170: Playing Chicken with Jony Ive
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From Relay FM, this is Connected, episode 170.
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Today's show is brought to you by Pingdom, Ting, and Encapsula.
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My name is Myke Hurley.
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I am joined by Steven Hackett.
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Hello, Steven Hackett.
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Welcome back from your time away.
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Gave a real big obituary from you last week, which was lovely.
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And people may notice Federico is not here,
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But Federico's not dead.
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It's really a very simple explanation
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that he had a shift at the Christmas tree farm
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and couldn't get off work to come join us on the show.
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- He had to go and move some trees.
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Federico's Christmas trees has moved.
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They've moved to 435 South Geneva Road.
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So, man, it's a deep cut.
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- That is a deep cut.
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There's some links in the show notes to explain that.
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But we should move on.
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We should talk about follow-ups.
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So this document is full of follow-up
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because you were gone last week,
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and sometimes what happens on this show is
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if someone is missing, then the next week
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they just talk about all the stuff
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that was on the show the week before
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'cause they didn't get to have their say.
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And this is what's happening.
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But first, I just wanted to quickly revisit
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the Spotify library and download limits.
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Federico and I talked about that last week
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where you can have 10,000 songs in your Spotify library,
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but only 3,333 songs downloaded locally.
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Basically, we have a ton of email and tweets of people
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saying that they've hit this limit.
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We kind of talked about, is this theoretical?
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Do people really hit it?
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People really hit it.
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Tyler sent us a link to an article on The Verge
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back in May, where Spotify basically
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said their quote to The Verge is,
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we don't have plans to extend your music limit.
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The reason is because less than 1% of users reach it.
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I guess the 1% listen to Connected
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is the lesson I've learned.
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expected that it was like some kind of weird contract thing.
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Like that there's some kind of legal requirement that has been imposed upon them, which they
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thought was totally fine because who's gonna have more than 10,000 songs on Spotify.
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But why would anybody ever delete any music?
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Eventually a large percentage of their listener base will get there, right?
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Just over time because you're not gonna remove things from your Spotify library because it
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doesn't take up any actual space.
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So yeah, I find that strange.
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- It's super strange.
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So we should talk about the HomePod.
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As mentioned on last week's show, you were right.
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The time, from you predicting this,
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the time it came true was one week,
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which is extremely annoying.
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- I just wasn't gonna let this episode go by
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without me mentioning the fact
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that I accurately predicted the HomePod's delay.
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So having listened to the episode, I wanted to just point out something that you said.
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So you played a fantastic flashback with wonderful dramatic music, which was really just good
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work from you. But my favourite thing is in the flashback, I say that they're going to
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delay it because they've already missed the holiday season as it is anyway, so it's fine
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to delay it because it's too late. Releasing in December is too late for the holiday season.
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You said to me on that episode, the previous episode, that they still have time.
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You're like, "Oh no, they still have time.
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They still have time for the holidays."
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Then when the flashback ends, you said that they missed the holiday season, which I thought
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was wonderful.
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This is just fake news.
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It's fake news.
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Can't prove any of this.
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Do you want me to put in a multiple tiered flashback into last week's episode, the week
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Like how far are we going to take this?
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The most important thing about covering this sort of stuff
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is being able to change your mind and denying when you do.
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- And pretending like it was my opinion all along.
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- Yeah, please, yeah, no, mm, mm, yeah.
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So it's delayed, there's no news on that
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between now and then, still no iMac Pro,
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but they got a couple weeks on that, so.
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So congratulations, you were right.
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- Thank you. - Good, good job.
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- I need to talk to you about your to-do situation.
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- Interesting.
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I'm upset with both of you, but I'll talk to you first because Federico's not here.
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Actually, you know what?
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I'm going to address Federico right now.
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I can't believe he's using things because he's been so much on the API train, right?
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Which is like one of the reasons he left OmniFocus in the first place.
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And my theory, the reason he is not here this week is because he's trying to avoid these
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But I promise you, dear listeners, I will continue to ask him these questions.
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I think we both will because I need to know why he's switched things.
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I honestly don't know.
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He's not told us anything. I don't know why he's doing this
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And I am as interested as maybe some of you are so
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That's why I assume he's not here this week as he is dodging. He's dodging the questions
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There's something fishy something fishy going on with that guy, but I need to talk to you
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Interesting about remember the about remember the milk so
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you've switched from todoist to remember the milk and
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You said that like the main reason that you changed
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That you switched over was because you were fed up with todoist not having sorting right in your project. Yes
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But what confused me about this was a few minutes later
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You mentioned the fact that there were other adjustments that you were making like the lack of nested lists
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And that's just one you just made an adjustment and remember the milk and you're like, oh it doesn't do it
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I'll just change the way I do everything and I and I wondered why
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You were what's like just so flippantly willing to make this change for remember the milk
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But to do is to you burned it down. I
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Did burn to do this down? I think that the the importance of those two things is like vastly different in my mind
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Okay, it would be great to have nested list and if remember the milk rolled out today, I would I would utilize it
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I don't love the fact that I've had a collapse and list into longer ones
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but the sorting by date is like the
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the thing in my brain that hurts every time I used to doist.
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And honestly, ever since OmniFocus 2 rolled out,
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OmniFocus 1 on the Mac did this,
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and with 2 they got rid of it.
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It is something that just is really critical
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to the way that I think and work.
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So I get what you're saying, and you're right,
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this isn't a clean trade-off.
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It's not like, oh, I get this one thing
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and there's no downsides.
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There are a couple downsides.
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I have a cow in my dock looking at me
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all the time on my iMac.
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That's a downside.
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- We gotta come back to that.
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yeah the branding is really bad but uh so yeah so I totally get you're saying I
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think it's fair but I think for me just the difference in importance between
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those two things was enough to make it worthwhile. I was definitely on the same
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feeling of you like when I switched from OmniFocus to Todoist it really
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frustrated me that project lists weren't sorted in date order they're just they're
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sorted in like the order you added stuff is kind of how it's done and at first I
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it was going to be a big problem but I personally just adjusted really well and
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I don't think about it. Now I just remember that there is a
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sort of sorted by adding stuff and like I somehow keep this like mental log of
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when I think I may have added an item to my list because I use their seven day
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forecast is just my way to know what's coming up. I don't look into
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individual projects like that.
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Well that's the nice thing about all these different apps is they all do things slightly differently so you can kind of find
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you know, what makes sense to you like the reason I don't use things and actually downloaded
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the Mac demo of things over the weekend because I know Federico is playing with it. And I
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was hoping he'd be on the show so we could talk about it. So like I should get familiar
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with the new version. And the reason I don't like things today is the same reason I didn't
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like things. Whenever last time I used it like six years ago is that they the way they
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handle repeating tasks is really clunky. And for someone who I would have had a guess I'd
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I'd probably say easily 40% of what's in my to-do system
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are repeating tasks, just 'cause the cycle of our business
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and our company, and I do a lot of things
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at set times of the week or set times of the month.
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That's really important to me,
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and things is just super clunky in that regard.
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So it's as beautiful as things three is
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and as fast and reliable as their syncing is,
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that is the bridge too far for things for me.
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So it's nice that we can find what makes sense
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for the individual uses that we need.
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And for me, web automation's a big thing.
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Natural language processing's a big thing.
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And being able to sort of list by due date.
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And so far, the only thing I've found
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that clicks all three of those is, remember the milk.
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- I want to talk about the branding.
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- I know it's like a fun thing to make fun of, right?
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Like, we do, and it's like a cow,
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and it's like this little scribbled thing,
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and it's like, ha ha.
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But I have a problem with it.
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I wouldn't be able to use this app because of it.
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And I know that sounds silly,
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but the branding of an application is important to me.
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And I think it's important to a lot of people
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because otherwise why even bother?
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Why go through the time and effort to brand things tastefully
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if it doesn't make a difference to anybody?
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We're all getting mad about Dropbox and Todoist
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for adding their drawings in.
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And that's because like at an underlying level,
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they're making changes to their brand
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that aren't tasteful to us, right?
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Like they are starting to like make shifts
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to the way that their brand is represented,
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which is not the brand that we signed on to, right?
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And so I, my to-do app is the most grown up app that I use.
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Like I don't want it characterized
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of a poorly drawn cartoon cow.
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Like I just, it's so weird to me, man.
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Like I don't, like they have nice illustrations
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on their website even, right?
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Like I looked at some of the stuff in the app,
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I've seen the little carton of milk guy,
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which is like way better
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because he's actually the milk, right?
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It's not remember the cow and--
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- Well, the cow's where the milk comes from.
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- Yeah, but is that what they're saying though?
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Like are they telling you just to add something
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to your to-do list to go and milk a cow?
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That's not actually what that means.
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Like remember the milk is like,
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Remember to pick up the milk at the store.
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But I find it so strange.
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Like they clearly have designers who do great work.
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Like I'm looking at their website.
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Their website is very nice.
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Their app looks very nice.
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Like it's nice and clean and it follows modern design conventions and stuff like
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that. But they hang on to this like old drawing.
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It's really confusing to me.
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Like I really struggle to want to get my head around it.
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Like they even have like on their website, they use an outline of the cow, like in
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certain places as if it's the app icon, right? Like, they have a page called upgrade, like
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their upgrade page. And you scroll like halfway down and it says badges and widgets and they
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have a picture of an outline of the cow. It's like, that's fine too. Why do they use the
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illustration? It's so peculiar to me.
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Agreed. It's problematic.
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And I really like, I couldn't, I wouldn't be able to use it. Like, I don't know, I know
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it sounds so silly, but I just wouldn't be able to
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bring myself to be like, okay, time to sit down
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and do some serious work.
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Let's tap on the cartoon cow face.
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Like, I don't know, it's very strange.
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- No, it's fair.
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It's problematic.
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I wish that they would, I think people would take
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the app more seriously if they had a more serious branding.
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And then you're right, the website's really good.
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And the rest of their stuff is laid out well
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and looks good and their colors are all nice
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But that icon is just not great.
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So, I'm fully caught up from last week.
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Good! I'm glad you listened, but I'm more glad that you're back.
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Thank you. Today's show is brought to you by our friends over at Pingdom.
00:12:09
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You can start monitoring your websites and servers today at pingdom.com/relayfm.
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Pingdom detect 400,000 outages every day and this is just with websites and companies that
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use Pingdom.
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Of course there's way more that are not being detected by Pingdom, although every single
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thing should be because Pingdom is so easy to use, it's so awesome, you just give it a URL that you
00:12:47
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want to monitor and they take care of the rest. They are emulating visits to your website from
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if something goes wrong, you'll be immediately alerted to you can fix that error before the
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downtime affects you. You can sign up, Stephen if I'm right, it's like SMS and email and they
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have push notifications in their app, right? You monitor us for Relay FM with Pingdom.
00:13:10
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Yeah, I mean if we go down, all that stuff happens.
