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Connected

235: Stephen’s Hellish Nightmare of Dates

 

00:00:00   (upbeat music)

00:00:02   - Hello and welcome to Connected, episode 235.

00:00:12   It is brought to you this week by Eero,

00:00:15   Pingdom and Luna Display.

00:00:17   I'm Stephen Hackett and I am joined by Mr. Myke Curley.

00:00:21   - Salut.

00:00:22   - Ooh.

00:00:23   - Cevac.

00:00:24   - That sounds like Romanian to me.

00:00:26   - It is Romanian 'cause that's where I am.

00:00:28   I'm here in Romania.

00:00:30   You're in Romania.

00:00:31   You're in a hotel room cooped up

00:00:33   with apparently the best.

00:00:34   Do we need to update the artwork

00:00:36   for this episode or are we good?

00:00:38   I think that seems like a lot of

00:00:40   work.

00:00:40   OK, cool.

00:00:41   You have the best hotel Wi-Fi on

00:00:45   planet Earth, so it's

00:00:47   faster than what I have at home.

00:00:48   I just kill.

00:00:49   I have a router in my room that I

00:00:50   can see, which I've never

00:00:51   experienced in a hotel room before.

00:00:53   It's just sitting there with its

00:00:54   little aerials.

00:00:55   Just just waving to say,

00:00:57   hi, I'm here.

00:00:58   We're also joined of course by Mr. Federico Vittucci.

00:01:02   Buongiorno.

00:01:03   Hi.

00:01:04   It's morning, well it's relatively early compared to our usual time, so buongiorno seems appropriate.

00:01:10   It is.

00:01:11   It is earlier in the day and we're a day early.

00:01:14   It's all a little bit different this week on Connected.

00:01:17   Yeah.

00:01:18   It's been a strange week so far.

00:01:20   Yeah, this is...

00:01:21   This has been one for the books.

00:01:23   This has been a real situation going on this week.

00:01:28   And Apple's event isn't even until next week.

00:01:31   It's like, what a week, huh?

00:01:32   It's Tuesday, actually.

00:01:34   Yeah, yeah.

00:01:37   It's Tuesday, 9am my time.

00:01:39   And it's like, man, I'm really tired already.

00:01:41   What a long week.

00:01:43   So we should get into this, but first we do have an announcement.

00:01:47   Kind of.

00:01:48   We have a pre-announcement.

00:01:49   A pre-announcement.

00:01:50   We have a save the date.

00:01:51   So it's not an invitation to the wedding, it's just, hey, this is when it's gonna be.

00:01:57   WWDC is in San Jose June 3rd through 7th.

00:02:01   We will be doing a live connected the evening of Wednesday, June 5th.

00:02:07   We don't have tickets up yet.

00:02:08   We're just saying this to put it on your calendar.

00:02:10   We're really excited to be doing another live show at WWDC.

00:02:15   So Wednesday, June 5th, if you're in the area, we will announce on the show when tickets

00:02:20   go up.

00:02:21   So you don't have to worry about missing a tweet or an email.

00:02:23   We will announce it on the show, hopefully here in just a couple weeks.

00:02:27   So I'm working on getting the final details put together.

00:02:30   This is one of the funny things about WWDC, right?

00:02:34   We actually can't book anything until we know for sure.

00:02:38   But Steven has been working diligently on getting all of the pieces in place.

00:02:42   So we expect to be able to do everything as we hope, but let's just wait for 100% confirmation

00:02:48   until we get the tickets out.

00:02:49   But yeah, you can come see us on Wednesday.

00:02:52   I think it's ATP Monday, Talk Show Tuesday, Connected on Wednesday.

00:02:56   Obviously everybody's waiting for Connected.

00:02:59   So I mean it's why it's on Wednesday.

00:03:02   Given our track record and given, you know, our performance from last year.

00:03:07   Caps it all off.

00:03:09   This isn't in the show notes, but I wanted to share something with you all.

00:03:12   And I wanted to surprise you with this.

00:03:14   So I don't know what this is.

00:03:16   It's not follow up.

00:03:17   It's not follow out.

00:03:19   But I got an email that I wanted to share with you before we moved on.

00:03:22   from someone named Sarah. This is just an email. This isn't like follow anything.

00:03:28   It's just an email. Well it's just it just literally just I don't want to share it. Okay. Today,

00:03:35   well tomorrow I guess now March 20th is National Ravioli Day here in the US.

00:03:43   And I have some some facts from this PR junk email that I got. Ravioli facts.

00:03:49   Fact one, ravioli are incredibly versatile.

00:03:55   They may seem simple, but it can also be high class.

00:03:58   12% of Americans consider ravioli to be the fanciest type of pasta.

00:04:03   Not fancy.

00:04:04   6% admit to having served ravioli to impress someone else.

00:04:10   Okay.

00:04:11   Can I ask you a quick question at this point?

00:04:13   Sure.

00:04:14   Why are we doing this?

00:04:15   Because I wanted to hear Federico's laughing.

00:04:18   Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli,

00:04:19   Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli,

00:04:20   Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli,

00:04:21   Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli,

00:04:22   Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli, Ravioli,

00:04:23   Ravioli, Ravioli, Rav

00:04:23   really need to question your choices in life. Isn't kind of like the point of ravioli is

00:04:28   it's quick and easiness? Because like you literally just put it in water for like four

00:04:34   minutes and it's done, right? That's kind of the great thing about ravioli. I mean,

00:04:38   I guess you can make an argument in certain parts of Italy, like in in Emilia-Romagna,

00:04:45   it's a region up here in Northern Italy. You can make an argument in favor of ravioli being

00:04:49   traditional and like being homemade and you know the tradition of your grandma

00:04:53   making ravioli like I can see that but most people just buy the pre-made

00:04:59   ravioli at the supermarket or something sure they're not fancy they are easy

00:05:03   like Myke said they are simple they are there I mean I love them but I wouldn't

00:05:10   cook ravioli to impress people one of the other great things about ravioli is

00:05:15   you can make a bunch of it and freeze it. And then you can just cook it later.

00:05:19   It's true. And going back to Sarah's email here, even the pickiest eaters can enjoy

00:05:26   cheese ravioli, which makes up 30%. It's not true. I can't enjoy it.

00:05:32   Exactly. Cheese ravioli would kill me. I would say that Steven is probably the pickiest eater

00:05:36   that I know. And he can, for good reason. Of all people, Steven, why did you get this email?

00:05:41   you can not eat anything. I can't eat dairy. What are you talking about Sarah? But the more

00:05:47   adventurous people turn to spinach, lobster, or even kale, which just seems like an abomination

00:05:53   to make kale inside of ravioli. Can we just go back to the way you said lobster? Lobster?

00:05:58   I'm pretty sure you didn't say it like that. I probably stumbled to it. It's nine o'clock in

00:06:02   the morning. I think it was more like lobster, which is like the robot version of lobster.

00:06:06   the love store. Finally to wrap this up before we move on. There were two rounds of apple product

00:06:12   releases this week. I know but this is where I'm really this is it's been leading up to this. Okay

00:06:17   okay so we've talked about how they're versatile and they're fancy. There is no wrong way to eat

00:06:24   a ravioli. That's incorrect. Oh I got it. 22% of Americans report eating ravioli in one bite.

00:06:31   Oh, I mean, that's not impossible, right? Like, you could do that.

00:06:34   Ten percent say more than one at a time if you're just getting caught.

00:06:37   That's insane. What is wrong with you?

00:06:40   That's so American.

00:06:41   But 28 percent says you savor them one at a time, bite by bite. And I think that's the way you

00:06:51   should do it as someone who doesn't eat pasta. Okay, that's all. I just wanted to share this

00:06:57   before I archive it.

00:06:57   That was good, though.

00:06:59   Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna email her and say you need to talk to Federico Vatici. I'm gonna give her

00:07:03   No, no, you should send her a link to the show. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I did I did exactly what this junk spam email

00:07:10   What do we do? Okay

00:07:11   more

00:07:12   Probably less important follow-up. Our merch is still on sale. This is where you are in the ravioli

00:07:18   It is probably a little more important

00:07:21   Technology should be colorful. The shirt is is out there. It's making waves people are talking about it

00:07:27   people talking about it? People are influencing others on Instagram, I think. We have one week

00:07:33   left on... Is that how you think it works? That people just influence each other? I don't know.

00:07:36   That's what it means. That's what this influencing means. It's just like one-on-one.

00:07:41   Yeah, you just call somebody and be like, "Hey, I think you would enjoy this shirt." It's a real

00:07:46   grassroots campaign we've got going on over here. Have you heard a good word about the connecting

00:07:52   merchandise. Oh man, there's a week left, so it's actually eight days from the 19th,

00:08:04   but next Wednesday it will be gone, so you need to get on this. We did salad of stickers,

00:08:10   they sold out super quickly. Super fast. Super fast. So thank you to everyone who

00:08:15   ordered a sticker, we've already seen some pictures on Twitter, so if you just order stickers,

00:08:18   they should be on their way to you and if you get them and stick them on something send us a

00:08:23   picture the show is @_connectedfm on twitter oh you should also follow that account because over

00:08:28   the next week we're going to be giving away some codes for free t-shirts so yeah you're going to

00:08:33   get on that that's @_connectedfm so you can also find links to that on the relay fm website but

00:08:40   yeah so follow that account we're going to be giving away some free shirts remember connectedmerch.com

00:08:44   connectedmerch.com thank you and you can only get it to see myself for one more week and we may

00:08:52   never do this t-shirt again it took us like six years to redo it so you know might be another 15

00:08:57   years if ever until this t-shirt comes back this is your only chance to influence each other with

00:09:03   these t-shirts straight up if you're gonna be at wwdc you know you're gonna want to wear one of

00:09:07   these because it's gonna look real good you're gonna get high fives and like those finger guns

00:09:11   from people as they see you walking down the street so yeah that's that's my pledge by the

00:09:15   way finger guns if i see you like like that kind of thing like you know i like that wow okay that's

00:09:21   what people will get from me it's a big promise apple and spotify continue to fight each other

00:09:28   via press release which is really the wimpiest way to have a fight but or is it the biggest way

00:09:33   right like is it the most flex that you could do is to just press release on each other maybe

00:09:40   Is that the verb?

00:09:41   Just to flex on, maybe.

00:09:43   To press release.

00:09:45   To press release.

00:09:46   Yeah, yeah, you just press release in.

00:09:47   You just release in the presses.

00:09:50   It's not even worth talking about it because they're arguing around each other at this

00:09:53   point, which is, you'd expect, neither of them are really addressing the points that

00:09:57   the other one's making.

00:09:58   They're just trying to make it that the other one's worse than they say they are.

00:10:01   That's basically where we are with this.

00:10:03   I think right now the only thing that is of any importance is, well, there's two things

00:10:07   of importance.

00:10:09   Apple actually make any changes at WWDC? Like if they're going to do any it will be there?

00:10:13   And/or what will happen with the European Commission and Spotify's claim to them of kind

00:10:21   of monopolistic practices? So they're the two things to watch out for. The press releases at

00:10:26   this point it's exactly as you would expect, right? Like Apple argued some points, made some

00:10:32   good points, completely neglected to talk about others, and then Spotify did the same.

