0:00:00I'm recording now.
0:00:00I've got the little bounce cage for my microphone
0:00:03or whatever it's called.
0:00:04- You got one?
0:00:05- Yeah, you told me to get one, Myke.
0:00:07- Yeah, but I didn't think you were actually gonna do it.
0:00:09- Myke, do you think I was gonna just ignore
0:00:12your equipment suggestions?
0:00:14- Yes, I did. - That's not the kind of thing
0:00:15that I would do. - Well, all right.
0:00:16Do you have a boom on?
0:00:17Do you have a boom on? - I have a standing desk,
0:00:19and I can-- - I don't know what,
0:00:21like what, what?
0:00:23They're not the same.
0:00:24- I think that they're functionally the same,
0:00:28And now that I have the little bounce cage with the rubber bands and whatever,
0:00:31I should be able to just like, bop it up, bop, bop, tap the desk.
0:00:35Can you just actually, I want to just not just hit the desk for me.
0:00:38Okay.
0:00:39Oh, that's amazing.
0:00:41Okay.
0:00:42Is that, that what you needed?
0:00:43Cause now all I hear is just the sound of the hitting of the desk.
0:00:46Okay.
0:00:47Right.
0:00:47Which is what you want to hear.
0:00:48Like when I hit my desk, you just hear the sound of me hitting the desk.
0:00:52Whilst I still think you need a boom arm just for like general comfort,
0:00:56is much better for your posture because you don't have to move to the microphone.
0:01:00Yeah, I don't have to move to the microphone.
0:01:01But that's on you.
0:01:02Like, I'm just trying to help you out in your life by suggesting that.
0:01:06What I want in my life, you have now given me, which is the...
0:01:10I don't know why you call it a roll cage.
0:01:12That's why I couldn't...
0:01:13I had no idea what you were talking about.
0:01:14It's a shock mount.
0:01:15Mounts to shocks, remember?
0:01:16Oh, it's a shock mount.
0:01:18I guarantee you I did not call it a roll cage.
0:01:20I thought it was like the rubber band thing.
0:01:23Whatever.
0:01:24The rubber band cage.
0:01:25Okay, yeah, that was definitely what you called it.
0:01:28But anyway, levels, levels?
0:01:30Yeah, levels, levels.
0:01:32Levels, levels.
0:01:33We're all good to go and I'm sure this little rubber band cage makes all the difference in the audio.
0:01:38So we're good. Let me just get the desk to exactly the right height.
0:01:42Exactly the right height.
0:01:44Okay, there we go. Now we're comfortable.
0:01:47Great.
0:01:48I am so busy. I have so much going on right now. I genuinely, Gray, cannot remember a time in recent years where I have felt as tired as I feel right now.
0:01:59It's all good though. So like I have a bunch of very exciting things to talk to you about today.
0:02:04But like, I am so tired. So we were originally meant to record this episode yesterday.
0:02:10Right, but yesterday was already a delay from the other time.
0:02:14Yeah, this is one of the classics in that I think we have actually genuinely rescheduled this episode three times.
0:02:21This is the fourth date of recording for this very wonderful episode.
0:02:26I'm pleased though, because so much has happened in this last month,
0:02:29I'm happy that we can now wrap up this month with all the things I want to tell you about.
0:02:34But we were supposed to record yesterday, and I basically spent the entire day yesterday
0:02:39struggling to just move.
0:02:41I was so tired, like I can't remember a time in recent years where I have been so tired
0:02:48that like I lacked the energy to really be able to stand up.
0:02:52It was a very different day.
0:02:53So I ended up turning yesterday into, well, I would say my wife Idina coaxed me into turning
0:02:58yesterday into a day of relaxation.
0:03:00Okay, that's good to do.
0:03:02Which is not something that I'm very good at doing anymore.
0:03:05So that was very nice, we watched a bunch of movies, we had a great dinner.
0:03:09But that was because we have had an incredibly busy week.
0:03:14But I'll talk about why a little bit later on in the episode.
0:03:16Because there is something maybe more important happening right now, which is that floating
0:03:19time zones is then to come to the OmniFocus beta.
0:03:22So your floating time zone support that you want so dearly is in the current beta release
0:03:28of OmniFocus.
0:03:30I wanted to know two things.
0:03:32One, are you on the OmniFocus beta and have you used it?
0:03:35And two, how excited are you?
0:03:38When you feel like a thing has come close many times and has been promised many times,
0:03:44you can start to feel a little reserved even when it looks like the actual promise is really
0:03:49going to be fulfilled.
0:03:50Like they have publicly announced it, it's like release notes?
0:03:53I'm looking at the release notes?
0:03:54No, I get it.
0:03:55I get it.
0:03:56I get it.
0:03:57I remember, I think it was mentioned twice in the OmniFocus 2020 roadmap article that
0:04:03I always read that they publish.
0:04:04I'm like, "What's going on?
0:04:05Tell me what's happening."
0:04:06happening and I saw like, oh time zones were mentioned twice. So like, yes, I'm excited,
0:04:11but I will not be able to fully relax until it is in the actual shipping release. So have you
0:04:20tried it? Are you on the beta version? No, I'm not on the beta version. Yeah. And let me tell you,
0:04:27I could really have used it this month because like you, I have had a month like I haven't had
0:04:32in years. Hence the three schedule changes. Yes, hence, like, for both of us, it is a small
0:04:41miracle from the Cortex gods that we are able to record this episode at all. And I have had
0:04:47a surprising number of long-haul, last-minute long-haul flights in my life this month,
0:04:52and I could really have used floating time zones. I saw that it was in the beta, but I made the
0:05:00the conscious decision of, okay, look, this is a month
0:05:05where lots of stuff is really happening
0:05:08and this is not the time to run a beta,
0:05:11even if it's for a feature that you have been hoping for
0:05:15for literally a decade at this point.
0:05:17- Oh, especially because in the release notes,
0:05:20the bullet begins, once your database has been migrated,
0:05:24- Right, yeah, no, no, no, no, no.
0:05:27- No thanks.
0:05:28Like, I'll do it, you know, when it's shipped.
0:05:30Like, I'm fine, you know, leave it a couple of days,
0:05:33make sure everything's good.
0:05:34But like, obviously this is exactly as we expected
0:05:37as to why it's taken them so long to do this.
0:05:39They had to change significant things under the hood.
0:05:41Like, they had to create a new version
0:05:43of their database system.
0:05:45And this also ties into OmniFocus for the web.
0:05:48You have to migrate your database for that.
0:05:50And I think these two things have come together
0:05:52at the same time.
0:05:54- Yeah, I get the impression that that's part
0:05:57of what's occurring is just like, yeah,
0:05:59there's a lot of under the hood stuff
0:06:00for OmniFocus on the web,
0:06:02so that there can be OmniFocus everywhere,
0:06:04even for people who don't have Macs or iPhones
0:06:07and that kind of stuff.
0:06:08That's a huge transition under the hood,
0:06:10but that is also why I wasn't gonna run the beta software.
0:06:14I didn't even, for this crazy month that I've had,
0:06:17I wasn't even willing to risk my usual trick of like,
0:06:20oh, I'll just manually copy paste my entire OmniFocus data
0:06:23into task paper and then put my device into airplane mode,
0:06:27change the time zone and then like paste it back in
0:06:31so that everything is in the current time zone.
0:06:33I thought, you know what?
0:06:34This is not the time to risk it.
0:06:36I'm just gonna deal with manually moving 20 items,
0:06:40you know, five hours this way and then five hours back
0:06:42and then three hours forward and three hours back.
0:06:45'Cause I just thought like,
0:06:46I can't have something else go wrong this month.
0:06:49But I am very excited for the actual full release
0:06:53of time zones.
0:06:55It's like my number one feature for a long time
0:06:58and I'm super pumped that it's in the beta.
0:07:01So thank you OmniFocus development team
0:07:03for having it in the beta.
0:07:05I look forward to it in the final release.
0:07:09- When did you first ask?
0:07:12Like I'm not putting them on blast here,
0:07:14but just 'cause it's-- - No, no, no.
0:07:15Well, someone should search it
0:07:18because I don't know when I first mentioned it on Cortex,
0:07:21But when I did mention it on Cortex, there's a forum post that's reporting it as a bug
0:07:26that I swear is from 2011 or 2012 or something that you can search for.
0:07:32The first instance of, "Hey, I flew from New York to California and now all my timings
0:07:38are wrong.
0:07:39I would like to file this as a bug."
0:07:40They're like, "Yes, we'll put it on the list."
0:07:42Like, "Oh, okay."
0:07:44Whatever, now is the only thing that's real and time zones and OmniFocus are coming soon.
0:07:51So great, the past is irrelevant.
0:07:53I have bought more keyboards and more...
0:07:56Jesus Christ, Myke.
0:07:57Look!
0:07:58No, wait, no, no, wait.
0:07:59Stop right now, okay?
0:08:01What do you mean?
0:08:02No, stop, okay.
0:08:04Three episodes ago was mechanical keyboards.
0:08:07Never heard of them.
0:08:08Last episode was mechanical keyboards.
0:08:11Lots of them.
0:08:12And now you're telling me mechanical keyboards more than any mortal man should have.
0:08:18So look, I know you probably just want to run through some beautiful mechanical keyboards
0:08:24that you have found, but I would like, what is the total number of mechanical keyboards
0:08:30you either have in your physical possession now or are in a current pending order status?
0:08:38What are we looking at here, Myke?
0:08:40The total including pending is four keyboards.
0:08:45- Okay, that's not too bad.
0:08:47- No. - That's not too bad.
0:08:49- No, I have four.
0:08:50So I have three now.
0:08:52- Okay. - And I have one
0:08:53Kickstarter campaign that I backed.
0:08:55And that's everything. - Okay.
0:08:57- In regards to keyboards.
0:08:59- Okay, but see, the way you say that, right?
0:09:02- In regards to the boards of the key.
0:09:05(laughing)
0:09:08Okay, but like what?
0:09:10Do you have a full collection of 3D Pokemon keycaps?
0:09:15- They're still on the way.
0:09:16I'm hoping that they will arrive soon.
0:09:18They're still on the way.
0:09:20But I have ordered my first sets of keycaps.
0:09:23- Okay. - Replacement keycaps.
0:09:25So I ordered two and I have one that is a group by.
0:09:30But first I wanna talk about the new keyboard that I have.
0:09:34- What's a group by? - We'll get to that.
0:09:36- Oh, okay. - We'll get to that.
0:09:36- Can I click on these links now?
0:09:38I don't know if I'm allowed to click on links anymore since you got that last time.
0:09:41Yeah, you're allowed.
0:09:42So the first link you can click on now.
0:09:44Number of cortexes.
0:09:47After the last episode where I spoke about how I really liked the Ergadex keyboard, that
0:09:51was one that split in half.
0:09:53But I said I didn't like the fact that so many keys weren't printed, right, because
0:09:56it was confusing to me.
0:09:58Many people suggested this keyboard called the Dygma Raise.
0:10:02I assume it's Dygma.
0:10:04D-Y-G-M-A?
0:10:05Yeah, let's run with that.
0:10:06Dygma.
0:10:07with Dygma and this keyboard basically has the main features that I was looking for right?
0:10:13Like it is a split keyboard, mechanical keys, with a built in wrist rest which I prefer
0:10:18to the Ergadex which has like a separate wrist rest.
0:10:21It has RGB and some level of customisation but all of the important keys are print on
0:10:28them.
0:10:29This keyboard has four keys at the bottom, kind of the space bar that's split in half
0:10:33and then two keys below that just have dots on them that can be programmed.
0:10:37But what I've done is, so I've got the two kind of spacebar keys, are spacebars, right?
0:10:42And then I've configured the keys at the bottom to just be up, down, left, and right.
0:10:47There's the arrow keys.
0:10:47That's it.
0:10:49If I want to, I can do this whole thing where I press a key and then all of your
0:10:53keys become other keys, but you don't know what they are, right?
0:10:56Like it's just like, okay, you know, it's like you have infinite keys,
0:11:00but you have to remember what they all are.
0:11:02Like I'm not into that because I just don't remember, but this is exactly what I want.
0:11:06The RGB is amazing, including that it has like an underglow as well as each key.
0:11:12So like there's an RGB strip that runs around the actual frame of the keyboard,
0:11:17so it puts the color on the desk as well as keys.
0:11:20Again, for the listeners who don't know what Myke means when he keeps saying RGB,
0:11:24it's like he wants his keyboard to light up like a rainbow.
0:11:28This one lights up both under the keys and what looks like under the physical keyboard,
0:11:34a bit like if it was a spaceship landing on your desk.
0:11:37So good.
0:11:38Plus what I like about this keyboard is that it actually fits together and then you can
0:11:42decouple it to make it into the split.
0:11:44So I can have one half for each hand and I can address it however I want.
0:11:49I really like that and it uses USB-C to do that instead of the weird cable that the Ergadex
0:11:55uses, which is like a headphone cable.
0:11:57Oh, interesting.
0:11:59And then it has a little USB-C splitter, which also has RGB in it.
0:12:04Oh, okay.
0:12:05Right, yes.
0:12:06You don't have to have RGB, by the way, it's an option.
0:12:10But I'm just happy that I do have it, you know?
0:12:13I also have it to do it in black and silver, and the silver has white keys and a white
0:12:17wrist rest, and that's the one that I bought, and I love it.
0:12:21I think this might be it, Greg.
0:12:22I think I've found like, I'm sure that I will,
0:12:25many more keyboards will come by my path,
0:12:28but I think this is gonna be the one
0:12:29that I will be using the most of the time.
