MacBreak Weekly 1005 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. And Happy Holiday!

Leo Laporte [00:00:00]:
Hey, everybody. Time for the best of 2025. Our year end episode of MacBreak Weekly is next. This is MacBreak Weekly, episode 1005 for December 30th, 2025. Farewell, 2025. Hello, 2026.

Leo Laporte [00:00:31]:
It's time for MacBreak Weekly, our annual best of episode. We've gathered the gang together and a few extra folks who stopped by along the way to bring you some of the best pieces from 2025. I'm Leo Laporte. I want to thank you for supporting MacBreak Weekly. We celebrated. Or is it next year? We'll celebrate 20 years doing the show. I think it's next year. It's been a great run and it's been all thanks to to you.

Leo Laporte [00:00:57]:
I hope you enjoy what you're about to hear. Some of the best of 2025. Also in Northern California, hiding in his Fortress of Solitude, Mr. Alex Lindsay of office hours. Hello.

Alex Lindsay [00:01:08]:
We're approaching. I think, I think we're going to hit near 70 today here in.

Leo Laporte [00:01:12]:
Yeah, we've had some balmy weather, haven't we?

Alex Lindsay [00:01:14]:
Next couple days. I don't. Yeah, I don't. My daughter and I both enjoy cold weather, so we're kind of like the end of the good. The good times are gone.

Leo Laporte [00:01:23]:
It's funny, we're talking about the weather like old friends who have nothing to say to one another.

Andy Ihnatko [00:01:28]:
You know, Mike Hurley on the Upgrade podcast, he had to make a segment called Snell Talk where we talk about something other than the weather that is suggested by a listener because otherwise it was always going to be the weather. So we're steering out into the skid. Steer into the skid. Right. There's a new iPhone.

Leo Laporte [00:01:45]:
There's. Yeah. You know, there is a story, kind of. There is a story.

Jason Snell [00:01:49]:
You could go, it's being sold as an iPhone. That's technically correct.

Andy Ihnatko [00:01:52]:
It's made from various old parts and one new part. And sold as a new iPhone. Yes.

Leo Laporte [00:01:57]:
Bloomberg. Mr. Mark Gurman says Apple is abandoning the smartphone budget market with a 16E. It's true. It's $600, $179 or $170 more than the old SE.

Jason Snell [00:02:11]:
Yeah, I'm keep trying to figure out how I feel about that. I think what I've landed on after a week is that it's okay that it's a damn shame, but it's okay that Apple is no longer making a budget phone. The 16e is definitely just simply the least expensive iPhone in the lineup. I'm sure we'll talk about it. But it's also like yikes. I mean, I don't know, I've been spending the past few days comparing what $600 in an iPhone 16e will give you versus what $600 in a Google phone or Google Pixel phone or a Samsung phone or a nothing phone. And Android will give you, they're much bigger. You get a lot more value on the Android side of the fence even if you don't want to go as low as 3 or $400.

Jason Snell [00:02:57]:
And I'm just, I'm just trying to figure out exactly who the 16e is for and I haven't decided yet what it is.

Alex Lindsay [00:03:04]:
I guess my question, my question also is though is how many people now I buy the phone? Like I just buy the phone and then I trade them in. I do whatever. But it seems like a lot of the carriers are giving you the phone. I mean all the way up to a 16 Pro with, you know, with your membership. So I don't know. I think part of this whole thing is that a lot of people are eligible for upgrades or they're getting them with their service. And so I'm not sure that the number, I don't know how many people are paying for that in cash. Again I pay for mine in cash but I don't know how many people do that in different countries.

Andy Ihnatko [00:03:33]:
It's, it can be different but like I think, you know, here's, this is going to be terrible because it's nuanced but Ben Thompson at strategy, I know.

Jason Snell [00:03:42]:
On the Internet garbage, can we talk.

Leo Laporte [00:03:44]:
About the weather instead please?

Andy Ihnatko [00:03:46]:
And what Ben Thompson at Stratachary pointed out like he did, he looked at iPhone SE prices using, you know, basically taking inflation out of it, right? So that you could either real, real cost. And you think that he's winding up to say, see, it's actually about the same. It's not, it's still a price increase, it's just not as much of one as, you know, the 40% price increase makes it look like a lot. But I will say I think a couple of things are going on here. One is Apple really wanted to move their entire phone line to the essentially seven year old iPhone 10 platform where you've got OLED, you've got the notch. So it's really is the iPhone 10, you've got Face ID instead of making Touch ID, they, they've had that on the production line for a long time. But it's probably more expensive than the old face or old Touch id And, and non OLED display was and there's that and then there's Apple intelligence which love it or not like Apple has decided all of its new models have to have Apple intelligence.

Leo Laporte [00:04:44]:
I think that's the reason.

Andy Ihnatko [00:04:46]:
And so you put, I think you put those two things together and, and the bill of materials for this thing is way higher than the old SE was. And you know what, Apple is just, they're not going to turn down their traditional profit margin on hardware. They're just not. And so here we are. It does create an interesting kind of like you know, 5996-997998-99999 kind of price spread on new on iPhones that Apple is currently selling. But and the other thing Ben Thompson pointed out is if you look we've all been feeling like the SE was a good way for Apple to have an entry into selling a phone in some markets that do not have the buying power of the big industrialized nations. The evidence is not as strong on that count. And this may also be Apple sort of admitting that they, these are the phones that Apple sells are the phones that are in this class and they don't sell a you know, a $420 phone is not really what Apple's entire game is.

Jason Snell [00:05:44]:
Yeah, two questions I was talking to.

Leo Laporte [00:05:45]:
Two questions, hold on. Is this an example of Apple preparing ahead of time for incoming tariffs? Like they want to build the tariff in.

Jason Snell [00:05:56]:
I can't imagine that they would have done that three years ago. I think, I think that they avoided.

Leo Laporte [00:06:01]:
Tariffs three years ago though.

Jason Snell [00:06:03]:
Yeah, well, but I think that this.

Leo Laporte [00:06:04]:
They'Ll avoid them this time.

Jason Snell [00:06:06]:
I, you know, I just think that this is more of a world phone. I was talking to another analyst a few days ago who was had, was developing the theory that one, it's not a single market phone by any means but part of the mandate of the 16e was we have to have a phone that will compete in China where we have, where they have amazing, not cheap, not necessarily cheap phones but mid level phones. And so that this if it's okay, it's okay for Apple to be the. Hey, you want to buy. You thought you wanted to buy a Huawei phone but for even $100 less you can get the prestige of this.

Leo Laporte [00:06:41]:
Wonderful luxury tariffs in China. Right. So they don't have to worry about that.

Andy Ihnatko [00:06:46]:
Yeah, I mean Apple could reprice it later if they really need to but I think that that's one of the things, that's why they call it Money, I would say, I would say it's.

Leo Laporte [00:06:56]:
A little bit here, right?

Andy Ihnatko [00:06:57]:
I would say, you know, instead of. That's why they call it money, I would say that's why they have the profit margins. That's like they can afford some fluctuation and they do that. They talk a lot about how they get hit by foreign exchange a lot. Tariffs is not foreign exchange, but it's a similar kind of idea cost, that can happen. And that, I mean, honestly, that is one of the things they do with having margins where they are, is they don't have to float the prices internationally as much as you might think that they do. I'm sure if they got hit by tariffs, they would figure out a way to deal with it. I don't think that's the story here.

Andy Ihnatko [00:07:28]:
I think that this is the convergence of wanting to go to an OLED face ID platform where I think that hardware is more expensive. Even now, I think it's more expensive than what was on that model and having to do Apple intelligence because they want like, yeah, they have to. They don't want to sell a phone to people who might at this price point, you know, buy it for five years and say, yeah, but this doesn't have all of the stuff we've just been at advertising to you for the last.

Leo Laporte [00:07:51]:
There are some concessions, there are some things missing. But let me get to the second question, then we'll talk about what's missing. Second question is, do they not still sell older iPhones at a lower cost? Are those off the.

Jason Snell [00:08:02]:
Not really. Yeah, they're in the U.S. it's just.

Andy Ihnatko [00:08:05]:
The 15, which is $100 more than this.

Leo Laporte [00:08:08]:
Oh, so there's nothing cheaper than this.

Andy Ihnatko [00:08:10]:
Now the 14 was at this price point, I believe, or was at the 100 up price point and they've replaced the 14. I was talking to my colleague Dan Moran about this last week and he suggested it's possible that they're literally using the production line for the 14 to make this phone. Right. You just flip it over because they were selling new 14s even though it's a 2 year old phone and they are still selling new 15s and that's how they get that 100 up price point. So with no Apple intelligence support, which is kind of weird, but you got to do what you got to do. So I think the other thing, the.

Leo Laporte [00:08:43]:
Benefit is that these look like binned A18 chips. In other words, A18s that were made for the Pro but didn't pass muster.

Jason Snell [00:08:52]:
Because one of their cores isn't working. So you can sell it as a minus one core cpu.

Leo Laporte [00:08:58]:
And this happens all the time in manufacture. You test the chips that come off the wafer and if they are not up to snuff, you put them in different bins capable depending on their capabilities. And in this case, Apple doesn't really have a place to put binned chips. So maybe this gives them a way to sell. Maybe they have a bunch of a teens without the fourth core gpu.

Alex Lindsay [00:09:20]:
I think Apple doesn't really talk about what's in the Apple TVs. Right?

Leo Laporte [00:09:23]:
Well, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Alex Lindsay [00:09:24]:
There's convenience. That's the bottom bin.

Andy Ihnatko [00:09:28]:
It's all part of their plan too, right? Like, I mean, the story of Apple Silicon. We can talk about this a little later with the one new thing that's in this phone. But part of the Apple Silicon plan all along is Apple knows where they're going to use those chips. They know what models they're going to go in. And I think at this point they know where they're going to use the Bend versions of those chips do. And they've got a whole little strategy of this will go in the Pro phone and this will go in the non Pro and this will go in the E and this will go in an Apple TV or an iPad. And they have this kind of plan about where all of those chips, including the ones that are, you know, tossed in the bin, are going to go.

