309: Do Not Expect Five Nines From My Plex
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How do you pronounce that?
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- Let's work on affluent first.
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- Is it affluent, not affluent?
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Is that right?
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Is that what I did wrong? - Yeah, yep.
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- I always get that one wrong.
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That's my bezel, Jon.
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- You've got like nine of those, though.
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And I only said it wrong once.
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- Well, yeah, but it was a pretty amazing one.
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It was gloriously saying it wrong.
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- It was pretty amazing.
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- But I'm learning, see how I don't make the same mistake.
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- I still remember exactly where I was
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when I heard that for the first time.
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- It's such a significant moment in your life.
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- I was walking over the Brooklyn Bridge,
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'cause I was doing a weird thing.
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So I was walking over the Brooklyn Bridge,
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listening to your TV segment, and I heard you say bezel,
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and I just cracked up laughing
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in the middle of this very crowded area.
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And I like rewound it like three times
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to just keep hearing it.
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It was amazing.
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I was walking over the bridge to go visit Jason Santa Maria
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to have him read us on Instapaper.
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(electronic beeping)
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- All right, let's get started.
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Let's do some follow-up,
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and I have some quick Waffle Iron follow-up.
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I know that the ATP universe was just riveted
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by my Waffle Iron quest from a few weeks ago now,
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maybe a couple months ago.
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If you recall, we had a Waring Pro waffle maker
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that is no longer being produced that I loved,
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and that was our Sunday breakfast for years.
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And then the thing kind of exploded out of nowhere.
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And we bought a cheap and truly terrible
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Hamilton Beach waffle maker
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based on a wire cutter pick, I believe.
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And it's really bad, and I feel bad saying that
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'cause Hamilton Beach is local, actually.
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- Yeah, but see, no one ever says,
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well, I guess except for this one wire cutter review,
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but no one has ever said,
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"The best X is the Hamilton Beach one."
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- But anyways, we were gifted a Cuisinart WAF F20,
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- It almost says Waffle.
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- Yeah, that's true, actually, good point.
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And I just would like to report in
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that this is a very, very, very close version
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to my beloved Waring Pro.
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In fact, I would argue it's probably made
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by the same people when it's all said and done.
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And now we can make two waffles at once
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instead of just one, which is kind of cool.
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So if you're looking for a waffle iron,
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I strongly recommend the WAF F20
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double Belgian waffle maker,
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comma, stainless steel by Cuisinart.
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- This looks nearly identical to the one I actually have.
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'Cause I have the, mine is still branded Waring,
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but I think what happened is Waring sold
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the consumer business to Cuisinart,
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and they're just doing the pro end now.
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But this looks identical to mine,
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with the sole exception that the power switch on mine
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is one of those that has the red LED that glows through it.
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But otherwise, it looks identical.
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- Yeah, it's really good, and I really recommend it.
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And if you have the luxury of living near me,
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you should ask to come over for Sunday waffles.
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Don't be creepy, I'm just saying.
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- You gotta stop putting these emoji in the show notes
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that my computer can't display.
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It's just punitive now.
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- Oh my gosh.
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- Waring Pro, period, space, white box.
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- It's the drooling emoji in case you were curious.
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How old is your, well, we'll get to that later.
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Let's not even go there.
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- The question is, in what year
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was that emoji added to Mac OS?
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- Yeah, seriously.
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I think that was in the last year or two.
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Where's Jeremy Burge when we need him?
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All right, that is all for follow-up.
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That was world record fast.
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John, tell me, is a robot coming back from the future
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to terminate you?
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What's going on here?
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- I shouldn't have put a capital letter T in there
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and made you think it was about SCSI terminators,
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or I'm not sure what else you would have thought
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it was about.
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- I would have thought SCSI terminators, actually,
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because I don't know what else it would be.
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- Is it because, do you know this because I already
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complained about it elsewhere, and that's why you know
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what I'm talking about?
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- No, I don't know what you're gonna talk about.
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- Oh, well, what's your guesses?
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- I mean, I would have said SCSI terminator,
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but I know that's even older than your computer,
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which is saying something.
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I don't know.
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Some, a terminator issue.
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- Because it's capitalized, it's gotta be a movie reference,
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like to the Terminator movies, I'm guessing it's either
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something about Arnold Schwarzenegger, therefore California,
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or some kind of issues he's having with California, or--
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That doesn't make any sense.
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- Something that promised to be back and now is back.
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So maybe the keyboard problem, I don't know.
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- I'm proud of you for making pop culture references
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to a movie you haven't seen, Marco.
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- Now, for the listeners, just to be clear,
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the show notes read as follows, John's Terminator woes.
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John is, of course, capitalized.
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Terminator is capitalized.
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Woes is not capitalized.
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So John, tell us, what is this about?
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- I feel like this is a segment of the show now
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where I have, I feel guilty about bringing it up
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'cause I'm just here to complain about a thing, but--
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- John, this is literally why people love listening
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to you on podcasts.
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- There's such minor thing.
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Anyway, this one, it's minor, but--
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- Yes, they're all minor things, that's what we love.
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- It's minor, but it's subverted, like, it is rearranged
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the, my mental model of like the media world
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in an interesting way.
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So, as I've talked about in my past shows,
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I have all sorts of ways to watch television
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and movie things.
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I subscribe to all the services under the sun,
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although I did actually remember this month
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to cancel one of the ones that I haven't watched in a while.
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So I am trying to manage my subscriptions better.
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But every time, speaking of subscriptions,
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every time I have to cancel a subscription,
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Gruber keeps talking about how he loves
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that Apple subscriptions shows him all the stuff
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he subscribes to in one place.
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That's true, and it makes it easy to unsubscribe.
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You know, you just go to that screen and get rid of it.
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Every time I wanna go to that screen,
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I have to Google for iTunes subscriptions manage.
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Or like, I have to Google where to find it.
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And then like the top Google hit is that thing
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where they break out the instructions.
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I can never remember where the hell it is.
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Do you guys know offhand where it is?
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- There's actually a new URL.
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If you happen to be an Overcast premium member,
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and you go to overcast.fm/account,
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you can do it there.
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Here, I'll just paste it in the show notes.
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So it's apps.apple.com/account/subscriptions.
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- So you can get to it on your phone too,
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not going to a web browser.
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And that's the one I usually go to,
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and that's the one that eventually kicks you
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to what I think is a web interface anyway.
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- Yes, well and if you click that URL
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from any Apple device, it works on desktop iTunes,
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it works on iOS, like it works on any Mac or iOS device,
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that will take you to the screen.
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- Anyways, like settings, your Apple ID,
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view Apple ID from the pop-up,
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and then once you're in view Apple ID,
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you scroll to manage subscriptions.
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Anyway, all this is saying I have lots of different ways
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to watch stuff.
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There's sort of a hierarchy of
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how much time do you wanna spend looking for it?
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Like a lot of the times I'll wanna watch a movie,
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and sometimes I'll be feeling bold
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and I'll speak into my terrible Apple TV remote
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and ask to watch a movie and see like what service
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it pops up, because it in theory knows
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that I subscribe to Hulu and Netflix and Amazon Prime
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and all these other things.
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And I wanna see what it'll bring up.
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If it's on Netflix, I'm like, oh great,
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I'll just watch it, right?
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But if we're in a hurry, like oh,
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the kids wanna watch a movie,
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or we're all sitting down as a family to watch a movie,
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and I don't wanna deal with figuring out
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where which of the umpteen services that I have
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has that movie, like is it on HBO,
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is it in the Showtime app, is it like,
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I don't wanna deal with that at all,
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I just go to iTunes and just buy the movie,
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because it's like, it is the, it used to be in my mind,
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the most reliable, the fastest,
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and also the most expensive obviously way to get it,
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because I have all these services I subscribe to,
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if they have the movie for free,
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why would I pay $12.99 to buy the movie,
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or rent it depending on whether I think
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I'm ever gonna wanna watch it again, right?
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So in that situation, I was bringing my family,
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my children up to pop culture snuff
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so they don't end up like Margo,
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and they hadn't seen the Terminator movies,
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'cause Terminator 1, the first Terminator movie,
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not titled Terminator 1, is rated R,
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so I couldn't really show this to my kids
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until they're older, right,
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so my son is older than I am to see it now,
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so I said we're gonna watch Terminator,
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then we're gonna, I really just wanted him
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to watch Terminator 2, which is not rated R,
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but you can't watch Terminator 2
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without watching the Terminator,
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so I'm like, all right, I don't wanna deal with
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finding where this movie is available,
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it might be on one of my streaming services,
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I don't know, let me just go to iTunes and buy it,
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because I know, I instantly know how to do that,
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I don't bother with any voice things,
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just go to iTunes, type the term in,
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you know, I can find it, and I'll just pay the money,
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and we'll play immediately, and I won't have any problems,
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and this is particularly true of last time,
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so I'm looking for like, anime, or foreign movies,
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or things with subtitles where I don't wanna deal with like,
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is it gonna be the dub, are the subtitles
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gonna be burned in in a weird font if I see it in streaming,
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or even just regular movies, is it gonna be reformatted
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on Amazon Prime, or it's like the weird unrated version,
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like iTunes I feel like is the canonical,
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there's a movie, you know it exists,
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you just wanna see the movie the way you expect to see it,
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so go to iTunes, and in the case of the Terminator,
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we're watching it, and as we're watching the movie,
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immediately I notice, but it just gets worse and worse
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as we watch the movie, the audio sync is off,
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the words, people's mouths, lips moving,
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don't match the audio, at first I'm like,
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boy, back in the 80s, they were pretty sloppy with the ADR,
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but then I remember, no, it's not the ADR,
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it's actually out of sync, and it's getting worse,
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so I do all the things, you don't wanna like,
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ruin the movie experience, like wait, I gotta pause,
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I gotta fix anything, one time I tried,
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during the movie I tried like pausing and reloading,
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like when someone got up to go to the bathroom,
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I tried pausing and then playing, it didn't work,
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I killed the application, that didn't work,
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and then they were back, so we just watched it
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with out of sync audio, and I'm like, this is BS,
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it was one of the few times I was thinking
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I should ask for a refund.
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- Wait, you watched an entire film,
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even one you've seen before with out of sync audio?
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- I've seen it many, many times before,
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I mean, it wasn't that, I don't know if anyone else
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in the room noticed it was out of sync, but I noticed.
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- I cannot fathom John Siracusa watching
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an entire two-ish hour movie.
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- It's not a talky movie, first of all,
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and second of all, it's worse to interrupt the movie,
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like I'd gotten everyone together,
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we're all gonna watch the movie,
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the lights are off in the room,
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like you can't kill that experience by saying,
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I'm not gonna futz with my Apple TV for 20 minutes,
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again, that's the reason I'm doing it on iTunes.
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- If anyone can do that, it's John Siracusa
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can kill that experience by futzing with the Apple TV.
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- I would absolutely not do that,
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I'm the one who doesn't want you to stop
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in the middle of the movie, I want you to watch it
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on an uninterrupted and have your full concentration, anyway.
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And this is just blowing my mind, because it was like,
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like I said, the most expensive way you can get this movie,
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and I'm like, what could the problem possibly be?
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I'm like, is it my AV setup?
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I'm like, no, because I use this Apple TV
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to watch a video all the time through the same receiver
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and there's no problem with the audio sync.
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I was starting to think that it had to be the file,
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like that actually this is somehow got uploaded
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to Apple servers with a file where the audio's not in sync.
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So to test that, I downloaded the audio on my Mac
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and tried playing it there, two things there.
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One, I'm doing this on a 5K iMac,
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which is not that old of a machine, right?
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It's, I think it was, is it the current 5K iMac still?
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Maybe it is, it's a 1080p movie,
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and my 5K iMac could not play without dropping frames,
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which I don't understand at all.
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I tried it in iTunes itself, and then I tried it
00:10:29
◼
►
in like the new crappy QuickTime player,
00:10:31
◼
►
and both of them, they'd play it,
00:10:34
◼
►
but occasionally it would drop frames.
00:10:35
◼
►
But anyway, despite them dropping frames,
00:10:38
◼
►
the audio was still in sync with the frames that were there.
00:10:40
◼
►
So it's not the file, the audio is in sync in the file.
00:10:43
◼
►
I tried rebooting the Apple TV.
00:10:45
◼
►
I tried checking the audio and video settings
00:10:47
◼
►
in the Apple TV.
00:10:47
◼
►
I tried doing software updates in the Apple TV,
00:10:49
◼
►
where it didn't need any, it was already up to date.
00:10:51
◼
►
This is an Apple TV 4K, all on the latest version
00:10:54
◼
►
of everything, playing an iTunes movie.
00:10:57
◼
►
I tried it on multiple different dates.
00:10:58
◼
►
Maybe it's just weird today,
00:10:59
◼
►
maybe there's something else going on.
00:11:03
◼
►
It played this movie with all the others out of sync,
00:11:04
◼
►
and it got worse like farther into the movie it went.
00:11:07
◼
►
So this is, A, it's making me think about
00:11:09
◼
►
how I might try to get a refund,
00:11:10
◼
►
although every time I think about it,
00:11:11
◼
►
I'm like, I have no idea how to do that,
00:11:13
◼
►
and it'll probably involve calling someone on the phone,
00:11:14
◼
►
and it'll be a hassle.
00:11:16
◼
►
Who the hell knows?
00:11:17
◼
►
So now I have this cruddy copy of the Terminator
00:11:19
◼
►
with the audio out of sync,
00:11:21
◼
►
and now, next time I need to get a movie,
00:11:23
◼
►
and think like what's the least problematic way to get it,
00:11:26
◼
►
I don't know, maybe I'll just try to buy it
00:11:27
◼
►
from Amazon or something.
00:11:28
◼
►
I don't even know what my next in line is.
00:11:30
◼
►
Terminator 2, by the way, didn't have this problem
00:11:32
◼
►
on the Apple TV, because we watched Terminator 2
00:11:34
◼
►
the next day, and I had already purchased both of them
00:11:37
◼
►
ahead of time, so it wasn't like I had to reach,
00:11:39
◼
►
I watched Terminator 2, the audio was in sync.
00:11:41
◼
►
For the most part, there was a few seconds where I'm like,
00:11:43
◼
►
wait a second, is it out of sync again?
00:11:45
◼
►
I'm like, no, that was probably actually just bad ADR.
00:11:47
◼
►
Anyway, this is really bothering me,
00:11:51
◼
►
mostly because I don't know how to explain it,
00:11:52
◼
►
but secondarily because now I don't really have a go-to
00:11:56
◼
►
for you're in a hurry, you want the movie now.
00:11:59
◼
►
I mean, do you think, does one bad occurrence here
00:12:03
◼
►
ruin this whole service?
00:12:04
◼
►
'Cause I too have had occasional problems
00:12:07
◼
►
with iTunes-bought content, usually it's TV shows,
00:12:11
◼
►
but they're very occasional.
00:12:12
◼
►
The hit rate is very high as a percentage.
00:12:16
◼
►
And so if you look at what else is out there,
00:12:19
◼
►
I don't think any of us have more experience
00:12:22
◼
►
with Amazon purchases for digital downloads
00:12:25
◼
►
or anything like that, so we don't really know
00:12:27
◼
►
if they're actually better.
00:12:28
◼
►
I mean, in this case, this isn't a problem
00:12:30
◼
►
where Apple, lol, web services, this is a problem
00:12:33
◼
►
where the file itself was probably at fault,
00:12:36
◼
►
so the file itself was probably messed up,
00:12:38
◼
►
and what can you really do about that?
00:12:40
◼
►
No service is gonna be impervious to content providers
00:12:45
◼
►
uploading bad files.
00:12:47
◼
►
- But the file wasn't messed up.
00:12:48
◼
►
Like I said, the audio was in sync when I played it
00:12:51
◼
►
It dropped frames, but the audio was in sync.
00:12:52
◼
►
Right, so I mean, there was some kind,
00:12:55
◼
►
it's like a problem with playback,
00:12:56
◼
►
and it's not 4K, I don't think.
00:13:00
◼
►
My TV's not 4K anyway, but I don't understand
00:13:02
◼
►
what its problem could have possibly been.
00:13:04
◼
►
- Well, it could have been maybe it's like a bit rate thing.
00:13:06
◼
►
Maybe it was encoded with, like it didn't cap the bit rate
00:13:09
◼
►
in a way that your Mac, well, I was gonna say
00:13:12
◼
►
that your Mac is powerful enough to keep up,
00:13:14
◼
►
but not your Mac, per se.
00:13:16
◼
►
One's Mac could be powerful enough to keep up
00:13:18
◼
►
compared to an Apple TV.
00:13:20
◼
►
In your case, your Apple TV is probably faster
00:13:22
◼
►
than your Mac.
00:13:23
◼
►
- I watched it on my iPad, too,
00:13:25
◼
►
and also had audio sync problems then.
00:13:27
◼
►
Not as bad as the Apple TV, but definitely noticeable.
00:13:29
◼
►
So it is baffling.
00:13:30
◼
►
So yeah, maybe I'll just, I don't know,
00:13:32
◼
►
maybe I'll find a way to get a refund
00:13:33
◼
►
and just continue to go back to it as my only choice,
00:13:38
◼
►
but it's definitely weird, and there's no way
00:13:41
◼
►
in the interface to complain about this.
00:13:43
◼
►
I guess it's something they don't expect to happen.
00:13:44
◼
►
Like "The Terminator" is a popular movie,
00:13:46
◼
►
so I don't quite understand how this could happen
00:13:48
◼
►
and them not know about it, but maybe because everyone
00:13:52
◼
►
like me just gives up before they even start trying
00:13:54
◼
►
to figure out how to tell them.
00:13:56
◼
►
Hey, Apple, your copy of "Terminator" is messed up.
00:13:58
◼
►
There, I told them.
00:14:02
◼
►
- Why did you not try Plex?
00:14:04
◼
►
Like, you know, one of the advantages of Plex
00:14:07
◼
►
is that when you're Plex friends with other people,
00:14:09
◼
►
as I know you are, other people might have the movie
00:14:12
◼
►
you're looking for.
00:14:13
◼
►
- That's like the least reliable way.
00:14:14
◼
►
I gotta rely on someone else's server being up
00:14:16
◼
►
and my bandwidth, their upload bandwidth being adequate
00:14:18
◼
►
to keep the movie streaming and them not turning off
00:14:20
◼
►
whatever computer they're running Plex on.
00:14:21
◼
►
That's, I would never choose that for it's time
00:14:23
◼
►
to see a movie right now and be guaranteed that it works.
00:14:27
◼
►
That's bananas to me because in my eyes,
00:14:30
◼
►
that is the most reliable way because, you know,
00:14:32
◼
►
I've never had an instance where one of my friends
00:14:35
◼
►
was randomly turned off the computer I was using.
00:14:37
◼
►
- I, the MyPlex server that you have access to
00:14:41
◼
►
is on my wife's computer that she restarts all the time
00:14:44
◼
►
for any reason she feels like it, so you can be
00:14:45
◼
►
in the middle of a movie and it can restart.
00:14:47
◼
►
So let me tell you, do not expect five nines
00:14:49
◼
►
from MyPlex server.
00:14:51
◼
►
- Well also, I mean, in my experience, you know,
00:14:54
◼
►
Plex server files are often either files that fall
00:14:58
◼
►
off of trucks or files that people have encoded themselves
00:15:01
◼
►
with rips and everything and those, in my experience,
00:15:04
◼
►
tend to be the least reliable in terms of audio sync
00:15:07
◼
►
to video, like that actually is a very common problem.
00:15:11
◼
►
- If people are bad at it, yeah, but my main thing is
00:15:13
◼
►
it would be lower quality because it would probably
00:15:15
◼
►
be re-encoded from something that was already
00:15:16
◼
►
lost and encoded.
00:15:17
◼
►
- Well even if that's true, at least, like,
00:15:19
◼
►
maybe it's just my values, but I would much rather
00:15:22
◼
►
have an SD video that is matched to the audio
00:15:25
◼
►
than a 1080 video where the audio is, you know,
00:15:27
◼
►
10, 15 seconds, well, they're milliseconds off.
00:15:29
◼
►
- You know, you're overestimating the audio sync,
00:15:32
◼
►
I'm talking, the audio drift I'm talking about here.
