0:00:00I am recording on the computer.
0:00:02I have two backup recordings going this time,
0:00:05and I have optimized my podcast recording situation for dog comfort.
0:00:11Excellent.
0:00:11Because Lucy is here and she refused to sleep in her basket.
0:00:16Instead, she wants to sleep on my lap while I'm recording the podcast.
0:00:20So I had to change the whole setup.
0:00:22You frequently change your setup for dog comfort.
0:00:26Dogs come first.
0:00:28It feels like it has been a really, really long time since we've recorded a show the way we're recording a show today.
0:00:35Like honestly, it feels like it wasn't even the same show that used to do what we're doing today.
0:00:40I know exactly what you're saying. It's like, "Oh, Myke! I talked to him a lifetime ago!" It's amazing.
0:00:50Well, okay, we have that, which is like, it just feels like it's been forever since we recorded an episode.
0:00:55but I mean more that you're not at home.
0:00:58- I'm in a whole different country.
0:01:01I'm in America at my parents' house.
0:01:04Am I a whole new person?
0:01:06Because it feels like the person I used to be,
0:01:09he only existed in one location.
0:01:11He never went anywhere.
0:01:12But the person I am now, the whole world is available.
0:01:16He can go places.
0:01:18He can see things.
0:01:20He can do things.
0:01:22What a novel concept.
0:01:24the previous person doing things.
0:01:27No, there was no doing things.
0:01:28There was staying at home.
0:01:31So yeah, it does feel like, wow,
0:01:34it sure has been a real thing
0:01:36since the last time we spoke to each other.
0:01:38- So in our last episode,
0:01:39we were wondering if you were going to be able
0:01:42to make your various trips.
0:01:45And it seems like that you obviously have done it
0:01:48because you are in America now, you're with your parents.
0:01:52How was your travel experience?
0:01:54Yeah, it's one of these funny things where I know that previous me was quite concerned.
0:02:02I don't, I don't, I think we talked about like betting on if I was going to be able to do all of my travel plans successfully.
0:02:10And I think I gave it like 50/50 odds.
0:02:11I don't remember.
0:02:12Because you were adding the complexity in, right?
0:02:14Because you were going from home and then you're going somewhere in Europe and then you're going back home again and then to America.
0:02:20Did you end up doing that by the way?
0:02:22'Cause I remember there was a conversation
0:02:24of whether you would just leave from location one.
0:02:27Did you go home again and leave?
0:02:28- Yeah, so the plan was to go from London to Switzerland
0:02:33and then from Switzerland to North Carolina.
0:02:36But I was very concerned that travel complexities
0:02:38wouldn't allow that to happen.
0:02:40But from current me's perspective,
0:02:42it's a little bit like,
0:02:43"Oh, what was that guy worried about?"
0:02:45Nothing was a problem.
0:02:46Like everything was really easy.
0:02:49And it's like, okay, it's travel the way travel is the way I remember travel.
0:02:54There's just one additional piece of paper that you need to get.
0:02:59And that's your COVID test results.
0:03:01And I had my test done.
0:03:03They both came through just fine.
0:03:05And at Heathrow airport, they were very concerned to look and check
0:03:10and scan the piece of paper.
0:03:11And then they let me through and it was totally fine.
0:03:13And at Zurich airport, literally no one ever looked at the test results.
0:03:19I never showed that document to anyone
0:03:21and I just flew to America.
0:03:24So no problems whatsoever on the flying front.
0:03:28- Oh, so you did go from Zurich to North Carolina.
0:03:31That was the final plan?
0:03:33Okay. - That did happen.
0:03:34And the funny thing was no one checked the paperwork.
0:03:36I almost felt like I wanted to show the flight attendant
0:03:39on that flight, like, oh, look at me, I have a test result.
0:03:42- I did it! - Nobody's checked it.
0:03:44- I did it, come on, that's my gold star.
0:03:47- I had all these extra plans.
0:03:48I spent an extra day in Switzerland to make sure that I had enough time to take the test and get the result
0:03:54but not fly out on the same day to do it the next day.
0:03:57So like it was all for nothing. I didn't need to do any of that.
0:04:00So the travel could not have been smoother and I was super surprised, but now I just feel like, "Oh, okay, great."
0:04:07So there's just one more piece of paper for travel. Travel is back on the menu. Great.
0:04:11This is the thing that you can do. So yeah, it was perfectly smooth.
0:04:14So you went straight back into your old way.
0:04:17So when we traveled to Romania a few months ago,
0:04:20I noticed, like as we were talking about on the show, right,
0:04:23that I had lost some of my traveling confidence
0:04:27because things were more complicated.
0:04:30But for you, it feels like you were just straight back into old gray mode.
0:04:35Yeah, I think it helped that I had the two flights.
0:04:38So on my flight out to Switzerland,
0:04:40I was a bit like, "Oh my God, everything like,
0:04:43Airports are so big. Am I agoraphobic now? I don't know.
0:04:47I did have that a little bit on the way out, but by the time I was on the way back,
0:04:51like, you know, it's a shock surprise.
0:04:53There's not many, like, Zurich to Raleigh direct flights,
0:04:57so I had to take a couple flights to make it to North Carolina.
0:05:01But by that point, like, then I just felt totally normal.
0:05:05I was like, "Okay, I'm just on a plane for a while. This feels normal.
0:05:09"Oh, I have to change at an airport and get on another plane and it just feels totally normal."
0:05:14So yeah, I think by flight two, it's like, "Oh, I got my travel mojo right back and no problems whatsoever."
0:05:21So yeah, I'm feeling great about it.
0:05:23Yeah, I was totally fine on the planes.
0:05:25It was the airports were complicated because like there were more steps that we had to go through.
0:05:32Maybe that's going to change.
0:05:33Like we're hoping to take a vacation in like a month or so.
0:05:37and it will include, similar to you,
0:05:40like a bunch of plane trips.
0:05:42Like it's not just a simple,
0:05:43like you can just get on one, get off, and you're there.
0:05:45And maybe that will help kick me in a little bit.
0:05:48I really would like to not have regressed in that.
0:05:53'Cause I used to be such a nervous traveler
0:05:56and I really just don't want that.
0:05:58I tell you I have not got my packing situation
0:06:02under control.
0:06:03Like we take it a couple of like little weekend breaks
0:06:06in the last month or so, and my packing situation
0:06:10is just, it's a nightmare, and I'm not really sure
0:06:13what I have to do to get that back under control again.
0:06:16I feel like I've forgotten how to pack.
0:06:18- I'm completely with you there.
0:06:19I already have, I've been making a bunch of notes
0:06:22on this trip of all of the things that I forgot
0:06:25that I do need to bring, so that part of it, yes.
0:06:28That's still more uncertain just because
0:06:29I'm out of the habit, but I feel like you and I
0:06:32have both gone through the same process with travel
0:06:34like starting as very nervous travelers, then doing it a bunch and feeling like,
0:06:38"Okay, now we're confident, haha, business travelers,"
0:06:41and then falling out of it during COVID.
0:06:43But I expect that you'll get back into it very quickly as well.
0:06:46Like once you do another complicated travel situation, you'll go,
0:06:50"Oh, okay, this is fine."
0:06:52And then you can also start making all the notes for the things that you need.
0:06:55You're like, "Oh, right, I need a time machine drive.
0:06:59I need a little external drive because I can't have footage
0:07:02that I'm shooting in just one location because one location is none location but I just totally
0:07:07forgot like oh yeah you need this this thing with you so I have a bunch of those little
0:07:10things we might talk about this in a couple of months time but I don't plan to ever travel
0:07:15the same amount that I used to oh a couple of months time interesting okay in a couple
0:07:20of months time what's in a couple of months time I have no idea the end of the year yeah
0:07:25- Interesting.
0:07:26- And so I just don't plan to do that anymore.
0:07:30You know, I will still, I expect travel more
0:07:32than I have at certain points in my life,
0:07:35but not to the level of like 10 trips a year
0:07:38or whatever it was that I was doing in 2018, 2019.
0:07:41- Well, I look forward to hearing much more about that.
0:07:44- So this trip, these trips,
0:07:46are mostly like relaxation focused for you, right?
0:07:50How has that been?
0:07:51Am I right in assuming that?
0:07:53that it's been kind of like get out of the usual flow,
0:07:57take a break in some ways kind of thing?
0:07:59- I don't know, it's been a real mix.
0:08:01I wouldn't say it's a clear one thing or the other.
0:08:05At the start of the year, I did say,
0:08:07I'm going to see my parents and my family
0:08:09before the end of the year, I just don't care what happens.
0:08:12And so that was part of this trip,
0:08:14it's like, okay, it's September.
0:08:17Like if you're really gonna do this,
0:08:19you need to do this at some point.
0:08:21So that's part of what this was about.
0:08:23But part of it was also working.
0:08:25And so one of the things that I did is,
0:08:28the reason that I went to Switzerland
0:08:30is that was actually a writer's retreat thing
0:08:34that I was doing with a couple of friends.
0:08:37I know, I know, it sounds so fancy.
0:08:39- Did you wear a beret the whole time?
0:08:41- Yes, I wore a beret and I was smoking a cigarette.
0:08:44I was looking into the mountains.
0:08:47- Bonjour everyone.
0:08:49Yeah. I mean, it was in the French speaking part of Switzerland,
0:08:53which was hilarious.
0:08:54Good old French people always refusing to speak English even when you know they
0:08:58can understand you perfectly well. It's like, Oh,
0:09:01they're always holding up that stereotype. I always think, Oh, that's not real.
0:09:04That's just a thing people think, but no, it's totally real. But yeah, so it was,
0:09:08it was great. And it is a thing that, you know,
0:09:10like I do work trips on my own, you know,
0:09:13great occasions where I'm just doing it like a dedicated period of work.
0:09:17I've been lucky enough to be invited to some of these things with some people.
0:09:21And this is one that a couple of friends had been trying to arrange
0:09:25before the whole pandemic started.
0:09:27And then is one of these things that we just kept pushing back several months
0:09:30at a time for a year and a half until finally all of our schedules lined up.
0:09:35So that experience is a really intense working experience that's hard to describe
0:09:43because I feel like even on my own,
0:09:45when I do little gradations to just write
0:09:48and I'm by myself, those experiences are often
0:09:52very draining and very focused times.
0:09:57But when you also have a few other people there
0:10:00who are there to do the same thing,
0:10:03and you're also kind of checking in with each other
0:10:07at the end of the day of like,
0:10:08"Hey, what did everybody get up to?"
0:10:10It is really intensive.
0:10:13it's a really focused amount of work and it was a great experience to
0:10:17one, be able to travel to a different place,
0:10:21two, be able to see some friends who have been trying to meet up with
0:10:24for a long time, and then three, be in an environment where I have
0:10:29you know what I think of as like colleagues and
0:10:32we're all there to do the same thing which is get a lot of writing done in a
0:10:37short period of time and so it basically got an entire script
0:10:41written in the, I don't remember exactly, like nine days I was there, which is pretty
0:10:48great, but it was very exhausting by the end of it. Like I was completely tapped out, just
0:10:58like no energy left, can't do anything, just got on a plane and flew to America. So yeah,
0:11:06That was the first part of the travel which was very, very work intensive.
0:11:12Quite easily one of the most intensive, say, 10 days of work that I'll do all year, partly
0:11:18because other people are there and we're checking in with each other and we're all here to do
0:11:22the same thing.
0:11:23So it's very focused, very intense.
0:11:25I have some questions about this experience.
0:11:27Okay, what are your questions?
0:11:30Everybody's working on their own project?
0:11:32Yeah, no one's working together.
0:11:34isn't like a theme like a overall like we're all gonna write a script about such and such topic?
0:11:39No, no, no, there's there's no theme.
