PodSearch

Upgrade

289: Not So Fast, Uma Thurman

 

00:00:00   [Music]

00:00:08   From Real AFM, this is Upgrade, episode 289.

00:00:12   Today's show is brought to you by our wonderful sponsors, Linode, Direct Mail, and SaneBox.

00:00:17   My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Jason Sunell. Hi, Jason Sunell.

00:00:20   Hi, Myke Hurley. How are you?

00:00:21   I'm very good. I'm very good indeed. We have a #SunellTalk question from Jacob, and Jacob wants to know,

00:00:27   "Now that so many Upgradients are working at home," we're going to talk about that later on in the show,

00:00:31   "Jacob was wondering, how do you deal with lunch during your work days?"

00:00:36   Uh, wow. I usually have bread and generally turkey sliced in the fridge, and I will go make myself a turkey sandwich.

00:00:47   I also try...

00:00:49   Not real bread though, right?

00:00:50   Well, it's gluten-free bread. It's real bread, Myke. It's just not made with wheat.

00:00:54   Is it got a different spelling?

00:00:56   No, it's bread.

00:00:58   Why? I'm sorry, Jason. I'm sorry.

00:01:02   Bread with a "B" just ends in an "F." B-R-E-A-F. The "F" is for free. Yeah, it's real bread.

00:01:12   And although I did have...and they're super expensive. These gluten-free loaves of bread are incredibly expensive,

00:01:18   which is okay, although it is...I actually had a checkout person at Whole Foods look at me when they scanned it.

00:01:26   They're like, "Is that right?" And I said, "Oh yeah, that's right. It costs seven dollars."

00:01:32   He's like, "Wow!" I'm like, "Yeah, well, gluten-free, man. It's all really expensive, but this is the only way I get to have bread."

00:01:38   So, um, but I opened one, a loaf the other day to make a sandwich, and I discovered that there was a giant air bubble,

00:01:46   like a giant yeast gas bubble had gotten into it when it was baking.

00:01:52   And so, like, the whole...it was like a donut. There was like holes in every single slice.

00:01:58   You should have tried to work out how much money was lost to that air bubble.

00:02:02   Just in terms of surface area and all that. Well, no, actually what I did was I went on social media,

00:02:08   and I tweeted at the company, and I said, "I love you guys, but your bread's really expensive."

00:02:13   And then I put in a picture, and I said, "I don't think I'm getting my money's worth with the giant hole."

00:02:18   And I got three free loaves of bread out of that, so that was a pretty good deal.

00:02:22   Anyway, so I take the bread, and I take the turkey, and I make myself a sandwich,

00:02:26   and you all know what a sandwich is, so I'm not going to explain it.

00:02:28   Although, the other thing, with my daughter away at college most of the time, one thing that I've been trying to do,

00:02:35   you know, we make a lot of meals for four people, and there are only three of us, and so there are leftovers.

00:02:39   So if my wife doesn't take the leftovers to her job, I will also, you know, look and see if there are leftovers to be had,

00:02:46   and I'll do that instead. So, you know, it's nothing exciting for me.

00:02:50   I do sometimes don't know—I don't have all the right stuff, and that's really sad,

00:02:54   because then I'm left to make some, you know, microwave macaroni and cheese,

00:02:58   which I had to do last week at one point, because there was nothing in the house for me.

00:03:03   What about you, Myke?

00:03:03   - I try to limit my carb intake, and so I tend not to eat carbs at lunchtime,

00:03:09   because lunchtime is typically the easiest one for me to skip carbs, because it's just a more—

00:03:15   I kind of treat lunch as more of a functional meal than one that I enjoy,

00:03:19   because it's usually something I need to just get out of the way, because I'm otherwise occupied or whatever.

00:03:25   So what I will do is I will find a selection of things that I enjoy to eat at lunch,

00:03:30   and then just rotate through those for a while.

00:03:32   So at the moment, like today, I found some pretty nice chicken hot dogs.

00:03:40   So, like, they're hot dogs with chicken.

00:03:42   I had those today. I had two of those today before lunch.

00:03:46   - Just the hot dog?

00:03:47   - Just the hot dog, yeah.

00:03:48   And then that will sustain me.

00:03:50   I try and just find something protein, and we'll just try and find a protein,

00:03:54   and we'll go with that for a while.

00:03:55   That tends to be my typical.

00:03:57   - I will, and this is something you can't have, because it'll kill you,

00:03:59   but I will sometimes literally just have a couple spoonfuls of peanut butter and move on with my life.

00:04:05   - Yeah, like if I'm trying to do a lunch like that, I'll maybe eat, like, some kind of cheese snack,

00:04:10   maybe like a baby bowl.

00:04:12   And I found these a while ago, like peas, like dried peas that are flavored with maybe salt and vinegar or whatever.

00:04:21   Really nice, really nice, especially for somebody who can't eat peanuts or whatever.

00:04:25   That's like a good, like, functional snack.

00:04:28   Thank you, Jacob.

00:04:28   I guess this is a good thing, especially if you have questions around homeworking, send them in, #snailtalk,

00:04:37   and we'll try and answer more of those over the next few weeks.

00:04:40   But we are going to, later on in today's episode, give you some working from home tips,

00:04:44   if that's the thing that you are currently experiencing in your life.

00:04:47   But we do have some follow up, and Jason, I have another Apple Arcade pick for you.

00:04:51   Two for two this past couple of weeks.

00:04:55   It's a brand new game called Round Guard.

00:04:57   It is a cross between Peggle and a roguelike game.

00:05:00   And Peggle is one of my very favorite games of all time.

00:05:05   And this game is a very nice adaptation of that mechanic in that there's like spells and combat,

00:05:13   believe it or not, in a game like this, which is basically pachinko.

00:05:16   But roguelike means that when you die, you die and you have to start again.

00:05:21   But if you collect certain items, you can carry them through.

00:05:24   So you actually get a level of progression, even though you're starting afresh each time.

00:05:29   So that's another game that I want to recommend that I have been enjoying very much.

00:05:36   And it's called Round Guard.

00:05:37   It just came out.

00:05:38   And so, yeah, I recommend people trying that out.

00:05:41   Nice. I'll check it out.

00:05:42   I hadn't heard about that.

00:05:44   And I'll check it out.

00:05:45   Yep.

00:05:45   Could be fun.

00:05:48   I wanted to put in a plug.

00:05:49   Can I put in a plug one last time?

00:05:51   Yeah.

00:05:51   So you and I have been playing or have played Dungeons & Dragons together your first time.

00:06:01   We did Adina's first time.

00:06:03   Tiff Arment's first time.

00:06:05   James Thompson's first time since he was a kid.

00:06:08   And I'm not sure if it was Liz Miles' first time.

00:06:11   Anyway, we played D&D with Tony Sindelar as our D.E.M.

00:06:16   And if you didn't hear about it when we announced that we started doing it, I thought I would mention

00:06:21   that this week the final episode of that season and that story concludes with episode 21, so about 21 hours total.

00:06:31   You can listen.

00:06:32   You don't need to have heard any other episodes of Total Party Kill.

00:06:34   You can start with ours.

00:06:35   There's even a feed for just ours.

00:06:37   But if you're looking for something to listen to that is closed, ended, and finished, tomorrow, the last episode of that posts.

00:06:48   And then all 21 parts will be there for people to listen to.

00:06:52   And we had a good time, and it's fun.

00:06:54   And there's also a YouTube playlist.

00:06:56   If you would like to see us play, you can go to the Incomparable's YouTube page, or all the individual YouTube videos are linked to on the show page for the episodes.

00:07:06   So you can do it that way too.

00:07:07   And there's Adventurer's Pyramid, that's the name of our group, a playlist.

00:07:11   So we finished it a little while ago.

00:07:15   It's like a long time ago.

00:07:16   Have now all rolled out.

00:07:19   Good plug, Jason.

00:07:20   Check it out.

00:07:20   It's fun.

00:07:21   Good plug indeed.

00:07:24   I saw that Dr. Drang posted something in regards to your calendar updates you were talking about last time.

00:07:31   It's the grand life cycle of the internet where Dr. Drang does a thing, and then I do a thing, and then he does another thing, and then we mention it on upgrade, which prompts him then to do a different thing related to it because we mentioned it.

00:07:45   And he heard himself be mentioned.

00:07:48   Anyway, what he did was, this is the feedback about how I do spring cleaning with Hazel, and I also use Hazel to do things like run Dr. Drang's Python script that cleans up the Southwest Airlines downloads so that they're much more functional.

00:08:03   And that prompted him to do some exploration, including building a shortcut on iOS that does the same functionality.

00:08:12   And it does it in a different way.

00:08:14   And he's been experimenting with shortcuts, and he has this script where he can show you the steps of a shortcut and explain them.

00:08:21   He built this table.

00:08:23   It sections the shortcut screenshots into little bits.

00:08:27   It's very clever.

00:08:28   That's nice.

00:08:29   So he can explain how he does it.

00:08:31   Again, different methodology entirely from what his script does, but it totally works.

00:08:36   And then later on in the week, he also tried to experiment with what it would take to build that same functionality on the Mac using AppleScript or the JavaScript automation extension, which is basically using the same Apple events, and discovered that it's a lot slower than just running a Python script, which was kind of good for science to see how those shell scripts and scripting languages that are deep inside the Mac are awesome.

00:09:06   Often by far the most efficient way of doing it.

00:09:08   So if you want to take a nerdy dive in or you're just a Southwest Airlines person and want an iOS shortcut that makes those items much more useful, check out Dr.

00:09:21   Drang.

00:09:23   Apple's company, Beats, has released a new version of their Powerbeats product.

00:09:30   So this is the Powerbeats Pro.

00:09:31   There are a couple of different wireless Beats headphones.

00:09:34   You have the Beats X, which are like the Beats versions of AirPods, right?

00:09:38   But then they also have the Powerbeats, which is maybe an even more workout focused headphone.

00:09:44   It has a 15 hour battery.

00:09:46   It's $149.

00:09:48   It's actually cheaper than the product it replaces, which is interesting.

00:09:51   It's come down $50.

00:09:53   They now feature the H1 chip that's in all the new headphone stuff.

00:09:58   The big difference between these is there's actually a cable that connects the earbuds to each other.

00:10:04   So you can have them basically connected so if one fell out that you wouldn't lose them, right?

00:10:12   They're connected to each other and you can maybe drape it around the back of your neck or whatever.

00:10:16   So it's like a different way of using the headphones.

00:10:19   These do not have wireless charging.

00:10:21   You plug them in to charge via lightning.

00:10:23   So it's nothing major, but it is a new thing.

00:10:29   Apparently, we had heard about this before because they were in iOS 13.4.

00:10:36   There was like a little icon for them.

00:10:37   Like you know how each version, when you plug in any type of earphones that Apple makes,

00:10:43   then in Control Center you get a little icon for them.

00:10:46   Well, the icon for this one showed up in 13.4 because they do have a slightly different profile

00:10:51   to the ones that they're replacing.

00:10:53   That could potentially indicate that 13.4 is either A) going to drop this week or B) was supposed to.

00:11:00   We're not sure yet.

00:11:02   We don't know.

