386: The Tube Man Ecosystem

0:00:00[Music]

0:00:11From Relay FM, this is Upgrade, episode 386.

0:00:16Today's holiday special is brought to you by Bombus, Hunter Douglas, and Setapp.

0:00:21My name is Myke Hurley, and I am joined by Jason Snow. Hi, Jason Snow.

0:00:24Happy holidays, Mr. Myke Hurley. It's Christmas week.

0:00:27Ho ho ho to you, my friend.

0:00:29- Well, ho to you too.

0:00:30- I have some jingle bell snow talk for you.

0:00:33- Oh.

0:00:34- It comes from JD who wants to know,

0:00:37this is not a, this is not,

0:00:38I've resisted a holiday snow talk because we are--

0:00:40- Not holiday themed.

0:00:42- We are basically all holiday ask upgrade

0:00:44for the entire episode today,

0:00:46'cause we've got like a billion questions, which is great.

0:00:49But this one comes from JD who asked,

0:00:50"Have you ever tried coding and if so, what language?"

0:00:54- Well, I have, yes is the answer JD.

0:00:59I started using basic when I was a kid,

0:01:04where you had to number the lines of code

0:01:08and that's how you navigated around.

0:01:10I was thinking about that the other day

0:01:12that I remember the first time I saw a programming language,

0:01:15I think it was Pascal that didn't have line numbers

0:01:17and I couldn't understand how you would do a program

0:01:19without line numbers.

0:01:21And I think back now and I think like,

0:01:23why did you need the line numbers?

0:01:25But it was how I was thinking, it was how it was taught.

0:01:28and I learned a lot of basic.

0:01:30And then we have to go to AppleScript after that.

0:01:33Like basically I didn't do anything beyond AppleSoft basic

0:01:38until I was in grad school maybe.

0:01:42I'm not sure I did any AppleScript in college.

0:01:45And that was, and AppleScript is very weird,

0:01:48but it is a coding language of a sort.

0:01:51And I was scripting and connecting together various apps.

0:01:56Lately, I've been doing a lot more of this.

0:01:58So I, when we moved six colors to WordPress,

0:02:03I built a custom template.

0:02:07It's actually kind of funny.

0:02:09As a side note, I'll say our friend, David Sparks,

0:02:12just changed his website over from Squarespace,

0:02:16I think, to WordPress.

0:02:18And I was saying, well, if you need any advice,

0:02:20I spent all, you know, I spent several months converting,

0:02:24meticulously converting six colors

0:02:27from movable type to WordPress

0:02:29and WordPress is all PHP stuff.

0:02:31So I had to make a custom theme complete

0:02:34from zero custom theme.

0:02:36I had to do a lot of PHP stuff

0:02:38and I had a little bit of help

0:02:39from some of the people at WordPress,

0:02:40but for the most part, I did it myself.

0:02:42And the lesson learned here is that David Sparks's response

0:02:46was, "Oh, I hired a guy to do that."

0:02:48(laughing)

0:02:50I was like, "Oh, yeah, I guess I could have done that."

0:02:53But I didn't.

0:02:53learned a lot about PHP and my weather page, Upgrade Plus listeners can hear all about

0:02:58my weather environment, my weather ecosystem that I have at my house. That weather page

0:03:06is in PHP. Doing what PHP was designed to do, which is take a web page and modify it

0:03:12based on some simple-ish logic. Anyway, so I learned a lot of PHP from that project.

0:03:19People who were listening to Upgrade Plus may also hear another portion of my weather

0:03:22ecosystem involves widgets in Scriptable. Scriptable is an app that is, that lets you

0:03:28write stuff in JavaScript on your iOS device and you can put it in widgets and stuff like

0:03:33that. And so I had to learn some JavaScript for that where I'd never, I resisted learning

0:03:37JavaScript for a long time and I still don't understand it that well but I understand it

0:03:42enough to be dangerous, as they say. And then in the last couple of months, you know, I

0:03:47don't know, three, four months, I have made a concerted effort to learn Python

0:03:53and I've written a whole bunch of different scripts in Python that do a

0:03:56whole bunch of different things and that's been really great because the

0:04:00great advantage of knowing one of these languages instead of AppleScript is that

0:04:04I have a server running Unix that's in the cloud and I can put scripts on it

0:04:11and they run, whereas with AppleScripts you got to run it on a Mac somewhere and

0:04:16and it's nice to be able to have that script

0:04:19just running in the cloud and running it from there.

0:04:21- I guess if you're gonna know this stuff,

0:04:23it helps for it to be a bit more universal, right?

0:04:26- Exactly, and the, and this is a,

0:04:28the reason that I've been doing this recently

0:04:32is that I really wanted to pick up some of those skills,

0:04:37and I think it's a fun challenge for my brain

0:04:40to try and do this.

0:04:42the AppleScript muscles are there.

0:04:47And the fact is all of these languages are kind of,

0:04:49I mean, I know enough now to understand when people like

0:04:53the ATP guys talk about the differences

0:04:55in programming languages.

0:04:57I've seen enough of them now that I'm like,

0:04:58"Oh yeah, they are all kind of the same."

0:05:01And it comes down to how do they phrase things?

0:05:04And is there a built-in module for this?

0:05:06And do they use semi-colons too much?

0:05:09Or is it brackets that they use too much?

0:05:11or is it indenting that they use too much?

0:05:14Every language has its issues, let's say.

0:05:18There is no perfect language.

0:05:19Although I prefer indenting in Python

0:05:21to all the semicolons in JavaScript.

0:05:23Anyway, so it's been fun because it's good for my brain too.

0:05:26As a 50 plus year old person,

0:05:28I wanna keep challenging my brain

0:05:30and keep it plastic and adaptive and learning.

0:05:33And it has been a lot of fun to write these,

0:05:37the Python scripts especially.

0:05:39You know, and again, I could probably hire a guy to do it,

0:05:41like do what Sparks did for his WordPress site.

0:05:45Yeah, I got to learn that lesson,

0:05:46but it has been a lot of fun to pick this stuff up

0:05:50and I hope I will continue using it in the future.

0:05:53- Do you want your brain to be plastic?

0:05:55Is that the right thing?

0:05:56- Well, plastic in this case means able to be like moved.

0:06:01It's instead of being set fixed,

0:06:03it's like fixed in plastic or opposites in this case.

0:06:06So you want to be able to have a brain

0:06:07that's kind of adaptive and can learn and grow

0:06:09and change and not remain kind of locked in place because that's how you become like an

0:06:14old person who goes "ah these kids today get off my lawn" and I don't want to be that guy.

0:06:18What about foam like a brain ball? Some people don't like foam but yes I would like my I

0:06:24would like my brain to be as as squishy and adaptive as my brain ball. Thank you. If you

0:06:30would like to send in a question for us to open an episode of Upgrade just send out a

0:06:34tweet with the hashtag #snowtalk like JD did or you can use question mark snow talk in

0:06:38Relay FM members Discord, which I actually think is what JD did.

0:06:4210 print "Hello World 20" go to 10. You can get access to the Relay FM members

0:06:48Discord if you want by becoming a member and supporting this show. You can go to

0:06:53getupgradeplus.com, you can sign up and you'll also get to hear about Jason's

0:06:57weather station, which is what we're going to talk about in Upgrade Plus today. If you are listening to this

0:07:03episode on the day of release you have less than 24 hours remaining to get your

0:07:09nominations in for the upgradees. Nominations are closing on December the

0:07:1321st so if you still have time go to upgradees.vote and you can get your

0:07:18nominations in. The results will be revealed and deliberated on next week's

0:07:22episode of upgrade as we do the upgradees to finish out 2021. Got some

0:07:29- Follow up for you, Jason.

0:07:31I was talking last week about my issues with Wi-Fi

0:07:34on my MacBook Pro.

0:07:35Mac OS 12.1 seems to have solved this issue

0:07:39and now I have no problem connecting to Wi-Fi networks,

0:07:42finding new Wi-Fi networks and that kind of stuff.

0:07:44One of the things that I've noticed is,

0:07:47which was not happening to me before,

0:07:49when you click on the Wi-Fi kind of arrow thing,

0:07:53you know, in Control Center, you can hover over it

0:07:55and it has a little chevron which you can click.

0:07:58It shows you in that area,

0:08:00wifi networks that you can connect to.

0:08:02That UI never loaded from before.

0:08:04I didn't even know it was in there.

0:08:06- Oh.

0:08:06- So it was, so basically my machine

0:08:08just could not find wifi networks

0:08:11unless I would go into system preferences,

0:08:13toggle it on and off, on and off.

0:08:15I don't think I mentioned last time,

0:08:16but sometimes I would get like an N-A-N error

0:08:20on the turn off button.

0:08:21So like turn on, turn off wifi

0:08:23was sometimes saying nan and then like a code

0:08:26that would like break through the button.

0:08:28It was like a big old mess.

0:08:30- That's not good.

0:08:31- But 12.1 has completely fixed it.

0:08:34It wasn't in the release notes,

0:08:35like I was looking through the release notes.

0:08:36There were like MacBook Pro specific fixes,

0:08:40but WiFi wasn't mentioned as one of them,

0:08:42but it has fixed my WiFi problems.

0:08:45So I'm really happy about that

0:08:47because now I don't have that annoyance on my computer.

0:08:50- That's good.

0:08:51I wonder what caused that.

0:08:51I wonder why they did that, but it's good.

0:08:54keep in mind 12.0 came out before the laptops came out, so there's a—this is the first

0:08:59full version that is released, right? So they decided not to put it in like one of the little

0:09:07dot updates, but they jammed it into 12.1. That's interesting. I guess we'll never

0:09:12know the behind-the-scenes thing.

0:09:13But they fixed it.

0:09:14I mean, I always have this like belief that sometimes things just get fixed and—well,

0:09:19I think this is not—I think this is commonly held. Things get fixed without meaning to

0:09:22be in the same way that things can get broken

0:09:24without meaning to be.

0:09:25- Ah, that's, I think that's fair.

0:09:26- You know, I saw you link to Notch Meister

0:09:30on six colors. - Yes, yes.

0:09:33- And now if I ever want, I can have an application.

0:09:37Right now, if I just go up to the notch,

0:09:39I have some Christmas lights that pop down.

0:09:41- That's right.

0:09:42So I posted a tweet about how somebody should make it

0:09:46so that the notch glows when your mouse is behind it,

0:09:49when your pointer is behind it,

0:09:50because you can lose your pointer up there.

0:09:52you can move your pointer behind and not see it and be aware is it and it's in the notch.

