Apple Vision Pro Pre-Orders, Samsung Galaxy S24 Unpacked, “I Can Hear Your Face Scan”

Stephen Robles:

Hold on to your butts. It's a new episode of Primary Technology. Today we're talking about the Apple Vision Pro pre orders. Lots of accessories we didn't know about, plus Jason and I both went through the process. We're gonna tell our preorder war stories, the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event, several announcements about phones, but also more just Google features that they announced.

Stephen Robles:

And as always, we have a little personal tech segment at the end. This episode is brought to you by Audio Hijack from Rogue Amoeba who is joining me, my fellow Vision Pro preorder. Jason Aiten. How's it going, Jason?

Jason Aten:

It's good. That was the fastest and most successful preorder of all Time and I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad sign.

Stephen Robles:

It was fast except how I did it and, like, my adrenaline is pumping right now. We're recording immediately after we both did the preorder thing. So just to be clear, you did preorder an Apple Vision Pro and it's coming to your house?

Jason Aten:

Well, the first part of that sentence is definitely true.

Stephen Robles:

Okay.

Jason Aten:

I don't know whether I will. I might pull a Steven and probably cancel it. Oh, okay. But I did feel like I needed To go through the process so that we could talk about it today. Yes.

Jason Aten:

And I felt like, is it really done? Wait. Did I actually just did I seriously order one of these things? It took 2 minutes.

Stephen Robles:

It seemed fast. Alright. Well, we'll get into the whole process. Alright. There's also a bunch of accessories.

Stephen Robles:

Also, just wanna say everyone was saying no tiers, no storage tiers for Apple Vision Pro and we were right. That I just wanna say right up to the front, we said there were gonna be storage tiers and there are Apple Care Plus is also very expensive on this device.

Jason Aten:

Very expensive. Yes.

Stephen Robles:

That's a we'll talk about that too real quick before we get into all the Apple Vision Pro stuff. We've had so many 5 star reviews, which we now hit the top 18 shows in Apple Podcast Tech category. So thank you all for listening, for watching. Great, viewership on YouTube as well, subscribers over there. So we really appreciate all the support.

Stephen Robles:

Again, we're only on our 3rd or 4th official episode, kind of 3rd official, 3rd week doing the show, and so we would appreciate your continued support. You could go give us a 5 star rating and review in Apple Podcasts, and, we had a bunch of them this week. So I wanna run down these, like, real fast, but these are the 5 star reviews for this week. Louisiana native 5 577, Mac lover WI from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I'm surprised you can listen to all that snow.

Stephen Robles:

He's probably snowed in. Yeah. Right. The panda 16, Zach Attack 93 from San Jose, California, Thomas 843, Joe Lander, cgibsonrex, that Virtual Boy, Nate Gorby, Bryce Winters, Plazma Bunk, and Jorge s. Thank you.

Stephen Robles:

And they were all like 5 star reviews. We are we're at 4.9 stars now. They're trying to counteract your one star review, Jason.

Jason Aten:

I feel like I need to be I need to defend my honor. I can't even figure out how to leave a review because every time I try to click on 5. It just ignores it, I feel like. So

Stephen Robles:

Yeah. You gotta hit Do you have

Jason Aten:

to actually leave a rev do you actually have to leave a star and write a review for it to count?

Stephen Robles:

If I think if you just tap the write a review thing, A little window comes up and you can type and then do the stars. I think that's how you do it.

Jason Aten:

But what if I just wanna rate the show with a 5 star rating?

Stephen Robles:

You just tap the 5th star. You just tap the 5th star. That's fine. You I do that.

Jason Aten:

I've done it 6 times. So I've done it

Stephen Robles:

6 times. Oh, okay. Well, maybe

Jason Aten:

that's It's a mistake.

Stephen Robles:

It's 6 6 of our 55 star reviews there.

Jason Aten:

Apple's podcast thinks that I'm trying to like DDOS the whole thing and it's like blocking me from leaving Starz.

Stephen Robles:

That's why we're in the top 18. That's exactly where it is. Alright. I'm gonna share my screen. We're gonna go through a preorder process everyone because, we need to all share our experiences.

Stephen Robles:

So I will be honest, I had 4 devices set up up to preorder preorder at my Mac studio. I had my iPad mini, my iPad pro, which I recently got working. I should probably tell that story.

Jason Aten:

Yeah.

Stephen Robles:

And my iPhone, they're all open and The web, like, switched over first. I refreshed the page, the web was live, and so I went through with the pre order. And so which device did you actually go through with the pre order on?

Jason Aten:

Well, don't you have to use the iPhone? I used an iPhone, so

Stephen Robles:

So well, I was gonna do whatever came first, and I had saw earlier this week that they'll give you like a QR code you scan with a face ID device and then it will do the whole scan your head

Jason Aten:

thing. Okay.

Stephen Robles:

So with whatever device and it connected and it worked. So This was my process. We're gonna talk about all the accessories too because a bunch of them, you know, had no idea, didn't hear any rumors about. There's a bunch out there. So here it is, preorder Apple Vision Pro, get started.

Stephen Robles:

This is what, popped up for me, ordering on the web. So you get this little QR code and then you can scan your face and once you scan your face, with a phone. You can scan the QR code with an iPad, with face ID, or iPhone, and then it just moves you on to the next step, and I'm not gonna do it right now because it takes a while, but you basically do like a face ID thing, only not circle. You go like up down left right. I didn't hold the phone close enough the first time when it was like you know hold it within 12 inches.

Stephen Robles:

Did you did you get an error? False positive? Or

Jason Aten:

No. It just it just literally just started telling me that well, now, in fairness, I've done this before. This is the exact same process we went through when we did the demo. So I did act I didn't know what to expect. So Oh, okay.

Stephen Robles:

Okay. Okay. So you do that, and then guess what, Jason? You choose your storage tier

Jason Aten:

Yep.

Stephen Robles:

Like we like we predicted. So you got 256, 512, and 1 terabyte, $200 increments. So it's $35100 for 2.56, that was our starting at price, and then it's 37100 for 5.12, 3904 1 terabyte. Here's the here is where I was with this. I was like, I don't wanna buy a $35100 device, and then a year down the road see the your storage is full message screen in VR 20 feet wide.

Stephen Robles:

You know what I mean? Yep. I I went all the way and I did 1 terabyte. It might be overkill, but I did. Wow.

Jason Aten:

That's wow. Especially because this is this is really a Cloud focused device to begin with. Right? Like, do you imagine you're gonna, like, download your entire Iphoto library under this?

Stephen Robles:

No. But, I mean, I'll probably capture. Honestly I probably won't capture spatial video directly on it because you're gonna look like a wild person. I'll probably do most spatial video capture with my phone. I don't know if it's gonna be like a game or now I imagine there should be an option to download movies because technically I should have this you know I got to the February second date, so I should have it on launch day, and I am flying to Podcast Movement in March in Los Angeles.

Stephen Robles:

So I got, like, a 5 hour flight. I plan to bring this and I I'm obviously going to report in detail about that experience of using a Vision Pro on an airplane and see how many people ask me questions, but yeah. I'm both I got a window seat which with the whole Alaska airline recently, maybe that wasn't a great idea, but I'll be in VR and it'll be so real as I feel the wind against my face from, but anyway.

Jason Aten:

Oh man.

Stephen Robles:

You have to download movies. If you're gonna watch this on a plane, you're gonna have to download a bunch of movies, and so I imagine with Disney plus the Apple TV app, I mean I want some storage at least for those. I don't know, maybe there'll be some kind of RPG game, maybe Final Fantasy something will be on here and it takes up I don't know. I went all the way. Maybe that was a bad idea, but I did.

Jason Aten:

I don't know that it was a bad idea. It was just an expensive idea.

Stephen Robles:

It was an expensive idea. I just didn't wanna regret not getting the storage at at launch. So I did it.

Jason Aten:

And I guess if you were going to do the 5 12, it's only what, $200? So it's it's not that hard to

Stephen Robles:

Right.

Jason Aten:

That jump. So

Stephen Robles:

Right. Exactly. So those are the storage options, and then you you just pay for it. You pay for it in once payments or all at once, and then you have AppleCare. AppleCare is $500.

Stephen Robles:

I thought 3.50, earlier this week. I posted that out because that's like what Mac is like a MacBook Pro is around 250 to 350 depending on models. $500 for Apple Care or $25 a month in perpetuity if you just want that continual coverage, which I have been transitioning some of my Apple devices to that monthly when they reach the end just because like I don't know how long I'm gonna keep this, and you can keep paying the monthly and have AppleCare or just cancel it at any time and then you don't, which do you do AppleCare? I don't know even know how

Jason Aten:

to talk

Stephen Robles:

about this.

Jason Aten:

Yeah. So especially on phones and the the benefit of it is Is that you can you can keep paying forever, and then they change this policy maybe 2022. I can't remember exactly when, but essentially, On a phone, for example, they'll repair it an unlimited amount of time at that $29 deductible at that point. So if you're really prone to dropping your phone, it Feels like it's a very good very good deal. It used to be that they would only do it twice on a rolling 12 month period of time, and then they changed it so that if you're paying for it, You can just do it forever.

Jason Aten:

So

Stephen Robles:

That's what I've been doing especially with like watches and stuff because I mean my kids watches, my kid one of my my son has a phone. I just do the monthly because we're about to hit 2 years anyway and, yeah, we've already used it several times. So Yeah. Let's just do it. Also in the middle there, I'm not going through the process because I have to do my whole face scan thing, but it does do the prescription insert question and basically asks you do you wear glasses?

Stephen Robles:

And you go through several different questions and ask if you're nearsighted or farsighted, do you use readers, and I did the thing. I said I do wear glasses. It asked if you wear contacts also. And Zeiss, you upload your prescription to Zeiss. It seems very disconnected from the actual Apple Vision Pro shipment because when I went got to the final order, it says shipment 1, the Apple Vision Pro, and then shipment 2, the Zeiss lenses, come 2 weeks after they approve your prescription.

Stephen Robles:

And so you upload your prescription after you've done the whole buying process, and it seems like those are gonna come 2 weeks later. And, obviously, you can also just buy them separately as an item in the Apple Store. How did that work when you were ordering it?

