Apple held their 'Let Loose' event on May 7th, 2024 and not long after the 'dream team' of Crossed Wires Apple coverage gathered to discuss the new iPads, the rather confusing line up of Apple Pencils.

We also take a detour to look into why WiFI 7 not being included in the new iPads is not as big of a factor as some may think.

Finally, we discuss the powerful new features in Apple's pro apps for iPad, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro and how these new features make iPad a powerful creative tool more than ever before.

Are you planning to buy a new iPad, are you excited by the new features of Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro on iPad? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to podcast@crossedwires.net, or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

"Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship

If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too.

Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up.

• The Interface - Alex's fantastic tech and automative news site
• Watch the Event - Apple Events
• iPad Pro - Apple.com
• iPad Air - Apple.com
• Apple Pencil - Apple.com, including showing features and helping you see compatibility for the different pencil models.
• The Case for iPad Pro - Vergecast
• iOS 18 Accessibility Features - Apple Pressroom
• Final Cut Pro for iPad - Apple.com
• Logic Pro for iPad - Apple.com

1. 00:00:04: Introductions
2. 00:04:30: The Let Loose Event
3. 00:08:17: Crushed
4. 00:16:22: iPad Air (M2)
5. 00:25:33: iPad Pro (M4)
6. 00:42:22: Apple Pencil Shuffle
7. 00:55:16: Why No WiFi 7?
8. 01:02:31: Choose An iPad
9. 01:11:36: iOS 18 Accessibility
10. 01:13:55: Pro Apps
11. 01:25:49: Wrapping Up

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW

As centralised social media platforms become more and more hostile, with not only toxicity from undesirable elements but also massive privacy concerns, the Fediverse has become somewhat of a refuge for those who want to share freely and openly, without the worry of appeasing the almighty algorithms.

There are some fantastic Mastodon issues for you to join, but what if you want a bit more control, or want to build your own community, or represent your brand? You could setup your own server, assuming you have the skills and patience to do so, or you could take advantage of a service like Masto.host.

Our guest, Hugo, provides what he describes as 'Shared Hosting for Mastodon' at incredibly affordable prices and with some much appreciated transparency on infrastructure and update policies.

We talk about how things got started, his encounter with TERFs and the freedom to refuse service to anyone because of the decentralised nature of the fediverse. We also do a bit of a deep dive into the infrastructure setup for Masto.host and the measures Hugo has put in place in the aim to give everyone a great experience.

Do you have your own instance, or maybe have some stories to share of instances gone wrong? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to podcast@crossedwires.net, or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

"Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship

If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too.

Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up.

• Masto.host - Hugo's Mastodon hosting service
• Masto.host@mastodon.social - Masto.host on Mastodon
• Infrastructure | Masto.host - Details of how the Masto.host infrastructure works, as Hugo describes in the episode.
• Mastodon - Into the Fediverse - Our chat with James Smith of Mastodon.me.uk
• Mastodon on GitHub

1. 00:00:04: Introductions
2. 00:05:57: Shared Hosting for Madtodon
3. 00:11:26: Ditching Twitter
4. 00:14:43: Turfing out TERFs
5. 00:22:21: Why Have Your Own Instance?
6. 00:33:59: Infrastructure
7. 00:50:07: Masto.host Pros & Cons
8. 00:58:50: Wrapping Up

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clu

The hype around AI continues to grow, often muddling genuinely useful elements like machine learning, pattern recognition, and properly and ethnically trained large language models with tools like ChatGPT and generative AI tools that have questionable data sources.

With returning guests, Prof. Catherine Flick and our very own Zack, we talk about the challenges of AI in the academic space. Zack also shares his own experience of being caught using ChatGPT to complete a final essay he, by his own admission, had left until the last minute.

Are you academia, have you been tempted to use AI shortcuts or maybe are a teacher or professor who has had experience with students taking those shortcuts? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to podcast@crossedwires.net, or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server.

If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page.

"Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship

If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too.

Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up.

• Prof Catherine Flick - Website / Mastodon

1. 00:00:04: Introductions
2. 00:05:11: Zack’s Story
3. 00:14:55: Assistive Tools vs AI
4. 00:24:38: Due Diligence & Alternative Assessments
5. 00:45:33: Generative AI
6. 00:51:45: AI Hype vs Machine Learning
7. 00:55:00: Wrapping Up

Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW