The Mac Observer's Daily Observations Podcast

This week we’re diving in deep with authors and writers in the Apple community. Today long time author, journalist, and blogger Ted Landau joins Jeff Gamet to talk about his history in the Apple community, writing one of the top selling Mac titles, running his own Apple-related website, and more.

The new MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar looks great, but it can’t be the primary way for accessing an app’s features. Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to look at how the Touch Bar may fit in to third-party app developer’s plans, and why it may not get adopted as quickly as users may like despite its coolness factor. They also look at the results from TMO’s Twitter poll for new Mac buyers.

Apple’s new Touch Bar MacBook Pro carries the “pro” moniker, but it isn’t clear exactly who the new laptops are targeting. Dave Hamilton and the Maccast’s Adam Christianson join Jeff Gamet to share their thoughts on who will want the new MacBook Pro, what could be coming in future models, and what pro users are saying about Apple’s latest laptop offerings.

Vigilantes may be cool in the movies, but no so much in the App Store. Kelly Guimont and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to offer up their take on Apple pulling an app that alerted iPhone users to crimes in progress, plus they have some thoughts on the death of the startup chime in the new MacBook Pro models.

After the Dyn DDOS attack, The Mac Observer started looking into claims that HomeKit smarthome devices were protected from participating. Today Dave Hamilton and Bryan Chaffin join Jeff Gamet to look at what they found. Hint: Internet security is a complicated thing in spite of HomeKit’s strengths.

Apple’s “hello again” media event felt like it was missing something, and that’s really bothering Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro. They join Jeff Gamet to discuss what they think may have been planned, but pulled at the last minute, plus they question how much time Apple devoted to the new MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar.

Apple and Microsoft are taking different paths into computer touch interfaces. John Martellaro and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to look at the differences in Apple’s Touch Bar and Microsoft’s Surface Studio, plus they explain how USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 fit together.

Apple used its “hello again” media event to introduce new MacBook Pro models and a new Apple TV app for consolidating the shows we watch in a single interface. Dave Hamilton joins Jeff Gamet to talk about Apple’s announcements, what was exciting from the event, and more.

Apple’s fourth quarter earnings report numbers came out yesterday, and some say they look good while other say they look bad. Kelly Guimont and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to share their perspectives on how Apple is performing, plus they offer up their reactions to Microsoft’s just announced Surface Studio ahead of tomorrow’s new Mac launch event.

Give us enough time with an app we really like and we’ll find something to improve. Bryan Chaffin and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to talk about Apple’s iMessage platform and Messages app, and Bryan has some interface improvements he’d like to see. They also look at the CD collection Apple gave the media with the original iPod, and Jeff notes Apple’s Apple ID Two-Factor authentication setup bug seems to be fixed.