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This week: Blood oxygen is back, baby! Also: Apple’s push into smart homes and robotics, more flip-flopping in iOS 26 beta 6, a weird Mac mini setup, how to stop AirPods switching and a travel charger review!
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0:02
Okay. Hello and welcome to the Cultcast, the best Apple conversation you're going to hear all week long. I'm your host, Leander Kaney. I'm the editor and
0:09
publisher of culttomind.com. Joining me today, we have D. Griffin Jones coming in from Ohio. Welcome, Griffin.
0:15
Good evening. Are Where are you, Leander? Are you still in San Francisco? I'm still in San Francisco. Yeah, I'm I'm in a new office space. Uh it's a
0:23
little It used to be our uh the ladder off of the kitchen. So, we cleared it out and made into this the world's tiniest office. The the what now? Is
0:30
that some British room? What do you mean? British room. What is larder? Oh, lard.
0:35
Pantry is the term you're looking for. You should put a little sign up outside of it. Pantry one. Wait, who are you? You haven't been
0:42
introduced yet. No. That's right. Lewis Wallace. Here we have Lewis. He's about a block away from
0:49
me on the surface of the moon. It's actually hot in San Francisco today. The sun's come out and uh we're
0:56
sweating. I can't believe it. that I had to open open the window, which is what we call turning on the air conditioning.
1:03
Yeah. Right. Well, we've actually got a super exciting show this week. I'm actually genuinely excited about it.
1:08
There's a ton of really crazy news and some really exciting uh products from
1:14
Apple, a new product uh that's been coming out. Blood Oxygen is back, which is a very unexpected uh development.
1:22
There's been some more flip-flopping on the iOS 26 beta. We have the craziest mobile Mac setup you've ever seen. Uh we
1:30
have to a great reader question which I'm sure a lot of people um are going to be uh enthralled about because I'm sure
1:37
it's a a common problem. Uh and we have a some kind of charger thing, a review of a charger thing. Some kind of charger
1:42
thing that Lewis is going to show us uh which I'm very very um excited about. So I'm I'm I'm stoked about this. I'm
1:49
pumped. Pumped. Wow. Um this early in the morning, too. That's crazy. I just had a cup of coffee, so
1:55
I'm completely buzzing out of out of my mind. In fact, our grinder is on the wrong setting. It
2:01
only does like super fine espresso grind, you know. So, this it tastes like the worst swill you've ever drunk. And
2:07
it's cost but it's it's loaded with about 2,000 milligrams of caffeine. So,
2:12
it does the job. Uh, so I'm actually like to thank our sponsor and I'm excited I'm even excited
2:18
about the sponsor this week because it's Clean My Mac. Clean my Mac from Mac Paw,
2:24
which is the only thing keeping my Macs running. And I'm not exaggerating. This
2:30
is it's it's a fabulous software that helps you control and care for your Mac.
2:35
Uh, and it comes from MPO, which is a Ukrainian developer. They are really really good. This thing is is is mature
2:42
now. It helps you clean up files, save space, it does malware, it does realtime
2:47
updates, it looks for uh all kinds of stuff. It really, it's the only thing that like every time I run out of
2:53
storage space, I run this. And in fact, I just looked at it now. I've got 35 gigabytes. It's going to clean up if I
2:59
run it. I'm not going to do it now because I'm going to do the cult, but after as soon as I finish this, I'm going to clear 35 gigs from my uh from
3:06
my from my hard drive. Uh, and they have this new feature called cloud cleanup, which I I'm not familiar with because I
3:12
haven't seen this yet, but it connects your your your cloud accounts like on iCloud, one drive, and Google Drive, and
3:18
it scans the clouds for these large um spacewasting files. Uh, it looks for
3:24
sync files and unsync files both in your cloud storage and on your device, and it'll clear those up, too. This seems like a fabulous development. So, I'm I'm
3:31
looking forward to testing that out. The one of the best things about it is it is the automatic thing. You just hit run. It scans your drive and it'll do a quick
3:37
cleanup. It's super automatic. You don't have to think about it. It's very very trustworthy. I know a lot of people
3:42
sometimes kind of worry about this kind of stuff. And in fact, but anyway, I trust it. It's it I've been using it for
3:49
years. It's been totally great and it's completely saved my bacon a load of times. Get tidy today. You can try it
3:54
for 7 days for free. And if you use cold the code cult, that's cult cult for 20%
4:02
off. That's a pretty good discount. Uh, and you go to uh cleanmy, it's clmm.com/cultast.
4:11
So clmmmy.com cultcast. And I highly recommend this software. Like I've been using it for
4:16
years. I this is one of the this often the first thing I install on my Mac when I get a new Mac. I use it all the time.
4:23
You know, one of the essentials. One of the Mac essentials for sure. So I'm Thank you very much for Mac Paul for sponsoring the show. I mean, this is so
4:29
mad news today. Totally unexpected. Out of the blue. I know. Blood oxygen. Blood oxygen is back.
4:35
I know. Totally shocking. Apple sent out the press release just this morning. Uh redesigned blood oxygen testing feature.
4:42
It's launching today, if it's not already out, uh for Apple Watch models that lost access to the the blood oxygen
4:48
app due to a patent dispute. Uh Apple says that a recent US customs ruling
4:54
enabled them to come up with a workaround. Uh, so you're not going to get the actual blood oxygen app, which
5:00
got, you know, disappeared. It it's not going to appear on on your Apple Watch. It's not going to work exactly the same
5:06
as it does if you have an older Apple Watch that still has the app. Here's how Apple describes it. Sensor data from the
5:12
blood oxygen app and Apple Watch will be measured and calculated on the paired iPhone. And results can be viewed in the respiratory section of the health app,
5:18
which by the way, if you ever dig into the health app, oh my god, there's so much data in there. It's crazy. Uh
5:24
anyway, this only affects new Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Series 10, or Apple Watch Ultra 2 models that were
5:31
sold in the United States uh in, you know, starting in early 2024. Um to get
5:38
this, you got to install iOS 18.6.1 on your iPhone, Watch OS 11.6.1 on your
5:44
Apple Watch. Supposedly, these are coming out today. um as our writer Ed
5:50
Hardy wrote this up and it's hilarious because just last week or I I I lose track of time. I think it might have
5:55
actually been this week he wrote a post about or an editorial like Apple needs to fix this and we've all been saying
6:01
this, right? Apple, you know, how can they let this happened because obviously Tim Cook saw
6:07
that editorial and he's like we got to fix this guy so that's why it's come out. I mean we we irritated Hardy. We've gone too
6:13
far. It's funny Ed was saying Apple needs to just like pay up and settle, which I
6:20
think is actually far-fetched because I don't think that the people that sued Apple. It's it's like to them it's like
6:25
a blood feud. I don't think they're ever going to actually settle with Apple. It was like the previous CEO of Masimo
6:31
who like made it his thing. We're like, "No, we're going to fight this to the end. We're not going to settle. We're
6:36
not going to take Apple's money." And like the thing was he was replaced as CEO like something like six months to a
6:42
year ago, a while ago now. And everybody thought, "Oh, okay. Now that he's out, since that was just his little little pet project, maybe maybe they'll have a
6:48
resolution here." No, that still hasn't happened. But well, how does this get around the
6:55
patent dispute? Because aren't they kind of, you know, I mean, how does it work? How
7:01
surely there still dispute was something with how the blood oxygen is measured on the watch itself. And so processing this
7:07
data on the iPhone, I guess, technically circumvents the what the patent was
7:12
or at least an appeals court has judged that. Yeah. I mean, completely bizarre. I mean, it sounds like I I mean, if I had
7:19
to guess and and Apple's, you know, Apple's press release, of course, is not like rich with details about all this,
7:25
but uh you know, it pro the patent probably applies to a smartwatch that displays
7:32
uh blood oxygen levels. And so now you don't have a a a smartwatch that displays blood oxygen levels. You have
7:38
an iPhone that does. I mean, well, how come they didn't think of this before? I mean, isn't that uh the
7:44
obvious solution? I don't know. Making you like Federigi sitting around, you know, takes a bong hit. He's wait a minute.
