Connected

00:00:00 ◼   ► (upbeat music)

00:00:02 ◼   ► Hello and welcome to Connected, episode 345.

00:00:13 ◼   ► Three, four, five, that's fun.

00:00:15 ◼   ► It's made possible by our sponsors,

00:00:17 ◼   ► Fitbod, Mack Weldon, and Hover.

00:00:20 ◼   ► My name is Stephen Hackett

00:00:21 ◼   ► and I'm joined by Mr. Myke Hurley.

00:00:24 ◼   ► - Hello.

00:00:25 ◼   ► - Hello.

00:00:27 ◼   ► How are you?

00:00:28 ◼   ► - Oh, I'm fine.

00:00:29 ◼   ► - That's good.

00:00:30 ◼   ► - I never know if you're gonna,

00:00:31 ◼   ► like if there's more to ask.

00:00:33 ◼   ► I don't know if you're just gonna go straight to Federico.

00:00:35 ◼   ► - You know, sometimes I'm just waiting

00:00:37 ◼   ► for you to ask me how I am.

00:00:38 ◼   ► No one thinks about that.

00:00:41 ◼   ► - No, it's fine.

00:00:42 ◼   ► It's totally fine.

00:00:43 ◼   ► - And I'm joined by my weird fish brother,

00:00:49 ◼   ► Mr. Federico Vittucci.

00:00:50 ◼   ► - Hey Steven, how are you?

00:00:52 ◼   ► - I'm so good.

00:00:54 ◼   ► - I'm happy to hear that.

00:00:55 ◼   ► - Thank you for asking.

00:00:56 ◼   ► - Sure.

00:00:57 ◼   ► - You know, we are linked in the universe

00:00:58 ◼   ► because of our weird fish tattoos.

00:01:00 ◼   ► - Yes. - Yeah.

00:01:01 ◼   ► - Sometimes I can feel something.

00:01:04 ◼   ► - Tingling.

00:01:05 ◼   ► - On my left arm.

00:01:06 ◼   ► - That's an infection.

00:01:07 ◼   ► That's an infection in the tattoo is what that is.

00:01:09 ◼   ► - Sometimes I think maybe I'm having a heart attack.

00:01:12 ◼   ► But no, it's heart link.

00:01:14 ◼   ► It's a weird fish link.

00:01:16 ◼   ► - Can I tell the story?

00:01:17 ◼   ► I'm gonna tell it.

00:01:18 ◼   ► So this was something that Federico said to us

00:01:21 ◼   ► in the text chat.

00:01:22 ◼   ► - Look, it's a cruelty. - Just wait, just wait.

00:01:26 ◼   ► People have said, I've told people about this

00:01:28 ◼   ► And I actually think it's like,

00:01:29 ◼   ► I like this level of forward planning.

00:01:32 ◼   ► So Federico had pre-decided before he got his vaccine

00:01:36 ◼   ► that he would have the needle in the right arm

00:01:41 ◼   ► because then if his arm was hurting him

00:01:44 ◼   ► later on in the evening, if it was in his left arm,

00:01:47 ◼   ► he might be worried he was having a heart attack.

00:01:49 ◼   ► So he pre, like he thought ahead

00:01:52 ◼   ► and got it in the right arm.

00:01:53 ◼   ► And that is a kind of neurosis

00:01:55 ◼   ► that I can get behind personally.

00:01:57 ◼   ► I like it when somebody knows themselves well enough that they make decisions like that.

00:02:02 ◼   ► That you know, and honestly, I know you well enough to also imagine you reacting like this,

00:02:08 ◼   ► that like, you had a vaccine, you weren't feeling too great, your arm was tingling,

00:02:12 ◼   ► you immediately think you're having a heart attack with no other signs.

00:02:16 ◼   ► Yes.

00:02:17 ◼   ► Yes, hey, my left arm is hurting, but I just got a vaccine, but no, maybe I'm having a

00:02:22 ◼   ► heart attack, let's go to the hospital.

00:02:25 ◼   ► It's time to go.

00:02:27 ◼   ► It was Mother's Day in an America this past Sunday. In an America.

00:02:36 ◼   ► In one of the Americas.

00:02:38 ◼   ► In Americas.

00:02:40 ◼   ► You know what you just reminded me of? In these United States!

00:02:44 ◼   ► Do you remember the like teen Miss America clip from years ago where the ladies like she just she's asked a question and

00:02:54 ◼   ► And cannot answer it and she's saying about in the Iraq and the Americas. Do you remember this clip? What? No

00:03:01 ◼   ► Not at all. I've never seen this. It's one of the old-time great YouTube clips

00:03:06 ◼   ► I'll find it. I'll put it in the show notes if you've never seen it

00:03:10 ◼   ► It's it's an incredible train wreck of a question and answer session. So it was Mother's Day in the America and

00:03:17 ◼   ► we on

00:03:20 ◼   ► Saturday? Saturday

00:03:22 ◼   ► day before Mother's Day, we met my mother-in-law and my

00:03:25 ◼   ► wife's two brothers out at a park and like rode bikes

00:03:30 ◼   ► through a baseball round like it was really nice and the first time I'd seen my mother-in-law since

00:03:36 ◼   ► Completing my tattoo adding the weird fish amongst other things to my arm

00:03:40 ◼   ► Mm-hmm, it's just she saw it and I don't think she particularly likes tattoos

00:03:45 ◼   ► Even though her daughter and one of her sons and I all have them. I just don't think she's a huge fan

00:03:51 ◼   ► So she's kind of asking me about it. I think mostly out of trying to be polite and

00:03:55 ◼   ► She spots the weird fish. She's like, oh, what is that? Because you know, it's like planets and stars and spacecraft and

00:04:02 ◼   ► I told y'all this and and I message but I just told her straight what it is

00:04:09 ◼   ► like I have this podcast I've done for a really long time one of the

00:04:13 ◼   ► Hosts lives in Rome every year. We make him guess the name of emoji, which is kind of a mean game

00:04:19 ◼   ► but it's always really funny and

00:04:21 ◼   ► he guessed this and got a tattoo and so I surprised them with my own version of

00:04:26 ◼   ► it and she just stared at me. Like, I was an idiot. It was great!

00:04:31 ◼   ► Well I mean, I appreciate it. You both are idiots, right? You need to understand that.

00:04:40 ◼   ► Like, you know, think about that. Like, really just let that one sink in for a minute.

00:04:45 ◼   ► It's a real stupid tattoo to get. I actually think it's more stupid for

00:04:50 ◼   ► Steven to have gotten it. Like it's ratcheting up. So if this ire is turning on to me, if

00:04:56 ◼   ► I ever, then can you imagine, like the level, I don't actually, it might be less stupid.

00:05:00 ◼   ► The reason it's more stupid for Steven is because it looks like, especially the way

00:05:06 ◼   ► Steven had it done, it looks like the coronavirus thing, right? Because you had it.

00:05:12 ◼   ► That's why it's in the inner arm.

00:05:14 ◼   ► Yeah, you definitely had it more. Wouldn't it have been incredible if you could have,

00:05:18 ◼   ► if you had it on the outer arm and you just got like the vaccine right in the middle of it.

00:05:22 ◼   ► Oh that like you're stabbing it right in the face. That would really freak out the uh the person

00:05:27 ◼   ► administering the vaccine to you. It's like no just right there like I got it ready for you.

00:05:31 ◼   ► Dead center. X marks the spot. I don't know I don't think I don't think we're idiots I think

00:05:36 ◼   ► we're very smart and look I'm not gonna tell you when or if. Well yeah that's the whole that's the

00:05:43 ◼   ► the whole thing. It's a surprise. It's gotta be a surprise. But I've considered how.

00:05:49 ◼   ► It's less stupid for you to do it because now two of the three of us have. That's true.

00:05:55 ◼   ► That's true. Right? I'm the one who took it from this funny thing Federico did to it's

00:05:59 ◼   ► a thing that more people have done. And so now you're just... It's a pact. Yeah, you've

00:06:03 ◼   ► just got to join the pact. And then I wonder as well, like, when I get it, who's going

00:06:07 ◼   ► to be the first listener to do it? Someone's going to do it, right? Maybe they already

00:06:12 ◼   ► Now that, that's when we get to a next level.

00:06:14 ◼   ► That's a level that I'm not sure I'm comfortable with.

00:06:16 ◼   ► The chat room is just in Kyle's degree.

00:06:18 ◼   ► [laughs]

00:06:20 ◼   ► Probably.

00:06:22 ◼   ► Do it, Kyle.

00:06:23 ◼   ► Don't do it, Kyle.

00:06:24 ◼   ► Don't listen to him.

00:06:25 ◼   ► Right on the windpipe.

00:06:27 ◼   ► As predicted, the Kensington Studio doc will not work

00:06:32 ◼   ► with the new iPad Pro.

00:06:34 ◼   ► It's been confirmed.

00:06:36 ◼   ► No, no!

00:06:37 ◼   ► I believe the iPad Pros podcast found a link to it and then 9to5Mac contacted Kensington

00:06:48 ◼   ► and Kensington have confirmed that the tolerances on the studio dock, the what, was it $400

00:06:55 ◼   ► studio dock, will not fit.

00:06:58 ◼   ► And the way that they're going to fix this is releasing a brand new version.

00:07:03 ◼   ► I was genuinely, I mean I don't know how this thing is like properly built, but I was hoping

00:07:07 ◼   ► and they'd be like, oh, we're going to release an extra part.

00:07:09 ◼   ► You just got to unscrew this one piece and you can put a new one on.

00:07:12 ◼   ► Yeah, but their way of dealing with it is.

00:07:14 ◼   ► So this is from from Kenzie's 925 Mac.

00:07:18 ◼   ► I wanted to confirm that you are correct in the fact that the new 2021 iPad

00:07:22 ◼   ► Pro 12.9 inch is incompatible with the current studio dock

00:07:25 ◼   ► because it is thicker in size.

00:07:28 ◼   ► The company said that they will be launching a new version

00:07:30 ◼   ► designed for the 2021 model.

00:07:32 ◼   ► Timing is not yet known.

00:07:34 ◼   ► if you have the smaller version you'll be fine because they're the same size.

00:07:39 ◼   ► This just affects the larger one.

00:07:41 ◼   ► And what I just find so fantastic about this is, I mean, you could go back and listen to

00:07:46 ◼   ► us when we spoke about this thing for the first time in January and raised this exact

00:07:51 ◼   ► concern.

00:07:52 ◼   ► Yes, multiple times over and over.

00:07:56 ◼   ► And have consistently done it and now it has proven out.

00:07:59 ◼   ► And it's Chris Lawley, I also saw him tweeting a couple of days ago that he broke his just

00:08:07 ◼   ► by taking it out of the thing.

00:08:09 ◼   ► I don't really know what happened there, but it looks like a disaster.

00:08:12 ◼   ► Yeah, very unfortunate.

00:08:14 ◼   ► I feel really sorry for Chris.

00:08:16 ◼   ► Yeah, I mean, if only the new iPads were coming, right?

00:08:21 ◼   ► If only somebody could have understood that.

00:08:25 ◼   ► It's really embarrassing, I think.

00:08:26 ◼   ► I don't know, I guess like if you are sticking with a 2018 or 2020 iPad Pro, there is a version

00:08:35 ◼   ► of that, Studio Doc. It's just the timing of this, it really...

00:08:40 ◼   ► It also, it's like, it's the perfect wrong type of product in that I believe that the

00:08:46 ◼   ► only people that would spend $400 on an accessory would automatically buy any new iPad.

00:08:53 ◼   ► Exactly. Yes. The kind of people who are into this kind of accessory, they're also the early

00:09:00 ◼   ► adopters of new iPads. And so the timing is just unfortunate. And really, I feel like

00:09:07 ◼   ► they should have, because of the cost of this accessory, they should have probably thought

00:09:13 ◼   ► of making it as modular as possible, especially with the attachment, right? With the little

00:09:21 ◼   ► thing that goes into the USB-C connector, maybe that should have been replaceable so

00:09:28 ◼   ► that you wouldn't run into...

00:09:29 ◼   ► It's just not built in such a way that you would need to replace that part. It doesn't

00:09:34 ◼   ► need to be built that way. So, Adina just got this product, oh man, I don't remember

00:09:41 ◼   ► the name of it, it's like an iPad Pro drawing table, and it's, oh man, Sketchboard it's

00:09:49 ◼   ► it's called. It's like a drafting table. So it's like a large piece of wood and then there's

00:09:57 ◼   ► like a rubber insert in the middle and the reason it's a rubber insert in the middle

00:10:02 ◼   ► is because every time Apple updates the iPad they just sell a new rubber insert.

00:10:07 ◼   ► See? Exactly. They thought ahead. When this will eventually change you don't have to get

00:10:14 ◼   ► a new crafting table, you just get the inner... yeah, this is super clever. I love it.

00:10:20 ◼   ► And so you don't have to replace... it's very nice. It's really great for her, rather than

00:10:26 ◼   ► just having the iPad flat on the desk when trying to... they have it really interesting.

00:10:31 ◼   ► I've just got completely thrown off by their product images.

00:10:35 ◼   ► Why is there a skateboard going over the iPad?

00:10:38 ◼   ► Don't worry about that. If you go to the product page...

00:10:41 ◼   ► The FaceTiming animals.

00:10:42 ◼   ► Yes, there's a cat looking at the iPad and FaceTiming with another cat that's winking,

00:10:48 ◼   ► a dog, a chicken, a raccoon and another couple of cats.

00:10:53 ◼   ► Really interesting.

00:10:54 ◼   ► I mean look, artists, am I right?

00:10:57 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:10:58 ◼   ► So they sell a bunch of upgrade kits and it's all the iPads, from the iPad 6th gen all the

00:11:04 ◼   ► way up to the new and they said the new one they got is coming soon but I can't imagine

00:11:09 ◼   ► if you would need because the physical dimensions the width changed I don't

00:11:14 ◼   ► remember I don't think that has right it's just the depth that's changed for

00:11:18 ◼   ► yeah so you wouldn't need to upgrade it 0.5 millimeters so yeah just thought

00:11:24 ◼   ► that it was interesting yeah this looks pretty cool this is a cool product

00:11:28 ◼   ► Kensington Wow best of CES 2020 which was sketchboard sketch board no sketch

00:11:37 ◼   ► "Marchboard Pro, you people, put our podcast logo next to TechCrunch and take Business Insider

00:11:42 ◼   ► off of it. Replace us. Replace Business Insider with us."

00:11:45 ◼   ► Why do they have to remove Business Insider? Why can't we all be there?

00:11:48 ◼   ► No one likes Business Insider.

00:11:50 ◼   ► Okay.

00:11:52 ◼   ► Moving on from sad iPad news, last year there was a pic made by our own Federico Vittucci

00:11:59 ◼   ► that Apple would name a new head of PR. You missed it by a year, but—

00:12:04 ◼   ► As always.

00:12:05 ◼   ► I'm always, just, you know me, I'm always predicting things.

00:12:10 ◼   ► You're head of the curve, Federico.

00:12:12 ◼   ► I know, I know.

00:12:13 ◼   ► I'm an early adopter of the truth, basically.

00:12:16 ◼   ► Premature rigification.

00:12:18 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:12:18 ◼   ► But Stella Lowe has joined Apple as the head of PR.

00:12:23 ◼   ► She spent time at Cisco, as well as someplace else.

00:12:28 ◼   ► There was another like tech,

00:12:30 ◼   ► corporate tech company type place.

00:12:32 ◼   ► What does Cisco do?

00:12:35 ◼   ► They make everything from phones and voice over IP services.

00:12:40 ◼   ► They also do a lot of high end switches and routers and network equipment.

00:12:43 ◼   ► They do data center type stuff too.

00:12:45 ◼   ► They do data center type stuff.

00:12:46 ◼   ► Lots of infrastructure.

00:12:48 ◼   ► I just thought they made telephones.

00:12:50 ◼   ► I thought they made telephones.

00:12:52 ◼   ► Like landline telephones.

00:12:55 ◼   ► She was also at Unisys and Dell.

00:12:57 ◼   ► So lots of experience in the tech industry

00:13:02 ◼   ► in very different companies than Apple.

00:13:04 ◼   ► But this is great 'cause it's been a long time.

00:13:08 ◼   ► I mean, Steve Dowling left what, 2018, 2019?

00:13:13 ◼   ► It's been a minute.

00:13:14 ◼   ► - 2018, I think.

00:13:16 ◼   ► - Yeah, this is intriguing.

00:13:17 ◼   ► - I remember it was after the new iPad Pro.

00:13:20 ◼   ► So yeah, that would have been late 2018.

00:13:23 ◼   ► - Just another thing,

00:13:24 ◼   ► feel sure it doesn't have to do anymore.

00:13:26 ◼   ► - That's right.

00:13:27 ◼   ► Yeah, well he's busy with Epic.

00:13:29 ◼   ► - Yeah, he sure is.

00:13:31 ◼   ► It's gonna be interesting to see now that like,

00:13:34 ◼   ► especially because it seems like this role

00:13:36 ◼   ► has been run by a like Apple life person, right?

