Meetup in Munich? - DTNS Office Hours

Daily Tech News Show host Tom Merritt led a wide-ranging discussion this week, highlighting a significant pivot in the beverage industry with the return of the Slice brand, while simultaneously outlining the show’s international community engagement strategy for 2024. The session also served as a crowdsourcing platform for future technical segments, revealing audience interest in fixed wireless access and home automation privacy.

Key Points

• Brand Revival: Suja Life has resurrected the 1980s soda brand Slice, repositioning it from a sugary soft drink to a premium "functional beverage" containing probiotics.
• International Expansion: The show announced tentative meetup dates for listeners in London and Munich scheduled for July, followed by Los Angeles in August.
• Tech Focus: Audience feedback indicates a high demand for content regarding 5G home internet reliability, open-source home automation, and travel connectivity solutions like eSIMs.

The Pivot from Soda to Functional Beverage

In a move reflecting broader shifts in consumer health trends, the nostalgic soda brand Slice has returned to shelves, but under entirely new management and formulation. Originally introduced by Pepsi in the 1980s to compete with 7 Up and Sprite, the brand is now owned by Suja Life, a company best known for cold-pressed juices.

Merritt provided a hands-on analysis of the product, noting a stark departure from its mass-market origins. The new iteration is marketed as a "healthy soda," featuring a blend of probiotics, prebiotics, and postbiotics. This reformulation places the product in the premium functional beverage category, commanding a price point of approximately $2.50 per can—significantly higher than traditional soft drinks.

"It tastes a little less like a sugary soda, but it's sweeter than an artificial soda, like a Diet Coke... It's also more juicy than a Spindrift. Every sip of Slice is a fresh sip."

The product specifications highlight a focus on the health-conscious demographic, containing only 35 calories and four grams of sugar per serving, derived from real fruit juice rather than high fructose corn syrup. This launch signifies a growing trend where legacy intellectual property is leveraged to introduce wellness products to nostalgic demographics.

Community Engagement and Travel Schedule

Looking ahead to the third quarter of 2024, Daily Tech News Show is expanding its physical presence with a series of international meetups. These events are designed to foster community among the show's global listener base.

Merritt confirmed specific windows for these engagements, urging listeners in the United Kingdom and Germany to prepare for upcoming gatherings:

• London: Events will center around July 7.
• Munich: Meetups are targeted for the weekend of July 11–12.
• Los Angeles: A domestic meetup is planned for late August to coincide with Worldcon.

While the Munich leg marks the host's first visit to the city, the London events continue a tradition of strong European listener engagement. The strategy highlights the importance of hybrid digital-physical community building for independent media creators.

Consumer Technology Trends and "Live With It"

During the "Office Hours" segment, Merritt leveraged the livestream to workshop topics for the show’s "Live With It" series, which focuses on long-term product testing and user experience. The dialogue revealed specific areas of friction and interest within the tech-savvy consumer base.

Connectivity and Home Automation

A primary topic of interest is the viability of 5G Home Internet (fixed wireless) as a replacement for traditional broadband. Listeners expressed a desire for data regarding latency and consistency, particularly for high-bandwidth activities like streaming. Merritt noted the importance of distinguishing between theoretical speeds and real-world reliability.

Privacy and Open Source

Significant interest was also directed toward privacy-focused home networking. Listeners requested deep dives into Home Assistant, an open-source home automation software that prioritizes local control over cloud dependence, and Pi-hole, a network-level advertisement and internet tracker blocker application running on Raspberry Pi hardware.

Additionally, the discussion touched on travel technology, specifically the shift from physical SIM cards to eSIM solutions like Airalo for international data, reflecting the mobile-first nature of the show's audience.

The production team is currently aggregating this feedback to schedule upcoming reviews and segments, with a specific focus on sourcing listeners who can provide real-world data points on fixed wireless performance.