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Connected

238: Weird Plex, But Okay

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0:00:00(upbeat music)

0:00:02- Hello and welcome to Connected, episode 238.

0:00:12It's made possible this week by FreshBooks,

0:00:14Squarespace, and Warby Parker.

0:00:17I'm your host, Stephen Hackett,

0:00:18and because it is an even episode,

0:00:20I will first announce Mr. Federico Vittigi.

0:00:23- Hello, Stephen.

0:00:24Hello, hello everybody.

0:00:25I'm back in my rightful spot

0:00:27as the first, what's her name?

0:00:30Introductee, is that a word?

0:00:32I don't know.

0:00:33- Yes, cool, that's good.

0:00:35I like that.

0:00:35- So here I am, hi, hi.

0:00:37- Bringing up the rear, we have Myke Hurley.

0:00:41- This is bull (beep)

0:00:42(laughing)

0:00:44What up, boys?

0:00:46I've got jet lag.

0:00:48Let's do this thing.

0:00:49- Oh, hi, Myke.

0:00:53Welcome back.

0:00:54- Thank you.

0:00:55- To Europe.

0:00:56I just saw you just a few days ago.

0:00:58- Yep.

0:00:59- We were in Atlanta together,

0:01:01where we did a live episode of "Ungeniused,"

0:01:05and then y'all did a live episode of "The Pen Addict"

0:01:08at the "Elena Pen Show."

0:01:09Always a super fun trip.

0:01:11- Mm-hmm. - Mm-hmm.

0:01:12We'll put links to those in the show notes.

0:01:14- Show well.

0:01:15- But we have some follow-up,

0:01:17and the first piece here says,

0:01:20"Federico's whole childhood was a lie."

0:01:23So. - Yes, yes.

0:01:25What's happening?

0:01:27I made a very unsettling discovery

0:01:31as I was doing some research around a thing

0:01:35that I mentioned last week.

0:01:37And that made me very sad.

0:01:39And I spoke about this with Sylvia, my girlfriend,

0:01:42and we were shaken by this discovery.

0:01:47When Myke made a joke about the keyboard butler,

0:01:51and he said, "Keeves."

0:01:53And I didn't know why it was that funny, and he mentioned how Jeeves is this figure,

0:01:59this butler figure from, I don't know, some movie or TV show? Like, what's it from?

0:02:04Book series. It's a book series and TV show.

0:02:07And I said, "Oh, like Ambrogio." And Ambrogio was this character, this butler, for the commercials

0:02:16of a popular little chocolate thing. The Ferrero Rocher. You guys are familiar with those,

0:02:24right? Oh, you didn't have the Ambassador ads? No, no, we had the lady, we call it like

0:02:34the lady in yellow or something. And she was the lady of the Ferrero Rocher. And Ambrogio

0:02:40was her butler and he, you know, drove the car and just randomly popped up to make sure

0:02:47that she had, you know, her daily dose of Ferrero Rocher. That was what Ambrogio was

0:02:53meant to do, to supply her with Ferrero Rochers as much as possible. And, but what I discovered

0:03:01is that by, you know, just googling Ambrogio Ferrero Rocher, that kind of stuff. Ambrogio

0:03:07is a British man. Ambrogio is not Italian. Ambrogio is a British actor named Paul Williamson,

0:03:15who is still alive and is very old at this point, but is still, I think is still working

0:03:20actually. And so yeah, Ambrogio, not an Italian butler, but a British butler playing Italian.

0:03:29And I should have known, I guess at the time I didn't notice that there was voiceover going

0:03:32on. I re-watched the commercials and you can tell that it's, you know, even the actress,

0:03:38the lady, she's an American actress, I think.

0:03:41That's super interesting because I don't remember these ads, like for a Rocher, like there's

0:03:46this thing about the ambassador, it's like that was like the advertising campaign for

0:03:50my entire life. So it's strange that these were dubbed, but I don't know them because

0:03:56I would have expected that they would be the UK ads and then they dubbed them, right? Like

0:04:00what you would think but that I don't think that's what happened.

0:04:04Yeah, yeah, so Ambrogio, not an Italian butler but just, you know, whatever capitalism served

0:04:14in terms of actors and commercials. So very sad follow-up, very sad story. I feel like

0:04:20this is, you know, it was one of the key figures of, you know, my childhood in terms of TV

0:04:27consumption you know the Ferrero Rocher commercial and Ambrogio it's like it's

0:04:30like a joke that people use in Italy like yeah literally like I used it last

0:04:34week. What I just said about ambassador you're spoiling us that is a joke that

0:04:40people in the UK use right like it was there was these fancy dinners at like

0:04:44ambassadors house or whatever and then someone will bring out like this pyramid

0:04:48tray for a Rocher and someone will go ambassador you're spoiling us and like that is like a

0:04:54thing that people say to each other is like a it's like a meme right it's like

0:04:58if someone's like you go in someone's house and they have like a bunch of like

0:05:01oh I'm Bassety you're spoiling us so yeah yeah or like when when someone is

0:05:06bald and you call him mr. clean you know stuff like that yeah not so much but

0:05:12sure it's it's in that vein sort of when commercials and advertisements well I'm

0:05:17very very sorry that that we had to be the reason you found out that your

0:05:22entire childhood was a lie. Yeah, also Ferrer Rocher is not sponsoring this episode, so

0:05:27this is a true story. Okay, I'm glad we got that taken care of. It did remind me of Kate's

0:05:35awesome tweet where she illustrated Keeves presenting a iPad keyboard case on what appears

0:05:42to be a golden platter because that's what keyboards deserve to be presented on. Yeah,

0:05:50And I love the lettering in this artwork.

0:05:54The 3D effect is very, very good.

0:05:56Yes.

0:05:57Kate is the official illustrator of Connected.

0:05:59Just hands down.

0:06:02We have some feedback about health kit data between multiple phones.

0:06:09I think this came up in Federico's multi-watch lifestyle section of the show.

0:06:14Yes.

0:06:15Oh no, I think it was when we were talking about iCloud, like that you can't have health

0:06:19- It was iPhone. - It syncs from iPhone

0:06:20to iPad, but it does sync from iPhone to iPhone.

0:06:23- Yes, so Saphon corrected us saying it does sync

0:06:26between two iPhones, but that it is,

0:06:28this is quoting, "Ridiculously slow,

0:06:31"so slow that you would think it doesn't work at all."

0:06:34- I love that. - I love that phrasing.

0:06:36- I can add that I was told privately

0:06:41that it does merge, of course, between devices.

0:06:44So it syncs and emerges.

0:06:47It's just, it's kinda slow because it's,

0:06:49I think it's due to the encryption going on.

0:06:52But it does work as we hoped it would.

0:06:55So even more so, it means it is technically possible

0:06:58for Apple to actually use this data on the iPad

0:07:02even though the iPad will not capture any data,

0:07:05it can at least present it.

0:07:07So that would be technically possible already.

0:07:09- Federica, let me ask you a question.

0:07:10You may not know the answer,

0:07:11but I know the A12 processor in the iPhone

0:07:15has that motion coprocessor.

0:07:17Does that just not exist on the iPad?

0:07:20- I am not sure.

0:07:21I think it does not exist,

0:07:23but I would need to double check on that.

0:07:25- It just popped in my head.

0:07:26I didn't mean to put you on the spot.

0:07:27- But my feeling is it does not have that processor.

0:07:31- Yeah, okay.

0:07:32- Yeah.

0:07:33- I mean, I guess, why would it, right?

0:07:35It's like it's tracking your steps.

0:07:38Although I think it also does

0:07:39some of the Ahoy telephone stuff? The Wikipedia page for the motion core processor says that

0:07:46it's in the A12X bionic. Okay, so maybe it's there but it's just not doing... It's used

0:07:52for different things. Doing things. Yeah. So the function is to collect sensor data

0:07:57from integrated accelerometers, gyroscopes, and compasses and offload the collecting and

0:08:01processing of sensor data from the main central processing unit. And the iPads still have

0:08:06stuff in them you can go for a walk with an iPad and use the app as a pedometer I

0:08:11guess I actually don't know it's the I actually don't know if you can't do that

0:08:15though right like it has the chip in it but can you actually do that I don't

0:08:18know yeah this feels like school yeah say this was like a question for

0:08:22underscore you can strap an iPad to your chest running up you could actually

0:08:28install a knife a knife oh my god underscore just join the chat we have

0:08:32summoned David Smith and apparently it doesn't do step counting. That is one of the craziest

0:08:38things that's ever happened. Why did that? David's just like, he's just like lurking

0:08:42somewhere. That was such a crazy thing to see. If you say his name, he will appear.

0:08:49Can we summon David on demand? Is that how this works?

0:08:53Underscore as a service.

0:08:55Well, he crushed my dream of strapping an iPad to my chest and using it as a step counter.

0:09:01You could still do that and just want to work as a step counter.

0:09:04Also I would look like a crazy person but that's a different problem.

0:09:07Maybe like an Iron Man type thing.

0:09:08Kind of, yeah.

0:09:10Myke, tell us what's going on in the UK with Apple Music.

0:09:15Oh, I wonder where you were going with that.

0:09:17Like in general, I have no idea.

0:09:19I can't help you.

0:09:20Walk away from that.

0:09:21Easy, easy.

0:09:22Nobody knows.

0:09:23Apple Music is finally available on the Echo in the UK.

0:09:27Congratulations.

0:09:29I haven't set it up because I decided I actually don't care about having it because I don't want to listen to music on

0:09:35my gen 1 echo or an echo dot but

0:09:39It's available now

0:09:41So I just wanted to follow up on something which is so ridiculous that Amazon takes so long to roll out features to other echo

0:09:48Products, but it's now available and you have spent some time with an iPad mini, I believe

0:09:54yeah, a friend of mine Thomas at the pen show had it and he brought like the iPad mini and the Apple pencil and

0:10:00It's a really great device. I just don't think it has a fit for me like this was basically what you were saying too, right?

0:10:07You use it and I if this looked like an iPad Pro

0:10:10It would be a very different scenario but like so much of it feels like a step back from what I'm used to

0:10:16Yeah, if you are an iPad mini owner

0:10:19This is like a no-brainer upgrade totally because it moves super smooth super fast. It looks fantastic, right?

0:10:26Like it's got all of the stuff that you love about it and you know, so go for it. Like it's wild like go crazy

0:10:32In and the Apple pencil is great on it, but it's the Apple pencil is way too big it just is

0:10:38disproportionately

0:10:40Bonkers using an Apple pencil that is about as big as the iPad mini like that. It just feels super weird to do that

0:10:48But it's you know, it's it's it's available if you want it

0:10:51I think it's a good product, but I'm pleased I didn't get one because I just don't I wouldn't use it like

0:10:56My multi-pad lifestyle setup is pretty pretty set right now, and I don't need a device like this, but it

0:11:04It's definitely a great upgrade for people that want that kind of device in their lives

0:11:09So I did also I was talking to a friend of mine

0:11:12He says Pontus and he was at the pensioner - and he had an iPod touch

0:11:16with him and

0:11:18I was holding the iPod touch and was like, oh man, this is such so thin and light and then I remembered

0:11:24the fun fact about the thinnest iOS device, which is the new iPad and

0:11:30It was funny because Brad had his iPad Pro to put them down on a table next to each other and like that device is

0:11:36Thinner than this one, although you'd never believe it. Yeah

0:11:39and it's it's like a

0:11:41Super fit thin difference like that the difference is like minuscule, but it is possible to see it

0:11:46But it's just hilarious when you're holding the iPod touch

0:11:49Which is like feels still like this impossibly thin and light but does that it is no longer the thinnest iOS device both new iPads

0:11:56Are thinner than it's it's almost as if device thickness is not a problem for USB C like people yeah some people think it is

0:12:03They can go thinner and still be USB C on the iPhone just a whole not hope and endless hope

0:12:10Well, I mean irrespective of the iPads other phones have USB C. Mm-hmm

0:12:14Oh, yeah, maybe Apple have like boxed themselves into a thermal corner with it

0:12:18But it is definitely possible to put USB C into phones and this isn't a thing like oh

0:12:24I'm not dying for him to do it. I would love them to do it

0:12:27But if I have to wait another couple of years, I'll wait another couple of years

0:12:30But I would really like to see USB C come to the iPhone at some point. I just I just wanted one

0:12:35Cable for everything I had this while traveling this weekend right and a hotel a multi charger and it's like oh

0:12:40I have a USB C cable for my iPad and my MacBook but lightning for my phone and yeah

0:12:46I think it's like I had like we have all of the downsides of USB C without the major upside

0:12:53The only I was thinking about this and it feels to me like the only upside of lightning

0:12:59Is that it is the existing connector and hundreds or?

0:13:04The only benefit is do not change it because it's going to be annoying.

0:13:09And I guess maybe you could argue that if you get a Lightning cable from Apple or one of the MI5 ones,

0:13:17it's always going to work irrespective of data transfers or charging rates,

0:13:22those kinds of issues that maybe are still a problem with USB-C.

0:13:27I feel like they used to be a problem. I feel like the situation has gotten better on that front.

0:13:32Everyone knows since we've got USB 2x2 SuperSpeed XFL.

0:13:36Yeah, but I feel like now that you know, once you know,

0:13:39OK, thick cable means also data transfers, standard cable just means charging.

0:13:45Yeah, it's still confusing.

0:13:48So you can argue that lining is easier to understand.

0:13:51Just get a lightning cable.

0:13:52But also the Apple lightning cables are terrible

0:13:55because they always break eventually after a few months.

0:13:58Like everybody I know complains about the lightning cables.

0:14:01everybody. So now thankfully I just saw that Anker launched this week the first MiFi USB-C

0:14:09to Lightning cable that's out on amazon.com at least. But really, to me personally, I feel like

0:14:16the only benefit of keeping Lightning is keeping Lightning so you don't have to change it. But,

0:14:22you know, I would love to have USB-C. Not to the extent though that I've seen some people say

0:14:27unless Apple puts USB-C in the next iPhone, I'm not gonna buy the next iPhone.

0:14:31I'm not like that. I'm gonna buy the next iPhone, even if it doesn't have USB-C.

0:14:35But, you know, one can dream.

0:14:37I did just go to Anker's website to get that, to get a link to the cable,

0:14:42which I put in the show notes. They actually link straight out to Amazon,

0:14:44which is kind of interesting to me. But they had a marketing hashtag, which I like,

0:14:48which is #UsernakerInstead, which I just think is really friggin' good.

0:14:53That is good.

0:14:54That is a brand that understands themselves. Like, their main thing here is like,

0:15:00ditch your freebie charges, hashtag use anchor instead. It's very good. I like that.

0:15:05It's what people say.

0:15:06Yeah, I think that's very clever. I like that. I think that's good work, anchor marketing people.

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0:16:52So Steven, you've been out in the field doing some serious testing for us.

0:16:56Can you do a report on your findings?

0:17:01Sure.

0:17:02So I'll put a link in the chat room as well.

0:17:05This link in the show notes is to a completely shattered Apple Watch Series 4.

0:17:11My Apple Watch Series 4.

0:17:14Did you finally do the drop test we've all been looking for?

0:17:17That's right.

0:17:18my YouTube channel, it's not really growing the way I want it to, I should drop some stuff.

0:17:23No, no, that's not what happened. So I was on a bike ride yesterday wearing a helmet

0:17:30because you should always wear a helmet when you're riding a bicycle. People who don't

0:17:35are just asking for trouble.

0:17:36Or electric skateboards.

0:17:38Or an electric skateboard. Or rollerblades.

0:17:44Or a spaceship.

0:17:45A spaceship? You should wear a helmet, definitely.

0:17:47That's a good one.

0:17:48Gravitational boots.

0:17:49Not enough people talk about these these days Federico, I'm really pleased that you called

0:17:54that out, you know.

0:17:55Yeah, for sure.

0:17:56Spaceship safety is a real concern.

0:17:58We want to get on the record about this.

0:18:00We believe in spaceship safety.

0:18:03We do.

0:18:04So I was on my road bike and I had a little tumble and I learned a few things.

0:18:10One, fall detection on the Apple Watch does work if you crash a bicycle into the ground.

0:18:16kind of laying there doing a self-assessment.

0:18:19I'm okay, like, I sprained a wrist,

0:18:21but that's the worst of it.

0:18:22I was kind of checking out, like, am I okay to get up?

0:18:25And, 'cause there's no one around, thankfully,

0:18:27'cause I'm sure it looked awesome.

0:18:29And all of a sudden my watch,

0:18:31which I hadn't realized is broken at this point,

0:18:33is just going crazy, saying,

0:18:35"Hey, it looks like you've taken a hard fall.

0:18:37"We're gonna call emergency services

0:18:39"and your contact information."

0:18:39- How is it alerting you?

0:18:41Is it making a sound or like, buzz it?

0:18:42Like, what's it doing?

0:18:43vibrating way harder and faster than I've ever noticed it doing. I don't know

0:18:50if it was making a sound or not actually. I have my watch on silent I just don't

0:18:53recall. I'm gonna say yes that it was making a noise but I'm not

0:18:57positive. It probably was because if you do the emergency SOS it makes a sound

0:19:02even if you don't even if you have it silent. I didn't have my notes app out

0:19:07taking notes for the show in this moment as I'm pulling myself together. You're just

0:19:10not dedicated enough. I know I'm sorry I'm sorry and so then I pick my wrist up

0:19:16and I realized that a my watch is totally shattered and then I say hey yes

0:19:21I'm okay please don't call 911 or my wife just gonna end that now and so yeah

0:19:27so fall detection works and my watch is broken but I have AppleCare Plus even

0:19:33though don't wear this watch every day anymore I do really like it for exercise

0:19:37tracking and so I'm like I have an appointment later this week to get it

0:19:40uh swapped out. I have never met anybody that breaks as many Apple devices as you

0:19:47do. It is unbelievable the amount of stuff that you break. It's true. You were I

0:19:52think every iPhone you have owned since I've known you you've had to have

0:19:55repaired. I've broken several phones this is also my second watch I've broken.

0:20:00Would you describe yourself as a clumsy person? No I just happen to crash a

0:20:05a bicycle every 18 months or so. For somebody who like worships computers to the level that

0:20:11you do, that you built a shrine. That's the thing, it needs to break them to fully love

0:20:16them. If I don't see the insides of them then it just doesn't mean anything. I thought that

0:20:22was going a different direction, like as someone who's into computers you're outside a lot,

0:20:25I was like well that's kind of harsh. Well that is also true, but like stop trying to

0:20:30this better of being like, "Oh, I was exercising." You still, you still, you exercise too hard

0:20:35is what happened. Yeah. And then now you have a hole in your watch. And my body. But I did

0:20:42break, I did break my original Apple Watch, also working out. So, well that I really wasn't

0:20:48working out. It was in the locker at the gym and I dropped it out of the locker. That,

0:20:52it's just, your muscles just got so big that it just popped the watch right off, right?

0:20:57That's what you're saying.

0:20:58Yeah.

0:20:59Why hasn't Tim Cook shared this story already?

0:21:02I don't know.

0:21:03Because I'm taking a break from Twitter, so he hasn't seen it, I guess.

0:21:06He'll hear it on the podcast, probably.

0:21:08Sure.

0:21:09So yeah, that's all the story really is.

0:21:11Like I said, I'm pretty okay.

0:21:13A little banged up, but I'll survive.

0:21:15Wear a helmet.

0:21:16I would like our listeners to start a petition to please ask you to stop just being so aggressive.

0:21:22I mean, there has to be a different type of workout you can do.

0:21:25Yeah.

0:21:26You're always falling off that bike, man.

0:21:28Like, just please stop it.

0:21:30I've had two crashes in like four years.

0:21:32It's a pretty good--

0:21:34Well, it's more than zero crashes

0:21:36that I've had because I work out at home.

0:21:38I think it's time that we need to review our company life

0:21:41insurance.

0:21:42Oh, it's really good.

0:21:43Don't worry.

0:21:44Yeah, well, I want to review it.

0:21:45I just want to make sure it covers mountain bike accidents.

0:21:47I wasn't on the mountain bike.

0:21:49I was on the road bike.

0:21:50Different things.

0:21:51All right, road bikes then.

0:21:52Yeah.

0:21:53It was the first crash on this bike, and I'm sad.

0:21:56damage to the bike. Did you break the bike? It's not broken, it's just scraped up and

0:22:00I bent a wheel a little bit. Okay. But it'll lift. And the handlebars fell off and the

0:22:04seat exploded. Yeah, I mean, I had to take it back to my truck in pieces, but it's fine.

