Consumer tech, argued with memory.
Tech's Message treats consumer technology as both current affairs and shared memory. Recent episodes move from UK-focused tech news and fake review laws to DVDs, HD DVD, dongles, off switches, Pixel phones, Netflix ads, and the everyday absurdity of owning too many adapters.
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Tech's Message is a consumer technology show with room for both current headlines and stubbornly specific tech memory. It sounds casual, but the conversations keep finding real structure. A story about fake reviews can sit beside a riff on UK-focused hearings, and neither has to be treated as more important than the other before the speakers start asking what the story actually reveals. The show likes the odd corners of consumer tech. Dongles are not just accessories; they are evidence of how computers, phones, consoles, headsets, and laptops keep needing small compromises to work together. DVDs are not just discs; they carry arguments about picture quality, extras, flipper discs, trailers, and the moment physical media became a hobby as much as a format. HD DVD gets remembered through CES, Warner, Xbox drives, price cuts, and the strange melancholy of a standard losing in public. Off switches become a whole anniversary special because a satisfying switch is apparently worth defending. That is the show's real lane. It finds meaning in hardware, habits, formats, and design decisions most people use without naming. The current-affairs side is there too. Episodes touch on Elon Musk, UK-focused tech news, fake review rules, Netflix's UK ads, patents, AI, reminders, phones, Macs, and streaming services. The difference is that the show rarely sounds like a bulletin. It sounds like two informed people talking their way through what they remember, what they think, what they got wrong, and why a detail still bothers them. The humor is dry and sometimes pointed, but the pace stays measured. Arguments do not arrive as polished positions. They get built, interrupted, corrected, and reopened. That makes Tech's Message especially good for listeners who want consumer tech coverage with memory, personality, and a willingness to spend serious time on supposedly small things.
Made for: Tech's Message suits listeners who follow consumer technology but also enjoy the old ports, formats, product quirks, and media habits behind the headlines. It is especially strong for people who like conversational analysis more than quick news summaries.
What sets it apart: The show treats niche tech history as present-tense material, not filler. A dongle, an off switch, or a dead disc format can become the main event if it explains how technology actually felt to use.
Tech's Message is the Webby Award-shortlisted, globally five-star-rated technology podcast from British journalists Nate Lanxon (Bloomberg, Wired, CNET) and Ian Morris (T3, Tom’s Guide, Gizmodo). Hear news & nostalgia inspired by the week's consumer technology developments, tightly and professionally presented with insight and irreverent humour. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Nate Lanxon and Ian Morris connect technology news with the devices, standards, and format failures that shaped everyday digital life.
Tech's Message turns consumer technology into a two-person conversation between Nate Lanxon and Ian Morris, moving easily from current policy questions to the hardware people once plugged in, collected, or switched off.
Off switches get an anniversary tribute; your oddly specific tech nostalgia has found company.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical, good-natured look at the tiny adapters that keep modern devices usable.
It takes a warm, slightly weary view of dongles, and it is at its best when it stays with ordinary uses: adding Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, audio, or a few extra ports to devices that seem built to do less than they should.
A look back at Ian Morris's Top 10 Off Switches, from the 2007 CNET feature to the hardware and comments it left behind.
This anniversary episode revisits Ian Morris's Top 10 Off Switches with a tidy mix of nostalgia and close listening, returning to the November 2007 CNET feature and noting that the original article is incomplete online because it lacks the original images, which are linked in…
HD DVD is revisited through booth talk, a canceled CES plan, and the last practical signs of a format war.
Text Message looks back at HD DVD as a format-war story shaped by booth conversations, a canceled CES conference, and Warner Brothers' late move to Blu-ray.
A playful look at how DVDs were sold on picture quality and extras.
The episode frames DVDs as a format that was sold first on picture quality and then on extras, from deleted scenes and trailers to the occasional director commentary.
A Christmas tech debate about AI patents, attribution, and the gray areas around invention.
Christmas Text Message turns seasonal irritation into a brisk, good-natured debate over whether AI can belong on a patent. Christmas Nate Langston and Christmas Ian Morris begin with the UK's Supreme Court ruling that a machine cannot be named as the inventor of new products or…
A thin news week becomes Commons drama, hearing talk, and an Elon Musk detour.
Nate Langston and Ian Morris make the most of a thin technology-news week, moving from listener feedback about the MP who watched pornography in the Commons into the sort of UK parliamentary digression the show handles well.
A weekly panel of veteran gaming journalists breaking down game reveals, industry news, and layoffs.
Global tech with real-world consequences.
Text Message TM 274 revolves around Elon Musk's $44 billion Twitter acquisition and a UK government push to crack down on fake reviews.
The hosts discuss a life hack for brushing teeth while playing solitaire, then transition to tech news and a new Mac purchase.
The hosts discuss the week's consumer technology developments, including a new 6G research facility in Sheffield.
Ian Morris discusses the EU's mandate for USB-C charging and reviews Sky Glass in a solo episode.
Nate and Ian discuss two major tech-legal stories in a Christmas-themed episode.
Tech's Message spends most of “Dongles: TM 332 Short Version” tracing the word “dongle” back to 1981 and a Byte magazine reference, then comparing that origin to today’s USB-C hubs and headphone adapters.
Tech’s Message marks 17 years since Ian Morris wrote CNET’s “Top 10 Off Switches,” and Nate Langston reads entries from the November 2007 list with comments from the archived CNET and Slashdot pages.
Tech's Message: HD DVD Short Version revisits the HD DVD vs Blu-ray format war, starting with Toshiba, NEC, Sony, Microsoft, Intel, Dell, Samsung, Universal, Paramount, Warner, Disney, and Fox on opposite sides.
Tech's Message turns a DVD episode into a mix of trivia, personal memories, and format history, starting with the question of what DVD stands for and landing on “digital versatile disc” or “digital video disc.” The hosts cite concrete numbers like 4.7GB for a single-layer disc, 8.5GB for dual-layer discs, and $16.3 billion in US DVD sales at the 2005 peak.
Nate Langson and Ian Morris frame unknown calls as “phone fear,” especially when a caller rings more than once.
The Dreamcast VMU put a screen, buttons, and a battery in a controller, letting owners take basic games away from the console.
Tech's Message's Bluetooth episode follows the technology from 1990s wireless headsets to Apple trackers and Bluetooth-equipped household devices.
Ian Morris hosts a tech podcast with guest Andy Hoyle, discussing TV shows like For All Mankind and Antiques Road Trip.