Our Apple Hardware Wish List for 2026 | AppStories — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hello and welcome to another episode of AppStories.
2. 0:03Today's episode is brought to you by Claude, by Anthropic.
3. 0:07I'm John Voorhees and with me is Federico Viticci.
4. 0:09Hey, Federico.
5. 0:10Hello, hello, John. How are you?
6. 0:12I'm doing really well. You know what?
7. 0:14It got really nice here for a little while.
8. 0:16I spent some time outside, worked outside, and then it got cold again.
9. 0:20Oh, no.
10. 0:20I don't know what's going on anymore.
11. 0:21This is like, I'm done with winter, Ticci. I'm done.
12. 0:24I'm just finished.
13. 0:26Yeah, it's nice here, but I don't want to jinx it.
14. 0:30Yeah, I jinxed it.
15. 0:31Last week was so nice.
16. 0:33But anyway, enough of the weather, Federico.
17. 0:35I need to kick things off with a mini topic because I am here to ride my favorite hobby horse,
18. 0:41which is a theory I have.
19. 0:45A theory. Oh, okay. I see. We're back on the theory. Okay.
20. 0:48Well, we did it on Unwind, and Unwind wasn't really necessarily the right place for that.
21. 0:54So given that this episode is coming out right before the March 4th Apple experience,
22. 1:02and what looks like now, according to at least Mark Gurman, what might be multiple days of press releases with new products,
23. 1:09I thought I would go over what I think is going on with this experience.
24. 1:13And the thing of the matter is, is that John Gruber, I guess, heard from a reader who told him that they thought,
25. 1:22you know what, I bet that the experience, that part of it revolves around F1,
26. 1:27because the F1 season starts shortly after March 4th, I think on March 8th.
27. 1:31So that got me thinking about something else that we had heard about,
28. 1:36because The Verge had reported in just one of their little short posts
29. 1:39that the Apple Vision Pro is getting foveated streaming.
30. 1:45And that's something we've talked about before with Brendon on NPC, Next Portable Console,
31. 1:50about the Valve frame, which is a VR headset that Valve has announced and delayed
32. 1:57that was going to have the same technology, which, as I understand it, is different than, you know,
33. 2:02right now the Vision Pro already has foveated rendering, which is all done on device,
34. 2:06which tracks your eyes and makes the sharpest part of the image right where you're looking.
35. 2:11So it uses less power, less CPU and GPU to do that.
36. 2:16And foveated streaming is similar, but it's streaming.
37. 2:19And my big theory is that Apple's going to implement that for F1,
38. 2:24that you'll be able to stream an F1 race, watch in your Vision Pro,
39. 2:29and they are going to use foveated streaming to make that stream a lot smaller
40. 2:38to allow it to be done in near or real time, which, you know, that's my theory.
41. 2:44What do you think? What do you think?
42. 2:45No, I think there's something.
43. 2:47I think you're onto something.
44. 2:49I don't know about the details, but I think the timing is, you know,
45. 2:53that would be an awful coincidence.
46. 2:55It's all, how's the expression, where there's smoke, there's fire?
47. 3:00Yeah, and the thing with the Vision Pro these days is there's been,
48. 3:04most of the hype around the Vision Pro does revolve around various kinds of
49. 3:08unique video experiences these days.
50. 3:11You know, when we get a press release from Apple or that sort of thing,
51. 3:15it tends to be that kind of thing.
52. 3:17And obviously, Apple has spent a lot of money on F1.
53. 3:20And they've been promoting it a lot on Apple TV.
54. 3:23I don't know if you've seen it, but they are doing a lot of ads.
55. 3:25Even had Idris Elba do a little thing before Hijack when I watched it that was like,
56. 3:30hey, after you watch Hijack, go watch F1.
57. 3:34It was kind of funny.
58. 3:35But anyway, that is my mini topic for today.
59. 3:39We do have a main topic, though.
60. 3:41We do.
61. 3:42We do.
62. 3:42We're talking about our Apple hardware wishes for 2026.
63. 3:47And I mean, obviously, it's very likely that by the time this episode comes out for regular
64. 3:53members, we will already have some Apple hardware to talk about.