0:22:09But it's fine. I have all the pieces, so they're not broken. I did make it back to my car,

0:22:15and I'm sure I looked like something really terrible happened, because I'm holding one arm

0:22:19against me because my wrist really hurt, and I'm bleeding down my leg. It's like,

0:22:23I'm fine. Just carry on with your day. It's totally cool. Anyways, that's enough about me.

0:22:29Myke, you have a dilemma to face, and you have come to the right place.

0:22:35Yeah.

0:22:36You are looking to purchase a new television, and I think this is where, if we could use our

0:22:43chat room power, we would summon John Syracuse, but he's probably at work. So what are you looking

0:22:48for and what like what are your list of needs and maybe we can help you decide

0:22:53what you should get. All right. I haven't bought a TV since like 2010 so I'm

0:22:57definitely on top of this. Okie dokie. Eurovision's coming up.

0:23:01So like how people buy new televisions for the Super Bowl, we're

0:23:08thinking, well we're planning to host a little Eurovision party here at a

0:23:13mega Cortex cottage or whatever we call this place. So I want to get a new TV.

0:23:19We've had our current TV for like two or three years and it's been very good for

0:23:23us. We have like a Panasonic something and it has it like it was one of the

0:23:29good HDR TVs back when HDR was like starting to happen. But I wanted I want

0:23:35to get a bigger TV like we were a bit reserved and we could have a much bigger

0:23:38TV than we have and it would still be fine in the room. I think like most

0:23:41people, you're always concerned that the TV is going to be too big.

0:23:44Right. So I figured there's a lot of interesting stuff happening with HomeKit

0:23:49right now in TVs, 4K and HDR is getting better on all of these TVs.

0:23:54Plus, we have an event coming up which is very television focused.

0:23:57So I want to get a new TV.

0:23:58And I don't know.

0:24:00I remember having this conversation.

0:24:02If you could, if everyone can cast their minds back to when this news started

0:24:06breaking around CES, that I said at some point I'm going to get to a point

0:24:09where I'm going to need a new TV and I'm not going to have any idea what one to get based

0:24:15on all the features that are available.

0:24:17And here I am, I'm at that point.

0:24:19Because initially I thought the Samsung TVs would be the best ones because they have the

0:24:25TV app built into them.

0:24:27But I still want to use the Apple TV, so that's not important, right?

0:24:31Necessarily to have the TV app.

0:24:33Especially now that we know that at some point, we know this now, like the LG TVs and the

0:24:39other companies that I don't remember. Can anybody help me? What are the three companies?

0:24:43LG, Visio, Sony and Visio, they're all getting the Apple TV app at some point. So the most

0:24:50important thing for me then is HomeKit support, right? As well as, obviously if it's a television,

0:24:57I want it to be a good television, like good panel, 4K, HDR and all that stuff, but we

0:25:01assume that parts are given, right? But what I want to have is the HomeKit support because

0:25:08just feels like something that I should go for now. You know what I mean? I feel like

0:25:12that is like, oh, there's probably some good stuff in there. I know that you've enjoyed

0:25:16at Federico with your like, homebridge setup. So what I basically am looking for is what

0:25:22is the best TV panel, which isn't incredibly expensive, that has homekit support?

0:25:28OK, so there are some questions that I need you to answer.

0:25:36Well, mostly I think it's a matter of taste in terms of certain specifics.

0:25:43Like, would you like a TV that has a really good soundbar integrated with it,

0:25:48or do you feel like the soundbar is not necessary?

0:25:51I hadn't thought about a soundbar before.

0:25:55Also, do you want... so you say you can live without the iTunes app, because you're gonna

0:26:02use an Apple TV anyway, but you want HomeKit.

0:26:05Okay.

0:26:07Do you... and here's where my personal taste comes in, I would strongly recommend that

0:26:12you get an OLED TV.

0:26:14Yeah.

0:26:15Not just... okay.

0:26:16Yeah, I want an OLED TV, because I want to get, like, the best panel that I can get as

0:26:21well, right?

0:26:22Alright.

0:26:23give me the best HDR and stuff.

0:26:26All right, so I recommend you read through--

0:26:28there's a Digital Foundry article.

0:26:31And for those unaware, Digital Foundry

0:26:33is like the technical vertical, as they call it,

0:26:37like the section of Eurogamer, which

0:26:39is this excellent video game website, where

0:26:43they do technical analysis of all kinds of video games

0:26:45and performance issues and that kind of stuff.

0:26:48And they have an article about the best 4K TVs for gaming.

0:26:52So if you're going to use this for video games, and I think you are because you love video

0:26:56games and you have a PS4 Pro now, you want to get a TV that has very low input latency.

0:27:03That would be the time between when you press a button on a controller and when you see

0:27:07the action on screen.

0:27:08So you want to make sure that you get around 20, 22 millisecond input latency, that kind

0:27:13of stuff.

0:27:14And of course, this article has all the details here that you need to care about.

0:27:19Also, you want to check how a panel deals with 1080p content, because not all content is going to be ready in 4K.

0:27:28Of course, you have a PS4 Pro, so that's not an issue, but for example with the Nintendo Switch, you're going to play in 1080p.

0:27:34So you want to see, is this EV going to do some kind of filtering for 1080p? What kind of upscaling mode it's going to offer?

0:27:42And there's of course, you also need to check for example, do you want to have

0:27:47What's it called HDR plus or do you want to have Dolby Vision?

0:27:51I personally recommend Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

0:27:54The thing is though, some of these questions, I don't know.

0:27:58But that one you just asked me.

0:28:00Okay, so my personal advice would be get an LG TV, which also happens to be the top recommendation from

0:28:09Eurogamer, the new version of the LG, the C model.

0:28:14This one is called the C8.

0:28:17I think it should be the 2019 model,

0:28:19which has HomeKit integration.

0:28:21It's gonna have HomeKit integration,

0:28:23and it runs WebOS.

0:28:24This TV has-- - Wait, it doesn't have it yet?

0:28:26- I don't think it has it yet,

0:28:30but LG promised that this is one of the models

0:28:33that's gonna get HomeKit via software update.

0:28:36- I don't know about that. - The 2019 LG,

0:28:38I mean, it's on Apple's website, so, you know.

0:28:41- So is AirPower, mister.

0:28:43- Hey-o, there it is.

0:28:45Somebody ring the AirPower bell.

0:28:47- Even if they don't deliver on this,

0:28:49you're still gonna have Homebridge,

0:28:50but I understand you wanna have the native integration.

0:28:52LG promised the 2019 models and beyond

0:28:55will have the native HomeKit support.

0:28:57This one has Dolby Vision, which is HDR,

0:29:01Dolby Atmos, which is a really good sound,

0:29:04but I don't think it's got a soundbar built in,

0:29:06but I can tell you, Myke.

0:29:07It doesn't. People, it's like recommending the Sonos on Amazon's website.

0:29:12Okay. I have an LG OLED TV. I have the B line. I have the B7.

0:29:18Your TV is amazing.

0:29:21It sounds really good. You've seen it. It's a big panel. It looks fantastic. It's super

0:29:28fine for gaming. I have an Xbox One X. I have a PS4 Pro and I have a Switch. I looked up

0:29:34to this TV and it's beautiful. WebOS, personally, I've seen other Sony and

0:29:39Android TVs. I prefer WebOS. It's actually fast, it works okay, and when you're actually

0:29:48watching, I don't know if you watch live television, but it's got all these integrations like with

0:29:53smart TV stuff that you can use from the remote, it works really great. There are other options.

0:30:01I think you could get another Panasonic OLED that's also recommended by Digital Foundry.

0:30:08But personally, I don't know Vizio myself. I've never seen or tested the Vizio TV. I

0:30:14think Jason has a Vizio, if I'm not mistaken. I think he used to. I think when he changed

0:30:19recently he went to someone else. Oh, the TLC. He got a TLC maybe?

0:30:23Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So my recommendation would

0:30:26be check out this article and maybe watch some YouTube videos. I remember at the time

0:30:30I watch a lot of YouTube reviews before buying the TV that I have, but the LG OLED C8 with

0:30:38upcoming HomeKit support would be a good choice for you, I think. Or you can always wait for

0:30:44one of these 16K panels that Sony announced.

0:30:48Yeah, I'm good.

0:30:49That, like, takes up an entire wall.

0:30:51I'm good. I'm good. That might be too much. So, like, on Apple's website, it just says

0:30:56"LG OLED 2019."

0:30:57Yeah, yeah.

0:30:59So we're assuming that this is one of those.

0:31:01Yeah, I think the C9 exists, so I'm just gonna say that the...

0:31:07Well, just need to double check that the C8 is actually the 2019 version.

0:31:12I'm not sure at this point.

0:31:14You're making me second guess myself.

0:31:17So my recommendation would be get the 2019 LG OLED whenever it comes out, if it's not

0:31:22out already.

0:31:23Okay.

0:31:24I mean, I'm looking at the page and it looks good.

0:31:26It's not cheap, but it looks good.

0:31:28So this is probably what I'll do then. Really, like, I don't want to do a lot of research.

0:31:35What I want to happen is what just happened. You have told me what to do.

0:31:40So the C9 exists, by the way, the next version. So I'm guessing that this is the 2019 version.

0:31:48I want the C9 then, not the C8. Let's see. Let's see what it says. I'm on

0:31:52the web page right now. Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, 4K, yeah, Google. Oh, it's got Amazon

0:32:03integration and Google integration. It's got a bunch more stuff than my model.

0:32:08So this is the one that I want then, the C9?

0:32:12Yeah, I think this is the one from 2019. I will double check real quick for you, but

0:32:18yeah, I will go with this one.

0:32:20Well, you've got to assume that the C9 is more modern than the C8.

0:32:24But then again, TV numbering is just an impossible thing to get your head around.

0:32:309to5Mac, they have an article mentioning...

0:32:34This was from March 15th, so about a month ago.

0:32:37"LG releasing first 2019 OLED TVs with HomeKit and AirPlay 2,"

0:32:42which is also another thing you should care about.

0:32:44Yeah, that's kind of what I meant with the HomeKit, it's also the AirPlay 2.

0:32:47Next month and the C9 models, yep, 77 inches, 65 and 55.

0:32:56Yep.

0:32:57This is the one that I want then.

0:32:58So this is terrible news then, isn't it?

