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Connected

251: The Worrier Warrior

 

00:00:00 ◼   ► (upbeat music)

00:00:02 ◼   ► - Hello and welcome to Connected episode 251.

00:00:11 ◼   ► It's made possible this week by our sponsors,

00:00:13 ◼   ► Pingdom, Astropad Studio, and ButcherBox.

00:00:16 ◼   ► My name is Stephen Hackett

00:00:17 ◼   ► and I am joined by Mr. Myke Hurley.

00:00:19 ◼   ► - Ah, he's back, baby.

00:00:21 ◼   ► - Hello.

00:00:22 ◼   ► - Hi, you're back.

00:00:23 ◼   ► - You didn't give me the excitement that I was expecting

00:00:26 ◼   ► for my triumph from return to the show.

00:00:27 ◼   ► - Well, I mean, I've already talked to you,

00:00:28 ◼   ► Like, we've already had that between us.

00:00:31 ◼   ► Right, but the listeners don't know.

00:00:33 ◼   ► Well, they do now.

00:00:34 ◼   ► For them, all they get is between episodes, right?

00:00:36 ◼   ► If everybody else thinks we haven't spoken for two weeks.

00:00:39 ◼   ► I don't think anyone thinks that.

00:00:40 ◼   ► Sure they do.

00:00:41 ◼   ► Sure they do.

00:00:42 ◼   ► We only live inside the show.

00:00:43 ◼   ► We own a business together.

00:00:45 ◼   ► No, but that's it.

00:00:46 ◼   ► It's just the show.

00:00:46 ◼   ► That's it.

00:00:47 ◼   ► Everything that happens happens in the show, nothing more.

00:00:49 ◼   ► We are also joined by Mr. Federico Vittucci.

00:00:52 ◼   ► Hello.

00:00:52 ◼   ► Hi.

00:00:53 ◼   ► How are you?

00:00:53 ◼   ► Hey!

00:00:54 ◼   ► Hey, Federico's here!

00:00:55 ◼   ► Yeah!

00:00:56 ◼   ► Hey, nice.

00:00:57 ◼   ► Thank you, Steven.

00:00:58 ◼   ► Thank you. I would like to at this point rearrange the document because it's important to me to rearrange the document right now

00:01:05 ◼   ► So you've been back for like three seconds and you're already causing havoc

00:01:08 ◼   ► Yeah, well, I feel like that my havoc status can only be explained by telling a story that I have to tell

00:01:14 ◼   ► Okay, tell the story please

00:01:16 ◼   ► Well, let it be known that the only thing we know about this is and to a note in the document that says

00:01:23 ◼   ► Myke has a story to tell

00:01:25 ◼   ► indentation

00:01:27 ◼   ► beverage

00:01:28 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah, the beverage is not so much part of the story. It's like the end of the story. Okay, so last week

00:01:35 ◼   ► I was away. I was on vacation at Fire Island at the Arment Beach House and

00:01:40 ◼   ► My vacation ended yesterday

00:01:44 ◼   ► It was supposed to I'm still in Fire Island right now. Blink once if markers change you to the radiator

00:01:50 ◼   ► Wait, so you're not in the UK? I'm not in the UK. I was supposed to be home yesterday

00:01:57 ◼   ► but I'm not because I had an accident. Well, I didn't really have an accident in so much

00:02:03 ◼   ► as I did something very stupid. So beaches have lifeguard chairs, right? Federico, have

00:02:08 ◼   ► you ever seen these? They're like really high lifeguard chairs, these huge chairs. They

00:02:12 ◼   ► look like the chairs of giants.

00:02:14 ◼   ► Drowning exists in Italy.

00:02:15 ◼   ► Yeah, so they're, well I don't know, like we watched the Baywatch, the rock Baywatch

00:02:20 ◼   ► movie and they have these little huts instead, which by the way, that is a fantastic movie.

00:02:25 ◼   ► It is absolutely hilarious. If you realize very early on that they are making fun of themselves in the movie, which they are, it's fantastic

00:02:32 ◼   ► I absolutely loved it. So you should watch the Rock Baywatch movie because also the rocks in it is amazing

00:02:36 ◼   ► so

00:02:38 ◼   ► In the evening these beaches the lifeguard chairs, they have no lifeguards in them and they say keep off

00:02:45 ◼   ► so I climbed one and

00:02:48 ◼   ► We all we all climbed the chairs to sit on the chairs because they're like really high

00:02:54 ◼   ► I don't know. They're like nine feet or something from the ground.

00:02:58 ◼   ► Did you fall off the chair?

00:02:59 ◼   ► No, I didn't fall off the chair.

00:03:01 ◼   ► The only way to really get there's two ways to get down from one of these chairs.

00:03:05 ◼   ► One is you can climb back down the way you got up or you can jump into the pile of sand.

00:03:10 ◼   ► Like this is like a big pile of sand that they put at the bottom.

00:03:13 ◼   ► So the lifeguards can jump down so they can go and save people. Right.

00:03:16 ◼   ► So like they're actually doing good things.

00:03:17 ◼   ► So I'm not great with heights, but I was there anyway.

00:03:21 ◼   ► I was feeling very relaxed.

00:03:23 ◼   ► I was in a very good mood, so I was on top of the chair.

00:03:27 ◼   ► And then Tiff jumped from the top and she landed.

00:03:31 ◼   ► She was perfectly fine.

00:03:33 ◼   ► So then Adina was going to jump, but she got nervous.

00:03:37 ◼   ► So I was like, all right, I'll do it first.

00:03:39 ◼   ► Now I jumped.

00:03:41 ◼   ► And I made two fatal errors in my jump.

00:03:46 ◼   ► Error number one was I remembered that on my honeymoon,

00:03:49 ◼   ► I really badly sprained my ankle.

00:03:50 ◼   ► Yes, we all remember that.

00:03:52 ◼   ► So I was trying to minimize the damage to my ankle.

00:03:56 ◼   ► That was point number one.

00:03:57 ◼   ► Point number two, which is I think the bigger problem was I decided to aim my

00:04:02 ◼   ► landing exactly where Tiff landed.

00:04:04 ◼   ► Now, what happens to sand when sand is compacted?

00:04:08 ◼   ► It gets hard.

00:04:09 ◼   ► It comes very, it gets very, it comes very hard.

00:04:10 ◼   ► Yes.

00:04:11 ◼   ► So I landed completely on that point.

00:04:15 ◼   ► Felt like concrete.

00:04:16 ◼   ► Uh, I have quite badly damaged my back.

00:04:19 ◼   ► So I am still in Fire Island because I couldn't face getting on a plane.

00:04:25 ◼   ► I have moved a plane flight for great expense.

00:04:28 ◼   ► And so here I am.

00:04:30 ◼   ► So I am still on an accidental vacation.

00:04:32 ◼   ► You are stuck on an island with Marco Arment because you tried to jump off of a lifeguard

00:04:38 ◼   ► chair.

00:04:39 ◼   ► Yes.

00:04:40 ◼   ► That is what happened.

00:04:42 ◼   ► Sounds like the setup for a joke.

00:04:45 ◼   ► So the reason that beverage is in is I am drinking coffee right now.

00:04:48 ◼   ► I'm drinking Mokowamut coffee, but I'm still on island living

00:04:52 ◼   ► So it has something in it called rum chata, which is like a rum based liqueur, which is really nice

00:04:57 ◼   ► So I'm feeling extra special today

00:05:00 ◼   ► I also need it so I can sit down and talk to you knuckleheads for 90 minutes because I

00:05:04 ◼   ► Can't sit down most of the time at the moment

00:05:07 ◼   ► So that's where I am in my life. Help me understand it at any point anybody suggests to you Myke

00:05:13 ◼   ► You should land where Tif just landed or no, that was my own decision

00:05:17 ◼   ► And so this is how my brain works, right?

00:05:20 ◼   ► She was okay.

00:05:21 ◼   ► It must be okay if I land in that exact spot.

00:05:23 ◼   ► That's how my brain works.

00:05:25 ◼   ► But that was stupid because I landed

00:05:28 ◼   ► and it made a bad noise.

00:05:30 ◼   ► - A bad noise.

00:05:32 ◼   ► - It made a bad noise.

00:05:33 ◼   ► It made a crunchy noise.

00:05:34 ◼   ► But I'm, you know, I can move around.

00:05:37 ◼   ► I'm just stretching a lot, you know.

00:05:38 ◼   ► I've spoken to a expert and I'm just stretching a lot.

00:05:42 ◼   ► So that's where I am and where I am right now

00:05:45 ◼   ► and I'm gonna be here for a few more days.

00:05:47 ◼   ► So I'm on an accidental vacation here.

00:05:50 ◼   ► Well, I think it's a painkillers and CBD moisturizing cream thing.

00:05:55 ◼   ► Put that on my back, try and mellow me out.

00:05:58 ◼   ► So I'm like, I'm really feeling it today, boys.

00:06:00 ◼   ► But here I am. Wow.

00:06:02 ◼   ► This is so much better than just beverage.

00:06:04 ◼   ► I'm sorry for you, though.

00:06:07 ◼   ► But also, here's the here's the other thing is his maybe the bigger thing.

00:06:10 ◼   ► I'm sitting in front of Mark Wammert's computer right now and I'm terrified of it.

00:06:14 ◼   ► Mm hmm. Welcome.

00:06:16 ◼   ► He has a very messy desktop.

00:06:17 ◼   ► Very messy. There's just stuff all over it.

00:06:21 ◼   ► Can you look at his documents?

00:06:23 ◼   ► I mean, I could. I don't want to, but I could.

00:06:25 ◼   ► There are like folders on this desktop that I'm very intrigued in the names of.

00:06:31 ◼   ► But I won't open them.

00:06:32 ◼   ► But I'm also just really scared because when I came up here,

00:06:35 ◼   ► he had like Xcode open and stuff, and I'm just terrified that like

00:06:38 ◼   ► I touch something and delete Overcast. That is that's my current feeling.

00:06:41 ◼   ► Can you maybe inject some malware into Overcast?

00:06:45 ◼   ► For me?

00:06:46 ◼   ► If I knew how to do it, in theory, yes, I could do it.

00:06:50 ◼   ► Just type "UI malware" something.

00:06:52 ◼   ► "UI malware, pseudo-" something.

00:06:55 ◼   ► You know, I have great respect for Marco's level of trust in me.

00:06:59 ◼   ► I mean, he listens to my shows, he knows how inept I am at computers, but yet, here I am.

00:07:03 ◼   ► I'm sitting in front of his iMac Pro right now.

00:07:05 ◼   ► I wouldn't have thought of you-

00:07:07 ◼   ► I can also touch all the dials.

00:07:09 ◼   ► Like he has lots of dials for his audio stuff.

00:07:10 ◼   ► No, don't touch the dials.

00:07:11 ◼   ► I can touch all of them.

00:07:12 ◼   ► I wouldn't have thought of you as the outlaw type of person, you know?

00:07:17 ◼   ► Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

00:07:18 ◼   ► Jumping off of lifeguard chairs.

00:07:20 ◼   ► So here's here is my general problem with this stuff.

00:07:23 ◼   ► You know me, you know that I am a warrior typically, right?

00:07:26 ◼   ► Like I tend to worry about things. I'm quite a nervous person.

00:07:29 ◼   ► I thought you said a warrior.

00:07:31 ◼   ► I am a warrior at heart. No one can stop me.

00:07:34 ◼   ► I will fight you.

00:07:36 ◼   ► Anyone, anyone. Sand, I'll fight the sand with my butt at high speed.

00:07:41 ◼   ► Anyway, so I'm a warrior at heart, right? And when I'm on vacations, I relax a bit more

00:07:49 ◼   ► and I worry less. But then I do stupid things that then make me worry more the next time.

00:07:55 ◼   ► See, that is my general flow and it's a shame, really, that this is kind of where I am in

00:08:01 ◼   ► my life. But yeah, it's not a bad place to have a bad back, I'll tell you that.

00:08:04 ◼   ► What I'm hearing, though, is that next year's WWDC, we've got to have a beach day and try

00:08:11 ◼   ► and find the lifeguard chair and see if you get better.

00:08:13 ◼   ► I can show you how to do it, see if I can get better at it, right?

00:08:15 ◼   ► I can train. Yes.

00:08:18 ◼   ► I'm going to train. Yes. Well, I'm sorry for your accident, Myke.

00:08:23 ◼   ► That's okay. I mean, again, I've just extended my vacation. It's not the worst thing in the world,

00:08:27 ◼   ► but it is just more difficult than usual to move around and I am in a considerable amount of pain.

00:08:33 ◼   ► Speaking of putting you in considerable amounts of pain,

00:08:36 ◼   ► have you installed any public betas on your iPad?

