Top Five Tech

A 30-minute investigation into how AI slop is killing educational YouTube, the Designed in California podcast from Myke Hurley and Jason Snell, Governor Kathy Hochul on Decoder, my own App Store featured spotlight, and a Shortcut that drops upcoming movies straight into your task manager.

• Get the Newsletter
• The Death of Educational Content on YouTube
• The Origin of Apple — Designed in California (00:48)
• New York Governor Kathy Hochul thinks AI should be 'less evil' — Decoder with Nilay Patel (01:29)
• Stephen Robles' Productivity Picks — App Store (02:03)
• Christina Warren's Productivity Picks — App Store
• Jason Snell's Productivity Picks — App Store
• Quinn Nelson's Productivity Picks — App Store
• Upcoming Popular Movies to Kan Do
• Get the Kan Do App (02:41)
• How I Use iPad Every Day

MKBHD says yes to every wild gadget email again, Robert Downey Jr. and Joe Russo look back at Infinity War and the MCU, Bill Gates on our turbulent AI era, GoldenEye 007 running natively on iPhone, Super Mario 64 on  Vision Pro, and we may have a cancer vaccine.

• Get the Newsletter
• MKBHD Said Yes to Every Email for a Month! (Again)
• EXCLUSIVE: Robert Downey Jr. and Joe Russo Look Back At Infinity War
• The choices we make about AI now are critical — Bill Gates
• GoldenEye 007 Running Natively on iOS and iPadOS — Chris Sotraidis on Threads
• Super Mario 64 VR — r/SuperMario64
• Stash: Fast Add to Clipboard
• How Big of a Deal is this Cancer Vaccine?

The strangely intriguing Minimal Phone 2 on Kickstarter, Ben Smith of Semafor on Decoder, John Gruber on Anthropic's text watermarking, a free app that fixes DMG installs forever, and the AirPods camera leak hiding inside macOS Tahoe.

• Get the Newsletter
• Minimal Phone 2 Looks A Little TOO Good.. 
• It's about ethics in journalism, with Ben Smith (01:01)
• Traffic by Ben Smith on Apple Books (01:16)
• Anthropic’s ‘Watermark’ Text Adulteration in Claude Is a Perversion of Writing (01:52)
• Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: Borges: South America's Titan
• EasyDMG — Automated DMG Installs for macOS
• Apple's Camera-Equipped AirPods Confirmed: See Them in Action (03:53)

Mrwhosetheboss on what Google's Pixel 11 event means for Android's future, Colin and Samir on where the AI line is for creators, Casey Newton's take on Zuckerberg's AI manifesto, and the launcher that's better than Spotlight.

• Get the Newsletter
• Send me a message
• Google Pixel 11 Hands on - The Phone Crisis Begins.
• The Cancellation of Hank Green & Why Gen Z Hates Ai (00:30)
• We need to talk about the Hank Green situation
• Superintelligence is a dragon — Platformer
• Raycast
• Everyone was right about Raycast
• How to spot AI writing — The Economist

Cleo Abram's tour of fascinating neutrino detectors, Kurzgesagt's video on why we're trapped in  our Solar System, and if you're over 40, you're ready to use AI.

• Get the Newsletter
• The Massive Machine Hidden in the Deep Ocean
• ‎Watch Silo - Show - Apple TV (00:39)
• Why Humanity Will Never Leave The Solar System
• The Puzzle of Grief - Summer Archive (00:55)
• See how Google Earth let people make fake scenes of bombings, riots and destruction (01:27)
• I Built the Task App I've Always Wanted - YouTube
• Kan Do: Project Management App - App Store
• After Years Building a Brand on Authenticity, Hank Green Says He Relied Too Much on ChatGPT (02:46)
• If You’re Over 40, You’re Ready to Use A.I.
• This changed our perspective on AI. Well put @debbiemillman

Andrew Clare tests the Galaxy Z Fold 8 as a primarily iPhone user, history podcasts I can't stop listening to, in-depth fitness tracker testing, two of my favorite apps got big upgrades, and the FCC just banned robots, including vacuums.

