Upgrade

00:00:00 ◼   ► (upbeat music)

00:00:02 ◼   ► - From Relay FM, this is Upgrade

00:00:11 ◼   ► and the third annual upgrade-ies.

00:00:15 ◼   ► My name is Myke Hurley.

00:00:16 ◼   ► Today's show, today's special episode is brought to you

00:00:20 ◼   ► by our fine sponsors Encapsula, Casper and Squarespace.

00:00:24 ◼   ► Mr. Jason Snell, we did it.

00:00:26 ◼   ► This is the third upgrade-ies.

00:00:28 ◼   ► Can you believe that?

00:00:29 ◼   ► It's crazy.

00:00:29 ◼   ► You you sound so happy. I'm so excited by the way. Happy new year. Happy new year to everybody out there in

00:00:35 ◼   ► Upgrading land. I'm so excited like I know this is just one of those little things

00:00:41 ◼   ► It was a silly idea that one of us had

00:00:44 ◼   ► to fill up something at the end of the year and

00:00:48 ◼   ► Now it's become what I consider to be a landmark in the podcast calendar is when will the upgrade ease happen and the other

00:00:56 ◼   ► - Annual traditional. - It is a great annual tradition,

00:00:59 ◼   ► yes, I agree.

00:01:00 ◼   ► So here we are, we have all of our categories

00:01:04 ◼   ► are returning from last year,

00:01:06 ◼   ► and we have some great nominees,

00:01:08 ◼   ► and as we mentioned on the show,

00:01:10 ◼   ► this is the first time that we have allowed the Upgradians

00:01:13 ◼   ► to have their literal say in how the Upgradies will go.

00:01:18 ◼   ► So the way that we're gonna do this,

00:01:19 ◼   ► we're gonna go through every category,

00:01:21 ◼   ► list all of the nominees,

00:01:22 ◼   ► maybe talk about them a little bit if they're interesting,

00:01:25 ◼   ► some of the nominations, there are some interesting

00:01:27 ◼   ► nominations in here.

00:01:29 ◼   ► And then we're gonna go through who the upgrade ends picked.

00:01:34 ◼   ► So what they wanted to win the upgrade.

00:01:36 ◼   ► And then me and you are gonna then talk about

00:01:38 ◼   ► what our personal votes for the winner are.

00:01:41 ◼   ► And then between the two of us,

00:01:43 ◼   ► we will decide who takes home the trophy.

00:01:46 ◼   ► So we'll start the proceedings today

00:01:49 ◼   ► with the best overall iOS application.

00:01:53 ◼   ► The nominees for this app are Tweetbot

00:01:55 ◼   ► Airmail, Narwhal, Workflow, 1Password, Overcast, Fantastical, Scrivener, Transmit, Castro,

00:02:02 ◼   ► Ferrite. They are the top nominees. Now the Upgradients, Mr. Snell, they voted with a

00:02:10 ◼   ► 38% for Overcast, with 1Password coming in second place and Workflow coming in third

00:02:20 ◼   ► place.

00:02:21 ◼   ► Did you know that one, this is a little fact you may not be aware of, 100% of podcast listeners

00:02:29 ◼   ► listen to podcasts.

00:02:30 ◼   ► That is true.

00:02:31 ◼   ► But you know, I will say that we have two podcast applications in our nomination list

00:02:36 ◼   ► and only one of them went away with such a big lead.

00:02:39 ◼   ► Castro got unfortunately only 2% of the vote, which I feel kind of sad about.

00:02:45 ◼   ► So what is your pick for the best overall iOS app of the year?

00:02:52 ◼   ► I am going to pick something that is not on the list because there were some late breaking

00:02:59 ◼   ► changes.

00:03:05 ◼   ► I'm going to give a shout out to an app that I didn't put on the list because I felt it

00:03:10 ◼   ► was a little esoteric but that I do love which is Ferrite.

00:03:14 ◼   ► I've talked about it before, audio editor for iOS.

00:03:17 ◼   ► It's fantastic. - Ferrite is in there.

00:03:18 ◼   ► Very, very low down, yeah.

00:03:20 ◼   ► Ferrite with 0.7% of the votes.

00:03:25 ◼   ► - Ah, so you did mention Ferrite.

00:03:26 ◼   ► I didn't hear you mention Ferrite.

00:03:28 ◼   ► - Well, there was such a long list, I'm not surprised.

00:03:30 ◼   ► But yeah, Ferrite had 0.7% of the upgraded vote.

00:03:35 ◼   ► And that's what you're gonna pick

00:03:37 ◼   ► 'cause you're iOS app of the year.

00:03:39 ◼   ► - I'm gonna pick, I'm gonna, for now,

00:03:42 ◼   ► I'm gonna say it's a tie.

00:03:44 ◼   ► Can I do ties?

00:03:46 ◼   ► - You sure, why not?

00:03:47 ◼   ► We make the rules here.

00:03:49 ◼   ► - Okay, so for now, if I have to break this tie later,

00:03:51 ◼   ► I will, but it's a tie between Fair Write,

00:03:54 ◼   ► audio editor that's great, and Scrivener.

00:03:56 ◼   ► - Ooh, okay.

00:03:57 ◼   ► - The fantastic long form writing tool,

00:04:00 ◼   ► which after many, many years of hope

00:04:03 ◼   ► that it would come to iOS, came to iOS,

00:04:05 ◼   ► and is not halfway done.

00:04:08 ◼   ► It is a full completed, fully functional writing app.

00:04:13 ◼   ► And it's great.

00:04:15 ◼   ► And I'm impressed and it syncs

00:04:17 ◼   ► and it syncs with the desktop version

00:04:19 ◼   ► and all the important features are there.

00:04:21 ◼   ► And it's very impressive.

00:04:23 ◼   ► - So into category one, we're only at category one

00:04:26 ◼   ► and we're already gonna have a problem.

00:04:29 ◼   ► - Yeah, almost certainly, but that's fine.

00:04:31 ◼   ► - This is how the upgrade is going.

00:04:32 ◼   ► - Think about what I do, Myke, right?

00:04:34 ◼   ► I do podcasts and I write.

00:04:36 ◼   ► And so I picked a podcast app and a writing app.

00:04:38 ◼   ► it was going to happen, it's inevitable. So what do you have?

00:04:40 ◼   ► - Workflow.

00:04:41 ◼   ► Now the reason that I've picked Workflow

00:04:44 ◼   ► as the best overall iOS application,

00:04:46 ◼   ► because I think throughout this entire list of apps,

00:04:50 ◼   ► Workflow is the one that has just gotten better and better

00:04:53 ◼   ► over time, more consistently.

00:04:55 ◼   ► Like all of these applications that we've listed,

00:04:57 ◼   ► they're in this list year after year,

00:04:59 ◼   ► because they continue to get better.

00:05:01 ◼   ► But the rate at which Workflow is improving

00:05:04 ◼   ► is kind of astounding to me.

00:05:06 ◼   ► like their recent addition of the ability to hook into web APIs.

00:05:10 ◼   ► You know, for people that really heavily use workflow,

00:05:14 ◼   ► this is such a huge advancement.

00:05:17 ◼   ► Like, I think that this application is a must have application

00:05:21 ◼   ► for anybody that wants to do anything other than just consumption on their iPad.

00:05:26 ◼   ► Like some of the basic functions that it unlocks for you,

00:05:30 ◼   ► once you really kind of understand how to use it is incredible.

00:05:34 ◼   ► You know, I've spoken many times about my frustration with rich text on iOS.

00:05:39 ◼   ► Now, but Workflow allows me to get around some of these things by allowing me to

00:05:44 ◼   ► convert. So say, for example, when I send an email to somebody, I can use Workflow

00:05:49 ◼   ► to convert Markdown to rich text and open up in an email.

00:05:51 ◼   ► There's just no other way I can do that on iOS.

00:05:54 ◼   ► Or like taking a Web page and turning it into a PDF.

00:05:57 ◼   ► Like there are so many things that Workflow can do that mean that you don't have to

00:06:02 ◼   ► buy other applications. Like there are standalone applications that you can buy

00:06:05 ◼   ► in the App Store to take a web page and turn it into a PDF or you can just play

00:06:09 ◼   ► around with workflow and build it yourself. And I don't think that there

00:06:13 ◼   ► are many applications that are in the club that workflow is in of just like

00:06:19 ◼   ► complete top tier for iOS apps and they just continue to make it better and

00:06:25 ◼   ► better over time. I will also highly recommend the the Canvas podcast series

00:06:31 ◼   ► about workflow that Fraser and Federico have done.

00:06:35 ◼   ► That is really great, an in-depth multi-part series about how it works.

00:06:39 ◼   ► And my only criticism about workflow is that I wish that they had more documentation.

00:06:43 ◼   ► Like sometimes I look at some of the blocks that they've got and I wonder exactly how

00:06:48 ◼   ► they work and there's kind of no way to look that up and that can be frustrating and I

00:06:53 ◼   ► end up going to Federico and Fraser and saying, "What does this do?" and they tell me.

00:06:57 ◼   ► That part I wish that they were better at documenting what everything does.

00:07:03 ◼   ► Yeah, I agree.

00:07:04 ◼   ► But luckily there are resources.

00:07:05 ◼   ► You know, go to relay.fm/canvas and they have a whole series that they've been working on

00:07:09 ◼   ► for the last three or four months, like building up from basics all the way up to the web API

00:07:15 ◼   ► stuff that you can do with Workflow.

00:07:16 ◼   ► So go check that out.

00:07:18 ◼   ► So we have now, for our consideration, right at the top tier, kind of I guess the second

00:07:23 ◼   ► stage, workflow, ferrite, scrivener, and overcast to pick from.

00:07:30 ◼   ► In grand upgradey's tradition though, oftentimes we will reach a compromise where one of us

00:07:35 ◼   ► will agree, right?

00:07:38 ◼   ► We do our initial picks, this is how this—just to set it out there for people who don't

00:07:41 ◼   ► remember—we will often come to a compromise agreement about what the upgradey choice is.

00:07:49 ◼   ► Well there can be only one winner, so a compromise must be found.

00:07:53 ◼   ► Yes, I agree.

00:07:54 ◼   ► So my initial argument would be, Scrivener is very new.

00:07:58 ◼   ► So giving it the overall iOS app pick

00:08:03 ◼   ► over the newcomer pick is interesting.

00:08:06 ◼   ► However, I don't want Scrivener to be the newcomer

00:08:09 ◼   ► either 'cause I have my own thoughts there.

00:08:12 ◼   ► Sometimes being mentioned, being nominated as an honor,

00:08:15 ◼   ► being mentioned as a finalist is an honor,

00:08:17 ◼   ► and then winning is yet another honor.

00:08:18 ◼   ► And you don't have to have all the honors.

00:08:20 ◼   ► You don't.

00:08:20 ◼   ► I am happy to support your choice of workflow for the upgrade for best iOS app because I

00:08:26 ◼   ► think you made a strong case and I agree with you.

00:08:28 ◼   ► I think it's a fantastic app.

00:08:30 ◼   ► So congratulations to workflow you are the best overall iOS app upgrade winner.

00:08:36 ◼   ► Which takes us to our next category which I just teased which is the best newcomer iOS

00:08:40 ◼   ► application.

00:08:41 ◼   ► So this is the iOS app released in 2016 that is considered to be the best and on that list

00:08:47 ◼   ► of nominees we have Airmail, Bear, Truecaller, Castro, Scrivener, Swift Playgrounds, Xfinity

00:08:55 ◼   ► TV. Now there are two applications on here that most people probably have no idea what

00:09:00 ◼   ► they are and they're both mine and Jason's potentially esoteric picks. So I will explain

00:09:05 ◼   ► Truecaller. Do you remember when iOS 10 it brought around this new API that people can

00:09:10 ◼   ► hook into the phone? Like you can do things like maybe voice over IP but you also had

00:09:16 ◼   ► access to the call list. Truecaller is an application I found that I absolutely love,

00:09:21 ◼   ► which is a spam caller notification system. So I can get a phone call from a known spam

00:09:28 ◼   ► call like Robocall and it just shows up when someone's calling me to tell me that they're

00:09:32 ◼   ► spam or if I go to a missed call on my phone I can open it like via the share sheet so

00:09:40 ◼   ► you just like share contact and put it into Truecaller and it will tell me who it is and

00:09:45 ◼   ► if it's been reported as spam. I love it because I get so many of these robo calls and because

00:09:49 ◼   ► I have my phone on do not disturb most of the time these calls never come to me so I

00:09:53 ◼   ► can just check them in my missed calls and know that there's no point dealing with it

00:09:56 ◼   ► because it's like a scam caller or whatever. It's fantastic. So that's my picture. What

00:10:02 ◼   ► is Xfinity TV?

00:10:04 ◼   ► So I am a Comcast cable subscriber and after many months of complaining about how their

00:10:09 ◼   ► app for iOS was terrible. They released this new app. And I mean, I put it on the list

00:10:15 ◼   ► because again, Honor just to be mentioned in the list, right? I'm not going to pick

00:10:19 ◼   ► it. But it's a pretty amazing piece of work because it provides when I'm out of the house,

00:10:25 ◼   ► it provides access to any TV show that I'm allowed access outside of the house and there's

00:10:30 ◼   ► some licensing restrictions there. When I'm in my house, it makes my iPhone or iPad essentially

00:10:36 ◼   ► no different than a TV attached to a cable box. I can watch live TV from any channel,

00:10:43 ◼   ► anywhere in my house on that device, and it supports picture in picture. That's pretty

00:10:49 ◼   ► great. That's pretty good. That was like for me, that was like the moment where I thought,

00:10:53 ◼   ► yes, finally, this is working exactly as I had hoped it always would. If I want to be

00:10:58 ◼   ► out in the backyard in the hammock on a summer day and have some channel on while I'm reading

00:11:04 ◼   ► something or whatever it is, like picture-in-picture, live TV, on-demand stuff, whatever, it's all

00:11:10 ◼   ► there. And that's, for me, that's what the TV experience on an iOS device should be like.

00:11:17 ◼   ► So full credit to Xfinity, they actually made it happen. And, you know, people can complain

00:11:22 ◼   ► about some of the restrictions, like when you leave your home, you don't get to see

00:11:25 ◼   ► all that stuff. And yeah, that's dumb, but that all comes down to deals with the content

00:11:31 ◼   ► and they're inconsistent and as Apple has found that's a tough thing to do.

00:11:35 ◼   ► But I have to say, in the home and from a pure technology standpoint,

00:11:39 ◼   ► they did a really great job. It's a good app, so that's why I mentioned it.

00:11:42 ◼   ► That sounds good. I wish I had something like that, right?

00:11:45 ◼   ► I mean, I don't have cable, but like I can see that if I...

00:11:48 ◼   ► I would like something like that, right? Like I've always lusted after a sling or something.

00:11:52 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah. If you subscribe to a TV service, it should be like this,

00:11:55 ◼   ► where you can see the channels and you can see what you can get on demand

00:11:59 ◼   ► and you can start playing anything at any time

00:12:01 ◼   ► and put it in picture in picture if you want on your iPad

00:12:04 ◼   ► and this does that.

00:12:06 ◼   ► So, but that's not my choice.

00:12:07 ◼   ► - So the Upgradients, they voted with 34% of the vote

00:12:13 ◼   ► for Swift Playgrounds.

00:12:14 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:12:15 ◼   ► - I've never really used it. - It's pretty impressive.

00:12:17 ◼   ► - So I can't comment on it, but that,

00:12:19 ◼   ► I mean, I'm happy that it exists, right?

00:12:22 ◼   ► Like I'm happy with the idea of this application existing

00:12:25 ◼   ► because of hopefully what I consider to be the groundwork

00:12:29 ◼   ► more developer tools coming to iOS in the future, which I think is an important step.

00:12:33 ◼   ► But I will go with my pick first, and my pick for the best newcomer is AirMail.

00:12:38 ◼   ► I think AirMail has its faults. It is not a perfect application. And I think part of the

00:12:46 ◼   ► reason that it has some weird parts, some bugs and some stuff that doesn't work as reliably as

00:12:51 ◼   ► you would like, is because it came out of the gate so powerful for an email application on iOS.

00:12:59 ◼   ► I haven't found any app that comes close to what Airmail can do.

00:13:03 ◼   ► And like Workflow, they have updated this application very consistently.

00:13:09 ◼   ► I am on the beta now and they have some amazing things coming soon.

00:13:13 ◼   ► Like this application just gets stronger and stronger.

00:13:16 ◼   ► And this is an app that has a million settings.

00:13:20 ◼   ► But for me, as somebody who is so reliant on email,

00:13:27 ◼   ► I'm kind of okay with that because I get to make my email app be the way that I want it to be.

00:13:35 ◼   ► One of the things that I really love in powerful email applications is one setting, and no other

00:13:43 ◼   ► email app on iOS has this except for Airmail, which is to not mark a message as unread until

00:13:49 ◼   ► it is acted upon. If I read a message, it doesn't do anything with it, it still remains unread.

00:13:53 ◼   ► and I really like that, that works on my system and I've always wanted an

00:13:58 ◼   ► iOS email app that would do this, there are a bunch of Mac apps that will do this

00:14:01 ◼   ► I think even Apple's Mail app will do this on the Mac

00:14:04 ◼   ► but nothing does it on iOS except Airmail but this is an example

00:14:08 ◼   ► of the like super niche case stuff that you can find in Airmail but I think

00:14:13 ◼   ► that kind of thing, that kind of level of

00:14:17 ◼   ► of strange control you can have is kind of okay in an email application

00:14:22 ◼   ► because everybody does it differently.

00:14:25 ◼   ► And it has all of the features that you'd want,

00:14:27 ◼   ► and it has a clear business model as well.

00:14:29 ◼   ► You pay for the application.

00:14:31 ◼   ► And I like that because there are not a lot

00:14:33 ◼   ► of email applications that people use

00:14:36 ◼   ► that are built that way.

00:14:37 ◼   ► So it's gonna be airmail for me, Jason.

00:14:40 ◼   ► - It's a good pick.

00:14:42 ◼   ► I like it a lot.

00:14:43 ◼   ► My choice in this category,

00:14:48 ◼   ► it's the year of Swift Playgrounds.

00:14:49 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:14:50 ◼   ► pick Swift Playgrounds as well.

00:14:52 ◼   ► Yeah, I think we're going to have to give it Swift Playgrounds. If you pick it along

00:14:56 ◼   ► with the vast majority I got from our listeners, it's got to be that. Again, I really appreciate

00:15:03 ◼   ► Swift Playgrounds, but I couldn't cast my vote for it because I haven't really spent

00:15:07 ◼   ► any time with it.

