Connected

00:00:00 ◼   ► [Music]

00:00:07 ◼   ► From Real AFM, this is Connected, episode number 93.

00:00:11 ◼   ► Today's show is brought to you very kindly by our friends over at Backblaze.

00:00:15 ◼   ► My name is Myke Hurley. I am joined by Mr. Stephen Hackett.

00:00:18 ◼   ► Hello, Stephen Hackett.

00:00:19 ◼   ► Hello, Michael Hurley. I'm Federico Vittucci.

00:00:22 ◼   ► Hello, guys.

00:00:23 ◼   ► We are one week away from Connected Embrace.

00:00:27 ◼   ► Isn't that going to be beautiful?

00:00:29 ◼   ► It's about a week and a half. It's about a week and a half. I'm rounding down because

00:00:35 ◼   ► I'm just too excited.

00:00:37 ◼   ► I mean there's another week in between but okay.

00:00:40 ◼   ► It's like a week and a half, right? Because I'll see you Federico on Friday so it's like

00:00:44 ◼   ► ten days away.

00:00:45 ◼   ► Okay.

00:00:46 ◼   ► Right?

00:00:47 ◼   ► Sure, but there's no Steven in London.

00:00:49 ◼   ► But then we'll see him like two days later. It's under two weeks now.

00:00:52 ◼   ► It's a semi-connected embrace.

00:00:54 ◼   ► Yeah, I mean we'll call Steven, like we'll FaceTime call him and we'll put the phone

00:01:00 ◼   ► in the middle of the both of us.

00:01:01 ◼   ► Definitely should FaceTime me in into the meetup.

00:01:04 ◼   ► Oh yeah, we're gonna do that.

00:01:05 ◼   ► We might try and get you one of those telepresence robots.

00:01:08 ◼   ► Yes!

00:01:08 ◼   ► Have you rolling around the place?

00:01:12 ◼   ► Be beautiful.

00:01:13 ◼   ► But yeah, we can call you in.

00:01:14 ◼   ► We'll put you on a little tripod and just sit you in the corner and put a little diet

00:01:18 ◼   ► coke in front of you or something.

00:01:19 ◼   ► It'll be nice.

00:01:20 ◼   ► Be good.

00:01:22 ◼   ► So, you guys skipped over follow-up last week.

00:01:25 ◼   ► Yep, that was quite funny actually.

00:01:27 ◼   ► Just before the show started, me and Federico were talking about the run-down and I was

00:01:31 ◼   ► like, "Should we just cut all the follow-up?"

00:01:32 ◼   ► He's like, "Yeah."

00:01:33 ◼   ► So we just cut it right out.

00:01:34 ◼   ► So why even bother?

00:01:36 ◼   ► Yeah, so we have a little follow-up backlog.

00:01:40 ◼   ► So up first, I wanted to point people to a couple of podcast episodes if you are following

00:01:47 ◼   ► along with the iMac series of stuff.

00:01:51 ◼   ► episode 39 we did a full history of the like all generations of the iMac G3 it

00:01:58 ◼   ► actually goes hand-to-hand with the YouTube video I put up about a week ago

00:02:01 ◼   ► and then just yesterday we published upgrade episode 91 which is a look at

00:02:08 ◼   ► the original Bondi blue iMac and kind of the world of tech in 1998 and what it

00:02:16 ◼   ► came into and Jason had lots of good input into it because he actually covered the original

00:02:23 ◼   ► iMac and he was working and reporting and doing magazine journalism way back then and

00:02:30 ◼   ► had lots of good things to say about it including some fun stuff about how USB really wasn't

00:02:35 ◼   ► a thing when they introduced the iMac and the iMac sort of made USB a standard that

00:02:40 ◼   ► people cared about.

00:02:41 ◼   ► Yeah, even if you're not interested in the iMac stuff, I think a big chunk of that episode

00:02:47 ◼   ► of Upgrade is worth listening to just to hear how different it was to be covering technology

00:02:53 ◼   ► in kind of the late 90s.

00:02:56 ◼   ► Absolutely.

00:02:57 ◼   ► Just the idea that when the news broke about, well, when they unveiled the iMac, everybody

00:03:04 ◼   ► was just called to come to a meeting later on in that day.

00:03:07 ◼   ► There was just no urgency like there is now because there was a print deadline in like

00:03:13 ◼   ► two days time so you didn't need to rush, there was no internet to publish it to.

00:03:17 ◼   ► It's just really interesting to hear the difference so I would go and listen to that and it's

00:03:22 ◼   ► fun.

00:03:23 ◼   ► Yeah, it is.

00:03:25 ◼   ► We also have a little Android follow up.

00:03:28 ◼   ► We actually had a lot of Android follow up that was very much around.

00:03:31 ◼   ► Federico had a specific problem and this is the launcher or the app or the tweak you can

00:03:35 ◼   ► do and again that's sort of the beauty of this ecosystem of Android but there

00:03:41 ◼   ► are a couple of things that I thought were interesting that were sort of

00:03:44 ◼   ► outside of that type of feedback. The first one was about the LED flash for

00:03:50 ◼   ► notifications so a lot of Android phones there's a little LED and you can it will

00:03:55 ◼   ► it'll blink I think Federica you made the joke it was like having a

00:03:58 ◼   ► blackberry. I remember my original Android I actually could customize the

00:04:03 ◼   ► color for the type of notification so I had like I think like orange for work

00:04:07 ◼   ► email, green for personal email, blue for SMS. So you can just kind of see and this

00:04:11 ◼   ► thing would cycle through the colors without having to wake the phone up. And

00:04:14 ◼   ► a bunch of people wrote in and said hey you know you can do that on the iPhone

00:04:18 ◼   ► sort of so in accessibility there's an option for the iPhone to basically blink

00:04:24 ◼   ► the LED flash on the back of the phone when a notification comes in. Which you

00:04:30 ◼   ► know if you have maybe you know you can't hear the phone or you can't feel

00:04:35 ◼   ► the vibrator something it's a visual indication that the notification has

00:04:39 ◼   ► come in and it's definitely not the same as what Android is doing like at least

00:04:44 ◼   ► on the Droid I think on the Nexus the LED blinks continuously until you deal

00:04:47 ◼   ► with the notification the iPhone just blinks when it comes in but it is a nice

00:04:52 ◼   ► accessibility option if you if you need it and it's definitely not for everybody

00:04:56 ◼   ► in fact most people who wrote in said it's here but I don't use it it seems

00:04:59 ◼   ► kind of weird to me but it's there and I think if people need it then it's great

00:05:03 ◼   ► that it's available. I feel like it's really different from Android you know I

00:05:07 ◼   ► mean you can you cannot really compare having a separate LED with the flash

00:05:12 ◼   ► I feel like the flash is kind of like too much. The flash is way too aggressive

00:05:18 ◼   ► and bright like it's just like let's just go insane while this thing's

00:05:21 ◼   ► flashing around. Yeah a few of my friends actually have the option enabled I

00:05:25 ◼   ► I really don't like it. I think it's more elegant on Android.

00:05:30 ◼   ► The fact that it's green and it's subtle, it doesn't flash all over the room.

00:05:34 ◼   ► I definitely prefer the Android implementation, but you know, you gotta have a separate LED.

00:05:39 ◼   ► So I understand why Apple doesn't want to do it.

00:05:41 ◼   ► It is worth noting as well that this isn't just like a standard out-and-out Android feature.

00:05:45 ◼   ► Like if the phone doesn't have an LED on it, then it won't work.

00:05:49 ◼   ► And I know that sounds so silly, but some Android phones don't have an LED on them.

00:05:54 ◼   ► I think most of them don't anymore actually.

00:05:57 ◼   ► I don't know if my Nexus 6P does.

00:05:59 ◼   ► It might, but I don't know if it does.

00:06:00 ◼   ► I've never seen it.

00:06:02 ◼   ► So who knows, it might be in there somewhere.

00:06:04 ◼   ► Yeah, and Denimate in the chatroom points us to an iDownloadBlog.com blog post where

00:06:12 ◼   ► you can, from the Apple Watch, you have the, it's not really Find My Phone, but kind of

00:06:17 ◼   ► ping my iPhone from your watch and you can make it light the LED up from there as well,

00:06:24 ◼   ► which I didn't know. That's pretty cool. So if you're in the dark or something and you

00:06:29 ◼   ► want to maybe see your phone, I don't know about you guys, every time I lose my phone

00:06:33 ◼   ► in the house it's in between the couch cushions so that wouldn't help me, but it's cool that

00:06:36 ◼   ► it does it.

00:06:37 ◼   ► Kyle's the Gray is also, this is great chatroom follow up today, confirmed to me that the

00:06:41 ◼   ► Nexus 6P does have a notification LED.

00:06:44 ◼   ► They just don't know about it.

00:06:46 ◼   ► I've never tried to look for it, so I didn't know it had it, but I'm happy that it does

00:06:50 ◼   ► have it.

00:06:51 ◼   ► I've got to say, just quickly going back a step, the Apple Watch thing where you ping

00:06:55 ◼   ► the phone, I love that feature so much, and it is a fun joke in our house here, because

00:07:03 ◼   ► someone will be in a different part of the house and you'll hear the sound go off, and

00:07:07 ◼   ► it's always funny because it means that either me or Adino have lost their phone, so it's

00:07:12 ◼   ► always like a "ah, you lost your phone" type moment.

00:07:15 ◼   ► I feel like I'm the only person who never loses track of his phone.

00:07:18 ◼   ► Like, how can you guys even lose a phone?

00:07:21 ◼   ► Well, I might just leave it in another room, you know?

00:07:23 ◼   ► It's all over the place.

00:07:25 ◼   ► I don't carry my...

00:07:26 ◼   ► I don't walk around with my phone with me as much as I used to because of the Apple

00:07:30 ◼   ► Watch, so because things are funneling in there, I don't need it as much.

00:07:34 ◼   ► And plus, most of the time now, I have an iPad with me.

00:07:38 ◼   ► They're everywhere.

