A Factual Data Creation Facility Production. Welcome to the OFNT Podcast, episode 253, which I'm calling Back and Forth. My trip up to New York wasn't as fruitful as I'd wanted. Just more government, this time local red tape to get through. Problem still isn't resolved, but my proactive real estate agent is looking for a way around this obstacle. Hopefully she's successful. I mean, she has the motivation. The return trip had us driving through a winter storm which I was hoping to avoid.
Well, if everything goes as planned, I'll have one more trip up north and all my ties will be cut with New York. Yay! Okay, let's start the episode now. Three, two, one. Yeah, I recorded that as well as other sections of this episode on Monday of last week. You'll know which parts they are when I get to them. On Tuesday, I was informed that the closing on the sale of my New York property was scheduled for Thursday afternoon. What? So Wednesday morning, I again made a trip up to New York.
The closing took about two hours to complete, and then I turned around and headed back down to Tennessee for the final time. Of course, we were hampered by New York and New Jersey traffic, which turned a 10-hour drive into a 12-plus hour drive. when you add in stops for gas and eating. That adds up to about 23 hours behind the wheel within a 48-hour spread. Needless to say, I'm still in recovery mode here.
When I was younger, I'd be able to bounce right back from such an endeavor. But these days, that's not the case. Because of these circumstances, I'll ask for your forgiveness in advance for this short episode. Anyway, on the bright side, there will be no more long drives up north for this kid. We're officially finished with the New York experience.
On the trip back down south last week, we got caught in a winter storm starting in Pennsylvania, which lasted all the way through most of Virginia, which helped to beat this old body down. I wasn't even recovered from that trip before making the last one. So enjoy this abbreviated OFNT episode. I'll be back to normal, well hopefully, next week. I have a correction.
In the last episode I reported on an article about next year's iPhone returning to the rounded edges of the original phone. I stated that my iPhone 15 Pro Max already had rounded edges. conjecturing that perhaps the article was referring to the long edges, not the corners. Well, of course, they were referring to the long edges.
That was before Apple returned to the styling of the iPhone 4 and 4S, which featured those flat edges along the side we all know and love. Yes. No. The original iPhone did indeed sport rounded edges. and if I'm recalling correctly, had a rounded back also. The rounded edges that came after the flat edges of the iPhone 4 and 4S bore little similarity to the original iPhone, as they were significantly thinner.
In my opinion, the flat sides and rear of the current iPhones are a better design choice. They look better and allow you to get a better grip on the phone. Anyhow, that's what the article was referring to, not just the corners which are rounded. Tech News. Because of my trip up north last week, I really didn't bother looking at my news feeds much, figuring that any news from that week would be old news by the time I got around recording this episode. However...
There are a few that I report on from last week. First item, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the ban on the social media app TikTok. Newly inaugurated President Trump is expected to give TikTok a 90-day reprieve once he gets around to it. Update, President Trump has given TikTok a 75-day reprieve. Hardcore users of the app are jumping over to another Chinese app called Red One in response to this situation. Besides Red One being just another piece of spyware disguised as social media,
As all social media apps are. No matter what country they are from, Red One has an aggressive censorship policy. You won't be able to be critical of the communist Chinese government or even mention things like Taiwan, Tiananmen Square. Winnie the Pooh, etc. on the platform. Red One will also not be tolerating rants from over-tattooed, pierced, blue-haired activists. And current users of the app who are based in China have already posted videos saying as much.
Can you blame them? No. There are rumors floating around that none other than Elon Musk is going to buy TikTok, but I doubt it. Then again, what do I know? If I were on the board of upstart ex-competitor Blue Sky, I'd be suggesting they add a short video format which mimics TikTok post-haste, as Musk's ex should do as well.
I have no dog in this race, so no matter what happens to TikTok, it won't affect me in any way. MacRumors.com is an article which makes the prediction that the new iPad Air will launch with an M4 chip. skipping over the M3 chip altogether. Traditionally, the Air models of iPads are kept one step behind the iPad Pro lineup in this regard, as well as other features.
