AppleVis Unleashed March 2024: The Fisher Price Edition

By AppleVis, 28 March, 2024

In this month's edition of AppleVis Unleashed, Thomas Domville and Mike Malarsie discuss recent Apple news and other topics of interest. Topics featured in this episode include:

Wider Tech Discussions: AppleVis Forums Expand Beyond Apple
WWDC 2024 will show off Apple's AI efforts on June 10
Apple Developing New Accessibility Features for iOS 18 and macOS 15
Apple reportedly considering using Google’s Gemini Ai engine into iPhones with iOS 18
Apple Watch Series 10 could finally offer blood pressure monitoring
Mass production of two new AirPods models to start in May, targeting fall release
US DOJ takes on Apple in massive antitrust suit, after years of investigations
Apple could be in trouble over DMA security warnings, as well as Core Technology Fee
Be My Eyes Expands with Service Directory

Links:

If you have feedback or questions for the Unleashed team, you can reach them by email at unleashed@applevis.com

transcription: Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello and welcome to another AppleVis unleash for March 2024 my name is Thomas Donville also known as AnonyMousecoming to you for another Grand month and I am here just with Mike Malarcy.

How you doing Mikey?

Great.

How are you?

I'm doing wonderful.

How are you?

You know right now Spring is rolling around the corner Big changes in my life.

I I'm kind of I honestly struggle to find a way things could be better right now Yeah, good.

Yeah Vacations rolling around the corner All kinds of stuff about to be happening around here, right?

Oh, that's so wonderful I'm glad things are going your way and you're having some positive things going on in your life, that's always encouraging to hear and As I am the same boat it is just I'm just happy as can be today.

Everything seems to be good for today And new toys always help Right.

I got a couple new toys this month everybody and I know a lot of you out there are probably not Into the audio podcast all that much just other than to listen to it.

I got a new interface so for us to make this happen so I have to have what we call an interface that allows me to connect the microphone to it and then connect it to the computer and I got a vocaster to and I am Thrilled to death anybody that ever wants to do podcasts wants to know what I'm using what kind of stuff I get that question a lot Yeah, what do you have?

What do you what are you using?

I can tell you right now vocaster to Two make sure you get that version not the one version to the two and it is Amazing.

I've heard many people talk about it.

I see what the rave is about Completely accessible.

Mr. Malarcy.

I mean It's on my shopping list already now.

Oh I'm just blown away how accessible this is and fair right is the name in the company that makes this is very well known My daughter is a musician.

She uses a fair right product called Scarlett and I've used her Scarlett But this is designed for podcaster and I can see why so no doubt about it and I also Finally got my zoom h1 essential It's beautiful.

Yeah, you're liking it, you know if you have a need for a recorder it is Amazing for what it does it does Everything I'm working on a podcast on it Meaning that I'm gonna show you how to hook this up to your iPhone use it as a microphone or even on your computer Yeah, you can use it as a microphone.

You use this digital recorder.

I can put external mics on it.

Yeah I've just totally geeked out.

That's awesome So we have many things to that came along this month Yeah, it's I feel like it's been a while though every time I open up the news app on my phone I'm like a whole hold on.

What is this new thing now?

Where we started is that that's the that was the number one question for me I'm leaving that one on you You're steering the ship.

There's a lot of things going on out there and there is and so where we tackle Let's do it man.

So first up.

I want to let you know John is not able to join us this month He is busy filing for his tax income taxes poor guy Right.

I hate that too it and it's kind of real soon And I wanted to reach out there have been several people that reached out to us by email And one of those people made a mention about us last month about John's Otterbox Case not working anymore for himself.

Well, he made a point to let me know and to tell John and everybody on the show Is that Otterbox comes with this lifetime warranty?

I was like, oh Yeah, so apparently I told John I said contact Otterbox and they should be able to replace it for free for you So if you're an Otterbox user, that is something you need to keep in mind is something ever breaks you'll get that and Then we got a correction and thank you so much.

This came through via Macedon To correct us at the cellist classes that we mentioned last month.

It's not tethered It is completely wire free.

So that is great to know Yeah that that to me was that's an important one could tethered or none tethered Right potential deal breaker for a lot of things So right and and I get that and then yeah if it was wired, I think a lot of us would be turned down by that But knowing that is not anymore You know, there's just many advantages and disadvantages, but nonetheless, thank you all the people emailed us keep them coming You can email us to unleashed at applevis.com If you have any questions thoughts feedback anything shoot it our way and we might introduce you to it when it comes to each month process of going through the email Let's go ahead and dive into all these billion gazillion news First thing up is Apple viz.

We are starting to widen up and what type of form posting we will now start to allow And those are new Areas that you can come and ask questions without having to worry about it not being Apple related topic So we decided this was time in 14 years then coming up this year Apple viz been around We decided that it is time for people to be able to discuss other things because we have come to being Multi-gadget in our life.

So like myself and Mike we still use windows.

We still use the a lady There's just different devices that we use and it was hard to find a place for people to come to talk about it And they couldn't discuss it on Apple viz because it was supposed to be apple related only Well now this is being opened up So you are free to stay there as a one-stop shop to ask questions now I have a lot of people asking.

Oh my gosh.

Are you no longer gonna be Apple viz?

No, don't worry about that.

We will always be Apple viz.

We will always be having apple related stuff blood blogs blogs blogs guides and Podcasts will always be there and related to Apple.

We're not going anywhere They were just introducing a new place for people to come and talk.

And so we opened up assistive technology hardware section Windows, I know people are gonna go bonkers on this Android yes, you can come and talk about Android all you want now and then lastly smart home Technology, it is a pilot that we're testing for three months to see how things go and see if people do like it or not It's not a permanent thing at this moment, but it might be permanent and we might end up liking it so much We'll just leave it be and we'll go from there.

So Wow, that was kind of big news this much for us Mike.

I I'm really excited about it because I mean I've it's Not uncommon to even like in the comments see people talking about these sorts of topics But there's not really a place to foster those sort of conversations Just like you said, there's plenty of folks that use a variety of different devices But there's but they have either a Mac or an iPhone like there's just enough crossover that brings people to this website But there's still interest that lay outside of those walls and I'm 100% on board with this.

