Hi! A registered diet a podcast from Mayo Clinic where we dig into the latest nutrition trends and research to help you understand what's health. There's a lot of wild stuff out there, so we'll be keeping it science-based, research-informed, and practical. Mayo Clinics on Nutrition. A factual data creation facility production. southern studio of the factual data creation of the OF. A man who can no longer claim Waiting for Alexa. Jim Schafer.
event week and yeah Alexa plus finally arrived last Thursday Microsoft AMD and even Yeah, hold advance. I guess they're trying to get in before summer, especially before the giant fruit WWDC I have a lot of tech news for the T-Mobile satellite messaging beta and I have a software problem with Apple TV Plus has a lot of good content on it lately, and Amazon Prime cancels a bunch and there's much much more so I guess I'll start this Three two one Tech News.
According to 9to5google.com, OnePlus, which is a subsidiary of Oppo these days, not to be confused with the OnePlus founded by Carl Pay, is teasing the imminent launch of the OnePlus Pad 3. What I find interesting with this Android tablet is OnePlus is promising seamless syncing with iOS. Wow. Now that would be groundbreaking. I wonder how this will work. Well, that would be called the crux of the biscuit, as the cool kids would say these days.
No! The article assumes that the iOS syncing comes via the Oplus Connect app that OnePlus and Oppo have been building out of late. This app slash service will allow wireless file transfers, screen mirroring from a Mac, and unspecified other stuff. Not quite the full integration you'd get between an iPad and an iPhone, but hey, it's a start. I feel this is a novel way to get around from the iPad stranglehold when it comes to iOS and macOS.
Could this be the future? I'm pretty sure Apple's lawyers would tend to disagree. If this O Plus Connect service matures enough to be able to actually sync nearly as well as an Apple device, then consumers will have other tablet options. You know, that's a good thing. Then again, right now, you can fire up any device running any operating system, open up your browser, point it towards iCloud.com, and as long as you have an Apple account, which is free of charge,
You'll be able to do what Oplus Connect is attempting to do here. Of course, you'll be limited by iCloud storage space, but you can always pay a bit more for some extra storage. iCloud.com is probably the most underused service Apple provides. In the past, I was pondering getting a Chromebook instead of a MacBook and doing just that. I just couldn't find a reasonably priced Chromebook that met the specs of a MacBook Air.
If you're interested in this tablet, it will be released on the 1st of June, but you can get a $30 discount off the unannounced price if you pre-order. I'm sure it'll cost less than an iPad Air or Pro. Oh yeah! The OnePlus 3 tablet features a 13.3-inch LCD display, which has a 144Hz refresh rate, a large battery, and is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite CPU and runs Android 15 out of the box. One thing this doesn't have is a secure biometrics method, meaning no face or touch ID.
Something that has gone virtually unreported, or would it be better to say underreported in the western tech press, Huawei, remember them? Oh yes, now. Has announced Harmony OS for laptop and desktop computers. Huawei, which was cut off from using US technology some years ago, created Harmony OS for the company's smartphones, and I'd assume for their tablets also.
They are now expanding the operating system to computers. The only reason I know this is because I stumbled upon a few YouTube channels reporting on this announcement. The official videos from Huawei show an operating system that looks more influenced by macOS than it does by Windows. Harmony OS is heavily financed by the Chinese government and wants to eventually replace all Western source software and government computers by 2027.
Harmony OS is supposedly open source and said to run on its own kernel, which isn't based upon Android nor Linux. Huawei has big plans for Harmony OS. First by capturing the domestic market and then beyond. The comment sections of these YouTube videos were full of the usual shills, extolling the superiority of Huawei and Chinese technical prowess as a whole.
But quite a few commentators also said that they'd rather use a Linux distro rather than a communist government-backed Fox open-source operating system. I'm sure that the backing of the Chinese government will ensure the widespread adoption of Harmony OS within China and wherever they have influence.
I'm not knocking Huawei and China for creating Harmony OS. It's a great accomplishment. But that heavy government backing sort of proves the point of why the US and many other countries banned or restricted Huawei in the first place. Huawei is an integral part of the Chinese government. An article from AndroidAuthority.com states that Xiaomi has fully revealed the company's first in-house developed smartphone chip, dubbed the X-Ring 01.
