Cortex

00:00:00 ◼   ► I'm ready whenever you are, buckaroo.

00:00:02 ◼   ► Is that my new nickname?

00:00:04 ◼   ► I don't know, it just happens.

00:00:06 ◼   ► That really threw me off guard.

00:00:08 ◼   ► You never know what happens in the Cortexma season.

00:00:12 ◼   ► Okay. That's not gonna be in the show, I don't think.

00:00:16 ◼   ► Whatever.

00:00:17 ◼   ► Ready?

00:00:18 ◼   ► I'm ready. Yeah, we can start the show a second time.

00:00:20 ◼   ► We can pretend like we didn't just try to start it.

00:00:22 ◼   ► Okay.

00:00:23 ◼   ► Go right ahead, Myke.

00:00:24 ◼   ► [Laughter]

00:00:28 ◼   ► Alright, well we found the start in there somewhere, didn't we?

00:00:31 ◼   ► [laughter]

00:00:33 ◼   ► I just celebrated a milestone.

00:00:37 ◼   ► I've been self-employed for five years now.

00:00:40 ◼   ► As of like a couple of weeks ago.

00:00:42 ◼   ► Holy moly.

00:00:43 ◼   ► Isn't that crazy?

00:00:44 ◼   ► That is really crazy.

00:00:46 ◼   ► I cannot believe it's been that long.

00:00:47 ◼   ► It's gone by very fast.

00:00:48 ◼   ► Like I remember hearing- before we knew each other,

00:00:50 ◼   ► I remember hearing you announce that on a podcast of yore.

00:00:55 ◼   ► But I can't believe that's five years ago.

00:00:58 ◼   ► Yep, that was when you emailed me and said, let's go have lunch.

00:01:01 ◼   ► And then then look what happened.

00:01:03 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:01:04 ◼   ► Wow.

00:01:05 ◼   ► How do you feel about that?

00:01:06 ◼   ► As five years of self employment is a is a big freaking deal.

00:01:10 ◼   ► It's an interesting thing, because I already celebrated five years of my company, right?

00:01:14 ◼   ► Like a couple of months ago.

00:01:16 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:01:17 ◼   ► So this one snuck up on me.

00:01:19 ◼   ► Like, I saw in my calendar, a couple of weeks before, it's like our anniversary of self

00:01:24 ◼   ► employment.

00:01:25 ◼   ► yeah, these things go hand in hand, right?

00:01:28 ◼   ► Like I hadn't really put that in my mind.

00:01:31 ◼   ► And so the main thing that I have been thinking about

00:01:34 ◼   ► is how different I am and how different my life is now.

00:01:39 ◼   ► It doesn't feel like I have been doing what I do

00:01:41 ◼   ► for five years, 'cause five years seems like

00:01:43 ◼   ► a really long time and it doesn't feel like

00:01:45 ◼   ► it's been a really long time.

00:01:47 ◼   ► But when I think back to working in the bank either,

00:01:52 ◼   ► like especially when I go back to thinking about

00:01:55 ◼   ► what it was like working in the bank branches.

00:01:57 ◼   ► But I'll come back to that.

00:01:58 ◼   ► But when I think about working--

00:01:58 ◼   ► - Bank Myke.

00:02:00 ◼   ► - Yeah, bank manager boy. - I forgot that guy.

00:02:01 ◼   ► - When I think back to working in marketing at the bank,

00:02:05 ◼   ► it's like that feels like a lifetime ago.

00:02:08 ◼   ► But it doesn't feel like I've been,

00:02:12 ◼   ► when I think just focus on being self-employed

00:02:14 ◼   ► and running this company,

00:02:15 ◼   ► like five years seems like it's very fast.

00:02:18 ◼   ► But then when I do think back to working in the branches

00:02:22 ◼   ► of the bank and working with customers

00:02:24 ◼   ► managing people and all that stuff. Genuinely now, that feels like it wasn't even me.

00:02:30 ◼   ► Yeah, you crossed one of those boundaries.

00:02:32 ◼   ► It feels like I have the memory of somebody else, because it seems so far away from me

00:02:40 ◼   ► now that I'm detached from it. I don't know if this is a thing that happens to people

00:02:48 ◼   ► when they get past 30, I don't know if this is a thing, or if it's just my particular

00:02:53 ◼   ► circumstances but like I'm now at a point where like I have memories that feel like somebody else's memories.

00:02:58 ◼   ► Yeah, I don't think that's an age thing.

00:03:00 ◼   ► It's just because I've had such wild changes in my career, right? I guess.

00:03:03 ◼   ► Yeah, I think there's two parts of it which is that your life is just so radically different now and

00:03:11 ◼   ► I also just think some personality types are more or less sensitive to this experience of

00:03:18 ◼   ► "Oh, these memories aren't mine."

00:03:20 ◼   ► Like some people seem to never experience that.

00:03:22 ◼   ► Some people seem to experience it quite acutely.

00:03:24 ◼   ► And I think you just hit that intersection of,

00:03:27 ◼   ► yeah, like the, you know, the,

00:03:30 ◼   ► when I think of all the, like the stuff

00:03:32 ◼   ► that you and Relay have done over the last five years,

00:03:35 ◼   ► it's just, it's a very different situation

00:03:38 ◼   ► than if you had changed jobs

00:03:42 ◼   ► and were like not self-employed.

00:03:44 ◼   ► You might feel like more of a coherent, consistent person

00:03:48 ◼   ► with the youth from five years ago,

00:03:49 ◼   ► is a real abrupt change that's happened. So…

00:03:53 ◼   ► S

00:03:53 ◼   ► I think I had two big changes, right?

00:03:56 ◼   ► Moving into that marketing role was a very big change for me because I was completely

00:04:01 ◼   ► inexperienced in that type of work.

00:04:05 ◼   ► It was a different field, I just happened to work in the same company, and then I changed

00:04:10 ◼   ► field completely again.

00:04:12 ◼   ► So I've done that enough times that it just feels so removed now because it's so different

00:04:18 ◼   ► to what I started out doing in life.

00:04:21 ◼   ► I think it's really charming that you have it in your calendar.

00:04:24 ◼   ► That you put it in there to mark off the anniversaries.

00:04:27 ◼   ► I have like wedding anniversary, dating anniversary, but I also have like the day we bought our

00:04:34 ◼   ► house.

00:04:35 ◼   ► You know?

00:04:36 ◼   ► Hmm.

00:04:37 ◼   ► So you can mark those things off.

00:04:38 ◼   ► I'm surprised.

00:04:39 ◼   ► Do you not have that sort of stuff in your calendar?

00:04:41 ◼   ► No, I mean, I have...

00:04:43 ◼   ► That's wild to me because you have so much stuff in the calendar anyway.

00:04:47 ◼   ► Like when I'm on vacation, you put that in your calendar.

00:04:51 ◼   ► Yes, that's true.

00:04:52 ◼   ► So I'm surprised that you don't have like big life moments in there as well because

00:04:57 ◼   ► you don't mind about overfilling it.

00:04:58 ◼   ► I know, but I don't know.

00:05:00 ◼   ► I think that would overfill it.

00:05:01 ◼   ► But also, I don't know.

00:05:03 ◼   ► I tend not to think that way.

00:05:04 ◼   ► I do have like my anniversaries in the calendar, like that kind of stuff.

00:05:08 ◼   ► You don't want to forget that one.

00:05:09 ◼   ► You don't want to forget that one.

00:05:11 ◼   ► It just never occurred to me to put in those sorts of events.

00:05:15 ◼   ► Do you know when it was though?

00:05:16 ◼   ► I'd have to go back and say that's why I don't want to have to do that, right?

00:05:21 ◼   ► I just want to open my calendar and search self-employment and find it.

00:05:25 ◼   ► Yeah, I mean, that's fair enough.

00:05:27 ◼   ► I also think that my situation was a little bit different in that it was a much more spread

00:05:31 ◼   ► out and vague kind of thing in the way teaching schedules work.

00:05:35 ◼   ► Oh, that's a good point.

00:05:36 ◼   ► I am approaching my 10th year podcasting.

00:05:40 ◼   ► April.

00:05:41 ◼   ► April 10th, 2020.

00:05:44 ◼   ► I have been podcasting for a decade.

00:05:46 ◼   ► Okay, see this is where...

00:05:47 ◼   ► Alright, like...

00:05:49 ◼   ► I'm now imagining that...

00:05:51 ◼   ► Like, your calendar is going to be very full of all of these...

00:05:55 ◼   ► No, that's just committed to memory, that one.

00:05:58 ◼   ► Oh, okay, that's not on the calendar?

00:05:59 ◼   ► I'm surprised.

00:06:00 ◼   ► Why isn't that one not on the calendar?

00:06:01 ◼   ► At the time, it didn't feel monumental, right?

00:06:04 ◼   ► Like, when I started podcasting, it wasn't like, "Oh..."

00:06:07 ◼   ► Oh, that's true, yeah.

00:06:08 ◼   ► In the moment you're not thinking of this as a big event,

00:06:11 ◼   ► it's more like, "I'm just messing around and I'm experimenting with something."

00:06:14 ◼   ► Although I am now making sure I put podcasting decade in the calendar.

00:06:18 ◼   ► Okay, so that is that is so don't forget that.

00:06:20 ◼   ► Yeah, this is where in my mind, I am now envisioning your calendar.

00:06:24 ◼   ► Like, if you go and look up the official list of holiday days, or so every day is marking of

00:06:33 ◼   ► something or other on the calendar.

00:06:35 ◼   ► National Pancake Day, National holiday.

00:06:37 ◼   ► Yeah, exactly. And this this feels like Myke in 10 years will have a calendar where almost every

00:06:42 ◼   ► day is remarked upon as the anniversary of some special event.

00:06:46 ◼   ► That's a lot of achievements.

00:06:47 ◼   ► You know what?

00:06:48 ◼   ► It is a lot of achievements.

00:06:49 ◼   ► It is a lot of achievements.

00:06:51 ◼   ► So that would be good.

00:06:52 ◼   ► Do you have Cortex Launch Day in there?

00:06:54 ◼   ► No, but I know when it was roughly.

00:06:57 ◼   ► I think you should put Cortex Launch Day in there.

00:06:59 ◼   ► You don't want to have to look it up.

00:07:00 ◼   ► That's true.

00:07:01 ◼   ► You don't want to have to figure it out.

00:07:02 ◼   ► Yeah, that's silly, isn't it?

00:07:03 ◼   ► We're approaching five years of this show.

00:07:06 ◼   ► It's like next summer.

00:07:07 ◼   ► No, don't say that.

00:07:08 ◼   ► That's not true.

00:07:09 ◼   ► Okay.

00:07:10 ◼   ► I think we're just, we're closing in on episode 10

00:07:13 ◼   ► so we can figure out if we wanna keep doing it or not.

00:07:15 ◼   ► That's what's-- - We definitely not have

00:07:16 ◼   ► been recording this show for five years on June 3rd, 2020.

00:07:20 ◼   ► - Jesus Christ.

00:07:21 ◼   ► Yeah, that's not a thing, so yeah, don't,

00:07:23 ◼   ► that one you can leave off the calendar.

00:07:25 ◼   ► - Yep. - I think it's charming

00:07:26 ◼   ► and I think it's sweet that you put in

00:07:27 ◼   ► the important life events.

00:07:28 ◼   ► That is fun, I can see that as being fun.

00:07:31 ◼   ► Yeah, congratulations on five years of being self-employed.

00:07:34 ◼   ► It's a big deal, it's a really big deal.

00:07:35 ◼   ► - That's very kind of you.

00:07:37 ◼   ► I wonder if I have, oh yeah,

00:07:39 ◼   ► I have the date that we first went to lunch.

00:07:41 ◼   ► - Well, you would have that in as an appointment, right?

00:07:44 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:07:45 ◼   ► - Or do you celebrate our lunch anniversary every year?

00:07:47 ◼   ► - I might start doing that now.

00:07:50 ◼   ► It was December 4th.

00:07:52 ◼   ► Oh, that was 20, yeah, December 4th, 2014.

00:07:57 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:07:57 ◼   ► - So that's like a big day to celebrate.

00:08:00 ◼   ► - Right, is that our anniversary, Myke?

00:08:01 ◼   ► - That's our anniversary, yeah.

00:08:03 ◼   ► (Myke laughing)

00:08:05 ◼   ► - I don't think I'm gonna be putting

00:08:06 ◼   ► that one on the calendar.

00:08:07 ◼   ► - We're putting it in, Myke and Grey's anniversary.

00:08:11 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:08:12 ◼   ► - It's in the calendar now.

00:08:13 ◼   ► Repeat every year forever.

00:08:17 ◼   ► - Okay, I'm getting uncomfortable with that forever.

00:08:21 ◼   ► - Don't worry about it.

00:08:22 ◼   ► - Always trying to work in the forever.

00:08:23 ◼   ► - The date will always be forever, right?

00:08:26 ◼   ► There's nothing you can do about that.

00:08:27 ◼   ► We can celebrate, it can be celebrated every year.

00:08:30 ◼   ► - There's nothing you can do about that thin end

00:08:31 ◼   ► of the wedge, nothing you can do about it at all.

00:08:33 ◼   ► Just pay no attention to it forever.

00:08:36 ◼   ► - Forever.

