[SPEAKER_03]: a factual data creation facility production.
[SPEAKER_02]: In a world where some podcasts make millions of dollars, I bring you the OF&T podcast, which isn't one of them.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now here's your host, Jim Schafer.
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the episode, which is number three-eighteen, which I'm calling the Cook has left the kitchen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, all those earlier rumors have proven to be true.
[SPEAKER_01]: Old Tim Cook is stepping down as CEO of Apple.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you even have a slight interest in tech news, well, then you probably already know this.
[SPEAKER_01]: My phone lit up with notifications followed by my tech news feeds blowing up with the news of Mr. Cook stepping down.
[SPEAKER_01]: Love him or hate him?
[SPEAKER_01]: Mr. Cook took Apple from making billions of dollars to making trillions of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I hope you're having a great weekend.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll continue doing so next week.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm ready to set this thing in motion now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tech news.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Holin with the giant fruit company's ecosystem.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wear an Apple Watch mainly to monitor my health, but message and sports notifications are a nice touch.
[SPEAKER_01]: Before getting an Apple Watch, I wore expensive Swiss-made mechanical timepieces.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have Rolex, Omega, and other examples of fine Swiss watchmaking now collecting dust in my safe.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I was wearing these mechanical beauties, I had a Fitbit tracker on my opposite wrist.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish Apple would release a product like Fitbit, but that's probably not gonna happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: According to AndroidBlease.com, Google has been testing a screenless, woop-like band, which will be released under the Fitbit brand, which is kind of surprising in itself.
[SPEAKER_01]: I had heard that Google was going to be retiring the Fitbit brand.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't know, Whop has taken a chunk out of Fitbit's market share with the company's Whop series of fitness bands.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why don't you just get yourself a Whop band?
[SPEAKER_01]: Whop runs the old, given the razor and sell them the blade scheme.
[SPEAKER_01]: A Whop band is free, but unless you pay not so insignificant monthly subscription, the Whop band is useless.
[SPEAKER_01]: A basic web subscription will set you back about 200 bucks per year.
[SPEAKER_01]: Google's version is going to be called the Fitbit Air, and there was no mention of a monthly subscription for use of the band, which is estimated to cost 100 bucks down.
[SPEAKER_01]: However, if the, where it wants to take advantage of the ass coaches will as other AI features, that you must subscribe to Google Health, huh?
[SPEAKER_03]: Now I understand what those rumors about an Apple Health Plus subscription were all about.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you gotta keep creating new revenue streams.
[SPEAKER_01]: If the big G can provide basic fitness and health data without needing a subscription, then they'll have a winner on their hands.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I don't know about the Fitbit Air Monitor.
[SPEAKER_01]: That sounds too much like an Apple product.
[SPEAKER_03]: But then again, what do I really know?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, you're just an old fart with access to a microphone, blah, blah, blah.
[SPEAKER_03]: The truth hurts, doesn't it?
[SPEAKER_03]: This particular truth doesn't hurt me.
[SPEAKER_03]: But can you say the same?
[SPEAKER_03]: To-shay.
[SPEAKER_01]: On the heels of this Fitbit Health Band, 95 Google reports that Fitbit has upgraded its sleep score metrics that puts them up with the big boys, like aura, for example.
[SPEAKER_01]: Unlike Apple's sleep tracking software, Fitbit didn't copy or is user interface.
[SPEAKER_01]: Looking at screenshots of FitBit's new UI that accompanied the article, I'm seeing a more simplified way of reporting sleep metrics, and I'm a fan of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's much easier to check the most important metrics of a glance in Apple, soar, or as UI.
[SPEAKER_01]: But those two, you have to dig around different areas of the software to get an overall picture of your sleep.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Fitbit Sleep Tracking UI puts them all in one place with old and necessary info presented with simple graphs.
[SPEAKER_01]: Versus the stacked and overloaded info presentations of Apple and or as UI.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure you've heard of the kiss principle.
[SPEAKER_01]: Kiss stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid, and I'm a believer of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: While looking at competitors' graphs, sometimes I feel I need some sort of medical degree to interpret them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Google is on to something here.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's app plus subscription launching with new features reads the headline from 9-5 Mac.
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, joy!
[SPEAKER_03]: Just what the world needs, yet another subscription service.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jeez.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well there's money in them that our hills is equal kids or want to say these days.
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was a big fan of what's app back in wooden, you might remember as being.
