MacBreak Weekly 434 (Transcript)

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Leo: This is MacBreak Weekly episode 434, for December 23rd, 2014.

The Best of 2014

MacBreak Weekly is brought to you by Personal Capital, with Personal Capital you'll have many more happy holidays as you grow and protect your wealth with this award winning financial app; best of all, it's free! Just sign up, go to PersonalCapital.com/macbreak.

Hello, MacBreak Weekly fans, Leo Laporte here. Yes, you can tell by the fact that I am an elf on the shelf that this is our holiday edition, Whoo, hoo, hoo! That means we’re going to have some of the best clips from 2014! Coming up, starting off with, oh, that was the year that I got my brand new Mac Pro, and I just couldn’t stop touching it!

 

MacBreak Weekly 385, January 14, 2014

Leo: Oh fondle fondle fondle, oh quarter radius, oh index of refraction of the paint gloss...

Andy: Exactly!

Leo: I’m just going to say this is the last Mac Pro I’ll ever own. I love it!

Andy: You look like you’re fondling Mr. Bigglesworth.

Leo: I’ll never leave you!

Andy: For the record there are 5 different witticisms I’ve thought of and that No, we’d better not say that. I like doing this show and I like TWiT existing and if I said one of those things one or both of those things would cease to be true anymore.

Leo: I think that what really – And by the way please don’t send me an email saying “You nit whit, you could buy a keyboard and mouse for only 15 dollars. I know that, I have plenty of keyboards and mice. I’m just joking. I do have to say and a final word on this. For whatever, it’s way overpriced, nobody needs the power blah blah blah. This is a computer you literally can fall in love with. I’m just saying.

Andy: Apple does that so well!

Rene: It’s kind of like owning a Lamborghini.

Leo: I’m kind of fond of it.

Alex: I don’t know I kind of think I would get more day to day enjoyment from a Mac Pro than a Lamborghini in my opinion.

Leo: I sit down, every night I sit down and go what am I going to do with you? And I open the browser and I go to Facebook. It’s depressing.

Andy: I’m not likely to send a Mac Pro into the ditch by the side of a road, that’s one thing.

Rene: Leo, how is this as a home theater PC?

Leo: I’m not…. You know believe it or not the Xbox 1 is a perfect home theater PC. And I’m using that as my home theater PC. And that’s fine.

Rene: It’s too inexpensive. You need a much more expensive one.

Leo: The real truth is I have absolutely zero need for this but I do love it. There’s something about it, you just kind of fall in love with it. It’s hard to describe.

Andy: That’s always been one of Apple’s strengths. It’s not a trivial thing either.

Leo: You’re saying it’s okay Andy? For me to love it?

Andy: No, I’m saying there are objects in that very room that you’re sitting in right now that are capable of returning your love in a significant way that will pay off in the long run, as opposed to forcing you to go find a box of wet naps and get that stuff off of your Mac Pro. I’m just saying that there are so many laptops out there that I think are really really great. I really like my new retina Mac Book, but I also like these 250 dollar Chrome Books. Whatever the advantages of a Chrome Book are, when you take it out of the box you don’t feel like OH MAN, that is manifestly the weapon of a king. This is a beautiful thing.

Rene: --- fondle cam.

Leo: Welcome to Cinemax 1 A.M, coming up at 1:10… Look the reason we get into this business for a lot of us, certainly it was for me, is a love of technology, Apple’s taught us a love of design.

Rene: Dare not speak its name.

Leo: Every once in a while an object comes out that’s really fetishistically beautiful. And they’re rare and when they come out you want to celebrate them and honor them.

Andy: There is a reason so many of the people on this show and listening to this show have a G4 Mac Cube.

Leo: Exactly.

Andy: That’s not in stores, it's not being given away, it’s a beautiful object that gives them pleasure to simply have it on the shelf somewhere. That’s not an easy thing for tech companies... Ok now you are freaking me out a little bit.

Leo: I shall call her Her... Her.

Andy: If next week we finally pull a set of wax lips on the side of that... I might have to sit out a couple of shows.

Alex: It could be fun in that forever staying young...

Leo: It could be my pillow wife. Alright enough of this silly

Alex: You know what we ought to do, I have to admit it because it would show all of... we should go back to when they first announced one of these and have all of our comments.

Leo: I completely admit, I mocked it, I thought it was stupid, I said who’s going to want to buy this. It starts at $3,000 but by the time you equip it properly you’re talking 10 grand. All of that’s still true. In fact...

Rene: And then you saw it.

Leo: And then I saw it.

Rene: Go to the harp music. (sings)

Leo: It’s like if you knew that falling in love with Scarlett Johansson would cost you a lot of money and a lot of heart break, and that eventually George Clooney would come along and steal her away, but you still….

Rene: Mac Pro, you complete me.

Announcer: Here’s Leo’s fondle cam. (Leo gently rubbing the Mac Pro.)

Rene: While I’ve got the Gaford tape out, just cover up the webcam on your notebook while you have your alone time with the Mac Pro.

Leo: You know what’s great about the Mac Pro? No web cam! So no one can see you loving your computer.

Andy: $9.95 per minute!

Alex: Not available in the District of Columbia.

Rene: Rub my Apple!

Leo: Ahhhhh, Ahhhh. (Soft music playing)

All: (laughing)

Alex: Somewhere there’s an Apple engineer feeling really uncomfortable!

 

MacBreak Weekly 390, February 18, 2014

By the way, pardon me for this interruption. Davin Haukebo-bol is a photographer who has done a set on Flickr called Macternity. I think we should just sit back and enjoy these pictures of Davin and his Mac Pro.

Leo, singing: “He’s having my baby”, what a wonderful . . .

(Another person singing) “It must have been cold there in my shadow, to never feel sunlight on your face. Did you ever know that you’re my hero? You’re everything, everything, everything, I’d like to be.”

Leo: I wish for those of you listening to the audio stream, you could see the pictures.

Various comments by panel members:

A Mac Pro boudoir

I thought my fondle cam was going too far, but apparently here’s a man who loves his Mac Pro even more.

It’s got to be illegal in several states.

Can you marry a Mac Pro in California?

I’ve got 20 bucks that says that the moisture sensor in that thing is very much red.

Keep the headphones rolling.

It’s just keeps on going. Full multi-core action. Just $19.95

It’s the hippy headband that throws me off.

The headband’s a little weird.

Just when I’m about to sort of say “Okay, to each his own”, it’s the headband that. . .

Mac Pro Jesus turned water into . . .

And at this moment, how many hundreds of thousands of people are saying “That guy got his Mac Pro, how come I can’t get mine. “Damn it, where’s my Mac Pro. Damn you all to hell.”

Leo: All right.

Andy: All right. How are you feeling about yourself right now? Are you feeling good about yourself right now?

Rene: I can never un-see that.

Credit to Davinhb on Flickr. Davin Haukebo-bol. If you want to see these pictures, you may flee to Flickr and see them all in great detail.

 

Leo:  We do love that Mac Pro! Coming up, it wasn’t the only product that shipped from Apple this year, I think you know what I’m talking about, there was a little one and a really big one!

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Well, this was the year we got new iPhones, and wow, they really were new iPhones!

 

MacBreak Weekly 408, June 24, 2014

Leo: So, another rumor, more rumors on the iPhone, I think, I think at this point can we lock it down there will be two iPhones probably September, 4.7 inch display on one, 5.5 inch on another. Is Apple really going to do a five and half inch iPhone? Yes, that’s a departure for them.

Jason: It’s a new Apple, it’s a new Apple for you.

Rene: Yes.

Andy: You talk just about not just the sources of the rumor but the velocity of them and the direction they come from, and although I would not have predicted even four months ago that Apple would have gone with two different larger screen iPhones. Now, I’m starting to believe that there, there’s going to be a normal sized phone that’s larger than an iPhone and also one that’s kind of like a pop tart. I would never have guessed that. (Leo laughing) That is the one indication of the…….

Leo: I don’t like a poppie….(cross talk)

Jason: It’s the frosting on the pop tart….

Andy: That’s the only way to put it. The thing that it means the occasionally I have to go down, go down the store buy some chocolate pop tarts to make the comparison.

Leo: It doesn’t taste as good, only the bad (presenters talking over each other)

Andy: The first thing I notice is that the Nokia 1520 because it looked very, very familiar so I bought a box of pop tarts that is exactly the size of one half and one half pop tart, you put one and one half pop tarts on top of it, you completely cover the foot-print on it.

Jason: You’ve blown the ratio, it can’t be, that’s a long pop tart, it can’t be.

Leo: Jason, do you have an iPhone on you?

Jason: I do.

Andy: I think that there a lot more pop tarts.

Leo: Let’s do the comparison, it’s not an exact comparison because, here is, this is an iPhone Five S, here you have the width shoulder, here is the four-inch screen. This is a HTC M8 (holding this phone up) that’s a five-inch screen, so it’s bigger than 4.7 will be. I don’t have my Moto X.

Jason: It’s in the middle.

Leo: It’s in the middle. I can’t see the Note three it’s 7.5 inches. This is fairly close to what an iPhone 6 might look like. That’s a heck of a jump. (Cross Talk)

Rene: The biggest question for me there is the Note size, the phablets have not sold in North America in any appreciable numbers. It sold like gangbusters in Asia, but they sold for at a rather low price point. I don’t think that Apple is going to do low.

