Monthly Archives: June 2015

Podcast Recommendations: Week of June 29th

Welcome to another wonderful week of podcasting!

Light day today, I didn’t have much time.  For previous weeks, please click here.  Please note that I only recommend podcasts that I’ve listened to, so they won’t necessarily correspond to the days that they have been posted.

Monday, June 29th

  • Fastbreak Breakfast NBA Podcast: Fastbreak Breakfast Ep. 34 “The Trill and Sauce Show” [length: 64 minutes]
    • A new addition to my NBA podcasts! This podcast reached out to me over twitter, recommending that I listen, and they were so right.  THESE ARE MY PEOPLE.  A really fun NBA discussion between three friends (2 Grizzlies fans, 1 Heat fan).  I don’t know these guys’ names yet, I’m not familiar with their weekly segments, and it never really mattered.  I laughed out loud multiple times, and if you’re a fan of the NBA and comedy, this is the podcast for you.  Don’t let me undersell the content – they know their stuff, they just happen to be really funny too.  Really glad I listened, and I recommend them wholeheartedly.

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Connecting Apple’s Dots: iPad Multitasking And What It Says About the Company

(This is the first time I am writing about tech. I am not a developer and don’t have any technical skill, but I can get my computer to say “Hello World” so I’m kind of a genius at the same time. Seriously, anything I write will be from the perspective of an average tech user, please excuse technical errors)

One of the more fascinating things to me about Apple over the past few years has been to think about how features and products come together by mapping its external development timeline.  To me, one of the most fascinating such features has been the announcement of iPad Multitasking with iPad Slide Over and iPad Split View.

How did we get at one of the classic “finally” arrived features for the iPad? Let’s trace this step by step. First of all, at WWDC 1 year ago, Apple implored its developers to use new size classes to allow their code to flexibly adapt to any sized device.  This was of course a prelude to Apple announcing the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, the first time the company has announced multiple display sizes for a same generation iPhone.  In addition, one of the unique attributes of Apple is their legacy device support for software.  iOS 9 will support the following screen sizes: 3.5 inches (iPhone 4s), 4 inches (iPhones 5, 5c, 5s), 4.7 inches (iPhone 6), 5.5 inches (iPhone 6 Plus), 7.9 inches (iPads mini, mini 2, mini 3), 9.7 inches (iPads 2, 3, 4, Air, Air 2).  Why is this relevant? Apple could have simply announced that iPad finally has multitasking, developers – get on board! Or, they could have planned a product evolution that not only made sense, but allowed for slow and steady adoption that maintained the stability that users of Apple products expect.  In the case of the latter, which has been Apple’s path consistently, developers already have done the work and will benefit from the iPad multitasking with minimal work.  This isn’t about the developers, although Apple has great value for them, but this is mostly important for the end user.  I don’t want to buy an iPad Air 2, launch YouTube and Evernote and be told that they’re not ready for multi-tasking.  This is the standard that Apple has set and continues to meet.

In addition, I believe that the iPad Pro is real, and the increased screen real estate will finally be useful.  I believe that the seeds that Apple has sown with Force Touch will yield the increased support of a stylus (though not necessarily their own hardware) that will help artists create even better art on their iPads.

I myself fall into the trap of “why the hell hasn’t Apple done this already?” (aka the finally fallacy) The truth is, we are as consumers better off with a company taking it’s time and then sticks to their values and their beliefs as a company.  For this reason, I don’t anticipate a Macbook sequel with more than one USB C port.  With iCloud Drive, Photos, AirPlay, AirDrop etc. Apple has been improving its cloud capabilities precisely to prove their vision of what the next generation of MacBooks “should” look like.

Thanks for reading!

Podcast Recommendations: Week of June 22, 2015

As a podcast addict, I have decided it would be a good idea to post the ones that I really enjoyed, hopefully people can enjoy them as well.  I plan on updating these daily as I listen to them.  Please note my recommendations are based on the day I listen to them, not the day they are necessarily published.  For now I won’t be posting links, just full titles of episodes. Monday, June 22nd

  • WTF with Marc Maron: Episode 613 – President Barack Obama [length: 67 minutes]
    • This was a big one.  Huge victory for the medium of podcasting, and Marc Maron and the President did not disappoint.  A wide-ranging conversation that began with the tragedy in Charleston. I think this is a great medium for politicians as they are able to discuss their positions and values in a much more relaxed format, away from the visual spectacle that TV news has become and the hacky segments of talk radio.  Kudos to Marc Maron for not only scoring the interview, but not abandoning his traditional interview style (or location!) for the leader of the free world.
  • Exponent: Episode 049 – In Aggregate [length: 56 minutes]
    • Ben Thompson, of the fantastic Stratechery website, and James Allworth of Harvard Business Review host the great Exponent podcast weekly.  If you are a fan of the business side of tech, this is absolutely the podcast for you.  The majority of this episode was devoted to the California Labor Commission’s ruling that Uber drivers are employees, thus entitled to benefits.  Unfortunately for us, they are taking a well-deserved break as travel schedules will make the summer difficult. I highly recommend going through old episodes, read descriptions of things that might interest you.  Episode 41 – Bubbles is a particularly interesting one to me.
  • Dunc’d On Basketball: June 22 (Dan Feldman: Hawks and Cavs offseason, NBA News) [Lenght: 67 minutes]
    • Quickly becoming my favorite basketball podcast, hosted by Nate Duncan. Often co-hosted with Daniel Leroux of RealGM, today he was joined by Dan Feldman for a discussion on general NBA news about the ongoing offseason.  I appreciate Nate Duncan’s approach to discussing basketball in a very “grown-up” way and is a completely different voice in terms of existing NBA podcasts.  There’s a lot of good options out there, certainly, but this one has really separated itself over the last month or so.  The sound quality of this one wasn’t great, and in general has been a weak point of the show, but I imagine as the show matures that will be fixed.  For now, enjoy the most important part: the content.

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