[SPEAKER_01]: a factual day to creation for sanity production.
[SPEAKER_01]: Recorded live while nestled within the mountains of Tennessee, it's the O-F-N-T podcast.
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's your host, a man without a plan, Jim Shaffer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the OFNT podcast episode 296, which I'm calling.
[SPEAKER_00]: Court of Copia Time.
[SPEAKER_00]: In honor of this coming Thursday being my favorite holiday Thanksgiving, and the unexpected amount of tech news this week.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's also my daughter Jessica's birthday.
[SPEAKER_00]: So here's an early birthday shout out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Happy birthday, Jess.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, and then from my babbling, let's get started.
[SPEAKER_00]: Technoos, while I did promise a cornecopia of tech news in the intro, it's mostly Apple-related tech news.
[SPEAKER_00]: And first up, Apple Insider has an article which quotes Bloomberg as predicting that the top of the heap Mac, the Mac Pro, is going to be discontinued.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, the Max Studio will be getting all the love from Cupertino going forward.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you aren't aware, the Max Studio which was introduced in 2022 resembles three old-style Macminis stacked upon each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: Unlike the Macmini, the Max Studio comes standard with a top-of-the-line M-series-appled silicon chip.
[SPEAKER_00]: Either the Max or ultra-version.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Mac Studio is targeted towards content creators, specifically, video content creators.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a powerful little machine and it's overkill for most of the YouTube creators I see using it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what the article is not addressing is that customers who buy Mac Pros are not YouTubers.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're movie studios and other high-end media companies.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Max Studio may be stable, it's not really upgradable to customers such as these.
[SPEAKER_00]: As long as they're Mac Pros of functioning and things like RAM, video cards and storage can be upgraded as needed, they're content, meaning that there's no need for Apple to release a new upgraded Mac Pro every year, not even every couple of years.
[SPEAKER_00]: The latest Mac Pro was released in June of 2023, and that's just over two years ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we'll be seeing an upgraded Mac Pro at the end of 2026, or maybe sometime in 2027.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll be adding that to my calendar then.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, go ahead.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then again, I have no insight information about Apple.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nor am I some sort of supply chain analyst.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it looks like the second generation of the iPhone Air is not delayed after all.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yay!
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's because the Air Model was never intended to be on a yearly upgrade cycle.
[SPEAKER_00]: An article on Apple Insider, which quotes Leaker to Joe or Mark German, claims that this next iPhone Air will be powered by a chip based on the two nanometer process.
[SPEAKER_00]: Current iPhones are powered by chips manufactured using the three nanometer process.
[SPEAKER_00]: The two nanometer process is expected to be much more efficient, which would aid in improving battery life, and that's a good thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, yes it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've all should have expected that the iPhone Air wouldn't be on an annual police schedule.
[SPEAKER_00]: Really?
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell us why.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, because Apple had told us as much by not calling this thin is in iPhone the iPhone 17 Air, but rather just the iPhone Air.
[SPEAKER_00]: Think of the iPhone SE before it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It too didn't have a number in its naming scheme, and Apple updated that modeled seemingly whenever they got around to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I guess this proves that the SE's replacement, the E-series iPhone I'm so enamored with, indeed have an annual release cycle.
[SPEAKER_00]: I look forward to seeing what the iPhone 17e brings to the table.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's been rumors that the E-series models aren't selling well, but I don't think Apple was expecting that model to immediately become a bestseller.
[SPEAKER_00]: Was the SEC's replacement after all?
[SPEAKER_00]: That model didn't sell millions of units upon release.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm still predicting that the E-series will eventually become one of the best-selling models
[SPEAKER_00]: Now here's something I've never seen from Apple before.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I'm intrigued.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is it?
[SPEAKER_00]: What it is is a firmware update for the Magic Keyboard.
[SPEAKER_01]: What?
[SPEAKER_00]: Not only that, but firmware updates for the Magic Trackpad versions one and two, and for Apple's 141 power adapter also dropped.
[SPEAKER_00]: But, well, it's always a but.