Leo: Give me that again. (juggling with three mobile phones). This is a pop tart (Comparing a phone with an actual pop-tart)

Andy: I don’t want to work there if you got a pop tart…..(Cross talk)

Leo: The pop tart is 4 by 3, you’re saying it will be 16x9 won’t it? What would happen if you had the two pop tarts together, would that be 6 inch?

Rene: The iPad mini.(laughing)

Andy: That’s the iPad mini.

Leo: Here’s and air, so (drops a pop tart) oh darn I guess some-one will have to eat that one. Would you like a pop tart?

Jason: Yes, give it over. (Leo hands over pop tart)

Leo: Yes, we do have pop tarts, it’s part of the employee benefit program we offer. (Leo roaring with laughter as Jason holds pop tart to ear)

Jason: Not coming through.

Andy: I can’t hear you I’ve got a pop tart in my ear.

Rene: You’re holding it upside down Jason. You’re holding it wrong.

Jason: The home button - holding it for a second, it’s Amazon I’m……

Andy: Hi there, I have a problem on the pop tart.

Leo: What kind of flavor pop tart is this? It’s got sparkles on it. It’s strawberry.(cross-talk)

Andy: You’ve got to lick the bumper of icing on it before you get calls on it.

Jason: Icing bumper.

Leo:  They make, they make…….Okay…….This is not a healthy snack.

Unknown Voice: No, have you seen the calories in that thing?

Leo: The thing is that this is not a helpful breakfast.

Unknown Voice: It’s got as many calories like a Big Mac.

Rene: It’s what I would for my lunch.

Leo: (Leo breaking the pop tart)…..I’m not eating that.

Rene: Make sure you note that in your health app, Leo!

Rene: Push, one towards the TV, push one towards the TV.

Leo: Who buys pop tarts for the staff, is that Debbie, is that Lisa’s idea, Debbie?

Unknown Voice: I think we bought them, like six months ago, and they’ve just been hanging around.

Leo: Oh, well……that’s a good thing about a pop tart, they keep for long time.

 

MacBreak Weekly 421, September 23, 2014

Leo: So, let’s talk about, so Alex…..…….you are our guinea pig, you are our guinea pig because you haven’t bought yours yet, like most of the United States of America and soon China and the rest of the world in a conundrum…

Alex: Yes, I agree it is very upsetting for me and, the whole thing is that if the image optical, if the optical image stabilization was on the small one it would be a no brainer, I would not even think about it.

Leo: Let me point out something real quickly that I think is significant. These are identical except for size right? Now the pixels are arranged or not, but…but…it’s…not like you get more icons on the screen.

Rene: You get an extra row don’t you…no?

Leo: ahhhhhh…….. Looks like the same number of rows to me. Now this is not zoom, this is standard. Zoom would take away a row as a matter of fact.

Andy: You have to wait till developers start targeting that screen. Just like when the first iPad mini came out it was just every single full sized iPad app only, like optically shrunk down and, then after a few months people started targeting that user interface and making it better. So we’re not seeing…we’re seeing that a little bit Apple made apps but I think that we’re really going to see this as an entirely new device platform.

Leo: And, that’s another really important point for today which are many, many apps are not scaled properly at all. So, this is Google Plus, none of the Google apps were modified for the new resolution so this is Google Plus basically as it would have been on the 5 S or any other phone.

Rene: The scale is pretty good though, especially on 5 plus on the 6 plus because it’s got so much high density. On the 6 you will see the little line waves, sometimes because it is scaling it, but on the 6 plus the density is so high, you can barely see the scan….

Leo: So, again look at this, you’re seeing exactly the same thing, (cross talk) it’s not like you’re using more of the screen at all (cross talk) these are fairly big technical, and again this is for an unmodified app. You’re absolutely right, Andy, they will soon be better. (More cross talk)

Go ahead (to Andy)….

Andy: No, I was saying if you have an app like the kindle reader you can adjust font sizes. Suddenly, you make the font a lot smaller that you have even on the regular 6; it’d still be nicely readable. Even, today it seems like a good idea, I think in the future it’s going to be even better,

Leo: This is Apple’s app, presumably up-to-date.

Rene: You can rotate it on the 6 plus, Leo, so you get the… if you don’t have the…

Leo: I’ll turn it off for one second.

Rene: You will get the split view.

Leo: You know what if Apple didn’t rotate the home-screen, the springboard I wouldn’t…I would leave it on. I hate it when the springboard rotates right?

Rene: So, you get the iPad style of apps on horizontal…

Leo: Yeah, that’s nice… but what I don’t like is when this happens…

Alex: pooh, even when that happens and, even if we have a resolution that it still won’t actually load iPad apps….correct….(cross talk)

Andy: No, it still runs iPhone, though it still doesn’t have the nice features of the iPad, like a lot of the four fingered gestures for navigation, system widening don’t work, I don’t believe that it works with some of the iPad accessories, through the lightning adaptor, so it is very much still a super big iPhone as opposed to an iPad that’s smaller.

Alex: Which I think is kind of a bummer, because I think that it would be, I think I would replace my mini with the larger one, that one would be more of a temptation for me.

Andy: Well, I’m saying over the past week I have been using keyboards with this. I’ve been doing a lot of experiments that way, I do find that a lot of reasons why I would like just toss an iPad in the bag when I go out in the afternoon, is now being replaced with, well I’ve got the iPhone 6 plus, maybe I’ll grab this pocket keyboard just in case I want to write something good otherwise that’d be good.

Leo: So here is, presumably Apple mail is updated, right? So, let’s see if this loads, so this is just a nice spam message, but I don’t want to show anything in any personal detail…mail alarm you’re getting a free app…

Rene: So, when you turn it, Leo.

Leo: So when you turn it sideways, like that… I like that. That’s probably the best example to buy a bigger screen, it is useful, but of course that doesn’t do anything.

Rene: That’s because of all the new adaptive UI classes so you have the right compacted classes and, this iPhone presents itself…basically developers can target it as an iPad in a horizontal view.

Leo: Right, right so, I don’t see a lot of…again this is the segment which will help you to decide which one you will buy.

Alex: This is one of my chief problems, I really actually wear one shirt that has different colors, and, this is my problem. (Tucking the iPhone into his shirt pocket). Let’s see if this fits.

Leo: It fits beautifully, what are you talking about. Now you’re probably going want to have a case, you should probably include a case right.

Alex: Once you’ve got a case on it…this will get bigger.

Rene: The pockets are holding.

Alex: I know exactly, you know. (Some cross talk)

Leo: So, new apps will come in and they will take advantage of the real estate and that won’t look scaled. I see this scaling, but they won’t look scaled. And, we saw…this happens every-time. There is OIS in the 6 plus not in the 6. Although, a lot of people are saying that the low life performance of the 6 is excellent. The OIS doesn’t turn unless you’re in the low light.

Alex: Andy, have done any real side to side or Rene?

Andy: I am actually going to be doing my really intensively eight ways side by side comparison tests Wednesday and then into Thursday. I did some quick stuff, with it in the back yard and, basically in darkened rooms, I think that you can in the right situations, definitely see the enhancements of the 6 plus. The… I don’ t think that it’s correct I do think that the image status is all right.

Leo: All right.

Andy: I do believe that the image status is always on. But, I believe that the iPhone 6 does such a good job on the light is that there a bunch of other tricks behind the scenes, for instance there’s the three shots tricks behind the scenes shot that they’re doing so let’s say that you’re doing…you’re taking a picture of somebody inside the church it will take one…it will take a sequence of three shots without you knowing and, the first shot will be a long exposure it’ll will capture whatever’s not moving around in the actual church. And, then it will actually look and combine that with those two other pictures to find sharp areas where people weren’t moving and combine that synthetically into one shot that looks square and, looks everything looks like it’s nicely focused. So there’s a lot of Elphin magic behind that hollow tree.

Leo: It is an amazing camera on both phones.

Andy: Yeah.

Leo: Yeah, Rene.

Rene: We did some tests with and, it’s really close the 6’s phenomenal light, where you can just see the things, if you zoom them up, you can see the way that it handles the pixels on the 6 plus. It’s better, it’s less noisy, I…..

Leo: Right.

Rene: It’s one of those things where if you buy the 1000-dollar lens and, opposed to the 500 dollar lens, some people can tell it apart. You know probably Andy could tell it apart, but it is harder for me.

Andy: Well, I think it’s the difference for me between Instagram and your grandchildren twenty years later. Seriously, almost every phone that you buy today that is half-way decent phone will take a picture that just fine for Instagram or FaceBook, the question is 20 years later when you realize that oh, that was the last time that we really had all the family from Chicago and Boston and from San Francisco all in the same place altogether you’re glad you had the iPhone 6 plus because this is something that will take a picture of something good enough to actually print out and put on the back of your sofa table, whereas the other cameras are like okay, that’s nice we’ll put that on the Apple TV mark 21 and will wish that grandpa actually used the proper camera.

Leo: You know I can actually see a little bit of how this is not a good sync. This test.

Rene: Like, it’s the video processor is doing so much work in the background.

