[SPEAKER_01]: a factual data creation facility production. [SPEAKER_02]: Recorded live in front of a bargain computer display. [SPEAKER_02]: It's the OFNT podcast. [SPEAKER_02]: Now, here's your sometimes Kentanker's host, the one and only, and thank the Lord for that Jim Shafer. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that may be true, but the older I become, the less Kentanker is I am. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm at a point where I just don't care much about anything any longer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to episode two, eighty four, which I'm calling, short and sour. [SPEAKER_00]: As in short of unusual episode, and what you may perceive as my sour temperament, [SPEAKER_00]: Or is it the other way around? [SPEAKER_00]: Well, we've had the made by Google event, and Samsung may have an event next week. [SPEAKER_00]: And, of course, the iPhone event is happening on September nine. [SPEAKER_00]: So, the holiday tech season is now in motion.
[SPEAKER_00]: This week's guest microphone is the Neumann TLM One-O-Two. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know about you, but I'm ready to start this thing now. [SPEAKER_00]: Tech news. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll start off with Apple news. [SPEAKER_00]: So, you're returning to normal. [SPEAKER_00]: Got it. [SPEAKER_00]: Why yes, I guess you can say that. [SPEAKER_00]: First up, Apple wants you to put them in your ear. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, what do you mean by that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, if you'd let me continue, you'd find out soon enough. [SPEAKER_01]: Ha, you all can tanker us on you. [SPEAKER_00]: What is this? [SPEAKER_00]: This can't anchor us the word of the weakest part of some new episode feature I don't know about? [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, I say that Apple wants you to put them in near ear because not only is an updated AirPods Pro incoming, but also an updated PowerBeat's Fit. [SPEAKER_00]: both slated to be released in September.
[SPEAKER_00]: The AirPods Pro will be announced alongside the iPhone during Apple's annual Extravaganza, slayed for a September ninth in case you hadn't heard that already. [SPEAKER_00]: While the power of Beech Fit will most likely be announced with a press release a bit after the event. [SPEAKER_00]: Though I could be wrong, and you very likely are.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's fair enough, but I don't recall a time where both the AirPods Pro and the Power Beats fit were released within the same month or year actually. [SPEAKER_00]: I currently use both models of those earbuds. [SPEAKER_00]: The AirPods for general, listening. [SPEAKER_00]: While the Power Beats fit, are my go-to while exercising. [SPEAKER_00]: I actually prefer the sound of the Power Beats over the AirPods Pro, but hey, that's just me.
[SPEAKER_00]: To my tired old ears, the Powerbeats fit sound more lively, while the AirPods Pro sound slightly muffled. [SPEAKER_00]: According to MacRumors.com, the new AirPods Pro's three are expected to get the heart rate monitoring feature, which debuted on the Powerbeats Pro earlier this year. [SPEAKER_00]: Along with improved sound quality, which is needed. [SPEAKER_00]: Better noise cancellation? [SPEAKER_00]: Yes!
[SPEAKER_00]: And some minor design changes, which probably refers to the earbuds case. [SPEAKER_00]: I find the rumored heart rate monitoring feature to be kind of redundant, at least for the AirPods. [SPEAKER_00]: That's because if you're wearing an Apple Watch, the HR monitoring will always default to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can understand why this heart rate monitoring feature would be great for the Beats lineup, being that a large share of their users would most likely be using other than Apple Watches. [SPEAKER_00]: On now, according to nine to five Mac.com, Apple has teased a new Power Beats fit in a video on YouTube saying that these new earbuds are coming in fall, twenty twenty five. [SPEAKER_03]: Autumn. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, you do you.
[SPEAKER_00]: No details on what new features these new Power Beats fits will get by assuming heart rate monitoring features will be one of them. [SPEAKER_00]: If that feature fails to show up on these new buds, besides being surprised, it'll be a no-bye for me. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll just hang on to the ones I already have. [SPEAKER_00]: Unlike my AirPods Pro second generation, there's no one to pass my old pair of beats fit on to.