00:13:41 ◼   ► For, you know, or like long-term Apple people

00:13:44 ◼   ► for a really long time.

00:13:46 ◼   ► So it's gonna be intriguing to see

00:13:48 ◼   ► if or how it's changed by an outside hire.

00:13:51 ◼   ► You know, like I think it was John Gruber that referenced,

00:13:54 ◼   ► I don't remember the guy's name.

00:13:56 ◼   ► - Ah, yes, yes.

00:13:57 ◼   ► - It was Browning, who was the retail guy

00:14:00 ◼   ► who came from the UK and just did a bunch of terrible things

00:14:04 ◼   ► and then left.

00:14:05 ◼   ► - Was it John Broward, maybe?

00:14:07 ◼   ► - Yeah, Broward, it was Broward.

00:14:09 ◼   ► And then Angela Ahrendts lasted longer

00:14:11 ◼   ► and seemed to have a bit of a better impact.

00:14:13 ◼   ► But yeah, it's just gonna be intriguing

00:14:15 ◼   ► 'cause P.R. is so special for Apple,

00:14:18 ◼   ► like so important, I should say.

00:14:20 ◼   ► It's gonna be interesting to see how someone coming

00:14:23 ◼   ► into that role who's not been at, like, Cisco do not deal with influencers, I don't think,

00:14:30 ◼   ► right? Like, you know, it's a... Hey, I'm sure there's a network influence. Well, yeah,

00:14:36 ◼   ► sure. Segment out there. Yeah, but they're not like cool YouTubers, right? Yeah, it's

00:14:41 ◼   ► gonna be really intriguing. It's gonna be really, really intriguing to see if anything

00:14:45 ◼   ► changes how it changes. I mean, ultimately, I think what's clear is that the people that

00:14:51 ◼   ► are already at Apple have been working kind of without somebody in that role so you would

00:14:56 ◼   ► expect you know if you were coming into that role just to be like all right how are you

00:15:00 ◼   ► all doing it right and then try and lead forward from there I would assume.

00:15:04 ◼   ► Yeah I'm very curious about that too because I think they've done a lot of really cool

00:15:07 ◼   ► stuff and I mean just obviously we've been able to do some stuff that they didn't let

00:15:12 ◼   ► podcasters do before so hopefully she's hip to podcasts she's probably a listener.

00:15:17 ◼   ► Please come on Stella please come on Stella.

00:15:21 ◼   ► I mean, Stella, I have some tips. We have some tips.

00:15:25 ◼   ► Basically, the way that PR works at Apple is you just send review units and scoops to

00:15:30 ◼   ► MacStories.net and Relay.fm.

00:15:32 ◼   ► And that is it.

00:15:35 ◼   ► The Apple PR 101. That's all you need to do.

00:15:39 ◼   ► Please don't take our interviews away, Stella.

00:15:42 ◼   ► Yes, please. I don't know. I feel like this kind of change is exciting, but also scary

00:15:48 ◼   ► at the same time, like what if this person actually hates us? So we'll see how it goes,

00:15:56 ◼   ► for sure. Stella, if you're out there, I'm not the person who cut a computer open to

00:16:01 ◼   ► fill it with bouncy balls. That was another guy. Don't make that happen. He's also not

00:16:05 ◼   ► the person that made the hissing video. That was somebody also. The other Stephen Hackett,

00:16:14 ◼   ► Yeah, that's the guitar player.

00:16:15 ◼   ► The guitar player.

00:16:16 ◼   ► I'm playing from Genesis.

00:16:17 ◼   ► Yeah, he has hearing damage, so he's hissing in his ear.

00:16:22 ◼   ► Too much loud music.

00:16:25 ◼   ► Not this guy.

00:16:26 ◼   ► Not me.

00:16:27 ◼   ► Long time listeners of this show will remember an obsession we had for a while with the Tiny

00:16:34 ◼   ► Heads graphical style.

00:16:36 ◼   ► So you've seen this many times.

00:16:39 ◼   ► Many technology companies use these weird illustrations with people with huge bodies

00:16:44 ◼   ► and tiny heads. This was a thing that we couldn't, once we saw it, we couldn't stop seeing it

00:16:48 ◼   ► and every week we were mentioning it. Somebody sent this to us, I think it may have been

00:16:52 ◼   ► the one true John, sent like a Wired article talking about this design phenomenon and it

00:16:58 ◼   ► is called corporate Memphis. That is the term.

00:17:01 ◼   ► My bad.

00:17:02 ◼   ► The article itself didn't do a good job for me of explaining where this came from so I

00:17:08 ◼   ► ended up finding it on Wikipedia and this is the Wikipedia summary. Corporate Memphis

00:17:11 ◼   ► is a term used, sometimes disparagingly, to describe a flat geometric art style widely

00:17:17 ◼   ► used in big tech illustrations in the late 2010s and early 2020s. Common motifs are flat

00:17:22 ◼   ► cartoon characters in action, disproportionate features such as long and bendy limbs, and

00:17:26 ◼   ► minimal facial features.

00:17:28 ◼   ► Noelle, read the last line.

00:17:30 ◼   ► Keep going.

00:17:31 ◼   ► Read the last line at the very end.

00:17:33 ◼   ► No, I didn't. I didn't copy that. It's a reference to the Memphis group, an Italian architecture.

00:17:38 ◼   ► What?

00:17:39 ◼   ► Yes, not my fault!

00:17:40 ◼   ► How did I miss this part of the Wikipedia? I just copied it into the...

00:17:46 ◼   ► This term is a reference to the Memphis group, an Italian architecture group from the 1980s

00:17:52 ◼   ► known for its garish designs. I will tell you the furniture from the Memphis group is

00:17:57 ◼   ► amazing. And I guess this is referencing... There is a design style called Memphis something,

00:18:04 ◼   ► I've seen it in keyboard design, weirdly. And this kind of evokes that kind of Memphis

00:18:13 ◼   ► design style. And so it all kind of comes back around, I suppose. Why are the Italians

00:18:17 ◼   ► involved?

00:18:18 ◼   ► It kind of reminds me of the Gizmo theme that never showed up in Mac OS 8, if anyone remembers

00:18:23 ◼   ► that.

00:18:24 ◼   ► So I just did some very quick jumping around on Wikipedia. So it's based on the Memphis

00:18:30 ◼   ► group, also known as Memphis Milano, was a design architecture group founded by

00:18:36 ◼   ► this Italian architect and designer named Ettore Sotsas, I believe that's how

00:18:43 ◼   ► you say that, and Sotsas worked at the Olivetti company, you know, they make

00:18:51 ◼   ► typewriters, and this is one of the designs that he worked on, the Olivetti

00:19:00 ◼   ► Valentine typewriter. It's a beautiful typewriter. Interesting. Okay, so basically

00:19:08 ◼   ► the tiny heads, they come from Italy? Seems like it. Is that the takeaway

00:19:14 ◼   ► of all this? It comes from Italy but it's named after me. My home. Really this

00:19:21 ◼   ► whole thing has now just become weirder and weirder. Yeah. That now there's this

00:19:26 ◼   ► weird Memphis Italian connection to it. We were so obsessed with this that we

00:19:31 ◼   ► ended up releasing a t-shirt that I love that nobody else loved. That's the answer to that.

00:19:36 ◼   ► You're gonna be out there and you're gonna say, "Hey, I would like this t-shirt to come back."

00:19:42 ◼   ► Well, none of you bought them in the first the first time, so...

00:19:45 ◼   ► Yeah, so you don't get them. I have two of them and I love them.

00:19:48 ◼   ► But yeah, so like you can go to the Cotton Bureau website and you can say, "Hey, bring it back."

00:19:55 ◼   ► "Well, we're not going to bring it back."

00:19:57 ◼   ► Should have thought that the first time.

00:19:58 ◼   ► We're not going to do it.

00:19:59 ◼   ► If you wanted it so bad, we're not going to do it.

00:20:01 ◼   ► And if you say, "Oh, well, it wasn't around the first time."

00:20:03 ◼   ► Well, you can just look to your fellow listeners and blame them.

00:20:05 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:20:06 ◼   ► Doesn't matter.

00:20:06 ◼   ► We could get a million people smashing that button and we're not bringing it back.

00:20:09 ◼   ► Look around and blame somebody.

00:20:11 ◼   ► That's how Twitter works, basically.

00:20:13 ◼   ► Go blame someone.

00:20:14 ◼   ► Go blame someone else.

00:20:15 ◼   ► Nothing to do with us.

00:20:17 ◼   ► Yeah. Agreed.

00:20:19 ◼   ► Federico, would you like to talk about why we were stupid last week?

