Cortex

00:00:00 ◼   ► WWDC week. WWDC week. Is it still, because we're recording on Saturday, is it still going or is it

00:00:05 ◼   ► fully over now? It ended Friday. Like Friday is when Apple's thing ends. Yeah there's always a lot

00:00:12 ◼   ► of overhang. There's things going on probably into next week. I still feel like I've barely dug into

00:00:17 ◼   ► a lot of the stuff. This year was more of a success from a how I'm feeling standpoint.

00:00:22 ◼   ► Yeah. Not as busy. Better planned really. Which part of the reason we're recording this on

00:00:27 ◼   ► and Saturday like I spread my week out pretty nicely so I was only ever

00:00:31 ◼   ► recording one thing per day. Mmm that is much better than last year. Last year

00:00:37 ◼   ► was very rough for you. Yeah the biggest change for me this year was moving like

00:00:42 ◼   ► non-essential things like just like regular things out of this week and

00:00:47 ◼   ► that's made things a lot better and it's actually I just think it's been very

00:00:51 ◼   ► helpful because I've also had more time this week to watch some session videos

00:00:56 ◼   ► and dig into some of the beta stuff.

00:00:58 ◼   ► So Monday was rough, but like that was just

00:01:02 ◼   ► the way it was gonna be, right?

00:01:03 ◼   ► It's just super late recording.

00:01:04 ◼   ► I published Upgrade at half past two in the morning

00:01:07 ◼   ► and then was awake until half past four,

00:01:10 ◼   ► which was just wild.

00:01:11 ◼   ► - Your Upgrade WWDC recording schedule day on Monday,

00:01:16 ◼   ► my thoughts are with you that day, Myke,

00:01:18 ◼   ► 'cause I know it is a late night for you

00:01:20 ◼   ► doing the recording and the editing

00:01:22 ◼   ► to turn that show around real fast.

00:01:24 ◼   ► It's brutal.

00:01:25 ◼   ► People will ask me, why do you publish it that day?

00:01:29 ◼   ► Why not just go to sleep and do it the next day or whatever?

00:01:32 ◼   ► And sometimes I find, especially with creative work,

00:01:35 ◼   ► there are reasons to do things,

00:01:38 ◼   ► and sometimes those reasons mean

00:01:39 ◼   ► you end up working really late.

00:01:41 ◼   ► And for me, I want to not only have our show

00:01:46 ◼   ► out on the day of the keynote,

00:01:49 ◼   ► I kinda want it to be first.

00:01:51 ◼   ► And so I will burn the candle at every possible end to get it out that day because that's

00:01:57 ◼   ► just important to me.

00:01:59 ◼   ► I think most people probably don't care about it as much as I do.

00:02:03 ◼   ► But I do just really care.

00:02:04 ◼   ► It's important to me.

00:02:05 ◼   ► It's important to me that we have that episode out on Monday.

00:02:08 ◼   ► Yeah, it's just a thing like I just want to do that.

00:02:11 ◼   ► It's like a little commitment that I have to myself.

00:02:13 ◼   ► Yeah, like, I don't think you're wrong.

00:02:15 ◼   ► I think this is the way different projects are different.

00:02:20 ◼   ► different, which is obvious to say, but if you take that idea seriously, it means you

00:02:25 ◼   ► make very different decisions for different sorts of things.

00:02:27 ◼   ► And so I imagine on the spectrum of projects that you work on, Cortex is relatively un-time

00:02:35 ◼   ► sensitive, which is why we make a lot of different sorts of decisions about Cortex.

00:02:39 ◼   ► Upgrade is way more time sensitive and particularly the WWDC episode is the most time sensitive

00:02:47 ◼   ► episode in a more time sensitive show.

00:02:49 ◼   ► Yeah, because when we're recording, so like I always say this, I say this about every

00:02:53 ◼   ► show that I've made, I've said it on this show a bunch of times, I don't like recorded

00:02:57 ◼   ► content just sitting somewhere.

00:02:59 ◼   ► From the moment that I pressed stop on any show, including this one, the clock has started

00:03:04 ◼   ► ticking.

00:03:05 ◼   ► It's getting old.

00:03:06 ◼   ► And the longer I leave it until I release it, the worse I feel about it.

00:03:10 ◼   ► especially WWDC the content is getting old immediately because yes there's so

00:03:18 ◼   ► much more information that is coming out after the keynotes and people are

00:03:22 ◼   ► digging through web pages they're downloading the baits on their phones

00:03:25 ◼   ► they're like finding that little details that if I recorded that because our

00:03:30 ◼   ► thing is we go live on the show basically as soon as the keynote ends

00:03:34 ◼   ► So if I waited and published it the next day, it's so old by that point. So like it's just important

00:03:42 ◼   ► to me to like get it done. And yeah, we could record the show on Tuesday and that would be

00:03:47 ◼   ► great. And in some ways it would be better, in some ways it would be worse because it wouldn't

00:03:51 ◼   ► have that kind of excited energy that we have because we've just watched the thing. It's about

00:03:56 ◼   ► what type of show you want to make, right? And the type of show that I want to make for that episode

00:04:02 ◼   ► of upgrade is like immediate reactions, what do we think, you know? And then there's like

00:04:07 ◼   ► a spectrum of shows and it comes down to Cortex where we not only record it at the end of

00:04:12 ◼   ► the week and we always have, it also doesn't come out until the week after. Right. Right?

00:04:17 ◼   ► So by this point, like I know a bunch more stuff and the types of things we talk about

00:04:22 ◼   ► and the way that we talk about it, by the time we get to the show, it's completely different.

00:04:26 ◼   ► And you know, we could, you know, in theory could record the show on Tuesday and not really

00:04:32 ◼   ► release until the next Tuesday because we want our immediate reaction, but then that's

00:04:35 ◼   ► a completely different show to the one that we're making.

00:04:37 ◼   ► And so that's why I will publish the show at half past two in the morning, because the

00:04:41 ◼   ► point is that we record it that day, I edit it, and then however long it takes is how

00:04:45 ◼   ► long it takes, and it goes out immediately, and then I fulfill what I want it to.

00:04:50 ◼   ► Yeah, it's like you want to maximize what things are in their good attributes.

00:05:00 ◼   ► And I think like I have that experience with your annual upgrade episode of, oh, it's fun

00:05:05 ◼   ► to listen to, to get exactly that.

00:05:08 ◼   ► What are the initial responses of two thoughtful people about what we've just heard in WWDC

00:05:14 ◼   ► before all of the information comes out?

00:05:15 ◼   ► Like it's a very particular experience.

00:05:18 ◼   ► And so like I totally back your like while normally with most of your shows, I would

00:05:22 ◼   ► say, Myke, don't stay up that late.

00:05:24 ◼   ► Like don't do that.

00:05:25 ◼   ► That's dumb.

00:05:26 ◼   ► You have to know under what circumstances does it make sense to break the rules?

00:05:30 ◼   ► And I think with a product that is delivering that thing, the excited initial response,

00:05:38 ◼   ► and also what comes along with that is a lot of the initial wonderings that people have.

00:05:42 ◼   ► Ooh, is it really this way or is it that way?

00:05:45 ◼   ► Like, we'll find out.

00:05:46 ◼   ► That has to, it just has to come out soon.

00:05:49 ◼   ► So I do back your staying up until 4.30 in the morning to get it finished because then

00:05:54 ◼   ► it means people like me can just listen to it the next day in the UK.

00:05:57 ◼   ► And it's like, oh, great upgrades here immediately.

00:05:59 ◼   ► like, I watched the thing late at night, I went to bed, did some work in the morning,

00:06:04 ◼   ► and then great, afternoon break, I can find out what the initial reactions are to what

00:06:08 ◼   ► happened. So as a listener, I appreciate it. But as a friend, I'm very sympathetic to

00:06:13 ◼   ► knowing how much knowing what your day is like.

00:06:16 ◼   ► It did result in a piece of follow up. I had another work hangover on Tuesday. I wasn't

00:06:22 ◼   ► just tired. It was like I was wrecked. But I planned for it. I had nothing booked in

00:06:28 ◼   ► on Tuesday. That is a very good decision. Because I knew it was gonna be bad. What time

00:06:32 ◼   ► did you say you were up until? I was up until half past four. I published at 2.30. I was

00:06:37 ◼   ► at the studio as well. I went home and I just couldn't sleep. I mean plus I mean if you

00:06:42 ◼   ► are slamming a rib or 11pm it's gonna mess you up anyway right? Yeah. There was one moment

00:06:51 ◼   ► in the show where I ended up editing it out but it was funny for me because I'd never

00:06:56 ◼   ► done this before where you know like when you yawn you answer a ques- like you say something

00:07:02 ◼   ► when you yawn. Like I did that and I noticed myself doing it, I was like "that's bad"

00:07:07 ◼   ► I was like "yeah like that you know" it's like "oh boy that's not good"

00:07:13 ◼   ► B - right because to the average listener it just sounds like you're super bored as

00:07:17 ◼   ► opposed to the person who understands this is happening at one in the morning this this

00:07:22 ◼   ► back and forth so mike's a little sleepy

00:07:24 ◼   ► It was just funny, like I kind of caught myself doing it as I was doing it, you know, it was

00:07:29 ◼   ► just like a funny little thing to have happened.

00:07:31 ◼   ► But yeah, so I published that day just because I want to, it's important to me, but the content

00:07:36 ◼   ► is dictated by that release and the release dictates the content.

00:07:40 ◼   ► Yeah, and it totally makes sense and I think it's also just a case of, again, you need

00:07:44 ◼   ► to know when to break the rules and when or when is it worth super pushing things on.

00:07:49 ◼   ► Like not all projects are worth super pushing it on but sometimes they are and like this

00:07:55 ◼   ► is part of the decision-making process is realizing when does it make sense and I agree

00:08:00 ◼   ► with you that this is one of those cases where it makes sense even though it can seem totally

00:08:04 ◼   ► crazy to people sometimes with like "geez does it really matter if you wait a day?"

00:08:09 ◼   ► and it's like yeah for some things it does for other things it doesn't and this is a

00:08:13 ◼   ► case where it does but I'm also very glad to hear that you were able to plan ahead and

00:08:18 ◼   ► and not have anything happen that day,

00:08:21 ◼   ► and just work with that as opposed to last year

00:08:24 ◼   ► where you seemed optimistic

00:08:26 ◼   ► about how many things could happen in a day

00:08:28 ◼   ► because you don't need to physically be there.

00:08:31 ◼   ► So it's surely going to be way easier.

00:08:33 ◼   ► - One of my very, very favorite iOS apps

00:08:36 ◼   ► now has a Mac version, Timery.

00:08:39 ◼   ► - Oh.

00:08:40 ◼   ► - One time listeners of this show know about Timery.

00:08:42 ◼   ► And I purely just wanted to mention it on the show

00:08:45 ◼   ► because Joe, the developer, has just done such a great job.

00:08:48 ◼   ► When the M1 Macs launched, I was really disappointed

00:08:52 ◼   ► that the app wasn't available to download.

00:08:55 ◼   ► Like I couldn't download the iPad version onto my Mac.

00:08:58 ◼   ► And part of the reason for this was because Joe

00:09:00 ◼   ► was working on a Mac version.

00:09:02 ◼   ► So this is a catalyst version of Timery.

00:09:05 ◼   ► And it's fantastic, I love it,

00:09:07 ◼   ► and in a really interesting way,

00:09:09 ◼   ► and we'll maybe talk a little bit more

00:09:10 ◼   ► about this kind of stuff later on in the show anyway.

00:09:12 ◼   ► This is one of those instances where in building a Mac version,

00:09:17 ◼   ► it's made the iPad version better.

00:09:19 ◼   ► So he's added a bunch of features to the app in general because they were good

00:09:24 ◼   ► for the Mac. So like it now has on iPad, like a sidebar interface,

00:09:29 ◼   ► which is like something that was introduced last year at WWDC with these

00:09:32 ◼   ► sidebars for iPad apps.

00:09:33 ◼   ► There are more keyboard shortcuts now for the application.

00:09:36 ◼   ► And also my favorite thing is you can set it so when you open a time entry,

00:09:41 ◼   ► it drops the text caster into the description field,

00:09:44 ◼   ► and if you start typing,

00:09:46 ◼   ► it auto-completes projects and tags

00:09:48 ◼   ► based on things that you've recently set.

00:09:50 ◼   ► - Mm.

00:09:51 ◼   ► - And I really like this feature.

00:09:52 ◼   ► So if I open it and I type C-O-R,

00:09:55 ◼   ► it offers me podcast recording, podcast editing,

00:09:58 ◼   ► or show prep, all with the Cortex tag,

00:10:00 ◼   ► because they're things I've recently done.

00:10:02 ◼   ► So I really love this app.

00:10:05 ◼   ► Joe has done such a great job bringing it to the Mac,

00:10:07 ◼   ► and now I've finally jettisoned

00:10:09 ◼   ► the abhorrent toggle application into the moon

00:10:13 ◼   ► and I will never see it again.

00:10:14 ◼   ► That thing has gone from my life and I am so happy.

00:10:18 ◼   ► - Wow, Jettison into the moon.

00:10:20 ◼   ► That's pretty hardcore. - I hate that toggle app.

00:10:22 ◼   ► The toggle Mac app is just like,

00:10:24 ◼   ► I don't even know why they bothered.

00:10:25 ◼   ► They should have just had an electron app

00:10:27 ◼   ► based on the website.

00:10:28 ◼   ► Like I just don't even know why they bother

00:10:30 ◼   ► with that little toggle app.

00:10:32 ◼   ► So now I have the Timery app.

00:10:33 ◼   ► I'm very happy to pay toggle, the company, forever.

00:10:36 ◼   ► - Right.

00:10:37 ◼   ► wonderful service that they provide. And all of the great reporting tools that they have

00:10:41 ◼   ► on their website, all super good. I do not know why they make bad apps, right, for setting

00:10:47 ◼   ► up the timers. But they have an API. Again, thank you, Toggl, for creating an API. I love

00:10:53 ◼   ► that you did that. So then talented developers like Joe can build applications to plug into

00:10:58 ◼   ► your API.

00:10:59 ◼   ► Yeah, I wish more companies would follow that model of we do the core thing, but we also

00:11:03 ◼   ► have an API and so people can build stuff on top of that.

00:11:07 ◼   ► I am picky, clearly, with my software.

00:11:10 ◼   ► The toggle app for Mac does the job for so many people, but I want more out of it.

00:11:16 ◼   ► And that's why, again, I love that they have this API so then other developers can plug

00:11:20 ◼   ► into it.

00:11:21 ◼   ► But yeah, the Mac app, the Timer Mac app is really really great.

00:11:24 ◼   ► I'm very very very happy that it exists now.

00:11:27 ◼   ► Yeah I'm literally installing it as we were speaking, and of course I'll almost certainly

00:11:33 ◼   ► be emailing the developer with things that I want.

00:11:36 ◼   ► Yeah, this was one of those.

00:11:38 ◼   ► I was pretty early in the beta process for this one

00:11:41 ◼   ► 'cause Joe knew how badly I wanted this.

00:11:43 ◼   ► So he sent me one of the first builds

00:11:45 ◼   ► and I really love being able to,

00:11:50 ◼   ► I feel very privileged that I'm in a position

00:11:52 ◼   ► where I can work with some developers

00:11:55 ◼   ► to get the features that I want from their applications.

00:11:58 ◼   ► - Yes. - And so there were

00:11:59 ◼   ► just some things, especially around keyboard shortcuts

00:12:01 ◼   ► and stuff where I just wanted them to work

00:12:04 ◼   ► very specific way and was able to make my case to Joe and he implemented them that way

00:12:10 ◼   ► and I was just really thankful for it.

00:12:12 ◼   ► So yeah, I like being able to have that kind of input in places.

00:12:16 ◼   ► So yeah, I will have to say like, obviously, I'm a very private person.

00:12:21 ◼   ► And I'm not a big fan of internet fame in very many ways.

00:12:27 ◼   ► But I'll tell you one thing that I do love is emailing developers sometimes with a feature

00:12:32 ◼   ► request and it's like the hit rate for "Oh, I listened to Cortex!" like "Yeah, sure,

00:12:37 ◼   ► I can add that keyboard shortcut" is very high and it's like that is one of the few

00:12:41 ◼   ► times I'm always like "Okay, this is a nice benefit of some level of internet fame"

00:12:48 ◼   ► is like "Email a developer, probability of Cortex listener equals 90%."

00:12:53 ◼   ► We need to get some Cortex branded email addresses to double our hit rate.

00:12:58 ◼   ► You know, like get like grey @cortex and like @cortex, right?

00:13:01 ◼   ► Like really just double that hit rate in case anyone's searching.

00:13:05 ◼   ► That is not a bad idea, yeah. That is not a bad idea at all.

00:13:08 ◼   ► I may make a Cortex brand email just for emailing developers to be like,

00:13:12 ◼   ► "Please recognize one of these words. Recognize my name, recognize the podcast title."

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00:15:12 ◼   ► Obviously we have loads of very interesting and important things to talk about today.

00:15:17 ◼   ► Yes we do.

00:15:18 ◼   ► But you put a header in our show notes, and I need to know more about it.

00:15:23 ◼   ► And the header just says "Grey gets seriously, in italics, back into magic."

00:15:29 ◼   ► And while I know what this means, there is a part of me that loves to imagine you pulling

00:15:33 ◼   ► a bunny from a hat, right?

00:15:36 ◼   ► That's like a nice little image in my brain.

00:15:38 ◼   ► You mean the technically, I guess, trading card game, but I guess it's not that anymore

00:15:44 ◼   ► as well?

00:15:45 ◼   ► Like, what is Magic?

00:15:46 ◼   ► Oh, god.

00:15:47 ◼   ► I mean, this is one of these things that I just, like, I don't even know where to start.