7:51
Oh, man. We just play it on the iPhone. I mean, it's still a degraded situation,
7:56
right? Like you can't there's the blood oxygen app is pretty cool and it's nice to be able to just see it right there on
8:02
your wrist. Nice little animations. It's It's I love those kinds of apps, you know. Well, let's let's be honest. How many
8:07
times have you used it? Oh, all the time. No, I used it once when I got it and then I
8:14
never looked at it again. Did you use it like over and over when you got CO? I did. Well, when Yeah, exactly. That
8:19
was the one time when I was worried about it. Yeah, I know. That that came in. I saw actually a lot of people were talking about it then uh during COVID
8:25
like people was were sharing their results on socials. So yeah, but uh I mean otherwise I I you know I and I
8:32
don't think it's used for any other stuff. Is it is it used for the sleep? It's one of the other metrics that I think they use in combination with a
8:38
bunch of other stuff like the the vitals app I think might draw on it occasionally. Okay.
8:43
It you know it's part of their mix of features that they use to contribute to other things. I see. Yeah. Yeah. The vitals app is
8:49
great actually by the way. You know um that uh I was sick the uh a week or two ago and it it totally uh detected that
8:56
when I was sleeping. Did it like predict it? I don't recall to be honest. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, it actually did because I I when I w I felt fine when I went to
9:04
sleep. I woke up, the vitals gave me a bunch of notifications saying that I'd had elevated um breathing and elevated
9:09
heart and I felt rotten when I woke up. So, yeah, I've had that happen, too. Uh and
9:15
I I've never uh I don't own an Apple Watch that has this thing disabled, so I don't really know. But, I mean, was that
9:21
sensor data going to the iPhone anyway? like as part of the mix just you
9:27
couldn't use the app is I I don't actually know the the answer to that question. Yeah, I'm really curious how exactly
9:34
it'll work when you start taking a blood oxygen reading after this solution goes
9:39
out. There's a lot of like interesting edge cases like well like is it just gonna like are you gonna see like a
9:45
notification appear on your iPhone lock screen that says hey look at your results like are and will they be able
9:51
to still incorporate like blood oxygen sensors in other areas like the vitals app like will it offload the processing
9:57
to the iPhone and then send it back to the watch lot of weird nuances here
10:03
intricacies. Yeah. Yeah. I mean we haven't had time to even really look into exactly what this all means. It just like literally just
10:09
happened before we started recording this. So, I mean, it just turned 10:00 Pacific time, so presumably the software update
10:14
only just now went out. It's It's just such a shocking thing to see come out, you know, like especially
10:20
after Ed wrote that thing this week and we were all like, "Yeah, all right." Yeah. But his point was they're selling
10:26
uh watches that are worse than previous versions, right? And and so people who have a watch that has the blood oxygen
10:32
app, you know, you don't want to upgrade to something that has fewer features. You want you want to have you know you
10:37
want to have that restored. You want to keep that you want to keep access to the thing you already have. So I mean honestly do do I look at it? No.
10:43
But it's honestly held me back from buying a new Apple Watch. I don't want to buy one that's missing. Is it really? Well the sense is still there you know.
10:50
So you know you know that would you sort of in the back of your mind always trusting that it would get resolved and
10:55
and it would be restored just like it is that you know well not just like it is now but similar.
11:01
Figured it would happen but thought it was going to happen a long time ago. Yeah, I I think all of us are surprised
11:07
that it has taken this long. Yeah, that was the Well, this is going to drag it on even longer as well, isn't it? I mean, because it's, you know, they've
11:13
sidestepped the issue. They haven't settled with the company. Yeah. Now, there's no sense of urgency to get it resolved, is there?
11:18
No. Right. They're going to be even mad, even even more fuming. I wonder how that company's doing. I wonder if they're
11:24
that, you know, that they're they're doing okay financially. No idea. Yeah. All right. Well, this is actually
11:29
a super exciting story, too. This is probably the the most exciting story for me this week, which is um that uh
11:35
there's some more details revealed about Apple's um weird Pixar lamp robot, which
11:43
was originally rumored to be uh a robot arm, but now it's becoming a little bit
11:50
clearer what it is. Right, Griffin? Yeah. So, this is going to be the centerpiece of Apple's AI strategy, a
11:57
tabletop robot targeted for release in 2027. Uh, a report coming from you know
12:02
who. The device features a roughly 7-in horizontal display similar in size to an
12:07
iPad mini mounted on a motorized arm that can extend about 6 in in any
12:13
direction and rotate to follow uses around a room. Uh this is building on I think like a research Apple published
12:21
earlier this year that like just showed sort of like a proof of concept of a
12:26
robot that was you know like a robotic lamp. So didn't have a screen on it obviously but it it could take
12:31
directions and as in it would you know turn and look at you nod its head turn around nudge things that you needed
12:38
stuff like that. Uh and it was really cute. Uh but you know obviously Apple isn't in the robot lamp business. Uh, so
12:45
this is this is a more not yet. It might be. You never know. But, uh, this is this is what they're
12:50
actually going to do with that sort of technology. The robot will showcase an entirely re-imagined version of Siri. I another
12:58
one, I suppose, designed to be far more conversational and contextually aware than the current voice assistant. The
13:04
new Siri will be able to inject itself into conversations between multiple people. It already does that from a
13:10
certain point of view. remember remember information throughout the day and engage in back and forth discussions
13:16
about topics like trip planning or daily tasks. Apple envisions the device acting quote like a person in the room capable
13:24
of interrupting conversations about dinner plans to suggest nearby restaurants or relevant recipes.
13:32
That sounds like a recipe for disaster to be honest. Put a chunk. The company also works on a visual
13:39
personality for Siri, testing an animated version of the Max Finder logo,
13:44
though the final design may lean closer to Apple's Mimoji characters. So, you'll you'll got a little blue Finder face
13:50
smiling and talking at you on this thing. Oh my god, that sounds kind of cute.
