Gadgetory

good afternoon everyone welcome to the CNET podcast livestream my name is Steven Beecham and you're watching the Apple byte extra crunchy podcast with your host mr. Brian Tong bro see how rusty we are super rustic was like Apple white extra crunchy just get to it hold buy extra crunchy podcast there you go hey what up everybody welcome to the show we've been gone for about a month break we had holiday break we had CES you know how we do it this is Apple byte extra crunchy we keep it extra money this is our complimentary piece to the actual video show that comes out weekly where you can really jump in and dive into this this is episode 116 courtesy of your hosts in the house beach Yan song howdy howdy man it's been a while it's been like over a month we're getting back on the bike so forgive us if we got some technical difficulties all right you know the drill how do you how are you a part of this show you just have to dial in 1-866 2 6 3 8 you guys are really the heartbeat of this show that keeps us rolling and also gives us so much to talk about so remember leave your name where you're from and what you want to talk about 1-866 2 6 3 8 yeah jewel all right let's get to the show and jump right in look there's a lot of meaty news this week I love it because during this kind of holiday lull from January to February you sometimes don't really get much news but we got a whole bunch dropped on us specifically from Apple we'll talk about the home pod in a bit but the latest news has to do with iOS 11.3 Apple released their own kind of press release form previewing what we can expect to see in the new iOS 11.3 and beech I kind of talked about this in the show but it's always disappointing to me when you launch this new iOS and what's what do you think is the first thing that they feature I'm looking at it I think the point 8 feature I'm just as disappointed as you and emojis its iOS 11.3 bra and an emojis is like the headliner are we are we really is that where we're at now I have not seen one person in my like friends circle or line-like use these in a real-life situation for fun you know what I mean I think it's always been like oh we're testing it out like it's see that video or something we're testing out I've never seen anyone use them well if you have nephews and your brother has an iPhone 10 you're gonna get plenty of them you're gonna get plenty of so let's just kind of dive in into some of the highlights of what we're gonna expect to see in iOS 11.3 I think there's some interesting pieces to this puzzle the coolest part for me is obviously well actually not coolest when they first announced us on the press release they made no mention of iCloud messaging or airplay - and why does that always been like a Bugaboo for me they announced those two features back in June at WWDC we have yet to even see them in this press release when they first let it out there was no mention of iCloud messaging that allows you to sync your messages on all Apple devices so if I delete it on my phone it deletes from my iPad you know I know why a lot of you need that picture I think I know I think I think you know we know why I need that I turned it off because I didn't like it if someone was texting me on my phone then my iPad maybe my kids might be at home they'll see my iPad you don't want no D pic I get it you just want to make sure when you delete it you delete them okay so what we have here is those two features iCloud messaging and airplay - are in the beta that they actually just released we'll talk about the other features but Apple has made this available to developers in their beta 11.3 as well as the public beta that everyone can actually sign up for again at your own risk because these are betas it's most likely going to affect the performance of your phone but if you want to try those out iCloud messaging is on that so is airplay - now some people are kind of like a little confused or curious about what airplay - really does well right now in the beta this it has nothing to do with a home pod right now what happens is in the beta you can use the airplay - and what does that mean I can play a song from my phone and then direct it to multiple devices at home but really it's only available to work with Apple TV's running the beta as well so if you have multiple Apple TVs and a single phone you can play the song in different rooms that's it that's what that's it right now I guess again that's it right now it's it's supposed to be obviously expanded to the home pod when that's ready to roll we'll talk about in a second but at least these are features that have taken 8 months for us to really even see in the beta that were key kind of tentpole features that they teased out in June so I'll still give them flak for it because it's been so long but let's talk about the other stuff and emojis get ready you got four new ant emojis oh my god you get like a skull a bear a lion just like a line yeah and there's like if you scroll down a little more there's like a dragon there's like a little bit dragon yeah you can just like play that video right it's kind of cool yeah unleash the dragon yeah we also have a Ark it 1.5 what makes that different right now air KITT really can see flat tables or horizontal surfaces air KITT 1.5 improves that to support vertical things like walls or doors and it can place objects in them the previous air KITT wasn't able to do that so you Donna Slee get some weirds spatial looking things where objects might be like almost floating on a wall instead of actually detecting it this is gonna be interesting because right this is taken to the next level Apple's big on a are so that's gonna be a cool thing the health app is allowing you now to get all your medical records from service providers directly into that that's gonna be kind of very helpful as Apple continues to push forward with using really the combination of the iPhone and this Apple watch another feature called business chat is coming this allows businesses right now it's gonna be limited to apps like Lowe's or Wells Fargo you'll be able to chat directly with someone using the messages app as the vehicle that's cool to do to get support oh dude you know many times I called Lowe's and can't get someone on the phone this is this gonna fix my problem because I've been trying to get them on the phone I can't it's