Stay ConnectedHow is technology impacting our lives, and the world? Catch up with your friends in tech as we share all the latest things we’ve learned and love about technology.
Hosted by Angharad Yeo, Tegan Jones, Rae Johnston and Amanda Yeo, Queens of the Drone Age is a peek at the insider conversations happening amongst some of Australia’s top technology experts.
Copyright: © 2023 Rae Johnston, Angharad Yeo, Tegan Jones and Amanda Yeo
For this year's Halloween Special, the Queens were going to go on a ghost hunt, but we already did that and don't wanna get double haunted. So instead we're delving into the horrifying world of mushrooms and fungi.
Don't get us wrong, they're awesome. But they can also rate pretty highly on the creep scale. Their interconnected mycelium network, how they spew spores around the place, and how fast they can pop up overnight - it's wild.
But there are some particularly special mushrooms and fungi that we wanted to spotlight because they're next level scary (and cool, honestly). We won't give too much away, but if you're after some tales of 'bleeding' mushrooms, another that control ants, or perhaps one that look like a tentacle monster and smells like rotten flesh on purpose, you've come to the right place.
Full show notes are available on the Queens of the Drone Age website.
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The Queens have been shoving something a little bit special in our ear holes recently. Don't be weird, they're earphones! Specifically, the brand new Apple AirPods Pro 2nd gen.
We’ve been playing stuff through them for a few weeks now and have some thoughts about the updated sound quality, noise cancellation and comfort factor. They also now have pinpoint location tracking, which we love because our mushy brains are forgetful sometimes.
On the food tech front, Amanda hit up Dodee Paidang Thai in Melbourne where robots served her food. Rad went to another one of their locations, also in Melbourne, but was served by humans. Sad.
Meanwhile, Rad checked out The Last of Us: Part 1, the latest remaster of the game for PlayStation 5.
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It's time for round two of Queens of the Drone Age's recap of Melbourne International Games Week! And when we say games we mean GAMES. In this episode, Tegan talks about two Aussie indie games that caught her eye - the Meccano-esque transportation challenge of Mars First Logistics and the 1950's bartending game Six O'Clock Swill.
Keeping up the celebration of Aussie indies, Rae considers leave horse heads in beds with The Godfeather. (Not really - the game is actually a mafia pigeon roguelike where you poop on people). Plus, Amanda celebrates the culinary classics in the Singaporean-made game Cuisineer, and incorrectly speculates that the HTC Vive Focus 3 VR headset could lead the Queen's to beat Rad's high score in virtual reality experience games like Zero Latency. They can't, though. No amount of hardware would help them. This is not Rad writing this.
Full show notes can be found on the Queens of the Drone Age website.
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The Queens headed south for Melbourne International Games Week (MIGW). While there Rad hosted High Score, Rae attended the Games Connect Asia Pacific conference (GCAP), all four Queens hosted the Australian Game Developer Awards (AGDAs) and then they all played loads of games at PAX Australia.
There was too much cool stuff to fit into one episode so you're getting two parts this week! In this episode, Amanda and Tegan play Yum Cha, a gorgeous card game by Quokka Games.
Rae also talks about the incredible First Nations Community Room, featuring Indigitek, Guck, Indiginerd and 4Phase Games.
Meanwhile, Tegan came home from PAX and immediately played the Dredge demo for three hours - a sinister fishing game with a Cthuluesque undercurrent.
Full show notes, including the code to pick up Yum Cha with free shipping, can be found on the Queens of the Drone Age website.
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We're not sure if you noticed, but the Queens love some gadgets.
Rae hits the road with the Uniden DashView 50R and tries her best not to end up on the Dash Cam Owners Australia YouTube channel.
Meanwhile, Rad puts the Suunto Peak 5 to the test and Amanda gets EXTREME with the GoPro Hero 11 Black.
That's a lie, she filmed very sensibly.
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In this gadget chat, Rae tries and fails to successfully use the Belkin SCREENFORCE™ TemperedCurve 2-in-1 Treated Screen Protector + Bumper for Apple Watch Series 7 (yes, that's its full name). She also explored if screen protectors are even necessary, digging into what materials modern screens are made of - and just how hard they really are.
Meanwhile, Rad takes a look at Samsung's new OLED TV range and we chat about why it's so important to adjust your TV settings.
Full show notes are available on the Queens of the Drone Age website.
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In this Deep Dive, the Queens take a look at one job the robots should have taken from us long ago - cleaning.
From cleaning via Artificial Intelligence, to science to get the mould off your silicone, to giant wardrobe machines that refresh your clothes - we've got you covered.
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In this week's gadget chat: Amanda exposes us all to the joys and horrors of Pokemon created by an Artificial Intelligence generator, Rae shares her own horror story with a journey through iOS16 hell and Rad gives us the ins and outs (and twists and turns and bends and folds) of the Lenovo Yoga 9i.
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For thousands of years, extreme beauty treatments have been a thing. Humans are obsessed with finding new ways to make themselves feel beautiful - from urine-laced teeth whiteners to tapeworm diet pills.
So in this episode, the Queens look at some modern beauty tech marvels, including foundation robots and acne treatments.
Tegan even personally tests out a cryotherapy chamber.
Full show notes are available on the Queens of the Drone Age website.
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iOS 16 is now officially here! So this week Tegan (who has cheekily been using it since the dev beta) runs through her top 3 features so far.
And if you're wondering about the iPhone 14, the Queens got their hands on a few models so stay tuned for our review in the near future.
Meanwhile, Rad clears the air (quite literally) with the very fancy Samsung BESPOKE air purifier, and emphatically shares that she's found the best phone accessory ever: Spigen Flex Strap.
Plus, Amanda reports back on her preview of the sequel to the very popular Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.
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