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.

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 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.

TMO Daily Observations 2016-06-21: Phone-free Concerts, Russia’s Anti-Encryption Bill

Going to an Alicia Keys concert will get your iPhone locked away, but not by the police. Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to share their thoughts on concert goers being forced to drop their smartphones in locked bags as a condition to see the show. They also take a look at Russia’s bill calling for backdoors into encrypted chat apps.

TMO Daily Observations 2016-06-20: Apple Power Plans, what's Coming for Passcodes

Apple wants to be an electric company, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be buying iElectricity soon. John Martellaro and Bryan Chaffin join Jeff Gamet to talk about Apple’s plans for the surplus electricity it generates through its renewable energy efforts, plus they share their thoughts on Apple’s plans for biometric passcodes and protecting our privacy.