For years I have lauded Dropbox as my one-stop shop for all of my limited backup, file organization and access, and even podcast hosting needs. But for the first time since 2009, Dropbox made a decision that I did not like at all. 

Dropbox announced earlier this year that they would be ending support for the Public folder in favor of shareable links. The Public folder inside of your Dropbox was originally the place to share public links - files that you wanted anyone with that link to have access to - such as MP3 files for podcasts. 

I've written about it before, but being the cheap person I am, I opted to host all of my podcast files for Ministry Bits inside of the Public folder in 2014 when I got started. Making the files Public enabled me to be able to have them in a podcast feed on my Squarespace site, but also allowed for direct streaming of those MP3 files without having to download them. 

Now, this is mostly my fault for not being on top of this, but I guess I missed the email from Dropbox saying that support would end on September 1. When it did end, my podcast no longer functioned. People couldn't download or stream episodes in any podcast app nor could they even listen directly at the feed here on my Squarespace site. 

I'm angry for two reasons: 1) Because I wasn't paying attention, people can no longer access my podcast until I fix it, and 2) Why would Dropbox end support for a feature that's so widely used? Look on any of the Dropbox forums and you'll hundreds of people who aren't happy about this. 

But all that being said - it's happened, it's done, and it's time to move on. 

I've looked into lots of Podcast hosting services this week, and none are as cost effective as Dropbox. For $9.99 a month, I get 1TB of storage, more than I will ever use or need (currently only using about 49GB). But now with the Public folder gone, a lot of the functionality that I relied on is gone. 

If I was starting a new podcast, I would happily pay for Fireside.fm. It's an excellent all-in-one management system for your podcast. However, the way I wanted to integrate my files with my Squarespace account simply wasn't going to work. 

There's other services like the popular LibSyn and PodBean, but both have pretty small storage caps per month (LibSyn is 50MB per month for $5). So importing all 58 episodes of Ministry Bits would not be possible. 

So I turned to Amazon S3. S3 stands for super simple storage, and it does a pretty good job. I've hosted files there before - like the AIM Series videos for the Apple TV app. But never really did think about it for my podcast. 

The best thing about S3 is that it's very cheap, and you only pay for what you use. Right now I'm paying about 24 cents a month to host 6-8GB of files and pay for the bandwidth when those files are streamed/downloaded. So since audio files are much smaller (about 30-40MB each) and the bandwidth to stream them is much lower, I expect I won't be paying more than 50-60 cents each month when all is said and done. 

If you have an Amazon account, you can sign into S3. It's a little less user-friendly than Dropbox or Google Drive, but it's cheap, it hosts and streams my files, and I don't have to worry about them sunsetting a feature that will disable my podcast. 

I'll continue to host text files and other small files on Dropbox, but for all my public files with audio and video, I'll be using S3 from now on. 

Very rarely do I get a high-demand item on Day One. I just got lucky with Apple's Airpods. 

It was early December 2016, and I was sitting in my office getting some work done when Twitter refreshed and several people and sites started saying that Airpods pre-orders were now open. I had $160 saved for months, so I was ready. I went directly to Apple's site and placed my order. 

They sold out very quickly, but I got a package a few days before Christmas containing what would be the best Apple accessory I've ever owned. 

For the last 7 months, there has literally not been a day when I haven't used Apple's Airpods. It is not an understatement for me to say that, aside from the iPhone, they are my favorite Apple product of all time. 

Imagine my surprise a couple of weeks ago when a friend was asking me questions about them. "Why do you just get some and try them out?" I asked. 

"Because I can't find them to buy them!"

The search for Airpods had completely fallen off my radar - after all, I wasn't looking anymore. But I wrongly assumed that six months after the official release that they would have been readily available. Turns out, they were still pretty scarce. My friend was able to get some at a local Verizon store, but Apple.com still says 6 weeks for shipping as of July 2017. 

But if you are able to get your hands on some, I feel strongly that you will not be disappointed. 

From the date of this post - 24 July 2017 - and still shipping in 6 weeks from Apple.com. 

 

The Best Wireless Earbuds By Far

To me, it was astonishing at how small these devices were. The case is no bigger than a small dental floss case, and some people have even made stickers for the Airpods case to camouflage it. It opens and reveals the tops of the actual Airpods and clicks closed with far too much fun. Apple clearly spent lots of time on the design of how this all fit together. The case also charges the Airpods - you'll find a lightning connector on the bottom of the case to charge the case. 

The battery life is outstanding - and if it wasn't, this would be far less of a product in my opinion. I regularly get 4-5 hours of listening in both ears on one charge. The Airpods case gives me another 2-3 full charges for a total of about 16-20 hours of continuous listening. Most times I'm not using them 20 hours a day, though, and I usually go a few days without even charging the case. If you're someone that talks on the phone all day, you could probably talk for 50 hours straight just using one Airpod, and then charge that one and use the other one. 