0:09:58Craig Hockenberry from the Icon Factory took this as a challenge and even though he doesn't

0:10:01have a laptop with a notch he wrote with some other people and it's open source so anybody

0:10:07can look at it and contribute a thing called Notchmeister and he was sending me builds

0:10:12to take pictures of like tell me what this looks like because he doesn't have one and

0:10:18ended up releasing Notchmeister, which is this funny utility that is really Craig and

0:10:23I both thought that it reminded us of there's a program called Underwear back in the day,

0:10:28which was like kind of like a screensaver, except it was always on underneath your desktop

0:10:35and it was a desktop diversion or distraction. I think they called it and it was just silly

0:10:39is what it was. And so he was inspired by that. So yeah, you can have a like a little

0:10:43Cylon light that goes around the notch or you can have it that when your when your pointer goes behind it

0:10:48It throws off sparks or it glows

0:10:50and you can have it that Christmas lights drop down from the notch when you move your mouse up there and

0:10:55Also, I think there's one that's like a radar x-ray kind of thing, which is hilarious because like I said the your pointer is is

0:11:03Actually back there and it's moving around and so he built this thing that drops down a little scanner

0:11:09That shows you what your pointer is doing up there

0:11:12which is quick to listen. - Like poking around

0:11:15and hiding behind chips and stuff,

0:11:16and it's very responsive.

0:11:18It's really cool.

0:11:19I have a feature request if Craig happens to be listening

0:11:23or hearing this.

0:11:24I would like a way to be able to hide the dock icon

0:11:28for this app.

0:11:30- For Notch Meister.

0:11:31- So I can just leave it open all the time

0:11:34and forget that it's there and get joy

0:11:37whenever I pop up towards the notch.

0:11:38- That's nice.

0:11:40Yeah, it's a fun idea.

0:11:41I, you know, my purpose with it was really just,

0:11:44I thought somebody should make a very simple utility

0:11:47that just lets you, maybe one of these utilities

0:11:50that fixes your menu bar or something like that,

0:11:52that literally just gives you a subtle indicator

0:11:55that your pointer is currently living behind the notch

0:11:59and that's why it's not visible.

0:12:01And Craig was like, what if we made it wacky?

0:12:03And he succeeded, it is very wacky.

0:12:05- I like it.

0:12:06- I think, I love it when people do silly software.

0:12:10Like, I love it.

0:12:11- It feels very Mac to me.

0:12:13Like, it does part of like the Mac's history

0:12:17is the silly little things that it can do.

0:12:19I mean, an Apple has had a history

0:12:21of building them in themselves just not recently.

0:12:24- Yeah, it's whimsical and funny

0:12:26and yet also professional and considered, right?

0:12:30And that's the delight I think

0:12:31that makes it sort of feel Mac like

0:12:33is that it's very intelligent, brilliant,

0:12:36serious professionals using some of their brain power

0:12:39to create something silly.

0:12:41I like it.

0:12:42That's a lot of fun.

0:12:44- Apple have delayed their return to the office indefinitely.

0:12:48(laughing)

0:12:49- Yep.

0:12:50- So this is something that they've been kicking this can

0:12:52down the road for I think the best part

0:12:54of six to eight months now, where it's like,

0:12:56hey, we're gonna come back. - Now they've lost

0:12:57the can entirely.

0:12:58- And then-- - What can?

0:13:00- Yeah. - I don't know.

0:13:01- We've never seen a can.

0:13:02What are you talking about?

0:13:04This is actually kind of funny

0:13:05because we're working on our connected year in review.

0:13:09So we go through the year and we look at stories

0:13:13and stuff like that.

0:13:14And today I was looking through June

0:13:17and one of the stories for June was Apple employees

0:13:20pushed back against return to office in an internal letter.

0:13:23- Ah yes.

0:13:24- So when that internal letter that went around,

0:13:26that was in June of last year.

0:13:30So they have been talking about their return to the office

0:13:32for over six months now.

0:13:35but they just kept saying, "Hey, it was this time.

0:13:37Hey, it was this time."

0:13:38And now they've just said, you know,

0:13:42for very obvious reasons,

0:13:44we don't know when anybody's gonna come back now.

0:13:48So corporate employees are gonna be given $1,000

0:13:52to spend on home office equipment, which-

0:13:55- There we go.

0:13:55- I don't remember if they've had this before.

0:13:57If they haven't, what the hell?

0:13:59(laughs)

0:14:00Like, what the hell?

0:14:01Why has it taken them so long

0:14:03if they haven't done it up until now.

0:14:05But that tells you, I think, quite clearly that

0:14:09this is for people that do not need to be in the office,

0:14:13'cause there are people that are in Apple Park,

0:14:15like there are. - Sure.

0:14:16- But for the people that don't need to be,

0:14:18I think Apple is now taking a hunker down

0:14:21kind of response for this one.

0:14:24I've been saying this for a long time

0:14:27that my feeling is there would be no WWDC this year.

0:14:30I think that's set now, like--

0:14:32I think probably right.

0:14:33- As I've said for the whole time,

0:14:36they were never gonna do it

0:14:37if the employees went back in the office

0:14:38'cause that just doesn't make any sense, right?

0:14:40That you would be happy to bring five to 10,000 people

0:14:44to a place, but yet you wouldn't have your own employees

0:14:47in an office.

0:14:49And that decision kind of has to be made now.

0:14:52- Yeah, that's the thing,

0:14:53is we don't know what the state of affairs

0:14:56is gonna be in June, right?

0:14:58We don't know that.

0:14:59All we do know is that right now,

0:15:01we are seeing surges everywhere because of Omicron,

0:15:05and it's not looking good for the next couple of months.

0:15:10The problem is Apple's got to make a decision pretty soon

0:15:14about what they're going to do.

0:15:15And it's not just the not knowing.

0:15:18It's the you've got to take a gamble about a live WWDC

0:15:22in June.

0:15:25And I think what we've seen in this pandemic

0:15:27is that it's really hard to plan even a couple of months.

0:15:31Like I have a thing that I'm supposed to go to in LA

0:15:34in February and I'm like, is that gonna really happen?

0:15:37I don't know, I have no idea.

0:15:39So let alone June, right?

0:15:43It's tough.

0:15:44So event planners, like Apple doesn't have to have the event

0:15:47unlike so many events where like the business is the event.

0:15:51Apple's business is not the event

0:15:52and it's shown that it can do it online just fine.

0:15:54So I think that you might as well just kick that can.

0:15:58- The event is a distraction.

0:15:59That's what the event is.

0:16:01- It is actually.

0:16:02- It is a cost and a distraction, which is not needed.

0:16:06Like they have proven two years in a row

0:16:09that a virtual WWDC is as if not more effective

0:16:13for the vast majority of developers.

0:16:15I think it's probably a fair assessment.

0:16:18So it was always kind of like,

0:16:20if they ever were to bring it back,

0:16:21it's because they want the community aspect of it,

0:16:24which I understand, but no company wants

0:16:29to be the first company, no tech company wants

0:16:31to be the first tech company

0:16:32to bring the developer conference back.

0:16:33So everyone's gonna be holding off anyway.

0:16:37And I just think that, look, Apple needs

0:16:39to have made this decision already.

0:16:40Like they announced WWDC in March every year, right?

0:16:44Which means before March, they have to have all

0:16:47of the agreements with all of the conference center

0:16:51and all that kind of stuff.

0:16:53I just can't imagine anyone would be working on that right now.

0:16:57So yeah, so yeah, the return to the office thing delayed indefinitely.

0:17:01I honestly now expect that they will just take this as an opportunity to change the

0:17:06plan as well so that they will be able to appease more of their employees for a more

0:17:11hybrid approach.

0:17:12That would be my other guess on that, but we'll see.

0:17:15And there were some rumors going around that LG is developing three display panels for

0:17:21Apple displays, a 24 inch display, a 27 inch display, and a 32 inch display. The 27 and

0:17:2932 appear to be mini LED displays with ProMotion support, and the 32 would be an XDR replacement

0:17:36and also would include an Apple Silicon chip inside of it.

0:17:40Yeah, this was covered really well on ATP last week, but for those who didn't listen,

0:17:45I think the speculation here that we don't really know, this is sort of spotted at LG.

0:17:50three displays. And I don't know if it really tells us anything about what will be a standalone

0:17:56display, because they're describing literally the 24-inch iMac display. Okay, that's not

0:18:02that exciting. The 27-inch seems to be what would be in a new, larger iMac, and that it

0:18:09would be mini-LED with ProMotion makes sense and is exciting. And then an XDR replacement

0:18:13that would be mini-LED with ProMotion also makes sense and is exciting. I think the question

0:18:18is that a lot of us want to know is, is any of these going to be sold standalone for people

0:18:24who have a laptop or a Mac Pro or a Mac Mini or whatever, separate from just the iMacs.

0:18:28And I'd imagine the 32 probably.

0:18:30- The 32 seems like the most likely, right? Because I actually don't imagine Apple would

0:18:35make a 32-inch iMac. I think that might be a bit aggressive, especially if it's going

0:18:41to have some kind of chip inside of it. That very much sounds like a high-end machine.

0:18:46I mean maybe that 24 because like why would they be continuing to develop an iMac screen?

0:18:51The iMac screen is available.

0:18:53Yeah well I mean but we don't know where this in where this information is from and whether

0:18:57this is a forthcoming thing or if it might be an old thing that is the iMac screen. Also

0:19:01we should say there are two different LG companies there's the LG that makes panels and the LG

0:19:06that sells productized displays and I'm unclear about which LG this is but LG supplies Apple

0:19:14with its panels. So there's no proof that it's like, "Aha! They're gonna be LG displays,"

0:19:19or "They're gonna be Apple-branded displays." All we really know is that these panels are

0:19:24being seen and that they're being worked on in some sort of container. So this is a really

0:19:29fuzzy, hazy kind of report. What I would take away from it that I think we could probably

0:19:34take away with some confidence is that this report indicates that Apple is planning to

0:19:38bring that mini LED technology that we've seen in the laptops and in the iPad Pro 12.9

0:19:47to the 27 inch and 32 inch sizes which we could kind of assume are going to be iMac

0:19:53and Pro Display XDR. But I think what it doesn't give us any signal on really is this going

0:20:02to be a standalone product as well. Is Apple building a full standalone product? Maybe

0:20:07Maybe it does, but I don't know enough about it and that report is squishy enough that

0:20:11I can't have a lot of confidence.

0:20:13It would be quite a thing if Apple rolled out, imagine, a 24-inch display, a 27-inch

0:20:18display and a 32-inch display instead of just the 32 that they have now.

0:20:23But I don't know, part of me thinks, are we just seeing the iMacs here?

0:20:27Are they just saying, "I saw the iMac panels and here's the next generation iMac panel

0:20:31is going to be mini-LED?"

0:20:33I don't know.

0:20:34So people who want to get excited...

0:20:36I can't imagine that.

0:20:37You can get excited about it.

0:20:38I could imagine them maybe doing a 24 inch display that's just very regular, like just

0:20:45a regular display that Apple makes, you know, and a 32 inch Pro Display XDR, which is like

0:20:501500 bucks, like they bring the price down significantly because they move it to mini-LED

0:20:57and like I could imagine that would bring the price down, like because they don't charge

0:21:03incredible amount of money for all of their other displays that use that mini LED, right?

0:21:07So that's what I would guess. I would guess that the 32 would be the one that people would

0:21:12want and it would be much more price available, but we'll see.

0:21:17>> Yeah, well, that is one of the things that we have not talked about a lot is the idea

0:21:22that what if they don't release a standalone display except for an XDR replacement, and

0:21:28if the XDR replacement is way cheaper, right? Like that's a scenario that could happen.

