Category Archives: Events

Episodes, Events, QotW, Samsung, Smartphones, Virtual reality

Week 88 QotW – Samsung Galaxy S8 Event

This is the second week of our new split format, and this is the Question of the Week episode. This week’s News Roundup should follow on Friday.

This week’s question is “What do you make of the Samsung announcements this week?” Samsung held an event on Wednesday in New York City at which it announced its latest smartphones, the Galaxy S8 and S8+, as well as several other accessories, including updated Gear 360 and Gear VR devices, and a new mesh WiFi router-plus-IoT-hub called Connect Home. Jan, who was at the event, talks through some obvious questions about the new devices and the other announcements from today’s event.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

This week’s links are all to Tech Narratives pieces Jan wrote about the Samsung announcements:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Apple, Apple Music, Apple Watch, Episodes, Events, Headphone jack, iPhone, iPhone 7

Episode 61 – Apple September 2016 Event Review

This week’s episode is entirely taken up with a discussion of Apple’s September 2016 iPhone and Apple Watch event. Jan attended in person and Aaron watched remotely, and we recorded this discussion a couple of hours after the conclusion of the event while Jan was still in San Francisco.

We talked about the event in the order in which it unfolded, with the first 10 minutes of our discussion devoted to Tim Cook’s various up-front “Updates” and then an in-depth discussion of the Apple Watch Series 2 and iPhone 7.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Apple, Apple Watch, Episodes, EU, Events, Facebook, iPhone, iPhone 7, News

Episode 60 – Social Media Insights, Apple Event Preview

In our News Roundup this week, we talk about the EU’s action against Apple with regard to its Irish tax arrangements; Facebook’s firing of the editors who used to handle its Trending Topics section, and the somewhat predictable results; and the news from the first day of German tech trade show IFA, which kicked off on Wednesday.

Our Question of the Week this week is a little different, in that instead of asking each other questions as we usually do, we’ve brought a guest on. Alison Faulkner is the creator of the Alison Show, who’s an event producer, a writer and an Instagram and social media personality. We had Alison on because she knows far more about social media and making money on social media than either of us do (she has over 80,000 Instagram followers and 15,000 YouTube subscribers, among other things). Aaron interviewed Alison – who happens to be a neighbor of his – and asked her about what she does, how she does it, and the business of social media.

Our third segment is a preview of Apple’s event next week, at which it’s expected to unveil the iPhone 7 and Apple Watch 2. We round up the various rumors and reports of what will be announced, add our own predictions, and talk about the importance of how Apple positions some of the expected changes, including the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack, new cameras, and more.
Lastly, we wrap up with a Weekly Pick, which is a movie recommendation from Jan.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

  • Jan’s post on Apple and the EU from Tuesday
  • Alison Faulkner’s website, the Alison Show, where you can find a link to her YouTube channel, her Instagram account, as well as her writing and other online activities
  • Jan’s Weekly Pick was the movie The Man Who Knew Infinity, which is a true story about Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. The movie is available to buy and rent on iTunes, Amazon, and all the usual places where you’d rent and buy movies (affiliate links).

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Apple, Apple Watch, Episodes, Events, iPad, iPad Pro, iPhone, iPhone SE

Episode 39 – Apple’s March 2016 Event

This episode of the podcast is a slight departure from our usual pattern. We dispensed with our News Roundup, Question of the Week, and Weekly Pick segments and simply spent the whole episode talking about today’s Apple event in Cupertino. Jan was at the event, and so we recorded with Jan sitting in a car just outside 1 Infinite Loop – as such, apologies for any audio issues this time around. We covered the content of the event pretty much in order, with a discussion up front of the three non-product-related topics: privacy and security, the environment, and health; followed by discussions of the Apple Watch News, iPhone SE, and iPad Pro. We’ll be back to our usual structure (and a broader range of topics beyond Apple)  in next week’s episode.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Apple, Apple News, Episodes, Events, Health, iPad, iPad Pro, iPhone, iPhone SE, Virtual reality, Windows 10, Windows Phone

Episode 38 – Apple Event Preview, Apple News Opens Up

Our News Roundup this week covers:

  • The announcement by navigation company HERE that it will discontinue its apps for Windows 8 and Windows 10
  • Sony’s big PlayStation VR announcement
  • A Recode article about a healthcare startup that’s working on an electrocardiogram that will work with the Apple Watch (and is led by Vic Gundotra, who formerly ran Google+).

