Solid State Podcast

This week on the Solid State Podcast, we mix things up a little bit…

Not just by constantly going off the rails, because let’s face it you just expect that at this point. Instead we’re opening up with what’s “in the news”, specifically on a relatively sudden resurgence in the physical film photography industry. New camera bodies to choose from, old and new names returning to the table with novel takes on film roles, and yet another perspective on our ongoing question of “what is a photo” in this world of generative AI, computational photography, and more. In a world where every other post to Instagram is more fiction-than-fact, is a cell of film that (for better or worse) captures a moment “as it really was” suddenly more valuable than ever? 

On then to our feature topic this week, and it’s none other than a “what’s in the box” style review of Meta’s seemingly fantastic Wayfarer AI-powered smart glasses. These are hardly a “new” gadget, in fact they’ve been on store shelves for quite some time now but it feels like the true moment around them is just now starting to heat up. Meta continues to steadily improve the software, add features, and somewhat-quietly build out one of the most compelling wearables on the market today. 

Last but certainly not least, Eric and I wrap things up with a heartfelt nod to one of our industry’s greats with an homage to the very moments that made the intersection of technology and the humanities the core of what we do…

With no further ado, on to the show…

I’ve unboxed a lot of gadgets through the years… maybe too many? Okay, that’s a lie, and one of them I sincerely will never forget was shockingly almost 12 years ago when a box arrived on my desk from Microsoft that contained, in their minds at least, the next-big-thing in Personal Computing… 

See, just a couple years prior, a certain company in Cupertino changed the landscape with the announcement of a slab of metal and glass that ran apps, had a decent(ish) web browser, and a battery that lasted seemingly forever. In all honesty, they couldn’t actually do all that much compared to even a run-of-the-mill laptop of the day, but there was still something there. Something new, special. 

Microsoft, of course, had to have a response to in the Fall of 2012 Surface was born. Now, because it is Microsoft after all, it couldn’t be a total reimagining of what a computer does because, well, a lot of people use PCs and they expect their software to run even if it was last updated during the Clinton administration…

So what made the box that arrived that day special was that this was, even for Microsoft, something different. This particular “Surface” device, as it was called, was the “RT” model… a name almost as confusing as the device itself. It ran Windows… kind of. It could run many of the applications I needed… sort of. And the performance should be top notch… occasionally. Because beating at the heart of this “RT” model was an ARM based processor unlike any seen in a Microsoft device before, the same core type running in Apple’s now-wildly-popular iPad. 

Sadly what we did get was a hot, slow, incompatible device, but one that still represented the beginning of a journey, that so far has now led to the launch of Copilot Plus PCs, a series of both first and third party offerings in Microsoft’s latest Windows-on-ARM attempt. Battery life? Check. Compatibility? Pretty darn good. Performance? Oh yeah…

It was a long road to get here from that ill-conceived paperweight in 2012, but man, this is getting interesting…

If it hasn’t come up before (and I’m pretty sure it has), we really love to cover tech events around here… they’re gadget-fueled bonding experiences that have a history littered with moments ranging from the first iPhone to the Surface RT, game changing shows of force like the original Nintendo Switch announcement to the “less than well received” debut of the Xbox One… there’s just something electrifying about the origin of a new product, service, or category that (for better or worse) are going to impact millions of lives, guide the course of countless businesses, and one way or the other take their rightful place in the history of our industry…

Apples World Wide Developer Conference is a literal breeding ground for exactly these types of moments… From the addition of copy/paste on the iPhone (no, I’m not kidding) to a literal on-stage funeral for Mac OS 9, the intersection of showmanship and spectacle are not uncommon here. This year is both a continuation of that tradition, and a stark reminder of how much things have changed all at once. 

You can’t kick off an “event” with several Apple Executives alleging to jump out of a plane to a rock music score and not feel at least a little like a kid in a silicon candy store… but on the flip side, these are now fully pre-produced, scripted, and rendered infomercials that, while still almost two hours long, lack the personality and dire stakes of an on stage demo of a feature that may or may not quite work if the Wifi crashes in the event hall again…

But, in the end, another WWDC is upon us, and with it the cardinal direction for one of tech (and the world's) largest companies along with glimpses at what will fuel our gadget-centric experiences in the coming year.

Flip those updates to “Beta”, let’s check it out…

It’s no secret, we’ve talked a lot about iPads lately… first it was what did we want Apple to announce… then it was what did Apple actually announce… and now, today, we’ve spent the last two weeks hands-on with those very devices and guess what… we still don’t feel we’ve got the whole story… 

I’ll cut to the chase… these devices are great. They’re thin, light, fast, rock incredible displays and in every measurable (physical) way… they’re the best iPads ever made. But then something funny happens… you actually start using the device. Apps might load just a little bit quicker. My favorite streaming shows might be just a little more vibrant. The battery life… is still “fine”. But it is, at the end of the day, still an iPad. I still can’t load the applications I want, drag windows where I want them, or come up with a single thing to actually make this M4 processor break a sweat. Because… it’s still an iPad. 

