572: Grand modèle de langage
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From Relay, this is Upgrade, episode 572 for July 14th, 2025.
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This episode is brought to you by FitBot, ExpressVPN, and Factor.
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My name is Mike Hurley, and I'm joined by Jason Snell.
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It's good to be here.
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Good to see you.
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You're recording in an undisclosed location, right?
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Yes, I'm at a friend's house in the great Midwest.
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Summer of fun, Jason.
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Summer of fun.
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Summer of fun, indeed.
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I have a Snell Talk question for you.
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It comes from Jack, who wants to know,
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as someone in the half of the world that's currently experiencing the winter of fun,
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I would like to ask whether Jason has lived in a house of a fireplace.
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You know, some of these Snell Talk questions I could never have predicted.
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Yes, we had a big old fireplace where I grew up out in the middle of nowhere in an old house.
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We had a big old fireplace with a hearth.
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And yeah, we had that when I was a little kid.
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I still have a scar between my eyes from where I bashed my head against a fireplace hearth when I was two years old.
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Or a one-year-old, something like that.
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So yeah, I have absolutely many, mostly.
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I mean, there are a lot of places that have fireplaces.
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Our house had a fireplace.
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And then we took it out because we wanted the room.
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Who needs it?
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And in fact, my garage where I usually do the podcast, a lot of that space behind me was taken up by the backside of the fireplace.
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So we took it out and we got a whole wall we could put furniture on in the living room.
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And it turns out we got way more space for my office in the garage.
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So fireplaces are fun and we'd never used it and it's unnecessary and we took it out.
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So have you ever had a fireplace house?
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We had a fireplace that was kind of filled in when I was a kid and someone put an electric fire in front of it and we moved in.
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But they didn't close off the chimney and a pigeon got in there once.
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That was really bad.
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That was really bad.
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But we don't need to get into that story.
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I mostly wanted to include this question because I feel like it's obligatory every year to reference the fact that we erased the Southern Hemisphere during the Summer of Fun.
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We are not in the Southern Hemisphere.
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If both of us, if I was in Australia and you were in New Zealand, we would do the Summer of Fun the other part of the year.
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But we're not.
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Or if like one of us was in the Southern Hemisphere, we probably wouldn't do the Summer of Fun at all.
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Probably not.
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We both experience summer at the same time, which I think at the moment are summers, heat-wise, very similar.
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We're roasting over here, Jason Snow.
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Let me tell you about that.
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Oh, are you?
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Yeah, it's been bad the last few weeks.
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It's been bad.
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We've had a very...
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See, we're talking about weather now, which is dangerous.
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We've actually had a very foggy period in California.
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But right now I'm in the Midwest where it's humid and warm and it's kind of nice to experience a real summer.
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You'd love to see it.
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If you'd like to send in a snow talk question of your own to help us open a future episode of the show, I do require or request, I should say, summery questions during the summer of fun would be lovely.
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Please send them in.
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Or wintery questions, I guess.
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Or wintery questions.
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We'll call it seasonal questions.
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You know, if it's winter for you, this would be kind of a fun summer, wouldn't it?
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Like, oh, how weird.
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Summer is cold.
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That's pretty fun.
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Just go to upgradefeedback.com and you can send in your question.
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Thank you to Jack for doing that.
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A couple of items of follow-up.
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The A18 MacBook rumor has energized the upgradients.
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They won't stop talking about it, which is great.
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I actually do think it's intellectually an interesting thing to think about and also just an interesting product.
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Even though most of them will never buy it and are not interested in it in any way.
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But that doesn't matter, right?
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Sometimes these things are just fun.
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But we've got an anonymous person who wrote in and said, regarding the A18 Pro to go in a MacBook,
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no product that Apple sells seems to currently use binned A18 Pro chips.
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And if the rumor is that Apple only pays suppliers for fully functioning chips,
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TSMC would be motivated to offer Apple a stack of cheap binned A18 Pros.
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Now, I'll say, I haven't done any research on this claim.
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Maybe there are binned A18 Pros in something.
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But if this is the case, I just thought that was an interesting idea.
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Didn't we think the A18 might be a binned A18 Pro?
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I thought we thought that.
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Maybe, but we don't know.
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Where I feel like that would be less clear.
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Where usually we can see Apple show us the clarity of that, right?
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Here's what I would say about this.
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I don't think this makes sense because the last thing you want in a Mac is an even slower chip than the one that's in the iPhone.
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I don't think that's the way this is going to go.
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What if graphics?
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I think the Mac needs, I mean, you could take it down because it's obviously faster than the M1, but it's, I don't think that's a game you want to play.
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Or it's, no, it's actually about, it's only the single core performance that's above the M1.
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And the rest of them are sort of even with the M1.
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So degrading below the A18 Pro, I don't think is a game that Apple should play.
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And I don't think they will.
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I think the A18 Pro is probably the least you could ever give a Mac at this point.
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Yeah, I think you're right.
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Anyway, Fraser writes in and says,
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Mac OS 26 Tahoe Beta 3 now features a mode where Rosetta can be entirely disabled.
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This could be useful for testing, but also a precursor to a Rosetta-free Mac model.
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That was interesting.
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I mean, we know that Rosetta is going away in a couple of years, right?
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So this is really for developers to test their stuff.
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And yeah, exactly.
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This reminds me, I told this story recently, so I probably shouldn't tell it again, but I'm going to.
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I think I told it unconnected.
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Years and years ago, like nearly 20 years ago now, when I wanted to be a Mac blogger before I found the wonders of podcasting,
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I had a website where I would try and write my opinions and see if I could try and dig out anything.
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And there was a time when Apple didn't update the iTunes Music Store on like the Tuesday.
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They usually do.
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And I surmised that this meant something was going to be released and they like revised an iPod or something.
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And it came a couple of days later.
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This kind of thing reminds me of that kind of thing where you're like, here is this piece of information that I could tangentially relate to something else.
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But who could actually tell?
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Let's do the details, Jason Snow.
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I think this is a good spot for in today's episode because we had Beta 3 come out last week, I think while we were recording.
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And the preceding, no, following, however you'd say week, has been full of discussion about Liquid Glass because in iOS 26, Liquid Glass has now become, and I'll steal this from underscore David Smith, Frosted Glass.
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They've really taken down the transparency and quite significantly changed the overall look of iOS.
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What are your thoughts on this?
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I think the question is what they're doing, right?
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Like, are they experimenting or are they freaking out?
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Yeah, I saw somebody who said, oh, I guess social media is designing iOS now.
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And Mark Gurman said that.
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Yeah, right.
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Oh, that was right.
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It was Mark Gurman.
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He's like, I guess X and threads.
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X is the design team, which I did think that was a fun headline.
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That was a fun headline.
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I think it's funny.
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And I agree with Mark.
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So, you know, Mark, as a pundit, you know, is kind of, sometimes I agree and sometimes I don't because it's just his opinions.
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That's punditry.
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Or leave them.
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That is punditry.
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That's the best punditry, in fact.
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So, I would say I like that take, which is, I sure hope that Apple didn't have all this time to do this design.
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And then, after a couple of betas, when people complained about some stuff, they just caved and said, oh, forget it.
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Like, and this is where we should probably say, and I get to promote your podcast here.
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I thought last week's episode of Connected, the segment about liquid glass and design was excellent.
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It's the best.
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I texted you during the show when I said that was the best conversation about that topic I've heard.
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Because not only did you discuss the issues, it's complicated, right?
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Like, the design issues of, you know, do you want to push it?
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You want to listen to criticism, but you also want to stand by your principles because everything is going to get criticized at some point.
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You've got to be thinking about what you want it to be and take from the criticism what is necessary but not overreact from it.
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And then, the point that really I love, because we've talked about this, the scale of Apple sometimes being beyond what we think and impacting every decision they make.
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That they literally can't make a product and only ship a thousand of them.
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They have every product they make has to have this huge volume, and they have to buy all the parts in volume.
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And Federico made this point, which is, you know, Apple's so big.
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Like, well, I think what happened is, Stephen said, knowing what he knows, especially about, like, Widget Smith and all of that, that the install base is huge.
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And the point was, if even a small percentage of the install base hates something, it's a huge number of people.
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And what Federico said was, is it possible for Apple to do something adventurous and opinionated in an era where the volume,
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of the install base is so huge that literally anything is going to disaffect millions and millions of users.
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And it's, I mean, and the answer in the past has been, yes, they're still willing to do that.
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But, like, this is the question we have to ask about something like making changes to Liquid Glass.
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Are you experimenting?
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And, you know, and we've talked a lot about how initial designs push things too far.
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Well, you could say, well, let's pull it back and see how that works.
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And then maybe the reaction is, oh, that's too far the other way.
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And let's tune it in.
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And if that's the case, that's great.
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You should be experimenting.
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It's the beta.
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However, if this is just them caving because somebody said something mean about Liquid Glass, when there might be a better thing, then, I don't know, then that's disappointing.
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Yeah, that's disappointing is the word I've used in a bunch of places that, like, if they cave on this, if this is a situation where they have caved on this, that is very disappointing.
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And it's wasted.
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The effort was wasted.
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The time was wasted.
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Why even bother doing it?
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And, like, you surely, surely understood that people weren't going to like it.
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Like, it's not.
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It's obvious, right, that, like, there are readability issues.
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You should know this in your testing.
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This wasn't, like, the first time you've seen it.
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And my hope is and the expectation is that they had a plan and whatever reason it hadn't been fully implemented, who knows.
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But if they've ended up in this spot where now they pull it back again, it's like, so what was the point of all of it?
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Like, why go for the glossy look?
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Why not just go for a more fluid look to the operating system?
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So I hope that they're kind of playing around.
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And my expectation is it actually sits and lands somewhere in the middle between what we've seen in, like, beta 1 and 2 and beta 3, which I think was the realistic expectation anyway.
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Like, what they shipped in beta 1 and beta 2 couldn't have been the final thing because, like, some stuff, not even from, like, you know, I know that there's a lot of really good conversations about accessibility and stuff like that.
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But there are just certain things that no one would be able to read, like, no one, like, not just, like, oh, if you're sensitive to this or not sensitive to that.
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Like, my notifications, you can't, I mean, you still can't read them, even on beta 3.
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Like, you can't read notifications if you have anything other than, like, essentially a solid color wallpaper, right?
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Like, they're just, so I think they're still playing.
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I want them to play and I want them to land somewhere.
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And it would be, I would be really disappointed if they just are like, oh, they're mad on social media.
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We've got to pull this one back because that just, I just think that you've got to be more sure of yourself than that if you're Apple.
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You can't, it's not about listening and reacting to feedback.
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It's, like, listening and reacting to that kind of feedback would be a problem for me.
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Because it really is, like, a lot of people who want to be design thought leaders, right, like, sharing their screenshots.
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Like, it's just, like, a lot of that.
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And depending on what social network you're hanging out on, a lot of people are just doing it to rile people.
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I don't know, who knows.
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But I just want to say, I don't want them to go down the route that they're currently going down.
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Because then I would kind of, I would be disheartened by it a little bit.
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Because it would show that they didn't actually plan this out properly.
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And that would be really frustrating to me.
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Yeah, so a few things going on here.
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First off, I know if you dislike the design, there's a comment in our Discord about, well, if they're caving but they're wrong, then isn't that right?
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And the answer is, no, that's not right.
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Because if they've got a design process, then they should feel like they know where they're going and they should be able to address problems and fix them.
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And if what happens is they go through this whole process and then after some mean words on Twitter, they just give up and turn it off, their process is broken.
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Even if the result is one that you prefer, their process is broken at that point.
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Because the fact is, every design is going to have its critics and what you've got to do is sift through it and then make changes that are in alignment with what you're trying to do with your design.
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Not just back off because you're afraid that mean people are saying mean things.
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Especially since, again, literally that will always happen.
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The best design, the worst design.
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There will be people out there who will say mean things about it.
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So you've got to think big picture.
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You've got to take from it what you will.
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I'll point out, by the way, everybody is focused on the frosting on the glass, on the opacity of the glass.
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But the fact is, they're doing other things in the background.
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One thing that I think Dan Morin pointed out is they used to do in the first beta, way back in the first beta, a thing where if you scrolled dark content behind something that had dark text on it in Safari,
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it would flip over so that that text was light content for context.
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But it happened late.
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So you'd start the scroll and nothing would happen.
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It'd be unreadable.
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And then as you kept scrolling, then it would turn.
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And it was this delay and it felt really awkward.
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And one of the things that they tweaked in the betas is in beta 3, I believe what happens is it's actually based on the speed that you're scrolling.
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And if you're scrolling something dark past and it's just going to kind of like blow past it, it doesn't try to change it.
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And if it's slow, it will try to change it.
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It's actually trying to figure out like, I want to make this change if this is not a transient change.
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I've also noticed places where it's doing very subtle selective dimming or lightening of content in the background based on the content that's being filtered to increase contrast.
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Like there's a bunch of stuff going on here beyond just we made the stuff less frosted.
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So I don't know.
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I also saw a screenshot the other day of somebody who said, if you look at the WWDC images and then you look at what's implemented right now on like the Mac, like it's not even close.
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Like there's still not, which is probably an indication that they're still also implementing this design.
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And what we saw at WWDC was what they want the design to be at its best.
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And they're still fixing the code to make it be able to do that.
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So there's a lot, there's a lot going on here.
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But again, I'll just say, don't think about the result for a minute.
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If you've got a design team that's been putting together a design for a long time, and then, and also, by the way, betas are not instant turnaround.
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Betas take weeks to turn around.
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So when you see a new beta, that beta actually came out two or three weeks or was built two weeks before, I don't know, a period of time before.