The article also says that a new magic keyboard attachment for the iPad Air is in the works. Though I've stated in the past that I would never downgrade to an iPad Air for my current getting-long-in-a-tooth 11-inch M2 iPad Pro, I'm considering the new 12.9 inch air with magic keyboard attachment. What? That's because the battery life of my iPad bro is rapidly deteriorating.
The battery used to last me a couple of days, but now I'm lucky if I get more than five hours out of it. Besides, I wouldn't be using any of the pro features of the new iPad Pro. Plus, the price of a new Pro model iPad is exorbitant. All I use my current iPad for is writing, checking email, web browsing, and consuming content.
I doubt I'd miss the faster refresh rate and better screen of my current iPad Pro. If I did miss it, I'm sure I'd get used to it. The one who must be obeyed has given me the go-ahead on the purchase of a new iPad. but would not tolerate the price of a 12-point-inch iPad Pro. Well, you know what I always say, time will tell. I was just about to jettison my subscription to the Carrot Weather app, which expires later this month.
That is until I read an article on 9to5mac.com which describes the latest update to the app. Carrot Weather has added a new CarPlay app which provides the directions and the weather expected along your route. Wow. This came just in time for my long drive down to Tennessee last Sunday morning. This Saturday afternoon before the drive, I received a winter storm warning for New York and New Jersey, which are two states I had to drive through, predicting heavy snowfall. Oh no!
I'll detail my use of carrot weather for directions and weather warnings in the tech I'm using section. AndroidAuthority.com is reporting that T-Mobile SpaceX partnership will begin beta testing its direct-to-cell satellite service tomorrow. which is January 27th. This service promises to keep consumers connected no matter where they are, even in so-called dead zones. The beta is scheduled to run until July 26th of this year.
Direct to cell will only support text messaging, but will expand to data and voice support in the future. Though T-Mobile is my cellular carrier of choice, I didn't sign up for the beta mainly because I was sidetracked by my location. Which has finally concluded. This is unfortunate because my new home can't be considered a dead zone with my phone relying on my Wi-Fi in order to function.
About a half mile down the road from me, T-Mobile service is as good as it is everywhere else. If T-Mobile quickly adds support for voice and data, they'll leapfrog the other carriers and also Apple and Google in the satellite service game. I'm sure you'll have to pay for this satellite connectivity once it's out of beta, and I'm just wondering how much it's going to cost. Most likely the price will be too much for my taste.
Well, I guess Samsung introduced a new phone recently, huh? Yes. Usually I would watch the live event, but alas, I was busy driving across the country numerous times through snowstorms to be able to do so this year. I'm sure the new Galaxy S25 series is a powerhouse and I plan to get familiar with it next week. what i do know is that this time around all variants of the galaxy s25 will be powered by a qualcomm snapdragon 8 elite chip and that's in all regions of the world
versus just some variants powered by Samsung's own Exynos chips as in the past. Samsung and Qualcomm worked hand-in-hand to customize the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip to work with the S25 series. which should improve performance. The chip is also tailored for Google's Gemini AI. Also, the S25 will support Snapdragon satellite, which will allow users to send and receive messages via satellite.
Which seems to be a thing now. It was thought that Qualcomm had killed Snapdragon satellite a couple of years ago, but I guess not. Perhaps they should call it Snapdragon Lazarus satellite. Yeah, I'll be here all week. I remember the days when Samsung tried to create its own ecosystem akin to Apple's ecosystem by featuring its own app store, chips, etc. Heck, Samsung even attempted to have its own operating system called Tizen.
And that was back in what I hear was referred to as... The Day. I knew some former Nokia developers who jumped aboard Tyson after the collapse of Symbian and Windows Phone. Wonder how that worked out for them. Does anyone even remember Tizen? No. It seems Samsung has given up on trying to make both the hardware and software like Apple does.
