MobileViews.com Podcast

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Aug 2026

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MobileViews Editor Todd Ogasawara discusses mobile technology hardware and software

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August 10, 2026Episode 62247 min

MobileViews 622: Guest Host Mike Temporale. Practical Realities of AI at work

In MobileViews Podcast 622, I caught up with my good friend Mike Temporale for his first appearance on the show in nearly ten years! We started off with a brief trip down memory lane reflecting on his visit to Hawaii and our past discussions, before discussing how we're both integrating AI into our daily workflows. I shared some of my recent experiments using Google Gemini to auto-generate illustrated frames for my blog and using Adobe Podcast Studio alongside Gemini to automatically build YouTube chapter timestamps from transcript files. Mike had a great real-world story from his summer at his cottage, showing how AI helped his family quickly render design ideas for a cottage awning, calculate costs, and locate local contractors in minutes. We also spent time talking through the practical realities and failures of current AI tools, including Mike's experience using Microsoft Copilot for employee performance reviews and how it struggles to trace back to its original email sources. From there, our conversation turned to the evolving mobile hardware landscape. We compared our current daily devices—including Mike's experience with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra—and weighed in on the upcoming hardware trends, from memory constraints forcing developers back toward code efficiency to what we hope to see from Apple's eventual entrance into the foldable market. It was a great, wide-ranging discussion covering everything from 6502 assembly language programming on the Apple II to modern Gemini Spark agents automating my daily tech news briefs. We wrapped up with a promise not to wait another decade before the next chat, with plans to reconnect around Canadian Thanksgiving in October. Check out the full episode video and transcript to hear all the details!

August 3, 2026Episode 6211 hr 34 min

MobileViews 621: Google Spark, more Dreambeans, & vibe coding with Jason Dunn

For MobileViews 621 I'm joined by longtime friend Jason Dunn filling in as guest co-host. We kicked off by discussing the "moatless" nature of modern AI tools, where hopping between Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT is easier than ever, though our deep ecosystem preferences often dictate our ultimate choices. This led into a deep dive on note-taking app migrations. Jason shared his recent departure from Evernote after a shocking 171% price hike under its new holding company, Bending Spoons. Using an AI-assisted plugin, he successfully migrated 16 years of data to a local Obsidian vault. I shared my own frustrations with Microsoft OneNote, where basic tasks like syncing handwriting on my Boox e-ink tablet are quietly draining my limited monthly Copilot AI credits, pushing me to explore Obsidian as well. I noted my initial experience using Google Spark, an autonomous personal AI agent that recently rolled out to Google AI Pro subscribers. This capability was once restricted to the much more expensive Google AI Ultra tier. In my test, I instructed Spark to review the extensive archive of past MobileViews Podcast show notes alongside current technology news platforms. Utilizing the recurring themes from our previous episodes, the agent generates a compiled tech news digest daily at 6:00 PM US Eastern Time, aligning with the conclusion of the standard workday. A major topic was Jason’s journey into "vibe coding". While initially hesitant, he used AI to build a custom Tampermonkey script that saved his team over 150,000 manual clicks by streamlining a web form. He later used AI to develop a Mac OS tool called "File Time Travel" to fix frustrating video timestamp metadata issues in Google Photos—a highly specific problem that software developers have not addressed. We discussed how AI flips the traditional learning curve on its head, empowering non-developers to create deeply personal, single-purpose software solutions. We wrapped up by exploring the power of voice-as-input for AI. Jason has been using Whisper Flow, an LLM-powered speech-to-text tool that finally fulfills the broken promises of old software like Dragon Dictate by actually understanding conversational context and complex names. This allows for "ramble coding"—speaking massive, context-rich prompts directly into the AI to generate much better code and outputs. Of course, the AI revolution isn't without its hilariously frustrating bumps; we swapped stories about AI hallucinations, from Microsoft Copilot completely fabricating Yellowstone episode descriptions.

