772: 2024 State of the Platforms (Part 1)
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Hello, and welcome to mac power users. My name is Stephen hacker. I'm joined by my friend in yours, mister David's Sparks.

Hello, Stephen.

How are you? I am good. How are you today?

And I am going great. You know, it's that were headed into the end of the year. Feel like i've got a lot more.

I play the into the year than the Normal, but it's good i'm keeping up with IT. How about you know you you recovered from your sebastian. You feel like you're back in the sample .

and back in the sample. Yeah in fact, we just recorded an episode focus like an hour ago about that .

everything yeah we're got into .

feelings yes. So people to go checked that out when that comes out yeah it's good to be back and it's yeah into the earth fun we get me some fun stuff on the show, including today is day is part one of our state of the platforms for the year.

Yeah, I was looking forward to the seven year. You know as the year goes by, start thinking about IT like what is what's going on and and this is the the thing where we take apart each platform. Apple look at them in terms hardware and software from our own thoughts.

And they've gotten so along that we decided to do IT over a couple. We've one in a couple at one point. We are doing one platform per show, but that was a little much right.

So so now we got IT to two shows. So this weekend, where we're going to be covering the state of all the apple platforms, can't wait. Get started. So today and more power users, we're going to be digging in on the tech we're using in our cars. Stephen in particular, who is always modifying his truck. And if you want to become part of the more power user experience, which is the ad free extended version in the show, there's something special for you right now.

Yeah absolutely. So really um is running the membership sale. So if you go to give really com is the first link in the showers this week, you get twenty percent off any annual plan and the way memberships work at really you purchase per show but you get access that shows longer.

Add three versions if they do is like for us, it's more power users. But you also get access to the really members discord, a newsletter, a couple of monthly members only podcast. It's a great deal.

And twenty percent off any annual plan right now if you've had a membership in the past, you can use uh the discount to uh to reactivate IT or if you have someone who maybe would like a membership to a reality show, you can also give IT as a gift. So all the information is over there and this runs through december eighteenth. So you ve got a little bit of time, but go check IT out, uh, give ray dot comers where you wanted go and you're doing something too yeah.

I have a sale this year for fuel guides. I don't do every year, but I decided a black friday sale this year. I'm the gratitude self because like ride, just feel so I don't know, weird and I am really grateful that I get to make this feel guides the like the old lap dissing story.

We make movies so we can make more movies yeah. And that's been my experience with this. I get to make more because folks, by the ones I make and that gives me enough band with to make more.

And uh so that twenty percent off all of the field guides the code you want to use is in P U. gravy. Like, you know, you get gravy on your math potto es and thanksgiving, there go mp.

Grave is twenty percent of everything including this is the weird bit I have a new field guide coming out called shortcuts or iphone and ipad as I record this IT is eighty percent uploaded into the course. There's like another thirty or so videos yet one hundred and twenty five video course, lot of videos. And i'll talk about IT more when it's officially released and holding air quotes.

But IT seems silly to me to have the sale. And then like a week or two, you later i'm onna premiere a new course. And so I thought, well, if you want to get the the big holiday discount on the new one, go for IT.

So there's a link in the shoots that goes directly the sales page because the course doesn't appear in the school yet. It's still kind of not released yet, but you still didn't get the the discount impede. Gravy works on everything in the course.

And if you want to get a new shirt cuts or iphone and ipad field guide, it's an entirely new edition. Everything shot new. You IT was time.

They made so many changes over the years. So not only can you get any of the field guys for twenty percent, you can also get the new one. And when I release IT, there's not going to be a twenty percent discount on that. So there IT they .

go amp u gravy. That's a really good keep on code.

But I did. I've done so far, I think I had stuffed in one year. And then I did. I've done all the thanksgiving food. So IT was inevitable would get a gravy .

and crawberry is too long, you know?

Yeah, yeah. And not everybody sure how to spell that right to america. Do you like your cranberry on your thanksgiving ven. dinner?

Just a little bit a double. Do me with some berry.

You can go too far with with crawberry. Yeah, where where is with gravy? You can never go too far.

No mean, I with that, a swimmer, you know, let's go.

alright. So let's talk about the state of the platform. In our first platform we're going to talk about, no mistake, is the iphone. I think the iphone is the most important product that apple makes.

I remember when the iphone first for release, I think he was john group or somebody wrote, make no mistake, apple is now the iphone company because, you know, for our whole lives, that was the mac company. They made macintosh computers, but very quickly, the iphone eclipse the sales of the mac. And with so much a blue sky at the time, as we get to today, apple as a multi trillion of our company, but fifty percent of their business is selling iphones. This is a big deal.

Yeah it's it's huge. And may not only is that so much other business, but so much of the ecosystem itself evolves around the iphone, right? Like you can totally just use a mac and ipad, but I think I think when rebel have phones, then max or ipad.

And so if IT is the the root of of so much of the stuff, clearly, apple has a lot of resources working on the iphone, right? They they have new ones every year. And the the hardware in particular, I think, is in a really good place.

You know, this year we have one of those years where the pro and the pro max are the same camera ze which a lot of people prefer. Like I went downsize this year from the max to the to the the regular pro because the cameras the same. I one of that telephone to lens last year.

I was just on the pro max this year both. And I would like to see apple attempt to keep the pro and promote the same. The promex is just a little too big for a lot of people.

I've really come to like the smaller sized pro, but I really feel like they're a good spot hardware. While I like common things, we were complaining about the previous few years, right, still using lightning while its U. S, B, C.

Now the proponent are really heavy while they have moved from steel to titania naterally. nice. The colors are boring this year. The colors are great on the regular phones that I think they're in a they're in a healthy place.

Well, I think you're going a little far saying the colors are great.

But you know on the regular phones are pretty good. The public phones are so in .

yeah I want to go back though to this thing where they have some years where the cameras matched, some years they don't on the pro. And the fact that like mears like this exist where they ship the same cameras among both phones at to me is a sign that this is not a money grab situation. When they are different.

I feel like sometimes they need more space, which the bigger phone has, and maybe sometimes there's a capacity question like we can we make enough of these things to put them in both phones and when that happens, they always seem to skewed towards giving the big one the Better camera. But I felt like if I was always like their plan to try and get you to up, sell you into the more expensive, bigger one, they would never have them match. Um so I think this is just it's gna be here by year thing like as the camera technology evolves.

I mean, we're here in rumors now that they want to put a camera in IT at some point in the future with a variable appeal, which means you could dial down the appeared till, let more lighting get more poca and dial IT up to get a more depth IT depend on what you do. I mean, apple is coming for all your cameras. There is no in a good question.

And I think they are gonna willing to split that again, if that's what IT takes to get over the goal line of making a Better camera. But we are in a year where you don't have that limitation, if you like a smaller camera, but you want the best possible camera system, even get that. Now something you didn't mention is this year, we got an increase in RAM in both of the cameras and and that is part and parcel of apple intelligence and other I even but i'm starting to hear from people in my life who are not mak paris listeners who are apple intelligence beliefs.

And it's interesting to me because I didn't think I don't think it's all that impressive what they've done this far with apple intelligence, but that's as someone who plays with the big models and knows what artificial intelligence is currently available to do. Where's my sister? Just call me, then actually says, I love my new iphone.

She's been editing in all her photos like, you know, you got a granted picture. She's taken out other people. She's fixed in their hair.

She's making all the apple intelligence photo features. Yeah SHE in her mind, that is the peek of artificial intelligence technology. And he wants to go now, buy a new ipad.

Shit, like what I need this on my ipad to. So i'm like, why your ipad is really old? IT doesn't support IT, okay, so which ones can I buy now that have IT? You know and I think there's a lot of people that they are probably not our listeners to be unless with you. But but i'm starting to see you know what apple was aiming for with this, and that's all possible with these new iphones with extinct of im.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when we talk about the mac next week, it's the same over there, right? The base is now is now sixteen models need a lot of memory and um and the phones you know have been they've been solely updated over time and now they're they've read a new a new height.

