[SPEAKER_00]: a factual data creation facility production. [SPEAKER_01]: Recorded Live in front of a non-existent studio audience. [SPEAKER_01]: It's the O-F-N-T podcast. [SPEAKER_01]: Now, here's your host, a man whose experience has made him impervious to government shutdowns. [SPEAKER_01]: The often bewildered Jim Shaper. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that'll be me. [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the O-F-N-T podcast episode to 29 which I'm calling tech events and rumors of tech events.
[SPEAKER_00]: Have a good news this week. [SPEAKER_00]: My lovely wife's iPhone Pro Max has shipped and she should have it by Tuesday. [SPEAKER_00]: Yay! [SPEAKER_00]: You know, we've never had to wait this long for our iPhone since we started buying them online versus going to an Apple store. [SPEAKER_00]: It usually was delivered on the day of release or a day or two later when we pre-ordered. [SPEAKER_00]: Ah, well, okay. [SPEAKER_01]: How about starting this episode now?
[SPEAKER_00]: Three, two, one. [SPEAKER_00]: Tech News, as promised, Amazon held its 2025 hardware event in New York last Monday. [SPEAKER_00]: What we didn't see is the thing I was most looking forward to. [SPEAKER_00]: That would be a semi-high end, a non-fork Android tablet. [SPEAKER_00]: Many tech sites have said that this tablet has been in the works and predicted it would be announced during this event. [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, we know now that that didn't happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: As far as the event itself, I'm like most other tech companies these days. [SPEAKER_00]: This event wasn't virtual. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was actually live, and that's something you really see these days. [SPEAKER_00]: The audience was small compared with previous Amazon events I've watched. [SPEAKER_00]: The event started with Amazon announcing the revamped Echo Show 8 and 11. [SPEAKER_00]: Both model displays are now mounted on oblong nit fabric cupboard speakers.
[SPEAKER_00]: But displays themselves are slimmer than previous models, and look quite nice. [SPEAKER_00]: Think of the Google Nest of your, which were obviously an inspiration for the design of these new Echoes. [SPEAKER_00]: Both the Echo shows 8 and 11 have 13 megapixel wide-angle cameras that will allow better detection of people in the room. [SPEAKER_00]: The Echo Show 11 will cost $219 and has a 1080p display while the Echo 8 costs $179 in features a 720p display.
[SPEAKER_00]: The budget Echo Dot got a nice redesign, a more powerful speaker, and a much higher [SPEAKER_01]: What? [SPEAKER_01]: This is what's being called budget these days. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm afraid so. [SPEAKER_00]: This new Echo Dot's predecessor sold for but a $49 so the price has been doubled. [SPEAKER_00]: You do get higher quality fabric, more base and a better microphone array with the new Echo Dot. [SPEAKER_00]: But it's worth for that price, not much in my opinion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Agreed. [SPEAKER_00]: My advice would be to wait for a sale if you really want one of these. [SPEAKER_00]: Next was the Echo Studio. [SPEAKER_00]: A model I was unfamiliar with in, with a $219 price tag, it'll be staying that way for me. [SPEAKER_00]: This smart speaker looks like a beefed-up Echo Dot, with an Apple HomePod mini-style control screen mounted on it. [SPEAKER_00]: If you'd just support for a spatial audio, and it'll be at-must.
[SPEAKER_00]: When paired with Echo Dots in a fire TV stick, you can create a surround sound home theater. [SPEAKER_00]: I might have considered these echoes if I was within the Fire TV ecosystem, but I'm not. [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't intend to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: New Amazon branded fire TVs were announced featuring Omni QLED screens, which promises brighter displays which support Dolby Vision along with HDR10 Plus, and can adjust the displays brightness based on the lighting of the room they're placed in. [SPEAKER_00]: These new television sets also have upgraded processors for better performance. [SPEAKER_00]: The fire TV Omni QLED sets are available in sizes [SPEAKER_00]: and started for $179.
[SPEAKER_00]: New Amazon series 2 and 4 series fire TVs have thinner bezels and more powerful processors. [SPEAKER_00]: They come in sizes ranging from 32 inches to 55 inches and started just $159. [SPEAKER_00]: And all of Amazon's new televisions will come with Alexa Plus. [SPEAKER_00]: If you don't want to purchase an Amazon branded television, but want to use Fire TV, Amazon introduced the Fire TV Stick 4K Select.