This chip is described as having a DECACOR CPU and a cutting-edge ARM Mortalis GPU. The article puts this new chip on par with the MediaTek Dimensity 9400, which is MediaTek's current flagship, and definitely better than Google's latest Tensor chip. The author of the article writes that while this new chip's GPU looks impressive on paper, they'll pause judgment until testing it within some hardware featuring it.
Xiaomi says its 15S Pro smartphone and Pad 7 Ultra will be the first products to get this new chip. Huh. You did say last week that this company loves to mimic Apple. I guess this is another example of that. Yep, I guess it is. And speaking of Xiaomi, according to research firm Canalys, The company has overtaken Apple as one of the world's top wearable vendors. Apple has to up its smartwatch game and or get serious about entering the smart ring market.
According to Canalys, Xiaomi has upgraded its Mi Band and Redmi Watch products with an upgraded design, which feature advanced data capabilities, while also bringing advanced features down to their lower price points. The company's broader momentum can be credited to the HyperOS push. which connects phones, wearables, and home gear. And the fact that Apple seems to be asleep at the wheel in regards to the wearable market.
as evidenced by the anemic update to the Apple Series 10 smartwatch. Well, I can't argue with that. Another article on AndroidAuthority.com has the following headline. Google TV apps can now beg you for ratings and reviews like phone apps. Unquote. This is typical Google now, isn't it? Build a nice device at a great price point, then hobble it with advertisements and other distractions. Consumers are already distracted by notifications and begging for ratings on their smartphones.
Now they'll be interrupted during content consumption on televisions. These ratings and review requests will allow you to do so on another device if you choose. Wow, how thoughtful of them. When the new Google TV streaming box was first released, I applaud it. It looks clean UI and affordable price. Since its release, Google has done its best to crowd the UI with ads and now rating banking.
This makes me glad I paid that extra money for my Apple TV streaming box, which has no ads or rating requests. Well, at least not presently. 9to5mac.com reports that Aura smart rings now feature better fitness metrics and more integration with other apps, including Apple Health. Users can look forward to more accurate step counts, activity data and calorie burn. For walks and runs, the Aura app can access your iPhone's GPS directly instead of relying on other apps for this data.
I have to hand it to Aura. Instead of just cranking out new hardware every year, the company supports and updates its current and past models with useful features. I wear my latest gen 4 aura ring and the only complaint I've had with it is the ring's inability to predict oncoming illnesses. Though of late, it has slightly improved. My first aura ring was a Gen 2 model and that ring predicted a few illnesses before I even felt any symptoms.
When I upgraded to the third generation Oura Ring, that prediction capability seemed to go out the window. The big selling point for Aura was that it could predict COVID before it manifested itself. On the day I realized I had COVID, I woke up with a fever, sore throat, etc. The Aura Software was telling me I was doing better than usual. Since then, Aura has now grouped this prediction feature under the symptom radar section. Unfortunately, it still fails me at this.
As an example, last Sunday morning I woke up with stomach cramps which developed into diarrhea. As the morning progressed, I started to feel tired and eventually started running a fever. That explains last week's dreadful episode, doesn't it? You have a good point there. The Aura software told me that morning I was doing better than usual and suggested I be more active on that day. Well, I barely got through recording last week's episode because of this illness.
Now the next morning, symptom radar did pick up on this saying I had major illness indicators. For the next three days, symptom radar pegged me as having minor illness indicators. Either is just my weird metabolism or Aura still has room for improvement. I don't need Aura to tell me when I already know I'm sick. I need Aura to warn me before I'm feeling any symptoms that I'm going to get sick.
A report from Bloomberg states that Chinese shipments of iPhones and other mobile devices to the United States has dropped dramatically during the last month, hitting their lowest levels since 2011. Smartphone exports dropped some 72% in April. Of course, this is the result of President Trump's aggressive tariff policies, which maxed out at 145% on goods imported from China.
Apple and other manufacturers have shifted manufacturing to other locations, mainly India in response. While many criticize these tariffs, I consider them a good thing, but not for the reasons you may think. since china joined the world trade organization the country has gone out of its way to break or ignore any rules of the wto market and currency manipulation are a common practice along with the old intellectual property theft
I don't mind buying items that were made outside of the United States as long as the country they are made in at least tries to play by the rules. As I've said before... Oh, here we go. Again. Why have all your eggs in one basket? I know when the government of China could decide not to supply countries with certain goods. If you're a large international corporation, diversity in manufacturing sources is the way to go. Heck, I'd even pay more for items made in this country.