00:15:09 ◼   ► And I have. I'm very impressed with it. The lessons... I can't comment on it from the

00:15:18 ◼   ► perspective of like an Apple app developer trying to use the playground features of it

00:15:25 ◼   ► to work on kind of like app ideas or things like that. But from the Pure, it's an educational

00:15:31 ◼   ► tool. They built all of these different lessons to show people how to program and how to program

00:15:35 ◼   ► in Swift. They did a great job. The lessons are impressive and it's a great... It's an

00:15:45 ◼   ► an iPad-only app. It's a great use of the iPad, and we're champions of the iPad, you

00:15:49 ◼   ► and I. And this is an example. I mean, this is one of the major things that Apple did

00:15:53 ◼   ► for the iPad in 2016 as well was release Swift Playgrounds. But I think it's a great app,

00:16:00 ◼   ► a great educational resource. And, you know, if there was a big, you know, a big story,

00:16:08 ◼   ► especially on the iPad in terms of new apps this year, I mean, I think it's the year of

00:16:13 ◼   ► Swift Playgrounds.

00:16:14 ◼   ► I think with Playgrounds it's going to be, without a shadow of a doubt.

00:16:17 ◼   ► There you go.

00:16:18 ◼   ► There you go. Our best newcomer iOS application of 2016.

00:16:21 ◼   ► We move on to the best overall Mac app. Unfortunately the two Mac app categories

00:16:30 ◼   ► we have have a lot less nominees than iOS. It's funny how that happens.

00:16:34 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:16:35 ◼   ► We have 1Password, Final Cut Pro X, FantasticOwl, BB Edit, Keyboard Maestro, and Audio Hijack.

00:16:43 ◼   ► up there. The Upgradients voted were 48% for one password. You have Final Cut Pro and then

00:16:56 ◼   ► Other coming at 11.8%. I don't think that our listeners were happy with the nominees

00:17:03 ◼   ► that we put in here.

00:17:04 ◼   ► Well, it says something that the one that got the most votes is Universal, in a way.

00:17:12 ◼   ► to the idea of like everybody uses their Mac for these different purposes that are very

00:17:15 ◼   ► specific I feel like this isn't surprising that 1Password cuts across it's a utility that

00:17:22 ◼   ► cuts across sort of everybody's use cases and so that makes it different.

00:17:25 ◼   ► Well she'll vote.

00:17:27 ◼   ► I am going to vote for Audio Hijack and I know again I'm a podcast person so I have

00:17:33 ◼   ► reason to do it but Audio Hijack which was the new version was released version 3 was

00:17:38 ◼   ► was released last year, or sorry, two years ago now.

00:17:41 ◼   ► Wow, I'm still writing 2016 on all my checks.

00:17:45 ◼   ► The release in 2015, completely redesigned.

00:17:49 ◼   ► And this year I've just come to appreciate it even more.

00:17:51 ◼   ► I use it for anything involving, not even just recording,

00:17:55 ◼   ► but routing audio around my Mac.

00:17:59 ◼   ► I'm running it right now.

00:18:01 ◼   ► You're hearing me, everybody,

00:18:04 ◼   ► through a recording done via Audio Hijack.

00:18:06 ◼   ► Just the whole design of it

00:18:08 ◼   ► and functionality, it can do almost anything.

00:18:11 ◼   ► I use it for my transcripts for analyst calls

00:18:14 ◼   ► because it's got a basically like a DVR mode

00:18:16 ◼   ► where it'll record the live audio

00:18:17 ◼   ► and then let me pause it and back up and go forward again,

00:18:22 ◼   ► which is pretty great with a system-wide keystroke.

00:18:25 ◼   ► I know it's esoteric utility, but for me,

00:18:28 ◼   ► it is my favorite, I have to say,

00:18:31 ◼   ► in terms of being new and flashy and fun.

00:18:34 ◼   ► And I use all of the apps on this list and they're all great, but I decided that I would

00:18:40 ◼   ► give my extra shout out to Audio Hijack.

00:18:43 ◼   ► I'm going with Final Cut Pro X.

00:18:46 ◼   ► Now I have used Final Cut for a while for some basic stuff, but having got into the

00:18:52 ◼   ► vlogging stuff, I have come to understand what a pro application can be.

00:18:59 ◼   ► Final Cut Pro X, I know that a lot of people didn't like it when it came about because

00:19:04 ◼   ► it was new, but everything that is new about it I'm sure is what I love about it.

00:19:09 ◼   ► It is a good looking application with clear, understandable user interface that doesn't

00:19:14 ◼   ► hide everything.

00:19:16 ◼   ► And everything that I use with it, I love it.

00:19:19 ◼   ► And one of the things that I find so interesting about Final Cut is if I have an idea for something

00:19:25 ◼   ► that I want to do, I can find a way to do it in that app.

00:19:30 ◼   ► as well as everything being nice and clear, Apple's documentation is incredible for Final

00:19:36 ◼   ► Cut. You Google anything, I have not found this with any other level of Pro application,

00:19:42 ◼   ► especially that Apple makes. No matter what I Google or how I Google it, like how do I

00:19:46 ◼   ► do X in Final Cut, I will find an Apple support document that tells me how to do it, let alone

00:19:51 ◼   ► the tutorials on YouTube that you find. So I have found Final Cut Pro X to be fantastic

00:19:58 ◼   ► to work with over the last few months. And I have no consideration to try and use anything

00:20:04 ◼   ► else, which isn't the same for Logic, right? So we use Logic for audio production, and

00:20:08 ◼   ► every now and then I think to myself, "Shall I learn Audition like Adobe's?" I don't feel

00:20:13 ◼   ► that way about Final Cut, because Final Cut is solid. It's a great app.

00:20:19 ◼   ► I agree. A lot of the knock on Final Cut Pro X was that the professionals who were used

00:20:25 ◼   ► to the old method of using Final Cut, didn't like it, and I totally get that, right? And

00:20:29 ◼   ► I'm not a--

00:20:30 ◼   ► Yeah, 'cause it's what you know.

00:20:31 ◼   ► And I'm not a professional video editor, right? But like you, I'm somebody who--I mean, I've

00:20:36 ◼   ► been editing video since I was a teenager in various forms. I was editing video back

00:20:40 ◼   ► when you attached two VCRs together, and then we finally got a controller that let you control

00:20:45 ◼   ► the two VCRs, but--right? I mean, I've been editing video in different forms for a very

00:20:48 ◼   ► long time, but I'm not a professional, you know, film or TV video editor, anything like

00:20:54 ◼   ► that. Final Cut Pro, anything I can think of that I want to do, it basically will do,

00:21:00 ◼   ► and I can put something together very quickly and get it to look more or less exactly like

00:21:08 ◼   ► I want, just in a staggeringly short amount of time. Like, drag this in, drop it there,

00:21:14 ◼   ► resize it, slide it up there, have it animate and move from here to here and all that. I

00:21:18 ◼   ► can do that really fast in Final Cut Pro. And generally I can figure out, I mean, some

00:21:23 ◼   ► of it is esoteric, but I can figure out a lot of it just by kind of clicking around,

00:21:27 ◼   ► just being a Mac user, I can figure out where everything is and how to use it. That's pretty

00:21:31 ◼   ► amazing. So, I mean, for that, I do the total party kill videos with it, where I've often

00:21:36 ◼   ► got like multiple cropped versions of different parts of the video stream and they pop on

00:21:41 ◼   ► and off and stuff like that, and it's not a problem. I did that, the cars and trucks

00:21:46 ◼   ► video that I did a couple weeks ago, that was all Final Cut. Final Cut was not the problem,

00:21:55 ◼   ► right? Final Cut was the easy part because it made everything that I was doing easy.

00:21:59 ◼   ► Yeah, I agree with you.

00:22:01 ◼   ► So where are we going to go for winter? Now I would say that I would happily put a vote

00:22:06 ◼   ► in for Audio Hijack as well. I use it every day and I use it for some basic things, but

00:22:13 ◼   ► it's a great app. There's some stuff that I wished it could do that it doesn't do.

00:22:17 ◼   ► Like I really wish that I could just live stream directly from Audio Hijack.

00:22:21 ◼   ► I know, I've talked to Paul Kapasas at Rogue Amoeba about that and because they've got

00:22:25 ◼   ► a separate product right, Nicecast, I wish that they would just, you know, yeah.

00:22:30 ◼   ► They would just sell a way to integrate that.

00:22:32 ◼   ► Sell Nicecast and let it be a plug-in or something like that. I think there's a business model

00:22:36 ◼   ► problem there honestly which is that that's a separate product that's got a separate price

00:22:41 ◼   ► and they don't want to...

00:22:42 ◼   ► - Paying in that purchase, I would give them

00:22:44 ◼   ► whatever they need, you know?

00:22:45 ◼   ► - I think the challenge is, I don't think they wanna force

00:22:48 ◼   ► people who only use NiceCast to also buy AudioHijack.

00:22:52 ◼   ► But I know they've got three amazing utilities

00:22:57 ◼   ► and I wish they all kind of worked out of the same interface

00:23:00 ◼   ► instead of sort of in separate places.

00:23:03 ◼   ► But I do love that and I'll agree with the listeners too.

00:23:06 ◼   ► OnePassword, I use it every day.

00:23:08 ◼   ► I can't imagine using my Mac without it

00:23:12 ◼   ► And on the new Touch Bar MacBook Pro, let me tell you,

00:23:15 ◼   ► once you've unlocked your one password lock

00:23:20 ◼   ► on a Mac with your fingerprint,

00:23:22 ◼   ► well, you do that on iOS, right?

00:23:24 ◼   ► Once you do that on your Mac with a fingerprint

00:23:25 ◼   ► and then you go back to a,

00:23:26 ◼   ► like an iMac or something like that,

00:23:28 ◼   ► it feels wrong.

00:23:30 ◼   ► I'm like, oh, I've gotta enter my password again, right?

00:23:32 ◼   ► I was like, you get used to it really quickly.

00:23:34 ◼   ► They did a great job of integrating, right, you know,

00:23:37 ◼   ► day one, basically,

00:23:38 ◼   ► with a Touch ID sensor on the MacBook Pro.

00:23:41 ◼   ► So my feeling like, I mean, I could also go for 1Password, right?

00:23:45 ◼   ► Because the same thing, it's like it's one of my favorite applications, but it's

00:23:49 ◼   ► everywhere. And I really want to give this award to a Mac app.

00:23:54 ◼   ► Yeah, right. Like 1Password does and can exist on every platform, which is why it

00:24:00 ◼   ► makes it so useful. But there's just something about like with the discourse of

00:24:04 ◼   ► last year, which is obviously going to continue about the Mac and where is the Mac

00:24:08 ◼   ► going. Like, I feel like I want to give the upgradeee to a shining star of Mac development.

00:24:16 ◼   ► Like an application that can only exist on the Mac and does a great job using everything

00:24:21 ◼   ► that the Mac is good for.

00:24:23 ◼   ► Yeah, well, and this is my conflict here is that I think this is the year where you started

00:24:28 ◼   ► doing lots of video and I'm doing more video and so on that level this is the year where

00:24:33 ◼   ► would be perfect for us to pick Final Cut. At the same time, picking an Apple product,

00:24:40 ◼   ► you know, we can do it.

00:24:42 ◼   ► >> No, I'm happy for Audio Hijack. Seriously.

00:24:44 ◼   ► >> But this is what I'm saying is, but Audio Hijack from a Mac developer and it's, let's

00:24:51 ◼   ► not forget, it's doing things that, I gotta say, like half of what Audio Hijack does at

00:24:57 ◼   ► least, the system should do.

00:25:00 ◼   ► fixing problems that Apple have in the system of audio.

00:25:03 ◼   ► Because Apple doesn't care about audio stuff in its operating systems, apparently. It is

00:25:11 ◼   ► mind-boggling to me that you can't route application audio in Mac OS as a basic thing, but you've

00:25:18 ◼   ► never been able to do it. It's just never been a thing, and AudioHijack does it with

00:25:21 ◼   ► a few clicks. So, alright, let's do it.

00:25:24 ◼   ► Hi Jack, you are the winner of the upgradey for best Mac application in 2016. I feel good

00:25:32 ◼   ► about that one. I feel good about that one. Best newcomer Mac app is sponsored by our

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00:25:54 ◼   ► faster. Every day websites of all sizes are attacked. Criminals use botnets to scrape

00:26:01 ◼   ► website content, they try to break into databases and bring sites down with denial of service

00:26:06 ◼   ► attacks. On the performance side, your visitors want your website to load quickly and reliably.

00:26:11 ◼   ► Sites that take multiple seconds to load can turn people away and if your site is down or

00:26:16 ◼   ► or unavailable, people are just going to go elsewhere unfortunately. We are in this day

00:26:22 ◼   ► and age, I mean I know I'm guilty of it, I will have no patience for a website that doesn't

00:26:27 ◼   ► load quickly and Encapsula solves and prevents these problems for you. They employ a powerful

00:26:35 ◼   ► global network to filter out and block all the bad stuff leaving your website and your

00:26:40 ◼   ► customers unaffected. As a listener of this show you can get a whole month of service

00:26:44 ◼   ► at Encapsula for free. You just need to go to incapsula.com/upgrade. That is encapsula.com/upgrade.

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00:26:57 ◼   ► for their support of this show and Relay FM.

00:27:01 ◼   ► So the nominees for best newcomer Mac application are Bear Notes, Siri, Loopback, Air Sonos,

00:27:12 ◼   ► And I don't even know if we can count this one, but you put it in a closed beta of an

00:27:17 ◼   ► application called Forecast. Now, give me your pick and then we can go into somebody's

00:27:23 ◼   ► in a bit more detail.

00:27:25 ◼   ► Well my pick is Forecast. Figuring it probably won't win, and it's totally unfair because

00:27:32 ◼   ► this is not a product anybody can get yet. But I checked with the developer, and even

00:27:37 ◼   ► though it's a private beta, the developer has talked about it enough publicly that I

00:27:41 ◼   ► I can at least mention it. So forecast is Marco Arment's Mac app.

00:27:46 ◼   ► - (laughs)

00:27:47 ◼   ► - Yep.

00:27:48 ◼   ► - That like, I'm gonna learn how to be a Mac developer.

00:27:51 ◼   ► And as a podcast person, again, you know,

00:27:54 ◼   ► I'm not trying to represent everybody here.

00:27:56 ◼   ► I'm trying to--

00:27:57 ◼   ► - We're bias in our picks based on our work.

00:27:59 ◼   ► - Totally, totally.

00:28:00 ◼   ► And that's just, these are the upgrade-ies, right?

00:28:02 ◼   ► These are not, you know, from a staff of 20.

00:28:05 ◼   ► These are two podcasters. - It's not the 80s.

00:28:06 ◼   ► - Exactly right, exactly right.

00:28:08 ◼   ► I got my Eddy award behind me.

00:28:10 ◼   ► which everybody asked me what did I win it for?

00:28:13 ◼   ► And the answer is I won it for running the Eddy Awards

00:28:15 ◼   ► for like 15 years.

00:28:16 ◼   ► That's how I won it.

00:28:17 ◼   ► - Best Eddy Award Coordinator.

00:28:19 ◼   ► - Yeah, exactly right.

00:28:20 ◼   ► So what Forecast is, and I hope Marco finishes it

00:28:24 ◼   ► and releases it, 'cause I think it's very good

00:28:25 ◼   ► and I think it's releasable soon.

00:28:27 ◼   ► I think he maybe just doesn't wanna do the,

00:28:30 ◼   ► he's working on other projects

00:28:32 ◼   ► and I think that he doesn't wanna be distracted

00:28:35 ◼   ► by support, honestly.

00:28:37 ◼   ► And that's the challenge with a lot of apps

00:28:39 ◼   ► that scratch the developer's itch

00:28:41 ◼   ► is when they get them working to their satisfaction.

00:28:43 ◼   ► There is this moment of like,

00:28:44 ◼   ► I could just keep this myself

00:28:46 ◼   ► and not have to answer to other people

00:28:48 ◼   ► and fix the bugs that they find that are weird

00:28:51 ◼   ► if it always works for me.

00:28:52 ◼   ► But it's an app for tagging

00:28:55 ◼   ► and encoding podcast files, basically.

00:28:58 ◼   ► So you can either drag on an MP3 and update the tags,

00:29:02 ◼   ► or you can drag on a WAV or an AIFF,

00:29:04 ◼   ► the output that comes out, in my case, from Logic,

00:29:06 ◼   ► the edited version, and you drag it in,

00:29:09 ◼   ► and you can set the encoding quality

00:29:13 ◼   ► and it actually encodes in the background.

00:29:15 ◼   ► So if you've got it set to a sort of the one you always use

00:29:18 ◼   ► and when you drag it in,

00:29:19 ◼   ► it starts encoding it in the background.

00:29:20 ◼   ► And then meanwhile, while it's doing that,

00:29:22 ◼   ► you can put in the name.

00:29:23 ◼   ► It tries to guess based on the file name,

00:29:25 ◼   ► like here's the art you wanna use

00:29:26 ◼   ► and here's probably the name

00:29:27 ◼   ► and here's probably the number

00:29:28 ◼   ► and you fill in the title and you write in the description.

00:29:31 ◼   ► And if you've got chapter markers in logic,

00:29:35 ◼   ► it puts those down or you can add them or edit them.

00:29:38 ◼   ► So you edit chapter marks as a part of this too.

00:29:40 ◼   ► And then you basically press Command + S

00:29:42 ◼   ► and you get your podcast MP3 out.

00:29:45 ◼   ► And it's pretty good.

00:29:47 ◼   ► There's some bugs 'cause it's a beta.

00:29:48 ◼   ► The chapter editing support is weird.

00:29:51 ◼   ► And I mentioned it to Mark Owen.

00:29:52 ◼   ► He said, "Oh yes, I should use that feature."

00:29:55 ◼   ► But because he's using it direct from Logic

00:29:58 ◼   ► and occasionally I have to add chapter markers

00:29:59 ◼   ► after the fact.

00:30:00 ◼   ► But it's pretty great.

00:30:02 ◼   ► It will be a great utility for any Mac podcast creator

00:30:06 ◼   ► out there when it is released to the public and I hope that is in 2017.

00:30:12 ◼   ► If you noticed the shows that I produce, if you noticed the metadata get better, like

00:30:18 ◼   ► episode artwork and all of the metadata being put in the ID3 tags and all that stuff, it's

00:30:23 ◼   ► because I use forecast to encode every single show that I'm a part of.

00:30:29 ◼   ► I think I am the, maybe me and you will tie for this, the biggest stress tester of forecast

00:30:38 ◼   ► and I have broken it in many interesting ways.

00:30:41 ◼   ► I have too.

00:30:42 ◼   ► A three hour podcast will kill it.

00:30:43 ◼   ► Well, it used to.

00:30:45 ◼   ► But I think I helped Michael fix that.

