Up next in 10
This week: You can get your money back if you’re annoyed with Siri, Apple reportedly DOUBLES its orders on the MacBook Neo (while practically discontinuing the Mac mini), and how Apple will win the AI war.
Produced by Extra Ordinary for Cult of Mac
Music composed by Will Davenport, arranged by D. Griffin Jones
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:56 - Apple settlement over delayed Siri AI
10:34 - Apple solves the MacBook Neo shortage
19:51 - The best time to buy a Mac is right now
38:17 - Apple’s AI strategy in iOS 27
58:45 - Review: Part 2
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Coming up, you can get your money back
0:02
if you're annoyed with Siri and who
0:03
isn't. Apple reportedly doubles its
0:05
orders on the MacBook Neo while
0:08
practically discontinuing the Mac mini
0:10
and how Apple will win the AI war.
0:14
Hello. [music]
0:15
Welcome to the Cult of Mac podcast. I'm
0:16
your host Leander Kahney. Joining me
0:18
today, we have Lewis Wallace. Hello
0:20
Lewis. Hello. It's great day for
0:22
podcasting once again.
0:24
>> [laughter]
0:25
>> Definitely, isn't it? Isn't it? And and
0:27
Griffin, hello Griffin, how are you?
0:29
Good evening. You know, it's I've been
0:31
thinking about this. It was never part
0:32
of the remit or like the concept of this
0:35
show that oh, we were going to have a
0:37
guest every three weeks, but now that
0:38
it's been like what, seven weeks since
0:40
we've had a guest, I'm like, man, we
0:41
should we should have somebody else on.
0:43
That was fun. Absolutely. I concur.
0:46
Anybody who's more interesting than we
0:48
are, which is just about everybody.
0:51
I know. Yeah, well, I've been dying for
0:52
guests. I'm sure we can we can get some
0:54
good ones.
0:55
>> Mhm.
0:55
Uh so yeah, we got a whole bunch of
0:57
stuff to talk about. Um this is an
0:59
interesting one. Um
1:00
Apple is going to be paying out more
1:02
than 250 million to anybody
1:05
or not quite anybody. There there's
1:07
actually a couple of
1:09
qualifications, but people
1:10
for delayed Siri. Mhm.
1:13
Why don't [snorts] you tell us about
1:14
Griffin? Apple agreed to pay 250 million
1:17
dollars to settle a class action lawsuit
1:19
accusing it of false advertising and
1:21
unfair competition after the
1:23
personalized Siri features it promoted
1:25
when launching the iPhone 16 saw
1:26
significant delays. So now many iPhone
1:29
users can lay claim to payouts. The suit
1:32
claimed Apple had violated consumer law
1:34
by misleading consumers about the actual
1:36
utility and performance of Apple
1:38
intelligence
1:40
causing them to purchase devices, quote,
1:42
with features that did not exist or were
1:44
materially misrepresented.
1:47
Yep, sounds about right. The settlement
1:48
covers approximately 37 million devices
1:51
bought in the United States between June
1:54
10, 2024 and March 29, 2025.
1:59
Kind of a narrow range there, but that
2:01
includes all iPhone 16 models and the
2:03
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
2:07
Cuz they know at the time those were the
2:09
devices being advertised as supporting
2:12
Apple Intelligence when those features
2:15
in many cases just explicitly did not
2:16
exist. So.
2:19
Um, you know, although other devices at
2:20
the time like you know the the the Macs,
2:22
the iPads also supported Apple
2:24
Intelligence, I guess Apple didn't
2:25
advertise those on TV. We only had like
2:28
the the TV ads for the iPhone. So. I
2:32
see. I was going to ask you about that
2:33
cuz it did seem like I obviously that
2:35
the iPhone 15
2:37
the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max
2:40
were Apple Intelligence devices, but I
2:41
was going to say well what about, you
2:42
know, iPads and stuff like that, but I
2:44
guess they didn't advertise those so
2:45
then so they're they're not included.
2:47
>> Mhm.
2:48
>> [snorts]
2:48
>> Is it what what devices is it then
2:50
exactly? Just the I the four models of
2:52
iPhone 16 and the I mean, I guess there
2:55
are five models of iPhone 16 if you
2:56
count the 16e, but that hadn't come out
2:58
yet at the time. So just like the main
3:00
four models of iPhone 16 and then the
3:03
two models of iPhone 15 Pro.
3:06
And the Pro Max. Yeah.
3:09
>> Apple's $250 million payout will provide
3:11
an eligible US claimants with a per
3:14
device payment of $25 for each
3:18
qualifying device. Though depending on
3:20
how many people, you know, file the
3:22
claim whenever that comes up, it could
3:24
be as much as $95 per device. So you
3:27
know, a variable amount. We don't know
3:28
exactly how much it's going to be, you
3:30
know, between $25 and $95.
3:32
Those wishing to submit a claim will
3:34
need to provide proof of purchase, the
3:36
serial number of the eligible device,
3:38
their phone number and Apple account
3:40
information. Uh, the settlement has
3:42
received preliminary approval. Those
3:45
eligible to make a claim will start to
3:47
receive email notices no more than 45
3:50
days from now. So they'll be actively
3:52
reaching out to people and there's going
3:54
to be like a website that you can go to
3:56
kind of like I know I know this because
3:58
there was like the Facebook lawsuit
4:00
payout as well where you could get like
4:02
$5 from Facebook or something like that.
4:05
Um and there was like a a special
4:06
website you could go to to fill out all
4:07
your information and it would you know
4:09
match up your information with like a
4:11
Facebook account and tell you if you got
4:12
approved or not. Then they'll they'll
4:14
get in touch and send you your payment.
4:16
Well, there's a couple of weird things
4:17
going on here. What what what do they
4:18
mean that they're going to be start
4:20
reaching out to people? Where do they
4:20
get that data from?
4:22
I'm sure Apple has maybe records that
4:24
they they provide the the lawyers to
4:26
assist in all of this.
4:28
Of everyone who bought an eligible
4:30
device?
4:32
I mean, yeah, Apple has that
4:33
information.
4:34
Yeah, sure, I guess but
4:36
It's the same way they always do with
4:37
these class actions. Haven't you ever uh
4:40
you know cashed in on one of these?
4:42
Yeah, but usually they are they usually
4:43
opt-in? I I I mean although I I got a
4:46
Well, they are opt-in.
4:48
I'm sorry, you know, like rather than
4:50
um
4:51
you know, they
4:52
they rely on the claimant to go to the
4:56
website and and put in a claim. Like I I
4:59
>> still the case. They'll just be reaching
5:00
out to invite you to do that.
5:03
>> [snorts]
5:03
>> Yeah, I I mean, I think that probably
5:04
works if you if it's like for a faulty
5:06
toothbrush,
5:08
you know, because there's no uh
5:10
there's no long list in a database of
5:13
everybody who bought a toothbrush, but
5:15
Apple knows exactly who bought those
5:16
iPhones.
5:18
Right. Yeah, I I I don't remember being
5:21
you know, contacted before proactively
5:24
uh as a member of a class
5:26
I absolutely have.
5:28
There was one from Facebook or
5:29
something. I don't even remember what it
5:30
was about, but you know, it was like
5:32
here put your name in here and we'll
5:33
send you 50 bucks. Okay, sure.
5:36
>> [snorts]
5:36
>> Do it twice.
5:37
>> Yeah. Did you get 50 bucks?
5:38
>> Yeah.
5:39
I submitted my own name for the Facebook
5:41
thing and I never got any I never got
5:42
the money.
5:44
They they told me I guess I didn't
5:45
qualify. So, I guess I guess my Facebook
5:47
information didn't leak in the Cambridge
5:48
Analytica thing.
5:51
Uh-huh. [snorts]
5:53
Well, it and the other question I had is
5:54
like, you know, 25 bucks. Would you Are
5:56
you doing it?
5:58
Oh, yeah, I'm going to do that. I mean,
6:00
it could be 95 bucks, depending on how
6:02
many people do it or not. Well, that's
6:04
the thing. Yeah, 95 bucks I'd do it. 25
6:06
I'm like, hmm.
6:07
I I just divided 250 million by 37
6:11
million and I came up with 6.something.
6:15
So, I don't know how this math works
6:16
out.
6:18
Well, you were trying to work out the
6:19
percentage discount on the $5 and micro
6:21
You came up with about eight different
6:22
numbers.
6:23
>> [laughter]
6:25
>> They were guestimates, Leander, and I
6:26
was honing in on the actual number.
6:29
>> [snorts]
6:29
>> Thinking out loud. That's what you call
6:30
it. Thinking out loud. [laughter]
6:32
So, what So, So, what's your like?
6:35
>> So, you think it's not going to be 25
6:36
bucks? It's going to be 1.6 bucks?
6:38
>> Maybe show your work on that.
6:40
>> [laughter]
6:40
>> Yeah. Yeah, I I just I mean, you know, I
6:42
mean, I I don't have any idea what
6:44
percentage of people who receive this
6:45
email will A, never see the email or B,
6:48
never act upon it.
6:49
They always give you the option, right?
6:50
They sent They sent it to you and you
6:51
can say, "Well, I don't want to take
6:52
part in this." You know, just take a
6:54
moral stand or you know, think that
6:55
you're going to launch your own lawsuit
6:57
against Apple doing the same thing. I
6:59
mean I mean, hey, go ahead for that cuz
7:00
that's more money for the rest of us who
7:02
fill in our Right. [laughter] Fill in
7:03
our claims.
7:05
Well, how much If they Apple's paying
7:07
out 250 million, I'm sure the lawyers
7:08
are taking at least 50% of that right
7:10
off the bat. So,
7:12
Right. That's why That's why I don't
7:14
understand if there's 37 million devices
7:15
and 250 million dollars
7:18
and lawyers
7:19
with a dump truck.
7:21
Hmm.
7:22
It doesn't leave that much money.
7:24
>> Oh, but it's 125 million that's been
7:26
carved up between Well, that would be
7:28
even worse.
7:29
Yeah.
7:31
$3 a person. But, it's Yeah, so I don't
7:33
know how
7:34
>> do you think would be like a reasonable
7:35
amount to be paid
7:37
after all of the frustration that Siri
7:39
has given you since 2025? Well, I never
7:43
really made that big big a deal of it
7:45
anyway, but um
7:47
but
7:48
you know, I'd like a few hundred bucks.
7:50
That wouldn't hurt.
7:51
>> Mhm. Jeez. I mean,
7:53
you know, yeah Siri sucks. And yeah,
7:56
Apple
7:57
grossly misrepresented what was going to
8:00
arrive and when.
8:02
But
8:03
I mean
8:05
I I don't I don't I don't
8:06
If I really cared that much about it, I
8:07
would have returned my phone or
8:09
something, you know? I mean, it's Mhm.
8:11
it's not
8:13
I it's impossible to put a price on it.
8:15
I mean
8:17
overall, I'm satisfied with my iPhones.
8:21
I'm disappointed in Siri, bitterly
8:23
disappointed almost anytime I try to use
8:25
it.