July 27, 2026Episode 62025 min

MobileViews 620: Jon's walk-n-talk vidcast. Migrate away from Day One. A DIY self-interview CRM w/Obsidian

In MobileViews 620, Jon Westfall recorded a special solo "vidcast,"(since I was not available for recording a podcast this week) recording a walk-and-talk along an historic railroad trail in Cleveland, Mississippi. Filming entirely on his Insta360 Luna Ultra with a neck mount and the creator pack microphone, Jon used the scenic Sunday walk to share his recent deep dive into data sovereignty and the process of building his own local alternatives to popular subscription apps. The core of Jon’s summer project was migrating away from the Day One journaling app to avoid its $25 yearly fee and proprietary cloud storage. Using ChatGPT and Codex, he generated scripts to convert his Day One JSON export into future-proof Markdown files managed within an Obsidian vault. He then successfully replicated Day One's best features, using Apple Shortcuts and Python to ingest text snippets, process daily photos, perform offline audio transcriptions, and even selectively transcode video files larger than 25MB down to mobile-friendly sizes. Expanding his DIY software suite, Jon also automated his personal relationship management and location tracking. He built a script that "interviews" him weekly to automatically update his self-hosted Monica CRM and Obsidian vault with details about his interactions with family and friends. Furthermore, to reclaim his travel history after Google restricted the web version of Google Maps Timeline, Jon coded a tool to parse his device's local JSON location data into detailed, daily Markdown travel logs. With his self-hosted documentation ecosystem fully functional, Jon is taking it on the road for late-summer travel and will return to the podcast in mid-August.

July 20, 2026Episode 61930 min

Blog MobileViews 619: iPadOS 27 Public Beta 1; ChatGPT college course design & prep

Jon Westfall and I started off MobileViews 619 with quick tech troubleshooting before I shared my early experiences with the iPad OS 27 public beta 1 on my M3 iPad Air. While the new AI-powered Siri is currently non-functional for me (and, yes, I am off of the waitlist), I have been taking advantage of the new Apple Shortcuts triggers for keyboard connection. Using a plain English prompt, I built a shortcut that automatically toggles Stage Manager windowing on or off depending on whether my Bluetooth keyboard is connected. We also noted a subtle but important branding shift: Google has officially renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook, though the web destination remains the same for now. The core of our conversation focused on the profound impact AI is having on higher education and course design. Jon noted that as AI companies merge their tools—such as integrating Codex directly into the ChatGPT Mac app—automation is becoming much more holistic. He detailed his new workflow for building his clinical psychology and statistics courses, using AI to spot curriculum blind spots, draft syllabi, and suggest relevant journal articles. Most impressively, he now uses Codex to automate the tedious administrative "grunt work" of building modules and formatting links directly inside the Canvas learning management system, freeing him up to focus on transitioning his classes toward project-based learning rather than traditional exams. We wrapped up the episode with a discussion on the psychological trap of having a dedicated "tech budget". We agreed that it is too easy to buy devices just because the funds are available, leading to cognitive dissonance when you feel forced to use hardware you don't actually need. Instead of buying minor upgrades, Jon is actively saving his budget for the rumored foldable iPhone that might be announced later this year.

July 13, 2026Episode 61851 min

MobileViews 618: Surviving Bot Traffic, Ditching OneNote for Obsidian, and Microsoft 365 E7Licensing