00:08:41 ◼   ► No. I have installed none. I have installed no betas because I have been spending a week

00:08:46 ◼   ► with the individual who hates these betas more than anybody else on the living planet,

00:08:52 ◼   ► which is Marco.

00:08:53 ◼   ► He's poisoned. He's poisoned them for you.

00:08:54 ◼   ► You cannot spend time with Marco right now and be excited about running the betas because

00:08:58 ◼   ► he is very non-excited, not excited about them.

00:09:00 ◼   ► Well, yeah, I mean, he has a point. It's not, it's not, it's not good, especially if you

00:09:05 ◼   ► use iCloud. So I think last episode I mentioned everything's fine, seems fine so far. And

00:09:11 ◼   ► And of course it's the kind of statement that you spend a couple of days using the beta

00:09:15 ◼   ► and you realize, no, not everything's fine.

00:09:18 ◼   ► So to...

00:09:19 ◼   ► No, I'm not touching this one either.

00:09:21 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:09:22 ◼   ► It just feels like talking to you, right?

00:09:23 ◼   ► There are still problems.

00:09:24 ◼   ► I'm scared.

00:09:25 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:09:26 ◼   ► iCloud Drive, and this is, you know, Craig O'Kanberry has been talking about this, the

00:09:29 ◼   ► Ulysses folks, at a blog post a few days ago about this.

00:09:33 ◼   ► iCloud Drive, it's not clear what Apple is doing, but it's basically losing data or duplicating

00:09:40 ◼   ► documents. For example, I'm using my node and every few minutes it creates a

00:09:45 ◼   ► duplicate copy of my mind map for the iOS review. But why wouldn't you want that, though?

00:09:51 ◼   ► But get this! It creates a duplicate copy from yesterday, so it's like it's going

00:09:57 ◼   ► back in time and saving... I don't know. So yeah, you probably want to wait for beta

00:10:03 ◼   ► for at this point. Just wait for people to say that it's fine.

00:10:10 ◼   ► You're losing on some interest in betas from third-party developers going on now, but you can wait.

00:10:17 ◼   ► Yeah, but also, no one's asked me to test their applications.

00:10:21 ◼   ► Developers don't know that I'm running iOS 12. No one's asked me, no one cares.

00:10:24 ◼   ► So I'm just, you know... I typically don't get the amount of betas that you do.

00:10:28 ◼   ► Well, there are public betas now, especially with the test flight links.

00:10:32 ◼   ► Yeah, that's a good point. I think it's so much easier. Like I was thinking of a few

00:10:36 ◼   ► years ago when I used to struggle to find betas and now you can...

00:10:40 ◼   ► Do you remember? Do you remember what it was like to use like TestFlight and Hookey back

00:10:44 ◼   ► in the day? Oh my god.

00:10:45 ◼   ► If you had a new device, and they weren't manually removing devices from the... Oh my

00:10:52 ◼   ► god, that was terrible.

00:10:53 ◼   ► But today there are like Twitter accounts. You can search Twitter and you will find accounts

00:10:57 ◼   ► dedicated to sort of re-sharing links to public test flight links. And so you can find all

00:11:04 ◼   ► kinds of betas.

00:11:05 ◼   ► That kind of stuff is so useful for new developers, right? Developers that don't yet have relationships

00:11:10 ◼   ► with people like you, right? And they want to get smart people to look at their applications,

00:11:17 ◼   ► but they don't yet have an outlet at which to find testers. And being able to just be

00:11:23 ◼   ► be like, here's a link, try out my app.

00:11:26 ◼   ► That's such a useful thing, right?

00:11:28 ◼   ► And also, I mean, just in general,

00:11:29 ◼   ► for when people are sending out PR releases and stuff,

00:11:32 ◼   ► and they're just like, well, click this link

00:11:34 ◼   ► and go and test the app out,

00:11:35 ◼   ► rather than needing to go through this whole rigmarole.

00:11:37 ◼   ► It's awesome. - Yep, very true.

00:11:39 ◼   ► - We had a couple of items from the last episode

00:11:42 ◼   ► we wanted to touch base on, but first, let me tell you--

00:11:44 ◼   ► - It's called follow-up. - It is.

00:11:46 ◼   ► It's touching on items in the past.

00:11:50 ◼   ► Did you ring the bell?

00:11:51 ◼   ► - What was that? - I rang Marcus Bell, yeah.

00:11:52 ◼   ► - Yeah, that was the bar, I just decided to hit the bar.

00:11:55 ◼   ► - That's good, let's hear that a few more times.

00:11:56 ◼   ► (bell ringing)

00:11:58 ◼   ► That's good.

00:11:59 ◼   ► - I'm a troublemaker today.

00:11:59 ◼   ► - That's good.

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00:13:14 ◼   ► Okay, follow up.

00:13:15 ◼   ► Last week Federico, you and I spoke about iOS 13

00:13:20 ◼   ► audio sharing. So Federica, so how does this work? Is it just Apple music? Does it work

00:13:24 ◼   ► with podcast clients? Do you, are you faxing music to each other? What's going on? So I

00:13:29 ◼   ► have a confession. I forgot to test it with third party apps, but I did test it with third

00:13:36 ◼   ► party headphones. So it sort of, you know, it balances out, I think. So it's built right

00:13:42 ◼   ► into control center. So I think as long as you can, as long as an app uses the, even

00:13:48 ◼   ► the basic AirPlay streaming technology, not even AirPlay 2, I think it's going to work

00:13:52 ◼   ► because all you do is you literally just select multiple headphones in Control Center and

00:13:58 ◼   ► like you have checkboxes and it just goes off to multiple Bluetooth devices at once.

00:14:04 ◼   ► So we're not talking about AirPlay 2 speakers here, but like I tested with my AirPods and

00:14:09 ◼   ► with my Sony, you know, the headphones with the unspeakable name, the MX3 something, those

00:14:16 ◼   ► our standard 1000 MX3 dash. Why is wrong with Sony? Just come up with names for stuff.

00:14:22 ◼   ► I don't know. So I tested with my second generation AirPods and those Sony headphones.

00:14:27 ◼   ► And what I did was I put one AirPod in my left ear and I just sort of, of course I didn't put on

00:14:36 ◼   ► headphones, but I sort of just listened through the right ear cup of the headphones so that I

00:14:42 ◼   ► could hear the simultaneous audio streams going on at once, and sure enough, it works.

00:14:47 ◼   ► There was an extremely slight delay on the Sony headphones, like you could tell that the AirPods

00:14:54 ◼   ► were like a fraction of a second ahead of the Sony headphones, and I think it comes down to

00:15:00 ◼   ► the custom chip and the custom integration that Apple is using for the AirPods. But I did try with

00:15:06 ◼   ► music and podcasts, for sure. So, you know, listening to podcasts, to spoken content,

00:15:12 ◼   ► it was kind of weird because it created this… and of course nobody's actually going to

00:15:17 ◼   ► do this, but it created sort of this weird and very slight sort of echo effect. Like,

00:15:25 ◼   ► I was listening to automaters and I could hear… it was like I was listening to David

00:15:31 ◼   ► in a giant M2 room with some very slight echo because of the latency on the Sony headphones

00:15:38 ◼   ► and it was a very slight delay but I could tell the difference.

00:15:42 ◼   ► Now I don't know if this is going to get better in terms of future beta releases but it does

00:15:49 ◼   ► work in music and podcasts at least.

00:15:52 ◼   ► It works from Control Center and you can select any Bluetooth headphone that you may have

00:15:58 ◼   ► in addition to AirPods.

00:15:59 ◼   ► So if you happen to have, you know, AirPods for yourself and an extra pair of headphones

00:16:04 ◼   ► and you want to give those to a friend during a trip or something, I don't know, you can

00:16:08 ◼   ► share that audio to standard Bluetooth headphones.

00:16:13 ◼   ► And at least in music and podcasts it's gonna work.

00:16:16 ◼   ► I think it's gonna work everywhere.

00:16:17 ◼   ► I think this is such a cute feature.

00:16:19 ◼   ► This is so cool.

00:16:20 ◼   ► I like it.

00:16:21 ◼   ► I think it's gonna be really great.

00:16:22 ◼   ► Also never share your AirPods.

00:16:23 ◼   ► Please.

00:16:24 ◼   ► Never.

00:16:25 ◼   ► That's why.

00:16:26 ◼   ► Never.

00:16:27 ◼   ► Gross!

00:16:28 ◼   ► So gross.

00:16:29 ◼   ► I hate AirPods, they're so gross.

00:16:32 ◼   ► I love them, but they're gross.

00:16:35 ◼   ► We also spoke about the Eddy Cue interview in GQ and there was part of that talking about

00:16:39 ◼   ► iTunes music sales.

00:16:41 ◼   ► Cue had this comment of, you know, it was still just fine when we cut over to Apple

00:16:46 ◼   ► Music and we were curious about that.

00:16:48 ◼   ► So Federico, I think you did do some homework on this?

00:16:50 ◼   ► Yeah, I looked at a bunch of Nielsen reports for the state of the music industry and I

00:16:57 ◼   ► looked for 2016, 2017, 2018. Apple Music of course launched in 2015, so it only made sense

00:17:04 ◼   ► to start from 2016. And every time I looked, they mentioned that of course you gotta pay

00:17:09 ◼   ► if you wanna have the, or you gotta sign up if you wanna have the full report. So I just

00:17:13 ◼   ► looked at the free summary. But in the free summary they always mentioned, yeah, I don't

00:17:18 ◼   ► wanna give my email address to this kind of company, you know, those reports and yeah,

00:17:24 ◼   ► Anyway, they always mentioned a decline in digital downloads. And that was pretty clear

00:17:31 ◼   ► to me that, of course, standard music sales were going down. They also, this is something

00:17:36 ◼   ► that we should have mentioned, how all of these associations that report on music numbers,

00:17:42 ◼   ► they now use the expression of album equivalent, which I think is a way for the music industry

00:17:48 ◼   ► to describe playlists. Because of course, so they always use the album equivalent.

00:17:54 ◼   ► and as a consumption metric, as they say, because when streaming numbers got added to

00:18:02 ◼   ► the standard reporting for like Billboard and all these other companies, they also needed

00:18:09 ◼   ► to account for the fact that people now don't necessarily listen to an album, but perhaps

00:18:14 ◼   ► listen to a playlist for an artist. And so I think that it's very complicated, but I

00:18:18 ◼   ► think that's what the album equivalent means. But in any case, again, they always mention

00:18:23 ◼   ► how standard digital downloads were in decline, as opposed to, for example, vinyl sales that

00:18:30 ◼   ► were going up, or I think in the past, CD sales were going up, and even cassette tapes

00:18:36 ◼   ► somehow are going up because of it.

00:18:38 ◼   ► No, but it makes sense though, right? Because of like...

00:18:40 ◼   ► Because of Ipsers, yes.

00:18:41 ◼   ► People our age want vinyl, like me, the younger generation, they want what they missed, so

00:18:48 ◼   ► CDs and cassettes. It's the same thing, really, just because they're these interesting little

00:18:52 ◼   ► keepsakes that are something you might have some vague memory of from your childhood.

00:18:57 ◼   ► So I don't know what EdiQ was referring to, but digital album sales definitely not growing.

00:19:04 ◼   ► Before we move on, just another quick reminder that we are doing a live show in San Francisco

00:19:10 ◼   ► here in really just six weeks or so to mark Relay FM's fifth birthday. There's a link

00:19:16 ◼   ► in the show notes. There are some tickets left. We would love to see you in San Francisco.

00:19:20 ◼   ► Alright, Myke, our first tiny topic is labeled "Myke's foldable dreams may come true."

00:19:27 ◼   ► Well, I mean, they're going to come true at some point because foldable screen technology

00:19:31 ◼   ► is clearly the future, full of no road bumps.

00:19:34 ◼   ► There was a thing on MacRumors which was labeled as a "according to a sketchy rumor,"

00:19:39 ◼   ► so it's completely nonsense that there would apparently be a foldable screen iPad in 2020

00:19:44 ◼   ► and it will have 5G.

00:19:45 ◼   ► This is obviously not going to happen, but I did just want to touch on this idea a minute.

00:19:50 ◼   ► like it would be so cool to have a foldable iPad. That's kind of all I really wanted to say today.

00:19:54 ◼   ► I think that it would be great if I could have like multiple screen sizes, you know, so it could be

00:19:58 ◼   ► either a small iPad or a big iPad. And I still think, I mean, I just want to keep kind of

00:20:04 ◼   ► referencing this and touching in on it every now and then because it really does feel like the

00:20:09 ◼   ► logical future of personal technology is the ability to have these more adaptable devices

00:20:14 ◼   ► and the screen, foldable screen technology, clearly feels like the easiest way to get there,

00:20:20 ◼   ► except no one can do it right yet, but it does feel like it's incredibly difficult and we will

00:20:26 ◼   ► get there, but I think it's going to take some time still. I saw like an article of, I think,

00:20:31 ◼   ► somewhere over the last few days where like Samsung's CEO was like, "Yeah, we rushed it,

00:20:35 ◼   ► we shouldn't have done it. It was too soon." Foldable iPad though, seems good, right?

