0:00:23This is my most favorite episode of the year.
0:00:26[MUSIC PLAYING]
0:00:29Exactly.
0:00:29The upgrade-ies.
0:00:31They said it wouldn't come back, but it's back.
0:00:33They demanded that it not come back, but it did.
0:00:36It came back.
0:00:37And as I pointed out last year, it's
0:00:38not annual when it's the first time you do it.
0:00:41But now we're doing it again for a second straight year.
0:00:43This does officially make it the second annual upgrade-ies.
0:00:47It's very exciting.
0:00:48So Myke was right when he said it was the first annual.
0:00:50I'm just going to say that if you now look at it in history,
0:00:52the first of the annual awards and this is now the second. So we have a selection of
0:00:58categories. What we decided to do, we are going to pick up, I believe, all of the categories
0:01:01from last year. And we've added a couple of extra categories. In ten years' time, this
0:01:08is going to last for four hours. Over the years, the snowball of the upgrade continues
0:01:13to grow.
0:01:14That's how the Eddy Awards worked, is that I would always just copy the document from
0:01:17the previous year and start with the categories from the previous year. And then we would
0:01:22rejigger them and move them and change them because they weren't fixed like the Academy
0:01:26Awards or something. And I expect that we'll do that as this goes on to make more changes.
0:01:31If we're lucky enough to come back for a third annual Upgradies next year, we'll keep some
0:01:36and move some based on what happens in the year.
0:01:39So we have a couple of interesting additions as well for the Upgradies this time around.
0:01:47One of the things that we were doing when we were looking at the award categories is
0:01:51we were recognizing that we me and Jason may have some complete like same answers from
0:01:58last year to this year so we have asked for the help of a few of our relay FM hosts.
0:02:05Hosts yes yes so we got eight different hosts to weigh in on various subjects and once we
0:02:09reveal our selections or do you want to do those well yeah I think after we reveal our
0:02:14selections we'll also mention some other things which that are voted on by by hosts and it's
0:02:19It's not like we're counting the votes or anything like that, but I think it's interesting
0:02:22to see the opinions of other Relay hosts.
0:02:25So we brought them in so you'll get some additional thoughts from Relay hosts.
0:02:30I also want to mention, since you did Myke was right there a moment ago, that we did
0:02:35get a note from listener Carl who suggested a category that was "Jason's best disapproving
0:02:41to one of Myke's opinions."
0:02:42That happens a lot.
0:02:44Myke was right.
0:02:45All right.
0:02:46All right. Anyway, that's a little special category.
0:02:51In regards to the suggestions from our friends and fellow hosts, the upgradees is not a democratic
0:02:58affair.
0:02:59Yes. Oh, no. No, it's a dictatorship, essentially.
0:03:02Completely by me and you. So there are some categories where some people have made suggestions
0:03:06and votes, but it might not... And even if everybody else voted for OneApp, it doesn't
0:03:10mean it's going to win. So with that, I think that we should start off today's upgradey
0:03:15Awards with the best iOS app in 2015. Jason, so we go in the order of the document that
0:03:23we have here. I'm gonna go first.
0:03:24JASON WARNKE All right.
0:03:25MATT WILSON I'm gonna say Slack. Now, I actually don't
0:03:29think that their iOS app is the best iOS app that I've used.
0:03:32JASON WARNKE I agree.
0:03:33MATT WILSON But it's the service that is underneath all
0:03:36of it that has made it a favorite for me.
0:03:38JASON WARNKE Yeah, I agree. Slack has become indispensable
0:03:41for me this year as well. I think the iOS app is pretty good. The Mac app is the contrast
0:03:48there where it's sort of their standard web interface wrapped in a—stuck inside a Mac
0:03:53app and it could be way better. The iOS app is okay and it's got some nice features. The
0:03:58thing that I discovered that I hadn't even realized was a feature until a few weeks ago
0:04:02is the three-finger swipe to move between different groups, which is huge because I
0:04:09I have multiple Slack instances and I love that.
0:04:13That's a great one because that saves you from like tapping
0:04:16to bring up a thing that then you have to tap on a thing
0:04:18and then it's like, and then tapping in
0:04:20to make it slide away.
0:04:21And now you just do a three finger swipe
0:04:22and it moves to the next thing.
0:04:24But you know, but it is the service,
0:04:26the service embedded inside it is pretty great.
0:04:30- Yeah, so the thing for Slack with me is not only is it
0:04:35an incredible business tool, it's just become a tool
0:04:37that has actually made my life better because I have access to talk to my friends in a group
0:04:44very often and also in a way that this is something that Casey's spoken about a bunch
0:04:48of times like the pyramid of communication and Slack kind of fits in this in an interesting
0:04:54way that I might not send you iMessages very frequently like I just wouldn't do that but
0:05:00I am more than happy to just spam you with direct messages in Slack because it feels
0:05:04kind of different. You can set it up in your own way for your notifications to come through
0:05:08to you in your own way. And I just really like it for that. It's bringing me closer
0:05:12to people I care about and also has become a great way for me to do business. Jason is
0:05:18now spamming me of iMessages as we talk, so we've got that going on. When was the last
0:05:23iMessage that we'd sent to each other before this? This will prove that May, which was
0:05:28just me and you sending emoticons from our Apple watches. Other than that, nothing. So
0:05:36that shows, and me and Jay, we talk maybe every day, and it's all through Slack. So
0:05:41Slack for me is my favorite iOS app of the year, and both David Sparks and John Siracusa
0:05:46agree with me.
0:05:47David: Yeah, yeah. I think my hesitation was exactly what we've talked about, which is
0:05:54A lot of it is embedded in the service, and we didn't have a new service, you know, best
0:05:58services category here.
0:06:01But it's one of the apps I use the most on iOS, so even though it could be better, the
0:06:08app could be better, it's still one I use all the time, and like I said, I think it's
0:06:13got a lot of things going for it that the Mac app doesn't, but it also still has bugs,
0:06:18and I would like it to be better because now I rely on it so much that it should be better.
0:06:23My choice is, will probably be controversial.
0:06:29It has been the whipping boy of Mac pundits for many, many years, but it had a huge upgrade
0:06:36this year.
0:06:37And yeah, it's from Apple, but I used it before and I use it even more now and it's notes.
0:06:42Notes.app.
0:06:43- This was my runner up.
0:06:45- Yeah, I was surprised to see that.
0:06:47- I love Notes.
0:06:48I mean, I use it for everything.
0:06:52It really is.
0:06:53I mean, I'm stealing your pick here, but one of my favorite things that Notes does is the
0:06:59ability to add links and things like that via the extension.
0:07:02So like I have a note that I keep, like a running note for follow up for all of the
0:07:06shows and I just, someone sends me a tweet or I see a link and I just hit it, hit the
0:07:11extension and put it in the upgrade follow up note and then I triage those notes before
0:07:15each show and put them into our Google doc.
0:07:17It is really fantastic and the app does work really well.
0:07:20it has some foibles. One that I've noticed recently, Jason, is that when you're using
0:07:25a list with a keyboard on the iPad or something and you hit the tab button, it doesn't indent
0:07:30the bullets, which is an endless source of frustration for me. But overall, I really
0:07:35love it. And maybe you should now say what you do.
0:07:38Well, it's, uh, so they added iCloud syncing, which again, it's hard to feel the Eddie awards.
0:07:44We always used to say it's hard to reward an app for finally getting a feature it should
0:07:47have had many years ago. But it does really improve the situation that it's got iCloud
0:07:51syncing now and isn't just using weird IMAP syncing. But it's got all these features.
0:07:57Apple finally took it seriously. I think this is the year, I've said this before, Apple
0:08:01looked at this app and very much like photography, like selfie cameras or photography on the
0:08:05iPad said, "Oh, people really use that thing? I guess we better make it better then." Right?
0:08:10Because people use Notes anyway. And finally, Apple seems to say, "Well, we should prioritize
0:08:15app since people use it. It's not that great. Let's make it better." And they made it a
0:08:19lot better. It's great on the iPad Pro as a drawing app. There are fancy drawing apps
0:08:27that you can get, but you could draw whether writing a note and sending it via iMessage,
0:08:33like we talked about last week, or whether you're drawing a sketch or something. You
0:08:36can have all that in notes too. I mean, it's not going to do the fancy things that other
0:08:39apps will do, whether it's note-taking apps or drawing apps. But you can do a surprising
0:08:44amount of stuff just within notes.app on that count too.
0:08:48So yeah, I use it as my primary place
0:08:53where I jot things down now on Mac and iOS.
0:08:57Notes to myself lists if I'm watching a movie
0:08:59or a TV show for an incomparable episode, it goes in notes.
0:09:03Yeah, I think it deserves some praise
0:09:06for being more indispensable than it used to be
0:09:10because Apple paid attention to it.
0:09:13Yeah, when you told me that you used Notes before the update, I laughed at you, I think,
0:09:19the first time, as I'm sure that many people did, but I don't think many people would laugh
0:09:22anymore.
0:09:23Yeah, who's laughing now, Hurley?
0:09:25Who's laughing now?
0:09:26I still laughed at you used it then, because it sucked, but now it's way better.
0:09:30It is a great app.
0:09:32It sucked, but was everywhere.
0:09:34That was the thing.
0:09:35It was everywhere.
0:09:36I have a runner-up, too.
0:09:37Can I throw out my runner-up?
0:09:38Yeah, do that.
0:09:39It's Outlook.
0:09:40My runner-up is Outlook.
0:09:42I haven't been using it long enough to give it an award,
0:09:44but Microsoft Outlook,
0:09:46which is a name that is symbolized really crappy software
0:09:50for Mac and Apple users for years now.
0:09:53Or incompatible software in some cases.
0:09:56Oh, you got to use, you got a Mac?
0:09:57Well, we have an out, you know, we're using Outlook here.
0:10:00You're, I guess you can use Entourage
0:10:02and it's not very good.
0:10:04Outlook for iOS is great.
0:10:06We've talked about it before.
0:10:07It's great.
0:10:07It's a really good app.
0:10:08It's a great iOS app.
0:10:09It is what I'm using for my mail on iOS right now,
0:10:12and I'm liking it a lot.