[SPEAKER_00]: The common denominator here is that these firmware updates are only for the USB-C models.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you have an older USB-A connector model of these products, but you're at a lock, I wonder what these firmware updates will bring.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, according to the 9-5 Mac article I pulled this from, probably nothing that a user of these products will ever notice, then why even bother releasing these updates?
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, there were no release notes for these firmware updates.
[SPEAKER_00]: So only some anonymous Apple engineer really knows for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: The article posits that perhaps these updates will improve compatibility with certain devices or address some shortcomings in these products that doesn't affect users.
[SPEAKER_00]: This news has caused me to dust off my old USB-C Magic Keyboard and use it until it receives this firmware update.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then once it does, I'll switch back to my usual Logitech MX Mini mechanical keyboard.
[SPEAKER_00]: Previously, I reported that the Apple Fitness Plus subscription service is quote under review by the Giant Food Company.
[SPEAKER_00]: While the service has a loyal, albeit small following, it's not growing enough in subscriptions for Apple to keep investing in it.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is obvious if you take a peek at it, which I do from time to time.
[SPEAKER_00]: The number of new classes has slowed down, and no new features have been added in quite some time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've made known my problems with Apple Fitness Plus previously.
[SPEAKER_00]: To recap, my main use of Apple Fitness Plus was for indoor cycling.
[SPEAKER_00]: The cycling instructors while being a diverse lot, will meet older persons like myself that just can't keep up with these young Apple instructors, well at least when out having to take two or more days off in order to recover from a class.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can add in the choice of music and sparse cues on how hard you're supposed to be working, along with me just not bonding with any of the cycling instructors' personalities.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mac Roomer is quoting Bloomberg's Mark German, who doesn't quote him these days.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: At least for Apple News, predicts that Apple Fitness Plus will be folded into the upcoming health-plus service.
[SPEAKER_00]: In all the one that will feature some sort of an AI doctor.
[SPEAKER_00]: But though German said that being that fitness plus is also a part of the Apple One Premiere bundle, Apple might let those subscribers pick and choose which services they want to be included within the bundle.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a subscriber to that bundle and if given the opportunity, will I drop Apple Fitness plus?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you use Apple Fitness plus?
[SPEAKER_00]: Or do you even know anybody that uses it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Besides all the glamorous hardware that the giant fruit companies rumored to be introducing in 2026, one device hardly gets any notice.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no introduction during a highly-produced event, only a small announcement blurb heralds a new upgraded model's arrival, do tell what hardware are you referring to.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm referring to the humble base model iPad, which over the last three years or so has been steadily improving.
[SPEAKER_00]: Next year Apple has set to release the 12th generation of the base iPad.
[SPEAKER_00]: MacRumors predicts the updated model to arrive sometime next spring.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no major redesign happening, but some interesting internal stuff is being upgraded.
[SPEAKER_00]: First, the A series processor will be upgraded from the current A16 chip to the A18 chip.
[SPEAKER_01]: The base iPad is already fast enough.
[SPEAKER_01]: What can this upgrade even bring?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm glad that you asked.
[SPEAKER_00]: What the A18 brings at the A16 wasn't capable of, is the ability to run Apple Intelligence.
[SPEAKER_00]: Though some would argue that the inability to run Apple Intelligence is a feature, along with this new chip, RAM will get a bump from 6 to 8 gigs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Other internal upgrades include Apple's own N1 Bluetooth chip, and C1 modem.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow!
[SPEAKER_00]: Hack if Apple's feeling generous, the base iPad might even get the C1X chip.
[SPEAKER_00]: The N1 chip supports the more modern WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 6 protocols, and also thread networking technology.
[SPEAKER_00]: What thread networking does, well, I haven't decided this, but here it's good for smart home devices.
[SPEAKER_00]: which is great if you're into that kind of stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: The home brew C-series modems are for the cellular versions of the iPad and are said to have similar performance to Qualcomm modems, but are more efficient.
