Apple just locked in a date for the big iPhone event, and new Mac mini and Mac Studio models landed early with a price jump that'll make your eyes water. Tom and Jeff run the actual numbers on both new Macs, weigh in on the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max, and the long-rumored foldable, and swap notes on cameras, Face ID quirks, and an update on Tom's new notebook habit.

In this episode:

• Apple's iPhone event is officially set for September 9
• New Mac mini and Mac Studio pricing and specs, and why they cost so much more now
• What a fully maxed-out Mac mini and Mac Studio actually run you
• iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max, and the foldable iPhone, and what it might cost
• Camera lens talk and Halide's new "film types"
• Face ID vs. Touch ID, and Jeff's post-stroke Face ID quirks
• Tom's notebook and habit-tracker update, plus a Lochby Field Folio gift for his son

Links from the show:

Mac mini: https://www.apple.com/mac-mini/

Mac Studio: https://www.apple.com/mac-studio/

Halide: https://halide.cam/

Lochby Field Folio A5: https://www.lochby.com/products/field-folio-a5

Lochby Pocket Journal: https://www.lochby.com/products/pocket-journal

Field Notes: https://fieldnotesbrand.com/

Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!

Support the show

Contact Us

• Drop us a line at feedback@basicafshow.com
• You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
• Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
• Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
• Tom has a new YouTube channel
• Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design

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• Review on Apple Podcasts
• Rate on Spotify
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Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen

• Apple Music
• Spotify

Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.

What do you actually do with a stack of pocket notebooks once you own more than you'll ever fill? Tom's been figuring that out for six months, and it turned into an actual system: a custom monthly and weekly planner, daily notes, and a pocket journal that's his new daily carry wallet. Jeff's carried notebooks for decades and joins in with his own habits, plus a magnetic pocket e-reader that's small enough to attach to the back of your iPhone.

In this episode:

• Tom's Field Notes habit, $120 a year and three quarterly drops in: the 1943 set, Explore America, and the penny-themed one that didn't quite land
• Trading phone pickups for a slower kind of capture, and why that's the actual point
• The weekly planner Tom sketched himself, plus the accidental discovery that a scanned Field Notes fits a 13" iPad to scale
• Lochby Pocket Journal: the wax-canvas cover doing double duty as Tom's new wallet
• Jeff's leather notebook cover, reserved for exactly one thing: his bitters recipes
• The eventual plan for filled notebooks: scan everything into Craft so it's searchable
• The Xteink X3, Jeff's tiny magnetic e-reader that snaps onto the back of an iPhone

Links from the show:

• Field Notes
• Field Notes "1943" Edition
• Field Notes Explore America
• Lochby Pocket Journal
• GoodNotes
• Carsonial's weekly planner layout video
• Cal Newport, "Forget Your Phone. You Need a Single-Purpose Notebook"
• Xteink X3

Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!

Support the show

Contact Us

• Drop us a line at feedback@basicafshow.com
• You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
• Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
• Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
• Tom has a new YouTube channel
• Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design

Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!

• Review on Apple Podcasts
• Rate on Spotify
• Recommend in Overcast

Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen

• Apple Music
• Spotify

Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.

Tom got five minutes with Samsung's new Galaxy Z Fold8 this week, and it's got him thinking about what Apple's own foldable might feel like this fall. Then Jeff works through Apple's new Klarna-backed leasing program, replacing the old iPhone Upgrade Program, and why the fine print has him uneasy.

In this episode:

• Tom's hands-on take on the Galaxy Z Fold8: build quality, weight, crease, multitasking, pricing ($1,899–$2,499)
• What the Fold8 previews for Apple's rumored iPhone Fold (expected ~September 2026, Touch ID instead of Face ID, no visible crease, likely $2,000+)
• Apple's new Upgrade program with Klarna replaces the iPhone Upgrade Program — lease terms, AppleCare+ no longer bundled, what happens if you don't act at lease-end
• Why the Klarna partnership has Jeff feeling icky about where Apple's headed
• A wild AI story: Anthropic's Claude models broke out of a sandboxed test and hacked three real organizations
• A quick tribute to John C. Dvorak, longtime tech columnist and No Agenda co-host, who passed away this month

Links from the show:

• Galaxy Z Fold8 specs & pricing
• MKBHD's Galaxy Z Fold8 review
• MrMobile: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Review: Worth The Camera Compromise
• Apple Upgrade program announcement
• Apple Upgrade breakdown (MacRumors)
• Anthropic's AI hacking disclosure (WaPo)
• Hugging Face
• Cory Doctorow on The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
• Benedict Evans' newsletter
• Halide camera app

Question or Comment? Send us a Text Message!

Support the show

Contact Us

• Drop us a line at feedback@basicafshow.com
• You’ll find Jeff at @reyespoint on Threads and reyespoint.bsky.social on Bluesky
• Find Tom at @tomanderson on Threads
• Join Tom’s newsletter, Apple Talk, for more Apple coverage and tips & tricks.
• Tom has a new YouTube channel
• Show artwork by the great Randall Martin Design

Enjoy Basic AF? Leave a review or rating!

• Review on Apple Podcasts
• Rate on Spotify
• Recommend in Overcast

Intro Music: Psychokinetics - The Chosen

• Apple Music
• Spotify

Transcripts and some images are AI generated and may contain errors and general silliness.