The Context Machine

Bryan and Jeff dig into China's plans to unseat Western tech companies with a home grown operating system. Plus, there are new iWatch rumors with all sorts of interesting ramifications (if true). And for headphone enthusiasts, they take a closer look at Blue's Mo-Fi over-the-ear headphones.

Copying isn't the same as innovating, but it seems plenty of people are confusing the two with Xiaomi. Jeff and Bryan explain why the electronics maker isn't China's Apple, plus they look at the future of Apple's marketing strategy, and note Steve Ballmer's retirement from Microsoft's board of directors so he can focus on the Los Angeles Clippers.

Apple wants to own the health tracking market, but give us control over the data we collect. Jeff and Bryan look at iOS 8's HealthKit and how it could change the way we handle our own medical and fitness data, Google and Samsung's push to get a piece of the health tracking market, Apple's design philosophy, and the potential for online micropayment systems.

With reports of an iPhone 6 media event on September 9 circulating, Jeff and Bryan take a look at Apple's timing and what that may mean for other fall product announcements. They also offer up their take on China's decision to ban Apple products from the government's approved purchase list, and Russia's demand for Apple's source code.

Ford is giving BlackBerry a big kick in the pants by dumping the company's smartphones in favor of Apple's iPhone. Jeff and Bryan have plenty to say on what that means for both Apple and BlackBerry, plus they rant on Facebook and the decision to force private messages into a separate iPhone app, and they go with a listener request and look at the magic PC market numbers Gartner and IDC spew.

There's a lot happening with Amazon's new Kindle Unlimited ebook service, so Jeff and Bryan invited Dave Hamilton on to go even deeper into the discussion they started on TMO's Daily Observations podscast last week. The result is a serious look at the changes the book industry is facing, and how that impacts publishers, retailers, authors, and readers.

Apple is making a new push into the enterprise market with IBM, and that could spell bad news for Android smartphone and tablet makers. Jeff Gamet and Bryan Chaffin Share their thoughts on the MobileFirst for iOS program, take a look at the state of the smartphone industry and how coverage of Samsung is beginning to turn, and more.

Apple may be set to accidentally impact the high-end watch market when its rumored iWatch ships later this year. Jeff Gamet and Bryan Chaffin go deep into that, plus they look at the damage Amazon could unleash on the book industry with its contract fight with Hachette.

Facebook has broken user's trust thanks to an experiment it conducted where we were the subjects without our knowledge. Jeff Gamet and Bryan Chaffin dive into the whole Facebook mess, and online social networking in general. They also have some favorite iPhone and iPad games to share, and take a look at ComiXology's new customer survey than may be getting results the company didn't expect.

Google's I/O conference keynote happened earlier today and the Internet search giant made it clear it wants a place on our wrists and in our homes. Jeff Gamet and Bryan Chaffin talk about why it's up to Apple to think outside the box in the wearables market, what Google's plans means for our personal privacy, and how they feel about Nest sharing our information with Google.