In This Episode: Epic vs Apple. AI brings voices back from the dead. The mess of RealID. Tech tariffs.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 59:06 — 54.2MB)
This week the TEH Podcast is hosted by Leo Notenboom, the “Chief Question Answerer” at Ask Leo!, and Gary Rosenzweig, the host and producer of MacMost, and mobile game developer at Clever Media.
(You’ll find longer Bios on the Hosts page.)
Top Stories
- 0:45 GR: Fee for the privilege of using the app store
- 2:30 It’s in the news this week:
- Fortnite: Epic didn’t like paying Apple 30%, so they broke the rules, Apple kicked them out
- Judge ruled 9-out-of-10 items in favor of Apple, but not the link-to-external-site rules
- New ruling pushes Apple to allow links, and stop taking cuts from those external links
- 8:30 This is US-only.
- 10:30 MacMost cannot link to Patreon.
- 12:15 Fortnite has been banned. US users can’t get it on their phones.
- Supporting Articles:
- https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/epic-games-just-scored-a-major-win-against-apple/
- https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/05/apple-appeals-court-decision-that-forced-it-to-allow-links-to-external-payments-in-apps/
- https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/amazon-kindles-ios-app-adds-new-get-book-button-following-apple-payments-ruling/
- 15:00 What happens if it is all free?
- 2:30 It’s in the news this week:
- 22:00 LN: AI voice clones in the wild
- Jim Fagen comes back
- https://www.theverge.com/news/661911/nbc-nba-jim-fagan-ai-generated-voice-narration
- (James Earl Jones has a similar contract – already used as well prior to his death)
- 25:00 GR: Cloning my own voice
- 27:40 LN: Doing it in real time… changing accents.
- 32:15 LN: RealID is really here.
- And confusing. https://www.theverge.com/privacy/661475/real-id-act-deadline-may-7-tsa-dmv
- GR: CO no problem at all really…
- 41:00 GR: PA (and other states) problems
- 43:30 GR: The tariffs on tech are here … 145%!
- Moving factories means you have to move all the parts, and raw materials
- 46:00 Tariff on movies?
- https://www.geekwire.com/2025/just-got-our-first-tariff-bill-seattle-area-hardware-startup-wyze-sheds-light-on-trade-policy-impact/
- 47:00 GR: More satellite internet options, but also goodbye night sky
- https://www.theverge.com/space/657113/starlink-amazon-satellites
- Plug for Jay’s podcast “Deep Sage Nine” https://www.skylapser.com/podcasts/deep-sage-nine-starcast/
Ain’t it Cool
- 53:00 LN: So long Righteous Gemstones
- 53:50 GR: When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Moon_Hits_Your_Eye
BSP: Blatant Self-Promotion
- 55:40 LN: The Enduring Myth of Annual Subscriptions to Windows – https://askleo.com/180253
- 56:30 GR: https://macmost.com/clean-up-your-contacts-app.html