Big news out of Cupertino: Tim Cook is stepping down as CEO, with hardware engineering chief John Ternus set to take the helm this September. Tom and Jeff spend a few minutes on the transition — then welcome back guest Bill McLean for an honest, no-hype check-in on AI tools: what they're actually using, what's working, and where the marketing is writing checks the technology can't cash.

In this episode:

• The Tim Cook → John Ternus CEO handoff and what a hardware guy at the top might mean for Apple's software
• Which AI platforms Tom and Bill settled on, and why ChatGPT got dropped
• Claude Co-Work in real life: web scraping, YouTube analytics, and why you still have to babysit it
• The "dopamine hit" problem: why AI-generated ideas can kill your motivation to actually do the work
• How Bill replaced his Squarespace subscription using Claude Code with zero coding background
• Why context might be AI's real superpower and why Apple could have the biggest edge
• MCP integrations worth building: Readwise, Craft, Apple Reminders
• Why Claude projects and skills outperformed an Obsidian vault for real workflow results
• A must-read New Yorker profile on Sam Altman

Links from the show:

• Bill McLean on YouTube: youtube.com/@BillMcLean
• Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted? - The New Yorker

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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

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Tom and Jeff dig into why it's getting harder and harder to buy a Mac mini or Mac Studio in anything beyond a base configuration — and what that might mean about upcoming M5 refreshes. Plus, Jeff gives a six-month health update (he's at 92% and back on stage), and the guys get into a friendly debate about Amazon pulling the plug on pre-2012 Kindles. Is it reasonable after 14 years, or does it prove physical books always win? And they wrap up with four things to know about iOS 26.4.

Topics covered:

• Mac mini and Mac Studio availability issues and what's behind the long wait times
• MacBook Neo demand and Bill McLean's hands-on review
• Jeff's updated take on the BookTracker app
• Amazon deprecating pre-2012 Kindles — and what it means for your digital library
• The Libby app and library cards for free books
• Merriam-Webster's Visual Dictionary (Jeff's new obsession)
• iOS 26.4: keyboard accuracy improvements, Urgent Reminders update, Stolen Device Protection, and AI apps in CarPlay
• Resetting your keyboard dictionary after updating

Links from the show:

• BookTracker app: https://booktrack.app
• Libby app: https://libbyapp.com
• Bill McLean's MacBook Neo review
• Apple Talk newsletter (keyboard reset tip): https://www.tomfanderson.com/p/ios-26-4-iphone-keyboard-fix
• Merriam-Webster's Visual Dictionary

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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

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Nate Gorby is back — and this time he's got two weeks of daily MacBook Neo use to report on. Coming from an M2 MacBook Air he'd already sold, Nate picked up the Neo on day one and has been using it the way most people actually use computers: browsing, email, watching YouTube, light social media, and a bit of writing. No benchmarks, no synthetic tests — just honest, real-world impressions.

The guys dig into the details: battery life, the lack of MagSafe and Touch ID, the physical trackpad experience, speaker quality, the color-matched interface quirks, and whether 8GB of RAM is actually fine (spoiler: it is). 

They also cover WWDC 2026 dates, the 26.4 updates, and Apple's decision to discontinue the Mac Pro.

In this episode:

• Nate's daily use case: browsing, YouTube, Threads, light writing, some photo editing
• The physical trackpad vs. the haptic trackpad on his wife's M4 MacBook Air
• Living without Touch ID and why Apple Watch makes it a non-issue (mostly)
• No backlit keyboard: why the Citrus color's white keys are a natural workaround
• Battery life: good enough?
• Why 8GB of RAM is genuinely fine
• MagSafe as the one real missing piece
• Target now selling the MacBook Neo — and what that means for reaching new Mac buyers
• The education discount trick (you didn't hear it from them)
• Speaker quality: surprisingly good for spoken word
• WWDC 26 announced
• 26.4 updates now available — keyboard improvements for iPhone
• Mac Pro discontinued; the Mac Studio is now the top of the line

Links from the show:

• Nate's previous episode (Meta Ray-Ban glasses)
• Apple Announces WWDC 2026 Dates

More from Nate:

Last Month Online https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/last-month-online/id1824514139

Nate on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ngorby

Nate on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ngorby

Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!

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

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Tom and Jeff are back with a packed episode that wanders from Apple hardware to Apple history to Apple TV+ sports to, well, a scientific fart study. If that sounds like a lot, it is.

Topics covered this episode:

• MacBook Neo hands-on — Tom got a brief look at the new $599 MacBook Neo at an IT conference. Build quality impressions, the Indigo color, and why the "it's just an iPhone chip" skepticism sounds a lot like what people said about the original M1 with 8GB of RAM. (Spoiler: they were wrong then too.) 
• David Pogue's Apple: The First 50 Years — Tom pre-ordered it, it arrived while he was out of town, and he's had exactly 15 minutes with it. It's a 600-page textbook-style history (not a glossy coffee table book), and he's planning a more thorough read over the summer. 
• A history tangent worth taking — The origin story of the PowerBook's palm rest design — and how one engineer's persistence against resistance accidentally shaped every laptop keyboard layout that followed.
• Jeff discovers F1 — Apple TV+ now carries every F1 race, and Jeff is in. The tech angle (real-time telemetry, PlayStation-style steering wheels, hybrid power transitions) makes it surprisingly interesting.
• The Human Flatus Atlas — Jeff has enrolled in a legitimate University of Maryland research study on human flatulence. Smart underwear device incoming. Butt tag update promised for next episode.

Links from the show

Tom’s Photos of the MacBook Neo

Apple: The First 50 Years – David Pogue

Human Flatus Atlas Project

F1 on Apple TV+

Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!