00:20:40 ◼   ► Sure. I mean, I don't think it's any surprise that Apple has played with this. I think the

00:20:46 ◼   ► timeline and the inclusion of 5G networking is the sketchy part. But of course, Apple's

00:20:50 ◼   ► experimenting with this, right? They experiment with all sorts of things. And it would be cool.

00:20:55 ◼   ► I mean, I think the idea of the foldable device is interesting. I think the concept has been marred

00:21:00 ◼   ► by these early attempts, but someone will get it right eventually. And I'm sure Apple is keeping

00:21:06 ◼   ► a close eye on that technology. Yeah, I mean, it seems logical that they are building these products,

00:21:11 ◼   ► right? Like, because it's like the big fun thing. If this ends up being the thing, then it will be

00:21:17 ◼   ► they will need to have some kind of entry into this market. And hopefully one day it will be.

00:21:21 ◼   ► Yeah, exactly. Maybe they'll, you know, sometimes Apple waits for a product category to kind of get

00:21:31 ◼   ► good and they move in, sometimes they jump in earlier, and I do wonder if this becomes

00:21:36 ◼   ► a thing how quickly they would have something there. I guess we'll see.

00:21:41 ◼   ► Would you be willing to put a 2020 foldable screen iPad in your predictions for next year?

00:21:45 ◼   ► Mmm.

00:21:46 ◼   ► No. Don't do it.

00:21:49 ◼   ► Is that a Ricky?

00:21:50 ◼   ► That is the Rickiest Ricky. You don't know, you never know though, let's see how the

00:21:54 ◼   ► rest of the year goes, right? Like, if multiple companies come out with products and they're

00:21:58 ◼   ► "Oh, all they needed to do was this and it's perfect." Then you never know, but seems

00:22:05 ◼   ► quite Ricky.

00:22:06 ◼   ► All right, up next we have Zoom, which is a VoIP application. I know, Myke, we use it

00:22:12 ◼   ► for phone calls with various people sometimes.

00:22:15 ◼   ► Yeah, it's a good conference calling thing. And I use it with Jason Snow. He uses it for

00:22:19 ◼   ► some incomparable stuff a lot because it's actually really good at group stuff because

00:22:23 ◼   ► it does a bunch of recordings automatically of other people's tracks and stuff that Skype

00:22:28 ◼   ► doesn't do so it is actually a pretty interesting way of dealing with this stuff.

00:22:32 ◼   ► They've been in some hot water this week where a couple things happened back to back.

00:22:37 ◼   ► A security researcher disclosed a feature in Zoom which is called Click to Join.

00:22:43 ◼   ► So basically you just get sent a link and it opens and you're in the call.

00:22:47 ◼   ► You know a lot of these conference call software, I'm sure we've all used them, like you open

00:22:50 ◼   ► the app you have to enter like a 15-digit code and it's all sort of messy.

00:22:53 ◼   ► Zoom tries to get rid of as much of that as possible.

00:22:57 ◼   ► actually very, it's very convenient. Problem was, it's too convenient, but it was very

00:23:01 ◼   ► convenient. Like you'd you'd click a link, maybe that was in a calendar invite, and it

00:23:05 ◼   ► would just open the zoom app. It's very useful.

00:23:06 ◼   ► Yeah, it was too convenient, because it turns out the security researcher found that on

00:23:11 ◼   ► the Mac, a video call could be occurring without the user's consent or knowledge, which is

00:23:18 ◼   ► it's not great.

00:23:20 ◼   ► That's an oopsie daisy, Steven. That's what that is a word for it. That's an oopsie daisy.

00:23:25 ◼   ► That's a problem.

00:23:27 ◼   ► And so they, you know, we're talking about that.

00:23:29 ◼   ► And so people kept digging and also came to light that that zoom is running a local web

00:23:34 ◼   ► server on your Mac.

00:23:37 ◼   ► And that does a couple things.

00:23:39 ◼   ► It makes it really easy just to like reinstall zoom, but they're doing it to get around a

00:23:44 ◼   ► security feature in Safari 12, which displays a confirmation to a user to launch zoom from

00:23:49 ◼   ► the browser.

00:23:51 ◼   ► And if you're running a local web server, apparently you can get around that.

00:23:53 ◼   ► So this is obviously terrible, very, very bad, but I love things like this because I

00:23:59 ◼   ► can see the conversation that happened, probably not in a conference room, probably in a conference

00:24:04 ◼   ► call, right? Because it's a conference calling company.

00:24:06 ◼   ► Oh, do you think they all work remote and just call each other?

00:24:09 ◼   ► No, I reckon they all get in the same room and they just have a conference call in the

00:24:12 ◼   ► same room. Everyone's got the computers in front of them. You've got a conference call.

00:24:17 ◼   ► And you can imagine it, right? Like what led to this, which is kind of like, oh, well,

00:24:22 ◼   ► we need to get around this thing because it's really annoying, what we could do is just

00:24:26 ◼   ► this, and someone's like "Yeah, okay, let's do it." And no one ever really stopped to

00:24:29 ◼   ► think about how dangerous it is.

00:24:33 ◼   ► Well, it's quite the path from "Oh, this button is annoying that I need to confirm

00:24:40 ◼   ► every time" to "Let's just run a local web server and not think about the consequences."

00:24:45 ◼   ► Hey, look, you've got to, you know, what is it, Occam's Razor? It was the simplest

00:24:50 ◼   ► solution to that problem. Let's just open everybody's computers up to the internet constantly

00:24:54 ◼   ► all the time for us to be able to press buttons on their behalf. Seems like the easiest way

00:24:59 ◼   ► to do it.

00:25:00 ◼   ► It's no good. No good at all. Zoom's had a bad week. They have an update that's out today,

00:25:05 ◼   ► if you have it on the Mac, that fixes the Click to Join bug and it removes the local

00:25:11 ◼   ► web server. I did see some tweets and I went to look for them before the show started and

00:25:15 ◼   ► I couldn't find them. But it seems like some other conference call software does similar

00:25:19 ◼   ► things and I assume that they will be, now that they've been called out for that, they'll

00:25:24 ◼   ► be addressing it.

00:25:26 ◼   ► But it's not a good look.

00:25:28 ◼   ► I agree with you, as far as conference call software goes, Zoom is actually pretty good,

00:25:33 ◼   ► but a real bad look on their part.

00:25:35 ◼   ► Yeah, I mean I see that stuff and it's like, I'm disappointed but I'm not mad.

00:25:41 ◼   ► I don't believe they were trying to do anything bad, they just made a stupid decision.

00:25:48 ◼   ► But this is one of those things where the reason they did it and the reasons it will

00:25:52 ◼   ► probably end up breaking in the future is like Apple's trying to make the devices more

00:25:56 ◼   ► secure because a lot of the times, especially with this kind of stuff, it's not the users

00:26:01 ◼   ► that are making the bad decisions, it's companies making bad decisions on our behalf.

00:26:08 ◼   ► We need to be saved from them and most regular users would never know.

00:26:12 ◼   ► None of us knew this was happening, right?

00:26:14 ◼   ► Like they took a real expert to find this and it's just like this is why we do need

00:26:22 ◼   ► – I mean it's funny really because like I spent some time thinking about this like

00:26:25 ◼   ► there aren't viruses on the Mac really, right?

00:26:27 ◼   ► Like it's not a problem but Apple seems to be doing more and more about locking down

00:26:31 ◼   ► the system and making it more secure and I was thinking about this recently like why

00:26:34 ◼   ► are they – why do Apple feel such a need to do it and this is why, right?

00:26:38 ◼   ► Like it's stuff like this.

00:26:39 ◼   ► it's protecting us against stupid product decisions sometimes,

00:26:43 ◼   ► as opposed to someone from a nefarious group trying to hack our information

00:26:49 ◼   ► and steal our bank account stuff.

00:26:50 ◼   ► It's also, I think, a good example of the argument

00:26:54 ◼   ► that Apple should open up iOS more, and specifically the iPad more.

00:26:58 ◼   ► Exactly.

00:26:59 ◼   ► You cannot-- it is possible for apps to open a local web

00:27:04 ◼   ► server on the iPad.

00:27:06 ◼   ► There's apps like Working Copy, for example,

00:27:08 ◼   ► that do it to let you preview a document in Safari.

00:27:11 ◼   ► There's apps that do it to let you transfer documents

00:27:14 ◼   ► wirelessly on the same local network.

00:27:17 ◼   ► But it's not as, you know, it doesn't get

00:27:20 ◼   ► the same background privileges that you get on the Mac.

00:27:23 ◼   ► It's not the kind of process that is always going on

00:27:25 ◼   ► that you need to manually kill and delete with the terminal.

00:27:29 ◼   ► It's a more sandboxed and constrained environment.

00:27:32 ◼   ► And so whenever we see these problems occur on the Mac,

00:27:35 ◼   ► whenever we hear these stories, I think of,

00:27:39 ◼   ► I kind of understand why Apple doesn't want to go down

00:27:42 ◼   ► the same route necessarily with features on iOS,

00:27:44 ◼   ► features on the iPad, because you've got these computers

00:27:47 ◼   ► in the hands of many more millions of people,

00:27:50 ◼   ► and suddenly you have these problems

00:27:52 ◼   ► on a much, much bigger scale.

00:27:54 ◼   ► And I also understand on the other hand,

00:27:56 ◼   ► why do you want to lock down the Mac

00:27:58 ◼   ► from a security standpoint?

00:28:00 ◼   ► Because like, you could argue that Zoom didn't intend

00:28:04 ◼   ► to act as a bad actor here.

00:28:06 ◼   ► They didn't do this maliciously,

00:28:08 ◼   ► but still the effect of their decision

00:28:11 ◼   ► is that it's potentially a vector for malicious attacks.

00:28:16 ◼   ► And so you have to wonder,

00:28:18 ◼   ► all the folks that do not update the Zoom client,

00:28:22 ◼   ► they could potentially be at risk.

00:28:24 ◼   ► Now I'm not saying that this is a security,

00:28:26 ◼   ► it's not a security apocalypse going on.

00:28:28 ◼   ► - But I guess this is an argument for the notarizing, right?

00:28:31 ◼   ► - Yes, yes.

00:28:33 ◼   ► because in this instance, if something got really bad,

00:28:36 ◼   ► Apple could just cut off the application.

00:28:38 ◼   ► - Just turn it off.

00:28:39 ◼   ► - Yeah, and I don't like the tone of zoom in the response.

00:28:44 ◼   ► When you get caught doing this kind of workaround and you--

00:28:49 ◼   ► - Even if you weren't trying to be bad,

00:28:51 ◼   ► you have to take it as you've upset people.

00:28:54 ◼   ► - To take it, you have to apologize and you have to fix it,

00:28:57 ◼   ► not act all defensive about it,

00:28:59 ◼   ► which I didn't like in their blog post.

00:29:02 ◼   ► Good times. Software. It seems complicated.

00:29:05 ◼   ► No, talking about good times, I saw a tweet from friends that showed Guillermo Rambo.

00:29:09 ◼   ► He was using Amiibo to activate shortcuts. Federico, this is like... if there was a wheelhouse

00:29:16 ◼   ► for yours, this would be it, right? This is like, couldn't be better for your Venn diagram.

00:29:23 ◼   ► Amiibo collection, shortcuts, right in the middle.

00:29:27 ◼   ► a lot comes down to the fact that shortcuts can read any type of NFC card. It doesn't matter,

00:29:33 ◼   ► to an extent, what kind of data is written onto the tag. The problem is, in this case, NFC chips

00:29:42 ◼   ► inside of Amiibo don't have the kind of data item that iOS will interpret immediately. For example,

00:29:50 ◼   ► if you try and scan an NFC tag that has a URL written into it, iOS will by default,

00:29:58 ◼   ► on an iPhone XS at least, I think also on an iPhone X, it will by default display a notification

00:30:05 ◼   ► and offering you to open the link. But in this case, NFC tags that are contained inside Amiibo,

00:30:15 ◼   ► And as well, Rambo also tweeted about NFC tags embedded in credit cards, especially

00:30:21 ◼   ► the ones that we have in Europe. I don't know if folks in the US also have contactless cards.

00:30:26 ◼   ► Those NFC chips have data that iOS will not automatically try to launch or open. And so,

00:30:35 ◼   ► it is totally possible to scan an NFC tag from shortcuts and use it as a trigger. Of course,

00:30:42 ◼   ► the only downside is that Amiibo have NFC tags built into the base of the figurine, so you will...

