0:00:00Evernote changed their icon and plunged me into two weeks of dissatisfactionally rearranging
0:00:07my home screen icons.
0:00:09They went from green and white to white and green, right?
0:00:12They like inverted it or something?
0:00:14Yeah, they went for this popular aesthetic that I think is garbage.
0:00:17Okay.
0:00:18Which is the white icon with the color thing in the center.
0:00:20I think that looks terrible, but that's what they went for.
0:00:24Thanks Evernote.
0:00:25Let me ask you a question, right?
0:00:26Because I had this in my notes for a different reason, actually.
0:00:29Do you know that they changed the icon? The actual icon is different?
0:00:33What do you mean the elephant is different?
0:00:35The elephant is new, apparently.
0:00:37Is it? I didn't notice.
0:00:39It's a new elephant. It is ever so slightly more rounded. There was this big article in
0:00:44Fast Company about Evernote's new branding, and it brought to me two things that frustrates
0:00:52me about large Silicon Valley companies.
0:00:55Point number one is why did they think that anybody cares about their branding?
0:01:01Like Evernote had an app update, right?
0:01:05In which the notes were saying like, "Oh, have you noticed anything different?"
0:01:08Like their whole release notes for their app update was focused around the fact that they
0:01:11have a new icon with some new coloring inside of the application.
0:01:15Like I don't think there was any new specific features that came along with this rebranding,
0:01:20which is meant to have changed their focus.
0:01:23They wanna reflect on their past
0:01:25and go forward focusing on the fact
0:01:28of remembering everything and they change their icon.
0:01:31- Great, and what I want is markdown support and notes.
0:01:33- So this is it.
0:01:34Any big company that is really proud of their new app icon
0:01:39can't talk about it if they're gonna upset their customers
0:01:43because they don't have the features that they want.
0:01:46These things, you do them because you're proud of it.
0:01:49I understand that, but you need to be aware of the fact
0:01:52that you're just gonna annoy everyone.
0:01:54Everyone's just gonna be really annoyed at you.
0:01:57But the second thing, the thing that annoys me most,
0:01:59I want you to open this article,
0:02:01and you scroll down to about halfway through the page.
0:02:03- Okay.
0:02:04- And you'll see this picture, it's a photo,
0:02:09of a lot of pieces of paper stuck to a wall.
0:02:12- Okay.
0:02:13- And it's showing all of the different design routes
0:02:16that this company called Design Studio went through when tasked with recreating...
0:02:21Jesus, this is a long article. Where the hell is this? Oh, okay, man.
0:02:25It's very long. It's, yeah, it's very long.
0:02:27Who wants 10,000 words on Evernote's branding? Jesus.
0:02:32So if you look at this picture, you'll see, like, this company went through a lot,
0:02:36a lot of revisions, right? But, like, nothing really changed.
0:02:41They got a new typeface, slightly different serif typeface, right?
0:02:46the word mark and the logo is the same elephant just slightly rounded but if you take a look at
0:02:51the wall you can see they they tried a lot of different things right yeah and this reminds me
0:02:59of google remember when google redesigned their logo and like google's looks more different
0:03:05but i remember there were these big articles and these big like photos showing like the design
0:03:12agency that they employed to look at it, had a bunch of like really drastic changes, but
0:03:18the company ends up just going with something relatively simple. And it's like, I just
0:03:23wonder how much money was spent on this.
0:03:26I mean, all I can think of, this is literally a joke in the Silicon Valley show about, they
0:03:32spend all of this money to go through all of these different designs and they end up
0:03:35with just a logo that's a lowercase p like every other company.
0:03:40Because if you look at this picture, there are some interesting roots here that you can
0:03:46see.
0:03:47Right at the very top there's a green line drawing of the logo that I really like.
0:03:56And I just find this stuff so funny.
0:03:59So you're really proud of your minuscule change to your branding, then have a fast company
0:04:06come in and write this huge piece about it.
0:04:09It's just like, I don't know who this is in service of, and I just find it really strange.
0:04:14It is really strange. This is extra funny for me because had I known that Fast Company
0:04:22would give this kind of promotion for subtly changing your logo, I would have gotten in
0:04:28touch when I changed my logo earlier this year.
0:04:31Yeah, yeah. I remember the real harsh change that you made. You made an ever-nodesque change
0:04:38to the CGP Grey logo.
0:04:40- Oh, it was 100% an Evernote-esque change.
0:04:44And I published it nowhere.
0:04:46I commented on it nowhere because my feeling was
0:04:50nobody is going to care except for me
0:04:54and the few other people that were bothered
0:04:57by some very minor design problems in the first logo.
0:05:02- Because here's the thing,
0:05:02I assume all of our listeners are saying now,
0:05:04wait, what logo changed?
0:05:07- Exactly, right.
0:05:08Because you would never know, in the same way that,
0:05:10had Evernote not changed the colors
0:05:13and had just changed the picture of the elephant,
0:05:15I don't think I would have ever noticed.
0:05:16- Or if they never would have had this article go out,
0:05:18everybody would have just thought that their new branding
0:05:21was they inverted the colors.
0:05:22You'd never know that there was a new logo on Workmark.
0:05:25- Where's my article, Fast Company?
0:05:28- Exactly.
0:05:28- It's so, I agree with you completely.
0:05:32It would never have occurred to me,
0:05:34I feel like I would have sounded like
0:05:36some kind of huge a**hole if I wrote a big article on my blog about how I'm changing
0:05:41my logo.
0:05:42What you did is you just softened stuff up a little bit and changed some ways that it's
0:05:47represented. It's still the little beaker and the gear, right? Like nothing really changed,
0:05:52but it got refined.
0:05:53There were some very, very slight asymmetries in the original logo that if you blew it up
0:05:59to a thousand percent its size would become obvious, right? And so that's basically
0:06:04what it was, like, okay, let's get these things changed and smoothed up. That's all it was.
0:06:09I mean, it looks very different to me, but when I showed my wife the new logo next to the old one,
0:06:17her first response was, "What's the difference? What are you showing me?"
0:06:18Yeah, it's like Evan, though, right? Like, it's the same. You showed it to me, and at first I was like,
0:06:22"Mmm." It's exactly the same!
0:06:27This is the thing, right? Like, in my company, we really care about these things. Like, we really
0:06:34care about visual design and trying to make things look really nice. I don't have a problem
0:06:39with that. I think what I have a problem with is these really really large companies thinking
0:06:45that people are going to care in a positive way. I think people care but they care negatively.
0:06:53I don't think people get a good feeling from this because you see this thing that you probably
0:07:01have some problems with because it's been around for so long now that Evernote's users,
0:07:05I reckon they have a large percentage of their user base are in node with the product, like
0:07:09you, right? And then you see like, is this what they're spending their time and money
0:07:14on?
0:07:15Yeah. Even if this is just a Skunk Works project, right, that that involved essentially 0.001%
0:07:23of the company's time, it's not 0.01% of the article, like the article is the whole
0:07:29the whole thing.
0:07:30And I was aware of their description in the release notes
0:07:34for when the new app came out.
0:07:35- Notice anything different about us?
0:07:37We've updated our look to reflect our renewed purpose,
0:07:40helping you focus on what matters most.
0:07:42But they didn't have any features that went along with this.
0:07:45- Yeah, and again, as someone who,
0:07:47as I'm sure we all remember,
0:07:49uses Evernote so intensely that he ran up against
0:07:52the fundamental engineering limits of the app,
0:07:54is like, I open it up, like, this is no different.
0:07:56Oh, there's a bit more white space.
0:07:58Well, they changed the colors, and with that, the original version, they introduced a feature
0:08:03that collected notes that people share with you, but that's not really got anything to
0:08:08do with their new overarching vision.
0:08:11It just seems so strange to me.
0:08:12I would totally understand making a big song and dance out of this if they'd also made
0:08:17some huge changes to the service, but they haven't.
0:08:21This is a company disease.
0:08:22It's like the time Dropbox changed their logo recently and they wanted to write a whole
0:08:25big article about the Dropbox logo change, which read like a crazy person had written
0:08:31it. It was so bizarre.
0:08:32I have no problem with people taking pride in their branding and like spending time and
0:08:37money on making it better, but don't assume anybody else cares.
0:08:41Yeah, and especially for relatively minor changes. Like even the new Dropbox logo is
0:08:47basically the same thing. The Evernote one is comically the same thing. I will give one
0:08:51One more example, which to me is the worst way to do this.
0:08:55So if you are the CEO of a Silicon Valley company, listen close.
0:09:01Listen close to the tale of caution that was Yahoo's design rollout.
0:09:08I don't know if you remember this mic, but perhaps this is before your time on the internet.
0:09:14Yahoo decided to change their logo away from the,
0:09:19oh boy, it wasn't the 90s internet super embarrassing
0:09:23to a modern logo.
0:09:24They did what I thought was the dumbest thing in the world,
0:09:27which is they talked about this big logo competition.
0:09:30And then for a week,
0:09:32they kept showing on the Yahoo homepage,
0:09:37the logos they weren't going to use
0:09:41until the grand unveiling on the final day of the week
0:09:45of the real new logo.
0:09:47- So over the course of a week,
0:09:49everyone got to pick their new favorite logo
0:09:51and it has none of them.
0:09:53- Yeah, yeah.
0:09:54But it's also like, hey, you're just opening yourself up
0:09:57to what exactly happened.
0:09:59What are the chances that everyone's going to agree
0:10:03the one on Friday is better
0:10:04than all the ones they've seen before?
0:10:05Like, I've never seen a more guaranteed
0:10:09to set yourself up for failure move from a company.
0:10:13And it's like, "Oh, I really like the Tuesday logo."
0:10:15Well, now the Friday logo has to be better than that.
0:10:19And it can't possibly be because,
0:10:21"Oh, I've gotten used to the Tuesday logo all day."
0:10:23And then they change to the Wednesday logo
0:10:24and go, "Oh, I don't like this at all."
0:10:26And then by the time Friday rolls around,
0:10:28I've already idealized in my head
0:10:31how great that Tuesday logo was.
0:10:33I don't know who was in charge of that campaign.
0:10:36That is maybe one of just the most boneheaded
0:10:39marketing decisions I've ever seen.
0:10:41Like it was terrible.
0:10:43- And so what we're trying to say is we're pleased
0:10:46to announce the Cortex logo redesign contest.
0:10:49It's what we've been building to this entire time.
0:10:52So we're really excited to see what people put in the Reddit
0:10:55for their re-imagining of the Cortex logo.