We decided to forgo our usual Question of the Week this week and instead make a preview of Apple’s event next week our main topic for discussion. We discussed Jan’s Techpinions post last week about the iPhone SE and how that might be priced and positioned, and also talked about the prospects for a revamped iPad Air. Our final topic for the week was the announcement about Apple News being opened to all comers. We realized we haven’t really discussed Apple News much on the podcast so far, so we had somewhat of a broader discussion about its prospects too. Next week, Jan will be at the Apple event in person, and we hope to do a quick episode shortly after the event ends focused on the day’s announcements.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Ad blockers, Apple, Content blockers, Episodes, Events, iOS 9, iPhone, Safari, WatchOS

Episode 16 – New iPhones, Content Blockers, iOS 9

Episode 16 is a fairly iPhone-centric affair. We start out with a review of the new software releases from Apple over the past week, with iOS 9 landing on schedule last week and WatchOS 2 arriving a few days late. We discuss some of our favorite built-in features, and also the relatively small number of apps that seem to be taking advantage of the new features in both operating systems.

Our Question of the Week this week is about the hot topic of the moment – content blockers in iOS 9. This discussion starts at around 23:35 in the episode, and we review the context and the technical details behind Apple’s implementation of content blocker extensions in Safari, the worries some people have about the implications of these content blockers, and an evaluation of the likely impact over time.

Our final topic is the new iPhones, and this section of the episode starts at around 41:40. Neither of us has our hands on these devices yet, but we discuss the reviews and what they reveal about reviewers, as well as our take on the preorder process and early numbers from Apple and what (if anything) they might signify.

As usual, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this time around is a band Aaron recommends. The SoundCloud player is below as usual, with links to relevant content and other material beneath that.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also now have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Apple, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Episodes, Events, iPad, iPhone

Episode 15 – Apple September 2015 Event Deep Dive

Last week, we did a quick half-hour quick take on Apple’s September event, and briefly covered all the major announcements. This week, we dive a little deeper on each of the announcements, but focus mostly on the Apple Watch, iPad, and Apple TV announcements, touching only briefly on the iPhone, which we’ll cover in a bit more depth next week. On the Apple Watch front, Aaron notes that there are no obvious killer apps for the Watch yet, even with the WatchOS 2 release imminent, and we talk about the implications for product upgrade and release cycles given the addition of new color options last week. With regard to the iPad Pro, we discuss Steve Jobs’s famous comment about the role of the stylus, as well as Tim Cook’s remark from the event itself that the iPad represents “the clearest expression of our vision of the future of computing”. Aaron also follows up on his comment from last week about the possible role of the iPad Pro in college settings. On the subject of the Apple TV, we discuss the interesting storage limitations Apple has placed on apps, along with the significance of the On-Demand Resources model; the requirement for all games to support Apple’s Siri Remote, and not just third-party controllers; and possible upgrade cycles. With the iPhone, we discuss briefly the significance of 3D Touch, the new cameras, and a few other features, as well as Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program. As ever, the SoundCloud player is embedded below, and links to other versions as well as other relevant content are underneath that.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also now have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Apple, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Episodes, Events, Gaming, iPad, iPhone

Episode 14 – Apple September Event First Take

This is our quick take on Apple’s September event, which was recorded with Jan sitting outside the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, immediately following the conclusion of the Apple event. As such, the audio on this episode is not up to our usual standards. It’s also shorter than most of our episodes and doesn’t follow our usual format. Instead, you’ll hear about 25 minutes of quick conversation following the chronological order of Apple’s event, with some tidbits from the hands-on experience. We’ll do a deeper dive next week, hopefully with our usual audio quality!

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also now have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.