tech Bytes — Episode 29

Good morning, it's Saturday. This is Guru's Tech Bytes, episode 29. First up, Texas Instruments — yeah, the calculator people — just dropped something called the Ti-84 Evo. Now I know what you're thinking, Peter, calculators are for kids and accountants. And yeah, Lois said the same thing. But here's the thing — this is the Ti-84. The one your math teacher confiscated because you had Tetris on it. They went and made a new version, upgraded it, modernized it. I don't fully understand why in the year 2026 we're still out here making graphing calculators when my phone can do all that stuff, but you know what, I respect the commitment. Good for them. Second, scientists — and this is the one that really got me — scientists are saying people can actually communicate and practice skills while they're dreaming. Like, you can be asleep and still be learning things. I heard this and immediately thought, holy crap, that means I've wasted every Saturday morning of my adult life lying there dreaming about being a race car driver when I could've been learning Portuguese or something. Lois is going to have a field day with this one. Third, the fan company Noctua wrote a whole blog post explaining why it takes them so long to release their fans in black. And I gotta say, I read the whole thing, and it turns out the answer is basically — it's really, really hard. Something about coatings and airflow and tolerances. You know what this reminds me of? When I tried to repaint the Quahog Bowling League trophy. Figured, how hard can it be. Ruined it. Completely ruined it. The point is, manufacturing is harder than it looks and Noctua knows what they're doing. And finally, Ask.com has officially shut down. Rest in peace. You know, Ask.com was the search engine you used right before you gave up and used Google. It had that little butler guy. Very polite, never really had the answers you needed. It's like going to Brian for life advice — the intention is there, the execution, not so much. Anyway, Ask.com is gone. Poof. Thirty years of internet history, closed. Kinda sad when you think about it. That's your daily byte. Have a great day. Until next time.