[SPEAKER_00]: The most interesting thing about this product is that it doesn't run on a 4K version of Android as creepy as Fire Stick's did. [SPEAKER_00]: Instead it runs on Amazon's own Vega OS. [SPEAKER_01]: If Vega OS isn't a 4K Android, then what is it? [SPEAKER_00]: Baga OS is based on Linux. [SPEAKER_00]: Fire TV sticks are, or should I say, were popular because of their low price and the ability to side load Android apps on it? [SPEAKER_00]: Especially content pirating apps.
[SPEAKER_00]: Baga OS prevents side loading of apps. [UNKNOWN]: Ha! [SPEAKER_01]: There goes some of the Fire TV sticks popularity. [SPEAKER_00]: I'd say so. [SPEAKER_00]: The decision to switch from Android to Vigo OS was probably made to pressure from the entertainment industry. [SPEAKER_00]: Three new Kindle scribes were announced, one with a color display. [SPEAKER_00]: Kindle's are e-readers, of course, in the scribes series of Kindle's allows you to highlight, draw, and write on them.
[SPEAKER_00]: The new Kindle color soft allows you to do so in various colors. [SPEAKER_00]: It offers up to two weeks of battery life and starts at a whopping $629. [SPEAKER_01]: Now, who would want this color Kindle, especially at this price? [SPEAKER_00]: Beats me, perhaps people who work with technical documents and don't want to look around a full-blown tablet? [SPEAKER_00]: You tell me. [SPEAKER_00]: Amazon also announced an entry in middle-tier scribe with no color capabilities.
[SPEAKER_00]: The entry model starts at $429, and the mid tier starts at $499. [SPEAKER_00]: Can you say niche product? [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I can. [SPEAKER_00]: niche product. [SPEAKER_00]: I recall when just about everybody I knew had some model of a Kindle. [SPEAKER_00]: I was once an habit reader and always had a Kindle with me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I started off with the original Kindle, you know, the one that had a physical keyboard and used AT&T's Whispernet, which allowed you to download books on the go. [SPEAKER_00]: Then there I used a paper white for years before buying a Kindle Voyager, which was the last Kindle I bought in Stallone. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't read as much as I used to and when I do it's usually on my iPad these days. [SPEAKER_00]: I think my son still uses his Kindle.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Kindle market as a whole seems to be fading. [SPEAKER_00]: The rest of the Amazon event was dedicated to the ring and blink security cameras and systems. [SPEAKER_00]: And there were a lot of new products announced. [SPEAKER_00]: I won't be covering them here because I could do a whole episode on them. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you. [SPEAKER_00]: On the heels of the Amazon vent, Android30.com had the following headline.
[SPEAKER_00]: Quote, all Amazon fire tablets dropped to record low prices, unquote. [SPEAKER_00]: The budget fire HD8 tablet is on sale for 55 bucks. [SPEAKER_00]: That's a discount of $45. [SPEAKER_00]: The fire HD-10 tablet is available for $70. [SPEAKER_00]: That's $70 less than the price for the tablet before the event. [SPEAKER_00]: And finally, the FireMax 11 tablet is just 140 bucks. [SPEAKER_00]: A whopping $90 discount.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hmm. [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe those rumored higher-end Amazon tablets are for real. [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe, I believe this is a sign that they are. [SPEAKER_00]: Amazon is probably getting rid of its stock of old models. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm very tempted to pick up a couple of the Max 11s for my Grandkids.
[SPEAKER_00]: Continuing with Android Authority, there's a story on the side which quotes afteroid which is a rifle to Google's Play Store, but only hosts free and open-source apps that the big G's new developer verification rules could kill alternative android app stores, thus the sideloading of apps. [SPEAKER_00]: Google maintains that developers will still be able to distribute their apps directly to users through side loading or any other app store.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, they'd have to be registered with Google and verify through government IDs and other personal details. [SPEAKER_00]: After all, in other rival app stores won't control those keys or IDs and will be no longer able to distribute those apps. [SPEAKER_00]: It appears to me that Google is taking the first step towards closing the Android ecosystem. [SPEAKER_00]: Emulating rival Apple and its world-garden ecosystem, yeah, it sure does.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you're onto something with your prediction, that Android and iOS will intersect at some point, and consumers will eventually be left with one homogenized mobile operating system. [SPEAKER_00]: We'll see what reaction the EU will have to this new developer's registration policy. [SPEAKER_00]: That'll tell us a lot. [SPEAKER_00]: So far, it's been crickets from the EU. [SPEAKER_00]: The article quoting the ex-account of A Zone of Tech, why believe also runs a YouTube channel?