I think it's wonderful Well, thank you Mike and we really appreciate that and we had a lot of good feedbacks They love the new introduction that we've done There's a some that are feared that we might do might kind of Get kind of muddled up and kind of blur what Apple viz is and I get their scaredness I I do but I promise that's not gonna be the case.

It's just that there's really not a Ideal location for window users to come other than email list social media, which is just fragmented And so we just felt like that was the whole point.

We're not obvious came about Yes, exactly.

I like having a one-stop I mean that's why I release in my opinion why Apple this was so successful because it just made it easy You don't have to hunt through stuff You don't have to deal with a thousand emails a day like it's just it's effective and the function of it is great and I personally absolutely no issue with expanding Yeah, well, I would love to hear what you guys think if you guys love it Don't like it and why you don't like it or whatever not email us and you're ready for this Mike Here comes the day finally was announced Apple just announced this just yesterday I believe that WWDC is coming.

It is going to be See June 10th is the big day.

So circle the day That's the day that's going to mark that we're gonna have our keynote and we will find out everything You ever want to know about iOS 18 and the new Mac OS and whatever not But there is going to be a lot of things we're going to discuss here.

That's going to reflect on what's coming up in I was 18 Yeah, I'm a little a little bit more excited about this one than in years previous right, and you know, it's interesting because It's always been Apple that like oh we're gonna introduce something new and we won't know and it's we just got to wait but this is I think this is the first year that Something has dictated Apple to take initiation So it's their turn to tell Apple what we want and I love that and I think you're right.

I think gonna be huge One of the announcement for iOS 18.

I want to kind of talk about and I was shocked I was just totally surprised that we heard some Accessibility news you can expect in iOS 18.

I was like is it May because in May that's when they typically drop Right.

I was like, oh my gosh This is odd now given this was from a reliable source It makes me wonder what else is coming down the pipe, but it's nothing for voiceover users I don't know if it's specifically for blind or visually impaired But it's definitely in the disability realms of things when in terms to accessibility so They have something called adaptive Voice shortcut meaning that they will be able to use a voice and as a shortcut So they can assign something to that word or voice to say Turn on voiceover zoom in or whatever not and it's all gonna be done by voice Yeah, I realize you can use Siri to initiate those things But this is for people that are going to be able to use their voice that are unable to use the buttons and such So I thought that was pretty cool.

I think that is very welcome I can but I agree and I think and maybe I'm reading it wrong But it seems like there's gonna be some ways to customize this right Has for me and this is just after watching a lot of nerdy TV shows What they're always saying enhance and the camera zooms in like if it was if the magnifier and zoom actually Benefited me I would love to set up a shortcut where I could be looking at something to say enhance and just have it zoom In on it just what I just feel like that'd be fun just to kind of make fun of those TV shows But then I just like being able to customize things So I'm actually genuinely curious to see when this comes out if there's a way to make it useful Right, I feel like a lot of the new stuff at least the last few updates on my that's neat But it doesn't really affect me a ton.

That's what I'm I'm actually kind of hoping it will I Mean no doubt.

Can you imagine I I can see a situation where you could just use your voice and command the camera and you just want To do hands off or hands on.

Yep, and to do something that would be cool.

I knew really didn't Thought about that.

But as you put that in statement that that's that's interesting.

It'd be fun even for nothing else At least for me I mean, I just like finding good ways to entertain myself If I could just set up a bunch of custom things to make my phone do weird stuff and nobody knows how I'm doing it Or what's going on?

Like I just enjoy that so right But those that use live listening will now have categories so you'll be able to you to assign categories to different types of Commands in the issues you use with your live voice So that is something to think about that's coming.

The other one is kind of interesting that They are talking about fonts being able to be changed across different apps now that's been around for years But apparently on the Mac is only limited.

So there's only certain actual Apple iOS app that buys by this dynamic text sizing.

I was like seriously there was only like five and I was like my gosh, so I guess they're expanding that to five additional apps and then The menu bar is a possibility that one might support the dynamic sizing of text So that is definitely for our low vision folks on the Mac itself And surprising that that wasn't done already, right?

I read that I figured I just assumed that if that was a feature that Apple had it would just be there for kind of everything, but it does seem like a An amendment to an idea that happened before like well We should probably implement this in a more broad spectrum because if it's helping people we should do it more than just these five places Right.

I was like you Mike.

I was like this isn't done already.

Yeah What I guess it was limited and so boy, I I'm kind of disappointed that wasn't a thing I mean, obviously I'm excited they're expanding it but I just said I'm just puzzled Me too, but nonetheless apparently there's more to be announced coming up So I'm guessing in May we'll see what else they have up their sleeves for iOS 18 in terms of accessibility Now diving into iOS 18.

This is really kind of interesting that Apple kind of basically said that we are bringing AI to the phone, but We're not quite ready for our own version of GPT or anything like that.

So we are going to probably expand partnership and bring an AI to the phone and that means talking to Google and including Gemini or firmly known as barred AI Into iOS and there's even talk of open AI being on board on your iOS 18.

Whoa this is the part that I'm I think the most excited about and Genuinely happy because we know that Apple's late to the game I mean it wasn't that long ago that they were buying up tons of servers to start working on this way Like well after other companies were and it was actually I was kind of relieved to see that this was the route that they take Instead of making us the users have a lackluster experience I'm kind of all for this.

I think for us at the end of the day.

It's we're all gonna benefit Yeah Man Mike you think about it.

This must be kind of a tough move that they had to say to themselves We just got in it too late There's no way we can come up with something as good as these other things in the time frame that we had And I mentioned it before and I'll say it again They were caught with their pants down no doubt and this is proof of that is because we thought for sure Apple will have his own AI and I'm not discounting that it won't it sounds like they might but it's not official It just seems like they just kind of threw up their white flag and says, okay We we tried and but for now we want to have something So it makes me wonder, you know how Google pays in billions just to be able to use them as a as a search engine Right.

I wonder if we're gonna try to make them use for billions to be able to use their Gemini I'm curious actually how that all plays cuz On one hand, I mean that would make sense But at the same time, I guess there's enough come enough competition out there Google might actually be able to have a bit of negotiating power.

So like hey Apple We know you guys aren't up to snuff and you know, what everybody knows it.