0:11:41Okay, there's no structure to it.
0:11:42No, because also we're not all the same kinds of writers like we're writing different sorts of
0:11:48things so it doesn't make sense to say like, oh we all have to write a script because not everybody
0:11:51is writing a script.
0:11:52Yeah.
0:11:52So everybody has their own stuff that they're working on and there's there's just like a very
0:11:56vague at the start of it, okay, there's things we want to try to accomplish and so for me it was I
0:12:02I wanted to try to take a script that was basically just barely started and bring it to completion by the end
0:12:09and so I was able to do that.
0:12:10And other people had their own targets for things that they were working on.
0:12:14Right. And every day you're like checking in with each other, this is how much I did today.
0:12:18Do you set like, are there targets set in the day, like I want to get this far through
0:12:22and then you talk about if you did that or what does that look like?
0:12:26Yeah, some people did that, some people had specific goals of like,
0:12:29"Oh, I need to hit a particular word count" or "Oh, I need to finish this particular section."
0:12:34I didn't do that because I never find...
0:12:36Yeah, I just don't find the scale of a day makes a lot of sense for me.
0:12:42The scale of like the entire time I'm here makes much more sense to me.
0:12:46Just basically the very loose structure is everybody's working on their own during the day.
0:12:54Maybe we get together for fancy beret cigarette smoking breaks as we think about life in the mountains.
0:13:02Right, yes exactly.
0:13:03Sacre bleu.
0:13:04Oui.
0:13:05Yes, oui.
0:13:06Sacre bleu.
0:13:07Trae magnificente los montanos.
0:13:13Oh jeez.
0:13:14Okay.
0:13:15And so then the only rough structure is we have dinner together and talk about what we were up to.
0:13:21And that's really the only set point.
0:13:23Yeah, it's just a useful environment because in many ways, the kind of job that I have, it's a very "you're on your own" kind of job.
0:13:33You're just reading about stuff and then you're trying to write things and summarize it, and it's like a very, very solo job.
0:13:42And it is useful sometimes to be able to bounce ideas off of colleagues.
0:13:48leagues. And it's particularly useful to be able to bounce ideas off of people who do
0:13:53similar work, but maybe in a slightly different way or a slightly different field so you can
0:13:58get just a different take on things. So it's a very useful experience and I always feel
0:14:04very lucky when I get invited to one of these kinds of things because I've always found
0:14:09it really beneficial.
0:14:10- Do you not think about trying to find a way to keep that as an ongoing thing? Or do
0:14:15do you think it can only work in these short breaks in person?
0:14:18For me, it only works in these short bursts. There's a lot of things that I find effective
0:14:25in much smaller doses that as ongoing things I just don't find effective.
0:14:31Probably like partly the novelty of the trip helps that.
0:14:35Yeah, so I think novelty is a big part of it. I can convince my brain to be super serious
0:14:41about it in a really constrained amount of time. It's like, "Okay, we have to be working
0:14:46at 100% no jokesies." That's also why it makes it more serious when you travel to a
0:14:54different spot. It's like, "No, no, I'm very serious about this. I've taken time
0:15:00to go someplace."
0:15:01- Right, why else would I be here if I wasn't actually getting the work done? If I wasn't
0:15:06gonna get the work done, what was the frickin' point in making this trip?
0:15:09Exactly. And so I've tried at various times these kinds of...
0:15:15And just to be clear, I'm not knocking this, I'm just saying it doesn't work for me.
0:15:19The sort of thing where you try to, on a much more regular basis, say like,
0:15:22"Oh, check in with people every other day or every week about what you've been doing."
0:15:28And I just find that I'm not able to maintain it over a long period of time.
0:15:34and my brain starts to, I don't know,
0:15:37just like not take it seriously anymore.
0:15:39And so it doesn't work.
0:15:41So yeah, it does sound like,
0:15:43"Oh, shouldn't you just do that all the time?"
0:15:45It's like, no, it actually works so well
0:15:48precisely because it doesn't happen all the time.
0:15:51It's the same reason that it's like,
0:15:53"Oh, I take the graycations,"
0:15:56not recently, but like, you know,
0:15:57"on occasion, I take them
0:15:58to go to an intense period of work."
0:16:01And it's always super productive
0:16:03because my brain takes it really seriously.
0:16:05But let's say I went somewhere new every week
0:16:09to try to always just be writing really intensely.
0:16:12I think that wouldn't last two weeks.
0:16:14I think by week three, I'd go, oh, this is dumb.
0:16:17- It's quite reductive, right?
0:16:18Like, it's like, why don't you just work hard every week?
0:16:22What's your problem?
0:16:23Like, I understand why the question is so,
0:16:27is on the face of it makes sense,
0:16:31but in actuality it's pretty silly, right?
0:16:33It was like a good thing.
0:16:34- No, I don't, like here's the thing,
0:16:35I don't think it's a silly question
0:16:37because this is part of knowing about yourself.
0:16:42And so, like it's quite interesting,
0:16:44but like one of the people I was with,
0:16:46he does do the thing where he has someone
0:16:49to check in with him every day about what he's working on.
0:16:53And like he finds that very effective.
0:16:55And this is where you have to figure out
0:16:57like what works for you.
0:16:59I just find like that doesn't work for me.
0:17:01I become almost weirdly resentful of like having to check in with someone.
0:17:06It feels like, "Oh, am I in school?
0:17:08Is this homework?"
0:17:09It just like, it completely doesn't work.
0:17:11You have to figure out what works for you in your own life.
0:17:15I think it's – this is also one of the reasons why it's very useful in these kinds of things
0:17:20to talk to other people about like, "Ooh, how do you write?
0:17:22How do you write?"
0:17:23And you can sometimes pick up ideas and say, "Oh, that's something interesting I never
0:17:26thought of."
0:17:27Like I'll give that a try and see if it works.
0:17:30And if it does, like it becomes part of your routine.
0:17:32And if it doesn't, it just doesn't.
0:17:34It's an interesting and valuable experience,
0:17:35but it's not something, you know,
0:17:38it's not something I could do every month.
0:17:41I think I would either die from exhaustion
0:17:46or it would just rapidly become completely ineffective.
0:17:49And my brain would just be like, we can't take it seriously.
0:17:52We're not here to work.
0:17:54We're on vacation in Switzerland.
0:17:55like, "No brain, no!"
0:17:58It's not what we're doing at all.
0:17:59We have to write scripts to pay the bills
0:18:03to be able to do these writing trips.
0:18:05You can't just wander off and think that this is a vacation.
0:18:09That's not what this is at all.
0:18:10So that's what would happen, I think,
0:18:11if it was more regular.
0:18:12- Yeah, okay, that makes sense.
0:18:14So then from Switzerland, we went out to North Carolina.
0:18:18Was that more of a, has this been more of a relaxing time?
0:18:23Well, so here's what I would say happened.
0:18:26I don't know if you remember, Myke,
0:18:29constant talk of the swamp of uncertainty
0:18:31that I was living in.
0:18:32- Yep.
0:18:33- I think in some ways it worked out great
0:18:37to be able to do this writing trip with some friends.
0:18:40And in other ways it was a terrible decision
0:18:45because after having the Sharks project
0:18:50followed by the Tiffany project, and then immediately going into the most intense,
0:18:57you know, week, ten days of work that I've had in a year and a half, I really was just,
0:19:04you know, I was like barely alive when I got on that plane. It was brutally exhausting.
0:19:11Oh, it also doesn't help that the poem video that I was working on,
0:19:15One of my main goals with that thing was I was like,
0:19:18"Oh, I absolutely have to get this done before I go on the writing trip.
0:19:23Like, I need to be completely done with that project."
0:19:26But guess what? It wasn't done. Like, I didn't finish it in time.
0:19:29So the first few days I was there, I was really, like, just busting my butt
0:19:34trying to finish up the last few details on that poem video and get it done.
0:19:39And also I was like, "Oh, I need to film a thing at the end."
0:19:43And so some very sharp-eyed viewers did notice that those mountains are like, "Oh, those
0:19:47look like Swiss mountains."
0:19:48And guess what, viewers?
0:19:49You're exactly correct at the end.
0:19:50Like, those are mountains in Switzerland.
0:19:52That was funny for me because I watched the version without that at the end, right?
0:19:57And I remember we were sitting down one day and saying to it, you know, "Oh, did you
0:20:02want to watch the new Grey video?"
0:20:04She said, "Oh yeah, let's watch it."
0:20:06So I was like, "Oh yeah, I'll watch it again."
0:20:07And then that happened.
0:20:08I was like, "Oh, you didn't finish it in time!"
0:20:10Because I knew where you were, I knew where you were going.
0:20:14And I kind of maybe wasn't aware of the timelines, and it was just very funny to me.
0:20:19It's like, "Oh, you're still working on it."
0:20:21Yeah, it was really terrible.
0:20:23It was like, just one of these combinations of like, too many things went wrong,
0:20:27and also that project, like it would just take hours and hours to render on my computer,
0:20:33and so it's like, I just ran into these delays of it, it lasted until the trip to Switzerland.
0:20:38That video though did give us like one of the great out of time moments.
0:20:44So in our episode out of time you're like "Oh I don't know this video feels like it's gonna be terrible"
0:20:48and it's got like 50% more views than the video it's about which is fantastic.
0:20:52Yeah that is still a little confusing to me.
0:20:55That is a case where I was definitely very wrong in my prediction of how that video would do and so yeah.
0:21:01I think it's the title. I think the title really helped someone dead ruin my life again.
0:21:05I think that title's really good.
0:21:07Like it's just a good title.
0:21:09- Yeah, but don't say that, it makes me so sad.
0:21:11- Yeah, I know, I know.
0:21:12- I hate the title game on YouTube.
0:21:14- Well, we both do.
0:21:15More Texans know that we both really hate that stuff,
0:21:18but it's just a genuinely good title.
0:21:21I don't really feel like it's a clickbaity title per se.
0:21:24It's just a good title for that video.
0:21:27And it's very representative of the content.
0:21:30- Yeah, I don't think it's clickbait either
0:21:31because it is representative,
0:21:33But it still, it does make me sad that,
0:21:35oh, if I happen to have a worse title,
0:21:37I'm fairly certain my prediction of this video
0:21:39won't do very well, would be more accurate.
0:21:42- Yep.
0:21:43- And that makes me really sad in my heart.
0:21:44But you know, again, if you subscribe to More Text,
0:21:46you can listen to me cry about how I don't like
0:21:48how you have to have clever titles for your videos.
0:21:50Like a big baby.
0:21:51- Get more text.com.
0:21:52(laughing)
0:21:53- Get more text.com.
0:21:55But yeah, so that like, this was part of the problem is like,
0:21:58I had two nightmare projects in a row,
0:22:01one of which split into two videos.
0:22:04The second video ended up being what, like,
0:22:06I don't know, a half an hour almost.
0:22:07It was like forever long.
0:22:09- Feature length is how I keep describing it.
0:22:11(laughing)
0:22:12It's just a feature length video.
0:22:13- Yeah, it's a feature length video.
0:22:17And then also my only goal in life was I have to finish
0:22:20this stupid poem video before I go on this writers retreat
0:22:23and I completely failed.
0:22:25And so then I was like just rushing so hard to finish it
0:22:30on the writer's retreat.
0:22:32And you know, Myke, this is a thing that just never happens.
0:22:36Like when I finish a video, it is exhausting already.
0:22:40So I normally take a couple of days off.
0:22:42Like I just have to, but I'm in a situation
0:22:45where I'm like, no brain, boom,
0:22:47we got to like hit the ground running full speed tomorrow
0:22:51because I've already lost a couple of days of this,
0:22:53like only happens once in a while trip.
0:22:56That's super valuable.
