0:00:00[MUSIC PLAYING]
0:00:04Hello, and welcome to Connected, episode 57
0:00:07from your friends at Relay FM.
0:00:09My name is Stephen Hackett, and I'm joined this week
0:00:12by Mr. Federico Vittucci.
0:00:14Hey, Stephen.
0:00:16Hey, buddy.
0:00:17How are you?
0:00:18I'm doing well.
0:00:19I just got back from Portland like 12 hours ago.
0:00:23You've been traveling all around the United States.
0:00:26It's true.
0:00:26It's like a world tour if the tour was just one city.
0:00:29Was it a road trip or did you take an airplane?
0:00:33Oh no, I took a plane.
0:00:35Oregon is about as far as you can get
0:00:37and still stay in the United States.
0:00:39Really?
0:00:41Yeah, for me at least,
0:00:42it's basically the opposite end of the continent, really.
0:00:45Nice.
0:00:46Isn't it the same of the Oregon Trail, the game?
0:00:49Basically, yeah.
0:00:51Everyone has dysentery and died.
0:00:52Sad.
0:00:54- Oh, no, sounds like a good conference that you went.
0:00:59- Oh my gosh, I left Myke there.
0:01:02That's Myke's not here, Myke is still at Portland.
0:01:05And he took a couple vacation days with his lady friend
0:01:08after XOXO, and so yeah, so he was alive in Portland
0:01:13the last time I saw him.
0:01:15- Okay, that's good to know.
0:01:17Did he buy anything that you know of?
0:01:20- I know he bought Foo Fighter concert tickets.
0:01:24- Of course.
0:01:25- He got one of the new orange Apple Watch sport bands.
0:01:30- Why?
0:01:32- I kinda like it.
0:01:34- Yeah, is it a good color?
0:01:36- It's very bright, but it's kinda fun.
0:01:39- Nice, nice.
0:01:40- Yes, we bought that.
0:01:41I don't know, oh, he bought an iPhone.
0:01:43I just did die.
0:01:43I guess we can talk about that.
0:01:46But, you know.
0:01:48- Are you serious?
0:01:49He bought an iPhone?
0:01:50- Well, he pre-ordered.
0:01:52- Oh, okay.
0:01:53one up Saturday night or Friday night sometime.
0:01:56- For you guys in Italy, we didn't get anything this time around.
0:02:01- Didn't get anything. Are you in, I guess you're like a couple weeks later?
0:02:04- Yeah, I'm not gonna buy an iPhone from Germany or, you know, one of those crazy things that
0:02:10I did in the past. I'm just gonna wait. You know, it's too much, too much trouble to get
0:02:16one of these new shiny toys from another country into Italy. I just don't want to do it anymore.
0:02:23so I'll just wait. I guess we'll get the new iPhone in mid-October, that's my assumption.
0:02:29Yeah, I pre-ordered a 6S Plus, so I'm staying in the Plus Club 64 gray like I have now.
0:02:39Myke ordered a white one though, which I think is interesting.
0:02:42Oh, really?
0:02:44We talked about this on upgrade, but I generally, with the S Cycle, order white phones just because
0:02:50because it's a nice way to trick your brain into saying,
0:02:55hey, look, I bought something new.
0:02:59But I did it this time, I stuck with the gray.
0:03:01- Cool, yeah, I think I'm gonna go with space gray
0:03:06this year, I'm kind of tired of the white one.
0:03:10So I guess, we'll see, depends.
0:03:12Maybe I should go, you know, rose gold.
0:03:16We got a rose gold icon, I don't know.
0:03:17It's quite, I've seen one, it's pretty, it's quite pink,
0:03:22but it's good looking, so.
0:03:25- Oh, you saw one.
0:03:26- I did, yeah, I've played with it a little bit, so.
0:03:29It is pink, there's no way around it.
0:03:31And I think it looks the worst as far as the antenna lines,
0:03:35because the antenna lines are a light gray color,
0:03:38and for some reason it just really stands out there
0:03:40than on the other devices for some reason.
0:03:46But anyways, we should do a little follow up.
0:03:51- Sure, and I see a listener name.
0:03:56Do you wanna say this name?
0:03:58- I see what you did.
0:04:00Well, so this email was not signed.
0:04:02And so I would say that what I put in the show notes,
0:04:06Federico, for you and I, is what his email address was.
0:04:08I don't know if he wants to share his name.
0:04:09So let's call him Andrew.
0:04:12Call him Andrew.
0:04:15So we've talked several weeks ago now about like,
0:04:18do we see Apple Watches in person?
0:04:20And I saw a lot at XOXO, like just,
0:04:24everyone is wearing an Apple Watch.
0:04:25But out in my everyday life, I don't see many.
0:04:28And now it may be that where I live,
0:04:30there's not a huge tech scene here.
0:04:32I also work at home, so my children aren't wearing them,
0:04:35so I don't see them on them.
0:04:37But this guy who we named Andrew says
0:04:41that he's seeing more and more of them,
0:04:43And it's mostly, he said, you know, from his sort of,
0:04:46just his notes, and he lives in Germany, I believe,
0:04:49that he does see them, he's seeing them more and more,
0:04:52but mostly on men and mostly, you know,
0:04:54kind of late 20s, early 30s, you know,
0:04:55kind of where we are in life.
0:04:58And I think that makes sense.
0:05:00I think that kind of matches up with what I've seen.
0:05:03What about you?
0:05:04Have you seen more of them recently,
0:05:06or do you feel like it's still kind of slow?
0:05:07- Did I tell you that I saw my first Apple Watch
0:05:11a few weeks ago?
0:05:12- Okay. - Only one.
0:05:14- Just the one.
0:05:16- Yeah, I was eating out for dinner with my girlfriend
0:05:20and I saw a guy walk by with a green Apple Watch Sport band.
0:05:25But that was it.
0:05:26Only Apple Watch I saw, except, you know,
0:05:28Apple employees inside the Apple store.
0:05:30So, yeah, just one.
0:05:33- Yeah, we had another email from Will,
0:05:35and Will is a student in college,
0:05:37and he opened his email with saying,
0:05:39"I am on the front lines of," quote,
0:05:41what the youth are using every day, so that works for me.
0:05:45He says he sees a lot of them, and I think,
0:05:49you know, with these two listeners are saying,
0:05:51you know, see them on younger people, see them on,
0:05:53you know, obviously it's an expensive thing, right?
0:05:56So kind of people with some disposable income
0:05:59who are already nerdy, who don't mind having a computer
0:06:01on their wrist, and, you know, WDC is where I'd seen
0:06:05the most of them until this weekend, but even XO,
0:06:08there's a lot of kind of creative, technical people, so.
0:06:11So yeah, I don't see many of them just out and about.
0:06:15Like I've never been walking through a store, I don't think, and spot one.
0:06:20But yeah, they're definitely out there, just maybe not where you and I spend all of our
0:06:25time.
0:06:26Yeah, and I guess I am asked a lot by friends, "Is the Apple Watch doing okay in Italy?"
0:06:35And I think most new Apple products tend to take some time to become popular in Italy.
0:06:45I don't know if it's a cultural thing, like we tend to be more skeptical and the fact
0:06:50that Apple products come out after a few months in Italy is also another issue to consider.