Jason Aten:

Same same thing. I mean, it asks you a series of questions, and I did I didn't have a my prescription in front of me, so I just was you know, they're pretty easy questions. Like, do you use glasses? Yes, no, whatever.

Stephen Robles:

Right. Do you

Jason Aten:

know what type prescription, nonprescription readers? I guess the I don't know. And then it asks, do you Do you use them to see far away or see up close? You answer that question. And then it asks some strange question about prisms.

Jason Aten:

I don't even know what that meant. But if you check yes, it'll be like Can't buy a Vision Pro, so check no apparently is the important thing to say there.

Stephen Robles:

Wait. What what did it say? You can't, I mean

Jason Aten:

Something about does your prescription have a prism? Is there a prism factor

Stephen Robles:

to your prescriptions? I saw that question.

Jason Aten:

And if you click yes I don't know either. But if you click yes, it's like, sorry. We won't sell you this, Vision Pro. So Really? Apparently well, I think it's these inserts don't accommodate that particular factor of a prescription.

Jason Aten:

So I guess you could still buy the Vision Pro. You just can't buy the inserts. So I don't know if that would mean you just need contacts or something like that. So

Stephen Robles:

Interesting. Okay. So So I was I was about to do the face cam thing because I wanted to see what what the, shipping times were at the moment and so I might I might take a moment to do that.

Jason Aten:

Alright.

Stephen Robles:

But tell me as as I scan my face and go through this, we're gonna talk about the accessories in a second. What was your like did you do in store pickup. Did you do delivery? What was your experience there?

Jason Aten:

I did delivery mostly because Well, I don't make YouTube videos, so I don't need to, like Sure. Have the content of the experience of showing up. But I prefer not to interact with human beings if I can avoid it. And so I don't like to go into stores to do pickup for things, although I have done in store pickup for plenty of Apple things. I just if there's an option for me to not have to talk to a human being, I'm gonna choose that every time.

Jason Aten:

It is really weird watching Steven do do this process. Sorry.

Stephen Robles:

I was Literally doing the double face scan.

Jason Aten:

And the music in the background makes me feel very You can hear my face

Stephen Robles:

scan. Yep. With background music.

Jason Aten:

You can hear my face scan. That is a title right there.

Stephen Robles:

You can if we did funny titles, maybe we should do that. Let us know listeners on social media. Should we do funny titles or keep it straight laced like we've been doing it? Here we go. It's face game complete.

Stephen Robles:

You have to do all the Zeiss questions. Let's go through it. I I need to answer a few quick questions.

Jason Aten:

Just so you know. Yeah? It'll be quicker.

Stephen Robles:

Yeah. I'm gonna do no. Yeah. I'm gonna do no for all these things. You're all set.

Stephen Robles:

You can buy a thing. Let's go with the base model 256. See what that availability is. Let's just buy it outright.

Jason Aten:

Oh, look. It already says February 13. It already said February 13th.

Stephen Robles:

Oh, it's already slipping. It's already slipping. We're 40 minutes from preorder time as we're recording this very moment and it's slipping all the way.

Jason Aten:

Had 2 available. They had 1512 that I preordered and 1 1 terabyte that you preordered and now that's it.

Stephen Robles:

That's it. Okay so I'm gonna add this to the bag. Now now here's where it got complicated for me. I did I saw these accessories and I was like I'm gonna come back and do these. Don't even wanna mess with those right now, I just need to get the actual Vision Pro order in.

Stephen Robles:

So this is where I was and you know you get the 2 options, you know, pick up, whatever. So I did check out with Apple Pay as you do. I was doing the Apple Card to get that daily cash and I was trying hard to pick it up in the store because, like you were saying, I wanted to make videos about it early. And as you could see all the Apple stores near me now, 40 minutes in, unavailable. 0 pickup times, just you can't get it.

Stephen Robles:

Can't get any in store pickup appointments. You know you could try to show up to a store, but I have a feeling you're not gonna you're not gonna it's not gonna work. I'm here in Central Florida, we're near near Tampa. The first one I tried was Apple Brandon which we talked about Apple Stores on our second episode. It's like a very small Apple store.

Stephen Robles:

Like it had the 8 AM reservation time available and so I clicked it, I went all the way through and when the Apple Pay screen came up, I did my fingerprint, payment failed.

Jason Aten:

Uh-oh.

Stephen Robles:

And you go back and the reason why it failed is because that reservation time is no longer available. I don't know how, like, it was seconds seconds from choosing 8 AM to doing my touch ID to confirm purchase and payment failed, and so I did that multiple times both for the Apple brand in store and then I went over to Apple International Plaza which is like a larger Apple store. They also had availability. Payment just it just kept failing. It was probably 6 or 7 times.

Stephen Robles:

I kept trying to do it and then eventually the times got to 3 PM in the afternoon and I was like UPS is gonna make it to my house before this reservation time. Yep. So forget it. Like I'm just gonna do it at home and and I was not able to do the in store pickup, but it was so fast and I don't know because these are smaller stores maybe it's like they're getting 4 models of each storage size to actually sell and just those reservation Times just slip really fast, but as you can see, nothing near me in Florida is available now.

Jason Aten:

What I don't understand is why don't they just take the one that they were going to ship to you and ship it to the store the day before so you can just pick it up.

Stephen Robles:

I I don't know.

Jason Aten:

Maybe that's Tim Cook. Tim Cook, come on. Talk to me about this. Like, we could I can help you with this process here. Just There's a way to manage your supply chain better, Tim.

Jason Aten:

Come on.

Stephen Robles:

I think he knows what he's doing, but I will say, I I texted somebody at Apple after I ordered this and I was like, listen, Ear mark this order for a early delivery, like next week. How about that? Can we do that?

Jason Aten:

Good luck.

Stephen Robles:

Now if you'd like it delivered it is it is slipping the delivery dates. So we got February 13 16th right now. Oh and so you do the sizing, the reason why they scan your head is to do the sizing part of your Apple Vision Pro. What size did you get for your solo knit band and and dual loop?

Jason Aten:

I don't even know what I I don't even know what I chose. Hang on.

Stephen Robles:

If you look you have to look at your order information and it tells you, you know, solo knit band m, dual loop band m. That's what I got.

Jason Aten:

Mine says fat head. No. I'm just kidding. It says

Stephen Robles:

I thought I'd be a a big head, size, but I don't I guess I'm medium.

Jason Aten:

This is solo knit band medium, lightsealed 25 w. These are very meaningful. These are very meaningful phrases here. But did I so I get both bands is what you're saying. Okay.

Stephen Robles:

You get the solo knit and the dual loop. Okay. Those seem to be the same size and then my light seal is 21 w. Mhmm. I don't know what that means.

Stephen Robles:

Inches, 21 inches wide.

Jason Aten:

I don't

Stephen Robles:

I have a I have a larger amount, so maybe I don't know.

Jason Aten:

It's probably just random. It just like they just assign numbers and letters and

Stephen Robles:

I guess I guess. So anyways, so that was my order process. It was very stressful. My adrenaline is still kind of like surging, plus I'm drinking cold brew caffeine, but I did get it. It's delivering February 2nd supposedly.

Stephen Robles:

I'd uploaded my Zeiss prescription for the inserts as well, but you hear like, directly from Zeiss basically. It that's not even something Apple's, like, dealing with.

Jason Aten:

Yeah.

Stephen Robles:

So that that's the order. And then you had to go back in you had to go back in. The accessories, Jason. The accessories for Applevision Pro. I had heard no rumors about this, but apparently, there's a bunch including the travel case for Apple Vision Pro which again I was gonna take this on a plane in March.

Stephen Robles:

So $200 for the Apple Vision Pro travel case. 3rd parties are gonna totally have a field day I'm sure making travel cases and things like that. But it's 6 it's a $200 travel case. If you want to get an extra Apple Vision Pro battery, $200 You can get an extra battery for 200 and then you have the Zeiss optical inserts and then a bunch of other things. Like you can order the light seal, also $200.

Stephen Robles:

The light seal cushion, I guess you can get like that's probably the part that's gonna get maybe kinda nasty being against your head the whole time.

Jason Aten:

Very nasty. It's gonna be very nasty. Not kind of, very.

Stephen Robles:

When you wore it back, like, WWDC time, Like, what was your sense of, like, the material and, like, how durable or, like, how dirty that thing was gonna get? What's your take on that?

Jason Aten:

A while ago. But the sense I got was that it was similar to, like, AirPods Max cushion. Right? But maybe a little bit more dense. So So maybe a little bit less disgusting than that.

Jason Aten:

I was trying to now that I'm looking back, I'm trying to think, I wonder who wore whose sweat was I? Who who wore this before me? What what other journalist Did I add that?

Stephen Robles:

You probably have new light seals for everybody.

Jason Aten:

You're probably right.

Stephen Robles:

I I had heard about an Apple event maybe a year ago. I think it was the AirPods pro 2 or something where they were like letting people try them and as people were trying them in the demo area maybe you were at this, but I don't even know what event this That

Jason Aten:

was the iPhone event. Yep. For the iPhone 14.

Stephen Robles:

Okay. It was an iPhone event. Someone was saying that as people were trying these AirPods like they couldn't give it to someone else to try because it's like, you know, you can't do 2 people in a row with the same AirPods and they weren't going to, like, resell them. So it was just like a box that they were, like, throwing these used AirPods in. Do you recall this?

Stephen Robles:

Did you remember saying that at So when

Jason Aten:

you are at a at the hands on area after, like, the iPhone event or these tables, and they'll have a table for the iPhones, they'll have a table for the watch, whatever else. And so Where they had the demos for the AirPods Pro, you'd be standing there. And if you wanted to try them, there's there's the product people who are standing at the table, and then behind them are people who look like Like butlers or servers or, like, waiters, and they just had these platters, not platters, but they had these custom cases that were just full of AirPods Pro. Like, just I I don't even know how many are in there, but, like, 30 or 40, 50 just cases of AirPods Pro. And every time someone walked up to the product person, They would take a new AirPods Pro out of that.

Jason Aten:

They'd pair it to the phone that they were using to demo it, and then they'd let that person use it. And when they were done, they'd go into a different slot. And then eventually, you'd just like somebody get on the mocutalk and be like, we're all out of, AirPods Pro. We need a AirPods Pro on table 4, please. And someone else would come out with a new tray and they'd trade them, And they just keep going.

