Gadgetory

good morning on Monday December 11th it's episode 330 of the 359 podcast I'm BVG and your host today are Alfred Inge and Ben Fox Rubin hello what up this is our last full live week of the podcast for the year but we'll try to get some nice evergreen shows up for you in the interim until we come back for the CES time frame but we have a very nice story for you today or a very nice podcast we're gonna be talking all about Apple our very own sharra tip consider story just looking at what to expect from Apple in the new year in 2018 so we'll run through a bunch of those and anything else you want to say nope I'm just here to talk about Apple yeah nothing else anyway let's get to the podcast send in your questions and comments BVG we'll get to as many as you can at the end of the show and let's let's start the podcast off all right thanks for joining us everyone we're gonna get four minutes worth of recorded headlines that are actually worth your time and then you might want to leave so no just kidding after that hang out in the chat we'll take questions and comments we'll be starting in three two welcome another 3:59 I'm Ben Fox ribbon I'm alfred hang our Apple beat reporter shark tip can publish a story today that looked at what we might expect from the tech heavyweight in the new year let's start off with the iPhone she mentions that there are early rumors that there are gonna be three count'em three different versions of the iPhone 10 and a new iPhone X se next year with Apple expanding its phone line up even more does this mean there are like way too many phones now I completely welcome it I think that you know more companies should be going with that model I know Samsung definitely does oh they absolutely do yeah I mean Google hasn't really followed that yet when they have you know just the pixel and then the pixel XL but I completely welcome it I actually really like the iPhone se I do hope they continue to make like smaller models I do hope that they don't go like too much with like iPhone 10 extreme 5 or whatever where it's got like a 10 active yeah something like that yeah Samsung does that I don't think there's ever such a thing as too many products especially when it comes to Apple because they're not like Android devices where you know all the updates are fragmented I have a relatively old iPhone and it still gets like the latest updates which is like not androids motif at all okay maybe I'm approaching this from two philosophical a perspective but the original iPhone something cool about it was that if you are willing to pay the money for it you could be an athlete or a movie star or just some some regular kid like me you've all got the same iPhone I mean something is lost when you have something like the se or some of the cheaper phones that are like three hundred and fifty dollars and then other people that can afford it and want to pay for it can pay over a thousand dollars well over a thousand dollars for the iPhones I'm sorry I've never felt a unity with other people you don't you don't like pull out the iPhone and say like hey we're both my own that's how that's how I met my wife also 2018 could be a big year for Siri Apple's home pod smart speaker is slated to come out next year after it was delayed of course with Siri hopefully becoming a more capable voice assistant in the device the problem is with Siri is that it's still not that good so we'll see if that out yeah you've been following this extensive way too because you cover Amazon with their echo so I I think you know a thing or two about you know artificial intelligence and voice voice assistance I mean I don't really know what to expect all I've been covering from the privacy aspect and I will say it is definitely the most like private you can get as far as like yeah smart absolutely yeah they don't they don't take your information the same way Amazon and Google though the problem there and correct me if I'm wrong here is that a lot of that data that Amazon and Google do take they use to improve their voice assistance and they're smart speakers so if Apple isn't doing that yeah you gain something on the privacy end but it's possible yes you're gonna have to see what people would people prefer then you know when it comes to market next year yeah next up augmented reality Apple is rumored to be working on a are goggles and CEO Tim Cook keeps talking up the huge potential of AR would you wear Apple a argument goggles I mean I've been known to wear a spectacle or two so I might might where they are goggles I don't think my phone would be capable of handling like I'd have to probably get a new phone to use them mm-hmm and I don't to me that's not worth it I will say that AR with the iPhone 10 and like future lines in 2018 is probably the thing that I'm excited about the most for Apple I think that augmented reality is probably you know where they're gonna be doing a lot of their bigger developments I think there's only so much you can do as far as like developing hardware you can say and I think with augmented reality that's it's gonna be a whole like new playing field for them yeah well I'm still skeptical whether people are gonna want to have this on their face at all times with the goggles but we'll see what the potential about that goggle just pulling your phone out like oh yeah yeah and we're seeing some of that already yeah iOS 11 with a little time we have left last is a touch screen Mac coming this is something that a lot of people have been hoping for for years maybe 2018 will be the happen I don't think it's gonna come only because it will cannibalize from their iPad pro mmm-hmm lineup but they've been known to cannibalize from themselves like I'm over all over 2017 when you see the iPhone 8 plus and then the iPhone 10 so there's a possibility you could have you know something like macbook X with the touch screen and then also the iPad pro yeah I don't see it coming if they were gonna do it they probably would have done it by now but Tim Cook if you're listening why don't you just update the MacBook Air that's what I really want you to join us on the podcast Timmy yeah if you want to read more about these stories check us out on CNN I'm Ben Fox Ruben I'm Alfred a thanks for listening trying to think