So if you want this Let's have a conversation about what this new check is gonna look like right?

Let's do a couple of my eyes Yeah, I'm intrigued how it's all gonna play out We'll let you we want to be this default search engine for in place of you can have our Gemini We'll just replace the 10 billion.

How's Google?

I would I might throw that out there I mean, there's lawyers that are way smarter than I am that I'm sure having lots of conversations about it, but right It'll be interesting what they do with it.

Like, you know my understanding there might be multiple AI options You can choose from and I was like, hmm.

This is interesting I wonder if there's gonna be a new subscription Siri Plus Mike you had to You know, I Hope I'm wrong.

It just listening.

I've never seen an article or anything about that But I haven't either but I will tell you that on my side of my mind as we were talking about this There was our subscription base if you want to use the pro version and it makes me wonder Hmm, will we have an Apple subscription base if you want to use the pro version of these I Make you wonder you can have the regular Siri that we all have now or you can have the new Ten bucks a month or whatever you can have this dumb Siri or you can have this intelligent Siri For yours for $9.95 a month.

I hope not.

I really hope that's not what happens, you know This is early days.

We won't know what they're using What's gonna be what what's gonna be in where or anything is the subscription base or not?

But Mike, I think you hit it on the head do not Be surprised if there is a subscription for this type of service Only time will tell I said I said it I feel I shouldn't have said it We you know, I well I can promise you this that the iPhone 16 Pro and it's all gonna be on the pro version folks.

I bet there's gonna be some exclusive AI Just for the pro only and only for that device.

I'm gonna bet you And probably that'll come along with because of this hardware, it's only Everybody else, you know, that's the thing I was I've been reading these articles that they they're working on a new chip and they've already started Producing these chips and that utilize the AI so there's some new Function in the chip that takes advantage of the AI and I was like, hmm Damn, I just got my iPhone 15 Pro. I know it just never and I'll see see Tom is already Alright, where do I what do I what do I who do I send the check to?

Yeah, hey to their credit assuming it all actually pans out this way This has been the first time in probably five years that I'm actually feeling mildly tempted to upgrade again Wow, I'm starting to rub off on you.

No, you're right.

This is way bigger than buttons or upgrading hardware AI folks.

Yep.

The AI is what's Got my attention.

Hmm Other iOS 18 news that I've just read here and just came across is that it sounds like they're going to be some homescreen additional home screen Customization now I don't I could be wrong folks.

I would love to hear from you I'm gonna hear from Mike So let me give you kind of an idea what they're talking about this new Customization home screen so it's giving you more freedom where to place the app that you want on the screen So right now we have a grid columns and rows and that's how the icons are arranged Apparently you're you're gonna be able to move these things around have spaces between these two apps Have a row that's a blank and column six got a blank It's still going to be grid style my understanding but you be able to place things in where you want I I can tell you right now for us that are blind I can't see any reason for us to do that other than maybe If you're a touch kind of a person that touch around and you want specific app to be right there And when you touch each and every time I guess you could be Allocating maybe five or six apps and you know where those are each and every time without having to swipe left and right each time I'm not a thrilled by it But I understand visually how this could be appealing and I can think our low vision folks would like this to have it Kind of separated without having to squint or real hard to see things.

I don't know.

What do you think Mike?

Hmm.

This one to me.

Well, first of all, I feel like this is gonna end up with anybody With eyes that looks at my phone is gonna be like what is happening There's just random blank spots all over your pages where because I'm probably not gonna notice that there's a little blank spot No one that's mostly full but I could also potentially see myself because the apps that I use the most are Generally at the bottom.

This is gonna probably confuse people.

My home screen has the majority of my apps on it and The ones I use the least are up for the top The ones I use the most are usually toward the bottom and more toward the right because I usually hold my phone in my right Hand.

I wanted to just be able to snatch them with my thumb real fast I actually could picture myself just putting most of my apps at the bottom right corner and leaving the rest of the Real estate empty there.

I might use that.

I don't know I'm curious in function how it all actually is gonna happen because anytime I'm setting up a new phone I spend an hour usually arranging everything just so because I want this app on that side and this one over there like it's very Obsessive how I manage my screen real estate and this might actually just make a little bit easier because now I don't worry about well I just need a couple of random apps to fill up the middle area to push these ones toward the edges of my screen Where I want them.

Hmm.

I don't think you're excessive I think we can all relate to that now we all have our form of OCD where things are supposed to be located Mine is that everything on the home screen just like you everything I use is on the home screen.

It's very rare I have to go to my second page for a secondary, but that first page eight folders.

I'm not a fan of folders Well, yeah, I agree with you on that one now.

I have to do this sometimes So I do have an entertainment folder that has all my like Netflix Amazon Disney Apple That have to live in there.

It's not something I do all the time So that's what I got to put in a folder anything use every day mail messages be my eyes Lyrae's My Libby Bard And those kind of things are there.

It's funny how we have our own way of arranging things but back to the point you're right is that I Don't know if it's gonna make all that difference to us.

Yeah, it'll be kind of weird I'm not sure if you'd be annoying that we will put our finger on the screen We find the app and then we just kind of go left and go to to to to to to to I don't know if I would Hearing or feeling that noise as you go across and find the other app, but I can see this being useful for some Yeah, it's another one of those things I'm kind of intrigued but curious to see if when it actually comes out if it actually becomes a thing that I Use right on a regular basis.

Yeah, so that is something to come Another thing that's coming and people have been talking about is the Apple watch The 10th series is coming out this year and rumor has it it has blood pressure monitoring now at first I thought oh wow This is kind of big not that I have any blood pressure issues or anything like that Thankfully, but I can see a lot of people would relate and probably be kind of perfect interest And then I start reading a little bit.

It's kind of misleading.

It's gonna be limited my friends.

So Very similar to the body temperature that came out last year It's like it doesn't tell you what your temperature is It just says that it's been your temperature has been increasing So it's going to be kind of that indicator and it's going to notice that your blood pressure is increasing It might say it's reaching to a range that you might want to Check on a regular basis of your blood pressure.

However, you measure it.