00:08:37 ◼   ► This episode of Cortex is made possible in part thanks to Squarespace.

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00:09:57 ◼   ► I bought a Popsocket case.

00:09:58 ◼   ► Oh, okay. I hope you didn't buy the one that I thought was terrible.

00:10:03 ◼   ► I don't think I did. So there was this selection of cases that went on Apple's website.

00:10:09 ◼   ► What the f*ck is this link?

00:10:12 ◼   ► No, no, don't look at that yet. No, no, no. Close that tab. We're not there yet.

00:10:17 ◼   ► I'm sorry. I took this link.

00:10:20 ◼   ► We're coming to that in a minute, alright? Close that one. We have something else to talk about and we're coming back to that.

00:10:26 ◼   ► Alright? We're not there yet.

00:10:31 ◼   ► You're ruining it, you're ruining it.

00:10:33 ◼   ► You see, I shouldn't put the links in the document.

00:10:35 ◼   ► I should, if I were to surprise you with these things.

00:10:37 ◼   ► - If you don't want me to click the links,

00:10:39 ◼   ► don't put them in the shared document.

00:10:41 ◼   ► I thought, oh, you got a Popsocket case,

00:10:43 ◼   ► let me see what one it is.

00:10:44 ◼   ► - Click the link above that one.

00:10:46 ◼   ► The one apple.com/something.

00:10:48 ◼   ► - I thought that was the one I did click.

00:10:50 ◼   ► Oh, I wasn't paying attention.

00:10:51 ◼   ► - No, you didn't.

00:10:52 ◼   ► - I clicked the wrong thing.

00:10:52 ◼   ► - Right, so I bought one of these cases,

00:10:53 ◼   ► the Otobox Figura and Pop series case.

00:10:57 ◼   ► - Okay, okay.

00:10:59 ◼   ► This is less funny.

00:11:00 ◼   ► It's less funny. This is more like I bought this and would like to provide follow up because

00:11:04 ◼   ► we've been talking about these, right? This is a much better looking case than the ones

00:11:08 ◼   ► we were looking at before.

00:11:09 ◼   ► It is. This one looks better. What do you think about it?

00:11:12 ◼   ► It is basically the Apple Silicon case with a pop socket mount on the back.

00:11:18 ◼   ► Okay, I'm intrigued.

00:11:19 ◼   ► So I have it. The only downside that I have found, which I got over very easily, is the

00:11:28 ◼   ► kind of lip of the case goes all the way around.

00:11:30 ◼   ► - Oh, you mean on the bottom one, on the bottom lip, okay.

00:11:33 ◼   ► - And on Apple's cases, it's not on the bottom.

00:11:36 ◼   ► And I was worried that was gonna get in the way

00:11:37 ◼   ► of performing the swiping gestures, but it hasn't.

00:11:40 ◼   ► So I've got this and you can swap out the pop socket, right?

00:11:44 ◼   ► So like I put the pop socket that I like on the back.

00:11:47 ◼   ► - Oh, it's their removable one?

00:11:49 ◼   ► - Yeah, I got it to work with wireless charging once.

00:11:53 ◼   ► - Right, yeah, yeah, this is the thing.

00:11:54 ◼   ► - But you still got, it doesn't work consistently.

00:11:57 ◼   ► - Yeah, I guess I'm convinced the tolerance

00:11:59 ◼   ► is within the amount of thermal expansion

00:12:02 ◼   ► that happens as the battery warms up.

00:12:04 ◼   ► It's like we are talking microns of difference in distance.

00:12:08 ◼   ► And if your phone is just a little bit warmer,

00:12:11 ◼   ► it's too thick.

00:12:11 ◼   ► - The Qi charger that I have was one of like the first ones

00:12:16 ◼   ► that came out with the iPhone.

00:12:18 ◼   ► So I don't know if maybe more modern Qi chargers

00:12:20 ◼   ► would perform better at that.

00:12:22 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah, this is my number one request for,

00:12:25 ◼   ► I don't know, Qi Incorporated or whoever's in charge of this, but like, distance guys.

00:12:29 ◼   ► The only thing I care about is distance.

00:12:31 ◼   ► Power?

00:12:32 ◼   ► Zero interest.

00:12:33 ◼   ► Distance?

00:12:34 ◼   ► Infinite interest.

00:12:35 ◼   ► No, what I want, what I want Apple to do is, or any phone, I don't know, this must not

00:12:41 ◼   ► be possible because I've never seen a phone do this.

00:12:43 ◼   ► I want the charging to work with the phone face down.

00:12:47 ◼   ► Why?

00:12:48 ◼   ► Because then I can do whatever I want case-wise, and when my, at night, I want to put my phone

00:12:52 ◼   ► face down anyway.

00:12:53 ◼   ► Oh, okay.

00:12:54 ◼   ► Okay, I see what you're saying.

00:12:56 ◼   ► - Right?

00:12:56 ◼   ► I want it to work both sides of the phone.

00:12:59 ◼   ► That's what I would like,

00:13:00 ◼   ► but I assume it's impossible to do.

00:13:02 ◼   ► You can't put that technology behind the screen,

00:13:04 ◼   ► would be my assumption.

00:13:05 ◼   ► But ideally, that is what I would want,

00:13:08 ◼   ► is that I could just put the phone down on the Qi charger,

00:13:11 ◼   ► and then I don't have to worry

00:13:12 ◼   ► about all this pop socket nonsense

00:13:13 ◼   ► or case nonsense or anything.

00:13:15 ◼   ► - Yeah, my guess is it has to do with the,

00:13:17 ◼   ► well, again, the physics of how the wireless charging works.

00:13:21 ◼   ► You don't want the alternating magnetic fields

00:13:24 ◼   ► to be passing through all the electronics that actually make up the phone.

00:13:26 ◼   ► I'm going to guess there's some kind of shielding on the other side of the

00:13:30 ◼   ► charger to save the internal electronics.

00:13:31 ◼   ► That is like, it's not the screen that's blocking it.

00:13:34 ◼   ► It's the phone itself.

00:13:35 ◼   ► Like you don't want to be charging across those electronics.

00:13:37 ◼   ► That's my guess.

00:13:38 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:13:39 ◼   ► If I had to like bet money on it, I think you would literally never get that.

00:13:42 ◼   ► Like it's just not going to happen.

00:13:43 ◼   ► I assume so too, because otherwise it's like I've never seen a phone that does it.

00:13:48 ◼   ► So there's got to be a reason.

00:13:49 ◼   ► The reason could just be the like the distance.

00:13:51 ◼   ► The thickness of the phone is too far.

00:13:53 ◼   ► combined with interference.

00:13:55 ◼   ► But I would suspect that it's actually

00:13:57 ◼   ► like a physics reason why.

00:13:58 ◼   ► But that's why I still just want distance.

00:14:01 ◼   ► And I want centimeters, not millimeters of distance here.

00:14:05 ◼   ► Chi, ink, get on that.

00:14:07 ◼   ► All right, so listen, listen, listen.

00:14:09 ◼   ► - Now you can click the second link.

00:14:11 ◼   ► - No, no, but before we click the second link,

00:14:13 ◼   ► popsocket placement, is it too low?

00:14:15 ◼   ► It looks low.

00:14:16 ◼   ► - Okay, it is slightly lower.

00:14:19 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:14:20 ◼   ► - But it is not so much that it's got to,

00:14:23 ◼   ► became a problem for me. The only thing is when the phone is laid on is like put

00:14:26 ◼   ► down on the desk it ever so slightly leans towards the camera side but with

00:14:33 ◼   ► the pro max I don't know what it's like with the regular pro the

00:14:36 ◼   ► case isn't touching the table it's just like leans a little bit towards one side

00:14:42 ◼   ► okay I'm gonna give it a try I like it yeah but also you these are in the

00:14:48 ◼   ► stores I bought it from the Comet Garden store in London so you can just go and

00:14:52 ◼   ► look at it and put your phone in it if you want.

00:14:55 ◼   ► - Myke, Myke. - Get all the germs.

00:14:56 ◼   ► - Myke, that would require me to leave my house.

00:14:59 ◼   ► - Yeah, you got a real problem with this.

00:15:00 ◼   ► - Which is not gonna happen.

00:15:02 ◼   ► - Some point we need to have a discussion about this,

00:15:04 ◼   ► this like not leaving the house thing you've got going on.

00:15:07 ◼   ► - How would you like to get your order?

00:15:08 ◼   ► I'll pick it up, I'd like it delivered.

00:15:10 ◼   ► I'd like it delivered, Apple.

00:15:11 ◼   ► I don't know why you're even asking.

00:15:13 ◼   ► Click, click, click. - Oh boy.

00:15:14 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:15:16 ◼   ► Now you can click the other link.

00:15:17 ◼   ► - Okay, I've already clicked the other link though.

00:15:19 ◼   ► - I saw this a couple of days ago.

00:15:22 ◼   ► I have no idea why this product exists.

00:15:24 ◼   ► So PopSockets now, you can remove the tops of them, right?

00:15:29 ◼   ► So it's either into a case or the adhesive thing there,

00:15:31 ◼   ► you twist it off and you pull it off, but the mount remains.

00:15:35 ◼   ► PopSocket have made a case for AirPods.

00:15:38 ◼   ► So you can attach the AirPods to a PopSocket mount.

00:15:43 ◼   ► So you can have your AirPods on the back of your phone.

00:15:45 ◼   ► I don't know why this exists.

00:15:47 ◼   ► - So this is what I was laughing uproariously at before,

00:15:50 ◼   ► because it was just so surprising.

00:15:52 ◼   ► And the picture is extra funny.

00:15:54 ◼   ► Like the framing of the picture makes it look ridiculous

00:15:57 ◼   ► that you have your AirPods case

00:15:59 ◼   ► will like click into the back of your phone

00:16:02 ◼   ► where the popsocket would be.

00:16:04 ◼   ► But the more I look at it, I wonder,

00:16:05 ◼   ► oh, I wonder how good of a handle

00:16:07 ◼   ► the AirPods case might actually make for the phone.

00:16:10 ◼   ► Like maybe it's not as crazy as it first seems.

00:16:14 ◼   ► - Buy one then and let me know

00:16:16 ◼   ► 'cause no one else is gonna do it.

00:16:18 ◼   ► - No, I'm not gonna be the first mover here.

00:16:20 ◼   ► but it just was so surprising, it made me really laugh.

00:16:24 ◼   ► But I'm looking at it and going, maybe it's not crazy.

00:16:27 ◼   ► Maybe this is less ridiculous than it seems.

00:16:30 ◼   ► - Yeah, I think this is crazy.

00:16:31 ◼   ► - You think it's crazy? - I think this is wild.

00:16:33 ◼   ► To have your AirPods become a popsocket?

00:16:36 ◼   ► - Yeah, I don't know. - No, I don't like this.

00:16:37 ◼   ► - Maybe this can start a trend

00:16:39 ◼   ► where you attach devices to other devices.

00:16:43 ◼   ► So you could make, like your phone could become

00:16:47 ◼   ► the pop socket for your iPad.

00:16:49 ◼   ► I think they could make a case,

00:16:51 ◼   ► they could make a pop socket that would work that way.

00:16:53 ◼   ► - And then your iPad is like a pop socket for your iMac.

00:16:56 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah.

00:16:57 ◼   ► Actually, yeah, that's a good idea.

00:16:58 ◼   ► I think that could work.

00:17:00 ◼   ► - That's it.

00:17:01 ◼   ► There's the ergonomics you've been looking for.

00:17:03 ◼   ► - I've always wanted to be able to pick up my computer

00:17:06 ◼   ► in a more convenient way.

00:17:07 ◼   ► And by gripping my iPad on the back of it,

00:17:10 ◼   ► that's the solution I've been looking for.

00:17:12 ◼   ► - Talking about the AirPods,

00:17:13 ◼   ► I wanna stumble into a quick CORTEC with you.

00:17:16 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:17:17 ◼   ► - Because there's been a bunch of Apple products

00:17:19 ◼   ► and I'm just, I wanna get like a kind of idea from you,

00:17:22 ◼   ► yay or nay on them.

00:17:23 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:17:24 ◼   ► - AirPods Pro, have you tried those?

00:17:25 ◼   ► - Oh, bought them immediately.

00:17:27 ◼   ► - Aren't they fantastic?

00:17:28 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:17:29 ◼   ► - Oh, you know what?

00:17:30 ◼   ► Let me say that, I shouldn't suppose this,

00:17:32 ◼   ► you are a big noise canceling person.

00:17:35 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:17:35 ◼   ► - What do you think of the noise canceling?

00:17:37 ◼   ► - Okay, AirPods Pro, I really like them.

00:17:40 ◼   ► And I have to say, we do complain about Apple a lot,

00:17:43 ◼   ► like in things that are frustrating.

00:17:44 ◼   ► - 'Cause they have had a terrible year

00:17:46 ◼   ► in a lot of departments.

00:17:48 ◼   ► - In a lot of departments,

00:17:49 ◼   ► they've had a really bad software year.

00:17:50 ◼   ► I think it's interesting because I'm really aware

00:17:54 ◼   ► that this year has also been a release

00:17:58 ◼   ► of a lot of small quality of life improvements

00:18:02 ◼   ► in the software.