of like a clever new name for the iPhone 11 - beta / iPhone X - it's so good do that now that's Final Fantasy 10 - it's no it's x-men United is that is it X - their X - x-men United okay what weather X 2 s are there Megaman X - you guys came up with three already I'm very impressed but I don't think they're gonna do that because they call it the iPhone 10 they don't call it the iPhone X they should I don't know whatever I I repeatedly called it the iPhone acts until I was shamed on I don't know Twitter and by other tech elite I'm not able to be iPhone 10 whatever either way got through a lot in four minutes or actually I don't know longer than four it was a little longer than four minutes sorry I started the timer a little late this time so yeah anyway do you have any questions or we can talk and I'm just starting to dig through the questions in comments there's a lot piling in so I'm gonna try to dig out some good stuff to spark a conversation in the meantime I don't know what do you guys doing well then I don't play the AR thing too much I feel like could I mean that's what I'm excited about the most that's a quick turnaround for you know I'm like personally excited about AR the Mo's but I I wonder if like other people feel the same way like I like it there's a lot of potential with AR but I I don't I don't disagree they like to kind of visit that I just think cuz like I'm not excited about anything yeah like obviously there's going to be upgrades where it's you know faster better camera you know better security all this stuff but like to me that AR is probably the biggest place that's like kind of like unexplored I mean you know I agree I think AR and VR are definitely like those mega trends like among many no I didn't say we are I don't care about VR like at all useless but they work they work they were unison and there's also like the mixed reality where you could do like something between AR and VR where you flip between the two either way it's like between AR and VR drones self-driving cars Automation there there are a variety of megatrends and like as far as like those are more like GS are concerned that is is definitely yeah all the things that you're talking about I'm definitely excited about like self-driving cars and stuff but it's not like apples doing that or at least you know I don't do it anymore I think they've looked into it yeah kick the tires and then decided to walk away from it yeah you just see that awesome pun I just made kick the tires yeah yeah sure okay because in case I already instead in here it right um but I I think that there is a lot of hype around AR and what we're seeing so far is just like being able to like put your furniture around yeah that's what everybody's been talking about Slyke Tyrannosaurus is in the subway sure yeah Scott showed me Scott Steiner our reporter our review yeah our reviewer for the iPhone 10 and other products on Sina comm yeah he showed me some photos of like some stuff that he put in a are like around the office and at first I thought like it looked very real like it's good I just wonder if it's like world-changing so it's not world-changing but it's like it's so cool sure and I think Google glass definitely shows that there's there's significant hurdles to putting a wearable on your face all the time so if Apple is legitimately working on a are goggles it has to have so much more potential and value as to actually convince you but this is something that you want to wear I don't know even for like an hour during the day it might have much more potential for somebody for a specialty field whether it's like surgery manufacturing what-have-you as opposed to like walking around on the street in an AR world I don't I'm wondering if that actually is gonna happen imagine saggy and the chat says AR goggles will be a niche product it will fall the wayside just like 3d glasses for the television thank you very much imagine saggy always like commentary yeah people don't want to have like like physical accessories to get a feature on something that they use the man said is he talking to a microphone there's also like there was chatter I remember when I was at the Wall Street Journal so this was a couple of years ago Google looking into like was it was it a our contact lenses I have to look it up that Google was looking into some sort of contact lenses it was either you know for medical purposes or augmented reality it's the same kind of concept I would say that like putting a wearable on your face or as a contact lens it's like is it such an important feature that you need it all the time I do not want a computer in my eye I have terrible nightmares about that scene from Minority Report we're like the machine the machine or the man has to come and take my eye out because that's where the computer is yeah I mean I'm not against eye transplants any situations I have terrible vision but I don't need it to have any situation where I have to carry less stuff the better for me to be honest I like give me my pockets back yeah definitely the hell are you talking about where does it go he's like flip-flopping now he loves those aren't contact lenses aren't goggles and they're like the AR goggles would just be for AR that which is another thing that I'd have to carry so I think about it that's do you know how like it's so hard to focus in the world already if I'm talking to Brian and I can see like what his heart rate is and like it's Brian's birthday in 300 days or whatever like all this stuff starts popping up like while I'm looking at you like I supposed to string together a sentence everybody's life just looks like the Terminator it's just target acquired yeah I would probably never pay attention to anything again right I think my my homing signals would just don't lie every time I come by a pizza shop my trajectory would have to like change it would I know whether to even be in my control it would be good for dating apps like if you're at a bar and you like knew who was potentially available maybe that would reduce your chances of embarrassing yourself just make sure you silence some notifications attractive female like steaming up anyways welcome back to I be in the chat it's been away from YouTube for a minute good to have you back good