8:25
But
8:27
you know, I just take the 25 bucks and
8:29
say, "Okay, great, you know,
8:30
it's a free case for the next one."
8:33
Mhm. Mhm. Right, exactly. I mean Siri's
8:36
so integral. It's not something you can
8:37
switch out. It's not part of the
8:38
operating system, you know?
8:40
You're a peasant mandated that yet, but
8:43
you know, it So so it's hard to imagine,
8:46
like put a dollar amount on how much of
8:49
the thousand dollars it costs to buy a
8:51
phone is towards Siri or like, you know,
8:55
any one specific feature, like you know,
8:57
iCloud or iMessage. How much is that
9:00
worth as part of the whole purchase
9:01
price of the device?
9:03
I mean, if I if I consider like just
9:05
because I'm a writer about this,
9:07
uh the hourly rate that I have spent
9:10
talking about Siri on podcast or writing
9:12
about it in the last two years, I mean,
9:14
that's that that's a wash. 25 isn't
9:16
going to, you know
9:16
>> Well, as we're going to discuss maybe
9:18
later in the show, you know, there's
9:19
some changes coming up there maybe with
9:21
the with that. I mean,
9:24
for some people, I don't know, but some
9:25
people my mom uses Siri quite a lot. Um
9:29
you know, I [snorts] don't know. I would
9:30
say
9:31
it could be like 25, 30% maybe of her
9:34
usage. Mhm.
9:37
Wow.
9:37
>> Which would
9:38
bring it up to, you know, 300 bucks or
9:41
so. No, actually that's probably not
9:42
true. That's probably Actually, what am
9:43
I talking about? It's probably nowhere
9:44
near that. By the time she's done you
9:46
know I mean she does she does do quite a
9:47
lot of with using Siri, opening apps and
9:49
and setting reminders and
9:51
uh dictating stuff all the time, which
9:53
is why all of her messages are
9:54
completely nonsensical. Um
9:56
it uh
9:58
but I don't know. Yeah, maybe it's not
9:59
maybe it's less than that. Maybe it's
10:01
more like 100
10:01
>> timers on my watch, I use that
10:03
constantly throughout the day. Like any
10:05
any anytime I I do laundry, I mean, I
10:07
really like the feature on the watch
10:08
where you don't even have to say like
10:09
the summon command, you can just like
10:11
start talking to it and as long as
10:12
you're like holding it close to your
10:13
face, it just figures out that you're
10:15
trying to tell it something. I mean,
10:17
that's that that's great. It probably
10:19
works 75% of the time, too.
10:21
Yeah. Uh do I use it for anything else?
10:23
Uh no, not really.
10:25
Just timers, yeah.
10:26
>> Yeah. But it's great at it's great at
10:28
that. They haven't ruined that yet.
10:31
>> [laughter]
10:32
>> Right.
10:33
Yeah.
10:34
All right, let's talk about uh the
10:36
MacBook Neo, which um is
10:39
you know, there's a shortage. There's a
10:40
there's a well-known shortage. But Apple
10:42
has solved the problem of the MacBook
10:43
Neo shortage. Yeah. Yeah, so so uh
10:46
Apple's reportedly going to produce
10:48
double the number of MacBook Neo units
10:50
it originally planned to produce. Uh
10:53
supposedly it's going to require
10:54
producing
10:55
more A8-18 Pro chips.
10:58
And uh the bad news about that is that
11:00
yes, this this might mean there's more
11:02
availability, but uh Apple might have to
11:05
raise the price of the laptop. Uh
11:09
if you had the pleasure of listening to
11:11
the most recent Apple earnings call,
11:13
then you you heard Tim Cook say that
11:15
quote, "The customer response to MacBook
11:17
Neo has been off the charts with higher
11:19
than expected demand." He did say that.
11:22
Well, uh to to
11:25
you know, catch up with that demand, now
11:27
supposedly Apple has doubled its MacBook
11:28
Neo production plans. Uh according to
11:31
analyst Tim Culpan on his blog, which is
11:34
called Culpan and I kind of like that.
11:36
>> Little note here, he's the same person
11:38
who initially reported a few weeks ago
11:40
that Apple was running out of A18 Pro
11:42
chips for it. I think he's the same
11:44
analyst.
11:45
Ah, right. So, uh,
11:48
you know, he he says that Apple is at
11:50
quote now asking suppliers to prepare
11:52
capacity for 10 million units of a debut
11:54
version of the Neo up from an initial
11:56
estimate of 5 million to 6 million.
11:58
So, that's kind of crazy. Apple was off
12:01
by 50% is kind of wild cuz they usually
12:04
I I guess they're conservative though. I
12:06
mean,
12:07
although they probably have some
12:10
uh, Vision Pros sitting in boxes in a
12:11
warehouse somewhere.
12:13
Uh,
12:14
>> [clears throat]
12:15
>> the the big problem about this is that,
12:17
uh, you know, making new A18 Pro chips
12:20
is going to be a lot more pricey than
12:23
what Apple did before, which if if you
12:25
remember the story, which is one of the
12:26
genius things that Apple did, they used
12:28
bend chips in this. Chips that weren't
12:31
good enough to go in the iPhone,
12:32
whichever one it was. What was it? I
12:34
I can't remember. I've You probably
12:35
know, Griffin. iPhone 16 Pro.
12:38
>> [laughter]
12:39
>> So, it used sort of, you know, defective
12:41
chips that that had a bad core and would
12:44
have were basically garbage, so they
12:45
just toss them in this laptop. Not
12:48
garbage. I mean, they just weren't
12:50
suitable for an iPhone 16 Pro, but
12:52
they're perfectly fine in MacBook Neo.
12:54
So, they they're basically recycling
12:55
these chips and it's a super cheap,
12:57
right?
12:58
>> [snorts]
12:58
>> Well, the problem is now
13:01
A, they have to make new ones.
13:03
And B, so not just using, you know,
13:05
leftovers. B, DRAM prices have, uh,
13:08
escalated. Of course, as everybody
13:10
knows, you know, all every chip is more
13:12
expensive now that worse to or that it
13:13
than it was, you know, a year ago, 2
13:16
years ago. Anyway, so now, uh,
13:19
I mean, it does kind of make sense.
13:20
Apple might be forced to, uh, eliminate
13:22
the $599 version of the MacBook Neo and
13:25
only offer the $699 one, which
13:29
would [snorts] it doubles the doubles
13:31
the memory and adds touch ID, right? So,
13:33
that's the you know, the good news is
13:35
you can still get a MacBook Neo and in
13:36
fact we've been tracking the price on
13:38
this
13:38
you can get one for get this a $10
13:41
discount
13:42
on Amazon.
13:43
>> is that, Louis? I believe it's 1.6%.
13:46
Wow, that's
13:47
>> sound very exciting, but still 10 bucks
13:50
and the thing about it is if you go to
13:52
an Apple Store, you know, depending on
13:54
what's where you're living you you might
13:55
be able to stroll in and pick one up
13:57
right now. But if you try to order one
14:00
from Apple online, you're going to wait
14:01
at least a week, sometimes longer.
14:04
Whereas if you go to Amazon, certain I
14:06
mean
14:07
I'm living in San Francisco, which you
14:09
know, the the streets are clogged with
14:11
Amazon drivers, you know, but you can
14:13
get one delivered, you know, tomorrow
14:14
morning. Which colors though were all
14:17
the colors available? Um all the colors
14:19
are still available. I think that only
14:22
two of the colors are still have that
14:24
amazing $10 discount and you know, the
14:27
very delivery time varies slightly by by
14:30
color. And that's going to be different
14:32
depending on where you live, right? So,
14:34
it's you know, cuz just if if you want
14:36
one, this ain't a bad time to this ain't
14:38
a bad time to go ahead and get one
14:39
because that cheap version might be
14:41
disappearing in the near future. And uh
14:45
you know, if you want one, hey, why not?
14:46
I just push the button and have it have
14:48
it delivered to your house tomorrow or
14:49
even maybe tonight depending on where
14:51
you live.
14:52
I mean a a good contrast to this is that
14:54
Apple's yeah, doubling their estimation
14:57
of like how many Neos they're going to
14:58
try and build. Meanwhile, they're
15:00
running out of the ability to make the
15:02
Mac Mini and the Mac Studio and they're
15:03
just like discontinuing configurations
15:06
of that left and right. Like
15:07
are there any left for sale? Who knows?
15:09
Like if you want to buy a Mac Mini, you
15:11
have to buy this exact model that has
15:13
this specs and you can't change it cuz
15:15
all the all the options to upgrade are
15:17
just gone.
15:18
Well, what some of the
15:20
ones some of the the the ones they
15:22
discontinued are to kind of a little bit
15:23
weird cuz I just you can't get the okay
15:26
you can't get the 256 gig
15:28
RAM Mac Studio anymore right which was
15:31
the maximum one
15:33
it was a new maximum after they
15:35
discontinued the 512 gigabyte one as
15:37
well
15:38
I can't keep track of any of these
15:41
well right but then
15:43
um
15:43
with the Mac Mini they you can still get
15:46
some high RAM configurations but they
15:48
discontinued the 32 gig gigabyte option
15:51
They discontinued the base model one
15:53
which I think just had 16 and some of
15:56
the high-end ones that they're they're
15:58
stuck with like now that
16:00
the the 799 one is the the new default I
16:03
mean the annoying thing is that we can't
16:05
it's really hard to figure out what they
16:06
used to offer because they they they
16:08
only show you what they currently sell
16:10
on the website that's a I I really want
16:13
somebody to make like a timeline of all
16:15
of the options and how they
16:17
how they're slowly disappearing
16:19
wouldn't that be fun like a a time lapse
16:21
using the internet archive
16:25
>> [laughter]
16:26
>> yeah that's a job for someone
16:27
>> I'm talking myself into making a
16:29
spreadsheet covering this oh my god I
16:31
had I'm I'm frankly a little surprised
16:33
you didn't already save screenshots of
16:34
the pages yourself but um
16:36
>> [snorts]
16:37
>> it's interesting it's interesting I mean
16:39
I I wonder
16:41
I mean everything that we've been
16:42
hearing like for years is like Apple is
16:45
you know the best at this they they they
16:46
know exactly how to
16:49
figure out their supply chain and all
16:50
that and this whole like AI driven RAM
16:54
shortage and stuff processor shortage is
16:55
just
16:56
it's just kind of nuts and and I mean
16:58
even even Apple can't figure it out Tim
17:02
Cook was famous for like there was a
17:03
story about with the I think the iPod
17:05
Nano
17:06
when the Nano came out they were so
17:08
confident of its success that they
17:11
bought up almost all the available
17:13
supplies or 18 months worth of supplies
17:16
of um
17:17
uh flash storage
17:19
>> Mhm. which I think was a pretty ballsy
17:21
move at the time. Um
17:22
I wonder whether the the Neo I mean do
17:24
you think that the initial estimates
17:26
were based upon the number of bin chips
17:27
they had? That must have been the you
17:30
know may maybe the most
17:32
important part of uh the production run.