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And, and then, um, they get criticism for their, for their design.
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And then the next time out, they've just pulled the plug on large portions of it.
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What, how broken is that organization if that's the case?
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So I sure hope that's not the case.
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I, and I, and I, I actually doubt that it is.
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I think that there, this is a much more complex issue.
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I also wonder if they're worried a little bit about getting it right or righter for the public beta, because there's some level of kind of management that, that you can go wild with this stuff on the developer betas.
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But maybe there's a little fear that if it's too extreme at the public beta stage, then they're opening themselves up to another wave of criticism.
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Yeah, they may be pulling it all the way back and then staging it back in again, um, for that, for that period of time.
00:17:48
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Maybe, um, I would love to know how many people would install the public beta compared to the developer beta.
00:17:54
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I, I would love to know the answer to that.
00:17:56
◼
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Um, we'll never find it out.
00:17:58
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If anyone ever has that information and wants to share it with me, I would love to know it.
00:18:02
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Uh, because I, I just think that would be, that would tell a lot.
00:18:05
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Um, but yeah.
00:18:07
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This episode is brought to you by FitBod.
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And thanks to FitBod for their support of this show and Relay.
00:19:58
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Rumor Roundup time.
00:19:59
◼
►
According to...
00:20:03
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Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:20:04
◼
►
According to Peter Kafka at Business Insider, Apple is in pole position to get the U.S. rights to Formula One, to the actual sport, not the movie.
00:20:14
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►
All right, here's your context.
00:20:15
◼
►
Because I feel like you're saying F1 a lot and it means the movie, but actually we're talking about the sport.
00:20:21
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►
Only Apple and ESPN are bidding for the rights from the 2026 season, so for next year.
00:20:28
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►
ESPN is the current rights holder and I think has been paying in the region of like $80 to $90 million a year or something for F1.
00:20:35
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►
Apple is offering $150 million and ESPN has said that they will not be increasing their bid to match Apple's.
00:20:43
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►
So now Liberty Media, which is the company that owns Formula One, has to decide whether they want the money or the exposure.
00:20:51
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►
And dare I say legitimacy, the ESPN provides for the sport.
00:20:54
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That's right.
00:20:56
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These rights would be U.S. only.
00:20:58
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F1 sells their rights in individual packages all over the world.
00:21:03
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►
So here's an interesting wrinkle for you, for people that want a bit of context.
00:21:07
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►
This is the part that's most interesting to me.
00:21:08
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►
So Sky TV, which is owned by Comcast, I'm going to say now, but they were an independent.
00:21:15
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It's essentially what you would consider cable here, but it's actually satellite TV.
00:21:21
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►
But just think of it as cable.
00:21:22
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►
They have the rights in the U.K. to Formula One and other territories that they operate in all the way out until 2030.
00:21:30
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Now, that is interesting for a few things.
00:21:34
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Obviously, Europe is the market that you are going to see, I think, the biggest viewership of Formula One.
00:21:39
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So they are where the best rights are.
00:21:42
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But Sky, the Sky broadcaster in the U.K., provide the broadcast stream worldwide, including commentary and analysis.
00:21:52
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So if you watch an ESPN, you get Sky advertising their services.
00:21:58
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This is like a weird quirk of F1.
00:22:00
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So like Sky has an app and they have interactive services, right?
00:22:05
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So when you're watching, you can press a button on your Sky remote and you can watch driver positions from different like you can go in and be like, I want to watch Lewis Hamilton's like actual in car.
00:22:15
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You can watch that.
00:22:15
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It's all on like the Sky interface.
00:22:18
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►
If you're watching on ESPN in America, you hear this promotion.
00:22:22
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►
It's a weird quirk of F1 that is like a joke in the F1 community outside of America because they say like press the right button now on your Sky key remote as Zoe has put in the discord.
00:22:33
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This is like a it's like a meme.
00:22:34
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Like I can do it.
00:22:36
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But if you're not in the U.K., you can't do this.
00:22:39
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So it will be really interesting to me to see what Apple does here.
00:22:44
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►
Like are they going to take the Sky feed and just show it or are they going to build their own infrastructure around it?
00:22:53
◼
►
Now, there's a couple of there's another quirk here.
00:22:58
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I'm here, Jason.
00:22:58
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►
You're not going to get this on any other Apple podcast.
00:23:02
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►
This is the this is what a Supreme F1 drill down here.
00:23:06
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Sky do the commentary and analysis of the races like the commentary when they're going on.
00:23:11
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►
But the actual video feed is provided by F1.
00:23:16
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So F1 have their own team that provide the video to Sky.
00:23:21
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►
Sky comment on it and provide that out.
00:23:25
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So it's so Apple could take the feed from F1.
00:23:29
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►
They don't need to build their own broadcasting infrastructure like they did with MLS.
00:23:34
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►
And they actually can't because F1 control that.
00:23:38
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►
I don't know why, but this this this is actually exactly like I think World Cup and the Olympics where there is a there is a pooled broadcast center that is producing.
00:23:49
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So if you watch the World Cup, yeah, you see the graphics of the World Cup or the Olympics.
00:23:55
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You see their graphics and there are different feeds where you can take the graphics and you cannot take the graphics.
00:24:01
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►
You get the audio and then depending on your level of interest in customizing, you can show your announcers.
00:24:09
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►
But the the bulk of it is done by an international pooled, you know, it's the international broadcast.
00:24:17
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►
And and F1 apparently is like this, too.
00:24:20
◼
►
So they they have that because they have because what you're describing is ESPN has chosen its investment in Sky or in F1 is limited.
00:24:29
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►
They just take the Sky feed because that's an English language feed.
00:24:33
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►
You know, there is a German feed and they're using the same shots of the track, but they are having their own announcers and they use that.
00:24:43
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►
And then there's a, you know, and and that's right.
00:24:46
◼
►
So that that it makes sense in a giant international sporting event.
00:24:48
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They're not going to have a different set of cameras everywhere for every language or for every broadcaster.
00:24:53
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►
That's not how it works.
00:24:55
◼
►
So so it's a really good question to say, does Apple spend all that money and and say, well, we're going to we're going to build our own.
00:25:04
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►
I have a hard time imagining they wouldn't say we will build our own U.S. broadcast out of the international feed and not use the Sky feed because this is Apple.
00:25:18
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►
Well, I really wonder in that scenario how it is taken by the audience.
00:25:25
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►
Like, I don't know how the audience at large in America feels about the commentators.
00:25:35
◼
►
What I will say is, in general, everybody outside of Britain doesn't like the what is perceived as British bias.
00:25:44
◼
►
I will just say that there are the the dominant country in F1 for drivers is Britain right now.
00:25:53
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►
So it's kind of like it's hard in America, I would say, because, again, Americans are used to their sports being number one in the world.
00:25:59
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And then there are the sports that aren't.
00:26:01
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►
And I will say this.
00:26:02
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►
There is an aspect of this.
00:26:04
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►
I find it extremely jarring.
00:26:07
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►
I mean, the World Cup is different, but like the Premier League.
00:26:11
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►
Even even the NBC commenters for the Premier League are British.
00:26:18
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►
And and the reason is it would be very jarring.
00:26:24
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►
It is very jarring when you hear an American voice doing commentary about a non, you know, a foreign sporting event.
00:26:33
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►
And I view F1 that way.
00:26:34
◼
►
I wonder if you're Apple and you build this, who do you hire?
00:26:37
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►
You might hire British announcers.
00:26:39
◼
►
You might hire European announcers of some sort.
00:26:43
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►
Fox is the one broadcaster in the U.S. that's like, nope, it's all Americans.
00:26:48
◼
►
OK, that's another way to go.
00:26:50
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►
But I'm not sure if you think about this as a as a as a bit of entertainment.
00:26:56
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►
For me, F1, you kind of one of the reasons you're into it is kind of that exotic feeling of it's not even though there are some races in America, it's not our sport.
00:27:07
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►
It's something different.
00:27:08
◼
►
So it would be.
00:27:09
◼
►
And also keep in mind, you mentioned the interactive that Sky does.
00:27:13
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►
Apple could do that, too.
00:27:14
◼
►
Apple could take those driver fees.
00:27:15
◼
►
Oh, absolutely.
00:27:17
◼
►
And do their, you know, press your swipe up on your Apple TV remote or press the button on your remote to do that.
00:27:22
◼
►
We're going to get what are we going to get?
00:27:23
◼
►
Like instead of quad box, we need 20 boxes.
00:27:26
◼
►
So, so, so, Mike, here, though, I'm going to bring it.
00:27:30
◼
►
I'm going to bring it all the way around.
00:27:33
◼
►
I think F1 should absolutely not make a deal with Apple.
00:27:40
◼
►
It's a terrible idea.
00:27:41
◼
►
And here's why.
00:27:42
◼
►
First off, you can already buy an F1 subscription in America, right?
00:27:48
◼
►
It's called F1 TV.
00:27:49
◼
►
So even though ESPN show it, you can go directly over the top of F1.
00:27:54
◼
►
They have their own announcement team.
00:27:56
◼
►
Which people like those.
00:27:58
◼
►
You can actually choose the Sky announcers or the F1 TV announcers.
00:28:01
◼
►
And it's a full subscription service.
00:28:03
◼
►
You can watch every race live.
00:28:05
◼
►
They do the whole thing.
00:28:06
◼
►
So why would you make that available in the U.S.
00:28:12
◼
►
And then also have a second subscription service that made it available?
00:28:17
◼
►
When the whole purpose, other than money, right?
00:28:19
◼
►
Other than money.
00:28:20
◼
►
But I feel like my gut feeling is Apple is a stalking horse to get ESPN to pay more.
00:28:31
◼
►
But that they're going to go with ESPN and that they should go with ESPN.
00:28:34
◼
►
Because having the two services doesn't make any sense.
00:28:39
◼
►
Because what you want is the visibility of ESPN.
00:28:42
◼
►
They're about to launch their streaming platform.
00:28:45
◼
►
You get coverage on ESPN.
00:28:47
◼
►
Your sport doesn't exist if it isn't on ESPN.
00:28:50
◼
►
This is what I think Major League Baseball is struggling with.
00:28:52
◼
►
Is that they're currently walking away from their deal with ESPN next year.
00:28:56
◼
►
And it's going to be really bad for baseball.
00:28:59
◼
►
Because what will happen is baseball conversation will disappear from ESPN.
00:29:03
◼
►
Because if they don't have their rights, they basically think your sport doesn't exist.
00:29:07
◼
►
And that's not great, but that's just how it is.
00:29:09
◼
►
So I will throw a wrench in here, which is what if F1 TV got Apple as a partner in some way?
00:29:23
◼
►
What if that became like a partnership where Apple sold F1 TV or Apple co-branded F1 TV?
00:29:31
◼
►
Or if Apple just got the streaming rights.
00:29:33
◼
►
Like they don't get the TV rights, they get the streaming rights.
00:29:36
◼
►
Or if F1 TV...
00:29:37
◼
►
Yeah, right.
00:29:38
◼
►
Well, I mean, I'm saying on one level, what if Apple took over F1 TV?
00:29:42
◼
►
And did it that way?
00:29:44
◼
►
Or yes, what if they did...
00:29:46
◼
►
ESPN is going to want the streaming rights too, though.
00:29:48
◼
►
And again, it's duplicative.
00:29:49
◼
►
It's so weird.
00:29:50
◼
►
Like there is F1 TV.
00:29:51
◼
►
So if F1 TV didn't exist, I would be more into the idea that Apple could do this.
00:29:56
◼
►
But if F1 TV exists, then ESPN is the logical option.
00:30:00
◼
►
Because then you've got your broad reach deal as well as your direct for the hardcore fans deal.
00:30:08
◼
►
I will say this.
00:30:09
◼
►
Apple likes to talk.
00:30:12
◼
►
We know this.
00:30:13
◼
►
Apple likes to shop.
00:30:14
◼
►
A lot of times they do not buy because they're careful with how they spend their money.
00:30:22
◼
►
It's interesting that they're offering so much more than the competition in this case.
00:30:25
◼
►
But that doesn't necessarily mean...
00:30:28
◼
►
I mean, strategically, it would be bad.
00:30:30
◼
►
They'd really be doing it because they want a little more money.
00:30:32
◼
►
And I think it would be harmful to the sport if they did it.
00:30:38
◼
►
I think a bunch of things is great perspective.
00:30:41
◼
►
I think it would surprise me for Apple to pick up rights in just one market, even though it's America, for anything.
00:30:48
◼
►
Also that...
00:30:49
◼
►
So my other theory, which forgive me if I've given this before, but I'll throw it out there again.
00:30:54
◼
►
My other theory is the reason Apple would bid for the U.S. rights to F1 now is eyeing 2030 when other territories become available.
00:31:04
◼
►
Because if Apple can produce an excellent F1 program in the U.S. and is a good partner for F1, which they already are with the movie, and they're a good partner for F1,
00:31:16
◼
►
the next step is to then in 2030 say, we want it all.
00:31:22
◼
►
And if they're not a good partner or they don't like the results or whatever, then they walk away.
00:31:26
◼
►
But I think, honestly, I actually think that Apple doing this is so illogical that if this happens, it's less likely that it's Liberty Media just grabbing the money
00:31:37
◼
►
and more likely that both sides are wondering if this could be a long-term partnership worldwide.
00:31:42
◼
►
It has to be that because I don't understand why you would do it otherwise.
00:31:46
◼
►
Like, F1 is a growing sport, right?
00:31:49
◼
►
Everybody knows this.
00:31:51
◼
►
So being available to people is helpful, right?