00:07:39 ◼   ► Yeah, just any room you walk in, there's an iPad waiting for you on a... on sort of like

00:07:42 ◼   ► a velvet covered stand. Anyways, I enjoyed last week's episode a whole bunch and I'd

00:07:52 ◼   ► like to underscore something Federico that your closing statement. Basically that using

00:07:59 ◼   ► another platform or another system to round out your experience and your knowledge is

00:08:04 ◼   ► a good thing and so many times people are apt to judge something without using them

00:08:10 ◼   ► or judge something based on just what other people say

00:08:14 ◼   ► or even judging people on their tech choices.

00:08:17 ◼   ► And we actually had some of this in our follow-up.

00:08:20 ◼   ► I'm not gonna call anybody out, but several people were like,

00:08:21 ◼   ► "Why are you talking about Android on the Apple show?"

00:08:24 ◼   ► And I think those people clearly didn't make it to the end

00:08:26 ◼   ► to your closing statement because at the end of the day,

00:08:30 ◼   ► being familiar with Android and what Google is doing

00:08:32 ◼   ► makes you a better Apple reporter because you can,

00:08:35 ◼   ► like you said, you can speak with knowledge

00:08:38 ◼   ► of the entire chessboard and not just Apple's pieces.

00:08:43 ◼   ► And I think that's increasingly important

00:08:45 ◼   ► as people use services from different companies.

00:08:49 ◼   ► Not everyone is using all iCloud stuff and no Google stuff.

00:08:52 ◼   ► Surely there are those people.

00:08:54 ◼   ► But a lot of people live, like the three of us do,

00:08:56 ◼   ► in a mix of environments.

00:08:58 ◼   ► And I think it was really well stated

00:09:01 ◼   ► and something that if you didn't hear it,

00:09:03 ◼   ► I think you should go find it at the end of the episode

00:09:05 ◼   ► and listen to it 'cause it's really well said.

00:09:06 ◼   ► but looking at something that we don't use all the time,

00:09:11 ◼   ► like it can be uncomfortable, and I'm sure Federico,

00:09:13 ◼   ► you spend a lot of time setting the phone up

00:09:15 ◼   ► and tinkering with it and trying to understand it,

00:09:17 ◼   ► but I think it's a worthwhile venture

00:09:19 ◼   ► because it will make your Apple coverage better.

00:09:21 ◼   ► - Thank you.

00:09:23 ◼   ► Yeah, I feel like it really comes down to maturity,

00:09:27 ◼   ► in a way, to kind of know that it's not really

00:09:32 ◼   ► a great way of living, I would say,

00:09:36 ◼   ► to just stick to a position and have like a blindfold, not look at any other opinion,

00:09:42 ◼   ► any other, you know, feedback from different people, different companies. I feel like I'm

00:09:49 ◼   ► a person, I love to listen to other people, I love to sort of know why I'm wrong, if that

00:09:55 ◼   ► makes sense. And I have my principles, I have my ideas, but I feel like it's better to have

00:10:02 ◼   ► have an idea and to change your mind because you're wrong, then to never change your mind

00:10:08 ◼   ► and be stupid and ignorant. And I tried to apply this sort of Zen philosophy, if you

00:10:14 ◼   ► will, to anything. And I felt like I don't want to be a cheerleader for anyone or any

00:10:21 ◼   ► company. And that was the right thing to do. And the overwhelming majority of our listeners,

00:10:27 ◼   ► I feel like they appreciated the choice, the episode, and the overall idea. The feedback

00:10:32 ◼   ► was amazing. There's a few people who really didn't like it, but that's okay.

00:10:36 ◼   ► Yeah, it's fine. Let's just get one episode. It's fine.

00:10:38 ◼   ► Yeah. Yeah.

00:10:39 ◼   ► We're not turning into something we're not, so...

00:10:42 ◼   ► Oh, should I throw this Chromebook out? Because I had a whole thing planned.

00:10:45 ◼   ► I mean, I've got one. I bought it for the show.

00:10:48 ◼   ► Let's do it! Let's do it!

00:10:49 ◼   ► I bought it for the show, remember?

00:10:50 ◼   ► Chromebook show! I just wanted to take a moment, again, to mention the Connected London Meetup.

00:10:55 ◼   ► It is in a very short time.

00:10:57 ◼   ► I'm not going to try and guess days again because clearly I'm not very good at that.

00:11:01 ◼   ► But on June the 10th in London, me and Federico and a few other lovely people will be meeting

00:11:07 ◼   ► up at the Big Chill House in London in King's Cross.

00:11:13 ◼   ► We have had an allocation of tickets which are all sold out but there is a waiting list.

00:11:19 ◼   ► There is a chance that more tickets will go on sale.

00:11:21 ◼   ► So if you're in London and you're interested, please go to the link in the show notes and

00:11:25 ◼   ► you will be able to get yourself on the waiting list.

00:11:27 ◼   ► And if you are coming, we can't wait to see you there.

00:11:30 ◼   ► And we'll have some more details come out in the next couple of days.

00:11:34 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:11:35 ◼   ► Awesome.

00:11:36 ◼   ► Are there going to be any surprises, Myke?

00:11:38 ◼   ► Um, maybe?

00:11:41 ◼   ► You should bring some surprises.

00:11:43 ◼   ► Yes, there will be.

00:11:46 ◼   ► Many surprises.

00:11:47 ◼   ► Super convincing. That you must be there in person to experience.

00:11:53 ◼   ► Very nice, okay. So we had a little mini topic this week before

00:11:57 ◼   ► we dive into the meat of the show. And listener Kevin wrote in and said, "Not sure if it's

00:12:01 ◼   ► something you've discussed in the past, but how precious are you with your app layouts

00:12:06 ◼   ► on the Apple Watch?" So if you're on the watch and you hit the digital crown, you go

00:12:10 ◼   ► to the funky, let's call it the honeycomb screen. I don't really have a better name

00:12:13 ◼   ► name for it, this little like glob of circular icons.

00:12:18 ◼   ► And you can actually go in and on the Apple Watch app

00:12:22 ◼   ► on the iPhone, like tell it where each app should go

00:12:25 ◼   ► in what may be the most finicky user interface ever designed

00:12:29 ◼   ► by humankind, it's just incredibly frustrating.

00:12:33 ◼   ► And a lot of people I think, I've seen people on Twitter

00:12:36 ◼   ► and stuff, really like take great care in where apps go

00:12:40 ◼   ► this honeycomb and for me at least I don't ever really use the honeycomb and

00:12:47 ◼   ► I can't when I do I can't ever remember where things are anyway so it always

00:12:52 ◼   ► isn't just like fling fling it around until I find what I want and it's kind

00:12:57 ◼   ► of made worse by the fact that if you add an app you can't control where it

00:13:00 ◼   ► goes like if you say that you download a new app that has a watch app that icon

00:13:08 ◼   ► just goes wherever it wants to and then you can go in later and like tell it

00:13:13 ◼   ► where to go unlike on the iPhone where it just goes to the next open place

00:13:16 ◼   ► there's not really a next open place because this thing is like circular in a

00:13:19 ◼   ► way so anyways to answer Kevin's question for me I don't I'm not

00:13:24 ◼   ► precious about it things kind of go wherever they land what about you Myke

00:13:28 ◼   ► well initially like everyone I was trying to find the optimal app layout

00:13:33 ◼   ► right I think that was when everyone was being really excited about it and

00:13:37 ◼   ► and I kind of settled on a row of four icons, so all of the rows of my Apple Watch are four icons

00:13:46 ◼   ► because that kind of gives you the most you can see without having to move around too much, right?

00:13:52 ◼   ► It doesn't hide too many of them when there's four. And I have some organizational choices

00:14:01 ◼   ► so that the apps that I do actually use are centered around the clock face so I can get to them quickly

00:14:08 ◼   ► but I take absolutely zero care over any of the rest of it. So like the surrounding maybe eight

00:14:14 ◼   ► or so icons around the the clock face are ones that I do tend to want quickly but the rest of

00:14:21 ◼   ► them they can just go wherever the heck that they like because who cares? It's terrible it's so bad

00:14:28 ◼   ► It's so, like, unpredictable. It drives me crazy.

00:14:31 ◼   ► I really never... I mean, I don't use the Apple Watch much, but I never launch the app screen.

00:14:38 ◼   ► It's just, when I do use the watch, it's mostly the watch face and the notifications.

00:14:46 ◼   ► Not even the glances, just because everything is too slow either to use or to navigate.

00:14:50 ◼   ► and I feel like it's an odd choice, like the entire layout is one of the weakest points of the entire WatchWES design

00:15:03 ◼   ► but I never use it so I really don't have many thoughts other than maybe the fact that I never use it is my thought, is my comment, so there you go.

00:15:12 ◼   ► Do you wear the watch every day Federica?

00:15:14 ◼   ► I do, I just... you know why I do? I put it on, I don't use it for timers anymore because of Alexa,

00:15:24 ◼   ► I don't use it for Siri or anything else because it's too slow, I just keep putting it on for two reasons.

00:15:30 ◼   ► It's nice, it tells me the time, and maybe a third reason, I want to accumulate a bunch of data points about my heart rate and my steps.

00:15:41 ◼   ► because maybe going forward those will be useful. So I'm wearing it because it's nice

00:15:46 ◼   ► and because maybe in the future I will have all of this data for a better watch or a better

00:15:52 ◼   ► health system on iOS, I don't know. It's nice, mostly because it's nice, you know?

00:15:58 ◼   ► I got a bunch of bands, like the Milanese, the Sports, the Red One, it's very cool.

00:16:04 ◼   ► I will bring it to San Francisco for sure, and it tells me the time, which is nice.

00:16:09 ◼   ► But yeah, not so many reasons.

00:16:12 ◼   ► So I still remain to be, out of the three of us, the one who uses the watch the most then, I think.

00:16:19 ◼   ► Do you actually do stuff with the watch?

00:16:22 ◼   ► Yeah, every day.

00:16:23 ◼   ► Like what?

00:16:24 ◼   ► Deal with notifications mainly, so like I'll triage email and stuff and see the things that come in through today.

00:16:33 ◼   ► I have DUE set up on it and I use DUE a lot and I add new actions to DUE with some success

00:16:44 ◼   ► throughout the day. That's something I do a lot. I use timers whenever I cook and I do those every

00:16:53 ◼   ► day like you know I'm always using timers and that's kind of it but those things are in constant

00:16:59 ◼   ► use and I am doing things with them pretty much for most of the day in all seriousness.

