The State of Twitter: A Frustrating Experience with Elon's Changes

As I sit here scrolling through my Twitter feed, I'm reminded of why I love this platform so much - it's the little features that make all the difference. No, not the ads, which have become a nuisance, but the seamless experience that allows me to effortlessly switch between devices and platforms without interruption.

For years, Twitter was one of those third-party apps that were essential to my daily routine. I had multiple clients installed on different devices, each with its own unique layout and feature set. It wasn't just about getting away from ads; it was about having the flexibility to customize my experience to fit my needs. However, since Elon took over, things have taken a turn for the worse.

Now, Twitter forces users to use its main client on all devices, which is not only inconvenient but also frustrating. I find myself constantly switching between devices, only to be greeted with a different layout and a plethora of ads. It's like they're intentionally designed to drive me crazy! The experience is maddening because I'll look over at my iPad Mini or iPhone and see that I'm in the middle of something, but when I switch to my other device, everything resets. I have to start all over again, scrolling up to where I left off, only to be interrupted by a video playing audio from nowhere.

This is not just a minor inconvenience; it's a reflection of a larger problem with Twitter's user experience. The platform seems to be designed with the intention of confusing and overwhelming users rather than providing a seamless experience. It's like they're trying to make us question our sanity for using the app in the first place. I'm a Twitter completionist, which means I've spent countless hours scouring my feed for every single tweet from my favorite accounts. It's not just about following someone; it's about seeing what they post next, and Twitter has made it nearly impossible.

I'm not going to take a swipe at Elon Musk or the company's business decisions. However, I do want to see Twitter improve its user experience. If that means keeping the third-party app feature set, so be it. At least then users would have some semblance of control over their experience. It's not about hating Elon; it's about wanting a platform that makes sense and works the way we expect it to.

On a completely unrelated note, Apple has announced some exciting new products. HomePod is back, and it launches on February 3rd. I've already ordered one, and I'm hoping that people will buy them too, so Apple doesn't get spooked and decides to discontinue production. A subscription service for HomePod seems like a great idea - just send me one a month, maybe every other month, and we're good.

If you have any thoughts on Twitter or Apple's latest announcements, feel free to tweet at Wesson. We've got all the info in our show notes, of course. You can also support the show by becoming an ad-free patron at patreon.com/Insider or directly through the Apple Podcasts platform. And if you're interested in going even deeper on some of the tech topics mentioned in this episode, tune in to HomeKit Insider on Monday, where Andrew and I will be discussing all things home automation.

As for me, it's been a wild ride exploring the world of Twitter and Apple. From the highs of discovering new features to the lows of dealing with Elon's changes, it's all part of what makes life interesting. Until next time, stay curious and keep on tweeting!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome to the Apple Insider podcast this is your host St roblas and exciting news this week the homepod is back the big version we're going to talk about that plus M2 Pro and M2 Max announced alongside new Macbook Pros new Mac Mini so much news this episode is brought to you by our friends at Collide and Zach do where you can find and book a doctor right in the free app and joining me to talk about all the M2 and homepod news my friend Wes Hillier how's it going Wes I I think I'm most excited about uh temperature and humidity sensors this week that's that's pretty exciting I'm excited about that too I mean homepod mini gets some new features like two years later so very exciting so we're going to get into all of that you know I think the most important news this week which I know William is going to be very interested in is Ted lasso season 3 is coming this spring probably the final season so Apple announced like eight trailers and 10 TV shows yesterday it was kind of insane it is insane looking forward to Ted lasso you know I think hopefully they land it you know the first season I still think is kind of like the best second season was look good I hope they stick the landing on season 3 and end with a bang so looking forward to that also wanted to mention real quick the Apple Insider daily podcast you might hear some familiar voices on it this past week there was a random announcement in there that it was no longer happening that's not the case and actually you will hear myself on a couple episodes this week and Mr Gallagher you'll actually hear his voice doing that daily podcast periodically as well so do not worry the Apple Insider daily is there to stay and we will put a link in the show notes to subscribe to that as well before we get to all the big news I did just want to mention one thing because we talked about Apple music sing when that came out last year you know back in December I just want to mention I actually used it on an Apple TV we were had a friend over and the entire family was uh singing to the greatest showman and we were using Apple music sing on the Apple TV lowered the vocals and singing along and it was a lot of fun so just two thumbs up Apple music sing have you done it at all have you like karaoke there Stephen I'm just imagining the movie uh I believe it's Step Brothers where that family just randomly sings together in the car I'm sorry I'm sorry that is us I tried it a couple times I've showed it to some friends that were visit we were visiting with and uh everyone found it pretty impressive the you know turning down the vocals is really fun so I think it's one of those like secret features that people are just going to randomly post on Tik Tok and get a million views be like did you know this worked this way you know and I think that has happened but yeah and on the Apple TV it's a little harder to find to get you know you have to make the lyrics appear first with a little speech bubble and then the microphone will appear so it's a little uh couple more steps on Apple TV it seem like it's impressive the reach that it has like we were going through different tracks and I found some uh like anime music that that was supported by this feature with Japanese characters in all showing up on screen that's why you know it would it would be helpful if they put up the romanized version of it rather yeah English alphabet but still saying the Japanese words but it's spelled out right that would be helpful all right well I'm going to say we basically had a quasi Apple event this week because Apple was just dropping press releases left and right we even got an 18-minute keynote video published to the Apple YouTube channel some clues in the keynote video actually alluded to the fact that this was scheduled for 2022 if you copy the URL on Apple's watch the announcement button the URL address actually includes the year 2022 so it seems like this was that faded event or that Phantom event that was supposed to happen maybe at the end of last year but just this week and we'll go more into detail to all of these things but for Black History Month they announced a new Unity sport Loop and talked about the unity Mosaic watch face the featured Pan African flag and there's going to be Black History Month content in News podcast books that was one press release and then new Macbook Pros with the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips the M2 and M2 Pro Mac Mini and then the new big homepod or the big homepod is back so we're going to talk about all that wait so you mean to tell me that Apple didn't announce new um airports uh no I'm sorry Andrew O'Hara tweeted a photoshopped image saying airport Ultra now announced and apparently he had like some very angry replies because people were upset because they thought it was real it was mildly convincing but the font was too big on the learn more in order now so yeah see and I thought I thought the title font if it was bold you know cuz Apple's been doing like bold titles a lot for like the actual product name but anyway yeah he made a lot of people mad with that now I do kind of wish that 18-minute video included the homepod in it the video was just about the MacBook Pro Mac Mini M2 Pro M2 Max but it would ruin the surprise stevenh that is true it was surprising it does really feel like there was a lot of jokes going around on Twitter where it was like this was the first 18 minutes of a video keynote that also included something else maybe Apple VR or something I saw those and I was like no I I mean Apple's they're they're more calculating than that I mean sure this should have been uh released in October or whatever date is going around but I think it was the same event regardless we as we might discuss the rumors surrounding the VR headset and future Apple glass are all being kind of thrown into the mud right now so the idea that oh there was secretly the VR headset could have been announced 3 months ago and sorry guys it's just not true yeah now I will say in October of last year we got the 10.9 in iPad with the magic keyboard folio and the M2 iPad Pro and a new Apple TV 4K and that was all via like PR releases and such I do feel like if there was going to be an event like all of that together it could have been the M2 story where they talk about the M2 iPad Pro M2 Mac Mini and then talk about the new Macbook Pros and also threw a homep pod in there that would have been a big event honestly if there's all of that yeah Tim Cook standing in a field holding a homep pod cradling it like a baby which is what I'll be doing when I get my my two new homepods but I'm very excited I I ordered two as well I'm not a monster I ordered the midnight color listen I I got all black homepods originally I have three black og homepods I still wish I had bought four actually no I don't wish I had bought four cuz now I got the new homep pods right but I'm trying white in honor of basic apple guy I'm going to try a white one um they'll be that color for at least a week I'm I'm going to have little like air pressurized canister here in the studio cuz I'm putting them in here I'll just spray them every day get the dust off of them or something we've talked about my mother's poor dirty homepod mini um in the past and uh I think cuz they they smoke right and I think a stray Ash that was still lit must have landed on it cuz there is a burn mark in the middle the oh no this thing is slowly I mean it still plays music and it's amazing like how it it's just you look at it you're like oh you poor thing now I've had a white homepod mini on my nightstand for the last four or five months and that's doing okay no cigarette ashes no no no smoking and or anything and I mean I have three kids which if it's Something's Gonna Get dirty like the kids are going to do it but they don't typically go in the bedroom so and they don't typically come in here in the studio so I think it's safe if you put the homep Pod mini on top of an air purifier it might be okay like right next to it right that's an interesting strategy okay we I'm most excited about the hom pot but we have to actually talk about the the big ones uh first of all I I just want to mention again Black History Month the unity woven Loop very cool design this year the word Unity is like woven into the fabric on the inside of the loop and this abstract text very cool highlighting lots of content cool wallpaper uh coming too as well I I like that Apple has a started adopting basically an annual refresh of their um black history month and pride bands and I wonder if they're going to start doing more kind of like either just holiday themed or social awareness themed type things like that right and the interesting thing is this if there's also a new Apple watch face and typically there's a software update that will include the Apple watch face and some of the news this week is that 16.3 and watchos 9.3 like all that will be coming out as you listen to this episode if listen on release day which everyone should let's be honest that it will be coming next week and because the the watch band and everything available January 24th so it looks like all the updates will be coinciding with the release of this so that'd be cool next week y now big one MacBook Pro so press release came out it was the MacBook Pro and the Mac Mini all in the same day and the big story here it's the same design as the 14-in and 16-in MacBook Pros from before I have the M1 Pro 14-in which I think you do as well right you have the 14inch yes I have the the basically the base model I think I think I upgraded the storage maybe but right and I basically did the same thing and it I've I've loved it you know it's it's an excellent laptop the only Hardware updates internally obviously the chip story will get to that in a second but the HDMI port on these new 14 and 16-in MacBook Pros actually capable of of 8K video and 4K at 240 HZ so if you ever wanted to do some kind of gaming on it external monitor HDMI port has been upgraded Wi-Fi 6E and you can get up to 8 terabyt of storage I don't know if it was 8 terabytes with the last Model but it's a lot of storage I think 8 terabytes was there before but yeah it's an astronomical price if you get it's a $1,600 alone I'm going to start pricing things in homepods that's uh exactly right that's five home pods that you could get for that storage that's it so aside from those Hardware updates we do have the chips so the M2 Pro and M2 Max these are new Chips M2 pro has a 10 or 12 core CPU up to 32 gigs of unified memory and up to 19 GPU cores the M2 Max 12 core CPU 96 GB of unified memory you can upgrade all the way up to 96 and a 38 core GPU so again powerful chips what do you think about Apple kind of just press releasing a major chip update I mean the M2 Pro and M2 Max sure I I think people are kind of just waving their hands cuz oh yeah it's just a press release but once you get into the details and especially like when we saw that geek bench score today that might be real it's just yeah these things are these things are pretty amazing I mean uh according to that geek bench score again if it's real the M2 Pro is more performant at with 16 gigs of RAM than the base M1 Max um and the Max studio so yeah yeah and this that's crazy it is crazy I have the M1 Max Max studio but I also feel like like the power that these laptop they're incredible and one of the things that Apple's really bragging on too is the battery life because of the efficiency and power of these chips part of the 18-minute keynote video that they had on their YouTube channel they had like three creators one was doing development work one was doing like 3D animation and another one was doing like after effects work and they basically worked an entire day just on battery power never plugging it in and we're able to accomplish incredible things just on that one charge and so that's the power is incredible Also the battery life with the power is amazing I but I also feel like a keynote it's weird because Keynotes Apple will like do ads for their Keynotes on Tik Tok like you can go and and apple will say Apple event this date and if you're doing an ad on Tik Tok I don't think you're targeting like power users I think you're targeting consumer Pro consumer types and these kinds of specs are amazing incredible impressive I don't know if a majority of people will even understand the numbers and get excited about it you know what I mean it's it's just interesting to me that we just had CES uh a couple weeks ago and true AMD goes out on stage and says look how cool we are we just made a 4 nanometer processor on a new spec that beats out the Apple M1 Max by what some percentage that they're like we we did it we beat