I mean, I just paid six times more money for nail clippers made in the United States. More than that for a pair made in Germany. If it's a quality product, well, it's worth it. MacRumors.com has an article which quotes Bloomberg's Mark Gurman as saying that Apple will allow iPhone users in the European Union the ability to set a default voice assistant other than Siri. You lucky you consumers. I only interact with Apple's digital assistant while using CarPlay, and only if I have to.
I hate to say it, but Siri is completely useless to me. It seems that everything I ask Siri, and I'm talking simple things like, what's the weather, refers me to my iPhone. And that's if it actually understands my request in the first place. Where's Cortana when you need her? When I used Windows Phone. Oh, Lord. Not Windows Phone again. Let it go already for Pete's sake. No, I won't. Back in what I assume was...
The day, I was able to use Cortana to dictate and send text messages, emails, and more. And if I'm recalling correctly, that was ten or more years ago. What has Apple been doing with Siri in the meantime? I think the answer to that question is obvious. Not much. Yes, I understand that Apple tries to keep from defaulting to the cloud in order to process requests on the phone for privacy sakes, but come on, they can't even tell me the weather without referring me to my phone. Ridiculous.
Well, at least those that reside within the EU that use iPhones anyway will at least have a choice now. I was looking forward to purchasing AirPods Pro 3s this coming October. They were to be my birthday gift. Well, 9to5mac.com quotes supply chain leaker Ming Shi Kuo as saying, It ain't happening this year. Well, he didn't really put it quite like that.
What he actually said in a tweet on X was AirPods may not see significant updates until 2026, aligning with my earlier prediction that IR camera equipped AirPods would enter mass production in 2026. Unquote. he did use the words may not see though so there still might be a new model of airpods pro in the fall yeah that's right autumn
If Apple does release camera-less AirPods Pros, then I have to decide on whether to buy those or wait for the IR camera equipped ones. I'll probably just end up waiting for the 2026 model. Hopefully these camera-bearing AirPods are the precursor for the smart glasses Apple intends to release next year, if those rumors prove to be true. In reality, I can easily wait another year or so for new AirPods Pro. Especially if those AR smart glasses are right around the corner.
Last week saw events, or in NVIDIA and AMD's case, keynotes from Google, Microsoft, and the aforementioned NVIDIA and AMD. The main subject of all four was artificial intelligence. I'm not going to give a rundown of all these events. Thank you. Thank you. I'm just going to report on what I thought were the most interesting things. I feel that Google's I.O. was the most interesting event, focusing on both the consumer and business market, while Microsoft's event was solely targeting business.
Let me get my notes out before I start. I just love when I can break out and underuse a sound effect. Google Meet, which I've had some experience using during the bad days of the pandemic. My son was still using Android during the early part of the COVID thing. I found Meet easy to use with all the features one can ever need. Yes, I was impressed with it. The Big G has added real-time speech interpretation to me, and I find this to be a great thing.
If this real-time interpretation capability works as well as it did during the demo, well, Google has taken consumer video chatting to the next level. Not only guys in search of mail-order brides can cast a wider net, All kidding aside, this really is a big deal for both consumers and business users. This is what AI was made for. I guess we'll know how good this feature does work soon because Google has already started rolling out the beta for consumers for meat.
Unfortunately, not all users will get this beta only those rolled in the new AI pro and ultra plans A beta for Google Workspace will be rolling out later this year. You know, Google has been working hard to displace Microsoft as the business software leader, and I think this is a very important step in the right direction. Another video conferencing advancement shown during Google I.O. is their beam unit, which was briefly shown off as mainly a experimental thing.
Beam uses cameras and other trickery to make it appear that the person you are having video conferences with is present in the room with you. Aim squarely at business and government users, the hardware required for Beam will be very expensive, as to say the least. The setup resembles a screen that reminds me of those old-timey rear projection televisions, surrounded by cameras and what I presume are portable projectors of some sort.
