Hands-On Tech 245 Transcript
Please be advised this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word for word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-supported version of the show.
Mikah Sargent [00:00:00]:
Coming up on Hands-On Tech, let's go for a thought experiment. Should the iPod Classic make a return? This is Twit.
Mikah Sargent [00:00:18]:
Hello and welcome to Hands-On, pr should say hello and welcome to Hands on Deck. It is December, one of my favorite months of the year. And today, as is always the case, I, Micah Sargent, am taking your tech questions and answering them. Occasionally you write in with a question that is not about tech support per se, but instead is simply a thought experiment. And so I am kind of interested in this question which comes in from Michael. Michael has written in with the following. Do you think Apple will ever cross create what will be an updated iPod classic which could be updated to be a home ecosystem device? Use an old iPhone device, strip the telephone component.
Mikah Sargent [00:01:04]:
Use latest bluetooth and Wi-Fi standards, modified software mimicking the iPhone without the telephone. They would probably have many sales if the price was right. And that would be significantly less than the lowest price on the lowest level iPhone available today. Michael, Michael, Michael, let me read this again.
Mikah Sargent [00:01:27]:
Use an old iPhone device, strip the telephone component. Use the latest Bluetooth and Wi-Fi standards and modified software mimicking the iPhone less the telephone.
Mikah Sargent [00:01:42]:
Are you getting it? You're describing an iPad, Michael. I understand that in part what you do mean here is a small device, right? Like the iPod classic was or like the iPod touch was. But ultimately when it comes to this category, we saw the, the.
Mikah Sargent [00:02:05]:
The destruction of, the end of the sun setting of the iPod classic or the iPod touch rather. And honestly, that device just was not getting the sales right that Apple was expecting. And when you have these other options available, it kind of didn't have a reason to be there. You know, Apple is regularly pushing for bigger, better screens, bigger, better cameras, bigger, better battery life, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. That said, I 100%.
Mikah Sargent [00:02:40]:
Understand sort of the desire for this. I love the idea of a device that has a bunch of storage in it, right, that can hold all of the songs that I want to listen to, something that could just be in the car or as you're talking about to be this kind of home ecosystem device, right? This home hub. That part when you said the home hub, that's especially where I said what you're describing is an iPad. Now it also kind of made me think about how, Michael, it's a little bit kind of like a home pod in a way, right? Because it is this device that doesn't technically have the telephone component. It has the latest Bluetooth and wifi standards. It can do most of what you would expect Something to do when it comes to this home ecosystem. But ultimately, yeah, that this is where the iPad falls in line. Right.
Mikah Sargent [00:03:33]:
Apple is rumored to be working on an updated sort of home hub style iPad like device that would sit in your home always and serve as a screen that you can interact with your different home products, your Apple home products, your lights and your, you know, your locks and your, your AC heating, all that jazz. And so when it comes to that, certainly I think that this is a category that Apple has been focused on for some time, but it's just not that exact form factor that you're talking about. So to answer your direct question, Michael, do I think Apple will ever create an updated iPod Classic? Obviously.
Mikah Sargent [00:04:19]:
Time will tell. There's no sure way to know. I don't think we'll see a return of an iPod classic style device. I think its time has come and gone and the company has so many other product categories to focus on and to work on regularly that that felt like sort of a passion project by the time the iPod touch went the way of the dodo. And given that Apple also has to consider how it can bring in new customers, the idea of handing a younger person, a much younger person an iPod touch was pretty palatable. Then you go, okay, the iPod touch is no longer available. Let me give them an iPad, right? Or let me give them.
Mikah Sargent [00:05:17]:
Gods forbid, an iPhone. And those that then keeps this person in or that that family in the Apple ecosystem. It keeps them interested in what's there. It keeps them interested in wanting to have the next version and the next version and the next version. So I do think that this is an interesting thought experiment for sure. Definitely understand this idea of wanting to kind of have this stripped down product. And frankly if you hold onto an old iPhone, that's kind of what this is, right? You can, I mean you even talk about it, use an old iPhone device strip the telephone component. So yeah, I take an older iPhone and I don't have a SIM card in it and this becomes this kind of device that you're talking about.
Mikah Sargent [00:06:06]:
In fact there is a third party app called Home control and, or excuse me, home Controller and I think Controller for short. And this app has a built in hub functionality where you take a phone that you always have at home and you have that connected and it kind of adds something special, automations to your smart home setup. So there are ways to go about using an older device and making use of this. It also reminds me, I think it was Samsung.
Mikah Sargent [00:06:41]:
Who did this. I'm pretty sure it was Samsung, it may have been Google with its old Pixel devices, but one of these companies said, look, you probably have old Android devices rolling around at home and you aren't using them anymore, so how can you recycle them? And kind of came up with special categories, categories for these products. One of them was like a baby monitor. And so you took an older phone which had a camera on the front and the back and had microphone, obviously it's a phone and a speaker and then you could use it as a way, as a means of serving as a.
Mikah Sargent [00:07:19]:
As a baby monitor. I'm hoping someone in the chat's going to come around and give me a link to this. I'm pretty sure it was Samsung who did this, but we'll see if the chat comes around with it. But the point is that this was a way of upcycling that old technology and I think that that's more what we would have here rather than going forth with kind of a newer device. I also would argue that Apple does have to have. It has to put its money where its mouth is when it comes to its green initiatives. And so the thought of at this point in this, the year of 2025 leading into 2026, having a device that is sort of on the cusp of being an iPhone but is not quite an iPhone is perhaps a little bit not entirely green minded in the sense of.