0:12:32Like I've only had it for a couple of days,
0:12:34so I haven't been able to put it through full testing,
0:12:36but I think this will not only be the keyboard
0:12:40that I wanna use with my iPad,
0:12:41but there is a possibility that I may replace the keyboard
0:12:44on my iMac with one of these,
0:12:45'cause it really is like everything
0:12:48that I was looking for in a keyboard.
0:12:50So I'm genuinely really happy with it.
0:12:52Like I feel like I've found
0:12:54the at least like the base usable keyboard for me.
0:12:57- You don't have it physically with you, right?
0:12:59'Cause this is still just a pre-order.
0:13:00- No, no, this one I have, I have it.
0:13:02It came like two days ago.
0:13:04- Okay, can you confirm for me then?
0:13:05It looks like those wrist rests are not removable.
0:13:08Like you can't take them off, right?
0:13:10It looks like it's one single piece.
0:13:12- It has like a metal piece that runs down
0:13:14and then you can add on a like rubber part on top of it.
0:13:18- But that metal piece that the rubber part is on top of.
0:13:20- That's part of the keyboard, yeah.
0:13:22- Right, that's part of the keyboard.
0:13:23- Yes, if you don't like wrist rests,
0:13:24then you won't like this keyboard 'cause you can't.
0:13:27At least I don't believe right now,
0:13:29like they have an option where you can have that or not.
0:13:32- Hmm, okay.
0:13:34What I do have my eye out for is,
0:13:36while I love my mechanical keyboard,
0:13:38I would really like to use a split keyboard like this.
0:13:42Like I do think that's better in the long run,
0:13:44but I don't love the wires,
0:13:48But if it's going to be wires, like, okay, has to be USB-C.
0:13:51I'm on a real USB-C crusade over here.
0:13:53Yeah, me too.
0:13:54And I don't love those wrist rests taking up a lot of space.
0:13:57Like, I kind of have my eye out for, oh, I want something that I can have in my backpack and use with my iPad.
0:14:04Oh, I was going to say, like, what's wrong with the wrist rest?
0:14:07Your wrist will go there, but if you're putting it in a backpack, now I get it.
0:14:10This one does ship with, surprising to me, a really, this is not useful for you, but I just thought it was nice,
0:14:14a really lovely carrying case.
0:14:16That's a nice touch. They didn't need to do that.
0:14:18No, they didn't. I wasn't expecting it.
0:14:20But like they're on their page.
0:14:21They talk about esports a lot.
0:14:23So maybe this is what you want in esports, right?
0:14:25You're going from esports to esports.
0:14:26You want a little case for your keyboard.
0:14:29I believe that's the lingo.
0:14:30You're going from esports to esports.
0:14:32Yeah, of course.
0:14:32Just different esports, you know, you go into all the esports.
0:14:35So maybe you want a case for that.
0:14:37But to me, as just a general customer, I was like, well, that's nice.
0:14:41Just this just feels I'm genuinely like super thrilled with this one.
0:14:45I feel like I've got to the point where it's like this is exactly what I was looking for
0:14:50in this type of keyboard. I still feel like I want a regular keyboard as well, and I think
0:14:55I've found the one there which is the – I think I mentioned this last time – the Keychron
0:14:59one that I backed on Kickstarter.
0:15:01Yes, yes.
0:15:02Yeah. So that will probably come sometime within the next seven years because it was
0:15:07a Kickstarter project. So, you know.
0:15:09And as we know full well, when you are manufacturing something, there can be delays at any moment.
0:15:19I have so much more sympathy for delayed Kickstarter projects than I did a year and a half ago.
0:15:25Oh yeah, it's just like, however, you can just delay as long as you need.
0:15:29I'll be there to support you.
0:15:31Yeah, take your time guys, I understand.
0:15:34But yeah, I really like this one.
0:15:36But then I also bought some keycaps, some replacement keycaps.
0:15:39So I've put two sets, two sets that I now own.
0:15:42One of them, the dummy key, which is all greys and orange.
0:15:45Okay.
0:15:46And that looks amazing.
0:15:47I put that on my WASD keyboard.
0:15:51So I took off the wild colors that I have and put that on instead and it looks really
0:15:55good.
0:15:56And then I also bought a set which has Japanese characters on as well as English characters
0:16:02because I thought it looked really cool.
0:16:04But I don't have a keyboard to put this on yet.
0:16:07Okay.
0:16:08I don't quite understand your label philosophy on keycaps here, right?
0:16:13Where you're like, "Oh, modifier keys that change the usage of keys. That's ridiculous.
0:16:19Japanese characters alongside my other letters."
0:16:22Right, but they have the age letters on them.
0:16:24Yeah, but it's just clutter.
0:16:25It's just clutter.
0:16:25But it looks like, it's just like visually pleasing to me.
0:16:29Mm-hmm.
0:16:31I mean, you are a bit of a Japanophile, so maybe I have to let that slide,
0:16:34but it's not visually pleasing.
0:16:36I know where the letters and numbers are on my keyboard.
0:16:39Right.
0:16:40Right?
0:16:41They're not the problem.
0:16:42It's the blank modifier keys in random arrangements that's the problem, right?
0:16:46Like that's the issue with the Ergadex.
0:16:47It isn't just that they're blank.
0:16:49They're like different shapes and in places where keys usually aren't.
0:16:53And if like you can memorize that, that's great.
0:16:57Or you can't.
0:16:58Lots of companies make replacement key caps for the Ergadex.
0:17:01Right?
0:17:02So you can like order ones and put them in.
0:17:04and I just hadn't done that yet because I wasn't completely sold on this keyboard.
0:17:10And I think really, as soon as somebody sent me a link to the Digma arrays, I was like,
0:17:14"That's what I want."
0:17:16That is much more aesthetically pleasing to me, where the Ergadex, for all of its benefits,
0:17:23kind of just looks like generic PC keyboard just cutting off.
0:17:26It's like big, thick, black, and chunky.
0:17:30the Dygma has got more of a style to it that I like. It's just kind of cooler looking,
0:17:35which I do want as well. I want it to look cool as well as be functional.
0:17:40I enjoy that this set of Japanese keycaps is trying to play both sides of the computer
0:17:45field with their super key. Is it a Windows key or is it a command key? No, it's the
0:17:52super key! I haven't heard that before, but I like that.
0:17:58companies will ship you Windows or Mac keys. And this one does come with a bunch of extras like
0:18:05this, but I actually quite liked Super as the key. It was kind of fun.
0:18:09Yeah, it's a funny name for the key and it also immediately makes sense. Like,
0:18:14"Oh, it's the Super key." Yeah, of course, that's the command or it's the Windows key.
0:18:18I can just imagine them sitting down in a meeting going, "Do we really have to print a little
0:18:22command symbol and a little Windows symbol? What can we do here, guys?" And a little penguin? I
0:18:27I don't know what Linux does these days.
0:18:29- Oh, you know, if you go to the next one,
0:18:30so the one underneath, the GMK Future Funk,
0:18:33which is the other keycap set that I bought,
0:18:35that also has Super, so seems like it must just be
0:18:38pretty normal in the keycap world.
0:18:41So this was, I said group by, this is a group by.
0:18:44A group by is when somebody has an idea for a design
0:18:48and they wanna make it, but they need to know
0:18:51how many people wanna buy it, so they put up the page
0:18:54and people buy it, and then it gets made
0:18:56and shipped to you like this one.
0:18:58I bought it like a couple of weeks ago
0:19:00and I might get it in October.
0:19:02This is like a thing that happens in the keycap world a lot
0:19:05'cause it's just like people who have designs
0:19:06and they put these designs on websites and you buy it
0:19:09and then you'll get it at some point in the future.
0:19:12So this is the first one of these that I've done.
0:19:14- So it was like a Kickstarter,
0:19:16but you already know that you can make the thing.
0:19:18It's just, it's just a design, right?
0:19:20Let's do like a pre-order for a design.
0:19:22- Yeah, but they're like,
0:19:23they typically are very long lead times.
0:19:26on these things. I just saw this one, it's like lots of purples and yellows and pinks.
0:19:31I just really love the look of the keys, so I've bought this set as well.
0:19:36That's very exciting. That's very exciting for you.
0:19:39Yeah, you know, what I need is more expensive hobbies, like there's clearly one I need.
0:19:46So here I am. But this really does like, it speaks to that exact part of me that enjoys
0:19:52collecting things.
0:19:54You know?
0:19:56Yeah, no, you gotta catch all the Pokemon keycaps.
0:19:58Yeah, that's the thing that you need to do.
0:20:00You need all the Japanese characters on your keyboard, otherwise
0:20:04you're just incomplete.
0:20:06That's gonna be a really nice looking keyboard, right?
0:20:09Like when I find one to put the Japanese characters on, that's just gonna be nice office dressing.
0:20:14It is. It's gonna look lovely.
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0:22:00The thing I was thinking about with the mechanical keyboard about, oh,
0:22:04one to put in my backpack, is because I've been using the regular like Apple Magic
0:22:09keyboard as just like a keyboard to have with me.
0:22:11It's a good backpack keyboard because it's so thin.
0:22:14When you're traveling with a MacBook, it doesn't hurt to have a spare keyboard with you just in case when you're traveling.
0:22:20Which is not the least bit just because it's nice to be able to type at a different level from the screen like when you're on an airplane and all that kind of stuff.
0:22:27But what I also tried at your suggestion, which is a truly mind-bending experience the first time you do it,
0:22:36is I connected my trackball mouse to my iPad to try out the...
0:22:43The cursor mode.
0:22:44Yeah, the cursor mode.
0:22:45And let me tell you, any listeners out there who haven't tried connecting
0:22:49a wireless mouse to your iPad, you should do it just to play around for 10 minutes
0:22:54because it's so weird.
0:22:55It's very, very weird experience.
0:22:58And I am so glad you told me, think of it like a finger,
0:23:03don't think of it like a pointer because that really helped.
0:23:07It was very interesting to try.
0:23:09And in a couple of situations when I'm writing
0:23:11and I'm just using my iPad, I've had the mouse out
0:23:15'cause my little ergonomic mouse
0:23:17can switch between two devices.
0:23:18So it's like, okay, I'll just set the iPad
0:23:20as the second device.
0:23:22And it's useful to use that to click
0:23:24between different parts of a script
0:23:25in the way that Ulysses displays things.
0:23:28So it's really interesting.
0:23:30I hope Apple keeps developing it.
0:23:32and I couldn't believe what you said,
0:23:34all the different settings where I decided to set
0:23:37the right-click button to just be expose,
0:23:40like go to expose mode, all the apps mode on iOS,
0:23:45because I'm never gonna right-click on anything else,
0:23:47and you know what I use all the time?
0:23:48I use show me the multitasking mode.
0:23:50- I will say my pro tip, though,
0:23:52is to set the right-click as long press.
0:23:54- Okay, right-click as long press.
0:23:56- Yeah, because more and more in iPadOS,
0:23:59you get those contextual menus, right, when you long press?
0:24:01I just never really use those.
0:24:04I feel like I never...
0:24:05I think they are becoming more and more important over time.
0:24:07It feels like more and more apps are using those now.
0:24:10But then, you know, you used the Logitech one, right?
0:24:13The Logitech Go mouse?
0:24:14They have tons of buttons on them.
0:24:16Yeah, there's buttons to spare all over the place.
0:24:18So you can put Expos8.
0:24:19I mean, you can keep it as you want,
0:24:20but having long press set to a button is very useful
0:24:25because that is becoming like a thing in iOS more and more.
0:24:29I think you're right.
0:24:29going to be used more now that there's been the consolidation of 3D touch versus long
0:24:34press? Like, hey, there's just one thing, so now it makes more sense for developers
0:24:39to use.
0:24:40Because it just wasn't something you could have on iPad, because there wasn't a 3D touch,
0:24:43so it's like, well, it's popping up in more and more places. And if you try that out in
0:24:49a lot of places, you end up learning good functions. There's a lot of things that developers
0:24:54are not hiding but giving you additional access to by using the long press function.
0:25:00So it's pretty good to have it there.
0:25:01And once you use the cursor for a while, especially if you're going between Mac and iPad, having
0:25:07a what looks like right-click menu mapped to the right-click button helps with the jumping
0:25:13between device to device.
0:25:15Oh, that's a good point.
0:25:17Okay, yeah, I'll remap it.
0:25:19Yeah, you're right.
0:25:20That long press is effectively a right-click, right?
0:25:22That's what they're trying to mirror with that.
0:25:25And so it helps when you're moving around
0:25:28from thing to thing.
0:25:30- No, that makes perfect sense.
0:25:31You're right, I'm gonna remap that
0:25:32'cause that's a better muscle memory thing,
0:25:34and especially projecting into the future.
0:25:36You're totally right.
0:25:37Because I was just thinking like,
0:25:38iOS, right click, never heard of it, right?
0:25:41This doesn't exist at all.
0:25:44However, there's one thing, Myke,
0:25:47while it was mostly a mind-bending experience
0:25:50in a really pleasant way,
0:25:51"Oh, this is just like a fun different way to use this device."
0:25:55One thing which I searched high and low for and I couldn't find a setting for,
0:25:59and I was like, "God damn it, Apple, you're always gonna get people sooner or later
0:26:03and sometimes you're playing the long game,"
0:26:06is I couldn't find a way to reverse the scroll direction when you use the scroll wheel.
0:26:12Do you know if there's a setting for this? Because I looked.
0:26:16No, because I'm a man of the modern world.
0:26:19Right, no, I know, but this is it. I had flashbacks to I Can't Remember Which Operating System It Was,
0:26:25where they added like natural scroll on the trackpad. So on the computer, when you put your
0:26:32finger on the trackpad, if you push up the page that you're looking at will scroll up.
0:26:38And then they reverse the direction so that if you have a wheel on your mouse, that it should,
0:26:45if you push up on the wheel, it should move the page up.
