0:00:00It has come to my attention that my actions on last week's show concerning Federico's undying love of Pokemon upset some people in the audience
0:00:08and apparently put Federico himself in an emotional tailspin that will take a long time to recover from.
0:00:14I would like to state for the record that I did not leave the podcast while we were recording.
0:00:18I played a prank on Federico with the idea in mind to play the whole music in the edit,
0:00:23making it clear to everyone that it was just a joke.
0:00:26To Federico, the audience, and the whole world, I would like to apologize for any anxiety
0:00:31or distress my actions have caused, and through hard work and the dedicated love of my family
0:00:36and friends, I will strive to do better in the future.
0:00:40Perhaps we can all learn lessons from this about pranking other people, and we can make
0:00:44the world a better place together.
0:00:46I will not be taking questions at this time.
0:00:49But I do have a question.
0:00:50Can I ask my question?
0:00:51No.
0:00:52(upbeat music)
0:00:54- Hello and welcome to Connected, episode 282.
0:01:02It is made possible this week by our sponsors,
0:01:05Smile, Hover, and SaneBox.
0:01:07My name is Stephen Hackett
0:01:08and I am joined by Mr. Federico Vittucci.
0:01:12- Hello, hi, how are you?
0:01:14- I'm growing as a person.
0:01:16- Yeah, I'm still so emotionally distressed.
0:01:20I don't know if I can do the show.
0:01:22I was wondering if you were just not going to say hello.
0:01:25Or maybe I was going to leave.
0:01:29Maybe I will leave at some point today, who knows?
0:01:31Oh, damn.
0:01:33Who knows? I don't know.
0:01:34I was thinking about all of this.
0:01:36And it calls into question for me,
0:01:39like does Federico ever leave when we talk about the Mac?
0:01:42No one could know.
0:01:44I actually do not.
0:01:45And I've never left.
0:01:46The only time I've left, I was sitting on my bed while John Voorhis was filling up for
0:01:53me because he was here in Rome.
0:01:55So that's the only time I left because my desk is a one-person desk.
0:02:00Also, for the record, I would like to state that I did not learn my lesson about pranking
0:02:05other people.
0:02:06I do.
0:02:08I am intrigued by the idea of making the world a better place together, but I have not learned
0:02:13my lesson about pranking other people and I will continue to prank other people for
0:02:17the record. This makes it sound like a Steven focused prank is on the way. Steven, I accept
0:02:21your apology though, thank you. You're welcome. We should start with some... Oh, I didn't
0:02:26introduce Myke. Myke's here too. I'm leaving the podcast. I'm gone. I'm leaving now because
0:02:31you didn't introduce me. Sorry. I'm just really falling apart. Wow, Steven. One episode after
0:02:38the other wow the controversy is so controversial yeah that's me that's that's what i strive for
0:02:45uh we have some follow-up and it starts with federal is here hello mike how are you hello
0:02:53oh i'm so good oh it's good to hear from you mike the uh latest beta of ios 17.4 just released so
0:03:00we're all waiting with bated breath to see the changes that could potentially be coming
0:03:04Maybe every app is universal, maybe no app's universal.
0:03:08We will find out through the course of this episode.
0:03:10We are waiting with beta breath, you could say.
0:03:13Ayo! Wow.
0:03:15Look at that, you are forgiven.
0:03:17Yes, you are.
0:03:18For everything you've ever done.
0:03:20We love you again. You're loved again, Steven.
0:03:23#LovableStevenHanker.
0:03:26Make Steven loved again.
0:03:27Okay, can we do follow-up?
0:03:32Because Federico, we have discovered that you have the power to change things. So tell us about how
0:03:38you willed Apple Music Replay 2020 into the world. What you have discovered? This is new to you?
0:03:44No, I mean we're kidding, but it is a very nice coincidence that since we talked about... Do you
0:03:52think it's a coincidence? I think you're being nice here because I mean I don't think this is
0:04:00is a coincidence. Sure, it's a funny thing to say, but they actually said publicly that
0:04:07they were gonna do this. So, I mean, it's not like, I don't know, you think there's
0:04:11like some engineer at Apple who's like "oh, they talked about it on connected, so we gotta
0:04:16actually enable this feature". I don't think it works like that, but it's funny to think
0:04:20about. I mean, maybe, who knows, I don't know. You were checking all the time, though, so.
0:04:25I was checking all the time. So we're talking about Apple Music Replay 2020, the playlist
0:04:29that aggregates all of your top songs of the year.
0:04:32As we noted, was it last week or two weeks ago?
0:04:36- It was last week.
0:04:37- Last week.
0:04:37So Apple actually said in a statement last year
0:04:41when they introduced the feature, Apple Music Replay,
0:04:43that it was not going to be just an end of the year
0:04:47type of feature, but it was gonna be available
0:04:50throughout the year, continuously updating every Sunday
0:04:54with a fresh set of songs in the playlist.
0:04:57Now, if you go to the Apple Music Replay website, the sort of hero image that you get at the
0:05:03top of the page still says 19.
0:05:06So obviously the Apple Music Replay 2019 is still the featured item, and rightfully so
0:05:12because it's still February and I could see why people may want to generate the playlist
0:05:17for last year now.
0:05:18However...
0:05:19And also, if you're me, I am being told I have not listened to enough music this year
0:05:23to generate a playlist yet. So that's something.
0:05:29Right. But if you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will find now, since a few days
0:05:37ago really, a first Apple Music Replay 2020 playlist. So that's the playlist that you
0:05:43can add to your library and you will find it in the music app for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
0:05:49And sure enough, it comes with, at least for me, it's got the top songs that I've listened
0:05:53to since January 1st 2020. Again, it's just a playlist, you will not get any additional
0:06:00information about top albums and top artists and that kind of stuff, but you can add it
0:06:05and in theory every Sunday it'll update itself based on your listening activity. So there
0:06:11you go, you can have the playlist now and I suppose that at the end of the year or maybe
0:06:17towards the end of the year, we will also get the full webpage design with the statistics
0:06:23and all that kind of stuff.
0:06:24But for now…
0:06:25I just want to say, right, because I believe in the power of Federico, I was checking this
0:06:31page as we were recording last week and the 2020 thing was not listed anywhere.
0:06:37Nowhere.
0:06:38And then after the episode, it appeared.
0:06:42So I think…
0:06:43Yeah, yeah.
0:06:44That is technically true.
0:06:46It's exactly true. I think somebody was like "Oh, whoops!" and then did it! That's what I think happened.
0:06:53And look, we're all human. We all forget things. We all make mistakes.
0:06:58There's no hate being thrown here. It's just funny that the things happen this way.
0:07:04Sure enough, you can scroll to the bottom of the page and the playlist is there, so save it,
0:07:09added to your library and in theory this is supposed to update again every Sunday
0:07:15so I guess maybe on Sunday it'll do the update and on Monday morning I guess
0:07:20you're gonna find a new version I don't know we'll see how it works but I'm I'm
0:07:23really happy that it's here because I can already tell that I've been listening
0:07:27to a bunch of Italian songs in the in the first part of the year so yeah well
0:07:33we have a we have the we have this national like song contest and the
0:07:38winner of this contest goes to Eurovision. And so that is why I've been exposed to Italian
0:07:45songs because I've been checking out the participants in the contest.
0:07:48Man, we're gonna do so well in Eurovision this year.
0:07:51Oh yeah?
0:07:52Yeah, it's gonna be great, right? Like everyone's gonna love the UK and Eurovision.
0:07:56Oh, damn.
0:07:58I mean, we haven't done well for years just because, but like, it's gonna be, woo! That
0:08:06one's gonna be fun.
0:08:07I'm very sorry.
0:08:10I expect, I don't know this, but I expect we will stay in Eurovision for a very long
0:08:14time.
0:08:15And we're in the 2021, but I expect we'll stay in it because the UK is like very popular
0:08:21here Eurovision, right?
0:08:23And the UK is one of the countries that gets automatic entry because we pay a lot of money
0:08:29to the Eurovision body or whatever.
0:08:31I don't know if Italy is one of those.
0:08:32Do you know that?
0:08:33I have no idea what you're talking about.
0:08:35All right, that's cool, man.
0:08:36Don't worry about it.
0:08:37deeper into the Eurovision lore than you, which is fine. It's perfectly fine. Nobody has to be,
0:08:43you know? But yeah, I expect we'll just be booted off the stage. It's gonna be great, can't wait.
0:08:48Awesome. We also have another Apple Music related feature update. So a few days ago,
0:08:56I first noticed in the 13.4 beta, but it turns out that it's also available publicly on 13.3,
0:09:04Apple rolled out another Beats Music inspired feature in Apple Music. This would be the
0:09:11ability to browse multiple versions of the same album. So, when Beats Music launched
0:09:17in 2013, I want to say, and was acquired by Apple in 2014, it had a lot of really great
0:09:25features that, you know, and a lot of people made fun of Beats Music, but I've always
0:09:31thought that it was like a genius product. I really miss it. It had a bunch of new and
0:09:35fresh ideas in terms of organizing albums and browsing artists' pages. And I've always
0:09:41wished for Apple Music to borrow some of those ideas, and sure enough, Apple has been doing
0:09:45that with the playlists, with the editorial sections, like the mini interviews that you
0:09:52see when a new album comes out. And now they have released one of the best features from
0:09:57Beats Music, which was a section that is called "Other Versions". And this section that is
0:10:03available at the bottom of an album page shows you all of the multiple versions that an album
0:10:08may be available in.
0:10:09Yeah, still not as good as the way Beats Music did it.
0:10:12Still not as good, still not as good because the design was better.
0:10:14Because the way it is, in your, I put it in the show that you wrote a big article called
0:10:19"Why Beats Music Matters". And I'm sure there are many episodes of whatever show we were
0:10:25doing there and probably connected where me and you were talking about our love for beats
0:10:28music which was real. Like when you used to go to an artist's page you would see an album
0:10:33and then there was a drop down for other versions of that album. There would be deluxe versions,
0:10:38limited edition versions, live versions, that kind of stuff. So good. The drop down was
0:10:43really good. Still the sort of the essence of the feature is still there in Apple Music.