In MobileViews 618, recorded on July 12, 2026, guest co-host Don Sorcinelli joined me to cover a wide range of tech updates. I kicked off the show with a shoutout to my web host, DreamHost, who helped me manage an exponential spike in website traffic by filtering out various bots that were crashing my virtual private server. We then looked ahead to the upcoming Google Pixel event on August 12th, where we expect to see the Pixel 11 and potentially a new Pixel Watch. We also discussed the rollout of Android 17, noting its gradual improvements to desktop mode compared to the initial version rolled out in Android 16. I shared my frustrations with Microsoft Copilot, which is rapidly burning through my AI credits just for using basic OneNote features like syncing handwritten notes. This has pushed me to experiment with Obsidian and the Excalidraw plugin as a potential offline alternative for my e-ink tablet. We also touched on Windows, discussing the new Cloud Rebuild feature in the Windows 11 preview. Don shared his success in reviving an older 2019 Samsung Galaxy Book with a simple Windows 11 reset, a timely win given that skyrocketing RAM and SSD prices continue to make budget-friendly options like the MacBook Neo incredibly appealing. Finally, Don provided a deep dive into the complex world of Microsoft Enterprise Licensing. He explained how Microsoft is rolling features from its struggling Intune suite into its standard E3 and E5 licenses while simultaneously pushing price increases. Most notably, they have introduced a new E7 license—which Don jokingly called the "mother of all licenses"—that includes high-end Copilot agent features for a staggering $99 per user per month. We closed out with a look at how these price hikes, including those for non-profit organizations, are forcing IT departments to carefully rethink how they assign user licenses across their organizations.

July 6, 2026Episode 61741 min

MobileViews 617: Google Meet Take Notes for Me; Hidden AI resource usage

Google just added the "Take Notes for Me" feature to the consumer version of Google Meet if you have a Google AI Pro or AI Ultra subscription. This was previously only available to Google Workspace group subscriptions. I opted to turn on the feature for this and future podcasts. You can find this Google Meet generated summary on MobileViews.com.

June 29, 2026Episode 61627 min

MobieViews 616: Microslop 365 Copilot app; Insta360 Luna Ultra; Kodak Zink Slim Printer

With episode 616, recorded on June 28, 2026, we marked the halfway point of the year with a deep dive into a term that I previously dismissed but am now on-board with: "Microslop"—a term for the frustrating decline and fragmentation of Microsoft's ecosystem. The Microsoft 365 Copilot app, which recently stripped out its scanning function, turned a previously simple task into a multi-step ordeal. It is particularly ironic that Copilot continues to hallucinate, even suggesting I use the retired Office Lens app for scanning, seemingly unaware of its own company's product retirements. Consequently, I’ve pivoted to Genius Scan, a fast and purposeful alternative that offers a far better experience for digitizing my daily doodle project sketches. Jon, meanwhile, has been putting two impressive new hardware gadgets through their paces. He’s been testing the Insta360 Luna Ultra, a gimbal camera featuring a clever detachable screen that doubles as a remote control, allowing him to film himself while managing tracking and settings from a distance. He also showcased the Kodak Zink Slim Printer, a pocket-sized device that creates color adhesive stickers using zero-ink, heat-sensitive paper—perfect for adding instant color photos to a physical journal. While these gadgets provide plenty of utility, the broader tech landscape is facing a sobering shift: AI-driven demand for components is causing shortages in RAM and SSDs, leading to significant price hikes for devices like the MacBook Neo, which is expected to jump in price from $599 to $699.

June 22, 2026Episode 61538 min

MobileViews Podcast 615: AI etiquette, Gen Z tech rejection, AI scarcity

I opened with a "mini-rant" about the frustrations of the USB-C ecosystem and aparent power requirement issues with a new Acer USB-C external LCD display. We also observed possible tangible effects of "AI scarcity," noting that Google Meet recordings and Alexa Plus responses are taking significantly longer to process, likely due to the processing demands of modern AI models. This scarcity sparked a conversation on new social norms in the AI age, specifically regarding the etiquette of AI agents (like Read.ai) attending meetings and the "cat-and-mouse game" of recording lights on smart glasses. Jon shared a major shift in his productivity workflow by moving to Obsidian, a "Swiss Army knife" of note-taking. By using Codex to convert 20 years of WordPress entries and Day One journals into Markdown files, he has created a future-proof, portable "vault" that avoids proprietary databases. We also discussed the release of Android 17, which introduced an interesting "Screen Reactions" overlay feature but also caused frustration by resetting permissions for tablet casting and photo galleries. To wrap up, Jon provided a field report on his DJI Neo 2 drone, which successfully tracked him during a 20mph e-bike ride. Despite suffering its first high-speed crash into a tree, the lightweight drone proved remarkably durable, surviving the impact with no visible damage. We also touched on a few tech trends, including Gen Z's growing rejection of Silicon Valley's vision in favor of "dumb" tech like flip phones and repaired iPods

