[SPEAKER_00]: 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 episode 323, which I'm calling, features and rumors of features.
[SPEAKER_01]: As the WWDC draws nearer, rumor mill is cranking up.
[SPEAKER_01]: How many of these rumors will turn out to be true?
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll just have to sit back and wait, won't we?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: In some personal news, my world traveling lovely wife returns from her adventures tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: All of her tasks were complete successfully, and it's been a minute since I've last saw her, as the cool kid say, let's start this thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: As usual, we're starting off with some tech news.
[SPEAKER_01]: With Apple's annual Worldwide Defelipers Conference right around a corner, we'll be getting treated to a bunch of leaks and rumors in the coming weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: But because of this past Monday's holiday, these rumors and leaks have gotten off to a slow start.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first rumor to hit my new feeds concerned the Apple Watch.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, not much.
[SPEAKER_01]: According to Apple leaker du jour, Mark German, aren't you forgetting something?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh.
[SPEAKER_01]: Excuse my careless omittance.
[SPEAKER_01]: I meant to say Bloomberg's Mark German.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, he says watch OS27 will be concentrating on quote, stability, performance, and smaller refinements,
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me translate that for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: That means battery optimization and bug fixes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Which while boring are absolutely necessary.
[SPEAKER_01]: However, Mr. German says that the updated operating system will improve heart rate tracking.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sorry, but that's all that was said.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: In my experience, I've noticed that sometimes it takes my series 10 Apple Watch a little while to actually start tracking
[SPEAKER_01]: I also noticed heart rate dropouts during workouts.
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe it's actually your heart doing this on its own.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I know if that was the case.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I hope that this improved heart rate tracking fixes the problem for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: The second thing Mr.
[SPEAKER_01]: Grim and reported on was that the modular Ultra Watch face unique to the Apple Watch Ultra will also be coming to the standard model of the Apple Watch.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, whoop, did you?
[SPEAKER_01]: And finally, some Apple intelligence features will be making it to the Apple Watch with Watch OS 27.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those features include a notification summaries, live translation in messages which can be handy, and work out buddy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, nothing exciting as Watch OS 27 is shipping up to be basically a maintenance update.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Apple Watch Ultra which already has built in a satellite connectivity, gains photo support from messages via satellite, and also maps by satellite.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's pretty cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: These features are making my decision to upgrade to an Apple Ultra Watch while at the same time downgrading from a pro-level iPhone, easier to justify.
[SPEAKER_01]: With those who don't have any plans doing the same, watch OS 27 will most likely be a mundane update for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, look at it this way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Being that this update basically brings no features that have any wow factors, you might
[SPEAKER_01]: At least that would save you some money.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hey, what about non-invasive glucose monitoring?
[SPEAKER_02]: What's happening with that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well judging by the lack of any leaks, I guess that nothing is happening with the long rumored non-invasive glucose monitoring.
[SPEAKER_01]: Apple would be seeking a medical certification for that, so I'm sure you would have had a leak by now if Apple was close to pulling that off.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Apple has found out that non-intrusive glucose monitoring
[SPEAKER_01]: Now how's that for an old farty and saying, not bad?
[SPEAKER_02]: And you even made up a word to describe it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Double bonus points scored.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hot off the presses, there appears to have been an update with the non-evasive glucose monitoring.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, from Mark German, I mean Bloomberg's Mark German, but not only wrote for Bloomberg.com,
[SPEAKER_01]: Tim Millett has been replaced by Zong Zhang Chen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mr Chen has the reputation of delivering results, so should we expect non-invasive glucose monitoring to show up anytime soon?
[SPEAKER_02]: No.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, probably not.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nine to five max seems to think that this feature could still be several years away.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I tend to agree with this estimation.
[SPEAKER_01]: If Apple was close to delivering this feature, we'd be seeing FDA and other filings already.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now what would an episode without reporting on yet another problem with the iPhone Fold be like?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well until that phone is actually released, I guess we'll never find that out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Weibo Leeker, 6 Focus Digital, was added again this past week.