00:15:54 ◼   ► Maybe we can turn to Wikipedia here, right?

00:15:56 ◼   ► Let me see how Wikipedia summarizes Magic the Gathering.

00:16:00 ◼   ► I'm actually quite curious, what does Wikipedia say Magic the Gathering is?

00:16:03 ◼   ► Oh my god, this is a long one.

00:16:04 ◼   ► Let's see how quickly I can get through this.

00:16:06 ◼   ► the Gathering as a tabletop and digital, that's the point I was thinking of, collectible card

00:16:11 ◼   ► game, released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. A player in Magic takes the role of a planeswalker,

00:16:17 ◼   ► doing battle with other players as planeswalkers, by casting spells, using artifacts and summoning

00:16:23 ◼   ► creatures as depicted on individual cards from their individual decks. A player defeats

00:16:28 ◼   ► their opponent typically, but not always, by casting spells and attacking with creatures

00:16:33 ◼   ► to deal damage to the opponent's life total, with the object being to reduce it from 20

00:16:38 ◼   ► to 0. Although the original concept of the game drew heavily from the motifs of traditional

00:16:43 ◼   ► fantasy roleplaying games such as Dungeons and Dragons, the gameplay bears little similarity

00:16:47 ◼   ► to pencil and paper adventure games, while simultaneously having substantially more cards

00:16:52 ◼   ► and more complex rules than many other card games.

00:16:55 ◼   ► ALICE; Oh, I hate that description so much! [laughter]

00:16:58 ◼   ► It sounds like you're doing one of the most boring things imaginable.

00:17:01 ◼   ► That's what it sounds like from this description.

00:17:05 ◼   ► Oh my god, yeah. I mean this is...

00:17:07 ◼   ► It's one of these things where...

00:17:09 ◼   ► How do I put this? Like...

00:17:11 ◼   ► Part of this is, I can't quite remember what context this ever came up in on the show.

00:17:16 ◼   ► But I remember it because H.M. Boutte animated it for one of the Fantastic Cortex animated segments

00:17:23 ◼   ► where for some reason on some episode years ago, I mentioned we're probably talking about

00:17:29 ◼   ► hobbies or something and I mentioned how I don't really have hobbies but one of these

00:17:34 ◼   ► things I've been circling around for years and years is people trying to get me back

00:17:38 ◼   ► into Magic and I made an off-handed remark "look, I don't want to get back into this

00:17:43 ◼   ► game because I know that the only way I'm going to get back into it is if I get seriously

00:17:49 ◼   ► back into it. Like, there's no casual version of this. It's like, I'm gonna dedicate

00:17:55 ◼   ► a huge amount of my mental space to this or I'm not gonna do it at all. And so it's

00:18:00 ◼   ► like, I'm just not gonna get into this. But that's why it's like, well, time has

00:18:05 ◼   ► come around that here we are years later and through a variety of shark-related events

00:18:14 ◼   ► I've ended up getting back into this game and have gotten quite seriously back into

00:18:19 ◼   ► this game and I absolutely hate the description on the Wikipedia page. So like, here is the

00:18:24 ◼   ► meta point about this. So when you think about games, games often have these two layers,

00:18:38 ◼   ► and it's true for video games and it's true for board games. There is the mechanism layer

00:18:44 ◼   ► of the game, which is what are the rules and what happens mechanically in the game. And

00:18:53 ◼   ► then the way then you sort of translate that into a more human understandable thing is

00:18:59 ◼   ► that on top of the mechanisms, you overlay a theme. So the monopoly board game has a

00:19:08 ◼   ► bunch of rules about how you move around the board and like what various squares do, but

00:19:15 ◼   ► the theme of that game is predatory capitalism. And you can easily imagine that someone could

00:19:22 ◼   ► have a game that has the exact same mechanisms where one player slowly has an edge and then

00:19:30 ◼   ► grinds everybody else into the dust in an incredibly un-fun way over the next two hours.

00:19:36 ◼   ► But you could theme that in a totally different way.

00:19:39 ◼   ► You could theme that as like medieval fantasy, right?

00:19:43 ◼   ► You could theme that as sci-fi and have it have nothing to do with property and collecting

00:19:48 ◼   ► rent, but all of the mechanisms could be exactly the same.

00:19:54 ◼   ► And so the reason that I mentioned this is, is I think like this game magic has one of

00:20:03 ◼   ► the absolute most interesting game mechanisms that is like underneath the theme.

00:20:12 ◼   ► And the theme, I think that the company and the way that it works, they've done a fantastic

00:20:18 ◼   ► job of once you get into it, the theme is really good, is really solid, is very strong

00:20:26 ◼   ► at worldbuilding, but it is incredibly repulsive to a lot of people when you first hear it

00:20:33 ◼   ► described. It does sound like the most boring and nerdiest thing that can exist in the world.

00:20:42 ◼   ► So I think the, like, the level of getting into this game is very, very hard for lots

00:20:49 ◼   ► of people. I think the theme can really bounce people off. And it doesn't also help that

00:20:55 ◼   ► the mechanics of the game are hugely complicated. But when you combine both of these factors,

00:21:04 ◼   ► I think it is also not surprising that in the sort of nerd and geek world, magic has

00:21:12 ◼   ► loomed large for like, I don't know, 25 years, something like that. I feel like it's

00:21:18 ◼   ► had this very big place in nerd culture for a long time.

00:21:24 ◼   ► - Similar to Dungeons & Dragons. - Yeah, I do think there is something very

00:21:28 ◼   ► similar to Dungeons & Dragons with that of it's complicated, it's weird, it can be hard

00:21:34 ◼   ► to get into, but for the right kind of person, you can super get into it. And so, sort of

00:21:42 ◼   ► So the short version of what happened here is I was working on my video about sharks.

00:21:49 ◼   ► Yes, thank you Myke.

00:21:51 ◼   ► I wanted to do it one time.

00:21:55 ◼   ► Yeah, no, go for it.

00:21:57 ◼   ► It's infectious.

00:21:59 ◼   ► It is infectious.

00:22:01 ◼   ► It's totally infectious.

00:22:02 ◼   ► We might touch on that later but for a bunch of reasons that don't matter now and I probably

00:22:06 ◼   ► ever talk about that sharks project was without doubt one of the most stressful and hard videos

00:22:13 ◼   ► that I've made in years even though it doesn't look that way and after it was done I just I

00:22:21 ◼   ► really needed something to take my mind off the project and to just like decompress with over the

00:22:28 ◼   ► next few weeks to be like okay I need a break from this nightmare of a project and the timing just

00:22:36 ◼   ► It just happened to be right that Magic had recently released the sort of Mac version of their new online system.

00:22:43 ◼   ► And I thought, "Okay, I streamed it, I was like, let me just play around with trying to relearn the rules."

00:22:51 ◼   ► And as I fully expected, what started out as a just casual stream of "Let me see what the game is like now, I haven't played it in like 20 years."

00:23:03 ◼   ► turned very fast into a just complete obsession that culminated with me reaching number 681

00:23:15 ◼   ► in the world as far as magic goes.

00:23:18 ◼   ► That's a bit much.

00:23:20 ◼   ► I think there's a bunch of like lucky coincidences that helped me rank that high.

00:23:25 ◼   ► Do you have a sense for how big that number is? Like out of how many?

00:23:30 ◼   ► So I was trying to figure this out, I couldn't log a good answer.

00:23:35 ◼   ► So here's my estimate.

00:23:37 ◼   ► The company that owns Magic, they published some estimate that they want something like

00:23:42 ◼   ► three to five million players eventually on their system.

00:23:45 ◼   ► That doesn't tell you what the current numbers are.

00:23:48 ◼   ► But the best that I could figure out is that there are these programs that people use as

00:23:54 ◼   ► like assistants to when they're playing to help calculate some of the statistics automatically.

00:24:00 ◼   ► And some of these programs report that they have hundreds of thousands of users.

00:24:04 ◼   ► That's kind of what I was looking for, right?

00:24:06 ◼   ► Like I want to know, are you 681 out of 700?

00:24:09 ◼   ► Or are you out of like millions?

00:24:11 ◼   ► You know, like I wanted to just A-ball park.

00:24:13 ◼   ► Hundreds of thousands is enough to still stick with my original surprise.

00:24:17 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:24:18 ◼   ► And it's a rank that if I did want to pursue it, if I could maintain that rank, things

00:24:23 ◼   ► run in seasons.

00:24:25 ◼   ► But if I was able to hold that rank until the end of the season, like I'd get an invitation

00:24:28 ◼   ► to one of their minor league pro events, which is super funny.

00:24:33 ◼   ► There's nothing I want more than for you to do that.

00:24:36 ◼   ► I did something so fun for me to imagine you as like, "I'm a pro gamer now."

00:24:47 ◼   ► I'm very, like, just to be clear, I'm very specifically not aiming towards that because

00:24:55 ◼   ► Because the moment you do well enough in the game to- so basically like, you have to be

00:25:00 ◼   ► in the top 1200 to get a number at all, and the company pulls from the top 1200 players

00:25:06 ◼   ► to fill out their in-person professional competition leagues.

00:25:10 ◼   ► But it's like, the moment that you have a number, I very intentionally was like, "Okay,

00:25:16 ◼   ► this is a great accomplishment, I'm totally glad I've done it."

00:25:18 ◼   ► It's also completely validated my prediction that the only way I was gonna get back into

00:25:22 ◼   ► this was very seriously, but also this is the moment to consciously let go, and to just

00:25:30 ◼   ► like "don't care about the number anymore, cause that'll suck all of the fun out of

00:25:34 ◼   ► it", right?

00:25:35 ◼   ► S: You're gonna keep playing but you're not gonna keep checking your ranking, is that

00:25:37 ◼   ► what you're saying?

00:25:38 ◼   ► Cool.

00:25:39 ◼   ► I was concerned you were gonna say that you'd given up playing the game, which just seemed

00:25:42 ◼   ► like you were punishing yourself.

00:25:43 ◼   ► B: No, like, I still totally wanna play, like, it reminded me a little bit about when we

00:25:47 ◼   ► talked about VR, and I said how VR was a really fun experience like I haven't had in years,

00:25:52 ◼   ► I can honestly say that with magic, it's the same thing.

00:25:57 ◼   ► Like there's something about it that's perfectly lined up with my brain.

00:26:00 ◼   ► That like, I have not had fun like this in years.

00:26:04 ◼   ► Like I just love it.

00:26:06 ◼   ► But I also immediately recognize like the moment I was ranked, it's like, okay,

00:26:11 ◼   ► you've got to just put this right out of your brain.

00:26:13 ◼   ► Don't care about the rank.

00:26:15 ◼   ► I played some more games after that top rank and like immediately plummeted down

00:26:20 ◼   ► plummeted down to 800 out of the top 1200 and it's like, that's fine. There's always

00:26:25 ◼   ► a broader lesson here of anything that you do competitively, or I should say anything

00:26:31 ◼   ► that humans do competitively, I think people don't appreciate the exponential level of

00:26:38 ◼   ► difficulty. And so, like you think about world chess champions, and at a certain point, if

00:26:46 ◼   ► professional chess player, you have the chess system that does the rankings of like "oh

00:26:51 ◼   ► what is your score in chess?" that is a shorthand for probability of winning against a player

00:26:57 ◼   ► with another score.

00:26:59 ◼   ► But once you get really high up into that system, that trying to beat the player who's

00:27:04 ◼   ► the 500th best in the world is twice as hard at least as trying to beat the 600th best

00:27:11 ◼   ► player in the world.

00:27:13 ◼   ► And then also, when you're ranked like that, the thing that becomes very clear very fast

00:27:18 ◼   ► is losing is brutal for the calculation of what your rank is.

00:27:24 ◼   ► Like wins get you very very small increases in like "oh your rank is great" and a

00:27:30 ◼   ► loss is like "congratulations, you've just dropped 150 rank points" and you know,

00:27:37 ◼   ► if you win three games in a row, you can go up five rank points.

00:27:40 ◼   ► the statistics in such a way that they're minute differences between the players, right?

00:27:46 ◼   ► You have this weird double effect that the players are incredibly good,

00:27:51 ◼   ► and that also means if you are slightly off whatever the level is in your ranking,

00:27:58 ◼   ► like, you're gonna plummet just brutally, and immediately.

00:28:02 ◼   ► So that's why I was like, "Okay, don't think about this, don't worry about this,

00:28:07 ◼   ► like don't actually try to set a goal of doing any better. You don't really want to qualify for like

00:28:13 ◼   ► the in-person competitions. The way I basically told it to myself is like, "Okay, cool. You've

00:28:17 ◼   ► quote beaten the game and now you can just totally play for fun and it doesn't matter. Like this is

00:28:23 ◼   ► the best that you're going to achieve." But it was really funny and I did quite enjoy it because I

00:28:28 ◼   ► think there is something sort of absurd about going from, "Oh, I haven't played in 20 years and

00:28:34 ◼   ► and I don't know any of the basic rules to sub 1000 ranking in the space of like three weeks.

00:28:41 ◼   ► [laughs]

00:28:42 ◼   ► I was trying to see if I could find a leaderboard to find you on it, but I'm not having any luck.

00:28:46 ◼   ► Yeah, their whole system is very strange.

00:28:49 ◼   ► I happen to have wandered into the game at a very weird point in their time where

00:28:53 ◼   ► I think like a lot of companies, because of the pandemic, they tried to change the way they do competitions

00:28:58 ◼   ► because obviously...

00:28:59 ◼   ► They can't do them.

00:29:00 ◼   ► You don't want to be collecting a thousand people from all across the world into a stadium

00:29:05 ◼   ► together like that's bad news so they've tried to switch to online and everything's

00:29:10 ◼   ► like just totally up in the air right now.

00:29:12 ◼   ► NICK It's kind of funny because a similar thing

00:29:14 ◼   ► happened to Federico.

00:29:15 ◼   ► He ended up getting ranked pretty well with competitive Pokémon.

00:29:19 ◼   ► PY

00:29:29 ◼   ► in-person championships if they were such a thing at the time.

00:29:32 ◼   ► >> This kind of stuff where, "Oh, there's so many different areas of human activity,

00:29:39 ◼   ► and every one of them is completely a world unto themselves, and they all have their own

00:29:46 ◼   ► weirdness and their own total self-involvedness." So like part of the fun has just, for me also,

00:29:50 ◼   ► just been trying to figure out like, "What's going on in the world of Magic? How do the competitions

00:29:56 ◼   ► work now? What's the company doing? It's funny to just get into these whole worlds where every world

00:30:01 ◼   ► has their own little celebrities and it's just totally fascinating. But yeah, so this is the

00:30:07 ◼   ► perfect kind of thing that just hooked into my brain 100% at just the right time to be a nice

00:30:16 ◼   ► break from a very difficult project. And so yeah, I got very seriously back into magic.

00:30:23 ◼   ► What do you enjoy about the video game? Because like, you know, so I have some of a basic

00:30:32 ◼   ► understanding I think of this because I used to play the Pokemon trading card game. So

00:30:37 ◼   ► like I feel like I get the rules all different stuff but you know like the idea of you build

00:30:42 ◼   ► a deck, you have your strategy, and you want to play to the like you know the strengths

00:30:47 ◼   ► of your deck that kind of stuff you have resource cards I'm sure I mean I've never played metric

00:30:51 ◼   ► I don't know how the game is played, but I just figured there can't be that many differences

00:30:57 ◼   ► between most trading card games, and then there's just the nuances of each game, but

00:31:00 ◼   ► like at a basic level.

00:31:02 ◼   ► But what do you enjoy about Magic's system, and does it translate to the video game version?

00:31:08 ◼   ► Yeah, so I think as far as I can tell, Magic is sort of the original version of this, like

00:31:14 ◼   ► the genre-establishing one.

00:31:16 ◼   ► Yeah, I think it is.

00:31:17 ◼   ► I think every competitive trading card game draws from Magic in some ways.

00:31:21 ◼   ► is kind of like how I have been aware of it from when I played Pokemon cards, is just

00:31:25 ◼   ► knowing that magic existed. It was always at the same places that you would buy your

00:31:29 ◼   ► Pokemon cards. And I believe, if I'm remembering rightly, that the original Pokemon card game

00:31:34 ◼   ► was produced by Wizards of the Coast as well.

00:31:37 ◼   ► Oh, interesting. That seems quite probable. Yeah, so if I want to try to describe abstractly

00:31:44 ◼   ► what is going on and what is interesting and what is fun, there's a couple of key features

00:31:51 ◼   ► here. So I think there's something that in particular video games do but that magic hits

00:31:58 ◼   ► really well is I think asymmetry in games is super fun and very hard to pull off. And

00:32:09 ◼   ► so what I mean by asymmetry here is if you think about chess, actually I don't know,

00:32:15 ◼   ► do you play chess Myke? Or do you know the rules?

00:32:17 ◼   ► - I have played chess, I don't think I'm good at chess, but I've played chess.

00:32:21 ◼   ► Well, I know I'm bad at chess actually, but I played it.

00:32:25 ◼   ► - Yeah, don't worry, I'm right there with you, like, I never got super into chess.

00:32:30 ◼   ► But chess is, to me, the world's most perfect example of a symmetrical game.

00:32:36 ◼   ► Both players start out with the exact same pieces, and it's also perfectly symmetrical

00:32:44 ◼   ► because at all times you know what the other person is doing. It's all right there, totally

00:32:52 ◼   ► on the board. Whereas if you take a game like poker, it's still very symmetrical, but it's

00:32:58 ◼   ► a little bit less because you don't know what the other person has for sure. But you do

00:33:03 ◼   ► know they have cards in their hands.

00:33:06 ◼   ► - You know what ones you have, so you know what they don't.

00:33:09 ◼   ► Yeah, you have- you know what cards they can't have because you are holding them and you can make some reasonable guesses.