Apple silicon it releases in March and then Apple two weeks later says here's the M1 or M2 Max today in January uh two months before AMD and AMD I I mean someone that has to be hitting their head on the wall over there just like my good their their whole marketing strategy is just gone right I'm sure they already had weeks worth of ads ready to go saying that they were better than Apple's best MacBook Pro and it's just that's true you know you have to think that they're over there just hitting again because this Apple's kind of killing it in this space and it's hard to talk about because again they're already so good how much better do you does someone need it to be but and then I I know I'm going to get angry Twitter people telling me but yeah if you get this AMD chip set yeah but if you plug it in and have it in a freezer yes it'll outperform anything and but as soon as you unplug it the battery will die in 8 minutes and then there's nothing you can do with it now I think I'm going to put this article in this week's show notes you had put it last time you were on the show to talk about cuz this was amd's presentation at CEO yes but they have this slide talking about cinebench and versus the M1 Pro which is not the M1 Max or M1 Ultra so oh sorry yeah they they even compared it to the M1 Pro which again if given that the leaps that the M2 pro has made like my goodness right well and also like why not M1 Max like if you're really going to go after the laptop Market cuz Apple had M1 Max MacBook Pros before but they were saying it's up to 34% faster than the M1 Pro and so with the M2 Max now out this slide is moot like it's oh all these comparisons are are old and don't apply so incredibly powerful laptops if you want that main machine if you're doing like heavy video editing CAD work development I mean so glad that these machines are out there honestly for me with my M1 Pro MacBook Pro I rarely run into a processor choke like I I typically don't have any issues with speed and so I'll be keeping my M1 Pro 14in I love it oh absolutely me too I'm I'm not upgrading but see Apple's marketing language here is really important if you go and read the press release and go to Apple's main website there's a couple places that they mention the M1 Pro M1 Max uh comparison but all of the languages if you're coming from the best Intel processor MacBook Pro or if you're coming from the best Intel processor desktop Mac Mini this is the score that the M2 gives you uh so they're obviously heavily targeting people who who haven't upgraded to Apple silicon yet or haven't upgraded to these higher end um MacBook Pros like if you already have the redesigned MacBook Pros your Apple's like great if you upgrade but we're not talking to you today and uh I think that makes sense I think that's a that's a good strategy for sure I'll be real with you all I had not scheduled an annual physical for a long time like I'm talking years but I just didn't know where to turn the idea of trying to call and figure out what doctors take my insurance it just kept preventing V in me from actually making the appointment well I finally decided it's a new year # neww me I need to do it and so I opened the free Zach app I searched in my area I was able to scan my health insurance card so I know the doctors that I see will take my insurance and I found a new primary care doctor and I scheduled my annual physical right there in the app I didn't have to call anyone and I'm confident they'd take my insurance my appointment's actually next Friday as I record listen zacho is the only free app that lets you find and book doctors who are patient reviewed take your insurance and are available when you need them and treat almost every condition Under the Sun you can see patient reviews and ratings right there in the listing of doctors I was able to choose like a 4.9 star doctor it was close to my house I know they take my insurance it's great and if you need a specialist or you're trying to schedule an eye exam the Zach do app can help you with that too after you choose a date and time you get the confirmation email that the appointment has been set and then you just go you just go with the confidence knowing you're not going to have to make another appointment so no more Dr roulette or scouring the internet for questionable reviews with Zach do you have a trusted guide to connect you to your favorite doctor you haven't met yet millions of people use Z Talk's free app to find and book a doctor in their neighborhood whose patient reviewed and fits their needs and schedule just right and I'm one of them I literally used it the other day to schedule my annual physical so go to Zach do.com apppp inssider and download the Zach app for free it's totally free you don't have to pay for it it's incredible then find and book a top rated doctor today many are available within 24 hours and I saw that to be true I could have made an appointment like for the next day that's zocdoc.com slapple inssider Zach do.com slapple inssider my thanks to zacho for helping me book my own physical now also so compelling along with the MacBook Pros was announced an updated Mac Mini I was I was happy I actually called this the day before I thought there were lots of rumors that everybody was like press release coming tomorrow John proster was saying it German was saying it and I was like maybe M2 iMac and M2 Mac Mini so I was 50% right so we also got the M2 Mac Mini great update for this also the Mac Mini comes with an M2 Pro comes very interesting comparisons to the Mac Studio which we'll get to in a second but the M2 Mac Mini you can get it with either chip M2 M2 Pro if you get it with the M2 Pro chip you can get four Thunderbolt ports which is great the one thing though like when you're looking at the Mac Mini compared to some of the other machines an M2 Pro Mac Mini would be so great for so many creators that would do great at video editing again I'm I had a video 4k on an M1 Pro MacBook Pro an M2 Pro Mac Mini it'd be awesome no SD card though like if you want to plug in an SD card you're still going to need a hub for your Mac Mini just for the SD card I I would argue and again this ignoring the Mac Studio cuz I I understand it has the UHS 2 thing in the front yeah but for a desktop computer that's stationary I think you're more likely to have a thunderbolt Dock and it's a little more excusable it's understandable like yes it would be nice to have that little SD card slot already in the computer but if we're talking about the the type of person who needs an SD card slot in the first place they probably already have a thunderbolt Dock and for sure I I want to get into that a little bit like so the Mac Mini is an interesting computer and I was talking to Andrew about this this kind of blows the iMac out of the water like why even bother anymore and it's like well think about it we're the kind of people who already have advanced desktop setups you know we already have a monitor keyboard mouse Thunderbolt dock all of this stuff you know we go to the store and want a Mac we go buy a Mac Mini yeah we're only spending $600 for that base model $1,200 for the uh M2 Pro or 1300 whatever it is that's it you know maybe we get an accessory or something but that's all we have to do but someone entering the market a kid just graduating high school or or going to college or something or parents who are getting their first home computer just you know there's all kinds of scenarios do you want to tell them yeah this amazing M2 processor and like this desktop is only 599 but you also need a mouse a keyboard a monitor and right for you know and so like I I think the value proposition differs based on who you're talking to as usual but in this case for me and I I wanted to see if you had the same opinion for someone who is say coming from a Windows PC that they bought in 2010 to do taxes on once a year um and they have a monitor mouse and keyboard and stuff already maybe they upgrade that every now and then but they haven't touched this computer in in years as far as upgrading it and they're looking at uh the market like what do I buy I would say go get this oh yeah M2 yeah $600 best thing you can get on the market at that price I think it is amazing that the Mac Mini with an M2 Chip comes like you just said starts at $600 education discount brings it down to $500 I mean this is an M2 Chip like this is super powerful it's going to last you a very very long time that situation you just said plus I mean if you just wanted like a Home Server Like I actually have a Mac Mini runs homebridge I run transloader and Downey on it for downloading videos it's an Intel one from 2018 it's fine but man to upgrade to an M2 Chip for 600 bucks totally future proof that setup for what the next 10 years like very very compelling I think the lower end price points even with 256 gigs of memory who cares iCloud exists if you're not I'm talking to the person like I just said who's doing taxes or or letting kids do their homework it's a Max so it has multi-user support you're spending about as much as a decent iPad right but now you have a central Hub where everyone has an account they can just put their finger on the touch ID if they have the keyboard log in and access all of their iCloud data on the machine like it's it's the like I have a you know my sister has a family and they have a couple of kids and stuff and it's like if I was recommending comp a computer today like it would be that that would be perfect yeah it was interesting you said iPad 2o because I was just thinking the iPad Air is $ 5.99 you get 64 GB of storage and it's an iPad not a Mac and so if you needed something for schoolwork maybe you need something for multi-users which an iPad does not do multi-users if you were going to buy one or the other in which the iPad Air also doesn't come with a keyboard or a trackpad or an apple pencil it's also $5.99 I mean if your choice is I have $600 to get a machine I already have a monitor or I can at least buy cheap versions of those $5.99 you can get a Mac with an M2 Chip or an iPad Air like crazy that that's a choice you can make today yeah I think I think this is going to sell a lot of machines I think this is going to be a lot of new first Maxs for people and it's just it's such an excellent option again cuz like I I know people are going to complain about that entry storage but again it in today's thing unless you're doing 4K video or something 256 is fine with when you're relying on iCloud pay for the higher iCloud storage you're pretty much good to go now the one article I was most interested in that we did was a comparison with the M2 Pro Mac mini versus the Mac Studio and if the M2 Pro Mac Mini had existed a year ago this would have been the choice I was making like if I was going to choose cuz I have the Mac Studio sitting right here it has the M1 Max you know I upgraded you know I have 2 terab of storage and 64 gigs of memory but if you were just looking at these two machines with similar specs I love this chart we have on here the M2 Pro Mac Mini $1,700 M1 Max Mac Studio $2,000 so we're talking a $300 difference you do get more GPU cores with those price points at those configurations Mac Mini will have 16 core GPU Mac Studio 2 4 core put the Ram at the same level 32 gigs you do get Wi-Fi 60 on the new Mac Mini but I'm going to hardwire my desktop anyways I got ethernet running to it so not a big deal keeping the storage the same 512 gab but on the Mac Studio you do get an additional two USBC ports on the front and that SD card slot and if someone was choosing they wanted this level of performance they wanted the 32 gigs of RAM they wanted some significant GPU cores cuz they're doing some video editing not super intense but you know pretty decent that $300 difference I mean apple is so good at this like getting things so close the price ladder the the price ladder is so like they they nailed this like I would go with the Mac Studio 100% so you mean the Mac mini um no I no I would go with the Mac Studio oh because of the USB ports for $300 to get the SD card slot more gpus you have the two USBC ports on on the front now that I've had a Mac Studio for whatever it is seven or eight months I use those front ports and SD card slot a ton and I would yeah yeah so again this this all comes to use case this is interesting because I literally wrote this the day that we got the information uh about the Mac Mini a lot has come out since and I think I would even change which configuration because now we know that the 12 core M2 Pro is at least technically more powerful CPU side um than the m One Max so throw in that 12 core and now you're price matched 19 versus 19 okay and and but with more ramp because uh again that that score is 16 gigs of RAM for that for that higher-end processor for the uh Mac Mini uh but our configuration that we've have have priced out has 32 gigs of RAM so you have even more um so at $ 199.99 for both you have a more powerful CPU you have 32 gigs of RAM so it I I think that comparison's even harder now because again like you said you use those extra ports but right if you don't if you don't I I think that the performance is worth the ports cuz you can always add ports you can always get a dock but that performance you're never going to get back now also it's hard to talk about this in benchmarks benchmarks are meaningless when we're talking about Apple's other things the neural engine and media engine right the neural engine on the M2 Pro will be more advanced than the one on the M1 Max but sure the media engine we're saying enough uh technical terms here the media engine is more advanced on the M1 Max because it doubles um the video encode decodes that's available so encode decode engine is more advanced on the M2 Pro but only has one of them versus the M1 Max having twice as many so it's it's a it's a weird conversation but if you're working in video you're getting the M1 you're getting the Mac Studio absolutely right and I think that's the biggest deal you know I think Mac Studio really geared towards video I mean if you do audio you might be dealing with SD cards and stuff like that too the size difference is significant too though I mean you can get very very close performance and the uh dimensions are hilarious in this comparison because both the Mac Mini and Mac Studio had the same like width and length which is 7.7 in but the height of the Mac Mini is 1.4 in and the Mac Studio is 3.7 like all fan it's all fan all fan all fan so that's kind of funny you know we could we could definitely beat this to death I think the most interesting aspect of this is like you said the the price ladder that Apple's created from $599 all the way up to what's a maxed out Mac Mini $4,400 something like that yeah and then of course the Mac Studio I think goes up to $6,400 so with the M1 Ultra yeah yeah so it's interesting that with these processors that Apple's built in these computers there's only two cases we're only talking about the Mac Mini and the Mac Studio but you use cases from 600 to like 10x to $6,000 yes and uh I I just find that pretty impressive and I I I I like that it's so close in the middle that that you know $1,500 to $2,500 price range is such an argumentative standpoint for someone going in to buy it because it gives them more choices it gives you right so many more options and you get to get down to that nitty-gritty of what exactly do I need here and I'm excited to see what the M2 does in the Mac Studio yeah probably in the spring maybe that would be a fast turn around I mean that's that would be a year one year speaking a fast turnarounds I did want to bring this one up real quick I just wrote an article right before I came in about Digi times uh they're semi-reliable they have a source saying that the M3 is coming to the MacBook Air this you know 2023 calendar and it's I'm just over here like my head's exploding because the M2 MacBook Air came out last July like that's literally like a 13mon turnaround at or or TW you know literally a year and no way I just I I went into that article just screaming like no this this is insane um this is as crazy as Mark Gman saying that every Mac was going to get upgraded last year it just doesn't make any