0:21:35I think a lot of the conversation in our sphere has been about a 27 inch and I would love

0:21:40to see that. Quite honestly, 27 is kind of big for me. I used that 24 inch iMac for a

0:21:45while and I thought, do I want a 24 inch display? Probably not. Probably want a 27 inch display.

0:21:51I really don't want a 32 inch display. But that all said, that's just my personal thing.

0:21:56I do wonder if a scenario we did not anticipate is what if the XDR just gets replaced and

0:22:02it gets replaced by this superior and maybe cheaper mini-LED technology and that $5,000

0:22:07or $6,000 monitor becomes a, I don't know what, $2,000 or $3,000 monitor. But a lot

0:22:12of people, again, a lot of people don't want to pay a lot for that muffler, right, for

0:22:17that monitor. So we're all hoping for a 27th standalone. And maybe we'll get it. I mean,

0:22:22I hope we get it. I think 24 standalone maybe goes too far, but wouldn't that be great?

0:22:27I would love it for Apple to be like, "We have so many different monitors you can buy

0:22:32now because we realize that nobody else is making them and we need to." Because that's

0:22:36the truth. I think this all goes back to the fact that Apple thought the market would zoom

0:22:43in here and be like, "Yes, we want to reach all those Apple customers. We're going to

0:22:47make displays and it turns out they kind of don't care and if Apple wants these products

0:22:53to exist they should make them themselves and then make a lot of money selling them

0:22:57to laptop and Mac Pro and Mac mini buyers in the Apple store like everybody wins Apple.

0:23:02A good Thunderbolt display isn't just a Mac product either like I'm not I'm sure this

0:23:08is not what Apple aims for and doesn't care but they wouldn't they would probably sell

0:23:15more of them, right?

0:23:17I don't know, we'll see.

0:23:18- Also, I'll throw this in there,

0:23:20especially about the 24, but in general,

0:23:23I still believe that there's an iPad software update

0:23:26forthcoming, if not this cycle, the next cycle,

0:23:30to do external display support with some proper kind of

0:23:33window management kind of thing.

0:23:35And these products are for the iPad too.

0:23:38So that's something to keep in mind.

0:23:40Like these products are not just gonna be for Macs.

0:23:43I think they're also gonna be for the iPad.

0:23:45So that is another little wrinkle in this whole thing.

0:23:50So I don't know what it all means

0:23:52other than it makes me feel just that much more

0:23:55enthusiastic for the prospect of a standalone,

0:23:58external Apple branded display

0:24:01and for whatever that next large iMac is,

0:24:04which is probably the one that I'm gonna buy.

0:24:06If that could be a 27 inch with high dynamic range

0:24:09and a mini LED backlit display,

0:24:11like yeah yeah that'll probably get my vote.

0:24:17This episode of Upgrade is brought to you by Bombas. Bombas' mission is simple, to

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0:25:38One thing I just wanted to point out that I really love about Bombas is that they are

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0:26:09A thanks to Bombas for their continued support of this show and Relay FM.

0:26:13It is time for some ho ho ho holiday #AskUpgrade. We put it out to the upgrade-ians, Jason.

0:26:19Jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle lasers.

0:26:24We put it out to the upgrade-ians, send us your holiday questions. We got about two times

0:26:29the amount of holiday questions that we're gonna use today.

0:26:32A lot of them were duplicates.

0:26:33The upgradings are very good. They're diligent.

0:26:35So we're gonna do that today.

0:26:36That's gonna be our holiday special for this year.

0:26:38It's answering your questions about our holiday preferences,

0:26:42like this one from Timakus, who asks,

0:26:44"What kind of tech do you employ

0:26:46in your Christmas decorations?"

0:26:48-Well, we have one of those candles

0:26:49that's an LED that flickers,

0:26:52so it looks like a candle, but it's fake.

0:26:55That's technology, right?

0:26:56-Yeah, sure. -Actually, the best part

0:26:58Part of that is that it has a switch that is not just an,

0:27:01it has an on, but it also has an on timer

0:27:03where you turn it on and it goes for five hours

0:27:05and then it turns itself off, which is great.

0:27:07'Cause otherwise you gotta turn,

0:27:09you don't wanna turn your candle on and off, come on.

0:27:11And I think what this question is asking is,

0:27:14I do attach the Christmas lights on the house

0:27:19and on the tree to smart switches.

0:27:21And I have a home kit automation

0:27:22that turns them on and off.

0:27:23I used to have a little timer that you would, you know,

0:27:26put the pins in it and all of that,

0:27:27but now I just use smart switches and HomeKit.

0:27:29They're not particularly sophisticated automations.

0:27:33They really are sort of time on and off.

0:27:35It's actually linked into existing automations I have

0:27:38for like our front light outside and stuff like that.

0:27:42And then I will say a word for how the LED revolution

0:27:47has affected so many aspects of our lives.

0:27:52Christmas lights are so much better now

0:27:55because they're all LEDs.

0:27:58And so they don't use a lot of power, and they are cheap,

0:28:02and they're just-- it's pretty amazing.

0:28:05As somebody who remembers glass bulbs with filaments in them

0:28:09that would break when you looked at them funny,

0:28:11the LED stuff is so much more resilient, and it's better.

0:28:15So that's mine.

0:28:16How about you?

0:28:17So for holiday decorations, we just have a tree, right?

0:28:21That's kind of what we do.

0:28:22And we have fairy lights on the tree.

0:28:25And a while ago, I used to use a Wiimote for these every year.

0:28:28I have just a Wiimote that was just in the Christmas box.

0:28:31It was one of the really old ones,

0:28:33and that was what we'd use.

0:28:34And it always made me laugh, because every time it turned on,

0:28:36it sounded like it was a big thunk it would make,

0:28:38like the Wiimote.

0:28:39Like, dah!

0:28:40And then, OK, Christmas is ready.

0:28:42But a while ago, a friend of the show, James Thompson,

0:28:46turned me on to this surge protector

0:28:49by a company called Miros, I think.

0:28:52And it's got a, it's for UK plugs.

0:28:57I don't know if they make them other for other places

0:29:00for other plug types.

0:29:03But what I really like about this surge protector is

0:29:06by default in HomeKit, and it just works with HomeKit.

0:29:10Like it's just very easy to connect.

0:29:11You don't even need to use an app.

0:29:13What I like about it is by default in HomeKit,

0:29:15it's like it's four plugs or sockets, four USB sockets.

0:29:19It's just on and off, but you can ungroup it.

0:29:22So you can individually address each plug socket in each USB.

0:29:27So over time, like as we add different things to it,

0:29:32so we have a lava lamp at home that's on it

0:29:34and that's got its own automation.

0:29:36And then we have the fairy lights

0:29:38and that has its own automation.

0:29:40My wife and Dean are--

0:29:41- Are fairy lights fairy lights?

0:29:43What are they?

0:29:44Are those Christmas lights? - Christmas lights.

0:29:45Yeah, we call them fairy lights.

0:29:46I guess this is a thing I've just found out

0:29:48that you don't call them that.

0:29:50Fairy lights are Christmas lights.

0:29:51the little regular lights that you have and they twinkle.

0:29:54Adina loves fairy lights, so we actually just leave them in,

0:29:57but when the tree comes down,

0:29:59we just use them to decorate the living room

0:30:01so that we always have the fairy lights.

0:30:02And then when the Christmas tree comes out,

0:30:05we then wrap them around the tree.

0:30:06And I have that, like you,

0:30:08I mean, it's then a switch in my home kit, which I enjoy,

0:30:11but I also have it on an automation,

0:30:14one of the home kit automations,

0:30:16you know, to turn on and off at certain times.

0:30:18One of my favorite things

0:30:19about the home kit automation stuff

0:30:20is how easy it is to enable or disable

0:30:24when you are or aren't home.

0:30:26It's like, I really love that,

0:30:28like that you can set up an automation,

0:30:30but only have it trigger when you are at home

0:30:32or when you're not at home.

0:30:34So, you know, like when we're not at home,

0:30:35lights come on at a certain time,

0:30:37but that doesn't happen if we are at home,

0:30:39that kind of thing.

0:30:39So I like that. - I can't,

0:30:40well, I guess I could do that.

0:30:42I have to rope in all the people who live in my house

0:30:46to do that automation thing.

0:30:48And that's always been a challenge for me

0:30:50because some automations it's like,

0:30:52do I really only want this?

0:30:54And I work at home, so I'm always at home anyway.

0:30:56So it's a whole thing, but yeah,

0:30:59that can be really cool where it's like,

0:31:00if you basically have it set,

0:31:01so if you and Adina are not present, it doesn't bother.

0:31:04- Yeah, but we have other ones as well that like,

0:31:07if we're not there, then they will also trigger.

0:31:09So like, you know, I like that kind of stuff.

0:31:11So yeah, that's-

0:31:12- It's probably a conversation for another time,

0:31:13but my cameras just got updated to support HomeKit.

0:31:18home kit, which is wild.

0:31:21But one of the things that they do,

0:31:23'cause they also have motion sensors in them,

0:31:25is the motion sensors are implemented separately

0:31:28from the camera.

0:31:30So they're like motion sensor switches

0:31:32that you can automate, which I thought was very clever,

0:31:35but I'm not doing any of those things.

0:31:37- I've just added Jason's home kit cameras

0:31:40in my topic documents for the future.

0:31:41- Future conversation.

0:31:43- Nathan asks, "Do you decorate your homes as well,

0:31:47and offices, we obviously have homes,

0:31:48but offices as well as homes for the holidays.

0:31:51What kind of decorations do you use?

0:31:52Are they all for enjoyment, the enjoyment of neighbors?

0:31:55Like, do you use outdoor stuff?

0:31:57What do you do?

0:31:57- Well, my office is not decorated at all,

0:32:01so I should probably get on that.

0:32:04Our homes are, we have outside lights,

0:32:07as I mentioned before, on a smart switch.

0:32:08It's mostly sort of peer pressure for the neighborhood.

0:32:11Like, it can't be the house that doesn't have lights.

0:32:13Come on.

0:32:15but they're minimal, Lauren puts those up.

0:32:17I used to put those up and I got so frustrated with it

0:32:20that I retired from it and Lauren was like,

0:32:22"Hey, why don't we have lights?"

0:32:23And I said, "I'm not doing it."

0:32:24And she was like, "Well, then I'll do it."

0:32:25So now she does it and it's like, all right.

0:32:27I feel a little guilty and yet also I feel grateful

0:32:29every year that I don't have to do it

0:32:31'cause I hate putting those up.

0:32:32I do have, so some listeners may know,

0:32:37I enjoy the air dancer, the waving tube man.

0:32:42- The flailing inflatable,

0:32:44I don't remember the family guy thing,

0:32:46but people know what that is.

0:32:47- Yeah, you know, it's like a car dealership,

0:32:49and it's like a guy and his arms,

0:32:51and your brain is programmed to react to motion,

0:32:54and so you immediately go there,

0:32:56and that's how they get you.

0:32:57Anyway, I love 'em, and Jamie and I used to say,

0:33:01Lauren and Julian would not care,

0:33:04but Jamie and I would be like,

0:33:05oh, tube men, they're so great, we should get one.

0:33:07And we talked about it,

0:33:08we joked about getting our own tube man

0:33:10and putting him on our roof and stuff like that.