0:10:14A very thoughtfully built app.
0:10:16So I want to throw a shout out to that as a runner up.
0:10:20- I agree with that.
0:10:21Looking at our suggestions here,
0:10:22that we have three suggestions for Tweetbot 4
0:10:25from Steven, Casey, and Matt.
0:10:28Aline has suggested Procreate,
0:10:30Brianna has suggested Graphic by Autodesk,
0:10:33and Federico suggested ToDo,
0:10:35which was his app of the year
0:10:37he spoke about on Mac stories. My feeling on looking at this and hearing us talk is
0:10:43I think Slack should take this.
0:10:44Yeah, I agree.
0:10:46Yeah, so we're going to give it to Slack. I think Slack, in my opinion, has to win something.
0:10:52That's my feeling about looking at this right now is Slack should win something. And so
0:10:57I think that the best iOS app of the year will go to Slack. So congratulations to Slack.
0:11:03I think it's an honor to be your pick or my pick, but in the end, we do this as part of
0:11:07the upgradey's process is that we then have to choose the definitive upgradey winner and
0:11:11it's, uh, it makes us all better people.
0:11:15Sure does.
0:11:19Best newcomer iOS app is our next category. So it's not, you know, we were also thinking
0:11:23and we did this last time is something that we use on our iPhones or iOS on our iPads.
0:11:29We could be using them for a long time. Um, so which is, you know, look at Slack. Slack
0:11:33hasn't been around for longer than this year, but the newcomer iOS app is something that
0:11:37that has come into our lives this year.
0:11:39Now for me, mine is a very new app,
0:11:42but it's easily become one of my favorite apps
0:11:44and that is Pigment, which is the iOS coloring application
0:11:49for iPad, it's mainly for iPad I think,
0:11:53and mainly for iPad Pro, but it is on iPhones as well.
0:11:56And the reason is because they've integrated
0:11:58the pencil so well.
0:12:00So I have spent upwards of 10 hours,
0:12:03maybe more in Pigment now.
0:12:05I absolutely love this application.
0:12:09I am a fan of coloring in, grown up coloring,
0:12:11and Pigment is the exact app I was looking for
0:12:15from the moment I got the Apple Pencil.
0:12:17I wanted a good coloring app.
0:12:19This has definitely been the one,
0:12:20and it's got some stuff that it needs to work on,
0:12:24but I've spoken to the developers,
0:12:25and they're looking at fixing everything,
0:12:27but the things that it needs to fix are very small.
0:12:30There's no real bugs in the app.
0:12:31There's just some things that they can maybe do better,
0:12:33and this is easily the best of these types of apps
0:12:36that I've found.
0:12:37- That sounds cool.
0:12:39I'll download that and check it out.
0:12:42That sounds like a lot of fun.
0:12:43- It really is.
0:12:44- My choice is Ferrite from Wooji Juice.
0:12:47I've written about it.
0:12:48It is a multi-track audio editor
0:12:51with a beautiful user interface.
0:12:52There are other multi-track audio editors for iOS.
0:12:56They are, they feel very much like desktop apps ported.
0:13:02the interfaces certainly feel that way. Like it really wants to be, have all the complexity
0:13:09of a weird wonky desktop audio app. And Ferrite feels a little bit like Logic, actually Logic
0:13:1610. But it's very tactile from just cutting tracks and sliding them around and moving
0:13:24the edges of tracks and all that. And I've edited multiple podcasts with it. Works great
0:13:29on iPad Pro, but it works on iPad Air, it works on an iPhone, and it is the first multi-track
0:13:38audio tool that I could endorse and say you could use this to edit podcasts on iOS, and
0:13:43it just has impressed the heck out of me. So I have to say, as a newcomer, that's the
0:13:47one that did it for me.
0:13:48Yeah, I've looked at Fairlight. I haven't used it in any real depth yet, but I've downloaded
0:13:54it and I've played around with it and I plan to do more with it but I've you
0:13:59know I've said this before it's nothing against the application I'm just a
0:14:03little bit hesitant of doing my work on it but I know that you've had it a
0:14:09couple of episodes incomparable with it and you'd never know so you know it is
0:14:13clearly doing the job. Yeah and and the developer has added some features it now
0:14:18will do a lossless export so you can get out a lossless file and then encode it
0:14:22using something else and upload it using something else depending on how you do it. But I definitely
0:14:26did the entire, not the recording part, but the rest of the production of an episode where I was
0:14:32traveling and didn't even have a laptop and I did use the iPad Pro and it worked great.
0:14:36And you know, it's, I'd say it's great for circumstances where you don't want to be
0:14:40sitting down at your editing thing, whether you can't or whether you just don't feel like it. I
0:14:44mean, you could sit in front of a fireplace somewhere and edit a podcast if you wanted to,
0:14:49and that's a pretty great feeling. I mean, you could do that on a laptop too, but there
0:14:52is something fun about having that big...part of it is, I keep saying tactile, part of it
0:14:57is that, that experience of just having the big screen in your lap and everything that's
0:15:02happening is happening via touch instead of clicking and typing and things like that.
0:15:10It's just impressive that they did it and that the metaphor works with touch in a way
0:15:15that no other app of this type has ever done that I've tried on iOS. They really get the
0:15:22look and feel and understand that it's built for touch from the beginning.
0:15:27Going out to our panel, Aline suggested You Must Build a Boat, which is a game that I've
0:15:31yet to check out, but it is a nice--
0:15:33It's a puzzle.
0:15:34Puzzle game, there we go. Both Steven and Federico have suggested Copied, and Copied
0:15:39is my understanding. I've not used this, but I've seen people talk about it a lot. It's
0:15:42basically kind of like a like a pastebot type app. It is on iOS and on the Mac and you can
0:15:48share your clipboard between them. Casey has suggested Carrotweather which is easily one
0:15:53of my favorite Apple watch complications which is not a category that we included I just
0:15:57realized yeah but I'll make a special note for there the Carrotweather complication is
0:16:01my favorite complication. Matt suggested ToDo which was what Federico thought was his app
0:16:07of the year and David Sparks being David Sparks suggested Dragon anywhere with the note "expensive
0:16:14but killer dictation". So I'm looking at this it's not helped our decision at all we have
0:16:20lots of different options here and I feel very strongly about pigment and you feel very
0:16:24strongly about ferrite so I'm not sure where we go with this.
0:16:30I don't know either. I think I might see to you on this one purely
0:16:35because whilst I love Pigment, Ferrite is clearly a bigger undertaking and a lot more
0:16:42has gone into that application. And if it is able to produce professional podcasts at
0:16:48its current stage, I think that that has to be something that wins.
0:16:53Yeah.
0:16:54I think that sounds good that you're exceeding to my wishes. So I appreciate that. Yeah,
0:16:59I'm looking forward to and hoping that we'll get perhaps with iOS 10 some more features
0:17:08that enable more audio stuff to happen on iOS that isn't currently possible.
0:17:14I would love to have that, the ability to have more, basically so that we could also
0:17:17do the recording of conversations across, you know, basically IP chat conversations
0:17:24like the one we're having now and being able to record those on iOS would be the last step
0:17:29for people to just use iOS and be a podcaster,
0:17:33which, you know, it's a niche area.
0:17:35We're podcasters.
0:17:36100% of the people on this podcast are podcasters,
0:17:39but, you know, there aren't a huge amount.
0:17:41It's a growing area, but there aren't a huge amount.
0:17:43But still, it's like one of those little professional things.
0:17:45It's like, yeah, the right features,
0:17:47and people can do professional work on the iPad Pro,
0:17:49and I think that would be a good thing.
0:17:51So here's to 2016 for more.
0:17:53- So this brings us on to the best Mac app of the year.
0:17:58I think this was the one that I struggled,
0:18:01both we have a best Mac app
0:18:02and best new Mac app straight after this,
0:18:04and I really struggled with this one.
0:18:06And you can see from our panel,
0:18:08there were far fewer answers on this one.
0:18:11I went with 1Password just because it's an app that I love,
0:18:16and it's fantastic on the Mac.
0:18:17And again, it's like another one of those,
0:18:19it's a service for me.
0:18:20And 1Password is an indispensable service,
0:18:23and it's one that I love dearly,
0:18:25but I don't think I have to say too much about it,
0:18:27honestly I think everybody knows about 1Password by now. And I really like your pick.
0:18:32Yeah, I had, this was really hard for me too because there are a lot of Mac apps I like
0:18:38and it was very hard for me to pick just one and say this is the one that I wanted. Some
0:18:42of our picks, Matt Alexander picked Fantastic Hal 2, which I really like and came, that's
0:18:49actually a new app this year, the new version, and I use that every day. You know, I use,
0:18:56I wrote about Trip Mode, which is a utility that will protect your tethering so that your
0:19:02Mac doesn't totally take it over and swamp your data allowance. There are a lot of different
0:19:06apps I could pick here. In the end, though, because I was having trouble picking, I just
0:19:10decided—and again, my apologies to everybody out there who is tired of me talking about
0:19:14podcasts inside baseball, but I do a lot of podcasting. I do a lot of audio work. That
0:19:18is one of the main things that I do in my job these days. And I live in Logic Pro X.
0:19:26And you know what? I love it. It has made me so much more—I'll put it this way.
0:19:31Back when I was doing things in GarageBand, I was barely capable of generating a podcast
0:19:37a week. And I edit myself for at least podcasts a week at this point. It could not happen.
0:19:48week I did an hour and a half long podcast, three of them in a row, on successive days.
0:19:54There's no way I could have been able to do anything like that if I didn't use Logic.
0:19:58Some of that is credit to the features of Logic and what I need to do with it, which
0:20:03is edit things quickly. It's from Apple, it's a pro app, it's fashionable to bash Apple's
0:20:11pro apps because it's unclear what their pro app strategy is. All I know is I use Logic
0:20:16Pro X every day and I like it and it would be very difficult, and I've written about
0:20:20this, it would be very difficult for me to switch to something else like Adobe Audition,
0:20:25mostly because I would have to, the savings in productivity would have to be spectacular
0:20:31and I have a hard time believing that that would be possible.