00:33:16 ◼   ► And I personally find that as you turn up the asymmetry dial, games become more interesting.

00:33:24 ◼   ► But the reason most games don't do that is it's incredibly hard to balance a game where the players are more and more asymmetrical.

00:33:34 ◼   ► You may or may not be familiar with it, but I feel like StarCraft II is a video game that's often held up as like the pinnacle of game asymmetry

00:33:42 ◼   ► where there's three very different sides with very different strengths, but they're well balanced, so it never feels like, "Oh, this one way to play is the best way to play."

00:33:52 ◼   ► And I just think Magic may be the most asymmetrical game that has ever been created because

00:34:01 ◼   ► You are each playing with your deck of cards,

00:34:03 ◼   ► and very abstractly, the idea is you want to use your cards in a better way than the other player uses their cards.

00:34:12 ◼   ► But you just don't have any idea what the other person is playing in their hand.

00:34:18 ◼   ► And the thing about Magic, which I think is unique compared to other games,

00:34:24 ◼   ► is the number of cards are enormous.

00:34:29 ◼   ► There's a limited version of the game and the limited version has 2000 possible different

00:34:37 ◼   ► cards that a player can use, which is already quite a large number for someone to even be

00:34:44 ◼   ► familiar with.

00:34:45 ◼   ► Let's talk about setting limits here.

00:34:47 ◼   ► I think that's a good limit.

00:34:49 ◼   ► What do you mean?

00:34:50 ◼   ► 2000 is a big limit.

00:34:51 ◼   ► That's a lot still.

00:34:52 ◼   ► So that is considered the limited game.

00:34:55 ◼   ► That is the version of the game where it's like, "Oh hey, have you not played Magic in

00:34:59 ◼   ► 20 years?

00:35:00 ◼   ► You should start with limited."

00:35:02 ◼   ► There's only 2000 cards to become familiar with.

00:35:07 ◼   ► If you want to play the historic version of the game, which means like all cards, that

00:35:12 ◼   ► is 20,000 different cards.

00:35:16 ◼   ► So when I'd say like asymmetrical, if you are playing a historic game, even if you have

00:35:25 ◼   ► played for years, it is still possible to be playing against someone and they use a

00:35:30 ◼   ► card that you go "I've never seen that card, like I didn't even know that thing

00:35:34 ◼   ► existed."

00:35:35 ◼   ► [laughter]

00:35:36 ◼   ► MG - "There's no strategy for this card."

00:35:38 ◼   ► BH - Yeah.

00:35:39 ◼   ► So I think that makes a game super interesting.

00:35:43 ◼   ► And when I was a kid I played Magic a little bit, like, you know, with kids in the neighbourhood

00:35:48 ◼   ► or a little bit, you know, with some kids at school who played Magic.

00:35:52 ◼   ► But one of the reasons I got super back into this is because I think the online version

00:35:57 ◼   ► amps this up to 11 because when you're playing your friends in real life, you have some concept

00:36:04 ◼   ► of "oh, what cards might they use?" or "how does this person like to play?"

00:36:09 ◼   ► But when you're playing online and you just get randomly assigned some person, you have

00:36:14 ◼   ► no idea, like, what do they like to play?

00:36:17 ◼   ► What cards might they have?

00:36:18 ◼   ► What strategy might they be trying to proceed?

00:36:20 ◼   ► Interesting.

00:36:21 ◼   ► - I guess the online version gives everyone

00:36:25 ◼   ► the ability to play what otherwise

00:36:27 ◼   ► would have been competitive play.

00:36:28 ◼   ► - What do you mean by that?

00:36:29 ◼   ► - Because people going to competition

00:36:31 ◼   ► don't know their opponents.

00:36:33 ◼   ► - Yes, exactly.

00:36:34 ◼   ► - Most of the time, right?

00:36:35 ◼   ► And as you're saying, like if you were playing as a kid,

00:36:38 ◼   ► you were playing against your friends.

00:36:40 ◼   ► And so eventually you not only would learn how they played,

00:36:44 ◼   ► if you played a lot, you would learn what they had.

00:36:47 ◼   ► - Yes.

00:36:48 ◼   ► - And your friends, but if they got something new,

00:36:49 ◼   ► they'd probably tell you it anyway, right?

00:36:51 ◼   ► because they're excited about the new card that they have.

00:36:53 ◼   ► But in playing online, you know,

00:36:55 ◼   ► it's like randomly assigned people,

00:36:56 ◼   ► you have no idea what their strategy is

00:36:58 ◼   ► or what cards they own.

00:37:00 ◼   ► And if you pick him from a pool of 20,000,

00:37:03 ◼   ► and I guess you're explaining it,

00:37:04 ◼   ► like what I find interesting is it is adding randomness

00:37:08 ◼   ► to what would otherwise be assumed

00:37:10 ◼   ► as a very kind of like limited game, right?

00:37:13 ◼   ► Like there's only so many things you can do in a card game

00:37:16 ◼   ► and or it is just cards, right?

00:37:18 ◼   ► Like ultimately these are cards being played.

00:37:20 ◼   ► but the element of there being so many potential options that can come your way adds a different

00:37:29 ◼   ► dimension to it. So I just think that that makes that like kind of brings this level of interest

00:37:34 ◼   ► and excitement to the experience, which I think on the surface, if you didn't understand the game,

00:37:40 ◼   ► you would think probably didn't exist. Yeah, so like I was trying to think about

00:37:44 ◼   ► how do you explain to someone who's never played, what might this game be like? And

00:37:50 ◼   ► That's why I particularly cringe at that Wikipedia description because I feel like it puts all

00:37:54 ◼   ► the nerdery right up front and gives you no indication of what might be interesting.

00:38:00 ◼   ► And so like I was trying to think about, okay, here's the best way I could describe sort

00:38:07 ◼   ► of what the experience is like without actually explicitly talking about the game.

00:38:12 ◼   ► So it's like, okay, imagine you were going to play chess with someone, but the way the

00:38:16 ◼   ► game starts is the board is completely blank except both of you just have your king on

00:38:23 ◼   ► the board.

00:38:24 ◼   ► Y'know, and so the basic rule of "gotta catch the king" is in place and it's chess.

00:38:30 ◼   ► But then what happens every turn is that each player adds a piece to the board.

00:38:37 ◼   ► But you don't know what pieces the other player has.

00:38:40 ◼   ► All of their pieces can do different things.

00:38:44 ◼   ► And so there are constraints in which the game operates, but there's always these possibilities

00:38:51 ◼   ► for surprise of like, "Oh, okay, this guy's added a piece that moves in a way that I've

00:38:57 ◼   ► never seen before, and I need to deal with that."

00:39:01 ◼   ► Or you can run into weird situations where like, "I just don't have very many pieces,

00:39:05 ◼   ► and like this other person has lots of pieces."

00:39:09 ◼   ► And the thing that really gets me with the game is there are very many pieces which will

00:39:16 ◼   ► change the rules about how all of the other pieces work.

00:39:21 ◼   ► So again, it's a bit like, okay, not only are we just continually adding things to the

00:39:25 ◼   ► board, but all of a sudden it'll be like, pawns can move backwards now.

00:39:30 ◼   ► Rooks can jump over pieces.

00:39:31 ◼   ► So these are certain cards you can play, they change the rules of the game.

00:39:37 ◼   ► not that there's a rule change, it's that a card forces the rule change.

00:39:41 ◼   ► Yes, so one of the things that the game is delightful about is explicitly having cards

00:39:49 ◼   ► that change the whole win conditions of the game, and that can happen at - especially

00:39:54 ◼   ► when you're playing against random people - it can happen at any moment, and you're

00:39:58 ◼   ► like "oh no!" right, like "I am not prepared for this!" but that's also what makes it super

00:40:03 ◼   ► fun. So there can be cards where it's like suddenly, I tend to be a very defensive player,

00:40:10 ◼   ► but there can be cards that are like, if you play defensive, you will just lose in three

00:40:14 ◼   ► turns so like it forces you to suddenly play very differently from the way that you intend

00:40:19 ◼   ► to play. And I think that can be super interesting. And I think you can without a doubt make an

00:40:25 ◼   ► argument that Magic is the most complicated game that humans have made.

00:40:34 ◼   ► Because with all of these cards and all of their interactions, the possibilities can

00:40:41 ◼   ► just totally explode of like, what can occur in a game.

00:40:48 ◼   ► And the thing that is like a great example of this is that the magic game is Turing complete,

00:40:57 ◼   ► which means you can simulate an entire computer just by the interactions of the rules of the

00:41:03 ◼   ► cards.

00:41:04 ◼   ► Many games are Turing complete, like we discussed Minecraft a couple of episodes ago, and you

00:41:09 ◼   ► know, oh, right, the redstone stuff in Minecraft lets you build computers.

00:41:15 ◼   ► Like that's the computery stuff inside of it.

00:41:17 ◼   ► Or if you play Factorio, it's like, oh right, there's red and green wires and that's all

00:41:22 ◼   ► the computery stuff.

00:41:24 ◼   ► But those games explicitly added elements that were there to add computer programery

00:41:32 ◼   ► stuff into them.

00:41:34 ◼   ► Whereas the Magic Touring Complete stuff is totally unintentional.

00:41:39 ◼   ► Like the game designers never intended to say, "Oh, people should be able to simulate

00:41:46 ◼   ► arbitrary computing functions within our game."

00:41:48 ◼   ► No, they just made so many cards with so many rules and so many weird edge cases that they

00:41:56 ◼   ► accidentally built a system where someone can build a computer out of their cards.

00:42:01 ◼   ► Which to me is hilarious!

00:42:02 ◼   ► I don't even understand what that really means. Like I can't get my head around that. You've really broken me.

00:42:08 ◼   ► [Laughter]

00:42:10 ◼   ► I mean, I'm sure you've seen the stuff in Minecraft where like someone builds the Minecraft game inside Minecraft.

00:42:16 ◼   ► Oh, I've seen like, you know, like full video games inside of Minecraft. Yes, I've seen that kind of stuff.

00:42:21 ◼   ► But it's a computer game, so I understand how you can make a computer out of it.

00:42:25 ◼   ► Right, right. This is what I mean. But like, so with the Magic the Gathering cards,

00:42:30 ◼   ► It gets to the question of like, what is a computer?

00:42:34 ◼   ► And a computer means you need to have a certain number of ways that you can manipulate information.

00:42:40 ◼   ► And I'll just leave it at the Magic cards are capable of doing that.

00:42:46 ◼   ► Like it would take you 100 million years, but you could with Magic cards recreate the

00:42:52 ◼   ► game of Minecraft that also simulates Minecraft inside of it, right?

00:42:57 ◼   ► It is like totally accidental.

00:42:59 ◼   ► No, I don't get it.

00:43:01 ◼   ► No, no, no, I don't get that.

00:43:03 ◼   ► You did it again. You like brought it to a point where I was like, "Oh, I think I'm getting it."

00:43:07 ◼   ► And then, no, you pulled the rug out from under the wall.

00:43:09 ◼   ► I'll put a link to a guy who made a video about it that's based on a computer science paper

00:43:15 ◼   ► that some total geniuses wrote that I read through and was like,

00:43:18 ◼   ► "Oh my god, my brain hurts so much, but this is also so cool,"

00:43:21 ◼   ► where they just proved that Magic the Gathering is Turing complete.

00:43:24 ◼   ► But what I just mean to show by that is the variance of what can happen in a game is incredibly

00:43:32 ◼   ► high and you can just constantly run into things where it's like, "I've never seen

00:43:36 ◼   ► that before," or "Wow, I just lost in three minutes in a way that I didn't even know was

00:43:41 ◼   ► possible.

00:43:42 ◼   ► Like, that's so cool!"

00:43:45 ◼   ► If someone has watched my videos, I think it can be pretty clear that there is a part

00:43:51 ◼   ► of me which really enjoys figuring things out and trying to figure out like what are

00:43:56 ◼   ► the rules of this complicated system. And that's why I have known for years that this

00:44:03 ◼   ► is a game that if I ever got back into it like I just would not be able to let it go

00:44:07 ◼   ► because it's just perfectly designed for exactly this kind of thing of it's an incredibly

00:44:15 ◼   ► complicated system but it is also an understandable system if you can put enough time into it.

00:44:24 ◼   ► It's just that the variance in difference is incredibly high.

00:44:27 ◼   ► How do you collect the cards in the virtual game?

00:44:30 ◼   ► They do the same kind of thing that a lot of these companies do where there are virtual

00:44:34 ◼   ► packs that you can buy. You can also do it just as like a free-to-play player depending

00:44:38 ◼   ► on how much time you want to put in. But you can just buy packs and then you have cards.

00:44:43 ◼   ► I mean, people always complain about the way companies run things, but I think they have

00:44:47 ◼   ► done some very clever things with how do you get cards that are rarer by having sort of

00:44:53 ◼   ► like a wild card system where it's like, oh, you haven't gotten a card, but you can trade

00:44:58 ◼   ► this in for a card of equivalent rarity if you haven't just gotten it by randomly purchasing

00:45:03 ◼   ► the packs.

00:45:04 ◼   ► I just want to do like, we talked before about developers knowing the show, I just, I just

00:45:08 ◼   ► have to do a little shout out to, I don't know if any of the programmers who work on

00:45:13 ◼   ► the magic system listen to the podcast. But if they do, I just want to say like, I think

00:45:18 ◼   ► those guys must be total heroes for trying to program this into a game system. Because

00:45:27 ◼   ► the thing that is difficult to explain here is, and this is one of the things that I like

00:45:32 ◼   ► about the game is it's a little bit like edge case the game. So one of the things that's

00:45:40 ◼   ► super fun is you try to find combinations of cards that were never intended to work

00:45:46 ◼   ► together but can work together in a very strange way and then use that to win. But it means

00:45:55 ◼   ► that like pro I cannot conceive of what a programming nightmare this must be to try

00:46:02 ◼   ► to make. It's also why this has been like a multi year project for the company and they

00:46:07 ◼   ► are not remotely close to replicating all 20,000 cards in their system. Like, they are

00:46:12 ◼   ► adding old ones as fast as they can, but it's like, oh my god, what? I genuinely mean it

00:46:19 ◼   ► that it may be one of the most pain in the ass programming jobs on the face of the earth

00:46:24 ◼   ► to try to add in the old Magic cards, because all of them just constantly change the rules

00:46:29 ◼   ► about how the game works, and debugging that must be a complete nightmare. You know when

00:46:35 ◼   ► your computer freezes up, like you get the spinny beach ball, and sometimes you may wonder

00:46:40 ◼   ► like why doesn't the operating system just quit this program that we know is frozen,

00:46:48 ◼   ► right? Like the computer's given me the spinny beach ball.

00:46:51 ◼   ► So it knows something's wrong. Right, it knows something's up, like why

00:46:54 ◼   ► do I have to be the one who force quits the program? And the answer to that is this is

00:47:00 ◼   ► what's known as the halting problem in computer science where, sorry computer scientists if

00:47:04 ◼   ► if I butcher this a little bit, but the gist is you cannot use a computer program to determine

00:47:13 ◼   ► with 100% certainty that another computer program is stuck in an infinite loop, that

00:47:21 ◼   ► it's not going to work its way out of whatever problem it's stuck into. So that's why you

00:47:26 ◼   ► as the human have to force quit because there's mathematically no way for the computer to

00:47:32 ◼   ► for certain, "Is this program stuck forever? Or is it going to finish any second from now?"

00:47:39 ◼   ► Like you just can't know that. And it's also why sometimes you get the spinny beach ball

00:47:43 ◼   ► and then you go get a cup of coffee and you come back and your computer's fine because

00:47:48 ◼   ► it was just working through something that was just going to take a super long time.

00:47:52 ◼   ► Well, because this card game is Turing complete, it has the exact same problem. There are lots

00:47:58 ◼   ► of situations in the game that can come up where it's like, "Oh, is this loop just going

00:48:02 ◼   ► to happen infinitely forever?"

00:48:04 ◼   ► Ooh, it's just astounding. Like, you can get your two players and get themselves into a

00:48:09 ◼   ► situation where there is no way out.

00:48:11 ◼   ► Yes, and there's some really funny videos where neither player wants to hit draw, but

00:48:16 ◼   ► some action has been occurring automatically for eight hours. And both people refuse to

00:48:21 ◼   ► be the one to like, "I'm not gonna log off the system and give you the win," right? But

00:48:25 ◼   ► But neither player can do anything.

00:48:28 ◼   ► Like a series of actions is just triggering more actions, infinitely forever, right?

00:48:34 ◼   ► But the programmers can't know when that's happening, right?

00:48:37 ◼   ► So they can't like, program into the rules, "Oh, we know for sure this loop is just going

00:48:42 ◼   ► to go on forever."

00:48:43 ◼   ► So we can declare it a draw.

00:48:45 ◼   ► Yeah, these people could just be playing really slowly or whatever, right?

00:48:48 ◼   ► Like there's no way of even - you can't even do it by time elapsed, I guess.

00:48:53 ◼   ► You can't do it by time elapsed.

00:48:54 ◼   ► So that's one of the reasons why like very few games would have this sort of property.

00:49:01 ◼   ► And also the sort of nerds who are attracted to this game love to set up that kind of nonsense,

00:49:07 ◼   ► right?

00:49:08 ◼   ► Like, oh, let me try to exploit it in every possible way.

00:49:10 ◼   ► So I think you have both sides of it, like, this is really hard to program.

00:49:15 ◼   ► And also, it attracts people with programmer mindsets who are looking to exploit the system

00:49:23 ◼   ► like, that is actually explicitly part of the game, is exploit the way all of these

00:49:31 ◼   ► thousands of weird rules interact with each other in unexpected ways.

00:49:36 ◼   ► So I just like, I cannot imagine what it's like to try to program this thing, but to

00:49:41 ◼   ► the people on the Magic Arena team, cheers to you!