00:30:46 ◼   ► So will a two minute long podcast, it turns out.

00:30:50 ◼   ► And you know what, again, whilst I will underscore that it is unfair to put this in here because

00:30:55 ◼   ► people can't get it.

00:30:56 ◼   ► It totally is.

00:30:57 ◼   ► It's not going to win.

00:30:58 ◼   ► I vote for it, but I won't based on the grounds that it's not publicly available.

00:31:02 ◼   ► I agree.

00:31:03 ◼   ► And also any chapters that you ever see put into a show because of forecast.

00:31:08 ◼   ► It's the easiest way that I've found to do it because you tag the chapters in the logic

00:31:12 ◼   ► project and then it reads them, which I think is fantastic.

00:31:16 ◼   ► Again, and I would just once, whilst we're talking about chapters, just mention I put

00:31:21 ◼   ► chapters in when I think chapters are needed.

00:31:24 ◼   ► I don't think chapters are needed in every episode of every show ever made.

00:31:28 ◼   ► Anyhow, don't email me.

00:31:33 ◼   ► Don't email anybody because you can give me your argument but it's not going to change

00:31:36 ◼   ► my opinion.

00:31:37 ◼   ► It's just my opinion.

00:31:39 ◼   ► I understand why they're there but I really don't think that chapters for every topic

00:31:45 ◼   ► in every tech show is worth the time with the producer for the amount of people that

00:31:49 ◼   ► use them.

00:31:50 ◼   ► That's my personal opinion on this.

00:31:51 ◼   ► Anyway, I'm going to pick bare notes.

00:31:57 ◼   ► because it's great on the Mac and on iOS.

00:32:00 ◼   ► It's my new markdown text editor.

00:32:02 ◼   ► I don't use it as a notes application.

00:32:04 ◼   ► There are some things that it doesn't do very well,

00:32:06 ◼   ► like conflicts, which Apple Notes does perfectly,

00:32:09 ◼   ► deals with conflicts without even shaking,

00:32:11 ◼   ► but Bear will add new notes in as conflicts,

00:32:14 ◼   ► which is the worst way to deal with conflicts.

00:32:16 ◼   ► But for what I use it for,

00:32:18 ◼   ► which is to write the scripts for our podcast ads,

00:32:22 ◼   ► it's perfect because I'm able to tag things really easily

00:32:25 ◼   ► so that I'm able to find them.

00:32:27 ◼   ► I can tag them by sponsor, I can tag them by month and year.

00:32:30 ◼   ► So it's all sorted nicely, like into these little buckets

00:32:33 ◼   ► which I can pull from.

00:32:34 ◼   ► And it's just, it's really great.

00:32:35 ◼   ► I'm able to, one of my favorite features,

00:32:38 ◼   ► let's say I write some content,

00:32:40 ◼   ► but I need to put it into the system later.

00:32:42 ◼   ► I will make a new task in OmniFocus to add it to the system

00:32:45 ◼   ► and I can grab a URL of the bare note.

00:32:48 ◼   ► So I can just click URL in OmniFocus,

00:32:50 ◼   ► it takes me right to the note.

00:32:51 ◼   ► Just simple things like that.

00:32:52 ◼   ► It's a really nicely built app.

00:32:54 ◼   ► Those are great themes.

00:32:55 ◼   ► You can use some great fonts.

00:32:56 ◼   ► It's very, very nice.

00:32:57 ◼   ► So, actually, did I mention that Bear

00:33:03 ◼   ► was the Upgrading winner as well?

00:33:06 ◼   ► - No, you didn't.

00:33:07 ◼   ► - It won with 32% of the votes,

00:33:09 ◼   ► with Siri winning at 29%,

00:33:11 ◼   ► although I don't actually think Siri counts as an app,

00:33:13 ◼   ► but I know why I put it in there.

00:33:14 ◼   ► - I don't think so.

00:33:15 ◼   ► - What is Airsonos?

00:33:17 ◼   ► - So Airsonos is not an app, sort of.

00:33:21 ◼   ► It's a bunch of scripts that you install.

00:33:24 ◼   ► I wrote about it at Six Colors, that you install,

00:33:26 ◼   ► and it allows you to airplay to some of the speakers.

00:33:29 ◼   ► - That's very useful actually.

00:33:30 ◼   ► - And I wish somebody would bundle it together

00:33:33 ◼   ► as like a Mac app that you could run,

00:33:35 ◼   ► but it's one of these open source projects

00:33:37 ◼   ► where there's a script running

00:33:39 ◼   ► and so you basically have to run it from the terminal

00:33:41 ◼   ► and it's not very friendly.

00:33:42 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:33:43 ◼   ► But it totally works and it's great.

00:33:46 ◼   ► And I just, I have it, you know, what you have to do,

00:33:49 ◼   ► you say no bueno, but what basically you do

00:33:51 ◼   ► is you create a terminal command document

00:33:53 ◼   ► that like, and put it in your startup items.

00:33:55 ◼   ► - I don't even know what a terminal command is.

00:33:57 ◼   ► - Okay, well, bless your heart.

00:34:01 ◼   ► - I know, I'm from a different age.

00:34:03 ◼   ► - The other app that's in here is Loopback,

00:34:06 ◼   ► which I just wanted to mention, which is also rogue Amoeba.

00:34:08 ◼   ► This is another piece of their puzzle of audio apps.

00:34:12 ◼   ► - 10% of the votes for Loopback.

00:34:15 ◼   ► - Yeah, that's pretty wild.

00:34:16 ◼   ► That's all of our friends who make podcasts, I guess.

00:34:19 ◼   ► But it's, again, the system should support this,

00:34:23 ◼   ► which is being able to have virtual inputs and outputs

00:34:26 ◼   ► so that you can arbitrarily say,

00:34:28 ◼   ► I wanna put my output over there and route it in here

00:34:31 ◼   ► and loopback adds a piece of the puzzle

00:34:33 ◼   ► that is not provided by AudioHijack

00:34:36 ◼   ► that adds to the just, it's yet another thing

00:34:40 ◼   ► that adds to your audio flexibility.

00:34:42 ◼   ► If you ever do anything involving audio on the Mac,

00:34:44 ◼   ► it's another option that gives you even more power

00:34:47 ◼   ► and it was needed.

00:34:49 ◼   ► There have been some other utilities that do this.

00:34:51 ◼   ► Some of them broke when we went to,

00:34:54 ◼   ► I wanna say Lion broke, like all the audio utilities.

00:34:57 ◼   ► And it's been a long claw back to getting stuff available.

00:35:02 ◼   ► And then there's some that are out there now that do this.

00:35:04 ◼   ► - Not very gracefully.

00:35:06 ◼   ► - Yeah, I've had interface-

00:35:07 ◼   ► - Sound flower, we're off and on.

00:35:09 ◼   ► - There's interface confusion problems

00:35:11 ◼   ► that Loopback doesn't offer.

00:35:12 ◼   ► Loopback's interface is much clearer.

00:35:14 ◼   ► And also there's some performance issues

00:35:16 ◼   ► where some of those utilities

00:35:17 ◼   ► that I won't mention by name,

00:35:19 ◼   ► when they're running my whole Mac is slow.

00:35:21 ◼   ► And that is-- - That's not good.

00:35:24 ◼   ► - And I can keep loop back on and it is fine all the time.

00:35:27 ◼   ► So it's a good one.

00:35:31 ◼   ► - For some somehow 7% of the vote was cast for forecast.

00:35:35 ◼   ► - Yeah, isn't that nice?

00:35:36 ◼   ► - And I'm not sure how that many people--

00:35:40 ◼   ► - It's just Marco voted again and again and again.

00:35:42 ◼   ► Casey voted again and again and again.

00:35:45 ◼   ► I think well, I think you chose Bear

00:35:47 ◼   ► and the people chose Bear, so Bear's the winner.

00:35:49 ◼   ► - I think so, I think it's a good winner,

00:35:51 ◼   ► 'cause there is some, this is super niche,

00:35:53 ◼   ► they're just, look, this is the problem,

00:35:55 ◼   ► there just aren't a lot of new Mac apps.

00:35:57 ◼   ► - It's true. - There really isn't.

00:35:59 ◼   ► - It's true. - There are lots of updates.

00:35:59 ◼   ► - I picked an unreleased beta, Myke,

00:36:02 ◼   ► I picked an unreleased beta.

00:36:03 ◼   ► - And a pile of scripts.

00:36:06 ◼   ► - And a pile of scripts. - And an Apple feature.

00:36:08 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:36:09 ◼   ► - And loopback, yeah.

00:36:10 ◼   ► - An OS feature, a pile of scripts,

00:36:12 ◼   ► and an unreleased application made it

00:36:13 ◼   ► into the category there.

00:36:16 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:36:17 ◼   ► Oh wow.

00:36:18 ◼   ► Thank you to Encapsular for supporting the newcomer Mac app.

00:36:22 ◼   ► Game of the Year.

00:36:23 ◼   ► Now this is always an interesting one because Game of the Year on upgrade is not Game of

00:36:30 ◼   ► the Year on remaster or destruction.

00:36:34 ◼   ► Game of the Year here is very different because me and you play very different games.

00:36:40 ◼   ► I tend to play the games that you play but you don't always play the games that I play.

00:36:45 ◼   ► I'm more of a gamer than you. However, this is the list of Game of the Year. No Man's

00:36:50 ◼   ► Sky. Now, a lot of people would say, "How dare you?" but I love No Man's Sky.

00:36:54 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:36:55 ◼   ► But it's in there. Uncharted 4, Pokemon Sun and Moon, Firewatch, and Job Simulator. They

00:37:04 ◼   ► were the picks.

00:37:05 ◼   ► Yeah, and I added one late that didn't get added. Job Simulator I didn't see on my list

00:37:11 ◼   ► either. I think you added that late.

00:37:12 ◼   ► I added that. I added that. What did you add?

00:37:15 ◼   ► Inside.

00:37:16 ◼   ► Inside, yep, that's a good one.

00:37:18 ◼   ► The game of the year is the highest percentage of other votes ticked with 21% of votes for

00:37:26 ◼   ► other.

00:37:27 ◼   ► But there was nothing that really came out in there which was bigger in voting than any

00:37:30 ◼   ► of the other categories so I didn't break them out.

00:37:33 ◼   ► It doesn't surprise me because we have an esoteric list.

00:37:37 ◼   ► We have a game that was widely panned, No Man's Sky, but I loved it.

00:37:42 ◼   ► Pokemon game which is you know, it's not even a main console game, but I think very important.

00:37:48 ◼   ► Firewatch which is a short storytelling game. Job Simulator which is a VR only game.

00:37:53 ◼   ► And then we have Uncharted 4 as kind of our only big what would be considered in the game of the year

00:37:59 ◼   ► categories of like polygon or something.

00:38:02 ◼   ► Now I'm gonna say, now I actually added Job Simulator late and it's actually gonna be my vote for game of the year.

00:38:12 ◼   ► 2016 was the year of virtual reality, right?

00:38:16 ◼   ► It's one of the big technology themes of the year.

00:38:18 ◼   ► This was the year where it first started to be a thing that people could have in their

00:38:21 ◼   ► homes.

00:38:22 ◼   ► And of all of the games I've played on all VR platforms, I haven't had as much fun as

00:38:27 ◼   ► I've had in Job Simulator.

00:38:29 ◼   ► It is a game set in 2050 where you are going to a human museum because the world is run

00:38:37 ◼   ► by robots.

00:38:39 ◼   ► And the Human Museum is a set of interactive exhibits where you get to play the part of

00:38:45 ◼   ► the human in human jobs. You can play in an office, in a car mechanic, in a store.

00:38:53 ◼   ► Yeah I played in the convenience store.

00:38:54 ◼   ► Oh you played Job Simulator?

00:38:56 ◼   ► On Twit or on the screensavers. We did a whole VR segment and I was getting the hot dog out

00:39:03 ◼   ► of the bin and stuff.

00:39:04 ◼   ► How much fun is Job Simulator?

00:39:06 ◼   ► It's pretty fun.

00:39:07 ◼   ► Because my favourite thing about this game is if you think you can do something, you

00:39:12 ◼   ► can do it.

00:39:13 ◼   ► There is an office game and there's a photocopier in it.

00:39:17 ◼   ► And if you put your hand in the photocopier, it doesn't make a photocopy, it actually

00:39:21 ◼   ► reproduces any item that goes into it.

00:39:24 ◼   ► Because it's funny, a lot of it is how would robots have interpreted us?

00:39:28 ◼   ► And it's like they see it as a copy machine in that it will copy anything.

00:39:33 ◼   ► It's hilariously funny.

00:39:35 ◼   ► are all these little jokes, there's tons of like little quips in there and things you

00:39:41 ◼   ► can find out. It's hilarious to play and it's a ton of fun. And everyone that I've had try

00:39:47 ◼   ► Job Simulator has got as much of a kick out of it as I have. So I'm gonna go with Job

00:39:53 ◼   ► Simulator even though I will also cast a vote for what I think will end up being our game

00:39:59 ◼   ► of the year. What is your pick?

00:40:01 ◼   ► My pick is going to be my late addition as well, which is Inside.

00:40:06 ◼   ► We ruined this one, didn't we?

00:40:08 ◼   ► We totally blew it.

00:40:10 ◼   ► Inside, which we did an incomparable episode about, is...

00:40:18 ◼   ► I don't even want to say too much about it.

00:40:20 ◼   ► It is a side-scrolling game that...

00:40:27 ◼   ► So you're just going from left to right.

00:40:30 ◼   ► you can't, you know, there's no depth to it. It is amazing though. It is, it is from play

00:40:37 ◼   ► dead. It's got lots of surprises. I don't even want to talk about what the surprises

00:40:42 ◼   ► are. You start out in your running and somebody is chasing you and the story progresses from

00:40:47 ◼   ► there in increasingly surprising ways. And I don't want to say that there's a plot twist

00:40:52 ◼   ► because there isn't a plot twist. The story just keeps changing and progressing as you

00:40:57 ◼   ► go. The play mechanics are fun. I played it in like five hours, four hours. I think John

00:41:02 ◼   ► Sarecusa calls these the artsy-fartsy games. You know, it's not a triple-A console title

00:41:07 ◼   ► with 40 hours of playtime or something like that, and that's fine with me because I kind

00:41:12 ◼   ► of don't like those games. These are the developers of Limbo, which is available on iOS. This

00:41:21 ◼   ► a console and steam game and I thought it was great. So, uh, Incomparable 3.18 is the

00:41:30 ◼   ► episode where we talked about it. Yeah. Limbo 2 or is it Limbo Zero? But it's very good.

00:41:36 ◼   ► Very good game. The Upgradients voted with a 34% majority for Firewatch with Other coming

00:41:44 ◼   ► in at 21% and then Uncharted 4 coming in at 14%. Now I would happily give Firewatch our

00:41:52 ◼   ► game of the year.

00:41:53 ◼   ► Yeah, me too.

00:41:54 ◼   ► Because it's a game that we have both played and both really enjoyed.

00:41:58 ◼   ► Absolutely.

00:41:59 ◼   ► I have not yet played Inside and I'm not going to play it for a long time because I had a

00:42:05 ◼   ► spoiler. I know the end. So I want to try and forget it before I play it. It's the same

00:42:10 ◼   ► a journey. I did the same with Journey. I got spoiled and then waited for many years

00:42:15 ◼   ► before I played it so I would be a bit more fresh to it.

00:42:18 ◼   ► So Firewatch, it's got to be, I mean, it's a fantastic game. I've really, really enjoyed

00:42:24 ◼   ► it. It's another of these artsy fartsy games. But also we have the tie to, you know, the

00:42:30 ◼   ► Mac community and the Apple community through Panic who kind of funded and I guess helped

00:42:35 ◼   ► to the development of the game. It's made by a game studio called Campo Santo, which

00:42:40 ◼   ► Panic are heavily involved in. It's like a symbiotic relationship. I don't know the complete

00:42:46 ◼   ► details, I don't really think they talk about them, but I know that there's financial backing

00:42:50 ◼   ► there from Panic. Absolutely fantastic game with a really great story. One of the games

00:42:55 ◼   ► that really made me think a lot this year and actually feel something. So Firewatch

00:43:01 ◼   ► has got to be our upgradey winner for Game of the Year.

00:43:04 ◼   ► Next up, if you were wondering, where are all the iOS games?

00:43:09 ◼   ► Well, they're in their own category with iOS game of the year.

00:43:11 ◼   ► This list here, PewDiePie's Tuba Simulator,

00:43:15 ◼   ► Mini Metro, Super Stickman Golf 3, Inks,

00:43:20 ◼   ► Pokemon Go, Really Bad Chess and Super Mario Run.

00:43:24 ◼   ► Super Mario Run added late in the category

00:43:27 ◼   ► because we've had this voting up for longer than that game has been out.

00:43:29 ◼   ► There's a couple of games in there that I want to just give a shout out to,

00:43:33 ◼   ► in case you've not heard of them. PewDiePie's Tuber Simulator is just a silly free-to-play

00:43:39 ◼   ► game in the usual style of waiting for timers to complete, but it's made really well. It's

00:43:45 ◼   ► the best of these types of games I've ever played, and it's made with a lot of humour.

00:43:49 ◼   ► If you enjoy PewDiePie's work, which I know that maybe for listeners of this show there

00:43:53 ◼   ► might not be that many people, I am one of the people that does, and I think this game

00:43:59 ◼   ► is an example of what is good about Felix, who is PewDiePie. This is where he shows his

00:44:06 ◼   ► smarts rather than his stupidness. And I prefer the smart guy as opposed to the crazy guy.

00:44:13 ◼   ► Inks is another game. It is an absolutely beautiful pinball game in which you have to

00:44:20 ◼   ► shoot a pinball into colours and then when the pinball hits the colours it draws the

00:44:27 ◼   ► color or wherever it goes around the pinball table. It's absolutely beautiful. Can you

00:44:32 ◼   ► explain Really Bad Chess?

00:44:34 ◼   ► - Really Bad Chess, I wrote about this at Six Colors, it is a chess game and, you know,

00:44:40 ◼   ► I'm one of those people who thinks chess is kind of boring. I learned how to play it and

00:44:43 ◼   ► I was really interested in it for a short period of time and then I realized like, I

00:44:48 ◼   ► just I don't have the focus for it. I don't like I just I'm not I'm bad at it. But Really

00:44:55 ◼   ► Bad Chess is a great spin on it because it's a chess game where you get a different sort

00:45:01 ◼   ► of a random assortment of pieces, and the way that you level up basically is that you

00:45:09 ◼   ► start with a huge power disparity between you and your opponent and then over time as

00:45:13 ◼   ► you win, the disparity gets less and less. There are also daily and weekly challenges

00:45:18 ◼   ► where everybody plays the same board. So you can have one where you've got two queens and

00:45:23 ◼   ► four nights or something like that and and a bunch of ponds and you know and

00:45:29 ◼   ► three castles and you know or rooks no matter how you say it I was simplifying

00:45:34 ◼   ► there because people don't know what the rook is the castle the night it's a horse

00:45:39 ◼   ► anyway I learned about so if you know how to play chess but you find chess

00:45:44 ◼   ► kind of boring really bad chess is actually really good so I it's a lot of

00:45:48 ◼   ► fun, really fun game.

