Bring Your Own Device

This week we talked about our interest in the new Apple services that were announced in the March 2019 event, a bit about the event itself, how come Apple doesn't follow it's own guidelines, Apple's asymmetric competition with Spotify, the difference between Apple's services business model, AirPower's death and the 2nd generation AirPods.

Hosts

• Greg Morris - @GR36
• Nati Shochat - @natisho

Show Notes

• Texture shuts down on May 28th 2019
• Spotify claims Apple is playing unfairly
• Apple's response to Spotify's claims
• Apple SVP of hardware Dan Riccio announces that AirPower is dead
• iFixit's theory on what killed the AirPower
• The Belkin dock Greg has
• The Verge's Samsung's Galaxy Buds review
• Powerbeats pro leak in 12.3 beta 1

Greg signs up for a 24h run to raise money for charity. Nati watched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and loved it so much that he tries to persuade Greg to Pirate it now and buy it later.

In addition, Nati learned how to use his iPad Pro and we talked about folding phones, the Apple Watch, and ponder if Apple should start making smart home appliances.

P.S Now we are on the 90th episode 🥳

Hosts

• Greg Morris - @GR36
• Nati Shochat - @natisho

Show Notes

• I held the future in my hands, and it was foldable
• Xiaomi's foldable smartphone prototype
• The iPhone demo and the "Golden Path"
• Apple Watch concept by Matt Birchler
• Apple hired the Dropcam founder who clashed with Tony Fadell
• Above Avalon Episode 142: Rethinking the Smart Home
• Apple just hired ex-Microsoft exec Sam Jadallah to revamp its smart home business, and catch up to Google and Amazon
• Apple buys patent portfolio from defunct home security camera maker Lighthouse
• Ken Kocienda
• YouTube channels by subscribers

The episode starts with us trying to define nerdiness, before going dark with YouTubes content issues. But we recover into talking about Nati's brand new iPad Pro, following up on Samsung Galaxy S10 reviews, and talking about the indication that Apple considered having both Touch ID and Face ID.

We also touch a bit on services and mainly soon to be Apple News subscription.

P.S We are on our 89th episode, not the 90th. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ That's Nati's fault.

Hosts

• Greg Morris - @GR36
• Nati Shochat - @natisho

Show Notes

• Samsung Galaxy S10 review
• Samsung Galaxy S10 durability test
• YouTube's issues
• Apple did consider to have both Face ID and Touch ID
• Apple wants 50% of the subscription from publishers
• Two new iPads get certified in India ahead of a March event

Samsung unveils new Galaxies, and why Samsung is wrongly chasing after Apple instead of Huawei. Kuo says that Apple will introduce a 16"-ish MacBook Pro and iPhones that will be able to charge other devices (AirPods and Watch?), and why Nati and Greg are not worried about Apple unifying apps on iOS and macOS

Hosts

• Greg Morris - @GR36
• Nati Shochat - @natisho

Show Notes

• Samsung unveils the Galaxy Fold
• Samsung One UI
• The Galaxy S10 5G is a phone without a network
• Hole in the screen protector
• Kuo: 2019 iPhones Can Wirelessly Charge Other Devices, Feature Frosted Glass and Larger Batteries, and More
• 16-Inch MacBook Pro With All-New Design Expected in 2019, 13-Inch Model May Gain 32GB RAM
• Apple Plans on Combining iPhone, iPad, Mac Apps by 2021
• Apple's move to ARM-based Macs creates uncertainty

Nati breaks Greg's ideas about Israel the desert, while Greg is experimenting with his 6th microphone.

Also, Greg talks about his concerns about podcasts control and Nati talks about his thinking about the Apple-Facebook dynamics and goes out for a rant about Apple's poor developer relations.

Hosts

• Greg Morris - @GR36
• Nati Shochat - @natisho

Show Notes

• Spotify buys Anchor and Gimlet
• Amazon buys Eero
• Apple fails to block porn and gambling 'Enterprise' apps
• Who has more power/ leverage Apple or Facebook
• Apple tells app developers to disclose or remove screen recording apps
• AirPods will debut in the Spring in a black option along AirPower

Greg & Nati share some TV shows they are watching, before discussing FaceTime bugs, how Facebook's customers are advertisers and not the users, why Apple should not create a social network, and why subscriptions are the future.

Hosts

• Greg Morris - @GR36
• Nati Shochat - @natisho

Show Notes

• iTunes Terms of service comic
• Group FaceTime bug
• Timothy Buck info on Facebook unifying the messaging on Messenger, Instagram & Whatsapp
• Apple building a social network
• Apple Video service to launch by Spring
• Apple Gaming subscription?
• SetApp - subscription for Mac Apps

Nati speculates how American Football would have been with ostrich eggs, and finally gets used to the Series 4 Apple Watch. Greg does a ton of podcasts with his new podcasting gear.

