Space Javelin

Space Javelin

By The Space Javelin crewTechnology
Download on the App Store

Space Javelin episodes

  • SJ143: 5G a hot mess, Apple Card, MacBooks reviewed, assault on batteries, Linus’ Mac Faux, more
    Sorry about the 40-hour delay, cadets, but we accidentally divided by zero or something in plotting our latest course and time folded in itself, so Mike's knot-untying skills were put the test in getting our edit back. This week your trusty co-Cap'ns anticipate the arrival of Apple Card (maybe soon in Canada?), plug AI's review of Sky: Children of the Light, congratulate Apple on yet more (commercial) Emmy awards, figure out how to live when your Mac or iOS device doesn't have a lot of storage, and review the week's court cases, security concerns, and various other fails -- all while sweltering as the ship's climate systems break down!
    On top of that, the new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models are evaluated, 5G keeps on proving its not anywhere near ready for prime time, Apple stops selling its oldest iPhones in India, pundits contradict each other, Quebec doesn't understand how batteries work, Linus Tech Tips tries to build a Hac Pro, and Mike and Charles disagree on exactly how much they'd sell out if Apple started throwing podcast dollars at them. All this in the week humans first landed on another world and came back 50 years ago, cadets, so break out your Space Sticks and Tang -- we'll be mooning people and showing them our asteroids later!
    1 hr 5 min
  • SJ142: Apple giveth and taketh away, Google eavesdrops, Facebook gets fined, & even Stranger Things!
    We’re back from shore leave, and the Canada/USA holiday weekend turned out to be a great time to take a little break, but of course the shenanigans started up right after that, cadets, so Capn’s Mike and Charles return with a roundup — including new MacBook Airs and Pros (but a retired MacBook), new iPads coming in the fall, a couple of proactive security moves by Apple, new adapters for Lightning, and of course the other big tech news of the week, such as Facebook shrugging off a $5B fine, Google contractors listening to your conversations, new Android malware, Intel playing coy with patents, and much more!
    There’s also a possible logic board swap for owners of the 2018 MacBook Air, some more Foxconn fail in Wisconsin, Xiaomi shamelessly rips off Apple’s Memoji, Microsoft reminds you what a dire flop Windows 1.0 was in a Stranger Things-worth tie-in with ... er, Stranger Things! Charles and Mike check to see if your phone can do 5G (it can’t), swear off (and at) an Amazon bedroom smartclock with a mic and camera in it, and geek out on GaN chargers, eGPUs, Thunderbolt 3 docks, and even FireWire. There’s also the amazing tale of a computer manual that is going to actually be read and considered valuable, cadets, so hang on tight to your Type 40 TARDIS documentation ... it could be your retirement fund someday!
    54 min
  • SJ141: Jony Ive heads out, acqui-hires are in, Intel throws a fit, Facebook pouts, & we take off eh!
    It's now liberty hall for the crew of the good ship Space Javelin, thanks to the double-header of Canada Day and the Fourth of July, so there won't be an episode next week ... but just like the war of 1812, Sir Jony Ive generously did his bit to liven up an otherwise low-key news week by generously surrendering (his job at Apple) so that US and Canadians alike could take a week off. Mike and Charles note some other big changes at Apple, including new recruits as well as old hands getting promotions, and ponder the poaching of ARM's lead chip architect (who also used to work at Intel and AMD) ... seems like a theme of late!
    There was of course more than that, including Apple gobbling up Drive.ai, a company that worked on adding self-driving tech to existing cars ... you don't say ... and the company helping to bail out a display supplier and getting flack for making the new Mac Pro exactly where they make nearly everything else (but with no loss of US jobs, so not sure why the grief). There's also great news about the DisplayPort 2 spec, a lovely iWork update for both Mac and iOS, a new glucose monitor for your iOS device, and yet another tale of the Apple Watch saving lives. This plus the usual assortment of fail and shenanigans, cadets, so you're well stocked before the holiday weekend. Enjoy your shore leave, and don't blow any limbs off (sez Cap'n Mike).
    49 min
  • SJ140: Tablet wars, phablet bores, Adobe under attack, batteries under recall, new games & much more
    The forthcoming iPadOS isn't even out yet, and it has already claimed its first victim, cadets -- Google is jettisoning its attempts to compete and leaving the USS iPad and the CCCP Surface to battle it out for not-quite-a-laptop supremacy! Apple has grown its sales in China again, updated its old AirPort base stations and recalled batteries, and as a result remains officially the most efficient and productive ship in the fleet! New challengers have arrived in orbit to challenge the Adobe homeworld, gamers may die mad at Apple's success in their realm, Lightroom arrives on the Mac App Store and the Galaxy Note 10 is preparing to launch while the Galaxy Fold is undergoing an extended drydock!
    Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Dr. Mario are arriving for iOS, the good ship Sprint/T-Mobile Merger fires its Boost rockets, the Dalek -- er, Robocall Invasion of Earth may finally be repelled, Best Buy gets some credibility, and as a reminder ... we're about to leave the 32-bit galaxy and there's no turning back now! All this and your weekly all-you-can-eat buffet of fail and what-the rations to enjoy, new charger technology and cool tech gear, a happy ending and some clueless YouTubers who take things a bit too literally. Break out your Microsoft To-Do lists, cadets ... you're gonna learn a few what-not-to-do lessons on this one!
    54 min
  • SJ139: Child privacy, USB4, Pixel 4, RX5700, Goldman Sachs, PBS, Sprint/TMob, & Folding Phone fail
    Some nice surprises this week, cadets, such as news on the distant-but-foreseeable USB4 standard; expansions for Apple Pay, Apple Wallet, and Apple Card; deets on the Radeon RX5700; a possible Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR release month; a long-overdue update to iCloud for Windows; a look at some cool new hardware, and our very first mention ever of mass spectrometry!
    Of course, to keep the anti-matter supplies fed, there's also a festering pile of fail to go through — such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and .. wait, *PBS?*'s deliberate assault on your children's privacy; Qualcomm's attempt to get the forced-reform judgement against they delayed through endless appeals; another obstacle for the possibly-doomed Sprint/T-Mobile merger, and Huawei takes Kenny Rogers' advice and "folds" delivering the Mate X and other products. There's also some insight on the forthcoming Pixel 4, a waterproof case for the iPad Pro, and much more ... so biohack your cranium to add more storage, cadets, and grab the next size up for your space helmet ... this week, we're making your brain bigger!
    1 hr

About Space Javelin

From the publisher's feed

Insight and analysis of Apple-centric topics of the week from the previous MacNN team, published weekly. Space Javelin's team has well over a century of Mac and Apple experience divided between them.