00:45:50 ◼   ► - Jason, cast your vote for iOS game of the year.

00:45:52 ◼   ► - I think the iOS game of the year came late to iOS.

00:45:57 ◼   ► It was on other platforms before, but you know what?

00:45:59 ◼   ► It's mini Metro.

00:45:59 ◼   ► I really love mini Metro.

00:46:01 ◼   ► That is my, that is my game of the year.

00:46:03 ◼   ► I still go back to it.

00:46:05 ◼   ► It is a, it is a, you know, transit simulator sort of,

00:46:09 ◼   ► but you it's got this pleasing kind of background sound

00:46:12 ◼   ► that changes as you play.

00:46:13 ◼   ► And the iOS interface is perfect for it

00:46:15 ◼   ► because you're drawing connections

00:46:17 ◼   ► between the different Metro stations as your city grows.

00:46:21 ◼   ► It brings back all the things that I loved

00:46:23 ◼   ► about something like SimCity, but it's simple

00:46:26 ◼   ► and it never gets too complicated

00:46:28 ◼   ► beyond what the basics are.

00:46:31 ◼   ► The city gets bigger and there's more traffic,

00:46:33 ◼   ► but it never gets to the point where you realize

00:46:35 ◼   ► that you've got to learn all these other things

00:46:38 ◼   ► that are a whole extra level of complication.

00:46:41 ◼   ► They keep it simple, which means it's kind of Zen-like

00:46:43 ◼   ► and I really like that about it.

00:46:45 ◼   ► My only complaint about it is that they have not yet done

00:46:47 ◼   ► what they've said that they would do on iOS,

00:46:49 ◼   ► which they've done on other platforms,

00:46:50 ◼   ► which is provide an endless mode,

00:46:52 ◼   ► which is basically after you die in the game

00:46:55 ◼   ► that you just get to keep playing and building your city.

00:46:57 ◼   ► Because as we found with Alto's Adventure, actually,

00:47:00 ◼   ► which has gotten an update to do this this year,

00:47:02 ◼   ► sometimes you don't actually want to play the game

00:47:06 ◼   ► from the beginning, you just want to keep playing it.

00:47:08 ◼   ► And the point is not to rack up the high score.

00:47:11 ◼   ► The point is to sort of reach that kind of enjoyable state

00:47:14 ◼   ► where you're playing.

00:47:15 ◼   ► It's what the some city developers used to call

00:47:17 ◼   ► a software toy where it's like you're not really playing

00:47:20 ◼   ► a game anymore, it's just like a toy you're playing with

00:47:22 ◼   ► and having a good time and feeling good.

00:47:24 ◼   ► - What a great term.

00:47:25 ◼   ► - And yeah, software toys, yeah, that was Max's always said

00:47:28 ◼   ► that SimCity was more of a software toy than a game.

00:47:31 ◼   ► And I think that's accurate, right?

00:47:32 ◼   ► There's kind of no way to win really.

00:47:34 ◼   ► And I think Mini Metro would do well to have that on iOS

00:47:38 ◼   ► like it has on other platforms where you just keep,

00:47:39 ◼   ► you know, when it's done, you built the city

00:47:41 ◼   ► and it's sort of like, it's sad 'cause it's over.

00:47:43 ◼   ► And it's like, no, no, I wanna see what happens next.

00:47:45 ◼   ► I don't care if it doesn't count for my total points or whatever, I just want to keep building

00:47:49 ◼   ► this city and I would like to see that.

00:47:52 ◼   ► But it's a great game.

00:47:53 ◼   ► I made a video about it on Six Colors, it's great, I love it, and that is by far my favorite

00:47:58 ◼   ► iOS game this year.

00:47:59 ◼   ► I'm not picking my favorite game.

00:48:01 ◼   ► I'm picking a game that I think should win.

00:48:05 ◼   ► And it shouldn't win because it's a good game.

00:48:07 ◼   ► Pokemon Go.

00:48:11 ◼   ► Pokemon Go is not a good iOS game.

00:48:14 ◼   ► No it's not. It's not even really a good game.

00:48:18 ◼   ► Neither is Mario Run. Oh, Mario Run is maybe a good game, it's not a good iOS game.

00:48:22 ◼   ► Well, it's a good Nintendo game on iOS, that's what it is.

00:48:25 ◼   ► Yeah. That's what it is. Yeah.

00:48:27 ◼   ► Well that's what it is, right? But like, you know.

00:48:29 ◼   ► For the values of good Nintendo game which include that the part that's good is the game part and everything around it is junk, just like on Nintendo, yes.

00:48:36 ◼   ► That's actually, it is a perfect simulation of Nintendo. It's everything I like and dislike about Nintendo on iOS.

00:48:43 ◼   ► But that's all they could ever do. They could never do it differently.

00:48:46 ◼   ► I know.

00:48:47 ◼   ► Pokemon Go is a phenomenon. Was a phenomenon.

00:48:51 ◼   ► You know, maybe isn't so much now, but there has never been

00:48:54 ◼   ► an iOS game that was able to do what Pokemon Go did.

00:48:58 ◼   ► And I don't think there will ever be another one.

00:49:00 ◼   ► I think it's a shame that they squandered it, right? Because they had some aspects of it they

00:49:05 ◼   ► got exactly right to make it become a success, but they couldn't do whatever was required to keep it.

00:49:13 ◼   ► I would say squandering is not the right word. I would maybe say that they just couldn't

00:49:19 ◼   ► capitalize on it.

00:49:20 ◼   ► Okay, that works too. Yeah, that there should have been more, the world should have opened

00:49:25 ◼   ► up after a month or so, so people would keep playing it and they seemed to not have any

00:49:29 ◼   ► capable-- it took them by surprise to the point where they were just trying to keep

00:49:32 ◼   ► their heads above water rather than doing what they needed to do.

00:49:35 ◼   ► I don't think they were able to do anything more.

00:49:37 ◼   ► Yeah, I agree.

00:49:38 ◼   ► The things that would have been needed and the things that will still come to that game

00:49:41 ◼   ► could never have been done in the timeframe that was required

00:49:45 ◼   ► whilst also trying to put out the fires

00:49:47 ◼   ► in their service and infrastructure.

00:49:48 ◼   ► - Well, that's exactly it.

00:49:50 ◼   ► Its success sort of killed it before they could do things

00:49:52 ◼   ► like add player versus player and a little bit of leveling

00:49:56 ◼   ► so that if you weren't the hardcore grinder at Pokemon GO,

00:50:00 ◼   ► but were more of a casual player, you couldn't battle

00:50:04 ◼   ► because you were too low level.

00:50:07 ◼   ► And it was very apparent from the beginning

00:50:10 ◼   ► that it was going to hit a wall if they didn't make changes.

00:50:13 ◼   ► And I think the server demand meant

00:50:16 ◼   ► that they didn't have the ability to make changes fast enough.

00:50:18 ◼   ► It's too bad.

00:50:19 ◼   ► But I do think it's the future of gaming.

00:50:21 ◼   ► I think that there will be more games that do Pokemon Go

00:50:24 ◼   ► and do it better and that will change mobile gaming

00:50:27 ◼   ► by doing stuff like this.

00:50:29 ◼   ► I do think we'll see more of this.

00:50:31 ◼   ► - Yeah, the idea of the streets in big cities

00:50:34 ◼   ► all around the world being flooded

00:50:35 ◼   ► with people catching Pokemon,

00:50:37 ◼   ► that was always going to be a flash in the pan thing.

00:50:40 ◼   ► just maybe the flash was a little bit shorter than it could have been if the game was actually

00:50:44 ◼   ► designed better to begin with. Like it was never going to be that in a year's time everyone

00:50:50 ◼   ► was still doing this. To people that always would be, you know that people will continue

00:50:53 ◼   ► to play this game for a long time, I have friends that still play it. I just got bored

00:50:57 ◼   ► of it as I do many, many games really. Like I'm somebody who will play a game for a long

00:51:01 ◼   ► time and then just stop. And they may not have ever finished it, I just get bored of

00:51:06 ◼   ► it and move on. But like the thing in Pokemon Go is there's just never been anything like

00:51:10 ◼   ► it and it cannot be ignored. I feel like it had to be spoken about because you know I

00:51:16 ◼   ► would go to a park and everyone was playing. Everybody. You know it really really was an

00:51:22 ◼   ► absolute phenomenon. Now I really love Mini Metro. I really love Mini Metro. I'm very

00:51:32 ◼   ► set on Pokemon though. Well that's fine because the listeners are with me. Yep we're gonna

00:51:39 ◼   ► go with it. I mean I don't want to bend so I'm happy that the listeners are with you

00:51:43 ◼   ► because I don't want to bend on this one. Here's what I would say is best, you know

00:51:51 ◼   ► I view this as a best of the year category and I can't endorse Pokemon Go as a best.

00:51:57 ◼   ► I can agree with that. I can agree with that which is why I'm not gonna try and convince

00:52:01 ◼   ► you to go with Pokemon because I think Mini Metro is probably the highest quality or one

00:52:08 ◼   ► of the highest quality games released this year. So I am very happy for it to win the

00:52:13 ◼   ► upgradey but I just think you know and as we haven't you just can't overlook the phenomenon

00:52:18 ◼   ► that has Pokemon Go. So Mini Metro is the winner of the 2016 upgradey award for the

00:52:24 ◼   ► iOS game of the year. Now we move into one of the two categories that I have very little

00:52:29 ◼   ► to say in and that is the favorite movie category. The nominees for favorite movie this year

00:52:35 ◼   ► are Star Wars Rogue One, Arrival, Marvel Civil War, Captain America Civil War, Doctor Strange,

00:52:46 ◼   ► and for some reason Batman vs Superman.

00:52:49 ◼   ► Hahaha!

00:52:50 ◼   ► L.O.L. in brackets.

00:52:52 ◼   ► Just kidding.

00:52:53 ◼   ► JK. Now the reason that I can't help with this is I've only seen one movie on this

00:52:58 ◼   ► list because I just I don't know what happened to me but in the last couple

00:53:03 ◼   ► of years I just don't really see movies anymore. I don't know why that is but

00:53:07 ◼   ► that's just something that changed. So I will pick Star Wars Rogue One. I really

00:53:12 ◼   ► liked this movie but it's the only one that I've seen. I'm disappointed that

00:53:17 ◼   ► myself for having not seen Civil War and Doctor Strange because I love the Marvel

00:53:22 ◼   ► superhero movies. Maybe I have to make that a New Year's resolution to try and

00:53:26 ◼   ► see more movies this year. Yeah that's a good one. That's a that's the easy kind

00:53:29 ◼   ► of New Year's resolution. See more movies. Enjoy something. Yeah entertainment. The

00:53:35 ◼   ► listeners, the upgrade-ians, they also went with 44% for Star Wars Rogue One.

00:53:40 ◼   ► However, Star Wars Rogue One was winning this category in the week before

00:53:46 ◼   ► before the movie came out.

00:53:49 ◼   ► - It was suspicious, wasn't it?

00:53:50 ◼   ► - So I think, I mean, I don't know how this is gonna make

00:53:55 ◼   ► the Upgradians feel, that their vote should not count

00:53:58 ◼   ► in this because I feel like there were people

00:54:02 ◼   ► that were voting for that movie out of just love

00:54:05 ◼   ► for the franchise.

00:54:06 ◼   ► And frankly, I think I liked the movie,

00:54:09 ◼   ► but I think it under delivered on what I expected

00:54:12 ◼   ► it was gonna be, which was like,

00:54:14 ◼   ► this is gonna be as great as Force Awakens, which it wasn't. It was a really good movie,

00:54:21 ◼   ► but it wasn't a really good Star Wars movie, in my opinion. I really liked the movie a

00:54:27 ◼   ► lot, I really did, but it didn't live up to the expectations that I had for it based on

00:54:32 ◼   ► how good Force Awakens was.

00:54:34 ◼   ► Yep, so my pick is not gonna help here either, because I picked Arrival. I think Arrival

00:54:42 ◼   ► was my favourite movie of the year.

00:54:43 ◼   ► I'm happy for Arrival to win because I know that people really really like it. Plus it

00:54:47 ◼   ► was the second place winner for the Upgradians and I wonder if people were voting 100% honestly

00:54:54 ◼   ► how it would have gone. But I've seen a lot of buzz about Arrival from people that I know

00:54:58 ◼   ► that really like movies and whose opinion I trust on it. So I'm happy for Arrival to

00:55:03 ◼   ► win the Upgrady.

00:55:05 ◼   ► That's fine. I would be happy for Force Awakens again for Rogue One to be the first one to

00:55:13 ◼   ► get it because I did like that movie but it wasn't, you know, it wasn't my favorite movie

00:55:18 ◼   ► of the year. So I'm curious about the Star Wars votes. I'm analyzing the spreadsheet

00:55:26 ◼   ► right now and finding out who voted. Oh yeah, wow. Well, no.

00:55:32 ◼   ► - That was quite a lot. - So when did it come out? It came out on

00:55:38 ◼   ► the 16th mm-hmm no they're there I would say Myke there are there are a lot of

00:55:42 ◼   ► votes in here from okay from after then I just said yeah I'm sure that's the

00:55:47 ◼   ► case but I'm not sure how many there were before but we put the vote in up I

00:55:52 ◼   ► think about four or five days before and it was winning by a landslide at that

00:55:56 ◼   ► point yeah that's true there are definitely some votes in there that

00:55:59 ◼   ► would have to be thrown out but again I'm happy for Star Wars Rogue One to win

00:56:03 ◼   ► it because I really did like the movie you know like that say it may if I saw

00:56:08 ◼   ► all of these movies, I may think it was the best movie I saw this year, but like, it wasn't

00:56:12 ◼   ► the best Star Wars movie that I've seen in the last two years, you know?

00:56:15 ◼   ► - Right.

00:56:16 ◼   ► - But yeah, if you want to go with Rogue One, we can go with it.

00:56:20 ◼   ► - Well, it was the listener choice.

00:56:25 ◼   ► And it was the...

00:56:26 ◼   ► - It's my choice.

00:56:28 ◼   ► - The mic choice by default, which is the least exciting way to win anything.

00:56:35 ◼   ► Let's, okay, I'm doing some key data analysis here.

00:56:38 ◼   ► Rogue One came out on the 16th of December.

00:56:42 ◼   ► Yep, we're discounting all the votes prior.

00:56:45 ◼   ► Yeah, so that's 103 votes that we received before it was released.

00:56:50 ◼   ► That's a lot. It's like a quarter of all votes cast.

00:56:53 ◼   ► So if I remove those votes, it only has 105 votes, which is still more than the second place number.

00:57:01 ◼   ► Okay, but do you see what I mean? That's like half of the votes that it received were cast before it was released.

00:57:07 ◼   ► before it was released. And not all of them were at the red carpet premiere. Not everybody,

00:57:10 ◼   ► some I'm sure, a large percentage. Or are from Todd Vaziri at ILM who has seen the movie

00:57:14 ◼   ► a few times. So Upgradians, we gave you a big opportunity this year. Don't make us take

00:57:21 ◼   ► it away from you next year. You disappointed dad. Mm-hmm. Star Wars Rogue One wins the

00:57:30 ◼   ► Todd you did a great job if you're out there.

00:57:34 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:57:35 ◼   ► Now, we move on to our favourite mic at the movies of the year from Upgrade.

00:57:42 ◼   ► I only took the voting from Upgrade.

00:57:44 ◼   ► Now my intention for this category was for people to vote for their favourite segment,

00:57:52 ◼   ► not the favourite movie.

00:57:54 ◼   ► And I don't think I made this clear enough.

00:57:58 ◼   ► So we had three votes here because we only did three Myke at the Movies this year, we're

00:58:01 ◼   ► going to have to change that for next year.

00:58:04 ◼   ► Gremlins, Home Alone, Wrath of Khan.

00:58:10 ◼   ► I chose Gremlins because it was the most fun that I had out of the three of these because

00:58:14 ◼   ► the two of us just got to be up on a movie together which is very different to the way

00:58:18 ◼   ► that Myke at the Movies tends to go.

00:58:20 ◼   ► So I enjoyed Gremlins a lot.

00:58:21 ◼   ► Now I believe, my inclination here, because the Upgradients voted 46% Home Alone, 36%

00:58:30 ◼   ► Wrath of Khan and 14% of Gremlins.

00:58:34 ◼   ► My belief here is that people voted for their favourite movie out of that selection.

00:58:40 ◼   ► That's my feeling.

00:58:41 ◼   ► Just because, like, the Home Alone one was fun, but I feel like the Gremlins segment,

00:58:47 ◼   ► Gremlins episode was better than the Wrath of Khan episode because we had a lot of laughs.

00:58:53 ◼   ► I liked the Wrath of Khan episode a lot because it was... I was really under the gun with

00:59:00 ◼   ► that one because that is one of my very favorite movies of all time.

00:59:03 ◼   ► You were flying close to the sun there.

00:59:05 ◼   ► Yeah, and you went into it like Star Trek movies? What? And with nothing to...

00:59:14 ◼   ► dread is how I went into that movie. Yeah and you and and you ended up liking it which was like

00:59:20 ◼   ► that was that gets like I get extra multiplier points for having survived that. I agree.

00:59:27 ◼   ► Graze of the sun and so that for me I felt such great relief and also seeing that movie through

00:59:32 ◼   ► the eyes of someone who has never seen it before was fascinating. I you know I yeah I don't know

00:59:39 ◼   ► Gremlins, it's hard to mix the feeling about that we had a fun time sharing our dislike

00:59:46 ◼   ► for it by the fact that I had to watch it.

00:59:48 ◼   ► That's true.

00:59:49 ◼   ► I mean, I would happily go with Rafa Khan because I agree with everything that you said.

00:59:54 ◼   ► Because for me, it was a great thing because I was really dreading a movie and then I actually

01:00:00 ◼   ► went in and enjoyed it on its merits of being a good movie.

01:00:05 ◼   ► Yeah, how about that?

01:00:06 ◼   ► Not this was a good Star Wars, Star Trek story.

01:00:08 ◼   ► Uh oh.

01:00:09 ◼   ► In the early 80s, yeah, you've just turned off the entire audience.

01:00:12 ◼   ► But yeah, John Seracu says, "Thrown down his iPhone right there."