00:11:03   So Powerbeats Pro, not a product that I am interested in in the slightest.

00:11:09   I think it's weird that this product still exists.

00:11:11   But, you know.

00:11:12   Well, Beats are a headphones company, right?

00:11:14   They may as well make a bunch of options.

00:11:16   And everybody has different things that they look for.

00:11:19   I look at these and I think, "Oh yeah, I remember when they made wireless headphones that had a big wire between them."

00:11:24   But I get that, you know, variety is good.

00:11:28   And if they're still selling these and these are popular, then it sounds fine.

00:11:31   Yeah, like I can understand it.

00:11:32   Like I can imagine...

00:11:35   I had a pair of something sort of like these and I hated it because I hated that cord.

00:11:39   Oh, okay.

00:11:40   It felt like not really wireless headphones, just a cord to nowhere kind of thing.

00:11:44   It's like, I have a cord but it doesn't plug into anything and it just is hanging around.

00:11:49   And I hated it.

00:11:50   But everybody gets...

00:11:53   More options are good.

00:11:54   We're on the cord to nowhere, Jason.

00:11:55   Congratulations.

00:11:56   There's a...

00:11:57   Yep.

00:11:58   In reference acknowledged.

00:11:59   So, for those who are excited about Powerbeats Pro, there they are.

00:12:04   Couple of upstream headlines for you related to Apple TV+ shows.

00:12:09   Uma Thurman has joined Suspicion coming to Apple TV+.

00:12:13   This is the show that we've mentioned in the past that was based on an Israeli award-winning program called Force Flag.

00:12:19   The plot of the drama revolves around a prominent businesswoman who is going to be played by Uma Thurman

00:12:24   and the kidnapping of her son.

00:12:25   The crime is caught on video and goes viral and then a quartet of British citizens become the lead suspects

00:12:30   and the show asks whether the suspicion is warranted.

00:12:34   That's the kind of what the show is all about.

00:12:37   But another A-lister joining an Apple TV+ project.

00:12:42   Yep.

00:12:43   Apple have also shared trailers for two shows, Home Before Dark, which is the story of the young reporter.

00:12:52   Yeah, it's a nine-year-old journalist who uncovers a murder.

00:12:55   Based on true events.

00:12:56   And then also Central Park, their comedy musical show, animated show made by the Bob's Burgers creator.

00:13:05   Bob's Burgers.

00:13:05   Yeah, you got it.

00:13:06   It is animated from the people who did Bob's Burgers and it's musical and it's got a remarkable cast.

00:13:12   Lots of people from Hamilton in the cast, the original Broadway version of Hamilton.

00:13:16   Yeah, that one I'm very much intrigued by and I love Bob's Burgers.

00:13:20   That's a great show.

00:13:21   But that's coming at the end of May.

00:13:23   I think that all of this was supposed to be announced at South by Southwest.

00:13:28   Makes sense.

00:13:29   Because Apple were at South by Southwest, was supposed to be at South by Southwest, right?

00:13:32   Right.

00:13:33   And will be showing off stuff.

00:13:35   Well, they didn't get to do any of that so they probably released a bunch of this stuff afterwards on their own social channels.

00:13:41   Sure.

00:13:42   Alright, let's take a break and we should talk about the news of the day.

00:13:48   Yes, we have to talk about whether Uma Thurman will be going on a set anytime soon in fact, right?

00:13:54   But we should take a break first.

00:13:55   Let's talk about Linode.

00:13:57   Whether you're working on a personal project or managing your enterprise's infrastructure,

00:14:01   Linode has the pricing, support and scale that you need to take your project to the next level.

00:14:06   They have 11 data centers worldwide.

00:14:08   They have just opened one in Sydney, Australia.

00:14:11   And with their enterprise grade hardware, S3 compatible storage options and next generation

00:14:16   network, Linode delivers the performance you expect at a shockingly good price.

00:14:21   You can get started with a Linode virtual server today with a $20 credit exclusively

00:14:25   for listeners of this show.

00:14:27   And you will get access to dedicated CPU plans, physical cores reserved just for you.

00:14:33   You could also take advantage of native SSD storage, 40 gigabit network and industry leading

00:14:37   processes.

00:14:40   You could have Nanode plans start as low as $5 a month and they have one click installs

00:14:45   of the most popular apps, including WordPress, LAMP stack and game servers for Minecraft

00:14:51   with so much more available.

00:14:53   Go to Linode.com/upgrade and use the promo code upgrade2020 when creating a new Linode

00:14:59   account and you'll get a $20 credit towards your next project.

00:15:03   Once again, that is Linode.com/upgrade and the promo code upgrade2020 for that $20 credit.

00:15:09   Our thanks to Linode for their support of this show and all of Relay FM.

00:15:15   Okay, so let's talk about coronavirus, COVID-19 and how Apple has been responding because

00:15:22   they have done a lot of responding in the last week.

00:15:25   There's lots of things going on here.

00:15:27   The biggest thing is that WWDC is going to be online only.

00:15:32   This is an interesting thing for me now because I feel like I've kind of forgotten about it

00:15:35   because I have resigned myself to the fact that this was happening to the point that

00:15:40   now that it's happened, it's just the way it is.

00:15:42   Like this should be, this is really big news, but like if they drop this out of the blue,

00:15:49   we would have just lost our minds, right?

00:15:51   Right.

00:15:52   But because I think we'd resigned ourselves to the fact that this was going to be the

00:15:55   case, it doesn't feel that big now.

00:15:58   It's that creeping realization, which all of us are going through, I think, as we watch

00:16:02   the news, right?

00:16:03   You go through those steps where it's, could they, and then they probably should, and then

00:16:11   it's, you know, they probably will, and then we went to, they certainly have already decided,

00:16:18   they're just deciding when to announce it and how, and then they finally, like, you

00:16:22   know, you talk about waiting for the other shoe to drop, like eight shoes dropped here,

00:16:27   like we, so we had all come to terms with it, and actually on a larger scale, I feel

00:16:32   like that is a thing that you can see repeating in all of these stories is a lot of it is

00:16:37   about people coming to terms with the inevitable of what needs to be done and sort of trying

00:16:42   to, you know, taking a path there and hopefully taking it fairly quickly of going from, well,

00:16:48   of course, we're going to have our event to eventually, hopefully quickly getting to,

00:16:53   of course, we're not having our event.

00:16:56   And that's been happening a lot.

00:16:58   So you know, no details really, right?

00:17:01   A couple of paragraphs in the press release about this, and you know, it's going to be

00:17:05   an online event.

00:17:06   It's going to be for all Apple developers.

00:17:08   They said that specifically that they're going to, you know, there's early access to the

00:17:12   future of the platforms, which means that there'll be, you know, they're still planning

00:17:16   on doing their, their beta cycles.

00:17:18   Although they're again, I think it's worth asking the question, does that still make

00:17:23   assumptions about Apple's capability to develop software that may be hindered by what's going

00:17:28   on with the pandemic?

00:17:31   But at least for now, that's their plan is they're going to do it online.

00:17:34   They're going to do a keynote online.

00:17:35   They're going to do sessions online.

00:17:36   They haven't given us a date.

00:17:37   It's going to start in June, but it's unclear when it also didn't, didn't say stopping in

00:17:41   June.

00:17:42   Right?

00:17:43   Like I'm, I think that it's an open question about whether they might take more time to

00:17:48   roll this out, whether they want to do it in a whole week.

00:17:50   The potential problem of they're just not sure when it's going to be ready, maybe right.

00:17:55   Sure it's like, and I take a lot of work and they're just not sure who's going to be in

00:17:59   and who's not going to be.

00:18:00   And so by not fixing a date to this, because frankly they don't need to, um, they're giving

00:18:06   themselves a lot of room.

00:18:07   I like that they are at least sticking to June, uh, cause I think that that's good.

00:18:12   I mean, obviously I find it to be, you know, as, as I'm sure you do really difficult because

00:18:19   we have a lot to plan around it, but we get the point, right?

00:18:22   Like, you know, it's not the worst thing.

00:18:24   I'm sure we'll get more information when we get closer, but you know, there is another

00:18:27   story that's on our list here that we might as well talk about now, which is there is

00:18:32   a challenge in, in a work from home environment, which Apple is trying to do with their people

00:18:36   that, um, you know, Apple has incredibly strict security, especially about things like future

00:18:42   products, future hardware products, but also even future software products.

00:18:45   And I think this is one of those things that's going to be a challenge for them.

00:18:49   Um, and that they're going to have to work out is if, if they want to keep their employees

00:18:53   safe, um, are their employees going to be able to have the wherewithal to do the work

00:18:57   that's necessary to get the platforms where they need to be to do, uh, you know, a release

00:19:03   and sessions and all sorts of stuff in June, or is it all going to slide a little bit?

00:19:09   Um, and the hedging and saying June, I think is good.

00:19:12   It would, it would not shock me if it's later than we're used to not early June, but later

00:19:17   in June.

00:19:18   It also wouldn't shock me if it's even later.

00:19:20   Cause I feel like we live in a world now where there are a lot of assumptions that you haven't

00:19:25   yet been questioned.

00:19:26   And then over the course of the next few weeks, people are going to realize, Oh, we can't

00:19:30   do it that way anymore.

00:19:32   And things are going to change.

00:19:33   So we'll have to watch.

00:19:34   But I, you know, the, the idea about like, can I use this?

00:19:38   Can I check this out?

00:19:39   Do I have access to this even on their VPN or whatever they've got for their security?

00:19:44   Um, and then, you know, do you have to come into Apple park and are they spacing people

00:19:48   out in Apple park, right?

00:19:50   Keeping them away from one another, maintaining social distance.

00:19:53   It's a, I mean, let's not assume that they're going to have new versions of their platforms

00:19:59   all ready to go the first week of June, like they usually do, because I would probably

00:20:03   bet against that right now.

00:20:04   Yeah.

00:20:05   Like they said it right.

00:20:06   Oh, you're going to find out about iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, but that was written

00:20:10   like a week ago.

00:20:12   Who knows where we're going to be in three months time, right?

00:20:15   We just don't know.

00:20:16   We just don't know what the next few months are going to look like.

00:20:19   Right.

00:20:20   And so I completely agree with what you said there.

00:20:22   I think that's a really good way of putting it is every assumption we have right now needs

00:20:26   to be challenged.

00:20:28   So I did like something that I saw Becky Hansmeyer tweet, um, saying that she was actually more

00:20:36   excited than usual about WWDC this year.

00:20:39   It has this we're all in this together vibe that makes me feel even more part of the community.

00:20:44   It's all the joy of WWDC with none of the FOMO, the pure and perfect dub dub for those

00:20:48   of us who can never attend.

00:20:49   And I actually thought that was really nice.

00:20:51   It's like, yes, we actually are all together.

00:20:54   And you know, I'm trying to think like ways that we can do things differently, um, this

00:21:02   year because of the fact that like it's going to be different.

00:21:07   And so like, I'm trying to think of ways that things can be done differently.

00:21:11   I don't have any ideas yet, but trying to make the best of the situation, you know.

00:21:17   Yeah.

00:21:18   Uh, Apple has halted production of its television shows, joining many networks.

00:21:24   Not so fast Uma Thurman.