0:22:57So I just went like straight into writing another video, which I never do.
0:23:02Got to the end of the week.
0:23:03I had finished a script and then like this, so this is just to like give the
0:23:08listeners an understanding of like, I really mean it that when I got on that
0:23:12plane, I was like a dead man walking.
0:23:14I was just totally tapped out in a way that I, I just kept thinking about it.
0:23:22Like, I think I haven't been that tapped out since I had the worst year of my life,
0:23:28which was my last year as a teacher, when I, you know, quit teaching to do YouTube full-time.
0:23:34And like, that year was really brutal, and I remember the same thing, like, that summer,
0:23:39I was just so tapped out from trying to manage my teaching job and also trying to do enough
0:23:45videos to push the YouTube channel over the hill so it could be like a full-time position.
0:23:51I'll never forget.
0:23:52first summer after I quit my teaching job and I'm like I'm gonna be a full-time youtuber
0:23:57but also I've totally killed myself to get in this position so I just didn't do any work
0:24:02for a really long time and I remember I happened to meet up with Vsauce that summer and he
0:24:07asked me he goes like "oh are you still doing youtube or have you decided to quit that?"
0:24:12I was like it was so crushing because I'm like no I've literally just decided that I'm doing
0:24:17it full time.
0:24:18[laughter]
0:24:19If you're retired, I've only just started!
0:24:22Yeah, I've only just started, but I'm worried that I broke something in my brain trying
0:24:29to get to this position.
0:24:30To be fair though, that I guess has ended up, that interaction has set an ongoing precedent
0:24:37throughout your career, right?
0:24:38Yeah, yeah, no.
0:24:39Has Grace stopped making videos?
0:24:40You know, you have these periods every year or two.
0:24:44Is he done with that now?
0:24:46Yes, yes.
0:24:47Yeah, so like that was definitely foreshadowing of the shape of things to come, 100%.
0:24:53But I just, I just like, I never forget that and like every time I see Vsauce I always
0:24:57think of him going like "Oh did you say..."
0:24:59Like no, I just, I'm full time now actually, thanks for asking.
0:25:04But yeah so like I've just been, I was thinking about that a bunch this summer because I think
0:25:08that currently this is the longest period of time in which I have just done nothing
0:25:15work-wise since I went full-time, so like since 10 years ago. I don't think I've had
0:25:21a break this long. But it's also because, for the same reason like last time, I think
0:25:27I've just, I had never been so tapped out from several projects and then a really intense
0:25:35working period previously. And here's the thing though, it's been great because when
0:25:41I got to North Carolina, I finally got to see my parents, see my family, see Lucy, who's
0:25:48still sleeping on my lap right now, gently snoozing away.
0:25:51For the first few days, I had this little feeling of like, "Ooh, I should get to work
0:25:57soon.
0:25:58Like, I really want to--" I finished this video script.
0:26:01I need to, you know, now get this video actually finished so I can have something up for the
0:26:05month of October.
0:26:06But I realized quite quickly, the way I've been thinking about it is like, I needed to
0:26:10give myself a special dispensation, it's fine. You haven't taken a long amount of time off in a
0:26:18really long time. You haven't seen your family in a really long time. Just go with it. Like, just
0:26:26decide right now. This is always the key with things. Decide right now you're not going to feel
0:26:33guilty about not doing work for a while, just, you know, it's okay.
0:26:39You've given yourself a special dispensation, and as always, like, eventually the time will
0:26:44come when you're not completely tapped out and you're recharged and you can get back
0:26:49to work.
0:26:50But in the meantime, it's like, be with your family.
0:26:53Pay a lot of attention to the dog, like, do some interesting things.
0:26:58And you, like, you haven't traveled, you haven't been anywhere, like, just actually enjoy it.
0:27:03So it's been basically a really glorious month to have after the completely miserable swamp of uncertainty and sharks and Tiffany and everything else.
0:27:15So I feel quite relieved that I made that decision right at the start and haven't just felt guilty.
0:27:22It's like, no, you need to do this every once in a while.
0:27:25And if there's any time it's legitimate to take a bunch of time off,
0:27:31It's when you're spending time with family you haven't seen in like a year and a half.
0:27:36So it's been great. I've been very relaxed.
0:27:39As you know, Myke, I've been just like taking some walks.
0:27:42Behind my parents' house is a terrifying swamp, but it has a lovely little boardwalk.
0:27:47And so you can just like walk around and relax and do nothing.
0:27:51And yeah, spend time with my parents, help my mom out with a year and a half's worth of
0:27:58tech questions that she has built up as like a list of things to ask me.
0:28:02Great! That's what I'm gonna do. It's been glorious.
0:28:05This episode of Cortex is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs.
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0:29:48So you posted a picture on Twitter of what I can only assume is a vast selection of Magic
0:29:53the Gathering cards, and I'm assuming a score thing 30/30, or if that's not really
0:29:59sure what this means.
0:30:01Can you explain what all of this is?
0:30:04Yeah, so one might wonder, they go, "Oh, so you've just been like hanging out with
0:30:09your parents for a month, like what can you possibly do?"
0:30:13And the first thing is, my mom always does build up a lot of questions about the computer
0:30:17between my visits. And so she did have a literal folder full of sticky notes of tech questions
0:30:23that we needed to work through. But one of the other things that did come up is my mom
0:30:30expressed a little bit of interest in learning how to play Magic the Gathering. So she had
0:30:37seen my, the stream that I did on my channel and she had heard us talk about the game on
0:30:44the show a few episodes ago and she'd made some like just little comments
0:30:48that made it sound like oh she might be interested in trying to learn how to
0:30:52play the game so I completely seized on this and decided oh great I'm gonna take
0:30:59this on as a project I'm gonna teach my mom Magic the Gathering she seems
0:31:03interested I also think she will totally love it I took a picture at the end
0:31:08because I thought it was hilarious but before I arrived in America I thought oh
0:31:12"Oh, okay, I'm gonna teach my mom this game. I need to order a bunch of cards."
0:31:15"Oh, but also if I'm gonna teach her, I need to-- we need some dice to keep track of things."
0:31:20"Oh, and also we do need to have a scoreboard because that'll be easier than writing numbers down and it like gives people something to focus on."
0:31:27So I started ordering like a bunch of equipment,
0:31:29and I didn't quite realize until I actually arrived in America how many little Amazon boxes full of magic stuff were waiting for me on the other side.
0:31:38But anyway, it was very fun like opening it all up and getting out the cards and it's been this interesting experience because
0:31:46the game is
0:31:48incredibly
0:31:50complicated and
0:31:51difficult to explain. I've had this interesting experience over the last several weeks like teaching my mom who by the way
0:31:59Has gotten very into it like she is super into the game now as I've completely expected
0:32:06she would be. I'm sure it will surprise absolutely no one to hear that CGP Grey's mom is also
0:32:13a very obsessive kind of person who can really get absorbed endlessly in the details of a
0:32:19bunch of things. And so this is why I was looking at her and going like, "Oh, you'll
0:32:24totally love this. Like if I love this, you'll love this." But so even though I haven't been
0:32:30working in the sense of writing a script, I feel like I've had this incredible experience,
0:32:35Which is trying to explain this incredibly complicated game in a way to get someone else
0:32:46on board.
0:32:47And it's, I keep thinking of this phrase like, it's been professionally useful to me because
0:32:54when I make a video and I'm trying to explain some idea, whatever it is, one of the main
0:33:00things that happens as you write a script where you're trying to explain something is
0:33:05you can make choices about simplification. Like, how are you going to simplify an idea
0:33:12for the listener? When you research a topic you end up knowing a ton about it. At least
0:33:17I think if you're doing a good job making a video that's what you should be doing. You
0:33:21should have a deeper understanding that is conveyed in the actual video itself or whatever
0:33:25it is you're explaining, if you're teaching.
0:33:27You should understand the thing a level or two deeper than the level at which you're
0:33:32teaching it.
0:33:33So it always involves like, simplification.
0:33:36You have to decide what parts of complexity are you going to skim over.
0:33:42You know, it's like that's something that occurs in my videos all the time.
0:33:45It's like I'm trying to simplify something down so that it's understandable more easily.
0:33:52But the problem with Magic the Gathering is that the fact that it is exactly this complicated
0:33:58is the whole thing.
0:34:00That's what the game is.
0:34:03Is like, there's all of these complications.
0:34:05And so I can't actually decide to say, "Oh, we're going to ignore the difference between
0:34:10this and that."
0:34:11Because the difference between this and that is critical, and it matters, and it will be
0:34:15the reason why you win or lose.
0:34:17Or you go, "Oh, I'm just going to ignore that this thing exists."
0:34:21But you can't because tons of the cards will explicitly reference "this thing exists"
0:34:26and so a person will go "what is that thing that exists?"
0:34:29So I don't know, I've just found it very interesting as a kind of problem or like a practice exercise
0:34:37in explaining something where you don't have the option to simplify and the thing is really
0:34:44really complex.
0:34:46I've never had the experience as an adult of trying to teach someone else magic,
0:34:51and I do just keep thinking, it's kind of a miracle that anyone learns to play the game,
0:34:58because you kind of need someone to be like an evangelist and tell you like,
0:35:02"Okay, listen, this is going to take two weeks.
0:35:06This is unlike any other board game you've ever come across,
0:35:09but I promise you it'll be worth it at the end,
0:35:12but it will never seem worth it until three weeks from now
0:35:17where you've not only learned how to play it,
0:35:19but you've also been able to play it on your own a bunch
0:35:22and start to get a feel for it.
0:35:24So hey, trust me, we're gonna go on a three week journey together
0:35:28and at the end, you'll love this thing, comma, hopefully.
0:35:33Sign me up.
0:35:33[laughs]
0:35:35Myke, you're a very good friend of mine.
0:35:37I'm just gonna say right now,
0:35:39There's no game on Earth that is less for you than Magic the Gathering.
0:35:43Oh, do not get me wrong my friend, I was being 10,000% sarcastic.
0:35:49I 100% already know this is not for me.
0:35:53I downloaded the video game version.
0:35:56Oh no.
0:35:56And I just opened it and kind of closed it immediately.
0:35:59I just could just tell, I don't know why.
0:36:02You should be like, "No, this isn't for me."
0:36:05Just in general, card games, just general card games,
0:36:09I tend to just forget how to play them all the time.
0:36:11I'm not very good with board games,
0:36:14remembering the rules of board games,
0:36:16and it kinda just is like,
0:36:18"No, I can see where this is going,
0:36:20"and me and this game are not gonna get along very well."
0:36:23- No, I think you wouldn't get along very well.
0:36:25I feel like I endlessly talk about it,
0:36:27but I also think it is a interesting problem space,
0:36:30because one of the things that I realized,
0:36:32I'm like, "Oh my God, how do new players get into this?"
0:36:35It's so hard and I feel kind of lucky that oh, I first learned this as a kid when it was a much simpler game
0:36:41It's like oh they've added complexity over time. So when I jump back in I go
0:36:46Yeah, yeah, but I know a bunch of this stuff. Like I remember the bones of it from when I was younger
0:36:50But jumping in now, it's like oh my god. There's so much to learn and
0:36:53again why it's so
0:36:56Difficult to try to think about like oh, how do I explain it? How do I simplify things is because oh
0:37:03"Oh, there's a ton of rules."
0:37:05And literally every rule has an exception to it. That's part of the point.
0:37:09So you go, "Okay, alright, this is a very complicated right to start with."
0:37:14But also, there are tons of things that happen that, like, the way I've come to think about it is
0:37:21they're not in the game.
0:37:23They're just a thing that happens because this card says it should happen now.
0:37:29And it's like, "Oh my god, how on earth do you explain this?"