impossible so yeah answer the phone man but now we know how much right chat support is like huge it's everywhere now it's huge yeah because live chat customer service is dying across the board so we need something where we can get like right in their face and be like hey the other thing really the biggest thing about iOS 11.3 that they buried away later in - this press release is that now they are making this power management feature available for us that will allow us to see the health of our battery we all know about the whole battery issue that happened literally right before our break we're Apple admitted to throttling the performance of phones if you're you know after a certain amount of time without starting with iOS 11 point 2 was it I believe 11 point 2 you know we've been gone for a while so forgive me it's iPhone 6s - yeah effects iPhone 6s and above yeah so it'll show the healthier battery it'll also recommend you when you need to get your battery swapped out when it's condition is poor but also users if they don't want their phone to be throttled they're going to give you the option now to turn off that better performance throttling feature so you'll have control over whether it's in place or not that's a good thing it's a good thing you know what I think although it took time and I will still say it was a horrible thing for them to hide it and I'm glad it came out and I'm glad it's surface and Apple had to own up to it the things that we talked about what did they need to do offer a battery service replacement program they they couldn't put all the fees of it on us because it was something that they were doing behind our backs and then three give us the option to turn an offer on in software some people might may find that they'd rather keep the feature on quite honestly but just give us these options now that we know what they're actually doing and you still may or may not be happy about it I know there's people that either threatened or outright said I'm just not gonna get an Apple iPhone anymore and that's on Apple and that's that's what they did you know they did come out really quick though when that story broke like within a day or two I feel like they addressed it and and then made the battery replacement $27.00 29:29 buddies to do it is it still it still is it gonna remain that or is that just for a certain time it's for able yeah it's it's basically the models have to fall within a certain range that's right it can't be they're not gonna do this $29 battery plan like five years from now yeah yeah so it's gonna be applicable to specific models that fall fall within this time range I gotta jump on that I'm a successor well again I almost I'm almost guaranteed not only do you have to jump on that but there-there was even before Apple announces plan and before they were exposed if you punched in the serial number of your phone to an Apple care website it would actually tell you if you're if you qualified for a straight-up battery replacement without paying a fee oh wow because they were having some of these issues before they admitted they were like screwing with our phones hmm so um you know that that will always be there other things that are kind of happening around with iOS 11.3 we talked about cloud messaging and emojis health records uh it's expected to come out sometime this spring we don't know exactly when but Apple has said uh iOS 11.3 available to spring all right are you I'm normally I'm normally amped up about new op operating systems but the last month and a half with Apple releasing eleven to eleven point one to eleven point one point one to one point one to all that apprehensive I'm not really that excited but and they even wrote in even in the document developer documentation just because they put iCloud messaging in this beta it doesn't mean it's still gonna be ready to roll they said they're using it for testing purposes right now okay so it still could be longer for that I I would like Ike loud messaging syncing if you know what I mean all right yeah the other big story that dropped this week Apple officially announced the release date for the home pod which will be February the ninth the big thing if you're listening this podcast live or right now within the next ten hours I guess no seven hours six hours you will be able to pre-order the home pod for a lovely retail price of three hundred and forty nine US dollars 319 pounds or 499 Australian dollars around midnight are pretty much midnight Friday which is January the 26th which is really about six seven hours from now you'll be able to preorder the home pod in either its space gray or white they released in their press release an official announcement some details about the home pod if you've seen the video podcast you'll know how I feel about it so I don't want to continue to beat a dead horse with some of the points that I made there but I will say here the there's some letdowns obviously just right out of this major lunch now Apple had touted this as the best sounding smart speaker on the market and I don't doubt at least when you compare it to the Google home and the Amazon echo and even the Sonos one that it arguably before we even see it at least has better sound than the standard Google home and the Amazon echo I'm not sure about the am the Google home max but really when you stack up everything that's going on with here even after these delays I thought they were delaying this to fine tune it and in the press release they announced out of the gates the home pod will have no multi-user support that is HUGE because the echo and the Google home have that which allows it to basically detect the voice of different people and then know like what their contacts or or month or to-do lists or like that's a big deal in the home assistant also we know Siri is still inferior to those other voice assistants we know echo kills it Google assistant kills it there's the smart home compatibility when we're talking about third-party devices is not gonna be nearly as extensive as what Amazon has Google even has more than them out of the gates and then you know if you use the echo you love there's some always kind of some fun little skills those third-party apps that you have potato and love hops you know there's a I mean the kids will love this one I'm not trying to drive parents crazy but there's