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Upgrade

228: The Proof is In the Dust Tray

 

00:00:00   [Music]

00:00:08   From Relay FM, this is Upgrade, episode 228.

00:00:13   Today's show is brought to you by PDF-PEM from Smile, ExpressVPN, and Luna Display.

00:00:19   My name is Myke Hurley, and I am joined by my Atlantic brother, Mr. Jason Snell.

00:00:25   I don't know what that means. Hello from the Pacific Ocean, Myke Hurley.

00:00:29   [Laughter]

00:00:30   Well, to get to you, I go over the Atlantic.

00:00:33   That's true.

00:00:34   So, you know, that's just how I think of you as my over-Atlantic brother.

00:00:39   Anyway, our #SnellTalk question comes from Edwin this week, and Edwin asks,

00:00:43   "Jason, do you use hot corners in macOS, and if so, what do you assign them to?

00:00:49   If not, what other random macOS features do you use?

00:00:52   For example, stuff like Dashboard?"

00:00:55   Um, you know, John Siracusa uses Dashboard.

00:00:59   That's the part that blows me away about that.

00:01:00   I can't believe that he still uses it. It's wild to me.

00:01:03   I know, but every time we mention Dashboard, somebody appears, at least one person.

00:01:07   It's usually more people.

00:01:08   You don't need to do this this time, by the way.

00:01:09   We know. We've heard. People use Dashboard. People use it.

00:01:10   Yeah, I know. I am very confident that you have good reasons for it and have good uses for it,

00:01:15   but it still baffles me that there can't be anything to replace it.

00:01:18   What baffles me is not that people use it.

00:01:19   It's that Apple allows them to continue using it.

00:01:21   It's very nice of Apple to do that, because a very classic Apple move would be like, "Yeah, it's gone. Forget it."

00:01:26   But instead they're like, "Whatever. Who's it hurting? It just is there. It's fine."

00:01:31   It's HTML, basically, so it's supported by WebKit, and who cares?

00:01:36   I don't know what random macOS features I use. I can mention a few.

00:01:42   I don't use hot corners. I used to use hot corners...

00:01:45   When I worked in an office, I think for a while, at least, I used hot corners to

00:01:50   auto-lock my screen, but after a while, I actually set up a little Apple script

00:02:00   that I could launch with LaunchBar that locked my screen.

00:02:04   So when I would go away from my screen, I would just type command space, lock, return, and walk away.

00:02:08   And that was easier for me than the hot corners. So I don't use hot corners.

00:02:13   I don't use Dashboard. Sorry, Dashboard fans.

00:02:16   Random macOS features I use... So I use sort of random. I use services a lot.

00:02:25   With Automator and AppleScript, I use services, which are kind of random,

00:02:30   although Apple just changed their name to Quick Actions and gave them logos and put them on the touch bar.

00:02:34   So in Mojave, they got a little brush up, which means they're slightly less random than they were before.

00:02:40   I use those all the time. We were talking before we started recording about how there are all these things that are like,

00:02:45   "Oh, you can do this terminal command that is really convenient to process a file for a podcast."

00:02:50   And I think to myself, "Well, I don't want to do that. I don't want to launch the terminal every time I want to process a file."

00:02:56   And so I wrote a little Automator thing with a script in it that basically runs that terminal command

00:03:02   when I select a file and choose Services submenu, right-click on it, choose the Services submenu,

00:03:10   and then it kind of goes off. So I use that.

00:03:12   And then the other thing that seems kind of random that I use is I have my dock on the right,

00:03:17   which, you know, Apple wants everybody to have the dock on the bottom, but they do let you put the dock on the right.

00:03:23   I used to pin the dock to the top as well, so it was top right, but you can't do that anymore.

00:03:28   So it's on the right side. So that's kind of random.

00:03:31   - I'm on the left side. I'm dock on the left side.

00:03:33   - It's the driving side. In the UK, you dock on the left. In the US, you dock on the right. It makes sense.

00:03:39   - I do use a hot corner, the top right hot corner. When I drag my mouse up to the top right-hand corner,

00:03:45   it turns on a screensaver on my iMac. It's the only way a screensaver is turned on on my iMac is by that.

00:03:52   - You know, I have my cursor movement cranked up so high, and one of the things that I've always done,

00:03:58   ever since I used a physical trackball as my pointing device, is have kind of, like,

00:04:02   very large gestures to move my mouse around my screen. And one of the side effects of that is that

00:04:08   you fling your cursor into the corner a lot. And so I did a lot of accidental triggers, and I don't like that.

00:04:14   - Do you have it turned up high sensitivity or low sensitivity to move your cursor then? Which one do you mean?

00:04:20   - I think it's high sensitivity.

00:04:24   - So you only move your finger a little bit, and it's flying all over the screen?

00:04:27   - Yeah. - Okay. Okay. So you're, like, you know, probably, I assume, keeping your finger mostly in the same place,

00:04:34   in, like, the middle of the trackpad or whatever. - In the middle of the trackpad, right.

00:04:37   But if I want to, on this 27 inch screen, especially if I want to get somewhere, you know, I'll fling, I do this, I do a grand gesture.

00:04:43   I always figured that this was one reason that I didn't have RSI issues with my pointing device, was like when I use the trackball especially, because that had a pleasant, you know, you kind of roll the ball and it keeps rolling.

00:04:52   Well, they are like ergonomics.

00:04:54   It's all very big gesture instead of like little detailed fine movements. I always feel like I'm doing a lot of, when I'm doing big movement, I'm not going move, move, move, move, move, move, move, move. I'm going, and it just kind of flings it over there.

00:05:08   And I do a lot of, I do a lot of that.

00:05:10   I don't know.

00:05:11   It's the way that I've been using pointing devices for a very long time.

00:05:14   But anyway, that's my method of pointing is not very conducive to hot corners because I fling my cursor into the hot corners all the time and it's a bad idea.

00:05:23   So, uh, so I, I, I have avoided that feature, but it's cool that you use that.

00:05:27   That makes sense.

00:05:27   I mean, it's a great feature.

00:05:28   If people don't know about it, like there's a at least small collection of things that you can set off by putting your, by parking your cursor in the corner of the screen.

00:05:36   What a weird idea, but it's actually kind of brilliant.

00:05:38   You can lock your lock your screen or go to the screensaver.

00:05:41   I don't even know what all the options are, but there are a few.

00:05:43   You can do mission control and dashboard, our friend dashboard, launch pad.

00:05:49   You can put the display to sleep, which seems like an awkward one to have to deal with.

00:05:54   But, well, that's, but that's like the, um, yeah, that's, that's kind of like locking the screen, but yeah.

00:05:58   So very cool.

00:05:59   Thank you to Edwin for that suggestion.

00:06:01   If you would like to send in a tweet to open the show, just send in a question with a hashtag snow talk.

00:06:06   So just send in a tweet to us, hashtag snow talk, and it may be picked for a future episode.

00:06:11   Um, just a piece of follow up.

00:06:13   So we spoke a lot about TVs last week and, um, up to that point, it was unknown how many more manufacturers would join, um, LG and Samsung, uh, with the, uh, with, with adding airplay and homekit to the television sets Sony.

00:06:29   And the fun thing about Sony being adding it to theirs is Sony's TVs run on Android.

00:06:35   Which is just, it's just a fun thought, right?

00:06:39   That like these Android TVs will, will have airplay too in them.

00:06:43   I just, I love that.

00:06:44   It's just like a fun thing to me.

00:06:46   Android code.

00:06:47   Oh, breaking news, breaking news.

00:06:49   I actually have a hot corner, uh, configured on my Mac that I didn't even remember, but it's, it's the it's it doesn't do anything.

00:06:58   That's the point of it.

00:07:00   So I have my upper left hot corner.

00:07:03   Disables the screensaver.

00:07:06   So if I am like doing something where I don't want the screensaver to come on, like, uh, you know, just like keep the UI visible.

00:07:14   I need to see it.

00:07:15   I'm going to go away, but I don't want the screensaver to kick in and the computer to lock.

00:07:19   Apparently at some point I set that up.

00:07:22   So in the, I can move my cursor to the upper left corner and then the screensaver doesn't engage, which is, you can see why I didn't even think about that because it's not kicking anything off.

00:07:30   It's preventing the screensaver from running.

00:07:33   Okay.

00:07:34   Anyway, so there's Edwin.

00:07:36   I gotcha there at the end.

00:07:37   So yeah, televisions, there's going to be a lot of them with AirPlay too.

00:07:41   A lot of them are home care.

00:07:42   I think it was, well, we definitely are still waiting for the other shoe to drop with this to kind of understand what this is all going to look like.

00:07:48   Um, you know, like is Samsung going to be the only manufacturer with direct ties into the apps?

00:07:55   Like, why is that if that's the case?

00:07:58   Um, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm intrigued to see how, how this is all going to shake out over the coming months.

00:08:04   Uh, I still think, you know, I mean, we spoke about this in the past.

00:08:08   We're moving into upstream now, slight, ever so slightly one foot in the upstream, uh, segment bucket, but a spring, I think we're going to see something in the spring from Apple about the TV service.

00:08:18   But we'll see.

00:08:19   That, that feels, that feels right to me.

00:08:20   I mean, who knows?

00:08:21   It could really be anytime.

00:08:22   Um, you know, every day is Apple TV service day, it potentially in 2019, but it does.

00:08:28   Yeah.

00:08:29   I think, I feel like sooner rather than later, I think they maybe want to get out in front of the Disney service, which is supposed to come.

00:08:34   And the Warner media service, both of which are supposed to come, I think, toward the last half of the year.

00:08:38   And so why would they not want to get out in front of it?

00:08:40   So let's talk about upstream.