65. 3:58And I kind of want to start there, personally.
66. 4:01Okay.
67. 4:02Because, okay, so one of the rumors is that Apple is going to finally announce this low-cost
68. 4:07MacBook, which knowing Apple, you know, it's not going to be called a low-cost MacBook.
69. 4:12It's going to be called the most affordable Mac ever or something like that.
70. 4:18And so this is strange because I am not going to buy that computer, but I'm also very excited
71. 4:25about that computer.
72. 4:26Because, I mean, obviously, I think I'm waiting for...
73. 4:30I'm kind of cheating, John.
74. 4:31I'm rolling two wishes into one.
75. 4:34Okay.
76. 4:34So personally, I think my next MacBook is going to be the rumored MacBook with a touch
77. 4:40display that maybe is coming out by the end of 2026.
78. 4:43So it's very likely that in 2026, we're going to see MacBooks with an M5 Pro and M5 Max processors,
79. 4:49but also at the end of 2026, maybe an M6 MacBook Pro with touch.
80. 4:53So I think for me, my next computer is probably going to be that MacBook Pro with a touch display
81. 4:59and maybe an OLED panel and all those things.
82. 5:01Sure.
83. 5:02But at the same time, I'm kind of excited about the idea of a return to form for an affordable
84. 5:08MacBook that's maybe, I don't know, sub $800 and comes with colors.
85. 5:14I don't know.
86. 5:14There's something nostalgic, obviously, about the idea of colored MacBooks coming back,
87. 5:19but also the idea of this MacBook having a phone chipset inside.
88. 5:25Like the rumor is that it's going to have an A18 or an A18 Pro.
89. 5:29Right.
90. 5:29There's something very intriguing from my perspective about that.
91. 5:32So even though I'm not going to buy it, I still wish that it's real and that it's actually coming out.
92. 5:37What do you think that does potentially to the iPad?
93. 5:41Because I'm thinking about like the iPad Air, the iPad Pro.
94. 5:45And, you know, iPad Pro, you're over $1,000.
95. 5:49You're much more expensive than this rumored affordable MacBook.
96. 5:53But you've got very similar technology inside.
97. 5:57You've got a screen.
98. 5:58You've got the keyboard.
99. 5:59You know, you add a keyboard to an iPad Pro or an iPad Air and you very easily spend $1,000, which is hundreds more than what's rumored.
100. 6:06I mean, what do you think that does to the iPad?
101. 6:07And also like how many more things you can do on macOS than iPadOS.
102. 6:14Yeah.
103. 6:14Even with a fairly, not underpowered, but a modestly powered Mac.
104. 6:20Even if you just want to buy a MacBook for $800 and just run Claude Code on it.
105. 6:25Well, that's what I was going to, that was where I was going next, which is I think that this is a Mac that at least from what I gathered from the rumors, this is the kind of Mac that is perfect for people who use a lot of web apps or use anything in the cloud, like Claude Code or codex or something like that.
106. 6:42I think there's something funny and also ironic about the strongest argument against an iPad Pro potentially being the lowest cost MacBook ever.
107. 6:53I know.
108. 6:54I mean, it won't have touch.
109. 6:56I mean, obviously there are things you can do with an iPad that you can't do with a Mac.
110. 7:01But in terms of a regular computer type stuff, if I can get a $500 or $600 or even $700 Mac that has roughly the computing power of an iPad Air or an entry level iPad Pro, I don't know.
111. 7:17I mean, it seems like that's a big step up in terms of cost.
112. 7:22Yeah.
113. 7:23Yeah.
114. 7:23So I'm very excited about that.
115. 7:25And I'm also obviously very excited about the idea of a MacBook Pro with touch.
116. 7:29I don't know.
117. 7:30I don't know what Apple is going to do with touch on that computer.
118. 7:32Like, is it just going to be that sometimes you can touch the screen like you have been able to do on Windows laptops for a decade at this point?
119. 7:38Maybe.
120. 7:39Maybe that's just the lowest common denominator is going to be, yes, you can also use your finger.