sense yeah but like I'm with you a Mac Studio upgrade to M2 Ultra seems too soon I don't think it would come in the spr well I did say spring just now but maybe Maybe not maybe the fall maybe that 16 to 18 months turnaround but it's coming right cuz like Apple's not like apparently 3 nanometer is already in production Apple isn't going to hold out a17 for the iPhone 15 is coming this fall and that's 3 nanometer so M3 is either like December of this year or early next year so that M2 Ultra has got to come out and the only thing running it is the studio so I think it's going to be a big year for Apple I know a lot of news before was like coming recession yada yada like supply chain you know might be whatever the word was muted this is going to be a muted release cycle for apple and as soon as I saw that said no before we're even three weeks into the new year Apple drops all of this including the big homepod we got to talk about it one last thing before we get to it because I thought this was hilarious we did a whole like or someone tweeted the trade in value of like a specked out 2019 Intel Mac Pro which at the time if you had bought it would have been over $50,000 50 Grand like car territory pricing if you go to trade that in directly to Apple today you'll get about 950 bucks for that $50,000 computer which I I mean I get it like apple probably doesn't even want it back that's why if you take a Ferrari to a junkyard and crush it you'll get $400 out of it so I I that's my equivalence here you're when you do the trade in program at Apple it's a you you want to get some amount of money out of something that you don't you don't deem worth trying to sell on the on the market and there and apple actually maxes out their trade in program at $1,250 it doesn't matter what you have right did I I don't know like why the person did the exercise of let's let's see if we can trade in this $53,000 computer um I don't know why they would bother it's hilarious the result but still it's just I the angry responses don't make sense to me because no I mean I've gone to GameStop with a uh God this was back in the day I think it was like a PS like a or no I'm sorry it was a Nintendo Wii and like 15 video games controllers accessories you're going to get 10 bucks 10 bucks for that 10 bucks store credit I think they wouldn't even give you cash uh so that's that's what we're talking about here like tradein is nonsense but it that was a that was a good shock story I like that yeah and also if you bought a $50,000 computer four years ago you probably don't need to trade something in to buy a $2,000 computer you know what I mean like I just yeah apple silicon man I mean it is kind of compelling especially with those media engines the fact that the After Burner card was basically garbage after the media engine was announced for the M1 Pro like just looking at that Mac Pro just kind of makes you feel a little sad yeah yeah it's true most exciting for me news this week was that the big homepod is back which so excited did not expect this does not have all like the screen and smart you know stuff like we talked at least on hkid inside we had alluded to the rumors of that but I'm just glad it's back big homepod it's powered by the S7 chip interesting it's not an A series chip but for reference the homod mini uses the S5 chip so oh really yes okay yeah I was Wonder I was thank you for that that's good matter and thread are built in for your homekit smart home needs the U1 Ultra wide band chip is included like the homepod mini so you can do that nice handoff the screen on Top's a little larger don't know about the larger top screen the well I think it's even smaller the animation goes all the way to the edge oh uh so if you look at your homepod right now if you have one nearby I'm looking at it right now um the top kind of uh kind of Peaks out a little bit the glass is actually kind of sticking out of the top the new homepod um adapts the homepod mini design of having kind of a concave top where it kind of sinks in so there's more fabric around the top Edge and the um physical width of the homepod didn't change but the width of the top fabric is thicker and it curves around the top glass so it's actually a little smaller and but it's an illusion because the animation now goes all the way to the edge whereas it did not before so like the homepod mini right the home mini goes all the way to the edge got basically the same top glass as the hom pod mini yeah just B got it okay it also has a built-in temperature and humidity sensor which we will get to because that is also getting enabled in the homepod mini with 16.3 two lesser things on this new big homep pod as opposed to the original there's two less tweeters and two less microphones built in which we'll have to see there's been some early reviews I think the Verge actually got like early access to it they said it basically sounds the same so I don't think there's going to be some kind of decrease in quality okay well I wanted to comment on that okay I don't know if you read this the Verge got to visit some portion of Apple's Studio like a secret I don't know if they were in New York or La this time whatever do you remember the first time they riled the home pod I think that was in New York they went to like a secret apartment and listened to the homep Pod yeah yeah I wonder if this is the same situation but I I wouldn't take any stock by what they say about the sound quality here cuz um they first of all they said they can't tell you everything that they saw on this tour they they can only mention one room that they visited this all hush hush and it was a single homepod sitting on a stand and they got to listen to a stereo pair in like a very isolated circumstance without any comparison to the original set so if someone just took you to a random room and started playing music are you going to really be able to say oh yeah that sounds better true anyway I'm just going to say we'll get into it with a comparison cuz I discovered a few fun little facts here I expect it personally to sound better but we'll see yeah and I have a feeling they too cuz the some part of the software updates has been like better sound especially for spoken word stuff but we'll get into the software in a second one other Hardware difference and this I was a little disappointed in the new homepod has Wi-Fi n instead of Wi-Fi AC and I looked back the Wi-Fi 4 yeah and the original home did have Wi-Fi AC which is faster newer spec not even the newest it's not Wi-Fi 6E I think Wi-Fi AC is closer to the equivalent of Wi-Fi 6 but considering this you can't connect it by ethernet AC is the old naming convention um I think it's been renamed Wi-Fi 5 and N is Wi-Fi 4 so we jumped back a generation for a device that doesn't have an ethernet port like you can only connect this thing to Wi-Fi it seems strange to downgrade the Wi-Fi chip from from AC to n probably won't have much of an effect on your actual day-to-day use of the device but still just seems like a weirdo Mission I imagine this has something to do with margins maybe that's also like the Tweeter mic situation although they did redesign the entire inside of the homepod like it is actually a physically different layout so maybe that's why I will argue the processor might be to blame because that's an Apple Watch that's the full Apple watch s so and if you look at the homepod mini it also uses 80 211 in Wi-Fi which I believe is the Wi-Fi standard used by the Apple watch as well so this is a limitation of the chipset not so much a price cutting thing but I think Apple decided that since it's only doing audio over Wi-Fi like it the only thing Wi-Fi is used for is getting information from the internet to the homepod and it's not playing video it's not uh rendering a video game or even a web page it's literally just playing audio so I think uh way more bandwidth than you would ever need probably gigs of bandwidth versus Bluetooth right so it's way more than what Bluetooth has to offer but still overkill for what the homod does it's a weird spec to have but I think it's fine I was feverishly Googling to hopefully prove you wrong about the Apple watch Wi-Fi but you're actually correct the S7 chip which was found in the Apple Watch series 7 only goes up to Wi-Fi n 2.4 and 5 GHz and so like you're saying with a system on it and the home pod mini is also right so the homod Mini's been Wi-Fi in the whole time if it's a system on a chip yes the Wi-Fi thing is probably built in so it makes sense from a technical standpoint again like real life application is probably fine anyway I'm excited about it you can pair two of these obviously like you always have you cannot pair a new homepod with an old homepod for a stereo pair you can only pair two homepods of like generation can't do a gen1 Gen 2 there's also no home theater kind of setup that you can do like with rear speakers as homepod Mini none of that stereo pair is all you get you do get Dolby Atmos and I will say I used two OG homepods with an Apple TV in like living room setup for a while and it did sound amazing like it sounded incredible I imagine these will sound also incredible maybe even better I love that this thing is back I went back and looked at the tech crunch article from March 2021 Apple gave Tech crunch a direct statement and I do think it's funny they told Tech crunch the homepod OG homepod or whatever they called it was discontinued like apple said the word discontinued now you could say they meant the first generation's discontinued but the second generation is not and that's coming later but Apple didn't say that it does really feel like though that this is one of the few products maybe the only I was I tweeted trying to see if anybody could recall another product like this where Apple said this is discontinued seriously implying that the line of this product is done and we are only focusing on the homepod mini and then for a new version to come out less than 2 years later to Great Fanfare it seems like so I think it's interesting but I'm glad it's back Apple never announced it but mag safe comes to mind uh Max safe was the other one yeah scissor switches oh sure yeah and the keyboard they abandon Technologies and return to them but it's uh under different circumstances and I would be willing to make the argument that this is not the same homepod this is a different product just has the same name because the internal reconfiguration of this is it's insane it's a completely different speaker You could argue okay so the 4in main driver is still there yes that is still a the same-sized main speaker but has fewer tweeters but each Tweeter has its own what what's the word for that ponum whatever magnet has its own yeah I don't know whatever magnet um system so the the tweeters are going to have more power per Tweeter uh better higher frequencies and stuff like that the rearrangement of everything internally also means that you're probably going to get better um response Apple also said there's a lot of of new technologies in here that didn't seem to appear in the first homod again if you read my comparison it's difficult to determine what's new because Apple didn't draw any direct comparisons to the original model they mentioned what they called an allnew system sensor which I don't know what that means does it mean that the system sensor is new or this is a new version of the system sensor I don't know but I I went and dragged through all of Apple's PR about the original homepod and there's never mentioned anything called the system sensor so I'm assuming that this is a new device and basically now there is a separate computational system specifically for sensing audio as it is being played and adjusting it for a better playback which got the other homepod did computational audio using microphones but I wanted to point out that this is different because this homepod is also doing computational audio using microphones and has the system sensor for even more advanced computational uh adjustments so that's interesting and it's also like the airpods pro and airpods Max I believe which do kind of like that adaptive EQ taking the you know the internal measurements of where your ear is like in the cup of airpods Max and how it sounds there and it's making calibrations to the EQ and settings based on that so maybe you know that included as as well as what the microphones are picking up but anyway it also looks like the microphones have been moved I can't tell from Apple's diagram here but either they're lower in the homepod or more spread out but there are fewer of them um they were previously around a ring at the center um but now the tweeters point at an upward diagonal instead of outward straight like they were almost 90° pointed straight outward in the original so right a lot of small adjustments but if you deal with audio at all the smallest percent change in speaker Direction makes a huge difference in how audio is reproduced so oh for sure um I again I I can't go into this thinking like oh yeah it's going to sound identical or similar you know what I mean this episode is brought to you by Collide traditional endpoint security tools can make your workplace feel like a surveillance State turn users and the IT team into adversaries and ultimately drive your employees to work on unsecured personal devices this is not good but it doesn't have to be this way Collide is a device security solution built around honest security their philosop is that employees aren't your biggest security risk they're your biggest allies and your relationship with them should be based on transparency and informed consent Collide 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is in the episode show notes our thanks to collide for sponsoring this episode The also interesting they are including a temperature and humidity sensor in the new homepod and with the 16.3 update that's coming to the homepod mini if you remember there was a tear down back when the homepod mini launched and a temperature and humidity sensor was discovered inside but unusable by the user well the 16 .3 update coming presumably next week will enable that sensor temperature and humidity in both the homepod mini and now in the big homepod and Those sensors will be surfaced in homekit in your home app and you'll be able to use them as cards and automations and whatever love that love that the homepod Mini Mystery from two years ago about what is this sensor doing in here now it is enacted with 16.3 and there's a bunch of other improvements real quick let me just run down 16.3 you're also going to be be able to set recurring home automations just by speaking to Siri Andrew O'Hara actually has a video on it he installed the release candidate and you can do that right now but if you say like open the blinds every day at 9:00 a.m. it will actually create that recurring automation for you just using Siri with the homepod find my if you have family and friends in the find my app and you're already sharing location you'll be able to ask your homepods homepod mini or the new homepod on 16.3 where your family member is or partner and your homepod will tell you before you couldn't do it also audio improved for spoken content like podcast and also remastered and ambient noise can be included in like scenes and automations with the homepod so all of those software updates coming to both homepod mini and this new homepod in 16.3 these are fun I'm I'm glad the other homepods are getting these updates um 16.3 is also coming to the original homepod so that also includes audio improvements for speech uh the remastered noises you'll be able to give the Siri automation commands the only thing the original homepod is not getting from this update is temperature and humidity because it doesn't have the sensor it doesn't have the sensor right I want to know the conversations around that sensor in the homod mini because why now why has it been laying dormant for years was it some sort of software issue that they couldn't get right was there some sort of support problem was it matter did matter somehow activate this sensor I just wonder what the conversation was there and why it took them this long to bring it out because I think it's amazing now yeah you