00:10:36   Yeah, it's none of that's really surprising. So we just wanted to kind of follow up on that,

00:10:41   but I don't think we have anything to add. Before we get into the news, we do have a mini topic.

00:10:46   Federico, are you willing to speak about your multiple watches?

00:10:49   No, I think we should keep waiting. It's two weeks probably if we're gonna wait.

00:10:55   Well, we can talk about it next week. We can talk about it next week. Look, we got plenty of topics.

00:11:01   We've got plenty of topics here.

00:11:03   That's true.

00:11:04   We, you know, all these Apple announcements, why should we talk about my multiple Apple

00:11:09   watches?

00:11:10   Yeah, we've earned so much time on ravioli, we have no time for watches.

00:11:13   Exactly.

00:11:14   If Aaron Stephen talked about the ravioli at such length...

00:11:17   We learned about the time!

00:11:19   So blame Stephen, not my fault.

00:11:21   He really wanted, as a pasta aficionado, he really wanted to talk about ravioli, it's

00:11:26   not my fault.

00:11:27   It's not my fault.

00:11:30   As usual, Steven is the reason.

00:11:32   Steven, you're a pasta influencer.

00:11:35   Just one person to one person influencing Federico about pasta.

00:11:40   It's true.

00:11:41   Okay, well, then we were just going to move on.

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00:14:20   Our thanks to Eero for their support of this show

00:14:22   and Relay FM.

00:14:23   Weird fish.

00:14:24   - They contacted and they were like,

00:14:25   "We need a new URL."

00:14:27   And I was like, "I know, I know what to do."

00:14:29   - I'm sure whoever saw that email,

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00:14:32   - Yeah, there was that point where I was like,

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00:14:35   So thank you, Eero.

00:14:37   - Yeah, well, Eero's great.

00:14:38   So we're going to follow along with Apple's

00:14:41   very, very busy week,

00:14:43   and that means starting with new iPads,

00:14:46   a new iPad Air and shock a new iPad mini.

00:14:51   Lot of stuff on Monday to consider.

00:14:55   Do you guys wanna start with the iPad Air

00:14:57   and then we can move down in size as we go?

00:15:00   - Sure. - Yeah.

00:15:01   - So the iPad Air is essentially a spec bump revision

00:15:06   of the 10.5 inch iPad Pro without promotion

00:15:10   and with a couple of minor differences.

00:15:13   So it's got essentially the same design of the old 10.5 inch iPad Pro.

00:15:20   But it's got no quad speaker system, so only two speakers on this new device.

00:15:26   And I'm sure we all care about this, but instead of 600 nits of brightness, the new iPad Air

00:15:33   only has 500 nits.

00:15:35   So I can say goodbye.

00:15:36   Ah, iPad Air is cancelled.

00:15:37   Cancelled.

00:15:38   Can you kiss goodbye to those 100 nits?

00:15:42   It's actually the same as the 9.5 or 9.7 inch iPad Pro was so like it's fine, totally fine.

00:15:50   But of course the main advantage and difference from the 10.5 inch iPad Pro is the adoption

00:15:56   of the A12 Bionic chip with apparently according to benchmarks posted on Geekbench 3GB of RAM.

00:16:05   It is compatible with the first generation Apple Pencil because of course these as we're

00:16:11   I'll talk about it in a minute. This iPad does not have the flat and magnetic edges of the new iPad Pros.

00:16:17   It is compatible with the Smart Keyboard, not with the Smart Keyboard Folio, and it starts at $499.

00:16:25   The, again, really the main differences are faster,

00:16:30   system on a cheap, ATL bionic, but no promotion.

00:16:34   There are also advantages over the base model, the 9.7 inch iPad, which is still around.

00:16:40   It's got a larger, of course, and fully laminated display, and it supports a smart keyboard because it's got the smart connector.

00:16:48   That's wild, right? That's the thing that surprises me the most about this iPad Air, is that it gets the smart keyboard because it's the first

00:16:55   non-pro iPad to get this. You know, like previous iPads have had Apple Pencil support, like the 9.7 has it, but this is like...

00:17:04   it's changing again what it means for an iPad to be Pro.

00:17:08   Yeah, the various features of the iPad Pro line are trickling down to other devices in the iPad family.

00:17:17   And at this point we have five different iPads in the current lineup,

00:17:22   because the other announcement from yesterday was the revival, if you will, of the iPad Mini

00:17:28   with the fifth generation iPad Mini. It's been four years, I think, since the iPad Mini 4 originally came out.

00:17:35   Again, this is essentially the iPad Air, but in a smaller form factor.

00:17:40   It's got the A12 Bionic, supports the Apple Pencil, it's got a True Tone display, and it starts at $399.

00:17:48   But this is the iPad Mini that you know and love, very small, very compact, and you can use the Apple Pencil with it.

00:17:53   and in fact I thought it was quite curious and quite telling of the Apple's intentions here.

00:17:59   They are promoting the iPad Mini as the most portable and lightweight digital notebook that you can have, or notepad, rather,

00:18:08   and Tim Cook announced this product without any text, just a photo of Tim writing the famous "Hello" message

00:18:20   message with the classic Apple font on an iPad mini using an Apple pencil.

00:18:24   Yeah, the hello message that everybody at Apple is trained on extensively.

00:18:32   At Apple University, they have a calligraphy course just about that font.

00:18:39   Maybe they do, man.

00:18:41   Maybe I'm curious about the iPad mini

00:18:46   because of this like what it is like to use an Apple Pencil on a device that small.

00:18:52   Like I'm kind of I am like a little bit curious of it, especially because it is wild to think of the

00:18:59   power that this little tiny little tablet has in it now. So like the A12 Bionic chip is the same

00:19:05   chip that's in the current iPhones. It's not the same chip that's in the current iPad Pros. That's

00:19:10   the A12X right it's like a little bit more powerful but that A12 like I'm curious to see

00:19:16   is it have you guys seen what the ram is? Is it got three gigabytes of ram too? Do you know?

00:19:21   Does anybody know that yet? I haven't seen it. For the Apple Mini we don't know. Yeah I haven't seen

00:19:26   that benchmarked yet but like I'm really curious to play around a bit. I did price one up and what

00:19:33   I would want would cost me 900 pounds which is like I'm not just gonna make that decision without

00:19:38   going to a store because that's really expensive for an iPad Mini, right?

00:19:42   Plus, you know, same for the Galaxy Fold, you know how it goes.

00:19:46   Well, you can get two iPad Minis and tape them together.

00:19:49   That's true, actually.

00:19:50   It's basically the same thing.

00:19:50   Why don't I just do that? That seems like a better way to do things.

00:19:53   But yeah, it's very curious. It's a very curious little product.

00:19:58   Yesterday I briefly considered, should I get an iPad Mini? And the context was, I have two iPads,

00:20:08   my main work iPad is the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

00:20:12   And then in December, I bought the 11-inch iPad Pro,

00:20:16   but the very base model,

00:20:17   just to use as a media consumption device.

00:20:20   And for, like, a minute, I considered,

00:20:22   "Is the iPad Mini going to be better than the iPad Pro?

00:20:25   You know, it's going to be more portable.

00:20:26   It's going to be lighter."

00:20:27   But then I thought about it, and I was like,

00:20:29   "Nah, I just like the design

00:20:31   and the form factor of the 11-inch iPad so much.

00:20:35   I don't want to go back to Touch ID."

00:20:37   and the bezels. Even though the iPad mini, I think the lightness and the size would be better for what I'm using it.

00:20:45   Like reading books, for example, would be nicer, and even watching YouTube video, for example, I think it would be nicer.

00:20:52   I thought the iPad Pro, it looks so much better, like the industrial design, I just prefer the way that it looks with the rounded edges and Face ID.

00:21:01   And also, I think the 11-inch iPad Pro is better for me for reading comic books and manga, because of the bigger display.

00:21:09   So there's a trade-off in terms of it's gonna be slightly heavier, and it's gonna be a bit bigger and not as comfortable maybe as the iPad Mini to use in bed, for example, or when I'm just relaxing on the sofa.

00:21:22   But overall, I'm sticking with the 11-inch iPad Pro as my media consumption iPad.

00:21:28   But I'm intrigued by the iPad Mini.

00:21:30   So it's one of those iPads that I want to go check out

00:21:33   at the Apple Store, see what it's like.

00:21:35   - Yeah, 'cause it's like a new context for the device, right?

00:21:40   Like I know what the iPad Mini is like,

00:21:42   but now it's super powerful and has an Apple Pencil.

00:21:47   And like, how does that change it and what it's capable to do?

00:21:52   'Cause like, I'm assuming it can do

00:21:55   the three app multitasking.

00:21:58   I'm assuming it has the power to do that now, which it didn't before, right?

00:22:02   To be able to have app and app in split view and then also a slide over app.

00:22:07   Um, so I'm, I'm keen to see like,

00:22:10   what does that actually look like on a screen that small? Um, so yeah,

00:22:15   I think it's, it's very curious. I'm very, I just,

00:22:17   I'm very intrigued to go and try it out and see what it's all about now that

00:22:22   it's kind of got a new lease of life.

00:22:25   Yeah, I am too. And I had an iPad mini like everyone else did and have graduated and now have the big 12.9. You know, I don't think I'm going to run out and do it. But I am very curious to try one out again for like the new context, like you said, this is a kind of a different device than what we knew before, which is which is exciting if you're an iPad mini fan. And there are a lot of those people out there who do really like the size and prefer it over anything else.

00:22:53   What's interesting to me is that the 9.7-inch iPad is still

00:22:59   effectively unchanged.

00:23:00   It didn't receive any updates.

00:23:02   It's still cheaper than this.

00:23:04   I think the iPad now kind of follows the line of the Mac

00:23:09   where if you want something small,

00:23:13   like if that is your primary concern,

00:23:17   then you're going to pay a premium for that, right?

00:23:20   that the the 9.7 is bigger, but slower, but cheaper, like all

00:23:25   that stuff. But um, I don't know, I think that's fine. You

00:23:28   know, I think I don't think people are going to be drastically

00:23:30   confused by that. Because when you see the 9.7, you know, it

00:23:34   doesn't support the pencil. It doesn't support the keyboard.

00:23:37   The screen isn't as nice. Like I think people will kind of

00:23:40   understand where things line up. I think that this old idea of

00:23:45   bigger equals faster equals better. Like that's still true

00:23:49   in places like it's still true in the MacBook Pro but it's not necessarily

00:23:53   true everywhere anymore I think people understand that I don't think people are

00:23:57   gonna be super confused by with the mini smaller but it's more expensive but it

00:24:02   does this but it doesn't do that like I'm not too fussed about any of that I'm

00:24:07   curious what you guys think about the air and its place in the line though the

00:24:12   way I look at this is if someone comes to me and they want to buy an iPad I

00:24:16   I kind of think the iPad Air is the default,

00:24:19   like kind of like what most people should gravitate towards.

00:24:22   The screen's nice, it's a good screen size,

00:24:25   and Federica, you did a really good job

00:24:28   of listing the things that make it not an iPad Pro.