0:20:36So I like Logic, it drives me mad, kind of to the same level that I like it, and also
0:20:42Also for me, there are things that I need to do with audio that I can't do with Logic
0:20:47or are too difficult for me to understand how to do with Logic.
0:20:50Logic really works for me in conjunction with other apps.
0:20:55You mentioned Adobe Audition.
0:20:57Adobe Audition is incredibly powerful and some of the noise removal stuff that it can
0:21:01do is just stupendous.
0:21:04And if you are someone who is looking for noise removal you should check out Adobe Audition.
0:21:07It's worth the fee for me, like the monthly fee.
0:21:11I'm struggling with this one because obviously I use Logic as much as you do
0:21:16and it is a very, very important application to me.
0:21:19I don't know if I feel strongly enough to really argue for 1Password
0:21:24as much as I like it, but you know,
0:21:27I kind of feel that Logic Pro is something that is indispensable for me.
0:21:32So in theory, does that make it the best Mac app? I love Fantastical too.
0:21:37That's actually my pick for my best newcomer Mac app, Spoilers, so I'm willing to push
0:21:45that one over from Matt's pick and give that a check against Fantastico 2.
0:21:52So again, I will allow you to run away with this one for Logic Pro X.
0:21:57All right, okay.
0:21:59I win.
0:22:00Congratulations to Logic.
0:22:02We should mention Aline Sims suggested Ulysses, which is a writing app.
0:22:06very nice and Casey Liss suggested day one. But the winner is Logic Pro X. So that brings
0:22:15us to the best newcomer Mac app and for me I will have to say Fantastic Al 2. I picked
0:22:19Fantastic Al I think as my favorite Mac app last year and I remember at the time asking
0:22:26for it to have a full calendar view as well. I really wanted to be able to completely get
0:22:33rid of iCal from my system or calendar whatever it's called now and so having
0:22:38the full calendar view of Fantastico 2 is a great mode to switch it into and
0:22:42their calendar sets function is fantastic because I can turn off and on
0:22:46the Relay FM live calendar so I don't have to see it if I don't want to see it
0:22:51as well as some other calendars that I keep. Fantastico is an incredible
0:22:55application and Fantastico 2 really pushed it forward and just made it even
0:23:00even better.
0:23:03I agree with you.
0:23:05I remember very clearly writing up my story about Fantastic Hell 2, trying out the beta.
0:23:09It was while I was on my trip to the UK, actually.
0:23:13So it was right when I was seeing you.
0:23:14That's when it came out in the spring.
0:23:17My nomination is Audio Hijack 3 from Rogue Amoeba.
0:23:24So Audio Hijack's been around a long time.
0:23:26Audio Hijack 3 is a complete revamp, beautiful user interface.
0:23:30It works great.
0:23:31It is incredibly powerful and there's room for it to grow.
0:23:34If you do anything with audio and that's like capture application sounds or capture conversations
0:23:43and I realize I keep picking these audio apps, but I couldn't let it go.
0:23:46Audio Hijack is so versatile.
0:23:48It does so many different things in different scenarios.
0:23:50I keep hearing of different ways that people use it that I had to give it a shout out because
0:23:55it is, it's just a very impressive update to an app that we sort of took for granted.
0:24:00It was out there, it had been there forever, you know, it was never really going to change,
0:24:03and then it did change quite dramatically and for the better. We should also mention
0:24:08the other apps that were suggested for us.
0:24:11>> Casey chose Visual Studio Code. Now, I believe this is a Microsoft thing. I remember
0:24:16them talking about this at the Windows 10 event, but this isn't something that I really
0:24:19know enough about.
0:24:20Yeah, but it's a code editor that runs on the Mac for the first time, I think.
0:24:25And it was a big case.
0:24:26He was impressed.
0:24:27He talked about it on the ATP as well.
0:24:29Matt Alexander picked Tweetbot 2 and then put a question mark and an exclamation point
0:24:33in parentheses after it.
0:24:35I assume that's him not knowing if it's version 2 or not.
0:24:38It's just the current one.
0:24:40Or is he just questioning his own suggestion and then is surprised that he suggested it?
0:24:43I don't know.
0:24:44We don't know, Matt.
0:24:45And David Sparks said, "Controversial for some, but life-saving for our family photos.
0:24:49which I think is a good, you know, there's good and bad with photos. I think the app
0:24:55itself is actually pretty great when you -- there are some issues with the cloud photos feature
0:25:01that people have had, but the app itself is so much better than iPhoto that I think that
0:25:06was a strong contender for me too. They did a lot of great things with photos that fixed
0:25:14a lot of the problems that iPhoto had. I'm going to give this one to you though, Myke.
0:25:18fantastic Cal too. I love it too. It's excellent. It's great. It really is just a superb app
0:25:23and it is one of the only apps that I use that continues to, on the Mac, that continues
0:25:29to get a lot of new features and clearly a lot of love added to it. The Mac is funny,
0:25:34you know, looking at this, these categories. It was really hard to think of stuff. Um,
0:25:40and I think that that is something, you know, this is something we've been talking about,
0:25:44other podcasts talking about it. The Mac is an interesting place for development right
0:25:47now and clearly it was not easy for anybody to think of their favorite iOS apps of the
0:25:52year.
0:25:53Yeah, there's a lot of mature stuff out there and some of this is, like I didn't want to,
0:25:59I can say BB Edit is my best Mac app every year. I really could, but that gets boring,
0:26:05so you know, trying to spread it around a little bit, but yeah, there's a lot of mature
0:26:09software in this, on the Mac, and there's a lot less. I think it's exciting that between
0:26:16Fantastic Callen Audio Hijack and something like Photos, right, and Visual Studio Code.
0:26:20These are actually, there are some interesting new things happening on the Mac, but not as
0:26:25much as there used to be, that's for sure, and not as much on iOS as on iOS.
0:26:29So now we move into our gaming section and we have the best game of the year. So this
0:26:35is across all platforms, consoles, it can be on iOS too.
0:26:38Yes, we're the experts here. Hey, I have a video game show.
0:26:42yeah okay fine. My pick is an interesting one it is a relatively small game on the PlayStation 4 and
0:26:49only small in size not not in audience it's game called Rocket League and the reason I've picked
0:26:55Rocket League for my game of the year is it is the most fun I ever had playing any type of game this
0:27:00year. In Rocket League you control a car that has boosting capabilities and the ability to jump
0:27:07and you play soccer with the car.
0:27:11It is amazing.
0:27:12You can play online.
0:27:15You can play against the computer.
0:27:16You can play in teams of up to, I think, four or six.
0:27:20And it gets crazy.
0:27:21And you can flip the car around to try and do
0:27:23incredible scores-- goals?
0:27:26Scores.
0:27:27You try and get some incredible goals with the cars.
0:27:30It is just so much fun.
0:27:32I was playing it a couple of days ago with my younger
0:27:35brother.
0:27:36and it was we were just screaming for about 15 minutes it was incredible fun
0:27:40I absolutely love Rocket League it is on the Playstation I believe it's coming to
0:27:45Xbox soon. Oh I'll check it out then. And as Mrs.
0:27:49Soup has pointed out in the chat room I called it soccer
0:27:51just because if I said football I'd have to qualify it so I went with soccer. Yeah that's
0:27:55right. So I'm gonna pick Rocket League as my
0:27:58favorite game this year. By the way as a style note you use the
0:28:03word soccer people should use the word soccer if
0:28:05if you're speaking to an international audience, because then everybody knows what it means.
0:28:09That was why I went with it, even though it obsessed me.
0:28:11And if you say football, people don't know what that means because Americans will think
0:28:15that you mean something else. So when you're speaking to an international audience, try
0:28:18to say American football or soccer. I always make sure to say American football because
0:28:23it makes me smile. Yeah, you should do it. That's how it is. That's our football. It
0:28:28belongs to us. That sounds fun. I hope it's coming to Xbox because I would love to try
0:28:35it out. Oh yeah, coming to Xbox One in February. All right. Yeah, you should try it. Let's
0:28:38check it out. Excellent. So my, uh, my game, I had a couple of games that I thought of
0:28:43long and hard about this, and I ended up with Splatoon, which is for Wii U. It is spectacularly
0:28:51good. Have you played it? Have we talked about this? I own it. I have many things to say
0:28:56about it? It's, I just, it is a shooter that is as non-violent as a shooter essentially
0:29:06can be because it's all with paint. The goal is to take over territory. It's all, or large,
0:29:13there is a one player scenario, but it's really about the online games. I find the online
0:29:16game matchmaking to be pretty good. My son loves it. A lot of my gaming experience these
0:29:21days is by watching my children play games, honestly, because they do it a lot more than
0:29:26I do. But this one, I like the style of it. I wish--I'm interested to hear what you have
0:29:33to say about it. My biggest criticism of Splatoon is that the music, that there's not enough
0:29:39variation in the music, and then after somebody plays it for half an hour, that same, like--
0:29:45- The song is in my head right now. It's going around and around.
0:29:49And it's cute, the style of it, it's like a reggae kind of style, reggae rock mix thing,
0:29:55but it's, it's more varied music would be helpful. But it's such a fun idea and it's
0:30:02colorful and, you know, I think it's, I think it's a very fun, clever game. And my honorable
0:30:09mention is a game called Runbow, which was a downloadable for Wii U that we played at
0:30:15my son's birthday party. And you can get up to nine players playing the game at once and
0:30:18It's a side-scrolling platformer where as the colors change the platforms appear and disappear and it's a it's a really nice
0:30:26$15 I think downloadable that is great especially as a party game because you can get we had you know, nine boys playing it
0:30:34It was pretty pretty spectacular
0:30:36Brianna Wu has mentioned rise of the Tomb Raider. Aline has gone for Splatoon. Matt went for Star Wars Battlefront
0:30:43Which is my favorite first-person shooter of the year and of course, Sir Acusa
0:30:48Pick destiny, which I've just got destiny and I just started playing it. It's very confusing, but I'm trying to get the grips of it
0:30:53Splatoon was my second
0:30:57It was my runner-up and the only reason that I did not give Splatoon my game of the year is the poor
0:31:04local multiplayer mode
0:31:07I really
0:31:09Wanted Splatoon to have a is there a local multiplayer mode? Yeah, it's not good. It's not the it's not it's like a different game
0:31:18There's like a different mode that you play in.
