Up next in 10
This week, with special guest Niléane: Apple can’t shake its love of titanium, big upgrades in store for the Apple Watch Ultra 4, the first iOS 27 features officially announced, a lightweight alternative to Spotlight, and our favorite web browsers!
TinyStart: https://tinystart.app/
Produced by Extra Ordinary for Cult of Mac
Music composed by Will Davenport, arranged by D. Griffin Jones
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
3:10 - Titanium iPhone Pro
10:04 - Apple Watch Ultra 4
23:42 - iOS 27 accessibility features
42:28 - TinyStart
55:32 - Listener Question
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Coming up, Apple can't shake its love of
0:02
titanium. Big upgrades in store for the
0:04
Apple Watch Ultra 4. The first iOS 27
0:07
features officially announced, a
0:09
lightweight alternative to Spotlight,
0:11
and our favorite web browsers.
0:16
Good evening and welcome to the Cult
0:18
podcast. I am your host today, D.
0:19
Griffin Jones. Leander is out uh this
0:22
week and next. I think like several of
0:24
his like eight children are graduating
0:26
some level of school. I'm not entirely
0:28
sure which. Uh, but I'm joined today by
0:32
Lewis Wallace. Coming from where?
0:34
>> I am from Ohio. Ohio. Same as you,
0:37
Griffin. Very exciting. Deep in southern
0:39
Ohio, Pike County.
0:41
>> We almost could have recorded in the
0:43
same room, but
0:45
also joining us, she's a contributor to
0:47
Max Stories, co-host of the Comfort Zone
0:49
podcast, independent developer,
0:51
president of uh Toot Def.
0:54
>> Yeah.
0:54
>> Neil, welcome.
0:56
>> Yes. Hello. Thank you. Thank you for
0:59
having me. Um, I don't know how it
1:01
works. Should I like should there be
1:03
like some some jokes in here? Like some
1:05
banter?
1:06
>> Yeah, I'm I'm not used to it being my
1:08
responsibility to uh to provide the
1:10
pre-show advantage.
1:10
>> You have some modern computers.
1:13
>> Oh, yes. Uh YouTube viewers will know I
1:16
rotate between some old computers on the
1:18
desk behind me. I've got uh a Macintosh
1:21
Classic, a Power Macintosh G3, and also
1:25
an Apple EMAC, which is the most recent
1:27
addition to my collection. So, it's got
1:29
it's got a spot of honor right there for
1:30
a while. I I've got those particular old
1:32
Macs behind me because I also just
1:34
recently got my first Blue SCSI, which
1:36
lets you plug an SD card into the SCSI
1:39
port of an old Macintosh. As a old
1:42
computer enthusiast, this is very
1:43
exciting because this is the first time
1:44
I can move more than 1.4 four megabytes
1:47
of data onto and from an old computer at
1:50
a time before I decided to use a floppy
1:52
disc drive, which is uh not a fantastic
1:56
medium uh for storage. So, you know,
1:58
I've been messing around with those.
2:00
What What is the oldest thing you have
2:02
in in in your regular use? Neon it
2:05
>> in regular use um
2:08
>> or for funies.
2:09
>> I don't know. I have I have an iPod uh
2:12
Nano, but it's on the shelf right now.
2:14
I'm not using it. I tried to use it a
2:16
few months ago. I guess my Thunderbolt
2:19
dock is getting old.
2:22
It's a Thunderbolt 3 dock. I don't know.
2:26
>> Important question. What color is the
2:27
iPod Nano?
2:29
>> Uh, this is So, it's the squareish one
2:32
and it's a light blue. The light blue
2:34
one.
2:35
>> The short and wide one.
2:36
>> Yes, the short and wide one.
2:37
>> That's a good one.
2:39
>> Yeah, it looks cute.
2:41
>> Let's jump right into it. Today's
2:42
episode is brought to you by our first
2:45
story on Cult of Mac. Lewis, why don't
2:47
you tell us about it?
2:48
>> Oh crap. I was excited for a minute
2:50
there. I thought we had a sponsor
2:52
>> on this show.
2:54
>> So, what you're saying is sponsorships
2:55
are available.
2:57
>> Yeah. Today's episode is brought to you
2:59
by our listeners. If you want have a
3:01
message that you'd like to put in in
3:04
front of our audience, uh, write us in.
3:06
Okay, that's our ad break. Tell us about
3:07
the titanium iPhone.
3:10
>> Uh, yeah. Uh, Apple's titanium iPhone
3:13
experiment may not be over just yet. Uh,
3:16
few months after switching iPhone 17 Pro
3:18
away from titanium, Apple might be
3:20
having second thoughts about aluminum.
3:22
H, interesting. You might remember all
3:25
the scratchgate crap that was going on
3:27
right after it came out. Scratched up
3:28
like completely marred in stores within
3:31
days of of unveiling. You know,
3:34
aluminum's light, cheap, plentiful, also
3:37
uh scratches. Titanium is strong but
3:40
expensive. Also heavier. Um, not as
3:43
effective at aluminum as aluminum at
3:46
dissipating heat. I can barely see the
3:48
show notes being being so blind and
3:50
staring at a MacBook for for the first
3:52
time in years. I'm so used to having a
3:54
gigantic screen. Now I'm staring at this
3:56
little 13-inch MacBook Air. Anyway, uh,
3:59
Apple used titanium for the iPhone 15
4:01
and 16 Pro, but switched to aluminum
4:04
with the iPhone 17. Uh, now I never know
4:08
how to pronounce this either. Weebo.
4:09
WBO. It's probably WBO. Tipster. Instant
4:12
Digital. Instant Digital. I can read and
4:14
pronounce. Uh, Instant Digital claims
4:17
that Apple is working on a new titanium
4:19
alloy that might help address the heat
4:22
problem while keeping the iPhone
4:24
lightish. Apple currently uses titanium
4:27
in the iPhone Air. Great material. Makes
4:30
that super thin uh chassis durable.
4:33
Supposedly, Apple might use it when the
4:35
folding iPhone we've been hearing about,
4:36
which supposedly coming later this year,
4:39
possibly called the iPhone Ultra.
4:41
Nobody's actually sure yet. Maybe I
4:42
wonder if Tim Cook is even sure yet.
4:46
As mentioned, you know, using if they
4:48
can get this ally to ally alloy together
4:51
and uh bring it back to the probe,
4:54
which, you know, kind of does seem cool.
4:56
I mean, I remember those things. They
4:57
were heavy, but they had a nice solid
5:00
feel to them. Uh, you know, if they get
5:03
it together, that would be able to stop
5:05
the scratching problem.
5:07
You remember that stuff? That was maybe
5:10
overblown, but pictures don't lie. I
5:12
mean, those things were getting
5:14
scratched up and and it Apple actually
5:16
blamed it on the uh on used chargers in
5:19
the stores, right? And didn't they
5:20
remove or replace them all? I can't
5:22
remember if they officially did that or
5:23
if that's just what happened, but uh
5:26
suddenly every iPhone station had its uh
5:30
little instore demo unit charger things
5:33
replaced. So the scratching stopped.
5:36
>> It's true though. Some of those things
5:38
did look pretty sharp and uh some of the
5:40
scratching was pretty bad. But I mean
5:41
mine's fine and case no problems. Really
5:45
died down that that one. That gate died
5:47
down faster than most of the gates. So
5:50
anyway, as uh as always with these, you
5:53
know, big rumors, stuff like this. Who
5:54
knows? Will it actually happen?
5:56
Supposedly, it's in early stage
5:57
research. I don't think this is
5:59
happening this year. Maybe in a year or
6:01
two. We'll see.
6:02
>> I mean, as someone who still uses an
6:04
iPhone 16 Pro regularly, yeah, it gets
6:07
hot. It gets very hot all the time. Uh
6:10
at like for a while, I thought, oh, it's
6:11
just because I'm running the iOS 26
6:13
beta. you know, it's buggy and the
6:16
process is going in the background wrong
6:18
and it it gets heated up, especially in
6:20
the camera app. But, uh, no, it still
6:22
gets hot. So, that's it's just how it
6:24
is. And if I'm going to a if I'm
6:27
tentatively planning on going to a
6:28
folding phone, I guess titanium will
6:30
still have a way in my life. Uh, I think
6:33
it's not just the the switch from
6:35
titanium to aluminum that helped with
6:36
heat, but also the iPhone 17 Pros added
6:39
the um the the vapor chamber cooling
6:42
system that helps a lot as well. And if
6:45
you think about it, like the a big part
6:47
of that on the back transfers the heat
6:50
away from the processor, which is under
6:51
the aluminum, onto like the glass
6:53
section, the glass panel on the back.
6:55
Glass conducts heat pretty well. So
6:58
supposedly, I mean, I bet even if they
6:59
they switch the, you know, iPhone 20 Pro
7:02
or whatever, metallergy aside, with with
7:05
this hypothetical new titanium alloy
7:07
that they have, like they they still
7:09
have the vapor chamber cooling system.
7:11
They could still dissipate heat through
7:12
the glass panel on the back. I think it
7:14
would be a lot better. I I think
7:16
titanium round two would would be more
7:18
successful on the iPhone.
7:20
>> And the the whole design is just
7:21
different, too, right? I mean, well, I
7:23
mean, obviously it's different, but
7:25
isn't like all the bottom part the
7:27
battery, or am I getting confused with
7:29
the iPhone Air? I I remember
7:31
>> they're both like that, actually.
