Hi, this is Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast Apple Podcast, hosted at Podfeet.com, a technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Apple bias. Today is Wednesday, July 19, 2023, and this is show number 950.
The alert amongst you will have figured out that if the show got to you on Wednesday, there will be no live show this weekend (July 23), and will remember that Steve and I will be at Macstock over the weekend. Some of you may not open your presents before Christmas and so are hearing this on California’s Monday and I applaud your self-control.
The reason we have a show today is because of all the NosillaCastaways that have come out of the woodwork to make it happen. As I mentioned, I have a lot of travel coming up in the next month and a half and if we’re going to keep the streak alive, I’ll need even more help. This week’s show is brought to you by Allister Jenks, Bruce from Tennessee, Mr. Ed, Bart, and even a little bit by me.
Articles
The iOS Contacts Widget
Thanks, Allister, that’s an interesting use of iOS Widgets. Like you, I’ve been reluctant to give up the screen real estate except for one single widget. The widget I put on my Home Screen is the Stacks widget and I keep a couple of widgets in there. I have the Tesla widget since I use it to do things with my car, see our solar panel and battery status, and it’s a great way to find out where Steve is when he’s away from home. It updates much more quickly than the Find My network. I also have a weather widget in there, but let’s be honest, the weather here isn’t all that interesting. I’ve added Steve’s contact to the Stack too so I can do even more to see what he’s up to.
DTTO 12.9″ iPad Pro Case and iClever BK08 Bluetooth keyboard — by Bruce from Tennessee
This is an interesting solution, Bruce. I do carry the Magic Keyboard with my 12.9″ iPad Pro and it is super heavy. For a little perspective, the 12.9″ iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard weighs 3 lbs 1 oz combined, while the 13″ MacBook Air only weighs 2 lbs 11 oz! That’s 14% more than a real laptop.
That said, I always use the keyboard, it’s a delightful keyboard, and it holds my iPad up as a stand for viewing. I only occasionally find myself using the iPad out of the case, but when I do it’s super easy to pull off.
I wish the iClever keyboard had better spacing on the keys. It would make a great companion keyboard for an iPad mini. They could have easily eliminated the trackpad and made the keys full size.
Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab – by Mr. Ed
While your use case of Merlin Bird ID to identify the demons may offend the true birders amongst the NosillaCast audience, you did a great job of explaining how the app works and how nifty it is, Ed. I loved it.
Support the Show
Have you noticed that you never hear any ads in the NosillaCast, Chit Chat Across the Pond, or Programming By Stealth? It’s not that it doesn’t cost money to bring you all of this yummy goodness. It’s because I’ve chosen to go with a purely donation-based business model. This means if you pledge even a dollar a week through podfeet.com/patreon to show the value you receive, you’re doing a lot to support the show. I hope you enjoy an ad-free experience and will consider joining the other fine folks who make this possible.
Bear 2.0 is Even More Beautiful and Packed with New Features
More Cool Third-Party Apple Watch Bands – by Bart Busschots
Even though each of your Apple Watch bands are inexpensive, it sure adds up because so many of them look awesome! I got Steve the NASA band you talked about too, and it looks great on him and he loves it.
Transcript of NC_2023_07_19
That’s going to wind this up for this week. Did you know you can email me at [email protected] any time you like? If you have a question or a suggestion just send it on over. You can follow me on Mastodon at @[email protected]. Remember, everything good starts with podfeet.com. If you want to join the conversation, you can join our Slack community at podfeet.com/slack where you can talk to me and all of the other lovely NosillaCastaways. You can support the show at podfeet.com/patreon or with a one-time donation at podfeet.com/paypal. And if you want to join in the fun of the live show, head on over to podfeet.com/live on Sunday nights at 5 PM Pacific Time and join the friendly and enthusiastic NosillaCastaways. Thanks for listening, and stay subscribed.