00:31:56
◼
►
And like ESPN in the States is much more available.
00:31:59
◼
►
The other thing about it being a growing sport, it feels like every week, F1, the company, like the actual company that owns the sport,
00:32:09
◼
►
is announcing a new brand deal, like it's obscene right now in the last year.
00:32:14
◼
►
There are so many massive brands that are partnering with F1 now.
00:32:18
◼
►
Of course, they surely don't need the extra $70 million that Apple is giving them, right?
00:32:24
◼
►
It's not enough money.
00:32:26
◼
►
So if they do this for the money, that to me is just insane.
00:32:32
◼
►
Like, the only reason to do this is that you believe or Apple has been able to sell you on these are the ways in which we will be a long-term 20-year partner for you.
00:32:45
◼
►
And over that period of time, we're going to do this and this and this and this to improve the sport.
00:32:52
◼
►
I will say, I think it was in the park piece, like they spoke about, like, you know, Apple putting cameras on the cars for Vision Pro.
00:33:01
◼
►
No, ignore that, right?
00:33:03
◼
►
We've had a taste of that.
00:33:04
◼
►
And I'll tell you, you don't want that.
00:33:05
◼
►
It's fun for one lap, but you don't want to sit with Charles Leclerc and go around the track of him.
00:33:10
◼
►
It's too intense.
00:33:11
◼
►
But, like, there is stuff that they could do together that would be interesting.
00:33:16
◼
►
But to me, it's like, I don't understand the money part.
00:33:20
◼
►
There are too many weird ways in which F1 works.
00:33:24
◼
►
And it's only one market.
00:33:28
◼
►
And you remove it from television and you make it harder for everybody who's currently watching it to watch.
00:33:35
◼
►
And I know that that is a typical thing about rights moving, right?
00:33:39
◼
►
I hear it all the time in U.S. sports moving from place to place.
00:33:42
◼
►
It makes the sport harder to watch.
00:33:43
◼
►
But I'm not sure that F1 hasn't got a large enough ingrained audience that will move no matter what.
00:33:51
◼
►
I think they're still building that.
00:33:53
◼
►
I think it's a lot like MLS where you really want growth.
00:33:56
◼
►
And in the long term, the growth is going to mean more to you.
00:33:59
◼
►
So, yes, I agree.
00:33:59
◼
►
I think the only way this deal happens is if there is a bigger vision behind it than what we're seeing now.
00:34:06
◼
►
Because if it's just straight up U.S. broadcast rights and you've already got your subscription service in the U.S.
00:34:13
◼
►
And again, you know, maybe that's a part of this and maybe Apple would take that over and that's what they're talking about.
00:34:20
◼
►
And that's why it's more money.
00:34:21
◼
►
Who knows what that is?
00:34:23
◼
►
Then it would make a little more sense.
00:34:24
◼
►
But even then, I would say, why would you do that?
00:34:26
◼
►
You've got your own subscription service.
00:34:28
◼
►
It's going great.
00:34:28
◼
►
Get your visibility on ESPN and done, right?
00:34:33
◼
►
Be done with it.
00:34:34
◼
►
That's a good deal because it gives you what most sports are trying for now, which is you want to be able to sell and make a lot of money, but you also want visibility so people can find your marquee matchups.
00:34:48
◼
►
Moving on, Mark Gurman is reporting that Apple is going to be updating the Vision Pro this year.
00:34:53
◼
►
It will feature an M4 processor to better run Apple intelligence and a new head strap will be made available to make the headset more comfortable over extended periods.
00:35:06
◼
►
Additionally, work continues on a bigger refresh in 2027 that would see a much lighter version of the Vision Pro.
00:35:11
◼
►
My bet on this strap, Jason, is that it is the one we used, a version of the one that we used during the demos.
00:35:19
◼
►
Like it's the...
00:35:20
◼
►
Oh, it's the Belkin.
00:35:23
◼
►
So it's Apple's own version of a solo top with a strap along the top, but we'll see.
00:35:30
◼
►
I mean, the solo top had the knitted strap.
00:35:33
◼
►
I think this is going to be like the Belkin one, which is cheaper.
00:35:35
◼
►
I think they'll only put that one in the box.
00:35:37
◼
►
It felt very much like that product might have been designed by Apple, so I would not be surprised.
00:35:43
◼
►
And it's good.
00:35:43
◼
►
And it's really good.
00:35:44
◼
►
That's what I use now 100% of the time with the Vision Pro.
00:35:46
◼
►
It's really good.
00:35:47
◼
►
And otherwise, this is just...
00:35:50
◼
►
This is not a new Vision Pro, right?
00:35:51
◼
►
This is literally, I think, we don't want to put...
00:35:53
◼
►
You know, let's just swap the M4 in for the M2 and keep making the one that we've got because they're running out of M2s or whatever, right?
00:36:00
◼
►
And then they can reduce, you know, the contents of the box by putting in a better strap because neither strap that's in the box is really that great.
00:36:11
◼
►
And I find that Belkin one to be the perfect balance.
00:36:14
◼
►
And then meanwhile, you know, meanwhile, keep pushing toward the cheaper, lighter product for $27.
00:36:23
◼
►
As somebody who bought a Vision Pro for retail price at the beginning of 2024, I endorse not revising it significantly until 2027.
00:36:34
◼
►
That would make me feel better.
00:36:35
◼
►
That would make me feel better.
00:36:37
◼
►
Speaking of Mark Gurman and product roadmaps, he has done the thing that he does where he has published a roadmap of stuff that we can expect from Apple over the next year.
00:36:47
◼
►
We've broken this down.
00:36:48
◼
►
Jason rearranged the document this morning, very thankfully for everybody to put this into years.
00:36:55
◼
►
So let's just run through this real quick.
00:36:56
◼
►
So in 2025, we know we're going to be getting the iPhone 17 line, which will be the 17, the 17 Pro, the 17 Air.
00:37:04
◼
►
An M5 chip in the iPad Pro will get new Apple Watches, 11 and Ultra 3, that Vision Pro update, and potentially the cheap MacBook from previous rumors.
00:37:15
◼
►
Mark did not mention this at all, which I found curious.
00:37:18
◼
►
Yeah, I did too.
00:37:20
◼
►
Also, just a data point.
00:37:22
◼
►
This means that the new chip is going to debut in the iPad again.
00:37:29
◼
►
This is what happened with the M4, right?
00:37:31
◼
►
It is the iPad Pro came out before the MacBook Pro, and it looks like that's going to happen again because you'll notice there's a little foreshadowing for 2026 that what Mark Gurman is saying right now is the MacBook Pros with M5 will not probably, we'll get there, come out this fall, but instead early next year.
00:37:48
◼
►
And if that's the case, then the M5 iPad Pro, which would be about 18 months after the M4 iPad Pro, would once again be the debut of that chip.
00:37:57
◼
►
Moving to 26, there will be iPad and iPad Air, both getting processor bumps, but that's probably about it.
00:38:04
◼
►
The iPhone 17e is expected to be revised to the A19 in 2026.
00:38:10
◼
►
So Mark says that, from what he understands, this would now suggest this is an annual revision product, which is fascinating.
00:38:20
◼
►
Isn't that interesting?
00:38:21
◼
►
I mean, maybe it's, I mean, I think that's why they designed it that way, is that they can just use it as the spring and bump it to the processor that came out in the fall.
00:38:30
◼
►
There will be a new display for the Mac, but no details on it.
00:38:34
◼
►
Is it a studio display?
00:38:35
◼
►
Is it a studio display Pro?
00:38:37
◼
►
Is it a Pro Display XT?
00:38:38
◼
►
I don't know if Mark knows.
00:38:41
◼
►
He's done some reporting in the past about displays, but gave no information here about what this display may actually feature.
00:38:49
◼
►
That may actually be interesting considering this MacBook Pro stuff.
00:38:56
◼
►
So I'll jump to that real quick.
00:38:57
◼
►
So the MacBook Pro that we would think would be this year's refresh may not actually come until the beginning of next year.
00:39:06
◼
►
No reason given.
00:39:11
◼
►
Just a longer cycle, maybe?
00:39:13
◼
►
And he says, timing remains fluid, which the way it's written in his story, it reads to me like, maybe not next year, maybe this year, but probably next year.
00:39:29
◼
►
Like he's even got conflicting maybe reports because he says it looks like it's going to be next year tentatively, but he says timing remains fluid, which means, you know, maybe it is an October, November ship.
00:39:43
◼
►
That's all we got timing remains fluid, but I think it's interesting because he slots it in 26 and he's got some intelligence that says it's going to be in 26, but not with a lot of confidence.
00:39:59
◼
►
It's fascinating, fascinating.
00:40:01
◼
►
And that these MacBook Pros would be the last that look like this, that there would be a refresh.
00:40:12
◼
►
You would say it would be in 26, but now I'm not sure, right?
00:40:15
◼
►
Like, will they do it in the same year?
00:40:16
◼
►
Would they push these to early 27?
00:40:18
◼
►
They have done that in the same year before, so they could do that again.
00:40:21
◼
►
I just, I have no idea, right?
00:40:23
◼
►
Because this is weird.
00:40:24
◼
►
So like, what would they do here?
00:40:25
◼
►
But it's next.
00:40:26
◼
►
It's late, late 26, early 27, or even mid 27.
00:40:30
◼
►
But that's the brand new one that he's been talking about.
00:40:33
◼
►
That's the OLED display, actually new design.
00:40:36
◼
►
And that, that would be for the M6 probably.
00:40:41
◼
►
This makes me wonder, going back to the display, what the panel is made of.
00:40:45
◼
►
I can't imagine they would ship an OLED, but maybe it's mini LED.
00:40:50
◼
►
I really desperately want the studio display to be the quality of the current MacBook Pro, right?
00:40:59
◼
►
So ProMotion, mini LED.
00:41:04
◼
►
Me and Stephen were talking about this the other day.
00:41:05
◼
►
He's like saying that how like, you know, he, it makes him sad when he sees his MacBook Pro
00:41:10
◼
►
display open next to your studio display.
00:41:12
◼
►
And it's like, they're both showing something black and it doesn't look like that.
00:41:17
◼
►
So the, the, my rule is I just never do that.
00:41:20
◼
►
I, when I'm right now, I am looking at my MacBook Pro display and it is beautiful.
00:41:24
◼
►
And then I'll go home and I'll run it lid closed and I'll look at my studio display and
00:41:27
◼
►
it'll be fine.
00:41:28
◼
►
And I'm not going to think about it and I'm not going to worry about it because I think
00:41:31
◼
►
the studio display is fine.
00:41:32
◼
►
But yes, they need to do a new display that looks better.
00:41:35
◼
►
It's, it's, it's old technology.
00:41:37
◼
►
It's literally, it's literally, I mean, it's not exactly the same panel because they changed
00:41:40
◼
►
the color range on it, but essentially Apple's beyond the pro display XDR, which is a real
00:41:47
◼
►
Apple's like 27 inch 5k panel story is not appreciably different since 2014.
00:41:59
◼
►
It started with the iMac pro.
00:42:03
◼
►
And then it moved to the other.
00:42:05
◼
►
No, no, no, it was the, it was just the retina iMac, the 5k retina iMac before the iMac
00:42:10
◼
►
But the first retina iMac, the first retina iMac, they didn't have the color gamut, uh,
00:42:15
◼
►
the P3 color that they did in the second one.
00:42:17
◼
►
And then it went to the iMac pro, but no, the first 5k iMac, which was, I believe the fall
00:42:25
◼
►
I mean, personally, I would have no problem with them keeping the current studio display, maybe
00:42:31
◼
►
make it a little bit cheaper and then make it cheaper and keep it probably because
00:42:34
◼
►
it, I know it sounds bad when you talk about how old it is and the specs of it, but that
00:42:40
◼
►
is a, it's a great display.
00:42:41
◼
►
I use one every day and I love it.
00:42:43
◼
►
I'd never look at it and I'm like, this is bad.
00:42:45
◼
►
I just want something more because I know that they have even the, they have the capability
00:42:52
◼
►
in Mac OS to support more, right?
00:42:54
◼
►
But I want promotion on my display.
00:42:56
◼
►
Like I want it to be high quality.
00:42:58
◼
►
So we'll see what we get there.
00:43:00
◼
►
Um, and rounding it out, the MacBook Air will go from the M4 to the M5.
00:43:04
◼
►
in 2026 and the home hub is currently set for the first half of 2026.
00:43:10
◼
►
It'll be two years after it was expected to be out.
00:43:14
◼
►
I feel, um, really bad for that team.
00:43:17
◼
►
I wonder who, I wonder who runs that team, but like, you know, this is the, I'm sure that
00:43:23
◼
►
Mike Rockwell is like, yep, yep, yep.
00:43:25
◼
►
I've been there, had a product left down by Siri, but the home hub is a product that was
00:43:29
◼
►
built around future OS features that the OS group couldn't deliver.
00:43:33
◼
►
And I just, I honestly, Jason, I am worried about this product even then, because is that
00:43:39
◼
►
still depending on app intense shipping?
00:43:44
◼
►
I mean, yeah, so app intense stuff is getting there, right?
00:43:50
◼
►
App intense is not going to be the problem because I feel like, I mean, cause spotlight,
00:43:53
◼
►
the new spotlight stuff in Tahoe is all based on app intense as well.
00:43:57
◼
►
Like, I feel like app intense is coming along.
00:43:59
◼
►
Um, but you also need, you know, you need an assistant.
00:44:03
◼
►
So they, I, I think, will they have LLM Siri by the first half of, of, of 26?
00:44:09
◼
►
I think they will.
00:44:10
◼
►
I think they feel like they have to.