13:56
For two minutes. Mhm. Well, uh, German compared the
14:01
prototyping to the infamous Clippy Microsoft who annoying interactive paperclip of yester
14:08
year. Uh, fun fact, his name is actually Clipit, but people misremember and call him Clippy. Yeah. In Microsoft Word
14:16
either 98 or 2000. His official name was Clippet. I didn't know that. There's this weird
14:21
nostalgia for uh Clippy/Clippit that I can only attribute to people
14:26
who've never actually used Microsoft Office 2000. The robot is intended to sit on desks or kitchen counters,
14:33
helping users manage their day, consume media, and get work done. FaceTime calls will be a key function with the display
14:39
able to automatically track and follow people around a room during video conferences. Apple is also testing a
14:45
feature that would turn an iPhone into a joystick controller, allowing users to manually position the display to
14:50
different angles. I guess kind of like the Apple TV remote. That could be kind of cool. Beyond the tabletop device, Apple is exploring other robotic
14:57
projects, including a mobile robot with wheels, uh, similar to Amazon's Astro,
15:03
and has also talked about, uh, humanoid models, which is interesting. The
15:10
company also works on a large mechanical arm that way it might use in manufacturing facilities and retail
15:15
stores, but its completion could be years away. The tabletop robot is currently uh in the prototyping stage
15:21
and targeted for 2027. Well, the early the early rumors about this I think that were confusing because
15:27
they're talking about when they talk about a robot arm, you think about this thing plunked on the table and it'll
15:32
have an arm that will, you know, snatch your a cake off your plate or stuff like that. But you know the arm is the
15:40
articulating mechanism for the screen. And the interesting thing is if you look at Apple published a paper that and
15:46
about from their AI team showing how to give a robot that looks like a luxo lamp
15:53
personality and give it how to how it can communicate with humans using
16:01
various movements to indicate understanding disagreeing being
16:08
confused. And it's fascinating. It's it's a fascinating paper and it's a fascinating video because just like that
16:13
the lux the famous Luxo lamp junior from Pixar uh how many emotions or
16:22
sort of internal pro internal states that it can communicate. If it doesn't understand something it its head.
16:29
If it agrees it nods. If it doesn't know, it shakes its head. And of course, Apple's been do long been
16:34
doing this. You know, like a a good example is when you log in, you try to log in, you get your password wrong and
16:39
it shakes the the box or it used to uh to to show that you've got it wrong. Uh
16:45
I mean, this is going to be like her on steroids. I think people are going to fall in love with this device. It's
16:51
going to be like a strange pet that will people that will really allow
16:56
that people will invest their emotions in because I think it'll be uncanny as hell. It'll really seem like it it it
17:04
will have, you know, life. It'll it'll seem as as though it understands and it
17:11
it, you know, it it'll be much better at interacting. It won't be robot-like. It'll be it'll be, I think, somewhat,
17:17
you know, humanlike, somewhat animallike, like a pet. Um, and I think this is why I'm excited
17:23
about the thing. I think because they're so clever. they they really do think about these interactions and and and if
17:28
it has these these characteristics, I don't think it'll be as intrusive as people think. You know, I I don't think
17:33
it'll people won't be freaked out by it so much. I think they'll it'll it'll instill, you know, a very strange sense
17:40
of trust. Of course, there's going to be downsides to this as well, I think, you know, because people might fall in love with the thing. Um, and I mean there was
17:47
a report this week about someone um who was spending weeks talking to a chat uh some chat GPT some chatbot and it
17:54
convinced him they were super human. I think there was some tragic end to that. I just saw the headline. I didn't read the story but I think this is
18:00
fascinating and coming out next year. Crazy. 27 right? I mean the thing is this is tied to another revision of new series. So it
18:07
might actually you know be held off for a few years but I mean if it looks like an a tiny iMac G4 I'm sold instantly.
18:15
You know, a little little screen on a robot arm with presumably a weighted solid base. I mean, might as well make
18:20
it half dome-shaped. Might as well make it white. Tiny iMac G4. Instant buy,
18:25
right? Where are you going to put it? I don't know. I mean, it doesn't matter where I put it. It can it can move
18:31
around, right? I don't think so. Oh, well, it should. I think it's going to sit right in the
18:37
middle of your coffee table and be in the way and uh offer useless interjections.
18:45
7 in screen sounds kind of small for FaceTime, especially if it's like you're walking around the kitchen and maybe I don't know would it be
18:50
I mean presumably it'll be like iPad proportioned so it'll be like a 7 in 4x3
18:56
screen which is a little bigger than like a 7in iPhone screen but that that also did stand out to me that's kind of
19:02
small. Do you think the use cases for it, you know, like I mean FaceTime's an obvious one and a good use case and you
19:09
know I guess answering questions um being an AI companion I mean
19:15
if you have an island in your kitchen like stick it in the middle there and then you've got something you can throw in like recipes on because that's where
19:21
a lot of like planning of the day happens I think in most American households at least. Right. That actually seems like a a good use
19:28
for it. you know, having all your uh recipes displayed on something and and
19:33
and if it can actually answer questions, you know, in a useful way, that would be great.
19:39
And in fact, since it has a screen, you know, unlike a HomePod which has to say, "Oh, look on your iPhone for the
19:44
answer." I was going to say that show you the answer. That's the end of that, you know, I can show you on your iPhone. Yeah. My
19:52
goodness me. Yeah. That good riddance to that. It really depends on if they nail Siri. I mean, if they actually make Siri good,
20:00
that would make it useful. Yeah. I mean, they're they're tying more and more important hardware products that
20:07
are dependent on the new Siri. So, I think that's giving the company like a certain amount of motivation there. Well, there was a report this week we
20:13
ran as well about how um uh you know, the the new um improved Siri will use
20:19
app intents to so you can completely control your iPhone with your voice. And obviously, I think clearly this is the
20:24
way it's going, isn't it? the the sort of I don't know how long it's going to take there, but the next generation UI
20:29
is going to be much more of this, you know, chat driven, AIdriven interactions, you know, where you just
20:35
ask the thing to do stuff for you and it'll it'll go ahead and do it. M um and yeah, you know, but there's also I I
20:41
I've been reading a little bit of the AI safety stuff uh recently and you know,
20:47
there's a lot of um dangers involved in have giving it access to everything on
20:54
your device. You know, your full calendar, all your health information, medical information, insurance information, financial information. For
20:59
it to work properly, it's going to have to access that. And you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of um uh uh Apple's
21:07
got to be very careful with this. It could be a huge disaster if anything goes wrong. So, Apple's also got some in
21:12
some uh really cool sounding home security products coming up. Um this is
21:18
uh they're trying to get a a stronger foothold into the smart connected home market. Uh and they got this apparently
21:23
what what is called an ambitious lineup of home security devices that include smart cameras and a facial recognition
21:28
doorbell that can unlock doors. This is called a new report coming out Wednesday by somebody whose name we will not
21:35
mention. Uh it's um the centerpiece of this is a
21:41
of this security push is a batterybound camera called code name J450
21:47
and it's designed to compete directly with Apple's Amazon's Ring, Google Nest, other established players in the home
