Sorg, Katie Dudas and Dave Podnar spend this week’s episode looking at where Apple is going next, while also catching up on Nintendo, MapQuest, Pittsburgh technology and some unusually revealing internet analytics.

Siri Gets Smarter — Eventually

Dave upgraded to iOS 27 and came away impressed with its speed and stability, but the headline Siri AI features come with a catch: there’s a waitlist.

Apple’s rollout includes a more capable Siri experience, improved Visual Intelligence and upgrades to Image Playground. Sorg, who had access earlier through the beta process, says Siri already appears better at understanding spoken requests and answering questions without immediately handing everything off elsewhere.

More on the Siri AI rollout:
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/09/15/ios-27-siri-ai-has-waitlist-how-to-join/

Apple’s $1,999 Foldable Experiment

Then there’s the iPhone Duo.

The foldable became one of the episode’s biggest discussions after an unlikely piece of analytics showed just how much attention Apple’s announcement received: Pornhub reported a significant traffic drop when Apple revealed the device.

https://mashable.com/life/pornhub-apple-event-viewers-dropped-iphone-duo

Beyond the jokes, there are intriguing ideas here. Apple is using matching aspect ratios between the outside and inside displays, potentially making life easier for developers. The larger format opens up interesting multitasking possibilities, and the crew sees potential for business users, presenters and some creators.

The problem is impossible to ignore: $1,999 is a lot of money for a phone.

Katie compares the experience to having a dual-monitor setup in your pocket but struggles to get past the cost. Sorg sees the Duo more as Apple’s latest first-generation experiment — something that may eventually trickle down into less expensive devices after early adopters figure out what the form factor is actually good for.

Apple Watch Solves the “What Did They Just Say?” Problem

A smaller Apple announcement may prove more immediately useful.

The crew discusses an Apple Watch listening feature that can help recover something you recently heard. The example involved replaying information like restaurant specials, but Sorg immediately saw a production use for it: remembering instructions received in a noisy event environment.

Sometimes the best technology feature isn’t spectacular. It simply fixes a small problem that happens constantly.

Nintendo Looks Back — and Forward

Chachi’s Video Game Minute brings an update on the White House Tetris-style game, which has now been removed.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2026/09/08/white-house-removes-controversial-tetris-style-game-from-arcade-website/

Nintendo also showed gameplay for the Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, scheduled for November 5.

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nintendo-shares-the-first-gameplay-and-release-date-for-the-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time-remake/

Sorg continues the Nintendo discussion with Mario Kart World’s newly accessible recreations of classic Super Nintendo tracks and a new Metroid announcement.

Mario Kart update:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1711610297636885&set=gm.2640543926409864&idorvanity=234524630345151

Nintendo Direct roundup:
https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-direct-september-2026-live-report-all-the-announcements-as-they-happen?utm_source=campaigner&utm_campaign=NL_FIX_Sep_09_2026&cmp=1&utm_medium=email&Ictg=46311792229

The larger question is whether Nintendo is leaning too heavily on remakes — even as genuinely new games continue arriving beside them.

MapQuest Wins With Whimsy

MapQuest’s unexpected comeback continues, powered partly by something its bigger competitors often lack: personality.

Katie introduces two more Questies — Corgi and Black Cat — along with Rufus, the dog who inspired the Corgi design, and the upcoming Jimothy character. Future MapQuest updates are also expected to include CarPlay, Android Auto and transit improvements.

Corgi and Black Cat:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DdNtRdGFMqk/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&stkn=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Rufus:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DdP_UXVG4bp/?img_index=2

Jimothy:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DdUwv6mp_yC/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&stkn=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

It’s a reminder that a challenger brand doesn’t always have to beat Google on pure scale. Sometimes giving people a reason to care about the product is enough to get another look.

From CAPTCHA to Duolingo

For Hispanic Heritage Month, Dave’s Awesome History segment highlights Luis von Ahn.

Von Ahn came from Guatemala to Carnegie Mellon, became one of the researchers behind CAPTCHA and later co-founded Duolingo. The discussion expands into the importance of university research and how work that begins without an obvious commercial product can eventually become foundational technology.

https://www.invent.org/inductees/luis-von-ahn

Wrestling in a Military Hangar

Sorg’s Awesome Thing of the Week comes from a very different kind of technology production.