00:44:12
◼
►
And so, but, but again, also I would say it feels a little like the home pod in the sense
00:44:17
◼
►
that it's, you know, we're talking about a product conceived how many years ago now and
00:44:21
◼
►
basically finalized two, two years ago or a year ago now.
00:44:24
◼
►
And, you know, two years when it ships, like, is that the right product?
00:44:27
◼
►
Is that product worth shipping or should they look at it again and say, well, no, this
00:44:31
◼
►
is actually wrong for today?
00:44:33
◼
►
Uh, I don't know.
00:44:34
◼
►
I don't know.
00:44:35
◼
►
Uh, speaking of that, actually, in his power on newsletter, Mark, when talking about something
00:44:40
◼
►
completely different drops the tidbit that Apple is seriously considering buying the AI
00:44:45
◼
►
company Mistral.
00:44:46
◼
►
Um, I think this is the French base.
00:44:49
◼
►
Yeah, let's get some, let's get some French AI in there.
00:44:51
◼
►
French AI and inside.
00:44:53
◼
►
Um, Mistral seems like a candidate in that they're not huge.
00:44:58
◼
►
Uh, you know, like, and they actually have models.
00:45:02
◼
►
You know, we're talking about them potentially looking at buying perplexity, but the issue
00:45:05
◼
►
with that is perplexity is not an LLM model maker.
00:45:09
◼
►
Um, and that's actually what Apple needs.
00:45:10
◼
►
Um, and so this might get them somewhere.
00:45:14
◼
►
Uh, we'll talk a little bit later on in the episode today about AI talent.
00:45:18
◼
►
Um, and the problems therein.
00:45:20
◼
►
Mistral dans la pomme.
00:45:22
◼
►
Thank you very much.
00:45:23
◼
►
What is that?
00:45:24
◼
►
Mistral in the Apple.
00:45:26
◼
►
Mistral in the Apple.
00:45:26
◼
►
Because I, because we're going to get the French AI flavor in.
00:45:29
◼
►
I mean, imagine that.
00:45:30
◼
►
Imagine AI, uh, Apple finally comes up with its own AI and it's French.
00:45:34
◼
►
Who could have, who could have predicted such a thing?
00:45:37
◼
►
I'm going to Google translate right now.
00:45:40
◼
►
I'm typing in large language model and we're going to put that into French and we'll see
00:45:45
◼
►
what we end up with.
00:45:46
◼
►
Okay, great.
00:45:47
◼
►
This is taking longer than I thought to use Google translate.
00:45:50
◼
►
Grande modèle de langage.
00:45:52
◼
►
There we go.
00:45:53
◼
►
They're looking for that.
00:45:55
◼
►
That's fine.
00:45:55
◼
►
Eddie Q is walking around some valley saying,
00:45:58
◼
►
Grande modèle!
00:45:59
◼
►
And then someone's going to come.
00:46:00
◼
►
You see the picture of him with his, uh, Google, with his Apple iCal all printed out?
00:46:05
◼
►
Did you see that?
00:46:06
◼
►
Printed out.
00:46:06
◼
►
Yeah, that's right.
00:46:07
◼
►
Uncle Eddie needs to get his paper calendar.
00:46:09
◼
►
Never change.
00:46:10
◼
►
You know, like, uh.
00:46:12
◼
►
Well, I get it.
00:46:13
◼
►
He's going from meeting to meeting or whatever.
00:46:15
◼
►
I, you know, he's going from meeting to meeting.
00:46:17
◼
►
Out there and he's got a paper, he's got a paper thing with notes on it.
00:46:20
◼
►
All the printing out the, the big long blocks of time and stuff from, uh, what is that?
00:46:25
◼
►
Let me tell you why I think it's funny.
00:46:26
◼
►
Like, I also agree.
00:46:27
◼
►
Like, maybe also at Sun Valley, you probably aren't keeping your devices out.
00:46:32
◼
►
Like, I'm expecting Sun Valley is the big, like, CEOs will get together and talk thing.
00:46:36
◼
►
And I expect there are a lot of scenarios at Sun Valley where maybe you leave your phone
00:46:40
◼
►
outside the room.
00:46:41
◼
►
Like, it's one of those kinds of things.
00:46:43
◼
►
So having your calendar on paper.
00:46:45
◼
►
Here's the issue.
00:46:47
◼
►
Don't raise it to the world.
00:46:49
◼
►
Is that right?
00:46:50
◼
►
Don't ever, ever, ever, if you have something even slightly confidential, literally raise
00:46:57
◼
►
it above your head and show it to the paparazzi, which is what he did, which is my fit.
00:47:03
◼
►
One of my favorite photos of Eddie Q of all time.
00:47:05
◼
►
Now, uh, actually never do this unless you're Eddie Q.
00:47:08
◼
►
If you're Eddie Q, you can literally do whatever you want.
00:47:11
◼
►
Like, I guess that's true.
00:47:12
◼
►
Never change Eddie Q.
00:47:14
◼
►
This is a lesson of the, of what is it?
00:47:16
◼
►
The Trump administration where people are like walking with papers and people could read
00:47:20
◼
►
confidential things on the papers.
00:47:23
◼
►
Don't put it, put it in a folder, folks.
00:47:25
◼
►
Keep it in the folder.
00:47:26
◼
►
Especially at something like Sun Valley.
00:47:33
◼
►
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Last Tuesday, Apple announced that Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams will be retiring from
00:49:33
◼
►
Apple later this year.
00:49:34
◼
►
Sabi Khan will be taking the post of COO this month and Williams will be wrapping up his other
00:49:41
◼
►
work with the design team, health and Apple Watch later this year.
00:49:47
◼
►
Khan has been SVP of operations.
00:49:50
◼
►
Effectively, Williams is number two.
00:49:51
◼
►
Khan is already on the leadership page as SVP of operations and has been with Apple since
00:49:58
◼
►
So it seems like the exact person who would take this role, right?
00:50:03
◼
►
Like it fits the bill completely.
00:50:05
◼
►
This is the exact way these things should go that your boss moves up and leaves and then you
00:50:11
◼
►
take their place.
00:50:13
◼
►
Like this is, this is exactly it.
00:50:14
◼
►
So Williams now joins Phil Schiller, Dan Riccio and Luca Maestri, a senior executives at Apple
00:50:21
◼
►
that have left their posts in varying ways in the last few years.
00:50:26
◼
►
Like people from the Apple leadership page who have saw what's been there forever moved on.
00:50:31
◼
►
What is your initial thought on this before we dig in a little bit deeper?
00:50:37
◼
►
What was your fault when you sold the news?
00:50:38
◼
►
Well, I thought about the fact that we've gotten, you know, Luca Maestri and Phil Schiller
00:50:44
◼
►
recently too.
00:50:45
◼
►
I thought about the fact that a lot of these guys are in their 60s.
00:50:49
◼
►
They made a lot of money, millions and millions and millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions
00:50:53
◼
►
of dollars at Apple.
00:50:55
◼
►
And, uh, and then I was talking to Steven Hackett about this because he was noting the textual
00:51:01
◼
►
differences between the farewells.
00:51:03
◼
►
And that like Phil Schiller became an Apple fellow and we know is still like in charge of events
00:51:08
◼
►
and the app store and Luca Maestri kept like operate some like, uh, very weird collection
00:51:17
◼
►
of things that he's still in charge of.
00:51:18
◼
►
And he's still on the page.
00:51:19
◼
►
He's just not the CFO anymore.
00:51:21
◼
►
He's kicking around, you know, he's kicking around.
00:51:23
◼
►
He's doing some, some like back office stuff, but not an Apple fellow, even though it seems
00:51:29
◼
►
from the face of it that essentially him and Phil are doing the exact same thing, which is
00:51:33
◼
►
just like whatever they want.
00:51:35
◼
►
Well, it's like a, yeah, a portfolio, a small portfolio, a bit reduced from when they were,
00:51:40
◼
►
you know, a big shot.
00:51:42
◼
►
Jeff Williams announcement is he's retiring and he's handing over COO job right now to Sabi
00:51:49
◼
►
con and by the end of the year, he'll be handing over his design reports to Tim.
00:51:56
◼
►
And then he's presumably done.
00:52:00
◼
►
And so that's interesting because this feels like a retirement.
00:52:03
◼
►
Um, the comment I made to Steven was, uh, I think a lot of these executives are just real
00:52:11
◼
►
type a workaholics and they have probably neglected everything in their lives outside of Apple for
00:52:19
◼
►
years and there's two ways to go.
00:52:21
◼
►
One way is why would I stop?
00:52:26
◼
►
And the other is, Oh, I'm in my sixties.
00:52:31
◼
►
I have more money than I know what to do with and have not been able to spend as much time
00:52:36
◼
►
with my family as I would like and, and live my life as I would like.
00:52:41
◼
►
And so I am going to step off the treadmill and the grind of working at Apple.
00:52:46
◼
►
And it's got to be a huge grind.
00:52:47
◼
►
If you're a senior executive at Apple, it's got to be a huge part of your life.
00:52:51
◼
►
And maybe the grind has only become more and more intense.
00:52:56
◼
►
And right now it's really intense and like, I don't need this.
00:52:59
◼
►
I, I, I am too old for this stuff as the saying isn't.
00:53:03
◼
►
And so that is reading between the lines of the Jeff Williams announcement.
00:53:08
◼
►
I'm just on a human scale.
00:53:10
◼
►
I'm struck with the fact that maybe Jeff Williams is like seeing the world clearly because
00:53:16
◼
►
it actually says like, I want to spend time with my kids and my grandkids.
00:53:19
◼
►
I'm like, yeah, dude, you're in your sixties and you've got hundreds of millions of dollars
00:53:24
◼
►
in the bank and you don't need to do this anymore.
00:53:27
◼
►
You, you should go have a great, maybe, you know, whatever, 20, 25 years of hopefully health
00:53:36
◼
►
to spend with your family.
00:53:38
◼
►
Uh, yeah, I think maybe you should do that.
00:53:41
◼
►
And I think the question that most of us as human beings should ask is why aren't the rest
00:53:45
◼
►
of them doing that?
00:53:46
◼
►
Uh, because at some point, not only should they probably do that, but I'll just say for a company
00:53:51
◼
►
that is trying to always be kind of cool and reach the next generation of technology users,
00:53:57
◼
►
having a bunch of decision, I'm sorry, no matter how cool you are, if you're a decision maker
00:54:01
◼
►
in your sixties, you have lost touch with a lot.
00:54:05
◼
►
Or even if, if you've just been doing it for so long, like even if you're in your,
00:54:09
◼
►
in your forties, but somehow you've been doing it for 20 years, that maybe you, there's a
00:54:12
◼
►
fresh perspective available to you.
00:54:15
◼
►
You are, you were formed a lot of your perspectives 30 years ago.
00:54:18
◼
►
And that, that is a change.
00:54:19
◼
►
And I'm not saying, look, as somebody in their mid fifties, I'm not saying that people who
00:54:22
◼
►
are older do not have wisdom and a lot of, uh, uh, intelligence of processing of history
00:54:28
◼
►
and understanding how it works.
00:54:30
◼
►
That's all true.
00:54:31
◼
►
But I will say that if your company is like largely made up of decision makers at that
00:54:38
◼
►
point in their careers, you could potentially be missing signals of things.
00:54:43
◼
►
And I, you know, I don't know if LLMs is an example of that, but like missing signals of
00:54:47
◼
►
how the world has changed that you're not necessarily getting because the echo chamber at the top
00:54:54
◼
►
is full of people who are, um, multiple generations removed from that.
00:54:59
◼
►
And so that it's just, it's as a company, you want to have a healthy, I would say you
00:55:02
◼
►
want to have a healthy mix.
00:55:04
◼
►
And we have had an era where the Steve jobs lieutenants have mostly been doing this.
00:55:09
◼
►
So, um, I, I think, yeah, on a human scale, I wonder why they're still there other than
00:55:16
◼
►
that this is all they've got.
00:55:17
◼
►
Which is, I mean, I think that personally is kind of sad that it's like, is this all you
00:55:22
◼
►
I mean, you, you, yeah, but it's a pretty great thing to have.
00:55:25
◼
►
I mean, maybe I'm just closer to that type of person if you found the balance.
00:55:29
◼
►
And I guess that's, that's the thing is if you found a balance that works for you, like
00:55:32
◼
►
Phil Schiller clearly doesn't need to do this anymore.
00:55:34
◼
►
My guess is that Phil Schiller, okay.
00:55:37
◼
►
I apologize for the pop psychology here because I don't know these guys and I don't know what
00:55:41
◼
►
they think, but, uh, but talking about Phil who I've, you know, been interviewing on and
00:55:46
◼
►
off for ages and have talked to a bunch over the years, mostly early on and not so much
00:55:51
◼
►
lately, but like he strikes me as maybe being the kind of person who he's got more varied
00:55:58
◼
►
interests than you might think.
00:56:00
◼
►
Uh, you know, he's, he, he's a donor to his alma mater and has buildings named after him.
00:56:07
◼
►
He's on boards.
00:56:08
◼
►
There's other things he's doing.
00:56:10
◼
►
I think him stepping away from the worldwide VP of comms role and just doing the app store
00:56:15
◼
►
and, uh, events is like, I just want to do those cause I love them and it dramatically
00:56:22
◼
►
reduced his workload.
00:56:23
◼
►
And it's, I, I, I think the counter argument to these guys retiring is you hear those stories
00:56:30
◼
►
of the people who like retire and then they just die because the thing they were doing at
00:56:37
◼
►
their work was the thing that motivated them in life and that playing golf and spending
00:56:43
◼
►
time with their grandkids does not fulfill them.