00:15:34
◼
►
- Yeah, I shouldn't have said seconds, but yeah.
00:15:36
◼
►
But you get my point, is that personally, for me,
00:15:38
◼
►
and maybe you don't have to agree, but for me,
00:15:40
◼
►
I would much rather have synced crummy video
00:15:43
◼
►
than unsynced pretty video.
00:15:46
◼
►
- I need to have it all.
00:15:47
◼
►
Anyway, someone mentions the Movies Anywhere thing,
00:15:50
◼
►
do you guys know about that?
00:15:51
◼
►
- Yeah, if anybody out there doesn't know about this,
00:15:54
◼
►
you need to know about this.
00:15:55
◼
►
- Yeah, so it's some service that I think Disney ran
00:15:58
◼
►
that somehow they got deals with all the other
00:15:59
◼
►
streaming people where if you buy anything anywhere,
00:16:01
◼
►
it can appear in Movies Anywhere and you can play
00:16:04
◼
►
it back there, and I think it might be DRM-free
00:16:05
◼
►
when you play it in that context.
00:16:07
◼
►
- No, I doubt it's DRM-free, but so yeah, the point
00:16:09
◼
►
is basically, they have deals with Amazon, iTunes,
00:16:13
◼
►
whoever else, and including when you redeem those codes
00:16:16
◼
►
that come with Blu-rays, and so you can buy a movie
00:16:19
◼
►
on a Blu-ray, redeem the code at Movies Anywhere,
00:16:22
◼
►
and then it shows up as a purchased movie on Apple's side
00:16:26
◼
►
in your iTunes movie account if they have it.
00:16:29
◼
►
It's crazy, I don't know how they rigged this deal up
00:16:31
◼
►
with Apple, I don't know how they got Apple to agree to this
00:16:35
◼
►
or anybody else for that matter, but yeah, basically,
00:16:37
◼
►
almost every studio participates in this now,
00:16:39
◼
►
and so you can buy, for me, I bought a bunch of Blu-rays
00:16:43
◼
►
on Black Friday because they were all discounted
00:16:45
◼
►
on various Black Friday sales, they were cheaper
00:16:46
◼
►
than buying movies on iTunes and Amazon and stuff.
00:16:49
◼
►
I bought a bunch of Blu-rays, I typed in the codes,
00:16:51
◼
►
and I put the Blu-rays in the closet, and I'm probably,
00:16:55
◼
►
I'm not sure if I'll ever watch them, but I have the codes,
00:16:57
◼
►
and so now all those movies just showed up
00:16:58
◼
►
in my iTunes account, it's great.
00:17:00
◼
►
- Yeah, I always forget about that, I do have that app
00:17:03
◼
►
installed and I do look at it, it's kind of cool
00:17:05
◼
►
to see all your movies aggregated into a single place
00:17:08
◼
►
and everything, and I do use it occasionally
00:17:09
◼
►
to get file downloads for services that I traditionally
00:17:13
◼
►
think of, although I think Amazon gives you
00:17:15
◼
►
file downloads now, anyway, I always forget that it exists
00:17:18
◼
►
when it comes time to watch a movie like this,
00:17:20
◼
►
so I could've just bought it on iTunes, quit the Movies app,
00:17:23
◼
►
and then gone to the Movies Anywhere thing
00:17:24
◼
►
and see if I could play it there, although,
00:17:25
◼
►
do they have an Apple TV app?
00:17:26
◼
►
I have the app on my iPad where I watch a lot of
00:17:29
◼
►
cruddy movies, but I assume they have
00:17:30
◼
►
an Apple TV app somewhere.
00:17:31
◼
►
- The actual movies anywhere, I'm not sure,
00:17:33
◼
►
I've never looked 'cause I don't need to,
00:17:34
◼
►
'cause everything that I put in there shows up
00:17:36
◼
►
in my iTunes thing.
00:17:37
◼
►
- Oh well, anyway, watching movies is hard.
00:17:40
◼
►
- We are sponsored this week by IGG Software,
00:17:43
◼
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makers of Banktivity, which is an easy to use,
00:17:45
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00:17:46
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exclusively for Apple platforms.
00:17:49
◼
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Maybe you wanna keep track of what you spend your money on
00:17:50
◼
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and where your money comes from.
00:17:52
◼
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Yeah, you can use Numbers or Excel to do that,
00:17:54
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but there's a better way.
00:17:55
◼
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Banktivity does those things, but oh so much more.
00:17:57
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For starters, Banktivity connects to over 10,000 banks
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to make data entry easier.
00:18:02
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Banktivity can also track other kinds of accounts,
00:18:04
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like your loans, investments, retirement accounts, and more.
00:18:06
◼
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Oh, you said you like budgets, Banktivity can do that too,
00:18:09
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including customizable reports, planning,
00:18:11
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bill tracking, and more.
00:18:12
◼
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But Casey, you say, I like to enter my expenditures
00:18:14
◼
►
when they happen, I'm tired of having a pocket or wallet
00:18:16
◼
►
full of crumpled receipts, no problem.
00:18:18
◼
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Banktivity's iOS apps will let you do precisely that
00:18:21
◼
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and more, but what if I want an at-a-glance picture
00:18:23
◼
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of my financial world while I'm out for a run?
00:18:25
◼
►
Well, first of all, weird.
00:18:27
◼
►
Second of all, there's even a watch app that you can use
00:18:29
◼
►
to get a quick look at your budget
00:18:30
◼
►
or see your account balances all on your wrist.
00:18:33
◼
►
Casey, I'm interested, you say,
00:18:35
◼
►
but I don't want some sort of abandoned software.
00:18:37
◼
►
IGG and Banktivity are here for dark mode,
00:18:39
◼
►
they were here for the 64-bit transition,
00:18:41
◼
►
they were ready for the transition to Intel,
00:18:43
◼
►
and that should tell you something.
00:18:45
◼
►
To quote IGG, we are committed to macOS and iOS
00:18:48
◼
►
and we will be there for whatever comes next.
00:18:49
◼
►
Arm-based laptops, anybody?
00:18:52
◼
►
Here's the thing, late last year,
00:18:53
◼
►
I was using some abandoned software
00:18:55
◼
►
and resisted switching for the longest time.
00:18:58
◼
►
Banktivity sucked in over a decade
00:19:00
◼
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of my personal transaction history, no problem,
00:19:02
◼
►
and I was up and running in no time.
00:19:04
◼
►
IGG pays us to talk about their software,
00:19:06
◼
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but they can't pay me to say this,
00:19:07
◼
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I use Banktivity and I really like it.
00:19:09
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Use coupon code ATP10, all caps, no spaces at checkout.
00:19:26
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They also have a 90-day money-back guarantee
00:19:28
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00:19:31
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00:19:33
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00:19:34
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Our thanks to Banktivity and IGG Software for sponsoring ATP.
00:19:38
◼
►
(upbeat music)
00:19:41
◼
►
All right, over the last, what is it?
00:19:43
◼
►
48 hours or so, maybe a week or so,
00:19:45
◼
►
Apple has brought something back from the dead.
00:19:47
◼
►
We have iPhone XS and XR Smart Battery cases,
00:19:52
◼
►
and even the XS Max gets a Smart Battery case now.
00:19:55
◼
►
Smart Battery cases for everyone.
00:19:57
◼
►
I never had one originally.
00:19:59
◼
►
I was on the camp that it looked kind of silly
00:20:01
◼
►
with the humpback on it.
00:20:03
◼
►
These appear to be a little bit less silly looking to my eye
00:20:06
◼
►
because the humpback is going all the way
00:20:09
◼
►
to the bottom of the case rather than kind of being
00:20:11
◼
►
a bump in the middle.
00:20:14
◼
►
But they're $130 for the XS one.
00:20:18
◼
►
Is the Max one more expensive?
00:20:20
◼
►
I'm sure it is.
00:20:20
◼
►
- I think they're all the same.
00:20:21
◼
►
- Oh, they are all the same, you're right.
00:20:23
◼
►
These, I guess, are pretty cool.
00:20:25
◼
►
This is not something that I personally feel like
00:20:26
◼
►
I need in my life, but they charge via Qi now,
00:20:29
◼
►
which is really cool.
00:20:30
◼
►
So the case will charge via Qi,
00:20:32
◼
►
and then the case will charge your phone.
00:20:34
◼
►
And from what I understand, they're really great.
00:20:35
◼
►
Marco, you got one, didn't you?
00:20:38
◼
►
- Not the new one, no, but we did have the old one,
00:20:40
◼
►
Tiff used it on her iPhone 7, I think,
00:20:42
◼
►
for almost the entire time that she had it.
00:20:44
◼
►
I think you nailed it.
00:20:45
◼
►
We're like, we all made fun of it when it came out
00:20:47
◼
►
because it looked just ridiculous.
00:20:48
◼
►
It was by far one of the ugliest looking Apple products
00:20:51
◼
►
that they've ever released.
00:20:53
◼
►
And over the coming weeks after it was released,
00:20:56
◼
►
we came to learn, well, they did it that way
00:20:58
◼
►
'cause it wouldn't block the antenna bands,
00:21:00
◼
►
and every other case blocks the antenna bands
00:21:01
◼
►
and everything.
00:21:02
◼
►
And so there were some reasons why they made it so ugly.
00:21:06
◼
►
And the shape of it had some practical upsides to it.
00:21:09
◼
►
And then in use, it was actually kind of nice
00:21:11
◼
►
because you could rest your pinky along the bottom edge
00:21:14
◼
►
of that backpack that it was wearing.
00:21:15
◼
►
And so it was a way to, you know,
00:21:18
◼
►
if you look at pretty much any way
00:21:19
◼
►
that people hold large phones in more easy ways
00:21:22
◼
►
by sticking things to the back,
00:21:23
◼
►
they all kind of rest in this principle
00:21:24
◼
►
of it's easier to hold stuff near the middle
00:21:26
◼
►
of the back of the phone than it is
00:21:27
◼
►
to reach top and bottom edges.
00:21:29
◼
►
And so you could kind of rest your pinky
00:21:30
◼
►
on that little ledge and support the phone that way,
00:21:33
◼
►
and it was easier to hold a bigger phone that way.
00:21:35
◼
►
The new ones don't have that,
00:21:37
◼
►
and honestly I consider that a slight progression
00:21:40
◼
►
in that way 'cause it actually was really nice to hold that.
00:21:41
◼
►
But otherwise, the new ones appear to have
00:21:45
◼
►
similar general appeal in that they, you know,
00:21:49
◼
►
they're kind of frumpy looking,
00:21:50
◼
►
but they're providing excellent utility
00:21:53
◼
►
if you need a battery case.
00:21:54
◼
►
We currently don't have a need for battery cases,
00:21:59
◼
►
but if we were to need one, I'd go right to that one
00:22:03
◼
►
because when you compare it to other battery cases,
00:22:05
◼
►
like it has the same advantages that the first one did.
00:22:08
◼
►
First of all, it charges via lightning in.
00:22:10
◼
►
This is very rare for peripherals,
00:22:13
◼
►
and especially for battery cases.
00:22:14
◼
►
Almost all of them require micro USB in to charge,
00:22:17
◼
►
which now means you're carrying multiple types of cables
00:22:19
◼
►
with you necessarily, whereas if it has lightning in,
00:22:22
◼
►
you can just plug in however you normally charge your phone.
00:22:25
◼
►
As you mentioned, Casey, this one also supports
00:22:26
◼
►
wireless charging, which very few battery cases do.
00:22:29
◼
►
So again, that's even better.
00:22:30
◼
►
It's like however you charge your iPhone now,
00:22:32
◼
►
you need to change nothing about that to charge this case.
00:22:35
◼
►
And then my favorite thing about the smart battery cases
00:22:37
◼
►
compared to other ones is other ones,
00:22:40
◼
►
they kind of act like USB battery packs
00:22:43
◼
►
in the sense that you have to turn them on,
00:22:46
◼
►
and then when you turn them on, they activate
00:22:48
◼
►
and become a power source for your phone.
00:22:50
◼
►
Your phone thinks it's pulled into the wall
00:22:52
◼
►
and pulls power until either it's full
00:22:54
◼
►
or the case battery is depleted.
00:22:56
◼
►
And there's a number of things about this
00:22:57
◼
►
that Apple improves upon with theirs.
00:22:59
◼
►
So first of all, there's no on/off switch.
00:23:01
◼
►
You don't have to think about whether it's on or off.
00:23:03
◼
►
You just charge through it when you have a chance,
00:23:05
◼
►
and it charges your phone until it's empty.
00:23:09
◼
►
So the phone stays at 100% until the battery case is empty,
00:23:12
◼
►
and then the phone starts reading itself from there.
00:23:14
◼
►
You can view the charge level in the batteries widget
00:23:17
◼
►
on iOS, which again, other cases,
00:23:20
◼
►
you're at best with cases you have a four LED
00:23:23
◼
►
kind of dot situation, but that's usually
00:23:25
◼
►
the most detail you'll get.
00:23:27
◼
►
The other cases also have, because you have to
00:23:30
◼
►
manually turn them on or off, it's kind of wasteful
00:23:33
◼
►
if you turn them on and the phone fills up
00:23:36
◼
►
and you don't turn them off.
00:23:37
◼
►
Like it can slowly drain power in a weird, inefficient way.
00:23:40
◼
►
You can accidentally leave it on when you don't
00:23:42
◼
►
really need it to be there, like when you're not
00:23:44
◼
►
even using it and that can slowly drain the power.
00:23:46
◼
►
Or you can think you're charging up
00:23:48
◼
►
and then it's actually off.
00:23:49
◼
►
Like having to manage the power switch
00:23:51
◼
►
on your battery case is annoying.
00:23:53
◼
►
And so for Apple to remove that and add all these
00:23:56
◼
►
smarts about how it charges it and where you can show
00:23:59
◼
►
the battery info and everything and not having
00:24:01
◼
►
to have your own separate type of cable,
00:24:03
◼
►
it's a really convenient package.
00:24:04
◼
►
Like I gotta say, it's very well done
00:24:06
◼
►
and it's a decent capacity.
00:24:09
◼
►
It's not like super, super high capacity.
00:24:11
◼
►
If you need like maximum capacity, you wanna look
00:24:14
◼
►
at other things besides this, but otherwise,
00:24:16
◼
►
it's a really nice package.
00:24:17
◼
►
Unfortunately, as usual, it's more expensive
00:24:19
◼
►
than what it replaced by a good deal.
00:24:20
◼
►
I think the old one was 100 bucks, I think.
00:24:23
◼
►
So if this is 130, that's a big increase.
00:24:26
◼
►
But it's typical of many modern Apple things,
00:24:29
◼
►
which is it kinda hurts to eat the price,
00:24:32
◼
►
but if you can get past that, it's a pretty good option.
00:24:35
◼
►
- I think I find it so weird about this battery case
00:24:38
◼
►
and has been weird about a couple things is the timing.
00:24:40
◼
►
Like it seems to me that it would have been much better
00:24:43
◼
►
to release the battery case at the same time
00:24:45
◼
►
that you release the phone because that's when
00:24:47
◼
►
there's gonna be a big rush of people
00:24:48
◼
►
who are buying the phone because they want
00:24:51
◼
►
the latest and greatest and they're the least
00:24:52
◼
►
price sensitive people and when they buy it,
00:24:54
◼
►
they're gonna buy accessories and they're gonna buy a case
00:24:56
◼
►
and if the type of person who used a battery case before,
00:24:58
◼
►
they might want a battery case again
00:25:00
◼
►
and it's not available for months,
00:25:02
◼
►
like that's just bad.
00:25:03
◼
►
I mean, probably this is not their most important peripheral
00:25:05
◼
►
so whatever.
00:25:06
◼
►
Same thing with the XR with the clear case and everything.
00:25:09
◼
►
It's better to have the peripherals available
00:25:12
◼
►
when you launch the phones.
00:25:14
◼
►
And of all the things that you can't get done,
00:25:16
◼
►
I'm obviously getting the phones ready for sale
00:25:18
◼
►
is much more important than getting these peripherals
00:25:20
◼
►
ready for sale, but it's the type of thing
00:25:24
◼
►
that seems odd that Apple has these weird misses
00:25:28
◼
►
in timing on stuff like this.
00:25:30
◼
►
Not that I'm saying they should delay the phone
00:25:31
◼
►
or whatever, but cases.
00:25:33
◼
►
It's not that, what is it that made this thing be delayed?
00:25:38
◼
►
Is there something about this case?
00:25:39
◼
►
Did they not have batteries because they had to use them all
00:25:41
◼
►
on the phones?
00:25:42
◼
►
I'm sure there's some action somewhere,
00:25:43
◼
►
but it just seems weird to me that it would be better
00:25:48
◼
►
if they could get their acts together and have launches
00:25:51
◼
►
where something isn't delayed.
00:25:53
◼
►
And the same thing with the 10 hour delay itself,
00:25:54
◼
►
which obviously is more explicable because they,
00:25:56
◼
►
maybe there's some conservation of parts
00:25:59
◼
►
or manufacturing capacities for the big phone launches.
00:26:01
◼
►
But here's hoping that someday soon we can actually have
00:26:04
◼
►
a flagship product launch from Apple
00:26:07
◼
►
where everything launches at the same time,
00:26:08
◼
►
including all the peripherals,
00:26:09
◼
►
and there's no weird manufacturing problems,
00:26:12
◼
►
and there's no slow trickle.
00:26:15
◼
►
I mean, this is after the holidays for crying out loud.
00:26:17
◼
►
I don't understand it.
00:26:19
◼
►
Oh, and as for the specific battery case,
00:26:21
◼
►
the only thing looking at it,
00:26:23
◼
►
and you can tell me, well, maybe it's not the same.
00:26:25
◼
►
You can't tell me, Mark, because you had the one,
00:26:27
◼
►
the one you had was for the seven?
00:26:30
◼
►
Yeah, that's the only one that's ever existed before this.
00:26:32
◼
►
Yeah, right.
00:26:33
◼
►
I'm just trying to remember which phone it was on.
00:26:34
◼
►
So the battery case, unlike the Apple leather case
00:26:38
◼
►
and the Apple silicone case,
00:26:40
◼
►
goes all the way around top and bottom.
00:26:42
◼
►
And for a 10 style phone where you constantly swipe up
00:26:45
◼
►
from the bottom, I don't like the idea of hitting the lip
00:26:48
◼
►
on the case.
00:26:49
◼
►
Now I can't tell from pictures whether the lip is big
00:26:51
◼
►
or small or whether you notice it or whatever,
00:26:52
◼
►
but I do, one of the things I like about Apple's cases,
00:26:56
◼
►
the leather one and the silicone one,
00:26:57
◼
►
is they don't even have anything down there.
00:26:58
◼
►
So you have no chance of hitting a lip
00:27:00
◼
►
when you do that very, very frequent gesture,
00:27:02
◼
►
which is swipe out from bottom.
00:27:04
◼
►
So if I go to an Apple store and this is on display,
00:27:07
◼
►
I'll have to try it out.
00:27:08
◼
►
But I think it looks better than the old one.
00:27:09
◼
►
It's more elegant.
00:27:10
◼
►
I think I remember defending the old one's looks
00:27:12
◼
►
because it's like that Johnny Ive,
00:27:14
◼
►
let's not hide the fact that there's something slapped
00:27:16
◼
►
to the back of this phone.
00:27:17
◼
►
Let's just, you know, let's embrace that and say,
00:27:19
◼
►
guess what, it's a phone with the thing stuck on the back.
00:27:21
◼
►
This one actually does less of that.
00:27:22
◼
►
It's like, well, it is a phone with things stuck on the back,
00:27:24
◼
►
but let's try to blend it in, you know,
00:27:27
◼
►
to make it not quite as obvious,
00:27:29
◼
►
like putting, you know, strategic makeup
00:27:31
◼
►
on a very large nose.
00:27:32
◼
►
But it looks nice.
00:27:34
◼
►
And if I had to get a battery case,
00:27:36
◼
►
I think I would also get this one.
00:27:37
◼
►
But the things you said about capacity and price,
00:27:39
◼
►
like the dollar per watt hour or whatever
00:27:43
◼
►
is not good on this case, but that's Apple for you.