The Sidekick Media crew helped capture Prospect Pro Wrestling’s “Banger in the Hangar” at the 911th Air Wing. Wrestlers entered through a huge cargo aircraft, Stormtroopers showed up, the Pirate Parrot got involved, and the production took place inside an enormous working hangar.

Watch the event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kqJY33amJ0

It is another episode that jumps from smartphones and video games to Pittsburgh production stories — exactly the kind of wonderfully strange technology mix AwesomeCast was built for.

Support AwesomeCast at Patreon.com/AwesomeCast and find more shows at www.SorgatronMedia.com.

Awesome Things of the Week

Katie got a new iridescent Hello Kitty iPhone case for the 50th anniversaryhttps://shopsonix.com/products/hello-kitty-50th-anniversary-magsafe-compatible-iphone-case

Chilla got a MagSafe wallet stand for his iPhone that also functions as a standhttps://amzn.to/3QOAZY0

Mike is thankful for the transit app and public transportation improvements in Pittsburgh https://transitapp.com/

Thankful for Tech

Katie is thankful for her variety of external hard drives

Chilla is thankful for all his tech cases for traveling

Mike is thankful for the ease of travel and on-demand services enabled by technology

Other News

Katie used an iPhone cleaning kit with ninja star tools to clean her old phonehttps://amzn.to/3QTazEu

Chilla explained YubiKeys for passwordless authentication and securityhttps://www.engadget.com/yubikeys-are-buy-one-get-one-half-off-for-black-friday-140046543.html

Duolingo added chess and math lessons, has integration with Chess.comhttps://blog.duolingo.com/new-subjects/

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Special Thanks to kidmental for the new AwesomeCast Sounds! Visit him at www.kidmental.com

Join our live show Tuesdays around 7:00 PM EST on AwesomeCast Facebook, Youtube and Sorgatron Media Twitch!

• We talk about our Awesome Things of the Year!
  • Chilla loves Dongles! Including one that expands his iPad and one that turns any television into a monitor for Windows computers with Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter.
  • Cynthia has two awesome things includng her first experience with the Oculus Quest and the  combination of Screentime plus Wifi powerstrip and Gosund smart plugs -- her home and devices now remind or force me to go to bed when she should
  • Carman loves the idea of SNL's Duolingo for Talking to Children as a concept, and that Duolingo is Pittsburgh's first unicorn
  • Uncle Crappy is ready to cut the cord and not miss any of his sports with Hulu and ESPN+
  • Dudders likes the new Snapchat cat detecting feature!


• We look back at our 2019 predictions


• We make predictions for 2020!
  • Carman: Jeff Bezos will recruit more porch pirates to help sell Ring Doorbells.
  • Crappy: We are NOT ready for a secure presidential election.
  • Cynthia: Playstation and Xbox console launches will be duds
  • Dudders: Zuckerberg sells FB. He’s all eff this noise
  • Chilla: PC sales will plummet
  • Sorg: Continued growth of alternative shopping methods. Displacing or moving workers ie. AmazonGo, Self Check outs pushing employees for pickups and grocery delivery, etc.

Eat at Slice on Broadway (@Pgh_Slice) if you are in the Pittsburgh area! It is Awesome! (sliceonbroadway.com)

Want to be part of our studio audience?  Hit us up at awesomecast@sorgatronmedia.com and we’ll save you a seat!

Join our AwesomeCast Facebook Group to see what we’re sharing and to join the discussion!

Follow these awesome people on Twitter: Cynthia Closkey (@cynthiacloskey), Mike Pound (@unclecrappy), John Carman (@carmanavenue), Katie Dudas (@kdudders), John Chichilla (@Chilla) and Sorg (@Sorgatron)

You can support the show at Patreon.com/awesomecast!

Remember to check out our friends at the The 405 Media (@The405Radio), and Postindustrial Audio  (@post_industry) who replay the show on their stream throughout the week!