[SPEAKER_00]: The cost you'll pay for this new base iPad is expected to stay the same as the current price, and that's $349 for 128 gigs of storage.
[SPEAKER_00]: While previously the iPhone SE was the cheapest way to get into the Apple World Word and ecosystem, due to the demise of that phone model, the base model iPad has become the lowest bar for entry.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the best deal Apple has these days.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can attest that the base model iPad has no slouch.
[SPEAKER_00]: My lovely wife uses a hint generation base iPad, while at home she's literally
[SPEAKER_00]: Another thing about this iPad is its ability to output a 4K video signal to an external monitor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whoa!
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I had an A Bluetooth keyboard along with a mouse and you'll get a Mac like experience thanks to iPad OS 26.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're curious about Apple's ecosystem but don't want to go full bore into it, this is the device to get, or ready yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're just starting out in adulthood, you could use the monitor set up I just described.
[SPEAKER_00]: Roll in in E-Series phone, and all your necessary computing needs will be met.
[SPEAKER_00]: I did a quick search for all the components you need for this set up and it comes in at under $1,200.
[SPEAKER_00]: The most expensive item of the set up is the iPhone.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure if you shopped around, you could easily bring that price down below $1,000.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you recall a story from a couple of years ago, I think it was a couple of years ago, or Apple CEO Tim Cook, some in the CEO of Chinese Display Manufacturer BOE.
[SPEAKER_00]: The reason for this summons was to fire the company and reportedly give the CEO a good dressing down.
[SPEAKER_00]: Apple had hired BOE to supply to the displays for the iPhone 15.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Apple caught BOE cooking the books.
[SPEAKER_00]: It appears that BOE couldn't produce enough displays to meet Apple standard, so they modified the original Apple design, and not for the better.
[SPEAKER_00]: In order to be able to fill that contract, Apple discovered this plot and after firing BOE gave the contract to LG.
[SPEAKER_00]: After this incident, you'd think Apple would have nothing to do with BOE ever again.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, dear, that's wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, altering the design of a client to fulfill a contract could a result in an a catastrophe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, according to MacRomers, Apple decided to give BOE a second chance.
[SPEAKER_00]: By awarding the company the contract for supplying the displays for the iPhone 17 lineup for the Chinese market.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, B-O-E-Lit Apple Down.
[SPEAKER_00]: B-O-E was set to supply up to 10 million OLED panels for the iPhone 17 Pro, destined for their domestic market, but once again couldn't resolve reliability issues.
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess there were no modifications attempted to Apple design this time around, and I'm glad that these displays were never coming to markets outside of China.
[SPEAKER_00]: In response to this latest kerfuffle, Apple ordered BOE's contract a Samsung.
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand why Apple, who's dependent on LG and Samsung for supplying displays for the company's devices, would try and broaden their supply chain.
[SPEAKER_00]: But obviously, BOE is a bad actor, which previously caught doing nefarious things in order to fulfill the contract.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why go back to them?
[SPEAKER_01]: As the old saying goes, doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different outcome each time is the definition of insanity.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I've heard that saying before.
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course you have, you're the one who supplied it to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, I've warned you guys before, stop tearing down at fourth wall.
[SPEAKER_00]: My bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps Apple could invest in a Western-based display manufacturer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure they still exist.
[SPEAKER_00]: What am I thinking?
[SPEAKER_00]: That would put into Apple's profit margins.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we can't have that, can we?
[SPEAKER_00]: No!
[SPEAKER_00]: In an announcement that no one in the tech press are coming, Google Pixel 10 owners can now send and receive files with Apple Devices over AirDrop.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, Apple has given Google the permission to use AirDrop.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you kidding?
[SPEAKER_00]: No way.
[SPEAKER_00]: According to the Verge, Google engineered the company's own quick share to work with Air Drop.
[SPEAKER_00]: No!
[SPEAKER_00]: Note that I didn't use the word seamlessly in that sentence.
[SPEAKER_00]: In order to actually send and receive files from the Pixel 10, the owner of the Apple device will have to change their settings so their devices discoverable to anyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Apple allows you to do this in 10-minute increments.