0:10:58- Yeah, we're gonna pick a winner at the end of the year,
0:11:01but every episode between now and then
0:11:03is going to have some other logo on it, right?
0:11:05(laughing)
0:11:08How could this go wrong?
0:11:09- It sounds like only a winning idea.
0:11:11(laughing)
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0:12:55make your next website.
0:12:57I would like you to sum up the USB-C feedback that we've been receiving.
0:13:02No, no.
0:13:03My favorite was the amount of times we kept getting told about the fact that USB-C and
0:13:11Thunderbolt 3 were different, even though we 100% addressed that on the show. But only is there a
0:13:16symptom of the fact of how confusing it is that even though we spoke about it, people still
0:13:21thought that we didn't speak about it, because it is a minefield.
0:13:25- Yeah, I just, Myke is looking at some notes
0:13:29that Past Gray wrote in the show notes.
0:13:33A gray of two weeks ago that I don't even want
0:13:36to think about because I don't want to get
0:13:41into this minefield, but let me just try to summarize
0:13:44and say that very helpful listeners in the comments
0:13:49brought to my attention what turned out to be
0:13:53one of the fundamental problems with my setup.
0:13:56And it is that the Blackmagic eGPU
0:14:01did not come with a 0.5 meter USB-C/Thunderbolt 3
0:14:06fully powered cable.
0:14:08- To screw you.
0:14:09- Right, to screw me out of spite
0:14:12or as could be understood, mere cheapness.
0:14:16We could put in a one meter one,
0:14:18but instead we're going to put in a half meter one.
0:14:21No, the reason they did it is because to get the speeds required to use something like an eGPU
0:14:29and an external monitor also plugged into that eGPU, the Thunderbolt 3 spec
0:14:36only supports full speed at half meter or less long cables.
0:14:41- Yep.
0:14:41- Is it- am I right in thinking that it's that or you have to buy an incredibly expensive cable?
0:14:50Is that right?
0:14:51-Here's the thing.
0:14:52If you are Pixar Studios or someone else like that,
0:14:57you can get these crazy optical Thunderbolt cables.
0:15:02-Okay. Why can't you get them?
0:15:04-They are not priced in the realm of mortals.
0:15:07-Oh.
0:15:08-When you find a website that does not list the price
0:15:11of the thing that you would like to purchase --
0:15:13spoiler alert -- it's gonna be a pain in the ass,
0:15:16and it's gonna be expensive to get.
0:15:17-Whoa!
0:15:19Wow! 10 meter Corning optical Thunderbolt cable on Amazon.
0:15:24307 pounds for a 10 meter cable?
0:15:30My word!
0:15:33Yeah, it's madness.
0:15:35Oh, they're very expensive.
0:15:38Yes, they are very expensive.
0:15:40So my eGPU is now sitting on the desk.
0:15:43The thing that I found out is the original setup that I was using
0:15:49had a one meter cable going from my laptop down to the eGPU,
0:15:54and then the thing that was really killing me, another one meter cable back from the eGPU to the monitor.
0:16:03So this 5K display was trying to push all the pixels back and forth across two meters,
0:16:11four times the acceptable length for the necessary data transfer.
0:16:17And it was like, I wasn't crazy.
0:16:18I couldn't, I wasn't able to get all the pixels
0:16:21I thought I was supposed to get on the monitor.
0:16:23And it turns out like, yes, if I use two half meter cables,
0:16:27then I can get the full resolution.
0:16:29Otherwise I was not getting the full resolution
0:16:31on that screen.
0:16:32It was maddening.
0:16:33- You can use, you can daisy chain two half meter cables?
0:16:37- Yeah, that seemed to be able to be under
0:16:38whatever the limit was, but having two one meter cables,
0:16:43obviously there must've been enough degradation
0:16:45in the data that it wasn't working.
0:16:47- I did just find out that you can buy these cables
0:16:51on Apple's Hong Kong website.
0:16:54- What, the optical cables?
0:16:56- The Corning one, but you can't buy them on the UK site.
0:17:00And that doesn't make sense to me.
0:17:03- Too fast for the UK.
0:17:05- I guess, it's very strange.
0:17:09- Yeah, as a final thing, I got a ton of feedback
0:17:12from people who were pointing out as well,
0:17:14the thing that, I wish I had said it in the show,
0:17:17but you never cover everything that you want to.
0:17:19They go, "Hey, don't you know
0:17:22"that there's a little lightning bolt on the cable
0:17:25"that has thunderbolt support?
0:17:27"Aren't you aware of this?"
0:17:28The answer is yes.
0:17:29- Well, this is what I was saying, right?
0:17:31So this is the thing, I just said this,
0:17:33and you've just said, this is how confusing it is, right?
0:17:36I just said that. (laughs)
0:17:38- I'm trying to make it as clear as possible
0:17:40to the listeners who sent me all this feedback,
0:17:43like, look for it.
0:17:44And what I want to say is, the problem with the cables,
0:17:49it's not just all the specs, it's the flakiness.
0:17:53So I found out after that show, that by like, again,
0:17:58doing this ridiculous A/B testing of hardware,
0:18:02that I have a bunch of USB 3.0 Lightning cables
0:18:05that just don't work, right?
0:18:06Like they're not transferring the data
0:18:08at the rate that they're supposed to.
0:18:10- 'Cause this is the problem,
0:18:11a cable that is broken isn't completely broken.
0:18:14- That's exactly it.
0:18:15All of them still support the power,
0:18:18but I had USB-C Thunderbolt cables
0:18:21that were clearly not actually able to communicate
0:18:23with peripherals with Thunderbolt speeds.
0:18:26So I was like, great, it's great.
0:18:27Whatever you guys, I don't even know where these cables,
0:18:30like I'm not, I don't know,
0:18:31I'm not pointing fingers at any manufacturers.
0:18:33All I know is like, I got this bucket of expensive cables
0:18:36and some portion of them don't even work
0:18:38as advertised by the little lightning bolt on them.
0:18:40So again, TL;DR, USB-C is f*cking garbage and I hate it.
0:18:47So, Gray, I thought to myself that it would be fun to do some Ask Cortex today, because
0:18:54we haven't done it in a while.
0:18:55So while I was preparing for the episode, I thought I would tweet from the @CortexPodcast
0:19:00Twitter account, "Hey, why don't we get some #AskCortex questions?"
0:19:04Oh, we got a lot.
0:19:06I think people have been waiting for this segment to come back.
0:19:08We got lots and lots of questions.
0:19:11- It did seem like there had been a bit of a buildup.
0:19:13- Yes, I wanna just chip away at some of those
0:19:16by basically devoting the rest of this entire episode
0:19:19to #AskCortex.
0:19:21- We gotta clear the Cortex-dex.
0:19:22- We're not gonna clear it, I can tell you that.
0:19:25- No, we can clear it, we can clear it, Myke.
0:19:26- All right, so buckle up for six hours.
0:19:29- At least an hour before I really need to go,
0:19:31so I'm sure we can get all this out.
0:19:33- Okay, we may get through 2% of the questions I have.
0:19:37All right, then let's kick off #AskCortac
0:19:40so this question from John,
0:19:41which is one that I've actually seen a bunch of times,
0:19:43so I think it might be a good one to start with.
0:19:46What, if any, personal budgeting software
0:19:49or tracking do you use?
0:19:51- Oh, for personal stuff? - Yeah.
0:19:53- My wife and I have a system that just uses a spreadsheet,
0:19:58and it's something that we have done
0:20:00as long as we've been married.
0:20:04actually, I guess before we were even married,
0:20:07to split up bills.
0:20:09But we just have it, it's not really complicated,
0:20:11but it's just a basic spreadsheet that tracks
0:20:14what are all the shared expenses and tallies them up.
0:20:19The only, I don't know, I guess for listeners,
0:20:22the only thing about it that's interesting
0:20:24that I would recommend to couples to do
0:20:29is that the spreadsheet does a little calculation
0:20:32about what share of the bills we need to put into the common pot based on what our incomes
0:20:40are.
0:20:41So as we have spent a long time together, like our incomes have varied, like sometimes
0:20:45she earns more than me and sometimes I've earned more than her.
0:20:49And currently the situation where my income is quite variable, we just have this little
0:20:55spreadsheet always do the thing where it's like, oh, well, if if she's earned 60% of
0:20:59income then she pays 60% of the shared bills and if I'm earning 60% of the income this
0:21:04month then I pay 60% of the shared bills.
0:21:07I think it's a way that it just feels like a nice fair way to do it and it feels like
0:21:13we're both contributing and it's worked really well for us over the whole course of our marriage.
0:21:21So that's, it's pretty simple but that's just what we do.
0:21:24What do you guys have?
0:21:25We have the exact same thing.
0:21:27We have a spreadsheet that Adina mostly manages because she's very good at
0:21:31putting together spreadsheets, which has all of our bills.
0:21:35And then we don't we we break it up slightly differently.
0:21:38We just have a fixed percentage.
0:21:40Like I pay a percentage and she pays a percentage and it's just the same.
0:21:43Right. But again, it's like it's based on our income,
0:21:46but it doesn't fluctuate so differently.
0:21:48And that's kind of how we manage all of our shared expenses.
0:21:51It's just through this sheet.
0:21:53So every month I take a look at the sheet, I see what my total is and I transfer that
0:21:57to our joint account and that's where all our bills come out of.
0:22:00And that's just kind of how that works.
0:22:02For myself, I don't have any budgeting for my own personal money.
0:22:08I wasn't very good with money when I was younger and got myself into some sticky situations
0:22:15as a younger man.
0:22:17So I have gotten a lot better at just frequently checking my bank accounts and just understanding
0:22:24what I've got and spending responsibly.
0:22:27I know that there are a lot of tools that exist and especially now there are more and
0:22:31more of them because of some changes to the way that banking information is shared legally
0:22:37and at least in the UK.
0:22:40You may have noticed recently there are a lot more services that exist where you can
0:22:44sign in with your internet banking information for your bank and it can track your accounts.
0:22:49This is because there was some legislation changes.
0:22:52I didn't realize that, yeah, because for years you could never get anything like that in
0:22:55the UK.
0:22:56These things do exist and they can be good.
0:22:58I don't have any that I can personally recommend because I just don't use them.
0:23:02I do think that it is important for people to have some kind of budgeting practice in
0:23:06mind.
0:23:07It can just be as simple as just writing what you have and what you're spending.
0:23:11It can be very simple or you can have an app or you can do what I do.