Can can I also talk about titania for a minute, please? As as we LED up to this, there was a lot of discussion over the years and rumors we've heard ceramic, titanium and carbon fiber, right? That was always one of those three was going to be the next think they did to make a lighter.

And now since titanium has released, IT feels like the rumors have stopped. Ensure apple is still testing materials. Do you think that they're going to stick with titanium for the forseeable future? Or do you see this is like a transitory material? They would probably have something even lighter up their sleeve?

Yeah, I don't know. You know, part of me even wonders. Like, do people care that the prophet is made of A A different material in the regular phone? The government was not sure that is a big part of the equation.

I think people update to the prophet because they went the third camera. And so if weight is such a concern, like everyone would not care if my pro phone is made of aluminum, just like the the regular phones are. So I don't know, you know, stroma c seems really expensive.

Carbon fiber is not something apples really ever played with. Has been IT was even reward than that for the max. For a long time, you see carbon fiber in laptops and stuff from other manufacturer. So I don't know it's hard if I if I just had to guess, I say titanium is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Yeah, I agree. I think it's just like the natural easy solution, and I do think so remick and carbon fiber at the scale apple makes things would be difficult. But maybe they'll be some revolutionary changing technology or manufacturing ing process where becomes something they can look at seriously. I am sure they're testing IT, but um my guess would be that titanium is here for for .

a while yeah me too. One one new thing this year.

Yeah, we're both thinking about the same thing I can tell him.

control. So down on the bottom right, building your phone on on the sixteen and sixteen four lines new button slash track pad IT is a lot of things. And on the surface of IT, right, apple wants um like you said early, these apples going for all our cameras.

This makes the phone even more camera focused, if you will, where you can hit the button to launch the camera from anywhere in, move between the different modes and focus and you know, changed the tones and the colors, all that stuff theyve added this year. How how is IT landed for you? You know, I have a different .

take on this. I don't know. Maybe i'm a fab I, but I don't think it's that difficult to use.

I mean, the half press for me is not that hard to find. Yeah so I guess I should back up. Everybody is complaining about this thing because it's it's more powerful. Then just a about new press to activate the camera, although you can turn us, which you make IT that.

Um but if you if you don't, if you leave IT in the divulge setting and your half present, you slide your finger, you can change one of the parameters of the photo. I use IT to change the focus level from point five up to the zoom level and then so you just half present, you move your finger and IT changes the zoom level. I'd like IT.

It's not hard. I don't make mistakes with IT. And I haven't really like studying IT or practice IT. Just I feel like for whatever reason, I guess my finger pressure meter, my brain matches, whoever at apple decided how to set this thing up, but I think is great.

And the other thing you can do with that, but as you can long press to activate visual intelligence, which I find myself using as well. So yeah, I I love that. They included IT and I don't have a problem with the way to set up, unlike, I think, every other podcasts. Ter, i've talked to about this.

Yeah, I fall in that camp. yeah. No.

I I get IT. I started thinking and I might just like an apple apologist or something, but no, I just works. I know. And clearly .

apple thinks that works, so they wouldn't have shift IT, right? Like like they believe in IT. And yes, you can bail out and just make IT a button, which is what what i've done.

But I think their intention like make the camera completely controllable from this thing or this mostly controllable is admirable. Um I think people want to do that. They want to access their phone for any or they are camera from anywhere. I think all that's all that's good.

Yeah well, I like IT. Yeah, I had the camera up in my dog for year. I took IT out.

My brain is now successful. Ly been required that when I would take a picture, I just pushed that button. And yeah, it's it's a big win. And i'm glad that they did IT on all devices, not just the process.

And i'm sure that over time, youtube will see the the benefit the half press because if if you're not, if you're listening, you've never use like a fancy camera. The half press is a long term thing in cameras where you press the shuttle button like halfway and you get a feel for, and that would like when I was growing up, I would run the light meter. But now IT does a whole bunch more stuff because cameras are computers now.

But but yeah, this thing you just kind of press half, you slide your finger on the switch and IT changes the lens vocal link, IT changes the land system. And when i'm taking family pictures, I use IT all the time for that purpose, exactly as as apple linton ded. I mean.

yeah yeah. For me, I just felt a little too complex, and I would in sort of in a mode I didn't anticipate by, like doing this White wrong for me person, if I get a little bit overloaded. But I do love having IT as a way to launch the camera and take a picture really quickly.

And I had the camera also on the dock, and I had IT and will everyone had IT is the right most action on the walk screen right with I was eighteen. You can customize that. I've thinking the camera after that, I have actually a shortcut that launches control sener down there on the bottom right. So IT is a for for the the overarching goal of going to the camera quickly. It's working for me even if i'm not using IT for all the the fancy control stuff.

Yeah my bottom of is contextual to pan which focus on i'm in so like of a dizen land, it's a dizen land APP from at home. It's a different things. So so i've got different users for that button, but camera is not one of them at all. Um one thing that's not on our list this year, and I think this may be the first time we've cover this when we didn't discuss this topic, the screen technology and I was thinking about that leading up to the show, could the screen get any Better at this point? I mean, like what could they do that we would notice .

it's really, I feel like, really mean.

I mean, the resolution is finer than my ability to see yet. So if they doubled the resolution.

I wouldn't know IT same. I think the lowest hanging fu is that, that the regular iphone line is still locked at sixty hurts. And that promotion, which is the variable refresh rate up to one hundred twenty hurts, has not made IT to the the lower and phones you have the lower in phones like you could say at capital ninety hurt or something.

Something is still keep separate from each other. I think that something they should addressed now, I personally like promotion, is uncomfortable for me or have IT often accessibility settings. But a lot of people really care about IT and the fact that if you get you can also get a really expensive iphone sixteen or sixteen plus and IT be locked at sixty hurts is disappointing to a lot of people.

Basically, any android phone worth its salt is faster than that. Now in terms of refresher ate, I think apple needs to address that sooner rather than later. probably.

Yeah, the only other one I could come up with was low power mode needs to get Better. Like, you know, we should have the ability like, you know, now they can do like a one frame per second refresher ate. And maybe this is a battery problem that needs to be solved first.

But I would like to see the phone when it's turned off, be even more useful. And there is some stuff going on with some of the the android phones on this. But but overall, like when it's working, I don't think they can make an improvement that I .

would notice. Yeah, they've really clearly spent a lot of time and effort on the display. IT really shows .

they've also got a lot of button on the iphone now. And we talk about the camera, but there's also the action button on all of them.

Yeah, yeah, that's come to all the phones. Of course, the debut on the pro phones last year, my my action button news has been relatively stable. Ah, I had a tied to the camera at first thing that was pretty common. Pretty quickly, I switched IT to I. I hit IT in IT.

IT opens a shortcut, lets me basic just inner text and that get saved as a task in reminders in the inbox and so amount about or you know someone says something to me at the button type C, I keep my inbox in reminders clear. And so there's anything in there I tried to go file IT away or get IT done, and that's been great, is like the super fast capture of a task, or is something I need to remember. And I I use IT pretty often. I know some people. I think the accident basically forgotten, but I find IT really, really pretty impact for I feel .

like them you know, you see the the moving the matrix course and when when neo stopped the bullets and he looked around and he saw everything in the ones and zeroes around him, yeah, that's me with the action button. I have, I have entered the matrix, you know, because this idea of a contextual action button where the pan, which focus on your on IT does different things, that is like the power move.

And like, if you do IT, you will never go back. You know, IT took the blue pillar or the red pillar or whatever pillow, you know, and I love this so much. I wish more people did IT.

I'm going to put a video that I made for the labs into the note where I locked through my action button. But so the way mine works is, if I am. No matter what i'm doing, the action button does different things. Like if i'm in working, you hold on the action, but gives me options for getting the right video recording lights on. If i'm in personal mode, IT opens up a kindle book and I just does everything depends what focus mode I I mean and if you're willing to to go down that rabbit hole into the matrix, the action but can can be so much more that's all say, 嗯 yeah people .

to go should go trick .

that out yeah so let's .

let's talk about software。 You know I O S eighteen this year really felt pretty focused in terms of of what was added IT was basically two category reason was apple intelligent staff, which we should say we haven't ever seen planned for early next year going through all the apple intelligence features, how they work, where we think they're useful. So if is still in beta, so we're holding off, that will be after the new year.

But I O eighteen, a lot of apple intelligence, what everybody gets is a lot of customization. So it's let's start there. I think this is a super important feature to a lot of people. You know a lot of stuff going on to the homework reen this year that that's .

new yeah and like gear plugging into this more than I because of the work you do with David. But I mean, I feel like IT wasn't quite enough. You know I know so so like we got the the changes of the homes screen that kind of make IT like a single color, which is great. But I don't know. It's like it's just not that appealing to me.

Same yeah it's not it's hard to think to make attempting look good and the fact that IT forces the icons into dark mode like several people, including underscore like photoshopped or like what if IT was light mode intended? And I think honestly, that looks looks a bit Better. It's not for me. I've seen lots of examples are people are pulling IT off, but I think i'm not quite the demographic for that particularly feature.

yeah. And now you look at the success of things like wind smith, and he realized that, that there is a huge demand to customize your device. And maybe power users aren't as much in that demographic as other like typical users are.

But so I could be just missing the boat here um and I will say that I ve been having a lot of fun experimenting with grey tents and I could see myself using something like that but you know to make a look yellow or even orange. I just don't find IT that appealing and I don't know if it's the implementation or just me. But no, that one didn't really like that hard with me.

Yeah one thing that I think is maybe a bit more universal is the ability to change the of the icons and budget. You can make them all a little bit bigger, and that will drop the labels under the wages and under the icons. A very common question we get from wind Smith h users is why why is IT say we just Smith underneath? Can I turn that off? And yes, yes, you can.

Now in our eighteen, you can make a big and obviously, there's an accessibility angle from that feature, just like there is tinting and everything else. But a lot of people just prefer how IT looks on my ipad. In particular, I have IT set to large. I think IT fills out the ipad home screen a lot nicer.

Yeah, that was an immediate like improvement for me. Like I know what my apps are after all these years, I don't need label s underneath them. Yeah and just like there's a part of me that just likes the efficient of not having words there that I don't need to read, where IT was like a no brainer and turn that off immediately. I guess, would you have made an option where the labels disappear, but you use that space to add additional role of icons or something? Like you think that make sense?

I think IT does, especially on the ipad. The ipad homes screen still is just so spaced out. And on the mini, in particular, the weird because like the margins are not even around it's it's kind of strange.

Hold to that. We're I get thoughts on that.

Yeah were going to get to the ipad. Um you know the other part of this is now your icons don't have to be in a grid and you know people like that too, but the density is still the same. And I think you would be nice like let me cram more stuff on here. I think I think a lot of people would would benefit from that.

Yeah, I do too. I think that would have been a nice option. I I look, i'm glad that they gave us any option to get rid of the APP names. If I had if he had told me being in the year, you know what's the likelihood that it'll do that? I won't said zero yeah and and we got IT, so that's good. I mean, there's definitely good parts on the customization stuff, but the the big cell was the tenth and that that didn't didn't really land with me yeah, although I will say I am testing gray and I think there may be some use for that when I I need to think of about of more yeah as .

the people who put their phone and gray scale mode, you know, to use as the the last thing with the home screen is we touched on the second go about light and dark mode icons. I ve been converted to somebody who uses light mode on their phone during the day in dark mood at night um OK for you give a teach had to me try IT and IT because i've just use dark mode all the time since IT came out basically.

And I kind of like having light mode in the day and dark moon night. And an option is the icons can go dark as well. And i've embraced that.

I think that looks pretty nice. And you know, I ve sly dimer in the evening. Not all icons are ready for IT even now, which I blows my mind like, okay, we would.

I was eight teams been out for a while now. And IT works a couple ways. Developers can tell the system, this is my light mode icon.

This is my dark mode icon, even if they, even with alternative icons, you can supply both. Uh, if you don't have that, the system will canna do its best to dark in your icon to honestly pretty mixed results. And I I like this IT took some getting used to especially during the beta process.

We're basically none of them like apples turn dark and none of the others did. But now that most everybody's gotten on board, it's uh it's pretty good and I I I want want to run IT all the time. But since i've been converted to uh you know light mo dark mode day and night kind of person um I like this. I have IT turned on and I think that looks cool and it's, you know a little less drawing when you unlucky phone in the evening.

Yeah yeah. I great and great. I've done that. I didn't realize you were only dark mind all the time, but it's it's nice yeah except on the mac or there's only one proper mode, light mode, I don't know. okay.

So I guess we both feel strongly about that. Yeah the settings on the iphone now the device gets older. You know there is a lot of settings that a problem.

I don't, I don't that let's I, A camera controller of particular, right? Those settings are scattered across camera and accessibility in much of other places. I would, I would like apple to can IT top to bottom, rethink the way settings works.

And if you're not going to at least fixed search where searching for things in the settings s APP is way too specific. And if you're not quite sure what you're looking for, there's very little fudge factor in IT. Does this is one area I think apple intelligence could be useful ever, like, hey, you know, phone set my icon to dark mode, whatever.

And like, IT has the knowledge base in there. And that's one kind of hit me for me in terms of what I will find. But I think overall, as the system has gotten more complicated and all these features, you know, even if you don't use them, it's good to have these features.

I just think that over od's been, it's kind of get into a point where it's difficult to find things. And this year, they did something IT started IT with a visionary, as actually, I believe, where all of your APP settings are now like one level further down. So used to be in the main setting screen, you score, pass on the apple stuff, and then you had a list of all your third party applications.

Now those are under an apps thing at the bottom of even further removed. And I understand that from an organizational perspective and I learning that screen to remain a nee entity, especially on vision O S, I think I made a lot of since there, but that may be a move like sideways. I'm not sure to an actual improvement I would dislike about to consider this.

My fear about IT though, is, have you used system settings on the mac like two or three years in ever long way into this? Now I still can't find things because like IT groupings are weird and like so I understand that i'm potentially playing with fire with this request. But I think the iphone has got uncomplicated and I think the settings that sort of spraying wed without a lot of four thought and apples .

part yeah I think you nailed IT when you said apple intelligence because this is like the perfect thing for our intelligence to solve back. Throw the model at the settings and then say, like, let me hold up and to say the theory, can you make IT so my phone turns dark at night in this light in the day, and it's a sure thing. And then IT goes through when IT changes the setting you ever go dig through, IT just does that for you.

And then you can still have the option to dig through if you want. But I feel like in a future where apple intelligence does what it's supposed to, that's the kind of thing where settings is something you increasingly rarely go like. You just tell what you want and IT does IT for you.

Yeah, and I get that a hard problem, but I was got to be a smart people there. Like, like, what happens .

if you ask them.

if you ask something the phone can do? Like nike mood during the day and night. Mood at night should do IT try to prompt you. Like.

I don't know, sorry, that's not possible. Here is the settle screen where you can I mean, it's onest ly. It's like that.

I feel like I started the show saying they were multiple. I know a company. This is a solvable problem. Yes, it's like. Like you don't have to go off to the web, you know, with a proper model trained, right? There is association here.

And I get that it's not the first generation intelligence, but I would hope that there is somebody apple thinking through that because you gotta know that's like one of the biggest frustrations with their customers is, you know, giving a custom experience on the phone without having A P. H. D.

In the settings. And them IT seems like such an obvious fix. Can we move the feelings? I want to talk my feelings.

Let's do IT.

What would IT? What's your general feelings about the iphone here at the end of twenty twenty four? How's apple doing?

I think they're doing well, but I think they are maybe a little to conserve them with things. And I get IT at fifty percent of the world's largest company. Like if I were in charge that maybe I would be less caviar that I am here on the outside.

But i'm ready for the next chapter of the iphone. I'm ready for things to get weird. There's a lot of stories about a super thin iphone next year.

This maybe like top of the line and like hasn't much of trade off, but it's really thin and light folding phones are out there. Lots of companies are doing them. The pixel nine pro fold, if that's its whole name, has like nine words and its name really compelling.