00:08:43   This was a, we were originally going to talk about this topic last week, but we moved it for obvious reasons, but it still warrants discussion.

00:08:50   Netflix have removed in-app subscriptions on iOS, so you can no longer sign up for a Netflix plan in the Netflix iOS app.

00:08:58   Uh, when you open it for the first time, you're just given the option to log in.

00:09:02   Um, and I really liked, uh, John Gruber wrote an article about this during fireball where he kind of like took a look at the page and all that was there was just the login and a help button.

00:09:11   And when you press the help button, it calls Netflix support.

00:09:14   And then he was kind of just like playing the role.

00:09:17   I love the idea of, of John Gruber doing some acting as he speaks to the Netflix support person.

00:09:22   It's like, I don't know how to sign up for Netflix.

00:09:24   And then they like, what am I supposed to do here?

00:09:26   And then they explained to him, go to the website.

00:09:28   So that's kind of the situation.

00:09:31   Um, it is estimated, uh, based on estimations and charts and all that kind of stuff.

00:09:36   This could cost Apple about $256 million a year with the lot, with the cut, with the loss of their cart of Netflix's revenue coming from iOS.

00:09:45   Um, it is worth remembering that Netflix at least had a lot of customers that were being charged 15%, not 30%, because the app store cuts this in half a year after subscription, right?

00:09:59   So if you subscribe to a year, no matter who you are, if you have an in-app subscription, no matter what developer you are, after one year, Apple cuts their cut down to 15% for those customers.

00:10:08   Right.

00:10:08   And then that continues from there.

00:10:09   However, it has been long rumored that Netflix never paid that 30% and that they were always paying 15%.

00:10:15   So.

00:10:16   What do you think about this?

00:10:18   What do you think about the fact that Netflix has done it?

00:10:21   Um, why do you think they've done it now?

00:10:24   And what do you think about Apple's kind of position and stance with this type of thing specifically?

00:10:30   You know, I, I don't know.

00:10:34   I, I, I'm torn.

00:10:35   We've talked about this before.

00:10:36   I get the idea that Apple doesn't want the app store to become filled with kind of sleazy stuff where they're taking you off to their own web service and asking for your credit card.

00:10:52   Yeah.

00:10:52   Stuff like it's people trying to punch holes in the system, right?

00:10:55   Like every app would just be free and it's like some kind of shell.

00:10:58   Right.

00:10:58   And then like you actually have to subscribe via our payment processing or whatever.

00:11:03   So that's part of it on top of that, the Apple payment system is.

00:11:08   Convenient, right?

00:11:10   Like there's no denying that you put in your credit card with your Apple ID.

00:11:14   You are, you know, there's standard UI.

00:11:18   It always goes through Apple.

00:11:20   They have a refund system, you know, Apple's a legitimate vendor.

00:11:24   So, I mean, I suppose, you know, they could, they could leak your credit card, but it's less likely than random company could leak your credit.

00:11:30   Credit.

00:11:31   I mean, I, I, my feeling on that is it hasn't happened yet and I'm assuming people were trying to break into Apple's credit card database many, many times a day.

00:11:40   So I feel like at this point they are one of the, probably the safest places to have your credit card information.

00:11:45   And, uh, just, you know, it's consistent UI.

00:11:48   You're using face ID.

00:11:49   If you've got a system that has face ID or touch ID, if you can't, you know, it's, it's got all of this stuff going for it.

00:11:56   So from a user perspective, having every payment go through Apple, um, I get why it's easier that way.

00:12:03   And then this comes back to the thing that you and I have definitely talked about more than once, usually about Amazon, but Netflix is a good example too, which is at the same time, there are a lot of businesses that are reluctant to give away a big percentage to Apple or, or can't because of margins.

00:12:19   And I think about like Kindle books and things like that, where like the whole margin would be gone.

00:12:23   And then some, if you gave Apple their cut, where there's gotta be a carve out and that that's, I, and I get like, I, when we talk about this, we get a lot of feedback from people who are like, well, if Apple does that, they have to do it for everyone.

00:12:36   It's like, you know, do they, they, they, they really don't.

00:12:40   So like, I would, I would say that, you know, what I would like to see is Apple for again, to make it as easy as possible for users, uh, to let companies like Amazon and Netflix put their, uh, you know, put their, their regular signup form in their app, even if it's just a web.

00:12:59   Link because it's sort of a special case.

00:13:02   Um, at the very least, it would be nice if they could actually say, you need to sign up for this on the web and kick it out to a Safari page.

00:13:10   My frustration is that Apple, I think motivated by the fact, and this is the part that isn't motivated by the fact that it's better for users.

00:13:17   This is motivated by the fact that it's better for Apple.

00:13:19   They don't want to even let you admit that there's another way to sign up.

00:13:25   So like the Kindle app can't point you at the, at the, uh, at the place to go, that comicsology gap can't open a web view or kick you out to Safari in order to buy stuff.

00:13:35   They can have to pretend that it doesn't exist and then you just have to kind of know.

00:13:38   And that's stupid.

00:13:39   It's bad.

00:13:40   That's bad for the users because, uh, it's Apple saying, well, if you're not going to use our system and let us skim 15% off the top, then you just have to pretend that, uh, your website doesn't exist.

00:13:52   And I don't, I don't see how that is a good user experience.

00:13:55   So I, so I get like, I get Apple's point, which is they want to use their leverage of, of using their easy to use payment system to get a cut from your business.

00:14:07   But I also understand that there's some businesses for whom that is, they just can't, they're there.

00:14:12   It's not going to work if they do it that way.

00:14:14   And unfortunately, Apple is in this kind of, uh, absolutist mode right now.

00:14:19   I mean, the only way it could be worse, I guess, is that if they said, if you don't use our system, you can't be on our platform, but that's not going to happen because Apple's not going to kick Netflix off and they're not going to kick Amazon off.

00:14:29   So we end up in this weird interim state and I don't, I don't like it.

00:14:33   I get that Apple is, uh, going to miss, you know, $250 million a year of their cut from Netflix.

00:14:40   I also get that if I'm Netflix, why am I, why am I doing that?

00:14:45   I'm giving my, and having been in this, uh, working for a media company, it's not just that, but I'm giving away my customer data.

00:14:51   I no longer have direct access to these customers.

00:14:54   They're Apple customers and I get some money back, but they're, they're Apple customers.

00:14:58   And, um, you know, even if I wasn't reselling people's data and all that, it's like, I don't know who they are anymore.

00:15:05   They're just a generic Apple customer.

00:15:07   I can't email them.

00:15:08   I can't, uh, you know, there's a limit to what I can, I can individually profile them by a code, but that's not quite the same thing.

00:15:14   It's like, I get why a company would want to do it.

00:15:16   So it's one of those things where for the user's sake, I think Apple needs to open this up more.

00:15:20   Um, I don't think Apple needs to give away their payment system, but I would really like Apple to loosen the restrictions on this stuff so that it's a better experience for the users.

00:15:28   You shouldn't have to launch Netflix and, and have it be like, I can't help you here, you know, figure out what to do.

00:15:35   Like it's like, if you imagine a conversation between you and the app, right?

00:15:38   Like, hi, log into your account.

00:15:40   I don't have an account.

00:15:41   Well, yeah.

00:15:42   All right then.

00:15:43   Bye.

00:15:43   You know, that all said, um, I don't really, uh, like the, the advantage of doing it Apple's way before was that, um, you could sign up for Netflix within Apple's world and manage it through your

00:15:58   many subscriptions in the app store.

00:16:00   And I can see some user advantage there.

00:16:03   Although it always struck me as being ridiculous.

00:16:06   Like, why would I, you know, because, but I know that Apple's taking a cut for nothing other than using the in-app purchases.

00:16:13   So I've never subscribed to a service like this through Apple.

00:16:17   Most, most people aren't like that.

00:16:19   Like, I mean, I used to buy my comics on Comixology when they were available in app purchase.

00:16:24   I still bought them on the web because I thought, why am I giving Apple a cut of this transaction?

00:16:29   Um, but so, you know, but it is, it is easier for people.

00:16:33   So it's, you know, I would say don't, uh, the other thing that happens sometimes is some, some people have experimented with the idea that it costs more inside the in-app purchase than it does on the outside.

00:16:43   And they're basically like, you're paying Apple for the convenience of it, which I don't love either.

00:16:46   So I just don't love this whole thing.

00:16:48   Um, but I can totally see Netflix saying, this doesn't make sense for us to channel our people through your system because what's the point in that?

00:16:55   As you'll remember the act, the idea of charging more is also prohibited.

00:16:59   Do you remember the issues between Apple and Spotify?

00:17:01   Spotify was trying to charge more, right?

00:17:04   Like they were trying to make it cheaper if you subscribed outside of, uh, the app store and then there were no Spotify updates for a long time.

00:17:11   Do you remember that?

00:17:12   We spoke about that a long time ago.

00:17:14   Yeah.

00:17:14   Where Apple kind of blocked them.

00:17:15   He was quite thinking something I was thinking of like, why now?

00:17:18   Right.

00:17:18   Like Netflix and Apple seem to have had a really good partnership thus far.

00:17:23   Right.

00:17:23   Like when a lot of their competitors had done this a long time ago, Netflix still kept it around, you know, they, they do a pretty good job of it, of adapting to new platforms and, you know, being on the Apple TV and all that kind of stuff.

00:17:36   And I was wondering, Jason, do you think that maybe the business relationship has changed now that Apple is about to start competing with them?

00:17:43   It's possible.

00:17:46   It's possible.

00:17:48   I mean, who knows?

00:17:49   I, if I'm Netflix, I guess they're no longer just a platform.

00:17:55   They're also a competitor.

00:17:56   Yes.

00:17:57   Um, but I don't know.