0:31:21You cannot play like team versus team, which is really upsetting to me because I love local
0:31:26multiplayer and Splatoon let me down with its not so good local multiplayer mode.
0:31:33Also, I'm disappointed, I have to say, with a lot of Wii U games that they don't take
0:31:39better advantage of the second screen on the Wii gamepad where you should be able to play
0:31:45a person versus person game where one person's on the TV and one person's on the gamepad
0:31:51and they don't do that. Generally. They do occasionally, but a lot of times they just
0:31:59mirror the screens and that's less good. But you know, yeah, I hear you. Like I mentioned,
0:32:04there's a single player kind of campaign game that's fine, but it does feel a little obligatory.
0:32:09Like well, we can't just sell, which I don't quite understand because I mean they didn't
0:32:14have maybe it's just a Nintendo philosophy thing because they didn't they didn't do that
0:32:19with Titanfall right Titanfall is a game where you need to play against other people but
0:32:23but with Splatoon they put in this obligatory thing that my son zipped through in in no
0:32:28time it's good enough all his time playing it's a simple platformer game yeah single
0:32:32player stuff and it's good to you know it's a good way to kind of get your grip to get
0:32:36to grips with the mechanics of the game Splatoon is fantastic because it is a first-person
0:32:41shooter without any death. I mean, who would have thought that could exist? And it is just
0:32:47excellent. I love the game. I really like the music, but Agree with You needs to be
0:32:51more varied. The customization of the characters is great. I love that obviously you can pick
0:32:57boy and girl. It's a really excellent game and I am more than happy to give it our game
0:33:03of the year. I really hope that Splatoon 2 has some better local multiplayer options,
0:33:10But for me Splatoon is easily our game of the year.
0:33:17That's uh yeah that sounds great it's it's people should check it out it is a lot of
0:33:21fun I mean you have to have a Wii U this is the thing and this has come up before I mean
0:33:26you guys did a you guys did an episode of of your video game podcast that was really
0:33:30depressing about the Wii U but I don't know I feel like the Wii U I don't regret buying
0:33:38it and not just because it gets unlike the other platforms that are PlayStation and Xbox
0:33:45are incompatible with previous versions.
0:33:47It's compatible with those old games, but also the Wii U titles that we've gotten and
0:33:52it's not a lot, but they've been great.
0:33:54Like the software is really good and Splatoon is a great example.
0:33:58That is just a great game.
0:33:59A lot of fun.
0:34:00Probably the Wii U is the majority of good games that you play at first party, which
0:34:04is not good for the life of a console.
0:34:08This is what I like about Runbow, is that it's an indie downloadable.
0:34:11Yeah, there is some good indie stuff in there.
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0:34:37You just type in what you're looking for, if it's there you can click through and you'll
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0:35:58iOS game of the year easy one for me Altos adventure it's it is the best iOS
0:36:07game of the last five years I would say so I expect that you've only put your
0:36:13pick in because I got to Altos adventure first no well wait a second so so did
0:36:22Altos adventure I thought it came out last year so did I but I looked at the
0:36:26release notes and version 1 was released very early in 2015.
0:36:33Wow, okay well.
0:36:34Yeah, this is the thing, I was very surprised when I went to take a look and I was like,
0:36:38"Oh, that's interesting."
0:36:39Version 1 was released on the 19th of February 2015.
0:36:43Uh, you know what, I think I might have played a beta of it.
0:36:46I think that might be what I'm thinking of is that the beta was last year, but it wasn't out yet.
0:36:50Well, in that case, I'm gonna just say Ulta's Adventure, I agree with you.
0:36:53I had my runner up is Pac-Man 256, which I think is great.
0:36:57And as a child of the eighties, let me say, I think it's the best Pac-Man game ever because
0:37:01I think Pac-Man games have not been that great ever.
0:37:03I love Pac-Man 256.
0:37:04It is fantastic.
0:37:06It's everything I liked about playing Pac-Man without all the things that I hated about
0:37:10playing Pac-Man.
0:37:11So I think it's a really, and it works fairly well with the touch interface, which it doesn't
0:37:16have to.
0:37:17probably better with a physical device but it works well with the touch
0:37:22interface. But I think Alto's Adventure is it. That is a fantastic
0:37:26game. I love it. Matt Alexander, John Siracusa and David
0:37:30Sparks all agree with us that Alto's Adventure should be the game of the year.
0:37:34Stephen Hackett chose Badlands 2, which I've heard great things about, especially
0:37:38on the Apple TV. Federico chose Oceanhorn, again for its Apple TV support as well.
0:37:43Oceanhorn is a Zelda-like game and it's available, it's a big Universal game now.
0:37:48Aline chose Kingdom Rush and Brianna chose Star Wars Galaxies of Heroes, which I have not played,
0:37:53but Brianna really does like that game.
0:37:55But for me, Alto's Adventure is absolutely stupendous.
0:38:00It's one of the very small amount of games that has stayed on my phone this year.
0:38:05You know, I play lots of games on iOS, but when I'm done with them I usually delete them.
0:38:10there are a few that get kind of upgraded to live in the folder of games that I keep
0:38:18on my phone. And after tvOS came out, I actually played, I started over with Alto and played
0:38:25a bunch of it again. It is absolutely stupendous and is the easy winner for our best iOS game
0:38:33of 2015.
0:38:34Yeah, I agree. By acclamation.
0:38:38So now we move on to favorite movie of the year. This feels like a cop-out because of
0:38:43the movie that we've both chosen, but it is without a shadow of a doubt the best movie
0:38:49that I've seen this year and that's Star Wars Force Awakens. We will not spend a lot of
0:38:53time talking about this, so there will be no spoilers. If you haven't yet and you've
0:38:58watched the movie, go back and listen to last week's episode of Upgrade where we do a special
0:39:04Myke at the movies talking about The Falls Awakens.
0:39:06Yeah, I wanted to, I wanted to, it's also my choice, what other movie have I seen three
0:39:10times in recent memory?
0:39:12Yeah, I've seen it twice, and I have one more ticket book for New Year's Day.
0:39:16You know, my family, I wanted to see it a second time by myself for the podcast, and
0:39:21then for the Incomparable episode that we did with John Siracusa and Dan Morin and Serenity
0:39:26Caldwell, which people should listen to. They can also listen to an entire episode of The
0:39:30The Incomparable hosted by Anthony Johnson that's full of UK people and Dan Morin. There's
0:39:36an episode hosted by Aline Sims that's full of kind of West Coast people. And there is
0:39:42an episode who hosted that one. Chip Sutterth hosted the one that's a bunch of East Coast
0:39:48people. So there are literally four episodes of The Incomparable about The Force Awakens.
0:39:52People should listen if they're excited about it. What else can I choose? My second place
0:39:56choice is going to be The Martian, which I really liked and I recommend to people. Good
0:40:02book, good adaptation, heck of a lot of fun, looks great, beautiful, you know, and so,
0:40:09and Stephen Hackett and I talked about that in an episode of Liftoff if people want to
0:40:12hear us talking about The Martian. And our panel of relay hosts was very much in line
0:40:18with us. Aline, Matt, and David all chose The Force Awakens and Brianna also chose
0:40:28The Force Awakens. So Stephen Hackett, of course, he's not letting me down, he chose
0:40:32The Martian. That's a good one. Casey List chose Inside Out, which is an excellent
0:40:37choice as well. Yep, I don't think Casey's seen Star Wars yet, but I did also really
0:40:41love Inside Out. And Federico, in a move that I cannot understand, I don't know if
0:40:46he's being serious chose the Entourage movie. I think he really loved that movie. He really
0:40:53loved the TV show. But it's very interesting. He did see A New Hope for the first time this
0:40:58year. Wow. Like a couple of weeks ago he watched A New Hope for the first time. Well, you know,
0:41:04it's safe to watch the original Star Wars now. The, um, yeah, well, we can't translate.
0:41:11Some things are lost in translation between Italy and the rest of the world, I guess.
0:41:16So thanks Federico.
0:41:18Horse Awakens by Hacklamation.
0:41:21Now this is one that just me and you voted on, which is our favorite mic at the movies,
0:41:26which was suggested to us by listener Zach.
0:41:30For me it's Say Anything.
0:41:32But I just loved that movie.
0:41:34I loved it so, so much.
0:41:37even just to say this is a good Myke at the Movies pic, I was just absolutely taken aback
0:41:46by how much I loved that movie. And thinking back to it, I just want to go and watch it
0:41:52again. I can't believe that I haven't already watched it like two times more. I really,
0:41:56really, really loved that movie.
0:41:58Well, what I would say is I have really enjoyed Myke at the Movies this year. That's something
0:42:03that we, again I can't believe it, but we didn't start doing that until this year.
0:42:09But we've watched a lot of fun movies, I'm looking forward to what movies come to us
0:42:13in 2016, whether we should stick with our existing sort of dive through the 80s or whether
0:42:18we should do something different.
0:42:20We still have 80s movies to go.
0:42:22There are lots of 80s movies to go.
0:42:23But it doesn't have to be a decade, it can be a complete new theme.
0:42:26We need to think about that.
0:42:27But yeah, Myke in the movies is a, I'm really pleased that we started doing that on this
0:42:31show and now it's kind of like grown and it's become its own little thing which is awesome.
0:42:37I really love watching these movies and talking about them with my friends and so I'm really
0:42:42pleased that we did this. Can we please give say anything? Have you even said what yours
0:42:47is yet? I know I haven't. I just really won't say anything to win.
0:42:49No, I so my favorite Myke at the movies was probably Raiders of the Lost Ark because that's
0:42:54a movie that I dearly love and I cannot believe that you hadn't seen and it was really enjoyable
0:43:00to sort of walk through that film with somebody who was seeing it with fresh eyes and you
0:43:05were very excited about it which was exciting but yes this is your category of course you
0:43:09get to choose the winner.
0:43:10Say Anything is the best Michael the movies of this year which brings us on to my favorite
0:43:16category for funny reasons his favorite book.
0:43:18Yes.
0:43:19My answer is the only book.