00:13:13
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There's no, like if I'm on my phone or my computer, I'm not going to miss it.
00:13:16
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They just bombard you to make sure that you know what's going on.
00:13:19
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So you can choose what ways you want to be alerted, but I think as Steven has, every
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single possible way is the best way.
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Thanks to Pingdom for their support of this show and RelayFM.
00:13:49
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So let's talk about my RSI.
00:13:53
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So you remember a couple of weeks ago I was upset, I was concerned that my iPhone was
00:13:58
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breaking my wrists and my hands?
00:14:01
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So I made some changes whilst taking a vacation and paid attention to some more stuff and
00:14:07
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I actually think it was the Nintendo Switch that was causing me troubles more than my
00:14:12
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►
I don't think that the phone helped but I think it was mostly down to the Switch.
00:14:16
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►
So I'm making some adjustments to the way that I play, right, less handheld switch time,
00:14:21
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more pro controller time and that I think has made a big difference.
00:14:25
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►
I will say that like I still feel some slight pain in my thumb every now and then if I'm
00:14:30
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using my phone for long periods of time, right, with the new gestures, but I think I'm getting
00:14:36
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►
more used to it and I think that it wasn't the complete problem. I think it was a bunch
00:14:42
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►
of different things, but the iPhone made up a smaller portion of it, which is great news.
00:14:48
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►
But I did, I made an adjustment, so I'm using the silicone case, right, but I've now bought
00:14:55
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something called a PopSocket. Have you ever seen these before?
00:14:58
◼
►
I have seen these before. They are little things that go on the back of a phone or a
00:15:05
◼
►
tablet or whatever and they sort of telescope out so you have a place to kind of rest it
00:15:10
◼
►
between your fingers. It's sort of hard to explain.
00:15:14
◼
►
Yeah, a bunch of people recommended that I try it because they'd had problems and it
00:15:18
◼
►
was helping them out. And I had seen these before. Mostly like I would see women with
00:15:24
◼
►
of plus phones with these on the back, right?
00:15:27
◼
►
So they'd be, have like large phones,
00:15:29
◼
►
either large Android phones or large iPhones.
00:15:31
◼
►
And I was always like, what is this?
00:15:33
◼
►
Like I'd only ever seen them in that context.
00:15:35
◼
►
Like I'd seen like a lady grab a phone out of her bag
00:15:39
◼
►
and she was holding the phone
00:15:40
◼
►
with this weird thing on the back.
00:15:42
◼
►
And I was like, how do you like do anything with this?
00:15:44
◼
►
I just assumed it was like a solid thing, right?
00:15:47
◼
►
That like it didn't pop down.
00:15:49
◼
►
'Cause what this thing does, it kind of, I don't know,
00:15:52
◼
►
it's like half a centimeter flat on the phone.
00:15:54
◼
►
but then you can pull it out like it extends out
00:15:57
◼
►
and it gives you a place to hold the phone like the grip it.
00:16:00
◼
►
So you don't have to put your hand
00:16:01
◼
►
all the way around the phone.
00:16:03
◼
►
You can stick it on wherever you want
00:16:04
◼
►
and it uses that micro suction stuff.
00:16:06
◼
►
So like it's not glue and you can change move it around.
00:16:09
◼
►
And I have one on my iPhone now
00:16:11
◼
►
and I really actually like it quite a lot
00:16:14
◼
►
because what it's allowing me to do
00:16:16
◼
►
is adjust my grip quite a lot, which I'm very happy about.
00:16:19
◼
►
So I can hold it in different ways.
00:16:21
◼
►
I can hold it in different hands and I can,
00:16:24
◼
►
I feel like I'm able to kind of hold my phone in a way
00:16:26
◼
►
that's more comfortable for me.
00:16:28
◼
►
And also it's an inbuilt stand, which is kind of nice.
00:16:30
◼
►
You can just stand your phone up now and watch video on it.
00:16:33
◼
►
And I'm able to get it in and out my pocket very easily.
00:16:36
◼
►
Like it's not grabbing on anything.
00:16:38
◼
►
So I might keep it.
00:16:40
◼
►
I'm thinking about keeping it.
00:16:41
◼
►
The only problem I have is if you thought
00:16:43
◼
►
that a camera bump was bad when you put it on the desk,
00:16:46
◼
►
my phone is unusable on a desk now
00:16:48
◼
►
because it just, it rocks around like a seesaw.
00:16:51
◼
►
But I can spin it, which is nice.
00:16:53
◼
►
So my phone is now, I guess I now have a $1,000 fidget spinner.
00:17:00
◼
►
You should create a spin the bottle app in conjunction with this.
00:17:04
◼
►
Not a bad idea.
00:17:05
◼
►
So I'm looking at their website and I have a lot of important questions.
00:17:08
◼
►
Mainly what design did you go with?
00:17:11
◼
►
So I went with, I don't know what the design is called, Monkey Head Galaxy is the one that
00:17:18
◼
►
I went with.
00:17:19
◼
►
like a nebula type thing, a space thing,
00:17:23
◼
►
which I figure you'd like.
00:17:25
◼
►
Do you see it?
00:17:27
◼
►
- You can design your own apparently.
00:17:28
◼
►
- You can. - As the chat room
00:17:29
◼
►
has put together one with the relay logo on it.
00:17:31
◼
►
- You can, I didn't, I wanted to just get it quick.
00:17:36
◼
►
- 'Cause I was just wanting to see if it would be useful
00:17:38
◼
►
in any way, but I should probably make one, right?
00:17:42
◼
►
- I think so.
00:17:43
◼
►
- Yeah, I think I probably will do that at some point.
00:17:47
◼
►
So yeah, that's what I'm using right now and I like it.
00:17:50
◼
►
I don't know if I necessarily recommend it to anybody, right?
00:17:53
◼
►
Like I feel like you would know
00:17:54
◼
►
if you wanted something like this,
00:17:55
◼
►
like if you struggle to hold your phone.
00:17:58
◼
►
I've got it more as just in the same way
00:18:01
◼
►
that I use a trackpad and a Wacom tablet,
00:18:05
◼
►
like it gives me the ability to switch hands
00:18:07
◼
►
and to change the way that I hold things.
00:18:10
◼
►
And yeah, this phone allows me to do that now
00:18:14
◼
►
because I don't have to use this thing.
00:18:15
◼
►
I can still hold my phone normally, or I can pop the little pop socket out and grab onto
00:18:21
◼
►
I have no idea if it's going to last forever, but for the time being I'm going to keep it
00:18:24
◼
►
at least until this pain completely goes away, which I know can take a while.
00:18:28
◼
►
Yeah, well I'm glad it wasn't just the phone.
00:18:31
◼
►
I didn't have anything else going on when mine acted up, but I think it was, I think
00:18:36
◼
►
there was some getting used to the phone, and I think when you set up a new phone you're
00:18:39
◼
►
on it a lot, and now that my usage has sort of settled back down, my hand is mostly okay.
00:18:45
◼
►
So I too, I think have avoided anything real serious with this phone.
00:18:49
◼
►
Now at this point in the episode,
00:18:52
◼
►
everybody is wondering why we have not addressed the very important follow up
00:18:56
◼
►
item of has Google Docs got drag and drop yet. Um,
00:19:01
◼
►
and the reason is is because it ends its run and follow up now because it kind
00:19:06
◼
►
of does. So yes,
00:19:08
◼
►
Google updated their apps yesterday and have done a couple of things.
00:19:14
◼
►
one is iPhone 10 support which is nice.
00:19:16
◼
►
I'm happy about that.
00:19:17
◼
►
I was actually expecting that would take a lot longer
00:19:20
◼
►
than what has happened.
00:19:23
◼
►
So they've added iPhone 10 support
00:19:25
◼
►
for Sheets and Docs and Slides.
00:19:28
◼
►
I never use Slides, I choose Sheets and Docs.
00:19:31
◼
►
So that's what we'll be talking about.
00:19:31
◼
►
- I don't really have Slides installed.
00:19:33
◼
►
- Yeah, I don't think I've ever used it.
00:19:34
◼
►
- I've never used it.
00:19:35
◼
►
- And they have partly implemented drag and drop.
00:19:42
◼
►
So they actually said this in their release notes,
00:19:47
◼
►
but it wasn't completely clear, right?
00:19:50
◼
►
Like you only really noticed it once you knew
00:19:51
◼
►
what you were looking for.
00:19:53
◼
►
You can drag things in to Docs and Sheets.
00:19:57
◼
►
You cannot drag anything out or around
00:20:00
◼
►
inside of the applications.
00:20:03
◼
►
- Now, my view on this is like,
00:20:05
◼
►
this is their step one is how I look at this.
00:20:08
◼
►
Like this is what they have been able to do.
00:20:12
◼
►
and I have no doubt that all of this is because of their custom text rendering and all that
00:20:16
◼
►
sort of stuff. They may never do dragging out, they may only ever have dragging in.
00:20:22
◼
►
So I'll give you some examples. So with Docs, you drag stuff in, it doesn't keep any rich
00:20:27
◼
►
text formatting or anything like that as it had previously. Basically it's the same as
00:20:32
◼
►
copying text and pasting it in. It does, which I do like, you can drag links in and it understands
00:20:37
◼
►
that they're links and turns them into just text.
00:20:40
◼
►
And in Sheets, I really like the implementation in Sheets
00:20:43
◼
►
because you can drag things into individual cells,
00:20:46
◼
►
which I'm very happy about.
00:20:48
◼
►
You don't have to like-- one thing I was concerned about
00:20:50
◼
►
is that you would need to tap the cell,
00:20:53
◼
►
make the text cursor in there, and then drag it in.
00:20:55
◼
►
But you don't need to do any of that.
00:20:57
◼
►
Like, a little plus button shows up
00:20:58
◼
►
when you drag over any of the cells,
00:21:00
◼
►
and you can drag the content in.
00:21:02
◼
►
Now for me personally, this is all I want.
00:21:05
◼
►
Like I never were, I very, very rarely would drag something,
00:21:09
◼
►
would need to drag something out of Docs or Sheets.
00:21:12
◼
►
I'm always just putting information into them.
00:21:15
◼
►
So I'm kind of cool with this.
00:21:16
◼
►
Like this is, I wanted them to just do this.
00:21:19
◼
►
They've done this.
00:21:20
◼
►
It will be great if they can add the ability to drag out
00:21:23
◼
►
and around these applications at some point in the future.
00:21:26
◼
►
But I'm super happy about this.
00:21:28
◼
►
And I wanted to address something
00:21:30
◼
►
about Google's implementation of this stuff,
00:21:33
◼
►
because I see people talking about this,
00:21:36
◼
►
and we talk about it a lot, right,
00:21:38
◼
►
but we're making jokes about it, et cetera,
00:21:40
◼
►
but I think people kind of write off Google
00:21:43
◼
►
as like, they will never do this.