[SPEAKER_02]: On Tuesday, he, I'm assuming it's a he, misogyny at its finest, which only goes to prove your part of the patriarchy.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hey, that was pretty good.
[SPEAKER_02]: You had me going for a second.
[SPEAKER_02]: What makes you think that I wasn't being serious?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, boy, do you really want me to have to break down the fourth wall here?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why don't you ask yourself for the answer to that question?
[SPEAKER_01]: To share.
[SPEAKER_01]: In their latest posting, a fixed focus digital reports that Apple is now having problems with the surface amount technology method being employed for the foldable iPhone.
[SPEAKER_01]: This problem, amongst others, yep, is preventing Apple from entering mass production of what is rumored to be called the iPhone Ultra.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me just say that if these near constant rumors of manufacturing problems turn out to be correct, we'll be lucky to see this iPhone fold anytime this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've never seen so many production problems rumours for any other Apple product before.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is that a good sign.
[SPEAKER_03]: No.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bloomberg has been busy reporting Apple things lately, with or without Mark German.
[SPEAKER_01]: This latest report from them has Apple supporting Googlecast upon the release of iOS 27 this autumn.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's because Apple has been under pressure from the European Union's Digital Market Act, which mandates that computers, as well as mobile operating systems, will be open to third-party solutions.
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess the EU will be the first governmental organization to implement the one mobile operating system to rule them all, that I go on about now and then.
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, Googlecast is a direct competitor with Apple's own AirPlay standard.
[SPEAKER_01]: The EU actually mandates that iOS support Airplay on Android, so you can look at this as Apple attempting to stave off compliance.
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you beginning to see what direction all this over a mandating is heading towards?
[SPEAKER_01]: After a couple of years of making significant market share games, Android Authority has reported some bad news for Google's Pixel phones within the United States.
[SPEAKER_01]: Quoting a report from Omida, Pixel phone shipments were down some 7% year upon a year.
[SPEAKER_01]: Omida blames the Pixel 10 series, saying that it failed to replicate the momentum of the 9 lineup.
[SPEAKER_01]: Omita also found that it could have been worse off for Google if they hadn't launched the Pixel 10A earlier in the year than they did with the 9A.
[SPEAKER_01]: This report is concerning for Google as leaks of the Pixel have insured that no significant design changes or feature updates appear to be coming.
[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't just bad news for Google though.
[SPEAKER_01]: The whole smartphone market has declined by 3% so far this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: The only smartphone maker to see an increase of shipments was Motorola, which grew by 18%
[SPEAKER_01]: The only good thing for Google in this report is that the Pixel maintain its fourth place ranking behind Apple Samsung, and of course Motorola.
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe we've reached the pinnacle of smartphone design.
[SPEAKER_01]: Consumers are seeing no significant updates with new models being released, and if their current phone is working well, they see no need to upgrade.
[SPEAKER_01]: I tend to think that a lot of people are like myself, and we'll just hold on to their phone until it breaks.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when needing to purchase another phone will most likely opt for the mid range, or maybe even lower.
[SPEAKER_01]: Unless you truly need the features of a top-of-the-line pro-model, or perhaps just want bragging rights, a mid-tier phone will serve most of your needs.
[SPEAKER_01]: The prices for top-of-the-line phones are surpassing the cost of more powerful desk and laptop computers.
[SPEAKER_01]: For my personal situation, I'd rather spend that kind of money on a proper computer.
[SPEAKER_01]: What about you?
[SPEAKER_01]: Microsoft is killing Office 2019 for a Mac and I phone, and you can't do much about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: What?
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the headline from Apple Insider.
[SPEAKER_01]: At first, I thought that Microsoft was discontinuing all hard copy versions of Office for the Mac, but that's not the case.