• Get the Newsletter
• Testing the Galaxy Z Fold 8 as an iPhone User... No Fluff (00:05)
• World War II with Tom Hanks (00:31)
• The Halifax Explosion (Entry 562.JB0409) — Omnibus (00:48)
• The Wearable Showdown: Oura Ring 5 vs. Fitbit Air vs. Whoop MG vs. Apple Watch — WSJ (01:16)
• AI Broke Containment, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Lineup, Best Fitness Trackers with Lexy Savvides — Primary Technology (01:52)
• Pastebot 3 (02:11)
• Nutrition Tracker: Foodnoms (02:45)
• The US government just banned Roombas — The Verge (03:23)

Ludwig Göransson's incredible Odyssey score, a feature-length breakdown of Nolan's "invisible CGI," World War II podcast with Tom Hanks, a great smart home app, creativity in the age of AI.

• The Odyssey | In Studio: Ludwig Göransson
• The Odyssey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) on Apple Music (00:26)
• NOLAN'S CGI is really just INVISIBLE CGI ("no CGI" part 6)
• The Beginning (01:11) - WWII with Tom Hanks
• Dr. Jill Lepore on why the AI backlash is vital for the future
• The Odyssey (2026) Review (01:50) - Movies on the Side
• ‘The Odyssey’ Shows Us Just How Big, Bold, and Grown-Up Movies Can Be. Scream for More.
• HomeSnap - Smart Home Insights App - App Store
• The future of creativity on the internet in a world with AI

The 1X NEO robot's incredibly dexterous new hands, Hank Green interviews Helen Hunt on his new podcast, M.G. Siegler on why the new ChatGPT app sort of super sucks, a free Mac utility that tells you what your USB-C cables can really do, plus Facebook Marketplace food reviews and jaw-dropping bird calls.

Get the Newsletter
https://shortcut.bot/topfive

Movies on the Side
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/movies-on-the-side/id1373518864

Primary Technology
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/primary-technology/id1723943281

Mac Power Users
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mac-power-users/id458066753

1X NEO Hands Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRyXV3csReA

Helen Hunt: When the Universe Betrays You — Humans with Hank Green
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/helen-hunt-when-the-universe-betrays-you/id1896666596?i=1000773262872

The ChatGPT "Super App" Sort of Super Sucks — Spyglass
https://spyglass.org/chatgpt-gets-to-work/

WhatCable
https://www.whatcable.uk/

Gabriel Rivera on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/itsgabrielrivera

Samuel's Bird Calls — TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8GvPGPd/

A behind-the-scenes look at how IMAX projects 70mm film for The Odyssey, the JFK series that got me hooked on The Rest Is History, Derek Seaman's top macOS app picks, and the two apps I'm leaning on to track my media and get a second opinion on my health.

Get the Newsletter
https://shortcut.bot/topfive

How IMAX 70MM Film is Projected!
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7S_geBV5bLQ&is=RiKJLJadWQUnE57P

Deepister.tech on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/deepister.tech

JFK: Death in Dallas (Part 3) — The Rest Is History
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jfk-death-in-dallas-part-3/id1537788786?i=1000634881247

My Top macOS App Picks (2026 Edition) — Derek Seaman's Tech Blog
https://www.derekseaman.com/2026/07/my-top-macos-app-picks-2026-edition.html

Sequel • Media Tracker
https://www.getsequel.app

Trackables – Health Tracker
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trackables-health-tracker/id6745567488

Lexy Savvides pits Find My against Google's network, ATP digs into Apple's price increases, the book that reframed how I think about time, John Siracusa's disk-space app, and Holst's Jupiter.

Get the Newsletter
https://shortcut.bot/topfive

I lost my stuff on purpose. Who found it faster?
https://youtu.be/8DvGX96Obh8?is=IJjz38TkacpQt8gI

The Chart Is Terrifying — Accidental Tech Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/accidental-tech-podcast/id617416468?i=1000774400611

You're Not Ready For These iPhone Shortcuts
https://youtu.be/zUKCL70V-R4

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals — Oliver Burkeman
https://amzn.to/446h9yA

Hyperspace: Reclaim Disk Space — John Siracusa
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hyperspace-reclaim-disk-space/id6739505345?mt=12

Holst: The Planets — Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-planets-suite-jupiter/267986844?i=267987026

Shortcuts Community
https://create.beard.fm/checkout/community?coupon_code=HALFOFF25