00:17:59   I mean, who can tell what the, what the, uh, corporate culture is inside of Netflix, especially my feelings, like if they were questioning it, like if they're on the fence about whether they wanted to keep doing this, that would definitely be a part of like, all right.

00:18:13   Then now our competition, right?

00:18:15   Like it makes it just a little bit harder to keep cutting them a check.

00:18:19   Why, why are we giving our competition?

00:18:21   Um, well, they're not even cutting them a check.

00:18:23   It's like, why are we allowing our competition to, to, to filter our, our money, take a cut and then pass it on to us?

00:18:30   Like if you start looking at it, okay, so they brought a billion dollars together, right?

00:18:33   For their TV.

00:18:35   It's like, well, we paid for a quarter of that.

00:18:37   Yeah.

00:18:38   Right.

00:18:39   I think it gets, I think it becomes a little bit, I know I would feel that way, right?

00:18:42   Like if I was in charge of Netflix, I would kind of, at that point, be like, well, they don't do anything for us, right?

00:18:49   Like they're not generating new customers.

00:18:51   That's what I was going to say is think of it this way, which is Apple's in-app purchase and subscription program is a convenience that makes it easier for users and easier for, um, app makers and service makers, especially on smaller, smaller ones, right?

00:19:09   It's, it's the ones, it's the little independent developers, especially, but it is a convenience to make it a better experience for users and a, a streamlined experience for the vendors.

00:19:23   And then there is this other group where it doesn't add convenience.

00:19:31   All it is, is an impediment.

00:19:33   It doesn't make things easier.

00:19:36   It just makes things weirder and, and they're working at a scale where it's enormous sums of money that they're throwing in for some arguable, but small, uh, user benefit.

00:19:47   And I think that's the problem is as with so much of the app store, right?

00:19:52   The app store was, was built on the iTunes model.

00:19:56   So it's got this kind of like hit singles problem that it's always had.

00:19:59   Uh, and also this is a lot of these decisions are made for kind of like smaller vendors.

00:20:05   Or it's been made for like in-app purchases of stuff for games.

00:20:09   And, you know, this is not a system built for Netflix, right?

00:20:14   This is not a system built for selling comic books at very low margins through Comixology.

00:20:18   It's not built for that.

00:20:19   And it doesn't work for that.

00:20:21   And so I, I keep thinking that the ideal thing for Apple to do is to work with these vendors and say, all right, this is obviously not going to work.

00:20:30   So let's come up with something else.

00:20:33   The problem with something like Netflix is it obviously did sort of work because there was a lot of, a lot of stuff that that is still going through.

00:20:38   Cause these people who are on the Apple subscription plan can, can stay on it.

00:20:43   They just, you just can't sign up using that system anymore.

00:20:46   Um, so obviously it did work and that's money that Apple is going to lose.

00:20:50   If, uh, Netflix walks away at the same time, you know, Netflix walking away, like there's an opportunity missed there for Apple.

00:20:58   Is there, is there some other approach that Apple could take to them and for Amazon in general?

00:21:02   Cause this comes, for me, it keeps coming back to like the Kindle books and comics and stuff too, which is like, it's just a bad user experience.

00:21:08   And Apple is going to insist on it being a bad user experience, even though it's impossible for Amazon to make any, you know, they'll lose money on everything they sell if they, if they do it that way.

00:21:20   And so what it, we're kind of at an impasse and I just think that it's a bad user experience and Apple should do something to correct it.

00:21:28   But I get the impetus there, which is it's services revenue.

00:21:31   All of this stuff is counted as services revenue, all of that, uh, Netflix money that comes in and then Apple kicks, uh, you know, 85% of it back out.

00:21:42   But it's all Apple services revenue.

00:21:46   So yeah, uh, I, I see why Apple is motivated here, but it's just frustrating because it's a system built for a different business model than the one that they're enforcing on Netflix and Amazon.

00:22:00   Today's episode is brought to you in part by Luna Display.

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00:22:21   Plus everything works over wifi.

00:22:24   But let's imagine that you have, well, I have your laptop with you and your iPad with you and you're traveling here, maybe you're in a hotel room, maybe you're on a plane or something.

00:22:32   I don't know, no matter where you are and you want to be able to have these two screens available to you, you can also plug in via USB as well.

00:22:39   Super simple to set up and you'll get that extra screen real estate whenever and wherever you want.

00:22:44   So for example, you could be sitting in front of your iMac like I am right now and you could have Luna Display set up with a screen on the side.

00:22:51   Maybe you could have social media stuff over there or messages stuff over there.

00:22:54   Or maybe like, you know, when I think Stephen Hackett does this, when he's recording a show, he has audio hijack on Luna Display on his iPad to the side.

00:23:03   And that's a great thing.

00:23:04   For me, Luna Display has turned Mac OS into an app on my iPad, which I love so much because I have my Luna Display plugged into my Mac Mini.

00:23:14   And now whenever I'm at home and I need to jump onto the Mac for something, because maybe a website's acting up or I need to go in and do something, maybe I need to do some like Dropbox file administration or whatever for stuff that I don't...

00:23:26   files that are too big for me to want to do deal with on my iPad.

00:23:30   I could just open the Luna Display app.

00:23:32   My Mac Mini is always there ready to go and I can do whatever I need.

00:23:35   I love my Luna Display.

00:23:37   It's such a flexible little system.

00:23:39   I think it's wonderful.

00:23:40   Listeners of Upgrade can get an exclusive 10% discount on Luna Display.

00:23:45   Just go to Lunadisplay.com L-U-N-A-D-I-S-P-L-A-Y.com promo code upgrade at checkout and you'll get that 10% off.

00:23:53   That's Lunadisplay.com promo code upgrade at checkout.

00:23:56   Our thanks to Luna Display for their support of this show and Relay FM.

00:24:00   So Jason, it is now 2019, which means we can talk about...

00:24:09   I declare the iPhone rumors season open.

00:24:16   iPhone 11 time.

00:24:18   The Wall Street Journal has published a report saying that Apple plans to introduce three new iPhones again in September of this year.

00:24:27   So as you would imagine, the cameras are a big focus for these new phones.

00:24:32   And pretty much the only real big detail that the Wall Street Journal has in this article is the idea that there's going to be some camera changes.

00:24:40   So let's say the iPhone 11, so what will replace the XS, no changes for the amount of lenses that it's getting.

00:24:49   Of course, those lenses will be updated in some way, but that's going to be a dual lens on the back phone.

00:24:56   The 11R will get two lenses, so it's going to get an extra lens from the XR to the 11R.

00:25:02   And apparently we could be looking at a triple camera system for the Max.

00:25:07   It is not stated at all in this article what that third camera could be used for, just that there's three of them.

00:25:15   And the thing is, it is until there's any more information or until like any more rumors or until Apple shows it off, it could be anything,

00:25:23   because there are the phones that are out there now that have multiple lenses.

00:25:27   They use this for all different types of stuff.

00:25:29   On some phones, that third lens is basically unusable by the user, but it's used to collect more data for portrait mode and stuff like that.

00:25:37   In some phones, it is like a wide angle lens.

00:25:41   Right. Or like there's a lot of different things that you can do with a third lens.

00:25:46   But now there will be a differentiation between the phones again.

00:25:52   The Wall Street, this article, I didn't really like this article very much.

00:25:55   It's bad. It's super bad.

00:25:57   So like they seem to focus on the literal amount of cameras being some kind of key selling point of phones.

00:26:04   They say that they are lagging behind phones that have multiple phones, lenses, including the Galaxy A9, which I think is from their budget line and Samsung,

00:26:13   because it has four cameras.

00:26:14   So like for some reason, Apple needs to catch up with them.

00:26:17   And the Mate 20, which has three, and the Mate 20 is a Huawei phone, which is, if you are aware, that's the one that is the phone that won MKBHD's blind camera test to everybody's surprise, which was really funny.

00:26:30   But for some reason, the Wall Street Journal seems to think that the amount of lenses somehow makes the phone just better.

00:26:40   It's a really stupid thing.

00:26:42   This is a megahertz myth kind of level thing, or a megapixel race, right?

00:26:49   Where it's like, well, we have more megapixels, therefore our camera is better.

00:26:51   And we know that's not true.

00:26:52   And you look at companies adding four cameras on the back and you say to yourself, like, who are they fooling here?

00:27:00   And the answer apparently is reporters for the Wall Street Journal.

00:27:02   That's either fooling, who would be a big enough sucker to believe that that was relevant?

00:27:07   The part that got me is they had this whole thing about how Apple needs to catch up with the competition.

00:27:11   And then they mentioned these completely random phones instead of the Pixel 3, which is the consensus among tech reviewers' best smartphone camera.

00:27:20   Right?

00:27:21   Adding a third lens to this phone will probably not do that, right?

00:27:25   Like, you know, it might add some stuff, but just adding a third lens to this phone, we now we can't just all walk away and be like, great, it's now going to be like the Pixel.

00:27:35   Yeah, I mean, the Pixel can do it with one, right?

00:27:40   Like it's a good lens and then there's software.

00:27:43   So having three, I'm sure that Apple is not putting a third lens on there for check marks on a specs list, right?

00:27:53   But what are they doing is the question.

00:27:58   Have you seen the renders, like the purported renders of this?

00:28:01   It's like a camera housing on the back.

00:28:04   It's like a super bump that's got three cameras and the flash and a microphone on the back.

00:28:10   It's real awkward, huh?

00:28:11   Like, yeah, it is.

00:28:14   But I do wonder, like, if you put three cameras in a kind of a V configuration, it gives you more parallax to work with in terms of detecting depth.

00:28:29   Yeah, I'm sure that that's if this is the case, if it kind of looks like this, at least.