I was disappointed to hear that is I just feel like Apple's gonna tell yes, it has blood pressure monitoring and it's really isn't I can just see him doing that Yeah, it's more of a blood pressure indicator and I can't but wonder if this is just sort of part of the plan to avoid having to go through the FDA approval process Yeah, it makes you as far as Medical device goes.

I don't know how they how the FDA draws those lines But I've heard that it's getting something through the FDA can be a lengthy and difficult process And maybe if they just put an up or a down arrow or a check mark if you're good Maybe that's a way to avoid it.

I don't know.

I think you're right FDA is a Kind of a branch off the government here is the federal drugs administration that I'll make sure that That things that they do sell out there does of what it says and I think there may be Some issue with it with them being exact It's to be able to be approved for FDA for blood pressure monitoring I bet it has to be a hundred percent accurate and I don't think this is a hundred percent accurate and that's why they couldn't do it but Nonetheless, it is a finally we actually got a new sensor, but that might be useful for some out there's I I Still have my fourth generation folks the fourth series.

I'm still happy with it and We'll see if they drop the watch OS This will be the big year to see if I actually upgrade or not.

I just still not Convinced I'm happy what I have and there's nothing in the new version that I just must have in that way I have the opposite feeling about watch then I do the iPhone.

Yeah, I very much so I mean well to be fair I haven't had a watch since version 3.

I actually just found it in a drawer the other day.

I didn't know I still had it But I do and I just I haven't had a need haven't had a purpose for it.

Hmm.

Not yet Well, well, but as far as this blood pressure stuff goes, I feel like in general for those that are That are able to get the newer stuff.

There's nothing wrong with a better picture of your own health especially if it if you don't have to do anything extra if it's just kind of there just to help you have a Better handle on what might be going on, right?

And it just makes you kind of feel a piece if something is kind of off something wrong You'll at least get an idea where you need to go and get some help right or not Question is with the blood oxidized the oxygen blood oxygen sensor will be there I wonder if they will change some software to allow that to come back or if that will still be Missing we shall see and some other new hardware that's going to be coming out this fall Sounds like positive news is that they're going to be two new AirPod models coming out so we're talking about the entry levels So I'm sorry folks the this is not the air pods pros This is the entry level and now you're probably confused like I was as a two models really I had to read this twice.

I didn't realize right now There's a second generation and then there's a new generation called the third generation and they still sell both of those And so it's going to be similar Situation where they're going to have the third generation and then the brand new fourth generation that comes out now What gets confusing and kind of muddled and I couldn't get a direct answer from any of the articles is that?

They're saying this new air pod fourth generation will have active noise cancellation With the case I'm thinking hmm This is interesting how?

Differ will this be from the pro when it comes to that active noise cancellation That's kind of a big deal.

Well, I thought was between the two models now Yeah, that was my memory kind of what the big selling point was this active noise cancellation.

I I'm curious.

I don't know because at this point that's a $100 difference between the two or yes, I guess depending on where you're looking but for what now I Guess the pro will still have the newest technology the probably a much better active noise cancellation Standard yeah quality in general.

I'm sure we'll write so I think that's what the two but Nonetheless for being a hundred dollars difference if you just don't have the cash, but you want something Apple airpods I think this would be a good fit for those that want you finding for the budget conscious people to have active noise cancellation What's interesting is that this is going to be outfitted with the USB C obviously everything they have to put out We'll have to have USB C But there will be no air pod max out this year.

It's going to be refitted with the USB C So they're gonna kind of relaunch the old air pod max I wish they would introduce even more new technology But it doesn't sound like that's gonna be the case other than just Giving a USB C and hey, it's brand new Yeah, never seen before USB C.

I wish they it's unfortunate They don't have like a hey bring in your old ones We'll swap them so you can have the new port and it's only a whatever 50 $100 They should have at least an exchange program that would be ideal.

I would love that I'm sure that you know, then I don't know if they do or don't I mean they kind of sort of do that with the iPhone They have exchange program.

They said we'll just give you X number dollars for that device Hmm.

Yeah, I don't know if that I've never heard of that applying to headphones before no that is true, but Yeah, um, I don't know how to feel about that But there is another iOS 18 feature when it comes to air pod and that is the air pod Pro and they're talking about that there are Rumors of it coming out with something called it Heriade mold for the pro models only it doesn't mean they're gonna come out with a new air pod Pro But whatever the latest version of the air pod Pro is going to support this heriade mode now.

I have Some thoughts on this.

I think is a great idea.

I understand the direction they're going with this but Obviously, this is going to definitely be for more mild maybe medium moderate hearing loss definitely not for moderate and heavy loss like myself, but it does do things better to the ear and I can hear the difference but The only thing I don't understand about them touting the heriade mode is that the battery life There's just this these are not an all-day heriade that you can wear Yeah, not at all Think of cases that this would be helpful and like kind of like you were saying so for those that don't know when I got myself Blown up my left eardrum was perforated.

They had to do like reconstructive surgery and it's like 85% maybe I could imagine maybe using something like this Maybe sitting in a noisy restaurant or like an environment where there's ambient sound that I could Potentially use this to focus on who it is that I'm actually trying to listen to in a loud environment but as far as people that need it and rely on it every day, I Feel like this is like kind of a Fisher-Price Comparison this isn't for serious like use cases This is like a fun thing for people that kind of might need it But no, I like if that's a device that you rely on I don't think this is gonna be it.

Mm-hmm I love that Fisher-Price edition People like me that I don't really need it or it's like oh, this is kind of neat This has a very specific use case, but okay, so you have a hearing loss in one year And do you wear anything now for that to correct?

I don't know cuz like it's for the most part It's fine Usually I only really notice it if I either have both of my headphones in the audio is always off balance Just a little bit or if the environment that I'm in is kind of noisy like a restaurant or a place like that Then I can I'll catch myself like leaning over the table like wait what they what they say like asking the people next to me Normal normal situations.

It's barely noticeable well, we all have troubles in bars and noisy place whether you have hair loss or not, but I You know, it makes me wonder if you could just stick your AirPod Pro in there and adjust it And try to even out equal ears.

I wonder if that makes any difference for you.

I that's one of those things I don't often have both of my headphones in but when I do I'm like, oh, I really need to come and do that I need to boost this left one a little bit and then I usually end up forgetting, right?