00:21:46
◼
►
Like that, I don't think, I think I speak for all of us,
00:21:48
◼
►
and I don't think any of us believe
00:21:50
◼
►
that they would necessarily never add this stuff,
00:21:53
◼
►
because the reason this has been a thing we have spoken about
00:21:57
◼
►
is because we know the trend of Google,
00:21:59
◼
►
that they will do it, it just takes them a long time.
00:22:02
◼
►
that is their history. They will add X feature like split screen or whatever but it just takes them
00:22:08
◼
►
a long time for whatever reason. So I'd always assumed that drag and drop would come to these
00:22:14
◼
►
applications but it would just take them as long as it's taken them. Do you agree?
00:22:19
◼
►
Yeah I don't think there's ever any doubt they're going to get around to doing something.
00:22:24
◼
►
I think as a matter of that it's just not a huge priority and my guess is
00:22:29
◼
►
Especially with this like dragging out stuff is that they
00:22:33
◼
►
very like their apps don't use very much in the way of standard controls or standard layout stuff and
00:22:42
◼
►
My guess is that anytime something like this happens. There's a lot more work to do on their end
00:22:47
◼
►
Then other apps we may see on our devices that are more
00:22:52
◼
►
Closely aligned with what Apple ships in?
00:22:55
◼
►
the SDK so and I'm mostly okay with it because I'm very confident that the reason that their
00:23:02
◼
►
Collaboration tools are so good is because they're doing all this weird stuff under the hood, right?
00:23:07
◼
►
Like they're whatever it is that they've built to make that happen is what makes this development slower
00:23:12
◼
►
But I'm willing to accept that trade-off like people ask like why don't you use X?
00:23:18
◼
►
Why don't you use Y instead of Google Docs? And the reason is always the collaboration is nowhere near as good
00:23:25
◼
►
Agreed. Like it just isn't like no other application can do the real-time collaboration that Google Docs can and you can say oh
00:23:32
◼
►
I've used this trust me. We've used them all and none of them are as good some of them are fine
00:23:38
◼
►
But why would we want to have what like the most important feature of all of these tools for what we use them for?
00:23:44
◼
►
Is real-time collaboration if the real-time collaboration isn't rock-solid
00:23:49
◼
►
It's never gonna be as good no matter what else the app has and that's why we keep coming back to Google Docs
00:23:54
◼
►
I agree. And I agree with you too that like, this implementation is super janky. But I
00:24:00
◼
►
like you because I think we use these tools very, very similar way. I really mostly care
00:24:05
◼
►
about dragging into docs. And I like you very, very rarely copy anything out of a Google
00:24:12
◼
►
Doc. And so yeah, like this isn't clearly not ideal. But for the way that you and I
00:24:18
◼
►
work, it's okay. And I'm glad that this is here as opposed to them waiting until they
00:24:23
◼
►
could get it going both directions that I will take this for now but I do hope
00:24:28
◼
►
that they they get it worked out in the future. Yeah exactly, I feel exactly the same.
00:24:32
◼
►
Last item of massive follow-up today, podcast app redesigns. So they were just
00:24:39
◼
►
there were two things that we've spoken about in the past and I wanted to just
00:24:42
◼
►
mention the applications I've seen that updated. So we were talking about Castro
00:24:46
◼
►
when the iPhone 10 came out and about the fact that they were putting a black
00:24:52
◼
►
bar at the top of the app, right? And I don't think any of us like that, because it became
00:24:57
◼
►
very apparent, I think, to most people very quickly that the embracing of the notch design
00:25:02
◼
►
was the right way to go, while Castro 2.5.3 is out and they are doing it. They're extending
00:25:07
◼
►
color all the way to the top. So I'm very pleased to see that Supertop reversed their
00:25:12
◼
►
thinking on this. And I spoke to the guys there and they were like, "We wanted to have
00:25:18
◼
►
device with us so we could see how it would look before we made any changes. I totally
00:25:23
◼
►
understand that and I'm happy that they did, right? Like that they saw it and they were
00:25:27
◼
►
like, okay, we need to change this and they did. So they have, they are embracing the
00:25:31
◼
►
notch now. Um, but also Overcast just got a true black theme, like an OLED black theme
00:25:39
◼
►
and it is wonderful.
00:25:40
◼
►
It is. It's really good.
00:25:43
◼
►
I absolutely love it because any application that I have that has one of these now, and
00:25:48
◼
►
are many. Overcast is the only app that I use frequently. It's the only app that's
00:25:54
◼
►
dark theme is black as opposed to grey and it looks glorious on the iPhone 10. It looks
00:26:01
◼
►
so so good. I'm very very happy with it.
00:26:06
◼
►
It is nice and I think we'll see more apps move from grey to black or actually Marco
00:26:11
◼
►
kept both so you can pick between normal and grey.
00:26:14
◼
►
Which is the right thing to do because black will still look bad on the non- outlet screens
00:26:17
◼
►
right which is why none of these dark themes are black.
00:26:21
◼
►
Yeah it's funny I was scrolling through these the super top tweet and they're now arguing
00:26:26
◼
►
with somebody about how they can't do a dark a black mode so one step forward at a time
00:26:30
◼
►
I guess but I think that developers should consider this it does look so nice on OLED
00:26:36
◼
►
there's indication that it's better on battery easier on the screen and even though I don't
00:26:40
◼
►
love the aesthetic of dark modes I find myself using them now when they're available on the
00:26:46
◼
►
the X, not necessarily on my iPad, but definitely on the X.
00:26:52
◼
►
It's a whole different thing.
00:26:54
◼
►
I think that a lot of people are hesitant of dark modes because they haven't liked dark
00:26:58
◼
►
modes in the past, but this is something else.
00:27:01
◼
►
This is a very impressive thing to look at.
00:27:04
◼
►
It's not like, "Oh, I want to just have my phone be dark rather than white."
00:27:09
◼
►
No, this is like, the pixels aren't on.
00:27:12
◼
►
It looks like everything that you're seeing, it looks like that's all it is.
00:27:16
◼
►
It's a very different look and I really hope to see more people do this.
00:27:22
◼
►
And I know everybody has strong opinions about design but if you have a dark mode in your
00:27:25
◼
►
application you should be having one of these two because all of the people that wanted
00:27:29
◼
►
your dark mode in the first place will want this.
00:27:32
◼
►
Like please just add them developers.
00:27:35
◼
►
I beg of you.
00:27:36
◼
►
Tweetbot, that's the one I want.
00:27:37
◼
►
I'm just going to say it's the one I want the most.
00:27:39
◼
►
I really hope they're going to do it because I have had Android Twitter clients on Android
00:27:45
◼
►
phones with all the screens. My gosh, it looks incredible. So I really, really hope to see
00:27:51
◼
►
a tweetbot true black. And that's why I like that name. By the way, I don't know where
00:27:56
◼
►
that came from. True black. That's a good kind of way to describe these themes. Not
00:28:02
◼
►
just dark theme. It's like a true black theme. It's like, that's the
00:28:05
◼
►
agreed. Everyone should have one. We had a question from Eric. I know this was interesting.
00:28:12
◼
►
What are your current iPad Pro accessory lineups?
00:28:15
◼
►
I know Federico has changed keyboards, I think every other week, it seems like since the
00:28:22
◼
►
iPad Pros came out.
00:28:25
◼
►
I'm using the smart keyboard, it's always attached to my iPad.
00:28:29
◼
►
If I'm not using the keyboard, I sort of sling it around at the back.
00:28:33
◼
►
I use it very anytime I'm typing on the iPad, I do it with the keyboard.
00:28:36
◼
►
I have an Apple pencil.
00:28:38
◼
►
I don't I don't know the last time I used it.
00:28:40
◼
►
not a thing that has found its way into my into my working life with the iPad.
00:28:45
◼
►
What about you? Both iPads have smart keyboards and Apple pencils permanently
00:28:51
◼
►
attached to them. I attached the pencil with a Leuchtturm pen loop, just a German
00:28:58
◼
►
pen and paper company, and they make really nice loops in a bunch of
00:29:01
◼
►
different colors and they're super easy to get and they're cheap and it's an adhesive
00:29:05
◼
►
you just stick it to the back of the iPad and that's how I keep an Apple
00:29:09
◼
►
pencil attached. There is a downside of that. Like if you keep the Apple pencil attached
00:29:13
◼
►
to the iPad, you will need to be charging your Apple pencil all the time because the
00:29:17
◼
►
connection remains and it drains the battery down. But I'm fine with it because the pencil
00:29:21
◼
►
charges so quickly. Like I always know when I'm going to want to use it. All I need to
00:29:25
◼
►
do is just stick it in the lightning port for 15 seconds and I'm ready for like, ready
00:29:28
◼
►
to go. Right? Like it's not a problem. But yeah, there's just something to bear in mind.
00:29:33
◼
►
But I do, if you use the Apple pencil a lot, it's only useful if it's attached in my opinion,
00:29:38
◼
►
otherwise you're going to be looking for it and I like this way of doing it just
00:29:42
◼
►
to use a pen loop and you can use any type of pen loop really but this is the
00:29:46
◼
►
one that I've used to great success for the last two and a bit years so that's
00:29:51
◼
►
that's how I do it so I run smart keyboards Apple pencils all the way it's
00:29:55
◼
►
the best combo that I have found so far none of the other keyboards for the new
00:29:59
◼
►
iPads especially 10.5 make me happy so I'm sticking with the smart keyboard
00:30:06
◼
►
Yeah, I just don't want to deal with Bluetooth stuff. Like it's just, you know,
00:30:11
◼
►
snap it around and it works. And I think it's a case for the smart connector
00:30:15
◼
►
being really good, but we talked about this, the smart connectors hasn't taken
00:30:21
◼
►
off yet, so smart keyboard it is. You know, I should just rename it the keyboard
00:30:25
◼
►
connector and then just leave it at that, right? Apple only keyboard connector. I like other keyboards
00:30:32
◼
►
more like I don't love the smart keyboard I'm pretty fast on it but it's
00:30:36
◼
►
not I prefer something more like the magic keyboard but again talking about
00:30:43
◼
►
trade-offs not dealing with Bluetooth or like having something that's like
00:30:46
◼
►
separate from the iPad you know and something that's not bulky then I'm
00:30:51
◼
►
willing to put up with a keyboard that I don't love as much to get all those
00:30:55
◼
►
other things my hashtag keyboard opinion is that I love the smart keyboard I
00:31:00
◼
►
I think it's a great keyboard in my opinion. I like the way it feels. I like the way it
00:31:04
◼
►
types on it. Everybody's opinions vary on keyboards. That's something I've learned over
00:31:09
◼
►
the last couple of weeks.
00:31:11
◼
►
That's been a real situation on the Mac side of things.
00:31:15
◼
►
Everybody has opinions about their keyboards and I just want to say that I really like
00:31:19
◼
►
my smart keyboard. And I like my Microsoft Sculptor economic keyboard too.