00:27:46
◼
►
- No, and you know, like the reality is like,
00:27:48
◼
►
if you need a battery case at all,
00:27:50
◼
►
you're already like, you know, a subset of the population.
00:27:53
◼
►
And then like, if you need a big, big, big battery case,
00:27:58
◼
►
you know, those people exist.
00:27:59
◼
►
There's plenty of them in absolute numbers,
00:28:01
◼
►
but like that's such a smaller percentage of the population.
00:28:03
◼
►
And like Apple's not gonna make a case
00:28:05
◼
►
that is that big and heavy to have like a three times
00:28:09
◼
►
your iPhone battery size battery in it.
00:28:11
◼
►
Realistically, this is the most they're going to do,
00:28:12
◼
►
and that's plenty for them, I think.
00:28:15
◼
►
- So one interesting caveat about this case
00:28:17
◼
►
that Renee Ritchie pointed out
00:28:19
◼
►
and a couple other people did as well.
00:28:20
◼
►
You see, look at this case, you're like,
00:28:21
◼
►
oh, it's the iPhone XS smart battery case,
00:28:24
◼
►
and they have the one for the Max,
00:28:25
◼
►
and they have one for the XR, yada, yada.
00:28:27
◼
►
What about the X?
00:28:27
◼
►
They never had a smart battery case for the X,
00:28:29
◼
►
but the XS is the same as the X.
00:28:31
◼
►
Can I just take the XS smart battery case
00:28:34
◼
►
and use it on the X?
00:28:34
◼
►
Well, the XS is kind of sort of the same as the X,
00:28:38
◼
►
like the same dimensions,
00:28:39
◼
►
and the camera's in the same place and so on and so forth,
00:28:40
◼
►
but there are things that are different about it.
00:28:42
◼
►
And initially, I think people were like,
00:28:45
◼
►
that you can't use it with the X
00:28:47
◼
►
because of those differences,
00:28:48
◼
►
because the speaker holes won't align or whatever.
00:28:50
◼
►
But Renee Ritchie said,
00:28:51
◼
►
yes, you can use the XS battery case with the iPhone X.
00:28:54
◼
►
When you attach it to the iPhone X,
00:28:56
◼
►
apparently you may get an incompatibility pop-up
00:28:58
◼
►
that says you can't use this device
00:28:59
◼
►
with this peripheral or whatever.
00:29:01
◼
►
But if you just dismiss that dialogue,
00:29:03
◼
►
apparently it charges.
00:29:04
◼
►
- It's okay. - It charges fine.
00:29:06
◼
►
- Yeah, and if it doesn't work,
00:29:08
◼
►
they say if you just update iOS or reboot or whatever,
00:29:10
◼
►
it'll work, you still have the problem
00:29:12
◼
►
that it'll be covering up some of your speaker holes
00:29:14
◼
►
and they won't be aligned,
00:29:15
◼
►
so you might not get a good sound performance out of it.
00:29:17
◼
►
But the speaker holes,
00:29:20
◼
►
the XS reduced the amount of holes in the bottom
00:29:22
◼
►
'cause it had to make room for that antenna band,
00:29:24
◼
►
but the speaker holes that it replaced
00:29:26
◼
►
were the ones that weren't there for any purpose anyway
00:29:29
◼
►
other than visual symmetry.
00:29:30
◼
►
The speakers on the bottom of all modern iPhones,
00:29:33
◼
►
they look like there's two speakers at the bottom,
00:29:36
◼
►
but only one of them is actually the speaker.
00:29:38
◼
►
You can tell by playing something
00:29:39
◼
►
and covering up each one with your thumb,
00:29:40
◼
►
you can figure out which one is the actual speaker.
00:29:42
◼
►
And so I think that the one that's the real speaker
00:29:47
◼
►
hasn't changed between these two models.
00:29:49
◼
►
All they did was reduce the number of holes
00:29:52
◼
►
that were around what on the other side
00:29:53
◼
►
is actually the microphone hole.
00:29:55
◼
►
- Oh, so are you blocking the microphone?
00:29:57
◼
►
Like I don't know which ones are blocked and which ones--
00:29:59
◼
►
- Well, I'm guessing the location
00:30:01
◼
►
of the microphone didn't change.
00:30:02
◼
►
Like all they did, I think,
00:30:03
◼
►
when they added the antenna band down there
00:30:05
◼
►
and reduced the number of holes,
00:30:06
◼
►
I think the holes they got rid of
00:30:07
◼
►
were holes that weren't necessary anyway.
00:30:10
◼
►
So I think that's why,
00:30:12
◼
►
like Rene even said, he tried it on his X
00:30:14
◼
►
and he couldn't tell a difference with the sound.
00:30:16
◼
►
I think it's because
00:30:17
◼
►
there really isn't actually a difference.
00:30:20
◼
►
- It's kind of weird that Apple didn't just make a X case.
00:30:23
◼
►
Like, I mean, I was speaking about timing,
00:30:25
◼
►
how this didn't launch with the XS.
00:30:27
◼
►
If they were gonna make a battery case
00:30:29
◼
►
for the X-style phone,
00:30:30
◼
►
why did they not do it for the entire year
00:30:32
◼
►
that the X was the flagship phone?
00:30:34
◼
►
I don't know, it's weird.
00:30:35
◼
►
Don't they want people's money?
00:30:36
◼
►
Don't they want this,
00:30:37
◼
►
I mean, the margins must be great on these things.
00:30:40
◼
►
Anyway, they look really cool.
00:30:41
◼
►
Do they come in colors?
00:30:42
◼
►
I just see it in black here.
00:30:43
◼
►
- Just black and white.
00:30:44
◼
►
- Black and white, yeah.
00:30:45
◼
►
- And I will warn you,
00:30:46
◼
►
if you've never had the white silicone case,
00:30:49
◼
►
ours was white, that Tiff used,
00:30:50
◼
►
and they do pick up lint and dirt
00:30:53
◼
►
and discoloration like crazy.
00:30:55
◼
►
Honestly, I still think the white
00:30:58
◼
►
is the better looking one of the two,
00:31:00
◼
►
but just don't put it in jeans pockets
00:31:02
◼
►
and expect it to come out not covered in blue lint.
00:31:04
◼
►
- If you're making a science fiction movie,
00:31:07
◼
►
definitely get the white one,
00:31:08
◼
►
but just make sure you get it in the first two takes
00:31:10
◼
►
'cause it won't look that color for very long.
00:31:13
◼
►
Doesn't it look like somebody from a sci-fi movie?
00:31:14
◼
►
It looks totally like something from a '70s sci-fi movie
00:31:17
◼
►
is a real device.
00:31:18
◼
►
The white looks super, super futury.
00:31:21
◼
►
- I can see that.
00:31:22
◼
►
I will say too, so as I mentioned,
00:31:24
◼
►
I don't usually use these kind of things.
00:31:27
◼
►
I have in the past, I have owned them in the past
00:31:29
◼
►
and have tried various things for various phones,
00:31:32
◼
►
but I really have tried over time,
00:31:34
◼
►
I've kind of learned my lesson a few times,
00:31:37
◼
►
to stop buying things that depend on the exact size
00:31:40
◼
►
and shape of a particular phone
00:31:42
◼
►
because we've seen this business long enough by now
00:31:46
◼
►
that we know that pretty much every new phone that we buy
00:31:51
◼
►
is very likely to require all new accessories of that type,
00:31:55
◼
►
which means that you can spend 130 bucks on this,
00:31:58
◼
►
but in however many years it is between now
00:32:00
◼
►
and when you buy your next phone,
00:32:01
◼
►
which is probably not that big of a number,
00:32:04
◼
►
that's all the use you're gonna have out of this.
00:32:06
◼
►
At that point, this becomes useless
00:32:07
◼
►
and you throw it away or whatever.
00:32:09
◼
►
You're at that money and that's it.
00:32:12
◼
►
If you're lucky, you give it away
00:32:13
◼
►
to somebody who needs it, but whatever accessories you buy
00:32:15
◼
►
that are cases or that are very tightly fitting things
00:32:19
◼
►
or integrated things that depend on a phone's shape,
00:32:21
◼
►
those have a very limited lifespan.
00:32:24
◼
►
And so I have found over time
00:32:25
◼
►
that I try to minimize that as much as possible.
00:32:27
◼
►
I still usually will get whatever Apple's leather case is
00:32:30
◼
►
for my phone at the time, but I try to keep it at about that
00:32:34
◼
►
and hopefully nothing else.
00:32:35
◼
►
Anything like docks or anything,
00:32:37
◼
►
I try to get the ones that are size adjustable,
00:32:39
◼
►
where they have little rails you can move back and forth
00:32:41
◼
►
or whatever to accommodate different phone sizes
00:32:44
◼
►
and that will usually last many years.
00:32:47
◼
►
Or rely on things like wireless charging pads
00:32:49
◼
►
instead of docks in certain cases.
00:32:52
◼
►
Because it's so wasteful to get accessories like this
00:32:56
◼
►
and then one to three years later,
00:32:59
◼
►
that battery is still good and could still be useful,
00:33:02
◼
►
but well, I got a new phone, it doesn't fit.
00:33:04
◼
►
Oh well, give it away, throw it away, whatever.
00:33:07
◼
►
So generally I find, for my external battery needs,
00:33:12
◼
►
which are relatively infrequent,
00:33:16
◼
►
I greatly prefer just standalone USB batteries
00:33:19
◼
►
that I can plug into my phone with a cable
00:33:21
◼
►
if I actually need that.
00:33:22
◼
►
Because it's infrequent enough
00:33:24
◼
►
that the inconvenience of that is greatly,
00:33:29
◼
►
is much less significant than the wastefulness
00:33:31
◼
►
of having to buy one of these things every year or two.
00:33:34
◼
►
Now if you're somebody who actually needs
00:33:37
◼
►
that extra battery life every day,
00:33:41
◼
►
then this makes more sense.
00:33:42
◼
►
Because then that calculus changes.
00:33:44
◼
►
But if you only need it when you're on vacations
00:33:47
◼
►
or at conferences or whatever,
00:33:48
◼
►
I strongly suggest considering
00:33:50
◼
►
just a regular USB battery pack,
00:33:51
◼
►
which are so plentiful these days,
00:33:52
◼
►
you probably already have one,
00:33:54
◼
►
and just using a cable.
00:33:55
◼
►
Because it isn't as convenient or integrated as this,
00:33:58
◼
►
but it goes in and out of your pocket a lot easier
00:34:00
◼
►
and it's so much less wasteful over time.
00:34:03
◼
►
- I used to always get battery cases for my phones
00:34:05
◼
►
the same way that you did.
00:34:07
◼
►
And my math also changed,
00:34:09
◼
►
and I've come to the same conclusion that you have Marco,
00:34:11
◼
►
that I would use the batteries at conferences
00:34:14
◼
►
and maybe a couple other times,
00:34:16
◼
►
maybe if I were to go to a concert or something like that.
00:34:18
◼
►
But generally speaking,
00:34:19
◼
►
I never really need a battery for my phone.
00:34:22
◼
►
And when I need one,
00:34:23
◼
►
I can use past and probably future sponsor away.
00:34:27
◼
►
My suitcase has a battery.
00:34:28
◼
►
And I can just, and granted it's physically quite large
00:34:31
◼
►
because it's designed to mostly live in the suitcase,
00:34:33
◼
►
but it'll pop right out
00:34:34
◼
►
and I can take that with me.
00:34:35
◼
►
And I would much rather have one battery
00:34:38
◼
►
that will last me across multiple generations of iPhone
00:34:42
◼
►
than have to pay $130 or what have you
00:34:44
◼
►
every single time the phone changes.
00:34:46
◼
►
Even the speaker grills change, you know what I mean?
00:34:48
◼
►
And so I completely agree with you Marco
00:34:51
◼
►
that I personally think that a external battery pack
00:34:56
◼
►
that is not strapped to your phone is much better.
00:35:00
◼
►
- Also, we live in a multi-device world.
00:35:03
◼
►
If you get a standalone USB battery thing,
00:35:07
◼
►
you can charge your phone, yes.
00:35:08
◼
►
Or if you're out somewhere and you need to charge
00:35:10
◼
►
on your iPad or your Kindle or your Apple Watch
00:35:14
◼
►
or whatever else, you can charge those also.
00:35:17
◼
►
In fact, if you get a USB-C one, you can charge a MacBook.
00:35:20
◼
►
It's better rather than having like 15 different batteries
00:35:23
◼
►
for all these different devices or battery cases
00:35:26
◼
►
or whatever else, just get one USB battery pack
00:35:30
◼
►
that you will keep charged
00:35:31
◼
►
and that you can keep in whatever bag you carry most often
00:35:34
◼
►
and have it be as versatile as possible.
00:35:36
◼
►
It's just nicer and easier in general to consolidate
00:35:40
◼
►
and have fewer phone-specific accessories
00:35:44
◼
►
and to have your, kind of like an Alton Brown kind of way,
00:35:47
◼
►
to have more generalists
00:35:48
◼
►
and fewer single-purpose batteries,
00:35:52
◼
►
just get one or two general-purpose USB batteries
00:35:55
◼
►
and be done with it.
00:35:56
◼
►
- Unitasquer is the word you're looking for.
00:36:00
◼
►
So talking about this, first, I think that most people
00:36:03
◼
►
who are not tech enthusiasts keep their phones
00:36:05
◼
►
for way longer than we think.
00:36:07
◼
►
So maybe it's less of an issue for them.
00:36:08
◼
►
Like I just think about the phones I see people using
00:36:10
◼
►
and how old they are and how destroyed they all are
00:36:13
◼
►
and just how, like they're not, like you see something
00:36:15
◼
►
like that and you're like, it's kind of like me with my car.
00:36:17
◼
►
It's like, they're not gonna get a new one
00:36:19
◼
►
until that one like breaks or they can tell
00:36:22
◼
►
it's about to break or like stops being functional
00:36:24
◼
►
for the purpose, right?
00:36:25
◼
►
That's kind of, you know, so maybe it makes more sense there.
00:36:27
◼
►
But the other thing I made me think of is
00:36:29
◼
►
the reason I've never bought a dock for any of my phones
00:36:32
◼
►
or iPod touches or whatever, I always wonder like
00:36:34
◼
►
if the dock or charging station or whatever market
00:36:39
◼
►
is kind of like, people get excited about one particular one
00:36:42
◼
►
that there's some Kickstarter for or something
00:36:44
◼
►
or they see a cool one for sale and they buy it
00:36:46
◼
►
and they love it and it's next to their bedside
00:36:48
◼
►
or wherever it is and then it comes time
00:36:50
◼
►
to get their new phone and what they want is to be like,
00:36:54
◼
►
I wanna use it, you keep using my old dock
00:36:56
◼
►
or just find whatever the updated version of this dock
00:36:59
◼
►
is for the new phone and they find it,
00:37:00
◼
►
oh, the company that made this dock is out of business
00:37:03
◼
►
or this was just a random Kickstarter
00:37:04
◼
►
or the company that makes this dock is still in business
00:37:07
◼
►
and makes a dock for my new phone but it's totally different
00:37:09
◼
►
because of the whims of fashion and they're like,
00:37:10
◼
►
but I just want my old dock or like that dock
00:37:12
◼
►
that you got involved in at Kickstarter, Marco,
00:37:14
◼
►
where like the dock didn't ship
00:37:16
◼
►
until they had changed to Lightning
00:37:17
◼
►
so they had to give it this weird adapter.
00:37:19
◼
►
Like docks are, not that they're expensive or anything
00:37:21
◼
►
but especially if you like fall in love with one
00:37:23
◼
►
and build your habits on it and it's like,
00:37:25
◼
►
this is just what I want because it's beautiful
00:37:27
◼
►
and it has my phone in the right position
00:37:28
◼
►
and make some of them have a little place for your watch.
00:37:31
◼
►
I think both of you have some weird thing
00:37:32
◼
►
that like puts your phone in your watch and don't they?
00:37:34
◼
►
- Studio Neat.
00:37:36
◼
►
- Yeah, like you can make those better or worse,
00:37:39
◼
►
like more flexible.
00:37:40
◼
►
I think the ones you have are basically just like
00:37:42
◼
►
a big expanse with a lightning port poking out for you
00:37:44
◼
►
and you're like, well, as long as it's a lightning port,
00:37:47
◼
►
this isn't trained to a particular width or thickness
00:37:50
◼
►
but you know.
00:37:51
◼
►
- Yeah, it's adjustable to different thicknesses.
00:37:52
◼
►
- Yeah, that's why I've never been into those things
00:37:54
◼
►
is I just feel like if I ever found one that I really liked,
00:37:58
◼
►
I would just be disappointed.
00:38:00
◼
►
Speaking of which, speaking of finding something
00:38:01
◼
►
I really like and being disappointed,
00:38:03
◼
►
my stupid phone pouch, same thing.
00:38:05
◼
►
My phone pouch was looking a little rough.
00:38:07
◼
►
Like you know, I'm using the one from my seven
00:38:10
◼
►
which I thought, you know, even though the butt sticks
00:38:12
◼
►
out of it, I'm like, well, and I like it, it's fine.
00:38:14
◼
►
The butt sticks out but it's fine.
00:38:15
◼
►
I'm like, well, this is looking kind of beat up.
00:38:17
◼
►
I should order another one.
00:38:18
◼
►
Guess what, they don't make it anymore.
00:38:21
◼
►
- You could just go without a pouch.
00:38:23
◼
►
- No, it's crazy talk.
00:38:24
◼
►
(upbeat music)
00:38:25
◼
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Thank you so much to Care/Of for sponsoring our show.
00:40:06
◼
►
- It is the middle of January,
00:40:11
◼
►
which means it's time for us to start thinking about 2019.
00:40:14
◼
►
And this has been in the show notes
00:40:17
◼
►
for a couple of weeks now,
00:40:18
◼
►
but I was thinking a while back
00:40:21
◼
►
that I feel like there are two interesting questions
00:40:25
◼
►
that I'd like to hear your opinions on it.
00:40:27
◼
►
I'd like to weigh in with my own opinion about Apple's 2019.
00:40:31
◼
►
And it seems like more than I can remember
00:40:35
◼
►
in the last several years,
00:40:37
◼
►
everyone, myself included,
00:40:39
◼
►
is kind of anticipating a very turbulent year for Apple.
00:40:44
◼
►
And not in a bad way necessarily,
00:40:46
◼
►
but just that there's probably gonna be
00:40:48
◼
►
a lot going on this year.
00:40:49
◼
►
And I got to thinking about,
00:40:52
◼
►
what are some of the things that all of us feel
00:40:54
◼
►
like we're seeing some smoke about?
00:40:57
◼
►
Things like Marzipan,
00:40:58
◼
►
which we've heard about already at WWDC last year.
00:41:01
◼
►
And I don't recall what the formal statement from Apple was.
00:41:04
◼
►
I don't think they ever committed to this year,
00:41:06
◼
►
but it certainly stands to reason
00:41:08
◼
►
that we should hear more about it this year,
00:41:09
◼
►
even if it's not formally released.
00:41:12
◼
►
There's been plenty of smoke around the idea
00:41:14
◼
►
of ARM-based Macs.
00:41:17
◼
►
And then as we discussed last episode,
00:41:19
◼
►
supposedly there's a Mac Pro this year, maybe, possibly.
00:41:23
◼
►
And additionally, this new Apple streaming service,
00:41:27
◼
►
which I have unequivocally decided
00:41:28
◼
►
will be called Apple Video,
00:41:30
◼
►
you heard it here first.
00:41:31
◼
►
- I actually agree.
00:41:33
◼
►
- Yes, thank you.
00:41:34
◼
►
That will be this year, I think.
00:41:37
◼
►
And additionally, in the last week or two,
00:41:40
◼
►
I think it was in the last few days actually,
00:41:41
◼
►
we've heard rumblings of maybe a new iPad Mini
00:41:45
◼
►
and maybe a new iPad Touch.
00:41:49
◼
►
That might be happening in 2019?
00:41:51
◼
►
So given this list of potential events,
00:41:54
◼
►
and maybe there's others that I didn't think of,
00:41:56
◼
►
I have two questions to ask each of you.