121. 7:44And, you know, so many times, especially as a hybrid iPad Pro and MacBook Pro user, I find myself so many times accidentally touching the screen of my MacBook Pro.
122. 7:52So having that gesture be officially recognized, I mean, it's going to be nice.
123. 7:58But also, is that it?
124. 8:00Like, knowing Apple, are we sure they're not going to do nothing to accommodate macOS for touch input?
125. 8:07It seems strange from my perspective to imagine that Apple is just going to slap a touch recognizer below the display and call it a day.
126. 8:15Yeah.
127. 8:15So there's going to be something about it.
128. 8:19And most likely, that's going to be my next computer.
129. 8:21So I really hope that's coming out this year instead of next year.
130. 8:26I hope so.
131. 8:26I tend to think the end of this year is still a little too soon, personally.
132. 8:31But, you know, we'll see.
133. 8:32We'll see.
134. 8:33I would like to have that MacBook Pro, too.
135. 8:36I've been thinking a lot about Ramageddon, of course.
136. 8:39And we talked about this again on NPC last week, which is that, you know, the cost of memory and storage is getting incredibly high.
137. 8:49And it is eventually going to impact Apple.
138. 8:51Apple is a big company.
139. 8:53They've obviously, I think, at least according to reports, they've stockpiled a certain amount of memory at certain prices.
140. 9:00So they can and they can also, because they're a company that has software and services, can kind of take some margin away from one area and make it up in other areas.
141. 9:10But I do expect that if the shortage and the cost of memory and storage persists for a long time, that it's eventually going to impact Apple.
142. 9:20And one way I think that they can deal with that, and I'd like to see them deal with it, is to focus on other kinds of hardware and focus on other kinds of hardware features.
143. 9:30Like, for instance, in these laptops, I mean, there's all kinds of things Apple could do.
144. 9:36And some of them are way out there.
145. 9:37I mean, one thing that I've been thinking about with the laptops is, you know, Apple's got a lot of technology that they've developed for the Vision Pro.
146. 9:45Why not have that extra thing besides touch, Federico, be the ability to use gestures to interact with your MacBook using the camera that's built right into the laptop?
147. 9:56I think that that would be a really cool thing to do.
148. 9:59Plus, I'd like to see nanotexture just literally everywhere.
149. 10:02You know, I always see it on the iPhones.
150. 10:04I want to see it trickle down to the more budget-friendly Macs, not just on the MacBook Pro.
151. 10:11There's a lot of things that I think Apple could do to try to distinguish some of these computers in ways that are other than with the usual specs of things like amount of memory and amount of storage that would attract new users to them.
152. 10:29And, you know, I don't know.
153. 10:30I think we'll see.
154. 10:32I think the other aspect of this, and we're talking mainly about hardware, but I think software is part of the story too because I think Apple should be right now, hopefully, already optimizing their OSs and their built-in apps for minimizing the overhead so that people can get more out of these laptops.
155. 10:54Because if the prices really do creep up substantially, I think Apple's better off riding it out by keeping a working Mac in someone's hands, even if they aren't upgrading, than it is to having them switch to something that's cheaper or from another company that is more affordable too.
156. 11:13Yeah.
157. 11:14So, yeah.
158. 11:16What about the studio display?
159. 11:18So, that's another thing that's on tap for next week or this week's announcements.
160. 11:26Personally, I'm totally fine with my OLED gaming monitor that I, you know, last week or two weeks ago, as we talked about, I swapped my Mac Studio with the Mac mini.
161. 11:36It was just plug and play from a display point of view.
162. 11:40I just had to connect two cables and I was done.
163. 11:43But I know, like, sometimes I do miss the studio display.
164. 11:47It's nice.
165. 11:48No, there's just little touches that are very nice because it integrates so nicely with the OS.
166. 11:54Yes.
167. 11:54Yes.
168. 11:55The design is obviously much better than this.
169. 11:58I mean, I love the panel, but this display is an abomination.
170. 12:01I mean, it's ugly.
171. 12:02It's made of plastic.
172. 12:03It's black.
173. 12:04I really...
174. 12:05Mine can project a Spotlight beneath it in gamer colors.