a fart app the Amazon echo and you can ask you can ask the echo like you say Alexa did you fart you know what is it you can ask like different questions of did someone fart what it was it I think it's called you fart actually oh wow you don't look for that skill I used it your kids are crazy anyways those third-party apps there's nothing available for that with the home pod as well and so when you start stacking this up even the home pod itself only natively plays Apple music there is no yeah third-party services built that it talks to directly to just the home pod so what is it really at least right now on launch have going for it the fact that it'll might and probably you know I'm gonna say most likely will be the best sounding smart speaker but this it's not this it's not smart it's not that smart let's see that's a huge bummer because my kids they talked to Alexa all the time they know what songs they like to hear and it doesn't sound great but you know plug it into a stereo you're fine but um yeah that's what they're going on just the sound quality then I think they're losing I think the biggest miss here that I should have got to first is that not only is it not gonna support multi users there will be on launch no multi room support and what does that mean for you if you wanted to put two home pods in different rooms you won't be able to do that and they won't be able to talk to your phone and play you know different songs or the same song but the biggest part about that Apple promoted that you could buy two home pods to create stereo sound yeah that will not even be supported on launch that's a bummer Google home acts supports that on launch yeah I don't think Alexa echo did not got multi room like later maybe like a year later and and also like with with the echo platform they've been there for three years Google home has been there for like two ish two and a half Fisher so I I don't know exactly I know you know we know it's been a while yeah so this is your entry this is I don't this is your entry into it at 3:49 I'm not saying they have to have a cheap sounding smart speaker I know the point of is they're trying to say we want to have the best sounding smart speaker but is that really a big enough differentiator for the general mainstream audience to care like during the holiday season I can't tell I can't remember the numbers but we're talking about in the tens of millions I think around forty to fifty I don't want to say out because I'm not sure exactly but over the Black Friday holiday season the number one selling stuff alongside with like air pods what we're smart speakers yes they were deeply discounted they knew that Apple dropped the ball they didn't get theirs out in the holiday season and so you're talking about $30 $30 us echo minis and Google home minis just you can't compete with that and even the Sonos won just today they're like hey normally our Sonos one player with Alexa built-in is $1.99 a pop we'll sell two of them to you that have multi rooms stereos control for 349 for the price of one Apple home on that's they did that today to grind they did that today so there's competition out there and this is what you're coming with like it's just disappointing to me in the last two years - we just got back from CES the last two years like you can't throw a rock without hitting something that's Alexa enabled inside inside that place you know it's true and you know we'll have some phone calls and we'll answer some other questions about just the home pod platform there is one thing I do want to point out is that peer-to-peer airplay streaming still exists and what does that mean that at least allows you to use an app like Spotify or Pandora and play directly from your iPhone to your home pod but it is different when if you don't want to go in here and then press the icon to send it over send it over to your home pod you know we'd like to just play music on our devices but you cannot least do that from your phone to the home pod hmm so that is its way of getting around to have third-party support for the actual home pod it sounds like a little bit of work you got to do work yes it is also Apple care for the home pod will be $39 that extends your coverage to two years the other thing to know about it much like the iPhone and other devices you have two incidents that will be covered like let's say you knock over the home pod and it drops on the ground you will have to pay $39 additional for each of the two incidents for in order for it to get repaired huh so 39 to cover for two years every time you go in the Apple Store to get it repaired if something happens it's an additional $39 and you can do that twice hmm so if you're really clumsy I you have to be really clever the last time I knocked over a speaker dude don't jinx yourself I know right like you work around this I know I love this quote here Tim Cook was recently interviewed for the Financial Post and obviously the subject of the home pod was brought up because this I rant and raved about it in the show but really this is we know Apple is late to the market that's fine but when Apple has been late to the market in the past they at least gave us some compelling feature or some compelling reason or at least a polished product to bring to the market all right the the home pod is the least compelling product on launch compared to the competition that I can even remember yeah totally you're just telling me I should pay a whole bunch of money for a speaker that just sounds better a smart speaker that but is inferior in every other way right now I'm just saying right now like before it's even launched it's already irrelevant I feel like but exactly exactly least compelling Apple product launch that I've seen in my I don't want to say in my life but I feel like it yes I really feel like and I'm not trying to you know throw out this like superlatively bow of all-time but I'm really feeling that way yeah I'm really feeling that way um Tim Cook interviewed again in the Financial Post about this he was asking they were asking him about the home pod because guess what yeah it's trailing it's three years late think about how long three years is in the tech world that's a millennium you learned so much in that time so this is what Tim Cook said and this is his quote we think one thing that was missing from this market was