00:20:24 ◼   ► when we were talking about Apple Hi-Fi. Yeah, we are dumb, basically. This is so annoying.

00:20:31 ◼   ► Should have seen this, should have thought of this. So we were discussing Apple Music

00:20:36 ◼   ► Hi-Fi, so this idea that Apple is working on a higher resolution tier for Apple Music

00:20:42 ◼   ► for lossless audio. And we just focused our conversation on what does it mean to have

00:20:48 ◼   ► a high resolution audio, what does it mean to be lossless, what's the difference between

00:20:52 ◼   ► in CD quality or even higher resolution formats. We just thought about that and we discussed,

00:20:59 ◼   ► well, how can they bring this higher resolution audio to existing headphones that they are

00:21:06 ◼   ► selling that millions of people have, such as AirPods Pro or AirPods Max, if they don't

00:21:11 ◼   ► have dedicated chips inside of them that can decode that higher resolution format. We are

00:21:19 ◼   ► stupid, the three of us, because we didn't consider the fact that Apple likes to do its,

00:21:26 ◼   ► you know, custom software instead of hardware for these kinds of things. And we didn't consider

00:21:34 ◼   ► how one potential avenue that Apple could explore is bringing one of the most interesting

00:21:43 ◼   ► audio-related features that they have launched in the past year, spatial audio, bringing

00:21:48 ◼   ► that from movies and TV shows in the TV app to music, and what would that be like? And

00:21:58 ◼   ► this kind of lines up with some of the things that I have seen and heard about the some

00:22:04 ◼   ► code strings that have been found in the iOS 14.6 beta, and there's like a bunch of things

00:22:10 ◼   ► actually lining up where all of this makes sense. So part of this is based on these references

00:22:16 ◼   ► that MacRumors and 95Mac also published them independently, and it kind of lines up with

00:22:23 ◼   ► conversation that I had, and also this is like my theory about how this could potentially

00:22:29 ◼   ► go. So I feel like Apple is obviously not gonna go after the audiophile market per se,

00:22:38 ◼   ► right? They're not gonna say "Oh, and now Apple Music, for all you audio nerds out there,

00:22:44 ◼   ► You can listen to FLAC files in Apple Music, but only if you have an external DAC that

00:22:52 ◼   ► supports this resolution.

00:22:54 ◼   ► Like Apple is not going to do any of that, right?

00:22:57 ◼   ► If they're going to do this, they're going to make it as friendly and as intuitive as

00:23:01 ◼   ► possible.

00:23:02 ◼   ► But also when you think about it, Apple likes to have its own unique twists for these kinds

00:23:10 ◼   ► of things.

00:23:11 ◼   ► And I feel like, what if Apple took the one aspect that is generally one of the many reasons

00:23:21 ◼   ► why audiophiles like to listen to music a certain way, which is the idea of having this

00:23:27 ◼   ► bigger, wider soundstage, and being able to recognize each instrument playing around you.

00:23:36 ◼   ► Right?

00:23:37 ◼   ► And I'm super simplifying here for the sake of the conversation.

00:23:40 ◼   ► what if they took that idea and simplified it as much as possible and said, "And now we have

00:23:46 ◼   ► spatial audio in Apple Music." And this could be something that they do in software,

00:23:52 ◼   ► just like they did for movies and TV shows in the TV app with AirPods. It could be something that

00:23:58 ◼   ► could potentially work on existing AirPods models. It could work on AirPods 2, on AirPods Pro,

00:24:05 ◼   ► and Airports Max wouldn't require dedicated hardware, it would be a software feature,

00:24:11 ◼   ► and nobody else would have it. That's the idea. The problem with this is that it will require

00:24:20 ◼   ► record labels to participate in this initiative and to actually send in masters that support this

00:24:29 ◼   ► different format that is going to work for, if they do it, that is going to work for special

00:24:34 ◼   ► audio in Apple Music. So where this gets interesting is I got a couple of messages last week from

00:24:43 ◼   ► people who work in the music industry that told me, basically, we've actually been told

00:24:50 ◼   ► to start providing masters in this new Dolby format that is going to work for spatial audio.

00:24:58 ◼   ► And if we don't do it, basically we've been encouraged to do it so that we can be featured

00:25:04 ◼   ► in the future on Apple Music in a bunch of different sections and playlists, right? So

00:25:09 ◼   ► I thought that was fascinating and I started putting two and two together and I realized,

00:25:14 ◼   ► oh, like when we talk about high resolution music in, you know, in Apple Music, we shouldn't

00:25:21 ◼   ► We focused on the specifics of, is it FLAC, is it MQA, will it require an external DAC,

00:25:29 ◼   ► but what about existing AirPods?

00:25:32 ◼   ► I think it makes a lot more sense to do it this way, to take special audio, which is

00:25:37 ◼   ► already a feature in the TV app, and say, "And now a selection of music is available

00:25:42 ◼   ► in this format, and all you need to do is just wear AirPods, and you can listen to music

00:25:48 ◼   ► that sort of surrounds you in a way like you've never heard it before. And I just think it's

00:25:55 ◼   ► smart and it kind of explains why this may not even be a separate tier in Apple Music.

00:26:02 ◼   ► Right? Last week we mentioned the... what was the name of the website? It's Double Daily.

00:26:09 ◼   ► They said that Apple Music Hi-Fi was going to be $9.99. And so we started speculating,

00:26:14 ◼   ► "Oh, does it mean that they're lowering the price of the standard Apple Music subscription

00:26:20 ◼   ► to $599 or $799?" What if it's just a free upgrade? Just like they did many times in

00:26:27 ◼   ► the past for 1080p HD content, and later for 4K content, and then for HDR content. It's

00:26:35 ◼   ► always been a free upgrade on the iTunes Store catalog. What if they do the same for Apple

00:26:40 ◼   ► music. And they say, and now for we are rolling out for some, you know, major,

00:26:47 ◼   ► like the most popular artists, you will be able to listen in Apple Music, you

00:26:50 ◼   ► know, spatial audio format. And this catalog will grow over time. No change

00:26:56 ◼   ► of price, still $9.99 a month. And you can enjoy this with any modern AirPods

00:27:02 ◼   ► model that you have. I just feel like that would be totally an Apple thing to

00:27:07 ◼   ► do.

00:27:08 ◼   ► I was listening to some music yesterday, one of my favourite bands, a band called Jungle.

00:27:14 ◼   ► Very, very fun music. And all of a sudden something weird happened, like something changed

00:27:22 ◼   ► and it sounded like the music was in front of me. What I didn't know is there is a music video

00:27:28 ◼   ► in the Apple Music album and because it's a video it uses spatial audio, which is just very peculiar,

00:27:35 ◼   ► like all of a sudden it just freaked me out. I don't expect they'll do it like this because

00:27:39 ◼   ► like the way that they're doing it there is like the music is far away on a stage, right? But

00:27:44 ◼   ► I don't imagine the spatial audio, if they do the spatial audio, which I think they, right,

00:27:48 ◼   ► that seems like the obvious thing that we're saying, but who knows how it'll actually work.

00:27:53 ◼   ► It won't be like like spatial audio is on TV stuff where it's meant to just be like,

00:27:58 ◼   ► well the audio is over there. It will just be creating this almost surround sound like

00:28:03 ◼   ► experience with you standing in the middle of it as Federico was saying. So

00:28:06 ◼   ► you know just just as a thought like it's not they will call it spatial audio

00:28:10 ◼   ► maybe but it won't operate the same way I can't I would imagine that spatial

00:28:16 ◼   ► audio currently works with video content because it's a it's a different thing

00:28:20 ◼   ► it's like a different interpretation of how that would work would be my expectation.

00:28:24 ◼   ► Let's take a break. This episode of Connected is brought to you by FitBod.

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00:30:31 ◼   ► That's fitbod, F-I-T-B-O-D, .me/connected to try Fitbod out for free, and they get 25%

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00:30:42 ◼   ► thanks to Fitbod for their support of Connected and Relay FM. I have some

00:30:46 ◼   ► breaking news. You ready for this? It's not really breaking, I just didn't see it

00:30:51 ◼   ► until we were already recording. So why is it or is it not breaking news? It was breaking news at

00:30:56 ◼   ► 7.32 Pacific Time. So it was breaking news 20 minutes ago? So it's like

00:31:03 ◼   ► something everyone's gonna know about maybe by the time the show comes out.

00:31:05 ◼   ► You're like the worst news channel ever.

00:31:09 ◼   ► The Chipolo One is now for sale.

00:31:14 ◼   ► This is the worst breaking news.

00:31:16 ◼   ► So if you don't want an AirTag, you want something with a little more color and a hole punch

00:31:21 ◼   ► through it so you can attach it to things, you can get them.