0:26:49- Yeah, and I think you've explained that. Can I try explaining that again?
0:26:52Because I feel like you made that more confusing.
0:26:54- Go right ahead.
0:26:56- So the old way of scrolling is you push up and you will go to the top of a page,
0:27:02push down, you will go to the bottom of a page.
0:27:05That's how it used to be on trackpads and on scroll wheels.
0:27:09- No, but the problem is, there actually is a difference between the trackpad and the
0:27:12scroll wheel behavior, which makes this slightly confusing.
0:27:15Really?
0:27:16Yes, there is.
0:27:17What is the difference?
0:27:18It's odds.
0:27:19You can have the trackpad scroll in the opposite direction from the way that the mouse wheel works.
0:27:25Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I get what you mean.
0:27:27You can separate, you can add them differently.
0:27:28But what I mean is that that's the way it always was, right?
0:27:30That you would push up to go to the top, push down to go to the bottom.
0:27:34But then it got changed on trackpads first to mirror touch devices,
0:27:40where moving your finger up would take you to the bottom
0:27:43because you are physically moving the page.
0:27:46I think it was the right move to make.
0:27:48I stand by it because I think it makes,
0:27:50especially for trackpads, logical sense
0:27:52that you are moving the content.
0:27:55But I understand that it breaks a little bit
0:27:58for some people with scroll wheels,
0:28:00but for me, I just went all in
0:28:02on what is called natural scrolling now.
0:28:04- Yes, well, that's also where,
0:28:06when Apple did that, we've invented natural scrolling.
0:28:09It's like, you bastards, right?
0:28:11Oh yes, my preference is for unnatural scrolling, Apple.
0:28:14Thank you, thank you so much.
0:28:16And like, I agree, I'm totally on board
0:28:18with the conceptualness of it, I think it makes sense.
0:28:21It's just that with a scroll wheel on a mouse,
0:28:25my argument is ergonomic, that you just have more strength
0:28:29and it's more comfortable to close your hand
0:28:32than to open your hand.
0:28:34And it's something that you can just feel immediately
0:28:36if you put slight resistance that, you know,
0:28:39it's like an alligator's mouth, right?
0:28:40Like the closing is the natural, stronger gesture and the opening is very easy to prevent.
0:28:46And so on a computer, when you're looking at web pages, you want the, the gesture that
0:28:53you're going to do the most, which is.
0:28:55I want to see more of this page, which means scrolling down on the actual page.
0:29:02You want that to be the closing hand gesture.
0:29:05You don't want it to be the opening hand gesture.
0:29:07And so that's why I'm with them for touch pads.
0:29:10But I was like, "Eh, whatever, they put an option in for scroll wheels on mice.
0:29:14There's no problem."
0:29:15But it's like, Apple's playing the long game and they're just sitting there waiting like a silent submarine,
0:29:21like, "Oh, don't worry, we'll get you eventually."
0:29:25And I feel like with iOS, here's where they've gotten me.
0:29:27I don't think they're gonna put in an option to reverse the scroll wheel direction.
0:29:31I think there's a zero percent chance of that.
0:29:33Yeah, because they have a lot of button mapping, but I don't remember seeing that as an option.
0:29:38The very fact that I couldn't believe, because Apple is famously averse to options,
0:29:42but I couldn't believe how many options they gave you for customizing what the mouse does on iOS.
0:29:47But you know where they're not averse to options? Accessibility settings. And that's where this is,
0:29:51right? Because in accessibility environments, you need to be able to give people
0:29:55lots and lots of choices so they can set it up just how they need it,
0:29:59you know? Which is like, you can get lost for like an hour in the accessibility screens
0:30:03in the settings on iOS because there's so many of them.
0:30:06Yeah, with any new iOS converts, I always tell them there's two places where they hide the good stuff.
0:30:11Place number one is accessibility settings.
0:30:13Like, that's where a bunch of the good stuff is hidden.
0:30:16And then my mom calls this thing the "Share Square,"
0:30:20which I absolutely love and I think it's a better name,
0:30:22and I'm gonna, like, suggest that Apple rename it to be the "Share Square,"
0:30:26but it's the "Share Square," the little square that has the arrow coming out the top of it.
0:30:30I think at the very least we should adopt that verbiage from now on on this show because
0:30:36I think that that is absolutely fantastic.
0:30:39That is so much better than ShareSheet.
0:30:41Yes I know, I know.
0:30:43My mom said ShareSquare once years ago and it completely got in my brain and I always
0:30:47– like I've tried on the show to say the proper name if it ever comes up, but I've
0:30:51just decided to give up because ShareSquare is a million times better.
0:30:54But it's like okay, accessibility settings and ShareSquare, like that's where the good
0:30:58stuff is hidden on iOS. But yes, it was digging through all of those mouse settings. I was like,
0:31:04"There seems to be one setting here that's conspicuously absent, and there is no way this
0:31:10is an oversight with all of these other buttons." And I feel like that's Apple, you know, they had
0:31:15that shiv behind their back for 10 years waiting, waiting, waiting to get you if you still liked
0:31:21unnatural scrolling direction with your mice. And now this is where they finally stuck it in.
0:31:25I'll still make the argument that it's an accessibility setting which direction the wheel goes
0:31:30but I don't expect this one to change.
0:31:32I was really glad that you suggested that I try iOS with the mouse.
0:31:36It's a really interesting experience and I can very much see myself using it
0:31:41in many situations where I don't have to use the scroll wheel.
0:31:46It's different.
0:31:48Yeah, it's different.
0:31:49It works in its own way.
0:31:51As long as you remember, very important that you remember,
0:31:55The cursor is your finger. Your cursor is not a mass pointer.
0:31:58Yes.
0:31:59But because the cursor is your finger, you can do things like notification center,
0:32:03you can bring up the dock, you can do all this, you can do everything your finger can do,
0:32:07which is not the same as what the Apple Pencil can do. So it's good for that.
0:32:11Another thing that you mentioned to me a couple of episodes was just taking your
0:32:16AirPods Pro on a flight.
0:32:18Yep.
0:32:19And I thought, "Oh, that's an interesting thing to try."
0:32:23And four weeks ago, Gray thought, "Well, I don't have any flights to try this on for several months,
0:32:31so I'll have to wait." But little did he know that he had many, many chances to try out AirPods Pro
0:32:39on flights in the upcoming weeks. And I thought, "Okay, I brought them along with me, and I brought
0:32:46my regular Sony WM3000 wireless noise cancelling headphones, which are whatever Sony's current
0:32:56generation of like the over-ear, expensive, professional…
0:33:00"Do you mean the WM-1000XM3?"
0:33:01Oh god, it's the XM3? I thought they named them like the Harry Potter brooms, where it
0:33:08was like, you know, 3000 is the third one and 4000 was the fourth one, but apparently
0:33:13Okay, their naming system is crazy. But yeah, it's their third generation ones.
0:33:17Oh no wait, sorry, the XM3 are the little ones.
0:33:21Oh, yeah, I mean like the over-ear, over-ear head ones.
0:33:26WMQ47 5000s I think is what they're called.
0:33:31Of course.
0:33:32Yeah, that's their name. But whatever, they're like, I think they're the best
0:33:37noise cancelling headphones I've ever used, so.
0:33:40No, they are the WM1000XM3.
0:33:44Sony, call them, just call them, give them a name.
0:33:47Oh my god, okay, so the over-ear ones are WM-1000XM3, the ones that go in your ears
0:33:54are WF-1000XM3.
0:33:58Does F stand for four in your ears?
0:34:01Four the ears only.
0:34:03Yes.
0:34:04And M is for maximum head space.
0:34:09I don't know.
0:34:10No, it's H for head.
0:34:13- Yeah, headphones. - Headphones.
0:34:16And the F is for earphones.
0:34:19There we go, we got it.
0:34:20- For earphones. (laughs)
0:34:23I forgot those F ones are like
0:34:26their little AirPod competitors, right?
0:34:27I forgot they even made those things.
0:34:29Yeah, 'cause everybody in the world
0:34:30is making clones of AirPods now,
0:34:32since it's a, like those articles
0:34:34about how it was like a bazillion dollar business
0:34:36just on its own, it's crazy how popular they are.
0:34:38It would be like in the Fortune 100, like just AirPods. It's wild.
0:34:42Yeah, it's ridiculous. But yeah, so I had a whole bunch of situations to literally
0:34:49try the two headphones back to back. And it occurred to me when on my very first flight,
0:34:55I had a screaming baby behind me. And I thought, let me try to mentally recontextualize this baby
0:35:01as a testing environment for my different headphones.
0:35:06really that baby was actually perfect.
0:35:09- Yeah, it was great.
0:35:10So I just wanna say it was really interesting.
0:35:15And so I find myself in this position of super pumped
0:35:20for the next version of AirPods from Apple.
0:35:30Because my result was basically the Sony headphones
0:35:34are still better.
0:35:35The AirPods are in most circumstances,
0:35:41like 80% is good, but there was one place where they really fell down and that I
0:35:48thought was surprising and it was with human voices.
0:35:51So on the flights, there were a number of times when if I had my AirPods in and the
0:36:00the noise cancelling was on, and the one that was really bad that was shocking was the safety
0:36:05video.
0:36:06And I honestly thought, like, do I even have noise cancelling on?
0:36:09Like the voices were just coming through really clearly.
0:36:11But that's great though, Greg, because you should always pay attention to the safety
0:36:15video.
0:36:16No you shouldn't!
0:36:17The safety video is now a commercial with which to advertise Star Wars to you.
0:36:25Of course, whenever you are running something with noise cancelling, and you think, "do
0:36:29I have it on and then you turn it off, you are shocked with the raw cacophony of the
0:36:35world actually around you. But I did find it was interesting that like, voices and particularly
0:36:42voices like pilot announcements and anything over a speaker, the AirPods were clearly significantly
0:36:50worse at that kind of thing of being able to cut that out as a distraction. And so with
0:36:57With my Sony headphones on, I could totally read while the safety video is blathering
0:37:02on about whatever things may or may not be important for the plane and I can pay attention
0:37:07to what I want to.
0:37:08And with the AirPods, that was way harder.
0:37:10But the thing is, I cannot wait to not have to carry the huge bulk of my Sony headphones.
0:37:19This is my feeling on this.
0:37:21Of course they're not as good.
0:37:23Of course.
0:37:24Because the over ear headphones are going over your ears.
0:37:28Just the seal that they are able to provide is always going to be better, right?
0:37:33Than like, non-custom molded in ear tips.
0:37:38But even if they are 80% of the way there from the technology of the noise cancelling,
0:37:46that makes them like 150%.
0:37:49Because they're tiny!
0:37:50They go in your pocket!
0:37:52I am with you on this, but it's why I wanted to test in some settings.
0:37:56And like, I was lucky, sort of, yeah, I was lucky for AB testing purposes, but on another
0:38:02journey I had a real like chatty person, you know, chatting with their chatty friend behind
0:38:07me about the tiny details of their lives.
0:38:12And again, it was a situation where it was useful to like, because with noise canceling,
0:38:18What you're trying to do is avoid the worst possible scenarios.
0:38:22And I was aware, like, in this situation, the AirPods, I wouldn't feel like I have blessed
0:38:30relief and escape from the reality around me in this situation where someone's going
0:38:35to talk behind me for a few hours.
0:38:38And so I'm still willing to bring the big headphones to mitigate that downside.
0:38:44like Apple is so close and those Sony headphones are so big and when I look at my backpack
0:38:52and I try to think what thing in here is the least good ratio of size in backpack versus
0:38:59how much I wanted in backpack the headphones the Sony headphones are totally the losers
0:39:03in that thing of like this is the piece of equipment that I want to replace the absolute
0:39:08most I just want to say again how good the noises
0:39:11are when you switch mode. So when you go from like transparency mode where they are amplifying
0:39:17outside sounds, some outside sounds, and noise cancelling where they're trying to basically
0:39:22get rid of as much as possible, there are these two distinct sounds that it makes. And
0:39:27the one when you turn on noise cancelling, it almost feels like it's like almost a sound
0:39:32of closing. Like that one sounds closing and the transparency mode sounds opening. They've
0:39:38they've got good noises to them.
0:39:40And when I hear that closed sound,
0:39:42it's like someone's put a blanket on me.
0:39:44- That's a good way to describe it, yeah.
0:39:46- Because it's like such a comfortable feeling,
0:39:49'cause I know that when I've turned that on,
0:39:51I want noise to go away,
0:39:53and it's like I get this beautiful sound,
0:39:56and then the outside world is muffled,
0:39:59and it's almost like someone
0:40:00has just put this blanket on me,
0:40:02and now I'm in this much more comfortable environment.
0:40:07That trigger response to those noises is very good.
0:40:10And they've been like,
0:40:12bravo to Apple's sound design department
0:40:14for coming up with those, 'cause they are perfect.
0:40:17- Yeah, they really are perfect.
0:40:18And with Apple and Apple products,
0:40:21there's always the agony and the ecstasy
0:40:24of all of the things.
0:40:25But with the AirPods, they have done such an amazing job
0:40:29and they're one of the best products
0:40:30Apple has come out with in years.
0:40:32And you talking about like,
0:40:34oh, it's a weird feeling of comfort,
0:40:36the way they make the sound go down.
0:40:38I think that's part of what I was trying to express
0:40:40when I was saying it has this augmented reality feel
0:40:43of like by pressing this button,
0:40:47I'm not doing something with my electronics.
0:40:49I feel like I'm changing the world around me.
0:40:53- It's incredible.
0:40:54- Yeah, it's so hard to describe.
