SSD Upgrades, Google Hangouts vs Skype, Yahoo! and the Internet Blackout of 2012 – HT059

This week Jim and Andrew bring you the latest installment of the Home Tech Podcast. Jim talks about this recent upgrade to a 120GB Mushkin SSD drive in his primary PC, and the performance increases he has seen as a result of the upgrade, as well as how he moved non-critical services from the SSD to a traditional rotating drive. Check out Jim’s post on the experience, and the benchmark comparison between the old rotating drive and the new SSD. The guys talk about SSD’s in general, and the performance benefits of the upgrade, as well as a similar upgrade he is performing this weekend on an older machine that is used at the family church for their media production.

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The guys move on to talk abut the benefits of using the Google Plus Hangouts feature for recording the podcast, rather than using Skype, with Hangouts offering features such as group chat, and group screen sharing within the standard product – a priced upgrade with Skype.  Although not yet for the masses, the guys predict that Hangouts is a feature to watched closely!

The guys move on to talk about the recent Internet blackout, with PIPA and SOPA being the most commonly spoken acronyms relating to this, being the Protect IP Act and Stop Online Piracy Act, both with the intent of protecting Intellectual Property and Piracy online.  The guys talk extensively about their views on both Acts in general, and their take on both, as well as the power of people as opposed to the power of individuals. The guys talk briefly about the headsets they use for recording the podcast.  Andrew switches between a Logitech ClearChat headset and a Plantronics B230-M Voyager Pro UC headset, whereas Jim uses Yurbuds for earpieces, and a Yeti Blue Microphone. The guys talk about the resignation of Jerry Yang from Yahoo! and what they think this may mean to the search engine industry, and the future of search on Internet.  The guys don’t believe this will have a huge impact on the search engine business, and as regular listener Renny says in the Livestream chat, “Yahoo is the Kodak of Internet search”

The guys go on to talk about the earnings announcements from Microsoft ($20 million USD for the most recent quarter), and compare the product strategies we see coming from Microsoft and Apple, and how this may impact on the revenue of both companies. The guys close out with a wrap of the show, and some talk about the legislations being introduced into both the US and Australian societies, and speculate if PIPA and SOPA have the potential to be the “New Prohibition”, and if both Acts will have the same level of success. Thanks for listening to the podcast, and if you have time, please join us in the live chat while we record the show!! Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/theAverageGuyTV Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theaverageguy/ If you’d like to subscribe to the show, click on  to update your iTunes library, or for other Podcast downloading applications, please click on the RSS Feed and pick your Pod Catcher of choice! Or, you can now stream the show online at Stitcher.com at http://stitcher.com/listen.php?fid=22271 The Show Announcements and Schedule: https://twitter.com/TheAverageGuyTV Jim’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/jcollison Andrew’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/unrealshots Contact Christian: christian@theaverageguy.tv Contact the show at podcast@theaverageguy.tv Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theaverageguy/ Find this and other great Podcasts from the Average Guy Network at http://theaverageguy.tv Some links may contain affiliate codes that benefit the Average Guy Podcast Network.