Andy: Also in the Face-time the front facing camera is doing interesting things too. The front facing camera here, for instance they’re calling one-shot HDR and, it’ll do it automatically. So, if you’re doing a selfie like this, or if you’re doing chat it’ll automatically switch to a mode where it is synthetically producing an optimised image so that the higher exposure in the background is not going to be quite as dramatic as should we choose the exposure in the foreground. Sometime, in my experience if we begin if we were to give it a really bad lighting situation like when I was shooting a video, you can see it on You Tube, in the back yard kind of like couple of hours before sunset and it’s in shade so it’s 1(point) 2 mega pixel camera, let’s not forget on the iPhone 6 and, so because of the HDR, the colors are a little bit odd, but the tonality is right there. So, there’s so much tricks out that’s why you really do have to take it out and rock and roll it for few days before you appreciate that has specs that go beyond what the actual hard-ware is.

Leo: How long have you had it? For, more than a week now, is that right?

Andy: No I’ve had it since Friday.

Leo: Okay. Okay, so we’re talking about difference, obviously spring resolution, camera and, then battery life. How about that?

Rene: It’s a monster, I go to sleep and it’s still at 38 percent, which is nuts for the 6 plus.

Andy: Yeah, I have yet to put, when I’m finally wrapping up my last Android phone stuff today, which means that I can finally put my SIM in this AT&T iPhone, so it’s only been used on Wi-Fi since for the Friday, but I was charged up fully on Friday and had to charge it again today. And, that’s a guy who has been spending a whole week-end playing with it and, watching movies with it and, listen to music with it, it’s just a monster this iPhone 6 plus battery.

Leo: How about the 6, what’s the battery life.

Andy: I would put it at a little bit better than what you get on the iPhone 5S but not so dramatically better that it would influence your buying decision. But if you’re…there are a lot of people who would actually have tethering on their iPads because they can use that as your two day broadband base station. I think this is going to attract a lot of people for the same reason, which if you’re using as your internet access point as you travel or even spending the day outside the office, you will be able to after using this as your base station for your Mac Book or your other note book all day long, you’ll be able to board the commuter train home and still have enough juice left to have a good time on the train ride home.

Rene: I’ve had the exact same thing about the battery life. Some people have been confused because when you first install it, you install from the back-up, it’s going to download everything, it’s going to re-index power right, there’s a lot going on, for the first couple of days it’s hard to…

Leo: Yeah…

Rene: To get good battery readings, but it’s lasting a little bit longer than the iPhone 5S, nowhere nearly as long as the 6 plus, and to Andy’s point to Roger’s LTE is obscene. It’s not even LTE advanced yet but I think they’ve got 15/20 lanes of LTE, and I’m getting 90 down in my condo…

Leo: Wow…

Rene: and 90 down at Starbucks which is twice as fast as my broadband.

Leo: I’m going to turn off Wi-Fi, I’m curious about what AT&T is giving us here in the studio.

Alex: I don’t think that’s AT&T has the enhanced, it’s only Verizon.

Leo: It is only Verizon, let me turn that down…I got 90 down on Josh’s T-Mobile, that probably because no one uses the app.

Alex: I just got what I ordered. I want the Wi-Fi calling.

Leo: A couple of other points, T-Mobile has Wi-Fi calling…

Alex: That was my calling…

Leo: The Apple store was telling us, and I asked several people that T-Mobile is not carrier locked as we have learned.

Alex: Yeah, I bought mine completely unlocked.

Leo: I have which I think is great is the Verizon version which is SIM card unlocked, as it has been in the past, which is very good news. For instance I can take this to England, have Verizon here and all those bands of LTE, but still takie it to England and have the new T-Mobile international.

Alex: Now the new Verizon will allow you to do both data and voice.

Leo: Voice over LTE, I think so, yeah so let me turn off Wi-Fi and do a speed test, because I’m curious what we’re going to get here. I don’t know what Verizon is like normally here. So all right I think is that all of the pros and cons you would need Alex to make the right choice. Size obviously, battery life, the cameras…

Alex: Number one thing for me is just knowing how much of a difference the optical image stabilization is.

Rene: The only other thing I would point out is that it depends on your use case, for example I quite often use my iPhone 5S when I was walking around with coffee or if I am walking around on the street, now I can’t do that with the iPhone 6, it’s just big enough that…it’s not that I can’t reach it I feel like I am going to drop my phone, I say stop and then I say no and then put it down. It’s a hand and a half apparatus, sorry the iPhone 5 or the iPhone 6 I can use perfectly well in one hand, without any problems in because it’s so thin and it’s so round it still feels great. The iPhone 6+ I can’t do that anymore.

Andy: I think that it’s the first iPhone where I think that having it in a really good case is going to change how you use it. I can’t wait for a really good like folio cases, like fold over cases that come out with it, because you’re absolutely right that I have been carrying this without the case only because I only want to be able to feel how warm it gets in the back when I’m using and all this sort of stuff when just testing a phone. But I also have the silicone sleeve for it and, when it is in that sleeve I can have a little bit of a more firm control over, this is one of the slipperiest phones that Apple has ever made. I was just putting it down on the end table, just about a couple hours ago while I was getting other stuff ready and I could it see it going slightly zzzzz…… (moving)

Rene: Remember the Nexus Four it would fall flat off the table?

Andy: Yeah exactly so I think you’re right so once we have cases to get a better grip on, I can certainly walk and use it, so long as I don’t have to access most of the screen. I mean my basic, my basic takeaway on it the 6 and the 6 plus is that your default should be the 6 I think. I think any iPhone user will be extremely happy with the 6 and will not have a complaint about it if you have a reason for the 6 plus to have this larger screen whether you’re a system administrator and you want to do remote access and have more screen, you watch a lot of movies you read a lot of books, you really want that extra battery life for acting as a base station or assuming that the camera tests pay off as well as I hope they will you too are really frustrated by the low light photography in other iPhones, then get it. You have to have a reason in mind. Don’t think I don’t know which one to get, I might as well get the bigger one because I think you’re going to be kind of unhappy with it especially after spending five years using phones that are as small as this. I had to get out the pre-stretched out version………Holy Cats is that the difference. This, is about as long as this screen is wide, it’s amazing. (Cross talk)

Rene: ……it’s like wide as an iPad (all panellists concur ‘yeah’)

Leo: All of the people I know who’ve come from 5S’s or even less are struggling a little bit with the 6 plus because it’s such a big jump.

Alex: Yeah.

Leo: I surprised myself I’ve been using a phone of the 6 plus size for the last 6 months and, I really like the 6 and, the size of I have always felt the 4(point) 7 is kind of exactly the right size for a phone. Oh, what is that screen shot?

Unknown Voice: This is the amount of pixels in the original iPhone; it’s way down here.

Leo: That was 2007...(cross talk) you might as well show a Blackberry Pager next to that.

Rene: That really does feel like the iPhone 6 is a linear successor to the iPhones and the 6 plus is something new like a giant sized screen size from Greenland! When you use this then you look back at the iPhone 5S and it looks so thick and small and square and then you look back at one of the phones Andy held up and it looks like a little toy. It’s amazing how quickly your brain recalibrates!

Leo: I have used all the iPhones, and not full time for the last couple of years, I admit, the 6 is easily the nicest iPhone they’ve ever made. I really feel like this is a stunning work of art.

Andy: Apple says every year, “This is the best iPhone we’ve ever made!” And of course, in terms of specs, in terms of features, that’s always true but this really feels like the first time they could have called this the iPhone II, like Mark II, because it’s almost like every other iPhone before this was just laying groundwork for this, for it is so superior in every way. Hands down, the biggest upgrade they’ve ever done in hardware.

 

MacBreak Weekly 392, March 4, 2014

Leo:  Did you see John Travolta?

Alex:  Oh!  That was painful.  It’s called too many martinis before the show.

Leo:  I don’t even know whose name he was trying to say. 

Andy:  Idina Menzel.

Leo:  He didn’t say Idina Menzel, did he?

Andy:  One of my favorite bloggers said, “You know John Travolta’s job on stage - he only had to do two things.  Dye his hair a natural color and say Idina Menzel” and he failed to do either of those things.

Leo:  Let me play the clip of it.  I think it is on Oscar moments.  (Clip plays in video) Adele Dazee? (Laughing)

Voice: It’s like someone on American Idol that can’t remember the words.

Alex:  The funny thing about that is that we work on a lot of live shows with celebrities and what you end up with, you saw this with Harrison Ford, if you work enough of these shows you can tell who was worried about their presentation and who didn’t care.  So like Harrison Ford obviously he did not - he didn’t make a mistake but the first time he saw whatever he was saying he was still on the air.

Leo:  It’s called cold reading versus…

Alex:  But you could tell some people thought about it, worked on it, and practiced it over and over again.  And there were some people that decided they were like “This is just something I have to do” and they just got up and did it because you know…

Leo:  So he was supposed to say.  What was the name he was supposed to say again?

Rene:  Idina Menzel.

Leo:  And he says… so now if you go to “Slate” there is a little Adele Dazeem name generator where you can Travolta-fy your name!  So let’s try Leo Laporte.  Luke Lopeez!

Alex:  Wait, I want to see Alex Lindsay.

Leo:  You can only do it once.  They force you to reload, so they get all the page views.  Alex Lindsay.   Let’s walk up on the stage, “The wonderfully talented Argyll Lezwis….”  

Alex:  Just call me “Argyll Lezwis”.   And that is the day that he finally believed his wife that “yeah, maybe I should get my contact lens prescription updated”.

Leo:  I am actually very sympathetic because once you’ve done that you can’t fix it.  No, they’ve moved on and…

Rene:  You’ll live in infamy forever.