00:21:27   Obviously they've, they've, they've shut everything, but have noted foundation C, the morning show

00:21:32   servant for all mankind.

00:21:34   Yeah.

00:21:35   They were all shooting apparently season two of all of those shows or season one of foundation.

00:21:40   And uh, yeah.

00:21:42   Yep.

00:21:43   The knock on effect here, which I was thinking about today, which is interesting is they

00:21:48   need all these shows in theory, right?

00:21:50   Like they need all these shows to have their season twos.

00:21:53   So they're ready for when people will start paying for this thing in a year.

00:21:58   And this will impact that.

00:22:00   And maybe the shows won't be ready in time.

00:22:03   My prediction is that if the shows aren't ready in the fall, when they're getting all

00:22:07   of those free subscriptions to lapse, that Apple will extend the free trial.

00:22:11   I think that makes sense, right?

00:22:13   Delays and just kind of put it off a little bit because yeah, they totally want to have

00:22:18   a people hooked on season one of these shows and then have season two come out and them

00:22:22   needing, you know, you'll need to pay to stay at doing Apple TV plus and they can't time

00:22:28   it that way.

00:22:29   Uh, wouldn't surprise me to just push the free trial a little bit longer.

00:22:34   Uh, Apple followed up the WWDC announcement a day or two later with a more comprehensive,

00:22:41   um, response to coronavirus.

00:22:44   So there's a few things that they've done.

00:22:47   Apple is donating at least $15 million to organizations around the world to help with

00:22:52   this.

00:22:53   For example, something we didn't mention that they'd donated a million dollars to organizations

00:22:56   in the city of San Jose because of WWDC not being there.

00:23:00   Because that I'm sure will make an impact right on restaurants and such.

00:23:04   Um, definitely right.

00:23:05   Uh, Apple is closing.

00:23:07   This is the big one.

00:23:08   They are closing all retail stores outside of greater China until March 27th.

00:23:13   I would say at least.

00:23:15   Yeah.

00:23:16   Last week we talked about them removing chairs and canceling like their, their events, their

00:23:22   demos and things like that and how quickly things move that by the end of the week they're

00:23:27   all closed except in greater China, mainland China where they, they were closed for a while

00:23:33   and now are reopening.

00:23:34   Yeah.

00:23:35   Because China's situation is more under control now.

00:23:39   Um, Apple is encouraging remote working wherever possible.

00:23:42   Right.

00:23:43   We spoke about that.

00:23:44   And, uh, like many other large technology companies, they will continue to pay salaries

00:23:49   for people who cannot work at home, right?

00:23:52   Like people whose jobs are fixed to a position.

00:23:54   Um, you know, who cannot be in a safe location.

00:23:57   Of course, if people are sick, they'll continue to pay as well.

00:23:59   And the idea here is this is, this is the thing that you're seeing a lot in a lot of

00:24:02   different industries where you've got a very rich company and they've got, you know, the

00:24:06   people who work in the cafeteria and they close the cafeteria and what a lot of these

00:24:11   companies are stepping up and doing, which is really great, is saying, we are, you know,

00:24:17   we're going to pay them even though they can't come in and do their job because they are

00:24:21   part of our company and this is going to affect them severely.

00:24:25   And let's be honest, these companies have a lot of money and those people are not the

00:24:29   most compensated people at their company.

00:24:31   And to take care of them when there's an act of nature, essentially, that is put them out

00:24:36   of work, um, is the right thing to do.

00:24:39   I think.

00:24:40   Um, also you're seeing a lot of this about people who are sick because one of the other

00:24:45   issues here is if you get sick, but the only way you get paid is by coming into work because

00:24:50   you don't have sick leave, sick time, um, it, it spreads disease because those people force

00:24:57   themselves to go to work even though they're sick and then they transmit the illness to

00:25:01   other people.

00:25:02   So you're also seeing much more expansive sick leave policies in place, uh, for a bunch

00:25:08   of different companies and Apple's definitely doing that where they've, they've added some

00:25:12   extended, um, sick policy so that people who feel ill should just stay away and they'll

00:25:18   continue to be paid.

00:25:19   Uh, they're doing, uh, they have actions underway to support their authorized service providers.

00:25:26   So throughout March and April, Apple is going to be giving like the repair centers that

00:25:31   they have, not like the third party companies that do these repairs.

00:25:35   They're going to be giving them the maximum payouts for qualifying repairs, irrespective

00:25:39   of usual performance metrics.

00:25:40   I tried to get my head around this one a little bit, what it seems like that Apple pay, also

00:25:45   pay the service providers some like bonus, I guess for certain repairs that they do,

00:25:52   but they are graded on a scale, but instead they're just giving people all the money that

00:25:58   the top of the scale level.

00:26:00   So this is, well, I think one of the reasons they're doing this is not just to help these

00:26:06   companies out, but also to kind of like incentivize them because Apple will not be providing these

00:26:12   services now over the next few weeks as their stores are closed.

00:26:17   There is a weird thing about like then kind of incentivizing these businesses to stay

00:26:21   open, which is strange, but you've got one of two paths that you can take with this and

00:26:28   this is the thing that they can affect.

00:26:29   For people looking back at this podcast from the future, I guess I should qualify that

00:26:35   it feels very much like we are in this in between moment where it's really unclear what

00:26:41   lengths society and governments will go to to stop the spread of this or slow the spread

00:26:49   of this by shutting down services.

00:26:52   And in some countries this has already happened.

00:26:54   I feel like it's inevitable that it will happen everywhere, but this is one of those

00:26:57   interesting questions of like what stays open and what closes and you read about like everything

00:27:04   is closed except for grocery stores or in pharmacies and things like that.

00:27:10   But there's a question we just had this today where my daughter is back from school

00:27:15   because they shut her school down and the car she uses to drive has had for the last

00:27:19   week basically a flat tire and we took it in to be fixed this morning in part because

00:27:25   I would like that car to be drivable and I don't know how long the tire place is going

00:27:30   to stay open.

00:27:31   But that's a question, right?

00:27:32   Like do you close everything or is a car mechanic the kind of thing where you can still like

00:27:37   leave your car and then come back later and pay them and throw them your credit card or

00:27:42   whatever you need to do or does all of that stuff cease to?

00:27:47   And we don't know exactly what the rules will be and we don't know exactly when but it's

00:27:52   already starting to happen in parts of the United States and Seattle definitely that's

00:27:55   starting to happen.

00:27:57   And so that's where we are now is how does this world work when we lock everything down

00:28:01   for two to eight to question mark weeks?

00:28:06   So I guess we'll see I mean this the we there was something on Twitter about how somebody

00:28:11   took their laptop into the Apple store because it had a replace battery warning and they

00:28:16   they said okay we'll take this and we'll give it back to you on Monday and then they closed

00:28:20   all the stores and that person was saying well I need my laptop I need my MacBook Pro

00:28:25   back you have my computer I need it back and what I heard is that there are some people

00:28:31   still in Apple stores to do things like return that laptop to the person who needs to come

00:28:38   and get it.

00:28:39   But we're all just kind of finding our way here and learning what the rules are.

00:28:43   The overarching rule should be don't go outside if you know don't be around other people if

00:28:48   you can help it as much as possible to slow the spread of this but the specifics are still

00:28:55   a little unclear in depending on where you are of what's closed and what's open and what's

00:28:59   okay and what's not.

00:29:03   Apple have with the Apple card have launched the assistance program so they're allowing

00:29:07   customers to skip their March payments without incurring interest so I guess if you are financially

00:29:12   impacted because of this they're kind of allowing you to skip payment for a month they're just

00:29:17   kind of like don't worry about it which is nice.

00:29:21   And in regards to the App Store Apple is expediting the approval process for apps that are related

00:29:27   to COVID-19 provided that they are from reputable sources like government organizations, health

00:29:32   focused NGOs, companies deeply credentialed in health issues and medical educational institutions

00:29:38   so they're able to just go to a special team to be approved quickly.

00:29:42   They're also waiving the developer fee for apps that are free and distributed to select

00:29:45   groups that are about this and games relating to coronavirus will be rejected from the App

00:29:50   Store.

00:29:51   Sounds about right.

00:29:53   So that's where I guess you know we talk about Apple in this show and the entire world is

00:30:00   talking about coronavirus so we talk about Apple's response to coronavirus and as it

00:30:04   stands that is it for now.

00:30:06   Today's show is also brought to you by direct mail.

00:30:09   If you have a business I bet that you're always looking for new ways to build your customer

00:30:14   base right or to build a following that is something that we all look to try and do in

00:30:18   our businesses.

00:30:19   A super cost effective way to do this is email for over 15 years direct mail for Mac has

00:30:25   been the go to email marketing app for businesses, nonprofits and schools.

00:30:30   Also other organizations who want to expand their reach connect with their customers.

00:30:34   It is designed for the Mac so you can get your work done in half the time using all

00:30:38   the Mac technologies that you've grown to love.

00:30:41   Stuff like drag and drop, native keyboard shortcuts, integrations with other apps that

00:30:45   you use and so much more.

00:30:47   Direct mail has eye catching templates that are infinitely customizable that look great

00:30:50   on all devices which is really important because you don't know where somebody is going to

00:30:54   be opening their email and direct mail have a helpful customer service team staffed by

00:30:58   real humans.

00:30:59   No chatbots, no AI, just friendly folk ready to help at no extra charge to you.

00:31:05   Send your first campaign today with a free download of direct mail.

00:31:09   Listeners of this show can save 10% off all of their full featured pricing plans.

00:31:13   Head over to directmailmac.com/upgrade to experience the top rated email marketing app

00:31:19   for the Mac and see how they can help your business grow.

00:31:23   That is directmailmac.com/upgrade.

00:31:26   Our thanks to direct mail for their support of this show and all of relay FM.

00:31:33   So as we expected last week was full of more iOS 14 and more leaks and I figured we'd

00:31:42   maybe just talk about a few of those here, Jason.

00:31:45   There's too many again to talk about on this episode, but maybe some of the more interesting

00:31:49   ones.

00:31:50   I wanted to get your take on this.

00:31:52   So there is talk of a new AR focused application.

00:31:56   So Apple is working on an app as part of iOS 14 that will let you use your iOS devices

00:32:01   to get information about products and things in the real world.

00:32:04   They're trialing it in Apple stores and Starbucks.

00:32:07   So for example, you could hold, I don't know, like some kind of Belkin charger up to your

00:32:11   iPhone and you'd get a bunch of information about it.

00:32:15   They will either have an SDK or an API, but it's unsure which will be taken advantage

00:32:22   of, but this will be available for third parties.

00:32:24   We would expect that this is all in preparation for a dedicated AR device from Apple.

00:32:30   What do you think about something like this?

00:32:33   I don't know.

00:32:38   I feel like I wrote a piece about this actually over the weekend for Tom's Guide about how

00:32:43   we can look at these leaks and we can see Apple's development priorities.

00:32:46   And with AR, it's been the case for a while now that Apple's really, really interested

00:32:50   in AR, but doesn't have a product.

00:32:54   So we end up seeing these kind of weird AR inside iPhones and iPads stuff that is cool,

00:33:03   but not really practical.