00:28:33   I would totally be on board with the spacing being this way.

00:28:37   I don't know if it would look like that design-wise with this kind of round rack just stuck to the back of the phone, but who knows?

00:28:43   Like, that might be what it's like.

00:28:44   And, you know, it might not be as deep as this render seems to suggest.

00:28:48   But anyway, however it ends up looking.

00:28:50   You know, there may also be like smart HDR things where with the multiple cameras, they have tricks that they, you know, my guess is that their camera group and their photography group pushed for this camera configuration if it's real.

00:29:03   In saying, like, we can do this is what it gets us, right?

00:29:07   It's not let's add a third camera.

00:29:09   It's this is what it gets us.

00:29:10   You extra millimeter as a separation between these lenses can give us this amount of difference, right?

00:29:16   Is it is it wide angle?

00:29:17   Is it better smart HDR?

00:29:18   Because you can have different lenses bracketing different things.

00:29:21   Is it better low light performance because one of the cameras is going to be better in low light?

00:29:26   I don't know what it is.

00:29:27   But my guess is that Apple is, you know, Apple doesn't do stuff like this backward like that.

00:29:35   They would be motivated by the features that they could get out of it.

00:29:39   Um, I think it's interesting that these rumors are about the back the back cameras, right?

00:29:44   Because the front camera is the other thought, like the idea of having the, you know, a wide angle selfie mode on doing more interesting things with the with the front.

00:29:53   I'm interested in.

00:29:54   I mean, we said this before.

00:29:56   We'll say it again.

00:29:57   The true frontier of smartphone feature wars is the camera because it's the most important feature.

00:30:03   Like everything else is table stakes at this point.

00:30:05   Like, does it get on the Internet?

00:30:06   Yeah, it does.

00:30:07   Does it run apps?

00:30:08   Mm hmm.

00:30:08   It does.

00:30:09   Uh, I but like, can I take better pictures with it?

00:30:12   Because this is the thing that I carry around with me and take all of my pictures like that.

00:30:16   That's that really matters.

00:30:18   And, um, you know, Apple knows it.

00:30:20   Apple Apple always focuses on their on their camera and the functionality of the camera.

00:30:25   So it's really interesting to see them potentially go down this path where they've got this whole camera thing on the back with all of these different sensors because it suggests that they think that they've got some very clever things that can do with it that are not described in the Wall Street Journal article, which is too busy just counting lenses.

00:30:42   What do you think about the idea of going back to differentiating iPhone features based on hardware size?

00:30:49   Well, you know, as a person who likes the small phones and not the large phones, I don't like it because it means that I'm gonna be left out of the new stuff on the bigger phone.

00:30:58   If that's the case where the Max Club members will will will do it.

00:31:03   But on the other hand, you're charging a lot of money for that phone.

00:31:07   It's also very large.

00:31:09   Having more stuff in it, I think is okay.

00:31:12   I think that's not unreasonable to do that because you're paying more for what you get.

00:31:17   In fact, that's the argument right now with the the XS Max, right?

00:31:20   Is that you're paying more for size and that's really it because there are no more features.

00:31:25   It's just size.

00:31:26   You have to really like a big screen a lot like I do, right?

00:31:29   But you have to really, really, really like just having a big screen.

00:31:33   Yeah, because that's all it is like the battery is great, but it's still not even that much more like it's not.

00:31:38   It's not like the difference that the Plus used to be, you know.

00:31:43   The 11R is apparently going to still feature an LCD display with the plan to shift to OLED in 2020.

00:31:51   So that's another little piece of information.

00:31:54   I just guess by that point it will be cheap enough for them to do it, right?

00:31:58   I mean, they would move it to OLED as soon as they can would be my expectation, but I would think it would, you know, it's just like cost prohibitive.

00:32:05   Apparently, Apple is also investigating if it's possible to cut any features from the line to reduce overall cost.

00:32:13   With 3D touch being on the table, I have no doubt that they are looking to do this stuff.

00:32:17   I mean, the article even kind of states the fact that like there kind of isn't really anything that they can do to these phones.

00:32:25   These ones, like maybe the 2020 phones might have some changes to address.

00:32:30   Any potential customer kind of perception of the phones, right?

00:32:37   You know, like whether it's like innovation or another thing that makes this article so terrible, by the way, is that the end.

00:32:45   Did you read the whole thing?

00:32:46   I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if you bailed out.

00:32:48   The end of this article, they back up the idea that consumers are being kept away of price and features by getting a quote from a random customer in Shanghai who left an Apple store without buying a new phone.

00:32:59   And like, oh, yeah, yeah, the customer's like, oh, I want more innovation.

00:33:02   And like, did you say that, though?

00:33:05   I don't know if you actually said that.

00:33:06   And if you did, why is this important?

00:33:08   What's your journal like a quote from some customer?

00:33:12   Like any what?

00:33:13   How many customers did you speak to?

00:33:16   Did you speak to the customers that actually left the store phone and find out why they wanted them?

00:33:20   I get such a weird this article is very weird.

00:33:23   They clearly had one.

00:33:24   This is what this is a prime example of.

00:33:26   We have one piece of information.

00:33:28   Yeah. And then there's a narrative building that goes on.

00:33:30   How big an article can we make?

00:33:32   Exactly right. Exactly right.

00:33:33   So we we ding we ding Bloomberg for this sometimes where they take Mark Germin's information and it's, you know, three lines and then they build a whole narrative around it.

00:33:40   But, you know, the Journal does it, too.

00:33:42   And this is this is definitely that where they're they had they had a scoop and then they built a whole story around it.

00:33:49   Let me ask you a question about this.

00:33:51   OK. Sometimes controlled leaks happen, right?

00:33:55   This isn't one, is it? No, no, I don't think I don't think so.

00:34:00   I this I mean, it's possible, but I think it's unlikely.

00:34:03   I think I think Apple generally does controlled leaks when there's, like, some thing in the water that is not right or that isn't spun right for them and that they want to counter it.

00:34:14   And I mean, I suppose, like, fire up the rumor mill is a great way to take the heat off of them for what's going on now with the iPhone.

00:34:23   But I don't think so.

00:34:25   I don't think that that's what's going on here.

00:34:26   I think this is a you know, this it's about about right, right?

00:34:29   Like we turn into January and then all of a sudden the 2019 iPhone rumor story start appearing.

00:34:34   And and here we are with that.

00:34:35   Yeah, because when when I saw the headline, I was like, oh, here we go.

00:34:39   PR machines back in action.

00:34:40   And, you know, I read the article and I was like, oh, no, they definitely know.

00:34:44   No, no, no.

00:34:46   The 3D touch thing is interesting, by the way.

00:34:48   I the at least in the Mac rumor story, I noticed somebody saying, which is basically a summary of the Wall Street Journal story, the idea that it doesn't mean that 3D touch is necessarily going away.

00:34:59   But that the existing 3D touch hardware is expensive to implement and that they might take it out.

00:35:04   And that there's some interesting thoughts there about, like, would they try to re implement 3D touch in a different way using new technology that allows them to sense pressure in a different way that's cheaper?

00:35:15   And I don't know whether that's possible or not, or whether they would just kind of like push the haptic touch stuff and say, we're moving on from from 3D touch and and off to the haptic touch stuff, which is basically touch and hold with a vibration.

00:35:27   It's not like that's all it is.

00:35:29   But interesting to to see if they're if they've got something else up their sleeve for that.

00:35:34   All right. Let's take a break and thank our friends over at Smile for their support of this show.

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00:37:38   Thanks to PDF pen for their support of this show and all every life.

00:37:41   Hey, so Jason, so you have been up to all sorts with smart home stuff.

00:37:50   I saw you published a review of a smart lock over colors a couple of days ago.

00:37:56   And I want to talk to you about this because smart locks kind of feel similar to me, like electric cars or self-driving car technology as a thing that we can kind of see is the future.

00:38:08   But a lot of people are a little bit hesitant of or like a little bit scared of, you know, like if I get a smart lock, can someone hack into my house or if I get a smart lock, can I be locked out forever?

00:38:20   If I lose my phone or whatever.

00:38:21   So I'd kind of like to understand some of the thinking and then talk about, you know, kind of your general uses.

00:38:26   So why did you want to get one of these things anyway?

00:38:30   Yeah, so the I share those skepticism about it.

00:38:34   I also had the skepticism.

00:38:35   It was just like, why?

00:38:36   What's the benefit?

00:38:37   What would be the benefit?

00:38:38   Am I just am I just doing a stupid nerdy thing that my whole family's going to hate me for?

00:38:43   And quite honestly, it's like a one too many times we ended up like driving away from our house and saying, did anyone lock the door?

00:38:53   Be like, I don't know.

00:38:57   And like, I don't like turning around and checking to see if we lock the door.

00:39:01   I don't like calling our neighbor and having them check to see if we lock the door.

00:39:05   And that alone was reason enough.

00:39:09   Like literally this happened.

00:39:10   It's in the story, but literally this happened on our way to into San Francisco.

00:39:15   And by the time we, we, you know, got back in the car at the end, I had already purchased this lock.

00:39:22   That was coming to us from Amazon.

00:39:24   So that was, that was the start of it.

00:39:26   Also, I liked, I kind of liked the idea of, uh, with the kids, um, coming and going that they, uh, like my son didn't, sometimes he had his key.

00:39:36   Sometimes he didn't.

00:39:37   Sometimes my daughter had her key.

00:39:38   Sometimes she didn't.

00:39:39   So sometimes I was like letting them in or they would have to go around and, uh, like not having to carry a key and being able to get back in the house was kind of nice.

00:39:48   So there were other benefits that I could, I kind of saw, but the number one was I liked the idea that I could check on my phone and basically see, yeah, the door is closed and locked and just it's done.