[SPEAKER_00]: To add up from an Apple device to a Pixel, the owner has to allow their Pixel to be discoverable.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's that.
[SPEAKER_00]: My question is, how secure is this, AirDropHack?
[SPEAKER_00]: According to Google, this method is totally secure.
[SPEAKER_00]: OK!
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, this capability will make sharing files between operating systems at much easier.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right now, only the pixel tennis capable of doing this.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Google says that the feature is coming to older pixels real soon now.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm starting to warm up to your theory that eventually, there'll be one
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it'll be called Gov OS as a government operating system.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sort of a whether or not.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I'm not to type that watches the weather channel 24-7, but I like knowing what's coming my way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dark Sky was my weather app of choice, but in the last, Apple bought the app back in 2020.
[SPEAKER_00]: And after absorbing many of the app's features into their own weather app, shut dark sky down.
[SPEAKER_00]: I find that Apple weather is not nearly as good as Dark Sky was.
[SPEAKER_00]: Especially in predicting weather with the pinpoint accuracy that Dark Sky was able to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: This has caused me to search for a suitable replacement for Dark Sky.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've tried carrotweathert.io, whether in many, many more, but none have lived up to the late and lamented dark sky.
[SPEAKER_00]: According to Android Authority, good old Google has just updated its pixel weather app with weather next to the company's next generation forecasting model.
[SPEAKER_00]: According to Google, it's added AI to the model, which app reforms the older forecasting model by some 99% on whether variables.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'd love to give this Apple world, but unfortunately it's only available for pixel phones, Google search, Gemini, and Google Maps.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't use any of those products.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just hoping that Apple updates the forecasting model on their weather app and the sooner the better.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, this development could help me justify getting a base model Pixel 9 or 10 in order to check whether next to out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nine to five Mac has a story about a new feature coming to X, which was formerly known as Twitter.
[SPEAKER_00]: Elon Musk's world's Town Square app is replacing direct messages with what's called XChat, and it'll be end-to-end encrypted.
[SPEAKER_00]: XChat will also support voice-in video calls and have editing capability.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is just another step towards turning X into the WeChat of the Western world.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's missing is X being able to process financial transactions.
[SPEAKER_00]: In other words, become a bank.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're unaware, WeChat enables its users to accomplish everything they want or need to do online within the app.
[SPEAKER_00]: WeChat essentially takes over the user's phone regardless of operating system.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not only do the mainly Chinese populist who use WeChat love it, so does their government.
[SPEAKER_00]: All those users data in one central place makes stupid super easy don't you know?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be taking a hard pass on this one and I recommend that you do too.
[SPEAKER_00]: In an article from Fox News of all places, the U.S. Department of Commerce is proposing that new sales of TP-Link branded products be banned.
[SPEAKER_00]: This comes after a months-long review into the company's ties to, wait for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: China!
[SPEAKER_00]: This proposed action has support from multiple government agencies, including the Department of War in my alma mater, Homeland Security.
[SPEAKER_00]: They believe that TP links connection to the Chinese government could expose American networks to foreign influence.
[SPEAKER_00]: TP link manufacturers
[SPEAKER_00]: I might add it a reasonable price too.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wait a second.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't you currently use a TP link mesh system?
[SPEAKER_00]: guilty as charged.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been using TP link year for years now.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first deco mesh system I bought replaced the original Google mesh system in my household that I'd been using since 2016.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Google system had a propensity to freeze if too many devices were online at the same time.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's because the Google routers were dual-band with no backhaul channel.
[SPEAKER_00]: Around 2018 is when I replace the Google system with a TP-Link Tri-band deco system.
[SPEAKER_00]: This alleviated any internet freezing problems that I was having.
[SPEAKER_00]: After moving to Tennessee, I appointed my internet speed to one gig.
[SPEAKER_00]: The old TP link mesh system I had was only capable of handling half that, so I decided to also upgrade to a new mesh system.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I had heard of this security threat, which I doly put it on in this very podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: But at that time, it was presented as only a threat to U.S. government agencies.