0:06:56maybe I think the Samsung brand is quite strong here and I do see more Samsung Gear watches
0:07:08than Apple Watches, for example.
0:07:10So I don't know what it is, but this has always been the case with the iPhone, with the iPad
0:07:15and now with the Apple Watch.
0:07:17It always takes some time for a new Apple product to take off in Italy and become massively
0:07:21popular, but when it does, you can see it everywhere.
0:07:25So it's like, you know, one of those engines that takes a while to warm up and then it
0:07:30just goes.
0:07:31Sure.
0:07:32That's Italy with new Apple products.
0:07:34That's a good analogy Federico.
0:07:35I like that.
0:07:36Thank you.
0:07:37You know, I mean, I think it's, I mean, in talking about this, I think back about owning
0:07:43the first iPhone and I, you know, I worked at the store at the time and a bunch of us
0:07:47got them and I had it probably within the first month, I think is when they sort of
0:07:52finally were available to employees and I definitely remember like pulling it
0:07:57out at a restaurant to show my friends and like people looking like people
0:08:02noticing and people you know even wanting to see it and wanted to talk
0:08:05about it and I think that's just like you said that's kind of a normal thing
0:08:09for some of these devices and like the original iPhone the Apple Watch is
0:08:15expensive and it's it's rare to a degree right for for a while unless you
0:08:19pre-ordered you couldn't just go in and buy one but my guess is that I mean
0:08:24Apple's clearly you know they've adjusted the line for the hot for the
0:08:27holidays I think they're gonna sell a bunch of them this quarter and I think
0:08:31that you know starting after Christmas we're gonna see more of them sort of out
0:08:35about on you know slightly more normal people than than you and I we'll see but
0:08:44um anyway so we have a couple of many topics and then we have a couple really
0:08:48big topics. If you've been paying attention last week you probably know
0:08:51what the big two topics are but before we do that I want to tell you about
0:08:57Harry's. For many of us shaving is a pain. It kind of stinks. It's uncomfortable. You
0:09:03get nicks, cut, scrapes, get razor burn which is about the worst thing in the
0:09:06world and it's super expensive. But enter Harry's. Harry's is started by two guys
0:09:12who they just wanted a better product. That's why Harry's exists. These two guys
0:09:16wanted a better product without paying an arm and a leg to get it.
0:09:18Harry's makes their own blades. They're high quality high-performing German blades.
0:09:23We know that now Federico you and I know the Germans don't mess around.
0:09:25These blades were crafted by shaving experts and Harry's liked them so much they purchased the factory.
0:09:32These razors offer a high quality shave at about half the price of the other big-brand blades.
0:09:37They ship for free to your front door and the starter set is an amazing deal. 15 bucks gets you a razor,
0:09:44shaving cream or foaming shave gel and I've switched to the gel and actually really like it and three razor blades 15 bucks
0:09:51It shows about your door feel like me. You don't want to go to the drugstore and have to buy this stuff
0:09:55That's way more expensive and you have to deal with a human order it online. It shows up
0:09:58On average an everyday shaver could save a hundred and fifty dollars a year using Harry's blades
0:10:04and I do have to say enough I've
0:10:08They sent me a kit forever ago. I love the way the razor looks it's super cool
0:10:13It's mine is like chrome with an H engraved in it just super nice. It feels good in the hand
0:10:18It does not feel cheap. It feels like a real actual product
0:10:21And I really like that
0:10:23I like things that
0:10:24Time at the Apple watch like things that look nice like things that have a weight to them like things that that feel substantial
0:10:29And the the Harry's razor fits all those criteria for me
0:10:35Tidy up my beard. I keep myself looking nice and smart which is a very British adjective, but I'll borrow it today from Myke
0:10:42And it's really the best way to experience a clean close and comfortable shave if you go to Harry's calm right now
0:10:49They'll give you five dollars off if you type in the coupon code connected with your first purchase
0:10:54That's Harry's calm and our coupon code connected a checkoff for five dollars off and start shaving better today
0:11:00All right Federico we have these many topics here
0:11:06Very exciting. I did want to talk a little bit about
0:11:10XOXO, there's a link in the show notes.
0:11:12It is a festival and a conference in Portland, Oregon,
0:11:17and it's sort of built around what we do for a living,
0:11:20like independent people creating things in technology
0:11:25and in art and in journalism and in photography
0:11:28and all these things that you and I do.
0:11:31This crossroad of technology and the liberal arts even,
0:11:36you could say that.
0:11:38- Yeah.
0:11:38I don't know how to use that term.
0:11:40- Yeah, why not?
0:11:41- And I kinda want to ask you Federico,
0:11:44I had this moment this weekend, right,
0:11:46where I'm sitting here with all these people,
0:11:48a lot of them have jobs, but a lot of them
0:11:50work for themselves, and they're sort of
0:11:51in this industry that we're in,
0:11:54and I sort of had this moment, like I,
0:11:57for a long time I looked at independent creative people,
0:12:01and I looked at them saying, that'd be really cool
0:12:02if I could do that one day, and I had that moment
0:12:06this weekend, sitting, listening to someone's talk,
0:12:08it'd be really cool if I could make things for a living.
0:12:10And then I realized that I make things for a living.
0:12:12(laughing)
0:12:13It's like, oh, I am now part of that world,
0:12:17like the independent creative technology scene.
0:12:20And I kinda wanna talk to you about that.
0:12:23Like, do you ever feel that way?
0:12:25Like, do you ever, do you think of yourself
0:12:29in that way of like you're an independent,
0:12:31creative type person, or do you just,
0:12:33for me it's so easy to get lost in the weeds
0:12:34in what I'm doing, I don't ever think about it,
0:12:36like in a big picture way.
0:12:37Yeah, the strangest thing of writing and creating something that didn't exist before and then
0:12:48giving it to other people is you can be so absorbed in the idea of making it for yourself
0:12:56that you don't realize there's people out there who are consuming and enjoying, hopefully,
0:13:02what you create.
0:13:03So when I write, when I spend weeks or months working on something, I never do that with
0:13:14the idea that there's going to be X number of people reading this piece or using it in
0:13:21the future for something.
0:13:25It's a strange feeling.
0:13:26So I don't see myself as a creator when I write.
0:13:30I see that as my activity, as what I do.
0:13:34Not necessarily as what I do for an audience.
0:13:37But when I stop and think about it like you did, I'm like "Yeah, there is an audience."
0:13:43So I am creating stuff for people, not just for me.
0:13:47But I think if you get stuck too much on that thought during the creation process, you gotta
0:13:55balance that, because you can be distracted by the fact that there's people and that there's
0:14:04an audience and that you gotta create something for others.