00:49:45 ◼   ► I would not want your job, but thank you for doing it.

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00:51:22 ◼   ► So it has now been two years since we launched the theme system journal.

00:51:27 ◼   ► Wow.

00:51:28 ◼   ► Which is quite a thing.

00:51:30 ◼   ► So 2019, our WWDC 2019 episode is when we launched the journal to the world.

00:51:35 ◼   ► That both feels too long and too short.

00:51:38 ◼   ► That could be one of those like pandemic time weirdness things as well, right?

00:51:42 ◼   ► Or it's like, you know, it's just a strange time that we've been going through.

00:51:47 ◼   ► So in those two years, we've sold now over 15,000 journals, which feels like a fantastic

00:51:53 ◼   ► thing to say.

00:51:54 ◼   ► Wow.

00:51:55 ◼   ► But because of various delays in supply constraints, we've sold more than half of those in 2021

00:52:02 ◼   ► alone.

00:52:03 ◼   ► Right.

00:52:04 ◼   ► So in these past six months, we've sold more than we sold in the last year and a half before

00:52:10 ◼   ► that.

00:52:11 ◼   ► And now we have, I think, our supply management under control in a way.

00:52:15 ◼   ► I'm feeling pretty confident about things now.

00:52:17 ◼   ► - I'm very confident it's all solved

00:52:19 ◼   ► because I don't have to directly deal with any of it.

00:52:22 ◼   ► - I don't hear about these problems anymore

00:52:24 ◼   ► so I'm convinced they're solved.

00:52:26 ◼   ► So for these two things coming together,

00:52:28 ◼   ► now that the product's been around for a while,

00:52:31 ◼   ► we finalized basically what this product is

00:52:34 ◼   ► and now that we've gotten our stock management

00:52:37 ◼   ► under much more control, we're about to now launch

00:52:41 ◼   ► a new thing that we've been trying to do for a while

00:52:43 ◼   ► which is subscriptions to the Theme System Journal.

00:52:47 ◼   ► This is something that we've wanted to do

00:52:48 ◼   ► for a long time, since like the beginning.

00:52:51 ◼   ► And it's something that people have said to us,

00:52:53 ◼   ► hey, why don't you just launch a subscription

00:52:54 ◼   ► and it'll help with your stock management problems?

00:52:57 ◼   ► The problem was it couldn't until we had a consistent

00:53:00 ◼   ► and mostly reliable supply chain, right?

00:53:04 ◼   ► Which we now have been able to secure.

00:53:08 ◼   ► So we are now starting an option

00:53:12 ◼   ► for a quarterly rolling subscription.

00:53:15 ◼   ► Now, we're kind of, especially me,

00:53:17 ◼   ► referring to this as kind of like a beta process.

00:53:20 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:53:20 ◼   ► - Because we've, and this is why we are launching it

00:53:23 ◼   ► in the middle of the year and not at the start of the year.

00:53:27 ◼   ► So if there are things that we need to iron out,

00:53:29 ◼   ► we have time to do them before what is arguably,

00:53:33 ◼   ► not actually not arguably, definitely,

00:53:35 ◼   ► the focal point of a product like this,

00:53:37 ◼   ► which is the end of the year, the beginning of a year.

00:53:40 ◼   ► - Yes, of course.

00:53:41 ◼   ► - So we didn't wanna launch it then

00:53:43 ◼   ► 'cause that would have been madness, frankly.

00:53:46 ◼   ► And also as well, we're working with our good friends

00:53:48 ◼   ► at Cotton Bureau and we're working on this together.

00:53:51 ◼   ► They have not done this before.

00:53:53 ◼   ► This is the first product that they have worked on

00:53:56 ◼   ► with a subscription model built into it.

00:53:58 ◼   ► Big thanks to them for helping us get this worked out.

00:54:00 ◼   ► - Yes, definitely.

00:54:01 ◼   ► - This is the way that we're doing it for now.

00:54:04 ◼   ► And again, beta, 'cause things can change,

00:54:05 ◼   ► but this is the plan.

00:54:06 ◼   ► So when you subscribe, you get sent a journal immediately,

00:54:11 ◼   ► and you then get entered into the shipping

00:54:14 ◼   ► for the next quarter's journal.

00:54:17 ◼   ► So if you become a subscriber of the Theme System Journal,

00:54:21 ◼   ► at the start of every quarter, you will have a journal,

00:54:23 ◼   ► because it would have been delivered to you before then.

00:54:25 ◼   ► So this is October 1, January 1, April 1, July 1.

00:54:29 ◼   ► You will have a journal arrive with you before that point.

00:54:34 ◼   ► So we are going to start shipping them out

00:54:36 ◼   ► a month before that date.

00:54:39 ◼   ► But the hope then that it will arrive with people in time.

00:54:43 ◼   ► So when you go to buy at cortexmerch.com,

00:54:46 ◼   ► your timeline is indicated on the page.

00:54:48 ◼   ► So it will say like, if you buy now,

00:54:50 ◼   ► it will be shipped at this point

00:54:52 ◼   ► and your next journal will be shipped at this point.

00:54:55 ◼   ► Right? - Right.

00:54:56 ◼   ► - So one of the worst things you could do

00:54:57 ◼   ► is to order between that time period.

00:55:00 ◼   ► Like this is the thing that we're working out.

00:55:02 ◼   ► Like if you ordered on like September 2nd,

00:55:06 ◼   ► - Right.

00:55:07 ◼   ► - You might end up to a point where you might have

00:55:09 ◼   ► like a week where you don't have a journal,

00:55:11 ◼   ► but that's only gonna happen that first time

00:55:13 ◼   ► and then it will work out.

00:55:14 ◼   ► And again, this is just, we're trying to work out

00:55:16 ◼   ► the logistics of all this stuff, right?

00:55:18 ◼   ► Like we're all new to this.

00:55:19 ◼   ► - Yeah, it's very like,

00:55:20 ◼   ► - So complicated.

00:55:21 ◼   ► - This is why it is a beta program.

00:55:23 ◼   ► And I think it's very fair to say like,

00:55:25 ◼   ► we definitely want feedback on this because this is,

00:55:29 ◼   ► Again, when we first talked about this forever ago,

00:55:32 ◼   ► you pitched me on the idea of subscriptions,

00:55:34 ◼   ► and I was like, "Oh yeah, of course,

00:55:36 ◼   ► "that's definitely a thing to do."

00:55:38 ◼   ► And then when we finally get the logistics set,

00:55:42 ◼   ► and then the details come around to be like,

00:55:44 ◼   ► "Okay, so what actually happens when someone presses buy?"

00:55:49 ◼   ► And you realize, "Oh, in my head,

00:55:51 ◼   ► "I had a vague, completely unthought out way

00:55:54 ◼   ► "that this would just be perfect.

00:55:56 ◼   ► But now that we need to figure out the real details,

00:55:59 ◼   ► it's harder to try to figure out what is the situation that makes everyone the happiest.

00:56:04 ◼   ► The real easy way of doing this is you press buy now and you get one on October 1st.

00:56:10 ◼   ► Right.

00:56:11 ◼   ► But that sucks.

00:56:12 ◼   ► But yeah, but that's exactly it.

00:56:13 ◼   ► I think that's not what most people want to have happen.

00:56:18 ◼   ► You want, when you press buy, your internal feeling is,

00:56:23 ◼   ► "I have bought this. I would like this now, please."

00:56:25 ◼   ► What you don't want is someone to have purchased something just after the seasonal changeover

00:56:32 ◼   ► and then they have to wait three months for the next journal to show up.

00:56:36 ◼   ► Like that's a terrible experience.

00:56:38 ◼   ► But this is also like we're just testing this now because

00:56:41 ◼   ► we're trying to think of what is the best way to do this.

00:56:44 ◼   ► But we definitely want feedback for, okay, now that this is going to start interacting

00:56:49 ◼   ► with the real world, is this what people want and expect?

00:56:53 ◼   ► Like they get a journal now and then they are put onto the seasonal delivery schedule.

00:56:59 ◼   ► Like we think this is the best way, but we're not 100% sure.

00:57:04 ◼   ► Mm-hmm.

00:57:05 ◼   ► Because it's like, it's also, you know, this is kind of like a pretty decent time to launch it,

00:57:09 ◼   ► because if you bought it now and you started using it on July 1,

00:57:13 ◼   ► which is would be kind of the expectation, right?

00:57:16 ◼   ► Because you start in a new quarter and especially by the time, you know,

00:57:19 ◼   ► it ships out to whatever, then you'll be good.

00:57:21 ◼   ► you'll be golden because they last for 90 days, you should have your journal before 90 days is up

00:57:26 ◼   ► and that's it. So again, this is like a thing that we're just trying to work out.

00:57:30 ◼   ► But there is incentives to you if you do this, by the way. This isn't just for our

00:57:35 ◼   ► logistical management process. It's a few things. So not only do you make sure you have one when you

00:57:41 ◼   ► want one, because this will be a thing that if we, as we're managing stock, we're keeping an eye on

00:57:48 ◼   ► how many do we need at a certain point, all that kind of stuff. We're making the journal

00:57:52 ◼   ► cheaper for subscribers. So currently the Theme System Journal is $25 if you buy it one-off.

00:57:57 ◼   ► Quarterly subscribers get the journal for $20. And extras. As tokens of our appreciation,

00:58:06 ◼   ► there will be little things included in the package that only subscribers to the

00:58:10 ◼   ► Themes Mr. Journal will get. The first ones are some stickers. The only people that are

00:58:16 ◼   ► that are gonna get these stickers

00:58:17 ◼   ► are these Mr. Journal subscribers.

00:58:19 ◼   ► And we're not gonna change the world with these,

00:58:23 ◼   ► but they're just little small tokens of our appreciation

00:58:25 ◼   ► that subscribers get, as well as a discount.

00:58:28 ◼   ► So I think that's pretty great,

00:58:29 ◼   ► and we want the feedback from people,

00:58:30 ◼   ► so if you do subscribe,

00:58:32 ◼   ► let us know what the experience is like,

00:58:34 ◼   ► and the way it will work is leading up to the point

00:58:36 ◼   ► where the next payment is gonna be taken,

00:58:39 ◼   ► Cotton Bureau will send you an email, they'll confirm,

00:58:41 ◼   ► see if you have any changes you wanna make,

00:58:43 ◼   ► like maybe you've moved, you can do that,

00:58:45 ◼   ► super easy to do that, you just contact them and they'll do that.

00:58:47 ◼   ► And again, we're building out a system together over time, depending on feedback.

00:58:51 ◼   ► So this is like the next stage, I'm pleased that we're launching it now and not in November.

00:58:58 ◼   ► I would not want to be launching this in November, no sir.

00:59:02 ◼   ► So we have like a good six months to get this like truly shored up.

00:59:06 ◼   ► I subscribed because it's good for me I suppose, although I have just stacks of these things

00:59:12 ◼   ► but nevertheless I subscribed.

00:59:13 ◼   ► Like, do you need a discount on your theme system journals?

00:59:15 ◼   ► I'm pretty sure you've got, like, in your house right now more than enough for the rest of your life.

00:59:20 ◼   ► This only applies to me and you, but if we are logged into our own account, they are free.

00:59:24 ◼   ► Oh, sweet!

00:59:25 ◼   ► That only applies to me and you, but, you know, 'cause we pay for the things already, so then, not truly free.

00:59:32 ◼   ► We've actually lost money by doing that, but nevertheless, don't get like a thousand of them,

00:59:38 ◼   ► 'cause that's only money out of our pockets.

00:59:40 ◼   ► But yeah, so like if we're approaching a new half of the year, so if you've got a new seasonal theme that you want to work on,

00:59:46 ◼   ► this could be a great time to do that. So you can go to cortexmerch.com, you can check out that.

00:59:50 ◼   ► We also have the Subtle Notebook, which by the way, this idea, if it works, we could potentially look at other products to do on subscriptions too.

01:00:01 ◼   ► Right? So, you know, we have the Subtle Notebook as well.

01:00:06 ◼   ► I'm working on another product that I think people might want on a somewhat seasonal basis

01:00:12 ◼   ► or on a frequent basis.

01:00:14 ◼   ► So this is us trying to understand, is there a market for it?

01:00:18 ◼   ► Does it make logistical sense for us and customers?

01:00:21 ◼   ► And we'll see where it goes from there.

01:00:23 ◼   ► Cortexmerch.com.

01:00:24 ◼   ► WWDC time.

01:00:26 ◼   ► WWDC.

01:00:27 ◼   ► WWDC. I've been getting lots of people telling me that they want this episode of Cortex.

01:00:36 ◼   ► That like they need to know how we feel about certain things.

01:00:39 ◼   ► Oh yeah? Anything in particular that the people want to know about?

01:00:43 ◼   ► I'm just gonna say, I don't think that we necessarily have that much of an impact on

01:00:50 ◼   ► the decisions that Apple decides to make with their operating systems. However, this felt

01:00:55 ◼   ► like a very Cortex WWDC.

01:00:58 ◼   ► Yeah, I mean I think we can all just acknowledge right here that when Megan Frost came out

01:01:05 ◼   ► with the map section of WWDC and London was the central focus of the slot.

01:01:11 ◼   ► Why was he the one on that list?

01:01:13 ◼   ► I don't understand.

01:01:14 ◼   ► London, number one on the list, very first image that they showed on the screen was a

01:01:19 ◼   ► beautiful 3D rendered London.

01:01:21 ◼   ► It was like, I see you Maps team.

01:01:23 ◼   ► I know you're talking directly to Cortex.

01:01:25 ◼   ► I get it.

01:01:26 ◼   ► Message received.

01:01:27 ◼   ► So yeah, for sure.

01:01:28 ◼   ► - Maps, a screen time API,

01:01:31 ◼   ► which we were the only people asking for,

01:01:33 ◼   ► shortcuts on the Mac, iPad multitasking changes,

01:01:37 ◼   ► and effectively the entire system

01:01:40 ◼   ► that you've been wanting to build with downtime,

01:01:45 ◼   ► which is focus modes.

01:01:46 ◼   ► Now, okay, nothing is ever going to be exactly as you want.

01:01:51 ◼   ► However, you have been trying to use downtime,

01:01:53 ◼   ► which is mostly a parental control feature,

01:01:55 ◼   ► to allow you to somewhat automate the apps

01:02:00 ◼   ► that you use on your device and the notifications

01:02:03 ◼   ► that you receive during those periods of time.

01:02:05 ◼   ► And that is effectively what Apple's also trying to do

01:02:08 ◼   ► with something called focus.

01:02:09 ◼   ► - Yes, yes.

01:02:10 ◼   ► - Now, focus is now an umbrella term

01:02:13 ◼   ► that includes do not disturb.

01:02:15 ◼   ► So do not disturb is now a focus mode.

01:02:18 ◼   ► - Right.

01:02:19 ◼   ► And effectively, this allows you to build your own profiles

01:02:23 ◼   ► for custom notifications and attention

01:02:26 ◼   ► so you can choose who you want to contact you,

01:02:28 ◼   ► what apps you want to contact you,

01:02:30 ◼   ► if there are certain apps that you want to send

01:02:33 ◼   ► quote-unquote time-sensitive notifications,

01:02:36 ◼   ► and you can also program custom home screens

01:02:39 ◼   ► that show when you have these modes enabled.

01:02:43 ◼   ► I think this is really cool.

01:02:45 ◼   ► - Yes, although I'll just say it now,

01:02:48 ◼   ► We're gonna talk about focus modes, but don't let me forget, you actually missed another

01:02:53 ◼   ► Cortex-specific feature in this WWDC that I want to mention later.

01:02:57 ◼   ► Don't let me forget that.

01:02:58 ◼   ► But yeah, the focus mode thing, it seems very interesting.

01:03:03 ◼   ► I've installed the developer beta on my phone, and my iPad, and my computer.

01:03:12 ◼   ► I didn't install it on the writing computer, you know, because of course-

01:03:15 ◼   ► You know, my heart leaps into my mouth there for a second.

01:03:18 ◼   ► I just wanted to let you know, right, like don't worry, Myke.

01:03:21 ◼   ► The writing computer, upon which I record podcasts,

01:03:25 ◼   ► has not been updated.

01:03:26 ◼   ► Writing computer is now beta computer as well,

01:03:28 ◼   ► it's the other things that it does.

01:03:30 ◼   ► Right.

01:03:31 ◼   ► Writing computer is not beta operating system testing computer.

01:03:36 ◼   ► I wouldn't do that to you, Myke, don't worry.

01:03:37 ◼   ► I mean, that wouldn't make any sense, right?

01:03:39 ◼   ► I mean, like it would not make any sense

01:03:40 ◼   ► to add other features to the writing computer.

01:03:43 ◼   ► It's just for writing.

01:03:44 ◼   ► Well, no, the unnamed feature right now I desperately do want on the writing computer,

01:03:49 ◼   ► but we'll get to that later.

01:03:50 ◼   ► But I held back for you, and also with a certain knowledge that all of my streaming software

01:03:56 ◼   ► would totally break on the developer beta.

01:03:58 ◼   ► Like it barely works on the regular release, like there's a 0% chance any of that's

01:04:03 ◼   ► gonna work on a beta.

01:04:04 ◼   ► That would have mudded it.

01:04:05 ◼   ► You would have been dumb.

01:04:06 ◼   ► Literally can't.

01:04:07 ◼   ► But I was trying to remember, I think this is maybe one of the only, maybe the second

01:04:13 ◼   ► time ever I've installed the developer beta and not waited for the public beta and it

01:04:18 ◼   ► was mainly for that other feature but I did also want to see the focus mode stuff because

01:04:21 ◼   ► I mean people send me messages and they're like "Apple's made a thing totally for you!"