0:23:15It's just I look at my bank balances.
0:23:17That's really interesting to hear about that with the change in the banking laws.
0:23:20I think I'll be curious to look into that because I've tried on occasion to use a
0:23:27more formal system from my wife and I and from my own expenses and for her expenses,
0:23:35but it's always just been too heavyweight.
0:23:38It's like, oh, this is too much solution,
0:23:40where it's just like a basic spreadsheet covers 95%
0:23:43of the things that you care about and expenses.
0:23:46So, but yeah, if there's more automated solutions available,
0:23:50I'll be curious to look into that.
0:23:51- Oh, that stuff's gonna get,
0:23:53it's getting severely productized right now.
0:23:56Like there's gonna be more and more of these things.
0:23:58It's from banks and from startups.
0:24:01- Great.
0:24:02- There is like a whole industry that's been created
0:24:04around this stuff now.
0:24:05so you're going to get used to seeing these things a lot.
0:24:08Marut wants to know,
0:24:11how did you both decide which business ideas to pursue?
0:24:15Did you love the type of work
0:24:16that you're doing now beforehand,
0:24:18or did you just find out that you were good at it?
0:24:21Funnily enough, Marut's second part of his question,
0:24:25I think sum up both of our approaches
0:24:27for our current businesses, right?
0:24:29I found something I loved,
0:24:31you found something you were good at.
0:24:33Yeah, this question makes me feel like a monster because...
0:24:38I hate what I do and I'm not good at it, but I'm successful and that's it.
0:24:43Just follow my lead.
0:24:48When this comes up, this is where you get to be the person that people want to be.
0:24:55Right?
0:24:56You have the clearly winning story, right?
0:25:00Because you had a thing that you loved and you pursued success in that field and you achieved success in that field.
0:25:09Right.
0:25:10And that's what people want.
0:25:11Okay, but now I'm going to argue on your side.
0:25:13I think that your path is the path that people should actually aim to achieve.
0:25:17Oh, no, I agree with you there.
0:25:19People should be more like me.
0:25:21Yeah, I think the world is filled with fools like you, yes.
0:25:24Yes, yes.
0:25:25I believe that people can achieve what they want to achieve.
0:25:30The problem is a lot of people understandably don't want to do what I did,
0:25:34which was ruin my life for five years, right?
0:25:37Until I got to where I am because I hated everything about my job because I just
0:25:43had a job that I hated and didn't bother to move because all I cared about was
0:25:48just trying to do what I wanted to do as opposed to actually maybe trying to
0:25:52find something that was a little bit more comfortable for the work that I had to
0:25:55do to earn money.
0:25:57and then just ruined all of my personal relationships
0:26:01'cause I never had any free time, right?
0:26:03Like this is stuff that people, by and large, shouldn't do.
0:26:06But for a lot of people, unfortunately,
0:26:08is the way that you get to doing the thing you wanna do.
0:26:12- Yeah, no, no, no, Myke, you don't understand
0:26:14because most people would have found you
0:26:17when you were already successful,
0:26:20like the anthropic principle, right?
0:26:21Like they found you when you were successful
0:26:23because that's when they would find you.
0:26:25- Yeah.
0:26:26So that is the moment upon which you were just birthed into the universe in the successful
0:26:31hole that you are.
0:26:34That's how that works.
0:26:35But anyway, to get back on track, I think that it is better for people to, and people
0:26:41will I think overall be happier in their lives if they follow the CGP Grey method of finding
0:26:46a thing that you're good at and then doing it.
0:26:49also an additional problem here, which is, you know, you as a successful podcaster, you're
0:26:58at the example of a thing that I just, I think people don't think about very clearly, which
0:27:05is the odds of success in fields where everybody wants to go. And so, especially with like
0:27:14podcasts are booming now.
0:27:15- Yeah, 10 years ago or eight years ago,
0:27:18they weren't as popular as they are now.
0:27:20- Yeah.
0:27:21- So it was easier for me to get started.
0:27:24- Yeah, and it's also a thing that,
0:27:26again, almost definitionally,
0:27:28I'm less convinced about the easy to get started argument.
0:27:34I tend to think it actually gets easier
0:27:36to get started over time,
0:27:39but what doesn't get easier is the probability of success
0:27:44compared to everyone else entering the field.
0:27:47You get more and more people entering this field
0:27:53and you will have proportionately fewer
0:27:56and fewer successes.
0:27:57I worry when people get advice to just keep trying hard
0:28:04in a field that has that kind of shape to it,
0:28:08that everybody wants to do this thing.
0:28:11- I think it's fine to,
0:28:13and I can clarify my feeling on this a little bit more,
0:28:17if you love doing a thing, like do it,
0:28:21but don't necessarily try really hard to make it your job.
0:28:25If you wanna have a podcast 'cause you like a thing
0:28:29and you wanna talk about a thing,
0:28:31by all means, do that thing if it's what you love,
0:28:35but it can be really hard to then be like,
0:28:38I love this, this needs to be my job.
0:28:40- Yeah, yeah, that's the transition.
0:28:43Because that wasn't how I started either, right?
0:28:45Like I started him for many years,
0:28:47just did it because I really loved it.
0:28:49It seemed like a really fun thing to do.
0:28:52And then over time became something that as I started
0:28:55to get like a little traction, right?
0:28:58Like it seemed like it was something that could maybe build
0:29:00then I was like, oh, maybe imagine if, right?
0:29:04And then that was when it then became
0:29:06like a six year journey.
0:29:09- Obviously I think the, if you're giving advice,
0:29:12I think the CGP Grey path is the more universally
0:29:16applicable advice, which is try to scan the horizon
0:29:20for things that you're interested in,
0:29:24that you might want to develop or see what works,
0:29:28like place a bunch of bets on the table
0:29:30and then double down on the bets that work.
0:29:33And you can build up a positive feedback loop
0:29:37on this thing.
0:29:38And it also does have the problem of, again,
0:29:41the perception of the way things work versus the reality of the way things work.
0:29:45So I will say though, this isn't all I do, right? I also run a business, sell ads. That's
0:29:53a thing that I'm just good at. It's not necessarily my dream. I didn't dream that I would sell
0:30:02advertising. But that's actually just a skill that I had, which I built up over years of
0:30:09of working in a big company and eventually transitioning into a marketing role.
0:30:14I learned some of the skills of how you talk to people, how you sell something,
0:30:19how you convince someone that this is a good bet for them to take a chance on you.
0:30:23Right. Like I learned these skills working for a big corporation in a marketing department.
0:30:28So then it eventually was like, oh, I shouldn't just do this.
0:30:32I should also do the business part of this.
0:30:36Right. And that was when it transitioned for me because I found something I was good at
0:30:42and was able to couple that with a thing that I loved and then it progressed into something
0:30:48that was successful. I would not be where I am right now if I didn't do that other part of it.
0:30:53That's an excellent point and in my own way I can mirror that simply from
0:30:59recognizing that I had some above average ability to explain things when I was younger,
0:31:05like people would make remarks like, "Oh, that's a really good comparison."
0:31:09But that tiny little seed then grows up into,
0:31:14"Oh, when I'm older and I'm flailing around and I have no idea what to do for money
0:31:17and like, it's like I'm going to starve to death, like what job am I going to do?"
0:31:21It's like, well, teaching ticks a lot of boxes.
0:31:24One of those boxes is, "I think I'm pretty good at explaining things just naturally."
0:31:29And then like the marketing thing,
0:31:31"Well, now I'm in a job where I'm doing this all day long,
0:31:33Like I'm spending all day long talking to people
0:31:35and having to explain things and getting multiple passes
0:31:38at trying to explain the same thing
0:31:40and developing a skill that started out as like,
0:31:45oh, maybe you were like a little better than average
0:31:47in the population on this.
0:31:49But now after several years of teaching,
0:31:51it's like, oh, you've developed this thing
0:31:52into a much better than average skill.
0:31:56And that then, you know,
0:31:59now that you have a much better than average skill,
0:32:02maybe there are other ways to apply this into work
0:32:07that is overall more well-suited to your personality
0:32:10than teaching is.
0:32:12But yeah, but you can take things
0:32:15that you just happen to have a little bit more interest
0:32:17or skill in and develop them over time
0:32:21into things that are beneficial to you.
0:32:25I just wanna say, because I always worry about it,
0:32:30It's like, you do need to have in mind very strongly the idea of what is useful or interesting to other people.
0:32:41Like, that is really the key feature when you're trying to build something or build a career or build a company or do anything is,
0:32:50I just very often come across people who are super interested in the thing that they're super interested in,
0:32:56and then naturally assume that everybody else
0:32:59is also going to be interested in seeing them
0:33:01do the thing that they're working on.
0:33:03And you've got to have your antenna up for
0:33:06what is the world interested in?
0:33:09Or like, or what does the world want?
0:33:12- Marketable skills.
0:33:14- Yeah, the world doesn't care about you, spoiler alert.
0:33:17Like the world cares about what you can do for it.
0:33:21And like, that's, you gotta follow that easy path.
0:33:24Like, don't try to make the whole world care about you.
0:33:27Do something that the world can be interested in or that benefits it.
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0:36:24of this show and Relay FM and I guess one day I hope we'll see Grey again.
0:36:30Mark wants to know, Grey, and I'm actually interested in this, are there any updates
0:36:34to your Mac and iPad setup change since episode 63? And are you planning on buying any new
0:36:40Macs or iPads this fall when hopefully some will be announced?"
0:36:45This did actually make me think to myself when I saw this question. I feel like I don't
0:36:53know why you went back to the Mac. I feel like it happened. And we kind of said it happened.
0:37:03you were very upset at that time. I was very upset. Yeah, I'm not upset anymore. So like,
0:37:08I have a secondary part of this question, which is, can you sum up a little bit of why you did this?
0:37:15And then talk about like, if there's been any major changes, and then you feel looking forward
0:37:20to any potential new hardware. Okay, so many levels in this. The first thing is episode 63.
0:37:28I'm thinking, like, am I supposed to know what that episode was?
0:37:31-Yeah, I had an idea. -"Episode 63, Flower Garden"?
0:37:33I assume this was when you broke the news to me, I think.
0:37:38Yeah, well, I'm looking in the show notes.
0:37:40Like, I have a diagram of my office in the show notes or something?
0:37:44Like, it's, "Oh, okay."
0:37:46Yeah, see, I remember that. This was when you broke the news to me.