00:31:26 ◼   ► It's $25.

00:31:27 ◼   ► Nice colors, nice colors.

00:31:28 ◼   ► Yeah, I like the blue, red, yellow, green deal.

00:31:31 ◼   ► It's fun.

00:31:32 ◼   ► 25 bucks for one, $75 for a four-pack, $105 for a six-pack.

00:31:37 ◼   ► These seem to be sale prices maybe or launch prices.

00:31:42 ◼   ► So they are undercutting Apple a little bit.

00:31:43 ◼   ► They don't have the U1, so you won't get the cool like arrow

00:31:48 ◼   ► as you take your new iPhone around,

00:31:51 ◼   ► but it's got the rest of the stuff, looks pretty awesome.

00:31:54 ◼   ► Could be a nice alternative if you don't wanna buy AirTag

00:31:58 ◼   ► and then buy something to put your AirTag in

00:32:00 ◼   ► so it can attach to something.

00:32:02 ◼   ► Lads, I'm buying one.

00:32:03 ◼   ► Do it.

00:32:05 ◼   ► I'll just see what happens.

00:32:06 ◼   ► I don't know.

00:32:07 ◼   ► Did you just call us lads?

00:32:08 ◼   ► He did.

00:32:09 ◼   ► Yeah, you're the lads.

00:32:10 ◼   ► What color are you doing?

00:32:12 ◼   ► Oh, I didn't even think about that.

00:32:14 ◼   ► I got a blue one.

00:32:15 ◼   ► I just...

00:32:15 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:32:18 ◼   ► Wait a sec.

00:32:19 ◼   ► Are we all buying Chipolo things?

00:32:21 ◼   ► I'm gonna get one.

00:32:22 ◼   ► Yeah, but I'm not gonna do the one to three business day

00:32:25 ◼   ► shipping 'cause it's 13 pounds.

00:32:27 ◼   ► It will be here in a couple of weeks.

00:32:30 ◼   ► Hold on, hold on.

00:32:30 ◼   ► We're gonna do this.

00:32:31 ◼   ► Chipolo. What color? I want to get either red or yellow. I have blue. So are you all

00:32:39 ◼   ► just gonna wait? So I've got 10 to 14 business day shipping, which is basically a month.

00:32:44 ◼   ► You're gonna do faster shipping? I don't want to. Let's see, checkout. Why is this a podcast?

00:32:54 ◼   ► Check out.

00:32:55 ◼   ► Um, Express Check.

00:32:57 ◼   ► How do I choose?

00:32:58 ◼   ► Okay.

00:32:59 ◼   ► Apple Pay.

00:33:00 ◼   ► No.

00:33:01 ◼   ► Contact information.

00:33:02 ◼   ► Can you use Apple Pay on a Mac?

00:33:08 ◼   ► It'll ask your watch.

00:33:09 ◼   ► Yeah, it asks your phone or your watch.

00:33:11 ◼   ► I can get standard shipping two to nine business days or Express shipping one to three business

00:33:15 ◼   ► days for $13.

00:33:18 ◼   ► Why is it not asking me what kind of shipping I want?

00:33:20 ◼   ► It does after you do the Apple Pay thing.

00:33:22 ◼   ► Yeah, you finish it after that.

00:33:25 ◼   ► That's clever.

00:33:26 ◼   ► Thanks, Shopify.

00:33:27 ◼   ► Okay, so I'm going to do it.

00:33:29 ◼   ► Isn't Shopify amazing, by the way?

00:33:32 ◼   ► Isn't Shopify just like a business for humanity?

00:33:34 ◼   ► It is.

00:33:35 ◼   ► In fact, I'm glad you said that.

00:33:36 ◼   ► Neil Ipatel at The Verge took over Kara Swisher's old show.

00:33:41 ◼   ► What is it called?

00:33:43 ◼   ► Decoder?

00:33:44 ◼   ► Yes.

00:33:45 ◼   ► Recoder?

00:33:46 ◼   ► Decoder.

00:33:47 ◼   ► and he interviewed the CEO of Shopify last week or the week before and it was

00:33:52 ◼   ► genuinely fascinating. Have we all decided what the shipping is now? Because I don't want to be worried.

00:33:57 ◼   ► I did the slow one. I got the fast one. Oh how fast is your fast shipping?

00:34:02 ◼   ► One, two days. Do you pay 13 euros for that shipping? Yeah, Apple Pay failed

00:34:09 ◼   ► so I'm using my credit card. Oh I can't change it now so I'm going slow shipping.

00:34:13 ◼   ► I did two to nine business days.

00:34:15 ◼   ► I will forget that I ordered this

00:34:17 ◼   ► and it's just gonna show up.

00:34:18 ◼   ► Like who sent me a Chipolo?

00:34:20 ◼   ► - Oh no, I can change it.

00:34:22 ◼   ► Okay, there we go.

00:34:23 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:34:24 ◼   ► - I'm doing the fast Chipolo.

00:34:25 ◼   ► - I got a Chipolo, guys.

00:34:26 ◼   ► I got a Chipolo one red.

00:34:28 ◼   ► - We're gonna be the Chipolo gang.

00:34:31 ◼   ► Oh God, the card just declined.

00:34:32 ◼   ► Why did that happen?

00:34:33 ◼   ► I'm really having a mess over here, man.

00:34:36 ◼   ► - See, is Chipolo hacking us?

00:34:39 ◼   ► - I think so.

00:34:40 ◼   ► I think we might be simultaneously

00:34:42 ◼   ► destroying the Chipolo website.

00:34:44 ◼   ► Have three people ever tried to buy something

00:34:46 ◼   ► from them at the same time before?

00:34:48 ◼   ► - That's right, there's an alarm going off somewhere.

00:34:51 ◼   ► - This is a straight up failing on me now.

00:34:52 ◼   ► Now I'm going into credit, I'm entering my credit card now

00:34:55 ◼   ► 'cause I think Apple Pay is just dying.

00:34:57 ◼   ► - Okay, so why did I buy one?

00:34:59 ◼   ► - We're gonna see what it's like.

00:35:01 ◼   ► - Oh, oh, oh no, guys.

00:35:05 ◼   ► - What happened?

00:35:05 ◼   ► - Wait, hang on.

00:35:07 ◼   ► - Did you send us the wrong product?

00:35:09 ◼   ► - I think we bought the regular Chipolo

00:35:11 ◼   ► but not the Chipolo one spot that we're confined by.

00:35:15 ◼   ► Excellent. Mine didn't.

00:35:16 ◼   ► In fact, it's one thing, Steven.

00:35:18 ◼   ► We bought the wrong thing.

00:35:19 ◼   ► Well, I didn't actually, I'm so pleased that mine failed,

00:35:22 ◼   ► so I haven't bought it yet, so I'm just-

00:35:23 ◼   ► Hang on, no, I followed a link from MacRumors.

00:35:26 ◼   ► Steven! Steven, come on.

00:35:28 ◼   ► No, it's not me.

00:35:29 ◼   ► It's MacRumors Joe.

00:35:34 ◼   ► You were in charge of this.

00:35:37 ◼   ► Now available to pre-order.

00:35:38 ◼   ► You were in charge of this as a break-in.

00:35:40 ◼   ► Yeah, no, oh no, we did do the wrong thing.

00:35:43 ◼   ► I didn't buy it, this is incredible.

00:35:45 ◼   ► I did.

00:35:46 ◼   ► This, by the way, the worst segment in connected history, so thank you for that.

00:35:51 ◼   ► What am I going to do with this thing?

00:35:52 ◼   ► What I did, what happened, I saw Joe's thing of MacRumors and I opened a tab and Googled

00:35:59 ◼   ► and then landed on the wrong Topolo webpage and we bought the wrong ones.

00:36:02 ◼   ► Let's see if I can cancel this.

00:36:06 ◼   ► View your order.

00:36:07 ◼   ► I don't understand why you made me do this.

00:36:09 ◼   ► Your order is confirmed.

00:36:11 ◼   ► What I like is I was the person who started the buying thing and now I don't have one.

00:36:17 ◼   ► Okay, so what I'm going to do, I'm going to contact them and I'm going to put my order

00:36:22 ◼   ► number in.

00:36:23 ◼   ► Hi.

00:36:24 ◼   ► You don't need to write an email on the show.

00:36:27 ◼   ► I bought this on a podcast.

00:36:28 ◼   ► This segment is already bad enough.

00:36:30 ◼   ► Now I'm just going to give this to my mom.

00:36:32 ◼   ► I don't have the energy to cancel this order right now.

00:36:35 ◼   ► Maybe now you could just do a like, you know, you can just do a comparison.