00:39:58   And peace of mind is there.

00:39:59   And actually the way our, um, the way our house works.

00:40:03   And I learned after writing the story that, you know, everybody's got a different situation.

00:40:06   We in, in Europe, as somebody pointed out, a lot of the front doors, you open the door with the key, like the key actually turns the latch.

00:40:15   Whereas at least in lots of parts of the United States, you have a door knob or a door latch that you push that set that is not on a lock.

00:40:24   It may be locked.

00:40:25   It may have a lock, but it's not, um, the only way, uh, you know, you can, you can just push it if it's unlocked.

00:40:32   Yeah.

00:40:32   I will say so in our apartment building, um, the, the kind of the locks that are on all the doors, they have to be manually locked.

00:40:40   Like what you're talking about, right?

00:40:41   You can close the door, but it doesn't lock it.

00:40:42   The first thing we did when we bought this place was put in a second lock that will lock, right?

00:40:47   Like, because that we own this place so we can do what we want with it, but there are other people that are renting that they have to remember to lock their doors.

00:40:55   Right.

00:40:55   Yeah.

00:40:56   Well, so this is what I was going to say is that, is that this didn't used to be a problem before we got our new door as a part of our renovation that we did of our house, like six, seven years ago.

00:41:05   Um, the, uh, the old door had a doorknob and a deadbolt and the doorknob had a lock in it and then the deadbolt had a lock.

00:41:14   And so if you had the doorknob set to be locked and it was turnable, there's a little thing on the back of it.

00:41:19   It was said to be locked and you closed the door.

00:41:21   The door was locked, wasn't dead bolted, but the door was locked.

00:41:25   Yeah.

00:41:25   If you had, if you had a turn to unlock and our side door is still like this, um, then you would step outside and close the door and you could just turn the handle and come back in.

00:41:35   Uh, the new one, the latch doesn't have a lock.

00:41:39   So the latch is the latch and the deadbolt is the only lock on the door.

00:41:43   And what that means is every time you leave and you want to lock the door, you have to remember to put the key in the lock and lock the door.

00:41:51   You can't just close the door and it's locked.

00:41:53   So that led to this situation happening all the time, right?

00:41:57   Because we would leave that doorknob set to auto lock.

00:42:00   And so, yeah, maybe we forgot to deadbolt the door, but it's not that big a deal.

00:42:03   The door is locked.

00:42:04   And, um, and I will, I'll do a little sidebar here to say, um, you know, how important it is to lock your front door.

00:42:13   Uh, I think there are people who potentially go around and check to see if a door is open and then walk in.

00:42:18   Um, I do think that that probably happens.

00:42:21   Uh, no lock is super secure.

00:42:23   They want to break into your house.

00:42:24   They're going to break into your house.

00:42:24   Right?

00:42:25   Like that's, there's, there's windows there.

00:42:27   They can smash the door and open it.

00:42:29   It's not a perfect system, but, uh, I like the idea that our door is not going to swing open.

00:42:34   Somebody who is like the right level of desperate, you know, they're going to check doors that are on that will open before they'll break into something, you know, it's best to have it locked.

00:42:44   Yeah.

00:42:45   So, so that, that's my, that's my thought process here.

00:42:47   Cause I'm going to get, you know, we're going to get those notes of like, well, you know, it's not secure because you need a system and you need a lock.

00:42:53   You need lasers and dogs and sharks with lasers on their heads and all of those things.

00:42:57   You got such a typical five man crew situation.

00:43:01   You've got the eyes, the ears, you know, so, uh, so anyway, that, that was, that was a big part of it.

00:43:07   Um, and I should mention that one of the features of this is you can set it to auto lock.

00:43:11   So actually, and you can set the amount of time, but if the door is closed and not locked, you set a time and I think the default is two minutes and it just locks.

00:43:19   So my, my kids sometimes will leave and not lock the door and I'll be like, like my daughter has left for a sleepover and not lock the door and we'll be going to bed and I'll be in bed and I'll be like, wait a second.

00:43:31   And I'll go out and Oh no, the door's not locked and I'll lock the door.

00:43:34   So with this, if they, if anybody kind of comes and goes and leaves the door unlocked after two minutes, it just locks itself.

00:43:41   So there's that kind of peace of mind on top of it.

00:43:44   So lots of kind of smart things.

00:43:45   It does home kit.

00:43:47   Um, it's got a little, you know, it's actually got a little module where you plug in a smart home something.

00:43:53   So by default, this thing is just a keypad with a deadbolt.

00:43:56   Um, but it's got a little smart.

00:43:58   Uh, plug area and it comes, the package I bought comes with the little thing that you plug in there, uh, on the inside.

00:44:05   It's like a little module and then that's the smart for the smart home stuff.

00:44:09   And then it has a little, uh, plug that looks like a, uh, looks like an iPhone charger brick, except all it is, it just plugs into the wall.

00:44:17   And that is a Bluetooth le to wifi bridge because it uses Bluetooth le.

00:44:24   Uh, and if you want it on your home network for remote access and home kit and all of that, you add this little.

00:44:29   Plug.

00:44:31   And now it is relaying your wifi stuff to the lock via Bluetooth le.

00:44:36   So this is the Yale assure A S S U R E, which is a fun name, right?

00:44:42   Like we assure you it's closed, which is where the name comes from.

00:44:45   Someone wrote that on a whiteboard somewhere.

00:44:47   Uh, yeah, that's what you got, but you've got like a whole package, which includes

00:44:51   all the little extra bits and bobs.

00:44:53   It's got the, the whole, uh, smart stuff package that comes along with it and it's all in a bundle and it's very easy to install it.

00:45:00   Um, it is this keypad on the door.

00:45:03   So it's got a bunch of other features like you can, you don't need any smart devices.

00:45:07   You can also walk up to the door and put in a code and yes, you can generate codes and you can generate and revoke codes and you can set codes for certain times.

00:45:15   So if you have a plumber who needs to come to the house and you're not there, this is the example they always give.

00:45:21   You can give them a code that'll let them in, but only on the one day, only in a period of time.

00:45:25   Or if you have a house cleaner who comes only on a certain day, you can give them a code.

00:45:29   Um, I always think those are funny cause it's like, we trust you in our house randomly or non randomly, but we don't trust you in our house randomly.

00:45:36   It's like, okay, fine.

00:45:37   And you can deauthorize codes.

00:45:38   You can give a houseguest a code and it's all just punching the number on the little, uh, glass, uh, touch pad on the front.

00:45:45   There's no, there's no physical lock, you know, no physical keyhole on this thing.

00:45:50   It's just a pad.

00:45:51   Um, and, uh, yeah, so you can do that.

00:45:54   Um, but the, the clever thing for, um, for smartphone users, uh, is there's an app, you connect it to the device and, and, uh, you authenticate and all of these things and you can turn on auto unlock.

00:46:06   And the way that works is when you leave your vicinity of your house and you have to leave the area.

00:46:13   Otherwise, every time you walk past the front door, it'll unlock, you know, it's like, oh, I see that phone on Bluetooth.

00:46:18   I'll unlock the door.

00:46:19   And it's like, no, no, no, I'm just in my house.

00:46:21   Stop it.

00:46:22   So they don't do that.

00:46:23   That's very clever of them.

00:46:24   They do location services and they wait until you're out of a radius you can define of your house.

00:46:30   So when I walk the dog, I leave that radius and then it says, okay, he's gone.

00:46:34   The next time I see him back here, I'll unlock the door.

00:46:39   And it, you know, I wouldn't say it works a hundred percent of the time, but I would say it works 90% of the time, maybe where I come back home and either the door's already unlocked or I'm walking up and I hear the door unlock.

00:46:53   Or I get to the door and it, and I pushed down the handle and it hasn't unlocked and then it goes and then it unlocks.

00:47:00   So it's, it's, uh, it's pretty successful.

00:47:03   It's not a hundred percent.

00:47:04   Can you get push notifications when it locks and unlocks?

00:47:06   Indeed I can.

00:47:07   In fact, that happens when I'm here working in my office with the door closed and the kids are coming home from school.

00:47:12   Um, uh, or even on the weekend, my wife's going out to go shopping or something like that.

00:47:17   Um, little notification center on my, uh, cause it's HomeKit.

00:47:21   So it's not just the app notification center.

00:47:23   Home, HomeKit, we'll see it.

00:47:25   So I'll get a little thing that says door was open, door was unlocked, door was locked.

00:47:28   Uh, as my, uh, and I'll say to myself, Oh, you know, my daughter's home, my son's home.

00:47:33   Um, which is just a little bonus thing.

00:47:37   So I've also heard, I haven't tried this out yet, but I heard from, uh, I can't remember who that was.

00:47:43   Somebody, uh, no, was it Dave Nanian maybe who does, um, a super duper said that, uh, he actually finds that the HomeKit stuff is more, uh, rapid to respond.

00:47:53   Then the on-device stuff.

00:47:54   And that if you set a, I think what he said is if you said it that like, when you return home, uh, turn on a, like a light switch or a smart switch somewhere, and then have it be whenever that smart switch turns on the lock unlocks.

00:48:11   He, he, in his experience that actually worked faster that you, that like HomeKit was even more robust at detecting your return home and, uh, and doing it.

00:48:20   So I haven't, I haven't tried that yet.

00:48:22   Right.

00:48:22   So I see, it's all in there too.

00:48:24   You set up like a geofence thing in HomeKit to be like, when I get home, turn on this light and then the thing is watching for when that light turns on unlock the door.

00:48:34   Right.

00:48:34   Exactly.

00:48:35   Okay.

00:48:35   And I think what's happening there is it's not waiting for the Bluetooth LE.

00:48:39   Uh, since that my phone is now close to the lock.