want a h pod in every room not only because it provides audio and Siri and all these controls but now in the home app you can see per room temperature and humidity and have automations based on that run a dehumidifier if it gets too humid in here or turn on the in room heater or in room air conditioner if it gets to a certain temperature and then turn it back off like I find that really great and before I don't know if you've ever looked at this but ecobe sells individual room sensors that do this I have them they're like $50 a piece or something yes it includes one depending on which EOB model you buy so I have like one additional but yeah they're expensive yeah so like just double the price you get an entire hom pod that does it so yeah interesting yeah I wonder one of the other interesting things about the temp and humidity sensor is thirdparty apps will not be able to see that data so like if you open the eve app or other smart home apps that work with homekit Eve again we'll just use that as an example you cannot access the temperature and humidity information in the eve app it is only available in the home app so like you were asking I'm not sure if it's some kind of weird homekit or matter thing thread maybe but it is strange that third parties don't get access to temperature and humidity which is pretty standard like homekit information I'm glad that this has a thread radio I'm glad that you know it's technically a matter Hub whatever um that translates to I don't know if that'll really mean anything for users of homeit devices already but uh it could be important later definitely happy that this exists homepod returns yeah not the homod too not you know but it's it's the hom pod yeah just just H pod I'm super excited I got I got two white ones like I said coming in oh and one other feature for smart home triggers like if you're asking your homepod to do something like change the temperature in this room or or turn on the lights in another room that I'm not in if it's something that you can't visually see in the room that you're speaking to the homep pod in will actually be a confirmation tone to let you know that it was successful and so if you ask to change the temperature but you're not near your thermostat to see if it actually changed your homepod will give you a nice little sound Andrew O'Hare also covers that in a video to let you know that it actually worked it actually went through I I have a thinking experiment here for you uhhuh yes I have a Sonos setup kind of um I remember back in the day uh 2016 era uh everyone was like o Apple should buy Sonos it's the son Apple it's the Apple of speakers or whatever this is prior to homep pod I believe cuz that was 2018 I was like I need a home theater system I'm going to go for Sonos they seem smart and then a couple years later they do this super deep partnership with Amazon and I cry a little bit but um anyway so I have that era I don't know what generation you call it um but it's that era of Sonos it's pre Alexa voice control sound bar subwoofer play one speakers right yeah as or play play three speakers as my living room set up and then I have a bedroom theater system because why not of a slightly newer Play Bar uh that's airpl 2 air Play 2 yeah and uh I have two play ones hooked up to that but no subwoofer and after Apple announced this new homepod it got it in my brain again of do I want to do ditch Sonos is this is it finally time and I'm going to set up the two I got two hom pods I'm going to set them up and stereo pair in a way that would be good for um TV audio in the living room and test it out right against the Sona system obviously I'm aware that they're not going to be able to roduce the audio of that subwoofer there's nothing I can do sure um with Apple's homepods to do that I wish there was like some sort of weird hack that would let me throw in a third party subwoofer but there's just no way to do it but then it got me thinking why not just do homepod minis for the Apple TV in the bedroom um so you could so anyway I wanted to ask you like what would it take for you to use homepods as your main theater system like would Apple have to release a soundbar or some or maybe partner third party wise and come out with a apple approved sound system or something like that so I have one room where I have like a whole 7.1 set up with like ceiling speakers ni and I'm like I'm not changing that like like if anything I'll upgrade a receiver maybe I'll upgrade the ceiling speakers in the future but like I did all that work moving into this house and building it you literally built your house around this theater literally Lally did and so like that's not going anywhere now in my bedroom I do have a Sonos beam and a Sonos sub mini sounds great I love it I also like that I can mount the Sonos beam and I have this I've done this with The Arc in another room too it's mounted right under the TV like it actually connects to the TV mount there's no additional thing connected to the wall like it's all just self-contained it looks really clean nice and you know they make like wall mounts for homepods and stuff like that but it's just not a clean of look and I don't think it's as discreet now they sound great again like I used two OG homepods in a like home living room setup and it sounded really good I do think a standalone subwoofer if you wanted to make like a real close to theater experience I do think you need a dedicated subwoofer I don't know if Apple would ever do a dedicated sub but like you're saying like it's just it's really hard the the homep pods the even the big homepods get really close it sounds really good but man the Sono sub I have the big one with paired with an arc it just sounds amazing and I do think Sonos does things like the Sonos move which I have one of those outside in the pool area and that again I like I don't know if Apple would ever make a battery powered homepod that you can just like take off a MAG safe charger which I would be all about if Apple did something like that it would be amazing to have a homepod that Taps to a MAG saave charger you use it like a regular homod but then you could pick it up and carry it around would be amazing but like those kinds of unique use cases it'll still have me foot in each system like Sonos over here Apple over here I wish I could use Sonos in like homekit scenes it's just you can't do it uh I've tried it multiple times and so for that reason I would love to be all in on homepod because the hom pod Works seamlessly in hit scenes and shortcuts and all that kind of stuff so I do love it I just I don't think Apple's going to make those Niche use cases like a standalone sub or battery powered portable speaker that actually sounds great and so I'll be Foo in both worlds for a long time time I think so I know it's a moot point but I think uh I've kind of made the decision I I really want to go all in on on homepod and apple just because again I I want to reduce my ecosystem footprint I guess is what you could say so yeah I think I might go ahead and downgrade my bedroom system to two homep pods I don't know if you call it downgrading I don't need a bunch of noise for the bedroom I'm just watching TV sure and I honestly did the math and I think I could literally sell those three speakers for hundreds of dollars and buy one homepod mini and be there like I'll make a little bit of money but the living room setup sadly I personally want to get rid of Sonos because I just don't want a proprietary connected system like that anymore I kind of want to go to a maybe a homekit receiver that you know just routes dumb speakers and then anytime I want to upgrade my audio I just move up the speak get better speakers you know what I mean yeah um like I I think that's my future uh like Sonos is nice but Apple's done such a great job for homepods that I think uh I just want to lean into that and hope that maybe they give us some kind of homepod soundar in the future and subwoofer but I I did want to show you this cuz I was shopping around yesterday and I found this silly amazing this silly battery pack I love it tell tell tell me what you see Stephen this is a mission battery base for homepod mini and I feel like I remember you actually doing this when homepod mini first came out with like external battery packs like USB ones but this is a bespoke homepod mini little stand you put the homepod mini in this little hourglass looking stand Cable Management you run the homepod mini cable it coils underneath this little stand plugs into this thing assuming it has a battery inside up to 9 hours it said and you charge this little stand but then you can take this homod mini wherever you go you turn on the base there's a power button on the mission battery base you turn it on and it Powers the homepod mini and now you have a portable homepod mini that can go anywhere at least your Wi-Fi network carries so funny it's it's pretty hilarious but also like only $42 yeah I mean not not bad there's other ones on here too I just found a plus ACC for homepod Mini battery it's a little more of a symmetrical base a little more low profile but also kind of cool it's kind of a cool idea I I I am all for weird accessories guys if you ever found like weird homepod or airpod accessories throw them our away like I I love finding the most random Apple adjacent accessories I can for sure I have a snail holder for my homepod mini for the kitchen it turns the homep Pod it's like a shell for the snail and it's a little wooden snail yeah that's hilarious that's funny all right real quick I do want to mention most likely next week we're going to see 16.3 launch obviously these updates to homepod and homepod mini but iPhone tvos Apple watch all of that stuff I'm really hoping for some serious bug fixes I still experience lots of bugs on my iPhone 14 pro but also found in the release candidate code of 16.3 there is a change referring to the again Phantom Apple classical app apparently in the there's a line of text now in the release candidate software that says instead of it used to be quote a shortcut to Apple classical now refers to quote open in apple music classical that maybe Apple has internally changed the name of the app or how they're referring to it and there's also a line of code that says quote explore this artist in the app designed for classical music so it seems like apple is still working on still thinking about the Apple music classical app I joked just earlier this morning that maybe the Apple music classical app will only be available on the big homepod screen I don't know but Stephen uh as another part of 16.3 I did want to ask you a question um are you looking forward to the new architecture update for homekit listen cuz it's it it's coming back I'm fairly it's coming back yes I I am just let me caution everyone one it was not good before I would not do it on day one you couldn't reverse it right you're still in the new architecture no yeah you can't reverse it no I'm I'm still there I reset my light switches every other week it's fine I'm in it too I don't think it's architecture related but I keep having my Nano Leafs do the thing where they're just like nope sorry not not responding exactly I'm going to blame the architecture though and hope that it gets fixed in the next update because that would be very nice I'm hoping so too screen time has been a mess with me and my kids devices just so many weird bugs so hopefully 16.3 solves everything maybe there'll be like an apple music classical release alongside you know Apple do that sometimes like hey 16.3 and you can now download the Apple music class collab we'll see one last thing before we go this is again I don't want to complain about Twitter all the time but apparently Twitter and Elon Musk has cut off access to thirdparty apps and so all the apps like tweetbot Twitter riic all these great Twitter apps that have existed for many many years they are now unusable you can't use a third party app to access says Twitter this is likely a push so that people will see the ads that Elon is trying to put on the platform It's just sad because I'm I'm so torn because when all this news was coming out about the M2 Pro and M2 Max the homepod my reaction and really the only place I went to to tweet about it and to read what others thought about it was Twitter that's where I went to see all this stuff and I just I didn't think of Mastadon at the time I went to Mastadon like days later and was just like this is not the place still for this stuff like I just don't think it's going to be that but it just seems like Twitter is bent on making it the most annoying platform to use like they added a For You tab and it separated it from the following so now when you open the app it's this weird For You tab and you're seeing tweets from people you don't follow and they haven't been retweeted by anyone you follow it's just trying to show you things that Twitter thinks you like even though they are making it so hard to still like the platform like still where I go to tweet about Apple stuff and the new releases and what I'm excited about and so it's just sad and I'm torn I hope they revert this I mean Twitter has reverted several things just you know I've announced and then reverted just in the last several months since Elon has taken over but the third party app thing would be a huge loss I hope they change it charge me money for it put ads in the third party apps I don't care it's I didn't use the third party apps to get away from ads I mean it was part of it but the experiences were so much better I mean I am struggling to cuz I'm using the main Twitter client and I am struggling to do my Twitter completionist nonsense I know I shouldn't use Twitter that way but I do and it's like where where was I last and then I pick up my iPhone and it's a different spot than where it is on my iPad mini and it's just infuriating like where so I have to scroll to the top and then scroll down backwards and until I see what I saw before and then like okay I'm good and then yeah you have to go to the following tab if it sometimes I accidentally end up in the 4 You tab I'm like what what am I seeing like what am I looking at and it just don't understand where all these tweets are coming from who are these people it's like for you is the opposite it is not for me it is the worst possible pile of information I've ever seen and like f go to following them like oh here we are this is the Twitter I'm actually here for and it's so weird that it's built that way it's it feels like the worst experiment in history as far as like social media goes and it's it sucks it's bad and I did want to mention so one of my little Ed cases for Twitter is I'll have a video game on I have my iPad Mini on a table next to my couch as you do and I leave the display I I I leave the display on I've learned that you can trust that it's not going to burn in anymore so I just leave it running and I'll have overcast on one side uh in a split view playing whatever podcast I'm listening to podcast art is nice and big you know on half the screen and the other half of the split view was a Twitter client and now is the Twitter client and the difference is maddening because I'll look over and be like Oh I'm going to refresh I'm going to see what's new you pull down the refresh pauses the podcast really yeah because the audio playing the the Bop thing like pauses and then I scroll up I'm like okay okay so I go hit play on the podcast again start scrolling up pass a video it's not even playing audio from the video but I pass a video pauses the podcast like oh my God like why I can't do this like this is not how it's just it's so bad it's such a bad experience I hope it changes I hope Twitter gets better again if this is the Twitter we have to deal with that's fine I I'm not one of these people that's like you know I hate Elon Musk what I don't like what he's doing I don't like the business decisions he's making I think it's all a mess but also just make Twitter better I don't want to see it burn and die like I like this platform make it better do good like give us a reason why you're taking away all these good features and make us want to stick around you know yeah I agree uh but I don't want to end on a