0:43:21We talked about this last year too where you said I don't read any books so I don't know
0:43:24I don't have opinions about this.
0:43:26The only book that I've read this year is Becoming Steve Jobs, so that is my de facto
0:43:30winner.
0:43:32Oh, Myke.
0:43:34It's the best book I've read this year because it's the only book.
0:43:37It's also the worst book you read this year.
0:43:38That's a good point, yes.
0:43:39Because it's the only book you read this year.
0:43:41All right, I'm going to, uh, my favorite book that I read this year is The Goblin Emperor
0:43:48by Katherine Addison, I think, is the—it's not a real name.
0:43:51It's a, it's a pen name.
0:43:54But it's a love that book. It's a great book. It's a fantasy book. It sounds more fantasy
0:44:00than it actually is. I talked about it at length on an incomparable episode. It's I
0:44:07like it a lot and it's the one that has stuck with me the longest. I keep recommending it
0:44:12to people. Oh, sorry. That right. Well, Sarah Manette is the name. It's Catherine Addison's
0:44:17the pen name. Sarah Manette's the actual name. So Goblin Emperor. It's it's really a coming
0:44:21of Age story about a young person who is smart but uneducated and has to learn a lot of things
0:44:28really quickly. There's some palace intrigue. There's a mysterious zeppelin accident, which,
0:44:34you know, I love that stuff. But it is not a sort of swords and sorcery, high fantasy
0:44:39kind of thing. It's actually a very different kind of book, but it does have fantasy trappings,
0:44:43and I liked it a lot. People should check it out. And my runner-up is Station Eleven
0:44:47by Emily St. John Mandel. We did an entire episode of "The Incomparable" or half an episode
0:44:52about, about that, I think, of "The Incomparable." I think we split it with something else. But,
0:44:59yeah, with "The Peripheral and Slow Apocalypse." So, so it's a sort of, it's, it's half an
0:45:05episode. Station Eleven is a beautifully written book with a nice setting. I think there are
0:45:12a lot of great things about it. I think it's probably more acceptable for a mainstream
0:45:16audience than something like the Goblin Emperor, but it has a lot of problems if you are somebody
0:45:22who is well versed in sci-fi or apocalypse end of the world stories because it's dumb
0:45:29about that stuff. Like if you're looking for a like real depiction of what it would be
0:45:33like in an apocalypse, Station Eleven is not gonna help you because that it's sort of not
0:45:39the point and the details are kind of just taken off the shelf of generic apocalypse
0:45:44stories. It's all about the, you know, these kind of interesting characters and interesting
0:45:48interactions and it's kind of beautifully written and it's nice but there are lots of
0:45:52things about it that didn't sit well with me, whereas The Goblin Emperor has only increased
0:45:55in my esteem. So that's the book. You know, last year was I think the Genie in the Golem
0:46:01and this year The Goblin Emperor is the book that people say, "What's a book I should read?"
0:46:04which does happen to me every now and then. It's kind of funny. And that's the book. That's
0:46:08my stock answer. I'm going to have to get a new stock answer next year but right now
0:46:11Now my stock answer is the Goblin Emperor.
0:46:13Brianna Wu suggested Fear the Sky, Aline Sims went with The Golem and the Genie, Casey Liss
0:46:18went with the Scott Harvest series by Brad Thor, and David Sparks chose the Expanse series,
0:46:24courtesy of The Incomparable.
0:46:25Jason, I'm going to give this one to you.
0:46:28Which one would you like to go for?
0:46:29You want to go for the Goblin Emperor?
0:46:30Goblin Emperor.
0:46:31Yes, please, go read The Goblin Emperor.
0:46:33It's good.
0:46:34Let's bring some to our favorite gadget of the year.
0:46:36Now this is a favorite gadget, could be anything at all.
0:46:39It doesn't have to be Apple. However, both of me and you, spoilers, have gone with an
0:46:44Apple product.
0:46:45Well, we have a non-Apple gadget category, which made me kind of lean toward an Apple
0:46:49gadget for the favorite gadget category.
0:46:52I went with the Apple Pencil, which is just flat out my favorite piece of technology this
0:46:57year. I love that thing. I use it all day. I use my iPad Pro a bunch. We'll talk about
0:47:06at a bit I think. But the Apple Pencil for me has just changed the way that I
0:47:10like to use iOS. Not only do I spend tons of time in pigment coloring, I use it
0:47:18just for general UI as well as taking notes. I use the Apple Pencil to navigate
0:47:24iOS like some people would say a crazy person but I absolutely love it. Without
0:47:29a shadow of a doubt I think it's one of the most magical things that Apple have
0:47:32done this year. It really encapsulates a lot of what is great about Apple, even down to
0:47:39the way that you charge it, which frustrates and people that don't use it think is crazy,
0:47:44but people that do use it appreciate the fact that you're using the iPad, it tells you it's
0:47:49got 10% of battery, you pop it in for 30 seconds and you've got a bunch of charge for another
0:47:54few hours. That's the great thing about it, is you're able to charge it with the device
0:47:58it's in front of you rather than going to need to find a cable. I genuinely believe
0:48:03that's the reason they chose to do it this way because when you actually use the product,
0:48:07that is the best way to charge it. So that is my feeling about the Apple Pencil.
0:48:12And Aline Sims agreed with you, by the way. She's voting your way. So I thought about
0:48:18this category, and again, it's challenging because we've got the non-Apple gadget category
0:48:21that's coming. And the word "gadget" to me also implies something about a piece of technology
0:48:28is kind of a fun idea and fun to play with and fun to have around and so what
0:48:35I didn't do is say something like the iPad Pro which I bought one I do like it
0:48:40a lot but is it a gadget you could make the case but that's that's not I decided
0:48:45to define gadget a little bit differently and that's why I chose the
0:48:48Apple watch because I wear my Apple watch every day it and why do I wear it
0:48:52well it tells the time that's number one it's got some notifications on it that
0:48:56I find that valuable. And it's fun. It's fun! I find it a fun gadget. It's now--it's replaced
0:49:01my alarm clock by my bed. I now just put it on a stand and it goes off and wakes me up
0:49:07in the morning. It's--yeah, it is a gadget. And so I guess there's some implied impracticality
0:49:13there, and I'm okay with that, because I do--I still enjoy it. I have worn it every single
0:49:18day that I've had it, and it's a lot of fun. I switch out the watch bands because it's
0:49:22It's fun, not because it's practical in any way, but because it's fun to have a different
0:49:25watch band sometimes.
0:49:26"I'm in the mood for an orange watch band now.
0:49:29I'm in the mood for the black leather watch band now."
0:49:31And yeah, it's fun.
0:49:33So what could be more gadget-y than that?
0:49:36And Brianna Wu in our panel also went with the Apple Watch, so she's with me.
0:49:40We each have one supporter on the panel.
0:49:42Matt>> Casey chose the Apple Lightning Digital AV Adapter.
0:49:46Okay.
0:49:47Matt chose his iPhone 6S Plus.
0:49:50Matt is a plus convert this year.
0:49:53David Sparks chose the DX01.
0:49:55- Yeah, he had that at XOXO and it was,
0:49:58I still have a couple pictures I took with it
0:50:00and it's a pretty cool idea.
0:50:02- It's a little camera that you can attach
0:50:05via lightning to your iPhone and it's, you know,
0:50:08SLR, I think it's like an SLR quality lens maybe.
0:50:11- Yeah.
0:50:11- And it really is absolutely stupendous
0:50:14and it has some fantastic focusing.
0:50:15You can do all of that fancy blur stuff.
0:50:18- And very gadgety.
0:50:19It's very gadgety and Federico chose the iPad Pro as his favorite gadget of the year.
0:50:25I really love my Apple Watch.
0:50:28It was beaten out by the Apple Pencil but the Apple Watch has made a similar impact
0:50:32on my life.
0:50:33It is a device that I love dearly.
0:50:35I use it every day.
0:50:37It is again, like many Apple things this year, it is not without its foibles and it has some
0:50:42weird stuff about it.
0:50:45I don't use this device in the way that I think Apple would love me to use it, right?
0:50:49Like I don't really use a lot of apps. I mainly use it as a thing that just gives me information
0:50:54rather than me going to find information.
0:50:55MATT ROWE, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER,
0:50:56PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER,
0:50:57PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER, PRODUCER,
0:50:58PRODUC
0:50:58Exactly. But I am more than happy with it for doing just that. So I would love to give
0:51:04our gadget of the year to the Apple Watch.
0:51:07Yeah, that sounds about right. It is a gadget. For all that comes with that, it is a gadget.
0:51:13It is a fun gadget, but it is definitely a gadget.
0:51:17The best non-Apple gadget of the year, suggested by Justin last year and AJ this year.
0:51:23Different listeners suggested it both years. I find that funny.
0:51:26Mine is the Sphero BB-8.
0:51:30What a fantastic piece of technology this is.
0:51:33We went and saw The Force Awakens and I came home and went on Amazon just to see if they
0:51:37had BB-8s in stock, and they do.
0:51:39They were in short supply at the beginning, but they made a lot of them, and so that was
0:51:44the last present opened at Christmas this year.
0:51:48And it is a spectacular little piece of technology.
0:51:52I mean, the Sphero was already around, and there are other gadgets like this, but the
0:51:56BB-8 is adorable and cute because of the Star Wars connection.
0:51:59But it's a great little gadget, and you control it with an iOS device.
0:52:07And it controls—that's the thing that impressed me the most about it, is the way they've
0:52:10got the navigation set, it's obviously using the compass in your device, because you can
0:52:18turn and the orientation of how you control the BB-8 remains correct, which is crazy.
0:52:27Yeah, it really, everything about it is fantastic and the fact that they're able to build so
0:52:32much personality and life into the device is crazy to me that they are able to manage
0:52:36it. I have no idea how they did it. It is really one of those things, it is like a marvel
0:52:43of technology. I love the BB-8 and I bought it as soon as it came out, so months ago,
0:52:49and I still turn it on relatively frequently and just drive that thing around. Like if
0:52:53I'm struggling with something, I'm trying to think for a little problem or something,
0:52:57I'll just pick up the BB-8, put him down, drive him around for a while, and it just
0:53:00helps me kind of think through some stuff. I really, really love that thing.