 

MacBreak Weekly 396, April 1, 2014

Leo: This is actually very exciting: we have launched the Twit International Friendship Satellite and now Twit can be seen in places without the Internet all around the world, in places where the Internet is blocked and I think our video engineer Alex Cumple is prepared to, are you going to flip the switch?

Alex Cumple: We actually have a live shot of the satellite.

Leo: Let us see it. Wow, that is exciting because it looks like Sandra Bullock is out there fixing it. (presenters laughing and talking over each other whilst the satellite is launched) What do I do, what do I do? Now in space.

Alex Cumple: So. Whenever you are ready we can go ahead?

Alex Lindsey: Your producer is getting in the …….(noisy studio)

Alex Cumple: And now let us flip the switch, are we ready to use the satellite?

Leo: Let us begin our broadcast day coming to you live from the Twit International Friendship Satellite. Okay we can launch this. (Twit satellite showing on screen)

Alex Cumple: Flip the switch. Here we go. Now all of our broadcast days will come to you from the Satellite.

Leo: Look at that quality, take that, Internets! There, look at that picture, that is coming to you from space my friends. Welcome to MacBreak Weekly coming to you live from space.

Alex Lindsay: It is going into space.

Leo: We want to say hello to all our friends in North Korea, in Turkey, in Russia I think that the launch of the International Friendship Satellite is really significant advance for us here.

Alex: I think that the lower thirds have really improved a lot.

Leo: You think so. It is not really in cue with the Tricaster and we had to use our own characters around there.

Alex:  It is a little high around there, circa 1982.

Andy Ihantko: I like that.

Leo: Yes here is Andy. It has got the wrong URL for us there. It’s alright we cannot fix it now because the guy who actually set those lower thirds for us is dead. (Laughter in the studio) that is him up there. His face fixing the satellite.

Rene Ritchie from Montreal, good to have you from imore.com

Rene Ritchie: Thank-you Leo.

Andy: Rene, are you opening a store, it looks like you are opening a store?

Leo: Rene has got some serious Lego action did you put the Arkum Asylum? Oh wait a minute.

Rene: Right over here. I do not know whether you can see it over here I need to get  better lighting for it.

Leo: This looks like an episode of Ham Nation.  Hey we got a special Ham Nation tonight, by the way, Joe Walsh is going to be on this show tomorrow night, he is from the Eagles. He is a ham and he did the Ham Nations theme song so I am hoping that we will put that episode of Hamnation on the International Friendship Satellite as well. I think that is fairly important. Why don’t you go because I am a little concerned that video engineer Alex Cumple went running across the studio, is there something I should….. he is just checking things, the flux capacitor seems to be on the fritz right now. Do we have a shot of the signal processor, we are sending this stuff through, you would like this, did you see this?

Alex: I have not seen this until today, I did not realize that we had this all set up.

Leo: We are entering the twentieth century now. (Showing pictures) This is not a joke, and actually if you look at the wiring it spells something.

Alex: That is awesome.

Leo: Geek TV with the……..(laughing)

Leo: So the signal is going through that coiled wire and they have run a sixty hertz power cord across it, what else can you with their fans. The fan is good it generates a little bit of …..(did not complete the sentence)

Alex: This is awesome. It is a serious case of why did not I think of that. I sit there a lot of the time doing effects and after effects in other things and I could have just made a coil of wire to shape the things.

Leo: That is so good, thank-you Alex. Thanks for that, I charged him for that, what would this show look like in 1968?

Andy: For the scripts from the Phil Donoghue show send a self-addressed stamped envelope to MacBreak Weekly Episode 396.

Leo: Even Alex looks the part, thank-you Alex. Alex Gumple you rock! Happy April Fool’s day everybody I am not good at April Fool’s joke because I get bit, I believe these things. I go around the Internet this time of the year and try to figure out is this true or is this not true. It is a particular problem in the Mac news industry, so much stuff is rumor and bizarre anyway.

Alex: It is my mother’s favorite holiday. Oh my gosh!

Leo: Is she the kind of person that puts salt in the sugar bowl? So that when you get up for breakfast you have ……..?

Alex: That was one of her many mornings.

Leo: Did she ever short-sheet the beds?

Alex: One of her favorite ones was changing all of our clocks to two hours earlier for school and then rushing us around and then finding that we were there too early.

Leo: That was so mean.

Alex: My dad actually wrecked his car on April 1^st many years ago and he called and she would not believe him. He said can you send some-one I am hanging upside down and she just laughed at him.

Leo: No, we can go clean now.

Andy: Which was the sister company that we were sponsoring?

Leo: Terrington. “I’d rather fight than switch!” Alright (Satellite being launched) brought to you by Emerson TV the clearest and sharpest 12 inch picture in America, RCA, hey Burke, are you there Burke. (So much talking and laughing in the studio)

Andy: I wonder if they will figure out what my little joke is today?

Leo: That is what I hate about April Fool’s Day.

Andy: It is supposed to be Sir Galahad but it is actually Sir Golay of the Round Table, let us do the show, I am sorry (A lot of talking and laughing over each other) Oh my God that looks like the Round Table, but that is not it!

Leo: He is such a Jokester!

 

This is really exciting! This is the year 2015, starting next week, and we’re going to get to see the new Apple watch and maybe a new Apple TV and a lot more! Remember when Andy got his first glimpse at the Apple watch? He was there at the event:

 

MacBreak Weekly 419, September 9, 2014

Now this is going to be a little bit like talking to Afghanistan and, because we are down there in Cupertino, using something we call it a live view and I thank you of course for lending it (to Alex) to us that gives a connection live in real time via LTE, but there is some internet links, we think there’s one or two seconds…..

Alex: Three……set it to three…….(cross talk)

Leo: Well it depends…..if it is set to three……(cross talk) we’re getting a great image I can’t believe it.

Alex: We’ll see what it looks like when we turn it down.

Leo: Turn it down, we don’t need to see Andy in hi def……

Mike: I’m used to seeing him in high def.

Leo: I don’t know what’s going on with the camera……(swinging all over the place) there we go Andy Ihantko and I don’t know if he’s going to be able to hear me but let’s see if he can……Andy’s in Cupertino……Andy welcome to Macbreak Weekly we’re joined by iJustine, Mike Elgan, Alex Lindsay, and I have already seen the tweet you put out of you bulging…….of your eyes bulging with the Apple watch.

Andy Ihantko: (laughing) No it’s pretty dark in there, so if you want those diaptors functioning on your podcasts……… you’ve got to basically give them some help. (cross talk) I have been examining tiny, tiny pixels for the past hour.

Leo: Well, that’s my question now…….I know what was in the demo mode, what it didn’t look like you could actually manipulate it, you were at least able to watch it so, what’s it like….does it feel big, does it feel thick, how does it compare, you’ve got the Moto 360, what does the screen looks like, it’s obviously a high res screen…..(Andy: Yeah)

Andy: (Brief Pause)……..Yeah the resolution on the screen is fantastic, you really have to strain your eyes to see any pixels whatsoever. Obviously, every time that Apple does an event like this, they create a room in which their screens look great, but even under those conditions you have to say that that screen looked great, big punchy colors, there’s a mode, there’s a special button where you punch it and you see pictures of your favorite contacts and, every picture in there looked like a beautiful tiny little cameo portrait as opposed to just like an avatar or a little icon.

It’s really quite a treat to use it. The weight is surprising they do it in three different models, if you have the sports model that is made out of a special kind of aluminum that feels pretty okay. It feels as the same weight as the Moto 360 on my wrist, which is so light that often times I forget that I have it on. I go back to the bedroom to get it off the charger and, oh no wait you actually have it on.

If you have the stainless steel model, that’s a big chunk of watch, not so much that it’s going to intimidate you, I mean if you’re familiar with high quality watches, you have definitely felt watches this solid before, but maybe you’re not expecting something quite that big. Everything’s rounded over, there’s no blemishes there’s…….the finish is perfect. They have the leather magnetic watch band is the one that I wore that’s instead of having a buckle like this it simply flaps over itself and holds fast. Which means it’s infinitely adjustable and I was……..maybe I should have asked first but after they put everything on us like this (shaking his hand) to see if it would fall off, it was holding everything just perfectly fine.

Leo: Yeah, I would have done the same thing. I’m not sure that I can trust a magnet. Those bands do look really nice. So, what do you think Andy, they’re going to charge 349 bucks?