[SPEAKER_01]: A little history here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Back in the dark days of pre-steaf jobs returned to Apple, Microsoft threw Apple a much-needed lifeline by lending the troubled company some cash along with the promise of continuing to support Mac OS with their very popular Office Suite.
[SPEAKER_01]: Back then, if you plunked down your money for the MS Office suite, you could use the version you bought forever.
[SPEAKER_01]: Unless later versions added features that you really wanted.
[SPEAKER_01]: Eventually, you would have to do so if you wanted to stay compatible with those later versions.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you were using MS Office for business, then it was a must to have the latest version on hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, things have changed since those days with Apple creating their own office Sweden would eventually start giving it away for free, wink, wink.
[SPEAKER_01]: Recently, Apple has made its office suite well in enhanced version of it, part of their creative subscription model.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the basic version still comes with a no-obvious extra cost on iOS and Mac OS devices.
[SPEAKER_01]: This basic version is good enough for normal consumers who have no need for the enhancements see subscription bundle brains.
[SPEAKER_01]: That includes myself.
[SPEAKER_01]: But those who need compatibility with MS Office for work reasons, like I did before retiring, having a hard copy on your home computer was a handy thing to invest in, what about Office 365?
[SPEAKER_01]: You're getting ahead of me.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, sometimes you couldn't finish things up at the office, so so you could finish up at home if you were facing a deadline or something like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: In this use case, you could hold onto that copy of MS Office for many years before having to upgrade to a newer version.
[SPEAKER_01]: By pulling support for Office 2019, users that really need MS Office now have the pony up for the latest version, which is Office 2024 from Mac.
[SPEAKER_01]: That'll set you back about 180 bucks, but that's for a single device install version, which is stripped down from the full version.
[SPEAKER_01]: For $250, you can buy the home in business version of MS Office, but both versions don't include one drive, which means you can't sync with your work computer without getting an additional subscription for one drive.
[SPEAKER_01]: This goes for both the Mac and PC version.
[SPEAKER_01]: What I see Microsoft doing here is trying to force users to instead get an Office 365 subscription for $100 a year, but, again, that's just for one device.
[SPEAKER_01]: At least in, you could sync up with your work computer.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is, if your IT department lets you, use your included personal OneDrive account.
[SPEAKER_01]: Without launching into another long-winded story here.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I had this exact problem with my IT department, but managed to find a workaround.
[SPEAKER_01]: Others might not be so lucky.
[SPEAKER_01]: I had a subscription to Office 365 at one point, but upon retiring, I had no need for it any longer.
[SPEAKER_01]: But just in case, I'd downgraded to the $2 per month, a tier of Office 365.
[SPEAKER_01]: I could still use all of the apps of MS Office, but I have to do so via a web browser.
[SPEAKER_01]: I keep it around mainly for the extra storage space for my personal OneDrive and Outlook accounts that tier gives me.
[SPEAKER_01]: A few weeks ago, my or a four smart ring stop working.
[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't seeking properly, and it basically stopped tracking my sleep.
[SPEAKER_01]: Upon calling or a customer service, it was confirmed to me that my ring was out of warranty.
[SPEAKER_01]: However, being that I was a loyal customer, I was offered a discounted price towards the purchase of a new or a ring for.
[SPEAKER_01]: I took that deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, little did I know that the release of the fifth generation or a ring was imminent, that's just your luck, isn't it?
[SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: 9 to 5 Google as well as the aura app itself reports that the new version of the aura ring is now available for pre-order.
[SPEAKER_01]: The new version is 40% smaller than the current model has longer battery life, a new set of sensors that improve accuracy including heart rate ratings, and now has blood pressure monitoring.
[SPEAKER_01]: That last upgrade means the most to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: The starting price is now $349, and that's a $50 increase.
[SPEAKER_01]: So did you wind up pre-ordering it?
[SPEAKER_01]: I would have if I hadn't just purchased an ordering for to replace my defective one.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll wait until the holiday season when aura usually offers some discounts.