00:30:51 ◼   ► it's not exactly convenient. Yeah, really, you need a... it's like the opposite. You need to have like a

00:30:56 ◼   ► stationary iOS device and then you just tap the Amiibo onto it, right? Like it's the other way around.

00:31:01 ◼   ► But you also need to have the iPhone facing out because the... Yeah, this is... just the iPod touch

00:31:08 ◼   ► have the NFC kit? Probably not, right? Like, I'm thinking that you put, like, an old phone,

00:31:13 ◼   ► just leave it there all the time, right? And it just becomes, like, an NFC base that you

00:31:17 ◼   ► use?

00:31:18 ◼   ► Yeah, basically. But, you know, it's fun because, of course, you can now -- NFC works totally

00:31:24 ◼   ► in the background on the latest iPhone XS generation devices. I think also on the XR,

00:31:30 ◼   ► which shortcuts -- which is not an API the developers can use. Only shortcuts can read

00:31:35 ◼   ► and run code based on a successful NFC read in the background.

00:31:40 ◼   ► This is not possible for third-party developers.

00:31:42 ◼   ► I also think, I gotta look better into this,

00:31:45 ◼   ► because I'm gonna write about it later this summer,

00:31:48 ◼   ► that there's an API in iOS 13 for apps to write data onto NFC tags.

00:31:55 ◼   ► This used to be only possible if you had a smartphone on an Android device,

00:32:01 ◼   ► because iOS didn't have any write capabilities for NFC.

00:32:05 ◼   ► But in theory, it should be possible now for a developer

00:32:07 ◼   ► to build an app that can write data onto an NFC tag.

00:32:12 ◼   ► So in theory, if this is possible and somebody makes it,

00:32:17 ◼   ► don't do this, but you could override whatever

00:32:20 ◼   ► is written onto an amiibo.

00:32:23 ◼   ► So don't do it.

00:32:25 ◼   ► But also, another thing that you may want to consider

00:32:28 ◼   ► is I have a bunch of NFC tips here.

00:32:32 ◼   ► I was recently trying to attach an NFC sticker

00:32:37 ◼   ► onto my IKEA nightstand, which is made of metal.

00:32:41 ◼   ► But of course, basic NFC stickers conflict with metal.

00:32:46 ◼   ► If you place your phone on top of the sticker

00:32:48 ◼   ► and the sticker is on the metal surface, it will not work.

00:32:53 ◼   ► You can go to Amazon and search for anti-metal stickers.

00:32:57 ◼   ► And I bought a bunch of them, and they do work.

00:33:00 ◼   ► They have an extra layer of plastic

00:33:03 ◼   ► or whatever it is that allows them to produce

00:33:06 ◼   ► a successful scan, even if they're placed on top

00:33:09 ◼   ► of a metal desk or any metal surface.

00:33:12 ◼   ► Also, on Amazon-- and I'm not saying that you should do it,

00:33:18 ◼   ► but you can find--

00:33:20 ◼   ► or especially on eBay, I think, not on Amazon.

00:33:23 ◼   ► But you can find amiibo alternatives

00:33:27 ◼   ► that are not official Amiibo figurines, like custom cards, custom stickers,

00:33:32 ◼   ► that have the same data of an Amiibo, but in this case you can actually treat them

00:33:38 ◼   ► as colorful and fun triggers for shortcuts.

00:33:42 ◼   ► So like you can have a sticker that has Zelda on it or Super Mario

00:33:46 ◼   ► and be a trigger for a shortcut.

00:33:48 ◼   ► There's plenty of these figurines and stickers on Amazon and eBay.

00:33:52 ◼   ► Are you gonna like program each of your Amiibo to do a different thing?

00:33:55 ◼   ► Well, it's possible. It's a real possibility at this point.

00:33:58 ◼   ► I have like 20 Link amiibos to choose from.

00:34:01 ◼   ► You should have like all your different time tracking things set up.

00:34:06 ◼   ► You know, you've got like fighting Link for when you're ready to do something.

00:34:09 ◼   ► It's like sleeping Link for when it's bedtime.

00:34:11 ◼   ► What I what I considered was a system to sort of suspend

00:34:16 ◼   ► amiibo in midair in front of my desk

00:34:19 ◼   ► so that they could be easier to scan with my phone.

00:34:23 ◼   ► Like, hanging amiibo in front of me and each one could be like, like Ganondorf could be

00:34:28 ◼   ► like, I don't know, do email, you know, very bad things.

00:34:32 ◼   ► That is a very Ganondorf activity.

00:34:34 ◼   ► Yeah, but they need to be suspended so that the base is easier to scan with my phone.

00:34:40 ◼   ► So I like it.

00:34:41 ◼   ► I think Silvia's gonna love it.

00:34:44 ◼   ► Yeah, hopefully she's not listening to me while I'm saying this right now.

00:34:48 ◼   ► But yeah, my NFC situation is evolving as we speak.

00:34:54 ◼   ► I have a bunch of stickers on my desk, one on my nightstand, one in the car, so that

00:34:59 ◼   ► when I tap the sticker in my car, I get a menu in Shortcuts that asks me, "Do you

00:35:06 ◼   ► want to text Sylvia and tell her you're home, or do you want to play some media?"

00:35:12 ◼   ► And then if I choose Media, it lets me choose from Apple Music and Podcasts, so it's an

00:35:17 ◼   ► easy way for me to text Sylvia when I'm home or to start playing something. So I have one

00:35:24 ◼   ► in the car. Yeah, it's probably more. There will be more.

00:35:30 ◼   ► If someone wants to buy NFC stickers, is there some sort of specific thing they need? Do

00:35:35 ◼   ► you have some examples of ones that work well? Like if someone wants to get started.

00:35:40 ◼   ► If you just buy a 20 or 30 pack on Amazon, any NFC sticker will work.

00:35:47 ◼   ► Just be mindful of the kind of surface that you're sticking them to.

00:35:52 ◼   ► So if you have metal furniture or a metal desk or table, you gotta buy the specific

00:35:57 ◼   ► ones for those types of surfaces.

00:36:01 ◼   ► And otherwise, any NFC card or tag or sticker will work.

00:36:06 ◼   ► You can also find NFC tags that you can attach to your kitchen.

00:36:11 ◼   ► So they have the little kitchen loop thing.

00:36:14 ◼   ► Oh yeah, look at this.

00:36:15 ◼   ► Yeah, you can, you know, if you want to have something related to keys, for example, or

00:36:22 ◼   ► your car keys or whatever, you can have a tag.

00:36:25 ◼   ► It's a plastic tag, it's a little device that you can keep with your kitchen.

00:36:29 ◼   ► Yeah, and I guess if you go, if you really go down the rabbit hole, you could consider

00:36:35 ◼   ► embedding like sewing an NFC chip into like fitness gear or something that's also a possibility

00:36:46 ◼   ► you know like like try and embed a tag in a in a t-shirt or in a armband or something

00:36:56 ◼   ► I'm worried about the person that puts one in their skin that's what I'm worried about

00:37:01 ◼   ► I think somebody did that years ago.

00:37:03 ◼   ► People do it.

00:37:04 ◼   ► People do it.

00:37:05 ◼   ► It's a thing people do.

00:37:06 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:37:07 ◼   ► Well.

00:37:08 ◼   ► Can you imagine if you were stupid enough to put one in your hand and every time you

00:37:11 ◼   ► pick up your phone?

00:37:12 ◼   ► Just run something.

00:37:13 ◼   ► It triggers something just every single time?

00:37:16 ◼   ► That'd be fun though.

00:37:18 ◼   ► We have more to talk about today.

00:37:20 ◼   ► We have a lot of stuff left in this document.

00:37:24 ◼   ► First, let me tell you about our second sponsor.

00:37:28 ◼   ► That is our friends at AstroPad Studio.

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00:38:28 ◼   ► That's astropad.com to check it out

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00:38:34 ◼   ► Our thanks to Astropad Studio for their support

00:38:36 ◼   ► of Connected and all of Relay FM.

00:38:38 ◼   ► - I'm standing now.

00:38:40 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:38:42 ◼   ► - Just letting you know.

00:38:43 ◼   ► Just some stretches where you were ruining the ad.

00:38:44 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:38:45 ◼   ► Do you need to call a hospital or something?

00:38:49 ◼   ► - No, no, they were good stretches.

00:38:50 ◼   ► They were the stretches recommended to me by an expert.

00:38:53 ◼   ► - Was this expert a YouTube video?

00:38:55 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:38:57 ◼   ► - No, no, no.

00:38:58 ◼   ► an actual health expert. So you found an expert on the island? No it was over a

00:39:05 ◼   ► Skype call. Over a Twitter DM. An expert from the internet. Yeah an internet expert.

00:39:10 ◼   ► Hmm okay. They exist in the real world too though. Yeah hmm. Some big news guys I

00:39:16 ◼   ► hope you're sitting down except for Myke who can't sit down. No I'm standing up

00:39:20 ◼   ► should I be sitting down? Because it hurts to sit down. I would say it's worth

00:39:24 ◼   ► this because Texas Hold'em has returned to the App Store. So Texas Hold'em is a

00:39:31 ◼   ► poker, right? I don't play cards. I don't either. No, I don't know how to

00:39:37 ◼   ► play it. It's some sort of poker game. It originally showed up on the iPod.

00:39:42 ◼   ► There's a link actually from MacStories, I think from last year, where I wrote

00:39:46 ◼   ► about some of like Apple's forgotten iOS apps and games. And this was an iPod game

00:39:51 ◼   ► on the clickable iPod and they brought it to the iPhone.

00:39:54 ◼   ► It is now back.

00:39:56 ◼   ► It supports new screen size resolutions.

00:40:00 ◼   ► And in the release notes, Apple says it is to mark

00:40:05 ◼   ► the 10 year anniversary of the App Store,

00:40:08 ◼   ► but here's the thing, they're a year late.

00:40:10 ◼   ► This summer is the 11th year of the App Store,

00:40:14 ◼   ► not the 10th, so something happened there.

00:40:17 ◼   ► But it's back and it's free.

00:40:19 ◼   ► It was $4.99, but because App Store is now free and you can go, you know, if you finished

00:40:25 ◼   ► Warren Buffett's Paper Wizard and you feel like you've really aced that and you're ready

00:40:28 ◼   ► to move up in the world, Texas Hold'em is waiting for you.

00:40:32 ◼   ► For craving that sweet, hot Apple gaming content.

00:40:36 ◼   ► Now you've got Texas Hold'em to play this summer.

00:40:39 ◼   ► Why are you doing this?

00:40:40 ◼   ► I just don't understand why I feel the required...

00:40:42 ◼   ► Because Apple is now, don't you know the hot take that Apple is now serious about gaming?

00:40:48 ◼   ► You know, they have quite the streak going.

00:40:52 ◼   ► Warren Buffett, people wizard, now Texas Hold'em.

00:40:55 ◼   ► What's next?

00:40:56 ◼   ► What is next?

00:40:57 ◼   ► I don't know.

00:40:58 ◼   ► Tim Cook's Marvelous spreadsheet or something, you know?

00:41:01 ◼   ► That could be a game.

00:41:03 ◼   ► It's like customer sat, but like Flappy Bird.

00:41:07 ◼   ► So you have to like keep the chart going.

00:41:10 ◼   ► Flappy sat?

00:41:11 ◼   ► Flappy sat.

00:41:12 ◼   ► You gotta get the chart through the roof.

00:41:15 ◼   ► in our big house and you just get to keep like it's like one of those games you control the chart

00:41:21 ◼   ► and the chart goes up until it's off but you've got to you've got to dodge the chart right so like

00:41:26 ◼   ► okay so all right okay let's go back to the drawing board on this one imagine you have you have like

00:41:31 ◼   ► a like a chart in front of you and you've got to get the customer sat to dodge things so you've got

00:41:36 ◼   ► like face id so you've got to go down underneath face id a little bit right because the customer

00:41:41 ◼   ► of sound went down. But then and then like then something good happens, which I can't

00:41:45 ◼   ► think about right now. And then it like goes up a bit and you got keyboards, you can like

00:41:48 ◼   ► jump right all the way down from keyboards. And then you'd be like bigger phones and it

00:41:52 ◼   ► goes up again and you got to keep like dodging the good things and the bad things until you

00:41:56 ◼   ► can get it right through the roof. Yes, this is flappy sat flappy sat coming to you soon

00:42:01 ◼   ► which will be on the App Store as a subscription. It's gonna be part of Apple Arcade. It's gonna

00:42:07 ◼   ► be an Apple Arcade. Very nice. Is it iPhone only?

00:42:11 ◼   ► No, there's going to be a really nice iPad version. And it has to be, because it's on

00:42:16 ◼   ► Apple TV as well.