to see a question from Abby what would be the real use of a RvR in the future and I mean we're just kind of talking about that yeah a little bit mostly specifically specifically what's the current status of daydream I mean like daydream is that's a CR though isn't it no no that you said a RvR okay wait a minute is dangerous daydream is Google pixels a VR right I mean like it's out it's available it's it's being utilized I think mostly from the arts perspective what I've seen is it's mostly used for gaming I mean like PlayStation VR has seen some good success recently with a are there are some commerce applications but beyond that I don't think they've really found the killer feature quite yet for using AR it's cool that's the cool feature yeah but is it like needed like do you have to use it for something I mean I think it's convenient you know you don't have to use your camera for anything no your camera's not need try to convince that to half the population yeah I would I would agree with you like is cameras like super useful first yeah well I'm sick ok but like when you're saying in the terms of like needed yeah like you need to take the photo of like that meal that you're eating no yes like is it gonna change the world no but okay hold on yes the photo of my meal will change the world these are really good eggs benedict Alex Mitchell will 5g have an effect on AR not exactly sure I mean it definitely will just there's a lot of like potential like like even with VR and you know on Netflix just like watching stuff like can sometimes take a while to load the idea with like 5g making it like you're connected to you know extremely fast internet all the time definitely makes a are much more accessible yeah I mean I wish Roger Tsien were here because he's our 5g I think the idea of like being able to like stream in like 5g would probably be like the big like stream like AR in like 5g where you can watch like us like in your living room or something like that like I think on a 4G or LTE connection I would probably like take forever because that's a lot of data yeah arguably the resolution would be much better you be able yeah do a lot more stuff I I think that's probably like that's that's that's a good take you know I would say moving on to phones Watson do you think that the iPhone 10 will hold its price for longer more than other phones in the prior years since Apple tends to drop about 40% in price every year to year mm that's a good question I mean that it's so premium that it's platinum I don't know what the hell you even call this phone so in general Apple devices tend to hold their value much more than literally any other device out there second tier is Samsung so the iPhone 10 because it's the first one and if it's kept in good condition yeah the possibility it's it there's a good chance that it is going to retain its value a little bit better than previous models it's also you know just a really nice phone and therefore if you're gonna look to like sell it or traded it in next year it's still like pretty high spec so yeah but that being said like a lot of those resale markets are connected to historic sales yeah I don't think they're gonna drop their prices on it anytime soon though but like do you think that it'll get cheaper one that when they have a month when the ten two or the 11 or whatever the hell they want to call it like do you think that it'll drop prices when that usually they only drop it by about $100 yeah it's gonna go from like $9.99 to $8.99 the used market it's it's hard to say I mean like it's gonna retain its resale value much better than other phones but I don't think that it's so far in a way different than other apples that it's gonna be a cosmic improvement in resale value yes that's my best guess on that one more unfor we move on to other topics Tammy Thompson will they be refreshing the iPhone se it's a great phone low-cost option for the entry-level now you talked about perhaps then continuing with multiple tiers three models in 2018 for all the iPhone 10 yeah we think that the SE will become part of a legacy law there had been reports that they were gonna launch an SE 2 in June or July or so we had written it off of I think it was 9 to 5 Mac that had it or somebody else I don't know somebody out there had it we have the story on scene that's website also but as it stands currently it's still very much rumors yeah but I do agree with Tammy's point was it Tammy that's out that yes Tammy yes I do agree with Tammy's points I am a big fan of the SE and I've actually been holding on to my like 5's until the SE 2 comes out so I'm looking bar - speaking of rumors real quick before we do move beyond beyond phones svet asks are the rumors for an iPhone X C with a plastic back for I drop news true or are they also just rumors I mean they're all just rumors at this point and putting a a plastic back on an iPhone 10 I think sounds like a bad idea like first of all you're gonna lose wireless charging I think it needs the glass back yeah perilous charging also I don't know how much cheaper it would actually be if all you're doing is adding plastic - yeah then I don't see the CSeries making a comeback I think that was kind of a big flop for a bit of a dud yeah yeah so I would I would argue do not expect that one do we think they're gonna go with more unique colors at the very least cuz that was the whole thing about the see wasn't I just maybe I come here colors probably gonna have a red line somewhere down the line I don't know yeah that'll continue I think I don't know colors there's going to be for the X because of like the class back it's I don't know how much people really buy the phones depending on the colors or not usually you're gonna put them in I don't think it's gonna substantially increase their keyboards people definitely care about the color though yeah I mean like Google has been making a much bigger deal about colors they have like those goofy color names like simply blue really black purpley purple rose gold no no no I know yeah Samsung no they purple rose gold is a gaudiest thing I've ever seen Lanois has written a story about like how they made the Google pixel and they talked about how they purposely gave it those goofy names to make fun of stuff like