00:48:42   Yeah.

00:48:42   It's just using the iPhone location settings.

00:48:46   Um, which I want to try it out.

00:48:49   I'm not sure I want to do it that way, um, because this is, seems reliable enough, but that's an interesting little twist.

00:48:55   So it's been, it's been kind of fun.

00:48:57   Um, and I think it is vastly increased peace of mind and there is something kind of cool and futuristic about walking up to your front door and having it unlock before you open it because it knows your home.

00:49:07   Um, and in fact, the push notification comes in and it basically says, welcome home.

00:49:11   Door is unlocked.

00:49:13   It's kind of, yeah.

00:49:14   So I, I'm happy to have gotten it.

00:49:17   There are a couple of things that I found really interesting in your article.

00:49:19   One was the actual issue of the perceived convenience of being able to speak to a voice assistant, like the home pod or the Amazon echo to ask it to lock and unlock the door, which is a feature of these that someone could just shout really loudly.

00:49:40   Yeah.

00:49:41   And potentially unlock the door.

00:49:43   I tried to do this, uh, on our echo.

00:49:47   And because my wife was walking home and I had not set up her phone yet to use it.

00:49:52   And so I just said, Hey lady, unlock the front door.

00:49:55   And what the lady said was, I'm sorry, this is a feature that you have to enable.

00:50:00   And I think, um, I think it said with a code, with a security code or something like that.

00:50:05   And basically there's this extra layer before you can get that to work.

00:50:09   And the reason is, if you think about it, it really makes a lot of sense, which is if you have smart assistance in places that are.

00:50:17   Close to the front door, especially like if you leave a window open, but even if the window is closed, if they can hear outside and somebody stands at your window and shouts, Hey lady, unlock the front door.

00:50:26   That's bad.

00:50:28   That's a security problem.

00:50:29   Right.

00:50:30   So it doesn't do that by default.

00:50:32   You can turn that on.

00:50:33   Um, and I haven't because I, at that point, most of the time, uh, it's just going to auto unlock and I can also just really quickly open up home kit and notification center and, or in control center and unlock the door.

00:50:46   That way.

00:50:47   And I've always wondered, like, what do you do if everything fails, like the technology fails you.

00:50:51   And I like that this one is like, there's a battery, right?

00:50:53   You get, need to get a battery, which is fun.

00:50:55   So, so if your phones fail, you can use the keypad.

00:50:58   If the batteries, cause it's a, it's like a double A batteries are in it, which lasts a long time, they say.

00:51:04   But what if the double A battery dies and you need to get in?

00:51:06   Oh no.

00:51:07   Um, well you can, it'll take a nine volt battery.

00:51:10   There's a little space on the bottom that's completely hidden, but if you plug a nine volt battery in there, it just turns on and then you can put in the code and get in the house.

00:51:16   It's like a fail safe.

00:51:17   It's a little bit silly, but like if you've got a place where you hide a key or something like that, you can just hide the battery there and plug the battery in and put in the code.

00:51:25   And then you get in the house.

00:51:26   That's even better than hiding a key though.

00:51:28   Right?

00:51:29   Like that's right.

00:51:29   Because you still need to know the code.

00:51:31   Yeah, exactly right.

00:51:32   And then they do highly recommend that you have an alternate, you know, an alternate way in, and we do have other doors into the house from other places that are much less convenient to go and to, to get to and to get to where the key is and to all of

00:51:46   those things.

00:51:46   Like there are ways, but they're super inconvenient for good reason.

00:51:51   Um, but, uh, but yeah, so this is that they, they quite rightly realized that somebody was going to say, well, what if the battery dies while I'm on vacation and then I can't get into my house?

00:52:01   And they said, well, we have the nine volt battery bypass, so keep that in your car or in your hide a key spot or somewhere and just use that if the battery dies, it's in case of emergency.

00:52:11   It's a little bit silly.

00:52:12   Um, I imagine that it warns you well before the batteries die.

00:52:16   So you can quickly replace the double A's and I should say it looks nice.

00:52:20   I got it in a finish that matches the finish of the other hardware on my door.

00:52:24   The inside is a little bit larger than the deadbolt was because it's got more hardware in it.

00:52:29   So there's kind of like some space above it.

00:52:30   It's got the, the kind of other computer hardware of the deadbolt, but, um, it, you know, I think it looks nice and it's, uh, um, and it was super easy to install.

00:52:40   I know it probably won't be for everybody.

00:52:41   Every door is different.

00:52:43   Um, and you may not be somebody, you may be somebody who always leaves your house via your garage or, uh, or is in Europe and does not have this concept of a latch that opens without a key.

00:52:54   But, um, you know, for me, I was actually, I think the perfect person for this because I have a non locking latch, which is very frustrating and a deadbolt.

00:53:04   So all I had to do was swap out my deadbolt for this.

00:53:07   And in about half an hour, I had some frustration at one point where it wasn't quite working right.

00:53:11   And I actually just rebooted it.

00:53:13   Yes.

00:53:13   I rebooted my, my, my, my lock and then it worked fine.

00:53:17   So, uh, yeah, so maybe I was the perfect person for it, but as a, as a skeptic of smart locks for a very long time, I, yeah, I, I like, I get it.

00:53:27   I get why they exist now.

00:53:29   You also had another addition to the smart home family over the holiday season.

00:53:34   Didn't you?

00:53:35   Yeah.

00:53:35   We had a massive dirt event, Myke.

00:53:37   You got a room.

00:53:41   But yeah, I got a room, but I have been monitoring the prices on Roombas for like a year thinking I'm not going to get this until there's a major price discount.

00:53:53   And finally in November, uh, there was a, uh, the lowest price ever seen on these Roomba models.

00:54:01   And I took the plunge.

00:54:03   I got the, I didn't get the expensive ones that map your home or anything like that.

00:54:06   Like the one you have.

00:54:07   I got the six 90, which is a perfectly nice middle of the road robot that now lives in my house.

00:54:13   And, uh, and I've been using it and it's been, it's been cleaning the floors in my house.

00:54:20   And in the end, the truth, the proof is in the dust tray, right?

00:54:26   The proof is in the dust tray.

00:54:28   Yeah.

00:54:28   That all an average, the first time you run it, you're like, okay, is this a stupid thing or is it actually picking things up?

00:54:35   And it ran for an hour and then I opened the tray and I thought, Oh my God, it was full of dust and lint and hair.

00:54:43   And I was like, Ah, the robot is doing its job and it continues to do its job.

00:54:49   Uh, so that was, that was a relief because, you know, is this a silly toy that is not particularly useful or is it actually gonna work on our combination of some rugs and hardwood floors and a few carpets?

00:55:00   And, uh, the answer is yes, it's actually does its job.

00:55:03   So, you know, these things, uh, they, they don't eliminate all vacuuming in your home, but it does the majority of it.

00:55:11   Like you still need to go and do some little bits here and there, but it reduces the amount that you need to manually do, which is really great.

00:55:18   Like, I think it's really, we, we love ours.

00:55:20   Uh, I will ask, I wanted to know, do you, did you, do you find the Roomba incredibly cute?

00:55:26   I think it's adorable.

00:55:28   I stuck an incomparable robot sticker on it.

00:55:31   Perfect.

00:55:32   Uh, just cause it's our robot.

00:55:33   Um, I think it's adorable.

00:55:35   I have had many, uh, wacky moments with the Roomba already.

00:55:39   Like, um, and you probably had similar moments.

00:55:42   So, uh, every now and then I, uh, when I first started out, I was not quite sure about like what areas of my house it was going to stumble on.

00:55:50   And so I had a moment where I had sent it off and I had been doing other things and then it, I got the push notification that said that it is stuck.

00:55:57   Yes.

00:55:57   And, and I had no idea where it was and I, and my house is not that big.

00:56:01   And I found it under my son.

00:56:03   Stuck on a ledge.

00:56:04   If you got stuck on a ledge yet, that's funny to me because there are no ledges in my home.

00:56:08   Yeah, this was, uh, he, it got trapped in a, um, in my son's, uh, charger cables.

00:56:16   Yes.

00:56:17   Yep.

00:56:17   And I was like, all right, the charger cables.

00:56:19   Okay.

00:56:19   And so it's like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna either clean this up or I'm going to put the, close the door so it can't go in there and we'll handle with that.

00:56:25   But the best one is when it, if it feels like it's getting away with something.

00:56:29   So one time I came out into the kitchen and the robot darted by me, trailing a napkin, like it had hooked onto a napkin and the napkin was like it's superhero Cape trailing behind it.

00:56:40   And I'm like, what are you doing?

00:56:41   Robot?

00:56:41   What, what is happening here?

00:56:43   And another time I came into our bedroom and I found the robot in there right at the foot of the bed on the floor with a pair of shorts.

00:56:51   And the little drawstring on the pair of shorts had wrapped around its little flippy brush thing.

00:56:57   And so it was, it was kind of trapped with these, with these shorts and it couldn't go and it was spinning.

00:57:03   It was flipping the shirts around, but it couldn't go anywhere.

00:57:06   And the best part was that standing on the edge of the bed, looking down on the scene was my cat.

00:57:10   And I thought, Oh boy, again, robot, what, what are you doing?

00:57:15   And obviously the cat was thinking, what is wrong with this thing?

00:57:18   Why is it doing this?

00:57:19   It was, it's so several interesting interactions with the, uh, the, the dog and the cat and the robot.

00:57:25   They don't hate it, which is funny.

00:57:27   They don't like it, but they don't hate it.

00:57:29   And, uh, they just sort of watch it as it bops around and every now and then, like, my cat was sitting on our couch and the Roomba, you know, barreled into one of the legs of the couch and the cat like got up and was like, what, what, what, what's happening?

