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Basic AF: a (mostly) tech podcast
Basic AF: a (mostly) tech podcast episodes
- iPhone Duo First Impressions: 12 Hours In
If you've been eyeing Apple's first foldable and wondering whether it's a pocket iPad or just a very expensive phone, this one's for you. Tom got his iPhone Duo less than 24 hours before we hit record, after a pre-order morning that felt like buying concert tickets, and he's got first impressions on the hinge, the crease, Touch ID, and what happens to apps that haven't been updated yet. We also run through Apple's new HomeView, the pricier Apple TV 4K, and HomePod mini 2.
In this episode:
- Apple's Pro and Tell event on October 28 and the touchscreen MacBook question
- HomeView: a HomePod with a display, plus the wall-mounted version
- Apple TV 4K jumps to $299, and HomePod mini 2 in new colors
- HomePod surround sound and SoundGlow
- Tom's pre-order saga and Verizon's $100 apology
- The hinge, the crease, and how it feels in your pocket
- Touch ID tricks for a phone that rotates
- Unupdated apps, controls on the right side, and Apple Pencil support on the way
- Cases, AppleCare One, and the first "Duo-gate"
- Who will love the Duo: iPad people vs. phone people
Links from the show:
iPhone Duo: https://www.apple.com/iphone-duo/
HomeView: https://www.apple.com/homeview/
Apple TV 4K: https://www.apple.com/apple-tv-4k/
HomePod mini: https://www.apple.com/homepod-mini/
AppleCare One: https://www.apple.com/applecare/
Apple Events: https://www.apple.com/apple-events/
Craft: https://www.craft.do/
Halide: https://halide.cam/
Pixelmator Pro: https://www.pixelmator.com/pro/
Bullstrap: https://bullstrap.co/Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!
Support the show
Contact Us
- Drop us a line at [email protected]
- You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
- Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
- Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
- Tom has a new YouTube channel
- Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design
Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!- Review on Apple Podcasts
- Rate on Spotify
- Recommend in Overcast
Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen- Apple Music
- Spotify
Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.59 min - iPhone 18 Pro Camera: A Pro Photographer's Verdict with Chris Freitag
Photographer and YouTuber Chris Freitag is back to explain what the new adjustable aperture does for your photos even if you never touch a setting, why Photographic Styles finally won him over, and how his iPhone replaced a much pricier video camera. Stick around for the free app he still can't believe costs nothing.
In this episode:
- Apple's "Welcome home" event in New York on October 13 and what might show up
- How a trip for a watch band ended with an iPhone 18 Pro at $0 a month
- f/1.48 vs. f/4: brighter low-light shots, natural background blur, and sun stars
- Photographic Styles that work like a Lightroom color profile, plus the new Film look
- Why Chris is happy shooting HEIF instead of RAW
- Camera Control: better than the 16, still clumsy
- What the new aperture means if you just want good party photos
- Shooting video with Blackmagic Camera, and his one gripe: slippery aluminum
Links from the show:
Chris Freitag: https://www.chrisfreitag.com
Chris on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisFreitag
Chris on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@chrisfreitag
Blackmagic Camera: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagiccamera
Leica LUX: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id6477182657
Moment Pro Camera: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6748837351
Halide: https://halide.cam/
Meow Wolf Denver: https://meowwolf.com/visit/denverQuestion or Comment? Send us a Text Message!
Support the show
Contact Us
- Drop us a line at [email protected]
- You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
- Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
- Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
- Tom has a new YouTube channel
- Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design
Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!- Review on Apple Podcasts
- Rate on Spotify
- Recommend in Overcast
Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen- Apple Music
- Spotify
Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.53 min - iPhone 18 Pro and Apple Watch Ultra 4: One Week In
If you're holding an iPhone or Apple Watch that's a few years old and wondering whether this is the year to upgrade, this one's for you. Jeff went from an iPhone 15 Pro Max to the 18 Pro, and Tom finally retired his original Apple Watch Ultra for the Ultra 4. After a week of living with both, one of them calls his new gadget "just a phone" and the other got a bigger surprise than he expected. Plus, how the AppleCare One Family plan now covers 20 of Tom's devices for less than he was paying before.
