Gadgetory

good morning and thank you for joining us for another episode of the 359 podcast is this episode 97 on Wednesday August help me uh 17 and this morning we're joined by Roger Cheng and Ken Jemaine guys thank you so much for joining us ah thanks for having us happy Wednesday everyone first off I want to give a shout out to my wife it's our wedding anniversary and you're here and I'm here I'll be home early i'm gonna go home early-ish and thank you their third year round we're here three years yeah where we got a kid in the burbs now it's it's really i know it's official haha well it's just I don't even know she listens to this anymore but if she does babe love you it's been a great three years she's like I hear this it's fine alright so we've got a we've got an action-packed intel centric show for you guys intel developer forum kicked off yesterday we're going to talk about some of the the biggest announcements there including the possible death of the audio jack now not just due to apple but also intel with a USB type-c port will be talking about project alloy the virtual reality headset with no wires that until showed off which virtually is just a prototype but it's sort of a cool glimpse of what we can see for the future with VR and if we have time I'm not sure we're gonna have time we'll be able to we'll talk about Intel's prototypes of our classes and the tiny new computer called jewel about the size of two dimes put place the side by side and it's enough to run 4k video audio Wi-Fi the full-fledged chip so kind of crazy all right whenever you're ready Brian oak just as always if you have any questions about any topics or apple or Samsung because we know you always have questions about them leave them in the comments section our producer Brian will pick out the best questions and we will do our best to answer them all right we'll be back at you in exactly three minutes and 59 seconds starting in three two well that was a good too much so that lets sorry as three days I no no no I got I got it right yesterday the other two days I screwed up yes okay just move this other way so then send us your questions or recording the podcast will be back to speak with you in just a couple minutes and Roger you ready this time hands-free oh the hazards gone yes alright in three two welcome to the 359 when we talk about the top tech news of the day only other crap you want to throw in I'm Roger Cheng and with me is the legendary kent german hi Roger I happy here great to have you thank you held all the way from the UK yes so I'm we're honored to have you here in New York so Intel kicked off its developer forum yesterday and we got a lot of interesting tidbits from the event the most important is the revelation Intel believes that the USB type-c port could eventually replace or kill off the traditional audio jack now that they're all authority rumors out there the Apple is going to do the same thing with a lightning port if now Intel is kind of backing it from the other side I mean can I should we start investing in new headphones or is this it I think it might be actually yeah it seems you know I still go to hotels years later after we killed off the 10 point you know ten point thing in that the iphone my still send those checks you know yeah company like who uses this now because no one has like the large 30-pin yeah I think I only spend a one hotel that actually had the new lightning connector in the in the you know the thing you the doctor yes there's a soda yeah yeah so uh you know that Apple did that and they just went right ahead and then a lot of people had to change so I think that we are seeing like I think we will have to invest in new headphones actually it seems like that's going to happen yeah I mean it looks like once again Apple is going to lead the charge with this I mean Samsung just few weeks ago kind of made some cracks about how their Bell galaxy note 7 still has an audio jack but if what Intel's saying is too believed you know phones might be able to other phones are gonna do the exact same thing I mean they'll probably get there right I guess my one thing that I kind of fear about this is so does that mean that you can't charge the phone and listen to music at the same time I think that's what means yeah but unless you I guess you get excited about that Brian's face this is jaw just dropped about like saying that but yeah I mean I think it's one port you've only got one party thirds audio or its power you can't go I guess unless you got caught you know a wireless charging then you could do that but true if you have wireless charging or I guess if the you've got sort of a double yeah war cry for their for USB type-c or lightning but yeah I mean with both Apple and Intel that's you know that's covering pretty much the entire ecosystem so well by the way just in case you guys are all up in arms about that intel says the advantages are of course the thinner design yeah removing the audio chat makes a mix for allows for thinner phone also the possibility for digital sound processing which means that tech Guppies don't actually have to go to BOS or Dolby to get all those nifty audio tricks all right next up until also show it off project alloy the VR headset without pesky wires it uses the real sense cameras to allow your your actual hands to appear in the virtual world did you have a chance to check out the headset or take a look at the coverage yeah I did it was total interesting idea because every time we host an event where you know we have a VR headset like we have the HTC the vibe or something you know it's funny to see people and they kind of wander to the edge and someone to get yanked back a