Space Javelin

The forthcoming iPadOS isn't even out yet, and it has already claimed its first victim, cadets -- Google is jettisoning its attempts to compete and leaving the USS iPad and the CCCP Surface to battle it out for not-quite-a-laptop supremacy! Apple has grown its sales in China again, updated its old AirPort base stations and recalled batteries, and as a result remains officially the most efficient and productive ship in the fleet! New challengers have arrived in orbit to challenge the Adobe homeworld, gamers may die mad at Apple's success in their realm, Lightroom arrives on the Mac App Store and the Galaxy Note 10 is preparing to launch while the Galaxy Fold is undergoing an extended drydock! Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Dr. Mario are arriving for iOS, the good ship Sprint/T-Mobile Merger fires its Boost rockets, the Dalek -- er, Robocall Invasion of Earth may finally be repelled, Best Buy gets some credibility, and as a reminder ... we're about to leave the 32-bit galaxy and there's no turning back now! All this and your weekly all-you-can-eat buffet of fail and what-the rations to enjoy, new charger technology and cool tech gear, a happy ending and some clueless YouTubers who take things a bit too literally. Break out your Microsoft To-Do lists, cadets ... you're gonna learn a few what-not-to-do lessons on this one!

We wave goodbye to ThinkGeek, raise eyebrows at Twitch's lawsuit against Artifact trolls, and consider Starbase and other games with programming inside them. Show notes: https://hammercast.fm/87/

Some nice surprises this week, cadets, such as news on the distant-but-foreseeable USB4 standard; expansions for Apple Pay, Apple Wallet, and Apple Card; deets on the Radeon RX5700; a possible Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR release month; a long-overdue update to iCloud for Windows; a look at some cool new hardware, and our very first mention ever of mass spectrometry! Of course, to keep the anti-matter supplies fed, there's also a festering pile of fail to go through — such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and .. wait, *PBS?*'s deliberate assault on your children's privacy; Qualcomm's attempt to get the forced-reform judgement against they delayed through endless appeals; another obstacle for the possibly-doomed Sprint/T-Mobile merger, and Huawei takes Kenny Rogers' advice and "folds" delivering the Mate X and other products. There's also some insight on the forthcoming Pixel 4, a waterproof case for the iPad Pro, and much more ... so biohack your cranium to add more storage, cadets, and grab the next size up for your space helmet ... this week, we're making your brain bigger!

It's E3 2019! Mike, Todd and Duane talk about all the things... Show notes: https://hammercast.fm/86/

The big media sites (bigger than us Apple-specialist sites, we mean) often get stories about the tech world wrong, cadets, but this time they really blew it: iTunes isn't dead, it's just been rearranged and feng shui'd a bit. Your stuff is safe, on iOS very little changes, on Mac we now copy what we were doing on iOS, and for Windows literally nothing at all changes. Mike and Charles delve into some of the main features of this fall's new OS versions, name their favorite new arrivals, explore how this all affects some of Apple's other devices, and really sink their hands and teeth into all thing New Mac Pro. There's also a crime blotter with lawsuits from developers about pricing and an Apple-centric fraud ring that's gotten busted, but the real crime here is that Samsung has once again shamelessly copied Apple's design -- and yet also tied Apple in a recent customer service ranking! Thanks to Augmented Reality, cadets, everyone can have a virtual new Mac Pro at their workstation, so go ahead and splurge on a new virtual 6K monitor and fancy stand in the holodeck while you're at it!

Pokémon, Baldur's Gate, The Division 2, Minecraft and more keep us busy as we warm up the E3 engines for takeoff! Show notes: https://hammercast.fm/85/

We're officially in orbit around Planet Dub Dub, cadets, and Monday was a big day for the Mothership! In this Special Report, Mike and Charles focus (almost) exclusively on the big announcements from the WWDC keynote, the press releases that didn't get mentioned on stage, some interesting implications from all that has or is about to change, and give their first impressions on Cheese Grater II: Expensive Boogaloo, the Apple Pro Display XDR, the forthcoming four OS releases this fall, and stern fatherly warnings about not going on dates with a beta you barely know, especially when its dressed like that. We'll be back with more on Monday, cadets, but for now ... the sleep pods are calling ...

So we could better focus on Monday's WWDC keynote announcements with a Special Report, cadets, we've opted to give you the rest of the notable news from the TechSphere a day or so early in a shorter episode, but tune in Tuesday for the low-down on Planet Dub Dub and what it all means for you. In the meantime we have good news and bad news: the iPod Touch is back, your old AirPort router is up for an update, and the monolithic iTunes for Mac is getting an iOS-like multi-app breakup. The bad news is that Back to My Mac will be dead next month, 3D Touch is being phased out, Flipboard oops'ed your password, and Background App Refresh is leaking data, so turn that off. There's also shenanigans from Qualcomm, sort-of 10nm chips from Intel shipping soon (but not the good ones), London and NYC transit are getting Apple Pay, a look at the 2019 MBP from the thermals and graphics perspectives, new GPUs from AMD, and a word about password managers and whether you and/or your loved ones need them. All this plus the Special Report on Tuesday, and then -- just a week later -- E3 begins! Maybe this month is not the time to approach Cap'n Mike for a space-credit raise, cadets ... just sayin' ...

We start ramping up to E3 2019. Pokémon made us GO, now they want us to Sleep. Twitch battles a hive of scum and villainy. Old Man Wuerthele tears into Intel over the 10nm saga. Show notes: https://hammercast.fm/84/

We appear to be in orbit around the planet Loser-palooza this week, cadets, despite the surprise update of the MacBook Pro line, a delightful new handheld gaming device from Panic, Health Canada approving ECG on the Apple Watch up there, more pre-WWDC hype and speculation, and the return of Google Glass ... not sure how good that last one will be, but hey a surprise beats bad news every time. Meanwhile, it was a bad week if your name was Huawei, Qualcomm, Snap, Instagram, Sprint, T-Mobile, Linksys, or includes the words "robocall" or "loot box." That guy who defrauded Apple out of nearly a million by "returning" fake iPhones isn't having a great week either, to put it mildly. All this and a Playdate, cadets, so don your zero-gravity jumpsuits -- Mike and Charles are bouncing all over the VRdeck this week!

WoW Classic proves the past is more complex than our nostalgia. Sony and Microsoft team up to take on Google Stadia. Minecraft Earth, Destiny nerfs, Division 2's raid, and Todd starts running D&D. Show notes: https://hammercast.fm/83/

The astro-glide must be flying the ship too close to the sun, cadets, because it is getting kinda Steam-y in here! Monopoly overreactions, the FTC, Huawei, Intel, and Ted Cruz are all blowing up and generating a lot of hot air! Your trusty command crew are fighting back with cool tips on guarding your privacy from Google, Facebook, and your own cell carriers; throwing cold water or rumors and dumb theories, fanning Steam Link's long awaited arrival, and icing the flaming Pixel 3a hype by pointing out that the iPhone 7 Plus (from three years ago!) is a better and cheaper phone all-around. Co-Cap'ns Mike and Charles talk the latest Apple updates, Photoshop CC for iPad beta, a new theory about the Qualcomm deal, Samsung TVs gaining AirPlay 2 and the TV app, and "What the Fail?" returns with stories about 5G (as usual), Intel, WhatsApp, Adobe, and Twitter among other topics. There's also fraud against Apple, a folding PC (maybe), and Alexa "Guard" (less effective that Right Guard!). Once the atmosphere cools down, they'll gather the crew around and tell tales of moon landings, Apollo, and Artemis. Stay vigilant, cadets -- you never know when the Space Pirates might turn up astro-loot and star-plunder our valuable cargo of insight, headlines, jokes, and Tang!

The trade war threatens tabletop gaming. Monster Hunter's expansion gets a release date. Casual vs. Hardcore is sooo 2014. KFC throws shade and gets fried. Show notes: https://hammercast.fm/82/

What the Fail returns for its second installment, cadets, because wherever there’s some wool, there’s Facebook and Google trying to pull it over our eyes. Carriers get sued for selling your location data, YouTube and Google haven’t attracted that many paid subscribers to their music services, and Mike and Charles take a closer look at the Pixel 3a and find it wanting — even for a midrange smartphone. Intel gets to 10nm a mere three years late, Apple Watch wins Display of the Year, and we’re starting to get credible reports ahead of next month’s WWDC. Like Microsoft on Macs, we’re living on the Edge (browser)! The LG 5K display they co-developed with Apple appears to be gone (ahead of a possible new Apple-made display), Iceland gets even cooler, parental-control app makers push back, and our co-captains even go where only the Hammercast has gone before: actual gaming news! All this plus unlikely rumors, a lawsuit dismissed, Warren Buffets gets his own iOS game, Sir Jony Ive meets up with Stephen Fry next month, BMW’s subscription CarPlay turns out to win the coveted Fail of the Week award! The dimensional stabilizer must be on the fritz, cadets, so grab your Normalacy Necktie and wrap it tight — it’s Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride up on the command deck!

We say goodbye to Peter Mayhew, cackle at China's Game for Peace, chide Bethesda's TTRPG plagiarism, and marvel at CRYTEK's software ray tracing. Show notes: https://hammercast.fm/81/