Andy: For the……the cheapest one that you get is that……I have to go back to my notes to find out which one it is exactly……it looks…….it typical pricing……I thought for an Apple product which is……it is certainly more expensive than what the industry has decided is the going rate for this sort of product. But, not so much more expensive that you wouldn’t say hell I could wait for a few more months, or that I’ll make this the kids combined birthday and, Christmas present. I mean what remains to be seen is how well all this stuff works together because as you say, the one thing that you absolutely were not allowed to do was to touch it. Jason Snell is the hero of our little group because he was actually able to put a finger on it. And, I think that whoever was allowed to do that was hustled out under a bag. I met some friends of mine who worked for Apple one of whom had one on and it was like okay I can’t show you this, I can’t let you do this and I said okay fine……yes……I didn’t have to ask any way. So, this…….that’s no different from them what the original iPhone was like……..I got the briefing for that one in which I got to actually use one of these things that was three months away from being shipped, and there a couple of things it worked except for one or two apps that weren’t ready yet. So, maybe that’s the situation because, obviously if you let just a hundred journalists just peek, pro and prod they’re going to find the one app that’s just the jpeg and then say you know that didn’t function at all…….and they might use that tone of voice in their writing, do something that’s completely un-helpful and, un-called for. So, it’s be interesting to have a more…….a greater picture based on that, but you get what you get, the most interesting that I found now is that not a peep as to what the battery life is. I was scraping for details that I had to take quick notes as Tim Cook was talking about this wonderful inductive magnetic charging system and, I heard him say it’s so easy to use. You’re going to find this so easy to connect to the charger, every night. Anyway, look at the styles of the band. (Panelists laughing) So, I don’t know if that means that they’re expecting one day’s life per charge but we’ll see how that goes again so many unanswered questions but what we’re looking for is does this thing look like something that’s cool, does it immediately activate the lizard part of the brain that says acquire…….acquire…….acquire…….acquire…..and it certainly did that! Certainly to a better extent than any of the android wear watches from LG or Samsung and, the Moto 360 I think this is a really, really nice watch. I have been wearing it for the past four or five days and, testing for a review later this week and I’ve been finding it very, very……… useful and even that doesn’t look quite so nice compared to the Apple watch. I was surprised that I would like a square wrist watch like this but then again like so many things they solved the problem.

 

MacBreak Weekly 400, April 29, 2014

Leo: See, I never got into comic books as a kid. I mean you guys are all reliving your childhood. Oh look that is just what I ordered. Wait a minute you have an art cover.

(Andy opening up a book to show on screen)

Wait a minute I ordered the wrong one, I do not have a hard cover on it, Amazon I am going to quickly cancel this. (Presenters talking over each other)

Rene: I will show you mine but Guy English has them right now.

Leo: I do not want paperback. Cancelling.

Andy: This is the best one, this is the volume that has the Emperor Norton story.

Leo: Cancel, ordered by mistake. What do you say when you cancel on Amazon do they say Select Cancellation Reason. And mostly it is because I do not want it anymore.

Andy: That darn kid of mine.

Leo: There you go you should have that.

Chad: They should have a drop down that says it is too easy to order in the first place.

Leo: That is right. Your stupid one click gets me into trouble every time. So it is called, what is it Sandman….

Andy: This is Absolute Sandman I think.

Leo: Is that the complete set?

Andy: They have done these things where they have recolored entire things and there are bonuses.

Leo: There are volumes.

Rene: There are four volumes.

Leo: Now I am talking 500 dollars! I just wanted one thing.

Andy: You see you are already thinking about it too much. This is why one-click is so good. You just buy and say that this is so good. Comicxology is screwing themselves.

Leo: 80 Bucks each.

Andy: If you give yourself five seconds to think about this whether I want to start getting into the Original Sin Maxi Series on Marvel you are not going to buy it. It is five second thought process.

Leo: It is five volumes at almost 80 dollars each and that is 400 dollars.

Andy: But it is kind of a ribbon, do you see a ribbon it is like a ribbon book mark it is classy as hell.

Leo: Shall I order Volume one and see if I like it?

Andy: Here is the bar code just like, grab the bar code off this. That is all you need to do, and any-one who is down loading you get this bar code and you cannot go half wrong with this.

Leo: I watched that silly newspaper comics movie that you mentioned and I went out and got the complete Calvin and Hobbs because of you and now this!

Andy: And now your life is so much better.

Leo: There is a happy face on your Absolute Watchman. You guys are such nerds.

Andy: So have this weird console where we could bring out our slip case editions on 30 seconds notice. Of course you do not have the happy  tip in book case that happy Dave Mckinn signatures.  (Presenters talking over each other)

(Merlin showing off some hard-drives.)

Leo: What is that Merlin are they hard drives? (Distortion of sound and lost for a few seconds)

We cannot hear your. Audio gone.

Merlin: I was going to say that if you are really a fan of Sandman, do what I did and get the raw files. It is 165,000 dollars.

Andy: I am a burglar and I would change your Dropbox password.

Rene: It is okay if it is hard drives.

Andy: Keep it for another few days because I am still downloading the finale.

Leo: oh My God, I love you guys. Let us just forget this and let us do this show for now on.

Rene: ComixBreak Weekly!

 

MacBreak Weekly 411, July 15, 2014

Leo: Hey, something happened while I was gone. I was kind of aghast, shocked, blown away and I’m talking about the video. I first saw Marques Brownlee’s video of the sapphire,……imported sapphire screen of the iPhone 6, the 4.7 inch screen and, then he mentioned Sonny Dixon, that he got it from Sonny Dixon, and then I saw Sonny and some of the others had posted videos from China. And, I think this surprised me. Typically, you’ll get these anonymous posts from Chinese sources, but for somebody of Marquez’s stature to come forward and say I have, what I believe to be the iPhone 6 bezel in sapphire and, he cut it with a knife, and he bent it and all that stuff but the things I found, the thing in fact I immediately wanted, I almost called Rene and said, (whispers),’is it possible?’

Andy: When you think…….

Leo: Is this real? It would be awfully hard to fake whatever that is now and, by the way no-one knows if it is sapphire. I don’t know if there’s a way to tell I guess. A mass spectrometer?  Now Gorilla glass three which others are using, is similar is it not?

Andy: It’s hard to know what the practical difference is going to be. I don’t think the Gorilla glass can stand up to the sort of abuse that he seems to be giving the glass right now.

Leo: So, I have in my hands for what it’s worth…..this is a Samsung Galaxy S3  front cover, let’s just take this off…….I want to get five million views. And, I have a hard sharp knife…..(hitting the front screen with a knife)…..not a scratch. It’s pretty hard to use a sharp knife.

Rene: Also, the panel by itself is thin and it will bend, when it is on the ……

Leo: (bends the screen and it snaps) ooooh it’s flexible……I think I’m bleeding.

Andy: Oh damn (Leo examines finger with blood)

Leo: Well, there you go.

Andy: Would somebody please sweep those glass shards off the table.

Leo: Is that glass?

Andy: Yes, well it’s pointy….is that blood?

Leo: ..……wow……okay don’t do this at home. I can’t drink my water or my coffee now.(cross talk) And, I hope that the people in the front row, that their eyesight is okay?

And, meanwhile let’s get another shot of the blood because I do want those five million views. (Leo holding his finger that was bleeding slightly) Yes, that’s real blood folks. (Leo puts bleeding finger in mouth)

Rene: Go for his audience.

Andy: Now, let’s be really careful here and look at that stuff that you peeled off at the top. Did any of them say don’t try to break it with your bare-hands, if it doesn’t then we have got a lawsuit.

Rene: Samsung money, Leo, Samsung money!

Leo: (putting away crushed screen) I didn’t really expect that. Can you give me a…… That hurt!

Andy: One thought Leo that was not something that I thought to do instinctively myself. (Panelists laughing)

Leo: I take it that it’s art.

Andy: We suffer for our art.

Rene: We have the power of millions of smart phone brains, key board strokes and …….

Leo: So, we can say this much that it’s better than the Galaxy S3 front cover.

Rene: Yes.

Leo: Ladies and gentlemen I have proven it.

Andy: You still, you still can’t drive your rental truck over it, Really, why screw with us Apple, if you’re saying you can’t run a rental over it.

Leo: I don’t know if it’s glass, shards of……… or is it just plastic?

Rene: If people were watching it would be a super cut between Leo and Marques Brownlee. (Leo laughing)

 

MacBreak Weekly 428, November 11, 2014

Leo: Let's talk about big boy pants.

Rene: (laughing)

Alex: Put em' on.

Leo: Put em' on!

Alex: I sense a title.

Leo: Put on the big boy pants. The Squiller memorandum, which is not like The Bourne Identity, it's something different. Though it feels like this should be a novel by Grisham. The Squiller memorandum was revealed on Friday. The judge did, against Apple's wishes unseal it, and gives us a little bit of an insight, a little bit of a picture into the agreements Apple makes with its suppliers. You remember the story is GT Advance, which they were a sapphire furnace maker. They sold sapphire furnaces, Apple lent them almost half a billion dollars to build a plant in Mesa Arizona with GT, furnaces, but with GT running it to make sapphire for an as yet unnamed Apple device.

Alex: These guys hadn't been making sapphire.

Leo: They had never done it.

Alex: They made the machines that made sapphire.

Leo: Right. And of course, remember most of Apple suppliers are probably not in the US I would guess. They're mostly in Asia. But I guess the same template is applied to them. Squiller, in the memorandum says Apple never really entered into negotiations. Telling instead the managers they should not waste their time negotiating because Apple doesn't negotiate with suppliers. We don't negotiate with terrorists, and we don't negotiate with suppliers. According to GT, after the company said “Wait a minute... we've got...” Apple said look. These are our terms for other Apple suppliers, and you should, quote: “Put on your big boy pants and accept the agreement.”

Alex: And by the way, we worked with a lot of Fortune 100 companies and that's a pretty standard thing. When you talk about Apple being that way, but most agreements we get, we have the choice of either doing work with them and signing that contract or we're not going to to do any work with them.

Leo: Yeah.

Alex: That's a pretty common thing.

Rene: Were they wearing Darth Vader suits when they negotiating Alex?

Alex: What?

Rene: Are they wearing Darth Vader suits when they negotiate?