Oh, and that's one of the cool features - you can use each Airpod independently if you like. Sometimes it's nice to use just one. You can hear your surroundings or talk to someone else. 

When you have both Airpods in your ears, there's a number of things you can do. If you pull on out of your ear, your music automatically stops. Put it back in and it resumes. Same for any audio coming from your device, not just music. 

Double-tap on either Airpod and you get one of two things: 1) Siri - which can control volume, do an internet search, or initiate a phone call or 2) simply start/stop your audio. I opted for the second option (which you can change in Settings), because I don't want to have to take the Airpods out of my ear to stop the music because I have little kids around. 

One of the coolest features was simple syncing. I jump back and forth from using my Airpods with my iPhone and my iPad. All you have to do is simply open the case with the Airpods inside near the device of choice and you get a little box that pops up and says you're connected. No jumping through Settings, no going through Bluetooth hoops. There have been occasions when this doesn't work, and in that event I just swipe up to Airplay controls and manually connect from there. There's a tone on your Airpods when a device is connected. 

Airpods are shaped exactly like Earpods, and they will fit the same. And they don't fall out easily at all. You can shake your head, ride a bike, or go for a run and they don't fall out. And keep in mind, these are completely independent headphones, 

 

Drawbacks

There are a few drawbacks to having Airpods. None of them dealbreakers (for me, at least), but some you should watch out for. 

Size. Like I said, these things are tiny. So tiny that they are very easy to lose. On some occasions, I've dropped the case with the Airpods inside on a tile floor and the case and the Airpods when all different directions. Best to keep them in the case when you're not using them - because if you don't, you will lose them. 

Exterior sounds. Airpods will not be good in high noise environments like for mowing the grass or in factory situations. Crowded rooms and subways or buses should be fine. But you will want some noise-cancelling headphones for these loud places - Airpods probably won't cut it for you. 

Earpod compatibilty. If Apple's regular Earpod earbuds don't fit your ears, these probably won't either. However, that being said, if you're always getting your headphones jerked out of your ears, give Airpods a chance. It may be the headphone cable that was the culprit. I have heard from people that couldn't wear Apple's regular headphones that were able to wear Airpods just fine because there wasn't a cable to snag them out of their ears.  

Conclusion

If you are looking for a great pair of truly wireless earphones and you have $160, Apple's Airpods may be for you. If you like the regular Earpods but want something more convenient and fancy, check out the Airpods. And lastly, if you want to be on the bleeding edge of tech and have true wireless freedom, Apple's Airpods may just be the ticket for you. 

If you'd like to know what Apple said and announced today in one succinct list, look no further. Looks like a lot of great improvements coming to all four platforms. 

watchOS 3

• 7X faster
• Apps launch instantly, info is updated in the background
• Swipe from left to right to switch watch faces
• New watch faces - Simplicity and Activity
• Activity sharing with other watch users
• New app: Breathe - helps with breathing exercises to combat stress
• Free upgrade in the Fall

tvOS

• Sling TV app announced today
• New Apple TV Remote app, also functions as a controller
• Siri on TV: search by topics now (i.e. "Find high school comedies from the 80's)
• Also: "Search YouTube for ---" 
• Launch apps for Live TV: "Watch ESPN 2"
• Install apps with Siri as well: "Install MLB app"
• Single sign-on for app authorization to watch TV
• Dark mode

macOS

• Renamed from Mac OS X
• New version named macOS Sierra
• Auto Unlock - authenticate from you Apple Watch
• Universal Clipboard - images, video, text pasted from your iOS device
• iCloud Drive - all your files available everywhere
• Optimized Storage - older files compressed to free up space on your Mac
• Apple Pay - now on the web, securely authorize using Touch ID on your iPhone
• Tabs - in multiple-windowed apps like Maps
• Picture-in-Picture - video inlay on top of apps
• Siri - find files, follow-up commands, play music, search the web, message
• Available in the Fall as a free upgrade

iOS 10

• Biggest iOS release ever
• User Experience: redesigned lock screen with 3D Touch support
• Clear All with 3D Touch (finally!)
• Control Center also redesigned
• Slide from the right to access Camera instantly, slide left for Widgets
• More info on 3D Touch app widgets
• Siri API for developers - devs can now write apps for Siri
• QuickType - now with Siri intelligence 
• Photos - advanced computer vision on the phone such as facial recognition
• Advances AI to analyze content of photos, on the device
• Maps - new design, open to developers
• Music - all new Apple Music app designed from the ground up
• News - all new design, clear sections
• HomeKit - new app called Home, control your home, integrated with Siri
• Phone - voicemail transcripts 
• VoIP API so Slack, Facebook, Skype can be taken like regular phone calls
• Messages - rich links, play videos right inline, bigger emojis, bubble effects

"Why don't we make wireless earbuds?" I said.