0:37:33And the thing that's been quite interesting to me is I can't stop my brain from working out,
0:37:40"Oh, how would I try to change this to make this friendlier for new players?"
0:37:45And, "Oh, there's just a bunch of pattern matching that's taking place."
0:37:49And there are ways that you could try to explain that.
0:37:53So, "Oh, instead of having all of these things that can put players off,
0:37:56"Oh, there's orcs and there's goblins and there's wizards and some people just don't like that kind of stuff."
0:38:02It's like you could explain all of this just using shapes. You could say, "Oh this card,
0:38:06it's a square and this card is a circle and that one's a triangle." And you have another card that says,
0:38:12"Remove all triangles from the board." And like, "Oh suddenly it's so much more understandable."
0:38:19That's just like you're just matching patterns. You're matching these different words that are going on.
0:38:23But anyway, it's also just made me think a lot about what makes games fun.
0:38:31Like, why is it that a game can be fun?
0:38:34And a big part of, I think, what some people find fun about games,
0:38:40and I don't know if this is true for you,
0:38:43is it's not so much the game itself that's fun,
0:38:47it's the figuring out how to play the game part that's fun.
0:38:52Like at the beginning of the pandemic, my wife and I, we got the board game pandemic,
0:38:57and we played it for a little while.
0:38:59Great idea.
0:39:00Did you say bad idea?
0:39:02I said great idea, but I mean bad idea.
0:39:05No, it was great.
0:39:06Have you played Pandemic the board game?
0:39:08No, I've never played it.
0:39:11I think you might actually like pandemic.
0:39:12It might be fun.
0:39:13But so here's the thing.
0:39:14It's like, oh, we played it.
0:39:16But part of the fun for me is like learning how to play the game.
0:39:19And I go, oh, okay.
0:39:21But at a certain point, I feel like I've kind of solved it.
0:39:25It's like, "Oh, I know how to play this game.
0:39:28I've gotten reasonably good at it."
0:39:31And now suddenly the game just loses all interest and I just never want to play it again, which
0:39:36is exactly what happened with Pandemic.
0:39:38And so my pitch for anyone listening is if you have this experience where you play games,
0:39:46But then at some point when you feel like you've figured out how to play the game,
0:39:52and then you just lose interest, you actually don't really want to play it anymore once
0:39:55you know how to play.
0:39:57It's like, magic is for you.
0:40:00And it's one of the reasons why I really wanted to pitch this to my mom of like, "Oh, she
0:40:05should totally get into this.
0:40:06She would love it."
0:40:07Because I've seen her do this same thing her whole life, where she learns how to play a
0:40:11game.
0:40:12of solves it and gets very good at it and then totally loses interest in it.
0:40:17But what you're saying is, with Magic, there's always something to learn.
0:40:21Yeah, it's completely impossible to master, and so, like I taught my mom how to play Settlers
0:40:26of Catan a number of years ago, and you know, she used to play on the iPad, and then I think
0:40:31she basically became like a world-class player and never lost and got just totally bored
0:40:35and was like, "Oh okay, I've solved Catan, there's nothing more here for me," and she
0:40:39put it away and never played it again. But the thing that makes Magic different is that
0:40:45every three months they come out with new cards and the new cards change all of the
0:40:49rules and mix everything up. And so like it's never ever done. If the thing that you think
0:40:56is fun about a game is figuring out the game, Magic 100% is for you. But the flip side is,
0:41:05"Oh my god, is it the most complicated game in the world to explain to another person
0:41:11and to get another person into and to like get someone on board with?"
0:41:16So there's a funny way in which even when I haven't been working,
0:41:21I can see that the part of my brain that does the thing which is my career in some ways,
0:41:27which is explaining things.
0:41:30How do you do it? How do you make it better?
0:41:33How would you want to change this language so that it's more comprehensible to a viewer?
0:41:38Like that part of my brain is on vacation, but it's also had this interesting toy to like
0:41:47play around with while it's recharging.
0:41:49And I'm very happy that I have successfully taught my mom how to play Magic.
0:41:54And she is successfully working her way up the ladder, beating the new players now.
0:42:00And she's super happy about it.
0:42:02and it's one of those experiences where I see her in the morning
0:42:05and she's all bleary-eyed because she stayed up until two in the morning
0:42:09like playing game after game after game trying to beat people on the ladder
0:42:13and it's like "oh fantastic mission accomplished"
0:42:15Do you consider it a good thing that you can't turn that part of your brain off?
0:42:20What do you mean?
0:42:21Well does it not ever make you feel like you can't just relax
0:42:26because your brain's always looking for something to explain to someone?
0:42:29Well...
0:42:31I mean, yes, and...
0:42:33Here's the thing, like...
0:42:35I like to play games.
0:42:38I've always played video games, and you know, now I'm just like, "Magic is my life."
0:42:44The reason that I like that activity is because it's like the only time that I do feel like my brain actually is relaxed.
0:42:55So it's a different experience playing the game, not trying to explain anything.
0:43:00And I just mean this for any video game.
0:43:02Like, it can be really absorbing.
0:43:03Like, I'm playing Factorio or Minecraft or anything.
0:43:06It's the only time it feels like my brain can just shut off entirely.
0:43:14That's part of the reason that video games have always been part of my life.
0:43:17And it's part of the reason why, when I'm done with a video and I need to recharge,
0:43:22It's like, "I'll just sit down and play a game for eight hours in a row and I will do nothing else."
0:43:28And it's like, it's completely quiet in my head and wow how relaxing it is.
0:43:33So I use games to relax in that way.
0:43:37It's like, it's very hard to describe, but it's just, it's a way to be absorbed,
0:43:43to be pleasantly concentrating on something,
0:43:47but also in a way where it's just clear and straightforward and quiet.
0:43:53But yeah, in the rest of my life, I do feel like my brain is always chitter-chattering away about how to explain something,
0:44:00or, you know, I feel like, "Oh, my brain is very curious. What's this? What's that? What's that thing over there? Oh, how does that work? How does this go?"
0:44:07Like, that's always happening.
0:44:09But I also don't think I would have the kind of YouTube career that I currently have if I wasn't that sort of person.
0:44:16So I wouldn't want my brain to be any different.
0:44:19It's always gonna be that way, you've just found a way to turn that into what makes you
0:44:23money too.
0:44:24Yeah, well it's like you figure out what are you good at.
0:44:28And figuring out how things work and then simplifying them down is something that I'm
0:44:35pretty good at.
0:44:36And so obviously I didn't set out to do this on purpose, but it's the sort of thing where
0:44:41you just see like, oh, where are the skills that you're good at useful?
0:44:46Yeah, sure.
0:44:47Some, sometimes there are totally downsides to a brain that constantly is
0:44:51going like, wait, how does that work?
0:44:53How does this work?
0:44:54Why did, why is that the case?
0:44:55When I'm talking to people, I can, it can definitely be a downside sometimes
0:44:59where I'm like, oh, where did you hear that?
0:45:01How do you know that that's true?
0:45:02Why do you think that?
0:45:03Oh, if that was true, would that mean that this is true?
0:45:06Like that, that kind of stuff can totally get me in trouble in
0:45:08conversations with actual people where I think sometimes people feel like I'm interrogating
0:45:13them but I don't really mean to. I'm just trying to follow through some of the things
0:45:16that are being said. So there are totally downsides. But yeah, it's games for me are
0:45:21the way to turn that off and to actually relax. But what I mean by this trip being really
0:45:28pleasant is I feel like I've had the best of both worlds that I have actually been able
0:45:34to relax and recharge for a big period of time. And also the explainer part of my brain
0:45:40hasn't been completely inactive. It's had a pleasant difficult puzzle to work on during
0:45:48that time, which is also a like no stakes kind of puzzle of how would you explain this
0:45:54incredibly complicated thing and you're not allowed to simplify it because the complications
0:45:59are the whole point. So that's what's been going on and it's been just a really fantastic
0:46:05month although I have just recently finally finally gotten back into actual work. So again
0:46:11like this period of time is now over.
0:46:14Hello.
0:46:15It's been great. It is true. Actually I told my parents I was like oh can you please leave
0:46:24the house while I'm recording because now I actually need to work today. Work is back,
0:46:31mic is here.
0:46:32[DING DONG]
0:46:33Cortexmerch!
0:46:34Dot com!
0:46:36Subtlety is back! I think we've maybe decided this is a product that gets a once a year
0:46:42release. I feel like that that works pretty well. I know that people love the subtlety.
0:46:46I always want more subtleties and sweaters because I wear them a lot.
0:46:51I am surprised how much I wear my own subtle tees.
0:46:53Yes, I'm actually looking at my subtle tees
0:46:55and going, I need more of these.
0:46:57So Myke needs to bring them back.
0:46:59- This is one of those things where I think
0:47:01we had a good idea and it keeps working.
0:47:04And I know people that I know that own them,
0:47:06they love them because they're really beautiful,
0:47:08fantastic, very nice, very classy, very subtle.
0:47:11You know, it's just a t-shirt or a sweater
0:47:13with a little embroidered cortex logo on the chest.
0:47:16It's fantastic.
0:47:17We have a two week pre-order going on right now.
0:47:21you have until November 10th to get your order in.
0:47:24We're bringing back all of the colors from last year.
0:47:27So previously it had just been blue.
0:47:29Then we brought in black and red options.
0:47:32This year we're bringing those three back
0:47:35and introducing a brand new color, green.
0:47:38So there is both a green sweatshirt and tea
0:47:41as there is blue, black and red ones.
0:47:43So there's lots of color choices.
0:47:44You could buy one, you could buy them all.
0:47:46I know I'm gonna get some more red and some green.
0:47:49That's what I'm gonna get this time for sure.
0:47:51I'm wearing my red sweater today and love it.
0:47:53- You're wearing your red one today?
0:47:54- Yeah.
0:47:55- My red subtlety is the shirt that I own
0:47:58that gets me the most comments of any shirt
0:48:00because people will literally tell me,
0:48:02"Oh my God, you're wearing a color.
0:48:05"Like I've never seen you wear a color."
0:48:07- I've never seen, I didn't even know you own the red one.
0:48:09I've never seen you in the red one.
0:48:10I've seen you in the blue ones and the black ones.
0:48:12- Yeah, I like the red one, but I'll tell you,
0:48:14everyone who knows me, they're shocked
0:48:16every time I wear the red.
0:48:17But like, "Oh, but I think it's a really nice red.
0:48:18I quite like it, but I'm also gonna add the green to my repertoire. I really like the color green for this subtlety
0:48:24So I think at least for me anyway, I'm gonna do the same thing
0:48:27I do every year which is I'm gonna buy a bunch and then I'm gonna go six months from now
0:48:31Oh, I don't think I actually quite bought enough. I need Myke to put them back on sale again
0:48:37So here we get your subtleties people. They're great cortex merch.com
0:48:44This episode of Cortex is brought to you by Fitbod, the fitness app that provides a personalized exercise plan, a fitness plan
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0:50:47of this show and Relay FM.
0:50:49Talking about great.
0:50:51Maybe I'm tipping my hand here.
0:50:53- Oh. - Brand new iPad mini.
0:50:55- Oh, oh, do you like it, Myke?
0:50:56Do you have an opinion on the iPad mini?
0:50:57Have you given away your opinion?
0:50:58- Oh, do I? - Right at the start.
0:50:59- Oh, do I?
0:51:00Do I love my iPad mini?
0:51:02So this has been out for like a month now,
0:51:05so at the iPhone event, Apple unveiled an iPad mini,
0:51:09which by and large is very styled
0:51:12around the kind of newer iPad aesthetic,
0:51:15so like maybe closer to the iPad Air.
0:51:17Has touch ID, full screen, not no bezels,
0:51:21but much thinner bezels now.