00:31:25
◼
►
Today's episode is also brought to you by our friends over at Ting. Ting is a mobile
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All right. All right. So was the the wonderful tradition of Black Friday very recently and
00:33:24
◼
►
in Cyber Monday. I don't know if this is the thing I actually do think this is a thing
00:33:27
◼
►
in the US because we've I noticed that while I was there as much as I've noticed that when
00:33:31
◼
►
I've been back at home the Black Friday lasts for about two weeks now. Like like Black Friday
00:33:37
◼
►
sales are just like a two weeks. I don't get this. But sure like it's just holiday sales
00:33:43
◼
►
period but I also find it funny that we have Black Friday in England which
00:33:48
◼
►
doesn't make any sense right we don't have the Friday after Thanksgiving like
00:33:52
◼
►
that isn't a thing that exists here but yet this specific day is now also a
00:33:56
◼
►
sales day for us but anyway I made a purchase because I saw a good deal on a
00:34:02
◼
►
Google Home Mini mm-hmm so I bought one they're like 35 pounds now or something
00:34:08
◼
►
they're like 25% off I don't know if this is if it is a constant thing but I
00:34:12
◼
►
I thought for 35 pounds, I'll get one of these.
00:34:15
◼
►
So I did, I got the red one, it's looking at me right now.
00:34:18
◼
►
I learned as I was beginning the show today
00:34:21
◼
►
that when you mute the microphone, it tells you,
00:34:23
◼
►
it doesn't just do nothing.
00:34:25
◼
►
- So stupid. - Like the echo.
00:34:27
◼
►
It goes, microphone is muted.
00:34:29
◼
►
I should just play it for you so you can hear it,
00:34:31
◼
►
how about that?
00:34:33
◼
►
- The mic's back on.
00:34:35
◼
►
- Okay, so now you know what happens when you turn it on.
00:34:38
◼
►
- The mic's off.
00:34:40
◼
►
- Why does it do that?
00:34:41
◼
►
Like it's it's it's the exact wrong thing to do.
00:34:45
◼
►
I have noticed that a lot about this device, which I will, you know, I'm just going to
00:34:50
◼
►
jump ahead right now.
00:34:52
◼
►
Is it designed by Twitter?
00:34:53
◼
►
That's like a Twitter Inc thing.
00:34:56
◼
►
Do exactly the wrong thing in every situation.
00:34:58
◼
►
So I compare the two, right?
00:35:01
◼
►
So I have an Echo, I'm looking at them.
00:35:03
◼
►
I have an Echo Dot here and I have a Google Home Mini right here.
00:35:06
◼
►
So like a lot of what I'm going to say is comparisons between the two.
00:35:10
◼
►
One of the key things for me is the Google Home Mini says way too much.
00:35:15
◼
►
It uses too many words in basically every single instance.
00:35:20
◼
►
For example, I said something which it didn't understand.
00:35:25
◼
►
And with the Echo, it's like, "Sorry, I didn't understand."
00:35:28
◼
►
It will say something like, "Sorry, I didn't get that."
00:35:30
◼
►
Or like, "I can't process that right now."
00:35:32
◼
►
You know, very quick things.
00:35:34
◼
►
But the Google Home Mini, it says that. It's like, "Sorry, I can't do that right now."
00:35:37
◼
►
right now but then it goes but I'm learning all the time like no I don't I
00:35:42
◼
►
have learned now over my time of Siri and the echo and now with the Google
00:35:49
◼
►
Home stuff stop saying superfluous cute funny things it doesn't see a problem it
00:35:56
◼
►
doesn't help and Google Home the Google Assistant does this too it's like I
00:36:01
◼
►
don't need to know that you're learning all the time because you didn't do what
00:36:04
◼
►
I asked. I don't care that you're learning. The good thing about the echo in this regard
00:36:10
◼
►
is if it gets something wrong, it is a smaller period of time until I can try again. Because
00:36:17
◼
►
I don't know if you like this but I guess it's like a human thing. I wait for it to
00:36:20
◼
►
finish what it's saying because that's conversation. I guess this is just something in the back
00:36:27
◼
►
of my head that's making me do this. Or for example, this is another example. I ask it
00:36:33
◼
►
to turn on a light or turn off a light. So I say like, hey, ahoy device, turn off the
00:36:39
◼
►
office lamp. And the Amazon Echo goes, okay, and then the lights turn off. The Google Home
00:36:46
◼
►
Mini says, okay, turning the office lamp off. The lamp is already off. By the time you finish
00:36:54
◼
►
the sentence. Like, I don't understand the requirement for so many words. Like, it's
00:37:01
◼
►
It's very weird, it just seems like a poor design decision.
00:37:06
◼
►
I don't understand how you could, so Google Home has been around for a while, they obviously
00:37:11
◼
►
compare it to other things, I don't know why they feel the requirement to do this.
00:37:15
◼
►
My only assumption is they believe it makes people think the assistant is more than it
00:37:20
◼
►
Like, that it is a thing that keeps talking to you as if it is an assistant as opposed
00:37:25
◼
►
to just a dumb device which does take your commands.
00:37:30
◼
►
I find it very peculiar. But anyway, so I'll go back a bit. The hardware itself is fine.
00:37:34
◼
►
I got the red one. It's got that cloth covering and it's got some little lights on it. You
00:37:39
◼
►
can change the volume by tapping on it. But as we know from previous conversations, you
00:37:43
◼
►
cannot tap on it to mute it. You have to hit the switch around the back. But honestly,
00:37:47
◼
►
I kind of prefer that. Like it's always strange to me that it would have two ways to mute
00:37:52
◼
►
it. Like I feel like that was a bad design decision anyway. So the switch on the back
00:37:56
◼
►
makes more sense to me than having two different ways to mute and unmute the device.
00:38:03
◼
►
All of these devices are controlled and configured for applications.
00:38:11
◼
►
There's a Google Home app which you use to set it up.
00:38:14
◼
►
The setup was the easiest setup I've had of any smart device.
00:38:19
◼
►
I didn't have to connect it to a specific Wi-Fi network.
00:38:23
◼
►
I didn't have to connect my phone to a WiFi network that the device created.
00:38:28
◼
►
I don't know how it paired, but it did super easily.
00:38:32
◼
►
And then all I needed to do was put my WiFi password in to save it to the device.
00:38:36
◼
►
And that was it.
00:38:37
◼
►
It was a really, really easy thing to do.
00:38:39
◼
►
And it does something by sound, because the phone makes a noise.
00:38:44
◼
►
And I think that the home is listening for the noise.
00:38:46
◼
►
That is genius.
00:38:48
◼
►
That pairing thing was the best pairing I've had of any of these types of devices.
00:38:52
◼
►
just works so well. Actually the Canary did a good job too. Like when you're setting up
00:38:56
◼
►
a Canary for the first time they give you a 3.5mm headphone cable like an AUX cable
00:39:03
◼
►
which you plug into the device and your phone and it sends a noise to it. So it's the same
00:39:06
◼
►
kind of idea but this was even better because there wasn't even a cable for me to do. Like
00:39:10
◼
►
it just paired it and then I just put my wifi password in and it was done. And then after
00:39:15
◼
►
that right like it's set up and I wanna set it up with integrations right like I wanna
00:39:21
◼
►
to put my Hue lights on it, I want to see what else is going on.
00:39:25
◼
►
Hook up, remember the milk?
00:39:26
◼
►
Yeah, of course.
00:39:28
◼
►
I feel like I'm pretty good at technology, right?
00:39:30
◼
►
I feel like I understand how to use technology.
00:39:33
◼
►
This is one of the most confusing things I have done in recent memory.
00:39:38
◼
►
Because their application doesn't explain anywhere where any of these things are.
00:39:44
◼
►
The Google Home app is really tricky to understand.
00:39:47
◼
►
And their support documentation is wrong.
00:39:50
◼
►
This happened to me on two different occasions with two support documents.
00:39:53
◼
►
It was telling me to press buttons that don't exist in the app.
00:39:57
◼
►
They are not there.
00:39:58
◼
►
It was like, "Oh, press this button and press the 'more settings' button."
00:40:02
◼
►
There is no more settings button.
00:40:06
◼
►
And I think one of the reasons for this is because I think they made the decision at
00:40:10
◼
►
some point that for you to get to any of the integrations you have to install the Assistant
00:40:15
◼
►
app as well.
00:40:16
◼
►
I don't want to do that.
00:40:18
◼
►
But now I have to have two applications installed.
00:40:20
◼
►
So I would hit the Explore tab.
00:40:22
◼
►
It's like, I'll hit the Explore tab, then you can browse other integrations.
00:40:26
◼
►
When I hit the Explore tab, all it would say is download the Assistant app.
00:40:30
◼
►
And you can say no thanks, and it dumps you out to the main screen again.
00:40:32
◼
►
So you go back to Explore, and it says, hey, download the Assistant app.
00:40:36
◼
►
All it will let you do is download the Google Assistant app.
00:40:39
◼
►
And then when you're in the Google Assistant app, you can find all of the integrations,
00:40:43
◼
►
and they integrate with the Assistant, therefore integrating with Google Home.
00:40:47
◼
►
I understand if this is what you want to do, but there should be one application.
00:40:51
◼
►
You should, the home stuff should live inside of the Assistant app then,
00:40:56
◼
►
if this is what you want to do.
00:40:57
◼
►
Like, I don't know why I need to have these two different applications to,
00:41:01
◼
►
to perform the one function that I want. And then like, man,
00:41:06
◼
►
I thought that Amazon's UI for browsing integrations and skills was bad.
00:41:10
◼
►
Google's is so much worse. And I do not expect that from Google.
00:41:16
◼
►
I expect good design and it is confusing.
00:41:19
◼
►
They do a really bad job of breaking things out into categories.
00:41:22
◼
►
It's not spread out very well.
00:41:24
◼
►
It's really difficult to find anything.
00:41:26
◼
►
And like I searched for IFTTT, came up in the search results,
00:41:30
◼
►
I tapped it and I'm taken to a broken blank page inside of the app
00:41:35
◼
►
with no way to enable it.
00:41:36
◼
►
So then I go to IFTTT and I enable it through them.
00:41:39
◼
►
Like I'm really disappointed with this device so far.
00:41:44
◼
►
Like I'm going to keep it because I'm interested in trying some of the things more that it
00:41:51
◼
►
Like I'm thinking about getting a Chromecast because I like the idea of like being able
00:41:57
◼
►
to summon YouTube videos with my voice and stuff like that.
00:41:59
◼
►
That sounds like a fun little thing to do.
00:42:02
◼
►
And I bet it does and I haven't really done any big tests on this but like the Google
00:42:06
◼
►
search stuff being built in I bet is going to be way better for getting answers to questions.
00:42:12
◼
►
But the whole setup process of this device has been pretty bad and is only accentuated
00:42:18
◼
►
by the fact that my experience with the Amazon Echo has been vastly superior so far, which
00:42:24
◼
►
is very surprising to me.