17:35
How many they were going to make.
17:36
>> right? They could have just said, "Well,
17:37
we've got this many bin chips. Let's
17:40
produce
17:41
just that many laptops. Totally boss."
17:45
>> And then and then you know they're
17:46
flying off the shelves and I said,
17:47
"Okay, now it makes sense to do another
17:49
run of A18 Pro chips." That's what it
17:51
sounds like to me.
17:51
>> They they build like a range of
17:52
estimates. Like they have like a you
17:54
know a pessimistic path where they you
17:55
know they'll only sell like maybe a
17:57
million or so and and then they they
17:59
judge like based on the the early
18:01
pre-orders and sales to figure out okay,
18:04
you know, which timeline are we on here?
18:05
How much is it going to sell if we
18:07
project forward another year? And I
18:09
think even their most optimistic
18:12
projection was vastly underestimating
18:15
how many people wanted to buy this
18:17
computer. Yeah. I I think they fully
18:19
expected it to be one of the most
18:21
popular Macs ever. Like they the week
18:23
just after like the they they started
18:25
selling it Tim Cook already had the line
18:27
ready, you know, "Oh, we had the most
18:28
you know, the the the best week ever in
18:30
the history of the Mac for new
18:32
customers."
18:33
Um
18:34
but I think even
18:36
even considering all of that it still
18:38
outpaced their their most optimistic
18:40
estimations. Well, Apple um is selling
18:43
about 22 million Macs a year.
18:46
Um and so you know, the MacBook Neo if
18:49
that if they're estimating what 10
18:50
million? Yeah, I mean that's a 50%
18:53
increase in the number of Macs sold in a
18:55
single calendar year which is incre-
18:57
which is crazy. They they just had their
18:59
earnings call. I mean the next four
19:01
quarters of earnings are going to be
19:03
insane for the Mac category.
19:06
I see. Exactly.
19:07
>> Although one of the things you that Cook
19:09
said during that was that they don't
19:10
think that they're going to get this uh
19:12
chip demand versus supply thing sorted
19:14
out until I think June.
19:16
It's either June or July. I mean, it was
19:18
like months of we're not going to have
19:20
enough
19:22
machines to sell the people that want
19:23
them. I It's It's crazy that we're
19:25
competing with AI companies, you know?
19:29
For these things. Everybody's like
19:30
looking for chips, isn't it? There's
19:32
chips in everything now. I mean, you
19:33
know,
19:34
my bike pump has a chip in it. Really?
19:37
[laughter] I saw someone Somebody was
19:39
complaining about they had to upgrade
19:40
the firmware on their kitchen knife
19:42
yesterday. Oh god. [laughter]
19:44
What?
19:46
Yeah, some smart That's digging your own
19:47
grave if you buy an internet connected
19:49
kitchen knife.
19:51
Well, anyway, it all it all means that
19:53
the best time to buy a Mac is right now.
19:55
And we did a story about this today. You
19:58
know, it's only going to get worse. The
20:00
DRAM and NAND makers are steeply hiking
20:03
price every quarter. And even after
20:04
that, there's no guarantee the companies
20:05
can secure supply. So, it's your laptop,
20:08
your phone, and even your television are
20:09
now competing for the same memory and
20:11
storage chip as AI servers. And given
20:14
the deep pockets of these huge tech
20:15
companies, consumers are at at a
20:17
disadvantage in this race.
20:19
Apple, of course, finds itself in a
20:20
better position than most. As part of a
20:22
sophisticated supply chain strategy, the
20:24
company locks in long-term contracts
20:25
with suppliers.
20:27
But for all the planning that Apple
20:28
does, it's still not immune to chip
20:30
supply chain issues. Apple keeps
20:31
discontinuing high-end and low-end
20:33
versions of the Mac mini and the Mac
20:34
Studio.
20:35
And if you can place an order, the
20:36
delivery time stretches for as long as 5
20:38
months.
20:40
5 months. So, that all means, yeah,
20:42
um now's the time.
20:45
Apparently, all analysts predict the
20:46
shortages will stretch into 2027 or
20:48
later with memory prices only
20:50
increasing.
20:51
So, if you have to buy a
20:53
a new Mac now rather than waiting,
20:54
you're looking current prices
20:56
now before further price increases.
20:59
Um
21:00
uh oh oh the Mac you want may become
21:02
completely unavailable.
21:04
Uh and you'll also, if you get one now,
21:06
you'll also avoid long wait times. So,
21:07
the longer you wait, the fewer options
21:09
you have,
21:10
and you might up end up paying more.
21:13
I think that that's exactly true, isn't
21:15
it? It's only going to get worse. Yeah,
21:17
I mean, and the weird thing about it is
21:19
how fast these things are are, you know,
21:21
like every day it seems like there's
21:23
another story, well, not every day, but
21:26
all a lot, very frequently lately
21:27
there's been new stories about, "Oh,
21:30
this Mac isn't available. Oh, that Mac
21:32
isn't available. Oh, this one's delayed
21:34
this much." I mean, it's not a
21:35
predictable time. So, if you think like
21:39
like you're going, "Oh, well, you know,
21:40
I kind of need a new Mac, but I kind of
21:42
would rather wait for the other one, you
21:44
know, the the new MacBook Pro that's
21:46
coming out supposedly at the end of this
21:47
year."
21:48
You know, you might not want to wait.
21:50
And and one of the things that Rajesh,
21:52
our writer, Rajesh Panday, who wrote
21:54
this, one of the things he points out is
21:55
like, "Okay, well, everybody assumes
21:58
that that MacBook Pro with the
21:59
touchscreen and all the, you know, big
22:01
redesign everything, they assume that
22:02
these things are going to happen, but
22:04
all these pressures might mean that
22:05
those products that you're waiting for
22:07
get delayed even further, and when they
22:09
arrive, cost even more than, you know,
22:11
your worst nightmare estimate right now.
22:14
So,
22:15
it's basically about, you know, get in
22:16
while the getting's good before the
22:18
prices go even higher, and uh
22:21
you know, if you especially if you're
22:22
like in a situation where you
22:24
kind of need a new Mac, but you're kind
22:26
of holding out, you know, maybe holding
22:27
out is not your
22:28
your best idea right now. Well,
22:30
everyone's holding out for the M
22:32
6 MacBook Pros, which are coming out at
22:35
the end of this year.
22:36
Uh with the OLED screens.
22:38
>> Allegedly.
22:39
Yes. And a touchscreen as well, right?
22:41
Mhm. The good news for the 90% of people
22:44
who like laptops is you'll probably be a
22:47
little safer because Apple Apple knows
22:49
most people are interested in laptops,
22:50
so when it comes to like a supply
22:53
crunch, those are the models they're
22:54
going to try and keep in stock no matter
22:56
the cost, you know. Those are the reason
22:58
why they keep discontinuing the Mac mini
22:59
and the Mac Studio.
23:01
Uh
23:02
But before they dare discontinue a
23:04
single configuration of the MacBook Air.
23:06
Yeah. Well, that so that's a good point,
23:08
isn't it? I mean it's like really this
23:10
the key machines are the are the mini
23:12
and the studio. If if you want one of
23:14
those, they're the ones to snag now
23:16
rather than wait for the future cuz I
23:18
they're definitely going to be looking
23:19
at the chopping block.
23:21
I wonder if they're going to have you
23:22
know you know new iPhones, too? I mean
23:24
Apple's got What about there's the
23:27
How many products did Apple
23:29
were they going to be releasing this
23:30
year?
23:31
We did a prediction, didn't we? It was
23:32
like Like 10 or something supposedly,
23:34
but
23:35
like 10 new ones, right? I mean that was
23:37
I believe that was the headline like 10
23:39
new products supposedly coming this
23:40
year.
23:40
>> Right.
23:41
Let alone the upgrades of the of the of
23:43
the current lineup, too, you know,
23:44
everything else everything getting
23:46
upgraded this year, the iPads. I mean
23:48
I'm sure they're sitting there right now
23:49
going, "Okay, well, if we do this, we
23:51
can't do that." You know, they have to
23:52
make decisions. They have to say, "Well,
23:54
we we've got
23:56
at most X number of
23:58
you know, pick a chip.
24:00
How many How many are we going to make
24:01
of this How many are we going to make of
24:03
that? How many are we going to make
24:04
you know, it's
24:06
it's complicated. I can't even imagine
24:08
that kind of like
24:10
task being asked to come up with that
24:12
kind of planning. Just just nuts.
24:15
Missus spreadsheet, I'm sure Tim is all
24:17
over it.
24:18
>> [laughter]
24:18
>> I'm sure this is this is the kind of
24:19
thing that Tim loves though, isn't it?
24:21
And you know,
24:23
60 tabs spreadsheets pouring over every
24:25
single number. Oh my god, this
24:27
you know, like and he can focus laser
24:29
focus in on the the exact tiny little
24:31
number that change and how that
24:33
portends, you know, some kind of massive
24:35
ramifications down the line. This is his
24:37
wheelhouse. This is this is exactly what
24:39
he does. I mean it's not like he's going
24:42
away entirely. I mean I'm sure he's
24:43
still going to be staring at these
24:44
things. It sounds like he does it for
24:45
fun.
24:46
Yeah, exactly. [laughter] I think this
24:49
is exactly what he does for fun.
24:51
Yeah. Well, are you Are you guys Anyone
24:53
plan to buy a a Mac? I'm perfectly happy
24:56
with my M2 Pro Mac mini for it it still
24:59
feels really fast. If anything like you
25:01
know, I I I wish I could have bought
25:03
even more space on it than when I first
25:04
got it cuz
25:05
I mean, I have 2 terabytes of storage
25:07
space, but uh I I just wrote a how-to
25:10
earlier this week on how Final Cut Pro
25:12
keeps filling up my hard drive over and
25:13
over again.
25:15
Um so
25:16
yeah, I mean having 4 8 terabytes would
25:18
be nice, but there's no way I'm buying
25:19
something like that now. Uh that would
25:21
be like what? $20,000? So
25:25
Well, you you surely you want to upgrade
25:28
at least with the M1 MacBook.
25:30
>> [sighs]
25:31
>> Yeah, I mean reading this story made me
25:32
just kind of depressed cuz it's like I
25:34
really
25:36
I really ought to get a
25:38
a new Mac.
25:39
>> [laughter]
25:40
>> A new MacBook, I suppose, since
25:43
I still can't I still can't wrap my head
25:44
around people who have a
25:46
desktop Mac and a MacBook. I I just
25:49
don't understand how you manage that,
25:50
but yeah, I don't know, man. It's
25:52
they're still like you start looking at
25:53
they're still not cheap and
25:55
then again, they're not going to get
25:56
cheaper, so I
25:57
God.
25:59
I don't know. Get a MacBook or fill up
26:01
my truck's gas tank.
26:04
What should I do?
26:05
>> [laughter]
26:08
>> Landry, are you happy with the with the
26:09
Macs in your life?