down note so I'll just say again homepod is back very exciting very exciting and we'll be get I order get them February 3rd launch day I just looked you can still order a big homep pod and get it February 3rd so it doesn't seem like they're super constrained Supply wise I'm hoping people buy I wouldn't expect yeah I wouldn't expect it to get constrainted I want people to buy them though so they don't make it go away again like they need to keep making keep making these so as as again basic apple guy said we're just going to get a subscription just send me one a month maybe one every other month I probably don't need that many and we'll just just keep making them Apple it's good stuff anyway let us know if you got a homepod if you got a new Mac Mini MacBook Pro any of things that Apple announced this week you can tweet at Wesson myself all of that info is in the show notes of course you can support the show and get an adree version at patreon.com Insider or directly in apple podcast of course listen to the Apple Insider daily to hear some familiar voices on there as well and tune in to homekit Insider on Monday Andrew and I go even deeper on a lot of the homekit stuff from all this new homod exciting that's not a word but you know what I mean anyway thanks for tuning in we'll catch you next timewelcome to the Apple Insider podcast this is your host St roblas and exciting news this week the homepod is back the big version we're going to talk about that plus M2 Pro and M2 Max announced alongside new Macbook Pros new Mac Mini so much news this episode is brought to you by our friends at Collide and Zach do where you can find and book a doctor right in the free app and joining me to talk about all the M2 and homepod news my friend Wes Hillier how's it going Wes I I think I'm most excited about uh temperature and humidity sensors this week that's that's pretty exciting I'm excited about that too I mean homepod mini gets some new features like two years later so very exciting so we're going to get into all of that you know I think the most important news this week which I know William is going to be very interested in is Ted lasso season 3 is coming this spring probably the final season so Apple announced like eight trailers and 10 TV shows yesterday it was kind of insane it is insane looking forward to Ted lasso you know I think hopefully they land it you know the first season I still think is kind of like the best second season was look good I hope they stick the landing on season 3 and end with a bang so looking forward to that also wanted to mention real quick the Apple Insider daily podcast you might hear some familiar voices on it this past week there was a random announcement in there that it was no longer happening that's not the case and actually you will hear myself on a couple episodes this week and Mr Gallagher you'll actually hear his voice doing that daily podcast periodically as well so do not worry the Apple Insider daily is there to stay and we will put a link in the show notes to subscribe to that as well before we get to all the big news I did just want to mention one thing because we talked about Apple music sing when that came out last year you know back in December I just want to mention I actually used it on an Apple TV we were had a friend over and the entire family was uh singing to the greatest showman and we were using Apple music sing on the Apple TV lowered the vocals and singing along and it was a lot of fun so just two thumbs up Apple music sing have you done it at all have you like karaoke there Stephen I'm just imagining the movie uh I believe it's Step Brothers where that family just randomly sings together in the car I'm sorry I'm sorry that is us I tried it a couple times I've showed it to some friends that were visit we were visiting with and uh everyone found it pretty impressive the you know turning down the vocals is really fun so I think it's one of those like secret features that people are just going to randomly post on Tik Tok and get a million views be like did you know this worked this way you know and I think that has happened but yeah and on the Apple TV it's a little harder to find to get you know you have to make the lyrics appear first with a little speech bubble and then the microphone will appear so it's a little uh couple more steps on Apple TV it seem like it's impressive the reach that it has like we were going through different tracks and I found some uh like anime music that that was supported by this feature with Japanese characters in all showing up on screen that's why you know it would it would be helpful if they put up the romanized version of it rather yeah English alphabet but still saying the Japanese words but it's spelled out right that would be helpful all right well I'm going to say we basically had a quasi Apple event this week because Apple was just dropping press releases left and right we even got an 18-minute keynote video published to the Apple YouTube channel some clues in the keynote video actually alluded to the fact that this was scheduled for 2022 if you copy the URL on Apple's watch the announcement button the URL address actually includes the year 2022 so it seems like this was that faded event or that Phantom event that was supposed to happen maybe at the end of last year but just this week and we'll go more into detail to all of these things but for Black History Month they announced a new Unity sport Loop and talked about the unity Mosaic watch face the featured Pan African flag and there's going to be Black History Month content in News podcast books that was one press release and then new Macbook Pros with the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips the M2 and M2 Pro Mac Mini and then the new big homepod or the big homepod is back so we're going to talk about all that wait so you mean to tell me that Apple didn't announce new um airports uh no I'm sorry Andrew O'Hara tweeted a photoshopped image saying airport Ultra now announced and apparently he had like some very angry replies because people were upset because they thought it was real it was mildly convincing but the font was too big on the learn more in order now so yeah see and I thought I thought the title font if it was bold you know cuz Apple's been doing like bold titles a lot for like the actual product name but anyway yeah he made a lot of people mad with that now I do kind of wish that 18-minute video included the homepod in it the video was just about the MacBook Pro Mac Mini M2 Pro M2 Max but it would ruin the surprise stevenh that is true it was surprising it does really feel like there was a lot of jokes going around on Twitter where it was like this was the first 18 minutes of a video keynote that also included something else maybe Apple VR or something I saw those and I was like no I I mean Apple's they're they're more calculating than that I mean sure this should have been uh released in October or whatever date is going around but I think it was the same event regardless we as we might discuss the rumors surrounding the VR headset and future Apple glass are all being kind of thrown into the mud right now so the idea that oh there was secretly the VR headset could have been announced 3 months ago and sorry guys it's just not true yeah now I will say in October of last year we got the 10.9 in iPad with the magic keyboard folio and the M2 iPad Pro and a new Apple TV 4K and that was all via like PR releases and such I do feel like if there was going to be an event like all of that together it could have been the M2 story where they talk about the M2 iPad Pro M2 Mac Mini and then talk about the new Macbook Pros and also threw a homep pod in there that would have been a big event honestly if there's all of that yeah Tim Cook standing in a field holding a homep pod cradling it like a baby which is what I'll be doing when I get my my two new homepods but I'm very excited I I ordered two as well I'm not a monster I ordered the midnight color listen I I got all black homepods originally I have three black og homepods I still wish I had bought four actually no I don't wish I had bought four cuz now I got the new homep pods right but I'm trying white in honor of basic apple guy I'm going to try a white one um they'll be that color for at least a week I'm I'm going to have little like air pressurized canister here in the studio cuz I'm putting them in here I'll just spray them every day get the dust off of them or something we've talked about my mother's poor dirty homepod mini um in the past and uh I think cuz they they smoke right and I think a stray Ash that was still lit must have landed on it cuz there is a burn mark in the middle the oh no this thing is slowly I mean it still plays music and it's amazing like how it it's just you look at it you're like oh you poor thing now I've had a white homepod mini on my nightstand for the last four or five months and that's doing okay no cigarette ashes no no no smoking and or anything and I mean I have three kids which if it's Something's Gonna Get dirty like the kids are going to do it but they don't typically go in the bedroom so and they don't typically come in here in the studio so I think it's safe if you put the homep Pod mini on top of an air purifier it might be okay like right next to it right that's an interesting strategy okay we I'm most excited about the hom pot but we have to actually talk about the the big ones uh first of all I I just want to mention again Black History Month the unity woven Loop very cool design this year the word Unity is like woven into the fabric on the inside of the loop and this abstract text very cool highlighting lots of content cool wallpaper uh coming too as well I I like that Apple has a started adopting basically an annual refresh of their um black history month and pride bands and I wonder if they're going to start doing more kind of like either just holiday themed or social awareness themed type things like that right and the interesting thing is this if there's also a new Apple watch face and typically there's a software update that will include the Apple watch face and some of the news this week is that 16.3 and watchos 9.3 like all that will be coming out as you listen to this episode if listen on release day which everyone should let's be honest that it will be coming next week and because the the watch band and everything available January 24th so it looks like all the updates will be coinciding with the release of this so that'd be cool next week y now big one MacBook Pro so press release came out it was the MacBook Pro and the Mac Mini all in the same day and the big story here it's the same design as the 14-in and 16-in MacBook Pros from before I have the M1 Pro 14-in which I think you do as well right you have the 14inch yes I have the the basically the base model I think I think I upgraded the storage maybe but right and I basically did the same thing and it I've I've loved it you know it's it's an excellent laptop the only Hardware updates internally obviously the chip story will get to that in a second but the HDMI port on these new 14 and 16-in MacBook Pros actually capable of of 8K video and 4K at 240 HZ so if you ever wanted to do some kind of gaming on it external monitor HDMI port has been upgraded Wi-Fi 6E and you can get up to 8 terabyt of storage I don't know if it was 8 terabytes with the last Model but it's a lot of storage I think 8 terabytes was there before but yeah it's an astronomical price if you get it's a $1,600 alone I'm going to start pricing things in homepods that's uh exactly right that's five home pods that you could get for that storage that's it so aside from those Hardware updates we do have the chips so the M2 Pro and M2 Max these are new Chips M2 pro has a 10 or 12 core CPU up to 32 gigs of unified memory and up to 19 GPU cores the M2 Max 12 core CPU 96 GB of unified memory you can upgrade all the way up to 96 and a 38 core GPU so again powerful chips what do you think about Apple kind of just press releasing a major chip update I mean the M2 Pro and M2 Max sure I I think people are kind of just waving their hands cuz oh yeah it's just a press release but once you get into the details and especially like when we saw that geek bench score today that might be real it's just yeah these things are these things are pretty amazing I mean uh according to that geek bench score again if it's real the M2 Pro is more performant at with 16 gigs of RAM than the base M1 Max um and the Max studio so yeah yeah and this that's crazy it is crazy I have the M1 Max Max studio but I also feel like like the power that these laptop they're incredible and one of the things that Apple's really bragging on too is the battery life because of the efficiency and power of these chips part of the 18-minute keynote video that they had on their YouTube channel they had like three creators one was doing development work one was doing like 3D animation and another one was doing like after effects work and they basically worked an entire day just on battery power never plugging it in and we're able to accomplish incredible things just on that one charge and so that's the power is incredible Also the battery life with the power is amazing I but I also feel like a keynote it's weird because Keynotes Apple will like do ads for their Keynotes on Tik Tok like you can go and and apple will say Apple event this date and if you're doing an ad on Tik Tok I don't think you're targeting like power users I think you're targeting consumer Pro consumer types and these kinds of specs are amazing incredible impressive I don't know if a majority of people will even understand the numbers and get excited about it you know what I mean it's it's just interesting to me that we just had CES uh a couple weeks ago and true AMD goes out on stage and says look how cool we are we just made a 4 nanometer processor on a new spec that beats out the Apple M1 Max by what some percentage that they're like we we did it we beat Apple silicon it releases in March and then Apple two weeks later says here's the M1 or M2 Max today in January uh two months before AMD and AMD I I mean someone that has to be hitting their head on the wall over there just like my good their their whole marketing strategy is just gone right I'm sure they already had weeks worth of ads ready to go saying that they were better than Apple's best MacBook Pro and it's just that's true you know you have to think that they're over there just hitting again because this Apple's kind of killing it in this space and it's hard to talk about because again they're already so good how much better do you does someone need it to be but and then I I know I'm going to get angry Twitter people telling me but yeah if you get this AMD chip set yeah but if you plug it in and have it in a freezer yes it'll outperform anything and but as soon as you unplug it the battery will die in 8 minutes and then there's nothing you can do with it now I think I'm going to put this article in this week's show notes you had put it last time you were on the show to talk about cuz this was amd's presentation at CEO yes but they have this slide talking about cinebench and versus the M1 Pro which is not the M1 Max or M1 Ultra so oh sorry yeah they they even compared it to the M1 Pro which again if given that the leaps that the M2 pro has made like my goodness right well and also like why not M1 Max like if you're really going to go after the laptop Market cuz Apple had M1 Max MacBook Pros before but they were saying it's up to 34% faster than the M1 Pro and so with the M2 Max now out this slide is moot like it's oh all these comparisons are are old and don't apply so incredibly powerful laptops if you want that main machine if you're doing like heavy video editing CAD work development I mean so glad that these machines are out there honestly for me with my M1 Pro MacBook Pro I rarely run into a processor choke like I I typically don't have any issues with speed and so I'll be keeping my M1 Pro 14in I love it oh absolutely me too I'm I'm not upgrading but see Apple's marketing language here is really important if you go and read the press release and go to Apple's main website there's a couple places that they