Podcast Rewind: New Hardware Impressions, the Return of the Virtual Boy, and an Interview with Futurama Co-Developer David X. Cohen

AppStories

This week, Federico and John shared their first impressions of the iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone Air, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and AirPods Pro 3.

On AppStories+, Federico asks John about his plans to unwind now that his macOS review is out.

This episode is sponsored by:

Things – A fresh new look for OS 26

NPC: Next Portable Console

This week, gamers bring Xbox mode to the MSI Claw and other Windows handhelds, the DualSense controller gets multi-pairing, AYN shows off the Thor in action, and Nintendo gets even weirder with a Virtual Boy comeback, plus John reviews the Steam Deck Folio cover and the crew discusses the gaming updates to Apple’s Vision Pro.

This week on NPC XL, John gives Federico and Brendon a choice between three, and eventually four, gaming setups as a way of exploring where their handheld gaming priorities lie.

First, Last, Everything

This time, it’s the Emmy-award-winning writer David X. Cohen. David started writing on Beavis and Butthead in the early ‘90s before joining The Simpsons, where he was responsible for many well-known episodes like Lisa the Vegetarian, The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show, and Homer3. Then, in 1999, with Simpsons creator Matt Groening, David co-developed Futurama, which recently dropped its 13th season on Hulu and Disney+.

But David’s history is not just in television. He worked in the robotics lab while attending Harvard, studied theoretical computer science, and has a deep history with technology all the way back to the early days of home computers. As you can expect, there was a lot for us to talk about.

AppStories, Episode 453, ‘Fall Hardware: First Impressions’ Show Notes

Hardware First Impressions

iPhone 17 Pro Max

iPhone Air

Apple Watch Ultra 3

AirPods Pro 3

AppStories+ Post-Show

John’s Unwind list

Videogames

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo

Donkey Kong Banaza

TV

Alien Earth

Severance

Foundation

Also mentioned: Sequel media tracker

Music

Alt Ctrl

All Indie

Superbloom

NPC, Episode 49, ‘Virtual Boy’s Cardboard Comeback’ Show Notes

The Latest Portable Gaming News

Microsoft’s new Xbox mode on Windows has leaked for any handheld

The PS5 update that adds DualSense multi-device pairing rolls out soon

Anbernic RG476H Price Announced, Save $15 For The First 3 Days

AYN Thor demo videos

AYN Thor: Game Demo

AYN Thor：Game and Software Demo

visionOS 26: The MacStories Review

Steam Deck Folio

Virtual Boy Nintendo Classics Announced for Switch 1 and 2 at Nintendo Direct

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Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the “regular” NPC episodes.

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First, Last Everything, Episode 3, ‘David X. Cohen’ Show Notes

This Episode’s Links

David on Wikipedia

Alan Yuille on Wikipedia

Ken Keeler on Wikipedia

Homer3 on YouTube

George Meyer on Wikipedia

Futurama opening on YouTube

‘Futurama - Welcome to the World of Tomorrow’ BTS on YouTube

Futurama References on The Infosphere:

The Speed of Light

The Prisoner of Benda and its theorem

The Impossible Stream

eyePhone

Hedonismbot

Roberto

Enema-bot

Acting Unit 0.8

Head Jars

Shut Up and Take My Money on Know Your Meme

Victor Wembanyama on Wikipedia

‘How Hollywood writers triumphed over AI – and why it matters’ - The Guardian

David’s Picks

David’s ‘First’ pick: Arcade Games: Playthroughs on YouTube -Berzerk, Space Guerrilla, Battle Zone, Qix, Gorf.

David’s ‘Last’ pick: Waymo

David’s ‘Everything’ pick: Apple II on Wikipedia

Apple II Reference Manual PDF

Something

TwitterPeek on Museum of Failure