Beep boop - this is a robot. A new show has been posted to TWiT…
What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!
I only use Siri to play music while I’m in the shower, and I have a 95% accuracy rate. Granted I’m usually saying “Siri play Bon Jovi”
@Leo get out of my head/Kitchen! I also corrected Alex verbally out loud about Barbenheimer hahaha
I loved Andy’s take and explanation on the relationships between US governing bodies
Every time Alex talks about his dream about openness he sounds like the villain. He would lockdown the Mac and that makes me sad. “Every login outside of Apple’s is idiotic”
Also I only use Netflix on Safari because I use my parents account and that gets around the password sharing lockdown
I use Siri to turn my bedroom light on and off - when my wife hasn’t physically turned it off with the wall switch! - and to change audio playback when riding my bike (I usually listen to podcasts or audio books, when I run out of podcasts, I switch it to Audible.
The AirPods are excellent for cycling, as they read the messages I get out loud, so I don’t have to stop and take off my gloves to use my phone for a probably unimportant message. (I usually have the volume set relatively low, so I can hear what is going on around me and I use either no correction or transparency mode, not noise cancelling.)
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I actually do a lot of that too. I got my first AirPods Pro (and the 2) BECAUSE I was biking a lot more, actually.
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What is this “run out of podcasts” thing? Listening to audio books sounds fun, but I’ve never run out of a massive backlog of podcasts. I’m starting to dig into the archives of pertinent Joe Rogan podcast eps; that will probably take me to the heat death of the universe.
It’s too bad that Audible doesn’t buy ads any more on the TWiT Network.
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I listen to 6 TWIT shows, Random but Memorable, c’t Upload, Smashing Security and “and, colossally, that’s history”, an F1 history podcast.
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So, I’ve had an Apple TV for like two or three years now.
Would it be nice to have a unified login that all streaming services follow? Sure.
Is it this dystopian hellscape that takes me three days just to log in to Disney Plus, so I can watch Spider-Man: Far From Home for the umpteenth time? Hardly.
Maybe I’m doing something wrong because I’m not having a meltdown over this? Must investigate further.
Also, chef’s kiss to Jason’s spot-on “Basically what you’re saying is ‘Love it or leave it’” assessment. 14 out of 10, no notes.
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I use Siri to:
Control all the lights in my house and garage!
Play music, podcasts and Audible books on my 2 Big HomePods, 3 HomePod Minis, Macs, iPhones and iPads
Get weather forecasts and current weather conditions
Control my door locks
Set timers and Alarms
Send and answer texts, messages and phone calls
Get answers to random questions etc
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Every time I download a new app on my phone and I’m given the option to sign in via my Apple ID, my first thought is “I wish that I can do this on my AppleTV.” It ain’t the end of the world, but it does become a pain when I have to reauthenticate using some idiotic QR code captive portal nonsense several times a week.
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I hear ya. I’ve been lucky in that once I authenticate a streaming app on Apple TV, I’ve never had to deal with it again until I cancel the service and resubscribe.
Even then, it’s usually just a matter of pointing my phone at a QR code on the TV screen and I’m in. I’m not really getting what the meltdown over all of this is.
But, yeah, having a unified Apple ID login for Apple TV would be awesome.
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The same here. Waipu.tv let me sign up with my Apple account on the TV, no hassles.
I had to test Netflix at work (AV rules to whitelist it for the CEO), so finally set up an account. Got home, installed Netflix on the Apple TV and scanned the code, took about 3 seconds and it was all set up. I think Prime Video was much the same.
Maybe I’m different, but I have no issues at all scanning a QR code for my initial login to an app. It’s quick, mostly painless, and it’s universal. With some exceptions, the same process of scanning a QR code is on XBOX, PS, AppleTV, and elsewhere - people are used to the idea.
If Apple was really concerned about the “difficulty” of people logging into apps on Apple TV, they could allow password managers on the platform. I’d love to have ProtonPass or OnePass or a similar password manager manage things for me rather than that god-awful password interface Apple has, which seems like it was ripped from the first decade of the 21st century.
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Regarding other mobile OSs besides iOS and Android, I would remind people about a nice little OS called Windows Phone, which was - in many ways - ahead of its time. Cortana on the phone was incredible. It had a driving mode before such a thing was commonplace. The Metro (or whatever it was named later) interface was absolutely wonderful both for driving and for regular interactions.
You can lay some credible blame at Microsoft’s feet for the lack of adoption, but I think an equal amount of blame goes to the tech community, I think many claim to want “choice” as a concept, but their buying decisions tend to reflect a monoculture. And you had the other two companies (the ones who are today being pursued for antitrust) actively shut out development of apps for WP, which reinforced the idea that the platform was substandard. I can’t say how many times I read about the “lack of apps” on Windows Phone. Why didn’t the people with a voice actively push companies to support Windows Phone if they wanted apps so badly?
No, I think that while the tech community loves the “idea” of choice - that’s all they love: the idea.
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shout out Windows Phone (7&8)!
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@Leo did I hear you correctly that Andy will soon release his blog? I heard this right at the top of the show. Was there more detail from the pre-show? It has been a few years now since Andy said it was “almost done”.
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Alex’s idea to lock down the Mac sounds fine, until developers like me simply can’t use the platform to do what we want to do. Chrome and Firefox, as we know them today, would never exist. It’s so hard to elaborate on the many things we have on the web that specifically came from Apple’s competition, because the list is just so vast.
Never underestimate the value of 1% of your customers, especially when they provide benefits to the other 99%.
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It has been “about to be released” for nearly as long as I can remember! 