Well, that's interesting And nonetheless new Air Pods are on its way folks And now to the real hardcore stuff here that we come to this introduction of this Apple viz unleash Is that the Department of Justice has finally revealed they are going to file anti?

What is that anti what trust?

There you go anti trust suit suit against Apple.

Oh My goodness Mike.

All right, but I've taken a lot of painstaking Moments to read lots of different articles try to get different views.

Try not to be an Apple fanboy Drinking my apple kool-aid to before I make any radical Statement that I know I'm going to be making on this podcast, but I will try to do my best here Let's dissect this.

Let's talk about messages first.

I'm gonna get your view first So they think that Apple Monopolized on the green and the blue bubbles you believe it.

They even talked about it says we got the green and blue bubbles I was like, hey, I know what that means.

We talked about it.

So what is your thoughts on?

Let's talk about messages Do Apple have a monopoly on eye messages?

Trying to be objective and also trying to forget the things that I've already read about this if I If I was the one making this decision, I all I would say is Apple you need to let the user select what app Their messages go to you So I guess surface level I would say I'd probably say yes Because like if I want to tie my phone number to whatsapp or to signal or to telegram or any of the other million other apps out there, that should be a choice, but I messaged being I messaged me all these things Significantly more complicated than just making that kind of a judgment Do you believe that I messaged needs to be broken up needs to be opened up?

I I Would have said yes before at Apple had already announced their upcoming changes.

Mm-hmm At this point, I don't think it matters.

Okay, I agree with you Mike I know this sounds crazy, but I totally agree with you.

I had to think about it be neutral So here's the deal So right now what the complaint is is that they use it a couple times is that I am not able to send a video To my mom not in the quality that would be deemed usable or I cannot react to the message to my mom's message and blah blah blah blah And of course they use a moment where Tim Cook was teasingly and I thought it was funny and inappropriate but people just took this way out of context and that is he says won't buy her an iPhone and Dodge decided to use that against them.

It says all now you're okay Here's the deal folks in iOS 18 and I have to thank EU for this for their DMA So if you've been following this podcast EU has kind of gone through this process already It's a little bit different than what we have to deal here in the States where EU is Forcing them to do a lot of different things So here's my take RCS is a new standard and messaging that Google Microsoft Apple have all decided to use that is open Consortium this is an open standard text that we decide that will kind of give equal footing between all the phones not total Equal footing but better than what they have now and Apple had decided to go ahead and accept that and that's coming up in iOS 18 now With that and I'm gonna be fair here is that they're saying yes, and that's great we love that you're gonna use RCS, but the problem is you're using the 2019 version of the standard you're not wanting to take the newer version if you decide to continue this and Take the new standard as a go.

That'll be one thing, but they don't feel like Apple is going to do that So, I don't know if that's the case Then that's being dumb on Apple's part if they go ahead and accept this RCS and keep updating and promise They would update it to the new standard then I'm okay with it but I think they're leery because obviously that open standard is now going to introduce reactions and Special effects that we see in iMessage so that competes against them So I can see Apple kind of leery about that.

But to be fair, I'm with Mike I think give us a decision if we want to use whatsapp and a lot of people use whatsapp and that's all they want to Use if we can use that I'm all for it Have a choice of option what message that you want to use on your phone But I don't believe they need to open up iMessage itself Just make sure you have other option for people to use as a default Yeah, and if Apple doesn't want to mess with different standards if they want to keep the 2019 version which especially in Recent news seems like a very Apple sort of move like yeah, we'll do it But we're gonna be obnoxious about it then let people just send their messages through something else They are being obnoxious and we will talk about more about that The other thing they talked about I didn't realize that Apple bans any streaming game on the phone.

So That's kind of a new thing.

If you're not following the game these D these days everything is streaming.

So Don't be surprised if Xbox and PlayStation are no longer a console It's just gonna be a streaming console.

So in other words, you need the internet to play the games and that's kind of a new thing Apparently part of the EU once again, they're forcing them to say we need you to allow these games streaming There's no reason for you to ban this and there's no Rhyme and reason for that.

So Apple kind of did a compromise and says we will allow that But it has to be for each game you want to stream.

It's one app they don't want this one app to contain a Hub that can go through 20 different streaming games.

And the reason behind this is they want to be able to control any Terrible games that they add to it.

They don't want that to happen They want to make sure each one of those games is its own app and been approved by Apple I can get behind that as long as Apple's allows it.

I'm okay I get it people are not gonna like having to download every app for every game but it's I Get it.

Yeah, I mean I probably would have stronger feelings if games were An option I suppose because I get pop-ups on my computer about Microsoft's cloud gaming services and all That stuff and I'm sure Microsoft would love to make one app and have all of their games on everybody's iPads and phones, but I Mean, I don't even I can't even imagine how many other companies would also want this sort of thing It's this one.

I don't know.

It's weird that I would love let me back up I would love this is sort of kind of related.

I would love to be able to set Dropbox for example as My cloud of choice for my phone.

I wish I could just pick my cloud and not have to have different clouds Depending on what device I'm missing with at the time, right?

That's what I would love Yes, so that would be the next subject is to close ecosystem Third-party apps not having the ability to be default and that would be a good situation there I think it's come to that point when you are going to have to let us Accept I'm not saying that it's going to notch down privacy or anything like that It's just meaning that I just want default stuff.

I I already pay for say Dropbox Like you said, I don't want to have to pay additional for iCloud and I get Apple has his own services and making his own money So that's the next thing comes up is tap to pay so They want them to open up tap to pay.

So if my bank wants to be had use I want to use Bank of America, which is my bank and use that as a tap to pay instead of using Apple pay Through my Bank of America and charge Bank of America extra or McDonald's or whatever for that fee And I I just don't think that's fair at all.

I think that's pretty greedy that they Have a fee every time you're using my phone.

I'm thinking what differences make I don't see where It will use them to For the fee where the fees what the fee for it's what I'm asking I asked that a lot most times I see a fee in almost every aspect of my life like but for what?

I don't understand what this is doing.

I Don't get it and real quick.

I feel like when we're talking about the cloud thing in particular Well should make something that's as good as these other options, right?