7:32
>> Yeah. Like the the processor is all just
7:34
in the the top part where the camera
7:36
stuff is.
7:37
>> Mhm.
7:37
>> And everything else is battery.
7:39
>> You know, they they made a big fuss
7:40
about switching to titanium and then
7:42
they go back to aluminum again. I mean,
7:43
do you think they would they would make
7:44
it like a big ad campaign if they were
7:46
to go back again to titanium?
7:49
>> Yeah, it's funny. I mean, when they
7:51
talked about this thing, the latest ones
7:52
being aluminum, I was just like, God,
7:54
you know, I mean, two years ago, every
7:56
Apple store had the word titanium in
7:58
giant letters, you know, it was like the
8:00
big thing. Oh, it's so awesome. It's a
8:02
high-end premium material, not that
8:05
crappy aluminum stuff we use in our
8:07
low-end phones.
8:08
>> And then, uh, yeah. And then just two
8:10
two years later, it's like,
8:12
>> I have to admit, I don't even know which
8:15
one which one mine is like my phone.
8:19
Oh, that's a that's either a 15 or a 16.
8:22
>> That's the 16 Pro. That's the 16 Pro,
8:25
but I don't know if that's titanium.
8:26
>> You have the 16 Pro and it's titanium.
8:28
>> I had no idea.
8:29
>> Well, the more you know.
8:32
>> Yeah, I remember the I had a 14 Pro
8:34
before this one and I remember it
8:36
getting extremely hot. But I don't know
8:40
why. Maybe it's because I switched back
8:42
to a leather case, but I don't feel that
8:44
anymore. Not as often.
8:46
>> Insulates it. Yeah.
8:47
>> Yeah. Do you think they would uh ever
8:50
switch the MacBook Pro back to back to
8:52
titanium? There was there was the the
8:54
titanium PowerBook G4 back in like what
8:58
2001
9:00
2002.
9:01
>> Was it actually made of titanium or did
9:03
they just call it that?
9:04
>> No,
9:05
>> that was one. Yeah,
9:06
>> it it wasn't a unibody, so it wasn't
9:08
like entirely titanium all the way
9:09
around, but it had it had large amounts
9:11
of it that were titanium.
9:12
>> It was also really fragile and and broke
9:16
very easily. Like the a problem is that
9:18
they they hadn't figured out like the
9:20
modern hinge mechanism yet. So the the
9:23
hinge sort of like stuck off the back of
9:25
the laptop and the screens would snap
9:26
off on them all the time. Uh
9:29
>> that's premium.
9:30
>> Yeah.
9:32
But they could go maybe maybe that'll be
9:33
like the another change they make with
9:35
like the MacBook Ultra because
9:36
supposedly that's going to be like
9:38
thinner. Maybe maybe it'll be thinner
9:40
because it'll switch to titanium and
9:41
it'll be you know have more strength.
9:43
>> I don't know. Was that the era where the
9:45
MacBooks they the battery you could swap
9:48
out at the bottom? Yeah.
9:50
>> Yeah.
9:51
>> That was nice. Yeah.
9:52
>> Good times.
9:53
>> I mean, I don't know. I was a baby, but
9:55
sounds nice.
9:56
>> I mean, now if they had user swappable
9:57
batteries, I mean, you would just be
9:58
taking the whole bottom of the MacBook
9:59
Pro off.
10:01
>> Yeah, true.
10:02
>> Let's move right along. The Apple Watch
10:04
Ultra 4 might add better hypertension
10:07
alerts with the Watch OS 26 update.
10:10
Apple brought hypertension notifications
10:12
to the Apple Watch Series 9, Ultra 2,
10:15
and newer models. But a new Digit Times
10:17
report suggests Apple's new high blood
10:20
pressure notification system uses the
10:22
optical heart rate sensor to analyze how
10:24
blood vessels respond to each heartbeat
10:26
in real time. That sounds kind of
10:29
similar to how uh they announced it
10:32
working already, but uh we'll see.
10:34
>> Very similar.
10:36
>> Publication adds that it is currently
10:37
being reviewed by the Food and Drug
10:39
Administration. And so Apple will have
10:40
to wait until it's cleared. Uh, you
10:43
know, this could help flag or identify
10:44
abnormal patterns associated with
10:47
hypertension. Um, that should mean
10:49
there's a clinical distinction in how
10:50
the new blood pressure feature
10:52
notifications will work. So it they they
10:56
could be seeking additional clearance
10:57
because this will be better. And, you
10:59
know, maybe they'll be able to say more
11:02
than, oh, over the past few weeks we
11:05
think you've had higher blood pressure.
11:07
Maybe you should get this looked at. you
11:08
know, maybe maybe it'll be more
11:09
prescriptive thanks to that. Apple has
11:12
long been working to bring non-invasive
11:15
blood glucose monitoring to the Apple
11:16
Watch. While that feature remains
11:19
subject to regulatory approval, the
11:21
framing in the Digit Times report hints
11:23
that it is no longer a distant dream and
11:25
we could see it in a near future Apple
11:27
Watch. So, that might be on the horizon
11:31
at least that they could be working on
11:33
that inching closer. I I think there was
11:35
another uh article this week that was
11:38
mostly about how the um Johnny Seruji is
11:42
reorganizing the hardware teams within
11:45
Apple and apparently Kevin Lynch is now
11:47
working on that project. So he could be
11:50
could be getting them into order there
11:51
trying to get it into a shippable
11:53
product. Digit Times also says a
11:55
significant redesign is on the table for
11:57
Apple Watch Ultra 4 citing supply chain
11:59
sources. The report hints at eight
12:02
sensors arranged in a circle on the rear
12:04
side of the Apple Watch that could allow
12:06
the watch to take more direct physical
12:08
measurements, which could translate into
12:09
better health tracking accuracy across
12:11
the board. I think the question now that
12:13
Apple has so many different models of
12:14
Apple Watch is how many of these are
12:16
actually revised annually every year.
12:19
I've long argued that Apple doesn't need
12:21
to put out a new series model of the
12:23
Apple Watch every single year when
12:24
they're barely different, but they seem
12:27
keen on doing it anyways. I the Apple
12:29
Watch Ultra like skipped a year or two.
12:31
Uh we weren't sure if we were getting a
12:33
series 4 this year or not, but it seems
12:34
like it's on the cards and it'll be a
12:36
big upgrade. What are we thinking about
12:37
that?
12:38
>> Well, it also says significant redesign.
12:40
So, hm, interesting. I remember I
12:43
remember when the first Ultra came out,
12:45
I was not such a big fan of it, but uh a
12:48
large part of that is I'm just not a
12:50
huge fan of the just raw titanium look.
12:54
>> But I do love it. I mean, I I now I wear
12:56
it every day. And uh I wish I had one of
12:59
those black ones because I think those
13:00
look even better, but I mean, are they
13:03
really going to change up the design and
13:05
make it completely different? I don't
13:07
know. Maybe. So,
13:09
>> it sounds more like they're they're
13:10
changing up like the design of like the,
13:11
you know, the glass panel on the bottom.
13:13
It may be more of an internal design.
13:15
>> Although, also,
13:17
now that the series I mean, what number
13:19
are we on? Series 11. Now that the
13:21
Series 11 larger size technically has a
13:24
display that's the same size as the
13:25
Apple Watch Ultra, I wouldn't be
13:26
surprised if it gets a new display on
13:28
top as well that's a little bit bigger
13:29
to, you know, justify the size of the
13:32
rest of the watch.
13:34
>> It's big enough.
13:36
>> Yeah. Doesn't it have kind of like, you
13:38
know, thick bezels around the around the
13:39
display on the top?
13:40
>> It's hard to tell. I got a black watch
13:42
face.
13:43
>> Oh, yeah.
13:44
>> Yeah. I mean, the one thing that's kind
13:45
of weird about it is is that lip on on
13:48
the top of it is kind of strange. Yeah,
13:50
>> if if you've never worn one, don't own
13:52
one, whatever. Um, you know, I mean, if
13:54
they make the sensors in the next
13:55
version better, you know, especially if
13:57
everything is just better, very
14:00
tempting. And if the blood pressure
14:02
stuff is actually better, I mean, I've
14:03
never uh received any sort of blood
14:06
pressure notification or hypertension
14:07
alert, whatever they call it. Of course,
14:09
I last week we were talking about the
14:11
the sleep apnnea stuff,
14:13
>> and I was saying, oh, like it doesn't
14:14
work. Well, yeah. I mean, one of our uh
14:17
carefully listening listeners got in
14:19
touch with us and said, "Hey, it's
14:20
actually in there." It's, you know, it
14:22
is it's true. I went in, I dug in. I did
14:24
find sleep apnea or what they don't what
14:27
do they call it? Uh
14:28
>> sleep disturbance or something like
14:30
that. And uh you know, it says no, I
14:34
don't have sleep disturbance, which is
14:37
interesting because I have been
14:39
diagnosed with sleep apnnea and I
14:41
typically don't use the stupid sleep app
14:43
because I hate it. Yeah,
14:45
>> like everybody else on the planet who's
14:46
ever strapped one of those things on
14:48
their face. I I think all these things I
14:50
I I mean, we talk about this all the
14:52
time. I love this background monitoring
14:54
of your health. It's fantastic that all
14:56
this data is getting accumulated and
14:59
trying to figure out if you've got a
15:00
problem you don't know about. And
15:03
you mentioned the the blood glucose
15:05
stuff. I mean, if they could get that,
15:06
that would be amazing. I I still don't
15:08
think that's anywhere near coming to
15:11
fruition, but uh you know, man, if they
15:15
could if they could get if they could I
15:16
mean, I would buy that instantly.
