WEBVTT - Toasting and roasting 2024's biggest gadgets 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:13.800 On the Business of Tech this week. It's our last 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.880 episode as we had into the summer season and the holidays. 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:20.279 We wanted to look at some of the tech we've 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:22.560 played with this year. Some of the stuff we love, 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:25.960 some of the stuff we were bewildered by or perplexed by, 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.200 and some of the stuff that was just a complete dud. 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:33.080 This is the Business of Tech, powered by Two Degrees Business. 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:40.440 I'm Ben Moore and I'm Peter Griffin. It's been a 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:42.600 sort of an interesting year for tech. I described it 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:46.360 in the listener this week as a gap year. It's 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:49.280 like all these great ideas we've had AI in twenty 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:51.640 twenty three, there was lots of really cool stuff came 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:56.240 out multimodal AI, chatbots and the like, but nothing that 0:00:56.440 --> 0:00:59.240 really impressed. And they seem to be working away behind 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:01.720 the scenes with the hope that there will be some 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:04.640 really impressive stuff next year. And that sort of went 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:07.960 for some of the hardware stuff we saw as well. 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:10.399 What's your sort of if you wanted to wrap it 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:12.399 up in a bow, what would your takeaway be for 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.679 where sort of tech went in twenty twenty four in 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.360 terms of this sort of consumer tech space. 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:21.240 I think we've reached a point in consumer tech where 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:25.399 people were just kind of companies were just kind of 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:28.319 iterating and finding their next little step forward. And with 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:30.840 the launch of AI, I think they've seen it as 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:33.880 a time when they can try and do something really 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.880 new and reinnovate and whatever however you want to put it. 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:39.959 So I think this year was kind of a year 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:42.640 when these consumer tech companies are starting to try and 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:45.839 find their feet again figure out what the next big 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:50.560 step forward is working from this platform. Also, we know that, 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:53.600 like people aren't buying as much new stuff, so people 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:57.320 are holding onto their devices for longer. They're not necessarily 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:02.000 splashing out on the latest or if they've only got 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:06.400 you know, two or three generations ago. So that's really 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:09.079 what it's been to me is companies trying to find 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:12.800 something that will get everybody excited, and I don't know 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:13.959 if they have to be honest. 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:16.639 And we'll get to some of the sort of things 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:18.360 that have been bubbling away coming out of R and 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:22.359 D or prototypes or rumors we're hearing about what they're 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:24.840 working on that could be sort of new new formats 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:28.760 or game changes. But maybe let's start with just some 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:32.120 of the gadgets that impressed us this year. Is there 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:36.760 anything really that you reviewed or looked at or had 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:40.160 the opportunity to test drive where you thought, wow, that's 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:43.160 that's actually you know, it's expensive, but it's really worth 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:43.600 the money. 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:46.480 Yeah, I think weirdly, like, one of my favorite things 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:50.480 that I reviewed was the Motorola Razor that I reviewed 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:57.120 this year. I find it just surprisingly functional. And the 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:00.480 Android phones can be very hit and mess in terms 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.239 of the operating system layer, the kind of user interfaced 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:07.240 layer that that companies will put over it can slow 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:10.720 their phone down or it can be cumbersome, but Motorola 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:13.600 is really clean. I really enjoyed it, and the fact 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:15.640 that it's a flip phone with a nice big screen. 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:22.520 It's functional. I very much have enjoyed that phone, which 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:24.240 is an unusual thing for me to say, because I'm 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:25.799 not a super Android person at all. 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:29.040 Well I am, and I tried that phone and loved it, 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:33.200 particularly that big display on the outside. It can easily 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:35.840 fit in a pocket, and obviously a throwback to the 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.240 iconic Razor from around I think two thousand and five, 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:41.560 two thousand and six something like that was just a 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.800 gangbuster phone in terms of sales. This is a bit 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:47.960 of a slow burn. It's quite expensive as well, isn't. 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:50.160 It one nine nine nine, so two thousand. 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:51.160 It's pretty expensive. 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.600 It is quite expensive. But if you're a person who 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.520 travels a lot, who wants a nice compact phone that 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:01.280 is functional, and if you a you know, sick of 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:05.040 big phones, it's it's an awesome option. The other phone 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.560 that I've been wielding this year is the iPhone sixteen 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:13.200 Pro Max, which is kind of the other end of 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.039 the spectrum when it comes to phones. It's an Apple phone. 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:20.240 It's big, but I have also really enjoyed it. I mean, 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.800 it's an iPhone. It's got the little camera button, which 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:29.039 is useful to have, and the camera is pretty impressive. 