0:51:22Nice and thin in a few different color ways.
0:51:25Supports the Apple Pencil, which is a thing
0:51:27that I think we spoke about on the show in the past
0:51:30that we thought would never happen.
0:51:32I think somebody sent me a clip of that at some point over the last couple of weeks,
0:51:35which is us believing that the Apple Pencil would never come to the iPad at this point
0:51:39just some time ago.
0:51:41And yeah, so we have a brand new design.
0:51:44You have one, right?
0:51:45You did get one?
0:51:46Well, okay, so no.
0:51:47I didn't get one.
0:51:49My wife ordered one that was delivered here to my parents' house, and so the box was just
0:51:55sitting there.
0:51:56And I had no intention of buying the iPad mini.
0:51:59Do you want to know why, Myke?
0:52:01Why?
0:52:02So teeny tiny.
0:52:03Like that screen, it feels like the screen is barely bigger
0:52:08than the big phone.
0:52:10- Well, I don't think that's the case.
0:52:11I mean, in size, like when you look at it,
0:52:14like when they say like, oh, these are the sizes,
0:52:16it's like, oh, sure that's not that much bigger,
0:52:17but it is a big difference.
0:52:18But for me, it's not even so much the screen size,
0:52:21even on the iPad mini, you have iPad OS.
0:52:23So you're able to do more on that screen.
0:52:27- I had no intention of getting the mini,
0:52:29but my mom did get a mini.
0:52:31And so I saw her using it and I thought, Ooh, that looks interesting.
0:52:36And then somehow my wife's iPad box got opened and I installed my iCloud
0:52:44settings onto my wife's iPad mini.
0:52:51You know, just to like, just to try it out, just to see, you know, my actual
0:52:57critical test for the iPad mini was.
0:52:59Is it too small to play Magic on?
0:53:02The answer is no, it's not too small to play Magic on.
0:53:05And so I may have been using my wife's iPad mini
0:53:10quite intensively for the past couple of weeks.
0:53:14And I may certainly be ordering one for myself
0:53:18when I go back because I'm very surprised, but I like it.
0:53:23I like it quite a lot.
0:53:24It seems extra ridiculous when I put it next
0:53:27to my giant iPad Pro.
0:53:30But the thing that has been really interesting to me
0:53:32is realizing it's just a very nice notebook size.
0:53:37Like it's almost exactly the same pleasant size
0:53:41as our theme system journal.
0:53:43It's like what a great little size
0:53:45for a little companion iPad.
0:53:47And yeah, I've been surprised by how much I like it.
0:53:51And I've been surprised by how much I find myself
0:53:53reaching for it over my giant iPad Pro.
0:53:57It's a real win as a product.
0:53:59I absolutely loathe the volume button placement,
0:54:03but other than that, I have no complaints
0:54:06for that iPad mini at all.
0:54:07Like it's such a great little device.
0:54:09- Yeah, with the volume button thing,
0:54:11I feel like they gave and took away at the same time, right?
0:54:14'Cause it's weird 'cause it's at the top,
0:54:15but I don't know if you'd notice this,
0:54:17but the up and down changes by device orientation.
0:54:20- Yeah, no, I have noticed that,
0:54:22but here's the thing that kills me.
0:54:24Yeah, okay, yeah, great idea.
0:54:27I have no problem with that.
0:54:29I get why they did it.
0:54:29It helps make the volume button placement less weird.
0:54:32But now it bothers me that my big iPad
0:54:35doesn't work that way, right?
0:54:37It's like, guys, this is a software thing.
0:54:40You should make all the volume buttons work this way
0:54:42so that the one on the top is--
0:54:43- Yeah, it doesn't really make sense
0:54:45that just because you moved it to the top,
0:54:47now it doesn't make sense.
0:54:48'Cause the point is that the buttons are always fixed
0:54:51and it doesn't matter where they are,
0:54:53if you change where the iPad's oriented,
0:54:56the buttons will be in technically different order.
0:54:58So it should be everywhere.
0:55:00I don't know why this is just a thing for the iPad mini,
0:55:04but it is as of right now.
0:55:05- They should do it on the phone too.
0:55:06Like if they make the decision that the button on top
0:55:09is always the up volume button, for the love of God,
0:55:12do it with all of your volume buttons.
0:55:13Don't do it with one of your volume buttons.
0:55:16It's a very strange decision.
0:55:17- But that's kind of just how that's settled right now.
0:55:20The iPad mini now is it's the only iPad I'm using.
0:55:24- Okay, so you used to have just the regular size one,
0:55:26right, you didn't have the Pro?
0:55:27- No, I have both Pros.
0:55:29- Oh, okay.
0:55:30- So I had the big one,
0:55:32that was what I always had started with that,
0:55:34and then with the 11 inch,
0:55:37I kind of started to move away from it,
0:55:39and then once I kind of became Big Mac Boy again,
0:55:44I stopped using the 12.9 inch completely,
0:55:48and was just using the 11 inch iPad Pro,
0:55:50pretty much exclusively at home as my home computer,
0:55:53You know, it's like I'm at home, I'm doing things,
0:55:55no matter what it is, I'm gonna use my iPad for it.
0:55:57But now that has transitioned to the iPad Mini.
0:56:00'Cause by and large, what I'm doing when I'm at home
0:56:04is like content consumption stuff.
0:56:07And I feel like this iPad Mini is like
0:56:09the best content consumption iPad that's ever been made.
0:56:12Like screen is just big enough for video,
0:56:15and it's so small that you can hold it
0:56:17really comfortably in one hand.
0:56:19And it's also, whilst very small,
0:56:22especially when you have the keyboard up in landscape,
0:56:26you don't really get a lot of information on the screen.
0:56:29It's big enough that I can respond to some email,
0:56:32check a couple of spreadsheet things if I have to.
0:56:35And so I am actually, now, I'm gonna be selling
0:56:39my big iPad, my 12.9.
0:56:42- Oh, okay, so it's really going.
0:56:44- That size class for me is done now.
0:56:47The smaller iPad Pro, I do like that I have it.
0:56:50I haven't decided, that may go,
0:56:52but I've not made up my mind on that yet completely.
0:56:55Because the Magic Keyboard is such a fantastic tool.
0:56:59And being able to have an iPad with that keyboard
0:57:03right there is really great.
0:57:05I wish that there was some kind of solution
0:57:07for the iPad Mini.
0:57:08Not an impossible task, but a very difficult one.
0:57:11- Like what are you gonna do,
0:57:12a one-handed Dvorak layout on that keyboard?
0:57:14- I have used a iPad Mini keyboard before.
0:57:20So at Bridge Keyboards, they used to make
0:57:21an iPad Mini keyboard, and very small,
0:57:24but it could get the job done.
0:57:26Nevertheless, so I'm not, I don't really know exactly
0:57:29what the iPad Pro will be for me in the future,
0:57:32'cause the question mark that I keep having is like,
0:57:35they're not gonna update this Mini
0:57:36as much as they update an iPad Pro.
0:57:38And if I'm like, oh, I'm all Mini all the time,
0:57:41nothing's ever gonna change me,
0:57:43in four years time, I'm gonna be really upset
0:57:45because they just haven't done anything with it.
0:57:48So I don't really know exactly what the future holds for me
0:57:51when it comes to the iPad.
0:57:53But right now, because this iPad Mini has all of the specs
0:57:56that I care about the most, you know,
0:57:58like it's fast and it's capable,
0:58:00I can do anything I want with it,
0:58:02it really has just become like,
0:58:04this is the perfect iPad for what I'm using an iPad for now.
0:58:08- I'm gonna recommend with the keyboard stuff,
0:58:11like I think on the Mini,
0:58:13it's way better to float the keyboard
0:58:16and use the little floating iPhone-style keyboard instead.
0:58:20- The swipey guy, yeah, I've been doing that.
0:58:22I've been doing that more.
0:58:23I've been doing the split keyboard a bit too,
0:58:25but the floating one is the best one.
0:58:26'Cause you could still just use one thumb
0:58:29while you're holding it to do all of that.
0:58:31So that works pretty well.
0:58:32I have bumped into a few applications
0:58:34that don't handle that very well.
0:58:36I don't know why.
0:58:37I've had some stuff since the iPad mini come out
0:58:39where there's been some weird UI things that have been going
0:58:43on, which is starting to get cleared up.
0:58:44But one of my favorite was the Carrot Weather widget.
0:58:49Like the widget shows you like a seven day forecast
0:58:52and it would show me Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday.
0:58:56'Cause Thursday, Friday and Saturday would get cut off.
0:58:58And that was very funny to me, you know,
0:59:01like just a couple of days
0:59:02would just get cut out of the widget.
0:59:03You know, 'cause it is slightly different in size
0:59:07and all that kind of stuff.
0:59:07And so with these kinds of things,
0:59:09'cause they just drop them all of a sudden,
0:59:11some developers--
0:59:12- Yeah, this is always the case
0:59:13when Apple has a new screen size.
0:59:15You have to expect for the first month,
0:59:16there's a lot of like UI weirdness.
0:59:19Oh, the magic app isn't full screen.
0:59:21There's weird black bars on the side.
0:59:23It's like, right, 'cause they had no idea this was coming.
0:59:25And yeah, I've definitely noticed a few other things
0:59:28that are a bit weird.
0:59:29The other thing that like this one reminded me
0:59:32that I totally forgot that I used to do
0:59:35is like that split keyboard
0:59:37where you can use two thumbs to type
0:59:39on either side of the screen.
0:59:41I find that a really comfortable input method.
0:59:46And I forgot that I used to, with one of my very old minis,
0:59:50sometimes take it out on a walk
0:59:52and use that double thumb split keyboard
0:59:55as a way to write down ideas really quickly.
0:59:58And I've been doing that again
1:00:00as I've been taking little walks around here.
1:00:02And I just love it as an input method.
1:00:05I find it just very pleasant.
1:00:07It's faster than on the phone with one thumb,
1:00:10but the device isn't so big that it,
1:00:13like I'm not gonna take my giant iPad Pro out for a walk
1:00:16and use like a split keyboard on either side,
1:00:18like that's dumb.
1:00:19I just, I really like the size of it.
1:00:21And I also find with the cover and hallelujah,
1:00:25the flat sides, like when you fold that cover back
1:00:28and with the flat sides, it's so comfortable to hold.
1:00:32And I feel like I have such a solid grip on it
1:00:35that it is a thing that I can like take out
1:00:38for a little walk to the local coffee place
1:00:40and have out while I'm walking and thinking
1:00:43and writing down some ideas.
1:00:46It really is just a fantastic little form size.
1:00:48I think they did such a good job with it.
1:00:50And I'm with you, Myke.
1:00:52Like for whatever reason, Apple seems to not enjoy
1:00:55updating their small devices, but right now,
1:00:59while it's new and it's still reasonably fast
1:01:01and can do all the modern things,
1:01:03like I think it's a fantastic little iPad.
1:01:05- Maybe if we just convince all the cortexes to buy them,
1:01:09then maybe they will update it more frequently
1:01:12'cause we just need to become complete evangelists
1:01:15for the iPad mini now, which I have no problem being
1:01:17because it is an absolutely superb little device.
1:01:21I have the purple one, we have the Cherry case,
1:01:24and such a nice little pairing,
1:01:26and this thing's gonna,
1:01:28one of the things that I've been struggling with
1:01:30when thinking about getting back into travel again
1:01:33is I'm not going to want to have just an iPad with me anymore
1:01:38which is what I was doing with some trips before.
1:01:41It was just an iPad.
1:01:43I'm now going to want to have a MacBook Pro with me,
1:01:46especially when we talk about the new MacBook Pros
1:01:49in a minute.
1:01:50All I'm gonna want is to have a MacBook Pro with me
1:01:54and I was struggling about would I wanna bring an iPad?