0:10:50Because it's way better to have... so you use in... or Ryan's I should say in the article
0:10:57Well that's my screenshot
0:10:58It's your screenshot which is an internationally famous screenshot used all over the web which
0:11:03I've been seeing over the last few days which is hilarious to me. Just take your own screenshots
0:11:07people it's not that difficult. Well I say this to Ryan too, Ryan take your own screenshot.
0:11:13Takes Federico's screenshot. The definitely maybe deluxe version which has 44 songs on
0:11:17it is never the one you want. You always want the 11 song version of the album, not where
0:11:24like there's three versions of every single song. Like, that's it is very, it's like a
0:11:30very particular use case for why you would maybe want that. Like, and I think that it
0:11:35should always be buried, which is great because it is now a little bit more buried. So I think
0:11:39that's a good, that's a good thing. It's good to have this feature for that reason.
0:11:42Yeah, so the multiple versions include remixes, reissues, remasters, even demo versions, which
0:11:50is nice. For example, Steven, Death Cab for Cutie, they have a demo version of the Transatanthesis
0:11:57album, and that is part of the other versions section as well. So it's not clear if like,
0:12:04is this an automatic thing that Apple Music can do based on metadata? Is it something
0:12:08that the Apple Music team needs to curate. I would assume it is part of an update that
0:12:14is now automatic and like every album on Apple Music now has metadata that allows it to be
0:12:19grouped with other versions of the same item. I would assume so, I don't think it's a manual
0:12:23thing. Or maybe there has been like a mix of data coming from the labels and manual
0:12:30creation from the Apple Music team because the demo album of the Death Cab of Cutie thing,
0:12:37was really surprising to me, I wouldn't have thought that the system was gonna
0:12:40automatically group that together. So I wouldn't be surprised if it's like a
0:12:44combination of data just coming in from the labels and manual curation from
0:12:49the Apple Music team. I expect there has to be some level... you know
0:12:54what I'd be really interested to see, like, if there was an album... I'm trying to
0:12:58find one that would be a good example of this but I'm struggling at the moment
0:13:03weren't searching around, an album that had been remastered, which version is considered
0:13:10the one that you see? You know what I mean? Like if an album has been remastered, what
0:13:17is the album that you see in the search results? And is there like the original version in
0:13:22the other versions? I think from personal experience, I think if you look, for example,
0:13:28Oasis "Be Here Now" was remastered a couple of years ago and I think by default
0:13:33Apple Music in search always shows you the remastered version first. I'm looking
0:13:39at some some Beatles albums too and it's remastered and then it's got other
0:13:43versions that include the original or deluxe versions kind of underneath that.
0:13:47Which I think is the right way to go. I feel like a lot of people would be upset
0:13:52with that but I feel like that's the right the right way to do it. To go with
0:13:55the remastered version, as long as it hasn't been changed.
0:13:59We're not George Lucas-ing this situation.
0:14:01Personally, I would always go with remastered version, but not the deluxe version.
0:14:07Because like in that example, definitely maybe with 44 songs, nobody needs that.
0:14:11I mean, sure, some people want that, but nobody needs that.
0:14:14Like by default, you should show me the 11 song version, and it's okay if it's the remastered
0:14:20one, but not the deluxe version, please.
0:14:22Yeah, as long as the album hasn't been changed, but like just mixed, like remixed for modern,
0:14:29with modern techniques, I think that's fine.
0:14:32I totally understand why some people wouldn't, but then if you care that much, you probably
0:14:37have the original one in your library.
0:14:40Right.
0:14:41I think it's a fantastic feature, and it's so interesting to me that this was a beats
0:14:45feature that like just now sort of popped up.
0:14:48Like why now?
0:14:50I mean, I can't remember off the top of my head, but I bet there are still things in
0:14:55Beats Music that could be added.
0:14:57Oh yeah.
0:14:58Like, at some point you were able, I want to say, to browse compatible merch from artists
0:15:07inside Beats Music.
0:15:08And that was genius, like, yes, let me do this.
0:15:11And we always thought, for sure Apple Music is going to do this and you should be able
0:15:14to pay with Apple Pay inside music.
0:15:16Like if you want to buy a t-shirt from, I don't know, Panic! at the Disco, you should
0:15:20be able to do so with Apple Pay. And it's like a seamless integration thing happening
0:15:24within Apple Music. And they've done like one-off experiments. For example, last year
0:15:29with Billie Eilish, they had like this promotion that you could only get a t-shirt that I do
0:15:34have personally. By tapping on a link in Apple Music. But that took you to like a Safari
0:15:41webpage with a Shopify store. And it was not integrated at all with Apple Music. Sure,
0:15:47CopyFi has Apple Pay, which is nice. It should be all in one with Apple Music.
0:15:56Beats Music had a very nice presentation for this stuff.
0:16:02That article about Beats Music, it's got plenty of screenshots, so if you've never seen what
0:16:07Beats Music was like, go take a look at those images. There were a bunch of ideas that I
0:16:11really do think that Apple should copy. I really miss the wheel.
0:16:16the UI for scrubbing. Or the sentence, do you remember the sentence? I remember the
0:16:22sentence. It was like the meme joke of it but was actually really good where you
0:16:26would pick some words and it would find music for you based on the like the mood
0:16:30that you'd set. Uh-huh. Yeah, I miss it. While you guys take a moment for Beats
0:16:37music, what if I take our first break? Good idea. Sound good? Yeah. This episode of
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0:17:405G baby! Got an update for you Stephen, do you want to know some more about 5G?
0:17:46Sure, I love hearing about fantasies.
0:17:48So yeah, nice, that was good. This one, this is like a very quick thing and it's one of those
0:17:54things that probably means nothing but I wanted to say it anyway. The UK carrier 3 that we have
0:17:59here, it's called 3THREE, they have announced that they're launching their 5G service later
0:18:04this month and the chief executive Dave Dyson said, that's a great name by the way, Dave Dyson,
0:18:10Tyson, said that in doing this now they are prepped and ready for the 5G introduction
0:18:16on the iPhone this year, which they've said will be a critical inflection point.
0:18:20Does this guy know that the iPhone's going to get 5G this year?
0:18:24Maybe.
0:18:26Probably not, though.
0:18:27But I just wanted to state that even the chief executives of cell carriers believe that 5G
0:18:34is coming to the iPhone this year.
0:18:36What do you think about the part of this quote about being a critical inflection point?
0:18:39I mean there's to your point in previous episodes there are a bunch of Android phones with 5G
0:18:45the new S20 line has 5G options.
0:18:47Do you think the iPhone is a quote critical inflection point?
0:18:51I do.
0:18:52I want to state just for the clarity the other part of this interview which was done with
0:18:56Reuters and I'm putting in the 9 to 5 Mac article because that's where I found it.
0:19:00They the other part of this discussion is they were happy they were well they were actually
0:19:05making sure it was ready this week for the S20.
0:19:09Like they wanted to make sure they had their 5G network up and running fully in the UK
0:19:14because the S20 would be the big break into the 5G market in their opinion.
0:19:19But then the iPhone is a critical inflection point which I agree with because there are
0:19:24a lot of people that buy iPhones and there are a lot of people that buy iPhones every
0:19:28single year.
0:19:30It's going to make a big jump to 5G the same way that LTE and 4G existed before the iPhone
0:19:38getting it, but it was a massive change because all of the people getting the new iPhone that
0:19:43year were going to have access to this new technology and that's going to be the same.
0:19:48I think that the S20 is going to make a big change because the S20 ships with 5G where
0:19:56in previous years it didn't, it was an option. You had to buy the 5G phone. I think that
0:20:03this is going to be the first part of the wave but throughout this entire year
0:20:08there's going to be phones with 5G shipping but when it will be you know
0:20:11the biggest bump the biggest first bump is the s20 and then the probably bigger
0:20:16bump will be the iPhone. I think it's gonna be a big deal like I do think it's gonna be a
0:20:20big deal. We're gonna talk about March event stuff later on like there's just
0:20:24like a bunch of rumors circulating about March event stuff but one of the things
0:20:28that I didn't put in here but I saw was that there might be a second... we didn't talk about this yet
0:20:34right? That there could be like an iPad update in September even though they're also thinking
0:20:40there'll be one in March and the September one would include LTE... sorry 5G instead of LTE or
0:20:50alongside LTE that there would be just an update potentially to the cell one to include a 5G radio
0:20:58when the iPhone gets it. Do you think that makes sense? I think it does. I mean, I think if that
0:21:03takes place and we see an iPad in March, it's got, you know, an updated processor, cameras,
0:21:08all this stuff we'll talk about later. Then I would imagine if there's a 5G one this fall,
0:21:12that all it does is it doesn't change anything except the LTE one just becomes a 5G one. So you
0:21:18You spend the 130 extra and you get a 5G as opposed to a 4G model, but the rest of the
0:21:22specs stay the same.
0:21:24I don't see this being an iPad 3 to 4 deal with iPad 3 was on the market like 10 months
0:21:29and they replaced it because it was bad and sad and slow.
0:21:33I think this would just be a radio update.
0:21:35Yeah, because I feel like if they were going to revise it significantly, then they should
0:21:42do which we what they thought we might do which was to release 5g on the iPad first right right
0:21:48that it would be a bad idea to sell the iPad Pro in March if you knew you were getting rid of it
0:21:56in September or like replacing it yeah I mean it may just be coming down to logistics where they
0:22:02don't have their 5g modems or antenna or whatever part they're building a different rumors say
0:22:08different things about what 5g components Apple's building and what they're going to rely on Qualcomm
0:22:12for it may just be that stuff's not lined up yet and they have an iPad revision they want to get
0:22:17out there and then they can just offer a 5G version later. It does and it will lead to an interesting
0:22:23question if they do revise the iPads in the spring and they're just LTE and like people like me like
0:22:29I have an LTE iPad I find that really useful would I wait until there's a 5G model like maybe if I
0:22:36really think 5G is coming which you know could looks like it could be happening so it could
0:22:40candlelight sales a little bit. You've changed your tune. You never know. Yeah I mean I
0:22:46wonder what the actual sales breakdown is from LTE to Wi-Fi iPad
0:22:52models. I would love to know. I bet they sell a significantly higher level even
0:22:58on the pro of the Wi-Fi version over the LTE version. I think so too. I think most
0:23:02people don't want to spend 130 bucks on what's already an expensive device and
0:23:06And most people would just tether if they really need it, but most people probably don't need it.
