00:00:20 ◼ ► Jason Snow. Hi, Jason Snow. Hi, Myke Hurley. It's good to be here. So I was about to do
00:00:33 ◼ ► comes from Luke. Luke says, "Happy birthday, Jason. What cake did you get?" I will also say,
00:00:39 ◼ ► "Happy birthday, Jason." We should have just bought that last week. Oh, thank you. It was last
00:00:41 ◼ ► week. Uh, I didn't get cake. Sorry, Luke. I don't love cake. Cake's fine. I feel like when it says
00:00:51 ◼ ► "cake" for birthday, cake is, like, not really cake in my mind. You're saying the cake is a lie?
00:00:59 ◼ ► Yes, the cake is a lie. And the truth is, like, what is the typical dessert or thing that you
00:01:06 ◼ ► shared with people for your birthday? Okay, so my lovely wife got me a fancy bottle of beer,
00:01:16 ◼ ► like one of those Belgian bottles with the cork. Ooh. The big, heavy glass Belgian, you know, big
00:01:23 ◼ ► bottle, and hid it in our refrigerator. And I don't know. She said, "I hid it." I said, "Where?"
00:01:30 ◼ ► She said, "I'm not telling you." Which is great. Like, I have literally no idea how she hid it in
00:01:34 ◼ ► the refrigerator. There's a secret door in your fridge. Because it was chilled. And yeah, I don't
00:01:37 ◼ ► know. So I got that. That was a nice birthday beer. And she also got some ice cream from a
00:01:43 ◼ ► local ice cream place. So your cake was beer and ice cream? That's, you know, yes. In fact,
00:01:51 ◼ ► in general, my cake is beer and ice cream. So that's perfect. If you'd like to send in a
00:01:56 ◼ ► question for us to start off the show with, just send out a tweet with the hashtag #snotalk or use
00:02:00 ◼ ► question mark #snotalk in the Relay FM members Discord. I have some follow up. I want to talk
00:02:05 ◼ ► about iPad Mini on a train, which made me think of snakes on a plane. So somebody's got to get
00:02:11 ◼ ► all these iPad Minis off this train. I was thinking like strangers on the train, like a spy thing,
00:02:16 ◼ ► like two iPad Minis meet and do they exchange an airdrop? When you pull into a siding briefly,
00:02:23 ◼ ► is there a surreptitious airdrop with a contact on the outside? And then you move on and no one
00:02:28 ◼ ► knows that it happened? I was on a train for a few hours over the weekend. Okay. I had my iPad
00:02:33 ◼ ► Mini with me and I wanted to just get some work done on it. And I just wanted to observe like a
00:02:38 ◼ ► some a different kind of use case for me with this device that I've been using, you know,
00:02:42 ◼ ► like a kind of traveling thing. Because I can imagine this gave me the idea of like a big chunk
00:02:48 ◼ ► of time in a seat, little table, you know, so like, insert your method of travel here could
00:02:53 ◼ ► also be equally for a plane, maybe even a boat. So obviously, many of the advantages of the iPad
00:02:59 ◼ ► Mini carry over really compact, right? So very nice and easy for the reading portions of what
00:03:06 ◼ ► I was doing and you know, all of that kind of stuff. And it's very easy to get work done on it,
00:03:11 ◼ ► because it is an iPad that runs iPadOS 15. It has all of my apps, right, like all the stuff,
00:03:17 ◼ ► you know, but the one thing that I noticed for like what needing to work on it for like a three
00:03:22 ◼ ► hour stretch and actually doing work is unlike other iPads, you have to hold this one the whole
00:03:29 ◼ ► time, right? So the iPad Pro, you or even iPad Air, you know, or the regular iPad, you can have
00:03:36 ◼ ► some kind of keyboard that it goes in. And so you can put it down and type on it, but you're not
00:03:41 ◼ ► holding it. It's it's on the table. That doesn't work with this iPad, you have to hold it. Now,
00:03:46 ◼ ► if you're watching something or reading something, you can use the smart folio thing and prop it up.
00:03:51 ◼ ► But if you need to type or interact, you're holding it for the whole time. Now, obviously,
00:03:56 ◼ ► it's really thin and really light. So that makes it easy. But it is a it's it's just a different
00:04:02 ◼ ► trade off than what I had thought of because I have all the work I've been doing on it currently,
00:04:06 ◼ ► it's just like little bits and bobs here and there. I'm at home. It's like a different kind
00:04:10 ◼ ► of thing. But this is like, no, I'm sitting down with this for a couple of hours. And I'm going to
00:04:14 ◼ ► do email, I'm going to do some calendar stuff, I'm going to do some prep for the show, you know,
00:04:18 ◼ ► like just a full on work block. And I just realized like halfway through is like, I can't put this down
00:04:24 ◼ ► to do the work on. Yeah, yeah, it's true. I mean, ergonomics are a huge issue when it comes to
00:04:31 ◼ ► devices like this. And it's just a different kind of ergonomic experience. And you get some good
00:04:36 ◼ ► stuff out of it, right? But but I've had that same thing where I realized, why does this feel weird?
00:04:40 ◼ ► And I realized it's because I'm holding it and thumb typing. And I'm like, oh, this is like,
00:04:45 ◼ ► I tried putting it down and type it on the keyboard, but this flat, it just didn't work
00:04:50 ◼ ► in the way that I wanted. Like it didn't it didn't feel so good. So just like I realized like, oh,
00:04:54 ◼ ► right, because the iPads I've been used to using for like the last five years, they kind of come
00:04:59 ◼ ► with a stand as well as the keyboard. So like, when you're typing, you're not holding it, the
00:05:04 ◼ ► tables holding it for you. So it was just something I wanted to share, because it's an experience I
00:05:09 ◼ ► haven't had in a very long time and definitely haven't had with this product. Yeah, that's good.
00:05:13 ◼ ► It is a different kind of product, right? And it's it has a lot of I think that size has a lot of
00:05:18 ◼ ► advantages, but it's not if it if it did everything that every iPad did, it would be the greatest iPad
00:05:25 ◼ ► ever. But it's not it's there are trade offs for that stuff. Let's talk about some macro
00:05:28 ◼ ► photography stuff. Got two two little things about macro photography. One of them is the iOS 15.1,
00:05:35 ◼ ► the beta version has added an option for the to turn off the automatic macro switching thing. So
00:05:43 ◼ ► if you have an iPhone 13 Pro, and you go very close to something, it switches over to the ultra wide,
00:05:48 ◼ ► so you can have so you can take macro photography, it's now going to be possible in 15.1 to turn off
00:05:56 ◼ ► this behavior. So it won't do the switching anymore. So you can move the camera close to
00:06:00 ◼ ► something. And it's not going to switch over to the ultra wide. And then the way that you would
00:06:06 ◼ ► take a macro photo is to change to the ultra wide camera, and then just use tap to focus on
00:06:12 ◼ ► the object. I'm not sure this is the way I would have done this. But I think I will appreciate this
00:06:22 ◼ ► it not doing the automatic switching. So I will I will change it. For me, I would have actually just
00:06:30 ◼ ► had a button which quite clearly was zero macro mode now, but maybe they don't want to add even
00:06:38 ◼ ► more buttons. I don't know. I like the idea of you not knowing what mode you're in. The problem was
00:06:47 ◼ ► that Apple couldn't pull off the magic trick, right? Like the shift in cameras is too visible.
00:06:52 ◼ ► Because you're no longer you every time it shifts, you have to physically move your phone to get the
00:06:57 ◼ ► thing back in to what you want it to be again. Yeah, it's like a parallax change because you're
00:07:01 ◼ ► close and you're changing lenses. And so it is, you know, it's coming through a different portal
00:07:06 ◼ ► that's slightly over and it totally changes the location. Plus, I know people have reported like
00:07:11 ◼ ► the color balance is not exactly the same and it ends up being like a very disconcerting thing.
