Jon Westfall tolerates my Google rants in this podcast

1. Google rant #1
   I remembered why (1) I have only bought Google branded Nexus or Pixel devices over the years – consistency & reasonable updates. Why I won’t be getting a Samsung tablet for my Doodle-a-Day project
   The Samsung Tab S7+’s S pen is an active Bluetooth device that has features not available in other Samsung Tab devices like the similarly named S7 FE
   The S7+ keyboard has a touchpad. The S7 FE keyboard does not
   The S6 Lite also has an S-Pen and will be on sale at Costco later this week for $280. However, the S6 Lite was released in 2020 and while it will get Android 12, next year’s Android 13 will be the last update available for this device
2. Google rant #2
   I remembered why I hate the Lenovo USI stylus for the Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 so much. The stylus lost connectivity with the Chromebook several times while trying to use it for tonight’s doodle. I had to reboot the Chromebook to get it to work. And, the image somehow flipped upside down after I finished the doodle. Infinite Painter (an Android app running on the Chromebook) doesn’t appear to have a rotate function. Neither the app nor the Chromebook settings appears to have a palm-rejection option. This led to an annoying doodle session.
3. Google rant #3:
   Google I/O 2022
   Google announced a new Android Pixel tablet after exiting the market in 2019
   Google’s Pixel team is making an Android tablet
   But, wait, it won’t be available until 2023! Presumably around the time of the next Google I/O event. So, I won’t be getting an Android tablet for my Doodle-a-Day project in the foreseeable future.

   Google Pixel tablet 2023 (YouTube video)

   Google’s Pixel Watch might end up using a four-year-old chip

4. Google Pixel Watch 2022 digital bezel is huge

   “Square is the new round” in a digital world

5. Jon’s Discovery: Canonical Multipass – great for spinning up VMs and then learning Ansible to deploy / set up an instance
6. Google Open Source Maintenance Team

   Google Open Source

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

In this podcast Jon Westfall and I discuss:

1. 5 new Google Workspace features
   What exactly is a “Google Workspace” these days?
2. Speaking of Google. Revisiting Google Chrome OS Flex
   Kevin Stratvert: How to Install Chrome OS Flex: Make an Old PC New Again
3. Apple patents Magic Keyboard with integrated Mac inside to bring macOS to any display

   Apple has re-invented the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model-I. Also the Commodore 64, VIC-20, and, more recently, the Raspberry Pi 400

4. Conversation Topic: Merging the Digital with the Analog / Skeuomorphic Design.

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

Jon Westfall and I are back after a brief hiatus. We are joined by (briefly) Coconut the Cat. In this podcast, they discuss:

1. Apple added the last Macbook Pro with a DVD Drive to the Vintage List – Amazing how quickly DVDs / Optical Media came in and out of our lives – 15 or so years.
2. Google’s Pixel Foldable Notebook?. With this rumor and rumors of a Google watch and obviously the existence of Pixel… will 2022 finally be the year Google gets a cohesive ecosystem like Apple
3. Jon’s Tech Find (Via a friend, Matt Rozema): Ventoy. Finally gives me the best of both worlds on my USB drive that I keep on my person – I can boot off of it, but also still have all of the available storage. I had been using Yumi previously.
4. I wrote Task Manager and I just remembered something…<.a>

“I’m the Microsoft (Redmond, ’93) developer that wrote TaskMgr at home in my den in about 1994 and then the NT silverback devs let me check it into the main tree even though I was a greenhorn at the time. So that meant I got to bring it into work and polish it up and make it an official part of Windows, where it remains to this day. So I got to define my own day job, actually, which was nice! I don’t know if it’s still like that, but great culture and people.

This is all based on XP, as I left long ago, but it’s still the same core app underneath.


5. First, there was the Van Gogh Experience. Next, the Monet Experience
   The surprising role of technology in enabling 19th century impressionist art
   Trains enabled artists to travel quickly and easily to relatively distant places.
   The paint tube was invented in 1841. Previously, artists had to mix their own paints which would dry quickly. Paint tubes let them travel with their tools
   I don’t know if “serious” artists use iPads or other modern drawing tech. But, I wonder how its influence will be viewed in the future.

   An interesting movie: Tim’s Vermeer

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

iPhone 13 Pro photo by Jon Westfall

Jon Westfall is back from his holiday travels. Thanks to Paul Lawler and Ryan Ozawa for co-hosting the past two podcasts (the last two of 2021)! In this first MobileViews Podcast of 2022, Jon and I discuss:

1. Jon was continues to be very impressed by the iPhone 13 Pro’s low light photo capabilities (see example photo)
2. BlackBerry will die on January 4th — for real this time
3. Apple wants to remind us how easy it is to use their products to save your life. Not your typical Apple Ad. Makes you wonder: Does this make LTE AW just make sense?
4. Jon made it for 10 days with just his iPhone and iPad Mini – no laptop / no iPad Pro.

1. Apple Dual charger is great, just expensive, for travel.
2. Oura ring records more sleep tracking data than AW, so ditch the AW on nights I don’t need an alarm. But when you need an alarm, AW is so much nicer than the iPhone blaring at you (A friend disagrees).
3. VNC & VPS’s are a nice thing to have in the back pocket when you are visiting people and don’t want to drag out a laptop / bigger iPad. Manage most of the world through your iPhone. – Screens 4 for iOS
4. Apple MagSafe charging pack came in handy a few times for top-offs, but way too small of a capacity.
   Almost convinced that I have the perfect travel bag – the eBags Pro Slim Weekender
5. If you’re a Swiss Army knife kinda person, definitely get their TapForms. Reminder that this is about the closest you’ll come to MS Access on Mac/iPhone. Just wish it had some reporting functions or synchronization to an actual database backend. $50

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com

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