15:18
>> Oh, yeah. That would take it to the next
15:20
level. That would I mean, at that point,
15:22
it's a completely different product.
15:23
That would be incredible. I mean, across
15:25
the world, like everybody it's it's a
15:27
useful companion device and it can tell
15:30
you if you have like, you know, one of
15:31
these silent killer things.
15:32
>> Back to your point, I mean, every year
15:34
they release a new watch.
15:36
Every year lately, it's kind of the same
15:38
watch. You know, different colors, maybe
15:41
a slightly larger screen that you'd
15:43
never be able to tell if you if it
15:45
wasn't side by side with another, you
15:46
know, the most recent watch.
15:48
>> I bought one of the uh Apple Watch Ultra
15:50
3es, you know, a black one. And it was
15:52
hard to turn it back just cuz I like the
15:53
black. But to be honest, I couldn't tell
15:55
a nickels worth of difference in the two
15:57
two things. So, it's like, okay, I'll
15:59
just take my $800 back. Thanks, Apple.
16:01
Sorry for the free rental. Uh, but
16:05
blood glucose, that's a whole different
16:07
that's that's a whole different thing. I
16:09
mean, I I got diagnosed with diabetes
16:12
and I have
16:14
a a thing stuck into my arm right now
16:16
that's constantly
16:18
checking my uh blood glucose levels. And
16:21
it's been fascinating watching that. I
16:23
mean, that doesn't really that's similar
16:26
to how the Apple Watch thing would work.
16:28
I I suspect is that it would track
16:30
things over time. And this this gives
16:31
you real time real time results. You
16:34
know what's in going on you every 15
16:36
well not real time every 15 minutes with
16:39
the you know non-prescription version of
16:41
it. And uh being able to see how a
16:45
particular meal or activity affects your
16:50
blood sugar level is kind of
16:52
mind-blowing. And
16:55
having to like stick your finger to
16:57
check your blood sugar level. I mean,
16:59
you know, slightly painful, not a big
17:02
deal. It doesn't it it's it's more about
17:04
the
17:06
frequency of checking, you know. I mean,
17:08
when I was before I started using these
17:11
continuous ones, I would just I would
17:12
check my blood sugar in the morning.
17:14
Maybe I'd check it in the afternoon if I
17:16
was feeling weird, which by the way, I
17:17
never did feel weird ever. Uh like I
17:21
mean, that's what's so weird about it.
17:23
Like my blood sugar was super high.
17:25
Didn't know it. No idea. The the great
17:28
thing about this is and I figured this
17:30
out looking, you know, doing the blood
17:32
sugar, you know, the the the finger
17:33
prick method, but it was like I I
17:36
checked it before I went for a walk and
17:38
I checked it after I got back and it had
17:41
dropped like 40 points, just a 20-minute
17:43
walk. It's like, "Holy crap, that's
17:45
amazing." Took it from, you know, too
17:47
high to sort of still a little too high,
17:50
but not like crazy high. And uh I
17:55
thought, man, is that even true? But the
17:57
thing is like you can't you can't just,
17:59
you know, prick your finger every 20
18:01
minutes. I mean, you could. I suppose
18:02
you'd run out of those things and and
18:03
it'd be a ridiculous mess. But, um,
18:06
being able to just see, oh, I I I did
18:09
this and this happened. I I ate I drank
18:12
two IPAs and my blood sugar went through
18:14
the roof. I ate peanut butter and my
18:17
blood sugar dropped. You know, it it's
18:19
it's great information to have and and
18:22
especi if you have diabetes. I mean,
18:26
this probably would be not it would be
18:28
helpful for people who have diabetes,
18:30
but it probably wouldn't be as helpful
18:33
as like one of these continuous things.
18:35
>> It'd be helpful for everybody to just
18:37
understand like how these things work
18:38
because I I had I mean, before a few
18:40
years ago, I had no idea like how the
18:42
mechanism of that worked. Like, oh, why
18:44
is it that after I eat half a large
18:45
pizza, I feel insatiably thirsty for the
18:47
rest of the day? Oh, because it's like,
18:50
you know, 1500 calories of like, you
18:52
know, bread.
18:53
>> Also, salt.
18:55
probably but uh
18:58
you know I I think this is this would
19:00
probably be more helpful for people I
19:02
mean who are undiagnosed
19:04
>> or who are pre-diabetic
19:06
or just you know young and none of you
19:10
know these bad sort of lifestyle
19:12
choices. Not that diabetes is all
19:13
lifestyle choices, but
19:15
>> you know, eat eating poorly is not good
19:17
for you. And seeing how the actual
19:20
effects of certain foods on you is is
19:24
pretty eye opening.
19:25
>> I did heinous things diet-wise in
19:30
college. What I would do is when I when
19:31
I was still in the dining halls in
19:34
college, my freshman year, what I would
19:35
do is I would uh go go to one of the
19:37
lines where they have, you know, like
19:38
burgers, fries, hot dogs, stuff like
19:39
that, and I would just get a full plate
19:40
of fries. Then I would take that over to
19:43
the Mexican food line and have them
19:45
drizzle it in nacho cheese.
19:48
Uh then I would just add on top of that
19:52
ketchup and barbecue sauce. And I would
19:54
just eat that.
19:56
>> Wow.
19:56
>> In addition to other stuff.
19:57
>> It's like all carbs, fat, and sugar.
20:00
>> Yep. Yep.
20:01
>> Wow. If I ate that, my head would
20:03
probably explode.
20:04
>> This is the most American thing I've
20:06
I've ever heard. I think
20:08
>> you're goddamn right.
20:13
Uh, what model of Apple Watch are you
20:14
on, Elon? Or or do you do you go Sans's
20:16
watch?
20:17
>> Not wearing one. I my my last one was an
20:20
SC and I wore it for a year and a half
20:23
and I I I don't like wearing things like
20:27
I don't have jewelry either. This is
20:29
something
20:30
>> with me. I don't like wearing those
20:33
things. M um I think when like
20:37
significant redesign I think I would be
20:39
interested in that if it finally means
20:43
round bezel like round display
20:46
>> but that's never happening is it?
20:48
>> I mean each time they redesign it gets
20:51
rounder.
20:53
>> Yeah I
20:55
at some point it will be round maybe
20:58
>> not quite full circle yet. Um, but you
21:01
know, just
21:02
>> infinite time scale. It's going to be a
21:03
circle eventually.
21:06
>> I remember I my first smart watch was
21:09
the Moto Roller something and it had
21:12
like a flat um a flat edge at the
21:16
bottom. So, it was round.
21:17
>> Oh, yeah.
21:18
>> But it had a flat edge at the bottom.
21:20
People called it the flat tire or
21:22
something. Yeah,
21:23
>> that rings a bell now. That was really
21:25
weird. I I suppose because they they had
21:27
to fit the controller somehow and they
21:29
had not figured out how to put it
21:31
underneath or something.
21:32
>> Did do you did you like it?
21:34
>> No, that was hu I have tiny wrists and
21:37
it was huge and heavy and it ran the
21:41
earliest of Android versions of Apple
21:44
Watch stuff
21:46
>> and that was not amazing.
21:50
>> I also have small wrists. I every time I
21:51
go to an Apple store, I I put on an
21:53
Apple Watch Ultra and just laugh at it
21:55
for a few seconds and then I take it off
21:57
>> and then my arm is sore because it's so
21:58
heavy.
22:02
>> People like that. I remember like it was
22:04
a few days before the Apple Watch Ultra
22:06
was unveiled. Like the CAD files for it
22:09
leaked online and I was just like
22:11
looking at why is it shaped like that?
22:13
And then I my my brain wave was oh
22:16
that's the shape of like the aluminum
22:17
part and then obviously they'll fill
22:19
like the weird gaps and corners and
22:21
stuff with like a you know like with
22:23
like a rubber piece that'll fit around
22:24
it and make it like you know normal
22:26
Apple Watch shaped. I was thought yeah
22:28
cuz you know that's like what what sport
22:30
watches are like you know they're metal
22:31
but then they have like the that like
22:32
really dense rubber around them like the
22:34
Casio G-Shock watches
22:36
>> and then they unveiled it and it just no
22:38
it just looks like that.
22:40
>> It is true. I remember when those first
22:42
came out, I thought the same thing. It
22:44
looks like the bones of a watch. And uh
22:47
I think Graham, one of our Apple Watch
22:50
experts here at the Mac, I think he that
22:53
was his prediction before it launched,
22:54
like, oh, that's what they're going to
22:55
do. And and I mean, admittedly, I mean,
22:58
I've gotten used to it. It does look
23:00
kind of strange with that big They
23:02
probably would call it a uh plateau,
23:04
right?
23:06
>> Yeah. Yeah.