00:07:16 ◼ ► Like you should if they could pull it off as a magic trick, it would be great. But they tried
00:07:21 ◼ ► and it didn't work. So I will be happy for that. And so I can have a bit more manual control over
00:07:28 ◼ ► it. But I also wanted to mention Halide, the camera application. In version 2.5, they've added
00:07:36 ◼ ► a macro mode that can be used on any device from the iPhone 8 or newer. And they're doing a couple
00:07:44 ◼ ► of different things going on here. One is basically get super close to something, focus on it,
00:07:50 ◼ ► and they're going to use machine learning to enhance the image. So even on phones without an
00:07:54 ◼ ► ultra wide or without an ultra wide with autofocus, like the new ones that can do the macro photography,
00:08:00 ◼ ► they're kind of enabling a macro mode, which I think is really awesome. So I haven't been able
00:08:07 ◼ ► to test it on a device that doesn't have the ultra wide. Okay. What have you thought so far?
00:08:12 ◼ ► You know, it's a nice trick, but I wasn't super impressed with it. It's not the same quality as
00:08:18 ◼ ► having the camera. And I appreciate the idea that they're using ML up resolution to make it seem
00:08:27 ◼ ► better and enhanced. And that's nice. I feel like this is how Apple would do it if they wanted to
00:08:33 ◼ ► bring a fake macro mode to old phones, which they didn't do that. But if they did, this is what it
00:08:39 ◼ ► would look like. I think though my reaction was a little bit like, I know why they didn't do it,
00:08:43 ◼ ► because you can't get that close because the camera won't let you get that close. You can
00:08:49 ◼ ► control the focus, which is good, and you can get a focus eventually that you want, and then it'll do
00:08:54 ◼ ► its ML up res thing that it does and you'll get something out of it. But this feels more like
00:09:01 ◼ ► an encouragement by Halide to get people, even with older phones, to start playing around with
00:09:06 ◼ ► macro photography. But it didn't, you know, it didn't blow me away. I was sort of like, well,
00:09:12 ◼ ► this is kind of a fun trick that gets us talking about Halide, but it's not, I mean, it's not the
00:09:19 ◼ ► same as what Apple is implementing with the heart, with the phone. I'm sure Halide would tell you,
00:09:23 ◼ ► of course it isn't, but I worry this is maybe overhyping it a little bit much because I was,
00:09:29 ◼ ► you know, I was not super impressed with it. It is exactly what I thought it would be, which is,
00:09:34 ◼ ► you still have to deal with all of the focal length limitations of the iPhone, but you have
00:09:42 ◼ ► machine learning up res thing that they do. It was fine. I think the real, like, I appreciate that
00:09:49 ◼ ► because I didn't have the opportunity to test that. For me, though, the real winner in this update is
00:09:55 ◼ ► focus control of the ultra wide for the macro mode on the Pro phones. So phones that can do,
00:10:03 ◼ ► the Mac phones that can't do, to have the macro mode support, you can adjust the focus yourself,
00:10:15 ◼ ► Because macro focus is very specific. And so if you want to have a slightly different focus,
00:10:21 ◼ ► yeah, no, Halide is a fantastic app. You know, don't go get it just because you don't have a
00:10:27 ◼ ► new phone and you want macro mode like the new phone because it doesn't really do that,
00:10:34 ◼ ► Yeah. So it allows you to do multiple tweaking. And so I think I could be, I would see myself using
00:10:39 ◼ ► it for that, but as you say, it's not magic, right? There's only so much it can do, but if
00:10:43 ◼ ► you do have one of the phones with the macro mode, I recommend trying this out because I've actually
00:10:48 ◼ ► been able to get some pretty good shots with Halide that I can't get with Apple's camera app
00:10:58 ◼ ► This is upstream headlines where we talk about some of the things going on in the streaming media
00:11:04 ◼ ► world. A couple of things, Oh, foundation. So Apple's new show, which I've yet to watch yet,
00:11:13 ◼ ► they're four out now. I've watched the first three. I like it. It hits, it hits every, uh,
00:11:18 ◼ ► sweet spot for me in terms of sci-fi shows that I like it. It's a slow build. It's got broad
00:11:25 ◼ ► implications. It's telling it sort of out of time sequence. It's an epic. It's got some interesting
00:11:36 ◼ ► per episode. It's very expensive. I think the show runner said two episodes. The budget for
00:11:42 ◼ ► two episodes is more than any movie he's ever worked on. Yeah. It's, it's a very expensive
00:11:46 ◼ ► show, but it looks great. And I've, I've really enjoyed it so far. Apple's announced a renewing
00:11:51 ◼ ► it for a second season. So I brought it up. Yeah. And I think it's funny because a bunch of industry,
00:11:56 ◼ ► like reporter type people and analyst type people that I follow on Twitter. Um, I think specifically
00:12:01 ◼ ► kid masters at the Hollywood reporter, but, uh, I saw several people who are like, yeah,
00:12:06 ◼ ► this is like PR, uh, that, that the, everybody knew foundation had a multi-sear multi-season
00:12:12 ◼ ► commitment. This would have been wild to do once. This feels like it's the season two announcement.
00:12:19 ◼ ► Yes. But is it really a renewal? And I mean, unless you've seen the contract, I guess you don't know
00:12:24 ◼ ► for sure. It's possible that they didn't straight up buy a second season, but I would bet you that
00:12:31 ◼ ► they had a penalty attached to not buying a second season that made it extremely unlikely that they
00:12:36 ◼ ► wouldn't buy a second season. And I think Apple, when they made a lot of these deals, like Apple
00:12:40 ◼ ► is willing to take a chance on these shows and let them play out. Apple's canceled, I think two shows
00:12:44 ◼ ► so far. Um, and so, you know, of course you don't put money like this into this thing. And unless
00:12:52 ◼ ► you look at the stats and see that it's a complete disaster and you need to pay to get out of the
00:12:57 ◼ ► deal. Um, you know, it does also, it allows Apple to put out a press release and call it a hit,
00:13:01 ◼ ► even though they didn't actually release any data of any kind. And I also saw some commentary in the,
00:13:06 ◼ ► uh, in the TV and entertainment industry analysts sphere about how people really need to not quote
00:13:13 ◼ ► Apple press releases about this stuff or any, or any streamers press releases about this stuff,
00:13:19 ◼ ► where they claim it's a hit, it's a global phenomenon, all these things without any data
00:13:24 ◼ ► at all, because you're just carrying their water at that point. Like we don't know anything about
00:13:29 ◼ ► whether foundation is doing better or worse than Apple expected. All we know is that they,
00:13:48 ◼ ► because it's good for PR to do this, even though everything, you know, it literally didn't matter
00:13:53 ◼ ► what the data said. This is the same press release. They would put out timed at the time that they did
00:13:57 ◼ ► to point out that foundation is coming back, but I like the show so far. So I'm glad it's coming
00:14:02 ◼ ► back and Apple's going to spend more money. Brett Goldstein from Ted Lasso was on, uh, Seth Meyers's
00:14:10 ◼ ► show on NBC last week. And the moment that I thought was very funny from a meta perspective,
00:14:15 ◼ ► an upstream perspective was he talked about writing the scene in season two of Ted Lasso,
00:14:21 ◼ ► where, um, I'm not, I'm not spoiling anything here. Uh, Roy Kent has a conversation with
00:14:26 ◼ ► Jamie Tartt and he said, I wrote that scene knowing it was going to cost Apple a lot of money
00:14:33 ◼ ► because every time I'm in a scene with him, I can't stop laughing. And so it's going to take
00:14:38 ◼ ► days to shoot that because we, I, you know, every, and that's why we didn't put Jamie and
00:14:44 ◼ ► Roy in too many scenes together because it would cost too much money. Cause we, we just,
00:14:50 ◼ ► apparently they just make each other laugh and it ruins the shots and stuff like that. But I,
00:14:54 ◼ ► I think I've seen a recurring theme for a lot of people who work on Apple TV plus shows where they
00:14:59 ◼ ► make mention of the fact that Apple is spending a lot of money on them. I think they, I do get the
00:15:09 ◼ ► like because they know Apple has so much money and it maybe kind of feels like maybe they get
00:15:13 ◼ ► more money than maybe they would otherwise. So maybe people, people like to talk about it. I
00:15:17 ◼ ► don't know, but there is, I agree there is, there is this thing about money. Like, is it that Apple
00:15:23 ◼ ► were very stingy? I don't know. But yeah, but I do see that a lot. Just on foundation, the showrunner
00:15:31 ◼ ► David S Goyer apparently said that they have enough for eight seasons. Like that was the original
00:15:35 ◼ ► pitch to Apple. So we'll see. Yeah. For that, that's the whole isaac has them on outline. I'm
00:15:40 ◼ ► sure, you know, dream big dream big. There is going to be a one division spinoff coming to
00:15:45 ◼ ► Disney plus focused on Agatha Harkness, which is absolutely fantastic. I was so happy to see this
00:15:51 ◼ ► news because the entire internet, like absolutely fell in love with Catherine Hern's portrayal of
00:15:56 ◼ ► that character. And, uh, I'm really pleased to see that, that, that Disney are rewarding that
00:16:02 ◼ ► success with a show entirely about that character. So that's super cool. Yeah. A little while ago,
00:16:14 ◼ ► own studios. They, and Apple has now acquired more than 550,000 square feet for a campus.