0:23:11Because I think most iPads get used at like home or school or work and not necessarily, you know, the way we use them when we travel.
0:23:17Like a lot of people just don't have that need.
0:23:19What do you think Federico? Do you think they sell a lot? Like what do you think the breakdown is if you were just gonna guess?
0:23:26Yeah, I don't think the, I think the majority of iPads are Wi-Fi only iPads. That's just my personal speculation.
0:23:33Yeah, I think it's a big majority though, right? Not just like 51%.
0:23:40No more like 70, 75% I would say. Because like even for me, like I still, my
0:23:46iPad Pro, my large iPad Pro, I always get the Wi-Fi version and I get the 5G one or
0:23:53the smaller iPad I get with Cell because I take that one out when I travel and stuff.
0:23:58but the one that I most exclusively use at home, I just get Wi-Fi.
0:24:04And I think if I only had one iPad, I'd probably still get Wi-Fi.
0:24:09Because I don't use the cell options that much.
0:24:12The cell plans to buy Pay As You Go, which I do, are expensive.
0:24:18They're pretty expensive.
0:24:21I haven't looked into it.
0:24:22I think I heard you mention this on a podcast recently, Stephen, that you have your iPad
0:24:28in like a data group. Yeah, so we have whatever it is 10 gigs or 12 gigs on AT&T and it's my iPhone,
0:24:36my wife's iPhone and my iPad. So they just share that pool of data. I don't know if we can do that
0:24:41here, but I want that because I have a lot of data on my phone. Yeah. And I know I can tether,
0:24:48right? But like, I don't want to wear the battery of both devices down. That's that's my thing.
0:24:53Like, tethering works mostly okay.
0:24:56It can be a bit flaky, but my thing is I don't want to just be blowing through the battery
0:25:00of both devices when my iPhone is just sitting there doing nothing except serve a connection.
0:25:05Because I'm only ever tethering when I'm not at home, right?
0:25:08So like, I want the maximum battery life out on my phone because I'm out and about.
0:25:13I used to be a big believer in the idea that you have one cell network for your phone and
0:25:19a different one for your iPad.
0:25:21So like my phone would be on AT&T, but my iPad would be on Verizon.
0:25:25I think in the early days of LTE, that made sense.
0:25:28And that may make sense again in the early days of 5G.
0:25:32But in the last several years, at least for me, AT&T coverage is so good.
0:25:36Basically anywhere I go, I sort of just folded it into one.
0:25:39So it's like it's one less account to have open, one less bill to pay.
0:25:42It's just all comes out of one thing.
0:25:44I think that is going to make a difference in 5G again, because there are all these different
0:25:48technologies and it is about how much spectrum you have.
0:25:51So like 3, who I was just talking about, they are claiming and they have good data to back
0:25:57it up that they're going to have the best 5G coverage because they have more spectrum
0:26:02so they can deliver faster 5G faster than anybody else here.
0:26:07So I'm keeping my eye on how this is all going to go with the 5G stuff about where I want
0:26:13to be anyway because you know, so companies are much and much the same really.
0:26:19service that you receive. I really have a lot of brand loyalty, honestly.
0:26:24Sure. Because they're just frustrating.
0:26:26Yeah, so that's that. 5G is coming up fast. I have some game recommendations for the connected
0:26:33listeners.
0:26:34Hmm. Steven, this is... if you want to leave, it's fine.
0:26:39Hey-oh, iPhone games. First one is this game called Tetris.
0:26:45I think I've heard of that before.
0:26:47I would like to recommend a Tetris game.
0:26:49And I know if listeners out there, if you hear me say this, you think to yourself,
0:26:55"But Myke, every Tetris game on the iPhone is terrible."
0:26:59And I would say I agree, except this new one isn't because the Tetris company,
0:27:06whoever owns the Tetris license, they had been working with EA on the most recent
0:27:14and for quite a while Tetris games.
0:27:16But that is no longer the case and it's even the EA Tetris games do no longer exist on the App Store
0:27:22So that that is like a gone dead
0:27:26Arrangement they were and the Tetris companies working with a new new developer a new company called Network
0:27:33I've never heard of before but they have put out the Tetris game that you have always wanted for the iPhone. It's just Tetris
0:27:40Like it's proper Tetris. They have some cute little designs and stuff. You can change the way it looks
0:27:46looks, but it's Tetris. You have high scores and they have some other modes and stuff,
0:27:54but you get the regular game, the music is good, the graphics are exactly what you'd
0:27:58want, the movement is just what you'd want, you're swiping left and right to move the
0:28:02pieces, you're swiping down or flicking down to get them to fall to the bottom. I do have
0:28:06a thing where I keep accidentally invoking reachability because I'm flicking down towards
0:28:11the bottom of the screen but that's not the fault of the Tetris people. They have themes,
0:28:16One of them is an 8-bit theme which makes it look like old Gameboy Tetris, which is
0:28:21brilliant.
0:28:23Like it's the green and black, or like the green and grey theme.
0:28:28And I enjoy that a lot and it has the little, like the Russian palace type motif along the
0:28:35top which is super cool.
0:28:36I love that.
0:28:38And it is a free app with a one-time fee to remove ads.
0:28:43Which is exactly what you want.
0:28:45$4.99 to disable ads in Tetris and this is a Tetris game that is worth your $4.99.
0:28:51It's really very good.
0:28:53If you like Tetris, you will like this game.
0:28:56This looks nice.
0:28:57It is very nice.
0:29:00I have been playing it.
0:29:01It's been out for a bit.
0:29:02It's been out for maybe a couple of months.
0:29:05Oh January.
0:29:06It came out in January.
0:29:07I've been playing it a lot recently.
0:29:09been kind of like my one of my go-to iPhone games for kind of just like idle
0:29:13stuff for a bit because you know you can just dip in dip out whenever you want
0:29:17and it's just Tetris and unless you're like super crazy on it like I don't
0:29:23really care too much about how good I am at Tetris. Are either of you good at
0:29:27Tetris like like good good at Tetris? No I was never good good at Tetris no.
0:29:32You're okay do you enjoy it at least? No? Okay. Until it gets really hard like
0:29:38Like I can enjoy it, but it does not relax me though.
0:29:43It's not a relaxing game for me.
0:29:45Okay.
0:29:46I kind of just, I can play it mindlessly.
0:29:48I'm playing Tetris right now as I'm talking to you because I wanted to just check what
0:29:52I was saying about the themes.
0:29:55And I find that this is just a game that I can play very easily and because I don't get
0:30:01stressed about it because I know I'm not that great at it.
0:30:03So if I don't get a good high score, I don't care.
0:30:05It's just Tetris.
0:30:06And I'm sure the phrase "It's just Tetris" is very upsetting to some people because Tetris
0:30:12is one of the greatest video games ever, right?
0:30:16Like I think whether you like it or not, people can attest to that notion.
0:30:20So that's Tetris.
0:30:21In case you haven't heard, this is an up and coming game.
0:30:25Have you heard the good news about Tetris?
0:30:27Have you heard the good news about the new Tetris, which is good news.
0:30:31There's another game that I wanted to recommend, Spell Tower Plus.
0:30:34This is a kind of evolution of the, what is now, I can't believe when I say this, 10 year
0:30:41old game, Spell Tower. So Spell Tower by Zach Gage is 10 years old. Isn't that bananas?
0:30:52That's no, I don't believe that. That that can't 10. It's like he, he released it for
0:30:58the 10th anniversary. Well, at least it might've been 10 years since he started working on
0:31:02I think it maybe came out in 2011, but it is basic. It is for, you know, it's a 10 year
0:31:07old game at this point, which is just wild. So this is a kind of evolution of that mechanic.
0:31:15It's really fantastic. I mentioned Zach Gage who made it, who in my opinion is the very best
0:31:21independent iOS game developer. Like every game that Zach Gage makes, it's just fantastic,
0:31:30So you're looking at flip flop solitaire, cards of darkness, really bad chess.
0:31:37All of these games that are just absolute, they're all just fantastic.
0:31:42Oh, 8-bit pool, which is a great one, typeshift.
0:31:46All of these games, sage solitaire, all of these games and also Gage has been involved
0:31:50in a lot of other collaborations and stuff, so just excellent game developer.
0:31:56It is a, I think probably the easiest way to explain what Spell Tower is, or Spell Tower
0:32:01Plus is, it's like a word search game.
0:32:05So you're looking for words, you can do a word search where you're just selecting up
0:32:11words and finding them in a grid and then they disappear.
0:32:18The letters disappear, they're replaced with new letters.
0:32:20But then they also have towers where there are these like big columns and every time
0:32:25you complete a word a new row appears and kind of like in an almost Tetris-like way
0:32:32it can end up if you have a column that goes above a certain line, right, as the rows start
0:32:38to increase the game is over so you have to like also be finding words within the highest
0:32:44columns to make sure you bring them down.
0:32:46There's lots of just really good modes and they have daily challenges as well so that
0:32:53you can compete with friends so instead of just playing the boards that are already built
0:32:57in which of course I'm sure there's so many of them.
0:32:59There's also new ones every single day which is that's fun.
0:33:01I like that kind of mechanic.
0:33:03You know you have a thing every day to go and play.
0:33:06It is again, it is a game that has ads in it and you can pay to remove the ads.
0:33:13of 4.99. I also really like this mechanic that they have for challenging words. So if
0:33:20you find a word but the game says it's not a word, you can challenge the system. So you
0:33:28can say "this is a word" and then it does a search online against this dictionary and
0:33:34then it's like "oh you know what it is" because I think that there is an update in word list
0:33:38or there's this mechanic of checking against a larger dictionary than the one that's built
0:33:42into the game. But what I really like is that you have limited amounts of challenges. You
0:33:47have three. You start the game, you have three when you first download the game. And if you
0:33:53make a challenge and it's not a word, you lose one. But if you make a challenge and
0:33:58the word is in fact an actual word, which then gets added into the Spelltower+ dictionary,
0:34:04you get your challenge point back. Which reminds me of the challenge rules in tennis, which
0:34:09I assume is what this was modeled after. So in TANIS if you challenge a call against the
0:34:15umpire you're going to get two of these per game. But if your challenge is upheld you
0:34:23get one of your challenge points back. So anyway Spell Tower Plus is a fantastic word
0:34:28game. If you like word games of any kind on iOS then I recommend this one because it's
0:34:34one of my favorites based on one of my old favorites. So those are my two game recommendations.