mention the M1 Pro M1 Max uh comparison but all of the languages if you're coming from the best Intel processor MacBook Pro or if you're coming from the best Intel processor desktop Mac Mini this is the score that the M2 gives you uh so they're obviously heavily targeting people who who haven't upgraded to Apple silicon yet or haven't upgraded to these higher end um MacBook Pros like if you already have the redesigned MacBook Pros your Apple's like great if you upgrade but we're not talking to you today and uh I think that makes sense I think that's a that's a good strategy for sure I'll be real with you all I had not scheduled an annual physical for a long time like I'm talking years but I just didn't know where to turn the idea of trying to call and figure out what doctors take my insurance it just kept preventing V in me from actually making the appointment well I finally decided it's a new year # neww me I need to do it and so I opened the free Zach app I searched in my area I was able to scan my health insurance card so I know the doctors that I see will take my insurance and I found a new primary care doctor and I scheduled my annual physical right there in the app I didn't have to call anyone and I'm confident they'd take my insurance my appointment's actually next Friday as I record listen zacho is the only free app that lets you find and book doctors who are patient reviewed take your insurance and are available when you need them and treat almost every condition Under the Sun you can see patient reviews and ratings right there in the listing of doctors I was able to choose like a 4.9 star doctor it was close to my house I know they take my insurance it's great and if you need a specialist or you're trying to schedule an eye exam the Zach do app can help you with that too after you choose a date and time you get the confirmation email that the appointment has been set and then you just go you just go with the confidence knowing you're not going to have to make another appointment so no more Dr roulette or scouring the internet for questionable reviews with Zach do you have a trusted guide to connect you to your favorite doctor you haven't met yet millions of people use Z Talk's free app to find and book a doctor in their neighborhood whose patient reviewed and fits their needs and schedule just right and I'm one of them I literally used it the other day to schedule my annual physical so go to Zach do.com apppp inssider and download the Zach app for free it's totally free you don't have to pay for it it's incredible then find and book a top rated doctor today many are available within 24 hours and I saw that to be true I could have made an appointment like for the next day that's zocdoc.com slapple inssider Zach do.com slapple inssider my thanks to zacho for helping me book my own physical now also so compelling along with the MacBook Pros was announced an updated Mac Mini I was I was happy I actually called this the day before I thought there were lots of rumors that everybody was like press release coming tomorrow John proster was saying it German was saying it and I was like maybe M2 iMac and M2 Mac Mini so I was 50% right so we also got the M2 Mac Mini great update for this also the Mac Mini comes with an M2 Pro comes very interesting comparisons to the Mac Studio which we'll get to in a second but the M2 Mac Mini you can get it with either chip M2 M2 Pro if you get it with the M2 Pro chip you can get four Thunderbolt ports which is great the one thing though like when you're looking at the Mac Mini compared to some of the other machines an M2 Pro Mac Mini would be so great for so many creators that would do great at video editing again I'm I had a video 4k on an M1 Pro MacBook Pro an M2 Pro Mac Mini it'd be awesome no SD card though like if you want to plug in an SD card you're still going to need a hub for your Mac Mini just for the SD card I I would argue and again this ignoring the Mac Studio cuz I I understand it has the UHS 2 thing in the front yeah but for a desktop computer that's stationary I think you're more likely to have a thunderbolt Dock and it's a little more excusable it's understandable like yes it would be nice to have that little SD card slot already in the computer but if we're talking about the the type of person who needs an SD card slot in the first place they probably already have a thunderbolt Dock and for sure I I want to get into that a little bit like so the Mac Mini is an interesting computer and I was talking to Andrew about this this kind of blows the iMac out of the water like why even bother anymore and it's like well think about it we're the kind of people who already have advanced desktop setups you know we already have a monitor keyboard mouse Thunderbolt dock all of this stuff you know we go to the store and want a Mac we go buy a Mac Mini yeah we're only spending $600 for that base model $1,200 for the uh M2 Pro or 1300 whatever it is that's it you know maybe we get an accessory or something but that's all we have to do but someone entering the market a kid just graduating high school or or going to college or something or parents who are getting their first home computer just you know there's all kinds of scenarios do you want to tell them yeah this amazing M2 processor and like this desktop is only 599 but you also need a mouse a keyboard a monitor and right for you know and so like I I think the value proposition differs based on who you're talking to as usual but in this case for me and I I wanted to see if you had the same opinion for someone who is say coming from a Windows PC that they bought in 2010 to do taxes on once a year um and they have a monitor mouse and keyboard and stuff already maybe they upgrade that every now and then but they haven't touched this computer in in years as far as upgrading it and they're looking at uh the market like what do I buy I would say go get this oh yeah M2 yeah $600 best thing you can get on the market at that price I think it is amazing that the Mac Mini with an M2 Chip comes like you just said starts at $600 education discount brings it down to $500 I mean this is an M2 Chip like this is super powerful it's going to last you a very very long time that situation you just said plus I mean if you just wanted like a Home Server Like I actually have a Mac Mini runs homebridge I run transloader and Downey on it for downloading videos it's an Intel one from 2018 it's fine but man to upgrade to an M2 Chip for 600 bucks totally future proof that setup for what the next 10 years like very very compelling I think the lower end price points even with 256 gigs of memory who cares iCloud exists if you're not I'm talking to the person like I just said who's doing taxes or or letting kids do their homework it's a Max so it has multi-user support you're spending about as much as a decent iPad right but now you have a central Hub where everyone has an account they can just put their finger on the touch ID if they have the keyboard log in and access all of their iCloud data on the machine like it's it's the like I have a you know my sister has a family and they have a couple of kids and stuff and it's like if I was recommending comp a computer today like it would be that that would be perfect yeah it was interesting you said iPad 2o because I was just thinking the iPad Air is $ 5.99 you get 64 GB of storage and it's an iPad not a Mac and so if you needed something for schoolwork maybe you need something for multi-users which an iPad does not do multi-users if you were going to buy one or the other in which the iPad Air also doesn't come with a keyboard or a trackpad or an apple pencil it's also $5.99 I mean if your choice is I have $600 to get a machine I already have a monitor or I can at least buy cheap versions of those $5.99 you can get a Mac with an M2 Chip or an iPad Air like crazy that that's a choice you can make today yeah I think I think this is going to sell a lot of machines I think this is going to be a lot of new first Maxs for people and it's just it's such an excellent option again cuz like I I know people are going to complain about that entry storage but again it in today's thing unless you're doing 4K video or something 256 is fine with when you're relying on iCloud pay for the higher iCloud storage you're pretty much good to go now the one article I was most interested in that we did was a comparison with the M2 Pro Mac mini versus the Mac Studio and if the M2 Pro Mac Mini had existed a year ago this would have been the choice I was making like if I was going to choose cuz I have the Mac Studio sitting right here it has the M1 Max you know I upgraded you know I have 2 terab of storage and 64 gigs of memory but if you were just looking at these two machines with similar specs I love this chart we have on here the M2 Pro Mac Mini $1,700 M1 Max Mac Studio $2,000 so we're talking a $300 difference you do get more GPU cores with those price points at those configurations Mac Mini will have 16 core GPU Mac Studio 2 4 core put the Ram at the same level 32 gigs you do get Wi-Fi 60 on the new Mac Mini but I'm going to hardwire my desktop anyways I got ethernet running to it so not a big deal keeping the storage the same 512 gab but on the Mac Studio you do get an additional two USBC ports on the front and that SD card slot and if someone was choosing they wanted this level of performance they wanted the 32 gigs of RAM they wanted some significant GPU cores cuz they're doing some video editing not super intense but you know pretty decent that $300 difference I mean apple is so good at this like getting things so close the price ladder the the price ladder is so like they they nailed this like I would go with the Mac Studio 100% so you mean the Mac mini um no I no I would go with the Mac Studio oh because of the USB ports for $300 to get the SD card slot more gpus you have the two USBC ports on on the front now that I've had a Mac Studio for whatever it is seven or eight months I use those front ports and SD card slot a ton and I would yeah yeah so again this this all comes to use case this is interesting because I literally wrote this the day that we got the information uh about the Mac Mini a lot has come out since and I think I would even change which configuration because now we know that the 12 core M2 Pro is at least technically more powerful CPU side um than the m One Max so throw in that 12 core and now you're price matched 19 versus 19 okay and and but with more ramp because uh again that that score is 16 gigs of RAM for that for that higher-end processor for the uh Mac Mini uh but our configuration that we've have have priced out has 32 gigs of RAM so you have even more um so at $ 199.99 for both you have a more powerful CPU you have 32 gigs of RAM so it I I think that comparison's even harder now because again like you said you use those extra ports but right if you don't if you don't I I think that the performance is worth the ports cuz you can always add ports you can always get a dock but that performance you're never going to get back now also it's hard to talk about this in benchmarks benchmarks are meaningless when we're talking about Apple's other things the neural engine and media engine right the neural engine on the M2 Pro will be more advanced than the one on the M1 Max but sure the media engine we're saying enough uh technical terms here the media engine is more advanced on the M1 Max because it doubles um the video encode decodes that's available so encode decode engine is more advanced on the M2 Pro but only has one of them versus the M1 Max having twice as many so it's it's a it's a weird conversation but if you're working in video you're getting the M1 you're getting the Mac Studio absolutely right and I think that's the biggest deal you know I think Mac Studio really geared towards video I mean if you do audio you might be dealing with SD cards and stuff like that too the size difference is significant too though I mean you can get very very close performance and the uh dimensions are hilarious in this comparison because both the Mac Mini and Mac Studio had the same like width and length which is 7.7 in but the height of the Mac Mini is 1.4 in and the Mac Studio is 3.7 like all fan it's all fan all fan all fan so that's kind of funny you know we could we could definitely beat this to death I think the most interesting aspect of this is like you said the the price ladder that Apple's created from $599 all the way up to what's a maxed out Mac Mini $4,400 something like that yeah and then of course the Mac Studio I think goes up to $6,400 so with the M1 Ultra yeah yeah so it's interesting that with these processors that Apple's built in these computers there's only two cases we're only talking about the Mac Mini and the Mac Studio but you use cases from 600 to like 10x to $6,000 yes and uh I I just find that pretty impressive and I I I I like that it's so close in the middle that that you know $1,500 to $2,500 price range is such an argumentative standpoint for someone going in to buy it because it gives them more choices it gives you right so many more options and you get to get down to that nitty-gritty of what exactly do I need here and I'm excited to see what the M2 does in the Mac Studio yeah probably in the spring maybe that would be a fast turn around I mean that's that would be a year one year speaking a fast turnarounds I did want to bring this one up real quick I just wrote an article right before I came in about Digi times uh they're semi-reliable they have a source saying that the M3 is coming to the MacBook Air this you know 2023 calendar and it's I'm just over here like my head's exploding because the M2 MacBook Air came out last July like that's literally like a 13mon turnaround at or or TW you know literally a year and no way I just I I went into that article just screaming like no this this is insane um this is as crazy as Mark Gman saying that every Mac was going to get upgraded last year it just doesn't make any sense yeah but like I'm with you a Mac Studio upgrade to M2 Ultra seems too soon I don't think it would come in the spr well I did say spring just now but maybe Maybe not maybe the fall maybe that 16 to 18 months turnaround but it's coming right cuz like Apple's not like apparently 3 nanometer is already in production Apple isn't going to hold out a17 for the iPhone 15 is coming this fall and that's 3 nanometer so M3 is either like December of this year or early next year so that M2 Ultra has got to come out and the only thing running it is the studio so I think it's going to be a big year for Apple I know a lot of news before was like coming recession yada yada like supply chain you know might be whatever the word was muted this is going to be a muted release cycle for apple and as soon as I saw that said no before we're even three weeks into the new year Apple drops all of this including the big homepod we got to talk about it one last thing before we get to it because I thought this was hilarious we did a whole like or someone tweeted the trade in value of like a specked out 2019 Intel Mac Pro which at the time if you had bought it would have been over $50,000 50 Grand like car territory pricing if you go to trade that in directly to Apple today you'll get about 950 bucks for that $50,000 computer which I I mean I get it like apple probably doesn't even want it back that's why if you take a Ferrari to a junkyard and crush it you'll get $400 out of it so I I that's my equivalence here you're when you do the trade in program at Apple it's a you you want to get some amount of money out of something that you don't you don't deem worth trying to sell on the on the market and there and apple actually maxes out their trade in program at $1,250 it doesn't matter what you have right did I I don't know like why the person did the exercise of let's let's see if we can trade in this $53,000 computer um I don't know why they would bother it's hilarious the result but still it's just I the angry responses don't make sense to me because no I mean I've gone to GameStop with a uh God this was back in the day I think it was like a PS like a or no I'm sorry it was a Nintendo Wii and like 15 video games controllers accessories you're going to