a quality audio experience a very immersive audio experience music deserves that kind of quality as opposed to some kind of squeaky sound says the guy or he didn't launch it but iTunes who is all AAC files like mp3s so I mean start doing FLAC files me oh I forgot to tell you it does it will support flap that's right I think I did hear that at least the home pot will support flack but I do they sell FLAC files on iTunes I don't actually know I don't think they do I'm pretty sure they don't actually yeah yeah another quote by Tim Cook just in regards to the competition of everything happening in this space Tim Cook said competition makes all of us better and I welcome it but if you are both trying to license something and compete with your licenses this is a difficult model and it remains to be seen if it can be successful or not so what is he really poking at he's talking about the fact that amazon has alexa built into their devices but it is also letting other companies like Sonos and others use it in their devices that's a good thing to be because right now they're winning in the smart home platform yes I mean both them and Google are putting their brains in everything then they don't have to be Apple devices it almost makes me laugh a little because look Apple is the king of Licensing they freaking licensed the maid for a iphone program that allowed to use a lightning port in third-party speakers is he talking about like branding and name recognition cuz I can almost see that with Siri cuz series like when it first came out it was extremely popular now Alexis catching up you know and like Cortana is kind of round licensing is more like letting another company use your technology in it yeah so like Sonos is using right yeah I I understand that but I feel like he's approaching this comment that he made as opposed to like a branding you know as opposed to he's making fun of Licensing because his brand is so much bigger and Siri is more popular you know are just more well-known you know what I mean yeah yet Alexa is gaining that ground for sure I think if you talk about the smart home if you walked on the street again this is a for people that care about this because we're in the tech bubble right we're totally on Cisco right now and asked thirty people what when i say smart home what do you think more than half of them are gonna say smart what yeah seriously I wonder if you went on the street and said Siri or Alexa like what would people say you know what I mean talk English boy speak English so we'll see what happens again the pre-orders open this midnight yes I'm going to buy one I do our own Apple buy it review stuff we don't ever I don't ever get a early product review from Apple I use my own money on it and that's why my reviews speak to someone who's actually putting down real hard cash for this that's also the reason why you don't get invited that's you know they could they can intravenously feed everyone else the kool-aid okay let's take a break here because guess what we've got lovely sponsor for this week's show y'all ready for this support for today's show comes from hellofresh hellofresh is a meal kit delivery service that shops plans and delivers your favorite step-by-step recipes and pre measured ingredients so you can just eat cook eat and enjoy now check this out no more time-consuming meal planning or grocery shopping that's a plus hello fresh makes it easy to cook delicious balanced dinners for less than $10 a meal just choose your delivery day everything gets sent right to your door in recyclable insulated packaging with three plans to choose from including a classic plan the veggie plan and the family plan there's something really there for everyone plus there's lots of one pot recipes for speedy cooking and minimal cleanup look forward to your hello fresh box delivery as the highlight of your week knowing Tanner just got that much easier and I do have to tell you when hello fresh sponsors us I smile because I'm literally a customer of hellofresh nice and I don't know if you remember a long time when we first did the hello flight the hellofresh promo I'm like Hello fresh is hella fresh they still haven't used that slogan yet dude the whole sales pitch you just gave about no cleanup like it's really to clean up that is that's a big thing from well everything is super packaged I honestly I mean they had this like cherry sauce pork chops that I loved it so much that I figured out how to make it like from what making it now I just do it on my chair II drizzled pour yes on their tomato couscous salad oh that looks delicious money like I learned how to make that I was like I'm serious I'm not even making this up everybody they're like oh you're getting paid to say this well I'm getting paid but not by them there's keeping our show a lot he's also paying them yeah anyways check it out for $30 off your first week of hellofresh visit hello fresh com enter the code Apple 30 that's hello fresh calm offer code is Apple 34 $30 off your first week of hello fresh if I recall right I think it's like $50 for the box that includes three meals that are for two people per meal I've tried the other meal planning ones and I stuck with hella fresh because I honestly think their food is the best like blue apron and sorry hopefully actually blue apron you can sponsor so you feel like it just check it out hello fresh that's the longest sponsored cool they should double up their there their offer to us we just gave them a hell alone like dying right now okay let's get jump into some of the more stories this week iPad rumors you want to hear about iPad stuff oh yeah oh yeah iPad is working this is according to Bloomberg Apple is working on a 2018 ipad redesign with facial recognition now we've kind of heard stories about this but these are kind of some updated details Bloomberg had report on this a while back the new model is going to eliminate the home button completely but an OLED display as we've gotten closer to this is unlikely the latest iPad pro models have really kind of turned things around again Apple decided upgrade the hardware and the software for them and I told you I pad Pro is my favorite gadget of I guess the past two years I think my favorite gadget was the Apple watch through series 3 from Apple but here we go with the iPad pro this new one that's coming out it'll be