0:34:39I have some real-time follow-up. Okay. I too have a game recommendation. Oh okay so I can
0:34:46leave I guess. That's right. It's called Pokemon and no I'm just kidding. So I don't tell you
0:34:53about it. I don't play many games. I have like one or two on my iPhone. That's that's
0:34:59it. One of them right now is Two Spies by our friends over at Steam Fox Software.
0:35:04I have been meaning to check this out, so I am happy you have brought this to the episode today.
0:35:09Well, download it and we can play each other later. So this is a turn-by-turn strategy game.
0:35:15It's on the iPhone and iPad. I think it's...
0:35:18Oh, this is very much in your wheelhouse.
0:35:20Yeah, I love Risk and games like that. So I think it's actually better on the phone because the
0:35:25The haptics in this game are really, really good.
0:35:29And as we know, the iPad does not have anything for that.
0:35:33But you play against somebody you know,
0:35:35so like you send somebody an iMessage link
0:35:37and then you play in the app.
0:35:39There's no open internet play,
0:35:42so you can't just wait for a stranger to join a game.
0:35:45They've said that they've considered that,
0:35:46but at this point, it's not a feature.
0:35:49But I actually like that 'cause I play my brother a lot
0:35:51and I know that we've learned how each other plays,
0:35:54which makes it a lot more difficult
0:35:55'cause then you have to think what they think you would do
0:35:58and you go back and forth and it's fantastic.
0:36:02So it's like strategy, you wanna gather cities and intel
0:36:07and you're basically moving your character around a map
0:36:10and then if they think they know where you are,
0:36:13you can try to kill them and there's intel and power ups
0:36:17that change the dynamics of the game.
0:36:19It's very enjoyable, very well designed
0:36:22and it is a, there are a couple of in-app purchases,
0:36:27but they're just cosmetic stuff.
0:36:29You're not buying power-ups or anything,
0:36:31and it's free to download.
0:36:32So it's really cool, really well polished,
0:36:34and I've really enjoyed it over the last couple of months
0:36:37since it's been out.
0:36:38- I wanna play it, it sounds good.
0:36:40I'm concerned about your willingness to play me.
0:36:44- Uh-huh, oh yeah.
0:36:45- Because, so me and Steven over the years,
0:36:48we've definitely mentioned this in the past,
0:36:50We have played each other in various iMessage-based games.
0:36:55I remember this.
0:36:57We're using an app called Game Pigeon, which is very fun.
0:37:02So there is a pool game, there's an 8-ball pool game, which we have played each other in this many, many, many times.
0:37:09Steven has never, ever beat me. Never once beat me, which is fantastic.
0:37:14But then there's also Battleships, which he always wins.
0:37:19But we haven't played that as many times as we've played the 8-Ball Pool.
0:37:24I wish I knew how many times I had beaten you, but it's every time.
0:37:28But I just wish I had statistics.
0:37:31It's kind of a wonderful thing, really, to go through the games.
0:37:35I feel so much tension because I never want to lose, because I've never lost, you know?
0:37:40So it's very exciting.
0:37:41But yeah, I'm keen to try out this game.
0:37:43I have been meaning to look at it for a while, because it seems like fun.
0:37:48So that's a good recommendation too.
0:37:50Federico, do you have any iOS games that you're playing?
0:37:53- No, I'm just playing Pokemon.
0:37:55Yeah.
0:37:58The chat room did point out that Altos Odyssey
0:38:01has made it to the Mac.
0:38:03So if that game is excellent,
0:38:05I think it's better on the iPad because it's so beautiful
0:38:08and I bet it's awesome on a big Mac display.
0:38:10So I'm gonna check that out.
0:38:11- Yeah, I wonder what it's like to use like a keyboard
0:38:15or whatever instead of a touchscreen for this.
0:38:17And I also wonder if it's Catalyst.
0:38:19Well that's a good question.
0:38:21Well I'm not on Catalina and it's allowing me to buy it in the App Store so.
0:38:28Apparently Alto's Adventure was already there and now Alto's Odyssey is so maybe yeah.
0:38:33Yeah, Alto's Adventure was there.
0:38:37So there's some that's our weekly game coverage that we do every week.
0:38:42We never miss.
0:38:43Steven, are you looking forward to the Animal Crossing Nintendo Direct tomorrow?
0:38:49Uh, obviously I knew it was going on and obviously I rearranged my schedule not to miss it.
0:38:55Good, good, good. I'll look forward to talking about it next week.
0:38:58Yeah, have me on remaster. I'll be ready.
0:39:00Okay, great.
0:39:01Okay, let's do it.
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0:40:42So there's been a lot of talk about a March event and what could be included in a March
0:40:49event and what could not be included in a March event. I have collected the majority
0:40:54of the tidbits that I have found interesting and would like to share them with you and
0:41:00our audience. So 9to5Mac is reporting via a German website called "iPhoneTicker" that
0:41:07apparently has sources that have told them a March event is on the cards, but most likely
0:41:12set for March 31st. I don't know if this report can be believed or not, but there is a lot
0:41:19of smoke that would suggest there is going to be something happening in spring, whether
0:41:23it's an event or a series of product launches. The 31st of March does match up with some
0:41:31stuff that's happened in the past, but who knows.
0:41:34Digitimes is reporting that new iPad Pros are in production. They will include, as we
0:41:38expect, a rear triple camera and time of flight camera, which time of flight camera would
0:41:43be a new thing for iOS devices, which is important for me in the Ricky pics. It's likely that
0:41:505G version as we spoke about earlier would launch later on in the year.
0:41:53However, according to other reports, it is looking likely for the production
0:41:58to peak after April due to delays in manufacturing because of coronavirus.
0:42:03This is going to be a running theme for my discussion here.
0:42:07Ming-Chi Kuo is reporting that Apple's Ultra Wideband tag product is going to be coming
0:42:13sometime in the second or third quarter of this year but would be expected to be announced if
0:42:17if there was going to be an event that Apple would just announce that here it is, it's
0:42:21coming later.
0:42:23Kuo had also previously reported, don't forget, that a wireless charging pad, high-end, over-ear
0:42:29Bluetooth headphones and new MacBooks, this is a Switch keys, are scheduled for release
0:42:33during the first half of the year.
0:42:36Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is still planning to release the new lower-cost iPhone,
0:42:41which we're thinking will either be the iPhone 9 or the iPhone SE2 in March, but coronavirus
0:42:47could impact that. Taiwan News is reporting that Apple is moving the manufacturer of some
0:42:52products to Taiwan because of the coronavirus and this could include the new iPad. And of
0:42:58course there is also iOS 13.4 which we mentioned earlier the second beta is out and testing
0:43:03now which we're expecting to drop around March sometime, coinciding with the Xcode changes
0:43:10for Universal apps including Mac versions because that was said to be taking effect
0:43:14from March. So that's kind of when you would expect 13.4 to ship. And it would make sense
0:43:19that there would be 13.4 shipping if there were new products that were needed for support,
0:43:24especially the iPads, which would have at least some new hardware changes, and we're
0:43:29expecting there would be keyboard changes. So this is kind of where we are. I mean, of
0:43:33course, there is also the news that Apple was adjusting its forecast because of coronavirus
0:43:38impacting its supply chain. So this is like this weird thing right now, right, where it's
0:43:43Like, there's a lot of potential products coming out, but they might not be able to
0:43:47make them, so maybe they wouldn't announce them.
0:43:51Or maybe they could do, like, they could launch it but it would be constrained for a few weeks?
0:43:58Yeah, I expect if Apple do have an event sometime in March with products coming out in April
0:44:06or May or whatever, anything that comes out will be heavily constrained.
0:44:11Because a lot of Apple's current production line is constrained. Like, try and buy AirPods.
0:44:17It is very difficult right now to do that. But they're going to be seeing constraints
0:44:22on everything, it seems like. Hence why they changed their quarterly guidance.
0:44:31Yeah, I mean, we still don't know though, if, like, looking at the list of these products,
0:44:37It seems to me like it's starting to feel a bit similar to last year when we had a bunch
0:44:42of products and we were certain, "Oh, there's going to be an event."
0:44:46But in fact, they just rolled them out with press releases because there wasn't like a
0:44:51single theme around that.
0:44:54Like sure, it's an iPad Pro and then it's an iPhone 9 and some Bluetooth headphones
0:45:00and also have a charging mat and some tags.
0:45:06It's a bunch of different products and I'm not sure if there's like... because it feels
0:45:11like maybe this is a point that Jason Snell made a while back on an episode of Upgrade,
0:45:16that like they usually need some kind of narrative to build an event around, and this to me feels
0:45:22like a grab bag of new products and updates.
0:45:26And also the iPad Pro, sure, with a new camera, the design is mostly going to look the same
0:45:32I could see the keyboard changes and the new accessories. This is my wild card and
0:45:37really the only reason why I still believe there may be a chance for an event. If the iPad Pro upgrades are
0:45:44important enough to tell a story around
0:45:47productivity and professional users using the iPad Pro
0:45:51then maybe they could build an event around that.
0:45:55I'm wondering how much of a difference does a time-of-flight camera make to AR?
0:46:01And if it is a big deal, I can imagine them wanting to have demonstrations of that because
0:46:08of how important that is to Apple.
0:46:10I also thought about, I was thinking about this a few days ago.
0:46:14I don't know if it's even possible, but like I was thinking about the tags, right?
0:46:20And I guess it would make sense because we've been thinking about the tags as like a tile
0:46:24competitor and that makes sense, right? You stick them somewhere and you place them somewhere
0:46:28and you can track the object that they're paired with. But what if there could also
0:46:33be an ARKit implementation for this?
0:46:36Oh, there has to be. That's very smart, right? Like, where you could move it around the room,
0:46:41it's like, oh, it's just here.