23:07
>> Uh where the digital crown side button
23:09
sit. I mean, it's it is peculiar. That's
23:12
I've come to, you know, appreciate it,
23:14
though. It looks less like a kind of
23:17
Star Trek smooth
23:20
>> sci-fi looking thing. More like a
23:23
actual, you know,
23:25
>> like you're doing plumbing when you spin
23:27
the digital econ. I mean, it's so big
23:28
and chunky. It's like you're doing
23:29
spinning a big wheel.
23:32
>> Yeah. And I mean, the battery life is is
23:34
maybe the main thing that I like about
23:35
it. I mean
23:36
>> Mhm. Aside, I mean, I think I do like
23:38
the look better than the the plain Apple
23:41
Watch, but
23:42
>> let's carry on. Apple, I mean, they do
23:44
this every year. They they they drop in
23:46
advance a a few features of of the next
23:50
big software update to celebrate World
23:52
Accessibility Day. Uh, so we've got
23:55
details on the accessibility features
23:56
coming in iOS 27, Mac OS 27,
24:00
etc., etc. Apple Intelligence powers a
24:03
lot of them. Apple previewed a sweeping
24:06
set of accessibility upgrades Tuesday
24:08
that weave Apple intelligence into some
24:10
of its most relied upon features. The
24:13
sort of headline one are improvements to
24:16
uh voice over and magnifier. You know
24:19
the the vision stuff. A new image
24:23
explorer in voice over delivers richer,
24:25
more detailed descriptions of images
24:27
across the entire system, photographs,
24:29
scanned bills, personal documents, and
24:31
more.
24:32
This feels like something that, you
24:34
know, they've been building the bones of
24:36
in other features, like when somebody
24:38
texts you a picture in iMessage and, you
24:41
know, you're wearing the AirPods and has
24:43
to like describe the photo to you. Maybe
24:45
this is some of the technology that's
24:47
borrowed there. So, it'll it'll be able
24:49
to, you know, to describe things that
24:52
you're looking at more accurately. That
24:54
voiceover feature currently doesn't work
24:56
that great. like it'll tell you, you
24:58
know, Neilianne sent a photo uh with
25:02
some text and it does it doesn't do that
25:05
much to try and like describe the
25:07
contents of it, but you know, it's a
25:09
step in that direction. Looks like they
25:10
might be doing more there. An update to
25:12
live recognition lets users press the
25:15
action button on iPhone to ask a
25:17
question about what the camera is
25:18
pointed at and receive a spoken
25:20
response. And follow-up questions get
25:22
support in natural language, so it'll
25:25
it'll be more descriptive. as well.
25:27
Magnifier gets a similar treatment.
25:29
Users will be able to control the app by
25:31
voice, saying things like zoom in or
25:33
turn on flashlight and can also use the
25:35
action button to ask questions about
25:37
what they're looking at. This also feels
25:40
very Apple intelligency with with the
25:42
the app intense framework in the
25:43
background. You know, a lot of the if
25:45
you go back to WWDC 24 and watch that
25:48
really hilarious demo, like a lot of
25:50
what they're talking about, you know,
25:52
what Apple the future versions of Siri
25:54
and Apple Intelligence will be able to
25:55
do is like doing things inside apps like
25:57
the examples they gave are, you know,
25:59
when you're looking at a photo, make
26:01
this photo pop or, you know, send this
26:03
web page that I'm looking at as a text
26:05
to my friend or send it in Slack. Basic
26:07
stuff like that. Uh that's like all
26:09
going to be voice controlled. And you
26:11
know, if you think about it, those would
26:12
be excellent accessibility features. If
26:14
you can't see the buttons that you're
26:17
tapping on because they were designed by
26:19
Alan Dy and they're too transparent or
26:21
hard to see or invisible, then you can
26:23
just, you know, tell it to turn on the
26:24
flashlight, you know, excellent stuff.
26:27
>> First ruin you the UI and then build
26:30
some features to work around the
26:33
>> then innovate their way out of it again.
26:35
>> Yeah. Uh, voice control is a another
26:39
popular feature and it'll undergo a
26:41
natural language overhaul. Instead of
26:43
needing to recall exact button labels or
26:45
grid numbers, users will be able to
26:47
describe what they see on screen and
26:49
speak commands accordingly. For example,
26:51
a user could say, "Tap the guide about
26:53
best restaurants and maps or tap the
26:55
purple folder in files." Accessibility
26:58
reader, which reformats text for users
27:00
with dyslexia, low vision, and related
27:02
needs. It's kind of like, you know,
27:04
reader mode in Safari except across a
27:07
few different apps like preview will be
27:09
a little smarter. It'll now work with
27:10
multicolumn layouts, tables, and images
27:13
found in scientific papers and other
27:14
similar documents.
27:16
>> Every not every year. It's been 2 years
27:18
now that when they do the accessibility
27:22
announcements
27:24
before
27:25
DC, I expect one thing
27:28
>> Mhm. accessibility wise is that they fix
27:32
the balance slider, the volume, the
27:34
audio balance slider in Mac OS, which
27:37
gets restored randomly every day
27:40
depending on whichever output device you
27:43
using.
27:44
>> Um, this is such a basic accessibility
27:46
thing for people who have I since
27:50
recently I've been having hearing issues
27:53
like depending on left and right
27:55
>> and I need to adjust that. um with every
27:59
device that I use and on the Mac, this
28:02
is the only device on the Mac it's
28:05
impossible to keep that slider in its
28:07
place. It will just move around randomly
28:11
and yeah, that's very frustrating. So, I
28:14
guess I'm happy for them that they using
28:16
AI for accessibility features and it's a
28:19
good thing in general that it can be
28:21
used for that. I suppose that's one of
28:24
the only ethical things that can be like
28:27
touted about AI and that's good. Uh well
28:31
done. But I wonder can they leverage AI
28:33
to fix the balance slider?
28:35
>> Maybe the problem is that it's already
28:37
powered by Apple intelligence and that's
28:38
why it breaks.
28:39
>> Oh maybe it's just like Siri it's
28:41
already thinking too much. If you if you
28:44
look for this issue, like when you have
28:45
some this sort of issues with Mac OS,
28:47
you you type on Google, right? If people
28:49
have been fixing this and this volume
28:53
slider, this balance slider issue comes
28:56
up so often and dates back to like
28:59
Reddit threads in 2011
29:02
or earlier like Apple discussion forums
29:05
that from earlier even.
29:07
>> This is extremely old and it's not
29:10
fixed. I've heard it described on other
29:11
podcasts that a big problem with Apple's
29:14
feedback system is that as soon as a bug
29:16
becomes too old then nobody bothers
29:19
fixing it. Uh it's just like it's
29:22
established like you know we'll we'll
29:23
fix the incoming bugs coming in. Like
29:26
the window uh that you have if you
29:28
really want a bug to be fixed is like
29:30
ideally right after the developer beta
29:34
of that software release comes out. old
29:37
bugs,
29:38
>> if they're more than like three years
29:39
old, there there's no chance. They're
29:40
just there forever now. That's just how
29:41
it works.
29:43
>> That's
29:43
>> So maybe I this summer I need to
29:45
manipulate somehow the feedback system
29:48
in and make them think that it was
29:51
introduced by the OS 27.
29:54
>> Yeah, I will try. I will try
29:56
>> that. That's an article that I republish
29:58
every every summer as soon as like the
29:59
betas are out. how to get your feedback
30:00
system, how to how to work and game the
30:02
system of feedback and and get your get
30:05
your bugs actually fixed and listened
30:07
to. June is really the best time to to
30:10
file bugs. Apple will also add ondevice
30:13
generated subtitles for video content
30:17
that is that doesn't already include
30:18
captions. That includes personal clips,
30:21
videos shared by friends and family, and
30:22
streamed content. Uh because the speech
30:25
recognition runs on device, Apple says
30:27
the process is private. This is also
30:29
like a feature that they're building out
30:30
like ondevice subtitles and captions.
30:33
Like they've they've added this to
30:34
notes. They've had it in Final Cut for
30:36
like I think a a year or so now. Final
30:40
Cut Pro, like how you can transcribe
30:41
things to captions. It was really rough
30:44
when it was first introduced, but uh
30:47
it's been getting better. Uh now I use
30:49
it when we're when I'm publishing like
30:51
short video clips for how-tos for Cult
30:53
of Mac that'll go on socials. I I used
30:56
to like do an extra step where I'd put
30:58
them in Mac Whisper because I really
31:00
just had to. Uh the the app like the
31:02
Final Cut Pro subtitle system was just
31:04
so bad. It didn't recognize like any
31:06
proper nouns whatsoever. But uh it's
31:09
getting better and you know this is one
31:10
of those features that once it's good
31:13
enough, you can really roll out
31:14
everywhere once it's like you know just
31:16
barely reliable enough. You know they
31:17
have the transcribing in podcasts now.
31:20
So yeah, I guess they can transcribe
31:23
videos that people sent to you. That's
31:24
awesome. I suppose this is like an
31:26
iteration on live captions. It shows
31:29
that these kind of features that these
31:31
are touted at like presented as
31:33
accessibility features, but they when
31:36
done well, they benefit everyone and the
31:40
live captions one I I've been using a
31:42
lot um in situations like you wouldn't
31:45
expect it to be useful, but for example,
31:47
you're in the train and you're not rude.