0:14:07Instead, I try to create for myself and I try to create for my closest friends, like
0:14:15you, Myke, and the other Mac Stories guys, I try to imagine that there's a limited number
0:14:22of people who need to look over what I do. Because if I think about the audience, it
0:14:28doesn't matter whether it's a hundred people or a thousand people, but if I try to think
0:14:34about all these people around the world, you know, thanks to the internet, all these people
0:14:38in America, in Asia, in Japan, and all these other countries and continents, it's super
0:14:44strange and it kind of clouds my thoughts, so I try not to get stuck on that idea. But
0:14:54when I think about it, when I stop, like tonight when I will be done with this iOS 9 review,
0:15:01when I will stop and I will send it over to my team and I will save the draft on the website,
0:15:07I will realize this is going out to a lot of people. And what now? I don't know. So
0:15:13So it's strange. I guess it's different when you're like a rock star or you're in a band
0:15:19or you're in a movie star and you're constantly exposed to big audiences and to the idea of
0:15:26living a life, creating stuff, right? Whether you create music or popular books or whether
0:15:33you act in popular movies. You're always exposed to the idea of a big audience, of the public
0:15:39eye, you know, judging you. But when you work at home, when you're an indie guy like us,
0:15:46you can get away from that perception. But when you realize that, it's super weird. So
0:15:52I think the problem is very much a peculiar one, especially because we work from home,
0:15:58we don't have a big office, we don't go walk on the red carpet, you know, usually. I don't
0:16:03know if Myke does. But yeah.
0:16:06yeah it's just strange and it just sort of hit me like the people I do work
0:16:12with now like like when I go to work I go to work with Myke and you and Jason
0:16:17Snell and you know all these people on relay and you know the a fair amount of
0:16:22them sort of fit into this category and a lot of them were at XOXO so it was
0:16:27kind of nice to see a lot of a lot of relay and I was reminded Federica that
0:16:32that you and I have never met in person.
0:16:34- Never? - Also that you and Myke
0:16:36have never met in person. - Never.
0:16:37- So we need to change that.
0:16:39I think 2016 is gonna be the year of connected in person.
0:16:43- What if I don't exist?
0:16:45- Then it's been a really strange three years for me.
0:16:49(laughing)
0:16:50- What if I'm a computer-generated voice?
0:16:53- Then it's the sexiest AI I've ever heard.
0:16:57I think the listeners would agree with that.
0:17:02- Yeah, so a couple other quick little things.
0:17:03I wanted to share something that I had put up
0:17:07on Five Twelve last week and we didn't get to talk about it.
0:17:11But I think you linked to it in your weekly email
0:17:15about the dog cow.
0:17:17So this is one of those things that,
0:17:18in thinking that hey, we work for ourselves
0:17:20and we can make things that we wanna make,
0:17:22like this little project is definitely something
0:17:25that I only made for me.
0:17:27And if other people enjoy it, that's nice.
0:17:29But I wanted it to exist, so I made it.
0:17:31It's kind of fun.
0:17:34- It's the kind of information that you know
0:17:36you can only get from 512 and Stephen Hackett.
0:17:39As soon as I saw it, I was like, yeah, this is 100% Stephen.
0:17:45- Marco introduced me as the dog cow historian
0:17:49to somebody this weekend.
0:17:50- Really?
0:17:51- Nice.
0:17:52- That's very much perfect.
0:17:54- Yeah, and it's just one of those little,
0:17:56some of those little chapters in Apple's history and story
0:18:01in which they had a lot of personality breakthrough,
0:18:04and you don't see that all the time from Apple.
0:18:06You see it in places, but even now when you see it,
0:18:11I always feel like it's kind of manufactured a little bit.
0:18:14You know, like Craig Federighi being kind of like
0:18:17the king of dad jokes.
0:18:19That's just kind of something that they're doing to do it.
0:18:22But this felt genuine because a couple of engineers did it
0:18:25and it showed up and then it sort of got out of hand
0:18:28a little bit.
0:18:29- The links in the show notes, it's a fun little read.
0:18:32There's like quick time examples
0:18:37and I couldn't find good versions of them
0:18:38so I've got them on YouTube now for the masses to enjoy.
0:18:43It's a public service really more than anything.
0:18:46- That's what you do.
0:18:47- That's why I'm here, that's why I'm here.
0:18:50And of course we need to ask about the iOS 9 review
0:18:55'cause so we're recording this Tuesday, September 15th.
0:18:58your review will be up tomorrow.
0:19:00- Yes.
0:19:01- How is that going?
0:19:02- Less than 24 hours to go.
0:19:05And the review is done.
0:19:06It's completed.
0:19:08I read the review three times.
0:19:11My main editor, TJ Loma of the backstory steam
0:19:17read the review twice.
0:19:19So I'm still going through some final edits
0:19:23but all the text is done.
0:19:25Half of the screenshots are done.
0:19:28the pagination is done, the links are already in the Markdown file
0:19:35and I just need to look over 20 other edits which are mainly typos and commas
0:19:44today, so it's a 20 minute affair
0:19:47and I gotta do about another, I would say, 150 screenshots
0:19:54which I will combine with my scripts and it'll turn out to be maybe another 70 images for the review.
0:20:01I guess the total will be about 300 screenshots.
0:20:06I know there's 38 footnotes. I'm not gonna spoil the word count today.
0:20:15And so yeah, I will be done tonight.
0:20:19And I will send it over to Graham, the MicroStories team.
0:20:24We, thanks to Brett Terpstra,
0:20:27we have a whole build script that generates
0:20:31ebook files from my markdown file.
0:20:37We made a lot of customizations in there to make sure
0:20:39that the EPUB of the review looks okay.
0:20:43and works well as an ebook.
0:20:46So yes, we're gonna offer an EPUB download
0:20:49to Club Maxx Service members.
0:20:51And yeah, it's done, Steven.
0:20:55All the information is correct.
0:20:56I double checked with the GM.
0:20:59I double checked all the APIs that I mentioned.
0:21:01Hopefully it's all, I haven't made any major mistake.
0:21:06Hopefully.
0:21:07And I'm exhausted.
0:21:11I'm excited.
0:21:12I don't know what to think anymore. I just hope that people will like it.
0:21:17Because it's that kind of thing, you work on that for 3 months and then you reach the final stretch.
0:21:22You're done, you're just making the final modifications. I don't know what to think anymore.
0:21:28Does it suck? Is it good? Is it terrible? I don't know. Is it too much? Is it too little?
0:21:32Is it what people expect from me? I don't know. I just know that I put 3 months of my life into this.
0:21:40And if people don't like it, at least I will, I think I will like it.
0:21:44This is, I know this is what I wanted to write.
0:21:47My judgment right now is a bit strange because I'm exhausted.
0:21:52But I know there's nothing else I could possibly want to say.
0:21:58So all my brain, all my thoughts are in this review.
0:22:02And whatever happens, it's not up to me.
0:22:07So we'll see tomorrow.
0:22:09- Yeah, so I read a draft on Thursday of last week,
0:22:14and I'm not gonna spoil any of it,
0:22:18but I will say that it is very good.
0:22:21I think I told you this privately,
0:22:23but it's one of the best things,
0:22:27if not the best thing that you have published.
0:22:29And what's nice about it is that even as someone,
0:22:34there's something in there for everyone, I think,
0:22:36So I have been using iWasTined for a while now
0:22:39and you explained some things that have been
0:22:42driving me crazy 'cause I couldn't quite understand
0:22:45what it was doing or what it was trying to do.
0:22:47And so you, in that section, explained it
0:22:52and I read it and I was like, oh,
0:22:53that's why this thing is this way.
0:22:56And so even for someone who,
0:22:58like I was supposed to be super on top of it,
0:23:00was taught, I learned something from the review.