175. 12:10It's awful.
176. 12:11Like, it's honestly awful, but the panel is awesome and it's incredible.
177. 12:14It is.
178. 12:15It's fantastic for gaming and it's fantastic for the multiple inputs.
179. 12:18So, it sounds like Apple is just going to do the bare minimum.
180. 12:22Like, it sounds like they're going to bump the studio display from 60 hertz to 90 hertz, not even 120.
181. 12:27And I very much doubt that Apple is going to have actual, you know, HDMI or USB-C inputs coexisting in the back of the display.
182. 12:36Their computers have HDMI ports on them?
183. 12:39I mean, come on.
184. 12:42Look, I'm not John Turnus, okay?
185. 12:44I know.
186. 12:44I know.
187. 12:45Take it up to that guy.
188. 12:47I know.
189. 12:47I'm just saying, I assume at this point you're no longer in the market for a studio display?
190. 12:52I'm not.
191. 12:53I mean, I hope I don't regret having bought this display, but I really like it.
192. 12:57I mean, it's not 5K, it's 4K, but it's OLED.
193. 13:01It's 240 hertz.
194. 13:02It's, you know, it's a really good display and it's a lot more versatile than a Mac Studio display.
195. 13:10So, yeah, I would, the things that I want from a studio display are high refresh rate, more ways to plug things in.
196. 13:16So, it's more than just plugging in a Mac or an iPad, you know, all that kind of stuff.
197. 13:21But I think you're probably right.
198. 13:22I don't know that we're going to get it.
199. 13:24I think we may get multiple sizes.
200. 13:27I think at a minimum, Apple ought to go have a 32-inch option.
201. 13:33I think that that would be...
202. 13:34I could see a studio display in Studio Display Pro, maybe.
203. 13:37Yeah.
204. 13:38I don't really get going to 90 hertz.
205. 13:41I mean, that seems like such a weird in-between that doesn't...
206. 13:45I mean, it'll be better, but...
207. 13:48It'll be better.
208. 13:48They ought to go up to 120 and it needs to be a brighter panel, too.
209. 13:52Yeah.
210. 13:52So, I think brightness, refresh rate, and size.
211. 13:57Those are the three things I think will probably be tweaked.
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244. 17:04Yeah.
245. 17:06Obviously, on my list of hardware wishes for this year, there's the iPhone Fold.
246. 17:11That's my big one.
247. 17:14I have loved, I still love, and I actually want to work on a story at some point,
248. 17:18like a review of the iPhone Air.
249. 17:20You know, six months, more than six months removed from the iPhone Air at this point.
250. 17:24I really do love my iPhone Air.
251. 17:26And I really do love the fact that it's so thin and light and portable,
252. 17:29and that it's basically replaced my iPad in bed when I want to just, you know,
253. 17:33get some reading done or watch some videos before I go to sleep.
254. 17:37So the idea of an iPhone Fold being a thin and light device that, however,
255. 17:42I can also unfold into an iPad mini,
256. 17:45that's been my dream for many years at this point.
257. 17:49And I really hope that Apple can deliver on the software front.
258. 17:53That's my biggest concern.
259. 17:55I have no doubts that they can come up with a really sturdy hinge design or a great looking display.
260. 18:01I think I'll be fine using Touch ID instead of Face ID,
261. 18:05which is one of the rumors, one of the limitations of this upcoming device.
262. 18:09I think I'll be fine with all of that.
263. 18:10I'm fine with just the one camera on the iPhone Air.
264. 18:13I've learned to live with it.
265. 18:15I think I'll be more than fine with two cameras on the iPhone Fold.
266. 18:19It's the software that I find concerning.
267. 18:21I really hope that there's a, just like the MacBook with Touch,
268. 18:25I hope that they have a special trick up their sleeves when it comes to,
269. 18:29you know, when you open it up, is it going to be iPadOS?
270. 18:32Is it going to be iOS Plus or whatever they want to call it?
271. 18:36Or is it just going to be, again, are they going to do the bare minimum?
272. 18:40Like, yes, when you open it up, you can do split view and slide over.