00:42:18 ◼   ► It's on Apple Arcade, so it's going to be on Apple TV and the Mac.

00:42:21 ◼   ► And the Mac. Wow.

00:42:22 ◼   ► VappySat.

00:42:23 ◼   ► Wow. You should be a game designer.

00:42:25 ◼   ► Thank you, I know. Phil Schiller is still in Texas Hold'em, which is good news for everyone,

00:42:29 ◼   ► I suppose.

00:42:30 ◼   ► Yes.

00:42:31 ◼   ► Is it the same photo, Steven, of Phil?

00:42:33 ◼   ► Let's see. Let me look at my tweet.

00:42:35 ◼   ► It looks like it's the same photo.

00:42:37 ◼   ► He couldn't even be bothered to shoot a new photo.

00:42:40 ◼   ► Oh yeah, he's wearing the same shirt.

00:42:42 ◼   ► It's the same artwork.

00:42:43 ◼   ► So he either has the same shirt from 10 years ago.

00:42:46 ◼   ► Possible.

00:42:47 ◼   ► Or it's the same photo.

00:42:48 ◼   ► 11 years ago.

00:42:49 ◼   ► Sorry, 11 years ago.

00:42:50 ◼   ► No, longer than that, because it showed up on the iPod.

00:42:53 ◼   ► So this was, it showed up on the iPod in 2006.

00:42:59 ◼   ► Maybe Phil is just very conservative about his clothing choices.

00:43:03 ◼   ► Not in that shirt.

00:43:05 ◼   ► Look at that thing.

00:43:06 ◼   ► It looks like the same image.

00:43:07 ◼   ► I think it is.

00:43:08 ◼   ► So that image is 13 years old.

00:43:10 ◼   ► And you know, Voorhees in his article on MacStories pointed out the artwork has expanded, and

00:43:16 ◼   ► I had a lot of questions about like, did they have vector art?

00:43:19 ◼   ► Like this was pre-retinide, or did they enter and have to recreate Texas Hold'em, and then

00:43:24 ◼   ► like, surely they didn't just update the build, like what?

00:43:27 ◼   ► Yeah, someone spent real time on this.

00:43:29 ◼   ► I mean, but that might be why it's a year late from the App Store.

00:43:32 ◼   ► The intern went back to college and then they came back and she finished it.

00:43:36 ◼   ► It's like, oh, I forgot about this.

00:43:38 ◼   ► This is it's so weird to use this app as a celebration of the App Store

00:43:42 ◼   ► when it existed on iPods.

00:43:44 ◼   ► It wasn't even like new for the App Store.

00:43:47 ◼   ► It predates the App Store, right?

00:43:50 ◼   ► It does. Yeah. I mean, it was on the iPod in 2006.

00:43:53 ◼   ► They should bring back cards.

00:43:56 ◼   ► Oh, yeah. Remember cards?

00:43:58 ◼   ► That was great, though.

00:43:58 ◼   ► The cards that you could get from that app, like the letterpress cards, they were really nice.

00:44:03 ◼   ► I used to get them for people for birthdays and Christmas and stuff.

00:44:05 ◼   ► I would like them to bring those back.

00:44:07 ◼   ► What else should they bring back?

00:44:09 ◼   ► Stephen, you're the historian here.

00:44:11 ◼   ► Old iOS apps from Apple.

00:44:14 ◼   ► Logic Remote?

00:44:16 ◼   ► Still, is it still a thing?

00:44:17 ◼   ► I think it still is.

00:44:19 ◼   ► I use Logic every day of the week and I've never installed Logic Remote.

00:44:23 ◼   ► Music Memos, I think, is still on the App Store.

00:44:26 ◼   ► Airport Express Utility.

00:44:27 ◼   ► Sure.

00:44:28 ◼   ► That could be one.

00:44:30 ◼   ► Don't bring back the airport, but just bring back the utility.

00:44:33 ◼   ► Still don't make it, but just keep updating the application.

00:44:36 ◼   ► It's still around.

00:44:37 ◼   ► They actually just had a firmware update for the airports like two weeks ago.

00:44:41 ◼   ► Someone is still there turning out updates.

00:44:43 ◼   ► Someone's just yet to be fired, is the situation.

00:44:45 ◼   ► They're just hiding.

00:44:46 ◼   ► They can't find that engineer.

00:44:47 ◼   ► Like in the move, I don't know what campus he's in, so they can't fire him.

00:44:51 ◼   ► They don't know where he is.

00:44:52 ◼   ► But he's like, "I'm just updating firmware."

00:44:54 ◼   ► There should be a story, like one of those Bloomberg, Mark Gurman stories, about the

00:45:02 ◼   ► folks at Apple who work on these projects on the very fringes of the company. Like,

00:45:08 ◼   ► here's the guy that updates airport utility, here's the guy that works on music.

00:45:13 ◼   ► Here's the person who is responsible for the stickers in clips. Here's the entire iMessage

00:45:21 ◼   ► App Store team. Two people. Go forth and and Texas Hold'em, I guess. That's very

00:45:31 ◼   ► strange, very strange story. It's also, it's number six in the casino section of

00:45:37 ◼   ► the App Store. There's a casino section? That's what it says on this

00:45:41 ◼   ► page. So can you bet real money with Texas Hold'em? No, I just think it's like, no. I

00:45:46 ◼   ► mean, you could, you could, because you want to bet on everything. Federico,

00:45:50 ◼   ► Federico, you can never go to Las Vegas. You know this, right? You're not, you cannot go there.

00:45:56 ◼   ► I have a passport. I have an ESTA. I can go if I want to.

00:45:59 ◼   ► I know like technically you can, but you should never.

00:46:01 ◼   ► But you shouldn't. You should never do it.

00:46:03 ◼   ► Look, I don't, so if I were to go to Vegas, keep this in mind about myself.

00:46:08 ◼   ► I don't know how to play any, any, literally any card game.

00:46:12 ◼   ► You don't, but there's not just card games.

00:46:14 ◼   ► The only thing I know about casinos is what I've seen in the movies.

00:46:19 ◼   ► So what I would do is I would play the thing with the other thing that spins and you say 23 black.

00:46:27 ◼   ► Yeah, you see, you already know enough to get yourself in trouble.

00:46:30 ◼   ► That I would do and also the thing when you need to push down on the...

00:46:35 ◼   ► What's it called?

00:46:37 ◼   ► The lever, the slot machines?

00:46:38 ◼   ► The lever, yes, the slot machine. That I would try.

00:46:41 ◼   ► So those two I know how to operate.

00:46:43 ◼   ► You already know too much for me to tell you to never go to Las Vegas.

00:46:48 ◼   ► I would bring some cash, you know, just like a small pile of cash and start betting on

00:46:56 ◼   ► everything. Including people. Like I would bet on other people's experiences.

00:47:02 ◼   ► They'll take a bet for anything in Vegas, so is this what I'm saying? It's bad for you,

00:47:06 ◼   ► you shouldn't go there. Let's see.

00:47:08 ◼   ► Here's something you could have made a bet on.

00:47:10 ◼   ► But I don't have a problem. MacBook updates.

00:47:12 ◼   ► Yeah, that's not fun. It's fun for some people.

00:47:16 ◼   ► I thought it was interesting news.

00:47:18 ◼   ► This is my week to shine on this connected podcast.

00:47:21 ◼   ► Yep. See you next week, Federico.

00:47:23 ◼   ► I'll be here. I have thoughts about Macbooks.

00:47:31 ◼   ► You know, I really don't.

00:47:35 ◼   ► I want to hear them after I tell people the news.

00:47:37 ◼   ► I have thoughts about the nicknames that are going away, but we'll talk about it later.

00:47:41 ◼   ► Okay. Okay. We will talk about that.

00:47:43 ◼   ► So yesterday Apple announced their annual back-to-school promotion

00:47:49 ◼   ► You know, usually you can get a MacBook discounted and you get some Beats headphones back in my day when I worked at the Apple store

00:47:57 ◼   ► You got a free printer on back to school

00:48:01 ◼   ► So you got to take a printer to your dorm room and be really cool

00:48:04 ◼   ► That feels that feels like a gift that is a burden

00:48:08 ◼   ► - It is, 'cause like, I mean, I lived in a dorm room,

00:48:12 ◼   ► I didn't have any room for a printer,

00:48:13 ◼   ► like, I didn't have money for ink, what are you doing?

00:48:16 ◼   ► Most schools have print labs, anyways,

00:48:18 ◼   ► so they got rid of that, now it's Beats headphones.

00:48:20 ◼   ► So that's a pretty normal thing we see in July,

00:48:23 ◼   ► but Apple also updated and sort of rearranged

00:48:27 ◼   ► the low end of their notebook line,

00:48:29 ◼   ► so the headlines here are the MacBook Air,

00:48:33 ◼   ► which was just released in the fall of 2018,

00:48:36 ◼   ► received an update, not even a spec bump,

00:48:39 ◼   ► all they added was true tone to the display,

00:48:42 ◼   ► which of course is Apple's color temperature matching

00:48:45 ◼   ► hardware and software.

00:48:47 ◼   ► The rest of the machine is still identical.

00:48:50 ◼   ► So if you own a MacBook Air, like don't feel bad,

00:48:52 ◼   ► your machine isn't out of date,

00:48:54 ◼   ► it's literally just this one feature.

00:48:56 ◼   ► They dropped the entry level price to $1,099 here

00:49:01 ◼   ► in the US.

00:49:03 ◼   ► I got some tweets from people saying,

00:49:04 ◼   ► it's higher other places.

00:49:05 ◼   ► understand that but that's what they're doing here. And it's 999

00:49:10 ◼   ► for students. They killed the you know, I'd forgot about this,

00:49:14 ◼   ► you could buy the old non retina MacBook Air still that was 999.

00:49:18 ◼   ► Yep, that's gone now. So every Mac notebook, in fact, every

00:49:22 ◼   ► single Mac with a display except the cheapest iMac is now retina.

00:49:26 ◼   ► So finally almost there. And I think it's great. You know, the

00:49:30 ◼   ► 128 gigabyte SSD and the entry level model kind of stinks. But

00:49:34 ◼   ► It feels like the MacBook Air is at the right price now.

00:49:36 ◼   ► And I'm excited about that. - No, I don't think so.

00:49:38 ◼   ► I don't think it's at the right price.

00:49:39 ◼   ► I think it needs to be under 1,000 for everybody.

00:49:41 ◼   ► I think it needs to start at 999.

00:49:42 ◼   ► Like that's where that machine should be.

00:49:45 ◼   ► Then it's, I think then it's perfect.

00:49:47 ◼   ► Like I don't think it's great that a regular person

00:49:50 ◼   ► can't go into an Apple store and buy a MacBook

00:49:52 ◼   ► for under $1,000.

00:49:53 ◼   ► - It'd be nice, but I think this is as close

00:49:55 ◼   ► as we're gonna get for a while.

00:49:56 ◼   ► - Yeah, oh, it definitely is, right?

00:49:57 ◼   ► It definitely is. - I think they may be able

00:49:58 ◼   ► to get there eventually, but for now,

00:50:00 ◼   ► 1099 is better than where it was.

00:50:02 ◼   ► I would say I think it's great that they've got it under a thousand for typically the

00:50:05 ◼   ► people that need it the most. And that was clearly why they've done this now, right?

00:50:10 ◼   ► Because we got a bunch of, we have some things to touch on later on as to like how strange

00:50:17 ◼   ► this seems depending on what we think we know about the next six months or whatever. But

00:50:22 ◼   ► this is the back to school promotion and they've got, they've made this machine a little bit

00:50:25 ◼   ► better, a little bit cheaper, and they've cleared up the line. So yeah, it's the right

00:50:31 ◼   ► time to do it. But it is curious at best. Okay, well, we'll come back to that. So that's

00:50:37 ◼   ► what's going on with the MacBook Air. The 13 inch MacBook Pro saw a lot of change. So

00:50:43 ◼   ► before this, there was the four port 13 inch MacBook Pro with touch bar and touch ID. And

00:50:49 ◼   ► then there was the two port, no touch bar, no touch ID, MacBook Pro that was nicknamed

00:50:56 ◼   ► the escape by the ATP chat room. I know this is where Federico complains about the nickname.

00:51:02 ◼   ► But the nickname was helpful because two port and four port was kind of a mouthful. Anyways,

00:51:08 ◼   ► that machine was not updated for the last couple of years. And it is now gone. And in

00:51:14 ◼   ► its place is a MacBook Pro with two Thunderbolt ports, but with touch bar and touch ID. And

00:51:24 ◼   ► starts at $12.99 or $11.99 for students. And so the the MacBook Pro now is consolidated,

00:51:33 ◼   ► they all have the touch bar, they all have touch ID, the cheaper models have two ports,

00:51:39 ◼   ► the nicer models have four ports, and they have resolved the issue a little bit that

00:51:45 ◼   ► the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air were basically like $100 a parts, there's a little more room

00:51:50 ◼   ► now between the two and I think yes I agree with you Myke it'd be nicer if it was $300

00:51:55 ◼   ► difference as opposed to $200 but they've sort of separated the Air and the MacBook

00:51:58 ◼   ► Pro a little bit which is good.