1:01:59I really love my iPad for everything I do
1:02:03when I'm stationary, you know?
1:02:05Like when I'm at home, I barely use my phone.
1:02:08I use my iPad, you know?
1:02:09Like that's what I like.
1:02:10And if I'm on vacation, if I'm hanging out
1:02:14or we're in the room, like I would wanna use an iPad
1:02:16for all of those things, right?
1:02:18Like when I'm not doing work, but I'm not on the go.
1:02:21Like, you know, this is kind of the way
1:02:22that I like to consume content and media and stuff.
1:02:27And if I was gonna be bringing my iPad Pro,
1:02:30then that's like a big heavy thing
1:02:33because I'm gonna bring my upper prom,
1:02:34gonna bring it in the magic keyboard because of course,
1:02:36and then it's like now I'm bringing two laptops with me.
1:02:38- Of course, yes. - Right?
1:02:39- Yeah, 100%, you're bringing two laptops.
1:02:41- Yeah, and now with this little thing,
1:02:43it just can just be thrown in the bag
1:02:45in like the book pocket, not even in the laptop pocket.
1:02:48Like my tote bag has like a book pocket
1:02:50where I put my journal and this goes in with it.
1:02:52Like, and it just feels like nothing.
1:02:54It doesn't feel like I'm bringing
1:02:55any additional weight with me.
1:02:57And it's just, it's made even that kind of equation
1:03:01way easier for me.
1:03:02like it's a no-brainer I'll bring this iPad with me it's no problem I could
1:03:05just put it in my jacket pocket if I want to you could put it in your jacket
1:03:11pocket oh I put it in my pajama pocket if it's it's an interesting question I
1:03:16don't know if when I get my mini if it's a thing that I'll bring on trips with me
1:03:20but I will definitely be tempted I think I won't because my perfect travel
1:03:26solution is I have the MacBook and I bring the big iPad Pro because when I'm working I use Sidecar
1:03:34to have the two screens for the computer which is one of my favorite things Apple has ever done.
1:03:41Like goddamn is that an amazing feature. Hey I mean you could do it with the little one
1:03:46if you want right I don't know how good it's gonna be you know like I'm actually sitting here right
1:03:51now I've never even tried I don't even think I've ever seriously ever used Sidecar. Oh my god Sidecar
1:03:57is the best mic it's my favorite thing ever that's Apple. I have like tried it but I've never like
1:04:03seriously used it so how do you use it do you set it up as a separate monitor or is it like just for
1:04:09certain apps? Yeah so it like Sidecar allows it to function as a separate monitor that that's really
1:04:15It's like you plugged in an external display to your computer.
1:04:18And that's why, like, you know, on my writing retreat,
1:04:22it's like I've got my laptop and I have the second monitor.
1:04:25And that allows me, you know, without having to actually bring a second monitor,
1:04:30to have a really great working setup where it's like I can have notes on one screen
1:04:35and a script on the other.
1:04:37And it's like, yeah, I know I can put them side by side on the same screen,
1:04:41but it is so much nicer.
1:04:42It's so much nicer, it's so much easier to be able to spread out across two screens.
1:04:46Like it really is, like whatever engineers at Apple worked on Sidecar, like thank you.
1:04:51It is my favorite thing in years and years that Apple did.
1:04:55And like, it allows me when traveling to just really get so much more out of these things.
1:05:01The only thing I'm always wondering is like, "Hey, could I connect more than one iPad to my laptop?"
1:05:06because I would totally consider doing it with three
1:05:10so I could have two screens on either side of my laptop
1:05:13when I'm working.
1:05:14But it would be amazing if I could do that with the Mini.
1:05:18So do Sidecar to the big iPad
1:05:20and do Sidecar to the tiny iPad.
1:05:22I wouldn't be surprised if Sidecar
1:05:24doesn't actually work with the iPad Mini.
1:05:25I wouldn't be surprised if they hard-coded that in
1:05:27to be like, no.
1:05:29- I got it running right now.
1:05:30- Oh, it does work.
1:05:31Oh, that's interesting.
1:05:32Okay, I'll have to play it.
1:05:33- Oh hey look, it's like a little touch bar down here.
1:05:35(laughing)
1:05:36What's going on?
1:05:37'Cause I've got Safari open
1:05:38and it's showing me all the tabs like a touch bar.
1:05:40- Yeah, the Sidecar lets you have some little iOS
1:05:44style controls along the side of your second monitor.
1:05:46I turn all of those off because I just want to use it
1:05:48as a second monitor because I want to be able to use
1:05:51the keyboard on my laptop to just move between
1:05:53all of the windows and everything very quickly.
1:05:55I'm not going to touch the screen.
1:05:57All right, well, when we're done with this show,
1:05:58I'm going to have to go try Sidecar with my Mini.
1:06:01I don't think it will be the same,
1:06:03but I'll be curious to give it a shot.
1:06:04Let me tell you, it works.
1:06:06It's tiny.
1:06:08(both laughing)
1:06:10Any app I'm putting on this,
1:06:12I have to significantly scale down in size.
1:06:16But I don't know, what do you put on the side?
1:06:18Like what are you putting on sidecar?
1:06:20Like what are you putting on the display?
1:06:21- So usually the way it works is I have like
1:06:24my script writing app on the main display
1:06:26and then I have notes or Safari on the second display.
1:06:30And so that's how I'm using it to like divide up the screen.
1:06:33I think perhaps the only thing that Sidecar would be useful for the Mini is to just run
1:06:37"carrot weather" in it on full screen so you have a little display that shows you what
1:06:42the weather is.
1:06:43I think that's about what the mini-sized screen would be good for.
1:06:46I just put "slack" there and it's filling up the entire display or whatever but it's
1:06:51all perfectly readable because the screen's so crisp.
1:06:54Yeah, I'll be curious to play with it.
1:06:56But it's just, I don't know, maybe I tend to have apps bigger than I need them maybe
1:07:02on the Mac in general because I have all the screen space, you know? But like I'm throwing
1:07:07things on there now and yeah I have to resize them or whatever but it works perfectly well.
1:07:12Interesting, I might play around with this some more. I think especially when I'm traveling
1:07:15I might play around with sidecar some more. It's not really something that I've used very
1:07:19much because you know like I have a like a 30 inch display for my laptop and so I just
1:07:26use that one. And for my iMac, I have, you know, the iMac is 21 inches and then I have
1:07:32another display on the side that the Dell display that I was using when I was using
1:07:36a Mac mini on this desk, I just turned it on its side. So it's a portrait monitor and
1:07:41I have all of the recording tools just on that window. So like my audio hijack and Skype
1:07:47and all that kind of stuff is just on that monitor and it's just left alone and never
1:07:50touched. So, you know, I'm used to using maybe different display situations where, I don't
1:07:56I don't know, I don't find myself working just from a laptop very much, so I haven't maybe felt the need to even think about what Sidecar would provide me.
1:08:03Yeah, I love it, but it's also a side effect of I'm using the other full-size one, which with my current laptop doubles the screen real estate, and I just find really, really useful.
1:08:14Yeah, that is cool, though.
1:08:15cramps the writing environment. I'm like, "Oh great, I've got more space here for notes and scripts."
1:08:19I don't have to flip back and forth between the two of them or I don't have to squeeze it so that either of them is
1:08:24half the single screen size, but...
1:08:26So I will, because of that, I will always be traveling with whatever the biggest iPad is that Apple makes.
1:08:32I mean, I'll just put a little asterisk on that in case they make like a table size one.
1:08:35I'm not gonna travel with that. The biggest one they currently make I'm gonna have. But I could honestly find myself
1:08:41tempted to bring along the mini as well precisely for what you're saying because it feels like
1:08:46It's nothing to pack like why not have it?
1:08:50It's a it's a great little size and there's lots of situations where I could imagine
1:08:54Just wanting to especially when i'm traveling for a light day just go out with that mini and not take anything else
1:09:02So I think I will be tempted to travel with it
1:09:04Even though it is somewhat ridiculous to be traveling with a laptop and two iPads
1:09:09I don't think I could bring myself to that, honestly.
1:09:12[Laughter]
1:09:13I'll be tempted. I'll let you know.
1:09:15Next time I'm wrapping up all my packing,
1:09:17I'll let you know what I've decided to bring.
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1:11:16So we had to move this episode because of the travel stuff and then we moved it
1:11:22again and then we moved it one more time because Apple had another event and I
1:11:28felt very confident that we would want to talk about what was announced on that
1:11:33event and we would have been recording just before it and I felt like that I didn't want
1:11:37to make another episode out of time.
1:11:39Yeah we didn't want to do two episodes out of time.
1:11:42It was also partly my fault, I don't know maybe we'll talk about it in more text, but
1:11:45I did a little bit of like a trip within a trip so I as always am constantly causing
1:11:51my problems with the scheduling so yeah we bump stuff back but when you told me like
1:11:55oh there's going to be the MacBook Pro event maybe and we were scheduled to record the
1:12:01the day before, it's like, well, that just seems silly.
1:12:04Let's wait and see.
1:12:05And I don't wanna tip my hand, Myke,
1:12:08by giving away my opinion right at the start,
1:12:11but it was great to wait for these MacBooks,
1:12:14which as far as I can tell have been delivered
1:12:17directly from heaven by angels to us to use on earth.
1:12:22- Not that you wanna tip your opinions of it too soon.
1:12:25(laughing)
1:12:27They did it, man.
1:12:28They done did it though, right?
1:12:30So we are recording just before we get them.
1:12:33Like maybe by the time this episode's out,
1:12:35I might have mine, I kind of specked mine out
1:12:38in such a way that it's taking a little bit longer.
1:12:41Like I didn't just go with one of the default options,
1:12:44like I made some choices, so it's kind of coming
1:12:47towards the end of next week for me,
1:12:50maybe the week after that.
1:12:51But these computers are just obscene
1:12:55in the greatest possible way.
1:12:56I'm so excited, man.
1:12:58I was very fortunate because I was out traveling and filming and doing a couple things on the actual day.
1:13:04But I got back to my hotel room just in time.
1:13:08It was, again, it was perfect.
1:13:09Like, the angels were guiding me to the exact perfect moment that I wanted to be at
1:13:14because when I turned on the Apple event, they literally just said the one final word about their AirPods
1:13:22and then they're like, "And now let's talk about the Macs. Great! I've arrived. Perfect."
1:13:26And it was 30 minutes of glory.
1:13:29Like rarely have I been so happy at an Apple event
1:13:34for all of the stuff that they did with the laptops.
1:13:37It like, it just kept getting better and better.
1:13:40And like, I have been dying for an upgrade
1:13:44to my MacBook Pro.
1:13:46And it's like, man, they just,
1:13:48they delivered on every single mark.
1:13:52And, you know, I know a lot of professionals
1:13:55we'll talk about this sort of thing, but my experience in particular was
1:13:59You know that day I had been out. I had been filming something
1:14:04I was driving so I had two dash cams recording and I had another
1:14:09camera that was running in the car and I had like another camera that I was using and you know what I got back to the
1:14:16hotel room with
1:14:17handfuls of SD cards that I needed to unload onto my current laptop
1:14:23And so I'm like when I'm watching this event and they said oh and we've put an SD card reader right in the laptop
1:14:29I'm like, oh my god. Thank you so much
1:14:32like
1:14:35No port could be more
1:14:37Welcomely received by me than that right now in this moment when I've got a pile of these freaking things and it's so annoying to
1:14:45Use dongles and adapters to try to get it through and they're always so much more flaky
1:14:50Like that's just the most minor of things that they put an SD card in but like like I couldn't have been more primed
1:14:57To be thrilled at that like one edition in that moment then than I was I was like, oh my god
1:15:04Please keep talking about these computers. Tell me more and boy did they have more?