26:11
They're all they're all working, you
26:12
know, fine. They're all working like
26:14
champs, yeah.
26:15
I mean, you yeah, you've got you've got
26:17
the M1 Mac Studio in front of you right
26:18
now, so you're you're all set.
26:21
Yeah, that thing this thing is great. It
26:22
it it it handles whatever I chuck at it.
26:24
Like
26:25
I never have any performance issues
26:26
whatsoever. And I actually haven't run
26:28
out of memory yet, either. Which is
26:30
surprising. Although I did buy a a 2
26:32
terabyte external drive, which actually
26:35
um
26:36
cuz I was I I was running out of storage
26:38
space. I had I think it's got 256
26:40
internal. Mhm. And I had a bunch of
26:43
headaches. It was nearly running out,
26:45
but then I cleared a bunch of stuff and
26:46
it hasn't come back, so I've got enough
26:48
headroom now, I think, to
26:50
um for it to keep it alive
26:53
uh without using that that that external
26:55
drive. I was going to offload a whole
26:57
bunch of stuff like you know my my my
26:58
iTunes music library and my um the photo
27:01
library. The photo library's huge. Ooh,
27:03
those those can get a little buggy if
27:05
you try putting them on an external hard
27:06
drive. But
27:08
>> Oh, great.
27:09
Yeah.
27:10
Because on on my old MacBook Pro, that's
27:13
what I did. I I I put my music I put my
27:15
photos library on external hard drive
27:17
and it it it would have a lot of weird
27:19
weird issues with it. That's why That's
27:21
why I got 2 terabytes of storage on my
27:22
Mac mini so that I could fit my whole
27:24
photo library, which is like 600 GB on
27:26
my hard drive, but
27:28
Yeah.
27:28
>> My god.
27:29
>> Yeah, yeah. 600 and that's a massive
27:31
chunk, isn't it? Of your of your new
27:32
hard drive, isn't it? Oh, I'm just going
27:34
to like devote 50% or whatever it is,
27:36
40% to my
27:38
my photo library. The photo library is
27:40
for me, I mean we have a
27:42
with my wife and
27:43
uh you know, this is the most
27:46
important thing we own.
27:48
>> Yeah.
27:49
in our lives is is you know, the digital
27:52
is a library of all our kids and so
27:54
you know, I've had to go to all kinds of
27:56
crazy lengths to back this thing up and
27:58
make sure that we've got multiple copies
28:00
and at one time I was paying for
28:02
um Flickr, Oh, yeah. uh Google, iCloud,
28:08
uh Backblaze.
28:10
Um I think there was two more as well.
28:13
So, like five or six backup services
28:16
just for this photo library. As well as
28:18
having
28:20
uh two backups here, one on a Time
28:23
Capsule,
28:24
another Time Capsule, and then one on a
28:26
NAS that I bought.
28:27
>> Mhm.
28:28
Uh and on a local hard drive as well.
28:30
So,
28:31
>> [laughter]
28:32
>> but that that you know, but then the
28:33
problem with all of that was like all
28:34
these different versions kicking around.
28:36
>> Mhm. And so
28:38
um
28:39
that became its own headache, too. Like
28:41
trying to figure out which one was
28:42
making sure they're all in sync and
28:43
everything.
28:44
>> Mhm. I
28:45
I that
28:46
uh you know, and I don't want to make
28:48
any make sure there were no mistakes
28:50
with with any of the sinking issues.
28:53
So, yeah, that that thing and that that
28:55
thing
28:55
ballooned up to like a terabyte and a
28:57
half as well, which was kind of annoying
28:59
number.
29:00
If it was under a terabyte, it would
29:01
have been a lot easier cuz a lot a lot
29:03
of services I think offered like
29:04
terabyte backups. Um, but but then being
29:07
over was a was a was a huge headache.
29:10
Yeah. Yeah.
29:11
>> And then cuz we never even look at the
29:12
pictures either, so
29:14
>> [laughter]
29:15
>> But we have to know that they're there.
29:18
Uh, that you know, for for when we did
29:20
Actually, saying that, my wife almost
29:21
every day now, like she gets, um, you
29:23
know, the the memory widget.
29:26
Oh, yeah.
29:27
The the one that surfaces old pictures
29:29
on it?
29:30
Yeah, and so and then and then she'll
29:31
post she shares them in the family text
29:34
with everybody. And it's great, you
29:36
know, it's it I really enjoy getting
29:38
them. I really I really enjoy seeing all
29:39
this stuff and remember like what
29:43
you know, places we we'd forgotten about
29:45
going and vacations and stuff like that.
29:47
It's nice. It's lovely. Yeah, that and
29:48
that's a great feature as well. That's
29:49
really a wonderful feature.
29:51
A really good widget to put on your home
29:53
screen, which we'll talk about next
29:54
week.
29:56
The the the the one thing I plan on
29:57
getting is a folding iPhone and other
29:59
than that, all devices are gone in my
30:00
life. And I'm certainly not going to
30:02
replace my Vision Pro.
30:05
>> [laughter]
30:07
>> Yeah. I'd love to get a new iPad. My
30:09
iPad's starting to die, my old iPad,
30:11
2018 13-in iPad.
30:14
And I was looking at the new, um, iPad
30:16
Air, the 13-in iPad Air, but
30:18
I'm sorry, that's kind of expensive.
30:20
Yeah, it's it's weird how it's $800 and
30:23
it only comes with 128 GB of storage, so
30:26
you need to upgrade that. And then
30:27
you're at like $900 for an iPad.
30:30
Well, well, you might and you're in Pro
30:32
territory there, you might as well get
30:33
an iPad Pro.
30:34
But I was looking at the used prices,
30:36
even the refurbished ones are kind of
30:37
expensive. I mean, even on eBay, I think
30:39
an
30:40
A
30:40
13-in iPad was was 5 or 600 bucks, which
30:45
I thought was outrageous for an old
30:48
you know, refurbished Yeah. Oh, you know
30:50
what? I I I do have something else I was
30:51
thinking about. Like my I probably need
30:53
to replace my Apple Watch this year.
30:55
Because I think I have like the I can't
30:57
remember if I have the Series 6 or the
30:58
Series 7, but You can't remember?
31:02
Yeah, it's Series 6 or 7? What?
31:04
>> Apple Watch is so unimportant to me.
31:06
Like I I'll go so many days where it's
31:09
like 3:00 p.m. and I go to like tap on
31:12
something on the screen and then I
31:13
realize, "Oh, it's been in water lock
31:14
mode ever since I took a bath this
31:16
morning, like 7 hours ago." Like that's
31:20
that's how little I use my Apple Watch,
31:21
but I mean I do like having it. I like
31:22
knowing that it's recording all of my
31:24
fitness information. I don't want to
31:26
like stand up without wearing my Apple
31:28
Watch cuz then it won't log it, you
31:30
know? I want it to know everything.
31:31
[laughter]
31:32
Have you actually been sat in your seat
31:34
because um
31:37
Yeah, I'll be like, "Oh, you know, I got
31:38
to go to the bathroom, but I can't get
31:39
up until my Apple Watch is done
31:40
charging." But
31:42
>> [laughter]
31:43
>> That could be a real problem. What if
31:44
you left it across the room?
31:46
Oh. You just like have to call emergency
31:48
services? What the
31:50
>> [laughter]
31:51
>> Yeah, so like I don't want to spend a
31:53
lot on an Apple Watch, but I do kind of
31:55
need a new one cuz like the battery
31:56
starting to go on it. I already
31:59
uh don't use the always-on display
32:01
because I get much better battery life
32:02
that way. But even then I'm like
32:04
starting to end the day on like, you
32:05
know, below 20% battery.
32:08
But the other thing is if I want a new
32:10
Apple Watch, I kind of want to get the
32:13
gold one, like the shiny gold one. I
32:15
think that looks really cool. I've been
32:17
kind of eyeing that, you know? I I've
32:19
been replacing a lot of the the the
32:20
grays in my wardrobe with more like
32:23
browns.
32:24
Uh like I I I got new pants like a year
32:27
ago. I've I've been looking at a new
32:29
jacket.
32:30
>> Yeah. New pants?
32:32
Oh, yeah.
32:33
>> [laughter]
32:34
>> More on that [snorts] later in the show,
32:35
actually. But anyways, like I feel like
32:38
a I feel like the shiny gold Apple Watch
32:39
would go better with that wardrobe. But,
32:41
the problem is the only way to get a a
32:43
fun gold Apple Watch is to spend $800 on
32:46
one. Not $800. Ouch. Yeah. No, not $800.
32:50
It's like It's like $500. Well, you got
32:52
to do stainless steel. You got to You
32:54
got to go to one of those Woot deals.
32:56
Woot sells these refurbished ones all
32:58
the time. I got a a stainless steel
33:02
you know, it's with It's got the
33:03
cellular, which I don't use. It's like a
33:05
It's a a Series 7. I think I got it for
33:08
$120.
33:10
And it the the battery life is awesome
33:12
on it. It's totally fine. I I've had it
33:14
for, you know, I I wear it like while my
33:17
the, you know, I I basically wear an
33:18
Apple Watch 24 hours a day. I take off
33:21
the Ultra when it's getting down low and
33:24
I mean, I I prefer the look of the
33:25
Ultra. I prefer it. I just like
33:27
everything about it. But, uh You wear
33:29
the Ultra to sleep? I mean, do you ever
33:31
like wake up with a black eye or
33:32
something?
33:33
No.
33:35
No, I don't I don't thrash around that
33:36
much. Uh yeah, I do. It's I mean, it's
33:39
you know, they look big, but they're not
33:40
It's not that big of a deal. Mhm. And uh
33:44
But, anyway, I I can't say enough about
33:45
those uh buying refurbished ones, you
33:47
know? I mean,
33:49
it's it's like it was way cheaper than
33:52
than I ever expected. And it it works
33:53
just fine. I mean, it it came with like
33:55
some
33:56
crappy third-party uh
33:58
band and some weird third-party charger,
34:01
but uh you've probably got all that
34:02
stuff anyway. All you need is an Apple
34:04
Watch. So, uh
34:06
I mean, I don't know. I think those are
34:07
I think that's a great opportunity if if
34:09
you just need a another Apple Watch. And
34:11
especially if you've only got one and
34:13
you're like, "Oh, well, you know, I have
34:14
a problem charging." Well, you know, go
34:17
ahead and get I mean, it's not like
34:18
there's that much difference between
34:21
an- any of those like last five Apple
34:23
Watches. I mean,
34:24
it's
34:24
>> Well, I'd want to get one I think if I
34:26
think one made in like the last
34:28
two years, like the Series 10 or maybe
34:30
the Series 9 onwards. That's when they
34:33
put in a new like S series chip in it.