31:51
So, and you're not rude and you have
31:54
forgotten your headphones. You don't
31:55
have AirPods on you and you want there's
31:57
a like a Instagram reel or whatever that
32:00
you want to watch quickly. You turn on
32:02
live captions and you can read what's
32:04
being said in that video instead of
32:06
putting it on speaker. So,
32:08
>> I mean, I would say one of the one of
32:09
the few positive impacts Tik Tok has had
32:11
on the world is that it's it established
32:14
videos on the internet should have live
32:15
captions that are animated that are high
32:18
quality.
32:19
uh Tik Tok has damaged the world in a
32:20
lot of other we don't have to get into
32:21
that but that that's one of the great
32:23
things that it that it put out into the
32:24
world and you know I'm in Ohio so I've
32:26
I've I I don't experience public transit
32:29
ever but uh you know just in a group
32:32
setting like somebody texts you a video
32:34
and you know in the middle of like a
32:36
party yeah some people are looking at
32:37
their phones but you don't want to like
32:38
get out headphones and put them on just
32:40
to listen to a thing you just want to
32:42
see what it's all about really quick
32:44
yeah live captions I mean it's an
32:46
accessibility feature but everybody body
32:48
can will use those at some point or
32:50
another. Uh what's next? One of the more
32:53
striking announcements is a wheelchair
32:56
control feature for Vision Pro.
32:58
Leveraging the headset's precision eye
33:00
tracking system, users will be able to
33:01
operate compatible alternative drive
33:04
systems to power wheelchairs entirely
33:06
with their eyes. The option matters
33:09
greatly for people with conditions like
33:10
ALS, for whom joystick controls aren't
33:13
viable. I think Vision OS is also
33:15
getting dwell control to where you can
33:18
just like look at things and stare at
33:19
them for a few seconds and that'll do a
33:22
simulate a tap gesture.
33:24
>> The iPhone has that and it it doesn't
33:25
work very well because eye control on
33:27
the iPhone is very unpredictable and
33:30
>> not that great. But on the Vision on the
33:32
Vision Pro, I mean that's that's
33:34
brilliant. Brilliant idea. And yeah,
33:37
controlling a wheelchair with a Vision
33:39
Pro, I mean, hell yeah, go for it. I'm
33:42
I'm sure dozens of people will be very
33:44
thankful for that feature.
33:46
>> Hopefully that will become more useful
33:48
when there's something
33:50
like not as heavy to to wear.
33:53
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you have ALS
33:57
maybe maybe the weight of the Vision Pro
33:59
would be a problem, but you know it
34:01
solving other problems. Uh you know
34:03
controlling electric wheelchair that
34:04
that's cool.
34:05
>> This is a good addition for for the OS.
34:07
I' I'd say not not so much for this
34:10
iteration of the hardware.
34:12
>> Uh we've got sort of a grab bag here at
34:14
the bottom. Made for iPhone. Hearing
34:16
aids will pair and hand off between
34:18
devices more reliably, you know, kind of
34:20
seamlessly like like AirPods. TV OS
34:23
gains large text support for low vision
34:26
users. That's excellent. Uh the Sony
34:29
Access Controller will work as a game
34:30
controller with iOS, iPad OS, and Mac
34:32
OS. You know, just like any other game
34:34
controller. A lot of people don't know
34:36
this, but you know, all of Apple devices
34:38
have really versatile game controller
34:40
input support. Like if you have a PS4
34:42
controller laying around, you can
34:43
connect it to your iPhone and you can
34:46
even like navigate the games app
34:47
entirely with it. You can launch games.
34:49
You can play a lot of games. Basically,
34:50
every game on Apple Arcade has
34:53
controller support. Xbox controller,
34:55
Nintendo Switch controller, like both
34:57
the Pro Controller and like the
34:58
individual Joy-Cons. You can connect the
35:01
Hikawa grip and stand for iPhone, which
35:04
is an accessory I hadn't heard about
35:06
until now. Uh, comes in several colors
35:10
and it's now available worldwide.
35:12
>> Have you not seen the videos?
35:14
>> I've not seen the videos of that.
35:16
>> It It looks It looks funky. I like it.
35:18
Um,
35:19
>> it does. It
35:20
>> It's like a big handle.
35:21
>> It doesn't look terribly comfortable.
35:23
Uh, in Apple's marketing pictures, they
35:26
they they show, you know, three
35:27
different people holding it in three
35:28
different ways.
35:30
>> So, it's like this big pyramid shape.
35:32
>> Yeah.
35:33
>> On the back of that attaches to the back
35:34
of your iPhone with a big hole in the
35:36
side that that runs across uh that I
35:39
guess you can like slide a finger into.
35:42
Uh, but the example pictures show like
35:44
people's hands and then fingers like
35:45
going at like a 90 degree angle in order
35:47
to slide in it because of course the
35:49
hole in the side is like completely
35:52
orthogonal to the direction of the
35:53
phone. Yeah, I I think that the the the
35:57
video like they put out on YouTube a
35:59
kind of video slash ad for this and it's
36:03
more convincing in there because you see
36:05
people with disabilities with with their
36:07
hands or arms using it and holding the
36:10
phone using this accessory and it looks
36:12
like this is like actually really
36:14
fitting for those use cases for those pe
36:16
for for for these people.
36:18
>> Yeah,
36:19
>> that's that's fair. I I believe that.
36:21
Um,
36:21
>> yeah, maybe it's not for us if you have
36:24
>> It doesn't help that one of the textures
36:25
looks like it's like made of marble. So,
36:26
I guess I was at my my first impression
36:28
is like, is that like a solid block that
36:31
you're sticking on the back?
36:32
>> I wonder what's the texture. Is it
36:33
squishy? I'm not sure.
36:35
>> It looks like, you know, they they they
36:37
bend a little bit. So, they I they're
36:39
probably rubber and not that
36:41
>> Yeah,
36:41
>> not that bad. I mean, good stuff. You
36:43
know, our first taste of iOS 27
36:45
features. I I I think the the
36:47
expectation is that these are going to
36:48
be smaller feature software updates as
36:51
they're mostly just iOS 26 year 2.
36:54
They're going to be squashing a lot of
36:55
bugs going for performance and
36:57
reliability. Um but I mean if this is a
37:00
hint to go by, we'll have a lot of new
37:01
features as well because I mean this is
37:03
just as big a year for the new
37:05
accessibility features as any. Although
37:07
maybe that's a different team and that
37:08
wouldn't really affect the number of
37:09
broader software features. But WWDC is
37:12
scarily only a few weeks away. What's
37:14
what's our feeling going into that?
37:17
>> I don't know. I'm I'm still trying to
37:21
wake up from last year's nightmare with
37:24
Mac OS Tahoe.
37:27
>> Aren't we all?
37:28
>> I just hope the next Mac OS just has
37:30
some a ton of refinements.
37:33
>> It's We are just like you said, we're
37:35
just a few weeks away from the next OS
37:39
being announced and last year's is still
37:41
extremely buggy. It's like it's in the
37:43
in its 20th ba beta or something. Uh
37:48
>> well, we'll get to this shortly, but now
37:49
you've got an app to develop. So, do you
37:51
have a do you have a game plan for that?
37:53
Testing testing different versions?
37:56
>> No.
37:57
>> You're going to be installing the first
37:58
developer beta and you know,
38:00
>> I'm not doing that.
38:01
>> Okay. Unless like the first developer
38:03
beta is already like stability wise and
38:08
like refinements wise an improvement
38:11
over the current version of tower.
38:12
>> I mean god it can't get
38:13
>> then
38:15
I guess it can I don't know.
38:18
>> Yeah you're right.
38:19
>> I don't know. I will see. I will see.
38:21
I'm So this is the main thing. I'm just
38:23
this year I'm just hoping for like
38:25
refinements across the line.
38:27
>> Le you were you were Tahoe was forced
38:29
upon you. Uh, what are what are your
38:31
feelings?
38:32
>> Yeah, I'm still not digging it too much.
38:34
There's a lot of things that I don't
38:36
find that pleasing.
38:37
>> I got a new one this morning. I I woke
38:39
up, signed into my Mac, and for some
38:41
reason the accent color uh was purple.
38:44
So, I had to I had to change that back
38:46
to blue. I And then I opened system
38:47
settings, went to the appearance
38:48
settings. It hadn't changed to purple.
38:51
It was still set to the regular like
38:52
default blue, but I I switched it and
38:56
then switched it back again and then it
38:58
was blue again. That that was a new one.
39:00
Hadn't experienced that yet. I don't
39:02
know why.
39:02
>> There's a lot of crap like that that you
39:04
know I I feel like a broken record, but
39:06
that just doesn't work the same way
39:08
every time you turn on your computer.
39:11
And uh I don't even mean just every time
39:13
you reboot it. I just mean every time
39:15
that it comes awake. It's like what? Why
39:18
did something change in the background?
39:20
It's crazy. Like just the disgust.
39:22
>> Sometimes my my display just doesn't go
39:24
off. It just stays on uh after I lock
39:27
it. just stays awake. Um, I mean,
39:30
sometimes I use the app in Femi to
39:32
intentionally keep it awake. I double
39:34
check every time. No, it's not running.
39:35
I don't know why it just won't go to
39:37
sleep. I It's an insomniac, I guess.
39:41
>> I hope that they do fix a bunch of
39:42
things that are uh, you know, sort of
39:45
just a little sloppy in the current
39:47
operating systems, but it just seems
39:49
like otherwise it's just going to be all
39:51
AI. All AI.