00:18:02 ◼   ► I feel like there's a lot of little things

00:18:05 ◼   ► that you sort of don't notice

00:18:06 ◼   ► until you look at the old stuff where it's like,

00:18:08 ◼   ► oh, there's been a lot of improvement

00:18:09 ◼   ► across a lot of little things.

00:18:11 ◼   ► But there's also been enormous software disasters.

00:18:13 ◼   ► I feel like it's been a real mixed bag this year.

00:18:16 ◼   ► But the AirPods Pro, their little thing where you can hold the stem of the headphone and

00:18:22 ◼   ► it switches from transparency mode to noise cancelling mode, that is Apple at its best.

00:18:30 ◼   ► It makes the little chime sound.

00:18:32 ◼   ► And it's also clicking.

00:18:33 ◼   ► It's like an artificial click.

00:18:35 ◼   ► Did you know that?

00:18:36 ◼   ► Yeah, it does that like click-clunk sound.

00:18:40 ◼   ► Or like I cannot reproduce the sound.

00:18:42 ◼   ► Yeah, that's it.

00:18:43 ◼   ► Well done there, Myke.

00:18:44 ◼   ► That's really good.

00:18:45 ◼   ► provided the original sound bite that's why that's that's why it matches so

00:18:50 ◼   ► fascinating right yeah but so i've been trying these out on my on my soul excursions from the

00:18:56 ◼   ► house to go to the gym and being on the street and then switching that on and putting the noise

00:19:02 ◼   ► cancelling on it really provides this subjective feeling like the world is fading away it's that

00:19:09 ◼   ► that's what is like apple at its best. The chime, the little click, it's...

00:19:15 ◼   ► Okay, this is gonna sound a million times overblown. But I think it's the first

00:19:23 ◼   ► consumer-facing experience that is a little bit like augmented reality.

00:19:30 ◼   ► No, I've heard other people saying this kind of thing too, so I don't think that you're too far

00:19:35 ◼   ► away, right? Like, because the transparency mode lets noise in. It's not real. They are manipulating

00:19:44 ◼   ► the sound that comes to you to highlight some things and lower some other things. So it's

00:19:48 ◼   ► creating something which is not real, but you're experiencing the world in a different way.

00:19:54 ◼   ► Yeah, and it's just like that turn on noise cancelling has this effect of,

00:19:59 ◼   ► I've pressed a button and it provides this illusion of modifying the world outside my brain.

00:20:07 ◼   ► Yeah, I'm like big on noise cancelling and I've had other headphones that do like an equivalent

00:20:11 ◼   ► of transparency mode or that let you hear stuff. The previous ones that were probably the best

00:20:15 ◼   ► were like the latest Sony whatever terrible name headphones.

00:20:19 ◼   ► - Yeah, the over ears, right.

00:20:20 ◼   ► - Yeah, like they work but it doesn't give you the illusion of I'm listening to the outside world

00:20:29 ◼   ► and then I've turned the outside world down.

00:20:31 ◼   ► Like, it wasn't quite convincing enough.

00:20:33 ◼   ► Whereas these have crossed a threshold of convincingness

00:20:37 ◼   ► that it does provide this, like, this illusion of

00:20:43 ◼   ► "I have affected the world around me."

00:20:45 ◼   ► And that's why it made me think of AR.

00:20:48 ◼   ► Like, "Oh, I would never have expected to have this feeling."

00:20:53 ◼   ► Like, we're all waiting for the AR glasses, right?

00:20:55 ◼   ► We all know this is in our future.

00:20:57 ◼   ► - Don't want it.

00:20:57 ◼   ► Okay, well, whatever.

00:20:59 ◼   ► But this is where it snuck in through this other sensory experience that I wouldn't have expected.

00:21:07 ◼   ► So I just think that's really interesting.

00:21:09 ◼   ► So I really like them.

00:21:12 ◼   ► And they are going to replace my regular AirPods immediately.

00:21:18 ◼   ► But I'm not going to use them for the thing that I was originally buying them for,

00:21:23 ◼   ► which is what headphones do I want to use at the gym.

00:21:26 ◼   ► and I got the Beats, the Powerbeats Pro, the other one that Apple makes.

00:21:31 ◼   ► They're probably better for the gym because they have that little hook over the ear, right?

00:21:34 ◼   ► Yeah, I like those better for the gym even though they don't have noise cancelling,

00:21:39 ◼   ► they do well enough to like, muffle the outside gym sounds and they're just more solid in my head.

00:21:45 ◼   ► AirPods Pro, they're pretty good for being solid in my head but I prefer the Powerbeats

00:21:51 ◼   ► for the gym so I'm sticking with those as my gym headphones but the AirPods Pro are replacing my

00:21:55 ◼   ► regular ones.

00:21:56 ◼   ► Are you gonna try the AirPods on planes?

00:21:59 ◼   ► I mean I'll try them because I'll always have them with me, but I do really like the Sony

00:22:03 ◼   ► over-ear headphones.

00:22:04 ◼   ► I mean I haven't done like a side-by-side test but I'm willing to bet that the over-ear

00:22:08 ◼   ► headphones...

00:22:09 ◼   ► I don't know about this, like, I don't know who would win in a hands-down noise cancelling

00:22:13 ◼   ► competition, but I feel like over-ear headphones like the Sony headphones are more, they're

00:22:20 ◼   ► more like psychologically isolating.

00:22:22 ◼   ► what I want is like I'm working on a thing or I'm just doing like you are also

00:22:26 ◼   ► Signaling to other people in a much more effective way. Yeah, maybe that maybe that's what it is

00:22:32 ◼   ► Maybe it's like the the over ear headphones

00:22:34 ◼   ► Augment my reality by telling people to leave me the hell alone or at least that they know they can't speak to you immediately

00:22:40 ◼   ► Yeah, they have to get your attention first, you know, maybe that's the thing for you. I don't know

00:22:44 ◼   ► Yeah, so I don't know like I don't know have you have you uh left your house and traveled in the world?

00:22:49 ◼   ► Oh, yeah, I've been on public transport. I've taken plane journeys with them. Oh, okay, and they are replacing all of the headphones

00:22:56 ◼   ► I own. Wow. I didn't have any noise cancelling headphones. Are you wearing them right now or podcasting? Oh, except my podcasting headphones

00:23:04 ◼   ► Okay, so they're not replacing. That's a very good though. You I'm very pleased you said that because a million people would have asked me

00:23:09 ◼   ► So I'm really happy. How are you using the AirPods Pro? It's podcast. It would be possible, but you shouldn't do it

00:23:16 ◼   ► Yeah, because there'd be latency and a little leakage

00:23:18 ◼   ► But anyway.

00:23:19 ◼   ► Let he who has not podcasted using AirPods cast the first stone there.

00:23:24 ◼   ► We've all had to do it under some circumstances.

00:23:26 ◼   ► I've never done it.

00:23:27 ◼   ► I would love to actually try and see what it's like to podcast with noise cancellation

00:23:31 ◼   ► on.

00:23:32 ◼   ► I don't recommend it.

00:23:33 ◼   ► I don't recommend it at all.

00:23:34 ◼   ► Oh, you've tried it?

00:23:35 ◼   ► I am wearing my Sony headphones right now.

00:23:36 ◼   ► I always wear them when I'm doing podcasting and I do not turn on the noise cancellation.

00:23:39 ◼   ► Two in your brain at that point.

00:23:41 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah, yeah. It also, at least I find that the effect, if you are talking, but also

00:23:48 ◼   ► hearing yourself through noise cancelling headphones, there's something that your brain

00:23:53 ◼   ► does where you're like trying to compensate for how you think your voice should sound.

00:23:57 ◼   ► So it leads to like a kind of vocal strain.

00:23:59 ◼   ► I want to try this now. I'm sure it's going to be weird, but now I just want to try it.

00:24:03 ◼   ► Okay.

00:24:04 ◼   ► But I really like when I go on the tube or whatever, and it's noisy, and I can just,

00:24:09 ◼   ► and just make it all go away. I really like that.

00:24:13 ◼   ► Yeah, the ability to switch between those two modes is really killer.

00:24:17 ◼   ► They're fantastic headphones.

00:24:19 ◼   ► It was way better on a plane. It worked really well on the plane.

00:24:22 ◼   ► I didn't have to have my volume. I have my volume like halfway, right?

00:24:25 ◼   ► I usually have it maximum with my old AirPods, which is bad for the ears, obviously.

00:24:29 ◼   ► And as well, these are like the first pair of noise cancelling headphones

00:24:34 ◼   ► that has worked with me. Noise cancelling has made me feel like

00:24:37 ◼   ► Nauseous in the past. Oh, yeah, that's right. You're you were poor souls who can't deal with it

00:24:42 ◼   ► But this is this is fine. This is working great for me. Maybe it's because it's not so aggressive

00:24:48 ◼   ► I don't know or like isolating. I don't know what it is exactly that's made it work, but it's totally working

00:24:54 ◼   ► So, huh? That's interesting to hear

00:24:56 ◼   ► I assume that technology is always getting improved and maybe I've never tried those Sony's that everybody loves and like maybe they would work

00:25:02 ◼   ► Okay for me, but the air pods are doing a they're doing a really great job

00:25:05 ◼   ► I'm very very happy with them actually. I still have an issue. I've always had an issue with the in-ears my left ear

00:25:12 ◼   ► The headphone will eventually fall out and that's happening like it doesn't matter what size tip I wear

00:25:17 ◼   ► It will eventually always come out, but I just adjust it like every 20-25 minutes. Like it's not a big problem, right?

00:25:23 ◼   ► So I really like them. Have you seen the 16 inch MacBook Pro?

00:25:28 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah, I know this is a thing that exists in the world. Okay, I was very excited about well

00:25:34 ◼   ► I know that you are a MacBook Pro user, have been in the past, and I just wondered is this

00:25:39 ◼   ► a product that you think would work for you?

00:25:44 ◼   ► I'm holding out for an update to the smaller laptops.

00:25:48 ◼   ► I mentioned on the show a little while ago, but I bought a 15-inch, I don't know, two

00:25:54 ◼   ► years ago or something, partly when I was really in the throes of trying to finish off

00:25:58 ◼   ► that Tesla vlog.

00:26:00 ◼   ► And I was also traveling at the same time as like, I need the most powerful computer

00:26:04 ◼   ► money can buy that I can also travel with me.

00:26:07 ◼   ► And I also need a big screen for editing this video.

00:26:10 ◼   ► I do like the bigger screens, but I don't like the bigger laptops.

00:26:15 ◼   ► I just find the trade-offs are not for me.

00:26:18 ◼   ► I don't like the hassle of carrying around the extra weight.

00:26:22 ◼   ► And I also find the ergonomics of the length of the computer and where the keyboard is

00:26:29 ◼   ► are just slightly wrong so that my wrists are always like hitting the edge in a way that I don't

00:26:35 ◼   ► like. So I think like the 15 inch and then probably the new 16 inch are like amazing machines but

00:26:40 ◼   ► they're just not for me. And then when you when you add on top of that sidecar the ability to have

00:26:47 ◼   ► like your big iPad be a second screen like I'm totally in on using a smaller laptop in the future

00:26:53 ◼   ► So I've been using one of my smaller, slower, older laptops if I don't absolutely need all the power for something.

00:27:02 ◼   ► And that plus iPad, a second screen is totally amazing.

00:27:06 ◼   ► So I've got my fingers crossed for Apple revising the smaller one.

00:27:09 ◼   ► They will.

00:27:10 ◼   ► In the near-ish term future, but we'll see.

00:27:13 ◼   ► I reckon it will happen in June if it hasn't happened already.

00:27:17 ◼   ► There's apparently some Intel chips that are coming,

00:27:20 ◼   ► which would be the perfect candidate for a refresh to the MacBook Pro.

00:27:23 ◼   ► And so it would be expected that they would probably at that point, whenever those chips

00:27:29 ◼   ► are ready, which should be sometime in the spring to summer, I think is my understanding,

00:27:33 ◼   ► that they would update the 16 again with these new chips and introduce a 14 maybe if that's going to

00:27:40 ◼   ► exist. Hmm. Yeah. Okay. That's that's that's good to know. Because I just think what I first

00:27:45 ◼   ► discovered back in the old adorable days is that my ideal traveling setup is really big iPad,

00:27:52 ◼   ► small laptop. Like that's what I want if I'm gonna be on the road. And so that's a big iPad plus big

00:27:59 ◼   ► computer is like, oh, this is too much. I can't deal with this. I might as well start bringing

00:28:04 ◼   ► around a whole like LG monitor with me if I'm carrying all that stuff.

00:28:08 ◼   ► - Yeah, I would like them to put the new keyboard in the MacBook Air.

00:28:12 ◼   ► - I forgot about the MacBook Air.

00:28:14 ◼   ► That's what I would want.

00:28:15 ◼   ► Okay.

00:28:16 ◼   ► I mean, they've got to be rolling out that new keyboard to everything, right?

00:28:19 ◼   ► Eventually they will, you would assume.

00:28:21 ◼   ► Eventually.

00:28:22 ◼   ► I think you'll get your wish on that.

00:28:23 ◼   ► The Mac Pro's coming in December.

00:28:25 ◼   ► Okay.

00:28:26 ◼   ► Are you gonna get one?

00:28:27 ◼   ► No, I'm not gonna get one.