Jason Aten:

It was very efficient, but I just kept thinking, like, $250. $250. $250. 250 like, what are the are these the refurbished ones you could buy later? They sanitize the UV light them?

Stephen Robles:

Listen, Tim Cook's seat cushions. Okay? That's where they get The the they're just $2.50. It's change. It's just change in there.

Jason Aten:

It's still I just felt like I was at I will say I was at a different event. Strangely wasn't actually an Apple event, but Apple was involved in this event. And they were

Stephen Robles:

gonna be talking about this.

Jason Aten:

They were highlighting The technology that they had done with United Airlines. And at that event, they were just tanning out AirPods Pro. Like, here you go. So you can do do do you need a pair so can try this on and it's just and and they They're

Stephen Robles:

the USB c ones. Right?

Jason Aten:

Yes. That's true. They were the USB c. Actually, I'm wearing no. I'm not wearing them right now because I'm wearing my Sure.

Jason Aten:

In yours, but I do have they're in my pocket. Yeah. So

Stephen Robles:

Oh, they good. See, I have my I finally set mine up. These are my USB C AirPods Pro 2 that'll, have lossless audio, I guess, with the Vision Pro.

Jason Aten:

Yeah. Over Bluetooth. Imagine that. See how that works.

Stephen Robles:

Imagine that. So a couple other techs, you can buy things like solo knit. Anyway, you could buy all this stuff individually. Also they're selling the 30 watt USB C power adapter, which this was Again another detail I don't think we have before, but it seems like 30 watts is what is going to power the Apple Vision Pro. And they had said, you know, all day battery life quote unquote when you're on power.

Stephen Robles:

I guess you just need a 30 watt. Like this I thought it might be more close to a laptop power, but just 30, which is like iPad charger.

Jason Aten:

Mean, 12.9 inch iPad has probably more screen that it has to light up than this thing. Right? And so and it has cameras. It has lighter I mean, so I I don't know. That doesn't surprise me.

Jason Aten:

It's running that, you know, an m series processor. So and I guess there's the r series too. Yeah. You're right.

Stephen Robles:

It's the r one. I don't

Jason Aten:

that's that's due is, like, the past due video stuff. So I don't imagine that that's Oh. That's, like, the real time processing for that. So, yeah, 30 watt seems like Think about a MacBook Air. You can run a MacBook Air, a 15 inch I have a 15 inch MacBook Air right now, and it came with that little weird dual USB c

Stephen Robles:

Yeah. Adapter thing. Yeah.

Jason Aten:

So I mean, that's only 30 watts, I think. So

Stephen Robles:

Okay. Alright. This was also this accessory was rumored that Belkin was gonna make a clip and it was available again you could buy it right now. This is the battery holder for Apple Vision Pro. So you know the battery is gonna connect with that little like connector on the side of the Vision Pro, then it's gonna be hanging down to a cable, and Belkin made a little clip so the battery fits into this and you can clip it on your belt, I guess, like the old school phone holder.

Stephen Robles:

You remember that, Jason? Do you remember one of those?

Jason Aten:

I do. Like, the Nextel phones or whatever that you'd like everyone clipped them on. The belt. I do know people that actually Clip their iPhone on and I just wonder what are you doing? Like Really?

Jason Aten:

Put it in your pocket. That's impressive.

Stephen Robles:

My dad, He always thought like his phone was just gonna get destroyed somehow, and so my dad was a welder. He literally welded a metal belt loop holder. It was like aluminum and, like, you could weave your belt through and then he put his phone, which was also in a case, in this, like, metal holder on his belt. It was the chunkiest, most awkward thing, but I mean, he never cracked his phone. So

Jason Aten:

Welding is not exactly a precision, You know manufacturing form of producing things, so I think

Stephen Robles:

It would not sell it would not sell as an Apple accessory. I'll give you that. It did not have the aesthetic but it worked. I want to look at this this travel case. This is interesting.

Stephen Robles:

So with the Applevision travel case, it is $200. It seems to just fit and we also have a image here if you're watching youtube.com/primarytechshow. The front cover for the Apple Vision Pro which we saw in the press release that it was gonna come with 1 This is what it looks like. Got a little, yeah it kind of looks like the solo knit band. Holds the battery on one side, the Vision Pro on the other, comes with a little, baggy.

Stephen Robles:

What's that baggy for? I guess the other band maybe?

Jason Aten:

Is that for the lens inserts possibly?

Stephen Robles:

Oh, maybe the lenses

Jason Aten:

I don't know. It's round, so I have no idea.

Stephen Robles:

Round, maybe. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So there's compartments for your batteries, Zeiss optical inserts, Apple Vision phone cover, and additional accessories. Ripstop outer shell.

Stephen Robles:

What is that? That sounds intense.

Jason Aten:

So that if you're trying to rip your Vision Pro, it will stop you. I don't I don't know.

Stephen Robles:

Now I'll tell you, this is interesting. So I heard on a couple other shows in the news, like, Apple is being very particular about whenever someone says or writes The name of this product, they're supposed to say Apple Vision Pro, like the word Apple, the word vision, the word pro, ideally not on two lines. They're supposed to have it all together on one line which the internet doesn't work that way, different screen sizes, you know. Right. But I find it interesting that this travel case actually has the Apple icon and then Vision Pro written out.

Stephen Robles:

Seems like they either broke their own rule or this is just It looks nicer to have they want the Apple logo on the outside of this case, but that's curious.

Jason Aten:

I think to be clear, what you're referring to are the developer guidelines So that if when developers refer to it in the description of an app, that's those are the style guidelines for that. And Apple apparently Is allowed but did they do the same thing with the watch. Right? Like, you can describe it as the Apple Watch, but then if you, you know, you get it, it just has a little like, in the Under side of your Apple Watch. It'll just have the Apple logo and then say watch.

Jason Aten:

So

Stephen Robles:

Right. Right.

Jason Aten:

Yeah. I think that they have decided that those two things are interchangeable, but They're really, really concerned that you may be confusing someone if you just talk about vision pro because there are so many other products like this In the market, I don't know.

Stephen Robles:

They're just

Jason Aten:

but I just can't understand that is the case. Well, it's actually a little bit big, but, like, why didn't they make that for the AirPods Max?

Stephen Robles:

Listen. That seems like the

Jason Aten:

case for the AirPods Max right there.

Stephen Robles:

That puts it to sleep. I didn't want a case like this that puts the AirPods Max to sleep. That would be ideal.

Jason Aten:

I don't understand. I mean, $200 would be a little bit expensive to add to a $500 pair of headphones, but still I feel like That is the case they should have made for the AirPods Max.

Stephen Robles:

That is that is the case they should have made. Well, those are all the accessories. Now that's our preorder experience. I'm at least going to get mine on February 2nd. Jason may or may not cancel his order, we'll have to see.

Stephen Robles:

You can message him to see what what he's gonna do. I also wanna mention this week. The press for this device from Apple I think has been different than any other product before. Like it's been very curious. Apple gave demos at WWDC.

Stephen Robles:

There were a bunch of people got demos, you got a demo. There were developer demos between WWDC and now kind of private labs. People weren't really able to talk about it. The guys at the ATP podcast are like, had a demo. That's all we can say.

Stephen Robles:

Like, it was very secretive. And now this week, Mark Gurman said this was gonna be happening on 16th, but it seemed to kind of happen throughout this week. Multiple locations, New York and Los Angeles. Apple invited a bunch of people to try it again or some for the first time. This is Andrew Edwards, YouTube creator, a Chance Miller from 9 TO 5 Mac, and then like other just kind of influential people, I mean Al Roker, news, guy, which I don't know depending on your age as you listen to this.

Stephen Robles:

Maybe you know who Al Roker is, maybe you don't. But he got a demo. It was also, like, I I was trying to figure out who all the people were. There were a lot of, like, tech YouTube people, iJustine, MKBHD, Neil Appetel from The Verge, obviously. Then there were also influencers kind of outside the tech bubble.

Stephen Robles:

Like I think I saw someone from like Conde Nast and there were some like straight news anchors, from different like news outlets. And so it feels maybe a little bit like the Apple Watch launch where they gave like 24 karat gold Apple Watches to Katy Perry and random celebs to kind of sport it, and this it just felt interesting. I don't know how to what did you think about this as you saw coming

Jason Aten:

I mean, I'm still better because I didn't get an invitation to go to New York City to do this, but I I I I'm over it because I did get to try the WWDC. So that's great. It but I am more mad now that I know that Al Roker got to come to New York, you know, to do it than I did not. I wasn't upset when, you know, people like Nilay Patel Or, Joanna Stern or MKBHD. I don't I'm not I don't but Al Roker, come on.

Jason Aten:

Like, I was at least right about it, you know? So but I will anyway. They they apparently know that. So I it is a different it is a very different thing, and it just tells you I don't know what it says, but it certainly says something about How Apple perceives this, and they are very carefully trying to roll out the launch of a brand new platform, and they're very carefully trying to Sort of control the story. You know, there was I saw a piece.

Jason Aten:

I don't know if it was on 9 to 5 Mac. Probably not. But I saw a piece somewhere where They pointed out how in every single photo of these influencers, the battery is hidden. It's like they don't want you to know that this is a device that requires not just a dongle, but, like, the world's largest dongle, like

Stephen Robles:

Yes.

Jason Aten:

With power attached to it. So They you know? And if you go back and you look at all the photos, you you don't see that anywhere. You just see the cable coming down behind and then that's it. And so Apple has and because Apple took all those photos.

Jason Aten:

Right? Like, do you have journalists who went

Stephen Robles:

Right. Exactly.

Jason Aten:

Who could, in theory, have had photographers from their take the photos, but that's not how it worked. Apple took all the photos and then provided them to them. And Right. And so they are they are that carefully trying to craft this narrative, and that just tells you either that Apple is anxious about it. I don't know if that's the case, but more that they are very conscious of how this is presented to people.

Jason Aten:

You right now, if you're watching this on YouTube, there are 9 photos. Like, not one of those is an Apple executive.

Stephen Robles:

Right.

Jason Aten:

That's the interesting thing. You still never seen Phil Shiller wear one of these things. Right? Or Tim Cook or or, Eddie Q. Somebody.