It’s entirely possible that’s exactly how Apple wants it, too. For us to keep strolling through the walled garden, downloading apps and paying for more iCloud storage until the end of time. But if that’s the story, then why do some of these models exist in the first place? Do you need an M4 processor to play Candy Crush? Or an aluminum-decked keyboard with haptic touchpad to scroll through Facebook? 

There remains a contention here, between what we know full-well these devices seemingly can do and what they’re actually (and artificially), able to do…

WWDC looms just a few short weeks in the distance, and with it hopefully some answers. In the meantime though, the products have shipped, they’re in our hands, and the only question we can actually pose now is, was it worth it? 

I will admit, some weeks I struggle more than others to come up with this intro… occasionally though, the struggle is still real, but very different… how do I keep it shorter than the podcast itself?

This is absolutely one of those weeks, because with Event-season in full swing and announcements coming in left and right, to say we’ve got plenty to talk about is beyond an understatement. OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft have all had major events in the last week, and the implications of those announcements will be felt for the next year or more. Throw in the impending collapse of Humane and its AI pin, a slew of new laptops dropping in just a few short weeks, and Google has a very unique suggestion for my next pizza recipe… what more could I ask for? 

Well, see… that’s where things continue to get interesting. As exciting as time as it is, there also seems to be a cloud hanging just in sight over it. Major companies are simultaneously announcing the products that will usher them into their next era… at the same time they’re quietly performing massive layoffs. Tentpoles of our daily technology life are re-inventing their core products… possibly at the cost of the very user experience that made them a gold-standard in the first place. And to top it all off, AI in general continues to be the only measure anyone wants to apply to a products viability in the market while those same products continue to stumble on the most basic of tasks while having little-to-no remorse for the half-baked errors…

What we have here, is a good-old-fashioned market shift… the bets are all down, the hands are dealt, and the biggest question remaining is… does anyone have the guts to raise, or is it time to show our hand? Let’s find out…

This week on the Solid State Podcast, we engage in a bit it of loose “deja vu”… You might remember last time we were together it was all-things-iPad, but more specifically what we felt the future of the iPad should look like. No true predictions, certainly nothing based on facts or even strong rumors, just if Cupertino were foolish enough to turn their iPad factory over to three gadget nerds for a year, what would come out the other end? 

Fast forward just a few short days, and the world watched as Apple… published a pre-recorded video to tell us what they see as the future of the iPad. 

Fancy new displays that are supposed to be the new gold standard in content consumption? Check. 

Fill out the middle of your lineup with bigger, cheaper models that still have enough horsepower to run a small datacenter… so you can play Candy Crush a bit faster? Oh yeah. 

A top-end price point that literally made my wallet shriek in fear? Sadly… can confirm. 

See from Apple’s point of view, it seems the iPad lineup is “right where they want it”… a shape, size, and price point for nearly everyone. But looking back to our episode just a couple weeks ago, we can’t help but ponder the question “why?” as we consider the most capable of these new offerings. Do you really need an OLED display to watch the next season of House of the Dragon? Is an AI-focused M4 processor the missing ingredient to faster scrolling on Instagram? 

We just keep coming back to one conclusion… this announcement, well its Part 1…

The other side of this cliffhanger seems to be looming in June’s WWDC, but in the meantime, there’s new iPad hardware to play with and for better or worse, let me go find my wallet…

This week on the Solid State Podcast, we grab our crystal ball and do our best to tune in to the future… a future of one device to rule them all, a single metal and glass slab that pops into a keyboard case, runs every app imaginable, and seamlessly transitions into a productivity workhorse at the literal push of a button… 

See, Apple would happily have us believe that this exact device already exists on store shelves across the world… if you’re willing to buy an iPad Pro, snap it into their “magical” case, attach an Apple Pencil, take out a second mortgage on hour hose to afford all the above… and use Stage Manager to do some semblance of multi-windowed work… yeah, we’ll pass on that last one too...

All kidding and crystal balls aside, there really is an Apple event coming up in just a few short days and we found ourselves dreaming endlessly this week about, if it were up to us how would this event go? Not based on predictions, supply chain rumors, and hard research… just… what if? 

What if the iPad had a case that allowed your tablet to sometimes… be a tablet? What if the camera wasn’t seemingly positioned to deliver the single least-flattering angle in consumer tech? What if the operating system could actually run this amazing, world changing application called a real browser? We realize some of this is bordering on science fiction… but dare to dream, right?! 