0:33:12So I bought one.

0:33:14this was a few years ago, but what you get is you get the blower. So I got an orange

0:33:19one, I put him up at Halloween, and let me tell you, the kids, oh, they love it. They

0:33:22love it! They love that there's this Tubeman flailing in our front yard at Halloween when

0:33:27they come by to trick or treat, it's great. But once you're in the ecosystem, the Tubeman

0:33:33ecosystem...

0:33:34Once you've given in to the Tubeman life...

0:33:37To big Tubeman, you're living your Tubeman life. Once you're in the Tubeman ecosystem,

0:33:43You can buy, of course, accessories for Tube Man.

0:33:45Oh, I'm sure there's a Santa Tube Man you can buy if you wanted.

0:33:49I, indeed there is, Myke.

0:33:51And I have it, I'm happy to let you in.

0:33:54And I have bought it.

0:33:55And that is also, the only thing is that those you really should only put up when it's not

0:33:58raining so, and we're about to get into a rainy stretch here, but if it's not raining

0:34:03on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, I will bring out Tube Santa and he will dance around

0:34:09to the delight of whoever is around on Christmas.

0:34:13So that's my outside.

0:34:14And on the inside, you know,

0:34:16Lauren and I were just talking about this.

0:34:17We have a collection of stuff,

0:34:18but it's like, we've been married for like 27 years

0:34:22and we've been living together for 28, 29 years.

0:34:27We've collected a lot of Christmas stuff

0:34:31and Hanukkah stuff over that time.

0:34:34Lauren is Jewish, so we have Hanukkah stuff too.

0:34:36We have both.

0:34:39And it's all eclectic

0:34:43'cause it's just been collected over 20 plus years.

0:34:46And we were looking at it all

0:34:48and she was pulling some of it out of the box

0:34:50and like, why do we even have, I don't even like this.

0:34:51Why do we even have this?

0:34:52But we save it because it's one of our Christmas things

0:34:55that we have.

0:34:56And they're not our style and they're not our preference

0:34:59but we put them out because we have them.

0:35:01And if we were starting from ground zero and told,

0:35:05design your house for the holidays and get stuff,

0:35:09we would have a sensibility

0:35:11that our Christmas stuff does not have.

0:35:14A lot of it, especially because it's from people, right?

0:35:16It's like, my mom, my aunt gives me this pillow

0:35:21and it's got a fuzzy Santa beard on it.

0:35:24And you're like, okay, great.

0:35:26And then suddenly it's in your house every year for 25 years.

0:35:30So I guess what I'm saying is

0:35:32we have collected a lot of those.

0:35:33And ornaments too, I should mention,

0:35:34We've collected a lot of ornaments over the years.

0:35:37When you have kids too, you have the kid ornaments

0:35:40where the kids like make an ornament at school

0:35:42and putting the ornaments on the tree this year

0:35:44as every year is a wonderful moment

0:35:46when my kids put those ornaments up

0:35:48and they have whole discussions about this dumb thing

0:35:50that they made when they were in fourth grade.

0:35:52And they also have grown to have strategies

0:35:56about our ornament collection.

0:35:57At one point, we had friends who gave us

0:35:59an ornament of the month club from Etsy

0:36:02and there were a bunch of stuffed monkeys.

0:36:05And so my kids now have like a monkey strategy

0:36:09when they put the ornaments on the tree,

0:36:11which like you gotta spread out the monkeys.

0:36:14So, you know, so we got a lot of those

0:36:16and then they're nerdy ones.

0:36:17I've got like baseball ornaments

0:36:19and I've got Dr. Who ornaments

0:36:20and Star Trek ornaments and stuff.

0:36:21And they're in there too.

0:36:23There's lots.

0:36:24So anyway, it's just kind of a mess,

0:36:25but I think that that's what a lot of people do is,

0:36:28you know, not everybody is the like,

0:36:29we have an aesthetic for Christmas

0:36:31and we hold to it. I think some people are, but I think a lot of people are just like,

0:36:34you know, the stuff collects and we put it up and that's what it is. And when they break

0:36:38or they're ratty, we throw them away, but until then we just put them out and they are

0:36:41what they are. That's very much our non-aesthetic for our decorations.

0:36:47So, we only decorate home. I have thought about decorating the studio. We didn't spend

0:36:55much time in London for December.

0:36:59So wasn't gonna do it this year, but maybe next year.

0:37:01I would like a bit of holiday cheer at the studio.

0:37:03Our kind of strategy at home is we really just lent into

0:37:08none of this is gonna make any sense

0:37:10as kind of like our general idea for decorations.

0:37:14- That's the way.

0:37:15- So our Christmas tree decorations,

0:37:18we have a large selection of felt ones

0:37:21that we found this company a few years ago

0:37:22that now lots of companies in the UK have just straight up ripped off

0:37:26because they did really well.

0:37:27We have a lot of like, so we have like a Brussels sprout with a paper crown on it.

0:37:32That's a good one.

0:37:32We have a badger and a space suit with skis.

0:37:36Uh, we have a few dinosaurs, which are really great.

0:37:39Like the ones wearing a Santa outfit.

0:37:41Uh, one is a Stegosaurus with like four, um, Santa hats on each of its like

0:37:48spines on its back, which is really good.

0:37:52We have lots of really weird stuff.

0:37:53We've also started collecting holiday decorations from good vacations that we have.

0:38:00So we have like a Hawaii one, we have a couple of Disney ones.

0:38:04And then like around the house we have these, I think, I think maybe Adina bought this for me a couple of years ago.

0:38:12Geez, these like, they look like snowballs, but they're actually like little soft balls.

0:38:17so they go all over the house, which sometimes we break out into snowball fights at home

0:38:21of those. We just really have lent into, none of this is gonna make any sense, so we don't

0:38:26have to worry about there being an aesthetic, but the kind of overall theme is eclectic,

0:38:32which we enjoy very much. It's very—

0:38:33it brings me great joy when every year I was like, "Oh my god, I forgot we had a dancing

0:38:39Mariachi Day of the Dead themed guy."

0:38:42Guy yeah, I think I think your ornaments especially can and your decorations will speak to the people who are in the house

0:38:49and things that that have have delighted them over the years and that's definitely the truth truth with our our

0:38:55Ornaments is that there's the story of our kids are in there and then other things we like

0:39:01Like I've got a I've got a a Skeletor ornament. Oh, of course that I bought

0:39:08He lives in my pen cup on my desk most of the year,

0:39:13but then he has to put in his servitude on the tree

0:39:18during the holidays.

0:39:19I got a doctor who, I got like a TARDIS out there.

0:39:22And then there are a bunch of things with dates on them

0:39:23because they're from the kids or for the kids or whatever.

0:39:27So yeah, I think that's good

0:39:29'cause it says something about you and Adina

0:39:34and your interests and stuff.

0:39:35That's what it's all about.

0:39:37Nathan asks, "When is the proper time to put up

0:39:39or take down holiday lights and decorations?"

0:39:42- So it will come as no surprise

0:39:44that I have opinions about this,

0:39:47but it's when I was in Ireland for Uhl,

0:39:52you remember that was around Halloween?

0:39:54- Yes.

0:39:56- We all dressed up in things for Halloween for Uhl.

0:39:59And then we're leaving and we get to the Dublin Airport

0:40:01and the Christmas stuff is everywhere.

0:40:04- Yeah. - And I thought,

0:40:06- Oh, like unforeseen advantage of Thanksgiving

0:40:11being a high American calendar.

0:40:12- Yes, I hate that we don't have this.

0:40:14There's no barrier, we have no barrier.

0:40:16- Exactly, and it's a permeable barrier.

0:40:18There are people on November 1st

0:40:20who are putting up Christmas decorations.

0:40:21I get it, it's fine, whatever.

0:40:23But even though it's a permeable barrier,

0:40:27it is a milestone, it is a barrier

0:40:29where you're gonna get some people

0:40:30who are gonna give you looks,

0:40:31and then a lot of people use that as their date.

0:40:34So Thanksgiving in the US is a third,

0:40:38it's a fourth Thursday in November.

0:40:42And so you end up with this very late

0:40:45November permeable barrier.

0:40:50And my opinion is that yes,

0:40:51as soon as Thanksgiving is over, it's fair game.

0:40:54You can put it up in late November if you really want to,

0:40:56you can wait till December.

0:40:57But like for me, that is the official start

0:41:01of holiday decoration in the US anyway,

0:41:05should be the day after Thanksgiving, essentially.

0:41:09And then in terms of taking it down, for me,

0:41:12usually it is the weekend after New Year's.

0:41:15New Year's is on a weekend this year,

0:41:16so it might be the following weekend,

0:41:19where you start taking the ornaments off the tree,

0:41:21and eventually you take the tree out.

0:41:23The tree's fate is ultimately, we have a live tree,

0:41:25so it's ultimately decided by when the refuse company

0:41:30says to put out your trees so that they can bring the wood chipper by. You know, that's

0:41:36part of the circle of life. And some stuff lasts longer than that. We slowly take that

0:41:44down. One tradition that we have that I really like is we have a door in our, we have a hallway

0:41:50that connects every room in our house. So there's like 11 doors in that hallway. But

0:41:54one of the doors is out to the living room, which is a kitchen, dining room, living room

0:41:59Marriott is the big room in our house where we spend most of our time. And so that door

0:42:04gets covered with the cards we get. So we have, as the cards come in, they get affixed

0:42:11to the door. And so in addition to just getting a card from people, you can see them and see

0:42:16the people you know and see their messages, and it's kind of nice to go there and look

0:42:20at them from time to time. And that stays up through the end of January, and even then

0:42:24Lauren is reluctant to take them down because she really enjoys it that much. So that lasts

0:42:28to the end of January, but otherwise it all starts to drift away after New Year's.

0:42:33How about you?

0:42:34December 1st, no earlier than December 1st for going up.

0:42:39Coming down?

0:42:40Bless you.

0:42:41Like sometime in January, like early January?

0:42:45And for me, again, like you, I think the natural time is the next weekend after New Year's,

0:42:50that just feels like the time you would do it.

0:42:52But no, I don't like Christmas music or Christmas decorations before December 1st.

0:42:58Good for you. That's right. You don't have the permeable barrier of Thanksgiving and yet you're doing it right.

0:43:04Yeah, I mean, I'm aware of it, which helps me a lot, right? Like, I'm very aware of when Thanksgiving is.

0:43:10We try to observe it in some way.

0:43:12You mentioned, you were real cheap, we're a fake tree household just because we don't have a lot of space,

0:43:17so we have like a really slim plastic tree.

0:43:20- We would like to be a real tree household in the future,

0:43:25like in a future house where we have more space.

0:43:28- It's nice. I love the smell of it.

0:43:29Honestly, that's the thing that I don't think,

0:43:31if we didn't have a live tree,

0:43:32I don't think we'd have a tree because I don't like the,

0:43:36I don't really like the fake trees.

0:43:37And I really love the smell of the tree.

0:43:39That's my favorite thing about it.

0:43:40As you walk into the house and it smells like a tree.

0:43:44It's great. I love it.

0:43:45Also the slim plastic tree.

0:43:48Wasn't that one of David Bowie's nicknames in the 70s?

