Solid State Podcast

John Joyce

A weekly show from three hosts deep ”in the trenches of tech”, discussing the latest news, events, and cultural moments around the technology industry and the products, people, and services touching our daily lives.

  1. Nov 4

    Episode 153 - Did we actually ask for a touchscreen Mac?

    Summary In this episode of the Solid State Podcast, hosts John Joyce, Eric Sargent, and Cody Toscano discuss various topics including technical issues during the live feed, their transition to YouTube, the effects of Daylight Saving Time, and a recent Amazon product launch. They delve into the Echo Show 16, its potential impact on the smart home ecosystem, and concerns regarding its performance and pricing. The conversation also touches on the Alexa photo frame and the often-overlooked Amazon Photos service. In this conversation, the hosts discuss the latest advancements in smart home technology, focusing on Amazon's new devices, including smart photo frames and Echo Dots. They explore the implications of always-on cameras in the home, privacy concerns, and the evolution of smart speakers. The discussion highlights the comprehensive nature of Amazon's product lineup and the increasing costs associated with these devices, while also comparing them to competitors like Apple. In this segment, the conversation delves into recent Apple product updates, including the iMac refresh and the new iPad Mini. The hosts discuss the implications of Apple's decisions, such as the continuation of the iMac line and the introduction of a touchscreen MacBook, questioning the necessity and practicality of these features. The discussion highlights the balance between innovation and consumer needs, reflecting on the evolving landscape of technology and user expectations. In this conversation, the hosts discuss the recent announcements regarding the MacBook Pro, focusing on the new display technology, the introduction of a touchscreen, and the implications for pricing and product differentiation. They express skepticism about the necessity of a touchscreen for professional users and emphasize the importance of clear distinctions between product lines. The conversation also touches on naming conventions and the overall user experience with Apple's products.   Keywords podcast, technology, Amazon, Echo Show, YouTube, Daylight Saving Time, smart home, Alexa, product launch, home automation smart home, Echo Dot, Amazon devices, photo frames, privacy concerns, smart speakers, technology review, home automation, digital privacy, consumer electronics Apple, iMac, iPad Mini, Touchscreen MacBook, Tech Updates, Product Launches, Spec Bumps, Technology Reviews, Consumer Electronics, Apple Events MacBook Pro, touchscreen, display technology, Apple, product differentiation, user experience, naming conventions, tech announcements, MacBook Air, product lineup

  2. Oct 21

    Episode 152 - Apple's coming for your home... again

    In this episode, John, Eric, and Cody discuss the latest in tech, including Amazon's Kindle issues, Google's new Pixelbook, Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra, and Apple's recent product announcements. They analyze hardware trends, market strategies, and the future of AI and consumer devices. In this episode, John, Eric, and Cody explore the latest in Apple hardware, smart home tech, and the quirks of pre-ordering the new iPhone Duo, all while sharing insights on streaming quality and the future of Apple home automation with HomePod, AppleTV, and the newly announced HomeView.   keywords tech news, Amazon Kindle, Google Pixelbook, Microsoft Surface, Apple event, AI hardware, tablets, laptops, product review Apple, HomePod, Apple TV, smart home, iPhone Duo, streaming quality, LG, Matter, CarPlay, home automation, HomeView   takeaways The HomePod Mini's LCD changes color based on album art, a very Apple feature. Apple's latest Apple TV is the best streaming box but streaming quality remains an issue. Pre-ordering on a plane is a test of patience and technology, often leading to delays. Apple's partnership with LG signals a push into high-end smart home devices. Smart home tech is complex, expensive, and often unreliable, especially for high-end installations.   sound bites "Streaming 4K still sucks." "Apple TV is still the best streaming box." "Pre-ordering from a plane is a test of patience."