Leo Laporte [00:10:04]:
So they did discontinue the se. Right. So that's gone.

Alex Lindsay [00:10:07]:
It's gone.

Andy Ihnatko [00:10:08]:
And the 14. Yeah.

Leo Laporte [00:10:11]:
Interesting.

Jason Snell [00:10:11]:
That is a little bit heartbreaking. $430 for an iPhone to get you in the door. Either to get you in the door or to make sure that everyone in your family can use the same services, the same content, the controls. I thought that was pretty, a pretty important thing.

Leo Laporte [00:10:25]:
But you've always said that, Alex, that, you know, the kids get the, the cheaper iPhones.

Alex Lindsay [00:10:31]:
Oftentimes they. Or they.

Leo Laporte [00:10:32]:
What do families do is there's no cheap iPhone anymore.

Alex Lindsay [00:10:35]:
Well, I think, I think that some of the math might also be that they look at what you end up buying because whatever the base price is, you go in and go, oh, it's 4, 449. And that gets you in the door, as Andy said. But then you. But by the time you go, oh, I really need a little more ram or I need a little bit more.

Andy Ihnatko [00:10:48]:
Of that, they're seeing better best.

Alex Lindsay [00:10:50]:
Yeah, yeah. So they, so I think that they oftentimes find that people aren't buying that that Lowest cost one. And if they are, oftentimes they're shifting over to lower, even lower cost Android phones.

Leo Laporte [00:11:01]:
So there are two things gone now from the Apple lineup. One is the home button. There are no Apple iPhones that have home buttons anymore, which is unfortunate.

Alex Lindsay [00:11:09]:
I really. I still like the home. I still like the fingerprint better than the eye, than the facial.

Leo Laporte [00:11:13]:
I do too.

Alex Lindsay [00:11:14]:
Yeah.

Leo Laporte [00:11:15]:
And actually, I really use the fingerprint on the iPad mini. In fact, when I need to use my password manager, I prefer to use the mini because I can use a fingerprint instead of. Especially in bed at night, going like this. And the thing is, I was wearing this hat.

Jason Snell [00:11:28]:
It'll make me raise my head six.

Leo Laporte [00:11:29]:
Inches and it didn't know who I was. So, you know.

Andy Ihnatko [00:11:33]:
Whoa, where'd Leo go?

Jason Snell [00:11:36]:
Someone broke into the studio with Leo's credentials. You see? You see?

Leo Laporte [00:11:41]:
Even you don't know who the hell I am when I wear that. So I miss that. And the lightning, there's no more. The only thing with lightnings. Are they still selling the. I know. There's nothing with the lightning anymore, right?

Andy Ihnatko [00:11:53]:
No, no, I think that's it.

Leo Laporte [00:11:56]:
Throw out all your lightning cables, kids. You don't need them anymore. Unless you got some old AirPods or something.

Jason Snell [00:12:02]:
And there's a third one, although technicality, the iPhone 14 was the last iPhone, pretty much the last device Apple was making that was sold in a project Red configur.

Leo Laporte [00:12:12]:
Oh, that's sad. I love those red phone.

Jason Snell [00:12:15]:
It's not. So the project Red line is not completely done. You can still buy a Project Red iPhone 14 case, but, yeah.

Andy Ihnatko [00:12:23]:
Oh, well, it may come back. Who knows?

Alex Lindsay [00:12:25]:
It may be.

Andy Ihnatko [00:12:26]:
You know what they said about. About the 16e in terms of the colors? It says so much about Apple's attitude toward this. It's like, yeah, look, iPhone 15 comes in lots of colors. IPhone 16, lots and lots of colors. Oh, the 16e. Well, you can get it in black or white.

Leo Laporte [00:12:44]:
Is that it? Really?

Andy Ihnatko [00:12:46]:
You want color, you got to pay, buddy. Color, gotta pay. Wow.

Alex Lindsay [00:12:50]:
Simplify the line. It probably also looks at what the. The vast majority of people, they're aiming for the middle. I bet you it's. I bet you they're hitting 90% of the market.

Andy Ihnatko [00:12:58]:
Unobjectionable black and white. Uninteresting, but unobjectionable.

Leo Laporte [00:13:01]:
Any color you want, as long as it's black or white.

Jason Snell [00:13:04]:
Throw case on it.

Andy Ihnatko [00:13:04]:
Not colors.

Alex Lindsay [00:13:06]:
I oscillate myself between dark gray and black. Like, those are the two of the two that I generally buy.

Leo Laporte [00:13:13]:
Yeah. Actually, what color? I don't even know because I have a case.

Jason Snell [00:13:18]:
Every.

Leo Laporte [00:13:19]:
It's that dream thing.

Jason Snell [00:13:20]:
There was one time that I bought like. You know what it was like? It was that. That winter in New England where it was absolutely. We were getting dumped with snow every three days. It was never ending. And like sometime around January, I said, you know what? I need a little color and some bright. I'm going to get a pink phone case. I got this lovely pink, like phone case.

Jason Snell [00:13:40]:
And I loved it until is taking pictures with it. And the, the, the, the. The pink, if there's any kind of a reflection, like in a shot, it will show up in that reflect. So that's why, that's why it's. It has to be a black case.

Leo Laporte [00:13:52]:
I have the same problem with his hat, actually. I, I don't understand why.

Jason Snell [00:13:56]:
Who are you?

Leo Laporte [00:13:56]:
He got back in.

Jason Snell [00:13:59]:
Lockdown. Lockdown.

Leo Laporte [00:14:01]:
I got this on vacation.

Jason Snell [00:14:05]:
That does look like. That checks out. That does look like vacation.

Leo Laporte [00:14:09]:
For people who are listening, it's. I don't know.

Alex Lindsay [00:14:12]:
How would you describe.

Andy Ihnatko [00:14:13]:
It's a very stylish one of the.

Jason Snell [00:14:14]:
Pope's Swiss Guards clubbing later that night.

Leo Laporte [00:14:17]:
It looks like AI designed. This is what it looks like. It's an AI watermelon. Hey, don't let me interrupt. I know we're having a blast here reliving 2025, but I thought this would be a good time to mention something we do every year around this time that's very important to us and to our ad sales. It's our Twit Survey. We do it because we don't really. And no podcast does know anything about you.

Leo Laporte [00:14:42]:
That's I think, a good thing. We respect your privacy, but we also would like to know a little bit about you to the degree you're willing to help us out. Just some basic information that helps us go to advertisers and say things like, well, 80% of our audience is it decision makers, that kind of thing. That's why we do this annual survey should only take a few minutes of your time, as I said, is one of the ways you can contribute to keeping TWIT on the air. If you would like to before too long in the next couple of weeks, do it now while you're watching. Go to twit.tv/survey26. It's our annual 2026 TWiT listener and viewer survey. It's very important to us and I thank you.

Leo Laporte [00:15:26]:
I really appreciate. And of course, if you don't want to do it or there's Questions you don't want to answer, that's fine too. But any way you can help us out? We appreciate it. All right, now back to the show.

Alex Lindsay [00:15:37]:
Hey.

Leo Laporte [00:15:37]:
But there is a victory for Apple. Congratulations in England. Remember, this is actually a fascinating story. For a long time, Apple couldn't say anything about a request by the English government, the British government, to remove end to end encryption, not just in the UK, but everywhere. Apple said, well, no, in fact, not only. Well, Apple didn't say anything, but they did withdraw advanced data protection from the uk, which everybody saw as a confirmation. And then we heard and we talked about it, I think last week that there was going to be a court hearing again, a secret court hearing. Apparently.

Leo Laporte [00:16:22]:
The secret court has now ruled against Yvette Cooper, who is the English regulator on Apple encryption. This is from the Telegraph. The Telegraph and nine other organizations successfully challenged an attempt to keep the secret the details of Yvette Cooper's legal battle with Apple. I guess in England the name Yvette Cooper is well known. It's not here in the us So I apologize to our American. I don't know who she is. Apple is challenging a technical capability notice. Now we know it's official, issued by the Home Secretary.

Leo Laporte [00:16:58]:
Is she the Home Secretary? Maybe that's it.

Andy Ihnatko [00:16:59]:
Yes, she's the Home Secretary.

Leo Laporte [00:17:00]:
Okay, there we go. Demanding that the tech giant break the advanced data protection feature that encrypts iPhone backups. Lawyers for the Home Secretary had applied for a gag order which would have prevented the bare details of the case from being made public. They augured revealing details would be damaging both to public interest. I'm not sure how that is. And national security. Well, I guess if it damages national security, it damages us all anyway. On Monday, the Lord Justice, President of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, dismissed the Home Secretary's application, saying, no, you don't get total secrecy.

Leo Laporte [00:17:43]:
So now you know. We know a lot more than we did before. We know, for instance, it's true that they did demand that.

Jason Snell [00:17:50]:
Yeah, yeah. The judgment is something like I've got in front of you right now. It's like nine pages long. And basically the judge patiently says that we acknowledge that it is possible for the claimant to correctly insist upon secrecy. But open justice is a very, very important principle and you have not demonstrated the harm that will happen if this has happened openly. It's also a murderer's row list of people who have, like, objected to this, to this action of decrypting icloud. Icloud content news providers, politicians on both sides of the ocean, essentially citing that there is enormous amount of interest in people who are affected parties who want observation and participation in this process, and they will be denied participation in the process if this is not done openly. So that's also a timeline of all the actions that were taken.

Jason Snell [00:18:44]:
So it's good stuff. They lost, lost, lost. At this point.

Leo Laporte [00:18:48]:
Yeah. But Apple does have to take a little heat because it turns out it was Apple's fault that the editor in chief of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, was added to that. Not war plans, signal messaging group. It was all the iPhone's fault.