cobalt blue and like and stuff all right fair enough I guess I didn't get the joke then so imagine psyches asking what happened to the red no they just did a red yeah there's a lot of Evan yeah alright cuz I still have a red iPod nanos yeah where they've done it for their iPods they've done it for their watches when they've never done it for a phone until the the 7 right I wonder if they'll skip the 10 being that it's its own big mega anniversary and like wait for the next line to maybe bring the red back I think it'll come back in the phone my phone mode in POC form real quick we're almost out of time Watson will Apple finally make a tablet laptop infusion like the surface pro and allow a Mac that could have a removable screen that would like hotcakes surely I mean that's why I follow me surely that's what they call the iPad pro 2 if we're gonna you know look at that like the iPad pro is there like answer to the to the surface and it does have a lot of more capabilities than but it's still a tablet before it's a notebook as opposed that converts into a tablet yeah I mean are you already saying more like a surface book like that little thing that like goes off the keyboard or all that stuff right I mean even if you look at like one of apples like latest commercials that they had for the iPad pro where it was like what is a computer and they show like a bunch of iPad pro stuff and they show it side by side with like what computers or like it those like the same thing so I mean that's Apple's argument I'm not here to defend them but yeah they're their whole arguments like we're not gonna come out with an answer again to the surface because we already have it it's called the iPad pro whatever I think that from from a certain position a lot of like longtime Apple people are confused that there have been a lot of trends in the laptop world that Apple for one reason or another has decided against going after and the two and ones you see that with Windows Phone we're sorry with Windows laptops for a really long time that there's been a lot of experimentation and different form factors and Apple just hasn't done it like they introduced the touch bar and there are plenty of people that argue against it and think that it's not actually that useful so yeah Steve Shanklin hates it yeah he knows what he's talking about well chris osborn is curious about perhaps getting something with a full touchscreen laptop that actually still runs OS x though something with a little little more power under the yeah it's it would be easy enough for them to do that and I agree with Alfred that if you're really really into Apple and really really want a touchscreen laptop there is the option at the very least of getting an iPad pro the problem is is like just doing very simple things like improving the macbook air adding a Retina display making it a little less you know old looking and just making a handful of small improvements like a touchscreen there doing that and I don't know that they are I think Ricky and the chats got it all figured out why would they want to make a two-in-one when they can just sell you both there you go and before we let go last question we're gonna take topic we've kind of forgotten about over time stellar tech is Apple currently in development for an electric car or anything else related to automotive now we've talked about this before yeah they can't retire on it they kick the tires no yeah so apparently they did a bunch of hiring for this more than a year ago I believe and abandoned the project I I think this was this was entirely rumored it did the Apple never actually came out and said what they were planning on doing but the rumor was that they were developing a car like a shit up car not just software for a car and I think that they realized that it was going to be too costly yeah complicated and it would be much better to just pair their their own software into existing cards because of that rumors and them buying stuff though like what aren't there rumors last week that they had bought Shazam yeah I was off on Friday and I bought I saw the headline and I was about it I did see those stories and I'm actually not sure what I mean I'm sure that would probably be for their home pod to like figure out what songs are playing on all that junk also Rovers for Siri that would be smart to work into a smart home a beaker like that okay my place to do it I'm looking at a TechCrunch headline from less than an hour ago Apple 2 confirms Shazam acquisition today so look for that apparently it's several hundred million dollars yeah and that were sounds like a lot that would directly compete with what Google has currently on their Google home speakers with I don't know what they're using for theirs it's I don't it's definitely not Shazam but like it's the whole hey what song is this playing and it tells you what it is yeah the echo does a version of that where if you because the echo is pulling from their own database yeah if you if you like like sing back like lyrics if you just say a bunch of lyrics like it will pull it and tell you what song it is so all of these guys are getting better that just yet because because all it is is like pairing a database or a library to you know little bits of information I just be interested to see what the specific value issues am would be to Apple being the iTunes itself is a robust library and they do carry liner notes and their own lyric pages I just wonder if they're looking for better vocal recognition out of the Shazam yeah technology yeah that's a that's a good guess actually to try to figure out what what it is that they would do with it and that's a good place to put our little thinking caps off yeah for a minute and maybe we'll revisit that later this week but we are out of time then you want to bring us home okay I'll try anyway okay the 359 podcast is available on iTunes tune in stitcher feedburner google play music the amazon echo and of course cynic on cnet.com thanks everybody thanks for joining us we'll be back tomorrow and we'll see for the rest of the week and then we'll figure something out for the brighter picture have a happy new year and happy Apple in 2018 cool who will in twenty eight everyone into you shut up bye okay goodbye everybody