Connected

00:00:00 ◼   ► [MUSIC]

00:00:08 ◼   ► Hello and welcome to Connected, episode 337.

00:00:12 ◼   ► It's made possible this week by our sponsors,

00:00:15 ◼   ► Squarespace, Bombas, and Baron Fig.

00:00:18 ◼   ► My name is Stephen Hackett,

00:00:19 ◼   ► and I am joined by Mr. Myke Hurley.

00:00:21 ◼   ► Hi.

00:00:23 ◼   ► Hey, buddy.

00:00:23 ◼   ► How are you?

00:00:25 ◼   ► I'm good, how are you?

00:00:26 ◼   ► I'm good.

00:00:27 ◼   ► fun fact behind the scenes, maybe for the first time in a long time, our entire show

00:00:32 ◼   ► document was completed a day before we recorded today, which is quite an incredible feat and

00:00:38 ◼   ► we should all be proud of ourselves. Yeah, usually we have like an idea on Tuesday,

00:00:42 ◼   ► but we've learned over eight years that you get burned if you do it too far in advance. And so

00:00:47 ◼   ► usually like, y'all's Wednesday mornings, you go in and then when I get up, I go in.

00:00:51 ◼   ► And you know, we have a doc a couple hours before the show. For whatever reason, it was all done

00:00:56 ◼   ► yesterday and then this morning basically every hour on the hour I opened Twitter

00:01:00 ◼   ► to see if Apple had had an event announcement yet because we'd have to do

00:01:04 ◼   ► the Ricky's with very little notice. Hey it could still happen! Can you imagine? I've

00:01:08 ◼   ► been thinking about it what if it happened during the episode today? During

00:01:11 ◼   ► the show? It'd be unbelievable and horrible it'd be like a bloodbath can

00:01:14 ◼   ► you imagine us trying to work out the Ricky's live war? Yeah we will deal with

00:01:17 ◼   ► that. Oh dear. When it happens if it happens so if it happens so I think

00:01:23 ◼   ► we're safe for another week, but yeah. Also behind the scenes, America has had daylight savings times

00:01:30 ◼   ► change and y'all haven't, so thank you for coming an hour earlier. I appreciate it. We're also

00:01:35 ◼   ► joined by Federico Vatici. Hello and welcome to a conversation with me. Hi. Oh, wow. It's that

00:01:43 ◼   ► this connected is now like a conversation with Federico Vatici. I'm gonna start all my

00:01:49 ◼   ► conversations now welcome to having a conversation with me.

00:01:53 ◼   ► Okay are you familiar with these like a conversation with type things that

00:01:59 ◼   ► they'd be like you maybe you have like a fancy person

00:02:02 ◼   ► maybe some kind of artist sure and you have someone come and interview them

00:02:05 ◼   ► yeah yeah i want all my conversations to be fancy though

00:02:09 ◼   ► so yeah that's my new line okay hi how are you steven uh i am good

00:02:15 ◼   ► I'm glad that we are together. Not doing the rickies, but not doing the rickies.

00:02:21 ◼   ► But not doing the rickies. You know, my chairmanship is on the line because I'm the event chairman,

00:02:28 ◼   ► and so I've really got to be prepared. Yeah, we're coming for you, buddy. Yeah, you should be prepared.

00:02:33 ◼   ► I've been working on my predictions for a couple weeks. I've got an Apple note where I just go in

00:02:37 ◼   ► and add things as I think about them. Oh, not craft? Not craft. I kind of gave up on it.

00:02:43 ◼   ► That was fast. You're a flip-flopper after all. Speaking of which, Stephen has finally

00:02:49 ◼   ► admitted in public to having switched to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which was something Stephen did

00:02:56 ◼   ► ages ago and wouldn't let us talk about on the show. But he spoke about it on the members' Mac

00:03:02 ◼   ► power users, more power users. So now I'm going to bring it up on the show because it's out there now.

00:03:08 ◼   ► Steven switched from the iPhone 12 pro to the iPhone 12 pro max many many many months ago, didn't you?

00:03:14 ◼   ► Huh? You did didn't you? Yeah, you trying to ignore me?

00:03:19 ◼   ► is I

00:03:22 ◼   ► Did yeah, you did welcome back you can listen to my reasons by joining Mac power users

00:03:27 ◼   ► That's nice. No that doesn't matter because all I want to do is shame you that so I don't need you to explain yourself

00:03:34 ◼   ► It's a nice phone. No, I'm fine. I'm I'm fine with shaming

00:03:38 ◼   ► Let's let's shame you Myke because you shamed Apple into providing a firmware update that they weren't going to do so shame on you

00:03:45 ◼   ► Why is this shame? I don't know. I just I need somebody to suffer with me

00:03:50 ◼   ► The AirPods max firmware update that we spoke about last week that came out just before the show

00:03:56 ◼   ► I think it's fixed my battery drain problem. There have been many people that have been

00:04:03 ◼   ► talking about this on reddit and stuff and

00:04:06 ◼   ► Macrum has put together an article, but I think it's pretty safe to say that they have fixed my issue. I now

00:04:13 ◼   ► seem to be getting the kind of battery levels with my AirPods Max that I originally expected

00:04:19 ◼   ► I would be getting, right? So like if I put them in the case it extends the battery life. They don't die anymore

00:04:24 ◼   ► Neither have I had in the last week any

00:04:27 ◼   ► instances where the AirPods Max seemed to be able to connect to a device when I'm not expecting it

00:04:33 ◼   ► which is a thing that I was having all the time.

00:04:36 ◼   ► Like I would open the Bluetooth thing,

00:04:37 ◼   ► you know like when you press the little,

00:04:39 ◼   ► I don't even know what you call it,

00:04:40 ◼   ► the little broadcast icon or whatever, right?

00:04:44 ◼   ► And my AirPods Max would just show up in there sometimes

00:04:47 ◼   ► when they were just on my desk in the case in another room,

00:04:51 ◼   ► but I haven't had any of those either.

00:04:52 ◼   ► So I actually do think that they fixed it.

00:04:55 ◼   ► And I'm pleased, but it took a while, but I'm pleased,

00:04:59 ◼   ► but 'cause now I'm less annoyed by the product.

00:05:02 ◼   ► Yeah, I can also confirm that this seems to be fixed in the sense that when I put

00:05:09 ◼   ► them in the case and I use them again the next day the battery seems fine,

00:05:13 ◼   ► which is, you know, the whole point of this case. So it was a bit ridiculous how

00:05:19 ◼   ► I had to get this firmware update because I think somehow I got myself

00:05:25 ◼   ► stuck in a situation where the AirPods Max were not getting the firmware update,

00:05:30 ◼   ► even though I followed all of the common steps that you can find online.

00:05:34 ◼   ► So I needed to manually reboot the AirPods Max,

00:05:38 ◼   ► which you can do by pressing both buttons

00:05:42 ◼   ► until the LED flashes orange or something.

00:05:46 ◼   ► I think I found it on MacRumors, so thank you whoever put it together.

00:05:49 ◼   ► And after that, after a few hours, I just opened settings

00:05:54 ◼   ► and I noticed that I was on the new firmware.

00:05:57 ◼   ► So, yay, it seems to be working and they're lasting longer, so thank you, Apple. Thank you,

00:06:02 ◼   ► Myke, for making this possible. Thank you to us all. Yes, but thank you especially. Yep,

00:06:09 ◼   ► the AirPods mics are fixed. Oh, I like it. Oh, I like that. That's good. Unfortunately, though,

00:06:15 ◼   ► to fix the AirPods Max, Apple had to fire the entire HomePod team. They just kept the mini team.

00:06:21 ◼   ► They had to move everyone over. They just moved them all over.

00:06:25 ◼   ► It's the give and take of it.

00:06:27 ◼   ► Because it's gone. Big surprise. HomePod is dead. HomePod's dead.

00:06:32 ◼   ► What's especially funny is that Apple is saying, "But we still have HomePod Mini." And I think

00:06:37 ◼   ► it's funny because they have a product called HomePod Mini, which is the mini version of

00:06:42 ◼   ► what, exactly? At this point, if the HomePod is discontinued, the HomePod Mini is the mini

00:06:47 ◼   ► version of nothing.

00:06:49 ◼   ► It's kind of like when the regular iPad went away and it was just the iPad mini, Air and

00:06:54 ◼   ► then Pro.

00:06:55 ◼   ► It's like, well...

00:06:56 ◼   ► There's something missing here, guys.

00:06:59 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:07:00 ◼   ► I guess there isn't a Mac.

00:07:02 ◼   ► No, but there really never has been.

00:07:05 ◼   ► I mean, the original Macintosh was the Mac.

00:07:08 ◼   ► Yeah, just the original and that's been, you know, that got renamed pretty quickly to the

00:07:12 ◼   ► 128.

00:07:13 ◼   ► And to be fair, the Mac Mini is smaller than the original Macintosh.

00:07:17 ◼   ► I mean it holds up.

00:07:19 ◼   ► Yeah, everything is based against that one.

00:07:22 ◼   ► Yeah, so.

00:07:25 ◼   ► I mean if we can keep going down this road, like iPod touch, they're all touch, right?

00:07:31 ◼   ► But it's the iPod you touch the most.

00:07:33 ◼   ► But there is no other iPod.

00:07:34 ◼   ► Is it a surprise the HomePod is dead?

00:07:36 ◼   ► No.

00:07:37 ◼   ► No.

00:07:38 ◼   ► No.

00:07:39 ◼   ► I would say yeah.

00:07:40 ◼   ► What?

00:07:41 ◼   ► No man.

00:07:42 ◼   ► Okay, so would any of you have predicted last week that they would have killed the HomePod

00:07:45 ◼   ► this week?

00:07:46 ◼   ► this week, but I think broadly speaking, it's not a surprise that they're killing this because

00:07:51 ◼   ► it was going nowhere. It surprises you that they've done this and haven't replaced it?

00:07:56 ◼   ► Yes. Like I would have thought they would have replaced it with something. That one

00:08:00 ◼   ► is surprising to me. Like it doesn't surprise me that the original HomePod is discontinued.

00:08:05 ◼   ► What's surprising here to me is like the broader picture of you just discontinued something

00:08:11 ◼   ► that was arguably like your premium home product and you don't have a replacement and you

00:08:16 ◼   ► did it on a Friday afternoon, it's almost like out of shame. You know, that's when companies

00:08:21 ◼   ► try to bury the bad news. So you did it on a Friday afternoon. You don't have a replacement.

00:08:27 ◼   ► You're seeing that you have the HomePod mini, which right now, I mean, it's a good sounding

00:08:31 ◼   ► mini speaker, but really there's no base model HomePod anymore. And this leaves Apple, I

00:08:37 ◼   ► think what's really surprising to me and concerning to an extent is the overall situation that

00:08:44 ◼   ► they got themselves into, where they are... maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration, but I

00:08:51 ◼   ► don't think they are competitive in the home market at all at this point, because they

00:08:57 ◼   ► have... so the HomePod has been discontinued. They have a HomePod Mini, which is the only

00:09:02 ◼   ► device with support for the new Thread Radio standard for wireless communications between

00:09:08 ◼   ► accessories in the home. And it's a good sounding speaker, more expensive than other smaller

00:09:13 ◼   ► speakers by other companies. Then they have an Apple TV 4K, which is a ridiculously overpriced

00:09:20 ◼   ► accessory for 4K content with support for Dolby Vision and Atmos. And right now you

00:09:27 ◼   ► can get devices, again, from other companies with similar specs, support for 4K and Dolby

00:09:33 ◼   ► Vision and Atmos, HDR and all of those different standards, at a much lower price in an even,

00:09:40 ◼   ► Arguably, I mean, if you get an Amazon Fire TV stick,

00:09:44 ◼   ► like the 4K version, much, much smaller form factor even.