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, perhaps you should just hang on to those old power beats anyway, and forego purchasing the new model when they're released. [SPEAKER_00]: That's always an option, but then again, I don't know if I could resist a temptation of a new shiny bobble. [SPEAKER_00]: As I alluded to in the previous story, Android Authority.com, reports that Apple has announced the date of its annual iPhone event. [SPEAKER_00]: It's Tuesday, September night this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: The title of the event is Audrapping. [SPEAKER_00]: A play on jaw-dropping, I guess? [SPEAKER_00]: The basic iPhone XII, the new iPhone XII air. [SPEAKER_00]: The regular iPhone XII Pro and the iPhone XII Pro Max are expected to be announced during the event. [SPEAKER_00]: So I guess we should pour one out for the iPhone Plus. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it appears we've seen the last of the oversized poor persons iPhone model. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, at least for now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've heard the plus wasn't selling as well as Apple expected. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember if the plain Jane iPhone XIII my lovely wife and I had was the plus model or not. [SPEAKER_02]: It was the standard iPhone XIII as there was no plus model that year. [SPEAKER_02]: The iPhone XIII was released alongside the ill-fated iPhone Mini XIII that year. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that's right. [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you. [SPEAKER_00]: That comment was helpful for once.
[SPEAKER_00]: All eyes are on the iPhone XII Air this year, which promises to be the thinnest iPhone Apple has ever made. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm interested in this model, but my wife, and that's so much. [SPEAKER_00]: Supposedly, the seventeen-air will have a six-point six-inch Pro-motion display, which has a one hundred twenty-hurt screen refresh rate. [SPEAKER_00]: As will the entire iPhone lineup for the first time in iPhone history.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow. [SPEAKER_00]: That's right, even the base model iPhone will get this display technology and it's about time. [SPEAKER_02]: What about the E-series of iPhones? [SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, I forgot about the E-series. [SPEAKER_01]: Forgetting seems to be a reoccurring theme with you lately. [SPEAKER_00]: Now there we go, back to normal indeed. [SPEAKER_00]: The sixties still stuck with a sixty-hurt screen refresh rate.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the room would iPhone seventeen will get a promotion display next year, along with that dynamic island. [SPEAKER_00]: The room was claimed it will be sticking with that sixty-hurt screen refresh rate. [SPEAKER_00]: Time will tell as it always does. [SPEAKER_00]: New Apple Watch models are inbound along with the aforementioned AirPods Pro and an updated HomePod Mini is also expected to make it showing at the event.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not in the market for a new watch or HomePod Mini, having just upgraded to an Apple Watch X earlier this year, and I'm not really a fan of the HomePod Mini, which I have two sitting in their boxes under my desk. [SPEAKER_00]: I was sold on the iPhone Air, but besides my better half not feeling it, the miniscule battery it's equipped with does give me pause.
[SPEAKER_00]: Along with the Air being a first-generation product, I've sort of been burned previously by first-generation Apple products. [SPEAKER_00]: Like the first-generation Apple Watch and the first-generation butterfly keyboard equipped MacBook Pro come to mind. [SPEAKER_00]: Being that my wife wants the foldable iPhone, which should show up sometime next year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I figured that the trade-in value of the iPhone XV Pro Max will better mitigate the foldable's expected astronomical price tag. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll downgrade to an iPhone Air next year after the inevitable bugs are fixed, so it looks like we'll both be getting XV Pro Max this year. [SPEAKER_00]: Eventually, when the Apple Watch Ultra inherits more iPhone functions, I'll get one of those and further downgrade my phone to an E-series. [SPEAKER_00]: That's to plan anyway.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you looking forward to this year's iPhone event? [SPEAKER_00]: which as I previously stated is expected for next year. [SPEAKER_00]: The phone will be in the book style of folding, not the flip style, and have a thickness of four point eight millimeters when folded. [SPEAKER_00]: When folded, users can interact with a five point five inch outside screen. [SPEAKER_00]: When unfolded, the user will be greeted with a seven point eight inch iPad mini-style screen.
[SPEAKER_00]: This inner screen will be seamless, which will set it apart from its competitors. [SPEAKER_00]: In my opinion, that remains to be seen. [SPEAKER_00]: This inner screen will have a two thousand seven hundred and thirteen by nineteen twenty resolution. [SPEAKER_00]: Bully out of screens resolution will be a two thousand and eighty eight by fourteen hundred and twenty two.