00:17:04 ◼   ► Like I'm using my watch for those things, it seems like a very small group of things,

00:17:09 ◼   ► but that is like all day use of the thing.

00:17:12 ◼   ► I am using it a lot.

00:17:13 ◼   ► I feel lost when I don't have it on.

00:17:16 ◼   ► Okay, yeah that's nice.

00:17:20 ◼   ► Maybe you are an early adopter.

00:17:21 ◼   ► One of those people.

00:17:23 ◼   ► Yeah, I'm an early adopter.

00:17:25 ◼   ► That's me.

00:17:26 ◼   ► You're seeing the future today. Me and Steven are just having the hot takes from the sidelines.

00:17:33 ◼   ► I think it's always worth reminding that I have been a user of this stuff for a while,

00:17:41 ◼   ► like I was using the Pebble before and I worked out what the point of it was for me then,

00:17:46 ◼   ► and now I'm just in a situation where I have more functionality and can do more with it.

00:17:51 ◼   ► So I'd already kind of worked out that this was what I wanted in my life over a year ago,

00:17:57 ◼   ► maybe two years ago actually when I was starting to wear the pebbles.

00:17:59 ◼   ► So I'm kind of used to the things that I want a device like this to do and the Apple Watch

00:18:04 ◼   ► does those and then a few more things.

00:18:06 ◼   ► But I'm hoping for some big change in a couple of weeks.

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00:20:36 ◼   ► All right, so whilst we were talking about Android last week, there were some rumors

00:20:41 ◼   ► that came out about new MacBook Pros and these have come from KGI. It's always difficult

00:20:48 ◼   ► to try and keep track of who the reputable rumour sources are but I kind of trust the

00:20:56 ◼   ► sites like Macrumours and 9to5 that when it kind of hits all of them there's probably

00:21:02 ◼   ► some fire along with that smoke. So I want to give a quick rundown of some of the things

00:21:07 ◼   ► that are in this purported rumoured device and maybe talk about if we think that they're

00:21:12 ◼   ► interesting at all. So thinner and lighter than the MacBook Pros, I think we'd all kind

00:21:16 ◼   ► of accepted that that was going to be the case and it's kind of the thing that I think

00:21:20 ◼   ► everybody would want. Thinner and lighter is always nice. Design cues taken from the

00:21:24 ◼   ► 12" MacBook and we're going to get them in 13 and 15" so it will be replaced in the current

00:21:29 ◼   ► MacBook Pro lines. But this is where it starts to get a little bit interesting, I don't think

00:21:32 ◼   ► anybody would have expected this. Releasing in Q4 is the current thinking. So they're

00:21:39 ◼   ► not going to be out within a couple of months like we wanted, it would potentially seem.

00:21:45 ◼   ► It seems like it could be a long time away but then when you start factoring in some

00:21:49 ◼   ► of the other hardware features that these MacBook Pros are rumoured to have, you can

00:21:54 ◼   ► see that maybe we're going to need to wait for a new version of OS X before these can

00:21:59 ◼   ► be released otherwise the hardware features aren't going to work. So we're talking about

00:22:02 ◼   ► Touch ID in the new MacBook Pros. I think everybody wants that right? Why would you

00:22:07 ◼   ► not want Touch ID? I mean I would love to not have to type in my 1Password password anymore.

00:22:14 ◼   ► Just use Touch ID for that instead. And also this thing that I think we're all kind of

00:22:19 ◼   ► struggling to get our heads around a little bit which is an OLED Touch display bar which

00:22:24 ◼   ► will replace the function keys. So this is going to be a new thing for Apple's laptop

00:22:29 ◼   ► line where they will be bringing in a little screen that sits above the keyboard. Now,

00:22:34 ◼   ► I've been thinking about this, they had a great discussion on ATP about this, and I

00:22:37 ◼   ► think overall the ATP guys were like "No, no, we don't want this, we want our keys."

00:22:41 ◼   ► And of course they want keys. Of course they want keys. As someone who doesn't really care

00:22:48 ◼   ► too much if the function keys still exist, I wanted to kind of talk about some of the

00:22:53 ◼   ► things that I've been thinking of that could be good for this little display so

00:22:58 ◼   ► I thought maybe you could see notifications there which might be kind

00:23:01 ◼   ► of nice right you have this little bar just an additional screen and it just

00:23:04 ◼   ► shows little notifications every now and then just something to grab your eye

00:23:07 ◼   ► rather than it being in the top right hand corner of your display it just

00:23:12 ◼   ► shows up above your hands could be kind of nice you just glance down and see

00:23:16 ◼   ► them I was thinking some widgets maybe you could get like weather or something

00:23:20 ◼   ► pop-up on there, there could be like now playing information for music, you could

00:23:25 ◼   ► have you know just little widgets that pop up and they would maybe start to

00:23:28 ◼   ► live on this little second screen as opposed to in the notification center

00:23:32 ◼   ► bar. I thought that apps could plug in for some specific controls. Everybody who

00:23:39 ◼   ► is talking about this screen is talking about the Art Lebedev keyboard. Do you

00:23:45 ◼   ► remember that keyboard? The one that was all tiny little LED screens instead of

00:23:50 ◼   ► keys. This is something from like maybe 10 years ago and it was really

00:23:55 ◼   ► popular on the internet. It was a keyboard that was a concept but ended up

00:23:59 ◼   ► coming into existence where every key was a screen, a tiny little screen.

00:24:04 ◼   ► What's the name? It was made by a company called Art Lebedev, I think it was

00:24:09 ◼   ► called the Optimus keyboard. Yeah no idea. So this was like the idea that if

00:24:15 ◼   ► you had little LEDs instead of keys you could change the keys to be anything. So

00:24:22 ◼   ► my thinking around this was like let's say for example I'm editing in logic I

00:24:27 ◼   ► could set a bunch of shortcuts to that little screen that I could click so

00:24:33 ◼   ► let's say I wanted to use the fade tool rather than the select tool rather than

00:24:37 ◼   ► me going up to the little option or using a keyboard control I could just

00:24:41 ◼   ► hit a little button that I can customize that would take me to a different

00:24:45 ◼   ► function. Now I was thinking like imagine people that use Photoshop or Pixelmator

00:24:49 ◼   ► or something like that and being able to change your brushes and stuff all on the

00:24:53 ◼   ► little screen on the keyboard so it just gives you the ability to have some more

00:24:57 ◼   ► specific and customizable controls right at your fingertips than having to like

00:25:01 ◼   ► move the mouse up and I know this stuff doesn't necessarily like it doesn't save

00:25:08 ◼   ► tons of time but I think it's just a nicer overall experience for maybe

00:25:12 ◼   ► people that aren't necessarily keyboard warriors. And I think that's where some

00:25:16 ◼   ► of this difference is, right? I think people that want the keys, they just

00:25:22 ◼   ► use keys so much. They use keyboard controls for everything. They use keyboard

00:25:26 ◼   ► shortcuts for everything. But people that don't necessarily think that way, this

00:25:30 ◼   ► could be a nice little addition. So like for example on my Wacom I have some

00:25:35 ◼   ► little shortcut keys. I have six shortcut keys that you can program to be anything

00:25:40 ◼   ► that you want and this is instead of me hitting the keyboard commands on my

00:25:44 ◼   ► keyboard so I imagine it like that whilst these are physical keys on my

00:25:47 ◼   ► Wacom I could easily see them be on a little touch strip that sits above my

00:25:51 ◼   ► keyboard and I can use it for different things I like the idea of stuff like

00:25:55 ◼   ► this I think there could be some additional gestures you know like I

00:25:58 ◼   ► imagine myself being able to pan around the like my logic display in a different

00:26:05 ◼   ► way you know I think that could be some interesting stuff here Stephen as

00:26:09 ◼   ► probably the one that is most likely to care about function keys out of the three of us.

00:26:14 ◼   ► What do you think?

00:26:15 ◼   ► Way to paint me in a corner, Myke. No, you're absolutely right.

00:26:18 ◼   ► You are the most likely. You have 13 IMAX from like the 90s sitting around you right now.

00:26:23 ◼   ► You are the old school list of the three of us.

00:26:26 ◼   ► That's true. I mean, the thing that comes to mind immediately, and I said it clockwise last week,

00:26:31 ◼   ► is the ability to feel them,

00:26:35 ◼   ► and that's all about just how they do it.

00:26:39 ◼   ► Is if it's gonna be a screen and it's still a physical key

00:26:41 ◼   ► or it's a touch screen.

00:26:43 ◼   ► But now if you're a touch typist

00:26:46 ◼   ► or if you're close to it, kinda how I am,

00:26:48 ◼   ► you can reach up and you kinda know where you are.

00:26:51 ◼   ► And if those aren't physical buttons,

00:26:54 ◼   ► you know it'd be more difficult.

00:26:56 ◼   ► and if it is something where they change

00:27:00 ◼   ► use based on app, like you're talking about,

00:27:04 ◼   ► like if I'm in Logic, F6 does this,

00:27:07 ◼   ► but if I'm in Finder, F6 does that,

00:27:09 ◼   ► then that doesn't deal with touch memory,

00:27:13 ◼   ► but it does maybe deal with shortcut key memory,

00:27:17 ◼   ► could be a little, it's like another layer

00:27:19 ◼   ► on top of keyboard shortcuts,

00:27:20 ◼   ► like Command + Shift + F may do something in one app

00:27:24 ◼   ► that's different than the other,

00:27:26 ◼   ► So it's like one level above that.

00:27:30 ◼   ► But all that aside, as long as it's not a screen and it's some sort of screen-key combo

00:27:34 ◼   ► so I can still touch it and know where I am, I'm all for something being more flexible.

00:27:39 ◼   ► I don't think you're going to get screen-key combo.

00:27:41 ◼   ► I don't think I'm going to either.

00:27:42 ◼   ► If they're doing this, it's just a little touch screen.

00:27:44 ◼   ► It's not going to be something that has any click or tactile response.

00:27:47 ◼   ► Right.

00:27:48 ◼   ► In which case it's going to take some getting used to knowing that I'm hitting the right

00:27:50 ◼   ► place.