June 15, 2026Episode 6141 hr 0 min

MobileViews 614: Apple WWDC 2026 discussion with Sven Johannsen & Don Sorcinelli

In MobileViews 614, Jon Westfall and I were joined by frequent guest panelists Sven Johansson, and Don Sorcinelli discuss the highlights from Apple’s recent Worldwide Developer Conference—or, as it we call it: the "Apple AI Conference". We also discussed the branding shift as my Google One 2TB plan was officially rebranded to Google AI Plus, signaling a broader industry trend toward AI-centric subscriptions. Don shared his experience with the Dreambeans experiment from Google Labs, which acts as a "really good sketch artist" by creating eerily accurate daily comic strips of your life based on calendar data and search history. This led to a deeper debate on the privacy vs. utility trade-off, contrasting Apple’s "private cloud compute" architecture with Google’s data-heavy personalization. The conversation turned to the shifting economics of AI, which I’ve dubbed the "drug dealer model". Companies are moving away from subsidized usage toward granular credit systems; for instance, Microsoft Copilot now consumes credits for simple tasks like opening large files or syncing handwriting. Despite these costs, "vibe coding" remains a game-changer. I shared how I used Google AI Studio to build a custom tool that summarizes the Techmeme River news feed and reads it back to me using an AI-synthesized voice, a task that took less time than brushing my teeth. Jon and I also lamented the current state of Siri, wishing it could handle multiple commands simultaneously rather than the current "one-step-at-a-time" limitation. We closed out with a look at the hardware horizon and a bit of tech nostalgia. While rumors swirl about AirPods with built-in cameras to help the user "see" the world, I was disappointed by the lack of any hints regarding a desktop Mac Neo. Our parenting discussion highlighted the iPad as the gold standard for managed digital access for toddlers, with Don choosing a strict "kiosk mode" approach to build good habits early. Finally, we reminisced about the original Microsoft Barney doll and the early days of Microsoft Flight Simulator (in context of the new Flight Simulator in Google Earth).

June 8, 2026Episode 61344 min

MobileViews Podcast 613: Bean counters creating the AI divide

In MobileViews 6136, Jon Westfall and I tackled the increasingly complex world of AI ecosystems. I shared my early impressions of Google Labs’ "Dream Beans," an interesting daily briefing tool that uses AI to generate an illustrated summary of topics it thinks you'll find interesting based on your activity. While the illustrations are very nice looking and the content relevant, the app is currently very phone-centric, lacking the landscape orientation optimization I’d expect for a tablet experience. I also noted that Google AI Pro remains a solid value for me at $20 a month. A major portion of the episode was dedicated to my "credit crunch" rant regarding Microsoft Copilot. I discovered that Microsoft’s 365 family plan only provides 60 AI credits per month, and the "intentional use" policy is aggressive. According to Copilot itself, credits can be consumed simply by opening the app, syncing handwriting from an e-ink tablet to OneNote, or even having the AI suggest a grammar fix you don't actually use. This led me to explore Obsidian as a OneNote alternative, as it offers free handwriting plugins without the credit overhead. Jon suggested a sustainable path forward: using AI to build offline scripts or tools that perform data manipulation locally to avoid recurring token costs.We also looked at the hardware horizon, specifically Microsoft’s announcement of Project Solera—AI-powered badges and desktop displays—and the new Nvidia RTX Spark PCs,. These machines are purpose-built for local AI, boasting a petaflop of performance to run personal agents offline. Finally, with Apple WWDC just around the corner, we shared our hopes for the long-promised "personal context" updates to Siri. Jon is also eagerly awaiting his pre-ordered Clicks communicator and keyboard, while I continue to hold out hope for a MacBook Neo with a backlit keyboard and a desktop Mac Neo. Whether it’s navigating "vibe coding" loops or managing AI budgets, it’s clear that the "magic math" of the AI industry is starting to meet the reality of the bean counters.