And I think google and android and samsung and others are doing interesting things. Apple has not near that market yet. I think that they will. I don't know how soon, but you if you take your glasses off and back away from your phone a little bit, the one we have now is basically the iphone ten. And the iphone ten was really good. And i'm really happy with a lot of things that IT does as the sort of this current era of iphone, but I can't help the feel that i'm ready for what's next.

Yeah, there's attention there because the iphone is such an important part of their product line. They can't mess IT up. Yeah, but but at some point, the folding phones or whatever the new tech that get maxon ones different is going to develop.

And apples gonna look good. The iphones gonna look gold. That old, slap the glass, right? And so we've gotta get some person on the on what's new.

So I don't know what the answer is. I'm sure people smarter than me at apple are thinking about this. But, but I agree with you.

I think that IT means to evolve a bit even if it's like an odd ball device that they don't they don't tell as many of yeah you know be OK with that, but but find out you know start getting out there and they just like they did with visions as they they made a product that isn't going to light the world on fire, but it's going to give them a ton of data and experience on a platform that is eventually GTA become really important. And I feel like the iphone needs to get a little experimental. They've mattered this iteration, but I would like to see the experiment.

And I know that such an apple that usually wait until there's a clear winner in terms of the new hardware formats, then they get into IT. They don't do IT publicly. I'm sure there's a folding iphone somewhere in cupertino, right? But they're gonna release IT until they think it's perfect. But I would like to see more external signs that they are that they're looking for the next thing with the phone.

Yeah, yeah, that's just the way apple works, right? Very rarely do we get something like the vision pro. It's like, oh, this is weird, right? Like it's new and eg, and maybe not a huge successful talk about that, uh, next week, but with the iphone rights, it's it's just different.

Do you think there is a replacement for the phone like the phone is like the product that everybody needs a phone? yeah. Do do you think apple has I mean, do you see if anything that they're currently making her on the horizon that's going to replace the iphone?

No, I think the iphone is the accessory of the personal computer, and the personal computer was in charge of the world for decades. And I think the smart phone is is the same way that the tradeoffs that come with a smart watch or something you have on your face, even if it's like futures, like glasses, like the future that meta has pitched, yeah they all come a trade ffs, that are difficult and the phone the phone has trade ffs.

But we've all accepted them a long time ago. I think IT is really hard to to imagine a world. The iphone is not the top of the heap .

yeah or the portable phone I am not talking about, even just apple just yeah I feel like that the combination of a screen and the thing that it's in their pocket, you know I think folding IT mait thinner and lighter is gna really matter eventually.

Um I also am interested in the ear in ear technology like in the movie her the guy had a personal Operator system basically and IT interface with the computers around him and I could do stuff with the computer so he had screens available but I didn't wasn't really screen based. I think there's some interesting stuff out out in the the future. But I think for the time being, the phone is is the king and sets where they need to keep putting a lot of focus.

This episode, the mac power users is brought you by one password that a one password dot com slash epu twenty percent of your plan. I had a very delightful thing happened to me as a father the other day. My daughter said, dad, what's the new disney plus password? And I told her it's in one password.

And SHE looked at me, SHE shrugged, like your kids do at you. And then SHE opened one password and got IT. I love that. So one password for families is the thing I want to talk about today.

If you set up one passer for families, everybody in your family, as their own installation one password, but you can have different volts where you share details that makes sense with each person. For instance, of my kids get the disney plus password, but they don't get the banking password. My wife does.

And we have a system in place where when something changes, I set IT in one password, and that is the canonical place that they get their passwords. Now, not only does that save me a bunch of trouble, and also make sure that everybody always has the most current passwords, and then my kids actually have good password habits because now that they're in one password, they're using one password. It's really a great idea to get a family plan as soon as your kids are old enough to deal with passwords, to get them in one password and have them sharing with you with a one person passport family count.

That's what I did with mine, and it's really helped them out. I ve even shown them how to set up their own involves where they don't share stuff with me. So I don't know it's there, but whatever IT is not in my business.

So they've got a secure way to store that as well. We've been doing this for years, and we are very much a one password family. Maybe you should be too, if you sign up for one past where you get so many great things.

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your family today. Well, that brings us to the ipad. The ipad has been around since twenty ten, so next year is the fifteen s anniversary of the ipad, which is absolutely hard to believe.

Yeah, the ipad has for years now kind of sprung into a fully featured family of products, right? You've got really four models, the mini, the regular ipad, you know no additive ipad air and the ipad pro, the letter to come in two sizes. There's a lot of ipad. What do you think about the current lining up just in terms of hardware and sort of where they how they relate to each other?

I think they have got pretty good coverage, honestly. You know they've got the the ipad mini. I just stood a newsletter on this about picking one that got way Better response than expected.

You know, I I think whether you are spent a lot or a little money where they want to being or a small screen, they've probably got something for you. And I don't think it's that confusing. So I general, I think they're in good shape and that wasn't true a year ago. This seems like theyve kind of settled into the line at this point.

Yeah, I think I think you're right. And then you've got the the tenth generation ipad, which is that that base model, you know IT lacks a lot of niceties that people one, but if you want a ipad for your kid, you know is the cheapest one, is very often on slip. He is like costco and amazon and walmart, like you can get in really cheaply.

Now you can get almost three years old. That's probably the one that needs an update.

IT is the one that needs the update. That is the downside. The the tinton ipad came out in twenty twenty two, is powered by the eight fourteen bionic IT gets a pretty old chip.

I'm a little surprise on eely. We didn't get update this year going into the holidays, but uh, we did IT. So that is the downside. Um but IT is really cheap and and you can get on sale. And so if you don't need something nicer or don't want to spend the money, you've got a you ve got OK option down there.

And or if you need to buy like four thousand of them for your school.

yeah.

I to me that the starting point is always the ipad air, probably eleven in size, and then just go from there. Do you need something more powerful? You need bigger screen, you need something that smaller.

You know they've got options for you throughout the line. Um the hardware wise, I feel like with the info ipad pro, there was a lot of nice updates. You know with that old screen, that was a big thing we've been waiting for in the ipad for a long time and now it's there a few. If you want to pay premium, you get the ten of OLED the chip processor mean that was the very first apple device to have the in for. So we can't complain that they're not keeping IT up with the current chips.

You know, I think a lot of that, that sort of conversation goes back to the iphones at the top of the stack, right? Like we have a set number of tips, we can put a set number of products like we get the new. I've had many with the a seventeen pro.

It's a weird chip that was just in the iphone. What's IT IT doing in the ipad mini like it's a logistic question and we may never know the for the full picture there, but clearly, apple's hardware benefits all of these products, right? Like if you will get the ipad pro the things is doing with its display only possible because he has an infor in IT and he had the enforce overkill for some other stuff. But all these things were in concert yeah.

And I think they've made progress like with the external keyboards because they they're really nice, really expensive on. But now they're getting other product offerings that aren't is expensive. Yeah um the apple pencil has continue to evolve and IT is very nice improvements.

Stuff that we're adding to IT is useful. I mean, the joke about the ipad has always been that the problem isn't the hardware that's been true since day one, yes, and he continues to be true today. I mean, I don't think that if someone put me in charge of ipad, I wouldn't be like calling the hardware people to my office. I'd be calling the software people yeah.

I mean, I think even like the the complaints in the hardware, like the tension is old, like there's several different keyboards and principle and like the compatibility over lapse of that just because things are in different update cycles. But it's all, it's all fine. I got all works.

It's all pretty good. Be at the ipad. O, S, lets the heartland are down.

And you know, the criticism launched. The ipad on day one was is just a big phone. And here we are fifteen years later.

And the roots of that are still in place and where apple has tried to move past that, like with window management and multi tasking, they don't have a strong compelling story. I mean, if you pick up an ipad, you can do full screen. You can do split screen and slide. And are most models you can do stage manager and none of those meet the needs of everybody and apple won't commit to once that they also co exist. It's just really messy and kind .

of disappointing. Yeah, you want to .

get in the software? Let's do IT. I mean, I can .

say that yeah.