00:36:38 ◼   ► No, I'm gonna be, "Ma'am, I bought you a gift."

00:36:42 ◼   ► Does it work with Fine Mite? No, it doesn't.

00:36:44 ◼   ► No.

00:36:45 ◼   ► No, I don't have the mental ed. You know what? I'm gonna give this away on Max or weekly.

00:36:51 ◼   ► Incredible.

00:36:52 ◼   ► I don't care.

00:36:53 ◼   ► And then the person that gets it will be upset at you because it isn't the one that works.

00:36:57 ◼   ► They're gonna cancel their membership?

00:36:59 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:37:00 ◼   ► It's like Russian roulette but membership.

00:37:03 ◼   ► Oh my God. Stephen, you are the absolute worst.

00:37:07 ◼   ► [Laughter]

00:37:09 ◼   ► Person to recommend something to buy. Like, I'm never asking you for any buying advice ever again.

00:37:16 ◼   ► I'm deleting the purchase link from the show notes.

00:37:19 ◼   ► Speaking of which, I actually have a few questions for you.

00:37:24 ◼   ► Yeah, speaking of which, Federico now has an entire segment where he wants buying advice.

00:37:29 ◼   ► OK, so I was thinking about my desk, OK? And how, given the problems with the Kensington

00:37:42 ◼   ► Studio Dock and the fact that it was not going to work with the new iPad Pro, I started thinking,

00:37:47 ◼   ► "Well, maybe it's time to say goodbye after two months to the Studio Dock."

00:37:52 ◼   ► I know, you just changed everything around for that thing.

00:37:54 ◼   ► I had just changed everything on my desk to make room for the Studio Doc, but I just couldn't

00:38:00 ◼   ► accept the fact that it was not going to be compatible with the new iPad Pro, and so I

00:38:03 ◼   ► started thinking, well, there's this new iPad Pro coming, and it's going to have a Thunderbolt

00:38:08 ◼   ► port, and I have a pretty good feeling for iPadOS 15 doing even more things with Thunderbolt.

00:38:14 ◼   ► I have a Mac Mini that also has a Thunderbolt port, I have an LG Ultrafine 4K display that

00:38:20 ◼   ► works with Thunderbolt devices, maybe I should go all in and see what it actually is like

00:38:27 ◼   ► to have a full Thunderbolt setup going on with both a Mac Mini and an iPad Pro and an

00:38:34 ◼   ► LG Ultrafine display. So I started looking into this, I removed the studio dock from

00:38:39 ◼   ► the desk, I put the Ultrafine 4K display in the middle of the desk again with the Mac

00:38:46 ◼   ► Mini next to it, and so I started looking into Thunderbolt docks, right? And I browsed around

00:38:53 ◼   ► on Amazon.com, on Amazon. Italy, and eventually I went for the Belkin Thunderbolt Pro dock that is

00:39:04 ◼   ► available on the Italian Apple Store. It was the fastest one that would arrive within a couple of

00:39:10 ◼   ► of days, and so I went for that one. So I set it up next to the Mac Mini. When I, you

00:39:18 ◼   ► know, I only have a Mac Mini, don't have a new iPad Pro to also test that with, so I

00:39:25 ◼   ► set it up with the Mac Mini and a Thunderbolt cable, and it looked like everything was going

00:39:29 ◼   ► okay, right? So for context now, this is like, there's a Mac Mini with a Thunderbolt cable

00:39:36 ◼   ► that goes into the computer port of the dock, and there's a Thunderbolt cable that goes

00:39:42 ◼   ► from the dock into the display. So my idea was, I can just swap a single cable, right,

00:39:50 ◼   ► from the dock, when I want to use the Mac Mini, I'm going to plug in the Mac Mini cable.

00:39:55 ◼   ► When I want to use the future iPad Pro, I can plug in, you know, I can buy a separate

00:40:01 ◼   ► Thunderbolt cable just for the iPad Pro, and I can plug in that one. So I can switch between

00:40:05 ◼   ► devices and the display is going to adapt. This, my friend, is the dream, huh? Right.

00:40:12 ◼   ► It's the dream. I had the same dream. So then I started thinking, but what if, so I have

00:40:20 ◼   ► this dock, but in preparation for the iPad Pro, I also ordered from Amazon the Samsung

00:40:28 ◼   ► X5. This is an external SSD Thunderbolt drive. So it's an external SSD based on Thunderbolt

00:40:39 ◼   ► 3, which is not Thunderbolt 4 like the iPad Pro will have. However, there's no change

00:40:47 ◼   ► in terms of transfer speeds between Thunderbolt 3 and 4. So I figured this is gonna...

00:40:52 ◼   ► What do you want that for?

00:40:54 ◼   ► as a test, you know, just to try what it actually is like to use Thunderbolt for external storage.

00:41:02 ◼   ► And so I looked at the dock and I had an idea, right? So this dock only has two Thunderbolt

00:41:09 ◼   ► ports. One is labeled "computer", so that's where you plug in either the Mac or the iPad

00:41:14 ◼   ► Pro. And the other is a regular Thunderbolt port. And I thought, what if I plugged in

00:41:20 ◼   ► the computer into the computer port, but then what if I plugged in the X5 drive into the

00:41:26 ◼   ► second Thunderbolt port? That could work and it could be like permanent storage attached

00:41:32 ◼   ► to the dock, but it would also mean that the display no longer has a cable that goes from

00:41:39 ◼   ► the dock to the display. And that was when I started running into problems, because I

00:41:44 ◼   ► I thought, well, this dock also has a DisplayPort connection. What if I could figure out a way

00:41:52 ◼   ► to go from DisplayPort to USB-C, which is what the Ultrafine 4K needs to be connected

00:42:00 ◼   ► to, right? This required, like, I wasted a solid couple of hours just browsing around

00:42:07 ◼   ► the internet and trying to understand if this was actually possible. The Ultrafine 4K is

00:42:13 ◼   ► an old display, so it's also kind of challenging to find recent content and recent discussions

00:42:20 ◼   ► on Amazon reviews or Reddit or Twitter for people who have my exact same setup.

00:42:27 ◼   ► Also, nobody has the new iPad Pro, so it's not like I can ask and find content that mentions

00:42:34 ◼   ► the new iPad Pro.

00:42:37 ◼   ► I eventually found one person on the MacRumors forums, obviously, because I told you I love

00:42:45 ◼   ► MacRumors.

00:42:46 ◼   ► Always.

00:42:47 ◼   ► You always find that person, and I have this theory, that when you find that person, that

00:42:53 ◼   ► person is your soulmate.

00:42:55 ◼   ► Like when you find that person on the MacRumors forums, that has your exact...

00:42:59 ◼   ► Is this exclusive to the MacRumors forums?

00:43:03 ◼   ► It's the only place you can find your soulmate.

00:43:05 ◼   ► It's like your tech soulmate, basically. Like, when you find that person, I believe there's

00:43:10 ◼   ► a, you know, there's a good chance that you're gonna get along well with that person.

00:43:17 ◼   ► So anyway, this person had my same problem. They wanted to connect an Ultrafine 4K display

00:43:23 ◼   ► to a Belkin Thunderbolt dock using a DisplayPort cable. That person mentioned how if you were

00:43:32 ◼   ► looking to go with this setup, you needed to find a bi-directional USB-C DisplayPort

00:43:39 ◼   ► cable, okay? Because most cables that you find on Amazon are USB-C to DisplayPort only,

00:43:49 ◼   ► whereas in my case I needed to go DisplayPort to USB-C. And so the easiest solution was

00:43:56 ◼   ► to get a bi-directional cable. So, again, I went back to Amazon, I started searching

00:44:01 ◼   ► from this, and much to my surprise, the cheapest and simplest solution was the AmazonBasics

00:44:11 ◼   ► USB-C DisplayPort Bidirectional Cable. So, an AmazonBasics-labeled cable that supposedly

00:44:20 ◼   ► was bidirectional. Okay? So I ordered the cable. Next day the cable arrives, and it

00:44:27 ◼   ► seems like it's working! Okay, so I plug in the X5 into the secondary Thunderbolt

00:44:33 ◼   ► port on the dock, plug in the Mac Mini into the computer port on the dock, and I

00:44:39 ◼   ► plug in the DisplayPort cable in the DisplayPort connection on the dock, and

00:44:44 ◼   ► the USB-C end into the Ultrafine 4K. Seems like it's working. However, I notice

00:44:52 ◼   ► is the first problem, which is every time I go and try and wake the Mac Mini, right?