Jason Aten:

Yeah. Put put this thing on Eddie Q and it will sell. I'm telling you right now. But you just Yeah. You haven't seen these you haven't seen the photos of them doing it.

Jason Aten:

And so it it just it's interesting to me.

Stephen Robles:

So in this photo, this was compiled by Parker Ordellani. Forgive me if I if I butchered your name. I think he's at the verge, but he he compiled all this, like, including John Gruber, MKBHD, Brian and Tong. But the one guy who I didn't know, and this was one of the influencers kind of outside the tech sphere, in the bottom right corner.

Jason Aten:

Isn't that Luke Skywalker? I don't know. I feel like that's legendary.

Stephen Robles:

Many memes, from that including this.

Jason Aten:

Yes. I see? Yes.

Stephen Robles:

They they, photoshopped him with a Kylo Ren lightsaber because he's he was the only one that wore a hoodie with his Apple Vision Pro. This is Josh Rubin apparently from Cool Hunting. Never heard of him, did not know of him, but that he got to try it. And again this is kind of one of those like interesting choices of it seems like Apple is trying to reach outside the tech sphere to make this kind of more of a cultural product, but Jon Gruber was funny because he's like this guy cheated wearing a hoodie. Yeah.

Stephen Robles:

Everybody else looks kind of funny and this guy is the only one that looks cool because he wore a hoodie and yeah. He was better.

Jason Aten:

Yep. And I did see I think it was Kara Swisher who shared that and said that she was going to go see The Vision Pro, like, next week and that it better include that hoodie.

Stephen Robles:

She's Apparently, it's very expensive.

Jason Aten:

Not putting it on unless it includes a hoodie. Yeah.

Stephen Robles:

I'm sure it is. People looked up that hoodie and it was it was a very expensive. It's a nice hoodie. So It's interesting, I'm curious what the reviews are going to be like because now that preorders work today as we record, It arrives to the normal people like me 2 weeks from now. 2 weeks and so we have a full usually There's not this much of a lead time, you know, with the iPhone.

Stephen Robles:

It's usually like preorders on Friday, reviews come out the next Tuesday and then phones delivered to everyone that next Friday. It's usually just like a week lead time between pre orders and delivery and now we have 2 weeks. So I'm curious if there's going to be another kind of like weird round of influencers and celebs posting photos of themselves using Apple Vision Pro next week, and then we get, like, the MKBHD iJustine reviews the week after, like the week they actually deliver. What do you think? What do you think that timeline is gonna look like?

Jason Aten:

It is really hard to guess because Everything about this is different than what we've experienced in the past because you're right. You you normally, you go to an iPhone event on a Tuesday morning, And then they overnight review units to people. The they go on preorder that Friday, and then the review embargo usually, you know, Drop their lifts on the Tuesday beforehand. So there are this timeline is very strange, and it's very hard. But I would imagine that you're right, that there will and in fact, I think, Was it maybe Mark Gurman who reported that there would be a second round of briefings?

Jason Aten:

Although, I think that in the reporting, it was a second round of briefings with the same People who went to the 1st round and that maybe they'll get review units. And then, you know, on 30th or 31st, then they can post their reviews.

Stephen Robles:

Right.

Jason Aten:

So I'm not really sure, because also the group of people who who we saw photos of and who we've seen sharing the photos are are similar. There's an overlap with the people who Have actually been called back for several. There's been several intermediate, like, briefings all along. They did the spatial video demos. They did that kind of thing.

Jason Aten:

So it is it's very, very different in terms of the way that Apple's rolling this out. I think we'll probably see reviews I have no information. I can write my review anytime I want because I have not agreed to any embargo. I just would be writing it based on

Stephen Robles:

I agree to nothing.

Jason Aten:

My experience in June. However, if you'd like to invite me to New York, I will be happy to

Stephen Robles:

I'll I'll jump up. I'll go right now. I mean, if you can give me a brief Yes. We will

Jason Aten:

stop recording this podcast and we'll just will stop recording. Pick it up in New York, so call me.

Stephen Robles:

If you see one of us leave abruptly during a recording, you'll know exactly what happened. Although we won't be at liberty.

Jason Aten:

Either that or because my dog just wants to go chase a squirrel, but one of those two things is the reason why.

Stephen Robles:

One of those two very important things.

Jason Aten:

Yep.

Stephen Robles:

1 I thought it was interesting. Everyone is trying to make it Clear that these are not reviews. People these are 30 to 60 minute demos it seems like. So obviously you cannot review a product with that amount of exposure. Of course Whenever any reaction is posted the internet is like, oh, this thing is gonna stink because this person thought it was heavy in 30 minutes of use.

Stephen Robles:

Yep. Which interestingly did seem like the predominant takeaway. Everyone said it is still an amazing experience. It's very immersive. It's Surprising like how high quality the screens are compared to something like the Meta, Quest.

Stephen Robles:

Is the Meta Quest or the the Meta? Yeah.

Jason Aten:

That's correct. Meta Quest Yeah. 3.

Stephen Robles:

Meta Quest. And so, You know, all of that still remains as positive feedback. A lot of the comments were the weight, how heavy it will be, and then there was a whole, like, online discourse about, like, neck muscles and a bunch of GIFs of, like, getting ready for Apple Vision Pro, you know, raising a weight with your neck, which is hilarious. But The Verge wrote something up. Chance Miller at 9 to 5 wrote it up.

Stephen Robles:

A lot of, like, MKBHD basically wrote thoughts in an Instagram story, and it was like, yeah, still amazing. Very immersive. The wait is a thing. You're gonna have to get either used to it or maybe you won't wear it for extended periods of time, which it seems like entertainment is the predominant, like, selling feature that Apple is really pushing. There was another press release where Apple was like, here's all the Disney plus stuff and you can watch stuff Watch movies like you're on Tatooine, and there's gonna be lots of 3 d movies.

Stephen Robles:

And so you're gonna be wearing it for, like, 2 plus hours, and so I think that weight is gonna be, you know, a factor. Do you remember from your demo, like, how did it feel weight wise or if that bothered you?

Jason Aten:

So I don't wanna sound like I'm just dismissing all of that, but I think more than the weight was sort of like the density. Right? Because it's an aluminum and glass thing that's sitting on the front of you, and there's not really anything counterbalancing that. There's just the strap. Right.

Jason Aten:

And now during the demo, I don't know if this is true for everyone. If I remember correctly, we actually had a combination of the 2 straps. It was I think we had this what they now call the solo knit, But we also had a thing going over the top, which made it so if you're concerned about it, that's gonna be the way you wanna go because you won't be spending all of your time Scrunching your nose up. But I do remember when I first got glasses, I felt like they were falling off my face all the time. And I felt and I was getting, like, headaches because I was constantly, like, doing this thing, trying to, like,

Stephen Robles:

Yeah.

Jason Aten:

Like Get used to having these things sitting at my nose. Now, obviously, my glasses do not weigh anything compared to what a Vision Pro does. Yeah.

Stephen Robles:

But I

Jason Aten:

do think there is going to be an element of you'll get used to, you know, this. It's kind of like you and I with the iPhone 15 pro max. Like, you do. It does become your sort of new normal. That is not to say that it's not A thing that people will notice.

Jason Aten:

I think that it's a thing you notice at first because there was, even in these demos, Still not free rein to just do what you wanted to do with them. So you notice all of the other things that are happening. And so I think that it's It's real. Will it be a deterrent? I'm not really sure.

Jason Aten:

And if you're sitting on a couch, I don't know. It's not like you're it's not like you're having to, like, run around. It would be different if this is the thing you actually wore all day for work, I guess.

Stephen Robles:

I am curious. It seems like Apple really intends you to be sitting using this device. A lot of the press images and videos that they've shared in the newsroom articles has been people sitting, actors sitting, but you know people sitting using it. There was one of the pictures that, Parker had posted from 1 influencer. It looks like he's getting ready for the Matrix.

Stephen Robles:

I heard someone saw someone comment. Yeah. He has a long like leather jacket. But he's standing doing it. And I remember during WWDC there were a couple of clips of people, the dad, like capturing his kids playing in spatial video with Vision Pro.

Stephen Robles:

He was standing and moving. And there was that one shot of somebody like in a kitchen preparing things while wearing Apple Vision Pro. Seems like an unlikely use case, but maybe if you have a recipe app which that was the other part of the news which we probably won't get to but there's not really a lot of apps for this when it launches like Right. Netflix, YouTube. A lot of apps are not going to be there at launch.

Stephen Robles:

Mac stories had a great article that I will, include in the show notes that talks about the lack of apps that are going to be here at launch. But, yeah, looks like you're really gonna be sitting and the weight we'll see. I'll probably be using the top strap. I might have to change my hairstyle. I might just go with a buzz cut This one don't worry about my hair anymore.

Stephen Robles:

We'll see.

Jason Aten:

I mean, you don't actually have to wear it all the time. It's okay to take it off occasionally so you don't have to change your entire lifestyle just for this Apple

Stephen Robles:

Vision Pro. But

Jason Aten:

I mean, so when we when we did the demo in at Ww DC, there was a part of it where it was like, okay, now get up because there was they did the immersive experiences, which one of them was the Alicia Keys in the recording studio. Right. And then there was also the dinosaur experience. I don't know if that's exactly what they call it. But they're like, yeah.

Jason Aten:

Get up. Go up there to the, you know, to the dinosaur. Look around it. Do all they wanted you to experience the fact that you are immersed in this space with

Stephen Robles:

Right.

Jason Aten:

Virtual elements that are, you know, interact not interacting with your real space, but, like, they coexist and it's how real that feels and how seamless it was. So I do think that they very much envision that this is a way that people will use it. But, yes, you still when you think about it, you You have to have a solution for the battery pack. I don't you know, you're carrying it around. You either have to pick it up.

Jason Aten:

That certainly limits what you're going to do. It is definitely more ideal to either be standing at a desk or sitting at a desk Sitting on a couch. Right. But I don't think it would be that big of a deal to pick it up. And and and the pass through video is so good that you could walk through your house with With this thing on and you're not gonna walk into walls.