In this episode:
- Why Jeff went back to the smaller Pro, and the Burgundy finish
- Variable aperture, five zoom levels, and the new Photographic Styles
- Siri AI: better for Tom, still "I can't do that" for Jeff
- Ultra 4 battery: two days on a charge with everything turned on
- Double tap by accident, the wrist flick, and Readiness after seven nights
- AppleCare One Family: 20 devices, $50 a month, and the fine print
- Trade-in values: $455 for the phone, $190 for the watch
Links from the show:
iPhone 18 Pro: https://www.apple.com/iphone-18-pro/
Apple Watch Ultra 4: https://www.apple.com/watch/
AppleCare One Family details: https://support.apple.com/en-us/148275
Every Apple Watch Ultra compared: https://www.macobserver.com/tips/round-ups/every-apple-watch-ultra-compared/
Tyler Stalman: https://www.youtube.com/@stalman
iPhone 18 Pro Camera Review: Dunton, Colorado: https://www.austinmann.com/trek/iphone-18-pro-camera-review-dunton
Mac Power Users: https://relay.fm/mpuQuestion or Comment? Send us a Text Message!
Support the show
Contact Us
- Drop us a line at [email protected]
- You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
- Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
- Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
- Tom has a new YouTube channel
- Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design
Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!- Review on Apple Podcasts
- Rate on Spotify
- Recommend in Overcast
Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen- Apple Music
- Spotify
Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.52 min - Apple Event Recap: iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, and more with Joe Moyer
Apple finally showed the folding iPhone, and it arrived with a $1,999 starting price and a lot of great and interesting features. Tom and Jeff bring Joe Moyer back to walk the whole event: the iPhone Duo, the 18 Pro and Pro Max, new AirPods, and Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4. One of us pre-ordered before recording. One of us is quietly doing the math on owning two phones at once.
In this episode:
- John Ternus hosts his first event as CEO
- iPhone Duo: 5.4-inch outer screen, 7.6-inch inside, Touch ID, Apple Pencil support
- What the Duo leaves out: telephoto, Face ID, action button, ProRAW
- Duo pricing from $1,999 to $3,199, orders Oct 16, delivery Oct 23
- iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max: variable aperture, 8x telephoto, vapor chamber, A20
- New AirPods keep the same price and add noise cancellation to the base model
- Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4: new sensors, readiness, health age, 50-hour battery
- Audio Intelligence on the Watch, and where the privacy line sits now
- Live immersive MLB games on Vision Pro
- The OS 27 updates are here
More from Joe Moyer:
Website: https://www.24letters.net/
The Journaling Guide newsletter, plus a free 10-day journaling challenge: https://thejournalingguide.com/
Threads: @thejournalingguideLinks from the show:
iPhone Duo: https://www.apple.com/iphone-duo/
iPhone 18 Pro: https://www.apple.com/iphone-18-pro/
Apple Watch Series 12: https://www.apple.com/apple-watch-series-12/
Apple Watch Ultra 4: https://www.apple.com/apple-watch-ultra-4/
Audio Intelligence privacy paper: https://www.apple.com/privacy/docs/Audio_Intelligence_Privacy_Overview_Sep_2026.pdf
Halide: https://halide.cam/
Gentler Streak: https://gentlerstories.com/
Athlytic: https://athlyticapp.com/
Kalri$$ian "The Falcon" (NSFW)
Celsius 7 "Manners" (NSFW)Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!
Support the show
Contact Us
- Drop us a line at [email protected]
- You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
- Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
- Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
- Tom has a new YouTube channel
- Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design
Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!- Review on Apple Podcasts
- Rate on Spotify
- Recommend in Overcast
Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen- Apple Music
- Spotify
Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.1 hr 5 min - Apple's iPhone Event is Set, and New Mac mini and Mac Studio Models
Apple just locked in a date for the big iPhone event, and new Mac mini and Mac Studio models landed early with a price jump that'll make your eyes water. Tom and Jeff run the actual numbers on both new Macs, weigh in on the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max, and the long-rumored foldable, and swap notes on cameras, Face ID quirks, and an update on Tom's new notebook habit.
In this episode:
- Apple's iPhone event is officially set for September 9
- New Mac mini and Mac Studio pricing and specs, and why they cost so much more now
- What a fully maxed-out Mac mini and Mac Studio actually run you
- iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max, and the foldable iPhone, and what it might cost
- Camera lens talk and Halide's new "film types"
- Face ID vs. Touch ID, and Jeff's post-stroke Face ID quirks
- Tom's notebook and habit-tracker update, plus a Lochby Field Folio gift for his son
Links from the show:
Mac mini: https://www.apple.com/mac-mini/
Mac Studio: https://www.apple.com/mac-studio/
Halide: https://halide.cam/
Lochby Field Folio A5: https://www.lochby.com/products/field-folio-a5
Lochby Pocket Journal: https://www.lochby.com/products/pocket-journal
Field Notes: https://fieldnotesbrand.com/
Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!