00:45:02 ◼   ► Usually I do this by pressing the space bar on my keyboard. I feel the little haptic touch

00:45:08 ◼   ► on the watch. I know that the watch authenticated the Mac Mini. It takes over 10 seconds for

00:45:14 ◼   ► the display to wake with the DisplayPort connection. And I'm just sitting there, having felt the

00:45:22 ◼   ► haptic tap on my wrist, but just staring at a black rectangle.

00:45:26 ◼   ► Hey, at least it wakes. So I have a similar issue.

00:45:31 ◼   ► Hold on. Hold on. I'm getting there. So this is the, I was like, okay, I mean, it's not

00:45:38 ◼   ► ideal. It's like, but every, like it adds up, right? Every day I'm waking the Mac Mini

00:45:43 ◼   ► and it takes over ten seconds and I'm just standing there like an idiot, staring at a

00:45:49 ◼   ► turned off display until it wakes up. But the more annoying problem is the following.

00:45:56 ◼   ► So each night I like to turn off my Mac Mini. Because there's the occasionally, because

00:46:05 ◼   ► I run Plex on this thing, occasionally for whatever reason the fans of the Mac Mini will

00:46:11 ◼   ► starts spinning at night. And Sylvia has a very light sleep, she doesn't like that noise,

00:46:19 ◼   ► she doesn't like the fact that there's that LED indicator when a Mac Mini is turned on.

00:46:26 ◼   ► She just wants it to be off. And I respect her decision, so each night I have to turn

00:46:31 ◼   ► it off. The problem is that the next morning, when I turn on the Mac Mini again, it doesn't

00:46:38 ◼   ► wake the Thunderbolt dock. So the Mac Mini is connected, I press the power button, the

00:46:45 ◼   ► Mac Mini turns on, but the LED indicator on the balcony dock, it stays orange instead

00:46:52 ◼   ► of turning green. And the only way for me to force the Thunderbolt dock to wake is to

00:46:58 ◼   ► unplug and replug the Thunderbolt cable that connects the Mac Mini and the dock. And now

00:47:05 ◼   ► Now I'm asking you both. Am I stupid? Am I doing something wrong? Should I have gone

00:47:13 ◼   ► for a different Thunderbolt dock? Or was this a nightmare scenario that nobody told me about

00:47:22 ◼   ► and it's been the case with Thunderbolt devices all along?

00:47:25 ◼   ► Well, I can't answer your question. Let me tell you my problem. Right? Because then you'll

00:47:30 ◼   ► understand why I can't answer your question. I use the CalDigit TS3+

00:47:35 ◼   ► Thunderbolt dock on my desk here at the studio. I saw that one, yeah. It's very nice.

00:47:41 ◼   ► It's a good dock. Like, I like it for what it does. When I was using a monitor that

00:47:46 ◼   ► worked with Thunderbolt, no actually I was using a DisplayPort monitor as well

00:47:51 ◼   ► and I didn't have an issue. Oh, I was using HDMI, that's why, and I don't

00:47:56 ◼   ► recommend that because you can't get retina and so at least with the setup I

00:48:01 ◼   ► was using anyway so now though I am using the Cal digit dock with my MacBook

00:48:05 ◼   ► Pro and the monitor I'm using is USB C powered right kind of like the

00:48:10 ◼   ► it's an LFG monitor but it's not the ultra fine and every day I plug the

00:48:16 ◼   ► MacBook into the dock using the Thunderbolt cable that it came with

00:48:20 ◼   ► everything turns on and it's fine but the monitor never turns on and every

00:48:24 ◼   ► single day I have to unplug the monitor and plug the monitor back in and usually

00:48:29 ◼   ► have to open and close the laptop a couple of times and then eventually it

00:48:34 ◼   ► will work but it seems like every single day it is a completely different set of

00:48:39 ◼   ► things that I have to do to get the monitor to turn on. Basically I just

00:48:43 ◼   ► think really and I've heard this from other people that there kind of isn't a

00:48:48 ◼   ► good solution when it comes to docking right and Stephen you can tell me if I'm

00:48:51 ◼   ► wrong it's always kind of janky in some way yeah you just have to find the right

00:48:59 ◼   ► path and then whatever it is you're willing to accept it's also complicated

00:49:03 ◼   ► right now I know John has talked about this with his Mac Pro and produce play

00:49:08 ◼   ► XDR where the display won't wake up at all and I think eleven point three point

00:49:13 ◼   ► one made it better for him but I Oh breaking news Chipola refunded my order

00:49:18 ◼   ► Thank you Chipotle. Excellent news. That was so much better breaking news than the first

00:49:22 ◼   ► breaking news that you gave us today. But I have a similar issue to Federico where I

00:49:27 ◼   ► sit down at my Mac Pro, hit the space bar, my watch vibrates, that it's unlocked, and

00:49:33 ◼   ► it takes 10 seconds for the display to come back. The computer's unlocked and like operating,

00:49:37 ◼   ► I can't hit the play button, the music starts. And so trying to troubleshoot this I think

00:49:42 ◼   ► right now is complicated by the fact there seems to be something going on in Big Sur,

00:49:46 ◼   ► at least for some users that adds to this delay.

00:49:50 ◼   ► So your system, hardware-wise, may be okay,

00:49:54 ◼   ► and it may just be Big Sur freaking out on the Mac Mini.

00:49:58 ◼   ► I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't go as far

00:50:01 ◼   ► as starting to replace equipment

00:50:03 ◼   ► or giving up on this quite yet.

00:50:05 ◼   ► - Yeah, I know one of the recent updates to Big Sur

00:50:09 ◼   ► focused on Thunderbolt docking

00:50:13 ◼   ► as a thing to try and improve.

00:50:16 ◼   ► I mean it didn't improve my situation, but there is something going on.

00:50:20 ◼   ► Plus, I mean, it's like a combination of things.

00:50:23 ◼   ► Maybe macOS ain't right, but also this is just always a pain doing this kind of stuff

00:50:28 ◼   ► with any kind of dock.

00:50:30 ◼   ► Especially with Thunderbolt docks, because what kind of something, I'm sure that there

00:50:33 ◼   ► is a rhyme and reason to this and a way to do it, but there does seem to be like an ordering

00:50:38 ◼   ► with Thunderbolt, like depending on what's plugged in first, because it's like a power

00:50:44 ◼   ► right? What's plugged in first? What draws the power? Like sometimes my dock doesn't

00:50:49 ◼   ► turn on because I tapped something before I plugged the computer in or whatever. There's

00:50:55 ◼   ► like this system of like witches in control. Like a cascading system basically. Kind of.

00:51:01 ◼   ► And I think it's basically like what is considered to be drawing power most or first and then

00:51:07 ◼   ► that can affect things. Thunderbolt is really good and also really annoying because it does

00:51:13 ◼   ► allow for way more expandability and you can control way more things more easily with less

00:51:20 ◼   ► components.

00:51:21 ◼   ► Just having this one dock, I have one dock, it has a couple of Thunderbolt, couple of

00:51:26 ◼   ► USB, couple of USB-C, Ethernet, audio, it's got everything on it, this CalDigit thing.

00:51:32 ◼   ► It's great to have.

00:51:34 ◼   ► Once I get it set up for the day, then I'm off to the races.

00:51:37 ◼   ► I just have these five or ten minutes every day where I'm unplugging and replugging and

00:51:42 ◼   ► tap in the spacebar. Like this morning my keyboard just wouldn't work. I don't know

00:51:48 ◼   ► why. Maybe it's the guy who built it, you know? Hey! My keyboard wouldn't work for a

00:51:53 ◼   ► while and no matter whatever I plugged in, like I tried different cables and stuff and

00:51:58 ◼   ► it wouldn't work until I unplugged the Mac and replugged the Mac in again with the lightning,

00:52:04 ◼   ► with the thunderbolt and then it worked again. And I don't, maybe I tapped the spacebar too

00:52:08 ◼   ► I don't know. It's janky, but it is cool when you get it working.

00:52:14 ◼   ► And I reject Stephen's statement wholeheartedly.

00:52:18 ◼   ► Yeah, because otherwise it's a really nice setup, right?

00:52:21 ◼   ► I feel like I simplified, there's the Mac Mini, there's this elegant dock next to it,

00:52:27 ◼   ► cables are all hidden behind the desk. It's all very nice.

00:52:32 ◼   ► And then when I'm recording, I can plug in the USB interface that I have in the front of the dock,

00:52:37 ◼   ► or I can plug in headphones because the audio jack is in the front.

00:52:41 ◼   ► So very nice.

00:52:43 ◼   ► But this display delay is unfortunate.