[SPEAKER_01]: The day.
[SPEAKER_01]: Shortly after what's app was first released on iOS, there was a version for all available mobile operating systems, which included my abandoned Symbian OS Nokia N8.
[SPEAKER_01]: I sent an email thanking the company for including Symbian.
[SPEAKER_01]: and I actually received a reply from one of the co-founders of the messaging app.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you've told us.
[SPEAKER_01]: At that time, what's app was truly a universal messaging app, though it was much simpler than it is today.
[SPEAKER_01]: As you're probably aware of, a Facebook
[SPEAKER_01]: Over the years, Facebook now called Meta, added features culminating with the introduction of advertisements in June of 2025.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I guess that wasn't enough monetization for Meta, because select beta testers can now pay three books per month for the pleasure of sending premium stickers, changing the app's theme, choosing a custom icon,
[SPEAKER_01]: I may be mistaken as I, often am, but I thought you could already change your what's at theme from the Gekko.
[SPEAKER_01]: The other features are of no use to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's at has a huge user base, mostly in Europe where I, your cellular providers, still charged for regular text messages for some reason.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there was no word on when this subscription model will be rolled out to the general public.
[SPEAKER_03]: Won't many users just opt for keeping the free version to avoid having to pay for a subscription?
[SPEAKER_01]: Probably, but eventually, Meta will pump so many advertisements and what's app that it will become unbearable to use without that subscription.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully, over time, the new RCS standards will be widely adopted in, but a significant dent into what's apps use a race.
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you willing to pay for a subscription to use what's app?
[SPEAKER_01]: Bittittled's chat station, who's considered to be one of the top-notch tech leakers over on the Chinese intertubes?
[SPEAKER_01]: As the top-five smart phone makers in China, why they no longer make smaller phones?
[SPEAKER_01]: And the manufacturers actually replied.
[SPEAKER_01]: Heck, I'm lucky if I can get a reply from the cash here at my local grocery store.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just, the people here in Tennessee are very friendly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Back up in New York, well, not so much.
[SPEAKER_01]: By smaller phones, digital chat station is referring to phones with screens six inches or less.
[SPEAKER_01]: replies receive from these companies will come as bad news for fans of more compact phones.
[SPEAKER_01]: A.
[SPEAKER_01]: The manufacturers felt that six-inch displays weren't efficient enough for displaying content.
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember we're dealing with younger generations here who practically live on their phones.
[SPEAKER_01]: User surveys show that the 6.5-inch displays are the sweet spot for today's consumers.
[SPEAKER_01]: In line of that, a phone that's considered small will have a 6.3-to-6.4-inch screen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I guess that Apple's E-series can be considered tiny with its 6.1-inch screen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And B, because of the size of compact phones, battery size, cameras, and overall performance is compromised.
[SPEAKER_01]: True that, as the cool kids say.
[UNKNOWN]: No!
[SPEAKER_01]: To sum up, no small phones for you!
[SPEAKER_01]: Perhaps this report will help to silence those compact phone advocates that, though few a number, haunt internet forms, screaming for a compact phone model with top-of-the-line specs.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm looking at you compact iPhone advocates.
[SPEAKER_01]: Them being the ones making the loudest noises.
[SPEAKER_01]: Give it up.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want a smaller phone, the E-series is what Apple will give you.
[SPEAKER_01]: If the specs aren't good enough for you with the E-series, get a base model iPhone with
[SPEAKER_01]: What I'm trying to say here is, stop your incestant whining.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well put.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's face it.
[SPEAKER_01]: No matter how you look at it, Apple's vision pro goggles are a flop.
[SPEAKER_01]: A recent article from androidethorty.com, jog my memory about its highly touted rival.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sam Sung's Galaxy XR headset.
[UNKNOWN]: Huh?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I ain't forgotten they even existed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Back when the rumors of Apple's vision Perl started flooding the tecclesphere, wait a minute.
[SPEAKER_01]: You just made that word up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Didn't you?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I did.
[SPEAKER_01]: I expressed that I didn't understand why Apple was even bothering to release VR goggles.
[SPEAKER_01]: At the most there in each product.
[SPEAKER_01]: At the time the teccpress was predicting that the vision pro would rush in the era of spatial
[SPEAKER_01]: Not to be outdone, Samsung with the backing of Google announced the Galaxy XR VR goggles, which would be able to do everything Division Pro could do, and at a lower cost.
