The MacVoices Live! panel discusses Apple having 18 years at the top spot in a satisfaction survey and a new Apple Music promotion tiled to the Super Bowl. Chuck Joiner, David Ginsburg, Brian Flanigan-Arthurs, Marty Jencius, Eric Bolden, Guy Serle, Jim Rea, and Web Bixby also look at how and why an unwanted app showed up in the EU app store and who gets the credit or blame, and yet another innovative promotion for the Apple TV+ show, Severance.

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Show Notes:

Chapters:

00:06 Introduction to MacVoices

01:33 Apple's Ongoing Success

05:31 The Quest for Apple's Next Big Thing

07:46 Apple Music's $2.99 Deal

18:02 Controversial App Approval

24:36 Severance Promotion and Related Media

Links:

Apple Continues to Be the World's Most Admired Company

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/01/30/apple-continues-as-most-admired-company/

Apple Music Offering Six-Month Trial for Just $2.99 Through February

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/02/03/apple-music-six-month-trial/

Apple forced to approve porn app on EU iPhones due to DMA - 9to5Mac

https://9to5mac.com/2025/02/03/apple-forced-to-approve-porn-app-on-eu-iphones-due-to-dma/

You Can Now Read 'The You You Are' Book From Apple TV+ Show Severance

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/01/31/severance-book-promotion/

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At CES in Las Vegas, Dr. Robert Dick was in the Buddie booth to discuss their project that will bring contact access to ChatGPT via their earbuds. You can imagine how that could change things. Dr. Dick talks about how it will work, privacy issues, and their Kickstarter campaign.

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At CES in Las Vegas we stopped at the booth of first-time exhibitor MacPaw to talk to Garrett Krivicich, Head of Global PR about their new move into the enterprise market with CleanMyMac Business. Delivering remote Mac maintenance such as device cleaning, malware protection, and more, it simplifies keeping your company’s Macs delivering optimum performance while being protected from the bad guys. Garrett also gives us an introduction to Eney, their new smart assistant LLM that will operate on-device and integrate with a variety of third-party apps.

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Our last stop at the ShowStoppers event at CES in Las Vegas was one we look forward to every year. Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO of Other World Computing (OWC) talked about all things Thunderbolt 5. OWC just introduced their new Thunderbolt 5 cable capable of 40 GB data transfer and has complete backward compatibility with earlier versions of Thunderbolt. Larry gave us an education about why the order and types of devices could actually slow them down in pre-Thunderbolt 5 configurations, and how to avoid the problem with their recently-released Thunderbolt 5 hub.

Show Notes:

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At CES in Las Vegas we got our annual update from Jane Stephenson, Marketing Director for what3words about how their location system continues to evolve and how the usage continues to spread. 

If your local emergency services aren’t supporting what3words yet, show them this interview and suggest that they do. Both implementation and understanding how it works are simple, and could save critical minutes or even seconds when responding to a call. Jane demoed a new app that they have partnered with and reviewed recent success stories that illustrate the power of what3words’ ability to identify a location to within a few feet in an easy-to-understand way.

Show Notes:

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MacVoices #25057: CES - Nextbase by Chuck Joiner

At ShowStoppers at CES in Las Vegas we caught up with Jeff Gadway, Senior Vice President of Product Marketing for Clicks Technology. Last year their Clicks keyboard for the iPhone had just been released and created a lot of discussion. This year, the concept has proven itself with various audiences and use cases. Jeff talks about how and why it has been adopted by their users, how it improves accessibility, and the range of iPhone models they now support. We also cover the improvements to Clicks that include built-in MagSafe, a data pass-through mode that makes it CarPlay compatible, a redesigned keyboard, and some great support for Shortcuts.

Show Notes:

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Chuck Joiner, David Ginsburg, Brian Flanigan-Arthurs, Marty Jencius, Eric Bolden, Web Bixby, Jim Rea, and Jeff Gamet discuss the “forever chemicals” (PFAS) lawsuit against Apple for their watch bands, and look at how, if you drive a Subaru, someone may know where you are going and where you have been. Some speculation on why some organizations may not be on Bluesky (yet) and the end of the MiniDisc and what industries it matters to finish off the conversation.

MacVoices is supported by the new MacVoices Discord, our latest benefit for MacVoices Patrons. Sign up, get access, and jin the conversations at Patreon.com/macvoices.

Show Notes:

Chapters:

00:07 This is MacVoices

01:29 Apple Watch Band Lawsuit

10:20 Subaru Tracking Concerns

22:46 Goodbye Mini-Discs and Blu-Rays

27:21 Nostalgic Memories of Music Formats

Links:

Apple Watch Bands Are Safe to Wear, Says Apple, After Lawsuit Filed

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/01/23/apple-says-its-watch-bands-are-safe-to-wear/

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

https://www.epa.gov/pfas

Subaru Security Flaws Exposed Its System for Tracking Millions of Cars

https://www.wired.com/story/subaru-location-tracking-vulnerabilities/

NFL teams can’t use Bluesky

https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/22/24349499/nfl-patriots-bluesky-accounts-not-allowed-x-meta-threads

Sony is halting production of recordable Blu-ray, MiniDiscs and MiniDV cassettes

https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/sony-is-halting-production-of-recordable-blu-ray-minidiscs-and-minidv-cassettes-140030225.html

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The PLAUD table at ShowStoppers at CES in Las Vegas was tough to get to because of the interested crowds…and it shows in our interview with Elina Tsao, Head of Brand Center. People keep sticking their heads into our shot as Elina explained how their PLAUD NOTE and NotePin capture the audio of your conversations, then transcribes it and even summarizes it via AI. Both feature a generous free package of time, encrypted communication with AI in the cloud, and a very specific activation to help make others around you comfortable with when they are and are not being recorded.

Show Notes:

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One thing that affects everyone is the weather. MyRadar has emerged as one of the best options for current weather information.. On the show floor at CES in Las Vegas, we talked to Michael Linden, Director of Video & Social Media Content/Meteorologist about their increased focus on getting that information, especially local information, on an immediate basis, as well as how they are helping travelers route around weather challenges.

Show Notes:

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