273. 18:44Or is it something new?
274. 18:45Is it something different?
275. 18:46Because I really do, I do think that it would be such a wasted opportunity
276. 18:51to do no multitasking whatsoever.
277. 18:52Like when you open it up, you can still use one app at a time, but it's bigger.
278. 18:56That would be the worst case scenario.
279. 18:57That would be terrible.
280. 18:59The middle scenario would be you can do split view and slide over
281. 19:03just like on an iPad mini.
282. 19:05There's no stage manager.
283. 19:06It's just old school split view and slide over.
284. 19:08And then there's the good and best scenarios where it's like it's iPadOS with some features removed,
285. 19:16but it's the full-blown iPadOS.
286. 19:18And so you do have certain iPadOS features like external keyboards, for example, right?
287. 19:24Or a trackpad.
288. 19:25Like, will you be able, you sent me an article a while back, I think a couple of weeks ago.
289. 19:29Will you be able to take an iPhone Fold, prop it up on a desk and use an external keyboard and trackpad?
290. 19:33Yeah.
291. 19:33Will you be able to connect it to an external display?
292. 19:36Right.
293. 19:37No, those are definitely my questions.
294. 19:40To me, it's like, yes, there's a lot with the OS that can be done,
295. 19:43but I think the accessory story is going to be just as important.
296. 19:46I think that having, I've used a lot of portable keyboards,
297. 19:49like the keys to go to that Logitech makes is very good.
298. 19:53And Allison Johnson just did a big story about this on The Verge,
299. 19:56where she was using, I think she was using a Samsung,
300. 19:59I forget which Samsung model she was using,
301. 20:01but she was using one of the Samsung foldables.
302. 20:03And she ultimately settled on that Logitech keyboard, which is very good.
303. 20:06And it runs on like watch batteries and it can last months like that.
304. 20:11And it's very light, very thin.
305. 20:12But it doesn't solve the issue of propping up the phone very well,
306. 20:18which I think is the kind of place where Apple could use some of its hardware design
307. 20:23to really come up with a good solution to have this on the go,
308. 20:27where you could actually carry that keyboard with you
309. 20:31and use it on the go without taking up a lot of space in your bag or something.
310. 20:35Maybe it's not pocketable, but it could be something that you could take with you
311. 20:39and not be really heavy and actually get a real iPad type work done on it.
312. 20:44And also, I think on the software side, the idea of having,
313. 20:48I'm still clinging on to our long held hope for a shelf app that Apple makes.
314. 20:54I think it's something this small that a shelf would work really well.
315. 20:59I think so.
316. 21:00I mean, any kind of clipboard manager or UI for drag and drop.
317. 21:06I mean, that would be lovely.
318. 21:10My other, the only other thing I will mention in terms of stuff that I actually want.
319. 21:16And there's plenty of stuff like, actually, I have two more.
320. 21:20Sorry, John.
321. 21:21I got a couple too.
322. 21:22I do want to see what they do with the Mac Studio.
323. 21:25The dream of an M5 Ultra Mac Studio this year,
324. 21:29that maybe you can daisy chain with Thunderbolt to an M3 Ultra Mac Studio.
325. 21:34And, you know, using something like EXO, for example, which, you know.
326. 21:37Yeah, we saw the demo of.
327. 21:39We saw the demo and the idea of running big Chinese models
328. 21:43like Kimi K2 or Minimax 2.5 totally locally on device.
329. 21:48What do you think that'll cost nowadays with RAM prices going up?
330. 21:52I mean, that could get really.
331. 21:53I mean, a loaded M3 Ultra is what, like $4,000 to $5,000, something like that?
332. 22:00What?
333. 22:01Fully spec'd?
334. 22:02Yeah.
335. 22:03And so, if you want.
336. 22:04I forget.
337. 22:05If you're just talking about RAM, I think you're right.
338. 22:08But if you're talking about RAM and storage,
339. 22:10a fully spec'd Mac Studio, it's something like $15,000.
340. 22:14Oh, God.
341. 22:15I'd forgotten.
342. 22:18I don't even get two of them.
343. 22:19Get two of them.