[SPEAKER_01]: The tech-pressed and shifted gears by declaring that it would be the Galaxy XR ashring the era of spatial computing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well since it's released the initial Bollyhoo faded into nothingness, you don't hear a peep about Samsung's Galaxy VR or Apple Vision Pro for that matter.
[SPEAKER_01]: Both VR goggles have become nothing more than a test bed for augmented reality glasses, and that's a product which has been declared as being the next big thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: According to the story I'm referring to, the Samsung Galaxy VR headset has a problem, and that's a problem associated with some Android based software, which is a memory leak.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it causes the Galaxy XR to stop working after about 30 minutes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, you can't blame Samsung for this bug, as Google has a history of releasing software that hogs up memory to the max.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look no further than the Google Chrome browser.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, the big G has officially recognized this critical memory leak and has promised to make it a priority to fix it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yay!
[SPEAKER_01]: No timeline of when this fix will arrive was given.
[SPEAKER_01]: What are how many of these Galaxy XR headsets are out in the wild?
[SPEAKER_01]: My guess would be not enough of them to for Google to actually prioritize fixing this bug much.
[SPEAKER_01]: Google probably has like a part-time employee monitoring the software for this product.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been talking about the RAM shortage a lot these days because the Earth of RAM memory modules has finally started hitting the consumer market.
[SPEAKER_01]: First with price increases and now with availability issues.
[SPEAKER_01]: Last week I reported that the MacMini and MacStudio weren't available in certain high RAM configurations.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, this week, 9 to 5 Mac is reporting that the base Mac mini is out of stock.
[SPEAKER_02]: What?
[SPEAKER_01]: The base mini comes with 16 gigs of RAM and 256 gigs of storage.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want 5 or 12 gigs of storage, you'll have to wait at least six weeks to get one.
[SPEAKER_01]: The news only gets worse as Applin's side reports at the Mac Studio and the
[SPEAKER_01]: The new Max Studio was supposed to hit store shelves this summer, probably when WWWDC 26 is being held in June.
[SPEAKER_01]: The redesigned MacBook Pro was estimated to be coming this autumn, but that's been pushed back to 27 I hear.
[SPEAKER_01]: The article posits that this delay is most likely Apple stockpiling with the company needs for upcoming products.
[SPEAKER_01]: Rumors say Apple is paying double with they had been paying for RAM and SSD modules, so you know what that means?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I do, dreaded price increases.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm afraid you're correct.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure glad I'm not in the market for anything that requires memory.
[SPEAKER_01]: Does that also include your brain?
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I wish I could improve my gray matter by just plugging something into it.
[SPEAKER_01]: With Apple's annual worldwide developer's conference, better known as WWDC, or if you're a tech insider, dubbed DC, rumors about iOS 27 are starting to flow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Next month should see these rumors reach a feverish peak.
[SPEAKER_01]: This week's rumor comes from the one and only Germister, Bloomberg's Mark German.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Throne to King of Leakers, Mingxhi Co, is still an exile, I guess, was this a self-imposed exile?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: Years back, Mr. Co, Switched Employers, and since then, has quite a down a bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: German's leak of the week, hey, that rhymes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I kind of like that one, maybe I'll keep using it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm back to the story at hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: German claims that Apple is testing a new home screen customization option.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, the thing about iOS users is that most won't even bother customize an AiriPhone Tom screen.
[SPEAKER_01]: The total opposite of Android users.
[SPEAKER_01]: I used to buy those third party apps to customize my iPhone's home screen before Apple loosened their strict control over the static grid of apps that is the iOS and unfortunately iPad OS home screen.
[SPEAKER_01]: As I got older, I basically stopped doing that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Only recently has a giant fruit company allowed users to somewhat customize home screens.
[SPEAKER_01]: In typical Apple fashion, German's prediction is that undo and redo buttons will be added to the home screen edit screen.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to be kidding me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that it?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm afraid so.
[SPEAKER_01]: Currently, to enter the home screen edit screen, you long press on your home screen and edit button appears in the upper left hand side of the screen.
[SPEAKER_01]: A done button appears in the upper right corner.
[SPEAKER_01]: On do we'll roll back a change, while redo will get you back to what you've just rolled back from.