[SPEAKER_00]: The phone will feature a forty-eight megapixel dual lens camera around back, and a single front facing camera for both folded and unfolded states. [SPEAKER_00]: The inner display may feature an under the screen camera while the outside will have a punch hole camera. [SPEAKER_00]: There will be no face ID on this phone. [SPEAKER_01]: What? [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, an integrated touch ID side button for user authentication will be provided.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that could be considered a step back, couldn't it? [SPEAKER_02]: Yes. [SPEAKER_00]: Inside, the foldable iPhone will be equipped with an Apple C-II modem and will not have a physical SIM card slot. [SPEAKER_00]: The batteries will be of the high density type, which makes its debut on this year's iPhone Air. [SPEAKER_00]: The price for this iPhone is expected to be between eighteen hundred to twenty five hundred dollars.
[SPEAKER_00]: I cannot justify buying an iPhone for myself at this price. [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, my lovely wife is a different situation. [SPEAKER_00]: I figured by downgrading the iPhone model I use for myself next year, or not upgrading it all. [SPEAKER_00]: And by doing so, should help to keep the capital output for cell phones within the old Fart household down to a manageable level. [SPEAKER_00]: I'd rather spend that sort of money on a desktop computer or a laptop.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you interested in buying a foldable iPhone? [SPEAKER_00]: and some sad news for many within the Android mobile operating system ecosystem. [SPEAKER_00]: Android authority.com has to following headline. [SPEAKER_00]: The days of Android custom ROMs are numbered and Google is to blame, unquote. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, for a supposedly open source operating system, Android seems to be closing up more and more these days.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes. [SPEAKER_00]: Both Google and Samsung have been busy putting up roadblocks for custom ROMs on the hardware it's side for years now. [SPEAKER_00]: And lately, both Android behemoths have turned towards the software side. [SPEAKER_00]: Google's play integrity API, enforces stricter checks that most custom ROMs cannot get around.
[SPEAKER_00]: This prohibits a multitude of apps from being able to be loaded on an Android phone with a custom ROM running on it, like banking apps for instance.
[SPEAKER_00]: Combine this with stricter, dare I say Apple-like restrictions on the Google Play Store, and you have the makings of another world-garden ecosystem [SPEAKER_00]: A while back I had commented that with all these new rules and regulations imposed by government entities like the European Union, on both Google and Apple, eventually you'll get a homogenized mobile computing experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: This might even lead up to an iOS-based phone made by Google or Samsung, or an Android device made by Apple. [SPEAKER_00]: To take it even further, perhaps eventually there will be only one mobile operating system, government OS. [SPEAKER_01]: Now come on, do you really think that would happen? [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, you never know. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, of course, it wouldn't be called government OS, would be named something unassuming like FDCFOS.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ha, I see what you did there. [SPEAKER_01]: FDCF for factual data creation facility. [SPEAKER_00]: You have to admit that that would be a great name for a government-controlled operating system, though. [SPEAKER_00]: Hear that three letter agencies? [SPEAKER_00]: Make me a reasonable offer. [SPEAKER_00]: On the other hand, it may be I've just been listening to a lot of audio drama podcasts, sitting dystopian worlds lately.
[SPEAKER_00]: The smart ring choice of products has just gotten a little smaller as the International Trade Commission has ruled against RingCon and Ultrahuman for violating patents which are held by aura. [SPEAKER_00]: This action forces Rinkan and Alter Human to withdraw their products from the market. [SPEAKER_00]: Amazon has two models under the company's Amazfit brand that well-competitive don't come close comparing to the now big two that is aura and Samsung.
[SPEAKER_00]: So basically we have Samsung Cran droid and aura for iOS and Android, or a lean slightly in favor of iOS and my experience. [SPEAKER_00]: This development leaves an opening for our favorite giant fruit company to enter the smart ring fray. [SPEAKER_00]: That is if they decide to do so. [SPEAKER_00]: Whether Apple enters the market or not, at this point is anybody's guess.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been using an or a smart ring since the discontinuation of the old mode of ring some five years ago now. [SPEAKER_00]: I started with a series two which remains my favorite model. [SPEAKER_00]: And currently where a series four, being that I'm considered a legacy customer, I don't have to pay for a monthly subscription for my or a count, which is the biggest knock against the company. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll remain in or a customer until Apple enters a smart ring market.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's only if Apple's version improves on what or already provides. [SPEAKER_00]: It's said that two competitors have left the smart ring market though, because, you know, competition is a good thing. [SPEAKER_00]: Does anyone recall the one-to-promising ties in operating system? [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, yes! [SPEAKER_00]: No! [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_00]: Samsung backed ties in a traumatic time in the world of mobile operating systems.
