0:00:00[Music]
0:00:06From Relay FM, this is Connected, episode 156. Today's show is brought to you by TextExpander,
0:00:13FreshBooks, and Encapsula. My name is Myke Hurley. I am joined by Mr. Federico Vittucci.
0:00:19Ciao Federico.
0:00:20Hey Myke, how are you?
0:00:22I'm good, welcome back. How was your vacation Federico?
0:00:27It's been great, but I do miss a working internet connection. So today I'm back in Rome for
0:00:35reasons that we'll get to in a minute. But I'm back on WiFi and it's really nice to have
0:00:42the ability to, for example, open web pages. You know? You start missing those things while
0:00:50you're at the beach.
0:00:52So as we record this today, which is the 21st of August 2017, there's going to be an eclipse
0:01:00in America today. And I can't remember what type of eclipse it is Federico, so I won't
0:01:06say it. I think it's a total eclipse. Yeah let's go with that, we'll call it total eclipse.
0:01:11See the thing is I'm scared that that's not the exact term that you should use, so that's
0:01:15why I didn't say it. Right like I know the moon will pass in front of the sun and it
0:01:19will be completely, you know, and I know they're talking about totality, but I just, I was
0:01:23scared to say the name.
0:01:26So I watched this video on Mashable, and they mentioned this term called annular eclipse,
0:01:33which means from Latin, it means like there's like a ring around the sun, because the moon
0:01:39is covering the sun, so you kind of see this ring of light, maybe it's the correct terminology
0:01:44is annular eclipse, I don't know, could be, you know.
0:01:48Science! Who knows?
0:01:50So I say this because our Intrepid co-host, Stephen Hackett, he's actually in Nashville, I think, today
0:01:56to see the eclipse and he's putting together, along with Jason Snow, his co-host on Liftoff,
0:02:02they're recording a special episode about the eclipse, like about their kind of experience
0:02:08of going to see it and then they're going to talk about it. So I'll put a link in our show notes to
0:02:12to lift off so you can go and get that if you want to.
0:02:16So yeah, so you should go listen to it.
0:02:19So that's where he is today,
0:02:20so it's just me and Steven today.
0:02:21But I do have some Steven related follow up,
0:02:23which I think is interesting.
0:02:25Remember last week's episode, Steven was unhappy
0:02:28that he had not yet received return labels from Logitech?
0:02:32- Yeah, yeah.
0:02:33- They have sent them.
0:02:34So he has received his return labels
0:02:36and he has sent his Logitech circle camera off in the mail.
0:02:41So they're on their way back to Logitech, so he's very happy about that.
0:02:46Perfect, that's good news.
0:02:48And also I wanted to just mention something that I think is very cool and way overdue,
0:02:56as a piece of follow up, because we spoke about it on this show before, we've complained
0:02:59a little bit on this show.
0:03:01Slack for iOS gains quick replies to notifications.
0:03:03So now when you get a, I think it's just a direct message on Slack, you get a reply button
0:03:08and you can reply on your Apple Watch
0:03:11or from notifications.
0:03:12- Yeah, I was very happy to see this
0:03:15in the beta channel of Slack.
0:03:18And I saw it on the App Store with the public release.
0:03:22I'm really happy because I'm not sure it's just for DMs.
0:03:27I think it's also for channels.
0:03:29At least I think we replied to a channel
0:03:32with the Maxories team.
0:03:33Anyway, it's just nice to not having to load
0:03:37the full Slack app, which can be a little slow.
0:03:42It's nice to have the option to reply straight
0:03:44from a notification, either from the iPhone
0:03:47or from the watch.
0:03:48Also, on the iPad, it's nice.
0:03:50You can expand, type away with a keyboard, yeah.
0:03:54- See, 'cause I always found it so frustrating,
0:03:57and if I would get a message that just required yes,
0:04:02just the word yes,
0:04:06and I would have to get my phone out of my pocket, right?
0:04:09And like open it.
0:04:11Hopefully I'm in the right Slack team.
0:04:13You know, it was all just so frustrating
0:04:14when on my Apple watch I could just hit a thing
0:04:16or I could send an emoji or whatever, right?
0:04:18So now I'm happy that I can do that
0:04:20because that is just a way better method
0:04:23of replying to some questions
0:04:25or some comments that I would receive.
0:04:27- Yeah, it would still be nice to have both options.
0:04:32Like I would like to have ideally like a menu
0:04:35that has four options.
0:04:37So three options are emoji,
0:04:39like my most used emoji reactions on Slack, for example,
0:04:42and the fourth one is a button that says Type a Reply.
0:04:45And when you tap the button, the keyboard comes up.
0:04:48So I would like to have both.
0:04:49When I expand the Slack notification,
0:04:51either I send a quick emoji or I actually type a message.
0:04:54But I'll take whatever Slack offered,
0:04:58which is just the keyboard, and that's fine.
0:05:00- I wanna just extend a quick thank you
0:05:04everybody who has become a Relay FM member to support this show or any of our shows,
0:05:09they've all got access to some special bonus content, you can sign up at relay.fm/membership,
0:05:14we're doing some fun bonuses throughout August and into September, so there's loads of great
0:05:18bonus episodes, I know that you and Fraser are working on something for Canvas, there's some
0:05:22great ones out already, for example the hosts of Reconcilable Differences and Dubai Friday got
0:05:28got together to do a special episode which I am so excited to listen to. There is a special
0:05:34crossover of Cortex and Upgrade going live sometime this week, I won't say the date just
0:05:40yet but it should be later this week, where we do another taxi venture called Spooky Manor.
0:05:44These things are all and only available to Relay FM members. Go sign up at relay.fm/membership
0:05:50and you'll get everything you need to listen to these fantastic bonus episodes. Now Federico,
0:05:56a couple of days ago you sent me and Steven a concerning image. Would you like to explain
0:06:05the image that you saw that I will of course include in the show notes for our dear connected
0:06:10listeners? Well first I think the fact that your first reply was "is that a 12.9 or a
0:06:1610.5?" was concerning to me because you couldn't see that it was the big iPad. No, because
0:06:25your hands are so like huge. That is not true. It's a normal size. You have said many times
0:06:32on this show that you have big hands. Also as well, the image that you sent, like the
0:06:37edges of the iPad are cut off so like it is smaller. Like when I kind of just looked at
0:06:42it and I just saw everything kind of in proportion, it looked like a small iPad to me. So it's
0:06:47a picture of an iPad and we're looking down on the iPad at the lightning bolt which is
0:06:52right in the middle and then something terrible is happening.
0:06:57It's bent. There's a slight V shape to this iPad which I have no idea how this happened.
0:07:06This is the most concerning part to me. I was at the beach, so for the past three weeks
0:07:12I've been following this routine. Wake up in the morning, walk the dogs, come back home
0:07:18have breakfast, get an hour of writing done, go to the beach, relax for a while, then go
0:07:25under the umbrella and take the iPad out, get some more writing and editing done, go
0:07:32back home, rinse and repeat every single day. I've been trying to work at night but usually
0:07:40I'm too tired because I'm, you know, taking care of the dogs and everything. It's a very
0:07:45long day. And also, you know, staying in the sun every day, it gets tiring after a while
0:07:52on your body. But basically I'm exhausted. I know that it's a good type of exhaustion,
0:07:56but I'm still tired. So it's not like I subjected this iPad to any particular pressure. But
0:08:05the other day I was at the beach, I was laying back and I was looking, I was reading through
0:08:09a draft of my iOS review. And I noticed that something about the screen was odd. Sort of
0:08:14I was like, this screen looks like 3D to me.
0:08:18I don't know, I didn't even pay attention to it, but it's like, this screen looks funny.
0:08:23And I just assumed that it was the direct sunlight that had some kind of weird effect
0:08:28on the interface.
0:08:30Then I go back home and I'm using the iPad in the living room and I wasn't using the
0:08:37iPad with the physical keyboard, so I was using the software keyboard.
0:08:41And I noticed clearly that the screen was curved.
0:08:48And so I was like, hmm.
0:08:49Edge to edge.
0:08:51And it was like, there was a curve in the middle of the screen.
0:08:54It was like, I don't like this.
0:08:56It was a matter of 20 seconds.
0:08:58So I was like, what is going on here?
0:09:01I pick up the iPad, I turn it over, and I look at it from the profile, as you can see
0:09:06in the picture, and it's bent.