Alex: (laughs) No, no. They just... really mean emails about why... yeah.

Leo: Yeah.

Andy: At the closing meeting, we're going to have to ask that each person bring in one tire from their car, and give it to us. We don't need it as a part of the deal, we just want to make you know that we can make you do whatever we want.

Alex: Exactly.

Leo: And yeah, I mean, I think that most people would be so happy to get an Apple deal that they'd go “Yeah, whatever you say!”

Alex: There's a lot of carcasses along the road that have made big deals with these companies and this is one of them.

Leo: GT is one of them.

Alex: We've almost been killed by big contracts, and it is a...

Leo: But I guess you can't expect Apple... I mean, should Apple be a kinder, gentler Apple?

Alex: No, no.

Leo: And say “It's okay, you couldn't make the sapphire, it's okay.”

Alex: But if you're a little company... not at all...

Leo: You're doing a deal with the devil, you're saying... that's where Squiller really does need to put on his big boy pants and say, look, Squiller you're the COO, chief operating officer, you shouldn't have made this deal. If you didn't think you could do it, you shouldn't have made it. It's like going to Vegas. I'm all in.

Rene: Yes.

Alex: Yep. And the thing is that you definitely have to accept, when you sign these contracts, and the reason we're so particular about our contracts is that when we sign that contract, we assume that they mean everything in it. Like they'll tell you. “Oh we're not going to ever do that.” Well you're talking to one person, you don't know how it's going to turn out some time later. And so if you think that there's a problem, you need to, as a CEO it's your job to make the decision. And we walk away from business because the contracts don't work.

Leo: And I think GT should have.

Alex: I can't do that, I can't make that work.

Leo: So we're just in the car wreck that sometimes happens when a company bites off more than it could chew.

Alex: I mean they're offering you half a billion dollars, I mean it's a little company. It's very clear why they did that.

Leo: So let me tell you what went wrong, because we know from the memorandum. We know the first thing, we already knew was a $50 million penalty if you breach confidentiality. Per occurrence. We knew that. That had been out already. This is, eh, maybe you should have looked twice at this Mr. Squiller. No manufacturing process can be modified by GT without Apple's prior consent, but GT must immediately implement any of Apple's suggestions.

Alex: That's kind of giving up your company. You're wondering why Apple doesn't just buy you and build the stuff themselves at that point.

Leo: Even worse; GT must fulfill any purchase order placed by Apple, on the date Apple picks. Or you have to buy substitute goods at your own expense.

Alex: Yeah that's not a great contract.

Leo: So if you don't have the sapphire on the date we want it, you better give us some. In addition, the plant was built without input from GT.

Alex: That I don't understand. I mean here's the deal. I get that Apple pushes a hard bargain, but this was not a smart move.

Leo: This is a really hard bargain.

Rene: I think this was folly.

Leo: The plant was built for instance, without backup power generators because Apple deemed them too expensive. But now remember if GT can't deliver on date and time, then so if the power goes out they're screwed. Apple also embedded its own employees at the Mesa plant who quote: “Assumed a level of authority” end quote, had to be reminded not to order GT employees around. So you're right. They should have just bought the thing.

Alex: If you're going to have that much control, nobody had enough control to make it actually work.

Leo: Squiller said Apple initially wanted to purchase the sapphire furnaces from GT but ended up offering this different deal, a new structure where GT borrowed money from Apple, remember this isn't a gift, borrowed money from Apple to purchase the furnace components in order to supply Apple with the sapphire crystal. Apple also prohibited GT from doing business with other manufacturers or suppliers working in consumer electronics. They have an exclusive. Squiller called Apple's tactics a classic bait and switch strategy, and described the final agreement as onerous and massively one sided. On the other hand, you signed the deal, Squiller.

Andy: Yeah, that's exactly it.

Leo: Making things worse for GT, if Apple decided not to use sapphire crystal in its upcoming products, which they in fact, did, GT would be required to repay the loan fully in cash. And so this is all unsealed as part of a settlement in which Apple agreed that GT could sell the furnaces and whatever they got, would be sufficient to settle the debt with Apple. In other words Apple said all right, we are not going to get all of our money back. So end fact I think Apple, you could make the argument that Apple did the right thing.

Alex: And both of them were throwing a long bomb, both of them wanted a cutting edge technology. GT wanted the big contract; Apple wanted to have this new thing that nobody else has, and they both took a big risk.

Leo: I think really they should put their big boy pant on. Not Apple but GT, look you guys made a long bet and you lost. There is no time, this is not the time to start saying well it was an unfair deal. I didn't like the bet.

Rene: Play the Kenny Loggins music Leo. Play the Kenny Loggins Music.

Leo: Which one?

Rene: Kenny Rodgers. The Kenny Rodgers music

Leo: You have to know when to hold'em, know when to fold'em

Alex: Now in saying all of that, you can see that the V tactical thing to do is exactly what GT did. Which is: declare bankruptcy. I mean there was no way they were going to be able to do anything else. So while it sounds like they are complaining now, I think more of it is they are making a legal argument that says we can't pay that.

Leo: I think Apple could reasonably complain saying look, we're getting pennies back on               our investment.

Alex: But I'm saying, we can all complain but what we are watching here is legal. This is legal backfill.

Leo: You're saying this as the son of a litigator.

Alex: I'm just saying that, when you're not going to be able to make all the bills you're going to have to declare bankruptcy. In that you're going to say these are the things that happened and these are the things. Whether you were right or wrong, the bottom line is you are in a position where the only way for them to leverage themselves out of it was.

Leo: It is a chapter 11 bankruptcy. Which is essentially reorganization saying to creditors, we can't give you all the money back.

Alex: The primary creditor being Apple.

Rene: There was a stock sale that was interesting before this.

Leo: Okay, so the CEO of GT, the day before Apple's iPhone announcement.

Alex: I thought it was a month before,

Leo: No, it was the day before. Sold like one hundred million stocks.

Alex: Was it that much?

Leo: I can't remember. Should I look it up?

Alex: I thought it was like one hundred and sixty thousand.

Leo: CEO stock sale

Alex: I think it was one hundred and sixty thousand dollars of stock.

Leo: He sold, you’re right, one hundred and sixty thousand dollars in stock. He said it was part of an ongoing stock dump. I've been dumping the stock for years. But the fact that it was the day before the announcement, and the announcement at this point he knew was not going to include Sapphire screens.

Alex: Hopefully he was doing that regularly, because otherwise that’s

Leo: Well I'm sure if there is any irregularity that the SEC will investigate.

Alex: He'll end up in jail or a big fine.

Leo: He says that it was part of a pre-arranged plan that was established in March. Probably, you know.

Alex: A lot of CEOs do that and most of the CEOs that size. A lot of CEOs will set up a payment of every month or every week or even every day.

Leo: Maybe that’s what it was. If you thought that,

Rene: I would sell them the day after the Apple announcement.

Leo: I would say that most cases you would sell the day after a big announcement involving your product unless you knew.

Alex: And again a lot of CEOs will do it regularly all the time, specifically not to show any irregularities.

 

MacBreak Weekly 416, August 19, 2014

Andy: Is that the travel size Emmy because it doesn’t look good, like it’s in scale with the FC? (Panelists falling about with laughter)

Alex: He just swung that out, I didn’t even see that coming, it was like Brave Heart.

Andy: No, no, no I have never won an Emmy so I don’t know…..

Leo: It is the travel size Emmy.

Andy: It seems like they would give that to the Christian China Wood, it wouldn’t look so small.

Alex: You, know the staff at Brave Heart are one…….. (more fooling around)

Leo: You know what you could do with this thing actually is (Leo pointing the Emmy award at his heart)…..it’s sharp. Alright, I’m going to put my mini Emmy away……

Andy: See you just gave it away, a hold the base of the camera again. Hold it to the base of the camera again, you can see the barcode where you bought it from Spencer Gibbs…….,I’m sorry to have nailed you like that.

Leo: (reading the base of the EMMY), it says wait minute I don’t even own this it says: this Emmy’s the property of and rights are reserved by the national academy of arts and sciences. I cannot even show this Emmy on the air.

Alex: You can’t even sell it. You just can’t sell it. I think that’s the big deal.

Leo: It is manufactured by RS Owens and company Chicago Illinois 603.

Alex: So now we know who to order a new one from?

Leo: Is that reproducing it if I show it? No (Alex: No, as well)

Andy: But you won that like before…..

Leo:……travel and it’s a travel Emmy you nailed it.

Andy: I’m saying there’s nothing on that sticker that’s saying you can’t use the phone to do 123D catch. Make a 3D model and then print as many copies as you want.

Leo: Oh…..Oh…..Oh I like it.

 

MacBreak Weekly 402, May 13, 2014

We thought that today would be the day that the big announcement that Apple is acquiring Beats for 3.2 billion dollars. They said around Tuesday or may be tomorrow. I am on record saying that it is bogus, these are bogus rumors and that the sources are Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre. But I do not know obviously that is the biggest story to talk about. You have got your ear towards the railroad tracks…

Rene: You know what, Leo…

Unknown Voice: You know Leo, we actually have it on tape.

Leo: Let us see it.

Excerpt from video tape: Leo ; It was a rumor created by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine in an attempt to sell head-phones and stock or whatever to drum up gen up interest in a company that is actually failing. Thank-you, to our editors. Do you think that I went too far?

John C Dvorak: My God, I think that It went way too far.