01:04:27 ◼   ► and it's always like "yes yes" but the devil is in the details. I will say that I am cautiously

01:04:34 ◼   ► optimistic about the focus modes. There's some parts of it that I feel like I'm still

01:04:38 ◼   ► trying to figure out how they work. And there's some things where I can't quite tell if it's

01:04:45 ◼   ► just a glitch in the beta or if this is the way something is supposed to work. But I'm

01:04:50 ◼   ► honestly surprised that Apple would make a system like this. Like I think it's much more

01:04:56 ◼   ► complicated than I ever would have expected Apple to do. It feels very un-Appley. Like

01:05:02 ◼   ► Like, don't get me wrong, very appreciative, but when you annoyingly told me about this

01:05:09 ◼   ► rumor months ago just to annoy me, I was feeling like, "Apple's never gonna do this.

01:05:15 ◼   ► This is just totally on Apple style."

01:05:18 ◼   ► But they did, and I was totally shocked to see that they have these three or four default

01:05:24 ◼   ► settings that they want to try to set you up with.

01:05:26 ◼   ► It's like work and personal and a couple others, but that you can also add whatever

01:05:30 ◼   ► other ones that you want.

01:05:32 ◼   ► Just completely arbitrary.

01:05:33 ◼   ► Yeah, completely arbitrary number of these things.

01:05:36 ◼   ► That they're also integrated into shortcuts so that you can turn them on and off with

01:05:42 ◼   ► automation.

01:05:43 ◼   ► Yeah, I say I'm cautiously optimistic about these features.

01:05:48 ◼   ► Honestly, one of the things that surprises me the most is immediately it's on every

01:05:52 ◼   ► device.

01:05:53 ◼   ► And this is actually a really interesting thing about WWDC this year is how many features

01:05:57 ◼   ► the Mac got as well as iOS.

01:06:00 ◼   ► Yes, yes.

01:06:01 ◼   ► I was very happy to see that this year. It felt like slow unification would be the two

01:06:08 ◼   ► way and I mean slow in the best of all possible ways. There weren't a bunch of radical changes

01:06:14 ◼   ► in one place that didn't work other places. It's like everything got better together.

01:06:18 ◼   ► I think that this is the benefit of underlining technology changes. So yeah, one having their

01:06:24 ◼   ► own chips because there are some features in macOS Monterey that are only available

01:06:29 ◼   ► for M1 Macs. And then the other thing is tools like SwiftUI which are

01:06:34 ◼   ► cross-platform development languages and stuff like that and Swift and SwiftUI.

01:06:39 ◼   ► So like for example shortcuts which is coming to the Mac that was built in

01:06:44 ◼   ► SwiftUI in AppKit. So they could also build the new version for iPadOS

01:06:50 ◼   ► and iOS in SwiftUI in UIKit. So that's how a lot of this stuff is able to

01:06:55 ◼   ► work. So I think what we are seeing is, again, it's not that they unify the operating systems,

01:07:02 ◼   ► but they are unifying some of the things they need to advance the operating systems,

01:07:06 ◼   ► which allows them to bring features everywhere at once, which I think is fantastic.

01:07:11 ◼   ► No, I completely agree. One of the, you know, there's always stuff that you find when you

01:07:15 ◼   ► install the beta that they don't mention in WWDC. And the tiniest example of this,

01:07:21 ◼   ► which made me super happy was low power mode on the iPad.

01:07:26 ◼   ► It's like, oh my god, they finally brought low power mode to the iPad.

01:07:29 ◼   ► - Yeah, it's on the Mac too. - Is it? Oh wow!

01:07:32 ◼   ► - I didn't even realize that. - Again, probably one of the reasons

01:07:35 ◼   ► it was on both of them is they wanted to add it to one of them.

01:07:38 ◼   ► Honestly, I expect it was probably for the Mac.

01:07:41 ◼   ► They were adding it for the Macs and then they just did it to the iPad too.

01:07:43 ◼   ► I just think like the iPad is a device where I'm often wanting low power mode.

01:07:48 ◼   ► I've always found it frustrating that it's not on there.

01:07:51 ◼   ► And I was like, Oh my god, this is fantastic. Like, great, please bring these features everywhere.

01:07:55 ◼   ► And I didn't realize it was for the Mac as well that like, that's doubly great and

01:07:59 ◼   ► re emphasizes this concept of Oh, unification across the platforms. So cool. But yeah,

01:08:04 ◼   ► just to completely talk about the focus mode stuff. The one thing I'm not sure about, which

01:08:08 ◼   ► I think is mostly a bug, but the experience that I've had is, it doesn't seem consistent to me

01:08:15 ◼   ► about, say you have a focus mode on and someone sends you a notification.

01:08:22 ◼   ► Sometimes that notification appears on the lock screen when you just open the phone and sometimes

01:08:31 ◼   ► it doesn't. I think that's a bug, but I'm not 100% sure and that's the one part that I feel very

01:08:42 ◼   ► concerned about which way does this behavior go?

01:08:47 ◼   ► I would recommend maybe keeping an eye on what apps are doing that.

01:08:51 ◼   ► One of the things that has changed, I believe, with these versions of iOS and iPadOS

01:08:57 ◼   ► is notifications can now be set a priority ranking. I think there's four rankings.

01:09:04 ◼   ► Yes, yes.

01:09:05 ◼   ► And they show up in different ways. So if it's third party apps,

01:09:08 ◼   ► they just they haven't been able to do any of this stuff.

01:09:11 ◼   ► - Yeah, so like, iMessage is the one that is always my main concern.

01:09:16 ◼   ► Like, oh, this has always been my like, iMessage.

01:09:20 ◼   ► You know, sometimes I just don't want you in the mornings.

01:09:23 ◼   ► And like, even today it was interesting, like, we were messaging a little bit,

01:09:27 ◼   ► getting ready for the show, and I had on my most restricted focus mode.

01:09:32 ◼   ► And sometimes your messages were showing up on the lock screen,

01:09:36 ◼   ► and sometimes they were not. And so that just felt like-

01:09:38 ◼   ► - That feels like a bug then. - Buggy.

01:09:39 ◼   ► That's a bug then.

01:09:40 ◼   ► Yeah, buggy behavior.

01:09:41 ◼   ► Because if you have it set that way and sometimes it works, like that feels like that's the

01:09:46 ◼   ► intended thing and then when it jumps through it's the way it's not supposed to work.

01:09:50 ◼   ► That's what I would assume.

01:09:51 ◼   ► So you think the default behavior is that it shouldn't show up on the lock screen.

01:09:55 ◼   ► That's what you think should be the default behavior?

01:09:57 ◼   ► I mean if you've said that you don't want to hear from me.

01:10:00 ◼   ► Well okay so let me put up the actual – there's an option in here which I find so strangely

01:10:05 ◼   ► worded.

01:10:06 ◼   ► So if you go into your focus modes and then you go into the extra options.

01:10:09 ◼   ► the dim lock screen.

01:10:10 ◼   ► No, it's not the dim lock screen.

01:10:11 ◼   ► It's the delayed delivery one.

01:10:13 ◼   ► I feel like, is my brain not working?

01:10:15 ◼   ► But I have such a hard time understanding this sentence.

01:10:19 ◼   ► Notifications you receive that are not in your allowed list will be delivered directly

01:10:24 ◼   ► to notification center until the focus is turned off.

01:10:28 ◼   ► So when you go to notification center, there are now, so I'm in Do Not Disturb right now.

01:10:35 ◼   ► And I have two things.

01:10:37 ◼   ► One is upcoming and one is notification center.

01:10:41 ◼   ► And the upcoming is a collection of things where I just see that there are apps and it's

01:10:47 ◼   ► effectively storing these notifications until later on and it's called "while in do not

01:10:51 ◼   ► disturb".

01:10:53 ◼   ► And so what that's meant to do, and I think it might not be doing it completely consistently

01:10:58 ◼   ► right now, that delayed delivery is collecting up all of your notifications and keeping them

01:11:03 ◼   ► in that little area and then when you're done it just goes like blergh and you get them all.

01:11:08 ◼   ► B: Right, but so in notification center you can see that you have upcoming notifications.

01:11:13 ◼   ► The only thing that didn't feel very cortexy to me was every time on stage, I think it was Craig

01:11:19 ◼   ► was doing the presentation where he was talking about the way notifications are going to be

01:11:23 ◼   ► collected into summaries. He said like three times "don't worry not people" and I was like "no no I

01:11:28 ◼   ► I want the people, like people notifications

01:11:30 ◼   ► or app notifications, it's all the same to me.

01:11:33 ◼   ► Like, I do want to collect people notifications

01:11:36 ◼   ► into whatever these systems are.

01:11:38 ◼   ► And I just, I thought it was funny that several times

01:11:40 ◼   ► you like wanted to, I don't know,

01:11:43 ◼   ► kind of like allay people's concerns of,

01:11:45 ◼   ► don't worry, your friends will always be able to contact you.

01:11:47 ◼   ► And I'm sitting there like, no, no,

01:11:49 ◼   ► I don't want my friends to always be able to contact me.

01:11:51 ◼   ► - Nobody, they're the worst part.

01:11:53 ◼   ► - So that's partly why when I was watching it,

01:11:55 ◼   ► I was like, oh no, this is gonna be another one

01:11:57 ◼   ► these things that everybody thinks is custom built for me and actually just completely

01:12:01 ◼   ► ignores the one problem that I actually have.

01:12:03 ◼   ► Yeah, so I find that things slightly strangely worded.

01:12:06 ◼   ► And this is also the like Apple's language for what is where can be a little bit confusing.

01:12:11 ◼   ► So like, the lock screen is not the notification center.

01:12:15 ◼   ► But if I if I'm in a focus mode, and I swipe down, that brings up notification center,

01:12:20 ◼   ► and then what do I see there at different times?

01:12:24 ◼   ► Like, I don't know, I'll just have to see a couple of betas in, but what I'm hoping

01:12:28 ◼   ► is that the expected behavior with flipping the right switches is that if someone messages

01:12:37 ◼   ► me, that doesn't show up on the lock screen.

01:12:42 ◼   ► My thought here is to clarify, it's not so much notifications that are really the thing

01:12:50 ◼   ► that I'm concerned about.

01:12:51 ◼   ► It's like distraction is the thing.

01:12:55 ◼   ► And even if I don't see what a notification is from someone, unintentionally running into

01:13:01 ◼   ► like "oh, overnight you got five messages from people", that's a distraction to the

01:13:07 ◼   ► sort of flow in the morning.

01:13:09 ◼   ► So that's all I'm hoping is like there's a way to hide that without having to use the

01:13:13 ◼   ► god-awful downtime system, which I've turned off to try to figure out how to make the focus

01:13:17 ◼   ► modes work.

01:13:18 ◼   ► pretty confident that this system can do that but it might just be a little too early in

01:13:24 ◼   ► the cycle for it to be working reliably.

01:13:26 ◼   ► The one thing in this little presentation in the focus mode section they said about

01:13:29 ◼   ► how this system ties into the custom home screens and your ability to select which pages

01:13:38 ◼   ► show up.

01:13:39 ◼   ► That's amazing.

01:13:40 ◼   ► I like I had my mind blown by that part of it and and is also one of those little moments

01:13:46 ◼   ► where you know sometimes with Apple it can be very frustrating it feels like things move

01:13:51 ◼   ► very slowly they add features so slowly but the real power they have is integrating and

01:13:58 ◼   ► connecting all of their little features together and this is the one where it's like oh my

01:14:03 ◼   ► god that multiple home screen thing suddenly makes a hundred times more sense like why

01:14:09 ◼   ► did they add that feature it's to connect it to this especially the fact that you can

01:14:14 ◼   ► turn them on and off. Yes. So it's like, okay, great. Like I was thinking about how I've had,

01:14:19 ◼   ► you know, different iPads and it's like, Oh, this is the research iPad and this is the couch iPad.

01:14:24 ◼   ► It's like, man, with this focus mode stuff, if I can turn on and off the different ways that

01:14:29 ◼   ► the home screen looks, that goes a long way to not needing to mess with multiple devices and just

01:14:35 ◼   ► being able to have one device. So whoever whoever had that big brain moment at Apple of connecting

01:14:40 ◼   ► up those features.

01:14:41 ◼   ► Mwah!

01:14:42 ◼   ► Chef's kiss!

01:14:43 ◼   ► Like, what a perfect thing!

01:14:45 ◼   ► And one of the super weird things, which is like, again, I love when they make the weird

01:14:51 ◼   ► decision, is you can have multiple instances of the same app on home screens.

01:14:57 ◼   ► Yes, I was very glad to see it.

01:14:59 ◼   ► That was one of the things I wanted to play with right away, is like, okay, but can I

01:15:02 ◼   ► have multiple things?

01:15:03 ◼   ► It's like, oh, fantastic.

01:15:04 ◼   ► - So if you wanted to have like, I don't know,

01:15:07 ◼   ► the notes app on your work home screen,

01:15:10 ◼   ► your research home screen, your personal,

01:15:13 ◼   ► you can be on all of them.

01:15:14 ◼   ► And then there has been funny things where people put like

01:15:16 ◼   ► the Twitter app as every icon on their home screen.

01:15:19 ◼   ► That's been like a little meme going around

01:15:20 ◼   ► the last couple of days.

01:15:21 ◼   ► - I haven't seen that, but that's fantastic.

01:15:23 ◼   ► - I mean, it might be a bug right now

01:15:25 ◼   ► that you can put the same app on multiple times

01:15:28 ◼   ► on the same home screen.

01:15:29 ◼   ► Like that feels redundant.

01:15:30 ◼   ► - Yeah, but that's also hilarious.

01:15:31 ◼   ► Please leave that in Apple, that's just funny.

01:15:33 ◼   ► (laughing)

01:15:34 ◼   ► - I think this is super cool.

01:15:36 ◼   ► Like I'm really into this feature.

01:15:39 ◼   ► Like I've only just started tinkering with it.

01:15:42 ◼   ► Like I haven't truly set one up the way that I would want to

01:15:47 ◼   ► especially because I actually think for me

01:15:49 ◼   ► this system will be best on my Mac

01:15:52 ◼   ► than on my iOS devices

01:15:54 ◼   ► because I would want to set up a I am recording focus.

01:15:59 ◼   ► Right?

01:16:00 ◼   ► Because that's when for me, I want the most restriction

01:16:03 ◼   ► Because I have my Mac on Do Not Disturb all the time, but there are instances where I

01:16:09 ◼   ► would like some notifications, but if I turn them all on for messages, I'm going to get

01:16:13 ◼   ► every iMessage and I don't want that.

01:16:16 ◼   ► So I like the fact even that I can have people as well as applications.

01:16:22 ◼   ► And I do believe it will be possible for developers of third-party messaging apps to integrate

01:16:27 ◼   ► with this.

01:16:28 ◼   ► For example, if you had me turned on and I messaged you in Slack, it would still alert

01:16:34 ◼   ► you.

01:16:35 ◼   ► B: Oh, that's really interesting.

01:16:36 ◼   ► You've got to call that focus mode "live".

01:16:39 ◼   ► All caps.

01:16:40 ◼   ► Like that's got to be the name of your "I'm recording now".

01:16:42 ◼   ► L: I mean I was just gonna call it recording, but clearly I'm not inventive enough.

01:16:46 ◼   ► B; No, live, right?

01:16:47 ◼   ► Just like the old timey big red sign outside the door like "Myke's live now".

01:16:52 ◼   ► That's what that focus mode is, for sure.

01:16:55 ◼   ► L; And it probably could tie into HomeKit and turn on a red light.

01:16:58 ◼   ► - Yes, yeah, that's great.

01:16:58 ◼   ► - It genuinely probably could do that.

01:17:00 ◼   ► I'm gonna look into it,

01:17:01 ◼   ► 'cause this is super interesting,

01:17:03 ◼   ► that you can automate them.

01:17:05 ◼   ► Focus modes have an automation, like Do Not Disturb did,

01:17:07 ◼   ► so you can set up an opportunity these times,

01:17:10 ◼   ► but you can also automate it with a shortcut.

01:17:13 ◼   ► So you can add it to a shortcut.

01:17:15 ◼   ► So for me, I have a shortcut that I use currently

01:17:18 ◼   ► when I record, which sets a timer

01:17:20 ◼   ► and puts my device on Do Not Disturb,

01:17:22 ◼   ► but now it will set a timer in Timery

01:17:25 ◼   ► and then put all of my devices at once

01:17:27 ◼   ► in the I am recording thing.

01:17:29 ◼   ► So, super cool.

01:17:30 ◼   ► - The across all devices thing is just fantastic.

01:17:34 ◼   ► That's partly what makes it just a completely killer feature.

01:17:38 ◼   ► And yeah, that automation with the home screen stuff.

01:17:40 ◼   ► Again, I just haven't had enough time

01:17:43 ◼   ► to truly play around with it

01:17:45 ◼   ► since putting on the developer beta

01:17:46 ◼   ► because I gave myself a day where I was like,

01:17:48 ◼   ► "No, it's so stupid to put on the developer beta."

01:17:51 ◼   ► And then I eventually cracked and was like,

01:17:52 ◼   ► "No, I need to, I have to play around."

01:17:54 ◼   ► But I just love the idea of just all of the connections that can happen now.

01:17:59 ◼   ► Like if I'm on my iPad setting a timer that's like, "Oh, the writing timer starts now."

01:18:04 ◼   ► And it puts it in the focus mode, but it also changes what's on the home screen

01:18:09 ◼   ► so that the various apps that I need when I'm writing are more accessible

01:18:13 ◼   ► right there on the home screen.

01:18:14 ◼   ► And I don't need to try to design a dock that works under all circumstances.

01:18:19 ◼   ► I just, I think it's so well done.

01:18:21 ◼   ► I'm really happy with all of that.

01:18:23 ◼   ► Also just a little feature that I was very glad to see there and grateful to whatever

01:18:27 ◼   ► engineer put it in is just the option to hide the badge notifications as well.