[SPEAKER_00]: Symbian, Blackberry Pomp, and Windows phones, OS's had just left the mobile phone market, and Android had gotten a little stale at the time. [SPEAKER_00]: Samsung was still trying to become like Apple, having its own, wild, garden ecosystem, [SPEAKER_00]: And the time seemed right to do so. [SPEAKER_00]: Many of my online friends from the old Nokia days that were devs for Symbian jumped aboard the ties and train at that moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: A couple of ties and phones were released but failed to gain any meaningful traction. [SPEAKER_00]: So Samsung threw an towel and relegated ties into smartwatches and smart televisions. [SPEAKER_00]: Much like LG did after filling to relaunch web OS, which the company purchased from the failed palm corporation. [SPEAKER_00]: Well Samsung announced some time back that it will stop offering content to Tyson OS smartwatches on September thirty of twenty twenty five.
[SPEAKER_00]: While Tyson OS smartwatches and their apps will continue to function, once an app is deleted it will be gone for good. [SPEAKER_00]: ties in like web OS will live on in television sets for now, but we're again witnessing the end of another era and it's so sad. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I've got nothing for you this week. [SPEAKER_00]: No new tech and the tech I already have on hand has been performing as it should.
[SPEAKER_00]: On the horizon is an iPhone, seventeen pro max, third generation AirPods pro and maybe just maybe new second generation power beats pro. [SPEAKER_00]: The tech I most satisfied with lately is my bargain basement Walmart on brand sound bar. [SPEAKER_00]: For its price, you can't beat the sound of it. [SPEAKER_00]: Sound that's on par with the much more expensive LG sound bar that still sits boxed up in my garage.
[SPEAKER_00]: Waiting for the day that LG decides to send me a return shipping label. [SPEAKER_00]: Something which I've resigned myself to realizing is not going to happen. [SPEAKER_00]: My experience in dealing with LG in its lack of customer service this year has sowered me on the brand. [SPEAKER_00]: Next time I think I'm going to go with Vizio. [SPEAKER_00]: Entertainment news.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last episode, I brought the bad news of a price increase for a subscription to the Apple TV Plus streaming service. [SPEAKER_00]: Since then, there's been a rumor banding about the old intertubes claiming that an ad-supported version of Apple TV Plus is inbound. [SPEAKER_00]: Now this could be true as Apple is slowly re-entering the advertisement business. [SPEAKER_00]: And this ad supported tier of TV+, would be a logical step in that direction.
[SPEAKER_00]: I figure Apple will charge a four dollars and ninety-nine cents for this ad supported tier. [SPEAKER_00]: The good news here is that you can get a web browser extension to block these ads if consuming content on a computer. [SPEAKER_00]: But those like myself who primarily consume Apple TV+, using an Apple streaming box connected to a television set, would be stuck watching ads or have to pony up the twelve dollars and ninety-nine cents for the ad free tier.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I consider that price just too high for what you get with Apple TV+. [SPEAKER_00]: Again, streaming service prices have gotten way out of hand. [SPEAKER_00]: Is it any wonder why content piracy is making a comeback? [SPEAKER_00]: Earlier last week, it seemed Google's YouTube TV was going to lose Fox Sports channels and some regional sports channels.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nine to five Google.com reports that Google has reached an agreement with Fox to continue carrying those sports channels. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, the bad news is you can expect the price for YouTube TV to rise real soon now. [SPEAKER_00]: I recently switched from a sling TV to Fubo in order to get those regional sports channels. [SPEAKER_00]: If it wasn't for the one whom must be obeyed, demanding to be able to watch her beloved New York Yankees, I would have stuck with slang.
[SPEAKER_00]: If price is rise for Fubo, I might put my foot down and refuse to pay for the regional sports channels and go back to slang TV. [SPEAKER_01]: Let's be honest here. [SPEAKER_01]: You're not going to do that. [SPEAKER_00]: Watch me! [SPEAKER_00]: We're able to watch the majority of Yankees games on MLB TV, which we still get gratis from T-Mobile. [SPEAKER_00]: The only time we need Fuba was when the Yanks play Atlanta or Cincinnati, and that's only six to eight games per year.