39:55
And I mean, they did it two years ago,
39:56
all AI. And none of it works yet or
39:59
almost none of it. So,
40:02
I mean, I'm not the only person who's
40:04
saying this. I mean, they got to do it
40:05
this time. If they don't do it, they're
40:07
going to look like morons. They're going
40:09
to be
40:10
>> the laughing stock of the the the tech
40:12
world. So,
40:14
you know, it's super high stakes. I hope
40:17
that the stuff works. I hope that the
40:18
Siri actually works.
40:21
I mean, honestly, if Siri just worked
40:23
the way you expect it to now properly,
40:25
that would be almost like a headline.
40:28
Uh, but if it could do all this other
40:30
stuff that they've been talking about,
40:31
well, that what they talked about two
40:33
years ago that the rumor mill keeps
40:35
saying that they're getting closer to
40:36
providing, that'll be great. It's kind
40:37
of weird. I mean, so many people are
40:39
down on AI. Uh, I'm not down on AI, but
40:42
I'm down on things that don't work
40:44
right. And if this thing
40:48
if all this stuff, you know, works 75%
40:52
of the time and then the other 25% of
40:54
the time is doesn't work, that's worse
40:56
than not working 75% of the time in my
40:58
opinion. I'd rather have things that I
41:00
can rely on to work properly every
41:03
single time that I go to use them. So,
41:05
>> I recently had reason to rewatch I think
41:07
it must have been WWDC 2014 when they
41:12
first brought Siri to the Mac and it
41:14
feels like threequarters of the things
41:15
that they showed off. It's like does it
41:18
even does it still do that? Is it
41:20
>> wow?
41:20
>> They they showed off all these demos
41:22
where like you know they're asking Siri,
41:24
oh yeah, find all of these files that
41:26
this person sent me about this topic.
41:28
And it's like
41:29
>> they they just showed that off in WWC
41:31
2024 and it didn't and they couldn't
41:33
ship it. Like what did these features go
41:35
away? Did they forget how it works? It's
41:38
>> that's weird.
41:39
>> It was It was
41:39
>> I don't know if I remember watching
41:40
that. What when was that? 20
41:44
>> I want to say 2014, but
41:46
>> Wow. 12 years ago.
41:46
>> That might be It might be 2015 or so. It
41:48
was after It It was definitely after the
41:51
Yoseite redesign. So, it was either
41:53
2014, 2015, I think.
41:55
>> That sounds like an interesting post,
41:57
man. writing writing about how the
42:00
original pitch for Siri like we either
42:04
we never got there or we got there and
42:07
left there and now are not there.
42:11
an idea for for how I want to test like
42:13
the the Apple Intelligence Siri when it
42:15
comes out is I want to go back to the
42:16
WWDC 2024 demo and like make a like an
42:21
itemized list of everything they said it
42:22
would be able to do and just like test
42:24
those one by one, see how well it it it
42:27
holds up.
42:28
>> Anyways, if you'd like to make your Mac
42:29
work better today,
42:31
Neil
42:33
solution for that.
42:34
>> Some transition music.
42:35
>> Wow.
42:36
>> Tell us about this app that you that
42:37
you've been working on. my my app. Um,
42:40
yes, I made an app. This is the first
42:43
one that I'm like shipping to people in
42:46
real life.
42:47
>> Uh, it's called Tiny Start and it's an
42:50
alternative to Spotlight.
42:52
>> Um, the idea being that it's supposed to
42:55
be, hence the name, supposed to be
42:57
simpler. Uh, it's also tiny on screen,
42:59
but you can make it bigger um as well.
43:03
>> Medium start is not a separate product.
43:04
You can just make it medium or image.
43:06
Okay.
43:07
>> Yeah. Exactly.
43:08
Yeah. Um, so yeah, and the idea is it
43:12
just focuses on the essentials. Launch
43:15
apps, open URLs, uh, you can do web
43:19
searches and run your shortcuts as well.
43:23
And that's pretty much it. Um, you can
43:24
also like um I
43:28
went with the idea that it should not be
43:30
indexing everything on your Mac uh
43:33
because I feel like that might be a
43:37
performance struggle especially since
43:39
I'm a beginner um in terms of making Mac
43:43
apps and I don't feel like I can take on
43:46
optimizing such a machine
43:49
something that would index everything.
43:51
Um, there are alternative launchers that
43:53
will just use the spotlight indexing on
43:56
your Mac. U, but yeah, I decided not to
43:59
do that either since my idea is to do
44:02
something that's completely separate
44:03
from Spotlight. So, yeah, it's just a
44:06
tiny launcher and it's supposed to be
44:08
fast and I feel I feel like it's fast. I
44:10
feel like I feel like I've done it. It
44:12
It's pretty fast at opening apps and
44:13
opening your links and the folders that
44:16
you save. Uh since since it's not
44:18
indexing everything, you can just save
44:20
shortcuts to your folders and that's it.
44:23
>> Excellent. I mean, I run into this all
44:25
the time. Like Spotlight, older versions
44:27
of Spotlight were were very quick and
44:29
fast, miraculously, which they they ran
44:32
on older computers. I don't know how
44:34
that happens, but like they were so much
44:37
more information dense. You know, with
44:39
the new Spotlight, everything is so big
44:41
and the the screen, although it's large
44:43
on your screen, the text size is also
44:44
really big. So like trying to find
44:47
anything you have to scroll through and
44:49
it searches through so many different
44:51
things that like the the the scope is
44:53
just huge and you've got like you know
44:54
if I'm just searching for a file and I
44:58
even know the exact name like I type it
45:00
in and it's not anywhere in the first
45:02
page of results I've got to scroll
45:03
through it.
45:04
>> I mean also if you have like an external
45:06
hard drive uh like I do that's still on
45:10
spinning discs because SSD storage is
45:12
just still insane. Like sometimes I'll
45:14
type something into Spotlight and
45:18
it'll take a moment, it'll pause and
45:20
then I have to listen to each one of my
45:22
drives spin up and it can be like 30
45:26
seconds before I even get any results
45:28
when I know exactly what I'm looking
45:30
for. Tiny start it it skips through
45:32
that. It's it's super fast. I still need
45:34
to like retrain myself to use it because
45:36
I think by default
45:37
>> um you leave spotlight in place so you
45:39
can still hit command space but tiny
45:40
start takes option space
45:43
>> if you'd like to use that instead.
45:45
>> Yeah, because it's not really in ter
45:47
like UX- wise it's it's it's hard to
45:50
override like the default command space
45:53
shortcut for people when they install
45:55
the app. I'd rather have a different
45:57
keyboard shortcut and let people change
45:59
it to be command space if they want to
46:01
and to yeah to me to bounce back on what
46:04
you just said. Um
46:07
I'm like I'm trying to make a very small
46:09
app that's very explicit about what you
46:13
look what you can search for with it. Uh
46:16
so you're saying if you have apps that
46:18
are stored on an external drive or
46:20
something in tiny start you can that you
46:23
can add that directory explicitly in the
46:26
settings you can add specific
46:28
directories where your apps are stored
46:31
and yeah I'm trying to do that to it's
46:33
also like it's just for me as well. It's
46:35
just so I don't have to develop
46:38
something that will look for the things
46:40
on your computer.
46:42
you just tell the app where it is and
46:45
and that's it. Um yeah, and to to for a
46:49
bit of context and history like this is
46:52
when I started working on this earlier
46:54
um this year like January soon after
46:57
Christmas um this is I was not intending
47:01
on making something that was finished. I
47:04
it it was kind it started as a rabbit
47:06
hole kind of um because first I was
47:12
exploring uh things on GitHub. Um, I was
47:15
looking for
47:17
some little things in Swift and Swift
47:20
with Swift UI as well that people have
47:22
made and I stumbled upon something that
47:24
one guy made and it's a very small emoji
47:27
picker that they made and with just
47:31
swift swift UI is very very simple
47:33
straightforward an emoji picker that
47:35
just appears on screen and when I
47:38
started looking at that because even
47:41
though I'm a beginner like making a Mac
47:44
app. I I've been uh I was a web
47:47
developer before and so I have some
47:49
experience and I and I'm curious in
47:52
general. So I started looking into this
47:54
tiny project and I started thinking this
47:57
this is actually very simple like I I
47:59
can actually tackle this. I could I
48:02
could turn into this into something. Uh
48:05
so at first I started forking this
48:08
random emoji picker that I found on
48:10
GitHub that was like had one star. So
48:12
probably the developer itself nobody
48:14
installed this thing.
48:15
>> I tried to like tweak it and play with
48:18
it and try to iterate on it and then I
48:21
started from scratch as I was thinking
48:24
hey like I understand thing this thing
48:27
enough I can probably make a tiny
48:29
launcher that works similarly to this
48:31
emoji picker. And by the way I forgot to
48:34
mention but tiny start has an emoji
48:35
picker as well
48:37
>> and also like a it also has a bunch of
48:39
characters as well. Like I in my
48:40
articles I need to like insert like the
48:43
command symbol, option symbol, control
48:44
symbol, like a bunch of different
48:45
keyboard symbols. You've got all those
48:47
in there as well. Uh partly thanks to me
48:50
as a beta tester. I was like, "Hey, can
48:51
you add all these in?"