00:57:40   I'm like, it's just the robot.

00:57:42   Uh, calm down.

00:57:43   But, uh, yeah, we're adapting to it.

00:57:45   Yeah.

00:57:46   Like, so every time I talk about Roomba, uh, I, I get this feedback and it just find like that there are other companies that do this stuff and those other companies have different pricing.

00:57:56   Sometimes they're cheaper. Sometimes they have more features.

00:57:58   I went with the Roomba probably for the same reason that you went with the Roomba.

00:58:02   They are the established brand.

00:58:03   Yeah.

00:58:04   Yeah.

00:58:04   I saw the wire cutter pick for a different brand and what they said was it's, uh, harder to repair and replace parts, but it was cheaper.

00:58:14   And I was like, yeah, you know, I'm going to, I'll go with the Roomba.

00:58:17   I've also, I mean, that is the truth of it is that I've had this dream of like one of these days I'm going to get a room, but for so long now that it's very hard to not get a Roomba.

00:58:24   That was a big thing for me too.

00:58:26   It was like, I really want a Roomba one day and like, it's, I don't, you know, it's funny really that, um, so in the UK we call vacuum and hoovering, right?

00:58:36   Yeah.

00:58:36   Because Hoover, the brand just became synonymous with the activity.

00:58:40   And it's funny that Roomba is the same deal, right?

00:58:44   The robot vacuum, everyone just calls them Roombas.

00:58:47   And I just think that's kind of funny.

00:58:49   Like even if you don't have one, we just all collectively know what Roomba is and that even if you do have the UFI robo vac, I'm sure most people probably just call it a Roomba.

00:58:59   Yeah.

00:58:59   Well, in the UK, there's very little acknowledgement of trademark law, clearly.

00:59:03   No, but that's the Kleenex situation.

00:59:04   Yeah.

00:59:04   It's the Kleenex situation.

00:59:06   It's exactly right.

00:59:06   Exactly the same.

00:59:07   So I will say as much as I'm enjoying the Roomba, I am starting to rethink my wisdom in buying the one that does the random walk.

00:59:14   I'm actually kind of fascinated by the random walk, fascinated by this algorithm that it has where it bumps into something and it turns a seemingly random angle and then attempts to go forward again.

00:59:25   And the idea there is that there's actual math involved in this.

00:59:27   The idea there is by doing the random walk, it will eventually cover everything.

00:59:32   That said, there is a part of me, the control freak part of me that thinks, you know, it's probably missing things.

00:59:40   It's probably not getting everything.

00:59:43   And I know that they make those other robots that do more kind of like home mapping and so that they try to be more vigilant about it.

00:59:50   I'm not entirely convinced that the home mapping isn't kind of a placebo to just make you feel better about the robot and where it's going.

00:59:59   But I don't know.

01:00:00   There is that moment.

01:00:01   I am delighted that it finds its way home most of the time.

01:00:04   That's also pretty great that it's got this little charger with its presumably little infrared beacon on it that it spots and goes, "Aha, now I can go home."

01:00:12   And that's, yeah, it's been fun.

01:00:13   And yes, by all accounts, by what's in that tray, it is doing its job, which is the most important thing.

01:00:20   I have it set to go during the day, too.

01:00:22   So I will suddenly hear sounds of a robot coming from the next room while I'm working.

01:00:25   It's pretty hilarious.

01:00:27   Yeah.

01:00:27   Oh, don't worry about the fact that you feel like that there might be one that you want differently because I do, too.

01:00:33   Like I got the, I think the 960, which was, I think it was kind of like one of the top ones at the time because it had like smart home stuff.

01:00:40   Right.

01:00:40   So I can tell the Echo, like we tell the Echo to go and do it.

01:00:43   And it, it does room mapping in the sense that like, again, as you say, like it tries to understand where it's got to clean and it shows you a map at the end to show you where it cleaned.

01:00:51   But then the one feature that I wanted got added to the brand new expensive ones where you can say like, "Hey Roomba, go clean the kitchen."

01:01:01   And it knows where the kitchen is and goes and cleans the kitchen.

01:01:05   So I am pleased they added this because whenever we do upgrade our Roomba in the future, right?

01:01:12   Like this will be a thing that will be even better by the time that we want to do it.

01:01:15   Cause we'll probably get like the second or third iteration that does the mapping stuff.

01:01:20   But like that is the one thing that I wished it could do that.

01:01:23   Like if I dropped a bunch of rice in the kitchen, I, if I want the Roomba to clean it now, I kind of have to do this thing where I stand in the Roomba's way until I've like, like kind of like a mat to do it.

01:01:35   Have you used the, the targeted cleanup?

01:01:39   Cause that's something that we've actually used now, which is you, you pick up the Roomba and you carry it to, in our case, in front of the cat's litter box.

01:01:45   And then you press the little target button and it makes it even looked at.

01:01:49   Oh yeah.

01:01:49   Yeah.

01:01:49   You put it at a place where you want it to clean and you press the little target button on the top and it makes a spiral and it spirals out from that location.

01:01:58   And for awhile, and then it spirals back to the center.

01:02:04   And it's like a, it's like a spot clean where you can, you can make it clean an area so you could take it into the kitchen and press that button.

01:02:10   That's awesome.

01:02:11   Kind of adorable little spiral.

01:02:12   I don't know why I'm, how I missed this, but that's great.

01:02:14   Cause that honestly, that solves a lot of the issues that I have.

01:02:17   But again, it is way nicer to just be like, Hey computer, go clean the bathroom.

01:02:23   Right.

01:02:23   Like, yeah, they've got all sorts of advances that are very clever.

01:02:26   They've got their new base that will like empty your dust bin.

01:02:30   Yeah.

01:02:31   That one doesn't excite me so much because it's like, you just have to empty it less because you still have to empty that thing.

01:02:37   Right.

01:02:37   It's just like less frequent.

01:02:38   It's just less, less frequently.

01:02:40   Yeah, exactly.

01:02:40   Right.

01:02:41   But it's, it's fine.

01:02:42   I'm in the robot world now.

01:02:43   I have a robot.

01:02:44   It lives in my house.

01:02:45   It's a, it is a Syracuseian robot.

01:02:48   This has been established.

01:02:49   John Syracuse has said the most basic of robots is the Roomba.

01:02:52   So it counts.

01:02:53   It's a robot.

01:02:54   I have a robot in my house.

01:02:56   I'm very excited.

01:02:56   And the flasher cleaner.

01:02:57   What episode?

01:02:58   Do you know what episode of robot or not the Roomba is discussed?

01:03:02   Uh, sure.

01:03:03   Well, I have to look it up because I don't know.

01:03:05   Put it in the show notes in case people want to check it out.

01:03:06   It's episode eight.

01:03:06   It's episode eight, Myke.

01:03:08   Oh wow.

01:03:08   That's, that's really early on.

01:03:10   Okay.

01:03:10   So you can go check that out.

01:03:11   Yeah.

01:03:12   Cause that's like the, isn't like Roomba one of the defining principles of robot or not?

01:03:16   Like it's as simple as it can get kind of thing?

01:03:18   It's the simplest.

01:03:19   It's the simplest one that we have yet discovered.

01:03:22   Although the robotic pool cleaner that follows some similar rules to the Roomba is also, I think in that category of it's autonomous.

01:03:30   Um, you don't, you don't really tell it what to do.

01:03:32   It just kind of like goes around and does its thing and then, and then returns home.

01:03:36   It's like John thinks that's the bare minimum definition of what a robot is.

01:03:40   All right.

01:03:42   It's time for some hashtag ask upgrade questions.

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01:05:58   All right, Mr. Jason Snow, should we do some #askupgrade questions?

01:06:03   I think we should.

01:06:04   Kapila wants to know, do you think Apple will make an Android app for their video content?

01:06:09   I'm going to say...

01:06:14   Nothing's off the table, right?

01:06:16   Like who should be the...

01:06:17   I think nothing's off the table.

01:06:19   I'm going to say probably not their priority because I think Apple's priority is getting it on TV sets and viewable on their devices.

01:06:30   I think that may be where they have drawn the line.

01:06:33   It's possible that that's not true.

01:06:35   It's possible that they will do it everywhere and they'll make apps for everything.

01:06:40   I think it's almost a coin flip, but my gut feeling would be that their priority is TVs and so they're going to start there.

01:06:50   But yeah, would not shock me if they did it.

01:06:53   Yeah, I agree with you, right?

01:06:57   They want to be on the large screen platforms, ideally first, right?

01:07:01   To make sure they have that presence locked down.

01:07:05   So televisions and stuff like that.

01:07:06   But maybe they would do it because I would see the things there aren't a lot of Android tablets, right?

01:07:12   Like tablets would make the most sense to me over phones.

01:07:15   You know, of course, it's great to have it on phones, but they just aren't...

01:07:19   They own the tablet market.

01:07:21   So I could see it getting left off, but it would surprise me in the long term if they didn't have an app because they have people building Apple Music for Android.

01:07:32   So you've got to assume it's similar in some instances, right?

01:07:36   Like, so there could be some overlap there.

01:07:38   So, you know, I also wouldn't be surprised if they just bundled music and TV up into one Android app, right?

01:07:43   Like, and that's just keeps it a bit simpler for them.

01:07:46   Who knows?

01:07:46   Similar vein.

01:07:48   Chris wants to know, do you ever imagine Apple bringing iMessage to other platforms, even if they ask for people to pay for it?

01:07:54   Yeah, that's that was going to be my answer here, which is I can't imagine Apple bringing iMessage for free to other platforms.

01:08:03   I do wonder sometimes if part of Apple's prime, whatever that they might do, a subscription service might include access to iMessage on other platforms.

01:08:16   But I don't know, it's a weird one.