00:16:21 ◼ ► Apple is saying it is going to be a mixed use facility, but they're not saying anything more
00:16:26 ◼ ► at this time. It seemed pretty clear that they're going to build some sound stages there because
00:16:35 ◼ ► yeah, I mean that that's, we've read about their goals of getting, you know, buying property and
00:16:42 ◼ ► potentially even buying studio lots in order to have studio space because studio space is at a
00:16:47 ◼ ► premium. And so now it looks like they're gonna, they've succeeded in getting enough land to put
00:16:52 ◼ ► their own in Apple studios or whatever. Maybe they'll, I don't know. I don't know what else
00:16:58 ◼ ► will be there. They're going to move the Apple fitness people there. Probably not. Probably not.
00:17:01 ◼ ► And I also just want to recommend episode one of downstream is out now with Jason and Julia. And I
00:17:07 ◼ ► listened to it last night. I finished it off and I really loved it. Uh, if you enjoy this segment,
00:17:16 ◼ ► Yeah, that's been a lot of fun. It's every two weeks. So it's not too much added to your podcast
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00:19:58 ◼ ► show and relay FM. So Apple watch pre-orders have, uh, happened mostly. Well, it was been available
00:20:05 ◼ ► since Friday. Yeah. Did you pre-order? I know that you said you, you might just wait and try and get
00:20:11 ◼ ► it at the store. Did you actually make a pre-order? I did make a pre-order. My thought there is that
00:20:16 ◼ ► pre-orders can be canceled for quite a while. And mine isn't shipping until November, early November,
00:20:24 ◼ ► I think. So I've got time to find it. If it is in a nearby store, uh, you know, I, if I have second
00:20:30 ◼ ► thoughts, whatever, I've got that. But I did decide ultimately on at some point on Friday that I would
00:20:34 ◼ ► at least put something in there, uh, to have an order. Um, so I ordered titanium. I'm going,
00:20:42 ◼ ► I'm treating myself, treat yourself, treat yourself. This is my cake. My watch is my cake.
00:20:48 ◼ ► My watch is my cake this year. So, uh, I decided to treat myself titanium. I've never had a watch
00:20:54 ◼ ► that wasn't just the cheapest Apple watch aluminum Apple watch. Have you worn, you've worn the other
00:20:59 ◼ ► ones though, right? So you know, the weight and it's like, you know, the I've seen them while the
00:21:02 ◼ ► titanium is light because it's titanium, the stainless Lauren had a stainless and I think
00:21:08 ◼ ► series one and it was, it was heavy. It was nice, but it was heavy and I don't want that.
00:21:19 ◼ ► titanium space, black titanium. Yeah, that's right. How much black or could it be? None more
00:21:23 ◼ ► black space black. No, it definitely could be more black. Yeah, it could be that they're mostly,
00:21:28 ◼ ► I mean, I think the black, uh, I think the black stainless steel is like actual black. Well,
00:21:33 ◼ ► we'll get to that in a minute. That doesn't exist anymore. Isn't I? No, I thought they had the fancy
00:21:37 ◼ ► coating black stainless steel. Do they not? Not anymore. The colors are, we're going to talk about
00:21:42 ◼ ► color. Stay tuned to the colors are segment, which is coming up. Uh, and then maybe our new podcast
00:21:46 ◼ ► colors are, uh, so 45 millimeter. Yeah. The big one. Um, because I've always had the big one
00:21:51 ◼ ► because I unlike many, surprisingly many podcast hosts in this sphere, I do not have spindly
00:21:58 ◼ ► chicken arms. I can wear the larger watch. Oh my God. Jason's throwing it down. Spindly chicken
00:22:05 ◼ ► arms is what he says. Hi Casey. Okay. That was just, just for Casey. I just, I, every time I
00:22:16 ◼ ► Oh, the, the big watch, it's just too big for my, for my wrist. And I don't understand it.
00:22:20 ◼ ► Casey's a big man. We had like the same height, like, you know, I don't get it. I, and it's fine.
00:22:27 ◼ ► Like again, biology, everybody, nobody gets to pick. You get the body that you get. So people
00:22:32 ◼ ► have preferences, you know, it's all fine. I just, I am, I'm surprised that so many people who were
00:22:39 ◼ ► talking about Apple watches in my ears are talking about the little watch instead of the bigger
00:22:44 ◼ ► watch. So, so my point is more, I'm sorry to disappoint you, dear listener. I can't tell you
00:22:49 ◼ ► that story. I get the big watch every year. That's what I do. So of course I'll get the big watch.
00:22:55 ◼ ► Let's talk bands for a second. Having not bought a premium style, Apple watch before I didn't know
00:23:03 ◼ ► this, but they pack a bunch of things in like that you just get with the premium watch. So
00:23:18 ◼ ► whether you want it or not, and you can't not get it. And you still have to pick another band.
00:23:23 ◼ ► So aha, here's the thing for you. That's how it seems, but it's not entirely true. This,
00:23:30 ◼ ► there has been there, the process of buying an Apple watch is becoming maddeningly complicated.
00:23:45 ◼ ► came with by default. So if you go to Apple watch studio and make a pairing, I did, I did. Oh,
00:23:54 ◼ ► but I then got what I wanted. It didn't come with the one that they suggested. So I went to the
00:23:59 ◼ ► Apple watch studio and I picked it. I picked a band that I wanted and then I continued to order.
00:24:12 ◼ ► So you get the titanium pin, little pin that I'm never going to wear on my addition. Cause I have
00:24:18 ◼ ► the white one, right? The white series five or whatever. My white sport band has a ceramic pin.
00:24:23 ◼ ► That's why I like the, so what I want to do is one of two things. Here's the frustration though is
00:24:30 ◼ ► I also can't order that watch without a band, even though there's a band in it, I have to order a
00:24:37 ◼ ► second band, which again, it's like, okay, but I don't need that band. And if you're going to make
00:24:44 ◼ ► me order one band, so I'm getting two bands when I would be fine with no bands, but I'm getting two
00:24:50 ◼ ► bands. The, I should say titanium is a cellular only, which is fine because I want the cellular
00:24:57 ◼ ► one, but I kind of appreciate that if you're going to buy the more expensive watch, Apple is not
00:25:02 ◼ ► going to nickel and dime you by saying, Oh no, no, the expensive price starts here. But if you want
00:25:07 ◼ ► the, the, the, the cellular one, you got to pay more. It seems like, no, you just get that. That's
00:25:14 ◼ ► just, it's a fancy watch. You get all the fancy parts. And for the record, I got a marigold solo
00:25:21 ◼ ► loop. So it's like a yellow solo loop. I have one solo loop and, uh, I wanted another one. So there,
00:25:32 ◼ ► I, you know, it's, I've started a feud now and I was just joking. I just think it's funny that so
00:25:37 ◼ ► many podcasts I was talking about getting the, uh, watch. Fudes are good for ratings. It's fine
00:25:43 ◼ ► for ratings. That's good. Going to pump the ratings. It sweeps season. Jason. Okay. I got
00:25:48 ◼ ► the gold stainless steel 45 millimeter. I was able to go into Apple watch studio as I mentioned,
00:25:54 ◼ ► and I changed the band out because it, it said the, I think was by default was pretty much just
00:26:00 ◼ ► the leather, um, leather. What did they call it? The, the one with the leather link, I think they
00:26:05 ◼ ► call it where it's the magnetic one magnetic. Yeah. That's what I was looking for. It's a nice
00:26:10 ◼ ► one. I have one of those. So, uh, this is it. So I saw it and I was like, oh, that actually looks
00:26:15 ◼ ► pretty cool. Like I didn't like the color that they had was the default, but I liked the look
00:26:19 ◼ ► of that. But what I wanted to do is make sure I could get what I wanted. So I went into the gold
00:26:23 ◼ ► stainless and I added the gold Milanese. So that's what my main order. I then added two more bands.