00:24:31   But the pencil and the keyboard is what I think

00:24:35   most people care about when they look at iPad Pro features,

00:24:38   and you can now get that in an iPad

00:24:41   that sits at the $499 price point,

00:24:43   which is the historic iPad price point.

00:24:45   I think they're gonna sell a bunch of these.

00:24:47   I think people are gonna be really happy with them.

00:24:49   - Yeah, because not everybody needs the,

00:24:52   arguably the 11 inch or the 12.9 inch iPad Pros.

00:24:57   I think there's still a place for like the,

00:24:59   and maybe some people will think it's funny

00:25:03   to call them this way, but there are diehards,

00:25:06   iPad Pro users at this point.

00:25:08   And those people, the folks who want the maximum performance

00:25:13   or the best, the absolutely best iPad Pro you can find,

00:25:16   that's why you have those iPad Pros.

00:25:19   But really, the iPad Air, I don't think it would be,

00:25:22   because until last year it was called as such,

00:25:24   you could call it an iPad Pro Mini,

00:25:27   or a starting point for the iPad Pro.

00:25:30   It's called the iPad Air, but really, it is an iPad Pro.

00:25:33   Until last year, this would have been considered

00:25:35   an iPad Pro, because it was.

00:25:37   And I don't think that the lack of promotion

00:25:40   or quad speakers detract in a meaningful way from the fact that this is essentially an

00:25:46   iPad Pro with a different name. And so for most people, unless you do need one terabyte

00:25:52   or more RAM or absolutely one promotion, this is effectively an iPad Pro, but it's got a

00:25:57   different name and it's cheaper.

00:26:00   I think what I like about it is it starts at the $499 price point and somebody can get

00:26:04   in at that point and then think to themselves, "You know what? I'm really using this a lot.

00:26:09   I think I would like a keyboard, right?

00:26:10   And that they can maybe more slowly over time

00:26:13   advance their iPad usage if this product works for them

00:26:16   without needing to buy a new device.

00:26:19   - Yeah. - Right?

00:26:20   Where like somebody could have bought the previous iPad

00:26:24   and were like, "I would like a keyboard."

00:26:25   And there are a lot of third-party options,

00:26:27   but arguably the most convenient is the smart keyboard,

00:26:31   right, like in all of those products.

00:26:32   And I think the ability now to be able to get in

00:26:35   at what has been considered like the default iPad price,

00:26:38   well, because it was the first price, right?

00:26:40   It was $499.

00:26:41   To be able to get in at that level,

00:26:43   I mean, it's 64 gigabytes of storage, which is okay,

00:26:47   but it's not great, but it's okay.

00:26:50   And to be able to get in at that level

00:26:52   and then maybe decide later to buy a pencil or a keyboard

00:26:55   because you're using the device in different ways,

00:26:57   I think is a really nice entry way

00:27:00   for a lot of people into the iPad ecosystem.

00:27:02   - Yeah, I think that's exactly right.

00:27:04   And I think that's what Apple wants, right?

00:27:06   Like if you wanted to move to an iPad,

00:27:09   we just did an episode on MPU about using your iPad

00:27:12   as a laptop and the keyboard was a huge component there,

00:27:16   but the asterisk is, well you gotta spend $1,000

00:27:19   to get an iPad Pro with a keyboard.

00:27:20   And now you don't have to, and I think this may accelerate

00:27:25   the number of people who look at the iPad

00:27:27   as a true notebook replacement.

00:27:30   For a lot of people it does come down to,

00:27:32   hey I can do anything on iOS,

00:27:34   I can do on macOS for my needs,

00:27:36   I want a real keyboard. Like I'm one of those people I don't I can't type on

00:27:39   glass and I'm not really that bad at it but I just prefer a hardware keyboard

00:27:43   especially if I'm writing and I think a lot of people fit into that and now

00:27:47   Apple to your point has something for them as well I think that's great.

00:27:51   Anything else on these iPads I mean I kind of want to talk a little bit too

00:27:55   about the I guess where we see these going in the future like the mini was

00:28:03   not updated for a long time, the iPad Air was dead and now it's back. Do we think this

00:28:08   five iPad lineup is sort of the family now or are they going to pare down at some point?

00:28:17   I think that this is indicative of where Apple thinks the product is right now in that it's

00:28:22   very similar to the MacBook lineup, even in names and kind of where in the lineup all

00:28:29   of those products fit even. I don't imagine there's going to be any kind of

00:28:35   change here for a while because this seems like a... I think, I know there are a

00:28:42   lot of products but I think that currently Apple has the most coherent

00:28:46   iPad lineup they maybe have ever had. I think that what you have with the two

00:28:52   models of Pro then you kind of have the in-betweens and the starting model. I

00:28:57   I think that that is very coherent.

00:28:59   There is a product that suits all of the people that would maybe want an iPad.

00:29:04   And that's actually Apple kind of said that in the in their press release to kind of

00:29:08   like we feel that right now this is like the best range that we can have for people to

00:29:14   meet their needs, basically.

00:29:15   I think that right now, like there is a device for every type of iPad user.

00:29:20   And I actually think that even in naming and pricing, it is less confusing than it's

00:29:26   been in the past, I think. I think that they've actually landed on a relatively

00:29:32   simple to understand product line as well. So I don't I don't imagine it would

00:29:37   change because it seems to make sense to me with where they are, but you know what

00:29:42   they're like they will change it again eventually. But I think that right now

00:29:44   this feels like a like a pretty good lineup and also gives me great hope for

00:29:52   June. Yeah, and it's also I think it's a good idea to have the more expensive and

00:29:58   sort of more futuristic iPad Pros at the very top of the lineup because that

00:30:02   gives Apple the sort of the headroom to experiment and to try different things

00:30:06   for those iPads without having to complicate the rest of the lineup

00:30:10   downstream if you will. So the iPad and the Mini and the Air can stay you know

00:30:16   with last year's specs for example provided that Apple keeps updating these

00:30:20   iPads, of course, but then at the very top they can try new and wild and sort of very

00:30:27   futuristic and sort of on the edge type of features like what if Apple wants to have

00:30:33   another screen size in the future, what if Apple wants to have a different kind of smart

00:30:36   keyboard in the future, well, they can do that.

00:30:39   So I think it's interesting that they're sort of splitting the lineup in this way with a

00:30:44   very clear separation between the iPad Pros at the very top and everything else for all

00:30:49   kinds of other consumers in the middle and then you know at the base with the

00:30:53   iPad, just iPad, no objective.

00:30:56   And the flip side of that which is I'm sure a real thing is it allows them to

00:31:01   also make a more expensive and potentially even more expensive iPad Pro

00:31:06   in the future right like if they have more in the middle they can keep

00:31:10   advancing the technology in the way that they want which can change the prices

00:31:14   you know right or wrong depending on what they're doing but this gives them

00:31:19   the flexibility to be able to continue pushing that I think that's I think

00:31:24   that's a good point yeah I'm excited to see this I think it's a good move all

00:31:29   the way around mm-hmm one thing people have been talking about we touched on

00:31:34   this a little bit is the the pencil thing so the air and the mini support

00:31:41   and the regular iPad all support the Apple Pencil 1. Now Apple didn't rename

00:31:48   the pencil it's not pencil 1 and 2 but I think for terms of talking about it in a

00:31:52   way that we can follow along pencil 1 and 2 work. So they support the Pencil 1

00:31:57   they also support Logitech Crayon which I think is great. It's not the Pencil 2

00:32:02   with it's like side charging and always attached type stuff and people seem

00:32:08   upset about this and I'm curious if you guys are or what you think of that sort

00:32:13   of opinion. I don't understand why people have to get upset about all this. I

00:32:21   thought it was obvious that the new design is exclusive to the new iPad Pros

00:32:28   and you cannot have the new magnetic pairing and charging and the

00:32:35   new, completely new flat edge design and also, and you know, that's also tied somehow to

00:32:42   Face ID and the fact that these iPad Pros do not have a home button.

00:32:46   You cannot have that and also achieve cheaper iPad Air or, you know, the iPad Mini for example.

00:32:55   You cannot argue that Apple should have a single version of the Apple Pencil, but also

00:33:02   say but Apple should also have cheaper iPads because those two things are, for now, mutually

00:33:07   exclusive in the sense that if you want to have, again, the very best of the iPad Pro,

00:33:12   you get the new design, you get the new Apple Pencil, and those iPads, you know, the new

00:33:16   iPad Pros do not have a Lightning port, so they need a new version of the Apple Pencil,

00:33:23   but these new ones, if you want to keep the price down, you don't want to change the design,

00:33:28   don't want to add any more new components, so you keep the old version of the Apple Pencil,

00:33:33   which is still a perfectly functional device that is still much, much better than any other

00:33:39   Bluetooth stylus that you can get for the iPad.

00:33:43   The literal only difference is the charging, which admittedly is a huge difference for

00:33:47   people that use the iPad Pro, but there were people like me using the Apple Pencil for

00:33:51   a long time before, but you also have the Logitech Crayon now as well as an option which

00:33:55   has a different way of charging that some people like. And also the Apple Pencil is

00:34:01   $99, the Logitech Crayon is $69.95 and the Apple Pencil, second generation as it's called

00:34:07   in the Apple Store, is $129. So like, it's still cheaper, it's still probably more available.

00:34:13   I understand that there is a thing, like I get it, I get that you would love to have

00:34:19   the newest thing, but that's not what these products are.

00:34:25   That's just not what they are.

00:34:27   Yeah, I think some people are talking on Twitter about this and they're like, "Well, if I buy

00:34:33   this iPad, I want to upgrade in the future, I got to buy a new pencil."

00:34:36   I get that.

00:34:38   That is a bummer, but you're also going to need a new keyboard, probably, depending on

00:34:42   the way that you go.

00:34:45   This means certain things in that upgrade cycle.

00:34:48   But if you're like me, I think a lot of our listeners probably are, if we buy a new iPad

00:34:52   or iPhone, they end up going to somebody we know, or they're sold, right?

00:34:58   And so you can now hand the way I view it is like knocking out handoff my old iPad Pro

00:35:04   or old iPad with pencil and keyboard as a complete unit to somebody else.

00:35:09   And I'm fine with that.

00:35:11   And I, you know, I understand it.

00:35:13   But I agree with you too, Myke, that it is maybe less of a big deal than it seems.

00:35:20   But I'm just excited that the Pencil is coming basically to every iPad now.

00:35:25   Every iPad that's sold supports it.

00:35:28   And even though I don't use the Pencil a lot, I think a lot of people will really enjoy

00:35:33   that.

00:35:34   The people who like Serenity who did her great review that was completely drawn on it.

00:35:41   This now unlocks that for more people and that is a good thing and I think it will make

00:35:46   the iPad even more successful and I think people who have looked at it and wanted to

00:35:52   use it as an artistic tool but were unable to because of the budget, that's now unlocked

00:35:57   for more people and that's great.

00:36:01   That's really good.

00:36:02   Any closing thoughts on the iPads?

00:36:04   think it's great as and as I said already like it only enthuses me more for June like the requirement

00:36:12   to put chips of that power in these devices is very intriguing to me like why why one did you

00:36:23   even need to do another ipad mini and if then two like why are you now putting in you went all the

00:36:28   way to a current generation chip for it like that is really intriguing to me I mean it says it's

00:36:34   It's probably going to be another long time until they update it again.