0:33:00Because I can only imagine that a brand new OLED TV that has just been released is very expensive.

0:33:07Yep.

0:33:08Be sure to buy it with my Amazon affiliate link, please.

0:33:12Straight up, that's the one in the show notes.

0:33:14I don't think it's on Amazon.

0:33:16Yeah dude I'm looking at it right here.

0:33:18No but like in the U- we're not in the same country.

0:33:21Well you could uh, I could ship it to you.

0:33:23Um, if it's of any consolation Myke that's exactly what I paid for my B7 when it was

0:33:28new so.

0:33:29Okay.

0:33:30Yeah.

0:33:31Yeah this one isn't even on Amazon in the UK yet.

0:33:35Yeah.

0:33:36Okay.

0:33:37Yeah.

0:33:38I didn't buy an Amazon either.

0:33:39I bought it from a store.

0:33:40Oh my god that's expensive.

0:33:42Woof!

0:33:43Well you asked for all the good things.

0:33:45Oh, I know, I know, I know. If I want to get all of the current new technology, then that's

0:33:50what I'm going to have to deal with, I know. But it's still really expensive.

0:33:56Yeah, I'm sorry. Well, think about it. Think about it and, you know, we'll follow up on

0:34:04your decision.

0:34:05Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to look around. I don't know when I'm going to buy it, but like...

0:34:10Break the news very gently to Adina.

0:34:13She wants she's interested in a new TV too. I don't know if she's necessarily

0:34:17gonna be as interested but I tell her what the price is but yeah. Wow these are

0:34:24expensive. Yeah it looks awesome though. Yeah. Yeah I mean I haven't like I said

0:34:30I haven't shot for TV in a long time but if I were to have to go buy something

0:34:33today I would buy an LG OLED just hands down. It seems like it's the best way to

0:34:38ago. Okay. There was a story just this morning, actually from our friend Mr. Rambo at 9to5Mac,

0:34:45backing up some stuff that Steve Trout Smith had talked about, I think on Twitter, that the next

0:34:50version of Mac OS, you know, so 10.15, would include standalone apps for music, podcasts,

0:34:58and TV, as well as a redesign for the books app, which until I read this paragraph, totally forgot

0:35:04was on my computer, just like, I just never read in the Apple Bookstore stuff.

0:35:09But it seems like these are all going to be using fancy marzipan stuff, which I think

0:35:14is to be expected.

0:35:16And he's got the icons here, which look very nice.

0:35:19And I'm just curious what y'all think about this.

0:35:21I mean, we've all sort of poked fun of iTunes for a really long time, for really good reasons.

0:35:28And do we think that breaking this out will make sense on the Mac?

0:35:32I cannot wait for this to happen, honestly.

0:35:35To have a more similar experience on the Mac

0:35:39that I get on iOS, to have dedicated apps for podcasts

0:35:43and TV and music.

0:35:44Like whenever-- every once in a while,

0:35:48I test the Apple Podcasts app.

0:35:50And eventually, I go back to Overcast

0:35:52because of the sound effects and smart speed.

0:35:55But whenever I'm testing podcasts

0:35:58and I start listening on my iPhone,

0:36:00and then I'm using my Mac Mini and I realize,

0:36:03oh, I wanna continue listening to this.

0:36:04And then I realized, well, I gotta open iTunes.

0:36:06I'm like, nope, I don't wanna open iTunes

0:36:09and wait for my episodes to sync.

0:36:12So I cannot wait for this to happen.

0:36:14I'm curious to see what Apple is gonna do

0:36:16in terms of iTunes and specifically in terms of managing

0:36:21your music library, because I do wonder if those who keep

0:36:25a collection of music files, is that feature going to remain

0:36:30remain separate from the music app.

0:36:33So is Apple gonna do just an Apple Music client

0:36:36as a separate Marzipan app,

0:36:37or are they going to roll that feature into music?

0:36:41- I don't think so.

0:36:42I don't think so. - I don't think they will.

0:36:43I think they will keep iTunes around

0:36:45for this kind of stuff.

0:36:47But, you know, one can dream that, you know,

0:36:50eventually you will be able, both on the Mac and iOS,

0:36:53to actually import MP3s and that kind of stuff

0:36:56into your music library.

0:36:57but I have a feeling they'll just keep iTunes around and that's about it.

0:37:01I think that's what's going to be the case.

0:37:04It doesn't match with the business model,

0:37:11right?

0:37:12Like they want you to just use Apple Music because in theory all the music you

0:37:15want should be there. If it isn't,

0:37:17you are now an edge case and you can use iTunes.

0:37:20And I think too, looking at it from like the engineering side of it,

0:37:24I think that just getting these apps up on the Mac is a big enough deal for one year.

0:37:30So I would imagine the launch versions of these will be more or less what is on the

0:37:37iPad now, right?

0:37:39That whatever the music app on the iPad does now, either good or bad, will be basically

0:37:45what's on the Mac.

0:37:46And I think after this, so maybe looking forward two or three years, they could come back and

0:37:52if they're going to add quote unquote legacy features to these apps it would be it would

0:37:58be then because iTunes will still be around and if you still need those features you could

0:38:04just you know dumpster dive the utilities folder and find it if you need it but I would

0:38:09imagine for most people just having you know the the Apple music stuff there and I assume

0:38:15iTunes match that your match music would be there too again because that's how it is on

0:38:18the iPad, that this is how this is going to begin.

0:38:21Yeah, because that stuff all lives in the cloud now, right?

0:38:24Like it's all up there.

0:38:25It's there, right?

0:38:26Like you don't need iTunes to listen to iCloud music library

0:38:30files.

0:38:31They're there.

0:38:32Yeah, yeah.

0:38:32So yeah, I agree, Federico.

0:38:34Like if you are someone who imports MP3s to your iTunes

0:38:37library, which I do sometimes, I'll download concerts

0:38:39and put them in iTunes.

0:38:41That is my guess would be that this app doesn't do that.

0:38:46and that if that becomes an important feature,

0:38:49that would be added over time.

0:38:51But I'm trying to keep my expectations low

0:38:54for these apps going in as far as features.

0:38:56I do expect them, however, to work better

0:38:59than the Marzipan apps we see now

0:39:02because they are just garbage in a lot of places.

0:39:07I hope they're better than that,

0:39:08but to think that this is gonna be

0:39:09like a modern take on iTunes,

0:39:12maybe a bit of a stretch for day one.

0:39:14- You would be fooling yourself to think

0:39:16it would be anything more because then it's not a marzipan app is it? Then it's a new app,

0:39:21which they haven't done yet, right? Then they're not going to do it. Like this isn't a criticism.

0:39:26I think the music app on the iPad is by and large mostly fine, right? Like for what you're going to

0:39:30need to do. And we've spoken about some changes that Apple could make to the app, to the services

0:39:35in the past, but I think it's mostly fine. Well, I'll tell you what it is. It's better than using

0:39:39music in iTunes. I can tell you that. Yeah, like if you like all those people who

0:39:45think it's they say garbage would you rather have garbage or just be sad?

0:39:50Garbage on fire which is like it's really really bad in iTunes. It's terrible.

0:39:56Like just searching searching for music in the iTunes app is abysmal it's like

0:40:01such a bad experience so yeah it's gonna be the the iPad version but there is a

0:40:07benefit to that, right? And I think that this is one of the intrinsic benefits of Marzipan.

0:40:12What it should do, if the Marzipan scheme works well, is it will move these apps forward for

0:40:21everyone, right? If Apple consider these iPad apps to be the way that they want Mac apps to be,

0:40:31it's going to make these apps better for iPads and Macs.

0:40:36Like that's the goal.

0:40:37So I think this is I think this is only a good thing.

0:40:41And I'm excited. I'm excited about it.

0:40:44Well, I think it's good as long as the one feature you need makes it makes it in.

0:40:48Right. Or at least they don't make it impossible. Right.

0:40:52Like it doesn't matter if you can't load your music files into the music app

0:40:56as long as iTunes remains on your Mac somewhere. Yeah. Right.

0:41:00It's like GarageBand 6 never went away.

0:41:02Yeah, or QuickTime 7 is just going away this year.

0:41:05You know, it's yeah, which John and Jason talked about on upgrade this week, but

0:41:09That's always the friction here, right?

0:41:13Like is this more like a Final Cut situation where the new version is so hampered and things

0:41:18People really needed weren't there and everyone freaked out

0:41:21Or is the Delta between iTunes and this so great that people are willing to go back to iTunes only when they they need to

0:41:28My guess is it's the latter.

0:41:30I think the good thing is that you already know though.

0:41:33Right? Like if you use music on iOS and are unhappy with it because of a feature that's missing,

0:41:39that feature's probably going to still be missing.

0:41:42Or if you use music on iOS and you're never like, "Gosh darn it, I can't do this, which I can do on iTunes,"

0:41:48if you never have that feeling, then you're going to be fine.

0:41:50Because they're going to be the same.

0:41:53So it's a little bit different to the Final Cut thing where the Final Cut thing kind of

0:41:57came out of nowhere and sideswiped everybody.

0:42:00And it's also different because people made their living with Final Cut, right?

0:42:03Yeah, absolutely.

0:42:05And that made it different, but we already know what music looks like.

0:42:10And iTunes is so bad that people are going to be willing to forgive a lot of this, I

0:42:16think, if this app works and looks good on the Mac.

0:42:19Yeah, iTunes is just old at this point, you know?

0:42:21Yeah, but that's the problem with it.

0:42:23I guess the only point that I should make is that there's still a bunch of things that

0:42:27you can do in iTunes with Apple Music, not necessarily with your own music files.

0:42:33Like for example, you can add stuff to smart playlists or you can inspect more information

0:42:40about songs, that kind of stuff that you can do in iTunes for Apple Music that you cannot

0:42:46do in music on iOS.

0:42:50So it would be nice to have a least feature parity for the Apple Music experience as it

0:42:55is right now in the future music app for Mac.

0:43:00But as you mentioned I think I'll be fine even if they just remove a couple of features

0:43:05and maybe eventually they bring those back.

0:43:08Yeah I think stuff like that is probably gonna go away.

0:43:12Because they feel like, you know, again like niche features.

0:43:18And they're only features really that exist because iTunes had them.

0:43:22You know, so like it's just, it's probably easier to have Apple Music songs respect those

0:43:27features than it is to remove them.