00:41:58
◼
►
And I can either start or finish, it doesn't matter.
00:42:01
◼
►
But the two questions are,
00:42:02
◼
►
what generally accepted story or event,
00:42:04
◼
►
like the ones I just went through,
00:42:05
◼
►
are you personally most interested in?
00:42:09
◼
►
And then secondarily, what generally accepted story
00:42:12
◼
►
or event do you think will affect Apple the most?
00:42:16
◼
►
So you may not be into it at all.
00:42:18
◼
►
So let's take an example,
00:42:19
◼
►
like I don't care about the Mac Pro.
00:42:21
◼
►
I actually don't think it'll affect Apple the most.
00:42:23
◼
►
But you could make an argument that a new Mac Pro
00:42:25
◼
►
could make a big difference to Apple.
00:42:26
◼
►
So maybe I would choose that the Mac Pro
00:42:28
◼
►
is the thing that will affect Apple the most,
00:42:29
◼
►
even though I don't care.
00:42:31
◼
►
So let's start with Marco.
00:42:33
◼
►
What do you think you are most interested in?
00:42:36
◼
►
And let's go through those for the three of us,
00:42:38
◼
►
and then we'll come back around
00:42:39
◼
►
and we'll talk about what'll affect Apple the most.
00:42:42
◼
►
- So I have a hardware answer and a software answer here.
00:42:45
◼
►
My hardware answer, so my theme here,
00:42:48
◼
►
I kinda touched on it last week.
00:42:50
◼
►
I think this is gonna be a big year for Macs
00:42:54
◼
►
and for Pro Mac hardware, and maybe software too.
00:42:58
◼
►
But I think this is a big year for the Mac
00:43:01
◼
►
in a number of fronts.
00:43:03
◼
►
We've heard either Apple promising or rumors rumbling
00:43:07
◼
►
to the effect of big things happening,
00:43:10
◼
►
at least the Mac Pro hardware,
00:43:13
◼
►
the display that should be coming out,
00:43:15
◼
►
the possible rumblings of MacBook Pro update maybe,
00:43:20
◼
►
and even the remote possibility of ARM Macs,
00:43:23
◼
►
which I think are possible this year.
00:43:25
◼
►
I wouldn't say likely, but I think possible.
00:43:28
◼
►
This could be a really interesting year
00:43:30
◼
►
for the Mac in particular.
00:43:32
◼
►
And they've kinda been leading up to this.
00:43:35
◼
►
I think this is the year where a lot of questions
00:43:38
◼
►
get resolved.
00:43:39
◼
►
That's ultimately what I'm excited about,
00:43:41
◼
►
is we have the giant question of the Mac Pro.
00:43:44
◼
►
We have the giant question of what the heck
00:43:46
◼
►
are they gonna do in the next MacBook Pro?
00:43:47
◼
►
Are they gonna change the keyboard?
00:43:49
◼
►
Are they gonna do anything else to address Pro needs
00:43:52
◼
►
a little bit better or whatever else?
00:43:53
◼
►
The Mac Pro, I think, is interesting
00:43:56
◼
►
in John's Halo car sense, but it's not super important,
00:44:01
◼
►
actually, in most ways.
00:44:04
◼
►
So for the hardware pick, I actually am more interested,
00:44:08
◼
►
even though this is sacrilege in the show,
00:44:10
◼
►
I'm actually more interested to see how and if
00:44:13
◼
►
they answer questions about the MacBook Pro.
00:44:15
◼
►
That is the more interesting hardware thing to me.
00:44:18
◼
►
And so I look forward to, I don't know that we're going
00:44:23
◼
►
to get an answer to that this year,
00:44:25
◼
►
but I think it's about time for that.
00:44:27
◼
►
I think it's likely, I think we probably will.
00:44:29
◼
►
And I just really wanna see what is the next MacBook Pro?
00:44:33
◼
►
How do they take these three years of feedback
00:44:37
◼
►
and make the next product out of that?
00:44:39
◼
►
I really hope that that gets answered this year.
00:44:42
◼
►
And I hope it's a satisfactory answer,
00:44:44
◼
►
'cause it has seemed recently like they're in the weirdest
00:44:48
◼
►
spot right now where, in something that I don't think
00:44:52
◼
►
we expected, their desktops are actually
00:44:54
◼
►
in pretty good shape right now.
00:44:57
◼
►
This is a great time to be a Mac desktop user.
00:45:01
◼
►
Like the iMac Pro is fantastic.
00:45:04
◼
►
The new Mac Mini is fantastic.
00:45:06
◼
►
Who would have thought that I would be saying
00:45:08
◼
►
these things, right?
00:45:09
◼
►
And the iMac is a little outdated.
00:45:11
◼
►
So the iMac is not a great buy right now,
00:45:14
◼
►
but it's still a great computer.
00:45:15
◼
►
Like there's nothing wrong with it, it's just outdated.
00:45:18
◼
►
So like the high end and like the specialized desktop lines
00:45:23
◼
►
And the Mac Pro is probably gonna make that even better.
00:45:27
◼
►
But because the iMac Pro is so great already,
00:45:30
◼
►
and the Mac Mini is also so great and also solves
00:45:33
◼
►
a lot of potential Mac Pro use cases,
00:45:36
◼
►
there's actually, I think, less need than ever
00:45:38
◼
►
for the official Mac Pro.
00:45:40
◼
►
So the Mac Pro, I think, is,
00:45:42
◼
►
I'm looking forward just to it finally,
00:45:44
◼
►
and I might even buy one, but it's actually less burning
00:45:48
◼
►
of a question for me because the laptop line is,
00:45:52
◼
►
I think the MacBook Pro is still like partially on fire.
00:45:55
◼
►
It's not quite as bad as before the keyboard membrane
00:45:57
◼
►
version, but it's not great.
00:46:00
◼
►
And so I really wanna see how that's resolved,
00:46:02
◼
►
and I think we will actually have that answered this year.
00:46:05
◼
►
And then on the software side, again,
00:46:08
◼
►
this is some Mac excitement here.
00:46:11
◼
►
I wanna see what the heck Marzipan ends up being like.
00:46:12
◼
►
That's the big question to me.
00:46:14
◼
►
Our Macs might also be a big thing,
00:46:16
◼
►
and that would be potentially cool, new, interesting hardware
00:46:19
◼
►
and some kind of software ramifications.
00:46:21
◼
►
But like that's honestly not as interesting to me
00:46:24
◼
►
as what the heck is going on with Marzipan.
00:46:27
◼
►
Because I am a Mac user, I love the Mac,
00:46:31
◼
►
I'm an iOS developer, I don't love developing for the Mac,
00:46:35
◼
►
and I've done very little of it as a result,
00:46:38
◼
►
I love developing for iOS.
00:46:40
◼
►
I'm also, as a Mac user, I've been scared about
00:46:45
◼
►
the clear slowdown in the development of new,
00:46:48
◼
►
good Mac software over the last decade or so.
00:46:52
◼
►
So like the Mac has all these unanswered questions
00:46:55
◼
►
going on around it, and I really do think 2019
00:46:59
◼
►
will be the year that a lot of these questions get answered.
00:47:02
◼
►
And I'm just super excited about that.
00:47:06
◼
►
- We're doing it one question at a time?
00:47:08
◼
►
Oh, this is too easy for me.
00:47:09
◼
►
I'm obviously most interested in the Mac Pro,
00:47:11
◼
►
like for many reasons, you've all heard all my reasons
00:47:15
◼
►
over many years, yeah.
00:47:16
◼
►
I need a new computer, I want it to be a Mac Pro
00:47:18
◼
►
style computer, so they're gonna make one
00:47:20
◼
►
that is all where all my interest is.
00:47:22
◼
►
And I actually am secondarily, even though I hate laptops,
00:47:25
◼
►
very interested in laptops just because I'm so angry
00:47:27
◼
►
about this three or four year run of bad laptops.
00:47:31
◼
►
And I really, because I know they will make a new laptop
00:47:35
◼
►
and because there is less flexibility,
00:47:38
◼
►
like the Mac Pro could be anything,
00:47:39
◼
►
and it could be a weird pyramid-shaped floating thing,
00:47:42
◼
►
who knows how, but a laptop is gonna be a laptop
00:47:44
◼
►
and I just wanna see it have a decent keyboard
00:47:46
◼
►
and maybe have some more ports on it, and I'm just,
00:47:49
◼
►
but I hate laptops, so I'm not interested in that,
00:47:51
◼
►
I just, in an academic sense.
00:47:53
◼
►
And in kind of a Apple, get your stuff together kind of,
00:47:58
◼
►
it's the part of the Mac business where they have screwed up
00:48:03
◼
►
the worst and so they need to,
00:48:05
◼
►
where they've screwed up the worst
00:48:06
◼
►
and haven't announced the fix.
00:48:08
◼
►
They screwed up the worst and probably in the Mac Pro,
00:48:11
◼
►
but they've announced, they've said all the right things
00:48:13
◼
►
about that, whereas they're not saying anything
00:48:15
◼
►
about the MacBooks other than like, maybe at best,
00:48:18
◼
►
like stay tuned or whatever, like they haven't said--
00:48:22
◼
►
- They haven't even said that.
00:48:23
◼
►
- Yeah, well, they don't have to, like we know that,
00:48:25
◼
►
like we're gonna come up with a new laptop, yeah, we know.
00:48:27
◼
►
We know, you're gonna come up with a new laptop eventually.
00:48:30
◼
►
They don't have to announce that, it's not like the Mac Pro
00:48:32
◼
►
where we question whether they're gonna make another one,
00:48:34
◼
►
but about it, they have said nothing,
00:48:35
◼
►
and they haven't had any sort of like, you know, round table,
00:48:38
◼
►
you know, where they talk about the laptops and say,
00:48:42
◼
►
we hear you about the keyboard, the next one will have
00:48:44
◼
►
a better keyboard and more ports.
00:48:46
◼
►
They have not said that, so that's my second place,
00:48:49
◼
►
that's my honorable mention.
00:48:50
◼
►
- Well, also like, as far as the Mac goes,
00:48:53
◼
►
like the Mac Pro doesn't affect that many people.
00:48:56
◼
►
Anything that happens to the laptops,
00:48:58
◼
►
like the laptops are the Mac, like they are by far
00:49:01
◼
►
the biggest sellers, like, you know,
00:49:03
◼
►
relatively nobody buys desktops.
00:49:05
◼
►
Like, the laptops are the line, and so when the laptops
00:49:09
◼
►
have a problem, that's a way bigger impact on the Mac
00:49:12
◼
►
in general than if the desktops have a problem.
00:49:15
◼
►
- Yeah, they screwed up the Mac Pro the worst,
00:49:17
◼
►
but even a much smaller screw up on the Macs
00:49:21
◼
►
that they actually sell is a bigger deal, yeah.
00:49:23
◼
►
- Yeah, for me, I don't know if it's going to happen
00:49:26
◼
►
in 2019, but the thought of ARM Macs, I think,
00:49:30
◼
►
is the most interesting.
00:49:32
◼
►
I am hard, it is hard for me to argue against
00:49:36
◼
►
the MacBook Pros, and if there's something different
00:49:38
◼
►
happening there, because I think, Marco,
00:49:40
◼
►
you make a very compelling case,
00:49:42
◼
►
but in terms of just interest, and what just peaks
00:49:45
◼
►
my interest the most, I think it's ARM Macs,
00:49:47
◼
►
and I'm not necessarily predicting it's going to happen
00:49:50
◼
►
this year, but there's enough smoke around this fire
00:49:52
◼
►
that it's a possibility, and I just think an ARM Mac
00:49:55
◼
►
would be fascinating, both in terms of how do they manage
00:49:57
◼
►
the hardware transition, but also how do they manage
00:49:59
◼
►
the software transition, and does it look like, you know,
00:50:02
◼
►
the transition from PowerPC to Intel,
00:50:04
◼
►
or is it something totally different?
00:50:05
◼
►
Is Marzipan really kind of a Trojan horse to get ARM Macs
00:50:09
◼
►
to be a thing, I don't know, but I think for the one
00:50:13
◼
►
that I'm most interested in, it's gotta be ARM Macs,
00:50:16
◼
►
because that's kind of all-encompassing,
00:50:18
◼
►
and would mark a pretty dramatic change in direction
00:50:21
◼
►
for the Mac, so that's what I'm most interested in.
00:50:23
◼
►
Now, Marco, tell me, of all the things you've gone over,
00:50:27
◼
►
what do you think will affect Apple the most?
00:50:30
◼
►
- I don't have as good of an answer for this one.
00:50:33
◼
►
I mean, if you go, like, you know, strictly speaking,
00:50:35
◼
►
what will affect them the most, I think, you know,
00:50:38
◼
►
whatever the iPhone is this fall, like, that's,
00:50:40
◼
►
but that's kind of a boring answer.
00:50:43
◼
►
In a larger way, they're pushing into services,
00:50:47
◼
►
and that does weird things to their incentives.
00:50:50
◼
►
If you look at iCloud storage, you know,
00:50:52
◼
►
the user experience of using a phone without photo backup,
00:50:56
◼
►
without enough space for all your photos to do full-blown,
00:51:00
◼
►
like, you know, iCloud photo library and iPhone backup,
00:51:03
◼
►
it's a miserable experience without that,
00:51:05
◼
►
and people get these pop-ups saying you're out
00:51:06
◼
►
of storage space, and you know what those people don't do?
00:51:10
◼
►
They don't go sign up for plans.
00:51:11
◼
►
That's not how they do it.
00:51:13
◼
►
Instead, they just dismiss those boxes,
00:51:15
◼
►
and they think their phone is annoying,
00:51:17
◼
►
and eventually their phone breaks or gets lost,
00:51:19
◼
►
and they lose all the pictures of their kid
00:51:20
◼
►
for the last three years.
00:51:22
◼
►
Like, that's not a great way to do these things,
00:51:25
◼
►
and it does leave open competitive holes.
00:51:28
◼
►
Like, that's why you see, like, the Google ads
00:51:29
◼
►
that poke fun at it and say, you know,
00:51:31
◼
►
buy our phone, you won't have this problem.
00:51:33
◼
►
That's a pretty compelling sales pitch.
00:51:34
◼
►
So I think what has a non-trivial chance of happening
00:51:40
◼
►
is what a couple of our podcast friends
00:51:42
◼
►
have also been speculating about is,
00:51:44
◼
►
I think there might actually end up being
00:51:46
◼
►
some kind of expansion of one of the Apple services,
00:51:50
◼
►
probably, what's the iPhone Care thing
00:51:53
◼
►
where you get a new phone every year?
00:51:54
◼
►
Upgrade program.
00:51:55
◼
►
I'm guessing they expand one of their subscription offerings,
00:51:58
◼
►
probably the upgrade program, into including, you know,
00:52:02
◼
►
an iPhone every two years, whatever it is,
00:52:05
◼
►
and so an iPhone every X years, and also iCloud storage,
00:52:10
◼
►
and also Apple Music and Apple Video.
00:52:13
◼
►
To have one subscription that they can kind of,
00:52:16
◼
►
if they have this, this solves a number of problems.
00:52:19
◼
►
So first of all, you know, and you can look at Amazon Prime
00:52:22
◼
►
as one of the reasons of why, like,
00:52:25
◼
►
why this is so compelling for the business, too.
00:52:29
◼
►
If you have a service that you want a bunch of people
00:52:31
◼
►
to sign up for, but they aren't,
00:52:34
◼
►
you bundle it with something that they are gonna pay for.
00:52:38
◼
►
So here's what Apple knows.
00:52:40
◼
►
Everyone wants to buy iPhones.
00:52:41
◼
►
Yes, even now after this disappointing quarter,
00:52:43
◼
►
everyone still wants to buy iPhones, right?
00:52:46
◼
►
And everyone doesn't wanna pay for Apple Music
00:52:48
◼
►
or Apple Video separately, and everyone sure as hell
00:52:50
◼
►
does not wanna pay for their photo storage.
00:52:53
◼
►
So what Apple can, oh, and they already did this
00:52:55
◼
►
to some degree with Apple Care.
00:52:58
◼
►
The iPhone upgrade program includes Apple Care.
00:53:01
◼
►
And you still pay for it, like, it's just the cost
00:53:03
◼
►
of the phone plus Apple Care amortized over,
00:53:05
◼
►
you know, 24 months or whatever it is.
00:53:06
◼
►
Like, you're not saving money,
00:53:08
◼
►
or you're saving some small, trivial amount of money.
00:53:11
◼
►
But if you sign up for that, you get Apple Care, too.
00:53:14
◼
►
Apple gets the money for Apple Care, too.
00:53:16
◼
►
So they automatically tie Apple Care to the phone sales.
00:53:19
◼
►
So if they can make an even more compelling package there
00:53:23
◼
►
that includes all these other services,
00:53:25
◼
►
even at some basic levels, then they can prevent people
00:53:30
◼
►
from not getting them when they get their phone
00:53:32
◼
►
through this program.
00:53:33
◼
►
So they can bundle in, and think about everything this does.
00:53:37
◼
►
This, first of all, gets more sales to Apple stores
00:53:39
◼
►
instead of carrier stores, because the Apple Store version
00:53:42
◼
►
of the description is more valuable.
00:53:45
◼
►
It gets more people to have a better experience
00:53:47
◼
►
and better data safety, 'cause they actually have
00:53:48
◼
►
their phone fully backed up and all their photos backed up.
00:53:51
◼
►
And Apple still gets the money for all these services.
00:53:53
◼
►
And, you know, if they started out with Apple Music,
00:53:55
◼
►
and then later on they add Apple Video,
00:53:57
◼
►
or even if they do it up front,
00:53:59
◼
►
that gets more people into those services.
00:54:01
◼
►
And then that makes those services more valuable
00:54:04
◼
►
and makes people more likely to stick with them,
00:54:06
◼
►
because if you are buying the iPhone upgrade program package
00:54:10
◼
►
anyway, and it comes with a music service,
00:54:14
◼
►
how likely are you to use Spotify after that?
00:54:17
◼
►
If it comes with a video service that you're already
00:54:20
◼
►
paying for and have anyway, are you really gonna also
00:54:23
◼
►
get HBO Now or Netflix?
00:54:24
◼
►
Maybe, you know, some people won't,
00:54:26
◼
►
because they'll already be paying for this.
00:54:28
◼
►
This is what happens with Amazon Prime.
00:54:29
◼
►
This is why Prime is so big for Amazon.
00:54:31
◼
►
It's like people all bought it for the fast shipping,
00:54:34
◼
►
and Amazon's been shoving all this other stuff into it.
00:54:36
◼
►
And people now, like now they have this huge install base
00:54:40
◼
►
for their crappy video service,
00:54:42
◼
►
because everyone kind of had it, quote, for free anyway
00:54:45
◼
►
with the shipping program.
00:54:47
◼
►
And now they have this massive video service as a result.
00:54:49
◼
►
So like, there's a lot of reasons, I think,
00:54:51
◼
►
for Apple to do a large bundle subscription.
00:54:55
◼
►
By the way, it also fixes iPhone sales,
00:54:58
◼
►
because it makes people more predictably upgrade
00:55:02
◼
►
no matter what phone they release.
00:55:04
◼
►
So it solves a lot of problems, it really does,
00:55:07
◼
►
if they do something like this.
00:55:09
◼
►
I don't think we've heard anything that suggests
00:55:11
◼
►
that they are doing something like this,
00:55:13
◼
►
but I think they should, and if they did this,
00:55:16
◼
►
I think that would have the biggest effect on Apple.
00:55:20
◼
►
- Yeah, I think it's hard not to imagine Apple
00:55:23
◼
►
wanting to do a kind of get all the Apple things service.
00:55:27
◼
►
You know, it seems like such an obvious answer.
00:55:31
◼
►
- Well, not all the things, 'cause like,
00:55:33
◼
►
what they don't wanna do is lose like add-on sales,
00:55:38
◼
►
attachment sales, upgrade sales,
00:55:39
◼
►
like they're not gonna give you everything,
00:55:42
◼
►
but they should give you like a baseline level
00:55:44
◼
►
of all these things.