00:09:48 ◼   ► With a--

00:09:48 ◼   ► - With access to all of Apple's content.

00:09:51 ◼   ► - With access to all of Apple's content,

00:09:53 ◼   ► with the remote that was designed for humans

00:09:56 ◼   ► instead of trained monkeys in a lab.

00:10:00 ◼   ► And like, where does that leave us

00:10:05 ◼   ► in terms of what's the home kid's story right now?

00:10:08 ◼   ► And I think Zach Hall at 9to5Mac, we linked to Zach's story today on the site.

00:10:16 ◼   ► It makes a really good point of, like, this strategy, this home strategy that Apple has right now,

00:10:24 ◼   ► if it can be called a strategy, is really perplexing.

00:10:27 ◼   ► And the story argues that maybe it's time for some kind of roundtable,

00:10:34 ◼   ► like they did years ago for the Mac, to sort of explain the situation and reassure customers

00:10:40 ◼   ► that Apple was still in the market for professional Mac users. And Zuck argues that maybe it's time to

00:10:46 ◼   ► sort of have some clarity regarding what Apple is doing exactly in the home. They have an Apple TV 4K

00:10:53 ◼   ► that hasn't gotten an update in, what, three years? Still costs $180, and the HomePod is gone.

00:11:03 ◼   ► There's the HomePod Mini. So, like, is the Apple Home... I mean, right now, the Apple Home

00:11:07 ◼   ► Strategy is the HomePod Mini, essentially. On the side, there's also the Apple TV 4K,

00:11:13 ◼   ► which you can use as a hub for HomeKit, and also the iPad can be used as a hub.

00:11:19 ◼   ► It's a very confusing strategy. So, I have to believe there is something missing at the moment.

00:11:29 ◼   ► You know, it's funny when they initially announced the Apple TV and then even when they changed it over the years,

00:11:36 ◼   ► you know, because the first several Apple TVs were like drastically different from each other.

00:11:39 ◼   ► Apple would always call the Apple TV a hobby, and I feel like even though they have TV+ and this other stuff,

00:11:47 ◼   ► like, it just feels like the living room in the house in general is just not something Apple's super interested in.

00:11:53 ◼   ► And it seems like such a mistake. I mean, they could have all this stuff super well integrated,

00:11:58 ◼   ► But instead you've got a bunch of iPhone and iPad users, maybe they have a HomePod,

00:12:03 ◼   ► but they probably have something from Amazon or Google or somebody else in their kitchen.

00:12:09 ◼   ► You have a bunch of iPhone and Mac users running these awesome like mesh Wi-Fi networks that Apple...

00:12:15 ◼   ► Okay, okay, you can run HomeKit on the Eero, but no one knows what that means and everyone's too

00:12:20 ◼   ► afraid to hit the button. Like Apple could just have all of this stuff wrapped up.

00:12:24 ◼   ► It's like, I did that and I genuinely don't know what it's done for me.

00:12:27 ◼   ► So I did the whole thing and I could not tell you what features it gave me.

00:12:32 ◼   ► Yeah, I've been afraid to hit that button on my network.

00:12:36 ◼   ► But you know, Apple has a large customer base that like if they had more of this stuff,

00:12:42 ◼   ► more people would buy it, right?

00:12:43 ◼   ► Like I miss the days where I had like an airport base station.

00:12:48 ◼   ► It was really easy to manage and I knew that it would just work with all my stuff.

00:12:53 ◼   ► And Apple's just given up so many parts of this market as this market overall is heated

00:12:58 ◼   ► up.

00:12:59 ◼   ► I mean, you have Facebook making one of these things now to live in your home.

00:13:01 ◼   ► Like, I just don't understand why Apple just doesn't seem to be paying attention to it.

00:13:06 ◼   ► You know, maybe they are and we'll see something in the future.

00:13:08 ◼   ► But like, this is rapidly evolving.

00:13:11 ◼   ► And I mean, the Echo has been out for years.

00:13:14 ◼   ► And all Apple has now is a HomePod mini with like, a super subpar voice assistant on it.

00:13:19 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:13:20 ◼   ► What the risk here is that with these home products, I think we're seeing a new kind

00:13:27 ◼   ► of what people used to call the halo effect. Like, you see it, for example, in how once

00:13:34 ◼   ► you get into the Echo ecosystem and you start using it and you appreciate how the assistant

00:13:39 ◼   ► works and all the different skills, then you see the consequence on the services that you

00:13:45 ◼   ► use because we like the Echo so much. That was one of the reasons why I started using

00:13:49 ◼   ► Spotify instead of Apple Music. And you know, it's this sort of a cascading effect of you

00:13:55 ◼   ► start with one accessory in the home and then eventually everyone in the home likes it and

00:14:00 ◼   ► then you start thinking, well, what are the services and the, you know, the apps that

00:14:04 ◼   ► work well on it? And so you start using those and Apple is also a services company and they

00:14:10 ◼   ► know this, which is why it is so surprising, not that the home part is gone, but they don't

00:14:17 ◼   ► have a replacement for it and that they don't have a good story to tell in terms of integration

00:14:24 ◼   ► with services, in terms of Siri, which is still so like bad compared to other assistants.

00:14:30 ◼   ► I mean let's not even get started on that. I don't... I'm very confused is my takeaway

00:14:37 ◼   ► here.

00:14:38 ◼   ► The thing about killing the HomePod now does seem to suggest that if they have a strategy,

00:14:45 ◼   ► not delivering it anytime soon because if they had, doesn't have to be HomePod 2,

00:14:51 ◼   ► some other type of product that they thought "oh this is better, we shouldn't keep making the

00:14:56 ◼   ► HomePod" they would have introduced that product, right? And then gotten rid of the HomePod.

00:15:02 ◼   ► Usually that's how it goes through it, like computers, they introduce the new one and then

00:15:06 ◼   ► you go to the store and when the store comes back the old one gets discontinued.

00:15:11 ◼   ► Right, unless you're the iMac Pro. Yeah, I do think it shows that there is something,

00:15:16 ◼   ► like if there's something it's a long ways off. The other thing that has come up in the Discord

00:15:22 ◼   ► is like, why not just let it sit there, right? Like why not just keep selling it as it is?

00:15:28 ◼   ► I wonder about that. I wonder if, like I'm not trying to use the COVID excuse, but I'm wondering

00:15:34 ◼   ► if there's potentially like all of these products, you know, they're only left to sit there for as

00:15:39 ◼   ► as long as they choose to make them, right?

00:15:41 ◼   ► And they may have decided we're going to stop making this product at this time

00:15:45 ◼   ► because we have some other thing that we want to introduce.

00:15:48 ◼   ► But they are not able to introduce that thing that, yeah,

00:15:51 ◼   ► it's been delayed for whatever reason,

00:15:52 ◼   ► but they already decided to stop making the home parts that they just did it.

00:15:55 ◼   ► It's a very tenuous like suggestion.

00:15:59 ◼   ► But I would assume that there has to be some reason because I mean,

00:16:04 ◼   ► it is the modus operandi to just have these things live.

00:16:07 ◼   ► Like, why not?

00:16:09 ◼   ► that it's kind of unless if they're saying they're going to continue supporting it in

00:16:13 ◼   ► software there's literally zero reason to stop selling this product like just leave

00:16:18 ◼   ► it as something available for people that want it right like unless they have something

00:16:22 ◼   ► that's about to happen that this thing wouldn't have supported and they think is important

00:16:28 ◼   ► right like you know i don't know like maybe because it doesn't have a thread radio in

00:16:32 ◼   ► it and that and the thread radios are going to become more important for device interoperability

00:16:38 ◼   ► Maybe something's about to happen, so I don't want it to stop selling the HomePod because it doesn't have that feature

00:16:42 ◼   ► I don't know, but you've got to assume there's some

00:16:45 ◼   ► Reason right because why get rid of it? Yeah, but but in that case update it with the thread radio update

00:16:51 ◼   ► It was something newer than the a8. Yeah, it's all very strange sure

00:16:55 ◼   ► I am very curious what they do with the HomePod mini. You know I've got one

00:16:58 ◼   ► I really like it and and for home kit stuff

00:17:02 ◼   ► It's it's pretty good

00:17:03 ◼   ► And you know part of that is a decision that we made that we didn't necessarily want Amazon voice assistant anymore

00:17:09 ◼   ► That's everyone can make their own decisions, but the minis

00:17:12 ◼   ► Sounds pretty good for what it's what it is, and I think Jason made this point upgrade

00:17:17 ◼   ► I've heard or read it somewhere this week, but sounding pretty good is enough

00:17:21 ◼   ► You don't you don't have to sound like a bonkers home pod dual setup to sell and I think Apple just thought that

00:17:30 ◼   ► That was the most important thing and the reality it's its price and the voice assistant and as long as the music sounds pretty good

00:17:37 ◼   ► People are fine. Turns out most people don't need to fill a room with sound. Right. You do that by just turning that up

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00:19:32 ◼   ► Alright, moving on, Craft has been updated to add indent swiping. Myke, do you want to tell us about this?

00:19:40 ◼   ► Yeah, so we've been talking a little bit about some stuff that we wanted Craft to do differently with outlining and they have

00:19:46 ◼   ► done one of those things. So now if you're on the iPhone and you are using an out-located

00:19:52 ◼   ► list you can now swipe left and right when you're in the editing mode for that line to

00:19:57 ◼   ► indent and out-dent. Which is great. This is a fantastic addition. There's still a couple

00:20:02 ◼   ► of things that I would want them to do. Like for example...

00:20:06 ◼   ► Please do share so they can add them.

00:20:10 ◼   ► Yeah, so this is me saying the next thing to do. If I'm saying I'm writing a bulleted

00:20:15 ◼   ► list and I've indented, if I want to outdent again, every other app that I've used, you

00:20:20 ◼   ► would press enter to go to a new line, press enter again and you will then outdent or indent

00:20:25 ◼   ► left as we call it.

00:20:27 ◼   ► So that's another thing I'd like them to do but the swiping is excellent and I'm very

00:20:32 ◼   ► happy that they've added that because when you don't have access to a keyboard because

00:20:37 ◼   ► you can't use tab and shift tab to do indenting left and indenting right, it's nice to be

00:20:42 ◼   ► able to swipe instead. So I'm actually really really happy they've added this. But now I

00:20:46 ◼   ► just want charts. Or tables, tables, not charts, tables, tables is the phrase, sorry.

00:20:51 ◼   ► Evernote got tables on mobile a few days ago.

00:20:54 ◼   ► I saw that, so I'm ready to move.

00:20:57 ◼   ► You're ready to switch back unless Kraft does it.

00:21:00 ◼   ► Google has made a change to the Google Play Store where they're dropping commissions to

00:21:06 ◼   ► 15 percent. They were also at 30, like the App Store. And they're doing it for the first

00:21:11 ◼   ► million dollars of an app's sales. So devs don't have to worry about going

00:21:17 ◼   ► over, like in the Apple program, where in the small business program for the App

00:21:21 ◼   ► Store, once you step over a million dollars, you're back at 30% for the next

00:21:27 ◼   ► year. And it's like this dance, and we've talked about how that could put some

00:21:30 ◼   ► developers in a really bad spot. And so Google, I think, is doing it in a much

00:21:34 ◼   ► more fair way. Hey, the first million dollars, 15%, and then we go up from there.

00:21:38 ◼   ► I kind of wish Apple had done this instead.

00:21:41 ◼   ► Yep.

00:21:42 ◼   ► Yeah, it seems much easier.

00:21:44 ◼   ► Like no questions asked.

00:21:46 ◼   ► First million, 15 percent, that's it.

00:21:49 ◼   ► It seems like, yeah, that's probably the way to go.

00:21:53 ◼   ► Imagine making something simple.

00:21:55 ◼   ► I mean, I get the argument that like if you are like a multimillion company, like it's

00:22:03 ◼   ► fine if you pay the 30, like the higher tax.

00:22:08 ◼   ► I get the sentiment behind it. None of these stores should be able to charge 30% at all.

00:22:14 ◼   ► But like, it's the principle of it that I think is wrong, in that yeah, these stores...

00:22:20 ◼   ► like even if you are a super rich company... 30% is so high.

00:22:23 ◼   ► 30%, in 2021 it's so high, it's kind of ridiculous. It's unbelievable.

00:22:28 ◼   ► Like I get the idea of taxing the rich, which is sort of what Apple is doing, but 30% is

00:22:35 ◼   ► too high, regardless. Yeah, but they're only taxing the rich to

00:22:38 ◼   ► keep the money themselves. It's like you typically tax the rich to help everyone out, but like

00:22:44 ◼   ► they're just the richest company in the world, taxes every other company in the world just

00:22:49 ◼   ► for fun.

00:22:51 ◼   ► Yeah. So that's, you know, they think they are sort of this sort of modern Robin Hood,

00:23:00 ◼   ► you know, taking money from the rich, but also you are also rich. You're not exactly

00:23:07 ◼   ► giving it back to the poor. But yeah, so I think that considered, it's much easier to

00:23:13 ◼   ► follow the Google model. You know, just fewer complications, right? It's 15% for the first

00:23:19 ◼   ► million whatever, that's it. So will they copy it? I doubt it. So...

00:23:26 ◼   ► They have 11 months or so to do it though, right? Because that first million thing, it's

00:23:31 ◼   ► not going to affect anyone until the year anniversary of the program. I mean, people

00:23:37 ◼   ► would not have been able to join it, of course, which is not great.

00:23:40 ◼   ► But the issue that people talk about a lot of what if you get close

00:23:44 ◼   ► to a million dollars before the end of the year, like,

00:23:46 ◼   ► and where are you going to, you know, like whatever like that.

00:23:49 ◼   ► They have time.

00:23:52 ◼   ► But honestly, I don't think they're going to change it

00:23:54 ◼   ► because it was obviously the sensible thing to do in the first place.

00:23:58 ◼   ► It was obviously the fairer thing to do in the first place.

00:24:01 ◼   ► Nobody Google didn't have to do this for Apple to know that.

00:24:04 ◼   ► They definitely heard all of the complaints that developers had

00:24:08 ◼   ► about the system and about the issues like these issues of what do you do

00:24:13 ◼   ► if you get to a million dollars?

00:24:15 ◼   ► That was brought up within the first 24 hours of Apple announcing it.

00:24:17 ◼   ► They announced it in advance, they said, so they could take in feedback.

00:24:21 ◼   ► They heard the feedback and decided that they wanted to do it

00:24:25 ◼   ► the way that they were going to do it.

00:24:26 ◼   ► They must have assumed Google would do this, right?

00:24:28 ◼   ► It's obvious Google was going to do this and was going to do it

00:24:32 ◼   ► the way that people wanted.

00:24:34 ◼   ► So, you know, it's not an incredibly difficult game of chess to play this situation out,

00:24:39 ◼   ► and this is the route that they've chosen, and I expect that they'll stay that way.

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00:25:02 ◼   ► sock drawer when they started sponsoring us we got some and I have bought more

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00:26:13 ◼   ► So Federico, you had a review unit and subsequently published first impressions of the Kensington

00:26:21 ◼   ► Studio Dock.

00:26:23 ◼   ► This is the product that we spoke about, I believe it was during CES week.

00:26:28 ◼   ► Kensington created a product which effectively looks like the stand of like a pro display

00:26:34 ◼   ► or something, which you put an iPad into. It has two charging pads, one for AirPods

00:26:40 ◼   ► and one for the iPhone, ChiPads in the foot. And on the back, a bunch of ports for the

00:26:46 ◼   ► iPad, USB-C, HDMI, Ethernet, and regular USB as well. So Federico, what is your impression

00:26:55 ◼   ► of this? Let's get a little bit of a rundown from you.

00:26:57 ◼   ► Alright, so it's difficult to write about this because first of all it is an expensive accessory.

00:27:06 ◼   ► So there's two versions, one for the 11 inch iPad Pro and iPad Air that costs $380,

00:27:15 ◼   ► and there's the version that I got for the 12.9 inch iPad Pro which costs $400.

00:27:23 ◼   ► So, I mean, you're looking at an accessory like a stand.

00:27:27 ◼   ► That is both, I think the easiest way to describe it is

00:27:31 ◼   ► it's a stand with integrated ports.

00:27:35 ◼   ► So like it's a hub that is also a stand

00:27:38 ◼   ► that also happens to have a Qi charging pad in its base.

00:27:42 ◼   ► And it costs $400.

00:27:44 ◼   ► And like, I get it.

00:27:46 ◼   ► It's not, it's obviously not an accessory

00:27:49 ◼   ► for a lot of people.

00:27:50 ◼   ► So look, this is the Mac Pro wheels for iPad users.

00:27:54 ◼   ► Kinda, yeah. This is like the Pro Display XDR stand for iPad.

00:28:00 ◼   ► So does half the cost.

00:28:04 ◼   ► And the timing of it is also problematic, because there's... we've seen the rumors of

00:28:10 ◼   ► this upcoming, in theory, refresh for the iPad Pro line, and now it's not guaranteed

00:28:18 ◼   ► the new iPad Pro, if there's a new iPad Pro, it's not guaranteed that it'll be

00:28:22 ◼   ► compatible with this accessory. Because the way that it works is, it uses a

00:28:28 ◼   ► combination of magnets and a USB-C connector to hold the iPad in place.

00:28:34 ◼   ► So, you slide the iPad... there's this magnetic plate, sort of made of plastic, and you

00:28:39 ◼   ► slide the iPad on top of it. And then there's this single USB-C connector

00:28:44 ◼   ► that has to be attached to the iPad Pro.

00:28:48 ◼   ► And the reason why you need to plug it in is, it is effectively

00:28:52 ◼   ► acting as a hub. So you plug in a single

00:28:56 ◼   ► USB-C connector into the iPad, and then you get access to all of the

00:29:00 ◼   ► other ports. So again, this is a stand that is also a hub.

00:29:04 ◼   ► And from a design perspective, I think it's kind of genius. I really like the idea.

00:29:08 ◼   ► Instead of being a useless piece of aluminum that is only like

00:29:12 ◼   ► this object that has no function, in addition to being a stand, it's also a hub.

00:29:18 ◼   ► So I kind of dig the idea, personally. And I also like the build quality of it.

00:29:24 ◼   ► It's made of aluminum and plastic, it's chunky, it's heavy, I mean it weighs almost 3kg.

00:29:30 ◼   ► So it's not, like you can tell that it's not cheap. Doesn't slide off your desk,

00:29:37 ◼   ► you put the iPad onto the magnetic thing and you try to touch the screen, it doesn't wobble.

00:29:44 ◼   ► I tested this by touching with my fingers, like really, like even more aggressively than

00:29:50 ◼   ► usual, using the Apple Pencil, like it stays in place, it's really well done, it's really

00:29:55 ◼   ► well made. The quality of the Qi charging pad is good, there's a power button on the

00:30:01 ◼   ► side that lets you turn off the whole unit and just use it as a stand. Obviously there's

00:30:06 ◼   ► Because in addition to the price, the downside is you want to get access to all of these

00:30:12 ◼   ► ports, you're going to have to use an external power brick for it.

00:30:18 ◼   ► And so there's this chunky power brick that you need to find room for behind your desk

00:30:23 ◼   ► or whatever, because this is a powered hub.

00:30:27 ◼   ► I really like it.

00:30:29 ◼   ► Let aside the conversation about the timing and the price.

00:30:32 ◼   ► So imagine for a second that timing is not a concern and money is not an issue.

00:30:39 ◼   ► As an iPad accessory, as I wrote in the story, I think it definitely is perhaps the most

00:30:45 ◼   ► interesting iPad accessory for desktop usage that I've ever tried.

00:30:52 ◼   ► I love the fact that you get access to a bunch of ports, I love the customizable viewing

00:30:58 ◼   ► angle and I love the support for the two orientations. So you can use

00:31:04 ◼   ► the iPad in landscape or you can rotate it to portrait, which is another thing

00:31:08 ◼   ► that all Stands do, and I love that the viewing angle is really customizable

00:31:14 ◼   ► from 0 to 120 degrees. So you can almost tilt it all the way back, sort of facing

00:31:21 ◼   ► out from you. I like it, I love working with it and I'm actually trying it

00:31:26 ◼   ► as a setup at my desk for a couple of weeks and see how it goes. But obviously, in order to like it,

00:31:33 ◼   ► like, this is a product made for a very specific type of user, right? The kind of person that

00:31:39 ◼   ► really considers the iPad Pro as their primary computer and would like to have a sort of a

00:31:46 ◼   ► quote-unquote "workstation setup". So you set it up at a desk, and then you have a Magic Keyboard,

00:31:52 ◼   ► perhaps, or, you know, another Bluetooth keyboard, then you have a Magic Trackpad,

00:31:56 ◼   ► which is almost kind of required with this accessory, because it's the, I mean,

00:32:02 ◼   ► the Magic Trackpad is really the only external trackpad option you have on

00:32:06 ◼   ► iPadOS at the moment. You could use a mouse, but the trackpad is... I mean, you can use a mouse, but, you know,

00:32:11 ◼   ► it's kind of sad. And so, and also, when you, I had this in the story, when you

00:32:18 ◼   ► factor in the cost of a Magic Keyboard and the Magic Trackpad, it's not a

00:32:22 ◼   ► a $400 purchase anymore. It's more like a $630 purchase at that point. So you got to

00:32:29 ◼   ► keep that in mind unless you do have a spare trackpad and a spare keyboard, obviously.

00:32:34 ◼   ► So it's impossible to just say, yeah, you should get this product right now. I don't

00:32:40 ◼   ► think you should get it. I don't think most people should buy this product right now.

00:32:44 ◼   ► I think because I did try myself to buy this product, right? So before Kensington got in

00:32:50 ◼   ► touch a few weeks ago. Right after CES, I tried to buy this product on my own, and I

00:32:58 ◼   ► couldn't because the Kensington website apparently only works in the United States, or you can

00:33:03 ◼   ► only buy this product online in the United States. And then I thought, "Okay, I can

00:33:07 ◼   ► get John to buy it from me." But then I thought about it, and I was like, "You know

00:33:12 ◼   ► what? I don't want to bother John with this other accessory. We'll see what happens.

00:33:16 ◼   ► we'll see when it comes out and we'll reconsider." And then Kensington got in touch with me and

00:33:21 ◼   ► was like, "Okay, sure, send me a review unit. That's good timing." But I cannot generally

00:33:26 ◼   ► come out and say, "Max Stories Readers, buy this thing." The timing of it is like it's

00:33:32 ◼   ► the worst possible timing right now. And it's also too expensive. But if you happen to be

00:33:40 ◼   ► that kind of crazy individual who's like,

00:33:44 ◼   ► "I need to have the absolute best for my iPad Pro.

00:33:48 ◼   ► I love my iPad Pro so much.

00:33:49 ◼   ► I work on it 10 hours a day,

00:33:52 ◼   ► and I really want to have this desktop setup."

00:33:55 ◼   ► And you use a bunch of accessories

00:33:56 ◼   ► that you want to plug into the iPad Pro.

00:33:58 ◼   ► And you like the idea of charging your iPhone and AirPods

00:34:01 ◼   ► at the same time, then, yeah,

00:34:04 ◼   ► this is a very nicely designed product.

00:34:07 ◼   ► So, I really like it. I really, really do like it. Even though, like, as I wrote in the story,

00:34:16 ◼   ► the USB standards that it uses could have been a little more modern, for example. Or perhaps,

00:34:23 ◼   ► in a future revision, it would be nice if it wasn't two Qi charging pads, but perhaps a MagSafe

00:34:31 ◼   ► dock instead of standard Qi. But right now I really like it and I am going to use it,

00:34:38 ◼   ► but it's impossible for me to honestly recommend it to most people.

00:34:41 ◼   ► If you didn't like this, no, it's not good for anyone.

00:34:45 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:34:46 ◼   ► Right, because you are the most prime of prime customer for this product, right? Like,

00:34:51 ◼   ► this should be exactly for you. I have somewhere to put my iPad on my desk and now I'm using my

00:34:58 ◼   ► my iPad on my desk. And I've got all my stuff around me and it's awesome. So I have a selection

00:35:05 ◼   ► of questions for you. How strong is the connection? Like what is actually holding it up?

00:35:10 ◼   ► It's very strong. It's a combination of the magnets in this plastic sort of tray that

00:35:18 ◼   ► you attach the iPad to and there's the USB-C connector that has this plastic enclosure

00:35:25 ◼   ► a little clip that sort of covers, it's like a one centimeter plastic clip that holds the

00:35:34 ◼   ► display in place.

00:35:36 ◼   ► Explain to me the process of actually attaching it though, because I don't understand how

00:35:41 ◼   ► you put it on there.

00:35:43 ◼   ► You slide it in from the, in this case landscape mode, you slide it in from the left side and

00:35:49 ◼   ► you can feel the magnets kicking in but then you also plug it into the USB-C connector.

00:35:55 ◼   ► Okay. Does it feel like there's any stress points? Because I look at something like this and I wonder

00:36:03 ◼   ► like could you knock it off and break off the USB-C connector or something? No, that was one of my

00:36:08 ◼   ► concerns like is it one of those accessories that you gotta do one of those weird motions

00:36:14 ◼   ► to attach it or to take it out and it feels like you're gonna break it but no it doesn't feel that

00:36:20 ◼   ► way thankfully and the plastic is not like this thin and like it's a very chunky plastic tray

00:36:27 ◼   ► that you're attaching the iPad to and no it doesn't feel like it has any stress points

00:36:32 ◼   ► you don't have to do like it doesn't really require any particular pressure or dexterity

00:36:38 ◼   ► to attach it or to take it out. It's pretty easy and it feels good to do. It feels okay to do.

00:36:46 ◼   ► In the story that you wrote on Mac Stories you referenced how it's like funny looking back a

00:36:53 ◼   ► year ago because you'd published the big article that you wrote about the modular computer where

00:36:57 ◼   ► you were talking about how you're using your iPad at a desk and a couple of weeks later the

00:37:01 ◼   ► Magic Keyboard for iPad came out and then you no longer use the desk setup anymore and you just use

00:37:07 ◼   ► your iPad in a laptop arrangement. Why or how could this product take you away from that?

00:37:14 ◼   ► That's the thing, the Magic Keyboard was so good that I was using the Magic Keyboard

00:37:20 ◼   ► at my desk with like the keyboard on the desk and me sitting in front of it because of...

00:37:28 ◼   ► It's like a laptop.

00:37:29 ◼   ► Like yeah, because it was like a laptop and because the integration of the keyboard and

00:37:33 ◼   ► trackpad was so good. And this is the first product that I've tried. I have tried to go

00:37:40 ◼   ► back to using the Magic Keyboard when I want to work from the sofa or when I'm laying in

00:37:45 ◼   ► bed but then have something else on my desk. I've tried a bunch of different ways and none

00:37:50 ◼   ► of them was as nicely integrated as the Studio Doc is. And I think it's a combination of

00:37:58 ◼   ► rotation and the viewing angle and like this is the first time in almost a year

00:38:05 ◼   ► because I got the Magic Keyboard in May, so 10 months ago, this is the first time

00:38:10 ◼   ► that I'm like yeah I could see myself using this instead of the Magic Keyboard

00:38:14 ◼   ► all day long so I kind of want to try and go back to the way it used to be which

00:38:19 ◼   ► was like sometimes I'm working at my desk and then when I don't want to sit at my

00:38:23 ◼   ► desk anymore I take the iPad out I put it in a case and I have a laptop and I

00:38:27 ◼   ► can go work, especially now that it's starting to feel nice to be outside on

00:38:31 ◼   ► the balcony, like I can work outside or I can work from the sofa. So

00:38:36 ◼   ► kind of go back to that really modular, as I said many times, approach of like

00:38:42 ◼   ► the iPad, you can become a desktop computer or now you are a laptop because

00:38:48 ◼   ► you are inside the Magic Keyboard. So it's nice to go back to that. But I mean

00:38:53 ◼   ► I've been doing this for three days, so it's kind of too early to tell.

00:38:56 ◼   ► But other accessories that I tried to fit into this sort of approach before,

00:39:03 ◼   ► none of them lasted more than a day.

00:39:06 ◼   ► So I think it's going well so far as an experiment.

00:39:10 ◼   ► This product has a bunch of ports, which is awesome.

00:39:14 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:39:16 ◼   ► But do you feel like the iPad Pro can actually really utilize these ports?

00:39:23 ◼   ► Like you could put 25 USB ports on an iPad, but I don't feel like I could get any use out of that, you know?

00:39:28 ◼   ► Sure. Well, now that becomes a personal question, obviously.

00:39:34 ◼   ► How many accessories do you have that you need to plug in and either charge or connect to your iPad Pro for other reasons?

00:39:43 ◼   ► And so usually, there's like two things that I'm going to use this product for.

00:39:50 ◼   ► One of them is charge my Kindle because it's so convenient to have that USB-C port on the

00:39:57 ◼   ► side and I have a short cable that I bought from Amazon.

00:40:03 ◼   ► Like it's a USB-C to micro USB cable to charge my Kindle Oasis.

00:40:08 ◼   ► And so for that it's kind of perfect because I can just plug it in the side of the Studio

00:40:12 ◼   ► Dock and it charges my Kindle.

00:40:13 ◼   ► Man, Kindle should get Qi charging.

00:40:15 ◼   ► Yeah, or USB-C, you know.

00:40:17 ◼   ► Nah, just Qi.

00:40:18 ◼   ► Just go straight to Qi.

00:40:19 ◼   ► I mean, you know, I'm not the biggest fan,

00:40:21 ◼   ► but it would charge super fast,

00:40:23 ◼   ► but I just feel like that,

00:40:24 ◼   ► it's just something about just the book thing,

00:40:27 ◼   ► putting the book down and it charged,

00:40:29 ◼   ► just seems kind of nice.

00:40:30 ◼   ► - But I do have a pop socket on the Kindle,

00:40:32 ◼   ► so I'm not sure if it, even if it, you know.

00:40:34 ◼   ► - That will stop you, I'll tell you that.

00:40:36 ◼   ► - What is this thing like when you take the iPad off of it

00:40:39 ◼   ► and go walk around or work somewhere else?

00:40:41 ◼   ► I mean, you just have like this giant metal sculpture

00:40:43 ◼   ► on your desk now.

00:40:44 ◼   ► - Yeah, it's kind of stupid.

00:40:45 ◼   ► You have this metal thing on your desk

00:40:46 ◼   ► black plastic tray floating on top of it. That's basically what it is. It looks kind

00:40:53 ◼   ► of empty. Yeah, but when your monitor is off, your monitor is off. But back to the ports,

00:40:59 ◼   ► the other thing that I do is also charge and put new music on my Walkman music player so

00:41:06 ◼   ► I can access my local music library wirelessly from my iPad because I have this external

00:41:14 ◼   ► SSD connected to my Mac Mini so I can leave the Mac Mini turned on with the display turned off.

00:41:19 ◼   ► I can manage my library from the iPad using... what am I using now? File Explorer, I think it's called.

00:41:27 ◼   ► It's this third-party app for connecting to my Mac Mini via SMB because I find the connection,

00:41:34 ◼   ► the SMB connection from files to be kind of unreliable. And I can also download music on my

00:41:39 ◼   ► iPad and copy it to the Walkman, because I can connect the Walkman via USB. And usually, like

00:41:47 ◼   ► right now for example, we are, because of COVID, we are in the so-called red zone, and if you want to go,

00:41:56 ◼   ► if you need to go out for particular reasons, like you want to go grocery shopping or you need to go

00:42:01 ◼   ► to the doctor, you gotta print out this document and sign a document that says, you know, my name

00:42:07 ◼   ► is this one and I live here and I'm going to this place for this particular reason.

00:42:12 ◼   ► And if the authorities, if the police stops you on the way, you gotta hand over this document.

00:42:18 ◼   ► But we don't have a printer at home. Thankfully though, right by the end of the street, there's

00:42:23 ◼   ► like this shop that, it's like an office supply type of store, and among various things you

00:42:30 ◼   ► can go there and print out your documents if you don't have, because so many people

00:42:34 ◼   ► don't have a printer anymore. And so I need to bring a USB thumb drive with me to print

00:42:41 ◼   ► out whatever documents I want to print. And so I also have this thumb drive that I can

00:42:45 ◼   ► connect to the StudioDoc. In fact, I just did it today to transfer PDF documents to

00:42:51 ◼   ► it. And what I find really useless, though, is the HDMI port. Because first of all, my

00:43:02 ◼   ► Ultrafine 4K display does not have a HDMI input, so I would probably need some kind

00:43:09 ◼   ► of HDMI to DisplayPort adapter if I want to use it.

00:43:14 ◼   ► HDMI is so pointless on this thing.

00:43:17 ◼   ► But the broader point is, it's pointless right now, because this is the kind of accessory

00:43:23 ◼   ► that begs for real multi-display support on iPad.

00:43:28 ◼   ► So like instead of looking at my iPad elevated, I'll just turn to the right a little bit and

00:43:32 ◼   ► look at it on a monitor instead.

00:43:35 ◼   ► So like it doesn't really make sense, like oh yes, I can turn and look at the same exact

00:43:40 ◼   ► home screen in two different places.

00:43:43 ◼   ► So it doesn't really make sense.

00:43:44 ◼   ► In the future it would be extra nice though to say, okay, here's my iPad on the left side

00:43:51 ◼   ► elevated, thanks to the Studio Doc.

00:43:54 ◼   ► And on the right side, I can drag over a window or a split view, like I can actually use the

00:44:01 ◼   ► external monitor for additional content, not for mirroring.

00:44:06 ◼   ► So it's pointless right now, maybe it could become useful in the future, maybe, I don't

00:44:12 ◼   ► know.

00:44:13 ◼   ► But so, the USB ports are useful for me personally, because I'm kind of weird and I have a Kindle

00:44:19 ◼   ► and I have a Walkman, I have all these old school accessories that I use for pleasure.

00:44:24 ◼   ► And obviously there's also like I can use my Walkman as a USB DAC so I can use my Sony

00:44:32 ◼   ► headphones with the iPad.

00:44:35 ◼   ► But like I said, most people probably don't need all of these ports.

00:44:42 ◼   ► And yeah, that's it.

00:44:43 ◼   ► If you're also strange like me and have a bunch of accessories then yeah, it's fantastic

00:44:49 ◼   ► to have all those ports.

00:44:51 ◼   ► people will probably be fine with just one additional port.

00:44:57 ◼   ► This thing seems cool but a little bit potentially ahead of its time.

00:45:02 ◼   ► Yeah, I think that's a fine description. Yes, it's a wishful accessory for the kind of iPad

00:45:08 ◼   ► feature that doesn't exist yet. And it's, I mean, that's crazy. It's also very expensive.