00:33:05   It's not really stuff anybody's looking for.

00:33:08   Yeah, but the reason they're doing it is not because everybody's going to be holding their

00:33:12   iPhones out and looking around so much as that this is heading somewhere.

00:33:18   And that's the best tool we've got right now, even though it's not very appropriate for

00:33:22   this.

00:33:23   So I look at this stuff, it's hard for me to get excited about it until, because it

00:33:27   does feel like even Apple realizes this is not so much for today as it is for the future.

00:33:34   But do you can, I mean, how do you feel about AR right now?

00:33:42   Just in general?

00:33:43   I will believe it when I see it.

00:33:49   That's kind of how I feel about it.

00:33:50   Like I don't share Tim Cook's enthusiasm, which he hasn't talked about in a little while

00:33:56   in any of those calls, but I haven't shared his "this will change everything" kind of

00:33:59   feeling.

00:34:00   It pops up in like speeches and stuff that he does, appearances.

00:34:03   I see the potential of having augmented reality, right?

00:34:11   AR, an overlay over reality where you can take stuff that's been processed from the

00:34:15   internet and by intelligent agents that can filter things out.

00:34:21   The idea that you can see where you need to go or who this person you're talking to is

00:34:27   or call up information with, while essentially giving you a heads up display while you walk

00:34:32   around.

00:34:33   I can see the idea.

00:34:34   I'm a little skeptical that that tech is going to be good, especially since we're limited

00:34:39   by our biology.

00:34:41   You have to put something in front of people's eyes in order to do this.

00:34:46   That's already asking a lot because a lot of people don't wear glasses.

00:34:50   And then even if they do wear glasses, you've got to get something right up in front of

00:34:54   their eyes.

00:34:56   I just think it's a real challenge and there's a reason why there hasn't been anything that's

00:35:01   really taken off in terms of AR.

00:35:05   It's not only not very good, but what there is out there is not even at the level of what

00:35:11   was available as an MP3 player before the iPod came out or what was available as a smartphone

00:35:17   before the iPhone was announced.

00:35:19   I don't think we're even at that level where there's a market of stuff that people are

00:35:24   using, but not very much because it's not very good.

00:35:26   And then Apple swoops in and says, "Ha ha, we figured it out."

00:35:29   I don't feel like we're even at that level yet.

00:35:31   So unless Apple is way ahead, I'm skeptical.

00:35:36   When we talk about AR, we've talked about how the different modes in the AirPods Pro

00:35:42   feel like real augmented reality.

00:35:45   And I think that's true.

00:35:47   I actually think that there are maybe other senses that are much further along and also

00:35:53   much easier to augment.

00:35:57   I know that Apple is very interested in this visual overlay.

00:36:01   I think there is a lot more that can probably be done with AirPods Pro, let's say, in our

00:36:08   ears and Apple watches on our wrists in terms of talking and listening and tapping and providing

00:36:16   a quick glance.

00:36:18   And Apple's doing some stuff there, but sometimes I think that that's the real augmented reality

00:36:25   stuff that works and that the rest of it is—I guess I'm skeptical of it.

00:36:30   I think it could be great, but I'm having a hard time feeling like it's close.

00:36:37   I think I'm pretty similar to you.

00:36:45   I've yet to see anything that I could imagine being a trade-off I'm willing to make.

00:36:53   And really Apple needs to show me the hardware, right?

00:36:56   And that's the point.

00:36:57   They need to have created something that's compelling, but we're not there yet.

00:37:02   Maybe we'll get there whenever they have something to show.

00:37:06   We may have been able to go back and hear some skepticism around something like an Apple

00:37:10   watch before that came out, even though I think it was generally more accepted as a

00:37:16   thing before, which is interesting, but we'll see.

00:37:20   Like I said, the biology is the part that has stopped me from the beginning.

00:37:23   I know that fighter planes have things where they have lasers that actually paint the back

00:37:29   of your eye so that the display is right on your eye.

00:37:32   There exists technology, but the thing is it's expensive, and oftentimes it's again

00:37:36   about the angles.

00:37:37   Where is that thing?

00:37:38   And then you start to think, "Okay, well, I can do it in a jet cockpit.

00:37:40   I can do it when I'm wearing a helmet, but can I do it if I'm just walking around with

00:37:44   a, let's say, a pair of glasses, and how much do they weigh at that point?"

00:37:49   And I don't know if you've ever experienced this, Myke, because you wear glasses, but

00:37:53   if something's wrong with your glasses, like one of the pads is tilted wrong or something

00:37:58   on your nose, it becomes really painful really quickly.

00:38:03   Like one imbalance.

00:38:05   So to add a lot of weight of tech gear onto a pair of glasses and have it on your face,

00:38:13   that's a hard problem.

00:38:14   That's not like, "Oh, we made some glasses.

00:38:15   It's fine.

00:38:16   Talk to people who wore Google Glass."

00:38:17   It's not quite right.

00:38:20   It's not...weird heavy glasses are not a solution, and our eyes are still where they are on our

00:38:26   face and need to have light shined into them in order to see.

00:38:31   So for me, a lot of it comes down to biology, which is funny because like a lot of the iOS

00:38:36   interface conventions are all about biology, right?

00:38:39   Craig Hockenberry wrote about that right in the months after the iPhone was announced and

00:38:43   before it shipped, where they were like trying to measure the size of a fingertip because

00:38:49   it turned out that that was the pointing device, was the fingertip, and our fingers were never

00:38:54   going to get smaller.

00:38:56   So everything about touch interaction had to be based on the reality of our biology,

00:39:01   and the same is true of AR, and I think it's a limiter for that.

00:39:04   So yeah.

00:39:05   Sorry, Tim Cook.

00:39:07   iOS 14 could see some app layout changes.

00:39:14   So on the home screen, for example, you may now be able to bring up a list view of your

00:39:19   applications with various different sorting options.

00:39:23   We have been arranging home screens on iPhones for over a decade at this point, longer.

00:39:30   Those icons have been wiggling for so long now, Myke.

00:39:34   So long, the wiggle.

00:39:35   Oh, the wiggle keeps wiggling.

00:39:36   Do you want to see it change, or at least there be an additional option that we haven't

00:39:40   had before?

00:39:41   Yeah, there was a good bit in Connected last week where Federico talked about this, and

00:39:45   I agree with what he said.

00:39:48   I think the truth is, you look at Android.

00:39:52   Android has sort of two modes for apps.

00:39:56   You can choose apps that appear on a screen, on like a home screen.

00:40:00   These are the apps that you care about.

00:40:03   And then you don't have to have, it's like imagine if your Mac had, literally every app

00:40:07   on your Mac was in the dock.

00:40:09   That's basically what the current iOS is.

00:40:13   And there are tiers, at least I have, I really have tiers of apps.

00:40:17   I have the apps that I launch, I want to launch all the time, and they're on my first page

00:40:21   of my home screen.

00:40:22   And then there's everything else.

00:40:24   And do I swipe to page two to find those apps?

00:40:27   Almost never.

00:40:28   I search for them, and then I launch them.

00:40:33   So having a new layout where we could see all the apps in a list, I think is great.

00:40:41   And I agree with something Federico said last week, which is, I don't think every installed

00:40:46   app needs to have a physical location in the geography of the home screen.

00:40:52   It has to be in a folder somewhere.

00:40:53   It has to be on a page.

00:40:55   I would really like to be done with that.

00:40:57   I think app icons should be earned.

00:41:01   Like, if I care enough about you to put you on a page of my phone, great.

00:41:06   If I care enough to have you around, but I don't want to see you until you're summoned,

00:41:11   that's how it should be.

00:41:12   And the idea that iPhone users have these folders called junk that have like 20 apps

00:41:18   in them, it's dumb.

00:41:20   We shouldn't have to do that.

00:41:21   But that's something that we've been stuck with for more than a decade.

00:41:26   So I hope this is true because it's needed a rethink for what, five years at least, if

00:41:32   not longer.

00:41:33   And it just hasn't happened.

00:41:37   There is apparently new Apple TV hardware on the way.

00:41:39   There are references in iOS 14 to a new version of the Apple TV and a new version of the Apple

00:41:44   TV remote.

00:41:48   Don't get too excited.

00:41:50   The last time we got a new version of the Apple TV remote, it was a white circle around

00:41:54   the menu button.

00:41:55   Yep.

00:41:56   So we'll see.

00:41:59   We'll see.

00:42:00   Wouldn't it be great if they put out a new version that was still like ridiculously expensive,

00:42:04   but the big feature of it was that it was like a clicky remote?

00:42:09   I would like that.

00:42:12   Having used the Logitech Harmony as my primary Apple TV remote for the last few weeks, so

00:42:19   just clicky buttons, almost everything is superior about that.

00:42:23   The only thing that's inferior is if I need to jump away to the beginning or away to the

00:42:26   end of something, because I don't really use Siri to search.

00:42:32   So I think they could do it.

00:42:34   I'm skeptical about whether they will because I do think that they are worried that if you

00:42:40   don't provide that touch pad experience on the remote that some apps are not going to

00:42:46   work right.

00:42:50   There's some new accessibility features coming, and this one's really interesting.

00:42:53   So using sensors and mics on an iPhone, they'll be able to detect fire alarms, sirens, door

00:43:00   knocks, door bells, even crying children.

00:43:03   And then from 9 to 5 Mac, presumably iOS will translate these alerts into haptics for people

00:43:08   who have hearing issues.

00:43:10   Yeah, if they can get it to work, I think it's a really cool idea that your phone is

00:43:13   listening for you and that if it hears a siren or whatever you set it up, that you get to

00:43:20   push notification that says, "I hear a siren.

00:43:23   I hear somebody knocking on the door."

00:43:25   How well it works is kind of a mystery, but this would be a really clever accessibility

00:43:30   feature if they can get it to work.

00:43:34   And I wonder if it would have some other features.

00:43:37   Does it tie with HomeKit where you could have a light flash or turn on or something like

00:43:42   that if it detects something like that?

00:43:43   But my skepticism is, again, how reliable is it going to be?

00:43:47   Is it really going to be able to tell when a baby is crying or when somebody rings your

00:43:52   doorbell?

00:43:53   Maybe your doorbell makes a little more sense, but when there's a siren outside somewhere,

00:43:57   I don't know.

00:43:58   I don't know.

00:43:59   But it's an interesting idea.

00:44:00   I like what they're exploring here, so we'll see.

00:44:03   It's all about the details, but it's an interesting idea.

00:44:06   And then there were a bunch of additional rumors, reports about Apple laptops that came

00:44:12   out last week as well.

00:44:13   It was a very busy week last week.

00:44:15   Lin Chi Kuo had a couple of reports.

00:44:18   The first saying that there will be new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models with the scissor

00:44:23   switch keyboard coming by June.

00:44:28   So again, all of these things are pretty unclear with the details.

00:44:34   You'd naturally assume that if that's going to happen, that would mean the 13 inch would

00:44:40   become a different design, right?

00:44:42   Like it would become the 14 inch or whatever.

00:44:44   They're not just going to put a scissor switch keyboard in the current 13 inch MacBook Pro.

00:44:49   That would be very peculiar.

