S02E028: The iPhone 8, Apple Watch Series 3, Apple TV 4K, Acorn TV, Intel, HTC, Qualcomm, and more

There's a lot of detail out now about the Apple TV 4K and of course the iPhone 8, so Mike and Charles wade into the thick of it and pull out all the good stuff for you, even ahead of this week's special guest! Apple recently got the honor of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus being named the world's fastest smartphones (by a country mile, we might add), and that's before they've even tested the iPhone X. In addition, the new iPhones also got the best-ever marks given to smartphones from the revised DXO benchmarks (which, though widely regarded, are not scientific). There is also, as predicted, a teardown report -- but there's not much to say there, the innards (apart from the remarkable A11 Bionic) are largely the same, albeit with the notable fact that these new iPhones are doing so much more even with a (slightly) smaller battery. But wait, it's not *all* about the iPhone! The crew also go over the facts on Intel's latest delay (the fourth) of the Cannon Lake chips and beyond (not great news, sorry to say), and look into a "caveat emptor" situation with regards to AppleCare+ costs (suffice to say, avoid breaking the back glass on these new iPhones). There's also some updates on Qualcomm versus Apple that are probably good news for Apple; some insight on Google's acqui-hire of HTC's Pixel engineering team (a key asset HTC were fools to let go of), along with the continuing benefits of Apple's ecosystem versus that of Android (or Windows, for that matter); and a caution about using non-MFi approved Qi chargers with your new Apple gear. And that's just the first half!! We take a break from all the news to welcome our special guest Don Klees from Acorn TV, a streaming video service that focuses on the best TV (and some movies) from outside the US but primarily in the English-speaking world (the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and more). At $5 a month, if you enjoy PBS-type programming you should probably check it out. From there, we have a lot of news related to the Apple TV 4K, starting with Google's decision not to support VP9 (their 4K codec) on the Apple TV 4K (or the Mac); good news that iTunes redemption codes (seen on some HD and 4K Blu-rays) work for streaming 4K versions of the film on Apple TV 4K (but no downloading); the very quiet change from Apple to allow iTunes movie renters to watch the films over (up to) 48 hours instead of the previous 24 once you'd started viewing it (you can hold on to the film for up to 30 days if you haven't gotten around to starting to watch it yet); and the surprising killing of the Videos app on iOS 11 in favor of the TV app, which finally has a purpose for non-Apple TV owners. There's also news that live news and live sports will be coming to the TV app in the near future. Whew! We wrap up this super-dense hour with a quick look at some interesting ARKit-based app for iOS 11; a new payment system that uses your veins (what?!); and issue a shout-out to recent cadet recruit Horvath from Hungary, who wrote us a lovely fan letter. All this and (believe it or not) a bit more, so bust out the hip-waders, cadets, it's gonna get more than knee deep aboard the Space Javelin this time!