00:56:47
◼
►
And if that's the case, Apple allowing them to stick around and be fulfilled in a lesser
00:56:52
◼
►
role is great.
00:56:53
◼
►
And if you're Jeff Williams and you're like, no, I don't need that.
00:56:55
◼
►
I, I, I'm, you know, also we've seen, we've seen people leave and then come back where
00:56:59
◼
►
they're like, yeah, yeah.
00:57:00
◼
►
You know, Bob Mansfield was like, yeah, I could come back.
00:57:02
◼
►
John Rubenstein was like, yeah, I could go to another company and build hardware for a
00:57:08
◼
►
little while.
00:57:08
◼
►
Like it does happen that way too.
00:57:10
◼
►
So I think it's fascinating, but on an Apple scale, I would say, and Mark German wrote about
00:57:15
◼
►
this a bit, um, on Sunday, I think you do want to start the process of saying, what is
00:57:22
◼
►
the next generation leadership team at Apple look like?
00:57:24
◼
►
Because regardless of their desires, you have so many people in their, in their, um, like
00:57:31
◼
►
late fifties and early sixties who as good as they might be, they can't stick around forever.
00:57:39
◼
►
They really can't.
00:57:40
◼
►
And you need to start moving them along.
00:57:42
◼
►
I actually really love the fact that Apple lets some of their senior executives hang around
00:57:46
◼
►
because they have so much wisdom.
00:57:48
◼
►
Like Phil Schiller has seen it all, right?
00:57:51
◼
►
So keeping him around is great.
00:57:53
◼
►
Like it would be, Apple would be a lesser company if Phil Schiller had said later and
00:57:58
◼
►
gone off, you know, to drive a sports car and, you know, and sit on the beach, right?
00:58:03
◼
►
Like this is way better, but you can't have, you know, you can't have it be 2030 and it's
00:58:09
◼
►
still a bunch of people in their late sixties, early seventies.
00:58:12
◼
►
And that's your entire team.
00:58:13
◼
►
Because the problem is, you know, with all the will in the world, you can't do that job
00:58:18
◼
►
You just can't.
00:58:19
◼
►
We're all aging humans and you, you do need part of your job is to bring the next
00:58:25
◼
►
generation along.
00:58:26
◼
►
And I'll point out Sabi Khan has been there forever and is not that much younger than Jeff
00:58:30
◼
►
Williams, right?
00:58:30
◼
►
Like this is an ongoing challenge that Apple has that they had a great team that they assembled
00:58:36
◼
►
a long time ago.
00:58:37
◼
►
Like if you really want people with a lot of experience, guess what?
00:58:41
◼
►
They get older, right?
00:58:42
◼
►
Like that's just kind of how it works.
00:58:44
◼
►
A couple things I want to say, I am one of those people, right?
00:58:47
◼
►
Like, like a Phil Schiller type in like, I don't think I could ever stop working.
00:58:51
◼
►
I think if I stopped working, I would freeze.
00:58:53
◼
►
Like I just, I can't imagine I would ever fully retire.
00:58:57
◼
►
It's the kind of person I am.
00:58:58
◼
►
If I enjoy my work, I like to do it.
00:59:01
◼
►
Like, and I think there are a lot of people who even in that scenario would be like, oh,
00:59:06
◼
►
I would like to go retire on a beach somewhere.
00:59:08
◼
►
I would lose my mind.
00:59:09
◼
►
Like I just, this is not how I work.
00:59:11
◼
►
The other thing I wanted to mention, it's uncouth, but no one's really said it.
00:59:15
◼
►
So I just want to say it as a, okay.
00:59:18
◼
►
Be uncouth, Mike.
00:59:19
◼
►
Did he get told he wasn't going to be the CEO?
00:59:23
◼
►
So, so I have two thoughts about this.
00:59:25
◼
►
One is yes, it's possible, but I don't think that's it.
00:59:28
◼
►
I'm not saying that is it, but it's a possibility, right?
00:59:31
◼
►
Like I just don't really think I'm seeing many people explore very much.
00:59:35
◼
►
I would, I would view this from the other direction.
00:59:38
◼
►
Which is if I'm Jeff Williams and I know I am the, in case of glass or in case of emergency
00:59:45
◼
►
break glass guy.
00:59:46
◼
►
He's like, no, thanks.
00:59:47
◼
►
If I, if I know I'm that guy in case of glass, by the way, we have liquid glass.
00:59:52
◼
►
Oh no glass.
00:59:53
◼
►
We were at the glass case now.
00:59:54
◼
►
So, um, if I'm the emergency CEO, if something happens to Tim and you think about like, okay,
01:00:01
◼
►
then I'm taking over a CEO and I have to do that for a certain amount of time.
01:00:03
◼
►
I wonder if Jeff Williams came to the point where he was like, you know what?
01:00:06
◼
►
I am no longer willing to be that guy because I'm not going to stick around for five years
01:00:11
◼
►
and be the CEO.
01:00:12
◼
►
I would rather retire.
01:00:14
◼
►
Cause you can't, you can't be in the succession plan and be like, yeah, but I'm only going
01:00:18
◼
►
to last for like a year.
01:00:19
◼
►
It's like, no, that's not how this works.
01:00:20
◼
►
I'm only going to be here for three.
01:00:22
◼
►
So it's possible that Jeff Williams actually said, you know what?
01:00:26
◼
►
I, I can't be part of the succession plan anymore.
01:00:29
◼
►
I've reached the point where I'm getting toward the end of my tenure and maybe this is all wrapped
01:00:34
◼
►
up together where he's like, look, here's the deal.
01:00:35
◼
►
I, I, um, I can't be in the succession plan anymore.
01:00:39
◼
►
So let's set some dates.
01:00:40
◼
►
I'll start handing things off and I'll retire because, you know, and it's possible that it
01:00:46
◼
►
was the other way where it was like, at this point, Jeff, we don't want you to be that
01:00:49
◼
►
guy, but it's possible.
01:00:51
◼
►
I kind of have a hard time seeing that because he's been, I mean, he is the perfect like
01:00:55
◼
►
emergency swap, hot swap for Tim.
01:00:58
◼
►
I think he really is, but he's about also about the same age as Tim.
01:01:01
◼
►
This is the problem.
01:01:02
◼
►
So, um, I, I think some version of that may have been part of this, which is like, essentially
01:01:08
◼
►
like if you're him and you're starting to think about retirement, you, you don't want to be
01:01:12
◼
►
the hot swap for Tim because you don't want to be like, cause they're going to want you
01:01:17
◼
►
to stay right.
01:01:18
◼
►
You're going to need to stabilize things and then, and find somebody to be the successor.
01:01:22
◼
►
And if you don't want to be there for more than a few years, I mean, the last thing,
01:01:26
◼
►
if I was thinking I'm about ready to retire and I'm going to, I got my, I got my money
01:01:30
◼
►
from all that Apple stock and I'm going to spend time with my grandkids.
01:01:33
◼
►
And then Tim Cook gets hit by a bus and, and, and they're like, okay, five more years of
01:01:40
◼
►
the grind of being CEO of Apple during trying times.
01:01:44
◼
►
And you're like, nope, not interested.
01:01:48
◼
►
Cause I wouldn't be surprised to like on that, that if you are, if you agree to be in the succession
01:01:53
◼
►
plan in that scenario, there is surely a minimum time that you have to commit to.
01:02:00
◼
►
And you, and, and you need to communicate it and be a responsible person and say, I'm no
01:02:04
◼
►
longer willing to commit to being a bridge CEO for five years or whatever.
01:02:07
◼
►
It's like, I'm, I'm out the door.
01:02:09
◼
►
So let's end this.
01:02:11
◼
►
And I think I, you know, whether that was him initiated or it was just practical or whatever
01:02:16
◼
►
it was, I think it's more likely that that's the case.
01:02:19
◼
►
It is possible that they're like, all right, we're, we're, we're updating the succession
01:02:23
◼
►
But I mean, the way, the way German describes it and he clearly, because of his various org
01:02:27
◼
►
charts and things that he's done over the years, he clearly has some, some, uh, view into what's
01:02:32
◼
►
going on here.
01:02:32
◼
►
It's not like a crystal clear view, but he has some view into it.
01:02:35
◼
►
He said now the, in case of emergency break glass is a group.
01:02:43
◼
►
Now it's going to be a bunch of people.
01:02:45
◼
►
It's going to be, um, jaws and it's going to be, uh, um, Deirdre.
01:02:52
◼
►
And it would now be subbed to.
01:02:56
◼
►
And they would be like a, a management team as somebody who's had their CEO fired and, and
01:03:03
◼
►
they, and had no replacement.
01:03:05
◼
►
That's what we had to do is we had a little management team and they kind of like kept it
01:03:11
◼
►
And was there a point person?
01:03:12
◼
►
Of course, there's going to be somebody who talks to the board, but you might not even have
01:03:15
◼
►
an interim CEO.
01:03:16
◼
►
You might have like an interim management team that would do that in the meantime.
01:03:20
◼
►
And that's just in case.
01:03:22
◼
►
Now the next question is, okay, what's the succession plan long-term now?
01:03:27
◼
►
And I think we don't have a lot of vision into this other than the fact that Mark Herman keeps
01:03:32
◼
►
saying that John Ternus is thought of as being the best candidate here.
01:03:35
◼
►
I think it's interesting that, you know, ultimately the board decides that, but what I would say
01:03:40
◼
►
is, I feel like the board is, is we talked about this last week a little bit.
01:03:45
◼
►
I feel like the board is a, a, um, they're an independent board, but they're not really,
01:03:50
◼
►
they, they, they get it.
01:03:52
◼
►
They want to do what Tim wants to do.
01:03:53
◼
►
They're, they're in synergy.
01:03:55
◼
►
They're not in opposition to each other.
01:03:56
◼
►
I have a hard time imagining that the way, unless it's unwilling because of health or whatever,
01:04:02
◼
►
I feel like it's Tim becomes executive chairman of the board and the board names a replacement
01:04:09
◼
►
and it's going to be part of the plan.
01:04:11
◼
►
And it's, it's not going to be like, Oh, the board doesn't like John Ternus.
01:04:14
◼
►
That's not how it's going to work.
01:04:16
◼
►
No, that essentially like, like whoever Tim says, I recommend such and such person.
01:04:23
◼
►
I recommend John Ternus to become my replacement.
01:04:26
◼
►
The board would go.
01:04:28
◼
►
Like they're not going to say, no, we're going to hire, we're going to hire somebody from,
01:04:31
◼
►
you know, over there.
01:04:32
◼
►
We're going to hire a vice president from Microsoft instead.
01:04:35
◼
►
Like unless things dramatically change in the next few years, that's not going to happen.
01:04:41
◼
►
So going back to the impact, um, of Williams departure, there are the teams that he is going
01:04:49
◼
►
to continue to manage, which as of right now, we do not have that much visibility into what's
01:04:55
◼
►
going to happen, right?
01:04:56
◼
►
We know what's happening to the COO role because that's happening basically imminently.
01:05:01
◼
►
It's basically happened already, but we, but I have a question about the design team though.
01:05:06
◼
►
We'll come back to that.
01:05:06
◼
►
Yeah, but it's in the, but it's in the press release.
01:05:08
◼
►
The rest of it is not in the press release.
01:05:10
◼
►
It says the design team will report to Tim Cook directly, but like, what does that mean?
01:05:15
◼
►
We don't know.
01:05:16
◼
►
So Mark Gurman points out that currently you would, it would be considered to be Alan Dye
01:05:23
◼
►
and Molly Anderson reporting directly to Tim, essentially in the, in the post I've, no, actually in
01:05:31
◼
►
the Johnny Ive structure of there being the chief design officer.
01:05:36
◼
►
And then we have head of hardware, head of software reporting to Johnny reporting to Tim, you now
01:05:42
◼
►
remove Johnny from that part because what Gurman says is that currently it is not like this where
01:05:50
◼
►
it's two people reporting into Williams.
01:05:53
◼
►
There are a bunch of people that were right into Williams.
01:05:56
◼
►
They do not, they, they, they undid that work of like, we have head of, even though they still
01:06:03
◼
►
exist, but it was like, it became a point where everything flowed into those two and then up.
01:06:08
◼
►
So that's untenable, obviously.
01:06:11
◼
►
Um, they need some design leadership.
01:06:14
◼
►
They, they know, like there may be reasons why having two design leaders doesn't make sense
01:06:19
◼
►
because there are parts of it that, uh, that, uh, you know, Alan Dye shouldn't be in charge
01:06:25
◼
►
of for whatever reason.
01:06:26
◼
►
Um, there's also a personality issue, right?
01:06:31
◼
►
Like if you value somebody, but by moving them under somebody else, they're going to feel
01:06:37
◼
►
like they got a demotion and you want to keep them.
01:06:40
◼
►
Maybe you say, you know, well, Alan Dye reports to Tim, but functionally there's a dotted line
01:06:49
◼
►
to Craig, for example.
01:06:51
◼
►
And, um, what Molly Anderson, uh, reports to Tim, but there's a dotted line to John Ternus.
01:07:00
◼
►
And you do that for a while.
01:07:02
◼
►
Uh, it, it, you know, it's hard to pick this apart from the outside cause it has to do with
01:07:06
◼
►
personalities and, uh, how it's structured functionally.
01:07:10
◼
►
Um, but this has been a, this has been an issue where they don't, they do not have a design
01:07:16
◼
►
I would argue that they don't necessarily need a single design leader because you could argue
01:07:20
◼
►
that the merging of the, all the design under Johnny Ive was actually kind of an act of desperation.