00:28:28 ◼   ► No, of course not, because you just got your iMac Pro.

00:28:29 ◼   ► I have my iMac Pro.

00:28:30 ◼   ► Are you gonna get one?

00:28:32 ◼   ► We've had a lot of time to think since your original excitement in June.

00:28:36 ◼   ► Look, no, look, okay, you're also reframing this.

00:28:39 ◼   ► I was excited about that screen, right?

00:28:41 ◼   ► Yeah, okay.

00:28:42 ◼   ► That screen is calling to me.

00:28:43 ◼   ► Well that was gonna be my next question.

00:28:45 ◼   ► Look, you can't ask me this because my whole world is in flux.

00:28:51 ◼   ► And so since I gave up the glass cube, I've compressed down two offices just into my home office.

00:28:58 ◼   ► And ultimately I do want to be in a situation where I leave the house again.

00:29:03 ◼   ► And so I want to have an office outside my home.

00:29:05 ◼   ► But then that brings up every question in the world about what does the work setup look like.

00:29:09 ◼   ► Well, you know, you want to buy the computer that has wheels on it.

00:29:12 ◼   ► is that like what what is the monitor setup look like which as far as I know I

00:29:17 ◼   ► haven't I haven't investigated but I still think Apple hasn't released any

00:29:20 ◼   ► actual information about what computers can possibly drive that beautiful screen

00:29:24 ◼   ► okay so there's like tidbits right one thing that we know is that the new

00:29:31 ◼   ► MacBook Pro can power two of those oh okay so that's a new piece of

00:29:36 ◼   ► information that isn't a piece of information okay hmm look I'm just I'm

00:29:40 ◼   ► I'm trying not to think about this, but also earlier today I was just thinking there was

00:29:46 ◼   ► for a project I'm working on, I was looking at a selection of color palettes and this

00:29:51 ◼   ► little devil in my brain was whispering, "Are you seeing the colors as they really are?"

00:30:02 ◼   ► And I was like, "I don't know, man.

00:30:05 ◼   ► How would I be able to know?"

00:30:06 ◼   ► and it's like, well, I believe there's going to be a monitor that would let you understand exactly

00:30:13 ◼   ► how orange this shade of orange is. Because I'm looking at like five different shades of orange,

00:30:19 ◼   ► like which one do I like the most? I would like to make a request. If you buy this screen,

00:30:25 ◼   ► can I come over the day you get it? Just to look at it? The day I get it. You can look at it,

00:30:32 ◼   ► but you can't touch it, obviously.

00:30:34 ◼   ► Well, unless you get the nanotexture one,

00:30:37 ◼   ► and it is full of shards of glass or whatever it is they're doing.

00:30:42 ◼   ► Yeah, then I definitely can't touch it.

00:30:43 ◼   ► Yeah, so look, I can't even, because I don't even know.

00:30:48 ◼   ► Asking me about future computers is asking me about

00:30:52 ◼   ► what does my office look like, which is asking me about what is my travel set,

00:30:57 ◼   ► what is the rotation for lab?

00:30:58 ◼   ► Like there's too many, this is a gigantic ball of yarn and my position here is basically

00:31:04 ◼   ► hold, like nothing is going to happen until hopefully Apple releases a smaller laptop

00:31:10 ◼   ► and then I'll start trying to make decisions about, okay, what does my world look like?

00:31:14 ◼   ► So you're going to let the monitor just exist in the world?

00:31:17 ◼   ► Look, I'm just saying my plan is just hold until smaller laptop.

00:31:24 ◼   ► Those are the words I said and that's the end of this.

00:31:28 ◼   ► So there'll be no Pro Display XDR in your home.

00:31:31 ◼   ► What if, like, they say "oh, work with the iPad too"?

00:31:35 ◼   ► Look, I'm not doing this.

00:31:38 ◼   ► We're not playing these theoretical games.

00:31:39 ◼   ► Okay.

00:31:40 ◼   ► We'll play the real game in a few weeks time.

00:31:44 ◼   ► Last thing.

00:31:45 ◼   ► Yeah?

00:31:46 ◼   ► They released the battery case for the 11 Pro.

00:31:48 ◼   ► Oh!

00:31:49 ◼   ► Yes!

00:31:50 ◼   ► Okay, I'm buying another case right now.

00:31:54 ◼   ► Fantastic.

00:31:55 ◼   ► Let me tell you something weird about this case, Gray.

00:31:57 ◼   ► It has a dedicated camera shutter button.

00:32:00 ◼   ► What?

00:32:01 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:32:02 ◼   ► It features a button that launches the camera app wherever the iPhone is locked or unlocked.

00:32:07 ◼   ► A quick press of the button will take a photo.

00:32:09 ◼   ► A longer press takes a video.

00:32:11 ◼   ► Where is it?

00:32:12 ◼   ► Wait, okay, hold on.

00:32:13 ◼   ► Exactly.

00:32:14 ◼   ► I've already got my app open.

00:32:15 ◼   ► Where is this button?

00:32:16 ◼   ► I don't see a button.

00:32:17 ◼   ► It's on the...

00:32:18 ◼   ► You have to look at the images.

00:32:20 ◼   ► I'm looking at the images.

00:32:21 ◼   ► You look at the one that shows you the back.

00:32:23 ◼   ► Okay.

00:32:24 ◼   ► On the left hand side there's like a little indentation, there's a button there.

00:32:28 ◼   ► Oh, sneaky sneaky!

00:32:31 ◼   ► How weird, right?

00:32:33 ◼   ► That's a freaking great idea though.

00:32:35 ◼   ► I was just complaining yesterday about how much I cannot get used to the new way to take a

00:32:42 ◼   ► freaking photo on my phone.

00:32:44 ◼   ► The lack of 3D touch is killing me.

00:32:48 ◼   ► It's the worst.

00:32:49 ◼   ► For like getting to pictures on the lock screen, I just can't...

00:32:53 ◼   ► I'm having such a hard time retraining my brain to like swipe over or long hold. It's killing me.

00:32:59 ◼   ► Yeah, I don't like that.

00:33:00 ◼   ► I want a dedicated button on the physical phone.

00:33:03 ◼   ► iPhone 12, you listening to me?

00:33:05 ◼   ► Physical camera button on the phone.

00:33:09 ◼   ► Because why did they do this? This is such a weird thing to do.

00:33:12 ◼   ► So by the time this episode comes out, my case, probably both our cases will have arrived.

00:33:17 ◼   ► So like mine is on the way. It's coming tomorrow.

00:33:18 ◼   ► But this is just like an interesting thing to me.

00:33:22 ◼   ► It's like, okay, put the camera button on there, I guess.

00:33:26 ◼   ► It works really well for me because I only ever use the battery case when I'm traveling

00:33:31 ◼   ► and when I'm traveling is when I take the most photos.

00:33:33 ◼   ► As we discussed before, new battery life on the new phones.

00:33:36 ◼   ► Amazing.

00:33:37 ◼   ► It's really great.

00:33:38 ◼   ► But heavily using the phone, you're still going to really burn through it.

00:33:43 ◼   ► My previous footnote video that I did for the video about Mercury being the closest

00:33:48 ◼   ► planet. So I shot that entirely using my iPhone and I was like, "Let me tell you, even with

00:33:55 ◼   ► an amazing battery, an afternoon of walking around and talking and shooting 4K video,

00:34:00 ◼   ► you are going to get real close to the end of the battery." And so that is exactly the

00:34:05 ◼   ► case where, yes, I would want more battery, I want this new battery case. And if the battery

00:34:10 ◼   ► case comes with a dedicated camera button, all the better. It's like, this is a professional

00:34:14 ◼   ► solution.

00:34:15 ◼   ► So, uh...

00:34:16 ◼   ► What a treat.

00:34:17 ◼   ► longer battery life is what it gives you.

00:34:20 ◼   ► Yeah, that sold immediately.

00:34:22 ◼   ► Like another five hours, I guess, on the 11th Pro.

00:34:24 ◼   ► Yeah, but even like 50% more battery than totally puts

00:34:30 ◼   ► "I'm shooting a video all afternoon on my phone"

00:34:33 ◼   ► well within the margin of comfort for "I don't have to think about the battery"

00:34:37 ◼   ► which is always what I'm trying to optimize for, like, just don't have to think about it.

00:34:40 ◼   ► That's great! Wow, thank you for bringing me these things, Myke.

00:34:44 ◼   ► This is just a personal news update for you.

00:34:46 ◼   ► This this is this is the way I like my news other people telling me the things that matter to me. That's great

00:34:52 ◼   ► Yeah, this is how I want my personalized news from an actual person, okay, that's what's the most personalized yes, thank you

00:35:01 ◼   ► This episode of cortex is brought to you by

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00:36:26 ◼   ► that URL and so I'll give you it one more time ero.com/cortex and the code cortex to

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00:36:35 ◼   ► It's time for some #AskCortex questions, Gray. I petitioned our listeners on Twitter.

00:36:41 ◼   ► AskCortex.com. Oh wait, no, no, that's wrong. I'm sorry. I misfired.

00:36:46 ◼   ► Now I have to get that. I'll buy that domain. I don't know where I'm going to point it.

00:36:50 ◼   ► The first question I have picked to right a wrong. So Vlad asks,

00:36:55 ◼   ► "Would you give us an updated everyday carry list?"

00:36:59 ◼   ► Now, the wrong that I am writing is a few episodes ago.

00:37:03 ◼   ► There was a question the last time we did Ask Cortex where someone was asking about

00:37:09 ◼   ► like where we carry things and then we got lost on a tangent of talking about your pockets

00:37:15 ◼   ► and we never got your answer for where things go.

00:37:18 ◼   ► Yes, because you were too busy making fun of me for the simple fact that when I'm traveling

00:37:24 ◼   ► I like to be prepared for things.

00:37:26 ◼   ► You like to be pocketed, well pocketed.

00:37:28 ◼   ► You found this a hilarious notion.

00:37:30 ◼   ► It is hilarious.

00:37:31 ◼   ► reasons that I'm still not able to understand.

00:37:34 ◼   ► Like a tactical nerd.

00:37:36 ◼   ► He's ready for anything.

00:37:39 ◼   ► So I will ask you then, what do you have on your person every day and where does it go?

00:37:45 ◼   ► Well I believe that we settled last time.

00:37:48 ◼   ► There's only four items.

00:37:49 ◼   ► There's iPhone, wallet, keys, AirPods.

00:37:54 ◼   ► Those are the four items.

00:37:55 ◼   ► That's the way that works.

00:37:56 ◼   ► So that's my everyday carry list.

00:37:58 ◼   ► And that's your everyday carry list.

00:37:59 ◼   ► The thing that wasn't answered previously is "what pockets?"

00:38:04 ◼   ► I'm making sure we cover every bass now.

00:38:06 ◼   ► Oh yeah? You want to make sure that we're covering absolutely every bass?

00:38:10 ◼   ► Yeah, because you're calling me out on the Reddit over it. I saw you.

00:38:13 ◼   ► I don't remember. I have no memory of this. That was a very long time ago.

00:38:16 ◼   ► It doesn't sound like something I would do.

00:38:17 ◼   ► Okay, so iPhone, front left pocket, because I'm right-handed, so you use your phone with your left hand.

00:38:24 ◼   ► That's the way handedness works, Myke.

00:38:26 ◼   ► Wait, what?

00:38:27 ◼   ► Yeah, everybody who's right-handed use their phones with their left hand.

00:38:32 ◼   ► We can agree I'm left-handed because I use my phone in my right hand. Thank you. Now it's done.

00:38:37 ◼   ► We've closed the loop now. You have now by proxy agreed that I am left-handed, so thank you for that.

00:38:42 ◼   ► Handedness is a very simple matter, and so that's the way that works.

00:38:46 ◼   ► I'm pleased that we finally came to a conclusion on the left-hand debate.

00:38:49 ◼   ► I don't understand why there'd be any disagreement or confusion over this issue.

00:38:54 ◼   ► I have my phone in my front right pocket and I use my phone right-handed.

00:38:59 ◼   ► Right, yeah. So you're left-handed then.

00:39:00 ◼   ► So then front right pocket is keys and it's wallet.

00:39:09 ◼   ► So now AirPods case. Where does AirPods case go?

00:39:14 ◼   ► So I have settled on jeans that are now the only jeans that I wear.

00:39:21 ◼   ► and for the benefit of Myke, I will call them tactical jeans. And these tactical jeans have a

00:39:29 ◼   ► special pocket on the side, which for the purposes of this podcast we will say is a dedicated AirPods

00:39:37 ◼   ► pocket and is for absolutely nothing else. What do you put in that pocket? Do you have like

00:39:43 ◼   ► smoke pellets that you can use to get away with, you know? Like...

00:39:48 ◼   ► No, but so I always like to try to find what do the professionals use and there are tactical

00:39:54 ◼   ► professionals. Or professionals.

00:39:56 ◼   ► You know, just professional, AirPods professionals. And so there's a special

00:40:00 ◼   ► pocket on the side. That's what they're called.

00:40:01 ◼   ► AirPods professionals. Yes, that's right. And so,

00:40:05 ◼   ► because I used to keep AirPods in the back pocket, which was fine.

00:40:10 ◼   ► That's weird. That's weird.

00:40:13 ◼   ► If you put them in the back pocket, I found that you could slide them over to the side and it was fine.