[SPEAKER_01]: To get the full benefit when using an or a smart ring, you'll have to enroll in a six-dollar monthly subscription plan.
[SPEAKER_01]: Unless you're considered a legacy customer of which I am one.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been wearing or a ring since the second generation.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's because my previous smart ring was the Motiv ring.
[SPEAKER_01]: Motiv was acquired by some security firm for their patents, and soon after
[SPEAKER_01]: If Apple ever releases a smart ring, then I may consider switching out my RF1.
[SPEAKER_01]: According to Android Authority, Korean electronic giant LG is rumored to be taking a page from Sony's book and selling off the company's television business to high-sense, a Chinese company.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sony recently sold its television division to a different Chinese company, TCL.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you recall, back in 2021, LG exited the smartphone market.
[SPEAKER_01]: The news of LG's exiting the television market is shock me because I'm a big fan of LG televisions.
[SPEAKER_01]: My last three television purchases were from the LG brand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I can understand why LG would be doing this as the television market is cut throat, with very slim profit margins.
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially after a multiple Chinese manufacturers entered the television market.
[SPEAKER_01]: In my experience, most large screens television I see people walking out of stores like Walmart with or TCLs.
[SPEAKER_01]: With some receipts, the AES are unwilling or unable to spend the extra money on more
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know the old saying, you get what you pay for.
[SPEAKER_01]: In this case, worse aftermarket support.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tech I'm using, Harking back to Watch OS 27, being mostly a bug fixing exercise.
[SPEAKER_01]: Slide C, minor problems I'm having with the heart rate monitoring on my Apple Watch.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm also experiencing a bug while using the Peloton app.
[SPEAKER_01]: When finishing a workout using the app, I complete the workout on my watch and also the app by hitting the proper buttons for doing that.
[SPEAKER_01]: The counter continues to run and still counting towards my metrics.
[SPEAKER_01]: I discovered this bug when reviewing my Apple fit this summary and seeing inflated exercise minutes and the calories burned on my iPhone.
[SPEAKER_01]: When checking my Apple Watch notifications I can see that the exercise counter is still active.
[SPEAKER_01]: Once I manually dismiss the exercise track around the watch itself, the exercise session is completed, this time for real.
[SPEAKER_01]: Strangely, this only affects apple metrics.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Peloton app doesn't long any of the extra exercise stats.
[SPEAKER_01]: Still with me?
[SPEAKER_01]: Barely.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know it's hard to explain.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even after a manually dismissing the air into the counter, I get a start of Peloton exercise on the app message that once I dismiss it keeps coming back.
[SPEAKER_01]: This forces me to power the watch off and then restart to watch the clear it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Luckily, this doesn't happen all the time, but when it does happen, it's a real pain in the
[SPEAKER_02]: with those inflated stats.
[SPEAKER_02]: You must look like an exercise hero to Apple.
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess you could look at it that way, but I'm trying to improve my health here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't accomplish this by using false data.
[SPEAKER_01]: When it's problem started cropping out, I thought it was the fault of the Peloton app.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I'm not so sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: It could be the fault of the Apple Watch.
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess time will tell.
[SPEAKER_01]: I find myself having a better experience using Apple's word processing app pages on my iPad versus my Mac computers.
[SPEAKER_03]: I know, right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Though pages was recently made to be a universal app, it seems to have more features and runs better on my iPad.
[SPEAKER_01]: One example is when one to add words to pages built in dictionary, the option to do so pops up automatically on the iPad version once it recognizes the word as being mispelled.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well not so with the Mac version.
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead you're required to right-click on the word and select learn spelling from a drop-down menu.
[SPEAKER_01]: And being that both instances of pages are on the same Apple account while using the same Internet connection, shouldn't this addition be updated universally?
[SPEAKER_01]: You would think so, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Wrong!
