Featured on this episode is tech journalist Andrew Martonik, executive editor of Android Central. The episode begins with a detailed discussion of Samsung’s ongoing problems with exploding batteries on the Galaxy Note 7 phablet. Andrew also discusses the main announcements at Google’s October 4th media event, in which the Pixel, Phone by Google was announced. Gene and Andrew will assess where this new product fits in the current saturated market, and how it might fare against the top gear from Apple and Samsung. The discussion will also focus on Google’s WiFi router system and other new products and services.

You’ll also hear from blogger and podcaster Kirk McElhearn, also known as Macworld’s “iTunes Guy.” Kirk will detail the problems he confronted trying to set up Apple’s two-factor authentication scheme on his devices, and the inability of Apple’s tech support to help him. He’ll also discuss iCloud growth pains and respond to Gene’s query as to whether it would make sense for Apple to add online support for Time Machine and other backup systems. Kirk also discusses the Pixel, Phone by Google smartphone, Google WiFi and other products. The discussion concludes with the disconnect between regular users and tech savvy users, using Apple’s decision to make macOS Sierra an automatic download to customers as a notable example.