0:37:50-Right. -Because we were going through
0:37:52your new office setup,
0:37:54and I realized there was no iPad in it anymore, really.
0:37:58And that was when it all came crashing down around me.
0:38:02That you'd suckered me in to this multi-pad lifestyle
0:38:06and then just left me in the dust.
0:38:07- No, I didn't sucker you in, right?
0:38:09Look, you make decisions at the time
0:38:11that are the sensible decisions,
0:38:12but the world is not static.
0:38:14Things change in the world.
0:38:16- They sure do.
0:38:17- And so you have to be willing to be, as I am,
0:38:21bendable in the breeze.
0:38:23You don't wanna be an oak tree.
0:38:25- Here we go.
0:38:26- You wanna be...
0:38:27(laughing)
0:38:28- Another nonsensical metaphor.
0:38:30(laughing)
0:38:31- You wanna be like the grass,
0:38:34blowing with the wind, bending, adjusting with time,
0:38:38not an inflexible oak tree.
0:38:39Not that I'm saying that that's what you are, Myke.
0:38:42Just slight tangent to this.
0:38:44There is a phenomenon where when you say something
0:38:47in a podcast, people expect it to be that way forever
0:38:51for all time.
0:38:52So that's actually- - It comes part
0:38:53of who you are.
0:38:54- Yeah, I'm not really pushing you back against you.
0:38:56I'm pushing back against this strange idea that,
0:38:59like you say a thing,
0:39:01and then people expect that to be the thing forever.
0:39:03And it's like, episode 63 of Cortex,
0:39:06I don't know who that guy was or what he was talking about.
0:39:08I have nothing to do with him.
0:39:09Like I'm making decisions for me.
0:39:11I'm not making decisions for that guy.
0:39:13Okay, let me try to answer the layers of your questions.
0:39:17Why did I leave iPad and go to Mac?
0:39:20Is that what we're asking here?
0:39:22Is that what you want to know?
0:39:23- Yeah, I think, I mean, I feel like I understand,
0:39:26but it still doesn't make sense to me.
0:39:27So I would, my belief is that you were unhappy
0:39:32with some of the ways that interaction methods changed
0:39:37in iOS 12.
0:39:38- Yes. - iOS 11.
0:39:40- Yeah, iOS 11, of course.
0:39:41The most brief version is there were two aggravating factors
0:39:46and the first was,
0:39:49and I always feel the need to say this really clearly,
0:39:51while I 100% agree with the decisions that Apple made
0:39:55about how to change multitasking in the iPad
0:39:58for the vast majority of users.
0:40:00I think it was a great thing for them to do
0:40:04and the correct decision.
0:40:05It just didn't work for me.
0:40:07And I found it extremely clunky
0:40:10to be moving back and forth between apps.
0:40:13Like that is the best word to describe it.
0:40:15I just found it clunky to use.
0:40:19But I was still sticking with it
0:40:21until the real stake through the heart of using iOS
0:40:26as the primary platform was getting my iPhone X
0:40:32that by the way, I totally love
0:40:35and is the phone that I've been the most happy with
0:40:38for years from Apple.
0:40:40But at that time, there were just enough differences
0:40:44between how iOS worked on the iPad versus on the phone
0:40:48that were any of them a big deal?
0:40:51No, but I found myself constantly frustrated
0:40:55moving back and forth between the two of them
0:40:57about what brings up multitasking?
0:41:00Where is control center?
0:41:02Now, it seems like some of those things
0:41:05have been ironed out.
0:41:07- They have been.
0:41:08- Yeah, but it doesn't change that that caused me
0:41:11to really rethink at the time,
0:41:15like what devices am I going to use?
0:41:17And it also happened to coincide with me really
0:41:22doing a separate big rethink about
0:41:25what do I want my physical spaces to be,
0:41:28and realizing that one way that I could improve
0:41:30a bunch of workspaces is by having larger screens
0:41:35to work on in more dedicated, less mobile spaces.
0:41:41And so it was a combination of all of these factors
0:41:44coming together.
0:41:45And I do have to say that I feel very comfortable
0:41:50in my decision because it's been a long time now
0:41:54and Apple still has not changed
0:41:56the basic multitasking features on the iPad in iOS 12.
0:42:00So again, it's that situation of,
0:42:02if you don't like a thing,
0:42:03you might have to live with it for two years.
0:42:05And there's been a couple of changes
0:42:08with the way the pencil works in iWork apps on the iPad,
0:42:12which drives me crazy.
0:42:14- They changed that back.
0:42:15Oh, did they change it back?
0:42:16Okay.
0:42:17Yeah, there's now a setting.
0:42:18Thank God, because I couldn't deal with numbers on the iPad that way, and it felt like, "Oh,
0:42:22they're trying to do this thing again that I hate."
0:42:24I think it's right that they have the method that they have, like being able to draw whenever
0:42:28you want, but they have also added in a setting for you to be able to change it back again.
0:42:32Great.
0:42:33I'm gonna change that on my devices.
0:42:35But yeah, so anyway, that's what it is.
0:42:38But the big prime killer is the way multitasking work.
0:42:42just didn't work for me and I found like it was getting in my way and I was doing too
0:42:46much work with the system as an instead of like on the thing that I wanted to do.
0:42:51Yeah, I should also say I have grown over time too, uh, in that now I am happy to accept
0:42:57this as part of my personality as opposed to a shared personality that we need to have.
0:43:03So I am now fine with the fact that you moved away from the iPad to the Mac because it's
0:43:09okay for me to stay where I am.
0:43:11Now you can own the multi-iPad lifestyle wholly and completely.
0:43:15Yeah, the multi-iPad lifestyle is mine now. Because you don't do it anymore, I don't
0:43:19think. Or at least not in the way in which it was created, right? Which was the idea
0:43:24of it's not just you have them, you have them and you use them and you use them all
0:43:28the time.
0:43:29Yeah, no. My iPad use has dramatically shrunk to just a couple of particular things.
0:43:35Like it used to be, really, I think, when we started. I think you are now kind of have
0:43:40full circle really in that you have iPads and you use them but for specific purposes
0:43:48and then we both shifted to we use them for all the time everything and then you have
0:43:54kind of gone back again.
0:43:57So do you plan to buy new products this year?
0:44:03For one, do you want any new Macs?
0:44:06Or the idea of any new Macs excite you?
0:44:09And all these new potential iPads with Face ID and they're going to have bigger screens
0:44:15or smaller physical bodies and incredible new technology.
0:44:19Do you ever hear these product areas excite you?
0:44:21Now, I think I'm going to be passing on new iPads for the first time in a long time.
0:44:28Just because my use is so relatively limited.
0:44:32- I don't feel that this is a purchase
0:44:37that makes sense right now.
0:44:40So I think I'm gonna be passing on it,
0:44:42which is a shock, like it's the first time in a while.
0:44:45I was really hoping out for what I think of as iPad micro,
0:44:51which would have been the big phone
0:44:53with the Apple Pencil support,
0:44:56but that has been sadly pretty much confirmed
0:44:59as not gonna happen.
0:45:00I would have loved that.
0:45:02And I would have used that as like a little iPad micro,
0:45:05but no, as far as big iPads go,
0:45:08I don't think I'm gonna be doing that.
0:45:10- We'll see.
0:45:12- Yeah, I never make promises for my future self,
0:45:15but when I think of purchases,
0:45:16it's not like the phone, which is a guaranteed,
0:45:19like when the new phone comes out for sure,
0:45:21that's what I'll be getting.
0:45:23- So Shivam wants to know,
0:45:25what is one piece of technology that you've acquired in 2018
0:45:27that has made your life easier?
0:45:29So for me, I've been trying to improve my working posture in different ways,
0:45:34because I feel like I'm getting some ergonomic impact from the way that I've
0:45:42been using my devices, especially my iOS devices, both my iPhone and my iPad.
0:45:47I think I'm spending far too much time with my head looking down and I've been
0:45:52trying to find some ways to combat that.
0:45:54And two products have entered my life recently which have been helpful, I think.
0:46:01One is an iPad stand called the Tabitha stand, which is a stand from this company,
0:46:09I think called Colbrook Boston Saunders.
0:46:12They're very much a "we will supply your new office with a bunch of equipment"
0:46:17company, right?
0:46:18Right.
0:46:19But they do sell some products individually to consumers.
0:46:22And this stand is really nice.
0:46:24It's adjustable to all different types of tablet size.
0:46:27It's got a good weighted base and I can bring my iPad up to a pretty high height
0:46:32to kind of like the eye level height that I would want.
0:46:35So I've been really happy with this.
0:46:37Yeah, and I use it with a magic keyboard and my Apple pencil.
0:46:41So if I'm at any desk with my iPad, I can use it and it's really great.
0:46:45And I've been really happy with it.
0:46:47It makes me feel comfortable to use the device.
0:46:50So I've been happy with that.
0:46:51And a company called Bridge, they make a keyboard product for the iPad Pro
0:46:57to turn it into kind of like a laptop.
0:47:00And they just had a new version came out and they sent me they sent me it
0:47:04because I had some problems with the first version.
0:47:08Basically, I couldn't get one to reliably work.
0:47:10And they said they fixed this and they sent me one.
0:47:12And I absolutely love it.
0:47:15So if I don't have my iPad in the tab of the stand, like if I want to work
0:47:20on the couch, I now have a keyboard that basically turns my iPad Pro into a laptop because it
0:47:28has an adjustable hinge.
0:47:30Man, that is very cool looking.
0:47:33It is really, really good.
0:47:35So I would say, especially considering you are not thinking about changing your iPad
0:47:39Pro, because I mean, I worry for a company that debuts a new version of a product like
0:47:46two weeks before Apple unveils new versions of that product.
0:47:49Yeah, yeah. There's a bunch of companies that do that. They always feel like, "Ooh, is
0:47:53now the time to debut your iPhone battery pack case?" Like, this seems like a bad time
0:47:59to do that.
0:48:00But nevertheless, they have, and I will say for you, especially because you're not thinking
0:48:04about upgrading, you should get one of these because it is… the form factor is incredible,
0:48:10right? Like turning an iPad into a laptop form factor is wonderful. The keyboard's
0:48:14really good. It has backlighting, very long battery life on Bluetooth.
0:48:18And but it's the adjustable hinge that makes it you know, you can you can
0:48:23basically go from having it at 90 degrees or like 180 degrees, which is
0:48:29really, really, really nice.
0:48:31I like it a lot. So there are two things for my kind of iPad home setup that
0:48:36I've really, really enjoyed.