[SPEAKER_00]: Regardless, I decided on switching brands from my new mesh system.
[SPEAKER_00]: That isn't until I saw the prices other brands were asking for their mesh systems.
[SPEAKER_00]: Skin Flint.
[SPEAKER_00]: While almost double the price, these brands had basically the same performance specs as the TP link deco mesh system that I wound up buying.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm very happy with the performance of my current TP link mesh system.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before buying it, we were using the internet providers router.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had constant dropouts of internet service, along with speed slowdowns which made our internet service unusable.
[SPEAKER_00]: My internet provider couldn't solve these problems, so I knew I had to have a new mesh system.
[SPEAKER_00]: The one who must be obeyed didn't want me to purchase a new mesh system.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, she wanted to switch providers, but I promised that a new mesh system would solve the problem without internet service with experiencing, and to TP-Link's credit, well, they delivered.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, this latest security report has me a bit worried.
[SPEAKER_00]: The next time I'm in the market for a new mesh system, the TP link brand will be excluded from consideration.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I wish Apple would get back into the router business.
[SPEAKER_00]: The company's old airport extreme was the best router that I've ever had.
[SPEAKER_00]: tech I'm using.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all quiet on the tech I'm using front.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing of note on the horizon in regards to any new tech purchase is either.
[SPEAKER_00]: But who knows that could change at a moment's notice?
[SPEAKER_00]: The wap will have found its way around the blood oxygen monitoring band that's been discussed before on this podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: The new method is sort of a pain to use.
[SPEAKER_00]: The old way of monitoring your blood oxygen level was simple.
[SPEAKER_00]: You went into the app list of your Apple Watch, scrolled until you saw blood oxygen, tap on it, tap on start, and after waiting for about 15 seconds, while you were shown the results.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything is still the same, except now you have the added extra steps of picking up your phone, opening me, help the app on the phone, scrolling until you find blood oxygen, tapping that, and only then do you get to see your blood oxygen levels.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sounds like what you're describing is, what they call a first world problem.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I know, but it's still a step back from what it once was.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, at least you again have the capability.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's true.
[SPEAKER_00]: Being that I seem to be discussing health stuff at the moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Through exercise and diet, I've managed to get myself off of having to take medicine for hypertension, a.k.a.
[SPEAKER_00]: high blood pressure.
[SPEAKER_00]: I last visited my physician in October, and my blood pressure was nice and low.
[SPEAKER_00]: Being the geek that I am, I enabled hypertension monitoring on my Apple Watch back in
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, this past Tuesday, I received an alert from the Apple Health App saying that I was showing signs of hypertension.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Health App suggested I take my blood pressure upon waking in the morning and then before going to bed, and that's for seven straight days.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thinking this was some sort of errand reading, just to be sure I'd dust it off my high-end blood pressure cuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: and gave it a go Wednesday morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: The result was not good.
[SPEAKER_00]: The readings I got showed that my blood pressure was the highest I've ever recorded.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, today is the day five of that suggested seven.
[SPEAKER_00]: So far, while my blood pressure is lower than that initial reading, it's still considered hypertension.
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't changed any of my habits, good or bad lately.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I can't explain this sudden rise in blood pressure.
[SPEAKER_00]: As I said in the introduction, Thursday marks my eldest daughter Jessica's birthday.
[SPEAKER_00]: In honor of the occasion, I purchased her an iPhone 16E.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, didn't you also get your son a 16D for his birthday?
[SPEAKER_00]: As a matter of fact, I did.
[SPEAKER_00]: I told you I was enamored by that phone.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can see myself getting an e-series phone for myself in the future.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jessica was using an iPhone XR.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, what the hell?
[SPEAKER_00]: Which I had given her for her birthday back in 2018.
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess you can say she's gotten a lot of good use out of that phone.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd say.
[SPEAKER_00]: The XR was the best selling iPhone of its era.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why I feel that the E-series will also be over time.