Stephen Robles:

Okay. I'm I would yeah. I am curious if you're in total immersive VR and you stand up and move. You know I tried a Quest 2 a while ago and it would basically like warn you in like red like you're approaching a wall or like watch out for this obstacle. I'm curious if Apple Vision Pro is just gonna like kinda break the VR experience and just show you the wall or if there's gonna be a warning of like danger, proximity alert.

Jason Aten:

Yeah. I'm not sure. Well, in on the in the Quest, we have a Quest 2. You actually had to define your boundary in advance. So you have said, like, this is the only space that and so if you try to go beyond that, it will, like, be it'll be, like, danger, Will Robinson.

Jason Aten:

Go back to the couch. Right. But with the Vision Pro, I You know, it does interrupt the immersive experience if a person walks into your field of view. Right? That is a thing that is involved in it.

Jason Aten:

I don't I don't, You know, a wall is not a person, so I'm not sure how it will do that, but I

Stephen Robles:

Right.

Jason Aten:

I imagine that they do not want you smashing into that would be bad PR. I feel like That would not be a good story.

Stephen Robles:

That would be this is just real quick, the Mac stories, article. We're gonna talk about the Galaxy Unpacked event. Not a lot of apps like YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Prime Video, and they're not gonna have native apps. You're gonna have to go to a web browser to watch things like Prime Video and Netflix, which means no downloadable movies, and less quality, I would imagine, you know, probably buffering through a web browser. Tidal, Roku, no real social media apps at launch, Instagram threads, all that kind of stuff.

Stephen Robles:

News apps, you'll be have to go to the web for all that using Safari for a lot of these things. Games, You know, Minecraft, Genshin Impact, Resident Evil, those are not available. I thought this was funny. Mac stories included ride sharing. Lyft and Uber will not have apps at launch, which is like, a.

Stephen Robles:

I don't even know what the location abilities are of Apple Vision Pro. Like does it have a GPS chip? Does it have a U1 chip for Find My? I have no idea, like, I don't know if we've heard those details, but it would be pretty hilarious to be standing on a street corner with Apple Vision Pro hailing an Uber. I will say if you're at an airport where you're at one of those stops where it has, like, you know, a bunch of rideshare vehicles coming across, If Apple Vision Pro can like highlight your car in in augmented reality and say there's your car.

Stephen Robles:

No question. That'd be pretty sweet.

Jason Aten:

It you're Pretty cool. You're living in a very futuristic world. I I mean, this Right. This thing is very cool, but, man, the the number of things that have to, like, work together. Yeah.

Jason Aten:

I I don't think it's surprising that Uber and Lyft are not. I mean, although, technically, this says VisionOS support Vision Pro support. Now I don't know if that just means you'll be able to launch For Uber, can you launch the iPad app? Is that what it's

Stephen Robles:

I know. No. I think Actually,

Jason Aten:

is there an iPad app?

Stephen Robles:

I don't think there's an iPad app. I don't yeah. I don't know. We'll have to see. Love to see.

Stephen Robles:

Also, shortcuts support, you know, may or may not be there. I was I was looking for to build some shortcuts in, VR. I feel like minority report moving my actions around.

Jason Aten:

That'd be pretty cool. I do think it is interesting. So this is the first time I've ever had this on threads, but I I replied to someone who was talking about how it was actually John Porter, who I think is at The Verge, one of their news people who said something like he doesn't the fact that Netflix, etcetera, etcetera won't be on there. Isn't any different than Epic not making Fortnite available on the Steam Deck? In what world does it make sense to put development resources into such a niche device?

Jason Aten:

And my thought was development resources. It's unchecking a box. Like, that's all you have to do. And I, to be fair, In my response, I actually said you had to check a box, so I got that part wrong. But my point was there are no development resources involved in making an iPad app available on Vision Pro.

Jason Aten:

It just will run.

Stephen Robles:

Yeah.

Jason Aten:

And part of the response was, like, yeah. Well, they don't wanna do that because it'll be buggy. And, I mean, it's running on the same exact hardware with Exception of the screen as an iPad Pro. If it works on an iPad, it will just open in a window and be fine. And some people are like, well, why does it even matter?

Jason Aten:

You can just do it on the, in In in a browser. But for example, with Netflix, you're gonna take this thing on a plane.

Stephen Robles:

Right.

Jason Aten:

And Netflix's iPad app, you can download stuff. Right? You don't have to be connected to the Internet in order to do that. I will agree with, like, the YouTube thing despite the relationship between Google and and Apple. YouTube's iPad app compared to Using it in a browser?

Jason Aten:

Like, the browser's better for YouTube, in my opinion. I think the browser interface is a lot better, so that doesn't make me as sad. But, like, Netflix is, I don't know. There's just something there about you could have done this with 1 like, it would have taken 1 person 5 seconds. It's not this is not an expensive thing for you to do.

Jason Aten:

So

Stephen Robles:

Not hard. Damn. Alright. We need to talk about Samsung Galaxy Unpacked. Before we do, I wanna thank our wonderful sponsor this 1st month of primary technology, which is our good friends at Rogue Amoeba who makes the incredible apps Audio Hijack and Loopback.

Stephen Robles:

This is, the website. Again, Because of a typo, you, listeners and viewers, benefit from $20 off with coupon code primary tech, all one word, instead of the normal 20% off. And, so thankful they honored that. Listen. I love Audio Hijack.

Stephen Robles:

I'll just tell you about a new feature I haven't mentioned yet, which is that well we mentioned the menu bar. Like right now Jason and I were both recording with Audio Hijack. I don't even have the window open because when you run Audio Hijack There's a little menu bar icon. You can click it and see all your sessions. You can set up multiple sessions like for recording a podcast, maybe for a solo recording.

Stephen Robles:

I have a session for when I do a video and I'm just recording the audio side of that video. And you can click run on any of those sessions from the menu bar, and it's immediately recording. And you can also add a peak meter. You can actually see it here in the visual if you're watching the show. In the peak RMS, you can see the levels that are going up and down.

Stephen Robles:

And right now I am looking at the levels of my microphone in my menu bar. I can see my levels. I can see Jason's levels when he talks, and it's all happening in the menu bar of my Mac. I don't even need another window open cluttering my desktop. It all happens right there.

Stephen Robles:

And you can also do things like title your files with the current date. This way every time you hit record on a new date, it's automatically gonna have either the episode number counting up, You can have the date. You don't have to think about it. Don't even have to have a window open. Do it all from that menu bar with different sessions, plus all the powerful tools like routing your audio different places, recording multiple USB mics in the same computer.

Stephen Robles:

You can do things like record FaceTime calls, record calls like this, record your podcast, and even transcribe audio from a specific block. It's incredibly powerful. You can also schedule recordings, which is pretty cool. So like for my movie podcast, one of the things I do is schedule a recording to say start recording now, stop recording 2 hours later, which is about the length of a movie, and I know Audio Hijack is gonna start and stop that recording. I don't even have to be at my computer and it will record that audio, stop it exactly when I intended it to, then have an audio file ready to plug into my other pocket.

Stephen Robles:

So audio hijack. Incredible tool. You have to try it now. In order to do it, here's where you go. You go to mac audio dotcom/primarytech.

Stephen Robles:

That link is in the show notes. Just click it there. Macaudio.com/primarytech and the promo code primary tech, all one word, gets you $20 off audio hijack or any of their bundles, which if you get it with loopback highly recommend. Back audio.com/primarytech. Link is in the description.

Stephen Robles:

Thank you Rogue Amoeba for sponsoring this episode. Boom. Rogo Amoeba's. Good stuff. Now I thought you went to a tech event this past week, but now you're 0 for 2.

Jason Aten:

I am.

Stephen Robles:

You said you You were gonna go to CES, you didn't go. And you were like, yeah, I'm gonna go to that Galaxy Unpacked event. You didn't go to that now either. So I was looking for you in all the pictures. I know.

Stephen Robles:

You were posting pictures of the event. I was like, where's Jason? He said he was gonna be there and then if it would have been a futile effort because you were not there.

Jason Aten:

I would have I did see one of those where you posted that and I didn't have the heart to be like

Stephen Robles:

Yeah. I saw you didn't even respond. You could tell me. I was like, oh, man. He's really secretive about where he was sitting.

Jason Aten:

Stop looking now.

Stephen Robles:

Secret agent. So you watched it?

Jason Aten:

I did watch it. This was a galaxy unpacked event, and I I actually did intend to go to San Jose. The hard thing for me is that I usually first an event This will fly in the night before and then fly home overnight that particular night. Like, after the event, I don't stick around. I travel very Short amount of time.

Jason Aten:

And so but for this, the logistics were going to require some different travel arrangements that conflicted with some other things. And then I realized I actually didn't. I should have known this, but it because I was planning to go, it wasn't even on my radar though. Like, wait, I can just I can just watch this just like I could an apple. I could just I don't actually have to leave my house to do this.

Jason Aten:

Right. And so I did, and I I watched it. I took lots of notes, shared lots of those notes with Steven. I'm the highlight Of the entire thing, at least for Steven, and I'm try I'm thinking this could convince him to actually give up his iPhone, is that the all of the Galaxy S 24 devices do support wifi 7.

Stephen Robles:

It's bad.

Jason Aten:

If you've been listening to any of our episodes or any episode of any podcast that Stephen has ever been on. You know that that is a selling point right there.

Stephen Robles:

I have a problem. I need more. I did you see what I I sent you a TikTok. I don't know where it was. There was someone doing a speed test and they got 9,000 megabits down.

Stephen Robles:

9 gigs down. What do you do with that?

Jason Aten:

You burn through your bandwidth really quickly is, you know, whatever your your broadband gap is, so yeah.

Stephen Robles:

Now I I don't follow this stuff super closely, but this was the s 24 and s 24 Ultra, which look pretty much exactly the same with some slightly different colors as the 23 lineup. It seemed like everything was AI. That was kind of the whole news of the show.

Jason Aten:

Yeah. And the for yeah. The devices all look the same on the outside as previous models. So if you are a fan of the Samsung Galaxy, line of phones, you're gonna these are they'll look the same. The the the Galaxy s 24 Ultra has, You know, whatever, 5 holes on the back of it.