00:40:20 ◼   ► I go in my front left pocket with my keys and then my wallet goes in my back right pocket.

00:40:26 ◼   ► Full left pocket, no pick pocket.

00:40:28 ◼   ► Who knows which pocket it goes in? Left, right, maybe none of them. Leave me alone.

00:40:33 ◼   ► Yeah, you're really divulging your security here, Myke. Security through obscurity. This is the moment.

00:40:39 ◼   ► Which pocket is Myke's wallet in?

00:40:42 ◼   ► Maybe I have a secret tactical pocket, you don't know.

00:40:45 ◼   ► - Yeah, nobody knows.

00:40:46 ◼   ► But yeah, so that's the pocket placement for Gray.

00:40:50 ◼   ► - Tactical pocket.

00:40:51 ◼   ► Jonathan asks, "If Cortex brand could make anything

00:40:58 ◼   ► it wanted without any difficulties in production,

00:41:00 ◼   ► what would it be?"

00:41:02 ◼   ► - Oh, I mean I guess it would make all of the solutions

00:41:04 ◼   ► to all of my problems in life.

00:41:05 ◼   ► - Well that is the larger answer, right?

00:41:09 ◼   ► - Right, yeah.

00:41:10 ◼   ► If we could make whatever we wanted, we would make everything we wanted.

00:41:15 ◼   ► You know?

00:41:15 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:41:16 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:41:16 ◼   ► My whole life would just be Cortex brand.

00:41:18 ◼   ► That would be...

00:41:19 ◼   ► Well, that's the ultimate goal.

00:41:21 ◼   ► All the way down to the computer in front of me.

00:41:25 ◼   ► Because I will say like maybe it's an interesting update for the state of our

00:41:28 ◼   ► company at the moment where we are right now at the end of 2019, Cortex brand has

00:41:34 ◼   ► taken on a very different product offering than what I was initially, I think what

00:41:37 ◼   ► we were both initially expecting.

00:41:39 ◼   ► We have become very, very focused on the theme system because it's been going great for us.

00:41:43 ◼   ► And we have not been able to explore as many other things as we wanted to because we have a

00:41:53 ◼   ► success which has been successful faster than we would have expected. So at some point, I want to

00:41:58 ◼   ► get back to exploring other products. But right now we are very focused on the theme system.

00:42:03 ◼   ► I would say this, two things became very clear very quickly,

00:42:06 ◼   ► that all processes have a bottleneck,

00:42:10 ◼   ► and I think the bottleneck is your attention,

00:42:14 ◼   ► your time and attention right now.

00:42:17 ◼   ► That is the valuable resource for the company.

00:42:20 ◼   ► - And maybe we will talk about that soon.

00:42:23 ◼   ► - Yes, and it's also very clear that doubling down

00:42:28 ◼   ► or quintupling down on the theme journal

00:42:32 ◼   ► was the obvious way to go.

00:42:34 ◼   ► Just like that the reaction to it was really positive.

00:42:36 ◼   ► And so it's like, okay, obvious win, limited resource,

00:42:41 ◼   ► spend all of the limited resource

00:42:43 ◼   ► on the obvious valuable thing.

00:42:44 ◼   ► Like that's the way to go.

00:42:45 ◼   ► Like our plans to expand into Cortex OS

00:42:48 ◼   ► have to be delayed.

00:42:50 ◼   ► That's like on the 2040 roadmap.

00:42:52 ◼   ► - Please don't.

00:42:53 ◼   ► So the email address that we have, right?

00:42:55 ◼   ► Where people send suggestions,

00:42:57 ◼   ► which is business@cortexbrand.com.

00:42:59 ◼   ► Still please continue sending them in if you have ideas.

00:43:01 ◼   ► More than anything, I have had people ask about software.

00:43:06 ◼   ► I don't want to make software right now, because apps, that is a difficult business to be in,

00:43:13 ◼   ► for it to be profitable with the limited time and attention that we can put in that field.

00:43:20 ◼   ► The obvious answer that people would assume is, "If Cortex-Bran could make anything, what would it be?"

00:43:25 ◼   ► "Oh, we would just fix email clients and to-do lists."

00:43:28 ◼   ► Yeah, I feel like that's the way this question is sort of leading.

00:43:31 ◼   ► But that's not why I don't want to be in that world.

00:43:33 ◼   ► I have no interest in making software or being a part of a team to make software.

00:43:36 ◼   ► Like, I don't want to do that.

00:43:38 ◼   ► You know what has even more uncertain roadmaps,

00:43:43 ◼   ► effort amounts, and timeframes than physical products?

00:43:47 ◼   ► Software. Right? It's like, yeah, the variance on that is very high.

00:43:52 ◼   ► Because even with software, even if I was in charge of a software development team,

00:43:56 ◼   ► the Cortex brand software development team,

00:43:59 ◼   ► I would still never be completely happy with what is made.

00:44:02 ◼   ► Because both of us are so particular about software.

00:44:05 ◼   ► You would never be happy, right?

00:44:09 ◼   ► - Yeah, I can imagine, let's say,

00:44:13 ◼   ► Cortex brand was doing an email client.

00:44:15 ◼   ► Well, it would end up that it would have to make

00:44:18 ◼   ► two email clients.

00:44:19 ◼   ► I think we both know this, yes.

00:44:20 ◼   ► It's just like, this is the way it would have to be.

00:44:22 ◼   ► And then like, what have we done here?

00:44:25 ◼   ► What have we wrought?

00:44:26 ◼   ► Right, because that's an interesting point actually, because when you look at the theme system,

00:44:30 ◼   ► we created something that could work for both of us and therefore everyone, right?

00:44:36 ◼   ► So it's effectively devoid of too much constraints. It's just a system that you can put your own

00:44:43 ◼   ► system into. You can't do that with apps. Yeah, I would phrase it the opposite way. It's not that

00:44:48 ◼   ► it's devoid of constraints. It's actually that physical products are more constrained

00:44:54 ◼   ► and therefore the planes of possible disagreement do not stretch toward infinity in every direction

00:45:03 ◼   ► the way software products do. But my point was more that like a system that we have created is a

00:45:08 ◼   ► framework system. You can't create an email system which is so open that people could do whatever

00:45:15 ◼   ► they wanted with it. It would never work. My answer for this question is a backpack.

00:45:23 ◼   ► That is a future goal in my mind for Cortex brand to make a backpack.

00:45:29 ◼   ► But that is a very, I've looked into it at a very cursory level.

00:45:33 ◼   ► It is incredibly complicated to do that.

00:45:35 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:45:36 ◼   ► So one day, hopefully that is something I would like to make, but we're very far

00:45:41 ◼   ► away from that, like, cause I don't even have any ideas right as to like, what

00:45:46 ◼   ► would I want to make a backpack look like to make it unique?

00:45:49 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:45:50 ◼   ► Backpack is a really good one for if we could make anything without difficulty.

00:45:55 ◼   ► That's a that's a that's a good answer to that question.

00:45:58 ◼   ► Backpacks are hard. Backpacks are really hard.

00:46:00 ◼   ► It's a million little decisions.

00:46:04 ◼   ► Yeah. Goes into making a product like that.

00:46:06 ◼   ► And I just don't think

00:46:09 ◼   ► I have any insight into it at the moment.

00:46:13 ◼   ► Michael asks, what is a good destination or accommodation

00:46:18 ◼   ► traits to consider when looking at planning a great occasion.

00:46:25 ◼   ► I just watched a documentary on Netflix, which I really recommend.

00:46:29 ◼   ► Could potentially be a cortex movie club in the future.

00:46:32 ◼   ► So three-part documentary about Bill Gates called Inside Bill's Brain, I think it's

00:46:37 ◼   ► called.

00:46:38 ◼   ► Oh yeah, the trailer for that looked really interesting.

00:46:39 ◼   ► He does this.

00:46:40 ◼   ► Oh, he does, uh, He Takes Recations?

00:46:42 ◼   ► They're called Thinkweeks.

00:46:43 ◼   ► Oh yeah, yeah.

00:46:44 ◼   ► I think I've heard about that.

00:46:45 ◼   ► You've probably heard of this before.

00:46:47 ◼   ► because he used to do this when he was even at Microsoft. He would take a bunch of books

00:46:51 ◼   ► and go to this cabin that he owns and he's gone for a week.

00:46:54 ◼   ► AO: What was it called? Like the Halloween memo or something? Yeah, this sounds familiar in the

00:47:01 ◼   ► Microsoft lore of changing the company after spending some time away from it. That's, yeah.

00:47:07 ◼   ► Okay. So he takes great patience.

00:47:09 ◼   ► MATT: Yeah, but also this is a very interesting documentary. You should watch it and tell me what

00:47:15 ◼   ► what you think of it just in general.

00:47:16 ◼   ► Maybe we could talk about it in the future,

00:47:17 ◼   ► but I really did like it.

00:47:19 ◼   ► - Yeah, we'll put that on the list

00:47:20 ◼   ► for the Cortex documentary club, yeah.

00:47:24 ◼   ► Okay, cool.

00:47:25 ◼   ► - What would you recommend for somebody

00:47:27 ◼   ► who's thinking about a great occasion?

00:47:28 ◼   ► What are the things that they should consider?

00:47:30 ◼   ► - Okay, listen, listen.

00:47:31 ◼   ► There's many things that you're probably thinking of

00:47:33 ◼   ► if you're tempted by a great occasion.

00:47:35 ◼   ► But the thing that you should really spend

00:47:36 ◼   ► a lot of time looking at is go to reviews

00:47:40 ◼   ► for whatever hotel that you're thinking about

00:47:43 ◼   ► look very closely at the tables and chairs that are available in the place that you're going to.

00:47:50 ◼   ► This is the thing that you're not thinking about, but if your Gratation is a success,

00:47:58 ◼   ► ideally you're going to be spending a lot of time working and you're probably not going to be able

00:48:04 ◼   ► to bring your comfy office chair with you.

00:48:08 ◼   ► And so, uh, yeah, that like,

00:48:11 ◼   ► if a hotel looks like it has really terrible quality chairs,

00:48:16 ◼   ► that is like a complete deal breaker.

00:48:18 ◼   ► Uh, so I would actually rate that as like

00:48:21 ◼   ► very high on the list of things that you want to consider.

00:48:25 ◼   ► Is that you need to have a space that looks like

00:48:28 ◼   ► is in the hotel, ideally in your room,

00:48:31 ◼   ► where you can sit comfortably for long periods of time and get work done.

00:48:36 ◼   ► And lots of hotels have obviously crappy chairs and super thin desks

00:48:42 ◼   ► that are gonna drive you crazy and sort of get in the way

00:48:44 ◼   ► or just like cause you physical discomfort after long periods of time.

00:48:49 ◼   ► So that is very high on the list of things that you want to be looking for.

00:48:54 ◼   ► I would say probably after that, another thing that I consider is...

00:48:58 ◼   ► Like I think about the food situation.

00:49:00 ◼   ► So I want to have something like a supermarket or some kind of place where I can just go

00:49:06 ◼   ► and stock up on a bunch of easy to eat food that I can then just keep in the room.

00:49:12 ◼   ► That's like another thing that's on my radar because you're really just trying to maximize

00:49:16 ◼   ► for compressing down my Gradius to be relatively small.

00:49:21 ◼   ► I'm going to be focused on this work, like what really matters.

00:49:24 ◼   ► The work environment matters.

00:49:26 ◼   ► The food situation matters,

00:49:28 ◼   ► 'cause you also don't wanna rely on room service,

00:49:30 ◼   ► not just because it's expensive

00:49:31 ◼   ► and because it tends not to be very good,

00:49:34 ◼   ► but also because the variance in time

00:49:37 ◼   ► of how long it will take to actually arrive

00:49:39 ◼   ► is a giant like, who knows?

00:49:41 ◼   ► Right, like room service, like you don't wanna be thinking,

00:49:45 ◼   ► oh, I'm gonna wait for the food to show up,

00:49:48 ◼   ► and then like, how long is that?

00:49:50 ◼   ► Is that 20 minutes?

00:49:51 ◼   ► Is that an hour?

00:49:52 ◼   ► Oh, okay, let me give you a good food tip.

00:49:54 ◼   ► Food tip for vacation.

00:49:55 ◼   ► - I felt like the name was new segment, right?

00:49:58 ◼   ► - Okay, no, it's not a segment

00:50:00 ◼   ► because I only have one piece of advice, which is--

00:50:03 ◼   ► - Short run segment.

00:50:05 ◼   ► - Yeah, so again, you're optimizing for like sustenance

00:50:09 ◼   ► and just working.

00:50:11 ◼   ► So what I like to bring with me is those little machines

00:50:15 ◼   ► that will hard boil an egg

00:50:17 ◼   ► that you can just pour some water in

00:50:19 ◼   ► and you set a little timer and you can usually buy them.

00:50:22 ◼   ► So they'll cook like three or six eggs at once.

00:50:24 ◼   ► And this is just a great thing to have in the room because eggs don't need to

00:50:29 ◼   ► be refrigerated if you can't count on a refrigerator in a hotel room.

00:50:32 ◼   ► So you can just like go to the supermarket, buy a bunch of eggs, leave them there,

00:50:37 ◼   ► have this little thing, which will hard boil them and as like incredibly

00:50:40 ◼   ► reliable sustenance for just working.