If you're gonna compete make it good Yeah, instead of just forcing people to be stuck in what you decided we want make it something that we want to use right, I I This part I don't get but this is one of those things and slowly but surely they're allowing us to use You know your which email you want to use which browser you want to use and that's getting there However, it's still I guess it's still Apple ish behind it.

But anyway the ecosystem being closed off so The air tags would be a good example.

Is it fair to say that tiles?

cannot have the same Functionality as air tags because it's closed off.

I just don't See that being fair Yeah, and this is where like there is a point where there's a reason that you and I aren't setting policy And making laws because this stuff is not simple.

I can't tell you how many articles I'm assuming you've read tons of articles about all of this stuff and all the ins and outs.

It's complicated There's a reason it's being talked about everywhere because there's so many different facets to it But because for me, it's easy to say Oh, yeah, open it up finally like each time they peel a layer off and make things a little bit more the way I want I'm excited.

Yeah It's complicated.

It's complicated.

It is complicated and I Sometimes I think to myself if I had designed iPhone myself You loved it.

You used it don't like it.

Don't use it and that's kind of the Reason apples is using and it's like you have other options.

Why are you picking on us?

Why are you breaking us apart in different pieces?

This is what we design and this is how things work.

So well together in the ecosystem Is this is why people buy it and they bought it for this reason and they have a good point I mean for ten years is it yeah twelve years before somebody said something about oh they're now being unfair and I'm thinking where have you been for twelve years because that's why we love it.

So I'm not This is where it comes in the gray area folks I'm not trying to be Apple fanboy at all But think it to yourself you made this now people want to come up and break everything apart that you put your Everything into it to make it more secure and more privacy and I Think they need to have it both ways So what I'm saying if you want to use their ecosystem feel free to But yet on the other side it needs to be open if I want to mix-match or put apps in what I want And yes, I will know that I would break up the privacy and all that stuff.

That will be up to me So, I don't know.

I just how I feel about it I know it would be a fun change to see to see Apple license iOS like Google and Android Mmm, let Samsung make their version of an iPhone.

Give them give them the software.

Have a great day I know that would never happen But that world would be very intriguing if you could if any company could make a phone and run iOS on it Then Apple will tank.

Oh, yeah, I'm sure though that would break every model that they have It would not be a successful.

There'll be no reason for them to come out with it Everyone of their privacy concerns like a new in 2026 We're now collecting every bit of data on you because now we got to sell that to everybody else You know what's weird about this mic is that let's take the Mac for example We don't have that case with the Mac Mac is open so in other words There is the safe way and the private way and that is making sure every app and everything you have is Signed by Apple so you can use apps or software outside of the app store to use on your Mac The developers just have to get a certification to say this has been certified by Apple and you can install it.

There is no They do allow you to go outside the app store and You can install anything you want and that's what puzzles me.

Why?

Doesn't the Mac get the same love as the iPhone.

I Don't know.

I don't know if it maybe is just if it all boils down to how much of our private personal data Good for me.

I have a Mac and an iPhone It's just bizarre.

Isn't it?

Yeah, I don't know if maybe there's just more Potential risk more people's usually keep more data on their phones than they would on their computer.

Maybe it's just that There should just be a pop-up that if I want to download something from some unverified source make me acknowledge it accept any risks that come along with it and Go about your business.

It's just funny how How that's different?

It's like I don't understand it, right?

And so you don't have the same thing for the Mac, but people buy the Mac Why because of the chip they have and the software they have is just so smooth It's beautiful as fast a battery lasts forever.

That's the same thing could be said for an iPhone.

So like you said, I don't see why that should be any difference and I think that's what the EU and the DOJ and Lots of countries are saying you need to kind of do what you do on the Mac Go ahead and do your certificates and whatever you do on the Mac let things be open and you're gonna sell Apple device because they are a Reputable company when it comes to if you use their things is private But yet give me the freedom to do what I want on that device I think so what I'm saying, I'm kind of on the fence.

I see some points and some points I don't so we'll see how this rolls out It's gonna I guarantee is gonna be years before we see anything done with this and unfortunately Department of Justice got a pretty weak leg to stand on a lot of the information they have is outdated That is not unusual for government to be so slow This has been five years in the process and things have changed over the five years, but I think More than likely I think the DMA is gonna take more effect on anything else and that's gonna speak the next item Last month we we dogged Apple about how they're handling the DMA We thought they were boneheaded and what they're doing is just drugging their Feet and I don't like how they're handling things and so guess what so EU just announced they are Going to look into the matter as I told you March 7th.

What's the day?

They're gonna say I see that you're not really doing what we're telling you so we're gonna put you back in investigation and sure enough they Officially put them on investigation again and it could be very serious fine and I I just don't understand about Apple When they were already just fine $2 billion for dragging the feet and being able to Have a way of developers point to a alternative pay area Apple still dragging it and so EU says, okay keep dragging We're gonna just we're gonna find you two billion and Apple says, okay That's sad.

I don't like it when they just shrug it off and I heard something about That's nothing to them.

That's like a day's worth of revenue for them for one day.

I was like, mmm It makes me wonder if things don't change how often the EU can impose this fine If it's an annual or is it a one-time thing?

I never saw anything about that specific detail on it, but it's Obnoxious it is obnoxious.

I don't know.

I think right Yeah, we got way into it last month and now Apple takes this massive fine and just Okay, shrug it off.

Cool.

Yeah, I think it's gonna be a matter of fine We're gonna increase it and I think you're right.

I think it'd be more frequent faster and I think it'll finally Get them to move where we need them.

So this brings up the next subject.

I want to talk to you about If Apple releases something to tap to pay or Apple music or Apple TV Should we allow competition to come in place of that and be shared equally on?

Apple devices and I'm gonna mention in this two billion dollar fine was specific to Spotify So what I'm saying The Reason this whole thing came up two billion dollar fine is because Spotify is saying I can't compete with Apple music on their platform because they're charging us 30% of what we are charging our consumer for the same thing You could get with Apple music so we cannot compete equally because it's gonna cost us more and we have to pass a cost more to our User base and they'll just end up using Apple music cuz it's cheaper.

Is that unfair?

Mmm, my initial response.

I want to say yes, but I did read an interesting point that was comparing this to like should Ford dealership have to sell Tesla's Yes, and like that kind of but I feel like at the same time that's not the same thing Right, I was reading that they're saying that target products being into Walmart.

