The panel swaps stories from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, highlighting smart tech buys, overlooked gems, and a few near-misses. Beyond the shopping lists, the conversation takes a thoughtful turn—calling out deal fatigue, questionable discounts, and the frustration loyal customers feel when promos favor newcomers—while still enjoying the thrill of finding gear that truly earns its place.
The final Holiday Gift Guide segment wraps the year with standout practical picks: a portable Philips Hue Go smart lamp, TSA-friendly multi-tools (including an everyday-carry barrette), an Anker MagGo 3-in-1 charging station to reduce cable clutter, and Type It For Me 7 for fast text expansion. Travel gets attention too with a compact airplane phone mount for comfortable movie watching on cramped flights.
The second part of our final 2025 MacVoices Holiday Gift Guide delivers a mix of low-tech problem solvers and smart power picks. Kelly Guimont, Jim Rea, Chuck Joiner, Brian Flanigan-Arthurs, and Kirk McElhearn select an interior windshield cleaner, a MagSafe ring mount for comfortable caseless use at home, and suction-based phone chargers/stands to keep devices charged and easy to find. The picks also include a USB-C rechargeable numeric pad, experience gifts like concert tickets, a rechargeable electric candle lighter, and a fun gaming recommendation. (Part 2)
Kelly Guimont, Jim Rea, Brian Flanigan-Arthurs, Kirk McElhearn and Chuck Joiner wrap up the 2025 MacVoices Holiday Gift Guides wraps up with “best of the rest” episodes, packed with practical picks and plenty of laughs. Highlights include keyboard travel cases, socks, portable power options, dictation software, a motorized TV mount, a light, and compact multi-port chargers. (Part 1)
Charlotte Henry and Chuck Joiner close out 2025 by assessing Apple TV’s year—awards recognition, strategy, and the ongoing marketing puzzle. They preview upcoming releases like F1, Hijack, and Tehran, debate sports and bundling, and share standout favorites including Slow Horses, Prime Target, The Morning Show, Mythic Quest, and Foundation.
The panel launches the 2025 Holiday Gift Guide with a wide range of practical tech recommendations, including MagSafe wallets, AirTag money clips, AI tools, travel routers, power banks, and the latest JBL Flip speakers. A fast-moving, fun discussion full of gift ideas for travelers, Apple fans, and gadget lovers.
The discussion explores Coca-Cola’s new AI-driven holiday ads, reactions to emotional authenticity in seasonal marketing, and how AI speeds production. The panel also dives into the rise of prediction markets, concerns about manipulation, and what these trends reveal about shifting norms in tech and advertising.
The panel explores Apple’s EU lobbying spend, the bizarre case of stolen trade secrets presented publicly, and Canva’s move to make the Affinity suite free. They compare Adobe’s dominance, discuss AI-powered creative tools, and consider how shifting business models could reshape the design ecosystem.
Chuck Joiner and Charlotte Henry start with real-world impressions of AirPods Pro 3 for flying, commuting, and watching Apple TV shows, then catch up on the latest season of The Morning Show and Jennifer Garner’s returning thriller. They look at breakout drama Pluribus and the brief outage it coincided with, debate whether Apple TV should introduce an ad-supported tier, highlight Charlotte’s Streaming Wars book, and wrap with recommendations including Slow Horses and Invasion.
https://youtu.be/ZhD2debtHBc The MacVoices Live! panel reacts to Apple’s new web-based App Store, praising easier discovery—especially for visionOS/Vision Pro apps. Then Jamf’s plan to go private sparks a deep dive into the volatile Apple MDM market (Jamf, Kanji,...
Author Glenn Fleischman returns to discuss how he keeps Take Control books current, what Liquid Glass gets right (and wrong), and how public betas color expectations. We cover iOS safety tools like Check In, iPadOS windowed apps, and the iPhone 17 Pro’s camera vs. “Visual Intelligence,” plus why foldables still don’t convince him. Glenn also details the Phone app on iPad/Mac and shares his Six Colors column and print-history projects.
Glenn Fleishman joins Chuck Joiner to explore Apple’s latest OS evolutions, including the controversial Liquid Glass interface, iPadOS 26 multitasking, and the importance of cross-device consistency. They also dive into Take Control’s role in helping users adapt to Apple’s constant redesigns and why understanding “the basics” still matters for every Mac, iPhone, and iPad user.
TikTok’s privacy changes, Musk’s final break from Twitter, Microsoft’s new Teams tracking, Tinder’s face scans, and major layoffs at Meta and Amazon—all spark lively debate from the panel as they explore the balance between innovation, security, and user trust, ending on a light note with Dave’s Hot Chicken topping the App Store.
GM’s CarPlay retreat sparks a panel debate over motives—subscriptions and data—while Toyota deepens EV integration and renters demand CarPlay. Plus: Google Pixel 911 call issues, an Atlas browser clipboard flaw, and Neato’s early cloud shutdown for robot vacuums as Roomba stumbles.
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