[SPEAKER_00]: Plus it pictures of a Samsung Galaxy ring with a badly swollen battery, along with pictures of the smart ring stuck on his red-end left index finger. [SPEAKER_00]: Because of the condition of his ring's battery, the user was banned from boarding and flight and had to visit a hospital so that a ring could be removed from his finger. [SPEAKER_01]: What is it with Samsung and Batteries?
[SPEAKER_01]: The Galaxy Note 7 was banned from flights because its battery had a propensity towards spontaneous combustion. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, yes, pepperich farms, remembers? [SPEAKER_00]: To make matters worse, this isn't the first report of a Galaxy ring battery swelling up. [SPEAKER_00]: Back in February, it was reported on social media that a user identified as Daniel suffered the same thing. [SPEAKER_00]: This galaxy ring was less than a month old when it happened to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Samsung responded to this latest incident with a lawyer crafted or maybe chat GPT crafted statement, which said that experience such as this are extremely rare and gave instructions on how to remove a ring with this condition safely. [SPEAKER_00]: I think Samsung tries to cram too much battery into limited space on some of their products. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, at least the rings battery didn't catch on fire. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, that would have been painful. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last week, well, I think it was last week. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, time seems to move different for me since retiring. [SPEAKER_00]: I reported on Carl Pays and nothing company announcing that eventually, nothing devices would have AI as an operating system. [SPEAKER_00]: I'd predicted this would happen, but thought that Apple would be the first company to accomplish this.
[SPEAKER_00]: 95 Google, quoting the company, reports that this new AI operating system would be called essential. [SPEAKER_00]: It will make its debut in the first half of the 2027. [SPEAKER_00]: Not that far off, really. [SPEAKER_00]: Until then, nothing is launching essential apps, which will run as a skin on top of Android. [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing playground is where essential will produce custom apps on demand using AI. [SPEAKER_00]: No coding needed. [SPEAKER_00]: Wow!
[SPEAKER_00]: Once the app is generated, you just add it to your home screen and start using it. [SPEAKER_00]: But now these apps are more like widgets. [SPEAKER_00]: Simple things like flight gate reminder, a date widget, a clock widget, and the like where given as examples, humble beginnings for what eventually will become a big deal. [SPEAKER_00]: Last week also saw the release of a Parapet's Fit Ear Buds. [SPEAKER_00]: They used to be known as the Beats Fit Pro, but you know, things change.
[SPEAKER_00]: As a user of the originals, I was looking forward to this release. [SPEAKER_00]: After watching the videos and reading the press releases, along with watching some early reviews, I'll be sticking with my original Beats Fit Pro's. [SPEAKER_00]: The new models have the same H1 chip inside, and no new features like heart rate monitoring for example. [SPEAKER_00]: Most of the changes are cosmetic. [SPEAKER_00]: New colors were added in the charging case size as shrunk a bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: The biggest change with the wing tip that helps keep the earbuds in place, which is now 20% more flexible. [SPEAKER_00]: Beats claims that this will result in a more secure and comfortable fit. [SPEAKER_00]: The power beats fit will cost $200, quite an anemic updated my opinion. [SPEAKER_00]: If you have the original beat fit pros, and they're working fine, there's just no reason to upgrade.
[SPEAKER_00]: Use my fit pros while lifting weights and rotting money, Peloton, into our cycle. [SPEAKER_00]: Though I do prefer the sound of the beats over that of my second generation AirPods Pro, [SPEAKER_00]: 95 Mac, quoting KoreanSite ChosenBiz.com, reports that Samsung is prepping for the mass production of displays for Apple's foldable form factor iPhone, roomed to be coming in 2026. [SPEAKER_00]: Hmm, so I guess the room is true, and we'll be seeing this product next September.
