Listen below with the audio player or Click Here for complete show notes and video from the show.
Podcast: Download
Feedback
- QOTW: If you had to let a Generative AI write your professional bio using only your last three online purchases, what would your new job title be?
- Discord | #question-of-the-week | Technorama Podcast
On This Day In History for January 21, 2026
This is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 344 days remaining in 2026.
- It was on this date in 1789, that The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, was printed in Boston.
- 118 years ago today, New York City passed the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.
- January 21, 1911, The first Monte Carlo Rally took place.
- The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States on this date in 1954.
- Also on January 21, 1960, Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifted off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board.
- That same date in 1971, The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, began transmitting UHF broadcasts.
- It was on this date in 1976, that Commercial service of Concorde began with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.
- January 21, 1981, Production of the DeLorean sports car began in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
- NASA’s MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceased communication with mission control. The problem was in the management of its flash memory and was fixed remotely from Earth on February 6 on this date in 2004.
Happy birthday goes out on this date to:
- Royal Navy officer, hydrographer, astronomer and numismatist, William Henry Smyth, born on this date in 1788.
- American general, explorer, and politician, 5th Territorial Governor of Arizona, John C. Frémont was born 213 years ago today.
- Born January 21, 1827, Russian mathematician and theorist Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin.
- Dutch mathematician and academic, Pieter Hendrik Schoute was born 180 years ago today.
- Joseph Achille Le Bel, the French chemist was born 179 years ago today.
- Born January 21, 1874, French mathematician René-Louis Baire.
- Belgian-American astronomer George Van Biesbroeck was born 146 years ago today.
- Russian mathematician and theologian, Pavel Florensky, born on this date in 1882.
- Paul Allen, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Microsoft was born on that same date in 1953.
Listener Birthdays
- 21 – Michael Rabalais
- 22 – TAW012294
- 23 – Kathie Luke, IL
- 23 – Chris Moody from PodioMedia Chat
- 23 – Keith Lane from TGGeeks
- 24 – Cynthia Fry
- 25 – Kreg Steppe
- 26 – Will The Computer Guy
- 27 – Mark in Memphis
- 27 – Chip Burkhead from The Scotchcast
And that’s the way it was, on this day in history for January 21, 2026
- If you want to get on the Technorama Birthday Calendar, visit our website and look for the Birthday Calendar link.
News
- Lunar Standard Time (LTE440): Scientists have developed new software to translate Earth’s time flow to the Moon’s, accounting for gravitational differences.
- The Bot Takeover: Recent reports confirm that 51% of all web traffic is now generated by bots, surpassing human activity for the first time in a decade.
- DNA Storage Breakthrough: A Twist Bioscience spin-off is targeting terabyte-scale DNA storage, theoretically fitting 13TB of data into a volume the size of a water droplet.
Hacks & Strange Stories
- Doom in the Kitchen: A programmer successfully ported the classic shooter Doom to run on a smart electric cooking pot after reflashing its touchscreen firmware.
- Gen Z’s Retro Revival: Why younger generations are ditching smartphones for “obsolete” early-2000s digital cameras and Walkmans to find “authenticity”.
Shout out to the chat room
Watch us live every Sunday night at 8:30PM ET on Facebook. Go to Join our page and get notified automatically. Join us on the live chat!
Thank you Patrons!
This show is brought to you by… YOU! Thank you to our Patrons who enable us to keep the show running and bring you special episodes.
| Alexis Duran | Amber Elstad | Amy Bowen | Avner Braverman |
| Ben Vaughan | Brad Miller | Brian Brown | Chris Martinez |
| Chris Mc | DanDMan Coyer | Dean Jensen | Denise Inglis |
| Gary Lindros | Jason Pollard | John Clifford | John Noble |
| Jorge Schrauwen | Krazy Joe | Kyle Nishioka | Leon |
| M | Mark Kilfoil | Mike Wills | Sarah Rose |
| Saturday Morning Media | Stephen Wesche | Steve Cody | Steve Therrien |
| Steve Webb | Stewe Lundin | Sylvain Racicot | Tim Cook |
If you want to become a patron, visit our Patreon Page. We’ve got various levels of donations and in return we have various patron packages including a special “after show” we record just for the patrons! chuckchat.com/patreon
Pass me the remote
- Chuck
- Dune (1984) – Netflix
- Starfleet Academy – Paramount+
- Finding Nemo – Plex
- Kreg
- The Running Man – Paramount+
- Starfleet Academy – Paramount+
- Rewatch – Ted Lasso – Apple TV
Question of the week
- If you could upload your consciousness into any robot from sci-fi history, which one would you pick and why?
Patreon Topic this week
- I got a new phone case
- Hearing aids and glasses ordered
- What I discovered about moving my songbook app off ServiceNow
- Don’t end your password with a % if you plan on putting it in a ‘.env’ file
- Notion APIs are too slow!
- Sequelize is cool (and very familiar)
- Anbernic
End of Show Stuff
We appreciate your support. If you like the show, there are many ways to show your love:
- Visit our Amazon page for recommended books, toys, and other fun stuff!
- Call the Listener Line: 707-530-CHAT(2428)
- Email at technorama@chuckchat.com
- We are on the Social Interwebs…
- Search for Technorama Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, Bsky and YouTube, etc
- You can also find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts
- Join our new Discord at chuckchat.com/discord
- You can help support us:
- How about a donation to the tip jar: one time or monthly micropayment on Patreon!
- Links to the articles and items referenced in the show can be found on our website
- www.chuckchat.com
Also Thanks to
- Everyone who sent us links during the week
- Those who joined us to watch live on Facebook!
- You, for downloading and listening
Tell a friend about Technorama and…
binary high five