0:23:05And that was special for me,
0:23:07'cause sometimes I go into these things,
0:23:10like I know what this is going to cover,
0:23:14but there's stuff in there.
0:23:15I think there's something in there for everybody.
0:23:18You don't just focus on the iPad stuff,
0:23:19even though there's a really good section in there,
0:23:21like what iOS 9 on the whole.
0:23:23So even if you aren't super into the iPad,
0:23:26don't write this off, go check it out,
0:23:28put it in Instapaper,
0:23:29have someone
0:23:35schedule some time, read it.
0:23:37- Take the day off.
0:23:37- Take the day off, change your name,
0:23:40and flee into the woods to read it.
0:23:43- Move to an island.
0:23:44(laughing)
0:23:46- Yeah, so it's good, and I'm looking forward
0:23:48to people's reactions, and yeah,
0:23:51I'm excited for people to see it, 'cause I enjoyed it,
0:23:53so thank you for letting me take a sneak peek
0:23:54on the airplane.
0:23:55- No, thank you for the support, really.
0:23:58- Yeah, it actually made, so on my way out to Portland,
0:24:01I was, I got on the plane, and then we sat on the runway
0:24:05in Memphis for like an hour and a half.
0:24:07And that made that time go much faster
0:24:09because I read the review and most of it in that time.
0:24:12So it was kind of nice.
0:24:13I could feel the lady next to me
0:24:15'cause we're just sitting there, right?
0:24:17And I'm not super great in that situation,
0:24:20like talk to the stranger next to me
0:24:21and so I'm just kind of reading it.
0:24:23And I could feel her like looking down at my iPad
0:24:25from time to time and like what is he reading?
0:24:27'Cause I mean this thing is like long
0:24:29and there's like lots of technical terms in it.
0:24:31And so she didn't ask me but I could kind of tell
0:24:34unless you wanted to, but...
0:24:35- And especially when she was looking at the name of APIs,
0:24:40there's one, there's a code snippet
0:24:46and that's processing for the change notification.
0:24:49It's the name of an API, I guess.
0:24:51Can you imagine like a normal person looking at that
0:24:54and like, is that even English?
0:24:55I'm just, you know, 24 hours.
0:25:00I'm just, I don't know.
0:25:02Thank you, just thank you Steven. I will have to thank Myke also. He's been incredible.
0:25:07I've been texting snippets of the review to Myke since July and every time he's been a gentleman.
0:25:14You know, everyone else would have gone crazy. Just stop me, don't send me any more
0:25:19previews of what you're writing. But you two are really great friends and
0:25:26hopefully people will like it. We'll see tomorrow. We'll see.
0:25:30yeah we will will be talking about all that stuff next week but this week we're
0:25:38going to talk about what happened last week but before before we do that
0:25:44Federico yes we're going to talk about our friends at Linda.com
0:25:50Linda.com is the online learning platform with over 3,000 on-demand video courses
0:25:56to help you strengthen your business technology and creative skills for a
0:25:59free 10-day trial visit lynda.com/connected. That's L Y N D A dot com
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0:26:31layouts localization for developer something I know that that you paid
0:26:35attention to Federico you can go to lynda.com and learn how to do that in
0:26:39your app you can check out Xcode 6 courses these guys are always up to date
0:26:45and these things are done by professionals you can learn about the
0:26:48Swift programming language which is basically brand new Linda already has
0:26:51stuff about it because they use the best people in the field to get these
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0:27:01top experts who are really passionate about teaching. You can stream thousands
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0:27:13build your own outline. These things are structured so you can watch them start
0:27:17finish or you can consume them in bite-sized pieces. You can browse
0:27:22each transcript to follow along, search for an answer, or skip to that point in
0:27:25the video. I know I can read much faster than I can watch a video so yeah I can
0:27:29really go through and kind of learn at my own speed. You can create and save
0:27:33playlists of courses you want to watch, customize your learning path, or share
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0:27:54or just want to learn something new, I want you to visit lynda.com/connected
0:27:59and sign up for your free 10-day trial. Thank you so much to Linda for
0:28:03supporting this show and all of Relay FM.
0:28:08So, Federico, you're a pro. Am I? And you use an iPad. Mm-hmm. Do you want an
0:28:15iPad Pro. So you just got to the chase. Okay. I did. Well we can back up and talk
0:28:22about what it is and everything but I think people want to know what you think
0:28:24of it so what do you think of it? I think I want an iPad Pro. I am concerned about
0:28:32two things. One of them is the size and weight of the iPad Pro and its portability.
0:28:39I don't always work at my desk or at the kitchen table, which is where I get most of my work done actually.
0:28:50I walk around the house when I'm writing or reading, I work from the sofa, I work from the balcony, I move around a lot,
0:29:02a lot and I always carry the iPad in two hands and the iPad Air 2 is so thin and light it's
0:29:10very much a comfortable device for me. I'm afraid that the iPad Pro could be a problem
0:29:17in this sense because of its size and also because of its bigger display and increased
0:29:25dimensions I'm afraid that it won't fit in my Tom Beam bag. So that's my
0:29:33primary concern, that it's too big for me.
0:29:37The other concern is
0:29:41I think I may want to wait until the next version of iOS because from what we
0:29:50saw last week, it doesn't seem like Apple is taking meaningful advantage of the
0:29:56bigger display of the iPad Pro to scale iOS 9 to this even bigger iPad. Which is
0:30:03strange because with iOS 9 Apple is doing some things, you know, a lot of
0:30:08things actually to make use of the iPad's display. But you tweeted a picture of
0:30:14of the iPad Pros home screen.
0:30:17And it really felt like a rushed adaptation of, you know,
0:30:22they could have done something different.
0:30:24So I'm wondering, maybe I should give Apple another year
0:30:27to perfect what they've done with iOS 9
0:30:30to make use of the iPad Pros.
0:30:32But what if, and this is the turn of my concerns,
0:30:37what if it's not a problem for size?
0:30:41What if it's not a problem for carrying around?
0:30:44What if it's not a problem the fact that iOS 9 could be a little better?
0:30:50Because that's what I'm excited about.
0:30:54Working with iPad multitasking, and I don't want to spoil the review,
0:30:59of course multitasking has been one of my favorite features of iOS 9.
0:31:03And it looks like on the iPad Pro, because of its size, because of the bigger display,
0:31:08using two apps at the same time feels less like using two mini apps at the same time,
0:31:16but more like using two almost full-sized apps simultaneously.
0:31:21So I definitely noticed when using iOS 9 on my Air 2 that the apps I was putting into SplitView
0:31:32were smaller versions, perfectly functional,
0:31:36but still smaller.
0:31:37And so sometimes it can feel claustrophobic maybe,
0:31:42it can feel a little small.
0:31:45And I think that on the iPad Pro,
0:31:47basically when you activate Split View in landscape,
0:31:51and if you choose the 50/50 layout,
0:31:53it's like using two portrait apps at the same time,
0:31:57which is pretty great of an experience, I think.
0:32:01So I think that the iPad Pro is what I want from a functional perspective.
0:32:09You know, the multitasking is bigger, the apps are bigger, I can see more and more comfortably and I can probably do more.
0:32:19Also because the keyboard has a different layout, so that's welcome.
0:32:23My primary concern is that it's too big for me.
0:32:29And that's why I need to try one before making a decision.