00:26:29 ◼ ► I went with an abyss blue sport band because I think blue and gold will look nice together. I'm
00:26:34 ◼ ► not on the loop chain yet. Um, I think I want to try one of those on when I go to the Apple store.
00:26:41 ◼ ► Uh, because I have not tried it on and I don't want to do the at home sizing thing. I want to
00:26:45 ◼ ► just try the bands on and find the one that fits for me. Cause I like the, um, the braided one. I
00:26:50 ◼ ► think the braided one looks really nice. Yeah. It, it looks great. I, and I will just say that the
00:26:56 ◼ ► kind of John Gruber inspired look at how your sport band fits and map it to a size. It does work.
00:27:09 ◼ ► I'm not going on launch day. I'm going a couple of days after. So I'm expecting I might be able
00:27:18 ◼ ► getting a stainless watch should be like, what size is it? So it's seven. That's really good.
00:27:24 ◼ ► I'll get that for you. Thank you. It's just like a Butler that I have at the Apple store.
00:27:37 ◼ ► the watch band Butler really is who that is. And I also got a midnight, uh, leather link,
00:27:43 ◼ ► which I thought looked really nice, like the dark bluey black and the gold. Cause for me,
00:27:48 ◼ ► it was like, I think I'm on the every two to three years now for the Apple watch. I don't,
00:27:54 ◼ ► I've, I finally found the product for me where like, I don't feel the need to upgrade it
00:28:08 ◼ ► the Apple watch I'm not sure about, but for me, considering I am now like all in somewhat
00:28:14 ◼ ► begrudgingly somewhat not wiring my watch all the time. I want to have more options to dress
00:28:19 ◼ ► it up and dress it down than I do currently. And I think I've got a run the gamut with these three,
00:28:24 ◼ ► because as well, the bands that I already have, they're not going to work for me with a gold
00:28:29 ◼ ► stainless steel watch. Like I don't think that it will work in the way that I have been where
00:28:38 ◼ ► I had the silver watch and then with the white one, it just works because white is plain,
00:28:42 ◼ ► but gold stainless steel is not going to be so. Anyway, uh, my watch was available. Uh,
00:28:49 ◼ ► I'm picking it up on next weekend. I could have picked it up on Friday, but I'm not going to be
00:28:54 ◼ ► around. So I went through this whole process and I was like milling around in the Apple store app,
00:28:59 ◼ ► just choosing what I wanted because, you know, I was like, Oh, let me go look at this band.
00:29:02 ◼ ► Let me go look at that band. I didn't think it was going to be any issue. And then when I was done,
00:29:07 ◼ ► just like looking through texts for friends and stuff, I don't know anyone that's getting one
00:29:12 ◼ ► on launch day. Huh? Because it seems like a lot of people went for titanium or the other stainless
00:29:30 ◼ ► There's something going on with the app watch this year. I'm not sure what it is. Like for example,
00:29:34 ◼ ► they didn't, it was impossible to know all of the colors until pre-orders open on Friday. Like it
00:29:43 ◼ ► was, you couldn't find it anywhere. And I find that to be really interesting. Also, I don't know
00:29:49 ◼ ► if this is normal, but there have been no reviews published about this Apple watch. Well, it's,
00:29:55 ◼ ► it's early yet. I think this will be the week that that happens. I don't know when exactly,
00:30:00 ◼ ► but I don't remember what happens with the watch. If they do do it this way. I think maybe last year
00:30:05 ◼ ► it was this way too, that the reviews came after purchase date, like pre-order date, which is not,
00:30:12 ◼ ► is that normal for iPhones? Did they come after pre-order day? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we, so you're
00:30:20 ◼ ► probably right. That'd be this week. There's been none as of yet, but a preview this week.
00:30:28 ◼ ► a lot of the watches seem to be not available. And now, like if you look for any of them,
00:30:33 ◼ ► you know, like, like do anything with any of them, you're looking into November 4th now as well.
00:30:38 ◼ ► But we want to talk about colors again. So, you know, we knew this, we've spoken about this a
00:30:43 ◼ ► little bit. The aluminium watches this year, the colors are a bit of a mixed bag, I think,
00:30:52 ◼ ► right? There's not, I think a lot of people were surprised when going to order the watches that
00:30:58 ◼ ► there isn't like a safe default color anymore. There's no silver, right? There's no black.
00:31:05 ◼ ► It's like kind of black, kind of silver. And I can understand if you were looking for an aluminium
00:31:10 ◼ ► watch that this is, would be frustrating. I know I, if I was buying, uh, if I wanted to get an
00:31:17 ◼ ► aluminium Apple watch, like that was all I wanted. I don't, just looking at the Apple store page,
00:31:23 ◼ ► I don't think I could choose any of those colors. Maybe seeing some of them in person might change
00:31:27 ◼ ► it. But like, I know, as I said before, I wouldn't want the green, red or blue. That's for sure.
00:31:31 ◼ ► So then I'd be choosing between starlight and midnight. And I don't think it's, I don't think
00:31:36 ◼ ► it's a simple, a simpler choice is silver and black and gray or black as it was before.
00:31:42 ◼ ► Yeah. You get, you get, uh, midnight starlight, blue, green, red, but all the, you know, but no
00:31:50 ◼ ► silver because starlight is the new silver and midnight is the new black. Remember? And that's
00:32:05 ◼ ► people don't like change. I get it. Um, and also there's like color is very personal and
00:32:10 ◼ ► people have bought watch bands and they like the look of a particular, it is, it is a thing you
00:32:15 ◼ ► wear on your wrist and it's a, it's a fashion element to it. And Apple has swept away, you know,
00:32:21 ◼ ► silver and black or silver and space gray and replace them with midnight and starlight. And
00:32:26 ◼ ► they're not the same. It's like, if you have been, if you've collected your watch bands,
00:32:30 ◼ ► they have compatibility, which is awesome, but now the colors might not work. And it's like,
00:32:34 ◼ ► there's a bunch of people, I think even macro rumors ended up collecting a bunch of these
00:32:38 ◼ ► tweets together and publishing an article about it of like, well, if you have say the link bracelet,
00:32:43 ◼ ► well, and you want to, there are kind of, isn't any watch that fits with the colors of the link
00:32:49 ◼ ► bracelets anymore. Just pure silver and pure black. It's incredibly hard if not impossible
00:33:00 ◼ ► And then in the stainless steel, it starts to get complicated as well. Like for example,
00:33:17 ◼ ► black has been replaced by a space graphite. So I've changed the color there, but they still
00:33:26 ◼ ► offer a black one, but now it's an Hermes one instead. So your graphite stainless steel case
00:33:54 ◼ ► "Apple effectively now has three separate color palettes for its devices in addition to the
00:33:58 ◼ ► pre-existing tonal differences within the same shade that was common to see in the likes of
00:34:02 ◼ ► space gray. Other product lines such as the iPad Pro, Mac Pro and HomePod mini also no longer have
00:34:08 ◼ ► any matching colors of the Apple watch series seven or standard iPhone 13 models. This appears
00:34:23 ◼ ► If this is a color transition, I am more open to the idea that, yeah, you're gonna bug some
00:34:29 ◼ ► people when you redefine silver and black or silver and gray as midnight and starlight.