little bit yeah oh yeah yeah yeah we had that you see to have a corded phone at home you know and you try to reach across perhaps something sounds like hot so yeah I think that'd be cool I mean I I still have a I still get a little motion sickness with vr-zone admit so I'm not a like not totally into it but I think that for the technology if you could just sort of wonder across the room and be completely away from a computer something that'd be really yeah problem with a lot of stuff that Intel shows off is a lot of is just there just reference designs they don't actually make any product you can really make the chips that power these products and this reference design won't actually show up to its partners until the second half of 27 teams so it's a long way off it's definitely long way off lastly just wanted to chat about smart glasses that until showed off powered by a new computer called jewel which is about the size of two dimes side by side I mean it's does that excite you or this is this google glass all over again and it sounds like it but i think this is another thing like you said they're just making a stuff that goes in the product so what a week what is this actually going to do for a consumer and I mean we're so far from that yeah it's hard to say oh yeah if anything I mean this stuff in these computers can go into more IOT devices in the future all right so for all of our coverage from IDF check us out on cnet I'm Roger Cheng and Kent Sherman thanks for listening alright that was a good discussion it's gonna be the Golden Age of dongles know right that's devastating to me because I for one I have a real hard time sleeping so the way I kind of live my life is I but wind down for a good hour or so we should I headphones and I'll put on headphones and I put my phone on charge next to me and I've got sleep phones which are essentially like a sleep mask right with like flexible headphones built in and I'll really tell attached like one thing oh it's a little wonderful I never i ever heard that but yeah that does sound pretty Pleasant I can't sleep without him anymore even if there's no sound pumping through them they're just kind of comfortable no um but yeah I'll put on like nature sounds in there and if I'm strapped angle than that I'm gonna have one of two things insomnia or a dead phone right well I mean that's the things we're gonna be all we're gonna beat dongle mania right just gonna be extra ports or not well you know if Apple does include wireless charging their phone that would solve a lot of the problems but yeah but then of course you got by the pad yes and true yeah yeah we've got some good discussion going in the chat already alright Jay Mason's wants to know from your experience what actually sounds better is there actually a benefit from the lightning audio to the old 35 millimeter well we don't really know what the laughs I'm sorry the story said I think that it there could be some advantages and I forget what exactly it's yeah yeah so yeah the key advantages are sort of allowing companies to do more softly you employ more software for audio processing gansu doing things like simulating the sounds as if you were in a big concert hall or you know canceling out jet engines or rumbling train oh right so these are the kinds of features that you might be able to get if you work with adobe or bows but with USB type-c and directly with lightning you'll be able to do more of the software so it's like apple or Samsung could actually employ more saw audio tricks without the help of other third-party certain thing that the flip side is is that I'm sure if Apple is going to do this they figure this out is that is the USB would a USBC upset have more power consumption and you know would that affect the battery and that is an excellent point I don't know about the lightning in terms of the USB sorry yeah but USB apparently they're going to introduce new technology that allows for shut off of non vital parts of the phone or parts of the device so they argue that the switch from USB to 3.55 or 3.55 to USB is negligible in terms of power difference so which is surprising is you think like a powered headphone that that would generate more energy a lot of people seem to have a lot of loyalty towards the old audio jack it's funny some people would say i'd rather not the phone get thinner I'd rather not this feature I want to keep my eyes been on the bandwagon for a while now-like I don't care about the phone being thinner I just wanted to like last longer you more practical things like be waterproof like I think we're thin enough at this point and the novelty of it being a little bit thinner a hair thinner just isn't worth it for me I don't think they're actually going to compensate that with any better resiliency either that's just gonna make it weaker yeah I've got a collection of headphones and I don't want throw them all away my loyal team to my headphones I've been listening to Sennheiser's and costs as a consumer for 20 years I've had an iphone for less than 10 where's my loyalty lie mm-hmm I mean I think we've actually talked about this on the show before are the headphone manufacturers going to fall in line and start producing USBC lightning headphone models are they just gonna depend on like third-party developers to make Duncan said composition and that's something else thing up to the you know you could lose something empty to carry around yeah and then it just seems like it's some of the bridge between two things that could cause interference or you know just whatever so I mean especially with Apple I imagined the the audio the headset makers are gonna line up and Purdue young compatible phones like