Jason Aten:

I'm not sure what 4 of them are cameras. I don't know what the other one actually is. I don't know if it's like the I don't know. Equivalent of a lidar sensor or what. But 4 of those are cameras, and then there's facing camera.

Jason Aten:

And the I mean, the flagship, the s 24 Ultra is, I will say, a very, very Good Android phone. It may be the best Android phone. It has all the features, and we talked before about how I have a hard time Reviewing Android phones. It's not that I don't. It's just that I'm bad at it because I'm so addicted to Imessage with my children that it's not that I'm addicted to it.

Jason Aten:

It's just It's it is it is the feature of my phone that I realize I can't replicate replicate anywhere else, and so I won't I can't live without it. But it does have I mean, if you are, Like, I don't even know so here's what's hard. I don't actually know when I look at this list of features how many of these things are new. But, I mean, there are and so this is my Overall take. There are some things that Apple should absolutely incorporate into the iPhone.

Jason Aten:

Wi Fi 7. Like, that would be great. Like, that's the next thing, but none of the iPhones have that. 45 watt fast charging. Like, that's that's pretty cool.

Jason Aten:

I don't think that you can do that on an iPhone. I don't know what the fast charging limit on an iPhone is.

Stephen Robles:

27 27 watts on the 15th.

Jason Aten:

I knew Steven would know. So this is why we work so well together. But but I do think the the entire point of this, At least from Sam Samsung's perspective is they really build this as the first AI phone. Right? They and it's almost it's funny to me because we've seen several AI devices.

Jason Aten:

Right. We've seen the humane AI pin, which is like, we are an AI not phone. Right? And then there's the rabbit r one, which is like, we are an AI companion to your phone so you can use it less and we'll do things for you, which is funny because we're really well, really all the r one is doing is Using AI to actually control an Android phone on your behalf with your stuff logged into it somewhere in the cloud, like a virtual device. Yeah.

Jason Aten:

So it is sort of like The in between. And then Samsung's like, no, dude. We we make phones, and we'll just put the AI on the phone, and it'll be fine. Like, what do you need to get rid of your phone for if you can just do all this stuff? And it does do a couple of cool things.

Jason Aten:

So Samsung notes, it will automatically generate AI generated summaries for you of your of your notes.

Stephen Robles:

Oh.

Jason Aten:

It has an on device interpreter mode and a live translate mode. So there's 2 different things. 1, you could be on the phone talking to a person in 2 different languages, and it'll Detect the language of both people, and it'll do that whole, like, translate for you. Or if you're having a conversation across from someone, As you speak, it will show what you said in the language of the person you're talking to so you can kinda use it to talk. Now that's not necessarily A super new feature.

Jason Aten:

It is because you've been able to do that on on several Google devices, including, like, the Nest Hub home explosively max thing that I have inside that I don't remember the name of. Uh-huh. I I don't know why I don't know why I included explosively. That was the weirdest

Stephen Robles:

description I've ever nest hub packs.

Jason Aten:

It's just a nest hub mat.

Stephen Robles:

It's all good.

Jason Aten:

Here's the reason it's hard, Because they changed the names of all of these things to be branded as Nest. They didn't used to be that, so it messes me up. So to me, the Nest is my thermostat. Anyway, That's a big one. A lot of camera improvements.

Stephen Robles:

Now, wait. Wait. One question on the summaries, though. So the the summary in your notes thing, is that, like, powered by ChatGPT behind the scenes or is that like a Samsung AI that they have developed?

Jason Aten:

Oh, man. You're asking me questions that I I was not prepared for Samsung those ad generators. Hang on. I can get you the answer.

Stephen Robles:

That'll be a follow-up.

Jason Aten:

I I can get you answers. It says, so you just really wanna know, Is it using chat gpt?

Stephen Robles:

It's just is it just chat gpt?

Jason Aten:

Yeah. So it's actually using so so the obvious answer, which I don't understand why I didn't say this. It's Android device. It's not using Chargebee T. Right?

Jason Aten:

It's using Google.

Stephen Robles:

Oh, it's Google barge.

Jason Aten:

I mean, it's using some version of something. Whatever Google's generative AI feature is, It's using that. So I don't know. I should have been able to answer that for you. This is how poor poorly I do with Android.

Stephen Robles:

No. No. It's good. It's good. It's good.

Jason Aten:

But it would be really a really big slab in Google's face if Samsung, which has worked with Google on all of these features, was like, no, dude. We'll just use chat gpt. It's good. Thanks. We're fine.

Stephen Robles:

Right. Right.

Jason Aten:

The camera is Is one of Samsung's strong suits. The they're using some AI editing tool. Like, Google has done this on the Pixel for a while, right, with some of its AI editing tools, With Magic Eraser, whatever, best take. I think you tried to this the whole saga was trying to fool it. But There's even now on Samsung some suggested edits.

Jason Aten:

So you can ask it, what should I do to this photo? And it will it'll suggest AI generated Edit. So maybe that's removing a distractive element or increasing the brightness of the background or whatever it might be. So that's that is kind of interesting to me And I think that most of especially on the Android side, a lot of these device makers have just decided we don't we don't care if it's a photo anymore. We just want it to look really good.

Jason Aten:

And so here's the thing. This is actually partially where I disagree with those who are like, well, it's not a photo. Right. I used to be a professional photographer, And I always thought of my job if I was photographing an event or, you know, I photographed a lot of weddings in my life. My job was to help someone remember the way they felt That moment, whenever that was happening, not necessarily to give them a documentary representation of what may have actually been happening at different times now.

Jason Aten:

It didn't mean you wanted things up, and this was 15 years ago. So none of this stuff existed other than Photoshop. But I think when what Samsung and what Google, what they're trying to do is Give you photos that remind you of what you thought was happening. Like, the experience that you're going to remember in the future, not the distracting element in the background, and that's extraneous And disposables. Let's just get rid of it.

Stephen Robles:

Right. I don't I don't

Jason Aten:

know what you think about that. What do you think?

Stephen Robles:

You know, I I've heard Nilay Patel talk at length about what is a photo and, like, the troubling thought of changing history if we ever need to use these photos, I guess like in a court case. But she's a lawyer, so maybe that's why it's It's that perspective. Yeah. And I think like you, if I have the choice of a picture of my family where 2 people are blinking or getting an AI version of the photo where everyone's looking at the camera and smiling. Yeah.

Stephen Robles:

I want the latter. And in those situations, if you're snapping multiple photos, Trying to get the best one desperately. You know, it's really hard, especially the more people you have in the photo, the more difficult that is. Or if you're taking a selfie and it's your one trip to Niagara Falls. And in that selfie, some dude was, like, picking his nose in the background.

Stephen Robles:

Yes. I I don't want that guy there. Like, My memory was not of that guy. The memory is sharing this moment with someone I love in a beautiful place, whatever. So I'm I'm less staunch on These are not photos.

Stephen Robles:

This is wrong kind of thing. And from the few minutes I tested the Google Pixel 8 Pro with these, like, photo like this best take feature. It seemed to be doing a good job of not letting you change the photo so much that it was a totally different photo. You know, you can I mean listen Photoshop has been around for years? You could cut you out of a photo and put you like in the desert and say like here's me in the desert.

Stephen Robles:

Like that didn't happen. Like you know you could have done that forever. And making it easier to do that, I don't know I'll try to think it is. I like right now these tools as they stand, I think they are useful for most people just trying to take photos of themselves and their friends and family

Jason Aten:

Yep.

Stephen Robles:

Or places they're going to. And I I remember I used to work in the travel industry and I did some photography for that. Took photos like brochures and I always had to wait till the entire group left or try to run ahead of the whole group to get a picture of the scene or whatever we were at with no people in it. So we could use it in a brochure or something. Then also get other photos with people.

Stephen Robles:

But like just that alone to where I could just take a photo and if there's People there doesn't matter, like I can just remove them quickly with, you know, AI. You know, I'm down for that too. So I'm good. Like, I'm good with these.

Jason Aten:

Yeah. I do think that the it's kind of scary that you just I'd like to remove them with AI. I think you meant from the photo.

Stephen Robles:

Not not.

Jason Aten:

I'm actually trying to like I just they all if everyone is wearing AI pins and they just start dragging each other off of the thing. I just wanna remove them with AI. I just wanted to be clear, like some Irobot Stuff going on right there. So

Stephen Robles:

Like a Thanos just dusting away because you're wearing the AI pin. No. Not not that. I do wanna touch real quick. This was more of a Google feature, but Samsung included in their announcement, which was the circle or Google circle, which basically you take you have a photo and you can take your s 24 Ultra pen, your s pen or your finger I imagine Yep.

Stephen Robles:

And circle something in a photo to then search for it. And this is a cool feature. You know, I feel like all of these iterations are just Google Lens reborn with Right.

Jason Aten:

More accuracy It's just a different UI. It's just a different way of interacting with the feature that exists. And you're gonna be thrilled because this is Actually also coming to the Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro.

Stephen Robles:

It'll probably cover the iPhone too. Like, it'll probably just be in the Google app on iPhone because

Jason Aten:

That's probably true.

Stephen Robles:

And the reason why I saw a quick story on this, there's we were in a group and, I was telling my kids like, you see that backpack? Like I knew it was a, like, a high end backpack like a Louis Vuitton or something and they don't they have no context of like what this stuff costs. I was like I bet that backpack is like 1,000 of dollars and they're like, nah that's crazy. So what I did was I took a photo with my iPhone 5x camera lens. I'm still down.

Stephen Robles:

I still enjoy it. Yep. I took a photo and then basically, like, cropped it so only the backpack was in the photo. I went to the Google search app on my iPhone where you can upload a photo right there in the iPhone, if you do this today, right now, and it searches it does a reverse image search for the backpack and I was able to find it on whatever coach or Louis Vuitton website because the Google does that reverse image search and it's it works really well. You can do that now, like that's been around for years.

Stephen Robles:

You can do it on the web too. So I think this is cool, like I think it's a like a better implementation to say you You don't have to crop your photo weird. You don't have to, like, try and get super close. Like, just circle the thing you wanna search for and it'll find it. And this seems a cool feature.

Stephen Robles:

It'll probably be everywhere, but Samsung showed off on their phones.

