Apple Industry Analyst Rene Ritchie - TMO BGM Interview

Rene Ritchie has been covering personal technology for over a decade. He currently hosts his own YouTube channel where he provides news analysis and insight on Apple and related technologies and culture. He also co-hosts MacBreak Weekly on the TWiT network and writes a column every Monday for iMore. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of iMore.

Rene and I discussed an incredible range of Apple topics: the MBP’s awful 720p FaceTime camera, the aging iMac design, the future of iMac Pro, the Butterfly keyboard, Rene’s enthusiasm for Apple and the trustworthiness of the company. I also got to know Rene better as we chatted about growing up with Macs, his love of Apple Watch bands, Pokémon and years of studying martial arts. Rene finished with several tips for video podcasters.

Tidbits Managing Editor Josh Centers (#6) - TMO Background Mode Interview

Josh Centers is the Managing Editor of Tidbits.com and has published many Take Control (TC) books. He’s the author of Take Control of Apple TV and Take Control of Home Automation. He’s been writing the Take Control books for iOS since version 8, and his latest book is Take Control iOS 13 and iPadOS 13.

In his sixth appearance on the show, Josh and I explored what’s in store for Apple in 2020. We started by looking at the iMac Pro and its possible fate. Then we turned to the mythical xMac, and continued with the MacBook Pro line. In part II of the show, we took a look at the HomePod. Is it a dead product? Then we looked at iPhone (2020) 5G wrinkles. We finished by wondering what new thing Apple might do in 2020.

Apple's New Mac Pro: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, with John Kheit - ACM 515

Bryan Chaffin and John Kheit dig into Apple’s new Mac Pro, covering the good, the bad, and the ugly. They talk specs, costs, some of the things that came out since the keynote, and weigh the very important question of whether they want one. Spoiler, yes, but John’s actually likely to pull the trigger. Bryan also makes sure to give John plenty of room to take his victory laps for the many things he got right leading up to this long-awaited announcement.

Using iPad, Apple Original TV Shows, and Macs with Jim Dalrymple: ACM 490

Bryan Chaffin and guest-host Jim Dalrymple talk about how they use their iPads, and it turns out they’re pretty different use cases. They try to talk about where Apple TV might go but venture into a much deeper conversation about Apple’s original TV shows and videos. Spoiler: one of them is a pessimist. They close the show by examining the state of the Mac. Another spoiler: one of them is a pessimist!

Inside Look at MacStadium's Mac Mini Server Farm

Remember at Apple’s keynote where we saw that a company had created a Mac mini server farm? That was MacStadium, and YouTuber Snazzy Labs visited the place. Besides Mac Minis, the company also has racks of the 2013 Mac Pro, and MacStadium recently added some iMac Pros. Since there aren’t a lot of companies doing this, MacStadium had to build custom server racks to house the minis. The company uses VM software in order to avoid needing expensive internal storage. The Mac Pros have had their internal storage removed entirely, and the minis boot off of the Mac Pros to create a giant external storage enclosure. The video is a fascinating glimpse into MacStadium, which is a company that provides the server farm as an “infrastructure-as-a-service.”

The Awesome Insanity of Rackmounting the iMac Pro

Do you have a powerful new iMac Pro? If so, do you want to rackmount it? No, of course you don’t, because that would be bananapants crazy. But there’s at least one company that has need for such a monstrosity: MacStadium, the Mac-based hosting provider. Spotted by Zac Cichy on Twitter, the iMac Pro rack lets MacStadium offer remote access to the powerful capabilities of Apple’s newest Mac in a way that fits their existing equipment infrastructure. Of course, this isn’t the first time that a company has laughed in the face of Apple’s mission to destroy industry standard form factors.

Watch 7 New Apple Films Made with iMac Pro

Apple enlisted prominent CG artists to each make their own film using iMac Pro, including Buck, Erin Sarofsky, Esteban Diácono, ManvsMachine studio, Michelle Dougherty, Luigi Honorat, Esteban Diácono, and Michelle Dougherty.