01:07:27
◼
►
Um, and that they don't need to do it that way necessarily.
01:07:30
◼
►
But, um, what about the rest?
01:07:32
◼
►
What about the rest of stuff that, that he's doing?
01:07:34
◼
►
I will just say, I do think it's wild that nobody from design is considered a leadership
01:07:42
◼
►
in a leadership role that that should change for Apple specifically.
01:07:46
◼
►
I'm not saying it could be one person.
01:07:48
◼
►
It could be both of them, but the fact that there's nobody in hardware or software design
01:07:54
◼
►
on the leadership page, the word design does not exist on the leadership page.
01:07:58
◼
►
Makes no sense to me.
01:08:00
◼
►
It doesn't make any sense at all.
01:08:02
◼
►
Considering even before Johnny became chief design officer, he was always on this page.
01:08:08
◼
►
Always as like a SVP or whatever his role was.
01:08:12
◼
►
He was always on this page and Apple is a design company, like essentially at their core.
01:08:18
◼
►
And like, it's, it's very strange that they don't have this.
01:08:21
◼
►
This would be the perfect time to do this, whether they bring someone else in who becomes
01:08:25
◼
►
the interface to Tim or they promote people to, to, you know, or whatever.
01:08:30
◼
►
I think they should absolutely do this.
01:08:32
◼
►
This is the right time to do this.
01:08:33
◼
►
But then we have watch and health.
01:08:37
◼
►
I don't know.
01:08:39
◼
►
I mean, it's likely that they split them, I guess.
01:08:42
◼
►
What German said is watch is already essentially under John Ternus.
01:08:50
◼
►
And they said health will probably go to the, I think they said like to, to Eddie for health,
01:08:56
◼
►
for fitness plus.
01:08:57
◼
►
And like, you could see where they're going to go.
01:09:00
◼
►
And the, I mean, this is one of those interesting challenges where you have these areas that are
01:09:04
◼
►
squired by particular executives.
01:09:06
◼
►
executives because they're like up and coming, new, weird.
01:09:09
◼
►
And an executive is like, I'll take it.
01:09:11
◼
►
And that's, that's what Jeff Williams did.
01:09:14
◼
►
And now they've got to give those to other people, but they're also more mature now.
01:09:18
◼
►
So like if fitness plus doesn't already belong to Eddie, of course it should belong to Eddie.
01:09:22
◼
►
And if Apple watch doesn't already belong to John Ternus, of course it should belong to John
01:09:28
◼
►
Like they'll, they'll scatter it out.
01:09:30
◼
►
I have a hard time with, did you say that the health team that is led by that doctor who we always see
01:09:36
◼
►
that she's going to report to Eddie?
01:09:39
◼
►
Is that true?
01:09:40
◼
►
Cause like, that's a, that's an odd couple waiting to happen.
01:09:44
◼
►
I mean, Eddie and the doctor.
01:09:46
◼
►
Someone's got to report to someone, right?
01:09:50
◼
►
That's how, that's how it has to be.
01:09:53
◼
►
Unless she's recording, unless she's reporting to Tim.
01:09:55
◼
►
But this is what I find strange, right?
01:09:58
◼
►
Like if it was working so well with Jeff, like why are we, why are we like infinity stone
01:10:03
◼
►
splitting this up in this way?
01:10:05
◼
►
They don't want to loan sub, well, two reasons.
01:10:07
◼
►
They don't want to load Sebi Khan up with this stuff.
01:10:09
◼
►
It's the same reason that they didn't load the new CFO up with all of Lucas responsibilities.
01:10:13
◼
►
And the other thing is just functionally, they weren't roles of the COO.
01:10:17
◼
►
They were roles that Jeff Williams took on in addition to his COO role, because like I
01:10:23
◼
►
said, it was an up and coming thing.
01:10:25
◼
►
Somebody needed to shepherd it along and there, and, and, uh, Jeff was like, I'm, I'm interested
01:10:30
◼
►
Or they saddled him with it, depending on how you want to read it.
01:10:33
◼
►
You're stuck with a watch, Jeff.
01:10:34
◼
►
All right, fine.
01:10:35
◼
►
Whatever it is.
01:10:36
◼
►
Um, probably not that, but you never know.
01:10:39
◼
►
So I think that's, what's going on is it's actually a logical understanding that a brand
01:10:43
◼
►
new CFO COO doesn't need to be loaded down with everything.
01:10:49
◼
►
And by doing these slow transitions, you get to let the existing person help the new person
01:10:57
◼
►
with their job when necessary, have the institutional knowledge.
01:11:01
◼
►
Also then on their way out the door, if they're going out the door, get the rest of it handed
01:11:07
◼
►
off in ways that make sense to other places.
01:11:09
◼
►
Because again, you know, I think the stuff that wasn't COO job that Jeff Williams was doing,
01:11:15
◼
►
you know, the right way to think of that is those were also jobs.
01:11:19
◼
►
Jeff Williams did not that those were the jobs of the COO.
01:11:22
◼
►
Dr. Sambal Desai.
01:11:25
◼
►
Well, if she, she reports to Eddie, that will be a sitcom waiting to happen.
01:11:30
◼
►
She essentially runs the health, you see it, right?
01:11:33
◼
►
Like it's easy to see who runs the teams to say who presents, right?
01:11:37
◼
►
And so that you see the, in the keynotes, especially in the iPhone keynote and WWDC to an extent
01:11:42
◼
►
too, you see the management structure, like it's on display, right?
01:11:46
◼
►
Tim hands to Jeff, Jeff hands to Dr. Desai, right?
01:11:51
◼
►
Like you, it's happening in front of your eyes, right?
01:11:53
◼
►
Like it's how it goes.
01:11:55
◼
►
But we're going to go to Eddie now.
01:11:57
◼
►
Eddie hands over to John, turn this, turn this, hands over to Federighi.
01:12:01
◼
►
Federighi goes back to Tim.
01:12:03
◼
►
We get Alan Dye pops out of a bush.
01:12:05
◼
►
Like what's going on over there?
01:12:07
◼
►
Like I really, I know that this is, this has been a thing forever, right?
01:12:11
◼
►
Like the, the way that Apple kind of functions and structures its management teams.
01:12:15
◼
►
I think that, I think they need a bit of help because it seems like at the moment,
01:12:19
◼
►
just everything goes to either John or Federighi.
01:12:23
◼
►
This is, this is probably part of what German is saying, which is they need a reset.
01:12:30
◼
►
They need to structure this in a way that makes more sense because I do get the sense that over
01:12:34
◼
►
the years they're rolling, they're making lots of money.
01:12:37
◼
►
Nobody's going to question it.
01:12:38
◼
►
And you have, look, I've been there.
01:12:41
◼
►
You may have seen this too.
01:12:42
◼
►
You have an org chart, but then you know who in the org chart is great at X.
01:12:49
◼
►
And honestly, good companies don't give X to somebody who is bad at it.
01:12:58
◼
►
If there's somebody else in the organization who's good at it, a good company is like, I'm
01:13:03
◼
►
going to have you do this because you're really good at it.
01:13:05
◼
►
And maybe the other person is like, well, shouldn't that be mine?
01:13:07
◼
►
It's like, you got to be, you got to be like, no, this, this is the right person to do that.
01:13:11
◼
►
You, you keep doing what you're good at and, and we're not going to give this to you.
01:13:15
◼
►
And that can rub people the wrong way, but I think it's a, a healthy thing to identify
01:13:19
◼
►
the people who are the right people to do the job.
01:13:22
◼
►
And, but, but the more you do that, the more weird and broken your org chart gets right where
01:13:28
◼
►
you've got dotted lines and things that are like, it's over here, but it's over there.
01:13:31
◼
►
And it's like, why is, you know, why does Phil, Phil Schiller's in charge of the app
01:13:35
◼
►
store, for example?
01:13:36
◼
►
And the answer is because Eddie kind of didn't care about the app store and developer relations
01:13:40
◼
►
and it was a mess.
01:13:40
◼
►
And they're like, and Phil was like, okay, I'll fix it.
01:13:43
◼
►
And he went in there.
01:13:44
◼
►
Like it was no logical reason for him to do it.
01:13:46
◼
►
It was just like, Phil should probably do it.
01:13:48
◼
►
And now that he's not the, the SVP of comms, he's still doing that job because he's cares
01:13:54
◼
►
about it and he's good at it.
01:13:56
◼
►
So the challenge is that, that, that organizational rot happens and it, and it's, it's look, rot
01:14:02
◼
►
is probably too pejorative.
01:14:03
◼
►
That organizational complexity happens for good reasons, but it does mean that, especially as
01:14:09
◼
►
people leave, you look, it's like a design.
01:14:11
◼
►
And it's like what I said about any design, design start out really sensible and logical.
01:14:15
◼
►
And then over the course of years, you keep patching them.
01:14:19
◼
►
And then you look at it 10 years on and you're like, what are we even doing here?
01:14:22
◼
►
And you have to throw it away.
01:14:23
◼
►
And that I think is where they are headed with their org chart is you kind of got to throw
01:14:26
◼
►
it away and figure out a new way to go.
01:14:29
◼
►
That makes sense.
01:14:30
◼
►
Cause you got new people coming in, doing different jobs with different skill sets.
01:14:33
◼
►
And, and that goes right up to the top.
01:14:35
◼
►
Like ultimately if somebody like John Ternus, who is more product from a product background
01:14:41
◼
►
instead of an ops background takes over his CEO.
01:14:44
◼
►
Like I read somebody said, it might've been German.
01:14:47
◼
►
Like there's a concern of like, oh, but you know, if he's CEO, then he's going to have to
01:14:52
◼
►
rely on somebody else for all the ops stuff.
01:14:54
◼
►
It's like, well, of course, Tim Cook has to rely on people for the product stuff because
01:14:59
◼
►
it's not his thing.
01:14:59
◼
►
But what that means is the CEO defines the CEO job in a way, and that changes the roles
01:15:06
◼
►
of everybody else.
01:15:07
◼
►
So if you're, if you're going to be moving to a CEO transition and you've got a bunch of
01:15:10
◼
►
other new people coming in, it's a good time for a little bit of a reset because new CEO
01:15:16
◼
►
might need much more specific work from the COO that Tim, for example, doesn't need because
01:15:23
◼
►
Tim kind of gets it.
01:15:24
◼
►
And that, and like, and then the product group becomes a little bit different if it's a more
01:15:28
◼
►
product brand CEO.
01:15:30
◼
►
But, but yeah, it does.
01:15:32
◼
►
It does feel like that.
01:15:33
◼
►
But that, that is why I, I, I continue to raise so many questions about the design part.
01:15:38
◼
►
Tim didn't want to do that, right?
01:15:40
◼
►
He did not want to oversee design.
01:15:42
◼
►
So it got moved around to Jeff, right?
01:15:45
◼
►
It was Johnny, right?
01:15:47
◼
►
And then moved.
01:15:47
◼
►
Well, that wasn't, that wasn't because Tim didn't want to do it.
01:15:49
◼
►
That was because they needed to have Johnny fly on the flag.
01:15:52
◼
►
What I mean is it was not, it was not his thing.
01:15:54
◼
►
It was never his thing.
01:15:55
◼
►
Clearly, right?
01:15:56
◼
►
Like they, they elevated Johnny, I think to the point where it was like, well, now we're
01:16:00
◼
►
just equals in this room, right?
01:16:02
◼
►
Cause like, I don't want to oversee you.
01:16:03
◼
►
And then Jeff oversaw the design team.
01:16:05
◼
►
So like now it's going back to Tim, but like, I don't think that's what I'm not.
01:16:09
◼
►
That's why I questioned.
01:16:10
◼
►
It's a hot potato.
01:16:11
◼
►
As to whether it is as simple as it, as it appears on paper right now.
01:16:14
◼
►
And I would say, yeah, I, I would say it may be happening because of personalities.
01:16:20
◼
►
You know, if Alan Dye says, I'm not reporting to Tim, to, to Craig Federighi, I want to report
01:16:27
◼
►
And they want to keep Alan Dye.
01:16:29
◼
►
That's when you're like, okay, you report to Tim, but if there's a dotted line to Craig
01:16:33
◼
►
and you got to talk to Craig and he's like, okay, I'll do that.
01:16:34
◼
►
But it's like, some people are like that.
01:16:36
◼
►
I'm not saying he's like that.
01:16:37
◼
►
I don't know him, but like some people are like that where it's like, I don't, I never
01:16:41
◼
►
really understood this, but like, it's the, I care more about the appearance than about
01:16:46
◼
►
the actuality.
01:16:46
◼
►
It's like, I want to be seen as reporting to Tim.
01:16:48
◼
►
It gives me, you know, a lot of, you know, reputation that I gain.
01:16:53
◼
►
And yeah, I know day to day I'm working for Craig, but, uh, I report to Tim and like some
01:16:59
◼
►
people that stuff matters.
01:17:01
◼
►
I, it never mattered to me, but I realized I learned as a manager that for some people,
01:17:06
◼
►
the optics and the, like the, a lot of their self-worth maybe, or how they, they cared about
01:17:11
◼
►
how others viewed them.
01:17:13
◼
►
They would do stuff like that.
01:17:14
◼
►
So some of that may be going on, but I agree with you.
01:17:16
◼
►
Like in the long run, if you don't have a company design chief, which I, I don't think
01:17:23
◼
►
they've got one like, right.
01:17:24
◼
►
Like Johnny, even Johnny Ive, you could have argued probably shouldn't have been charged
01:17:27
◼
►
of all of it, but, uh, I think they certainly don't have anybody like that now that what
01:17:32
◼
►
you really ultimately need to do is come up with some design leadership and have them report
01:17:37
◼
►
to more relevant parts or, or you name a couple of them SVPs and have them report to Tim.