0:40:56- Because it feels like a lot of the time
0:40:58like you can barely feel them in your ears
0:41:00'cause they're so light because there's just nothing to them
0:41:03there's no cables that it is possible to forget
0:41:05even have them in. So having this tiny little thing being able to change the world around
0:41:12you, it really is, it's the best product they've made in a long time. The AirPods took that
0:41:19crown and the AirPods Pro just destroyed them. Like this is so good.
0:41:25So good.
0:41:26I was thinking earlier like, oh, what am I excited for? And like, I'm really desperate
0:41:30and excited for a new smaller Pro laptop.
0:41:34That is a purchase that is well overdue for me.
0:41:37But I am much more excited about whatever the next generation of the AirPods Pro is going to look like.
0:41:46Because I really think at that point I'll be able to just have those little headphones with me
0:41:51and not have to have the bigger headphones.
0:41:54So I was just very surprised at how well, under most circumstances, they held up.
0:42:01And it's only because of a couple little things that I thought,
0:42:03"I don't feel like I'm bringing the comfort blanket with me yet fully by just having those,
0:42:08but it's so close. And if they can make another 20% improvement from where they currently are,
0:42:16I can totally drop these big headphones that I take with me and save like a huge portion of
0:42:22of this annoying space in the top of my backpack that I just like, I'll never have to deal
0:42:26with again.
0:42:27So they were really, really good.
0:42:29And that transparency mode of flipping back and forth, especially when you're traveling
0:42:33to be able to do the little click and like talk to the gate agent and then click make
0:42:37the world go away.
0:42:39It's fantastic.
0:42:40Like the Sony's theoretically have the exact same feature, but it just, it's a little too
0:42:45slow.
0:42:46It has a slight lag so you feel like you're behind reality in a way.
0:42:52And the Apple One just perfectly nails it.
0:42:55It's fantastic.
0:42:56[Music]
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0:44:30So lots of unexpected plane journeys. Definitely feels like a clarity moment in your year of
0:44:41clarity, right? A clear, very clear, "So how's your yearly theme going?"
0:44:47Yeah, so it's funny that you mention that because I think of the last four weeks that
0:44:53I've had as I was originally thinking like, what is this?
0:44:56Has this been the month of emergency?
0:44:57Like, but emergency is not the right word because there, while there have
0:45:01been literal emergencies, it's more been like the month of unexpected urgency.
0:45:07Is, is the way I would describe it.
0:45:09Like, yeah, sort of surprise.
0:45:13This needs to happen right now.
0:45:14Surprise that needs to happen right now.
0:45:17I think it's one of these things where the flexibility of the theme really
0:45:21helps, like what, you know, what does it mean?
0:45:22What does it mean under different circumstances?
0:45:24I've really felt that for a bunch of these things that needed to be acted
0:45:30on quickly in my life, because I've been thinking since the summer about clear
0:45:36priorities, it's, it's had a knock on impact on decisions of like, oh, I need
0:45:42to fly to America for a family thing right now, and it just like kind of
0:45:47run through the decision in my head of like, this is happening or it isn't happening.
0:45:51Yes, it is.
0:45:52Here's the reasons why.
0:45:53And it's just great.
0:45:55You're, you're having a very busy, un- terrifyingly unexpectedly busy month, but
0:46:01any particular moment has felt like, yes, this is the thing that I need to be doing
0:46:07right now.
0:46:08And you know, there's lots going on, but at any moment you can do one thing and this
0:46:12is the thing.
0:46:13Flying to America for this, for this thing, right?
0:46:16or there's a family emergency over there, like other things need to happen.
0:46:21But it has been really good to have year of clarity in the background.
0:46:25And I think there's a way in which two years ago, me would have just
0:46:31not handled this remotely as well.
0:46:34I was just thinking like, I did a thing that if I told two years ago me, he would
0:46:38just refuse to believe that I did it.
0:46:42I was in the heartland of America and coming back to London and very shortly before I was
0:46:50about to take a like a red-eye flight overnight, something came up where it was, "Oh, there's
0:46:57a thing that you should really do elsewhere in the UK."
0:47:01And I thought about it.
0:47:02I thought about what are the priorities of things that I'm trying to achieve this year.
0:47:07And I was like, "Okay, this makes sense.
0:47:11You know what I'm going to do?
0:47:12I'm going to get on this red-eye flight.
0:47:15I'm going to try to sleep overnight.
0:47:17When I land in the UK, I'm going to have about an hour's give time where I'm going to go
0:47:26straight from the airport to get on a train to go somewhere else in the UK for like another
0:47:33thing that I'm going to do.
0:47:35But the very idea that I would even consider doing anything after a red-eye transatlantic
0:47:43flight previously, like, I wouldn't have considered it.
0:47:46That sounds very out of character for you.
0:47:52It makes sense in the context of what was I trying to achieve.
0:47:56Any time I can say that to you, I will always take that opportunity.
0:48:02Yeah, but like, I think that was the most Casey Neistat I ever felt of like, I'm going
0:48:07to have this wacky travel schedule of I've been in another place and at the, at the last
0:48:13possible second, I'm going to make a decision to extend a thing even longer, but it really
0:48:17fit into this preexisting framework of here's what I'm trying to do.
0:48:21And so I did it.
0:48:22I was very tired, but it was good.
0:48:24And the other part of this that I'm really pleased about is for me, what Year of Clarity
0:48:29is has been a focus on, like we were talking last time about, some of the mechanics of
0:48:35the creative side of this, like this idea of locking down three topics of like, "Okay,
0:48:40these three topics are locked," having a clear idea of what state all of the various videos
0:48:45are in. And so, even while I've had this terrifyingly unexpectedly urgent and busy month, I've also
0:48:54been really happy with continuing to move the top locked project forward.
0:49:01Not as fast as I would have been able to do if these things hadn't come up.
0:49:06But again, it's a case where I'm really aware like, "Oh, two years ago me would have made
0:49:10almost no progress on this video."
0:49:13But I think just having in my head this like concept of there are locked projects and one
0:49:19One of those is the top-locked project.
0:49:23Really helped me in a bunch of different times to focus on, if you have time, keep trying
0:49:30to move this one forward in various different ways.
0:49:34So it's been an interesting and crazy month, year of clarity, helping with a lot of focus
0:49:40and how I'm thinking about what I'm up to and what I'm doing.
0:49:45I know your refinement is moving along because I got an adorable photo from you the other
0:49:51day. Do you even remember what it was, Myke? You sent me a photo of the pot that you had
0:49:56made in pottery class.
0:49:58Oh, we're talking about my pottery class?
0:50:01Yeah.
0:50:02All right, yeah.
0:50:04I really love that. I really enjoyed getting that.
0:50:06Well, I have another photo to send you then because they've been glazed now.
0:50:10Oh, wow. Okay.
0:50:12So I hadn't spoken about this yet because it was like a thing that I was trying, I wanted
0:50:17to see if it was something that I liked and it is and I want to try and do more of it.
0:50:25It's difficult because you need a lot of space for pottery really. Like you can't, it's not
0:50:30something you're going to easily do at home, right?
0:50:33Right.
0:50:34But I found a class in London and I went and took the class one day and absolutely loved
0:50:40it.
0:50:41And so I'm gonna, you know, it's difficult to try and work out how to do these things regularly,
0:50:49but we're gonna take like a longer class, like a multi-day class, because it's just a couple of
0:50:54hours. But I got the chance over two hours to sit down at a pottery wheel after very basic
0:50:59instruction, and I made four pots that I was kind of happy with, actually really happy with,
0:51:05I'm thrilled with them, Gray. And do you see the picture I sent you now?
0:51:08I do they look very glazed. They look like you can use them to put things in them. Yeah, and I'm super happy about it
0:51:14It's like it's a very serene thing and I one of the things that I really like is you've got clay all over your hands
0:51:21So you can't touch your phone. Mm-hmm because you just can't do anything about that. So
0:51:26The other thing that I really like about it and it's what originally drew me to this
0:51:31Like I'd see so I watched a YouTube video. There's a
0:51:35There's a YouTube channel that I love by the cooking magazine Bon Appetit
0:51:39And one of the shows that they do is a show called it's alive of Bradley only which is just one of my favorite things
0:51:45that I found last year, it's just pure joy and
0:51:47in this one episode he goes to a like a pottery studio and
0:51:53they do a lots of shots like really lovely shots of
0:51:56plates and bowls being made and the thing that really astounded me about pottery is
0:52:03That you effectively take a lump of clay and make something out of what is nothing really
0:52:09right, so using your own hands you shape this object into existence and
0:52:16when I sat down at that pottery wheel for the first time I
0:52:21was
0:52:23Astounded at how I immediately felt that that like my hands were resulting in this thing
0:52:29being made and
0:52:32every movement that I made of my fingers would change the shape of the pot.
0:52:38And so I kind of worked out roughly how to put a lip on something.
0:52:43I just worked that part out on my own because it was like, well, if I just kind of try and bend this around my finger a little bit.
0:52:50And it was just joy and I loved it.
0:52:54And so it's something that I want to try and do more of.
0:52:57of, it is way out of my remit right now to be able to do this regularly at home because
0:53:05it's just, I live in an apartment, like what am I gonna do?
0:53:08Oh yeah, there's not a lot of space in your house for the pottery wheel.
0:53:12Nooo.
0:53:13I think that's uh…
0:53:14And like, so you know, there is possibility at some point in the future, like if it's
0:53:17something that I really get into, that I could like rent something with someone, like that's,
0:53:23know that is a thing you can do or that you know you can rent a lot of time in a
0:53:27like almost like a timeshare type.
0:53:30That's exactly what I was gonna ask you have timeshares for pottery wheels?
0:53:33I think so like I genuinely think so like you know you you meet someone who
0:53:37has their own shed and they let you pay them to use it. There's still lots of
0:53:41classes that I can take and that's something that I want to do more over
0:53:44this year. It's just like a little hobby that I definitely can't turn into any
0:53:49any kind of part of my professional life,
0:53:53except for referencing it here.
0:53:55This is as much as it's gonna be, right?
0:53:57I went to a party class and I enjoyed it, and that's it.
0:54:00There's not really anything more
0:54:01I can tell you other than that.
0:54:02But this is exactly the type of thing
0:54:04that I was thinking about in my year of refinement.
0:54:07Because if this is a thing that I do and enjoy,
0:54:11it's another part of my life
0:54:12that I feel makes me more interesting to people.
0:54:15Because it's like, here is a thing that I do,
0:54:17And I sometimes, I have this interest in making pots
0:54:20and I've done it now and here are the pots that I've made.
0:54:23And it's also just kind of like giving me more things
0:54:26to care about that aren't work
0:54:30and cannot be impacted by work.
0:54:33I say this right now, but it may be some people think
0:54:35it's about the pen world.
0:54:36Don't think there's a lot of news in the pottery world.
0:54:38Like, you know, the new pottery release is a big thing.
0:54:42Probably there is though, there's every industry.
0:54:44And also another thing, you're familiar with the great British Bake Off, right?
0:54:49Yeah, vaguely.
0:54:50But you're aware of this show that exists as a baking competition.
0:54:55There is a show on Channel 4 in the UK right now called The Great Pottery Throwdown, which is a pottery version of that.
0:55:01It's like a pottery competition, like a reality competition.
0:55:05And I've been watching that at the same time, which has just furthered my interest in this as a potential hobby for me.
0:55:11But I got this as a present, so Idina got me this as a gift.
0:55:15And I was really excited but like really nervous because I wanted to love it.
0:55:23You know?
0:55:24And it's nerve-wracking going into that kind of situation when you really want to love something
0:55:30and you just... but you have no idea what it's going to be like
0:55:34because you could end up like being disappointed, you know?
0:55:36Because it's like, I really want to love this
0:55:39but I actually might hate it, you know, when I do it because it's quite physical and it's difficult.
0:55:44But like I kind of immediately took to it and I was really impressed with myself.
0:55:50Like I was really pleased and it was just really lovely.
0:55:54I was quite charmed by that photo and I thought, "Oh good, Myke's starting his classes."
0:55:58And you know, exploring in these various ways.
0:56:03And it sounds like it's more viscerally satisfying to handcraft a pot than it is to handcraft
0:56:11a podcast where both are created directly through the movement of your hands, but it's
0:56:18not quite the same experience.
0:56:20And also, not that I'm trying to be Myke the artist here, but I think I described this
0:56:24to you once, that really heavy podcast editing, like what I do to this show, where I listen
0:56:30back to the whole thing and really kind of like take it from something and then cut it down and
0:56:35move things around like really like craft something it reminds me of sculpture that you are taking a
0:56:40thing and taking tiny pieces out of it yes until you're left with an end result if i could describe
0:56:47it to any other form of art it feels like that one where you are removing from something to be left
0:56:53with an end result. But there's a big difference to me in having something at the end, which
0:57:01is like why I'm so happy with the journal, right? Because we have something, it's a
0:57:05physical thing.
0:57:06Like, yeah, it feels so different to look at a physical product and say, "Oh, this
0:57:13has come into existence because of things that have been done." Right? Like it's
0:57:19It's a real part of the world.
0:57:21I've got one right on the table next to me.
0:57:24It's like, it's here and it's real in a way that the podcasts are great, but it's a different
0:57:32experience seeing a new download that you have created show up in Overcast versus seeing
0:57:39a notebook on a table.
0:57:41There's just something that's different about it.
0:57:43I mean, especially the thing for me, I'm desensitized to it because of the sheer amount of podcasts
0:57:49I produce, right? But these pots that I've made, these four pots that I made, I'm just
0:57:56so proud of them.
0:57:57That's so charming, Myke.
0:58:00Because I took these lumps of clay and put my strength into it and tried to make something
0:58:06out of them. Every single one of them, I tried to make it something. And they didn't all
0:58:12come out as exactly how I imagined in my mind, but two of them did, right? Two out of that
0:58:18for, I tried to make them look like that and now they look like that.