00:55:45
◼
►
So like, services that only really have a fixed price,
00:55:48
◼
►
where you get everything for that fixed price,
00:55:50
◼
►
like Apple Music, that makes sense.
00:55:52
◼
►
The iPhone plan, I wouldn't expect that to be like
00:55:55
◼
►
the two terabyte plan, I would expect that, you know,
00:55:58
◼
►
whatever like the base one is, like is it 100 gigs
00:56:00
◼
►
or something like that, whatever the base one is,
00:56:02
◼
►
that would be the one that's probably included,
00:56:03
◼
►
and then if you want a bigger one,
00:56:04
◼
►
you pay a little bit more per month.
00:56:06
◼
►
And I wouldn't, and I think too, like the hardware,
00:56:08
◼
►
like, you know, you can, same thing with upgrade program,
00:56:12
◼
►
like you don't get the best iPhone for the base price,
00:56:15
◼
►
your price varies depending on the iPhone you choose, right,
00:56:18
◼
►
and how expensive that is.
00:56:20
◼
►
So I think it would be like that, you know,
00:56:21
◼
►
but it's still, you're still getting a lot for one price
00:56:25
◼
►
that you just build into your budget, and it just,
00:56:28
◼
►
oh yeah, I pay, you know, 60 bucks a month for my iPhone
00:56:32
◼
►
and the things around it, or you know, whatever the cost is.
00:56:36
◼
►
John, what'll affect Apple the most?
00:56:39
◼
►
- I'm gonna actually take the boring answer,
00:56:40
◼
►
because that's probably the actual answer,
00:56:43
◼
►
which is the, what the new iPhone is,
00:56:44
◼
►
and the main reason it's a big deal in the upcoming year
00:56:48
◼
►
is 'cause we just, we're just coming off this, you know,
00:56:50
◼
►
this change in guidance about earnings,
00:56:52
◼
►
and then we're gonna see the,
00:56:53
◼
►
we're gonna get the second impact of that story
00:56:55
◼
►
when the actual earnings come out,
00:56:57
◼
►
the ones they warned us about, right,
00:56:58
◼
►
even though it's the same story, right,
00:57:00
◼
►
unless there's some dramatic difference,
00:57:01
◼
►
like oh, we warned you, but it turns out
00:57:03
◼
►
everything was great after all.
00:57:04
◼
►
It's probably not gonna be, you know,
00:57:05
◼
►
they warned us, I mean, it's gonna be bad, right.
00:57:07
◼
►
So this next phone is super important,
00:57:10
◼
►
and the main reason I've been thinking about this phone
00:57:12
◼
►
is, well, two reasons.
00:57:14
◼
►
One, like, we talked many reasons about
00:57:17
◼
►
why phone sales might be down
00:57:19
◼
►
and all sorts of the China issues or whatever,
00:57:20
◼
►
but there are other ancillary things
00:57:22
◼
►
in addition to like the battery replacement program,
00:57:23
◼
►
and one of the things in that giant bucket
00:57:25
◼
►
of things that probably didn't help phone sales
00:57:27
◼
►
is the fact that the whole phone line changed over
00:57:30
◼
►
to the 10 style, and some people may be wary about that
00:57:33
◼
►
because it's not what they're used to.
00:57:34
◼
►
Like, we all did that transition already,
00:57:36
◼
►
and we're fine with it, but we're early adopters.
00:57:38
◼
►
Everyone else may be less so.
00:57:39
◼
►
The next one of those that's coming along,
00:57:41
◼
►
well, first of all, presumably that's gonna continue,
00:57:42
◼
►
and you know, I don't think the home button's coming back,
00:57:46
◼
►
so the new ones are all gonna be like that,
00:57:48
◼
►
and now there's the rumor of USBC floating around again.
00:57:52
◼
►
We talked about this a couple years ago.
00:57:54
◼
►
We'll continue to talk about it until they do it
00:57:56
◼
►
or until they lose the connectors entirely.
00:57:59
◼
►
If they did that this year, like this is kind of,
00:58:01
◼
►
it's not a make or break phone,
00:58:02
◼
►
but it's a more important phone than normal
00:58:04
◼
►
because it may be a new and performed factor,
00:58:06
◼
►
so there's a lot of question marks around that.
00:58:08
◼
►
It may have a new connector,
00:58:09
◼
►
and it's kind of important for this phone to do better.
00:58:14
◼
►
To be like, they need, the story for 2019 needs to be better
00:58:19
◼
►
than the story we're about to have for their earnings
00:58:21
◼
►
on the XS and the XR and everything.
00:58:24
◼
►
However things worked out and whoever's fault it is
00:58:26
◼
►
or whatever, the pressure is on,
00:58:29
◼
►
and so I think because the phone is most of their money
00:58:32
◼
►
and it's their flagship product,
00:58:33
◼
►
and this is a very important year,
00:58:35
◼
►
and it's a year when potentially many things
00:58:37
◼
►
could be changing, that's going to affect them the most,
00:58:42
◼
►
but that is the boring answer, but I think it's the answer,
00:58:44
◼
►
but I do wanna talk about the sort of prime type service
00:58:49
◼
►
that Marco was talking about that has been discussed
00:58:51
◼
►
in the Apple nerd community for a while now.
00:58:54
◼
►
I keep thinking of it as Apple One
00:58:55
◼
►
because Google of course calls their storage thing Google One
00:58:58
◼
►
which is a terrible name for a storage service,
00:59:00
◼
►
but Apple One is not what they'll call it
00:59:02
◼
►
because that's too highfalutin of a name.
00:59:05
◼
►
I don't know what they'll come up with,
00:59:06
◼
►
but the thing that I have my head scratching
00:59:10
◼
►
about this Apple plan,
00:59:12
◼
►
and it has nothing to do with what Apple will do
00:59:15
◼
►
'cause they may do something very much
00:59:18
◼
►
like what Marco described,
00:59:18
◼
►
but what I would suggest to Apple that they do
00:59:22
◼
►
in this type of strategy,
00:59:23
◼
►
that you're gonna have one subscription thing,
00:59:25
◼
►
to tell them I need to figure out what the tractor is,
00:59:29
◼
►
so Marco mentioned like the fast shipping
00:59:31
◼
►
in Amazon Prime, right?
00:59:32
◼
►
That's why everyone got Prime.
00:59:34
◼
►
I don't even know if it had any benefits beyond that
00:59:35
◼
►
in the beginning, but--
00:59:36
◼
►
- It didn't.
00:59:37
◼
►
- Lots of people order stuff from Amazon,
00:59:38
◼
►
and even today, the generation of people
00:59:43
◼
►
when Prime was introduced who were ordering things online
00:59:45
◼
►
were still the generation where it's like the
00:59:49
◼
►
who buys batteries, old people, Seinfeld sketch,
00:59:51
◼
►
where shipping seemed like an affront.
00:59:53
◼
►
Like I want stuff, and I don't wanna leave my house.
00:59:56
◼
►
I don't wanna have to pay extra money for it to come to me,
00:59:59
◼
►
and so just, it's not even the amount of money.
01:00:02
◼
►
It's just that it seems like,
01:00:03
◼
►
especially for small purchases
01:00:05
◼
►
where the shipping becomes a large portion of the thing,
01:00:07
◼
►
you're like, I could go to the store,
01:00:10
◼
►
but I don't wanna get out of my pajamas,
01:00:12
◼
►
but I don't wanna pay shipping.
01:00:14
◼
►
There's a huge psychological draw of
01:00:16
◼
►
I would love to buy everything I can on Amazon,
01:00:18
◼
►
but I just hate the idea of shipping.
01:00:20
◼
►
Maybe I can afford shipping.
01:00:21
◼
►
Maybe it's not even the money.
01:00:22
◼
►
It's just the idea of shipping.
01:00:24
◼
►
That was a tremendous tractor
01:00:26
◼
►
onto which they could attach all this crap, right?
01:00:28
◼
►
And I actually think Amazon's video services is not that bad
01:00:31
◼
►
and they have some good original content.
01:00:32
◼
►
Music service is less appealing, but anyway,
01:00:35
◼
►
that was an incredibly powerful tractor.
01:00:38
◼
►
It still is probably the reason most people buy Prime,
01:00:41
◼
►
because it just feels good not to have to pay shipping.
01:00:44
◼
►
I don't think people even end up doing the math, right?
01:00:46
◼
►
And I don't even think it sells mostly
01:00:48
◼
►
to people who can't afford it.
01:00:49
◼
►
In fact, I think that Prime probably sells the most
01:00:51
◼
►
for the people who can most afford the shipping, right?
01:00:53
◼
►
It's people who are just like,
01:00:54
◼
►
I just wanna make shipping go away,
01:00:55
◼
►
'cause I don't like that feeling, right?
01:00:57
◼
►
I don't know what the tractor is for Apple One type service,
01:01:02
◼
►
unless they do what they have heretofore not done,
01:01:04
◼
►
which is, you know, I'm gonna suggest a tractor,
01:01:07
◼
►
but before I suggest one, can you guys think of,
01:01:09
◼
►
what's the tractor in an Apple One all-encompassing?
01:01:13
◼
►
- It's the iPhone.
01:01:14
◼
►
- Yeah, absolutely.
01:01:15
◼
►
But what about the iPhone?
01:01:17
◼
►
- It's getting an iPhone.
01:01:18
◼
►
- You can get an iPhone now without an Apple One.
01:01:21
◼
►
- Yeah, or you can spend,
01:01:22
◼
►
or you can get this wonderful monthly upgrade program
01:01:25
◼
►
where you don't have to spend $1,100 up front.
01:01:27
◼
►
You can spend the whatever, 40, 50, 60 bucks a month
01:01:30
◼
►
on it instead, and then you don't have to think about it.
01:01:33
◼
►
And it comes with Apple Care.
01:01:34
◼
►
- But you can do that now.
01:01:35
◼
►
- Right, and so that's why I think,
01:01:37
◼
►
what I'm suggesting is they basically do an expansion
01:01:40
◼
►
of that where they just throw more stuff into that plan.
01:01:44
◼
►
- Yeah, but they don't have to charge more money
01:01:45
◼
►
if they throw more stuff into that plan.
01:01:47
◼
►
- Sure they would, but I think that is the draw,
01:01:50
◼
►
is like for 40 bucks a month, you can get this phone,
01:01:54
◼
►
or for 50 or 60 bucks a month, you can get everything.
01:01:59
◼
►
And the Amazon Prime trick to this
01:02:02
◼
►
is they don't even make it an option.
01:02:03
◼
►
I mean, they don't even give you a choice.
01:02:04
◼
►
There is no shipping only Amazon Prime service,
01:02:07
◼
►
because if they offered one, a lot fewer people
01:02:09
◼
►
would get all the other crap that comes with it.
01:02:11
◼
►
I know I wouldn't.
01:02:13
◼
►
And so, if Apple really wants to push people into this,
01:02:17
◼
►
what they would do is only offer this plan
01:02:20
◼
►
that includes everything.
01:02:21
◼
►
I don't know if they would go that far,
01:02:23
◼
►
at least maybe not at first, but they could really
01:02:27
◼
►
just do the upgrade program, add 10 or 20 bucks a month
01:02:30
◼
►
to it, and have that include Apple Music and Video
01:02:34
◼
►
and iCloud Storage, and that would be pretty awesome.
01:02:37
◼
►
- So here's what I think they have to use as their tractor.
01:02:40
◼
►
Like, you're right that the iPhone is the thing
01:02:42
◼
►
that has the most draw, but I think for any service
01:02:45
◼
►
like this to work, they need to do something
01:02:47
◼
►
like what I just described with Amazon,
01:02:50
◼
►
where just the idea of shipping,
01:02:53
◼
►
is making that go away is the thing.
01:02:55
◼
►
Now, there's nothing really like that in the Apple world,
01:02:59
◼
►
except for maybe storage, which I'll get to in a second,
01:03:01
◼
►
but I think the best tractor for this is for Apple
01:03:04
◼
►
to give up on what they have traditionally done,
01:03:08
◼
►
which is all their sort of financing,
01:03:10
◼
►
pay over time, layaway, loan type things,
01:03:14
◼
►
all of them have either been the same cost
01:03:17
◼
►
as buying it up front or more expensive.
01:03:19
◼
►
I think for Apple One to work, the draw has to be
01:03:22
◼
►
get an iPhone for less money than you could get one
01:03:25
◼
►
for otherwise, not a lot less money.
01:03:27
◼
►
In fact, so little less money
01:03:28
◼
►
that it practically doesn't matter,
01:03:30
◼
►
but the draw is not that you can get an iPhone
01:03:33
◼
►
and not that you can get an iPhone by paying monthly
01:03:35
◼
►
instead of paying all at once,
01:03:35
◼
►
but that you can get an iPhone for less.
01:03:38
◼
►
And it doesn't even matter how much less it is,
01:03:39
◼
►
it could be like $1 less,
01:03:40
◼
►
as long as you get people talking about the idea like,
01:03:42
◼
►
oh, if you wanted to get an iPhone,
01:03:43
◼
►
you got to do the Apple One plan
01:03:45
◼
►
'cause you can get it for less money.
01:03:46
◼
►
How does Apple make money on that type of thing?
01:03:48
◼
►
Well, the Apple One plan altogether,
01:03:52
◼
►
you're not just paying for the phone,
01:03:54
◼
►
you're paying for other benefits as well.
01:03:56
◼
►
So they say you should get that plan
01:03:57
◼
►
because it gives you the Apple Video service,
01:04:00
◼
►
Apple Music, more iCloud storage, so on and so forth,
01:04:03
◼
►
all of which you pay for it,
01:04:04
◼
►
again, at some potentially reduced rate
01:04:06
◼
►
than if you bought them separately.
01:04:07
◼
►
But the main point is, but if you buy all that stuff,
01:04:10
◼
►
you get the iPhone for less money.
01:04:13
◼
►
That's all it has to be,
01:04:14
◼
►
is it has to be the program that you get the reputation for,
01:04:17
◼
►
the cheapest way to get an iPhone is like this.
01:04:19
◼
►
And they're like, well, it's not actually cheaper
01:04:21
◼
►
because you're paying for a bunch of other stuff
01:04:22
◼
►
and what if I don't want Apple Music?
01:04:24
◼
►
It's like, yeah, but that's like an extra five or $10
01:04:27
◼
►
and you might've bought that anyway.
01:04:28
◼
►
In fact, that stuff is cheaper too,
01:04:29
◼
►
but the point is you get the iPhone for less money.
01:04:33
◼
►
And that's the only tractor I can think of.
01:04:34
◼
►
And the thing that bothers me about their services thing is
01:04:37
◼
►
the tractor for Netflix is original programming.
01:04:41
◼
►
They're getting into this realm with the Apple Video service
01:04:45
◼
►
where they have to, it's like I said, I think last show,
01:04:49
◼
►
it's like Pixar.
01:04:50
◼
►
It becomes like a hit-based business
01:04:52
◼
►
where you're making content that has to be good,
01:04:54
◼
►
kind of like the products.
01:04:55
◼
►
They have to make phones that are good too, right?
01:04:57
◼
►
But the phone is their strongest pull,
01:05:01
◼
►
but in Netflix, they don't have a phone.
01:05:03
◼
►
They have to make good shows that you wanna watch
01:05:06
◼
►
and that's all they can do.
01:05:07
◼
►
So I do wonder about the Apple Video service.
01:05:09
◼
►
Like as a weird attachment thing
01:05:12
◼
►
that you put onto the tractor of getting an iPhone
01:05:15
◼
►
for a dollar less that tricks people
01:05:16
◼
►
into buying more stuff from you
01:05:18
◼
►
because they're in their mind,
01:05:19
◼
►
it feels good to get a quote unquote,
01:05:21
◼
►
get a deal on an iPhone.
01:05:23
◼
►
The Video service is like,
01:05:25
◼
►
oh, and they give you this Video service.
01:05:26
◼
►
Like it has to have some appealing value.
01:05:28
◼
►
So they do need also to have like a hit show or something.
01:05:32
◼
►
Music doesn't help
01:05:33
◼
►
because everyone's got all the same music at this point.
01:05:34
◼
►
So I don't think they can differentiate that on that.
01:05:37
◼
►
But to tell someone, yeah,
01:05:39
◼
►
and you also have to pay this extra money,
01:05:41
◼
►
the two little mini tractors they have alongside
01:05:44
◼
►
are never get that stupid dialogue
01:05:45
◼
►
that your phone is full,
01:05:47
◼
►
which means they would have to give people
01:05:49
◼
►
what we've always talked about.
01:05:50
◼
►
Like just, you should give people as much storage
01:05:52
◼
►
as the phones they buy can hold, right?
01:05:55
◼
►
I think that's what they have to do
01:05:56
◼
►
because the value of getting more storage
01:05:58
◼
►
is not getting more storage.
01:06:00
◼
►
It's not having to worry about storage anymore.
01:06:02
◼
►
So if you give them 100 gigs instead of five gigs
01:06:04
◼
►
and they still run out of space,
01:06:05
◼
►
they still hate you for it.
01:06:06
◼
►
You have to say, get this
01:06:08
◼
►
and you won't get the dialogue ever again.
01:06:10
◼
►
So that's a hurdle they have to overcome.
01:06:11
◼
►
And the second thing is the Video service has zero value
01:06:13
◼
►
unless there's one show that people talk about
01:06:15
◼
►
that you're interested in on their service.
01:06:18
◼
►
So that's a big ask.
01:06:20
◼
►
Cell phones for slightly less,
01:06:22
◼
►
may give them storage,
01:06:24
◼
►
they don't have to worry about storage anymore
01:06:25
◼
►
and have at least one or two good shows
01:06:27
◼
►
on Apple Video to get people talking about it.
01:06:29
◼
►
That is a plan that you could get more people into.
01:06:31
◼
►
I wouldn't include AppleCare
01:06:32
◼
►
and I wouldn't include like get the upgrade
01:06:34
◼
►
to whole type thing
01:06:35
◼
►
because I think that's asking for too much.
01:06:37
◼
►
Like you have to keep this bill down to a reasonable rate.
01:06:39
◼
►
Prime is like what, $90 a year?
01:06:41
◼
►
And you're talking about 60, 70, $80 a month?
01:06:44
◼
►
That's not a mass market program.
01:06:45
◼
►
So that's my advice to Apple
01:06:48
◼
►
on any sort of one purchase program is,
01:06:51
◼
►
eliminate things,
01:06:52
◼
►
eliminate concerns entirely when it comes to the storage
01:06:55
◼
►
and when it comes to like the phone and everything.
01:06:57
◼
►
Have the tractor be getting an iPhone for cheaper
01:06:59
◼
►
and you've got to make one or two good shows.
01:07:03
◼
►
And that's a hell of a bill to fill in.
01:07:06
◼
►
I don't think actually that's all coming in 2019
01:07:08
◼
►
which is why I still listed the iPhone.
01:07:10
◼
►
And even if they did all that in 2019,
01:07:11
◼
►
the iPhone would still affect them the most
01:07:12
◼
►
because in the first year you'd launch a thing,
01:07:15
◼
►
who knows who even is gonna sign up for it.
01:07:17
◼
►
So long-term, that may affect Apple's trajectory the most
01:07:20
◼
►
but in 2019 itself, it's still the boring old iPhone.
01:07:24
◼
►
- I understand what you're saying
01:07:25
◼
►
about this whole tractor thing.
01:07:27
◼
►
And yeah, the obvious answer is the iPhone,
01:07:30
◼
►
but I don't know.
01:07:31
◼
►
I feel like there's a really clear marketing angle
01:07:35
◼
►
where Apple says, look,
01:07:36
◼
►
you wanna have an iPhone every year.
01:07:39
◼
►
You don't wanna have to worry about storage.
01:07:42
◼
►
You don't wanna have to worry
01:07:43
◼
►
about your photos being backed up.
01:07:44
◼
►
You don't wanna have to worry
01:07:45
◼
►
about where you're getting your music.
01:07:46
◼
►
And you don't have to worry
01:07:47
◼
►
about where you're getting your video either.
01:07:49
◼
►
And so with this one monthly fee,
01:07:52
◼
►
you will get a phone once a year.
01:07:55
◼
►
You will get all the music in the world.