00:42:26
◼
►
Yeah, you don't think about Amazon being the company in that scenario that gets it right.
00:42:32
◼
►
I really expected better from Google in this and I'm sure that if you've never used an
00:42:37
◼
►
Echo you probably don't recognize a bunch of these things, but I think the thing that
00:42:41
◼
►
frustrates me the most is the application stuff, right?
00:42:44
◼
►
That like, why can I not enable skills for my Google Home
00:42:49
◼
►
in the Google Home app?
00:42:50
◼
►
Why do I have to download the Google Assistant app?
00:42:52
◼
►
Yeah, that feels a little lazy, that they're
00:42:55
◼
►
sort of bunting out to the system
00:42:56
◼
►
they already have in the Assistant.
00:42:58
◼
►
It's funny that you call it lazy.
00:43:00
◼
►
Like, this to me speaks of design by committee.
00:43:04
◼
►
The Google Assistant team really want that app
00:43:07
◼
►
installed on people's devices.
00:43:08
◼
►
Like, that's what I see has happened here.
00:43:11
◼
►
they're like oh we've they got to download that one too. It's a strategy tax right?
00:43:14
◼
►
Yes. Yeah. That's more important to the company than home is ultimately I think.
00:43:19
◼
►
Yep it is because it's just everywhere. And so they're willing to punish you for
00:43:24
◼
►
their corporate strategy. Yep. Which is really annoying. But yeah you sent yours back right?
00:43:30
◼
►
You got the big one. I gave it to my brother-in-law. Okay. It sat around past
00:43:37
◼
►
the return date and I was saying it to him when he was in town a couple weeks ago.
00:43:39
◼
►
Does he like it? I actually haven't asked him about it. I don't know. I should I
00:43:44
◼
►
should ask him. I think he listens. So Whit, if you like Google Home, text me.
00:43:48
◼
►
Oh, hi Whit. Hey, it's so interesting that on the surface the Echo and the Google
00:43:55
◼
►
Home are really similar products, right? They do basically the same type of
00:44:01
◼
►
things, they look kind of the same way, but that they are treated so differently
00:44:05
◼
►
and set up. I just find that sort of thing really interesting. The other thing I find
00:44:11
◼
►
interesting is I'm on the Google Home Help page at support.google.com. I've used Google
00:44:16
◼
►
stuff like I had a Gmail account back when it was like invite only. I've been a Google
00:44:21
◼
►
user for a really long time and I've never seen this on a page. At the top it's choose
00:44:27
◼
►
your help center. US, UK, Canada, Australia, phone numbers, links. And at the bottom, hey,
00:44:33
◼
►
I could chat with a member of the Google Home Help team.
00:44:36
◼
►
I could just start chatting with them.
00:44:38
◼
►
I don't know if Google realizes people are having trouble
00:44:43
◼
►
or that Google is finally, after all of these years,
00:44:47
◼
►
realizing that if you're gonna have a consumer product,
00:44:50
◼
►
you have to offer support for it.
00:44:53
◼
►
That's kind of the problem with Gmail and Google Calendar
00:44:56
◼
►
is that it's extremely difficult to speak to somebody
00:45:01
◼
►
phone or over chat or over email and like a customer service role. They have really
00:45:06
◼
►
good support documents, but they have always lacked that sort of human touch to their support.
00:45:15
◼
►
And it seems like with Google Home, they're changing that. Maybe it's better with the
00:45:18
◼
►
pixels? I haven't bought a...
00:45:19
◼
►
I expect that a lot of this changed when they started making hardware. Like the software
00:45:25
◼
►
stuff, you know, you can mostly shake a lot of those things off and they have been able
00:45:30
◼
►
to, right, for so long. Like you can kind of just hope that people will find it in the forums.
00:45:34
◼
►
But when you're making hardware products, you have to offer support. And they do that,
00:45:39
◼
►
right? Like in a way that they never have before. Like, Made by Google is a serious effort from them,
00:45:45
◼
►
full of problems right now. But like, that's that's a story for probably for a year in the
00:45:50
◼
►
year in review episode. But they are trying to be a hardware company. And at that point,
00:45:57
◼
►
they need to have customer support and it looks like they are doing a better job of it.
00:46:00
◼
►
I think they're getting there. You know, Apple, um, Apple people like to sort of ding Google for
00:46:07
◼
►
that. And I think that's fair to a degree, but I think also, I think we have to say that they
00:46:13
◼
►
are improving. I guess you can't walk in a Google store and have your, you know, the screen on your
00:46:17
◼
►
pixel two that you broke, you know, replaced same day like you can an iPhone, but Google's at the
00:46:23
◼
►
very beginning of this. And I think they're at the very least moving in the right direction.
00:46:27
◼
►
Like, yeah, it kind of stinks that your user experience was kind of crummy on the home.
00:46:31
◼
►
But I bet they I bet they improve it over time. And it seems like at the very least, if you have
00:46:36
◼
►
some sort of hardware issue with it, then you know, you're going to be set in a whole bunch of
00:46:41
◼
►
different ways to get in touch with somebody have them take care of it for you. And I think that's
00:46:45
◼
►
a really important thing that they've missed for a long time. And it's encouraging to see them sort
00:46:52
◼
►
sort of get on the right track.
00:46:54
◼
►
- Yep, I think so too.
00:46:55
◼
►
I will say the voice sounds a lot better.
00:46:58
◼
►
- Yeah, it does.
00:47:00
◼
►
- The voice technology that Google has, understandably,
00:47:04
◼
►
is vastly superior to what Amazon has.
00:47:09
◼
►
- I think it's best on the market.
00:47:10
◼
►
I think it's better than Siri,
00:47:12
◼
►
I think it's better than anything I've heard.
00:47:13
◼
►
- And I haven't done any extensive tests with this yet,
00:47:16
◼
►
but it's got the whole,
00:47:18
◼
►
and it talks about it in the setup process,
00:47:20
◼
►
like the training of the voice patterns
00:47:22
◼
►
and how it remembers who you are and stuff like that.
00:47:25
◼
►
And I believe that Siri has this
00:47:27
◼
►
and I believe that Amazon have this to a point,
00:47:29
◼
►
but it seems pretty hidden.
00:47:30
◼
►
Like Google is very bullish about it.
00:47:32
◼
►
They call it out as a feature
00:47:34
◼
►
when everybody else uses it as a way to avoid problems.
00:47:37
◼
►
But they're like, nope, we'll be able to detect you
00:47:39
◼
►
and be able to say who you are
00:47:41
◼
►
and work out who you are and that kind of stuff.
00:47:42
◼
►
So I don't know, my time is not done with this device.
00:47:45
◼
►
I'm not ready to put it back in a box and send it off.
00:47:48
◼
►
A lot of my frustrations I believe are coming because I am used to something different.
00:47:53
◼
►
But I expect that there are many more things that I will come into contact with with a
00:47:57
◼
►
device that are better.
00:47:59
◼
►
And so I'm keen to see how it goes.
00:48:02
◼
►
For example, the Assistant app, if I got into that, I can see that being really good.
00:48:08
◼
►
Me being able to ask Todoist by text stuff and rather, to be able to use the integrations
00:48:15
◼
►
rather than just voice, you can also send it queries.
00:48:18
◼
►
Like, that is really interesting,
00:48:20
◼
►
and I am keen to play around with more of that.
00:48:23
◼
►
There are good things here, and I bet, like,
00:48:26
◼
►
people that are in the Google ecosystem,
00:48:28
◼
►
I bet this device is fantastic, right?
00:48:31
◼
►
Because you can have it send stuff to your phone
00:48:33
◼
►
and stuff like that. And I wonder if--
00:48:35
◼
►
I mean, again, I haven't tried. I will play around with it.
00:48:37
◼
►
Some more, it should do this. If it doesn't,
00:48:39
◼
►
it should be able to send stuff to the Assistant app for me, right?
00:48:42
◼
►
Like, if I need directions and stuff as a way to get it
00:48:44
◼
►
get through to my iPhone but like to be able to have that kind of deep hook in
00:48:48
◼
►
is really interesting and is what I hope Apple will be able to do right with the
00:48:54
◼
►
HomePod like I really hope that there is that maybe some of the story maybe some
00:48:58
◼
►
of the reason that it's delayed is that they want to add more they want to do
00:49:02
◼
►
more with it that's my hope and if that's what's gonna happen but I think
00:49:05
◼
►
down the line Apple will have a device if it's not the HomePod that will be
00:49:09
◼
►
better at doing some of this stuff. But Google is very far ahead with that. Like
00:49:14
◼
►
the way that it integrates several of these products into their ecosystem, they
00:49:18
◼
►
are the leader in this right now because they have the Google
00:49:21
◼
►
Assistant and it's everywhere on everything and that's really interesting.
00:49:25
◼
►
Like you know like their computers, the Pixelbook has a button right and you can
00:49:30
◼
►
talk to it or you can write to it. Like it's really interesting in a way
00:49:36
◼
►
that Siri isn't because Siri is still like these instances as opposed to this
00:49:45
◼
►
one cohesive net which it seems like Google is casting across its products
00:49:49
◼
►
where like you can talk to Siri but you are talking to Siri on this device like
00:49:55
◼
►
it is this one Siri is how it feels right because as well like it the things
00:50:00
◼
►
it can do differ on all of these different devices where it feels to me
00:50:05
◼
►
like the assistant, the Google Assistant, is way more cohesive across its product line.
00:50:11
◼
►
So yeah, and that's something that Google and Apple have over Amazon. You know, I think
00:50:19
◼
►
the Echo, at least in mindshare, is probably the most popular sort of home assistant device,
00:50:25
◼
►
if not in shared numbers, but they struggle to integrate with things like your calendar,
00:50:32
◼
►
or your contacts or your reminders because they don't,
00:50:36
◼
►
like no one uses Amazon services for that other stuff.
00:50:39
◼
►
Or Amazon doesn't offer services in those realms.
00:50:42
◼
►
But if you have a Google Home and you use Google Calendar,
00:50:46
◼
►
even if you're on an iPhone, that gets you linked up.
00:50:49
◼
►
And if you have an Android phone,
00:50:51
◼
►
maybe you can even do more, and HomePod and iCloud,
00:50:54
◼
►
and that's really where you get the benefit
00:50:57
◼
►
of being all in one ecosystem.
00:51:00
◼
►
And I've thought a lot about this
00:51:01
◼
►
I use Gmail and I use Google contacts and use Google calendars on an iPhone and a Mac.
00:51:07
◼
►
And I do that for a bunch of really specific reasons that aren't really important for this
00:51:11
◼
►
conversation.
00:51:12
◼
►
But you know, so far, I haven't felt like I've lost out on any cool integration stuff
00:51:18
◼
►
because the Google stuff is so well supported in iOS.