0:09:08So if anybody that hasn't seen the picture or can't see the picture, I'll kind of explain
0:09:12it to you a little bit. So what we have here is the left side of the iPad from the lightning
0:09:20port to the left, if you're looking at it from the top down view, it's bent at an angle
0:09:26maybe like five degrees or so. It's not huge, it might be a little less than that, but it
0:09:34is noticeable. If you put the iPad face down on a table and press on the one end it would
0:09:44wobble around. It would pick up and lay down again. It is not huge, hence why I assume
0:09:50the iPad is still in complete working order, but it is very noticeable and concerning.
0:09:56It's very noticeable.
0:09:58This can't have been an easy thing to do.
0:10:01Exactly, exactly. So we have no idea how this happened.
0:10:05So the iPad is still working, the display is fully working.
0:10:08There's some light leaking from the edge where the home button is.
0:10:14So like you can see some light leaking from the home button bezel into the wallpaper, basically.
0:10:22But we have no idea how this happened.
0:10:25So we have two theories, either by accident, when I was keeping the iPad in the bag during one of our trips to the beach,
0:10:33some other bag was placed on top of mine and caused this problem.
0:10:39Or, I don't remember this, but maybe while I was at the beach, I either accidentally sat on the iPad
0:10:49or fell asleep with the iPad under my seat but I don't believe that because I never do that.
0:10:56I don't fall asleep with my iPad. What type of bag was it being kept in?
0:11:00It's a tambien shoulder bag. Yes because I tell you what, were you wearing it?
0:11:05The bag? What do you mean? Like did you have it, were you holding the bag? Was it you? Was it you
0:11:13on your shoulder? Yeah. Okay, because what I would assume looking at this is, if I was going to try
0:11:20and guess what I think happened, it looks like it was maybe in the bag and you leant against
0:11:24something? Right? You know who we need. You know who we need. We need Dr. Drang. We need Dr. Drang
0:11:33to help us. To take a look at this iPad. Yeah, and to tell you what is wrong, what happened here.
0:11:38to take a look at the stress test for the aluminum bag and see what's going on.
0:11:43Something's happened. So I would just say on this...
0:11:46No, that's actually a good idea. You mentioned that I was leaning against something
0:11:52as the iPad was into the bag and the bag was on my shoulder.
0:11:55Yep, and you pressed against it and then it's kind of bent it a little bit.
0:12:00Because that would make sense to me. I worry about that. Whenever I carry around the 12.9
0:12:05I worry about doing this exact thing.
0:12:07It's just funny that it never happened to me,
0:12:11at least in two years of iPad Pro usage,
0:12:14but really in seven years of iPad.
0:12:16This never ever happened to me.
0:12:18This is the first time that this issue occurred.
0:12:22And I've had problems with, you know,
0:12:24the home button or, you know, the display, but not this,
0:12:28not like this mechanical problem of bending an iPad.
0:12:33I think we can both say that neither of us
0:12:35are like thinking that this is a manufacturing or structural issue of the
0:12:40Ipad in general like because of course this is a thing that is possible right
0:12:45like of course this is possible the thing is so big of course you could bend
0:12:48it but I am completely understanding for you that if I was in this situation and
0:12:54I like took my iPad out of my bag and it was bent I would be horrifically
0:12:59concerned about how did I do this and how can I stop myself from doing it
0:13:04- Yeah, exactly. - This is bad news.
0:13:07- Exactly, my main problem is not that this happened
0:13:10because Apple is gonna replace it for 49 years.
0:13:13- Yeah, you should mention this.
0:13:14You have AppleCare and you went to the Apple Store.
0:13:16- Not only I have AppleCare+.
0:13:18- Oh, well, sorry.
0:13:21- And the thing with AppleCare+ is that even if,
0:13:24you know, with accidental damage,
0:13:26because this was considered accidental damage on my side.
0:13:29- Oh yeah, of course, right, of course.
0:13:32Instead of paying something like 550 euros for a replacement, I only got to pay 49.
0:13:48And that's the excess isn't it?
0:13:52That's the fee for any replacement on AppleCare+.
0:13:54That's the fee for any replacement on AppleCare+.
0:13:56It's 49 euros instead of having to pay the full price of a unit replacement.
0:14:02Just 49 and I have this type of warranty until 2019 thanks to the magic of Apple Care Plus.
0:14:09So that's not really my problem.
0:14:12I mean I'm happy that Apple is going to replace it.
0:14:13I went to the Genius Bar yesterday, they were super kind and they told me I gotta wait five
0:14:18to six days because it's not in stock.
0:14:21But that's not my problem.
0:14:23Because you still have a working device, right?
0:14:25I still have a working device, now that I know this I can stop looking at the curve of the screen
0:14:32but really what concerns me the most is how did I do this, you know?
0:14:36Because it would have been better from this point of view if I just dropped the iPad.
0:14:41Or if you fell on it, right? Like you tripped, you were holding it, you fell on it, you stand up,
0:14:45the iPad's bent, you're like "oh look at what I did".
0:14:48I know what I did, right? Instead this sort of just happened.
0:14:51There's a flaw in your system somewhere.
0:14:53there's a flaw somewhere either in the way that I put things in my bag or
0:14:58you know, maybe, maybe someone else in the house bent the iPad and they just didn't tell me.
0:15:04Do you think it's possible that there could be somebody in your life that's very upset about the review
0:15:08and they just took the iPad and they were like
0:15:10"Bent the iPad, right? We had enough of this."
0:15:13Are you saying that she likes Sylvia?
0:15:14I was thinking more about the dogs, but yeah, I mean, who knows? Sylvia could be
0:15:18could be implicated in this. I feel like you need to launch a full-scale investigation, Federico.
0:15:23How would I investigate my relatives though?
0:15:26Like...
0:15:27- With great might.
0:15:29- Have them sit down at the living room table.
0:15:33- Shine a light in their face.
0:15:34- Shine a light on their face.
0:15:35Tell me you did it.
0:15:36Like, yeah.
0:15:38- You need alibis.
0:15:38You need alibis for everybody.
0:15:41- Who's gonna do good cop, bad cop with me though?
0:15:45- You can do both of them.
0:15:46You know, you put on a hat or something and then a mustache.
0:15:50They turn around, take them off.
0:15:51- And then you could call.
0:15:53(laughing)
0:15:54- We just put makeup on one half of my face
0:15:57and then I just switch profiles.
0:15:58- Exactly, I mean seriously Federico,
0:15:59have you never had a family investigation before?
0:16:01Come on, this is how you do these things.
0:16:03- Not before, not before.
0:16:05So quick aside, I just tried to do the
0:16:09iCard backup and restore with iOS 11.
0:16:14I also did a backup with iTunes
0:16:16because there was the possibility
0:16:18that Apple would replace the iPad yesterday, they didn't.
0:16:21but just in case I needed to be ready with the backup.
0:16:24So everything seems to be working as normal
0:16:27in terms of restoring iCloud backups from iOS 11
0:16:30into a new installation of iOS 11.
0:16:33And also it seems to be faster than in the past,
0:16:38but I had a problem with TestFlight apps.
0:16:41So if you restore a backup
0:16:43and you have a ton of betas from TestFlight,
0:16:49they are not automatically restored.
0:16:52So even if IOS restores the TestFlight app,
0:16:56it doesn't redownload the betas from TestFlight.
0:17:00- It was like this on 10 too.
0:17:02- And what I found amusing is that
0:17:06I had all of these placeholder icons in the iOS 11 dock,
0:17:11you know, with the default icons
0:17:13with a white background and the grid.
0:17:15- Yeah.
0:17:17- And I had all of these placeholders.
0:17:19and I tried to tap on them and I saw the loading spinner
0:17:23but then it resulted in an error message.
0:17:27So you need to open Task Flight,
0:17:28delete the icon placeholders
0:17:30and re-download the betas manually.
0:17:32- Oh, that's interesting.
0:17:32I think I found in 10, it just leaves an empty space,
0:17:36like there's no placeholder,
0:17:38but when you re-download the application,
0:17:39it puts it where it should be.
0:17:41That's how I've had it before.
0:17:43So I don't know, maybe they've changed it
0:17:45or maybe it's not completely finished yet on 11.
0:17:47So in the meantime, I thought I could buy more or new accessories for my iPad for increased protection.