0:32:34Also because it's quite the expensive device.
0:32:38But everything about it sounds super great to me.
0:32:41And not just the bigger screen with better multitasking,
0:32:45but my iPad is my primary device for listening to music.
0:32:52So, you know, better audio for speakers, that sounds really good to me.
0:32:59The increased memory for 4GB of RAM, that should lead to better performance across the
0:33:05system and, you know, third-party apps as well.
0:33:10Everything about the iPad Pro sounds exciting to me and I feel like that's simply because
0:33:18I work from the iPad every day and because of that I am intrigued by a device by an iPad
0:33:26that promises to do more.
0:33:29But at the same time I'm also concerned about size and portability and whether it's more
0:33:35of an iPad meant to be used on a desk inside of an iPad meant to be held in your hands.
0:33:42The only way to know for sure is to try one, so we'll see what happens when I can finally
0:33:49try one.
0:33:50Yeah, I tend to agree with you.
0:33:54I'm not particularly interested in it.
0:33:56I like the iPad Air 2.
0:33:59It's a good size for me, for someone who I mostly read and browse on it, and I like the
0:34:05bigger screen than the mini.
0:34:08I do think you raise good points though where yet again we're sort of in a
0:34:12situation where the hardware may be a little ahead of the software where this
0:34:16thing could do really cool things but it's it may be limited by what the other
0:34:22iPads can do right because it really doesn't do much besides the pencil stuff
0:34:26that the the iPad mini and the iPad air 2 can't do right those iPads can do
0:34:32slide over they can do this side by side apps they can do all this other stuff
0:34:37And for me looking at this like I feel like there's an opportunity for Apple to
0:34:42kind of have this product stand on its own a little bit more where maybe at
0:34:48some point it gains features that the others don't because of that screen
0:34:53size and not just from an iOS perspective like at the system level but
0:34:58even with third-party apps as far as I know and maybe you can correct me if I'm
0:35:02if you know differently but at this point I don't believe there's any way to
0:35:06to target just the iPad Pro with an App Store app. We're basically you know we
0:35:12run into this problem over and over over the last several years of a developer
0:35:16can just write an iPad app and Apple expects and and basically demands that
0:35:21it run on a whole suite of hardware and you know there was a there was a link
0:35:28floating around we'll find it for the show notes about the guys who make
0:35:31sketch and basically they were saying you know we don't we're afraid that
0:35:34that there's not a market for it,
0:35:36that there's not going to be the opportunity
0:35:41for Sketch to make a living, make good money
0:35:44with the iPad Pro.
0:35:47And that's a shame for a bunch of reasons,
0:35:49but if the iPad Pro had its own class of apps
0:35:52in the App Store, and you know,
0:35:55maybe there would be an opportunity to kind of reset
0:35:58this race to the bottom and say,
0:36:00hey what you know the software is going to be to be more expensive because it
0:36:06can do all these other things you can only do on this iPad right but there's
0:36:10no exclusivity there the iPad Pro really besides the pencil is just a bigger iPad
0:36:16and and why that's great in of itself I don't think it's enough to say this
0:36:22thing is really worth developers time it's really worth users money to go
0:36:27after it?
0:36:28>> Yeah, the developer question is, it's a tricky problem.
0:36:34And I don't think there's just one solution.
0:36:40Because on the one hand, Apple could do more to enable different kinds of business models
0:36:49on the App Store.
0:36:51And when it comes to spending a lot of money, so $50 compared to free or $1 for an app,
0:37:02it's a lot of money.
0:37:04And when it comes to that, not having the ability to try an app or to offer upgrades
0:37:14for your most loyal customers, unless you do some kind of work around, that's a problem.
0:37:21And you could make the argument that iOS software wants to remove much of the complexity of
0:37:29the purchase process of Mac software.
0:37:35But there's only so many ways you can ask for money.
0:37:39Money is money.
0:37:40And convincing people is still the same problem, no matter whether it's on OS X or on iOS.
0:37:47comes to spending 50 bucks or 100 bucks, you need to make sure that the customer is completely
0:37:55or at least moderately sure about their decision.
0:38:00And the App Store lacks that kind of process.
0:38:03But on the other hand, there are some developers, and I'm trying not to do any kind of victim
0:38:12blaming here. But there are some developers, I think, that don't necessarily believe in iOS as a
0:38:21productivity platform or as a platform where they can make apps and they can charge good money for them.
0:38:28I'm thinking of examples such as the Omni Group or other companies that ask for good money when making
0:38:39productivity apps on the episode. There's not many of them, but they exist and they
0:38:47see the iPad as a platform where people can get work done because it's a computer.
0:38:55And there's many developers that just completely discard the idea of iOS as a
0:39:03platform where you can make that kind of app.
0:39:07just on principle maybe. I don't know why they do that and it could easily be that it's a mix of
0:39:14preconception and fear of losing your money, which is a perfectly
0:39:19acceptable explanation.
0:39:22But I think in the middle of these two possible reasons lies the opportunity
0:39:28for Apple and for developers to
0:39:31reimagine the kind of app you can make for an iPad now that the iPad Pro is coming out.
0:39:36Apple needs to provide better tools for developers to charge money. Not one
0:39:48buck or two bucks on the app, sort of like that. $50, $100, possibly every year. And the kind of money
0:39:55that isn't a subscription that can turn people off, you know, a standalone
0:39:59single purchase for professionals. And you could argue that the iOS App Store
0:40:05wanted to reimagine the way that you buy an app and they have done that. But being a professional
0:40:11doesn't need reimagination. It just needs efficiency. It just needs security of your
0:40:19purchase process. And so there's so just so many ways you can reimagine that. When it comes to
0:40:25money, it's money. But developers also need to seriously consider the market for people like me
0:40:33and many others. I'm not a special case, I'm not some kind of magic dude with an iPad.
0:40:41I'm just some guy like many other people, millions of people who use iPads as their primary computers
0:40:47and they need to understand that there's a possibility that there's a market for that
0:40:52and that maybe, just maybe, they can figure out ways to make money because it just comes down to
0:41:01making money. We're not talking about being a good Samaritan here. It's about a business.
0:41:07It's about making money from apps. And there's people who use iPads as computers. There is
0:41:13the possibility of making money. It is possible to... and I'm asking this as a question, but
0:41:22also as a hopeful statement, there's a possibility of making money on this platform, whether
0:41:31or not Apple makes changes.
0:41:34I think I would be very much surprised if next year, considering the iPad Pro and the
0:41:43kind of market it opens for developers, if Apple doesn't bring some changes to the App
0:41:50App Store for developers because again I'm all for the simplification of the App Store
0:41:58and there's no confusion, there's no upgrades, there's no trials, there's no demos, it's
0:42:04just what it is.
0:42:05You buy or you don't buy.
0:42:08But also, you know, professionals, teams, businesses that rely on apps and iPads, they're
0:42:20not regular consumers, they're not regular customers and they need exceptions and only
0:42:27Apple can make those. So I'm somewhere in the middle on this issue. I think there's
0:42:35a point to those who argue that it's all Apple's fault. I also think there's a point to those
0:42:41say developers could be more creative. I am somewhere in the middle. I don't know what the perfect solution is.