Truly, the iPad feels at a crossroads… with no new devices in 2023 at all and mounting competition for “what is a computer” across the technology landscape… is Cupertino going to trot out a slimmed down chassis with a fancy new screen and call it a day? Or is there potentially more at play here? It seems we’ll know for sure week after next, but in the meantime, let the dreaming commence…

This week on the Solid State Podcast, we play a little game of “What if” versus “What’s next”… See, we’re at an interesting time of the year where most of the big announcements are still to come… sure CES has come and gone, some phones have hit the market, and freshly Copilot-emblazoned laptops are among us… but really, the majority of what 2024 does (or doesn’t) have in store for us is still to come…

AI has obviously been at the core of the conversation for some time now, but as we’ve touched on in the past, the reality of it is so much more than a chatbot and some generative AI “artwork”… we’ll soon reach a point where tangible products on physical warehouse and store shelves will usher these emerging technologies onto our desks, into our pockets, and if at least one company has anything to say about it… onto our chests…

You’ve likely heard by now that a new player in the space named “Humane” has launched is AI pin, and if nothing else it’s caused quite a stir… sadly it’s just for all the wrong reasons. Reviews are, to be kind, universally negative and considering its price point, ongoing expense to operate, and seemingly half-baked feature set, one could be forgiven for asking what are we even doing here…

But, as we’ve talked about so many times on this show, the story of so many products and entire categories that we know and enjoy every day started with crash and burn reviews, disastrous “first generation” launches, and sometimes years of iterative updates and tweaks… anyone remember the first generation Galaxy Fold? 

Now, we’re also not saying this will necessarily be the story of Humane… they’re still a startup burning a finite pile of investment capital that, some day will need to make a product capable of moving units and generating profits… Maybe it will, maybe this will be one more entry into the long line of false-start launches. But what is all but guaranteed is what they’re working towards, this AI enabled device future, is here to stay…

So with the reviews rolling in, we couldn’t help but ask ourselves what else is still ahead in 2024? One quarter in the answer is, simply, a lot! We touch on just a few here today, but suffice to say, this is going to be a busy one…

Now, the real news of that day, actually, is that it’s my dear wife’s birthday… and shocker to no one I have playlists to craft, food to order, and an event to create out of thin air… if only AI could help me with that? 

This week on the Solid State Podcast, we go a little bit… wide….. You should be used to it by now, but especially on what many consider a “slower” time of year for tech news in general we saw it as a good opportunity to slow down and have an earnest conversation about a company that we normally have on the show in the context of a new device, gadget, or service that we can’t wait to hand over our money in exchange for… 

Except this time, that same company is in hot water with none other than the United States Department of Justice for, objectively, that very same reason… see Apple has built an empire of a business out of delivering a product that quote-un-quote “just works” except that it frankly “just works” with other products and services from none other than Apple itself… 

Want this most seamless audio pairing? Buy some AirPods… Don’t like AirPods? Buy some Beats… and ignore that they too, are from Apple. Take more than 2 and a half photos with your shiny new iPhone and therefore have “run out of storage”… iCloud will happily solve that for you. Oh, and all those apps that make the phone great in the first place, our store is the one-and-only place to get those…

See, when you start boiling it down to the ridiculous, the case here suddenly feels pretty cut-and-dry… If you want blue bubbles, backups that work, games to play, and a watch that does more than tell the time… have we got a bundle for you...

And that is where things don’t just get interesting, they get familiar… because another tech behemoth once decided that playing in their walled-garden was a sure path to preserving their market dominance… until the DOJ showed up, locked them in a court room for three years, and changed theirs (and many others) business forever… The case simply said the United States versus Microsoft, the year was 1998, and, other than that… well, we’ll just let history speak for itself… 

Now, excuse me while I got look for a lightning cable to charge my keyboard because… that just makes sense...

“Any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic”… it’s a quote we’ve all heard countless times and these days is dangerously close to becoming overused if not outright tired… but even so, it remains one of my favorites because its founded in so much truth…

I also remember the first time I dialed into a local telephone number with a modem and was suddenly connected to a global network of computers, servers, and data just waiting to be absorbed… one very slowly loading page at a time… 

Those two examples were separated by a mere fifteen or so years, but they were both pivotal in my personal technological development as well as steps down a road that had led us to where we are today… a rapidly growing market of chat bots, “smart” assistants, and quote-unquote photographs containing ever-fewer glimpses of a scene “as it really was”… 

It’s certainly no question that the concept of AI is here to stay, that it is only going to continue developing, and for many, here-and-now, it’s nothing less than magical…

Type a prompt or two into a box, and get back sometimes awe-inspiring artwork… provide mountains of data, and generate reports, summaries, and presentation-grade material… ask for the perfect scrambled egg recipe and, well sadly, still get 7 conflicting recipes for ever-more-runny eggs…

So the question we’re here to ask today is, are we there yet? Has our AI-laced future truly arrived or are we barely in its infancy? Are we just two or three GPT iterations away from a post-scarcity paradise, or two or three steps down a road with miles still to go ahead? 

We’re launching what we think will be a tool we use more and more frequently, a measure or sorts to answer the question (for now) where exactly are we on the “Fad or Future” scale for AI?