a redesigned high-end iPad 4 as early as 2018 it'll incorporate iPhone 10 features such as slimmer edges and yes a true depth sensor camera for facial recognition we've got a lot of we've got a few calls about how much people are liking face ID over time now I think it's really interesting because it's different from the first month versus six months later it really is how use this anyways this new iPad model that we're believe we believe will be shown will have a screen size similar the 10.5 inch iPad pro including face ID for unlocking the device making payments and whatnot the updated tablet is expected released later in the year but a little more than what we'll see if it comes out it's got to come out this year with the with an iPad pro upgrade so we'll see that but again no home-button slimmer bezels face ID on the 2018 ipad redesign it'll be interesting yeah I think I would talk it makes more sense to have the face idea on the iPad it does yeah yeah it does seems like I mean I wanted more I'm just thinking about it you want more space on your screen well it's just how do I hold I guess I hold my you know what here's the ears thing I do hold my eye like looking at it more than I do with my phone right yeah your phone's laying on the table you pick it up you want it just to work instead of like holding up to your face with an iPad it's already kind of directed at your face yeah yeah I mean you hold it up to just get on into it you know yeah that makes sense iPhone like sometimes I'll just turn it on from over here just so I can like play a song or something yes that's a little different you are you are correct sir also a hints in the iOS 11.3 firmware do hint at the fact that we'll see an iPad with face ID in the notes of the developer kind of code and files in there as they were dug into the by Felipe Esposito a spa Seto good job man good job man they have noted that there's a reference to a modern iPad and the reason why this is important is because before the iPhone 10 came out it was referenced as modern iPhone so if you take that knowledge and you see the word modern iPad in the code it's most likely not only a new iPad but an iPad with face ID recognition so I'm seeing the notch here is that gonna bother you yeah yeah it's gonna bother me yeah it's not just not looking pretty notch my iPad bro it's not my I don't want to see you know I don't want to see a notch on my iPad just white why can't they just make the top just one long line yeah I mean I mean like they should have or the iPhone yeah yeah it's funny cuz it's one of the most polarizing things I think the hardcore fans are like whatever Apple does it's perfect and then there's people that are like that is so ugly it's a it's one of the most polarizing features I think on the I just the from a visual aesthetic standpoint I just found Philippe's code sorry I didn't see that before but here it is Philippe for people that are listening um enjoy looking at Philippe's good yes the modern iPad code you can't have a show you can't have a comeback show without iPhone 10 use this is just some updates people were like tweeting me Oh Apple's gonna cancel the iPhone 10 they're gonna cancel I'm like slow you're slow you're like one of their most popular ones so far well the you know numbers are starting to dictate that it's less popular than expected so this is the story a cool - Ming Shi quo KGI securities analysts he believes that there's been a reduction in orders for the iPhone 10 because of weak demand or weaker demand for the iPhone 10 design and that basically production has caught up with that demand and could cease to be manufactured while the kind of the next generation iPhone tens are coming now here's the thinking behind it he believes based on his sources again this is rumor Vil that the iPhone 10 when the next gen comes out right we're talking about the second generation iPhone 10 Apple doesn't want to release a cheaper lower-cost iPhone 10 because it'll be like well if it's not that much difference why do I need it why do I need to get the new iPhone 10 yes if it's about the same so the belief here or the thing here is that they will stop making the current iPhone 10 and then based on reports the new lineup of iPhones will be actually three of them this was has been thrown out there a few times but basically the three models would be a new updated 5.8 inch OLED based I phone 10 similar to what we have now but just you know a new processor a few new bells and whistles there will now be also an iPhone 10 Plus which is a 6.5 inch OLED iPhone it's the second article in their Beach I'm trying to find it's alright it's okay don't worry this one pusher is your cursor on it it's this one this one this one this one no no that one the one below it so there's a 6.5 OLED let's call it the iPhones head I would have $1,500 and then there'll be a third iPhone that measures in that 6.1 which will actually be more like a mid-range iPhone with a similar iPhone 10 design but it won't it will not be OLED it'll be an LCD based screen and some rumors are saying it'll even remove 3d touch but it'll be kind of like the mid-range iPhone so three models 5.8 and 6.5 will be Oh LEDs and then the third model will be a 6.1 inch one with an LCD LCD based screen that is what we have right but that's why it would if you have three phones in the lineup right now why put out a cheaper iPhone 10 is the fourth model when you have all these iPhone eights and iPhone seventh and six is like I don't know if you remember but once Apple released the iPhone 10 they showed the entire iPhone lineup it was like 10 : yeah it was like what the hell is going on here like it's something for everyone at every price point yeah the se was like really it was a big hit for them like was a sleeper sleeper so they're probably trying to you know work some of that magic again they had to actually source more parts for it because it was more successful than they thought they knew they were gonna release a lower-cost iPhone but they didn't realize like how how much how popular yeah I mean so Apple iPhone 10 rumors here's one that I thought was really interesting Apple is getting into the not into but they're putting a focus back on ebooks or really you know their iBooks platform according to Bloomberg Apple's getting back into the ebooks fight against Amazon taking them