01:18:32 ◼   ► So it's like that again is where my concern is.

01:18:35 ◼   ► It's not just notifications, it's distractions.

01:18:38 ◼   ► And it's like, okay, great.

01:18:39 ◼   ► It was very relieved to see the option to say, I don't want to

01:18:43 ◼   ► see badge numbers is there as well.

01:18:45 ◼   ► I was like, Oh, thank God.

01:18:47 ◼   ► I'm so happy.

01:18:47 ◼   ► That's there.

01:18:48 ◼   ► And is a sign of like, this is thinking about it in the way that I'm hoping

01:18:53 ◼   ► that they're thinking about it.

01:18:54 ◼   ► - I'm surprised of how fiddly it is.

01:18:56 ◼   ► It's a pretty fiddly UI, right?

01:18:58 ◼   ► Like you go in and you set a bunch of check boxes

01:19:01 ◼   ► and that's, it's not typically the kind of stuff

01:19:04 ◼   ► that we see from Apple.

01:19:04 ◼   ► Like they want to do it for you, right?

01:19:07 ◼   ► - Yeah.

01:19:08 ◼   ► - But I like, everything's off when you try

01:19:09 ◼   ► and set up a new focus mode

01:19:10 ◼   ► and you have to turn stuff on manually.

01:19:12 ◼   ► I'm like, yes, this is what I wanted.

01:19:15 ◼   ► There is a little check box of like,

01:19:17 ◼   ► would you like us to change these?

01:19:19 ◼   ► Like a smart detection?

01:19:21 ◼   ► No, don't want that.

01:19:23 ◼   ► I'll tell you when to do it. Don't you try and do it for me?

01:19:26 ◼   ► That's how bad stuff happens.

01:19:28 ◼   ► When I quite enjoyed happening a few times and I was never in a good spot to turn it off

01:19:32 ◼   ► was in the old system "Do Not Disturb" had an automatic option for

01:19:37 ◼   ► "Turn on Do Not Disturb while driving"

01:19:40 ◼   ► Yeah

01:19:40 ◼   ► And I discovered that riding my bike is apparently enough to make that think that I'm driving a car

01:19:47 ◼   ► and so like I'd be on my bike and someone would send me a message and be like "I'm driving now" like

01:19:52 ◼   ► What? How are you doing that? You don't have a license in London. You can't be driving now.

01:19:57 ◼   ► It's like, "Apple, you must know I have running on my watch, like, currently cycling outdoors.

01:20:03 ◼   ► How on earth do you think that I'm driving a car right now?"

01:20:06 ◼   ► So I saw that too and it made me laugh. I was like, "You're not gonna predict when I want to do serious work.

01:20:12 ◼   ► I'll tell you what I'm doing serious work."

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01:21:50 ◼   ► So iPad OS has a more refined multitasking mode. They've not

01:21:57 ◼   ► completely upended everything. This is not a complete rethink that people were

01:22:02 ◼   ► hoping for or thinking. There's no windows, there's no external monitor

01:22:05 ◼   ► support. To me this feels like a better foundation to work from going

01:22:12 ◼   ► forward I think this is the best implementation of this system which is

01:22:16 ◼   ► now six years old right and that's brutal now this system of side-by-side

01:22:24 ◼   ► app and a side of app you know that's the way it's been for this amount of

01:22:27 ◼   ► time and in that whole time the way that you've been done it is a various modes

01:22:31 ◼   ► of dragging things around with your fingers right and with the iPad OS 15

01:22:36 ◼   ► multitasking they've added two things which I think are fantastic one is this

01:22:41 ◼   ► little pill that sits at the top of every open application which you can tap and it will allow

01:22:46 ◼   ► you to either set that app as a full screen, set it as a split screen, or put it in slide over.

01:22:51 ◼   ► Fantastic. Super easy. The big thing is they have added keyboard shortcuts for everything. So this

01:22:59 ◼   ► is my favorite part. Here's my question about keyboard shortcuts because you say for everything,

01:23:04 ◼   ► but I'm having a hard time with some of the keyboard shortcuts and this is some of this is 100%

01:23:10 ◼   ► developer issues because I get hilarious crashes sometimes and then the language of my keyboard changes which I find super fun.

01:23:16 ◼   ► Here is the use case that I don't think they have a keyboard shortcut for but I hope I'm just misunderstanding.

01:23:25 ◼   ► Let's say I'm on my iPad. I have two apps side by side.

01:23:30 ◼   ► I've got Obsidian and I've got Ulysses open and I'm working away and then I go "hey, you know what?

01:23:35 ◼   ► I want to put on some of my writing music to listen to on repeat a thousand times like

01:23:40 ◼   ► a crazy person.

01:23:42 ◼   ► Is there a way to open up music on that screen, either in one of the two side by sideways

01:23:50 ◼   ► or in a slide over without lifting my fingers off the keyboard?

01:23:54 ◼   ► Because I don't think there is.

01:23:56 ◼   ► There is.

01:23:57 ◼   ► Okay, how?

01:23:58 ◼   ► Alright, so one of the things that's important to note is that there is now a new modifier

01:24:01 ◼   ► key, which is the globe key.

01:24:03 ◼   ► I did love that.

01:24:04 ◼   ► Like when I saw the globe key being used as the shortcuts key, I thought, "Oh, that's

01:24:08 ◼   ► quite clever."

01:24:09 ◼   ► And I also thought, "Count down to how long will it be until the globe key appears on

01:24:15 ◼   ► the next MacBook."

01:24:16 ◼   ► I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it does eventually show up on the regular

01:24:19 ◼   ► keyboard.

01:24:20 ◼   ► No, it is on there now.

01:24:21 ◼   ► Is it really?

01:24:22 ◼   ► Yeah, like, I believe so.

01:24:23 ◼   ► The globe key's on the Magic Keyboard.

01:24:24 ◼   ► Oh!

01:24:25 ◼   ► Is it on the actual laptop itself, though?

01:24:27 ◼   ► Yes.

01:24:28 ◼   ► Huh.

01:24:29 ◼   ► Okay.

01:24:30 ◼   ► Well, there we go.

01:24:31 ◼   ► Prediction instantly reached retroactively.

01:24:32 ◼   ► I didn't even realize it was there.

01:24:34 ◼   ► Yes, the bottom left key.

01:24:35 ◼   ► Oh, okay.

01:24:36 ◼   ► It's totally erased from my brain because I'm always on these mechanical keyboards

01:24:38 ◼   ► and I just forgot about it and assumed it wasn't there.

01:24:41 ◼   ► And something that I like, so obviously mechanical keyboards, external keyboards don't have

01:24:45 ◼   ► that key, but you can remap it.

01:24:47 ◼   ► So on my…

01:24:48 ◼   ► Yes, yeah.

01:24:49 ◼   ► I've remapped the caps lock key to be the globe key.

01:24:51 ◼   ► Oh, that's an interesting choice, yeah.

01:24:52 ◼   ► I've always done caps lock as control.

01:24:54 ◼   ► Who needs caps lock?

01:24:55 ◼   ► Yeah, no one needs caps lock, except for very angry people on the internet.

01:24:58 ◼   ► It's fine, totally fine.

01:25:01 ◼   ► So this is a thing where, so what we're talking about here, you want to put it either on the

01:25:05 ◼   ► left or right hand side of the split, right?

01:25:07 ◼   ► Right.

01:25:08 ◼   ► Okay.

01:25:09 ◼   ► Now, if you do it the way you would think you would do it, it doesn't work.

01:25:12 ◼   ► Right.

01:25:13 ◼   ► So this is the way I've been trying to do it is I think, okay, I've got my two windows

01:25:17 ◼   ► open and I want to swap one of them for something else.

01:25:21 ◼   ► And so the way I try, I've tried to do it is I pull up a spotlight search, I search

01:25:26 ◼   ► for music, and then I use the keyboard shortcut to try to put it left or right, and my iPad

01:25:32 ◼   ► crashes and literally will switch to Chinese sometimes, and it's like, "Whoa!"

01:25:36 ◼   ► You can do this, but you've got to do it the other way around.

01:25:39 ◼   ► Okay, what does that mean?

01:25:41 ◼   ► So you start by, globe control left or right, say you want to put something on the left

01:25:45 ◼   ► or right hand side, then do the spotlight search, then whichever app you choose will

01:25:51 ◼   ► take the other side.

01:25:52 ◼   ► Ohhh, okay.

01:25:54 ◼   ► Interesting.

01:25:55 ◼   ► Very glad to hear that.

01:25:56 ◼   ► - This was the first thing that I tried

01:25:58 ◼   ► 'cause this is what we have been asking for forever.

01:26:00 ◼   ► That you can start a search

01:26:02 ◼   ► and then you can just open the app

01:26:04 ◼   ► on the left or right hand side.

01:26:05 ◼   ► So you can do it, you just have to start with,

01:26:08 ◼   ► I wanna change the split screen,

01:26:10 ◼   ► then do your search and it will replace it.

01:26:12 ◼   ► - Oh, interesting.

01:26:13 ◼   ► That is so incredibly backwards

01:26:14 ◼   ► from the way that I would think about it, but whatever.

01:26:16 ◼   ► I'm very glad that's there.

01:26:17 ◼   ► - I've gotten used to it very quickly.

01:26:19 ◼   ► I've been doing this over the last few days.

01:26:21 ◼   ► Something else which is also kind of cool,

01:26:23 ◼   ► you can use the keyboard now to select an app from the home screen.

01:26:27 ◼   ► Oh, can you? I didn't I didn't realize.

01:26:29 ◼   ► So when you're on the home screen, you just press tab

01:26:32 ◼   ► and then you can go left, up, down and right, and it highlights each application.

01:26:36 ◼   ► You can just launch them that way too.

01:26:38 ◼   ► Oh, that's that's really nice.

01:26:40 ◼   ► I'm super glad to hear that about the keyboard shortcuts, though,

01:26:42 ◼   ► because that has, you know, like I've mentioned

01:26:46 ◼   ► ResearchPad as like the iPad that I use for research, and I have always loved it.

01:26:51 ◼   ► But I almost always describe it in the context of using it primarily for reading and internet research

01:26:59 ◼   ► because the... it's always just been too much of a hassle to switch back and forth between writing and reading and doing all of the other stuff.

01:27:09 ◼   ► And I think if I can use the keyboard to quickly switch between Ulysses for writing, Obsidian for notes,

01:27:17 ◼   ► and Safari for finding stuff or Kindle for the book that I'm going through.

01:27:22 ◼   ► Like, being able to switch rapidly between those three or four without having to take

01:27:27 ◼   ► my hands off the keyboard, I think that does have the potential to really change the amount

01:27:33 ◼   ► that I use the iPad, and I'm just very very happy to hear that.

01:27:38 ◼   ► Fast switching is possible now.

01:27:41 ◼   ► I really think that that could be a real game changer for how I use the iPad again.

01:27:46 ◼   ► They have done a very good job of making the system that they truly seem to believe in

01:27:52 ◼   ► make more sense for power users.

01:27:55 ◼   ► In my opinion.

01:27:56 ◼   ► And, yeah, they've added stuff in like there's this kind of weird double menu bar now.

01:28:00 ◼   ► You mean the thing on the bottom that has like the different tabs?

01:28:03 ◼   ► Is that the one that you mean?

01:28:04 ◼   ► Yeah, there's two.

01:28:05 ◼   ► So in an application you can hold down the command key and see what options are available

01:28:11 ◼   ► for you with keyboard shortcuts, but there are also actions you can perform.

01:28:14 ◼   ► And this is where if an application is a Catalyst app, they've added all of the Mac specific

01:28:19 ◼   ► menu bar items, and so now the iPad applications benefit from those.

01:28:25 ◼   ► But also there's also one if you hold down the globe key, which tells you all of the

01:28:29 ◼   ► things that are system related that you can do.

01:28:32 ◼   ► Like you can bring up Control Center and Notification Center now with keyboard shortcuts.

01:28:38 ◼   ► You can basically operate the entire system now with the keyboard, which is a thing that

01:28:42 ◼   ► you could not do before.

01:28:44 ◼   ► And that is because they've added this new weird key.

01:28:46 ◼   ► It's the globe key.

01:28:47 ◼   ► - Using that globe key is just fantastic for this too.

01:28:50 ◼   ► And it's just an accident because it was originally only

01:28:52 ◼   ► used for the like emoji and language switching, right?

01:28:55 ◼   ► Like it basically wasn't used for hardly anything.

01:28:57 ◼   ► - It's actual, I believe it's original purpose

01:28:59 ◼   ► was purely language switching.

01:29:00 ◼   ► Then they put emoji behind it.

01:29:02 ◼   ► - But it just works out that that globe idea

01:29:06 ◼   ► to represent the languages is also perfect for,

01:29:09 ◼   ► these are the global commands for the system

01:29:12 ◼   ► are not tied to any particular app. So it's like, Oh, what a happy coincidence. And yeah,

01:29:16 ◼   ► it's very interesting that that's where they put all the commands to thumbs up to that. The one

01:29:20 ◼   ► little suggestion that I might have for the team is, and again, maybe I'm just missing an obvious

01:29:26 ◼   ► thing about this. But I like that you can now like move the windows around. But there seems to be

01:29:32 ◼   ► confusion about which window is in focus. So even like, when you're pulling up the keyboard

01:29:40 ◼   ► shortcuts. It's not always obvious which app in a split screen situation is the app that

01:29:48 ◼   ► is currently focused on. So they have actually added an affordance for this now. Okay, what

01:29:53 ◼   ► have what have they added. So at the top of each application, you have those three dots,

01:29:56 ◼   ► right? And those three dots are where you can tap that and get it to do the multitasking

01:30:01 ◼   ► things. The active application is now there is no highlight around those dots. Oh my god,

01:30:07 ◼   ► That was literally going to be my suggestion.

01:30:08 ◼   ► Did they just add this in?

01:30:10 ◼   ► Is this like developer beta two?

01:30:12 ◼   ► - No. - I haven't seen that yet.

01:30:13 ◼   ► - It's in beta one.

01:30:14 ◼   ► I think you gotta kind of know what you're looking for

01:30:16 ◼   ► to see it 'cause it's subtle, but it's there.

01:30:18 ◼   ► So whichever application has the little highlight

01:30:22 ◼   ► around the dots is the active application.

01:30:24 ◼   ► - Oh, I'm very glad to know that that's there then.

01:30:26 ◼   ► 'Cause yeah, that was the only other thing I was thinking

01:30:28 ◼   ► is like, which have why,

01:30:30 ◼   ► oh, these are the keyboard shortcuts for the wrong one

01:30:32 ◼   ► or I moved the different one onto the other side.

01:30:34 ◼   ► But that is great.

01:30:37 ◼   ► Oh man, you've made me a lot happier about the keyboard shortcut stuff because I just was worried about

01:30:41 ◼   ► No, the one thing I really want to do with these shortcuts

01:30:45 ◼   ► I can't figure out how to do it

01:30:46 ◼   ► But I'm very glad that it's there

01:30:48 ◼   ► One of the other things I've always wanted from iPad multitasking is a way to control it with shortcuts

01:30:53 ◼   ► Mmm that now exists. Mm-hmm

01:30:56 ◼   ► So this is actually because of the fact that they have added shortcuts to the Mac

01:31:01 ◼   ► So Mac OS Monterey is bringing shortcuts and it's starting a multiple year transition to becoming the automation system on the Mac

01:31:09 ◼   ► So it's going to replace automator

01:31:12 ◼   ► To do that they had to add in a bunch of things that automator can do

01:31:16 ◼   ► Most of these are Mac related but some of them they've created iPad counterparts

01:31:22 ◼   ► So a lot of files related actions now exists on the iPad that didn't before like getting the contents of a folder

01:31:29 ◼   ► Saving to a specific folder in the files app grabbing files from the files

01:31:33 ◼   ► That was the things that shortcuts couldn't do before but one of the things that it has gained is the ability to

01:31:38 ◼   ► Set applications in split view and slide over. Hmm. So there's a couple of things that you do one for me

01:31:45 ◼   ► I love it

01:31:46 ◼   ► Like I've had I have this show prep shortcut that I've had for years which will open a Google Doc and set a timer

01:31:52 ◼   ► But now it can open a Google Doc

01:31:56 ◼   ► it can set Safari on the right hand side

01:32:00 ◼   ► and then open notes in a slide overview as well.

01:32:03 ◼   ► Absolutely perfect for me.

01:32:05 ◼   ► But then also, the thing that we've asked for years for,

01:32:07 ◼   ► which is the ability to create app pairs,

01:32:10 ◼   ► you can now do that with shortcuts.

01:32:12 ◼   ► And put an icon on your home screen,

01:32:14 ◼   ► if you are on choosing,

01:32:15 ◼   ► and it can just be two applications

01:32:17 ◼   ► that they will just open and be next to each other.

01:32:19 ◼   ► - I know that this feature is there

01:32:20 ◼   ► because when I couldn't figure out

01:32:22 ◼   ► how to make an arbitrary app

01:32:24 ◼   ► just go to the left or the right,

01:32:26 ◼   ► I'd started building some shortcuts that were,

01:32:28 ◼   ► what are all the combinations of things

01:32:30 ◼   ► that I could possibly want, right?

01:32:31 ◼   ► So I made a shortcut that was UO,

01:32:35 ◼   ► and that would open up Ulysses on the left

01:32:38 ◼   ► and Obsidian on the right.

01:32:39 ◼   ► And then it was like KU, Kindle on the left,

01:32:43 ◼   ► Obsidian on the right.

01:32:44 ◼   ► - I mean, you still might want that, right?

01:32:46 ◼   ► 'Cause that's gonna be the fastest way

01:32:48 ◼   ► to get the two specific apps that you want.