34:36
And that's like the big difference of
34:37
like, okay, this is a like clearly
34:40
different Apple Watch, this is the one
34:41
you need to buy onwards. Cuz like the
34:43
the new ones only like the last two
34:45
generations support like the extra
34:48
health sensors on them, they support
34:49
double tap, the extra like wrist flick
34:51
gestures. I'd want to at least get a
34:53
watch that supports all of that. But I
34:56
think
34:57
being a
34:58
blogger for a living like covering all
35:00
the new stuff, I don't think it even
35:02
occurred to me that I could buy an old
35:03
used one.
35:05
>> [laughter]
35:05
>> So, I'll probably do that sometime this
35:07
year. I mean, it's
35:09
it's great for just uh you know,
35:12
a backup watch.
35:14
You know, cuz you don't you don't why
35:15
pay $300, $400 for a backup watch. You
35:18
know, and those those deals they almost
35:19
always have those deals. And and
35:21
typically what happens I I I shop Woot,
35:23
you know, when I see these.
35:25
Um you know, they they have a lot of
35:26
used Apple stuff or you know, kind of
35:29
bargain bin Apple stuff. I In fact, I
35:31
>> [laughter]
35:31
>> think I made a crack when they uh
35:34
discontinued the the Mac Pro. I was
35:35
like, oh, they're going to blow out the
35:37
the wheels on Woot. I actually saw some
35:38
Mac Pro wheels on Woot the other day.
35:40
[laughter] Not as big of a discount as I
35:42
expected them to be, but uh They're
35:43
still 400 bucks or something, aren't
35:45
they? Yeah, it was I think it was like
35:47
$500, but Mhm. And and they had the uh
35:50
the you could get the feet for the Mac
35:52
Pro, too.
35:53
>> [laughter]
35:55
>> Uh
35:56
I should buy that just have four wheels.
35:58
What what would I What could I put four
36:00
Mac Pro wheels on?
36:03
To be amusing. Maybe I can make like a
36:04
skateboard.
36:05
>> Mac Studio. Yeah.
36:07
Oh, yeah. I I could screw them into my
36:08
Mac Mini and just wheel around my Mac
36:10
Mini. Yeah.
36:12
>> [laughter]
36:13
>> The uh those those deals, I mean,
36:15
typically when when Woot has a deal like
36:17
that, they uh
36:18
they'll have
36:19
you know, a a wide variety
36:22
of of items. The last one I saw, they
36:24
had MacBooks, they had
36:26
those wheels, they had watches, they had
36:29
phones, you know, and and certain stuff
36:31
sells out pretty fast. Usually, I mean
36:34
like the
36:35
iPhone Minis when they have those seem
36:37
to disappear pretty quickly.
36:39
And always the latest like like the most
36:41
recent or
36:43
you know, second most recent Pro
36:45
versions always go fast, but
36:47
>> [snorts]
36:47
>> yeah,
36:48
>> [clears throat]
36:48
>> you know, I mean I I got to say it was
36:50
it was quite a great deal and I wasn't
36:52
that like it's not you're not getting it
36:54
from Apple. You're not it comes in like
36:56
a weird third-party
36:58
box that does not inspire confidence.
37:02
And in fact, I was like, "Oh god, what
37:03
have I done?" But it was it was
37:05
absolutely fine. You could have opened
37:06
it up and just find a pile of pile of
37:08
rocks in there or
37:09
>> [laughter]
37:10
>> Yeah, it was not a not a premium
37:12
experience unboxing, but
37:16
Yeah, that's nothing. I just had a quick
37:17
look down and everything is sold out.
37:19
Yeah, that's the thing. They sell out.
37:20
They But you know, I mean sometimes you
37:22
can get Apple Watch bands in there, too.
37:24
You You want to be careful because
37:25
you'll look and you'll see like, "Oh,
37:26
you know, three Apple Watch bands for 30
37:28
bucks." You're like, "Oh, great." Next
37:29
thing you know, you've got this pile of
37:30
Apple Watch bands. And what are you
37:32
going to do? I mean, just change them
37:33
every day? I mean, maybe maybe you
37:35
would, but I mean, you know, that that
37:37
is a consideration. If I if I switch
37:38
from the silver to the gold, then I have
37:40
I have a few bands that wouldn't look
37:42
good on it.
37:42
>> Yeah, you got to got to redo everything.
37:45
Yeah. And hell, you got new pants. You
37:47
got to do it.
37:49
Yeah.
37:50
>> [laughter]
37:51
>> And that's Louis has a good point about
37:52
having two Apple Watches. I do exactly
37:54
the same thing. There's always one on
37:55
the stand
37:56
uh waiting to be swapped out for when,
37:58
you know, the battery runs out. I I
38:00
never I don't have a schedule for
38:01
charging my Apple Watch
38:02
and I can never remember to to charge
38:04
it. I wear it at night for the precious
38:06
sleep score, which is completely
38:07
useless,
38:08
and but which still I'm nonetheless
38:09
obsessed with checking, but yeah, I just
38:11
I have a I have always have one on the
38:13
stand and one on my wrist. And so, when
38:15
the battery runs out, I just swap it
38:16
out. All right, let's talk about Apple
38:18
and the AI war and um, we have a
38:21
prediction,
38:22
which is that Apple is going to win the
38:25
AI war.
38:26
Uh, this has to do with um,
38:29
you know, rather compete with all the AI
38:30
companies and spend its own billions on
38:32
development, Apple will will reportedly
38:34
cooperate with them, all of them.
38:36
Uh, quote, Apple Inc. will allow users
38:38
uh, will let users choose from a range
38:40
of outside artificial intelligence
38:41
services to power features across its
38:43
software, building on a strategy to turn
38:45
its devices into a comprehensive AI
38:47
platform. Uh, yeah, so the latest
38:49
Bloomberg and you know, Apple is going
38:51
to be working with all of them, not just
38:52
a couple not one or two, but all of
38:53
them. The option to swap out AI
38:55
providers will give users more
38:56
flexibility depending on their needs.
38:58
For example, choosing one AI for writing
39:00
tasks or another one for image
39:01
generation.
39:02
Quote, right now ChatGPT is an option in
39:05
image playground, writing tools in Siri.
39:07
This will open up uh, to other providers
39:10
who add support via their App Store
39:11
apps. Apple is testing Gemini and
39:14
Claude. Another new feature, assigning
39:16
different voices in Siri to default
39:18
in-house Siri and when you are using an
39:20
external chatbot within the voice
39:22
assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, or
39:24
Claude. Is that an English sentence?
39:26
>> [laughter]
39:26
>> I think what it's what it's trying to
39:28
say is you'll be able to set different
39:29
voices, so you can have like, you know,
39:31
the definitive Siri voice be the voice
39:34
for Siri, but then you can pick a
39:35
different voice for Claude or a
39:37
different voice for Gemini or,
39:40
you know, so so they can you can
39:41
identify them as being, you know, like
39:42
different different chatbots. Claude
39:45
could have like a French accent. Yeah.
39:48
That'll be fun, actually.
39:50
They're doing this across like so many
39:52
different uh, services, right? They they
39:54
just and it's it's kind of genius. Like,
39:56
oh, we haven't been able to build our
39:59
own amazing AI to compete with these
40:01
other things. Let's just use
40:03
all of our amazing platforms as a way
40:06
for people to access them, so.
40:09
That's that's the whole the whole nut of
40:11
it.
40:12
Don't spend your own money. Let other
40:14
people I mean,
40:15
this article says something like uh, oh
40:17
well, you know third party services
40:19
expect to be paid. I mean there's an
40:21
argument to that they might actually pay
40:23
Apple. I mean
40:25
that's happened with with certain things
40:27
like with Google search. Although now
40:30
Apple's paying Google to
40:32
you know be the underlying thing for the
40:34
new Siri which I mean supposedly is
40:36
coming in June. Apple is just taking a
40:38
little bit off the top of the billions
40:40
the tens of billions that Google pays
40:41
them. It's like they 5%
40:43
>> greatest steal of a deal ever yeah.
40:45
>> [laughter]
40:47
[snorts]
40:47
>> And this is going to be you know the
40:48
distribution. It's all about
40:49
distribution distribution isn't it?
40:51
Which is why
40:52
you know open AI is trying to develop
40:54
its own
40:55
smartphone to try to run a ring around
40:58
Apple. This is why Facebook tried to
40:59
develop its own phone
41:01
um you know a a few years ago but but
41:04
had trouble. I mean this is leveraging
41:07
what Apple is actually good at. They
41:09
their their real strength is they own
41:12
the whole platform. Nobody else has a
41:14
platform like Apple. I mean that's
41:16
that's true of the Mac as well. They
41:17
make the best AI computers for running
41:19
AI because of their unified memory
41:21
architecture and the and they have the
41:22
you know Mac OS is the best development
41:24
environment. Even though Apple
41:25
intelligence is is absolutely mediocre
41:28
in everything that it tries to do
41:30
everybody else wants to be on the
41:31
iPhone. I kind of misrepresented that
41:33
thing about the third party service
41:35
expecting to be paid like okay
41:38
if I had a read even just the next
41:39
sentence I would have gotten to oh so
41:42
there's a free tier for people who
41:43
barely use it right? But if you're a
41:45
heavy user of chat GPT or whatever on
41:47
iPhone you know you might need to pay a
41:49
subscription fee basically. You just
41:51
think guess what? Apple probably take a
41:52
cut of that too. So it's a
41:55
>> [laughter]
41:55
>> I mean
41:56
Apple Apple is
41:58
brilliant at using its
42:01
installed base that's another term I
42:03
hate to hear but installed base is
42:05
turning that into money. It's it's just
42:07
a money machine. This seems like a good
42:10
a good good thing for consumers too
42:11
really isn't it? It's not like you went
42:13
to one crummy AI,
42:16
like we currently are. It you know, you
42:19
get to choose the the best the best
42:21
model for the for for your purposes. So,
42:23
And also, if you don't really care about
42:24
any of it, you can just choose not to
42:26
use it at all.
42:28
Who would that be?
42:30
Uh so, I wonder if they would do things
42:32
like,
42:33
you know, you say, you know, create an
42:36
image of a a pig at a trough, and it
42:39
would send
42:41
that prompt to,
42:43
you know, four different competing AIs
42:45
and surface all four side by side.
42:48
I mean, there are already certain, you
42:50
know, Cult of Mac Deals sells services
42:52
like that that let you compare the
42:54
output of one prompt to multiple things.
42:56
So, you don't have to like
42:58
go into each app or each window tab and
43:01
on your browser, you know, separately
43:03
and do the you know, repetitively send
43:05
them the same prompt. I wonder if Apple
43:07
would do that. And then people would
43:08
start to understand like, "Oh, this is
43:10
what happens when I send it to this.
43:11
This is what This is what I can expect
43:12
from that." Eventually, people might
43:14
decide, "Oh, well, for the kind of
43:16
images that I'm constantly trying to
43:17
create using Image Playground, which
43:18
nobody's ever said,
43:20
um
43:21
>> [laughter]
43:22
>> you know, sending it to Claude is the
43:23
way to go." Sounds great, doesn't it?