344. 22:20Yeah.
345. 22:21No, but, like, that's the dream computer, right?
346. 22:24M5 Ultra.
347. 22:25Stack it up with Thunderbolt to an M3 Ultra
348. 22:28and deploy a giant model with no quantization,
349. 22:32totally locally on device.
350. 22:34Man, that would be something.
351. 22:36No, but I was going to mention,
352. 22:38I want to see what they do with the Home Hub,
353. 22:41with the HomePod, with the screen,
354. 22:43whatever it's going to be called.
355. 22:45The new design for the HomePod that has a display
356. 22:48and that has a camera.
357. 22:50You know, I was thinking about this the other day
358. 22:52in the context of,
359. 22:53it sounds like the rumored OpenAI device,
360. 22:56the result of the collaboration with Johnny Ive.
361. 22:59It sounds like the first product out in 2027.
362. 23:01It's not going to be a wearable device,
363. 23:03but it's going to be a product for the home,
364. 23:06like a smart speaker with a camera.
365. 23:07Yeah, yeah.
366. 23:08And I was thinking, like, my first reaction was,
367. 23:10oh, that's boring.
368. 23:11But then I thought about it,
369. 23:12and I realized just how many times I grab my phone
370. 23:15when I'm in the kitchen or when I'm around the house,
371. 23:17and I show something to charge a PT,
372. 23:19like something that I'm cooking
373. 23:20or something that I'm supposed to fix
374. 23:21or some kind of tool.
375. 23:23And I was thinking,
376. 23:25wouldn't that be nice to just grab the thing
377. 23:27that you want to show
378. 23:27and walk up to the accessory and be like,
379. 23:30hey, can you see this?
380. 23:31Can you, like, asking questions to a physical device
381. 23:34somewhere on a desk or on a kitchen table
382. 23:36or on a countertop?
383. 23:38And from that perspective, it makes more sense.
384. 23:40And, well, you know,
385. 23:41Apple has been saying a lot of things lately,
386. 23:43especially Tim Cook has been saying a lot of things
387. 23:45about visual intelligence, right?
388. 23:46That they feel like they can,
389. 23:50they can, you know,
390. 23:51provide a compelling product
391. 23:53in terms of AI utility
392. 23:56when it comes to visual intelligence.
393. 23:58And I think there's something to that idea.
394. 24:00So this product,
395. 24:02if it's true and if it's coming out
396. 24:04and if it's based on the new Siri
397. 24:06when eventually it launches,
398. 24:08the idea of having a camera
399. 24:10that maybe can recognize things
400. 24:12and maybe can also have the new Siri
401. 24:14powered by Gemini with App Intents,
402. 24:17that I'm mildly excited about, I would say.
403. 24:20That'd be interesting.
404. 24:21I'm a little cool on the idea
405. 24:23of having always on cameras in my house.
406. 24:26It's one thing when you're using your phone
407. 24:27and you're being very intentional about it.
408. 24:29It's another thing that having the AI
409. 24:32spying on you all day.
410. 24:33I don't know.
411. 24:34I don't know.
412. 24:34We'll see.
413. 24:35We'll see.
414. 24:37All right.
415. 24:37I want to go way out there, Federico.
416. 24:39I want to imagine a world
417. 24:41where Apple decides to expand
418. 24:44its hardware accessories
419. 24:46and use its audio engineering expertise
420. 24:49to create both monitor headphones
421. 24:53and a microphone
422. 24:55and pair that with a new addition
423. 24:57to the Creator Studio,
424. 24:58which is a podcasting app
425. 25:01for recording and editing podcasts.
426. 25:04I think it's,
427. 25:06I mean,
428. 25:07Apple just announced this deal
429. 25:08where they're going to be streaming video
430. 25:10using HLS
431. 25:11and allow podcasters to use that.
432. 25:15I mean,
433. 25:15finally waking up to what's going on
434. 25:16with Spotify
435. 25:17and YouTube
436. 25:19in the podcast world.
