Sometimes things just don’t work right, and that’s what your two favorite geeks are here for! Listen to them help solve your issues with batteries, email bcc, Photos migration and even CPU QoS. Download and enjoy!
TMO Daily Observations 2016-07-01: Apple Music and Tidal, Spotify's App Store Gripe
Word on the street says Apple is in talks to buy the streaming music service Tidal. Bryan Chaffin and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to share their thoughts on whether or not a deal between the two makes sense, plus they look at Spotify’s complaint that Apple is blocking competition in the streaming music market with its App Store approval process.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-06-30: The Apple, Amazon, and Google Competition Lockout
Apple, Amazon, and Google are all big players in the tech market, and Senator Elizabeth Warren says they’re stifling competition. John Martellaro and Bryan Chaffin join Jeff Gamet to look at the Senator’s concerns and share their thoughts on competition in the tech world.
Kindle Page Flip Comes to iPad and iPhone
Version 5.0 of Amazon’s Kindle App for iPad and iPhone adds Page Flip, a new and natural way to navigate through books without losing your place. If you’ve ever been frustrated having to flip to see a map or something on another page, Page Flip solves that problem. Just tap in the middle of your screen to activate Page Flip and skim around until you find what you want. When you’re finished looking, tap again and Page Flip will offer to return you to your original spot. Even better, Page Flip remembers the locations you have flipped to, allowing for easy bouncing around. The updated Kindle App is available for free in the App Store.
ACM 366: App Store Surveillance, Google's Phone, and Bryan's Rant
In this episode of The Apple Context Machine, Bryan and Jeff discuss new regulations in China that could make Apple part of that country’s surveillance and censorship apparatus. They also talk about Google’s plans to make its own Android devices, and Amazon offering a discount on two Android phones that display Amazon ads on the lock screen. Bryan somehow manages to ties that into an epic rant about Angry Birds 2.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-06-29: Apple's Camera Blocking Patent, iPhone Design Lawsuit
Apple patented a way to block our smartphone cameras from recording. Kelly Guimont and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to share their thoughts on the patent and its potential for abuse. They also look at a lawsuit alleging Apple stole the idea for the iPhone.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-06-28: iPhone Audio Ports, Facebook is Creepy
Speculation about the audio ports on the next iPhone are still going strong. Today Dave Hamilton joins Jeff Gamet to talk about the potentially missing headphone jack on the new iPhone, digital to analog converters, and how we listen to our music. They also get a little creeped out over Facebook’s location-based friend suggestions.
Google Bloks Will Offer Kids Hands-On, Collaborative Programming Concepts
Google announced a new «research project» called Bloks, a wonderful concept that brings programming to very young kids with real-world block-like components. It’s an ongoing project that Google is opening up to the world, but the company is starting with electronic boards and programmable pucks. Brain Boards are built from Raspberry Pi Zero boards and can be used to power anything you could power from that device, like robots or switches for real-world devices. The pucks are essentially instructions, including on-off switches, directions, or volume controls. When used in sequence, they can send instructions to the Brain Boards. And it’s all hands-on for young kids. They can collaborate in ways they never could with any programming thing based on a screen and/or keyboard. I love it. It’s an entirely different approach from Apple’s Swift Playground, and I think they’re very complementary.
TMO Daily Observations 2016-06-27: AAPL, Brexit, Google Blocks
Apple’s stock isn’t a high as it used to be and understanding why can be a little daunting. Bryan Chaffin joins Jeff Gamet to look at Wall Street’s dysfunctional relationship with Apple and the Brexit impact on the stock market. They also check out Google’s new Blocks programming platform for kids.
TMO Background Mode: Interview With Symply Co-founder and President Alex Grossman
Alex Grossman is the co-founder and president of Symply, Inc. His new company makes high-performance storage devices for content creators. I asked Alex about his start in storage technology, and it goes back to his EE degree in college and his first job with the Digital Equipment Corp (DEC). Early on, he developed a passion to build great hardware and understand how data got stored. Years later, Alex ended up at Apple focusing on the small and medium business needs for easy to manage mass storage. He tells a great story about Apple giving him the go ahead to change the world with Xserve RAID. Today, Alex carries his years of experience with elegant, easy to manage storage into his new company, Symply, Inc. Alex told me one amazing story after another.