Andy Ihnatko [00:19:06]:
I mean, maybe. I think probably it has the ring of just being so dumb.

Jason Snell [00:19:11]:
It does feel kind of dumb enough to be true. I think everybody in this conversation and listening have the same reaction, which is like, oh, come on, you're blaming the iPhones. Oh, they're saying that data detectors incorrectly flagged a phone number as an updated phone number or something and changed it. Like, yeah, that's happened to me like, 11 times.

Andy Ihnatko [00:19:29]:
Exactly.

Jason Snell [00:19:30]:
Every time. The article before.

Andy Ihnatko [00:19:34]:
The idea here is during. During the campaign, there was somebody who was forwarded a request from Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic to. For a comment, and a press officer in the communications group sent it to the guy who became national security adviser for him to comment. And therefore, that person, the press, the communications person, sent texts containing Jeffrey Goldberg's phone number to Waltz and Waltz, Waltz's iPhone, apparently, was like, hey, communication person has a new phone number. Do you want me to add that to the contact? Fast forward many months, and he's in Signal trying to add people to his. We're going to bomb the Houthis chat. And he puts in that guy's name because he's in the communications group at the White House. But it's Jeffrey Goldberg's phone number.

Andy Ihnatko [00:20:27]:
And that's how signal works. And it goes. That's. And I know there are people out there are like, oh, this is all just a scam. What's really happening here is that he secretly was passing information to Jeffrey Goldberg and he's just trying to hide it. And I guess that could be true, but this feels right. This feels like it's the answer, which is it was bad metadata, bad data in your contacts. And we've all seen that, like, hey, I'm going to be helpful.

Andy Ihnatko [00:20:50]:
Would you like to update this information? And it could go wrong that easily. Of course, the answer is to not use your phone and use the secure systems that the government provides for you. But we already kind of blew past that one.

Jason Snell [00:21:02]:
This is like Saying, it's not my fault. I had, I had the Canadian invasion plans, like, in the backseat of my car. I went into Walmart for 10 minutes and someone broke in and stole them. It's the fault of the person who broke into the car, say, okay, Donkers, why did you have a copy of the battle plans in the backseat of your car?

Leo Laporte [00:21:19]:
It's the car's fault. Read, it's the car's fault.

Jason Snell [00:21:24]:
You're gone from like, being this much an idiot to this much an idiot, which is good progress, but you're still this much an idiot.

Leo Laporte [00:21:33]:
Maybe Apple will change how that works. Although it is a convenience when it works properly.

Jason Snell [00:21:39]:
Yeah, but this is, it's, it's. Isn't that like one of the most the, the things that technology and computers and software does that makes, that can really get me super, super angry is when it makes a decision that it thinks is in my best interests without being really transparent about what it's doing doing for me. And B, allowing me to quickly, like, verify and undo it. It was true when my autoreverse cassette player would continue to reverse and reverse and reverse. And it's true every time I say, wait a minute, why did you delete? Change all of the markdown formatting of this document into rich text. Oh, because we want it to look pretty. I didn't ask you to do that because now I can't export this into the. Into the next app.

Leo Laporte [00:22:24]:
She's trying to be helpful. Andy. You've got to accept help from.

Jason Snell [00:22:27]:
Trust me, this is going to be better.

Leo Laporte [00:22:29]:
You'll just, Just trust us. We know what's best for you. What is this thing that Apple is launching? The celebrity snapshot.

Stephen Robles [00:22:42]:
This website is one of the most insufferable. Only because I would almost like it. Basically what you can do is go to this website, click one of these faces, and it will tell you what Apple music is available by them, what Apple TV shows they're in, even what Apple podcasts they've been in, which is kind of cool.

Leo Laporte [00:22:58]:
Oh, it's just their connection to Apple.

Stephen Robles [00:23:01]:
Like, yeah, if you click one, you'll just see all the Apple stuff. But you can't search. There's no just like straight text list of people's names. So if you like Ms. Messi or whatever, you have to like, wait till he slowly comes around, slowly scrolls back. But it is kind of cool.

Jason Snell [00:23:15]:
It's like a sushi restaurant on conveyor belt.

Leo Laporte [00:23:18]:
It's conveyor belt sushi.

Stephen Robles [00:23:20]:
But if you go to the bottom, there's like, you know what podcast interviews they've been, and you can go to that episode of.

Leo Laporte [00:23:24]:
It's called snapshot.apple.com.

Alex Lindsay [00:23:26]:
And it's just.

Leo Laporte [00:23:27]:
You're right. So I can't, like, I have to wait till.

Stephen Robles [00:23:31]:
Yeah, you can't drag. You can't scroll. You just have to wait till it slowly rolls.

Leo Laporte [00:23:36]:
Who thought this was a good idea?

Stephen Robles [00:23:39]:
Well, the Apple podcast. I mean, I like the, like, if I want to see an interview with Messi or Cate Blanchett, like, yeah, that's cool. I'd be curious what, you know, so if they curate that stuff.

Leo Laporte [00:23:46]:
But yeah, but it's just gotta be moving, and there's no way I can. I just have to sit here and watch.

Stephen Robles [00:23:52]:
Just gotta wait.

Leo Laporte [00:23:53]:
This is a marketing thing. Not a. Not a tool of anything.

Jason Snell [00:23:57]:
And if you don't like Seth rogen, you gotta spe 18 seconds thinking about how much you don't like Seth Rogen.

Leo Laporte [00:24:02]:
And why are they putting Drake in that jacket? That's the meme. The meme drink.

Jason Snell [00:24:07]:
I didn't think about that. It's a little weird.

Leo Laporte [00:24:10]:
Is that the best you could? Some people are in little dots. Some people are full tile. It's just. This is. Whoever designed this.

Alex Lindsay [00:24:22]:
My guess is that with some of those, they didn't have an image that they felt like was good enough to do something outside. They put it in the dot when they didn't have. I mean, I saw someone who's had to do lots of this.

Leo Laporte [00:24:32]:
Poor Jennifer Aniston is only in a dot because Beyonce gets a full tile with a horse.

Alex Lindsay [00:24:38]:
Probably because they had done.

Jason Snell [00:24:39]:
Because she's the queen, Leo.

Alex Lindsay [00:24:40]:
Well, probably had a different photo, a better photo, or whatever they could do.

Leo Laporte [00:24:43]:
It's not even a good photo of Jennifer Aniston, I might add.

Alex Lindsay [00:24:47]:
Yeah, I'm sure.

Leo Laporte [00:24:48]:
Which hair color is orange.

Stephen Robles [00:24:49]:
It does look like they pulled that off Google Images or something. That's kind of weird.

Leo Laporte [00:24:53]:
Well, they had rights to it, obviously.

Alex Lindsay [00:24:55]:
Obviously, you reach out to the artist management and they send you something. And then. And then now what will happen is the audience management will ping Apple and go, hey, what's the deal? And Apple will go, well, send me a better photo. And then they will. And then it'll.

Jason Snell [00:25:09]:
This is how this works.

Leo Laporte [00:25:09]:
I'm just telling you.

Alex Lindsay [00:25:10]:
Watch.

Leo Laporte [00:25:10]:
Watch all of them. I am calling for Brie Larson. I'm with Brie Larson's team. That is the worst picture ever.

Alex Lindsay [00:25:20]:
Apple will go back and go, oh, we're really sorry. We're happy to have her come into One of our studios, we'll do a photo shoot with her and we'll put up something nicer and they'll go, oh, that's so great. And unless Apple sit chit chat with them and talk to him, it's worth.

Leo Laporte [00:25:33]:
Sitting here to watch this incredibly slow scroll just to see that bad Bunny is full screen where Ariana Grande is not even a dot. What the hell's going on there? Just a light.

Jason Snell [00:25:43]:
That photo is at least two noses old. You need updated, man.

Leo Laporte [00:25:47]:
Yeah, really.

Alex Lindsay [00:25:48]:
It's probably the image again that they had from their, from their management.

Leo Laporte [00:25:51]:
And would you know that Roger Federer was a tennis player from that picture of him and his suit and tie?

Alex Lindsay [00:25:57]:
I don't know.

Leo Laporte [00:25:58]:
Hi, Elton. That was a few years ago.

Stephen Robles [00:26:00]:
I've never even gotten this far. I've never let it slow this far. I didn't realize Elton John.

Leo Laporte [00:26:04]:
Well, I want to know if there's an end. Poor Lady Gaga is having a bad hair day.

Alex Lindsay [00:26:09]:
Jeez.

Stephen Robles [00:26:11]:
So they have way more than you can just see. That's why just put a full list. Just do an alphabetical list.

Leo Laporte [00:26:15]:
Yeah, there's no fast forward. There's only a pause button. Like, oh, it's moving too fast.

Alex Lindsay [00:26:21]:
It's a crazy idea. Like, why can't you just jump to the next window or just. Yeah, it's nutty. It's a nutty design.

Jason Snell [00:26:28]:
You think this is a way to basically get people more engaged in all of their services. Like maybe people are using Apple tv but they're not using Apple podcasts. So let's try to engage them this way. And if so, how would that be an answer? But I'm with you, Steven. It's like I'm trying to figure out what. I don't think it's bad. I don't think it's stupid. I'm just saying it's well done for what it is.

Jason Snell [00:26:47]:
I just don't know why it exists.

Leo Laporte [00:26:48]:
Did you go any slower?

Stephen Robles [00:26:50]:
I don't know where you would find that page either because it's not like linked on the homepage.

Leo Laporte [00:26:54]:
Snapshot.apple.com for those who wish to enjoy.

Alex Lindsay [00:26:57]:
Right? Yeah.

Stephen Robles [00:26:58]:
It doesn't seem like they're publishing it, like promoting it really yet.