Mikah Sargent [00:08:26]:
There'S going to come a day where the person who has that is just going to want to switch into something that does have the telephone component as well. So yeah, there are some different options and yes, that is controller for HomeKit. But I still, I wish I could remember who it was. I'm pretty sure it was like Samsung who came up with this idea of taking some older devices and turning them into things like a baby monitor. So Michael, I love this question and I love sort of the thought experiment of it all. My favorite part though, Michael, is you're in there. They would probably have many sales if the price was right and that would be significantly less than the lowest pricing on the lowest level iPhone available today.
Mikah Sargent [00:09:11]:
One could only imagine what kind of sales they would have and if it would be a successful product. But we can hope, we can wish, we can imagine for sure. But I'm kind of curious now if you want to write in hot at Twitter if you could have Apple make a product, it can be a product that it used to make. It could be a completely new product, it could be anything. What product do you wish Apple would make that you would buy? For me, I would love it if Apple and this is I know it's a common refrain among the Apple.
Mikah Sargent [00:09:50]:
Apple enjoyers out there, but I do wish that Apple would get back into the router game. I loved my AirPod AirPod, my airport extreme and it was for its time a great router that had some added functionality. Something that was super cool about what Apple did with the airports was give you the ability to stream music from them long before anyone else came along and was doing it in the same way, I think. Well, I shouldn't say that Sonos was doing some of it for that time, but this ease of just plugging in a speaker and being able to play music throughout your home was really cool. And then the added functionality of having a hard drive connected as well made it really cool. And it was very simple once again in the Mac ecosystem or in the Apple ecosystem to be able to control these devices and manage them. So I really, really really loved my airports and was sad whenever those went away. And you know, EERO is what I have now and it does pretty well, but it just doesn't quite have that same flair that I that I enjoyed about the Airport Extreme that I had.
Mikah Sargent [00:11:06]:
So that is my device again. Write me hot@twit.tv with your feedback on what would be yours. Speaking of feedback, we'll get to some in just a moment. Are you curious about Club Twit? I can't blame you. It's our premium membership that transforms your Twit experience. Every show ad free and uninterrupted, exclusive podcasts you won't find anywhere else, behind the scenes content and VIP access to our private Discord community where you can connect directly with hosts and fellow tech enthusiasts. Sound good and ready to Upgrade? Visit twit.tv/clubtwit. so Charles has written in with a response to an earlier episode. Charles had written in before with some feedback that was great.
Mikah Sargent [00:11:50]:
Regarding my episode where there was a question about recycling old tech, Charles provided some feedback for that which was great. We ended up reading it out on the on an episode. But Charles is now talking about Linux also based in a conversation that took place in our Club Twit Discord. So here's what Charles had to say. Wizardling and for those who don't know, Wizardling is a a listener and member of Club Twit and Wizardling in the Discord mentioned this. So here's what Charles says. Wizardling mentioned one piece that I have observed but failed to mention explicitly. Even running Linux currently with Debian 13.1 and GNOME KDE Plasma.
Mikah Sargent [00:12:33]:
The satellite laptop is still a hair sluggish, especially when compared to a newer, more modern machine. When compared to the slow performance under Windows 10, the performance is a ton better. Of course, better is all relative. This is some background from Charles. Charles says, I started out my journey in the Linux dual booting Windows 10 and Manjaro. I eventually figured out these issues with Manjaro. One I had to disable secure boot in order to run Manjaro, 2 there is no easily available way to run full disk encryption in Manjaro and three Manjaro setup does not allow for the manual partition configuration or if it does, it's not easy to do. So Charles went on to say, once I got all my data off of the Windows 10 partition, I switched to a single boot Linux setup.
Mikah Sargent [00:13:21]:
I elected to start with Debian since it is stable and has a good reputation. Plus I had to start somewhere. Turns out that I am happy with Debian because 1 I can enable Secure Boot again, 2 I can set up FDE, that's full disk encryption and 3 I am able to manually configure the partitions. So this was in response to a conversation about when we're recycling old tech, do we get rid of it and go that way or do we keep it? And in many cases I've recommended installing a light version of Linux. Charles said, look, I was doing the dual boot thing because I was a little worried about switching to Linux or you know, needed to get some stuff prepared before I made the switch. But now that I made that full switch, it's been delicious and perfect since then. So I'm really happy to hear that Charles, Glad that that has worked out for you. If you have thought experiments that you would like to write in with, always happy to take those also.
Mikah Sargent [00:14:22]:
Always happy to hear your feedback again. hot@twit.tv is how you get touch. Now is the time where again we talked about wizardling from the Discord. How do you join the Discord? You gotta join Club Twit. twit.tv/clubtwit is where you go for that. $10 a month, $120 a year. You get access to so much ad free episodes, so many different feeds that we have now behind the scenes before the show, after the show we've got a feed for our live coverage of events.
Mikah Sargent [00:14:50]:
We have a feed for our special shows in the club like my Crafting Corner, Stacey's Book Club and loads more and access as I mentioned to that Discord join. Now I believe we're running a little deal right now, even in December. So you can check that out and of course, you know, try it out. Two weeks free as well. twit.tv/clubtwit. With that, we have reached the end of this episode of Hands-On Tech. I'll be back next week with another episode. Until then, though, it is time to say goodbye.