00:52:00 ◼   ► Yeah and pricing and functionality.

00:52:03 ◼   ► Yes.

00:52:04 ◼   ► Getting rid of the version that had physical function keys right like that's now separated

00:52:10 ◼   ► those devices a little bit so now you could the MacBook Pro only gets the touch bar so

00:52:14 ◼   ► I think what that shows is Apple's committed to the touch bar a long time right I think

00:52:19 ◼   ► was a question. Because they have now removed a model that didn't have it, right? So yeah,

00:52:24 ◼   ► two models actually, because I mean, in the MacBook Pro line, but yes, sure, sure. So

00:52:28 ◼   ► yeah, so the touch bars, if you have a MacBook Pro, you have a touch bar. And, of course,

00:52:33 ◼   ► both machines have the touch ID sensor. So touch ID is now on every notebook, which is

00:52:39 ◼   ► great. Also, the in the 13 is a little bit more, you have to pay a little bit more attention

00:52:44 ◼   ► to the ports, right?

00:52:45 ◼   ► Because you can still get a four-port version,

00:52:49 ◼   ► but it's the maximum configuration one.

00:52:51 ◼   ► Otherwise, you're getting two ports with a touch bar.

00:52:53 ◼   ► So it's just something to pay attention to, right?

00:52:56 ◼   ► They didn't add more USB-C ports or Thunderbolt 3 ports

00:53:00 ◼   ► to the machine that they added the touch bar to, effectively.

00:53:03 ◼   ► The surprise-- well, I think all this was a surprise.

00:53:06 ◼   ► But I think the biggest surprise to some people--

00:53:08 ◼   ► The biggest surprise, yeah.

00:53:09 ◼   ► --is that the 12-inch MacBook--

00:53:11 ◼   ► so the one-port USB-C, not Thunderbolt.

00:53:13 ◼   ► machine in 2015 introduced the butterfly keyboard that computer has been discontinued. It again was

00:53:20 ◼   ► last updated in 2017 just like the escape and it is gone. It's now the second time Apple has killed

00:53:27 ◼   ► the MacBook brand. They did that a while back and then brought this one back in 2015 and how it's

00:53:33 ◼   ► gone again. So the MacBook name seems to be cursed just transient. It comes and goes as Jeff Williams

00:53:42 ◼   ► please us. I get why people were sad about this. I was honestly surprised at how much feedback I

00:53:47 ◼   ► saw on Twitter that people, I think people who were into this machine were really into it.

00:53:51 ◼   ► Yeah. And those of us who weren't just don't care. I'm sad about it. Like, because I always felt like

00:53:56 ◼   ► this machine was going to get its MacBook Air moment, right? That it was like a fundamentally

00:54:01 ◼   ► flawed computer that all they had to do was this one thing to fix it. And then it was going to be

00:54:05 ◼   ► the perfect computer for everybody. Right. Which is what happened with the MacBook Air, right? The

00:54:09 ◼   ► the original MacBook Air was a little bit of a disaster. And then they made some updates

00:54:14 ◼   ► to it and it became like what is still considered by so many people, their favorite ever Mac,

00:54:19 ◼   ► right? Like at least Mac laptop. Like that 11 inch MacBook Air, an unbelievable machine.

00:54:26 ◼   ► And the MacBook never got that moment. It never had its jump that I think a lot of people

00:54:31 ◼   ► were hoping that it was going to have, including me, just because I thought that I owned one.

00:54:36 ◼   ► The form factor of that machine is exactly what I want out of a Mac, like out of a laptop.

00:54:42 ◼   ► Super small, super thin, looks great, came in some colors, like wonderful. But I think

00:54:48 ◼   ► where it is right now, because they couldn't seem to make a jump, they probably had to

00:54:52 ◼   ► get rid of it because it confused the lineup. I don't know why anyone would pick it, right?

00:54:56 ◼   ► Like the only people buying that machine were people that wanted that machine. Like you

00:55:01 ◼   ► would not go into an Apple store, I think, and pick that one out of what was offered

00:55:05 ◼   ► to you, especially when they updated the Air. Yeah, you don't stumble into the MacBook,

00:55:09 ◼   ► right? It's because you want as small and as light of a notebook as possible. And especially

00:55:14 ◼   ► now that the Air comes in colors, right, that you can get it in different finishes, makes

00:55:20 ◼   ► it even less of a reason. Because you might get some people like, "I want a gold computer,

00:55:23 ◼   ► that's what I want." But now the Air comes in that as well, so like it's even less reason

00:55:27 ◼   ► to have the MacBook. Plus it was a worse computer, it was more expensive, it's just like it was

00:55:32 ◼   ► over the place a difficult thing so it really does clear the lineup, it makes the lineup

00:55:38 ◼   ► much more clear to now remove it because you were bringing the price of the air down but

00:55:43 ◼   ► probably not the MacBook and I'm sure that there's like a bunch of other things just

00:55:48 ◼   ► from a technological standpoint that like still keeping that monitor around about true

00:55:51 ◼   ► time might have been like an expensive thing to do over time because all the rest of it,

00:55:55 ◼   ► they probably have economies of scale in the other monitor, in the panels, I don't know

00:55:59 ◼   ► But it was clearly not a device that they could find something to do.

00:56:04 ◼   ► I saw Jason Snell tweeting about thinking, which is kind of an interesting thought, that

00:56:08 ◼   ► there might have been a another thermal corner here.

00:56:11 ◼   ► They couldn't put a fan in it.

00:56:13 ◼   ► So they couldn't make it more powerful.

00:56:15 ◼   ► So they kind of designed themselves into a situation where they could never make it better.

00:56:18 ◼   ► I mean, I think that may be partially true.

00:56:20 ◼   ► So the the MacBook used the what was formerly known as the core M series very like five

00:56:26 ◼   ► watt TDP, very low power chips. And they did that so they'd be fanless. There are options

00:56:32 ◼   ► out there. There are other machines on the market using modern chips in that family without

00:56:38 ◼   ► a fan. They exist. Maybe Apple, maybe Apple's implementation made it difficult. But I think

00:56:44 ◼   ► they looked at I mean, that may have been part of it. I don't think that's the whole

00:56:46 ◼   ► reason. I think that looking at the line is the problem. We've spoken about this before.

00:56:51 ◼   ► Before all this, if you had 1200 dollars to go buy a notebook, you had three options.

00:56:55 ◼   ► had the Air, the Pro, and the MacBook at effectively the same price, about $100

00:56:59 ◼   ► between between them. And that was just really confusing. And now it is simpler.

00:57:04 ◼   ► You have the MacBook Air, and if you want more you have the MacBook Pro. And had

00:57:09 ◼   ► the MacBook been the cheapest of those, you know, if the MacBook had been $899 and

00:57:13 ◼   ► is like really the the entry level, that may have made more sense. Or if the

00:57:18 ◼   ► MacBook was really premium, right? So hey, you want thin and light, it comes with a

00:57:23 ◼   ► higher price tag and maybe that was $1499 or $1599. The MacBook may have made more

00:57:27 ◼   ► sense then as well but all of these notebooks in the same really tight like

00:57:33 ◼   ► price range just was confusing. When its thinness and lightness became

00:57:39 ◼   ► less unique to it, it made it less appealing. The 13-inch MacBook Pro

00:57:44 ◼   ► and 13-inch MacBook Air are very similar in size, which we'll talk about in a second.

00:57:47 ◼   ► Like the MacBook wasn't as big of an outlier as it was in 2015.

00:57:52 ◼   ► I remember in 2015, they were still using

00:57:54 ◼   ► the unibody style MacBook Pros,

00:57:56 ◼   ► like the really good 2015 models.

00:57:59 ◼   ► The MacBook looked like magic compared to those laptops.

00:58:02 ◼   ► And so now it's gone away.

00:58:06 ◼   ► I do think that in hindsight,

00:58:09 ◼   ► Apple's 2015, 2016 era notebook strategy was clearly flawed.

00:58:14 ◼   ► So you have this machine that,

00:58:18 ◼   ► I think they did it because they could,

00:58:20 ◼   ► and they sort of built the case

00:58:21 ◼   ► if you want something really thin and light, you have this.

00:58:24 ◼   ► But it never really took off,

00:58:26 ◼   ► and the people, again, the people who were into it

00:58:27 ◼   ► were into it, but it wasn't a big hit.

00:58:29 ◼   ► And then you look at the previous machine,

00:58:33 ◼   ► the MacBook Escape, two port, no touch bar.

00:58:36 ◼   ► In the 2016 keynote, when they announced that,

00:58:39 ◼   ► Phil Schiller's on stage and says,

00:58:40 ◼   ► "Look, we also sell the MacBook Air,

00:58:41 ◼   ► "and we're keeping the MacBook Air around."

00:58:43 ◼   ► They also, they killed the 11-inch Air this day, too,

00:58:45 ◼   ► but they're keeping the 13-inch Air around.

00:58:48 ◼   ► But we've built this version of the MacBook Pro,

00:58:50 ◼   ► And we think customers who like the MacBook Air

00:58:53 ◼   ► will just move to this.

00:58:55 ◼   ► And they just didn't do that.

00:58:56 ◼   ► People hung on to the MacBook Air

00:58:59 ◼   ► and the MacBook Air is a very beloved brand.

00:59:02 ◼   ► That's why they brought it back in 2018.

00:59:04 ◼   ► That's why that machine is tapered

00:59:06 ◼   ► and looks like the old MacBook Air.

00:59:07 ◼   ► You know, people on Twitter were asking yesterday,

00:59:10 ◼   ► several people asked me,

00:59:11 ◼   ► "Well, why don't they just rename the MacBook Air

00:59:12 ◼   ► the MacBooks?"

00:59:13 ◼   ► They have the MacBook and the MacBook Pro.

00:59:15 ◼   ► I don't think they can do that

00:59:16 ◼   ► 'cause the MacBook Air is such a beloved brand

00:59:18 ◼   ► and now they have a good one again.

00:59:21 ◼   ► And the MacBook Pro without the touch bar

00:59:25 ◼   ► never caught on with those people.

00:59:26 ◼   ► And it really looks like that machine

00:59:29 ◼   ► was sort of a failed experiment.

00:59:30 ◼   ► Now, the entry level 13 inch MacBook Pro we have today,

00:59:33 ◼   ► those machines use less powerful CPUs

00:59:37 ◼   ► in the higher 13 inch.

00:59:38 ◼   ► Like the new entry level 13 inch MacBook Pro

00:59:41 ◼   ► effectively is the escape with a touch bar.

00:59:43 ◼   ► Like it's not a drastically different machine inside.

00:59:45 ◼   ► But from a branding perspective, there's a clearer line now.

00:59:50 ◼   ► And that middle machine that's like, it's not an error,

00:59:54 ◼   ► but it's not really a pro, I just

00:59:56 ◼   ► don't think people were into it.

00:59:57 ◼   ► And--

00:59:58 ◼   ► Well, whether they were or they weren't,

00:59:59 ◼   ► it was still too confusing.

01:00:01 ◼   ► It was too confusing.

01:00:02 ◼   ► And it wasn't getting touched.

01:00:03 ◼   ► It wasn't getting updated.

01:00:04 ◼   ► Right.

01:00:05 ◼   ► So it needed to go.

01:00:06 ◼   ► When it missed its second round of updates--

01:00:08 ◼   ► so it didn't get updated in 2018.

01:00:09 ◼   ► It didn't get updated in 2019 with these new machines.

01:00:12 ◼   ► Like, OK, something is happening with this model.

01:00:14 ◼   ► And there was a lot of debate about what that would be.

01:00:18 ◼   ► But I think it was pretty clear that they

01:00:20 ◼   ► needed to clear the lineup.

01:00:21 ◼   ► And I think they've done a really good job of it.

01:00:24 ◼   ► I think this is the first time since 2015

01:00:26 ◼   ► the entire Mac notebook line makes sense.

01:00:28 ◼   ► We can quibble about pricing and features

01:00:30 ◼   ► and the amount of solid state storage.

01:00:32 ◼   ► But I think from the big picture, where are the models?

01:00:35 ◼   ► How do they relate to each other?

01:00:37 ◼   ► I think finally it's clear again.

01:00:39 ◼   ► And I'm glad for her.

01:00:41 ◼   ► Can you just clear up something for me?

01:00:42 ◼   ► I just want to make sure I can confirm my understanding.