00:50:43 ◼   ► Um, so yeah, like you can't count on a refrigerator and that's like just a

00:50:49 ◼   ► very easy, high quality food that's also very quick to prepare and minimum hassle.

00:50:55 ◼   ► I would say maybe like the last thing. So yeah, chairs, food, and like a space nearby to maybe go

00:51:02 ◼   ► walking that's convenient. Like a park or just some sort of area to be able to take a walk and

00:51:08 ◼   ► take like a little bit of a breaker or mull over whatever it is you're working on. So those are my

00:51:13 ◼   ► tips for planning your your gradations and I think everybody should try to do

00:51:18 ◼   ► them if they if they possibly can if you've got some serious work you know

00:51:22 ◼   ► like I said I just used to do it on the weekend if like I really want to get

00:51:25 ◼   ► through a thing take a weekend focus on the project that's important to you and

00:51:31 ◼   ► then like come back to your to your regular life so those are my tips of

00:51:36 ◼   ► what you should look for. I think whilst I've not done this as much as you I

00:51:40 ◼   ► I have added early days to the end of some trips that I've taken in the past, right?

00:51:47 ◼   ► Like I go to a city for work for a conference or whatever, and then I'll take an extra day

00:51:51 ◼   ► or two to get a lot of stuff done before returning, right?

00:51:55 ◼   ► Like it's catch up time.

00:51:56 ◼   ► And I've always found very valuable to be in a big city when doing that, because then

00:52:02 ◼   ► you don't have to worry about anything, right?

00:52:05 ◼   ► Like if I want to go get dinner, there's like a million restaurants to go to, right?

00:52:09 ◼   ► Like you say, you want it to be a supermarket. There probably will be a supermarket near

00:52:14 ◼   ► the hotel if you're staying in a big enough city. So I'm not saying that as a prerequisite,

00:52:18 ◼   ► but that is a way to get a lot of the things that you're suggesting, is to be in a city.

00:52:23 ◼   ► Yeah, I completely agree. And if you're on the newbie level for doing this kind of thing,

00:52:28 ◼   ► totally bias it towards larger cities. Because yeah, then the possibilities of things going

00:52:33 ◼   ► wrong is dramatically reduced. I've been aware that now I feel like I'm on the much more

00:52:39 ◼   ► pro end of this. I've been trying to seek out more and more isolated environments in

00:52:46 ◼   ► which to do this kind of thing, but it's only because I feel like I'm pretty well prepared

00:52:51 ◼   ► for the various ways in which things can go wrong, and now the increased isolation is

00:52:57 ◼   ► more valuable than downside mitigation, because I feel like I have downside mitigation mostly

00:53:03 ◼   ► covered at this stage.

00:53:04 ◼   ► Kind of a secondary question comes from Colin.

00:53:06 ◼   ► Colin asks, "How do you find places to eat when you travel to a new city?"

00:53:10 ◼   ► I don't know. I don't really think about this.

00:53:12 ◼   ► Cool. I have a great answer. Four Square. I use Four Square.

00:53:15 ◼   ► I still use Four Square for this stuff.

00:53:17 ◼   ► Okay.

00:53:17 ◼   ► I find it to be a great resource.

00:53:20 ◼   ► There are other companies that are available, like Yelp, right, is one.

00:53:24 ◼   ► But I've found that Four Square has a better presence outside of America.

00:53:29 ◼   ► So in the UK, in Europe, everywhere that I've been to, I use Four Square.

00:53:33 ◼   ► and I find that Foursquare ratings tend to match up with my own tastes, so I found it

00:53:41 ◼   ► to be pretty valuable for me.

00:53:43 ◼   ► So I still use Foursquare for that stuff.

00:53:45 ◼   ► It's really great to help find new places to go and also to, you know, recommendation.

00:53:52 ◼   ► But Google Maps has gotten pretty good at this stuff now too.

00:53:56 ◼   ► Like you can search for a restaurant and there's all ratings and stuff like that.

00:53:59 ◼   ► But I use Foursquare.

00:54:00 ◼   ► Yeah, I feel like that must be what I just used in the past, it's like Google Maps or

00:54:05 ◼   ► something?

00:54:06 ◼   ► I just don't really think about this, but so you recommend Foursquare for just like

00:54:09 ◼   ► I'm trying to find a place to eat?

00:54:11 ◼   ► I think any system that has aggregated user reviews is what you want to be looking for

00:54:15 ◼   ► in my opinion, because then you have a lot of data to build the star rating or whatever

00:54:23 ◼   ► or the score of the place that you want to go to.

00:54:26 ◼   ► I would recommend trying out a few different apps and seeing which kind of which audience meets your own taste

00:54:33 ◼   ► it seems like there are differences between the different services and I found that like

00:54:38 ◼   ► Four Square still hipster enough for me, you know

00:54:41 ◼   ► Copy recommendations and stuff in four square. Okay. All right. Well, I've downloaded that to give it a try

00:54:47 ◼   ► It's also just still very good. It's a it's kind of a funny thing

00:54:51 ◼   ► Like you four square I think I've forgotten about a lot now because they're not the company that they used to be

00:54:56 ◼   ► But my understanding is like they still remain because they have such a huge database of points of interest

00:55:01 ◼   ► That that is like a thing that they can sell

00:55:04 ◼   ► Wasn't four square was the one where you were competing to be the like the mayor of your local Starbucks, right?

00:55:09 ◼   ► That was four square. They still have that but they split themselves into two applications four square and swarm

00:55:15 ◼   ► I don't know why they ever did that. It was a mistake

00:55:17 ◼   ► But swarm has all the check-in stuff four square is just like a directory of places to go

00:55:23 ◼   ► I'm just sitting here thinking why am I so confused by this question?

00:55:26 ◼   ► But I'm realizing that like my answer to the great case in one should make it pretty clear

00:55:30 ◼   ► I'm not really looking for restaurants when I'm doing this sort of thing

00:55:34 ◼   ► I'm looking for a pack of eggs that I can boil and eat in my room alone.

00:55:38 ◼   ► Yeah, you see this is where Whitney and you take things slightly differently.

00:55:41 ◼   ► Like I consider going to like interesting places to eat as like a comfort for me in those environments.

00:55:48 ◼   ► Yes, this is also why I think

00:55:49 ◼   ► Just just listen there in your mind

00:55:52 ◼   ► Here are the two words. You can do a graycation or you can do a hurly day.

00:55:57 ◼   ► Exactly.

00:55:58 ◼   ► A hurly day is a very different experience and hurly days can involve a nice restaurant.

00:56:04 ◼   ► Yeah, gray is much more kind of like, you know, it's gray, right? Like it's dark.

00:56:10 ◼   ► There's a lot of color. There's some boiled eggs in the corner, you know?

00:56:14 ◼   ► That's kind of what you get in a way.

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00:57:57 ◼   ► [BEEP]

00:57:58 ◼   ► Knight asks, "Have either of you ever used mechanical keyboards? Have you been tempted

00:58:03 ◼   ► further down the rabbit hole of fancier keyboards?"

00:58:06 ◼   ► Knight believes that my love of pens could quite simply transpose to this obsession.

00:58:11 ◼   ► - Oh, yeah, that's an interesting point. I can see that.

00:58:13 ◼   ► - It's very customisable. There's a lot of really interesting makers in that space,

00:58:18 ◼   ► doing interesting keycaps and stuff.

00:58:19 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't have thought of that, but yeah, I can see this being

00:58:22 ◼   ► Pen adjacent. Do you agree with that assessment? I 100% agree with it. It's like watches too, right? These are

00:58:29 ◼   ► Artisan things right? Mm-hmm. I could very easily see myself getting down a mechanical keyboard customization rabbit hole

00:58:37 ◼   ► Can you imagine the colors of my keyboard if I did this?

00:58:40 ◼   ► I mean, yes, obviously you would have one of those rainbow keyboard boards for sure like 100%

00:58:45 ◼   ► It would be full of colors and rainbows

00:58:47 ◼   ► Do you have what keyboard do you use now? I actually realize I don't have any idea

00:58:51 ◼   ► Like what are you using at your desk?

00:58:53 ◼   ► On my iMac I use the Microsoft Sculpt ergonomic keyboard.

00:58:58 ◼   ► Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's a good one

00:58:59 ◼   ► So it's the one that's kind of split in half with the hole down the middle

00:59:02 ◼   ► I found that to be a very comfortable keyboard. I've used it for like five or six years

00:59:06 ◼   ► Yeah, I use that one for a long time. That's a that is a nice keyboard. I find the keys are a little mushy

00:59:13 ◼   ► Whatever switches they use at the time I was using.

00:59:16 ◼   ► "I don't really care about the clickiness of keyboards."

00:59:21 ◼   ► It doesn't bother me.

00:59:23 ◼   ► It's like this keyboard, I don't write.

00:59:26 ◼   ► I think that's one of the key differences.

00:59:28 ◼   ► I do not write things.

00:59:30 ◼   ► I respond to emails, I send tweets.

00:59:33 ◼   ► I don't compose thousands of word documents.

00:59:37 ◼   ► So the quality of the keyboard is less of a concern for me

00:59:41 ◼   ► and it's typically another reason.

00:59:43 ◼   ► So like the keyboard that I use the most

00:59:46 ◼   ► is the Brydge keyboard, which is attached to my iPad Pro.

00:59:49 ◼   ► And that just feels like a regular laptop keyboard.

00:59:52 ◼   ► I do have one of those Razer keyboards,

00:59:55 ◼   ► which is, I believe it's mechanical keyboard.

00:59:58 ◼   ► - You got that for your gaming PC, right?

00:59:59 ◼   ► - Yeah, but again, I never type with it.

01:00:02 ◼   ► You know, I could see myself wanting to make

01:00:04 ◼   ► a really nice keyboard, but I worry with mechanical keyboards

01:00:09 ◼   ► about RSI stuff, that's why I've never really gone down

01:00:12 ◼   ► that road, I'm worried that I would cause too much strain on my fingers.

01:00:16 ◼   ► Yeah, I think you're not wrong to be concerned about that.

01:00:20 ◼   ► I think that is a legitimate concern with mechanical keyboards,

01:00:23 ◼   ► as they do have higher resistance.

01:00:24 ◼   ► It's just I've noticed any time I change something, it will cause problems.

01:00:28 ◼   ► So I don't change things.

01:00:33 ◼   ► Like I try as little as possible to make changes to the input devices that I use.

01:00:38 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:00:39 ◼   ► And I'd agree with that assessment and recommend to any of the listeners.

01:00:42 ◼   ► Like if your primary concern is RSI related,

01:00:47 ◼   ► that Microsoft keyboard is like the number one no brainer choice.

01:00:50 ◼   ► Like you should get that one.

01:00:52 ◼   ► I use an older one. They have, which they don't make anymore.

01:00:55 ◼   ► They made an interim one, which was not good.

01:00:59 ◼   ► Recently, they have a new version of this keyboard,

01:01:03 ◼   ► which looks more like my one, but I've not used it.

01:01:07 ◼   ► I just wanted to state that.

01:01:09 ◼   ► Okay, yeah, because I've been out of that game for a little while.

01:01:12 ◼   ► I'm probably thinking of whatever the older one was.

01:01:14 ◼   ► You're thinking of my one for sure, but we're like two revisions past that now.

01:01:18 ◼   ► Hmm, okay.

01:01:19 ◼   ► Alright, well I'll vouch that two revisions old one.

01:01:22 ◼   ► There are probably people that are hoarding it all over the world, like the Model M keyboard

01:01:26 ◼   ► and stuff.

01:01:27 ◼   ► Yeah, but they have a new one.

01:01:28 ◼   ► It's now called, as you can imagine, the Surface Ergonomic Keyboard.

01:01:31 ◼   ► Right, of course.

01:01:33 ◼   ► And it has a different design.

01:01:34 ◼   ► is a much nicer, much more modern design and looks way more like mine than the one that

01:01:40 ◼   ► it replaced. But again, I've not used it. But the idea is the same, right? That like

01:01:46 ◼   ► you're splitting the keyboard and trying to angle it in the middle away, which would be

01:01:50 ◼   ► more comfortable to use. And I have found that to be the case. I've never had problems

01:01:55 ◼   ► with this keyboard and my wrist and hand pain. Of course, I am using a Windows keyboard on

01:02:02 ◼   ► a Mac there are inherent weirdnesses with that like the keys so you have to kind of

01:02:07 ◼   ► remap some of them.

01:02:08 ◼   ► Yeah you can remap the keys.

01:02:09 ◼   ► But it's not difficult but you do have to do it.

01:02:12 ◼   ► Yeah, just like everybody in the world should remap their caps lock key to control if they

01:02:17 ◼   ► haven't already done that and it'll be much better.

01:02:21 ◼   ► Why?

01:02:22 ◼   ► Because you hit control a million billion times when do you hit caps lock?

01:02:26 ◼   ► Never.

01:02:27 ◼   ► No one ever uses that key.

01:02:28 ◼   ► But like you already have a control key.

01:02:29 ◼   ► Yeah, but it's like the gesture for hitting control with your pinky if control is caps lock is way better than trying to reach down and hit control.

01:02:39 ◼   ► Like it's just a much more convenient thing to do.