01:17:45
◼
►
That's the other way you could go.
01:17:46
◼
►
But really like something needs to happen there.
01:17:48
◼
►
And it's again, just to bring this all back around, it smells to me like this is a structure
01:17:54
◼
►
that has been, that is organically evolved based on the people involved.
01:17:58
◼
►
And it doesn't really make a lot of sense in some cases, but then once you pull people
01:18:02
◼
►
out, you end up asking the question like, well, now what?
01:18:06
◼
►
Because now the structure doesn't make sense at all.
01:18:08
◼
►
And they seem to be going through some of that right now.
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01:20:24
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So there were more executive changes, Apple, that came out this week.
01:20:28
◼
►
Meta in its hiring spree that is going on right now.
01:20:32
◼
►
There's a lot of this going on in the AI world at the moment, but Meta is doing it to staff
01:20:37
◼
►
up by, I think, their super intelligence division.
01:20:39
◼
►
They have hired Roaming Pang away from Apple.
01:20:43
◼
►
Pang was in charge of developing Apple's foundation models for Apple intelligence and has apparently
01:20:48
◼
►
been offered a compensation package worth more than $200 million to go to Meta.
01:20:54
◼
►
According to Mark Gurman, Pang ran a team of 100 people that have been working on Apple
01:20:59
◼
►
intelligence models that power the features that are currently working on devices and was
01:21:03
◼
►
also working on a new version of Siri, the one that Apple is currently unsure as to what
01:21:09
◼
►
direction they will go with.
01:21:10
◼
►
Whether they use that or will they get another model from somewhere else.
01:21:14
◼
►
I wonder if Pang saw the writing on the wall or was just annoyed or wanted $200 million.
01:21:24
◼
►
I mean, everybody's talking about the $200 million, but it's over time and it's in stock
01:21:29
◼
►
and you've got to stay in Meta and it's got to be successful and all that, but still it's
01:21:33
◼
►
a lot of money.
01:21:33
◼
►
But if you only get like 10% of $200 million, you're fine as well, you know?
01:21:37
◼
►
So a couple of things here.
01:21:41
◼
►
Gurman reports that Pang was frustrated by Apple and some of the decisions they made, including
01:21:49
◼
►
their decisions about privacy, which I think is very funny, right?
01:21:52
◼
►
Maybe Meta is a better fit because they don't care about privacy.
01:21:55
◼
►
I think Apple not...
01:22:01
◼
►
Apple didn't counter here.
01:22:04
◼
►
And that part of me thinks Apple doesn't believe...
01:22:10
◼
►
Like because Apple's got the money, but on the one hand, Apple may be like, that is not
01:22:14
◼
►
how we pay people because Apple is sometimes very cheap with who they pay and how they pay
01:22:19
◼
►
Or maybe Apple thought, you know, that they didn't actually like this guy, right?
01:22:26
◼
►
You can't say.
01:22:27
◼
►
I mean, nobody's going to say, but like sometimes you let people leave because it's not working
01:22:34
◼
►
I mean, and there is some evidence that would suggest that, right?
01:22:38
◼
►
I mean, yeah.
01:22:39
◼
►
The way Gurman puts it, and I almost want to say spins it because I wonder if this is stuff
01:22:46
◼
►
that's coming from people who are on Pang's side here.
01:22:52
◼
►
It's more like a story that him and his poor team were kind of not really treated well by
01:22:59
◼
►
Apple and didn't let them do all the wonderful things they were going to do.
01:23:03
◼
►
And so it makes sense that he would leave and he'll probably take people on his team with
01:23:07
◼
►
Okay, maybe, but we also know what Apple has done with their models.
01:23:12
◼
►
And it's not a great story.
01:23:14
◼
►
And so making it that it's a policy decision or it's about Apple's commitment to privacy,
01:23:19
◼
►
like that may be true or it may be a story you tell as you are exiting to go take a big
01:23:26
◼
►
payday somewhere else.
01:23:27
◼
►
And my point is just if the team was not perceived as doing a good job and he was not perceived
01:23:34
◼
►
as being worth spending an enormous amount of money to keep and beyond what you'd pay him
01:23:40
◼
►
because then you need to pay everybody else more too, probably, right?
01:23:42
◼
►
It would raise the compensation for everybody.
01:23:46
◼
►
You know, you could, letting them walk could mean you, you have a dysfunctional AI organization
01:23:54
◼
►
that doesn't value the people who are building the next generation of models, or it could mean
01:23:59
◼
►
that you're not particularly impressed with your AI group that is generating models, right?
01:24:03
◼
►
Like it could mean either of those things.
01:24:05
◼
►
I don't know.
01:24:08
◼
►
I wonder as well, you know, saying about the team, was this the team that was denied graphics
01:24:12
◼
►
cards, you know, like maybe, maybe, maybe so, maybe so.
01:24:17
◼
►
I mean, I, I, I think it's perfectly understandable that, that, that a team focused on this stuff
01:24:22
◼
►
might feel, uh, not, not being not made important at Apple.
01:24:29
◼
►
Obviously we know the history that Apple kind of like poo-pooed a lot of, uh, especially
01:24:34
◼
►
LLMs early on.
01:24:35
◼
►
Um, and then they were scrambling to catch up.
01:24:39
◼
►
And so maybe they didn't feel valued at Apple.
01:24:41
◼
►
Um, maybe Apple's culture is a bad fit for this sort of approach.
01:24:45
◼
►
Uh, and I mean, I, I just don't know.
01:24:48
◼
►
I just don't know.
01:24:49
◼
►
I, I, more and more, I think about it.
01:24:51
◼
►
I think that there are, that Apple's approach to AI research is different than the people
01:24:59
◼
►
who are like on the super cutting edge of wanting to build LLMs.
01:25:02
◼
►
Cause I feel like Apple focusing a little more on on-device models and making those as good
01:25:08
◼
►
as possible.
01:25:09
◼
►
And then going out to those cloud models is probably, it's a way forward.
01:25:15
◼
►
Also, if Apple's thinking that they're just going to buy an AI company, then
01:25:18
◼
►
they've, they've sort of written off, like we're going to spend money on some, on, on
01:25:24
◼
►
mistral or something.
01:25:25
◼
►
And, and so we don't, you know, this group is going to just kind of fade away or get integrated.
01:25:29
◼
►
Then you would also let them leave.
01:25:31
◼
►
So, I mean, something is going on here for sure.
01:25:33
◼
►
Um, but I, I just, I want to point out cause it's so easy to portray this as being a loss
01:25:39
◼
►
for Apple and it might be, it might be.
01:25:43
◼
►
Although I would say if he feels unappreciated and not listened to, then
01:25:48
◼
►
they're not using him anyway.
01:25:50
◼
►
Um, and also that they let him go says something because if he's really incredibly vital, they
01:25:59
◼
►
could have, they could have matched them or maybe he's so frustrated that they couldn't
01:26:04
◼
►
have matched him.
01:26:05
◼
►
I don't know.
01:26:05
◼
►
I just don't know, but it could be, it could be either one.
01:26:08
◼
►
No matter what the scenario is, I think this is bad for Apple.
01:26:13
◼
►
Like I, I, if this person was really good, it's bad that you've lost the talent.
01:26:18
◼
►
If they weren't really good, why were they leading the team?
01:26:21
◼
►
So like, I, I, I don't see a scenario really where this can be spun as a, as a, as a good
01:26:27
◼
►
Well, no, I would say if they weren't really good and, and this goes all the way up to
01:26:31
◼
►
John G and Andrea, you hire them because you thought they were good.
01:26:33
◼
►
And then you look at what they produced and you think we're not impressed and that might
01:26:38
◼
►
be fair or unfair, but that happens all the time.
01:26:41
◼
►
This person's in a position of people in position of leadership aren't always good.
01:26:47
◼
►
You find out that they're not good.
01:26:48
◼
►
And then, and then maybe you get rid of them.
01:26:50
◼
►
Apples are often very bad at that.
01:26:52
◼
►
Or maybe you just let them leave.
01:26:54
◼
►
I've definitely had situations where I've had employees that were like, okay, but not that
01:26:57
◼
►
And they're like, oh, I got another job offer and it's good luck to you.
01:27:02
◼
►
And you don't like, we're not going to try to keep you.
01:27:04
◼
►
You, you should go somewhere else.
01:27:05
◼
►
So I, but I agree.
01:27:07
◼
►
I think that either, either way it shows some dysfunction, you know, a level of dysfunction
01:27:14
◼
►
And if Apple is trying to hold on to talent to build new models that are better, and this
01:27:19
◼
►
was talent that they wanted to hold on to, it's a bad sign because he'll take people with
01:27:24
◼
►
You know, he'll take, he'll take people with him and they'll lose those people.
01:27:27
◼
►
Well, especially metal, metal trying to build a new team.
01:27:30
◼
►
And I can, I do imagine too, that like whoever hired this person at meta is not stupid.
01:27:35
◼
►
Like, like there's a reason that you would pay this amount of money for this person.
01:27:38
◼
►
That would just be my assumption, not because they were leading Apple, but like for another
01:27:43
◼
►
reason, like that they are a mind, uh, which is good.
01:27:47
◼
►
And, and, and then other people are going to come along with, although boy, that line about,
01:27:52
◼
►
uh, frustrated by Apple's commitment to privacy, I think it's fascinating where it's like,
01:27:55
◼
►
you know, that's a good question.
01:27:58
◼
►
Like, are you going to be able to get the best AI researchers if you've got Apple's commitment
01:28:02
◼
►
to privacy at the same time, does Apple want models that are built by people who don't
01:28:07
◼
►
care about privacy?
01:28:08
◼
►
I don't, I'm not sure they do, but that's a boy.
01:28:12
◼
►
This is, this is why Jeff Williams is, uh, polishing up his golf clubs.
01:28:16
◼
►
Let's finish up with some ask upgrade questions today.
01:28:20
◼
►
Craig writes in and says, Mike, I know that you went with the standard pro phone instead
01:28:26
◼
►
of the pro max this year.
01:28:27
◼
►
For a lot of it was baby related, but I'm curious how it's worked out for you.
01:28:31
◼
►
Do you miss the larger phone while not holding the baby?
01:28:33
◼
►
Do you regret not going pro max?
01:28:35
◼
►
No, I absolutely made the right decision moving to the pro.
01:28:38
◼
►
I think at the exact right time as the pro got a little bit bigger, so I didn't lose as
01:28:43
◼
►
Um, the only thing I will say is that I noticed the battery life more now than I did when I
01:28:51
◼
►
was using the pro max, um, I cannot get through a day of usual use without charging at some
01:28:58
◼
►
Um, so that's, that is the only thing that I've noticed, but it's very achievable for me in
01:29:03
◼
►
my life to be able to get the charge that I need at some point during the day.
01:29:07
◼
►
Um, but I am very, very happy with you get the pro phone and, and I, I would not want
01:29:13
◼
►
to go to a larger screen again.
01:29:17
◼
►
We'll, but you know, with question mark of don't know how big the iPhone air is going to
01:29:22
◼
►
be and, or I don't know if that's the phone I'm going to want, but, um, I can't imagine
01:29:26
◼
►
wanting to go back to the biggest phone again.
01:29:30
◼
►
Tom writes in and says, I've been wearing an Apple watch since day one, but I am increasingly
01:29:34
◼
►
frustrated by the lack of watch face options.
01:29:37
◼
►
I recently enabled live activities on my watch and found that the swipe up slash live
01:29:41
◼
►
activity screen.
01:29:42
◼
►
This is the smart stack is what Tom's referring to is a great layout for me with a, but it's
01:29:47
◼
►
one you cannot replicate of any watch face.
01:29:49
◼
►
Uh, anyway, are they ever going to fix the watch face situation on watchOS at Apple?
01:29:54
◼
►
I don't know.
01:29:56
◼
►
I don't know.
01:29:57
◼
►
I thought that we would be further along 10 years in, honestly, I like the, I like the
01:30:01
◼
►
smart stack.
01:30:02
◼
►
I really do like it.
01:30:03
◼
►
Um, and I have watch faces that I like too.
01:30:06
◼
►
I liked the Siri watch face when, when that came out, right?
01:30:09
◼
►
Like that's, that's kind of what this is.
01:30:11
◼
►
Which was basically what the smart stack is.
01:30:13
◼
►
Uh, my feeling on it is, uh, I'm not confident that Apple will make the decisions that they
01:30:20
◼
►
should be making with watch, with, with watch faces.
01:30:22
◼
►
Like it feels like they are unwilling to put in the big efforts that are needed to make
01:30:29
◼
►
watches, what faces better and more adaptable.
01:30:31
◼
►
I mean, we go back to what you were complaining about, uh, when the new watches came out, right?
01:30:36
◼
►
That like we have these always on displays that can show a secondhand moving consistently, but
01:30:42
◼
►
they didn't update any of the previous watch faces to do that.
01:30:46
◼
►
I don't know if they've done this in watchOS 26.
01:30:47
◼
►
I'm assuming that they haven't.
01:30:49
◼
►
Uh, if anybody knows that that is the case, please let me know, but I doubt it.
01:30:53
◼
►
The, uh, watchOS 26 ticks every second.
01:30:56
◼
►
On all of them?
01:30:58
◼
►
Uh, that's my understanding.
01:31:00
◼
►
So they did fix it.
01:31:03
◼
►
Why have you not been shouting about this?
01:31:04
◼
►
Cause I have not installed the beta on my watch.