00:34:42 ◼ ► we're going through a color transition. It feels to me like it might be the fact that they use
00:34:47 ◼ ► midnight and starlight as names now suggest that maybe they are starting to create some sort of
00:34:53 ◼ ► synced up thing and that the next set of MacBook Pros or MacBooks that come out will be available
00:35:02 ◼ ► in starlight instead of silver. - Yeah, but I would offer space gray is the issue there,
00:35:15 ◼ ► MacBook Pro? Is there gonna be a midnight MacBook Pro? That would be kind of cool, but...
00:35:25 ◼ ► Apple's ways are mysterious. But I guess I would say that I don't have a lot of confidence,
00:35:30 ◼ ► as we've discussed in previous shows, I don't have a lot of confidence that Apple's color
00:35:34 ◼ ► system makes any sense at all and that they're really going in any direction. And it feels to
00:35:39 ◼ ► me like they're kind of flailing because they've got these different colors in different places and
00:35:45 ◼ ► that the iMacs look one way and the watches are going another way and like, what are they doing?
00:35:50 ◼ ► And it's unclear to me now what they're doing. But that all said, if by doing midnight in starlight,
00:35:56 ◼ ► they're basically putting down stakes and saying, going forward, this is what we're doing,
00:36:10 ◼ ► but at least you can admire that they have a consistent plan. I'm not sure I can do that,
00:36:16 ◼ ► right? And so this remains something to watch, but it's frustrating, I think, more than anything else
00:36:22 ◼ ► that they are limiting these choices by eliminating kind of older colors that were available.
00:36:28 ◼ ► This was my complaint about them making the big deal about that purple iPhone and then not coming
00:36:31 ◼ ► up with a purple iPhone 13. Like, yay, it's purple. No, those colors are gone. No more fun
00:36:38 ◼ ► colors. Just a couple of okay colors and then black and white, whatever. It's distressing to me
00:36:48 ◼ ► because it's very chaotic now. And again, perhaps out of this chaos will come an order in that this
00:36:55 ◼ ► is just the messy middle as Apple tries to get its color story in place. But I don't have a high
00:37:03 ◼ ► degree of confidence in it, even though there are some signs that they may be trying because it still
00:37:08 ◼ ► seems like a pretty big mess. And maybe some of this is the products coming out in a different
00:37:14 ◼ ► sequence than they really intended because COVID kind of led to lots of production issues that have
00:37:18 ◼ ► led to their products coming out at all sorts of different times. Because part of my concern
00:37:23 ◼ ► about the MacBook Pros is if the MacBook Pros that we're expecting in the next few weeks
00:37:29 ◼ ► were really meant to come out maybe in June originally, that predates Midnight in Starlight,
00:37:36 ◼ ► right? So even if they've got their color game all lined up, their color ducks are in a row,
00:37:44 ◼ ► I was going to say. Sure, color ducks, fine. We may not see it with the MacBook Pros. They may
00:37:51 ◼ ► seem like another confusing regression where they just come in silver and space gray and everybody
00:37:56 ◼ ► goes, "What is going on?" And the answer may be, "What's really going on is this predates our 2021
00:38:02 ◼ ► color redesign that we're starting to roll out." But Apple's going to need to show me that it's got
00:38:09 ◼ ► it together a lot more before I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one. It
00:38:14 ◼ ► seems like a mess. -I'm still looking forward to my gold one, though. -I am looking forward to
00:38:20 ◼ ► titanium. I know people who've had them and, again, I just kind of wanted to treat myself.
00:38:27 ◼ ► -I should have it for next week, so I'll be able to talk about it next week. I won't have had a lot
00:38:30 ◼ ► of time with it. -I should have. My understanding is that I will probably have an Apple Watch to
00:38:36 ◼ ► talk about next week. Not mine, but one that I will be able to temporarily possess that I'll be
00:38:42 ◼ ► able to talk about. -So we have that to look forward to. -Yeah. -This episode is brought to you by Hunter
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00:40:23 ◼ ► I'm sorry. There's more news. I can't avoid it. You know, this is just one of those things.
00:40:27 ◼ ► So payments processing company Paddle has announced their plans to launch an alternative
00:40:35 ◼ ► in-app payment process system for iOS. So they've announced it now. People can put their name down
00:40:43 ◼ ► to get on a list and they can sign up later on. So this has taken advantage of the perceived
00:40:48 ◼ ► possibility that Apple will have to change the way that it processes in-app payment stuff. And maybe
00:40:54 ◼ ► also to take advantage of what's been going on with the ruling from the Japan Fair Trade Commission
00:40:59 ◼ ► thing, you know, like having a link, right? But Paddle have said that they will take 10% of a fee,
00:41:05 ◼ ► a 10% fee rather than the 30 or 15 for $10 transactions. So like if it's anything up to
00:41:13 ◼ ► $10, they'll take a 10% fee and it will be 5% plus a 50 cent fee flat on anything over $10. So if it's
00:41:22 ◼ ► something over $10, take 5% plus 50 cents, which is probably the card processing fee or whatever.
00:41:29 ◼ ► They will offer access to customer data for communication purposes. So email addresses and
00:41:39 ◼ ► application. So it would say like, "Hey, go here and pay." You tap the button. It will take the
00:41:43 ◼ ► customer out to the web where they'll complete the transaction, which they can do through PayPal,
00:41:47 ◼ ► credit card or Apple Pay. And then developers can integrate everything they need in their apps to
00:41:52 ◼ ► ensure that the payment and customer matches up and offer all that kind of stuff. Obviously Paddle,
00:41:59 ◼ ► I think are playing their hand here, right? Like the first company in this space that has made a
00:42:07 ◼ ► song and dance about having something, because they're not the only company that could offer
00:42:11 ◼ ► this. Stripe could offer this. Revenue Cat could offer this. There are others that could do it.
00:42:20 ◼ ► - I think they are anticipating a potential gold rush, right? And so they want to be there.
00:42:29 ◼ ► - Because look, some companies are going to need something, right? Like we're going to talk about
00:42:35 ◼ ► the Epic thing in a bit, but even without that, there is going to be a new requirement for
00:42:41 ◼ ► payment systems or not payment systems that some developers may have not needed to think about
00:42:47 ◼ ► before. And so you're going to have this one thing, right? Like this one link, as they say,
00:42:52 ◼ ► the one link for signing up. If you're a reader app, however that will end up working out.
00:42:56 ◼ ► So people are going to need something. And if more companies, it's like that kind of thing. Like if
00:43:04 ◼ ► you tell a lie often enough, it becomes truth, whatever that quote is. Like if enough companies
00:43:08 ◼ ► should say, "Hey, we're going to have a solution for this." Everyone's going to expect that to be
00:43:16 ◼ ► you know, they're basically investing time and effort into building this into their system,
00:43:29 ◼ ► it may be allowed and if it's not allowed that there are going to be further legal things that
00:43:43 ◼ ► transaction processing and you're monitoring what's going on with Apple, you would be making
00:43:51 ◼ ► a huge mistake if you weren't preparing for the possibility to win business from app developers
00:44:01 ◼ ► if this door opens. But you also would have to be wary of the fact that the door may not open.
00:44:08 ◼ ► You don't know, but I don't think, I mean, Paddle made a thing about it because they're also using
00:44:14 ◼ ► this for PR, right? They're also trying to get people to pay attention to Paddle. But, you know,
00:44:20 ◼ ► it makes sense, right? Like, and the idea here of how this would work, I mean, we don't know because
00:44:25 ◼ ► we don't know how Apple would implement this in terms of what they're going to allow and what
00:44:33 ◼ ► on their site that goes to, or on their app that goes to a Paddle page, essentially saying,
00:44:39 ◼ ► "Buy this thing," and then it redirects you back to the app after the transaction is over and the
00:44:44 ◼ ► app goes, "Great, I've got your thing confirmed now," like that's a big deal. So maybe that will
00:44:52 ◼ ► happen. So I think it's smart to prepare and it's obviously smart for them to roll out PR like this.