indirectly the company is working on a new digital book reader app for iPhones and iPads and also Apple hired former Amazon and Barnes & Noble exact specifically to oversee the unit according to the report this new app is due to be released in the coming months it won't be called it won't be called iBooks it'll just be called ebooks similar to Apple has like Apple music Apple podcasts this Apple we called ebooks it'll be a newly redesigned application specifically geared to taking on the e-book market we know that Amazon has dominated that they offer the Kindle platform which I used to be a Barnes & Noble guy and then I just couldn't and I was locked into the ecosystem and I couldn't do it anymore because I'm like man those Kindles are like so nice yeah it was sad seeing all the Barnes and Noble Nobles closing across it I still go hang out in them though do you really I do I'm like I'll ah I love I'm so those guys fun to walk around and look at work so right now if you look at what kind of like the market breakdown of the of who has the dominant position as of February 2017 Amazon owns eighty three point three percent the e-book market Apple is at 9% oh my gosh and Barnes and Noble is that 4% so the thinking here is that Apple wants to redesign their app make a little sleeker I'll be the first one to say when Apple released their remember the news app you guys use the news that have like the little like shelf like looks like a books in it oh well that was their book another news app I'm talking about the books yeah it have the Shelf that look at who's a news app see I didn't think I was gonna use the news app but because I'm such an iPad freak I use it all the time on my iPad so I'm not gonna and when I first heard about like I'm not gonna use that but I do now so I'm gonna admit to it I don't think I'm so locked in the Amazon ecosystem I don't see myself using this books app but if Apple could even take away like a 10% chunk away from Amazon just to grow their business I think it's a win for them it's not like they're gonna overtake Amazon ever or anytime soon and Tim Cook even put out this kind of not mandate but he announced that he wants apples services to generate 50 billion dollars by 2021 and so what does that mean services like Apple music is one of them I clawed is another one the if right now they're around thirty billion dollars so in what three years they want to get a 50 billion they have to support these things right so yeah ebooks is this ebook update is gonna be one of them I gotta say I'm loving the NASA ebooks that they release for iPad it's super awesome go check them out they're free - and just pictures of NASA pictures of space I will say one thing about apples iBooks they have that cool thing where when you flip and turn the page yes it has the page animation and that's not a reason to buy it or use it but I'm just saying that I like it now that is definitely adds a flavor to your experience a little bit of flavor Apple TV news we know that Apple is jumping in and diving in to content galore they just signed a deal with a straight to series order with Damien Chazelle for a series adop do you know who Damien Chazelle is without this I don't know who he is how about I mean I know he is but I was just trying to build some drama and suspense for people that know no how about like the director and producer of la-la-land good movie oh yes okay he's like a new yeah yeah he's like he's made the musical he's like yeah make a music yep and he did whiplash ooh well I haven't seen that one I have to see that yeah what the one about the drums yeah drummer yep yep he did whiplash as well so he's got a straight two series with Apple that will be coming out or again Apple and and I think they I think the announcements that are pitching like two billion dollars towards investments of original content we know how big of a deal this is and when I see they also sign like a comedy series starring Kristen Wiig that'll be produced by Reese Witherspoon so they're getting people in place to have original content and I've got you know with that fifty billion dollar dollar target that we talked about for services this is part of that don't put this stuff in Apple music just create a no yeah no Apple musics not the place but get that money Damian yes get that back get that money get that back and then finally before we go to our calls you know we know Apple is still Dilli dabbling in the smart car you know there are automated hey you know they're still testing out autonomous car systems Apple has expanded this is according to Bloomberg has expanded their self-driving test fleet Hey 227 cars as it accelerates its efforts to catch up with the competition like Google's or I guess you call them alphabets way mo self-driving cars they received a permit to test three autonomous cars in California but now they've opened that up and registered 24 more cars here's the thing you know how we say like Apple sometimes plays catch-up mm-hmm how many how many cars do you think are on the road for Google's division how many cars do you think they have on the road if ramps up to 27 what do you think they I got to say hundreds because I was weird just at the Detroit Auto Show and it was almost as if every car was gonna be self-driving in the next few years so give me a number hundreds but what I'm gonna say like maybe 1500 Google cars that's a lot but yeah I mean you're not over us I mean they they have what is it they're testing autumn automated anima s' cars in six states already including and you might yeah actually think of the final number here so you might be closer right 600 minivans in Phoenix alone oh my gosh so you're right you might yeah I don't know what the final I know uber has enlist like they're all everybody's doing it bro last 27 cars out on the road I do gotta say that when we're at when we're in Detroit I did hear a lot of talk about apple carplay coming to cars yeah it's gonna be in a lot of cars and there was one car maker was it BMW that was that was gonna charge there was a one car maker that was gonna charge people to use carplay no there was one there they were just gonna put it in standard actually and it was gonna be free oh let me look it up for you what it was yep BMW is in order to use carplay they they're putting out a subscription plan basically to use the car play feature