Also, check out sorgatronmedia.com and awesomecast.com for more entertainment; and view us livestreaming Tuesdays around 7:00 PM EST

It's Sorg and Dudders holding the fort down for this delayed release episode as we talk about this week in tech news, including:

• Sorg is sharing random goats in the City, thanks to Allegheny Goatscape.
• Dudders is taking a trip back to the 90s - - and how much 90s tech sucked.
• If you want to know what "lego igitur discite" means, Duolingo has you covered!
• If you're an Android user who suffers from Apple Watch envy, there's a Series 4 clone that at least looks like one.
• Instagram is taking on Snapchat with a new messaging app called Threads.
• SpaceX is one step closer to being even more awesome as Starhopper successfully completes its 150m hover test.
• Mario Kart Tour is coming to Android and iOS.
• The Nintendo Switch Lite is so darn cute, guys!
• Disney Genie is now a super app to help plan your trip?
• A dispute in a divorce leads to a crime - - in space?
• Because Tesla doesn't have a truck line yet, someone decided to give us their own alteration named Truckla.
• How about an environmental campaign to clean up beaches (that happens to be brought to you by PornHub)?
• Don't take Star Wars Coke bottles with you if your'e flying because TSA is going to flag you for carrying a bomb!
• There's a refrigerator that will make those fancy ice balls for your cocktails!

After the show remember to:

Eat at Slice on Broadway (@Pgh_Slice) if you are in the Pittsburgh area! It is Awesome! (sliceonbroadway.com)

Want to be part of our studio audience?  Hit us up at awesomecast@sorgatronmedia.com and we’ll save you a seat!

Join our AwesomeCast Facebook Group to see what we’re sharing and to join the discussion!

Follow these awesome people on Twitter: Katie (@Kdudders) and Sorg (@Sorgatron)

You can support the show at Patreon.com/awesomecast!

Remember to check out our friends at the River’s Edge (@RiversEdgePGH) and The 405 Media (@The405Radio) who replay the show on their stream throughout the week!

Also, check out sorgatronmedia.com and awesomecast.com for more entertainment; and view us livestreaming Tuesdays around 7:00 PM EST

[embed]https://youtu.be/YFk0-j6HHKw[/embed]

Also, check out sorgatronmedia.com and awesomecast.com for more entertainment. Follow Michael Sorg (@sorgatron) and @AwesomeCast for updates and live streams of our interviews! Subscribe on Facebook,Stitcher, Spreaker, iTunes, and Youtube!

Sorg has the perfect Awesome Thing of the Week for Chilla – an Iron Man AR helmet!
Our biggest question about the Iron Man AR helmet – does it fit adults? Because we all really want one ourselves.
Katie is sharing her Awesome Thing of the Week – a sponsored post in Tech Crunch with NONONONONO Cat!
Speaking of cats…Chilla’s Awesome Thing of the Week is Rift Cat.
Jack’s Awesome Thing of the Week is a WIRED documentary on the Silicon Valley of hardware – Shenzhen, China.
Best Buy will stop selling CDs because of digital music revenue, while Target will sell them under consignment.
Sorg is sharing his collection of old technology – like VCRs and 1992 tech.
Despite the trend toward digital, Netflix originals are finding their way to DVD for cross marketing.
Crystal Dynamics is taking on the Avengers game next!
My Little Pony meets Street Fighter and Sorg wants Hasbro to leave them alone so it can be made.
Black Mirror is more and more realistic thanks to Boston Dynamics.
Chilla is sharing some progressive web app updates.
Google is working on app development for a smart response option for all of your chat.
Google is working on a video game streaming service?
Sorg is digging Social Decay – an art installation of social icons in decay.
After the show remember to:

Eat at Slice on Broadway (@Pgh_Slice) if you are in the Pittsburgh area! It is Awesome! (sliceonbroadway.com)

Join our AwesomeCast Facebook Group to see what we’re sharing and to join the discussion?

Follow these awesome people on Twitter: Jack Morgan (@jckmgn), Katie Dudas (@Kdudders), John Chichilla (@chilla) and Sorg (@Sorgatron)

Have you seen our AwesomeTips videos?

You can support the show at Patreon.com/awesomecast!

Remember to check out our friends at River’s Edge (@RiversEdgePGH) and The 405 Media who replay the show on their stream throughout the week!

Also, check out sorgatronmedia.com and awesomecast.com for more entertainment; and view us livestreaming Tuesdays around 7:00 PM EST!