437. 25:20I think that there's
438. 25:22more that could be done
439. 25:24to help solidify its place
440. 25:26in the creative process,
441. 25:28just the production process,
442. 25:29than just the delivery mechanism,
443. 25:33which is what that announcement
444. 25:34was about
445. 25:34by having tools
446. 25:36to make it easier
447. 25:37for people to do this stuff.
448. 25:41Interesting.
449. 25:42Yeah, yeah.
450. 25:42And they could even bake
451. 25:43an app in tents, right?
452. 25:44You could do all kinds
453. 25:46of automations.
454. 25:47They could kind of go
455. 25:48after the Stream Deck market.
456. 25:50I don't know.
457. 25:50There's things that could be done.
458. 25:53Oh, the Stream Deck
459. 25:54would be interesting.
460. 25:55Yeah.
461. 25:55Can you imagine like Apple
462. 25:57getting into more input devices?
463. 25:59I mean,
464. 25:59especially if memory
465. 26:01and storage is going to cost a lot,
466. 26:02why not get into
467. 26:03high margin accessories?
468. 26:05Why not finally
469. 26:07redesign the mouse
470. 26:08or create some kind of
471. 26:10Stream Deck
472. 26:11or other input device
473. 26:12that people can use
474. 26:13with their Macs?
475. 26:14Which will be way overdue also.
476. 26:18Especially, you know,
477. 26:19the Magic Mouse
478. 26:20and the Magic Keyboard
479. 26:21have been untouched
480. 26:2210 years, I want to say.
481. 26:23Well, other than the USB-C port, yeah.
482. 26:26Other than that, yeah.
483. 26:27Yeah.
484. 26:28Do you have anything else
485. 26:29in terms of hardware
486. 26:30that you really wish for?
487. 26:32Yeah, I think
488. 26:34that there's more
489. 26:35and it's kind of a combo
490. 26:36hardware-software thing
491. 26:38where Apple could do more
492. 26:39with its Home Hub.
493. 26:40I mean, right now,
494. 26:40the Home Hub
495. 26:41for Apple
496. 26:42is the HomePod
497. 26:43and for most people,
498. 26:45probably the HomePod mini.
499. 26:46And the HomePod mini
500. 26:48is good
501. 26:48but not great
502. 26:49in terms of its quality
503. 26:50of sound.
504. 26:51It's not,
505. 26:52you can't really
506. 26:53directly connect them
507. 26:54up to a Mac
508. 26:55which would be nice
509. 26:55if you could use them
510. 26:56as speakers
511. 26:57connected to a Mac.
512. 26:59I think that
513. 27:00the Home app
514. 27:01is okay
515. 27:01but I feel like
516. 27:03there's room
517. 27:05that Home,
518. 27:05Smart Home stuff
519. 27:06is one of those areas
520. 27:07where there's room
521. 27:08for Apple
522. 27:08to kind of use
523. 27:09its engineering
524. 27:10and software expertise
525. 27:11to just make it easier.
526. 27:13I think too often
527. 27:14these things
528. 27:15become frustrating
529. 27:16for people
530. 27:17and so they don't
531. 27:18use them
532. 27:18as much as they could
533. 27:19whether it's lights
534. 27:20or, you know,
535. 27:22door locks
536. 27:23or sensors
537. 27:23of different kinds
538. 27:24and I don't feel
539. 27:26like the Home app
540. 27:27or just the underpinnings
541. 27:29of it
542. 27:30have gotten
543. 27:30enough attention.
544. 27:31It just did migrate
545. 27:33finally to the,
546. 27:35entirely to the new system
547. 27:36that's been out
548. 27:38for a while
549. 27:38but finally the cutoff date
550. 27:39came like a week
551. 27:40or two ago
552. 27:41and maybe now
553. 27:43is the time
554. 27:44to take stock
555. 27:45now that everybody's
556. 27:46on this new system
557. 27:47and find ways
558. 27:48to improve it
559. 27:48and make it more robust.
560. 27:51Yeah.
561. 27:52Yeah.
562. 27:53Well,
563. 27:54maybe, you know,
564. 27:55when this episode
565. 27:56comes out
566. 27:57we will already
567. 27:58have new hardware.
568. 27:59Yeah, I'm getting ready
569. 28:00for one of those weeks.