which is free to use if you plug in your phone directly their chart yeah oh so if you want to have a like if you want to have internet in your car you have to buy it that makes sense you know but if you want to use your phone if you want to use the car play phone I see a car play platform it's $80 a year it's like yeah you you shouldn't charge people to use car play no no yeah when you can do it anywhere I mean I understand paying for internet service to your car yes you know that that makes sense yes using a platform yes I'm just gonna plug in my iphone yes all right let's uh let's get that damn calls yeah okay again Before we jump into them you guys and gals are a huge part of the show call us 1-866-376-8255 and regarding smart home assistance so I'm in the middle of doing construction on my house and the home renovation and as we're wrapping up I'm looking into you know getting smart switches and you know things like door locks and the doorbell and the security system and all that and as much as I like the idea of you know having an Alexa in the house I find that if you're fully integrated in the Apple ecosystem I'm not sure why I would have an Alexa it seems to me that apple homekit does all the same stuffs you can unlock all your doors you can buy a camera that works with it you can get smart outlets and things like that and and so we actually got one as a gift over the Christmas break and we ended up returning it because the more research I did the more I found I you know we're Apple music subscribers we're not the type of family that would order things over voice we've got Amazon - buttons anyway for you know for the things that we order quickly so I really don't know what the advantages are of having an Alexa if you're fully integrated into the Apple ecosystem and you'd rather your Siri and I'm you know I'm just on the fence still I don't know I know the home part may add value to that or not but I'm curious about your thoughts on it because I know you can add tools and stuff to Alexa but I just don't really see what tools we would add that would be a value besides from smart home and lighting which we could do with Siri so anyway love the show and like teri talks on that Thanks all right love love the call I think there's an interesting way to look at this so first of all right quite honestly fundamentally most of these smart home platforms are going to work the same what it comes down to is depending on the devices that you have the the main big core companies for lights what else switches smart plugs those are most of the big brands like philips and door locks and stuff like they're gonna work together they're gonna be fine on all platforms but what's different when you say oh well which one should I choose I what makes it interesting is part of building the platform is being first to market and maturing it over time amazon has been here for three years Google Home has been here for two years so most people at least the early tech adopters have already invested in a platform in a system and they're ready to roll so I'm not gonna say there's a super flooding like compelling reason to choose one or the other cuz but I will say that Amazon when you add the Alexa when you talk sorry the echo when you talk to it the Google home when you talk to it they're smarter you can do more things think about the fact that just having multi-user support if you could call your friend and it new is your voice but then someone else in your family wants to call someone else but that's on their phone book phone contacts and it does it on its own that's subtle stuff but that actually is important the Alexus skills I think they're actually useful there's one that I use to go to sleep called ocean sounds you can't do that anywhere else fine you may not want to order pizza but I've actually tested like or you know getting a car service to come by its and sure Apple will get that eventually but you want everything that's already there they know what's going on they've gone through all the ups and downs and again fundamentally smart speaker wise if it's just the smart home just make sure it's compatible with your devices but if it's anything beyond that you can't say that Apple is a compelling reason so it always comes down to what you're looking for a lot of people tell me home pod home pod I want the best sounding smart speaker well if you do then get it if it is and spend 349 it but I think it also part of is just getting into which ecosystem first and getting locked into it yeah I think it's also price I mean a lot of the stuff that is Lexington able is a lot cheaper than Apple you know so if you want to spend a fortune I know a lot of Apple stuff costs a lot of money think about this 349 for a home pod or an Amazon or Google home system that starts at 129 ish depending and or cheaper if you get the small ones and you could buy like three or four smart lights with it yeah those of saturn's this and you already have it there yeah and the system is not even more than capable they're the top two smart home platforms yeah totally I mean the switches are expensive too I mean you get like one they're like 30 40 bucks but Alexa ones might be a little cheaper they might have bundle deals you know I don't know it's just for me it from you comes down to price and like ease of use you know but if you're rich guy you don't care anyone okay next call what's up beach tonk love to show you guys got a quick question so I recently sold my original Apple watch the thing was just slow now working good and I'm gonna get a new one so should I get the series three now or wait a little bit for the new series for when do you think they were released a series 4 and what kind of improvements could it be bringing thanks guys love the show well with the actual Apple watch series for I think the only thing that is gonna be because I love the series 3 right now the only compelling thing that would make me really say I got a do it would be either a significantly better form factor meaning super slim and light and a camera I like a FaceTime camera oh yeah that's the that's what would put me there to be like I gotta get an Apple watch three-sport otherwise they can't really do much to convince me that there's a super compelling better Apple watch series for like writing those that's what they'd have to do it the series 