TMO Background Mode Interview with Climate Scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

Dr. Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist and professor of political science at Texas Tech University, where she is the director of the Climate Science Center. She is also the CEO of the consulting firm ATMOS Research and Consulting. She received her undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy from the University of Toronto and a masters and Ph.D. in atmospheric science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We started from basics in this chat and defined how science works via observation. Then we delved into the process of climate change research, successful computer models, the significant findings of climate science and whether some changes are exponential rather than linear. Finally, Dr. Hayhoe filled us in on some great resources for further reading.

TMO Background Mode Interview with Planetary Scientist Dr. Pascal Lee, Part II

This is Part II. Dr. Pascal Lee is a planetary scientist with the SETI Institute. He’s also Chairman of the Mars Institute, and Director of the NASA Haughton-Mars Project at NASA Ames Research Center. His research includes the history of water on Mars and planning future human exploration of Mars. Pascal has a Ph.D. in Astronomy and Space Sciences from Cornell University.

In Part I, we chatted about his background and how he became a planetary scientist. We had just started discussing the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), when an internet outage stopped us cold. So I invited Pascal to return for Part II and discuss his analysis of the Drake Equation and its implications for the existence of other advanced, intelligent life in our galaxy.

Bridge Mode, APFS, and Tips from MacTech – Mac Geek Gab 735

Dave’s back from MacTech and boy is his brain tired from absorbing as much knowledge as he could. He and John talk through a bunch of that, including some important new APFS knowledge, Cool Stuff Found, and a plethora of Quick Tips. Plus, of course, your two favorite geeks answer your questions. All this and more… press play and enjoy!

TMO Background Mode Encore #2 Interview with Tidbits Managing Editor Josh Centers

Josh Centers is the Managing Editor of Tidbits.com and has published several Take Control (TC) books. He’s the author of Take Control of Apple TV and Take Control of Home Automation. He’s been writing the Take Control books for iOS since version 8, and his latest book is Take Control of iOS 12. I invited Josh to return to Background Mode to chat about this latest iOS version that has many new features. After a brief story about how Josh got started in his tech writing career, we had a very interesting chat about the creation and editing process of the TC books. We moved on to a discussion of the new 2018 iPhones. After the break, we dug into the details iOS 12. Finally, we finished with a cool story about his latest 4K TV adventure.

Mac mini CPU Considerations, Semi-Dark Mode, Photos, and More – Mac Geek Gab 734

New Macs are out! John and Dave answer your questions and talk through the various models, including a dissection of the 2018 Mac mini CPU options as well as the relative merit of the 2018 MacBook Air. Other topics include setting up “semi-Dark Mode” on Mojave, using a Fusion Drive as storage, migrating from iCloud Photos to other options, and more! Press play and enjoy!