00:27:52 ◼   ► How often do you hit those keys without looking, the function keys?

00:27:56 ◼   ► I do, especially the media keys, so F7, F8, F9 for iTunes, and then volume, or F10, F11,

00:28:03 ◼   ► F12.

00:28:04 ◼   ► I hit those pretty often, because I listen to music all day when I work.

00:28:07 ◼   ► And then the brightness keys.

00:28:08 ◼   ► But you know, the middle ones, I couldn't tell you which one is expose and which one

00:28:12 ◼   ► is launchpad without looking.

00:28:14 ◼   ► But do you hit them without feeling them out first?

00:28:20 ◼   ► You just know where they are and you hit the area.

00:28:21 ◼   ► Yeah, I know where they are. Right, so I figure you would just learn the area. I think so

00:28:26 ◼   ► I think ultimately yes, but I think those would be some adjustment period there

00:28:31 ◼   ► The bigger thing for me as far as a plus for this is flexibility for Apple

00:28:37 ◼   ► So, you know, I've got the magic keyboard here

00:28:40 ◼   ► But at home I have one of the old Bluetooth slimline keyboards like the one before this with the double-a batteries

00:28:47 ◼   ► that is paired to the Mac mini that's under our television and

00:28:51 ◼   ► I use a Magic Keyboard at my desk,

00:28:53 ◼   ► but if I go do something on the TV,

00:28:54 ◼   ► I gotta pick that keyboard up.

00:28:56 ◼   ► And it's the older version,

00:28:59 ◼   ► so it has a dashboard button screen printed

00:29:02 ◼   ► on F6 or something that this one doesn't.

00:29:05 ◼   ► And over time, as Apple has changed software features,

00:29:07 ◼   ► the hardware keyboards haven't kept up,

00:29:10 ◼   ► and so they rev them and adjust them as time goes on.

00:29:15 ◼   ► And obviously that's something they could change

00:29:18 ◼   ► if it's just a light-up screen.

00:29:20 ◼   ► They could say, "Well, this one is now this," and there's no big deal.

00:29:23 ◼   ► It's part of the OS update.

00:29:25 ◼   ► So from Apple's perspective, I can see how that flexibility would be welcome, because

00:29:31 ◼   ► they don't...

00:29:32 ◼   ► Like, Dashboard is basically all but gone, and a bunch of people are still running around

00:29:35 ◼   ► with Dashboard keys printed on their laptop, and that just is what it is.

00:29:39 ◼   ► And I think they would like to be able to change that as time goes on.

00:29:42 ◼   ► What do you think, Federico?

00:29:46 ◼   ► I feel like there's potential for, I'm thinking especially about the developer angle, to be

00:29:52 ◼   ► able to offer an API and to let developers program the keys any way they want, and to

00:29:56 ◼   ► sort of, if you don't imagine this as a new keyboard row, but as a mini screen that is

00:30:00 ◼   ► kind of separate from the main screen and it's docked at the bottom, and you can put

00:30:05 ◼   ► you know, specific information about apps and you know, like status updates or like,

00:30:10 ◼   ► I don't want to think about widgets because, you know, LOL dashboard, but I'm thinking about,

00:30:16 ◼   ► you know, like notifications or special keys, and I'm thinking about what you could do for,

00:30:23 ◼   ► in terms of localization, you know, because not necessarily, you know, what an icon means

00:30:30 ◼   ► for us in the West is also the best option that you can have in China or in India, maybe.

00:30:37 ◼   ► So I'm thinking about that sort of process and how you could change the visual aspect

00:30:45 ◼   ► or the meaning of a key without having to produce tons of different physical keyboards.

00:30:53 ◼   ► But I'm also considering whether that's gonna end up like the Force Touch API, which yes,

00:31:01 ◼   ► there's an API for developers but they don't really use it.

00:31:04 ◼   ► I mean, they do use it, just not revolutionary in that sense.

00:31:08 ◼   ► I think all in all, the Force Touch is not being used right now.

00:31:12 ◼   ► Like, on all devices.

00:31:15 ◼   ► I don't know, I really disagree with the people that say that 3D Touch is useless on the iPhone

00:31:22 ◼   ► because I use it every day all the time.

00:31:24 ◼   ► It's not useless, but I just think that it's not really being adopted by all developers in interesting ways.

00:31:30 ◼   ► Right, there hasn't been a lot of interesting stuff coming around, like there's lots of

00:31:34 ◼   ► Peek-and-Pop, but...

00:31:36 ◼   ► I mean, that's not surprising, you know, when there's a new feature that you always get

00:31:41 ◼   ► the minimal viable product at the start and then you iterate on it.

00:31:45 ◼   ► It doesn't really surprise me why people were expecting all sorts of crazy stuff from 3D

00:31:49 ◼   ► Touch and, you know, that's another topic.

00:31:53 ◼   ► I feel like for people like me, I would love to have a, you know, like a separate screen

00:31:59 ◼   ► at the bottom, but again I don't use a Mac, so I can understand why some folks are like

00:32:06 ◼   ► screaming and yelling and, you know, kicking their feet at the idea of ditching keys, ditching

00:32:14 ◼   ► physical keys and having a separate display. So I don't know, I feel like it sounds awesome

00:32:19 ◼   ► to me, but I'm not the best person to ask this because I work every day on a big touch

00:32:25 ◼   ► so I'm sort of biased here. And if Steven is upset, if the ATP guys are upset, sort

00:32:32 ◼   ► of understand. It's exciting when you think about what you could do with the APIs, but

00:32:37 ◼   ► I don't know. So there you go.

00:32:40 ◼   ► I think that one of the hardest parts to kind of get our heads around is the potential release

00:32:46 ◼   ► state of this thing, right? Like, these two new features would need OS X enhancement.

00:32:53 ◼   ► Are they likely to release a point update to OS X, like a few months before the next

00:32:59 ◼   ► version of OS X would come out to support these features?

00:33:03 ◼   ► I don't know, because it feels like there would have to be some significant development

00:33:07 ◼   ► for both of these.

00:33:08 ◼   ► As well, I'm sure that if there is an API for developers to plug into for this touch

00:33:12 ◼   ► display bar, Apple might want to give a little bit of time to developers to put this stuff

00:33:17 ◼   ► into action before the product ship.

00:33:20 ◼   ► When do you think we're going to see it, Steven?

00:33:22 ◼   ► I'm... now that we know more about this machine, I definitely feel comfortable saying that

00:33:28 ◼   ► it is tied to the next version of OS X or Mac OS if Jason was right.

00:33:33 ◼   ► It's totally going to be Mac OS.

00:33:35 ◼   ► I think it is.

00:33:36 ◼   ► The... that's not to say they haven't done big things like mid-cycle, like the App Store

00:33:42 ◼   ► and a couple other things have come later in the cycle of a version of OS X, but this

00:33:46 ◼   ► is some big stuff, especially the Touch ID thing, and they are not going to want to back

00:33:52 ◼   ► all that stuff into El Capitan when there's a new version right around the corner.

00:33:58 ◼   ► And that stinks.

00:33:59 ◼   ► I also have questions about if this cool keyboard thing is happening, then why did they ship

00:34:03 ◼   ► a Magic Keyboard like six months ago?

00:34:06 ◼   ► Why didn't they hold until the external keyboard could do it too?

00:34:09 ◼   ► Why is there no Retina display either?

00:34:13 ◼   ► That's easier to, I mean that's USB, that's Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C. That's easier to

00:34:17 ◼   ► write off.

00:34:18 ◼   ► Now, if we get these machines and we still don't have external Retina, then I'm going

00:34:22 ◼   ► gonna be really sad, but they've held the MacBook Pro

00:34:27 ◼   ► for so long now, you know, I've got the one you can

00:34:29 ◼   ► still buy today, and I've had it over a year.

00:34:32 ◼   ► The one with the Force Touch track pad, and it's fine,

00:34:37 ◼   ► but they've held them for so long that the chipsets

00:34:40 ◼   ► are really old now, and there's been a lot of trouble

00:34:42 ◼   ► with Intel getting the Skylake machines with the GPUs

00:34:46 ◼   ► Apple would have similarly want, like shipped in bulk,

00:34:52 ◼   ► There are other vendors doing it now.

00:34:54 ◼   ► It seems like Intel has finally turned the corner

00:34:57 ◼   ► on that production, but if Apple has to wait on Intel,

00:35:01 ◼   ► then at least they're using the time

00:35:03 ◼   ► to do something interesting as opposed to just

00:35:05 ◼   ► holding a machine that they can't release

00:35:08 ◼   ► and then just revving it when it comes out.

00:35:09 ◼   ► At least there'll be something more to look forward to

00:35:11 ◼   ► than just Skylake, and I'm definitely interested

00:35:13 ◼   ► in this machine.

00:35:14 ◼   ► I would like to go back to a 13-inch,

00:35:16 ◼   ► as I've said previously, and so,

00:35:17 ◼   ► especially if it's in space gray, please, Apple,

00:35:20 ◼   ► please deliver in space gray.

00:35:23 ◼   ► So I think it's good, I think it'll be

00:35:25 ◼   ► an interesting machine, yet sad,

00:35:26 ◼   ► and it's kind of a bummer that it won't be this summer,

00:35:28 ◼   ► I don't think, but I understand at least

00:35:31 ◼   ► why they're doing it.

00:35:31 ◼   ► Like we're not gonna get a new version of OS X/Mac OS

00:35:35 ◼   ► in two weeks, like it's been the fall forever,

00:35:37 ◼   ► they tie it with iOS, I think all this will happen

00:35:39 ◼   ► in the fall, and it's gonna be another year

00:35:42 ◼   ► like it was a couple years ago, what was it, 2013,

00:35:45 ◼   ► 2012, 2013, where all of Apple's products released

00:35:47 ◼   ► in like September and October, there was nothing else.

00:35:50 ◼   ► It's a little bit how this year feels,

00:35:52 ◼   ► except for that new iPad.

00:35:53 ◼   ► But I guess that is what it is at this point.

00:35:55 ◼   ► And it sounds like a worthy upgrade,

00:35:58 ◼   ► a worthy successor to the MacBook Pro.