00:51:22
◼
►
But if we were to get the HomePod, and for some reason it were really to click in our
00:51:25
◼
►
household, you know, would I be tempted to move some stuff back into iCloud so I could
00:51:29
◼
►
maybe have it there too?
00:51:30
◼
►
Like, these companies are playing chess
00:51:34
◼
►
with all these different pieces of our data
00:51:36
◼
►
and they want us, and it's beneficial to customers,
00:51:39
◼
►
to be all in on one.
00:51:41
◼
►
And I think ultimately that's probably gonna hurt Amazon
00:51:44
◼
►
in the long run unless they really strike some deal
00:51:49
◼
►
with Google to have full-blown access to a Google account.
00:51:54
◼
►
And Apple's never gonna do that with iCloud,
00:51:55
◼
►
so they're always gonna be behind there.
00:51:57
◼
►
And looking out, several years down the road,
00:52:00
◼
►
I just wonder how that'll play out once these devices really
00:52:05
◼
►
become more mature and the services that hold them
00:52:08
◼
►
all together become more powerful.
00:52:10
◼
►
My expectation is Amazon knows this fate,
00:52:12
◼
►
which is why they are making so many of these things.
00:52:15
◼
►
In the next two years, there'll be an echo for everything.
00:52:21
◼
►
And I think that's the point.
00:52:23
◼
►
They're trying to make an ecosystem which is just this,
00:52:26
◼
►
because they can't plug into anything else.
00:52:28
◼
►
And I think they're very aware of that.
00:52:30
◼
►
That's their Achilles' heel in this, right?
00:52:31
◼
►
There is no phone, that's the problem.
00:52:33
◼
►
And there's never gonna be, right?
00:52:35
◼
►
Like, they're never gonna, they can't do this now.
00:52:38
◼
►
They failed too many times.
00:52:40
◼
►
The phone thing is gone for them.
00:52:42
◼
►
So they're trying to just build the home stuff
00:52:45
◼
►
and make their home stuff super strong
00:52:47
◼
►
in the hope that you will just use the home stuff, right?
00:52:49
◼
►
And you'll be good with that.
00:52:51
◼
►
Because they're not gonna be able
00:52:52
◼
►
to build the entire ecosystem.
00:52:54
◼
►
Which, I mean, if they can do it though,
00:52:57
◼
►
it's great for them.
00:52:57
◼
►
because all this is for is to sell more stuff.
00:53:00
◼
►
Right, that's the plan.
00:53:02
◼
►
Sell more stuff and integrate with their winning services
00:53:05
◼
►
like Prime, right, and Prime Video.
00:53:07
◼
►
That's what all this is for,
00:53:09
◼
►
and as long as they can keep building compelling products
00:53:11
◼
►
and they're gonna keep people in that ecosystem,
00:53:13
◼
►
but it might not be the overall piece,
00:53:14
◼
►
which they obviously wanted,
00:53:16
◼
►
but they weren't able to achieve.
00:53:18
◼
►
And I think they're too far behind now.
00:53:22
◼
►
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►
I do not understand this topic heading because it says "Trying Windows Again."
00:54:48
◼
►
This is a very all over the place episode.
00:54:51
◼
►
I am now an Android user and Steven is a Windows user.
00:54:56
◼
►
Better eco should never leave.
00:54:58
◼
►
- So there's been a lot of conversation about the state
00:55:04
◼
►
of Apple hardware, which we do not need to retry this week.
00:55:07
◼
►
We do not need to retry it.
00:55:09
◼
►
But something that comes out of these debates sometimes
00:55:13
◼
►
is if Apple doesn't fix the MacBook Pro,
00:55:17
◼
►
I'll just buy a Surface Book.
00:55:19
◼
►
Or if there's not a Mac Pro that meets my needs,
00:55:22
◼
►
I'll just build a PC to edit video on.
00:55:25
◼
►
There's a couple comments this weekend about Windows
00:55:29
◼
►
is receiving active development and the Mac OS is dead,
00:55:34
◼
►
which I can't disagree with more strongly.
00:55:36
◼
►
But all of that has sort of been like
00:55:39
◼
►
running around in my head as we've had these conversations
00:55:41
◼
►
about Mac hardware.
00:55:43
◼
►
And I've got a background as a Windows user,
00:55:47
◼
►
actually like a Windows admin at a job for like four years in like Windows Vista
00:55:51
◼
►
in seven days and so I'm familiar with it but I don't run it day to day. I haven't
00:55:57
◼
►
run it day to day since like 2012, 2013 and I thought that would be interesting
00:56:03
◼
►
just to kind of see like I haven't really spent time with Windows 10. What of
00:56:08
◼
►
my existing workflow without changing anything could I just pick up and put on
00:56:12
◼
►
Windows say that the Mac went away today and had to use Windows, what would what
00:56:18
◼
►
would my what my options be right so it's kind of taking the iPad out of the
00:56:22
◼
►
equation for a little bit I know that's a little unfair but this is the thought
00:56:25
◼
►
experiment I sort of came up with so after like arguing with boot camp for
00:56:30
◼
►
like an hour and a half on my MacBook Pro and maybe like breaking my boot
00:56:34
◼
►
volume temporarily I end up just having Windows 10 install into VMware fusion so
00:56:39
◼
►
virtual machine so I'm still running Mac OS but have Windows full screen and it's
00:56:46
◼
►
interesting I haven't really spent time with Windows 10 it's still very much
00:56:49
◼
►
Windows like if you've used Windows in the last decade right you're not gonna
00:56:53
◼
►
get lost no you know people say like the Mac OS interface is kind of stagnant
00:57:01
◼
►
well I think I mean Windows 10 like they keep rearranging the start menu but past
00:57:04
◼
►
that it's still Windows. They tried right but obviously yeah it did not go well
00:57:10
◼
►
now it's an option if you want the Windows 8 style like full screen full
00:57:15
◼
►
screen deal. What I was really surprised by and this is a benefit of the pay for
00:57:21
◼
►
a service and get the apps sort of ecosystem we live in now that most of my
00:57:25
◼
►
major apps are fine on Windows. So Slack, 1Password we pay for 1Password for
00:57:30
◼
►
teams at Relay so I could log into my Relay account online and download
00:57:34
◼
►
one password for Windows for free. Dropbox of course Chrome. I pay for text
00:57:38
◼
►
expander their syncing service. They have a Windows app. You get it if you pay for the syncing
00:57:43
◼
►
service. Text expander on Windows blew my mind. All that stuff installed fine. I
00:57:48
◼
►
could configure it fine. You know they're sort of like the core Mac apps. Windows
00:57:54
◼
►
has like the Mac mail contacts calendar apps. They work okay with Gmail stuff. The
00:58:01
◼
►
The calendar app had this funny bug where it was showing me everything, every event
00:58:05
◼
►
ever declined and I could not figure how to turn it off.
00:58:08
◼
►
So that's annoying but I'm sure it's sitting somewhere.
00:58:10
◼
►
Sometimes you need regret in your calendar.
00:58:13
◼
►
It was full of regret.
00:58:16
◼
►
Full of regret.
00:58:18
◼
►
I do have some iCloud only stuff like notes and photos I have just in iCloud.
00:58:23
◼
►
And Apple's solution is use the browser.
00:58:26
◼
►
You can install iCloud for Windows.
00:58:28
◼
►
It's this control panel and it syncs some stuff.
00:58:30
◼
►
I did not touch that thing.
00:58:32
◼
►
- That's not good.
00:58:34
◼
►
- So if I wanted notes, you know, I gotta use a browser.
00:58:37
◼
►
There's no great markdown editors,
00:58:38
◼
►
there are a few different options.
00:58:40
◼
►
There's obviously no Logic or Final Cut,
00:58:41
◼
►
but if you use the Adobe apps, they're basically the same.
00:58:44
◼
►
So if I were to use Audition and Premiere,
00:58:48
◼
►
instead of Logic and Final Cut, then I could move over.
00:58:51
◼
►
And I think that's where a lot of this comes from,
00:58:54
◼
►
is like high-end users of like, hey,
00:58:56
◼
►
you know, I'm using the Adobe apps and they work on Windows.
00:59:00
◼
►
basically the same way, so why not build a PC
00:59:02
◼
►
with like a crazy GPU and just go to town?
00:59:05
◼
►
That's a perfectly valid move, if that's what you need to do.
00:59:10
◼
►
So I kinda walked, I'm still doing it,
00:59:14
◼
►
I actually did most of my work yesterday
00:59:17
◼
►
in this Windows VM, like did my relay administration stuff,
00:59:21
◼
►
did some writing, prepared for the show,
00:59:23
◼
►
as much of it as possible in Windows.
00:59:26
◼
►
And the short answer is, I could do it.
00:59:29
◼
►
The longer answer is I have no intention on doing it.
00:59:32
◼
►
The-- - You don't wanna do it.
00:59:34
◼
►
- No, no, just because the apps are there
00:59:37
◼
►
doesn't mean I enjoy using the operating system, right?
00:59:41
◼
►
It's still Windows, it's still fragile
00:59:44
◼
►
in the way that Windows is fragile.
00:59:45
◼
►
- All right, let me ask you about that though.
00:59:47
◼
►
What's wrong with it?
00:59:48
◼
►
- What's wrong with Windows?
00:59:50
◼
►
- Yeah. - It's gross.
00:59:51
◼
►
Windows is gross, man. - Why, why?
00:59:53
◼
►
- I'm gonna sound like one of those people that,
00:59:58
◼
►
people quote when they hate Apple fans.
01:00:01
◼
►
I just, the Mac is much more comfortable
01:00:06
◼
►
and more cohesively thought out than Windows is, I think.
01:00:09
◼
►
I think Windows is still suffering from the,
01:00:11
◼
►
Windows 8 tried to redo everything,
01:00:14
◼
►
and Windows 10 is sort of like Windows 7 plus Windows 8,
01:00:17
◼
►
and it's better than it used to be,
01:00:20
◼
►
but there are still times where it's sort of confusing
01:00:23
◼
►
like where things are or how things work.
01:00:26
◼
►
And I will admit that I'm new to this,
01:00:28
◼
►
And so I'm sure this gets better with time.
01:00:31
◼
►
But I think Windows just doesn't feel as polished to me
01:00:35
◼
►
and doesn't feel as thoughtfully considered
01:00:39
◼
►
as the Mac does.
01:00:41
◼
►
Now, I'm going into this with all the biases I have
01:00:46
◼
►
of being a long time Mac user.
01:00:48
◼
►
This is not an objective test
01:00:50
◼
►
by any stretch of the imagination.
01:00:52
◼
►
But it doesn't feel like an OS that I want to use.
01:00:58
◼
►
and it's still weirdness, right?
01:00:59
◼
►
So I installed 64-bit Windows 10,
01:01:03
◼
►
and it's like, oh, I'll install the 64-bit version of Slack,
01:01:07
◼
►
and that version just wouldn't install.
01:01:08
◼
►
It gave me like DLL errors on a brand new Windows install.