0:43:31They haven't added them in music.

0:43:32Like smart playlists are cool, but you know what people think is cooler now?

0:43:38You know, like just in general, curated playlists.

0:43:41Playlists made by artificial intelligence.

0:43:43That's what people want to give you now, whether you want smart playlists or not.

0:43:47And the Get Info thing is like, that is like a Federico Vittucci special, you know what

0:43:52I mean?

0:43:53Like that's something that you really love and I get that.

0:43:55But like that is, I just don't think that's a thing that people are like, "Oh, who produced

0:43:58this track?

0:43:59Let me, let me go to Get Info on my Mac and find out."

0:44:01You know what I mean?

0:44:02Yeah, yeah.

0:44:03Well, I don't care personally because I keep my library in Plex, but yeah, I get it.

0:44:08Yeah.

0:44:09Weird Plex, but okay.

0:44:10Oh my God, I love you.

0:44:13That's so good.

0:44:15Wow.

0:44:16The books bit of this is interesting too.

0:44:18Again, this has been on the Mac now since Mavericks, I think.

0:44:22But it looks like a reworked version of books.

0:44:26Again, my assumption is Mars in pain here,

0:44:28even though the article is a little--

0:44:30Remember Mavericks?

0:44:32Yeah, the wave.

0:44:32What was that all about?

0:44:34That was weird.

0:44:35What was that?

0:44:37It was the last version of the old UI.

0:44:39What was new in Mavericks?

0:44:42Maps, maybe?

0:44:43Yes, all those apps.

0:44:44Let's see.

0:44:45512 pixels, mavericks review.

0:44:48Maverick? Oh was it the one? No that was not it.

0:44:51With the new UI for opening and saving files with iCloud?

0:44:56No that was Lion I think.

0:44:59Is it called Books on Mojave or is it iBooks?

0:45:03Because I'm running High Sierra still.

0:45:05Okay.

0:45:05You're still running High Sierra?

0:45:07Yeah.

0:45:08Even though I'm getting these like

0:45:11undismissable notifications now about upgrading to Mojave.

0:45:16You should just upgrade, it's totally fine.

0:45:18Yeah, I will, I just haven't.

0:45:19Like, at this point, it's just I'm on High Sierra for inertia,

0:45:23like rather than fear because I have Mojave on my Mac Mini.

0:45:27So Mavericks brought iBooks and maps and some updates to other things.

0:45:34Anyways, nothing wild.

0:45:36It did get rid of the the leathering calendar, so that was good.

0:45:40It's a good change.

0:45:41Back to the topic at hand, this new version of books will have support for

0:45:48audiobooks and have basically like a separate book and audiobook store which

0:45:53I think makes sense and yeah kind of bringing it up to up to speed. I said

0:46:00earlier I just don't ever use Apple Books for anything. I mean I've got it and

0:46:05I probably have a few things in there but I've been on the Kindle for a really

0:46:08long time. I just wonder how many people are reading books on their Mac. This is

0:46:12important or maybe audiobooks is... I feel like it's like a reference thing like

0:46:16when you're working right that you like you've maybe read it on your iPad and

0:46:20then you have your notes and then you're sitting down at your Mac and you've got

0:46:23your notes up right as opposed to like it I also find it like an interesting

0:46:28thought of somebody sitting on their MacBook and reading a whole novel like

0:46:33that just seems less than ideal for me unless it's your only device that you

0:46:37have right that has the bigger screen so you want to use that but I don't imagine

0:46:41that it is an incredibly high use case but like would be good for like would be

0:46:48good for reference stuff the adding of audiobooks is even funnier to me because

0:46:52I really can't imagine somebody listening to an audiobook sitting on a

0:46:55Mac just sitting at your laptop listening yeah that one seems even

0:47:00harder to me than then like ebooks but to each their own you know it's probably

0:47:07the same people will play games on a Mac. So those people don't exist. Some of them.

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0:49:10All right. So there is a

0:49:12Kickstart the campaign which is of it is of interest

0:49:15To us and people that use iPads a lot. It is something called the touch type Pro

0:49:23And it is a kind of folio case that enables you to easily use a Apple Magic keyboard via

0:49:31a Bluetooth connection with the iPad Pro.

0:49:36And this Kickstarter campaign launched yesterday, I think.

0:49:40But our friend, Mr. Federico Vittucci, has a prototype model of this device.

0:49:47So we're going to talk about it.

0:49:48Yeah.

0:49:49I think it's a production, early production unit.

0:49:52looks finished. There's a logo and everything.

0:49:55So yeah, so the Kickstarter is run by a guy called Salman Sajid, who made a product years

0:50:02ago called the Touch Type back in 2012, which was again, pretty much a very similar thing,

0:50:08right? Like to be able to use a magic keyboard, I think it was a magic keyboard with an iPad.

0:50:14But now it's like more of even more of a thing than it was before, right? Because keyboard

0:50:18cases are a much more well known thing.

0:50:21And I've been doing a little bit of digging into the Kickstarter campaign.

0:50:24So I was wondering, the timeline on this campaign is pretty aggressive,

0:50:30like with delivery in August.

0:50:32And I thought that that was interesting.

0:50:35But I took a look through the Q&A and the kind of risks and challenges section.

0:50:40And it seems like they have already

0:50:45paid for the production molds and stuff like that.

0:50:49Or at least have gone through making prototypes as well as working with manufacturers.

0:50:56So that would suggest to me that they may be pretty far down the line.

0:50:59However, I will say this is a Kickstarter campaign.

0:51:01And I will just say that I think August seems pretty aggressive.

0:51:05So you've got to always know it doesn't matter if Federico has an incredible prototype that's perfectly made.

0:51:12There could be a problem that makes this stuff delayed.

0:51:15I'm not saying that there will be, but Kickstarter is Kickstarter and sometimes stuff is very

0:51:19difficult.

0:51:20It's always possible.

0:51:21Yeah.

0:51:22Yeah.

0:51:23That said, go check out the campaign.

0:51:25There's a video, there's a bunch of animated gifs that you can see to get an idea.

0:51:29It's a very well put together Kickstarter campaign page.

0:51:33And I've been using this thing for two weeks, I think, at this point.

0:51:37I've used it mostly at home for reasons that I will mention shortly.

0:51:41I've also tested it in my car because I spend a bunch of time every week waiting in the

0:51:45car and I need to be able to use the iPad there.

0:51:49So this is kind of peculiar for an iPad accessory.

0:51:56The way that this works is there's a folio case as you mentioned, so you put the iPad

0:52:00into this plastic case.

0:52:02That's kind of like what Logitech is doing in that you put the iPad into this plastic

0:52:07shell.

0:52:08actually not a terrible experience because there's a the top side as a long

0:52:13opening to make sure that you can charge the pencil so that makes it easier to

0:52:17put it into the case and get it out of the case. And also to put it in and

0:52:21leave it there, like not be bothered that it's left there because you can still

0:52:24charge the pencil and stuff like that right like you're more willing to want to keep it.

0:52:28Yeah so exactly so the entire basically the entire top side when using

0:52:34landscape is free, so you can charge the pencil and it's gonna be fine. But attached to the

0:52:40case is this folding cover that, when it's closed, it wraps around the iPad and also

0:52:47there's this final part of the cover that is actually like this folding, kind of like

0:52:54a folding flap, that actually also covers the pencil. So when everything is closed,

0:53:00It covers the pencil too, keeps the pencil in place, and it ensures that when you put

0:53:06everything in your bag, for example, you will not find the pencil at the bottom of your

0:53:10bag.

0:53:11So it will secure and protect the pencil, and it actually works.

0:53:15But this cover, as we've seen with other iPad Folio covers before, also acts as a kickstand

0:53:23of sorts in that when you place it on a desk the cover basically folds and creates like

0:53:32a stand in the back of the iPad. Now the Magic Keyboard, the way that it plays into all of

0:53:38this, is kind of ingenious in that there's a separate case for the Magic Keyboard. So

0:53:44you put the Magic Keyboard, the second generation model, not the old one, into the case. The

0:53:50The case has this flexible magnetic attachment that reminds me a little of the old Razer

0:53:57keyboard for the first generation iPad Pro.

0:54:01It's got this flexible attachment that uses magnets to attach to the bottom of the iPad

0:54:07case.

0:54:08So the Magic Keyboard is attached magnetically to the front of the iPad.

0:54:13cover, the main cover, you lay it down flat on your desk, you put the Magic Keyboard on

0:54:22top, and both inside the cover and into the Magic Keyboard case there's magnets, and they

0:54:29create this kind of like a train track system where like you can slide the Magic Keyboard

0:54:36onto this cover to adjust the viewing angle of the iPad. So the cover combined with the

0:54:42Magic Keyboard, they make the iPad stand upright, and thanks to magnets you can adjust the angle.

0:54:48So you can make it...

0:54:49And also I guess one of the benefits of this one as opposed to the Razer keyboard is that

0:54:53the case extends so that even the Magic Keyboard when it's connected to the iPad is supported

0:54:59by the case underneath, right? So it's probably easier to use on your lap because the Razer

0:55:04keyboard, it just wanted to fall apart all the time.

0:55:07Yeah, because the kickstand was an actual kickstand metal in the back.

0:55:11So there was nothing supporting the connection between the keyboard and the iPad case.

0:55:16Yeah, and really it's one of those things you just gotta take a look at the picture

0:55:19and the video to get an idea because when you describe it in words it's just a bunch

0:55:24of words.

0:55:25It's complicated.

0:55:26It's really easy to understand once you see it.

0:55:28And I guess there's also, what also makes it unique is that if you don't want to use

0:55:35the Magic Keyboard of course you can detach it because it attaches via magnets.

0:55:40of course, does not use the smart connector.

0:55:42This is all Bluetooth.

0:55:43The Magic Keyboard is a Bluetooth keyboard.

0:55:44So you can detach it and use it.

0:55:47For example, you can keep the iPad on your table

0:55:50and use the Magic Keyboard on your lap if you wish to do so.

0:55:54But also what you can do if you're done working,

0:55:57for example, and you wanna put everything away,

0:56:00you can fold the Magic Keyboard behind the iPad.

0:56:05So between the iPad and the case,

0:56:07You can hide the Magic Keyboard beneath the iPad,

0:56:12then close the cover, and you end up

0:56:14with this integrated, unique package

0:56:17that looks like a sandwich.