01:02:42 ◼   ► Trust me, trust me. Listen, switch. Listeners, go into your keyboard settings, remap caps locks to control, you'll thank me later. It's great.

01:02:52 ◼   ► Okay, but what if you need to caps lock then? What do you do?

01:02:56 ◼   ► Nobody needs to caps lock. You never need it.

01:02:58 ◼   ► just did it if we were texting each other you just caps lock you said that

01:03:03 ◼   ► but you mechanical keyboards yeah yeah I have no just looking now it's well

01:03:09 ◼   ► something horrific just I'm lifting up the keyboard it's I could remember the

01:03:14 ◼   ► company is WASD keyboards Oh WASD yeah WASD keyboards are they the one

01:03:18 ◼   ► there's other company that makes the keyboard with no print on it the was to

01:03:23 ◼   ► show how cool they are there's a company that makes a keyboard yeah it is the v3

01:03:27 ◼   ► mechanical keyboard like it's just all black. Oh yeah that's the keyboard that I

01:03:31 ◼   ► have yeah with nothing written on it. Are you being serious right now? Yeah

01:03:35 ◼   ► that's my writing keyboard. Ugh. Okay so listen I've got two WASD

01:03:42 ◼   ► keyboards. Why'd you have to be that way? Okay well I will explain to you why I

01:03:47 ◼   ► have to be that way. So one I do like the mechanical ones like I like the way it

01:03:51 ◼   ► sounds when you're typing. I forget what what the number is it's like the

01:03:57 ◼   ► 110 key version.

01:03:59 ◼   ► - On their website, I've gotten in now,

01:04:01 ◼   ► you can change the color of every key independently.

01:04:05 ◼   ► - Oh yeah, yeah.

01:04:05 ◼   ► You have infinite options of customizability with that.

01:04:08 ◼   ► - That's wild.

01:04:09 ◼   ► - Like you can do whatever you want.

01:04:10 ◼   ► So, but their customizability is one of the reasons

01:04:13 ◼   ► why I went with them.

01:04:14 ◼   ► So the keyboard that's in front of me right now,

01:04:17 ◼   ► as I'm talking to you, so.

01:04:19 ◼   ► - Hitting and ruining the audio.

01:04:20 ◼   ► - No, it's perfectly fine.

01:04:22 ◼   ► Look, this is all part of it right now.

01:04:24 ◼   ► We can't go into it, but I've changed my setup

01:04:26 ◼   ► so that I'm recording to you on my iMac Pro.

01:04:28 ◼   ► I'm recording to you now in a computer that I use a lot.

01:04:31 ◼   ► So my keyboard here is the, again,

01:04:35 ◼   ► I think 110, 108 key one,

01:04:37 ◼   ► where I do have the separate arrow keys

01:04:41 ◼   ► in page up and page down,

01:04:42 ◼   ► but I don't have the full number.

01:04:44 ◼   ► - That's tenkeyless, right?

01:04:45 ◼   ► - What was that?

01:04:46 ◼   ► - Tenkeyless.

01:04:47 ◼   ► It's like one word.

01:04:48 ◼   ► - Yes, tenkeyless, that's what it's called.

01:04:49 ◼   ► Yes, that's the name of it.

01:04:50 ◼   ► - I love that thing.

01:04:51 ◼   ► - Cannot call that, yeah.

01:04:52 ◼   ► That's what I want,

01:04:54 ◼   ► because I don't want the full length keyboard,

01:04:56 ◼   ► which is too big, it takes up too much space.

01:04:58 ◼   ► But I also have it,

01:04:59 ◼   ► so the one that's in front of me most of the time

01:05:02 ◼   ► is also printed in the Dvorak layout that I actually use.

01:05:06 ◼   ► So this is one of like, oh, I can customize it this way,

01:05:09 ◼   ► this is amazing.

01:05:10 ◼   ► - Oh, you can buy wooden rests, how pretty.

01:05:13 ◼   ► - Listen, do you hear this?

01:05:16 ◼   ► This is the moment Myke is starting to get into keyboards.

01:05:19 ◼   ► - You do have it printed then, it is printed for something.

01:05:22 ◼   ► - No, you have to let me finish here though, right?

01:05:24 ◼   ► So this is why I'm specifying.

01:05:26 ◼   ► So the keyboard in front of me right now is also,

01:05:29 ◼   ► you can pick different switches,

01:05:30 ◼   ► they have different color names for the different kinds.

01:05:33 ◼   ► I have maximum clicky,

01:05:34 ◼   ► because that's what you want during a podcast.

01:05:38 ◼   ► I forget, people will know that.

01:05:39 ◼   ► - Cherry something.

01:05:41 ◼   ► - Cherry something, whatever.

01:05:42 ◼   ► - Cherry blue is what they call tactile click.

01:05:45 ◼   ► - I think that's what it is, yeah.

01:05:46 ◼   ► 'Cause again, when you're podcasting,

01:05:48 ◼   ► what you wanna go for, you wanna get that tactile click.

01:05:51 ◼   ► That's maximum podcast experience.

01:05:53 ◼   ► I every just in the edit just like oh there he goes again.

01:05:57 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:05:58 ◼   ► Pull that one out.

01:05:59 ◼   ► So that's great.

01:06:00 ◼   ► Now I know it sounds crazy to listeners but it is very important to me.

01:06:03 ◼   ► So I do have even in my home office setup I have a very little like standing desk area

01:06:12 ◼   ► where I've set up a separate laptop with an external screen that's just used for writing.

01:06:19 ◼   ► So like, nothing else is installed on that computer except my writing app, and it has

01:06:24 ◼   ► a separate external keyboard that I use.

01:06:26 ◼   ► That keyboard is another WASD keyboard, but I got the slightly less clicky keys because

01:06:34 ◼   ► of RSI concerns, so it's a little bit easier to type on, you know, when I'm like, typing

01:06:39 ◼   ► for hour two in a row.

01:06:41 ◼   ► Like, this is where it really does matter, and it does make a difference.

01:06:44 ◼   ► satisfying click but not as satisfying as podcasting keyboard. And then since ideologically

01:06:52 ◼   ► the idea of this computer setup is I'm trying to remove every distraction that exists in

01:06:59 ◼   ► the world and I'm just focusing on writing, so I thought why not remove even the printing

01:07:05 ◼   ► on the keys. And so yes, that keyboard has no writing on it whatsoever. So that's my

01:07:12 ◼   ► other keyboard there.

01:07:13 ◼   ► It just makes, it's just, you're just showing off.

01:07:17 ◼   ► You're just showing off.

01:07:17 ◼   ► - Showing off that I know how to touch type

01:07:19 ◼   ► like everybody should?

01:07:20 ◼   ► I don't understand.

01:07:21 ◼   ► - It's a show off thing.

01:07:22 ◼   ► No one knows this.

01:07:22 ◼   ► We've been through this before, remember?

01:07:24 ◼   ► - No, this is an aesthetic decision.

01:07:26 ◼   ► It's an aesthetic decision.

01:07:28 ◼   ► It's not a show off thing

01:07:29 ◼   ► because everybody should know how to touch type.

01:07:31 ◼   ► Like this should just be a thing.

01:07:32 ◼   ► - Right, but they don't.

01:07:33 ◼   ► - Well, they should.

01:07:35 ◼   ► They should know how to touch type.

01:07:36 ◼   ► - But no one teaches you this anymore.

01:07:38 ◼   ► - Okay, well, look, that's not my problem.

01:07:40 ◼   ► - Right, you were taught.

01:07:42 ◼   ► It's not fair.

01:07:43 ◼   ► I am lost on this website, Gray. Like so badly right now. You can do everything!

01:07:50 ◼   ► Yes. I can already feel three shows from now Myke's gonna talk about his fancy keyboard.

01:07:57 ◼   ► No, I'm not gonna do it.

01:07:58 ◼   ► Each keycap is going to be from handcrafted artisanal wood filed down to precision by a guy with a mustache.

01:08:06 ◼   ► I'm just very impressed. Like you can change the color of the keys and the color of the text.

01:08:12 ◼   ► Very impressive.

01:08:14 ◼   ► I think you can even upload your own custom image to be up for each of the keys.

01:08:19 ◼   ► So if you want a particular font on each of the keys, you can do that kind of thing.

01:08:22 ◼   ► You know what?

01:08:24 ◼   ► WSD keywords, just email me. Let's talk.

01:08:27 ◼   ► We're just giving you some real promo here. Let's have a conversation.

01:08:31 ◼   ► [laughter]

01:08:33 ◼   ► This is wild, what stuff you can do with these keyboards. Very impressive.

01:08:37 ◼   ► Yeah, I will back them very strongly.

01:08:39 ◼   ► Like I've used these keyboards for a long time now and I really like them. So yeah.

01:08:43 ◼   ► I just, it just, you know, black on black.

01:08:48 ◼   ► Yeah, that's touch typing. That's the magic of touch typing.

01:08:52 ◼   ► Yeah. Brian asked, how does your caffeine usage change throughout the day? And what

01:08:56 ◼   ► are your favorite caffeinated foods or drinks to consume? I mean, for me it is one. It's coffee,

01:09:01 ◼   ► right? Like that's- Yeah, I'm confused by the premise of this question. Like I don't understand.

01:09:05 ◼   ► Okay, so I will see if I can break it down to the way that I understand this.

01:09:09 ◼   ► What is your caffeine intake like these days?

01:09:12 ◼   ► - Enormous, that's the answer.

01:09:13 ◼   ► - Really?

01:09:14 ◼   ► - Yeah.

01:09:15 ◼   ► - So has it changed?

01:09:16 ◼   ► - What do you mean?

01:09:17 ◼   ► - I mean, over time, do you feel like

01:09:18 ◼   ► your caffeine usage has increased?

01:09:20 ◼   ► - I mean, it depends a little bit

01:09:21 ◼   ► on where you're drawing that chart.

01:09:24 ◼   ► If we're drawing it from the moment I was born,

01:09:26 ◼   ► right, if that's the origin to now.

01:09:28 ◼   ► - You're in a mood today.

01:09:30 ◼   ► - No, I'm not in a mood today.

01:09:31 ◼   ► I just like, I look at a question like this and I think,

01:09:34 ◼   ► like, this is the same for, the answer is coffee.

01:09:37 ◼   ► - Right, but the other thing you have to remember is,

01:09:40 ◼   ► you need to keep this stuff in mind.

01:09:42 ◼   ► We have spoken about caffeine intake before,

01:09:45 ◼   ► so people are coming to this question

01:09:47 ◼   ► knowing you in the past and what you did, right?

01:09:50 ◼   ► - Okay, yeah, so what I feel like I want to answer here

01:09:54 ◼   ► is a different question, which is that

01:09:56 ◼   ► the answer to this question is what everybody,

01:10:00 ◼   ► you drink coffee, and as the day goes on,

01:10:03 ◼   ► you drink less if it's just a normal day.

01:10:06 ◼   ► That's the way that works.

01:10:07 ◼   ► Do you drink a lot of coffee though in a day? Yeah, yeah. Okay. What is a lot? How much are

01:10:11 ◼   ► we talking here? Drip coffee? Yeah, drip coffee. I don't know. I don't really want to measure it.

01:10:17 ◼   ► All I can say is it's a lot. But the answer, I think the more interesting answer to this

01:10:24 ◼   ► is not how does my caffeine use change throughout the day. It's really how does my caffeine use

01:10:31 ◼   ► change throughout the year, which is a very different kind of question. If that's the

01:10:35 ◼   ► question you want to answer, let's answer that question.

01:10:38 ◼   ► Yeah, well because I was like, okay, so I drink a lot of coffee because I do genuinely

01:10:43 ◼   ► think that it's useful for the writing process to some extent. But if I'm at a conference,

01:10:51 ◼   ► my coffee use goes from lots to like the spice must flow levels of tremendous amounts of

01:11:01 ◼   ► coffee. And just this summer I was at a conference with a friend who got to see this firsthand,

01:11:07 ◼   ► who was very used to what my normal level of coffee drinking is and was like, "Whoa,

01:11:11 ◼   ► this is a lot, dude." Because I just find that during conference time, it's very difficult for

01:11:19 ◼   ► me. It requires a tremendous amount of focus. And I would say during conferences I often drink,

01:11:28 ◼   ► What if was sustained would be medically concerning amounts of coffee.

01:11:32 ◼   ► But then this sort of alternates with a lot of times during the summer, especially if I'm,

01:11:37 ◼   ► like I was this past summer, doing some traveling where I'm largely on my own for a while,

01:11:42 ◼   ► I will intentionally go for little periods where I don't drink any coffee whatsoever.

01:11:46 ◼   ► So there's like this, there's a phase of what's going on in my life.

01:11:52 ◼   ► So conference time, coffee use goes through the roof. Traveling on my own time, very often coffee

01:11:59 ◼   ► use will go down potentially to zero. And then just normal working days throughout the year,

01:12:06 ◼   ► I would say coffee consumption is well above average. That's the way my coffee consumption

01:12:12 ◼   ► looks. Now, how does your caffeine use change throughout the day?

01:12:17 ◼   ► Let me just ask one last question.

01:12:19 ◼   ► Do you consume caffeine via any other means these days than coffee?

01:12:23 ◼   ► Because I know at a point you were taking caffeine pills before you napped, right?