0:46:43Yeah, exactly. And like, because if you think about it, it's sort of similar, like other
0:46:48companies have tried this before, right? Like combining a physical object with AR to an
0:46:53extent you could say that even Nintendo years ago with the very rudimentary augmented reality
0:47:00for the Nintendo 3DS, you remember you could like, with the cards, like you could move
0:47:06the console around and the cards were actually an AR device. And so I wouldn't be surprised
0:47:13if the tags, yes they do have a track, I mean the main feature is the tracking component,
0:47:18but also an AR sort of mapping component. Because if it's based on devices that are
0:47:28very near to your main computer, then it will make sense to have them be sort of like beacons
0:47:34that you could do something with AR. I don't know. But maybe AR could be one of the stories,
0:47:40one of the plot points, if you will, to build an event around. Maybe it could be productivity,
0:47:46be, you know, Adobe, they have a bunch of updates for Photoshop, and in theory we're
0:47:52supposed to be getting Illustrator news this year at some point, so maybe there could be
0:47:57that angle of like iPad Pro and professional users, and we have Adobe come on stage again,
0:48:03and this time they're showing off Illustrator coming to the iPad Pro. You know, that kind
0:48:07of -- and we have a bunch of keyboard additions, and so we're going to show off a bunch of
0:48:11apps that use the, you know, the smart keyboard and -- I don't know.
0:48:15And then, oh, and like we've shown you this great IR stuff while we're talking about AR,
0:48:18right? Like we have this new AR tag product and it's like super amazing. I could see that.
0:48:23I could see that. But it is, you know, it's like the iPhone 9 or the iPhone SE 2. I'm
0:48:30sorry everyone, but it's not going to be exciting. Like that's not an exciting product. Like
0:48:35they are not going to do with, I am very confident they will not do what you want them to do,
0:48:40right? Like, which is to make a small, like a really small version of the iPhone 10. Like
0:48:44I just don't think it's going to be that.
0:48:47And then it's just not going to be exciting, right?
0:48:49It's just like, you remember this design from like 2016?
0:48:53Here it is again.
0:48:54Yeah, yeah, it's going to be an iPhone 8 with iPhone 11 guts in it.
0:48:58So I was sitting here thinking about what this event could look like.
0:49:01And I remember that sometimes in the past, like Steve Jobs called Johnny Ive on the first
0:49:07iPhone.
0:49:08I think with the first FaceTime camera and like the first MacBook Pro, Phil Schiller
0:49:12was in the audience and Steve FaceTime called him and they showed that he was in the same
0:49:17room and you know how it worked.
0:49:19So what if this time Tim's on stage and they're talking about this and like, "Oh, I lost my
0:49:25Phil Schiller."
0:49:26And they have attached a tag to Phil Schiller and then Tim has to like walk around and find
0:49:30him and then the tag like shows him where he is and we find Phil like behind a plant
0:49:34or something.
0:49:35That could work.
0:49:36I, that's all I want now is for them to do something just like that.
0:49:41And it has to be Phil who's lost, right?
0:49:43Of course.
0:49:44Of course, because who else would it be?
0:49:46Because Phil's always the guy, right?
0:49:48Like he's always...
0:49:49Yeah, he jumped off the stage to introduce Wi-Fi.
0:49:53I would enjoy that a lot, actually.
0:49:55So I'm just saying, if that doesn't happen, you know, short your Apple stock, I guess.
0:50:00Before we recorded today, I saw a new air power-like charger from the company.
0:50:07Oh, native union.
0:50:10We've talked about this company before, Myke. Yes, Native Union, you like their products,
0:50:14right? You like their cables and stuff? Yes, yes.
0:50:17Didn't you buy like a really expensive board plug?
0:50:19We worked together at the airport and I bought a very expensive like $30 cable. Yeah, yeah,
0:50:27that was a mistake. And I remember at the time being like, are
0:50:30you really? Because like I've known of this company, right? They make like really nice
0:50:34looking charges and stuff and I was very much like are you on this the Native Union bandwagon
0:50:40now is that your thing? But they have made an air power like product called the Drop
0:50:47XL. So it is a double Qi charging mat with this like silicone grippy texture which I
0:50:55think would be good because like most of the wireless chargers that I've tried they're
0:51:00made of like a slick plastic which just doesn't feel good like I feel like it
0:51:04should be some kind of grippiness which is cool like I like that and it also has
0:51:08a detachable Apple watch charging puck thing so the one you know one of the
0:51:16reasons you might want to detach it is because then you could charge like two
0:51:18phones because if you have a the Apple watch thing plugged in you won't be able
0:51:23to fit a second phone on the mat but again it's like this is one product you
0:51:27charge your Apple Watch, your iPhone and your AirPods. It's like £130. It's probably
0:51:32a similar amount in dollars. This one I will say, of all of the products that I've seen,
0:51:40as you would probably expect from Native Union, this one looks nice.
0:51:43Yeah, yeah it does.
0:51:46This isn't like a super ugly one. It looks nice. I still just don't know if I have
0:51:51the desire for a product like this myself.
0:51:55I just see them and it's like, okay, but it's so large.
0:52:00It would be too large for the space that I have on my bedside table for it to be useful
0:52:05to me.
0:52:06But you know, I don't know if we ever followed up, but I do own that PopSocket wireless charger
0:52:11now, and it does work.
0:52:16That's all I have to say on that one, really.
0:52:18Federico, did you, did that thing that you ordered ever?
0:52:22- So yeah, I was just thinking about this.
0:52:24It never showed up.
0:52:26- Good, good, good, good.
0:52:27(laughing)
0:52:29That's good.
0:52:30- Honestly, I don't even remember what the name was.
0:52:33- This was the one with a fan in it, right?
0:52:36- How am I supposed to be searching for these
0:52:38in my email account?
0:52:39Because I just, like I woke up one day
0:52:41and I saw it on the news or probably John Voorhees
0:52:44sent us a link to that as he always does.
0:52:46and I just, I clicked buy and I don't remember.
0:52:49- It is called the Zens Liberty Wireless Charger.
0:52:54- Can you spell it out for me?
0:52:55It's Z-E-N-S.
0:52:57- You wanna search your email now?
0:52:59- Zens, okay.
0:53:01So info@makesense.
0:53:03So we're talking here January 3rd, 2020.
0:53:06Thank you for your order.
0:53:08Hi Federico, just to let you know, we received your order
0:53:11and it is now being processed.
0:53:13Okay. So, yeah, it was being processed on January 3rd.
0:53:21So I think that you bought something and you weren't paying attention because you pre-ordered that, my friend.
0:53:29It is available for shipping beginning the end of February.
0:53:32Okay. So maybe it'll, you know, I have an account. It says orders. And if I, yeah, still processing.
0:53:40That's good.
0:53:41it's fine. So they're still working on that and maybe, you know, yeah, I paid for FedEx
0:53:45shipping so that's nice. It's the Liberty wireless charger and the aluminum that's spelled
0:53:51with an additional "I" which is nice. Apple Watch USB stick. Okay, so I will keep you
0:53:58posted. In theory, you know, this website still exists. This company seems to be in
0:54:02business so that's good. They have a blog and the blog was last updated last year which
0:54:10is not suspicious at all. Maybe they just don't have anything to say. I haven't updated
0:54:15my blog in like five years. So April 2019 and the last article was the five most common
0:54:24misconceptions of G wireless charging. Maybe that's not cool for me. You should send me
0:54:31that one. It's fine. It's fine. I believe in zents, you know? Yeah, sure. They'll do
0:54:39it. They'll do it. You know, end of February. So in theory next week, in ten days, we'll
0:54:45see. It's coming up, so... We've got a couple of episodes. I don't really, honestly, I don't
0:54:51have a good feeling about this. Do they have a Twitter account or anything? They're certified.
0:54:59There's a logo that says certified, but... Certified what? I don't know. That's all it
0:55:05You just have the badge.
0:55:06The value of CHI certification. So they're certified by CHI. Is CHI a consortium or something?
0:55:14Yes it is, yeah.
0:55:15Okay.
0:55:16There's a consortium.
0:55:17Yeah, okay. You know, we'll see.
0:55:18I mean, that's not useful to you if you didn't even know there was one.
0:55:21No, no, it really isn't. But all my account details are correct and it still says processing,
0:55:27so we'll see. But yeah, this is the one that is quite chunky, actually. I'm looking at
0:55:32the pictures again. It's not a small pad. Yeah, okay, we'll see. I'll let you know.
0:55:40I better buy a fire extinguisher in the meantime, I guess.
0:55:43Steven, what wireless charging are you using?
0:55:46In my office, I have one of the Mophie ones that they sell on the Apple Store. But then
0:55:51on my nightstand, I have the Studio Neat combination. So it's a wireless pad and then a lightning
0:55:57port which I use for my AirPods and then a watch charger all in one. The material dock.
0:56:02And what one are you using right now Federico?
0:56:04Oh right now I'm still using the Nomad pad from last year. This is the basic one where
0:56:14you can place the phone and the AirPods.
0:56:19Oh this is one that's got like a few coils in it this one, hasn't it?
0:56:23It's got like a 4 and you need to line the devices up quite precisely if you want to
0:56:29charge them both at the same time.
0:56:30And over time that has grown a bit annoying and so I never charge the phone and the AirPods
0:56:38at the same time because it requires too much precision.
0:56:41So I just charge the AirPods during the day and I leave the phone, just the phone, in
0:56:46landscape on the pad at night.
0:56:49You could use both at the same time, but because it's got just a few coils inside...
0:56:54Three it has, I'm just looking on their website.
0:56:57Yeah, you need to be extra precise in lining them up.
0:57:01And often, like even if you just bump your nightstand, you risk one of the devices not
0:57:06charging.
0:57:07Oh man, Qi charging is so great guys.
0:57:10That sounds so great.
0:57:13You know, you're passing energy through magnets.
0:57:17Magnets it no really it's not the way that it works, but still it's it's it's complicated
0:57:23Science so awesome. I was I was at IKEA today and
0:57:28I did note that they had some lamps with qi charges in the base of them
0:57:35And I thought that was very clever and I may buy one of those lamps
0:57:39You know what I've started doing at IKEA lately Sylvia is quite upset at this
0:57:44But whenever I... Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
0:57:47The way you said that, how often do you go to IKEA?
0:57:49Like, that sounded like you go a lot.
0:57:51Uh, yeah, I mean, it's five minutes away from us, and it's like,
0:57:57when we think of something that we want for the house, we just go to IKEA.
0:58:00We actually enjoy taking walks at IKEA. With the dogs, it's actually quite relaxing.