00:44:51   But the other interesting part of that, of course, is that that's the MacBook Air as

00:44:55   well.

00:44:56   MacBook Air getting the keyboard that we want and having the butterfly keyboard then gone

00:45:01   from the line completely.

00:45:03   And that that should, if this is correct, that should be by the end of the month.

00:45:09   I hope so.

00:45:10   We don't know, again, everything has a footnote, which is who knows how this is going to change

00:45:16   and Apple rolling out new products when there isn't an Apple store is interesting, but there

00:45:21   is a whole, you know, online Apple store.

00:45:24   So that's another way to do it.

00:45:27   It would be when we did the Apple report card at the end of last year on six colors.

00:45:32   The most common comment I think I got from all the people I surveyed was it's great that

00:45:38   they got the butterfly keyboard out of that one laptop, but it's in all the others.

00:45:43   And this feeling that they hadn't finished the job, so they shouldn't get full credit

00:45:47   for it.

00:45:48   And that, you know, they're going to be, it's going to be years before all of those butterfly

00:45:52   keyboards are gone.

00:45:54   Because if you bought one last year or bought one yesterday, you're going to have it for

00:45:58   years and you're going to be dealing with it.

00:46:01   So if Apple has prioritized getting it out of everywhere and that happens soon, that's

00:46:09   fantastic news.

00:46:11   Because my fear was that they were going to drag their feet on it and that the MacBook

00:46:14   Air wouldn't get them the new keyboard for a while.

00:46:17   My hope was that the MacBook Air was designed with the idea that they'd be replacing that

00:46:20   keyboard because they knew they were going to have to do that.

00:46:24   But you know, there are lots of things we want Apple to do and that Apple doesn't do.

00:46:30   So I hope so.

00:46:32   I hope that the that keyboard is gone soon from every, you know, every new product Apple

00:46:39   sells.

00:46:40   It's way past time and they don't deserve credit for fixing the issue until it's truly

00:46:45   fixed across all their laptops.

00:46:48   Quo also says that either in Q4 2020 or Q1 2021, we will see the first Apple laptops with

00:46:56   Apple-designed ARM processors.

00:47:00   Oh that was a laser.

00:47:01   Yeah.

00:47:02   That was a laser of surprise.

00:47:03   Maybe they made the processors of lasers, you know.

00:47:04   That's what ARM processors made.

00:47:05   Maybe it, I have been predicting this, I know I've talked about it on here before, I've

00:47:10   been predicting this forever and it just never, like, "This is the year, this is the year,

00:47:13   no, no, this is the year!"

00:47:15   It would be great if this was the year.

00:47:17   It would be great if next year was the year.

00:47:20   But I think the, it will be quite a thing if their big chip transition announcement

00:47:31   happens at an event that's entirely virtual, right?

00:47:37   That's the shame, right?

00:47:38   Like if this is, if they do announce it at WWDC, it's a shame to not be able to announce

00:47:44   it in front of a group of people who will be excited.

00:47:48   There will be, you know, maybe hardware there, you know, it's a shame.

00:47:51   That all said, it affects every Mac developer, even the ones who aren't there.

00:47:56   It is a big story.

00:48:00   It feels like Apple's been moving forward in a whole bunch of directions to get to this

00:48:05   point, getting rid of 32-bit stuff.

00:48:08   Mac Catalyst is probably a part of it.

00:48:11   The, you know, bringing a cursor to the iPad because that sort of like ties the iPad apps

00:48:16   and the Mac apps that are in Catalyst together a little bit more potentially.

00:48:20   There's a bunch of things that they've been doing that it seems like are converging in,

00:48:26   you know, later this year or next year.

00:48:29   I will put out there a prediction, which I've mentioned before, but I keep feeling more

00:48:36   confident about it, which is if Apple announces an ARM transition at WWDC, the big question

00:48:45   is what hardware do they use if they offer hardware to developers for them to test on?

00:48:52   Because the Intel transition, you could get like a Power Mac G5 that had an Intel motherboard

00:48:58   in it, and it was the Intel development machine.

00:49:02   Like this has been a thing that Apple has done in the past.

00:49:06   And I had two thoughts.

00:49:07   One is they'll offer an ARM development card that you can put in a Mac Pro.

00:49:12   So they'll make everybody buy a Mac Pro.

00:49:14   But the other thought I had, and I just, I'm not 100% on this, but I think it's a serious

00:49:19   possibility that one of the reasons that all of this, there's all this heat around that

00:49:22   iPad Pro with a, you know, pointing device on the smart keyboard and all of that is that

00:49:27   it could also be a Mac ARM transition machine, that you basically sacrifice your iPad and

00:49:34   turn it into an ARM Mac for the purposes of software testing, not for regular people,

00:49:41   but for the purposes of development, wouldn't put it past them to do something like that.

00:49:45   Because I'm sure the iPad Pro is pretty close to what an ARM MacBook might look like, but

00:49:52   I don't know.

00:49:53   I don't know.

00:49:54   It seems like it's actually happening.

00:49:55   So thank you to Ming-Chi Kuo for giving us some more tidbits about this.

00:49:59   That idea is so weird and interesting to me.

00:50:03   Like if they actually just have it, what do you mean that you could run macOS on an iPad?

00:50:09   Yeah, I mean, I think you absolutely could.

00:50:13   I think that you wouldn't want to if you're a regular user.

00:50:16   Well, I mean, you would, you might want to, but you probably shouldn't.

00:50:22   I will.

00:50:23   So many people will, right?

00:50:24   Like there's so many people are going to do it.

00:50:26   My guess is it's going to be like, to get out of this, you've got to like do this complicated

00:50:31   restore.

00:50:32   The touchscreen just doesn't work anymore.

00:50:34   Right?

00:50:35   Because it's not meant to be a user thing, but wouldn't that be something?

00:50:42   And yes, that would be fascinating.

00:50:43   You start to think, well, what would a Mac be like if it was in an iPad?

00:50:49   And the answer is useless unless you attach a pointing device.

00:50:52   But if you had that smart keyboard, not necessarily useless.

00:50:56   So yeah, I don't know.

00:50:58   It's maybe not, maybe not, maybe it's too different, but that's a particular mind blowing

00:51:04   fantasy that I have thought about from time to time after this announcement came out because

00:51:10   like there is an ARM system that has a keyboard and a mouse.

00:51:14   If this iPad Pro with smart keyboard ships that they could use as a development machine

00:51:19   for our Macs, but who knows?

00:51:23   Minchi Kuo is also saying that Apple will introduce an all new design to its laptop

00:51:27   lineup in Q2 or Q3 2021.

00:51:31   No indication of what product this is.

00:51:33   It's probably an ARM based MacBook Pro, I reckon.

00:51:36   That's what I put my money on.

00:51:38   Sure.

00:51:39   MacRumors is reporting still that we could expect new laptops sometime this week.

00:51:47   So they are citing a tip from a person who gave them a tip last year to that week of

00:51:53   product releases that happened in March.

00:51:57   Now of course, like it may have been the plan.

00:52:00   It may still be the plan.

00:52:02   It may not be correct at all.

00:52:03   That's right.

00:52:05   This report is from Friday and who knows when they got it and it's just from a tipster and

00:52:19   the world has continued to change out from under us since last Friday.

00:52:23   So I guess I'll keep my eye out for new Apple products.

00:52:27   I don't know anything about them and I would love to know about them, but we'll see.

00:52:33   How does that even work?

00:52:35   I actually think having the stores closed could help them do this if they wanted to

00:52:39   because they wouldn't need as much stock, right?

00:52:43   If the stores are closed because the online system is still continuing.

00:52:47   So if they did have limited supply, just selling them online might help them do that instead

00:52:53   of also then needing to have stock in stores.

00:52:56   Could be.

00:52:57   Who knows?

00:52:59   This is it.

00:53:00   We don't, right?

00:53:01   Like we are in a time where the typical tea leaf reading that we do means nothing.

00:53:08   That's right.

00:53:09   Because we read the tea leaves based on history.

00:53:13   So we may be sitting here and everything we're saying is exactly what Apple want to do, but

00:53:18   can't, right?

00:53:19   Like that's the difference.

00:53:21   It's not the typical thing with them where we're trying to guess what their plans are.

00:53:27   They can't control their plans right now.

00:53:30   That's the world we're in at the moment.

00:53:32   Yep.

00:53:33   Yep.

00:53:34   It's an uncharted territory.

00:53:35   Yep.

00:53:36   Speaking of which, let's give Upgradients some tips for working from home from people

00:53:43   that have been working from home for five years.

00:53:46   Yeah, two guys who have been in their house, self quarantining, self isolating.

00:53:52   For fun.

00:53:53   For a long time.

00:53:54   Yeah.

00:53:55   Yeah.

00:53:56   Yeah.

00:53:57   It seems like this is a good time that people in our line of work have been sharing with

00:54:01   people who are maybe not used to working at home, especially for extended periods of time.

00:54:06   Like I used to work from home like a day a week sometimes kind of thing, but that's not

00:54:10   the same as doing it every single day.

00:54:15   So do you want to start?

00:54:17   What's some tips we have here?

00:54:19   Sure.

00:54:20   My number one thing is about routines because humans like us respond well to routines.

00:54:29   They can become ruts.

00:54:30   They're good routines and bad routines, but I think routines are important and they provide

00:54:33   structure in your day and in your week.

00:54:36   And so I feel like setting some rules like, "Oh, I'm working at home.

00:54:40   There are no rules.

00:54:42   There's no structure.

00:54:43   I can do whatever."

00:54:44   That is a trap.

00:54:45   Like you need structure.

00:54:47   You can make the structure.

00:54:49   You can make the rules, but to have no structure and no rules is a very bad idea.

00:54:53   So like number one thing is pick a starting time.

00:54:58   When do you start work?

00:55:00   When do you start work?

00:55:02   And it can be anytime.

00:55:03   And depending on how your work is structured, you know, everybody needs to be in your work's

00:55:08   slack at 9 a.m. then that is going to give you that time.

00:55:12   But if it's a little bit broader than that.

00:55:13   So like my son, his school is shut down, but they're still assigning him work, which is

00:55:19   terrible, but this is where we are.

00:55:22   So he got all down because we're like, "You need to do class time.

00:55:26   You need to put in class time here.

00:55:28   You can't, you know, and the teachers are available during school hours, so you can't

00:55:31   wait and do it all in the afternoon because your teachers will be gone and you can't ask

00:55:34   them questions."

00:55:35   And he got sort of sad because he's like, "Oh, you know, I don't want to get up at 8

00:55:39   a.m."

00:55:40   And we said, "You don't need to get up at 8 a.m. just because that's when you get up

00:55:43   and go to school."

00:55:44   Like, so we said 10 a.m.

00:55:46   Just 10 a.m. is when, you know, you'll start doing school stuff and it gives you a time

00:55:52   to shoot for.

00:55:53   And I feel like for me, it's a similar thing.

00:55:55   Like I'm in my desk by whatever the time is, 8 a.m., 9 a.m., in and working.

00:56:00   So pick, try to structure yourself.

00:56:04   That's my number one is get into a routine.