00:36:37   But my fear, like when I look at it, it's like, okay, Apple felt the requirement

00:36:42   that all of the iPads that they are selling have more modern chips in them.

00:36:46   And that makes me feel that it's like, okay, we're going to see

00:36:51   some, some enhancements to the iPad in the, I expect, well,

00:36:57   this year that require a little bit more power to them.

00:37:00   That's kind of the way that I'm hoping that I'm reading the tea leaves.

00:37:04   Sure, it feels kind of like the iPad Air 2 did.

00:37:08   Remember that?

00:37:09   We all got those, we're like, "This thing is bonkers!

00:37:11   Why is it so powerful?"

00:37:12   It's like, "Oh, yeah, now we understand."

00:37:16   And I agree with you, I get that sense too that whatever's coming with iOS 13 is going

00:37:22   to be a pretty big deal.

00:37:23   It's the second time we're seeing this in the span of a few months when the iPad Pros

00:37:27   came out in October or November.

00:37:29   We also said, "Why all this power?"

00:37:31   And then a few months later we have the new Air and the new Mini.

00:37:34   Why all this power?

00:37:35   So I hope that in June we will have an answer to that.

00:37:39   There better be.

00:37:40   It's been two years.

00:37:41   So.

00:37:42   It's time.

00:37:43   Yeah.

00:37:44   More power.

00:37:45   Okay.

00:37:46   So that's that's the iPads.

00:37:48   And you would think, wow, Apple had a busy week.

00:37:50   But no, there's more.

00:37:52   We're gonna talk about the new iMacs right after I tell you about our friends at Pingdom.

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00:39:21   All right, so we'll talk about the new iMac.

00:39:23   before we do I want to give a follow-out shout out to Upgrade this week because for two reasons,

00:39:29   we had some embargoed information about the new iMacs which was given to us by Apple,

00:39:34   but also Jason got to sit down with Colleen Ovielli who is the iMac product manager

00:39:41   and he got to interview her about the new iMacs and kind of where the iMac sits now in the Mac

00:39:48   lineup, how important it is to Apple and why. It's like a 30-minute conversation as part of

00:39:53   an episode which also has a draft for next week's event. But it was really great to be able to hear

00:40:00   from someone that I'd never heard of before inside of Apple. And I think as far as we're aware,

00:40:06   this is the first time she's ever done some public PR like this. And she's super smart and just

00:40:13   listening to her like she seems super excited about the iMac it makes me more excited about it so

00:40:19   I think it's worth listening to so yeah you can go check it out it's a big bumper episode of

00:40:24   upgrade this week so episode 237. I listened to the interview this morning I haven't made it to

00:40:31   the rest of the episode yet but it's really nice to hear from somebody who like lives and breathes

00:40:36   the iMac like that it is her project and it was it was great Jason did a good job congratulations

00:40:42   to both of you for that it is really stellar so please go check that out. So let's get to the news

00:40:48   a little bit. The iMac line, so the 21 inch and the 27 inch, they've been around for a while since

00:40:55   2012 is when this body style showed up for the first time. But Apple has sprinkled new CPU and

00:41:03   GPU options across the line and the main different things are the different sizes but sort of the

00:41:09   main news is that the the 27 inch of the 5k iMac all of them now start with a

00:41:17   six-core CPU. Obviously from Intel we haven't made the secret arm transition

00:41:23   yet but six cores across the line these are eighth generation CPUs so a little

00:41:30   bit newer than what was there before. If you go to the high end you can get a

00:41:34   ninth generation again six core processor these are all i5s but of

00:41:41   course the iMac is really flexible in terms of customization so you can go all

00:41:45   the way up to a 3.6 gig 8 core 9th generation core i9 that turbo boost to

00:41:55   5 gigahertz it's like I looked at that page from it I was like wow oh that's

00:42:00   starts with a five that's really fast very fast very fast IMAX you can take

00:42:06   them to 64 gigabytes of RAM you can take the 27 up to the Radeon Pro Vega 48

00:42:13   which is sort of a smaller version of what's in the base iMac Pro but

00:42:18   noticeably faster than the outgoing GPU option for the high end so again a lot

00:42:25   of this is stuff you have to spec into it you can price this thing up really

00:42:29   expensive you can actually make an iMac more expensive than the iMac Pro that

00:42:33   was true before it's true still today but if you want to sort of flex those

00:42:38   customization options they're a lot higher end than they were and I think

00:42:43   the base models are all better too but I think that the story is like if you

00:42:47   start checking the boxes you get a really beastly iMac pretty quickly which

00:42:52   is really cool it fills up some space that there was like a kind of a cavern

00:42:58   between the iMac and the iMac Pro and now you can, if you want to, get it closer.

00:43:04   Which makes sense, right?

00:43:07   You can spec it out and you can get it pretty much in price and in spec just below where

00:43:13   the iMac Pro starts, but sometimes you don't need to go all the way to the very tippy top

00:43:18   and go for the Pro model.

00:43:21   It basically just gives a little bit more flexibility and the iMac's little...

00:43:25   no pricing changes which was welcome I think. That seems like that's something that Apple's

00:43:30   been doing a lot more and more and more recently so like that's really good. But there is some stuff

00:43:36   that kind of I didn't... So one thing that's frustrating people, we spoke about it on the

00:43:42   episode, Jason even asks Colleen about it, is the hard drives. They still start with spinning disks

00:43:48   or fusion drives, that's where they all start. But what this means, which is something that I didn't

00:43:53   realized was that you can't have the T2 in these iMacs and there seems to be some talk

00:44:00   online about this.

00:44:02   People are upset about this it seems.

00:44:04   Yeah, so my big takeaway in my blog post was this is not a modernized iMac in the sense

00:44:12   that it now has the same sort of internals as anything from the little MacBook Air up

00:44:19   to the iMac Pro with the T2, the SSD, even the lowly Mac Mini that our little friend

00:44:25   got some of the stuff and the iMac didn't.

00:44:28   And I'd point people back to that upgrade episode where she makes several good points

00:44:34   about this.

00:44:35   Apple will never say it's about the pricing, but it is totally about the pricing.

00:44:39   But an iMac for a lot of people is like a work computer or a family computer where storage

00:44:46   is a big deal.

00:44:47   photo library and you can get a big, big internal hard drive and store that stuff

00:44:53   on and the fusion drive makes some things faster but then you you bounce

00:44:56   out to that external hard drive when necessary. I understand that I don't love

00:45:01   it. I especially wish on the 5k iMac that at least one of the default

00:45:05   configurations which are again what you can go into an Apple store and buy. They

00:45:09   don't, the Apple store doesn't usually keep a lot of custom orders. Most of it is

00:45:13   just the standard stuff. All of those are fusion drives on the 5k, the 4k, the 21 1/2

00:45:19   inch, the top one is a fusion drive. But then the lower retina and then the non

00:45:25   retina iMac, which is still for sale at $1,099 here in the US, both have

00:45:31   spinning hard drives, not even a fusion drive. And that those two machines are

00:45:34   the ones I have problems with that even at those lower price points, a fusion

00:45:39   drive makes it a far better experience I have used recently that entry level iMac. I've

00:45:46   got a someone I know who has one and she called me was like my iMac, which is like a year

00:45:53   old is beach balling all the time like she'd open system preferences and it would hang

00:45:58   and the hard drive was healthy, but at 5400 rpm, it's really slow. And so we cracked it

00:46:05   open her AppleCare sort of out the window and put an SSD in it. And you know what, with

00:46:10   an SSD, it's an incredibly fast machine. And I don't expect Apple to go all SSD on the

00:46:15   low end. But I think having at least the fusion drive to get in the door makes the experience

00:46:22   better. We talked about this actually in our live show in New York. We were talking about

00:46:27   what would make us happiest in the Mac, I think and this was the point that I made then

00:46:30   I'll make it now is that these low end iMacs are the non retina or the first 4k iMac.

00:46:38   Chances are if you're going to buy a desktop Mac, they're your first one.

00:46:42   The iMac sells better than the Mac mini.

00:46:44   Of course, it's it pales in comparison to notebooks.

00:46:46   But if you're going to buy a desktop, you could very easily start with one of these.

00:46:50   And that's not a good experience for the user.

00:46:52   Their Mac is going to be slow and the data is not as you know, safe as it is on the SSD

00:46:59   And that still bums me out.

00:47:00   I wish they had done something with that.

00:47:03   I wish that they had the T2, but I understand they can't do that.

00:47:05   Because the iMac has to serve a really wide range.

00:47:08   And Jason was talking about this in that interview.

00:47:11   The iMac, when it started way back in '98, it was a machine for consumers.

00:47:19   You bought it for your family or for your school to get on the internet.

00:47:23   And over the last 21 years, the iMac has grown up and has spread out.

00:47:28   And there are people like you, Myke, and me, until I bought the iMac Pro, who are doing

00:47:33   like professional level production work on an iMac.

00:47:37   That was unthinkable in the 90s and early aughts when the iMac was new.

00:47:42   But it has grown to fill that and Apple is responding to that with these updates.

00:47:46   But they need to bring the low end along too and you know, fingers crossed, I guess for

00:47:50   next time, probably not the T2 unless they make that work with hard drives.

00:47:54   But at least the Fusion Drive standard I think would make it a much better machine for more

00:48:00   people.

00:48:02   I cannot disagree with any of that.

00:48:07   The idea, it is kind of funny to me, it's funny to me now in the same way that it was

00:48:10   funny to me when these iMacs were last updated that it starts with a spinning hard drive.

00:48:16   Like it's wild.

00:48:17   This is the very base one which I don't know what Apple actually sells but it is kind of

00:48:25   funny that you can still in 2019 buy a brand new Mac which has just a spinning disk in

00:48:31   it and I've never used a fusion drive Mac like I actually don't know how that feels

00:48:35   but I would expect for most instances and most people like having a fusion drive is

00:48:39   probably the best option because you get a lot of storage, it's cheaper and it probably

00:48:43   still runs pretty quickly. But again, I've never used one, so I actually don't know what it's like.

00:48:48   I've been on SSD for a long time, but that's because I'm in a position where my business

00:48:55   can afford to buy all SSD Macs. And there is always this conversation about price, and

00:49:01   I don't know why Apple's SSD prices are the way that they are, but my only expectation is that

00:49:10   they're really good stuff and then they also put a markup on them as well right because like yeah

00:49:14   sure you can get a cheap SSD on Amazon but like I don't think it's the same stuff that's going

00:49:20   in to these computers but I don't know. No probably not and you know again we just we don't know

00:49:26   because we're not on the inside but it seems to me that Apple is trying to serve a lot of people

00:49:31   with the iMac and I that's good Apple should have a machine that does that but I feel like they

00:49:37   would do a better job at that if it was a little better equipped at the low end, if

00:49:42   they could keep the price point. And of course, that gets into the conversation of margin.

00:49:46   But one thing I do want to touch on briefly with the iMac is the the when I said it wasn't

00:49:56   a modern iMac. Another component of that is the the cooling and Jason linked to this or

00:50:02   talked about it in his six color story. I don't know if you talked about an upgrade

00:50:06   But the iMac has a pretty basic cooling system and it has to scale from the little iMac all

00:50:15   the way to the big one.

00:50:16   And if my experience with the old i7 is any indication, the higher end iMacs get pretty

00:50:23   noisy under load.

00:50:25   And for me and my work, that was untenable.

00:50:29   I cannot work with an iMac because of the fan noise under load.

00:50:33   And that is something to consider if you're looking at, you know, specking out an iMac.

00:50:38   The iMac will, you can get more storage and more RAM for a better deal than the iMac Pro.

00:50:45   The iMac will also be faster in single core work than the base model iMac Pro if you spec

00:50:50   it all the way up.

00:50:51   The iMac Pro is still going to kill it in multi-threaded work.

00:50:54   But that's another factor too.

00:50:56   If you're really going to look, if you're looking at spending $4,000 on an iMac or $5,000

00:51:00   on an iMac Pro and noise is a concern,

00:51:04   to me that tips it into the iMac Pro territory

00:51:07   because this thing, even doing my 4K stuff on YouTube,

00:51:11   I never hear it.

00:51:12   And as someone who works in audio production every day,

00:51:15   that's kind of a big deal.

00:51:16   You know, I want my machine to be quiet

00:51:17   and maybe I haven't, 'cause I mean this happened

00:51:21   like two hours ago, I would assume that the TDP

00:51:24   and everything on these iMacs is basically

00:51:26   where it was before, so I think it's not gonna be

00:51:29   better than before. - TDP?

00:51:31   - The, I don't know what it stands for,

00:51:33   but basically it's the heat and like energy consumption

00:51:38   and off-put of the processor.

00:51:40   So higher TDP means the machine runs hotter.

00:51:43   I don't think they've changed that,

00:51:44   and so my guess is that that big beefy i9

00:51:47   is gonna get toasty in there

00:51:49   and you're gonna hear it working.

00:51:52   - Yeah, there was no changes to the cooling system

00:51:55   as much as we know.

00:51:56   I mean, but this feels to me like, yeah,

00:52:00   this is one of the differences between the iMac

00:52:02   and the iMac Pro, like it makes sense, right?

00:52:05   Like if you're really super worried about fan noise

00:52:08   and or if fan noise is going to affect the work

00:52:10   that you're doing on the machine,

00:52:12   that feels like a pro reason, right?

00:52:14   Like that feels like you are probably a professional

00:52:16   with some description then,

00:52:17   so maybe you should be looking at the iMac Pro,

00:52:20   especially because, you know, as you mentioned,

00:52:21   like you're only really probably going to bump up

00:52:24   with these problems if you do go right to the tippy top of what this thing's

00:52:28   capable of. Sure. And right now,

00:52:30   if you go to the top of what this thing's capable of,

00:52:32   you're not that far from the bottom of what the next one's capable of.

00:52:36   So then maybe that jump makes more sense. Um,

00:52:38   there was something that saw a MacRumors and again,

00:52:41   this wasn't communicated by Apple beforehand that they have actually given some,

00:52:45   uh, additional build to order options for the iMac Pro today. Um,

00:52:50   can now be upgraded to 256 gigabytes of RAM and the Radeon Pro Vega 64x graphics card chip thing

00:52:59   can be put into the iMac Pro now as well. So they did actually do something. They didn't change the

00:53:04   machine in any way, they didn't change the configs in any way, but they added more options, more

00:53:09   powerful options there. If you really, I mean that RAM by the way, that cost $5,200. That's more than

00:53:17   my iMac Pro cost. Yeah. So bananas. Go wild I guess. Mm-hmm. That's a lot of RAM, 256 gigabytes.

00:53:28   That feels like more RAM than you need. That feels like a bunch of computers. It will suffice,

00:53:34   I guess. If you got to slog through it, I guess it's fine. I want to ask you though,

00:53:38   actually, like, you know, seriously, why would you want... Who's gonna... Like, what is that...

00:53:43   Who's that for? 256 gigabytes of RAM, that's a lot.

00:53:46   I don't know much about the machine learning and data modeling stuff, but I do understand is that

00:53:55   the more of that you can put into memory, obviously the better, the faster it's going to be.

00:53:59   So doing really large data sets also comes to mind for virtualization. So if you're using your iMac

00:54:05   Pro to run multiple OSes or maybe you're like Mac Stadium and you have a bunch of iMac Pros in a

00:54:11   rack like that sort of use case. Most people don't need it right. I've got 32 in mine and

00:54:16   I've never even thought once about upgrading it. It's totally fine. But it's that very highest high

00:54:21   end. And so yeah, it's it's kind of the same story as the iMac, right? The story is basically the

00:54:28   same, but the sort of things you can add on top of it are better. And that's cool. Yeah.

00:54:32   Federica, are you going to buy an iMac now? Sure. Yeah. Replace your aging Mac Mini?

00:54:39   No, this is the last Mac that I probably ever bought.

00:54:44   Ooh, okay.

00:54:46   Yeah, but it's interesting, like I was listening and I'm interested in the debate, especially with the spinning drives, like that feels like something that should not have happened.

00:54:58   I cannot imagine having a Mac Mini that, like, my Mac Mini is all flash storage.

00:55:06   I cannot imagine hearing the, you know, the noise of the fans spinning again.

00:55:12   That feels like something that should have been left in the past, but then again, I'm

00:55:16   not a, I have a Mac Mini, a reasonably well-specced Mac Mini, but I don't consider myself a ProMac

00:55:21   user, so I leave this debate to the folks who are more knowledgeable than I am about

00:55:28   this stuff but it feels like something a bit you know shouldn't have been the

00:55:31   case in 2019 is that the year we're in yeah 2019 but again I don't know I'm

00:55:40   happy with my t2 equipped and all flash storage Mac Mini. Maybe one day the

00:55:45   iMac will get it it feels inevitable that they will follow suit but I guess

00:55:48   I guess that time is not now. Alright we are going to move on to our predictions

00:55:55   for next week's event. But first let me tell you about our third sponsor this

00:56:00   week. This episode of Connected is brought to you by our awesome friends

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00:58:09   Okay, it's time.

00:58:11   Do we wanna go over the rules again

00:58:12   or we just wanna dive in?

00:58:14   - No we shouldn't. - You gotta go over

00:58:14   rules. We've got to go the rules are important. We live in a society. Wow. I

00:58:20   mean that is true. I'm not disagreeing with that. So the the rules of the

00:58:25   predictions and we follow these rules and all of these sorts of things. So to

00:58:30   earn a point everything written down in the prediction document must come true.

00:58:36   So if you have sub points, you have specific wording, it's all got to be

00:58:40   there unless it is delineated with not graded yes there is a not graded sub

00:58:46   sub clause B article 4 of the rules yeah this is not so much rules as it is a

00:58:51   contract it feels like there are no half points no half points would be awarded

00:58:57   in any round so it is all or nothing gentlemen one point is awarded for any

00:59:03   pick deemed correct in the first two rounds and then we come to the risky

00:59:08   picks. If your risky pick is correct you get two points but if your risky pick is

00:59:15   wrong you lose a point and critically which we argued about yesterday on

00:59:20   iMessage. It was a bloodbath last night. We're all really upset with each other. The other two

00:59:26   hosts must agree that your pick is risky so there's that. Those are the rules but

00:59:33   Federico through in a twist the winner of this gets to go first for WWDC and as

00:59:42   we know that round of predictions comes with prizes. Yep so not only do you get

00:59:48   to go first you also get to pick the order of everybody so like the real

00:59:53   interest in this is like so let me imagine in WWDC we're leading up to it

00:59:58   let's just imagine that I win these predictions here just you know just

01:00:02   because, let's just imagine. And I'm, you know, we're talking, I'm like, oh, me and

01:00:07   Federico are thinking the same about a bunch of stuff. I want to put him last because I

01:00:12   want to get my picks in first. Because the way it works with the order is even though

01:00:17   we all put these in beforehand so we can agree if they're worthy of being a prediction, we

01:00:23   try, we kind of last night established a new kind of rule between us, which is that the

01:00:29   picks cannot be too simple either, which ended up resulting in a lot of conversation, but we did it

01:00:35   and I think we're at a place now where we're all happy enough with the picks that we've got,

01:00:39   that you're going to hear in a minute. But then, you know, like I could put Federico after me,

01:00:43   so I get all of the picks first, therefore meaning that I'm probably more likely to pick up the

01:00:49   points. So that's why there's everything to play for. We did use random.org's random list generator

01:00:56   to do this and it picked the order as Federico, me, Steven. That's the order and then we're going

01:01:02   to do round robin style for the rounds. So I just wanted to say about this before we begin,

01:01:06   I was talking to Adina about this yesterday and I kind of came to the realization of how wild our

01:01:13   rules are. Like that risky pick, what that can do is it's crazy. Like it's such a silly thing to

01:01:19   have created when we're only doing three predictions, it's too devastating, right?

01:01:24   Like, you could be completely correct in the first two rounds, but still lose. Like, it is,

01:01:33   it is a, like, I could, you know, like, I could be correct in the first two rounds,

01:01:38   you guys could be incorrect, but one of you gets a risky pick and I'm wrong and I lose.

01:01:43   So, it is for three predictions, it is a catastrophic rule, but that's why it's so fun and that's

01:01:52   connected, baby.

01:01:53   That's what we're all about.

01:01:55   Catastrophic rules.

01:01:56   Yeah.

01:01:58   So no further ado, I guess.

01:02:01   Let's get started.

01:02:02   All right.

01:02:03   Round one, I go first.

01:02:04   So my first prediction for the March 25 Apple event is Apple will introduce a new Apple

01:02:13   News service for magazines.

01:02:16   We have heard the rumors before, we know that Apple acquired the texture service last year.

01:02:24   My prediction is that we will see what became of this acquisition of texture.

01:02:29   will be a service to, and it will be presented as a way to read magazines from various publications

01:02:36   on all of your devices that have Apple News, iPhone, iPad and Mac. I predict that it will be

01:02:43   some kind of subscription service. I do not want to predict pricing, I do not want to predict

01:02:51   individual publications, because that's a bit much, I feel. But yeah, an Apple News subscription

01:02:57   service for magazines, and not graded, but I want to mention, I think there will be, of course,

01:03:03   some region restrictions in terms of availability in different countries, because of course Apple

01:03:10   News still has to roll out in a lot of places, and also not graded, but I think there will maybe

01:03:17   be an a la carte option to purchase individual magazines instead of paying a subscription for

01:03:25   everything but again these two... Why do you think that? Like how much money could you charge for an

01:03:30   ala carte? Like I can't imagine the news thing is going to be more than like five dollars surely.

01:03:36   Yeah, I don't know about that. I think they could try and risk ten dollars maybe,

01:03:41   but maybe I'm wrong. I just feel like... I guess, you know, we can talk about this later,

01:03:46   if they end up ultimately relying on a bundle, right, which I think is probably what they want

01:03:51   want to do, right?

01:03:52   That like they want to price

01:03:54   everything at a level that

01:03:55   individually purchasing

01:03:57   one or two of these is silly.