And that's a shame because competition is always a good thing. It's where advancements in technology comes from. I'm afraid the mobile computing industry is stagnant and will remain so until some company comes along to disrupt it. There's something that I didn't expect and I'm kind of excited about. AppleInsider.com reports that a reliable source shared an image which shows the upcoming iPhone SE4 will feature Apple's dynamic island.
and not the old notch as had been reported previously. The new budget iPhone is also rumored to be powered by an A18 chip which currently powers the iPhone 16 poor person's edition. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Ad nauseum, this iPhone will probably disrupt the mobile phone market. Well, at least the mid-range part of the market.
Previously, I said that once the Dynamic Island makes it down to the SE series, I wouldn't buy another regular iPhone again. Well, let's see if I put my money, or should I say less of it, where my mouth is. As I age out, the mobile phone becomes less essential for me. I only use it for FaceTiming grandkids and texting relatives, both sparingly. Though I did use my iPhone a lot more than usual during my recent relocation. Hey, but that's over now.
I'm really happy about that. I'd be just fine using an iPhone SE4 which would cost me about $500 compared to a regular or pro iPhone which started at about $800. My lovely wife, though, demands the biggest and best model of an iPhone for herself, so it's safe to say that she doesn't share my excitement about the incoming SE4.
Last time I bought the iPhone 15 Pro Max and justified that purchase by convincing myself that I could edit my writing on the go and do it easier on that big screen. But in reality, I seldom did that. Well, again, time will tell. Tech I'm using. So. I tried out the Carrot Weathers app navigation feature I sort of excitedly told you about in the tech news section. But I quickly switched back to Apple Maps. Carrot's attempt at navigation still needs some work.
The company is using open maps as its base and the graphics aren't nearly as good as its competitors. Looking like pre-Nokia map style graphics. The main problem with caret navigation though is the voice which guides you. It's just too darn low in volume to hear, and you can't adjust the volume. Well, at least I haven't figured out how to do that. It'll work fine when traveling short distances, but on major highways driving at high speeds while sharing the roads with tractor trailers...
The voice is easily drowned out. The reason I decided to use Carrot's product was that I knew we were driving into a major storm and the app's weather alerts would come in handy. Well, I discovered that Apple Maps provides weather alerts also. So what's the point of using Carrot? I switched back to Apple Maps before I even got out of New York. I'm sure Carrot's navigation will improve in the future, but for now, well, I'll be sticking with Apple Maps.
I'm sort of disappointed with my new Apple Watch 10 series. I mean, it functions like it's supposed to, but I don't think the watch is much of an improvement from the Apple Watch Series 6 it replaced. Though the chip that powers the watch is much more powerful, I don't notice much if any increase in speed. And I gave up blood oxygen level monitoring when I upgraded to that watch.
Thank goodness my Aura smart ring has that feature and picked up the slack for me. Sure, the battery life is better, but that's probably because the old Series 6 was nearly 4 years old. The screen is a tiny bit larger, which I appreciate. and a bit brighter. Other than that, there weren't any significant improvements with this series. I've decided to purchase an LG brand soundbar for my new television.
Originally, I had planned on getting a couple of full-size Apple HomePods to enhance the sound, but that would set me back some $600. The LG soundbar, which comes with a subwoofer, would cost half of that. I'll probably be making... A purchase of that sound bar next week. I broke my Peloton bike. What? Whoa! Actually, I broke one of the cleats that fit on the bottom of the shoes that enable you to clip into the pedals of the bike.
I often had problems clicking out from my right pedal causing me to use a lot of force in order to do so. Today, I guess that force was just too much for the hard plastic Delta cleat to endure. Sort of broken pieces with the majority of the cleat remaining in the pedal. This forced me to loosen the rear of the pedal using an allen key wrench until I could pull the cleat out of it. The good news is that a set of replacement cleats cost but 10 bucks on Amazon.
The bad news is it will take a few days to arrive. I'm looking into some better quality Delta clips for purchase in the future. Entertainment news. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven't had time to watch much television lately. One series on Macs that I started watching was Bookies.
