Hi, this is Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast Apple Podcast, hosted at Podfeet.com, a technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Apple bias. Today is Sunday, September 20, 2020, and this is show number 802.
Chit Chat Across the Pond
It was Apple announcement week and that means Lory Gil, managing editor of iMore was back on Chit Chat Across the Pond Lite to talk about all the new toys and services. Lory and I seem to have an instant chemistry – Lory put it perfectly when she complained that her cheeks hurt from smiling so much during the show. We didn’t go through every nitty-gritty detail of the announcements but focused on a just a few things like how fun the new colors are and whether Apple is doing a good job of bringing in lower-priced models of their hardware, and whether the new Family Setup will be right for families with kids or elderly relatives.
Like I said, we had a blast and I think you will too. Look for Chit Chat Across the Pond Lite in your podcatcher of choice or you can go listen at CCATP #653 – Lory Gil on New Apple Watches, iPads and Services
Telegram Tutorial on ScreenCastsOnline
I’d like to start off the show with a short review of the 2020 MacBook Air by Dan Eickmeier.
Dan Eickmeier on 2020 MacBook Air (no blog post)
Thanks Dan, I’m really excited for you having the new MacBook Air. That sounds terrific. I’m not going to defend the Touch Bar, but I do have a comment about one question you posed. You asked how you would get to the function keys on Touch Bar if the developer of an app had put other stuff there. It turns out there’s still a dedicated function key in the bottom left of the Touch Bar Macs, and when you hold that down, the function keys appear in Touch Bar. That said, I do think it’s kind of a gimmick and don’t find that I use it nearly as often as I thought I would.
The second point I wanted to make was that when I’m testing things in VoiceOver, I have a heck of a time using Touch Bar. I know how to double-tap things on iOS with VoiceOver, but for some reason I can’t seem to do it right with Touch Bar. For example, when you select volume while sighted, you can then drag your finger to lower the volume. With VoiceOver turned on, it tells you when you’ve selected the volume control and it tells you that you can drag anywhere on the Touch Bar after you hear a rising tone. Well, I never do hear a rising tone. It’s easier to find the up/down volume controls with VoiceOver and then tap them a zillion times to turn the volume up or down. Overall not a good experience to me. Maybe if I had to use it all the time I’d get the hang of it but so far it baffles me!
Blog Posts
Facebook vs. Slack for NosillaCast Community Discussions
I wrote up this discussion of Facebook vs. Slack last week but didn’t have room for it in last week’s podcast. You know what happened, of course. The people on Facebook went nuts having all kinds of great conversations! It wasn’t just because of the new announcements, either. Joe talked about upgrading from Sierra to Catalina, Mark started a discussion about how cool Spatial Audio is on AirPods Pro, Eric posted a guide about using watchOS 7 without Force Touch, Bob posted about a security issue, and people even responded to all of my blog posts. I don’t think this all happened because of my article, but I’m sure glad people are having fun in there. I still think Slack is a cooler place to hang out but I want everyoen to have fun wherever they are.
Tiny Tip – How to Pause 5GHz on eero Mesh to Connect IoT Devices
Support the Show
For this week’s pledge break, I’m not going to panhandle for money. I’m going to ask for something much more precious to me. If you have any friends who like technology and like podcasts, how about you tell them about the many fine shows at Podfeet.com? maybe they’ve always wanted to learn to program, you could tell them about Programming By Stealth. Or perhaps they’re not super geeky but like a good conversation about tech, tell them about Chit Chat Across the Pond Lite. Maybe they’ve always been afraid of the command line, you could tell them about Taming the Terminal and how they can get a free book! Or, you could even tell them about the NosillaCast, a place to put world events away for an hour or so and be in your happy place. It’s a gift to me if you bring us more friends and of course it’s a gift to them as well.
Tiny Tip – How to Use Your iPhone or iPad as a Viewer for Negatives
Designing My Time Shifter Clock
That’s going to wind this up for this week. Don’t forget to send in your Dumb Questions, comments and suggestions by emailing me at [email protected], follow me on twitter @podfeet. Remember, everything good starts with podfeet.com/. podfeet.com/patreon, podfeet.com/paypal, podfeet.com/facebook, podfeet.com/slack! And if you want to join in the fun of the live show, head on over to podfeet.com/live on Sunday nights at 5pm Pacific Time and join the friendly and enthusiastic NosillaCastaways. Thanks for listening, and stay subscribed.