0:42:52I am just hopeful that with time and with this iPad Pro it'll be a chance for everyone to say "ok, we need to do this now".
0:43:01Now is the time to make these changes, whether it's Apple or whether it's developers.
0:43:06So the next six months or the next ten months will be interesting. I hope.
0:43:11Yeah, I agree. And I think it's...
0:43:15You can look at the App Store and you can say, "Look, there's a lot that needs to change."
0:43:19We spoke about it last week, maybe two weeks ago, about the idea of the App Store being split between
0:43:26games and then everything else, and how that could really change what the App Store is
0:43:32and how those charts work and maybe even how editorial works.
0:43:37And then you look at a device like the iPad Pro
0:43:39and it's like, well, maybe it also deserves its own App Store
0:43:43or maybe at least a section in the App Store
0:43:45that these really high-end apps like Sketch,
0:43:49which is great on the Mac.
0:43:51I mean, it's a wonderful app
0:43:53and used by a lot of truly creative professional people.
0:43:58And there's not, I mean, there are a bunch of ways,
0:44:02like we can't justify doing this we don't think we can make the money back
0:44:05they also call out the trials being a thing like people don't buy $50 apps
0:44:10without a trial and we talked about that for years of the Mac App Store as well
0:44:15and you look at the Mac App Store and it in some ways the iPad Pro and the Mac
0:44:21sort of face similar issues in the App Store right there's there's not trials
0:44:25there's limitations that at least on the Mac there's a there's a way out right if
0:44:31if you need something like transmit you can get it because you can side load
0:44:36apps on the Mac and and you can't do that on the iPad Pro and I don't think
0:44:40there I don't think that's the answer but I do think that there is an
0:44:44opportunity for Apple to look at this and sort of reinvent the App Store in a
0:44:47way of of saying look you know it's a different device and and using that
0:44:52using that this thing is powerful in a way that the other the other iPads are
0:44:58not and and doing something about that from a policy level because all this is
0:45:04just policy right Apple's hardware and Apple software move much faster than
0:45:07their their rules and procedures and their policies and the way they treat
0:45:11developers and the way they pay developers all that into the business is
0:45:15very slow and I think that the hardware and the software have a real opportunity
0:45:21to push Apple forward on this and and I hope they do I hope this thing is
0:45:25successful I think it'd be great to have a device like the iPad Pro that that
0:45:30would really be Mac like in ways that it just can't be today right and the pencil
0:45:37gets it there the keyboard gets it there but if the software is not there then it
0:45:41doesn't really matter and and I fear I just worried about the iPad Pro
0:45:46withering on the vine because of that and I don't know I got I think it's
0:45:52really interesting device, I think it could do well
0:45:55in a certain market, but I think it's gonna be hamstrung
0:45:57by the App Store being what it is.
0:46:00- I think Apple should, I mean, we shouldn't see,
0:46:04we shouldn't read this kind of post
0:46:07from the Sketch developers.
0:46:08We should see Apple reaching out to the Sketch developers
0:46:11and saying, "Hey, your app is one of,"
0:46:15I mean, on the Mac, Sketch won an Apple Design Award.
0:46:19So it's the kind of app that Apple celebrates.
0:46:23And there should be this kind of experience on an iPad Pro.
0:46:26There should be this kind of experience reimagined for iOS.
0:46:29See, you gotta reimagine the experience of using an app.
0:46:32You don't need to reimagine the business model.
0:46:35You don't often need to reimagine the business model,
0:46:37at least, because like I said, money is money.
0:46:41There's no reimagining there.
0:46:44And so Apple should reach out to these guys and say,
0:46:46"Why are you not making sketch on the iPad Pro?
0:46:48What can we do to help you make Sketch for the iPad Pro?
0:46:53And this is not just about Sketch, it's about all the other hundreds of excellent apps on OS X
0:47:00that for one reason, whether it's technical or economical, cannot be made for iOS and for the iPad.
0:47:08So let me read you this.
0:47:09Everyone wins.
0:47:11We sell more devices because we have the best apps.
0:47:14Developers reach a wider and wider audience and customer base, and users are continually delighted by the best and broadest selection of apps on any platform.
0:47:24That was Steve Jobs five years ago in Thoughts on Flash, and Steve had it exactly right.
0:47:31We sell devices because we have the best apps.
0:47:35You don't sell devices because you have the cheapest apps or the cheapest app store.
0:47:41You sell devices because you have the best experience and there isn't just one type of experience.
0:47:49There isn't just the consumer, angry birds, flappy birds, many types of birds kind of experience.
0:47:57There's the professional, there's the creative and Apple knows that because they made an iPad Pro for those people.
0:48:03They should also make the tools to enable a different experience for those people.
0:48:09It's very simple, you know?
0:48:13But again, like I said, developers could also do, in some cases, a bit more of an effort.
0:48:19So I am somewhere in the middle and there's no solution.
0:48:23We're literally talking about a problem that we can offer no solution for.
0:48:27But I guess that's the fun of podcasting.
0:48:30Yeah.
0:48:31Yeah.
0:48:32We can just tell giant companies what to do.
0:48:39So we're going to talk about Club Max Stories, your new, your announcement this week, but
0:48:43first we're going to talk about Blink, better affiliate links. Blink is an iOS app that
0:48:49works with your iTunes affiliate program. The iTunes affiliate program is really cool,
0:48:54you can sign up and you can earn 7% of sales generated by the links you create. Federico,
0:48:58you use these, I use these, everyone uses these. And Blink makes creating these links
0:49:03dead simple. Apple's tool is web-based and terrible and gross. Blink is awesome.
0:49:09It's mobile, runs on your iPhone and iPad. It's easy to use, it looks good and it's
0:49:15just super great. You can create links to any media sold by Apple including iOS
0:49:19and Mac apps, movies, TV shows, books, people apparently buy music you can do
0:49:25that as well. All with this app. It handles storing your affiliate credentials
0:49:29so you don't have to remember them. You get this weird like little string of
0:49:33characters you have to add to the link. Blink does that for you automatically
0:49:36you don't have to remember it. It's really flexible you can search for media or you can
0:49:41link to it directly from Blink. It has a powerful extension to convert all kinds
0:49:46of iTunes links to affiliate links from within other apps like the App Store or
0:49:50iTunes Store or with any third-party apps like Twitter clients. You can use it
0:49:53from anywhere it knows what it's doing. Once you've created a link, Blink lets you
0:49:58share it basically anywhere and take all that text or URL. Since it's launched in
0:50:05March, I can't believe this has only been out since March, Blink has steadily added
0:50:08features including support for Apple Music. But that's just the start here in
0:50:14a couple of days version 2.0 will be out which will be iOS 9 only and will ship
0:50:19alongside or shortly thereafter iOS 9. Blink 2 adds a lot of great stuff.
0:50:25iPad split-screen multitasking so you can search for media and link to it as
0:50:29you work in other apps. You can have your text document and link up side by side.
0:50:33Keyboard shortcuts, multiple affiliate token management, which is something
0:50:37actually I requested I think a lot of the people did too. You can assign
0:50:41nicknames to them so you don't have to remember which code is which which token
0:50:45it's all just cleanly labeled so a human can use it. Link editing can be done
0:50:51inside the extension. So if you want to change the title of the link you can do that.
