All Apple All Day

Will the Siri Speaker look like a Mac Pro? So, finally, it looks like Apple intends to enter the "connected speaker" space. About time.  Even better - there's one potential Siri Speaker feature that would silence Apple's critics forever...

Our Chicago condo is on Armitage Avenue in Bucktown - a pretty busy street, but in a really spectacular neighborhood. As such, we want to make sure that our building looks its best, while still providing privacy and security. That means a decent amount of cleaning, some upkeep, and some construction-level projects.

We've lived in the Chicago suburbs for almost 5 years now.  We kept our Bucktown condo, and have been renting it out.  But now, our original tenants are moving on, and we've decided to move on, too. Our condo is going on the market in 60 days.  BUT FIRST.... we need to get this place looking its best. 

It has taken YEARS, but our biggest project - the finished basement - is finally done. And it's great! We've increased the usable living space in our house by a full 30%. The kids have a living-room area for board games, and there's an additional bedroom and bathroom. And now - finally - we have a built-in dry bar, which matches the built-in home theater upstairs.

We recently added a SONOS CONNECT to our primary home theater. This got some pushback... and I'll grant that it's a little bit unnecessary. Our home theater has an AppleTV and Apple Music... we can already play almost any song ever published, immediately, with voice control. So why a Sonos? Because we have a turntable!

Apple has always kept their cards close to their vest.  Eight years old and still getting it done.  But this is getting ridiculous.  The AAAD household has a LOT of Apple devices. But our Macs are getting a bit long in the tooth. I'd love to upgrade them, across the board. New Mac Mini, new iMac. But I wait. Because upgrades are surely just around the corner, right? Right?

We've been using Sony's Playstation Vue television service for a bit more than two months. Last Sunday, we had two families over to watch the Super Bowl. No one had any idea that we were using a streaming TV service. That is high praise indeed.

Seven years ago today, Steve Jobs invited Apple fans to to "come see our latest creation". He showed us the iPad, and almost immediately, it seemed familiar. In fact, it seemed as though the thing had always existed. It's hard to believe that we've only had iPads for seven years.

Just like that, we seem to have solved the issues with the Siri Remote on our primary AppleTV. I'm guessing that the problem lay with the AppleTV itself, and not the Siri Remote.

We recently made the decision to become cord-cutters, cancelling DirecTV. Now, we have Sony Playstation Vue (and DirecTV NOW) through our Apple TVs. And so far, so good! Until the primary Siri remote just.... stopped... working.

People love Apple. That's a strong statement, and I mean it in a very real sense. I don't mean to say that ALL people actually love Apple - but many do. And that is unique. 

Merry Christmas from AAAD! Last year, I got an Apple Watch Sport. (The gold one, with the blue Sport strap.) No Apple Watch Series 2 (or even Series 1) for me this year.... I'm going to be sticking with my original Apple Watch Sport for a while.  That said, the Gold Sport really dresses up nicely with the Apple Black Leather Loop.

This is a really, really good deal.  Even if you don't want DirecTV Now. 

I'm really trying here. We're ALL-IN with cord-cutting via Apple TV. We've dropped DirecTV, and we signed up for both DirecTV Now AND Sony Playstation Vue. (editors note: Head to Head Review coming tomorrow!) And now Apple has given us their TV app! We'll give it a few weeks.... but so far, calling this a half-measure would be kind. It's a tentative first step - but right now, it may be a Ping-level failure to launch.

Is the sun setting on the Golden Age of Apple? Apple is famous for their secrecy. We don't KNOW their long-term strategy.  Or even their short-term strategy, most of the time.