01:03:59   Like the idea that and I think where

01:04:01   they want to go is if you subscribe

01:04:03   to Apple Music currently,

01:04:05   which a lot of people do,

01:04:07   and you want to pick up literally

01:04:09   any of these other services,

01:04:11   you'll be better off getting the bundle.

01:04:12   Like I think that's where they're going

01:04:14   to end up pricing this stuff.

01:04:15   So ten dollars for everything

01:04:17   individually, right?

01:04:18   Like ten dollars for news,

01:04:19   ten dollars for music,

01:04:21   $10 for video could be possible, even though I think a $10 a month subscription to the

01:04:27   news service might not be...

01:04:32   I don't know what to devalue the news.

01:04:35   I don't mean to do that, but it's purely because of where that market is and kind of how much

01:04:40   that stuff typically costs and the fact that we're assuming that probably a lot of organizations

01:04:46   that people will want to pay for won't be in here.

01:04:50   economics is scary really, that's what we're dealing with.

01:04:53   I guess I mentioned the individual purchase option because I was thinking of something

01:04:58   like the iTunes store compared to Apple Music, like you can still stream your music with

01:05:02   a single subscription, but if you want you can still download albums, and of course that's

01:05:06   a bit different because, you know, ownership and quality of downloads, that's different

01:05:10   from streaming music, but that was what I had in mind.

01:05:15   again. It might be similar to what is my second pick. So let me talk about my first pick,

01:05:23   sorry, so the second thing, my first pick, because it might actually lead into what you

01:05:26   were saying. So my pick is that Apple will announce a video streaming service which will

01:05:31   include content from other providers and that this will either be free content or will be

01:05:37   content available to you by paying a subscription within the application. So my thinking is

01:05:44   here that it won't just be Apple's original stuff, there will be other stuff. I think

01:05:48   there will be some free stuff, but it could just be that you can pay for HBO through Apple's

01:05:53   new video service, which is similar to what you were saying, right? So like, there's going

01:05:57   to be some stuff you'll get, but if you want to get the New York Times, or the New York

01:06:01   Times, you can only get that if you give an additional three to four or five dollars or

01:06:07   whatever. So it could be something like that. But, you know, my pick is thinking that what

01:06:12   What I typically imagine, this is not the pick itself, but this is just to add more

01:06:17   context, is that like say a network like HBO will say, "Okay, Apple, we will give you all

01:06:24   of Sopranos to give to your subscribers for free, but then you have to promote HBO to

01:06:30   get more HBO-like content and then people can sign up within your application or whatever."

01:06:37   That's kind of where I expect it's going to go.

01:06:40   So to go back to your pick, you are saying that Apple will announce a video streaming

01:06:45   service, not launch, but announce a video streaming service that will include content

01:06:51   from non-Apple providers.

01:06:53   Yes, it's non-original content, basically. So it's not, they will have content that Apple

01:06:59   themselves have not made.

01:07:02   Okay.

01:07:03   Okay.

01:07:04   But just so I don't wriggle out of it, this does not include Apple buying a TV show, right?

01:07:11   So there is such a thing in this world where Apple could buy a TV show that Sony has made

01:07:16   or whatever, which they actually already have done stuff like that, does not count as that.

01:07:20   Yeah, this is something like what Netflix or...

01:07:22   Yeah.

01:07:23   Well, let's use Netflix as an example.

01:07:25   Netflix has The Office on it.

01:07:26   Netflix has had nothing to do with The Office coming into creation.

01:07:29   It happens to be streaming on Netflix for now.

01:07:31   Okay.

01:07:32   Yeah, makes a lot of sense. So mine is also has to do with the video streaming service and I'm gonna say that it does

01:07:39   Not launch until at least May 1st. I do not expect this to be ready

01:07:45   Why May 1st and can you specify?

01:07:49   What do you mean by until at least so if you launches?

01:07:54   So you're saying that it launches from the midnight of May 1st and later. That's what you're saying. Okay

01:08:02   Because Apple has this thing, right, where a couple things went to my thinking of this.

01:08:08   So there are reports that Apple has only wrapped shooting like five shows and there's a lot

01:08:15   more coming.

01:08:16   So it seems like their content is not ready yet.

01:08:18   And I would just be surprised if Apple announces this and it's ready to go.

01:08:24   Like, "Hey, go sign up today."

01:08:26   That is not usually how Apple works, at least in recent history.

01:08:29   So it feels like, oh hey, it's gonna be ready next month.

01:08:34   And so I think, I kinda think May 1st,

01:08:39   that gives them five or six weeks.

01:08:41   - Okay, so by launch you mean--

01:08:43   - When it launches April 25th, I'm gonna be sad.

01:08:46   - By launch you mean anyone can sign up

01:08:49   and start using this?

01:08:50   - Yes, it is in the world for people to consume.

01:08:53   - Even if it's like US only, you will still count?

01:08:58   Yeah, yeah, because it's launched.

01:08:59   Yeah, yeah.

01:09:00   People can, you can sit down on your couch

01:09:02   and watch something from the service.

01:09:03   Okay, but May 1st, has to be May 1st.

01:09:05   After May 1st, okay.

01:09:08   All right.

01:09:08   That's very specific.

01:09:09   We'll see, maybe it being so specific,

01:09:12   we'll come back to it.

01:09:13   Wait, wait, wait, wait.

01:09:14   We need to go back to this,

01:09:15   because Federico said after May 1st, and you said yes.

01:09:18   Do you mean on May the 1st, it can exist?

01:09:21   Yes, yes.

01:09:22   After the midnight of May 1st.

01:09:24   Yes, yes.

01:09:25   May 1 or later.

01:09:27   Yeah, okay.

01:09:28   Yeah, in hindsight I wish I'd written "won't be ready to launch at the end."

01:09:32   I guess it's too specific.

01:09:33   Well, here's the thing though.

01:09:34   Here's the thing.

01:09:35   What if they don't give a date?

01:09:37   Then what do you do?

01:09:38   Ooh.

01:09:39   Well, then we can't judge this until it happens.

01:09:42   Well, but is that true though?

01:09:43   Again, these are the things we need to work out.

01:09:46   We need to judge it.

01:09:48   We can't judge this until May 1st, is what I'm saying.

01:09:52   So if it launches tomorrow or next week, then I've lost this point.

01:09:56   If it does not launch, we can't choose a winner until May 1st.

01:10:00   All right.

01:10:01   What if they say a date and it gets delayed?

01:10:03   My pick says it does not launch.

01:10:05   It doesn't say what ediQ says.

01:10:07   What ediQ does is what matters.

01:10:08   I'm just trying to understand our parameters, the rules here, right?

01:10:11   Like we're not doing like what me and Jason do in the draft.

01:10:14   We're like, it has to be on the presentation.

01:10:16   It doesn't count.

01:10:17   Right?

01:10:18   So like if Jason gave a pick like this and Apple didn't give a date, well, we'd say he

01:10:22   was wrong.

01:10:23   Right?

01:10:24   Because, you know, but like that is the difference here.

01:10:26   these are open-ended like we will grade them next week but that point could

01:10:31   remain open-ended until May the 2nd. Yes so it may be that we don't know who goes

01:10:38   first at WWDC until a month from now. Well alright now here's a problem then. Wait at least

01:10:44   me so what if we get to WWDC and it hasn't launched and we don't know when

01:10:48   then what do we do? No no no no you have that inside out so if it's May 2nd and

01:10:53   and it's not here, I win the point.

01:10:55   Oh yeah, of course you do.

01:10:56   Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:10:57   It doesn't matter about the date at that point, does it?

01:10:59   Because we already know.

01:11:00   After May 1 or 2 or whatever, it's done.

01:11:03   So yes.

01:11:04   We don't need an announcement.

01:11:05   We just need the calendar.

01:11:06   Yeah, but I don't think it's going to happen anyway.

01:11:08   They're going to give a date.

01:11:09   So if it's before May 1, Steven loses.

01:11:12   If it's on May 1 or later, Steven gets a point.

01:11:15   It's when it launches.

01:11:16   I don't care what they say.

01:11:17   It's when it comes out.

01:11:18   That's what I'm predicting.

01:11:19   When it happens.

01:11:21   At some point before WWDC.

01:11:22   We can! On May 1st or 2nd. Whatever that episode is.

01:11:25   It's a long time away, man. I want to know who won.

01:11:27   We'll see. We'll see.

01:11:29   It's fine. They're going to announce a date anyway. It'll be out next week,

01:11:32   so it won't be a problem.

01:11:33   Well, it may be that I'm so far ahead of y'all that you can't catch me even if I get this right.

01:11:39   No, you will lose this point. But, okay.

01:11:41   Moving on.

01:11:44   Around to my prediction is, and this originally was meant to be a risky pick, but I was told

01:11:51   by my two co-hosts that it was not risky enough. So standard pick it is. I believe Apple will

01:11:57   also announce a service bundle to get multiple services for one integrated single fee. Now,

01:12:08   I don't want to get into the details of numbers, like what kind of discount will Apple apply

01:12:14   to this bundle. I don't want to predict the number or the pricing, but again, my prediction

01:12:21   is Apple will have Apple Music, Apple News, this Apple TV video streaming service. I believe

01:12:28   there will be a bundle to get them all for one single price. Also not graded, but I think

01:12:34   it would be interesting to consider throwing iCloud and AppleCare into this bundle. It

01:12:40   gets more complicated with those services because of the, and especially with AppleCare,

01:12:45   because of the different kinds of AppleCare packages that you get in different regions,

01:12:50   where the Apple online store operates,

01:12:53   or the Apple store operates.

01:12:55   But I think it will be interesting

01:12:56   to also consider those two.

01:12:58   But the primary prediction is the Apple media side,

01:13:03   so Apple music, news, and video.

01:13:05   I predict that there will be a bundle to get them all.

01:13:08   Instead of having three different subscriptions,

01:13:10   you will get one and possibly four,

01:13:13   and I assume otherwise why do a bundle

01:13:15   for a slightly lower price.

01:13:17   - But all you're predicting is just multiple services.

01:13:20   you're not saying what services to be graded, just to be clear?

01:13:25   Multiple, not the individual services, just multiple services, one bundle. I don't want

01:13:30   to predict which ones, I don't want to predict the discount.

01:13:34   Cool. I think you're going to get that. That seems, that's why I didn't think it was risky.

01:13:39   We've been talking about this bundle, an idea of a bundle making sense for weeks, right?

01:13:44   So like, it seems like a logical thing.

01:13:46   Right. Okay. And it's not risky.

01:13:49   I think you're on a lock for this point.

01:13:51   I think you've got a good you came up with a very good pick here.

01:13:54   This is why Federico, I think you're going in two for two into this.

01:13:58   You also picked the two that I was going to say.

01:14:02   Well, I was going to say the new service and then the bundle.

01:14:05   The bundle felt like the obvious one for my second pick.

01:14:08   We are walking back into Stevens hellish nightmare of dates

01:14:12   because the precedent has been set now, and I don't know how we're going to judge

01:14:16   this because my second pick is Apple's original content will premiere after the service itself

01:14:22   launches.

01:14:23   And so, this is easy to score.

01:14:26   If it launches and there's no Apple original content, it's just third party stuff than

01:14:31   you would.

01:14:32   But what if it hasn't launched?