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

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Apple's dropping a wave of new products this week — and Tom and Jeff break down everything that's expected: a budget MacBook starting around $600, an iPhone 16E follow-up, iPad updates for the non-Pro models, and possible MacBook Pro upgrades with M5 Pro and Max chips. It's a preview packed with speculation, opinions, and the occasional tangent about fingerprints on laptop screens.

Then things get analog. Tom just joined Jeff in the Field Notes notebook club, and they talk about why a pocket-sized paper notebook has become a surprisingly useful tool alongside all the digital gear. They also cover two weather apps worth knowing about — Acme Weather (from the Dark Sky team) and what's new in Carrot Weather 6.4.

Enjoy the show? Please drop a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify!

Links from the show:

• Field Notes notebooks & subscription: https://fieldnotesbrand.com
• Acme Weather app: https://acmeweather.com
• Carrot Weather: https://www.meetcarrot.com/weather/
• Is Apple Notes Holding You Back? (Press Pause with Bill McLean, featuring Tom)
• GoFundMe for Aliyah (Jeff's bartender friend who lost everything in an apartment fire)

Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!

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!

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Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen

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Tom flies solo this week and welcomes first-time guest Nate Gorby for a conversation about Apple’s ongoing Siri delays, the state of Apple Intelligence, and what it all means for everyday users.

They discuss the latest report that Apple’s context-aware Siri may be pushed back again, whether privacy is helping or hurting Apple’s AI progress, and why even basic Siri tasks still frustrate longtime users.

In the second half, Nate shares his real-world experience using Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses for the past year — what works surprisingly well, where privacy concerns come in, and whether Apple needs to move faster in the wearable AI space.

More from Nate:

Nate's podcast: Last Month Online https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/last-month-online/id1824514139

Nate on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ngorby

Nate on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ngorby

Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!

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!

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Jim Eagar joins Tom Anderson and Jeff Battersby for a thoughtful, experience-driven conversation about productivity, tools, and the often-tempting urge to switch apps. Drawing on decades of professional experience—from Air Force chaplain to attorney to productivity writer—Jim shares how his workflows evolved alongside Apple technology, why “shiny new app syndrome” can quietly sabotage real work, and how to evaluate whether switching tools is actually worth the cost.

The discussion digs into intentional productivity, app minimalism, and using frameworks (not rules) to make better decisions about software—especially in an era overflowing with AI tools. Jim also walks through his personal writing and planning stack, explains why he recently switched from ChatGPT to Claude, and shares David Sparks’ advice on limiting major app changes to once per year. The result is a grounded, reassuring episode for anyone feeling overwhelmed by productivity tools—and a reminder that clarity beats novelty every time.

More from Jim:

Original Mac Guy

Retirement Reinvented!

Links from the show:

A Very Nerdy Christmas: Evaluate Your Tech Stack

Why I Quit Paid Apps

MacSparky

Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!

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

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Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen

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In this episode of Basic AF, Tom Anderson and Jeff Battersby kick off the year by digging into some of the biggest Apple stories in early 2026—starting with the news that Apple is partnering with Google to have Gemini power a revamped Siri and Apple Intelligence. The discussion looks at how Gemini might be integrated behind the scenes, and whether Apple’s privacy promises can hold up when Google enters the equation.

The conversation then turns to Apple Creator Studio, Apple’s new subscription bundle that includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, and other creative tools. Tom and Jeff debate who this bundle is really for, how it compares to Apple’s older one-time purchase model, and whether subscription fatigue is simply the cost of modern software.

From there, they break down Apple’s controversial new app icons and macOS Tahoe design changes, followed by concerns over App Store ads becoming harder to distinguish from real search results. The episode wraps with a broader look at Apple’s record-breaking services revenue and what it signals about the company’s priorities moving forward.

Links from the show:

• Google and Apple issue joint partnership statement
• Report: Google Gemini will expand Siri’s capabilities
• Report: Apple will fine-tune Gemini independently
• Apple confirms Google Gemini will power new Siri features
• Apple announces Apple Creator Studio
• Apple reports record-breaking Services revenue in 2025

Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!

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

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Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen

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Happy New Year! Everyone expects Apple to release its first foldable iPhone later this year and the rumors and “leaks” are heating up. Tom and Jeff discuss the latest, including the 3D printed model that looks nothing like current iPhones.

Plus, Tom decided to reset his iPhone in an attempt to resolve the ongoing battery life issues he’s been having with iOS 26. Apple’s made a lot of improvements to the process, but it’s not quite perfect and he shares what worked well and what still needs some work.

Links from the show:

Support Jeff Battersby’s Stroke Recovery

Apple Pencil Could Work With iPhone Fold, According to New Report

iPhone Fold 1:1 Replica With Folding Hinge (3D Model)

How to factory reset your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Clicks Power Keyboard

Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!

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!

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Happy Holidays! Joe Moyer returns and joins Tom and Jeff for a fun and festive discussion in the third-annual “These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things” show! Picks range from backpacks to iPhone accessories, books, apps, and more. 

Find more from Joe at https://www.24letters.net/.

Links:

• Bellroy Transit Workpack
• Bullstrap Men's Wallets
• Bullstrap iPhone Cases
• Peak Design Phone Cases
• Gentler Streak Workout Tracker
• Craft: Docs, Notes, Tasks & AI
• The Ugmonk Pen
• Discbound Analog Productivity System
• Field Notes Notebooks
• iPad Pro
• Anker MagGo 3-in-1 Charging Station
• Highland Pro Screenwriting App
• Snipd AI Podcast App
• Readwise
• Version History Podcast
• Book Tracker - Reading Journal
• YouTube Premium
• Marcus Aurelius: The Stoic Emperor
• Culpability by Bruce Holsinger
• What We Can Know by Ian McEwan
• Asana Project Management

Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!

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

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Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.