[SPEAKER_00]: The 16e is the same size as the XR, but a tad lighter.
[SPEAKER_00]: The biggest difference between them, internal technology aside, is the OLED display that the 16e has in comparison to the old-style liquid retner LCD display the XR had.
[SPEAKER_00]: Front and rear cameras are much better also.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be asking her for a mini review of the 16E as soon as she's used it a bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And to tame it news, lately I've been sort of ranting about the ever-increasing costs of streaming services.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another problem I have with these services is the amount of time between new seasons of series.
[SPEAKER_00]: Apple TV has just announced a start of Season 2 of Monarch Legacy of Monsters, which will be on February 27th of 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: Great news, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: The problem here is that Season 1 included back in 2023, so it will be three years between Season 1 and 2.
[SPEAKER_00]: My lovely wife and I enjoyed that first season of this Kurt Russell vehicle, but we'd completely forgotten about this show over the intervening years.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, years, not year between seasons.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even while reading the article I didn't recall ever watching this show.
[SPEAKER_00]: Until seeing a photo of Kurt Russell, I understand that there was a writer strike a couple of years ago that delayed many productions, but three years?
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, this delay between seasons has become common practice on many if not most streaming services these days.
[SPEAKER_00]: For example, the Korean series, all of us did, debuted back in 2022 on Netflix.
[SPEAKER_00]: For the past couple of years, Netflix had a banner which read, it's official, another season is coming, but when, if you go on the intotubes and perform what's called a search for the show, late 2026 is when season two of the show is predicted to debut.
[SPEAKER_00]: Korea wasn't affected by the U.S. writer's track, so what's the problem?
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you telling me it takes four years to produce a television series season these days?
[SPEAKER_00]: What gives?
[SPEAKER_00]: Then there's a problem of series that get canceled out of the blue.
[SPEAKER_00]: Usually after I'd become invested in it.
[SPEAKER_00]: For example, MGM Plus had a sci-fi series called Beacon 23.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first season was awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: The second season well it was sort of a let down, and then nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: No announcements, no new season coming soon, message?
[SPEAKER_00]: I had to comb the internet to find out the status of the show.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was cancelled, wasn't it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yep.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another show my lovely wife and I really like on NGM Plus was from.
[SPEAKER_00]: This show had three seasons, all year apart.
[SPEAKER_00]: Season three ended in November of 2024.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, judging by that, you'd expect season four by now, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, from his bit of no show for 2025.
[SPEAKER_00]: After again digging around the internet, I found out that season four will be released sometime in 2026, or real soon now in military parlance.
[SPEAKER_00]: I could go on and on about this subject, but I won't.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: One I'm trying to say here is that these streaming services should get their stuff together, especially for the price HRG.
[SPEAKER_00]: The whole cutting the cord thing went from excitement to frustration, and very quickly at that.
[SPEAKER_00]: and continuing on the subject of cancelled television series from streaming services.
[SPEAKER_00]: The giant fruit company series, Time Bandits, starring friends Alumnai Lisa Cudro, has been nominated for a slew of Emmy Awards.
[SPEAKER_00]: The problem?
[SPEAKER_00]: The show only lasted one season before being cancelled.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't even aware that this show existed.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was based on the Time Bandits movie which I enjoyed back in what I'm told was the
[SPEAKER_00]: Day.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, what is now normal with movies and television series these days?
[SPEAKER_00]: Some sort of character swapping is a requirement.
[SPEAKER_00]: In this case, gender appears have been swapped.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, perhaps that's the cause of the show being canceled.
[SPEAKER_00]: I usually get notified of a new series on Apple TV via email, but I don't recall receiving an email announcing time bandits.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have given it a shot, but I have to just finding out about it's cancellation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why bother now?
[SPEAKER_00]: Before the so-called streaming revolution, the show-time cable network was an infamous for a canceling series out of the blue.
[SPEAKER_00]: The show Street Time comes to mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: While something's got a change, let's see younger generations will contend themselves with TikTok mini-series, which will wreak havoc on their attention span and critical thinking.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it might be too late.
