Audio Gear Talk Damashe kicks off with an audio interface mishap. He shipped most of his demo gear to Austin for the NFB National Convention, including his usual recorder, and had to quickly set up the Zoom H5 Studio instead. After a few minutes of confusion over gain knobs, the fix turned out to be simple: turn the right one. He walks through his thoughts on the Zoom H1, H4, H5 Studio, H6, H6 Studio, and P4next, covering which ones he prefers and why (mainly manual gain control over digital menus).

Claude Remote Control Coding Michael shares his experience using Claude's remote control feature while traveling in Vegas. He pushed eight TestFlight builds for Earshot from his phone while away from his laptop, sending prompts, reviewing bug reports, and even having Claude message a friend to check on his machine. Claude also handled app signing certificates without Michael physically present to approve it. They talk through when remote control coding actually makes sense versus when it is overkill.

Fable Access and Model Usage A quick discussion on Anthropic's Fable model, its usage costs compared to Opus 4.8, and the tip of using a cheaper model like Sonnet to draft prompts before handing them to a more expensive model for the actual work.

Recording and Editing Mishaps Damashe accidentally rendered a recording at sped up playback speed while editing in Reaper, cutting an hour long file down to 39 minutes. They also compare notes on Alphonic's redesigned interface.

Packing for Travel With ACB National Convention and NFB Convention both coming up, Michael and Damashe compare packing strategies. Topics include suitcase versus tank roll, packing cubes, folded outfit pouches, and Damashe's strong opinion on four wheeled suitcases over two wheeled ones.

Streaming Service Frustrations A shared rant on subscription price increases, particularly Amazon Prime adding ads to Prime Video and raising prices for features nobody asked for, plus general annoyance with Apple's constant upsell notifications.

Listener Question: Buying a Windows Laptop Longtime listener Chad wrote in asking for laptop advice ahead of a new purchase meant to last five to seven years. Michael and Damashe recommend:

• Snapdragon (ARM based) processors over Intel or AMD if budget allows
• 16GB RAM minimum, 24 to 32GB if affordable
• 512GB storage as a comfortable baseline
• Lenovo as their preferred Windows brand, specifically the ThinkPad X1 Carbon or ThinkPad T14s Snapdragon
• Checking Paul Thurrott's site (thurrott.com) for detailed laptop reviews
• Physically testing the keyboard in store when possible

Also Discussed

• Whisper Flow and FlowType dictation apps
• Google account overload
• Siri reliability issues on iOS beta
• A Raspberry Pi 5 (16GB RAM, unopened) up for grabs from Damashe

Convention Plans Both hosts will be in St. Louis for ACB National Convention, July 24 to 29. Damashe is also at NFB National Convention in Austin this week. Listeners in either city are invited to reach out.

Contact

• Email: feedback@technicallyworking.show
• Michael: @Payown@dragonscave.space
• Damashe: @Damashe@technically.social
• Show bot: @TW@technically.social
• Hashtag: #TechnicallyWorking

Support the show at technicallyworking.show/tipjar

Episode 170 • Runtime: ~1:18:00

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