21:53
security space. The iPhone giant plans for the device to run several months a year on a single charge. Um, and uh,
22:01
it's, you know, that's supposed to be in line with with with Rival products. Uh, the camera system incorporates facial
22:06
recognition technology and infrared sensors that can identify specific individuals in a room, enabling
22:11
personalized home automation responses. That sounds kind of interesting. Uh, the cameras could automatically turn off
22:17
lights when someone leaves a room or play a particular family member's preferred music when they enter a space. Uh, Apple envisions users deploying
22:23
multiple cameras throughout their homes, similar to how many customers have placed their HomePod mini speakers in different rooms. Uh, Apple's also tested
22:30
a smart doorbell that can use face detection to automatically unlock doors. The devices will integrate with the
22:36
existing HomeKit platform and work alike alongside other Apple products. Uh, and that could include a rumored HomePod
22:42
with a display that we've just been talking about or an iPad that could serve as a central home hub. Well, this
22:48
sounds I don't know. I'm a little bit I don't like cameras around the house. Yeah, me neither. I can trust Apple to
22:54
like, you know, not upload it all to iCloud servers where they can all, you know, sell it to the police or something
22:59
like that. But I like I I haven't seen a very good um use case or like convincing
23:05
enough selling point for having a camera inside the house. But automating it so that you don't have to turn on your own
23:10
lights, like you just walk into a room and the lights will just come on, that's pretty neat. If if you have a big enough
23:16
house and people just aren't good at turning lights off, you know, you just wander, you do your rounds at the end of the night, turn off all the lights,
23:22
inspired by a true story, I'll just say that. But that's also then dependent on buying this camera and also buying smart
23:29
home controlled light switches. If you're going to have a smart home, I do recommend having like smart light switches rather than smart light bulbs
23:36
because you don't want to be that house that, you know, keeps the light switch taped on and then you don't know how to turn it off and you have to learn the
23:43
magic incantation to shout into the air to have it intelligently turned off. Like, yeah, you get smart home light
23:49
switches, you get this camera thing, and then it'll all supposedly be magical. But that's a bit of a hard sell for
23:54
Apple to make. Well, do you think it could be? I mean, why do they need facial recognition? Because that would have motion sensors and and and smart light switches can
24:01
detect motion or presence. Oh yeah, that's so you can set up your own automations so you can, you know,
24:07
it'll detect your face in the living room and know, oh, when I'm in the living room, I want you to turn off the lights in this other room. Maybe
24:13
that just seems like extremely specific use cases. And I I just having used home
24:20
smart home stuff for years and years. I mean, it's great when when you turn off
24:25
all the lights at once, you know, with a single phrase or whatever. That stuff's great. Some of the stuff of like, you
24:31
know, recognizing who's in a room and and I mean, can you imagine like setting up these elaborate scenarios? Well, when
24:38
I'm in the living room, but uh my wife is not and I want you to play AC/DC. I
24:43
mean, it doesn't make any sense. Yeah. And if she comes in, it's going to
24:49
instantly switch to some show, right? And if we're both there, then what? Yeah, I don't know. It's uh I'm very
24:55
excited about the front doorbell, although I already have like a a Google Nest uh doorbell, which is awesome. I
25:01
mean, I not having that. I I I can't even imagine going back to not having a
25:07
smart doorbell. I mean, maybe it's not that big of a deal if you don't live in a big city, but I mean,
25:13
actually, I think I would I'd be just as likely to have one if I if I lived out in the country cuz I like to know who's
25:18
coming up to my front door when and why. And uh so you can pretend you're not
25:24
hide quickly, turn up all the lights. I mean, it's awesome though cuz you know, you see, oh, there's uh you know,
25:30
my aunt just showed up at the door and she thought I was there and she wanted to drop off a pie. Well, I mean, in
25:36
reality, you could get a real-time alert and you can open your front door and say, "Hey, hey, Aunt Aunt Candy, put the
25:42
pie on the front on the thing. Thanks a lot." You know, I mean, that's pretty great. Or you don't need to leave a key under the mat. You can just, you know, add
25:48
their Apple ID to the smart doorbell and they can just wave their phone or their watch in front of it and they can get in. You don't have to make copies of
25:55
keys and leave them around. And I didn't even have one of those home key
26:00
uh you know compatible ones yet. But uh even just being able to open it remotely through the home app is is a beautiful
26:07
thing. So well the the the P the facial recognition thing is kind of like a is
26:12
that sort of a natural extension of of um smart speakers recognizing particular
26:17
users now you know so that it it it can say it recognize who's who it's talking to. So it can pull up that that
26:23
particular person's calendar or their music preferences or whatever. Um
26:28
but yeah, I don't know, you know, do you think there are kind of other I'm trying to think of other use cases where
26:35
recognizing your face would be important in the house. Yeah. Inside internally
26:44
and I can't really think of any. And like you said, adds that that you know setting up all the routines and everything. I mean the it's already
26:50
complex even with just with you know light switches and turn the heating on.
26:56
In fact our you know Nest thermometer is completely worthless. It has supposed to have a setting where it detects whether
27:03
people are in the house or not and it that seems to work the exact opposite of how it's supposed to work. I.e. it turns
27:08
on the heating when no one's around and turns it off when we are here. Uh
27:14
and I'm not really sure you know what else what other kind of use cases could you have? you know, the curtains,
27:19
lights, heating, AC. I don't see I can't think of a, you know, why it would need
27:25
to recognize. It's useful to recognize a person, but not a specific person. I got one.
27:30
You walk into the room and you turn on the Apple TV and it knows it's you. You don't have to go up and select that it's
27:36
you and not your wife or your kid. That's And if there are other things like that, you know, like who knows? Uh
27:43
or it hides a saucy thing you're looking when it sees your wife come up the stairs. I I mean, you know, there's got
27:49
to be other things, right? Uh I don't know what they are. The idea of building these complex scenarios seems daunting
27:57
and frankly probably not worth the effort, but uh you know, it could be
28:03
that you make it so that you know, you're the one who likes to have all the windows open and and the lights cranked
28:11
all the way up and when you walk in the room, it does that for you every time. And you know,
28:16
yeah, we'll see. Anyway, interesting stuff. Interesting times. Of course, it's all tied into this, you know, this Robert iPad, too. Anyway, yeah, we're
28:22
we're living in the future. Very very exciting. Talking of that, uh, iOS 26
28:28
beta 6, uh, and a new public beta, too. Uh, when did this come out, Griffin?
28:33
This was just earlier this week on Monday. Uh, one week after beta 5. So, we're getting into the, you know,
28:40
endgame here where they're releasing new versions every single week. We have six new ringtones. Woohoo.
28:48
Exactly. That's the spirit. The default ringtone, I guess if you're not familiar, I mean, a lot of people keep their phones on silent, so you might not
28:55
actually know what the default ringtone sounds like, is called reflection.
29:01
[Music] Oh, I can hear the people raging.
29:06
Yeah. Yeah. And earlier betas of iOS 26 added a new one called reflected that
29:14
has now been renamed. I think previously it was called uh reflection alt one but now it has a new name and it as a recap
29:20
it sounds like this.