01:32:50 ◼   ► Did you know, other way as well,

01:32:51 ◼   ► in the multitasking switcher

01:32:53 ◼   ► where you see all of the applications,

01:32:55 ◼   ► you can now create and break multitasking in that view.

01:32:58 ◼   ► - Yeah, I think that's like a fun demo.

01:33:01 ◼   ► I'm not sure I'm gonna use that very much,

01:33:03 ◼   ► but that is cool to see.

01:33:04 ◼   ► - It's one of those things that I wanted it

01:33:06 ◼   ► every now and then,

01:33:07 ◼   ► and was really annoyed that it didn't work.

01:33:09 ◼   ► - Right, right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:33:11 ◼   ► - I'm just happy, so I can go in there now and be like,

01:33:13 ◼   ► "Oh, that's the app I was looking for."

01:33:15 ◼   ► I don't need it in a split view,

01:33:16 ◼   ► and I need to drag it out.

01:33:18 ◼   ► - I think also one of the little features

01:33:20 ◼   ► that I wouldn't have thought to ask for,

01:33:22 ◼   ► but I'm very glad is there, is in that multitasking view,

01:33:26 ◼   ► you can now see what is living in SlideOver.

01:33:30 ◼   ► - Yes. - Right, whereas,

01:33:31 ◼   ► I always kind of felt like SlideOver

01:33:33 ◼   ► was this really random, like I never knew

01:33:36 ◼   ► what I was gonna get in SlideOver.

01:33:38 ◼   ► It seemed like apps sometimes fell out of there

01:33:41 ◼   ► or went into there for reasons

01:33:42 ◼   ► that I just couldn't quite figure out.

01:33:43 ◼   ► And it's like, oh, now being able to just visually see,

01:33:47 ◼   ► you know, you have Peacalc and the Notes app in SlideOver.

01:33:51 ◼   ► I was like, "Great, okay, I can just see that they're there in what order they're in."

01:33:55 ◼   ► I really, really like that as an addition even though I would never have thought to

01:33:58 ◼   ► request it.

01:33:59 ◼   ► So it's nice to be able to see that and also from that window be able to boot stuff out.

01:34:05 ◼   ► Like "Oh, I don't really need music and slide over anymore" and just get rid of it.

01:34:08 ◼   ► I feel like I haven't done a good enough job of just underscoring the fact of how incredibly

01:34:12 ◼   ► excited I am that Shortcuts is coming to the Mac.

01:34:16 ◼   ► This was very tippy top of my feature request list for the year.

01:34:20 ◼   ► Oh really?

01:34:21 ◼   ► Because over this last year, I have moved most of my work back to the Mac again, right?

01:34:26 ◼   ► I've been talking about it on the show before and

01:34:28 ◼   ► Shortcuts was the main thing that I was missing

01:34:30 ◼   ► Mmm, because there were things that I've been so used to doing on my iPad and my iPhone

01:34:35 ◼   ► That I can't do on my Mac or I have a little problem that I want to fix and my brain kind of knows how

01:34:41 ◼   ► To use shortcuts, but I couldn't do it on my Mac. So I'm super excited about this

01:34:45 ◼   ► I actually think there are a bunch of things that I can do with the power of the Mac that will be fantastic for me

01:34:50 ◼   ► like file management and stuff like that.

01:34:52 ◼   ► Like super excited.

01:34:53 ◼   ► And I mean, and if you are like a old school diehard

01:34:57 ◼   ► automation expert, you can run scripts inside of shortcuts.

01:35:00 ◼   ► You can use Apple script, shell scripts,

01:35:02 ◼   ► all that kind of stuff.

01:35:02 ◼   ► It will work, which is, I mean, frankly, astounding,

01:35:06 ◼   ► honestly, that they've built that functionality in.

01:35:09 ◼   ► I think Apple surprised me a lot this year, honestly.

01:35:12 ◼   ► Like they've added a lot of features that I want

01:35:16 ◼   ► and then they've also implemented them in ways

01:35:18 ◼   ► that I would want but wouldn't have expected them to do.

01:35:21 ◼   ► - Yeah, I haven't had a chance to play around

01:35:22 ◼   ► with shortcuts on the Mac.

01:35:23 ◼   ► I think that was less high on my list

01:35:26 ◼   ► because I'm one of those people

01:35:28 ◼   ► who was using Keyboard Maestro and Automator

01:35:30 ◼   ► to do a bunch of the things that I wanted.

01:35:32 ◼   ► So it wasn't as high on my list,

01:35:35 ◼   ► but I am very glad to have a unified system

01:35:38 ◼   ► and to say, okay, now it's just gonna work the same way.

01:35:42 ◼   ► And I don't have to open up these automator actions

01:35:44 ◼   ► that I've been carrying around for years and years

01:35:46 ◼   ► to do some of the stuff on the Mac that I want to do.

01:35:48 ◼   ► That is very nice.

01:35:49 ◼   ► And I'll be curious to test the import of like,

01:35:52 ◼   ► hey, can you just suck in all my old automator stuff

01:35:55 ◼   ► so I don't have to think about it?

01:35:57 ◼   ► I'll be curious to see how that goes,

01:35:58 ◼   ► but it will be really nice to have shortcuts on the Mac.

01:36:00 ◼   ► And from what I remember it looked like in the demo,

01:36:04 ◼   ► you can do the same thing like on iOS

01:36:06 ◼   ► where you can create pseudo app icons

01:36:09 ◼   ► where you can click them and like run the shortcut that way.

01:36:11 ◼   ► - Oh, they're everywhere, man.

01:36:12 ◼   ► You can run them from app icons.

01:36:14 ◼   ► They could be in the dock, the menu bar,

01:36:15 ◼   ► and in Finder.

01:36:16 ◼   ► - Yeah, that's like great, perfect.

01:36:18 ◼   ► - It's everywhere. - That's exactly

01:36:19 ◼   ► what I would want.

01:36:20 ◼   ► - I think I saw someone saying in the Relay and Finta

01:36:22 ◼   ► scope, which I really liked, like you could create a folder

01:36:26 ◼   ► in the dock, you know, like you can do like

01:36:28 ◼   ► those little stacks.

01:36:29 ◼   ► - And just put a bunch of shortcuts in there.

01:36:29 ◼   ► - Put a bunch of shortcuts in it.

01:36:31 ◼   ► - So cool.

01:36:32 ◼   ► - I thought that was a really clever idea,

01:36:33 ◼   ► but and then frigging widgets, which suck on the Mac

01:36:36 ◼   ► and I can't believe they have not,

01:36:38 ◼   ► like I want widgets on the Mac home screen as well,

01:36:40 ◼   ► why not?

01:36:41 ◼   ► Like why, like the notification center area of the Mac

01:36:44 ◼   ► is pretty bad at the moment and it's not getting fixed.

01:36:49 ◼   ► Which is a shame.

01:36:50 ◼   ► B: Yeah, whatever, like that one got left behind this year but I never used it anyway.

01:36:53 ◼   ► I'll just say, like, we've said it before and I will say it again, the acquisition of

01:37:00 ◼   ► shortcuts by Apple is maybe the best acquisition that the company has ever made.

01:37:06 ◼   ► And years later after that acquisition, like, I'm very happy to see that, unlike some

01:37:13 ◼   ► other times when companies get acquired, like it didn't just disappear into the behemoth

01:37:19 ◼   ► of the company. Like shortcuts really has become this totally core part of now all of

01:37:26 ◼   ► the operating systems. And I'm just so happy about that.

01:37:30 ◼   ► And what I like too is the people that I knew that worked on workflow are still there. And

01:37:37 ◼   ► like I see them in the videos, you know, like in the session videos. And that also just

01:37:42 ◼   ► makes me feel good about what they're doing with it.

01:37:44 ◼   ► Like, that the people that made this app and cared about it

01:37:48 ◼   ► and thought it had something and wanted to keep,

01:37:50 ◼   ► like wanted to make it, they want to continue working on it

01:37:53 ◼   ► and keeping it going at Apple.

01:37:55 ◼   ► - Yeah, it's fantastic.

01:37:56 ◼   ► - One of the engineers was saying that like,

01:37:59 ◼   ► it was interesting for them because they had to become

01:38:01 ◼   ► Mac developers this year.

01:38:03 ◼   ► - Right, of course, of course.

01:38:05 ◼   ► - None of them have made a Mac app before.

01:38:07 ◼   ► They knew iOS apps, that's what they knew how to make.

01:38:10 ◼   ► they had to learn to become Mac developers.

01:38:12 ◼   ► - But isn't that what Catalyst does?

01:38:14 ◼   ► You don't have to learn how to be a Mac developer,

01:38:16 ◼   ► you can just-- - It's not Catalyst.

01:38:17 ◼   ► - Oh, it's not?

01:38:18 ◼   ► Okay, interesting. - No, it's SwiftUI

01:38:20 ◼   ► and AppKit. - Hmm, okay.

01:38:21 ◼   ► - Now, the version on iOS is SwiftUI and UIKit.

01:38:25 ◼   ► - Oh, I guess that explains some of the visual redesigns

01:38:27 ◼   ► as well, then. - That's why

01:38:28 ◼   ► it looks different. - Right, which is,

01:38:29 ◼   ► I was also really glad for the collapsible hierarchy stuff.

01:38:33 ◼   ► I was like, oh, thank God, you know,

01:38:34 ◼   ► when you have a bunch of nested statements.

01:38:37 ◼   ► It's like, now I can just collapse all of that away

01:38:39 ◼   ► and make it a hundred times easier to scroll through.

01:38:41 ◼   ► - 'Cause there's so much that has gone on

01:38:43 ◼   ► in shortcuts this year in a way

01:38:44 ◼   ► that I think we weren't expecting so much.

01:38:46 ◼   ► It's been kind of missed

01:38:47 ◼   ► that the app has been completely redesigned.

01:38:49 ◼   ► (laughs)

01:38:50 ◼   ► Which in other years would have been the story,

01:38:52 ◼   ► but it looks different, the organization is different,

01:38:55 ◼   ► and then they've added in some features

01:38:57 ◼   ► to make things a bit more neater.

01:38:59 ◼   ► Which, I mean, it kind of has resulted

01:39:01 ◼   ► in the iPad version is pretty buggy right now,

01:39:04 ◼   ► but that's what you would expect

01:39:05 ◼   ► if an app was completely rebuilt.

01:39:07 ◼   ► - Yes, of course.

01:39:08 ◼   ► It's also easy to forget because they've done so much with it.

01:39:10 ◼   ► [Music]

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01:41:15 ◼   ► Let me now tell you about the other universal feature that, no joke, even though people

01:41:22 ◼   ► will be like, "Oh, focus modes, 100%!"

01:41:25 ◼   ► That's what Grey wanted to talk about.

01:41:27 ◼   ► Maps, obviously he's super excited about all the new maps features.

01:41:30 ◼   ► It looks like a video game, right?

01:41:32 ◼   ► Oh my god, the new maps night mode is gorgeous.

01:41:34 ◼   ► It looks like a- it's very interesting.

01:41:36 ◼   ► It looks- it looks like a video game.

01:41:38 ◼   ► I'm intrigued- this isn't the feature.

01:41:40 ◼   ► I'm intrigued- I might give Apple Maps a go again

01:41:42 ◼   ► because I want to see about their transit stuff.

01:41:45 ◼   ► I think you totally should.

01:41:46 ◼   ► Like, I will just say here, quite legitimately,

01:41:50 ◼   ► Apple Maps has been the butt of jokes for years.

01:41:53 ◼   ► And I think partly because of that,

01:41:55 ◼   ► people have not properly perceived

01:41:58 ◼   ► how improved Apple Maps has become.

01:42:01 ◼   ► Like, I think people are just really blind to their slow but very good incrementing of features.

01:42:10 ◼   ► I think part of the reason though is because you don't need to care because Google Maps is also brilliant.

01:42:15 ◼   ► Yeah, I'm not saying that Google Maps isn't good, it's just like, I just think people

01:42:19 ◼   ► underrate how good Apple Maps currently is, and they're thinking about that time they gave it a try

01:42:26 ◼   ► three years ago. And one of the things that I've noticed is that Apple Maps has started doing some

01:42:31 ◼   ► of the, um, I don't know quite what to call it, but like the Google AI stuff where they mark off

01:42:38 ◼   ► districts for you that aren't official places. But like, if you go scroll around London,

01:42:44 ◼   ► the Apple Maps will mark off like, what are the commercial districts in these various areas? Like,

01:42:50 ◼   ► where is the actual high street of this town? And that's outlined in orange. And it's like,

01:42:56 ◼   ► boy is that stuff incredibly useful when you're visiting some place that you're not familiar

01:43:00 ◼   ► with to know, oh, all of this area is residential area. And then this area is the commercial

01:43:07 ◼   ► area where shops and things are like, what a pain in the ass it must be to build that

01:43:12 ◼   ► kind of feature in but it's so useful. And it's also so subtle that you might not even

01:43:17 ◼   ► really think about it that like the app is kind of directing you to, if you're in the

01:43:22 ◼   ► city, these are the places that you probably want to go.

01:43:26 ◼   ► You probably don't want to just wander around randomly in a residential area that has nothing

01:43:31 ◼   ► commercial for you.

01:43:32 ◼   ► Lots of little things in apps.

01:43:34 ◼   ► I really love that their default 3D satellite imagery is back, like whenever you switch

01:43:39 ◼   ► into satellite mode.

01:43:40 ◼   ► You used to then have to manually turn on the 3D thing, and I always found it super

01:43:44 ◼   ► annoying because the 3D view is super helpful, but like it's there.

01:43:47 ◼   ► Apple Maps also added in a feature which is the "I want to know when I need to leave to

01:43:54 ◼   ► reach a particular area by a certain time," which they just hadn't had for quite a while.

01:44:00 ◼   ► So it's like, great, that's added in of like, I need to be at the airport by 8am on Wednesday.

01:44:04 ◼   ► Like when do I need to leave by?

01:44:06 ◼   ► So I would totally recommend giving it a little try.

01:44:09 ◼   ► And I mean, all of these things are personal, but one area where I think Apple Maps really

01:44:17 ◼   ► does do a good job is I've just found that they're always better at the audio cues for

01:44:23 ◼   ► when you're driving. They're just better about telling you like, when do you need to turn?

01:44:31 ◼   ► Telling you at the moment that you actually want to know. Whereas I found all of the other

01:44:36 ◼   ► systems that I use, they tell you like, oh, turn left ahead, but not as reliably at like

01:44:42 ◼   ► the moment when I actually want to know, "Oh, was it this left turn, or is it the next left

01:44:47 ◼   ► turn?" or this other stuff. So I would totally recommend giving it a try if you happen in

01:44:51 ◼   ► a while. Plus it just looks beautiful.

01:44:53 ◼   ► I'm poking around it now. It looks so good.

01:44:55 ◼   ► It really is very well designed in a way that I think I haven't given it credit for.

01:45:01 ◼   ► It's gorgeous. I think the colours that they choose are really beautiful. It's a great

01:45:06 ◼   ► looking map, especially if you're in like the new map area. Like they've... I know this

01:45:12 ◼   ► almost like a joke on the show now, but I really do think that the map stuff is super interesting.

01:45:17 ◼   ► I want to hear more from Meg Frost, like, tell me more about these maps and their super cool

01:45:23 ◼   ► features. And I do think that the map system is the key to their augmented reality future.

01:45:30 ◼   ► Like they even again showed just a quick little demo of like, "Oh, by the way, in maps, now we can

01:45:36 ◼   ► pinpoint your exact location by looking at the streets around you and we can draw an arrow on the

01:45:42 ◼   ► street of which way you need to go it's like gee apple maps what might that be used for?

01:45:48 ◼   ► Why would you do that? I don't know I can't understand

01:45:50 ◼   ► Yeah it's like you know you want to see apple's AR future like look at maps and it's gorgeous

01:45:55 ◼   ► Anyway that was not what I wanted to talk about specifically but like I just love the maps update

01:46:01 ◼   ► and I think it's really good and I use the apple maps app a lot

01:46:05 ◼   ► I want to get you a t-shirt that just says "maps" on it.

01:46:08 ◼   ► I would totally wear that shirt, 100%.

01:46:12 ◼   ► But okay, so here's the secret feature I was saving to the end.

01:46:18 ◼   ► The thing that I was legit the most excited about, the thing that when I heard it I was like,

01:46:25 ◼   ► "I'm going to install this developer beta on every one of my machines,

01:46:29 ◼   ► except for the writing machines. And it is synchronized tab groups in Safari.

01:46:36 ◼   ► Okay, great. I'm pleased we've gotten here.

01:46:38 ◼   ► I cannot tell you how excited I am about this. This is, even more than the focus modes,

01:46:46 ◼   ► this is like the best feature for me this year in the operating system.

01:46:51 ◼   ► This is interesting.

01:46:52 ◼   ► Focus modes, people who've listened to the show, you know how like years of frustration and like

01:46:58 ◼   ► all of my anger around that. Very high, but like synced tab groups beats it out and it makes like

01:47:06 ◼   ► such a tangible difference to the way that I work. I can barely express it to you. And I was like,

01:47:13 ◼   ► when I got that developer beta on, you know, I've got three different machines is like,

01:47:17 ◼   ► thing number one I was doing is like making the tab groups for different projects and synchronizing

01:47:22 ◼   ► them together and trying to pull out all of the random tabs I have on different machines.

01:47:27 ◼   ► And I was like, what bliss, what bliss to finally have Safari work the way that I think

01:47:34 ◼   ► it should work with these tab groups.

01:47:36 ◼   ► So I'm thrilled.

01:47:37 ◼   ► I love it.

01:47:38 ◼   ► Interesting.

01:47:39 ◼   ► All right, super high level.

01:47:40 ◼   ► Tab groups allows you to now collect up a selection of tabs and you put them into what

01:47:45 ◼   ► is effectively a group or folder and they live in the sidebar.