0:53:05My cat and dog don't know quite what to make of him.
0:53:08I'm not surprised.
0:53:09amuses me and I'm gonna write a piece about this later, maybe even later today. It's programmable.
0:53:15There's an app on iOS that will let you program it. And it's very much in the metaphor that
0:53:24they teach a lot of kids basic ideas about programming, like Scratch. And I think that's
0:53:29pretty cool. So I'm gonna show that to my son and I'm hoping that we'll spend some time
0:53:33doing some programming of BB-8 too.
0:53:35Yeah, the app is called Tickle if you're looking to find it. I'll put a link in the show notes
0:53:39to it. Yeah, it's pretty, uh, pretty cool. James Thompson turned me on to that. So, so
0:53:43my gadget of the year nomination is, uh, something that I've mentioned on, uh, I mentioned on
0:53:50Clockwise on the last episode of the year of Clockwise. It's the Breville One Touch
0:53:55Tea Maker. Uh, I drink, I drink a lot of tea. My wife and I both are tea drinkers. We're
0:54:02not coffee drinkers.
0:54:03And the Breville one-touch team maker is a gadget that I have been looking at.
0:54:07It's been in my Amazon cart for years, and I finally bought one this year.
0:54:12It's not cheap, but it is, it is a kettle that's got a basket attachment and you
0:54:20can basically put water in and, and a loose tea in the basket and set it to go
0:54:27in the morning and, and then go to bed.
0:54:31And then you wake up and your tea is ready, which is pretty awesome.
0:54:35I have to say.
0:54:36And it, it boils the water, drops the tea in let's, let's it steep, lifts the tea
0:54:41back out and then keeps it warm.
0:54:43And, uh, it is a gadget.
0:54:45Definitely.
0:54:47It's I can make tea the old fashioned way with just a kettle and a
0:54:51teapot and a strainer.
0:54:52I can do that, but, um, I kind of love this gadget so that, so I finally bought
0:54:59it. And then the big surprise on Clockwise was that as a thank you for his support of
0:55:05Six Colors this year, Dan Morin and I both were the ones who were obsessed with this
0:55:10gadget. I bought him this gadget as his holiday thank you for Six Colors and told him about
0:55:16it on the podcast.
0:55:17That was a great podcasting moment.
0:55:19That was a fun little moment. So that's my choice for best non-Apple gadget. It's a pretty
0:55:26gadgety gadget, but I love it.
0:55:29our panel say Myke? Brianna went with the new 3ds and so did Federico. I think that
0:55:34the new 3ds is really awesome. I'm a big fan of that. Aline went with something called
0:55:38the sugar cube which I had to look up. It's a kind of it's a wireless speaker that works
0:55:42with Spotify which looks pretty cool and it has some nice kind of gestures that are built
0:55:47into it to help you control your music. Casey went with the Amazon fire tv stick and Matt
0:55:52went with the raspberry pi zero which I would not have expected but that was what he went
0:55:57with. So I'm struggling with this one because I know that BB8 appears a little bit later
0:56:04on in our suggestions here. If I was going to go with a second choice, mine would be
0:56:10the new 3DS.
0:56:12Um, yeah, let's see. I, uh...
0:56:17I know that you're not going to go with that because you've probably never even tried one.
0:56:20No, no, and I'm a 3DS, I'm a Nintendo DS skeptic too. I'm one of those people.
0:56:27Don't be skeptical about it, it's the second best selling game console of all time, so...
0:56:33Yep, whatever, whatever dude, it's dumb. The Fire TV stick is actually a good thing, that
0:56:42was my secret santa on that last episode of Clockwise too. I don't know, I'm fine with
0:56:50us the BB8, we should give it to the BB8. I feel like that's the right choice.
0:56:55BB8 is the winner, definitely. Good choice. So now we're gonna go with the worst gadget
0:57:01or most disappointing technology of the year. I'm gonna take this in a slightly different
0:57:05direction by picking one of my favorite things of this year.
0:57:09Interesting move.
0:57:10Yep, it's the Logitech MX Master mouse. This was the mouse that I spoke about across every
0:57:15single show that I'm a part of for like two weeks. It is absolutely fantastic. My
0:57:20disappointment in lies in what it did to my hand. I think the MX Master is completely
0:57:26at fault for giving me some pretty severe RSI issues this year and that was really my
0:57:32own doing. The mouse has some buttons that you can program and I kind of over-programmed
0:57:38them to do a bunch of crazy things and I was contorting and twisting my hand into stupid
0:57:42positions so I really shouldn't have set it up the way that I did and it was my own
0:57:47fault I started to feel the pain but continued to go with it anyway because I
0:57:51loved it so much so I'm mainly disappointed that I cannot use it I'm
0:57:54hoping in 2016 I'll be able to bring it back into my rotation because the
0:58:00problems that I was having have pretty much all cleared up and just be a little
0:58:03bit more sensible about how I program the buttons on the MX master mouse but
0:58:09but it really is fantastic.
0:58:11But it did very disappointing to me because I broke myself.
0:58:16- So my vote is very specific.
0:58:20It's, so I have been a long time fan of small laptops
0:58:25and MacBook Air users since the beginning.
0:58:27I have an 11 inch MacBook Air and I love it.
0:58:29I've always wanted a retina MacBook Air.
0:58:32And this year Apple gave us the MacBook
0:58:34or you would call it the MacBook One, which Marco does.
0:58:38It's actually not a bad name.
0:58:39They could totally have called it that.
0:58:42And it's small and thin and light
0:58:44and has good battery life
0:58:45and has a beautiful retina screen.
0:58:47It's got the crazy new track pad that doesn't actually move,
0:58:50but it vibrates to make it feel like it moves, all good.
0:58:53And then it's got a keyboard with very little travel.
0:58:56And there are people who will defend that keyboard
0:58:58and bless them, everybody is different,
0:59:00everybody's preferences are different.
0:59:02But for me, the most disappointing thing
0:59:04in technology this year in terms of products
0:59:08was the keyboard on the MacBook one,
0:59:09because that's the thing that basically made me say,
0:59:13I can't use this product.
0:59:14It's everything else about it I like,
0:59:17and I don't like the keyboard.
0:59:18I think it's a bad keyboard.
0:59:19I think it just, I don't know,
0:59:23it, the lack of travel, the way it feels,
0:59:25it just, you can type on it, but it's unpleasant.
0:59:28And in the end, for me, I just looked at that and said,
0:59:31I'm not gonna buy this computer.
0:59:33I can't buy this computer.
0:59:35You know, Apple, it's not the single port.
0:59:37you know none of the other things about it are our deal breakers for me but the
0:59:42keyboard is and that made me disappointed so the MacBook one keyboard
0:59:45is my disappointment of the year both Brianna and Aline went with Apple music
0:59:50Casey went with the Apple watch even though he likes his which I don't
0:59:55understand interesting Matt went with the tile which is this little device that
1:00:01helps you find things. I assume Matt lost something after using the tile. David Sparks
1:00:08went with the coin, which was that Kickstarter credit card thing. It took him so long to
1:00:13deliver that when it finally showed up it wouldn't work with his new chip-based cards.
1:00:17And Federico went with the Wything's home camera.
1:00:20What are you thinking?
1:00:24Well I mean, I think mine because that's me.
1:00:31So this is the thing, I know why people are upset about Apple Music, I can see that, but
1:00:35for me I've really enjoyed using it, I mean it's fine, I have no problem with it, I know
1:00:40that a lot of people have but I can't give Apple Music the most disappointing or worst
1:00:45thing of the year because it hasn't been for me, I've actually really liked it.
1:00:50So I mean I don't really have skin in the game of the MacBook One keyboard because I
1:00:55I know I could use it fine because I am more than happy using the one on the smart cover
1:01:01of the iPad Pro.
1:01:02I kind of like that one better than the MacBook One maybe because of my diminished expectations.
1:01:07I'm like yeah.
1:01:08Well I think you know what you're getting right?
1:01:10This is a case where I'm learning a laptop.
1:01:12And I know people that use the MacBook One keyboard like Brianna's a big fan of the whole
1:01:16device even though I think something broke on her keyboard.
1:01:19So let's go with the MacBook One keyboard.
1:01:22Okay there it is.
1:01:23Even the staunchest defender of the MacBook One keyboard had problems with the keyboard.
1:01:29So yeah.
1:01:31And I'll point out also that when Apple came out with its new external Magic Keyboard,
1:01:36it isn't using that keyboard design.
1:01:38It's using a different keyboard design.
1:01:40They made some compromises.
1:01:42They made some compromises for the device.
1:01:43They did.
1:01:44Yeah.
1:01:45I like everything else about that product.
1:01:46Just not that.
1:01:47Our favorite tech story of the year, suggested by @Oztamir, is sponsored by TextExpander
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1:04:38Tech Story of the Year in the 2015 Upgradey Awards.
1:04:43My pick for my favourite tech story this year is Jack Dorsey returning to Twitter.
1:04:48It was one of my favourite things that me and you have spoken about over the year as
1:04:52well.
1:04:53It was just a really interesting story, right?
1:04:57It mirrored the Steve Jobs story a little bit and we all love Twitter and hope that
1:05:02they're going to take it somewhere and really kickstart the app again and the service and
1:05:06really kind of take it in new directions. So for me, Dorsey returning to Twitter was
1:05:11a really nice story. I liked that a lot.
1:05:13Yeah, we did talk about that a lot. And I think that's a, I think that's an interesting
1:05:17story. And we'll see how it plays out. Twitter is doing some things, but they like did their
1:05:19moments thing, which seems nobody seems to like. And I, and, um, I always meant to write
1:05:26about it and I never did. Cause I feel like sometimes Twitter, Twitter's not trying to
1:05:30reach people like us who are more technical and more critical at the same time. I look
1:05:35of what the moment's feature is and think it's a missed opportunity, that they did the
1:05:41right, they were in the right direction with the wrong thing. And so it remains to be seen
1:05:48whether they're actually going to be able to execute. I feel like they may be a little
1:05:51more aware of what their opportunities are, but I'm not sure that they're actually executing
1:05:56properly. So we'll see. But it was an interesting story and I feel like that was a rudderless
1:06:01company that maybe has a rudder now they just need to just move the boat in the right direction.