0:48:37They made a big impact to my kind of work and comfort over the last couple of
0:48:40months.
0:48:41I'm going to go with Roomba.
0:48:42I'm going to go with Roomba.
0:48:44little friend. Did you see that the Amazon put Roomba on sale like two days after our
0:48:49episode went up?
0:48:50I think they did it because their algorithms picked up that people were buying Roombas.
0:48:54I think that's probably what happened. A couple of my friends bought Roombas, so it definitely
0:48:58happened.
0:48:59I've gotten a number of texts related to Roombas.
0:49:01There you go, see? Roomba fever sweep in the nation.
0:49:05Roomba revolution.
0:49:06And making it very clean.
0:49:09Andrew wants to know, between the two of us, who would be the most capable in surviving
0:49:14a few days in the woods with just a knife and matches?
0:49:17Oh, this is a very different Ask Cortex kind of question.
0:49:20Yup. We get some of these every now and then, and a lot of them are like who would win in
0:49:24a fight and stuff like that, but I like this one specifically. I think I know the answer
0:49:29to this, and I wonder what you think.
0:49:33Well, we're both really ill-prepared for this challenge, I think.
0:49:38Yes, both of us are very, very...
0:49:41I think that's what makes this question specifically very interesting,
0:49:44because we are both wildly mismatched to survive in the woods.
0:49:48Like, the woods has a big advantage over the two of us.
0:49:52Yeah, in this man versus nature conflict, bet on nature.
0:49:56I think if you were going to make a bet out of the two of us, I would put my money on you.
0:50:01Because I think you have a stronger "I need to stay alive" instinct than I do.
0:50:08I feel like I would more quickly give up.
0:50:10- As with all theoretical questions,
0:50:12the boundaries really matter on this.
0:50:16But I would bet on me simply because
0:50:20I'm in ketosis right now,
0:50:22which gives you a real big advantage
0:50:24in not needing to eat and still being able to function.
0:50:29So I think if we got teleported into the woods right now,
0:50:35We're both equally unprepared, but I have like a slight, a slight ketosis buff that
0:50:41might edge it out for me lasting longer than you.
0:50:44Well, I had a big lunch.
0:50:47So we'll see on that one, I guess.
0:50:52John says, "Do you have any advice for people that are trying to put out productivity garbage
0:50:57fires?
0:50:58Cortex is very insightful, but often feels like it's targeted at people who are polishing
0:51:03maybe a well-practiced regiment. What advice do you have for people who are several steps
0:51:09below that?
0:51:10Ooh. Okay, you need to start with this one, Myke.
0:51:14Alright. So, I think one of the things why you may believe, if you're coming to this
0:51:18show, that we are, like, well-practiced, is that before this show began, we both had the
0:51:25basics of a system. And I think that that might be what John is missing. If you don't
0:51:31have the basics of a system, I think a lot of the stuff we talk about might be unhelpful
0:51:35to you. And I would say if you've not listened to the show from the start and you feel this
0:51:40way, go back to the beginning. Because I think in the beginning, we focused a lot more on
0:51:44the very basics, like calendars, just as a general idea, or to-do lists as a general
0:51:51idea. You need these two things, I think. I think anybody that wants to be productive
0:51:57needs a calendar and a to do list. And it can be anything. But I think that these two
0:52:01things like fundamentals of what am I doing today? And what do I need to do today? And
0:52:08they are two different things. Like, what are the commitments that I have? And what
0:52:13do I want to get done? And you need these two things. And if even if that still seems
0:52:18daunting to you, start with taking a pen and paper and writing out every day what you need
0:52:25to do and what you want to do. And what this will do is help you understand what kind of
0:52:29things keep popping up, but also help you understand that something that helps me is
0:52:36I always feel like I have more going on than I actually do. And sometimes sitting down
0:52:40and writing it down makes me realize I don't have as many things to do as I'm freaking
0:52:46out about. So go to the very basics, which is like pen and paper, and then build yourself
0:52:51up to getting a calendar and a to-do app or a reminders app or something and that will
0:52:56start allowing you I think to get on the first rungs of the ladder.
0:53:02There is one exception to the everyone needs a calendar and a to-do list app and that exception
0:53:07is Jason Snell who only needs a calendar.
0:53:10Uh-uh, no he uses a to-do list now, I broke him down.
0:53:13Oh did you?
0:53:14Yeah.
0:53:15I thought he had abandoned that.
0:53:16Oh okay.
0:53:17No he's still using it.
0:53:18still using Todoist, because again, over time it will get you. The more and more responsibilities
0:53:25you have, you will end up needing both. I think that this is a thing for both people.
0:53:30That's fantastic. I'm really glad you finally got the Snellatron on the to-do list,
0:53:35Manager Train.
0:53:36It can be anything, right? If you want to use Dew, our favorite app, DUE, which has
0:53:41got a wonderful update, which I recommend people try out, even that is something, it's
0:53:46It's just like having, using reminders or Google tasks or anything.
0:53:51Just having a list of stuff that you do I think is really important, even if it's just
0:53:55getting it out of your head.
0:53:58That's point number one.
0:54:00Yeah.
0:54:01I mean, so this is a difficult question because productivity garbage fire.
0:54:08It sounds real bad.
0:54:09But a garbage fire to me sounds like a time when you just need to write it down.
0:54:15Because garbage fire to me means you're panicking. And if you're panicking, I think that you
0:54:21will make -- there is a potential, not always, but there is a potential that you're over
0:54:26panicking about the situation that you're in.
0:54:28Yeah, yeah. Well, so I'm interpreting this question a little bit in the way of you aren't
0:54:34panicking because you have nothing, like nothing to support you here. And, you know, maybe
0:54:42not a situation like, oh, you know, you had things and it's all fallen apart, but you're
0:54:45just, you're really starting from ground zero and recognizing it. And I know, and I
0:54:50think, I think back to, you know, for me that the time when that happened in my life was
0:54:56doing the teacher training where suddenly there were more things to do than I could
0:55:01just casually keep track of in an unofficial manner. And it was like, oh, you're really
0:55:07if you don't do this.
0:55:10I 100% agree with your assessment about paper.
0:55:13That's always my big push when I'm talking to people
0:55:15is if you're overwhelmed, paper is the tool.
0:55:19Don't fiddle around with the to-do list managers.
0:55:22Like you don't, especially when you're at the beginning,
0:55:24like you don't even know what you need
0:55:26and paper is totally fine.
0:55:28Yes, it lacks some features,
0:55:30but that it's lack of features is a feature
0:55:34when what you need is focus and calmness.
0:55:39Like, just you, just the paper.
0:55:43I'm also gonna say that this is going to be hard
0:55:48for some people, but you think about who do you know
0:55:52in your life who is a productive person,
0:55:57who seems to get things done and executed well
0:56:02and seems to have their life together.
0:56:04Because if you're really starting from ground zero,
0:56:08I think it helps tremendously to talk to someone
0:56:11who is a productive person.
0:56:12Most productive people are more than happy
0:56:15to talk about what they do.
0:56:17But on top of that, what I think is a real underlying thing
0:56:23about productivity that's hard to recognize
0:56:29when you're panicking is the 80/20 rule.
0:56:34that you can be panicking about a million things,
0:56:37but when you talk them over with somebody else,
0:56:41it's often very easy for another person to see
0:56:46that you are focused on a thing that doesn't matter
0:56:48and you're ignoring a thing that does.
0:56:52I don't know, when I see people
0:56:53who are really stuck in their head
0:56:56talking over what are the things
0:56:58that they're trying to work on
0:56:59and how are they trying to get a system together,
0:57:01I think it's just really helpful
0:57:02to have a second brain there,
0:57:06who can sometimes point out to you like,
0:57:07"Oh, you seem to be really concerned about this project,
0:57:10but if this project was not successful,
0:57:13like what's the downside?"
0:57:15And then you say, "Oh, well, it's this minor thing."
0:57:17It's like, "Okay, well,
0:57:18if we're in a productivity dumpster fire,
0:57:20then drop the thing where the downside doesn't matter
0:57:23if it doesn't get completed.
0:57:24And let's talk about like,
0:57:25what are the things that have real downsides
0:57:27if they don't get completed?"
0:57:28And try to clear the decks that way.
0:57:30But it's a very hard thing to do on your own
0:57:34when you're panicking about things.
0:57:36It's easier to do with somebody else.
0:57:38And at least in my experience, productive people,
0:57:40they enjoy talking about this kind of stuff
0:57:42and they're very happy to help.
0:57:44- You need someone to have a working lunch with, right?
0:57:46- Yeah, that's really, that's exactly what it is.
0:57:50It might not be easy to find someone like that,
0:57:53but when people are acknowledged for like,
0:57:54"Oh, hey, it seems like you, office mate,
0:57:57you have your life really together.
0:57:59Like, do you mind if I pick your brain on that a little bit?
0:58:00I think people are usually respond positively to something like that.
0:58:03A lot of reasonable sized corporate structures or large enough companies
0:58:08would have some kind of mentor mentee type program.
0:58:11Those types of things can be really helpful for stuff like this too.
0:58:15Yeah.
0:58:16Which is like a company way of defining some kind of relationship with somebody
0:58:20that you deem to be professionally capable.
0:58:25So that could be a way to find someone like that if you're struggling and such a thing is available to you.
0:58:30[BEEP]
0:58:31This episode of Cortex is also brought to you by Simple Contacts.
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1:00:10As a listener of this show,
1:00:11can get $20 off your first order of contacts. Just go to simplecontacts.com/cortex20 or you can enter
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1:00:35So talking about paper, to use paper you need a pen. Delano wants to know what is your currently
1:00:42most used pen.
1:00:43Look at that transition there, Myke.
1:00:46I'm a professional.
1:00:49What is your most currently used pen?
1:00:50No, I want to know yours because it's too difficult for me. So I want to know what you
1:00:54use. We're going to start with what you use. What is your most used pen?
1:00:57I mean, uh...
1:00:58You won't offend me, it's okay.
1:01:00I don't know. I've got like a bucket of random pens somewhere in the house that I use maybe once a month and I grab something out of there.
1:01:10Do they tend to be the same? Like do you buy just like one brand? Like one specific type of pen?
1:01:15Would you just pick them up from all around the world?
1:01:18This is where you want to know. Yeah there is. I go into Ryman and there's one pen that I like.
1:01:23Okay. What does it look like? What brand is it?
1:01:27Penbrand.
1:01:30- Penbrand Cove.