0:58:04You can take the dogs in the IKEA?
0:58:05Oh yeah, for sure.
0:58:07Don't say it like that. You can't take dogs everywhere.
0:58:09We are a country that loves dogs.
0:58:11But that's still...
0:58:13Yeah, but lots of countries love dogs, but like you can't just take dogs wherever you
0:58:17want.
0:58:18We can now go to the supermarket with dogs.
0:58:20We can buy groceries with the dogs.
0:58:24Yeah.
0:58:25They are not really, we passed some regulations to allow to do this.
0:58:30Really?
0:58:31Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:58:32For sure.
0:58:33Yeah.
0:58:34Like you can now, you can, if you have a small dog and if you can just, if you can hold your
0:58:39dog, you can go to the supermarket. So obviously, if you have a small dog, you wouldn't want
0:58:45to hold like a German Shepherd, that would be impossible. But like if you have a small
0:58:50dog like ours, you can just hold it with one hand, and with the other hand, just buy something
0:58:55inside the supermarket. Or certain supermarkets, they have dog specific carts. And so we've
0:59:01used both options. One time just walked and I was holding Ginger and Silvia was holding
0:59:07Zelda and we bought groceries and another time we just put them both in the dog-specific cart,
0:59:13which was fun because we'd never done that before. At IKEA and any other store that does not sell
0:59:20groceries like produce and that kind of stuff, you can just walk in with the dog and they cannot
0:59:26tell you to leave, by law. I will say I like that there is a limit on like where food is being
0:59:35solved. Yeah, right. I do think that that limit should be enforced, which is good. That's
0:59:42good that there is a line, you know? I think that's good. But anyway, what have you been
0:59:47doing at IKEA recently? Oh, so every time we go, you know, they now have those demo
0:59:52stations for the Sonos-made speakers? Those stations, they sell me. I'm like, "Oh, I
0:59:59want one." I'm like, "No, I don't want that." But I do want it when I see it. That's exactly
1:00:04what I say too. Like, I don't need it, but I kind of want it because it's all nicely
1:00:08put together in this station. So every time I'm there, I change the song and I raise the
1:00:16volume to the maximum level on all the speakers and then I leave.
1:00:19That's a good use of your time. They have, it's like a collection, they have two products
1:00:28in the collection right now. One is a lamp and one they call a bookshelf speaker. So
1:00:34could put it in a bookshelf but they also have it which is very clever you
1:00:39can set it up as like a wall mounted bedside table but it's also a speaker
1:00:44like I really like the way that they do that but I also don't want Sonos product
1:00:51I don't want to get into the whole thing like the Sonos thing I'm already I'm
1:00:56into too many things already right you know like I don't want another system
1:01:00that I have to integrate just for music. It is a thing, it is a thing. Especially it's
1:01:07just like a thing that surely isn't going to be around for very long. Like, you know,
1:01:13I believe that Apple will have some kind of, or Amazon will have some kind of like multi-room
1:01:20connected speaker thing for longer than Sonos will. Like I am very impressed that Sonos
1:01:26is still around, like that is a testament to that company, whatever they're doing,
1:01:31that means they can still be around. And doing stuff like this thing with IKEA is probably
1:01:36part of that, right? Like it's clever, but you know, bravo Sonos, but like I don't want to
1:01:42get into another thing. It is a thing, it's one of those things that if you buy one and then you
1:01:48share it publicly, you get a bunch of people like sort of like virtually winking at you,
1:01:54you as like, oh yeah, now you're in the club, now you're a Sonos person.
1:01:57Because you are, right? Because as well, everyone that I know that owns Sonos devices, they're
1:02:03like Sonos people and they're like, oh no, but you don't understand.
1:02:06And they get in touch with you. The Sonos products are so good, you should
1:02:10get a soundbar for your television and then you should get this and this.
1:02:14It's like when you start, it's like, and I mean, I love Greg, but it's like when you
1:02:18start using drafts, like you say you use drafts for one thing and you get a bunch of people
1:02:23on Reddit. It's like, "Oh, you know what I did? I raised my children with drafts."
1:02:27So like, I just needed to take some notes, man, it's fine. But it's one of those
1:02:34things that like, as soon as you say one thing about it publicly, there's like a whole
1:02:38pack of people that get in touch with you. And yes, the Sonos is definitely one of those
1:02:43products that because it's got a very loyal user base. But yes, it is a thing.
1:02:50And partly because, and I don't doubt it, like the products are good, right?
1:02:54Like I know that Sonos' products are good, but I...
1:02:58It's too late now for me.
1:03:01Yeah.
1:03:02I don't want...
1:03:03It is too late.
1:03:05...to get into another thing.
1:03:07I'm three HomePods too late.
1:03:08Yeah.
1:03:09So...
1:03:10Two HomePods, two Amazon Echos.
1:03:14I'm like in.
1:03:16Talking about the HomePod.
1:03:19Let's talk about the home pod.
1:03:21- After this break, this episode of Connected
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1:05:10Our thanks to SaneBox for the support of the show
1:05:14and Relay FM.
1:05:15I have some real-time follow-up. Yes! So as noticed by Benjamin Mayo, friend of the show, on Twitter,
1:05:2213.4 beta 2 is out and Apple changed the toolbar in Mail again.
1:05:30So,
1:05:32a bunch of tweaks here. So basically they took out the flag button. It's been replaced. So there's now a new
1:05:42Compose button on the far right side and the existing reply button has been shifted by
1:05:50one position. So flag is out and the Compose button is in. So another change to the Mail toolbar.
1:05:58Wait, why does the Compose button need to be there if it wasn't there before?
1:06:03I have no idea.
1:06:05I have no idea.
1:06:07It seems to me like...
1:06:08Do people frequently open an email and then just...
1:06:11compose a completely different email? Does anybody at Apple use email? Has anybody ever
1:06:18seen an email like that before? It's not the way that it works.
1:06:22Yeah, ain't it, son? That ain't it, is it? You didn't do that one right?
1:06:26It's like people who open Google and they type in "facebook.com" into the Google search
1:06:31bar. This is not the way that it's supposed to work. You open an email, you want to do
1:06:35things with that email. Why compose? Apparently it was like this in IOS 12. It was still wrong
1:06:41this doesn't make any sense like who does this? Oh man this is a good email
1:06:48let me write a different email to someone else.
1:06:51It's like oh yeah, speaking of email let me write a new one.
1:06:55I've had this once rolling around in my brain for a while. Let me send it to somebody.
1:07:00Maybe it's designed for the way the team likes to manage his emails.
1:07:04Like he sees something, he's like oh I got an email, Eddie.
1:07:07Like, where's my compose button? Maybe that's what his email workflow looks like. I don't know.
1:07:14Has anyone ever done that? Like, at least mindfully? Like, maybe because it's there,
1:07:19you've tapped it. But like, that doesn't need to be there, does it? Right? Like,
1:07:24I'm not crazy on this one. I know we're making fun of it. But like, you don't need that, do you?
1:07:29Isn't it better to have the flag button there? Or forward?
1:07:34Yeah, why is Compose here? Honestly, I don't know. Yeah, Flag would be better.
1:07:38Or Forward, right? Like Forward. Or Forward.
1:07:40Or, or how about this? A reply button that just replies and doesn't open another menu
1:07:46with a bunch of stuff in it. Like a direct reply button, yeah.
1:07:48Or just like create a button that isn't the reply icon that brings up that sheet.
1:07:54And here's a crazy idea. Bear with me. What if you could configure the toolbar
1:08:01to put in the bands, you know?
1:08:03- What's wrong with you? - I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
1:08:06- How dare you? How dare you?
1:08:09- That used to be a big thing at iOS. Remember like the old music app?
1:08:11You could like pull artists out and put composers in. It was fantastic.
1:08:15- You said it. I agree with you, but can you think of literally any other app that Apple has made
1:08:19other than the music app that let you do that?
1:08:22- No, and not anymore also.
1:08:25- It was just because they wanted to get Bono in there.
1:08:29Bono was the guy in the artist tab, right? Yeah, a silhouette of him.
1:08:33It shouldn't be this way because you can configure a bunch of options for mail. Like,
1:08:38why are swipe options better than toolbar buttons? Like, you can configure those in settings. What's
1:08:45wrong with changing the buttons? Not in the mail app. You have to go out to a different application.
1:08:50Well, sure. You have settings in settings. Why are they, like, more important than... Because,
1:08:58So obviously they're never gonna agree on a single solution for the toolbar that works
1:09:02for everybody.
1:09:03No.
1:09:04Which is fine.
1:09:05Which is why many apps, including the app that I use, Spark, you can configure it.
1:09:09And one of my favorite things they added recently is the ability to add a tool in the toolbar
1:09:13to take the current email and turn it into a PDF.
1:09:16It's in the toolbar.
1:09:18So I hit it, PDF, and then I save the receipt that I'm saving, right?
1:09:21To my receipt app.
1:09:23I use a shortcut to do that.
1:09:24But like, that's great.
1:09:26And they have tons of options, and you can put a bunch in there, and you can remove the
1:09:29ones you don't want and add the ones you do want.
1:09:31Because you know what?
1:09:32Email is complicated, and people have systems, and configurability inside of email apps is
1:09:36good.
1:09:37However, no email app is good, but there are just some that are worse than others.
1:09:41Alright, so maybe this is a long shot, but if you long press the compose button, you
1:09:49see the drafts window.
1:09:52Don't care.
1:09:53That makes even less sense.
1:09:54Who needs that?
1:09:55I don't know man.
1:09:56It's like, oh, I'm looking at an email.
1:09:57Oh man, there was this draft that I was writing.
1:10:00I don't think I've ever intentionally saved the message as a draft.
1:10:05Email is something that you've got to jump in and do it.
1:10:08Drafts get saved automatically or accidentally for me.
1:10:12Like I don't start an email, close it, do more email, then open the draft and send another
1:10:18email.
1:10:19Email, man.
1:10:20Let's talk about the HomePod.
1:10:21So there was a report on MacRumors from this company called Strategy Analytics.
1:10:25Like, look, this is like one of those things.
1:10:27It might mean nothing, but it's at least a way for us to talk about something about the
1:10:30HomePod.
1:10:31That apparently Apple shipped an estimated 2.6 million HomePods during the fourth quarter
1:10:36of 2019.