01:01:12
◼
►
And it's like, well, that's weird.
01:01:12
◼
►
So I downloaded the 32-bit version of Slack,
01:01:14
◼
►
and it installs fine.
01:01:16
◼
►
I don't know if that's Slack's problem
01:01:17
◼
►
or Microsoft's problem.
01:01:18
◼
►
Either way, it shouldn't be my problem.
01:01:20
◼
►
- Yeah, but like, it might not be Windows, though, right?
01:01:23
◼
►
Like, you are running Windows in a weird way.
01:01:26
◼
►
- No, Microsoft completely supports
01:01:29
◼
►
Windows in virtualization, 100%.
01:01:32
◼
►
And there's still that sort of weirdness, right?
01:01:37
◼
►
A user should never need to know
01:01:39
◼
►
if they're running a 32 or 64-bit version of the OS,
01:01:42
◼
►
or if the individual app they're using is 32 or 64-bit.
01:01:45
◼
►
- That is weird that it gives you a choice,
01:01:47
◼
►
that people give you a choice.
01:01:49
◼
►
It's strange.
01:01:51
◼
►
- So when I bought my Windows 10 license,
01:01:53
◼
►
you get to pick which one you download.
01:01:54
◼
►
It's like no one, like in 2017, 2018,
01:01:58
◼
►
no one should do this, right?
01:02:01
◼
►
And so the Mac takes care of all that for you.
01:02:03
◼
►
The OS has been 64-bit for a long time.
01:02:06
◼
►
32-bit apps run basically invisibly.
01:02:10
◼
►
They just work.
01:02:11
◼
►
Now that's getting ready to change
01:02:12
◼
►
because 32-bit apps are gonna go away.
01:02:15
◼
►
And I think they've set the version after the next one.
01:02:18
◼
►
But they have some decision-making, right?
01:02:22
◼
►
If I'm just a normal consumer,
01:02:23
◼
►
I don't know which one to download, right?
01:02:24
◼
►
Like, 32, I guess, or 64, and there's--
01:02:27
◼
►
- I would have to sit and think for just a second, right?
01:02:30
◼
►
Like, I'd be like, "Mm, am I getting the right?"
01:02:31
◼
►
Like, I would just have to pause for just a second
01:02:34
◼
►
and just have to think about that.
01:02:36
◼
►
- Yeah, it's just, that's not a huge deal, right?
01:02:40
◼
►
But it's sort of, that's what I'm sort of getting at.
01:02:42
◼
►
Like, you see all these weird edges and windows
01:02:44
◼
►
that I don't think most users are prepared for.
01:02:46
◼
►
- It is like endemic of the overall experience, right?
01:02:49
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Like there are these weird things you have to think about,
01:02:53
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which come typically from legacy, right?
01:02:57
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Which is I think accepted to be their biggest Achilles heel is the support that
01:03:02
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they have to give to legacy clients,
01:03:03
◼
►
like which is why the redesign failed, right? They had a,
01:03:08
◼
►
they had a really interesting redesign, right? Which was Windows 8.
01:03:11
◼
►
It failed because nobody wanted to get rid of what they knew. So they had to,
01:03:15
◼
►
they had to go back.
01:03:16
◼
►
Yeah. You know, people, um,
01:03:19
◼
►
you can complain about Apple supporting old stuff too long or not long enough, but on
01:03:25
◼
►
the Microsoft side of things like that is a real, real big issue. And it's because they
01:03:30
◼
►
have so many huge, like huge client bases and like the enterprise that, you know, they
01:03:36
◼
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wrote an app 10 years ago or 15 years ago, and they still demand that it work just the
01:03:42
◼
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way it did. And Microsoft historically has given into that. And I think that slowly,
01:03:49
◼
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- It's their business, they have to, they have to do that.
01:03:52
◼
►
- Yeah, I think they're slowly moving along, right?
01:03:55
◼
►
Like they're replacing Internet Explorer with Edge
01:03:58
◼
►
and Edge doesn't do a bunch of the old, weird stuff IE did,
01:04:00
◼
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'cause IE was kind of like its own operating system,
01:04:03
◼
►
really, at a point, so I think they're slowly changing that.
01:04:07
◼
►
But I don't know, I found it interesting that,
01:04:09
◼
►
in my mind, I thought, I'm gonna have to give up
01:04:11
◼
►
all the tools I use every day.
01:04:13
◼
►
In reality, I had to give up very few of them,
01:04:15
◼
►
and I'm sure that if I spend some more time on this,
01:04:17
◼
►
I can find a mark to editor that really fits the way that I fit, I can find an RSS reader
01:04:21
◼
►
that I like I can find, you know, the handful of other things that are missing.
01:04:26
◼
►
Like I could I could recreate my workflows.
01:04:29
◼
►
For the most part, I think on Windows.
01:04:32
◼
►
And that honestly was a little surprising to me.
01:04:34
◼
►
I didn't think that I thought that'd be more of a struggle.
01:04:37
◼
►
I think that's where the pay for a service and get the apps that that mindset I just
01:04:42
◼
►
I'm not used to yet.
01:04:43
◼
►
But it definitely like reinforced to me that like I'd much prefer Mac OS over Windows.
01:04:49
◼
►
But I don't know.
01:04:51
◼
►
So like the idea of like, well, I don't like the next MacBook, so I'm gonna buy a Surface
01:04:57
◼
►
Book, like, that's fine.
01:04:58
◼
►
You can probably still get your work done.
01:05:00
◼
►
But it's just not a decision that I want to make.
01:05:06
◼
►
It's interesting.
01:05:07
◼
►
It's interesting when you look at the way that services to change a lot of this stuff,
01:05:11
◼
►
Like you could probably do all of this same stuff
01:05:15
◼
►
of a Chromebook.
01:05:16
◼
►
- You could do a lot of it.
01:05:18
◼
►
- You probably have a very similar experience
01:05:20
◼
►
of a Chromebook, I would expect.
01:05:22
◼
►
Like in that list, what could you not do?
01:05:26
◼
►
- Well, any editing, you know,
01:05:30
◼
►
production work for the shows.
01:05:31
◼
►
But the rest of it, like you can do Slack and Chrome,
01:05:34
◼
►
you can use actually now one password, 10 or X.
01:05:37
◼
►
I don't know how they're saying it.
01:05:39
◼
►
Dropbox is there, of course.
01:05:40
◼
►
So I mean, a Chromebook may be another step down the road,
01:05:44
◼
►
but you know, it's doable.
01:05:47
◼
►
I could do all this stuff on an iPad as well,
01:05:49
◼
►
except, well, I could even do editing on the iPad
01:05:51
◼
►
if I wanted to really change the tools that I use.
01:05:54
◼
►
So I think consumers and even like professionals like us,
01:05:59
◼
►
like we do have options.
01:06:01
◼
►
And I think it's wise to know,
01:06:06
◼
►
like every once in a while,
01:06:07
◼
►
just sort of put your toe in the water and see, you know,
01:06:10
◼
►
what else is out there?
01:06:11
◼
►
Are there better ways I could do this?
01:06:12
◼
►
Do I have an escape route if I need one from this platform?
01:06:15
◼
►
But I don't think I need an escape route at this point.
01:06:18
◼
►
Like I don't think the Mac's going anywhere.
01:06:20
◼
►
I'm not worried about it in like an existential way.
01:06:24
◼
►
I don't think people are necessarily like
01:06:27
◼
►
writ large worried that the Mac is going away.
01:06:31
◼
►
- I think it's nerd angst on Twitter.
01:06:33
◼
►
- I think people are more concerned
01:06:35
◼
►
that the Mac is gonna go ways
01:06:37
◼
►
that they don't want it to go,
01:06:39
◼
►
Which is a valid, I mean it's the same concern,
01:06:42
◼
►
but it's coming from a different kind of thought process
01:06:46
◼
►
which is important, like that is an important thing
01:06:51
◼
►
to realize, right, and to think about.
01:06:54
◼
►
Is your computer focusing on things
01:06:57
◼
►
that aren't important for you?
01:06:58
◼
►
And then you might want to switch.
01:07:00
◼
►
But I don't think we're at risk of it going away.
01:07:04
◼
►
I don't think that's a thing.
01:07:05
◼
►
But it's worth noting.
01:07:07
◼
►
If you don't like Apple's current crop of computers,
01:07:11
◼
►
then you're kind of out of luck, I guess, right?
01:07:15
◼
►
Like what are you going to do?
01:07:17
◼
►
But that's the concern, right?
01:07:19
◼
►
That's the worry with Apple is that they have,
01:07:23
◼
►
and this is why people get so frustrated
01:07:25
◼
►
and upset about this.
01:07:26
◼
►
Again, I don't know what podcast I heard this on recently,
01:07:29
◼
►
but I heard it on a podcast that I listened to,
01:07:31
◼
►
which is like, this is all you have, right?
01:07:34
◼
►
Like if this is what you like, this is all you have.
01:07:37
◼
►
- Yeah, Jason's talked about that some,
01:07:39
◼
►
that Apple has a monopoly on Mac OS.
01:07:44
◼
►
But I think Ben Thompson is the first person
01:07:46
◼
►
that saw write that phrase.
01:07:47
◼
►
But if I want to run Mac OS,
01:07:50
◼
►
I've gotta use one of their hardware products.
01:07:53
◼
►
So like I have an iMac and now I have a older MacBook Pro
01:07:57
◼
►
and that works for me for now.
01:07:58
◼
►
And we'll see what happens in the future.
01:08:01
◼
►
But again, like we get going back to trade offs
01:08:04
◼
►
in this episode.
01:08:05
◼
►
So there is a theme, Myke, it's not just scattershot.
01:08:07
◼
►
Trade offs is the theme.
01:08:08
◼
►
The trade offs for me, I will take a lot of abuse
01:08:12
◼
►
so I can keep using macOS.
01:08:14
◼
►
Like, I'll put up with a lot.
01:08:17
◼
►
And I have chosen to use an older MacBook Pro like Marco
01:08:21
◼
►
because that trade off is still okay
01:08:24
◼
►
because the machine is still plenty fast enough
01:08:26
◼
►
for what I need.
01:08:27
◼
►
But three years from now it won't be.