00:36:00 ◼   ► Marco said on ATP, Apple really can't mess this machine up.

00:36:03 ◼   ► Like it is the workhorse of the Apple line, the Mac line.

00:36:07 ◼   ► - That felt like wishful thinking to me.

00:36:10 ◼   ► - Well, I mean, they definitely could screw it up.

00:36:12 ◼   ► Like they definitely,

00:36:12 ◼   ► it is within their power to screw it up.

00:36:14 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:36:16 ◼   ► And hopefully they don't.

00:36:18 ◼   ► but it is a really important machine

00:36:21 ◼   ► and I think that they are aware of that.

00:36:24 ◼   ► But I guess, as with all things in the future,

00:36:27 ◼   ► time will tell, but I've, at least for now,

00:36:29 ◼   ► I'm super interested in it and anxious to see

00:36:32 ◼   ► where they're going with the MacBook Pro.

00:36:34 ◼   ► - In a world where iOS 9.3 exists,

00:36:37 ◼   ► why could there not be a version of OS X

00:36:41 ◼   ► that comes out before a fuller version of Mac OS comes out

00:36:44 ◼   ► that has support for this?

00:36:46 ◼   ► Can you say that again with the movie trailer voice?

00:36:49 ◼   ► In a world where an iOS 9.3 exists, why?

00:36:53 ◼   ► From the shadows.

00:36:56 ◼   ► - We get it, Myke.

00:36:58 ◼   ► - You asked for it, you know, I commit.

00:36:59 ◼   ► - Worst movie ever.

00:37:01 ◼   ► - I mean, my guess with iOS, I think iOS 9 in general

00:37:05 ◼   ► is a pretty interesting thing for a couple of reasons.

00:37:08 ◼   ► One, they had the iPad Pro sort of mid-cycle, right?

00:37:12 ◼   ► That 9.7, it just kind of came out in the middle.

00:37:15 ◼   ► And I think the education stuff in 9.3

00:37:18 ◼   ► is really what forced their hand.

00:37:19 ◼   ► They had to have that out at the time they did

00:37:22 ◼   ► so schools could adopt it over the summer.

00:37:25 ◼   ► Which is when schools do things, you know.

00:37:28 ◼   ► I remember when I did a lot of support

00:37:29 ◼   ► for education customers right when I left Apple,

00:37:32 ◼   ► and they'd always be super annoyed

00:37:34 ◼   ► when they revved the iMac in like July.

00:37:36 ◼   ► It's like, well, you understand I bought these in March.

00:37:38 ◼   ► Right, like, you're not helping me, Apple.

00:37:41 ◼   ► And I think the education is really

00:37:43 ◼   ► why 9.3 shipped when it did.

00:37:45 ◼   ► I'm not saying they couldn't, I mean they could definitely,

00:37:47 ◼   ► what are we on, 10.11.5, 10.11.6 could drop in two weeks,

00:37:50 ◼   ► it could have touch ID, it could have support

00:37:52 ◼   ► for this OLED bar, and you know, we're just off to the races.

00:37:56 ◼   ► But I just don't think it this late in the cycle.

00:38:00 ◼   ► I mean, iOS 9.3 will be the middle point

00:38:02 ◼   ► of iOS 9 on the calendar.

00:38:04 ◼   ► We're much closer to the end of OS X,

00:38:06 ◼   ► and frankly, OS X is not the most important

00:38:09 ◼   ► OS Apple ships anymore, as much as it pains me

00:38:11 ◼   ► to say it's iOS, and so I don't see them

00:38:13 ◼   ► putting the same sort of mid-cycle engineering push into this as they would

00:38:18 ◼   ► with iOS at this point. I also think there are a lot less features that you

00:38:24 ◼   ► can market in OS X now. So Touch ID will probably be one of like the big

00:38:31 ◼   ► features of the next version of the Macintosh operating system. So

00:38:35 ◼   ► releasing it before what would be Mac OS whatever they're gonna call that

00:38:41 ◼   ► will kind of rip something out that they'll be able to put on a poster.

00:38:44 ◼   ► Absolutely and you know the touch ID in particular is a little problematic to me

00:38:50 ◼   ► it's going to come in the MacBook Pro, assumedly, and new owners of the MacBook

00:38:57 ◼   ► Pro, hopefully me included, will have that and it's gonna be awesome but it's gonna

00:39:02 ◼   ► take time for that to filter down to the other notebooks like assumedly the

00:39:06 ◼   ► MacBook will get it but they just revved the MacBook and so you're looking a year

00:39:10 ◼   ► from now for the MacBook to get it potentially.

00:39:12 ◼   ► The MacBook Air is gonna go away,

00:39:14 ◼   ► or if it doesn't, they're not gonna do anything

00:39:15 ◼   ► meaningful with it, so I think the MacBook Air

00:39:17 ◼   ► getting Touch ID is probably not gonna happen.

00:39:19 ◼   ► But then what do you do with the desktop users?

00:39:21 ◼   ► Does that, where, have you guys thought about this?

00:39:24 ◼   ► Where does the Touch ID sensor go on an iMac?

00:39:26 ◼   ► - So I have been thinking about this actually.

00:39:28 ◼   ► I think that if they're gonna do MacBook Pros on stage,

00:39:32 ◼   ► they're probably gonna read the Mac Pro as well.

00:39:35 ◼   ► If they read the Mac Pro, they're gonna have to introduce

00:39:37 ◼   ► the new display, right?

00:39:39 ◼   ► I feel like those things have to go hand in hand.

00:39:41 ◼   ► I think if they do both of those,

00:39:43 ◼   ► they will have a new version of the keyboard that has it in,

00:39:45 ◼   ► which they can sell to everyone else.

00:39:47 ◼   ► I think if they do those two products,

00:39:50 ◼   ► they will do a keyboard with at least the touch ID sensor in it.

00:39:53 ◼   ► I don't think it's going to have the little screen on it.

00:39:56 ◼   ► I don't think they're going to do that right now.

00:39:58 ◼   ► I think that is going to take a little bit longer. Um,

00:40:02 ◼   ► and they might just want to keep it in the Mac Pro for a bit,

00:40:06 ◼   ► but I think that the Touch ID sensor will be built into the Magic keyboard in some way.

00:40:10 ◼   ► I don't know how you would do it. They'd have to kind of redo the keyboard. They'll probably

00:40:14 ◼   ► have to stick something on the side of it, right? So it's a little bit wider.

00:40:18 ◼   ► Get rid of the eject key. Put it right there. You know, there is the potential that it isn't

00:40:22 ◼   ► circular shaped. Like, it could just replace a key. Like, I don't think that these sensors

00:40:30 ◼   ► have to be circular. I think it's just the way that they have been. There is a possibility

00:40:35 ◼   ► to just like replace a key with one of these things?

00:40:39 ◼   ► My only issue with that is, and this is just my lack of understanding of exactly how Touch

00:40:45 ◼   ► ID would work on the Mac, because right now it's based on the ARM, like it's on the ARM

00:40:49 ◼   ► stack and not the Intel stack, which is, they're obviously going to explain that, or how it

00:40:55 ◼   ► works, and if someone has an idea please let me know, because I'd have trouble thinking

00:40:58 ◼   ► about that.

00:40:59 ◼   ► Could they just put another chip into it?

00:41:01 ◼   ► Well, they could just have a tiny little like a 5x or something in it.

00:41:03 ◼   ► But I don't know if they would put the secure enclave and stuff in a keyboard

00:41:08 ◼   ► that could just like walk away.

00:41:10 ◼   ► You know, maybe they incorporate with the power button on the iMac,

00:41:14 ◼   ► which is pretty easy to touch.

00:41:16 ◼   ► No, that would be crazy.

00:41:18 ◼   ► If that's where they put it.

00:41:19 ◼   ► Also, don't put a sensor you're touching on the power button.

00:41:23 ◼   ► You'll be turning your Mac off all the time.

00:41:26 ◼   ► You just reach around, "Oh no, I just sent it to sleep."

00:41:29 ◼   ► I don't think that would be a good place for it.

00:41:31 ◼   ► I think it is possible to put it on the keyboard.

00:41:33 ◼   ► Like you can't do anything with the secure enclave

00:41:36 ◼   ► without the fingerprint.

00:41:37 ◼   ► Like phones walk away all the time.

00:41:39 ◼   ► - That's true or they disappear on the couch

00:41:41 ◼   ► and you have to get your watch to find it.

00:41:43 ◼   ► I mean there's lots of questions here

00:41:44 ◼   ► and I think that they're all solvable obviously

00:41:49 ◼   ► if Apple's thinking about doing this.

00:41:50 ◼   ► But my big point before we got derailed

00:41:53 ◼   ► was that this will be another transition with the Mac

00:41:56 ◼   ► where it's gonna, just like it was on iOS, right?

00:41:59 ◼   ► Touch ID showed up on what the 5s and then eventually showed up on the iPads

00:42:03 ◼   ► and now it's kind of everywhere we're just gonna we're gonna live with this

00:42:06 ◼   ► again on the Mac where the MacBook Pro will have it assumedly also like we

00:42:12 ◼   ► haven't even guess like the same problem with where you put on the keyboard is

00:42:14 ◼   ► where do you put it on a MacBook Pro on the 13 inch especially there's not a

00:42:18 ◼   ► bunch of like spare aluminum floating around the 15 inch you got speakers and

00:42:21 ◼   ► you could put it somewhere on the sides but I reckon it would be embedded in the

00:42:25 ◼   ► screen the little OLED screen right I'll put it there. Maybe so yeah so I think either

00:42:33 ◼   ► way we're gonna see some design changes with these machines and these machines

00:42:36 ◼   ► look the same for a long time I think we'll I think we will definitely see the

00:42:40 ◼   ► colors I think we'll see the the space gray and the gold and maybe the rose

00:42:43 ◼   ► gold I think that those will be successful actually I didn't tell you

00:42:48 ◼   ► guys I don't know if it's since they revved them and like it's the old thing

00:42:51 ◼   ► of people not liking revision a Apple hardware or something has happened where

00:42:56 ◼   ► I have seen like out in the world a couple of MacBooks recently and both

00:42:59 ◼   ► that I saw were the colored version not the silver so I saw a space gray and I

00:43:04 ◼   ► saw a gold just like in an office somewhere and I think that that will

00:43:10 ◼   ► definitely be nice looking on the MacBook Pro like I said space gray all

00:43:14 ◼   ► the way but I guess we'll see it's you know if you've already been waiting for

00:43:18 ◼   ► year for a new machine what's another quarter really between friends?