00:56:06   It is comforting and helpful and you'll feel like you have control over your life a little

00:56:12   bit in a time when we don't have a lot of control over our lives, it feels like, because

00:56:16   of what's going on, to say, "I'm going to work at this time.

00:56:21   You know, I'm going to work 10 to 1 and then have a lunch break and then I'm going to work

00:56:27   2 or 1.30 to 5 and then set an end time is the other part of that."

00:56:32   Don't let your work just spiral off into forever.

00:56:35   Set an end time of like, "And then I'm going to clock out."

00:56:39   And if there are things you can do as a part of that, like for me, because I've got my

00:56:42   little office here, I do things like I shut down my computer, I turn off the light and

00:56:48   I close the door.

00:56:50   And I do that because it's creating barriers, time barriers and physical barriers.

00:56:57   And those are mental barriers too, to say, "You're done.

00:57:02   You're done for the day."

00:57:04   And that's really important because you could go on forever otherwise.

00:57:06   What about you?

00:57:08   - In the same vein, I will say to have a dedicated place in your home to do the work.

00:57:16   Don't try and avoid doing work in places that are usually used for relaxation.

00:57:23   So maybe don't do work on the sofa or definitely not in bed, maybe at the kitchen table or

00:57:31   maybe get a small desk and put it in the corner of a room.

00:57:35   Try and have a place where the work is done and do the work in that place.

00:57:40   It's like another thing of the routine.

00:57:42   It really helps when you're going into the second bedroom and starting work or going

00:57:49   to this place.

00:57:50   It's a real shame that people are unable, obviously, to go to a coffee shop.

00:57:56   Because that's a thing that really helps new working from home people do because you're

00:58:00   still going somewhere, but we can't do that.

00:58:04   So try and sequester a part of your home for being the workplace.

00:58:10   - And not everybody has the ability to do this.

00:58:12   It's really hard.

00:58:14   When I was proposing that we do more work from home at IDG, one of my parts of my plan

00:58:20   was going to be to offer people a co-working space reimbursement because not everybody

00:58:24   has the fortune to have the space to set something up.

00:58:30   I will say there are different ways.

00:58:32   We had that listener who wrote in a while ago who had a...

00:58:38   Maybe that was on free agents and not on upgrade, but we had a listener who wrote in and said

00:58:42   that he had a folding table.

00:58:45   - That's exactly the kind of thing I mean.

00:58:47   - Got up in the morning and he had this thing where he unfolded it and put it down.

00:58:50   It was like a card table.

00:58:51   But it became his office and then it was office mode and at the end of the day, he folded

00:58:56   it back up.

00:58:57   So he found a way.

00:58:58   I have one of those and used to use it all the time when I didn't have an office in my

00:59:02   house was like there was a side of the couch that I didn't sit on because it faces away

00:59:09   from the TV.

00:59:11   I would sit on that side facing away from the TV sort of out the window and I pull our

00:59:17   coffee table closer to me and put like my cup of coffee or cup of tea in my case down on

00:59:21   it and papers.

00:59:23   And it was not a way I sat and a direction I faced any other time.

00:59:31   And believe it or not, that was enough to make me think, "Okay, now I'm working."

00:59:36   When I'm standing at the bar in my kitchen with my iPad in the stand, I'm working.

00:59:44   I don't do that in any other scenario.

00:59:47   So sometimes if you can't carve out a space for yourself, maybe carve out a unique ergonomic

00:59:55   setup like something that just feels different that you only use for work because believe

01:00:01   it or not, that will have an impact on how you focus.

01:00:04   **Ezra Klein:** If you're in a shared accommodation, you and

01:00:09   everybody who lives in that shared accommodation could maybe agree to not use the shared space

01:00:13   for anything other than work right now.

01:00:16   So you change the way that you use your home a little bit and do your relaxing in your

01:00:23   bedroom.

01:00:24   **Beserat Debebe:** And that gets to another issue of rules, right?

01:00:27   Setting rules and agreeing on...

01:00:28   Because if you live with other people, whether they're just roommates or whether they're

01:00:33   family, talking to them about what the rules are is really important because if you can

01:00:39   agree on the rules, and that can be, like you said, using a space, it can be when that

01:00:46   space gets used.

01:00:47   It could be...

01:00:48   For me, it was a lot of rules about interruptions because one of the problems that happens when

01:00:53   you're working at home especially is that you get interrupted, it breaks your focus.

01:00:58   So set some rules up.

01:01:00   We did that in the first few months that I was working at home.

01:01:04   What does it mean when my door is open?

01:01:05   What does it mean when my door is closed?

01:01:07   What does it mean when your headphones are on?

01:01:10   And if everybody can agree on the rules, it gets a lot easier because then you don't have

01:01:17   those like, "Hey, can I bother you right now?"

01:01:19   Which just bothered you, right?

01:01:23   And so in certain circumstances, I will get a text message from my wife who's in the next

01:01:29   room because the door is closed and she will say, "Can I bother you about this?" or whatever.

01:01:35   If the door is open, she'll come in and stand in my field of vision.

01:01:39   But rather than immediately starting to talk because this was one of the rules we set down,

01:01:45   because I would be in the middle of writing a sentence and she'd start asking me a question

01:01:49   and I'd be like, "Ah!"

01:01:52   That she now knows to sort of like, "Give me a minute to stop my thought and then turn

01:01:56   and we'll have that conversation."

01:01:58   So like you work it out over time and it can be frustrating, but it's incredibly powerful

01:02:03   to get everybody to agree on some rules about when are you available and when are you not

01:02:09   available and when are you focused and how do I communicate with you?

01:02:12   So I highly recommend establishing that, especially if you have multiple people doing it in one

01:02:19   space.

01:02:20   If you can all agree on the rules, everybody will be happier.

01:02:23   Geoff - Try and have some kind of water cooler, online water cooler with friends and colleagues,

01:02:29   like be it Slack, Twitter, iMessage, somewhere that you can jump in and jump out and have

01:02:34   fun and chat and converse and share information with friends or colleagues that you otherwise

01:02:41   will not be seeing for a little bit.

01:02:43   Tim - Yeah.

01:02:44   Yeah.

01:02:45   We have today the ability to connect.

01:02:51   This is why I've always been a believer in virtual workspaces and having people out of

01:02:56   the office is the tech keeps getting better and better for this.

01:03:00   So like Slack is great.

01:03:01   I have these Slack groups for Relay and for the incomparable and like these keep me connected

01:03:07   to my colleagues and my collaborators and we are productive in them.

01:03:13   And it's also an outlet for what would be water cooler conversation would be sharing

01:03:19   kind of personal things.

01:03:20   Right now, all of us are going through frustration, right?

01:03:23   Sharing it, talking it through, not bottling it up.

01:03:27   I think just there's huge value in that.

01:03:30   So you could also think like if you're really missing out on human interaction, make a date

01:03:35   with a group of people to go on Skype or Zoom or whatever.

01:03:41   Zoom will give you up to 40 minutes of conversation for free in a 40 minute chat is free at Zoom.

01:03:48   You can make them and then they cut them off.

01:03:49   There's a free tier for Zoom.

01:03:51   So you could use that or Skype and even do video and like do a over lunch.

01:03:56   Let's at 12 o'clock, let's all get on the whatever the VoIP, you know, get on the video

01:04:01   chat, FaceTime, whatever.

01:04:03   And we'll just chat while we're eating our lunch or whatever.

01:04:05   Do that.

01:04:06   We have the ability to do this.

01:04:08   We have video phones and things now on all our devices.

01:04:11   We have the ability to do that.

01:04:13   I will say the downside of that is set your own rules about interruptions.

01:04:17   So nobody's breaking your focus from those conversations.

01:04:20   Slack has a lot of powerful notification features and you can mute channels.

01:04:28   You can set your notifications to only be when somebody mentions you.

01:04:31   So I have a lot of slacks where I just have a lot of channels muted and I go in there

01:04:35   from time to time.

01:04:37   But what I don't get is constantly pinged that there's a new message because that is

01:04:42   frustrating and you can do that with like iMessage groups.

01:04:44   You can mute them.

01:04:47   And I would say on the Mac especially, quitting apps is powerful.

01:04:51   Like if I'm writing an article, I quit Slack.

01:04:54   I quit Twitterific and I work on my article and then I get to a breaking point and then

01:04:58   I open Slack and say, "Oh, what's going on?"

01:05:01   And then I'll quit it again.

01:05:02   So having exerting some control over it to put it at arm's length.

01:05:06   Now if you're in a work Slack that you need to be in, you can't quit it.

01:05:09   But what you can do is set yourself to away for a period of time in any non-essential

01:05:17   channels or you can mute those channels or in non-essential slacks that you're also in.

01:05:21   So take control over those tools because while they're a blessing, they can also be a curse

01:05:29   if they interrupt you.

01:05:30   All right, let's take a break and we have some more.

01:05:33   We have some more.

01:05:34   Let's take a break first and then we can continue with our #workfromhomeset.

01:05:39   Some home tips.

01:05:40   Myke and Jason.

01:05:41   It's not a hashtag.

01:05:42   We can make it a hashtag if you want.

01:05:43   It's a very long hashtag.

01:05:44   Well, WFH tips, but I'm sure it's overrun right now.

01:05:50   I was going to say, yeah, advice from the experts at being alone.

01:05:55   Oh boy.

01:05:57   Today's episode is also brought to you by SaneBox.

01:06:00   Getting your inbox to zero is almost an impossible task these days.

01:06:04   We get a lot of email.

01:06:05   I feel like I'm getting a lot more email right now, every brand I've ever come into contact

01:06:10   with is emailing me about their coronavirus strategy.

01:06:14   This means that sometimes important stuff can get lost to the emails that you need,

01:06:17   the stuff that actually matters to you.

01:06:20   That is where SaneBox comes in.

01:06:21   As a message comes in, SaneBox triages it for you, sorting the important emails from

01:06:26   the noise.

01:06:27   It will put what matters to you in your inbox.

01:06:30   All of the distracting stuff will go into a SaneLater folder, for example, and you can

01:06:34   set up lots of different folders and brawls and they have a bunch that they've created

01:06:38   and then there's a bunch more that you can create yourself.

01:06:41   It will allow you to deal with what's important, truly important right now, and let you review

01:06:45   everything else when it best suits you.

01:06:47   SaneBox also has great features like the SaneBlackHole, where if you are getting tons of emails from

01:06:53   a sender and you can't really find a way to get rid of them, you can just drag one email

01:06:57   into the SaneBlackHole and you'll never hear from that person again.

01:07:00   Or even SaneReminders to notify you if something hasn't been replied to by a certain date,

01:07:06   which is really useful, especially if you're in sales.

01:07:08   Best of all, you can use SaneBox with any email client, any phone, any device.

01:07:14   It will work wherever you check your email.

01:07:17   I have been a very happy SaneBox user for years.

01:07:20   I get lots of email and lots of email that I have to deal with.

01:07:24   So having the email newsletters that I choose to subscribe to filtered out for me and put

01:07:29   in my SaneLater folder means that they're not clogging up my email inbox.

01:07:33   I can come to them when I want to, and it means that I'm actually reading that stuff

01:07:36   rather than just archiving it because it's filling up my inbox.