Support the show
Contact Us
- Drop us a line at [email protected]
- You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
- Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
- Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
- Tom has a new YouTube channel
- Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design
Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!- Review on Apple Podcasts
- Rate on Spotify
- Recommend in Overcast
Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen- Apple Music
- Spotify
Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.47 min - Ditching the Phone for Field Notes (and a Tiny E-Reader)
What do you actually do with a stack of pocket notebooks once you own more than you'll ever fill? Tom's been figuring that out for six months, and it turned into an actual system: a custom monthly and weekly planner, daily notes, and a pocket journal that's his new daily carry wallet. Jeff's carried notebooks for decades and joins in with his own habits, plus a magnetic pocket e-reader that's small enough to attach to the back of your iPhone.
In this episode:
- Tom's Field Notes habit, $120 a year and three quarterly drops in: the 1943 set, Explore America, and the penny-themed one that didn't quite land
- Trading phone pickups for a slower kind of capture, and why that's the actual point
- The weekly planner Tom sketched himself, plus the accidental discovery that a scanned Field Notes fits a 13" iPad to scale
- Lochby Pocket Journal: the wax-canvas cover doing double duty as Tom's new wallet
- Jeff's leather notebook cover, reserved for exactly one thing: his bitters recipes
- The eventual plan for filled notebooks: scan everything into Craft so it's searchable
- The Xteink X3, Jeff's tiny magnetic e-reader that snaps onto the back of an iPhone
Links from the show:
- Field Notes
- Field Notes "1943" Edition
- Field Notes Explore America
- Lochby Pocket Journal
- GoodNotes
- Carsonial's weekly planner layout video
- Cal Newport, "Forget Your Phone. You Need a Single-Purpose Notebook"
- Xteink X3
Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!
Support the show
Contact Us
- Drop us a line at [email protected]
- You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
- Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
- Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
- Tom has a new YouTube channel
- Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design
Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!- Review on Apple Podcasts
- Rate on Spotify
- Recommend in Overcast
Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen- Apple Music
- Spotify
Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.50 min - Samsung Galaxy Fold8 Hands-On and Apple's New Upgrade Program
Tom got five minutes with Samsung's new Galaxy Z Fold8 this week, and it's got him thinking about what Apple's own foldable might feel like this fall. Then Jeff works through Apple's new Klarna-backed leasing program, replacing the old iPhone Upgrade Program, and why the fine print has him uneasy.
In this episode:
- Tom's hands-on take on the Galaxy Z Fold8: build quality, weight, crease, multitasking, pricing ($1,899–$2,499)
- What the Fold8 previews for Apple's rumored iPhone Fold (expected ~September 2026, Touch ID instead of Face ID, no visible crease, likely $2,000+)
- Apple's new Upgrade program with Klarna replaces the iPhone Upgrade Program — lease terms, AppleCare+ no longer bundled, what happens if you don't act at lease-end
- Why the Klarna partnership has Jeff feeling icky about where Apple's headed
- A wild AI story: Anthropic's Claude models broke out of a sandboxed test and hacked three real organizations
- A quick tribute to John C. Dvorak, longtime tech columnist and No Agenda co-host, who passed away this month
Links from the show:
- Galaxy Z Fold8 specs & pricing
- MKBHD's Galaxy Z Fold8 review
- MrMobile: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Review: Worth The Camera Compromise
- Apple Upgrade program announcement
- Apple Upgrade breakdown (MacRumors)
- Anthropic's AI hacking disclosure (WaPo)
- Hugging Face
- Cory Doctorow on The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
- Benedict Evans' newsletter
- Halide camera app
Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!
Support the show
Contact Us
- Drop us a line at [email protected]
- You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
- Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
- Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
- Tom has a new YouTube channel
- Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design
Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!- Review on Apple Podcasts
- Rate on Spotify
- Recommend in Overcast
Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen- Apple Music
- Spotify
Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.53 min - Is Siri Finally Fixed? We Put Apple’s New Siri AI to the Test
The public betas for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and watchOS 27 landed this week, and Tom and Jeff have been putting them through their paces on phones, watches, iPads, and a Mac. This episode covers what's actually different, under-the-hood polish, and the one feature everyone's been waiting years for: a Siri that finally seems to understand your life.
Topics covered:
- First impressions across devices, plus early battery life quirks on watch and phone
- Liquid Glass refinements and a smarter notch-aware menu bar on macOS
- Spotlight opening iPhone-only apps remotely from your Mac
- CarPlay upgrades: three rows of icons are back, plus navigation volume oddities
- The big one: the new Siri actually pulling real context from email, calendar, and third-party accounts
- Real examples — catching a bank fraud alert, scheduling car service, recapping a live product announcement, even sketching out a Shortcut
- Beta-testing do's and don'ts: what to install where, filing feedback, backing up first
- A timeline for when these releases arrive (hint: mid-September)
Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!
