The Birchtree Podcast

The Apple Watch hit what I would consider the threshold where it was finally "good enough" for almost everyone. It's fast and new wireless capabilities made it more independent from your iPhone. It's a great product, and one that I'm happy to be wearing on my wrist today.

The iPhone X was released in November 2017 and has been Apple's best-selling phone ever since. That's pretty impressive for a $1,000 phone, and even though I don't personally own one, my experience as well as what I've heard from friends who have one has convinced me this is one of the best products Apple has released in recent years.

It's time to gush a little bit about the best products Apple has released in the last couple years. Today we're talking AirPods. https://twitter.com/mattbirchler/status/972868569158639618

I reviewed the Google Pixel Buds for BirchTree and took to the microphone to rant a little about them. There's a lot of progress to be made here and I hope Google is listening to the feedback from not only me, but most other critics. https://birchtree.me/blog/google-pixel-buds-review/

Does anyone know what they're doing with their desk? I feel like I'm always just winging it and have no grand plan to "optimize my work flow" or anything like that. Either there is something I'm missing, or we're all just guessing our way through.

HomePod is here and I've been using mine for a couple days now. It's a very good speaker with some challenges when it comes to other aspects. If you literally just want something that sounds good, then this likely will fit the bill for you. But if you want a little more, or something that just keeps up with the other wireless speakers on the market, this has a few challenges that it needs to overcome.

Apple Music is on pace to overtake Spotify in the US in 2018. This got me thinking about whether Apple is too late to overtake the likes of Hulu and Netflix in the video arena. They have an uphill battle, but giving the success of Apple Music, I'm reassessing how likely their odds are here. https://9to5mac.com/2018/02/04/apple-music-subscribers-spotify/

Apparently the Nintendo Switch has just about hit 15 million sales worldwide, months ahead of other big gam console launches like the Wii and PS4. Nintendo has a hit on their hands, and I'm just enjoying the ride. https://nintendosoup.com/nintendo-sold-close-15-million-switch-consoles-2017/

We're t-minus 8 hours from HomePod pre-orders and I did an impromptu episode of the show to get some of my thoughts about how odd this release is for Apple. I still have so many questions about it that are not answered and I can't remember the last time I felt this in the dark about an Apple product at its release.

The iPad has helped me a ton with some minir RSI issues I’ve had recently. It may not be true for everyone, but for me it’s an absolute godsend.

I discuss the unique challenge of coming up with new features for a product that doesn’t really have anyone to steal ideas from. iOS can look to Android for things to improve, and macOS can look to Windows, but watchOS really has no peers at this point in time. Android Wear is on life support, and companies like Fitbit aren’t making comparable products. https://birchtree.me/blog/watchos-5-a-relatively-modest-proposal/

We often forget that people make different choices on what computing platforms to use. This leads to heated, sometimes angry debates about why the other person is clearly making a bad decision and they should change. That is not a helpful way to talk about this stuff.