I just said just restating and you know the ipad that the the sort of the benefits of the benefits of IT are the ipad runs almost everything the iphone can in terms of applications. And that means that has a huge ecosystem of abc can run on IT. Not not everything does, right? Including apple zone journal APP.

Not only the ipad, only the iphone. God knows why, like what are we doing? But in general, you can find an application to to do, you need to do, but you're always gonna hit wall either because the us.

Is limited or the business model is limited that you're tied to the APP store. And that means certain things. You know what, if you wanted a clipboard manager, well, there are some weird work around, but they involved like third party keyboards of the shares. See, none of IT is like native like IT is on the mac and for so many of us and including both of us, uh, we hit those walls just too often and IT becomes an exercise in frustration, a trying to make the ipad something it's not .

yeah I feel like from apple's vantage point, they look at IT like a big iphone. I think I think that's kind of they are like, what if you had a thirteen in screen instead of a three and screen and you wanted to edit your photos? That's great.

Just just last night, i'm behind IT on some of my email as I always seem to be. But I still do the practice where I sit down with my ipad in a chair and I just go through and I dictate answers with da and answers as much as I can and like thirty minutes, like a email blast. And some of the email requires more work, but a lot of IT I can do this way.

And IT feels very satisfying doing something like that on an ipad, right? There are things it's really good for, but I think there's a disconnected and part of IT. It's on apple and part of its just us internally, I think power users see an effort ship in this piece of glass.

And you think about star track in two thousand, one space auto c and you think I want this to be my only interface to a computer. I don't want to sit between behind a desk with a bit keyboard in a big screen. I just want to be like living in the future with this thing that is light and thin, but is a massively powerful computer and can do whatever I want.

And it's just not that and they haven't really designed for that. They don't seem that interested in that there. There may be a future with apple intelligence where that's more possible, but there just not interested in that.

It's like i've told this story something temple on the show. I don't want to keep doing that. But like I was talking to my kids about their ipads when they were in college.

They were both graduated now and they were both talking about how much they love their ipad air and. And they were doing all the things you see in the commercials. They take notes in class, they, you know. And I realized at that moment the only way to enjoy the ipad is to use IT the way apple thinks of IT, you know. And i've largely done that. So I feel pretty good about the ipad right now because i'm not really pushing IT the way I used to, but it's still a part of me that wishes was that future looking device that that in my head that could be maybe I just jump to the feelings part on.

I mean, with the ipad like softer and feelings are two sides of a coin.

Yeah.

there's just always been teaching in the product, right? Because because IT did start as a big iphone, right? They forked I O S. IT was called I O S for a long time.

Even now, it's just IOS with some additional things on top of IT in terms of window management of multitasking, it's not fundamental different. And so you have its roots, right? And with all its benefits from security and stability and the APP store and all of its downside you've talked about.

But then at the other end, you have the mac and you have people who want or need to do things that only the mac can do, but they look at the ipad because the hardware so good and it's so compelling to have a eleven shea glass in your bag. And you pulled out, and you know the things you just said at the futuristic tic aspects of IT. And you look at the harder wearing, like, gosh, if this could just do what I american do, IT would be perfect.

I have the best of both worlds. And the tension, I feel like, has been ratched IT up in recent years. Because they run the same hardware underneath.

The form factors are very different, but the m four in the ipad pro is the same. M four in the, you know the imac and the mac mini, whatever. And a silicon has really shown like, oh, these things are actually really pretty close to each other.

And the the s the reverse out, we i'm sure we'll talk about this touch screens on the mac like, okay, well, you can do touch Greens on the ipad like wise that not on the macon and IT all comes down this tension and this tension is in software and I just don't know how they um how they resolve that for a while IT seemed like, well, maybe the mac is gna fade away and the ipad is gone to take over and if you need to do things that wrong, the mac and the ipad can do them just like too bad you know you're on your own but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. The mac is found on all cylinders. And so part of me thinks that apple just resolved, like the ipad just gonna be in the middle, and actually maybe a little bit closer to the iphone, the mac that works for some people who doesn't work for others.

And apple's fine with all that, but IT leaves a lot of us who need a mac for our data day work. IT kind of leaves the ipad in the for us in some ways. And that's that's tRicky. Yeah, I don't .

think there's an immediate resolution. I maybe I am holding a candle out for apple intelligence to make IT more powerful in our hands, but there's there's a gap between IT in the mac. And honestly, we are the my company users. Both of us love you writing nerdy apple scripts and just getting all of the juicy goodness out of a map that you can get.

And I don't think apple intelligence or any other future technologies going to make that the experience on the ipad yeah and maybe the answer is you just got to figure out, but what can I do well and is there a spot for that my life? And if not, then skip IT. I mean, we've had a lot of guests over the last couple years who who just say, yeah, when we go through the thing, what's your hard way while your mac and I use an iphone? I'm not really an ipad guy and and I think there's a lot of people who have just reach that conclusion.

I think so too. You know you you set this really smart thing in the six college por card years ago. I know you've people quote IT back to you, but it's like you for a time at least kind of like gave into that tension. I can you know the ipad is what is i'm kind of tired of pushing IT and that's a weird place for a part .

to be in yeah yeah. Apple watch, okay, so let's move on to an even smaller screen.

Yeah apple watch .

hard where they've got you know three places you can go. They've got the esc, the envy level one two to return fifty dollars. They've got the series ten now, which has got a new design this year, then a light, a little bigger screen, four hundred dish to get started.

And if you want to go crazy and go up to the ultra two at eight hundred dish dollars. So they've got something kind of right through all the various Price points that you can strap to your wrist. How do you think they're doing with the hardware selection?

I think really like like these other protocols, apple was done really well here. You can get a cheap watch. And yet IT doesn't have all the nice cities.

But starting at two forty nine and again on sale all the time for like what I you see the apple watch S C, I think best by basically always sells IT at one ninety nine, like it's on sale everywhere. That's a really great. It's a great way again to the ecosystem.

Yeah the series ten I think is a really good value. Um and again, like some of these other products, you can spend more and get a pretty expensive apple watch series ten. But the illumination watch is really good.

The ultra, I think, is that the odd one out, hardware wise one IT did not get to update this year. So like it's still the ultra too. That's a bit weird. I think seven, ninety nine is a bit high for what IT offers.

I mean, I say this, i'm wearing my original launch day ultra one seven like if I replaced this, like seven, nine and nine like either liked the ultra, but the series ten having a screen is just as big like for a lot less money. That's interesting. And so I think there's maybe some adjustment coming to some of these things. But overall, I think they're multi prong harder or strategy and .

pretty good shape. Yeah, I suspect the ultra is is going to be like a multi year product going forward like that. So I going to get updated every year, but it's weird because I call an ultra and an a lot of voice. The serious ten is Better yeah because it's newer in a Better trip in some other thing. So I think there is some work to be done there yeah.

And honestly, why can't the ultra be a one year product update cycle? I mean, maybe the apple works is such a scale that they talk some ways about like, well, you know we can't afford to do IT because that doesn't sell enough. But when you look at how much IT selves, it's like IT would be a very successful company if that was the only thing they sold.

And and like we've even heard from some our listeners that I have companies that have dealt with apple and like you know, they have these multimillion dollar like products that apple uses. And then one day, apple just decides not to use IT IT anymore because it's too small. It's is hard for me to rap my head around that.

And as a user and an ultra fan, I would like to see get up, David every year and and always be the ultra you know yes yeah the name yeah so I feel like that is something that's that's a thing in the hardware category in my mind. I feel like the sc should not be on cell t one ninety nine, and I think I should just be one ninety nine. And if that means you even have to pull a few things out of IT, I think there should be a two hundred dollar or option that you can walk, can do an apple store to get and put an apple watch on your wrist.

yeah. So i'd like to see that happen. So i'd like this work to be done on hardware. Overall though, I think the idea of like the low and the standard and the fancy, I think all of that makes sense. The ultra as the fancy watch makes a lot more sense me than the golf wounded.

sure. Yeah.

yeah. And and and I see a lot of ultras in a while. I mean, there are a lot of people of maybe just a seven california a thing, but there are so many people wearing them um i'd like to see them then continue on that that path.