01:14:33   That is the problem.

01:14:35   Exactly.

01:14:38   So we'll just deal with that one later.

01:14:43   So to establish some ground rules here, trailers do not count.

01:14:48   Of course we're talking about actual episodes you need to watch.

01:14:51   What if it's just one episode?

01:14:54   Like does it need to be an entire series?

01:14:57   Does it...

01:14:58   Okay, just one would be enough.

01:15:01   So any original content that Apple's created, right?

01:15:07   So that all has to come after the date.

01:15:11   Both TV shows and movies in theory could qualify.

01:15:14   Yeah.

01:15:15   So I know that I'm making it more tricky for myself, right?

01:15:19   Because they could launch it with just one episode of one thing that they made, but I

01:15:23   think that that's fair, because it's leading into my previous pick of the idea that it

01:15:28   launches with some non-Apple-made stuff, because their content is not ready any time soon.

01:15:34   Let me clarify.

01:15:36   if Apple rolls the existing, and now don't joke, Carpool Karaoke and Planet of the Apps

01:15:43   back into this service. They will, but let's, I think we need to exclude that from this

01:15:47   pick because we all know what we're talking about here and it's not that stuff, right?

01:15:53   Like you know. Not even if it's a new season of Carpool Karaoke? No, I don't think that

01:16:00   We can there is like a before time and an after time, right?

01:16:04   And that's all before time content.

01:16:06   Okay.

01:16:07   Yeah.

01:16:08   Okay.

01:16:09   So I amended your pick saying non original content is coming first, excluding existing

01:16:13   programs.

01:16:14   We'll just say who knows what's going to go, we don't know how that one's going to play

01:16:18   out.

01:16:19   We're just going to have to ride that wave and see what we get next week.

01:16:21   It will become clearer next week.

01:16:23   And then maybe we'll have to come to some kind of like agreement on how we end up grading

01:16:27   that one leading up to WWDC.

01:16:29   to is my pick for the people because I'm a man of the people as is commonly said

01:16:34   about are you this is this one is also an absolute lock Tim Cook interacts with

01:16:39   the celebrity it's it's everyone's favorite thing he did the weird finger

01:16:44   touch thing with you two he awkwardly hugged people at the Apple watch event

01:16:51   let's let's do this then let's let we need to break we need to expand this one

01:16:55   out a little bit. No, he interacts with a celebrity. No, no, no, no. What if he says

01:16:59   hi? I think we need to like physical interaction is what we need to go. I don't know about

01:17:04   physical interaction. You just gave, the two examples you just gave were physical, hug

01:17:07   and finger touch. Which is why he shouldn't do it again. Right, but that's why it would

01:17:13   be more funny. I think, okay, so yeah, more than a hello, more than like, oh hi, as he

01:17:17   walks off stage and they walk on stage. So we're talking two things. We know interaction.

01:17:22   Right? Of any kind, right? Like a more than a hello, like an actual conversation they're

01:17:27   talking or physical interaction.

01:17:29   So more than a hello or a physical interaction.

01:17:32   Yes.

01:17:33   Okay, so a couple of like talking for 20 seconds. That counts?

01:17:40   A question, right? Like a remark, something that requires an answer of some description.

01:17:45   Yes, the celebrity needs to answer, needs to say something. Okay. Okay.

01:17:52   He loves it. He loves it so much. So by "celebrity" you mean a Hollywood personality?

01:18:02   Or could a reporter from Vanity Fair count as a celebrity? No, no. We're talking someone who's

01:18:10   going to be in the content. Okay. That's right. Or someone producing, like I think like JJ Abrams

01:18:17   is up there. He's a celebrity.

01:18:19   Somebody involved in creating the content who is a household name.

01:18:24   Fassbender does not count.

01:18:27   Of course he doesn't.

01:18:28   I cannot tell you how much I have wished for him to be cast.

01:18:33   I'm also, at this point, like I'm considering pitching Apple on a TV show just to cast Fassbender.

01:18:39   The greatest scam of the Hollywood industry pretending that Fassbender is an actual actor.

01:18:44   They would never cast him because of the Steve Jobs thing anyway, right?

01:18:48   Like he played Steve Jobs, he would never get cast.

01:18:50   Yeah, he's blacklisted from Apple.

01:18:53   Anyway, okay.

01:18:54   All right, so.

01:18:56   So.

01:18:57   It is time for the predictions that will ruin us and this entire game.

01:19:02   Risky pick.

01:19:03   Yeah, you're done.

01:19:04   [Laughter]

01:19:06   All right, so.

01:19:08   Go ahead.

01:19:09   I predict that, as my risky pick, that during the event, at some point, Apple will mention,

01:19:18   not demo, not showcase, but at least mention new features coming to the HomePod.

01:19:27   I believe that it could be part of the iOS 12.2 software update which is coming to iOS devices and

01:19:37   Usually these updates also come to the HomePod,

01:19:40   but we don't get betas for those.

01:19:43   So I believe that at some point we'll at least get

01:19:46   a mention of something that they will be like,

01:19:49   they will be talking about a new feature,

01:19:51   and they will say something like, oh,

01:19:52   and you can also ask Siri on the HomePod,

01:19:55   and it will answer this.

01:19:56   That type of mention.

01:19:57   Like, even if they say, oh, like in passing for 10 seconds, oh,

01:20:02   and it will also work on the HomePod,

01:20:04   they have to say that something new

01:20:06   will work on the HomePod, a new feature that is supported

01:20:10   by Siri on the HomePod.

01:20:11   That is my risky pick.

01:20:13   Is that risky enough?

01:20:14   But the word HomePod has to be mentioned.

01:20:17   Yeah, of course.

01:20:18   Yeah, just saying this is new for Siri doesn't count.

01:20:20   But if they say--

01:20:24   here's what I want to ask you guys.

01:20:26   If they do not say the word HomePod,

01:20:29   they say Siri on all of your devices,

01:20:31   and there's a slide showing the HomePod

01:20:34   among all of those devices.

01:20:36   Does that count?

01:20:37   - Your original risky pick, the way you worded it is,

01:20:40   a feature coming to the HomePod, not coming to Siri.

01:20:44   So I don't think that counts.

01:20:45   I think it is a HomePod feature.

01:20:47   - Okay.

01:20:48   - Like, so I think you would not win in that situation.

01:20:51   - Yeah, I think we gotta keep the risk element, right?

01:20:53   - Okay, so a new feature coming to the HomePod,

01:20:57   it needs to be clear that it's a HomePod,

01:20:59   a new feature coming to the HomePod, okay.

01:21:01   - So I would say the word HomePod needs to be in the sentence.

01:21:05   they say it's coming to your HomePod and your iPhone I think that's fine. They have to say HomePod.

01:21:12   Okay. Yeah they have to acknowledge they still make it. They do still make it right? It survived

01:21:16   this morning's Apple Store reshuffle? It did. I think so. This one seems risky to me because I

01:21:21   don't know what it could be based upon what we think they're actually going to be announcing.

01:21:26   I don't know what you're thinking. That's why it's risky. All right my risky pick is that Apple will

01:21:33   announce a video game streaming service. You're crazy. You're crazy to pick this now.

01:21:38   Or actually, you know, streaming as well. Like, okay, let me kind of talk about what I mean.

01:21:45   Yeah, what does video game streaming service mean?

01:21:47   Streaming is actually the wrong word. Just like a video game subscription service is more what I

01:21:53   mean. I'm sorry, yeah, I meant to say subscription, not streaming. I get it and confused a lot in my

01:21:58   brain. It's still incredibly risky because it was reported on once by Cheddar that this would be

01:22:03   happening but I believe it's happening. I've heard rumors about games that have been delayed

01:22:10   because of this. So I believe it's coming but I haven't had anything like concrete said to me but

01:22:18   like I've heard things from people who know people who know people, right? And I've also heard other

01:22:24   people like friends of mine say oh yeah I heard something from someone who told someone who told

01:22:29   someone so it could be that somebody told somebody from somebody a lie but you never know I think it's

01:22:36   gonna I think it makes sense I think it will be small to start and will grow more but I think that

01:22:41   it makes sense for Apple to do something around gaming as well and also going into the future I

01:22:50   I mean there was another report somewhere. Actually, I think the Cheddar report got updated

01:22:55   to say that Apple was also going to become a games publisher, which makes a lot of sense to me.

01:23:00   So this would basically mean... Like what Microsoft does for the Xbox?

01:23:03   They would effectively be funding video games to be made, which is a very, very good move for Apple.

01:23:10   They should be spending some of their cash on this in the same way that they're making original

01:23:14   content, because then they could be paying for very good games. This is all not in my pick,

01:23:19   by the way, they can make very good games that just offer in their service.

01:23:22   And on top of all of that, I think that the Mario Kart game will be debuting

01:23:27   on the video game subscription service again, not graded.

01:23:29   What? There is a Mario Kart game due out.

01:23:34   There is a Mario Kart game due out, which is supposed to be out by now.

01:23:38   And Nintendo delayed it.

01:23:39   They just said, we want more time to get it ready.

01:23:41   Nintendo were very unhappy with the money that they made from Super Mario

01:23:47   go run Super Mario run run and the right.

01:23:50   And there's also been reports from various games companies

01:23:53   that Nintendo is becoming trickier to work with

01:23:56   because they don't want to just pump all the apps of IEP.

01:23:59   I think they would love to be able to get some kind of subscription written you instead.

01:24:03   I think you're right that it's going to happen.

01:24:06   I just fear that it's too early in the year for this.

01:24:09   It feels to me like this is something that has to be announced

01:24:12   alongside or ideally after the next version of iOS.

01:24:16   So I think you're absolutely correct that Apple is doing this.

01:24:21   We've heard the rumors of Apple approaching different companies trying to do this,

01:24:28   but I fear that it's too early.

01:24:31   So if it happens, this is a major get for you, because this is a very risky pick.

01:24:37   It is extremely risky.

01:24:39   I am expecting to lose because of this, but I still think it's going to happen anyway.

01:24:44   I'm in a real two minds about this one.

01:24:48   I'm going to go and talk about the TV application itself that runs on the Apple TV and iOS that

01:24:55   it is going to get some sort of overhaul.

01:24:58   I think we've all experienced it and have experienced that it is okay, but I feel like

01:25:04   it doesn't scale up to like massive amounts of content.

01:25:08   even the things I have in there get easily confused or lost and I don't have any specifics

01:25:15   about what this could mean because I'm not a UI designer but the TV app will get some

01:25:19   sort of attention in this event.

01:25:24   Okay so with overhaul you mean more than just a new icon?

01:25:30   Yes that the app itself as we know it is different before and after this event.

01:25:36   Well that's a given, but we need to talk about this in a little bit more detail.

01:25:40   Not just like more content in it, like the way that you go through it, the way that it

01:25:47   works, like will be different.

01:25:48   I think visual is what we need to go for here, right?

01:25:51   Because there's obviously going to be new functionality in it.

01:25:56   And also, what platforms?

01:25:58   I mean, so take this out of the risky pick, I would assume this would be on tvOS and that

01:26:03   would make it to iOS in like 12.2 or 12.3 or something.

01:26:08   So I don't know if I'm sure.

01:26:11   Uh, also not sure that that's important.