0:17:57So my old smart cover that I've been using since 2015 has been in very bad shape lately because I've used it a lot.
0:18:07Yes, over two years old now.
0:18:09About two years old.
0:18:10Yeah, it was also kind of wiggling, you know, the side where it attaches to the iPad is
0:18:16not as sturdy as it used to be.
0:18:18So I bought a new one and it's much, it feels better, like it keeps the iPad more stable.
0:18:23And also I bought the leather sleeve for the 12.9, a black one, which looks great.
0:18:30So now I will carry the iPad with a smart cover into the leather sleeve, which I know
0:18:34that it's not a lot of protection.
0:18:36It's not like a hard case that will prevent...
0:18:38I actually think it's no protection, but yeah.
0:18:40- It's not protected, but at least it will prevent
0:18:42the back from scratching.
0:18:43- Sure, and it looks nice.
0:18:45- It looks nice and it keeps the pencil in place.
0:18:47So that's something I really didn't wanna have a hard case.
0:18:52Also the leather sleeve for the 12.9 is a life hack.
0:18:56If you have a slippery table or desk,
0:18:59I'm actually putting the magic keyboard and the iPad
0:19:04on top of the leather sleeve
0:19:05and I'm using it as a typing pad.
0:19:07- I think that's part of what it's for, you know,
0:19:09Honestly, it's like a desk, it reminds me of a desk set.
0:19:12Like a pen, and you'd have a leather area
0:19:16you'd put on a desk, which would be your writing area.
0:19:18Like I honestly think that this is part
0:19:20of what they were envisioning of the usage of this sleeve.
0:19:24Is that you wouldn't take your stuff out of it
0:19:27and then put it back in your bag.
0:19:28You take your stuff out and put it on top,
0:19:30and you use it as like a nice area for your desk.
0:19:33- Yeah, and it looks really nice, the black one, the leather.
0:19:38looks really nice. I'm sorry this happened to you Federico and I hope that you can get
0:19:41to the bottom of it. I don't think I'll ever have an answer to this, how it happened. But
0:19:51it's definitely like, I will pay a lot more attention to make sure that I don't put too
0:19:58much stuff into my bag that would maybe put a lot of pressure onto the iPad. And also
0:20:05like absolutely I will not keep the iPad,
0:20:10keep the bag near or below other bags as we're traveling.
0:20:16Maybe I also thought maybe when we were packing the car
0:20:21for the trip, maybe something like that happened.
0:20:24So I will pay a lot more attention to make sure,
0:20:26because it's a thousand euro device and--
0:20:30- Yeah, it's no joke.
0:20:31- It's no joke.
0:20:32and I gotta take better care of it.
0:20:35And clearly this time I did something
0:20:38that was not on the level of care
0:20:41that I should use for the iPad.
0:20:46- All right, today's show is brought to you in part
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0:22:40So Federico, according to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is planning to spend $1 billion
0:22:45over the next year on original content, which could be to fund up to 10 new shows. When
0:22:52When I saw the headline for this I was like, okay, that makes sense, but when I saw it
0:22:57was a year and they want to make 10 shows, that is incredibly ambitious.
0:23:01I mean it's easy, Planet of the Apps, Planet of the Books, Planet of the Podcasts.
0:23:06Hahaha, Planet of the Music, just all of them, it sounds great.
0:23:09Just go with it, I mean it's easy.
0:23:12Luckily, this report is saying that Apple is attempting to try and match the quality
0:23:18of HBO shows, which is definitely a different approach to the current efforts that they
0:23:24have been putting out because they have been making kind of crappy reality. I mean, and
0:23:29that was probably the idea, right? Like that they knew what Planet of the Apps and Carpool
0:23:37Karaoke would be kind of like just popcorn reality shows. They haven't done very well.
0:23:42I think obviously they were hoping for them to be reviewed better than they have been,
0:23:46But this is a huge contrast to attempting to try and match HBO level content.
0:23:53Yeah, and what I find interesting is the bigger trend of which, if this report is accurate,
0:24:01it seems like Apple is going to be part of, of everybody's doing their own thing.
0:24:06There's, you know, Netflix is doing their own original programming.
0:24:10I've been doing it successfully so for a while.
0:24:13Amazon, HBO.
0:24:14Now Disney apparently is going to do its own network.
0:24:18And now Apple is going to do even more of this.
0:24:20YouTube of course.
0:24:23It looks like we tried to move away from TV and all of these different bundles of, especially
0:24:33in the US with cable, you gotta choose all your different channels.
0:24:37And now we're basically ending up with the same situation elsewhere.
0:24:41Now there's Apple, there's Netflix, there's HBO, and eventually we're gonna have another
0:24:47bundle but from internet stuff.
0:24:51So do we really want to subscribe to 10 different programming services?
0:24:56No.
0:24:57And I think the differentiator here is, and maybe puts Apple in a...
0:25:03If they actually do...
0:25:05So let's assume that everybody's doing great content, and that's already a tall order for
0:25:10Apple considering their previous efforts. But let's assume Apple, Netflix, HBO, they're
0:25:16all on the same level of quality. Where's the advantage for Apple? And I think having
0:25:26customers already on board with your services, whether it's iCAD or iTunes, by having customers
0:25:31that are already putting their credit cards into the system, that's an advantage. But
0:25:36We go back to the first condition to be met of can you actually make great content?
0:25:41Because if you don't, and even if you have millions of credit cards on file, it doesn't
0:25:46matter if you don't give people interesting stuff to watch.
0:25:51This is the big question, can Apple actually make this kind of HBO-level quality programming?
0:25:57And is Apple, even from a political standpoint, can Apple make stuff like Game of Thrones?
0:26:04Can Apple make stuff like The Wire or Entourage or whatever hit HBO had in the past?
0:26:12Is Apple, culturally speaking, can they make that type of TV show or movie?
0:26:19I don't know, because they have the money, they have the resources, but you gotta be
0:26:24fully on board with the idea of adult content, for example, adult themes.
0:26:29And I struggle to see the almost family-friendly Apple doing that type of stuff.
0:26:36I think they're only going to do this if they do that.
0:26:39I think that they are only going to put this money into these shows and try and attract
0:26:44that audience, that HBO audience, if they're willing to do this.
0:26:48My assumption would be that they are fine with it.
0:26:50They sell this content, right?
0:26:53My assumption is it won't be heavily Apple-branded, right?
0:26:57they might just be like, you know you get the stinger at the beginning? You know where
0:27:00it says like Apple TV or whatever it's going to be called for service?
0:27:03It's going to be TV shows about, for example, Apple's version of Narcos is called Apple
0:27:09Drugs and...
0:27:14Planet of the Drugs. I do think that they will do that stuff. I do. Because I mean,
0:27:22sell it right you can buy all this stuff you can buy it in the in the itunes store um i
0:27:27know that it's not been the way that they've been in the past but they've never made content
0:27:31before and i feel like if they want to make if they want to make really good content they
0:27:34have to make content that is at least some of the stuff some of their 10 shows are going
0:27:40to have more adult themes because in dramas and stuff like that that's what people want
0:27:45to see right they want to see violence they want to see nudity like this is just a thing
0:27:49right? It's why Game of Thrones is so popular, it's why Breaking Bad is so popular, like
0:27:53all of these shows, because they have a lot of this stuff in them because it helps tell
0:27:57a wider story, which is what people are interested in. So I want to put this amount, this $1
0:28:03billion into a little bit of context. So HBO spent $2 billion last year, but Netflix is
0:28:09expected to spend $6 billion this year. So to start off with $1 billion seems like I
0:28:16I think a pretty good budget. Ten shows maybe is too many, but a billion dollars, that seems
0:28:23possible considering what their competitors are doing. I mean Netflix are fully entrenched
0:28:28in this now. They're a new Netflix series all the time. New movies, every time I go
0:28:33on Netflix there's something I've never heard of before. So six billion seems about right
0:28:37for that, right? Like they have, I have no idea how many things they have and they have
0:28:41things in different languages, different countries, different regions. So I think one billion
0:28:46dollars is probably a good starting point for them.
0:28:51Do you think Apple is doing this because they couldn't figure out a way to offer what they
0:28:56call like a skinny bundle of multiple services together and earn revenue off the markup of
0:29:02that bundle?
0:29:03No.
0:29:04So they were like, you know, or do you think it's just Apple saying we actually do need
0:29:08to make our own stuff because it's better for lock-in?