Yeah I think the the biggest blemish with the apple watch right now is the ongoing legal drama over the blood oxyde sensor. So mos, mos, this company, they had patterns around blood auction sensors. They got, uh, as I guess the right word is an injunction. You're you're the lawyer here yeah.

the apples not allowed to use IT yeah right.

The series I actually went off of sale for a little while last holiday season. And the series ten, and like any any new watch, has the blood oxygen since are disabled. And it's one reason I another reason I held on the ultra.

One addition of the expense was I got a blood oxyde sensor in this watch and I like that feature. And if I had to replace this watch, I would lose that feature. And like I don't know, it's all going on here.

It's it's an ongoing story. But if IT is up to apple in any way, they should resolve this. IT makes to watch worse for not having this feature.

And again, regardless what the truth actually is in terms of who's at fault, IT makes apple look bad. IT makes apple look cheap. Because I think a lot of people see this like, oh, apple should just pay them what they want and apples are not doing IT. And whether there's the truth or not, IT looks bad ah this should be resolved if at all. It's in apple's court.

Well, I mean, I was a lawyer for almost started years. I'll tell you that usually when something like this happens, one of the two parties, one or both of the parties, are being unreasonable. And IT could be that apple was cheap. IT could be the muslim m saying, we want, you know, a thousand dollars per customer that you sell this to.

I think I don't know what they're doing and nobody is is going to say I can tell you mossoo recently replaced its CEO that was a news item yeah and and board don't usually replace the CEO unless I think they're making a mistake. And and throughout this process, mosco could have been making a licensing fee and apple could have been putting that since or on. So they both suffered.

So you know will just see IT still be a thing that gets fixed one day and i'll never know the story. Somebody Wrights a book continue years. But but the fact is currently there's nobody at ox sensor and uh and hopefully they can figure away around that.

But i've represented big companies that get their hands tied by a partner that becomes unreasonable. And yeah no, there is a number which apple probably would pay. And apparently that number is not on the table. And I don't know what the motivations are, but is just weird that, that option isn't available and and that's been a big driver of the hardware. I mean, the the sensors that they're putting in really make IT a difference.

I mean, this is no doubt a health device like I look at my friends that where fancy watches and once I say, man, that would be kind of fun to have a watch like that that looks really cool and has an icc, no layout and but then I don't get fall detection and I don't get a checking my heart for me all at all times of and like I am lose so much out on the hell side that that i'm not tempted enough right? Yeah and like and just talk in a few years that they can really get IT where like this blood pressure and know there are there are additional like blood blue coast levels and other White White they're chasing. And if IT gets to a point where it's like you're walk around with a nurse sung your wrist, you know constantly making sure that you're in your best health, are letting you know there's a problem that seems silly to wear anything but an apple watch.

That's the hard way story. It's like how many sensors can I get in? How much more reliable can this get? I mean, that to me is is the big push. And now we've got this one where we've actually gone backwards. This is silly.

yeah. And I I totally agree with you on the health stuff. I mean, I think that is a thing that keeps the apple watch on my rest. I you to have seasons or like I don't like I want to move to something else, but that's what what keeps me there. And it's not just the fitness tracking in terms of like i'm going for a bike ride tracking, but is the data day stuff know? Um I think i've shared this but I had cold over the summer and for a while after having covered I had issues with like uh high heart rate and which I think is for my daughter said pretty common and when I went to go meet with her like you know she'd seen that I was wearing an APP watches.

Okay, you know, can we look through your data in the health APP? And so I pulled my phone out, and because I wear in apple watch and I sleep track with the apple watch, we had all this data and we could like zoom mout and see like my heart rate before a covet entering covet and afterlife. We had a real data collected out in the real world.

Because when you go to a doctor, they're just getting a snapshot in time, right? When they check you, when they check you out in the doctor's office or in the hospital, something, but when it's on your wrist, that data is being collected all the time. Now I wish apple would be a bit more proactive with some of the things that, that captures, like in the new vitals APP, which is really, actually really interesting.

Uh, you can see like your your training load and your sleep, and you can kind of see all these different things. But if there's an outlier, for the most part, apple just says, hey, there's an outlier here. And I understand that they don't want to get into the business of like telling you what to do about that. I'm sure that's a very tRicky from uh legal and um uh regulatory perspective.

But it's not your doctor, it's just your sensor.

It's not your doctor is just your since or but sometimes he feels like they can feel attention there. But the health stuff is huge, and I think it's huge.

A lot of people uh, what do you think about the software changes? Last couple of years, they've taken a bit of a swing at redoing the apple watch over, particularly with the smart stack as any that stuff landed with you.

You know I really struggled with watch OS ten with things moving around. In fact, i'm sure we talked about IT. Last year.

But now with watching us eleven, you can see where they were headed and where they were headed as live activities on the watch. And so if you have a life activity running on your phone, IT gets production to your watch. IT gets basically inserted to the top of the smart stack.

Now there are a couple of settings around this that that I don't like the default of. I don't want the smart stack to take over automatically. I also had one apple two.

Insert a suggestions into my smart stack. There is the same thing with a wgt stacks on the iphone, ipad. Address me bananas like I know I put these two things here.

Don't put a third thing here. Apple, but whatever. Um but i'd really do like having live activities and I don't want the smart sector take over. So I just I can scroll up with the digital crown and I can see what's going on there with a sports score or a time or a work out running or something. And so what you ten photo, little awkward to me, but I see what they were doing now with eleven and i've really come around to the changes they've made actually yeah.

I agree. I mean, there's little nigger I have with the way that works in what IT picks. But the I think i'd like a little more granular control over IT, but of course, I would I think for most of their users, they got the sweet spot there.

You've talking about the vitals, apple already, but I think that, that's a nice improvement. And just in general, the collection of health data that really is just one of the huge benefits of the watch. We talked about the gift guide last month.

There's a family member who I would desperately like to get an apple watch on her rest for that reason alone. And i'm so mature if i'm gona pull IT off, but i'm i'm working on that. I think anything we talk about software, I have to mention the watch face problem.

Yeah, we were talking about so long that I feel like it's almost not we're talking about. But IT is, as apple keep saying, their most personal bit of technology you wear on your list and yet they give us so few options as to watch races. And every year we get one or two more, none of which are all that great for me.

I still think the ultra faces are probably my favorite additions in terms of watch races, which is another reason why I like the ultra. But they I just wish they would come up with a strategy to let other people put faces on the watch. Even if I has to go through a curation in a store, I just want more options. And I don't know why, after how many years of the apple watch.

when did this product? It's been ten years.

Yeah, ten years. I mean, how how do we not have more faces? Is this just me?

I don't know. No, it's not just you. And honestly, a lot of the faces, theyve added. I think whether not attractive or they have weird limitations in terms of what you .

can do with them know yeah .

they do love that you love a chemic and and the infrastructure Jason snails talked about this you that the new apple watch series in can refresh the screen once every second in will power mode or like a rist downmove, if you will, or I get rest up, I don't know, but that means the second hank and move all the time. And they didn't update all the watch places to take advance of that.

So, you know, I ve heard through the great vine that old watch places are very difficult to work on that just the way that they're built is not the way they do things now. But again, it's a giant company that you ve got a lot of really smart people working on the apple watch, you know, met many of them over the years. IT is time to improve this and IT IT can also be canada to be frustrating.

Yeah and it's a part of he's like, well, maybe they just holly non to IT in one year when they don't have anything else to talk about the okay, now you get your watch races. But I kind of resent the fact that we're ten years into IT, they still haven't really addressed IT tell you what.

if they do this, I will have to tie underscore to his desk like yeah or a tie him away from his desk because all he will do is make watch faces and like, no, they can do other things and he's built and you know he's like prototype stuff just for himself.