01:07:57
◼
►
You will get all of our original content,
01:07:59
◼
►
which I agree with you, Jon,
01:08:00
◼
►
that we don't know if that original content is useful or not
01:08:02
◼
►
but who knows, but we will give you the storage
01:08:05
◼
►
so that you never get nagged, which is what you just said.
01:08:07
◼
►
I think the storage, in addition to all the other things,
01:08:11
◼
►
may be enough pull to get people to do it.
01:08:14
◼
►
And certainly if Apple has a couple of really hit shows,
01:08:18
◼
►
then that would put it right over the edge.
01:08:20
◼
►
But I think it's even more than the storage.
01:08:24
◼
►
I think it's just the one bill to solve all your problems,
01:08:29
◼
►
which of course isn't literally the case,
01:08:30
◼
►
but one bill to get all of your photo issues resolved,
01:08:34
◼
►
one bill to get all of your backup issues resolved,
01:08:36
◼
►
one bill to get all of your music desires resolved,
01:08:39
◼
►
one bill to hopefully get all of your TV
01:08:43
◼
►
or movie stuff resolved.
01:08:45
◼
►
And who knows, maybe they would throw in
01:08:46
◼
►
like you can get a couple of iTunes rentals
01:08:48
◼
►
for free every month or something like that.
01:08:50
◼
►
Like I don't suspect that to happen, but you never know.
01:08:52
◼
►
But the thought of them discounting the iPhone
01:08:56
◼
►
is a tough pill for me to swallow.
01:08:58
◼
►
- But for this whole plan,
01:09:00
◼
►
there has to be some discount somewhere in there
01:09:02
◼
►
and no one cares about discounts on Apple Music
01:09:04
◼
►
or Apple Video or discounts on Apple Care.
01:09:07
◼
►
All they care about is discount on the iPhone.
01:09:08
◼
►
And again, you can make the discount 10 bucks.
01:09:10
◼
►
Like it doesn't have to be a lot,
01:09:11
◼
►
but the whole point is you have to,
01:09:13
◼
►
there has to be a value proposition.
01:09:14
◼
►
I don't even question the whole thing of like,
01:09:16
◼
►
I want an iPhone every year.
01:09:17
◼
►
I don't know if people do want an iPhone every year.
01:09:19
◼
►
I know some people who get used to their phone
01:09:20
◼
►
and want, even if you gave them a free upgrade,
01:09:22
◼
►
they'd be like, I just wanna keep this phone
01:09:24
◼
►
'cause I like it 'cause I'm not sure about the new ones.
01:09:25
◼
►
Like some people want a phone every year
01:09:27
◼
►
and those people would probably be the most likely
01:09:29
◼
►
to pay for this thing,
01:09:30
◼
►
but it can't be one of those Apple style plans
01:09:32
◼
►
where you just add up the prices of everything
01:09:33
◼
►
and add a little bit on top.
01:09:35
◼
►
'Cause you're like, why would I do this?
01:09:36
◼
►
Like yes, one bill is convenient,
01:09:38
◼
►
but I liked it when they consolidated
01:09:41
◼
►
the family plan or whatever,
01:09:41
◼
►
but the mass consumer is like any sort of bundle,
01:09:45
◼
►
there has to be a savings.
01:09:46
◼
►
And the only thing people care about savings for
01:09:48
◼
►
is the phone.
01:09:49
◼
►
It's like Prime.
01:09:50
◼
►
Prime, people bought it when it was just shipping.
01:09:52
◼
►
Like that's all they cared about.
01:09:53
◼
►
Everything else they didn't care about, it was on top of it.
01:09:55
◼
►
So there's nothing you can do for like,
01:09:57
◼
►
oh, I'm buying this because I get these add-ons.
01:10:00
◼
►
They have to buy it and say yada, yada, yada, add-ons.
01:10:03
◼
►
The whole point is that I pay less money for the iPhone.
01:10:07
◼
►
And so I, you know,
01:10:08
◼
►
and that is totally not an Apple thing to do.
01:10:10
◼
►
I know they're raising all their prices
01:10:11
◼
►
and so on and so forth,
01:10:12
◼
►
but like that's, you need to appeal to people's sense
01:10:16
◼
►
of getting a bargain somewhere.
01:10:18
◼
►
- Yeah, I hear you,
01:10:19
◼
►
but I really think the one fee to fix everything,
01:10:22
◼
►
'cause I forgot about AppleCare,
01:10:23
◼
►
you don't have to worry about breaking your screen
01:10:25
◼
►
within reason.
01:10:26
◼
►
And so I really think one fee to get it all done
01:10:28
◼
►
is maybe enough.
01:10:30
◼
►
- And I think AppleCare is a deal breaker price wise
01:10:32
◼
►
'cause it's so damn expensive,
01:10:33
◼
►
but maybe they could just spread that out
01:10:34
◼
►
over three years or something.
01:10:36
◼
►
'Cause I know so many people are like, I want AppleCare.
01:10:38
◼
►
Then you show them how much it is
01:10:38
◼
►
and you're like, oh, nevermind.
01:10:41
◼
►
But just as a final thought,
01:10:42
◼
►
my answer to my own question,
01:10:44
◼
►
what will affect Apple the most?
01:10:45
◼
►
I think Apple Video or whatever it ends up being called,
01:10:48
◼
►
which I do think it will be Apple Video.
01:10:50
◼
►
I think that is really going to change Apple
01:10:52
◼
►
because if it flops,
01:10:53
◼
►
I think that will have a ripple effect,
01:10:56
◼
►
possibly even more than the Project Titan
01:10:57
◼
►
that may or may not have ever existed.
01:10:59
◼
►
And if it's a success,
01:11:00
◼
►
then that changes the way Apple feels about things.
01:11:05
◼
►
And so, and suddenly they become a content company.
01:11:09
◼
►
And we actually recorded today for Relay FM members,
01:11:13
◼
►
myself, Alex Cox, and Steven Hackett
01:11:15
◼
►
did an episode of Fusion, which is just for Relay members,
01:11:18
◼
►
where we kinda dive into this a little bit
01:11:20
◼
►
and it's worth listening to if you are a Relay member
01:11:22
◼
►
and if you're not, you should be one.
01:11:24
◼
►
But anyway, I just think that having one Apple bill
01:11:29
◼
►
that solves almost all your problems might be enough.
01:11:31
◼
►
I think we should move on to Ask ATP,
01:11:32
◼
►
but before we do, Marco, any closing thoughts on all this?
01:11:35
◼
►
- I don't think so.
01:11:36
◼
►
I think you pretty much covered it.
01:11:37
◼
►
I mean, I do agree with Jon,
01:11:38
◼
►
there should be some kind of
01:11:40
◼
►
significantly motivating factor,
01:11:41
◼
►
but I don't think it needs to be as much
01:11:45
◼
►
of an exclusive discount, as he says.
01:11:48
◼
►
I really do think that just offering all this stuff together
01:11:52
◼
►
as part of the iPhone upgrade program
01:11:54
◼
►
for some smaller additional fee every month,
01:11:58
◼
►
like on the order of 20 bucks a month more
01:12:00
◼
►
or 15 bucks a month more, whatever it is,
01:12:03
◼
►
I think that's very powerful.
01:12:05
◼
►
Because ultimately, people are gonna come in
01:12:06
◼
►
and buy iPhones anyway.
01:12:07
◼
►
The iPhone upgrade program, by most accounts we've heard,
01:12:10
◼
►
has been a success.
01:12:12
◼
►
People do seem to be doing it in good numbers.
01:12:14
◼
►
Making a single price thing that includes all this stuff,
01:12:21
◼
►
it just makes so much sense
01:12:23
◼
►
from both a consumer point of view
01:12:24
◼
►
and from a point of view of helping Apple
01:12:27
◼
►
get more services off the ground.
01:12:29
◼
►
- And to be clear, they can do what you're describing,
01:12:32
◼
►
like that plan, that will be a success in and of itself,
01:12:35
◼
►
but it's just people who have lots of money
01:12:36
◼
►
will do it for the convenience.
01:12:38
◼
►
There is that convenience of it,
01:12:39
◼
►
but I'm trying to think like Amazon Prime bigger,
01:12:41
◼
►
as in how can you get it to appeal
01:12:43
◼
►
to the widest variety of people,
01:12:44
◼
►
not just like how can you make it more convenient
01:12:46
◼
►
for people who are gonna give you that, like us.
01:12:48
◼
►
We give them that money anyway.
01:12:49
◼
►
I buy the biggest storage plan,
01:12:51
◼
►
I buy the family thing, I buy AppleCare,
01:12:54
◼
►
I buy all the expensive phones.
01:12:56
◼
►
I would love to have that consolidated into a single bill.
01:12:57
◼
►
So that is a valuable product
01:12:59
◼
►
that will work for customers exactly like me.
01:13:00
◼
►
But what I'm trying to think of are all the customers
01:13:03
◼
►
who don't buy the backup plan
01:13:05
◼
►
and don't cheap out on the storage
01:13:08
◼
►
and don't replace their phones every year
01:13:11
◼
►
and don't care about Apple Music or Apple Video
01:13:13
◼
►
and how are you gonna get them on board
01:13:15
◼
►
the Amazon Prime train?
01:13:17
◼
►
- Yeah, and I think that's me that you're describing
01:13:19
◼
►
because I do get an iPhone almost every year.
01:13:21
◼
►
I am a devout Spotify user,
01:13:23
◼
►
but I could be convinced if I felt like I was saving
01:13:28
◼
►
even a few bucks somewhere,
01:13:30
◼
►
that, and not necessarily on hardware, just somewhere,
01:13:33
◼
►
if I get the video stuff, the music stuff,
01:13:37
◼
►
if I get iCloud storage, which I still am not paying for,
01:13:40
◼
►
even though yes, I know I should,
01:13:41
◼
►
please email somebody else.
01:13:44
◼
►
Did we do this already?
01:13:45
◼
►
You're not paying for it? - We did, we did.
01:13:46
◼
►
Yes, we already did.
01:13:47
◼
►
I've been beaten up about it.
01:13:49
◼
►
- I was just gonna ask you
01:13:49
◼
►
if you were buying the family plan,
01:13:51
◼
►
but you don't need buying the storage at all here.
01:13:52
◼
►
That's terrible.
01:13:53
◼
►
You need to put that in the follow-up and until you buy it,
01:13:56
◼
►
we just ask you about it every week.
01:13:57
◼
►
- We'll make a web.
01:13:58
◼
►
Somebody will make a single serving site for you.
01:13:59
◼
►
- You're gonna be like my parents.
01:14:00
◼
►
I'll just have to buy it for you without your knowledge
01:14:03
◼
►
and not tell you about it.
01:14:04
◼
►
- Perfect, sold.
01:14:05
◼
►
I'm gonna delegate that to Marco actually.
01:14:07
◼
►
Marco good at it.
01:14:09
◼
►
- I could see myself being convinced
01:14:11
◼
►
because the idea of just getting one bill
01:14:14
◼
►
that just covers everything is appealing
01:14:17
◼
►
and maybe that makes Spotify go away.
01:14:19
◼
►
I don't watch that much Netflix.
01:14:22
◼
►
Maybe Netflix would go away, probably not,
01:14:23
◼
►
but you never know.
01:14:24
◼
►
- Yeah, the video service is the hardest
01:14:25
◼
►
because no one who's into "Orange is the New Black"
01:14:28
◼
►
is gonna say, well, now that I've got Apple Video,
01:14:30
◼
►
like people will subscribe to the services
01:14:32
◼
►
because there are specific shows they want,
01:14:34
◼
►
increasingly exclusive shows.
01:14:35
◼
►
No one is going to ditch CBS All Access
01:14:37
◼
►
because they got Apple Video
01:14:38
◼
►
because CBS All Access has Star Trek.
01:14:39
◼
►
So the video is tough.
01:14:41
◼
►
They need to make good shows.
01:14:42
◼
►
- That's why, the reason why Netflix took off so well
01:14:46
◼
►
is because you can have just Netflix
01:14:50
◼
►
and always have something to watch.
01:14:52
◼
►
You don't have that with services
01:14:55
◼
►
that are exclusively original content like HBO.
01:14:58
◼
►
Like you can't, if you're a big HBO fan,
01:15:01
◼
►
you can go there and you can watch "Game of Thrones"
01:15:03
◼
►
and whatever else you watch on there when it's in season,
01:15:06
◼
►
but then when it's out of season,
01:15:07
◼
►
you don't have much you can go there for.
01:15:09
◼
►
And so if Apple's doing exclusively original content,
01:15:14
◼
►
which, I mean, I don't think we necessarily know that
01:15:16
◼
►
from the reports so far, but it's most likely
01:15:19
◼
►
that it's gonna be exclusively original content
01:15:21
◼
►
based on how they appear to be doing things so far.
01:15:24
◼
►
So if that's mostly it,
01:15:25
◼
►
if there's not gonna be some giant catalog of '90s sitcoms
01:15:28
◼
►
that you can watch reruns of instead
01:15:30
◼
►
when you feel like doing that,
01:15:32
◼
►
it's not gonna be a service where people are like,
01:15:34
◼
►
"I'm gonna cancel Netflix and go to that."
01:15:36
◼
►
They're gonna watch stuff on there when there's a reason to,
01:15:39
◼
►
and when there's not, they're gonna go elsewhere.
01:15:42
◼
►
And that's why I think it's gonna be a really tough sell.
01:15:45
◼
►
Like to get a video service off the ground
01:15:47
◼
►
in this day and age,
01:15:48
◼
►
like when all the competitors are very mature
01:15:50
◼
►
and that have huge catalogs,
01:15:53
◼
►
to get something off the ground today
01:15:54
◼
►
that's probably gonna have a fairly small catalog to start
01:15:58
◼
►
is not gonna be easy,
01:16:00
◼
►
especially since Apple is not incredibly good
01:16:04
◼
►
at launching these kinds of things.
01:16:05
◼
►
See the Apple Music launch.
01:16:07
◼
►
- The way everyone talks about this launch,
01:16:09
◼
►
and which I think would make sense
01:16:10
◼
►
to downscope this slightly is like,
01:16:11
◼
►
"Oh, how does Apple deal with an Apple Video service?"
01:16:14
◼
►
You just make a part of Apple Music
01:16:15
◼
►
with no increase in price, done.
01:16:17
◼
►
Like that's exactly the prime model.
01:16:18
◼
►
Say you already buy Apple Music
01:16:20
◼
►
because for whatever reason you like Apple Music,
01:16:22
◼
►
works with your HomePod, guess what?
01:16:23
◼
►
You got video for free.
01:16:24
◼
►
Oh, I don't even care about video.
01:16:25
◼
►
I was like, "Well, what are you getting it?"
01:16:26
◼
►
So deal with it.
01:16:27
◼
►
And suddenly Apple Video has exactly the same user base
01:16:30
◼
►
as Apple Music, which is actually doing better
01:16:31
◼
►
than probably the last time we talked about it.
01:16:34
◼
►
That is not Apple One where you get everything
01:16:36
◼
►
and a phone upgrade and the storage or whatever,
01:16:38
◼
►
but it is the obvious way to launch Apple Video
01:16:41
◼
►
in an Amazon style.
01:16:42
◼
►
That is not an Apple style.
01:16:43
◼
►
We come up with a new service and you get it for free
01:16:45
◼
►
at the same price with Apple Music,
01:16:47
◼
►
not the old Apple style,
01:16:49
◼
►
but the new services oriented Apple style,
01:16:50
◼
►
if they care about getting adoption and they have any,
01:16:54
◼
►
like that's the way to do it.
01:16:55
◼
►
That is exactly the prime plan.
01:16:56
◼
►
It's just less exciting for us
01:16:58
◼
►
hoping for an Apple One service.
01:17:00
◼
►
- Well, and maybe that's like the baby version of it.
01:17:03
◼
►
I agree that is probably the more,
01:17:05
◼
►
it's like kind of the safer, smaller step.
01:17:08
◼
►
I don't necessarily know if it would come
01:17:09
◼
►
with no price increase.
01:17:10
◼
►
I think maybe Apple Music would suddenly become 20 bucks
01:17:13
◼
►
a month instead of 15 for the family or whatever.
01:17:15
◼
►
- Just the usual snake,
01:17:16
◼
►
like the price wouldn't increase when the video was added,
01:17:19
◼
►
but Apple Music would just creep up in price
01:17:21
◼
►
like everything else in a way that you don't notice.
01:17:23
◼
►
- Well, that's why Amazon did it.
01:17:25
◼
►
Amazon charged a fixed price for Prime for years
01:17:28
◼
►
and then they started adding a bunch of stuff to it
01:17:30
◼
►
and then like a couple years after they added a bunch
01:17:33
◼
►
of stuff they're like, we're gonna raise the price
01:17:34
◼
►
'cause now you're getting so much more for this.
01:17:37
◼
►
- And it's a proven, and the good thing is
01:17:39
◼
►
they raised the price after I think Amazon Video
01:17:42
◼
►
has proven its worth.
01:17:43
◼
►
They had some good shows that people liked.
01:17:44
◼
►
They're like, I wouldn't wanna get rid of Prime now
01:17:46
◼
►
partially because of the video
01:17:48
◼
►
because Patriot was on there
01:17:49
◼
►
and The Man in the High Castle was on it.
01:17:50
◼
►
They actually have shows that I care about.
01:17:52
◼
►
In the beginning they didn't, but now they do.
01:17:54
◼
►
So when they increased the price there was no question
01:17:56
◼
►
that I was gonna keep paying that price.
01:17:57
◼
►
- Yeah, but anyway, so I think some kind of bundle
01:18:02
◼
►
subscription I think will happen.
01:18:04
◼
►
Whether it's part of the iPhone upgrade program
01:18:06
◼
►
or whether it's a separate thing that could be expanded
01:18:08
◼
►
Apple Music or a whole new plan that includes Apple Music,
01:18:11
◼
►
whatever it is, I think a bundle subscription
01:18:14
◼
►
that includes multiple services, at the very least,
01:18:17
◼
►
music, video, and God I hope iCloud storage.
01:18:21
◼
►
Because look, everyone should get iCloud storage
01:18:24
◼
►
and it's time that Apple makes a plan
01:18:26
◼
►
that forces people like Casey to get it
01:18:28
◼
►
even though they don't think they need it.
01:18:29
◼
►
(upbeat music)
01:18:30
◼
►
We are sponsored this week by Aftershokz
01:18:32
◼
►
bone conduction headphones.
01:18:34
◼
►
I love bone conduction headphones.
01:18:36
◼
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So here's how they work.
01:18:37
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It's different from most other headphones
01:18:39
◼
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if you haven't tried them before.
01:18:40
◼
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Instead of having anything sticking in your ear
01:18:43
◼
►
or resting on or pushing on or sitting around your ear,
01:18:46
◼
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bone conduction headphones don't actually block up your ears
01:18:50
◼
►
or put anything in them.
01:18:51
◼
►
They have these little tiny microvibrating transducers
01:18:54
◼
►
that sit next to your ears with a headband
01:18:57
◼
►
that goes around the back of your neck
01:18:58
◼
►
and so your ears are left totally open.
01:19:01
◼
►
And those transducers send little microvibrations,
01:19:04
◼
►
you don't even feel them, through your cheekbones
01:19:06
◼
►
and it makes your eardrum pick up the vibration.
01:19:08
◼
►
So you hear sound from the bone conduction headphones
01:19:11
◼
►
but no one else does.
01:19:13
◼
►
And best of all, you also hear sound
01:19:16
◼
►
from the rest of the world because your ears
01:19:18
◼
►
aren't being plugged up or covered.
01:19:19
◼
►
And so this is actually really useful
01:19:21
◼
►
when you think about it in lots of situations.
01:19:23
◼
►
So for instance, my favorite way to use these
01:19:25
◼
►
is walking around outside, especially in the summertime
01:19:29
◼
►
'cause I get really hot and sweaty.
01:19:30
◼
►
I don't want big sweaty pads on my ears.
01:19:33
◼
►
And if I do happen to sweat all over these things,
01:19:35
◼
►
they're water resistant and everything
01:19:36
◼
►
so it's not a problem, but they don't make you hot
01:19:39
◼
►
and when you're walking around,
01:19:41
◼
►
you can hear things going on around you.
