Chit Chat Across the Pond

In this rather propeller beanie episode of Chit Chat Across the Pond, Bart Busschots explains how to configure your DNS records on your server to ensure you can send email from your domain. Like I said, it's nerdy, but we know a fair number of NosillaCastaways host their own servers and will enjoy learning how all of this works. Or maybe it's just that I really wanted to understand more about MX Records and such, so it was fun for me! This episode also has a full written explanation written by Bart, so you'll have it as a reference when you're done listening. Read an unedited, auto-generated transcript with chapter marks: CCATP_2025_12_30 Join the Conversation: [email protected] podfeet.com/slack Support the Show: Patreon Donation Apple Pay or Credit Card one-time donation PayPal one-time donation Podfeet Podcasts Mugs at Zazzle NosillaCast 20th Anniversary Shirts Referral Links: Setapp - 1 month free for you and me PETLIBRO - 30% off for you and me Parallels Toolbox - 3 months free for you and me Learn through MacSparky Field Guides - 15% off for you and me Backblaze - One free month for me and you Eufy - $40 for me if you spend $200. Sadly nothing in it for you. PIA VPN - One month added to Paid Accounts for both of us CleanShot X - Earns me $25%, sorry nothing in it for you but my gratitude

In this week's episode of Chit Chat Across the Pond, Adam Engst joins us to valiantly attempt to explain to us how the new Phone app is supposed to work in iOS 26. He'll demystify the Classic and Unified views and even help you figure out how to call someone from the calls list in the two different views. Of course, he's written up several articles on the topic for your later reference: Hidden Setting Controls What Happens When You Tap a Call in the Phone App Comparing the Classic and Unified Views in iOS 26’s Phone App How to Set Contact Avatars and Posters on the iPhone I want to make sure that you realize TidBITS is predominantly reader-supported (93%). The fine folks (and especially Adam) have been writing long-form, thoughtful content about the Apple world for 35 years. If you appreciate Adam being on Chit Chat Across the Pond once a month, be like me and support the work at TidBITS by going to the Membership page to sign up for as little as $20/year.

There are some people who are part of the fabric of the NosillaCast, piping up from time to time over many years to provide valuable insight to the show when a topic tickles them. One of these people is Andy Dolph, who’s been sending in content and chatting with me in the background since 2012. You may remember a few years back when Bart had a curious failure with his microphone, and Andy gave us a tutorial on how XLR cables are constructed that explained the failure. After all these years, we finally decided to sit down and have a chit chat about his work as Special Events Coordinator for Learning Space Technologies at the University of New Hampshire. Read an unedited, auto-generated transcript with chapter marks: CCATP_2025_12_13 Links from our conversation Condenser mic from Earthworks (Sweetwater) RØDE video mic NTG (B&H Photo Qlab Loopback from Rogue Amoeba Open Sound Control (Wikipedia) Referral Links:

This week, our guest is the ever-delightful Adam Engst of TidBITS. In this episode, he explains what agentic web browsers are and what they are designed to do for you. Adam put five of them through their paces. I don't want to spoil the story, but he uses phrases like "full cuckoo", "daydreams in class", "hapless third graders", requiring "academic integrity referral", and "like a scared, insecure intern". In other words, it doesn't go well. As always. Adam has a full write-up on TidBITS in his article entitled, Can Agentic Web Browsers Count? Join the Conversation: [email protected] podfeet.com/slack Support the Show: Patreon Donation Apple Pay or Credit Card one-time donation PayPal one-time donation Podfeet Podcasts Mugs at Zazzle NosillaCast 20th Anniversary Shirts Referral Links: Setapp - 1 month free for you and me PETLIBRO - 30% off for you and me Parallels Toolbox - 3 months free for you and me Learn through MacSparky Field Guides - 15% off for you and me Backblaze - One free month for me and you Eufy - $40 for me if you spend $200. Sadly nothing in it for you. PIA VPN - One month added to Paid Accounts for both of us CleanShot X - Earns me $25%, sorry nothing in it for you but my gratitude

This week Adam took on a subject I'm guessing pretty close to 100% of the audience will care about; how to tame Liquid Glass on OSes 26. We go through macOS, iOS, watchOS, and even tvOS. This conversation must go hand-in-hand with Adam's article on TidBITS where he has screenshots of everything you'll hear us talk about. I have to say, the most impressive thing about the article IS the screenshots. How he managed to keep such consistency whilst applying each setting is amazing. How to Turn Liquid Glass into a Solid Interface - TidBITS As we were going through tvOS, you'll hear me mention an article I wrote with a tip for how to improve contrast on Apple TV, especially to help you to be able to tell which item is selected. You can find those instructions here: Tiny Tip – High Contrast Focus Style on Apple TV Read an unedited, auto-generated transcript with chapter marks: CCATP_2025_10_18 Referral Links: