330: You Can’t Eat an App
00:00:08
◼
►
Hello and welcome to Connected, episode 330.
00:00:12
◼
►
It's made possible by our sponsors AirBuddy, Bombas, and Pingdom.
00:00:18
◼
►
My name is Stephen Hackett and I am joined by Mr. Federico Vittucci.
00:00:22
◼
►
Hello, Stephen Hackett. How are you?
00:00:23
◼
►
I'm good, Federico Vittucci. How are you?
00:00:26
◼
►
I'm very good. Thank you.
00:00:27
◼
►
That's good.
00:00:28
◼
►
Myke Hurley is here. Myke Hurley, how are you?
00:00:30
◼
►
Happy birthday
00:00:33
◼
►
Thanks. Happy birthday
00:00:35
◼
►
28th of January, Steven's birthday
00:00:38
◼
►
I'm old now. Mm-hmm. No
00:00:45
◼
►
older yeah, I
00:00:47
◼
►
Had to fill out some paperwork recently and it was one of those things where they you have to check like the age bracket
00:00:54
◼
►
you're in and
00:00:55
◼
►
So I'm turning 35 this week and the one before me was like it was like
00:01:06
◼
►
You went up in the drop-down
00:01:08
◼
►
Yeah, the next one was 35 to like 44 and I like I guess I'm getting ready to be that that checkmark
00:01:15
◼
►
You got to get on tik-tok it's the only way to reverse this
00:01:24
◼
►
It's the Benjamin Button of social media networks.
00:01:29
◼
►
Time to get on TikTok.
00:01:30
◼
►
Okay, what would I do on TikTok?
00:01:34
◼
►
You would show off like weird things about old computers.
00:01:37
◼
►
No, you gotta do the dances, man.
00:01:39
◼
►
You gotta do the dances too.
00:01:41
◼
►
The dances too, naturally.
00:01:42
◼
►
Do the dances whilst like opening an iBook.
00:01:46
◼
►
You gotta do those videos where like there's like music and you're dressed one way and
00:01:52
◼
►
then you do like a movement and you're dressed much fancier. Yeah. I go from one black t-shirt
00:01:59
◼
►
to another. Yeah, I kinda like that. No, you should do old Mac TikToks, you know, because
00:02:05
◼
►
then like the kids will be like, "What is that?" You could blow their minds of old technology,
00:02:10
◼
►
you know. Or you should do the switch where like you're wearing a prompt t-shirt and then
00:02:14
◼
►
you do the switch and you have a connected t-shirt. Same t-shirt. That technology should
00:02:19
◼
►
be colorful ones. It's the same t-shirt. We should put that shirt back on sale.
00:02:25
◼
►
Oh, Steven just made a decision without consulting anybody else in the group and now he said
00:02:29
◼
►
it. We have some follow-up very exciting stuff. Last week Federico challenged me to name Apple
00:02:36
◼
►
hardware features that were quickly reverted. I came up with none but we have one from a
00:02:43
◼
►
listener Thomas sent in, what about the buttonless iPod shuffle? And they went
00:02:49
◼
►
back and said, "Oh hey, turns out people like the buttons." And they put the
00:02:54
◼
►
buttons back on the fourth gen like two years later. So let's start off with the
00:02:59
◼
►
iPod shuffle. This was our first generation shuffle. It's based on the
00:03:03
◼
►
concept that shuffling is a wonderful way to listen to your music. And we could
00:03:07
◼
►
make a really affordable player without a display that just shuffled your songs
00:03:12
◼
►
and was super easy to use and it's been a really big hit. The second generation
00:03:17
◼
►
was even better. It was dramatically smaller, it had a clip, it had these ring
00:03:21
◼
►
buttons on it that was really easy to use. The third generation, we took off the
00:03:27
◼
►
buttons, added voice over so you could listen to your songs and added playlists.
00:03:33
◼
►
Now it could talk you through your playlists and you could pick a playlist.
00:03:35
◼
►
but people clearly miss the buttons, right? So they love the buttons of the
00:03:42
◼
►
second generation but they love voiceover and having playlists on their
00:03:45
◼
►
iPod from the third. So what are we gonna do? Let's make the best of both. The new
00:03:51
◼
►
iPod shuffle. It's even smaller than the second generation. It's got buttons,
00:03:55
◼
►
voiceover, and playlists. And it's really small.
00:04:02
◼
►
Myke can you tell us about your exciting Salesforce news? I've been acquired by
00:04:08
◼
►
Salesforce. Oh no. Goodbye everybody they just wanted just me. No they've joined
00:04:14
◼
►
the Unicode consortium as a voting member so maybe now they'll find Slack
00:04:19
◼
►
will finally update their emoji. So there aren't many companies that are like
00:04:25
◼
►
voting members of the Unicode consortium which means that they have the ability
00:04:29
◼
►
to say yes and no to different emoji. Lots of different companies are part of the consortium,
00:04:35
◼
►
but Salesforce now join Adobe, Apple, Facebook, Google, IBM, Netflix, Microsoft, and a company
00:04:41
◼
►
whose logo I literally cannot discern. It looks like a chipmunk with headphones on. I don't
00:04:47
◼
►
understand what it is. So yeah, they are now in that. They get voting rights. And I hope that
00:04:55
◼
►
that means that they're gonna, I don't know,
00:04:58
◼
►
focus on emoji a little bit better?
00:04:59
◼
►
- One would hope that they pay attention.
00:05:03
◼
►
- One would hope, one would hope.
00:05:05
◼
►
- I wonder if acquiring Slack is what led to this.
00:05:07
◼
►
I'm trying to think of what else Salesforce owns
00:05:10
◼
►
that would benefit from a high power stake in emoji.
00:05:15
◼
►
- Well, it's not just emoji.
00:05:17
◼
►
It's all text and computers.
00:05:20
◼
►
- But no one cares about text and computers.
00:05:21
◼
►
Everyone cares about emoji.
00:05:23
◼
►
I'm a youth.
00:05:24
◼
►
I think it's companies that are voting members and even companies that are on the consortium
00:05:30
◼
►
have some kind of vested interest in communication.
00:05:34
◼
►
I think that's the reason.
00:05:35
◼
►
That makes sense.
00:05:39
◼
►
Creator of emoji.
00:05:41
◼
►
The creator of emoji.
00:05:42
◼
►
He only gets half a vote though, this chart tells me, which I think is a travesty.
00:05:46
◼
►
I think Jeremy should get three votes.
00:05:49
◼
►
To everybody's one vote.
00:05:53
◼
►
beard half. Whoa, that's a... you've crossed into a new level of dad jokes in your advanced age.
00:05:59
◼
►
System updates! Yesterday Apple released iOS 14.4, watchOS 7 point something, I don't know,
00:06:10
◼
►
7.4? 7.3? I think they're off by a number. 7.3. 7.3, and 14.4 also came out for the HomePod
00:06:20
◼
►
and the HomePod Mini. What is new in this update?
00:06:24
◼
►
There's the HomePod Mini integration with the iPhone.
00:06:28
◼
►
There's the better handoff support in that you can
00:06:32
◼
►
more quickly and easily hand off music from your iPhone to the HomePod by
00:06:37
◼
►
placing the iPhone over it and you get that
00:06:39
◼
►
special UI on the lock screen. I haven't tried it because I
00:06:43
◼
►
don't have a HomePod around anymore, but it looks like I'm not really...
00:06:50
◼
►
And I think Myke agrees, I'm not really sure why this has to be...
00:06:53
◼
►
Like, why this exists.
00:06:56
◼
►
Mostly because it just feels like...
00:06:59
◼
►
I don't know, I just struggle to imagine personally the use case for this.
00:07:04
◼
►
Like, isn't it easier to just ask Siri to play something?
00:07:07
◼
►
Yeah, it's like, what's the thinking? Like, I look at my phone and I'm like,
00:07:10
◼
►
"Oh yeah, music!" Right? It's like, it's a strange thing, like, to do,
00:07:17
◼
►
to be like, "Oh, you're near a HomePod mini?"
00:07:19
◼
►
"Oh, look, I just happened to walk near a HomePod." I personally am pretty intentional
00:07:29
◼
►
with the music I want to listen to. And so like when I decide to put on music, I either
00:07:34
◼
►
ask an assistant or I use Airplay or I put on headphones. It's this like, and even the
00:07:42
◼
►
way they show it off in advertisements, in commercials, like these people who just realize,
00:07:46
◼
►
"Oh, I just happen to be in your home pod. Let me hand it off."
00:07:49
◼
►
It's like, how big a home you have that you can just so happen to casually walk by a smart speaker?
00:07:56
◼
►
Speaking of your music choices, I've been getting almost daily reviews of your Spotify playlists.
00:08:04
◼
►
Daily? Daily reviews?
00:08:05
◼
►
Yep. Yep. Having listened to this show over the last couple of weeks, Adina has moved back to
00:08:13
◼
►
Spotify and has found your playlist and has been listening to them. I've been told that
00:08:18
◼
►
they're very good.
00:08:20
◼
►
And which ones?
00:08:22
◼
►
Like your best of 2021 is one of them, I think. And there's a couple of us. Or best of 2020.
00:08:28
◼
►
I don't know. I haven't looked right. Like I'm not the one doing this. And the overall,
00:08:36
◼
►
you've been pegged overall as having musical tastes. She told me that sits somewhere between
00:08:41
◼
►
indie rock and emo music.
00:08:42
◼
►
and I'm like yeah that's fair. Absolutely. You nailed it. On the money. That is me. Hello.
00:08:52
◼
►
Oh well, that's a plot twist as well. Like, very nice. I didn't know that she was using it and
00:09:00
◼
►
that she was checking out my playlists. I'm very happy. I should make more of those public. I think
00:09:05
◼
►
I think I only have two. Best of 2020 and all-time favorites, maybe. Yeah, I have a
00:09:12
◼
►
bunch more. That's cool. Thank you for telling me that.
00:09:16
◼
►
I have an incredibly interesting real-time follow-up.
00:09:21
◼
►
That logo that I said looked like a chipmunk in the small image that I saw is the logo
00:09:27
◼
►
of the Sultanate of Oman. Wait, which is the country?
00:09:36
◼
►
They are on the Unicode Consortium and help you and help approve emoji.
00:09:43
◼
►
I'll include an article from BuzzFeed which is wonderfully titled "Why is this random
00:09:48
◼
►
golf country helping pick your emoji?"
00:09:51
◼
►
I'll put it in the show notes.
00:09:53
◼
►
It just, to my mind, it looked like a chipmunk.
00:09:55
◼
►
I still don't know exactly what the logo is meant to represent.
00:09:58
◼
►
I did not intend to offend anybody.
00:10:01
◼
►
I think you owe an entire country an apology. I just did. Alright, I'm sorry everybody.
00:10:05
◼
►
It's not a country, it's a Sultan. Unless it is a chipmunk. The royal chipmunk.
00:10:10
◼
►
I don't think it is a chipmunk. In any case we were talking about the software updates.
00:10:17
◼
►
I don't think there's anything much else to cover in iOS 14.4. I mean, there's support for
00:10:25
◼
►
scanning smaller QR codes in the camera, and you can now properly categorize Bluetooth accessories.
00:10:34
◼
►
This is very much like a niche feature, but sometimes I've heard from some people saying
00:10:40
◼
►
my car stereo unit does not get recognized as a car Bluetooth device, because my phone thinks
00:10:48
◼
►
it's a pair of headphones. And so, for example, you don't get certain integrations like syncing
00:10:54
◼
►
contacts, for example, or if you're using Spotify, having the car view in Spotify.
00:10:58
◼
►
And so now in Settings, when you tap on a Bluetooth accessory, you can classify it. You can
00:11:06
◼
►
say this is a headphone, this is a hearing aid, or this is part of a car Bluetooth unit, so you can
00:11:14
◼
►
properly say, you know, you can properly categorize each Bluetooth device that you connect to, which
00:11:20
◼
►
which is nice. I checked mine and they were all properly categorized, so I don't have this issue.
00:11:25
◼
►
I think this will particularly help for Bluetooth accessories that you want to put in an old car or in an old truck.
00:11:33
◼
►
And you know those adapters that you buy from Amazon? Now you can categorize them from Bluetooth settings.
00:11:39
◼
►
I don't think there's anything else worth covering in iOS 14.4.
00:11:42
◼
►
In watchOS 7.3 there's the new Unity watch face, which is inspired by the Pan African flag
00:11:50
◼
►
and there's also, I believe, a special Series 6 watch and special watch bands that are coming out.
00:11:57
◼
►
Yeah, it's really interesting. They've actually made an actual watch that they're selling,
00:12:04
◼
►
which has an engraving on the back which says "Black Unity", which I don't think they've done
00:12:09
◼
►
something like this for a cause before? Like I can't think of even product red or something.
00:12:17
◼
►
So it's cool. Very cool. And they're giving Apple's donate and proceeds to six global
00:12:22
◼
►
organizations to promote equality and civil rights.
00:12:25
◼
►
And the watch band looks amazing. Like I really love the combination of the three different
00:12:31
◼
►
colors, the black, green and red. It's really, really lovely.
00:12:33
◼
►
It's nicely done. Yeah.
00:12:36
◼
►
Myke, I see in the notes that you put in a comment about the AirPods Max battery issue
00:12:41
◼
►
and I wanted to comment on these as well. I have been noticing battery drain of my AirPods
00:12:49
◼
►
Max headphones as well. A few days ago I charged them and then yesterday I removed them from
00:12:55
◼
►
the case and it said 40%. It's like, wait, how? How is this possible?
00:13:01
◼
►
I'm convinced at this point that the proximity sensors aren't working correctly.
00:13:05
◼
►
Yeah, they seem to be winning a fight between those and whatever sensors and the magnets.
00:13:11
◼
►
I think so. Yeah.
00:13:12
◼
►
Um, there was nothing in the release notes that suggested there would be any help,
00:13:18
◼
►
but I'm just hoping. Um, and I also, I've still been having some issues with my HomePod pair,
00:13:23
◼
►
with my Apple TV. And so I've updated both the Apple TV and the HomePod pair in the hope that it
00:13:29
◼
►
will, uh, fix that. Where it's just like, sometimes just like, oh, this just won't work. I was like,
00:13:34
◼
►
okay fine I'll just use my TV speakers.
00:13:38
◼
►
He just forgets about it?
00:13:41
◼
►
You used to be my friend and now you're not.
00:13:43
◼
►
Remember with the iPhone I think it was the 4 Apple had proximity issues where the screen
00:13:50
◼
►
wouldn't go to sleep when you put it up against your face and they fixed it with software
00:13:54
◼
►
Was that a problem with the white model or am I remembering something completely different?
00:13:59
◼
►
It was rumored I think that that's why the white one was so far behind that maybe some
00:14:04
◼
►
camera issues, but it was an issue on the the standard black model as well.
00:14:09
◼
►
So I think it was mentioned during the Attenagate keynote is like, oh, we're also tracking these
00:14:13
◼
►
other things.
00:14:14
◼
►
One thing about 14.4 just before we move on, it does include some security updates that
00:14:21
◼
►
address a pretty potentially nasty things.
00:14:24
◼
►
I don't know how much of this was actually out in the world.
00:14:27
◼
►
Apple often doesn't give detailed notes on this until after the updates been out for
00:14:31
◼
►
a little while.
00:14:33
◼
►
So they Apple hasn't said too much yet about what exactly got fixed.
00:14:37
◼
►
But there were some issues with the kernel and with web kit that meant someone could
00:14:42
◼
►
make code execute on your phone by just visiting a website, which is the wrong website, which
00:14:48
◼
►
All right, we have a bunch of stuff to talk about today.
00:14:50
◼
►
But let's take a break here.
00:14:52
◼
►
And thank our first sponsor.
00:14:54
◼
►
episode of connected is brought to you by air buddy. When you open your AirPods near
00:15:00
◼
►
your iPhone or iPad, you get that buttery smooth user interface that makes AirPods such
00:15:05
◼
►
a joy to use. And then you open it near a Mac and you don't get anything. When you get
00:15:10
◼
►
air buddy you get that same smooth experience and more with AirPods on your Mac. And with
00:15:16
◼
►
the new version Air buddies to this is taken to the next level with a refreshed user interface
00:15:21
◼
►
It looks great, improved reliability and many new features.
00:15:26
◼
►
I've used air buddies since the day it came out because I want that first party experience
00:15:32
◼
►
to be really good.
00:15:33
◼
►
I'm using Apple AirPods, I'm using Mac OS, I want them to really jive nicely together
00:15:38
◼
►
and it looks great.
00:15:39
◼
►
It looks like something Apple would have designed had they bothered with this.
00:15:43
◼
►
And this is why I love third party software so much.
00:15:46
◼
►
I love these utilities that really add polish and nice experience to the Mac and everybody
00:15:50
◼
►
definitely does that. AirBuddy supports all versions of the AirPods including
00:15:55
◼
►
the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max and all Beats products powered with either the
00:16:00
◼
►
W1 or H1 chip. Simply connect and change listening modes at the same time with a
00:16:06
◼
►
single gesture on the trackpad. Using AirBuddy's connection modes you can
00:16:11
◼
►
automate system volume, audio input, and listening mode so that you're ready to
00:16:15
◼
►
go into that video conference with just a single click. AirBuddy can also show
00:16:20
◼
►
you battery information for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and their accessories.
00:16:25
◼
►
And the batteries widget can be added to the notification center on Mac OS.
00:16:29
◼
►
AirBuddy is sandbox and does not require any kernel extensions to work. It's fully
00:16:35
◼
►
compatible with both Mac OS Big Sur and Apple Silicon Macs. But it works on any
00:16:41
◼
►
Mac with Bluetooth low energy running Mac OS 10.14.6 or later.
00:16:46
◼
►
So if you have AirPods and you have a Mac, you need air buddy. So go to air buddy.app/connected
00:16:53
◼
►
to learn more. And the first 100 connected listeners to go there will get air buddy with
00:16:59
◼
►
a 20% discount. That's air buddy.app/connected. Be quick and grab that 20% discount. Our thanks
00:17:07
◼
►
to everybody for their support of the show and relay FM. There were some changes at the
00:17:14
◼
►
Top of Apple this week were announced a couple of days ago. Myke, do you want to walk us
00:17:19
◼
►
through who is being shuffled around?
00:17:21
◼
►
Yeah, so Tim Cook's gone.
00:17:25
◼
►
Eddie Q's in.
00:17:27
◼
►
We're starting over, baby. There's going to be music and open shirt. No, Dan Riccio is
00:17:35
◼
►
moving on from his role as Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering to focus on a "new
00:17:43
◼
►
project and reporting to Tim Cook directly. Did I ever tell you that, did I ever tell
00:17:48
◼
►
you that Riccio means two very different things in Italian? No. Like, as an Italian word?
00:17:54
◼
►
So Riccio either means curly or hedgehog. Could it mean both? Well, no. No. It's like,
00:18:02
◼
►
it's the same word as two very different meanings. I mean, like if you had like a curly hedgehog.
00:18:06
◼
►
Sure, you could have that. Like a Riccio-Rico? You could have a Riccio-Rico. Dan Curley sounds
00:18:11
◼
►
like my sort of name. Like if I were to have like a fictional name I would be called Dan Curley.
00:18:18
◼
►
It's not far away from my brother's name to be honest. Exactly. It's just one one one
00:18:23
◼
►
letter difference. Wait your brother's name is Pan Curley? Yes, weird really. It's weird.
00:18:28
◼
►
We're half brothers. Obviously everyone's going "Apple Car!" right? Like that's that's the thinking.
00:18:37
◼
►
I don't think it's that. No. Because I don't think Apple will make a car. I don't think it's going to
00:18:46
◼
►
happen. If there's ever going to be an Apple car, I don't believe they will manufacture it. Like,
00:18:52
◼
►
that's more what I mean. Well, it's still an Apple car. Right, but then they don't need a hardware
00:18:57
◼
►
engineering vice president so much to oversee the making of the vehicle, right? Because they'll work
00:19:04
◼
►
equip a partner. But anyway, whether they do or don't, I don't think it's this. I think
00:19:08
◼
►
it's something to do with AR or some kind of wearable project. That's where I reckon
00:19:13
◼
►
it's going to be because he's probably doing this already, right? Like whatever Apple's
00:19:18
◼
►
making. And if they think that this is going to be an important thing for the company going
00:19:22
◼
►
into the future, they might want to spin it out and kind of have somebody overseeing this
00:19:27
◼
►
whole different effort. I really don't think that Dan Riccio is moving on to whatever the
00:19:33
◼
►
car project is because this would also be like the 17th person to run this this mythical
00:19:38
◼
►
car project.
00:19:40
◼
►
And he was actually the first person to run it and then it moved to Bob Mansfield.
00:19:45
◼
►
Yeah, so Renee Ritchie tweeted this that initially it was under Dan Curley and then it was under
00:19:52
◼
►
Bob Mansfield.
00:19:53
◼
►
Remember he came out of retirement to run this for a while?
00:19:56
◼
►
And now it's under the guy from Google.
00:20:01
◼
►
G.N. Andrea.
00:20:02
◼
►
G.N. Andrea, that guy.
00:20:04
◼
►
Yep, G.N. Andrea.
00:20:05
◼
►
But I think, so because this is the argument, right?
00:20:08
◼
►
So G.N. Andrea was a software person.
00:20:11
◼
►
So you know, if they were building a car, G.N. Andrea probably wouldn't be the person
00:20:17
◼
►
to run the entire effort.
00:20:20
◼
►
They could be a hardware software effort.
00:20:21
◼
►
Nevertheless, look, maybe it's a car.
00:20:23
◼
►
I just don't think it's that.
00:20:25
◼
►
I don't think it is for a totally different reason.
00:20:29
◼
►
So I want to read you a quote from Dan Curley in this press release.
00:20:34
◼
►
Please call him by his real name because it's so confusing to me now.
00:20:39
◼
►
"After 23 years of leading our product design or hardware engineering teams, culminating
00:20:45
◼
►
with our biggest and most ambitious product year ever."
00:20:48
◼
►
So we're talking about, I guess, 2020 with the M1 Max and everything else.
00:20:52
◼
►
"It's the right time for a change.
00:20:54
◼
►
Next up, I'm looking forward to doing what I love most, focusing all my time and energy
00:20:58
◼
►
Apple and creating something new and wonderful that I couldn't be more excited about. I don't think we would even know about this
00:21:05
◼
►
Let alone in this these terms if it were the car
00:21:11
◼
►
I think that that is still I think Apple still treats that as more of a secret than it actually is
00:21:18
◼
►
Stay they did make
00:21:20
◼
►
Moves in this before but I don't know how public I don't remember how probably yeah
00:21:26
◼
►
Yeah, they hired some people, they laid some people off,
00:21:27
◼
►
they had self-driving cars registered
00:21:30
◼
►
in a couple of states.
00:21:31
◼
►
But this, it feels like the way that Tim Cook,
00:21:36
◼
►
Tim Cook for a long time always talked about health sensors,
00:21:38
◼
►
right, and the watch got a bunch of those.
00:21:40
◼
►
And now he's talking about how AR and these other things
00:21:45
◼
►
can change the way we work and learn and play.
00:21:48
◼
►
This just feels like Apple winking at what's already
00:21:51
◼
►
kind of been floating out there.
00:21:53
◼
►
Maybe they're just giving this guy a chance to say something
00:21:56
◼
►
because he is sticking around and he's not being promoted
00:22:00
◼
►
to the sacred halls of Apple fellowship,
00:22:03
◼
►
like Phil Schiller is.
00:22:05
◼
►
But I don't know, like him saying he's really excited
00:22:07
◼
►
about it and talking about this new thing he's gonna do,
00:22:11
◼
►
that's very unusual for Apple.
00:22:13
◼
►
And I think it kind of fits in my mind,
00:22:15
◼
►
at least a little bit with the way Tim Cook
00:22:17
◼
►
has talked about some of this stuff.
00:22:19
◼
►
- So I have a conspiracy, a fun conspiracy theory
00:22:21
◼
►
to share in a minute.
00:22:22
◼
►
But my personal theory on this as well
00:22:26
◼
►
is this might actually be more about who they're bringing up
00:22:29
◼
►
into this role than what Riccio's going on to do.
00:22:33
◼
►
So John Turnus is going to be taking on the hardware
00:22:36
◼
►
engineering role.
00:22:38
◼
►
You will remember John from doing
00:22:40
◼
►
the majority of the presentation of the M1 Macs
00:22:44
◼
►
from the last Apple keynote.
00:22:46
◼
►
Yep, he also introduced the iMac Pro and the Mac Pro.
00:22:50
◼
►
And so there was an article that Mark Gurman wrote a while ago kind of detailing the future
00:22:57
◼
►
of Apple executives.
00:22:59
◼
►
And John Turnus has spoken about very kindly in this.
00:23:03
◼
►
Like at the level of there are people inside of Apple that think he could be CEO one day.
00:23:08
◼
►
So I my belief really is that they're doing some maybe potentially.
00:23:15
◼
►
I mean look it could be as simple as they know how important Turnus is.
00:23:20
◼
►
They want to give Turnus a promotion, so they're asking Riccio to go run something else.
00:23:24
◼
►
Which are moves they can make.
00:23:27
◼
►
Yeah, it definitely could be, and that doesn't say anything bad about Riccio.
00:23:31
◼
►
It says good things about both of them.
00:23:33
◼
►
Right, they've both--
00:23:34
◼
►
He's been doing that job for a very long time.
00:23:36
◼
►
You can't have the same people doing the same things forever.
00:23:39
◼
►
Sometimes you want to move stuff around.
00:23:40
◼
►
And it's kind of funny, because Turnus has actually been at Apple for nearly as long as Dan Riccio has.
00:23:46
◼
►
I had no idea he'd been there 20 years.
00:23:49
◼
►
He looks so young. How old was he when he started?
00:23:52
◼
►
Maybe it was his first job.
00:23:53
◼
►
It could have been. You know, maybe he was coming in as a toddler and designing the iPhone 4.
00:23:59
◼
►
But yeah, he seems very well liked. And the thing that I think about is the Mac stuff that we've
00:24:06
◼
►
heard about in recent years that we all like, the Mac Roundtable, iMac Pro, Mac Pro, M1, really like
00:24:15
◼
►
even the Intel updates we've had over the last couple of years that have been good.
00:24:19
◼
►
Like we have, I think, applied those good feelings to Ternus.
00:24:24
◼
►
I think he owns a lot of that, right?
00:24:25
◼
►
He seems, I mean, that's his job, right?
00:24:27
◼
►
He's the hardware guy.
00:24:29
◼
►
My feeling is, and I've, is that Ternus really has worked very hard at this Mac Renaissance
00:24:37
◼
►
that we're currently seeing, a phrase that I'm stealing from my cohost on Mac Power Users.
00:24:42
◼
►
this Mac Renaissance is something that he has been very involved in.
00:24:49
◼
►
And now if he's stepping up over even more hardware and over a broader organization,
00:24:57
◼
►
that's exciting to me that that enthusiasm he has.
00:24:59
◼
►
When you watch him, it's almost infectious to watch him talk about this stuff.
00:25:02
◼
►
You can just tell he just loves hardware.
00:25:05
◼
►
That's exciting for me to see that be applied to other parts of the company.
00:25:09
◼
►
But selfishly I hope that the Mac keeps getting that same enthusiasm because I think the last
00:25:14
◼
►
couple of years it's really been in a good place.
00:25:17
◼
►
My conspiracy theory, which I don't believe, but it did pop into my head so I thought I
00:25:22
◼
►
would share it, is that Riccio has been the head of hardware engineering during a tricky
00:25:27
◼
►
time for some products, especially the Mac.
00:25:30
◼
►
And all of the rumors are pointing towards these huge changes, like 180 changes to the
00:25:34
◼
►
Mac, that maybe they're moving Riccio away because he did a bad job and Taunus is going
00:25:38
◼
►
gonna make it all better for us. So like a punishment? I mean maybe. I'm not saying I
00:25:50
◼
►
super believe it but there is something particularly strange that if all of these rumors are true
00:25:57
◼
►
the timing is interesting. Yeah well this is it. We're getting rumors of like Apple
00:26:02
◼
►
basically wiping out four years of products right and like pretend they didn't exist and
00:26:08
◼
►
And then at the same time, the guy who runs that division is moving away from that division,
00:26:13
◼
►
and then this guy that we've only really started to hear about recently, at the same time that
00:26:18
◼
►
things seem to be improving, is taking over the whole hardware engineering division.
00:26:24
◼
►
So what you're saying is, Richio is a huge USB-C fan, and hates keyboard travel.
00:26:28
◼
►
Just a big USB-C fan, hates MagSafe.
00:26:31
◼
►
Loves the Touch Bar.
00:26:32
◼
►
He's the Touch Bar guy!
00:26:35
◼
►
Okay, so this was part of it.
00:26:37
◼
►
The touch bar was part of what led me to this because people say, "Oh, now Johnny Ive's
00:26:44
◼
►
gone, it's going to get better again."
00:26:46
◼
►
And I don't believe this because at the time, we were all saying Johnny Ive had checked
00:26:52
◼
►
out and was designing the building.
00:26:54
◼
►
So I don't think Ive had really much to do with the last few years of products at Apple.
00:27:03
◼
►
It seemed like he had kind of moved on to doing other things.
00:27:07
◼
►
And then also, I was responsible for all the good stuff that's coming back too.
00:27:10
◼
►
So I don't know.
00:27:15
◼
►
What I'm saying is timing is interesting.
00:27:18
◼
►
It's very interesting.
00:27:19
◼
►
But I'm not going to hang my hat on this as like, "Aha!
00:27:21
◼
►
I know what's happened here."
00:27:23
◼
►
And I mean, I know you're not marrying yourself to that theory, but one hole I do want to
00:27:29
◼
►
poke in it is that if we are getting ready to have new notebooks at WWDC that
00:27:34
◼
►
have MagSafe and a bunch of ports like they're not starting that today now that
00:27:40
◼
►
Riccio is out the door. Right like this it's a long process to get there but it
00:27:46
◼
►
is very interesting and the timing is fascinating. How long has Ternus been in
00:27:51
◼
►
charge like actually really in charge of Mac hardware? Yeah I don't know. Right and
00:27:55
◼
►
And that could have been in the last few years.
00:27:58
◼
►
And it may have been that like, I mean, he was present at the round table.
00:28:01
◼
►
I think like, I wouldn't be surprised if like when they decided they were going
00:28:04
◼
►
to do that round table, maybe they made some leadership changes in the Mac
00:28:07
◼
►
hardware team, because if you're going to change direction, probably makes sense
00:28:12
◼
►
to have fresh direction, maybe.
00:28:16
◼
►
I think, you know, if you feel like, oh, we're going to change everything
00:28:19
◼
►
to be like, we'll get, but we had the same people run it.
00:28:21
◼
►
I don't know.
00:28:21
◼
►
It's fascinating.
00:28:24
◼
►
It's cool though, because I get a good feel from from John Ternus.
00:28:27
◼
►
He seems like a nice guy. Yeah.
00:28:29
◼
►
Uh, I like his presentations and stuff.
00:28:32
◼
►
So, um, I'm excited. Like, I'm, you know, this is like another reason
00:28:37
◼
►
to to be excited about hardware this year.
00:28:40
◼
►
Like maybe it's going to get shaken up a little bit more.
00:28:44
◼
►
And over the next couple of years. So it's cool.
00:28:47
◼
►
He's pretty buff. I'm looking at this PR picture of him.
00:28:49
◼
►
He's really good looking. He's very handsome.
00:28:52
◼
►
He's very good looking.
00:28:53
◼
►
That's important to me in a computer executive.
00:28:59
◼
►
Steven, stop objectifying the executives, please.
00:29:04
◼
►
He's smart too, you know.
00:29:06
◼
►
We all miss Bob's man-fields.
00:29:10
◼
►
One feature that came out for the Apple Watch this week, and I'm... was this part of 7.3
00:29:18
◼
►
or did it come...
00:29:19
◼
►
No, for some reason.
00:29:20
◼
►
They just rolled it out?
00:29:21
◼
►
Okay, separate.
00:29:22
◼
►
it out and then there was in 7.3 it got the ability to auto download these time to walk
00:29:29
◼
►
things okay you could download them manually for two days before perfect yeah so this is
00:29:38
◼
►
time to walk it's a new fitness feature of the apple watch that is a 25 to about 40 minute
00:29:48
◼
►
out there different lengths and they are well-known guests you know celebrities
00:29:52
◼
►
telling stories about their lives and then playing playlists of music that's
00:29:59
◼
►
meaningful to them and you can walk and listen to these and there's images that
00:30:05
◼
►
automatically play on your Apple watch so if they're talking about maybe their
00:30:09
◼
►
childhood home they grew up in maybe a picture of them as a child or the the
00:30:13
◼
►
home is there. Turns your Apple watch into a very fancy keynote presentation
00:30:18
◼
►
and it's it's clever I think because people like celebrities and people like
00:30:23
◼
►
stories and you have to walk to hear the story. There's going to be new stories
00:30:30
◼
►
rolling out through April so it seems like this is maybe a short-run program
00:30:35
◼
►
like a spring program but it is part of Fitness Plus and I do wish that it kind
00:30:41
◼
►
have been available to everybody. I think that would have been cool.
00:30:44
◼
►
It's like a teaser for Fitness Plus. Yeah, yeah like hey if you like this check out
00:30:48
◼
►
all this other stuff we have on Fitness Plus. Here's a 30-day trial or whatever
00:30:51
◼
►
they have. I don't know I personally feel a little weird about having like
00:30:56
◼
►
launching a feature right now that is about hey walk outside. It is weird, it is
00:31:05
◼
►
weird. We can technically exercise and walk outside we're not in lockdown
00:31:11
◼
►
down right now, but it's still like I personally am trying to avoid all sorts
00:31:18
◼
►
of contact with anything and anyone as much as possible. Yeah, yeah. But it just
00:31:24
◼
►
feels like I'm allowed to go outside but it just feels kind of weird to launch
00:31:27
◼
►
this feature right now. Yeah, I completely understand what you're saying.
00:31:32
◼
►
It's like here, outside exercise is allowed and kind of encouraged a bit if
00:31:38
◼
►
you're on your own but it is like hey go outside but don't go outside but if you
00:31:46
◼
►
do go outside Dolly Parton will tell you a story. It's so funny. So I went out for a walk
00:31:53
◼
►
yesterday in my neighborhood I was planning to test his feature out I was
00:31:57
◼
►
like oh this is like on Monday I was like I know I was gonna go out for a walk
00:32:00
◼
►
tomorrow and I'll listen to one then and then just before I left I was like no I
00:32:07
◼
►
"No, I want to listen to a podcast of my choosing."
00:32:10
◼
►
So that was, I think that's probably the end of time to walk for me.
00:32:15
◼
►
It's a nice idea, but it's never going to be what I choose.
00:32:21
◼
►
It's like I encourage it for people if they don't have loads of podcasts that they like
00:32:27
◼
►
to listen to.
00:32:28
◼
►
It's good for that kind of stuff.
00:32:31
◼
►
But for me it was kind of just like, I would prefer to finish this episode of The Adventure
00:32:36
◼
►
his own instead, right? Like, so I'm gonna do that. I don't know, it just feels kind of
00:32:40
◼
►
weird also that, hey, Shawn Mendes was paid a bunch of money to tell you a
00:32:45
◼
►
story about his childhood. Like, okay, great. And they were recorded while walking
00:32:51
◼
►
themselves. Oh, really? I didn't know that. Which the sound engineer in me is like
00:32:56
◼
►
really, you know, trying to like piece that together. It's not actually that hard,
00:32:59
◼
►
but like what if they get out of breath? Or they trip? Like, you gotta start over?
00:33:03
◼
►
Are they reading? Are they just talking? So many questions! Anyways, I have not used it.
00:33:08
◼
►
Well, because you can't walk.
00:33:09
◼
►
I can walk short distances.
00:33:11
◼
►
Well, it's not called "time to walk short distances."
00:33:14
◼
►
"Time to walk to the back of the garden."
00:33:17
◼
►
That's right, that's right.
00:33:18
◼
►
It's just Shawn Mendes says "how you doing?" and that's it.
00:33:20
◼
►
Oh, I'm at work. Sorry, Shawn.
00:33:22
◼
►
I have some real-time breaking news.
00:33:29
◼
►
Are you ready for this?
00:33:31
◼
►
Yes. You can now purchase AirPods Max ear cushions individually.
00:33:39
◼
►
AirPods Max. How much are they?
00:33:41
◼
►
Million dollars.
00:33:43
◼
►
I bet 70 something.
00:33:46
◼
►
Alright, let me check.
00:33:48
◼
►
So this is a thing you couldn't do before? You couldn't get the...
00:33:51
◼
►
No, they were listed as coming soon.
00:33:55
◼
►
Let's see. Accessories...
00:33:57
◼
►
In Italy, they are...
00:34:00
◼
►
Tutu, what are you? Uh, 79 euros.
00:34:04
◼
►
You were spot on there then.
00:34:07
◼
►
That's expensive.
00:34:08
◼
►
Should I get the red ones?
00:34:10
◼
►
And mix and match?
00:34:12
◼
►
Oh, 69. Nice. $69.
00:34:18
◼
►
Still says coming soon, but you can order them.
00:34:20
◼
►
It's just funny, looking at the site now, it says coming soon, ships in one day.
00:34:25
◼
►
It's like, that's really soon.
00:34:26
◼
►
They're coming Monday in Italy.
00:34:27
◼
►
It's coming very soon!
00:34:32
◼
►
You get two, right? Because it's just showing one in the picture.
00:34:35
◼
►
Yeah, you get two. You get two of them.
00:34:37
◼
►
You have to buy the left and right sides separately.
00:34:39
◼
►
One set, okay. Can you imagine $69 each?
00:34:41
◼
►
Yeah, I can.
00:34:43
◼
►
Yeah, I can. I can imagine.
00:34:45
◼
►
I like the thought of this.
00:34:47
◼
►
I don't want to spend $69 for my $500 headphones.
00:34:51
◼
►
That only works most of the time.
00:34:53
◼
►
I'm going to think about it. I wish the red was more red.
00:34:57
◼
►
Yeah, it feels like coral.
00:34:59
◼
►
See, my thing is as well that none of these colors appeal to me enough that I want to
00:35:08
◼
►
The red is a bit of a disappointment now that I'm looking at the texture on the photo.
00:35:13
◼
►
It's not red enough.
00:35:14
◼
►
Yeah, it's kind of salmon.
00:35:20
◼
►
The blue's nice, but not on the black band.
00:35:22
◼
►
The green is just horrible.
00:35:24
◼
►
The green is bad.
00:35:25
◼
►
What color is that?
00:35:26
◼
►
It's like olive?
00:35:28
◼
►
It's like a little olive, V?
00:35:30
◼
►
No, that's an offense to olives.
00:35:32
◼
►
It's worse than olive.
00:35:37
◼
►
Maybe the only good one is the black one, actually.
00:35:39
◼
►
Do you like olives?
00:35:40
◼
►
I do, I love olives.
00:35:46
◼
►
Why that sound?
00:35:48
◼
►
What kind of olives?
00:35:49
◼
►
I'm not a big olive fan.
00:35:50
◼
►
I like olive oil.
00:35:51
◼
►
I like things made from olives.
00:35:52
◼
►
I'm not a really big fan of olives.
00:35:54
◼
►
What else is made of olives besides olive oil?
00:35:56
◼
►
I knew you were going to say that.
00:35:58
◼
►
You know, olive paste.
00:36:00
◼
►
Olive flavor Jolly Ranchers.
00:36:03
◼
►
You can make olive bread.
00:36:05
◼
►
It's like in Italy you can get bread with little pieces of olives.
00:36:08
◼
►
Yeah, that's not what I want though, because that's little pieces of olives, you know?
00:36:11
◼
►
It's not like olives, I don't like them when they're smaller, either.
00:36:15
◼
►
Olive oil is like, I mean in Italy it's like water, basically.
00:36:18
◼
►
It's like an essential good.
00:36:20
◼
►
It's the elixir of life.
00:36:21
◼
►
I mean, I love olive oil.
00:36:23
◼
►
Let's take a little shot before recording
00:36:25
◼
►
No, you don't want to do that just really smooth you out, you know
00:36:31
◼
►
The horrible voice sounds you would make with your mouth and throat coated in oil
00:36:38
◼
►
You just be like gurgling for 20 minutes
00:36:40
◼
►
Okay, let's take a break
00:36:45
◼
►
This episode of connected is brought to you by Bombas
00:36:49
◼
►
Bombas makes the most comfortable socks in the history of feet. I have questions about the history before feet, but that's not part of this ad
00:36:56
◼
►
They've rethought every detail of the socks we wear to make them way more comfortable. I'm wearing my Bombas socks right now
00:37:04
◼
►
They're comfortable. They're stylish. I've got weird arches and they have nice arch support in the center. They're really comfortable for me
00:37:11
◼
►
But they do more than just keep me cozy
00:37:15
◼
►
Bombas gives back to the most vulnerable members of our community because for every pair of socks you purchase
00:37:21
◼
►
They donate a pair to someone in need
00:37:24
◼
►
Thanks to the generosity of customers
00:37:27
◼
►
They have donated over 40 million pairs of socks and counting through their nationwide network of more than
00:37:34
◼
►
3,000 giving partners. I
00:37:36
◼
►
Love that about this company
00:37:38
◼
►
And that impact is more powerful than ever to those experiencing homelessness
00:37:42
◼
►
These socks represent the dignity of putting on clean clothes and a small comfort that's especially important right now
00:37:48
◼
►
So give a pair when you buy a pair and get 20% off your first purchase at bombas.com/connected
00:37:56
◼
►
That's B O M B A S dot com slash connected for 20% off your first purchase
00:38:04
◼
►
bombas.com slash connected our thanks to bombas for their support of the show and relay FM
00:38:11
◼
►
Alright, Tweetbot 6 came out yesterday. It's a new app with this new version so it replaces
00:38:21
◼
►
and doesn't replace, it's the opposite of replacing. It doesn't replace Tweetbot 5 but
00:38:26
◼
►
it's a new app in the App Store. Tweetbot 5 is gone from the store though. It's now
00:38:31
◼
►
a subscription based app. It's either $1 a month or I think it's 99 cents a month or
00:38:37
◼
►
$6 a year with a subscription. At the moment, there aren't any large new features, but there
00:38:45
◼
►
is the promise from Tapbots the developers have more coming in the future. The subscription
00:38:51
◼
►
for Tweetbots 6 gets you the selection of features that you otherwise cannot get. Multiple
00:38:57
◼
►
accounts, advanced filters, notifications, and the ability to tweet. So if you do not
00:39:02
◼
►
subscribe you can still use the app but you are using a read-only version of
00:39:07
◼
►
Tweetbot. Tapbots are referring to this as early access. The new features
00:39:15
◼
►
because like those things I've mentioned before they were all in the app before
00:39:18
◼
►
right these are just you you if you don't pay you can't get access to those
00:39:21
◼
►
things. New to Tweetbot 6 are new app icons. The default one is much better.
00:39:27
◼
►
I hated the Tweetbot 5 icon because it looked really angry and the Tweetbot 6 one does not
00:39:34
◼
►
look so angry. There are more UI themes but I will still make the same complaint I did
00:39:41
◼
►
last time. They only have like one or they have like basically one true black theme.
00:39:48
◼
►
I wish they had more. And this app is now built on Twitter's version 2 API. Now I believe
00:39:56
◼
►
Tweetbot have to pay for this, which they didn't before.
00:40:00
◼
►
And I expect this is probably why they've decided to go with the subscription route
00:40:04
◼
►
for the app now, because they have ongoing costs to Twitter that they didn't have before.
00:40:10
◼
►
With the version 2 API, my belief is they get more features and more features are coming.
00:40:16
◼
►
Version 6 of Tweetbot now can use Twitter's polls and cards features, which is great.
00:40:22
◼
►
And I hope that they're able to add more native features like this in the future to make basically
00:40:28
◼
►
like to not... and this is a complaint that we had a long time ago when we all switched
00:40:33
◼
►
to the official Twitter app, that you didn't feel like you were being held back by using
00:40:39
◼
►
a third party app from getting the full experience.
00:40:43
◼
►
Well they have access to polls, at least to an extent, in there you can see results, but
00:40:47
◼
►
if you want to vote you still got to open Twitter or Twitter.com.
00:40:51
◼
►
And you can't create a poll from Tweetbot.
00:40:54
◼
►
Do you know if that's the thing that is they haven't implemented it yet or are they not
00:40:59
◼
►
I'm not sure.
00:41:00
◼
►
I think that the new Twitter API is still very much a growing thing.
00:41:05
◼
►
I don't think it's by any means finished yet.
00:41:11
◼
►
Let's talk about supporting app developers and features.
00:41:16
◼
►
features. There's been a lot of conversation about this app and it's a similar kind of
00:41:22
◼
►
conversation to many apps that have moved to a subscription based business model. I
00:41:33
◼
►
get a few things I want to say on this. So I think it's totally valid to say that you
00:41:37
◼
►
will subscribe to an application because you use it every day and the developers need to
00:41:41
◼
►
get paid. That is perfectly valid. It is completely acceptable as a thing to do. It's like how
00:41:49
◼
►
I subscribe to Twitch streamers that I like. I just want to support their work. I enjoy
00:41:56
◼
►
what they do, so I just want to give them money because I want them to keep doing the
00:42:00
◼
►
thing that they're doing. It is also valid, in my opinion, to say that as a customer,
00:42:07
◼
►
For the subscription, you would want a value exchange.
00:42:10
◼
►
You may not always want that, but it might be, depending on the type of application,
00:42:15
◼
►
or depending on the type of thing, you might want that.
00:42:18
◼
►
So I do not think that it's acceptable to really take it to extremes that some people
00:42:23
◼
►
do, where they harass developers and write blog posts and leave one star reviews.
00:42:31
◼
►
That's a whole different thing, especially when Tweetbot 5 just remains.
00:42:37
◼
►
still available, it's still there for you. If they had updated Tweetbot and then ripped
00:42:41
◼
►
it all out and made it read only, that would have been like a whole different thing. But
00:42:45
◼
►
that's not what they did, right? They created a brand new app and it's up to you then. But
00:42:51
◼
►
I do think it's totally fair to take a wait and see approach. So like, I want to see what
00:42:57
◼
►
features they add and see if it's then worth my money on a more consistent basis. Like
00:43:03
◼
►
You might want to keep using version 5 for a while, wait to see what Tapbots do to convince
00:43:09
◼
►
Because it is interesting, really I feel like a lot of apps that move from one-off payment
00:43:15
◼
►
to subscription have a selection of features to give to you.
00:43:19
◼
►
I would like to read a quote from Max Stories, his own one true John, for his, because I
00:43:25
◼
►
think John encapsulated this better than I'm going to be able to.
00:43:29
◼
►
John says "I have no issue with subscriptions conceptually, but they rightly carry the expectation
00:43:33
◼
►
that in return for regular payments, users will receive meaningful periodic updates.
00:43:38
◼
►
Recognising this, many developers timed the move to a subscription with a substantial
00:43:42
◼
►
app update to start off on the right foot, which Tapbots has not done.
00:43:46
◼
►
Tweetbots' subscription is primarily based on the promise of future updates.
00:43:50
◼
►
Even though the Tweetbots' subscription isn't expensive, I think Tapbots owes its users
00:43:53
◼
►
more than it has delivered.
00:43:55
◼
►
And I do agree with Jon there.
00:43:58
◼
►
There's another problem.
00:44:00
◼
►
Maybe not a problem.
00:44:01
◼
►
something that I would have done differently,
00:44:03
◼
►
because I've seen it done differently over the past year,
00:44:07
◼
►
I think the way that developers, and especially
00:44:09
◼
►
this type of indie developers, indie developers that we
00:44:12
◼
►
cover on the site, the way that they prepare for app launches
00:44:18
◼
►
and for introducing a new subscription model has changed.
00:44:24
◼
►
I think this is something that I've been noticing increasingly
00:44:27
◼
►
over the past year.
00:44:29
◼
►
I think it's become pretty much common to run effectively open test flights for all
00:44:35
◼
►
kinds of users, to show them exactly what you're working on and why it's going to be
00:44:40
◼
►
worth the cost of a subscription.
00:44:42
◼
►
It's become pretty common to have an open Slack, for example, where beta testers can
00:44:48
◼
►
join and can discuss, where developers can have a direct line of contact with those members.
00:44:54
◼
►
those members, those early users, will be your first... will be the kinds of people
00:45:01
◼
►
that will defend you on Twitter. You're evangelists. You're evangelists when you launch the app.
00:45:09
◼
►
Obviously it's been pretty common to get in touch with a bunch of websites to give them
00:45:13
◼
►
access to the beta and to explain, "Hey, here's why we're switching to a subscription." It's
00:45:19
◼
►
It's become pretty common to do a blog post, sometimes months in advance, to say, "Here's
00:45:24
◼
►
the thing, here's what we're going to do, and here's why." You look at the Brian Mueller,
00:45:30
◼
►
for example, what he did for Carrot 5, which is launching, I believe, tomorrow, or at some
00:45:35
◼
►
point this week. He had a long thread on Reddit, like a full post with hundreds of comments,
00:45:43
◼
►
Really good.
00:45:44
◼
►
Really, really good explanation of "Here's what I'm doing for Kerat 5.
00:45:49
◼
►
Let me explain it to you."
00:45:50
◼
►
And that's great.
00:45:51
◼
►
And what I think is happening here...
00:45:55
◼
►
We've gotten a bunch of tweets about folks complaining about Tweetbot moving to a subscription.
00:46:00
◼
►
It was even worse, I think, when the folks at Fantastical moved to a subscription.
00:46:07
◼
►
I think a lot of indie developers need to accept a few hard realities in 2021. The first one is,
00:46:15
◼
►
I get it, the idea of why wouldn't you want to support your favorite indie developer? Like,
00:46:23
◼
►
I totally get it. Sentimentally speaking, it's a topic close to my heart. But I think especially
00:46:29
◼
►
in 2021, in a post, well, quote-unquote, post-pandemic, current pandemic world,
00:46:36
◼
►
I think you gotta put those feelings aside and you gotta account for the fact that this is money
00:46:45
◼
►
we're talking about and people are rightfully so very conscious of their financials right now.
00:46:53
◼
►
And so I think thinking that people are going to support you anyway, it's not going to work out,
00:47:00
◼
►
I think, right now. Because unfortunately, money and taking care of your family,
00:47:06
◼
►
you know, those things are more important than developer goodwill right now.
00:47:11
◼
►
And I think that there's something to be said about being open in advance and getting feedback,
00:47:19
◼
►
Maybe. Exactly. I know that a lot of indie developers in our community take the Apple
00:47:26
◼
►
approach of like, we don't say anything. But you're not Apple, that's the thing, right?
00:47:31
◼
►
That was my second, that was my second reality. You're not Apple. You cannot just bring a
00:47:37
◼
►
surprise on people. It's not like you're, you know, Tim Cook walking on stage and introducing
00:47:41
◼
►
the new iPhone. This is an app. You're boring! Exactly. I mean, I think especially right
00:47:46
◼
►
now again look at what folks like Greg Pierce are doing with drafts or Brian
00:47:52
◼
►
Mueller with Care of Five like you know there's plenty Aaron Pierce with his
00:47:57
◼
►
suite of HomeKit apps and utilities like there's plenty of indie developers who
00:48:01
◼
►
have realized that the App Store economy and the competition has changed you know
00:48:08
◼
►
right now compared to 10 years ago the surprise app launch where you know you
00:48:14
◼
►
create demand by surprising people and say "no there's the new app by Tapbots, I must own this
00:48:21
◼
►
you know three dollar app". That used to work out in 2010, it doesn't necessarily work out in 2021.
00:48:27
◼
►
I mean, did it though? To an extent, I think so. Because every time Tapbots would release a new
00:48:34
◼
►
version people would lose their minds that they had to pay again, right? Right. I think it's
00:48:39
◼
►
heating up with subscriptions because it's money forever. But it's kind of
00:48:45
◼
►
interesting to me that they weren't more open in advance
00:48:51
◼
►
because Tapbots are a company that have always had these problems of like we
00:48:57
◼
►
have a new version and we're gonna charge for it and we're gonna charge for
00:49:00
◼
►
it because we're a company this is what we make. Fine. But every single time
00:49:04
◼
►
people get upset, right? Like you must know this by now, right? Like you've had
00:49:08
◼
►
it with a Mac app, you've had it with every version of the iPhone app. People get upset,
00:49:16
◼
►
rightly or wrongly, about needing to spend more money on software. And I think we've
00:49:21
◼
►
spoken about this a lot on this show, of the reality of the economy that you're in. You
00:49:29
◼
►
cannot compare apples to apples. You can't say, "This costs this, and this costs this,
00:49:37
◼
►
and everyone should be cool with it. Right? Like, oh, but $6 a year, like you spend $6
00:49:45
◼
►
a day on your lunch. Like, why would you not want? But like, it's the economy of the world
00:49:51
◼
►
that you're in is what you're working within, right? Like, software is cheap. So...
00:49:58
◼
►
And people really like to eat.
00:50:01
◼
►
You can't eat an app.
00:50:02
◼
►
But you know what, it's like, this is what they're in.
00:50:06
◼
►
Like this is... Yeah, it's not ideal.
00:50:08
◼
►
It would be so much better fit for developers if software was more expensive.
00:50:13
◼
►
And I get it, like I understand it, but that just isn't it.
00:50:18
◼
►
And like so, you know, you can be frustrated about it and be frustrated about it,
00:50:22
◼
►
but you still have to work within
00:50:25
◼
►
the constraints of the economy around you.
00:50:32
◼
►
Yeah, yeah. Which is why I think it's really important to be proactive and to build,
00:50:39
◼
►
you know, excitement before the release to be like... Right now, all the successful app launches
00:50:46
◼
►
that we're covering on the site, they had a very open beta stage, lots of feedback, thousands of
00:50:54
◼
►
users. So you launch the product with an established fan base who is going to do whatever they can to
00:51:00
◼
►
to promote your app.
00:51:02
◼
►
And I think that's the way to go right now.
00:51:05
◼
►
I think using the old approach of, surprise,
00:51:07
◼
►
we have an app, doesn't work out anymore.
00:51:10
◼
►
And when you add on top of that
00:51:12
◼
►
the subscription surprise effect,
00:51:15
◼
►
I don't wanna say it's a recipe for disaster
00:51:17
◼
►
because hopefully this will work out for these developers,
00:51:20
◼
►
but I think it's a risk
00:51:22
◼
►
and you're taking a big risk in doing that.
00:51:24
◼
►
- Like we have a subscription too now, right?
00:51:27
◼
►
Like you can pay us money and you get the show.
00:51:30
◼
►
But there was a lot of considerations that we took into it.
00:51:33
◼
►
Nothing was going to get taken away from our show.
00:51:36
◼
►
We didn't take away any features or put them behind a paywall.
00:51:40
◼
►
And we also decided that we didn't want it to be just like, "Hey, support us by giving
00:51:46
◼
►
We were going to remove ads from our show and give bonus content.
00:51:50
◼
►
So that felt like an overall package that we were willing to offer.
00:51:55
◼
►
I think that that's the kind of things that people need to make those kinds of considerations
00:51:59
◼
►
that just support us because we need support, it's not going to work of as many people as
00:52:09
◼
►
support us and get this and this and this, let's talk about it, you know, like there is a,
00:52:15
◼
►
there is more success in a better mixture I think in the long run.
00:52:21
◼
►
Yeah, something about it makes me feel like me as a customer or a user of an app or a service,
00:52:29
◼
►
I'm being that my support or my continued use of it is just taken for granted.
00:52:35
◼
►
Like, oh yeah, let's move on to this just out of goodwill.
00:52:39
◼
►
That's fine and there's lots of things that all three of us do that to.
00:52:42
◼
►
You know, Myke, you mentioned craters on Twitch.
00:52:45
◼
►
All of us support things like that.
00:52:48
◼
►
But you can't, or well, you shouldn't build your entire business on that.
00:52:56
◼
►
And I think with Tapbots in particular,
00:52:59
◼
►
they've had run-ins with users online
00:53:03
◼
►
and they've been cranky about things.
00:53:04
◼
►
And that's fine, we're all that way sometimes,
00:53:06
◼
►
but you need to go to the user base
00:53:10
◼
►
and explain what's going on.
00:53:12
◼
►
And to John's really good point in his article,
00:53:15
◼
►
prove, do some of that work on the front end
00:53:19
◼
►
that this is going to be worthwhile.
00:53:22
◼
►
The six bucks a year is not a lot of money
00:53:23
◼
►
for a lot of people.
00:53:24
◼
►
It is a lot of money for some people too.
00:53:26
◼
►
And you need to prove that you've earned it and that your app or service or
00:53:33
◼
►
whatever it is, is something that you're willing to keep investing in because
00:53:39
◼
►
for better or for worse, and whether it was Apple's goal or not, when setting
00:53:44
◼
►
up recurring subscriptions, the understanding is at least, especially for
00:53:49
◼
►
like power user nerd type users who are going to use tweet bot over Twitter or
00:53:56
◼
►
we're gonna use Twitter if ik over Twitter or some other third-party
00:53:59
◼
►
weather app or podcast separate this whole scene that we're in that we all
00:54:04
◼
►
have an understanding that ongoing recurring subscription equals ongoing
00:54:09
◼
►
updates and mm-hmm they just didn't deliver on that you know I was flipping
00:54:16
◼
►
through tweetbot6, I've got it on my phone and looking through it like if you
00:54:20
◼
►
didn't tell me it was a new version I'm not sure I would have
00:54:24
◼
►
noticed and that's not fantastic. I've come to prefer a lot about the way that
00:54:31
◼
►
the Twitter app itself works for me now and there are things that I've gotten
00:54:35
◼
►
really used to but there are things that Twitter does that are pretty hostile and
00:54:39
◼
►
I don't expect to see them in third-party apps like promoted tweets for
00:54:44
◼
►
companies that are completely irrelevant to me.
00:54:46
◼
►
Like I get I get promoted tweets for betting companies all the time.
00:54:50
◼
►
Like there is I don't do this.
00:54:52
◼
►
Like, you know, and I even said when they gave me the option, show me
00:54:57
◼
►
personalized ads, because my feeling is if you're going to show me ads, I at
00:55:02
◼
►
least want them to be relevant.
00:55:03
◼
►
Sure. Right. Because look, Instagram does it and I buy stuff from Instagram all
00:55:08
◼
►
the time because the ads are relevant.
00:55:11
◼
►
So I buy stuff, but I'm never going to join your sports betting service because I don't
00:55:16
◼
►
bet on sports. Right. So like stop showing me these ads. There was a while for a couple
00:55:21
◼
►
of weeks where I'm not kidding, but every five or six tweets I was shown a tweet from
00:55:26
◼
►
a topic. Oh yeah. Yeah. And then that stopped happening. Uh, interestingly, this is something
00:55:35
◼
►
I noticed. I, it was kind of frustrating. I made the decision a couple of weeks ago
00:55:39
◼
►
that I wanted to stop using Twitter as much as I was. I made this decision two days before
00:55:45
◼
►
the insurrection on the Capitol and it completely broke it, because it's like, "Alright, I'm
00:55:50
◼
►
going to stop using Twitter as much and then like, ah, I've got to be plugged in online!"
00:55:55
◼
►
Because I was gone for two days, I didn't see an ad on Twitter for two days. Like, when
00:55:59
◼
►
I went back, no ads. And I thought it was really interesting, because maybe they just
00:56:05
◼
►
show me a lot of ads, I'm on Twitter a lot. Use Twitter less, see less ads. I don't know.
00:56:10
◼
►
I noticed it. I don't know what they're thinking is on that or if they do do anything on that,
00:56:13
◼
►
but I did notice. Way less ads and no more topics being shoved in my face after I took
00:56:18
◼
►
some time away for a day or two. It's very interesting. If the overall experience of
00:56:22
◼
►
Tweetbot can improve from the new API features, I could move back, but there are things that
00:56:28
◼
►
I'm super used to now. Like I was using Tweetbot today and I have really come to prefer and
00:56:35
◼
►
love the threaded conversations in a timeline because I was noticing I would
00:56:40
◼
►
see a tweet and it was just like some random like at like at Federico yeah it's
00:56:44
◼
►
like what does this mean like if I want to know I have to click through to it
00:56:49
◼
►
but in the Twitter app you see all of the replies in context and while at
00:56:54
◼
►
first I remember we were all like this is madness why would you do this after
00:56:58
◼
►
get used to it, it is a vastly superior way to follow conversation. I keep my eye on it.
00:57:06
◼
►
I'm intrigued because I used to love Tweetbot but moved away from it just over time. But part of the
00:57:15
◼
►
reason I moved away from it is because they couldn't take advantage of the things that
00:57:18
◼
►
Twitter could. If they decide to, maybe they can make better design decisions. But I don't know yet.
00:57:24
◼
►
and what I wouldn't see.
00:57:26
◼
►
-Yeah, I feel the same way for all those reasons.
00:57:29
◼
►
Also the fact that --
00:57:30
◼
►
And I'm not sure if the version 2 of the API
00:57:33
◼
►
gives them access to the full history of Twitter search.
00:57:37
◼
►
That's one of the big reasons why I also like
00:57:39
◼
►
to use the Twitter app,
00:57:41
◼
►
being able to search for any tweet from the past --
00:57:45
◼
►
how long has Twitter existed?
00:57:46
◼
►
I don't know, 15 years or something.
00:57:49
◼
►
But also, I just feel like using any third-party client these days,
00:57:55
◼
►
and this is true for Tweetbot, Twitterific, Aviary, all of them,
00:58:00
◼
►
it just feels like I'm not using the real, if you will, Twitter experience.
00:58:05
◼
►
It just feels like I'm a little bit detached from normal people.
00:58:09
◼
►
Like, it's even one of those small things, right, when there's, like, an event,
00:58:13
◼
►
like a real-world event going on, and there's the special hash flag, as they call it.
00:58:18
◼
►
it. And you can see that in a third party client and it just feels like you're missing
00:58:23
◼
►
out on what the rest of the world is doing.
00:58:25
◼
►
Let alone that the tweets aren't real time.
00:58:28
◼
►
Yeah. And that. So, you know, something that I've been doing a lot lately is checking out
00:58:35
◼
►
Twitter when I'm watching a specific program on TV in Italy, on live television.
00:58:41
◼
►
It's Big Brother. Come on, it's Big Brother. Just say it.
00:58:43
◼
►
It's that, but not also a bunch of other ones.
00:58:47
◼
►
But mostly the Big Brother.
00:58:48
◼
►
That's the big brother.
00:58:50
◼
►
You know they extended the program again.
00:58:52
◼
►
Those folks are going to be locked out in the house for six months.
00:58:56
◼
►
They're going to keep extending that thing until the pandemic is over.
00:59:00
◼
►
Like, you know, the big brother will continue.
00:59:03
◼
►
When they finally open the doors,
00:59:04
◼
►
it will be the children of the people that were sent in that come out.
00:59:07
◼
►
Yeah, pretty much.
00:59:10
◼
►
But yeah, but it's like when you do that and you get the real time tweets
00:59:15
◼
►
and you see like millions of other people talking about the same thing,
00:59:18
◼
►
that's not something that you can get in a third-party client, you know? It's all
00:59:22
◼
►
of those reasons why I also use the Twitter app, which for many other reasons,
00:59:26
◼
►
like, it also drives me crazy. The fact that it's horrible on iPad, for example.
00:59:31
◼
►
The promoted tweets, the fact that I keep seeing the same ads over and over, like,
00:59:36
◼
►
the same... there's not enough variety to those ads. It's always like the same...
00:59:41
◼
►
there's one for a cellphone provider that I keep getting over the past week,
00:59:46
◼
►
it's so annoying but still. I mean one thing you can do which is what I do is I mute the
00:59:50
◼
►
accounts and you'll still get bad ads but you at least won't see the same ads all the
00:59:54
◼
►
time and I do find that to be preferable. That's a good name. Okay. But I mean you're
01:00:00
◼
►
still gonna see stuff that is irrelevant to you but at least it's not the same thing over
01:00:05
◼
►
and over again. Yeah. Like it's funny right like I think it was a point that I made when
01:00:12
◼
►
we all moved when I moved and then Federico you'd been on a Twitter app first and then
01:00:16
◼
►
I went in and Stephen I think you came after, I was like there is no other service like
01:00:22
◼
►
this where I don't use the app that the company makes. Right? There are third party Instagram
01:00:31
◼
►
No. Well there used to be some but then they shut down the API but it wasn't as popular
01:00:36
◼
►
like the idea of a third-party client I think it's pretty unique to Twitter. If you remember
01:00:41
◼
►
there used to be like YouTube clients, like I remember ProTube back in the day, like that was
01:00:46
◼
►
a really good YouTube client and then of course Google shut down the API. But I think the idea of
01:00:52
◼
►
the Twitter client is very unique and very unique to Twitter itself. I don't know, Twitter seems to
01:00:59
◼
►
think that they can, you know, convince developers to come back and make actual full clients again.
01:01:04
◼
►
I'm still very skeptical. Yeah, I am taking a very wait and see move on that.
01:01:10
◼
►
One thing that I find that I like in the default Twitter client, it's not something I would have
01:01:17
◼
►
guessed and a lot of the content is garbage, but when there is something trending that is newsworthy,
01:01:25
◼
►
you can understand it pretty quickly normally. Yeah, they do that like breakdown, don't they?
01:01:31
◼
►
Yeah, where someone at Twitter writes a couple sentences and they have the most relevant tweets
01:01:38
◼
►
And then if I want to go read more, I can. Usually they have news organizations towards the top of that or the user that's involved.
01:01:45
◼
►
A lot of the trends themselves I don't care about or just not useful to me, but when they are,
01:01:52
◼
►
I find that a pretty good way to understand at least a little bit and see if I want to go explore the story more.
01:01:58
◼
►
And in Tweetbot, maybe it's an API thing, maybe their users just don't care about it as much,
01:02:03
◼
►
but it's just like a list and you don't necessarily easily understand what it's about.
01:02:08
◼
►
And I find that surprisingly, I find that a little bit frustrating.
01:02:13
◼
►
Yeah, I do feel like maybe we all have been away from third party apps for too long now.
01:02:19
◼
►
And like the prospect of actually returning to them with a older feature set might be unrealistic now.
01:02:28
◼
►
That's a good subtopic, actually.
01:02:31
◼
►
Maybe we should talk about this not today, but in the future,
01:02:34
◼
►
but I'm just going to, you know, throw it out there for now.
01:02:37
◼
►
Do you guys feel like you are checking out fewer apps,
01:02:44
◼
►
new apps than before?
01:02:46
◼
►
I had this feeling a couple of years ago.
01:02:49
◼
►
Remember? Remember I sent you a text one day and was like,
01:02:52
◼
►
"Are there new apps anymore? Because I don't find them."
01:02:56
◼
►
And how do you feel about it now?
01:02:58
◼
►
less. Less. I'm putting it down as a future topic. Okay, all right. Let's think about it.
01:03:06
◼
►
And some real-time follow-up. It's called early access. That's how they label it,
01:03:11
◼
►
is because that's what Twitter's version 2 API is. So it's incomplete, and that's what they decide
01:03:17
◼
►
to name this version of tweetbot. Paul Haddad says that they will remove that label once the API
01:03:23
◼
►
reaches 1.0. Okay. So it is weird that they call it that because there was no explanation.
01:03:30
◼
►
Apparently, that's why. Right. I mean, that is a I just assumed it was along those lines,
01:03:35
◼
►
but it makes more sense that it aligns with what Twitter is calling it to. You know, one thing I'm
01:03:41
◼
►
just I've been sitting here playing with Tweetbot six. One thing I do not miss from the regular
01:03:47
◼
►
Twitter app is I don't I don't ever really care to see who likes or retweets my tweets. I mean,
01:03:53
◼
►
I'm thankful people do but I really just want to see my replies and
01:03:57
◼
►
You can get to one of those views or the other in Twitter, but Twitter really wants to show you
01:04:03
◼
►
Engagement stuff and the notifications what they call notifications in that room. Yeah, and I just don't
01:04:10
◼
►
This is not something I keep up with
01:04:12
◼
►
We see this is I I understand what you mean, but I also do sometimes want to see it and
01:04:18
◼
►
You just can't
01:04:21
◼
►
Right, and like that's the difference.
01:04:23
◼
►
I'm gonna sound like an idiot.
01:04:26
◼
►
Oh, he's gonna say it's the opposite.
01:04:31
◼
►
I sometimes open the verified tab to see if other verified users have engaged with my tweets.
01:04:37
◼
►
Oh, I mean, I do that too.
01:04:41
◼
►
It makes me feel good sometimes.
01:04:43
◼
►
Secret club.
01:04:45
◼
►
Verified people.
01:04:49
◼
►
Well, we're all terrible.
01:04:51
◼
►
Well, you know how we can say it, and I do genuinely believe this, I really hope that
01:04:56
◼
►
Twitter's verified system that they're apparently going to be rolling out soon is genuinely
01:05:02
◼
►
It should be open to everybody.
01:05:03
◼
►
Everyone should be able to be verified.
01:05:06
◼
►
And I hope that that is more what they're moving towards.
01:05:09
◼
►
I know that they explicitly called out people who are in activist groups and stuff like
01:05:15
◼
►
that, which I think is a really good addition.
01:05:18
◼
►
ultimately I think they need to be able to move Verified to everyone.
01:05:23
◼
►
Everyone should be able to be verified.
01:05:25
◼
►
But then those of us who are ready, give us a gold checkmark instead.
01:05:28
◼
►
Is that what you want?
01:05:29
◼
►
Oh my god, oh my god.
01:05:31
◼
►
Yeah, I would love to have like an extra badge, you know.
01:05:36
◼
►
But what do you want it to suggest?
01:05:38
◼
►
Verified Pro.
01:05:40
◼
►
Verified Pro, okay.
01:05:42
◼
►
That's good.
01:05:44
◼
►
If you want to hear more about Twitter,
01:05:46
◼
►
this morning's episode of Dithering
01:05:49
◼
►
with Jon Gruber and Ben Thompson talks
01:05:51
◼
►
about Twitter's recent acquisition
01:05:55
◼
►
of a newsletter company, but also just on a bigger stage,
01:05:59
◼
►
like Twitter's moving forward and how do they monetize things.
01:06:03
◼
►
I don't know.
01:06:03
◼
►
It found it to be a very compelling conversation.
01:06:05
◼
►
So go check that out if you are a Dithering subscriber.
01:06:09
◼
►
Anything else on Twitter and Tweetbot?
01:06:10
◼
►
We've got one more thing to close this out.
01:06:13
◼
►
I don't think so.
01:06:14
◼
►
This episode of Connected is brought to you by Pingdom.
01:06:17
◼
►
While you've been listening to this podcast, how would you know if your website had gone
01:06:21
◼
►
down if your customers couldn't click that buy now button or access your content?
01:06:26
◼
►
You might stumble across the problem by luck, but that's not good.
01:06:29
◼
►
You need a system, a system to tell you that everything is running smoothly on your site
01:06:34
◼
►
and more importantly, when it's not.
01:06:36
◼
►
You need Pingdom.
01:06:38
◼
►
Pingdom detects around 13 million outages every month.
01:06:42
◼
►
more than 400,000 outages every day. Pingdom keeps your sites and the sites you love online.
01:06:49
◼
►
It doesn't matter if you're a startup or a fortune 500 company, you need alerts about
01:06:53
◼
►
any critical website issues. Pingdom lets you customize how you're alerted, depending
01:06:59
◼
►
on the severity of the outage. Plus they track and analyze your website's load time, so you
01:07:04
◼
►
can see what's affecting the user experience. If you have a site of any size, go check out
01:07:10
◼
►
They have a no fuss approach to getting started.
01:07:13
◼
►
All they need is the URL you want to monitor, and they take care of the rest.
01:07:18
◼
►
Go to Pingdom.com/RelayFM right now for a 30 day free trial with no credit card required.
01:07:25
◼
►
When you sign up, use the code connected at checkout to get a huge 30% off your first
01:07:31
◼
►
Our thanks to Pingdom from SolarWinds for their support of the show and RelayFM.
01:07:36
◼
►
So we thought it would be interesting since Tweetbot has moved to a subscription for us
01:07:40
◼
►
to talk about the app subscriptions that we currently are using. Some of these are in
01:07:47
◼
►
the App Store, some are out of the App Store, some of these are personal, some of these
01:07:51
◼
►
sort of blend the lines between personal and business, but I think it'd be fun to talk
01:07:57
◼
►
I kind of just, I had this as a thought in my mind for a while, and I especially, because
01:08:03
◼
►
I knew that we were going to be bringing a variety of opinions to the show today, I also
01:08:08
◼
►
wanted to prove that we do support developers with subscriptions. Like we're not like anti
01:08:15
◼
►
that. But so I figured it would be worth highlighting some of those at least.
01:08:20
◼
►
So Myke, do you want to go first?
01:08:22
◼
►
Okay. Yeah. So I have a selection of apps in the App Store and other little things.
01:08:29
◼
►
Apple One Premium, you know, I love to support Apple.
01:08:31
◼
►
Oh yeah. Indie developer right there. Good.
01:08:34
◼
►
the upstart, gotta get them a go.
01:08:37
◼
►
Tweetbot is now on that list.
01:08:38
◼
►
I signed up for the annual 'cause I wanted to try it out.
01:08:41
◼
►
Office 365 'cause those guys really need some help
01:08:44
◼
►
over there at Microsoft,
01:08:45
◼
►
but I do have an Office 365 subscription.
01:08:49
◼
►
Widgetsmith, YouTube Premium.
01:08:52
◼
►
Okay, I want, before I know someone's gonna write in,
01:08:55
◼
►
I will close Twitter, close email.
01:08:58
◼
►
I know that, I'm pretty sure YouTube Premium is cheaper
01:09:01
◼
►
if you pay for it outside of the App Store.
01:09:03
◼
►
is just how I do it. I can't be bothered to change it. This is it. Drafts, Bear, the
01:09:13
◼
►
Markdown editing application. Castro, Craft. Craft is cool.
01:09:20
◼
►
There are three note-taking apps in this list.
01:09:23
◼
►
A lot of note-taking. Yeah, I like to take notes. All right, Drafts I use for some automation
01:09:30
◼
►
stuff. I use it mainly for that. And also drafts. Drafts is one of those aspirational
01:09:36
◼
►
purchases. I like to think one day I could be a full on drafts user. Bear is my favourite
01:09:46
◼
►
like markdown text editor. I like it for that. Where's the other note taking? Well craft,
01:09:55
◼
►
I don't think of it as a note taking app.
01:09:56
◼
►
Craft is like, for me, that's where I, it's Evernote.
01:10:01
◼
►
Okay. That's what I treat Craft as basically.
01:10:03
◼
►
Like loads of stuff goes into it, all kinds of different types of content.
01:10:08
◼
►
Plus as well, like I,
01:10:10
◼
►
I wanted an application that was siloed of just one thing.
01:10:15
◼
►
So everything to do with Cortex brand, I wanted in one application.
01:10:18
◼
►
I didn't want it into mixed with other stuff.
01:10:20
◼
►
So I have just a Craft workspace for all of that.
01:10:24
◼
►
It was previously in Notion.
01:10:25
◼
►
Craft is better for me for what I want to do.
01:10:28
◼
►
VSCO, the photo editing app.
01:10:34
◼
►
Halide Mark 2, another aspirational subscription.
01:10:40
◼
►
GIF Wrapped, the GIF app.
01:10:43
◼
►
Carrot Weather, Overcast, and Dew.
01:10:46
◼
►
These are all of my in the App Store subscriptions.
01:10:50
◼
►
And then I have a selection of apps
01:10:52
◼
►
that I pay for outside of the App Store.
01:10:54
◼
►
There might be more than this subscription wise,
01:10:57
◼
►
but these are the ones I could remember
01:10:59
◼
►
and through looking at the apps on my devices.
01:11:02
◼
►
I pay for Fantastic How from outside of the App Store,
01:11:05
◼
►
which I recommend because it's a legitimate business purchase for me
01:11:09
◼
►
and allows me to do it because it's super complicated to try and
01:11:12
◼
►
even with Apple Pay to choose different cards in the App Store.
01:11:18
◼
►
So hard to do, and I really wished it wasn't so difficult.
01:11:22
◼
►
One password, text expander, Creative Cloud, Spark, I pay for the Teams feature, Discord,
01:11:30
◼
►
I pay for, I don't remember what they call it now, I think it used to be called Nitro,
01:11:35
◼
►
but I pay for that.
01:11:36
◼
►
I technically don't pay for Slack myself, but I kind of pay for Slack.
01:11:41
◼
►
We split it.
01:11:43
◼
►
Technically.
01:11:44
◼
►
OmniFocus, I pay for OmniFocus outside of the App Store too, and Toggle.
01:11:50
◼
►
They're my subscriptions.
01:11:51
◼
►
Those are some good subscriptions.
01:11:52
◼
►
It's a real slice of Myke Hurley there, like multiple note-taking applications, time tracking,
01:11:59
◼
►
It's just all like, you just cut me open and these are the apps you find inside.
01:12:04
◼
►
That's not how apps work at all.
01:12:06
◼
►
It's like, it's like a rock, you know, like a geo type thing.
01:12:11
◼
►
I think geo is Pokemon, right?
01:12:13
◼
►
Yes, Steven.
01:12:15
◼
►
I know Pokemon.
01:12:16
◼
►
I'll go next.
01:12:17
◼
►
I also have Apple One Premium, Kraft, which I use for all my work related notes.
01:12:23
◼
►
I keep my personal notes in Apple Notes.
01:12:27
◼
►
Headspace which is a meditation relaxation app.
01:12:31
◼
►
Nomo Robo which is a call screening app that uses the mechanism put in I think in iOS 12
01:12:41
◼
►
maybe 11 or 12 where you can run phone numbers through a database and see if it's spam or
01:12:47
◼
►
Does that work for you?
01:12:51
◼
►
- It does, yeah.
01:12:53
◼
►
It's pretty good.
01:12:55
◼
►
- I think it's pretty good.
01:12:56
◼
►
I get a little badge a lot saying this is a spam call
01:12:58
◼
►
that NoMoRobo puts up on the screen, so.
01:13:01
◼
►
- Overcast, Fantastical, Strava.
01:13:06
◼
►
I forget which level of Strava,
01:13:08
◼
►
but they have different features.
01:13:09
◼
►
That's a running and cycling tracking app.
01:13:12
◼
►
- You getting a lot of use out of that recently?
01:13:14
◼
►
- No, that was an annual purchase.
01:13:17
◼
►
like in the summer. Past Steven had very different opinions to what current
01:13:24
◼
►
Steven would. Well not opinions, capabilities. Day one, deliveries, gift
01:13:32
◼
►
wrapped, carrot weather, Todoist, which is my task manager. I did look technically
01:13:40
◼
►
I remember the milk membership is also still active but set to expire in about
01:13:44
◼
►
month oh wow the love affair is over I'm sure I'll be back yeah I have no doubt
01:13:50
◼
►
about it widgetsmith YouTube premium do as well which is fantastic ones outside
01:13:59
◼
►
the App Store that I could think of were one password which is both like our
01:14:04
◼
►
company pays for and then I have a family account that I share with Mary
01:14:07
◼
►
I'm the same. TextExpander... Not with Mary, I don't share a one-part story with your wife.
01:14:14
◼
►
It's cool with me. TextExpander and Backblaze. Backing up my Macs. Oh, Backblaze, yeah. We're
01:14:22
◼
►
all three gonna have ones we forgot about after we hear someone else mention it. Creative
01:14:27
◼
►
Cloud, pay for the whole shebang. Slack, of course, Relay pays for it for our, you know,
01:14:33
◼
►
50 people that are in there, and then Office 365.
01:14:37
◼
►
I think that's it.
01:14:38
◼
►
I mean, we didn't really get into pure entertainment.
01:14:43
◼
►
I think YouTube Premium is as close as we got, but looking through my active list in
01:14:46
◼
►
the App Store and looking through my expenses, that's what I came up with.
01:14:51
◼
►
My list is a bit shorter than you guys, I think.
01:14:54
◼
►
So in terms of apps, Kraft?
01:14:56
◼
►
I genuinely expect though that for you, a lot of the apps that would be the ones that
01:15:04
◼
►
me and Steven would have, you're very likely on betas of those apps.
01:15:10
◼
►
And not necessarily the same ones, but like that there might be like a type of application
01:15:15
◼
►
so you just you don't need a subscription for it. Or maybe you just the types of applications,
01:15:20
◼
►
you just have apps that aren't subscription apps.
01:15:22
◼
►
No, I don't have a lot of betas on my devices right now.
01:15:26
◼
►
Did a lot of cleanup over the past few months.
01:15:30
◼
►
So what I pay for in the App Store is Craft,
01:15:32
◼
►
which is where I'm keeping all of my notes right now.
01:15:35
◼
►
Timery, because, I mean, it's, you know, all those reasons.
01:15:39
◼
►
It's the best time checking app.
01:15:41
◼
►
Carrot Weather, and I'm really keen to see
01:15:44
◼
►
what Brian does with --
01:15:46
◼
►
-Oh, I miss Timery. I miss Timery.
01:15:48
◼
►
Sorry. -Timery.
01:15:50
◼
►
-It's like one of my favorite apps ever.
01:15:51
◼
►
How did I miss it?
01:15:52
◼
►
Timery has to be like one of the apps that I use the most on all of my devices, especially
01:15:56
◼
►
now with the widgets and the shortcuts.
01:15:58
◼
►
How did I miss Timery?
01:15:59
◼
►
I really use it a lot.
01:16:01
◼
►
Timery is super good.
01:16:02
◼
►
Carrot Weather, I'm really keen to play around with version 5.
01:16:05
◼
►
I haven't spent as much time as I hope with it.
01:16:08
◼
►
We're gonna have a review on Mac stories, but not by me.
01:16:11
◼
►
Because hopefully you didn't write it.
01:16:15
◼
►
By Federico.
01:16:16
◼
►
Uh, I haven't used this one.
01:16:20
◼
►
It's really cool. It's really cool.
01:16:23
◼
►
I played around with the beta. It feels a little bit intimidating at first because of
01:16:26
◼
►
all those new options for UI customization and all that kind of stuff, but we'll see
01:16:32
◼
►
when it launches.
01:16:33
◼
►
Castro, I pay for the, what's it called, Castro Plus subscription. I really like the app,
01:16:40
◼
►
the way that it works with the inbox.
01:16:42
◼
►
Apollo, I subscribe to the Apollo Ultra subscription annual thing.
01:16:47
◼
►
That's the Reddit app, right?
01:16:50
◼
►
That's the best Reddit client you can find, one of the best developers you can find around
01:16:55
◼
►
really Christian, he's such a cool guy.
01:16:58
◼
►
And it's the best Reddit experience you can find on iOS and iPadOS.
01:17:03
◼
►
I still really like NARWAL.
01:17:06
◼
►
I like the simplicity of NARWAL and I think that's what most people don't want.
01:17:10
◼
►
They want the features of Apollo and I am just not that heavy a Reddit user, I think.
01:17:17
◼
►
Well, I'm not a heavy Reddit user. I just like the way that Apollo works. I subscribe
01:17:23
◼
►
to Kipit as well, which is the document manager type application. It's sort of like Devon
01:17:31
◼
►
think, but like a lightweight version of Devon think. It would be a good way to describe
01:17:36
◼
►
it. This is where I keep all of the PDF versions of our newsletters, for example, PDF copies
01:17:43
◼
►
of Apple's documentation. And I switched from DevOnThink because Kipit had much better shortcuts
01:17:50
◼
►
integration when I needed it a few months ago. I know that there's a new version of
01:17:55
◼
►
DevOnThink coming out that in theory, amongst other actions, will also have new shortcuts
01:18:01
◼
►
integration. So maybe I will reconsider, but for now I'm using Kipit on all of my devices.
01:18:06
◼
►
Pokemon Home, this is the service that lets you move around Pokemon between different
01:18:13
◼
►
games and different systems. It's like online storage for Pokemon.
01:18:18
◼
►
I was so happy to see this in here.
01:18:23
◼
►
I subscribe!
01:18:26
◼
►
Of course, but it was just heartwarming to me for some reason to just see that Pokemon
01:18:32
◼
►
Home was in there.
01:18:33
◼
►
You know, Myke, as I make sense of my life after a bit of a break that I had, the Pokémon
01:18:39
◼
►
itch is coming again.
01:18:40
◼
►
Oh, here we go.
01:18:42
◼
►
Not for competitive play.
01:18:44
◼
►
I don't think I can handle that sort of stress, if you will, right now, but the single player,
01:18:51
◼
►
like actually just playing Pokémon and catching them and playing the old games as well.
01:18:55
◼
►
I think it's coming back.
01:18:57
◼
►
I think I may be starting like the Pokédex quest again sometime soon.
01:19:03
◼
►
Anyway, two PDF apps.
01:19:05
◼
►
PDF Viewer, which is like my default PDF reader
01:19:09
◼
►
for like signing stuff, contracts, annotations,
01:19:13
◼
►
all that sort of like basic PDF stuff, I subscribe to that.
01:19:17
◼
►
But also Highlights.
01:19:19
◼
►
Highlights I exclusively use for my annual iOS
01:19:22
◼
►
and iPadOS reviews.
01:19:23
◼
►
And I use it because it lets me view the document
01:19:27
◼
►
and the annotations in split screen side by side.
01:19:30
◼
►
It's got this very unique view for annotations
01:19:33
◼
►
and documents that I really like.
01:19:35
◼
►
And finally, this is something that I started using
01:19:37
◼
►
a few months ago, AdGuard Pro.
01:19:40
◼
►
This is an ad blocker, but also it installs
01:19:44
◼
►
like a VPN on your device for DNS protection.
01:19:50
◼
►
And basically it's one of those apps that tries to block ads
01:19:55
◼
►
and encrypt your internet requests with a VPN profile.
01:20:01
◼
►
And I think it's been working out really well for me lately.
01:20:03
◼
►
Like, for example, thanks to AdGuard,
01:20:06
◼
►
when I go to certain Italian newspaper websites
01:20:11
◼
►
and I want to watch a video, the ad doesn't load at all.
01:20:16
◼
►
The video just starts playing.
01:20:19
◼
►
That's one of the things that AdGuard can do.
01:20:21
◼
►
Now, I feel sorry for the ad industry
01:20:23
◼
►
because I feel like I'm stealing your money,
01:20:24
◼
►
but hey, I wanna watch those videos for...
01:20:30
◼
►
what am I supposed to do? I want to watch the video. I don't want your ad.
01:20:33
◼
►
I know, it's allowed. It's on the App Store, so, you know, go complain to Apple, not me.
01:20:39
◼
►
So yeah, AdGuard. Now, outside of the App Store, I obviously pay for Spotify, which technically
01:20:49
◼
►
I'm not subscribed to. Like, I haven't subscribed to Spotify per se. Like, what I've done is I have
01:20:56
◼
►
this little, this neat website that I go to where I purchase gift cards, like US gift cards for
01:21:04
◼
►
online services. You can purchase a gift card for the US App Store, for Spotify, for the Google Play
01:21:11
◼
►
Store. So what I do is I purchase Spotify gift cards, then I use ExpressVPN, which is also a
01:21:16
◼
►
sponsor of the show, to log into Spotify as a US, with a US location, and then I use my US gift card
01:21:26
◼
►
to redeem my Spotify Premium US version subscription.
01:21:31
◼
►
It's interesting because this definitely feels like it would be a One True John job to get you gift cards.
01:21:38
◼
►
So I guess it's nice that you found a website to relieve that work from One True John.
01:21:43
◼
►
Yeah, a very good website, which I will not share in case, you know, they shut it down.
01:21:50
◼
►
Yeah, because like, are they sending you scans of actual gift cards?
01:21:54
◼
►
used to now they have a more efficient, much more efficient system in place.
01:21:57
◼
►
I've used something like that before. That is shady.
01:22:02
◼
►
You know, I used to be friends. Well, I think at some point we became friends with the previous
01:22:07
◼
►
website that I used to rely on for this kind of stuff with Jeff. His name was Jeff and
01:22:12
◼
►
Jeff and I, like he was one of those websites that sent you the scan of the gift card. And
01:22:18
◼
►
I don't know, sometimes we talked and I think at some point he discovered Mac stories and
01:22:23
◼
►
he started asking me questions privately over email and that got kind of weird and so I
01:22:29
◼
►
stopped using Jeff's website.
01:22:31
◼
►
I can imagine this is like one of those things with like a dealer and so his name in your
01:22:36
◼
►
address book is just like Jeff gift card.
01:22:38
◼
►
Wait, I think if you buy drugs you don't put in Joe heroin as their contact name.
01:22:44
◼
►
Well, no, you know, obviously you wouldn't write...
01:22:50
◼
►
I don't... I think like... heroin is maybe not a great...
01:22:55
◼
►
I mean, come on!
01:22:57
◼
►
It's all drugs straight to heroin!
01:23:02
◼
►
I don't think that that's like...
01:23:03
◼
►
Well, hey look, Cindy cocaine was out of town.
01:23:07
◼
►
So have a cocktail.
01:23:10
◼
►
Why don't you just start with weed?
01:23:15
◼
►
I mean, exactly.
01:23:17
◼
►
Why do you go straight to heroin?
01:23:19
◼
►
No, you want to go all the way.
01:23:23
◼
►
No actually...
01:23:24
◼
►
William Weed, Mary Marijuana?
01:23:27
◼
►
Actually I saved him, and I'm not joking, I saved him as Jeff Itunes.
01:23:32
◼
►
See, I knew it.
01:23:36
◼
►
Alright, so like if you met someone at like a club, like in our younger years, you know,
01:23:45
◼
►
they you might say by the name of the nightclub that you met them in you associate the person
01:23:51
◼
►
because you don't you didn't you didn't get i mean how often do you catch people's surnames
01:23:55
◼
►
in those kinds of situations also like you don't introduce yourself with your last name exactly
01:23:59
◼
►
hello i'm federico vitigi get away from me you creep
01:24:04
◼
►
no let me see if i can find jeff itunes jeff itunes can you imagine if it's jeff williams
01:24:13
◼
►
It's the real Jeff iTunes
01:24:16
◼
►
Now sometime one time he failed to
01:24:19
◼
►
Send me the scan of a gift card, and he was very apologetic and he told me like hey
01:24:25
◼
►
I had some trouble at home. I was like dude. I don't care
01:24:28
◼
►
You misunderstood our relationship Jeff I chance
01:24:33
◼
►
All right Federico blogger what else is on your list, okay?
01:24:42
◼
►
I just got that, that was good. I got that. Slack, 1Password. I use both 1Password for work
01:24:54
◼
►
and 1Password for family. Family, just me and Sylvain for work. I have John and Alex and
01:25:00
◼
►
we all share access to a bunch of like work stuff and work documents. Toggle, obviously,
01:25:06
◼
►
time tracking. Dropbox, which I still use, even though...
01:25:10
◼
►
Oh yeah, Dropbox. I didn't put that one on my list.
01:25:13
◼
►
Yeah, me too.
01:25:14
◼
►
I still use it. I still use it. It's still the best file and document sharing service
01:25:19
◼
►
you can find. And I think that's pretty much it. I don't have anything else in my list
01:25:25
◼
►
that requires a subscription, and I was looking at my phone again. That's the stuff on my
01:25:31
◼
►
home screen and on the second page. I don't think... I mean technically in Twitch on an
01:25:37
◼
►
iPhone I do use the... that's not a subscription when you...
01:25:40
◼
►
No, you buy like tokens.
01:25:42
◼
►
You buy the tokens, so you know, tokens are like a subscription but you buy them as in
01:25:46
◼
►
a purchase on the iPhone. So yeah, that's my list.
01:25:50
◼
►
I'm sure that there's stuff that we missed out on, plus of course like this doesn't take
01:25:54
◼
►
into account, you know, the apps that we might repurchase every year, right, like you get
01:25:58
◼
►
new version or whatever but this is just in an effort to show that we are good
01:26:03
◼
►
subscription boys and we pay lots of money to developers because we love them
01:26:08
◼
►
if you want to find links to the stuff we spoke about they're over on the
01:26:12
◼
►
website at relay.fm/connected/330
01:26:18
◼
►
while you're there you can get in touch via email via a little link there right
01:26:23
◼
►
there in the sidebar so send us some feedback or follow up you can become a
01:26:27
◼
►
become a member of Connected Pro, you get a longer ad-free version of the show each
01:26:33
◼
►
and every week.
01:26:34
◼
►
This week we discussed the list of words added to the dictionary for the year, and it was
01:26:40
◼
►
very interesting.
01:26:42
◼
►
We also talked about how Wall Street works, how none of us understand it.
01:26:45
◼
►
Well, we didn't talk about how it works because we don't know how it works.
01:26:49
◼
►
Because we don't understand it.
01:26:51
◼
►
Thank you for the clarification.
01:26:54
◼
►
You can find us all on the internet.
01:26:56
◼
►
You can find Federico on Twitter @vitiicci.
01:27:01
◼
►
He's the editor-in-chief of MaxStories.net.
01:27:03
◼
►
Federico, I have two related questions for you this week.
01:27:09
◼
►
What are the best and worst flavored ice creams?
01:27:14
◼
►
Flavors of ice cream, I should say.
01:27:17
◼
►
Well, the best is...
01:27:20
◼
►
Well, I'm a simple guy.
01:27:22
◼
►
I'm gonna say chocolate.
01:27:25
◼
►
the best kind. Do you have a particular brand of chocolate ice cream that you enjoy? Oh
01:27:30
◼
►
well, no, I have a particular ice cream shop that I enjoy. Okay, you want to give them
01:27:34
◼
►
a shout out? Like a gelato shop, not like, but wait, by ice cream I don't mean like ice
01:27:40
◼
►
cream that you buy at the supermarket. I was thinking about gelato, so. Well I mean you
01:27:44
◼
►
can buy gelato at the supermarket too, but yes, you know, artisanal gelato I guess. I
01:27:52
◼
►
don't know if they would call themselves artisanal, because I'm assuming you're using
01:27:55
◼
►
some kind of like been around since 1712 or something kind of gelato shop over there in
01:28:03
◼
►
Italy right?
01:28:06
◼
►
Good stuff though.
01:28:08
◼
►
But the worst flavor...
01:28:11
◼
►
I really dislike lemon as a ice cream flavor.
01:28:19
◼
►
I really don't get it as a flavor.
01:28:21
◼
►
Like why would you want to eat?
01:28:22
◼
►
I like lemon sorbet.
01:28:24
◼
►
I find it very refreshing.
01:28:26
◼
►
Yes, that's fantastic after a meal, for example.
01:28:30
◼
►
It's very... but as a... I'm thinking of like...
01:28:34
◼
►
on a cone, right?
01:28:36
◼
►
If I got to pick three flavors...
01:28:37
◼
►
Right, like creamy, not icy.
01:28:42
◼
►
Yeah, and I really... like, I'm not a huge fan of fruit-based flavors for ice cream.
01:28:51
◼
►
I come more of like chocolate, you know
01:28:54
◼
►
Vanilla that kind of like - I'm very traditional. Yeah, you can find Myke on Twitter as I
01:29:01
◼
►
My ke and Myke host a whole bunch of shows here on relay FM Myke. Is there anything you want to talk about?
01:29:07
◼
►
No, I love everyone. Oh, that's good. That's my that's my new that's my new thing. I love it. Love everybody except bad people
01:29:15
◼
►
You can find me on Twitter as ismh. I write over at 512 pixels net
01:29:21
◼
►
I like to thank our sponsors this week air buddy bombus and pingdom until next time guys say goodbye
01:29:29
◼
►
I'd have you there - cheerio. Bye y'all