Leo Laporte [00:27:01]:
But it's not in alphabetical order. It. So that's another thing. I mean, I don't know what the order is. It's just random. I don't know. Can we just sit here and watch for a while? I just, I'm.

Stephen Robles [00:27:12]:
I'm way too invested.

Leo Laporte [00:27:13]:
We have mesmerized who's going to be at the end of this or what's going to happen at the end? Is it going to wrap around or.

Stephen Robles [00:27:21]:
You might be at the end, Leo.

Leo Laporte [00:27:22]:
I'm just gonna stop.

Stephen Robles [00:27:25]:
Morgan Freeman's there. They put Morgan Freeman so far into.

Jason Snell [00:27:28]:
The scroll he shows ever getting there. If you make it to the end, it should be Morgan Freeman. He should say, and what is the Billie Eilish creation in reality?

Leo Laporte [00:27:37]:
That's nothing. There's not a picture there. It's a black thing and you can't go back.

Jason Snell [00:27:41]:
There is only forward. And this is the end. I'm sorry to be the one to break.

Leo Laporte [00:27:44]:
Oh, we're repeating finally.

Jason Snell [00:27:46]:
Oh, there you go.

Leo Laporte [00:27:47]:
We're back to Austin Butler and Sabrina Carpenter.

Stephen Robles [00:27:49]:
The more determined he was.

Jason Snell [00:27:51]:
Two stars. I was just joking. But that was good.

Leo Laporte [00:27:54]:
Morgan Freeman and Billie Eilish at the end.

Stephen Robles [00:27:57]:
It's hilarious.

Leo Laporte [00:27:59]:
Well, I'm sure we enjoyed that trip down snapshot lane, everybody.

Jason Snell [00:28:02]:
Somebody worked hard on it. They did a good job for what they were told to do. They did a really good job of it. We're not making fun of you.

Leo Laporte [00:28:08]:
I think they vibe coded it. To be honest, they weren't paying much attention.

Jason Snell [00:28:11]:
Well, a lot of people just been let go from the AI part. Apple intelligence. Maybe they just need. Look, I need to hold on to my office and my car parking space. Give me something, anything to do with.

Leo Laporte [00:28:25]:
I guess I shouldn't start with the Pro. I should start where Apple started with what we now know will be called the Air.

Jason Snell [00:28:35]:
Yeah, I wish that we had figured that out earlier on. We're always referring to the iPhone 17 Air, but it makes sense that just like with their budget phone. Excuse me. Not just with, but it makes sense that something that they may not want to commit to updating each and every year, it makes sense for them to say, okay, this is the Air and this is the first generation Air. There'll be a second generation, third generation.

Leo Laporte [00:28:56]:
They announced four phones. They did not announce an se. This might lend some credence to the rumor that they were going to start doing releases twice a year so that they can kind of spread the production out and spread the sales bump out. But we did get four phones and the Air is actually gorgeous except for a giant camera bump, which they call Plateau.

Jason Snell [00:29:20]:
Exactly. Yeah. You know, they weren't going to call it a bar or a bump is. No, it's a plateau.

Leo Laporte [00:29:25]:
I call it a beaut because it really. The plateau is a description of the flat surface on top, but really the dominant feature of this is the rise. You've got this very thin phone, almost looks top heavy and then this very large bump at the top.

Alex Lindsay [00:29:42]:
It's a physics problem, right.

Leo Laporte [00:29:44]:
You can't get the camera in the.

Alex Lindsay [00:29:46]:
And the reality is it's still. Even though if you're going to reduce the number of cameras, cameras are still one of the most important part of the camera. So most important part of the phone. And so the. That you have to give it the space that it needs to do that. I don't think that they can cheat their way. If they could, they would.

Leo Laporte [00:30:02]:
It's not just the camera. They said we also put the CPU in there.

Jason Snell [00:30:06]:
A 19 Pro, the same one as the. As the.

Alex Lindsay [00:30:09]:
I heard the kitchen sink in there. They fit the side.

Jason Snell [00:30:13]:
I got to say I was very impressed because we've been discussing for months like oh well you know, there are a lot of people that might not mind having a lesser phone because they like the design or they like the style of it. I think the messaging at least of. Of what they are talking about, the iPhone air is to make it. Make it. Make it very, very clear at least in their messaging that this is not a lesser version of the iPhone. This is a smaller, thinner version of the iPhone you're going to get. We. Here's, here's.

Jason Snell [00:30:35]:
And tailing back to that opener about design. Like here is all the engineering and design we did in order to make sure there's room for a larger battery. Here's all the engineering design we made to make it, give it the fastest CPU in every smartphone. Make it more, I'm quoting here, more durable than any previous iPhone which is something that, that we're all gonna be worried about. But having a super, super thin saying that going to like this new frame design we've got. This new modem is up to twice as fast as the C1 modem uses 30% less energy. The most power efficient iPhone ever.

Leo Laporte [00:31:05]:
Using the same thing all day. Battery life which is. It sounds like it's basically the battery Life of the 16 because the 17 pros have much more power.

Alex Lindsay [00:31:15]:
And just think now that it's that much thinner. You can now put it into a.

Leo Laporte [00:31:18]:
Battery case that showed special magsafe battery that you could put on there. I don't even know the point of it. I feel a lot of people are.

Alex Lindsay [00:31:27]:
Going to get cases and those cases are going to be smaller now. So that's good. I mean it is bulky because you know like it's. My phone is this big with the case.

Leo Laporte [00:31:37]:
Look at this ridiculous smaller.

Jason Snell [00:31:40]:
But. But it's nice to have that option that if you've. If you're going out to dinner, if you're going out day to day, you have the smaller, lighter phone. If you're in New York for a couple days on business, it's nice to. Okay, I can stick to. Slap a battery pack onto it that makes it about as thick as a regular phone and not feel as though like I'm.

Alex Lindsay [00:31:56]:
Well, again, I do think the battery case that you're gonna. That a lot of people are gonna put on this phone is just gonna make it like the last phone was, but with a lot more battery.

Leo Laporte [00:32:05]:
I think you don't need a battery case. I think the idea is if you can get through the day and most people can, they do what you do, Alex. They charge it when they're sitting at the desk. The real question is durability. And they really doubled down on durability for all the new, new phones. They're saying they've got more durable screens. They've got this ceramic overlay. They're using glass front and back.

Alex Lindsay [00:32:27]:
My wife puts hers in her back pocket and I just feel like this is.

Leo Laporte [00:32:31]:
Oh, you sit on this and sits on it. Yeah, she does. But no, don't get that crossbody strap and you can show off your.

Alex Lindsay [00:32:39]:
Oh, God, that's the new fanny pack.

Leo Laporte [00:32:43]:
I thought it would go well with my fanny pack. Actually.

Alex Lindsay [00:32:46]:
You could attach it to your. What they need is a little strap. Strap that attaches to your fanny pack.

Leo Laporte [00:32:50]:
I see a lot of young women with crossbody phones. Usually they're kind of glittery and they have.

Alex Lindsay [00:32:56]:
You know.

Leo Laporte [00:32:57]:
But still, I mean, there's. Yeah, I just.

Jason Snell [00:33:00]:
And it attaches magnetically. And I'm sure we will find out by people making YouTube videos and TikTok videos about this. But how difficult is it going to be to simply come by on a motor scooter and just yank that? Just like. Like you're taking a number at a deli. Just. Thank you for phone.

Mikah Sargent [00:33:14]:
I met the DMV.

Leo Laporte [00:33:15]:
Yeah, that's what Keith 512 in our Discord says crossbody strap equals Please mug me. Yeah, well, no, but we know stealing.

Mikah Sargent [00:33:25]:
An iPhone is only crossbody their cameras.

Leo Laporte [00:33:28]:
Yeah, I do that. Yeah. And I keep a hand on it.

Jason Snell [00:33:31]:
There's like a web strap and it's like attached by a really, really thick lugs and if you try to yank it off of me, you're going to be taking me with you. And trust me, you don't want me with you on a motorcycle.

Alex Lindsay [00:33:40]:
Cool.

Leo Laporte [00:33:40]:
Yeah, they did emphasize that. We've got the A19 Pro in here. It's not quite as fast as in the Pro phones, but.

Mikah Sargent [00:33:49]:
Correct.

Leo Laporte [00:33:50]:
It's pretty close. They've got neural processing. They got GPUs. They got Ray tracing. What?

Mikah Sargent [00:33:57]:
Ray tracing.

Leo Laporte [00:33:58]:
Ray tracing.

Jason Snell [00:33:59]:
That was another reoccurring theme. They wanted people to make sure that this is a great gaming platform. You want to game on this phone, no matter the entire line. All our phones are great for gaming. The real gaming devices. You want to game on this, like. Okay.

Alex Lindsay [00:34:14]:
The funny thing is, I think the game. At least the games I play on my phone are not. Like, ray tracing wouldn't make them any better, you know?

Leo Laporte [00:34:20]:
Well, you can get Xbox games on iPhones now, so.

Alex Lindsay [00:34:24]:
Yeah. And I have to say that I don't know how many people on a small screen are going to notice the difference in the reflections that the ray tracing provides. Maybe I rendered a shiny ship for Star wars without any ray tracing. Right.

Andy Ihnatko [00:34:37]:
How long.

Leo Laporte [00:34:38]:
But how long did it take you?

Mikah Sargent [00:34:39]:
73.

Alex Lindsay [00:34:40]:
It was 45 minutes of frame.

Leo Laporte [00:34:42]:
A frame.

Mikah Sargent [00:34:44]:
45 minutes a frame.

Leo Laporte [00:34:45]:
A frame. That's kind of normal frames.

Alex Lindsay [00:34:48]:
My longest shot was 239 frames.

Mikah Sargent [00:34:52]:
Mother.

Alex Lindsay [00:34:53]:
And so it took a week for.

Leo Laporte [00:34:55]:
You to render this image?