48:52
>> Yeah, you you suggested that. Uh I
48:55
remember,
48:55
>> but you know,
48:56
>> it's also useful for me when you're
48:58
typing in French, for example. There are
49:00
there's some weird punctuation that we
49:02
use in French that you This is an easy
49:04
way to insert those uh characters.
49:07
>> Oh, yeah. That's handy. I mean, I use it
49:09
to insert special characters all the
49:11
time because again, the Mac OS character
49:14
symbol viewer is like something that
49:16
hasn't been changed probably since like
49:18
next step in 1989. It It's weirdly slow.
49:22
Sometimes I have to hit the command
49:24
control space shortcut several times in
49:26
a row to get it to show up at all. But,
49:28
uh, I mean, now when I hit that same
49:29
exact keyboard shortcut, it just brings
49:31
up Tiny Start instead. And I can type in
49:33
I can type in the names for them, like
49:34
the name of an emoji. uh you you map a a
49:37
few different versions of it. Like
49:38
there's both the official Unicode name,
49:40
but you can also just type in smile and
49:42
it'll bring up all of the different
49:44
smiling emojis. That's pretty pretty
49:46
clever as well. Um and you can just, you
49:48
know, type it in and paste it. It's
49:50
super fast. Again, like the scope of it
49:52
is so much smaller than Spotlight or the
49:54
other system features that it can be
49:56
like super fast at what you're trying to
49:58
do. So, I hardily recommend it. Um
50:03
is it all in Swift UI?
50:06
Yep.
50:07
>> Wow. Who knew this would be out to be
50:09
that fast?
50:11
>> Um like and it's a struggle because so
50:15
it
50:17
half of it is like it's a blessing
50:20
because it's very easy to get started
50:22
with. U but also like some things I
50:25
wanted to some behaviors that I wanted
50:28
to get right with the settings window
50:29
for example. This is a this is very hard
50:34
somehow very hard to get right with
50:36
Swift UI. Um so I did have to made make
50:41
some app kit uh views but anyway mix in
50:46
some stuff to make it work right. So
50:48
yeah
50:49
>> I I I have a few like hobby apps that
50:51
I've I've not gotten to the stage where
50:53
anybody else can use them yet. They're
50:54
just for myself. Like a few tools that
50:55
I've built and Swift UI is actually on
50:57
the Mac has come a long way. It used to
50:59
be you couldn't have any like settings
51:01
style windows or like accessory style
51:03
windows that aren't the main windows. So
51:05
like any window that you made it would
51:07
have the the full screen button
51:09
>> and like no I don't want to make the
51:11
settings window full screen. Nobody
51:13
wants to do that. Why can't I disable
51:15
that?
51:15
>> But Swift UI has come a long way there.
51:17
Um
51:18
>> y
51:19
>> still have like a bunch of planned
51:20
features. I mean it seems like the kind
51:21
of app that you could get to a point and
51:23
then just you know stop and let it sit.
51:26
So um the idea it's also like a strategy
51:30
for me because I don't want to tackle
51:32
something I cannot do and the reason the
51:35
scope for the app is still very small is
51:38
because of that. I I'm specifically
51:42
refusing feature requests left and right
51:45
from people people want to like currency
51:48
conversions I may add because like I
51:50
could fetch something from online APIs
51:53
or online sources for that. But some
51:56
things people are more complex and they
51:59
the one in this app they like the most
52:02
requested one is the clipboard
52:03
management feature that Spotlight has
52:06
now but also Raycast and all the others.
52:09
I'm not going to add that into tiny
52:11
start. I feel I've decided it's out of
52:14
scope. I'm not adding this.
52:16
>> Um, but launchers that can do all of
52:19
those advanced things.
52:20
>> Exactly. The alternatives the swift they
52:24
they are real Swiss Army knives and this
52:28
is not the point of tiny start. And so,
52:30
but what I'm planning to add is small
52:33
small things like small refinements on
52:35
the existing feature set. for example,
52:38
um one that I'm uh I've added now and
52:43
I'm I'm going to ship in a in a in a few
52:46
days maybe. I don't want to. Anyway,
52:49
>> you must be this
52:50
>> to use.
52:52
>> It is um an alias ability to add aliases
52:56
to specific um emojis as well as apps.
53:00
So if you want for somebody emailed me
53:04
to tell me they want to type l to launch
53:06
Safari and I don't know people have
53:09
weird habits and I guess aliases can
53:13
address that but also uh I've added
53:16
shortcuts support. So it it's very
53:19
simple by the way the on the back end
53:21
what the app does to run shortcuts. It's
53:24
just using the shortcut CLI the command
53:26
line to list all the shortcuts and just
53:31
show you that list and put it in the
53:33
indexing of the app and that's it. So
53:35
you can search for your shortcuts.
53:36
>> I need to I need to start using that
53:37
because I mean literally just before we
53:39
started the podcast I have a uh I have a
53:41
shortcut that I run that you know hides
53:44
all the open apps except for the ones I
53:45
need. opens like Logic and Chrome and
53:48
all the other things that I don't want
53:50
to like do manually every time. Switches
53:52
my Mac to dark mode. And I have a a
53:54
spotlight shortcut for that, you know,
53:56
that's just like SP for start podcast.
53:59
And Apple explicitly added this in
54:00
Tahoe, like, oh, you know, you can add
54:02
these shortcuts for Spotlight and it'll
54:04
just be two characters and you can
54:05
quickly launch something. But, uh, for
54:07
some reason when I type in SP,
54:09
>> that's the second result. The first
54:11
result is the the game space crab 2
54:14
>> that also starts with those letters. So
54:16
it's SP down arrow enter. So hopefully
54:20
tiny that sounds like something else
54:21
that tiny start can fix for me. So
54:24
>> yeah, I guess right now in tiny start
54:26
you would need the shortcut to be named
54:28
SP or something like that. But yeah,
54:31
when I add the alias that that could
54:33
>> I can just rename the shortcut to SP
54:34
start podcast.
54:36
>> Yeah. Yeah, you could do that.
54:37
>> There we go. Um but yeah the idea behind
54:41
idea adding shortcuts is I can answer
54:44
easily to people requesting more
54:46
advanced features with just try setting
54:50
up a shortcut for this.
54:52
>> Um so like for for example people have
54:54
been requesting uh a way to fix your
54:57
grammar and spelling from tiny start
55:00
because I suppose raycast does this and
55:02
they want tiny start to do this. And I
55:04
was like, may maybe try to figure this
55:06
out with shortcuts because um yeah, so
55:10
it's an easy escape hatch that I can
55:12
rely on to tell people, yeah, you can
55:14
probably make it work with a shortcut
55:16
that you launch from tiny start uh as
55:19
well as like switching to dark mode or
55:22
things like that.
55:22
>> Add apple script support. I mean, that
55:24
that's another patch.
55:25
>> Oh my. Well, sure, but you can run Apple
55:28
script from shortcuts. So there you go.
55:30
>> Well, there you go. Yeah. Let's talk
55:32
about another one of your favorite
55:33
topics, browsers. Le, we have we have a
55:36
relevant question sent in from one of
55:37
our listeners.
55:38
>> Looks like this comes from a listener
55:40
named Felipe Rosten. I think that's
55:43
right.
55:44
>> Filipe
55:46
Philip Perst.
55:47
>> Philip Perrost.
55:49
>> Felipe Ro. That's probably better.
55:51
>> Do you want the French approach to this
55:53
name? Yeah. Philip Rost.
55:57
>> Okay,
55:57
>> that's great. Maybe that's not I uh I
56:01
can't tell. It's all jammed together
56:02
there. Anyway, uh the question is it's a
56:04
good one. I am pretty new to Mac with a
56:07
M5 MacBook Air 24 GB 1 TB and I have a
56:12
question. I'm trying to use Safari, but
56:14
I still use a lot of Google apps on the
56:16
web. Do I benefit also from the
56:18
integration of Safari or do Google web
56:21
apps use as much resources as the
56:23
programs themselves? So there's the
56:25
longheld belief that I mean it was
56:27
actually true that Google Chrome takes
56:28
up more resources than Safari drains
56:31
your battery faster and I think Google's
56:34
been make actually making a number of
56:36
improvements to the performance of
56:37
Chrome. It's it no longer drains the
56:39
battery. I think it's like on par
56:41
slightly better than Safari now. I don't
56:43
know if they've improved the memory as
56:46
much but it's no longer the the resource
56:48
hog that it once was. However, there are
56:52
still other benefits to using Safari as
56:54
well. You know, it's syncs across all of
56:56
your other Apple devices in a way that
56:57
Google Chrome can't really do as well.
57:00
It it and as Apple introduces new system
57:04
features in Mac OS, you know that Safari
57:06
is going to take advantage of them
57:07
immediately and first like from the
57:09
first developer beta if there are new
57:11
features in Safari. Uh, you know, it's
57:13
got a pretty active team there. But I'll
57:16
I'll admit my my understanding of Chrome
57:17
is a bit limited as I'm I've always been
57:20
a Safari boy. I know Lewis, you only use
57:22
Chrome, so you're not too familiar with
57:23
Safari. Neilan, you've used every web
57:26
browser. What
57:27
>> what what's your opinion?
57:29
>> So on Comfort Zone, we have a running
57:32
thing, a running gag, I guess, where we
57:34
have a sub show on the show called the
57:36
browser podcast because we talk so much
57:38
about browsers. Um, right now I'm using
57:41
Vivaldi. I've been using it for months
57:44
now.