[SPEAKER_00]: This roomed foldable iPhone will be in a book-fold configuration. [SPEAKER_00]: Lilith's known about what features like number of cameras and stuff will be included with this model. [SPEAKER_00]: But what is known is that this photobleye phone will be expensive. [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, you can bank on that. [SPEAKER_00]: While I might not have much interest in this type of phone, my lovely wife will be all over it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess I'll have to start saving money to go towards the purchase of one of those post-haste. [SPEAKER_00]: Are you interested in a photobleye phone of this type? [SPEAKER_00]: Tech I'm using, was been a little over a week now since I received my iPhone 17 Pro Max. [SPEAKER_00]: I must say I like this phone better than I did my iPhone 15 Pro Max, which I found kind of boring.
[SPEAKER_00]: Keep in mind I was coming from a poor person's addition iPhone 13 when I upgraded to the 15 Pro Max. [SPEAKER_00]: I think that coming from that older base model to a 15 Pro Max would have been a giant leap [SPEAKER_00]: Sure, the screen was bigger and better, the phone was a bit faster, but the only thing I really appreciated the 15 Macs 4 was its solid feel.
[SPEAKER_00]: The iPhone 13 was very light, which many would consider an advantage, but I guess because people of my age group who tend to associate half with quality, I didn't think so. [SPEAKER_00]: Besides these improvements, I considered the 15 Pro Macs just an upscaled regular iPhone. [SPEAKER_00]: There was little difference with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and it didn't make me think like, yeah, this is a real upgrade.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the opposite has occurred with my upgrade to the 17 Pro Max, so I gave it some thought. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh no! [SPEAKER_01]: Thinking can land you in trouble, you know. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm aware of that, and chalk this up to iOS 26. [SPEAKER_00]: When iOS 26 was first announced, I, like many, were underwhelmed and actually mocked it for being a knockoff of the Android mobile operating system.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I did use a beta of iOS 26 a few weeks before getting my 17 Pro Max, but iOS 26 well nice didn't impress me all that much at the time. [SPEAKER_00]: So I've come to the conclusion that while iOS 26 ran well on the 15 Pro Max, the operating system was designed from the ground up, specifically for the 17 series of phones. [SPEAKER_00]: In the past, I've refuked it on how I no longer became attached to smartphones like I had in the early days of my mobile computing journey.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nokia E63, N8, iPhone 4S, and especially the Windows Phone power to Lumia 925, our examples of phones I became attached to. [SPEAKER_00]: I hate to admit it, but there I say that I'm already beginning to form an attachment to the iPhone 17 Pro Max. [UNKNOWN]: What? [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, imagine that in this world of glass and metal slab phones, seemingly cranked out by the same few factories.
[SPEAKER_00]: Besides iOS 26, another difference between the 15 Pro Max and the 17 Pro Max is that, though I'd have a hard time telling the difference between the two phones viewing them side by side, the 17 Max feels better in the hand. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if this is real or imagined on my part, but I guess I'll find that out after using the 17 Macs for a while longer as that new toy feeling fades.
[SPEAKER_00]: Despite all this, the iPhone 17 Pro Macs will likely be the last Pro Model iPhone that I ever purchased. [SPEAKER_00]: For some reason, my aura smart ring has stopped accepting exercise data input from the Peloton app, and doesn't share exercise information with Apple's health app. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, iOS 26 just had a small update, so I figured that was to culprit. [SPEAKER_00]: aura updated is at last Wednesday, and I thought that this would fix the problem.
[SPEAKER_00]: No. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: No joy there. [SPEAKER_00]: It's not that big of a problem for me. [SPEAKER_00]: But some aura owners use the ring as their soul means of tracking exercise. [SPEAKER_00]: If they're within the Apple ecosystem, that info will not transfer over to the Apple Health app. [SPEAKER_00]: I hope aura gets around fixing this or is it a feature? [SPEAKER_00]: I certainly hope not.
[SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of Peloton, the company just raised their monthly subscription price from $45 per month to $50 per month. [SPEAKER_00]: When I first signed up for Peloton back in 2021, it uses of the app who didn't have Peloton equipment paid $12.99 per month, while Peloton equipment owners paid $24 per month. [SPEAKER_00]: When both the subscription tier prices double back in the I think it was 2023, I dropped my subscription.