  3. Oct 8

    Episode 151 - New Kindles, Less Xbox, and "Googlebooks"... oh my

    Now available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SolidStatePodcast The week on the Solid State Podcast, hosts John Joyce and Eric discuss the upcoming holiday shopping season, the dynamics of Amazon Prime Day, and the economics behind "discounts". They delve into Amazon's new Kindle lineup, exploring the features and user experience of the latest devices, including the introduction of a Kindle Clicker for easier navigation. The conversation highlights the premium experience of the new Kindles and the importance of user convenience in tech products. Eric and John then discuss various topics, focusing on the importance of kickstands in devices, the value of Kindles, the turmoil at Xbox, the fallout from the Activision Blizzard acquisition, and Apple's potential entry into the smart home market with a new "HomePad". They explore how these developments reflect broader trends in the tech industry and the challenges companies face in maintaining their core competencies while innovating. Discussion moves to the strengths of Apple's hardware and ecosystem, the future of smart home devices, and the recent launch of Google's latest product line, "Googlebooks". They explore the potential of these technologies, the challenges they face, and the importance of user experience and integration in the tech landscape.

  4. Sep 28

    Episode 150 - Apple launches the iPhone Duo

    It's our 150th episode... and in all those years you'd think 3 technology "professionals" would have figured out... video? Well, you'd be wrong, but we then decided the launch event for the first "new" iPhone... ever... was the right place to start? Oh, and Cupertino dropped new watches, earbuds, "Pro" phones, and more...

  5. Aug 24

    Episode 149 - We review the Google Pixel lineup (and prepare for Dragon Con...)

    This week on the Solid State podcast, we… talk about phones. I mean there’s no beating around it, right? It’s Late summer knocking on fall, which means we’re getting down to the end of what Samsung, now Google, and soon Apple have in store for us to round out the gadget year of 2026.  With Google’s recently completed Pixel announcement event, on the whole things were very, very status quo… Three main phones (in a few sizes) last year… three main phones (in the same sizes) this year. Remember the Pixel Watch 4? Watch out, now we’ve got the Pixel Watch 5? Oh and the Pixel Buds Pro 2? Actually… those are exactly the same, never mind.  Year for year, it was about as incremental as it gets. Processor generation bumps across the board… check. Just enough chassis shape and size changes to require buying fresh cases and accessories across the lineup? Ohhhh yeah. Yearly improvement in overall resources and “horsepower”? We, umm… might have some bad news on that front.  So what then, are we even doing here? As seems to be the case with just about every other gadget, announcement, and broader event this year (and likely the next few years to come) the real story lies just under the surface. How much RAM do we really need in a phone? I gather we’re about to find out. Is the new “passport” form factor of the Z Fold 8 and likely upcoming foldable iPhone fad or future? Also… remains to be seen.  And beyond the hardware, there remains an entire layer of the story that is far more inextricably linked to the software itself on these devices. Which features will be “gated” to only the latest and greatest, versus those that will filter down through past generations of hardware to put it in the hands of a broader market?  Gemini was everywhere, as you would expect, but at the same time is starting to feel more and more muted with every announcement. Is it possible the industry itself is finally coming to terms with the fact that AI makes a much better billboard at times than it does a meaningful feature in the hands of real world users? Prooooobably not… but there’s a change of sorts in the wind nonetheless.  As usual, we’ve plunked down our (mostly) hard-earned cash so you, at least at first, don’t have to to start answering the question… is playing in the “new phone market” worth it in the middle of RAM-a-geddon? The jury, as they say, is still out…

  6. Aug 12

    Episode 148 - The (True) Cost of AI

    This week on the podcast we… well, we do our best. And no I don’t mean because we didn’t prepare a topic and “made it up as we went” (that never happens….), this go around I mean we did our best, honestly, to… stay positive.  Truly, there is plenty of bad stuff going on in the world at any given time, it’s not the intent of this show to ever zoom in only on the negative. That whole “silver lining” thing? We really do believe in it.  That said, it’s been a tough few weeks in tech, specifically in the realm of our favorite-least-favorite topic… AI.  See it’s bad enough when just one of the worlds leading AI research labs has to fess up to nothing less than losing control of the robot… and for some reason we’re supposed to be relieved, even a little bit “grateful”… that it only went teeny-tiny “hulk mode” on a website you’ve likely never heard of. No no, this is all just bad, dress it up however you like. The Cylon got loose and there was nothing they could do about it for a hot minute.  But see, once that story hit airwaves well… there’s this funny phenomenon in AI circles that they simply cannot let themselves be outdone… at anything… even, believe it or not… “bad press”… So in now-typical “pay attention to what’s going on with this hand, not with that one over there” fashion, a second world-leading AI research lab then owned up to a similar “AI jailbreak” of sorts… over three months ago…  Promises to do better? Government regulation? Honest discourse and hard conversations? No single one of these is or will be enough… we need it all and then some. The biggest issue is, we’re already late to the conversation and getting further behind every hour, much less every day.  Remember that silver lining I mentioned? I sincerely promise it’s still out there, but we have to get to work finding it fast…