there's no other single product that draws the kind of demand for accessories like than the iphone right do you remember how much the dongle was between the 10 pin connector and like uh like 39 yeah there's guess what yeah i was just looking that up but then my computer lost connection but connectivity but yeah it was it was kind of a outrageous price yes it was a lot of ranting there's a lot of anger over that move to lightning but then it just happened and everyone over it after a while right yeah look at he said like Apple just removed doesn't really care about what you think because they know you're gonna just get on board that's translate so to Jay Mason's in the chat I i think watching the chat really uh answers your question if people will be mad or glad whether the the headphone jack is going away it looks like collectively by and large like most everyone here is kind of ticked yeah I mean I'm disappointed I don't want to see that happen I imagine there's gonna be a lot of anger come September when Apple releases its new iphone but we just said like I think the angers Chris aside subside people are just gonna get over it eventually yeah I mean just the headphones are of course very you know depend on what you have are very expensive things unless you're using just the thing that comes in the box but you have said ya know I've class like your I've got her pose you know exactly headphones and I've got a pair of fancy bose noise cancelling headphones I always weren't on the plane and just I'm not relishing the idea of like carrying little dongle that's like plug it in so yeah bluetooth there's a next discussion is about if there is going to be a headphone cable at all going forward but according goes so many of our reviews bluetooth audio doesn't hold suit yeah plus I mean I'm always kind of worried that it's gonna it's gonna conk out what I needed the most truth that's that's the biggest objection I have yeah I just don't know I thinks is you typically have your device close to you when you have headphones on i don't i don't see I'm not a really attached to bluetooth audio in that sense like I don't think it's saving me that much convenience and roots right okay if I'm if I'm using it to sort of you know make a connection like past data back and forth sure it great but if I'm using it for something else but it is it does fall in line with apples for philosophy of getting rid of wires cables and I mean I'm I'm a sound guy at heart and I hate cables I hidden so much but it's a necessary evil yeah and you know if you are a true audiophile you're not going to sacrifice your high quality headphones with the decent cables for some crappy bluetooth yeah yeah we're just not know it's uh and I'm not even an audio file but I would sort of feel the same way yeah any more questions the same loyalty it's just fun to watch people being like screw this this is this dumb idea rental video rental and bring it on Scott does agree he thinks that the headphone makers will kind of fall in line Akash thinks that Apple is just going to brainwash us all and we're going to fall in line as you said well it's important to know again I mean we're talking about Apple a lot but the subject of this discussion is Intel and now coming from the other side the Intel's the USB type-c ports are going to be showing up on more phones and you know theoretically a lot of these handset makers are going to fall apple's pattern dumped the audio jack and just rely on the the USB type-c port because it does for design wise it definitely opens the door for a lot of different designs thinner thinner designs for these devices I am just kind of curious if there is a fidelity jump with the USBC I'm very interested personally to see how it behaves I can't imagine there being much of a discernible change yeah I mean we'll have to say this is all kind of theoretical right now but I do wonder however if USBC will make easier more seamless integration with maybe home systems like maybe that can make an easy way to take your like you could transport 5.1 sound on your iPhone or whatever like that and tap that right into a home digital theater system possibly there's a thought yeah maybe a benefit trying to find the silver lining in the death of an oil right or doing a good job yeah um I don't know I think Apple might be losing some customers on this one I so that I'm highly skeptical as anything I think they'll lose customers were not lose customers but sales my demand might be weak if just cut the iphone 7 is it going to be as different as everyone thinks of work it second me as different as years past but i think the audio jack is sort of a negligible factor here yeah there's something will be a lag between people though and then i think they finally do it probably but if they're they have good headphones for all their good sign huh i'm just going to keep these and then the next time they upgrade headphones than maybe they'll move in a dress yeah yeah it'll be kind of interesting to see how it plays out with the user base and those who if somebody was a true old-school audiophile analog audio whatever like that yeah have they ever gone to iphone in the first place is this even a concern for if they've gone iphone are they true audiophile you know that kind of thing is it that there's there's an interesting thought to come now we're just going down radical we really are but that's it though like it's a question of convenience versus quality and are these people actually interested have they ever been right or are we trying to preach to a completely moot choir here I don't know I'm sure there's overlap there's overlap of people who are we're just gonna be annoyed