00:43:22 ◼   ► I don't know. Well we'll see. We'll see. There's also some rumors in the past week. There's

00:43:28 ◼   ► a lot of talk about Siri. Marco wrote a great piece which seemed to prompt a lot of discussion

00:43:35 ◼   ► which potentially has prompted a leak of some description to the information. The information

00:43:42 ◼   ► has this big article which is behind a paywall. MacRumors does a good job of summing it up.

00:43:47 ◼   ► Effectively, what it's looking like is that Apple has been building, so says the rumor

00:43:55 ◼   ► that they have been building since before the Echo, of course, a device that includes

00:44:00 ◼   ► a speaker, a microphone as well that could be used to listen to music, get news, so you

00:44:07 ◼   ► could say like, "Hey, a high telephone, give me the news of the day," and more.

00:44:12 ◼   ► And this is also going to be in conjunction with Apple opening up to developers this new

00:44:18 ◼   ► API which could be announced at WWDC.

00:44:21 ◼   ► There are some further reports that say this functionality may be built into the Apple

00:44:26 ◼   ► TV.

00:44:27 ◼   ► Expect, I guess, another revision of the Apple TV as opposed to the one that there currently

00:44:33 ◼   ► is.

00:44:34 ◼   ► I haven't noticed any speakers in my Apple TV.

00:44:36 ◼   ► I don't know if you guys have looked.

00:44:38 ◼   ► I haven't seen any in there.

00:44:39 ◼   ► So I expect it would have to be a new hardware revision.

00:44:42 ◼   ► Federico, how much would you like your Apple TV to become your new Echo?

00:44:46 ◼   ► Well, I don't know. Ask my driver, because that's where the Apple TV is.

00:44:52 ◼   ► You might hear you in there. You should speak up.

00:44:55 ◼   ► I don't know. I feel like there's little point in having the Siri Echo-like device in the Apple TV.

00:45:04 ◼   ► In fact, because one of the greatest things, not maybe the greatest feature of the Echo

00:45:11 ◼   ► is that you can put it anywhere.

00:45:13 ◼   ► Doesn't have to be next to the TV or where your TV is, you can put it in the kitchen,

00:45:18 ◼   ► you can put it on your nightstand, you can put it in the bedroom, whatever.

00:45:22 ◼   ► Doesn't matter, because it's just a speaker, as long as you want to talk to it, as long

00:45:25 ◼   ► as you want to hear music, or interact with Alexa, it doesn't matter if there's a TV,

00:45:31 ◼   ► it's a TV-free device.

00:45:33 ◼   ► And the Apple TV is, of course, it's a TV accessory, so I feel like having it in the

00:45:40 ◼   ► Apple TV, with potentially quite a few limitations.

00:45:45 ◼   ► For example, it has to be attached to a TV, it cannot be, I guess, a great speaker because

00:45:51 ◼   ► of the smaller TV form factor, and you cannot do many things with it because people tend

00:46:00 ◼   ► to hide the Apple TV and these streaming devices that have to be attached to HDMI ports, they

00:46:07 ◼   ► tend to hide them behind the TV or maybe inside of a shelf or a cabinet, whatever.

00:46:14 ◼   ► Instead the Echo is meant to be talked to, so it's visible, and it's got the LED light

00:46:19 ◼   ► feedback ring on top.

00:46:22 ◼   ► And I feel like having it in the Apple TV would be too limiting for a good speaker to

00:46:28 ◼   ► listen to music, or a good microphone and a good feedback system. So that aside, and

00:46:35 ◼   ► also aside from the fact that the reaction of some people to Marco's article was amusing,

00:46:40 ◼   ► and by amusing I mean, come on, seriously, Marco didn't write that Apple is the new

00:46:47 ◼   ► Blackberry, but of course there are some people, you know, those, some of those cheerleaders,

00:46:53 ◼   ► They like to always rush to defend Apple as if a big corporation needs these people to

00:46:59 ◼   ► sort of defend them. It's always funny.

00:47:02 ◼   ► They'll go out of business otherwise Federico.

00:47:04 ◼   ► They go out of business if they don't. I feel like it's quite sad that we cannot have a

00:47:09 ◼   ► reasonable discussion about this. And I feel like Marco raised some great points. You know,

00:47:14 ◼   ► Blackberry and RIM used to be at the top of their game, just like Apple is at the top

00:47:18 ◼   ► of their game today. But maybe when the future is coming, you don't know the future is coming

00:47:23 ◼   ► and eventually you're just too late.

00:47:25 ◼   ► But it's great to hear that Apple is working on this stuff behind the scenes,

00:47:29 ◼   ► but keep in mind that it's just a rumor at this point, and we don't know for sure.

00:47:35 ◼   ► That said, I do think that if Apple is going to do this,

00:47:39 ◼   ► it's not going to be like, today they release an Echo device

00:47:43 ◼   ► and suddenly all of their services problems are fixed.

00:47:49 ◼   ► Because Apple has a lot of catch up to do,

00:47:52 ◼   ► especially when you try an echo, when you try the Google Assistant,

00:47:55 ◼   ► it's not a silver bullet to say "we're gonna announce an API at WWDC and everything's gonna be okay".

00:48:01 ◼   ► There's a lot of work to do, and there's a lot of developers to get on board,

00:48:05 ◼   ► and there's a lot of things to test.

00:48:07 ◼   ► So I feel like they may be working on this speaker device,

00:48:13 ◼   ► and I feel like Siri API has to be coming, it will be coming at WWDC, I feel kind of positive about that.

00:48:19 ◼   ► I don't know about the speaker echo-like device, but I feel like if they do it, it's gonna be a music device.

00:48:27 ◼   ► And I feel like that would be in line with the history of the company.

00:48:30 ◼   ► I don't know about the other rumor, I saw another one that says there's going to be a camera that can recognize people walking around their living room so they can say hi.

00:48:39 ◼   ► That's kind of creepy, I don't see Apple doing that.

00:48:41 ◼   ► Connect, man. That's what connect does.

00:48:43 ◼   ► Exactly, that's the connect and we all know how that played out for Microsoft.

00:48:49 ◼   ► So I don't know.

00:48:50 ◼   ► I feel like an API is coming for Siri, there's a lot of work to do and maybe Apple will try

00:48:55 ◼   ► to brand it at Siri 2.0, maybe, you know, the new tech from VocalIQ that they acquired,

00:49:01 ◼   ► but the new tech is only one part of the problems that Apple is facing.

00:49:07 ◼   ► You can have new tech, but if you don't know how to properly scale and use and get

00:49:11 ◼   ► developers on board, that's another matter.

00:49:13 ◼   ► Let's talk about this VocalIQ thing in a moment. I just want to focus on the speaker for a

00:49:19 ◼   ► bit more. So here's my thinking, right? If, you know, there are a lot of ifs of the implementation

00:49:27 ◼   ► of such a thing, but if they were able to make the Apple TV and this Siri Speaker one

00:49:33 ◼   ► device, the reason I would be okay with it is because I don't think Apple needs another

00:49:37 ◼   ► device that they make. Like having it the Apple TV and enhanced Siri being one

00:49:44 ◼   ► product would be good because then they don't I mean this is a very different

00:49:48 ◼   ► looking and acting Apple TV by the way right like it's got a big speaker on it

00:49:52 ◼   ► it now does additional stuff it would maybe be a good thing for Apple to not

00:49:57 ◼   ► have another product line because I think we all felt that maybe they're

00:50:03 ◼   ► stretching it out a bit too much so that might be nice but I want to just do one

00:50:07 ◼   ► other thing if they do I'm gonna do one of my wild predictions here if they do

00:50:11 ◼   ► have another product if they create a speaker I will call it now and say that

00:50:17 ◼   ► I think they might call it the iPod I'm just gonna say it in case it happens

00:50:22 ◼   ► they're not doing that the iPod I think they might call it the iPod I'm just

00:50:26 ◼   ► gonna say it because if that if it happens I look great if it doesn't

00:50:29 ◼   ► everyone forgets so I just want to say I had the idea the other day and thought

00:50:33 ◼   ► it would be kind of cool if they did that, so I think it would be real nice if they called

00:50:37 ◼   ► it the iPod. Because it probably will be a music speaker device.

00:50:43 ◼   ► I guess it's not unusual for Apple to reuse names. I mean, even if you just look at iBooks,

00:50:48 ◼   ► for example, used to be a whole other thing. And, yeah, maybe, it could be. I just feel

00:50:54 ◼   ► like, I don't know if there's still room for a music device in Apple's product line, but

00:51:05 ◼   ► if it is I feel like it has to be not a portable one. Because you don't want to replace the

00:51:10 ◼   ► iPhone and so if it has to stay at home, I don't know if they're going to call it the

00:51:16 ◼   ► i-something. Yeah I think the naming of i-something is dead, I just wanted to put it out there

00:51:23 ◼   ► just in case, 'cause that would be a good one.

00:51:27 ◼   ► - Just to say Myke was right eventually.

00:51:28 ◼   ► - Exactly.

00:51:29 ◼   ► - Mm-hmm, okay.

00:51:31 ◼   ► - My big issue with the idea that they would merge

00:51:33 ◼   ► something like this with the Apple TV

00:51:36 ◼   ► is not only, Federico, what you said,

00:51:38 ◼   ► that the Apple TV is usually in your living room

00:51:40 ◼   ► or wherever your television is,

00:51:42 ◼   ► what people have said is including in the chat room,

00:51:45 ◼   ► and in my email after the article I wrote,

00:51:46 ◼   ► saying why not have a Bluetooth-connected microphone

00:51:50 ◼   ► with maybe even a built-in speaker,

00:51:51 ◼   ► So like the brain is happening on the Apple TV,

00:51:54 ◼   ► but you have a little like handheld thing

00:51:56 ◼   ► that you can carry around and talk to.

00:51:58 ◼   ► Well, the problem is that's the iPhone.