We're forced to sell target products and it's like this is not fair to me you're making me sell other people's for something I had success with I Guess what it comes down to when I really thought about it.

I think your 30% is successive What is that fee for?

What are you gaining?

I mean Spotify is so huge we're talking millions millions if not tens or six figures or seven figures for that a Profit for Apple if it's not billions off of Spotify success.

I don't think that's right.

I may be What should be fair and I think the DMA is trying to saying the same thing maybe you should lower your your fee maybe ten percent and Because I get it it's your store it's your phone But I don't know.

I don't know what to think.

I don't know how I should feel about this Yeah, it is a it is a confusing one for me too because I do use Spotify and for me It's just frustrating that I can't tell Siri to play something and have it actually do it It never works.

I used to be able to do that with Apple music But if I try to use Siri to play a song or a certain playlist, it doesn't work Never has and that to me is kind of my I mean that that's obnoxious because there's times I'm walking around doing stuff I just want to say it to my headphone and have it do it Meanwhile Apple's taken 30% of this like this is definitely not I'm not okay with how things are right now What like the right answer is was?

Definitely definitely above my pay grade, but 30% is just a lot.

It's excessive.

Um, I Just think they need to compromise on the fee that where everybody would be happy However, I think some people is thinking we shouldn't pay anything.

I don't know if I agree with that I think you need to pay something.

I just don't think 30% is what you need to do because Competition is great.

I love Apple TV, but I like Netflix better.

I mean, it's just the way it is I just love the show but more on it It may be the same reason for Spotify maybe has certain things that Apple music doesn't and I like Spotify better I don't think that should be a reason why to keep your consumer of being happy and not having that option there However, I get it.

I get it because it goes back to what I just said I just created all this everybody loves it now.

Everybody's beating on me I want my choice on music and blah blah blah blah and I'm like go to Android and then they're like no I don't I love your iPhone, but I want mine.

So it gets confusing Yeah, I don't know me.

Yeah part of it if it wasn't Apple if it wasn't this massively successful rich Company like if it was some new player on the market That's like having a hard time paying their bills and keeping the lights on then sure But like I don't know and maybe that's more my personal issue.

I don't have a ton of sympathy for this trillion dollar company Yeah, everyone's picking on us.

I think Apple has always focused on two things Hardware and the iOS or the OS whether that's the Mac With this OS the iPod with his iPad OS and now with the iPhone with his OS I think that's where they should focus with not everything they try to add to it I think it needs to be fair.

It needs to be opened up I think it needs to be a lot more open than they want to I Realize you're not gonna get as much money and I think they know it they're just a little bit greedy when it comes to Trying to find the niche and rob that from other people.

So it's just you know, yeah town has a great idea Let's make our own.

It's called air tax Spotify had a great idea.

Let's make Apple music when you start to encroach on other areas I think that's where you need to be a little bit more leant and Not be so excessive that's just my two cents.

I agree.

I definitely agree with that All right with that is all out of the way let's talk about some news that is to Apple is and outside to our realm of We can relate there's two news I like to talk about be my eyes this week and now something kind of a big deal For those on our beta.

I'm on beta now not those with those to be my AI beta This is a different type of beta.

You're not gonna see this for a while.

But when it comes out you will be taking advantage so they're expanding the Directory there was a directory where you are able to say I want to contact Microsoft and you can either call them or you can do a kind of a Video conference with somebody in the accessibility team.

This is great.

I love it.

They're gonna expand that just a little bit It's more like a directory really it's not always about accessibility They're gonna be over 600 companies listed and added daily.

So in other words, I have things like Adobe Bank America LinkedIn and those sort of companies that don't really have accessibility team But they're hard to find a number that actually can talk to a person So these are have a listing of all the companies you can call right within the be my eyes I think that's a cool feature.

There are times I cannot find a number for a particular company This will be a useful thing.

So it's coming your way I Have used the Microsoft quite a few times I love it because I can actually talk to somebody and they can take over your computer and help you through your Situation so if your screen reader is being dumb and there's something that's not working with Microsoft They will be able to help you out.

I love that I think this is great because sometimes they bury those phone numbers so deep on whatever the website is It's a massive pain in the butt to find it Right, and so this will try to help you out to get those numbers that are hard to find So this is coming and a lot of people didn't realize this too We have been just in discussion with a be my eyes That the PC version of the be my eyes is supposed to make land for beta testing this summer folks So if you love be my eyes on your iPhone is coming to windows.

Yes, so stay tuned for that When that comes out, I definitely will be doing a podcast on that Speaking of Windows, I'm gonna take us on a mild little tangent They just released an update for Stardew Valley on PC and the guys that work on the Stardew access which is a mod to make it accessible are currently Working on their second beta right now and it's so far.

It's pretty awesome So for those of you who may be used to play or thought about playing or didn't even know it was possible It 100% is tell me about I don't know what you're talking about Stardew Stardew Valley.

It's like a Farming simulator sort of game.

I mean it came out kind of 2015.

I think is when it came out And at this point like this new update popped out.

There's all kinds of new stuff and it seems to be just because the guy Loves this game and the players love it you just start with a little kind of rundown a farm and you can go and buy coops and barns and end up with dozens of animals and planting crops and like going down to mines and fighting monsters or just some all kinds of getting the Socializing with other people in the town.

It's just kind of like a It's farm sims.

Yeah kind of right, but it's it's it's so much fun.

Oh, man.

It's real fun I used to play a lot of those roller coaster tycoons They have ski resort tycoon any of the tycoons, I absolutely love simulation you create your own park and It's always fun, but that started.

Okay.

Yep.

I think last week was in the update came out and nice Yeah, that's cool.

Good one And one last bit of news and we'll kind of close things up We have been talking about this in the past now it has come to head and yesterday there was announcement By the folks of voice dream a reader if you've been listening to our podcast in the past So we talked about how handing over to the new developers and what we thought of that.

I asked John about this and Mike what they thought about the Description for new people that have never used before if it was something to be used.

Well, guess what?

Got bad news for you and I don't take this for Take this with a grain of salt because it was announced and things could change because the backlash is been fierce If you're a voice stream reader user, we have purchased this in the past, correct?