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.039 I haven't found the camera button to be revolutionary. I 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:35.159 still don't really use it for zooming and stuff like 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:36.919 that because I find it a little bit fiddly, the 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:41.440 kind of touch press zooming. So I don't know. It's 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:44.480 hard to say a huge amount about an iPhone at 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:48.240 this point because they just haven't really done anything massively different. 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:50.880 And I'm including Apple Intelligence and that. 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:55.840 Yeah, so obviously the update came out. I always say 0:04:55.839 --> 0:05:02.120 eighteen update just last Thursday, which allow Apple Intelligence features 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:04.840 to be available. Have you had a chance to play with. 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:08.720 Them a little bit? I have enjoyed the what do 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.839 they call them, the gen motion, that's the name they 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:14.560 gin moji with them, and it's a bit of fun, 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:16.159 you know. I made one that kind of looks like 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.599 my son holding his favorite stuff toy, and I sent 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.839 you one, didn't I yeh, yeh pretty cool. It was 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:23.479 pretty cool. 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.680 But I'm probably more interested in the, you know, the 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:31.039 productivity stuff like summarizing your emails in the mail app 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:32.560 and all that. Is it any good at doing that? 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:36.640 No? Not really. They revamped the whole mail app and 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:38.880 they've put the thing on it where it sorts it 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:42.440 into different you know categories, your primary, your sales, and promotion, 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:47.359 and it's fine. Has some weird kind of backsteps in 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:49.880 terms of user interface where you go into an email 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:51.520 and then it brings up the whole thread and then 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:53.680 you have to tap on the email again to actually 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.159 load it. So they've added an extra tap in there 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.440 to fully load an email. I'm like, why would you 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:02.039 do that? It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't feel 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:07.120 like a classic Apple update where it is all about usability, 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.159 and streamlining and user interface and making it as accessible 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:12.920 as possible. So yeah, I'm thinking I might even just 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:15.960 exit the mail app unless the next update really comes 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:17.800 out with something that makes it worth it. 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:21.279 What about Supercharged Siri? Any improvement there? 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.200 Yeah, Siri can access chat GPT now, so it actually 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.800 answers questions when you have questions. I found it okay, 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:31.240 people have called it half baked. Probably still better than, 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.680 for example, the co Pilot laptop. Yes when I tried that, 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:40.680 better than Samsung's Ai, but still yeah, I think it's 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.560 just the technology. I think it's just the technology is 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:46.080 just not there to do what everybody was hoping it 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:49.960 would do, and big promises were made and unfortunately they 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:50.800 haven't been delivered on. 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:53.440 I got to say that the iPhone sixteen pro the 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.719 short time that I've spent with it, I've been thinking 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:58.359 of upgrading. I want to do a lot more video 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:03.320 stuff next year. Sorely tempted by it, just because I think, 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:05.320 you know that it is one of the best sort 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:07.920 of camera phones around, particularly that Max one. You know, 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:12.280 just the how feature rich that is that that I've 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.040 my mate I watched him using that button to very 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:19.080 good effect on a tripod, so he's a photography enthusiast 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:22.640 and he was getting real granular control with it, so 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:24.960 I was sort of all excited about that. And then 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:31.559 I started reviewing the OPO find x eight Pro, which 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:35.600 is the first upgrade since the fine x five, which 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:37.559 is what I'm using at the moment, and that's dyeing 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:40.120 that phone. But the fine x eight Pro is very 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:45.440 much a camera phone, so four fifty megapixel cameras, a 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:50.239 wide angle, an ultra wide, a telephoto, six times optical zoom. 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:54.000 So I'm thinking, you know, wow, this is actually designed 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:57.680 for photography. It's got some you know, mimicking the Apple one. 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:01.920 I guess it's got a physical button for for photography 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:04.600 as well. So if I want to stay in the 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:06.720 Android world, that's looking like a pretty good option. But 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:09.280 that's pretty expensive as well. That's a two thousand dollars phone, 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:11.920 and I guess, you know, we're a three horse race 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:13.920 in New Zealand when it comes to phones. It's Apple, 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:19.200 It's Samsung with the IS twenty four ULTRAE and it's 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:21.600 a very nice phone, and it's Opo at the moment 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.080 as well. Huaiwei has sort of died and then you'd 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:27.120 have some sort of cheap feature phones that are put 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:29.400 out as well, so there's not a heck of a 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.080 lot of choice and competition. Unfortunately, we don't have the 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:33.360 Google Pixel for instance. 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.240 Yeah, I've always found that fascinating that Google's never bothered 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:39.280 to properly launch the Pixel in New Zealand. It's not 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.720 unusual for Google though, to be fair, although I have 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:44.880 to say in terms of Google products that I have, 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:49.720 like this year, they did release a new Chrome cast 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:52.680 which was called it's not called the Chrome Cast anymore. 