He's blog to out IT over the years like it's totally doable and yeah you know someone would be bad, right? And some of them would probably run into IP issues like something to make a star wars, want to get in trouble like but apple arty has the mechanisms to manage that. It's called up story of you and you just put these things through that same somewhat flawed system and IT would be OK IT really feels like they are running out of, out of reasons beyond they just don't want to do IT. And maybe that's what this boils down to.

Well, makes me sad. So feelings on the apple watch, except for this this face downer, I am a big fan. I've got an ultra one I wear at all the time.

I also ended up getting a use. I think it's a series six that I worked a bed now. And I just apple watch is a fundamental piece of my life.

I worked from home, so a lot of times I leave my phone on the dark all day. And the apple watch is really my only interface into like getting text messages and things like that as I walked around the house. Yeah, when I go out and do exercise, I don't bring my phone. I just use my watch for that as well. And it's a great bit of technology that I wish had a little Better face on IT.

So do you use the sailor on your what .

occasionally? I mean because like when I take walks, I don't bring my phone. Well, I just pens. I mean, there's a big um we just did an episode of folk story, talked about taking walks and a lot of times I could take walks without any technology just to kind of catch my thoughts in those cases, a lot times i'll leave the phone at home and but cell is there. If something happens, somebody can get me via call. I think I probably don't really need the cellar, but IT comes with the ultra and I do have IT turned on yeah and occasionally I use IT, but it's not frequently.

I very, yeah I very rarely use that. I mean, if I go for a bike, right, I take my phone because when is my bike computer? Now, thanks to the really cool cycling stuff that we talked about, but also like i've broken a watch and a bike crash and like if that had been my only way to contact somebody, I would not have been able to contact anybody.

Yeah something I will .

I think and so yeah, the ultra has saylor. I actually have IT turned off. I turned IT off maybe six months ago because like I don't know the last time I use this, it's okay to let this go um you know if I I can always enable IT but I don't use IT that much but be IT overall like feelings wise for me, the watch has really become pretty important to me for for the health fitness stuff.

I think that you've really got to spend time find tuning what notifications come to IT. And over the years, I have turned more and more than off. Very few things count to my resting more. And that makes IT a much more enjoyable product for me. If IT buzz all the time and going off and I find IT can be distracting, but really nearing IT down, what what you allowed to come to IT can make IT can really transform IT into A A product that ads and doesn't take away that maybe of all .

apple products to watch benefits the most from you spend in an hour in the settings.

Yeah, I I think it's a really good point actually. Yeah, I agree. This episode of ipu is brought to you by net sweet.

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okay. We have a category, uh, just calling apple audio products because there's a bunch of different things they do with your ears. And we thought we just combine them all into one. So we get airports and home pods.

What is a home pod, if not a giant airpower? You know yeah you think about IT.

but don't try and stick .

and get the home part two in the yeah search. Fascinating part of evils business. I think in, I think in particular the airports line. You know this been a theme so far a day of like apples extend this line and like other products makes sense.

I see that most clearly in the airports that you have in many ways, the airports pro to or kind of the default there are in the middle. Price wise, they have the most features. But then this year, you got airports for and airports for with acting noise cancellation giving people more options for Better value. I think apple was killing IT on the the range of airport's products right now.

Yeah, I mean, starting with air pods for I think that's the starting point. They're great. And like you said, if you want to pay electra, you can get noise cancellation the second APP as good as noise cancellation with something that fills your air like IT has provided.

But IT, it's Better than you would think IT is has any here has any right to be? Yeah and that's a really great product. And increasingly, it's a computer in your ears. You know apple is you like IT detects head nods now and it's all kinds of crazy stuff that kind of like like talking about earlier that idea of some future platform that works out of your ear. I mean, we're seeing the baby steps told that with the airports.

And I know that I feel like they really opened an interesting product category with airports, which is interesting in itself because apple, so well known for those White cords into the airports, you and people know that was like IT was they had advertising campaigns around those things in the past. yeah. And now we've got this new thing.

And again, if you look at IT on the spread, the airport d business is a very successful company separated from everything else that all makes. And I think they've put the right effort into IT in terms of the airports and any airports pro two. I mean, the airports pro two are now hearing aid if you want to be for good mistake. Yeah, those are some really great products, but we can't talk about the state of the hardware for airports without thinking about the airports. Max.

yeah, yeah. They got updated, are doing huge air quotes this year. They're the same as they were. They they they move to USB, which is nice. They have adaptive audio, which is nice, but they use an older wireless chip. So they they lacked some of the features they are podds pro to have, and they're still expensive.

I mean, they're five hundred and forty nine dollars, and that puts them in a classic products that i'm not sure they they fully compete with because they lack some of the some of the features of these other have phones have and they lack hybrid rep, hybrid rate. Play back at some other things. This is a harder sell. I think that anything else in the airports line.

yeah, I feel like their airports max one point two, not airpower s max two. You and IT doesn't feel to me like there's really a good reason for them not to be Better because it's been so long since the region ones came out. Like did I just forget to update these? I don't I don't really understand.

It's like are they gonna release a new one in next year that that suddenly brings IT up to to be on par with some of the other stuff during the other airports? Or are is this just gonna be a really slow death? I am very confused about this product, the airlines.

Max, yeah ah there's also an issue, I think, for a lot of people with comfort, but these things are pretty heavy for me. They're not comfortable and other people like them and and to the degree that is extremely subjective, right the apples make apple cat, make headphones accountable for everybody. It's like some people find the airports for don't stick in their ears so they need the airpower. Ds pro two with the silicon tips like I fully understand that, but building something out of aluminum, will I get steal banned like you ve made decisions to make this product heavy and that works against statement and for some people at least.

yeah and there are headphones in that Price range that are not heavy, know because they use some plastic or you and and that's just not apple's way. I don't know. This is a strange product. It's weird because when you look at the hardware over all, I think it's in fantastic shape except it's got a bit of a black eye with the airports, max.

I think so too. You know you mentioned a second ago some of the software stuff for the apples doing in particular with the airports pro two. It's so interesting that those have been up for a while now, but apple has really added a lot of features to them like adaptive audio.

Uh the the deal where you can do uh I can like bring down outside noise, hearing protection stuff. So like something really loud happens next to you. I can I can tone IT out really quickly. Ah these parks, i've gotten Better over time and that's interesting for a lot way, is not always true of of technology products, but using something in your ear to improve your health, you're hearing health is is such an interesting idea. And I think apples work in the health space is among their most important work.

And using these things as hearing aides or just having hearing test built in, you know again, like go to a doctor if you're in that boat, but if you've never taken hearing test before or you don't know how to find a doctor who can do IT or you can't afford IT and you have airports like you can do when at home and like if everything's fine, that's great. You can put your mind at all. That's really compelling and really powered by this.

Like more than anything else, like the hardware and software of the airports together is really hard to pull apart. But those features enabled about that stuff. I think they they generally make people's lives Better. Yeah.

they really do. Yeah tale of of two product directions. Airports, pro airports, standard looking great airport's max, not sure. Home pots, pots, pots. So that's that's the one that doesn't fit your ear well, looks like if you were really big at .

wood yeah .

you know it's got the right shape yeah.

man, I I love the home pod mini. I have counting one, two, three. I think I five in the house.

I have two in the office, one of the kitchen and one in our bedroom. And then I have one that's on this like battery stand. I found a amazon. And so we like take IT out in the yard if we're doing stuff for its in the garage or is they're small, they're inexpensive for what they are. And I think honestly, the home pod mini sounds pretty good for its size is not incredible but for something the size of A I don't know if the size of a great fruit that costs one hundred box. I don't have that many complaints about the sound.

Yeah agree and then there's the homes hot too.

Yeah it's the airport d max of the home pod line, right? Yeah, that sound, the focus home podd sound incredible. I had several of the first direction. They have all died. Um there's like this capacity issue with them and this is going on youtube with them, like grieve building them and I find that early fascinating but it's a bit more than I feel like I could take on from an electronics repair perspective.

But for me, the two ninety nine Price, which is less than they think they built at three forty nine or even three ninety nine yeah the Price increases is not worth that. I could buy three home pod minutes and that's fine. You know, i'm not using the itd.