29:26
So that's pretty fun. But there are now a bunch of new variations. This one is called buoyant
29:34
[Music] fun. Uh this one is called Dreamer.
29:44
[Music]
29:51
Uh we have a new one called Pond.
30:00
That one's great. It sounds like um jazz hotel. Oh yeah. This one called Pop.
30:06
[Music]
30:12
And this one is clearly the best. I don't know why, but it just goes so hard. This one is called Surge.
30:22
[Music]
30:31
Wow. clubbing. Does your iPhone screen also do like a
30:37
disco ball kind of a It should. I feel like I need sunglasses when I listen to that one. Yeah. And
30:44
there's also a new one that's separate called Little Bird. [Music]
30:57
Wait a minute. That's not you whistling. That whistle is included in it. I was like, "Who's whistling?"
31:02
Oh my god. Play that one again. Oh, sure.
31:08
[Music] I was impressed by your whistling capabilities.
31:15
Wow. That one's got that kind of uh good, bad, and ugly vibe. Sergio Maronei a
31:20
little bit. Sure. So, so which one's your favorite? Oh, I mean, it's got to be the Surge.
31:25
It's got to be Surge. Yeah. I'll be setting it to that and I'll never hear it, but maybe eventually I will and I'll
31:30
be like, "Oh, yeah, that's cool." Play it one more time, will you? Oh, yeah. So, so we can
31:38
[Music]
31:47
[Music] So, you'll never answer your phone cuz
31:53
you'll be just rocking out to that, you know. Exactly. It might actually be a problem with all the cool uh lock screen
31:59
customization stuff that Apple's doing. They absolutely should make the the um like the big letter uh you know,
32:06
whatever the time numbers just like go up and down with that bounce in time with that music. That would be so cool.
32:13
Yeah, that's a great idea actually. Can you play the the play the the pond again? I think that was my favorite.
32:19
Oh, sure.
32:25
Oh my god, I like that woodwind. It's very calming. Yeah, little flute in there. Uh iOS 26 beta 6
32:34
also changes the camera mode switcher yet again. Uh so scrolling through the
32:39
camera modes where where the list of modes scrolls with your finger. Um and
32:45
not only did they change that, but they also removed the setting. So in beta 5
32:50
they had a setting where you could uh enable called classic mode switching
32:56
that would revert it to that but uh now it's just like that all the time. So the
33:01
ability to choose has been taken away from us and I see this as an absolute victory uh because it reverts to again
33:09
the muscle memory that all of us have had. You know swipe to the right to switch to video modes. Uh, it's all
33:15
there again. But, um, they gave us a little taste of what it could have been, and I think a little people are upset
33:20
about that. But, you know what? They made their decision now. That's what betas are for. Things change.
33:26
And this is probably going to be uh set in stone. How many more betas we're going to see before the official release?
33:31
I mean, we're only like what, three or four actual like weeks until the iPhone
33:37
event. So, pro presumably like five weeks from now. So maybe only like three betas or two more betas depending on how
33:44
many they do. I'm kind of actually sad. I quite like the the the new way of doing it. That that made sense to me and I think it was
33:51
easier to see what was coming up too. Yeah. But the thing is like the the more you you play around with the system and
33:57
pay attention to other user interfaces like that. Like when you're in Safari and you're switching between tab groups,
34:03
that switcher looks and works exactly the same. you know, you're also like swiping your finger and, you know,
34:09
scrolling that way. Like there's a the the new messages app on the Mac when you're scrolling through different
34:14
details in the conversations pane like that also scrolls the same way. Like this is actually a pretty common user
34:20
interface and it's weird to have just one that people use all the time. Work the opposite way.
34:26
Yeah, good good point. Good point. You may have noticed this if you're watching the video, but beta 6 significantly speeds up animations for
34:33
opening and closing apps. It feels just super zippy fast. Now, uh, weirdly, it
34:39
doesn't get any faster when you're opening and closing folders. That's still a little slow, but
34:46
pokey. Yeah. Another new change, liquid glass has infected the default toggle switch.
34:53
So, you flip a toggle switch, it turns into glass, jelly, and jumps over and
34:59
then falls back into a switch. It It doesn't just slide over anymore. So, that's fun. And there's a new onboarding
35:05
screen that they're, you know, they're adding more of these things as iOS 26 gets close to officially launching. When
35:12
you first install the update, you'll see like, you know, big, oo, your phone looks like this now. And it shows you little walk through. So, yeah, that is
35:20
26 beta 6. Yeah, I saw a lot of people really excited about the uh the fastest uh
35:25
animations for opening and closing apps, you know, like, oh, it's oh my goodness, you know, I've got a brand new phone.
35:30
Um, it seems so quick now. Uh there were some um people worried about 60 Hz refresh screens though, you
35:37
know, if if they don't upgrade the the screen refresh rate with the iPhone 17
35:43
that it might look a bit jarring on those. Although I I I haven't I've
35:49
got a Pro so um I haven't been using a a 60 Hz screen for a while. So I I don't
35:55
really remember what it was like. That that's a thing that you can disable in accessibility settings. So maybe I'll do that right now. motion limit frame
36:02
rate. No, it's still still looks fine to me. I mean, you see a few like a little less frames of it, but
36:09
it's not like you're confused on what's happening. Like for me, it was the only kind you can only see a difference when they're side
36:14
by side. Mhm. I know some people lose their minds about this, like the Android crowd especially because, you know, this is
36:21
supposed to be like, "Oh my god, I can't believe Apple's charging so much money for a, you know, a phone with a with a 60 Hz refresh rate." Um, and they they
36:29
complain they've been complaining about this for for for years, for years and years. Uh, how do you like uh, you know,
36:35
the the the new OS iOS 26. When I look back at the older versions now, they
36:40
look dated and horrible. Yeah, I'm the same way. iOS 18 looks ancient to me. I'm still getting used to
36:46
Tahoe. There are a few odds and ends that are kind of weird there. like
36:51
especially the the fact that Safari windows are just so rounded with the corners. Now, how I usually use Safari
36:59
on my Mac is I have one window in the center and then I have like a few other windows and I all have them like, you know, arranged in sort of like a cascade
37:06
thing. Like if you open Safari and you just hit command N like five times in a row, you'll open five windows all sort
37:12
of arranged like diagonally and close to each other and mostly overlapping. Um, and that's how I like to use Safari. The
37:18
thing is because the the corners are so rounded, you have less area to click if
37:23
you want to pick one of the windows in the middle of the stack. Like you have like a small like few pixel range where
37:29
you can click on the corner of a window without clicking the new tab button and without clicking like the resize
37:36
invisible resize area on the side of the screen. Like it's you really have to be very precise now. Uh
37:42
because they they they've taken all the corners off. So, I'm thinking maybe I'll write a whole piece about Mac OS Tahoe
37:49
uh and the new design there, but um that that takes a lot more getting used to than iOS in my opinion.