01:07:40   See how SaneBox can work its magic to remove distractions from your inbox by getting a

01:07:45   free two-week trial right now.

01:07:47   Go to SaneBox.com/upgradefm and you can start your free trial and you'll also get a $25

01:07:54   credit if you sign up.

01:07:55   That's SaneBox.com/upgradefm.

01:08:00   Our thanks to SaneBox for their support of this show and Relay FM.

01:08:06   So take a lunch break away from your desk.

01:08:09   Hey, good idea.

01:08:11   Right, so get away from the place that you've set up and have a lunch break.

01:08:15   And I will also give a personal tip to something that made my life better when I started working

01:08:18   from home.

01:08:20   Now that you have some time back because you're not commuting, cook for yourself.

01:08:25   That's my recommendation.

01:08:27   If you never cook, you never cook.

01:08:29   Maybe you order out a bunch or you just go for easy options in the evenings, try to learn

01:08:36   some recipes, cook for yourself more.

01:08:37   It's a great skill.

01:08:38   It's a wonderful thing to be able to do.

01:08:41   And you have maybe an hour if you're back to yourself every day.

01:08:44   So why not do something like that?

01:08:45   Cook for yourself and people that you love.

01:08:47   That's my recommendation.

01:08:49   And I will say take a walk.

01:08:51   One of the things that really happens is you get stir crazy.

01:08:57   Now you have to be allowed to go outside.

01:09:00   Should I not go outside?

01:09:01   But here's the thing is if you live someplace where you can go outside and there aren't

01:09:06   crowds around, you live in the suburbs, you live in the country, go outside.

01:09:12   Keep social distancing.

01:09:13   Even though I live in London, I could conceivably go outside for a walk and keep social distancing.

01:09:19   I could do it.

01:09:21   We just went for a walk yesterday and we saw a couple of people and we stayed a couple

01:09:26   of yards away from them and chatted briefly and walked our dog.

01:09:30   If you've got a dog, the dog's got to go out.

01:09:33   So take the dog out.

01:09:34   And again, be safe.

01:09:36   Don't go out and interact socially, but if you can stretch your legs and yeah, if you've

01:09:41   got a backyard, just walk around the backyard.

01:09:42   That's fine too.

01:09:43   But I really recommend going outside if you can, if you have the ability.

01:09:50   And again, you don't need to talk to people, but just go outside and move your legs and

01:09:54   move your body.

01:09:55   It can help.

01:09:57   As Yajur is saying in the chat room, in big cities like London, social distancing is pretty

01:10:01   normal.

01:10:02   No one talks to each other.

01:10:04   Just move away from each other a little bit more.

01:10:06   I'm more in the same boat.

01:10:07   Everybody understands why you're doing it.

01:10:09   They're not going to be offended.

01:10:11   I recommend finding some music that you enjoy, preferably of no words so there can be sound

01:10:17   in the home or maybe in your ears whilst you're getting some work done because you will now

01:10:22   be working in quiet environments that you might not be used to.

01:10:26   I recommend the artist Tycho, lots of wonderful music, mostly without lyrics.

01:10:34   There's also an entire genre of music called lo-fi hip hop.

01:10:39   It's very good for working too.

01:10:41   Yeah, I listen to music that I know by heart, music that I know well I can listen to and

01:10:49   focus.

01:10:50   I know a lot of people can't do that.

01:10:52   Can you write with lyrics in your ears?

01:10:55   Yes.

01:10:56   Wow, Jason Snell.

01:10:58   Yes, but only if I know the songs well.

01:11:00   If I don't know the songs well, I can't do it.

01:11:02   But if I know the songs well, I can because it all fades into the background and I don't

01:11:06   even hear it because I know every sound that those songs make.

01:11:10   I do have an instrumental recommendation which is if you want more rock kind of stuff, they're

01:11:17   called post-rock, but explosions in the sky, they're great rock instrumental.

01:11:23   I love them.

01:11:24   If you ever saw Friday Night Lights, all the music in Friday Night Lights is basically

01:11:27   explosions in the sky.

01:11:28   It's great.

01:11:29   And a lot of people I know who work at home like Dan Morin listen to film scores.

01:11:37   And Spotify and Apple Music have all of this stuff, which is the great thing is like, well,

01:11:40   I'm never going to buy a movie soundtrack.

01:11:43   Well, you don't have to.

01:11:45   If you've got a streaming service, you can just find this stuff.

01:11:47   So put on Star Wars, put on a favorite film with a score that you've got or find an artist,

01:11:55   a composer and follow them down.

01:11:58   But there are lots of things out there that will make noise that will not have words in

01:12:02   it that will not, if you can't listen to music with words and work.

01:12:10   Take advantage if you have multiple computers or machines at home.

01:12:14   Maybe you're used to having two monitors.

01:12:17   So you could use your iPad like a second display, you know, you could have slack on it, or you

01:12:21   could use it as a literal second display with sidecar.

01:12:25   Don't forget that feature exists.

01:12:26   It could be useful if you're now working from a laptop, but you're used to not working from

01:12:31   a laptop.

01:12:32   And sidecar can be used with, it isn't just send this window mode, right?

01:12:39   Like it also will just do a monitor mode where it just becomes a second screen of your Mac

01:12:44   and you can do it that way.

01:12:45   Or you can just have the iPad there and have two things.

01:12:47   But if you're used to having a multiple screen set up at home, don't forget your iPad or

01:12:51   even like your old iPad or something like there are options there.

01:12:55   That's a good one.

01:12:56   Similarly, don't forget your ergonomics, try and sit up straight, use correct input devices,

01:13:05   watch your neck, that kind of stuff.

01:13:07   Because again, you may not be working in the most ideal environment that your employer

01:13:11   may have provided for you.

01:13:14   So don't forget that stuff.

01:13:15   It's very important.

01:13:16   It's very, very important.

01:13:19   I'm going to use this as an excuse to tell people to track your time.

01:13:25   This could be a perfect time to get into time tracking.

01:13:29   Because you may now that you're at home find yourself slipping into working too much or

01:13:34   maybe feeling like you're not working enough.

01:13:37   So toggle is what I would recommend for you to track your time so you can make sure that

01:13:42   you're understanding when you're working and when you're not.

01:13:45   This also might be a really great way to help you keep that break that like divide in your

01:13:49   mind.

01:13:50   When the trackers are running, I'm working when they're not, I'm not.

01:13:54   And if you sign up for toggle, that app is mostly part usable, but not that great.

01:14:01   There is a wonderful, one of my very favorite iOS apps.

01:14:05   It is an upgradey award winning application, Timery.

01:14:10   That is just a fantastic app that uses toggle as a service.

01:14:13   I believe toggle have a free plan, which you can use.

01:14:18   So sign up for that, try it out and give it a go.

01:14:22   If they don't, it really is worth it, but I'm pretty sure that they have a trial anyway.

01:14:27   So just give it a go.

01:14:28   I really, really recommend that.

01:14:30   And although I'm not into time tracking, Myke, I'm going to disturb you with this one.

01:14:36   I'm going to recommend to do lists.

01:14:39   Have them.

01:14:40   Which is against most of what I traditionally have stood for.

01:14:45   But here's what I'm going to say.

01:14:48   Reminders is free and comes on your Apple device.

01:14:51   Plus you can do things like to do list and there are lots of them, right?

01:14:54   There's a, if you turn around, you will bump into a to do list app, but here's the thing.

01:15:00   If you're not into to do lists, like I'm not, they can still be useful in one particular

01:15:07   way, which is to keep score.

01:15:09   Now I apologize if you've heard me tell this story before, but one of the reasons I was

01:15:14   so dissatisfied at my last job is that most of what I did all day was not something I

01:15:18   actually considered real work like it was work, but it wasn't work that I counted.

01:15:26   It wasn't work that, that got a score.

01:15:28   So I would, I, because I was like making things and writing articles and stuff like that.

01:15:33   That was, that was the real stuff that gave me that.

01:15:35   Yeah, I did something today and dealing, you know, fighting for development priorities

01:15:40   or trying to keep ugly ads off of our web pages or dealing with an HR issue.

01:15:45   I didn't consider that work that actually scored and it led to a lot of unhappiness.

01:15:51   So I find to do lists is one way that you can get a little bit of score keeping into

01:15:57   your life, which is even if you don't actually need to remember all the things you could

01:16:03   still use to do lists at the beginning of the day or the beginning of the week, make

01:16:07   a list of the things you're expected to do that day and then check them off.

01:16:12   And if you get to the end of the day and they're all checked off, guess what?

01:16:15   I think you feel like you did what you needed to do that day and it feels good.

01:16:19   So I think as a mental exercise, not even as a reminder, but as a mental exercise to

01:16:25   check off all the boxes, to see where you are, to in that down moment where you're like,

01:16:29   I don't know what I'm going to do next, to be able to look and say, here are the things

01:16:32   that I have to do in order to score in order to have checked all the boxes today and use

01:16:37   that as a motivator.

01:16:38   I think that it can help.

01:16:41   I really, really agree with this.

01:16:43   I do very much.

01:16:45   Should we do some hashtag Ask Upgrade before we finish up today?

01:16:48   I'm going to start off with a question from Steven, which ties into our hashtag work from

01:16:53   home tip.

01:16:54   Steven was a Wunderlist user and that has now gone away.

01:16:59   Microsoft bought it a long time ago and they have filled off that product.

01:17:02   Steven wants to know if we have a recommendation.

01:17:05   I recommend Todoist.

01:17:07   Todoist is my recommendation.

01:17:08   I think that it is a very great app.

01:17:11   It can be used very simply.

01:17:12   It can be used very complexly.

01:17:14   It has all of the things that you would want.

01:17:16   You can organize things into projects.

01:17:19   You can look at things under different view types.

01:17:21   You can have reminders.

01:17:23   But one of my favorite things about recommending Todoist is it is completely cross-platform.

01:17:27   You can use it everywhere.

01:17:29   And I think that is very valuable.

01:17:30   Yeah, I use Todoist in its free form, in its simple form.

01:17:36   Yep, they have a free version.

01:17:38   You're going to love this, Myke.

01:17:39   So I'm also using the new version of Fantastical, which has Todoist integration, which is giving

01:17:45   the ultimate Jason Snell approach to Todoist.

01:17:48   I think this is fun.

01:17:49   They appear on my calendar.

01:17:52   So on my MacWorld, I used to have a "Do the MacWorld" column, because I write a column

01:17:57   weekly for MacWorld, on Todoist as a repeating item for Wednesday, I think.

01:18:05   And I also had "Time blocked off" in my schedule that said "Write MacWorld column."

01:18:09   Maybe it's Tuesday.

01:18:13   Now I have a Todoist to-do for writing the MacWorld column every Wednesday at 2 p.m.

01:18:20   and it's in my calendar, which means that the time is marked, I know that I need to write

01:18:25   my column then, and when I'm done writing it, I check the box off in the calendar.

01:18:29   I think this is totally fine, because you are getting the best of both worlds.

01:18:34   You are seeing it on the calendar, so it works for you, but it's also not disappearing if

01:18:39   you don't do it, which is my biggest worry with people that use calendars as to-do lists.

01:18:45   If you actually got distracted and weren't paying attention to the calendar, the calendar

01:18:50   event is gone.