0:29:11Okay.
0:29:12I think it's better, I know it's better for lock-in and if they actually want to sell
0:29:15people a service, they want to like sell them, sell people service and make money from it.
0:29:19Right now, if you're doing that type of thing in video, the way that you do that is by creating
0:29:24original content. I think that is clear now, right? Because you look at their competitors,
0:29:29Netflix and Amazon tried to do this, to take content and sell it, right? So take existing
0:29:36content and sell it in a digital form, right? Like that was the idea. And they have ended
0:29:43up saying, "Oh, actually the real money is in making our own content because that means
0:29:48people if we have the, if we have the must see show, that's what it's all about, right?
0:29:52Like you have the must see show, everyone's going to sign up for your service like no
0:29:57matter what because they need to see that show. Like for example, in the UK, lots and
0:30:03lots and lots of people sign up for Netflix because it was how we got Breaking Bad. There
0:30:08was no other way to get it. Netflix had the rights in the UK, and it would be like the
0:30:13morning after it was on in the US, we would have it. And that, you know, so like everybody
0:30:18signed up because it was the must see show. And there are great shows, right, like I really
0:30:22enjoyed Glow on Netflix recently, which I really thoroughly recommend to people. You
0:30:26know, like stuff like Arrested Development, people will sign up for that. Transparent,
0:30:30Idina loves Transparent, so we will always keep our prime membership for stuff like,
0:30:34know that there are shows on these services that are fantastic and people sign up for
0:30:38them but my question to you Federico is this all going to be in Apple Music?
0:30:44Sure I hope not. I don't think they should I think it would be a really bad branding
0:30:49decision to put all of this in Apple Music.
0:30:52It just doesn't make any sense I mean I can kind of see Karpul Karo
0:30:58episode and I think I think it was fine and I think that kind of makes sense you
0:31:02know as a new as an extension to music is fine but anything else is really
0:31:09stretching it I would rather see Apple you know integrate everything into the
0:31:14TV app or maybe rename the app but the idea of let's just put everything
0:31:19together into a single video application or video network or video service
0:31:23whatever I think that makes more sense than you know sure people pay for us
0:31:27Apple Music subscription but necessarily that doesn't imply let's put
0:31:33video and movies and TV shows into music. So I'm curious to see if Apple is
0:31:38gonna either split up the subscriptions or offer maybe an Apple bundle that is
0:31:44you get iCloud, you get Apple Music, you get Apple Video. You know I can
0:31:49kind of see that. Apple Video, do you think that'll be the name? I don't think I'm gonna
0:31:53call it Apple TV right? Which would have been the obvious thing. Yeah, yeah I don't
0:31:57I don't know, what are they gonna call it?
0:32:00Apple Video.
0:32:02- Anything.
0:32:02- Whatever it is, yeah.
0:32:03- Apple something.
0:32:05- Apple Content.
0:32:06- Apple Originals.
0:32:07Or maybe that, mmm.
0:32:09- Apple Originals is a good name.
0:32:11That's a good name.
0:32:12- Unless they do plan on trying to have a Netflix model
0:32:14in the future, right, where they as well have other stuff,
0:32:18I think that would be ideal for them.
0:32:20I mean, that's something they've clearly tried to do.
0:32:22I mean, I wouldn't be surprised
0:32:23if whenever this is announced, it's both things.
0:32:26some select partners put their content on Apple service and they also have original shows because
0:32:32the thing is you can't sell this right like if you have two original shows ready to go
0:32:39that is not a $10 a month service to pay for there has to be more there right so like I wondered if
0:32:47maybe for a while like it was just free with Apple Music or something like that or so you know if you
0:32:52if you already subscribed to Apple Music,
0:32:53you'll also get the original shows.
0:32:55Or they do something where they're working
0:32:58with a few providers to have a bunch of old catalog content
0:33:01and some stuff like that.
0:33:02Because I think that's a real hard sell to be like,
0:33:05hey, we're gonna have 10 new shows this year,
0:33:08two of them are available now,
0:33:10please give us $15 a month.
0:33:11You know?
0:33:14Because there's not gonna be enough content
0:33:16to sustain a monthly fee.
0:33:18So there's gotta be more to it,
0:33:20and I wonder what that will end up looking like.
0:33:22- Well, imagine if maybe,
0:33:24and I realize that could entirely disrupt Netflix,
0:33:30at least in terms of back catalog.
0:33:32- Depends what they get though.
0:33:34- Yeah, but imagine if what happened
0:33:36to the iTunes store for music with Apple Music
0:33:39happened to the iTunes store for movies and TV shows,
0:33:41but with the other subscription.
0:33:42- That's the dream, but nobody's gonna get them.
0:33:45They're not gonna get that,
0:33:46Because I've held onto this thought for a long time.
0:33:50Apple kind of, they really upended the music industry
0:33:55in a way that I think the music industry
0:33:57wasn't happy with, right?
0:33:58Which ended up with subscription services,
0:34:01which do not pay as much money
0:34:03as when people used to straight up buy music.
0:34:05I do not think the TV and movie industry
0:34:07will wanna go that route, like to give Apple that control.
0:34:11Because what will probably happen
0:34:13is exactly what happens in the music industry.
0:34:15and nobody will pay full price for anything anymore,
0:34:18we'll just all use subscriptions.
0:34:20So I mean, I would be really, really surprised.
0:34:22I mean, I know that there are a bunch of individual players
0:34:24and stuff, but Apple is at a scale
0:34:26that they could literally change everything
0:34:28in any industry that they move into,
0:34:30and I would be surprised if the movie and TV industry
0:34:33were just like, yeah, go for it.
0:34:35- Did you see the rumor from,
0:34:38I think it was Bloomberg a few days ago,
0:34:40that movie studios have been talking
0:34:45and considering with Apple a way to offer new movies
0:34:50a few days after they hit the theaters at a premium price
0:34:57to stream or download, like 30 to $50.
0:35:02But if a movie comes out on like Friday or Monday,
0:35:05you can buy the movie.
0:35:07And obviously-- - I would love that.
0:35:09- Yeah, obviously the theater, the cinema association,
0:35:12whatever, in Hollywood, I don't know the name,
0:35:15is super against.
0:35:17- Well, yeah. - Obviously, obviously.
0:35:19But apparently, I think the movie studios were,
0:35:22they've been thinking about something like this for a while,
0:35:25you know, to give people who want to spend the money
0:35:28but don't wanna go to the theater.
0:35:29You know, Sylvia and I, for example, we have two puppies,
0:35:31and right now would be a problem
0:35:33to go to the theater at night
0:35:34and to leave two puppies at home.
0:35:37And honestly, for new movies that I want to watch
0:35:40in good quality, for a movie that I've been anticipating
0:35:45for a while, not every single week,
0:35:49but I wouldn't mind paying 25 to 30 dollars for that movie.
0:35:52- That's how much it costs to go to the cinema, right?
0:35:55That's how much it costs.
0:35:56So I would totally pay that.
0:35:59I would totally pay that to watch it at home.
0:36:02Because I have a good TV set up, I like my sofa.
0:36:07I would do that. I would totally do this. I would totally do this.
0:36:10So I don't know, maybe there's a future where there's a combination of all these back catalog stuff from iTunes
0:36:17or new originals from Apple and maybe even movie exclusives.
0:36:20And I could see Apple doing great with that type of service.
0:36:26But I feel like the core proposition of that, which is the originals,
0:36:32it highly depends on Apple coming up with great ideas.
0:36:36And unless we consider Planet of the Apps a TV show,
0:36:41we really don't have any TV shows from Apple.