0:58:23And unfortunately, like you, I had a bit of unexpected emergency travel over the last
0:58:30month because we wanted to book in a class to glaze them ourselves because it's just
0:58:36like a whole other thing.
0:58:38But we had them glazed by the studio that we did the course at.
0:58:43But at some point over the next couple of months, I'm very busy right now, which I'm
0:58:47to get to very shortly. I know I'm like really teasing this out, but like I'm very busy right now.
0:58:52So I haven't been able to book in like a longer course, like multiple day courses that you can do,
0:58:57where instead of two hours, you are there for like two or three days for like six hours a day.
0:59:03Probably you cannot move at the end of it because it is, it takes a lot of strength. You know,
0:59:09if you really want to try and do something right, like it takes a lot of strength.
0:59:13I have a lot of respect for people that do this thing every day because it is intensive, you know?
0:59:19I felt it for a couple of days, you know?
0:59:22Oh, here's some muscles I don't usually use, you know?
0:59:25Yeah, doing anything new that is remotely physical,
0:59:29you get to learn about muscles that you didn't know that existed in your body.
0:59:32Yep.
0:59:32I know.
0:59:34For example, horse riding, you think, "Oh, I'm just sitting on top of a horse.
0:59:39I hardly notice anything," right?
0:59:40I was like, "You're gonna notice tomorrow all many parts of your body that you did not know existed."
0:59:46- This is new. I had no idea you knew how to ride a horse.
0:59:49- Doesn't everybody know how to ride a horse?
0:59:51- No, Craig, they don't.
0:59:52- Yeah, well, look, you take horseback riding lessons.
0:59:57That's just a thing people do.
0:59:58You take pottery classes, you take horseback riding lessons.
1:00:01- Yeah, I guess we're all learning things about each other today.
1:00:03- Yeah, let's not get distracted.
1:00:05I love your pots.
1:00:07Have you Instagrammed your pots yet?
1:00:08No, because I wasn't planning on telling the world at all about this, but you did.
1:00:12So now I want you to put them up on Instagram and then everybody, all the cortexins, you
1:00:18can go give Myke some Instagram love for his pops.
1:00:22I think he deserves it.
1:00:23Thank you.
1:00:24So yeah, and also my business partner, Steven, bought me for my birthday a wine tasting class.
1:00:31Oh, that was the very thing that you mentioned on the show in particular.
1:00:35The company unfortunately didn't have any dates until May, but that's fine.
1:00:39So I will be doing that.
1:00:40So that's another part of my refinement.
1:00:42So these things will go well.
1:00:44And I have a new project.
1:00:45I've been mentioning a new project for a while.
1:00:47That new project is launched.
1:00:48It is a brand new podcast here on Real AFM called The Test Drivers, working with the
1:00:54wonderful technology YouTuber, Austin Evans, who I've been a fan of for years.
1:00:58And we are making a tech show together, testing out all kinds of technology.
1:01:03The reason that this lends into my refinement is most of my technology coverage relates
1:01:09to Apple products, but my love of technology expands wider than that.
1:01:16And that's what this show focuses on.
1:01:18It's everything.
1:01:19So it's like new tech, old tech, games consoles, stuff from Google, Amazon, Samsung, Apple,
1:01:26who doesn't matter, right?
1:01:28Like if it's technology that we think is interesting, we will talk about it and we will, as a matter
1:01:33the name Lens, we will test it. So we're going to test things in detail. The way that
1:01:37name test drivers came about, there's a few things to it. One is it's like testing and
1:01:42working out daily drivers. That's the idea. It's a phrase that people use in technology,
1:01:46what is your daily driver? What's the thing you use every day? But I also, when I came
1:01:51up with the name for the show, because I was also thinking about things that are larger
1:01:55than the podcast itself. So Cortex brand has kind of changed my idea about how I name projects.
1:02:02We were lucky that the name of this show lent itself to more than just the show.
1:02:07Oh, yeah, yeah.
1:02:08I always think it's interesting when people launch YouTube channels or podcasts or anything,
1:02:14if people are asking about names, I'm always in favor of like, the more broad name, like
1:02:19don't... it's very easy to pen yourself in with a name and then later on realize,
1:02:28"Oh, we've evolved from what that thing originally was."
1:02:32- Yeah. - Right?
1:02:33Like, you know, when I see people name Project The Daily Whatever,
1:02:37it's like, "Ooh, are you really committing to Daily
1:02:40for the life of this entire project?
1:02:42Like, maybe don't."
1:02:43- So the name for this one was like,
1:02:45it came from the Mythbusters.
1:02:48Because what I like about the name, the Mythbusters,
1:02:51is it relates to the television program,
1:02:54but also the hosts.
1:02:56They are the Mythbusters,
1:02:58and their show is called The Mythbusters.
1:03:01So for the test drivers, it's like,
1:03:03me and Austin are the test drivers.
1:03:05We are the people testing the technology,
1:03:08and our show is also called that.
1:03:10So we've got two episodes out
1:03:12by the time you're hearing this.
1:03:13The first one went in depth about the new Samsung phones,
1:03:16the Galaxy S20 line.
1:03:18Then the second episode is more of,
1:03:21I think, the typical type of episode
1:03:23that we're gonna be doing,
1:03:24because we take one thing and we talk about it in a lot of detail and it's basically trying
1:03:29to help me understand which Android phone to buy, which is a, I have found as more I'm
1:03:34looking at it, seriously, a very complicated thing to do, especially right now, like I
1:03:39feel like the beginning of the year is a very difficult time for working out what Android
1:03:43phone to buy.
1:03:44- Yeah, listening to you and Austin talk about the jungle of all of the different Android
1:03:51things was crazy making to me.
1:03:54'Cause I'm not very much in this world at all.
1:03:56And it's like, oh, I knew Android is a thing
1:03:59that multiple manufacturers can make.
1:04:01But even within just an individual company,
1:04:04like the product diversity, I knew it was large,
1:04:09but I didn't have any idea the level of craziness
1:04:13until I heard the two of you talking about it.
1:04:15Like it was literally, it was very shocking.
1:04:18(laughs)
1:04:19It really, really was.
1:04:20Because it's very different to Apple.
1:04:21Yeah, oh yeah.
1:04:22Most of the larger Android manufacturers, they have multiple phone releases a year.
1:04:26Apple is like, "Hey, we've got this thing for you, and you're gonna like it."
1:04:31There is a loss of rumors, and I think that this is like a whole different thing,
1:04:35suggests that's changing, that they might end up doing two phone releases every year now,
1:04:39with like four different lines of phone, but that's like a whole thing for another day.
1:04:42Whatever, and it'll still be one tenth of one percent the diversity in the Android market.
1:04:46Correct, correct. Very correct.
1:04:47I'm really glad that you can finally talk about this project because, you know, you've told me about it for a while and I got a preview and for listeners who hear Myke on his whole plethora of shows, I also really like this because I think it's the kind of project where in retrospect, you can see like little hints of this for a long time.
1:05:10I've been aware of you on other shows like mentioning Android products or I forget when it was, but just was it like a year ago or so?
1:05:19But you bought an Android phone just to try out and like to talk about on your other shows.
1:05:25And so I think it's a very natural extension of a bunch of things that you've been thinking about anyway, and just a like a perfect venue to explore further interests.
1:05:40I really like to see that kind of project from creators that I know, things that to the audience
1:05:49might initially seem surprising, like, "Oh, I know Myke. He talks about Apple stuff." But if you're
1:05:56paying attention to the development of that creator closely, you can see in retrospect,
1:06:01"Oh, it's not that surprising that he has now created a technology podcast that goes like
1:06:08very far afield from the core Apple ecosystem. So like, I'm just very happy to see someone
1:06:16develop in that way of like initially surprising, but in retrospect makes perfect sense.
1:06:22And this project is 100% that for you. Like it's a perfect evolution of your interests and also the
1:06:34public perception of who you are in the technology world.
1:06:39And that's the refinement. That's why it ties into my year of refinement.
1:06:42I know, I know. That's why I was giddy about the double meaning of refinement. I was like,
1:06:46"Oh, you clever boy! I know what's coming!" And this is perfect for that.
1:06:51I want to be seen as someone who cares about all of technology, because I do.
1:06:57and I want to get into more, right?
1:07:01Because I want to be able to have an outlet
1:07:03to talk about all of this stuff,
1:07:05but also have a reason to try more things out.
1:07:08So I'm really excited, and Austin's like the perfect person
1:07:11to work with on this one.
1:07:12- Oh yeah, yeah.
1:07:13- 'Cause he is such a great communicator.
1:07:16It's what I really love about his YouTube videos,
1:07:18is he can so easily make things
1:07:21that do not make any sense to me make sense.
1:07:26You know, people may remember when I built my gaming PC,
1:07:30Austin helped me, not only his videos, but like,
1:07:33I also had a call with him, it was like,
1:07:34"I need, I don't understand what I'm doing, right?
1:07:37"Help me."
1:07:37'Cause he's so good at that, and we get on really well,
1:07:40and our chemistry's great, and so like,
1:07:43I'm very, very happy with how the show's come out,
1:07:45so I really hope that people will give it a try.
1:07:47Like, I genuinely feel like this is a very important step
1:07:52in my career, like, of who I want to be,
1:07:55and the type of creator that I want to be
1:07:58in the same way that Cortex was,
1:08:00because before this show,
1:08:03people only knew me as a technology podcaster.
1:08:07And whilst Cortex,
1:08:09Cortex definitely has technology roots in it,
1:08:13it's about a lot more than that.
1:08:15It is that we hope that people don't,
1:08:18like I don't want people to think of this as like an advice
1:08:22or productivity podcast.
1:08:23- Yeah, because it isn't.
1:08:24but that people come to, because it isn't,
1:08:26but people can come to this show and take parts of it
1:08:30to apply to their working lives, right?
1:08:32Which is, I mean, I know that we're really like
1:08:34on a line with that one, but that's the way we see it.
1:08:37We are not here to give you advice,
1:08:39but we hope that by coming to this show,
1:08:41you may pick up something you can apply to your own lives,
1:08:44right, which is like it's a different thing.
1:08:46- Yeah, the way I always think about it is,
1:08:49you know, it's a thing that I always felt myself looking for
1:08:54and appreciate, which is you get to hear people
1:08:58talk about the way they think about stuff
1:09:00or how they approach different kinds of problems
1:09:02in a very broad way.
1:09:04And it's useful just to be able to hear that
1:09:07because you're not always in an environment
1:09:10where that sort of conversation is naturally around you.
1:09:13So that is the role of GORE-TEX.
1:09:16Because of that, it's a more personal show
1:09:19where the audience has gotten to know you
1:09:22much more as a person.
1:09:24But it is not a show where I'm gonna try an Android phone
1:09:28with you for a month.
1:09:30- No one will do that.
1:09:31- No way.
1:09:32- I've tried it.
1:09:32(laughing)
1:09:33No one will do it.
1:09:34No one will let me talk about folding phones.
1:09:36No one's gonna let me try out Android phones.
1:09:39But that's a whole other thing of the show.
1:09:41In an episode in the not too distant future,
1:09:45I'm gonna switch to Android for a week
1:09:47and just see what happens.
1:09:48- Have fun with that.
1:09:49- I'm gonna switch to Windows for a week,
1:09:51see what happens.
1:09:52These are the types of things that we're gonna do,
1:09:55as well as talking about what is going on
1:09:57in technology now.
1:09:59We're also gonna look at older products,
1:10:01we're gonna look at like general operating systems.
1:10:04There is going to be an episode
1:10:05where I'm gonna convince Austin to try out task managers
1:10:08'cause he doesn't have one and I don't understand.
1:10:10So-- - Oh my God.
1:10:11- Yep, yep. - Austin, Austin,
1:10:13what are you doing, man?
1:10:15OmniFocus has time zone support coming out,
1:10:18like now's a good time, you know, get like, Jesus Christ.
1:10:21- Well, you could just use the app
1:10:22already has it, which is Todoist, the greatest to-do manager. But I will say he's very receptive
1:10:28to this episode, as of quite recently was asking that we bump it up in our episode planning.
1:10:33He needs it.
1:10:34Good, good. That makes me nervous to hear when someone doesn't have a system. Like,
1:10:39even if they have the like retro Snell style, "Oh, I just have a calendar," like whatever,
1:10:43you need something. Austin, task managers, that should be episode three, not episode
1:10:48whatever you're planning on.
1:10:49So I'm really just genuinely very excited about this project.
1:10:55It is also going to change a lot of my work requirements, which I'm intrigued about.
1:11:01Tools that are cross-platform were becoming more and more needed by me.
1:11:06Yeah, I was going to say, maybe don't switch to Windows during Cortex week.
1:11:12I know that Cortex week is always your easy week, but still, I'd rather not have Cortex
1:11:17be Windows week.
1:11:18- Well, I will also say, even in a switch to Windows,
1:11:22it will be for what I do on my iPad.
1:11:25- Right, okay.
1:11:25- Right, I'm not keen on disrupting the recording workflow.
1:11:30That's a whole thing where it's like,
1:11:33I'm not gonna take risks on that one,
1:11:35I think, for the time being.
1:11:37But yeah, I'm just so excited for what this project
1:11:42could end up being.
1:11:43I'm really pleased with how it's begun,
1:11:46And I really hope that people, you know, I would say if you haven't heard the show now,
1:11:51probably start with episode two because episode one, if you haven't heard it, features a lot
1:11:56of information you now already know.
1:11:58So yeah, just start with episode two.
1:12:00If you like it, you can go back and we will have a show, I think, pretty much every two
1:12:04weeks.
1:12:05We have a lot of really cool plans for the show and I cannot wait to see where it ends
1:12:12up going.
