Dave Hamilton and Bryan Chaffin join Jeff Gamet to share their thoughts on the impact Steve Jobs had on Apple’s current leadership, and what happens when Tim Cook is gone.
TMO Background Mode Interview with Music Composer John Lunn
John Lunn is a classically trained music composer in London. He’s probably best known for scoring the TV drama Downton Abbey — for which he received two Primetime Emmy awards. His recent work includes the scoring of the feature film Electricity and the hit TV shows: The Grantchester Mysteries, Shetland, and The White Queen—for which he received a Primetime Emmy nomination. John and I chatted about how he always wanted to be a music composer and the journey that made his dream a reality. I asked him about the various mechanics of scoring a TV show, his tools (Mac, Logic Pro), the production process, and how the music is keyed to the scene to produce desired emotions. I played sound snippets and he explained the instruments. If you love his music and the TV shows he’s scored, this is show is essential listening.
The Microsoft and Apple Team Up Debate, Efail Explained - TMO Daily Observations 2018-05-14
Andrew Orr and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to talk about the possibility of Microsoft and Apple forming a business partnership, plus they explain the Efail email encryption security flaw.
Google Duplex, Voice Assistants, and AI - TMO Daily Observations 2018-05-10
Kelly Guimont, John Martellaro, and Bryan Chaffin join Jeff Gamet to share their thoughts on Google Duplex and what human-like voice assistants will have on our conversations.
Share Buybacks and Apple's Future, Same Old Facebook, Google Duplex - ACM 461
Warning, this one went long: Bryan Chaffin and Jeff Gamet discuss what Apple’s share buybacks say about Apple’s future. They also weigh WhatsApp’s founder leaving Facebook, and what it says about Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. They go over when diving into Google Duplex, a demonstration that was as awesome as it was devoid of real value.
Exploring the iPhone Black Dot Bug - TMO Daily Observations 2018-05-09
Kelly Guimont and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to explain the iPhone black dot bug, explore what’s behind the bug, and how to recover from it.
Encrypted Twitter Messages, Face ID for the iPad - TMO Daily Observations 2018-05-08
Andrew Orr and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to talk about end-to-end encryption in Twitter direct messages, plus what the possibility of landscape-orientation Face ID in iOS 12 means for the iPad.
Dear Overlords of MacLand – Mac Geek Gab 708
It’s always something, and thankfully John and Dave are always here to help. This week we share some advice about geotagging your photos when shooting with a non-geo-smart DSLR camera. Then some talk about how to format Flash drives, and lots, lots more. It’s always a blast and you always learn at least 5 new things each and every time you get together with John and Dave.
TMO Background Mode Special Edition #4 With Former Apple Executive Michael Gartenberg
Michael Gartenberg spent three years as Apple’s Senior Director of Product Marketing, reporting directly to Senior VP Phil Schiller. In his fourth encore appearance on Background Mode, Michael and I chat about expectations for Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) to be held June 4-8, 2018. We delved into potential improvements to HomePod, the state-of-the-art of Siri, the competition with Amazon’s Alexa, possible changes to iOS and watchOS, the state of the Mac, the much anticipated Mac Pro, what we’d like from macOS 10.14, Apple’s recent issue with premature product announcements, and the MacBook evolution (and its keyboard). We also discussed Apple’s discontinuation of AirPort products, and why that’s something Apple may or may not need to be involved with anymore.
The Complicated Tech Conundrum, Jeff's Unified Health Record Dream - TMO Daily Observations 2018-05-07
John Martellaro and Bryan Chaffin join Jeff Gamet to discuss the benefits and problems the average tech user experiences, plus they talk about the lack of a real unified health and medical record management system.
Twitter's Plain Text Password List, MacBook Pro Recall Petition - TMO Daily Observations 2018-05-04
Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to talk about Twitter’s plain text password list, and a petition to recall and replace the Touch Bar MacBook Pro’s built-in keyboard.