1:10:38This gave it 4.7% of the smart speaker market.
1:10:41So this would make, if this is all true, Apple would have been the sixth worldwide smart
1:10:47speaker market vendor right now.
1:10:50fewer speakers than, as you'd expect, Amazon and Google, but get ready for this. Also,
1:10:55Baidu, Alibaba, and Xiaomi. Now, this is one of those things, this is a worldwide market,
1:11:01right? So Baidu, Alibaba, and Xiaomi are probably popular in certain markets in Asia, which
1:11:07is one of those things. None of us had no idea that there were products being made by
1:11:13those three companies. Xiaomi I would have expected, because they do make lots, and I
1:11:16know that. Alibaba is a surprise to me that Alibaba makes a smart speaker. I'm sure now
1:11:21that I expect they make lots of technology, but I didn't know about that. But that just
1:11:26shows you like the companies that have these massive audiences available to them because
1:11:32of the work in some markets, they can just command massive amounts of people. Right.
1:11:37I mean, anyway, kind of hilarious, really, that Apple is just like so far down in that market.
1:11:43Apple, if all of these numbers are to be believed, Apple would have shipped one
1:11:47million more HomePods in 2019 Q4 than it did in 2018 Q4,
1:11:52which would be a 65% increase in growth, which sounds great, right?
1:11:55But it didn't translate to any major increase in market share because
1:11:59everybody else shipped way more. So the market grew a lot year over year,
1:12:05so even though Apple grew 65% year over year,
1:12:08it wasn't enough to make any change to their standing in the marketplace.
1:12:13So all of this led to a conversation we want to have about the HomePod.
1:12:19So let's start with how we are using our HomePods.
1:12:22As the resident HomePod fanatic Federico Vatici, how are you using your HomePod?
1:12:29Well, surprisingly, my usage is quite basic. I just use it for music.
1:12:36and like traditional Siri requests.
1:12:41- Give me some flavor here.
1:12:43- So like play music or what's on my schedule tomorrow
1:12:47or HomeKit devices, like turn on the lights.
1:12:50- You see, I'm pleased I asked
1:12:52because what's on my schedule tomorrow,
1:12:54I would never even think to ask my HomePod that.
1:12:56- Okay.
1:12:57- I don't think I've ever asked a HomePod that question.
1:13:00- I'm trying to think, the occasional reminder,
1:13:04like remind me to do this,
1:13:06But mostly really it's just music and HomeKit.
1:13:09And music, I do tend to initiate from my iPhone or iPad via Control Center.
1:13:17Like I just connect manually.
1:13:19Do you do that more or less often than asking?
1:13:23More often.
1:13:24More often than not.
1:13:25More often you will pick up your iPhone and then send it.
1:13:28Yeah.
1:13:28Like it's a Sonos speaker basically.
1:13:30Yes.
1:13:31Yes.
1:13:31Have you heard the good news?
1:13:34Yes, I have.
1:13:35I should say that my excitement for the HomePod has really dried down because Sylvia really
1:13:44fundamentally hates the HomePod and Siri and to the point where whenever I ask the HomePod for
1:13:54something, for anything, there's her comment that follows like a stupid thing, something like that.
1:14:01So like whenever I unbox it...
1:14:04I cannot tell you how much I want to see this in action.
1:14:07Like, we need to come and visit you just so I can watch Silvia's disdain for the home
1:14:11plot.
1:14:12She comments on it and she basically says something along the lines of like, "Why can
1:14:17we just have Alexa back?"
1:14:19Now that's interesting because my memory tells me that she turned on Alexa too.
1:14:25Initially.
1:14:26Initially.
1:14:27Right.
1:14:28like, she's nostalgic for whatever reason, but she's convinced that it worked better.
1:14:34But really, like, this is funny and all, but we do have some, like, serious problems with
1:14:41the HomePod lately. We have noticed some quite noticeable increase in the accidental activations
1:14:50over the past two months, I want to say. Just out of the blue, randomly, people were watching
1:14:57TV in Italian, so it's not even English. Of course, the HomePod does not support Italian
1:15:03yet, which is another problem. But just out of the blue, the HomePod will say "On it".
1:15:08It's like, what? You're on what? Exactly. I've been thinking about this kind of stuff
1:15:14recently, right? What could have happened? You have no idea what it might have done.
1:15:19Exactly. But like, and could you ever know? Who knows?
1:15:22Like it's done something and like it could have been like it could have sent a message
1:15:27to your mom and like said "I hate you" like anything could have happened.
1:15:33One time one time we're just watching TV and cooking dinner and she goes "so do you
1:15:41want me do you confirm sending this message to one of my contacts?"
1:15:46I was like "no stop" it was like I started touching the home pod so somehow she, the
1:15:52the home pod had been triggered and Siri transcribed whatever message she thought I was dictating.
1:16:02The home pod asked me to confirm the message. It was about to send the message to one of
1:16:06my contacts, not even an Italian contact, like some person in my address book that I
1:16:10know for work. I was like, "Stop." So that was quite scary. The other times, Siri just
1:16:17goes on it or let me take care of that, you know, some stupid confirmation sentence. And
1:16:22it just does it and I have no idea what it is. And of course there's no log to see, you
1:16:28know, with the echo you do have a log of all your commands and things that you've asked
1:16:33the assistant to do with Siri and the home pod. You do not have a log. So I have no idea
1:16:39whatever happened.
1:16:40>> If you've never used that log, by the way, it's like it's in the Alexa app somewhere.
1:16:46And it's effectively, it has, you can press play and hear the request. And then it says,
1:16:52this is basically what we thought you asked for. It's also super creepy to hear the requests.
1:16:58It is. It is very scary. Like when, especially when the accident once, because like it's
1:17:03this whole idea, this whole thing of like, Oh, why was Myke so upset about that thing
1:17:06that Apple was doing? Which because when you hear yourself talking and you're not expecting
1:17:13anyone's hearing it and there's a machine that's heard it, it's really creepy. Like,
1:17:18it shines a big light on what you are allowing in your life and that's an uncomfortable feeling.
1:17:26It's very concerning.
1:17:27So, to sum up, basically, at least once a day now, and I'm not kidding, one of our three
1:17:34HomePods gets accidentally triggered with the invocation phrase "somehow". Even, and
1:17:42And especially when we are not watching English content, we're watching Italian television,
1:17:49and nobody's ever pronouncing the word "Siri".
1:17:52So I have no idea what is going on, but that, as you know, combined with Sylvia's feelings
1:17:58on the device in general, that has really pushed me on a bit of a sad note regarding
1:18:09the HomePod lately.
1:18:10Yeah.
1:18:11Steven, what about you?
1:18:14Does your usage differ to Federico's?
1:18:16It does, mainly in that I don't have personal requests turned on on my HomePods, except
1:18:21for the one here in the office.
1:18:23So the two in the house, because I've got kids, I have that off because I don't want
1:18:27them either accidentally or on purpose interacting with my personal data that's on my phone.
1:18:34So for the most part, it's news, weather, music.
1:18:38I will say absolutely love the handoff where you're playing music on your phone and you
1:18:44like tap the top of the HomePod or bring your phone close to it and the music transfers
1:18:48and you can do it again and the music goes back to your phone.
1:18:50I love everything about that interaction.
1:18:52Like it is just it's like whimsical and fun.
1:18:56It seems to always work for me.
1:18:58I really like that addition.
1:19:00But like everyone else, I've got my my disappointments with it.
1:19:04I too have noticed an increase in misfires.
1:19:07So you get the uh-huh or hmm or it's like why are you talking like I nothing I mean
1:19:15sometimes you say something and it sounds close to it but most of the time if I like
1:19:18think back over the last four seconds of conversations like I don't know how you think you heard
1:19:23hey Siri like I don't why how did you come up with that and that is upsetting if you're
1:19:30in your home and you're not meaning to speak to the robot but it's listening and so I feel
1:19:34like that's not as good as it used to be and maybe that has to do with Apple's policy change
1:19:39or maybe it's just gotten worse over time, maybe I notice it more but it seems like there's
1:19:43an uptick in that so my feelings of that definitely mirror yours.
1:19:48So I use mine for music occasionally, we don't really listen to a lot of music in the house
1:19:53but when we do we'd use the HomePod.
1:19:56We mostly use the HomePods as like Airplay 2 speakers for Apple TV.
1:20:01We watch basically everything through the Apple TV and we used two HomePods and a stereo
1:20:06pair for that.
1:20:07And I really like it for that.
1:20:09That's my favorite use of the HomePod because the speakers sound much better than anything
1:20:13my television can output.
1:20:15And they do some of the spatial audio stuff.
1:20:18They give us this nice stereo difference.
1:20:20I really like it.
1:20:21It's very nice.
1:20:22I've been meaning to ask you about that.
1:20:23Is there any lag or does the Apple TV accommodate for that?
1:20:26It accommodates for it.
1:20:27sometimes you press play and it buffers for a second or two and then it goes.
1:20:30Every now and then it might get stuck but then it's just it's typically just a
1:20:35case of press home, press the app again and it's fixed. And that only ever
1:20:40happens if I'm changing the input. So if like I change the input to the TV or
1:20:43change the input from the TV because it doesn't always stay paired, you have
1:20:48to like fiddle with it sometimes but it's not too much of a bother because
1:20:51you just press the home button thing, the TV button and you can just change the
1:20:56inputs. That tap to share audio thing that you mentioned, it does not work
1:20:59reliably for me at all. And I find it very frustrating. I don't know if it's
1:21:04like in a stereo pay, you're supposed to put it on one or the other, like I don't know
1:21:08if that's a thing, but like I just happened to be there with the house,
1:21:10listening to a podcast on Overcast. I held it on top of the HomePod for like 10
1:21:15seconds and nothing happened and then I just opened it up and sent it manually.
1:21:19I use the HomePods mostly.
1:21:23We have Alexa products too.
1:21:26I use the HomePod for controlling our home devices.
1:21:29Adina uses the Echos for that.
1:21:31I use the HomePods because it's the fastest for that.
1:21:35It turns on our Hue lights quicker than the Echo does, so I really like it.
1:21:40So I did just give my hand because the next thing I was going to ask you guys
1:21:44if we use competing products, and we do.
1:21:47We actually use our Echo products more than we do the home part.