01:47:48 ◼   ► So you can have multiple groups of tabs.

01:47:51 ◼   ► They live in the sidebar or in a menu on the iPhone.

01:47:54 ◼   ► these tab groups where you add or remove them, they are synced across all of your devices.

01:47:59 ◼   ► This is a really cool feature I think of Safari. What is interesting is the new design for

01:48:03 ◼   ► Safari. Very controversial so far.

01:48:05 ◼   ► Yeah, I mean, I think it's fine. Like I think it makes more sense on the phone. The address

01:48:10 ◼   ► bar on the bottom of the phone I think is an improvement even though it's weird. Like

01:48:14 ◼   ► it takes a little bit of getting used to it there.

01:48:15 ◼   ► I mean, I haven't used the phone but I've seen screenshots and stuff. I am just so thankful

01:48:20 ◼   ► they've gotten rid of that stupid carousel thing, the card catalog style, the way that

01:48:26 ◼   ► you would go through tabs on the iPhone.

01:48:28 ◼   ► I hate that.

01:48:29 ◼   ► It's now a grid again, which is how it should have always been.

01:48:32 ◼   ► ALICE; Yeah, yeah, it's much better as a grid.

01:48:35 ◼   ► The Safari redesign, I think I'm mostly fine with it.

01:48:39 ◼   ► I think the one thing that's weird is, if you have a bunch of tabs open...

01:48:45 ◼   ► How to put this?

01:48:49 ◼   ► on Safari, you have the thing that is like, this is the URL bar, here is the URL that

01:48:54 ◼   ► you are currently located at. And in the current version, that changes depending on which tab

01:49:02 ◼   ► you have open, where is that on the screen? So I find that a little bit disorienting.

01:49:08 ◼   ► It's like, oh, sometimes the URL that I'm looking at is all the way on the right, if

01:49:12 ◼   ► I'm looking at the rightmost tab. And if I'm looking at the leftmost tab, it's all the

01:49:16 ◼   ► the way on the left.

01:49:18 ◼   ► Like I don't, I don't love that, but you know,

01:49:22 ◼   ► overall the redesign, I, I would give it a thumbs up.

01:49:26 ◼   ► I think it's fine.

01:49:27 ◼   ► Like I wasn't begging for a redesign, but I don't hate it.

01:49:30 ◼   ► - I'm trying to get used to the new tab view where the tab

01:49:34 ◼   ► is also the address bar.

01:49:36 ◼   ► Like you're still getting used to it.

01:49:37 ◼   ► I'm kind of bummed that pin tabs don't seem to be a thing

01:49:40 ◼   ► anymore. I like that.

01:49:41 ◼   ► However, I think tab groups will actually give me better

01:49:44 ◼   ► organization that way.

01:49:46 ◼   ► - I think I could get used to it.

01:49:48 ◼   ► I would say that in the broader Apple community,

01:49:52 ◼   ► this is not loved, this design, to put it mildly.

01:49:57 ◼   ► But I would say, for me, I'm mostly fine with it

01:50:02 ◼   ► because I really like the tab group feature.

01:50:05 ◼   ► I think it's really cool,

01:50:06 ◼   ► and it actually helps me with organization.

01:50:08 ◼   ► I don't need to have 50 tabs open

01:50:11 ◼   ► if I can collect them up into little groups instead.

01:50:14 ◼   ► - Yeah, the only feature I would request,

01:50:16 ◼   ► which doesn't seem to exist,

01:50:18 ◼   ► is I would love to have an ability to say,

01:50:21 ◼   ► "Open all new URLs in a specific tab group."

01:50:25 ◼   ► The fact that there is like a local,

01:50:28 ◼   ► unsynced set of webpages,

01:50:32 ◼   ► I find a little strange,

01:50:34 ◼   ► and I wonder if that's going to cause

01:50:36 ◼   ► user confusion with people when it's like, wait.

01:50:38 ◼   ► - Oh, I didn't know that,

01:50:40 ◼   ► 'cause I only have it on one device right now.

01:50:42 ◼   ► I thought that everything would be synced, but it's not.

01:50:45 ◼   ► - So it doesn't sync everything.

01:50:48 ◼   ► And I, like, the one thing I worry about is

01:50:51 ◼   ► if the tab groups feature is received as unpopular

01:50:55 ◼   ► because there is an inconsistent behavior

01:50:57 ◼   ► that people don't understand.

01:51:00 ◼   ► And like, it's always seemed weird to me

01:51:03 ◼   ► that Safari doesn't sync anyway.

01:51:05 ◼   ► It'd be a bit like if your Notes app doesn't sync

01:51:07 ◼   ► and people are like, no, no,

01:51:08 ◼   ► that's the way I want Notes apps to work

01:51:10 ◼   ► is that it's not supposed to sync.

01:51:11 ◼   ► I only have this notes on this computer."

01:51:13 ◼   ► And it's like, "No, no, that's just the way you've used computers for 10 years."

01:51:17 ◼   ► It's like, that's not actually a better way to do it.

01:51:20 ◼   ► It always seemed to me like Safari State should universally sync, just like your

01:51:25 ◼   ► Notes app state universally syncs, just like your photos universally sync.

01:51:31 ◼   ► And I think people who argue for non-universality sync in web browsers

01:51:37 ◼   ► are just arguing out of the way they have used something in the past.

01:51:41 ◼   ► But I suspect that that contingent is quite strong and vocal, and it's why Safari's default

01:51:48 ◼   ► behavior is this split way where when you click a URL and it opens a new page, it opens

01:51:57 ◼   ► that page in what is now effectively, this is your local copy of Safari on this machine,

01:52:04 ◼   ► and these tabs do not sync.

01:52:07 ◼   ► Only the tabs that you put in tab groups sync.

01:52:12 ◼   ► And I just wish there was a way to tell the system either like, hey, this idea of local

01:52:17 ◼   ► web pages is stupid and dumb and just synchronize everything.

01:52:21 ◼   ► Or what I tried to do was I just created a tab group called tabs and I tried to find

01:52:27 ◼   ► a way to tell the system like, open all new URLs in this tab group.

01:52:32 ◼   ► So that it's just synced across machines.

01:52:34 ◼   ► But as far as I could tell, there's no way to do that.

01:52:36 ◼   ► Doesn't look like it.

01:52:37 ◼   ► But even currently the way that it works, it's fine because if I am in a tab group,

01:52:42 ◼   ► all new tabs and new URLs open within that group. And it's like, that makes such an incredible

01:52:49 ◼   ► difference about just keeping track of what was I looking at for various research projects. It's

01:52:55 ◼   ► like, I do not have the words to express how huge of a deal it is to not lose track of interesting

01:53:05 ◼   ► web pages that I had open somewhere or what would happen more often is like recreating on each

01:53:12 ◼   ► machine the same sort of groups of similar pages on a topic. And like it was just incredibly

01:53:19 ◼   ► frustrating. And it's why I talked on several shows ago about trying to figure out some way

01:53:25 ◼   ► with shortcuts or system automation to like, force this behavior by automatically bookmarking and

01:53:31 ◼   ► opening tabs and it was just like it wasn't possible so synced tab groups was my hallelujah

01:53:37 ◼   ► moment in the keynote and I was so pumped and even on developer beta one it's like it works great

01:53:45 ◼   ► I'm so happy about it. There is one thing I don't like about Safari which is like how basically

01:53:50 ◼   ► every action is hid behind that three dot button. Yeah yeah I don't know what they're trying to do

01:53:55 ◼   ► there that's very odd to me like including the share button so like it's so many taps now to

01:54:01 ◼   ► share something that that that's like a an odd choice the design brief there feels a little bit

01:54:09 ◼   ► like someone thinks safari is much more space constrained than it really is that's a little

01:54:16 ◼   ► bit what this design feels like i think especially that it's this way on the mac too i think is the

01:54:21 ◼   ► most egregious part. We're good, you know, with our 20, 30 inch monitors, like it's fine.

01:54:29 ◼   ► B: Yeah, I can have one extra button there, but I agree with you, that is weird and I've found

01:54:35 ◼   ► myself being like, I want to send this web page to a shortcut, where the hell is, oh okay, it's

01:54:41 ◼   ► under here and then it's like, it's fine, I can live with, I mean I can live with almost anything

01:54:46 ◼   ► in exchange for tab groups, so whatever.

01:54:48 ◼   ► There are many betas, you know, where things change design-wise, and actually Safari has

01:54:54 ◼   ► a history of radical changes and then some of it is walked back by the time the release

01:54:58 ◼   ► is out.

01:54:59 ◼   ► I actually think Safari is probably where we'll see the most design iteration throughout

01:55:03 ◼   ► the beta process.

01:55:04 ◼   ► Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised.

01:55:06 ◼   ► I mean, if I had to pick one thing, I would probably say, "Can I just get the tabs separate

01:55:13 ◼   ► from the current URL, like that's the thing that I like the least, but I also think I'll

01:55:17 ◼   ► get used to it over time. It's just weird right now and I don't like the inconsistency.

01:55:22 ◼   ► - This is so new and it's so different. - Yeah.

01:55:26 ◼   ► - One last thing I wanted to ask what your thought was or if you tried it yet is universal

01:55:30 ◼   ► control. - No, no, I haven't tried universal control.

01:55:34 ◼   ► I laughed out loud at Craig's totally ridiculous but also completely metal demo of "I'm going

01:55:43 ◼   ► to drag this file from my iPad into Final Cut on the Mac. I was like, "Oh my God!"

01:55:49 ◼   ► - Well, my favorite part of that is he just unnecessarily dragged it over another computer,

01:55:54 ◼   ► so it went from an iPad to a MacBook to an iMac, and the MacBook did nothing in the process

01:55:59 ◼   ► except be there.

01:56:01 ◼   ► - Yeah, especially for me, the fact that he dropped it into Final Cut, of all things,

01:56:06 ◼   ► is like, "Oh my God." I think that's an amazing demo. I have a hard time imagining

01:56:11 ◼   ► I would ever actually use it because I really love putting my iPad into sidecar mode with

01:56:18 ◼   ► the laptop as a second monitor.

01:56:20 ◼   ► Like I use that all the time.

01:56:22 ◼   ► That's one of my favorite new features from last year or the year before.

01:56:26 ◼   ► I can't remember but I use that constantly as a quick and easy way to get a two screens

01:56:31 ◼   ► on a laptop.

01:56:32 ◼   ► But to me the big benefit of that is this is now all the same machine and I can use

01:56:37 ◼   ► it in the same way.

01:56:38 ◼   ► I have a hard time imagining a situation where I specifically want to use an iPad in that

01:56:45 ◼   ► way with the Mac.

01:56:46 ◼   ► I could imagine it.

01:56:48 ◼   ► Yeah, maybe I'm wrong, but I just I have a hard time imagining any way that would be

01:56:52 ◼   ► better than just sidecarding the iPad into a second monitor.

01:56:58 ◼   ► Unless there's some app on the iPad that only runs on the iPad.

01:57:01 ◼   ► But yeah, I don't know.

01:57:02 ◼   ► Do you imagine a use for it?

01:57:04 ◼   ► I could at times like there are some app experiences that I prefer on the iPad.

01:57:08 ◼   ► I could also imagine just I have this screen here and like I want to have a full screen

01:57:12 ◼   ► fantastic car window. I'll just pop over and open it rather than do the whole sidecar

01:57:17 ◼   ► thing or whatever. You know I could think as these devices can continue to get closer

01:57:21 ◼   ► and closer to each other it's almost like having a second screen rather than even needing

01:57:25 ◼   ► to do a sidecar. There was just one little implementation detail that I just think is

01:57:29 ◼   ► super clever. Your devices don't know where they are related to each other, right? They

01:57:35 ◼   ► They have no idea, right?

01:57:37 ◼   ► You put your iPad to the left hand side of your iMac.

01:57:39 ◼   ► Your iMac doesn't notice an iPad next to it.

01:57:41 ◼   ► The way it works is you have to kind of take your cursor

01:57:46 ◼   ► and you push it all the way to the edge of the screen

01:57:48 ◼   ► and you keep pushing and then you see this kind of cursor

01:57:52 ◼   ► trying to break through to the iPad.

01:57:54 ◼   ► - I did really like that animation.

01:57:56 ◼   ► When they showed that animation on the demo,

01:57:57 ◼   ► I was like, "Oh, that's a cool way to put it."

01:57:59 ◼   ► Like you're trying to break through this membrane

01:58:02 ◼   ► separating the two devices.

01:58:03 ◼   ► So when you do that, you have proven where these devices are in relation to each other.

01:58:10 ◼   ► And that's how it knows.

01:58:11 ◼   ► Right.

01:58:12 ◼   ► But I haven't since I haven't tested it, you must have to invoke some command on the Mac

01:58:18 ◼   ► to say I want to push the cursor through, right?

01:58:21 ◼   ► Like it doesn't just work if the iPad is just open next to the Mac, right?

01:58:25 ◼   ► Like you must have to say what no, what you're doing is you're just like, you push it off

01:58:29 ◼   ► the screen and then you keep going.

01:58:30 ◼   ► Right.

01:58:31 ◼   ► So what I'm asking is, that behavior is just default always that if I have an iPad open,

01:58:39 ◼   ► yeah, or another Mac, and I have a Mac open, if I ever move the cursor to the edge of the

01:58:45 ◼   ► screen, if I keep pushing, it will push through to the other device.

01:58:49 ◼   ► Like that's just the constant default behavior.

01:58:51 ◼   ► I believe so.

01:58:52 ◼   ► Yes.

01:58:53 ◼   ► That is very clever, then.

01:58:54 ◼   ► I guess it also like the devices know there's other devices in the proximity that are open.

01:59:00 ◼   ► Right.

01:59:01 ◼   ► It's got to know there's a device first and that's using continuity, right?

01:59:05 ◼   ► Like, it's not gonna give you that option if the iPad is locked or the screen of the laptop is closed.

01:59:13 ◼   ► But I just think it's such a clever way of dealing with it that, so like, if you had your iPad like

01:59:19 ◼   ► on the below your monitor and you push on the left hand side, it's gonna come in from the right hand side, right?

01:59:25 ◼   ► It's just assuming that people wouldn't do that.

01:59:28 ◼   ► Right, yeah, what are you, some kind of monster who wants to have the cursor go off in the

01:59:33 ◼   ► wrong direction to get to the other screen?

01:59:35 ◼   ► So it's just like one of those things where I just love the UI design of that.

01:59:38 ◼   ► It's just using kind of behavioral psychology really, like it's just the way people do things.

01:59:45 ◼   ► That's how we're going to make it work.

01:59:47 ◼   ► Because once you've done that first part, you can then move freely between them.

01:59:51 ◼   ► You're just establishing where it is in the first instance.

01:59:54 ◼   ► You don't have to keep doing that pushing thing.

01:59:56 ◼   ► Right, right.

01:59:57 ◼   ► Hmm, that is very clever.

01:59:58 ◼   ► I didn't really think about it.

02:00:00 ◼   ► Very good WWDC overall, lots of stuff.

02:00:02 ◼   ► I think that ridiculous demo is maybe one of my favorite tech

02:00:08 ◼   ► demos I've ever seen Apple do.

02:00:09 ◼   ► Like I think there was, there was just a lot of showmanship in that feature.

02:00:14 ◼   ► It was really, really well done demo and made me smile and was ridiculous,

02:00:21 ◼   ► but also impactful at the same time.

02:00:24 ◼   ► I was like, that was great.

02:00:25 ◼   ► as a there's an apple at its best presentation style of like, look at the way all of our

02:00:31 ◼   ► things are integrated together and this silly but also useful and fun.

02:00:37 ◼   ► designed feature that that we've created like that was a a plus demo for sure.

02:00:45 ◼   ► We're gonna round out the show with an ask cortex question of course hashtag ask cortex

02:00:49 ◼   ► do them every time now you can always send them in if you want to have a tweet you hashtag

02:00:53 ◼   ► @askortex or you can use ?@askortex in the relay FM members discord.

02:00:58 ◼   ► Haley asked, "Have either of you considered working a four day work week?

02:01:02 ◼   ► I'd be curious to know what your thoughts are on it."

02:01:05 ◼   ► I mean I'm guessing with the number of shows that you record that you couldn't really

02:01:10 ◼   ► do a four day work week?

02:01:12 ◼   ► Could you squeeze all of your shows into four days?

02:01:13 ◼   ► Yeah I could.

02:01:14 ◼   ► I mean it's rare that I record five days.

02:01:18 ◼   ► Like I usually, kind of depending on the week, I might record a show on three days or on

02:01:23 ◼   ► four days, but I might be on some days doubling up.

02:01:27 ◼   ► But I typically don't record every day.

02:01:30 ◼   ► I wouldn't want to though.

02:01:31 ◼   ► I sat and thought about this for a bit.

02:01:34 ◼   ► So the idea of a four day work week, I guess is in essence taking a five day week and turning

02:01:38 ◼   ► it into four, right?

02:01:40 ◼   ► I know that sounds maybe a bit stupid the way that I put it, but it's the idea of

02:01:45 ◼   ► Most people who have a Monday to Friday, typically nine to five job, what do you

02:01:51 ◼   ► think about either dropping a day or dropping a day and adding more days onto

02:01:56 ◼   ► the other four, I expected the two ways you would do it, but I don't work Monday

02:02:01 ◼   ► to Friday, nine to five.

02:02:03 ◼   ► Like if I did a four day work week, I've lost three days, right?

02:02:09 ◼   ► Because I work a bit every day, by and large,

02:02:14 ◼   ► and that's just how I am, it's what I like to do.

02:02:19 ◼   ► And sometimes it can just be simple stuff.

02:02:20 ◼   ► Like I'm not sitting down and editing a podcast

02:02:23 ◼   ► seven days a week, right?