Chuck Joiner, David Ginsburg, Marty Jencius, Web Bixby, and Jim Rea explore the new Beats Pill speaker color exclusives at Target and Walmart, consider the value of paying for Apple Intelligence, and critique Siri’s limitations. Discussions turn to competing AI tools like Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Microsoft Copilot, comparing user experiences and privacy concerns. Apple’s privacy-first approach is praised, but its AI progress is a concern when viewed against its competition.

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Show Notes:

Chapters:

00:06 New Beats Pill Colors
03:53 Apple Intelligence Subscription Debate
07:41 Siri's Disappointment
09:36 Apple Intelligence Features
14:38 Perplexity vs. Siri
21:01 OpenAI's Interest in Chrome
22:30 Copilot User Experience
30:48 Workflow with AI Tools
34:25 Podcast Conclusion

Links:

Rebooted Beats Pill ships in two new summer-ready colors
https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/04/28/rebooted-beats-pill-ships-in-two-new-summer-ready-colors

1 in 2 Surveyed Willing to Pay at Least $10/Month for Apple Intelligence
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/04/22/apple-intelligence-payment-survey/

Perplexity's New iOS Voice Assistant Works Where Siri Still Can’t
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/04/24/perplexity-voice-assistant-ios-app/

OpenAI Wants to Buy Google's Chrome Browser 
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/04/22/openai-google-chrome/

Guests:

Web Bixby has been in the insurance business for 40 years and has been an Apple user for longer than that.You can catch up with him on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Eric Bolden is into macOS, plants, sci-fi, food, and is a rural internet supporter. You can connect with him on Twitter, by email at embolden@mac.com, on Mastodon at @eabolden@techhub.social, on his blog, Trending At Work, and as co-host on The Vision ProFiles podcast.

David Ginsburg is the host of the weekly podcast In Touch With iOS where he discusses all things iOS, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and related technologies. He is an IT professional supporting Mac, iOS and Windows users. Visit his YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/daveg65 and find and follow him on Twitter @daveg65 and on Mastodon at @daveg65@mastodon.cloud.

Dr. Marty Jencius has been an Associate Professor of Counseling at Kent State University since 2000. He has over 120 publications in books, chapters, journal articles, and others, along with 200 podcasts related to counseling, counselor education, and faculty life. His technology interest led him to develop the counseling profession ‘firsts,’ including listservs, a web-based peer-reviewed journal, The Journal of Technology in Counseling, teaching and conferencing in virtual worlds as the founder of Counselor Education in Second Life, and podcast founder/producer of CounselorAudioSource.net and ThePodTalk.net. Currently, he produces a podcast about counseling and life questions, the Circular Firing Squad, and digital video interviews with legacies capturing the history of the counseling field. This is also co-host of The Vision ProFiles podcast. Generally, Marty is chasing the newest tech trends, which explains his interest in A.I. for teaching, research, and productivity. Marty is an active presenter and past president of the NorthEast Ohio Apple Corp (NEOAC).

Jim Rea built his own computer from scratch in 1975, started programming in 1977, and has been an independent Mac developer continuously since 1984. He is the founder of ProVUE Development, and the author of Panorama X, ProVUE's ultra fast RAM based database software for the macOS platform. He’s been a speaker at MacTech, MacWorld Expo and other industry conferences. Follow Jim at provue.com and via @provuejim@techhub.social on Mastodon.

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MacVoices #25127: Live! - New Beats Pill Colors, Paying for Apple Intelligence, Open AI and Chrome, Perplexity vs. Siri

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