0:56:18It's like iPad, keyboard, cover, everything together.

0:56:21Of course, it adds a bunch of weight and bulk to the iPad.

0:56:28It's a little bulky, yeah.

0:56:30It's a little bulky and heavy, but if that

0:56:32is no concern for you, it actually works as advertised.

0:56:37you're gonna keep the iPad, the Magic Keyboard,

0:56:38and the Pencil, and this case, all close together.

0:56:41You can throw it in a bag and forget about it.

0:56:44Now, I believe that this accessory

0:56:48is mostly a desk accessory.

0:56:52I don't think, well, this is not as portable

0:56:55as the Smart Keyboard Folio.

0:56:57For, first of all, because it's much heavier,

0:57:01there's a, I saved this comparison.

0:57:05So the 12.9 inch iPad with the Smart Keyboard Folio is £2.3.

0:57:11The iPad Pro with the upcoming Brydge keyboard is going to be £2.96.

0:57:17The Touch type is £3.4.

0:57:21So how?

0:57:23Well there's two plastic cases.

0:57:27Both of them have magnets inside.

0:57:30And there's this long cover that folds to act as the surface for the Magic Keyboard

0:57:38and that also becomes a folio for the iPad when everything is closed.

0:57:41I would have just assumed a big chunk of aluminium that is the Bridge Keyboard would be heavier.

0:57:49It's just a surprise to me to see those.

0:57:51Because that's like significant.

0:57:52It's like half a pound heavier.

0:57:54That also includes the Magic Keyboard though.

0:57:56Well sure, but the Bridge has the keyboard in it too.

0:57:58Okay, keyboard.

0:58:00Yeah.

0:58:01Well, it's a bunch of plastic and it adds weight to the entire package.

0:58:06There's some caveats that I should mention.

0:58:09I think it's a bit...

0:58:11I think the sliding system to adjust the viewing angle, so you gotta hold the Magic Keyboard

0:58:15and slide it on top of the cover, so basically the cover becomes this surface.

0:58:20It's a bit awkward in that you gotta pay attention to what you do, so what I do is I grab the

0:58:25the keyboard with both hands and slide it, but I get a, you know, it's quite easy to

0:58:30detach the Magic Keyboard from the iPad case. So that can be a bit awkward.

0:58:36That just feels like with a lot of this stuff, this is just one of those things that you

0:58:39just get used to and get better at over time.

0:58:41Yes, I agree. Yeah, you get used to it. What else? Well, of course, the Magic Keyboard.

0:58:48You know, we talked about it before. It's got media keys, so that's convenient, but

0:58:52it doesn't have all the media keys shortcuts that you get, for example, from the Logitech

0:58:55like home button or search, you know, that kind of stuff does not have that.

0:59:00It's only got, you know, controlling playback, for example. It's not backlit and it's Bluetooth.

0:59:05So if those are important reasons for you to get a different keyboard, you should consider

0:59:09the slim folio that we talked about last week from Logitech. But what I do like is that

0:59:18I'm a fan of the Magic Keyboard myself. And if you're looking to integrate the Magic Keyboard

0:59:23with the iPad Pro, I think this is... and if you're willing to accept that this is

0:59:28mostly going to be a desk device, because of the weight concerns and because it becomes

0:59:33a really bulky package, you know, when you close it all together. I'll try and have a

0:59:39picture in the show notes. It's thick and, you know...

0:59:41Let me ask you though, like, how comfortable and easy is it to use on your lap?

0:59:46I think it's... hmm... I think it's better on...

0:59:50Compared to the Smart Folio.

0:59:51Well, I think the Smart Folio is better on your lap because there's fewer moving parts.

0:59:57For a desk, I think it's so much better because you're getting a better keyboard and because

1:00:04everything is a bit more stable on the desk.

1:00:06I think it's fine on your lap.

1:00:08I don't think it's terrible.

1:00:09I still think the Smart Keyboard Folio is better because there's fewer moving parts.

1:00:16I've been using it mostly at my desk or at the kitchen table, and I like it because I

1:00:22can type faster on the Magic Keyboard than the Keyboard Folio.

1:00:25I think I've told you that.

1:00:27All right, so let me ask you about that with the desk then.

1:00:30So I use a stand and a Magic Keyboard.

1:00:34Is that not better than a case and a Magic Keyboard?

1:00:38So by "with a stand" you mean like something that increases the height of the i

1:00:46which is one of the many stands that I found, and this was one that I liked the most.

1:00:50And with that, I have height adjustment as well as angle adjustment.

1:00:56And I can then use the Magic Keyboard.

1:00:59OK, so with this thing you're still going to have to look down,

1:01:03because it doesn't adjust the height of the iPad Pro.

1:01:09I guess I should mention that because of the opening of the case on the longer side, you

1:01:19can remove the iPad from the case and put it in portrait mode.

1:01:24There's a photo of this I think or maybe it's shown in the video.

1:01:28It makes me very nervous it's going to topple over.

1:01:33This is not a replacement for that kind of setup, so if you need height adjustment to

1:01:37prevent things like neck strain for example. I think you should stay with

1:01:42your setup mic because if you look down for several hours you're gonna feel that.

1:01:48And also the difference when you use a stand you need to reach for the

1:01:56screen. With this thing I feel like it's a bit more comfortable because you can

1:02:00keep your elbows on the table and just touch the iPad. I think it's a bit easier

1:02:04maybe than just using a vertical stand? I don't know.

1:02:08So with this thing you're gonna have to look down,

1:02:10because it doesn't adjust the height of the iPad Pro.

1:02:12So for your personal use case, I would suggest not to get this thing?

1:02:17Yeah, this product is not for me at all.

1:02:21Just like in talking to you, it's like,

1:02:23it's too heavy for me to want to carry around with me,

1:02:26and it looks like super bulky,

1:02:28because it's got the Magic Keyboard, which is a thick thing.

1:02:32and then at home it's not gonna provide me with what I want anyway because I

1:02:38don't I'm at you know I'm trying to reduce the amount of time that I'm

1:02:41sitting at a desk and looking down I want to have to be able to look in front

1:02:45of me I just find that more comfortable and I find that like using the Apple

1:02:51pencil like I can mostly keep my arms on the table anyway I just reach up and

1:02:54just have something yeah this I can see the appeal of this product for some

1:03:01people but I don't think that this one's to me. It also is part of like I don't

1:03:04love this the Magic Keyboard. I don't like love the Magic Keyboard like it's

1:03:09fine. It's no I do like it. It is interesting this case is the newest in a

1:03:16long line of products that try to marry the iPad and like Apple's Bluetooth

1:03:20keyboard there was the EnCase Origami workstation back forever ago Amazon

1:03:25told tells me I purchased it in 2012 that you know is the keyboard snapped

1:03:29into it and the original iPad went into it. Studio Neat did the canopy which like

1:03:33kind of doesn't work with modern iPads really well with the thin bezels. I wish

1:03:39it did like you kind of have to like set something in there so the bottom isn't

1:03:43below the keyboard and like I wish there were some. How does this thing do with

1:03:47that? Oh it's totally fine. Okay. Because the case is thicker at the bottom. There's a separation as well between the two, right?

1:03:56There's a separation also, the plastic case on the bottom edge is thicker and wider so

1:04:01that it sort of extends the iPad a bit more vertically so that the home indicator does

1:04:07not interfere with the Magic Keyboard.

1:04:09But also there's a distance between them because there's the attachment, so it's totally fine.

1:04:15I like it myself, despite the...

1:04:20It's nice that... because I travel just once a week now, not twice a week, I mostly work

1:04:29with the iPad Pro when I'm at home these days, and so it's nice that I can just open this,

1:04:35get work done for five, six hours, close everything, and charge via USB-C, and I never have to

1:04:42take out the individual parts.

1:04:44When I travel I use the Smart Keyboard Folio, or if I want to type on my lap I use the Smart

1:04:50Keyboard Folio, which as I confessed I think last week I've been using more.

1:04:57My recommendation would be, if you love the Magic Keyboard and if you use your iPad Pro

1:05:02at a desk, and if you like this idea of integrating the two in a single package, I think you should

1:05:11consider this one.

1:05:14There's other ways that you can use the Magic Keyboard with an iPad Pro, but I think none

1:05:19of them are as, you know, putting together all both parts, the iPad Pro and the Magic

1:05:25Keyboard.

1:05:26They do that as well as this one does.

1:05:30As I mentioned, it can be a bit awkward to adjust the viewing angle and you're still

1:05:36going to be stuck with Bluetooth so you don't get the simplicity of the Smart Keyboard Folio.

1:05:43But if you work at a desk, I think it's a very clever idea and I think it's very well

1:05:48done.

1:05:50Yeah, so go check out the Kickstarter campaign and make sure to take a look at the video

1:05:55and the pictures to get a better idea whether this is for you or not.

1:06:00I think it is a very good idea with a lot of really interesting details.

1:06:04Yeah.

1:06:05I think the magnetic stuff in the case is really good because you get almost infinite

1:06:10degrees of you can find what works just right for you.

1:06:13But like this just isn't for my personal ergonomic needs, but that doesn't mean

1:06:19that it's not for yours.

1:06:21Right. Like if you're sitting and using the Smart Folio all day, every day,

1:06:26sitting at a desk, maybe this is a better option than that one.

1:06:30But if you're like me as somebody who's trying to use the Smart Folio less when

1:06:34I'm working, this isn't going to give me what I want.

1:06:38Yeah. Yeah, I agree.

1:06:40this is not for you, but I bet there's a bunch of people out there who like the Magic Keyboard

1:06:44or maybe just own the Magic Keyboard, don't want to buy another keyboard, and they could

1:06:49consider this case to sort of integrate the two of them together in a better way than

1:06:54other solutions right now. So if you're that type of person, I say go check out the campaign,

1:06:59watch the video, and then maybe consider the 12.9 inch version or the 11 inch version,

1:07:06And I think I saw on Reddit that if you order the 11" version and then later change your

1:07:13mind you can still swap it for a 10.5" version for the old iPad Pro.

1:07:19There's a, I think there's an FAQ about this somewhere.

1:07:22So yeah, go check out the campaign, watch the video, make sure that you also watch the

1:07:27GIFs because they really do give you an idea of how this works.

