What's (the) Matter?

(This month, our whirlwind tour of local brewhubs takes us to Heavy Riff, home of the Velvet Underbrown!)

Hot on the heels of Apple rolling out another update of All The Things (iOS & iPad 16.1, Ventura release, tvOS / WatchOS, even HomePod) and making the iPad lineup super messy, we are taking on the pressing question of the hour: what *are* the implications of the Connectivity Standard Alliance opening the certification process for the Matter 1.0 standard?

Wait, how is this relevant? Both the iOS and iPadOS updates now have Matter support baked in, and the latest rev to the AppleTV hardware enables it to act as a home controller. We will break down what all that means, as well as cover fun new terms like 'Thread protocol' and 'border router', but the bottom line is that Matter represents a potential superteam of smart home integration that can overcome the balkanized ecosystems that currently exist between Apple's HomeKit, Amazon's Alexa, and Google's Home (or whatever they're rebranding it as this week). And with holiday gift guides right around the corner (note: not until after Halloween, you marketing reprobates!), it will be good to know just how inter-operable the interoperability standard proves out in the wild. Learn what happens when the revamped Home app chocolate bumps into Ring peanut butter, or choose your own less awkward working analogy.

As usual, we will also have the litany of other Apple news (design exec openings, Tim Cook waving a flag, new ways for them to make money), security updates, and general camaraderie. Come join us and see what spiced gourd vintages may be on offer!