The 2025 MacVoices Holiday Gift Guide continues with Brittany Smith, Mike Potter, and Chuck Joiner making the picks. They include an affordable Bluetooth blood pressure monitor that syncs to Health, a whimsical LEGO gingerbread Star Wars piece, and a double recommendation of an Audible subscription and a book that covers Apple from a different angle. An app pick, a feline-oriented calendar, and a push to learn large language models responsibly finishes off this guide. (Part 2)
MacVoices is supported by the 2025 MacVoices Holiday Gift Guides. Tech and more you want to give and get. Find out what the panels recommend at MacVoices.com/HolidayGiftGuide.
Show Notes:
Chapters:
[0:00] Gift guide kickoff and round three setup
[0:38] Omron Bluetooth blood pressure monitor + Health syncing
[2:33] LEGO Gingerbread AT-AT and holiday Star Wars fun
[8:27] Audible subscription recommendation
[9:29] Apple in China audiobook/book discussion
[12:41] Mango Baby app for newborn tracking
[16:23] Star Trek Cats calendar (and books)
[23:14] Large language models: why to try them, how to use wisely
[33:38] Closing remarks, where to find Brittany and Mike, MacStock notes
Links:
Brittany Smith
iPhone Air
https://www.apple.com/iphone-air/
Mango Baby
https://mangobaby.app/
Mike Potter:
LEGO Star Wars Gingerbreat At-At Walker
https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/gingerbread-at-at-walker-40806
LEGO Star Wars 40658 – Millennium Falcon™ Holiday Diorama
https://amzn.to/3XTQhyQ
Star Trek Cats Calendar
https://amzn.to/3MznQDO
Star Trek Cats (the Book)
https://amzn.to/4rVjkQd
Star Trek: The Next Generation Cats: (Star Trek Book, Book About Cats)
https://amzn.to/48CbPGf
Chuck Joiner
Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company by Patrick McGee (Hardcover)
https://amzn.to/48KUdXy
Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company by Patrick McGee (Audible Link)
https://amzn.to/3MyLssg
Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple : A Journey of Adventure, Ideas, and the Future by John Sculley
https://amzn.to/4rXq0NH
ChatGPT
https://chatgpt.com/
Guests:
Brittany Smith is a trained cognitive neuroscientist who provides ADD/ADHD, technology, and productivity coaching through her business, Devise and Conquer, along with companion video courses for folks with ADHD. She’s also the cofounder of The ADHD Guild, a community for nerdy folks with ADHD. She, herself, is a self-designated “well-rounded geek”. She can be found on Twitter as @addliberator, on Mastodon as @addliberator@pdx.social, and on YouTube with tech tips.
Michael Potter is the Executive Producer of For Mac Eyes Only, and the organizer of the annual Macstock Conference and Expo. Mike’s love-affair for all things Apple began in his Junior High’s Library playing Lemonade Stand on a pair of brand new Apple ][+ computers. His penchant for Apple gear continued to be nurtured by the public school system when, in High School, he was hired as a lab supervisor to help run the Apple ][e lab for his fellow students and their Print Shop needs. Then, further still, in college he often opted to help a friend with her Computer Graphics coursework instead of focusing on his own studies, but only because it helped get him closer to the Mac-lab.
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Connect:
Web:
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Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/chuckjoiner
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LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckjoiner/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/chuckjoiner/
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