get 10 bucks 10 bucks for that 10 bucks store credit I think they wouldn't even give you cash uh so that's that's what we're talking about here like tradein is nonsense but it that was a that was a good shock story I like that yeah and also if you bought a $50,000 computer four years ago you probably don't need to trade something in to buy a $2,000 computer you know what I mean like I just yeah apple silicon man I mean it is kind of compelling especially with those media engines the fact that the After Burner card was basically garbage after the media engine was announced for the M1 Pro like just looking at that Mac Pro just kind of makes you feel a little sad yeah yeah it's true most exciting for me news this week was that the big homepod is back which so excited did not expect this does not have all like the screen and smart you know stuff like we talked at least on hkid inside we had alluded to the rumors of that but I'm just glad it's back big homepod it's powered by the S7 chip interesting it's not an A series chip but for reference the homod mini uses the S5 chip so oh really yes okay yeah I was Wonder I was thank you for that that's good matter and thread are built in for your homekit smart home needs the U1 Ultra wide band chip is included like the homepod mini so you can do that nice handoff the screen on Top's a little larger don't know about the larger top screen the well I think it's even smaller the animation goes all the way to the edge oh uh so if you look at your homepod right now if you have one nearby I'm looking at it right now um the top kind of uh kind of Peaks out a little bit the glass is actually kind of sticking out of the top the new homepod um adapts the homepod mini design of having kind of a concave top where it kind of sinks in so there's more fabric around the top Edge and the um physical width of the homepod didn't change but the width of the top fabric is thicker and it curves around the top glass so it's actually a little smaller and but it's an illusion because the animation now goes all the way to the edge whereas it did not before so like the homepod mini right the home mini goes all the way to the edge got basically the same top glass as the hom pod mini yeah just B got it okay it also has a built-in temperature and humidity sensor which we will get to because that is also getting enabled in the homepod mini with 16.3 two lesser things on this new big homep pod as opposed to the original there's two less tweeters and two less microphones built in which we'll have to see there's been some early reviews I think the Verge actually got like early access to it they said it basically sounds the same so I don't think there's going to be some kind of decrease in quality okay well I wanted to comment on that okay I don't know if you read this the Verge got to visit some portion of Apple's Studio like a secret I don't know if they were in New York or La this time whatever do you remember the first time they riled the home pod I think that was in New York they went to like a secret apartment and listened to the homep Pod yeah yeah I wonder if this is the same situation but I I wouldn't take any stock by what they say about the sound quality here cuz um they first of all they said they can't tell you everything that they saw on this tour they they can only mention one room that they visited this all hush hush and it was a single homepod sitting on a stand and they got to listen to a stereo pair in like a very isolated circumstance without any comparison to the original set so if someone just took you to a random room and started playing music are you going to really be able to say oh yeah that sounds better true anyway I'm just going to say we'll get into it with a comparison cuz I discovered a few fun little facts here I expect it personally to sound better but we'll see yeah and I have a feeling they too cuz the some part of the software updates has been like better sound especially for spoken word stuff but we'll get into the software in a second one other Hardware difference and this I was a little disappointed in the new homepod has Wi-Fi n instead of Wi-Fi AC and I looked back the Wi-Fi 4 yeah and the original home did have Wi-Fi AC which is faster newer spec not even the newest it's not Wi-Fi 6E I think Wi-Fi AC is closer to the equivalent of Wi-Fi 6 but considering this you can't connect it by ethernet AC is the old naming convention um I think it's been renamed Wi-Fi 5 and N is Wi-Fi 4 so we jumped back a generation for a device that doesn't have an ethernet port like you can only connect this thing to Wi-Fi it seems strange to downgrade the Wi-Fi chip from from AC to n probably won't have much of an effect on your actual day-to-day use of the device but still just seems like a weirdo Mission I imagine this has something to do with margins maybe that's also like the Tweeter mic situation although they did redesign the entire inside of the homepod like it is actually a physically different layout so maybe that's why I will argue the processor might be to blame because that's an Apple Watch that's the full Apple watch s so and if you look at the homepod mini it also uses 80 211 in Wi-Fi which I believe is the Wi-Fi standard used by the Apple watch as well so this is a limitation of the chipset not so much a price cutting thing but I think Apple decided that since it's only doing audio over Wi-Fi like it the only thing Wi-Fi is used for is getting information from the internet to the homepod and it's not playing video it's not uh rendering a video game or even a web page it's literally just playing audio so I think uh way more bandwidth than you would ever need probably gigs of bandwidth versus Bluetooth right so it's way more than what Bluetooth has to offer but still overkill for what the homod does it's a weird spec to have but I think it's fine I was feverishly Googling to hopefully prove you wrong about the Apple watch Wi-Fi but you're actually correct the S7 chip which was found in the Apple Watch series 7 only goes up to Wi-Fi n 2.4 and 5 GHz and so like you're saying with a system on it and the home pod mini is also right so the homod Mini's been Wi-Fi in the whole time if it's a system on a chip yes the Wi-Fi thing is probably built in so it makes sense from a technical standpoint again like real life application is probably fine anyway I'm excited about it you can pair two of these obviously like you always have you cannot pair a new homepod with an old homepod for a stereo pair you can only pair two homepods of like generation can't do a gen1 Gen 2 there's also no home theater kind of setup that you can do like with rear speakers as homepod Mini none of that stereo pair is all you get you do get Dolby Atmos and I will say I used two OG homepods with an Apple TV in like living room setup for a while and it did sound amazing like it sounded incredible I imagine these will sound also incredible maybe even better I love that this thing is back I went back and looked at the tech crunch article from March 2021 Apple gave Tech crunch a direct statement and I do think it's funny they told Tech crunch the homepod OG homepod or whatever they called it was discontinued like apple said the word discontinued now you could say they meant the first generation's discontinued but the second generation is not and that's coming later but Apple didn't say that it does really feel like though that this is one of the few products maybe the only I was I tweeted trying to see if anybody could recall another product like this where Apple said this is discontinued seriously implying that the line of this product is done and we are only focusing on the homepod mini and then for a new version to come out less than 2 years later to Great Fanfare it seems like so I think it's interesting but I'm glad it's back Apple never announced it but mag safe comes to mind uh Max safe was the other one yeah scissor switches oh sure yeah and the keyboard they abandon Technologies and return to them but it's uh under different circumstances and I would be willing to make the argument that this is not the same homepod this is a different product just has the same name because the internal reconfiguration of this is it's insane it's a completely different speaker You could argue okay so the 4in main driver is still there yes that is still a the same-sized main speaker but has fewer tweeters but each Tweeter has its own what what's the word for that ponum whatever magnet has its own yeah I don't know whatever magnet um system so the the tweeters are going to have more power per Tweeter uh better higher frequencies and stuff like that the rearrangement of everything internally also means that you're probably going to get better um response Apple also said there's a lot of of new technologies in here that didn't seem to appear in the first homod again if you read my comparison it's difficult to determine what's new because Apple didn't draw any direct comparisons to the original model they mentioned what they called an allnew system sensor which I don't know what that means does it mean that the system sensor is new or this is a new version of the system sensor I don't know but I I went and dragged through all of Apple's PR about the original homepod and there's never mentioned anything called the system sensor so I'm assuming that this is a new device and basically now there is a separate computational system specifically for sensing audio as it is being played and adjusting it for a better playback which got the other homepod did computational audio using microphones but I wanted to point out that this is different because this homepod is also doing computational audio using microphones and has the system sensor for even more advanced computational uh adjustments so that's interesting and it's also like the airpods pro and airpods Max I believe which do kind of like that adaptive EQ taking the you know the internal measurements of where your ear is like in the cup of airpods Max and how it sounds there and it's making calibrations to the EQ and settings based on that so maybe you know that included as as well as what the microphones are picking up but anyway it also looks like the microphones have been moved I can't tell from Apple's diagram here but either they're lower in the homepod or more spread out but there are fewer of them um they were previously around a ring at the center um but now the tweeters point at an upward diagonal instead of outward straight like they were almost 90° pointed straight outward in the original so right a lot of small adjustments but if you deal with audio at all the smallest percent change in speaker Direction makes a huge difference in how audio is reproduced so oh for sure um I again I I can't go into this thinking like oh yeah it's going to sound identical or similar you know what I mean this episode is brought to you by Collide traditional endpoint security tools can make your workplace feel like a surveillance State turn users and the IT team into adversaries and ultimately drive your employees to work on unsecured personal devices this is not good but it doesn't have to be this way Collide is a device security solution built around honest security their philosop is that employees aren't your biggest security risk they're your biggest allies and your relationship with them should be based on transparency and informed consent Collide works by notifying your employees of security issues via slack and giving them step-by-step instructions on how to resolve those problems themselves for instance maybe they save some passwords or secret keys in a plain text file on their desktop well CDE will see that Collide knows that's not a good practice you shouldn't do that and so they'll get a private DM in slack saying hey here's a better way to do it here's the step-by-step instructions on how to more securely save those passwords so for it and security teams Collide provides the right level of visibility for Mac windows and Linux devices and it can answer questions about your Fleet security that traditional mdms can't you can meet your security goals without compromising your values visit collide.com appleinsider to find out how and if you follow that link they'll hook you up with a goodie bag just for activating a free trial free trial free goodie bag that's k o l i d e /a Insider collide.com slapple inssider and that link is in the episode show notes our thanks to collide for sponsoring this episode The also interesting they are including a temperature and humidity sensor in the new homepod and with the 16.3 update that's coming to the homepod mini if you remember there was a tear down back when the homepod mini launched and a temperature and humidity sensor was discovered inside but unusable by the user well the 16 .3 update coming presumably next week will enable that sensor temperature and humidity in both the homepod mini and now in the big homepod and Those sensors will be surfaced in homekit in your home app and you'll be able to use them as cards and automations and whatever love that love that the homepod Mini Mystery from two years ago about what is this sensor doing in here now it is enacted with 16.3 and there's a bunch of other improvements real quick let me just run down 16.3 you're also going to be be able to set recurring home automations just by speaking to Siri Andrew O'Hara actually has a video on it he installed the release candidate and you can do that right now but if you say like open the blinds every day at 9:00 a.m. it will actually create that recurring automation for you just using Siri with the homepod find my if you have family and friends in the find my app and you're already sharing location you'll be able to ask your homepods homepod mini or the new homepod on 16.3 where your family member is or partner and your homepod will tell you before you couldn't do it also audio improved for spoken content like podcast and also remastered and ambient noise can be included in like scenes and automations with the homepod so all of those software updates coming to both homepod mini and this new homepod in 16.3 these are fun I'm I'm glad the other homepods are getting these updates um 16.3 is also coming to the original homepod so that also includes audio improvements for speech uh the remastered noises you'll be able to give the Siri automation commands the only thing the original homepod is not getting from this update is temperature and humidity because it doesn't have the sensor it doesn't have the sensor right I want to know the conversations around that sensor in the homod mini because why now why has it been laying dormant for years was it some sort of software issue that they couldn't get right was there some sort of support problem was it matter did matter somehow activate this sensor I just wonder what the conversation was there and why it took them this long to bring it out because I think it's amazing now yeah you want a h pod in every room not only because it provides audio and Siri and all these controls but now in the home app you can see per room temperature and humidity and have automations based on that run a dehumidifier if it gets too humid in here or turn on the in room heater or in room air conditioner if it gets to a certain temperature and then turn it back off like I find that really great and before I don't know if you've ever looked at this but ecobe sells individual room sensors that do this I have them they're like $50 a piece or something yes it includes one depending on which EOB model you buy so I have like one additional but yeah they're expensive yeah so like just double the price you get an entire hom pod that does it so yeah interesting yeah I wonder one of the other interesting things about the temp and humidity sensor is thirdparty apps will not be able to see that data so like if you open the eve app or other smart home apps that work with homekit Eve again we'll just use that as an example you cannot access the temperature and humidity information in the eve app it is only available in the home app so like you were asking I'm not sure if it's some kind of weird homekit or matter thing thread maybe but it is strange that third parties don't get access to temperature and humidity