Andy: Did you have some editors from Fox News or something because that was a well-turned out piece of promotion.

Leo: We’re going to save that and when they actually announce it, we are going to play that so that I can be completely humiliated.

Rene: Or John Stuart can play it?

Leo: Yes, right exactly. A: I think that it is a bogus rumor and Dr. Dre is right now secretly laughing as he listens to all of this and, then B: if it is not a phony rumor then it is a clear sign that Apple has completely run out of ideas.

 

MacBreak Weekly 405, June 2, 2014

Leo: All right. There was a big story this week that happened the day after Mac break weekly last week and we really didn’t get a chance to talk about it. Today was eclipsed by WWDC but real briefly let’s talk about Beats. The deal wasn’t a rumor. It wasn’t a false rumor, it was true. It sold for $3 billion. Most of that going towards the headphone business. I’ve seen some interesting speculation that in fact Beats was in financial difficulties, and that they needed to sell. Only one analyst said that, but it is interesting point of view. I stand by my initial reaction. Was a terrible idea and I’m shocked that Apple did it. Obviously, it wasn’t a false rumor, but it’s still a terrible idea.

Rene: Tim Cook was not wearing Beats on stage, Leo.

Andy: He called Dre and Dre made him wait until the third ring to answer.

Leo: That is odd!

Rene: And he called him doctor!

Andy: And he also said, “What time do I show up for work on Monday Sir?”

Leo: At Recode, Jimmy Iovine and Eddy Cue take the stage. Eddie Cue said, “Music is dying.” This is so manifestly not true. What’s true is that the music industry as we knew it is dying. And this seemed to me a music industry bailout bill more than anything else. Jimmy Iovine is old-school music industry and I don’t think this is the guy you want to bring back. He said we want to bring back the album! Steve Jobs single-handedly killed the album with a $.99 singles. And now we’re going to Apple to bring the album back?

Andy: I don’t know if that’s necessarily his motivation.

Leo: His motivation is $3 billion! He and Dre took $205 million out of the $500 million Carlyle deal. $205 million each they took out of there.

Rene: Making Tim Cook wait for three rings is a bold move.

Andy: But here is the thing that gives me a little bit of pause and this is why, when I saw the terms of the deal, it clarified some of my thinking on this. Imagine what it would have taken for Steve Jobs to sell Apple to somebody else and then become an employee of that business. That was not his original technology business. And I know that Nathan sold Next to Apple . . . Imagine if he sold Next to the music industry business and then became a music industry officer. Jimmy Iovine seemed to do the same thing. He walked away from a 25 year career, in which he is a legend. Not just for making money but also having the right ideas and being someone that both artists and executives respect. The idea that he’s willing to dump out of the music industry business to become an employee at Apple, I think that says to me that this is about headphones, this is about accessories this is about a streaming business, this is about visibility to negotiate. But the other big factor is that this is about Beats’ attitude and opinions about technology and industries, adding to Apple’s own experience. I really think that Apple decided to expand their mind by buying Beats.

Leo: Time will tell.

Andy: That’s just guesswork on my part.

Leo: I can think of no reason why this makes any sense. Not that Apple can’t afford to throw away $3 billion on the possibility that there might be something there.

Rene: It’s an experiment.

Leo: I congratulate Jimmie Iovine and Dr. Dre for being the happy recipients of this experimental money.

Alex: One of the things those is that the streaming market is very new. It’s very small. And regardless of how many people we’re talking about at Spotify, for example, in the grand scheme of things, it’s very small. It’s still very early. And it’s still very crude. You know what’s Spotify does, what Pandora does, is crude and barely works. There’s a lot of opportunity for disruption that these guys have. I don’t know whether they’re going to actually disrupt things. But there is a lot of opportunity there, because the services we have right now are medium at best. And very ripe to be turned upside down.

Leo: I think it was Phillip Elmer DeWitt who quoted an analyst who had some fairly negative things to say about this. The Carlyle Group, which is a merger, and NMA Group, bought Beats. The impression I got was to save Beats.

Alex: Well, to flip it. That’s what NMA does.

Leo: To flip it. And part of the reason was Beats had mortgaged their IP and their name to borrow money. Apparently, when they moved from monster headphones to in-house, the margins went way down. This may not be the salubrious steel that the people think it is.

Alex: Well again, what Apple brings, hundreds of millions of credit cards, people who have already bought a lot of music, and they apply that to a streaming service? The thing is, 10 million paying customers of Spotify is a drop in the bucket compared where it can be. And the thing is, for the music industry, it does not pay off to be on Spotify when there are 10 million paying users. It does pay off, the subscription service does pay off, when there are 150 million users that are paying.

Andy: That’s one of the money quotes that Iovine did during the code conference saying that Spotify has 10 milling users in the world. That’s crazy. There should be 10 million in the US. That should be a much bigger market.

Alex: Should be 150 to 200 million.

Rene: The interesting thing is that the music goes to Eddy Cue; the hardware, the headphones, goes to Phil Schiller. None of the stuff has global reach; none of their stuff has global manufacturing yet. There are a lot of things Apple can do just to leverage the heck out of those brands.

Andy: Imagine them on Shark Tank! And Eddy saying, “You’re doing exactly the wrong model here, because I think that you’re doing high markup stuff, you’ve got no international distribution, I’m out. I’ll give you 3 billion for hundred percent your company.”

Leo: I do hope that Jimmy Iovine doesn’t represent the old-school music industry coming into Apple and saying, “Here’s how we have to do it from now on.” I just feel like that’s exactly the wrong…

Andy: I feel like they wouldn’t have made that offer to give him such a prominent spot on the executive team if he had not shown an ability to work with Apple. You don’t last long at Apple as an inconofile.

Alex: And he’s been working with Apple for a long time. He is part of why these deals got done in the first place, so it’s not like they just went to Beats.

Leo: Do those deals follow Beats or do they stay? Do they leave? Not that streaming music deals are that important, but…

Alex: I think they’re very important. I think the streaming music deals…

Rene: I’ve seen different reports…

Leo: They have completely opposite answers I don’t know what the answers are.

Alex: I think if they don’t change the service, I think Apple can own the service without making it part of iTunes. And I think they would retain all of those.

Rene: Keeping the brand.

Andy: I can’t wait for the fall to see a Beats-branded something - to see how they integrate the Apple brand, because there’s no shortage of history with Apple integrating other brands under their own umbrella. There’s Siri, there’s FileMaker. And iTunes is also considered a brand.

Leo: They said they’re not doing that.

Andy: How so?

Leo: Apple said they’re going to maintain the Beats brand; they’re not going to integrate.

Andy: Would they treat it as though it’s an in-house product or would they treat it as something . . .

Leo: I thought they were very clear . . . It’s a stand-alone -

Andy: They can’t monkey too much with it, because there are people coming in as fans of Beats a one of the most compelling things that I came across is –

Leo: All you’re buying is the brand!

Andy: There are people who have switched, kids who switched over. Their aspirational thing is someday I’ll be able to buy my Apple thing. A lot of that switchover is “Someday I’ll be able to own my own pair of Beats headphones that I didn’t find in a bus terminal.” And so if they monkey too much with that brand there will be a disconnection.

Rene: Christina Warne had a great post where she wrote about how it used to be the iTunes everyone wants and now it’s the Beats everyone wants and owning that brand affinity . . .

Leo: As we well know, fashion’s very fickle. And fashion trends don’t last that long. It’s a lot of money to spend on something that night might not be very hip in six months

Andy: I was outside Walgreens yesterday and I saw a guy with a pair of Beats headphones who also had an iguana on the top of his head. And I took a picture, because I thought it was the freakiest thing I ever saw and a bad use of the Beats logo.

Leo: I think that the real answer to this is, a billion ain’t what it used to be. And three billion ain’t what it used to be. And it was chicken feed for Apple.

(All speaking at once.)

Leo: And even if they get absolutely nothing out of it, which is exactly what they’re going to get, Jimmy and Dre are going home in about five weeks. 3 billion, so what? They made more money than that last week.

Alex: I like to see Apple taking some risks in that area. I like to see them trying to do something down that path and…

Leo: Is there any risk, really? There’s no risk.

Rene: They can remake that money just by selling a lot of high-priced headphones. It’s just loss of time and focus. The worst of all possible outcomes is they lose a year of time.

Leo: I hear MC Hammer is available

Rene: Samsung is going to buy Ice Cube and Bo.

Andy: It is something I hadn’t thought about. If Apple was aware enough about these to know that you’re making money, but wow you’re running your business poorly. If we ran it we could make so much more money out of you and we would pay this off in about two years. I’m not a business reporter, so that’s the first time I really thought about that.

Leo: And the one negative analyst report was from Sam Haggedah of Privco who is somewhat - there is some question about how accurate he is.

Rene: Angela Ahrendts can sell Beats in China, Leo. Problem solved.

Leo: Think it’s a terrible idea. I think it’s a huge mistake, and I think it’s very reactionary.

Andy: I’m not saying this in a hostile way, but that is an interesting comment to see whether both of these executives are working at Apple in five or six months.

Leo: Do you think they will be?

Andy: I think they will be because for flagship purposes to make this look good and that my car would be seen pulling into your parking lot every day. It will be interesting. I think that if Iovine is still with Apple in January or February, I believe that would lead to… I believe this is a real deal and that would be the best conclusion of it.