1:12:13So I really, really hope that people check it out.
1:12:15relay.fm/testdrivers but you can find it in Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocketcast, everywhere
1:12:20you get podcasts you can find it. So go check it out.
1:12:22Put a link to episode 2 in our show notes so that people can just click straight to
1:12:26there and get to listen.
1:12:28Yes, I will. So please go give it a try, especially, especially, if you are one of the people that's
1:12:32like "I wish Myke would talk about Android, you know, I wish I'd hear about Android or
1:12:36Windows on this show." Well I've now made the show for you. You just go there and you'll
1:12:40get it.
1:12:41- Put those comments because your Android needs
1:12:44can be satiated.
1:12:45Not by me though, by Myke.
1:12:47- Not by you, not by you.
1:12:48Not yet anyway, no, no, never.
1:12:51It's not happening.
1:12:53This episode of Cortex is brought to you by ExpressVPN.
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1:14:00[BEEP]
1:14:01Big news time.
1:14:02- Okay. - I have even more big news.
1:14:03- That wasn't the big news? - Well, that's big news, but I have new big news.
1:14:06- I was gonna say, that's pretty big news.
1:14:07But you already knew that news. I have news for you that you don't know a lot about.
1:14:12Okay, tell me, tell me.
1:14:13I have got an office.
1:14:15*sigh*
1:14:16That's my sigh of... envy. That's what that sigh was.
1:14:20Mega studio, baby.
1:14:21Tell me about your office.
1:14:22What's happening? That's the name. Mega studio.
1:14:25Mega studio?
1:14:26'Cause it's more than an office, great. It's massive. It's huge. It's...
1:14:30Oh, you mean studio, like, recording studio.
1:14:34You don't mean studio like a tiny room that also has the toilet in it where the desk is.
1:14:40Okay, so it's the opposite of that kind of studio.
1:14:43So this place is just a big room.
1:14:46It is 630 square feet, this office.
1:14:51That seems pretty big.
1:14:52It's pretty big.
1:14:53It's nearly the square footage of my apartment.
1:14:56It's what we're looking at here.
1:14:59Much bigger than I need.
1:15:01It's maybe too big, but it gives me room to grow in.
1:15:04Basically it's like the exact type of arrangement that I was looking for.
1:15:08It's a...
1:15:09I haven't bought, it's a rental agreement, it's a lease that we signed, and it's for
1:15:14a couple of years, which is exactly what I wanted.
1:15:16I didn't want to do like one year, I wanted to do multiple years.
1:15:20I've sent you a picture, I will put some pictures in the show notes of me standing in the corner
1:15:24of Mega Studio in its empty state.
1:15:27Oh wow, that's great!
1:15:28Jeez, that looks really big.
1:15:30Great, it's very big.
1:15:31I could have like a soundproof working space in this, like you've got room to spare.
1:15:36I do have room to spare.
1:15:37We can, I will tell you about all my room to spare.
1:15:41It's on the like very upper limit of my budget.
1:15:45It's about the maximum that I would want to go, but I'm pretty happy that it's like owned
1:15:49by a large company and not by an individual.
1:15:52Like it's kind of a really like best of both worlds type situation because whilst it's
1:15:58owned by a large company, it isn't like one of these co-working space companies, because
1:16:05we can do whatever we want to the space, but we just have to return it to its original
1:16:11setting when we leave.
1:16:13So, if we wanna drill holes in the wall, if we wanna paint it, we can do whatever we want,
1:16:19but when we leave, it just has to be painted all white and clean and nothing left in it.
1:16:25Which is like, yeah, that's perfect, that's what I want.
1:16:27That is perfect. That's exactly what you want.
1:16:31It's all brick walls, there's no glass walls.
1:16:33Right?
1:16:34Glass walls, they don't let you drill holes in those glass walls to put up stuff that you want.
1:16:38That's not an option.
1:16:39So yeah, brick walls, much better for drilling holes than glass walls, speaking from experience.
1:16:44Yeah, I have lots of keys now.
1:16:46So like a big keyboard, I have lots of keys on my key ring.
1:16:49There's a lot of keys.
1:16:52You sound excited by that.
1:16:53I'm not excited by that.
1:16:54The keys are the worst.
1:16:55I hate it. I have to carry two sets of keys on one key ring. My home keys and my office keys.
1:17:01Three keys and a key fob is what I have to carry around me all the time now.
1:17:06The keys that you have to have, can you replace those with an electronic key or are they
1:17:11public space kind of keys that you pass through?
1:17:14Two of them are public space things.
1:17:15But that's one thing I'm not really allowed to change.
1:17:20Because that is technically owned by the company.
1:17:23they own the building and that's the door, like we can't change the door because the door has all
1:17:28like the gotta be fire safe right like all those kinds of rules right so it's gotta you know fire
1:17:34safety but i don't want to carry a key. Fire safety, shmaaya shmaifty. Yeah. You don't care
1:17:41about airplane safety, don't care about fire safety, you just live on the edge. My convenience
1:17:47above everything that's that's how it goes. But i said expensive like the expensive thing is the
1:17:53the creeping costs?
1:17:54- Yes.
1:17:56- So that's where it gets you, right?
1:17:58- That is where they get you, yes.
1:18:00- You know, like they have the costs
1:18:01that they tell you the rent is every month
1:18:03and you're like, "Ooh, that's expensive."
1:18:05But then of course, nobody tells you,
1:18:07like nobody ever tells you anything in this country
1:18:10when you're a business, including the VAT price.
1:18:13- Yeah.
1:18:14- And it drives me mad.
1:18:15So VAT is like a government mandated tax, it's called.
1:18:19- Value added tax.
1:18:20- And at the moment it's 20%.
1:18:22and that tax is included in everything that you buy in this country, right?
1:18:26Like, if you buy something, VAT is on top.
1:18:29If you're a business, you can be VAT registered,
1:18:32and if you pay VAT, you can also claim back VAT.
1:18:36It is a system that I will never understand, right?
1:18:39I know, I've never understood the reasoning for this.
1:18:40If I don't have to pay the VAT, why do you charge me the VAT?
1:18:45Because I'm just gonna get it back from the government later on,
1:18:48so like, what's the point?
1:18:49It feels like someone has a job because of this.
1:18:52They're like, "What if I change this system, then I lose my job?"
1:18:56But sometimes, I don't know if you've ever come across this,
1:18:58you can give your VAT number to a company and they don't charge you the VAT.
1:19:01So why do I ever have to pay the VAT? I don't understand.
1:19:05Someone will try to explain this to me, no one will ever make it make sense to me.
1:19:09My accountant has tried many times and failed.
1:19:11I know, I've given up on this entirely as well.
1:19:14But the thing for foreign listeners to understand is
1:19:17one of the ways this really catches you if you're looking for office rent because I've come across the same thing of the prices are listed without VAT
1:19:25but it's so unusual for the UK because you just never think about the VAT tax because it's just part of the price in every normal day experiences
1:19:35All consumer purchases, the only price you see is with the VAT included
1:19:41This isn't like, I know that some sales taxes in America is a different thing, where you see the price without the tax and they add the tax on, but that does not happen here.
1:19:48Because VAT is like a given. Everything has VAT added onto it. So you forget.
1:19:54Yeah, you just forget that this is even a thing that exists, except when you remember how pleasing it is to see a price that is listed as £5 and you can hand someone a £10 note and get a £5 note back.
1:20:05Like the incorporation of the tax allows there
1:20:07to be nicer numbers in an easy way
1:20:09that like adding sales tax on later doesn't allow.
1:20:12But it does mean that you forget that it even exists
1:20:17until you start trying to budget for an office
1:20:20and realize you're off by a 20% margin
1:20:22because in this one case, it's not listed.
1:20:26Yeah, it's infuriating.
1:20:27- Which is, you know, 20%, that's a lot of percent.
1:20:30- Yeah, it's, yeah, 20%, it is a lot of percent.
1:20:33- Yep, especially in when office space costs you, right?
1:20:36Like, it's a lot of money.
1:20:38And then everyone wants a deposit, you know?
1:20:41And it's like, you're gonna pay us
1:20:42three months rent up front.
1:20:45And this is one of those things
1:20:46where it's like a business thing,
1:20:47where I was like, haha, you got me.
1:20:49Where it's like, first year's rent is this amount,
1:20:51second year it goes up by 5%, and it's like, okay, fine.
1:20:54Oh, but the deposit is based on the second year's rent.
1:20:58I'm like, all right, you got me, right?
1:21:00It's just like, there's no reason to do this
1:21:02other than the fact that you want more money. And I treat a deposit like this as money that
1:21:07is gone, and if I get it back at the end, that will be a bonus. But that money has left
1:21:12forever.
1:21:13Yes, yeah. That is psychologically the best way to deal with a deposit.
1:21:18Business internet, very expensive. It is three times more expensive than my home internet
1:21:25and a lot slower.
1:21:26I was gonna say, that's because it's three times faster, right?
1:21:29No, no, no.
1:21:31But what they tell me is,
1:21:32oh, there's a 24/7 support line, awesome.
1:21:35But unfortunately, this is the only downside for me
1:21:38in this building is I can only use the internet service
1:21:42provided that they have made the deal with.
1:21:44- Right.
1:21:45- So, and the business internet company needs a deposit.
1:21:48Why?
1:21:49- Yeah, they have to pre-purchase your internet.
1:21:51I think that's what it is.
1:21:52- I guess that's how it works, yeah, sure.
1:21:54- It certainly has nothing to do with the fact
1:21:56that they can extract a deposit
1:21:57because they're the only ones that you can deal with.
1:22:00- And what else are you gonna do?
1:22:01- Yeah, we have a deposit that's five times
1:22:04the length of your contract pay in advance deposit.
1:22:07That's what they do.
1:22:08The thing that you have to worry about here, Myke,
1:22:10because I feel your pain,
1:22:12I feel your pain so deeply with these creeping costs.
1:22:16And as listeners know, I gave up my glass office
1:22:21in advance of last summer.
1:22:22I had a lot of reasons to do it,
1:22:25But one of the reasons was this, this creeping cost effect where
1:22:30even after you've moved in, I started finding these situations where it's
1:22:34like, well, we've got you now.
1:22:37And so like, Oh, there's an additional service cost for this thing.
1:22:41And there were just a number of little like added things here and there.
1:22:47And you're like, God damn it.
1:22:49You know, if I'd known all of these costs in advance, I would've, I would've thought
1:22:53about how long I'm going to sign up for this in a very different way.
1:22:57And it's just, it's a frustrating situation that's very different from a
1:23:02residential rent situation, because I think it's very easy to impose these
1:23:09kinds of creeping costs on a business.
1:23:12Partly because of the way business taxes are done and the way that a person has
1:23:16to think about business expenses, but also because the landlord knows you're renting
1:23:22office because presumably the business is profitable enough to pay you and your salary
1:23:29is at least somewhat flexible. So like there's just this way in business real estate that
1:23:35the wrench can be turned in this slow and frustrating way and I was feeling that a lot
1:23:41with my previous glass cube and I was like, "Forget this. This is too much. I'm out
1:23:46of here. Goodbye."
1:23:48Yeah, you were in a slightly different situation to me though, where like I feel confident in mind because there kind of isn't really anything they can do.
1:23:57I feel like, I mean, I may be proved wrong but...
1:23:59Yeah, we'll check in in a year.
1:24:01We'll check in, yeah.
1:24:02If there's a door fee or anything.
1:24:04Yeah, sure.
1:24:04But yeah, it is like all of these things do just make it very frustrating because with the business you feel like, okay, I want the budget, I want to know how much it costs.
1:24:14You know what I would like the most? I'd like to know all this information up front when I'm trying to make a decision,
1:24:18but it's fundamentally impossible to know that stuff up front.
1:24:22But I'm really glad that you've been able to front up the internet deposits and whatever other deposits you need.
1:24:29And even though you're tiny and often the vast distance of the space that you have, you look so happy.
1:24:37Well, because this was also after I'd been through my like, "Oh my god, I can't afford this phase."
1:24:42and then it took some work,
1:24:45but I was able to shore up the savings.
1:24:48So I've been saving for this kind of thing for a long time.
1:24:52And I was able to do some different budgeting
1:24:56and work out, all right, can I afford this?
1:24:58How long can I afford this for?
1:25:00And I felt pretty good.
1:25:01I had a meeting with my accountant.
1:25:03I felt good about it.
1:25:05And I have made sure that I have a six month break
1:25:09my lease and I have enough savings for those six months. So if all else fails, right, like
1:25:16they are there and I can pay the rent that I have to contractually pay if something terrible
1:25:21happens then I have to leave, right. So like I'm just going to keep that locked away forever
1:25:25that's going to stay in my bank account, right. So that's just there. And then I also had
1:25:30to set aside a budget to furnish it because it's completely empty and it's one big room
1:25:36which means it's very echoey.
1:25:39I am not there now, no,
1:25:41because it is completely impossible
1:25:45to record audio in there right now,
1:25:47because it's just one big echo chamber.
1:25:50- I'd like to hear a snap test in that room, right,
1:25:53where you're testing for audio,
1:25:55you snap your fingers and you see how long it takes
1:25:57for the echoes to die down.
1:25:58- It's getting better.
1:25:59It's getting better because we have started furnishing.
1:26:03- Okay.
1:26:04- But it's like, I have to kind of,
1:26:05I can't move into the studio until we have finished furnishing.
1:26:09Right.
1:26:10Because until we have finished furnishing,
1:26:12I won't be able to work out how much more soundproofing we need to do.
1:26:16Oh, right, yes, right, right.
1:26:17Because you just want to see what's the state of things with all of the furniture in there.