0:36:45We only have web series,
0:36:49such as "Carpool Karoke", adapted to Apple Music,
0:36:53and we have a reality TV show,
0:36:55which I think it's fair to say kinda fell flat
0:36:59didn't have any kind of meaningful impact. You know I'm wondering how many
0:37:04people are actually watching it. You know I would be so curious to
0:37:08know the numbers. Because there's a part of me that's like do more people listen
0:37:13to connected then watch Planet of the Apes? Well we're probably never ever
0:37:23going to know. We're never gonna know unless somebody out there can tell me I would love to
0:37:28know but it doesn't honestly Federico doesn't seem like an impossibility
0:37:32because I cannot imagine who is watching this because the type of person that
0:37:37would watch this has no interest in it right like people that listen to these
0:37:41shows they're in theory should be the target market for a show about apps but
0:37:45it's it's not done in a way that appeals to them so I would be super interested
0:37:49to find that information out what it just feels like Apple stopped pushing
0:37:54new episodes in terms of marketing and like on Twitter and elsewhere like it
0:38:01feels I don't even know if it ended the series like is it still going on I have
0:38:06no idea I feel like every time I go to the app store there's some kind of
0:38:10promotion going on but I have no idea if it means the show still running I think
0:38:14that they're aware that it's not doing well I mean you know if for example
0:38:17episode 1 and episode 2 if the numbers like tanked you know it's not doing well
0:38:21So there's no point it gets to some point like okay
0:38:24We just need to finish the season like this failed we need to finish the season to save face
0:38:28But clearly we're not gonna win people back right like I I've had this sort of stuff with stuff
0:38:32I've done in the past where like it's there's a thing
0:38:34You know you know that if like you have half a million people like watch the first one and then you have 50,000 people
0:38:41You know it's bombed and there's just no way you can recover from that Pete people clearly don't like it
0:38:47Yeah, you know, it's not like a TV show where like people say hey it kind of starts slow
0:38:52But if you if you stick with the first four episodes, then it gets real good and you got like four seasons of it
0:38:58You know, for example
0:39:00CVI years ago we struggled to get through the first two episodes of Mad Men and for many many years
0:39:06We didn't watch Mad Men until with this we we heard from many of our friends and we decided to stick with the first two episodes
0:39:12and then he kind of clicked for us and we had like five seasons to watch and
0:39:16It's not like Planet of the Apps, people will be like "hey, you know, the first 10 episodes
0:39:21are terrible but if you stick with it, then it gets real good."
0:39:24It's like there's a huge plot twist halfway through the season.
0:39:27Well I am, it's killed off, like the escalator comes for him.
0:39:33That's not gonna be the case.
0:39:34So yeah, I don't think we'll ever see a Planet of the Apps season 2, you know.
0:39:40Vidia in the chat room just said that they uploaded the final episode this week.
0:39:44Okay.
0:39:45So it's done.
0:39:46Done. Yeah. No spoilers, please. Sound the spoiler horn, Myke. We're going to spoil the
0:39:57ending of Planet of the Apps.
0:39:59Oh, gosh. It turns out there were no apps all along. Gary Vee turns into a vampire,
0:40:05and that's what the V stands for.
0:40:07AdiQ comes on, unplugs all of the Macs.
0:40:11Does a little dance.
0:40:13And it's like all the apps belong to me now.
0:40:16- I can't wait to do it.
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0:42:25Alright Federico, I want to talk briefly about the Essential Phone.
0:42:30Which is the iPhone right?
0:42:32The iPhone is the Essential Phone, that is correct.
0:42:35And it's edge to edge, and the notch is smaller than we imagined.
0:42:38Okay let's move on.
0:42:40The Essential Phone is a phone made by a company called Essential, and this is Andy Rubin's
0:42:47company.
0:42:48And Essential are making a few things, they're making a few different products and they're
0:42:51hoping to kind of build a software layer between all of them.
0:42:54they want to become the next big ecosystem. So I have watched the Verges review by Dita
0:43:01Bone which is fantastic by the way. I really thoroughly recommend you go watch the video,
0:43:06I'll put a link in the show notes to the review, the video is right at the top of the page,
0:43:10you should watch it, it's brilliant, they did a really good job with it. But I wanted
0:43:13to talk about the phone itself. So I think this phone looks fantastic, like I don't know
0:43:19how you could look at this phone today with all of the modern trends of hardware design
0:43:24and not want it, right? Like I think it looks beautiful. Would you agree?
0:43:29Yeah, it looks really, really nice. And the only point that people could bring up is that
0:43:38it's not full edge to edge, in that there's a small bezel at the bottom. But honestly,
0:43:46now in this very moment I think it's the best looking phone on the market.
0:43:52Yeah I think it is currently my favorite hardware design available like it's not the Samsung
0:43:58off the top of the list I really really love the look of the S8 but this thing it just
0:44:02looks fantastic and it has a bunch of other little parts like there is no branding at
0:44:06all on the phone, nothing. And there's no camera bump and it is it has a black ceramic
0:44:13back and it just looks fantastic. And the fingerprint sensor is in a reasonable position.
0:44:20Yeah, I love that part of the review. But yeah, it's true, it's right in the center
0:44:25on the back, not like level with the camera on the left and right hand side of the phone
0:44:30like it is on the Samsung, which is just bad design. But I wanted to ask you Federico,
0:44:34so there was a notch on this phone, right? There was a notch for the camera, but it's
0:44:37really small. And I wondered, you know, if we look at what we think we know about the
0:44:43iPhone and comparing it to this phone. What do you think is better? Small notch or big notch?
0:44:47I think
0:44:51what helps the essential phone look great is the fact that the interface
0:44:56wraps around
0:44:57the notch. And that you see this wallpaper
0:45:01sort of going into the notch
0:45:04and so you get this cyclopie in the middle
0:45:08but it doesn't really matter because Android doesn't put
0:45:12useful stuff in there and you get the indicators like the status bar and notifications at the sides.
0:45:18So I think it looks real good. Yeah I bet it's really easy to just forget and not even see the
0:45:23little camera. Exactly, exactly. And instead if Apple is, it depends because if Apple is gonna
0:45:29embrace the notch it'll be more noticeable than the Essential phone because it's got more sensors.
0:45:35Or is Apple going into the in the opposite direction and they're gonna sort of use the OLED
0:45:41display with a black color in the notch to sort of blend everything together and make
0:45:50an old school black status bar.
0:45:53Does that look better?
0:45:54Does that look worse?
0:45:56I don't know.
0:45:58Right now I think it mostly comes down to the software and I think from a software standpoint
0:46:05the essential folks did a great job because I totally believe the Verge when they say
0:46:11that you don't notice the camera notch in there, I totally believe that because it's
0:46:18very unassuming I think, everything blends into the interface which I appreciate and
0:46:24I think this is why a lot of people are curious to see what Apple does with the iPhone Pro.
0:46:30can you sort of hide that strip full of sensors? Because I mean nobody wants to
0:46:36have you know especially now that we have this edge to edge displays nobody
0:46:42wants to have sensors getting in the way so it's only it's only how you fake you
0:46:47know yeah hiding them. How is it embraced? Is it either embraced with like hiding it
0:46:53or is it embraced with finding a way to make the UI work with it? Like that's
0:46:57that's the part of it that's important.
0:46:59And what Essentia have done makes a lot of sense for Android
0:47:02because they're running basically stock Android.
0:47:05So it's not accounting for the fact
0:47:08that there's a cutout in the display.
0:47:10So they've made the cutout as small as they possibly can.
0:47:14And there's some interesting stuff there, right?
0:47:16Like they have a speaker,
0:47:18and I'm sure they have some sensors in there
0:47:20and they've just found ways to embed them or hide them.
0:47:23And this makes sense based on a lot of the conjecture
0:47:27about why this iPhone is going to be a singular model and difficult to make
0:47:32because it's hard to make a scale right like to really push the
0:47:37envelope but the essential phone is not being made at large scale they said that
0:47:41like they expect this to be a small scale production it's already been
0:47:45delayed and that's probably because they're maybe pushing the envelope in
0:47:48some different ways right maybe it maybe this is a more difficult phone to
0:47:51manufacture but that's okay because they don't need to make a gabillion of them
0:47:55What do you think that edge-to-edge displays are becoming a trend, especially this year?
0:48:05Do you think it's just a natural evolution of our taste?
0:48:08Like we've been using smartphones for years now, they've become part of ourselves, of
0:48:12course we want to see as much screen as possible.
0:48:16Or do you think there was a particular technology or supply chain change, like in the manufacturing
0:48:23process adopted at scale between different companies that allowed for these phones to
0:48:29start coming out?
