Several US states are trying to advance laws meant to let developers distribute and sell apps outside of Apple’s iOS App Store. North Dakota, Minnesota, and Arizona all have bills in the works to prevent Apple from retaliating against developers that use other means to distribute their apps.
Loving that free subscription to AppleTV+ that you have with your purchase of an Apple thingy? Or is it part of your Apple One subscription? OR maybe you’re leeching it off from someone else along with Netflix. Well however you’ve gotten it, is there enough content for you to keep you coming back? No? There might be based on Apple’s trailers just released for their 2021 lineup.
Apple’s car business which doesn’t exist in public other than CarPlay, 14 million blogs and podcasts, and analysts saying it does, took another step toward not being a fantasy which it still is, by poaching Porsche execs and denying everything by saying nothing at all about it. Which means it’s DEFINITELY going to happen…maybe…or maybe not. And you can take that to the bank because you got the straight scoop from the GMen!
Wow! Just ONE show away from our 550th! Quite an achievement if 550 of anything meant…well…anything. We bring it up here because if we did it on the actual 550th show it wouldn’t be nearly as funny. Also sorry about no show last week, you can totally blame Guy and his second COVID shot though as per usual he denies all responsibility.
When you have a conference that’s usually in Las Vegas, one of the least distraction-free cities anywhere in the world, is it still as much fun if it goes virtual? Some think yes as you can get right down to business, others say NOOOOOOO, I want my lights and glimmer! Also the GMen talk more about the NFL and make a few game prediction (some were wrong).
For the first show of the year, the Men get very silly with weird digital masks that you can view if you watch the show over on YouTube. Also, It’s the start of a brand new year but the same old GMen so don’t believe for one instant that 2020 doesn’t still have some punishment for you…in fact, you should probably STILL be mad at 2010 which is when we started.
Guy:- Pixar’s Soul. GREAT flick with Jamie Foxx as “Joe” and Tina Fey as “22”. Richard Ayoade as Counselor Jerry. Even Graham Norton as Moonwind was great.
VERY much a different kind of show this week as Simon Parnell, of the Essential Mac Podcast joins Gaz and Guy to celebrate the season. As if THAT wasn’t enough, they are also joined by Mark Chappell, Nick Riley, Donny Yankello, James Ormiston, and Steve Durbin.
Somehow even with not that much going on, the GMen serve up an extra long show. Guy retires his 2017 iMac from active duty while Gaz sells both his Intel Mac minis in preparation for an M1 Mini. Then they go down the list of a lot of what Apple does and make some predictions as to what MIGHT be down the pike-pipe.
Most of the reviews in for the M1 Macs have been pretty positive except for those that are unhappy you can’t take a microprocessor apart to add more RAM.
In the same week as the announcement of M1-based Macs, Big Sur has also been released for the general public and it goes to 11! Well the new MacOS version does anyway and with that update comes general compatibility issues and major questions about if the M1 processor is all that and a bag of crisps (or chips depending on where you’re listening to this).
Dell S2721QS 27-inch IPS 4K monitor. About $400 though I got it at a local Microcenter for $300 on sale. 2 HDMI ports/ 1 DisplayPort, 3840 x 2160 resolution, 350 nits brightness (by comparison, my 2017 27-inch iMac has 500 nits).
Sigh…sure there just HAD to be another event this year to announce the new Apple Silicon-based Macs. Why? Because obviously they didn’t already have their plans made or designs locked down before LAST month’s only 1 hour pre-recorded event. No video last week because eCamm’s Call Recorder (which is getting harder and harder to use) can’t handle more than one person at a time.
There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who use HomeKit and those that just don’t understand it…like the GMen for example. Pssst! They’re in the “don’t understand it” camp. Fortunately Karl Madden from the Mac and Forth Podcast is here to explain so that even Guy MIGHT understand it…maybe.
My oh my how that little streaming serviced that a lot of people ragged on for not enough content (the GMen included) has grown up. After testing the waters with a big exclusive with Tom Hanks Greyhound World War 2 adventure, Apple and Netflix are rumored to be in the running for the latest (and reportedly last one with Daniel Craig) oft-delayed James Bond flick “No Time to Die”. Big news for sure, but is there more to it?
Not a single iPod sock or HiFi (sort of) was announced at the Apple Event much to Guy’s disappointment. However there was some more expected products to come to light, mainly the iPhone 12 in its various iterations and while the product wasn’t that surprising, the $99 price tag mostly was for the HomePod Mini
ANOTHER Apple Event scheduled for next week. Most people thinks it’s for the iPhone 12, but Guy has a sneaking suspicion it’s for a new iPod HiFi and updated iPod Socks. Also best wishes to all the friends and family of Eddie Van Halen who sadly passed away from cancer last week.
This weeks Apple stories got juicier as the week went by, but the real issue this week is what on earth is Gaz going to do with a dead mans Mac. Also Epic vs Apple is back in the news and the GMen give a bit a talk-about it.
Apple buys a startup called Scout FM which is meant to create Smart Stations of podcasts based on various topics chosen by the podcast creators. So if a podcast says its focus is on Technology, Business, or say, Sports, then Scout will build a playlist around those topics for you. Sounds like a topic
There was an Apple event where the main attraction was an evolutionary Apple Watch. They threw in iPads, mobile device OS updates, and service bundles, but the main pull was the watch. The GMen make a small change to the show, but it isn’t at all subtle and you’ll know it because they’ll tell you.
So by ring we really mean Apple services, because one service to rule them all would be a dumb title. And our titles are ALWAYS great! Except when they aren’t. Some video issues this time out so there won’t be a video podcast this week but Big Sur will straighten ALL that out…once the apps work that we use.
Guy’s Pick: EpochCam by Kinoni. You’ll need both the iOS App and the Mac driver for EpochCam from Kinoni (free). There’s also a viewer app called the EpochCam Webcam Viewer in the Mac App Store that lets you view it.
Buy the iOS app (it’s $8 bucks), install it and connect your iPhone to your computer over USB. You can also connect via WiFi, but it’s better over USB. Go to Kinoni’s website, scroll down a bit and you’ll find the Mac Driver. Install the Mac Driver and it should work. I’ve tried it with OBS, Streamyard, eCamm Live, Skype and Zoom and it works with each, though with Zoom it only will connect and show a picture while the app is running apparently. Which seems weird but it always worked for me.
Gaz’s Pick: One thing I am prepared to pay for, OS Maps
With everyone working from home and trying to get the equipment they need to do video conferencing, pricing has gone through the roof for webcams as availability have gone through the floor. Maybe, JUST maybe you don’t need that fancy webcam or expensive microphone (Guy is sobbing now quietly in the corner) to get the job done when you likely have everything you need already.