1:26:23If I can ask you a question though, Myke, because in this photo of you looking very happy with your arms outstretched,
1:26:29you have little squares and rectangles marked out on the floor.
1:26:32Is that from you?
1:26:33Is that like your plan for what stuff is?
1:26:36- Mm-hmm, we have done that.
1:26:37- Okay, so are you planning to subdivide
1:26:42the office into different rooms?
1:26:45- No. - Okay.
1:26:46So it is still going to be one big open space.
1:26:49- One big open space, but with different stations.
1:26:52- Right, right.
1:26:53That is gonna make the soundproofing
1:26:55much more difficult though,
1:26:57if you're gonna keep it as a big space.
1:26:59- Yes, okay.
1:27:00So the only part that I have to soundproof,
1:27:03like really soundproof and reduce echo
1:27:05is what I'm calling the recording station.
1:27:08So at the moment, like I have ordered
1:27:11these soundproof panels that will go behind my desk,
1:27:15like these big kind of freestanding panels.
1:27:17I've ordered a bunch of foam to go on the walls.
1:27:20Then with all of the furniture that we're buying,
1:27:23which is like multiple desks, some soft furnishings, rugs,
1:27:26all that kind of stuff, I'm hoping that will be enough.
1:27:30If it isn't, we'll keep trying to add different soundproofing things.
1:27:36Maybe we would put something over the top of the desk as well, and I feel like we could probably get it done.
1:27:42If none of that works, I'm gonna get a booth. Just put it in there.
1:27:46Right, yeah, that makes sense. That's kind of what I was wondering, is if you're gonna get an actual booth booth.
1:27:52I don't want to do that, because I don't want to feel like I'm trapping myself in this tiny little prison every time I'm recording.
1:27:58But that is like the worst comes to worst situation
1:28:01But I am also very confident that we can do this because there are many youtubers with much larger spaces that can do it
1:28:08Okay
1:28:09So like I'm confident it can be done with like enough foam and furniture and soft furnishings in that
1:28:17Environment I will ask if any cortexes have tips for soundproofing large environments. Please put them in the reddit thread
1:28:25I would love to see it, but I do feel like I
1:28:27I can get what I need with the stuff that's available
1:28:32because we currently have just got some soft furnishings
1:28:36and a couple of pieces of furniture in there
1:28:38and the echo is decreasing already a lot
1:28:41from when it was just completely empty.
1:28:43So considering how much better it is
1:28:46and how little we have in there right now,
1:28:48I'm feeling confident that we can get it
1:28:50to a place that we want it to be.
1:28:52But it is priority number one, right?
1:28:56Well, okay, it's the highest priority,
1:28:58but it is not the first thing to be done
1:29:00because we have to furnish the whole thing.
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1:30:25I think for me to talk about the furniture that we're getting, I will tell you the plan
1:30:29for what Mega Studio is going to be because you will see in the image masking tape on
1:30:33the ground.
1:30:34Right.
1:30:35The masking tape is kind of delineating the stations in the office.
1:30:40So Idina taking the photo is standing in the recording station, which is like the far corner.
1:30:45I wanted to do it in a corner because I figured that would allow me the maximum amount of
1:30:50foam to go on the walls.
1:30:52- Is the end that you're standing in,
1:30:55is the entrance off to the side there?
1:30:57Or is the entrance where, okay.
1:30:59- The entrance is off to the side of where I'm standing.
1:31:02So there is the recording station.
1:31:04There's also kind of like this little angle to the wall.
1:31:08So like, you know if you have like a chimney breast,
1:31:11the wall comes out for a moment.
1:31:13- I don't know what a chimney breast is.
1:31:15Do you mean just a chimney that goes up the wall?
1:31:17- Yeah, sure.
1:31:18It's called a chimney breast.
1:31:20when it comes on the wall and it makes the indentation on the wall.
1:31:22That's not real. You're messing with me.
1:31:24I'm not.
1:31:26Oh, no you're totally right. That's a thing.
1:31:28I know it's a thing.
1:31:30So there's something like that.
1:31:32There isn't a fireplace in our office.
1:31:35I kind of wish there was. It would be amazing.
1:31:37And I figured that's where they've got that kind of thing in front of me.
1:31:42So I feel like I'm going to foam all of that up
1:31:45and I'm hoping that enough angles with foam will trap the sound.
1:31:49Who knows how it works? We'll find out.
1:31:51So that's that. I then have...
1:31:53That's not going to be my desk, though.
1:31:55So this is a different thing for me. I'm going to have
1:31:57a desk where I record,
1:31:59and then a desk where I edit
1:32:01and do my regular work.
1:32:03Yeah, that's great. I'm always
1:32:05such a big advocate of separate
1:32:07spaces if you can, and you have
1:32:09a lot of space in which to subdivide
1:32:11separate spaces. So it's like, I have a lot of space,
1:32:13I've seen a bunch of people, I've seen you do it,
1:32:15I've seen Austin do it, like having these like separate
1:32:17spaces. Yeah, seems really good. And also, like if I'm soundproofing it all so much,
1:32:23I don't want to be sitting there all the time on my own. I feel like I'm on my own in there,
1:32:27like in this tiny little room and I have this huge studio. So like, I want to be able to
1:32:31break out of it when I'm not recording. So this is also going to be super different because
1:32:36this is going to be a very different working environment. I've ordered a desk for this
1:32:40station, which has two VESA arms. Oh, for the workstation? For the recording station.
1:32:45Oh, for the record? Okay. So it's a standing desk with two VESA arms so you can get the microphone at the right height?
1:32:50Nope. It is a standing desk, but that's not why I've done that.
1:32:54Oh, that's not why. Okay.
1:32:55So I have one VESA arm, has a laptop mount on it, and one VESA arm is for a monitor because my plan is I will be recording from a laptop.
1:33:04Why? That seems like a strange place to introduce even the possibility of less reliability.
1:33:11Well, I can't record and edit on the same machine, right?
1:33:15if I have two desks.
1:33:17At least not in a way that I want to do it,
1:33:19because that's running a lot of cables and I just don't want to do that.
1:33:22But I always have to have a laptop for when I travel and record.
1:33:26So it will be the same laptop.
1:33:28Oh, so you're optimizing for simplicity and for travel with your recording setup.
1:33:34Is that what you're doing? That's what that sounds like.
1:33:37Yeah, with the same gear that I used when I'm in the studio.
1:33:40Yes.
1:33:40Right.
1:33:41Okay.
1:33:41Right.
1:33:42But yeah, so you're, but you're optimizing for, for traveling and simplicity with a laptop for recording.
1:33:47Okay.
1:33:47Yeah.
1:33:48No, that makes sense.
1:33:48I guess that makes sense.
1:33:49So I'm going to be using that same laptop because I also just want like a super simple setup, right?
1:33:54Like as in like that is just a system.
1:33:56Simplicity is very valuable.
1:33:57Yeah.
1:33:57We all know that.
1:33:58Yeah.
1:33:58So that's why we get standing desks instead.
1:34:00So basically this laptop is just set up for recording and that's what I will use when I'm recording shows.
1:34:06Because really recording a podcast, it takes nothing.
1:34:09like from a processing power, it doesn't need a lot of screen space, like that thing will just be
1:34:14off on the side doing its thing and then I'm going to have a monitor that it will be attached to
1:34:19where I can have show notes and stuff. So that and that's I'm going to have a much smaller desk than
1:34:23the one that I currently have there and that's why I got the VESA mounts so I could have the
1:34:27desk space underneath and that the computer wouldn't take up any space on the desk.
1:34:32So that's going to be the recording station. Then my editing station is where my iMac Pro will be,
1:34:38the machine I'm currently speaking to you on now.
1:34:41And that will be for when I'm editing,
1:34:42and maybe for doing some types of work,
1:34:45I will have that there.
1:34:46It's like that would be my main desk.
1:34:48And I do know I have her own station
1:34:50and work area there as well.
1:34:52So we're getting her a new desk,
1:34:54so she will be able to do her work from the studio,
1:34:57because this is one of the other reasons
1:34:59that we wanna get a space outside of home,
1:35:02because I have this office, she needs space to work too.
1:35:05And at the moment, it's just working like basically
1:35:08on our dining table, which we both find frustrating.
1:35:12She needs space to work also, but because she doesn't have podcast recording, it can
1:35:18be done in theory from anywhere, but that means it's being done everywhere, and we want
1:35:22to get work out of our home now.
1:35:25B: Again, I'm with you so strongly on this, and doubly so as a couple.
1:35:31You don't want to have just one environment that's everything, including all of your work.
1:35:38So yeah, like getting getting work out of your house, if you can, for the two of you
1:35:43is such a win.
1:35:44Yeah, and this is one of the reasons we wanted a big space is because she deserves to have
1:35:47her own area as well.
1:35:49But I also didn't want it to be us to be like just tripping over each other all the time.
1:35:53So yeah, being able to get something big allows us to stretch out a bit.
1:35:57I'm gonna have a secondary desk, which will be like a hot desk for visitors,
1:36:01because I love space if people want to come over.
1:36:04So we'll have like a monitor and stuff there, but this is also what I will use as my iPad writing desk, I think.
1:36:10Ah, okay.
1:36:11Right, so that's that thing I've been talking about for a long time.
1:36:14Right, you're gonna have like a monitor that guests can plug into?
1:36:17Yep.
1:36:17That's a great idea. That's a really good idea.
1:36:19Like a monitor and like a Thunderbolt dock, so I can plug my iPad into it,
1:36:23but then people can also bring their own device and just plug into it and they're good to go.
1:36:27And that's the hot desk if you're in like a corporate environment, that just means there's a cable and you plug into it.
1:36:32The area that I'm most excited about is the lounge area.
1:36:36Which will also be a working area for me because I very frequently work on the sofa as well as working at a desk.
1:36:43So I wanted to recreate something like that in the office.
1:36:46So I've got a really nice chair and the sofa.
1:36:49Is this lounge area visible on the current rectangle pattern that I'm looking at?
1:36:53The area that I am standing in?
1:36:55That's the lounge area.
1:36:58Okay, good.
1:36:59Good.
1:37:00I feel like the lounge area needs to be as far away from all the other areas as possible.
1:37:04Exactly, so I'm not constantly being called to the lounge.
1:37:07Yeah, and like I know this sounds dumb, but I don't think it is.
1:37:12I feel like you need some kind of visual screen a little bit to just separate the lounge area
1:37:19Yes, we were thinking about doing that.
1:37:20Just visually?
1:37:21Yeah, like some plants or a little wall for soundproofing or something, but I think it's
1:37:27really important to be like, this space is separate.
1:37:30Let me run this one by you.
1:37:31Not only will they look different visually, we have different rugs for each area.
1:37:35Oh, perfect.
1:37:36Great.
1:37:37I'll show you those.
1:37:38I'll show you those in just a second.
1:37:39I have those two.
1:37:40And then also I want a gaming setup, but this will probably be the lounge area.
1:37:44But what I'm not sure about yet is where the PC will go.
1:37:48That's the part that I'm not sure about yet.
1:37:50Because the gaming PC could actually very easily live at the hot desk.
1:37:54Because the original idea always was for me to set up my second desk in my office because
1:37:59it's effectively just a Thunderbolt dock with a Thunderbolt cable can be plugged into anything.
1:38:04I haven't worked out where the gaming PC is going to go yet.
1:38:07I don't love the gaming PC at the hot desk if you're also going to use the hot desk as
1:38:12an iPad writing desk.
1:38:13I don't like that.
1:38:14It's pollution.
1:38:15I'm just not sure.
1:38:16into this yet like because I want to get a nice TV for the lounge area like how well PCs and TVs
1:38:24work together. Yeah I think but I think like you're crazy if you you have a lot of space but
1:38:29I don't think you have enough space to have a separate gaming area that's not also the lounge
1:38:35area. I mean just like physically sure you could do it but I think it's more like the psychological
1:38:41and distance from everything else. I really think the lounge area should feel a bit quarantined
1:38:48from other things. And even just having the gaming PC there pollutes that a little bit.
1:38:53I don't like that. As my suggestion anyway. But I'm a little aware that I'm a little
1:38:59bit far on the end of the spectrum of trying to have distinctness wherever possible.
1:39:05I definitely want it, but it's really just a technical thing because I haven't worked out yet.
1:39:10It's like, if I get like a 50 inch TV, can my gaming PC drive it?
1:39:14I just don't know the answer. I haven't looked into it.
1:39:16I mean, the answer is probably depending on the TV that I buy, but I haven't looked into it yet.
1:39:21So this is where we are so far.
1:39:24So we signed the lease like a week and a bit ago, like a week ago.
1:39:28So far we have collected the keys. We visited IKEA, of course.
1:39:32Of course.
1:39:33Of course. We bought at IKEA a small desk and some folding chairs so we could have something to sit and wait on with all of the inevitable deliveries that would be coming our way.
1:39:43We made our first IKEA order. The IKEA order has arrived already. Only one item missing. Every IKEA order has an amount of items missing and we only had one.
1:39:58Right, that's pretty good.
1:39:59Yep, and in that included some rugs and stuff, and I'm pretty happy with the way that some
1:40:06of that stuff started to come together already.
1:40:08The lounge area rug, and a beautiful lamp that I fell in love with, and a TV cabinet.
1:40:15We built a kallax.
1:40:17You know those things, right?
1:40:20I don't know what a kallax is.
1:40:21It is like the standard IKEA storage system.
1:40:26Oh, okay.
1:40:27Yeah, yeah.
1:40:28- Yeah, yeah, I know that, yeah.
1:40:29- Yep. - Okay.
1:40:30I'm not really up on my exact names
1:40:33for all the different things in IKEA.
1:40:34- That just means you haven't shopped to IKEA enough,
1:40:37so bravo to you, I guess,
1:40:39for not having to go through that.