We also talk about, Apple hiring and un-hiring, what 2nd generation AirPods could bring, a new era of smartphone experiments, and innovation time frames.

Hosts

• Greg Morris - @GR36
• Nati Shochat - @natisho

Show Notes

• Apple Inc. has hired an executive from Samsung SDI Co.
• Apple Plans to Cut Back on Hiring Due to iPhone Sales Struggles
• Next generation AirPods to have health monitoring ability
• Foldable smartphones are coming
• Button-less, fully closed off smartphones are coming

Extras

• Office comes to the Mac App Store

This week we dragged our special guest Lee Peterson into follow-up-land, but not before we talk about some podcasting networks, and Lee's bad luck with Apple products, while Nati reminds Greg and Lee that at least they have proper Apple Stores with good services.

Nati ponders about the  TV and will it go away, now that AirPlay 2, HomeKit and iTunes are on 3rd party Smart TVs. In addition, we follow-up on the Battery replacement program and how it seems to have affected iPhone upgrades outside of China in addition to the stagnating smartphone market.

And for last we talked a bit about the new Smart Battery cases and will the AirPower be attractive enough if it will actually ship.

Special Guest: Lee Peterson

• Twitter: @ljpuk
• iOS only podcast

Hosts

• Greg Morris - @GR36
• Nati Shochat - @natisho

Follow-up

• Lee has had similar problems to Nati with replacing devices - iPad and Apple Watch
• More thoughts on Apple's TV deals
• • Will the  TV go away?
  • What does that say about the HomePod?
• Apple replaced 11m batteries last year

Topics

• I believe the smartphone market will continue to stagnate - simply because there is no need to upgrade devices any more
  • Tech consumerism will either die or be forced by the brands
  • Ben Bajarin agrees-ish
  • Does this also apply to the iPad? Does phone now fall into the same pattern, 3 or 4-year replacement
  • Apple themselves on stage saying they want you to hold onto your iPhone for as long as possible
• AirPower goes into production?
• Apple releases smart battery cases for the iPhone X🅁 and X🅂

Greg buys a mixer and dives into the world of XLR and pro audio equipment, which gets us talking about umms and ahhs. Nati follows up with his meditation resolution, while Greg is taking some time off from Twitter, which gets us talking about Screen Time and 2-factor authentication.

We also talk about iTunes on Tizen TVs, Apple's AirPlay 2 and HomeKit staring in CES, privacy and will Apple never make their own TV sets. In addition, we somehow got into Face ID and why it makes more sense than an under-the-screen Touch ID and the rumors about a new iPad mini.

• Greg Morris - @GR36
• Nati Shochat - @natisho

Follow-up

• Greg buys some audio equipment
  • Could go iOS-only by using Ferrite
  • Should podcasts be heavily edited?
• Nati buys a subscription for HeadSpace
  • Still has a 40% off for the yearly subscription
• Greg takes some time off from Twitter
• Samsung and warns about profit drop

Topics

• Apple goes all in 3rd party TVs
  • iTunes will be available on Samsung Tizen TVs
  • AirPlay 2 and HomeKit will be available on LG, Vizio and Sonny TVs (Samsung TV will only get AirPlay 2, and not HomeKit)
  • Does it mean that Apple will never have their own TV set?
    • Face ID would be awful on a TV set
• HomeKit is quite popular in CES
  • Netatmo has a ($4M) HomeKit smart doorbell
• Rumors circling on a new iPad mini again
• Will the Notch disappear?

Extras

• Apple's HIG for asking permissions

After a long and exhausting week, Nati and Greg talk a bit about their new year resolutions - some new and some recycled - before diving into Netflix snubbing Apple for their new subscribers, and not talking about Apple's earning warning and what it means.

In addition, we discussed the battery replacement program, Greg's interest in the 12" Macbook and what's missing from the iPad Pro to make it a great laptop

• Greg Morris - @GR36
• Nati Shochat - @natisho

Follow-up

No Follow-up 🙌

Topics

• Netflix bypasses Apple's iTunes/ App Store
• Apple's earning warning
  • Greg doesn't care

• No more battery replacements on the cheap
  • Do you think this was a success?
  • Has this damaged sales?
  • The impression Apple slow down their phones still exists

• Greg has been very tempted by a 12" MacBook of late
  • What do you think the plans are with this model
• • Do you think this could be the first ARM Mac?

• The iPad Pro as a laptop
  • Six Colours hands-on with Bridge keyboard 2019 iPad Pro
  • Missing some sort of a trackpad-like input