01:26:14   Like I just think that overhaul maybe needs, needs some more risk added.

01:26:20   I think it needs more risk added.

01:26:22   Hmm.

01:26:23   Hmm.

01:26:24   Yep.

01:26:25   Could have said that last night and I messaged and we were yelling.

01:26:27   This wasn't your original risky pick.

01:26:29   You've changed it.

01:26:29   So I didn't see it until now.

01:26:33   No, no, it's my first one.

01:26:35   Alright, well we're here now, we're adjudicating in front of the world.

01:26:39   I think it needs a little bit more risk.

01:26:42   The TV app needs to get an overhaul.

01:26:45   Of some sort is like super vague, right?

01:26:47   That's not risk.

01:26:48   Yeah, I mean, what if I got specific and said, you know, visual overhaul, like a new, like

01:26:54   a refresh design.

01:26:55   That is perfectly risky.

01:26:56   I think that's risky.

01:26:57   Okay.

01:26:58   So the TV app gets a refresh design.

01:27:02   What if it's the same design but Apple adds dark mode on iOS?

01:27:09   Is that a overhaul of the UI?

01:27:11   That's not going to happen in next Monday's thing.

01:27:14   Let's just say the force...

01:27:15   That would be really risky if I said dark mode on iOS.

01:27:18   No, because there's a dark mode on...

01:27:20   I mean, TVOS basically is dark mode now, so I think a dark mode is not this.

01:27:25   This is more than that.

01:27:27   Okay.

01:27:28   Refresh design.

01:27:29   Okay.

01:27:30   That works.

01:27:31   I'm definitely losing this between the May 1st and my risky pick, but as we get down

01:27:36   to my not great of picks, I'm just not that enthusiastic about any of this stuff.

01:27:40   So I have trouble getting excited and getting in the game.

01:27:44   You are gonna, there's gonna be a spectrum of excitement over this event where I'm at

01:27:50   the top, Federico's in the middle and Steven's at the bottom.

01:27:54   It's like the opposite of the iMac earlier.

01:27:56   That's kind of how it's gonna go.

01:27:59   But I think it's actually interesting and important because there is going to be a lot

01:28:04   of, I said this last week, I'll say it again, there's going to be a lot of people listening

01:28:07   to this show that are not going to like next week's event because it's not going to talk

01:28:11   about the stuff that they want.

01:28:13   They just pumped out a bunch of products.

01:28:15   I am very, very confident that there will be absolutely no hardware in that event.

01:28:20   I don't think AirPods, I don't think AirPower, nothing.

01:28:24   Yeah, that didn't make any of the picks, but I agree with you.

01:28:28   I think that once again I'll be proven, the three of us, to be the man of the people.

01:28:34   I have a lot of thoughts about that "once again" and "man of the people" because

01:28:39   that would suggest that you were a man of the people before and I would object to that

01:28:43   but still.

01:28:44   Okay.

01:28:45   Hey, everyone cares about the minute differences between the generations of iMac G3 as much

01:28:52   as I do.

01:28:53   Sure.

01:28:54   Sure, sure.

01:28:55   that if anyone gets the risky pick wrong loses a point.

01:29:00   So it will be interesting to see if Myke perhaps gets the predictions right

01:29:05   but loses a point in the risky pick.

01:29:07   That could upset the total count at the end, but we'll see.

01:29:12   These are our official graded picks.

01:29:16   Now we can move into non-graded pick territory,

01:29:19   which we only mention for bragging rights.

01:29:23   Bracking rights only.

01:29:25   And to offer some context and to share our opinion because that's what we do on podcasts.

01:29:30   So I'll go first.

01:29:33   Thanks for that introduction.

01:29:35   Sure.

01:29:36   I will say non-graded that Apple News will expand internationally.

01:29:41   Feels like the right time to launch Apple News in more countries across Europe, across

01:29:48   the world.

01:29:49   I think Apple News is only available in four, five countries so far.

01:29:53   It could be a good time to announce an international expansion.

01:29:57   I think the Apple TV box will probably get a price cut, so especially the Apple TV 4K,

01:30:05   I think it's much more expensive than it needs to be compared to other 4K video streaming

01:30:11   devices.

01:30:12   And finally, I think Apple will also give a quick tour of the improvements coming with

01:30:19   next round of software updates, especially iOS 12.2, and especially the new TV stuff

01:30:25   that is available for HomeKit televisions in Control Center and in the Home app.

01:30:32   These are my non-graded picks that I just mentioned for bragging rights.

01:30:37   I agree with you with the Apple TV, the physical product, the price cut.

01:30:43   In fact, that was going to be in my picks, but you beat me to it in the non-graded picks,

01:30:48   So I just kind of let it go.

01:30:50   But I think that some of the absolutely have to do, because if you look at what

01:30:55   Amazon's doing, what Roku is doing, what Google is doing, Apple is significantly

01:31:00   more expensive.

01:31:01   And I would argue that.

01:31:03   The way they pitched it of like, Oh, this is going to be a game console and you're

01:31:08   going to do all this stuff on it.

01:31:09   Like none of that's panned out.

01:31:10   This is just a streaming box and it, the price needs to reflect that better.

01:31:16   So my non graded pick disagrees with the comment of they absolutely need to do it

01:31:21   because I think that the video streaming service will come to Roku and Fire TV products.

01:31:25   And part of the reason that Apple will do this is because then they don't have to discount

01:31:31   the Apple TV because there will be options for everyone.

01:31:35   They're already putting it on some TVs.

01:31:37   And I think that they're going to start putting their service on other sticks as well.

01:31:41   It's remind me it's on the it will be on the Samsung TVs.

01:31:45   Is that correct?

01:31:46   And other players got Samsung TV is the only product that

01:31:51   will will most likely get the video streaming service.

01:31:57   And also because they got ideas.

01:31:59   The Roku and Fire TV thing might actually just end up being AirPlay

01:32:02   too, as opposed to video streaming.

01:32:04   But if something has AirPlay too, I think in Apple's mind, that will be enough.

01:32:08   I don't think they're going to make any change to the Apple TV now.

01:32:14   Roku would be the most interesting to me because they were completely absent from those CES

01:32:19   announcements.

01:32:20   But then the Roku CEO was on the Verge cast and was very cagey about their plans with

01:32:26   Apple.

01:32:27   I was like, "We can't talk about anything."

01:32:28   So I think it probably is coming, but time will tell.

01:32:31   Yeah, there have been a bunch of rumors.

01:32:33   And it seems too that Apple and Amazon have buried the hatchet a little bit.

01:32:36   So I think we could see that pretty easily.

01:32:40   Apple Music just launched on the Fire TV.

01:32:42   So it was on the Echo before it's now on the Fire TV too.

01:32:47   My other pick is that all the celebrities that Apple will bring on stage will appear

01:32:50   at the end and they will come out and like take a picture together like when Marvel announced

01:32:55   the first Avengers movie.

01:32:58   I think because Apple has, we ran through this last week, an incredible list of people,

01:33:03   right?

01:33:04   And I think that they would love the star power of bringing them all out at one time

01:33:08   because you just get in one picture, Oprah and JJ Abrams and like multiple

01:33:14   comic book movie heroes and all that kind of stuff. So, uh, that's why I think

01:33:18   that they will do something as awkward as that would be.

01:33:22   Okay.

01:33:24   That would be awkward.

01:33:25   That's where Tim Cook could, uh, interact with a bunch of celebrities at once.

01:33:28   Maybe he like crowd surf across them.

01:33:30   That'd be awesome.

01:33:31   Maybe a high fives as he walks.

01:33:33   Oh God.

01:33:35   Yeah.

01:33:35   It's like a,

01:33:38   Oh boy. Really my only one that you guys didn't cover is that there will be major publications

01:33:45   like noticeably absent from the new news service.

01:33:51   You are thinking of Mac stories, of course.

01:33:53   I am thinking of Mac stories, but also maybe like the Wall Street Journal or somebody like

01:33:58   those other guys, you know how, you know how sometimes, okay, so like when Apple announced

01:34:04   like MMS. They're like, Oh, it's available on all of these carriers and AT&T, which the

01:34:09   only person who had the iPhone at the time wasn't on there. And people were like, kind

01:34:13   of snickered at it or your Apple does this sometimes it did it with single sign on with

01:34:18   the Apple TV, like all these cable providers will support it and like none of the ones

01:34:21   that matter are on the slide. Something like that's going to happen with this new service,

01:34:27   somebody that we all know, is going to be absent. And that will be a fun time for everybody.

01:34:33   So that's it. That's it. It's going to be, I I'm, like I said, I'm not super excited about the content stuff, but I am really interested in to see how Apple does this because a very different type of event to anything they've done before. The closest thing really, you know, maybe like the iBook store or iBooks author back on the iPad back in like 2010 2011. But Apple having a keynote that's basically just about content. Like are they going to keep the same structure where they're going to be able to keep the same content?

01:35:02   same structure where like Tim introduces some Eddie and then Eddie introduces somebody like

01:35:07   all those mechanics are gonna be something to watch for.

01:35:10   My fear is that Steven is going to win because of his risky pick. Looking back through these

01:35:16   predictions, I fear that Steven is playing like the Oh, I'm not so excited type of card

01:35:23   that this is boring. And all of my predictions are boring because I'm bored. But actually,

01:35:28   playing for the win because all of this kind of makes sense and his risky pick

01:35:34   may look conservative but actually I think Myke we should keep an eye on

01:35:40   Steven as the silent challenger in this round of predictions. I think that there is a

01:35:46   possibility that Apple releases a brand new app for this thing anyway so. I kind

01:35:52   of like the name silent challenge. Stephen Hackett, the silent challenge.

01:35:57   Silent challenger. Okay, I think we have been here long enough before we let you go. One

01:36:04   last reminder if you want a technology should be colorful shirt. Time is running out. So

01:36:10   check that link out in the show notes or go to connected merch.com Don't forget some of

01:36:16   the money is also going to app camp for girls as well portion of the profits will be done.

01:36:20   Yes, which we are super excited about.

01:36:22   Keep in mind, Wednesday, June 5th,

01:36:24   if you're in the San Jose area, we'll have tickets up soon.

01:36:26   We'll let you know on the show first when those go up.

01:36:31   If you want to find other links to stuff we talked about--

01:36:33   and I feel like we talked about lots of things today,

01:36:36   a very busy week-- head on over to the website,

01:36:38   relay.fm/connected/235.

01:36:42   While you're there, you can get in touch via email,

01:36:46   or you can find us over on Twitter.

01:36:48   Myke is there as I M Y K E and Myke of course is the host of a bunch of shows

01:36:53   here at relay FM, including that upgrade episode.

01:36:56   You should go listen to, if you haven't yet,

01:36:57   you can find Federico on Twitter at VI T I C C I,

01:37:02   and he is the editor in chief of max stories.net.

01:37:05   You can find me on Twitter as I S M H and I write five 12 pixels.net.

01:37:11   I'd like to thank our sponsors this week,

01:37:13   Euro pingdom and Luna display and until next week, gentlemen, say goodbye.

01:37:18   Arrivederci.

01:37:19   Papa.

01:37:20   Adios.

01:37:20   Adios