[SPEAKER_00]: On why if you still watch a few short format series on the platform?
[SPEAKER_00]: No?
[SPEAKER_00]: They're all gone now.
[SPEAKER_00]: YouTube is where you'll find the majority of short format content like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, and on TikTok, of course.
[SPEAKER_00]: Strange times we live in, I tell you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hotcast news.
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems like I've reported on this story before, but I'm not really sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why don't you do your job and look back through your episode notes?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because that would require some effort on my part, and we can't have that, can we?
[SPEAKER_00]: No!
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyhow, I studied conducted by cumulus media and partnership with Signal Hill Insights, have found out something most of us already knew.
[SPEAKER_00]: Audio is still the number one way to consume podcasts.
[SPEAKER_00]: Only 8% of those polls only watch podcasts.
[SPEAKER_00]: The great thing about audio-only podcast is that you're able to listen to them while doing other things.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't understand how people can just sit and watch one or more persons yak into their ambiguous, sure SM7B and variants microphones.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, these podcasts, and I used to turn loosely here, don't even use visual aids.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the push towards putting out your podcast on video continues, though it seems to have calm down a bit lately.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's probably because some major podcasts complied with this, and found that they actually lost money taking their shows to video.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some, not all these recent converse to video podcasts, have returned to audio only.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, a lot of the previous video-only podcast started releasing audio-only podcasts over the years, and that was before companies like Spotify and YouTube started the big push to video.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also it takes a lot more time and effort to record edit, render, and then upload a video podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now let's not forget the edit expense of a quality camera, lighting, video interfaces, etc.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I were to ever dip my toe into video pod casting, I'd just upload a semi-animated picture along with my audio.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I actually attempted to do that a couple months ago, but to render the file would have taken hours instead of minutes.
[SPEAKER_00]: With the e-current size of my audience, who I greatly appreciate, it wouldn't make any sense doing so.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I listen to a few AI-generated podcasts the other day.
[SPEAKER_00]: What?
[SPEAKER_00]: Blast for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: My curiosity was stoked by the story I reported on a while back about a company called Inception Point, whose business model is to crank out hundreds of AI-generated podcasts episodes per week.
[SPEAKER_00]: The podcast cover a variety of topics and the advertising income these shows generates.
[SPEAKER_00]: Far exceeds the cost of the small staff of humans that produces them.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an ingenious idea, and I'm sure we'll be seeing a bunch of copycats in the future.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just think about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Using AI-generated voices, there's no need for a studio, audio equipment, or those pesky human hosts.
[SPEAKER_00]: All that's needed is a computer, someone to write the content, upload the file to a podcast hosting company, in this case it's a speaker, and sit back and collect revenue.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm getting the feeling that this is giving you an idea.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, kind of.
[SPEAKER_00]: I listened to a couple of the short news and political update type shows in a longer format discussion show.
[SPEAKER_00]: I won't give you the titles of these shows, but I've got to be honest with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: The short news and political update podcasts were pretty darn good.
[SPEAKER_00]: The whole thing falls apart when you get to the longer format discussion type shows.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's when you can start noticing that you're not listening to a real-life human.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm thinking of using this technology for the resurrection of the fringe dispatch podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or on this in the future.
[SPEAKER_00]: The music is playing, signaling the beginning of the end for episode 296 of the OF&T podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you enjoyed this episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: I enjoyed making it for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you like what you heard?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you can make a donation using the link in the show notes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Any and all donations will be greatly appreciated.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can always reach me at OF&T podcast at gmail.com if you're so inclined.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd enjoy hearing from you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, don't listen to what they say.
[SPEAKER_00]: Watch what they do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, normal weather has returned to this area, but that's no excuse for hanging around here, so get off my lawn.
[SPEAKER_00]: Stay skeptical.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ah, Mount.
[SPEAKER_00]: See you.
[SPEAKER_00]: See you next week.
[SPEAKER_01]: OK, I guess that lady has sung.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that folks is the end of the show.