0:43:51The slim plastic tree?

0:43:53Probably not.

0:43:54- I think that could have been.

0:43:55Tombur asks, "Warm or cool lights on the tree?"

0:44:00- Yeah, Tombur's question,

0:44:00"Warm or cool white lights on your tree?"

0:44:02actually is what Tombur wrote.

0:44:04And I think that's funny because my fairy lights,

0:44:07am I doing this right, Myke?

0:44:08Fairy lights?

0:44:09They are colorful LEDs.

0:44:11- Ah, that's where you get me.

0:44:12- It's all the colors, all the colors, blue and red,

0:44:16and whatever else is in colors.

0:44:17Yay, all the colors in the colorful LEDs.

0:44:20They're beautiful and I love them.

0:44:22- Warm white tree lights.

0:44:27We like warm white fairy lights.

0:44:28Not a big colorful.

0:44:30- Your fairies are boring.

0:44:32- They sure are.

0:44:33Sure are.

0:44:35JD wants to know what is your favorite piece

0:44:37of holiday apparel that you own?

0:44:40- Controversy, maybe.

0:44:41JD, I do not own any holiday apparel.

0:44:47- No ugly holiday sweatshirts?

0:44:49- I have nothing.

0:44:51No holiday apparel of any kind.

0:44:54Not really a choice, just don't.

0:44:56I used to have a long sleeve shirt

0:45:00with a giant line drawing of a sheep on it,

0:45:05that I considered my holiday apparel.

0:45:08- Why?

0:45:09- I don't know, there was something about it.

0:45:11It felt like it was like the thing to wear on Christmas day.

0:45:14I don't know.

0:45:14Also, because we are a Cal supporting house,

0:45:18and our arch rival is Stanford,

0:45:20I think I've explained this before,

0:45:21but I'll just explain it again here.

0:45:24At Cal, you can't wear red.

0:45:26You can't wear red to a Cal game,

0:45:28because that's Stanford color.

0:45:29It doesn't matter if they're playing some other team,

0:45:31it doesn't matter.

0:45:32You can't wear red.

0:45:33And in fact, if you wear red at a Cal game,

0:45:36everyone around you will begin chanting,

0:45:38and this is true, loudly,

0:45:39"Take off that red shirt, take off that red shirt."

0:45:43can hear it from across the stadium. So as a result, I own very little red anything,

0:45:50and certainly no jackets or anything outerwear that I might wear to a football game in the

0:45:54fall in red. You can't do it. So I think red is a very Christmassy color, and I have

0:46:03almost nothing that's red. I also have almost nothing that's green. I don't love

0:46:08wearing green either. So where does that leave me? With no holiday apparel.

0:46:12So I'm assuming you didn't buy the red hoodie, the red upgrade hoodie?

0:46:16I absolutely did not. In fact, there was a real debate of whether I was going to even

0:46:21suggest we sell it, and every time somebody happily shows us their picture about the red

0:46:26upgrade hoodie...

0:46:27The red one is a winner! I can't wait for mine to arrive.

0:46:30I know, it looks so good and I just look at it and I go, "Ugh, red." But I did, I did

0:46:35a, we did a red incomparable shirt at one point, which I call the red zeppelin. And

0:46:40And that is deeply, and it looks great.

0:46:43And I find it deeply disturbing

0:46:45and I will not have it in my house.

0:46:46So that is, that's how my life goes.

0:46:48However, I will say Lauren used to have a red sweatshirt

0:46:50with four penguins, a picture of four penguins

0:46:53in a stack in a phone booth

0:46:54that was labeled four calling birds.

0:46:57That was her Christmas sweater for a long time,

0:46:58but it was very old and it's gone now.

0:47:00I think she had that from when she was in high school.

0:47:03And so I don't know if she has anything, I have nothing.

0:47:05I have nothing.

0:47:06Should I buy, is there some merch available, Myke,

0:47:09that I could buy to make my life more holiday-like?

0:47:13- Not that I'm aware of.

0:47:15Back in 2019, we, for Cortex, made an ugly sweater.

0:47:20- Oh, right, I remember this.

0:47:21Well, I missed out on that.

0:47:22- Yep, that was back in holiday 2019.

0:47:25That is my favorite piece of holiday apparel.

0:47:27I have packed it, 'cause we're in Romania

0:47:29for Christmas this year, and it's,

0:47:31I'm gonna be wearing it maybe on Christmas Day.

0:47:34I love it, I love it so much.

0:47:37I hope we can do this again one day.

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0:49:33Okay, so next up is Brian. Brian wants to know, "What is your favorite Christmas song?"

0:49:39Oh, my favorite modern Christmas song changes regularly, but my favorite

0:49:46classic Christmas song is the Christmas song by Nat King Cole. That's Chestnuts

0:49:52Roasting on an Open Fire. Oh, that's really good. That's a classic and I love

0:49:55it and I have that one queued up every year. And then my modern ones, there are

0:49:59Lots of good kind of monitoring takes on this.

0:50:02Father Christmas is a good one.

0:50:05That might be my number one right now,

0:50:07but it varies over time.

0:50:08I go back and forth among many.

0:50:11- Mine is Step Into Christmas by Elton John.

0:50:14- Oh.

0:50:14- What I like about Step Into Christmas

0:50:17is it is not like other Christmas songs.

0:50:22It doesn't sound like other Christmas songs.

0:50:24It's just a good song.

0:50:25And I like that a lot.

0:50:26I like Christmas songs that are good songs.

0:50:29- Yeah.

0:50:30- As well as just being like Christmas, you know?

0:50:33- I agree, that's great.

0:50:35- Justin asks, "Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?"

0:50:38- Justin, of course it is.

0:50:41- It so is.

0:50:42This is unequivocal in my opinion.

0:50:45- I mean, people joke about it and they're like,

0:50:46"Oh, well this movie had a scene

0:50:48"at the beginning set at Christmas,

0:50:49"so is it a Christmas movie?"

0:50:50But like Die Hard is throughout,

0:50:52the whole point of Die Hard is that it's not just Die Hard

0:50:55is a guy running around an office building. He's running around an office building at

0:50:58Christmas with people who are hostages because it's a Christmas party, which leads to the

0:51:03classic ho ho ho, now I have a machine gun. What could be more Christmas than that?

0:51:09It's like, you know the song "Driving Home for Christmas" by Chris Rea? Do you know that

0:51:14song?

0:51:15I don't.

0:51:16Okay. Well that's just about a guy who's driving home for Christmas. That's a Christmas song.

0:51:19And really, you know, Die Hard is John McClane just like dying for Christmas. I don't know.

0:51:26It's like, it's just, he has to get through the terrible, is it Action Skyscraper?

0:51:33Yes.

0:51:34Is that, yep.

0:51:35Action Skyscraper, yep.

0:51:36He has to get through the Action Skyscraper to make it out alive and so he can save Christmas

0:51:41for everyone and have Christmas with his family. It is 100% a Christmas movie. You know, it's

0:51:47like, yeah, it is.

0:51:48For those who don't know, Action Skyscraper is the Swedish, I think, name of Die Hard.

0:51:56That's how they released it there, Action Skyscraper.

0:51:58It's a good name.

0:52:00It's a very good, very good name.

0:52:02So yeah, 100% Die Hard is a Christmas movie.

0:52:04Stance wants to know, "What is your favorite Christmas movie?"

0:52:07Oh, my favorite Christmas movie.

0:52:10I have a recency pic, which is, we just watched-

0:52:14Give it to me.

0:52:15We just watched Love Actually again, I haven't seen it in years.

0:52:18That is such a great movie. It's just a good movie, let alone a good Christmas movie. Great.

0:52:23Love it. Anyways, I imagine maybe people who didn't see it at the time think, "Oh yeah,

0:52:29it's like those movies where they bring a bunch of famous people together and all their

0:52:32stories intertwine and it's like one of those movies." Love actually was the movie that

0:52:37started that.

0:52:38Is that movie.

0:52:39Yeah. That's the movie. And I remember at the time, I saw it when it came out, because

0:52:43I remember at the time, one of the things that was so shocking here was the poster.

0:52:48all of the people on the poster? It's like how does one movie have the all of these people

0:52:54in it? So yeah the answer is it was a very clever you know multi-story kind of threaded

0:53:00thing. It's a great movie. Um I have two I'm gonna again do the classic and modern take

0:53:05here because it cheats and lets me have two. Um classic is Miracle on 34th Street which

0:53:12is my wife's favorite and is it's a great movie it is sappy in parts but also super

0:53:20not in other parts the whole plot is that a santa gets so falling down drunk that he

0:53:26has to be replaced falling down drunk during the the macy's thanksgiving parade and has

0:53:33to be replaced and then he's replaced by uh maybe the real santa claus but they think

0:53:39he's crazy because if somebody claimed to be the real Santa Claus you would think that he was a

0:53:43crazy old man. Things spin out of control. There's a trial. Oh I was gonna say I haven't seen this

0:53:50movie. I have seen this movie. We did this. We did this. We did this for Myke at the Movies. I loved

0:53:56that movie. It is it is so great. It's weird and it's funny and and uh Edmund Gwynn who plays Santa

0:54:05Claus won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for that movie.

0:54:09Yeah, because it turns into like, it turns into Christmas courtroom drama.

0:54:14It's a courtroom drama where kids are getting called as witnesses and there's a dramatic

0:54:18moment when the US Postal Service brings in all of Santa's letters. And there's a great,

0:54:22there's this whole political subplot where the judge says, "If I rule against Santa,

0:54:28the only person who's going to vote for me is the district attorney." It's my favorite line in the

0:54:31movie because his political fixer who's always got a cigar and is played by the

0:54:35guy who played Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy says, he shakes his head and goes, "The

0:54:39District Attorney is a Republican, so you're gonna get no votes." It's just a

0:54:44it's again if you haven't seen it you should see it. It is surprising

0:54:51in if you think that it's gonna be a super sappy kind of thing it's from

0:54:551947. It's not. It's actually kind of light and funny and weird and takes all

0:55:00all these strange plot turns that anyway, it's good. Um

0:55:04that's my favorite classic and my favorite uh new more modern

0:55:08movie, although it's just rapidly uh becoming a classic

0:55:12and I'm gonna say the same things about it as Miracle on

0:55:1434th Street. It's Elf. Oh, Elf starring Will Ferrell.

0:55:18Classic. 2003. Yeah. It is a classic and I'll just say if

0:55:22you're a person cuz I've heard this from a lot of people. If

0:55:24you're a person who doesn't like Will Ferrell, just watch

0:55:27Elf. It's not gonna give you, I think, all the Will Ferrell things that you don't like

0:55:32about Will Ferrell. He fully commits to being a human-sized elf, and it is, I love it. I

0:55:39could not love it more. It is such a great movie. So those are my two favorites, those

0:55:43are my two go-to, watch-during-the-holidays movies, Elf and Miracle on 34th Street.

0:55:47Elf is a great movie. That's so good. It's very funny. It's very charming

0:55:52Yeah, I want to say I don't know if I feel like I'm just gonna I'm gonna die on the sword maybe

0:55:58Last year I watched will we watch nightmare before Christmas for the first time? Yeah, don't like it

0:56:05Mmm, don't get it. I love the style on the look

0:56:10There's no story in that movie. I don't understand. I don't get it don't understand. I know it's a cult classic. I don't get it

0:56:17I don't like it either.