00:45:13 ◼   ► Like when I was talking about it with Sylvia, she was like, "Hey, how does that thing that

00:45:17 ◼   ► you received costs. I was like, well it's $400 and then if you want to add the Magic

00:45:21 ◼   ► Keyboard and trackpad it's like $600. So like, well, she said, are there people who are going

00:45:27 ◼   ► to offend you for reviewing that type of product? I was like, probably, but also I think it's

00:45:36 ◼   ► pretty cool. The Magic Keyboard is really expensive as well. Sure, but, you know, it's

00:45:42 ◼   ► made by Apple, so there's the cost of... it's made by the premium brand. And also

00:45:48 ◼   ► it's... I mean, I don't honestly have a justification for the Magic Keyboard's

00:45:53 ◼   ► pricing. It is at least, I think, more immediately useful. Yeah. And more

00:45:58 ◼   ► understandably useful than this product is for more people. Like, the Magic

00:46:04 ◼   ► Keyboard really does unlock a different type of iPad experience, like, immediately.

00:46:08 ◼   ► Like, it really does. And I think one that more people are comfortable

00:46:12 ◼   ► with it right because it makes the iPad more laptop like I don't know how many

00:46:15 ◼   ► people honestly looking to make their iPad more desktop like probably not that

00:46:20 ◼   ► many which is probably also why this cost $400 yeah yeah it's a small market

00:46:27 ◼   ► fit here's the thing for me honestly like this would be a really interesting

00:46:31 ◼   ► product for me if I could adjust the height oh yes that's the the major

00:46:38 ◼   ► your complaint about this it's not height adjustable at all yeah good point

00:46:44 ◼   ► like that's that's like a big thing because what's the height of it off the

00:46:48 ◼   ► desk so the bottom edge of the iPad is about 15 centimeters above the desk

00:46:56 ◼   ► that's nothing yeah I'm looking down at that yeah still like I have a 15

00:47:03 ◼   ► centimeter ruler in front of me right now and like I look I'd still be looking

00:47:08 ◼   ► down even at the top of the iPad.

00:47:09 ◼   ► So I'd have to put the stand on top of a box or something.

00:47:13 ◼   ► Or on top of a Mac mini.

00:47:16 ◼   ► So you have like your Mac set up and your iPad set up sitting on top of it.

00:47:19 ◼   ► I'll be worried.

00:47:21 ◼   ► This thing would just eventually go right through the top of that Mac mini.

00:47:24 ◼   ► So all of this, all of this, um, this, this, this, uh, testing this accessory,

00:47:31 ◼   ► it led me to some modifications to my setup.

00:47:37 ◼   ► Which also...

00:47:38 ◼   ► Kickstance!

00:47:39 ◼   ► No, no, no, no, no.

00:47:40 ◼   ► I mean in the sense that...

00:47:42 ◼   ► So for the longest time, and by longest time I mean since October 2018,

00:47:47 ◼   ► since I got the Mac Mini,

00:47:49 ◼   ► my desk, which is a small desk because we live in a small apartment at the moment,

00:47:54 ◼   ► my desk was configured in a way that was like the main computer

00:48:00 ◼   ► and the additional one. So more space was dedicated to the Mac Mini and the Ultrafine,

00:48:07 ◼   ► and less space to where I would sit with the iPad. And I am now trying to reverse that.

00:48:15 ◼   ► So I switched, moved things around, and now there's more space dedicated to the Kensington Studio dock,

00:48:23 ◼   ► the Compact Magic Keyboard, and the Magic Trackpad for the iPad Pro, and the Mac Mini and the Ultrafine

00:48:30 ◼   ► are tucked in a corner of the desk because I only use them twice a week, effectively.

00:48:37 ◼   ► So I'm trying that. More space for the computer that I use more during the day. But I have

00:48:43 ◼   ► a question. Is there any kind... So you know how, I think I mentioned this, a while back

00:48:50 ◼   ► I bought this little accessory that I stuck under my desk to... It's like a headphone

00:48:57 ◼   ► holder. What's it called? It's like a hook that you stick with. By the Elevation Lab

00:49:04 ◼   ► people? Yes, the Elevation Lab people. I bought that and it's genius. I love it so that I

00:49:09 ◼   ► can keep two pairs of headphones under my desk. They are within reach but they don't

00:49:17 ◼   ► bother me visually or they don't get in the way because they're just lying around. The

00:49:22 ◼   ► Yes. It's super well done. I love it. And it cheats like, what, $15 or something on

00:49:29 ◼   ► Amazon. Now, is there a similar thing but for hiding a Magic Keyboard and a trackpad

00:49:39 ◼   ► under your desk? Does anybody make some kind of, I don't know, tray?

00:49:43 ◼   ► I was going to say, this is called a keyboard tray.

00:49:46 ◼   ► Keyboard tray.

00:49:47 ◼   ► Really? People make them?

00:49:48 ◼   ► Well, you're more likely to get a desk that has an integrated keyboard tray.

00:49:52 ◼   ► No, I want to stick it under my desk.

00:49:55 ◼   ► What does "stick it" mean? How do you want to get it?

00:49:57 ◼   ► You want to then take it out and put it on top of the desk? Is that what you want to do?

00:50:03 ◼   ► No, no, no, no. I just want the tray to hold the keyboard in place,

00:50:06 ◼   ► and then when I want to get the keyboard I can just, you know...

00:50:09 ◼   ► Oh yeah, there's a bunch of these on Amazon, it looks like.

00:50:13 ◼   ► Keyboard drawers and keyboard platforms, all sorts of stuff.

00:50:16 ◼   ► some screw in, some clamp on, you got lots of options.

00:50:20 ◼   ► I want it to be like the headphone one, that it just uses tape to stick to the bottom of the desk.

00:50:26 ◼   ► Well, you're gonna be clamping or screwing things in it looks like.

00:50:30 ◼   ► I don't want to use a clamp though.

00:50:32 ◼   ► I'm sure you can find the kind of thing that you're looking for.

00:50:35 ◼   ► Do I have to make my own?

00:50:36 ◼   ► I mean you could, that would be an interesting thing to look at.

00:50:41 ◼   ► Well, I'm gonna have to do some research here.

00:50:45 ◼   ► There's a ton of them. Okay. So yeah, I really like this product, but you shouldn't buy it,

00:50:52 ◼   ► especially right now. I'll tell you what you should buy instead. The 12 South Hoverbar Duo

00:50:59 ◼   ► and a USB-C dock. Ah, this is the new stand. I have the Hoverbar Duo. Okay. It's great.

00:51:09 ◼   ► like it's exactly what it says it is. It is a stand that like, I mean it has some wobble to it

00:51:16 ◼   ► but I don't think that's a problem because I don't really know who's putting their iPad in a stand

00:51:21 ◼   ► and then still tapping it. Like you would, you should move to a mouse or a trackpad if you're

00:51:26 ◼   ► going to have your iPad elevated in front of you. Like I mean you could do the occasional thing like

00:51:31 ◼   ► you know maybe you just have it off to the side and you want to just tap something every now and

00:51:34 ◼   ► then but like if you're going to be like typing out an email like don't do it on the screen in

00:51:39 ◼   ► in front of you that's madness right like you should be doing it on a keyboard but you

00:51:44 ◼   ► get this and you just plug in a USB-C dock to it you have all of I mean you have to do

00:51:50 ◼   ► a little bit of cable management but that's not the hardest thing in the world you'll

00:51:53 ◼   ► have all of the ports that you want and you'll have a vastly more maneuverable iPad this

00:52:00 ◼   ► thing goes super high right like I'm six foot one and I can put this thing on my desk and

00:52:06 ◼   ► have it at my eye height and still could go higher. It's great. And then you just if you

00:52:10 ◼   ► got I use the OWC USB-C dock, which is 120 bucks, plus this thing, which is 90, you're

00:52:17 ◼   ► at half the price with I think pretty much all of the functionality, maybe you want to

00:52:20 ◼   ► get yourself a Qi charger as well. And then you're done. It's not as nice looking. Right?

00:52:26 ◼   ► It hasn't got that overall Apple aesthetic, you're going to be in a bit of a janky, like

00:52:30 ◼   ► world but ultimately it is I think more accessible, more flexible of a system than this admittedly

00:52:43 ◼   ► very nicely put together product.

00:52:46 ◼   ► But you know you're using a clamp right like it hasn't got the beautiful magnets that you

00:52:49 ◼   ► put it in and you have to then still plug in something via USB-C every time you want

00:52:55 ◼   ► to sit down in front of it but you're kind of you know it's not that far away from what

00:52:59 ◼   ► you're doing to plug this thing in. I just think that this is really cool and maybe you

00:53:06 ◼   ► want the aesthetics over the usability. I'm not casting any aspersions, but just for me

00:53:13 ◼   ► personally what I want is the maneuverability that this thing gives, the Hoverbar Duo would

00:53:20 ◼   ► give and then I can just use a USB-C dock and I'm perfectly fine. This just works better

00:53:26 ◼   ► for me I just want to put that out there as an option for people just because this hoverbar

00:53:30 ◼   ► duo is really good. It's a very very good product. It works just as you would expect

00:53:34 ◼   ► and want it to. Very well. That is my recommendation. Provided that, so if two things happen, if

00:53:40 ◼   ► one, the upcoming iPad Pro doesn't completely destroy this Kensington thing because it just

00:53:47 ◼   ► won't work anymore, which I don't know, but maybe.

00:53:50 ◼   ► And if Apple add more stuff to iPadOS that could potentially make better use of all of

00:53:59 ◼   ► the ports on that thing, I think this is a cool product if it's what you're looking for.

00:54:04 ◼   ► Like if you're looking for a clean aesthetic on your desk and you want to put your iPad

00:54:07 ◼   ► into a thing, this is it.

00:54:09 ◼   ► Like maybe you could just get like, you know, I have my iMac on a stand, like on my

00:54:16 ◼   ► My iMac foot sits on top of this big thing.

00:54:19 ◼   ► I don't remember who makes this one, but there are lots of products.

00:54:22 ◼   ► Think 12 South even make one.

00:54:24 ◼   ► Just buy one of those things, put the Kensington thing on top and you've got the eye height

00:54:28 ◼   ► that you want and it all looks nice.

00:54:29 ◼   ► It's up to you.

00:54:30 ◼   ► I just want to put that out there as another option.

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00:56:15 ◼   ► - So Federico, would you like to explain this topic

00:56:18 ◼   ► that you came up with?

00:56:20 ◼   ► - All right, so I had this idea for a fun thought exercise

00:56:25 ◼   ► that we could do on the show.

00:56:27 ◼   ► It's a very simple question.

00:56:29 ◼   ► So if the iPhone, as we know it, came out today

00:56:33 ◼   ► for the first time, what hardware or software features

00:56:38 ◼   ► would probably not make the cut?

00:56:41 ◼   ► So the idea is, what are some features of our iPhones

00:56:46 ◼   ► that we feel like Apple has to keep around and maintain

00:56:52 ◼   ► because they are legacy features and people are used to them?

00:56:57 ◼   ► But if they had the chance, they would get rid of them

00:57:00 ◼   ► right away.

00:57:01 ◼   ► That was the idea.

00:57:02 ◼   ► And so I thought we could each come out with a list

00:57:07 ◼   ► of things that we feel like maybe, you know,

00:57:10 ◼   ► realistically this thing wouldn't exist in 2021.

00:57:14 ◼   ► And so I assume we are going to round robin this, I think.

00:57:18 ◼   ► - Yeah, why not?

00:57:19 ◼   ► - Why not?

00:57:20 ◼   ► And I'm gonna go first.

00:57:21 ◼   ► Most of my features are,

00:57:24 ◼   ► all my features are software ones

00:57:26 ◼   ► and I just have a hardware one.