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:55.800 It's called the Google TV Streamer four K and it's 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:59.320 a little white box, quite nicely designed that sits on 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:03.880 your console or entertainment unit. And I have really found 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:05.840 that to be such a big step up from other 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:10.599 streamer dongles, which can be very limited in their processing capabilities. 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:13.280 But because this has a little bit more dedicated space, 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.520 it actually is just really nice to use, and we 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:19.960 use it now instead of the built in smart TV 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:24.480 on our TV, just because it has that slightly better 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:26.760 performance that makes it much smooth to use. 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:32.520 And it's also got an Ethernet port on it, right yeah, yeah, 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:34.400 and a great way to if you do have an 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:38.920 aging TV or something with a crappy user interface, a 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.520 great way to upgrade that experience. I was using for 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:45.360 a while that the fire Stick from Amazon to do 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.480 that on an old TV. And this year we went 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.640 to the launch of this, which was the new Panasonic 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:57.360 only TV's beautiful TVs. But the big differentiator this time 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:01.080 is they're actually based on the fire operating system. So 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:04.319 they've done a deal with Amazon to build that operating 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.960 system into their high end O lead TV's quite a 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:12.480 bold move to sort of tie your fortunes to this 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.720 massive e commerce and digital assistant giant, but it sort 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:18.400 of works. Did you have a decent play with it? 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:20.600 I didn't really get a chance to play with it 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:22.240 properly because it was, you know, it was a busy 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.920 event and they kind of did a little demo and 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:28.240 it looked okay, But I didn't get the I didn't 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.000 get a fire stick or anything like that, so I 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:30.680 haven't had a go. 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.079 But you rate it, well, yeah, I've had it for 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:40.040 a few weeks, been using it at home here And 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:43.000 the good thing about these sort of new ole heads, 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:44.839 I mean, these are expensive TVs. This is a three 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.720 and a half thousand dollars TV. But it's got some 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:52.400 technic speakers built into it, like to a degree they've 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:55.920 never done before. So the audio is particularly good. But 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.360 it's got a lot of microphones in there, so you 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.360 can be across the road and to trigger Alexa to 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:04.600 turn on the TV, to control your smart devices, to 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.319 pull up my ring camera, who's at the front door. 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:11.319 All of that was done before on for instance, Samsung TVs, 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:15.880 but it was just really clunky, and the voice recognition 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:20.079 was not particularly good. But because they've optimized this for Alexa, 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:24.199 it's actually really effective. So I like that. One thing 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.040 I don't like about it is they you know, they're 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:30.200 pushing you. For instance, you have to log in with 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:35.520 an Amazon account, which annoys me because when my sister 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:37.480 comes here, she wants to log in on her Prime 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:41.960 account and she can't because you have to completely log 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:43.800 out of the whole TV and log in as her. 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:46.760 So that's slightly annoying. It just is another thing about 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:50.239 the way Amazon just tries to control the whole experience. 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.000 I think, you know, Google's a little bit more flexible. 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:58.199 Yeah, yeah, I quite like the more disparate nature of 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:00.800 that stuff, because it doesn't mean that you can have 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:03.720 the whole family kind of doing what they want to do, 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.640 and they need to do Google TV with the different 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:09.600 Google accounts that you can log in and just like 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.640 on the fly switch between them. So if I want 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:14.840 to watch my YouTube, then you know, then I can 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:17.520 log into my just quickly change over to my account 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:20.520 and then I don't have Miss Rachel or whatever it 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:22.040 is clogging up the works, which. 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:28.640 Not much happening. Really incremental gains in TV. I think 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:32.240 that probably the flagship TV was the Samsung IS ninety 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.160 five D. That's another oh lad, very expensive four and 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:37.320 a half thousand for the fifty five inch, but that's 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:42.280 a stunning, stunning TV. Samsung's embrace of oliad has really worked. 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.960 TV is now like three years old, and because it's 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:50.400 o lad, it still feels really new, like there's no issues. 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:54.960 It's just really looks beautiful to this day. So Yeah, 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:58.840 the other lead technology really is the is kind of 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.240 set the standard and I think will remain for a 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.400 long time. I can't see it's going to anywhere else 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:06.320 really until we get to the point where it's like 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:08.360 holographic or something like that. 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:14.360 Yeah, another luxurious sort of gadget. I really enjoyed this year. 