[SPEAKER_01]: That sounds confusing to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: It sounds pointless to me, but hey, whatever rocks iOS developers boats.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now for the big story of the week, and that's Tim Cook stepping down as CEO of Apple.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to rehash what I've written so about it online here.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just going to give my impressions of Mr. Cook's reign over Apple.
[SPEAKER_01]: First off, the man followed one of the most renowned CEOs in tech history, and that of course was the late Steve Jobs.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not only was Jobs a co-founder of the company, he'd been kicked out of Apple and returned when the company was months away from going bankrupt and turned the company around to profitability in record time.
[SPEAKER_01]: With the sudden death of Steve Jobs, Mr. Cook didn't have the benefit of any transition period.
[SPEAKER_01]: One of Tim Cook's greatest achievements was taking Apple from a multi-billion-dollar corporation
[SPEAKER_01]: He did that by mainly shifting Apple from a hardware company to a services company.
[SPEAKER_01]: Apple Pay, Music and TV+, or just a few examples of this.
[SPEAKER_01]: This hardware hits where the Apple Watch AirPods and the iPad Pro line up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Be pushed towards Apple's silicon and now most silicon within Apple devices can be attributed to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: The things I didn't like about Tim Cook's ring were pushing software over to the subscription model.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also his cozyness with a communist China and leasing half-baked software and hardware.
[SPEAKER_01]: We even had vaporware during his tenure.
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, the product announcement weren't as exciting as his predecessors, but not many CEOs could match Steve Jobs.
[SPEAKER_01]: The man was a natural salesman.
[SPEAKER_01]: Job's original iPhone introduction was when he reached the top of his game.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure videos of that event are used to teach executives of all industries as an example of how to introduce a product.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of Tim Cook's tenure as Apple CEO, the man built upon the foundation that Steve Jobs originally laid out and greatly expanded it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Still I'm looking forward to New CEO John Ternison, what he will bring.
[SPEAKER_01]: Being he's from the engineering side, I hope he can bring back some of the magic of Steve Jobs.
[SPEAKER_01]: And good on Apple for hiring from within and not hiring from the outside like Microsoft did.
[SPEAKER_01]: Microsoft CEO's mistakes are starting to be felt now.
[SPEAKER_01]: First thing he did was ditch Windows phone and has monetized every aspect of the Windows operating system to a point that consumers are abandoning Windows OS for Linux and even Mac OS.
[SPEAKER_01]: If it weren't for gaming and government contracts, Microsoft would be where Apple was when Steve Jobs rescued them.
[SPEAKER_01]: If Apple's CEO was smart, then I'm sure he is.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd consider the MacBook Neo as just the first jab, and try to woo away Game Studio's from Microsoft, and that would be the knockout punch.
[SPEAKER_01]: That would leave Microsoft as some niche government contract company, and you know Apple could slowly chip away at that, too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tech I'm using.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's start off with some good news.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, good news for me anyway.
[SPEAKER_01]: My aura smart ring is back on track now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Though I did experience another night without proper sleep tracking last Saturday night, well, why didn't you tell me about this during the last episode then?
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I'm always interested in your experiences with sleep tracking.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because when I recorded that episode, I hadn't checked my sleep activity yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, and sarcasm noted.
[SPEAKER_01]: I decided to just ignore the lack of sleep tracking and not worry about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Next, one of my favorite little laps just got even better.
[SPEAKER_01]: As you most likely know, Apple has been in a dispute with medical equipment manufacturer Massimo over patent violation for some time now, which caused Apple to delete the feature from the Apple Watch.
[SPEAKER_01]: Apple did find a workaround, but it's sort of clumsy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead of being able to read your blood oxygen level directly from your watch, you now have to open up the health app on your iPhone, then scroll to the respiration section in order to do so.
[SPEAKER_01]: YouTube's rumor whose name I just can't recall right now created a little app called O2Buddy that lets you read that data from your watch.
[SPEAKER_01]: The app costs a little over a buck which was nice, and the div has now updated O2 buddy with an iPhone widget.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now you can just tap on it and see your latest blood oxygen data.
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow!
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know what, I'd rather Apple either a settle this lawsuit with Massimo or come up with another way to monitor a blood oxygen levels without infringing on any other company's patents.
[SPEAKER_01]: And finally for Tech I'm using, I must confess, I'm fully back on Apple's Magic Keyboard.
[SPEAKER_01]: I absolutely love my Logitech MX mechanical keyboard, but I have to using it for extended typing I wind up with sore fingers.