00:44:56 ◼ ► - Maybe people are getting bored of hearing me say this by now, but I'm going to say it again
00:45:01 ◼ ► anyway. After reading this, I'm like, "Yeah, I should be able to do this as a customer.
00:45:06 ◼ ► I should be able to do this." Or as a developer, like, "Developers should be able to do this."
00:45:13 ◼ ► I can't think of a reason myself why this should not be allowed, especially this, like,
00:45:22 ◼ ► going out to a website and doing the transaction. It's not even happening inside of the application.
00:45:28 ◼ ► There is zero reason, logically, why I should not be able to make a transaction like this.
00:45:34 ◼ ► There is nothing that makes any sense other than the rules Apple created, which don't make sense.
00:45:46 ◼ ► A bit more antitrust-related things. So Japan's Fair Trade Commission is now investigating the
00:45:52 ◼ ► overall market dominance of Apple and Google on mobile and the effects that that can have.
00:45:57 ◼ ► So Japan's Fair Trade Commission had the thing about IAP, and that was settled, right? That's
00:46:01 ◼ ► that one link thing that we've yet to see anything more from, but we'll get at some point.
00:46:06 ◼ ► Now then, there's a whole separate investigation now. The Dutch antitrust authority has ruled that
00:46:16 ◼ ► rules around exclusivity of payments and the size of Apple's cut. The Dutch authorities have
00:46:20 ◼ ► demanded that Apple make changes to their system, and it's currently under further legal review.
00:46:28 ◼ ► And Apple has appealed Judge Gonzalez's ruling on changing how IAP could work. So the thing that
00:46:35 ◼ ► the only thing that Apple lost in the EPIC trial, which is the thing that we're almost interested in,
00:46:40 ◼ ► which is the idea of them. It was the whole thing, right, that we were talking about with like,
00:46:45 ◼ ► no one's really sure what this means, right? But it could mean that maybe in-app purchases
00:46:50 ◼ ► would be allowed from other vendors or whatever. So I'll read a quote from MacRumors. Apple has
00:46:56 ◼ ► asked the court for a stay on the permanent injunction that requires it to implement those
00:47:00 ◼ ► changes by December. So basically, Apple is appealing and asking for a delay, so they are
00:47:07 ◼ ► not going to be forced to make their changes by the end of the year. So Apple is saying they need
00:47:13 ◼ ► more time before they make changes to quote, not upset the balance between developers and customers
00:47:19 ◼ ► and to make sure that they're doing things correctly and safely for their users. So Apple
00:47:24 ◼ ► doesn't think it's nothing, right? They think it's enough to appeal and say, please don't make us do
00:47:32 ◼ ► this by now. Well, I mean, we all knew that that was the case, but there, but there, yeah, this is
00:47:35 ◼ ► the, that we want everything except for this one little thing. We don't, we also don't want that
00:47:39 ◼ ► one little thing. Yeah. Yeah. That was, that's the kind of funny thing about it. It's like,
00:47:43 ◼ ► we won, but now we're appealing part of it, but we definitely won. You didn't see the asterisk there
00:47:50 ◼ ► next to we won that leads you to a footnote that refers you to another document that mentions that
00:47:55 ◼ ► there's one part where we didn't win. Oh, well, so at some point Apple is going to say, is going
00:48:01 ◼ ► to give more information about how people can put this one link in the system, but they've not done
00:48:07 ◼ ► it yet. And, or what, I mean, I'm still hoping maybe blindly that they are going to have big app
00:48:14 ◼ ► store changes come at some point, but they want to make sure they have the time to do them because,
00:48:18 ◼ ► and the reason I brought in the thing from the, from Japan and from the Dutch antitrust authority,
00:48:24 ◼ ► it's just further proof of like, it's only getting more complicated for them if they keep holding on.
00:48:32 ◼ ► Yeah. It's just, it's just going to keep happening. This is Apple. I'm sure behind the scenes,
00:48:41 ◼ ► Apple is strategizing about what they have to do here. I'm unclear on whether Apple is worried
00:48:49 ◼ ► about having to technically implement something so that they're in line with the orders.
00:48:56 ◼ ► Right. Like the idea that, okay, let's get on this and let's have a plan. Like you said,
00:49:02 ◼ ► which I think would be, it strikes me as being prudent to say, we need to build in a whole bunch
00:49:06 ◼ ► of trap doors now that allow us to change this on the fly as different jurisdictions tell us
00:49:15 ◼ ► different behaviors. Right? Like I think it would be prudent for Apple engineering wise to look at
00:49:22 ◼ ► the state of affairs right now and say, we need to envision a world where in different locations for
00:49:29 ◼ ► different kinds of software, there are different rules and our system has to adjust to all these
00:49:34 ◼ ► things. And we're going to have to build in ways for that to work. Now app developers who are
00:49:41 ◼ ► listening to this are probably chuckling heartily at the idea that Apple is going to be able to move
00:49:48 ◼ ► nimbly with, especially their backend systems, because the backend systems for developers are
00:49:53 ◼ ► kind of horrifyingly not good compared to the software quality that happens in Apple systems.
00:50:03 ◼ ► Yeah. I mean, and it's not a, the polish is not a priority for the stuff that's behind the scenes.
00:50:07 ◼ ► If you've ever been backstage at a theater, right? The front of the theater is all soft fabrics and
00:50:12 ◼ ► pretty and all that. And you go backstage and it is completely industrial and awful because it's not
00:50:17 ◼ ► for, you know, you work here now you don't get the fancy stuff. Well, that's what the developer tools
00:50:22 ◼ ► are like at behind the scenes at the app store. The reason I bring this up though, is that would
00:50:26 ◼ ► seem to make sense, right? Like, Hey, we're in a different environment now let's plan. However,
00:50:39 ◼ ► And so the other way to go, and I don't know what the legal issues are and what Apple's lawyers
00:50:45 ◼ ► would recommend, but I can definitely see the argument that somebody might make that says,
00:50:51 ◼ ► if you make it so that you can flip a switch that to do this thing, they'll make you flip a switch.
00:51:05 ◼ ► hardship and string this out or limit its appeal. I wouldn't believe it. Well, that's the thing.
00:51:13 ◼ ► Anyone that would allow them to say that, I think it, that would just be so frustrating to me.
00:51:19 ◼ ► Right. It's Oh, we're Apple. You don't understand where Apple, we can't do things. And then be like,
00:51:24 ◼ ► really? And that's right. And that's why I think that there's, that's an interesting strategy thing.
00:51:34 ◼ ► If I'm inside Apple, I, what I don't want to do is get a court order that is basically,
00:51:42 ◼ ► you know, you've got 30 days to implement this feature. So maybe you start planning what you
00:51:48 ◼ ► would implement or building in trap doors. Like I said, things that you can flip the switch and say,
00:51:55 ◼ ► well, now in Korea, this thing now is allowed. Um, you'd think you'd want to prepare like paddle
00:52:03 ◼ ► is preparing, right? You think you'd want to prepare, but Apple's behavior up to now suggests
00:52:10 ◼ ► that they are much more obstinate than that. And so I wouldn't put it past them to say,
00:52:16 ◼ ► no, no preparing. We won't prepare until the moment they force us, which I don't know. I
00:52:23 ◼ ► wouldn't put it past him, I guess is what I'm saying, but it would seem prudent to be preparing
00:52:27 ◼ ► for the fact that we are like preparing years ago for this years ago, but, but now, now it has never
00:52:34 ◼ ► been more clear no matter how you feel about these rules and these rulings and what's going on in the
00:52:40 ◼ ► current environment. I think it's undeniable that we are entering an age where a bunch of Apple's
00:52:46 ◼ ► policies that Apple has been able to make and, you know, rule by Fiat and just say, this is,
00:52:50 ◼ ► this is the law. We make the law. We are entering an era where that's not going to be true anymore.
00:52:56 ◼ ► We're entering an era where regulators and judges are going to tell Apple there are certain things
00:53:02 ◼ ► that Apple wants to do that they're not allowed to do. This is, this is Apple's future Apple.
