Hey there! It’s time to catch up on what we’ve talked about on TechStuff this week. But before we get into that, I have a tiny announcement to make. I’ll be on vacation next week. What’s more, I’ll have virtually no access to the Internet during that time. I am both exhilarated and frightened by this prospect. Hold me.

I hope that wasn’t too uncomfortable for you. At any rate, Chris and I have recorded some episodes of TechStuff in advance. You’ll still be able to get your weekly dose of TechStuff. On top of that, Chris will continue to blog while I’m away. If you ask him nicely, he may even summarize our next two episodes in a roundup next Friday.

Now let’s get to our topics for this week. On Monday, Chris held court as we talked about Wolfram|Alpha. Chris wrote a great article for HowStuffWorks.com about this computational engine. We talk about the technology behind the engine, reasons why you may want to use Wolfram|Alpha and how other companies like Google are responding to the new kid on the block.

Wednesday’s episode was all about flops. Not floating operations — we’re talking about technology that just didn’t make it. While Chris and I spent nearly half an hour talking about this technology, we barely scratched the surface. We also focused on technology from the last 30 years or so. If you go back further, there are some even bigger technological flops. Hopefully we’ll be able to do some podcasts about historical technology soon. We get a great response from our listeners when we talk about old tech and both Chris and yours truly get a kick out of researching it.

To all our great listeners — thanks so much for the feedback! We’re behind on answering listener mail but I assure you we read every message that comes in. Keep up the great suggestions! And if you haven’t started listening to TechStuff yet, subscribe to our podcast. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll learn why I have an anti-Mac bias.

See you on the other side (of my vacation)! And learn more about tech at HowStuffWorks.com:

How Wolfram|Alpha Works
How Gizmondo Works
What are the best video games never made?