37:54
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like it. I I I it looks really good looking. The one thing I don't like in in is the new
38:00
splash screen you get on um when you when you upgrade to to iOS 26 and it
38:06
says welcome in in in this awful looking jelly font. You know, it's it's supposed to be liquid glass, but it looks really
38:13
cheap and awful. It looks like some horrible ice sculpture or some sort of cheap, you know, plasticky nasty
38:20
looking. It doesn't look elegant at all to me. But I love the new I I like Tahoe
38:25
uh on my machine. I think it really made it look it's I I you know, I can't
38:32
really sort of put my finger on it, but it's more colorful. It's brighter. I
38:38
like the new look. It looks more modern. Does it irritate you that now window
38:43
title bars are always left aligned rather than centered? Uh, I cannot say that I've actually
38:48
honestly noticed. That's right. I mean, that's right. Like a lot of modern apps like Safari and
38:54
Photos don't even have titles in the in the title bar of the window. It just reminds me of Windows. You know, the the
39:00
Mac ever since 1984 has had centered title bars in their in their windows and now some of them are like many more of
39:06
them are left aligned and it really bugs me. But okay. Yeah, I can honestly say that 30
39:11
years of using a Mac. I've never ever actually noticed that. Not once. Well, be sure to do a um
39:17
editorial about that and I'll bet Apple will fix it next week. Just like they fix the uh the blood oxygen sensor.
39:23
Oh, trust me. I've been following filing feedbacks. They've just been ignoring them. So, uh, the next exciting segment of the
39:29
show is, um, our setups post where we highlight, uh, a setup, uh, a Mac setup.
39:37
This one was one of the craziest ones I've seen for a long while. Lewis, why don't you tell us all about it?
39:42
Yeah. Uh, when you were saying crazy, you weren't kidding. Uh, so this guy he said he
39:50
actually o he owns a MacBook but he decided he instead he wanted like a more
39:55
highowered mobile rig. So, he takes what is it? A a 13-in M3 iPad Air, some, you
40:05
know, no-name 7-in LCD touchscreen, uh, a Mac Mini, M4 Mac Mini with a a an Omni
40:14
20 Plus portable power bank and the craziest split keyboard you've
40:19
ever seen, which actually I I love those kinds of split keyboards. Much more natural. Uh, and and then and right in
40:25
the middle of it, a uh a magic trackpad with some crazy skin on top of it. I
40:30
mean, this is the craziest thing I've ever And it looks like it's set up in like a, you know, an Elks Lodge dining hall or
40:37
something. Uh, so so this is his mobile rig. He he put packs this into a a like
40:43
a hard case and carries it around and and uses it instead of his perfectly good M1 MacBook Air. So,
40:50
well, I mean, the the M1 MacBook Air is is older and slower than the the M4 Mac Mini. The Mac Mini has the best uh
40:56
performance per per money you can spend on an Apple product. I'm I mean, I'm sure it's super powerful and fantastic, but uh wow, this is one
41:03
crazy portable rig. I mean, it it technically I mean, it is portable, but you you sort of need a suitcase, I
41:09
think. Let's see. What did this guy say? So, well, what
41:14
he was explicit about that, wasn't it? He wanted the performance and he didn't care about the convenience. Um, so he
41:20
knew he's making a trade-off here. Um, and he said that he's been really happy with it. You know, he's been using it
41:26
since Christmas and he hasn't missed his laptop once, he says. Uh, but it is mad, isn't it? Like, you know, it's a
41:31
deconstructed MacBook. It's Yeah, he's he's pieced it together and it's kind of hilarious. I mean, he he makes a good point. Uh, there's a pre
41:38
he says there's a premium for the convenience of a laptop and to be honest, most people use them like desktop 90% of the time anyway. That's
41:44
completely true. Yeah, if you want the same specs, it's usually like $700 to $1,000 more if you
41:49
want a laptop over the equivalent just Mac Mini or Mac Studio. I mean, the other advantages of like getting a
41:55
desktop is that, you know, on the Mac Studio, you can get an ultra chip, which which you can't get on a laptop at all.
42:01
Um, and so that would be an advantage to doing this portable setup, but uh he hasn't done that. I think he might just
42:07
he doesn't even specify having the M4 Pro. He just has the M4 Mac Mini. Um, but I guess if you really want to spend
42:12
less money and you already have an iPad, you could try to do something like this. He plugs it into a little power bank so
42:18
he can, you know, again, carry it around in a coffee shop or something without plugging it in, not looking for an
42:24
outlet. But, I mean, try setting up this on an airplane tray table and you've got to be a precarious situation. I'll say
42:31
that. Right. Look at all those cables back there, too. I mean, jeez. I don't know. He looks like he's, you know, set up. It
42:37
looks like some something like some kind of rig a hacker would use in a sci-fi movie or an action movie, right? Like
42:43
you go and you set up in a dark corner or something and you have to have all this firepower to do all this stuff. And so I don't know. Well, he has made it easy for himself
42:49
because he has two displays and I think the iPad can actually work as a display for your Mac Mini wirelessly just by
42:56
using you know um what do you call it? Continuity. Continuity maybe some I don't remember
43:01
the name of it but side that's it. Oh yeah right. I mean, if you you could
43:06
go for a simpler setup if you just have the Mac Mini on a power bank, uh, a normal Bluetooth keyboard with an
43:12
integrated trackpad, maybe, and then you just use a Vision Pro as a display. I mean, then you're offloading the cables
43:18
onto your head instead of on the table. But I can't I can't even tell what he's using that little tiny display. I guess
43:24
it's just like a secondary, but I can't My eyes aren't good enough to tell what he's running on there. But, uh,
43:29
it says sunglasses M4A M4A. Oh, I don't know. What is that? And
43:35
he's got a Finder window back there. So, and it looks like he's using the iPad for Safari.
43:41
His desktop is littered with files, by the way. I don't know if that's It looks It looks kind of like mine. Yeah. Oh, that didn't even even blink at that.
43:49
Yeah. The most normal part of the setup, really. But yeah, I mean it's hilarious because I mean usually the setups that we
43:56
showcase in our uh setups column or whatever you want to call it, they're usually like, you know, they look like
44:02
somebody spent, you know, four hours with a a set designer getting everything absolutely fantastically set in exactly
44:10
the right way and the lighting exactly right and everything just, you know, looks almost AI generated, right? And
44:16
this guy's like, "Yeah, here's my stuff. I just threw it on a laminated table somewhere. Although, what is it? Like a
44:24
bare skin rug or something off to the left there. I don't know. It's a It's a really odd picture. And the more I look
44:29
at it, the more fascinated I am. I want to know where he's at. Like, what's that thing under the table? Is that like a catcher's mitt or like a
44:36
baseball? I think it's his I think he's wearing shorts. Those are his pants.
44:42
They look like um basketball shorts. Maybe sport shorts. I don't know. I I endorse I I mean I'm a big endorser of
44:49
the Mac Mini, but I mean, don't try to make your Mac Mini something that it's not. It's not a laptop.
44:55
It's uh I'm impressed with the the ingenuity here. It's It's actually not the craziest model setup I've ever seen
45:00
because I saw a picture that circulated on socials a few years ago of someone who was carrying around a 27 inch iMac
45:07
and I think they had it on a train. They plugged it into a train somewhere or in a coffee shop.