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:18.559 I've just sending it back. Unfortunately, the Dyson on track 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:24.400 headphones dyceon you think vacuum cleaners and fans and that 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.920 sort of stuff. So they a few years ago they 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:31.559 went into headphones quite controversially, was sort of just during 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:33.520 the COVID years. They came up with a pair of 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:38.640 headphones which also had a mask built into it for 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:45.120 filtering out horrible diseases and pathogens and the like, and 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.360 it was lambasted heavily. I think people in New York 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.920 and places like that. The wealthy commuters sort of liked it, 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:55.160 but really didn't take off. They've ditched that aspect off 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.959 it with the on track headphones and they're just a supercharged, 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:01.800 high end pair of headphones to compete sort of with 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:07.400 the what's Apple's sort of headphones called the Max or something, yeah, 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.240 which are beautiful and bows and they're high end ones. 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.280 But these are eight hundred dollars pair of headphones. But 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.160 the noise canceling. I went to the US on the plane, 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:19.720 I really struggle to sleep on a plane. I put 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:22.680 these things on, and not only was the active noise 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:26.600 canceling just incredible, it just sort of deadened everything, but 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:30.480 they're so big the earphone pads that you can basically 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:34.640 rest against the wall with these things and have have 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:41.200 sort of a pillow effect. So oversized, very hipster design, 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:44.440 so you know, flashy color. It is not really my 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:48.680 sort of design asthetic, but man, if you want high 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.160 quality audio, that that's got to be up there. 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.480 Yeah, they look interesting. I don't know if they are 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.560 my dial, but yeah, that cushion does look very luxurious. 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:02.080 Look that I mean. I'm I'm still using my Sony XM. 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.080 Fives and they're great. 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:07.560 They're awesome headphone and I love them to death. So 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:11.520 again when I'm on a plane as well, check them on. 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:13.920 Checked the noise canceling on with nothing behind it, and 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:17.640 it's super helpful for trying to get to sleep. Also, 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.680 the the other headphones that I found really made well. 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.920 Two headphones I've found amazing this year which are true 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:27.600 wireless in ear headphones, and the first one were the 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.880 the Technics headphones, and I believe you would have a 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.360 pair of those as well. Yeah, they're great, the A 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:39.160 Z eighties and really surprisingly good for the price, Like 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.920 they're the under four hundred dollars under three fifty I think, 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.560 and I have just I used them for quite a 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.440 while and just found them extraordinarily good. But maybe one 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:51.560 of my favorite pairs of true wireless headphones i've tried. 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:56.440 They're great, even the AD forties. I don't like to spend, 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:58.640 you know, three or four hundred dollars on a pier because, 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:00.600 like I lost one when I was out in my 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:05.080 paddleboard a couple of months ago and I went to 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:09.320 shuffle through my songs and one of my ear bloods 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.880 fell out into the drink. So they're a bit sort 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.160 of unfortunately, a bit disposable for me. So so those 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.200 ones are the lower end ones, surprisingly good entry level 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.320 for about one hundred and forty dollars, and that's typically 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:23.960 what I like to pay for whiless earbuds because they 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:25.040 end up disappearing. 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:31.240 Yeah, understandable. Yeah. I also have been reviewing the new 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:35.960 Apple AirPods, not the pro but the standard ones with 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:41.240 active noise canceling, and I was really unsure because without 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:43.400 those silicon tips, how are they going to do proper 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:47.920 active noise canceling. But yeah, really impressed by those. And 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:50.920 don't tell Apple, but I did accidentally put them all 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:54.200 through the wash and they were absolutely fine. So I 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.000 survived there. They survived that. I put the whole container 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:00.720 with the two air pods in it, right through the 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:03.320 whole wash cycle, and I just chucked them in the 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:05.840 hot water cupboard for a day and they were fine. 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:08.920 That's incredible because they're not it's not a waterproof container, 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:10.199 so that was sloshing around. 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.800 Yeah, no, it was. It was definitely pretty wet in that. 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:26.800 Wow. Oh, that's good endorsement. Looking a bit now at 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:29.760 some of the services that we may have tried during 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.320 the year. One I wanted to call out Erlo, which 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:37.120 is a quite a cheap e SIM service if you're 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:39.520 going abroad, and I did it a couple of times 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.520 this year rather than roaming is obviously super expensive, and 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:47.240 there are lots of options for international e sims to 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.479 add a second SIM to your to your phone if 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.359 you have capability on your phone, which most modern phones 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:56.479 do have. And I've always found it a bit clunky 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:59.240 some of the other providers, but this one is great. 