0:50:56Pricing information for apps, music, and books.
0:50:59Which you can't find in Apple stores after you've bought something because the icon changes. Blink can show you that now.
0:51:05And it's a super great and even supports Apple's podcast app with 2.0.
0:51:12So go grab Blink today, so you're ready to go. If you want to find it in the App Store
0:51:17be sure to search for "Blink Better" because App Store search. Or you can go to squibner.com/blink
0:51:27to find out more. Blink, make your links work for you. Thank you to Blink for supporting
0:51:33Connected and all of its really affordable.
0:51:34- Yeah, I love it. And it's glorious on my internet.
0:51:36- It's a good app. It's one that I use all the time.
0:51:38- Great sponsor and great developer.
0:51:41Yeah
0:51:43It is
0:51:45indeed
0:51:46So we're gonna talk a little bit about
0:51:48Club max stories and so if you people don't see this there's a couple links in the show notes
0:51:55Basically Club max stories is a as a program now Federica that you've launched on your site
0:52:01For people to be able to support you directly and in exchange they get some additional content
0:52:06So kind of what's the structure of this? How does it work and
0:52:10What do people expect to get if they join?
0:52:12You can subscribe monthly. That's five dollars a month or annually. That's
0:52:16$50 each year. So it's like getting two months for free and
0:52:21In return for your subscription you get the max service weekly email
0:52:27Delivered every Friday. This is the same email that we've been doing for the past year
0:52:34but we created a brand new design and more importantly we are adding more and more sections.
0:52:41So we are kind of rebuilding the entire newsletter from scratch.
0:52:47We're keeping some of the old sections, we're adding some new ones such as App Debuts
0:52:53which showcases the best new apps from the App Store or a Q&A section
0:52:58so you can ask us questions on what will reply in Mac Service Weekly.
0:53:02So really we are expanding the existing Maxories Weekly and we are calling it Maxories Weekly 2.0, which is very creative on our end, but that's really what it is.
0:53:12We're also going to do a new newsletter, which is the Monthly Log.
0:53:17This is an idea of mine, I've always wanted to do a kind of behind the scenes of my stories, but not just about how we work, but also how we relate to what happens in the things that we do.
0:53:36So it's a mix of like a personal productivity journal with a reflection on Apple News for the past month.
0:53:44It's basically like I see each month as a unit in a year of Apple News and of Mac service coverage.
0:53:53And at the end of each month we want to reflect on everything that's going on in our minds when the month is ending.
0:53:59And it's the kind of crazy thing that I don't think would be suitable for the main site.
0:54:09But I think for our biggest readers and fans it's a nice idea to get a little more personal, a little more involved, and to see what exactly goes on in our brains.
0:54:20It's the kind of content that I've always wanted to write in some fashion or another.
0:54:26Then we're also going to offer free downloads starting tomorrow with the ebook version of my review.
0:54:34Club members will be able to download an EPUB file that they can read comfortably in iBooks and in other ebook readers.
0:54:43And we're also going to offer occasionally, on an occasional basis, we're going to do giveaways and coupon codes, discounts, that kind of stuff.
0:54:54So we're gonna work with developers,
0:54:56whether they make apps or web services, subscriptions,
0:55:00we're gonna offer coupon codes, discount codes,
0:55:04giveaways, licenses, whatever to our club members.
0:55:08And that's it.
0:55:10That's the main perks of becoming a club member.
0:55:13So it's a way to get more out of Max Stories every month.
0:55:16It's a way to support us directly,
0:55:18but it's not a donation.
0:55:22This is something that I try to stress in yesterday's announcement.
0:55:27I've been asked for years from people to enable donations on the website because people are awesome and they want to support us.
0:55:34And that's great, I've always been humbled by those requests, but I never felt comfortable taking money for nothing more in return.
0:55:45Now, I know what we can give in return to those people because we wanna... basically, we wanna write more.
0:55:53We wanna produce more content and at the same time, the site is fine.
0:55:59There's some people reading too much into this announcement that were doing subscriptions because of content blockers,
0:56:06that were doing the memberships because the website is not doing well.
0:56:10The website is the same as last year, it's always going better.
0:56:16Thankfully we don't depend on banner ads or tracking users, those crazy scripts that other websites do.
0:56:25We are supported by sponsors and affiliate links and we're okay.
0:56:30We just want to sell more content.
0:56:33Because we feel that it's the kind of content that we can ask money for.
0:56:38it feels like the right thing at the right time for us and the initial results are
0:56:45much much better than I was expecting I'm super happy and it's yeah that's
0:56:53that's my my pitch and my description Steven
0:56:56cool yeah it's it's one of those things where a lot of people in our sort of arena are
0:57:08looking at things like this where not as a way to shift away from you know
0:57:16advertising in the the great coming of content blockers here tomorrow and iOS
0:57:229 but as a way to not only diversify their income but a way to have better
0:57:28relationships with their their readers you know what am I favorite things are
0:57:33doing these shows or doing 512 is hearing from people and having
0:57:37conversations with people, having conversations in real life at places like
0:57:40WDC or XOXO. Talking about what we talk about here but sort of with with new
0:57:47people and I think there's there's part of this too where as a member I feel
0:57:52like I'm supporting you but I'm also sort of part of the Mac Stories family
0:57:56that I am you know getting content that is exclusive to members but content that
0:58:01that is sort of crafted for that audience.
0:58:04And I think you've done it in a way
0:58:06where you don't feel like you suddenly have
0:58:09a board of directors, where if you sell
0:58:11a thousand memberships, you don't have a thousand people
0:58:13that you have to answer to for everything.
0:58:16And I think that's a hangup for a lot of people,
0:58:18including for me, and thinking about this for Relay.
0:58:23Like, how do we structure something where
0:58:26I'm not doing a bunch of work for a pretty small group,
0:58:30and I'm not doing work that would otherwise be public,
0:58:34and how do I do it in a way where they're not in charge?
0:58:37There's all these things,
0:58:38and it seems like you've thought about all this.
0:58:40Did you have any of those concerns going into this?
0:58:42- The biggest question for me was, if I'm gonna do this,
0:58:47this is the same thought that I've been having
0:58:50since basically 2012.
0:58:53If I'm gonna do this, am I gonna be able to provide
0:58:57subscribers with content they love and can I do that on a regular basis so I don't skip
0:59:06weeks or people accuse me of stealing their money. Can I do this at a practical level
0:59:13without having the pressure of all these people, hopefully, subscribing? And that's why last
0:59:20year we were talking with the team about doing a newsletter and I said we're just gonna do
0:59:26it for free. And we're gonna do a test. We're gonna see if it works for us, if we
0:59:33can find the time, if we can find the tone, if we can find the content that we
0:59:38want to talk about. And we're gonna see if it works for the readers, if they like
0:59:43the idea, if they stick around, if they enjoy receiving an
0:59:50issue of a newsletter each Friday and we got to 5,000 people subscribing to
0:59:58MaxTories Weekly last year, over the past 12 months. And I never announced
1:00:06MaxTories Weekly on the website. It's been a 12-month soft launch, really. I've
1:00:12only shared MaxTories Weekly on Twitter, word of mouth. I interviewed some people
1:00:18for the home screens, including you and Myke.
1:00:21So I never publicly advertised the free newsletter
1:00:27on the website.