1:01:32- It's silver, it's one millimeter thick, black ink.
1:01:38It's a ballpoint pen.
1:01:39- Okay.
1:01:40- That's as close as I can get at this point.
1:01:43- Is it like Uniball?
1:01:44- No.
1:01:46- Pilot?
1:01:47- I think Pilot, maybe it's Pilot.
1:01:52- Okay.
1:01:52- That sounds familiar.
1:01:54- It's Rollable, you said?
1:01:55- Yeah.
1:01:57you sure about that? I'm just asking, is it rollerball or ballpoint? Do you even know
1:02:01the difference between the two?
1:02:03Oh, I thought you were asking me if it's a rollerball or if it's a fountain pen and I
1:02:07was going to say, well, I know it's not a fountain pen, so it must be a rollerball.
1:02:11And then I'm out of pen technology.
1:02:13Right, because it could be ballpoint, which is different.
1:02:15Ball, maybe ballpoint?
1:02:17Yeah.
1:02:18I don't know. I feel very uncomfortable, Myke.
1:02:21That's fine.
1:02:22People will never want to know the specific anyway.
1:02:23I don't really have one pen I use most.
1:02:27- You're doing your rotation thing, right?
1:02:28With the journal, right?
1:02:29- Yeah, 'cause I rotate.
1:02:30In my journal, I use different pens every day,
1:02:33and when I write show notes and scribble stuff down,
1:02:35I'll just grab whatever's around me.
1:02:37I'm very much into a brand called Sailor right now.
1:02:40They make very, very, very good fountain pens
1:02:43at a range of prices,
1:02:44and I really, really like what they make,
1:02:47and I really kind of go in deeper than I should
1:02:51into acquiring Sailor fountain pens.
1:02:53but as kind of the best pen that I can recommend to people
1:02:57on an everyday basis is the Retro 51,
1:03:01which is, it contains my favorite refill,
1:03:05which is a Schmidt refill, which is really, really good.
1:03:07And so friends of mine, Studio Neat,
1:03:09are making a pen based around that refill as well,
1:03:12called the Mark 1, which is also, I have one of those
1:03:14and I really like it because I really love the refill.
1:03:17But I recommend people check out like the Retro 51
1:03:20as a pen, 'cause you can get them
1:03:22in a bunch of different styles,
1:03:23and it's a cool pen, and it has a great refill.
1:03:26You liked it for a little while.
1:03:28- Yeah, yeah, I did.
1:03:29That was the one you had me try.
1:03:31And when I'm in a mood where I think I'm going to
1:03:35try to get into carrying a pocket notebook
1:03:37and inevitably failing, because it's just like,
1:03:39oh, there's no place in my life for this anymore.
1:03:42But yeah, I would agree with that one.
1:03:44I'm curious, can you explain to a layman such as myself,
1:03:48You said the Sailor fountain pens are super nice.
1:03:51What makes a fountain pen really nice to you?
1:03:57What is the thing in the pen that attracts you?
1:04:00- One is design.
1:04:01So what is it shaped like and what are the colors?
1:04:07Does it have any special flair to it?
1:04:09I have some that have glitter in the plastic,
1:04:12so they look really cool like that 'cause they're glittery.
1:04:16I have some that are made with these incredible swirl patterns and stuff like that or they
1:04:20mix together different materials. So I have some that are made like part acrylic plastic
1:04:25and part metal, part aluminium or something like that. So there are many different things.
1:04:29Then you get down to like the writing experience. So like how does the nib feel for you? So
1:04:36when do you fountain pen nib? Like is it thin? Is it thick? What do you like on that? Does
1:04:40it feel smooth? Does it feel scratchy? People like scratchy pens, people like smooth pens.
1:04:45How does that feel? And then there's stuff like how does it feel to hold?
1:04:49So like how balanced is it?
1:04:50For example, like if you have a pen made out of a couple of different materials,
1:04:54if the heavy materials on the end of the pen, it might not feel right to hold.
1:04:58Right. Because then it's going to feel misbalanced.
1:05:01You want most of the weight down the bottom because that's where you put in the
1:05:04majority of pressure.
1:05:05You know, so some pens that are made completely of metal don't feel right when
1:05:09you hold them because they're heavy or they're misbalanced.
1:05:13So those are kind of like the three different things.
1:05:16So it's like the look, the way it performs and the way it feels to hold.
1:05:20Like they're the three things.
1:05:21And currently right now, the brand that knocks us out of the park every single
1:05:26time for me is Sailor.
1:05:27And this is why they've been around for hundreds of years.
1:05:31You know, like they are a very, very, very well established brand in Japan.
1:05:37So and that's why, because they are incredible.
1:05:42So.
1:05:43You have a lot of knowledge on this topic.
1:05:46It seems like you should spin this off into some sort of pen-related podcast.
1:05:54Funny you should say.
1:05:55Do you have a pen podcast, Myke?
1:05:56Yes, relay.fm/penaddict for the pen addict podcast.
1:06:00Oh, people should go check that out then.
1:06:03If you at all find what I've said to be interesting, even if you don't know what
1:06:07I'm talking about, then yes, you should listen to the pen addict.
1:06:12comes from James. James says, "I love listening to the Text Adventure episodes each year.
1:06:17What do you enjoy most about playing those games?" Text Adventure episode you say? Well,
1:06:22funny you should ask, James! I swear James is a real person. We did put out our Relay
1:06:28FM membership special. If you're a Relay FM member, you will have gotten our Space Station
1:06:34bonus special. You can still become a Relay FM member, you can click the link in the show
1:06:38show notes to sign up to become a $5 a month member of Cortex. If you do this you get access
1:06:44to all of our bonus perks, you get bonus episodes of this show and all of the other Relay FM
1:06:50shows and a newsletter and a bunch of other great stuff. But you can sign up to support
1:06:55any show at any level and you get all the same perks. You can go to relay.fm/membership
1:06:59to learn more. But if you would like a taste of what Space Station had to offer, Gray put
1:07:05together a wonderful video trailer that will be in our show notes as well so you can go
1:07:09and take a look at that. If you have seen Space Station, even if you think you're not
1:07:14interested, I implore you to go watch this trailer because it's brilliant. If anything,
1:07:18just for a visual treat. I absolutely love it. You can go and watch that. So I'll ask
1:07:24you, Gray, because the text adventure I remember originally was something I really had to sell
1:07:30you on and it took some time.
1:07:31I was very resistant to this idea.
1:07:33But now, it almost feels like you look forward to them.
1:07:37So I would like to know what you enjoy most about playing those games.
1:07:40Oh, I totally look forward to them, yeah.
1:07:43I was deeply resistant. You spent a lot of work getting me to do that first one.
1:07:49I'll say, this was originally a much bigger idea that I had to bring down
1:07:54until we got it to a level that Greg was willing to do.
1:07:57[Laughter]
1:08:00- This is the hard work of being Myke working with me.
1:08:04- Everything's a process, it's fine,
1:08:06it's just how life is.
1:08:07- I can say I just love doing something
1:08:09that's different but adjacent.
1:08:14It hits a real sweet spot for me
1:08:16that I don't like doing things that are just different
1:08:19and have nothing to do with anything.
1:08:21I like that these weird text adventures
1:08:23are within the Cortex cinematic universe.
1:08:27- CCU, as it's commonly known.
1:08:29(laughs)
1:08:31Yeah, and I like that it's just this weird, different thing.
1:08:36I love that Jason joins us
1:08:39and does such an amazing job as the computer.
1:08:41And like as someone who does these podcasts
1:08:45where we're like, you and I, we're getting together
1:08:47and we're talking, it's hard to explain
1:08:50how much of a different experience it is
1:08:54to walk into a podcast
1:08:57where you don't know what's going to happen,
1:09:00that Myke hasn't prepared fantastic show notes,
1:09:05as he always does for Cortex,
1:09:06that I get to look over ahead of time
1:09:08and have some idea of what is the general structure
1:09:11of the show, there's none of that.
1:09:12It's like, oh, I'm gonna sit down
1:09:13and this mystery is going to be played out before us
1:09:16and we're going to blindly poke around.
1:09:19- Literally all we have beforehand that Jason gives us
1:09:23is the name of the adventure.
1:09:25So we kind of have an idea of what world we're gonna be in,
1:09:28whether it's like a Western or like a spooky situation
1:09:32or a space situation, it's all we know.
1:09:34- Yeah, it's not very helpful in the actual adventure.
1:09:38- It doesn't mean anything really.
1:09:40There was only like, there was one moment
1:09:42in "Six-Gun Showdown" where understanding the parameters
1:09:46of a Western situation helped us get through something.
1:09:49Everything else, it's kind of just, it doesn't matter.
1:09:52(laughing)
1:09:54Yeah, so I would say that I enjoy the differentness of it,
1:09:58and I enjoy, from the perspective of the person
1:10:01recording a podcast, not having a sense of
1:10:05where is this going to go, but still feeling secure
1:10:09that the Snellatron will lead the way.
1:10:12- I really like that these are pursuits not based in fact.
1:10:17They are fiction, they're not real,
1:10:21there's no ramifications of anything,
1:10:23and we get to play around in a world which is usually full of weird things. I like that.
1:10:30And I like that it is, I like doing a text adventures because there is only one character
1:10:37and we have to kind of go through that together and I think that's more fun than for this
1:10:43if we were playing separate people, maybe. Because we have to agree on something. Or
1:10:49Or at least that's a good way for us to have started, to understand how to try and negotiate
1:10:53our way through these situations.
1:10:56I really, really like it.
1:10:57Spoiler alert, we don't do very well negotiating.
1:11:01Yeah.
1:11:02But I love them.
1:11:05We get such great feedback that if you are interested, I think you should give it a go,
1:11:11because they're a lot of fun for us to do, and I think they're a lot of fun to listen
1:11:16to.
1:11:17become a Relay FM member and get access to them. And I appreciate James's question,
1:11:21which allowed me to segue so nicely into talking about the membership. Timothy says, "In a
1:11:27strictly getting things done way, what is your workflow of your partner when working
1:11:31on personal projects? Do they have their own GTD system? Do you have a new one? How does
1:11:36it work?"
1:11:37Uh, who's, who's going to go first on this question?
1:11:40I'll go first.
1:11:41Yes. What is the system between you and now your wife?
1:11:47So with me and my wife, Adina, we do not share a system because her system conflicts horribly
1:11:54with my system in that the way that Adina keeps track of projects is wild to me.
1:12:02What does she do?
