The Accord has gotten some positive headlines, but Bryan Chaffin doesn’t think the announcement stands up to logical scrutiny.
Cybersecurity Tech Accord, Cyberwar Is Now, Social Network Inertia - ACM 458
In this episode, Bryan Chaffin and Jeff Gamet dissect the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, a pledge by 34 tech companies to do something vague and unlikely. The timing for the announcement is somewhat interesting because we are in the middle of an undeclared shadow cyberwar. They cap the show analyzing what it might take for any new social network to supplant Facebook.
Here's Why I'm Tired of Saying 'Hey Siri'
Saying “Hey Siri” is an awkward way to invoke Apple’s voice assistant platform. It’s time to drop the “Hey” and make talking to Siri feel more natural, like Amazon’s Alexa.
OneCast Lets You Stream Xbox One Games to Your Mac
Check out OneCast, a service that lets you stream Xbox One games to your Mac. According to The Verge, OneCast’s engineers reverse engineered the protocol Microsoft is using to allow Xbox One games to be streamed to PCs. Which means it’s not an official Microsoft app, and you might want to think about that before paying the introductory price of $9.99 (there’s a 14-day free trial, too). Streaming games—in this context—means you’re running the game on your Xbox One, but using your Mac as the display with an Xbox One controller. It’s aimed at players who want to play their games remotely, or maybe don’t have access to their TV due to competition in the house. Microsoft offers this service to Windows users, but OneCast is making it available to Mac users. The consensus seems to be that it works, with some glitches, but that hyper-competitive twitch games may leave you with a disadvantage. I’d certainly try it before buying it.
The Spotify Platform Problem, Tim Cook Insights, and Apple TV Gaming - ACM 450
Bryan and Jeff talk about the Spotify Platform problem and the problems facing any independent music streaming service. They also talk about the things they learned from Tim Cook’s interview with Fast Company, and whether or not Apple is signaling a bigger play in Apple TV gaming.
Skype's Big Security Flaw, Verizon's Locked iPhones - TMO Daily Observations 2018-02-14
John Martellaro and Kelly Guimont join Jeff Gamet to discuss Microsoft’s decision to not patch a Skype updater security flaw, plus they offer up their thoughts on Verizon stopping unlocked iPhone sales.
Security Researchers Expose Skype Security Flaw Microsoft isn't Fixing
Microsoft-owned Skype has a big security flaw that could let an attacker gain control of Mac, Windows, and Linux computers, and there isn’t a patch coming.
Microsoft Adds Drag and Drop Support to Office and OneDrive for iOS, Support for Files, and More
In this piece, we’ll look at the changes announced for iOS, including drag and drop support, a new List view in OneDrive, support for Apple’s Files app, coauthoring improvements, and search-across-organization in Outlook.
Microsoft Suspends Bitcoin Payments
Microsoft support called the move temporary, a response to high transaction fees and volatility in Bitcoin’s price.
Intel Security Issue Engulfs Apple, Microsoft, Linux—Intel Claims Other Processors Also Affected
A security issue building behind the scenes for weeks has bubbled to the surface, and could lead to performance hits on Macs, Windows PCs, and Linux devices.
A New, Unforeseen Threat to Apple Appears
It used to be that in a fairly low-noise tech community, Apple’s quality products were greatly appreciated. That tradition seems under attack by new social forces.
Delta Drops Microsoft for iPhone, iPad for Flight Crews
Early next year the Delta will start putting the 10.5-inch iPad Pro and iPhone 7 Plus in its employee’s hands for in-flight services and ditch the Microsoft Surface tablets and Lumia smartphones they’re using now.
CEO Satya Nadella’s Microsoft Presents New Competition for Apple
Microsoft is a smarter, more technical, more customer oriented company company under CEO Satya Nadella, and that poses new challenges for Apple.
Microsoft Officially Drops Office for Mac 2011 Support
It’s official and right on schedule: Microsoft is no longer offering any support for Office for Mac 2011.
Goodbye Groove, Amazon Echo and Privacy - TMO Daily Observations 2017-10-03
Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to pay their respects to the Microsoft’s Groove Music, and do a little ranting about Amazon’s new Echo Spot living in our bedrooms.
Microsoft Kills its Groove Streaming Music Service and Music Store
Microsoft has thrown in the towel and given up on making its own Groove streaming music and music store a competitor to Apple Music and Amazon Prime.
PSA: Office for Mac 2016 has macOS High Sierra Issues, 2011 May Not Work
Take note, Office for Mac users, Office 2011 isn’t supported in macOS High Sierra and Office 2016 looks sketchy, too.
Consumer Reports Just Slammed Microsoft's Surface Laptops, but Maybe they Shouldn't
Consumer Reports pulled its recommend rating for Microsoft’s Surface laptops, but I’m not ready do a schadenfreude dance yet.
AAPL Conference Call Quirks and Can Apple Be the Microsoft of Cars? - ACM 422
Could Apple be the Microsoft of cars? Bryan and Jeff dig deep into this idea, as well as some of the quirkier aspects of Apple’s quarterly conference call with analysts. They also chat about the importance of Apple Park.
Microsoft Kills Word Flow Keyboard for iPhone
Microsoft’s surprisingly useful iPhone one-hand keyboard Word Flow has been discontinued and is being calling a completed experiment.
