615: A Mildly Brisk Walk

Key takeaways

Cryptocurrency investments carry significant risks, including scams and losses, as highlighted by anecdotal experiences.
Accessing TV content can involve navigating various challenges with services like TV Everywhere and YouTube TV.
Immersive concert experiences need to evolve from corporate presentations to more authentic performances to engage audiences effectively.
Using external drives with macOS, while supported, can come with significant challenges and inconsistencies.
The DOJ's proposal to break up Google faces scrutiny over its practicality and potential disruption to users, raising questions about the best path towards fostering competition.
Siri’s anticipated overhaul with LLMs reflects Apple's ongoing struggle to enhance its voice assistant in a competitive market.

Summary

NFT Losses and Cryptocurrency Adventures

The episode kicks off with a light-hearted discussion about the sudden loss of NFTs, specifically with ‘all my apes gone,’ a humorous meme referencing people losing their NFT investments. One host shares their lack of experience with NFTs and cryptocurrency while recalling a past, nearly worthless investment in cryptocurrency that turned out to be a hassle. It leads to a deeper discussion on the risks of cryptocurrency, such as scams and the ease with which digital assets can be lost or stolen.

Television Troubles and Tech Solutions

The conversation shifts to various approaches to accessing TV content, including a detailed narrative about struggling to get local channels over the air, trying TV Everywhere services, and exploring alternative solutions for watching NFL games. The dialogue covers various services such as DAZN, YouTube TV, and Apple's new concert feature, showcasing both the challenges faced and the creative tech solutions the hosts attempt to implement.

Concert for One Experience

The hosts review the immersive concert experience featuring artist Raye, discussing the production qualities, the close-up shots that felt invasive, and the expectations around virtual concert formats. Comparisons to NPR’s Tiny Desk concerts highlight the desire for more organic performances rather than highly polished, corporate productions. They emphasize that while the technology is promising, the content needs to evolve to create a more authentic musical experience.

Large External Drives and macOS Challenges

The hosts dive into the intricacies of using large external drives with macOS, including potential roadblocks and quirks experienced by users. They discuss moving photo libraries to external drives and the limitations that come with varying software support, touching on users' experiences such as using photos on external storage and problems with syncing, highlighting that Apple's support isn’t always straightforward.

Google’s Antitrust Challenges

A significant portion of the episode discusses the Department of Justice’s latest proposal requiring Google to sell Chrome in an effort to break its monopoly in search. The hosts debate the implications of such measures, focusing on the potential chaos that could ensue from splitting up Google's services and the competitive landscape in tech, contrasting it with the EU's regulatory approach. They voice concerns about the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed solutions to enhance competition without disrupting users' experiences.

Siri's Evolution with LLMs

The hosts provide insights into Apple's plans for revamping Siri using large language models (LLMs), reflecting on the long history of Siri’s shortcomings and the anticipation surrounding its potential improvements. Speculation about the internal development battles and the timeline for Siri's overhaul leaves the hosts expressing skepticism about whether the promised enhancements will meet user expectations. They stress the importance of competition in driving innovation and improving Siri's functionality.

Show notes

Pre-show: All John’s apes gone
Follow-up:
- Casey has found yet new ways to make himself miserable
  - Sunday Ticket updates
    - On sale!
    - It was free yesterday… kind of
  - TV Everywhere
  - An alternative approach
  - DAZN
  - NFL Replay
  - Tailscale and Exit Nodes
- Concert for One: Raye
  - NPR Tiny Desk Concerts
  - NPR Tiny Desk Concert: Raye
- Using large external drives with macOS
  - Photos library
  - An anecdote from Marc Wickens
  - Booting from an external
  - Downloading large App Store apps
    - App Store → Settings
- Competition for the wall-mounted HomePad (via Alesh Houdek)
- Apple Intelligence notification summaries
  - Steve Troughton-Smith
  - Chris Hancock
DOJ says Google must sell Chrome
- Google’s spin response
- Ben Thompson’s take
Gurman on a “more conversational Siri”
#askatp:
- Can one push computation onto the performance cores? (via Andrew Hodgson)
  - iStat Menus
- Why are apps getting so big? (via James Wilby)
Post-show: Thanksgiving logistics
Members-only ATP Overtime: Services on macOS
- Łukasz Rutkowski’s toot in Sean Heber’s thread
- Services on macOS
- Making a system-wide service
- ThisService (now defunct)
  - Github
- In Automator
  - Save your .workflow files in ~/Library/Services/
  - To assign a keyboard shortcut:
    System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts (button) → Services (sidebar) → Text (list section)
- FastScripts