43:25
Actually, that sounds like a really good
43:27
way for it to to work. That would be
43:29
That would be really cool.
43:31
Yeah, yeah, I think it'd be powerful.
43:32
And like you're saying, great for users,
43:34
great for those AI companies, you know,
43:36
cuz A, it helps people discover them. I
43:38
mean, that's the other thing about this
43:40
What percentage of people actually even
43:41
use AI right now? I mean, I I have I
43:43
don't know that I've ever seen a stat on
43:45
that.
43:46
Uh I hear people talk about it all the
43:47
time. I assume it's, you know,
43:50
Well,
43:51
>> in tech circles, anyway, a a large
43:53
percentage in certain,
43:54
you know, jobs. But I mean,
43:56
I wonder. I wonder like an average
43:58
person walking down the street,
44:00
how often do they use AI? Yeah, I I
44:03
don't know how to where to even begin
44:05
with that. But And anecdotally, how many
44:07
people use it willingly, like of their
44:10
own choice? Not very many. People do not
44:13
yearn for AI in their products.
44:15
At least at least other other young
44:17
people. Well, people
44:18
people say that, but I I think people
44:20
are using it, aren't they? Clearly, you
44:22
know,
44:23
Yeah, but are they out of choice? Not as
44:26
much. I mean,
44:28
anytime you do a Google search,
44:29
technically you're a user of AI because
44:31
Google pushes the AI overview in your
44:34
face. One of the column by writers Ed
44:36
Hardy, it's he was talking about his
44:37
sister. His sister teaches computer
44:39
science at Georgia Tech.
44:40
And he [snorts] was saying that the her
44:42
students are now expected to use AI to
44:43
develop their projects.
44:45
All right.
44:46
And even just today the the story about
44:48
the I can't remember the name the
44:51
Swift Challenge or what's it called?
44:53
Swift Student Challenge. Swift to yeah,
44:55
and like a bunch of these they Apple was
44:58
highlighting how these these people are
45:00
using what quad to help them code.
45:02
>> All four Apple highlighted four projects
45:04
and all four of them used AI to help
45:07
with their their their projects. But
45:09
this is the reality, isn't it? This is
45:11
the new
45:12
the new Yeah, it's a shame those four
45:13
people will never learn how to actually
45:15
code themselves.
45:17
>> [laughter]
45:17
>> Well, you know, is it really? It's like
45:20
there's always been this level of
45:21
abstraction, hasn't there? You know, in
45:22
computing and it's gone
45:24
It doesn't mean that they don't know
45:27
about computing or about the
45:28
architecture of this the programs or the
45:30
APIs or what the different capabilities
45:32
are, but you know, no one no one
45:35
programs in in machine code anymore or
45:38
you know, or Fortran or COBOL or
45:40
whatever.
45:41
It's just it's reached a new level of
45:42
abstraction. I you know, I don't know if
45:44
there's anything lost really. Is there?
45:46
Yes, a lot
45:47
>> the boring parts. There's not nobody who
45:49
codes in machine code. It's no longer
45:51
essential to make an app, but there
45:53
that's how computer architectures are
45:55
made. Yeah,
45:57
it takes away the boring stuff though,
45:58
doesn't it? You know, like they can they
45:59
can concentrate on the the the important
46:01
things, which is you know, the
46:03
the the functionality rather than the
46:06
details of how it gets implemented. Mhm.
46:08
Like I you know, I I I
46:09
>> Well, the details of how things get
46:09
implemented is pretty important in
46:11
computer science.
46:13
True true enough, but um I don't know. I
46:15
The sentiment I get is that it's taken
46:17
away the boring parts of the job, the
46:18
worst parts of the job, the stuff you
46:19
know, the the stuff that the the
46:21
programmer never liked in the first
46:22
place.
46:22
>> Testing.
46:23
>> they like being
46:24
Yeah. You know, the the the phrase that
46:26
people throw around is, "Oh, you have to
46:28
learn how to use things or else you'll
46:29
get left behind." And that that phrase,
46:31
"You're going to get left behind if you
46:33
don't use these things." But really,
46:34
studies
46:36
repeatedly showing that the people who
46:37
use the these AI tools more and more are
46:40
losing the skills that they had to begin
46:42
with. People who depend on it for
46:44
writing are losing their ability to
46:45
write without it. So really, the more
46:47
you use these AI tools, everybody else
46:50
is going to leave you behind and that
46:51
you won't actually know how to do your
46:52
job anymore. I'm not sure I agree with
46:54
that, but um
46:55
>> [laughter]
46:55
>> Okay.
46:57
Yeah, you know, there are all these
46:58
scientific studies being done, but you
46:59
disagree, so okay. I mean, I think the
47:01
students, you know, maybe um
47:04
well, I you know, I saw one report that
47:06
uh writing now in college assignments is
47:08
done on paper and pencil without a
47:11
electronic device you know, in sight.
47:14
Yeah.
47:14
>> That would be a hell of a thing, having
47:16
to write anything at length with a paper
47:19
and pencil. Oh my god. It's like What
47:22
happened? Did somebody drop a bomb? I
47:23
mean, that's
47:25
that I can't even imagine writing with
47:26
paper and pencil now. Can you imagine I
47:29
think how long that would take. Well, I
47:30
tried to write a check the other day and
47:31
I had to
47:31
>> [laughter]
47:32
>> rewrite it about four times cuz I
47:33
messed, you know, I couldn't
47:35
It was full of spelling errors and typos
47:38
and I couldn't remember how to write
47:39
numbers and sign my name. Wow.
47:43
I I was reading something the other day
47:44
about um people using full self-driving
47:47
on Teslas, right? They like worried that
47:50
they're losing their ability to actually
47:52
drive.
47:53
Which is that's saying something. I
47:55
mean, but especially considering how new
47:57
that is to to to the world.
48:00
But I I actually wondered the same
48:02
thing, you know, like if I ever got one
48:04
of those, how often would I drive just
48:07
to
48:08
you know, keep you know, you know, keep
48:10
keep your, you know, wits about you and
48:13
remember how to drive and and cuz it's
48:16
nice to be able to know how to drive
48:17
just in case something goes wrong,
48:18
right? And also just nice to know how to
48:21
drive. I mean, maybe even fun in some
48:23
certain situations, but
48:24
>> [snorts]
48:25
>> Well, is it though?
48:26
Yeah. Yeah, man. I mean, it's a good
48:29
debate, isn't it? Cuz you were saying
48:30
yourself, you you know, you took a
48:31
couple of rides in a Tesla car and then
48:33
you've never wanted a feature so much in
48:35
your life.
48:36
>> Absolutely true. But I think about
48:39
driving through the countryside on a
48:42
beautiful sunny day. Yeah, I wouldn't
48:44
mind being able to just go ahead and
48:46
drive that. I mean, that actually is a
48:48
time where there's this feeling of like
48:51
I don't know, doing something as opposed
48:53
to just being shuttled around through
48:55
this countryside. I mean, it's it's a
48:57
little That seems a little weird to me.
48:58
I mean, in a city situation
49:01
bad traffic, oh my god, yeah, I just I I
49:03
crave that capability to just shut off
49:07
and not have to pay attention to any of
49:09
this crap and just, you know, sit there
49:11
and go, "Okay, I'm relaxing."
49:12
>> so but you conjured up like the
49:14
idealized version, haven't you? The the
49:16
the the fantasy, the the the the perfect
49:19
everything going That's hot sunny day,
49:22
you know,
49:22
>> Springsteen song.
49:24
Yeah.
49:25
And how often does that happen? I mean,
49:27
I had to go yesterday to Costco and then
49:28
I had to go pick up something in Marin
49:30
and, you know, I got caught in traffic.
49:32
It was nothing but a nightmare.
49:34
Someone almost ran me off the road. It
49:36
was
49:37
I mean, I would completely unpleasant.
49:39
>> that the Bay Area would be the place
49:41
where that would happen the least often,
49:43
but you know, Ohio in the summertime,
49:45
driving down the road. I mean, the only
49:47
thing I like about
49:49
that would be like I think
49:52
absolutely awesome about self-driving in
49:54
you know rural Ohio is driving at night
49:58
when you're worried about deer
50:00
and
50:02
you know perhaps you're tired.
50:04
Yeah, you know I think that would be
50:06
>> you you set your cruise control and then
50:08
you drive with your foot just like
50:09
hovering over the brake ready to like
50:11
smash it down in the split second but
50:13
you know anywhere that isn't like the
50:15
densest urban city yeah but about every
50:18
other drive is a one of the pleasant
50:19
ones like you described.
50:21
Yeah, that's the thing. I mean you
50:23
living out here you get in this place of
50:24
like every single time you get in your
50:26
car it's annoying because there's just
50:30
bad traffic and horrible potholes and
50:32
>> And also like don't don't idealize the
50:35
self-driving thing either because
50:36
Tesla's own self-driving statistics if
50:39
you if you track how their completely
50:41
autonomous robotaxis are doing says that
50:43
they get in accidents six times more
50:45
frequently than humans still so I find
50:47
that hard to believe. I can send you the
50:49
report or electric has been reporting on
50:51
this like the number of accidents that
50:54
their
50:55
supposedly autonomous robotaxis get into
50:57
compared to the number of miles that
50:58
they've driven six times more accidents
51:00
than humans.
51:02
And is that using the same thing as full
51:04
self-driving? Yes. I mean
51:07
all I can say is anytime I've been in it
51:09
it seems like the safest thing possible.
51:12
I mean you don't get in an accident
51:13
every day but I thought I mean in fact
51:16
you know oddly enough just went to some
51:18
Tesla thing and they were showing some
51:20
stats of like oh it's like
51:22
I think it said six times less
51:25
six times fewer accidents. Like if you
51:27
look at
51:28
Tesla's historical
51:30
driving data a lot of that was based on
51:32
highway miles and you know they only
51:34
enabled autopilot on the highway where
51:36
people go longer distances before
51:38
between accidents on the road. Like I
51:40
think the
51:42
Oh yeah yeah that that might be what
51:43
they were talking about miles covered
51:45
and and yeah that makes sense. I mean
51:49
Yeah, I mean I I also wonder sometimes
51:51
they talk about accidents. It's like,
51:52
well,
51:53
you know, what is an accident, you know?
51:55
I mean,
51:56
if a if a self-driving car is
51:58
approaching an intersection and a
52:00
pedestrian, you know,
52:02
steps into it,
52:04
that thing's going to stop. And if
52:06
somebody behind you rams you,
52:09
you know, it's not the car's fault. It's
52:11
It's the person behind you. So, I I
52:14
And you know, like what percentage of
52:15
these accidents are like serious like
52:18
malfunction actually I mean it happens.