01:00:45 ◼   ► Sure.

01:00:45 ◼   ► Did Apple remove that computer or did they add a touch bar to the computer?

01:00:49 ◼   ► My understanding is they effectively added a touch bar to it.

01:00:52 ◼   ► So right.

01:00:53 ◼   ► Because what I mean is it's like they didn't

01:00:56 ◼   ► because they have three configurations you can get now, like the base configurations.

01:01:00 ◼   ► There wasn't four before.

01:01:01 ◼   ► They were the base. Right.

01:01:03 ◼   ► The base one is effectively what the MacBook Pro with no touch bar was.

01:01:08 ◼   ► But they've added a touch bar to that machine. Yes.

01:01:11 ◼   ► So now they're all okay, great. I just wanted to check that like, because it's it's not

01:01:15 ◼   ► that they got rid of what we call what was called the escape, right? They just removed

01:01:19 ◼   ► what made it right. Yeah, they added the touch bar and because the two port MacBook Pros

01:01:25 ◼   ► use a lower TDP processor than the four port. They're all eighth generation. But if you

01:01:31 ◼   ► look at the specs, they also both use the the less powerful Intel 645 graphics, where

01:01:37 ◼   ► the big one uses 655. There is a distinct difference between the two port and four port

01:01:44 ◼   ► machines. So you're right. It's a it's basically the escape of the touch bar slapped on it.

01:01:48 ◼   ► But from the outside, it's like, Oh, it's a new computer. I think it was the right thing

01:01:52 ◼   ► to do. I think so too. And I think it's I think it's a lot more clear. The last bit

01:01:56 ◼   ► of news is that the across the line Apple has reduced their pricing on SSD upgrades

01:02:02 ◼   ► on the Mac 100 terabyte or 100 terabytes 100 terabyte SSD would be amazing. A terabyte

01:02:07 ◼   ► SSD is about $200 less the two terabyte option is about $400 less that's across

01:02:13 ◼   ► the board it's you know up and down a little bit on the different models but

01:02:16 ◼   ► effectively it is much cheaper. This means that on the high end of like the

01:02:21 ◼   ► iMac Pro and MacBook Pro you can spend like you can save like over $1,000 on

01:02:25 ◼   ► the four terabyte SSD as opposed to a couple of days ago so I like this being

01:02:30 ◼   ► more aggressive I still wish the base models were bigger than 128 gigs but if

01:02:35 ◼   ► you're going to upgrade now, you will spend you will spend less. And if remember, when

01:02:40 ◼   ► we spoke about the MacBook Air, about my wife one, and it went from 512 to like one and

01:02:47 ◼   ► a half terabytes, and it was like $1200. And now the MacBook Air has a terabyte option

01:02:53 ◼   ► in the middle of that that's more reasonable. So adjusting those things, I think is, is

01:02:59 ◼   ► welcome. I'm gonna do the ad. So we're gonna talk a little bit about the new keyboard rumor.

01:03:04 ◼   ► I also want to talk about how to choose between the Map Care and the entry-level Map of Pro

01:03:08 ◼   ► because we have some questions about that.

01:03:09 ◼   ► Flip a coin.

01:03:10 ◼   ► You could flip a coin or you could do it with logic and reason, which is how I'm going to

01:03:15 ◼   ► walk my way through it.

01:03:16 ◼   ► You could ask Siri.

01:03:17 ◼   ► You could ask Siri.

01:03:18 ◼   ► Should we try?

01:03:19 ◼   ► We'll try.

01:03:20 ◼   ► We'll ask Siri.

01:03:21 ◼   ► We'll see what they say.

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01:05:21 ◼   ► - What about this rumor?

01:05:23 ◼   ► So this came out, we spoke about it on upgrade,

01:05:25 ◼   ► we have Marco on upgrade and we spoke about the rumor from Ming-Chi Kuo about the 2019

01:05:32 ◼   ► MacBook Air receiving the new scissor keyboard. So moving from butterfly keyboards to a new scissor

01:05:39 ◼   ► keyboard, the keyboard that will also eventually be in the MacBook Pro but Kuo said 2020 for the

01:05:44 ◼   ► 16-inch MacBook Pro. Ming-Chi Kuo said that at sometime this year, towards the end of this year,

01:05:51 ◼   ► that the MacBook Air would be updated with this new keyboard. But the current keyboard in the

01:05:57 ◼   ► MacBook Air that's just been revised is this revised materials keyboard tweak from the other

01:06:03 ◼   ► 2019 MacBook Pros. You know when they said they came out a little while ago and said they've made

01:06:07 ◼   ► some tweaks and then it's funny these new computers are also in the repair program because they have

01:06:13 ◼   ► this keyboard, the bad keyboard. But what do we think about this now? Do we think that QoW got

01:06:19 ◼   ► this wrong. Are Apple going to update these computers again? I would be surprised if they

01:06:25 ◼   ► release another new MacBook Air this year, even though this was barely a bump, right? All they

01:06:30 ◼   ► did was True Tone, doing it three times in a year or a year, you know, 14 months or something.

01:06:35 ◼   ► That seems really aggressive. That's not bad though. But if and it's not bad, but here's the

01:06:41 ◼   ► other side of the coin. If there was a MacBook Air update coming, maybe a spec bump, but with a

01:06:46 ◼   ► a new keyboard. Why not save true tone for that. And then that release is bigger, you

01:06:53 ◼   ► could still drop the price by $100. Now, no one's complaining now the MacBook Air is old,

01:06:59 ◼   ► it's you know, less than a year old, you could drop the price now and have a new one in the

01:07:03 ◼   ► fall with all this stuff. And that update seems even bigger. So that is really the thing

01:07:08 ◼   ► that sticks in my mind. Like, why did this air get a new feature if there was another

01:07:12 ◼   ► the one just around the corner.

01:07:14 ◼   ► And you know, Ming-Chi Kuo has an excellent track record,

01:07:17 ◼   ► especially, and like this is their bread and butter,

01:07:21 ◼   ► like supply chain parts, you know, infrastructure type stuff

01:07:24 ◼   ► so I don't know if it's wrong or not,

01:07:26 ◼   ► but it sure seems unusual if there's going to be another air

01:07:30 ◼   ► with a truly new keyboard later this fall.

01:07:33 ◼   ► I mean, I think it'd be great,

01:07:34 ◼   ► but I would be surprised at this point if we see that.

01:07:37 ◼   ► You know, maybe this is now Q1 or Q2 2020.

01:07:40 ◼   ► I don't know, it's unusual.

01:07:43 ◼   ► - I still think we're gonna see it this year.

01:07:45 ◼   ► I just think that there is an interesting way

01:07:48 ◼   ► to kind of change the tide of public opinion

01:07:50 ◼   ► by continuing to update machines frequently

01:07:53 ◼   ► when they can, right?

01:07:55 ◼   ► And again, it's like I don't really understand enough

01:07:57 ◼   ► about how the screen technology is made,

01:07:59 ◼   ► but it may have just been more cost effective

01:08:01 ◼   ► to change to the new panel.

01:08:02 ◼   ► So they're just doing it now, right?

01:08:04 ◼   ► As opposed to waiting until everything's done

01:08:07 ◼   ► because they wanted to make a change to this machine anyway,

01:08:09 ◼   ► would assume, so they can make it the price that it needs to be for the back to school, right? That's

01:08:15 ◼   ► why they've done it now and they've kind of like cleared up the line a little bit, but then they

01:08:20 ◼   ► also have this new keyboard ready to go so they're just going to do it when it's ready as opposed to

01:08:24 ◼   ► waiting. That's my hope, but I don't... it is a very... it's a different kind of strategy but

01:08:29 ◼   ► you know maybe that's where they want to be with this. I don't know. We will find out, you know,

01:08:35 ◼   ► Apple has been more aggressive with Mac updates so maybe they're going to continue to crank that up.

01:08:39 ◼   ► I also saw another rumor, so it's come from 9to5Mac from Economic Daily News. These are

01:08:44 ◼   ► supply chain rumors, right? That there is a 10.2 inch iPad and a 16 inch MacBook Pro

01:08:51 ◼   ► coming in the fall and it's entering mass production in Q4. So do you remember this

01:08:56 ◼   ► 10.2 inch iPad was rumored a while ago? Like this is the one to replace the 9.7 I guess?

01:09:04 ◼   ► Is that even available anymore?

01:09:06 ◼   ► But there was a rumor of like a

01:09:08 ◼   ► 10.2 and a 10.5.

01:09:09 ◼   ► Do you remember that?

01:09:10 ◼   ► Yeah, the 10.5 is the iPad Air.

01:09:12 ◼   ► And that there would be in the iPad

01:09:14 ◼   ► would become 10.2 inches.

01:09:15 ◼   ► Like that was that was the rumor.

01:09:17 ◼   ► But this is like another supply

01:09:18 ◼   ► chain report of this 16

01:09:20 ◼   ► inch MacBook Pro coming

01:09:22 ◼   ► in the fall.

01:09:23 ◼   ► And it may be that like maybe

01:09:25 ◼   ► it comes really late in the year,

01:09:26 ◼   ► you know, like ships super late or

01:09:28 ◼   ► maybe it does ship in the fall and

01:09:29 ◼   ► like quos off a little bit.

01:09:30 ◼   ► But it's interesting, like Apple's

01:09:33 ◼   ► laptop stuff.

01:09:34 ◼   ► seems to be going through a real revival right now.

01:09:37 ◼   ► Like maybe this is the result of all of that stuff that happened when the Mac Pro

01:09:42 ◼   ► like exploded, right?

01:09:44 ◼   ► We're now seeing the fruits of that.

01:09:46 ◼   ► Like they're putting renewed interest into Mac hardware.

01:09:49 ◼   ► Maybe Jeff Williams loves the Mac.

01:09:51 ◼   ► I think the iPad rumor is interesting.

01:09:53 ◼   ► Especially if you consider how, you know, making the iPad bigger,

01:09:58 ◼   ► the base model makes sense considering what iPadOS is becoming.

01:10:04 ◼   ► It's worth having the biggest screens you can have now.

01:10:07 ◼   ► Exactly. So you have things like multi-window going on, you have the better home screen,

01:10:11 ◼   ► you have an increasing usage of slide-over and split-view throughout the system.

01:10:19 ◼   ► I think it makes sense to make the base iPad not like the Pro of course, but just a bit bigger,

01:10:26 ◼   ► which also, you know, I guess it differentiates, you know, it creates differentiation with the Mini

01:10:33 ◼   ► even more, because then you have a gap between the 7-something inches and 10.2.

01:10:39 ◼   ► Or maybe it allows the Mini to screen to get bigger.

01:10:41 ◼   ► That's also a possibility. I would like all iPads to get bigger, so the base one,

01:10:48 ◼   ► 10.2 sounds great. In 2020 I want to see a 15-inch or 16-inch iPad Pro.

01:10:53 ◼   ► Well, we could put a mouse on it, you know, so why not put on a VESA arm?

01:10:58 ◼   ► Could be a Ricky, I don't know.

01:10:59 ◼   ► Could be a Ricky. That'd be pretty Ricky.

01:11:01 ◼   ► Big rapid pro, yeah. And that 16-inch MacBook Pro, it's not for me of course,

01:11:07 ◼   ► but I would consider it as an upgrade for Sylvia, honestly.

01:11:13 ◼   ► Well, you would assume that this is the... this will be Apple's proposed future for laptops, right?

01:11:18 ◼   ► Like that's...

01:11:18 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:11:19 ◼   ► So it should be pretty good, you would hope.

01:11:22 ◼   ► See, I'm a little hesitant, especially if they change the keyboard.

01:11:26 ◼   ► Like, I will definitely wait a few months to hear, is this keyboard gonna break or not?

01:11:31 ◼   ► Because Sylvie is experiencing some issues with the keyboard,

01:11:36 ◼   ► spacebar, you know, the usual spacebar getting stuck,

01:11:38 ◼   ► specific keys getting stuck and that kind of stuff.

01:11:42 ◼   ► Yeah, because it's like, all right, I know that scissor keyboards are, you know,

01:11:45 ◼   ► that's what they used to make is to be reliable with them,

01:11:47 ◼   ► but I don't trust Apple to not try and do something.

01:11:50 ◼   ► they're gonna say that this is a keyboard is made with such and such new process that they developed, right?

01:11:54 ◼   ► Like, they're not gonna do nothing. They're not gonna be like, oh, this is just the old one.

01:11:58 ◼   ► They're gonna fiddle around with something, right? To try and make it better.

01:12:03 ◼   ► And I know if I was dropping the kind of money on these machines,

01:12:06 ◼   ► I would want to give it just a little bit of time before doing it.

01:12:11 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:12:12 ◼   ► So Steven, I want to know how you choose between the MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro,

01:12:17 ◼   ► but shall I ask Siri first?