01:19:43
◼
►
So you can hear, for instance, if you're outside walking
01:19:46
◼
►
or jogging or whatever, you can hear cars as they move.
01:19:49
◼
►
So you're not surprised.
01:19:50
◼
►
All of a sudden there's a car behind you
01:19:52
◼
►
you didn't even realize.
01:19:53
◼
►
That never happens with bone conduction headphones
01:19:54
◼
►
'cause you always are aware of your surroundings.
01:19:57
◼
►
So they're great for environments like that.
01:19:59
◼
►
Even, I use them all year round
01:20:00
◼
►
'cause even in the wintertime
01:20:01
◼
►
when I'm spending a lot of time inside,
01:20:03
◼
►
I still wanna be able to listen to podcasts
01:20:05
◼
►
or take a phone call and say no
01:20:07
◼
►
if somebody's knocking on my door
01:20:09
◼
►
or if I'm the only person in the house
01:20:10
◼
►
to know if somebody's calling my name.
01:20:12
◼
►
They're so useful.
01:20:13
◼
►
And after socks are just great headphones in general.
01:20:16
◼
►
They have great Bluetooth reception.
01:20:18
◼
►
They have a great warranty.
01:20:20
◼
►
They have great battery life.
01:20:21
◼
►
So they're just really practical and useful headphones.
01:20:23
◼
►
I just love these things.
01:20:24
◼
►
I wear after socks most of the year at least once a day.
01:20:28
◼
►
And if not more than that, they're just that good.
01:20:30
◼
►
So see for yourself at ATP.aftershocks.com.
01:20:34
◼
►
Use code ATPBUNDLE.
01:20:37
◼
►
That'll get you $50 off a Trek's Air bundle.
01:20:39
◼
►
That's ATP.aftershocks.com code ATPBUNDLE
01:20:43
◼
►
for $50 off a Trek's Air bundle.
01:20:46
◼
►
Thank you so much to aftershocks
01:20:47
◼
►
for making such great headphones
01:20:48
◼
►
and for sponsoring our show.
01:20:50
◼
►
- Okay, let's do some Ask ATP.
01:20:55
◼
►
Wojtek P. Trusavich writes,
01:20:58
◼
►
"Hey, Jon, please explain again
01:21:00
◼
►
"in as much detail as possible."
01:21:02
◼
►
"Exactly why you didn't buy the 2013 Mac Pro.
01:21:05
◼
►
"This is a serious question/request."
01:21:07
◼
►
- You're not gonna get as much detail as possible
01:21:09
◼
►
in Ask ATP, sorry.
01:21:10
◼
►
I thought I did it like last show.
01:21:14
◼
►
The Trashcan Mac Pro had two big sort of workstation style
01:21:18
◼
►
GPUs with tons of VRAM and one CPU.
01:21:23
◼
►
And that's not like the shape of the machine that I want.
01:21:26
◼
►
I want one fast GPU for gaming
01:21:28
◼
►
that doesn't need to have 12 gigs of RAM.
01:21:31
◼
►
I certainly don't need two of those.
01:21:32
◼
►
And the other big factor is like the Trashcan came out
01:21:37
◼
►
around about the time we were talking about
01:21:40
◼
►
having a quad 5K,
01:21:42
◼
►
what we now know as the retina display on the,
01:21:44
◼
►
not quad 5K, quad 27 inch, I think I kept referring to it.
01:21:49
◼
►
But anyway, a 5K display.
01:21:50
◼
►
But that Mac Pro seemed like it couldn't drive one
01:21:54
◼
►
even if one existed.
01:21:55
◼
►
So it's like, well, I'll wait for the next one of those
01:21:57
◼
►
because maybe the next one will be able
01:21:58
◼
►
to drive a 5K display.
01:22:00
◼
►
Ha ha ha, the next one.
01:22:01
◼
►
There never was a next one.
01:22:02
◼
►
So that's why.
01:22:03
◼
►
If I was gonna buy a new Mac Pro,
01:22:04
◼
►
I wanted it to be,
01:22:06
◼
►
like we were so close to retina on the desktop
01:22:08
◼
►
in a 27 inch form factor
01:22:10
◼
►
that it seemed wasteful to buy a machine that didn't do that.
01:22:13
◼
►
And this particular machine didn't,
01:22:16
◼
►
like it didn't have the internals that I wanted.
01:22:17
◼
►
It was very expensive.
01:22:18
◼
►
I was paying for workstation class GPUs
01:22:20
◼
►
with tons of VRM that not only did I not want,
01:22:23
◼
►
but weren't actually as good
01:22:24
◼
►
as what a single gaming GPU could be.
01:22:26
◼
►
Doesn't mean the new Mac Pro's gonna satisfy me anymore,
01:22:28
◼
►
but those are the reasons I didn't buy that old one.
01:22:30
◼
►
And obviously, because I thought they would revise it
01:22:33
◼
►
and maybe the one the next year or the year after
01:22:35
◼
►
would support 5K.
01:22:36
◼
►
But there just never was a next one.
01:22:39
◼
►
- Marco Silva writes,
01:22:40
◼
►
"Hey John, do you smash?"
01:22:42
◼
►
And if you've ever watched Jersey Shore, that's very funny,
01:22:45
◼
►
but I believe Marco's referring to Smash Brothers.
01:22:49
◼
►
And also, have you ever wandered
01:22:51
◼
►
into the world of fighting games, John?
01:22:53
◼
►
- I don't know why that I'm asking this for everybody.
01:22:55
◼
►
We all have a way to play Smash Brothers now, right?
01:22:57
◼
►
All got Switches.
01:22:58
◼
►
I played Smash Brothers on the N64,
01:23:03
◼
►
on the GameCube.
01:23:05
◼
►
Did I get the Wii version?
01:23:06
◼
►
I don't think I did get the Wii version.
01:23:08
◼
►
I don't even remember if there was a Wii U version.
01:23:10
◼
►
I didn't get it for Switch.
01:23:12
◼
►
Not that into it.
01:23:14
◼
►
Like I got it 'cause it's a cool, fun game,
01:23:16
◼
►
but I'm just not that into fighting games, period.
01:23:18
◼
►
I have not wandered into the world of fighting games.
01:23:20
◼
►
I know a lot about it and have read a lot about it
01:23:22
◼
►
because it is the subject of many articles,
01:23:25
◼
►
both interesting and horrifying,
01:23:27
◼
►
in the recent years in the gaming press
01:23:29
◼
►
and in the past as well.
01:23:30
◼
►
Like the GameCube, I feel like was the,
01:23:34
◼
►
where I started really reading about
01:23:36
◼
►
the Smash fighting game community
01:23:40
◼
►
and the tournaments and everything.
01:23:41
◼
►
And yeah, I've never been into that at all.
01:23:44
◼
►
It's just not my cup of tea.
01:23:46
◼
►
- Yeah, I had Super Smash Brothers for the Wii.
01:23:51
◼
►
Yeah, I think it was the Wii.
01:23:52
◼
►
And I actually really liked it.
01:23:54
◼
►
I didn't play it that terribly often,
01:23:56
◼
►
but it was a really fun party game because it,
01:23:59
◼
►
well, the way in which myself and my friends played it,
01:24:01
◼
►
none of us had any particular skills.
01:24:03
◼
►
We were just mashing on buttons randomly.
01:24:05
◼
►
And it was a lot of fun to play in a group setting.
01:24:08
◼
►
I haven't yet picked up the one for the Switch.
01:24:10
◼
►
I probably will at some point for the exact same reason.
01:24:14
◼
►
But generally speaking,
01:24:16
◼
►
I'm not that into fighting games either.
01:24:18
◼
►
I never really played Mortal Kombat that much.
01:24:19
◼
►
I did love and play the snot out of Street Fighter II
01:24:23
◼
►
back in the day.
01:24:24
◼
►
But that was about it.
01:24:26
◼
►
Marco, where do you come down on this?
01:24:28
◼
►
- I don't play fighting games really.
01:24:30
◼
►
I mean, I barely play any games at all.
01:24:33
◼
►
But if I'm gonna be playing games,
01:24:34
◼
►
it's generally, it hasn't been fighting games
01:24:36
◼
►
for a long time.
01:24:36
◼
►
Like back when Street Fighter II came out
01:24:39
◼
►
for the Super Nintendo,
01:24:40
◼
►
which was the first modern fighting game,
01:24:43
◼
►
I played that with my friends at my friends' houses,
01:24:48
◼
►
but I never really went past that.
01:24:50
◼
►
- Yeah, fair enough.
01:24:51
◼
►
The thing about fighting games is like,
01:24:52
◼
►
there's, what we all just described,
01:24:53
◼
►
which is like, oh, let's just go have fun with a game.
01:24:55
◼
►
But there's another game
01:24:57
◼
►
that the fighting game people are playing.
01:24:59
◼
►
Like, there's a big gap.
01:25:01
◼
►
It's not, you know, it's probably not as comparable
01:25:03
◼
►
in any other sort of genre.
01:25:05
◼
►
I was thinking like Destiny.
01:25:06
◼
►
Like, there's a pretty smooth spectrum
01:25:08
◼
►
from people who are just playing Destiny casually
01:25:11
◼
►
all the way up to the crazy people like me.
01:25:14
◼
►
Or, you know, obviously the streamers
01:25:15
◼
►
people play all day long.
01:25:17
◼
►
But in fighting games, it's like,
01:25:18
◼
►
you're either just like goofing around and having fun,
01:25:21
◼
►
or you are playing an entirely different game, right?
01:25:23
◼
►
Where you, where like, it looks different to you.
01:25:26
◼
►
It looks and feels different to you
01:25:27
◼
►
because you know all the different things
01:25:29
◼
►
about the moves and the, you know,
01:25:31
◼
►
the timing and the frames of animation
01:25:34
◼
►
and the cancellations and like,
01:25:36
◼
►
people who just play fighting games like casually
01:25:38
◼
►
don't even know that stuff even exists.
01:25:40
◼
►
Like, they're just, it's not all button mashing,
01:25:42
◼
►
but it's close.
01:25:43
◼
►
Like, they start, they're conceptualizing
01:25:45
◼
►
as a little person on the screen
01:25:46
◼
►
that you can make do stuff.
01:25:48
◼
►
They're not seeing the matrix.
01:25:49
◼
►
And there's this huge gap,
01:25:50
◼
►
and then there's actual fighting game people.
01:25:52
◼
►
And to be any good at fighting games,
01:25:53
◼
►
you have to see the matrix in that way,
01:25:55
◼
►
and it becomes a different thing.
01:25:56
◼
►
And I think it's actually very interesting.
01:25:57
◼
►
It's just not what I'm into.
01:26:00
◼
►
- Thanks to our sponsors this week,
01:26:02
◼
►
Aftershocks, Care/Of, and Banktivity by IGG Software.
01:26:06
◼
►
And we will talk to you next week.
01:26:08
◼
►
♪ Now the show is over ♪
01:26:13
◼
►
♪ They didn't even mean to begin ♪
01:26:16
◼
►
♪ 'Cause it was accidental ♪
01:26:18
◼
►
♪ Oh, it was accidental ♪
01:26:21
◼
►
♪ John didn't do any research ♪
01:26:23
◼
►
♪ Marco and Casey wouldn't let him ♪
01:26:26
◼
►
♪ 'Cause it was accidental ♪
01:26:29
◼
►
♪ It was accidental ♪
01:26:32
◼
►
♪ And you can find the show notes at ATP.FM ♪
01:26:37
◼
►
♪ And if you're into Twitter ♪
01:26:40
◼
►
♪ You can follow them at C-A-S-E-Y-L-I-S-S ♪
01:26:45
◼
►
♪ So that's Casey List M-A-R-C-O-A-R-M ♪
01:26:51
◼
►
♪ Auntie Marco Arment S-I-R-A-C ♪
01:26:56
◼
►
♪ USA, Syracuse ♪
01:26:58
◼
►
♪ It's accidental ♪
01:26:59
◼
►
♪ Accidental ♪
01:27:01
◼
►
♪ They didn't mean to ♪
01:27:03
◼
►
♪ Accidental ♪
01:27:05
◼
►
♪ Accidental ♪
01:27:06
◼
►
♪ Tech podcast ♪
01:27:08
◼
►
♪ So long ♪
01:27:10
◼
►
- What exciting things happening in people's lives?
01:27:14
◼
►
- Michaela turned one.
01:27:16
◼
►
- Good pictures of Michaela up on your Instagram.
01:27:18
◼
►
- Hey, thanks, yeah, those are good ones.
01:27:19
◼
►
- Those were for one new thing.
01:27:20
◼
►
You've had a lot of nice pictures on your Instagram lately.
01:27:22
◼
►
- Oh, thanks, man.
01:27:23
◼
►
Yeah, I'm trying.
01:27:24
◼
►
Actually, well--
01:27:25
◼
►
- I'm just digging for compliments
01:27:27
◼
►
'cause they're all my pictures.
01:27:28
◼
►
- I was, I realized, I realized as soon as you said that
01:27:32
◼
►
that the pictures I put up of Aaron and me yesterday,
01:27:36
◼
►
I think both of those are John Siracusa originals,
01:27:38
◼
►
and at least one or two of the Michaela ones.
01:27:41
◼
►
- It was all them except for the last one of Michaela.
01:27:44
◼
►
Last two, maybe?
01:27:46
◼
►
But yeah, you're right.
01:27:46
◼
►
Okay, here it was.
01:27:47
◼
►
I thought you were complimenting me,
01:27:48
◼
►
but no, it was really--
01:27:50
◼
►
- Do you ever get the, I get this,
01:27:51
◼
►
I think I've talked about this before
01:27:52
◼
►
when I first started doing Instagram,
01:27:53
◼
►
people giving me crap about the fact
01:27:55
◼
►
that I take my pictures from my big camera
01:27:58
◼
►
and put them on Instagram?
01:27:59
◼
►
Like, that's cheating.
01:28:00
◼
►
- Yeah, I don't think that's the thing
01:28:01
◼
►
people actually care about anymore.
01:28:02
◼
►
Like, there were people who would give you crap on it,
01:28:04
◼
►
crap about it like, you know, years ago,
01:28:05
◼
►
but yeah, that's not a thing anymore.
01:28:07
◼
►
- Now people just care about ads in their timeline.
01:28:10
◼
►
- And non-chronological timeline.
01:28:11
◼
►
- No, 'cause the reality is, like, now,
01:28:13
◼
►
a lot of what you see in your timeline
01:28:15
◼
►
is shot on professional cameras
01:28:16
◼
►
and processed in professional apps
01:28:18
◼
►
and then stuck in Instagram.
01:28:19
◼
►
Like, there's so much of it now that, like,
01:28:21
◼
►
and the cameras in your phone have gotten so good
01:28:24
◼
►
that many of the phone shots--
01:28:25
◼
►
- They have everything in portrait mode, yeah.
01:28:26
◼
►
- Yeah, yeah, many of the phone shots
01:28:28
◼
►
look like pro camera shots.
01:28:30
◼
►
So yeah, I don't think anybody cares
01:28:31
◼
►
about the distinction anymore.
01:28:34
◼
►
- Yeah, I have such a complicated relationship
01:28:36
◼
►
with Instagram because the more time I spend on it,
01:28:38
◼
►
the more I like it, then the more I hate myself
01:28:39
◼
►
because I know it's Facebook.
01:28:41
◼
►
Like, well then, there's so many damn ads, but--
01:28:44
◼
►
- Yeah, the ads are out of control there.
01:28:45
◼
►
Speaking of speaking of something
01:28:46
◼
►
I would pay for a service for, like,
01:28:47
◼
►
oh, God, not that Facebook would ever let us pay
01:28:49
◼
►
to get rid of ads, but I would pay that in a second.
01:28:52
◼
►
Like, it used to be like, you know,
01:28:55
◼
►
every couple of pictures there was an ad
01:28:57
◼
►
and now I think it's like literally every other picture
01:28:59
◼
►
is an ad, I can't handle it.
01:29:01
◼
►
- Yeah, they've really cranked them up like,
01:29:02
◼
►
and it's in the stories too, like it's--
01:29:04
◼
►
- Yeah, in the story, like, in this game,
01:29:06
◼
►
the story is like nowhere is safe from this.
01:29:08
◼
►
- Like, I don't, and the thing is, like,
01:29:10
◼
►
I actually like Instagram ads more than most online ads
01:29:15
◼
►
that get in my way because they actually are
01:29:18
◼
►
creepily relevant a lot of the time.
01:29:21
◼
►
And I've actually discovered some really nice products
01:29:23
◼
►
that I've bought from Instagram ads,
01:29:26
◼
►
so I know I'm like not helping the system at all by actually--
01:29:28
◼
►
- So you're the problem.
01:29:30
◼
►
- Yeah, it's like I'm not the guy who responds to spam,
01:29:31
◼
►
right, it's like, I have actually bought
01:29:34
◼
►
really good things from Instagram ads,
01:29:36
◼
►
and so has my wife, so is Tiff, so,
01:29:38
◼
►
like, and I refer to other people too,
01:29:39
◼
►
like, the products that get advertised to you
01:29:41
◼
►
on Instagram ads often are pretty good
01:29:44
◼
►
and often are pretty well targeted.
01:29:46
◼
►
- Maybe I need to give them more information about me
01:29:48
◼
►
'cause they do not have my number.
01:29:49
◼
►
Like, they're, I mean, they're advertising me clothes,
01:29:52
◼
►
for example, like, it's not,
01:29:53
◼
►
I don't know what they're doing.
01:29:55
◼
►
There was an ad, like, I don't even know
01:29:56
◼
►
what the ads are for.
01:29:57
◼
►
The reason they bother me is they're so big
01:29:58
◼
►
and you have to scroll past them.
01:29:59
◼
►
- Yeah. - What the hell was,
01:30:00
◼
►
I got to launch Instagram, like, it was an ad
01:30:01
◼
►
that I saw just before the show,
01:30:04
◼
►
and I, like, I scrolled past it,
01:30:05
◼
►
and I didn't even realize what it was.
01:30:08
◼
►
- I think they think I'm a woman.
01:30:11
◼
►
There's a number of reasons why the ads suggest that,
01:30:13
◼
►
but overall, like, they think I'm a man often enough
01:30:17
◼
►
to sometimes suggest, like, you know, men's walking shoes
01:30:20
◼
►
and stuff, so I don't know, but I have,
01:30:22
◼
►
there's a couple of, like, mistargeted things
01:30:24
◼
►
where, like, maybe it's confusing me and Tiff
01:30:26
◼
►
'cause we are from the same IP address, I don't know, but--
01:30:30
◼
►
- All right, so I've got Star Trek ad,
01:30:32
◼
►
which, I mean, I guess that's close,
01:30:33
◼
►
but, like, that's not a great ad
01:30:34
◼
►
'cause I already know about that show.
01:30:35
◼
►
Like, I'm very aware of it, and anyway.
01:30:37
◼
►
A leaf gutter blocker thing?
01:30:41
◼
►
- Oh, yeah, I've seen that one a lot too.
01:30:42
◼
►
- That's the one, what is that?
01:30:43
◼
►
- Well, that's actually pretty well targeted.
01:30:45
◼
►
- You're a homeowner, you care about such things, probably.
01:30:49
◼
►
- I'm not gonna, I'm not in the market, Greek yogurt, no.
01:30:52
◼
►
I don't know, like, the one, here, let me see,
01:30:57
◼
►
the one Instagram ad I ever saw that I had any interest in
01:31:00
◼
►
that I actually looked at long enough to know what it is
01:31:03
◼
►
was that service that I'm sure everyone
01:31:05
◼
►
gets this Instagram ad.
01:31:05
◼
►
Like, it knows that I play video games,
01:31:07
◼
►
so there's this thing where they do, like,
01:31:08
◼
►
these metal posters of, like, video game characters
01:31:10
◼
►
and people from movies and stuff, have you seen that one?
01:31:12
◼
►
- Yeah, yeah.