00:57:28 ◼   ► So my first one is,

00:57:30 ◼   ► If the iPhone with iOS would come out today,

00:57:33 ◼   ► you probably wouldn't be able to share shortcuts

00:57:37 ◼   ► with other people.

00:57:38 ◼   ► And I have a feeling that Apple really dislikes

00:57:43 ◼   ► the idea of people sharing effectively

00:57:47 ◼   ► like custom code with each other.

00:57:50 ◼   ► I say this because I heard via, you know,

00:57:54 ◼   ► these mythical creatures that you find around W3.

00:57:59 ◼   ► WWDC years ago that this was one of the features on the potential chopping block.

00:58:05 ◼   ► After the, you know, when Apple started integrating shortcuts with iOS, obviously we know how

00:58:14 ◼   ► that went.

00:58:15 ◼   ► Apple put a bunch of restrictions in place, sharing and installing shortcuts made by other

00:58:20 ◼   ► people is disabled by default.

00:58:23 ◼   ► You gotta go into settings, you gotta allow this option called "Allow untrusted shortcuts".

00:58:32 ◼   ► And there's a whole more stringent security mechanism in place for sharing and installing

00:58:37 ◼   ► shortcuts made by others.

00:58:39 ◼   ► So I think if the iPhone were to come out today with no legacy expectations from people,

00:58:45 ◼   ► I don't think you would be able to share shortcuts.

00:58:48 ◼   ► It definitely feels like something that if Workflow had never existed even, they would

00:58:53 ◼   ► never Apple never would have built this but themselves like I can't even imagine that

00:58:58 ◼   ► they would have ever even maybe even not ever I can imagine not even thinking about a directory

00:59:04 ◼   ► like it you know.

00:59:05 ◼   ► And you know I mean when you share shortcuts you get these iCloud.com links and I don't

00:59:12 ◼   ► know I don't know if you know or if our listeners know but it's like among shortcuts power users

00:59:20 ◼   ► We all know that the iCloud.com link,

00:59:22 ◼   ► you can actually reverse engineer and look at the API

00:59:26 ◼   ► that puts together the shared shortcut.

00:59:28 ◼   ► That is how I can extract things like the icon

00:59:32 ◼   ► that a shortcut uses from the iCloud.com link.

00:59:37 ◼   ► Because if you call on the right web API,

00:59:40 ◼   ► you can get a bunch of information,

00:59:42 ◼   ► a bunch of details about the shortcut itself.

00:59:44 ◼   ► So like, I'm pretty sure that Apple doesn't like it.

00:59:47 ◼   ► Sometimes you say things on this show that I wish for your own sake you didn't say.

00:59:53 ◼   ► That's one of them, right? Like, if you like that you can do that, you shouldn't say it.

01:00:00 ◼   ► We all know it. You know, sometimes I just kind of like to steer the pot and see what happens.

01:00:07 ◼   ► So here am I steering and steering and seeing what happens. But yeah,

01:00:13 ◼   ► you can do that and I don't think Apple likes it, so.

01:00:16 ◼   ► I have my list of things I think are a little bit more controversial maybe and or like I'm not sure

01:00:24 ◼   ► about really any of them they're just like questions that I have like would you like do we

01:00:31 ◼   ► think they would so my first one is if if the iPhone was new today I believe that there would be

01:00:38 ◼   ► And again, a lot of these things require the past having happened.

01:00:45 ◼   ► Let me explain.

01:00:46 ◼   ► So paid upfront apps.

01:00:49 ◼   ► Going right there is the first one.

01:00:51 ◼   ► So all apps are free with in-app purchases or subscriptions.

01:00:57 ◼   ► Now of course to do this, you need the history of what's happened beforehand.

01:01:02 ◼   ► Of knowing how the app store went.

01:01:05 ◼   ► So pretty much all of mine are that kind of thing.

01:01:09 ◼   ► It's like, to have known the history will get you to this point.

01:01:13 ◼   ► So it's kind of like, if they were starting over is more my thinking.

01:01:16 ◼   ► If they started over today, what would they do?

01:01:19 ◼   ► And I think this is one of them.

01:01:20 ◼   ► Because ultimately, I think that Apple obviously much prefers subscriptions and want people

01:01:26 ◼   ► to go the subscription route, because that's good for their business in a bunch of ways.

01:01:31 ◼   ► I think it would be easier for everyone involved at this point if all apps were free and they

01:01:38 ◼   ► did in-app purchase for features or subscriptions for long-term features.

01:01:45 ◼   ► Because I think that the paid upfront model is difficult for developers now, right?

01:01:52 ◼   ► Because of the in-app purchase model becoming so prevalent.

01:01:57 ◼   ► Because I was thinking, my main point of this is the business model of the App Store would

01:02:03 ◼   ► be different, like 100%, right?

01:02:07 ◼   ► If the App Store was to go over with the App Store, it would not look like how it does

01:02:11 ◼   ► now from a business perspective.

01:02:13 ◼   ► And I think this would be one of the things that would potentially be up for decision

01:02:19 ◼   ► there.

01:02:20 ◼   ► Because I was thinking, would they maybe have no free apps?

01:02:23 ◼   ► I was like, no, they would definitely have free apps because all the money comes from

01:02:25 ◼   ► in-app purchases, so something like that. That's the perfect pick. I totally think

01:02:31 ◼   ► if like if they were starting over today they wouldn't even consider paid upfront

01:02:36 ◼   ► apps. Like everything would be free by default and then it would just be a

01:02:39 ◼   ► bunch of different flavors on how to unlock extra stuff, right, whether it's

01:02:44 ◼   ► subscription or in-app purchases. Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. I'm gonna go with a

01:02:49 ◼   ► hardware first and I'm gonna say the silent ringer switch on the side of the

01:02:54 ◼   ► phone. Ah, okay, why? Because they've gotten rid of it on the iPad. You know, remember

01:03:01 ◼   ► on the iPad you could also make it the screen rotation lock switch, which I love

01:03:05 ◼   ► that feature of it, then you could change it back and forth. But it's like when I

01:03:08 ◼   ► look at the phone, like what is here that makes me think about this as a telephone

01:03:15 ◼   ► more than anything is that switch. And if the phone would be coming out today, you

01:03:20 ◼   ► could just do this in software. Plus a bunch of Android phones do this in software and it's

01:03:23 ◼   ► totally fine. So I'm always surprised that it has remained as long as it has.

01:03:28 ◼   ► So I'm going to put it on the chopping block.

01:03:30 ◼   ► Yeah, because like just holding down the volume down button is perfectly fine.

01:03:35 ◼   ► And as you said, that's how most Android phones do it.

01:03:37 ◼   ► They don't have a dedicated switch.

01:03:39 ◼   ► You just hold the volume down button and it just goes straight to vibrate.

01:03:42 ◼   ► Because I know people are going to be like, "But Steven, what about when I'm in a

01:03:46 ◼   ► meeting?" It's like, no, no.

01:03:47 ◼   ► Like, it's not that you can't put your phone on silent.

01:03:50 ◼   ► Right.

01:03:51 ◼   ► It's just there's a different way to do it, which doesn't require a physical switch on the phone to do it.

01:03:56 ◼   ► Yeah, I like it.

01:03:57 ◼   ► The Robin has come all the way back around again.

01:04:00 ◼   ► My second pick is also a hardware one.

01:04:03 ◼   ► Now this will probably not be appreciated by some people.

01:04:09 ◼   ► Let's just say Federico, that is a blanket statement for this entire segment.

01:04:12 ◼   ► Is that these are probably 20 things that will not be appreciated by many people.

01:04:17 ◼   ► Get that one right out of the way.

01:04:19 ◼   ► You're right. You're right. You're right. That works for all the picks. If Apple were

01:04:25 ◼   ► to release the iPhone today, I don't think they would use a lightning connector. I think

01:04:32 ◼   ► they would like to use USB-C. I find, I think the USB-C story started out, was kind of confusing

01:04:40 ◼   ► years ago, and then it got better over the years. And now I feel like I, like many other

01:04:48 ◼   ► people would love to have USB-C on everything, and it annoys me that my iPad Pro uses USB-C,

01:04:58 ◼   ► is compatible with other USB-C accessories in my life, and I still gotta use that lightning

01:05:05 ◼   ► connector for my phone and my AirPods. My AirPods, it's not so bad, because I can just

01:05:14 ◼   ► put them on a charging pad and they charge fast. But with the phone, man, it's just so

01:05:19 ◼   ► annoying that it's not USB-C. And I would like it to be the same. And I think there's

01:05:25 ◼   ► a bunch of reasons why Apple doesn't want it to change. And I guess the most important

01:05:31 ◼   ► one is the mess that happened years ago when they switched from the 30-pin dock connector

01:05:38 ◼   ► to lightning, like that whole story lasted like a year of people complaining and complaining

01:05:45 ◼   ► about the switch and "oh my god I have to get a new cable" and so I feel like we gotta

01:05:50 ◼   ► stick with lightning until they eventually make a portless iPhone.

01:05:56 ◼   ► Nooooo!

01:05:57 ◼   ► Well I think, I was thinking about what you were saying when I saw your lightning connector,

01:06:02 ◼   ► well I think it was just they wouldn't even have, there would be no connector.

01:06:06 ◼   ► if they were starting again today, I don't think they would start with USB-C.

01:06:09 ◼   ► But in 2021, 2021, I don't know. Like maybe in a couple of years, I don't think right now they are

01:06:17 ◼   ► necessarily ready. I think they maybe want to have like a MagSafe standard that supports

01:06:25 ◼   ► even higher charging rates maybe. And I don't know, are they really ready for a portless iPhone

01:06:35 ◼   ► in 2021. So I think if they were to do it in 2021, it would be USB-C. Like if they had

01:06:41 ◼   ► to do it without the past, like assume that Lightning didn't exist. If they still had

01:06:49 ◼   ► the 30-pin dock connector and they would say, "Okay, look, we got this giant connector on

01:06:54 ◼   ► the iPhone. Which new type of connector do we want to use? Do we want to make our own

01:07:00 ◼   ► or do we want to use USB-C?

01:07:01 ◼   ► And I think if that was the case, they would totally use USB-C.

01:07:04 ◼   ► I'm also going to go over hardware pick.

01:07:07 ◼   ► Just keep that train going.

01:07:11 ◼   ► Face ID.

01:07:12 ◼   ► Oh, yes. Yeah.

01:07:13 ◼   ► I think if Apple were making a phone, an iPhone today,

01:07:18 ◼   ► they wouldn't use face unlock.

01:07:21 ◼   ► They would use in-screen touch unlock.

01:07:23 ◼   ► I think that's how they would do it.

01:07:24 ◼   ► Either in-screen touch ID or power button touch ID or whatever.

01:07:28 ◼   ► I don't think you would do Face ID.

01:07:31 ◼   ► I think especially if you were doing it in 2021, right?

01:07:34 ◼   ► Why would you create now facial scanning?

01:07:38 ◼   ► It'd be a terrible idea because no one can use it.

01:07:41 ◼   ► So like Touch ID would be the way to go.

01:07:44 ◼   ► Hard to disagree here, obviously.

01:07:48 ◼   ► I think we will look back at Face ID in the future and be like, that was a mistake.

01:07:53 ◼   ► I do think it.

01:07:56 ◼   ► Do you think that they would have do in-screen touch because of the pandemic

01:08:00 ◼   ► and the mask issue or because now under screen touch is like a thing on a bunch

01:08:06 ◼   ► of Android phones and it seems to work pretty okay and that wasn't the case

01:08:09 ◼   ► when Face ID came out four years ago?

01:08:12 ◼   ► I do think both.

01:08:14 ◼   ► I think it's both things.