And so we are able to use this for a lifetime so we don't have to worry about subscription and all that and as I mentioned That before however, that's about to change according to the company as of May 1st of 2024 Everybody that purchases at one time or another will now be placed into a subscription queue So you'll be forced to use their subscription models So my understanding for those that have bought this before will be able to buy this at a 20% discount For life.

So instead of $80 is going to be $60 So that is $60 a year subscription to use the voice stream reader Regardless if you have paid for in the past, you will be forced to do this now Wow, I was totally blown away of their Brashness that hurts Okay So this has been fierce on Apple this the discussion has gone on Fire as you would suspect a lot of people saying I purchased this I purchased this and they said it was for life Why are they charging this now?

I think it sucks.

Here's the deal folks And this is what I think is going to go on.

I think they have no choice.

I Think you can do all the fierce backlash all you want and make them bin.

I think the problem is is that Do we want them to go out of business or do with them to stay in business?

I think that's what it comes down to I think the the new developers they took over are in it for the money and I think they realize they aren't getting the money that they thought they would be getting rolling in because there's so many of us I've already purchased it and Now they're like man.

We're really not getting much in So I think what in order for this company to survive, I think we're gonna have to charge I mean, I have no clue what their actual numbers as far as new purchases goes but if The majority of the people bought it years ago in the past and they're all still over there doing work developing new features knew this knew That they're not making money for the work that they're doing at the end of the day It's like so I hate it.

I hate it when something like this happens It little bit reminds me of the whole Lexi debacle and all of that Right happened with that.

This is just I Don't get me wrong folks.

I think this is low.

I think The problem is this developer is not the developer that promises us that stuff now some people saying this new developers did promise that and They're taking their word for it.

But I think In the end of the day you need to think about this.

I think all right Then we're gonna just go belly up no more voice stream reader Because you force our hands to do this.

I don't like how they're doing this I think to me I think the price is still excessive.

I think what is that?

$60 a month.

I think I heard that they are Going to do five dollars and 99 cents.

So that's six dollars a month.

So that's still 72 bucks a year, whatever not I still think six dollars is too much and Some people say I can hear you you can email me To unleash what your thoughts on this and I'll be curious and a lot of people saying it's worth it And it's not so much about is it worth it?

Are you going to pay that we pay so many subscriptions for everything?

Is this one of those you are going to keep?

You know, it's kind of reminds me of ivory for Macedon and it was free for a bit and then they went to description and People were all bored says well, they made all this work for it and duh And I'm hearing a lot of people starting to saying I can't afford all this subscription for everything It's something you have to give and that one of those is gonna have to give up.

So I don't know Mike.

I'm Yeah, I always is painful when Something like this happens, but right at a day at this point the market's gonna decide if people feel like it's worth it and if it's not then What makes this hard for them?

If you're a book share person, I know a lot of folks with bookshare loves this There is an alternative called dolphin easy reader.

I've said this many times.

It's free It does bookshare.

Is it as good as voice stream?

Not really, but it's very good I'm not saying it's perfect like voice stream.

It offers a lot more things for your buck There's some things you can't do with voice stream reader Or I'm sorry with the dolphin easy reader So this is just something for you to be aware and that has come up your free days are up and numbered I don't know how the backlash is going to result if they end up changing this and not doing it I have a hard time Seeing that that they would do this I think they either were lower the price, but I still think the subscription is going to be a done deal We'll find out I'll keep you posted Yikes I had to bring that up.

I thought that was kind of big news.

Yeah, so Closing up my friend.

So Mike you have anything to share with us for this month I do actually and I have a bone to pick with letterbox because of it who actually not letterbox It's with the users.

I wouldn't solve the new Ghostbusters movie frozen Empire Gil Kenan is the director of that one.

I really liked it I enjoyed took all the kids to it the trailers at the beginning were for movies that I loved everybody that listens to this Knows I love horror movies.

So I was a little bit nervous As we're leading into this because some of the kids were not liking it those movie trailers But we got into it and it was it was genuinely fun to watch with everybody I gave it four stars on letterbox.

The average rating is 2.8.

And I think that's Harsh cuz I like wow It is Ghostbusters.

I mean the problems I have with sequels or Trying to overtake the original is that it's like they try too hard I I love Ghostbusters now I've seen some of the sequel and I thought they were horrible.

So I'm hoping this one was better.

I Full disclosure.

I obviously saw like one in two when they first well back in the 80s I haven't seen any of the ones in between those and this though.

Okay, and my Well, I guess we'll throw this out there My wife has never seen any of them before and she watched this one and enjoyed it Just as as far as a standalone film.

Oh my gosh kids loved it.

We had a great time she never know I now I get from Millennials of Gen Z that probably were too young when it first came out.

I get that So you're forgiven but for older people like Mike and his brand-new wife Never saw Ghostbusters Titanic, yeah, I just saw that for the first time like two months ago So we're educating each other on movies Indiana Jones One of these days she's never seen a single one of those except for the crystal skull which is the only one that I told her she'd never should have seen that one was garbage, but That's my pick for the month Wow.

Okay.

I have not seen any movies or anything I've been stuck with a lot of books and Whatnot been busy with other things, but I am glad to hear both Ghostbusters I probably wait wait until it comes out.

Yep It's it's I would confidently say it's at least worth seeing once Okay from that point people I like those tell me I'm wrong.

I would definitely record I'd watch it again.

Okay Now see that's my thumb rule is I always get three out of five if it's worth watching once but not again But if it's worth watching twice, then it hits that three point five and up Okay, and five is only for movies like I will watch this every year for the rest of my life for the rest of your life and one of those is probably one of the dumbest movies ever but Christmas vacation is one of those I have to watch every single year and I can see some people rolling their eyes like oh god That's a terrible move.

No, it's not.

It's great.

It's hilarious.

I have a good sense of humor.

I guess I don't know I agree All right.

Well, that's gonna do for this month only for March 2024 and hope to have John back and hopefully didn't have to owe too much money to the IRS We'll see I know he had a little experience that he lost his iPhone for a couple hours So we're talking about that but good news He got it back and hopefully we'll have a lot more news to talk about here along with me is My name is Thomas Domville also known as AnonyMousealong with Mike Malarcy.

We'll see you next month everybody

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