01:31:13
◼
►
- Yeah, I looked at that because it had a cool picture
01:31:16
◼
►
of some, like, Destiny or Halo thing or whatever,
01:31:18
◼
►
and I'm like, all right, they know I play video games,
01:31:20
◼
►
and I like those video games,
01:31:21
◼
►
and I would like a cool looking thing,
01:31:23
◼
►
but then I didn't, you know, do anything about that.
01:31:25
◼
►
It's not like I actually bought anything.
01:31:27
◼
►
Yeah, Instagram, and the stories with the green circles now,
01:31:30
◼
►
I'm really confused by that.
01:31:32
◼
►
Have you seen some of those, Casey?
01:31:33
◼
►
- Yeah, yeah, that's close friends.
01:31:35
◼
►
- Explain to me how that works.
01:31:36
◼
►
I mean, obviously, I know how it's supposed to be, like,
01:31:38
◼
►
only your close friends see this,
01:31:39
◼
►
but I didn't know there was a way to say someone
01:31:41
◼
►
is a close friend at Instagram.
01:31:42
◼
►
- Yeah, so this is only in the last maybe month or so,
01:31:44
◼
►
but you can set up a list,
01:31:46
◼
►
and I don't think there's a numeric limit,
01:31:49
◼
►
or if there is, it's fairly,
01:31:51
◼
►
what's the word I'm looking for?
01:31:54
◼
►
You can put a lot of it. - Generous.
01:31:55
◼
►
- But generous, thank you, God,
01:31:56
◼
►
I couldn't think of the word, thank you.
01:31:58
◼
►
Yeah, so there's this new thing from last month or so,
01:32:01
◼
►
and it's where you can specify that some number of people,
01:32:04
◼
►
and the number is fairly generous, are your close friends,
01:32:08
◼
►
and when you put up an Instagram story,
01:32:10
◼
►
you can elect to make it public,
01:32:12
◼
►
or you can elect for only close friends to see it,
01:32:14
◼
►
and naturally, there is no hint
01:32:17
◼
►
that you have put up a close friend story
01:32:19
◼
►
to people who are not your close friends.
01:32:22
◼
►
So, you know, if you did not mark me as a close friend, John,
01:32:25
◼
►
but you did put up an Instagram story
01:32:27
◼
►
for your close friends, then I would be none the wiser,
01:32:29
◼
►
unless I was, like, looking over, say, Marco's shoulder,
01:32:32
◼
►
and I saw you with a green circle around you,
01:32:34
◼
►
but the green indicates that some of that content,
01:32:36
◼
►
some, if not all, of that content is just for close friends,
01:32:38
◼
►
and I really like that a lot,
01:32:40
◼
►
because I think to some degree there's an implied,
01:32:44
◼
►
I don't know, seriousness isn't the word I'm looking for,
01:32:47
◼
►
but, like, Instagram carries a little bit
01:32:50
◼
►
of implied weight in my mind,
01:32:52
◼
►
that the things you put on there are pretty,
01:32:54
◼
►
or special, or interesting,
01:32:56
◼
►
and, like, especially with Instagram stories,
01:33:00
◼
►
my day-to-day life is really, to anyone else in the world,
01:33:03
◼
►
would be quite boring and very uninteresting,
01:33:05
◼
►
and so I don't really put up a lot on Insta Stories,
01:33:09
◼
►
unless I'm at a football game, or a concert,
01:33:11
◼
►
or traveling, or something like that,
01:33:14
◼
►
but my close friends, of which I think the list is,
01:33:17
◼
►
my list is, like, 30-ish,
01:33:19
◼
►
my close friends might give a crap
01:33:22
◼
►
about the boring administrvia that I do day-to-day,
01:33:25
◼
►
and so I might be way more forthcoming
01:33:27
◼
►
with my close friends and putting up Insta Stories
01:33:30
◼
►
that only they get to see,
01:33:32
◼
►
and there's a handful of people
01:33:35
◼
►
that have made me close friends of theirs,
01:33:37
◼
►
which is really nice,
01:33:38
◼
►
and I've really enjoyed being able to interact
01:33:40
◼
►
with their stories, 'cause I know, going into it,
01:33:43
◼
►
that this is less polished, I guess,
01:33:46
◼
►
than the sort of thing I would normally see on Instagram,
01:33:50
◼
►
or especially an Instagram story,
01:33:52
◼
►
and there's more, even more casualness,
01:33:57
◼
►
casuality, I don't, that's not a word,
01:33:59
◼
►
but it's more casual when it's with close friends
01:34:02
◼
►
than it is even with Stories,
01:34:03
◼
►
and I feel like Stories is a more casual version
01:34:05
◼
►
of Instagram, and a more ephemeral, of course,
01:34:07
◼
►
version of Instagram to begin with.
01:34:10
◼
►
- I find this feature terrifying,
01:34:11
◼
►
because it's yet another opportunity for you
01:34:13
◼
►
to not be aware that you aren't sending it
01:34:15
◼
►
to your close friends when you thought you were.
01:34:16
◼
►
Like, some of the rules are like never put anything up
01:34:18
◼
►
on the internet that you wouldn't want the world to see.
01:34:20
◼
►
This feature enables you to do that.
01:34:21
◼
►
You are the feature made to put things,
01:34:23
◼
►
and it's just, like, can you imagine,
01:34:26
◼
►
like, if you put something in there that's supposed to,
01:34:27
◼
►
especially if you actually treat it
01:34:28
◼
►
as just your close, close friends,
01:34:29
◼
►
and you wanna say something important or heartfelt
01:34:32
◼
►
or show some, you know, thing where, like,
01:34:35
◼
►
your wife walks by in her underwear in the background
01:34:37
◼
►
or something, like, and you didn't do,
01:34:40
◼
►
you thought you were on close friends, but you weren't.
01:34:42
◼
►
Like, it's just, you know, I'd, ugh.
01:34:45
◼
►
I can't even imagine. - Yeah, I take your point.
01:34:48
◼
►
- I mean, then again, I'm someone
01:34:49
◼
►
who never does Instagram Stories at all,
01:34:50
◼
►
so obviously I'm not the target marketer.
01:34:51
◼
►
Maybe it's an awesome feature, and obviously you like it,
01:34:53
◼
►
so I would just give, every time I see that green circle,
01:34:56
◼
►
like, it just makes me think about
01:34:58
◼
►
all the non-green circles that people thought,
01:35:00
◼
►
might have thought were green circles when they were.
01:35:02
◼
►
- I take your point, but they are,
01:35:04
◼
►
I forget exactly how the UI works.
01:35:06
◼
►
I haven't done it in a few days at least,
01:35:07
◼
►
but I believe there's, like, two different buttons
01:35:09
◼
►
on the bottom of the screen when you take a picture
01:35:11
◼
►
or a movie or what have you,
01:35:12
◼
►
and it's pretty clear which one does what,
01:35:15
◼
►
and there's no, like, there's no hoodwinking
01:35:17
◼
►
or any of the other creepy stuff
01:35:18
◼
►
that Facebook typically does yet. (laughs)
01:35:22
◼
►
There's, you know, there's none of that to make you,
01:35:25
◼
►
to make it easy for you to make a mistake.
01:35:27
◼
►
Again, I take your point.
01:35:28
◼
►
It doesn't mean you're wrong by any means,
01:35:29
◼
►
but I don't know, I really, really like it.
01:35:33
◼
►
I'm getting some real-time follow-up
01:35:35
◼
►
from an anonymous person whose name might sound like Schmike
01:35:38
◼
►
who has said that he has occasionally put up a,
01:35:41
◼
►
he or she, I should say, has occasionally put up a story
01:35:46
◼
►
that was intended for close friends
01:35:48
◼
►
but ended up going to the whole world.
01:35:49
◼
►
So, such things do happen from time to time.
01:35:52
◼
►
- Yeah, the one thing that gets me on Instagram
01:35:53
◼
►
is, like, I post Instagram so rarely, right?
01:35:55
◼
►
But the, I think, if you count the number of times
01:35:58
◼
►
I've intentionally posted an Instagram
01:35:59
◼
►
and compare it to the number of times
01:36:00
◼
►
I have somehow hit something that I accidentally turned on,
01:36:03
◼
►
like the, it's either the camera
01:36:05
◼
►
or maybe it's like the starting a story type thing.
01:36:08
◼
►
- A spice to the left. - I accidentally activate that
01:36:10
◼
►
all the time, and I'm like, oh, stop, whatever you're doing,
01:36:13
◼
►
stop, turn off camera, I'm not, you know.
01:36:15
◼
►
It must just be 'cause I brushed the bottom
01:36:17
◼
►
at the bottom of the thing,
01:36:18
◼
►
or maybe I'm going for another icon
01:36:19
◼
►
but they don't have labels on them, they're not good.
01:36:22
◼
►
Yeah, I think I do that more often
01:36:23
◼
►
than I intentionally post.
01:36:25
◼
►
- Just to show the relevance of the ads,
01:36:27
◼
►
I just scroll, I've been scrolling through
01:36:28
◼
►
as you guys have been talking
01:36:29
◼
►
and documenting all the ads I'm seeing.
01:36:31
◼
►
- Watches, watches.
01:36:33
◼
►
No, surprisingly not, but New York Times subscription
01:36:35
◼
►
was the first one, that's actually pretty good,
01:36:38
◼
►
like that's pretty well targeted.
01:36:39
◼
►
I read the New York Times sometimes,
01:36:41
◼
►
I don't subscribe to it, I've thought about subscribing
01:36:43
◼
►
to it, I'm in their demographic.
01:36:44
◼
►
- I've never seen that ad, and I go to the New York Times
01:36:46
◼
►
all the time, bad job.
01:36:48
◼
►
- So I got that, I have something called PopChart
01:36:50
◼
►
which like makes posters of things,
01:36:52
◼
►
that was kind of a miss.
01:36:53
◼
►
Fancy upstate New York architectural homes
01:36:57
◼
►
in the mountains, that's actually
01:36:59
◼
►
a pretty well targeted ad.
01:37:02
◼
►
Marine Layer, former sponsor of this show,
01:37:04
◼
►
they make good soft t-shirts, that's a great ad.
01:37:07
◼
►
I have some other shirts, that's perfect.
01:37:09
◼
►
Waterproof sneakers, eh, it's an okay ad,
01:37:11
◼
►
I've bought athletic sneakers from there before,
01:37:13
◼
►
so that makes sense.
01:37:14
◼
►
Fancy leather dress shoes, actually pretty good,
01:37:18
◼
►
I've tapped on some of those ads before.
01:37:21
◼
►
- Maybe you just buy more stuff than me,
01:37:22
◼
►
that has more data.
01:37:23
◼
►
- An iPhone cloth case, I don't know where that one
01:37:26
◼
►
came from, but not too bad.
01:37:28
◼
►
Some kind of fancy mattress for athletes, eh.
01:37:32
◼
►
T-shirts for people who love the big Lebowski, okay.
01:37:36
◼
►
A hands-free dog leash, I do like a lot of dog posts.
01:37:40
◼
►
And finally a men's like subscription clothing box service.
01:37:45
◼
►
Which I am like, you know, pretty much
01:37:47
◼
►
in the demographic for, so these are actually
01:37:49
◼
►
pretty well targeted ads to me.
01:37:52
◼
►
- Meanwhile, I'm looking at an ad about,
01:37:54
◼
►
as far as I can tell, this is a hate one,
01:37:56
◼
►
I can't tell what the ad's for.
01:37:57
◼
►
- Wait, people are going crazy over these Macbook skins,
01:38:01
◼
►
- No, the ad that I'm looking at is, I think,
01:38:04
◼
►
trying to get me to travel to Iceland.
01:38:07
◼
►
Not a well targeted ad.
01:38:09
◼
►
But the thing is, I can't even tell.
01:38:12
◼
►
With the audio off, I can't tell.
01:38:13
◼
►
The account that it's from is L-A-N-D-B-L-A-D-E-X-P.
01:38:18
◼
►
Lindblad Exp, I don't know.
01:38:20
◼
►
- I'm not sure that's how it's pronounced.
01:38:21
◼
►
- Anyway, so I'm not going to Iceland.
01:38:23
◼
►
I am not a big traveler, like I don't know
01:38:25
◼
►
where the hell that's coming from, what else do we have?
01:38:28
◼
►
- A smart home blinds closing thing?
01:38:31
◼
►
I own zero smart home things.
01:38:32
◼
►
- I've seen that, the thing that loops around the cord.
01:38:35
◼
►
- Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea.
01:38:37
◼
►
- Okay, well this one's closer.
01:38:39
◼
►
It's a dongle.
01:38:42
◼
►
A USBC dongle.
01:38:44
◼
►
All right, that's, I mean, I guess.
01:38:47
◼
►
Yeah, I just, I mean, the thing I used to like
01:38:51
◼
►
about Instagram ads is they would have nice photos in them.
01:38:54
◼
►
I would be like, well, even if it's not a thing I care about,
01:38:55
◼
►
it has a pretty photo, but I think Instagram ad makers
01:38:58
◼
►
have figured out they don't need to make
01:38:59
◼
►
a nice photo anymore, they just need to have
01:39:01
◼
►
like a crass comment.
01:39:02
◼
►
- Well, if they're like high end products,
01:39:04
◼
►
like the upstate New York mountain house architecture ones,
01:39:07
◼
►
those photos are beautiful.
01:39:08
◼
►
Like I almost like, I kind of make a habit
01:39:10
◼
►
of not liking ads, 'cause like I don't want to feed them that
01:39:14
◼
►
but I almost liked that one 'cause it was just
01:39:16
◼
►
really nice pictures.
01:39:17
◼
►
- Don't like ads.
01:39:20
◼
►
It's a sneaker company called OPP?
01:39:23
◼
►
- Yeah, you know me.
01:39:25
◼
►
- Yeah, I know.
01:39:26
◼
►
- Now I'm getting, my first ad that I've seen
01:39:30
◼
►
is Goosebumps the movie, which, okay.
01:39:33
◼
►
- I will say, my favorite sneakers came,
01:39:36
◼
►
it's the On Running brand, and I discovered that
01:39:41
◼
►
through Instagram ads.
01:39:42
◼
►
I discovered it, I bought the shoes, they're fantastic.
01:39:45
◼
►
- You're the problem, you're propping up
01:39:46
◼
►
the entire Instagram economy.
01:39:48
◼
►
- Quaker, Chia Peach overnight oats.
01:39:51
◼
►
- Oh, finally, finally found a relevant ad.
01:39:53
◼
►
My dog's GPS, which I already own,
01:39:55
◼
►
is being advertised to me, good job.
01:39:58
◼
►
- Weston Hotels.
01:39:59
◼
►
Some of my ads are really, really, really
01:40:02
◼
►
annoyingly and uncomfortably good,
01:40:04
◼
►
but most of them I feel like are just shotgun approach.
01:40:08
◼
►
Let's just put this in front of as many eyeballs
01:40:10
◼
►
as we can and see what happens.
01:40:11
◼
►
- Yeah, I mean a lot of these are clearly like,
01:40:12
◼
►
give me men, 25 for 34, whatever.
01:40:15
◼
►
- Yeah, exactly.
01:40:16
◼
►
- A lot of it is like stuff like that, you can tell.
01:40:18
◼
►
But a lot of it is more focused and sometimes very focused
01:40:23
◼
►
and some of them are like cheap, garbagey stuff
01:40:26
◼
►
like back this Kickstarter for this thing you don't need.
01:40:29
◼
►
Those are kind of crappy.
01:40:30
◼
►
But there's enough good ones that I don't mind
01:40:34
◼
►
the quality of the ads anymore.
01:40:36
◼
►
When they first joined my timeline,
01:40:38
◼
►
I was very offended by their presence
01:40:41
◼
►
just 'cause I had never had ads before.
01:40:42
◼
►
But now that I've had them for a long time
01:40:44
◼
►
and I'm accustomed to them and I've gotten
01:40:46
◼
►
some actually pretty good products out of them,
01:40:47
◼
►
I don't mind them as much.
01:40:48
◼
►
I do think that they are a little bit too frequent.
01:40:52
◼
►
Like they need to turn that dial down a little bit
01:40:55
◼
►
and of course they never will.
01:40:56
◼
►
But if I had my ideal case, I know they're never
01:40:59
◼
►
gonna get rid of the ads completely.
01:41:01
◼
►
But I do wish there would be fewer of them
01:41:03
◼
►
and have them be more spaced out.
01:41:05
◼
►
- You know, this is tangentially related.
01:41:07
◼
►
Do you ever look at the explore tab
01:41:09
◼
►
which is the little magnifying glass?
01:41:11
◼
►
- Occasionally, if I run out of stuff
01:41:13
◼
►
and I'm not tired yet or whatever.
01:41:15
◼
►
- That is exactly when I use it for the record.
01:41:17
◼
►
But I have found that that tab is eerily good.
01:41:23
◼
►
At predicting what I would wanna see.
01:41:24
◼
►
Like lots of cars, fair bit of nerd stuff,
01:41:27
◼
►
and then a smattering of other things.
01:41:29
◼
►
- Yeah, mine is entirely watches and dogs.
01:41:32
◼
►
Like that's all it is.
01:41:33
◼
►
- Yeah, exactly.
01:41:34
◼
►
John at the bottom on the tab bar,
01:41:36
◼
►
not the home but the magnifying glass.
01:41:38
◼
►
- Magnifying glass.
01:41:39
◼
►
I have never tapped on this before in my life.
01:41:41
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- So this is to me exactly what Instagram thinks you are.
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And for my case, it's stunningly accurate.
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- Yeah, this is not good.
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It's showing me a Trevor Noah.
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I did watch a Trevor Noah video on Twitter today.
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So that's a good guess that I might wanna see it.
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Then there's a bunch of pictures of people
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that I don't recognize.
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I don't know why I would think
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I would wanna see these people.
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I have no idea who they are.
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There's one picture of food
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because I follow Nevin's food account.
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- Do you follow Nevin's dogs?
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Is he really cute?
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- No, I know about Max, but I don't follow dog accounts.
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No, it's just a bunch of people I don't know.
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Why would I ever?
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So that's so much for that.
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- So maybe I just don't,
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maybe you don't put in enough Instagram.
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- I don't follow car accounts, dog accounts.
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I follow people that I know.
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So as far as it's concerned,
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it looks like this person likes pictures of people.
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I mean, I guess that's true.
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The only time I ever hit the like button
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is on a picture of somebody that I know.
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The only thing I'll do in the Marco vein
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is cute kids I will always give.
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But that's cute kids of people I know.
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It's not just random cute kids, right?
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- First of all, you are missing out
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by not being a part of dog Instagram.
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Dog Instagram is very powerful.
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- I'm on dog Twitter.
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I get my dogs on Twitter.
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- Dog Instagram's better, I'm telling you.
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- I mean, maybe, but I feel like I'm cheating on my dog.
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Plus my dog is really cute anyway.
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- That sweet, precious angel.
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- Yeah, I get all the dog lovin' I need in person.
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Yeah, no, I'm just looking at Instagram
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just to see pictures from people I know and that's it.
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So maybe I'm using it wrong, but whatever, that's what I do.
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- The only thing for me that kind of like poisons
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my explore tab sometimes is,
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like there's a large part of Instagram
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that I normally don't see any of
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and don't want to see any of,
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which is basically people just screenshotting viral tweets
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and trying to make viral memes spread
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on their Instagram accounts that they just stole
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from Twitter and other social networks.
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So it's just like, I'm coming here to not be on Twitter,
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and then when they bring Twitter to me,
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it kind of ruins that.
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- Have you seen the stories of stories?
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- No, is that a thing now?
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- Yeah, you can do a story of someone else's story.
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- Like as if these things aren't blurry
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and low resolution enough,
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now you're gonna do someone else's story within your story?
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Ugh, don't like it.
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I think maybe that's a feature that only certain
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high-end influence people have, but I see it,
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and I'm like, it is like you said,
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it's like pictures of tweets.
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- Well, there is a thing where if somebody tags you
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in their story, it gives you the quick ability
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to re-story it in one of those little inset things.
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But yeah, I'm talking more about it's just people
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screenshotting memes and GIFs and Twitter posts
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and making Instagram posts out of them.
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- Or taking a picture of their computer screen
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as a story of them holding their phone
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up to their computer screen.
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It's like great, cool story, bro.