[SPEAKER_00]: I picked it up again in mid-2023, then paid the 45 bucks when I purchased my Peloton bike last December. [SPEAKER_00]: So what is Peloton giving users for this price increase? [SPEAKER_01]: If I were to take a guess, nothing. [SPEAKER_00]: You're not too far off. [SPEAKER_00]: Peloton claims they have even more fitness classes than ever, but have actually cut back on new content. [SPEAKER_00]: Especially live classes.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've introduced a rehash version of their discontinued guide product called Peloton [SPEAKER_00]: With the company claims offers AI-guided personal training. [SPEAKER_00]: In order to get this Peloton IQ, you'll have to buy a new Peloton bike plus, tread or tread plus, or rowing machine. [SPEAKER_00]: I think eventually users will have an option to upgrade the monitor of their current hardware, which would include the IQ unit.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the hardware I just bought, the plain old Peloton bike, won't be eligible for this upgrade. [SPEAKER_00]: Not that I'd be interested in this gizmo anyway. [SPEAKER_00]: I've been working out for many years now and I don't need AI telling me how to do it. [SPEAKER_00]: And now that I'm on the downslide if you get my meaning, I just perform the basic moves which I already know how to do. [SPEAKER_00]: Let's try drive myself to hard and get sick, which is what I did last week.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had to do it all over again. [SPEAKER_00]: I would have invested in a commercial grade spin bike. [SPEAKER_00]: Mounted 832 inch television on a wall in front of it, I just picked and choose what fitness apps to use. [SPEAKER_00]: The reason I liked Peloton was because of its a bevy of live classes. [SPEAKER_00]: You used to be able to find a live cycling class on Peloton at a convenient time for yourself, but that's no longer true.
[SPEAKER_00]: No. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll stick with them for the time being, but I might be making a change in the future. [SPEAKER_00]: In the last episode, I was a complimenting apple for apparently fixing a problem I was experiencing with iCloud, specifically with the speed or lack of which iCloud updated while using different devices for the same project. [SPEAKER_00]: It was pointed out to me that pages allows you to find view and reinstate different versions of documents.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I already knew that. [SPEAKER_00]: I've used that feature too many times in the past. [SPEAKER_00]: Even when I was at home using the same Wi-Fi but a different device, I never had to resort to doing that using Microsoft Word in OneDrive. [SPEAKER_00]: All I had to do was open the document on the device of my choosing and it was just there. [SPEAKER_00]: That's the way it should be.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, I probably wouldn't have known about that Apple pages feature if it weren't for the dreadful performance of ICloud. [SPEAKER_00]: And to tame in news, I really have nothing much to report this week. [SPEAKER_00]: The only thing of note is that there seems to be a boycott and mass cancellation of subscriptions concerning Netflix. [SPEAKER_00]: People are accusing the pioneering content streamer of pushing a gay and trans narrative within its children's programming.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hate to tell these sudden activists, but this has been going on for years now, so they're late to the party. [SPEAKER_00]: They're just realizing this now? [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, I'm thinking of canceling my Netflix subscription. [SPEAKER_00]: What again? [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, but not because of any agenda. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm thinking of canceling it because I hardly watch anything on Netflix.
[SPEAKER_00]: I might catch some random movie on it, or a television series, both mostly of Korean origins, but that's about it. [SPEAKER_00]: Most of the shows I love Netflix for have finished their run, while Netflix original movies are few and far between these days. [SPEAKER_00]: The streaming services watch most in the old Farhouse hold are YouTube, Hulu, and Paramount Plus. [SPEAKER_00]: Podcast News. [SPEAKER_00]: I've given up and thrown in the towel.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, would you mind telling us what you've thrown the towel in on? [SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, I had to leave a gap there in order to insert your Starkey Comment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Being a podcast or myself, I'm a big proponent of the podcasting 2.0 standards created and implemented by the PODFWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW [SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Curry can see the podcasting 2.0 standard in the podcast index and response to the rise of a cancel culture, which had gone into high gear in 2020.