Be different if I was using home podds paired with my apple TV as in my TV speakers. But i'm not i've got a so no sounds barked up to my television and that's the sound in our living room. And for me that the four size homes pod is, I just can't really to fight at this point and I can't imagine that they they move many of them .

yeah I had a telling them happen because I had we've got several of them. We bought them over the years, and we had an extra one that I put into the week. Shop something there.

I like living the music while i'm in there. And just, just recently, I just stop working. Just no warning. IT worked one day and didn't worth the next, you know. And my guess is it's that capacity problem.

And I had to figure, well, I still want music out here and the iphone speaker is good enough for me. So I went on amazon and about a little bluetooth speaker like a fifty dollars speaker that kind of disposable, I guess. But with the the homework d that so much money, I wasn't willing to spend that to replace IT with another home pod.

And I think that that's telling yeah, it's great though for what he does. I've got a couple of them in the studio and I hope they can going because I really like listening to music and sound and it's really they really great and they connect everything and they work good with apple music. But I feel like this product needs attention.

I haven't heard the .

story about the homeboys too, where just dies one day that we get with the original home pop but aren't as old yet. So have to wait and see hopefully they figured out .

whenever that problem was yeah I hope so.

But you know and it's also weird that they don't give you any other way to access them, like the old apple speakers who remember the one receive jobs and you should throw out your stereo. Yeah.

by the I put high five baby, I in my ice. B still work.

You could still plug into IT. Yes, when my home pod died, IT was just debt, you know. So yeah, my feelings are mixed on IT. I feel like in general, apple has left some some stuff on the table were respected. The home stuff in general, yes. And and the home pod feels to me a bit like I don't know I just don't know if they brought their usual level of attention to IT or yeah, I I can't really put my finger on IT, but there's a reason why this is not a popular product.

I think a lot of that has to do quite honestly, with theory. That theory well Better than its reputation would say, because I think a serious reputation in the world is actually pretty poor. Yeah, IT still does wicky stuff.

And with a homemade d it's your only way to interact with IT, right? It's if you can say that is something and is something silly on your phone, right? You just tap out of IT and then good to yourself, but a homepage is your only way to direct IT.

And when you ask you to play a playlist played a hundred times and IT plays something totally different for a reason that you're unable to comprehend, that becomes frustrating. And I think for the home pod to get Better, a large part that is that syria needs to get Better. And yeah, and I don't honestly don't know, man, I don't know what apple does about serious reputation in the world.

You there was there was conversation leading into apple intelligence like this. Apple use this to rebrand theory. Do they come up with a new name or a new brand and just jettison all the damage? And I did IT, and in fact, I did the opposite.

And I was eighteen point one. You get the fancy new animation, but the new series, not there, is actually the same in eight point two in the beast. And so we've they've are leaning more into the syria than ever as a brand. So I just don't know I just don't know how they get over that hump. You know, maybe apple intelligence become so good that the series brain gets polished by IT under, not sure, but that feels complicated and I think the home pod candidates gets lumped in there yeah and .

that's the reason why we're putting off our show about up intelligence because in my mind, you can't really judge up on intelligence until we get the theory brain transplant were promised and has an happened yet. So that's that's something we got to look into the right, right? Maybe that does make compound more attractive if it's sudenly get smarter.

Just this morning, I yelled out into space to send a text message to my life. And for whatever reason, the home pod and the studio picked them up. And as soon as the home pod started talking, I like close my eyes and gremio some thinking, what is IT gonna tell her, you know, like, I don't know.

And I got the message wrong, but I was close enough. He could figure IT out where is. I feel like if my phone had picked IT up but would have got right.

Yeah maybe so that does feel like they they sort of act differently sometimes doesn't IT. yeah.

And there's a whole software stack though that goes with apple audio at this point in the a certain extent, almost like its own Operating system. And there's some there's some stuff to talk about there as well.

Yeah, I mean, what is like the future of this is something smarter, right? German has talked about like these graduates do, these graduate into some sort of full like home hub comments or do they pick up screens? His current reporting says, yes, it'll be like A A sixth screen that is a smart home controller but is still somehow also a home pod.

Like you know a lot of people just look at the uh was the echo show and just like apple make that make a home pod glue and ipad, many to the front of that be done. And you know that fixes some of the problems we just talked about far as control and just relying on theory, but IT does also fundament change the product. And so i'm very curious what apple will do here.

And I think that screen or no screen, they should continue to work on the audio of first products, right? That the home pod without a screen, as long as IT continues should get Better and Better as well. And we'll see how that plays out.

I guess. Yeah yeah. And also on the soft side, I mean, we talked about the fact that can become a heiny, but I think that is really remarkable development. And even the spatial audio stuff, which we have really talked about, I enjoy IT. I mean, there are some really great remasters of some classic jazz albums I grew up with that I enjoy in spatial audio just a different experience.

I'm not sure it's Better or worse, but but I like IT and i'm not a huge audio file so I don't and I don't know enough to get offended by IT, but I like IT. So that's where i'm kind of a typical person. sure.

Um something that I think still needs work though is the switching of devices. You will wear pair of airports and there's a map in the room and there's an iphone. And I just too often, and I am sure that i'm an edge case because I owned a lot of apple gear, but it's still not seamless.

And I feel like IT means to be I don't know what the answer is, probably a pretty difficult problem to solve. But I will tell you, if I pick up my phone and call somebody, I don't want my airpower s connecting to my mac and that happened to me yesterday. So it's not there yet whatever the the problem to be solved there, I think, could use additional work .

I actually have that I have IT turned on on my ipad and my iphone. I have IT off on my mac. IT feels like IT works Better on the IOS side. Maybe that's plus either effect or something.

No, but uh, I like the feature a lot in on paper, right? Oh, IT knows where sound is going from an automatically switches, but IT seems a little bit too sensitive and then not sensitive at all the time. I really wanted to move. So yes, agree. That should continue to, to get work.

And but they know apple's audio line is, I think, only going to become more important to them over time. yeah.

And I do think that .

when you talk about health benefits in relation to airports, that's a real conversation. And I don't think they're done with IT.

Totally read. And I am very excited to see to see where that goes, excited to see what they do in the home. There's a lot of there's a lot of places that they can and should take this. And you know, I think I think the future is bright for for these products.

And i'm part you know, I think I think products like this that sort of fade into the background right is not a phone in your hand, is not a lot top in front of you like you know the idea of an ambient computing and and these things all that still really important. And I think still there's still a lot of benefit to be had. And I think apple will will be there with all these other companies, you know at the forefront of IT.

yeah. So you're feelings for their audio products optimistic even though.

you know, we've got quibble here in the I love my area pod's pro too. There they are on the list of like if something happened to them, like I left him on a plane or they went to the wash machine, like I would go replace them immediately. No, right? And they're not cheap.

Like that would be an expensive day. But I use them all the time and really, really like them. You know, there are one, the few things that are basically always on me, either in my pocket or in my backpack.

And I really I I don't want to go back. You know, I really like them. And so yeah, I think a lot of people feel that way about the airports in particular.

And that's good. That's good for apple. And I think I think the future is bright, like I said.

agreed. Well, Steven, we got about halfway through the apple product line today, so I could they were going to be good to finish IT up next week, but that's where we stand on the state of the apple hardware in self fa platforms. We have a forum you can go way in on if you think we miss something or something you like or just like about them over to talk up at parties that come.

What's the smart people there? Great place away in on state of the hardware. We want to think our sponsors this week, that's our friends at one password and the sweet for more power user subscribers stick around.

We can stuff to talk about. We're gonna a go down the rabbit hole of car technology. Can't wait to do that. And if you'd like to become a more powers to describer, there is no Better time than today because right now you get a .

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Where do you go for that, Steven?

That's right. You want to go to give relay dot com. Uh you get twenty percent off uh.

an annual membership yeah and if you're that that that guy or goal that doesn't know what to ask her for Christmas, you could tell somebody, hey, I want to get my more power users. I want to get my ad free version of mac power users to right they could give IT .

to the could it's a great gift.

right? Have a great day, everyone. We will see next time.