1:40:41- It's always a weird mix of very fun,
1:40:44but also super stressful.
1:40:46That's what every trip to IKEA is, like,
1:40:49oh, all of these pieces are delightful,
1:40:51but also this is incredibly stressful.
1:40:53- And I ordered a alarm system.
1:40:57- Okay.
1:40:57the smart home internet of things type alarm system.
1:41:04Not one of these ones installed by a big professional, but one that's just like, "Oh, there's some
1:41:08cameras you can set up and some door sensors and stuff like that."
1:41:11So I wanted to be able to control it myself.
1:41:13It's good to have something that's on a separate layer from whatever the building itself provides.
1:41:18And I want to do a bunch of smart homey stuff in the office.
1:41:22We have those big overhead lights and I do not want to use those, so the plan is get
1:41:27a bunch of other lamps and stuff that can hopefully fill the room.
1:41:31And I want to go all hue with that stuff, which means we have to decide a smart home
1:41:37system, right?
1:41:38Yes.
1:41:39Like a voices system.
1:41:40Going all Amazon Echo in the Mega Studio.
1:41:43Interesting.
1:41:44Interesting.
1:41:45What's the reasoning for that?
1:41:46It is better, that stuff.
1:41:49Just the home integration stuff is better.
1:41:50Yes.
1:41:51Siri and HomeKit to be faster, but the Amazon Echo ties into more services more easily.
1:42:01So we've decided that that's what we're going to go for.
1:42:04And also I observed the usage patterns in our home, and Adina uses the Echo more than
1:42:09the HomePod.
1:42:10So I figured that let's go with what we're both used to, and we went with that.
1:42:15The alarm system that we use ties into it so I can arm it from the Amazon Echo just
1:42:20by my voice. It ties into so many other services really easily that we just decided to go with
1:42:27that. And also Amazon were doing a deal on like you could get two of their Echo Plus
1:42:33and this like subwoofer thing for the price of a HomePod.
1:42:37Well yeah, HomePods are not cheap. Apple's not helping themselves there with that.
1:42:42No. So but it's like we don't listen to a ton of music typically, but I now have a system
1:42:46that can do good music in the office because it comes with like this subwoofer and the
1:42:51reviews were good and but really like I just wanted to get two echoes for a good price.
1:42:56Right. I don't know if this is the case. This is just my
1:42:59anecdotal experience but especially in a place where you're going to be recording,
1:43:04I have rarely found when I'm in homes that have echoes that the echo is falsely triggered and
1:43:12starts to talk to you. Yes, this is a big part of it.
1:43:15Yeah, which is a real danger of, so like my office at home where I'm recording to you right now,
1:43:22I have a HomePod that I use to play thunder sounds on, right, because it's always necessary.
1:43:27But I went into the settings and did the thing where I say like, "Don't ever listen to me." Like
1:43:32if I'm not physically touching this HomePod, it should never be listening. And that's entirely
1:43:39because of false triggers while recording.
1:43:43And the HomePods are real chatty
1:43:45about those false recordings.
1:43:46Like, "Hmm, what were you saying?
1:43:49Oh, I didn't quite catch that."
1:43:50It's like, "No, no, no.
1:43:51That's not what you need when you're recording."
1:43:53So I wasn't sure if your experience with the Amazon Echo
1:43:57is that they're just triggered less,
1:43:59but that's the way it seems to me anyway.
1:44:02- Oh, definitely.
1:44:02Like we have both a HomePod and Echo
1:44:07within earshot of each other.
1:44:09And every, like it feels like at least once a day,
1:44:11the HomePod's like, hmm?
1:44:13- Yeah.
1:44:14- But the Echo never gets set off.
1:44:16- Yeah.
1:44:17- Like, okay, not never, it does happen, but way less.
1:44:20Like I would say to a factor of five is the difference
1:44:24of these two things going off together.
1:44:26But like the Echo right now,
1:44:28it's just, it ties into way more services.
1:44:31And so it just made, it felt like the logical
1:44:34choice for us, for everything that we wanna have
1:44:38going on in the studio.
1:44:40- Oh, this is great though.
1:44:41This is really exciting.
1:44:42Like all the stuff you already have, the plans,
1:44:45I'm really excited for your office.
1:44:50And like the space is huge.
1:44:52I'm very curious to see it when you feel like
1:44:56it's reached operational mode
1:44:59and like to see what you've done with the whole thing.
1:45:01- It's gonna take a lot of work.
1:45:03So like, you know, we're there every morning,
1:45:07crack of dawn at the moment,
1:45:08because we have deliveries coming, right?
1:45:11And we have to be there to accept the deliveries.
1:45:14So that's like, when I talk about why I'm so tired,
1:45:17it's that plus like building all this furniture
1:45:21and it's just like a whole big thing, right?
1:45:25- Oh yeah, yeah, and it's a big psychological deal
1:45:29moving into a new space like this.
1:45:31So yeah, it's like, it is a tiring sort of thing to do.
1:45:35- Yeah.
1:45:36- You know, I'm looking at your pictures.
1:45:37I got immediately distracted by the fact that we have the same little toolkit from IKEA, I guess?
1:45:41Everyone has the IKEA toolkit.
1:45:43The little orange one.
1:45:43Yeah.
1:45:44It's like, I bought that, I don't know how many years ago, but I have it.
1:45:48I see all your deliveries.
1:45:50Like, yeah, I like these little photos.
1:45:51I see the-
1:45:52They see the Kalax?
1:45:53The big, grey thing?
1:45:54I was gonna say, I forgot the name for it, but yes, I see the Kalax
1:45:57on top of your very fancy rug over there.
1:46:00Yeah, IKEA rug.
1:46:01So I like it.
1:46:02I like it a lot.
1:46:03And I do think the rugs are really good for subtle psychological reminders of the separation of the spaces.
1:46:10So yeah, I like this.
1:46:12So I have the red rug, me and Idina are at our desks, we have green versions of that red rug.
1:46:18And then the lounge area has a high shag rug, right?
1:46:23It feels really soft.
1:46:25And then also the sofa's gonna be there, and we're thinking about getting a screen anyway to go behind the sofa.
1:46:33So people can't see in so well because we're not allowed to cover the window in case there's a fire.
1:46:42So everything's to do with fires apparently.
1:46:44I would love to be moved in in March. That's the goal.
1:46:49I mean our sofa won't arrive until the end of March because sofas take a long time.
1:46:54Yeah it's always weird how long sofas take. I don't understand.
1:46:57Yeah we bought from a company that makes them. That's why.
1:47:00that you order it, they make it,
1:47:02and then they send it to you.
1:47:03So it's like that's why it takes the time it takes.
1:47:06But the sofa's gonna be, I reckon,
1:47:09is also gonna be one of the largest soft furnishings
1:47:12that we have, but then it's like,
1:47:13there's desks coming, and then we need to then
1:47:16move some stuff.
1:47:18So it's all very, the timing of everything
1:47:21is gonna be really tricky.
1:47:23Because I have to feel confident
1:47:26that the room is soundproofed
1:47:29before we can move.
1:47:30And, but also not all of the furniture will be there.
1:47:37- Yeah, but this, I think this is easy.
1:47:39Like you should think about soundproofing it
1:47:41in absence of the sofa and just go from there.
1:47:45And then the sofa's bonus.
1:47:46- That's kind of where I'm going with it.
1:47:48But then it's like, I've got to wait for these screens,
1:47:51which I ordered and the company has not shipped them yet
1:47:54or given me any kind of update.
1:47:56Like I don't know when they're supposed to be shipping.
1:47:58It said they had them in stock.
1:48:00It's like, we have them in stock, why haven't you shipped it?
1:48:02You know? - Right.
1:48:03- How in stock is it if they're always
1:48:05just sitting there processing?
1:48:07I am getting severe flashbacks to when we bought the house.
1:48:11- Right, yeah.
1:48:13- 'Cause we were also on a lot of time pressure then,
1:48:16because we had to leave my family home
1:48:20because my mom had sold the house.
1:48:22So it's like, wow.
1:48:23- There was a real get out deadline with that one.
1:48:25- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:48:26You gotta go because there's no house for you anymore.
1:48:30So when we owned it, we were just being slow, right,
1:48:32at getting things done, and it was like,
1:48:34whoop, can't be slow anymore.
1:48:35And for me, I know how much money this office costs me
1:48:39every day I'm not in it.
1:48:41Right? - Yes, yes.
1:48:43- I know that.
1:48:44I know that number, because it's very easy
1:48:46to divide the rent by 30.
1:48:47- Yeah, this is the, I need to extract more value
1:48:51out of this space per day than this number, yeah.
1:48:54- And it's also a reason I'm probably
1:48:55going to travel less this year because I can work out how many studio days a plane ticket
1:49:01costs. So you know, but I'm cool with that because one of the reasons I travelled as
1:49:07much as I did is I would look for excuses to travel where I could because I liked the
1:49:12break up in my life, right, like of like mixing stuff up, not being at home so much, going
1:49:17out and doing different things in different environments and I feel like that I'm going
1:49:22get a lot of that out of the studio, you know? It's gonna be really weird to have a commute again.
1:49:26Yeah, how long is your commute going to be?
1:49:29It's between like 20 and 40 minutes depending on the connections,
1:49:33like it's all public transport. Guarantee this is what makes us get a car.
1:49:37Yeah.
1:49:38Because it's 10 minutes in a car.
1:49:40Right, yeah, and even that variance is quite high of 20 minutes if the connections work great,
1:49:4740 minutes if they don't. A 50% variance is difficult to plan for, so 100% this is why
1:49:56you get a car. You're going to have a car as soon as you can with this office, for sure.
1:50:01Oh yeah, but we're in a great area. It's like one of those kinds of areas, it's full of creative
1:50:07stuff. There's lots of little restaurants and things, and I also found a swimming pool within
1:50:13walking distance, which I'm really excited about because that would be lovely to start being able
1:50:18to do again. So yeah, I'm really enthused by this place. It's going to take a lot of work to get it
1:50:27to where we want it to be, but if we're able to move in in late March or early April, that's going
1:50:35to be kind of incredible and it's going to make a big difference to our lives in a lot of ways.
1:50:42It seems kind of funny that I've been searching forever,
1:50:46then I mentioned on this show
1:50:48that I couldn't find anything,
1:50:50and then within a week I'd found something
1:50:52and gone to see it.
1:50:53- No, but that's great.
1:50:55It's such an exciting project.
1:50:57Just like the clay pots,
1:50:59it's also a project where you can very clearly see
1:51:02the physical difference that you're making with the space,
1:51:06assembling IKEA furniture with your bare hands.
1:51:09So yeah, this is a great project in and of itself,
1:51:12But I'm also excited for you that you've found an office space and a place to work outside
1:51:18of the home and I just, I think you're totally going to love it once you move in.
1:51:22I think like the one last thing I wanted to say on it is like, you know, talking about
1:51:25the finance part, it's that, you know, saying it's like at the top end of my budget, which
1:51:28isn't necessarily the best way to go into a thing like this.
1:51:32But this is one of those things where I feel like I'm taking a bet on myself.
1:51:39And I think that every now and then when you run your own business, it's a risky thing
1:51:43to do, but it can be quite a rewarding thing to do.
1:51:47Like 2020 for a lot of reasons I'm hoping is going to be like a really great year.
1:51:52I'm really excited about the test drivers and where that could go.
1:51:55I'm really excited about Cortex brand and where that could go.
1:51:59And Relay FM has started the year off really strong.
1:52:02And so I'm like, there's like a bunch of things going on right now after 2019, right?
1:52:07After like my year of stabilization.
1:52:09I got myself into the position where I was then ready to start moving different
1:52:13things forward.
1:52:14And now I feel like I'm kind of like pushing all the chips in, you know,
1:52:19like, I, I,
1:52:20I feel like I've got this momentum right now where a lot of stuff could go
1:52:25really well this year. And I'm,
1:52:28I genuinely believe that having like this dedicated workspace is also going to
1:52:33help me manage that a lot better. You know,
1:52:36I'm kind of planning at the moment like to have no recording gear at home.
1:52:41I think if you can get to that place that's a good place to be.
1:52:44Because like I thought about like oh I'll have it at home for travel but it's like no no I can just
1:52:49have my travel gear in the office and I take it home the day before I leave or whatever right,
1:52:56to pack it. But it's like it will put into place like way more boundaries in my life
1:53:01whilst also at the same time giving me like when I am working more focus on work because I will be
1:53:09in a working environment right like I feel like bringing that routine back into my life is going
1:53:15to be a big difference maker for me that I'm really excited about after five years of doing
1:53:21what I'm doing but now I feel like I'm at the right stage to be able to
1:53:29"Take that bet on myself that I won't lose money on this."
1:53:34Right, like that's kind of where I'm coming at it
1:53:36from right now, but I have also, I'm not stupid
1:53:41and I have the safety net, right?
1:53:43- Yeah, yeah, that's the way to do it.
1:53:46You wanna take a bet where you don't lose everything
1:53:49if you lose that bet.
1:53:51And I'm with you on this, like you have a number
1:53:53of projects that, like it's a good time for you
1:53:58to have a separate physical place because of what you said
1:54:03and why I've always loved really separated areas
1:54:06is it makes you more serious about work
1:54:11and it makes you more serious about when you're not working,
1:54:15which is what's necessary for long-term health
1:54:20in all areas of your life.
1:54:22I love that even having this office
1:54:25has already made you think about,
1:54:27I don't even need to store my travel podcast gear at home.
1:54:30Like I think that's a great sign.
1:54:32And yeah, I really think it's a good time
1:54:35for you to have a separate physical space
1:54:38and to work on all of the various projects
1:54:42in the mic universe.
1:54:43And this is a good place to do that.