01:08:29
◼
►
And if three years from now, the MacBook Pro still has a kind of cruddy keyboard and touch
01:08:34
◼
►
bar, then you know, I'll, I'll move back to it because that'll be that'll be a trade off
01:08:40
◼
►
I'm willing to make so I can keep my workflows on Mac OS intact. Because that's, for me,
01:08:46
◼
►
the software is, is more important than the hardware in in the way that I work and the
01:08:52
◼
►
hardware I just needed to be fast and reliable. And, you know, I don't want to, I'm sure I'm
01:08:58
◼
►
I'm sure like if I if I turned off my Mac and I just use this Windows machine for a week
01:09:02
◼
►
I'm sure that I would find
01:09:04
◼
►
over the course of the week more and more little things that I don't even realize I do on the Mac but are just
01:09:11
◼
►
like muscle memory or part of like just the workflow that I use every day right and you got to rebuild them on Windows or
01:09:16
◼
►
find a different way to do them and
01:09:18
◼
►
all that sort of like
01:09:21
◼
►
Institutional knowledge I have in my head about the way my Mac's work. I don't want to give up
01:09:25
◼
►
Yeah, I just think that you and Marco are playing a very risky game
01:09:29
◼
►
Maybe because we'll be disappointed in a couple years, you know, like the game that you're playing is like
01:09:36
◼
►
Predicated on the notion that it's gonna get better again though in the way that you want it to oh
01:09:44
◼
►
Yeah, it may not and that's that's a risk to play
01:09:50
◼
►
It may never change and then what do you do right like you went back you spent
01:09:55
◼
►
you spent less time trying to get accustomed, right?
01:09:58
◼
►
Like it's why, I don't know, for as much as I can,
01:10:02
◼
►
I try and do what, I try and go along with what's happening
01:10:06
◼
►
because I figure otherwise what are my options?
01:10:10
◼
►
Like your options end at a certain point.
01:10:14
◼
►
So yeah, I think the two of you are playing a,
01:10:17
◼
►
playing a dangerous game right now with your old computers.
01:10:20
◼
►
- We're playing a little game of chicken with Johnny Ive.
01:10:22
◼
►
You are and I think you'll I think you may lose but I hope yeah like I promise I was
01:10:29
◼
►
gonna talk about this I I don't think the 2015 MacBook Pro is gonna rise from the dead
01:10:33
◼
►
as the 2018 MacBook Pro like that's silly.
01:10:37
◼
►
I think the last of he wrote in his blog post is just like it's wishful thinking I could
01:10:40
◼
►
be great and I agreed with his blog post 100% about how Apple could fix the MacBook Pro
01:10:45
◼
►
but in reality we're gonna get maybe a more allowable keyboard and that's it and that
01:10:51
◼
►
honestly would be enough for me.
01:10:53
◼
►
Like I was fine until they tried to charge me
01:10:55
◼
►
450 bucks for a broken key.
01:10:57
◼
►
- Yeah, that was the straw that broke the keyboards back,
01:10:59
◼
►
I guess, like that was the end of that.
01:11:02
◼
►
Right, and I agree with you completely on that, right?
01:11:05
◼
►
Like, my feeling about the keyboard is like, whatever.
01:11:09
◼
►
I didn't like it but got used to it, right?
01:11:12
◼
►
Like the way it was.
01:11:12
◼
►
My initial feeling was I don't like this,
01:11:15
◼
►
and it's probably just because it was very different,
01:11:17
◼
►
but after using the MacBook Pro for like the two weeks that I only had that one machine,
01:11:23
◼
►
I completely forgot that the keyboard was different. Like I completely forgot.
01:11:27
◼
►
And mine isn't even about the keyboard being different, it's that it's unreliable.
01:11:29
◼
►
It is the unreliability, which is what I completely agree with you on. Like if this
01:11:33
◼
►
machine is significantly less reliable, they have to fix that. If they fix that,
01:11:41
◼
►
then they've done their job and that's kind of all they have to do. The rest of it would just be
01:11:46
◼
►
like you know people would prefer things to be a certain way. Which I think is fine right?
01:11:52
◼
►
Like I just spent a big chunk of the episode complaining about the Google home right? Like
01:11:57
◼
►
it doesn't work the way I want it to work. But that doesn't mean that it's wrong like
01:12:02
◼
►
they just make decisions that I disagree with. But if they have like okay so like they had
01:12:09
◼
►
some fatal flaws with this product which I think they've mostly addressed. But like those
01:12:13
◼
►
things they had to fix them. Like things being broken about it have to be fixed. But if you
01:12:18
◼
►
don't like a design decision, like that sometimes is as far as it goes. And that's just kind
01:12:24
◼
►
of why I'm worried for the two of you. Because you're making very bold decisions about your
01:12:30
◼
►
computers that may end up just biting you in the butt later on.
01:12:35
◼
►
They may. And I don't want to speak for Marco, but for me at least, there is an element to
01:12:42
◼
►
this that is understanding that it's a short it's a short-term game right that
01:12:49
◼
►
like I have all the dongles and adapters and I got used to that and honestly
01:12:54
◼
►
that's it's kind of a pain but it's not the end of the world but for someone who
01:13:00
◼
►
uses that machine as a secondary machine I really just want it to be to work
01:13:03
◼
►
reliably and that's really what did it for me and the other stuff it like you
01:13:07
◼
►
said is just gravy right like I'd love an SD card slot like Apple please put an SD
01:13:11
◼
►
card slot on the next MacBook Pro, but they're not going to put a USB port back on it. Like
01:13:15
◼
►
that's that's just not a thing that's going to happen. They're not going to unless there's
01:13:19
◼
►
something radically different the chipset, you're not going to see six USB C Thunderbolt
01:13:23
◼
►
3 ports on it like the machine is what it is. And it will evolve over time. But I feel
01:13:30
◼
►
like the direction is going to evolve is further away from my 2015 MacBook Pro, then back toward
01:13:37
◼
►
But if they make the keyboard like it can still be actually love the way it sounds and I got used to the way it types
01:13:43
◼
►
But just make it a little more robust
01:13:46
◼
►
Unlike it is now and then we can talk again. I think I think we'll get that but yeah, it's it's
01:13:53
◼
►
That's true in all of this stuff, right?
01:13:55
◼
►
like if it's about one generation of MacBook Pro over the other or if it's a you know, we've been we talked on
01:14:05
◼
►
connected to an on query actually about
01:14:07
◼
►
Apple sort of like forcing software updates on people and I got a ton of people like I'm running iOS 10 because
01:14:13
◼
►
this app that I you know depend on for whatever is
01:14:17
◼
►
not supported anymore and if I update to 11, it's gonna go away and
01:14:21
◼
►
There are always people who are caught on the wrong side of a transition or
01:14:28
◼
►
Caught by transition early, right? Like they're not quite ready to make the move yet and
01:14:34
◼
►
And what's weird for me is that I'm usually not on that side of things. Right? Like I run beta OS's.
01:14:42
◼
►
You know, I, I have an iMac. Now that's a 2015. I'm super interested in picking up an iMac Pro
01:14:50
◼
►
early next year. Like, I like the new and shiny pre ordered an iPhone 10 at two o'clock in the morning.
01:14:56
◼
►
But for some reason, you know, with this laptop, I'm on the other side. But the same thing goes for
01:15:02
◼
►
software, right? Like, I we all choose the tools that we that we feel efficient and comfortable
01:15:09
◼
►
with. And we don't necessarily want to change those radically. And sometimes that's forced
01:15:16
◼
►
upon us. But at least in like the desktop world, like Mac OS, Sierra to high Sierra,
01:15:25
◼
►
like not a ton of huge changes, right? And you can sort of move up and your stuff's going
01:15:29
◼
►
to be fine. And we don't see those big transformations anymore with desktop software. And so when
01:15:35
◼
►
people look into the future about the Mac, and they don't like what they see, or they
01:15:40
◼
►
think it's a dead platform, or they think that Apple's ignoring it or whatever, whether
01:15:44
◼
►
those criticisms are founded in reality or not, or whether they become true or not, I
01:15:50
◼
►
don't know. But the undercurrent of all of that is, you you sometimes have to make a
01:15:56
◼
►
decision to to move forward with the tide or to you know move somewhere else
01:16:03
◼
►
and people fall all across that spectrum and we're seeing it right now with the
01:16:08
◼
►
MacBook Pro you know we we saw it when Apple moved from OS 9 to OS 10 we saw it
01:16:14
◼
►
when they moved to Intel if they ever moved to our max we'll see it again you
01:16:19
◼
►
know there there are always these these points in which people have to decide to
01:16:23
◼
►
move forward or not. And for me, I am 100% excited and, and willing to keep riding the
01:16:33
◼
►
Mac OS train as long as it will take me. But you know, we may be in a position like I'm
01:16:39
◼
►
not I'm not naive, you know, we could be in a situation Michael, we're on the show in
01:16:43
◼
►
10 years, you know, I'll be 65 then, but I think I can still do the show. And we're having
01:16:50
◼
►
this conversation about Mac OS itself, right?
01:16:52
◼
►
If like, Steve, you're playing a dangerous game,
01:16:54
◼
►
like you gotta get off this thing, right?
01:16:56
◼
►
Like the last station is in view, the train is stopping.
01:17:00
◼
►
But I don't think that's anytime soon.
01:17:03
◼
►
And so for now, you know,
01:17:05
◼
►
I'm willing to keep rolling on it.
01:17:08
◼
►
- I think that this experiment of Windows
01:17:11
◼
►
is pretty akin to your current situation
01:17:15
◼
►
with the MacBook Pro.
01:17:18
◼
►
Like, I think that there's some parallels to it.
01:17:20
◼
►
like, well, this thing worked for me. We'll see. Right. Like it's kind of,
01:17:24
◼
►
I feel like it's, it is a very similar thread there. Um, but I'm pleased,
01:17:28
◼
►
I'm pleased that you undertook this experiment. It's interesting.
01:17:31
◼
►
Yeah. I mean, I think if we're going to talk about it,
01:17:34
◼
►
like you and I both own Android phones, you bought the Google home,
01:17:37
◼
►
like we don't have to switch to things, but I think at the very least, like it's,
01:17:41
◼
►
it's prudent to at least be familiar with it. Right.
01:17:45
◼
►
So if that's all that comes out of this is like, Hey, you know what?
01:17:48
◼
►
I spent some time with Windows 10, I know it a little bit,
01:17:50
◼
►
I installed a bunch of stuff and used it,
01:17:52
◼
►
then I can speak more intelligently about it
01:17:55
◼
►
and it informs my opinions in a way that it wouldn't otherwise
01:17:58
◼
►
and so for that alone, I think experimentation as a nerd,
01:18:01
◼
►
especially as someone who like talks about this stuff,
01:18:03
◼
►
is really valuable.
01:18:04
◼
►
- If you wanna find out more about this today,
01:18:07
◼
►
go to relay.fm/connectly/170.
01:18:10
◼
►
Steven is at 512pixels.net, he is @ismh on Twitter.
01:18:14
◼
►
I am @imike, I-M-Y-K-E, and our fallen comrade
01:18:17
◼
►
is @Vittucci, V-I-T-I-C-C-I,
01:18:20
◼
►
he's at maxstories.net,
01:18:22
◼
►
and hopefully he'll be back next week.
01:18:24
◼
►
Thanks so much to our sponsors this week,
01:18:26
◼
►
the fine folk at Pingdom, Ting, and Encapsula.
01:18:29
◼
►
We'll be back next time.
01:18:31
◼
►
Until then, say goodbye, Steven.