00:52:00 ◼   ► Like all you've done is make the iPhone again.

00:52:02 ◼   ► - And also I know how often

00:52:04 ◼   ► just in a different floor of my house,

00:52:06 ◼   ► my watch can't talk to my phone anymore.

00:52:08 ◼   ► - Yep.

00:52:09 ◼   ► - So Bluetooth and wifi, nay no help.

00:52:12 ◼   ► - And the genius of the Echo and, you know,

00:52:17 ◼   ► assumedly the Google Home product will piggyback on this,

00:52:21 ◼   ► is that it's completely hands-free,

00:52:23 ◼   ► and it's just, you know, mine, I think,

00:52:25 ◼   ► like y'all is just sitting in the kitchen,

00:52:27 ◼   ► which is like the perfect place for it.

00:52:28 ◼   ► And so we've talked about this.

00:52:29 ◼   ► If I'm washing dishes or I'm cooking or I'm doing something,

00:52:32 ◼   ► I can just shout at it and it does something for me.

00:52:35 ◼   ► Like at night, I have this little routine

00:52:36 ◼   ► where I go and like lock up the doors,

00:52:39 ◼   ► make sure everything's, you know, all closed up,

00:52:42 ◼   ► and I just tell Alexa that it's time for my lights to go off

00:52:46 ◼   ► and it turns off the Hue lights,

00:52:47 ◼   ► which are now our main lights in the front of the house.

00:52:50 ◼   ► It's just part of the thing.

00:52:51 ◼   ► I don't have to go find the Bluetooth-connected

00:52:54 ◼   ► remote microphone, right?

00:52:55 ◼   ► I don't have to have the television on

00:52:57 ◼   ► so the Apple TV can hear me and do things.

00:52:59 ◼   ► It's just there already and ready to go.

00:53:04 ◼   ► And while, Myke, I agree with you

00:53:07 ◼   ► that one more product line

00:53:09 ◼   ► is sort of eye-rolling at this point,

00:53:11 ◼   ► I think jamming this into the Apple TV

00:53:15 ◼   ► is problematic enough where it may be worth the trade-off

00:53:18 ◼   ► for another product.

00:53:20 ◼   ► And I for one, I really like the Apple TV,

00:53:24 ◼   ► it's our main entertainment system,

00:53:27 ◼   ► and so we're always using it.

00:53:29 ◼   ► And so what happens if I tell the Apple TV to do something

00:53:33 ◼   ► and it's like playing Netflix for my kids?

00:53:35 ◼   ► Does it then stop that and tell me,

00:53:37 ◼   ► yes, I've done this task?

00:53:39 ◼   ► The Apple TV's already in use.

00:53:41 ◼   ► Can it be in use in two different ways at the same time?

00:53:43 ◼   ► I don't see them solving that in a way that makes any sense.

00:53:46 ◼   ► So I think it will end up being a discrete device

00:53:50 ◼   ► for all the pluses that come along with that.

00:53:52 ◼   ► - So let's talk about the other side of this,

00:53:55 ◼   ► which is the API and enhanced Siri.

00:53:58 ◼   ► So something that Federico was mentioning

00:54:00 ◼   ► was this vocal IQ thing,

00:54:02 ◼   ► which is apparently a company that Apple has acquired,

00:54:05 ◼   ► which had some incredible voice technology

00:54:08 ◼   ► of some description, which has been said

00:54:10 ◼   ► that if Apple were able to harness the power

00:54:13 ◼   ► vocal IQ, we will see things unlike we have ever seen before. I think we've all heard

00:54:18 ◼   ► lines like that in the past. But what do you think about this in Federico? Is this what

00:54:23 ◼   ► Apple needs? Do they need to boost up the technology as well as just release an API?

00:54:30 ◼   ► See, that's what I was trying to get to. There's many moving parts here. And for sure, improving

00:54:38 ◼   ► the way that you recognize conversations, the way that you infer context from conversations,

00:54:44 ◼   ► which is what Vocal IQ was trying to be specialized at, that's one key element of the process,

00:54:50 ◼   ► to try to get better at understanding what a person means. And if you watch the video

00:54:55 ◼   ► of the Vocal IQ, I think his name is Blaze Thompson, I had a video on Max, sorry, like

00:55:02 ◼   ► last week, it tries to explain this quite well, how to infer context and data points

00:55:07 ◼   ► and how to link together different parts of a sentence and different elements. That was

00:55:13 ◼   ► one of the key features of VocalIQ, and I believe that Apple for sure saw potential

00:55:18 ◼   ► in that technology. And that, I'm certain that it's needed to improve Siri. It has

00:55:25 ◼   ► to be better, even better than other services, at understanding a natural conversation, understanding

00:55:33 ◼   ► prepositions, links between follow-up questions and answers. And sure, there's some, people

00:55:40 ◼   ► called it context inference, I think, maybe, there's some of that in Siri today, but not

00:55:47 ◼   ► always. It's inconsistent, and there's not a really strong language model, especially

00:55:52 ◼   ► if you look at alternatives today. But I feel like besides that, there needs to be other

00:55:58 ◼   ► elements, other initiatives from Apple to build the real Siri 2.0, if we want to call

00:56:06 ◼   ► it this way. The Developer API is of course the obvious candidate here. You need to be

00:56:12 ◼   ► able to open up the potential of the new Siri to developers and to say, "Look, now you

00:56:19 ◼   ► can bring your app functionality to Siri and there's this kind of dictionary for

00:56:24 ◼   ► comments and queries and here's ways you can localize Siri support for all of the

00:56:29 ◼   ► different languages that exist and we want to take as much pain away as

00:56:33 ◼   ► possible from you guys so you can just focus on the actions and the tasks and

00:56:37 ◼   ► you don't have to worry about the language model too much, you don't have

00:56:40 ◼   ► to worry about how to format the queries or how to teach users how

00:56:45 ◼   ► to ask questions because we take care of that. And that's a huge effort, that's a huge initiative

00:56:51 ◼   ► on Apple Support. And I wonder if we're going to see this API, how exactly are we going

00:56:58 ◼   ► to see that from a technical standpoint? My idea is there's going to be something like

00:57:03 ◼   ► a Siri kit and developers will have to bundle some kind of Siri extension in their apps

00:57:08 ◼   ► and to, you know, it has to support any country that Siri works in, of course, unless, you

00:57:13 ◼   ► the app is not available in that market. And there's a lot of technical points here,

00:57:20 ◼   ► but I feel like after a better sort of understanding of natural language, and after a developer

00:57:27 ◼   ► API, how do you extend this assistant stuff, this Siri stuff, outside of the phone? So

00:57:35 ◼   ► of course there's the Apple Watch, and having a Siri API on the Apple Watch would do wonders,

00:57:42 ◼   ► we were talking about the fact that, for example, I don't use apps on the Apple Watch much,

00:57:46 ◼   ► and that Siri is low.

00:57:47 ◼   ► If you can make it faster, and if you can make it so I don't need to look at the app,

00:57:52 ◼   ► if I can talk to the app, I feel like watchOS apps can gain maybe a whole new level of functionality,

00:57:59 ◼   ► just because the assistant that's always on your wrist can now be any app you want.

00:58:04 ◼   ► So there can be, at any moment, any feedback, any action from any app.

00:58:08 ◼   ► So of course on the Apple Watch, huge potential there.

00:58:10 ◼   ► Apple TV, iPad, possibly OS X, extending all of this Siri API to any platform could truly

00:58:19 ◼   ► be like another interface. Because when Siri launched five years ago, we were saying, "Yeah,

00:58:26 ◼   ► Siri is the fourth interface of iOS." But it wasn't really that way because of all

00:58:32 ◼   ► the limitations that it's got. And if you open it up to every app on any platform, now

00:58:37 ◼   ► Now that's what I would call another interface. I just don't know if Apple can do all of these

00:58:45 ◼   ► at once. Maybe they've been working behind the scenes, like the reports say, way before

00:58:52 ◼   ► the echo. They've been working on an API, they've been working on a separate device,

00:58:58 ◼   ► and to kind of bring the brains of a new Siri to any device. I want to see how they do it.

00:59:06 ◼   ► I want to see if they do it one device at a time, one platform at a time, or if they

00:59:10 ◼   ► just go all the way in and if they say we're going to have a Siri API, it's going to be

00:59:14 ◼   ► available on iOS, watchOS, OS X and tvOS.

00:59:17 ◼   ► Now that would be really something.

00:59:19 ◼   ► I think if you're going to do it, you've got to do all of them.

00:59:22 ◼   ► I think the same.

00:59:23 ◼   ► Because then otherwise you'll be like, oh my iPhone has this Siri and my Mac has this

00:59:30 ◼   ► this series so I can ask this series to do one thing and you know you've got to go all

00:59:34 ◼   ► of it, right? I think that's the way it has to be and you're going to go all devices in

00:59:39 ◼   ► one fell swoop, which will be very difficult to do.

00:59:43 ◼   ► And the, exactly, and the thing about the Siri API is that you need to be careful with

00:59:49 ◼   ► the way that you build the dictionary of the commands that you want to ask. Because if

00:59:56 ◼   ► If I ask Siri right now to create a note, for example, it just goes straight to the

01:00:01 ◼   ► Apple's app.

01:00:02 ◼   ► And it's a discussion that we need to have if, when we talk about the Siri API, we're

01:00:08 ◼   ► also talking about changing the default apps of a phone, because otherwise you're always

01:00:13 ◼   ► going to be asking "do x in name of the app".

01:00:17 ◼   ► And if you repeat that for a bunch of apps every time, sort of like it works on the Alexa,

01:00:22 ◼   ► On the Echo today, I feel like it can be annoying after a while if you always need to specify

01:00:30 ◼   ► the name of the app and the action that you want to perform.

01:00:33 ◼   ► Is that how you do it with the Echo?

01:00:35 ◼   ► Do you have to ask for specific things?

01:00:37 ◼   ► Oh yes.

01:00:38 ◼   ► Right, so if you want to play a song, if you just say the song name, it will try to find

01:00:42 ◼   ► it on Amazon Prime Music, and because that service is terrible, it can't, so it just

01:00:45 ◼   ► sits there.