3 is awesome I'm just it's probably also gonna have a lot of health stuff like but I'm pretty healthy I think you'd be more than happy with surgery but if you want to wait just wait it out ok a couple more calls hey guys bow from Arkansas just thrown in my two cents on face IDs versus touch ID I've had my phone for about a month now and you I haven't at a point where I just really wish I had the touch ID back there's a couple times it's laying on my desk and I do have to move it to look at my face but typically I'd be moving it to look at my face anyway so I haven't found it an inconvenience I do lack on how PayPal and banking apps it just logs you got in when you launch the app you don't have to push a button your hold your finger I feel a more fluid option and I'm enjoying it on the other other hand home pod it's it's me because I'm all about Apple but the price point is the killer because I'm willing to jump into a new market like Amazon or Google to try my home settings without having to pay $350 so that's my two cents but y'all keep doing what you do keep it real we appreciate it thanks I think over time and even just like we had said earlier I just don't hold my phone up to my face every time to unlock it yeah this call was funny because in the beginning he said he didn't miss the touch ID but then he's getting used to the face ID so and he sees he sees some positives about that but also he still misses the touch ID so I think over time I ended up just using my phone the way I normally use it and the angles that I lift it up to normally want to see my screen unlocked it's not there or even when you're outdoors and you have it at a kind of an angle and the sun is shining bright behind you and it doesn't pick up you're like that's annoying if you have a toothbrush in your mouth it doesn't work I'm just telling you right now it doesn't work if you have a toothbrush in your mouth because that's happens all I'm serious try it have your toothbrush like here and go like this it's not gonna work at least not for me so because of that over time it's actually become more frustrating and I'm not gonna train myself to unnaturally hold it up vertically to my face every time I want to that's the thing is like all these new technologies come out and then we have to like change our behavior and that's annoying and maybe eventually the lens on it will be even a wider lens for the face recognition so that it can literally look at you when it's on like it'd be unlocked when it's flat flat on a table there were even like patents and mentions in the code that it might do that but it's become more fresh a lot more frustrating over time be cool I can't wait for voice recognition unlock you just say hey unlock you know open and it just recognizes your voice cool all right we got one more left this is the last call here we go beating song it's Michael Pruitt from Virginia I was just calling to say Merry Christmas Happy Holidays whatever you're celebrating I hope it's great I hope you enjoy your time with your family with your friends and I hope you get some wonderful new gadgets for Christmas because that's that's really what all of us tech heads want we want something fun to play with on Christmas so enjoy it also quick sidenote you guys are delivering the best content out there and Apple products there's no doubt about that you give a real breakdown what's going on you don't just give us the good old Apple spin a lot of the people do so I appreciate that looking forward to 2018 all right guys better hey so I mean he talked about goodies and honestly beat'em we need to talk about you have talked about air pods so much you finally got air pods like just a few days what tell Bell gift I got really by far this Christmas yes that's awesome that's but tell me just tell me about your experience with it honest because you know you're you literally just got them so I'd love to hear all your raw raw reactions there if you're telling your friend what you like about him just what do you like about a man I just love the freedom I think they sound great they sound good I have been catching myself like like there's a phantom cable when I'm talking on the phone like I'll like feel like I have to move the cable in front of my mouth and then I'm like oh it's not there but yeah just being able to work on the couch and like you know synced with my computer I haven't run into any problems really the only thing I did was I went to the gym and I I'm not used to how long the battery lasts and one of them died you know but the other one kept going so I had one year at least you know so I'm getting used to it and like charging them and stuff like that but yeah anybuggy booze what's like the biggest Bugaboo for you the biggest Bugaboo I'm just afraid I'm gonna drop and lose it like I'm taking them out of my car and I drop one on the floor like oh crap you know that's that that's the biggest thing but I love them I mean they look funny my kids made fun of me they're like what are you go first thing please immediately notice that it was funny but uh but yeah I think they're they're fantastic but I would like to do volume or something I can tap to stop or go to the next song or whatever but it would be awesome to have some sort of volume right right like you know I was time out right just a touch server just slide down slide down was like I was trying that because I saw your video I'm like does that actually work and then I went and watch more videos seen that videos of course how to use your air pods of course yeah of course but they're awesome dude okay scale let's give it a scale of five apples and you can use a half of Apple right right now I'm gonna say four apples what solid four apples yes I think you gonna say four point-five honestly cuz you were like hyped up on these no and I've done tests where I walk like I walked all the way across this building and they still work what really yeah this this comment desk yeah from my desk like almost down here to the podcast studio and they're still working I'm like this is insane but you know they're super cool man technology man technology all right everybody that's cool I'm glad you I'm glad you love those bro I'm glad you love not gonna say who I got them from my dealer I don't know yeah thank you all right everybody that's gonna do it for this week again remember to call us