Jason Aten:

Yep. Yeah. I mean, I think if you're looking to upgrade to a Samsung Gala I mean, you're gonna be really happy, but the phones don't seem that much different. It's just They are everyone is all in on incorporating AI. And I just I will go back to what I said at the beginning.

Jason Aten:

I believe that this is a much better way to do that Then what some of these accessory we talked about this last week. I think that this is what you're going to see. I'm hopeful that we'll see some of this from Apple. That's my the take I'm writing for this weekend is That there are some things here that I really hope Apple is paying attention to, so

Stephen Robles:

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Alright. Real quick, I wanna do some follow-up quick personal tech segment, But before we do, give me like real quick because the other thing that Apple was in the news for this past week, which gets overshadowed by Apple Vision Pro, was the Epic versus Apple court case and their message to developers.

Stephen Robles:

Tell me real quick what happened there.

Jason Aten:

Yeah. So this so Apple and Epic, they had their case. It was several years ago. Apple mostly won that case with the exception of one of the counts, which was anti steering, which is essentially Apple has not allowed developers in the past to Say that you could buy their thing, like, for example, with Netflix, that you could buy their thing somewhere else. And more specifically, not only could you you couldn't link to your own store.

Jason Aten:

So if you're a game, you couldn't link out to your own game store to buy skins or whatever you might might do. So, they both appealed. The the Circuit court mostly basically upheld that. They appealed to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court was like, now we're good. We don't even wanna hear it.

Jason Aten:

So they they declined to review the case, which means that the district or its ruling stands, which means Apple doesn't have to allow 3rd party app app stores. It doesn't have to allow 3rd party payment processes in its own app store, At least because of this case, that may change because of lawmakers and regulators. But as far as the outcome of this case, they didn't have to do that. But what they did have to do was allow Developers to link out. That was the one piece that they lost.

Jason Aten:

So Apple responded by updating their developer agreement To accommodate this, and essentially, the Apple's response is yes. You can add one link on one page in your app, and it has to Actually, open the Safari, whatever the default browser on the device is. It can't open it in a web view. It has to actually take you out to the browser. You can then Sell your thing.

Jason Aten:

And if a person purchases something as a result of clicking on that link within 7 days, so not even just Right away, Apple is still going to get its cut and its cut will be 27%. Right? They are discounting it by 3% because that's what they say the Credit card processing fees are that you're now gonna have to pay to Stripe or whoever. They you will be required if you do this, you have to apply for the store kit entitlement. And And if you do this, you will be required to submit on a monthly basis all of your transactions Woah.

Jason Aten:

And send Apple their 27%. Now it was funny for me because I get you know, as soon as the Supreme Court denied hearing this, I get a, an email from the PR people for Epic Saying, like, this is a you know, this is a we think this is wrong because whatever whatever Apple is bad, but we this is a victory because now developers will be able to do this thing. And then Apple releases this and I get another email. It's like, this is just bad. Right?

Jason Aten:

Like so there's like a sort of a high moment because they're like, oh, good. Apple's gonna be forced to let us do this. And then Apple did exactly what we expected, which is we're gonna still take our cut. And it it the revealing thing about that was nobody cares. None of the developers care.

Jason Aten:

No. Listen. None of the developers care about being able to link out. They don't. That's not the thing.

Jason Aten:

That is not the thing that anyone cares about. What they care about is the cut. Right? The only reason they care about 3rd party app stores, 3rd party payment methods linking up to their own website is because they're Someone is trying to find a way to not have to pay Apple essentially 30% of their income as a result of being in, you know, being in the App Store. I shouldn't say nobody cares, but my point is the real issue here isn't give us a ability to link to our website.

Jason Aten:

The real issue is Right. Give us a way to sell things to our customers without having Give you a cut, Apple. And that's just never gonna

Stephen Robles:

happen.

Jason Aten:

Right now, my take in this story, I just wanna be clear, is Apple should just leave it alone. Right? This it's just not worth it because guess what? I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna click a link to go pay somewhere else.

Jason Aten:

I'm just gonna use in app purchase. And developers who do this still have to allow in app purchase. If you wanna do the store kit new thing, you have to still allow in app purchase. Most people are just gonna do that. Apple's not gonna lose that much money as a result, But the amount of goodwill that they're losing by making people jump through these hoops and really the thing that they're doing is they're just making themselves a bigger target for lawmakers.

Jason Aten:

Right. There's already the

Stephen Robles:

I

Jason Aten:

think it's the open markets act that's just been kind of sitting there waiting for someone to do something with it. Apple does not want that to get passed, and they are just like, They're just daring lawmakers to do something. Like, it's like they're they're not gonna do this without being forced and they are just being like force me. Come on. Just do it.

Stephen Robles:

Just to show how little Apple is willing to pay any money for anything it doesn't want pay. The Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in the saga of the blood oxygen sensor that Massimo sued Apple for whatever patent infringement. Apple is selling the watches again, deliberately disabling the feature, and you can go on Apple's website to, like, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 or Series 9 page, and it says, Series 9 Ultra 2 no longer include the blood oxygen feature. Like, Apple is literally just gonna say, you know what? Forget it.

Stephen Robles:

This feature that was like The primary feature of I think it was the series 8, 7 when it came out.

Jason Aten:

I think it was series

Stephen Robles:

Or 7. Yeah. It was Yeah. Or was it 6? I can't remember.

Stephen Robles:

I don't think it was a series

Jason Aten:

7, I think.

Stephen Robles:

But they're basically saying, like, same price. You could buy the device. No problem. We're just you're not gonna get blood oxygen anymore, which to be fair wasn't the most accurate sensor on the Apple Watch. Like it's probably not a huge loss.

Stephen Robles:

But just goes to show that Apple would rather put up a banner on their website saying our watches no longer have this feature we told you about rather than pay Mas sumo whatever amount they're asking for to whatever to stop talking about this.

Jason Aten:

Yeah. And it was the series 6. You were right. It but Oh. Think about it like this.

Jason Aten:

Apple would rather make their product and the experience of using the product worse Oh, yeah. Than write a check to this company. And the thing about Masimo is that company is Big enough. The type of company Apple is, they're not gonna just be like, buy them. Right?

Jason Aten:

They're not gonna just buy that company because that company is big enough that that where I don't know what Masimo's worth, but it's probably more than $10,000,000,000. Right? So that's a Right. Apple could afford it, but Apple doesn't buy companies that are that big. It just doesn't.

Jason Aten:

It so That's why this is such a problem. And what's interesting about it is Apple doesn't want to give in until it doesn't have a choice in this case where It's gonna exhaust every legal avenue. Right? Because it's still on appeal. Right?

Jason Aten:

They're still appealing this. It's just they've disabled it for now so that they can go back on sale. The problem for Apple is 1 if they lose the case, right, if they are forced to have to they either now have to sell the devices permanently without this, Or they have to write a much, much bigger check because they will have no leverage at all. Right? The time you can get a better deal on something like this Is while the while the things are still in doubt, while there's still some uncertainty.

Jason Aten:

But once once they lose the case, if that's what happens, they're gonna have to write a bigger check-in. So it's just amazing to me that they would rather make the experience of using the product worse than write these people a check. Like, Who who does that? That's amazing to me.

Stephen Robles:

But also, like, this probably would not deter anyone from buying a watch that was already planning to buy 1.

Jason Aten:

That's probably true.

Stephen Robles:

You know, like, I I don't think anybody would see that banner like, oh I don't even know what that did. Or like, if someone if that was an important metric for someone, blood oxygen was something they were measuring, They probably already have the $10 finger blood oxygen sensor from Walgreens and don't care whether it's in the watch or not. So I guess I I get it, but yeah, it's it is pretty it's pretty wild.

Jason Aten:

Yeah. Pretty wild. It is wild.

Stephen Robles:

Alright. Two quick follow ups and then, we might move our personal tech as the bonus topic. Dude, I think it might serve us there. But we were talking about Apple merch and Apple Stores and just wanna share this. Zach White on threads Was recently at the Apple Park in Cupertino and sent us a picture of the t shirt selection currently available which is very much a retro Apple selection.

Stephen Robles:

There's an Apple park. You have the 6 color Apple logo, the old school Apple, like font, and then the old school Mac with the hello. These are some cool these are cool merch. I gotta get over there and and get some merch.

Jason Aten:

Yeah. I haven't seen so the First 3 on the left, I've seen those are, I think, pretty standard. I've seen those before. The 2 mac the 3 Macintosh ones I have never seen before. So that's cool that they I didn't I wasn't necessarily aware that there was some kind of a rotation of the shirts.

Jason Aten:

Now I feel like I need to go back because I do still have my

Stephen Robles:

My,

Jason Aten:

Appleparkshire. I just keep it here so Steven can see it every time we record. You need

Stephen Robles:

to keep mine in the studio. Just pull it out, then it'll feel bad. Okay. But, yeah, it looks they look it's fun. Do you know how often they change out?

Stephen Robles:

Is it, like, seasonally?

Jason Aten:

I didn't even realize that they did that. So that's Oh, that's interesting. Interesting to me. I mean, I've been to that Apple Park store I think three times. And I guess it never occurred to me that maybe the search were different.

Stephen Robles:

You know what? I tell you what? I'm gonna ask you a personal tech question about Apple events. And then we'll have the other question for the bonus episode. Okay.

Stephen Robles:

One other piece of follow-up though is we've talked about, again, Apple Stores, but the Apple Store Time Machine, which was developed by Michael Stieber, where you can do, like, 3 d walk throughs of the 4 original Apple retail stores. I've not ever actually tried this. Have you tried this tool.

Jason Aten:

Yes. So I wanna just I put this in here because you mentioned the Facades app, which is made by Michael Stieber, and I thought it was worth mentioning that he had also done this thing. I don't know. A couple of years ago. And you do have to download the whole thing to your you can download the whole thing to your phone or your computer and run it locally.

Jason Aten:

I don't think it's the 4 original Apple Stores. I think it's just 4, like, iconic. So it is the original

Stephen Robles:

Oh.

Jason Aten:

Dyson's corner square, Where whatever that name is.

Stephen Robles:

It has the Fifth Avenue too.

Jason Aten:

It has the Fifth Avenue. I think it might have the Palo Alto store possibly. What are they?

Stephen Robles:

Stanford Shopping, Tysons Corner, 5th Avenue, Infinite Loop.

