The Mac Observer's Daily Observations Podcast

Apple’s car projects looks like it’s heading down a different path. John Martellaro and Bryan Chaffin join Jeff Gamet to look at how Bob Mansfield is refocusing the company’s car project and discussing what they expect will happen next. They also offer up their thoughts on Tim Cook’s plans to bring us into a cashless society.

Good news athletes, the Nike+ Apple Watch Series 2 will be available on October 28th. Bryan Chaffin and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to talk about why they might–or might not–want the special edition Apple Watch model, plus Bryan finds a way to use Google to keep track of who’s on this November’s ballot.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social networks have been giving Geofeedia access to user’s posts that’s being used for police surveillance. Dave Hamilton and Bryan Chaffin join Jeff Gamet to look at what Geofeedia was collecting, how it was being used by law enforcement, and the ethical issues social networks face when giving companies our publicly available data.

Amazon is expanding its streaming music offerings with Amazon Music Unlimited. Kelly Guimont and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to share their thoughts on AMU and how it fits into Amazon’s plans. They also loop back to Monday’s show to look at the moral implications of deeper human relationships with artificial intelligences.

Dash is gone from the Mac and iOS App Stores, and the story behind why is a big bucket of drama. John Martellaro and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to look at what transpired to get Dash banned from the App Store and cost the developer his account. They also offer up their thoughts on the UK Prime Minister banning the Apple Watch from Cabinet meetings.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 battery problem isn’t going away and some replacement units are catching on fire, too. Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to discuss Samsung’s burning product failure, plus John schools Jeff on the perils of robot sex.

The streaming music market just changed because now Apple Music and Spotify can give us DJ remixes. John Martellaro and Bryan Chaffin join Jeff Gamet to look at the implications bringing remixes to the two big music services will have on the market and on SoundCloud. They also respond to listener comments from Wednesday’s discussion on Yahoo helping intelligence agencies scan our email.

Say what? Samsung bought the Viv artificial intelligence platform designed by the creators of Siri. Bryan Chaffin and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to talk about how Samsung could use Viv, and what impact it will have on competing platforms. They also look at Facebook’s Secret Conversation encryption for Messenger chats.

A new report says Yahoo! was secretly scanning user’s email at the request of U.S. intelligence agencies. Kelly Guimont and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to debate whether or not that was appropriate and to look at what we should expect for privacy in our email.

There’s an Apple patent that shows the iPhone’s Home button is going away. Bryan Chaffin and Dave Hamilton join Jeff Gamet to share their thoughts on the future of the Home button, plus they look at what’s up with Apple auto-downloading macOS Sierra to user’s computers.