MacVoices #25196: Live! - Vision Pro Companies Acquired, A Rare Earth Investment, Bluesky Evolves

Apple’s Vision Pro strategy gains momentum with acquisitions aimed at improving avatars and AI reliability. A new $500M rare earth recycling partnership with MP Materials signals Apple’s commitment to U.S.-based sustainable supply chains. The FTC’s “click-to-cancel” rule reversal sparks debate, and the panel of David Ginsburg, Mike Potter, Jim Rea, Marty Jencius, Eric Bolden, Chuck Joiner, Jeff Gamet, and Web Bixby explores Blusky’s efforts to attract news and sports content to rival legacy social media platforms. 

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Show Notes:

Chapters: 00:06 Vision Pro Developments 00:39 Apple’s Rare Earth Investment 07:37 FTC Click-to-Cancel Ruling 15:08 Blusky’s Future Potential

Links:

Apple acquires more firms to improve Apple Intelligence and Apple Vision Pro https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/07/07/apple-buys-two-eu-firms-to-improve-apple-intelligence-apple-vision-pro

MP Materials and Apple Announce $500 Million Partnership to Produce Recycled Rare Earth Magnets in the United States https://investors.mpmaterials.com/investor-news/news-details/2025/MP-Materials-and-Apple-Announce-500-Million-Partnership-to-Produce-Recycled-Rare-Earth-Magnets-in-the-United-States/default.aspx

FTC 'Click to Cancel' rule that was annoying some services cancelled by the courts https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/07/09/ftc-click-to-cancel-rule-that-was-annoying-some-services-cancelled-by-the-courts

Bluesky gets activity notifications, tries to lure news, sports users https://9to5mac.com/2025/07/09/bluesky-gets-activity-notifications-as-it-tries-to-lure-news-and-sports-users/

Guests:

Web Bixby has been in the insurance business for 40 years and has been an Apple user for longer than that.You can catch up with him on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Eric Bolden is into macOS, plants, sci-fi, food, and is a rural internet supporter. You can connect with him on Twitter, by email at embolden@mac.com, on Mastodon at @eabolden@techhub.social, on his blog, Trending At Work, and as co-host on The Vision ProFiles podcast.

Jeff Gamet is a technology blogger, podcaster, author, and public speaker. Previously, he was The Mac Observer’s Managing Editor, and the TextExpander Evangelist for Smile. He has presented at Macworld Expo, RSA Conference, several WordCamp events, along with many other conferences. You can find him on several podcasts such as The Mac Show, The Big Show, MacVoices, Mac OS Ken, This Week in iOS, and more. Jeff is easy to find on social media as @jgamet on Twitter and Instagram, jeffgamet on LinkedIn., @jgamet@mastodon.social on Mastodon, and on his YouTube Channel at YouTube.com/jgamet.

David Ginsburg is the host of the weekly podcast In Touch With iOS where he discusses all things iOS, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and related technologies. He is an IT professional supporting Mac, iOS and Windows users. Visit his YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/daveg65 and find and follow him on Twitter @daveg65 and on Mastodon at @daveg65@mastodon.cloud.

Dr. Marty Jencius has been an Associate Professor of Counseling at Kent State University since 2000. He has over 120 publications in books, chapters, journal articles, and others, along with 200 podcasts related to counseling, counselor education, and faculty life. His technology interest led him to develop the counseling profession ‘firsts,’ including listservs, a web-based peer-reviewed journal, The Journal of Technology in Counseling, teaching and conferencing in virtual worlds as the founder of Counselor Education in Second Life, and podcast founder/producer of CounselorAudioSource.net and ThePodTalk.net. Currently, he produces a podcast about counseling and life questions, the Circular Firing Squad, and digital video interviews with legacies capturing the history of the counseling field. This is also co-host of The Vision ProFiles podcast. Generally, Marty is chasing the newest tech trends, which explains his interest in A.I. for teaching, research, and productivity. Marty is an active presenter and past president of the NorthEast Ohio Apple Corp (NEOAC).

Michael Potter  is the Executive Producer of For Mac Eyes Only, and the organizer of the annual Macstock Conference and Expo. Mike's love-affair for all things Apple began in his Junior High's Library playing Lemonade Stand on a pair of brand new Apple ][+ computers. His penchant for Apple gear continued to be nurtured by the public school system when, in High School, he was hired as a lab supervisor to help run the Apple ][e lab for his fellow students and their Print Shop needs. Then, further still, in college he often opted to help a friend with her Computer Graphics coursework instead of focusing on his own studies, but only because it helped get him closer to the Mac-lab.

Jim Rea built his own computer from scratch in 1975, started programming in 1977, and has been an independent Mac developer continuously since 1984. He is the founder of ProVUE Development, and the author of Panorama X, ProVUE's ultra fast RAM based database software for the macOS platform. He’s been a speaker at MacTech, MacWorld Expo and other industry conferences. Follow Jim at provue.com and via @provuejim@techhub.social on Mastodon.

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