52:19
You know, there there's all kinds of
52:22
you know, Waymo things, you know,
52:23
running over dogs and having accidents
52:26
and stuff. But, uh
52:27
you know, people do it, too. I I I
52:29
Having experienced them, I find it hard
52:32
to believe that in
52:33
in the long run, it's not safer than
52:36
being a human. Just because humans, you
52:37
know, blink, cough, get tired, get
52:40
drunk. It just seems like a no-brainer,
52:42
really. But, I that doesn't mean it's
52:44
never going to get in an accident. I
52:46
mean, you could certainly imagine it
52:47
happening. I kind of let go of the whole
52:49
fear of flying thing just cuz I
52:51
realized, you know, you know, it's
52:52
mostly it's it's autopilot.
52:54
It's just the machine is taking you
52:56
there. I mean, I I looked it up. I got
52:58
it slightly wrong. Not six times worse,
53:01
but still three times worse.
53:03
But, still worse than a human.
53:04
>> the
53:05
the specifically those cyber cabs?
53:08
That's Tesla's own robot taxi data, and
53:10
that's actually still with a human
53:12
monitor in the driver's seat.
53:15
I saw [snorts] one of those things on
53:15
the streets of San Francisco the other
53:16
day. I still can't figure out exactly
53:18
what's going on with it. Mhm. Yeah,
53:20
well, they I mean, they've got a very
53:21
different technology stack, don't they?
53:23
And And they're relying purely on
53:24
vision. Yeah. No lidar, no radar. Which,
53:27
you know, in a way it's an it's an
53:29
interesting and ballsy bet, but um
53:32
the um
53:34
uh the the the you know, the Waymo ones
53:36
uh I think use radar, lidar, vision, and
53:41
um
53:41
they all the all the cities are very
53:43
very minutely mapped, aren't they?
53:46
So um
53:47
they're they're running on these these
53:49
these very very detailed maps. I know
53:51
that like you know here in San Francisco
53:52
they they adopted a Vision Zero policy,
53:54
which was to eliminate all traffic
53:56
deaths.
53:57
And the original goal was this last
53:59
year, 2025.
54:01
Uh when they had I think somewhere
54:02
between 40 and 50 deaths.
54:05
That's 40 or 50 people
54:06
and several hundred injuries, too. So
54:08
that's 40 or 50 people that are killed
54:09
by human drivers here in this city
54:12
every year. And none from the robotaxis,
54:14
not one. Except a cat. There was a
54:16
bodega cat run over.
54:18
Uh and there was a there was an
54:19
unfortunate Cruise as well. They they
54:20
had an unfortunate incident where they
54:22
some woman got dragged. And of course
54:24
she was horribly injured. Terrible
54:25
terrible thing, but um
54:28
I you know, my experience as a as a
54:30
cyclist is oh my god, I just cannot wait
54:33
for the robots to robots to take over.
54:35
Uh
54:36
you know, they're so much safer. I feel
54:38
so much safer around robotaxis than I do
54:41
human drivers. Um they're much more
54:43
courteous.
54:45
They're they're super and they're
54:47
they're superhumanly vigilant. Like I
54:49
came up behind one the other day and it
54:51
shifted you know, I I I was overtaking
54:55
you know,
54:56
on the inside on the right hand side and
54:59
it shifted over to the left. And and no
55:01
no human drivers do that.
55:02
>> No human drivers do that. Okay, you live
55:03
in San Francisco. You talk about that as
55:05
if it's like some revelation that you
55:07
had, but you just live in San Francisco.
55:09
That's just called living in the Midwest
55:10
where people are nice and don't
55:13
aren't aggressive on the road.
55:14
>> [laughter]
55:15
>> Yeah. Uh that's true enough. I remember
55:17
when I when I came from London, right?
55:18
Which is awful for traffic and
55:21
I landed in South Bend, Indiana. And um
55:24
everyone was driving really slowly and I
55:26
and I and I thought oh my god, this is
55:28
this is going to drive me crazy, but no,
55:30
it's it's nice. It's a much much nicer
55:32
way to drive. Um and I'm very very
55:34
grateful for that. American drivers are
55:35
great in the Midwest. Yeah, it's it's
55:37
it's awesome. Very very sedate, very
55:39
very very calm, very relaxed, very
55:41
courteous.
55:42
Um no road rage.
55:45
It's much better. Mhm. My God, what were
55:47
we talking to that led to this amazing
55:49
diversion?
55:52
I Yeah, Apple's AI strategy, wasn't it?
55:54
>> All right, how they're going to win the
55:56
AI wars by not making a car.
55:59
Well, I you know,
56:01
the other part of the story that we
56:02
didn't get to really, which is maybe we
56:03
just talk about real quick is Open AI
56:05
developing, you know, devices. Google,
56:07
of course, has been trying to sell
56:09
smartphones, but hasn't I mean, there
56:11
was a list of the top 10 smartphones and
56:13
and how many four or five of them were
56:15
Apple and and Google didn't didn't
56:17
didn't even crack it
56:19
at all despite being in the
56:21
smartphone arena for more than 10 years.
56:23
And and something like like if you look
56:25
at the revenue in the smartphone
56:26
industry, Apple is responsible for like
56:28
90% of it. Samsung is responsible for
56:31
another 9% and then like 1% is everybody
56:34
else. Most companies either break even
56:36
or lose money on their smartphones.
56:38
Apple is the only company that makes
56:40
substantial amounts of money in the
56:41
industry. It's crazy.
56:43
Well, doesn't that seem quixotic for for
56:45
Open AI to be trying to develop its own
56:46
smartphone? I mean, even
56:48
I just I just can't see it getting any
56:50
traction. I can't see it being, you
56:52
know, this is just seems to be wishful
56:53
thinking on their behalf that this is
56:54
good thing is going to take off.
56:56
Yeah. I mean, what's what's going to be
56:58
better about using ChatGPT on the
56:59
ChatGPT phone than, you know, using it
57:03
in voice mode on an iPhone?
57:05
They they don't they don't have a a
57:07
hardware they have a feature. Yeah, like
57:09
Dropbox, right? And back in the day.
57:11
Mhm. Like Dropbox didn't try making a
57:13
computer.
57:15
Well, AI I think obviously, you know,
57:16
smart assistant AI is going to be
57:18
central to the the UI of these devices
57:21
and and possibly
57:24
you know, we're on the cusp of having a
57:25
smartphone that you could just talk to
57:27
and it would do almost everything that
57:29
you wanted to.
57:30
Um
57:31
but then there's also all kinds
57:33
experiences on the smartphone that
57:34
aren't AI-mediated
57:37
that I don't think people want to give
57:38
up. Shopping being one,
57:41
Netflix,
57:42
watching movies, video conferencing,
57:45
FaceTime. I mean, how is AI going to
57:47
compete with all these different things?
57:48
Messaging, text messaging. I don't want
57:50
text messaging taken away. I like text
57:52
messaging, don't you? Mhm. Uh I don't
57:54
want that to be an AI-mediated
57:56
experience. Well, I say that now.
57:58
>> Yeah, and there was there was a report a
57:59
while ago that uh like for a while Open
58:01
AI was trying to pursue like a hardware
58:04
product, kind of like the Humane AI pin
58:07
that would just be like a pendant. And
58:08
then they gave up and they decided, "No,
58:10
we're going to build a full-blown
58:11
smartphone." So, presumably, whatever
58:13
product they end up making will still be
58:15
capable of those things. You know,
58:17
you'll still be able to do a video chat
58:18
or like, you know, watch a video on it.
58:21
Imagine that. But how are they going to
58:22
do that better than Apple? How's someone
58:23
going to say, "Okay, I'm going to give
58:24
up my iPhone
58:25
>> Exactly. for this, you know, Open AI?"
58:27
And even if the Open AI nails the AI,
58:29
still and they're thinking, "Listen to
58:31
you, you know, you're 24 hours a day and
58:33
know everything about you and all of
58:34
your relationships and all that kind of
58:36
stuff." I mean,
58:37
I you know, maybe that would be
58:39
compelling enough to give it up.
58:40
>> To a certain kind of person, but not
58:42
everybody. Yeah, all right. Well, we'll
58:44
see.
58:45
I guess we better move on. We're time is
58:46
running out. What's our next story?
58:48
We've got Oh, are you going to Are you
58:50
going to show us a
58:51
review of the exercise equipment you
58:53
know nothing about and barely use?
58:55
That's right. This is part two
58:58
of the the series of reviews that I'm
58:59
doing on various exercise equipment. Uh
59:02
if you listened to last week, you heard
59:04
me, you know, elucidate the many, many
59:07
virtues of uh working out with an
59:09
adjustable dumbbell set. Uh and today,
59:12
I've got another product to share, but
59:14
uh it's not something I can really uh
59:16
demonstrate here in the office, so I
59:18
pre-recorded a video that I will uh play
59:22
on the YouTube version and and and share
59:23
with my two co-hosts here. So, I will
59:26
begin that. I I was sent a a rowing
59:28
machine,
59:29
uh which I've decided to keep in this
59:31
weird awkward hallway in my house. You
59:34
have like the perfect place for a rowing
59:36
machine. That is bizarre. I do. I do.
59:39
It's It's this really strange hallway
59:41
between two walls.
59:43
Um I don't know why they didn't just
59:44
make the room connected to it bigger
59:47
because I have this weird really skinny
59:50
area, but it's perfect for a rowing
59:51
machine. Uh so, I lay it down there and
59:54
um
59:54
>> That's crazy.
59:55
It's like a little Harry Harry Potter
59:57
door at the end.
59:59
>> [laughter]
1:00:00
>> This is something like out of Being John
1:00:01
Malkovich.
1:00:03
Yeah, I have that tiny door there. Um it
1:00:05
goes Where does it go? Nobody knows.
1:00:07
Some like utility area. Um it's not It's
1:00:10
not a full room.
1:00:12
So, this is the Usanda RM2 magnetic
1:00:16
rowing machine.
1:00:18
Uh it comes in a few different parts.
1:00:20
Pretty easy to assemble. They They say
1:00:21
it takes 25 minutes. It took me probably
1:00:24
an hour because I I I work a little
1:00:26
slow. It offers 10 to 72 lb of
1:00:29
resistance, apparently.
1:00:31
It It's got like a little adjustable
1:00:33
dial on the front where you can change
1:00:34
how much resistance it has. Uh that was
1:00:36
news to me uh because the the numbers on
1:00:38
the dial just say 1 to 16 and they don't
1:00:42
you know, they they they they don't tell
1:00:42
you how much you're actually setting it
1:00:44
to. I set it to 10 um cuz it just seemed
1:00:47
like it was
1:00:48
a round number roughly in the middle. I
1:00:50
don't know how many pounds of resistance
1:00:51
that is, though. I know that one is 10
1:00:53
lb and 16 is 72 lb, but how does that
1:00:57
map? I'm not entirely sure. Um so, it
1:01:00
This is kind of a basic machine. I think
1:01:01
it's only $300. So, like this is a very
1:01:05
basic in terms of in terms of rowing.