0:48:31So I would say it's probably a little a column A, a little a column B. I think that it makes
0:48:36sense to have bigger screens and I would expect that it started to become more and more technically
0:48:43possible to do it, right? Like the technology became available, so then they started to
0:48:49appear right so like I think the first one everyone saw was was it the Xiaomi
0:48:54Mi Mix and as soon as everybody saw that phone it was like well now we need it
0:48:58like everybody wants edge to edge so then all you know and then more and more
0:49:02phones started coming out so I expect that it's like technology enabled this
0:49:06phone manufacturers started doing it it then becomes the trend so now everybody
0:49:11wants it because why would you not want a bigger screen on the phone size you
0:49:16already have like why would you not I don't understand why somebody wouldn't
0:49:19want that you know like if if you can put a bigger screen into the current
0:49:23phone that you have how it how can that be a bad thing mmm like I'm sure that
0:49:29there are edge cases I'm sure of course but for the vast majority of people why
0:49:33would why would you not want that and especially when like for a lot of these
0:49:37phones you can actually end up with a physically smaller phone with a bigger
0:49:41a screen. How is that not a win?
0:49:45I think, I generally agree with you, I think for some people there's an element of the
0:49:50more we replace physical parts and physical buttons with software versions, there's an
0:49:57element of this thing is going to fail sooner or later because software gets bugs, software
0:50:02gets stuck, whereas physical buttons have a sense of reassurance that they will work
0:50:08better over time.
0:50:10- Yeah, but before the screens got big,
0:50:12we already started losing physical buttons.
0:50:14- That's true, but this feels more extreme,
0:50:17and I think some people have that concern.
0:50:20- I understand that.
0:50:21And of course, what else will we be losing?
0:50:23Now with the iPhone, we may lose touch ID.
0:50:26So it's like, well, is that a good thing?
0:50:28We won't know yet.
0:50:29But yeah, I do think that this is just,
0:50:32like it's a trend, and the trend,
0:50:34and I think it's a good trend, I don't think it's a fad.
0:50:36I think this is the next evolution of phone design, bigger screens.
0:50:41Like let's get rid of all the bezels, let's push these phones to the limit.
0:50:46I think it's a good thing.
0:50:47- Yeah, totally.
0:50:48So what's the deal with the camera on this phone?
0:50:51- So the original review models of the Essential Phone, apparently the camera was terrible.
0:50:58Then they pushed a software update, which fixed a lot of the problems, but the camera
0:51:02is considered to be not as good as what is currently available, especially because there
0:51:07is a lot of seriously legitimate competition now in the camera space. The iPhone, the Galaxy
0:51:13S8 and the Pixel 2 all arguably take as good pictures of each other and excel in different
0:51:19areas and if you're not on that level you have a bad camera now because there are 3
0:51:26phones right at the top of the tree that are all considered to be excellent. If you're
0:51:30not excellent then you're not good enough. And it seems like that the camera on the essential
0:51:36phone is in that little hole, it's not good enough. And I think that is clearly a problem
0:51:45because cameras are one of the most important things on a smartphone because it's also
0:51:51everybody's camera. So it's like you're saying "well we're going to give you a
0:51:54camera but it's not going to be a good camera". That's not how it works anymore. Your
0:52:00your smartphone is your camera for everybody right?
0:52:03Like everybody takes pictures with their smartphone,
0:52:05whether they have a camera or not.
0:52:07So everybody wants that camera to be good.
0:52:09And if it's not, if you can buy a phone,
0:52:11which is an expensive phone, a premium phone,
0:52:14and there are better cameras available
0:52:16than the phone you've just bought
0:52:17in phones that already exist, that's not good.
0:52:20And I think that is going to be a problem for this phone.
0:52:22And it's something that would,
0:52:23whilst I look at this phone and I would,
0:52:25if I was an Android user,
0:52:26I would be dying to get one of these.
0:52:28would really like that's where I would pause the thought right like is this
0:52:31what I want especially when this phone is debuting at a tricky time now I would
0:52:37expect they did this purposely because they wanted to be first out the gate but
0:52:41the pixel 2 the note 8 and the iPhone 8 are all just around the corner the note
0:52:478 I think is announced next week right there everybody knows this no 8 is
0:52:52coming next week and all the leaks make it look like it's gonna be incredible too
0:52:572, it's edge to edge but bigger, it's probably going to be fantastic. The Pixel 2 is around
0:53:04the corner, this one's a little weird, the Pixel 2, all of the leaks are telling some
0:53:08very strange stories, so I'll put a link in the show notes to a post on Android Authority
0:53:13so you can get a grab for it if you want to, but just very basically, the Pixel 2, the
0:53:18regular one, all of the leaks are suggesting it's basically going to look like the current
0:53:23Pixel phones. But Pixel XL 2, the bigger one, will be edge to edge and have a more striking
0:53:29design. Very strange. So they're gonna have two models but they're not gonna look the
0:53:36same. Basically what Apple wants to do with the iPhones this year too? Like the old look
0:53:42and the new look? I hadn't tied those two things together. Yes, that's exactly what
0:53:46they're trying to do. But they're only gonna have the two, right? So they're gonna update
0:53:50their line and it looks like they're going to change one of them a lot significantly
0:53:54from a visual perspective and the other not too much. But yeah so we've got that and then
0:53:58the iPhone like it's all around the corner I think this is going to be a struggle for
0:54:01them but I bet that they do okay I bet that they sell what they want to because then I
0:54:06don't think they're looking for huge huge volumes they look this is like to try and
0:54:10help them get a like a leg up which you know what this reminds me of this model Tesla.
0:54:17This is how Tesla started. They made the Roadster which was a really cool electric sports car
0:54:23which helped them get a leg up. It helped bring some money into the company and then
0:54:27they went ahead and started making some fantastic cars. I hope that this is a good thing for
0:54:32him. I hope that Andy Rubin and the Essential team are in this for the long haul and that
0:54:36they could become serious competition because if this is what you can do for your first
0:54:40phone. I mean, can you imagine the later things that this company could be able to produce
0:54:47if this is your first attempt? It's incredibly impressive.
0:54:52Yeah, I mean if this is not like something that they did to be acquired as sort of a
0:55:00demonstration of their talent and skills. If they are actually in this for the long
0:55:05term. That's what he's saying, right? Like this
0:55:07This is, he wants to build a huge big company now, so I hope that they can do it.
0:55:13Yeah, me too, because you know, if there's someone who can do it, it's definitely Andy
0:55:18Rubin, you know.
0:55:19Yeah, he has the track record.
0:55:21Yep.
0:55:22We'll see.
0:55:23We'll see.
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0:56:42So Apple have released a bunch of iOS 11 how-to videos. Peculiar time to release them, do
0:56:48you think? Why now? Bit early.
0:56:54So I've been thinking about this and I think it has to be part of a bigger marketing push
0:57:03of Apple wants to start early before they have to focus on switch gears to talk about
0:57:10the iPhones.
0:57:12So maybe it's best to create some anticipation in iPad users now rather than sort of waiting
0:57:23for the iPhone and then saying "oh by the way there's also the iPad".
0:57:29It's interesting to me how they're also pushing a lot of the productivity stuff now.
0:57:36The vidas that they've done, I mean we can talk about them but the features that they
0:57:41selected, they are trying to explain some really practical things to people.
0:57:49not like talking about new music app or you know control center changes. They're talking
0:57:56about stuff like files and drag and drop which is interesting in a marketing campaign.
0:58:00Yeah, they have six videos and these are what they focus on. One focuses on the doc, one
0:58:07is about pencil markup, one is about files, one is about multitasking, one is about drag
0:58:11and drop and one is about notes improvements. And what I love about them, they look cool,
0:58:16They have a really cool look about them visually.
0:58:19There's like good pastel colors.
0:58:21I love the pastel colors stuff.
0:58:23Whoever's doing that, just please keep doing it.
0:58:26They all have like these funny props in them.
0:58:28They have fantastic, hilarious narration,
0:58:31which is so dry, I love it.
0:58:33This is like everything I love about Apple advertising
0:58:38is encapsulated in this.
0:58:41This is it, right?
0:58:41This is what I love about their current style.
0:58:44They do a really, really great job.
0:58:45I think, I know that you would agree,
0:58:47this is 100% the right thing
0:58:48for Apple to be doing right now.
0:58:50iOS 11 is an iPad Pro release.
0:58:52That's what it is, right?
0:58:53Like primarily, that's what's going on here.
0:58:55All the features that they are adding are for this.
0:58:58The story will change when iOS 11 is released
0:59:02and things like the AR apps and stuff start coming out
0:59:04and we'll see what the third party piece is.
0:59:06But from the what is Apple doing,
0:59:08what are the public facing features
0:59:10that Apple are creating, it's iPad Pro stuff, right?