Alex: I agree. And I think we’re going to see what they’re planning in the fall.

 

MacBreak Weekly 404, May 27, 2014

Where is Andy’s hat? That is question number one? From the questions on air team you could show this Chad, ‘”Where is Andy’s hat?” Tech4Hire posted this and it got 14 up votes. The up votes are what make the question pop up to the top.

Andy: (Laughing) I will tell you that I usually, I usually shower three to five times a week and, almost never on a Tuesday because we have a lot of things coming on Tuesday and today I happen to shower, shampoo and condition and whatever and so I wear a hat on camera when I feel as though that my hair is absolute fright or when it is not a total fright but at least beyond my standards of absolute fright then I leave it. You do not want to be the guy who well that refuses to be seen without like something on their head.

Leo: Chad says forget the hat, where is the squirrel?

Andy: He is in Tokyo working on a Pixel Corp project.

Leo: I am going to say, done.

Andy: He signed the NDA, I didn’t so I am not allowed to book.

Leo: There is your answer. I am pressing the done button and I am going to pop the stack one more time and move to let us see we pop that pop beats now we are back to WWDC thing thank-god!

 

MacBreak Weekly 417, August 26, 2014

Rene Ritchie: Leo I woke up to a word that Burger King was buying Tim Horton’s and moving the whole shebang to Canada, I don’t know what to do with myself?

Leo: I’d call shenanigans, what was it too, it was a huge amount of money…..billions and billions, it dwarfs the acquisition of Twitch by Amazon. It’s like eleven billion for a donut shop (cross talk).

Alex: …..it’s only worth so much and, I don’t like Tony Horton.

Leo: Oh, he loves Tony Horton …..his favorite hockey player. (cross talk about Tony Horton)

Alex: So the thing is Tony Horton and Tim Horton…… Tony Horton takes things and pushes it into your belly one way and Tim pushes it out……

Leo:……are really brothers…… 11(point)4 billion dollars…..it is a sacrilege something akin to Budweiser buying Molsons!

Rene: It’s good for neither of our countries, Leo.

Leo: What’s weird is that they’re moving Burger King to Canada?

Rene: We already have a queen. We’re okay…..we’re good.

Leo: You’ve got a king and queen now. (laughing)

Andy: Look forward to seeing more people in drunken hockey fights wearing those paper-free crowns on (panelists laughing)……that’s a good visual. Free advertising. (cross talk)

Alex: Remember Scott Bourne gave us that gold card at Burger King.

Leo: Yeah…..

Alex: He worked at Burger King.

Leo: Unlimited Burger King, I guess it’s all over for Scott at Burger King. Doesn’t he have card that he could eat free forever?

Alex: Apparently, that was the story anyway.

Leo: I don’t buy that anyway. I don’t buy it.

Alex: I think it was just a good story.

Leo: So, apparently when it came across the wire, they said it was a tax inversion. What the hell is that? (cross talk)

Alex: Yep…..

Rene: Anytime they must have thought that Canadian was much cheaper.

Andy: It’s that language that they use in the real sci-fi horror movie to explain the thing they can’t explain that caused the giant monster to visit upon them. It was a tax inversion, we thought it was not possible in this dimension but, look at what’s happening right now.

Leo: I think that Carte Sharknado was a tax inversion wasn’t it?

Rene: The story of my life, Yeah…… (cross talk)

Andy: In an attack on Canadian beaches first. Canadian beaches pretending to be US beaches.

Leo: (reading) several inversion deals have developed this year along US based Abfee for Irish drug-maker Shire and, then they moved to Ireland right? The idea is that you move out of the US, because the taxes…… corporate taxes are so high……I think we’re pretty generous in our corporate tax structure.

Alex: …..no….

Leo: Did you say no?

Alex:…..no…..no it’s fine.

Rene: I think that like the Canadian civil taxes are re-donculus.

Alex: Yes, the United States has the highest corporate taxes in the world.

Leo: Really?

Alex: Yeah….. that’s why everyone’s doing this, that’s…..

Leo: There must be…..proof is in the pudding, right?

Rene: You should go to Saskatchewan instead of Pennsylvania, Alex?

Alex: (Laughs) I don’t have any family in Saskatchewan, I’m not moving to Pennsylvania for tax inversion.

Leo: Isn’t Canada practically like a socialist nation with things like universal health-care; how could the taxes be lower in Canada?

Rene: You’d think…….that doesn’t make sense to me.

Alex: I think it’s higher for individuals, though isn’t it?

Rene and Alex: Yeah.

Leo: Oh, I get it.

Alex: That makes Canada, that makes them uhmmmm, capitalist, communist country.

Alex: That makes us very cold in winter, very happy in summer.

Leo: I should point that Tim Horton’s…….I don’t know why we’re going on and on about this, it was owned by Wendy’s.

Alex: Theoretically, and I’ll argue here……use Macs.

Leo: There you go, that’s what we’re talking about.

Rene: They have an app.

Leo:…….and they were in Delaware, until 2009 and then they moved back to Canada, shortly after the Conservative government. Thank-you Mr. Harper.

Rene: You were repatriated.

Leo:……., lowered the corporate tax rate. The new company will be based in Canada, it’ll be called Burger Horton’s. (panelists laughing)

Rene: There must be as lot of tax on burgers.

Andy: There are going to be a lot of people who are whimsically going to drop the last syllable off that. Hey Man! Want to get a burger hor……..(cross talk)

Rene: Talk about your whopper!

Alex: I think we should restart the show I think.

 

MacBreak Weekly 400, April 29, 2014

Alex: This is from Andre in San Francisco, what has been the defining moment after 400 episodes of Mac Break Weekly?

Leo: So many. 

Merlin: I’ll say Andre’s question.

Leo: Andre’s question, thank you Ray.

Alex: I think its Leo and his laptop…

Leo: Me pouring water on my laptop?

Alex: No, no, it’s you with your laptop with Steve Jobs giving you the stink eye.

Leo: Yeah that’s one no one will ever forget. The IPad announcement, 2010.

Alex: We haven’t seen an invite since.

Leo: I think of Merlin Mann, the king of the rat hole, playing the guitar, I think of Andy playing the ukulele, had some fine musical moments on this show. I think of Becky Whorly stepping up to Steve Jobs and asking a question on Face Time, saying “when are Face Time protocols going to go open? Like you promised?” and him brushing her off, enough, enough. There have been many great moments, you know Scott Bourne with his IPhone vest.  I think that was a Merlin Mann trope.

Merlin: His yacht wax.

Leo: Yacht wax, who could forget his yacht wax? Scott Bourne’s yacht wax.

Rene: Did your Swiss ball break on Mac Break Weekly Leo or was that a different show?

Leo: I don’t remember that one, I think it was a different show. That would have been a moment though. This show has always been so much fun to do. And thanks so much for people like Merlin, I’m so glad to see you again, and Andy Ihnatko, to our founding member, the guy who created Mac Break, Alex Lindsey, and to the new kids. Rene Ritchie, and … that’s it, just you. The new kid! Any other questions?

Alex: There are lots of questions.

Andy: Can I just say that I think we’ve picked a really good show to end on. I’m glad that we’re ending it before we start going to that downhill thing, and before there’s all these rumors about guests’ hosts and things like that.

Merlin: I don’t want to cut you off Andy, but this is a nation and an industry that fears a genius, this is an industry that is scared of brilliance and I want to say, Andy Ihnatko, as I sit with you today, it is nice to be with a genius that is all I’m going to say about that. This is an industry that is full of fear, it does not want to try new things.

Leo: This is the show that made Jerry Lewis the star he is today. I’m proud to say.

Rene: Wait ‘till J.J. Abrams reboots this thing.

Andy: Let me tell you Merlin, when I got my invitation to be a panel on this show man, all I wanted to know is, tuxedo or dashiki and what time. Because to be on a stage with Merlin Mann is to know you have arriv-ed in this industry, because you do not suffer fools Merlin Mann.

Merlin: This is a time when I’m going to speak from what I call my heart. When you have Andy Ihnatko, there is no can that can hold that genius, okay. That’s number one, the opener for that can is love. Its love.

Leo: It is, it’s beautiful. Any other questions? (laughing)

Andy: We don’t get to do our medley Leo?

Leo: Yes.

Rene: You’ll never walk… alone…

Andy: You know, I think what the world needs now, is love. What kind of love?

Alex: Next question.

Andy: That’s so adorable Alex, you keep trying to keep us on focus.

Alex: I’m doing the best I can.

Merlin: Next issue.

Leo: Issue three.

Alex: Issue three.

 

Leo: Well I hope that you’ve enjoyed this edition, our holiday edition of MacBreak Weekly. We love doing this every year, taking the best events. I want to thank everyone who wrote in with your suggestions for the best moments in MacBreak Weekly. They have been so many; it’s such a fun show to do! I want to thank our regular hosts, Andy Inhatko, Rene Ritchie, Alex Lindsey for helping me make a great show for you! I hope you enjoy MacBreak Weekly all year long and I promise that in 2015 it’s going to be even better than ever! Have a happy holiday and a very happy New Year; don’t forget we’ll be here all day New Year’s Eve, 3 AM New Year’s Eve to 3 AM New Year’s Day for our big party, you’re invited, just tune in live.twit.tv. I’ll be here and I hope you will be too! Happy New Years from all of us at TWiT and we’ll see you in 2015!