1:12:04Well, she uses reminders but in FantasticOwl.
1:12:11Which was my recommendation for her because she was using the reminders app and didn't
1:12:15it but she could keep it all in one place and it works for her.
1:12:19Oh okay so she's using Fantastical as a different interface to Reminders.
1:12:23Exactly. Got it. Okay that makes sense.
1:12:26And that system just doesn't work for me. Like I like projects and like tags and all that kind
1:12:31of stuff. Like I wouldn't be able to have like a shared Reminders list with her because it wouldn't
1:12:35work for me and Todoist wouldn't work for her, right? Like our systems are just very opposed.
1:12:40It's like Adina uses a system which is very akin to what we were talking about before.
1:12:45She uses just a basic system of getting tasks down.
1:12:50Right. And that works for her great.
1:12:52Like it doesn't matter what it is.
1:12:54They're all just in one big list.
1:12:56But that's not how I work.
1:12:58Like I like to have things a little bit more segmented and organized in a different way.
1:13:02So when we work on a project together.
1:13:06we kind of, and this is actually, funnily enough,
1:13:09how me and Steven work together as well,
1:13:11we communicate about what's needed to be done,
1:13:15and then we take our own action items
1:13:19and put them into our own systems.
1:13:21Like they're not shared in any way.
1:13:23And then we do what needs to be done
1:13:26and communicate about the project.
1:13:29So funnily enough, I guess the two partners in my life,
1:13:32we have a similar-- - I was gonna say, yes,
1:13:33two partners.
1:13:34a similar way of working in that we both manage our independent systems and then communicate
1:13:41about the projects at hand.
1:13:42B: My wife doesn't have a system. She's just able to keep track of a ton of stuff
1:13:48in her head in a way that I would never be able to do. And it totally works for her.
1:13:53It's funny, I never even really thought about it until I saw this question. It has
1:13:59never come up in our house, even the idea of like, "Oh, we should have some kind of
1:14:03shared task management.
1:14:05We just don't.
1:14:08I think the closest thing to a system is
1:14:12if there's something that I need to do,
1:14:14I will tell her and she will remember.
1:14:16And if there's something that she needs me to do,
1:14:19she will tell me and I will never remember
1:14:21unless it goes straight into my system.
1:14:25And so I think it's kind of sweet because over time,
1:14:28she has very much come to understand the concept
1:14:32of me putting tasks and dates and things in my system
1:14:37that is a demonstration of caring, right?
1:14:40It's not a demonstration of,
1:14:43"Oh, I'm not gonna remember, so I have to write it down."
1:14:45It's like, "No, this is how I remember."
1:14:47So that's the interaction between the two of us.
1:14:50She just remembers,
1:14:51"I don't have a chance of ever remembering,
1:14:55so it works its way into my system."
1:14:57- I don't even know if it is a case of just like,
1:14:59and I think this might be the same for you.
1:15:01you could remember it, you just don't trust
1:15:02that you'll remember it.
1:15:04- That may have been the case years ago.
1:15:07I think though that the current me is in a situation
1:15:11where there is just too much to keep track of,
1:15:15that I've too many projects and too many things going on
1:15:20that I really don't think I could manage
1:15:22without a to-do manager at this point,
1:15:24and keep all of the various worlds together.
1:15:28I will just say though that the closest thing
1:15:30to a system that she does sometimes is,
1:15:34every once in a while, and this is like maybe
1:15:36once or twice a year, if she's feeling overwhelmed
1:15:41with her projects, what I'll see her do,
1:15:44and then I'll know like, oh, it's busy time now,
1:15:46like we're serious, is she'll just take her iPad Pro
1:15:51and her Apple Pencil and open up Notes,
1:15:53and just handwrite out a bunch of stuff
1:15:55that she needs to do, and then cross it off one by one.
1:15:59Like that's the closest to a formal system,
1:16:01but that is really rare,
1:16:03and she has to be really busy and really overloaded.
1:16:08But when I see her bust out the iPad and the pencil
1:16:10and open up notes and start writing things down,
1:16:12it's like, oh, busy time.
1:16:14- Brian asks, "Have either of you found
1:16:16"any new working games like threes or prison architect
1:16:19"that stimulate your brain while you work or podcast?"
1:16:23- I mean, Myke, isn't this now officially part of your job
1:16:27to find games that you can talk about on one of your many podcasts?
1:16:30Yeah, I just don't know if I necessarily have games that I would put into the working. So
1:16:40there are games that I play for work at twitch.tv/playingforfunfm, but that's different to I'm editing a podcast
1:16:49and playing a video game. They're different things, right? Because, so I would say something
1:16:54like Stardew Valley, which is what me and Tiff have been streaming a lot recently, it's
1:17:01a perfect game to play whilst working, in my opinion, because it's so chill, that you
1:17:08can play it while listening to something and you can very easily separate the two, because
1:17:13a lot of the time it's walking around and picking up... it is a game which is similar
1:17:17in ilk to something like Factorio for you, but you just didn't like Stardew, but I think
1:17:22that there are definite links to those types of games.
1:17:26But I feel like that's one I've spoken about in the past.
1:17:29I did see a game that has just come out
1:17:32and I don't know if it would fit,
1:17:33but it does look interesting.
1:17:35And it's called Two Point Hospital.
1:17:37- Oh, is that the one that Steam is really pushing?
1:17:40- Yes, because I think it's gonna be a big deal.
1:17:43It came out like within the last few days.
1:17:45- Oh yeah, yeah.
1:17:46Every time I log into Steam,
1:17:48they're like, "This is the one you should play, buddy."
1:17:50Because this is like a prison architect, right?
1:17:54Like it is a, you build a thing and manage it.
1:17:56But this is made by people that wanted to bring back
1:18:01the joy of Theme Hospital.
1:18:03Did you ever play those games like Theme Park World
1:18:06or Theme Hospital or something?
1:18:07Did you ever play those?
1:18:09- I never did.
1:18:09I was aware of them and they were super popular,
1:18:12but they just never quite crossed my path.
1:18:14- What about like Rollercoaster Tycoon?
1:18:17- Oh, Rollercoaster Tycoon.
1:18:18That's a different story.
1:18:19there were many roller coasters built.
1:18:21- All right, 'cause it's the same ilk, right?
1:18:22Like those games are all like very similar type thing, right?
1:18:26- Yeah, it's the same idea.
1:18:27- I plan to check out Two Point Hospital soon,
1:18:29like 'cause it does feel like something I might enjoy,
1:18:32'cause I did like all those games,
1:18:34but I do tend to like easy mode for all that stuff, right?
1:18:38Like, the prison architect, I like to just build a prison.
1:18:42I don't wanna have to deal with like the things happening.
1:18:46- Yeah, you don't wanna deal with when you alt tab out
1:18:48to make some edits and then you alt tab back and everything's burned to the ground.
1:18:51Exactly, that's not my thing. I do want to mention a game which I love, which has
1:18:57just come out for the Switch, called Into the Breach. Have you ever played FTL faster
1:19:03than light?
1:19:04Oh yeah.
1:19:05Right, it's made by the same developer.
1:19:08Sold. I don't need to know anything else.
1:19:12It's a turn-based strategy game. It is really difficult.
1:19:17But really good.
1:19:20- Okay, yep, sold immediately.
1:19:21FTL is so good.
1:19:23- Yeah.
1:19:24Oh, it's on Mac now too.
1:19:26Oh, there you go.
1:19:27- Great, perfect. - It was previously
1:19:28just on Windows, but it's on Windows, Mac,
1:19:30and now Nintendo Switch.
1:19:32And the Switch version is excellent.
1:19:35Like they've done a very, very good job
1:19:38with porting the controls.
1:19:40'Cause it felt very mouse clicky to me as a game.
1:19:44Like most real-time strategy games, right?
1:19:46you're clicking here and then clicking where you want to go or attack.
1:19:48But it works with the switch very, very nicely.
1:19:52It's one of the better ways that I've seen like a pointer implemented
1:19:57in a on a console that has analog sticks like control sticks.
1:20:01The movement is very fluid.
1:20:03It feels like it works very well. It has it has a
1:20:06when you push forward on the analog stick, the movement of the cursor
1:20:11isn't how it would be on a PC. It moves very differently.
1:20:15It's hard to describe, but it's not like a linear movement.
1:20:19It feels like there's some weight to the movement.
1:20:22Yeah, that pointer to analog stick conversion
1:20:26is always difficult.
1:20:26I was worried.
1:20:27I was worried that this wasn't gonna work very well,
1:20:30but it works excellently.
1:20:32So I recommend it on both PC and Switch.
1:20:36So this is such a good game.
1:20:38It is punishing, but addictive.
1:20:42(laughing)
1:20:43Very, very, very, very good.
1:20:45Have you got anything new?
1:20:46- Yeah, I have a new game that I've been playing a lot
1:20:48for podcast editing.
1:20:51It's called Northgard.
1:20:52I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as a mic game,
1:20:57but I've really enjoyed it.
1:20:58It's technically an RTS.
1:21:01Like it's a Viking themed real time strategy overhead,
1:21:05you know, build a village
1:21:06and send out soldiers kind of game.
1:21:07But it's done in such a different way
1:21:14that describing it as an RTS is completely inaccurate
1:21:17because generally just don't wanna play
1:21:21those sorts of games anymore
1:21:22because they're incredible click fests
1:21:23and you have to do things quickly.
1:21:25But the whole pace of the game is just super slow.
1:21:30Like you expand your territory super slow.
1:21:33There's lots of limits on how much you can build.
1:21:35I don't know, it's very hard to explain.
1:21:38It's like a cross between "Starcraft" and "Civilization"
1:21:44and almost Settlers of Catan,
1:21:46that there's these limited resources
1:21:49that you can get just in different spots.
1:21:51I don't know, I think if you like RTSs,
1:21:56it's worth giving a try, but just go into it knowing
1:21:59that it's a very, very different type of game.
1:22:02And it does a thing that I really appreciate,
1:22:07which is, unlike all of these kind of war games,
1:22:12They actually make it incredibly difficult
1:22:15to field a lot of military units.
1:22:18So winning through military victory
1:22:20is like the hardest way to win.
1:22:22And there's a bunch of other things that you can do instead.
1:22:24Like, oh, I'm just gonna research enough technology
1:22:26or do enough trade or whatever.
1:22:28But yeah, it's been a kind of perfect podcast editing game
1:22:31for me, it doesn't move too quickly.
1:22:34It's nice and slow, it's easy enough to switch in and out of
1:22:36for doing edits.