Alexa's Lead in the Voice Assistant Market - TMO Daily Observations 2018-05-03
John Martellaro and Andrew Orr join Jeff Gamet to discuss Amazon Alexa’s apparent lead in the voice control platform game and how Apple’s Siri on HomePod fits in.
The Myth of the Failing iPhone X and Other Earnings Report Notes - ACM 460
Bryan Chaffin and Jeff Gamet discuss the myth of the failing iPhone X, where that myth comes from, how it’s sustained, and how Apple’s own data says otherwise. They also talk about how Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri tried to dispel those reports during Apple’s quarterly conference call with analysts. They also look at the indicators that HomePod, on the other hand, isn’t doing well, and Tim Cook’s continued insistence on focusing on sound quality when we really want a capable home assistant. They cap the show with some perspective on just how much money Apple is paying out to shareholders.
Apple Q2 2018 Earnings Report, Mobile Safari Alternatives - TMO Daily Observations 2018-05-02
Andrew Orr and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to look at Apple’s second fiscal quarter earnings, plus Andrew tips us off to some alternatives to Safari on the iPhone and iPad.
WhatsApp's Future, No Project Marzipan this Year - TMO Daily Observations 2018-05-01
Kelly Guimont and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to talk about what Jan Koum leaving Facebook means for WhatsApp, plus they look at when we can expect Apple’s unified Apple app development platform.
Is It Time to Replace Your AirPort Router? – Mac Geek Gab 707
APFS support in third-party apps continues to grow, there’s now an app to search for 32-bit apps, secondary iCloud IDs might work well for you, and Apple’s official acknowledgement of the end of the AirPort router line brings up one of our favorite topics again: what Wi-Fi solution is best for your home? John and Dave talk through all of this, all for you. Just like Sister Hazel sang. Or something like that. Just press play and enjoy!
TMO Background Mode Encore #4 Interview with Science Communicator Dr. Kiki Sanford
Dr. Kiki Sanford is a neurophysiologist, a popular science communicator and creator of This Week in Science (TWIS) podcast and radio show. This is her fourth appearance here. In this episode, we chat about some some very interesting recent topics on TWIS. 1) Researchers showed that mini human brains implanted into mouse brains survived and functionally integrated into the host tissue. 2) Magnetoreception in birds is possible thanks to a protein in their eyes. They may actually have a heads-up display in their eyes for the Earth’s magnetic field. 3) Amazon’s announcement of its Vesta family robot project. 4) A new, non-invasive patch is being developed to allow diabetics to monitor their gluscose levels. Kiki has a special way of inspiring us to learn about science, so don’t miss BGM’s most popular guest.
T-Mobile, Sprint, and 5G Networks - TMO Daily Observations 2018-04-30
John Martellaro and Andrew Orr join Jeff Gamet to discuss the T-Mobile and Sprint merger along with 5G networks, plus they respond to listener comments on Apple dropping its AirPort product line.
Goodbye AirPort Base Station, Suicide Prevention Resources - TMO Daily Observations 2018-04-27
Andrew Orr and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to talk about the official demise of the AirPort Base Station, plus they share some suicide and self harm prevention resources.
Amazon's Kid-friendly Echo Dot, Crowdfense Zero Day Exploit Bounties - TMO Daily Observations 2018-04-26
Bryan Chaffin and Andrew Orr join Jeff Gamet to share their thoughts on Amazon’s new kid-focused Echo Dot, plus they discuss Crowdfense and the state of zero day exploit bounties.
Amazon Cyberpunk King, Tim's State Dinner, GrayShift Pudding - ACM 459
In this episode, Bryan Chaffin and Jeff Gamet talk about how Amazon has quietly become the Cyberpunk king. They also discuss Tim Cook’s choice of dinner companions for the White House’s state dinner, and how Grayshift’s data breach is the proof in the pudding that backdoors and cracks get mishandled.
Goodbye Google Play Music, Mac Flash Malware - TMO Daily Observations 2018-04-25
Adam Christianson from the Maccast and Kelly Guimont join Jeff Gamet to look at what the pending demise of Google Play Music means for Apple Music, plus they have a warning about a new Flash malware threat on the Mac.