1:00:28And so going into this,
1:00:34I knew we were gonna be able to scale
1:00:37and to do Club Max Stories
1:00:40because we've been doing this for 55 weeks.
1:00:45and I know that it's not a problem for my schedule.
1:00:49I know that we can find the content to talk about each week
1:00:54and now with this different audience
1:00:59and with more resources that we can put into this,
1:01:02it's gonna be even better,
1:01:05but it's not a problem of quantity at this point
1:01:07because again, we've been doing this for a year.
1:01:12We know we can find the time
1:01:14And we know the website can do just fine.
1:01:18And so it was too good of an opportunity
1:01:20for me to pass over this time.
1:01:22And in June, way before WWDC actually,
1:01:27I think back in mid-May,
1:01:29my girlfriend and I were talking,
1:01:32she was like, you gotta do the subscriptions by September
1:01:36when you have all these articles coming out.
1:01:40You gotta have a system in place.
1:01:43And so way before knowing that content blockers
1:01:47were gonna be a thing, we set out to work on the club.
1:01:51And again, it's been quite an experiment so far.
1:01:58I'm very happy.
1:02:01We'll see how it goes tomorrow.
1:02:03We'll see how it continues to go in the next few weeks.
1:02:07But I'm into this for the long game.
1:02:11It's another thing that I do.
1:02:14It's Maxoris and Club Maxoris.
1:02:16And it's two sides of the same coin, basically.
1:02:19And I'm very happy.
1:02:21- You know, I like the way it's structured.
1:02:25I like the way that,
1:02:27especially the weekly email has been laid out
1:02:31and has worked over time.
1:02:32I get a bunch of email and that's one
1:02:34that I always try to make sure to get to
1:02:39because there's good stuff in there.
1:02:40It's not, you know, so many websites do newsletters,
1:02:45that do email, where it is basically just recycled stuff
1:02:50from the website, and what I like about MaxTories Weekly
1:02:53is that there's stuff in there, these links,
1:02:55there's these home screen reviews,
1:02:57they don't show up anywhere else.
1:02:58You're not doing a home screen interview with Myke
1:03:00on Tuesday on the website, and then emailing it out
1:03:02on a Friday, it's just for the email.
1:03:06And I think that sort of care, and the amount of,
1:03:09I mean, clearly this is a lot of work.
1:03:11I can't imagine how much time goes into these things.
1:03:14And it shows, and I was happy to sign up.
1:03:18I hope the listeners are happy to sign up,
1:03:19because it's, I feel like I'm not only being able
1:03:23to support my friend, but I'm also,
1:03:25I'm getting way more than that money's worth
1:03:28of content back out of it.
1:03:30And I think that balance is good.
1:03:32I hope that it's successful for you guys.
1:03:35I mean, I hope that it can really change
1:03:38what you can do with Mac Stories
1:03:39and gives you guys the ability to do a lot more.
1:03:42Have you thought any about,
1:03:45do you see Club Max stories changing over time?
1:03:47Do you have ideas, you don't have to share them,
1:03:49but do you have ideas of things you might be able to do
1:03:52if this thing is successful that you can't do now?
1:03:54- I wanna add things to Club Max stories.
1:03:58And two of those that I also talked about on Twitter
1:04:02with some people yesterday are,
1:04:03I wanna make sure that people can also read
1:04:09the issues of weekly and the monthly log on a website.
1:04:13So I wanna build a web version of that.
1:04:16And I wanna explore the idea of a community.
1:04:22So I'm thinking about forum, some kind,
1:04:27a place where club members can hang out,
1:04:31where it's a limited number of people.
1:04:34So we know it's not gonna be a major problem
1:04:38in terms of moderation and time.
1:04:41I'm thinking about that,
1:04:43but I think I'm gonna prioritize the web access first.
1:04:48And also I'm thinking about making the ebook downloads
1:04:54more of a regular thing for our longer articles.
1:04:59I'm thinking about offering the EPUB version more often,
1:05:05not just when I do an iOS 9 review.
1:05:07But we gotta have a system in place to generate an ebook and make sure it's customized to
1:05:17each article's needs every time.
1:05:19So the EPUB we're gonna do tomorrow, it's customized to what I need in the review.
1:05:23But if we're gonna do this often, we need to have more of a general system that can
1:05:29make modifications to the file and that allow us to change some parameters and some options
1:05:36every time depending on the kind of article that we want to transform into an e-book.
1:05:41So we'll see. I'm going to prioritize the web access, I want to do more e-books, I want to do a community,
1:05:48but hopefully I have a lifetime for those features.
1:05:53So the next few months are going to be exciting because we have the basic system in place,
1:06:01next we're gonna we're gonna work on additions to the
1:06:03To the club and and that's it's pretty cool. It's cool. It's um, it's exciting and I was talking with
1:06:11Jason Snell yesterday about it and
1:06:14He's sort of chuckled that that Club Max stories is like the perfect name for it
1:06:19I mean obviously you have Club Nintendo, but it feels very
1:06:21European I think if you if you create some sort of online form or slack or something for people to be in I think you
1:06:29you should call it the disco, like just really go all in on that sort of idea.
1:06:33My main inspiration was the club Nintendo, of course.
1:06:37But also like I've always been intrigued or fascinated by the idea of, you know, like
1:06:44private clubs, not the club you go dancing to, but like private associations with members,
1:06:50you know, and you receive all these fancy letters with letterpress logos, you know,
1:06:56kind of exclusivity aspect and that's the kind of experience that I was trying to sell.
1:07:03You know, you sign up and you receive exclusive content and you get this golden logo and it
1:07:10tells you that this is just for you and for a few other people.
1:07:15That's the idea and maybe it isn't a European thing, I don't know, but that's the kind of
1:07:20idea that I was going for.
1:07:22Like with the old Club Nintendo you logged into the website, it was a different logo,
1:07:26could browse all Nintendo products that were just for you because they were
1:07:29based on the points that you accumulate in your account. It was very much like
1:07:34like a very special thing just for you and that was my main inspiration.
1:07:41Yeah, I think that's great. So we have some links in the show notes
1:07:45where you can go join, you can read Federico's announcement post, I put the FAQs in
1:07:50there as well, which I have to chuckle. You have a sentence that says "So, yes, we are
1:07:55people which I just read in your voice because that's a sentence that you would say out loud.
1:08:02Yes, a couple of people already told me that so I'm happy that it communicates that idea
1:08:09to other people.
1:08:10Oh yeah, so you can find all the show notes and links we've discussed this week at our
1:08:15website relay.fm/connected/57.
1:08:20You can learn more about Federico's work and if it is September 16th or later when
1:08:25you listen to this you can check out his iOS 9 review at maxstories.net or you
1:08:29can follow him on Twitter at v-i-t-i-c-c-i. You can find me at 512pixels.net
1:08:35and on Twitter at ismh and you can find our normal host Myke on Twitter at
1:08:42i-m-y-k-e or if you're in Portland this week you might just find him walking
1:08:47around because that's what he's doing. So I think I think that's it I think I've
1:08:53done all the check boxes we do at the end of the show except thank our sponsors
1:08:56Harry's, Linda and Blink and I'll see you next time Federico.
1:09:01Arrivederci. Adios.
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