Tom and Jeff are back with a packed episode that wanders from Apple hardware to Apple history to Apple TV+ sports to, well, a scientific fart study. If that sounds like a lot, it is.

Topics covered this episode:

• MacBook Neo hands-on — Tom got a brief look at the new $599 MacBook Neo at an IT conference. Build quality impressions, the Indigo color, and why the "it's just an iPhone chip" skepticism sounds a lot like what people said about the original M1 with 8GB of RAM. (Spoiler: they were wrong then too.)
• David Pogue's Apple: The First 50 Years — Tom pre-ordered it, it arrived while he was out of town, and he's had exactly 15 minutes with it. It's a 600-page textbook-style history (not a glossy coffee table book), and he's planning a more thorough read over the summer.
• A history tangent worth taking — The origin story of the PowerBook's palm rest design — and how one engineer's persistence against resistance accidentally shaped every laptop keyboard layout that followed.
• Jeff discovers F1 — Apple TV+ now carries every F1 race, and Jeff is in. The tech angle (real-time telemetry, PlayStation-style steering wheels, hybrid power transitions) makes it surprisingly interesting.
• The Human Flatus Atlas — Jeff has enrolled in a legitimate University of Maryland research study on human flatulence. Smart underwear device incoming. Butt tag update promised for next episode.

Links from the show

Tom’s Photos of the MacBook Neo

Apple: The First 50 Years – David Pogue

Human Flatus Atlas Project

F1 on Apple TV+

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Contact Us

• Drop us a line at feedback@basicafshow.com
• You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
• Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
• Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
• Tom has a new YouTube channel
• Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design

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Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen

• Apple Music
• Spotify

Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.

Apple's dropping a wave of new products this week — and Tom and Jeff break down everything that's expected: a budget MacBook starting around $600, an iPhone 16E follow-up, iPad updates for the non-Pro models, and possible MacBook Pro upgrades with M5 Pro and Max chips. It's a preview packed with speculation, opinions, and the occasional tangent about fingerprints on laptop screens.

Then things get analog. Tom just joined Jeff in the Field Notes notebook club, and they talk about why a pocket-sized paper notebook has become a surprisingly useful tool alongside all the digital gear. They also cover two weather apps worth knowing about — Acme Weather (from the Dark Sky team) and what's new in Carrot Weather 6.4.

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Links from the show:

• Field Notes notebooks & subscription: https://fieldnotesbrand.com
• Acme Weather app: https://acmeweather.com
• Carrot Weather: https://www.meetcarrot.com/weather/
• Is Apple Notes Holding You Back? (Press Pause with Bill McLean, featuring Tom)
• GoFundMe for Aliyah (Jeff's bartender friend who lost everything in an apartment fire)

Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!

Contact Us

• Drop us a line at feedback@basicafshow.com
• You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
• Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
• Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
• Tom has a new YouTube channel
• Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design

Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!

• Review on Apple Podcasts
• Rate on Spotify
• Recommend in Overcast

Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen

• Apple Music
• Spotify

Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.

Tom flies solo this week and welcomes first-time guest Nate Gorby for a conversation about Apple’s ongoing Siri delays, the state of Apple Intelligence, and what it all means for everyday users.

They discuss the latest report that Apple’s context-aware Siri may be pushed back again, whether privacy is helping or hurting Apple’s AI progress, and why even basic Siri tasks still frustrate longtime users.

In the second half, Nate shares his real-world experience using Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses for the past year — what works surprisingly well, where privacy concerns come in, and whether Apple needs to move faster in the wearable AI space.

More from Nate:

Nate's podcast: Last Month Online https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/last-month-online/id1824514139

Nate on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ngorby

Nate on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ngorby

Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!

Contact Us

• Drop us a line at feedback@basicafshow.com
• You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
• Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
• Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
• Tom has a new YouTube channel
• Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design

Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!

• Review on Apple Podcasts
• Rate on Spotify
• Recommend in Overcast

Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen

• Apple Music
• Spotify

Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.