00:53:08 ◼ ► I think you would have to be the biggest optimist pro Apple optimist in the world to imagine that
00:53:15 ◼ ► Apple's business is not going to be dictated. Business and policies are not going to be at
00:53:30 ◼ ► implementing lawsuits. Like it's going to happen. It's, it seems very unlikely now may not happen to
00:53:40 ◼ ► areas. I mean, that's, I feel like that's a given that there's going to be like everything that what,
00:53:43 ◼ ► whatever your number one thing is on your list is like, now this is the thing that Apple does
00:53:47 ◼ ► that's really bad. So I'm sure that'll get thrown out and that one will mark my words. That one will
00:53:53 ◼ ► stay. And this minor thing, that's like number five on your list. That one will turn around and
00:53:58 ◼ ► you'd be like, why did you turn around that one? Cause that's how it works. Stuff like that happens.
00:54:03 ◼ ► But anyway, I think it's inevitable. So a, a good capable manager inside Apple needs to be
00:54:12 ◼ ► thinking about all of that and planning and Apple needs to be much, you know, planning for the way,
00:54:28 ◼ ► if Apple does something bad because a judge tells them to, people aren't going to blame the judge.
00:54:40 ◼ ► whether they like it or not and do a good and do a good job with it. Because if they do a bad
00:54:45 ◼ ► job with it, we're not going to blame the judge. We're not going to blame the regulator. We're
00:54:49 ◼ ► going to blame Apple for doing a bad job and botching it. It's just quite frankly, this business
00:54:54 ◼ ► is too big now. It's it's so big. It's one of the bigger business is in the wall, right? And every
00:55:01 ◼ ► business needs to be in this business. Dan Warren wrote a piece of Mac world a couple of weeks ago
00:55:06 ◼ ► that was basically like Apple is a country now. And you have to view it that way. It is a, it is
00:55:11 ◼ ► a huge thing. I wrote a thing about the 10th anniversary of Steve Jobs's death, which was
00:55:17 ◼ ► last week. And I just did the kind of, you know, we do the quarter over quarter or year over year
00:55:22 ◼ ► comparisons. I did a decade over decade comparison. And it's just like, it is breathtaking how much
00:55:28 ◼ ► larger Apple is now than it was 10 years ago. And so, yeah, this is just the game they're in now,
00:55:33 ◼ ► or, and this made me laugh in the discord upgrade in David Schaub just said, where is the puck going
00:55:40 ◼ ► to be? And like, we use that a lot, but it really made me smile because this is where the puck is
00:55:46 ◼ ► going to be. It's going to be in court. It's going to be in regulators and the puck orders.
00:55:52 ◼ ► The puck, the puck is in the court. So the puck is in the European commission. The puck is in all
00:55:58 ◼ ► sorts of places that are not in Cupertino. And so if you're Apple get to skating, I guess.
00:56:03 ◼ ► They need a wartime consigliere over there. I think at the moment, that's right. Europe
00:56:07 ◼ ► is settling all business at the moment saying selling all families. That's right. They're
00:56:14 ◼ ► can't refuse. They, uh, they, uh, I asked them for a favor one day. Let's it's all a Godfather
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00:58:25 ◼ ► Our thanks to Gabby for their support of this show and all of Relay FM. Let's do some #askupgrade
00:58:31 ◼ ► questions to finish out today's show. Rajat asks, "If Europe compel..." I love this question so much.
00:58:38 ◼ ► This is so good. "If Europe compels Apple to replace Lightning with USB-C and the French law
00:58:44 ◼ ► to include a hands-free kit remains unchanged, would Apple design a new version of AirPods of
00:58:51 ◼ ► USB-C or will they just give up and give AirPods for everybody in France for free?" -I like this
00:58:57 ◼ ► question too. Boxes within boxes within boxes. I think the answer is that if there was, and there's
00:59:06 ◼ ► so many questions here, if Apple had to make a USB-C iPhone because of the European Commission,
00:59:12 ◼ ► and if the French law remains, what would happen to the headphones in the box? I think the answer is
00:59:16 ◼ ► probably they would just do a Lightning to USB-C adapter for the AirPods or they would just make
00:59:23 ◼ ► some AirPods with USB-C. It's also suggesting like, is there a USB-C model that's only in the
00:59:32 ◼ ► EU or would it be that that would force Apple to make it everywhere because they wouldn't want to
00:59:38 ◼ ► make two, and at that point they would make a, their wired headphones would be USB-C. I think
00:59:44 ◼ ► there may even already be USB-C. -There isn't, I just looked. They do Lightning and 3.5 millimeter.
00:59:51 ◼ ► -Okay, so you, and you can get a 3.5 to USB-C adapter. So they could just include that, the
00:59:58 ◼ ► 3.5 version and the adapter, or they could just build some that, I mean, it's just different
01:00:04 ◼ ► cords, right? Basically they build some that with a USB-C on it instead. I just, I think it would be
01:00:10 ◼ ► that simple. It just depends on how spiteful Apple is being, but I don't think Apple's going to put
01:00:15 ◼ ► AirPods in the box that's in the box. -Or they put AirPods in the box and like, what if you want to
01:00:21 ◼ ► use them? You've got to get an adapter. Like, they put the AirPods in, like, just the, the maybe the
01:00:26 ◼ ► 3.5 ones and they're like, you know, bring your own adapter. -No, I don't think France will let them do that.
01:00:30 ◼ ► I think they have to actually work. -Because you've got somebody, once somebody think of the children.
01:00:34 ◼ ► Rowan asks, "Do I recall correctly a WWDC announcement about Swift Playgrounds being able to build
01:00:41 ◼ ► and submit iOS apps straight from an iOS app, like from the iPad?" -Yes. -I haven't heard about it since.
01:00:48 ◼ ► -Yeah, they did announce that. -I've forgotten about this completely, and I looked it up, Rowan, on your behalf,
01:00:53 ◼ ► because that's what we do here on Ask Upgrade. -That's right, we care. -So, this is coming with version 4 of
01:00:58 ◼ ► Swift Playgrounds, which is not available yet, and Apple had said, like, later this year, so that
01:01:04 ◼ ► version is just not available right now. They haven't shipped it yet. -Get ready. -That will come.
01:01:09 ◼ ► I'm going to be really intrigued to see what that process is like, you know. Someone's going to do
01:01:13 ◼ ► that, probably Steve Trout and Smith, and I'm really, I'm really intrigued to see, like, what will it look
01:01:21 ◼ ► like to build an app in Swift Playgrounds and then submit it to the App Store? Like, what is that
01:01:25 ◼ ► process going to look like? -Could be Rambo, could be Gee Rambo. -Could be, could be. -It's going to be
01:01:30 ◼ ► somebody, though, there's going to be, well, I'll tell you what Apple's going to do is, Apple is going
01:01:34 ◼ ► to release a press release about a teenager who built their own app entirely in Swift Playgrounds
01:01:40 ◼ ► and is selling it on the App Store. -Yeah. -With a profile. -And is integrated paddle for their, for their
01:01:46 ◼ ► own app purchases. -Well, it turns out that now, in the terms and conditions of using Swift Playgrounds,
01:01:52 ◼ ► you have to only use Apple's in-app purchase systems. They've just moved all of those rules
01:01:56 ◼ ► down into Swift Playgrounds as a development environment. -Brant asks, "Regarding your thoughts
01:02:01 ◼ ► on why the iPad Mini makes sense for people who don't want to use an iPad Pro to, you know, really
01:02:06 ◼ ► take advantage of what that can do, is there a reason that the standard iPad isn't the better
01:02:11 ◼ ► option with it being $170 cheaper? Is it because the Mini is smaller or lighter?" -Yeah, we were speaking
01:02:17 ◼ ► in the context of the iPad Mini as a reading device, basically, and content consumption device, but
01:02:24 ◼ ► really, like, as a reader, and, and so, yeah, that's the answer is because it's smaller and lighter, it's
01:02:30 ◼ ► better suited to be a reading device, and, and so, I've talked to a lot of people who get an iPad Pro
01:02:38 ◼ ► or an iPad Air, and they feel guilty that it's not living up to its full potential, and the iPad Mini
01:02:44 ◼ ► maybe makes them feel better about it. Of course the standard iPad is there, and it's cheaper.