Alex Lindsay [00:34:57]:
No, no, no. It would render overnight. Every night I would render it because I worked on that shot for nine weeks. 239 frames for nine weeks. And people would see like, what are you doing? You're on the same thing. I'm like, well, it's 239 frames. And everyone would be like, oh, okay, never mind.

Jason Snell [00:35:13]:
Oh, now that's a lot of.

Alex Lindsay [00:35:14]:
That's a lot of frames and so.

Leo Laporte [00:35:15]:
10 seconds of film.

Alex Lindsay [00:35:16]:
But, you know, in visual effects, you spend a lot of time. Now, I think you could probably render something almost the same quality, you know, in real time, you know? Right.

Leo Laporte [00:35:23]:
This was Princess Amidala's ship, right?

Alex Lindsay [00:35:26]:
The ship, yeah.

Mikah Sargent [00:35:27]:
The very shiny, pretty one was.

Leo Laporte [00:35:28]:
It kind of looked like an iPhone.

Alex Lindsay [00:35:30]:
Air.

Leo Laporte [00:35:30]:
Come to think of it. Yeah.

Jason Snell [00:35:31]:
Not to make this into too much of a rat hole, but was that. Was that 1080 resolution or what was the resolution?

Alex Lindsay [00:35:39]:
I don't know. I don't know if I'm allowed to say so, but I think that on a show, in front of a lot of people.

Jason Snell [00:35:45]:
But I'm just asking.

Alex Lindsay [00:35:48]:
It was roughly. It was roughly hd, which. You see here's the hard part is if you look at 4K, render 4K versions of both episode one and the Matrix, you'll See the difference where they did a lot of effects and when it was just filmed because the sharpness is different, you know, especially the Matrix. I went to see it at the Dolby Cinema when it came, when they did a 2323 release. And it just was like shocking. Like it was.

Jason Snell [00:36:13]:
Oh, yeah, because we.

Alex Lindsay [00:36:14]:
None of us could, you know, rendering. When you say 45 minutes a frame rendering, an HD or a UHD version would have been four times that, you know, like, so it would have been, you know, three and a half hours or whatever, a little over three hours to render every frame. And so it would, you know, that would have been unworkable. And so a lot of that, that was also calculated to go on Rat Hole for just a second. A lot of this was calculated on looking at what makes a difference on film when you watch it after it's been reproduced. So you make, you strike the master and then you make copies of those. And people, some golden eyes went in and looked at it like, where do we. When does the resolution make a difference so that we're not rendering any more than we have to? And so that's how the resolution was derived.

Alex Lindsay [00:36:56]:
But the problem is that that didn't give it a lot of shelf life when we went to uhd, you know, but it, but you wouldn't notice it in the, the. It came out because people are pretty careful about it. But you're looking. When you go to a theater, when it was filmed back in the old days, you were looking at the third to fifth generation of the film, right? You know, as it was, as those were struck. So, so that's. Now you see, you see exactly the artist's intent from day one and you see the same thing at day one.

Leo Laporte [00:37:21]:
Now the Grand Moff Tarkin looks like a fish.

Alex Lindsay [00:37:24]:
I mean, it's. What's interesting is again to go, you know, I know we're not going to go into Apple Vision Pro, but where you really start to see resolution is, is the difference. You can really see the difference in resolution when you're looking at movies.

Leo Laporte [00:37:37]:
So do not watch Epperson Episode one in your Vision Pro is what.

Alex Lindsay [00:37:40]:
You still should watch it. You should definitely buy it. No, wait, I don't get any. I don't get any real.

Leo Laporte [00:37:45]:
And look for. What was the name of that character? Slag.

Alex Lindsay [00:37:48]:
Tough Rum Slag.

Jason Snell [00:37:50]:
Rum Slag. Rum Slag.

Alex Lindsay [00:37:52]:
Here he is. I got. This is my, my own. When I, when I, when I did it, they had me do a T pose and I said, what's the T pose? For, and they said for the action figure.

Leo Laporte [00:37:59]:
I was like, figure, of course I'm.

Alex Lindsay [00:38:00]:
Gonna have an action figure.

Mikah Sargent [00:38:01]:
Yeah, that would make me gasp too.

Jason Snell [00:38:04]:
I keep trying to, I keep trying to find it for you, but because there's a guy who's doing like a, doing regular runs of custom like Lego Star wars minifigs and he does occasionally a run of rum slag. Lego minifigs.

Leo Laporte [00:38:15]:
Wow.

Jason Snell [00:38:16]:
I always miss it by like this much.

Alex Lindsay [00:38:19]:
I collect. They had the part, they had the, the, the parts that were used to make the character on ebay. And I was so close.

Leo Laporte [00:38:28]:
I was just like, I was like 500 costume.

Alex Lindsay [00:38:31]:
You should get a discount pieces for the character. Yeah, I wanted to ping them and.

Mikah Sargent [00:38:36]:
Say, hey, that's so that's me and I deserve a $300 discount at least.

Leo Laporte [00:38:42]:
So not only does it have the new A19 Pro in the Slim, it has the new C1X in the Slim. In the, I'm calling it the slim butt version. The promontory phone. It also has no vpl. No VPL on this one. There's no, it's not wearing panties. And that's the beauty.

Mikah Sargent [00:39:08]:
Okay, moving on.

Leo Laporte [00:39:10]:
It's the Commando phone, we call it. They have the C1X. The C1X modem chip that Apple. You know, this is the first time Apple's released the C1X. They had the C1 before and it wasn't quite up to the Qualcomm standards of previous phones. This they claim is faster than on the iPhone.

Mikah Sargent [00:39:30]:
Yeah, it stands for extra better.

Leo Laporte [00:39:32]:
Yeah. And better battery life. That's a big deal. It sounds like Apple's got the modem locked.

Jason Snell [00:39:39]:
Yeah, well, there's also a study. I don't have it in front of me, but a long term study about it was the company that does speedtest.net I think, think and they've been doing a cumulative study in which they've concluded of the iPhone 16 versus the iPhone 16e basically as a comparison between the Qualcomm modem and Apple's C1 modem. And they've come to the conclusion that depending on the network, they're very, very, very close. If you've got it, it's, it's basically it's very much local network dependent. For instance, in Japan there's a very, very large gap between the two simply because Japan's networks are, are 100% modern. In other countries, including our own, they're a lot closer because there's a whole much. There isn't a whole bunch of fat on the table to go get at. So anyway, so it's not a failure by any means and it's interesting, it'll be cool to see what the benchmarks.

Leo Laporte [00:40:32]:
Are and one chip as well. So they have their Apple intelligence hardware in there along with the A19 Pro and the C1X modem. And one of the things they've optimized for is efficiency because the battery is inevitably smaller.

Jason Snell [00:40:47]:
Yeah, they came back to esim. What a brilliant, what a brilliant way of messaging, of saying there are going to be some people that are complaining that. Oh God. Well here's another just. It's the headphone jack all over the. There are reasons why I like to have a physical sim. It's so easy to swap between two or three phones I have in the household. But they're basically saying, well we were able to give you, you more battery life because again, because we are such design geniuses, we took the space that was occupied by that SIM card, that slim tray and put designed a better, bigger battery to fill that space.

Jason Snell [00:41:15]:
So across the product line, turning that into a positive, I still think you're.

Alex Lindsay [00:41:20]:
Going to see Apple just slowly get rid of everything other than one big chip. You just open up the camera and there's just going to be a chip with a handful of other little things because it allows them to get smaller and more powerful and more integrated and faster.

Mikah Sargent [00:41:32]:
They put so much of it in the plateau already.

Alex Lindsay [00:41:34]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leo Laporte [00:41:35]:
This is kind of nice. They have a little comparison if you want to know what you're getting with the current phone models. The Air vs 17 Pro vs 17. And I was asking, and you were right, Micah. The biggest difference in processor between the 17 Pro and the Air is that it's a 5 core GPU on the Air and a 6 core GPU on the 17. In fact you can really see this is really smart of them.

Mikah Sargent [00:42:02]:
I like this. This is good.

Leo Laporte [00:42:04]:
So you know what you're getting. It's pretty clear they are claiming 27 hours of video playback on the air compared to 39 hours big bump on the 17 Pro. But what's interesting on all the phones is they're claiming much faster charge time.

Mikah Sargent [00:42:19]:
Yeah, they're very much touting this faster charge time because they've also released in the store a what they call a dynamic power adapter. So this is a normally 40 watt power adapter that can charge up to 60 watts max for iPhones now. So they're saying, look, even if you aren't getting that full day battery life, plug this in for 15 minutes while you go, I don't know, have a margarita. I don't know.

Stephen Robles [00:42:46]:
People do.

Mikah Sargent [00:42:47]:
And come back and it's ready to roll, it's ready to go.

Alex Lindsay [00:42:50]:
And this may be probably like less technology, battery technology, and more how you manage that power. You can dump an enormous amount of power into the battery until you get to a. It starts to get full, then you got to slow down or you're going to, you know, light it on fire or reduce its overall health over time.

Leo Laporte [00:43:07]:
It's the same with EVs. With cars, they talk about charging to 70% or 80%.

Alex Lindsay [00:43:12]:
And when they charge that really fast, the reason they're doing that is because they're just dumping it with an enormous amount of as much as much power as they can put into it and then slowing that all down to let it cool back down again.

Jason Snell [00:43:21]:
Yeah, that reminds me, I can't wait, wait for the iFixit teardown of this. I can't imagine what it's going to be like to try to replace a battery, let alone a screen on this thing.

Leo Laporte [00:43:29]:
It might be just terrible.

Jason Snell [00:43:30]:
Buy a new one.

Leo Laporte [00:43:33]:
Yeah, you don't.

Jason Snell [00:43:34]:
You don't repair it. You don't fix it. You just consume it.

Mikah Sargent [00:43:37]:
Specifically the air you're talking about.