0:59:14Yeah, I don't think the story will change too much.
0:59:16I mean, of course there will be AR apps, but if you try to do this sort of exercise, think
0:59:25of all iOS releases and for each one of them, what do you associate with them?
0:59:30And so you would say iOS 9 was the iPad release.
0:59:34And there were iPhone changes, but most people remembered the iPad stuff.
0:59:37iOS 10 was iMessage and Apple Music and Control Center switching to Pages.
0:59:43And I think iOS 11 will be remembered as the iPad release and of course, yes, AR apps.
0:59:49But I think in terms of changes to the OS, this is clearly an iPad-focused release.
0:59:55If you look at the Apple website, if you look at the marketing material that they've put
0:59:59together, even if you look at the developer documentation, most of the stuff is on the
1:00:03iPad.
1:00:05And you can tell that some of these features have been in the works for a while because
1:00:09they're surprisingly polished and rich. It's not like Apple started to work on this in
1:00:16November.
1:00:17Something that I keep reminding myself is, as much as I'm loving iOS 11, I haven't even
1:00:23got the ability to take advantage of it completely yet. Like drag and drop and files, I'm not
1:00:28even using them. Because most of the apps that I use, they have like a super clunky
1:00:32implementation of drag and drop because it's just baked in stuff from UIKit or whatever,
1:00:37it's just the basic implemented tools. For example, I can drag a URL into the Chrome
1:00:41address bar, but then I have to tap the address bar and press enter. There are things that
1:00:47are a little bit wonky, so I'm not using it very much right now, but the ability to use
1:00:53files, I'm already loving just taking something, saving it to iCloud Drive, and then pulling
1:00:58it in from an email app. I can't even imagine what it's going to be like when I have all
1:01:02of my document services in files. I'm so excited for everything to come out, all the apps to
1:01:09start updating. Please, please, everybody, all developers, please update quickly. Please,
1:01:15please, please.
1:01:16I think what you will realize, and of course now I'm in a different position because I've
1:01:22been testing all of these apps for the review and for Mac stories, but the general sense
1:01:27is it feels like every single part of iOS is better connected together.
1:01:35And not just in the sense like when iOS 8 came out, for example, we got extensions.
1:01:39And it felt like "oh well, now things can talk to each other".
1:01:43But it feels even more liberating than that, like you have control this time, you can pick
1:01:49stuff up and move it around.
1:01:51And with files, I've been trying a few of these files providers.
1:01:56And when you save stuff into files, so you have a unified place, but then those documents
1:02:01are also displayed into the dedicated apps, you know, that have the files integration,
1:02:08it feels like, well, now this is awesome because I'm saving a document into files, but it's
1:02:13actually going everywhere.
1:02:15And it's a different way of working on iOS.
1:02:18And so if developers update quickly, like every year this is the main point, for this
1:02:24stuff to be useful, there has to be wide developer adoption.
1:02:29And I have no doubt that a few months from now we'll be complaining about someone who's
1:02:33still not taking advantage of iOS 11, such as Google for example.
1:02:40I'm sure there will be these instances of developers who are slow to adopt iOS 11.
1:02:45But once you try this stuff, from drag and drop to the slide over, you know, three apps
1:02:52at once, you cannot really go back to iOS 10.
1:02:58If you haven't listened to Canvas, Fraser and I had this discussion last week of being
1:03:04a visual person on iOS, so taking advantage of stuff like multi-touch and all of these
1:03:09different touch-based interactions versus being more of a, I think CGP Grey calls it,
1:03:17being a summoner of invoking things via search or from the keyboard.
1:03:22And so in other words, I think Fraser and I sort of came to an understanding about the
1:03:27differences that iOS 11 made us realize that we have.
1:03:34I'm more of a touch person and Fraser is more of a keyboard person.
1:03:38And so I think it'll be interesting to see on iOS 11, with drag and drop, how many people
1:03:42actually use it.
1:03:44Because not so...
1:03:45I think there's a percentage of iOS users who still use iPads as desktop computers in
1:03:54the sense of, we have a smart keyboard, we have spotlight, I want to search for stuff.
1:03:59And there's other folks, maybe Myke is more...
1:04:02You're more similar to me from this point of view.
1:04:03We actually like to touch stuff on the screen.
1:04:06We use the keyboard.
1:04:07I have this weird kind of sitting in the middle of the two of you.
1:04:10Yeah.
1:04:11Where I really like to use Spotlight to open applications, but once the app and stuff is
1:04:14open, or the document is open, I'm all hands.
1:04:17Right?
1:04:18Yeah.
1:04:19Like, I'm not my hands, you know.
1:04:20So I have this kind of mix, like I use the keyboard all the time, I always have the keyboard
1:04:23open, that's how an iPad works for me now.
1:04:27But I love to use the touch stuff too.
1:04:31Yeah.
1:04:32Yeah, so these changes that Apple is advertising in the commercials and the developers can
1:04:39now integrate with these new features, it will be interesting to talk about them a couple
1:04:48of months from now, maybe in October, after iOS 11 has launched, after some developers
1:04:52have adopted these integrations.
1:04:56Because I think there will be differences between the ways that we work on iOS, and
1:05:04especially the ways that we work on the iPad.
1:05:06I'm sure there will be folks who say, you know, even if I can drag and drop stuff, I
1:05:11still prefer to copy items to the clipboard and to use extensions, because it just feels
1:05:17like I don't have to touch as much, I don't have to constantly swipe across the screen.
1:05:24But personally I'm like 100% on board with drag and drop and files and all these different
1:05:31ways of moving things around.
1:05:34I feel like I have more control of iOS.
1:05:38I know that it takes longer to open the apps into multitasking with the dock.
1:05:44I know it takes longer in some instances because you feel like you're doing more because you're
1:05:50pressing and you're dragging it.
1:05:52I love the feeling of doing that. I like dragging an app over another app, seeing it, and then
1:06:00it pops into play. I love that feeling. I understand why people don't like it, but
1:06:05I mean for me, with the way that I'm looking at iOS through my eyes, I can't see how
1:06:11you could say that this is not an incredible advancement in every respect. But I know that
1:06:15not everybody feels that way.
1:06:19about iOS 11, I mean we've got to be getting close now probably, I mean in the earliest
1:06:27three weeks away, would you say? I mean, I think the earliest we're going to see the
1:06:35iPhone event is the first week of September, which would mean that iOS would come out in
1:06:40the second week of September. Personally, personally, I'm hoping that the iPhone event
1:06:45is in the second week of September because of my travel is ending in the first week and
1:06:51I really I really I really don't want the event to be on the fifth because that's the
1:06:56day that I arrive home after flying across the globe but I'm scared that it's going to
1:07:02be that day but we'll see I mean I'm hoping they do the event on the 12th and then iOS
1:07:06comes out kind of maybe on the 20th or the 21st or something like that but it is possible
1:07:11that it could come out in the second week of September so it's about three weeks away.
1:07:16I say this because I want to know how the review is coming along. Have you got through
1:07:21with the introduction yet?
1:07:23I have line one written.
1:07:27Yeah, it's pretty, I'm still taking notes.
1:07:33I've nearly finished those session videos.
1:07:36Yeah, I'm still just a couple of left.
1:07:40The review is all written, like all the sections, the conclusion is done, everything is done.
1:07:48And actually we are now, we're now started the process of finalizing chapters.
1:07:56So I've been working with my editor to go through each chapter about, I would say, five to six times.
1:08:05That includes actually changing sections, restructuring things, considering the stuff that has changed during the betas.
1:08:15And then moving on to typos and other stylistic changes, refinements, general cleanup, adding links.
1:08:22And we are now at the point where...
1:08:26So I can say right now that the reviewer probably have 18 chapters and realistically by the
1:08:35end of this week I will probably have, I would say, about 12 of them finalized.
1:08:41As in, I just need to put in the screenshots.
1:08:45Because as usual I will wait for the GMC, the iOS, to take screenshots and take videos.