01:08:15 ◼   ► I think it's a combination of both things.

01:08:17 ◼   ► I think Touch ID like fingerprint is still more convenient in a lot of

01:08:24 ◼   ► situations and I'm sure is more reliable like in pretty much every you know like

01:08:31 ◼   ► the fact that you still can't like that your phone still has to be perfectly

01:08:36 ◼   ► level with your face right mm-hmm it's like I still can't believe that that

01:08:41 ◼   ► we're still doing that all these years in but yet my iPad doesn't seem to care

01:08:46 ◼   ► like I just don't there's still so many things I don't understand about the way

01:08:50 ◼   ► that face ID has been implemented. And, you know, I think we've spoken about on

01:08:54 ◼   ► this show before that we all think they'll go back to touch ID, whether

01:08:57 ◼   ► they'll keep face ID or not, we're not sure, but we think that they'll go back

01:09:00 ◼   ► to touch ID when, you know, there's like more cool tech. But I think if you were

01:09:05 ◼   ► starting today face ID would just be a mistake. I'm gonna go with a hardware

01:09:10 ◼   ► feature as well and I'm gonna say haptic touch. This is a good one. I feel like we

01:09:15 ◼   ► have haptic touch because we had 3d touch for a while starting with the

01:09:19 ◼   ► iPhone 6s and then it got it got phased out they're phasing out the same thing

01:09:24 ◼   ► on the watches in fact the new watch doesn't have it at all right is that

01:09:28 ◼   ► true? Correct yeah. And I think the tap something or like tap and hold until it

01:09:34 ◼   ► vibrates but it feels like you're having to push harder like that whole thing is

01:09:37 ◼   ► just the trigger between those two things is too narrow and I think it's a

01:09:42 ◼   ► little confusing and I think everything should just be you know a single tap or

01:09:47 ◼   ► tap and hold but like the weird like some things are tap and hold or some

01:09:52 ◼   ► things are haptic touch and it's very confusing and all that's too messy I

01:09:56 ◼   ► think and so simplifying continuing to simplify that touch stuff I think is

01:10:01 ◼   ► something Apple will do so I think starting over or starting now we wouldn't

01:10:05 ◼   ► see anything like that. You would never create peak and pop without force touch

01:10:10 ◼   ► or 3d touch whatever it's called you never would have made it right so like

01:10:14 ◼   ► Haptic Touch only exists because there was once this hardware feature.

01:10:19 ◼   ► Alright, I am back to a software pick, a feature of iOS that I don't think would exist in 2021

01:10:28 ◼   ► because I feel like it turned out to be a fad years ago.

01:10:32 ◼   ► Copy and paste. Wait.

01:10:34 ◼   ► You both are gonna make fun of me for choosing this one. The iMessage App Store.

01:10:41 ◼   ► Federica wants a shallow and closed framework.

01:10:44 ◼   ► I feel like history proved that the whole idea of installing like these custom extensions

01:10:55 ◼   ► or apps or you know some companies call them chatbots in your in your messenger application

01:11:03 ◼   ► like that was a thing years ago you know sometimes Silicon Valley decides this is gonna be the

01:11:09 ◼   ► hot new thing and we're all gonna do it!" And sometimes, Apple hops on board on that

01:11:15 ◼   ► train and they also do it, and I think the iMessage App Store is a case of that. I sort

01:11:21 ◼   ► of wanna spend one good word for stickers. I think stickers are still great. I don't

01:11:32 ◼   ► use them myself, but I think for... It's a shame that Apple hasn't done more in that

01:11:37 ◼   ► regard for artists, for creatives who want to share and sell stickers, but the whole

01:11:45 ◼   ► thing of the iMessage App Store, I mean, it's basically useless, and I think it's going

01:11:50 ◼   ► to get shut down at some point in the future.

01:11:54 ◼   ► I think that just the iMessage Sticker Packs store, or just iMessage Sticker Packs is all

01:11:59 ◼   ► it should be, and all it should have been.

01:12:01 ◼   ► to think that we would make open table reservations in our message. Like, Jesus.

01:12:09 ◼   ► All right, I consider my next one so controversial. I'm a little bit nervous to say it even,

01:12:16 ◼   ► but I do think that it makes sense. Objective C. It just wouldn't do it. It'd be all Swift and

01:12:22 ◼   ► Swift UI. That's it. No Objective C for development. Because look-

01:12:26 ◼   ► I kinda wanna buy this heartache as an NFT, if possible.

01:12:31 ◼   ► I just wanna store it.

01:12:34 ◼   ► Okay.

01:12:36 ◼   ► That reminds me, by the way, I looked into trying to mint an NFT of a clip of the show

01:12:40 ◼   ► and it was just too difficult and I gave up.

01:12:41 ◼   ► I just thought it would be a funny thing to do in follow-up, like two weeks ago.

01:12:44 ◼   ► We need a youth to help us.

01:12:46 ◼   ► No, I know how to do it, but you have to, like, to get on any of the reputable places,

01:12:50 ◼   ► you have to be approved and it's like, they're not gonna approve me for this stupid joke, like...

01:12:54 ◼   ► Why not?

01:12:56 ◼   ► Well, because it's like I'm not an artist, right? I would have just been submitting like an overcast clip

01:13:01 ◼   ► to like one of these digital marketplaces for artists.

01:13:05 ◼   ► We are artists of irony.

01:13:09 ◼   ► You don't even want to know how far down I got into the stack and all the things I had to do

01:13:14 ◼   ► to try and get there. Like it's just like it was a whole many hours of work that I ended up doing.

01:13:19 ◼   ► Many hours? Okay, wow. Thank you for your service. Anyway.

01:13:24 ◼   ► Anyway, Objective-C. I just look, I don't think we're that far away from it being Swift

01:13:31 ◼   ► and SwiftUI is the, like, not just the default, but the only way to make iPhone apps. Like,

01:13:37 ◼   ► it's not super close, but I don't think it's that far away. So if you were starting today,

01:13:42 ◼   ► why would you still support the older language when you have a new one that you think is your

01:13:46 ◼   ► future? You just wouldn't do it because it would be silly. Like, you know, I'm sure Apple would

01:13:51 ◼   ► love to just get rid of Objective-C now so everybody would use Swift and SwiftUI because

01:13:55 ◼   ► it's what they want people to use. But they can't do that, it's unrealistic. But if you

01:14:00 ◼   ► were starting fresh, you wouldn't support the old language. You just wouldn't do it.

01:14:06 ◼   ► I mean, I guess in an alternative timeline where, you know, Apple had the Mac, obviously,

01:14:13 ◼   ► and they decided to do the tablet first, and then the iPad was super successful, that they

01:14:19 ◼   ► kept just doing the tablet and now they woke up last year and they decided we also got to do a

01:14:26 ◼   ► smartphone in 2020 for 2021. Right, yeah, okay. And they already had Swift because they made both

01:14:34 ◼   ► Swift and SwiftUI for iPad, then I guess, yeah, they wouldn't use Objective-C on the iPhone at all,

01:14:40 ◼   ► they would just use the new stuff. Yeah, like if you want to make an iPhone app you use Swift or

01:14:46 ◼   ► SwiftUI. I don't think it, yeah, I think if Apple were to make an iPhone today, then yeah.

01:14:52 ◼   ► And we are going to get the tweets from developers and programmers saying "oh buddy, you know,

01:14:58 ◼   ► closures, whatever it means." I'm sure it'd be so difficult for you. Yeah, I don't, whatever.

01:15:05 ◼   ► Like I don't care. Like for example, for example, like I could imagine, hey, here's our new

01:15:11 ◼   ► AR product. You can only use Swift, SwiftUI, and these frameworks to make apps for it.

01:15:19 ◼   ► Sure. Yeah. I'm gonna say the iTunes Store application.

01:15:25 ◼   ► Oh, come on! No, that's where I buy my TV shows! No!

01:15:30 ◼   ► Just put it in the TV app! Why does the iTunes Store still exist?

01:15:34 ◼   ► That's what I'm saying. If you open it, you can buy music, movies, TV shows, and tones.

01:15:41 ◼   ► There's some genius is still in here.

01:15:43 ◼   ► Oh my god, tones.

01:15:45 ◼   ► Tones!

01:15:46 ◼   ► Why does everything else have a store tab in it?

01:15:50 ◼   ► But then there's like, why don't they put store tabs in the app?

01:15:53 ◼   ► That's what I'm saying.

01:15:54 ◼   ► In the TV app have, you know, purchase options.

01:15:58 ◼   ► In the Apple Music app have an option to buy something if you want it to.

01:16:04 ◼   ► I don't know what you do with tones.

01:16:05 ◼   ► I guess maybe you just...

01:16:07 ◼   ► Put them in the phone app.

01:16:08 ◼   ► Put it in the phone app!

01:16:09 ◼   ► (laughter)

01:16:11 ◼   ► Oh my god.

01:16:12 ◼   ► Okay, maybe there's just a tone store, but

01:16:14 ◼   ► I mean, you look in here and it's like a, it is like

01:16:16 ◼   ► a relic of history in here.

01:16:18 ◼   ► You could still buy, like,

01:16:20 ◼   ► very relevant songs as ringtones.

01:16:23 ◼   ► You can buy a, you can buy a pop-smoke ringtone

01:16:26 ◼   ► if you want to.

01:16:27 ◼   ► I mean, rest in peace pop-smoke, but yeah,

01:16:30 ◼   ► that should be a really, really good ringtone event.

01:16:32 ◼   ► Oh, there's 80s, 90s, and 2000s collections, let's look.

01:16:36 ◼   ► You can get a Megan Thee Stallion ringtone.

01:16:39 ◼   ► I have Ava Levine sing when I... my phone rings.

01:16:44 ◼   ► Oh my gosh, all of the number one ringtones of Sea Chanties. That's still happening.

01:16:48 ◼   ► Obviously. There's a whole debate that we should get in at some point, like, what does it say about

01:16:57 ◼   ► you as a person if you still use a ringtone in 2021? Like, what is the type of person who still

01:17:02 ◼   ► uses a ringtone. I have a ringtone set but my phone is on silent 99.9% of the time. So

01:17:11 ◼   ► I hardly ever hear it. But on occasion my phone is off silent but we'll talk about that

01:17:15 ◼   ► later. Okay. I've got it back to me. Okay. Yep. The Robin is back in Italy. Okay, so

01:17:22 ◼   ► this one is going to drive you both. This one made me so mad. I'm the person, Steven's

01:17:30 ◼   ► the person that got mad at reading this. I am sorry, but I feel like given how things

01:17:38 ◼   ► are going, given how the audio market is changing and given the competition, I feel like if

01:17:46 ◼   ► Apple were to make an iPhone today and if that iPhone had a podcast app as a default

01:17:54 ◼   ► one in it. I don't think you would have the ability to paste any RSS feed URL.

01:18:02 ◼   ► Boo!

01:18:03 ◼   ► In your subscriptions. I am sorry, I just feel like if they were to do podcasts today,

01:18:11 ◼   ► they would basically just give you one option, which is you can get a podcast from Apple

01:18:17 ◼   ► podcasts. And that's it. Just like you subscribe to a show in Spotify, even if that show happens

01:18:24 ◼   ► to have a website with an RSS feed.

01:18:27 ◼   ► I don't think all of that would be abstracted on a...

01:18:32 ◼   ► I mean, frankly, Federico, the way the whole way that Apple podcast works

01:18:37 ◼   ► isn't the way they would do it today.

01:18:39 ◼   ► That it doesn't like re-host the audio from somewhere.

01:18:43 ◼   ► Like, you know, the fact that Apple podcast works as the system

01:18:47 ◼   ► to just point you to RSS feeds, like they wouldn't do any of that.

01:18:51 ◼   ► Like you wouldn't do that anymore.