1:22:37So I've really enjoyed it.
1:22:39It's a beautiful looking game.
1:22:41Oh, and of course, for anybody who plays the game,
1:22:45they'll want to know which clan I prefer
1:22:47and Raven clan all the way.
1:22:50They're the best.
1:22:50- I don't think this game would be for me.
1:22:54- No, this is not for you, Myke.
1:22:56I 100% don't recommend this for you.
1:22:58- Yeah, it doesn't feel like my kind of game.
1:23:00- No, I give this negative three out of 10
1:23:05on the should Myke play this game score.
1:23:09Rosemary asks, "Should I buy a Nintendo Switch? And if yes, which game should I get with it?
1:23:17Important note, I've had RSI issues before." Okay, so here's the thing. Yes, you should
1:23:21buy it, but you must buy a Pro Controller.
1:23:25Yeah, oh yeah. Yes. 100%.
1:23:28The Switch is an incredible portable machine. And if you've had problems with RSI, yes,
1:23:33you can play it portably, but for incredibly short periods of time and infrequently.
1:23:39Don't don't.
1:23:40But the other great thing about being a portable machine is you can still take it everywhere
1:23:44with you.
1:23:45You just got to take a pro controller too.
1:23:46That's what I do when I travel.
1:23:47I take the Switch with me and I take a pro controller.
1:23:49Like easy.
1:23:50It's still you get all the portability, you know, but you just have to carry a controller
1:23:54too, which is not really that much more.
1:23:57So that's how I play it.
1:24:00Start with Zelda or Super Mario Odyssey.
1:24:02You're going to love one of those games.
1:24:04Ignore what Gray says.
1:24:05He doesn't know what he's talking about.
1:24:07other human beings in the world love one of those. All get Stardew Valley, all get Into
1:24:11the Breach. No, no, get Mario Kart. Oh yeah, okay, sorry, I forgot about Mario Kart. Get
1:24:18Mario Kart, or Zelda, or Super Mario Odyssey. Look at those three games, they're very different
1:24:24games. They're very different games that should definitely, one of those will appeal to you.
1:24:30Take a look at all of them and if they don't then I can't help you.
1:24:36I will also say because we're in cross promo mode today, Rosemary is actually a host on
1:24:42a Relay FM show called Automators which is about automating things in your life.
1:24:48They focus on iOS and Mac and I believe they are looking to try and expand out to other
1:24:53platforms maybe the web and Android and PC in the future.
1:24:55hosted by Rosemary and David Sparks.
1:24:58It's all about just making computers work for you.
1:25:02I think a lot of people that listen to this show
1:25:04would like that show.
1:25:06- Yeah, yeah.
1:25:07I met Rosemary this summer at WWDC,
1:25:12and she introduced me to, oh God, what's it called?
1:25:16Keyboard Maestro for the Mac.
1:25:19And it's an amazing program,
1:25:21but I'm almost annoyed that I know it exists.
1:25:24It's like she was showing me all this super cool stuff.
1:25:28And it was like, oh, I sat down with an automation wizard
1:25:32for an hour before she had to go fly away
1:25:35and was able to show me just enough to feel like,
1:25:37I wanna be able to do all of these things.
1:25:39And then she had to fly away and left me figuring out
1:25:43all of this keyboard maestro stuff
1:25:46to try to do with my computer.
1:25:48So I'm very glad that Automator is out
1:25:50so she can finally share the rest of her wizard secrets
1:25:52with how to make this work, 'cause now I have this feeling
1:25:56like I should be able to automate literally everything
1:25:59on my computer.
1:25:59I saw Rosemary do it, but like, I don't know how to do it.
1:26:02I don't know how to do all these things.
1:26:04- She does, relay.fm/automaters.
1:26:07- She came very close to convincing me to learn like,
1:26:09oh, you gotta learn JavaScript.
1:26:10I was like, no, I must resist, I must resist.
1:26:12She's like, no, it's very simple, you can do it.
1:26:15- Santi says, last we heard, both of you were using
1:26:19the Logitech MX Master and Awaycom tablet.
1:26:22What are you using today?
1:26:24I don't use the Logitech MX Master.
1:26:27- No, poor Myke. - I can say that for sure.
1:26:30I'm using a Magic Trackpad
1:26:33and the Wacom Intuos Pro Medium.
1:26:37I last week upgraded to the newer model.
1:26:40Oh, I love the newer model.
1:26:43- What do you love about it?
1:26:44- It is bigger.
1:26:45It has more buttons.
1:26:47It has eight buttons instead of six
1:26:49that were on the other medium.
1:26:51is a slimmer profile and it's much smoother.
1:26:54And the pen is way better. The pen is way better.
1:26:57The reason that I upgraded, I don't know why I left it so long honestly.
1:27:01My pen was basically falling apart every time I pressed it down with any force.
1:27:07Like the bottom ring would fall off and the button would fall out.
1:27:11It's just happening a lot to me and I just never upgraded it.
1:27:14And I could have replaced the pen, but in logic when I'm editing,
1:27:20All I needed was one more button and I never need to touch the keyboard.
1:27:26So now I can edit a show entirely just using programmed buttons with the Wacom tablet.
1:27:37It is wonderful. I love it.
1:27:40Very nice.
1:27:42Yeah, I'm very, very happy. So I used that and I also used a Magic Trackpad.
1:27:46Sometimes I use both when I'm editing.
1:27:48I also use both of them just to use my Mac on a daily basis.
1:27:52Now, I saw you recently actually using
1:27:55a very weird looking mouse.
1:27:58- Oh, you saw me with the MX Ergo.
1:28:01That's what you saw me with.
1:28:02- Yes, what is that like?
1:28:04Do you use that still?
1:28:05- Yeah, so I picked one up.
1:28:08I've always been a really big fan of trackballs.
1:28:11So like the mouse where,
1:28:13like the whole mouse has been turned inside out
1:28:15inside out and upside down.
1:28:17And you're moving the ball around with your thumb
1:28:19instead of moving your hand to roll the ball on the desk,
1:28:22or as in modern mice, the laser.
1:28:24I do really, really like those.
1:28:28I think that the MX Ergo is replacing
1:28:34like this super duper old trackball that Logitech made
1:28:38and they just hadn't updated.
1:28:39I do not think that there is a big market in the world
1:28:42for trackball mice, but this is a really, really good one
1:28:46if you like trackballs.
1:28:48So yeah, I'm using that a lot.
1:28:50What I've sort of changed is I was taking it out
1:28:53for a test spin when you saw me using it.
1:28:56And it's not going to be the thing that I take with me
1:29:01when traveling because it's kind of great
1:29:06to be able to sit on a plane and use a pointing device
1:29:09that you don't have to physically move around,
1:29:11but it's just a little big as an object
1:29:14to carry with me in my suitcase.
1:29:17So I'm using the Logitech little mini mouse,
1:29:22the one that's like, it's symmetrical,
1:29:24so you can switch hands, which is super important to me.
1:29:27But no, I really do like that trackball, it's great.
1:29:30And just because of my RSI issues,
1:29:32I rotate between just a bunch of different input devices.
1:29:36Sometimes I'm using the tablet,
1:29:38sometimes I'm using a trackball,
1:29:39sometimes I'm using a mouse,
1:29:40Sometimes I'm using it with my left hand, sometimes I'm using it with my right hand.
1:29:44I'm trying to evenly wear all of the articulating equipment to try to minimise RSI issues.
1:29:52Lamar wants to know, Grey, have there been any updates on the hunt for a "cortility bag"?
1:29:58Lamar didn't use these words, but that's what we'll call it, because we know how things go around here.
1:30:03Any updates on finding a "cortility bag" which fits your specific purpose?
1:30:08I almost feel speechless that you're asking me this question, Myke.
1:30:13How dare you?
1:30:14After the tremendous, tremendous rain of shame
1:30:19that you tried to bring down upon my head
1:30:24over wanting a little bag in which to carry objects.
1:30:29What I thought was totally, totally a reasonable thing.
1:30:34Oh, maybe there's some things that I want to carry.
1:30:36"Oh, my pockets are very small.
1:30:38How can I solve this problem in an inconspicuous manner?"
1:30:42I can't even believe that you are bringing this up again.
1:30:49- I'll ask you a quick question, actually,
1:30:50while you're referring to this reign of shame.
1:30:52Did you ever speak to Mrs. Grey about this?
1:30:56- Yeah, no, she's a hard veto.
1:30:58- All right, so great.
1:30:59I just wanted to just make sure that, like,
1:31:02you know, you can make it sound like
1:31:04I had something to do with this decision.
1:31:07But you would do this whether I agreed with it or not.
1:31:10If you don't have a fertility bag,
1:31:12that's nothing to do with me.
1:31:15- Oh, it's a lot to do with you, buddy.
1:31:16I'll tell you that.
1:31:18I'll tell you that.
1:31:19Yeah, no, because look,
1:31:21like you started basically like,
1:31:22there was like a six degrees of separation,
1:31:25anti-cortility bag campaign that you were waging against me.
1:31:30And so, uh, my, my wife found out about the very fact that I was interested in a
1:31:36courtility bag, not from you.
1:31:38I don't know what you're talking about.
1:31:39Look, all I know is she got some instant messages from people who weren't you,
1:31:45but had found out about this, this ruckus that you're kicking up.
1:31:48And there was a hard veto on a courtility bag being added to my everyday wear.
1:31:56I'm still putting the blame 100% on you.
1:31:58I was hugely dispirited after that episode
1:32:03and sadly just gave up my search for a courtility bag.
1:32:08But I'm not letting this rest.
1:32:14This dream is not dying.
1:32:16I just need to regroup a little bit on this one.
1:32:19I'll find a solution.
1:32:21- In the meantime, you became a man of pockets.
1:32:24- Is this something you really wanna bring up now, Myke?
1:32:28We've spoken about this!
1:32:29Is this something that you wanted to?
1:32:30Because you teased the fact that you were wearing a pocket shirt that you thought I didn't notice
1:32:35when we recorded in person, but I definitely did notice, but I didn't want to bring attention to.
1:32:40Well how am I supposed to hold things without pockets?
1:32:43I don't understand.
1:32:45Especially during the summer.
1:32:46There's so many things to hold during the summer.
1:32:49You gotta put them somewhere, Myke.
1:32:50Did you take a lot of pictures with that camera you wanted?
1:32:55I've had enough of this conversation.
1:32:59[BLANK_AUDIO]