Support the show
Contact Us
- Drop us a line at [email protected]
- You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
- Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
- Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
- Tom has a new YouTube channel
- Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design
Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!- Review on Apple Podcasts
- Rate on Spotify
- Recommend in Overcast
Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen- Apple Music
- Spotify
Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.52 min - The Podcast App That’s Changing How We Learn | Kevin Smith (Co-Founder of Snipd)
You love podcasts. You're always hearing something worth remembering. And then... you forget it. Sound familiar? Tom and Jeff sit down with Kevin Smith, co-founder of Snipd — the AI-powered podcast app designed to solve exactly that problem. Kevin shares the story behind Snipd, from riding his bike to work in Zurich and frantically stopping to write notes, to building an app that captures great moments automatically.
Want to try the app? Kevin provided listeners of the show a free one-month Snipd Premium trial: https://link.snipd.com/Cx7S/basicaf
Topics covered:
- How Kevin went from quantitative finance to AI engineering — and why machine learning grabbed him the way it did
- The origin story of Snipd: a personal frustration turned into a full-featured podcast app
- How the core "snipping" feature works — tap your headphones, and the AI saves the audio clip, transcript, and a generated note automatically
- The new Snipd DJ feature (currently in beta), which distills long episodes down to the 20–25% most relevant moments — with an AI "moderator" to guide you through them
- How Snipd connects with apps like Readwise for a personal knowledge management workflow
- The "chat with episode" feature, auto-generated chapters, book mentions, and speaker identification
- Why Snipd is unapologetically built for knowledge-rich podcasts — and why that focus is a strength
- Listener offer: Kevin is providing a free one-month trial of Snipd Premium — link in the show notes!
Links from the show:
- Snipd: snipd.com — also available in the App Store and Google Play (search "Snipd")
- Kevin on X/Twitter: @KevinBenSmith
- Free one-month Snipd Premium trial: https://link.snipd.com/Cx7S/basicaf
Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!
Support the show
Contact Us
- Drop us a line at [email protected]
- You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
- Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
- Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
- Tom has a new YouTube channel
- Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design
Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!- Review on Apple Podcasts
- Rate on Spotify
- Recommend in Overcast
Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen- Apple Music
- Spotify
Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.54 min - Simple, Effective Ways to Use Apple Reminders with Robin Kai
Robin Kai, based in Munich, Germany, is a husband, dad, and writer on Medium and at ForMacUsers.com. He's built a simple, flexible system around Apple's built-in apps that actually fits real life: family, day job, and side projects.
In this episode, Robin walks us through how he captures tasks without thinking about it, organizes them into a structure that doesn't require daily upkeep, and builds a custom "today" view that shows exactly what matters — without the noise.
Topics covered:
- Why Robin left third-party apps like Remember the Milk and Wunderlist behind
- His inbox-first capture method and weekly Friday review
- How he uses folders (groups) in Reminders to separate work, side hustle, and family
- The "Your Day" and "Growth" smart list setup for a cleaner today view
- Month → Week → Priorities planning cadence
- Connecting Reminders to Notes for project context
- What Robin is most excited about from WWDC 2026: AI-powered Shortcuts and Safari improvements
- Tom's own journey from Evernote + OmniFocus to Craft tasks
Links from the show:
- Robin on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@robinsanahkai
- ForMacUsers.com: https://www.formacusers.com/
- Robin's Apple Reminders guide on Medium: https://medium.com/macoclock/apple-reminders-full-setup-deb28e755eb6?sk=21ab358dbf39f28ed90133d706fb7cf5
- Stories from Ukraine: The True Price of War: https://a.co/d/0gu6KDAl
Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!
Support the show
Contact Us
- Drop us a line at [email protected]
- You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
- Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
- Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
- Tom has a new YouTube channel
- Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design
Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!- Review on Apple Podcasts
- Rate on Spotify
- Recommend in Overcast
Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen- Apple Music
- Spotify
Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.50 min
About Basic AF: a (mostly) tech podcast
From the publisher's feed
Apple makes incredible products. The tips and insights that actually help are harder to find. Basic AF cuts through the hype cycles and gets straight to what matters for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and…
Apple Watch users. Plus, app recommendations, gear reviews, AI tools, and the everyday tech that actually shows up in your life. Every other Monday, Tom Anderson and Jeff Battersby bring 25+ years of real-world Apple experience to practical, insightful conversations for people like you.