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, in my experience that hasn't been the case, each separate instance of pages has to be updated manually.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure if other word processing apps behave this way, but shouldn't I cloud update any changes on all instances of pages?
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially if you're working on the same document.
[SPEAKER_01]: If pages is a universal app, shouldn't it be able to update?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I don't know universally.
[SPEAKER_01]: And why we lies at the term universal app means that the app is designed to run on all Apple devices, well, actually iPhones, iPads, and Macs, but being that pages updates and he changes, I make to the document on all instances, shouldn't adding a word to its dictionary update also.
[SPEAKER_01]: I understand that in the grand scheme of things, this problem is awfully nitpicky of me.
[SPEAKER_01]: What couldn't Apple remedy this minor inconvenience quite easily?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, mate.
[SPEAKER_01]: entertainment news, lately I've been using this section of the podcast to bring news of mainly streaming boxes.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's because during my lovely wife's absence, I've been avoiding watching content that I know she would enjoy watching together with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: What can I tell you?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a great guy and a modest one too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I have started watching
[SPEAKER_01]: Out of boredom, I decided to watch the elated season of HBO's euphoria.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, hold on a second.
[SPEAKER_02]: We all know why you're really watching that show.
[SPEAKER_02]: Sydney, Swiny.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, seeing Sydney, Swiny and all her glory does have its attractions, but to be frank, she's not my preferred type of woman.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, right.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm being honest here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Miss Sweeney's body type is invoked during these modern times, and being that I'm the old fart that I am, I don't consider myself as being from this era.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's what I like to call the exaggerated woman.
[SPEAKER_01]: Big breast, big button, big everything else.
[SPEAKER_01]: I prefer what would be considered these days as a skinny woman, which is a woman that's properly proportioned.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, along with no augmentation.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, normal woman.
[SPEAKER_01]: Another thing I like in a woman is a natural look.
[SPEAKER_01]: Meaning she doesn't need to wear makeup in order to impress.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyhow the storyline within Euphoria that I'm really into is the Zendaya drug-dealing
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the first season of Euphoria that I've ever watched, and I don't see myself going back and watching the previous seasons.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's a good show, but it's not that good.
[SPEAKER_01]: Another series I'm just getting into is the boroughs on Netflix.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about a retirement community in New Mexico that are battling some sort of monster.
[SPEAKER_01]: And finally, I just finished binge-watching the Spider-Noir series, which is on Amazon Prime.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's sort of a prequel to Marvel Spider-Man in Star's Nicholas Cage.
[SPEAKER_01]: The show was set in the 1930s, hence the noir in its title, and viewers have the choice of watching it in black and light or color.
[SPEAKER_01]: I chose black and white.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can always go back and rewatch a series in color if I wanted to, but would you?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I would.
[SPEAKER_01]: For me, it was that good.
[SPEAKER_01]: I could say that not everything about the time-praying this series is portraying his accurate.
[SPEAKER_01]: Heck, how old are you?
[SPEAKER_01]: Old enough to have had relatives that lived during that time period.
[SPEAKER_01]: The main problem was with the accents.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were really hammed up in some places and toned down too much and others.
[SPEAKER_01]: Spoiler alert, there are a few moments in the series that could be considered mildly woke by me say.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just keep getting real in the field as old feds like myself would say.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're a fan of old noir type films, or if you'd like to see some decent script writing for a change, give a Spider-Noir a look to see, I think you'll enjoy it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Fire OS is dead, long live Fire OS.
[SPEAKER_01]: A little while back, Amazon introduced Vega OS, which is the company's replacement for Fire OS on their streaming devices.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or is it?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I guess that all depends on the particular device you're using.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe.
[SPEAKER_01]: Android 30 reports that Amazon has announced that Android 16 is coming to Fire TV devices.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, older devices anyway.