  7. Aug 3

    Episode 147 - Samsung's got new Foldable's... (for real this time)

    Sometimes a formula… just works. It was lore for many years that to sell more iPods, all Apple really needed to do was “change the color and the shape” every so often. Now in reality, those changes tended to run deeper… improvements in storage, battery, interface, etc were typically right behind that fresh coat of paint.  In today’s smartphone-centric world, this strategy… hasn’t changed all that much. Sure go back far enough and every annual upgrade brought a potentially game changing feature… super high resolution displays, a front facing camera, heck… a camera you could reasonably USE… all of these were innovations fed to us one generation at a time over years of on stage events and world wide press releases. At this stage of product maturity, though, things don’t often “shake up” quite that much anymore.  Remember last year’s “best camera ever put into s smartphone”? Well have WE got something in store for you… because this year is the BESTEST best camera ever put into a smartphone… Oh, and it comes in three new colors too.  Sound… familiar?  Well good news, everyone, because this year things are shaping to be… a little less familiar.  Sure, what we’re about to talk about does eventually boil down to… a change in shape. But this isn’t “we took a tall narrow iPod and for some reason made it a tiny square iPod”… no this adds up to a change in overall shape, size, aspect ratio, build quality, material science… honestly, this might be the first truly “new” smartphone (in North America, at least) in a very long time…   Oh, and one more thing… I’m not talking about a new iPhone. Nope, age-old rival Samsung has done it again, beating its Cupertino-based nemesis to the punch. It has to be said, of course, first does not always equal best.  I have to admit though… I sure bought one. Let’s dive in…

  8. Jul 21

    Episode 146 - The (actual) Cost of Today's Tech

    Everyone has their guilty pleasure. An objectively awful TV show that you just happen to love. That candy bar that has your stomach turning an hour later but it doesn’t matter because it transports you back in time. Me? Mine is eggs.  Yep, you heard me right, and I no I don’t mean some secret code word for an obscure, unheard of super computer or gaming platform. I literally mean… the breakfast food. Scrambled specifically. No matter what came at me that day, what has be stressed out or down in the dumps, the act of making and enjoying (probably too many) scrambled eggs made “only the way I make them” is pure joy to me. So, with that far-too-detailed peek into my psyche… you can only imagine the impact on my personal and mental wellbeing each time eggs became somehow more expensive than the literal truck that delivered them. Bird flus, infrastructure meltdowns… the cost of the freaking cartons. You name it, and it’s screwed with the cost of my most beloved snack a time-or-ten in the last few years.  So where the heck am I going with this? Well, see pricing is kind of a weird thing, yes? When the cost of a dozen eggs regularly crested 5, 6 dollars or more… well you would have thought the world was coming to an end. That is until I compared it to… well… every freaking other thing in the world that seemed to be having the same or similar issue. Eggs weren’t expensive. Everything was.  Shift quickly over to tech and well, that’s basically the only story in town right now. Six-year-old game consoles? Hundreds more than their launch price. Want a high-performance laptop? Hope you have equity in your house to tap. Simply want to upgrade an existing piece of tech you already own? Be prepared for 400% increases from just 12 months ago.  Seems apocalyptic, right? Feels that way for sure… but then, much like with my favorite snack, we have to look at some perspective. Buckle up, because this one’s going all the way back to 1984 to answer the question… how expensive has our tech really gotten?  Check please…

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

A weekly show from three hosts deep ”in the trenches of tech”, discussing the latest news, events, and cultural moments around the technology industry and the products, people, and services touching our daily lives.

Information

  • Creator
    John Joyce
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2022 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Solid State Podcast