[SPEAKER_00]: Until the introduction of the podcast index wrestled complete control of podcasting back from Apple's podcast index. [SPEAKER_00]: which Ironically, Mr. Curry had maintained and gave to the company for no monetary compensation after being asked to do so by none other than Steve Jobs himself, circa 2005 or thereabouts. [SPEAKER_00]: As spot casting grew, Apple's podcast index went on to become the industry standard.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ulstered Party podcast listening apps will eye on Apple's index to find podcasts. [SPEAKER_00]: Over the years, some of the more successful apps have developed their own indexes, but the majority still rely on Apple. [SPEAKER_00]: This gives Apple tremendous power over podcasting. [SPEAKER_00]: That's because of Apple's ability to remove episodes or entire podcasts from the index. [SPEAKER_00]: The steep platforming them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Alex Jones being the most famous or infamous of the many podcasters that have been de-platformed over the years. [SPEAKER_00]: This is still going on to this day, but not as dramatically. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, in episode here, in episode there, the new podcast indexes open source and will never delete an episode or an entire podcast. [SPEAKER_00]: In order to use the podcast index as a source for show-so, you have to use a podcasting 2.0 compliant app.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's where I have a problem. [SPEAKER_00]: There are a multitude of such apps available, and I've tried a boatload of them. [SPEAKER_00]: When I say try, I mean I subscribe to them in order to support the developers. [SPEAKER_00]: Some are quite expensive to subscribe to and others are reasonable. [SPEAKER_00]: The first problem I have with the majority of these podcasting 2.0 apps are their user interfaces. [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of these apps, UIs, are just a mess.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wait, put it this way. [SPEAKER_00]: If an app has a learning curve in order to perform basic tasks, it's a failure. [SPEAKER_00]: The second problem with most podcasting 2.0 apps is with CarPlay. [SPEAKER_00]: A few that I've tried worked okay, but most either don't support CarPlay at all or screwed up entirely.
[SPEAKER_00]: The humble features that I require for a podcasting 2.0 app are access to both the podcast index and Apple's podcast index, an easy to use UI, the lit live feature, and complete car play compatibility. [SPEAKER_00]: The only podcasting 2.0 listening app that comes close is castematic. [SPEAKER_00]: UI is both intuitive and beautiful, and as access to both indexes, has the lit feature, but completely goose the car play feature.
[SPEAKER_00]: Castemannic works fine when first using it with car play, but any drop in cellular signal when the app just freezes. [SPEAKER_00]: It also forgets its place once in a while and will start to hold podcasts you're listening to over again. [SPEAKER_00]: No matter where you left off, in light of this I've pruned my podcast listening apps down [SPEAKER_00]: the Apple Podcast app for use while driving, and castematic for access to podcasting 2.0 features.
[SPEAKER_00]: At least until the podcasting 2.0 features I need are implemented by more mainstream apps like Castro and the like, I'll be staying away from the so-called modern podcasting 2.0 listening apps. [SPEAKER_00]: That promise was no advertisements on the home screen. [SPEAKER_00]: A legacy user of podcasts is defined as someone who bought the app outright for $10. [SPEAKER_00]: Before this subscription madness took hold.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, lately these legacy users have started seeing ads on the app's home screen and, of course, have raised quite the fuss about it. [SPEAKER_00]: DCEO of the company who owns a pocketcast automatic stated that this was merely a bug. [SPEAKER_00]: While an employee of pocketcast contradicted the CEO, saying that ads aren't necessary for the development and maintenance of the app. [SPEAKER_00]: So who's telling the truth here? [SPEAKER_00]: Well that would be the employee.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last week was made official by pocketcast. [SPEAKER_00]: If you want those advertisements to go away, well you'll have to pony up $40 per year to do so. [SPEAKER_00]: And that's just a shame. [SPEAKER_00]: So far I haven't seen any ants on the homescreen of my version of pocketcast, but I'm sure it's only an app update away. [SPEAKER_00]: The music is playing once again signaling the beginning of the end of an episode of the OFNT podcast. [SPEAKER_00]: In this case, episode 29.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening, I really appreciate it. [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you enjoyed this episode. [SPEAKER_00]: I enjoyed making it for you. [SPEAKER_00]: If you like what you heard, you can make a donation using the link in the show notes. [SPEAKER_00]: Any and all donations will be greatly appreciated. [SPEAKER_00]: And you can always reach me at ofntpodcast at gmail.com if you're so inclined. [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't enjoy hearing from you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, don't listen to what they say, watch what they do. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, enjoy the last week of no gates of my fence and get off my lawn. [SPEAKER_00]: Stay skeptical. [SPEAKER_00]: See you! [SPEAKER_00]: And that folks is the end of the show!