Jason Snell [00:43:39]:
Yeah, specifically the air. Also the. Also the. The pros, because they were making a big deal. We'll get to it. But they're. They're making a very, very big deal about all the reasons why they went to an alu min body design. And so that's.

Jason Snell [00:43:53]:
I would be disappointed if they kind of took a step back because they've been doing a really, really good job of making their iPhones easier to repair. Basically saying that you no longer have to disassemble the entire. Every layer of the phone to get at the battery to replace it. Now you can basically just flip it over, get at the battery, replace it. Because the acknowledgement that replacing a battery is not always going to be as easy as popping by an Apple store that's in your neighborhood, sometimes it's like, A, I can't afford the charges, the prices you're charging. B, I don't have access to an Apple Store, and I can't afford to simply ship it off and receive it back. So Ifix is going to have a. Is going to do a lot of really, really great work for the community.

Jason Snell [00:44:33]:
And with their report, they did keep.

Leo Laporte [00:44:35]:
The titanium for the air, and they're polishing it to a mirror finish, and it actually looks.

Mikah Sargent [00:44:40]:
Which I think is a travesty I love the natural look of.

Leo Laporte [00:44:44]:
I do, too. I have a natural. My watch is natural.

Alex Lindsay [00:44:47]:
Yeah.

Leo Laporte [00:44:48]:
Yeah.

Mikah Sargent [00:44:48]:
I'm sad.

Leo Laporte [00:44:49]:
I agree. And I have a titanium band that's natural, and so it goes nicely together. The colors are fairly muted. I'll stand corrected. Micah, if I'm saying this wrong. Black, white, light, gold, rose.

Jason Snell [00:45:04]:
Maybe that's what we're used to from Apple.

Leo Laporte [00:45:06]:
Yeah.

Alex Lindsay [00:45:07]:
Yeah.

Leo Laporte [00:45:07]:
Very muted colors. I think the white would probably be the way to go, especially with that polished titanium. I think that's. That's pretty gorgeous. And, in fact, that's the model that they show. 80% recycled titanium. That's nice.

Jason Snell [00:45:21]:
What do we think about the reinvention of the bumper case?

Mikah Sargent [00:45:25]:
I was so excited about that. I always thought the bumper case was amazing.

Leo Laporte [00:45:28]:
You missed it.

Mikah Sargent [00:45:29]:
I got my free one back in the day, and I was really excited.

Jason Snell [00:45:34]:
To see when Steve Jobs had that event where basically said, okay, you babies, if you insist on not losing three bars by holding it. Right.

Alex Lindsay [00:45:42]:
Wrong.

Jason Snell [00:45:43]:
We'll give you a bumper case. It'll shut you up and then make you learn about how we actually do everything perfectly. But we'll make you, make you happy. Now it's going to be a voluntary thing. That's the first completely voluntary bumper.

Andy Ihnatko [00:45:54]:
That's what it is.

Mikah Sargent [00:45:55]:
They just want to make us, but they're going, remember when we gave you a free one? Well, now you're going to buy one, Loser.

Leo Laporte [00:46:00]:
It's slim and lightweight. The bumper perfectly frames and showcases the thinness of the iPhone air.

Jason Snell [00:46:07]:
Yeah, we should have been able to predict that, too, because if you're selling people on this beautifully designed, super slim phone, you're gonna want to give them an option for a protective case. Whether it's the most durable thing they've ever made or not, people are gonna want a case, and you can't just trust basic casemakers to honor the intentions of your super, super light airiness of it.

Leo Laporte [00:46:29]:
So it's time for Mech Break Weekly. Ladies and gentlemen, the 1000th episode. Happy birthday to us.

Alex Lindsay [00:46:40]:
Us.

Leo Laporte [00:46:41]:
Happy birthday.

Andy Ihnatko [00:46:42]:
Whoa.

Leo Laporte [00:46:44]:
Happy birthday. Wait a minute. Should I put it this way? Is that backwards?

Andy Ihnatko [00:46:48]:
No, it's forward. Now it's.

Alex Lindsay [00:46:52]:
Oh, no.

Jason Snell [00:46:52]:
We're starting all over again.

Andy Ihnatko [00:46:55]:
Oh, no, no, no.

Jason Snell [00:46:57]:
I think Apple Talk is here to stay. I don't care about Internet anymore.

Leo Laporte [00:47:00]:
That's, like, too far in advance. You went and got flat balloons.

Andy Ihnatko [00:47:04]:
That's.

Jason Snell [00:47:05]:
Yeah, I was gonna get the real ones, and then the real ones were, like, six bucks each, and then I'd have to, like, walk through the neighborhood and through the library carrying it. A.

Leo Laporte [00:47:13]:
So this way, you roll them up, put them in your briefcase.

Jason Snell [00:47:16]:
Not. Not. I'm not afraid of looking like a. So long as I look like a. That's consistent with my idiom. And that would have been a different type of a balloon. But, hey, not a clown.

Andy Ihnatko [00:47:26]:
Hey, who are you calling an idiom?

Leo Laporte [00:47:30]:
Hey, it's Jason Snellers dot com. He's wearing the official twit kepi.

Andy Ihnatko [00:47:34]:
I've got the twit. Yeah, Twit fez on here. I got my twit hat.

Leo Laporte [00:47:37]:
It's good.

Andy Ihnatko [00:47:38]:
Happy, Happy thousands.

Leo Laporte [00:47:39]:
Happy thousands.

Andy Ihnatko [00:47:40]:
Happy to be a part of the final 3% of.

Leo Laporte [00:47:44]:
No, I think more than that.

Jason Snell [00:47:46]:
Really?

Leo Laporte [00:47:46]:
30%.

Andy Ihnatko [00:47:47]:
No, no, no, no. More than something like that.

Leo Laporte [00:47:49]:
Alex Lindsay has been here for all 1,000. Hello, Alex.

Alex Lindsay [00:47:52]:
I was here in the first one, and I'm here in the last one. There'll come some.

Leo Laporte [00:47:56]:
So here was. Look, this is what Alex looks like on this cake. It starts like this one. 1000. It's magical. Who wants a piece of cake?

Jason Snell [00:48:08]:
I do.

Alex Lindsay [00:48:08]:
Just pass it through Zoom. This is the new Zoom feature that they have announced that you can, you can. It's a. It's the transform.

Leo Laporte [00:48:14]:
Blow them out here. Let's see. Let's see.

Alex Lindsay [00:48:17]:
Lisa Transporter, he's putting up.

Leo Laporte [00:48:19]:
There you go. Can you see that?

Alex Lindsay [00:48:23]:
Zoom office.

Leo Laporte [00:48:25]:
We're gonna set off the fire alarm, I believe. Look at that. Beautiful. All right, just slice that. You didn't bring a plate and a cake slicer? Well, you might as well just. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Marauder. Marauder.

Jason Snell [00:48:41]:
It goes back in the freezer for the next 1000th episode.

Leo Laporte [00:48:44]:
You know what this cake is called? Death by Chocolate.

Andy Ihnatko [00:48:47]:
Ah, perfect. What a way to go.

Leo Laporte [00:48:50]:
What a way to go.

Alex Lindsay [00:48:51]:
That would be an honorable death.

Leo Laporte [00:48:53]:
I'm gonna try a little bit of it. It's got double chocolate. Good News is only 280 calories per serving. Bad news is there's 138 servings.

Alex Lindsay [00:49:05]:
There you go.

Leo Laporte [00:49:06]:
Let's taste. Did I introduce everybody? Alex.

Alex Lindsay [00:49:09]:
Yeah.

Leo Laporte [00:49:10]:
Andy. Hello, Jason.

Alex Lindsay [00:49:12]:
Hi.

Leo Laporte [00:49:13]:
So glad you could be with us on this momentous occasion.

Jason Snell [00:49:18]:
Yes. I hope. I, I, I. I hope if people in Discord are going nuts that my thousand is off center. It's because I was framing myself up, and I realized that if it was centered, then I would have, like, mouse ears when they do the single. And I decided, you know what?

Alex Lindsay [00:49:32]:
I kind of.

Jason Snell [00:49:33]:
I kind of want to avoid that meme. And I'll just. I can. I can choose to not do that.

Mikah Sargent [00:49:37]:
Andy, Andy, can you move your head to the right a little bit, please?

Leo Laporte [00:49:40]:
Just, just, just for the.

Jason Snell [00:49:41]:
Just for the thumbnail to the right.

Leo Laporte [00:49:43]:
Just get it right there. This way. A little closer. Oh, no, no.

Jason Snell [00:49:48]:
If I go any more anymore, just.

Mikah Sargent [00:49:50]:
Fall off your chair.

Leo Laporte [00:49:51]:
Okay, you know what we're talking about, Andrew? We want the ears. The ears, baby.

Jason Snell [00:49:57]:
You know. You know what? It's because I. The things I do and I do and I do for this Y I.

Leo Laporte [00:50:05]:
H N A T K O Actually that, that would.

Jason Snell [00:50:10]:
That would make me Roy. Like that.

Alex Lindsay [00:50:12]:
The.

Jason Snell [00:50:12]:
The sort of like dyspeptic animator that was like the grown up guy who would draw. Draw and drink.

Leo Laporte [00:50:19]:
You didn't have to really do that. I was just joking. Oh, she's making me a piece of cake. That sounds delicious.

Jason Snell [00:50:25]:
I had. I had. I had one of the cup. One of the. One of the MacBreak 1000 cupcakes for breakfast.

Leo Laporte [00:50:30]:
Oh, yum. You made them? You made them? I didn't make this.

Jason Snell [00:50:33]:
I. I made the money that made the cupcakes.

Leo Laporte [00:50:36]:
I made it happen is what you say. Yes, exactly. Oh, that looks death by chocolate for sure. For sure.

Jason Snell [00:50:44]:
I mean, if you're gonna get sugar, if you're gonna get dessert, get dessert. Don't like, don't, don't. Don't slap at it. Just get dessert.