01:02:49 ◼ ► The context is just different then, like, because then it's, then it's bigger, and it's heavier, and so
01:02:56 ◼ ► it's less good as a reader, and it's got the home button and stuff, right? Like, and it doesn't support
01:03:02 ◼ ► some of the other stuff that, that the Mini supports, but that really was just the context of it
01:03:06 ◼ ► being a reader, and that the, the cheap iPad is fine too. It's just not as nice a reader because
01:03:12 ◼ ► it's not as small and light as the Mini. -And I'll speak for myself too, I forget that the iPad exists.
01:03:18 ◼ ► I do, because it's not in my, it's not, I'm not personally excited about it. -I would not recommend
01:03:23 ◼ ► it for most people because it is, it is a full generation behind on technology at this point,
01:03:28 ◼ ► but, you know, it's, the price can't be beat, right? Like, that's a good, good price. -It's a fantastic price.
01:03:34 ◼ ► What does the iPad Air start at? -Oh, it's in the middle, it's in the 500s, yeah, yeah. -And so, like, you know,
01:03:41 ◼ ► again, it's not as easy to just say, "Hey, go up and get that one," and I understand that. It's like, for me,
01:03:46 ◼ ► like, a lot of this stuff, it really is the things that I talk about, I want to talk about the thing
01:03:54 ◼ ► that I personally am excited about the most, you know? I don't have access to all of these products, so.
01:04:00 ◼ ► -Ipad Air is 600. -Okay, so that's quite expensive. -Yeah, it is. It's, it's, it's cheap when you consider
01:04:08 ◼ ► the Pro, but if you're, if you're, it's expensive when you're considering the cheaper ones, right?
01:04:15 ◼ ► And it is, most of the Pro-- -I was hoping it was going to be like, "Oh, you know, just pay this bit more,"
01:04:20 ◼ ► and you could get-- -No. -No, that's much, much more. -It's substantially more. -Yeah, much, much more.
01:04:23 ◼ ► And, like, so, yeah, the, the regular iPad is definitely there for iPad-y things, but I still stand by, like,
01:04:30 ◼ ► the iPad Mini, I think, is the best iPad you can get, obviously, because it's expensive and you're at blah,
01:04:37 ◼ ► blah, blah, for those, like, content consumption tasks. I remain, people are gonna get so bored of me saying
01:04:43 ◼ ► this, I am in love with that iPad Mini. Oh my god, this is the best. -It's great. -I love it so much.
01:04:47 ◼ ► Rajeev asks, "Do you think Apple will expand iCloud Private Relay beyond Safari and into other
01:04:56 ◼ ► applications? What do you think?" -I don't know how it works technically. I would think that, that once,
01:05:01 ◼ ► well, first they have to ship it as, like, on and out of beta and all of those things, right?
01:05:06 ◼ ► Um, so, let's wait for them to get there, but yes, I think iCloud Private Relay is the start of something
01:05:18 ◼ ► that will expand and grow and become, I would not be surprised if it eventually becomes essentially
01:05:27 ◼ ► a VPN, but not, but Apple in its own Apple-y way will implement it they way, the way they will, but I
01:05:35 ◼ ► feel like this is the beginning of Apple, um, moving your networking traffic in ways that make it more
01:05:42 ◼ ► secure and private. I think it'll keep happening. -Yeah, I know for me this is gonna be one of those features
01:05:46 ◼ ► that, like, I'm gonna let everyone else try it for a while and, like, I'm like, I don't know, like, it's, uh,
01:05:52 ◼ ► I just, I'm not sure how I feel about it, like, even on all the time and just, like, the issues that it
01:05:58 ◼ ► could cause, I don't know, I'll wait and see. This is one of those things, like, many things that Apple
01:06:01 ◼ ► does around services, like, I will let other people try this first before I wade into that water, but I
01:06:07 ◼ ► do, uh, I do, I think ultimately it makes sense for them to do it for all internet traffic, like, there's
01:06:14 ◼ ► a lot of internet traffic that isn't through Safari and if Apple really want to provide that level of
01:06:19 ◼ ► security to their iCloud customers, having this available, and this privacy, I should say, rather than
01:06:24 ◼ ► security specifically, but having this available is a good thing. I think the worry could be
01:06:30 ◼ ► potentially things, like, not working, but this is what I'm talking about, like, I saw a lot of people
01:06:35 ◼ ► in the beta saying, like, they couldn't buy tickets on Ticketmaster and stuff like that, right, um, and so,
01:06:42 ◼ ► and these things are so obscured, right, like, all you know is you're looking at the web browser and
01:06:49 ◼ ► it's not letting you do a thing, right, and it's like, oh, because it's trying to understand where
01:06:55 ◼ ► you are geographically or whatever. I think that's why it's a beta, I mean, I think that's why it's still in beta.
01:07:00 ◼ ► I think that's why it happened, because it wasn't pitched as such when they showed it off at WWDC, and I think
01:07:06 ◼ ► Apple quite rightly were like, well, this could be tricky, like, we need to spend more time on this,
01:07:10 ◼ ► and this is a thing they've done before, so, like, the, the app tracking transparency thing, right, it was
01:07:15 ◼ ► announced, and then they just kept delaying, kept delaying, kept delaying, because it could upset a
01:07:20 ◼ ► lot of Apple carts, and you've got to make sure you're getting it right before you put it in place, so
01:07:25 ◼ ► maybe they'll wait for iCalPilotRelay 2 for that, I don't know, but yes, if it works eventually,
01:07:32 ◼ ► uh, it should be in everything. Similarly, I want web extensions in Safari View Controller, put those
01:07:37 ◼ ► in there while you're at it, you know, like, I'm really loving using the 1Password extension, but if
01:07:42 ◼ ► I'm inside of another app trying to log into something, no, it doesn't work, like, I want to have
01:07:46 ◼ ► that wherever I can get Safari, I want the, uh, the extensions too, so. Yeah, I, uh, open things in web
01:07:53 ◼ ► views now in apps, and I cry, because they're bad, because they don't have the extensions in them, so.
01:07:58 ◼ ► Or like the cookie notification blocker things. Yeah, well, at night, uh, Noir doesn't fire off in a web view,
01:08:06 ◼ ► I'm like, no, it's so bright, open the web, open in Safari, no, it's just, I'm, I want them all, be, be my
01:08:13 ◼ ► extensions, so, yeah, put it everywhere, please. I get it, I get why you got to start somewhere, but
01:08:19 ◼ ► man, I already just love those extensions, so. If you'd like to send in a question, uh, for us to answer
01:08:26 ◼ ► on the show, just send out a tweet with the hashtag #askupgrade, or use question mark ask upgrade in
01:08:30 ◼ ► the Relay FM members Discord, which you'll get access to if you sign up for Upgrade Plus. Go to
01:08:35 ◼ ► getupgradeplus.com and you will get longer ad-free episodes of Upgrade every single week. Thank you so
01:08:41 ◼ ► much if you support the show by doing so. Also, thank you to Gabby, Hunter Douglas, and DoorDash
01:08:46 ◼ ► for their support of this week's episode, and thank you for listening. If you'd like to find Jason online,
01:08:51 ◼ ► you can go to sixcolors.com, the incomparable.com, and also here at Relay FM, Jason hosts a number of
01:08:57 ◼ ► shows, including the new and awesome Downstream, which you should go check out. Um, Jason is @jsnell,
01:09:03 ◼ ► J-S-N-E-L-L, and I am @imike, I-M-Y-K-E. And hey, I make some products, some journals and notebooks, go
01:09:11 ◼ ► to cortexmerch.com and you can check those out. I would very much appreciate it. We'll be back next
01:09:17 ◼ ► time. Until then, say goodbye, Jason Snell. The iPad Mini. Myke took it out of a box, and he will use it