01:08:19   I think there are lots of reasons for Apple not to do it.

01:08:21   It is a, it is one of those cases where, um, it really does help their ecosystem and their lock in to have it without it being particularly detrimental to the rest of their business.

01:08:31   So it's not a bad thing to have.

01:08:33   But if they do move it to other platforms, they would need to have a real motivator for that.

01:08:37   And maybe people giving them money and having to be, you know, extending the footprint of Apple for their existing customers who happen to have, you know, they're not all on Apple's platforms, you know, making it an argument for that.

01:08:49   I could see, but I wouldn't, I feel like the default is very easy, which is just to not do it.

01:08:55   They would need a really compelling reason to do it.

01:08:57   Yeah.

01:08:58   I think that that is like a break glass in case of emergency, we need more services revenue type move.

01:09:05   Uh, because it really, I think iMessage is a, is a really good platform incentive for Apple.

01:09:11   And I think personally, I mean, this is just based on my own gut feeling of this.

01:09:17   I think iMessage is more likely to get somebody to buy an iPhone than they would necessarily be to be like, I'm Android and I want iMessage.

01:09:24   You know what I mean?

01:09:25   Like, I feel like it is actually a selling point.

01:09:28   Of Apple's devices, uh, and would be more beneficial to them in the long term that way than it would be to get some small hike in services revenue, you know, like the actual difference it can make in the long term.

01:09:38   Um, I think the blue bubble friends is a, is an actual real thing.

01:09:43   It's very memeable in the same way that AirPods are memeable, you know, it's a meme over the holiday season of like having a AirPods and no home button was like, that was what you wanted.

01:09:55   Right.

01:09:56   Because if you didn't have, if you had your cable or a home button, then you weren't with the times like that.

01:10:01   Yeah, there's things that, that means something, especially to young people.

01:10:05   Austin asks, do you think the 2018 9.7 inch iPad will be the last newly introduced iOS device with a home button?

01:10:13   Huh.

01:10:15   Interesting.

01:10:16   Interesting.

01:10:17   This is a tricky one, right?

01:10:19   Because there's rumors of the iPad mini again.

01:10:22   And I think if they do another iPad mini, it's not actually going to change form factor at all.

01:10:29   Yeah.

01:10:29   I I'm going to say no, because I think it's going to be a little while.

01:10:32   The only question would be if they just keep the 2018 iPad around for a long time and never update it.

01:10:39   But I feel like there's more, it's just seems a lot less likely that those lower cost iPads are going to get face ID, right?

01:10:47   Like it just seems much less likely to me.

01:10:50   Yeah.

01:10:51   Yeah.

01:10:52   At least for a while.

01:10:53   The open question is, is again, yeah.

01:10:55   Would they, would they just not update it for three years and then replace it with a face ID model later?

01:10:59   And the same would go for something like on the iPhones, like are all the new iPhones going to be this?

01:11:05   Well, probably, but what if there's an SE revival and would that have a home button?

01:11:10   Um, because it would be cheaper.

01:11:12   I don't know.

01:11:13   I don't know.

01:11:14   That's, that's, that's why this is a hard question is Apple may just kind of like keep selling these old models for a long time, but all the new models would not.

01:11:22   Um, but, uh, I don't know.

01:11:24   I would, I would go on the side of, there'll probably be something that's updated that still has a home button.

01:11:29   Um, because it's, it's just cheaper to do that right now.

01:11:33   Gareth asks, gaming has never been Apple's focus, but, but the growing use of GPU acceleration and professional and research applications.

01:11:40   Will we ever see a Mac with a powerful, powerful, enthusiast or professional grade GPU built right in something like, you know, the Nvidia GTX or RTX lines?

01:11:49   So thinking about this, cause I have like thoughts from both sides of this, right?

01:11:54   It's like professional and gaming.

01:11:55   So I'm probably, I mean, I'm happy, I'm confident in believing that this is going to be a part of the Mac pro, right?

01:12:02   Like that there will either be more powerful options or the ability to use kind of more powerful cards that you can just buy, right?

01:12:11   Like there will be cards on the market that are used in other machines that you could put in the new Mac pro.

01:12:17   If it is as modular as we would hope it to be, but for gaming, right?

01:12:22   If you then want to use it for gaming, it still requires developers to enable their kind of high profile, triple A games to run on Mac OS.

01:12:29   And if these games require the high powered GPUs and the Mac pro is the only option for that, it doesn't feel any more likely to happen for gaming specifically.

01:12:42   Um, I could imagine Apple allowing for more powerful GPUs to be added to their machines in general for creative professional focuses.

01:12:49   But I honestly, like, I think if the Mac pro remains the only one that can, can get with like the times on this stuff, the scope of it is going to continue to be pretty limited.

01:13:00   I think.

01:13:01   Cause I don't imagine the iMac getting the most up to date powerful Nvidia cards.

01:13:07   Like it just doesn't seem like a thing that's going to be, cause you can't swap them in, right?

01:13:12   So like what you're going to do buy a new machine every time you want to have a more powerful card.

01:13:16   Yeah.

01:13:18   My, my feeling here is that Apple will care about this for the Mac pro maybe somewhat and that for everybody else, it's going to just do what it has been doing and say, if you want more, get an eGPU and then just walk away.

01:13:31   That just seems like that's Apple's approach at this point.

01:13:34   Cause really what Apple should be building with the Mac pro is a machine that is intended for somebody to buy and keep for a long time.

01:13:41   Right?

01:13:41   Like I think that's, that's the intention for this machine.

01:13:44   That's who it should be for.

01:13:46   And also for their perspective is like, this is the last Mac pro they ever make.

01:13:49   Right.

01:13:50   And they keep it around for 10 years or whatever.

01:13:52   Right.

01:13:52   And the enclosure at least like the, like how they've been in the past.

01:13:57   Right.

01:13:57   And the, the reason they can do this is because you could just up update the parts on your own.

01:14:02   Is it a little wish casting for me because this is what I want them to make, uh, for my own purposes.

01:14:08   But I would be, I would be, I think, along with a lot of people, if all of this stuff really surprised, if that wasn't what they made.

01:14:15   Right.

01:14:16   Like if they, they didn't make something that could be user upgradeable with a lot of different parts that are kind of a little bit more readily accessible on the market.

01:14:24   I'd be a big surprise, I think, cause otherwise what are they building here?

01:14:28   Right.

01:14:28   And finally today, Jonathan asks, I'm looking for a Mac that I can store my entire library on some photo and video editing work maybe.

01:14:36   And basically be used as a server for Plex.

01:14:38   What do you guys recommend?

01:14:40   I mean, there is one machine, right?

01:14:42   Yeah, it's got, it's the Mac mini.

01:14:45   That's, that's the answer.

01:14:46   The, you know, you could get, you could get an iMac, but really, um, yeah, the Mac mini is made for this.

01:14:55   This is, this is what it's for.

01:14:56   Yes, but especially for the Plex stuff, right?

01:14:59   Because you can have it running without there needing to be a monitor on and stuff like that.

01:15:03   Right.

01:15:03   Right.

01:15:03   And you can over configure the Mac mini.

01:15:05   That's the other thing.

01:15:06   Um, I had a back and forth with somebody.

01:15:08   It might've been Jonathan about this, that, you know, you can over configure it.

01:15:11   I think that, uh, the internal storage is very, very expensive and external SSDs are readily available and small and quiet.

01:15:18   So you can, uh, add to your storage that way.

01:15:21   And if you need enormous amounts of storage, you can also throw up, you know, a big disc or a big array on, uh, and do it that way.

01:15:28   So there's lots of different options there.

01:15:30   So, uh, I think even the, even the base would be powerful, but if you upgraded a little bit and a little more Ram and use the i5 processor and all that, like a photo and video editing, you know?

01:15:44   Yeah.

01:15:44   I mean, it's a very capable system for all that stuff.

01:15:46   So I think that might be the way to go.

01:15:48   And if you want to know more about the Mac mini, uh, episode four, six, five Mac power users, um, the second episode with Steven is all about the my iMac mini.

01:15:56   I'm working through it now because I want to put my Mac mini to more work.

01:16:00   Uh, I do love it though.

01:16:02   I love my little Mac mini just sitting there being all professional and it's space gray.

01:16:05   It feels so professional just sitting there doing this thing all the time, being ready to be used as an app on my iPad at a moment's notice.

01:16:13   But I do love my Mac mini, Jason.

01:16:15   It's a great little machine.

01:16:16   Great little machine.

01:16:17   If you want to find a show notes for this week's episode, relays.fm/upgrades/228 is the place on the web to go, but it should be in your podcast app.

01:16:26   Of choice.

01:16:26   If you would like to send in a question for us to answer at the end of the show, #askupgrade, please continue sending those in.

01:16:33   Love working through those every week and hope that we continue to provide entertainment and information for you on a weekly basis.

01:16:39   Um, if you want to find Jason online, sixcolors.com is the place to go for his writing, uh, about Apple and other related technology.

01:16:47   But both me and Jason hosts, hosts many shows over here at relay FM, relay.fm/shows where you can find this and many more.

01:16:54   I'm sure there'd be something else to tickle your fancy.

01:16:56   And if you're looking for some pop culture in your life, go to the incomparable.com where you can find more of Jason's work and of many other wonderful creative people who make shows over on the incomparable.

01:17:07   Thanks again to our sponsors this week, PDF pen from smile express VPN and Luna display.

01:17:13   Uh, we are both on Twitter and Instagram.

01:17:16   Jason is Jason now, JSN E double L I'm I Myke, I am YKE and we'll be back next time until then say goodbye.

01:17:23   Jason's now.

01:17:24   Goodbye.

01:17:25   [Inaudible]

01:17:31   [Music]