Leo Laporte [00:50:51]:
How did we get to a thousand? I. It's because of you guys. I'll be honest. It's. It's your.

Alex Lindsay [00:50:57]:
Turns out people kept showing up. They were like, do this one more time.

Andy Ihnatko [00:51:01]:
Yeah. Number.

Leo Laporte [00:51:01]:
Number go up.

Jason Snell [00:51:03]:
Sure.

Andy Ihnatko [00:51:03]:
Lucky we got ten fingers, huh?

Jason Snell [00:51:07]:
I think everybody was just kept tuning in like week after week because maybe this is the. Maybe this is the one in which the cops will come in and shut it all down.

Andy Ihnatko [00:51:17]:
Maybe if we're lucky, a guy in a Max Headroom mask.

Leo Laporte [00:51:19]:
Exactly.

Andy Ihnatko [00:51:20]:
Jam the signal.

Leo Laporte [00:51:21]:
This is what Santa's gift looks like on Christmas morning. Just a nibble. Just a nibble. And the carrot for Rudolph is gone. And. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Alex Lindsay from Office Hours Global.

Jason Snell [00:51:35]:
Hello.

Alex Lindsay [00:51:35]:
Hello. Good to be here.

Leo Laporte [00:51:36]:
Now we have some news about Mr. Lindsay. They. You know, this pisses me off. Cupertino keeps coming a calling. And apparently Cupertino has come to your door. Alex Lindsey. For the holiday season.

Leo Laporte [00:51:56]:
Can you explain? Yeah.

Alex Lindsay [00:51:59]:
I'll be transitioning to Apple's developer relations. So I'll be the partnership Manager for the 3D ecosystem starting in January.

Leo Laporte [00:52:07]:
I hear the screams throughout the MacBreak universe as if a thousand voices cried out in agony.

Andy Ihnatko [00:52:15]:
So Alex, does that mean you're going to be working with Serenity Caldwell, my old pal?

Alex Lindsay [00:52:18]:
She is in the same building.

Leo Laporte [00:52:20]:
Yeah, she interviewed him for the job. That interview must have been funny. Did you say, oh, hi, Alex.

Alex Lindsay [00:52:28]:
So, yeah. So we'll all be in the same.

Leo Laporte [00:52:33]:
Are you in the campus? The ring, the spaceship.

Alex Lindsay [00:52:36]:
I'll be right outside. So there's the developer relations building. That's right outside of the ring. So, yeah.

Leo Laporte [00:52:41]:
So needless to say, when people take a job at Apple, they can no longer be on the Apple.

Alex Lindsay [00:52:46]:
Oh, yeah. Being on Mac break was probably. Yeah.

Andy Ihnatko [00:52:49]:
They won't even let Serenity play Dungeons and Dragons with us anymore on Teleparty Kill. Like, it's like, no. No podcast.

Leo Laporte [00:52:56]:
No podcast for you, Leo.

Jason Snell [00:52:57]:
Did he even try to make a counteroffer? I mean, come on. Alex is way too valuable to this podcast.

Leo Laporte [00:53:02]:
I did write him a giant check. One of those giant checks.

Alex Lindsay [00:53:08]:
Can't cash it, but it was giant. It was huge. I can put it on the wall.

Jason Snell [00:53:11]:
We can give you something that Apple cannot, and that's exposure, sir.

Leo Laporte [00:53:15]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotta warn you, Alex, when people go to work for Apple, we've seen it happen time and time again with Serenity. Nathan Olveris Giles. So many people who've gone to work for Apple, it's like a black hole. They just disappear.

Alex Lindsay [00:53:29]:
Well, I think that, you know, again, I really had to think about it a lot. And you got a lot of time to think about it while you're kind of going down that path. And I just, I think that there's such a huge opportunity with 3D, whether it's Gaussian splat or photogrammetry or how we use 3D inside of what we do and everything. USDZ. All those things. And I felt like I can't keep on complaining about it if I was offered something and I didn't do something about it. And I'm constantly feel like the world just isn't using the tools.

Leo Laporte [00:54:05]:
Yeah.

Alex Lindsay [00:54:05]:
The way it could. And so I'm. I'm super excited of, you know, trying to do my part into. So, so.

Leo Laporte [00:54:12]:
Hey, what happens to office hours?

Alex Lindsay [00:54:15]:
Office hours are still running and we've reduced the number of days during the week. Can you do a panel? I can't do it. So I'll be off. But we have, you know, it's been run by a lot of. I don't even know, to be honest with you. I don't even know how office hours actually runs. You know, like during.

Leo Laporte [00:54:29]:
Yeah, no, at this point, it's so there's.

Alex Lindsay [00:54:31]:
There's such a huge community that's managing that. And. And the panel has always been there, and I had only been hosting a couple days a week for the last year, but what we're doing is we're still doing something every day, but when we do things in the evening for the other side of the world, we're not doing the same thing in the morning. So we have evening shows on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and then we still have the same morning show on Wednesday, Friday, and the weekend. So it's kind of funneling a little bit. Bit. Little bit. Taking a little less.

Alex Lindsay [00:55:00]:
Little pressure off of the panelists because it's a. It's a lot. It's a lot to take live questions all for an hour a day. Yeah. So. So there.

Jason Snell [00:55:08]:
But the.

Alex Lindsay [00:55:09]:
But we have such a, you know, such an incredible set of panelists that have been, you know, doing a lot of it without me when I'm traveling and so on so forth for a long time. So I feel very.

Leo Laporte [00:55:19]:
And so you're leaving 090 as well, I would guess.

Alex Lindsay [00:55:21]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're just finishing up the installs for the Arena One project. So that's. That's been a mad rush.

Leo Laporte [00:55:28]:
Oh, that's the movie theater one. Right, Right.

Alex Lindsay [00:55:30]:
Yeah. So we've been getting that working, and, you know, we had some really big success in both, you know, getting all the theaters ready to go for. To start concerts early next year, as well as we've kind of figured out how to. I got a lot of time in an AMC theater. We figured out how to do. How to stream live, stereoscopic, you know, concerts, you know, to a screen without, you know, without reinventing, without. Without making it too complicated. And so you should.

Alex Lindsay [00:56:00]:
Hopefully people will see the. The fruits of that next year where we start doing actual, you know, I don't think anyone's ever seen a live concert in 3D, you know, stereoscopic live, like, you know, 30 seconds after it was shot.

Leo Laporte [00:56:14]:
Do you wear a helmet or do you. You wear kit glasses? What are they?

Alex Lindsay [00:56:17]:
It'll be sunglasses. You know, like little sunglasses that you polarize sunglasses. In a. In ANC theater, it's using real D.

Leo Laporte [00:56:22]:
Not the actual ones. Real D. Okay.

Alex Lindsay [00:56:24]:
This is real D. I like real D, actually.

Leo Laporte [00:56:25]:
Of the. Of all of them. That's the. Of my favorites.

Alex Lindsay [00:56:27]:
Yeah, it can actually work with. It can work with anything. I mean, it can stream to the Vision Pro. It can stream to the Dolby Active version, to imax, and it's a higher Frame rate, so it looks way better than 24 frames a second. 3D doesn't really work at 24, which James Cameron has alluded to. And so at 60 frames a second, it's more interesting to watch. And it's true optical 3D, so there's no fake 3. You know, it's just two cameras that are delivering each eye some content and so pretty excited to see where that goes.

Alex Lindsay [00:57:02]:
I mean, it'll probably take some time over next year to make that work, but. But it's. We've did a lot of great work over this year and I needed to finish all of those things before I was able to move into the Cupertino Mists.

Leo Laporte [00:57:18]:
So we haven't found a replacement yet. I have been canvassing and I hope we will have announcements soon. Next episode, which will be in January, Shelley Brisbane will be. It's going to be an opportunity for us to bring in some of our favorite people, but I have somebody in mind I'd really love to hire and we're talking with that person, so we'll let you know what happens. But, yeah, I'm sad we're going to lose you. You were the founding member of MacBrez. You created the show.

Alex Lindsay [00:57:52]:
Well, it's been, you know, there's been other opportunities to do other things and how I choose my jobs has largely been wrapped around office hours and Mac break and, you know, all the other things that are. That were there. And I think that it was really just this specific opportunity was. Was big enough, but it's been incredible. I kind of. I was like, I can't believe it went 19 years instead of. Because almost exactly 19 years. Because, of course, our first show was 19 years ago in January.

Alex Lindsay [00:58:17]:
Right. At Mac World? I think so. So we're very close.

Leo Laporte [00:58:22]:
Well, my friend, we're going to keep you for the rest of the show.

Andy Ihnatko [00:58:26]:
Right.

Leo Laporte [00:58:26]:
You can talk about Apple. Right.

Alex Lindsay [00:58:28]:
I got the rest of the show.

Leo Laporte [00:58:29]:
Last chance.

Jason Snell [00:58:30]:
Exactly.

Alex Lindsay [00:58:31]:
It's my last chance. My opinions are my own.

Jason Snell [00:58:33]:
What a time for you to say, oh, I got a heart out at noon. I'm being fitted for my Apple 3D team Blazer.

Leo Laporte [00:58:43]:
Do you get a. What do you get as. And, you know, nugelers. Get a beanie and there's all sorts of.

Alex Lindsay [00:58:48]:
I have no idea. Like, I. I just.

Leo Laporte [00:58:50]:
Something sitting on your desk when you walk in.

Alex Lindsay [00:58:51]:
I'll show up. I'll show up on January 5th and find out.

Leo Laporte [00:58:54]:
So do you have to work on site?

Alex Lindsay [00:58:59]:
Yes, it's some days on site, so it's some Days on site, some days off site. So it's, yeah.

Leo Laporte [00:59:03]:
So I've got a drive to Cupertino.

Jason Snell [00:59:06]:
Huh.

Alex Lindsay [00:59:07]:
Very early in the morning. Yikes.