1:15:09Yeah, I think the whole ports thing is interesting because what they did with it
1:15:13Really?
1:15:13They made a bunch of niches of people happy and then someone like me
1:15:20who very rarely needs an SD card or HDMI port,
1:15:25but I do need them, you know, maybe once a year,
1:15:29I'll need it or whatever.
1:15:30So it's like, they make people who really need it
1:15:33really happy and then people like me,
1:15:34it's kind of like, okay, great.
1:15:37I know it's, I have it now.
1:15:38Like, you know, like I'm not like super excited about it.
1:15:40They could have just given me,
1:15:42honestly, I would have like probably preferred
1:15:45two more USB-C ports or Thunderbolt 4 ports than those,
1:15:49- For me, right, like why not?
1:15:51Basically everything I own now is either that
1:15:54or I've replaced cables, I've done that a lot.
1:15:56I have USB-B to USB-C connectors
1:16:00for some of my audio gear, right?
1:16:01So like just over time I've been slowly
1:16:04changing them over anyway, but also I guess like most people
1:16:08I've invested in docking solutions, you know?
1:16:10So like I'm not gonna change any of that,
1:16:13like when I'm at my desk I have a dock
1:16:15and it has all the ports that I need or whatever,
1:16:17which is awesome, but now I'm just pleased
1:16:19that they have done it for the people that need it.
1:16:21- I totally agree with that.
1:16:22And when they were talking about the HDMI port,
1:16:24I'm literally not even sure what that's for.
1:16:27I think that's for external displays or something?
1:16:29I'm not like-- - Displays,
1:16:30projectors in offices is a really big use case.
1:16:34You need to connect to a projector to do your presentation.
1:16:37Having a HDMI port is massively helpful
1:16:40for that kind of stuff.
1:16:41- Oh, right, okay, so I guess that's the replacement
1:16:44for those old-- - VGA.
1:16:46- Pin, yeah, the VGA pin connectors.
1:16:48Oh, okay, all right, that makes sense then.
1:16:50But yeah, I thought like, oh, somebody somewhere
1:16:52is really happy about this HDMI port
1:16:54and I'm really happy about the SD card slot
1:16:56and this is what a Pro machine should have,
1:16:59is like these solutions for people.
1:17:01So yeah, back when I used to get really annoyed about USB-C,
1:17:05I did look into like a whole bunch of the limitations
1:17:08and I do think the way the spec is for USB-C,
1:17:11I don't think we're ever really going to see
1:17:14more than four USB-C ports on a laptop,
1:17:18just because of the power delivery requirements for those versions.
1:17:23So I think they are kind of always limited to four.
1:17:26Like I agree with you, more USB-C ports would be great,
1:17:30but I think I have a better technical understanding of why nothing on the face
1:17:35of the earth has more than four USB-C ports, which is hugely frustrating,
1:17:40but at least I can now accept it for what it is.
1:17:43I will say for me, technically I'm gaining one,
1:17:46'cause my 13-inch MacBook Pro only has two USB-C ports.
1:17:51And so the new 14 has three and then MagSafe,
1:17:55which I'm pretty excited about coming back
1:17:57as a charging option.
1:17:59Like MagSafe is a better charging connector than USB-C.
1:18:04Like it's way nicer.
1:18:06And I like that they didn't create
1:18:08an integrated brick this time.
1:18:09Like it's just a cable.
1:18:11It's like USB-C on one end, MagSafe on the other end.
1:18:14That's pretty sweet.
1:18:15Yeah, I'm happy about that.
1:18:17Like while I am trying to very slowly convert everything in my life to USB-C
1:18:22and I want to limit the number of connectors that exist, MagSafe is the
1:18:26only one they could bring back that I'm happy to add to the list of things.
1:18:32Because again, especially while traveling, it is like, like even right now, I'm in
1:18:37my parents, uh, I'm in my parents' walk-in closet with a bunch of clothes,
1:18:42uh, to try to dampen the echo.
1:18:44so the recording is much better this time.
1:18:46But like, when you're using your laptop on the road
1:18:50in a bunch of weird spots, like, right now,
1:18:52I have a USB-C wire that is just,
1:18:55it's under tension to reach the plug on the other side,
1:18:58and it is just begging for me to trip over it
1:19:02and smash the laptop and mess up the recording gear.
1:19:04So like, MagSafe is the one where,
1:19:07like that additional feature of just breaking upon contact
1:19:11is really useful and I have totally on the road like had some real dicey moments of oh god
1:19:18the laptop's about to go flying so I'm very happy to have that back as well and you know it really
1:19:26does feel like a useful additional connector to have for people who are using the laptops in
1:19:34unusual situations where the probability of snagging the charging cord is way higher so
1:19:40Yeah, I'm very very happy to bring that back.
1:19:43It is funny to call it MagSafe.
1:19:46Like to have both products called MagSafe because
1:19:48there is no safe part in the phone.
1:19:52Like there's no safe.
1:19:54Like if you trip over a MagSafe connector attached to a phone,
1:19:57the phone is going with the connector.
1:19:59It's funny, I totally forgot that Apple called the other one MagSafe
1:20:02because yes, that doesn't make any sense at all and...
1:20:05It's funny.
1:20:06I'm currently going to put that one as one of their weirdest connectors.
1:20:10I still feel like I don't really know what they're up to with that iPhone magsafe connector
1:20:14But whatever we'll see. It's like wireless charging, but make it prettier. Yeah, it's wireless charging, but it's connected
1:20:22I don't know. But also like why can't I put that magsafe connector on the back of my iPad mini?
1:20:26Shouldn't I be able to do that? No, I really wished they would have done that. That would be so sweet
1:20:31At least I see you at least they put USB C on the iPad mini though. So, you know, it's not all bad
1:20:36Yeah, oh, let me just minorly complain about pro stuff as well. Let me tell you when you've shot several hours of
1:20:43HDR video footage on your new pro phone and you go to
1:20:48Download that onto your computer over a lightning connector boy
1:20:52Are you made aware of how slow lightning is for transferring big file sizes?
1:20:58I've never been more annoyed. I was like god damn it guys
1:21:01If you're gonna have a pro phone that's shooting files that are like 50 gigs in size
1:21:06You should probably put a USB C connector on your phone if you really want people to be using this for video production
1:21:12but anyway, we're not complaining about the phones we're talking about laptops from heaven, which are just
1:21:18Fantastic, like I think the other thing that I was really happy about is those processors that they put in there are
1:21:26Totally nuts like the numbers that they were giving for the faster render times
1:21:31Again, I could not have been more receptive to this because like I mentioned really quickly when I was working on that poem video
1:21:38Because that was an unusually long video and it also had an unusually large number of cuts
1:21:44And it was doing more complicated things like mixing in real footage with pre-rendered animation stuff that took
1:21:52Forever to render the final version on my computer
1:21:56I think it was like four hours to render the final version of that thing at full quality and
1:22:02These are laptops for professionals. I'm very glad to have this MacBook Pro, but Dan like those four hours
1:22:08Definitely meant like some days. It was just too late to be able to upload the video anyway
1:22:14So it would cost me a day and then I'd be working the next morning
1:22:17So it's like holy moly if there's a laptop that can cut a five-hour project down into a one-hour project
1:22:23It's like Tim Apple. You can't take my money fast enough to get that laptop
1:22:29I just opened my wallet and I told him to reach in and take however much he wanted out and give me the
1:22:34Fastest laptop they made because yeah, it really matters for
1:22:39rendering big complicated video projects and
1:22:44That doesn't matter all the time, but when it's a problem, it can be a real critical problem and really delay a project
1:22:50So I was just thrilled with that. They were talking about like these laptops with the M1
1:22:56Pro or Max chips can render
1:22:58I don't remember which one is probably the M1 Max but can render a video faster than a Mac Pro with an afterburner card in it
1:23:05Yeah, yeah, which is just that's obscene. I think people under appreciate how much Apple is
1:23:13quietly pushing into the entertainment industry on the production side
1:23:18It's little things like this that like the you know
1:23:21The reason that it can render that so much faster is because they designed part of the max
1:23:26processor to specifically handle the pro res format
1:23:31Which is what Final Cut uses when you're working on videos
1:23:35You know, it's like this is all the stuff that I use
1:23:38And so this is Apple at their best where it's like if they control the whole stack
1:23:43They've made Final Cut which is the software you're using to make videos. They've helped design the video
1:23:50format that the program works in and then they can also design the chip that it's running on to have
1:23:58hardware designed to accelerate just this part
1:24:02like that's why they're able to hit these totally crazy numbers and
1:24:06I think anyone who works in the entertainment industry has to take notice at that kind of stuff because long render times
1:24:14are total killers for projects. And again, my videos are short and small. Like I know people who make longer videos
1:24:21you know and they have to
1:24:23especially if they're traveling and they're just using a laptop like they have to dedicate a whole day just to rendering out like a
1:24:29two-hour video file. I remember that MKBHD would take an iMac Pro with him to events.
1:24:35Yeah.
1:24:35Because he used to try and use a laptop and it would mean he couldn't upload before he would leave.
1:24:42Because he's doing everything in like wild 8K and all that kind of stuff, you know?
1:24:46Yeah, and people hear something like that and they think it's crazy,
1:24:48but this is also where like you have to think about it in a professional setting,
1:24:52where the, you know, the difference to MKBHD about being the first or the fifth to upload a video about a brand new technology product,
1:25:01Like the difference to him is worth way more than like the cost of bringing that
1:25:06iMac Pro with him to render the files. It's just interesting
1:25:11like I look at what Apple is doing and I think they are really trying to take market share from
1:25:18Adobe with this key selling feature of like
1:25:22But look how fast we can render out the final video project
1:25:28Why do you think they're doing this? Because it just felt like they didn't care for a while.
1:25:32Do you have any kind of feeling on that? Like, I agree with what you're saying.
1:25:36Like, they're building into the chips, which is really super interesting, the ability to handle all this stuff better.
1:25:43But like, it feels like it can't be that many people. Like, it's like an interesting thing to go to these kinds of levels for it.
1:25:50So here's my estimation.
1:25:52Again, just from like being a youtuber. I'm on the edges of some people who work in the real entertainment industry, you know on like
1:26:00big projects.
1:26:03And what I, my take on this is yeah, you're right
1:26:07this isn't a huge market in the sense of the laptop market is tiny compared to the iPhone market and then I think when you're
1:26:15looking at people who work in professional video production that is much smaller again than the laptop market.
1:26:22So it's not a huge number of people, but the budgets for big proper professional like
1:26:29Hollywood and TV and Netflix productions, they're huge.
1:26:35And so what I think Apple is trying to go for here is the market is not big, but for
1:26:42those people, the cost of the hardware is a trivial part of the whole cost of the production.
1:26:51So like you're making a TV show and even if we take a look at the Mac Pro and it's like,
1:26:57okay, you say you fully spec out a Mac Pro and it's 20 grand.
1:27:01That's like nothing in the budget for making a TV show for a streaming service.
1:27:06It's like a trivial cost compared to everything else.
1:27:10So I think Apple is pushing in this way because it's just a market for whom the cost of the
1:27:19product is almost irrelevant compared to their other costs.
1:27:24And also, the computers that are rendering the final products are very frequently the
1:27:31bottleneck for lots of other things to happen.
1:27:35They're the bottlenecks for, say, being able to render a file of the production in process
1:27:42for one of the executive producers to watch.
1:27:45because you can't have him like watch your raw version that you're editing,
1:27:49you need to render something for him to be able to see.
1:27:52And if you're working on like a big complicated thing, that's going to take a long time.