45:13
little less convenient, but this one is is definitely number two. I wonder what kind of keyboard that is
45:18
though. I I can't uh like I say, I hate those keyboards. Do you actually like it? Is the Lily 58 split keyboard?
45:24
Oh, so I think it's one of those weird maybe transparent perspects
45:31
uh things in the corners in the upper Yeah, I can't left and the upper right corner. I think
45:37
that maybe that's like a Bluetooth chip or something, but it's just the style of the keyboard to show it because, you
45:42
know, transparent things are cool again. It looks looks really um
45:48
or maybe it's just there for bizarre. Yeah, the custom skin though that that
45:53
on the trackpad. Yeah, that threw me off for a while. It I mean, I didn't even know you could do that. I thought it was a coaster.
46:00
Yeah, it looks like a like a postcard. It should just say like, you know, welcome to Oregon. Mhm.
46:06
That's probably where he is, right? That's, you know, in this in this in this uh hunting lodge high up in the
46:11
mountain somewhere with the leathery seats and basking rug. I can't I can't place it. It It has a a
46:18
very uh I don't know, a very odd feel. Mhm.
46:24
All right. Well, let's move on. We This is the time of the show where we talk about the reader question. This was a good one because I I've had this
46:30
problem, too. Uh, and a question comes from Darth Inkling, and it was in the Cultub Discord. So, Darth Inkling says,
46:36
"Uh, can someone please tell me how to stop this? My wife and I are both using a Mac. Me on a MacBook Pro M3, her on an
46:45
iMac. I'm trying to use my AirPods Pro on my MacBook Pro, which I have been
46:50
connected to previously. She's in a meeting on the iMac and when I put my AirPods Pro in my ear, it automatically
46:56
connects to them and takes over has a meeting audio output. So, he starts hearing a meeting. Both devices are
47:03
connect to my iCloud account which we both share. So, yeah, this this uh this switching stuff is is is can be a
47:09
headache sometimes. I I've had this problem too. So, uh Griffin Griffin knows how to how to fix this, right, Griffin?
47:14
Yes. Although I'm not an AirPods user, I've I've heard this complaint enough that I've I've learned the solution. you
47:19
can turn off the AirPods automatic switching on a per device basis. So,
47:24
first you want to connect your AirPods to that particular iMac. Then when you're signed in, you can just open
47:30
system settings and at the very bottom of the the sidebar of settings like nearby, keyboard, mouse, trackpad, etc.
47:37
You should see your AirPods show up in that list. And then from that menu, there's a setting called connect to this
47:44
Mac, and it's set to automatically by default. And the other setting is when
47:49
last connected to this Mac, which is an awkward name for that setting, but basically what it's saying is you want
47:55
to set it so that your AirPods only connect to that Mac, you know, if they've been connected to that Mac
48:00
previously, you know, manually. So, you set it to that setting, connect to this
48:05
Mac when last connected, and then it'll stop automatically taking over your uh your wife's meetings when you put your
48:12
AirPods in. And the annoying thing is that like that you have to turn it on on every device you've ever connected your
48:18
AirPods to. It'll automatically connect to that again. So you have to go through all these settings if you have like a
48:25
lot of Macs sitting around your house or an iPad that you don't use too often anymore. Um but that that is the
48:31
solution on on a per device basis. Yeah. So not not so easy but not too hard either.
48:37
Yeah. And there are also instructions in that article that we'll link in the show notes where you can turn it off on an iPhone or iPad as well.
48:42
All right. All right. Well, I hope Darth Inkling um we fixed your your problem. Please let us know. Short and sweet solution. And if you
48:47
have a question, uh leave them in the link at the top of the show notes. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. We love to answer questions. So, yeah, please do.
48:53
Please do. Please ask us uh whatever's vexing you. So, Lewis,
48:58
this week our review section, we're going to talk about some ch mysterious charger thing.
49:03
Oh, it's so mysterious. It is actually um somewhat mysterious. And this is the only thing I don't like about it is the name. The name is Ankor Mago wireless
49:12
charging station and then in parenthesis three in one, foldable pad.
49:19
I mean, come on. Who came up with this name? Anyway, here's what it looks like. I don't know. Have you ever seen this thing? It's uh it's it's I remember when
49:28
uh Anchor showed this off during a briefing, you know, for CES, I think last year. I don't know. And I was like,
49:34
"Wow, that looks really different and cool." And uh I actually requested a review unit back then and I never got
49:39
one. I never I never received one. I don't know why. Um so last month when I
49:44
was getting ready to go on vacation, I realized I don't have a 3in-1 charger to take with me to Europe. And I'm like,
49:51
"Oh god." And and I got up on the morning I was leaving. I went to Amazon. I ordered this and they delivered it
49:57
like within 5 hours. And I was like, "That's awesome." And Joy's living in San Francisco.
50:02
Yeah. So, the way that this thing works, I mean, it's it's round for, you know, those of you who don't have a video
50:07
feed. Uh, it's it's round. It's got uh like a small round thing on the top. It
50:14
it unfolds into like Well, jeez, sure it does. It unfolds into three
50:21
different round things. One is a Mag Safe for your iPhone. One is hold sorry.
50:27
Uh, one is a round MagSafe pad for your iPhone. The center is a
50:33
you know, charging pad for AirPods. And the tiny one is one for your Apple Watch. And uh, you know, it snaps
50:40
together or folds together magnetically into this little thing. I don't know. Oh, very nice. What is it? Like
50:46
half the size of a tennis ball or something. I mean, roughly very small. Basically, uh, it comes with
50:53
charging cable, you know, fine 3 foot. Not the greatest charging cable ever made. Not braided or anything, but it at
51:00
least it exists. comes with a fairly small charger that puts out enough power
51:06
to charge all three of your devices at once. Folding little, you know, this is standard folding little whatever those
51:12
are called, prongs, outlets, uh, prong, I guess is the word. And, you know, it
51:19
all it's three different pieces, which is awesome because then you can also use it like if you just want to charge your
51:25
phone in a hurry, you can plug it directly to here. It charges a little faster because it's not wireless, you know, if you just go straight in the
51:31
thing. And and here's the I mean, aside from the portability and the sort of break, the fact that it all disconnects
51:38
makes it very easy to stow and and you know, not not not bulky and not hard to
51:43
stow. The the really great thing and and this this is another thing I every time I go to Europe, I take a handful of
51:49
these little things that cost like a dollar on Amazon. And the great thing about this thing is
51:56
it it doesn't use a it's it's got it puts out enough power from a small uh power plug or whatever. And so you can
52:02
plug it into that and it won't fall out of the wall. That's the biggest problem that I have when I go to Europe trying
52:09
to there's never enough outlets. So So this is great because you get to charge three things at once and it will
52:15
stick in the wall with this tiny thing. I don't have to carry a giant, you know, power plug adapter.
52:21
just have these three things or these four things and and it it it worked like a charm whole time. It was just great. I
52:27
found myself Well, did you need little uh separate dongles for Germany, Italy, Spain? No, this is this is the one European
52:33
thing. Five bucks on Amazon for five of them. You can't have enough of them cuz of course plug adapter while you're while you're holding.
