MobileViews Blog

In this podcast, Jon Westfall and I discuss:

1. Handy ChromeOS/Chromebook features you might not know about. Chromebooks have a richer toolset that it did just a year or two ago
   • The built-in Gallery app can edit PDF documents
   • The built-in Scan app can scan from your scanner. It can even use the form feeder
   • The built-in Screencast app lets you record video presentations with transcriptions but only displays on other Chromebooks
   • The built-in Cursive app lets stylus-enabled Chromebook users create handwritten notes
   • On newer Chromebooks (or least the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5) the old Google search key with a magnifying glass icon is now a button icon with a solid large dot in the middle and a thin ring around it. Google renamed the search key the “everything key” a few years ago. It is the same search icon that you see at the bottom left of a Chromebook’s display.
   • After Google Cloud Print was shut down at the end of 2020, I had a difficulty printing to printers on my WiFi network. However, recently, for reasons I don’t understand, there haven’t been any problems printing to a WiFi printer
2. Discussion Topic: when do you upgrade your “tools” – concept being that sometimes we upgrade for fun, but for your daily drivers, how do you know when it’s time to upgrade? Can you know when your work could move faster?
3. Unannounced but expected Apple October product announcements

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

Guest panelist Sven Johannsen joins Jon Westfall and me for this podcast. We discuss Apple’s September 8 product announcements which had a disaster/apocalyptic tone.

1. CNN: Apple’s latest products and features take aim at our greatest fears
2. iPhone 14 Pro & Pro Max
   Dynamic Island
   Always-on Display (like my 2020 Google Pixel 4a)
   Still has a lightning connector instead of USB-C ????
   Wiki- The iPad Pro, released in 2015, features the first Lightning connector supporting USB 3.0 host.(5 Gbit/s) The only accessory that supports USB 3.0 is the new camera adapter. Normal USB-A – Lightning cables are still USB 2.0. How about USB-C to lightning???
3. Use Emergency SOS via satellite on your iPhone 14
4. Wi-Fi Comes to Mount Kilimanjaro
5. iOS 16
   iCloud Shared Photo Library – coming later this year
6. CNET: iOS 16 for iPhone: Every Cool New Feature Arriving Monday
7. Jon: upgraded to iOS 16, pleasantly surprised by quality of life improvements that previously I thought would be snoozes.
8. Apple Watch Series 8 & Apple Watch Ultra
   Apple watch series 8 Stainless (starts $749 [41mm], $799 [45mm]) vs Ultra ($799)
9. AirPods Pro 2nd gen
   Volume control on stem
10. Jon received the Linus Tech Tips backpack (See Episode 418) and have some impressions pre-use as a daily driver.

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

In this podcast Jon Westfall and I discuss:

1. New Fitbit products
   Fitbit Sense 2 is the most interesting to me. It measures skin temperature and has a Body Response sensor, which measures cEDA for all-day stress management. The body response sensor is also available on the Charge 5 (I have a Charge 4)

   Fitbit Stress Management
   Sensor measures electrodermal activity (EDA) responses on the skin.

2. Apple confirms that iPadOS 16 is delayed
3. Apple Watch 8 Rumors (https://www.macrumors.com/guide/apple-watch-series-8/) Rugged? Larger? Both? Pro? I’m gonna buy it anyway, but what would I like to see?
4. Jon has a new website The Bot Says – I ask an AI questions, and it responds. @TheBotSaysTweet
5. Coca Cola Dreamworld flavor???

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

Jon Westfall and I are joined by frequent guest panelist Sven Johannsen for this podcast. We discussed:

1. Google Pixel Buds Pro
   Tom’s Guide: Pixel Buds Pro
2. iMac M1
3. iPad Pro M1 running iPadOS 16-beta
4. Todd’s rant: Hating the new Google News UI. Read all about it: A new look for Google News
5. Jon’s rant: Sometimes you just wish developers built in a setting because it’s such a pain to build it yourself…

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

Dr. Jon Westfall (a university professor), Don Sorcinelli (father of a incoming college freshman), and I (former college student and father of a graduated college student) discuss back to school technology.While focusing on the present, we also reminisce tech in college over the past decades.

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

In this podcast, Jon Westfall and I discuss:

1. In all fairness: Another look/listen to the STADOR K23 Bluetooth wireless earbuds
2. Fedora Linux to Support Raspberry Pi 4 in Next Release
3. Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5
4. When Tech YouTubers Launch Custom Merch: Linus Tech Tips Backpack went on sale this week (Wednesday afternoon). Sold 10k backpacks in less than 24 hours. As of today, they’ve sold 18,112 backpacks at $250 each = 4.5 million. Funds their upcoming testing labs to run independent hardware tests, which is a cool idea. Also developing a screwdriver. Their merch store is also unique in that they develop their own products, versus silkscreening onto cheap t-shirts / branding promotional products.
5. Living for a week with limited cell coverage: Orange Beach Alabama has spotty Verizon coverage on the beach. And ya know what, while it was jarring to just have Wifi at the house, it really wasn’t too bad to be disconnected.

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com