CultCast #342 - New AirPods! New iPhones! New HomePod!

This week: Apple plans new, improved AirPods, HomePod and over-ear headphones; Apple finally acknowledges its new MacBook keyboards suck, and they’re going to make it right; a top Apple analyst drops a bunch of details on Apple’s 2018 product pipeline; and Apple is tries to solve a fascinating issue with autonomous vehicles.   This episode supported by   Easily create a website by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.   Print postage from your office and take advantage of special shipping discounts at pb.com/cultcast, and beat the postage rate increase with exclusive discounts on letters.  Plans start at just $5 a month!   CultCloth will keep your iPhone X, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time use code CULTCAST at checkout to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.   Thanks to Kevin McLeodfor the music you hear on today’s episode.   On the show this week @erfon / @bst3r   Apple finally acknowledges its new MacBook keyboards suck https://www.cultofmac.com/557431/apple-finally-acknowledges-its-new-macbook-keyboards/

• The butterfly keyboards on the new MacBook and MacBook Pro are officially defective.
• After months of outcry from angry customers, Apple has finally acknowledged that the new keyboards have some serious problems. The company says the issues are limited to a small percentage of MacBooks, but its offering free repairs.

  Apple plans new, improved AirPods, HomePod and over-ear headphones https://www.cultofmac.com/557567/apple-plans-new-improved-airpods-homepod-and-over-ear-headphones/

• Bloomberg has a new report out that says we could have some exciting new Apple audio products in 2019.

  Top Apple analyst drops a ton of details on Apple’s 2018 product pipeline https://www.cultofmac.com/557883/2018-apple-product-roadmap-revealed/

• First: Ming still expects three new iPhones in 2018: a second-generation iPhone X, a massive 6.5-inch version dubbed the iPhone X Plus, and a 6.1-inch version that will essentially be a budget iPhone X.

  Apple is trying to solve a very interest problem with autonomous vehicles, and they’ve hired a fascinating guy to help solve it. Engineer and YouTuber Mark Rober Working on Anti-Motion Sickness VR Technology for Use in Autonomous Vehicles https://www.macrumors.com/2018/06/26/apple-vr-technology-autonomous-vehicles/

• Engineer and popular YouTuber Mark Rober is, accordingly Variety, working for Apple as an engineer in their special projects group.
• More specifically, Rober has been working on Apple's virtual reality projects, including "using VR as on-board entertainment for self-driving cars.”
• His most recent patent addresses an interesting problem:
• • "Many passengers in vehicles may experience motion sickness. Typically, this is not the case for the driver. However, with the arrival of autonomous vehicles, the driver becomes a passenger, and thus may want to occupy themselves while, for example, riding to work. Passengers in conventional or autonomous vehicles may, for example, want to read a book, or work on their notebook computer.

  Meet Mark Rober, the creative dynamo working on Apple’s autonomous car project https://www.youtube.com/user/onemeeeliondollars   Jon Olsson is a young rich guy with a great YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/JonOlssonVideoBlog/videos   Dr. DisRespect is the most dominating streamer in the online gaming community https://www.youtube.com/user/DrDisRespect/videos