[SPEAKER_01]: This has to do with the way I type.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've heard of Hutt and Peck.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well I'm more of a look around and pound-type-est.
[SPEAKER_01]: I pressed too hard on a keyboard's keys.
[SPEAKER_01]: I tried to correct this over the years, but I haven't been successfully yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: Apple's magic keyboard isn't a bad keyboard, but two things bother me about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: The keys aren't backlit, and the typing angle can't be adjusted.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can understand the no backlit key thing, the Magic Keyboard's battery isn't as long lasting as other keyboards, and having backlit keys would further shorten that battery life.
[SPEAKER_01]: As far as the typing angle goes, the addition of two adjustable legs mounted on the the Magic Keyboard would be an easy fix.
[SPEAKER_01]: Older Apple keyboards had this adjustability,
[SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully Apple will release a magic keyboard in the future that has both those adjustable legs and a backlit keyboard.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just saying...
[SPEAKER_01]: An interesting article appeared on MacRoomers.com's website this past Thursday, whose headline read, a full Apple ecosystem now costs less than a MacBook Pro, unquote.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're a regular listener, and I must admit there's not many of you left.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'd know that every now and then I break down the total cost of the cheapest way to be fully in an equal system, be it Android or Apple.
[SPEAKER_01]: Android has been the lowest price of entry into what can be considered a full equal system, and it still is.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Apple has got tired of letting Android dominate this segment and has been moving towards this so-called lower-end market segment over the past few years.
[SPEAKER_01]: The author of the article puts together a list of Apple products and arrives at a total cost of $2,510.
[SPEAKER_01]: A 16-inch MacBook Pro alone would cost you $2,700 of your hard-earned money.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what do you get for that $2,500 box?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm glad you asked.
[SPEAKER_01]: The author list of following.
[SPEAKER_01]: An iPhone 17e at $599, a MacBook Neo also for $599.
[SPEAKER_01]: A base model iPad for $349 along with an Apple keyboardfolio case for $249.
[SPEAKER_02]: What?
[SPEAKER_01]: An Apple Pencil for $79, an Apple Watch SE 3 for $249, AirPods 4 for $129, and an Apple TV 4K streaming box for $129.
[SPEAKER_01]: He also recommends a HomePod Mini for $99, and finally, an Apple Air Tag for $29.
[SPEAKER_01]: What?
[SPEAKER_01]: This list is all well and good, but depending on your circumstances, you can enter the Apple ecosystem fully-efer and even lower price.
[SPEAKER_01]: My list brings the total price down to $22,234.
[SPEAKER_01]: Note that the MacBook Neo on the author's list is the base model.
[SPEAKER_01]: I propose that you should go for the higher tier Neo, which would add an additional $100 to the total.
[SPEAKER_01]: That brings it to a grand total of $234.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're not into drawing or taking notes using an iPad, well, it's no need for an Apple Pencil.
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead of spending $250 on Apple's Magic at Keyboardfolio for your iPad, you could substitute either a portable Bluetooth keyboard or a third-party keyboard case for less than half the price of a Magic Keyboard case.
[SPEAKER_01]: You already have the MacBook Neo so most of your serious computing will be done on that device.
[SPEAKER_01]: or one knows that Apple's digital assistant series is worthless.
[SPEAKER_01]: So why bother with a HomePod mini?
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, isn't Apple set to release the new Siri in about five months?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's true, but the current HomePod mini won't be able to run this new and improved Siri.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyhow, the new and improved Siri will be present on your Neo iPad iPhone and perhaps your 4K streaming box.
[SPEAKER_01]: And an air tag?
[SPEAKER_01]: To me, that's just a nice to have item.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even the Apple TV 4K streaming box is optional.
[SPEAKER_01]: You could just use your iPad or Neo for consuming content.
[SPEAKER_01]: Either way, the price of entering the complete Apple ecosystem has gotten significantly cheaper these days.
[SPEAKER_01]: To be real, I could actually function quite well with the authors or even my list of devices.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I get the author was put in together a list of the cheapest Apple gear in all categories, but not everyone wants or needs what's on that list.
[SPEAKER_01]: Next week I'll do a list of Android lower-end devices.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's still way cheaper than Apple's ecosystem.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then again, you get what you pay for.
[SPEAKER_01]: entertainment news.
[SPEAKER_01]: With Tim Cook stepping down from his gilded throne as head of the Great World Garden of Apples Empire, I'm sure he's given some thought about his legacy.