[SPEAKER_01]: Big OS is not based on Android and seems to have been created in order to hamper the side-loading of apps, which is the main reason Fire TV is as popular as it is in my opinion.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, ha ha ha ha.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you know, then you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: Based on this article, I think it's safe to say that older Fire TV devices operating systems
[SPEAKER_01]: While the new devices will be based on the not very side loading friendly Vega OS, which I believe is based on Linux.
[SPEAKER_01]: Though I could be wrong about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just remember, Amazon recently brick some models of perfectly functioning Kindle E readers, so there's that to consider.
[SPEAKER_01]: Apple has been busy reading its music app for release on Android.
[SPEAKER_01]: What would have thought this was coming?
[SPEAKER_01]: Quoting X user Aaron Paris, Apple Insider, says that he discovered a few lines of code within the beta that chills some differences with the current iOS app.
[SPEAKER_01]: All three lines are error messages.
[SPEAKER_01]: One reads, premium access required.
[SPEAKER_01]: Another reads, skip limit reached.
[SPEAKER_01]: While the last bit of code reads, can't skip any more tracks.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now this sounds very Pandora, a music app like to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're not familiar with the Pandora app, it's considered one of the OGs of music streaming apps.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been around for a while and I still use it once in a while, mainly on long trips while driving.
[SPEAKER_01]: I find it to be the next best thing to radio.
[SPEAKER_01]: Appetitments at all.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're not a pain subscriber, you cannot search for individual songs, leaving you at
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't create your own radio stations, which will feed you songs from your favorite artists along with similar styles of music.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have a limit on how many songs you can skip.
[SPEAKER_01]: So perhaps Apple, who seem to be embracing advertisements more and more lately, will debut their music service friend, right with an ad-supported free tier.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're talking about Apple here.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think they've ever given customers anything for free.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why would they start now?
[SPEAKER_02]: You bring up a good point.
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead, maybe they'll offer a cheaper subscription rate for an ad-supported tier.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd say that's more likely.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then again, if the giant fruit company wants to put a dent in their competitors and they're supported free tier would be the way to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: Though according to the article, Apple doesn't believe in free tiers because it works against the artist.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll just have to wait and see.
[SPEAKER_01]: podcast news.
[SPEAKER_01]: Box media, a self-titled progressive company, is selling off three of its assets to Lupa systems.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lupa systems is owned by James Murdock, son of the famous or should I say infamous a Rupert Murdock, who split from his father's media empire.
[SPEAKER_01]: Probably over political differences.
[SPEAKER_01]: The assets that are being spun off are the Vox Media Podcast Network, New York Magazine, and the Vox website.
[SPEAKER_01]: These entities rode the wave of so-called orgasm after the COVID lockdowns and didn't quite well for themselves.
[SPEAKER_01]: But with the decline popularity of that sort of content over the past couple of years, the money coffers have been draining.
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially those of Vox Media Podcast Network,
[SPEAKER_01]: Most of the podcasts that are on the box network, bring with them the ideology from those battle days, meaning, you know, the usual, Orange Man Bad and TDS 24-7.
[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody shows probably, oh, whatever success they still have to what's called hate listening.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see if James Murdock has inherited his father's business acumen and is able to turn the ship around by attempting to appeal to a broader audience.
[SPEAKER_01]: But from what I've been hearing about James Murdock, I think we can expect just more of the same.
[SPEAKER_01]: The music is playing as episode 323 of the OFNT podcast completes its cycle.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope you enjoyed this episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: I enjoyed making it for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: You like what you heard?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you can make a donation using the link in the show notes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Any and all donations will be greatly appreciated.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you would like to contact the OFNT podcast, you can do so by sending an email to OFNT podcast at gmail.com.
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember, don't listen to what they say.
[SPEAKER_01]: Watch, but they do.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll read reading whether we've been having around here seems to be over with.
[SPEAKER_01]: So in celebration of this, get off my lawn.
[SPEAKER_01]: Stay skeptical.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ah, I'm out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll be seeing you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Don't.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that folks is the end of the show.