01:31:08
◼
►
It's the one place where I don't have a beta and I'm not going to do it until I see it for
01:31:12
◼
►
my own self.
01:31:12
◼
►
Well, here you go.
01:31:13
◼
►
Breaking news.
01:31:14
◼
►
They fixed Jason's problem.
01:31:16
◼
►
So there you go.
01:31:17
◼
►
I'm pleased that they did that.
01:31:18
◼
►
They are willing to do that.
01:31:19
◼
►
It just took an entire year for them to update their, their faces.
01:31:22
◼
►
But they did it.
01:31:23
◼
►
So I, I, they showed me a level of willingness, which I'm happy.
01:31:27
◼
►
So smart stack, smart stack, if you've got a, you can set it so that when a live activity
01:31:32
◼
►
is active, your smart stack comes up instead of the watch face.
01:31:36
◼
►
And that feels to me like almost what Tom is saying here, which is you almost want to get
01:31:44
◼
►
in a scenario where you should just say, don't even bother showing me a watch face.
01:31:48
◼
►
Just show me the smart stack.
01:31:50
◼
►
Cause there's a clock in the smart stack.
01:31:52
◼
►
Um, wouldn't surprise me if that's an option at some point, but, uh, you can
01:31:57
◼
►
get it some of the time, at least I, I like having a nice watch face and I scroll for
01:32:03
◼
►
the smarts, uh, stack all the time now.
01:32:08
◼
►
I pretty much only use that in my Apple watch.
01:32:12
◼
►
I very seldom would go to the apps screen.
01:32:17
◼
►
Uh, cause I also have like one widget, which is like the three apps that I use the most.
01:32:22
◼
►
So if I want to get to messages, I just like scroll all the way down and I can open messages.
01:32:27
◼
►
Um, I think though, in general, everybody should just use the photos face.
01:32:31
◼
►
If you've not used the photos face that they introduced last year, um, you should try it.
01:32:37
◼
►
If you've used the photos face in the past, I was like, I don't want that.
01:32:41
◼
►
Trust me that it's so much better.
01:32:43
◼
►
Like the system that they have of using the photo shuffle mechanic to load images on a long-term
01:32:50
◼
►
My baby now shows up very frequently on all my devices, which I'm very happy about.
01:32:54
◼
►
So that it took like three months, but she now is very present on my watch faces.
01:33:01
◼
►
Um, everybody should use the photos face.
01:33:04
◼
►
You should just try it.
01:33:05
◼
►
If you haven't like, just, just let the system do its thing.
01:33:07
◼
►
It makes the Apple watch look really beautiful and you can get two complications there, which
01:33:12
◼
►
for me is more than enough.
01:33:13
◼
►
Like for just like looking at my watch.
01:33:16
◼
►
Most of the time I even want to know what is the time, the date, and for me the weather.
01:33:22
◼
►
And I get all of that.
01:33:23
◼
►
So, uh, but yeah, I, I, I cannot believe they haven't turned this over to developers.
01:33:29
◼
►
They should turn this over to developers because even if Apple put some level of investment in
01:33:34
◼
►
it, it's not enough.
01:33:35
◼
►
Uh, but I don't think they're going to do it in the same way that I don't imagine that
01:33:39
◼
►
they would ever turn over lock screen design to third parties, right?
01:33:46
◼
►
That's what Apple thinks the watch face is.
01:33:48
◼
►
They want to control that experience.
01:33:50
◼
►
Uh, I don't imagine them doing it at this point, but I still would like them to.
01:33:54
◼
►
It'd be nice.
01:33:56
◼
►
And Camille says, I finally started watching taskmaster with the latest series, series 19, and it's
01:34:02
◼
►
been brilliant so far.
01:34:03
◼
►
Now I want to go back and watch the rest of the show.
01:34:06
◼
►
Would you recommend starting all the way back with series one or should I go through the
01:34:10
◼
►
show backwards?
01:34:11
◼
►
Uh, you should start with the beginning.
01:34:15
◼
►
Not to, not, not to be John Syracuse on you, but like the show is the show, but the show
01:34:20
◼
►
dynamic evolves.
01:34:21
◼
►
And I think it's fun to watch it as it evolves.
01:34:24
◼
►
Also by doing it that way, there are sometimes references to previous things.
01:34:28
◼
►
Obviously they do every five seasons.
01:34:30
◼
►
They do the champion of champions where the five champions of the previous five seasons, then
01:34:35
◼
►
battle against each other to see who is the champion of champions.
01:34:39
◼
►
You would spoil every five seasons for yourself because you'd know who won them.
01:34:44
◼
►
So, so I, I think, you know, you could watch them in any order, but if they're all there,
01:34:49
◼
►
you should just start from the beginning because the show is the show.
01:34:52
◼
►
Like the show doesn't change a lot.
01:34:53
◼
►
You'll get to see, you know, um, uh, Greg and Alex's, um, relationship kind of change
01:35:00
◼
►
over time as they figure out sort of like the right way to do it.
01:35:04
◼
►
Um, but I would, I, you know, I think you should just go back from the beginning.
01:35:07
◼
►
They're all great.
01:35:07
◼
►
We rewatched a bunch of them recently.
01:35:09
◼
►
They're all great.
01:35:10
◼
►
You should totally do that.
01:35:11
◼
►
And then also I will say, um, taskmaster New Zealand is really good.
01:35:16
◼
►
And if you, if you get through all the UK taskmasters, check out taskmaster New Zealand.
01:35:21
◼
►
The Australian one is not bad.
01:35:22
◼
►
Um, but the New Zealand one is really good.
01:35:25
◼
►
And the assistant on New Zealand is, uh, I would say just as good as Alex.
01:35:29
◼
►
So yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:35:31
◼
►
It's really good.
01:35:31
◼
►
I think like the first 10 seasons, especially just, just incredible.
01:35:35
◼
►
Uh, it lost me a little bit, uh, in the last few seasons, but we just started watching season
01:35:40
◼
►
19 cause I've, I've only heard incredible things and it is incredible.
01:35:45
◼
►
Like we're like three episodes in and it's like, oh, this is an all timer.
01:35:48
◼
►
It's a great season.
01:35:50
◼
►
There were some of the more recent seasons for whatever reason.
01:35:53
◼
►
They just haven't done it for me.
01:35:55
◼
►
Uh, seasons, season 16 has, has Sam Campbell in it.
01:35:59
◼
►
One of my all time favorite contestants.
01:36:01
◼
►
It's such a great season and season 18 has Andy Zaltzman, who is also hilarious.
01:36:08
◼
►
Oh, I watched season 16.
01:36:10
◼
►
I loved season 16, uh, but yeah, I haven't watched all of them, but yeah, I watched this
01:36:15
◼
►
Sam Campbell was incredible.
01:36:18
◼
►
Uh, one of my favorite contestants of all time, there was no fielding because yeah, yeah.
01:36:25
◼
►
His, his, his athleticism was, was surprising, surprising.
01:36:30
◼
►
Yeah, exactly.
01:36:31
◼
►
There's some, you should go back and watch it all.
01:36:33
◼
►
Uh, it's very available no matter where you are in the world, right?
01:36:36
◼
►
Like if you're in the UK, you can watch it all on four OD, uh, which is an ad supported
01:36:40
◼
►
free streaming service, but you can remove ads.
01:36:43
◼
►
In the U in the U S you can watch it on YouTube and anywhere in the world.
01:36:47
◼
►
You can watch, I think it's called taskmaster super max plus they put all the names in it
01:36:53
◼
►
where you can just, you can give them some money and watch the show.
01:36:56
◼
►
It's a very, very fun, very, very fun, uh, show.
01:36:59
◼
►
Uh, we were talking about it last night, which in the episode, I was just like, this show
01:37:03
◼
►
is so cheap to produce.
01:37:04
◼
►
They've really lucked out.
01:37:05
◼
►
Like they found an incredible format that is very repeatable.
01:37:10
◼
►
They obviously own that property.
01:37:12
◼
►
And like they invested in buying that little house somewhere.
01:37:16
◼
►
God knows where it's in Chiswick.
01:37:19
◼
►
It's, um, by a golf course and they didn't, they didn't buy it.
01:37:24
◼
►
And that means that, uh, they real, this, the, this came up when they were, I think they
01:37:29
◼
►
were on, on Seth Meyers because Seth Meyers is a fan and they said, um, no, they don't own
01:37:36
◼
►
And once taskmaster became a hit, um, the, the, the rent went up and they're spending a huge
01:37:43
◼
►
amount of money to rent that place because they know that they can't let it go.
01:37:47
◼
►
Oh, that's, that's not smart, but I guess they didn't know it was going to be a success.
01:37:52
◼
►
They didn't know.
01:37:52
◼
►
And now they can't let it go.
01:37:54
◼
►
And if you're wondering where it is, by the way, if you go to Google maps and search
01:37:57
◼
►
for taskmaster house, you will find it.
01:37:59
◼
►
It's literally in there.
01:38:01
◼
►
They need to buy it.
01:38:02
◼
►
Like I know it's not necessarily an easy thing, but maybe, and maybe, maybe they, maybe they
01:38:07
◼
►
have offered now, or maybe they are buying it or something like that.
01:38:10
◼
►
But it's apparently been a thing of contention where, uh, they feel like they're kind of trapped
01:38:15
◼
►
and they have to keep using it, but it is such a great location and they, they make the
01:38:20
◼
►
And, uh, and yeah, you should go by there sometime.
01:38:22
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Well, they could, they could do the pure Hollywood thing and hire a soundstage and build a set that
01:38:28
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looks just like it.
01:38:30
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I have had the thought where it's like, you could really kind of go out into the countryside
01:38:33
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somewhere and just build the taskmaster cottage again.
01:38:39
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Uh, that would also be expensive, but maybe you, maybe you do it anyway.
01:38:42
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It's a great show.
01:38:42
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It's one of my favorite shows of all time.
01:38:44
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Honestly, it's pure entertainment.
01:38:46
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I just watched, I just watched Amazon tried to replicate it with their, their LOL, um, last
01:38:51
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one laughing.
01:38:52
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They, they, they, they, they use that format, but they use a, uh, it's, it's literally a bunch
01:38:57
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of taskmaster contestants and that show was fine.
01:38:59
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It was kind of funny, but, and many of those UK panel shows are fine and kind of funny, but
01:39:03
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not like taskmaster.
01:39:05
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They're taskmaster contestants in that they are British comedians and eventually every
01:39:09
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British comedian becomes a taskmaster.
01:39:13
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Although we got, we got Jason Manzoukas this time, which was kind of fun, but no, like literally
01:39:16
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eight or nine of the 10 contestants in that show were our taskmaster contestants.
01:39:21
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So they, they were, but this is, you're right.
01:39:23
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This is when we were doing relay 10 and, uh, the Hackney empire theater.
01:39:27
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And we looked at what else was playing at the Hackney empire theater.
01:39:29
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And it was, it was British comedians, but it was also pretty much just taskmaster
01:39:34
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contestants because again, that Venn diagram, it's, it's, there's a lot of overlap there.
01:39:38
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So, uh, my wife watched that last one laughing.
01:39:41
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I wasn't really that interested in it because I really don't like Jimmy Carr.
01:39:44
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Like he's just not my comedian.
01:39:46
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I don't like him.
01:39:47
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I don't like him either.
01:39:47
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But, but, uh, but, uh, some of those contestants, it was on at home.
01:39:52
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Uh, I was watching it while she was pregnant.
01:39:54
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I think I remember it is a genius, but it was like, you know, it's one of those shows
01:40:01
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I'd see it on and be like, Oh, this is actually pretty funny.
01:40:03
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Like I would see parts and be like, Oh yeah, this is, this is pretty good.
01:40:08
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That's on prime video.
01:40:09
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I do know I was watching this when the baby was here and, um, the, her thing about it though,
01:40:14
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which I thought, which I completely agreed with is why does it look like this?
01:40:18
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Like the production design was wrong.
01:40:21
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Like it looked like love is blind is what it looked like.
01:40:26
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It's a, it's cause it's a Japanese game show format that they just replicated everywhere
01:40:32
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And I think they just make it look like that.
01:40:34
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The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the furniture design.
01:40:38
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I don't know.
01:40:39
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Maybe they used, maybe they used a set from some other, uh, show.
01:40:43
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It just didn't look right.
01:40:45
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Like, and no matter what the reason is, they met, they, they, I think visually they messed
01:40:49
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up with the way that that show looked.
01:40:51
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It just didn't, it just didn't look right.
01:40:53
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I'm not, I didn't know it was Japanese, but that's not surprising to me.
01:40:56
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No, I think you've mentioned that because you've got the, like people watching the thing,
01:41:00
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talking about the thing that reminds me of some other stuff I've seen.
01:41:04
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And everybody it's been replicated in almost every country that Amazon wants to replicate it
01:41:08
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in, except the U S they don't do it there.
01:41:09
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I don't know why nobody knows.
01:41:11
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If you would like to send in a question for us to answer on the show, very easy to
01:41:15
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do, go to upgradefeedback.com.
01:41:17
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That's where you can also send in your follow-up as well.
01:41:20
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Thank you to our members who support us every week of upgrade plus go to getupgradeplus.com
01:41:25
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01:41:28
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If you'd like to watch us, you can find us on YouTube.
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01:41:32
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Thank you to our sponsors.
01:41:33
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That is FitBod, Factor and Express VPN for the support of this week's episode.
01:41:39
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But the biggest thanks go to you for listening.
01:41:41
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We'll be back next time.
01:41:43
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Until then, say goodbye, Jason Snell.
01:41:45
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Goodbye, Mike Hurley.
01:41:46
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Goodbye, Mike Hurley.