Leo Laporte [00:59:09]:
I did that. I told you when you, when you told me, I said yeah, I did that. For how long? Too long. Yeah, I did the math or something.

Alex Lindsay [00:59:17]:
I did the math in Google Maps and if I leave at 5:15, it's an hour and 20 minutes. If I leave at 5:45, it's two hours. So there'll be a strong, a strong push up.

Jason Snell [00:59:30]:
You'll be caught up on podcasts and audiobooks. Exactly.

Alex Lindsay [00:59:33]:
By the end of my family now will know when they can call. Like I'm just sitting in the car doing my thing, thing. So. Yeah, yeah. So that's, that's, that's in my future there.

Jason Snell [00:59:41]:
Yeah. Are, are you, are you sure that you're still housebroken for like office work like at a big company?

Alex Lindsay [00:59:46]:
I, I don't know. I don't know. I, I, I tell people like, I'm.

Jason Snell [00:59:50]:
Like, do you have to bring in your own coffee mug or is a coffee mug going to be provided for you in the break? That stuff like that.

Alex Lindsay [00:59:56]:
My, my wife is like, this is the first time you've had a grown up job in a long time. You know, like, you know, and so, so I, you know, so I, I tell people that it is a, keep everything warm because I don't know how long I'll last. But we'll do the best we can. So I'm pretty excited about it.

Leo Laporte [01:00:12]:
Wow. Well, we're very excited about your new job and that you're going to be making an honest living. I hope we will hear from you from time to time.

Alex Lindsay [01:00:21]:
I'm sure you will.

Leo Laporte [01:00:23]:
It won't be on the air. I have a feeling. Just really, I'm so happy for you. I think that's wonderful. And apple, actually when you get there, if you would just mention that Leah wouldn't mind coming to an event or two at the camp. No, don't, because I don't want to tarnish. Wait till you've been there five or.

Jason Snell [01:00:44]:
Six years and then again, baby steps basically. First, Alex basically sends like an encrypted chat saying there will be a catering cart with a drapery over it by this east exit that will be taken in at 1:02 and they don't. And they're not going to be checking underneath the tablecloth. So just don't be giggling while they wheel you into the press room.

Leo Laporte [01:01:10]:
It's very fun. We're Going to really miss you, Alex.

Jason Snell [01:01:13]:
Yeah, I was very, very sad when I heard about this because, I mean, this is one of the reasons why I look forward to the show each and every week is chance to chat with my friends for two or three hours and having a couple hours less.

Alex Lindsay [01:01:28]:
Yeah. Yeah. I think for me it's been. Again, it's been hard. I mean, obviously the concert thing has been 10 years of development.

Leo Laporte [01:01:36]:
Wow. You've been working on that 10 years.

Alex Lindsay [01:01:39]:
Started thinking about what it would look like 10 years ago and then started doing the pitches about four years ago. And then we're just. And I had hoped to, as this all kind of came up, that we'd have our first actual public show. We've had a test show, but our first actual public show before I. Before this happened. But. But it's not. We're not quite there yet, so.

Alex Lindsay [01:01:56]:
So I will get to. I'll get to be a consumer, you know, and sit and see how it. How it turns out. But so. And then, you know, obviously hanging out with everyone here is such as, you know, Mac Break has been such a huge part of my life in the last 20. 20 years. It's crazy to say 20 years. I feel very wild.

Leo Laporte [01:02:13]:
But.

Alex Lindsay [01:02:14]:
Yeah, so it's incredible. It's incredible. So it's funny. And I just, you know, I'm just so grateful, you know, to. Specifically to you, Leo. You know, like, I just. I just want to say that it's been really, you know, I. I showed up at Tech TV because someone that worked at one of your camera operators said that you might be looking for guests, you know, and.

Leo Laporte [01:02:35]:
Who is that? I gotta send that guy a cake.

Alex Lindsay [01:02:38]:
Yeah. I'm trying to think of who it was. I think it was Dave, and I can't think of his life. He was. But he, you know, he just said, oh, you might want to stopped by and I think I came by and showed camera mapping or something like that.

Leo Laporte [01:02:48]:
Oh, my God, that's great. I remember you drawing on my face with a Sharpie. I do remember that. I got still good pictures.

Alex Lindsay [01:02:54]:
Yeah. Welcome to photogrammetry over 20 years ago.

Leo Laporte [01:02:58]:
20 years ago.

Alex Lindsay [01:03:00]:
But between tech TV and TWIT and everything else, so many of the opportunities that I've had over the last 25 years have been really directly connected to working with you, Leo.

Leo Laporte [01:03:13]:
And so now you're going to rock and roll heaven. And I'm sure they got an incredible band up there. Now you're going to be with all of our friends. So congratulations to Alex and. Well, you know, Stay tuned, stay tuned. It's not the first transition. In fact, everybody here is relatively newer than Alex. Andy, you probably, you've been here for quite a while.

Leo Laporte [01:03:43]:
We went through it.

Alex Lindsay [01:03:44]:
I still feel like Jason's the new kid on the Boss. It's been like what, four or five years now.

Andy Ihnatko [01:03:48]:
I don't even know how long it's been now. Seems like a long time.

Jason Snell [01:03:51]:
We might have to stop calling you the Stig.

Andy Ihnatko [01:03:53]:
Yeah. You know, so my Lauren's aunt is a Supreme Court justice in the state of Washington. And one of the things that a lot of these courts do is they have a very strict seniority policy. So when you get on the court you have to sit all the way on the end and you also have to bring the snacks.

Alex Lindsay [01:04:12]:
It's true story.

Leo Laporte [01:04:13]:
Yes.

Andy Ihnatko [01:04:13]:
We're very gradually you get to not be the person on the end. So, you know, I have really enjoyed.

Leo Laporte [01:04:20]:
But you do often years of snacks. I just want to say I'm happy.

Andy Ihnatko [01:04:23]:
To not be on the end. So that's nice. Yeah. I'll just point out for the record, Google is the one who took Renee from us.

Leo Laporte [01:04:31]:
That's right.

Andy Ihnatko [01:04:32]:
Wasn't that Apple?

Leo Laporte [01:04:33]:
No, that's right.

Andy Ihnatko [01:04:33]:
Bit tech giants steal everybody.

Leo Laporte [01:04:36]:
Yeah. I mean, yeah. I think part of that is because so many of our hosts are ink stained wretches who are happy to be getting a paycheck and I can't really blame them for that. I really can't.

Andy Ihnatko [01:04:50]:
Anyway, just those of us unemployables out here. Yeah, we stick around.

Leo Laporte [01:04:54]:
Yeah, we keep going. Congratulations, Alex. I hope we, you know, hear from you from time to time. I guess it can't be on the show. I wish it would, but yeah, I think it'll be.

Alex Lindsay [01:05:06]:
It's a different.

Leo Laporte [01:05:06]:
Any leaks or secret inside information that we have from now on will absolutely not be coming from Alex Lindsay though, I have to promise you that because Alex isn't crazy.

Alex Lindsay [01:05:19]:
I'm used to working on secure projects.

Leo Laporte [01:05:24]:
Well, that's it for 202025 MacBreak Weekly. It was a great year. We had a lot of fun. Apple did a lot of very interesting things. We had a lot of strong conversations, a lot of happy conversations and I hope you enjoyed every one of them. And I look forward to a great new year. It is a little bit bittersweet this year because we of course are saying goodbye to the man who started Mac break 20 years ago, Alex Lindsay. He's taken a job at the fruit company.

Leo Laporte [01:05:53]:
So I'm very happy for Alex. He's very excited about his new job, but naturally we will have to say goodbye until he decides not to be working at the company we're covering. But he's been such an important part of the show and I know he's with us in spirit from now on. And of course I will stay in touch with him and maybe from time to time we'll hear from him on the show. A very big thanks, of course, to Jason Snell and to Andy Ihnatko and to Alex Lindsey and to all the other hosts who filled in, like Doc Rock and Stephen Robles and Shelley Bridges. They've really made this a lot of fun to do this show. As you know, we love Macintosh and Apple and iPhones and we love talking about them. Sometimes, you know, we're not completely happy with every little thing.

Leo Laporte [01:06:36]:
That's part of our job too. But I think it's unbalanced, really a fun area of technology to cover it really. It's the toy store and I like that. Really. A big thanks too, to our producer, John Ashley, who puts this show together every week and technical director, it often edits it, of course. To our head editor and VP for creative, Anthony Nielsen, who's sitting right beside me right now. To Benito Gonzalez, who's another one of our producers and editors, Kevin King, who normally does the Windows show, but occasionally he'll. He'll fill in here as well.

Leo Laporte [01:07:11]:
Thanks also to Burke, who keeps the studio running our continuity department. They're great. Debbie and Viva and Sebastian. They keep the ads in order to and keep the advertisers in order too, which might be a harder job. Patrick Delahanty, who is our off site CTO man, talk about a behind the scenes guy who keeps everything flowing. And our marketing team, Ty, we appreciate everything you've done to help build the audience. Over the year we've seen some really nice audience growth and I think it's a lot due to Ty and of course our CEO, head of marketing, head of sales, head of everything. And my dear wife, Lisa laporte.

Leo Laporte [01:07:49]
Thanks to all of you. Most of all, we wouldn't be able to do this show without your love and support. Thank you for listening. Even to this, the show with all the stuff you've already heard in most cases, that's real dedication. It's been a fun year. A special thanks to our club members too, who not only give us the moral support, but also the financial support to keep on keeping on. I'm looking forward to a really interesting 2026. I've got my finger hovered over the buy button.

Leo Laporte [01:08:17]:
I hope you will continue to have your finger hovered over the play button. We will see you in 2026. Happy New Year to the entire MacBreak family, from all of us to all of you and yours. And now it is my sad and solemn duty, as always, to tell you to get back to work. There's some eggnog to be drunk. We'll see you next year. Happy New Year, everybody.