01:18:51   The calendar events don't come back, they don't bug you, but to-dos do.

01:18:55   They stay, right?

01:18:57   They're still there, they're still unchecked.

01:18:59   So I actually think this is a nice version of the new version of Fantastical, is being

01:19:03   able to do it.

01:19:04   I don't have it on all the time, because my Fantastical just becomes unusable to me of

01:19:10   all of the items that then start appearing, but I have a calendar set that includes Todoist

01:19:15   if I want to take a look at everything in one view.

01:19:21   Corey asked if we're still using the ClearLook stand for our iPads.

01:19:25   This is my favorite stand, not Jason's favorite stand.

01:19:28   I'm not.

01:19:29   So the first one that I had, I had the ClearLook stand, and it failed.

01:19:37   It no longer was able to hold my iPad in the stand.

01:19:41   The tension on the little clips were reduced to the point where my iPad very slowly just

01:19:46   sort of slipped down and then fell out.

01:19:49   Not good.

01:19:51   So I wrote to them and complained, and they sent me another one.

01:19:55   That one holds the iPad in place, but the stand itself that you extend to get it high

01:20:05   very slowly lowers until it's all the way at the bottom.

01:20:09   I've had no problems with the original one that I bought, and this is just the way this

01:20:14   stuff goes sometimes.

01:20:15   The thing I can't figure out is if I could use part of one and part of the other and

01:20:17   put them together, I would have a good stand, but it doesn't.

01:20:20   And so I'm back to the Viazon stand, which is the first one I wrote about, which looks

01:20:23   like an iMac foot.

01:20:25   The problem is it's a little bit lower, which is too low for you, but in my setup, it's

01:20:32   fine.

01:20:33   So I'm back to that one, and it is solid.

01:20:36   It is rock solid.

01:20:37   I wish it was a little taller, but it is rock solid.

01:20:40   I would like to petition our users, listeners at this point, I should say.

01:20:44   If anybody knows of a VESA arm mountable tablet holder, I would love to know it.

01:20:53   So an iPad holder, like just the grip part, that can be attached to a VESA arm.

01:20:59   They're a bunch out there.

01:21:00   I definitely see them.

01:21:01   You're going to take the plunge.

01:21:02   You're going to have an arm-mounted iPad?

01:21:05   That's the plan, yeah.

01:21:06   Yeah, I can see the appeal of that.

01:21:09   Because I have, in MegaStudio, I have a desk with two VESA arms on it, right?

01:21:14   It's one pole and then two arms come out from it, and one's going to have my iMac, and then

01:21:19   I want the other to have my iPad.

01:21:21   But I have yet to find a VESA mount that I'm completely happy with, so I would love to

01:21:27   know if people are using them, right?

01:21:29   And then that's the help that I want then.

01:21:33   Chris wants to know, "What are your thoughts on people posting Twitter screenshots to Instagram?"

01:21:39   This was fun to me because it's the evolution of your favorite thing, which is what?

01:21:44   Apple news screenshots being posted on Twitter.

01:21:46   Apple notes, notes screenshots?

01:21:48   That's what I mean, sorry.

01:21:49   Yes, notes.

01:21:50   I saw a thing going around that was supposedly from the Centers for Disease Control yesterday

01:21:54   that was an Apple Notes screenshot, and I thought, "Really?

01:21:57   Really?"

01:21:58   And we reached this point where the CDC is giving advice in Apple Notes.

01:22:01   I'm not sure if that was an official CDC thing or just somebody copied and pasted.

01:22:05   So people are taking screenshots of tweets and then posting them on Instagram, apparently?

01:22:09   Yep, this is a thing.

01:22:11   I have no problem with it.

01:22:12   It's just a way for people to get information.

01:22:15   It's the same as the Apple Notes thing.

01:22:17   Screenshots of things is never going to be as good as what the thing is intended for, but

01:22:21   it's people finding a way to do something useful.

01:22:25   That's how a lot of social media stuff got invented, was that people will find a way

01:22:28   like, "How do I get this thing communicated in this medium?"

01:22:32   And if it's a screenshot, then so be it.

01:22:34   And finally today, Corey asks, "Since there will almost certainly be no event to introduce

01:22:39   any products in March like we were hoping, do you think that Apple would even want to

01:22:45   announce new stuff in this current environment?

01:22:47   It could maybe seem frivolous and would absolutely be lost in the flood of other news."

01:22:54   So we don't know.

01:22:55   We're off the map here.

01:22:56   We really don't know what is going to happen.

01:22:59   I would say that you got a lot of people who are tense and frustrated and checking the

01:23:07   news and not really getting a whole lot of information and stuck at home.

01:23:15   I think if Apple has the products to be announced and released and for sale and delivered to

01:23:23   your house, that I would probably make the argument that people would love to see some

01:23:31   news that wasn't just more virus stuff.

01:23:34   I can see the counterargument, which is you're never going to be close to the top of any

01:23:39   site because of that and like all of the virus stuff and then, "Oh, and Apple has a laptop."

01:23:48   We live in an era where some people are seeking distraction and it would be a nice distraction,

01:23:53   but I think you could argue that everybody is so distracted already that they may miss

01:23:56   it entirely.

01:23:57   Then again, if these are just revisions to existing laptops to do the new keyboard and

01:24:03   some other things and they're minor updates, why not get them out?

01:24:07   They're not going to set the world on fire anyway and the people who care about them

01:24:10   are going to want them.

01:24:12   I'll also put out in a plug for how supply chains work, which is if they've got new MacBook

01:24:17   Airs and new 13-inch MacBook Pros coming, they've stopped making the old ones and they're making

01:24:22   the new ones and they've been making the new ones.

01:24:24   At some point, you have to switch over because you're out of the old ones and the new ones

01:24:31   need to go into the supply chain.

01:24:33   So it may be that they just need to do it.

01:24:36   And again, these are not enormous announcements.

01:24:39   The 16 wasn't an enormous announcement, but at least the keyboard was a big deal and they

01:24:44   wrapped a whole message around it.

01:24:46   But if this is literally, "Well, it's what we did to the 16," that keyboard is now in

01:24:50   the Air and the 13 and otherwise they're just a little bit faster, but there's nothing groundbreaking

01:24:55   here.

01:24:57   I would lean on the side of releasing them just because if they're ready to go, put them

01:25:01   out there.

01:25:02   They'll still be there in two weeks and six weeks and eight weeks and six months when

01:25:06   people want to buy a new laptop.

01:25:09   And honestly, people working at home now, they might also see this and be like, "Oh

01:25:13   God, I need a new laptop," and buy the new MacBook Air with a new keyboard.

01:25:18   That would be a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

01:25:19   So I think if they're ready to go, they should just do them, press release.

01:25:24   I would love it if they're not going to bring in people in the press to get briefed.

01:25:31   I would love for them to FedEx me a review unit and I'll write my review and I'll send

01:25:35   it back to them.

01:25:36   And maybe that's the world we live in now, but I think they should just go ahead.

01:25:40   If it was something huge where they really wanted to make a splash and it's a brand new

01:25:44   product category or something like that, like an Apple Watch kind of thing, if they wanted

01:25:48   to do that again, now is not the time for that.

01:25:51   But incremental updates, it's fine.

01:25:53   Yeah, I completely agree with all of that.

01:25:55   I just feel like if they do have it, if they have them, there's no point sitting on them.

01:26:03   It's not helping anyone.

01:26:04   Yeah.

01:26:05   And the launch, I mean, how much energy does a launch of a MacBook, minor MacBook revision

01:26:12   really get Apple?

01:26:14   The most important thing it does is it gets the product out in the supply chain.

01:26:18   People can buy it.

01:26:19   When the stores reopen, it'll be there and people can buy them.

01:26:23   So why not just go ahead and do that?

01:26:26   They're not, you know, it's not, boy, this would have been stop the press's news if the

01:26:31   virus pandemic wasn't happening.

01:26:34   It wouldn't have been right.

01:26:35   It would have been a lower down story below what various government officials say that's

01:26:40   dumb or smart or, you know, questionable or whatever.

01:26:43   And then down there, there'd be like a little Apple story.

01:26:45   So, and for people who care about tech, the tech press will be desperate for anything

01:26:50   and they will write about it.

01:26:51   So, you know, I think, I think it's fine.

01:26:54   All right.

01:26:56   That's it for this week's episode.

01:26:58   If you would like to send in your questions with hashtag ask upgrade, hashtag snow talk,

01:27:03   choose whatever.

01:27:04   If you have questions for working at home stuff, like seriously send them in, uh, we

01:27:08   might be able to help.

01:27:09   And it also gives us something that extra for us to talk about over a time where we

01:27:14   may end up walking into a spring of fun sooner than later.

01:27:19   We'll find out.

01:27:21   I know it's, I just checked us that we have like about twice the amount of people right

01:27:25   now listening live to this episode than we usually do.

01:27:28   Um, so you can, if you want to join us live, we don't talk about it very often, but every

01:27:34   Monday 9am Pacific, uh, we, we broadcast this show at relay.fm/live.

01:27:40   If you get the relay FM app on your iPhone, you can get notifications when shows go live.

01:27:45   Yep.

01:27:46   So you can listen, you can do that.

01:27:48   You know, cause this again, like you may have an opportunity to listen live to an episode

01:27:51   when you don't normally, there's a Google calendar that you can look at too.

01:27:55   That will tell you when everything is recording, uh, live broadcasting live.

01:27:59   So what is that?

01:28:01   Relay.fm/schedule.

01:28:02   I think that's right.

01:28:04   I just, I was correct.

01:28:07   So, you know, you can go there and you can check stuff out and listen live.

01:28:10   Um, if it helps, you know, we are continuing to do everything that we're doing here at

01:28:16   relay FM because luckily we're all homeworkers pretty much.

01:28:21   Um, we don't have any offices that we need to send people home from.

01:28:26   Yeah.

01:28:27   And I feel at times like this, a great responsibility to be able to provide people with entertainment

01:28:32   and or things that they can consume.

01:28:34   So, uh, I hope that you've enjoyed this episode and will enjoy future episodes.

01:28:39   You can find out more about today's show and show notes, hopefully in your podcast app

01:28:43   of choice.

01:28:44   So you can go to relay.fm/upgrades/289.

01:28:47   Thanks to our wonderful sponsors, Linode, Direct Mail and SaneBox.

01:28:51   You can find Jason online at sixcolors.com.

01:28:54   He hosts many shows here along with me and many other people at relay.fm/shows, but you

01:29:00   can also go to the incomparable.

01:29:02   For more content, more Jason Snow focused content and many others over at the incomparable.

01:29:07   Yeah.

01:29:08   Let's make your, make your heart full by listening to us play Dungeons and Dragons.

01:29:11   Exactly.

01:29:12   How about that?

01:29:13   Uh, @jsnow, @imike.

01:29:14   We'll be back next time.

01:29:16   Until then, say goodbye Jason Snow.

01:29:19   Upgradients stay safe, stay healthy and stay away from other people.

01:29:23   And each other.

01:29:24   Just know all our upgradients disassemble.

01:29:27   [Music]

01:29:33   [BLANK_AUDIO]