I think it was the the third or fourth time that my headphone cords had gotten caught on my push mower's handles while mowing the yard that I asked that question to myself the other day. "At this point," I told myself, "we really should have the means to create something like wireless earbuds."

I know what you're saying right now too - "But Chad, we already have wireless headphones!" Yes, you're right, we do. But not truly cordless or wireless.

99% of the "wireless" headphones these days actually have a wire that connects them. They are Bluetooth and therefore not physically connected to your device, but they still have those wires that get in the way.

So over the last week or so, I've been on a crusade to find a true, wireless earbud. And no joke, I found a decent one for thirteen dollars.

You read that correctly. While not without cons, this earbud has sparked my imagination for what the future could hold.

It all started when I read Jon Li's excellent article entitled The Future of Technology is in Your Ear. He did the same experiment with the $13 wireless earbud named the ERGO Invisible Bluetooth Earbud. I invite you to read his excellent article, because he and I agree on a lot. Here's my observations.

Freedom without wires (of any kind) is awesome. If the ERGO did one thing well, it was that it casted audio to my ear wirelessly from my phone in my pocket without problems. There are no wires to speak of, just a small earbud with one button that fit into my ear and didn't jostle out with moderate activity. Getting in and out of the car without hassling with wires was great. Walking around my office talking on the phone with it was wonderful.

It might be perfect for those who listen to podcasts. It was great for listening to podcasts, which is what I'm listening to most of the time. Spoken word doesn't need a lot of bass or range, it just needs to be clear. I did find that the treble was a little high on some shows, i.e. people's "S's" would sound harsh. But the earbud got plenty loud for me at only 50% volume while driving in the car.

Not so great is listening to music. This is an earbud that's not designed for a lot of range or fidelity, and with it only being in one ear, it's not ideal for music. To me, listening to a podcast in one ear while being able to hear what's around me was kind of great. So if you're a music lover and listener, you better pass on this.

Receiving calls is fine. In the few phone calls I used this earbud for, it did a pretty good job considering it's only $13. My person on the other end said it always sounded as if I was talking on speakerphone, but they could still hear me just fine. So, maybe not ideal for long conversations, but short ones would probably work.

Battery life is pretty terrible. The first day I got the earbud, I didn't charge it at all and got almost two hours of listening to a podcast through it before it gave me a low battery warning. Ever since, two hours seems to be the most it can get. And for a tiny earbud that's only $13, you can't expect much. The Batteries widget on the iPhone is helpful as well, but even leaving the earbud on charge for several hours, it never registered above 70%. Again, thirteen dollars.

I think about all the implications of this kind of device. There are other true wireless bluetooth headphones out there, but none this cheap. This little device made me really start thinking that if someone like Apple with Beats really put the wood behind the arrow on something like this, how awesome could the future be - in your ear?

Sometimes I feel as if I may have neglected my site here. With the amount of content I've produced over the last 3 years here, I make no changes to the site at all and do not write any articles and I still average over 200 views a week. That's not bad considering I'm not offering up regular content.

But what if I did? I decided this week to change that. No, this isn't an April Fool's joke. No, I'm not going to try to write an article every day, and no, I'm not looking to "expand my brand" or make any money - I just want to share my knowledge and thoughts with you, for free. I hope to bring you 2-3 high quality posts a week from now on.

I have so many people that ask me about tech stuff on a daily basis, and I love it. Not because it makes me feel popular, but because I'm hopefully helping people and making their lives easier.

That's what I hope this personal site of mine has been and what it will become more of in the future. A place for people to make their lives easier. So it was time for renewal. A revamp.

You'll notice the slight redesign. I wanted the content to be king - I wanted you to be able to find what you need when you need it. There's a Search bar for this site right on the sidebar now for that very purpose. There's lots of content already on my site - so take another look around if you haven't recently.

You'll also notice some new sections and pages. Some are super-nerdy like Taskpaper, and others are more practical like some of my Resource pages. I hope you can find what you need, no matter what you're looking for.

You'll find something else really cool: my Reading List. I've hacked together a Pinboard + Instapaper + IFTTT workflow to allow you to essentially see a real-time feed of what I'm reading. Anytime I save an article to read, it will pop up on the top of that page. Pretty neat, huh?

UPDATE: Now you can subscribe to my weekly newsletter, a summary of posts throughout the week, plus some extra goodies.

I hope that my site will become even more of a destination to read
some great things about technology, ministry, and spirituality. I hope that it will help people. Most importantly, I hope it's just one more way that I can glorify God With my talents.