1:06:07My vote is going to be Federico Vittucci's iPad Pro review, which, you know, that guy,
1:06:14he's been writing about the iPad an awful lot and using the iPad an awful lot and for
1:06:18him to get not just to write his usual in-depth voluminous impressive review but to have it
1:06:27be an embargo review because he got on Apple's embargo list for the first time. That was
1:06:33a little extra bonus but I thought that was a really great review and a perspective that
1:06:37I really wanted to see and was looking forward to seeing about that product.
1:06:43Brianna went with the Ashley Madison scenario. That was a very entertaining story to read
1:06:48about. I actually quite enjoyed reading about some crazy stuff that was happening after
1:06:53So many layers of terribleness in that story.
1:06:58So it made it like great popcorn.
1:07:01Aline went with Taylor Swift demanding to be paid for Apple Music streaming.
1:07:04That's a great story.
1:07:06Matt went with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos' competition for space.
1:07:11And John Siracusa obviously picked the Swift open source project.
1:07:15So I am torn on this one after looking at this.
1:07:18I love my story but I don't think it's the best.
1:07:21I think that the Taylor Swift scenario was really good.
1:07:24It was actually a very interesting multi-layered story.
1:07:29Kind of really showed a difference
1:07:32in the music entertainment world
1:07:33and the world that Apple was going to.
1:07:35But my heart really pours for Federico.
1:07:38Because it meant a lot to him and it meant a lot to me
1:07:42because it meant a lot to him.
1:07:44So I kind of guess my feeling is between those two
1:07:47'cause I didn't think of either of those
1:07:49when thinking of my option.
1:07:53-I think we're gonna just go with the home field pick
1:07:58and pick Federico's pick, Federico's review.
1:08:02-Yeah, that was something that he deserved so much,
1:08:04and I'm so pleased that he got it.
1:08:06-He gets an upgrade. Yay!
1:08:07His lifelong dream.
1:08:10Oh, you made the iPad Pro embargo.
1:08:12Well, that, too.
1:08:14Matt, by the way, suggested, perhaps,
1:08:16that Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos
1:08:18were competing over which one of their rockets was bigger.
1:08:22Mm-hmm. I edited Matt as I do so often.
1:08:25Mm-hmm. Yeah, well, it's required.
1:08:28Favorite tech screw-up of the year.
1:08:30[ Laughs ]
1:08:32Mine was the BlackBerry CEO attempting to demo the Prive.
1:08:36Have you seen that video?
1:08:37Oh, yeah. He's completely unprepared.
1:08:40Yeah. Yeah, it's stupendous.
1:08:44You just go and watch a video.
1:08:45I won't spoil it. You have to see it.
1:08:48What was yours?
1:08:49- So the Microsoft Surface is the official tablet
1:08:54of the NFL and they changed the rules this year
1:08:58so that the Surface was available on the sidelines.
1:09:01It used to be only up in the booth,
1:09:03no technology on the sidelines.
1:09:04They would actually print out pictures.
1:09:06It was legal to take pictures of what happened on the field
1:09:10and print them out and show those to players,
1:09:14but they couldn't like watch video
1:09:15or anything on the sidelines.
1:09:16And they changed the rules this year.
1:09:18I think actually during the season to allow technology to be on the field of these specific
1:09:23things. They don't want it to be like a whole technology war. They want everybody's technology
1:09:27to be the same, but they wanted to do this. So the NFL puts the official tablet of the
1:09:32NFL, the Microsoft Surface, on the sideline, which has led to some hilarious instances
1:09:37of angry athletes, mostly quarterbacks, chucking the tablet while the TV cameras are on. It's
1:09:45happened more than once, but my favorite one, I think the definitive one, is when Aaron
1:09:49Rogers of the Green Bay Packers, former Cal Bear, woo, go Bears, chucked his surface and
1:09:56basically wrecked it because he was mad because he threw an interception. And it's just like,
1:10:01I love that, great job Microsoft, lots of famous athletes are now destroying your product.
1:10:06Way to go.
1:10:07I just watched the video, I'd never seen it, and that is so funny, it's just like,
1:10:12Get this thing away from me.
1:10:13- He is disgusted by his Surface.
1:10:17'Cause he's watching a receiver that is open,
1:10:21he blew it and he didn't throw it at them
1:10:22and they didn't get the touchdown.
1:10:24But still, it's a...
1:10:26Yeah, I have some questions about that whole thing.
1:10:29It's the official tablet, so everybody's forced to use it.
1:10:35Even if they use iPads or something else elsewhere,
1:10:38they've got to use that, anything that's visible.
1:10:40and then what you get is the visibility of people demolishing it.
1:10:43So, yeah, that's pretty good.
1:10:45- Brianna picked Apple Music for her favorite text group.
1:10:51Aline went with Jimmy Iovine,
1:10:54saying that women needed help finding music,
1:10:57which was like this ad that they created,
1:10:58which is just real foot-in-the-mouth type stuff.
1:11:03We have Casey picked the Mac App Store certificate problem.
1:11:07Matt chose... - It's a good one.
1:11:08- Yeah, another good one is Matt chose
1:11:10the Time Magazine VR cover where they picked that crazy photo of the guy on the beach and
1:11:17David Sparks went with Apple Music as well and added that after a pretty good job with
1:11:21photos how did they screw up music for so many users. I don't know where to go with
1:11:25this one. Because again, even though I like music I can say how it was screwed up for
1:11:35a lot of people.
1:11:36- Yeah, I feel like the Mac App Store is a great one.
1:11:39I think maybe coming in from the side there,
1:11:41Casey Liss's nomination should be the winner.
1:11:43'Cause that's a really good one.
1:11:45That was a screw up.
1:11:46That's a best kind of screw up
1:11:47because it's a screw up that leads to a bigger story, right?
1:11:52It's a screw up that reinforces suspicions
1:11:58about a product or service not being given attention.
1:12:02And it makes it clear that that's the case.
1:12:04It's sort of like, no, no, no, no, no, we care about it.
1:12:07We really care about it.
1:12:08We really care about it.
1:12:08And then the screw up happens and you're like, aha, see proof
1:12:12that you don't care about it.
1:12:13And that's, we've all been feeling like the Mac app store is kind of,
1:12:16you know, just, uh, rotting.
1:12:19I think John Gruber said, and, uh, this was a perfect example of that
1:12:23where they, they just, you know, they screwed it up, they blew it.
1:12:26And, you know, everybody makes mistakes, but this felt like a colossal mistake
1:12:30that was made because there was nobody minding the store, literally.
1:12:34So I'm happy with that. Mac App Store certificates as our favorite tech screw up of 2015.
1:12:41Now we go to the favorite non-tech podcast of the year suggested by Nodotus. This was
1:12:48last year and they also said not cereal.
1:12:51Not cereal, yeah.
1:12:53Now this one last year was the one of the biggest contention for me and you.
1:12:57Indeed.
1:12:58This was, I chose Hello Internet and you chose the Flop House.
1:13:02And I don't know if we chose a winner, but if we did it was purely because just why not
1:13:07and we both pledged to go away and listen to each other's shows, which has brought me
1:13:12to now say that my favorite non-tech podcast of the year is The Flop House.
1:13:18I love The Flop House so, so much.
1:13:22I'm raising my hands in victory here.
1:13:26There was no way I couldn't pick it.
1:13:27It's easily my favorite.
1:13:29I think it may just be my favorite podcast flat out now.
1:13:34And I just absolutely love that show so much.
1:13:40It's one of those shows I listen to one episode, like a new episode that comes out, then I
1:13:43go and listen to an old one because I just can't just have one.
1:13:46And I haven't gone through the whole back-catalog yet, but I'm kind of just I'm still in the
1:13:50picking out old episodes phase, but I absolutely love the Flop House.
1:13:56So now the perfect O'Henry ending here would be that I have now listened to Hello Internet
1:14:00and made it my vote, and I have listened to Hello Internet and I like it. It's a good
1:14:05podcast. But my vote is still the flophouse, so now we're unanimous.
1:14:09So should we go to our other suggestions anyway, even though I think it's pretty clear what
1:14:15we're going to give the milk-
1:14:16Yeah, I think the unanimous flophouse, and I'm pretty sure even though he didn't vote
1:14:19here that John Siracusa would agree with us, he was actually—he had his letter read on
1:14:23the later version not the first time that he's had a letter read on the on
1:14:26the fly pass the so Aline and Casey both pick reconcilable differences I have
1:14:35that in a in a later yeah Matt picked Roderick on the line always a good pick
1:14:43and David Sparks picked Rebel Force Radio which I assume is a Star Wars
1:14:48podcast. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, that's what's just I don't think he's actually rebelling
1:14:53against anything other than the Empire. Yeah, it's a Star Wars podcast. So we're gonna go
1:14:58with the Flop House because Flop House just because yeah favorite tech podcast of the
1:15:03year suggested by Gary. I'm gonna continue my pick from last year and go with ATP again
1:15:10flat out just is my favorite tech podcast. You go with the same. I agree. I agree. That
1:15:16is that is the one that I make a point of listening to every week that I'm not on. And
1:15:21I will I will put a second place mention in for Cortex, the podcast that you do with CGP
1:15:26Gray, which is, you know, what is it? What is it about? It's about lots of things, but
1:15:31it does feel like it does. It does feel techie enough for me to call it that. But I feel
1:15:36like it's not just a, you know, what we think of as a tech podcast. It's about some other
1:15:41things, but I want to throw it in there. I don't I don't listen to every episode because
1:15:45I have too many podcasts and I don't commute anymore, but it's definitely one of my priorities.
1:15:49Yeah, Cortex isn't necessarily a technology podcast, but what it is is me and Gray mainly
1:15:54talking about how we work, and we both work in technology, so it kind of becomes that.
1:15:59Federico agrees with your second place pick, he's gone for Cortex.
1:16:03Aline agrees with both me and you and have picked ATP.
1:16:06Casey would like to pick ATP but won't have upgraded instead.
1:16:12move that is a that is a grandmaster chess move there Casey list good job
1:16:16David chose the incomparable because I don't think he knows what technology is
1:16:20and Matt went with David and that went with the talk show yeah all good choices
1:16:27but ATP ATP wins again it's second year in a row it's still there for me
1:16:34congratulations behind though I'm like a couple episodes behind now it's painful
1:16:37one of the shows that I never never go behind on because I love it so much I
1:16:42I tried but I got I got I got yeah I had a couple weeks where I just didn't
1:16:46listen to podcasts and it was a problem so I got to get caught up.
1:16:49Our favorite podcast newcomer of the year I have picked Reconcilable Differences for this I know
1:16:59that it is a show on our network I also am part of the show I edit the show
1:17:05right so I have a stake in it but I love Reconcilable Differences I'm so happy
1:17:11happy that it exists. I'm extra happy that it gets to call relay FM its home. John and
1:17:17Merlin together, it's like one of those like match matches made in heaven. It was like
1:17:20a one-two pairing type scenario, I think for many people. And yeah, absolutely love that
1:17:27show. Couldn't speak highly enough of it.
1:17:30Well, you hear the concept and you think, "Oh, that's going to be good." But then it
1:17:33actually is good. Like it actually is good. It is a good podcast and enjoyable. And those
1:17:39guys combining the ways that they do are fascinating. It was my runner up pick. I'm happy for it
1:17:45to be the winner here. Actually, the one that I've liked the most, and this again, picking
1:17:50something that's on your own network, I really enjoyed. So Lisa Schmeiser, Tony Sindelar,
1:17:55and Philip Mosilak do a recap of the Flash, the TV series on the Incomparable Network
1:18:01and the TV feed called the Flash Flashcast. I really enjoy it. They have amusing, I like
1:18:05how it's structured. It's fun to have a podcast on your network that you have nothing to do
1:18:09with and you listen to it and you think, "Oh, this is really good. They have some good ideas
1:18:13here. They've done things I should steal for the things that I do." I love that. And I
1:18:18like that show, The Flash, and I like that they have their different categories and they
1:18:22have the My Three Dads and I'm Not a Scientifician But...and things like that. And they're all
1:18:29very different and funny personalities too. So that was a real find for me on my own network.
1:18:35But Rectifs is, that should be the winner.
1:18:38That's totally, should be the winner.
1:18:40- Our other suggestions,
1:18:41Aline chose a show called Design Life.fm.
1:18:44Casey went with Reconcilable Differences
1:18:46and also a show called Built in Motion.
1:18:49Matt went for Defocused because it's new to the incomparable.
1:18:52Which is a good way of squeezing that one in there.
1:18:55And Federico chose Cortex again.
1:18:58Thank you Federico.
1:18:58But we will go Reconcilable Differences
1:19:01and we'll also pull in the votes from Aline and Casey
1:19:04the favorite Nuntec podcast to crown reconcilable differences, the upgradey winner for the best
1:19:09podcast newcomer of this year. We have a couple of new categories to round out today's upgradeys.
1:19:20The first one comes from Dan again, who picked the favorite Nuntec podcast last year,
1:19:26and it is our best holiday gift. And it's unclear whether this is the best gift that we gave or
1:19:32receive or just a thing that would be a good holiday gift? So take it as you will.
1:19:37I went with my favorite holiday gift, which is a selection of gifts. I got some cocktail
1:19:41making tools from my family and from my girlfriend this year. I enjoy making cocktails for myself,
1:19:48and I want to start making cocktails for other people as well. It's just something that I like.
1:19:53I have, you know, maybe one or so a week. You took that class?
1:19:57I took a class, yes. I took a class, and that was where it all started. That was a birthday gift.
1:20:01gift, and so I took a class in cocktail making, and now I have the tools to make good cocktails.
1:20:07Well, the best holiday gift I think we got this year was the BB-8. There's no doubt about
1:20:12it. I will put a shout out to, I think, a good gift that I've recommended to people
1:20:18in the past for the last couple of years. For $69, you get a year's subscription to
1:20:23Marvel Unlimited if you're a comic book reader and like Marvel Comics. It's a great deal
1:20:29because comic books are kind of expensive.
1:20:31And with Marvel Unlimited,
1:20:33you're not getting the latest issues,
1:20:34but they're about six months delayed,
1:20:36but it's this huge catalog of tens of thousands
1:20:39of old comics and recent comics.
1:20:42And I, you know, in one reading binge,
1:20:45I can read $69 worth of comics.
1:20:49So it's totally worth it because it means
1:20:51that I'm not buying, I don't buy old Marvel comics.
1:20:54I only buy, I buy some new ones,
1:20:55but I don't buy the old ones
1:20:56because they're all on Marvel Unlimited.
1:20:58and it has been, I think I've been a subscriber
1:21:00since the very beginning with that one
1:21:01and it's great, or since it came to the iPad, I guess.
1:21:05And I really like it and on iPad Pro,
1:21:08a comic reading is even more awesome.
1:21:10So I think that's a recommendation just to throw out there
1:21:13as a gift for people, anytime.
1:21:15- Aline chose the BB-8.
1:21:17- BB-8, yeah.
1:21:18- Casey went with the iPad Mini 4,
1:21:20which was his favorite gift.
1:21:21And he also got a foot card against subscription for Aaron,
1:21:25his wife, who loved that.
1:21:27Keep watching the socks.
1:21:29- Matt chose Mojave slippers.
1:21:31I have no idea, who knows?
1:21:32- It's Matt, whatever.
1:21:33- And Federico chose Beats.
1:21:36I love Federico, man, he loves Beats, he owns Beats.
1:21:39I'm happy that he loves them, he should,
1:21:41because they seem cool.
1:21:42I got some cool Sennheiser Bluetooth headphones this year,
1:21:46which I'm very happy with.
1:21:47I'm gonna make an unprecedented suggestion here.
1:21:51- Yes?
1:21:52- That we give BB8 the winner of this category as well.
1:21:53- Yeah, sure.
1:21:55- That will make it the first,
1:21:56think the first time this has ever happened that one thing has won two upgradeys. I mean,
1:22:01it wouldn't be difficult because this is the second time it's happened, but nevertheless,
1:22:05I think that it is the best little gift that you could get someone this year. It was your
1:22:11favorite holiday gift as well. We got two BB8s because Jamie got a BB8 pillow. BB8 is
1:22:18it, right? BB8 is the winner of everything right now. And our last upgradey this year,
1:22:24suggested by Todd is for the hardware that has changed our lives the most this year.
1:22:32This is a really, the winner of this category is obvious, having looked at the document,
1:22:37and it's very, very interesting. I want to start this time by reading the suggestions
1:22:41from our illustrious panel. Brianna went with the Apple Watch, so did Matt, and Casey, who
1:22:48also said that it was his most disappointing technology. So I'm 100% sure of Casey right
1:22:54now. I can see that I almost said that Apple Watch was both my favorite gadget and the
1:22:59most disappointing because my expectations were high and I feel like it's still got a
1:23:03lot more it needs to do. Yeah I bet that's exactly where Casey's coming from as well
1:23:06that makes sense. I support Casey in this that I think it is a complicated product that
1:23:11has a lot of things that I love about it and a lot of things that I'm disappointed that
1:23:14it doesn't do. And then we have from Federico, Aline and Steven along with me and you the
1:23:22the iPad Pro. Yeah, I had the Apple Watch as my runner-up because it has changed my
1:23:27life. It's gotten me to be more active. I think that's the biggest way that it's changed
1:23:31my life, but the iPad Pro, buying it, you know, I'm using it more and basically my MacBook
1:23:37Air never gets used now. And I love that product and I'm surprised that I love it as much as
1:23:44I do and it's pretty great. So that I'm with Aline, Steven and Federico and you on that
1:23:50one yeah it's fantastic I love my iPad Pro I really really do it is the device
1:23:56that I want to use the most it is an absolutely fantastic product I didn't
1:24:02think I was gonna love it as much as I do Apple have stumbled in my opinion
1:24:06into a winner I don't know if anybody expected it to be as good as it is and
1:24:15looking at you know the shipping stuff that they've still got on the accessories
1:24:19I don't think Apple did either. Pencils are still four to five weeks. So yeah, it is a
1:24:25fantastic product. When paired with the keyboard and the pencil, it's changed my game completely.
1:24:32So that brings us to the end of the upgrade, Jason.
1:24:36That's it?
1:24:37That is it! It's been a fantastic upgrade. I'm very happy that we had the help and suggestions
1:24:44from our illustrious panel, so thank you so much to them for helping us out today.
1:24:49Thank you so much to everyone that suggested categories last year and this year. I'm already
1:24:55very excited for the 2016 upgradees. Do you ever stop being excited about the upgradees?
1:25:02No, it's easily one of my favorite podcasts that I do in the year. It's this one episode
1:25:07of this show. I love giving awards to things. And you mentioned the eddies earlier. It is
1:25:14so important to me that one day people recognize the upgradees as they did the Eddies. Like
1:25:21last time, and I'm going to do this again, we've had artwork made of his little badges
1:25:25made. I'm going to send them out to all the winners. All I want is just to see them appear
1:25:29somewhere, you know, that they put someone, whether it's a badge of honor on their website.
1:25:34One day we'll get there, Jason.
1:25:36Well, I know that since there's a relay FM podcast that won an upgradee, perhaps you
1:25:43could just stick that on the rectiffs page and see if anybody notices if John
1:25:48and Marlene are happy for me to do it then it like will be added better better
1:25:53to beg forgiveness than ask permission I say we now have our first award-winning
1:25:58show yeah at long last it feels good doesn't it it does feels great it's
1:26:04absolutely great I wish I was not away from you I wish I won an award even if
1:26:08it was an upgrade II can I kind of win the upgrade II for the best British
1:26:12upgrade host? Yeah, no. Maybe next year. On that, thank you so much for listening. Thanks
1:26:19again to our sponsors Hover and Smile for making the upgrades of 2015 possible. We'll
1:26:25be back next week with a regular episode of Upgrade. Have a fantastic new year and we'll
1:26:30see you again in 2016. Until then, say goodbye Jason Snell. Happy New Year to everybody,
1:26:36including you Myke. Happy New Year. And to you Jason.
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