01:00:15 ◼   ► Just, no!

01:00:16 ◼   ► Everybody's--it's so many broken devices.

01:00:18 ◼   ► Because I don't really have a lot of Star Trek knowledge.

01:00:22 ◼   ► I know.

01:00:23 ◼   ► Hence why I get the names mixed up.

01:00:24 ◼   ► So yeah, I've got--should we go Wrath of Khan?

01:00:26 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:00:27 ◼   ► Wrath of Khan segment in Myke at the Movies is the upgrade-y of the year.

01:00:32 ◼   ► We now go into the category where I have literally no vote.

01:00:37 ◼   ► Yeah, that's fine.

01:00:39 ◼   ► as every year. The favourite book. Every year. Yep. Favourite book category is brought to

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01:02:15 ◼   ► books. All right, so favorite book. We can go quickly through this. The

01:02:21 ◼   ► the Upgradients votes were kind of all over the place. No clear. Other led

01:02:29 ◼   ► the category. Other includes blank, by the way, I think. That's how that works.

01:02:33 ◼   ► So I'm just gonna mention some books. We'll put a link in the show

01:02:38 ◼   ► notes I wrote at the end of December, a piece on six colors about my favorite

01:02:42 ◼   ► books and Dan Morin wrote for his favorite books of the year. All of these

01:02:45 ◼   ► are listed in there so you can check them out. I will very quickly say my

01:02:49 ◼   ► three favorite novels of the year were Uprooted by Naomi Novik, which is a

01:02:56 ◼   ► fantasy novel. It's very good. The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin, which is a

01:03:01 ◼   ► really great sort of told in three different perspectives story about this

01:03:07 ◼   ► kind of apocalyptic world with these, they're kind of like mutants. They have the power

01:03:13 ◼   ► to like stop or cause earthquakes and they're treated badly by the people who don't have

01:03:20 ◼   ► powers and it's way more complicated than that, but it's so good. It's the first part

01:03:24 ◼   ► of a trilogy. The third book is coming out in August. The second book is very good too.

01:03:28 ◼   ► So that's the fifth season and, you know, well, I have a lot to choose from for my third

01:03:33 ◼   ► favorite of the year. So let's just leave it at those two. There are three other books

01:03:36 ◼   ► that I'd tie for third. And then on the nonfiction side, I will mention three books that I really

01:03:41 ◼   ► liked in nonfiction this year. A book called "The Etymologicon," which is about weird words

01:03:47 ◼   ► and where they came from. A book—thank you to Dan Morin for that recommendation—a book

01:03:52 ◼   ► called "History of the World in Six Glasses," which is from an editor at The Economist,

01:03:55 ◼   ► which is a kind of story that I really enjoy, which is find a frame in which to tell sort

01:04:02 ◼   ► of the story of human civilization or scientific development or things like that, going back

01:04:08 ◼   ► to like James Burke's Connection TV series, which I really loved, Connections. History

01:04:13 ◼   ► of the World in Six Glasses, the idea is you can tell the history of human society and

01:04:16 ◼   ► development through six different drinks, starting with beer and wine and spirits and

01:04:25 ◼   ► tea and coffee and Coca-Cola and it's very good. And for baseball fans out there, Ahead

01:04:32 ◼   ► of the Curve by Brian Kenny, which is a great, I think, clear description of what modern

01:04:40 ◼   ► views of baseball and statistics and what they tell us that you could give that to a

01:04:47 ◼   ► friend who likes baseball but doesn't understand about like fancy sabermetrics kind of stuff

01:04:53 ◼   ► and I think you would find it engaging and a good explanation of it. So those are my

01:04:59 ◼   ► choices. My favourite book of the year was The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin.

01:05:02 ◼   ► So The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin wins the upgraded book of the year.

01:05:09 ◼   ► Which is just basically my book of the year.

01:05:11 ◼   ► Yep, that's how it works.

01:05:12 ◼   ► It's fine. That's how it works.

01:05:14 ◼   ► Aloha!

01:05:15 ◼   ► Hello.

01:05:16 ◼   ► Best Apple-related gadget. So this includes Apple's products and products that were created

01:05:22 ◼   ► just to work with Apple products. And we have in our list here the iPad Pro 9.7 inch which

01:05:28 ◼   ► was released in March, the Logitech Create keyboard case for the iPad Pro 9.7 inch, the

01:05:34 ◼   ► iPhone 7, the MacBook, known as the MacBook One or the MacBook Adorable, the Apple Watch

01:05:41 ◼   ► Series 2, the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and a late entry, the AirPods. I want to know

01:05:48 ◼   ► what you think. What is your best Apple-related gadget of the year?

01:05:53 ◼   ► First off, I want to dispute this category a little bit because it's all Apple products

01:05:57 ◼   ► except for the Logitech Create, and I think maybe that's not fair for Logitech in the

01:06:01 ◼   ► way that this was done when we have a non-Apple gadget category next. Maybe it should be in

01:06:05 ◼   ► that category instead of this one? Maybe we need to change the parameters of

01:06:10 ◼   ► this category. In years past, this category has had more non-Apple accessories in it.

01:06:15 ◼   ► - Yeah, but that didn't happen this year.

01:06:17 ◼   ► So that seems tough 'cause I really like that keyboard.

01:06:21 ◼   ► My choice is the AirPods.

01:06:23 ◼   ► They were a late entry.

01:06:24 ◼   ► I think it's the best Apple product of the year.

01:06:26 ◼   ► I think it's a great gadget.

01:06:28 ◼   ► I think it's everything that is good

01:06:30 ◼   ► about when Apple builds, designs products,

01:06:33 ◼   ► envisions how they're gonna be used,

01:06:35 ◼   ► uses technology that's not quite possible,

01:06:37 ◼   ► takes a category that existed before

01:06:39 ◼   ► but outdoes it with the details.

01:06:42 ◼   ► And yeah, I've only had them for about two weeks now,

01:06:45 ◼   ► but I think it was the best product

01:06:49 ◼   ► that Apple released this year.

01:06:50 ◼   ► - In a year where Apple products have been disappointing,

01:06:53 ◼   ► the AirPods show that they still have the ability

01:06:57 ◼   ► to make magic.

01:06:58 ◼   ► - Yeah.

01:06:58 ◼   ► - Like the stuff that we love them for,

01:07:01 ◼   ► you know, like doing all those little things.

01:07:03 ◼   ► - This is the stuff they call magic

01:07:05 ◼   ► and everybody makes fun of them for saying our magic,

01:07:08 ◼   ► but they do feel like magic.

01:07:09 ◼   ► When you nail it, this is what it feels like.

01:07:11 ◼   ► - Yep.

01:07:12 ◼   ► - And they did it, and I agree with you completely.

01:07:14 ◼   ► However, you say about Logitech Create, it's my pick.

01:07:17 ◼   ► Because, I mean, we're probably gonna give

01:07:22 ◼   ► AirPods the upgradey, but I haven't,

01:07:27 ◼   ► you know, I've had like nearly a year

01:07:29 ◼   ► with the Logitech Create now, and I love this thing

01:07:33 ◼   ► because I really love my 9.7 inch iPad Pro.

01:07:36 ◼   ► It is probably my favorite thing that Apple released

01:07:40 ◼   ► in the year because I really didn't have enough time

01:07:43 ◼   ► with the AirPods in 2016, like a week, right?

01:07:47 ◼   ► But I think that the 9.7 inch iPad Pro

01:07:49 ◼   ► is a fantastic device.

01:07:51 ◼   ► - I agree.

01:07:52 ◼   ► - The Logitech Create elevates it

01:07:54 ◼   ► because it is a real keyboard.

01:07:58 ◼   ► It's not like the thing that Apple makes.

01:08:00 ◼   ► And it's not like this huge mechanical thing.

01:08:04 ◼   ► Right, it is a case which yes, adds bulk and weight,

01:08:07 ◼   ► but not too much.

01:08:08 ◼   ► It's not crazy, right?

01:08:10 ◼   ► Like it's not what the Logitech create does to the 12.9.

01:08:13 ◼   ► It doesn't make it heavier than a regular laptop.

01:08:16 ◼   ► But I have amazing real keys, you know, keys that feel like real

01:08:21 ◼   ► keyboard keys with a media function row and like home button on the

01:08:25 ◼   ► keyboard and backlighting with no battery, no Bluetooth.

01:08:29 ◼   ► And it also has a pen integrated pencil holder.

01:08:32 ◼   ► It's fantastic.

01:08:33 ◼   ► Absolutely fantastic.

01:08:35 ◼   ► Yep.

01:08:35 ◼   ► I agree.

01:08:36 ◼   ► So that's my vote.

01:08:38 ◼   ► - The listeners, they voted for the iPad Pro 9.7 inch

01:08:42 ◼   ► at 27%. - Very tight race

01:08:44 ◼   ► over the iPhone 7.

01:08:45 ◼   ► - With the iPhone 7 at 24%.

01:08:48 ◼   ► - I have a proposal for you.

01:08:51 ◼   ► This is shenanigans are happening now.

01:08:53 ◼   ► I, if the Logitech Create was in the next category,

01:08:59 ◼   ► I would vote for it.

01:09:01 ◼   ► - I agree with what, yes,

01:09:06 ◼   ► I understand where you're going with this.

01:09:07 ◼   ► Because I feel like it doesn't belong in this category this year because these are all Apple products except for it and

01:09:14 ◼   ► The other category is all other tech products. I don't think it's gonna win the next category

01:09:19 ◼   ► So we could do it, but it still wouldn't be my vote in that category

01:09:23 ◼   ► What is wrong with you I know I know we're going with this however, yeah, it does appear in a later category

01:09:31 ◼   ► All right. Well, it appears in most life-changing hardware. I think it's the AirPods

01:09:37 ◼   ► I think it's got to be the AirPods. As much as I agree with you about that Logitech Create keyboard,

01:09:41 ◼   ► one of the things about being a user of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is, as much as I love that product,

01:09:47 ◼   ► its surface area makes it a bad match, and its weight makes it a bad match for keyboards,

01:09:54 ◼   ► and it's been very hard to find a single keyboard, Federico and I talk about this a lot,

01:10:01 ◼   ► a single keyboard that can solve all of the use cases for the big iPad Pro.

01:10:08 ◼   ► And I feel like the Logitech Create for the 9.7 nails it.

01:10:12 ◼   ► Like, that is the keyboard for that product.

01:10:15 ◼   ► - So again, whilst this is my personal winner, I also think AirPods should win this.

01:10:23 ◼   ► - All right.

01:10:24 ◼   ► - Because AirPods are more general. They're for everyone. This isn't for everyone. This is like

01:10:30 ◼   ► a small slice of a niche product.

01:10:34 ◼   ► Well, yeah, but so is Audio Hijack. It is our words. We can do whatever we want.

01:10:39 ◼   ► And I know where you're going with me. And we'll see. We'll talk about the next category.

01:10:43 ◼   ► We'll see if we'll maybe shift it in and do something unprecedented in the upgrade-ies.

01:10:47 ◼   ► But I do want the AirPods to win this category, right? Like, I want that to happen. It's just

01:10:52 ◼   ► not what I put at the top, just because of the length of time I've had them. But I'm more than

01:10:58 ◼   ► than happy for AirPods to win it because they're brilliant. So the upgrade for best Apple related

01:11:04 ◼   ► gadget which will probably be renamed next year to best Apple gadget of the year is AirPods.

01:11:12 ◼   ► Now we come to best non-Apple gadget so this is just technology at large and the nominees

01:11:17 ◼   ► are Canary, the PlayStation VR, the Amazon Echo which is eligible for this list because

01:11:25 ◼   ► it was not released outside of the US until 2016.

01:11:30 ◼   ► The Kindle Oasis.

01:11:32 ◼   ► The Ananova Sous Vide Cooker.

01:11:35 ◼   ► The Amazon Echo Dot, which was a 2016 product.

01:11:38 ◼   ► The Sonos Play One and the Google Pixel.

01:11:42 ◼   ► The Upgradients voted for the Amazon Echo with 31% with the Google Pixel coming in at

01:11:48 ◼   ► 16% and the Playstation VR of 14%.

01:11:53 ◼   ► Where does your vote go?

01:11:55 ◼   ► Now you go first this time. I've been going first too much. You go first.

01:11:59 ◼   ► PlayStation VR. The PlayStation VR is great hardware with some weirdness. I think version

01:12:05 ◼   ► 2 is going to be even better. But the reason I go for this is, again, I mention it again

01:12:10 ◼   ► like I did with Job Simulator. One of the big trends this year, 2016, is virtual reality.

01:12:15 ◼   ► And PlayStation VR brings a great VR experience with convenience at a price which is not unobtainable.

01:12:24 ◼   ► because I mean yes you need a PlayStation which you know it takes the price of the PlayStation

01:12:29 ◼   ► VR and doubles it right so you probably about a thousand dollars in for the whole thing

01:12:35 ◼   ► but if you want to get your hands on an Oculus or a Vive there are about seven to eight hundred

01:12:42 ◼   ► dollars for the hardware then you need a PC capable of powering it which will run you

01:12:49 ◼   ► probably around fifteen hundred and then you have to have a PC in your house which you

01:12:53 ◼   ► might not necessarily want. A PlayStation is a lot smaller, can fit in the living room

01:12:59 ◼   ► and also unlocks PlayStation games. And the thing is, if you don't have a gaming PC, you

01:13:06 ◼   ► probably don't want to play PC games. You're probably good with console games. That's kind

01:13:11 ◼   ► of my feeling on this. If I wanted to play PC games, I would already have a PC capable

01:13:16 ◼   ► playing them. I want to play console and now I have my PlayStation 4 which I play lots

01:13:20 ◼   ► of regular games on and I also have a great VR experience for it as well and I think that

01:13:25 ◼   ► PlayStation VR is the most comfortable, I've tried all the headsets, I think it's the most

01:13:29 ◼   ► comfortable. I think you know if you're gonna say what is the best one, the Oculus is the

01:13:33 ◼   ► best one especially with touch controllers but the PSVR is unlocked with virtual reality

01:13:39 ◼   ► in homes where I think there's something like 50, 60 maybe million PlayStation 4s in people's

01:13:45 ◼   ► homes already and the current PlayStation 4 will run the PSVR. So it's an investment

01:13:51 ◼   ► which people will be willing to make in the holiday season for example. It's expensive

01:13:56 ◼   ► but it's not unheard of because it's the cost of a console. It costs how much a games console

01:14:04 ◼   ► costs. It doesn't cost four games consoles which is what you'd need for PCVR. So that's

01:14:09 ◼   ► where I'm going to go.

01:14:11 ◼   ► Myke, Myke, Myke, Myke. Well, this is, you heard my enthusiasm for this category. I've

01:14:17 ◼   ► been lobbying to get the Logitech Create keyboard in this category because I would vote for

01:14:21 ◼   ► it here.

01:14:22 ◼   ► You want to move it?

01:14:23 ◼   ► Honestly. Well, it's not going to, if you're not going to go for it then I'm not sure it's

01:14:28 ◼   ► worth it. There are some other fine products in this category. My experience with PlayStation

01:14:33 ◼   ► VR, I've tried that in the Oculus. My experience is brief, like I said, I used it at Twit.

01:14:39 ◼   ► I don't have a PlayStation 4, so for me, I have to buy the console and the VR stuff to

01:14:45 ◼   ► do it.

01:14:46 ◼   ► So it's, you know.

01:14:47 ◼   ► I tell you, if we weren't bringing the Logitech Create keyboard into this category, where

01:14:50 ◼   ► would your vote go?

01:14:53 ◼   ► I would probably, you know, I would consider the Ananova Sous Vide cooker because that

01:14:59 ◼   ► is probably my favorite gadget of the year.

01:15:02 ◼   ► It is so like an Apple product.

01:15:03 ◼   ► The box is like an Apple product.

01:15:05 ◼   ► It's this metal and black plastic and it's got Bluetooth and the new one has Wi-Fi as

01:15:11 ◼   ► well and then you cook things with it.

01:15:14 ◼   ► But I would probably agitate for the Echo and Echo Dot together because the Echo was

01:15:19 ◼   ► new in the UK and the Echo Dot, which lets you attach it to any sort of speaker, was

01:15:24 ◼   ► new this year, I believe.

01:15:27 ◼   ► And those are both, I'm a fan of the Echo ecosystem and I think Amazon's done some very

01:15:35 ◼   ► clever work there that has left Google and Apple and others catching up to them and I

01:15:42 ◼   ► like those products a lot. So that would probably, because it's more techy than the sous vide

01:15:47 ◼   ► cooker, I would probably be my choice would be to lump those together. I think lumped

01:15:51 ◼   ► together those two products end up with like 42% of the upgradians votes too.

01:15:56 ◼   ► So, there is no addition of the upgradies without bargaining.

01:16:03 ◼   ► true no that's part of the process here most award shows the bargaining happens

01:16:07 ◼   ► behind the scenes the eddie awards we had meetings there was bargaining

01:16:10 ◼   ► happening there was you're trying to get a majority to come to one thing or

01:16:14 ◼   ► another right this the proverbial smoke filled room right well this is it we we

01:16:18 ◼   ► do it for you right on the show so here's the bargaining okay I really like

01:16:23 ◼   ► my echo but I don't have as much affinity for my echo as I do my

01:16:28 ◼   ► Logitech Create keyboard case. I like that more than the Echo because I still have ways

01:16:35 ◼   ► to go with the Echo because I've not yet currently got it set up for any home automation stuff.

01:16:40 ◼   ► I think if I had my home automation stuff set up, I would probably go with the Echo.

01:16:45 ◼   ► Yeah, you will.

01:16:46 ◼   ► Should we bring the Create case in?

01:16:48 ◼   ► It's fine with me.

01:16:49 ◼   ► Let's do it.

01:16:50 ◼   ► I think it's a great product.

01:16:51 ◼   ► So the Logitech Create keyboard case has its Kanye moment. It's burst into this category

01:16:56 ◼   ► and has won in a category it was never even nominated in.

01:17:00 ◼   ► Not even nominated, no.

01:17:01 ◼   ► Congratulations to the Logitech Create Keyboard Case for the iPad Pro 9.7.

01:17:07 ◼   ► You have just won Best None Apple Gadget, and Upgradients Around the World, Shrieking Horror,

01:17:13 ◼   ► at what we have just done.

01:17:14 ◼   ► Yep.

01:17:15 ◼   ► But the Echo is in another category later on.

01:17:19 ◼   ► So it can still come away with a win.

01:17:24 ◼   ► Now we have a category here which is really interesting and I want to go into it.

01:17:30 ◼   ► Which is the worst gadget or most disappointing technology.

01:17:37 ◼   ► These are our nominees.