for various reasons with the elimination of that audio jack what do you guys speculate do you think Tim Cook has apple on the right path or is this a frivolous decision mmm completely personal completely biased sure can't do I mean you've you've covered APPL for a long time um gosh I mean with whether this is you know he has the company as a whole in the right path that's that's hard for me to answer but um I you know I think that this doesn't I think yes this doesn't surprise me that Apple might do this is because they're always sort of saying we're kind of do something they're always kind of creating their own path and that sense yeah and I could I think it fits within them to say well we're just going to do away with this 3.5 millimeter jack that everybody's used for years we're going to do a round thing and they'll mark it it's it's better it's better quality it seems the battery it saves this and and I think they'll don't win a lot of fans because they have people that are their core fanbase i think is very much into that like apple this is a different way so we're going to do this so i think it fits within them like it fits their path I mean Adam but as far as Tim Cook as a company as a whole well I will say I won't i won't say whether not just takes the company the right direction but from a financial perspective dropping the audio jack and just going lightning does give Apple financial boost because they license out the technology for learning you have to pay to use it to be an authorized lightning lightning accessory and so you know they get a little bit of extra change from that so financially speaking it's it's probably a good move yeah what's no one no one here cares about know what's the UH what's the next thing that they will remove to try and make it more thing what do we there's nothing left it's the top lane oh no the clay I the glass so the home button yeah that's actually that's actually next that's what they can and that will have you packed on its thickness or no but it will have effect on its size yeah because a bigger screen got a huge chin right now right yeah Jay Leno chin not not cool maybe they could put in a bigger bet you know yeah I think you're right though it is going to be the home I think it's one thing that would leaves they get the fingerprint stuff to work on the screen I think they can just dump the home the honky and that would leave the volume rocker and they on and off button and that's it yeah here's an interesting perspective remember what Apple were the first to get rid of the floppy disk and they were right about that yeah oh yeah God look at how far we've come though and now we're all up in arms about a tiny little hole in the side of it well I mean like the macbook what was the first embrace USB type-c and nothing else I mean they were the first ones to ditch in the optical drive all together there you go yeah yeah so yeah this tree it happened before it's happened before it's gonna happen again they've taken something that's sick you no longer need this thing they've used for yours Oh what about the side buttons I think those will probably have to stick around right I think you could get into some kind of like touch sensitive gesture e-type control um I mean I suppose they could I mean the nice thing about the physical volume rocker is that you don't have to be get to looking at the phone yeah which is so if it's you know just on your desk and it's too loud or if you just need to adjust the volume maybe the power button could be replaced by something on the screen you never know its true like that um yeah cuz you know that's the only thing that you actually but what if you just took the side of the phone and like it's just the left side you just go like this I just kind of like brushed start shaving it on yeah like that's how you control volume going forward back you know what that could be a thing yeah actually could just slide your finger up and down like a like just a strip or something and yeah yeah yeah yeah I mean they're putting the what's the speculation about the touch at the top of the new macbook oh the like the the LED LED LCD screen was a strip that changes depending on the context of the program you're a similar vein there yeah good although that would add huge amount of cost this is a size trip thing because it would awesome we just said we're just gonna buy it anyways about the car well not just a cost but the structural integrity I don't know if you'd be able to like place the aluminum frame with a small strip of glass and have it work or better be durable I don't know now we're just really getting a rebel will they put power button on the apple logo on the back there you go mmm touch apple for life all right we should have been places story should definitely wrap things up yeah yeah all right look if you like anything you saw or heard here check us out on cnet our podcast is also available on itunes google play music feedburner style cloud and tune in i would be out tomorrow someone else will be here hosting we're not sure who yet we'll figure it out he'll figure it out but we will see ben and i will be back on monday and then on tuesday our big hundredth episode you definitely don't wanna miss it it's it's gonna be crazy give me regulations in advance that's very thank you that's a good milestone it is good milestone and then we'll just quick quick we're done so no no no we'll be back again we'll be back on Monday and then Tuesday definitely check us out if we've got a cool surprise thanks as always for joining us always and appreciate having you along for your morning afternoon evening wherever you are in the world alright thanks everyone thank y'all