01:18:53 ◼   ► they would create a system that works like Spotify and everybody else. So I would hate

01:19:01 ◼   ► this but I agree with it.

01:19:03 ◼   ► Yes, okay, good. Yeah, so that's sort of what I was getting at, which is you wouldn't like

01:19:09 ◼   ► it but I think it would make more sense to do it this way.

01:19:13 ◼   ► Screen time.

01:19:14 ◼   ► Yeah, that's kind of like the iMessage App Store.

01:19:17 ◼   ► Yeah, I just spent pretty much an entire episode of Cortex complaining about this, but screen

01:19:23 ◼   ► Time was created as in response to digital well-being, the trend of digital well-being,

01:19:30 ◼   ► and then has basically just been ignored since.

01:19:33 ◼   ► I do like how you said on that episode that they've made it better on the Mac so you turned

01:19:36 ◼   ► it on and then you complained about it being broken on the Mac for an hour. That was fun.

01:19:41 ◼   ► You know what?

01:19:42 ◼   ► Because it is better on the Mac but it's still so bad, right? Because previously you would

01:19:49 ◼   ► say that you used finder for 12 hours a day on Catalina. Yeah. And at least on Big Sur

01:19:54 ◼   ► it doesn't do that. But for some reason Safari is horrifically broken that sometimes I get

01:20:00 ◼   ► 24 hours a day every single day of usage of a single website even my Mac isn't sleeping.

01:20:06 ◼   ► So it's still super broken on Big Sur but it's better than it was in Catalina. It's

01:20:13 ◼   ► It's kind of ironic, maybe. I don't know how to describe it. But I feel like right now,

01:20:19 ◼   ► given the pandemic, a tool that makes us feel bad for using computers is probably the last

01:20:26 ◼   ► thing we need. So like, hey, at least let me use my phone. Like, I care about my own

01:20:33 ◼   ► digital well-being. Thank you, iPhone. Like, don't shame me because I literally the only

01:20:38 ◼   ► way for me to stay in touch with people is to spend time on Instagram and iMessage. And

01:20:43 ◼   ► feel like because of how the world has changed over the past year, like, literally the last

01:20:49 ◼   ► thing we need is to, you know, to have a condescending screen time that sort of, it's right there

01:20:55 ◼   ► judging us and pointing fingers at us and be like "You're bad at using computers!"

01:21:00 ◼   ► No thank you.

01:21:01 ◼   ► It's literally the only way that I have to spend some time at home.

01:21:04 ◼   ► All right, my final one is, it's not as strong as my other ones I feel like, but I want to

01:21:11 ◼   ► throw it in here and that's the today view on the iPhone.

01:21:16 ◼   ► Okay.

01:21:17 ◼   ► You know, it came out of the world where there was like notifications and today and we didn't

01:21:25 ◼   ► really know what anything, why things were where they were.

01:21:28 ◼   ► I remember for a while, like iOS 8 and 9, Apple would give like a paragraph of text.

01:21:31 ◼   ► It was like, it's going to be sunny today.

01:21:33 ◼   ► Your next meeting is with John at 2 p.m.

01:21:35 ◼   ► My God, you're right.

01:21:36 ◼   ► It was iOS 6, I think.

01:21:38 ◼   ► Oh my God.

01:21:39 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:21:40 ◼   ► All that stuff's gone.

01:21:41 ◼   ► place to put widgets that are on the home screen, but I feel like, starting today, you

01:21:45 ◼   ► would need widgets, and I just don't know if we need a special place for widgets that's

01:21:49 ◼   ► not the home screen. I don't know.

01:21:51 ◼   ► Yeah, just put them on another page.

01:21:54 ◼   ► Yeah, you are right. That feature is literally there, I think, because it's the only place

01:22:03 ◼   ► where you can still use the legacy widgets.

01:22:07 ◼   ► Let's call it now. Let's call it now. It doesn't exist in iOS 15.

01:22:10 ◼   ► It doesn't exist anymore in iOS 15.

01:22:13 ◼   ► Those widgets have already been deprecated in iOS 14, so yeah, I think that feature's

01:22:20 ◼   ► gone in 15.

01:22:22 ◼   ► So maybe a stronger pick than I thought it was.

01:22:24 ◼   ► I have three more, but they're quick.

01:22:27 ◼   ► Game Center, because like, LOL, what is it even?

01:22:30 ◼   ► It's still there, right?

01:22:31 ◼   ► Like it's not an app, but it's a framework?

01:22:33 ◼   ► Now people will say, "Oh, but it's SIGs when game progresses."

01:22:36 ◼   ► You don't need Game Center to do that.

01:22:38 ◼   ► could have just done it with iCloud, right?

01:22:40 ◼   ► Syncing with the Mac via cable.

01:22:43 ◼   ► You just wouldn't.

01:22:44 ◼   ► If the phone was new, you would just not have that, right?

01:22:47 ◼   ► Right.

01:22:48 ◼   ► Because like, who cares, right?

01:22:51 ◼   ► Like, you just wouldn't make this in the future.

01:22:53 ◼   ► I need to sync my contacts and my contacts with my computers.

01:22:56 ◼   ► Just like, whatever.

01:22:57 ◼   ► And then similarly, kind of let me down this thing,

01:23:01 ◼   ► the iCloud Music Library Match thing.

01:23:04 ◼   ► I know how great that is if you have your recordings of whatever,

01:23:07 ◼   ► whatever you just you would just be like no just use an Apple music if it's not

01:23:10 ◼   ► an Apple music it will be oh you don't have it I don't worry about it right

01:23:14 ◼   ► like that that would be it like they only still have that because they had to

01:23:18 ◼   ► have that because once that was the thing you paid for right yeah I mean I

01:23:23 ◼   ► don't know there are other services that lets you upload your own files to the

01:23:27 ◼   ► cloud I don't know about that yeah but I just don't think Apple would be the

01:23:30 ◼   ► company to do that yeah maybe it's like some some standalone thing or like in

01:23:34 ◼   ► the essence of that maybe like Dropbox has a media player or something. Yeah.

01:23:37 ◼   ► Who knows. I reckon it only still exists now because like that used to be the

01:23:41 ◼   ► thing, right? That you could pay and it would do the match. Is that what it was

01:23:46 ◼   ► called? iTunes match? And I said I told Jon on App

01:23:53 ◼   ► Stories I think, like I was one of those few people who kept paying for it

01:23:58 ◼   ► even though it was no longer necessary and so like I think I wasted a year of

01:24:02 ◼   ► iTunes match because I didn't unsubscribe. Good times. Which Apple sort of just not made

01:24:08 ◼   ► possible. Also, but hey, the services, right? So I think that's it guys. Mm-hmm. All right.

01:24:15 ◼   ► We have fixed the iPhone. No, we definitely didn't do that. We made it worse. We are,

01:24:24 ◼   ► I think we are pretty good at coming up with alternative timelines, for sure, but we definitely

01:24:31 ◼   ► made it worse, like super worse than before.

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01:24:40 ◼   ► at relay.fm/connected/337.

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01:24:48 ◼   ► There's an email link right there on the page.

01:24:50 ◼   ► You can also join and become a member and get Connected Pro, which is a longer ad-free

01:24:55 ◼   ► version of the show that we put out each and every week.

01:24:59 ◼   ► week I talked about a Best Buy experience and how it was weird. You can find us all

01:25:04 ◼   ► online. You can find Myke on Twitter as @IMYKE. Myke streams about keyboard stuff most Fridays

01:25:11 ◼   ► at Myke.live and he hosts a bunch of other shows here on Relay FM. You can find Federico

01:25:17 ◼   ► on Twitter as @Vittici. He is the editor-in-chief and chief iPad stand reviewer at MacStories.net.

01:25:28 ◼   ► Federico, I have a question for you.

01:25:29 ◼   ► - Okay.

01:25:30 ◼   ► - Which natural disaster do you consider the worst?

01:25:34 ◼   ► (laughing)

01:25:36 ◼   ► - Wow.

01:25:37 ◼   ► - This I made up on my own.

01:25:39 ◼   ► This was not a first date question.

01:25:40 ◼   ► - Yeah, but like, what he doesn't say is terrible.

01:25:45 ◼   ► This is such a bad question to answer publicly.

01:25:49 ◼   ► - So--

01:25:51 ◼   ► - 'Cause ultimately there's gonna be like,

01:25:52 ◼   ► oh, so you don't care about this disaster, Federico?

01:25:56 ◼   ► So terrible.

01:25:57 ◼   ► Right. Well, people only think that because you put it out there, Myke.

01:26:00 ◼   ► I guarantee you that's not how it went, but okay.

01:26:05 ◼   ► So, in my life, I've only experienced twice an earthquake. We don't have tornadoes or, you know,

01:26:21 ◼   ► really strong winds, how do you call them? Hurricanes in Italy. Like, we don't have those kinds of

01:26:28 ◼   ► storms here. Oh god, I don't know. So there's the earthquake, a tsunami, a tornado.

01:26:41 ◼   ► I mean, the tsunami is pretty terrifying. What else am I forgetting? I mean, there's volcanoes.

01:26:50 ◼   ► there's volcanoes oh my god asteroids striking the earth oh you're saying category i thought you meant

01:26:57 ◼   ► like specific example right no it's a cargo like what type of oh i thought you meant like he wanted

01:27:05 ◼   ► him to say like which specific earthquake no that'd be terrible do you see why i thought that would

01:27:10 ◼   ► be such a bad question okay okay i thought you were a horrible person to ask him that i'm glad

01:27:17 ◼   ► I could recover my standing. I mean if I were to pick something... And you have to.

01:27:26 ◼   ► ...beyond the Italian government as a natural disaster, I would probably go with...

01:27:33 ◼   ► I still think that tsunami is pretty terrifying. Yeah, I think tsunami is pretty bad. It's pretty

01:27:40 ◼   ► scary. I... because it's like... it's like the two-in-one, it's like the all-in-one approach.

01:27:46 ◼   ► Not only do you get the earthquake, you also get the water.

01:27:49 ◼   ► It's like, God, please stop.

01:27:51 ◼   ► So yeah, the tsunami, I think it's the one that terrifies me the most.

01:27:57 ◼   ► I mean, all of them are terrifying.

01:28:00 ◼   ► And I'm super scared of earthquakes.

01:28:02 ◼   ► Like actually, like panic attack level terrified, obviously.

01:28:08 ◼   ► So that tsunami, I think because it's a combo of two things, that one.

01:28:14 ◼   ► You can find me on Twitter as ismh and I write over at 512pixels.net.

01:28:22 ◼   ► Before I let you go, I want to tell you about another show here on Relay FM and that is

01:28:26 ◼   ► Rocket.

01:28:27 ◼   ► If you like this show, I think you're going to also really enjoy Rocket if you haven't

01:28:31 ◼   ► checked it out.

01:28:32 ◼   ► They cover all the tech news of the week but in a very fun and funny way.

01:28:36 ◼   ► They have their own level of Japes over there, right?

01:28:39 ◼   ► Like there's a lot of Japes on Rocket.

01:28:40 ◼   ► A lot of Japes.

01:28:42 ◼   ► They cover Apple news to scams with fake blood testing companies and all sorts of things.

01:28:49 ◼   ► They also cover like weird stuff or pop culture and tech meat, which is fun.

01:28:53 ◼   ► So you can go check it out relay.fm/rocket or search for rocket wherever you get your

01:28:59 ◼   ► podcasts.

01:29:00 ◼   ► I'd like to thank the sponsors of this episode of connected.

01:29:03 ◼   ► They are Squarespace, Bombas and Baron Fig.

01:29:06 ◼   ► Until next time guys, say goodbye.

01:29:08 ◼   ► I'll be there to cheerio.