57:45
um as my main browser. And
57:48
um by the way, Matt, my co-host, Matt
57:51
Burch of Birch Tree. Me, um he like he
57:55
actually went on like a a huge rabbit
57:58
hole to test this theory that this myth
58:00
that Chromium browsers use more battery
58:03
than Safari on on Mac OS on MacBooks.
58:08
And yeah, he's adamant it. He does not
58:11
like it's quite quite equivalent to
58:14
Safari. It's not. So myth busted by by
58:17
Matt.
58:18
>> Um yeah, I I don't know. In terms of
58:22
like Safari Safari, I really don't like
58:26
it. Uh the design has gone gotten way
58:30
worse with Tahoe. Um,
58:34
and in terms of performance as well,
58:36
it's not that great. And I'm not sure
58:38
who's to blame here, Google or Apple,
58:40
but Google, Google's apps like Google
58:44
Docs, um, Sheets, YouTube, like Google's
58:49
main things, they run worse for me on
58:53
all my devices in Safari than on a
58:55
Chromium browser. This is like a
58:57
constant that I'm noticing and people
59:00
are also noticing. I don't know who's to
59:02
blame. I think like there's a thing
59:03
where Safari in terms of JavaScript
59:06
performance and all of that is not as
59:08
well optimized as Chrome is. But yeah,
59:12
>> I mean honestly if you spend a lot of
59:14
time in Google apps, they're integrated
59:16
better in Chrome because Google makes
59:18
both the browser and the web apps. So
59:20
they they they tie together in a lot of
59:22
ways that Safari can't because you can't
59:23
like you know sign into Google account
59:25
in Safari isn't is just like any other
59:27
web browser. whereas, you know, Google
59:29
Chrome integrates with all of those web
59:31
apps a little more deeply. Uh, so I
59:33
mean, if that's like a primary use case,
59:34
as much as I love Safari, I'd say Chrome
59:36
probably is a better choice. Uh, in that
59:38
case, I mean, what I do is I have a
59:42
separate profile in Safari that I only
59:45
use signed into Google accounts. And
59:47
then I also have like Chrome that I have
59:49
signed into Google accounts as well that
59:50
I sort of switch to just for a few
59:52
things. But um you know I I don't want
59:54
to be signed into Google and have them
59:56
track me all over the internet in my
59:58
regular Safari profile. So I keep that
59:59
into a separate profile. Um
1:00:02
>> but then again I also don't use a lot of
1:00:03
Google services. Like my job only
1:00:06
requires Google Docs for you know show
1:00:08
notes. I I use YouTube signed out. I
1:00:11
subscribe to channels like via RSS feeds
1:00:13
in a different app. So I'm not I don't
1:00:15
use a lot of Google services. But okay,
1:00:18
>> the the thing about uh Safari
1:00:21
performance, it's kind of surprising to
1:00:22
hear that, you know, Chrome is so much
1:00:24
more performant because I know that
1:00:26
Apple like even designs the silicon
1:00:28
itself around like JavaScript
1:00:31
performance, which Safari takes full
1:00:33
advantage of, but you know, I guess it's
1:00:34
something Chrome can do as well. like
1:00:37
it's it's hard to describe because it's
1:00:39
it's mostly feeling I guess but I don't
1:00:41
know how measured it is like that Chrome
1:00:44
performs faster in general on the web.
1:00:47
>> I mean the the other integration thing
1:00:49
that used to be the case was you know
1:00:51
Chrome won't have any of your saved
1:00:52
passwords if you if you're all in on
1:00:54
iCloud keychain but you know Apple put
1:00:56
out the Chrome extension so I mean
1:00:59
that's better now as well and they made
1:01:00
it systemwide where you can just
1:01:02
rightclick on any text field and insert
1:01:04
a saved password. They have the
1:01:05
passwords app on the Mac if you need
1:01:07
another escape hatch. Like that's not as
1:01:09
big of a problem as it used to be
1:01:10
either. You can even get your, you know,
1:01:12
iCloud passwords on Windows and sign
1:01:15
into a, you know, Chrome extension there
1:01:17
so that they they still sync everywhere.
1:01:20
So, you know, a lot of the a lot of the
1:01:21
things that used to be true about
1:01:22
browsers are, you know, no longer the
1:01:25
case. I think we we should mention and I
1:01:28
will always mention as long as it's true
1:01:30
that the Apple's passwords extensions on
1:01:35
like Chrome browsers and Firefox are
1:01:39
terrible right now.
1:01:40
>> Okay.
1:01:41
>> So, if you're happy using Apple
1:01:43
Passwords in my opinion with Safari and
1:01:46
then all is well. But if you try to keep
1:01:50
that going, Apple passwords, you keep
1:01:52
get that going and use another browser
1:01:54
with it, I think you will suffer. Like
1:01:57
those extensions, they are not as
1:02:00
refined as you as something you would
1:02:02
expect from Apple.
1:02:03
>> Maybe maybe it's not a solved problem. I
1:02:04
take that back.
1:02:05
>> I'm just like I I like to mention it
1:02:07
because it I think like it it
1:02:11
>> What's it like in other browsers like
1:02:13
Vivaldi?
1:02:13
>> The passwords extension I think like
1:02:16
it's just as bad.
1:02:18
The one main issue that people have in
1:02:20
general, I think it's still an issue
1:02:22
because Matt uh talked to us about it on
1:02:25
last week on the show uh and Chris as
1:02:27
well. The it it will constantly log out
1:02:31
itself and constantly reask like that
1:02:34
you 2FA with your two your Apple
1:02:36
account. So, you know, when there's a
1:02:38
big pop-up that shows up on your all
1:02:40
your Apple devices at once with six
1:02:42
numbers that you have to type in, the
1:02:44
passwords extension will always do this
1:02:47
like I don't know every hour or so for
1:02:49
no obvious reason. Uh because you've not
1:02:52
walked away, you've just moved like
1:02:54
you've just moved websites maybe and the
1:02:56
extension will not be happy will ask you
1:02:58
this every time. It's extremely
1:03:00
frustrating.
1:03:01
>> Yeah.
1:03:02
>> Okay. So, I guess our answer is it's
1:03:04
complicated and we don't really have
1:03:06
>> complicated Uh, sorry, Phipe. I think
1:03:09
that's a wrap. You can find Neil's
1:03:11
writing at maxtories.net. Her podcast is
1:03:14
called Comfort Zone. And she is on
1:03:16
Masttodon at and Blue Sky at n i l e.
1:03:20
Uh, as well as her cat Zelda. Very good
1:03:22
follow there.
1:03:23
>> Love seeing those pictures.
1:03:24
>> That's true.
1:03:25
>> Give us a fivestar rating or review in
1:03:27
Apple Podcast or share it with someone
1:03:28
who you think would like to listen.
1:03:31
She also mentioned you can find a tiny
1:03:33
start link to that in the episode
1:03:34
description if if you'd like to give
1:03:36
that a try. I mean it's a one purchase
1:03:38
get updates forever, you know, no
1:03:40
subscription if yes,
1:03:42
>> you're not that type of person, you
1:03:43
know, put your money where your mouth
1:03:44
is. Buy an app.
1:03:48
>> Uh text us on iMessage at
1:03:49
1:03:52
to send in questions, comments, and
1:03:53
feedback for the show. You can send an
1:03:55
audio message or a short video for us to
1:03:57
play too. Um, I will say, I know we
1:04:01
haven't done that on the show yet. It's
1:04:02
not because we're getting, you know, so
1:04:03
many and we're throwing them all away.
1:04:05
We just haven't received any yet. So,
1:04:07
>> you can be the first.
1:04:08
>> Yeah, you can be the first. Uh, the bar
1:04:09
is low. If you send in uh an audio
1:04:12
message or video message, I mean, we'll
1:04:14
probably play it. Uh, give it a shot.
1:04:16
You know, show us show us your cat.
1:04:19
>> Oh, video feedback is is such a nice
1:04:21
idea. I'm going to steal this.
1:04:22
>> Oh, yeah. And, you know, you can just
1:04:24
set up a free Apple account and then you
1:04:25
can like text your listeners. We used to
1:04:27
have this this system uh like called Ruz
1:04:30
Sprout where people could text us but
1:04:32
then we couldn't text back and they
1:04:34
didn't know that we couldn't text back.
1:04:35
So they would ask us questions. I'm
1:04:37
like, "Oh, it's not the sort of question
1:04:38
we can do on the show, but like I can't
1:04:39
respond to you." Uh
1:04:41
>> oh, no. It's sad.
1:04:42
>> So I I just set it up on a spare iPhone.
1:04:44
It's a lot of fun. Um you know, I I text
1:04:46
our listeners. They email us sometimes
1:04:48
as well with longer stuff. It's great.
1:04:50
Uh so thank you all for listening, for
1:04:52
watching. We will see you all next time.
1:04:54
I mean, we won't all be here back next
1:04:56
time. Meon, thank you for joining us
1:04:58
temporarily. Uh, if you have any
1:05:00
feedback for her,
1:05:01
>> follower on Massadon, send it in that
1:05:02
way. Okay, have a great weekend.
1:05:04
>> See you.
1:05:05
>> Goodbye, everybody.
1:05:06
>> Bye.
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