0:56:19Good, please.

0:56:20You know, as I said, I was like, I know if I say this enough,

0:56:22Jason will agree with me.

0:56:23I knew you'd agree with me.

0:56:24I don't get it.

0:56:25No.

0:56:26We were actually talking about this.

0:56:28I would like somebody to redo it.

0:56:31Like, give us the visuals more of a plot.

0:56:36And then, you know, we can actually have a good movie.

0:56:41Yeah.

0:56:41Brant wants to know,

0:56:43what are your favorite Christmas episodes of TV shows?

0:56:46Oof, this is tough.

0:56:49- I was gonna, I don't really have

0:56:51any particular thoughts on this.

0:56:53I figured that you would say like "Doctor Who" or something.

0:56:57- Well, that's gonna be my answer,

0:56:58is that I actually have a playlist

0:57:00of the "Doctor Who" holiday specials

0:57:02that I will sometimes just flip on.

0:57:04But I did, a couple of years ago, I did a rewatch.

0:57:07I watched sort of like a "12 Days of Christmas"

0:57:10kind of thing.

0:57:11I rewatched all the "Doctor Who" Christmas specials.

0:57:13And what I'm gonna say is that the best one

0:57:17is the return of Dr. Mysterioso.

0:57:21Dr. Mysterio, Dr. Mysterioso?

0:57:24It's silly, it's a superhero pastiche,

0:57:29which is not what you expect.

0:57:32I guess it's Dr. Mysterio, not Dr. Mysterioso.

0:57:34From 2016, written by Steven Moffat.

0:57:36It's just, it's sweet.

0:57:39It's like an homage to Superman, the movie, kind of,

0:57:44except in Doctor Who,

0:57:46and there's kind of a romance subplot,

0:57:50and it is, at the time, I feel like everybody was like,

0:57:54"Yeah, yeah, it's another Doctor Who Christmas special."

0:57:57It's kind of great.

0:57:58And I also really love "Last Christmas,"

0:58:02which is from two years before, another Steven Moffat.

0:58:05That one has,

0:58:08who's in that?

0:58:10It's a good cast.

0:58:11It's what if we did a Doctor Who Christmas special

0:58:16that was modeled on "The Thing", a horror movie?

0:58:22Why would you do that?

0:58:23But Nick Frost is in it as Santa Claus.

0:58:26So it's Nick Frost and Peter Capaldi

0:58:28kind of going at it. - Oh, I think I've seen

0:58:29that one. - Yeah.

0:58:30- That's also a legitimately great Doctor Christmas special.

0:58:34So I recommend those.

0:58:35Obviously, "Charlie Brown Christmas"

0:58:36is the greatest Christmas episode.

0:58:38It's a special, so is it a TV show?

0:58:40It's not a movie, but I do love that as well.

0:58:43And we'll see, I haven't watched it yet,

0:58:46but we're gonna watch the Ted Lasso Christmas special

0:58:47this year and we'll see how that goes.

0:58:49- I don't really think I rewatch TV episodes like that,

0:58:53you know, like in a way that we might rewatch a movie.

0:58:55- Well, the beauty of like the Doctor Who Christmas specials

0:58:58for example, is if you build something

0:58:59that's totally standalone,

0:59:00you can just enjoy it as a thing.

0:59:02And that's why I made that playlist

0:59:04and it's actually pretty fun is that,

0:59:05is that those are all structured to be,

0:59:07because it's the BBC audience on a Christmas day,

0:59:11they know they're gonna get all sorts of people

0:59:12who don't watch the show regularly.

0:59:15And so a good Doctor Who Christmas special

0:59:17is just meant to be of its own story and not much more

0:59:22and be kind of big and fun.

0:59:25And sometimes those are great.

0:59:27But the Ted Lasso one is made to be a Christmas special.

0:59:30And I read a story the other day

0:59:32that said that somebody finally admitted

0:59:33they actually asked Apple not to release it until Christmas.

0:59:36And Apple said, "Yeah, no, we're not gonna do that."

0:59:39- Aha.

0:59:40- So here we are.

0:59:43That's the explanation.

0:59:43They released this little claymation short.

0:59:46That's cute, but kind of insubstantial

0:59:48about the Ted Lasso's mustache.

0:59:52But like their original idea was to do the Christmas special

0:59:56as a Christmas special.

0:59:56And it only really, I mean, that's how it works.

0:59:59It's a great fun episode,

1:00:00but it really should have been released as a surprise

1:00:02like now, and that didn't happen.

1:00:05So I'm gonna go back and watch that one.

1:00:07- Larson asks, favorite Christmas time beverage?

1:00:11- Do you have one?

1:00:12- For me, it's eggnog.

1:00:13It's really, I think the only Christmas beverage

1:00:16that I can think of.

1:00:18- And Myke Brantz asks,

1:00:19do you have a preferred brand of eggnog?

1:00:22- I've only ever made eggnog.

1:00:24I've never had pre-made eggnog.

1:00:27- Okay, what goes in the Myke eggnog?

1:00:29- Oh, so we use, the basic recipe that we use

1:00:32is a Benjamin Babish recipe,

1:00:35which I'll put a link in the show notes.

1:00:37You can watch the video, but it's also written it out

1:00:39on this website.

1:00:41So we use that one, and in it,

1:00:43the recipe calls for rum and bourbon,

1:00:45and that's what we use, and that's what I like.

1:00:48The rum, we just use Bacardi rum.

1:00:52We haven't really ventured out there,

1:00:53but bourbon I have more opinions on,

1:00:55so I kind of change it up every year,

1:00:56depending on what I'm interested in having.

1:00:59I think this year, we used Eagle Rare in our eggnog.

1:01:04I really enjoy eggnog, but I've only ever had it at home.

1:01:08It's actually like a, it's like our Christmas tradition.

1:01:12The day we put up the tree,

1:01:13the day before we do the eggnog part,

1:01:17'cause you gotta let it mature.

1:01:18So we do eggnog the day before,

1:01:20and then we drink it on the day we put up the tree.

1:01:24- Okay, so now you said rum and bourbon.

1:01:28That's two things.

1:01:29What else is in there?

1:01:30- Eggs.

1:01:31Eggs, sugar. - Eggs.

1:01:34- And nutmeg.

1:01:36- Ah, and nutmeg, okay.

1:01:38I've never had eggnog.

1:01:39It sounds disgusting and I'm not interested.

1:01:41- So here's the thing, Jason.

1:01:42It does.

1:01:43This is why I never had it.

1:01:44I was like, why on earth would I want to drink eggs?

1:01:48This sounds terrible, but it's really nice.

1:01:52It's like a milkshake, Jason.

1:01:53It's much more like a milkshake.

1:01:54There's lots of milk goes in it too as well as egg.

1:01:56- Oh, okay.

1:01:57I also don't like hard alcohol, so it's, you know.

1:02:00- Yeah.

1:02:01- I don't even have bourbon in my house.

1:02:03I do have some rum in my house from the relay five when Shelley made mixed

1:02:07drinks for the relay fifth anniversary pre pre show party that we did at my

1:02:13house. I still have Shelley's rum. So who knows? Um, for me, my favorite

1:02:19Christmas Christmas time beverage Larson is my favorite beverage essentially

1:02:26because Christmas time is the perfect time for people to have like a dark beer,

1:02:30like a stout. Oh, it's holiday time and you can get a stout. I drink stouts all year round.

1:02:38It's my favorite beer type. So there are more of them and they're easier to get this time

1:02:44of year and it feels more seasonal than when I drink them in the summertime. There are

1:02:48a lot of like, like I've got a, I've got a, a porter right now that is like a chocolate

1:02:57porter, and I have a stout that's a s'mores stout, so it's like marshmallow chocolate

1:03:04graham cracker. That one is so sweet that I'm actually saving it for Christmas because

1:03:08it's like kind of laughably, it's too sweet for regular use, but those are my favorite

1:03:14beers and we have them. I have a lot, it's for regular use.

1:03:20No, I just like that phrase. "That beer is too sweet for the regular uses of beer."

1:03:24You can't drink a beer like that every, like a dinner.

1:03:27It's, don't do it.

1:03:29So anyway, that's my, the approved beer of the holidays

1:03:34is my favorite beer style.

1:03:35And so that's awesome.

1:03:38So that's what I do.

1:03:39Also, I should say for special occasions,

1:03:41what we often do is we go and buy some fancy beer.

1:03:45So I've got a big bottle of a Belgian triple in the closet

1:03:48that we'll put in the fridge for Christmas.

1:03:51and I've got a couple of bottles of a really nice Belgian.

1:03:56The Belgians are the fancy.

1:03:59For me, the ones that I really love are the Belgians.

1:04:02So we've got a Belgian style, big bottle

1:04:05with a cork and everything.

1:04:06And then I've got two of these, it's kind of expensive,

1:04:09but it's amazing called Ode Guze,

1:04:13which is like a sour-ish.

1:04:16It's like a ghost, but it's Guze 'cause it's Belgian.

1:04:20and we will put that out at some point during the holiday season too. So some fancy expensive

1:04:25beer, but that's it.

1:04:27Geoff - Bronwyn wants to know, chocolate desserts or ginger bready spiced style desserts?

1:04:32[Gavin sighs]

1:04:33Geoff - And during the holidays I would lean ginger bread.

1:04:38Brie - Yeah, I agree. I love ginger. Ginger is one of my favourite things. And I like

1:04:45eaten raw ginger, I like having ginger beer, I like having ginger bread, and so yeah I will make,

1:04:52I make these ginger, I think I've talked about it before, but there's a blue bottle coffee recipe

1:04:57for ginger cookies that I'll put in the show notes. They are amazing, they're crispy and they're

1:05:08molasses-y and they're gingery and I love them, but yeah I'll take ginger wherever I can get it.

1:05:13Chocolate's great too, but the ginger is just that much more seasonal. Yeah, definitely ginger like I like like you

1:05:20I like ginger a lot of the time. I especially like it during the holidays. It's when all the good gingery stuff would appear

1:05:25I think like I like chocolate. I'm not chocolate eat dessert as much I

1:05:31Feel like like, you know like cake like chocolate cake and stuff like that

1:05:35I'm not like a big big fan of like brownies that because I'm the only chocolate cake type thing that I do enjoy

1:05:41But yeah, Gingerbread, I enjoy it and you get the best Gingerbread stuff during the holidays.

1:05:45Yeah, for sure. This is the time.

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1:06:23not having to worry about the apps that you might need to go buy and all that kind of stuff

1:06:28to make it work. I have been on a bit of a crusade recently recommending an app that I love called

1:06:33CleanShot is a great tool, MindNode is a great tool, Ulysses, todo, Gemini, the list goes

1:06:43on and on and on.

1:06:45There's so many really wonderful applications as a part of Setapp.

1:06:49And it's really convenient, it's also a great value because instead of paying hundreds or

1:06:55even thousands of dollars for separate licenses there's just one flat monthly fee.