1:08:51with the videos I can get a head start now because, you know, especially with motion
1:08:57it's fine if some detail changes, people are not gonna notice the detail in the video,
1:09:02but with a steady screenshot I want to wait for the final seed. So realistically by the
1:09:07end of this week I will probably have the 12 chapters of the right side of my mindmap
1:09:15done. And basically my plan is for the end of August to have the entire review
1:09:22edited and finalized, which would be a considerable change from previous years,
1:09:29as in I would be really, really ahead of schedule, because in previous years I
1:09:36would be... at this point with iOS 9 and iOS 10 I was just coming back from
1:09:43vacation and I still had to write like almost the second half of the review
1:09:50instead right now on the 20... what day is it Myke? 21 of August I'm editing the
1:09:58review and I'm halfway through the edit so I feel pretty confident that this
1:10:04year being ahead of schedule will allow me to launch a few special additions to
1:10:09to the review, a few extra things that I haven't done
1:10:13in the past because I never had time.
1:10:15This year, the plan, all along, the plan was,
1:10:17I need to be done earlier, so I have time to
1:10:20prepare some other extras that I never did in the past.
1:10:26And I feel pretty happy with the status
1:10:30of the review so far.
1:10:33- Yeah, I mean, it is wild to hear you talking about this,
1:10:38like as we've been chatting about it and you're like yeah no I'm basically done
1:10:42because I remember last year you know like it was it was real bad like it was
1:10:47like horror at certain points. I don't remember like what was it in previous years?
1:10:52yeah not good not good Federico is what I'm gonna say you were very tired I
1:11:01think a lot of the time but it really does feel like you have learned from not
1:11:06necessarily past mistakes but past processes and you have adapted it and
1:11:10like strengthened it to this year where you are significantly ahead of schedule
1:11:17significantly like you may be too ahead of schedule right like to have
1:11:21everything written at this point it's like okay like that's a lot you know
1:11:26what I mean it's like maybe maybe I've done too much because things can still
1:11:29change but I guess if you've got the bums written you can be ready right
1:11:33yeah see I had to change a couple of things um the notification chapter so I
1:11:43was right in wanting to wait until the very last moment to write the chapter
1:11:49because I knew Apple was gonna but it's not like I knew knew but I had a pretty
1:11:55strong indication that Apple was gonna change things so I did not write the
1:11:59chapter which is a you know I think it's the fourth or fifth chapter in the
1:12:02review, and I just skipped it, because I knew there were gonna be changes.
1:12:07But I had still to change things, for example, yesterday I was editing the design section
1:12:12of the review, and there's a bit in the design chapter where I talk about the new video player
1:12:18in iOS, and so I had these two paragraphs about the behavior of the volume slider, and
1:12:23from the beta 1, when I wrote about that volume slider, to beta 6, the behavior has changed.
1:12:29And so there were two paragraphs where I was complaining about it, and I had to cut them,
1:12:33because it changed.
1:12:36And I had a couple of other instances of these two to three paragraphs that I had to remove
1:12:41or substantially change.
1:12:43But that's no big deal, because it's not like I have to redo an entire chapter, as it happened
1:12:48in the past, because I didn't know that things would change, even in Beta 5 or 6.
1:12:53So I definitely did learn from that type of process.
1:12:58But I think this year I feel better about where I am at this point in August.
1:13:05I still don't feel completely relaxed.
1:13:08Because I still feel like I've got to learn to manage, you know, manage expectations and
1:13:13also manage stress from this big project.
1:13:16Because I mean obviously it's three months of my life and three months of my year, of
1:13:22my working year are dedicated to this project.
1:13:24And so it's very difficult for me to be able to cope with that sort of responsibility and
1:13:28stress because it doesn't just affect me but it affects, you know, for example you and
1:13:34Steven, it affects, you know, the folks at Max Stories and also the people in my life
1:13:39that have to accept the fact that I'm busy writing and editing every day in the summer,
1:13:46which is especially problematic because people like to go on vacation. But I feel like this
1:13:50This year, having two weeks for myself in July to work on the review was an amazing
1:13:56help and a very welcome change from iOS 9 and iOS 10.
1:14:02And also the fact that I have an editor, so someone that can follow me along and that
1:14:08can go through each chapter with me multiple times over and over.
1:14:12That's been honestly amazing because I don't have to do that by myself.
1:14:18And that was an incredible source of stress in the past that's been now not entirely removed
1:14:25but considerably adjusted.
1:14:28And that feels great.
1:14:29Yeah, I can't even imagine.
1:14:31I can't even imagine.
1:14:32Like, to not have to be doing it all yourself must just be a fantastic feeling.
1:14:37Yeah, and I mean, I just, I still gotta take care of the creative aspect and I still gotta,
1:14:45You know, I gotta write and I gotta edit myself and I gotta take care of everything else, the
1:14:48media, the research, the notes and the links.
1:14:51But having a second set of eyes and a second opinion during the writing process, during
1:14:58the, you know, not like in September I have a draft and I send it off to someone and like,
1:15:03"Hey, can you tell me what you think?"
1:15:04It's like in July and in August, during the hot months of the review, you know, when the
1:15:12stuff is actually being made, I have someone that can follow me during this process. And
1:15:18that's great.
1:15:19Is there anything else you want to touch on about the review?
1:15:25So far I'm still editing in Ulysses, to my surprise. I set up this system where I'm using
1:15:32filters to keep track of different stages for each chapter. So chapters are split up
1:15:38in sheets, and for the bigger ones, as you can imagine, the iPad chapter, for example,
1:15:44is split up in multiple sheets that are glued together with the Glue Sheets feature of Ulysses.
1:15:51And I'm using keywords to indicate the state of each chapter. So states can be edited,
1:16:00edited with links, done, and another one that relates to the surprises I'm working on.
1:16:06And so I created multiple filters so I can view subsets of my review based on status.
1:16:13So the things that still need to be edited, the things that need links, and the documents
1:16:19that are done, and the other ones that are in a different state also.
1:16:25And to be able to switch between them, that's great because it's not like I always have
1:16:29to scroll a long list of documents, I can break it up in multiple sets.
1:16:34And that's nice.
1:16:35Eventually, I think once I'm done with the editing, I will move it to editorial as a
1:16:41single markdown file, because that's where I have some workflows to sort of massage the
1:16:46plain text of the review and to add some custom syntax.
1:16:50I gotta run some workflows and some automations to adjust some of the markdown text that is
1:16:57exported by Ulysses, so I need to adjust it a little for Mac stories.
1:17:01I need to add custom syntax for the layout, and also of course we're working on some,
1:17:06you know, special features for Max Stories, the way that the review will be presented.
1:17:10We have even bigger plans this time, so it's gonna be fun, but definitely once I'm done
1:17:14with everything I will move back into editorial and rely on automation, again, to fix things,
1:17:21add media, screenshots, animations, you know, videos, and I'll probably do one to two,
1:17:28maybe final, complete read-throughs of start to finish the entire review. But I'm basically,
1:17:37I would say, 80% done at this point, which is nice, very nice.
1:17:43That is good news man, that is really, really good news. I'm excited, I'm excited to see
1:17:47it.
1:17:49Thank you. I'm excited to be done with it also. Not in the sense of, "Oh man, my life
1:17:55is terrible. No, this is awesome that I get to do this every year. But, you know, it's
1:17:59a big project and you get to a point where you just want to release it. But it's not
1:18:03done yet. It has to be, at least for my standards, perfect. So, we'll get there.
1:18:09All right, if you want to find the show notes for this week, head on over to relay.fm/connected/156.
1:18:18If you want to find our sponsors, you should go support them. They are awesome. We've got
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1:18:35connected but you can support any show at relay fm and you will benefit from all of the fantastic
1:18:39bonuses no matter what show you support if you want to find federico online is at maxstories.net
1:18:45and he's @Vittici V I T I C C I on twitter. Stephen is @ismh and I'll mention again you
1:18:51should go and check out Liftoff at relay.com/liftoff so you can find their coverage of the eclipse
1:18:56which is happening which is why Stephen wasn't here today and you can find me I'm @imike we'll
1:19:03be back next time actually I won't be so we're doing a round robin of vacations right now I
1:19:09won't be here next week I'm on vacation next week so it's going to be Stephen and Federico
1:19:13and then the week after that I'm planning on being on the show that day even though I step
1:19:19off of a plane that morning so you can look forward to a real strange Myke Hurley that day
1:19:25I think so we'll see how that goes but uh I will be back in a couple of weeks um but we'll the
1:19:31show will be back next week so until then goodbye everybody I'm not saying goodbye this time Myke
1:19:37Of course you can, why can't you say goodbye?
1:19:39Adios!
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