01:12:18 ◼   ► Yes.

01:12:19 ◼   ► "Should I buy a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro?"

01:12:23 ◼   ► "That's hard for me to say, but you can compare Apple products at Apple.com."

01:12:28 ◼   ► What a coward.

01:12:29 ◼   ► Siri agrees with me. Siri sort of said, "Listen to Steven. He knows what he's talking about."

01:12:34 ◼   ► I was called a Mac expert yesterday in an article, so you can trust me.

01:12:37 ◼   ► Oh really?

01:12:38 ◼   ► Uh huh.

01:12:38 ◼   ► Wow, look at you. I mean, you should be by now.

01:12:41 ◼   ► Feels like it. I have enough of 'em.

01:12:44 ◼   ► Choosing between the MacBook Air and the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro.

01:12:48 ◼   ► This is, you know, connected we're really known for our timely consumer advice.

01:12:52 ◼   ► And this is just another long example of that in our history.

01:12:55 ◼   ► If you are buying a machine, and you're sort of in this range, the couple things to consider

01:13:00 ◼   ► obviously the price is a big one, the air is 1099, the pro is 1299.

01:13:05 ◼   ► And that's really what I'm comparing is entry level machines.

01:13:10 ◼   ► Both have touch ID, only the pro has the touch bar.

01:13:13 ◼   ► So that's really important to you have at it.

01:13:16 ◼   ► If you are starting with these and you want to upgrade to have more storage or more RAM,

01:13:22 ◼   ► both can go to 16 gigabytes of RAM, the air can go to a terabyte SSD.

01:13:25 ◼   ► Now the old 1.5 terabyte option is gone.

01:13:28 ◼   ► And the pro can go to two terabytes.

01:13:30 ◼   ► I will say this when you're looking at entry level max, and you're looking to upgrade components

01:13:35 ◼   ► of them when you order it.

01:13:37 ◼   ► Sometimes you can be in a situation where you would actually spend less or the same

01:13:41 ◼   ► amount by starting at the mid level machine and adding to that.

01:13:44 ◼   ► So always like have a couple browser tabs open and make sure you're not giving Apple

01:13:49 ◼   ► any more money than you already have to something to consider.

01:13:53 ◼   ► That is generally better than it used to be.

01:13:54 ◼   ► But there are still some occasional places where you would end up better off starting

01:13:59 ◼   ► with the mid range machine.

01:14:01 ◼   ► But looking at the the base, the base ones, the MacBook Air is slightly smaller and slightly

01:14:10 ◼   ► lighter than the MacBook Pro.

01:14:13 ◼   ► But they're both very, very small.

01:14:17 ◼   ► The weight on the MacBook Pro is 3 pounds.

01:14:21 ◼   ► The weight on the Air is 2.76.

01:14:24 ◼   ► You're not going to feel that difference in your backpack.

01:14:27 ◼   ► Isn't that crazy now that they're so close?

01:14:30 ◼   ► It makes the Air kind of like funny.

01:14:32 ◼   ► Like what makes it so Air now?

01:14:35 ◼   ► Really.

01:14:36 ◼   ► It's because it's wedge shaped.

01:14:37 ◼   ► It cuts through the air.

01:14:41 ◼   ► Thickness wise you know that the air does taper, but the the maximum thickness is very very close

01:14:47 ◼   ► They're effectively in a backpack the same size

01:14:50 ◼   ► The pro screen is a hundred and it's brighter at 500 nits, and it has wide color support so as that p3 gamut stuff

01:14:59 ◼   ► The air is 400 nits so a little less bright honestly like I said I have one of these errors in my household and

01:15:05 ◼   ► The brightness is not an issue. It's 400 nits is not as bright as 500

01:15:09 ◼   ► but it's still plenty bright for any use that we've had.

01:15:12 ◼   ► My expectation is if you do not run your machine at full brightness,

01:15:16 ◼   ► don't worry about this. And I don't, I don't run anything at full brightness.

01:15:21 ◼   ► I know Federico loves it. Like just to...

01:15:23 ◼   ► No.

01:15:24 ◼   ► Don't you run your iPhone at permanent full brightness?

01:15:26 ◼   ► No, no. I switched last year or a couple of years ago to,

01:15:31 ◼   ► I just, I just gave up. Uh, to,

01:15:34 ◼   ► I gave in and embraced the world of auto brightness and really it's been fine.

01:15:39 ◼   ► Yeah, I see now why people were trying to convince me to

01:15:44 ◼   ► write that too, right? I know, I know the the CPU is where

01:15:48 ◼   ► things get a little more interesting. The MacBook Air is

01:15:52 ◼   ► a dual core system, where the MacBook Pro is a quad core

01:15:55 ◼   ► system. So looking at your workload, if you have things

01:15:58 ◼   ► that would take advantage of more cores, then the MacBook

01:16:01 ◼   ► Pro is going to jump ahead here. The clock speeds are very

01:16:03 ◼   ► similar, the air is at 1.6 gigahertz. The pro is actually a

01:16:07 ◼   ► little bit slower at 1.4 gigahertz but again you have twice the number of cores

01:16:12 ◼   ► and the pro turbo is faster at 3.9 versus 3.6 for the air. All of that to say I

01:16:20 ◼   ► think the gap between the air and the pro performance wise for everyday people

01:16:25 ◼   ► is probably not massive. The pro will be faster under certain circumstances as

01:16:30 ◼   ► you would expect. It can do more in a multi-threaded environment. The turbo is

01:16:34 ◼   ► faster. And the MacBook Pro does run hotter with a higher TDP chip. So it should be able to turbo

01:16:42 ◼   ► and in theory, at least longer and higher than the air. I don't have one of these new 13 inch

01:16:48 ◼   ► MacBook Pros, I have the 15 inch. But my experience with the old quad core 13 inches that it could it

01:16:54 ◼   ► could run, you know, pretty aggressively for a while you hear the fan, but it would push it. So

01:17:00 ◼   ► If you have a lot of like CPU intensive stuff, the $200 may be worth it. But again, for most people

01:17:05 ◼   ► thinking about, you know, somebody just needs a computer for the home or the office or a student,

01:17:09 ◼   ► the MacBook Air is going to more than hold its own. Don't don't be afraid the MacBook Air is

01:17:13 ◼   ► going to be slow. Because it's just not the air has Yeah, it feels really good. You also get a

01:17:18 ◼   ► slightly more robust Intel GPU on the MacBook Pro, it has better support for external displays.

01:17:24 ◼   ► So you can read about this, we have links in the show notes. But basically the the MacBook Pro can

01:17:28 ◼   ► can push more external pixels. Most people aren't running to 4k external

01:17:33 ◼   ► displays so for most people it's not a problem. Again, you would know. Yeah, you

01:17:37 ◼   ► never never know the difference. Performance wise though, it's not a

01:17:41 ◼   ► night and day difference between these two GPUs really and again having a

01:17:45 ◼   ► MacBook Air in the household, having used it a good bit. My wife actually uses it

01:17:50 ◼   ► with an external 4k, the old LG Ultrafine 4k display and like it's great and runs

01:17:55 ◼   ► it extremely smoothly. Again, the Air is not a hobbled machine by any stretch of

01:18:00 ◼   ► the imagination, but if you need a little bit more power, the Pro is there for

01:18:05 ◼   ► you. But that power does come with a trade-off, and that is that the MacBook

01:18:09 ◼   ► Pro doesn't get as good as battery life. So these are Apple's numbers. Apple says

01:18:13 ◼   ► the MacBook Pro 13-inch gets 10 hours of on their wireless web test while the

01:18:19 ◼   ► Max-- which I don't know what wireless web means. It's not using Chrome, that's for sure.

01:18:25 ◼   ► Do you just mean using the computer now? Right? Like use it off the internet? Do you get better battery life?

01:18:29 ◼   ► I don't know. I guess so. The MacBook Air has a smaller battery, but has 12 hours on the wireless web test

01:18:35 ◼   ► I'm pretty sure there is a helicopter above this house right now. Is there?

01:18:39 ◼   ► You yeah, that was very intense. You could probably hear that. Maybe it's they're coming to fix your back

01:18:45 ◼   ► Maybe someone finally made the call. Thank you. Maybe it's the expert

01:18:52 ◼   ► They were looking for a sign of life from me, and they haven't got it. Yeah, we're not yeah

01:18:56 ◼   ► So the the air you will get better battery life in the pro again it that I think comes down to the processor that it's

01:19:02 ◼   ► dual core

01:19:04 ◼   ► Slightly less powerful GPU and again having an air in the household for a while the battery life seems really good

01:19:10 ◼   ► And I think if if your primary use is on the go

01:19:15 ◼   ► The air should probably win just on battery life alone, so it's all in all for 200 bucks

01:19:22 ◼   ► from the air to the pro, you would get a faster machine and multi core in particular, a better,

01:19:28 ◼   ► brighter display, but not hugely brighter, not hugely better. And you get a touch bar,

01:19:34 ◼   ► and slightly worse battery life like all of this, I think, confirms to me what we've said for a

01:19:40 ◼   ► while is that the MacBook Air, once again, as it was, you know, like 2012 2013 2014 is the default

01:19:48 ◼   ► Mac notebook. If you just need a Mac notebook for school or for work, the MacBook Air is

01:19:52 ◼   ► not going to let you down. And I think you only have to go to the Pro if you need more

01:19:59 ◼   ► ports or you really want the touch bar or you need a better GPU. And even then, you

01:20:04 ◼   ► don't get a lot of that stuff until you're $500 or $600 more expensive, $700 more expensive

01:20:11 ◼   ► than the MacBook Air. It's really cleaned up now. It is. It totally is. And so I think

01:20:16 ◼   ► they did a good job with this. I think the MacBook Air continues to be a really

01:20:20 ◼   ► good value for a lot of people and I think that if you're buying a machine

01:20:24 ◼   ► this you know for back to school I think the MacBook Air is probably the way to

01:20:27 ◼   ► go for just about everybody. Thank you for your service. You're welcome.

01:20:31 ◼   ► Federico do you have any questions about the MacBook Air GPU that are really

01:20:35 ◼   ► burning? Not today. I will follow up with you on my some technical details

01:20:43 ◼   ► Yeah, okay. Of the GPU.

01:20:45 ◼   ► Once you've got one in the lab, right?

01:20:47 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah. I will run all of my benchmarks.

01:20:51 ◼   ► Benchmarks, yes.

01:20:52 ◼   ► All the, you know, I actually have the Blackmagic app, but it's not for the GPU.

01:21:00 ◼   ► So, this write and read thing. I have that.

01:21:06 ◼   ► Cool. Are you ready to go?

01:21:07 ◼   ► I know what it does.

01:21:08 ◼   ► What you got that for?

01:21:09 ◼   ► He's an expert.

01:21:11 ◼   ► - I'm a expert.

01:21:11 ◼   ► - Sometimes I gotta pretend that I care.

01:21:15 ◼   ► - Like, aha, here's a gruff.

01:21:16 ◼   ► - If you want to read more about the stories

01:21:19 ◼   ► we talked about this week,

01:21:20 ◼   ► you can head over to the website,

01:21:21 ◼   ► relay.fm/connected/251.

01:21:24 ◼   ► Lots and lots of stuff there.

01:21:26 ◼   ► Those links are also in the podcast app

01:21:28 ◼   ► you're listening to, and you can learn more there.

01:21:31 ◼   ► If you're online, if you're using that wireless web

01:21:35 ◼   ► on your Mac or iPad or iPhone,

01:21:37 ◼   ► and you want to leave feedback or follow-up for us,

01:21:40 ◼   ► can send us an email from the connected web page or you can do that over on Twitter. You can find

01:21:46 ◼   ► Myke there as I Myke I m y k e. Myke is the host of a bunch of shows here at relay FM. So you can

01:21:53 ◼   ► check those out. You can find Federico on Twitter at the TTV it I CCI and he's the editor in chief

01:21:59 ◼   ► of Max stories.net which of course will be home to Federico's excellent iOS review, which I'm very

01:22:07 ◼   ► much looking forward to reading later this fall and so just keep an eye on that and you can find

01:22:12 ◼   ► me on twitter as ismh and i write over at 512 pixels dot net i thank our sponsors this week

01:22:19 ◼   ► pingdom astropad studio and butcher box until next week gentlemen say goodbye i'll do that you

01:22:27 ◼   ► you didn't wish me better which i just think is really mean feel better mike thank you so much

01:22:32 ◼   ► Federico, you gonna say it too? I hope in a swift recovery for you Michael. Alright, thank you. Bye

01:22:38 ◼   ► everybody! Adios! Adios! Goodbye! Cheerio! Ciao! See ya! Alright, let me now use this computer. Stop.