1:07:00new apps are added to setup regularly and the updates are free and the apps are full

1:07:05featured pro versions as well. They don't amend them and change them to put them into

1:07:09setup you get the full application all for that one fee. It's just $9.99 a month. Go

1:07:14to setup.com/upgradefm to try setup free for a week then if you like it $9.99 per month.

1:07:23setup.com/upgradefm our thanks to setup for the support of this show and relay FM.

1:07:29All right, next up is from Dave.

1:07:31What personal knowledge management system

1:07:34do you think Santa uses?

1:07:36Is he on the obsidian bandwagon

1:07:38or do you think he's got his own custom VIM system

1:07:42that he built in Linux?

1:07:43- I think Santa, well, first off Santa is the end user.

1:07:47So he's got a whole team of elves who are building

1:07:50a whole database behind the scenes.

1:07:54So all Santa needs is the end product,

1:07:56which is Santa's got a dashboard thing

1:07:58or maybe a phone at this point

1:08:00that gives him his next destination and the details.

1:08:03And there's probably a package dispenser,

1:08:06either automated or maybe an elf riding in the back

1:08:09that is getting the particular items prepped

1:08:12for the next stop.

1:08:14So I think it's all like, really it's in the cloud

1:08:17and there's a whole-

1:08:19- He's up in the clouds, so it makes sense

1:08:21to put it in the cloud.

1:08:22- It's fitting, right?

1:08:23And there's a whole elf backend

1:08:26that's doing the database approach and timing it all out.

1:08:31That's what I would say is that I don't think Santa,

1:08:34Santa is, you know, he's the CEO basically,

1:08:38but he's got a whole team to do that.

1:08:41And it's way better than the old days

1:08:42where they had to have like scrolls and stuff.

1:08:44And it was, you know, they digitized

1:08:47and now it's pretty easy for Santa.

1:08:48He just needs to go to the next stop.

1:08:50- Yeah, I could imagine he's got like,

1:08:53you know, somebody's used like a raspberry pie, you know,

1:08:56and they've created this like little computer

1:08:59that sits at the front of the sleigh

1:09:00and it's just pulling down from this system.

1:09:02- I think, again, I think he might just have a,

1:09:04like a phone and like a clip now

1:09:06on the dashboard of the sleigh.

1:09:07- Good point.

1:09:08- It might not even need the interface.

1:09:10Also, I would say, Santa's app does have some features.

1:09:14For example, he has, there's tagging involved.

1:09:17So it's gonna bring up the IDs of the kids

1:09:19that he's delivering the presents to, right?

1:09:20He can on the fly check their naughty nice score.

1:09:24- Oh my God, Jason. - He can tag a kid to naughty

1:09:26if he needs to. - A Tinder style swipe left,

1:09:29swipe bright for naughty nice.

1:09:31- Yeah, that's probably happening, honestly.

1:09:33Also there are notes in there about like,

1:09:34if they're trying to see him and he has to avoid,

1:09:36or if there's a, you know,

1:09:38it's like a CRM system a little bit

1:09:39where he can mark in like, this fireplace is dangerous

1:09:43and you should go in the window instead and all of that.

1:09:45So that's, he can do some of that,

1:09:47'cause he's the one who's out there in the field, right?

1:09:49He's taking notes.

1:09:50But it's all going in the database that is in the cloud,

1:09:54like his sleigh, and operated by the elves.

1:09:57That's what I think.

1:09:58- He's gotta have a pretty beefy iPhone case

1:10:02on that phone though.

1:10:04'Cause he's in some elements, that guy.

1:10:06- Yeah, yeah.

1:10:07And you know, it's sparkly and red.

1:10:10- Naturally.

1:10:11Marlies asks, "If you could buy all of the Upgradients

1:10:14a gift, what would you get them, or us?"

1:10:18- What do you think?

1:10:19It would be the existence of said cheaper Apple display from earlier on.

1:10:22That would be the gift I would give people.

1:10:25Wow.

1:10:27You're very, you're very generous.

1:10:28So you're buying the existence of it.

1:10:33They can buy it themselves.

1:10:34I'm not buying it for them.

1:10:36I'm very particular about this.

1:10:38I will buy that this thing exists.

1:10:41I will not buy said monitor.

1:10:43Nice try everyone.

1:10:45I, well, if I go by your means,

1:10:47I'm gonna say a 27-inch iMac that runs Apple Silicon.

1:10:52If I go where I actually have to buy it,

1:10:56but somebody is gonna give me the money,

1:10:57I mean, if the money is no object, then sure,

1:10:59I'll just buy a standalone Apple display for everybody,

1:11:02but it's probably not gonna happen.

1:11:04So instead, I don't know, a phone brain.

1:11:08- Oh, phone brain is good.

1:11:10Well, if somebody was, hang on though,

1:11:13if somebody was gonna give you the money

1:11:16and you could buy all of the Upgradients a gift,

1:11:20we would make specialized merchandise.

1:11:23- Yes.

1:11:24- So then we would get the money at the end.

1:11:27- Oh, interesting.

1:11:28Now that's Cortex brand thinking right there.

1:11:30(laughing)

1:11:33Yeah, but when I say foam brain, Myke,

1:11:35what I actually meant was the foam brain,

1:11:37the Nick plus Nerf foam brain

1:11:38has been out of production for 20 years.

1:11:40What we're gonna do is we're gonna create

1:11:42a new Foam Brain that is upgrade branded.

1:11:45We may sub-license it to Cortex

1:11:47'cause Brain's kinda your thing.

1:11:48And we're gonna put it back in production and sell those

1:11:53because we know that we have stoked the fires of interest

1:11:56for Foam Brains for years now,

1:11:58and yet there's no product for them to buy.

1:12:01So we will put that into existence

1:12:02and then we will give it away as a gift

1:12:04and pay ourselves as the vendor.

1:12:06- Perfect. - Sounds good.

1:12:07It's a Christmas miracle, we made money.

1:12:09- It's the Christmas game.

1:12:11- That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

1:12:13(laughing)

1:12:15- Chris asks, "What are your thoughts about giving

1:12:19or receiving Apple products as gifts?

1:12:21Will there be a polishing cloth

1:12:23underneath the orchard this year?"

1:12:25(laughing)

1:12:27- If you're very bad, you get a polishing cloth

1:12:29in your stocking.

1:12:30(laughing)

1:12:31I think giving or receiving Apple products as gifts

1:12:34is great, depending, I mean, it's a little bit like

1:12:37those car commercials with the big bow on the car

1:12:39in the driveway that like you shouldn't buy a car

1:12:41for your spouse without their consent.

1:12:44Like it's too big a purchase.

1:12:46That's come on, don't do that.

1:12:47So I think you need to know them

1:12:49and maybe it's sort of a wink wink nudge nudge kind of thing.

1:12:51But yeah, I think that they can be really good

1:12:54whether it's AirPods or a laptop or whatever,

1:12:57an Apple watch.

1:12:58I will tell you because nobody tell her,

1:13:01but my mom, she has a,

1:13:05I discovered when I visited her last time

1:13:07that she has a very, very, very, very, very, very,

1:13:11very old iPad Air that she is using

1:13:14that is running several iOS versions ago

1:13:17because it can't be updated anymore.

1:13:20And I am going to provide her with an upgrade.

1:13:24So there you go.

1:13:25I'm gonna give an Apple product

1:13:27to somebody in my family this Christmas.

1:13:28I think that can be great.

1:13:30- For me, like if you're asking for me,

1:13:33I don't want anybody to buy me Apple-related things.

1:13:37- Well, we're already on it.

1:13:41- Yeah, like I've got it taken care of.

1:13:43- Yeah, that's right. - Right?

1:13:44Anything you wanna buy me,

1:13:46you're probably also not gonna get me

1:13:48the thing that I want, right?

1:13:49Like, I'm good, that part is good.

1:13:52For other people, yeah, like, you know, go for it.

1:13:56And I'll ask Matt's question,

1:13:58what is the best Apple product or gift

1:14:01for a complete stranger.

1:14:02So I feel like App Store gift card,

1:14:07if it's a complete stranger,

1:14:08I'm not exactly sure why Matt needs to buy Apple gifts

1:14:11for complete strangers.

1:14:13- Secret Santa?

1:14:14- Maybe, I would say App Store gift card.

1:14:16You have to know that they're in the Apple ecosystem

1:14:19for that, but if they're not a complete complete stranger,

1:14:22probably AirPods.

1:14:23- AirPods, that's what I was gonna say is the other way

1:14:26is if you know they don't have AirPods,

1:14:27and even honestly, even if they are not

1:14:29in the Apple ecosystem, AirPods will pair

1:14:32via Bluetooth with anything.

1:14:34So that's a nice price, nice gift.

1:14:37But yeah, gift card is always good

1:14:40'cause you can price that lower than any Apple product.

1:14:45Polishing cloth's not available.

1:14:46It would be very funny to hand them

1:14:50like a USB-C to headphone jack adapter or something, enjoy.

1:14:55But yeah, I think gift card is a great answer there.

1:14:58So Matt said that he was thinking AirTags when he asked. I don't think AirTags is an AirTag

1:15:06is the gift of you might lose something. Yeah bummer. Which I don't know that's not necessarily

1:15:13a fun fun gift but cheaper than AirPods so you know maybe. Aaron asks why has it been

1:15:21impossible to buy an iPad or iPad mini this holiday? How big of a financial hit will this

1:15:25be for Apple's quarterly results.

1:15:27- Billions, billions.

1:15:28- We don't know the exact answer of this.

1:15:31I mean, we can assume it's chip shortages and legacy nodes.

1:15:35- Legacy nodes.

1:15:36- I hadn't been looking, but I actually do know,

1:15:38like I know people that ordered their iPad mini

1:15:41when like pretty much when they came out

1:15:43and have just gotten them, which is wild to me.

1:15:46It was like three months ago or something like that.

1:15:48So this is definitely a product line

1:15:51that they're struggling with.

1:15:52- It's interesting to me that the iPad and iPad mini

1:15:55are that, but I guess for most people,

1:15:58that does seem like the logical iPad to buy right now

1:16:01is one of those two, right?

1:16:02It's either the cheapest one or the smallest one.

1:16:04Like that, I guess that kind of makes sense

1:16:07rather than the Pro or the Air.

1:16:09And in a lot of cases, like when it comes to gifts.

1:16:11- I'm gonna provide some advice by the way,

1:16:13which is it's actually our advice for new iPhones,

1:16:16but I'm gonna provide it here,

1:16:18which is if you can't order it online

1:16:21until after Christmas, check and see if it's available

1:16:25at one of your local Apple stores,

1:16:27if you have a local Apple store.

1:16:28And I'll say that because I just went to apple.com

1:16:31and clicked through on an iPad mini and got to the bottom

1:16:34and it says, "Delivers January 4th through 6th.

1:16:37Pick up today."

1:16:39So there's gonna be stock.

1:16:43It may not be exactly what you want.

1:16:44You may need to get a color you don't want

1:16:46or a size you don't want,

1:16:47but there are gonna be things available in stock

1:16:50at an Apple store that are not available online.

1:16:52So if you're near an Apple store,

1:16:54going to be near an Apple store,

1:16:55that's a thing you should at least try.