570. 28:01You know what I mean?
571. 28:02I think it's going to be
572. 28:03one of those weeks.
573. 28:04I think it's going to be
574. 28:05Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
575. 28:06all announcements
576. 28:07back to back.
577. 28:10But yeah,
578. 28:11I don't know.
579. 28:12We'll see.
580. 28:12I really hope that
581. 28:14I'm curious about
582. 28:15that low-cost MacBook.
583. 28:17I am too.
584. 28:18In short term.
585. 28:18And I
586. 28:20I was going to say
587. 28:21I could see
588. 28:22one of the things
589. 28:23that I've been thinking
590. 28:24about doing
591. 28:24is going back
592. 28:25to an M1 MacBook Air
593. 28:27for a while
594. 28:27just to see what it's like.
595. 28:29Like,
596. 28:29how well has that
597. 28:31lasted
598. 28:31since it was
599. 28:32since it was introduced?
600. 28:34I mean,
601. 28:34we still have one
602. 28:35in the house
603. 28:35and I use it
604. 28:36from time to time
605. 28:36but not very often.
606. 28:38And I'd like to see
607. 28:39like for things
608. 28:40like we were talking about
609. 28:41like working with
610. 28:43Claude Code
611. 28:43or Codex
612. 28:44or something
613. 28:44or Notion
614. 28:46or whatever it is
615. 28:47see how well
616. 28:48I could live
617. 28:49on that kind of Mac today.
618. 28:51And I'm very curious
619. 28:53like how this new MacBook
620. 28:54if it exists
621. 28:55will compare
622. 28:56in terms of its performance
623. 28:58compared to that
624. 28:59M1 MacBook Air.
625. 29:01You know,
626. 29:01are they going to be
627. 29:01roughly the same?
628. 29:02Is it going to be better?
629. 29:03Kind of where is it going to fall
630. 29:04on the spectrum of things?
631. 29:06Yeah.
632. 29:07All right.
633. 29:08Well,
634. 29:09we'll see what's going to happen.
635. 29:10We will.
636. 29:11We will.
637. 29:12Well,
638. 29:12thank you.
639. 29:13We're going to talk.
640. 29:14John had a fun topic
641. 29:16for AppStories Plus.
642. 29:17Yeah.
643. 29:18We're going to talk
644. 29:18about our top three
645. 29:20use cases for AI.
646. 29:22Yep.
647. 29:22We talked a lot about AI
648. 29:25over the past few months.
649. 29:26Yeah.
650. 29:26Big picture
651. 29:27but this idea
652. 29:29of sharing
653. 29:29our top three use cases
654. 29:31very practical things
655. 29:32that we do
656. 29:33I think is an interesting angle.
657. 29:34Yeah.
658. 29:35I just wanted to
659. 29:35you know,
660. 29:36it's been a while
661. 29:36we've kind of settled
662. 29:37into patterns
663. 29:38I think both of us.
664. 29:39I think so.
665. 29:40And different patterns
666. 29:41and I think it'll be
667. 29:42you know,
668. 29:43here are like things
669. 29:44that we think
670. 29:44they're not just experiments.
671. 29:46These are things
672. 29:46that actually work
673. 29:47for us today.
674. 29:48So,
675. 29:48that's what we're
676. 29:49going to talk about.
677. 29:50And you know,
678. 29:52thanks again
679. 29:52to Anthropic
680. 29:53and Claude
681. 29:54for sponsoring
682. 29:55this episode
683. 29:56of the show.
684. 29:57You can find me
685. 29:58and Federico
686. 29:58over at
687. 29:59MacStories.net
688. 30:00and we're on social media.
689. 30:01Just look for Federico.
690. 30:03He's at
691. 30:04Viticci.
692. 30:04It's V-I-T-I-C-C-I
693. 30:07and I'm at
694. 30:08John Voorhees.
695. 30:09J-O-H-N
696. 30:10V-O-O-R
697. 30:11H-O-E-S.
698. 30:13Talk to you next week, Federico.
699. 30:15Ciao, John.
700. 30:15Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo
701. 30:32Thank you.