01:12:27 ◼   ► Yeah, I do that sometimes.

01:12:29 ◼   ► Like if it's a busy work period, I still do like the power nap thing of

01:12:33 ◼   ► take a couple caffeine pills, take a nap and wake up.

01:12:35 ◼   ► And it really does help with that transition out of nap land

01:12:40 ◼   ► where like a nap can really destroy your whole day if you do it wrong.

01:12:43 ◼   ► And whenever I'm traveling, I always forget what the heck they're actually called,

01:12:46 ◼   ► but I think about them as like these substitute coffee drinks, these sort of like caffeine

01:12:52 ◼   ► and electrolyte flavored little drink tablet things. And I do have those while traveling

01:12:58 ◼   ► as my "I'm not able to get a cup of coffee, but I'm still in work mode and I need to get

01:13:03 ◼   ► things done and I always want to have a fallback with me". So yeah, those are the other things

01:13:09 ◼   ► that I have for the drug, my drug of choice.

01:13:12 ◼   ► And I know you made a video on this a long time ago, but like just in general,

01:13:17 ◼   ► your kind of feeling and what you know is caffeine is not bad for you in the amount

01:13:24 ◼   ► that a human would consume it. That's kind of my memory of your video that you did about it.

01:13:29 ◼   ► Yeah, I would phrase it slightly differently. Like I would give a mental heuristic for how

01:13:35 ◼   ► to think about stuff, which is people want to put stuff into categories, particularly with foods,

01:13:41 ◼   ► They want to put things into categories of like, "good" and "bad".

01:13:44 ◼   ► And what I think is, you have to think in terms of effect size.

01:13:49 ◼   ► Like, everything that you do has an effect. What is the effect size?

01:13:53 ◼   ► And for some things, coffee falls into this category.

01:13:58 ◼   ► You have an enormous number of studies that have been done.

01:14:03 ◼   ► And of course, if you have literally thousands of health studies on a substance,

01:14:09 ◼   ► Some of them are going to come up with negative correlations, some of them are going to come up with positive correlations.

01:14:13 ◼   ► But if you look at the whole sum of the field,

01:14:17 ◼   ► what you can say pretty confidently is like if a thousand papers have been done on what are the health effects of coffee, and

01:14:24 ◼   ► they have not

01:14:27 ◼   ► universally come to a strong conclusion that if there is a negative health side effect,

01:14:34 ◼   ► it is very small.

01:14:37 ◼   ► Right, that's like if you want to assume that there is a negative health side effect the magnitude can't be large

01:14:43 ◼   ► Right, whereas you do you do like a different kind of study the kind of classic one of smoking, right?

01:14:49 ◼   ► The correlation between smoking and lung cancer is enormous like the effect size there is very large

01:14:54 ◼   ► Yeah to the point that you can say well if I start doing this

01:14:58 ◼   ► There is a very strong chance that I will have lung like you you can say if I start doing this

01:15:02 ◼   ► There is a very strong chance that this will happen. There's not a lot of things in this world

01:15:06 ◼   ► where you conjure or cause an effect like that.

01:15:09 ◼   ► Yeah, and it's one of the reasons why smoking is used as an example, because I think it

01:15:12 ◼   ► may be like one of the strongest correlations in health, like what is the effect.

01:15:19 ◼   ► What that also means is like there's this concept in science of certainty, like how

01:15:23 ◼   ► certain can you be about one thing causing another.

01:15:27 ◼   ► And the stronger the effect is, the smaller the minimum required number of people that

01:15:33 ◼   ► you can study before being reasonably confident about the effect.

01:15:37 ◼   ► So that's also why the conclusion about coffee, it is interesting to see

01:15:43 ◼   ► that the number of people involved in coffee studies is enormous.

01:15:47 ◼   ► And so that's, that's like what I'm trying to communicate here, that if there was

01:15:51 ◼   ► a strong effect that existed, you should see it in the thousands and thousands

01:15:57 ◼   ► and thousands of people who've been involved in coffee health studies.

01:16:01 ◼   ► There's like an interesting flip side of this which people don't like to hear.

01:16:03 ◼   ► So like, coffee drinkers love to hear, "Oh great, coffee doesn't have a negative downside."

01:16:08 ◼   ► And it's like, yes, I can say that pretty confidently, but I also say the sentence,

01:16:14 ◼   ► "If there is a negative downside, it's small and diffuse throughout the population,

01:16:19 ◼   ► and almost any other health choice you make in your life matters more."

01:16:22 ◼   ► The flip side that people don't like to hear, and this is sort of where I don't even follow my own advice,

01:16:28 ◼   ► is everything that I just said also applies to most studies about most vitamins.

01:16:35 ◼   ► So people sort of think taking vitamins is good, but for almost all of them it's the

01:16:40 ◼   ► same issue of there's a huge amount of studies over an enormous group of the population and

01:16:47 ◼   ► you get like maybe there are some very slight positive correlations but there's no like

01:16:54 ◼   ► really strong effect for most vitamin supplements that exist. But this is where I don't follow

01:17:02 ◼   ► my own advice because I still take vitamins. I'm like, "Well, it can't hurt, right?

01:17:05 ◼   ► I feel like my diet isn't good. This is like diet insurance."

01:17:08 ◼   ► That's how I feel about them. The thing about coffee though, and the downside is it's

01:17:13 ◼   ► incredibly addictive and easy to get your hands on. And if you don't have it after

01:17:17 ◼   ► usually drinking it, you will feel crap.

01:17:20 ◼   ► previous conversation I'm talking about the kinds of things that people worry about in

01:17:24 ◼   ► terms of health concerns.

01:17:27 ◼   ► Now we have a whole different conversation about "Is coffee addictive?"

01:17:31 ◼   ► Oh, 100%!

01:17:33 ◼   ► Like yes, there is no doubt about this question whatsoever that it is addictive.

01:17:41 ◼   ► And there's always like, there's one thing I could, if I could go back in time, I would

01:17:45 ◼   ► sort of change about that coffee video that I made, and it is where it feels like, "Oh,

01:17:48 ◼   ► younger man made this video and I make this comment about like, "oh, coffee is a real

01:17:53 ◼   ► physical addiction, not like those wimpy psychological addictions" or something like that. It's like

01:17:57 ◼   ► that's the one part of that video where I'm like, "Ooh!" Like, current me cringes a little

01:18:02 ◼   ► at that and I'm like, "I would take that out now. I don't like that part."

01:18:04 ◼   ► You're a more enlightened being now.

01:18:06 ◼   ► It's like, it's not that I'm enlightened, it's that I've just come across enough stuff

01:18:10 ◼   ► which I think the way I would phrase it is that younger me was more convinced of a meaningful

01:18:17 ◼   ► difference between those two statements, and current me is much less convinced about there's

01:18:23 ◼   ► a meaningful distinction to be commented on here.

01:18:26 ◼   ► So I just throw that into, like, when we're talking about it as coffee addictive.

01:18:30 ◼   ► It's like, yes, 100%.

01:18:32 ◼   ► There are well-studied physical reasons why it is addictive, but there's also just this

01:18:39 ◼   ► messy confusion about psychological addiction as well.

01:18:42 ◼   ► And so, yeah, I will own up to the fact that I am addicted to coffee.

01:18:49 ◼   ► But it's also why, like I mentioned before, I do like to do the thing of not having coffee

01:18:55 ◼   ► for periods of time very intentionally.

01:18:57 ◼   ► It's being like, "Yeah, it's fine.

01:18:59 ◼   ► I can break this addiction and it's not a problem."

01:19:02 ◼   ► But I do like to drink coffee because I'm very convinced that it does give me this little

01:19:09 ◼   ► boost in writing sessions. Not like a huge difference, it's not a make or break deal,

01:19:16 ◼   ► but I do think it adds like five to seven percent of a kind of like sharpness when I'm

01:19:26 ◼   ► writing. So that's why I do always like to have coffee when I'm working, is like, I think

01:19:33 ◼   ► that's really worth it. And then that just opens the door to like, well, once coffee's

01:19:37 ◼   ► in your life a little, coffee is going to be in your life a lot. So that's my summation

01:19:44 ◼   ► feelings about coffee.

01:19:46 ◼   ► I have two coffees a day, typically. They're espresso-based drinks, right? Like I make

01:19:53 ◼   ► like latte-type things. So it's twice a day.

01:19:57 ◼   ► Do you have one of those little latte machines?

01:19:58 ◼   ► Yeah, I've made you coffee from that machine.

01:20:00 ◼   ► Oh yeah, that's right. That's right, yeah, of course.

01:20:03 ◼   ► So I have one double espresso drink in the morning and then one other at a different

01:20:10 ◼   ► time of the day depending on what my work is like for the day.

01:20:13 ◼   ► Are you like timing it for afternoon work?

01:20:16 ◼   ► Is that what you mean by that?

01:20:17 ◼   ► Depends what I've got going on.

01:20:18 ◼   ► But yes, it's like tactically deployed.

01:20:22 ◼   ► So I have like a system.

01:20:24 ◼   ► So like on Monday I have my second coffee at five o'clock.

01:20:28 ◼   ► Tuesday is variable.

01:20:30 ◼   ► Wednesday is five o'clock.

01:20:31 ◼   ► Tuesday is usually around 3. Thursday depends on whether we're recording or not.

01:20:35 ◼   ► So I had it today at like, half past 4.

01:20:39 ◼   ► So I kind of time it to the shows that I'm doing.

01:20:42 ◼   ► Oh, I just realized, yeah, because whenever we're recording,

01:20:46 ◼   ► we do like the little pre-chat for the show.

01:20:49 ◼   ► And then we always take a break.

01:20:51 ◼   ► And I think I've never tuned into the language that you always use of,

01:20:54 ◼   ► "Oh, I'm going to make a coffee."

01:20:56 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah. It's the one.

01:20:58 ◼   ► Yeah, and I always say, "Yeah, yeah, like I'm gonna go top up my coffee."

01:21:02 ◼   ► And I think I've never really understood that like, "Oh yes, Myke is going off to have his tactical coffee."

01:21:06 ◼   ► "Oh, I'm out there, I'm grinding the beans, I'm foaming the milk, like I'm doing the whole thing."

01:21:11 ◼   ► That's also why it takes you so long, because, ah, okay, it all makes sense now.

01:21:15 ◼   ► It's a multiple minute process.

01:21:16 ◼   ► It all makes sense now, because what I'm doing is I'm just going into the kitchen,

01:21:21 ◼   ► where there exists pot two or three of coffee for the day, and just pouring more into my cup.

01:21:27 ◼   ► And that's always like, why does it take Myke so long?

01:21:30 ◼   ► It's like, oh, that's why.

01:21:31 ◼   ► He's making his second coffee.

01:21:33 ◼   ► - I have, 'cause again, people always ask,

01:21:36 ◼   ► I have one of these machines in America,

01:21:38 ◼   ► they're called Breville machines.

01:21:40 ◼   ► In the UK, they're called Sage machines.

01:21:42 ◼   ► It's the same machine, but it's just different branded.

01:21:44 ◼   ► And I love it.

01:21:45 ◼   ► We got it as a wedding present and I adore it.

01:21:50 ◼   ► Look, it's a big thing in that it takes cleaning

01:21:54 ◼   ► and maintenance and that sort of stuff,

01:21:55 ◼   ► but I really like being able to make coffee

01:21:58 ◼   ► in this way at home, like I was using AeroPress before.

01:22:01 ◼   ► And that's perfectly fine.

01:22:03 ◼   ► And I still use AeroPress whenever we're away or something.

01:22:05 ◼   ► Like I might take, like when we're going away for Christmas,

01:22:08 ◼   ► I'll take an AeroPress and some pre-ground beans with me

01:22:10 ◼   ► and then I can do stuff at family homes and stuff.

01:22:14 ◼   ► But I love that coffee.

01:22:15 ◼   ► And I'm pretty happy with the fact that I,

01:22:19 ◼   ► I mean, I've been drinking coffee kind of in this way,

01:22:22 ◼   ► like seriously for nearly 10 years.

01:22:25 ◼   ► I still feel the effects of it and I can still use it,

01:22:30 ◼   ► like I can still deploy it tactically in that way.

01:22:33 ◼   ► And I'm pretty happy with the fact

01:22:35 ◼   ► that I've been able to do that.

01:22:37 ◼   ► Because most people that I know are burned by it,

01:22:41 ◼   ► essentially, right?

01:22:42 ◼   ► Like you, right?

01:22:44 ◼   ► You drink a lot of coffee,

01:22:46 ◼   ► so your impact to it is different now.

01:22:50 ◼   ► - Burned by coffee?

01:22:52 ◼   ► No, my coffee is my friend.

01:22:53 ◼   ► I just have to use-- - Yes.

01:22:54 ◼   ► I just have to use, my tactical deployment is a nuclear bomb of coffee during conference

01:23:03 ◼   ► season, right?

01:23:04 ◼   ► We just, we have tactical deployments, they're just at different levels, right?

01:23:07 ◼   ► You've got your little sniper shot of coffee, right?

01:23:11 ◼   ► Like for one particular goal.

01:23:12 ◼   ► I'm like, oh no, oh no.

01:23:15 ◼   ► Like a scorched earth coffee approach.

01:23:17 ◼   ► Yeah, that's my approach.