Jeremy Garcia, Bryan Lunduke, Jono Bacon, and Stuart Langridge return gloriously to usher in the new 2015 with:
We give the first half of our predictions for where technology will go in 2015: this week, Bryan and Stuart (1.51)
Wrong in 60 seconds: Stuart on a new direction for Google ads (14.57)
Michael Hall from the Ubuntu community team talks to us about the upcoming Ubuntu phone, the developer platform for it, when and where the first phones will be out, and what's going on (16.30)
Jeremy reviews Soylent, the internet-orderable meal replacement drink (41.51)
I agree with Jono (a very rare occurrence) in that if your so busy that you don’t have time to eat… you seriously need to think about what your doing with your life.
This Soylent thing makes me kind of sad. Food is such an important thing for humans socially. How much has food contributed to the bonds of family and friendship? What role has it played in the resolution of issues between people? Which would be more appealing, @sil saying “come over for a sit down, I’ve got tea and biscuits” or “come on by, I have Soylent and bottled water?” It makes me wonder if the creator of this either has some taste deficiency, or maybe he has never has had good food so that the only function of food is sustenance.
I agree food is essential for a happy life and even better when we take time to hand prepare it for our loved ones, or they take the time to prepare it for us. I can’t imagine myself ever using this product the only role I can see for it is disaster relief in much the same way as Plumpy’nut has been used in Africa and elsewhere when crops have failed for example.
If we can’t find the time to cook good food and eat it we have gone wrong somewhere.
Actually this approach may be perfect for someone who is dealing with some health issue and has to be very careful of what they eat (example: food allergies). It would have to be modified to suit their needs, and in that way, I do appreciate the DIY approach. There appears to be a community involved in the DIY that could assist one in making the necessary modifications to insure meeting nutritional needs. But, I would see this as a beginning for such a person, for having to modify ones diet for health issues is very daunting at the beginning, and it would be a loss if this would be all they eat. This does have a social impact for such a person. When invited for a meal, they either have to ask what is being served, or bring their own food. But, true friends understand and, in time, adjust to the situation.
“I just spent more than a week experiencing Soylent, the most joyless new technology to hit the world since we first laid eyes on MS-DOS.”
Edit: I was just looking through the ingredients of Soylent. While this might cover necessary nutrients, there is something that this will not provide and that is enzymes. Enzymes are necessary for many things including the suppression of inflammation, which is a major contributor to many diseases. Also, chewing food is good for oral health.
This is exactly the point @jeremy was making, and although all four of us appreciate good food, he’s the gourmand and gourmet among us. The creator basically doesn’t care about taste; food is merely a necessary evil. I think that this means he’s not actually tasted, for example, the chips from the chippy next to the indoor market in Stevenage, or Fry’s Turkish Delight, but regardless of his motives he’s managed to make a thing which even a Michelin starred dude like Jezza is prepared to try a bit and acknowledge there are uses for it, which ain’t nothin’.
“All Steam Machines will have a SteamOS[2] version which is an open source Linux-based operating system developed for Linux-compatible Steam games as well as other entertainment.”
So they actually announced something like this recently, although in its current iteration it’s limited to a small number of hand selected sites. LQ is on the waitlist:
Storyline
In 2022, Earth is overpopulated and totally polluted; the natural resources have been exhausted and the nourishment of the population is provided by Soylent Industries …
(…)
But Thorn continues his work and discovers a bizarre and disturbing secret of the ingredient used to manufacture Soylent Green.
I know were are not yet in 2022, but may be Soylent “tested” in this episode it is the begining of the Soylent of the movie …