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1:10:10All right, so we're going to talk now about an article that Federico published today about

1:10:16using the Luna Display. Now, Luna Display are a previous sponsor and a future sponsor

1:10:21of this show. They do not know that we're talking about this today, nor have they paid

1:10:25us to have this conversation. Everything we speak about today is outside of any previous

1:10:30arrangement we have of them. Understandably, if you want to take this conversation with

1:10:34a grain of salt, that's fine. But this discussion is as unbiased as we can make them, but everyone

1:10:39has biases. Bias is a thing. You have to accept that bias exists. But so like, I just want

1:10:44to say all of that. We're going to talk about what it's like to use this thing. It's probably

1:10:48gonna sound like some of the stuff we've been talking about when we've done ads, because

1:10:52in the ads we talk about how we use it. But this is not sponsored content, there's nothing

1:10:58more I can say than that, but we're just gonna talk about this article.

1:11:01This Luna is also sponsored by my website and my podcasts, but as I said, as I wrote

1:11:07in the article, this is entirely based on my opinion of the Luna display that I bought

1:11:12myself. I didn't tell them, they had no idea I was working on this article, so you can

1:11:17trust us or not, but personally I can say that this is entirely based on what I've been

1:11:22doing myself for the thing that I bought and that I paid for. So that's it for the disclaimer,

1:11:28thank you Myke. So yeah, what do you guys want to know about the article that I published?

1:11:33Well I think there's a few things which is interesting to me. We are using this device

1:11:40in some similar ways but slightly differently. So like I use mine with my Mac completely

1:11:45headless, there's no monitor attached to my Mac.

1:11:48- Oh, really?

1:11:49- Yeah, yeah, and I can maybe talk about some of the ways

1:11:53that I deal with the problems that you've had,

1:11:55or like the things that you've seen

1:11:57which haven't worked very well for you.

1:11:59Like for example, one of them, so like today,

1:12:02for some reason, the lunar display wouldn't connect.

1:12:04Like the Mac had restarted, I don't know why it did that.

1:12:08But I use screens then to log into the Mac to log in,

1:12:12so I don't need to connect to a monitor.

1:12:15And that's just because your Mac Mini serves a purpose

1:12:18as an actual machine that you are using

1:12:21to record podcasts on when mine doesn't.

1:12:23It's like home server and media stuff

1:12:26and we're trying to do more and more with it.

1:12:28So there's a difference there,

1:12:29but I just don't need it attached to a monitor,

1:12:31so that works pretty well for me.

1:12:33I think one of the key parts of this

1:12:37is the thing that I love so much too,

1:12:39is the idea of having macOS as an app, an iOS app,

1:12:45basically and the flexibility that that gives you.

1:12:49Like, because there are things that are easier and can be done way faster on a Mac than there

1:12:55is on iOS.

1:12:56I don't think I've ever said anything to the contrary.

1:12:59So it's really good to have something like that and I feel like that's kind of where

1:13:05you are.

1:13:06So I was just wondering like, what are you doing with the Mac that you weren't doing

1:13:14of iOS that you've kind of moved with using the Luna Display? Like why do you need this

1:13:20basically?

1:13:21Okay, that's a good question. I feel like there's not necessarily things that I cannot

1:13:28do on iOS if I wanted to. There's things that I, now that I have a Mac that is faster than

1:13:36the one that I used to have and it's easier to use in that it's always on, I just need

1:13:41to sit down and press a key on the keyboard to wake it, I think it's just easier for me

1:13:47to do those things on the Mac Mini when I'm home. There's also things that I was not doing

1:13:52before, like running a Plex library or running a Homebridge server that I was not doing before

1:14:00because I didn't have a Mac Mini server, I had a MacBook Pro. So now that I have those,

1:14:04I want to be able to manage them. But to give you some actual examples, besides Plex and

1:14:10Backblaze and iTunes, which I use a lot in terms of iTunes is the only app that can be

1:14:19controlled with automation.

1:14:21If you want to have scripts to deal with connecting to AirPlay speakers, for example, there's

1:14:26no automation support for AirPlay on iOS, for the iOS music app.

1:14:33But with iTunes you can create scripts that allow you to play specific playlists in specific

1:14:37modes on specific speakers. And I've wrote about these shortcuts before, so that's something

1:14:44that I do. But also, things that I could do on iOS, but that I prefer to do on the Mac

1:14:50whenever possible, downloading files from Safari. I mentioned a few weeks ago, I think,

1:14:56I had to download a few gigabytes of different zip files from the website.

1:15:02- iCab!

1:15:03Yeah, and I could have used iCab.

1:15:06It's just easier to use Safari on the Mac, because it's got a download manager.

1:15:10You just click the links and you download a bunch of files and you can see the progress.

1:15:15And that's it.

1:15:16Or for whatever reason, you gave me this tip Michael, I think a few months ago.

1:15:23If you try and copy rich text from Evernote on iOS and paste that text in Google Docs

1:15:30on iOS, it'll lose all of your formatting. If you copy rich text from Evernote on the

1:15:36Mac and paste it in Safari, Google Docs, on the Mac, it keeps the exact same formatting

1:15:42that, you know, rich text, all your lists, all your indentation, everything is fine.

1:15:48Because rich text just does not work on iOS.

1:15:51Although as we know, it's worse if you try and have Zapier do that pasting for you, right?

1:15:55It is worse because I tried...

1:15:59Federico set up an automation, as he sometimes will do recently, where he would be able to

1:16:05send something from Evernote to Google Docs via a Zapier action of some description. Zapier

1:16:12is the IFTTT on steroids, basically. For reasons unknown to everybody, when this would happen,

1:16:21it would paste in the formatted text correctly from Evernote, but remove the formatting of

1:16:28everything else in the document. And this is one of those funny things where I say to

1:16:32Federico "I think your script has broken everything" and he's like "there's no way it could do

1:16:37that" and I was like "I understand, but let's look at this together" and then he's like

1:16:42"oh" and I don't know if you ever found out why that happened but like there was a link.

1:16:48I told Zapier, I told them, and their response was you know, that was, I mean I love Zapier

1:16:55but that was kind of annoying, like, "I'm a paying customer and if you know how much

1:16:59Zapier costs, you know, it's not cheap." And the response was to the extent of "Yeah, we're

1:17:05aware of this, can you go through this form and send us a bunch of details about all that

1:17:10you did?" It's like, you know, I understand what these processes are like, but can't you

1:17:18just look in my account and do it for me? Because I really don't have the time to sit

1:17:23down and file a radar essentially for Zapier. Anyway, I love Zapier, maybe they'll figure

1:17:29it out without my help because I forget about these things. Anyway, so they know, but I

1:17:35don't know what the problem is, but they do, apparently. So anyway, the article that

1:17:41I published is this idea of using the Luna Display on my iPad Pro to access the Mac Mini

1:17:48and therefore Mac OS when I need it.

1:17:51But trying to find ways to optimize this experience

1:17:56and sort of making it easier and faster

1:18:00and a bit more flexible maybe to use Mac OS on the iPad

1:18:05through the Luna Display.

1:18:06So little scripts, little shortcuts,

1:18:09little enhancements that I come up to make it better

1:18:14than the default experience, I think.

1:18:16That would be, yeah.

1:18:18One of the things that I found really fascinating was the accessibility keyboard.

1:18:21Which I didn't even know existed.

1:18:24Yeah, so I think this was something that I discovered last year.

1:18:29And, you know, I always put off those things that you're like,

1:18:33"Yeah, one day I'm going to experiment with this."

1:18:35So the idea is that there's a whole suite of accessibility features on Mac OS and iOS.

1:18:43But on Mac OS, one of them is the accessibility keyboard.

1:18:47which by default is an on-screen QWERTY keyboard.

1:18:51It's a standard keyboard for folks with physical and motor impairments

1:18:56that want to be able to type, but using an on-screen keyboard rather than a physical keyboard.

1:19:01What's great about this is that, as many accessibility features always do,

1:19:08it goes beyond the traditional realm of accessibility

1:19:13because it allows you to customize the entire thing for whatever need you may have.

1:19:19And what you can do with the Accessibility Keyboard is create multiple panels.

1:19:24They're called panels, these keyboards.

1:19:26And there's a free app that is built and available right on your Mac called Panel Editor.

1:19:32And it lets you design your own keyboard.

1:19:35It lets you design your own custom on-screen keyboard that can be a standard keyboard

1:19:40keyboard or can be just a collection of buttons. And those buttons you create,

1:19:45it looks like an image editor, you have a grid, you have a canvas,

1:19:49and you can create these buttons. And to each button you can assign a label, you

1:19:54can modify the size, but then you can assign an action so that when it's

1:19:58clicked it does something. And there's a collection of built-in actions like

1:20:03system actions like "raise the volume" or "mute the volume" or like "type a

1:20:09a letter for example, but there's also actions like "run an Apple script".

1:20:14And that's when things got interesting for me, because what I wanted to have was...

1:20:20So I was using the Lunar Display on the iPad Pro and I realized there's a bunch of actions

1:20:26that I could do easily on a Mac with the media keys for example of the Magic Keyboard, but

1:20:35when I'm on the iPad Pro with the Lunar Display and the Smart Keyboard Folio, because I didn't

1:20:39have the touch type at the time. But just, wouldn't it be nice if I had some kind of

1:20:47launcher to do things more quickly, just by tapping them? Sort of like having a floating

1:20:54Launch Center Pro was my idea. Like, is it possible to have a thing that is always on

1:20:59screen that lets me tap buttons to execute actions? And I tried a bunch of things like

1:21:05keyboard maestro palettes or like having persistent launchers on the desktop. And then I remembered

1:21:12about the accessibility keyboard. And so I designed this shortcuts bar, is my nickname.

1:21:20It's like a row of buttons that do things like pause iTunes or mute system sounds or

1:21:27open the iCloud drive folder in the finder. And so that was really interesting in putting

1:21:33this together and it brought me back to using AppleScript and going crazy over the limitations

1:21:41and the little idiosyncrasies of AppleScript.

1:21:46But that was fun, it was a fun learning experience, this idea of you can design your own keyboard

1:21:52panel and you can make any action that you want using these built-in suggestions or just

1:21:58using your own AppleScript stuff.

1:22:01I think it's super fascinating. And then when you start putting like BetterTouchTool

1:22:06and then you've got it like moving all the windows around and stuff, it's like a really

1:22:10interesting way of doing it.

