This is Technology Bytes, episode 150 for January 18, 2026.
Technology Bytes is a microcast where I share brief bytes on interesting technology.
Enjoy, and here we go. This week I’ve been thinking about the word upgrade as it refers to technology.
I realized as I was looking through my past episodes that it wasn’t that long ago that I was talking about upgrades to devices that I have.
So my iPhone, my watch, the other things that Apple announced not that long ago.
But in this case, that’s not what I’m talking about.
What I’m talking about is an upgrade in light of being static.
In other words, what can we change in technology?
Can we upgrade what we currently have or do the things we have have a static state and the only way to upgrade is to purchase new?
One of the things I was thinking about is I think probably, I think I’m safe in saying this, every device that we use has some set of firmware in it.
Some chip inside the device has been flashed with a firmware set.
And that has some bearing on how that device acts and how that device performs.
There may not be, it may not be every device, but I think it’s quite a few of them.
I was thinking about appliances and those that are in our kitchen.
You know, maybe the toaster doesn’t have anything related to firmware.
So there’s not much that can change there.
It’s a dial.
It’s a push the thing down.
And when the thing when the device thinks the toast is done, then it pops up.
There may not be anything there.
But I refrigerators are dishwashers are stoves are microwaves.
I mean, most of mine seem to think they’re connected to the internet somehow, although I don’t get how that can be.
But I think my refrigerator connects to Wi-Fi, but it doesn’t talk to anything else.
And so those are the things that frustrate me.
If there’s technology in there that allows them to connect to Wi-Fi, then can’t you provide some kind of firmware update that allows it to talk to the latest Wi-Fi or maybe allows it to more properly interact with the other technology in your house, especially my iPhone.
And then I was thinking of like the water heater.
Well, I don’t know.
My water heater is not that old, but not sure what kind of software it is.
But you’ve got touch button controls.
And because of that, you have firmware.
You have a device in there.
What could it do better?
Is there any way to update that?
I think of my washer and my dryer that have some kind of sync technology.
They’re not new, but they advertise as if they are somewhat smart.
And yet there is no opportunity that I am aware of to update those devices, the firmware that has been flashed to them to give it any more capability.
And I think that is a little bit frustrating.
I was thinking of my TV.
Now it’s connected to Wi-Fi.
And I know many people say you shouldn’t do that.
You know, you don’t want your TV to know everything.
I use Apple TV to run my TV.
So it’s, you know, I don’t think we’re getting any information from the TV as far as what I watch.
But I do recognize that new software is being loaded to the TV over time.
But it isn’t improving anything but the software that runs on it.
My TV happens to be a Google TV.
Yeah, I know.
I don’t know why I bought it.
But it’s because I connect it to my Apple TV.
I really don’t care what the back end is.
But is there technology in there that will allow my TV to produce better quality video?
Or is that all based on the hardware of the screen?
Is there any way that it could do better on the audio side?
Is there any way to make the TV live longer as a device against the upgrades, not upgrades, but the advances of technology that exist in that world?
And then I think of sound systems.
Now I use AirPods for, not AirPods.
I use the, oh my word.
I use Apple’s sound devices for my TV.
I don’t know why I can’t think of what they are.
HomePods.
Thank you.
And I use those.
So I know those get updated.
I know Apple does things to help them improve sound over time.
And so they actually grow with the technology that Apple is introducing.
But many sound systems don’t.
I’ve had sound systems that were much more sophisticated.
I don’t know if that’s the right word.
But multi-speakers, front channels, rear channels, all of those things.
But the device that I purchased to make that happen didn’t change over time.
You can’t flash the ROM so that now you get a surround 7 instead of surround 5.
And I’m not convinced that that is true.
I’m not convinced that people who make electronic devices want it to go obsolete so that you spend more money.
And to me, that’s just a little bit frustrating. One of my biggest pet peeves is cars.
Because there is a lot of technology inside of vehicles.
And when people bring out new technology, it is rarely passed down to older vehicles, even though I feel strongly that that is a very distinct possibility to actually work.
And I was thinking, so years ago when I was in high school.
So I’m 60, 61, getting ready to be 62.
So high school is a long time ago.
But I wrote a paper about using a computer to drive the internals of a car.
Let the externals, the engines, the drivetrains, the spark plugs, let all that stuff be a bit stagnant.
Let that be the guts of how the car moves.
But internally, what you react within the car should be able to be updated.
If they made it a computer, which they have, then it can be updated.
So the only reason I can’t get Apple CarPlay Ultra on my EV6 is because Kia won’t let me.
It’s not because it won’t work.
It’s not because they can’t do it.
It’s because they’ve chosen to only do it on new vehicles.
So for me to get what I want, Apple Car Keys, Apple CarPlay Ultra, all of these things that could enhance the performance internal to the car won’t happen unless I buy a new vehicle.
And to me, that’s frustrating because I absolutely believe that could be updated with very little effort.
Even if you had to pull a chip and put a new one in to give the possibility of upgraded software.
Even if you charged for that, you could get longevity out of a car that you may not get now because if you’re like me, you like the latest tech.
And so overall, I think there’s lots of devices in our world that age out simply because the manufacturer is not willing to provide upgrade paths because they are not willing to provide their users ways to make their devices last longer and use the latest technology.
And not because they can’t, but because they choose not to.
And in my world, that’s super frustrating.
That is all I have for today.
If you have comments, suggestions, or questions, you can send them to technologybytes at marigfamily.com.
That is technologybytes, B-Y-T-E-S, at marigfamily, M-E-A-R-I-G-F-A-M-I-L-Y, dot com.
As always, I want to thank you for listening to the Technology Bytes microcast, and I look forward to the next time we are together, taking another bite of technology.