01:17:38 ◼   ► The Galaxy Note 7, which you can imagine would be in here, but also the MacBook Pro with

01:17:43 ◼   ► Touch Bar, the iPhone 7, the iPad Pro 9.7 and the Apple Watch Series 2.

01:17:48 ◼   ► Let's talk about this.

01:17:50 ◼   ► Why are all those products in this category?

01:17:52 ◼   ► - Well, they came out this year and people,

01:17:55 ◼   ► the Apple products, they came out this year

01:17:57 ◼   ► and people complain about stuff.

01:18:00 ◼   ► So I put those, I mean, you can make an argument

01:18:03 ◼   ► about the MacBook Pro.

01:18:04 ◼   ► People were clearly disappointed with that.

01:18:07 ◼   ► Everybody's always disappointed with the iPhone.

01:18:09 ◼   ► I don't even know why.

01:18:11 ◼   ► I don't know why people would be disappointed

01:18:12 ◼   ► with the iPad Pro 9.7.

01:18:14 ◼   ► That's a pretty great product.

01:18:15 ◼   ► But again, it was an Apple product

01:18:16 ◼   ► that was released this year.

01:18:17 ◼   ► And the Apple Watch series too,

01:18:19 ◼   ► maybe they wanted something different,

01:18:20 ◼   ► shape different features, cellular connections, things like that that it didn't offer. Or

01:18:25 ◼   ► they just don't like the Apple Watch because everybody who doesn't like the Apple Watch

01:18:28 ◼   ► feels they need to write a column saying, "Yep, I still don't like the Apple Watch."

01:18:31 ◼   ► So I thought I would put those in there. Personally, I think that there is only one selection here

01:18:37 ◼   ► because of what happened this year.

01:18:39 ◼   ► - Yeah, there's only one winner. The Galaxy Note 7 is without a shadow of a doubt the

01:18:44 ◼   ► worst gadget release this year because because and I actually watched a great

01:18:49 ◼   ► MKBHD video today where he did his smartphone review of the year he said this was

01:18:53 ◼   ► probably the best phone release this year yeah but it blew up yeah and this

01:18:59 ◼   ► is this is why it's so this is why I like I consider it both the worst gadget

01:19:03 ◼   ► and the most disappointing because it went from being the best phone in the

01:19:07 ◼   ► year to being a phone you could be put in prison for owning if you happen to

01:19:13 ◼   ► have it with you on an airplane. There has never been a a Pekin Valley like that before.

01:19:19 ◼   ► What yeah what what a what a story and you know and and and it's got some classic elements

01:19:25 ◼   ► too of like the reason it was so cutting edge in so many different ways is because apparently

01:19:31 ◼   ► they pushed it faster and further than they than they should have right so it's not like

01:19:37 ◼   ► it was oh you know act it's an act of nature caused it to fail what a bad luck for Samsung

01:19:44 ◼   ► it's like the the stuff that they did to author this great success were in fact the seeds of its

01:19:50 ◼   ► failure but there are a lot of Apple products in here and there's only one of these that I have

01:19:58 ◼   ► used that I can see disappointment in and I want to talk about it just a little bit all right I've

01:20:04 ◼   ► I've said it in a few places recently, but just while we're on this subject, I just want

01:20:09 ◼   ► to touch on the iPhone 7.

01:20:11 ◼   ► Okay.

01:20:12 ◼   ► I really like my 7 Plus a lot.

01:20:16 ◼   ► I like it as much as I like any S revision phone.

01:20:21 ◼   ► This wasn't one of those.

01:20:23 ◼   ► This is a full-on number change revision.

01:20:26 ◼   ► Yeah, except it's really like a double S, it turns out, right?

01:20:29 ◼   ► It's like a double S.

01:20:30 ◼   ► Which is, I think, from a disappointing perspective, I can understand that.

01:20:34 ◼   ► And the reason that I expected more is because Apple set the precedent.

01:20:40 ◼   ► They set the precedent, right, of the TikTok model, you know, and they set the precedent

01:20:45 ◼   ► of every full numbered phone gets a new design.

01:20:48 ◼   ► I was expecting a new design and we didn't get that.

01:20:51 ◼   ► And to be honest, we got some stuff, right, we got a better camera.

01:20:56 ◼   ► If you're using a Plus, you got an even better camera, right?

01:21:00 ◼   ► And we got, it's faster.

01:21:02 ◼   ► else did we get? I don't know. There aren't really any other tent pole features. And what

01:21:09 ◼   ► happened...

01:21:10 ◼   ► Jet black.

01:21:11 ◼   ► That doesn't count for me. What happened is we had things taken away, which has never

01:21:18 ◼   ► happened before. The headphone jack is gone.

01:21:21 ◼   ► Headphone jack, sure.

01:21:23 ◼   ► And you know, people say, "Oh, but we got AirPods." But we could have had those anyway.

01:21:26 ◼   ► We didn't need the headphone jack to go away to get AirPods.

01:21:31 ◼   ► My home button, I really, do you know what, I will say now, I prefer the feel of the four

01:21:36 ◼   ► touch home button to the other home buttons that I have in my life.

01:21:39 ◼   ► I do too.

01:21:40 ◼   ► As I've gotten used to it, I prefer the feeling.

01:21:42 ◼   ► But do you know what I lost?

01:21:44 ◼   ► I lost a button that was 100% reliable because this one isn't.

01:21:49 ◼   ► Sometimes it just doesn't work.

01:21:51 ◼   ► And this isn't, you know, I have two things with this.

01:21:53 ◼   ► I have one where if you don't make a full contact with it, the capacitive ring doesn't

01:21:57 ◼   ► activate.

01:21:58 ◼   ► The other is sometimes you press it and the phone just locks up and that didn't happen

01:22:05 ◼   ► before and I don't know if this is an iOS 10 thing but I'm going to blame it on the

01:22:08 ◼   ► home button.

01:22:10 ◼   ► And also, you know, saying how great the camera is, it didn't ship with portrait mode.

01:22:16 ◼   ► I think the iPhone 7 was disappointing this year.

01:22:19 ◼   ► It is a really good S revision, it is not a really good 4 revision.

01:22:26 ◼   ► So I think it was worth mentioning because I mean I don't personally and obviously it's

01:22:33 ◼   ► my opinion so I think it's I don't know how you could argue with that.

01:22:35 ◼   ► Like I don't really know what it gave us.

01:22:38 ◼   ► Well it's Apple's biggest product and they took it from a two-year cycle to a three-year

01:22:42 ◼   ► cycle and rather than just never holding an iPhone event in the fall leaving us all to

01:22:47 ◼   ► wonder what was happening like they did with many Mac products this year, they had an event

01:22:53 ◼   ► and announced a new phone and even called it the new number when in fact what they were

01:22:58 ◼   ► really doing was the third year of an existing product cycle rather than doing a new phone

01:23:05 ◼   ► design on, you know, every other year.

01:23:07 ◼   ► It doesn't make sense to me why they called it the 7. They should have given it a different

01:23:11 ◼   ► name. If they wanted to move to the 3 year cycle, which I understand, I think they should

01:23:15 ◼   ► have also broken the naming. But I know why they didn't do that because they probably

01:23:19 ◼   ► thought that it would harm sales, but I don't know.

01:23:22 ◼   ► I just want to say, I really like it. I really like it as much as I love an S-phone. But

01:23:29 ◼   ► the thing is about it, the thing that makes it weird for me is that no iPhone has taken

01:23:33 ◼   ► things away from me before. But this one really liked doing that this year.

01:23:37 ◼   ► And I will only...

01:23:38 ◼   ► It got waterproofing. That's the one other thing it got. I will say that it got waterproofing.

01:23:42 ◼   ► That's the other feature.

01:23:43 ◼   ► I will cite the 20% of our voters who voted for the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. I don't

01:23:50 ◼   ► think we need to revisit it here, but that it was very interesting that everybody was

01:23:54 ◼   ► really unhappy about Apple not talking about the Mac at all. And finally, Apple did a Mac

01:23:59 ◼   ► focused event and released new Mac hardware. And the result was controversy and frustration.

01:24:07 ◼   ► And I think that there we've covered it in depth. There are many routes to the, uh, the

01:24:13 ◼   ► frustration that people have felt in certain parts of the Mac using community about what

01:24:18 ◼   ► Apple has done and not done with the Mac before and after releasing this product. There are

01:24:24 ◼   ► lots of reasons. It's a complicated situation, but I think you don't have to go very far

01:24:29 ◼   ► to say that a lot of people were disappointed in the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. We can

01:24:36 ◼   ► argue about rightly or wrongly and who those people are and lots of other things, but you

01:24:41 ◼   ► can't argue that it was to some people clearly a big disappointment. And we saw it in our

01:24:47 ◼   ► our voting results. But as far as I'm concerned, the rags to riches to rags, whatever, the

01:24:54 ◼   ► legendary story of the product with so much name recognition, people are saying it several

01:25:00 ◼   ► times on every flight that goes anywhere in the world now, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7,

01:25:07 ◼   ► both disappointing as you pointed out, and the worst gadget of 2016.

01:25:12 ◼   ► There's never been anything like this before.

01:25:15 ◼   ► No, let's hope there never is again.

01:25:17 ◼   ► I hope so too, and I hope so for Samsung's sake, that they're able to pull back from

01:25:21 ◼   ► this because Apple needs that competition, I think.

01:25:24 ◼   ► Oh yeah.

01:25:25 ◼   ► Favourite tech story of the year.

01:25:27 ◼   ► These are our rundown phenomena of our favourite tech story.

01:25:30 ◼   ► Snapchat Spectacles, the Exploding Galaxy Note 7, Apple vs the FBI, Twitter's tumultuous

01:25:37 ◼   ► 2016, the Rise of VR, the Pokemon Go craze, and the elections/Wiki League/Russian Spy

01:25:45 ◼   ► Ops.

01:25:46 ◼   ► "Debacle"?

01:25:47 ◼   ► I don't even know how to group those things together in a phrase, but that's what we have.

01:25:52 ◼   ► Listeners voted for Apple vs the FBI as their favorite tech story, and I'm assuming, in

01:25:57 ◼   ► the way that I do, this is the thing that you found the most compelling throughout the

01:26:02 ◼   ► year.

01:26:04 ◼   ► I went first last time, so I'll go first again.

01:26:08 ◼   ► Snapshot Spectacles is the thing that really

01:26:12 ◼   ► wrapped me up this year.

01:26:14 ◼   ► I think it's one of the most interesting introductions

01:26:17 ◼   ► of a product that there's been in modern times,

01:26:20 ◼   ► in recent times.

01:26:22 ◼   ► The way that they dealt with their limited supply problems

01:26:25 ◼   ► by putting them in vending machines

01:26:27 ◼   ► that appear in random locations

01:26:29 ◼   ► has been really interesting to watch unfold.

01:26:32 ◼   ► And Snap have created a scarcity thing,

01:26:36 ◼   ► which I haven't seen in this way

01:26:38 ◼   ► since the Wii was introduced.

01:26:41 ◼   ► You know, the idea of like, people just wanting to buy it

01:26:44 ◼   ► because there isn't a lot of them.

01:26:46 ◼   ► And everything that they've done around it,

01:26:48 ◼   ► all of the graphic design,

01:26:51 ◼   ► all of the videos that they've made,

01:26:52 ◼   ► the way that they're dealing with social media,

01:26:55 ◼   ► you know, the way that they announced

01:26:57 ◼   ► the positions of the vending machines

01:27:00 ◼   ► is random, like, you know, they show like a zoomed out map to show you kind of what

01:27:06 ◼   ► city it's going to be in and then just tweet a picture of it in its location and then people

01:27:10 ◼   ► have to go find it. Technology products don't do this, but this is a technology product.

01:27:15 ◼   ► I think it's been really, really interesting to watch unfold and it's just been something

01:27:19 ◼   ► that I've been kind of fascinated in. So that's kind of my vote just because I, this has been

01:27:24 ◼   ► a topic that's interested in me enough, I wanted to bring it up here, but I think that

01:27:31 ◼   ► I will probably end up siding with you and the Upgradians, because I expect you're going

01:27:36 ◼   ► to go the Upgradians route, which would have, which is my second in all honesty.

01:27:40 ◼   ► I, I, all right, I, I, I will, I will say without getting into it, maybe we can get

01:27:45 ◼   ► into this some other time, but I, I, I, I think the Snapchat Spectacles is one of my

01:27:50 ◼   ► least favorite stories. I think it represents in some ways all that is wrong and bad and

01:27:54 ◼   ► stupid about the technology industry. I think it's a dumb stunt that we've seen the likes

01:28:01 ◼   ► of before. I think the product's not that interesting, so good for them on getting PR

01:28:06 ◼   ► out of a product that's not that interesting. I think the company is problematic in a bunch

01:28:10 ◼   ► of ways, but you know, maybe I'm just a cranky old man, but I hated that story.

01:28:14 ◼   ► So here's the thing, people on my side that hear that say that you're a cranky old man

01:28:21 ◼   ► and people on your side that hear my story just think I'm a silly millennial.

01:28:25 ◼   ► That's like the, and this is, this is why I think it's a good story because it's so

01:28:28 ◼   ► polarizing.

01:28:29 ◼   ► Anyhow, Apple versus the FBI?

01:28:32 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:28:33 ◼   ► What a story, right?

01:28:35 ◼   ► Like as far as technology stories go, it's had it all, you know, and it's not over yet.

01:28:42 ◼   ► Well, that's that's I think what makes it even more important is that this is this is maybe not the first shot

01:28:48 ◼   ► But this is a very notable

01:28:50 ◼   ► interaction between technology companies and

01:28:54 ◼   ► governments about what information is private to people and what information can be accessed

01:29:02 ◼   ► Because the government has decided it wants to read, you know read through your stuff essentially and in the olden days

01:29:09 ◼   ► There were laws against unlawful search and seizure.

01:29:14 ◼   ► And then on top of that, you had this idea

01:29:16 ◼   ► that you couldn't be compelled to give information

01:29:20 ◼   ► that was in your own mind, basically.

01:29:23 ◼   ► And in a modern context, it's difficult to parse out

01:29:28 ◼   ► where we are with those things now.

01:29:31 ◼   ► When is access to our cloud data okay?

01:29:36 ◼   ► When is, you know, is that an extension of ourselves?

01:29:40 ◼   ► Is that an extension of our homes?

01:29:42 ◼   ► It threatens the tech industry

01:29:45 ◼   ► because so much tech is based on cloud stuff.

01:29:48 ◼   ► And if cloud stuff is eventually considered

01:29:52 ◼   ► to essentially be entirely public

01:29:55 ◼   ► and viewable by governments

01:29:58 ◼   ► and potentially bad actors as well,

01:30:00 ◼   ► or governments can be bad actors too,

01:30:02 ◼   ► but like bad independent actors, criminals and the like,

01:30:05 ◼   ► then you've eroded the confidence in the machine

01:30:09 ◼   ► that drives so much of technology.

01:30:10 ◼   ► So that's in the mix here.

01:30:12 ◼   ► Apple's commitment,

01:30:13 ◼   ► Apple has a lot of money and a lot of prestige

01:30:17 ◼   ► and unlike some of its competitors has a commitment

01:30:20 ◼   ► to keeping its customer data private.

01:30:24 ◼   ► That's interesting because they end up as a proxy,

01:30:27 ◼   ► as a really good proxy for the entire concept

01:30:30 ◼   ► of technology being used to ensure people's privacy

01:30:33 ◼   ► and how that pushes against the desire of governments and other organizations and actors

01:30:39 ◼   ► to want to get access to information, no matter, you know, basically break any lock. And if

01:30:47 ◼   ► you create a lock that's impenetrable, what happens next? Do they make the locks illegal?

01:30:52 ◼   ► Do they create lock picking equipment that they don't make the public aware of? There's

01:30:57 ◼   ► There's so much here and, you know, I gotta say it's not—this is just the beginning

01:31:04 ◼   ► of these issues. It will continue and it will continue to be ugly and it could potentially

01:31:11 ◼   ► have severe harm for our society and severe harm for our technology.

01:31:16 ◼   ► - Let me be clear. I consider this the most interesting tech story of the year. I just

01:31:23 ◼   ► really wanted to mention the Snapchat thing.

01:31:25 ◼   ► Well, you know what I didn't say there is, "And you, Myke, with your vending machine

01:31:31 ◼   ► of sunglasses."

01:31:33 ◼   ► I get it.

01:31:35 ◼   ► We're representing both sides here, and that's what I was looking for.

01:31:38 ◼   ► Absolutely.

01:31:39 ◼   ► We have the fun stuff about technology, product releases, and then we have the how it affects

01:31:44 ◼   ► all of our lives so deeply now, which I think both me and you—and we're starting from

01:31:50 ◼   ► different times, right? But when both me and you became interested in technology,

01:31:54 ◼   ► it didn't matter so much. Yeah. Right? Like even me, you know, 15 years ago or

01:32:00 ◼   ► whatever was when I really started to get into this stuff, it didn't matter as

01:32:04 ◼   ► much. It wasn't so intrinsic to our lives. And now, the Apple versus FBI thing is a

01:32:11 ◼   ► is a clear example of how getting access to the technology that I own tells

01:32:16 ◼   ► somebody everything about me. Things that I couldn't even tell you, right? Because of how,

01:32:25 ◼   ► like, algorithms work. You know, the data on my phone can tell you more about me than I could

01:32:33 ◼   ► possibly tell you. And that's super interesting. So, yeah, that's what I'm gonna say on that one.

01:32:42 ◼   ► - No, I think that's exactly right.

01:32:45 ◼   ► I was thinking the other day that, you know,

01:32:47 ◼   ► there was a time where we would be on the internet

01:32:51 ◼   ► and we would be like, yeah, you know,

01:32:53 ◼   ► trolls on the internet, commenters on the internet,

01:32:55 ◼   ► people say dumb stuff on the internet, whatever,

01:32:57 ◼   ► it's just something you deal with.

01:32:58 ◼   ► But once everybody has the internet,

01:33:00 ◼   ► that stuff that you used to be like,

01:33:03 ◼   ► ah, you know, it happens, people, what you're gonna do?

01:33:05 ◼   ► Things I learned like on Usenet in the like late 80s

01:33:09 ◼   ► and early 90s suddenly are enough to affect like the direction of countries because now

01:33:17 ◼   ► it's magnified because it's everybody when before it was just a few people in the basement

01:33:21 ◼   ► of a college campus somewhere and yeah that's what a world we live in.

01:33:25 ◼   ► So we're now on to favorite tech screw-up of the year which is a great category name

01:33:31 ◼   ► I know and these are our nominees. Apple tweets all of the iPhone 7 announcements early.

01:33:38 ◼   ► Samsung Galaxy Note 7, just that's it.

01:33:43 ◼   ► I mean, what do you want?