1:22:12Yeah, that was my other problem in that my Mac Mini is always connected to the UltraFine

1:22:16display. And when you connect via Luna Display, by default it becomes the secondary display,

1:22:25and this is called the extended desktop mode on macOS. The problem is the primary display

1:22:31on the Mac is where all your apps and your desktop icons, they show up first by default.

1:22:39So when you open an app, by default it goes to the primary display, and then you need

1:22:44to move it to the secondary display.

1:22:46My problem was, of course, I'm using a secondary display from another room, I'm not necessarily

1:22:53in front of the Mac Mini, so that I have my trackpad, but I want to use macOS from the

1:22:57kitchen table and the Mac Mini is in the bedroom. So how can I move these windows back and forth

1:23:02between displays? And of course one solution will be just unplug the cable of the ultrafine

1:23:09so that the Luna display becomes the primary display by default. But I don't want to remember

1:23:13to unplug and replug every single time. So I struggled with this for a long time. I came

1:23:19across some system modifications to let you automate switching displays, but that required

1:23:26disabling SIP on Mojave, system integrity protection, and really didn't want to do that.

1:23:31Yeah, that's a bad idea.

1:23:33All kinds of nasty things could happen, so I don't want to do that. So I sort of gave

1:23:38up on the idea of finding a way to automate display switching, which is not possible on

1:23:44the Mac, and I realized, well, maybe I just need to figure out how to make working with

1:23:49secondary display better and faster. And BetterTouchTool is this utility that all kinds of people use

1:23:58for all kinds of different things. For example, John Boris, we do app stories together. He

1:24:03customized BetterTouchTool completely to access certain Logic Pro, it's called Logic Pro 10,

1:24:10the new version, but Logic shortcuts, Logic actions. And one of the categories, yeah,

1:24:19One of the categories of actions the BetterTouch tool has is Window Control.

1:24:25You can shuffle windows back and forth between displays, you can resize them, you can actually

1:24:31give them exact pixel coordinates to do window resizing.

1:24:38Combining all of that with the accessibility keyboard, the idea of, I can now just open

1:24:44the iPad, log into Luna Display, move all my windows from the ultra-fine 2D iPad's

1:24:53display, and now I have a reasonably efficient Mac OS environment where I have keyboard shortcuts

1:25:01to resize my windows, I have visual shortcuts to do things like opening the Finder or muting

1:25:08system sounds, because my Mac main is always streaming audio to the HomePod, or hiding

1:25:14the Luna Display window that always comes up and it's so annoying, or showing hiding

1:25:21the dock, you know, all these things.

1:25:22So this combination of keyboard shortcuts and visual shortcuts, it's a really fascinating

1:25:29way to get work done, because it's like you have Mac OS on your iPad, and it works well

1:25:34enough because you can use both the pencil and the keyboard for inputs, but it's still

1:25:40an app, so you can sort of use it on demand just when you need it, and I don't have to

1:25:45sit down, you know, go necessarily to another room and sit down and switch contexts. I can

1:25:51just, you know, I need to do something on my Quest for two minutes, I can just stay

1:25:55at the kitchen table and do it from the iPad.

1:25:58And there are software, complete software-based solutions, right, like Duet and AirDisplay

1:26:04But I will say from my own experience, they both work perfectly fine.

1:26:10They do work, yeah.

1:26:11But the Luna Display is a much better experience. The lag is definitely better, the image quality is definitely better.

1:26:17And I find this, you said this in your article, when using the Luna Display, sometimes it feels like the Mac is just native.

1:26:26I forget sometimes that I'm sitting and looking at an iPad. It works very, very, very well.

1:26:32very well and I found the other stuff it works but it doesn't work as well as I

1:26:38would want. It's like it's 70% there and the Luna is like 90% there and

1:26:44at those levels you can tell the difference in image quality and

1:26:49just the general smoothness and yes I've tried you know I have a 2018 fully

1:26:53spec'd Mac Mini, well not fully spec'd but reasonably spec'd Mac Mini with like

1:26:5816 gigs of RAM and the better CPU option. I have a mesh Wi-Fi,

1:27:045 gigahertz network, it's really good Wi-Fi, so I've tried those apps before, but the latency and

1:27:10the image quality and the image artifacts and various glitches, they were like... I could use

1:27:15those apps, but compared to the lunar display, I prefer the nicer experience, even if it requires

1:27:21buying a separate accessory.

1:27:23But yeah, it was a fun learning experience really to just dive back into the world of

1:27:32Keyboard Maestro and AppleScript and BetterTouchTool and the accessibility stuff.

1:27:38And I guess what I tried to say in the conclusion of the article was that maybe someday we will

1:27:44have this kind of Apple laptop that can do... it's got the app ecosystem of iOS and the

1:27:53intuitive interactions of iOS, but also this idea that you can personalize everything and

1:27:59that you get access to these really technical and really powerful apps and utilities such

1:28:05as macOS.

1:28:06Maybe one day there will be a thing that you can buy and actually it runs on Apple OS,

1:28:13But until that happens, and I reckon it'll be a while, this mixed sort of hybrid environment,

1:28:20it works pretty well.

1:28:21Now, you can do this via VNC software, you can do this with other wireless display apps

1:28:27like Duet and Air Display.

1:28:28Yeah, like all of the stuff that Federico is talking about, you don't need a lunar display

1:28:33to do it.

1:28:34Yeah.

1:28:35Right?

1:28:36Like, to be able to use the Better Touch Tool stuff, the accessibility keyboard stuff, right?

1:28:41That's all running on the Mac.

1:28:42It's just like what is your portal to it?

1:28:44I use this stuff when I'm using the Mac physically in front of my Mac Mini as well.

1:28:49Like, I have the accessibility keyboard shown in front of me right now,

1:28:54and I have BetterTouchTool keyboard shortcuts set up for the Mac, for the Ultrafine display.

1:29:00So all of these things, you can use them.

1:29:03You know, you don't need...

1:29:04But it is, you know, a strong personal preference from both of us that the best experience,

1:29:09the most native feeling experience is the Luna display to do it.

1:29:13You know, yeah, and I, you know, I like nice things, like the best options and, you know,

1:29:19it's just the image quality that you get with the Luna, it's just, you know, something that

1:29:23I prefer. But yeah, so it was fun to write about Mac stuff again, for sure.

1:29:30It's like a story, you wrote like a story about the Mac.

1:29:34What could you call that website?

1:29:35Yeah, well, that's a good domain name.

1:29:38Yeah.

1:29:39Starymax.com.

1:29:40Now that I've done this, because it was like two months late, I'm going back to more traditional

1:29:52iPad stories, hopefully before WWDC.

1:29:57So we'll see.

1:29:58There's kind of a no big deal, but like a 10-year anniversary coming up next week.

1:30:05So after that, it's all wrapped.

1:30:06- It's all wrapped. - It's next week?

1:30:08- Yeah. - Wow.

1:30:10- We have a lot of things planned at Max Stories.

1:30:14It'll be the 10-year anniversary.

1:30:16So I usually don't like these kinds of self-celebrations,

1:30:21but it's 10 years, we're doing a few things.

1:30:25So starting Monday, that'll be things on Max Stories.

1:30:29But yeah, after that, it's all.

1:30:32- You'll be happy to know

1:30:33that I just registered storymax.com.

1:30:36- Thank you, otherwise somebody else would have.

1:30:38- I will direct to your website.

1:30:40- Thank you, Storymax.

1:30:43But yeah, so after that, I will be back

1:30:46to traditional iPad coverage for a while.

1:30:51So this was fun though, it was really fun.

1:30:54- I think that about does it.

1:30:56If you want to find links and stuff we talked about,

1:30:58including Federico's awesome article about this,

1:31:01lunar display, Mac, iPad, hybrid madness,

1:31:06head over to the website, relay.fm/connected/238.

1:31:11I'd like to mention too, we have a handful of tickets left

1:31:15to our WODC show, so if you haven't bought a ticket

1:31:18and you're gonna be in San Jose that first week of June,

1:31:21we'd love to have you at the show,

1:31:22so that link will be there as well.

1:31:24- We're about 90% sold out, so there's not many tickets left

1:31:30If you're gonna be there, you want one.

1:31:32It's "now's your time." That's what you're saying.

1:31:35Yeah, and you want to be there, because my surprise is complete.

1:31:40And just waiting for this event to happen.

1:31:44So...

1:31:45-Really worries me. -The anxiety that I feel.

1:31:47[laughter]

1:31:49-It's just palpable. -I'm now in the planning stages

1:31:53for how the surprise will be revealed.

1:31:56There will be games involved.

1:31:59You know, the audience will participate actively in this, so you want to be there, trust me.

1:32:05It's, uh, you know, putting a lot of work into this. Don't worry, it's all safe content. It's all,

1:32:12you know, all safe and funny and in good spirits. Do we have to wear helmets? No, no, but you will

1:32:21also, you two will participate but in a different way than the audience, so you'll see. That's the

1:32:25That's the part I'm scared about.

1:32:28This is what I'd assumed.

1:32:29I will not ask you to jump off a platform like FieldShooter.

1:32:33That's good.

1:32:34Our insurance doesn't allow that anyways.

1:32:38You can get in touch with us via email if you have feedback or follow up.

1:32:42There's a link there on the sidebar on the webpage.

1:32:46Or you can find us on Twitter.

1:32:48You can follow Federico there as Vitiici.

1:32:53And as we mentioned, Federico's site, MaxStories, turns 10 next week.

1:32:57I've gotten a sneak peek at some of the stuff that's being planned and you don't want to

1:33:01miss it.

1:33:02It's going to be a lot of fun.

1:33:04You can go to storymax.com or iosstories.net.

1:33:08Both of those websites will take you to Federico's website.

1:33:11That is my gift to you on your 10th anniversary is to redirect iosstories.net back to you.

1:33:18That's good.

1:33:19I was going to Casey's site before, I think.

1:33:22It was going to my own site was where I was going. It's going to my color

1:33:26You know Myke was right calm was where it went to but now it goes it goes to where it should

1:33:31Good that feels that feels right to me

1:33:33You can find Myke on Twitter as I am y ke and Myke is the host of a whole lot of shows

1:33:39here on relay FM

1:33:42You can find me there as is m/h and I write 512 pixels dotnet

1:33:48I

1:33:48Like to thank our sponsors this week FreshBooks Squarespace and Warby Parker and until next week gentlemen say goodbye

1:33:56How do we ditch you cheerio adios?