52:39
Oh, right. I didn't tell you. Yeah, it's just it's just literally just a little thing that you uh you plug you plug the
52:45
normal US style uh plug into that thing and it it goes in. The problem is that
52:50
if you have any kind of heavy charging, whatever this is called, I have the
52:56
hardest time with the terms for these things, the the power adapter, I suppose, the brick, whatever. Yeah. If
53:01
it's big and and you put this little tiny cheap adapter on it, it's going to fall out
53:06
fall out of the wall or this thing's going to disconnect from it. It's just it's a giant pain when I and especially if you're, you know, moving every day
53:12
and going different places and always trying to find a place to charge everything, right? Um, I I absolutely love this thing. I It
53:20
It retails for like, what did it retail for? $89.99. They actually had it on sale for $61.99. That
53:27
was after I bought it. I was But I paid like I paid like 70 bucks for it on sale and I was still happy. I was It's just
53:34
fine. I I mean, because it's it's just so small. It's so easy to just toss into, you know, a tiny little zippered
53:40
part of my backpack. It was I always knew where it was. It wasn't poking a hole in anything. It's, you know, the
53:47
the surface of this thing is kind of slightly matte. It has a nice feel. It
53:52
comes in four colors, which is that's the big mistake I made is I bought the black one. So, when you're traveling and
53:59
you're in a different hotel room every other night or something, you know, you're looking around. I you would not believe how many of the tables in those
54:06
rooms are black. And so, I couldn't see this thing sitting there. And I that was
54:11
my one disappointment. like it comes in I think pink and teal and white. Any one
54:17
of those colors would be better uh for fumbling around in un unfamiliar circumstances and searching for thing.
54:23
The other thing that's kind of weird about it that Mag Safe connector, it's so powerful. It's it's actually almost
54:29
kind of hard to get your phone off of it. You have to use two two hands otherwise it's just
54:35
it it's it it's kind of can't be done. Um well, I mean it can be but it's it's way easier to use. learned a different
54:40
way to take it off, like slide it maybe. Yeah. I never, you know, even a month of it, I never got never got proficient
54:46
with that. I I still always had to use two hands. So, um I don't know. I'm always looking for the
54:54
smallest, lightest stuff I can get to to take because, you know, of course, we travel and, you know, the cheapest way
55:00
possible with a carry-on bag that can't weigh more than 20 pounds. And uh so
55:05
something like this that you can store and stash and you know break it down, set it up, super easy, very convenient,
55:12
very uh very handy. Honestly, if you have any more than just an iPhone, I think one of those
55:18
three-in-one chargers is absolutely essential. And honestly, if you know somebody who has an iPhone and an Apple
55:23
Watch, an iPhone and AirPods, an iPhone and whatever else, like that's a that's a perfect gift to give somebody as well.
55:30
Yeah. You know, around the holiday. It really is. And uh you know, especially if you're in a place if you got three different chargers and there's only one
55:36
plug, it's a nightmare, right? I I like this so much, you know, I uh when it was on sale, I I sent my wife a link. I
55:42
said, "Hey, look, this is on sale. Do you know do you want one?" She instantly bought one. You know, hers is pink. Uh
55:49
so I I I mean, it's definitely one of those uh convenient things that that you
55:55
find to be very helpful on the road. I know Ed likes something. I think it's called a butterfly or something by
56:01
another company. I can't remember. 12 South. Yeah, 12 South. I think they were the first one to come out with these one of these that that style.
56:07
That's a two in one. I think I for me three in one. I, you know, when I'm on the road, I'm constantly using my
56:13
AirPods. I'm constantly using my iPhone. I'm constantly using my Apple Watch. And this is I mean, you know, you can find
56:19
cheaper ones, I suppose, from brand names you never heard of. I don't mind spending just a little bit extra because
56:24
it's super small. And uh I trust Anchor to not blow up my stuff. And I think that the middle one is just
56:30
like a regular chi charger, right? So you could charge a second iPhone on that in a pinch probably. Yeah. Yeah, it's uh I I don't Well, I
56:36
don't know how much power it puts out. I I I haven't checked the specs on that. I've never tried to use it with two phones at once, but um definitely works
56:43
with the you know, the holy Apple Trio. Cool. Yeah, those those things are
56:48
great. I've got an older one that I can't remember what company it's by. um bulkier uh and they're square so it
56:55
folds the three squares fold into each other and it comes a little the nice thing about it has a really nice little felt case
57:02
but it's it's it's much bulkier than that. Yeah, I agree. Those things are absolutely essential if you're going to
57:07
be traveling and you've got Apple gear. Yeah, I mean you could put this easily in your in your jeans pocket. I mean I
57:13
wouldn't do that. There's no reason to. But I mean it's it's pretty small. I mean I don't know what it is. be
57:19
or a handbag or a jacket pocket. It's It's only like 2 in wide. Two inches in diameter.
57:25
So, a little bit more on the sides that have almost three inches on on the uh the sides with the you know the sort of
57:32
rubbery straps that go between the three circles. But yeah, and it's it's well made. It's uh Yeah, it feels very solid. Like I said,
57:38
that that bag safe thing is almost too strong. Uh, yeah. I mean, the only the
57:44
only thing the only place it seems like they cut corners at all is just on the the sort of, you know, plasticky cable,
57:49
but it worked just fine. Well, we'll have a link to that as well in the show notes if uh if anyone's
57:55
interested in checking it out. So, I think actually that just about wraps it up. That's all the cults we have for you
58:00
this week. Uh, if you want more, you can follow Lewis on Twitter at Lewis Wallace. Griffins on Macedon and Blue
58:07
Sky, DG GriffinJones. And uh I write a newsletter every day for the Cult of Bank and that's uh if you go to
58:13
newsletters.cultterbank.com you can sign up there and it's the best that's the best newsletter you're going to get in the whole Apple universe to be
58:19
honest. So I'd highly recommend that. Uh send us a text using the link at the top of the show notes or the YouTube
58:25
comments and ask your questions for the show. We'd love to get your questions. We you know we super stoked about
58:30
answering uh common problems. Uh that's been the Cultcast, the best hourong
58:36
Apple show you're going to hear all week long. Uh, new episodes of the Coldcast come out every Thursday night. I want to
58:41
thank you all for listening and we'll see you next time. Have a great weekend, everybody. Goodbye.
58:46
See you. All right. Well, I'm actually not
58:52
getting any better as a host. I'm sorry. I thought this week I'll nail it. I'm like, okay. Yeah, I'm actually finally
58:58
going to like You did better on the outro this time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know why
59:03
uh I keep messing things up, but it it's a source of great. Well, I thought that was good. I I'm
59:10
always happy when we have like genuinely great news to show to go on the show, you know, cuz cuz we record late in the
59:15
week. That's the advantage we have, you know, when Mark's Wednesday evening early publishing.
59:23
Does G have a show? I don't think he does. No, he goes on TV. It's
59:33
Yeah, I I thought that was I thought that was a good mix of stuff in there.
59:38
Nice job. And just about on time once we cut out the 10 minutes of fumbling around.
59:46
[Music]