which is pretty standard like homekit information I'm glad that this has a thread radio I'm glad that you know it's technically a matter Hub whatever um that translates to I don't know if that'll really mean anything for users of homeit devices already but uh it could be important later definitely happy that this exists homepod returns yeah not the homod too not you know but it's it's the hom pod yeah just just H pod I'm super excited I got I got two white ones like I said coming in oh and one other feature for smart home triggers like if you're asking your homepod to do something like change the temperature in this room or or turn on the lights in another room that I'm not in if it's something that you can't visually see in the room that you're speaking to the homep pod in will actually be a confirmation tone to let you know that it was successful and so if you ask to change the temperature but you're not near your thermostat to see if it actually changed your homepod will give you a nice little sound Andrew O'Hare also covers that in a video to let you know that it actually worked it actually went through I I have a thinking experiment here for you uhhuh yes I have a Sonos setup kind of um I remember back in the day uh 2016 era uh everyone was like o Apple should buy Sonos it's the son Apple it's the Apple of speakers or whatever this is prior to homep pod I believe cuz that was 2018 I was like I need a home theater system I'm going to go for Sonos they seem smart and then a couple years later they do this super deep partnership with Amazon and I cry a little bit but um anyway so I have that era I don't know what generation you call it um but it's that era of Sonos it's pre Alexa voice control sound bar subwoofer play one speakers right yeah as or play play three speakers as my living room set up and then I have a bedroom theater system because why not of a slightly newer Play Bar uh that's airpl 2 air Play 2 yeah and uh I have two play ones hooked up to that but no subwoofer and after Apple announced this new homepod it got it in my brain again of do I want to do ditch Sonos is this is it finally time and I'm going to set up the two I got two hom pods I'm going to set them up and stereo pair in a way that would be good for um TV audio in the living room and test it out right against the Sona system obviously I'm aware that they're not going to be able to roduce the audio of that subwoofer there's nothing I can do sure um with Apple's homepods to do that I wish there was like some sort of weird hack that would let me throw in a third party subwoofer but there's just no way to do it but then it got me thinking why not just do homepod minis for the Apple TV in the bedroom um so you could so anyway I wanted to ask you like what would it take for you to use homepods as your main theater system like would Apple have to release a soundbar or some or maybe partner third party wise and come out with a apple approved sound system or something like that so I have one room where I have like a whole 7.1 set up with like ceiling speakers ni and I'm like I'm not changing that like like if anything I'll upgrade a receiver maybe I'll upgrade the ceiling speakers in the future but like I did all that work moving into this house and building it you literally built your house around this theater literally Lally did and so like that's not going anywhere now in my bedroom I do have a Sonos beam and a Sonos sub mini sounds great I love it I also like that I can mount the Sonos beam and I have this I've done this with The Arc in another room too it's mounted right under the TV like it actually connects to the TV mount there's no additional thing connected to the wall like it's all just self-contained it looks really clean nice and you know they make like wall mounts for homepods and stuff like that but it's just not a clean of look and I don't think it's as discreet now they sound great again like I used two OG homepods in a like home living room setup and it sounded really good I do think a standalone subwoofer if you wanted to make like a real close to theater experience I do think you need a dedicated subwoofer I don't know if Apple would ever do a dedicated sub but like you're saying like it's just it's really hard the the homep pods the even the big homepods get really close it sounds really good but man the Sono sub I have the big one with paired with an arc it just sounds amazing and I do think Sonos does things like the Sonos move which I have one of those outside in the pool area and that again I like I don't know if Apple would ever make a battery powered homepod that you can just like take off a MAG safe charger which I would be all about if Apple did something like that it would be amazing to have a homepod that Taps to a MAG saave charger you use it like a regular homod but then you could pick it up and carry it around would be amazing but like those kinds of unique use cases it'll still have me foot in each system like Sonos over here Apple over here I wish I could use Sonos in like homekit scenes it's just you can't do it uh I've tried it multiple times and so for that reason I would love to be all in on homepod because the hom pod Works seamlessly in hit scenes and shortcuts and all that kind of stuff so I do love it I just I don't think Apple's going to make those Niche use cases like a standalone sub or battery powered portable speaker that actually sounds great and so I'll be Foo in both worlds for a long time time I think so I know it's a moot point but I think uh I've kind of made the decision I I really want to go all in on on homepod and apple just because again I I want to reduce my ecosystem footprint I guess is what you could say so yeah I think I might go ahead and downgrade my bedroom system to two homep pods I don't know if you call it downgrading I don't need a bunch of noise for the bedroom I'm just watching TV sure and I honestly did the math and I think I could literally sell those three speakers for hundreds of dollars and buy one homepod mini and be there like I'll make a little bit of money but the living room setup sadly I personally want to get rid of Sonos because I just don't want a proprietary connected system like that anymore I kind of want to go to a maybe a homekit receiver that you know just routes dumb speakers and then anytime I want to upgrade my audio I just move up the speak get better speakers you know what I mean yeah um like I I think that's my future uh like Sonos is nice but Apple's done such a great job for homepods that I think uh I just want to lean into that and hope that maybe they give us some kind of homepod soundar in the future and subwoofer but I I did want to show you this cuz I was shopping around yesterday and I found this silly amazing this silly battery pack I love it tell tell tell me what you see Stephen this is a mission battery base for homepod mini and I feel like I remember you actually doing this when homepod mini first came out with like external battery packs like USB ones but this is a bespoke homepod mini little stand you put the homepod mini in this little hourglass looking stand Cable Management you run the homepod mini cable it coils underneath this little stand plugs into this thing assuming it has a battery inside up to 9 hours it said and you charge this little stand but then you can take this homod mini wherever you go you turn on the base there's a power button on the mission battery base you turn it on and it Powers the homepod mini and now you have a portable homepod mini that can go anywhere at least your Wi-Fi network carries so funny it's it's pretty hilarious but also like only $42 yeah I mean not not bad there's other ones on here too I just found a plus ACC for homepod Mini battery it's a little more of a symmetrical base a little more low profile but also kind of cool it's kind of a cool idea I I I am all for weird accessories guys if you ever found like weird homepod or airpod accessories throw them our away like I I love finding the most random Apple adjacent accessories I can for sure I have a snail holder for my homepod mini for the kitchen it turns the homep Pod it's like a shell for the snail and it's a little wooden snail yeah that's hilarious that's funny all right real quick I do want to mention most likely next week we're going to see 16.3 launch obviously these updates to homepod and homepod mini but iPhone tvos Apple watch all of that stuff I'm really hoping for some serious bug fixes I still experience lots of bugs on my iPhone 14 pro but also found in the release candidate code of 16.3 there is a change referring to the again Phantom Apple classical app apparently in the there's a line of text now in the release candidate software that says instead of it used to be quote a shortcut to Apple classical now refers to quote open in apple music classical that maybe Apple has internally changed the name of the app or how they're referring to it and there's also a line of code that says quote explore this artist in the app designed for classical music so it seems like apple is still working on still thinking about the Apple music classical app I joked just earlier this morning that maybe the Apple music classical app will only be available on the big homepod screen I don't know but Stephen uh as another part of 16.3 I did want to ask you a question um are you looking forward to the new architecture update for homekit listen cuz it's it it's coming back I'm fairly it's coming back yes I I am just let me caution everyone one it was not good before I would not do it on day one you couldn't reverse it right you're still in the new architecture no yeah you can't reverse it no I'm I'm still there I reset my light switches every other week it's fine I'm in it too I don't think it's architecture related but I keep having my Nano Leafs do the thing where they're just like nope sorry not not responding exactly I'm going to blame the architecture though and hope that it gets fixed in the next update because that would be very nice I'm hoping so too screen time has been a mess with me and my kids devices just so many weird bugs so hopefully 16.3 solves everything maybe there'll be like an apple music classical release alongside you know Apple do that sometimes like hey 16.3 and you can now download the Apple music class collab we'll see one last thing before we go this is again I don't want to complain about Twitter all the time but apparently Twitter and Elon Musk has cut off access to thirdparty apps and so all the apps like tweetbot Twitter riic all these great Twitter apps that have existed for many many years they are now unusable you can't use a third party app to access says Twitter this is likely a push so that people will see the ads that Elon is trying to put on the platform It's just sad because I'm I'm so torn because when all this news was coming out about the M2 Pro and M2 Max the homepod my reaction and really the only place I went to to tweet about it and to read what others thought about it was Twitter that's where I went to see all this stuff and I just I didn't think of Mastadon at the time I went to Mastadon like days later and was just like this is not the place still for this stuff like I just don't think it's going to be that but it just seems like Twitter is bent on making it the most annoying platform to use like they added a For You tab and it separated it from the following so now when you open the app it's this weird For You tab and you're seeing tweets from people you don't follow and they haven't been retweeted by anyone you follow it's just trying to show you things that Twitter thinks you like even though they are making it so hard to still like the platform like still where I go to tweet about Apple stuff and the new releases and what I'm excited about and so it's just sad and I'm torn I hope they revert this I mean Twitter has reverted several things just you know I've announced and then reverted just in the last several months since Elon has taken over but the third party app thing would be a huge loss I hope they change it charge me money for it put ads in the third party apps I don't care it's I didn't use the third party apps to get away from ads I mean it was part of it but the experiences were so much better I mean I am struggling to cuz I'm using the main Twitter client and I am struggling to do my Twitter completionist nonsense I know I shouldn't use Twitter that way but I do and it's like where where was I last and then I pick up my iPhone and it's a different spot than where it is on my iPad mini and it's just infuriating like where so I have to scroll to the top and then scroll down backwards and until I see what I saw before and then like okay I'm good and then yeah you have to go to the following tab if it sometimes I accidentally end up in the 4 You tab I'm like what what am I seeing like what am I looking at and it just don't understand where all these tweets are coming from who are these people it's like for you is the opposite it is not for me it is the worst possible pile of information I've ever seen and like f go to following them like oh here we are this is the Twitter I'm actually here for and it's so weird that it's built that way it's it feels like the worst experiment in history as far as like social media goes and it's it sucks it's bad and I did want to mention so one of my little Ed cases for Twitter is I'll have a video game on I have my iPad Mini on a table next to my couch as you do and I leave the display I I I leave the display on I've learned that you can trust that it's not going to burn in anymore so I just leave it running and I'll have overcast on one side uh in a split view playing whatever podcast I'm listening to podcast art is nice and big you know on half the screen and the other half of the split view was a Twitter client and now is the Twitter client and the difference is maddening because I'll look over and be like Oh I'm going to refresh I'm going to see what's new you pull down the refresh pauses the podcast really yeah because the audio playing the the Bop thing like pauses and then I scroll up I'm like okay okay so I go hit play on the podcast again start scrolling up pass a video it's not even playing audio from the video but I pass a video pauses the podcast like oh my God like why I can't do this like this is not how it's just it's so bad it's such a bad experience I hope it changes I hope Twitter gets better again if this is the Twitter we have to deal with that's fine I I'm not one of these people that's like you know I hate Elon Musk what I don't like what he's doing I don't like the business decisions he's making I think it's all a mess but also just make Twitter better I don't want to see it burn and die like I like this platform make it better do good like give us a reason why you're taking away all these good features and make us want to stick around you know yeah I agree uh but I don't want to end on a down note so I'll just say again homepod is back very exciting very exciting and we'll be get I order get them February 3rd launch day I just looked you can still order a big homep pod and get it February 3rd so it doesn't seem like they're super constrained Supply wise I'm hoping people buy I wouldn't expect yeah I wouldn't expect it to get constrainted I want people to buy them though so they don't make it go away again like they need to keep making keep making these so as as again basic apple guy said we're just going to get a subscription just send me one a month maybe one every other month I probably don't need that many and we'll just just keep making them Apple it's good stuff anyway let us know if you got a homepod if you got a new Mac Mini MacBook Pro any of things that Apple announced this week you can tweet at Wesson myself all of that info is in the show notes of course you can support the show and get an adree version at patreon.com Insider or directly in apple podcast of course listen to the Apple Insider daily to hear some familiar voices on there as well and tune in to homekit Insider on Monday Andrew and I go even deeper on a lot of the homekit stuff from all this new homod exciting that's not a word but you know what I mean anyway thanks for tuning in we'll catch you next time\n"