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:03.280 You just download the app. The plans start really reasonable, 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:06.080 about ten dollars for a week's coverage a couple of 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:10.800 gig and sixty minutes of calling and sixty texts or something. 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:11.200 Like that. 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:14.240 But what I really liked about it it just automates 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.840 the whole process of activating the eSIMs. So I got 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:21.000 to lax, got on the Wi Fi, went into the 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:24.800 Rallo app, and it just did the whole thing. I 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:28.320 didn't have to mess around, which is a different experience 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:31.760 to what I've had before. And you know, just one 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:35.359 of several now that are doing this the whole I 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:39.960 guess the virtual network operator thing has taken off on 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:43.840 an international basis, So if you are going abroad, really 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:47.520 look at alternatives to your roaming plan, which are typically 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:50.600 quite expensive if you go for beyond a week or two. 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:52.560 And I found I was in the States for a 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:54.760 couple of weeks earlier this year, and that was just 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:58.159 perfect for me. It costs about thirty bucks and was 0:18:58.680 --> 0:18:59.520 everything I needed. 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:03.520 Yeah, that's super interesting. I haven't traveled in a while, 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:07.720 so that's a really great suggestion because it can get 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.760 pretty expensive pretty quickly if you're paying for your paying 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:15.080 for your roaming. My mum did travel this year and 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:16.719 she was trying to figure out how she was going 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:18.680 to spend money while she was over in the States, 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:21.920 and she was talking about getting a tourist card through 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.000 a New Zealand. I can't remember what they're called now, 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:27.920 but and it was kind of thinking about exchange rates 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:29.400 and what she was going to do, and I said, look, 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:34.800 go check out the service called wise and she was like, oh, 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:36.920 that was great. It was awesome. It was so easy 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:41.400 to use. So I think the rise of FinTechs as well, 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:47.000 in terms of being able to spend internationally with massively 0:19:47.040 --> 0:19:52.200 reduced costs in terms of currency conversion, things like Wiser 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:54.120 or or so really worth checking out. 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:58.760 We've talked in previous episodes about our experience with blue 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:01.879 Sky in terms of social media. I mean, this is 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:07.120 a free service. It's not like X where to get 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:10.280 longer character limits and stuff like that you have to 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:14.119 pay a monthly fee. So blue Sky is set up 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.200 as on a sort of not for profit basis at 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:21.520 the moment anyway, and is really becoming the alternative for 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:24.480 people who are a bit disillusioned with X and really 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:27.760 gaining some traction. I'm really starting to use it on 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:31.399 a daily basis, which I haven't done with Threads or 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:35.280 mastered on or anything else. So there's just enough momentum building. 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:37.600 Now do you think that's going to carry on into 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:38.480 twenty twenty five. 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:40.600 Yeah, I think so. I don't know if it's going 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:43.359 to the acceleration will continue. I think that will slow 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:46.200 down and growth will continue, but at a slower rate. 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:49.760 But I love it. I love being on Blue Sky. 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:55.600 It's nice. You can be quite specific about who you are, like, 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:58.119 you know, it really does just let you do what 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:00.119 you kind of want to do. In terms of following, 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:03.720 you can just get the feed from the people you're following. 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:06.200 You can add a little bit of extra with the 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:08.240 Discover feature, and it brings in some other stuff that 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:10.800 thinks you know everybody might like, and then you have 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:14.280 your feeds for science or tech or I don't know, 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:19.880 I'm assuming there are ones for cat shows or whatever. 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:24.000 So yeah, I really rate the list guy. I will 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:26.320 keep using it throughout the next year. I'd imagine probably 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:30.480 increase my use of it. A pretty slack person in 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:33.960 terms of actually posting, but I do occasionally throw something 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:35.639 up there that I, you know, a bit of an 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:38.320 opinion or a reference to a work that I've done 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:39.080 or whatever it is. 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:46.160 Yeah, and we've both been testing various AI services this year, 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:50.960 so my go to one has become Perplexity. It's expensive 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:55.320 for Perplexity Pro is twenty dollars US per month, which 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:59.640 is the same as chat gpt Pro, but I absolutely 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:03.080 love it. Sort of revolutionized how I do research. I've 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:07.240 also been using Gemini because I use Google Workspace for 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:12.040 all my productivity and email, so Perplexity doesn't plug into 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:15.359 that in a in a compelling way, whereas Gemini is 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:20.439 native to Google Drive and Gmail. Really loving Gemini, but 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:24.080 if I'm going to sacrifice one, because that's also quite expensive, 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:25.520 I'll stick with Perplexity. 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:28.879 I think I haven't bit the bullet and paid for 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:31.800 any services this year, so I've been using my work 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:36.080