The show is about a couple of Los Angeles-based illegal bookies who are dreading the legalization of betting apps, which would just about put them out of business. The show is well-written and reminds me of the shows that were on the free Sony Crackle service before Sony lost interest in it and sold it off. Crackle has since been shut down. I also watched the Netflix original movie Back in Action last night.
which stars Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx. Hey, whatever happened to Cameron Diaz? At one point, she was in multiple blockbusters per year, but has since faded away. I guess she did something that upset the Hollywood cabal. Well, she's attempting to reinvent herself with light comedy, but doesn't hold a candle to Jennifer Aniston inability.
In my opinion, she hasn't aged as well as Aniston either. The movie itself was okay and nothing special, and its plot has been seen numerous times before in movies. Tonight, my lovely wife wants to watch Gladiator 2. which has already been panned by critics and audiences alike during its theatrical run. I'm not expecting much, but hey, maybe I'll be surprised. Who knows? Podcast news.
According to the podcast Business Journal, TuneIn, the app that many, including car manufacturers, use as an index, has initiated another round of layoffs recently. One of the people let go was the person responsible for maintaining that index. PBGA also reported that TuneIn hasn't accepted any new podcasts or internet radio stations since last February.
PBJ posits that TuneIn is cutting costs in order to attract a buyout, which isn't good news. Who knows what the buyer of TuneIn will turn the app into? After hearing of this, some... Weeks ago, my use of TuneIn was kind of rekindled. In fact, I used TuneIn during my drive to and from New York last week.
Well, this is not a good situation for TuneIn, an app I heavily relied on during a long period of my working life. Let's hope that all will go well when and if some other entity does acquire the app TuneIn.
Hotnews.net ran an article last week concerning the so-called podcast Manosphere, which is credited with helping Donald Trump recapture the White House. The author has come up with... A conspiracy theory that all of these conservative Manosphere podcasts are all in cahoots with each other and are regularly in contact, planning strategy and the like. Well, I'm sure these conservative podcasts do communicate with each other now and then, but nothing sinister is going on. Or is there?
The only political entity that has been proven to buy influence on social media and podcasts is none other than the Democratic National Committee and its candidates. That was actually listed as part of their expenses during the last national election. The Trump campaign, in contrast, viewed these conservative-leaning podcasts as free media. Free being the key word here.
The author laments that if only the left had a Joe Rogan of its own. Well, he seems to forget that Mr. Rogan was a Bernie Sanders supporter, and you can't get much more leftist than him. The Democrats lost because of a disastrous incumbent and a horrible candidate. No more or no less. I'm sure the DNC is auditioning podcasters as I speak and will throw buckets of money at some of them who they feel can be their very own version of Joe Rogan. Well good luck with that bros.
While I was up in New York on the first go around, my son installed the acoustic panels that he bought me for Christmas in my recording space. Well, I'm glad he installed them in my recording space instead of, let's say, the bathroom. I decided to test their effectiveness by recording the introduction and other parts of this episode last Monday. I must say, I'm pretty pleased with the results.
I can detect no reverb in my audio even while using a condenser mic, which is not nearly as forgiving of reverb or noise in general in comparison to dynamic microphones. In fact, I'm recording this episode using the Neumann TLM-102 I Impulse bought from Amazon last October. Besides the plosives, how does it sound? Better than the old ElectroVoice RE-20?
I still have to put some acoustic foam on two small parts of the walls in my space, so once complete, reverb should be conquered in regards to my audio recordings. I also hung some sound retarding curtains on the lone window in my room, which also helps. The music is playing on this southern winter night as the polar vortex that was the cause of the winter storms that created havoc throughout the country appears to have ended. Well, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I enjoyed making it for you.
if you like what you heard you can make a donation using the link in the show notes any and all donations will be greatly appreciated You can always reach me at OFNTpodcast at gmail.com and that's if you're so inclined. I'd enjoy hearing from you. Yeah, I would. Remember. Don't listen to what they say. Watch what they do. You know, I'm too tired to deal with you all right now, so get off my lawn. Stay skeptical. Ah. See ya.