1:01:07
Like there are the really expensive
1:01:09
rowing machines that that that that
1:01:11
people say like, "Oh, once you try this,
1:01:12
you can't go back." cuz it like really
1:01:14
feels like you're, you know, you've got
1:01:16
like inertia and you're like rowing
1:01:17
through water. Uh this is not that. It's
1:01:19
just like a, you know, magnetic flywheel
1:01:21
in the middle. Um,
1:01:23
it's pretty comfortable to to sit on and
1:01:25
compact for
1:01:27
uh
1:01:28
5 ft 7 person of average male weight,
1:01:31
like it it doesn't support a wide range
1:01:35
of like heights and or sizes. Like it it
1:01:37
only goes up to it only fits people who
1:01:39
it says are up to 6 ft 2.
1:01:41
Um, only a 350 lb. So,
1:01:45
you know, not particularly body positive
1:01:47
as a as a rowing machine, but it's it's
1:01:49
cheap. Um, and so unfortunately the
1:01:52
marginalized people are are cut out. Um,
1:01:55
it's overall not that ugly.
1:01:57
Uh, the weird the weirdest design
1:01:59
element of it is that on like the the
1:02:01
the metal beam,
1:02:03
uh, it says in giant orange capital
1:02:05
letters health and fitness
1:02:08
in case you forgot what a rowing machine
1:02:10
is for. I don't know why it says that,
1:02:13
but it's there. Probably to remind you
1:02:15
to to sit on the thing.
1:02:16
>> Yeah. Yeah. Um, but then of course like
1:02:18
it like the the little seat is on top of
1:02:21
it and in its resting position, it's
1:02:23
almost always covering up part of the
1:02:25
sticker. So, it normally just says and
1:02:28
fitness.
1:02:30
So, that's that's weird. Um, I haven't
1:02:32
looked yet if how easy it is to take off
1:02:33
the sticker. It looks like it's not just
1:02:35
like a, you know, something you could
1:02:36
peel off like tape. It's like really on
1:02:39
there, which is unfortunate. I'd like to
1:02:40
just, you know, keep it blank, but
1:02:43
oh well. In terms of controls, it has
1:02:45
like one LCD display and just one giant
1:02:49
button that says mode. I don't really
1:02:51
know what happens when you press that
1:02:53
button.
1:02:55
The LCD display cycles between showing
1:02:57
the time, distance, calories,
1:03:01
um,
1:03:02
and then it has two options, CNT for
1:03:05
stroke count and also TCNT and I don't
1:03:09
know what that does at all. Again, I I'm
1:03:11
using this with an Apple Watch, so I
1:03:12
mostly just like start an a a workout on
1:03:15
my Apple Watch and go from that. I don't
1:03:18
really look at the display on the thing
1:03:19
too much.
1:03:21
It's It's not going to like sync data to
1:03:22
HealthKit or anything. Like it's just
1:03:24
It's just there if you you need the
1:03:26
basics.
1:03:27
It has a built-in phone stand, so I can
1:03:30
watch Jeopardy as I'm as I'm going.
1:03:32
>> Is that so? Is that Jeopardy you're
1:03:33
watching? Yeah.
1:03:33
>> It is. It is.
1:03:35
Um
1:03:37
It has It has wheels on the bottom like
1:03:39
on the on the heavy like rowing side so
1:03:41
you can wheel it around pretty easily. I
1:03:43
even, you know, as you can see if you're
1:03:45
watching the video, it's on carpet, but
1:03:46
it's still pretty easy for me to wheel
1:03:47
it around. The whole thing is very like
1:03:49
almost surprisingly light. And uh you
1:03:52
know, you can tilt it up against a wall
1:03:54
when you're not using it if you uh
1:03:56
if you want to stow it away. If you
1:03:58
don't have the perfect weird place to
1:04:00
put it in.
1:04:01
God, would you say it'd be like a
1:04:02
duckpin bowling alley or something?
1:04:03
That's crazy. I have I [snorts] have no
1:04:05
idea. I I live in a very weird house.
1:04:09
So uh I'm not a
1:04:11
licensed uh
1:04:13
What would you call it? A physical
1:04:15
trainer or anything, but are you
1:04:16
supposed to
1:04:17
you know, lean back that much? Are you
1:04:18
supposed to be keep your upper body more
1:04:21
straight when you do this?
1:04:22
>> I I read the instructions and it says
1:04:24
you're supposed to like pull it towards
1:04:26
you and then lean back as far as you can
1:04:28
go. Or no, I think first you extend your
1:04:31
legs, then you pull it towards you, then
1:04:32
then you lean back. Uh
1:04:34
I I didn't know what I was supposed to
1:04:36
be doing. I This is honestly a a little
1:04:38
a little frightening sharing this video
1:04:40
of me working out on the internet
1:04:41
because I don't know if I'm doing it
1:04:43
embarrassingly wrong, but I I read the
1:04:44
directions and that's what it said
1:04:46
you're supposed to do. You know, and it
1:04:47
seems good posture, so I try to make
1:04:49
sure I'm not like arching my back too
1:04:51
much when I'm going forwards.
1:04:53
I think you need to have your elbows out
1:04:54
a bit more. It's not enough room.
1:04:57
It's It's It's a It's a tight space I'm
1:04:59
in. Uh I probably should.
1:05:02
I used to use a a rowing machine at a
1:05:05
gym, but this is like, I don't know, 30
1:05:07
years ago. I I loved that thing. It It
1:05:10
just
1:05:11
It was a great, like, energizing thing.
1:05:14
I can't remember how long, you know,
1:05:16
like, 10 minutes or something. It just
1:05:18
seemed like it burned up a
1:05:19
fair amount of calories and and,
1:05:21
you know, made you feel kind of like,
1:05:23
"Let's go."
1:05:25
From my anecdotal experience, I feel
1:05:27
like I burn calories faster on the
1:05:28
treadmill. I mean, at least if you're
1:05:30
going at like a jog or like a light
1:05:32
running pace, but the rowing machine, I
1:05:34
think, is actually better. It works out
1:05:35
like more muscle groups
1:05:37
more than your legs, and that's pretty
1:05:38
much all a treadmill does. And,
1:05:41
um, as you can tell, I'm I'm not a
1:05:42
health expert by any means, but the
1:05:44
rowing machine, overall, hits more
1:05:45
groups, and it's like, you know, also
1:05:48
pretty good at burning calories, so
1:05:50
I'm not going to go to a gym, so I I
1:05:52
really want to do it at home, and it's
1:05:53
kind of like,
1:05:55
"Well, what's the best home exercise
1:05:56
equipment I can get that I can do
1:05:58
occasionally, you know,
1:06:00
I I'm on my lawn every other week, but
1:06:02
what do I do on the off weeks or through
1:06:04
the winter? Yeah, this is a good thing I
1:06:05
can do." Did you do more than one
1:06:07
workout?
1:06:08
>> I did. In fact, I've used the rowing
1:06:10
machine at least five times that I can
1:06:12
recall.
1:06:13
There you go. That's That's the the real
1:06:16
measure of a successful exercise
1:06:18
machine, whether you whether you use it
1:06:20
or not.
1:06:20
>> Yeah. My daughter used to do, uh,
1:06:22
rowing. She was a coxswain in school,
1:06:24
and, uh, I went to this this meet where,
1:06:27
um, I think all the local, uh, row teams
1:06:30
were were competing against each other
1:06:31
on these, um, you know, stationary
1:06:34
rowing machines,
1:06:35
and they go so hard that they all vomit
1:06:39
immediately afterwards. Like, they they
1:06:41
As soon as the race is done, they were
1:06:42
leaning over and vomiting in buckets. I
1:06:45
think each
1:06:46
Each one had a bucket next to them. It
1:06:47
was the most disgusting thing I've ever
1:06:49
seen, and there was like a line, and
1:06:50
there was vomit all over the floor
1:06:51
towards the bathroom, and it was vomit
1:06:53
all over the bathroom. [laughter]
1:06:54
It was They go so hard, these college
1:06:56
kids, that they, you know, that they're
1:06:58
puking up. It was like
1:06:59
>> not a hot dog eating competition. You're
1:07:00
not required to keep it down, I guess.
1:07:03
>> [laughter]
1:07:04
>> That was really kind of something else.
1:07:07
Well, you know, that looks great,
1:07:08
actually. You know, I I enjoyed working
1:07:10
out on a rowing machine, too. Although,
1:07:12
I was trying to do it as hard as I
1:07:13
could, and I got to admit it wasn't
1:07:14
really much fun.
1:07:15
>> Yeah. Yeah. I I mean, it's not fun.
1:07:17
That's why I watch Jeopardy while I do
1:07:19
it.
1:07:20
And you can see the longer this video
1:07:21
goes on, my my form gets worse and
1:07:23
worse. Because it's like, "Well, I have
1:07:25
to do hit hit 20 minutes at least. You
1:07:27
know, I don't know how long we'll be
1:07:28
talking about this review. I've got I've
1:07:29
got to make sure I've got enough
1:07:30
coverage." But, um
1:07:33
I know someone who lost a bunch of
1:07:34
weight, too. Like, doing the rowing
1:07:35
machine at like sort of 15, 20 minutes
1:07:37
at lunchtime, going as hard as I could.
1:07:40
That's a really sad way to spend your
1:07:42
lunch break. Only time they could get.
1:07:44
They liked it, and they were really
1:07:45
addicted to it, and really enjoyed it,
1:07:46
and and and it was very effective, too.
1:07:49
Uh so, anyways, yeah. They they've This
1:07:51
company makes, uh you know, nicer, more
1:07:53
expensive rowing machines. They just
1:07:55
sent me the entry-level model. It's only
1:07:56
300 bucks, and I mean, for 300 bucks, I
1:07:58
mean, that's that's even cheaper than an
1:08:00
Apple Watch. So, pretty good deal for
1:08:03
what you get. What's the brand again?
1:08:05
Uh Yesoul, Y O S U D A, and you can buy
1:08:09
it at fedfitness.com.
1:08:12
I I I think that's the parent company,
1:08:15
and they like merged, and they still
1:08:17
keep the brand name or something, but
1:08:19
I don't know. It's It's probably just a
1:08:21
generic thing that's like assembled in
1:08:22
China that they just like drop ship to
1:08:23
the US, but it's only 300 bucks, [music]
1:08:25
so hard to argue with that price.
1:08:28
Cool.
1:08:29
Okay, let's wrap it up. I think we
1:08:32
uh
1:08:32
have come to the end of our show. Thanks
1:08:34
so much, everybody, for listening. Um
1:08:35
please give us a a rating, five stars at
1:08:38
least, on Apple Podcasts, and share it
1:08:40
with someone who you think it might
1:08:41
interest them. Um We had a question this
1:08:43
week, but we didn't read it out, but uh
1:08:45
if you if you have a question for us,
1:08:46
please send it to questions,
1:08:50
comments,
1:08:51
uh feedback for the show. Uh and you can
1:08:53
make it an audio message or a short
1:08:55
video for us to play, too. So, thanks,
1:08:56
everybody, for listening. Thanks,
1:08:57
everybody, for watching. Um we'll see
1:08:59
you all next time. Have a great weekend,
1:09:00
everybody. Goodbye.
1:09:02
See you.
#Science