#419 - All the best stuff of 2019!

This week on The CultCast: From the hottest gift of 2019, to our favorite tech and travel locations, it's more of our picks for Best of the Year!

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On the show this week

@erfon / @lkahney / @lewiswallace

This week's stories

AirPods to hit quarterly sales of $4B, surpassing peak iPod sales

AirPods is has grown into a massive business. How big? Last year, in Q4 2018, Apple Watch surpassed $4B quarterly in revenue in, overtaking the revenue earned during the best quarter of peak iPod sales, and now it looks like it may be AirPods‘ turn. Asymco published a research note this week estimates that AirPods could overtake the peak iPod revenue of $4 billion next quarter. Asymco also believes Apple will see over 50% growth year over year for Wearables. The research note also predicts a 51% increase y/y for Wearables and 24% growth in Watch. This results in a Watch revenues of about $5.2 billion.

This is your best shot at snagging AirPods Pro today

Even though AirPods Pro are basically sold out everywhere, there’s still a chance you could snag a pair today. And with a simple Siri trick, Apple makes it easy for you to snag 2019’s hottest gift. If you absolutely want to get AirPods Pro by Christmas, and don’t want to pay a reseller a premium, here’s your best shot for finding a pair ASAP.

Apple joins rivals to create open standard for smart home devices

Apple is teaming up with Amazon, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance to create a new open and royalty-free standard for smart home devices. Project “Connected Home over IP” aims to increase compatibility among smart home gadgets and make development easier for device manufacturers. It should also simplify smart technology for consumers This means it shouldn’t matter which smart home platform you’ve chosen to adopt; any and all smart home devices (in the future, at least) should work together seamlessly.

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