The demos I've seen of it were not given justice by watching them using ordinary consumer gear. But those that have actually used Beam say it does seem like you are in the same room as the person you are connected to. Besides the expense of the hardware, the bandwidth of the internet connection in order to achieve this effect would put it out of reach for a normal business, much less consumers.
Again, I think this product is for multinational corporation and government users mostly. Another drawback is that Beam appears only to be able to handle two people at one time, not a room full of people in a conference setup. The most disruptive tech demonstrated at Google I.O., in my opinion, was the VO3 AI image generator. If fully developed, this product could produce feature-length movies, which currently cost millions of dollars.
for between five and ten thousand dollars you can do the same thing that the big wigs in hollyweird do now There's no need for actors, camera crews, set workers, etc. Basically all you would need is a script, a powerful computer, and some talented prompt jockeys to input it all. VO3 can handle all effects, speech, dialogue, and everything else you need.
Well, this development will shake up Hollywood and other movie-making capitals and hopefully result in better content being put out. That's versus the agenda-driven drivel we see being released presently. A lot of people within the movie and television industry will find themselves out of work. I find this all ironic.
Weren't the Hollywood types the ones who were telling middle class workers who had lost their jobs to learn to code not long ago? I guess what comes around goes around. Yes, it does. I predict that actors will be rushing to sell the digital rights to their voices and images pretty darn soon. Another thing of interest from Google I.O. was a demonstration of Android XR alternative reality glasses. Ahem. Oh yeah, I forgot. That's AR spectacles for some.
While more like semi-AR classes than full-blown AR, Google has made a lot of progress in this area. It's too bad Google is more concerned with generating revenue with advertising though. For me, Google I.O. kicked Apple's butt. Maybe Google kicked Apple in a place that would hurt more than being kicked in the butt. If you get what I mean. Ouch! The other events and keynotes were business-centric. And to be honest, I didn't really watch any of the Nvidia or AMD keynotes.
Those were highly technical, which would be too much for my ever-shrinking old fart brain. Yeah, sure. Excuses. Excuses. And more excuses. Hey, no excuses. Just facts. Whatever, my dear. Whatever lets you sleep better at night. The only thing that I took away from the Microsoft build event was the term agentic.
I take this to mean an AI agent will let you do anything you want on your computer or the AI is the operating system. Hey, didn't you predict Apple would do this just before the disaster that's Apple Intelligence was released? Yes, I certainly did. And I kind of want to forget about that right now. Check I'm using. To my surprise, I received an email from Amazon last Wednesday letting me know that Alexa Plus was ready to go on my Echo devices.
Well, Amazon kind of lied. My newer 8-inch Echo Shells received the update along with my Echo Pop. My first generation Echo Shell was left out and I guess it will never get Alexa Plus. The hardware in that original Echo Show is most likely incapable of running it. First impressions? Well, the voice is different. It's now a younger sounding female voice. Actually, I find it's quite a nice voice. Unlike the current lineup of female voices that Apple's Siri has, which grate on my ears.
It is truly conversational with slight delays when answering queries. I presume it depends on the speed of one's internet connection. I really haven't delved into messing around with it much yet, but it does put further pressure on Apple to update their digital assistant. Or if they don't, well, the giant fruit company has officially lost the AI digital assistant race.
We'll just have to wait and see what's announced at WWDC this June and then wait until the release of iOS 19 to see if this new series is something more than just vaporware. Well, you know what I always say, time will tell. I also received an email from T-Mobile last week inviting me to enroll in the company's satellite messaging beta. T-Mobile has teamed up with Elon Musk Starlink for this service.
And then if I actually get this beta, I still haven't figured out how I will test it. I do have a signal weak as it is at my location. I guess I could try putting the phone in airplane mode in order to try and text via satellite. I'll update you when I actually have this capability on hand. My iPad Pro is working great, but, and there's always a but, I assumed it would work in split screen mode with any app.
My plan was to do what I do on my Macs. Let's have a window open for Apple Pages next to a window of the email app or Safari browser. What I didn't understand was that the app itself has to be compatible with iPad's split-screen mode. While Safari and Apple's email apps seem to be compatible, Pages doesn't seem to be. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong. It's probably the latter, but I'm not so sure.
Further research on the problem is required on my part. For now, I'll just edit my writing on the iPad, along with consuming content, checking email, and of course, web browsing. Oh, and just writing with no reference material handy. can help me with this split screen problem. I'd appreciate it if you drop me an email. After checking out what Alexa Plus is capable of and watching Google I.O.
I've decided that if Apple doesn't step up its digital assistant game, I might just skip this year's iPhone upgrade cycle and just hang on to my 15 Pro Max, at least until the 20th anniversary edition of the iPhone, which will be two years from now. I was really considering the iPhone Aero Slim, as some people refer to that rumored model. I want at least a functional Siri along with it.
My current iPhone functions well enough. And anyway, an old fart like myself doesn't use a phone that much. My wife uses a phone a lot more than I use mine. She talks to relatives back in the old country and also has stayed in contact with friends back in New York. I basically use my phone to make doctor appointments and call customer service about things I've ordered.
What I need is a big screen smartwatch and a small screen phone. So my plans on getting a new iPhone in October are being reconsidered. But who knows, if Apple impresses me at WWDC in June, I just might change my mind. What little is left of it. Entertainment news. My lovely wife and I watched the Apple TV Plus premiere of the movie Fountain of Youth last Friday. Like I say, we both enjoyed it.
Right from the opening sequence and titles, it reminded us of older movies, like the first three Raiders of the Lost Ark series of movies. Another thing we both appreciated was the lack of any message, agendas, or anything that had nothing to do with the story. You know, those things which modern Hollywood loves to shoehorn into the movies they produce. The Gorge movie had none of this virtue signaling either, and that was on Apple Plus.
Hope this is a trend with Apple. If it is, it's a good one. Fountain of Youth tells a good story. It was well acted and well shot. Now, we've seen this type of story many, many times before, but as long as there's no injection of themes for the so-called modern audiences, they're well worth watching. So, good job, Apple. Keep it up.
Amazon's Prime Video canceled a lot of television series last week. I really didn't watch many of them, and the ones I did watch, well, I'm not affected in the slightest by Amazon's cancellation decisions. Shows like Citadel Honey Bunny, for instance. One series that was canceled after one season was The Bondsman, which stars, or should I say starred, Kevin Bacon. I never heard of this series until I read the list of canceled show, so I decided to give it a watch.
The plot of the bondsman is a down-on-his-luck musician portrayed by Mr. Bacon, and he gets divorced and moves back in with his bail bondsman's mother and joins the business. On a job, he's murdered, but is brought back to life by Satan. His new job is hunting down demons, and as long as he kills these demons, he can stay out of hell.
It's a unique plot and it was very entertaining. Too bad there'll be no second season. Hopefully Netflix or some other streaming platform will pick it up. Amazon didn't even advertise this show, so how are people supposed to know if it even existed? Podcast news. While I am so far enjoying Alexa Plus, for some reason I cannot get any Echo I own to play the OFNT podcast, which of course is this podcast, which I own.
Instead, it will play a podcast named Old School New Tech. When I try to correct Alexa, it agrees with me that the OFNT podcast exists, but claims it can't find it. I was wondering why the number of people listening to this show using a smart speaker has dropped over the last few months. Now I have the answer. For the life of me I can't understand why this is happening.
I'm listed on all podcast indexes, even Amazon's own. I can even subscribe and listen to my show using Amazon Music. But no matter what I try on my Echoes, Alexa claims it can't find any podcast called LFNT. even when I try playing it using Apple Podcasts as a source on the Echo. However, if I request my show by episode title, well, voila, it plays.
No wonder Amazon Music no longer shows up on the listening app section of my statistics. If you have an Amazon Echo, try and see if you can listen to the OFNT podcast using it. Let me know your results by sending me an email at ofntpodcasts at gmail.com. And finally, last week I utilized the expensive Neumann TLM-102 microphone for recording episode 269.
I don't know if it's me. It's you. But I thought that microphone sounded kind of muddy. So until further notice, I'll be using the fairly cheap ILPR-40 microphone. That mic cuts through, as the broadcast pros like to say. To me, my voice sounds the best on this microphone. And as a bonus, it's made right here in the good old USA. yet another episode enjoyed this episode. I feel like what you heard. And then all donations Remember, don't listen What?
kicking you out this week, so Hang out as long as you want. However... thing you can get off my