[SPEAKER_00]: podcast news. [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing earthshattering is happening within the world of podcasting incorporated lately, and I consider that a good thing. [SPEAKER_00]: Podcast events season has mostly come in gone, with the push towards a so-called video podcast still in full swing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Concerning video, according to Sound's Profitable, which just merged with the podcast movement, who are the folks behind the largest podcast event of the year, [SPEAKER_00]: has found that just about half of the people that consume podcasts using YouTube do not watch them but rather listen to them. [SPEAKER_00]: This sort of goes against what YouTube itself claims but I think the results are accurate.
[SPEAKER_00]: YouTube comes pre-installed on most Android phones and with Google dropping their podcast app. [SPEAKER_00]: The only pre-loaded app where users can find podcasts is the YouTube app. [SPEAKER_00]: Most normal Android users won't bother seeking out dedicated Android podcast listening apps. [SPEAKER_00]: Like podcast addict for example, especially when a subscription is required to unlock those advanced features and speaking of podcast listening apps I tested out too recently.
[SPEAKER_00]: One was podverse, which I've used in the past. [SPEAKER_00]: I had heard the app has improved recently, so I revisited it. [SPEAKER_00]: The app itself is more visually appealing than I remember it being, but I still found the user's interface somewhat confusing. [SPEAKER_00]: While it was easy to sideload RSS feeds like for Patreon subscriptions, I found that podverse wouldn't update them in a timely manner, if at all. [SPEAKER_00]: I wound up deleting the app yet again.
[SPEAKER_00]: He knew to the market app called POT Home, all one word. [SPEAKER_00]: Let's the other listening app I tested, and it may be a keeper. [SPEAKER_00]: The app was created by one of the contributors to the podcasting two-point-o-standard, and it's in its first version. [SPEAKER_00]: The UI is better than POT versus, and there were no problem-side loading RSS feeds and populating them with new episodes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't gotten around to testing Pod Home's CarPlay compatibility, though. [SPEAKER_00]: The one thing my current main podcast listening app castematic consistently fails at. [SPEAKER_00]: Being that Pod Home is in its first version, I'll give the app some time to be updated. [SPEAKER_00]: I've given up on Metacass, which was also promising when it was first released. [SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, there's been no additional features added over the year it has existed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also decided to unsubscribe from Amazon music because they keep raising the price for the subscription. [SPEAKER_00]: That leaves castematic in pocketcasts on my phone, of course now joined with POT HOME. [SPEAKER_00]: If POT HOME can get car play compatibility right, well I'll be dropping castematic.
[SPEAKER_00]: For the first time in their seventy-six year history, the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California, RTNA for short, has opened its coveted Golden Michael Ward to podcasts. [SPEAKER_02]: Wow! [SPEAKER_02]: So, are you hoping to snag one of these awards? [SPEAKER_00]: I'm asking for a friend. [SPEAKER_00]: And that's a solid no. [SPEAKER_00]: You need an audience approaching that of Joe Rokens to even be eligible for that award.
[SPEAKER_00]: That in primarily news and news commentary shows are considered, and I don't have or do either one of those. [SPEAKER_00]: But it's nice to see podcasting finally getting the recognition it deserves. [SPEAKER_00]: I wonder what podcasts will walk away with the first podcast called in Michael Ward. [SPEAKER_00]: Ah, probably the usual suspects. [SPEAKER_00]: NPR, New York Times, etc. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you're probably right.
[SPEAKER_00]: The music is playing as episode twenty-four fades into this cool southern evening. [SPEAKER_00]: The fall season is in the air. [SPEAKER_00]: Autumn. [SPEAKER_00]: I get it, so stop. [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you enjoyed this episode. [SPEAKER_00]: I enjoyed making it for you. [SPEAKER_00]: To like what you heard, you can make a donation using the link in these show notes. [SPEAKER_00]: Any in all donations will be greatly appreciated.
[SPEAKER_00]: It always reached me at LFNTBondcast at gmail.com. [SPEAKER_00]: If you're so inclined. [SPEAKER_00]: I did join hearing from you. [SPEAKER_00]: Remember, don't listen to what they say. [SPEAKER_00]: Watch what they do. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm still waiting on the installation of the gates from my fence. [SPEAKER_00]: That seems to be a thing down here. [SPEAKER_00]: There's always a part or something missing when you get something done.
[SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of getting, get off my lawn. [SPEAKER_00]: Stay skeptical. [SPEAKER_00]: Um, out. [SPEAKER_03]: And that folks is the end of the show.