[SPEAKER_01]: When you have what's called, and part in my friend's here, if you money, you have plenty of time to think about things like one's legacy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Among other things that the rest of us working stiffs
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm of the opinion that Mr. Cook figured the vision bro would be his legacy, but it's not.
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe that the Apple TV streaming service will be Tim Cook's legacy.
[SPEAKER_01]: He spilled it up to become 12% of the streaming market, and that would be considered a large share of the streaming market.
[SPEAKER_01]: When you compare it to the Big Boy streamers, 12% isn't that bad of a showing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Netflix has a market leading at 19% share, going down the list which was assembled by Data Research Company just watch.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amazon's Prime Video places second with a 17% share, with Disney Plus taking 16% of the market.
[SPEAKER_01]: Apple TVs 12% is up from being 8% last year, so let's say 4% increase.
[SPEAKER_01]: The biggest problem with Apple TV is the lack of content.
[SPEAKER_01]: In 2025, Apple did experiment with leasing content from other providers, but it must not have gone well, because after a few months, that lease content just disappeared.
[SPEAKER_01]: Adding sports content contributed greatly to that 4% boost in market share, and I'm sure it will be seeing even more sports content being carried by Apple TV in the future.
[SPEAKER_01]: Incoming Apple CEO John Ternis is a hardware guy but according to a report from Deadline, Mr. Ternis is also a big fan of Apple TV.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thing he's a hardware guy as you put it.
[SPEAKER_03]: Perhaps we'll be seeing a new and improved Apple streaming box.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I'd certainly like to see that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially if it has a built-in camera or even better the option to plug in a webcam into it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It would be cool to be able to make and receive FaceTime calls using your television.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, citing people's inside Apple's Cupertino headquarters in Los Angeles, uh, the usual anonymous sources.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, of course, both next CEO wants to make Apple TV more competitive.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever that may entail.
[SPEAKER_01]: If these sources are told in the truth, that that would mean a larger budget for programming and content, which will also mean rising subscription prices.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know how it goes?
[SPEAKER_01]: Rising costs will always be passed on to the consumer.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's not a good thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I first described Apple TV, the subscription price was $4.99 per month.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, it's $12.99 per month.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hot gas news.
[SPEAKER_01]: As you might be able to tell, I'm back on my Electrovoys R.E.
[SPEAKER_01]: 20 Dynamic Monarch Rephone.
[SPEAKER_01]: Though this old workhorse is less sensitive than the fancy and expensive condenser mics I've been using over the last few months, that lower sensitivity actually works in my favor.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it does that by not picking up outside noise.
[SPEAKER_01]: Though my recording space is treated, those condensers pick up sounds from outside of my space.
[SPEAKER_01]: Soundproofing window curtains be darned.
[SPEAKER_01]: My next door neighbor has six count them, six dogs, and one of them loves the bark, and bark, and then barks them more.
[SPEAKER_01]: This dog normally starts barking when I sit down to record this show.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as if showing sympathy, small private aircraft start putting on spontaneous air shells, while passing freight trains start tuning their loud air horns.
[SPEAKER_01]: While my present recording space isn't nearly as loud as the space I used up in New York, when using condenser microphones, the noise level does approach New York levels.
[SPEAKER_01]: Another disadvantage with using those condenser mics is that I have to use a pop filter
[SPEAKER_01]: That metal mesh pop filter also obstructed my view of that new portable monitor I just got.
[SPEAKER_01]: I learned that the hard way while recording last week's episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: With proper microphone technique, I don't require a view blocking pop filter while using a dynamic microphone.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just hope that my audio still sounds good for the listener.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what do you think?
[SPEAKER_01]: As my audio.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you even tell a difference?
[SPEAKER_01]: The music is playing as episode 318 of the OFNT podcast starts coming to its conclusion.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope you enjoyed this episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know I enjoyed making it for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Canoes, drop me an email at OFNTpodcast at gmail.com.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd enjoy hearing from you.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're feeling generous, you can always send me a donation by clicking the link in the show notes.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd greatly appreciate it.
[SPEAKER_01]: All money received will go directly back to the show.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're completely satisfied, get off my lawn.
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember, don't listen to what they say.
[SPEAKER_01]: Watch, what they do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ah, out.
[SPEAKER_03]: And that folks is the end of the show.