1:21:53We have an Echo Show in the kitchen and we will use that for setting timers because it
1:21:58shows the timers on a screen.
1:22:00That's very useful, especially if you have multiple timers, you can see them.
1:22:06And I just liked all of the Echo stuff for timers way more.
1:22:13It was so long it took for multiple name timers to come to the HomePod that I would never
1:22:20even think to use it now because I just got used to not doing that and the Echo has done
1:22:25it well for so long that it's great.
1:22:27I also really like the Echo Show because it's like a digital picture frame.
1:22:33I would never buy a digital picture frame but when you already have a device that can
1:22:37just show pictures, it's nice to have that.
1:22:41So we just load when we go on a nice vacation, we just load those images into Amazon's photo
1:22:46app and then it just cycles through them.
1:22:48It's just nice to have it there because you see this things like, oh, that was nice.
1:22:51You know, you see it in the kitchen or whatever.
1:22:53We like that.
1:22:54Being able to order the groceries that basically all of this stuff is the same as it's been
1:22:58for a long time, right?
1:23:00So we order our groceries via an Alexa skill because the Alexa platform is open to allow
1:23:06our grocery company to have that skill.
1:23:09pod there is no system to allow that right we're able to control other devices
1:23:13devices like our Dyson devices our Roomba devices because Amazon system
1:23:17allows that I'm hoping that the choi thing which I called choi connect the
1:23:22home over IP right I'm hoping that that stuff will allow for us to do more like
1:23:27that in Apple's devices but we'll see and we have an echo dot in the bedroom
1:23:31because we want to be able to do basic things like changing our lights checking
1:23:36the weather with a device that costs 30 pounds, not 300 pounds.
1:23:41We don't need to listen to music in the bedroom because this is not something that we do.
1:23:48And I wouldn't want to have a HomePod in there because it would be a waste of money because
1:23:54all we do is like, "What's the weather like?" or "Turn off the lights."
1:24:00So we still use our Echo products more than we use the HomePod for all of those reasons.
1:24:07For all of the Smart Home stuff it's used more in our home than the HomePod is.
1:24:11Because the platform just allows for it.
1:24:13It's just more friendly.
1:24:16Do you guys use anything else?
1:24:17No, no.
1:24:19No additional hardware for us even though, again, Sylvia...
1:24:23It would be welcomed in your home but...
1:24:25It would be like a new Echo would actually be welcome.
1:24:30I'm trying to think if I ever use it for anything.
1:24:35Timers. See, I used to create timers for when we were cooking pasta or stuff like that.
1:24:43On the HomePod and the watch. Lately I've had troubles with the watch as well.
1:24:49Like, if I press and hold the button to invoke Siri, most of the time, and I want to be precise with my timers,
1:24:57my timers, but most of the time it takes 10 seconds to understand my request. And sometimes
1:25:03it's like, I cannot create timers for a specific time for you. I was like, "What? Why are you
1:25:08trying to say watch?" And so lately I've just been grabbing my phone and creating timers
1:25:17with Siri on the iPhone, because it's more reliable for some reason. The weather, I don't
1:25:23ask the HomePod because I like to check in carat weather on my phone. And running shortcuts
1:25:30could be another, but most of my shortcuts... I have some shortcuts that support conversational
1:25:39mode but I don't use them often, and if I do, I mostly use them again in UI mode when
1:25:49I'm using my iPhone or my iPad. So yeah, what I said is music home kit and the
1:25:56occasional schedule is mostly of most of my usage. I do have a list of feature
1:26:01requests though, problems that I would like to hear those in one moment but
1:26:05Stephen you would your answers the same right you don't yeah you don't do any I
1:26:09ditched all the Amazon stuff I've got one echo that I keep if I ever want to
1:26:15like, check it out, but it's in my office, I think in a cabinet somewhere.
1:26:20Okay. So Federico, what is your list of feature requests?
1:26:23So, I mean, of course, Italian support. I think it's kind of ridiculous that we still
1:26:30don't officially have the HomePod in Italy, and you can't change the language to Italian.
1:26:35It's, you know, it's been a couple of years at this point, and I was certain that they
1:26:41that were gonna add Italian support last year,
1:26:43but it didn't happen.
1:26:44It's like living in a forgotten country.
1:26:47It's very surprising to me
1:26:48that we still do not have the HomePod in Italy.
1:26:51I believe it's sold in Germany and France at this point.
1:26:54- But I think they just added those recently, right?
1:26:57- Yeah, I think so, maybe, I don't know.
1:27:00It should be smaller and it should be cheaper, really.
1:27:03Part of the problem with the HomePod,
1:27:04and the reason why, it's always on sale.
1:27:06You can always find a HomePod sale every few weeks.
1:27:08It's because it's too expensive for what it does.
1:27:11too. Yeah, and I get that like the high fidelity audio and all that kind of stuff.
1:27:15Oh no, it's India. They just brought it to India. It's been in Germany for a while. Sorry.
1:27:20But yeah, it should be cheaper, or there should be a cheaper version because not everybody
1:27:24needs the studio quality audio or whatever. One of the things that I've never liked with
1:27:32the HomePod from a design perspective is the fact that it's only a visual communication
1:27:38system, which would be the LED, the display thing at the bottom that is not a display
1:27:43but is actually like a bunch of lights, you cannot see that if the HomePod is high enough
1:27:50on a shelf or on a cabinet or whatever.
1:27:54You cannot see that, whereas the Amazon Echo has a ring that is placed, like you can see
1:28:00the ring across the unit, across the cylinder, but the display of the HomePod, because it's
1:28:07at the very top of the device, it cannot be seen if you're not at eye level. So that's
1:28:14a problem for me because I can never tell. Unless I want to get up on a chair and look
1:28:18at it, I can never tell.
1:28:19The visual indicator is not good enough. The Echo's visual indicator is like so excellent.
1:28:24Yeah, it's much better. And obviously, I would very much welcome deeper integration with
1:28:32shortcuts. It's nice that you can now hand off and control playback from shortcuts. I
1:28:37do have some shortcuts that I use for playing specific playlists, which I should have mentioned.
1:28:43Oh, I totally forgot. I'm so sorry, guys. One of the things that my home pods do, they
1:28:49are now an additional siren for my home security system. I totally forgot. We talked about
1:28:57this a few months ago. Since Apple launched AirPlay automation with 13.2.3 a few months
1:29:06ago, I have added to my existing home security system the HomePods as an additional siren.
1:29:16So besides the physical siren, the 110-decibel siren that I bought from Amazon that is plugged
1:29:24a secret location of my house and makes a lot of noise should anybody ever try to break
1:29:30in, the HomePods will also play a loud siren track at max volume simultaneously. So that
1:29:38is something that they also do. And they were only accidentally triggered once when my mom
1:29:45was home and she was terrified. We've talked about this before. As I was saying, I do have
1:29:52some shortcuts to play specific playlists, but they can only do that on one HomePod at
1:29:58a time, and I really think there should be a shortcuts action that lets you connect to
1:30:03multiple HomePods or AirPlay 2 speakers at the same time. Right now, that is not possible.
1:30:09Oh really? Yeah, it's only one at a time from shortcuts.
1:30:13You cannot do the, like in Control Center, you have the checkboxes, and you can select
1:30:19them. Do you know if you have them grouped?
1:30:21it's possible that they're going to be a single unit, yeah. I mean, I guess if they're grouped
1:30:27together that's going to be a single unit in shortcuts, I'm like 90% sure, but we do
1:30:34not have them grouped, they're all like individual units, and in shortcuts you can only connect
1:30:40to one at a time through the action called set playback destination. So you can only
1:30:46set one destination at a time, whereas it should be like Control Center that has checkboxes
1:30:52and you can select multiple home pods at a time and stream audio to multiple home pods
1:30:57at a time. And I would like that, but it's not possible now.
1:31:01My list of demands. My list of demands, sure. I want a helicopter. No, I, you know, I want
1:31:13more open development, right? Like I want companies to be able, I want my grocery company
1:31:18to easily be able to create something where I can order my groceries. Right. And when
1:31:22I say that, it's like, we'll just say like, hey, like, tell Ocado, which is the company
1:31:27we use to add ketchup to the shopping trolley. And it's like, I've added Heinz ketchup to
1:31:33your shopping trolley. It's just so easy. It's great. Like it's, it is a fantastic feature.
1:31:38Like if you can get that to work, like it works flawlessly. It's looking at what is
1:31:43the stuff you have bought recently or previously and then just adds the most likely result.
1:31:48But when you are in the kitchen and you realise you've run out of something, just saying to
1:31:52the air that you would like a new one of it is so good, right? Like, just something like
1:31:58that means I'm not leaving. We will not leave the Echo family of products for as long as
1:32:04we are using this grocery service because that is so good. But anyway, I would like
1:32:09a home pod of a screen and I would also like a smaller version because I think
1:32:14that those two products will be good because I like those in the Amazon family.
1:32:19Stephen do you have anything else like on feature requests? I think y'all hit all
1:32:25my big ones. I think the only thing I would add is related to what Federico
1:32:28said about the LED array being at the top. I think the whole top of the home
1:32:33pod is way too sensitive. Like if you brush across it it'll start blasting
1:32:37Music that you played last and oh yeah, I would like that to be a little more intentional like let me
1:32:43Double-tap to restart, but it feels like I'm afraid to go near the top of a home pod and the one in our kitchen
1:32:49sits on the counter and above it is like where we hang our keys and
1:32:53More than once a week one of us will like accidentally brush it with our jacket sleeve and all of a sudden
1:32:59You know it's playing playing music or whatever
1:33:01Very eager to be used
1:33:04It is. I'm here. Oh, oh, let me play music for you. Calm down. Just like chill. So I'd like to see them improve that.
1:33:11I like, I like the touch things. I have the same problem you do that you can't see them.
1:33:15Because my one in my office is up on a shelf and I can't see the top of it.
1:33:19Dialing in that those gestures and that touch recognition I think would be, would be welcome.
1:33:24All right, is that it? We fixed the home pod? I think so, yeah.
1:33:28If you want to find links to everything we spoke about this week head on over to the website relay.fm/connected/282
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1:34:08Until next time guys, say goodbye.
1:34:10Adios.
1:34:11Cheerio.
1:34:12Adios.
1:34:12Adios.