01:33:45 ◼   ► Twitter releases experimental features early to iOS clients.

01:33:49 ◼   ► Facebook fake news and Apple disbands the AppleScript airport teams and gets out of

01:33:54 ◼   ► the display business.

01:33:55 ◼   ► So let's talk about these.

01:33:56 ◼   ► If you remember for the September event, you didn't see this because you were in the room.

01:34:00 ◼   ► Apple had kind of clearly done a deal with Twitter, clearly done a deal with them because

01:34:05 ◼   ► they set up this account which had these ads and then it had that thing which will remind

01:34:09 ◼   ► you when the event was coming but none of the tweets were showing and then what some

01:34:13 ◼   ► of the tweets that were clearly meant to be ads for the iPhone 7 just started being tweeted

01:34:19 ◼   ► from the @Apple account as the event was beginning before anything was announced. So if you were

01:34:25 ◼   ► watching at home you knew every single feature of the iPhone 7 before Apple showed it.

01:34:31 ◼   ► Yep.

01:34:32 ◼   ► Categorical disaster for both companies.

01:34:36 ◼   ► Which if we see, I mean as you can see, didn't happen in October.

01:34:41 ◼   ► I don't think that's ever going to happen again because Twitter totally ruined this.

01:34:46 ◼   ► I assume that it was on Twitter's side.

01:34:48 ◼   ► Somebody was scheduling this and doing it for them and just absolutely destroyed it.

01:34:53 ◼   ► All their tools weren't good enough or whatever.

01:34:55 ◼   ► Galaxy Note 7 is obvious.

01:34:57 ◼   ► I mean and again like 59% of the upgrading vote.

01:35:00 ◼   ► If you put this in any of these types of categories, it's going to walk with it.

01:35:03 ◼   ► But going back to Twitter again, they've done this a few times this year where they think

01:35:07 ◼   ► they class...

01:35:08 ◼   ► This is why I think it's so terrible.

01:35:10 ◼   ► Things come out to the Twitter app.

01:35:12 ◼   ► People think that it's an abomination and shouldn't be done this way, like removing

01:35:16 ◼   ► the names from @mentions so it just looks like a random tweet when it's actually to

01:35:20 ◼   ► somebody.

01:35:21 ◼   ► And then Twitter say, "Oh, it was an experimental feature we weren't supposed to release."

01:35:25 ◼   ► So it's terrible on both sides.

01:35:26 ◼   ► they did do that which is ridiculous or they're using such a terrible excuse to

01:35:30 ◼   ► try and cover up a product decision that everybody hated which shows that they

01:35:34 ◼   ► have fundamental misunderstanding of how their product should be working.

01:35:37 ◼   ► Facebook fake news there are a lot of political stuff I don't want to get into

01:35:42 ◼   ► but Facebook seems to have a fake news problem which they are struggling to get

01:35:48 ◼   ► under control either from a policy perspective or from a technology

01:35:51 ◼   ► perspective and then Apple got out of a lot of businesses this year or looks

01:35:56 ◼   ► like they're going to. Right. This is my pointed way of putting this in the

01:36:00 ◼   ► screw-up category. Yeah. Right? Apple getting rid of the AppleScript team and

01:36:05 ◼   ► airport teams and saying they're not gonna make any more displays on their

01:36:08 ◼   ► own. I think people could argue that those are our bad moves for Apple. I

01:36:12 ◼   ► don't know if I would necessarily across the board but you know I think it's

01:36:15 ◼   ► worth being a nominee here. Whether you think that's a bad move or a good move

01:36:20 ◼   ► there isn't anything to say that good has come out of this. That could be the

01:36:26 ◼   ► screw up, right? Like, in a year where we've been upset, there isn't anything to say like,

01:36:32 ◼   ► "Oh, it was a good reason to get those people in other teams." You know, maybe next year

01:36:37 ◼   ► we'll see the fruits of that, but this year we haven't. It's like, "Okay, you got out

01:36:40 ◼   ► of all these businesses, but what have you given us in return?" You know, nothing. Galaxy

01:36:46 ◼   ► Note 7, right?

01:36:47 ◼   ► I think it has to be, although I was going to throw in a late, a late edition here, a

01:36:51 ◼   ► late nominee. I was thinking about this and I thought you could argue that one

01:36:56 ◼   ► that potentially the biggest tech screw-up of the year was the bad email

01:37:01 ◼   ► practices and clicking on phishing links that led to all of the hacks of the

01:37:11 ◼   ► Democratic National Committee that got leaked by WikiLeaks and that the

01:37:16 ◼   ► screw-up was all of the bad security practices that led to it. I was thinking

01:37:24 ◼   ► about that. I'm not sure I want to vote for that one either but that was a huge

01:37:27 ◼   ► tech screw-up that had a major effect on the election. Yeah, I just talked about

01:37:33 ◼   ► your tech screw-ups. It's like literally, you know, IT people everywhere just

01:37:37 ◼   ► facepalming, right? When the whole story came out about how this

01:37:40 ◼   ► all happened. It was like a lot of this was not super high-tech.

01:37:44 ◼   ► No, just real super simple phishing stuff.

01:37:47 ◼   ► Yeah, some social engineering, some really dumb things that people weren't supposed to

01:37:53 ◼   ► click on. And this is a case where again, you have, I mean, there's so much of the intersection

01:37:58 ◼   ► with tech and politics, what you realize is the people involved in politics don't understand

01:38:02 ◼   ► tech. Also the people who understand tech don't understand politics a lot of the time.

01:38:07 ◼   ► And you see it here where they're not speaking the same language and you've got people who

01:38:11 ◼   ► or tech knowledgeable people who look at this and go,

01:38:13 ◼   ► I can't believe that these people did this,

01:38:16 ◼   ► but they didn't, you know, they did.

01:38:18 ◼   ► They didn't have the support to do it.

01:38:19 ◼   ► I think it's gotta be a Galaxy Note, right?

01:38:21 ◼   ► I mean, it just across the board.

01:38:23 ◼   ► What a year, what a story.

01:38:25 ◼   ► - It's, yeah, it's just cleaning up this year,

01:38:28 ◼   ► the Galaxy Note 7.

01:38:29 ◼   ► This was where my 100% vote was going.

01:38:31 ◼   ► Like I wanted to throw the iPhone in there

01:38:33 ◼   ► and see where the votes went.

01:38:35 ◼   ► But for me, the Galaxy Note was always getting this.

01:38:38 ◼   ► I guess 60% of our of our upgrading in votes.

01:38:42 ◼   ► Yeah, because look at it.

01:38:45 ◼   ► Favourite tech podcast is sponsored by Casper, the company focused on sleep that has created

01:38:52 ◼   ► the perfect mattress that it sells directly to consumers, eliminating commission driven

01:38:56 ◼   ► inflated prices.

01:38:58 ◼   ► It's a really comfortable mattress that you might lay on when you're listening to your

01:39:00 ◼   ► favourite tech podcast.

01:39:02 ◼   ► It maybe helps you go to sleep when you're listening about processes, who knows?

01:39:06 ◼   ► Casper is revolutionising the mattress industry by cutting the cost of dealing with resellers

01:39:11 ◼   ► and it passes those savings directly onto you.

01:39:15 ◼   ► Mattresses will often cost over $1500 but a Casper mattress costs from $500 for a twin

01:39:21 ◼   ► size, $750 for a fall, $850 for a queen and $950 for a king and this is for mattresses

01:39:26 ◼   ► that are made in the United States of America.

01:39:31 ◼   ► Casper's award winning mattress was developed in house.

01:39:33 ◼   ► It has a sleek design and is delivered in an impossibly small box.

01:39:37 ◼   ► And Casper now offer adaptive pillows and soft breathable sheets as well.

01:39:42 ◼   ► The mattress combines springy latex and supportive memory foam to create the mattress that has

01:39:46 ◼   ► just the right sink and just the right bounce.

01:39:48 ◼   ► Plus its breathable design helps you regulate your temperature throughout the night.

01:39:52 ◼   ► Casper deliver their mattresses in a box.

01:39:55 ◼   ► This is a box that you can actually get upstairs.

01:39:58 ◼   ► Mattresses are difficult to maneuver around staircases.

01:40:01 ◼   ► Casper mattresses can be done.

01:40:02 ◼   ► I mean it's still as heavy as a mattress in the box, but it basically means that two people

01:40:07 ◼   ► can easily do it without trying to re-enact that scene from the Friends episode with the

01:40:12 ◼   ► pivot thing.

01:40:13 ◼   ► You don't have to do that.

01:40:14 ◼   ► You don't have to be it.

01:40:15 ◼   ► You don't have to shout pivot over and over again with a Casper mattress.

01:40:19 ◼   ► And their delivery is free, but it's also risk-free as well because with Casper you

01:40:25 ◼   ► will get a 100 night home trial.

01:40:27 ◼   ► If you don't love it, you can return it for free, in so much as they will come and pick

01:40:31 ◼   ► it up from you and then refund it. They want you to truly sleep and live with this mattress

01:40:36 ◼   ► before you truly commit to keeping it for the next 10, 20, 30 years even. So you get

01:40:43 ◼   ► that 100 night home trial with Casper. You can get $50 towards any mattress purchase

01:40:48 ◼   ► by visiting casper.com/upgrade and using the code upgrade at checkout. Terms and conditions

01:40:53 ◼   ► apply. Thank you so much to Casper for their support of the third annual Upgrady Awards.

01:41:00 ◼   ► The nominations for favorite tech podcast are The Talk Show, The Accidental Tech Podcast,

01:41:08 ◼   ► Cortex, Connected, Control Vault Delete, Clockwise, Rocket, Six Colors Secret Subscriber Podcast,

01:41:19 ◼   ► We didn't put upgrade in here because obviously upgrade would win.

01:41:24 ◼   ► That's why upgrade's not in the list.

01:41:25 ◼   ► Because if upgrade was in the list, it would always win.

01:41:29 ◼   ► Always win.

01:41:30 ◼   ► unfair. A little bit yeah a little bit tiny bit. So I'm gonna throw mine in now.

01:41:36 ◼   ► Now. Okay. The accidental tech podcast has won the upgrade II two years in a row. I

01:41:44 ◼   ► love ATP. I love all of the hosts of ATP. But I wanted to throw a spanner in the

01:41:51 ◼   ► works this year. Okay. It received 48% of the upgrade in vote. Yep. It's probably

01:41:57 ◼   ► probably gonna win again. But I wanted to take a moment to talk about what is probably

01:42:04 ◼   ► my favourite tech podcast at the moment, which is the Six Colors Secret Subscriber podcast.

01:42:10 ◼   ► I am being truly honest here, it is the only tech podcast that I subscribe to that when

01:42:16 ◼   ► I see the push notification from overcast, I go "ooh" and bump it to the top of my

01:42:20 ◼   ► you. Obviously I like listening to Jason Snell talk about technology because I wanted to

01:42:28 ◼   ► do a show with you, right? And you and Dan Morin together obviously have a really great

01:42:33 ◼   ► chemistry and the thing about the Secret Subscriber podcast, which by the way you have to be a

01:42:40 ◼   ► Six Colors member to be a part of and in the show notes when you click the link for the

01:42:45 ◼   ► Six Colors Secret Subscriber podcast it will take you to the

01:42:48 ◼   ► Member page for Six Colors where if you sign up, which you should you will get a link for the RSS feed

01:42:54 ◼   ► So you can listen to the to the Six Colors show

01:42:56 ◼   ► It's the relaxed nature that I like a lot of technology podcasts

01:43:02 ◼   ► I listen to including the ones that I am on they tend to be

01:43:05 ◼   ► Very

01:43:10 ◼   ► high in

01:43:13 ◼   ► I'm trying to think of a way to say it but it's like

01:43:15 ◼   ► It's just not as relaxed. Yeah, they're just no

01:43:19 ◼   ► They know they're doing a show and they're formatted and they've got a schedule and they've got they've got segments and a theme

01:43:25 ◼   ► Different because it's like it's not I mean, you know, you can tell me from but doesn't feel tightly edited

01:43:31 ◼   ► It feels a little bit more like the shows that I used to listen to and just as the industry has matured

01:43:38 ◼   ► The things that come out on top tend to be the stuff that is really thought out, really considered, really edited for good reason, right?

01:43:46 ◼   ► Because it tends to be stuff of a higher quality. But now the secret subscriber podcast is like a breath of fresh air from what I'm used to.

01:43:53 ◼   ► And so whilst I will say that ATP is probably the best technology focused podcast around.

01:44:01 ◼   ► Other than upgrade and yes connected and cortex and clockwise, of course and rocket, you know

01:44:09 ◼   ► But whatever I can't cast my votes for any show that I'm a part of and/or is on my network

01:44:15 ◼   ► I feel like I can't do that because that's clear bias

01:44:18 ◼   ► But I love the secret colors secrets subscriber podcast the secret colors as well. It's a long name. It's a very an extra color

01:44:26 ◼   ► Yeah, I can't tell you what it is. It's secret. What's your vote?

01:44:29 ◼   ► Well, you just made it impossible for me to vote for myself

01:44:32 ◼   ► Which is too bad because I could totally just pick the six color secret subscriber podcast and it would be the winner

01:44:37 ◼   ► Right good, and it would win

01:44:38 ◼   ► I mean you can still do that, but I can't vote from I feel like I can't vote for myself

01:44:42 ◼   ► But you just recused yourself. So that makes me look bad if I do that

01:44:45 ◼   ► So I thought about this and I I'm gonna go with ATP

01:44:49 ◼   ► there are only a couple of podcasts that I listen to every episode of and I listen to them when they come out and

01:44:56 ◼   ► ATP is one of them. That is my go-to technology podcast even now. It is a great bit of chemistry between those guys

01:45:02 ◼   ► I will admit that this fall has been a little bit rough because

01:45:07 ◼   ► Marco is unhappy with things and it comes across and he and John's unhappy with things too

01:45:15 ◼   ► and I and they have every right to be unhappy and what I don't want to say is

01:45:19 ◼   ► That I only want shiny happy podcasts, right because it's like no I

01:45:25 ◼   ► I am listening for all of that, but I also will admit that every now and then they get

01:45:31 ◼   ► stuck on something, and I love it because usually you can hear Casey sighing in the

01:45:34 ◼   ► background. It's hilarious. Every now and then they get stuck on something that they

01:45:40 ◼   ► can't let go, that bugs them, and for me as a listener I'm like, "Okay, I get it. Okay,

01:45:48 ◼   ► I get it." And you know what? Chapter markers, that marker wrote a tool with chapter markers

01:45:53 ◼   ► in it, I can just move past those things. But I didn t used to do that, and this fall

01:45:57 ◼   ► there have been occasions where I m like, Yeah, okay, I ve heard enough about this,

01:46:00 ◼   ► and I will go ahead. But still, you know, it doesn t change the fact that that s the

01:46:04 ◼   ► one I listen to every episode of, and it s always a high priority of all of them. And

01:46:11 ◼   ► I pick and choose through all of the other tech podcasts here and there. As a non-commuter,

01:46:16 ◼   ► I don t have the luxury of having a lot of podcast time, and ATP is the one I make time

01:46:20 ◼   ► for. So yeah. So I agree right? I subscribe to mostly technology podcasts. ATP is the

01:46:26 ◼   ► only show that I will listen to every... except for the Secret Subscriber podcast as well

01:46:30 ◼   ► actually but ATP is the only show that I will listen to always even when it's like two and

01:46:35 ◼   ► a half hours right? Like I'll push everything else aside. Absolutely. ATP is the show that

01:46:40 ◼   ► I want to listen to the most. The reason I chose the Secret podcast this year is I didn't

01:46:46 ◼   ► want every vote for the last three years for me and you to be for ATP.

01:46:51 ◼   ► It's a little Soviet isn't it? Yeah and and it's gonna win again and so for the third year in a row

01:46:57 ◼   ► ATP takes the upgradey for the best technology podcast. So I will just say to the hosts of that

01:47:06 ◼   ► show it's about darn time that the upgradey appeared on your website. That's all I'm gonna say.

01:47:12 ◼   ► I have great artwork files. You're a three-time winner now. It's time to recognize the award,

01:47:20 ◼   ► is all I'm gonna say. Just a little follow-up in the next episode. I will give you the artwork.

01:47:25 ◼   ► You can put it in as a chapter. It's got to appear somewhere now. You've won it three years in a row,

01:47:29 ◼   ► that's what I'm gonna say. All right, well done. Favorite non-tech podcast. This is the category

01:47:35 ◼   ► with the most nominees. It's as follows. The Flophouse. The Incomparable. Reconcilable

01:47:42 ◼   ► differences, Hello Internet, Presidents are People 2, Hello from the Magic Tavern,

01:47:47 ◼   ► the Pausecast, Audio Guide to Babylon 5 and Serial Season 2. Where is your vote?

01:47:55 ◼   ► Well I put in a lot of ones that I wanted to show some love to especially

01:47:59 ◼   ► the Pausecast which is a podcast where they draft things which you know you

01:48:04 ◼   ► know me and drafting things. Hello from the Magic Tavern has really risen up

01:48:10 ◼   ► this year. It's not quite at the top level. I'm sort of digging through the back catalog,

01:48:18 ◼   ► but I really do love that podcast a whole lot. Definitely recommend it to people. But

01:48:23 ◼   ► I have to say I'm boring. The Flop House, like ATP, those are the two podcasts that

01:48:28 ◼   ► I listen to immediately upon receipt. And every episode all the way through, The Flop

01:48:33 ◼   ► House for sure is still my favorite podcast of all time.

01:48:37 ◼   ► Hello Internet took the popular vote at 40.6%.

01:48:41 ◼   ► - Unsurprising.

01:48:42 ◼   ► - Did Hello Internet win one year?

01:48:44 ◼   ► - I think it didn't because in the first year

01:48:48 ◼   ► I think you and I were at odds over the flop house.

01:48:52 ◼   ► - And I think I gave it to you, didn't I?

01:48:53 ◼   ► - And I think you gave it to me.

01:48:54 ◼   ► - And then in year two, I then started listening.

01:48:57 ◼   ► - I converted you.

01:48:59 ◼   ► - Right, so Hello Internet takes the popular vote.

01:49:00 ◼   ► - That's how it works.

01:49:01 ◼   ► - With, aloha, Flop House coming in at second,

01:49:04 ◼   ► reconcilable differences coming in at third it's gonna be a three time.

