{"id":5938,"date":"2026-03-15T18:23:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T04:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/?p=5938"},"modified":"2026-03-15T18:23:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T04:23:24","slug":"mobileviews-601-36-hours-without-power-cell-service-broadband-internet-macbook-neo-impressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/15\/mobileviews-601-36-hours-without-power-cell-service-broadband-internet-macbook-neo-impressions\/","title":{"rendered":"MobileViews 601: 36 hours without power, cell service, &#038; broadband internet. MacBook Neo impressions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px); height: 150px;\" title=\"MobileViews 601: 36 hours without power, cell service, &amp; broadband internet. MacBook Neo impressions\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/player-v2\/?i=33b32-1a700b0-pb&amp;from=pb6admin&amp;share=1&amp;download=1&amp;rtl=0&amp;fonts=Arial&amp;skin=1&amp;font-color=auto&amp;logo_link=episode_page&amp;btn-skin=7\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\" scrolling=\"no\" data-name=\"pb-iframe-player\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-5939\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MViews-601-ai-frame-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MViews-601-ai-frame-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MViews-601-ai-frame-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MViews-601-ai-frame-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MViews-601-ai-frame-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MViews-601-ai-frame-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MViews-601-ai-frame.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this episode, Todd Ogasawara and Dr. Jon Westfall dive into weathering long\u00a0 power outages, hands-on impressions of new tech hardware, and the magic of modern software development workflows.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Surviving the Hawaii Storms and Tech Infrastructure Failures<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Todd shared his experience dealing with a severe storm system that swept through Hawaii, knocking out power for roughly 138,000 customers. The 36-hour outage put local infrastructure to the test.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The Good:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Hawaiian Electric (HECO) deserves credit for vastly improved communication during the crisis, providing necessary updates.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The Bad:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The cell phone providers struggled. T-Mobile (and consequently Google Fi) went down within 10 to 14 hours, and AT&amp;T followed shortly after. This highlights an ongoing issue with insufficient battery backups at cell sites.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The Workaround:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> To keep lifeline devices running, Todd relied on multi-function devices with large batteries built into devices like portable fans and tire inflators.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Drone Regulations and Video Editing Hacks<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thanks to some expert advice from previous guest Sven Johansson regarding weight limits and non-commercial trust certificates, Jon is flying his new DJI Neo 2 legally. A standout feature for travelers is that the Neo 2&#8217;s three-battery charging station can act as a reverse charger for other devices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the production side:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Apple Creative Suite:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Jon noted that educators and students can get the Apple Creative Suite (including Final Cut Pro and Logic) for just $30 a year. He used Final Cut to successfully reduce background noise on drone footage.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Adobe Podcasts:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Todd discussed Adobe Podcasts&#8217; new video recording feature. It records individual video and audio tracks locally for each participant, allowing for much easier syncing and enhancement compared to traditional methods.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Hands-On with the MacBook Neo<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Todd provided his initial thoughts on his new Apple MacBook Neo. He opted for the $699 model in Indigo, which includes a 512GB SSD and a fingerprint sensor. Note: All aspects of this podcast including recording, editing, and publishing was performed using the MacBook Neo.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The &#8220;iPhone Companion&#8221;:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Reminiscent of the old Windows CE &#8220;PC companion&#8221; devices, the MacBook Neo serves as an excellent companion to the iPhone for those integrated into the Apple ecosystem.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Hardware Impressions:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Despite a lack of a fan, the aluminum unibody device runs incredibly cool under everyday loads, contrasting sharply with older Intel-based Macs. It also features a solid keyboard and a highly responsive fingerprint reader.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The Verdict:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It successfully replaces both an aging Chromebook and a 2019 Intel MacBook Pro as a reliable, everyday lower-end access device. While tech power-users might complain about its limitations, it is perfect for its target audience.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Modern Coding &amp; WWDC Wishlists<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jon has been exploring modern AI coding methods using OpenAI&#8217;s Codex tool, Git version control, and Apple&#8217;s Xcode Cloud for immediate compiling. For veterans who started programming in assembly language or Unix, today&#8217;s continuous deployment pipelines feel like absolute magic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Looking ahead to Apple&#8217;s WWDC in June, Jon shared his primary wish: an &#8220;all-you-can-read&#8221; subscription service for Apple Books and Audiobooks. Additionally, early signs point to iOS 27 being a refinement-focused update, similar to the legendary Mac OS X Snow Leopard release.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-5940\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MViews-601-infographic-1024x572.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MViews-601-infographic-1024x572.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MViews-601-infographic-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MViews-601-infographic-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MViews-601-infographic-1536x857.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MViews-601-infographic-2048x1143.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Available via <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/mobileviews.com-podcast\/id301171904?mt=2\">Apple iTunes<\/a>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\u201chttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@ToddOgasawara\/podcasts\u201d\">MobileViews YouTube Podcasts channel <\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"\u201chttps:\/\/www.audible.com\/pd\/MobileViewscom-Podcast-Podcast\/B08K565TQS?qid=1640555789&amp;sr=1-1&amp;ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&amp;pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&amp;pf_rd_r=TXEJVWB2VW471GJ9XQQ0\u201d&lt;\/a\">MobileViews Podcast on Audible.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this episode, Todd Ogasawara and Dr. Jon Westfall dive into weathering long\u00a0 power outages, hands-on impressions of new tech hardware, and the magic of modern software development workflows. Surviving the Hawaii Storms and Tech Infrastructure Failures Todd shared his experience dealing with a severe storm system that swept through Hawaii, knocking out power for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mobile-devices"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ppKRG-1xM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5938"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5942,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5938\/revisions\/5942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobileviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}