Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Podcasts

Trends with Benefits: Butt-blimp crashes, Tesla’s speed crown, edible batteries

By
It’s been a busy week of record-breaking cars, edible batteries, and even a butt-shaped blimp crash. And next week we’re going to Berlin for IFA! Let’s dig in.

RSS | iTunes | Stitcher

Our topics this week:

  • Tesla now makes the fastest car you can buy: Tesla claims its new Model S P100D, announced Tuesday, is now the quickest production car in the world. Even if you don’t have $134,500 for one, an EV topping the performance-car charts is a big deal. Here’s why.
  • WhatsApp may not be so private: WhatsApp will allow parent-company Facebook to access phone numbers and more. The biggest selling point of WhatsApp was the privacy, and now Facebook plans to use the information it gains for ad-targeting purposes. Is WhatsApp now just Facebook Messenger?
  • A new edible medical battery: Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Bettinger Research Group are working on a new biologically-derived battery. The purpose would be to avoid having patients ingest toxic batteries currently used with biosensors, stimulators and other controlled-release devices.
  • World’s largest aircraft crashes on 2nd flight: The Airlander 10 is a giant blimp-like aircraft, designed to carry cargo, ferry passengers, and look like a butt. It just crashes on its second flight in what may be the most hilarious slow collision you will ever see. Why can’t we land a blimp in a field when we can land a rocket on a floating launchpad at sea?
  • Digital Trends heads to IFA: The Internationale Funkausstellung is one of the largest Industrial Tradeshows in the world, even if we can’t pronounce it. It’s coming next week, and Caleb gives us a preview of what to expect. Be sure to check out extensive coverage at Digital Trends!
  • Digital Trends sponsors Project Pabst: If you’re in the Portland, Oregon over the weekend of August 27, be sure to head down to the Project Pabst music festival! DT is a sponsor of the event and will have charging stations available, as you watch Ice Cube, Duran Duran, Ween and many other bands perform.

Our latest weekly episode of Trends with Benefits features Caleb Denison, Nick Mokey, Rick Stella and Greg Nibler.

Please subscribe and share Trends with Benefits and send in your questions to podcast@digitaltrends.com. We also broadcast the show live on YouTube every Thursday at 2:30 p.m. Pacific.

Topics
Digital Trends Staff
Digital Trends Staff
Digital Trends has a simple mission: to help readers easily understand how tech affects the way they live. We are your…
TWB Podcast: SpaceX triumph, Spotify vs. Apple Music, Apple Watch health
trends with benefits spacex tesla spotify apple watch twb full

SpaceX has reinvigorated space exploration: There can be no doubt that putting a cherry red Tesla Roadster into space, as part of the Falcon Heavy X rocket launch on 2/ 5/18, captured the world's attention. It showcased what vision, ability, talent and a whole lot of money, can accomplish. The question now is what will Elon Musk do next? One would imagine that investors are clamoring to pour more money into future projects. This was also the world's greatest ad campaign for Tesla, for which there are some pretty bold plans in their own right. A letter was sent to shareholders stating that they are planning to send an autonomous Tesla car on a coast-to-coast trip in 2018.

Spotify vs. Apple: When it comes to overall users, there is no question that Spotify is the current leader in streaming music services. They have millions more subscribers (approximately 70 million total) than their closest rivals. However, Apple Music is now claiming to have 36 million of their own and according to the Wall Street Journal, is growing at nearly double the rate of Spotify. So, who do you use for streaming music and why?

Read more
Between the Streams: Venomless trailer, Game of Thrones Star Wars, ‘Solo’ time
between the streams

DT’s weekly entertainment show, Between the Streams, is your guide to all of the hottest, most important, and (of course) dumbest new developments in streaming and entertainment, providing a handy recap of the week that was and a preview for what's ahead. Follow us here at 2 p.m. PT every Friday, or add us via RSS, iTunes, or Stitcher at the links below to take BtS on the road!

      

Read more
How to photograph ghosts — get an iPhone (Samsung cameras won’t work)
how to photograph ghosts julie rieger crabman color circled

Forget selfies and sunsets, any ordinary iPhone can be used to take pictures of something far more intriguing: the spirit world.

Julie Rieger is the biggest of Hollywood bigwigs; she’s president, chief data strategist, and head of media at 20th Century Fox, where she’s worked on a few little films like Avatar, Deadpool, The Fault in Our Stars, and more. And in addition to being one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, she’s an avid ghost photographer -- in fact, she wrote the book on it.

Read more