01:49:10 ◼   ► Yeah you're going with a flop house? I'm going with a flop house. The flop house

01:49:12 ◼   ► was my pick. No podcast makes me happier. I know it just makes me laugh and smile

01:49:18 ◼   ► I love those guys. I listen to old episodes of the flop house every time I

01:49:23 ◼   ► get on the airplane for some reason it's only it's the only podcast I can listen

01:49:27 ◼   ► to one airplane. I don't know why but I I just again so there are the secret

01:49:35 ◼   ► subscriber podcast and the flophouse are the only two shows that I will stop

01:49:40 ◼   ► whatever show I'm listening to and listen to that one. Interesting. So they

01:49:45 ◼   ► will cut in over anything. The flophouse is just a delight and I would say to our

01:49:51 ◼   ► listeners if you haven't yet tried it try it just try it just my advice to you

01:49:58 ◼   ► is go through and find some movies that you've seen and listen to those ones

01:50:05 ◼   ► that's how I started interesting it worked I mean because there are people

01:50:09 ◼   ► that listen to specific episodes because they're going to the head but they're

01:50:14 ◼   ► funniest if you already know the flop house I think no that's how I started I

01:50:18 ◼   ► I started with like Cowboys and Aliens and Limitless.

01:50:25 ◼   ► They are the two that I started with as well actually.

01:50:27 ◼   ► Oh yeah?

01:50:28 ◼   ► Cowboys and Aliens and Limitless.

01:50:29 ◼   ► Go through, find some movies, I got a big catalog, find some that you've seen.

01:50:33 ◼   ► Because then you already come to the show knowing something, which is the movie.

01:50:37 ◼   ► And I think that helps a lot.

01:50:39 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:50:40 ◼   ► Favorite podcast newcomer.

01:50:42 ◼   ► Ah, that's a good one.

01:50:43 ◼   ► This is a new show in 2016 and we have Dubai Friday.

01:50:47 ◼   ► Mixed Feelings, Emoji Rap, Ungeniust, Presentable, Six Colors Secret Subscriber Podcast, Buffering

01:50:55 ◼   ► the Vampire Slayer, and Jonah Carey, the Jonah Carey Podcast.

01:50:59 ◼   ► So Dubai Friday is a great show with Merlin Mann, Max Temkin, and Alex Cox, which kind

01:51:06 ◼   ► of grew out of their show, which was not about Top Chef, but was supposed to be about Top

01:51:10 ◼   ► Chef.

01:51:11 ◼   ► And Dubai Friday is, they call it a weekly challenge podcast.

01:51:13 ◼   ► They have a thing they have to do every week, and then they talk about the way that they

01:51:18 ◼   ► deal with that.

01:51:19 ◼   ► Mixed Feelings is a new show to relay FM that I really love and we're really proud of, and

01:51:23 ◼   ► it's kind of our biggest topic diversion that we've been on.

01:51:25 ◼   ► It is a show mostly about news and politics, and it is hosted by two new podcast hosts

01:51:33 ◼   ► as well, which we're really happy about that we got to bring a couple of maybe unheard

01:51:37 ◼   ► voices in, and they are Quinn Rose and Gillian Parker.

01:51:40 ◼   ► And they are a great team.

01:51:42 ◼   ► And the show is really entertaining.

01:51:44 ◼   ► And it is the way that I learn about the outside world.

01:51:48 ◼   ► Emoji wrap, friend of the show, Jeremy Burge started a podcast about emoji.

01:51:53 ◼   ► And it is surprisingly good, right?

01:51:57 ◼   ► Because a podcast about emoji, can that be good?

01:52:02 ◼   ► But yes, Jeremy is very talented.

01:52:04 ◼   ► And he makes it good.

01:52:06 ◼   ► "Ungeniused", which is a show that I am on, which got the popular vote with 32%.

01:52:12 ◼   ► Now I will say "Upgradients", thank you for that.

01:52:15 ◼   ► I honestly didn't expect that.

01:52:18 ◼   ► And that means a lot to me and I'm sure it will mean a lot to Steven because that is

01:52:22 ◼   ► a big chunk of the vote.

01:52:25 ◼   ► And "Ungeniused" is what I call a podcast snack.

01:52:27 ◼   ► The episodes are typically never longer than 15 minutes.

01:52:32 ◼   ► And the one that we put out for Festivus, which was a lot of fun.

01:52:34 ◼   ► you should go and listen to that, Jason makes a cameo.

01:52:38 ◼   ► It is a show that me and Steven are trying to push outside

01:52:41 ◼   ► of our regular boundaries with,

01:52:42 ◼   ► which is why we do fun things with it.

01:52:45 ◼   ► - It's a good show.

01:52:46 ◼   ► - Presentable is Jeff Veen's show.

01:52:47 ◼   ► I sometimes can't get my head around the fact

01:52:50 ◼   ► that Jeff Veen is a host on Relay FM.

01:52:52 ◼   ► Kind of makes my mind melt a little bit.

01:52:56 ◼   ► It's a great show about design.

01:52:57 ◼   ► We've been over the Secret subscriber podcast.

01:53:00 ◼   ► I don't know the next two.

01:53:02 ◼   ► - Buffering the Vampire Slayer is a new podcast

01:53:04 ◼   ► where two women, one who is really deep down into it

01:53:09 ◼   ► and one of whom is sort of coming at it fairly fresh,

01:53:11 ◼   ► rewatch "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" from the beginning.

01:53:15 ◼   ► And it is my favorite.

01:53:16 ◼   ► - It may be one of the best podcast titles

01:53:18 ◼   ► I've seen in a long time.

01:53:20 ◼   ► - It's a great title, they got great art.

01:53:22 ◼   ► It's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

01:53:24 ◼   ► is my favorite TV show of all time.

01:53:26 ◼   ► And, and one of the two hosts is a music artist

01:53:33 ◼   ► and she composes a song about the contents

01:53:37 ◼   ► of every episode at the end.

01:53:40 ◼   ► And in fact, if you search on iTunes or Apple Music,

01:53:43 ◼   ► you can find they finished the first season

01:53:46 ◼   ► and released an album of all the songs

01:53:48 ◼   ► from the first season,

01:53:49 ◼   ► but they're also at the end of the podcast episodes.

01:53:51 ◼   ► - I kind of wish now that I'd watched "Buffy"

01:53:54 ◼   ► just so I can listen to this show.

01:53:56 ◼   ► - Well, if you ever wanna give it a try,

01:53:59 ◼   ► the beauty of it is you can watch

01:54:01 ◼   ► and listen to a podcast about the episode you just saw.

01:54:04 ◼   ► - It's a big commitment though, man.

01:54:05 ◼   ► - It's true.

01:54:07 ◼   ► - What's Jonah Carey?

01:54:09 ◼   ► - Jonah Carey is a sports writer.

01:54:10 ◼   ► He used to be a business writer.

01:54:12 ◼   ► He actually worked with my friend, Philip Michaels.

01:54:15 ◼   ► And I think maybe with Lisa Schmeiser too

01:54:16 ◼   ► at Investors Business Daily.

01:54:19 ◼   ► But he's a baseball writer.

01:54:20 ◼   ► He's from Montreal.

01:54:22 ◼   ► He wrote a great book about the Montreal Expos

01:54:23 ◼   ► and a really good book about the Tampa Bay Rays.

01:54:25 ◼   ► And it's sort of like almost a sequel to Moneyball

01:54:28 ◼   ► in some ways.

01:54:29 ◼   ► And he has a podcast now on the Bill Simmons Podcast Network.

01:54:34 ◼   ► So that's his new home.

01:54:37 ◼   ► And it's good.

01:54:38 ◼   ► He interviews a lot of people, a lot of sports people.

01:54:40 ◼   ► There's some entertainment stuff in there too.

01:54:42 ◼   ► And Joan is just a really smart, good guy.

01:54:44 ◼   ► And I like everything he does.

01:54:45 ◼   ► And that's a good podcast for like a sampling

01:54:48 ◼   ► of baseball stuff, which I like and some other stuff too.

01:54:52 ◼   ► And he did a great podcast with one of the announced

01:54:55 ◼   ► for the Giants where they basically,

01:54:57 ◼   ► after a game was over,

01:54:58 ◼   ► They just sat down in the booth for like an hour

01:55:00 ◼   ► and talked about sports stuff.

01:55:02 ◼   ► And it was great because Jonah knows people

01:55:04 ◼   ► and has great access and is a smart guy.

01:55:06 ◼   ► So I wanted to nominate that.

01:55:07 ◼   ► That's a new one that I really have loved this year.

01:55:10 ◼   ► - And what's your vote?

01:55:11 ◼   ► - Favorite podcast, I gotta say my vote

01:55:16 ◼   ► goes to buffering the vampire Slayer.

01:55:17 ◼   ► I really love that.

01:55:18 ◼   ► That is a fun entertainment.

01:55:20 ◼   ► That's a good TV watch podcast.

01:55:22 ◼   ► And there are ways to do that well

01:55:24 ◼   ► and ways to do that badly.

01:55:25 ◼   ► And they do it well.

01:55:28 ◼   ► Then we're back in this realm. I'm going with Dubai Friday. I love Dubai Friday. I love

01:55:36 ◼   ► the premise and I love that most of the show tends to not be about the premise.

01:55:40 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:55:41 ◼   ► Because I was a Top Scallops listener. I'd never seen an episode of Top Chef.

01:55:44 ◼   ► Yeah. And I think it's great that they've got this premise now because I didn't listen

01:55:48 ◼   ► to Top Scallops because even though I wanted like a podcast with Marlon Mann and Max Temkin,

01:55:53 ◼   ► sounds great, but it was about Top Chef and I aggressively do not care about Top Chef.

01:55:59 ◼   ► So I just blew past it, even when people said, "Oh, it's not really about that." It's like,

01:56:03 ◼   ► "Yeah, whatever." And I never got to it. So when they changed it to do by Friday, basically,

01:56:08 ◼   ► that's a great idea. And Alex Cox is great. I had...

01:56:11 ◼   ► - She's fantastic.

01:56:12 ◼   ► - I met her briefly at XOXO, but I got to spend a little more time with her at UHL,

01:56:18 ◼   ► And then we had her on Clockwise and she is fantastic.

01:56:21 ◼   ► And so that is an extra little bonus.

01:56:24 ◼   ► And I like the idea of you have to do something, you have to perform a task.

01:56:28 ◼   ► It's a great thing.

01:56:29 ◼   ► It's a great name.

01:56:30 ◼   ► Great premise.

01:56:31 ◼   ► So I don't know where we go with this.

01:56:33 ◼   ► Well, let's give it to Dubai Friday.

01:56:35 ◼   ► That's a great one.

01:56:36 ◼   ► Awesome.

01:56:37 ◼   ► I was kind of hoping you'd say we'd go with the audience vote so I would win an upgrade.

01:56:40 ◼   ► But nevertheless, Dubai Friday is where we will go.

01:56:44 ◼   ► So at least I get my pick as the winner.

01:56:45 ◼   ► So Dubai Friday is our favorite podcast newcomer.

01:56:49 ◼   ► I'm really happy about this because it's a show that if you haven't listened to you should

01:56:54 ◼   ► and start from the start because there aren't that many episodes.

01:56:57 ◼   ► It's really, really brilliant.

01:56:59 ◼   ► And I love it a lot because I have great respect for the three people that host that show.

01:57:04 ◼   ► And as a trio, they work really, really well together.

01:57:06 ◼   ► So you should go and check it out.

01:57:08 ◼   ► I'm not bitter at all.

01:57:11 ◼   ► Life-changing hardware is our final category for the upgrades of this year and the nominees

01:57:18 ◼   ► are as follows.

01:57:19 ◼   ► The Canary home security system, the Logitech create keyboard case for the iPad Pro, the

01:57:25 ◼   ► PlayStation VR, the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot and the soundbot Bluetooth Shower Speaker.

01:57:36 ◼   ► The soundbot Bluetooth Shower Speaker, Jason knew was so obscure that when he put it in

01:57:41 ◼   ► our original nominations document, he included a link to Amazon so I could go and see.

01:57:46 ◼   ► Yes. Uh-huh.

01:57:47 ◼   ► I want to know about this because I want a Bluetooth shower speaker, so I'm hoping you

01:57:50 ◼   ► can tell me this thing's so amazing, I'll just go buy it.

01:57:52 ◼   ► Well, we mentioned him several times, I'm going to mention him again, and we've said

01:57:55 ◼   ► on past shows that, you know, you talk to Marco and you buy things. This is a Marco

01:58:00 ◼   ► Arment recommendation.

01:58:01 ◼   ► Oh, if it's a Marco recommendation and you're recommending it, then I'm buying it right

01:58:06 ◼   ► now.

01:58:07 ◼   ► this dumb, cheap Bluetooth speaker that's waterproof

01:58:10 ◼   ► or water resistant, it's got a suction cup on it,

01:58:12 ◼   ► you charge it via this dumb, you know,

01:58:15 ◼   ► it's like a mini jack thing,

01:58:17 ◼   ► but then it's got a little gasket over it.

01:58:19 ◼   ► And it, but the battery lasts quite a while.

01:58:21 ◼   ► And the best part about it is, you know,

01:58:24 ◼   ► when you take a shower, you just stick it to the inside

01:58:27 ◼   ► of the, you know, the glass or on tile

01:58:29 ◼   ► or wherever in the shower.

01:58:31 ◼   ► And instead of, I used to listen to podcasts in the shower

01:58:34 ◼   ► and I had a speaker, actually a play one on the outside.

01:58:39 ◼   ► And I would crank it up so that I could hear the voices

01:58:42 ◼   ► clearly on the inside.

01:58:43 ◼   ► And my house isn't that big, the walls are kind of thin.

01:58:46 ◼   ► You basically could hear the podcast in the entire house

01:58:48 ◼   ► while I was taking a shower.

01:58:50 ◼   ► And now I have this little speaker

01:58:52 ◼   ► and the way it works is actually it fires downward.

01:58:55 ◼   ► So you stick it on the glass or the tile or whatever,

01:58:59 ◼   ► and it plays and it bounces it off that surface

01:59:04 ◼   ► 'cause it bounces it down and then it comes back out.

01:59:06 ◼   ► And it's got little waterproof buttons on the front

01:59:08 ◼   ► so you can make it louder, you can skip, you can pause,

01:59:11 ◼   ► you can do all of those things and it's great.

01:59:14 ◼   ► It really is, it is a life-changing bit of hardware

01:59:18 ◼   ► because now I can listen to my podcast

01:59:20 ◼   ► at a more reasonable volume and they're clearer

01:59:23 ◼   ► because the speaker is right by my ear

01:59:25 ◼   ► instead of through a pane of glass

01:59:28 ◼   ► in an echoing through, sitting above the toilet,

01:59:31 ◼   ► echoing through the bathroom.

01:59:33 ◼   ► So it's, I know it's silly,

01:59:35 ◼   ► but I think it counts as life-changing hardware.

01:59:37 ◼   ► - So my vote in this is the Canary home security system,

01:59:41 ◼   ► because it's the piece of technology

01:59:43 ◼   ► that's made the biggest impact to my life this year,

01:59:46 ◼   ► because it gives me peace of mind

01:59:47 ◼   ► about the state of my home.

01:59:49 ◼   ► And it really does.

01:59:52 ◼   ► You know, I've kind of, I don't know why,

01:59:53 ◼   ► but I've just gotten into a little bit of a phase

01:59:56 ◼   ► where whenever I was leaving the house,

01:59:58 ◼   ► I was concerned about the house.

02:00:00 ◼   ► Maybe this is part of adulthood, I don't know.

02:00:04 ◼   ► Just as I started to own more things in the world,

02:00:06 ◼   ► I started to get more thoughts about those things,

02:00:10 ◼   ► something happening to them.

02:00:12 ◼   ► And the Canary will not only alert me

02:00:15 ◼   ► when it finds something weird going on,

02:00:18 ◼   ► I can also just check in on the house whenever I want

02:00:20 ◼   ► for live video feed.

02:00:22 ◼   ► Honestly, it's basically a flawless technology product

02:00:26 ◼   ► for what I needed to do.

02:00:27 ◼   ► I've never had a problem with it, not once.

02:00:29 ◼   ► I've just moved home and it was fine

02:00:32 ◼   ► and it just understood everything.

02:00:33 ◼   ► All I needed to do was just change the address

02:00:35 ◼   ► so the Canary knew where it was

02:00:36 ◼   ► and it was like nothing had ever happened.

02:00:38 ◼   ► It's just fantastic.

02:00:40 ◼   ► - I like a lot of things about it.

02:00:41 ◼   ► I used a drop cam for a long time

02:00:43 ◼   ► and the advantage of the Canary is I think actually

02:00:46 ◼   ► that it has this sort of cylinder,

02:00:49 ◼   ► you can plop it somewhere.

02:00:51 ◼   ► It's field of view isn't as good

02:00:52 ◼   ► as some of the other products are, but it's not bad.

02:00:55 ◼   ► It's got some other sensors in it.

02:00:58 ◼   ► I wish it was more integrated

02:01:00 ◼   ► with other like third-party smart home stuff.

02:01:02 ◼   ► And they seem to be opening that up now,

02:01:04 ◼   ► but for a while it was kind of only kind of on its own.

02:01:07 ◼   ► But it's a good product.

02:01:09 ◼   ► I use that now.

02:01:10 ◼   ► That's my, instead of the drop cam,

02:01:12 ◼   ► that's the one that I use.

02:01:13 ◼   ► Like when we go on vacation, I turn it on.

02:01:15 ◼   ► I leave it plugged in, but in privacy mode.

02:01:17 ◼   ► And then when we go on vacation, I flip the switch

02:01:19 ◼   ► and I've got their video of events

02:01:23 ◼   ► when there's movement in the house and stuff like that.

02:01:25 ◼   ► - Big, big fan of it.

02:01:27 ◼   ► So the upgradians went with the Echo at 45% of the vote.

02:01:32 ◼   ► - I know, right?

02:01:34 ◼   ► - And I'm happy to go that way.

02:01:37 ◼   ► - I am too.

02:01:38 ◼   ► I think that that's a great choice.

02:01:40 ◼   ► We talked about it earlier

02:01:41 ◼   ► when we were talking about the Amazon Echo and the Echo Dot,

02:01:43 ◼   ► which adds some more flexibility

02:01:45 ◼   ► and the good job that Amazon has done with that ecosystem.

02:01:49 ◼   ► I, you know, the things I wish it did that it doesn't do yet, but Amazon has been rolling

02:01:53 ◼   ► on new features all the time, which is impressed, which impresses me. I wish it was easier to

02:01:57 ◼   ► make a simple web service for the Amazon Echo at basic. Basically, if there's something

02:02:02 ◼   ► that you a web, a data source somewhere that you want to point at the Echo so that you

02:02:07 ◼   ► can ask it a question, it'll read the data. You kind of can't do that. You have to build

02:02:10 ◼   ► a whole web app using Amazon's app platform and all of that. And that needs to change.

02:02:16 ◼   ► They need to provide some sort of easier system than that.

02:02:21 ◼   ► But it's early days yet,

02:02:22 ◼   ► and I'm sure that they'll get there.