1:16:57- Yeah, you should just keep your eye on that, I agree.

1:16:59Even if you put an order in, if your order's a long time,

1:17:02like you can cancel the order.

1:17:04- Right.

1:17:06- Go and get something much, much sooner.

1:17:08Matt asks, "Christmas is right around the corner,

1:17:13but we have to get through Festivus first.

1:17:15Do you have any grievances to air?"

1:17:17- Yeah, here's my big grievance for you, Myke.

1:17:21- Oh, hang on.

1:17:22- You know, there's a lot of talk on "Connected"

1:17:25about the triple J conspiracy,

1:17:27but it seems like only John Voorhees is ever on "Connected."

1:17:30And James is always present with other things.

1:17:34- This is not my decision.

1:17:36- I don't think I've, have I ever been on "Connected?"

1:17:38I was on the prompt, but I don't-

1:17:39- No, you've been on "Connected."

1:17:40- Have I been on "Connected?"

1:17:42- As a judge and adjudicator of things.

1:17:44- Okay, that's true.

1:17:45I just, I feel like the, the, there's a lot of talk about the triple J, but that I'm kind

1:17:49of left behind on that. That's what I'm saying.

1:17:50Well, I just feel left out. I do not trust the triple J. So I wouldn't

1:17:55invite any of the triple J onto the show. Okay. So it's not your fault that there are

1:17:59breaches in the wall. It's other people's fault. Steven has been doing this, I believe.

1:18:03Steven has, Steven invited John Voorhees onto the show. Uh, well once, one time recently,

1:18:08John was just in the same room as Federico, so it was kind of unavoidable.

1:18:11Yep. That was a good one. And then another time was, well, I think the

1:18:14The last time was Federy--

1:18:15was it Federy Code had his booster shot

1:18:17a couple of weeks ago?

1:18:19And so there was a concern that he wouldn't make it

1:18:21through the episode, and it was true.

1:18:23And so Jon came in.

1:18:24But I don't know why this--

1:18:25I don't know why Steven keeps bringing Jon onto the show.

1:18:28You have to look to Steven for that.

1:18:29I know I was on, like, the live episodes and all that,

1:18:32and I just am saying I feel a little left out

1:18:36when there's all this talk about the triple J,

1:18:38me and Jon and James, and yet, I don't know.

1:18:41-Well, I don't trust you. -It's a minor--

1:18:42minor grievance but I like how you've just thrown it on your co-host instead.

1:18:45Oh 100% I will. You distrust us all equally I appreciate the equality there.

1:18:52Uh-huh and I will throw Steven under the bus for this anytime anytime all day

1:18:59that nothing to do with me I was on holiday. Do I have any grievances to air?

1:19:06hmm I don't think so I feel pretty zen right now I think I feel like maybe if

1:19:11If you would have asked me this before I took that big vacation, I may have had more grievances.

1:19:15I feel like your iPhone scratches is your number one.

1:19:19Oh, that is my number one grievance right now. Thank you for the reminder. I have a

1:19:23grievance towards the Apple Care corporate machine. That's it. The Apple Care corporate

1:19:32machine in denying my screen replacement, which is something that I tend to get back

1:19:38on top of when I get back home in January.

1:19:41So I'm going to be back on it next year trying to get my screen replaced.

1:19:47I do at this point, I think I said this in the show, I do feel like now I just want to

1:19:51get some of those new parts and just try and do it myself.

1:19:55But you know, I would also like to, I demand satisfaction from this one.

1:20:03And finally today Kim asks, "How do you celebrate the new year?

1:20:06What is your typical New Year's celebration, Jason?

1:20:09- It's gonna be disappointing and boring.

1:20:13Occasionally we have friends who invite us over

1:20:15for a New Year thing, but otherwise we are at home

1:20:18and we will try to get some crackers.

1:20:21Usually it's a Christmas cracker that we've forgotten

1:20:23we had at Christmas and so we keep it

1:20:25and then we use the UK kind where you pull on them

1:20:28and they pop and you get a little crown.

1:20:30We do that for New Year's and it's a lot of fun.

1:20:33And I have picked up a tradition

1:20:36from my friend Philip Michaels,

1:20:37where I try on sometime on New Year's Eve

1:20:40to watch "Duck Soup" by the Marx Brothers,

1:20:43which is a very silly movie.

1:20:45Why it's about New Year's, I don't know, it's not really,

1:20:47but it has become a New Year's tradition.

1:20:50Might try to get in a viewing of "When Harry Met Sally,"

1:20:52which is New Year's related and is one of my favorite movies.

1:20:56And, you know, there's, like I said,

1:20:58there's probably Belgian beer

1:20:59and other things like that around.

1:21:01And then new year's day because I'm an American,

1:21:04there's a lot of college football on while you're sitting on the couch under a

1:21:08blankie. And uh, I like it that way.

1:21:10I do not like new year's Eve as this idea of you're going to have a great night.

1:21:17Yeah. Like if you go out and party like,

1:21:21cause I believe none of the great nights,

1:21:24like the true great nights you have in your life are because they were supposed

1:21:27to be one. They,

1:21:30The great nights happen because they just happen.

1:21:33It's not like, I really don't like this.

1:21:35Like we are going to have an epic night because it's new years.

1:21:39Like, so I don't like new year's parties.

1:21:40I never have for that reason.

1:21:42I like very chill new year's things.

1:21:47So whether it's just me and Nadina at home or a couple of years, we've gone to a

1:21:52friend's house and just just four of us.

1:21:54And we just really kind of just use this as an excuse to be together.

1:21:58like rather than actually really paying attention to anything past the fireworks that occur

1:22:03at midnight. So hopefully, I mean if we're lucky we might be able to do that this year

1:22:08but I don't know yet. But otherwise New Year's is just, we might have like a nice meal, like

1:22:15cook a nice meal kind of thing. I like to have it low-key, low-key for New Year's.

1:22:20I agree, again unless I've got a friend, and our friends who always did the New Year's

1:22:24party at their house which is, you know, not a party party, it's just a bunch of parents

1:22:28getting together and their kids getting together.

1:22:30They moved, so they don't have that anymore.

1:22:32And we occasionally will get invited

1:22:34to another friend's place and they're English, Myke.

1:22:37So that is beautiful because what you do is you come over

1:22:41and you have some dinner or some snacks and dinner,

1:22:44heavy snacks, I guess,

1:22:46and you watch it be midnight in London.

1:22:49- Yes.

1:22:50- And then you can hang out for a few more hours

1:22:54and then maybe if you're really feeling bold,

1:22:56you watch the ball drop in New York and then you leave. And you know, basically London

1:23:02is perfect, right? That's like 5 p.m., something like that?

1:23:06Yeah. So this is a tradition that I knew that the

1:23:09under-schoolers did where they would have their, like, they would put the TV on for

1:23:16the kids to see the fireworks at New Year's and then the kids could go to bed, right?

1:23:22Right. Yes, oh yeah, it's a classic.

1:23:23- Yes, oh yeah, it's a classic.

1:23:25- So I don't know, I'm asking how are they dealing

1:23:27with this, with the fireworks?

1:23:30Because now the kids don't get to see the fireworks

1:23:33'cause if they do, it's midnight.

1:23:35Kids, they're here.

1:23:36- I don't know about their kids,

1:23:37but one of the things that I discovered,

1:23:39and I think they're still on Netflix,

1:23:41is they make New Year's videos for kids.

1:23:46- Wow.

1:23:47- Where you get to play the video

1:23:50and it plays the video and then it counts you down

1:23:53and then everybody says happy new year

1:23:56and then you turn off the TV and put them to bed.

1:23:58- That is genius. - And they think

1:23:59that they've seen the countdown, yeah.

1:24:02- So if I got, let me go to Netflix.

1:24:04I'll type in new year countdown maybe?

1:24:09- Yeah, or new year kids, I don't know.

1:24:11- Skylanders Academy New Year's Eve countdown.

1:24:15The Skylanders are celebrating their heroic accomplishments

1:24:18of a huge New Year's party

1:24:19and you can help them count down to midnight.

1:24:21That's one.

1:24:22- And it's one minute long.

1:24:24- Yeah, that's one.

1:24:24- That's it.

1:24:25That's it.

1:24:26There used to be more, I'm not seeing more of them,

1:24:29but like that's what you want,

1:24:32is you want the thing that is like, it's a lie.

1:24:34It's not really, but they don't,

1:24:35they're excited that we all get to count down,

1:24:38we have fun, and then it's off to take your bath

1:24:40and go to bed and all of that.

1:24:41And they're asleep whenever you want them to be.

1:24:44- Very clever.

1:24:45Thank you to everybody who sent in

1:24:48a holiday Ask Upgrade question. You can send in Ask Upgrade questions for our more regular

1:24:54episodes as well just with a tweet #AskUpgrade or ?AskUpgrade in the Relay FM members discord.

1:25:00There will be no Ask Upgrade next week because we are going to be deliberating, judging and

1:25:06awarding the 8th annual Upgradies Awards on next week's episode which I'm really excited

1:25:11about. I will get overly excited about the upgrade is every year. I now have the monstrous

1:25:18task over the next seven days of trying to work out the upgrade ins for sponsors. Because

1:25:26in case you don't know, like with the nomination, except for like one, I think of our questions,

1:25:33people just have to type in what they want. I have a whole process and I know how to do

1:25:39and I've got it all taken, like I've got it down.

1:25:41I wrote instructions for myself a couple of years ago,

1:25:44'cause it's something I do once a year,

1:25:46and I have like a good process for it,

1:25:48so I just follow the instructions.

1:25:49And so I've got to go through that over the next few days,

1:25:52but this is like good work for me,

1:25:55'cause it's kind of mindless work.

1:25:57I like this work.

1:25:58It's like a nice kind of end of the year thing.

1:26:00So I've got people in that together.

1:26:02Plus I love watching the little chart that I make.

1:26:05I love watching it populate and seeing,

1:26:06'cause there's always surprises in there for me.

1:26:08So I find it kind of fascinating as a process to go through.

1:26:12And also, as I'm sure you will be, Jason,

1:26:14I have to finalize my own nominations

1:26:18because mine and Jason's nominations,

1:26:21they weigh quite heavily

1:26:23because we actually make the decision.

1:26:24- But I like to see the submissions at the upgrading.

1:26:28- It helps me.

1:26:29It helps me pull my ideas together.

1:26:30And also very many times helps us make a wall

1:26:32because I have a bunch of categories this year

1:26:34that I do not have strong answers for, if any, at all.

1:26:38So I'm excited to see what the Upgradients say.

1:26:40So, thank you for listening to this episode of Upgrade,

1:26:44and we'll be back next week.

1:26:45If you want to find Jason online, you can go to sixcolors.com,

1:26:48and he's @jsnell.

1:26:49I'm @imike, I-M-Y-K-E.

1:26:53Thank you so much to our sponsors, Setapp, Hunter Douglas, and Bombas,

1:26:57and if you are a Relay FM member and support the show,

1:27:00thank you as well.

1:27:01Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate,

1:27:04and we'll be back next time.

1:27:05Until then, say goodbye, Jason Snell.

1:27:07Ho ho ho!

1:27:09[Music]

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