1:27:55You know, let alone whenever you have a deadline for a TV series or a movie,
1:27:59it's like, "Boy, you better hit it."
1:28:01And guess what?
1:28:03You know, like I know this from my own teeny tiny projects.
1:28:06After you render the file,
1:28:07you better watch it through all the way to make sure there wasn't a last minute mistake.
1:28:12And if you make a last minute mistake,
1:28:14You have to re-render the whole thing.
1:28:16And so as you get closer to whatever the deadline is,
1:28:20if you're working on something complicated and it takes a day and a half to render,
1:28:25and then there's an error after it's done and it takes another day and a half,
1:28:29like you can be in trouble real fast
1:28:33and there's huge amounts of money on the line for hitting production deadlines.
1:28:38So that's like, I don't know for sure,
1:28:40but that's my feeling about why is Apple pushing in this way
1:28:45is they've identified a market that has a problem they can totally solve
1:28:51because they control the complete stack
1:28:54and who is also willing to pay almost any amount of money
1:28:59to make this problem significantly better.
1:29:02So I would easily predict that these laptops,
1:29:07like it's their first go at doing this,
1:29:10But I expect when they come out with their next Mac Pro, with their new chips,
1:29:16the numbers that they're going to be able to put up for rendering projects on Final Cut,
1:29:21I think those numbers are going to be insane.
1:29:25They're going to be able to say like, "We can render a video file in 1/50th the time!"
1:29:30And that's where like, those Mac Pros are not for normal people.
1:29:36I think everything the way Apple talked about their old Mac Pros,
1:29:39and I bet even more so for the next one.
1:29:42Like, no normal person should buy a Mac Pro.
1:29:45They are pitching this as a solution
1:29:47for the entertainment industry.
1:29:49- I think that's gonna become even more so.
1:29:52- What do you mean?
1:29:53- If you wanted a really powerful Mac,
1:29:55oh man, I want the most power in my Macintosh,
1:29:57or like, you know, like, oh, I make some YouTube videos
1:30:00every now and again, like it's not my,
1:30:02it's like a side thing for me,
1:30:04but I wanna spend, not waste time,
1:30:06or you know, like, or whatever,
1:30:07Like you get a Mac Pro, right?
1:30:09You're like, oh, I just like to own the fastest Mac I can own.
1:30:12I'll get a Mac Pro.
1:30:14I just don't think that many of those reasons
1:30:16are going to exist anymore because the laptops are
1:30:19so incredibly powerful.
1:30:21The next iMac revisions are going
1:30:22to be so incredibly powerful.
1:30:24And that's before you even start getting to the Mac Pro.
1:30:26So like I think it's going to become even more edge of edge
1:30:29case.
1:30:29Right.
1:30:30I see what you're saying.
1:30:31Yeah, yeah.
1:30:31Just as a little example, but even if it's come up
1:30:34on this trip is like, "Oh, the new MacBook Pros,
1:30:38the display allows you to actually color grade
1:30:42properly to HDR footage."
1:30:44On the current MacBooks, you can kind of do it
1:30:48and you'll know it'll be mostly okay,
1:30:50but it's not actually gonna be the way that it really looks.
1:30:54It's like, "Oh, on the new ones,
1:30:55you can properly grade HDR footage to the right color."
1:30:59Why would they do that?
1:31:01Like, that's not a feature that basically
1:31:02anyone in the world cares about,
1:31:04unless you're in video production.
1:31:06And even there, you have to be in pretty high-end video production to care about that.
1:31:10I do think that there is a certain type of buyer, which includes me,
1:31:14which is like, "I just like knowing I own a computer that can do that."
1:31:17Oh yeah, yeah. Obviously there's a way that they can talk about it,
1:31:20and it's just like, "Oh, it's cool to know that your computer now has a trillion-to-one contrast ratio."
1:31:26Like, they love being able to say those numbers.
1:31:28But I'm just saying, getting it to the point where it can color-grade HDR footage
1:31:33is a very different and also very specific thing to hit
1:31:38that's different from just like,
1:31:39we made the colors even better.
1:31:41So I just feel like the messaging here is really like,
1:31:45it kind of reminds me of how ages ago,
1:31:47Apple really made a push into schools
1:31:50to be in the education world.
1:31:53It just feels to me like they're trying to do that now,
1:31:56that they're trying to push
1:31:57into the entertainment production world.
1:32:01And I suspect, like, Apple has a little bit of a problem
1:32:05if you compare Final Cut to Adobe software, which is...
1:32:09I've used both.
1:32:10I know lots of people who are familiar with both.
1:32:13I would say the general consensus is that Final Cut
1:32:16is much more pleasant to use,
1:32:19but it's a program that works best if you are an individual.
1:32:23You can use it in Teams,
1:32:25but it is a little bit more work to do that.
1:32:27Whereas Adobe is clearly designed
1:32:30as like a team's first product.
1:32:32But I think like maybe what Apple's trying to go for here
1:32:35is they're trying to catch people
1:32:37like they did in education,
1:32:39where someone is at the start of their career
1:32:43in entertainment,
1:32:44maybe they're a person who has a YouTube channel
1:32:46and they're a one-person show,
1:32:48or they're just an influencer
1:32:50who's like using their computer to put together videos.
1:32:53And as that person grows, banking on,
1:32:57oh, they use Final Cuts
1:32:59and they got familiar with this and they're using a Mac
1:33:02and then as these like new people get larger in the entertainment world
1:33:07they're the ones since they like and use Final Cut who can enforce that like
1:33:11"Okay, my little production company, we're gonna standardize on Final Cut"
1:33:14"We're not gonna standardize on Adobe because it's what I know"
1:33:18I don't know if that's true but that's kind of my guess
1:33:21is I feel like maybe they're trying to catch people at the start
1:33:24get them familiar with Final Cut by having all of these huge advantages
1:33:28Like everyone knows if you're making videos, final cut on a Mac is huge and fast.
1:33:34And then, you know, standardize your small production house when you become successful around this product.
1:33:39And then when you're running a production house and you start dealing with much much bigger budgets,
1:33:44you don't care at all about how much the new Mac Pro costs,
1:33:47you just want the fastest computer that can render it.
1:33:49So, I don't know, I could be wrong, but that's kind of my guess about what Apple's strategy is here.
1:33:53And I just feel like lots of things are pointing in that direction.
1:33:57And this new amazing MacBook Pro feels to me like it has a lot of things pointing in that direction.
1:34:03Alright Gary, let's finish up on a #AskCortex question for today.
1:34:07I have one for you from Eli.
1:34:10Eli wants to know, "Does Grey still listen to Girl Talks all day?"
1:34:15I was just re-listening to an old episode of the show and I'd totally forgotten about this album.
1:34:19Yeah, actually good timing for this question because
1:34:23My various "I listen to songs on repeat" go in and out of favor over the course of months and years.
1:34:30And Girl Talk All Day had actually been really out of favor for a long time.
1:34:34But actually, on this most recent writing trip, it came back in a big way.
1:34:40- Oh! - Like, I listened to it just a ton.
1:34:43And I think it's not a coincidence.
1:34:47I think it happened precisely because, like, I just really 100% needed to get right back into writing
1:34:56when normally I would just collapse after a big video like the poem video.
1:35:01And so, yeah, it actually was the first thing I queued up, like, the morning after that poem video went out.
1:35:06It's like, I got up. It's like, okay.
1:35:09Alright, dude, time to get to work.
1:35:11And so I put on my headphones and I let up girl talk all day and, yeah, I hadn't listened to it in a really long time.
1:35:16But I will say like goddamn I love that album. I think it is total genius and
1:35:21I listen to it on repeat in the mountains of Switzerland
1:35:26probably
1:35:28200 times
1:35:30I haven't listened to it in a really long time
1:35:32I don't know if it's something that like you just put on in the background or just no it's focused
1:35:37It's to me. It feels so specific
1:35:39Yeah, you you you've got to be like I want to listen to this album now, right?
1:35:44Like I don't think it's like, you know, just like,
1:35:46like for me, like one of the things
1:35:48that I was talking about around that time,
1:35:49I think was Tycho, Tycho, T-Y-C-H-O.
1:35:54And I can put that on in both instances.
1:35:57I can put his music on when I'm just hanging out,
1:36:00or I can put it on when I'm trying to focus for work.
1:36:02Like it works for both of those for me.
1:36:04'Cause it's more like, it's got, you know,
1:36:07it's got a good beat to it that can pump me up,
1:36:09but it also is pretty chill.
1:36:11- Yeah, he was a great recommendation of yours.
1:36:13I've added a ton of stuff of his to my playlist.
1:36:16And he is on the low-fi chill-hop adjacent kind of music.
1:36:24It does hit both marks.
1:36:25You can have it as background music to just relax, and you can also have it as music while
1:36:30you're working, which is a hard line to straddle for me, but he definitely does that.
1:36:36But the Girl Talk album is very much not background music, I feel like.
1:36:41It's a lot more in your face.
1:36:43That's a way to put it, for sure.
1:36:46Have you tried out any of the spatial audio, Dolby Atmos music, that Apple Music has?
1:36:51I don't know, I don't think I've listened to any of the spatial audio music.
1:36:54I've just listened to the spatial audio when watching TV sometimes, which is very odd,
1:36:59and I'm still not sure about it.
1:37:01Like I don't know why this audio needs to sound like it's coming out of my iPad.
1:37:05I would just prefer it to sound like amazing surround sound, but...
1:37:08The music is more that. The music is more surround sound than coming from the phone or whatever.
1:37:13And it's kind of, that's how it's made to be. Like the music is meant to kind of like surround you.
1:37:19That's, you know, there's more of that.
1:37:21I don't know. I mean, maybe I have, I've said before, I feel like I have a real tin ear for music.
1:37:26I'm not a very musical person. And so it may be that I totally did listen to it and was just completely not aware.
1:37:32I wouldn't be surprised by that.
1:37:34- This is something like I've had this at home,
1:37:37I said to Adina like, "Oh, try this."
1:37:38And she just doesn't hear it.
1:37:40And it's just different people reacting in different ways.
1:37:42Like I have friends who hate it and I really like it.
1:37:47I think it's just, it's definitely a personal preference
1:37:52thing about how you relate to it.
1:37:53- Myke, you send me some hip tracks.
1:37:57- Awesome.
1:37:58- And I'll give them a listen.
1:37:59- All right, I'll find some hip tracks for you.
1:38:01- I'll load them up on my turntable
1:38:02and tell you what I think.
1:38:04- You're gonna spin the wheels of steel.
1:38:06- Oh sure, yes, that's exactly right.
1:38:08That's what I'm gonna do.
1:38:09- Next time, State of the Apps for 2022.
1:38:13- Oh my God, it's the end of the year almost, Myke.
1:38:14- Yeah, we've got two more.
1:38:16All right, we're moving into the busy period, I guess.
1:38:21From busy period to busy period.
1:38:22So State of the Apps 2022.
1:38:24So if you haven't listened
1:38:26to a State of the Apps episode before,
1:38:28I maybe recommend trying like the 2021 episode.
1:38:31We basically go through our devices and talk about all the services and applications that we enjoy using.
1:38:38I think we maybe will touch on some iOS 15 stuff like the focus mode stuff.
1:38:43We might talk about that as part of the discussion for this one.
1:38:47So I will ask if anybody has any like app service system kind of related like workflow-y questions
1:38:54related to how we get our work done with the devices and apps that we use.
1:38:58You can send in some #AskQuartexQuestions for those and we might pick some out to answer in the episode.
1:39:04And just before we go, don't forget to get your subtlety and subtle sweater.
1:39:08It's only available for two weeks. Go to quartexmerch.com.
1:39:13Puppy, I need to put you down.
1:39:17Ugh!
1:39:17Sorry, Lucy's very heavy.
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