Jason Aten:

In the infinite loop. So, I think that that's it's it's just a cool thing. You can actually walk through them, especially the Tysons Corner because of How that's the original store. It just it feels so different. So incredibly different.

Jason Aten:

And, actually, even the 5th Avenue is not the current. It's the original. These are all the original layouts of these stores. So even the Fifth Avenue, if you go to it today, it's very different than than that. I mean, it still obviously has the staircase coming down, but the rest of it's different.

Jason Aten:

So just thought that was cool since we had talked about it now. This is now the 3rd time. So maybe that'll be sort of recurring follow-up theme.

Stephen Robles:

It's It's fun to see, like, the stuff that he put on the shelves too, like the OSX, you know, boxes and stuff. Yep. Yeah. The black MacBooks that are on the table in one of these clips. It's pretty cool.

Stephen Robles:

So we'll With the link in the show notes, also wanted to mention Apple Podcasts. If you listen to Apple Podcasts, which a majority of you are listening there now, the show notes get cut off after a certain character amount. And so if you are looking for a link that I said I was gonna include in the show notes and you're like, he said he was gonna put the link and it's not there. I put it there. Apple Podcast cuts it off.

Stephen Robles:

So go to primarytech.fm and you can see all the links plus the transcript for the show, plus link to the video. It's all there. So still, you know, follow, subscribe, all that kind of stuff. But, primary tech dot f m if you wanna get the full show note links if you see any cut off.

Jason Aten:

Or just send a tweet or a a a thread to Steven and he'll Yeah. He's a personal concierge service that we offer with this show that he'll just send you those links.

Stephen Robles:

I'll send you the link. A hand a farm to table and

Jason Aten:

LYNX. Absolutely.

Stephen Robles:

My my notes to your friends. Anyway, we're gonna do a bonus episode. Your question, I think, is great. So the bonus episode this week will be, if If you could only choose 2 Apple Devices what would they be? Which I think is, you know, Sophie's Choice, but we're gonna say what 2 Apple Devices?

Stephen Robles:

But I saw this other thread recently. I forget who it was, but it was a conversation about the original and old iLife software. And I'm gonna just reminisce in a moment, but how like Your entry into the Apple world, were you in, like, that ilife, idvd, iWeb time when now that was active?

Jason Aten:

Steven, I have a dot mac email address. I have been doing this.

Stephen Robles:

So do

Jason Aten:

I. I've been doing this for a very long time. But but are we saving it for the are we saving that for the bonus topic, or are we talking about it now?

Stephen Robles:

Let's talk about this. This is personal tech. We'll talk about it right now, and then we'll do the 2 Apple Devices, for the bonus topic.

Jason Aten:

And you said something about the Apple Events for the bonus hour 2? But it did sound good to it.

Stephen Robles:

We'll get to it. Listen. Listen. Jason, listen. I had 2 thoughts.

Stephen Robles:

They were they were competing in my mind. 1, I was gonna ask, you know, how you choose the events you go to personally because you're like Samsung Galaxy, nah. CES, nah. AirPods Pro 2 on a United flight? Sure, I'll go to that.

Jason Aten:

Absolutely. I'll go to that.

Stephen Robles:

So I'll be asking about that but we can talk about it another time. Okay. Now I was just curious like What year like, I can pinpoint the year for me was 2,005. 2,005 is when I got my Ipod, I started paying for dot mac and I got my dot mac address. And then that year, I got my 12 inch G4 PowerBook and it led me into that whole world.

Stephen Robles:

Can you do you remember the the year or, like, the era that you entered the Apple space?

Jason Aten:

Yeah. I do. I my first Apple product that I purchased was a titanium PowerBook G4. So I think that's 2,000 or 2,001. I think it was 2,001 was the first one, that I bought on my own.

Jason Aten:

It had the super drive in it, which was amazing. It was probably like a 400 megahertz device With I don't even know the specs anymore. I have actually tried to find my original Mac, PowerBook g 4 Because I think I know where it may still be located. I sold it. That person, I know where anyway.

Jason Aten:

Yeah. Someday, I'm gonna show up on this show and I'm just gonna hold it up and you're gonna be like, what is that lunch tray.

Stephen Robles:

I sold I sold my 12 inch G4 PowerBook shortly after I got married because we needed $250. I sold it for 250. I regret it to this day. Yeah. I wish I still had it.

Stephen Robles:

I've looked on eBay and, like, you can still buy a g 4 12 inch PowerBook, but I'm, like, it's not mine. Right. So it doesn't really matter. You know, I I wanted my original.

Jason Aten:

Yeah. So and so but my first so I was exposed like, in school, we had Macs. And then I had a friend when I was very young Who had I think it was either an original Mac or, like, an SE 30, whatever the you know, a couple years later. But it was, you know, what you think of it, the iconic Macintosh. And then and I know that there are some people who who are older than us who just their heads exploded when I tried to describe it that way, and I apologize.

Jason Aten:

But my first like, When I remember really using a Mac on a regular basis was I had a friend in college who got a gumdrop Imac, who who got an actual Imac.

Stephen Robles:

Oh, sure.

Jason Aten:

And that was just, like, Mind blowing to me because first of all, I didn't have a computer period. And so the to be around someone who had not only just a computer, but something that was that cool. And then Few years later, I bought my first PowerBook g 4, and I actually bought it to use Final Cut Pro. That was the reason that I bought that That device at the time and it was amazing because it actually it was the fastest computer I'd ever used at that time. So

Stephen Robles:

Yeah. Exactly. I and so mine was the the 12 inch G4 PowerBook in 2005 and it had the SuperDrive. And I remember iLife, like the iDVD like I didn't buy Final Cut until a couple years later. I did Final Cut Express.

Stephen Robles:

I actually never got Final Cut 7 full on. I won Final Cut Express to then the Final Cut Pro 10, once that changed. But on that G4 PowerBook, there was one piece of software. I the Person who was responsible for it, they were on threads, and I'll I'll try and find it. Basically, iDVD.

Stephen Robles:

It was so easy to make DVDs with custom menus and like multiple layers of menus. For some reason I just loved doing it. Obviously I loved movies. That's why I have a movie podcast. But I would make short videos in Imovie, especially for like youth group and stuff back then, and I would just make DVDs.

Stephen Robles:

I just made like dozens of DVDs. I would buy the whole 50 disc spindle, burn them all, label it. I even had like one of those I bought or my parents bought for me, I don't even know, like a like a DVD label printer.

Jason Aten:

Yep.

Stephen Robles:

So it would like print out the circle, it had a sticker, and then it there was like a little applicator thing. It looked like the DVD spindle, but you basically like dvds down here and you push it down with the sticker and then you could have like a branded label DVD. I just and then I even I bought the the DVD blank cases, little plastic book things, and I would print inserts and, like, I I made DVDs with ITV, of videos that I made. I wasn't like pirating stuff, but it was just so fun and it felt like This is amazing. This just comes with the computer.

Stephen Robles:

I can make a movie in Imovie, iLife, burn it in iDVD, print all this stuff, and, like, hand someone what looks like a completely finished IDV. And honestly, after college, a lot of my, like, side work Was that? It was like people who, you know, wanted to make videos of their own or were trying to sell stuff. And when I could hand them like a fully jacketed DVD with a label printed on the disc and hand that to them, like it blew their minds. They were like, this looks amazing can you make a 100 of these?

Stephen Robles:

Like, sure it'll take me a week because I'm gonna be burning 1 by 1, in in my power book, but it was just such a nostalgia, like I just loved that era and it was I don't know. It just felt like amazing tools to make stuff right away.

Jason Aten:

Okay. So here's the thing. I'm gonna make a pitch. Anyone who just heard that, You you have to become a member of this podcast. And the reason you have to become a member because we, first of all, really appreciate the support.

Jason Aten:

We really do. That's why we love that you're listening. We We love it if you become a member, but there's a particular reason you have to become a member. And I don't even care if you become a member and then cancel before the free trial is over because you have to go back and you have to listen to last week's bonus episode because essentially, Steven just told the same story in reverse About buying a DVD, a physical DVD, and then all of the hoops he went through to convert it to not a DVD to a digital file. So, like, there's so much poetry involved in that entire story.

Jason Aten:

Like last week, he talked about how Awesome. Right now, his life mission is to take physical DVDs and turn them into something he can, like, move around in the script and edit out swear words and then Have a vision a version that he can watch with his kids, and it was like he used handbrake and he used all these different things.

Stephen Robles:

Yes.

Jason Aten:

And but today, he told us the story of where it all began, which was I'm gonna make as many DVDs in the real as I can, and I love that. So become a member. It'll be worth it. It'll be worth it. So

Stephen Robles:

It just blew my mind. It just blew my mind. And it is what we're here for.

Jason Aten:

This is what I'm here for. These moments.

Stephen Robles:

Circle. So here's what you could do. You could go and support the show directly on Apple guest. You could just do a free trial, listen to bonus episodes right there. Also, go to primary tech dot f m, click bonus episodes, and you can support us through Memberful one feed and you'll get ad free versions of the show plus all the bonus episodes.

Stephen Robles:

There's a bonus episode every week. The main episodes this week, we're gonna talk about if we only could have 2 Apple Devices. Which would we choose? That was a good prompt from Jason. So go sign up, support the show.

Stephen Robles:

We really appreciate your support. 5 star rating and review if you could do that. That's free to do. Anybody can do that. Just flood it in there again.

Stephen Robles:

Let's get in the top 10 tech shows this week. That'd be amazing.

Jason Aten:

That'd be amazing.

Stephen Robles:

Flood in there. 5 star reviews. Support the show if can, we wanna be doing this for a long time and your support really helps with that. And of course you can follow Jason and myself. All those links are in the show notes.

Stephen Robles:

Thanks for listening and watching. You can go to youtube. Com/atprimarytechshow to watch over there to Primary Technology and we'll see you over in the bonus episode.

Creators and Guests

Jason Aten
Host
Jason Aten
Contributing Editor/Tech Columnist @Inc | Get my newsletter: https://t.co/BZ5YbeSGcS | Email me: me@jasonaten.net
Stephen Robles
Host
Stephen Robles
Making technology more useful for everyone 📺 video and podcast creator 🎼 musical theater kid at heart
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