01:00:46 ◼   ► But then you have to say "Play song on Spotify" and then it will go out to Spotify.

01:00:51 ◼   ► And I agree with you, Federico, that does get old and like,

01:00:55 ◼   ► you know, every once in a while you'll just forget

01:00:57 ◼   ► and then you end up playing something on Amazon Prime

01:00:58 ◼   ► you don't mean to and so I agree with you.

01:01:01 ◼   ► This probably has to come with some sort of way to set.

01:01:05 ◼   ► When you said default mail client,

01:01:07 ◼   ► it also kind of changes the Siri commands around email.

01:01:11 ◼   ► So I agree with you, it's kind of a one, two thing.

01:01:13 ◼   ► - I feel like whilst, I feel like that's again

01:01:17 ◼   ► like something we really want

01:01:18 ◼   ► and I don't see it happening, right?

01:01:20 ◼   ► because if you're gonna say mail clients and notes apps,

01:01:23 ◼   ► the other one is what music service

01:01:25 ◼   ► do you want your music to play from?

01:01:26 ◼   ► - Yeah. - Apple is selling

01:01:27 ◼   ► a music service, they want you to buy their music service.

01:01:31 ◼   ► Apple is a services company, I just can't see it.

01:01:34 ◼   ► Like I want it, I really want it

01:01:35 ◼   ► because I want to open Chrome links natively.

01:01:39 ◼   ► Like I don't wanna see Safari, why do you keep popping up?

01:01:42 ◼   ► But I just can't see it happening.

01:01:44 ◼   ► I feel like it should happen,

01:01:45 ◼   ► but I reckon the defaults will be all of Apple stuff

01:01:49 ◼   ► and it will let you ask for another app,

01:01:51 ◼   ► but it won't let you choose it.

01:01:53 ◼   ► - I agree.

01:01:54 ◼   ► And there's another point that I wanna bring up.

01:01:56 ◼   ► Based on the report from the information, the website,

01:02:01 ◼   ► I don't know if maybe they got the details of this wrong

01:02:04 ◼   ► or if maybe it's an intentionally wrong leak, I don't know.

01:02:08 ◼   ► But they do mention that the Siri API,

01:02:12 ◼   ► at least based on their,

01:02:13 ◼   ► oh, Siri just showed up on my phone.

01:02:15 ◼   ► Okay, no, not right now.

01:02:17 ◼   ► So, see?

01:02:18 ◼   ► Anyway, no, not now. So based on their article, it sounds like a glorified URL scheme launcher,

01:02:28 ◼   ► because they say the Siri API will launch an app into a specific view to perform the

01:02:37 ◼   ► task that the user is asking for. And basically, they make it sound like you ask Siri to do

01:02:44 ◼   ► something for you inside of an app and it takes you to the app to complete that action.

01:02:50 ◼   ► And that's basically launching a URL scheme with some content and to perform that action

01:02:55 ◼   ► inside of the app.

01:02:56 ◼   ► Now, it's perfectly possible that the first version of the Siri API will be like that,

01:03:01 ◼   ► but I would be really disappointed if it's not like what you get with the Apple apps

01:03:06 ◼   ► in the Siri interface, because right now the whole point…

01:03:08 ◼   ► It would be kind of horrific.

01:03:10 ◼   ► It would be terrible.

01:03:11 ◼   ► Right now, the whole point of using Siri with the Apple apps is you ask for questions, either

01:03:17 ◼   ► you want to retrieve content or you want to create content, and you're shown an interface,

01:03:22 ◼   ► a native interface inside of Siri. So you get like a mini reminders list, or you get

01:03:27 ◼   ► a preview of the calendar and so forth. And you can also create content back into those

01:03:31 ◼   ► apps but without actually opening those apps. And that's the whole point, right? You want

01:03:36 ◼   ► to be able to just do stuff with your voice instead of having to confirm by tapping. So

01:03:41 ◼   ► If they do launch a Siri API, and if it doesn't have, let's say, touch-free interaction, that's

01:03:48 ◼   ► going to be a real disappointment.

01:03:50 ◼   ► So I want to hope that the information got the details wrong.

01:03:52 ◼   ► I've seen a couple of people talking about this and saying that this might all be hidden

01:03:57 ◼   ► from the user.

01:03:58 ◼   ► And if that's the case, then fine.

01:04:00 ◼   ► It's just some weird implementation for, like, it does something in the background that you

01:04:04 ◼   ► don't see, but the phone is doing something in the application and returns the result,

01:04:09 ◼   ► which would be really weird.

01:04:10 ◼   ► And I feel like there could be a better way to do it than that, but that is the only logical

01:04:14 ◼   ► way that I can see this being, like it's just a miscommunication of the way that it

01:04:18 ◼   ► works.

01:04:19 ◼   ► Because if you say, "If all it's doing is open an application and prefilling a text

01:04:22 ◼   ► box and pressing search, I will be very mad."

01:04:27 ◼   ► That's basically what they wrote.

01:04:28 ◼   ► Yeah, because that doesn't feel like an API to me.

01:04:31 ◼   ► Like it just doesn't feel like one.

01:04:33 ◼   ► Yeah, I don't think that would be very good.

01:04:36 ◼   ► That would suck so bad.

01:04:39 ◼   ► It's like, "Can you play me Taylor Swift?" and then you watch it open Spotify and type

01:04:45 ◼   ► each letter in and then an imaginary finger just presses the search box for you. Oh my

01:04:51 ◼   ► god, that would suck.

01:04:53 ◼   ► No, see, Apple even has a chance to tightly control everything that could go on in the

01:05:00 ◼   ► Siri interface because just say, "Okay, developers, you want to do this? Look, you're going to

01:05:04 ◼   ► have to provide this kind of graphical assets and it has to be this size and this color,

01:05:10 ◼   ► you cannot have crazy interfaces, it has to be translucent kind of lists or whatever,

01:05:16 ◼   ► you cannot have animations, so they can set all kinds of limitations for developers. Because

01:05:21 ◼   ► if you look at the, you know, to keep it consistent with the existing Siri interface, assuming

01:05:26 ◼   ► that's going to be, you know, mostly the same design, they can enforce all kinds of guidelines

01:05:31 ◼   ► and limitations. It doesn't have to be as crazy as widgets, for example, but every developer

01:05:36 ◼   ► has a different take on the widget design in iOS 9. It doesn't have to be that way.

01:05:41 ◼   ► So we'll see. I'm also interested to see whether we'll get a textual Siri, like the ability

01:05:48 ◼   ► to ask Siri stuff by texting. And I don't know, I feel like there's a lot of potential

01:05:55 ◼   ► there as well, and a lot of people don't get it. Like they say if you don't want to talk

01:06:01 ◼   ► to Siri, why would you text with it?" And the answer is that I want to be able to ask

01:06:06 ◼   ► natural language questions without speaking, but also without having to do all the work

01:06:12 ◼   ► on my own. So I don't want to go to Wordflam Alpha on the website and type out my query

01:06:17 ◼   ► precisely, I don't want to look on Google, I just want to text my assistant like if it

01:06:21 ◼   ► were a real person, like I'm texting it stuff, and say "do this for me" and it replies and

01:06:26 ◼   ► it doesn't speak. Now that'd be nice.

01:06:28 ◼   ► I agree. I would like the textual Siri stuff.

01:06:31 ◼   ► Like I type things into Spotlight, right?

01:06:33 ◼   ► Like I do like currency conversions and things like that.

01:06:36 ◼   ► But I would like to be able,

01:06:38 ◼   ► how great it would be to type in natural language to affect the applications that

01:06:43 ◼   ► I use. Right? So like in my imaginary world,

01:06:46 ◼   ► I would just pull down Spotlight and type in my fantastic hell appointments.

01:06:50 ◼   ► Right? Like, and it would just go into the app as, as I want. Um,

01:06:55 ◼   ► Going back to the API and the idea of setting do for applications

01:06:59 ◼   ► I think one thing that might could potentially point to something like this is if they do the API

01:07:06 ◼   ► Similar to how they did multitasking when that first launched right like that

01:07:10 ◼   ► It starts off with a limited set of things that you can do

01:07:13 ◼   ► So like imagine there are ten things that the Siri API can do now at ten types of applications

01:07:19 ◼   ► It will work with say like note-taking email

01:07:22 ◼   ► messages, music. If they were able to do that, like I could imagine a kind of a Siri training thing where Siri asks you a bunch

01:07:28 ◼   ► of questions like what music service do you want to use? What notes app do you want to use?

01:07:32 ◼   ► And you just tell it and then it sets it forever. That's how I imagine like a best-case scenario

01:07:36 ◼   ► But I just can't see them like letting me choose Spotify or rapper music. I just don't see it happening.

01:07:44 ◼   ► I want to live in your imaginary world Myke. It's nice, right? Like where we have iPods coming back and

01:07:51 ◼   ► Siri does whatever we want like it feels good, you know, yes

01:07:55 ◼   ► It's a nice place to be. All right, I think on that note

01:07:58 ◼   ► We should we should all take a few moments and live in my special world

01:08:02 ◼   ► Which means that we need to close out the show for today

01:08:04 ◼   ► If you want to find our show notes head on over to relay FM slash connected slash 93

01:08:09 ◼   ► Thanks again to back blaze for sponsoring this week's episode as always. Thank you for listening

01:08:14 ◼   ► We love that you tune in to the show every week. If you're enjoying the show, please share it with friends

01:08:19 ◼   ► Why not? They might like it too if you like it so much. If you want to find us online,

01:08:23 ◼   ► there's a few places you can do that. It sounded like a threat but it wasn't.

01:08:25 ◼   ► If you like it so much, why don't you share it with a friend?

01:08:27 ◼   ► Go find Stephen Hackett online at 512pixels.net. He is at ISMH.

01:08:33 ◼   ► Federico is at Vitici, V-I-T-I-C-C-I and he writes over at maxstories.net. Federico has some

01:08:39 ◼   ► great stuff coming this week which you should make sure that you're checking out. And I am @imike,

01:08:43 ◼   ► I M Y K E on the Twitter. We'll be back next time for full-on WWDC predictions

01:08:51 ◼   ► in preparation. Until then, say goodbye guys. Adios.