00:52:46 ◼   ► And also I would have liked to have an additional Thunderbolt port, which is why I'm probably

00:52:54 ◼   ► gonna consider when it's available the OWC, like the new Thunderbolt dock that they have,

00:53:02 ◼   ► which is the only one that I've found that has three Thunderbolt ports in the back.

00:53:09 ◼   ► But that, like, I believe you had to pre-order that dock, otherwise it's shipping in like

00:53:15 ◼   ► a couple of months now.

00:53:16 ◼   ► So I don't know.

00:53:17 ◼   ► I have one of the Thunderbolt 3 docks from OWC.

00:53:22 ◼   ► I ordered it when it became available.

00:53:25 ◼   ► I haven't actually used it, because what I don't really need is a bunch of Thunderbolt

00:53:30 ◼   ► ports.

00:53:32 ◼   ► now what I need is regular ports to go into that and then out through one

00:53:37 ◼   ► Thunderbolt right that's what I need right now I don't have like a plethora

00:53:41 ◼   ► of Thunderbolt devices in my life what I have is a bunch of regular USB devices

00:53:45 ◼   ► and you know what I mean like that's that's the stuff that I really have but

00:53:50 ◼   ► I do I saw this I thought this I know this will be useful for the future so I

00:53:53 ◼   ► ordered it because I'm still as I said before like I'm in I still don't really

00:53:58 ◼   ► know what I'm doing with my computer setups here at the studio, it's all still all over

00:54:02 ◼   ► the place because I'm waiting on Apple now to release products. But it felt like something

00:54:06 ◼   ► that would be useful, but then I realized the CalDigit one really is the better one

00:54:10 ◼   ► for me because its whole thing is like all the stuff you've already got, plug it into

00:54:15 ◼   ► this and then you get the one cable and it will, you plug it into the laptop and you're

00:54:19 ◼   ► good. Yeah, I don't know, so looking ahead at the new iPad Pro, I think I'm in a pretty

00:54:25 ◼   ► good spot right now. I have the Satechi Slim X1 keyboard that lets me switch

00:54:33 ◼   ► between the Mac Mini and the iPad Pro. Also, fun story for that, because I turn

00:54:37 ◼   ► off the Mac Mini each night, every morning I see the login screen, right?

00:54:43 ◼   ► With third-party Bluetooth keyboards, if you want to be able to type at the

00:54:49 ◼   ► login screen with a non-apple wireless keyboard, it turns out you have to disable FileVault

00:54:56 ◼   ► encryption because the Bluetooth drivers for third-party keyboards are not available at

00:55:04 ◼   ► the login screen because it's like a separate process, whatever.

00:55:08 ◼   ► They haven't noticed this because they will use Magic keyboards, right?

00:55:11 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:55:12 ◼   ► And it's like, people like to use other stuff, right?

00:55:16 ◼   ► Like, it's, that's so annoying.

00:55:18 ◼   ► All of my keyboards are on cables these days, so I don't know.

00:55:21 ◼   ► That would really annoy me.

00:55:23 ◼   ► Yeah, I mean, when you're wired, that's not a problem.

00:55:28 ◼   ► I would say be patient.

00:55:30 ◼   ► Maybe a big Sur update will fix it.

00:55:32 ◼   ► And if it does work, then it's like the optimal Mac/iPad switch-a-roo setup.

00:55:37 ◼   ► I think it'd be really cool if it worked.

00:55:39 ◼   ► I want to try it when the new iMac Pro comes.

00:55:43 ◼   ► I want to see how it works in practice.

00:55:45 ◼   ► So far I can tell you that I'm impressed by the speeds of Thunderbolt devices, the X5

00:55:54 ◼   ► drive that I have. I tested transferring my entire Death Cab for Cutie library, which

00:56:00 ◼   ► is like a 6 point something gigabyte folder, including the new Live at the Showbox album.

00:56:09 ◼   ► So that's almost 7 gigabytes, basically.

00:56:13 ◼   ► And I tested it with the Samsung T5, which is the USB 3.2 Gen 2 drive.

00:56:23 ◼   ► Super speed.

00:56:24 ◼   ► It's fast.

00:56:25 ◼   ► So it's the 10 gigabit per second drive.

00:56:29 ◼   ► So the T5 and the X5, which is the Thunderbolt drive.

00:56:33 ◼   ► And it's like night and day difference.

00:56:35 ◼   ► Like it took what 15-20 seconds on the X5 and it took well over a minute on the T5.

00:56:42 ◼   ► So it's like yeah, I mean it's really impressive what you get with Thunderbolt transfers when

00:56:50 ◼   ► it comes to copying and pasting large files.

00:56:53 ◼   ► There's one last thing that I hope for with this.

00:56:56 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:56:57 ◼   ► Is that Apple makes a monitor and it solves all the problems.

00:56:59 ◼   ► Oh yes.

00:57:00 ◼   ► Because my issue and most people's issues like well actually Steven's having this problem

00:57:04 ◼   ► many has an Apple monitor so maybe it won't fix my problem but like my main

00:57:10 ◼   ► issue is just that the the monitor doesn't turn on it the way that I want

00:57:14 ◼   ► or if at all and everything else is fine so my hope would just be that Apple will

00:57:18 ◼   ► make a monitor and it will fix it for me. I kind of feel bad for my Thunderbolt

00:57:22 ◼   ► ports because I'm using a couple of them mostly just to adapt to other things

00:57:30 ◼   ► Like the only Thunderbolt port that I have that's living its true potential is the one

00:57:35 ◼   ► driving my Pro Display XDR.

00:57:37 ◼   ► I don't have any external Thunderbolt.

00:57:38 ◼   ► I mean that's a pretty big potential.

00:57:41 ◼   ► Yeah, that Thunderbolt port's living its best life, but all of its friends down there under

00:57:47 ◼   ► the table, they're just like "Oh, I'm adapted to USB-A!"

00:57:50 ◼   ► Well then you need to rotate them around so they all feel better about themselves.

00:57:54 ◼   ► Maybe.

00:57:55 ◼   ► My video card has several Thunderbolt ports on it.

00:57:57 ◼   ► Let's move it around.

00:57:58 ◼   ► There you go.

00:57:59 ◼   ► Just keep moving it around.

00:58:00 ◼   ► cause you any problems. I'm not going to go wrong. So, listeners, connected listeners,

00:58:06 ◼   ► the passionate ones as we call you. Yes. I've forgotten about that until just now. The passionate

00:58:11 ◼   ► ones. If you have heard what me and Federico are doing, and you have come into this situation

00:58:17 ◼   ► yourself and you're like, "Oh hey, I fixed this with X." Please let us know. I fixed

00:58:23 ◼   ► it by installing Catalina. Well, that'll do that. Don't do that. It's too slow, too late

00:58:29 ◼   ► I'm already on Bixa.

00:58:31 ◼   ► This episode of Connected is brought to you by Mack Weldon.

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01:00:22 ◼   ► Mac Weldon

01:00:23 ◼   ► Reinventing men's basics our thanks to Mac Weldon for their support of the show and relay FM

01:00:29 ◼   ► So as owner of iOS stories dotnet, I am well known

01:00:34 ◼   ► For my app coverage sure people know me

01:00:40 ◼   ► Call me the only people know you I have a big appetite for different new things

01:00:47 ◼   ► here and so I

01:00:50 ◼   ► Oh my God. Have you turned into a dad?

01:00:54 ◼   ► Yeah man. No, I have some news. No I don't.

01:00:57 ◼   ► Parcel is an application I want to talk about.

01:01:00 ◼   ► It is a delivery tracking application.

01:01:03 ◼   ► And I've used Deliveries, the app Deliveries by June Cloud.

01:01:07 ◼   ► Is that the name of the company?

01:01:08 ◼   ► Yes.

01:01:09 ◼   ► Or is that the... Okay.

01:01:10 ◼   ► I can never remember if it's the name of the company or their cloud service

01:01:13 ◼   ► because they also have Deliveries Cloud, I think.

01:01:16 ◼   ► I've used Deliveries forever, been a very happy user of Deliveries.

01:01:20 ◼   ► But then after many recommendations from the fine folk in the keyboards channel of the

01:01:25 ◼   ► Relay FM members Discord, I checked out Parcel.

01:01:29 ◼   ► Now the design is pretty bare bones, it's very iOS 70, I wasn't sure about it.

01:01:37 ◼   ► And people were going super excited about the Amazon integration, this is its biggest

01:01:42 ◼   ► feature recently. You could sign in with Amazon, like sign into your Amazon

01:01:46 ◼   ► account and every time you buy something on Amazon it just adds it automatically

01:01:52 ◼   ► to Parcel, which is very clever, right? I think this is a small little thing that

01:01:57 ◼   ► it does, which is fine. That's fine for me. I mean really I kind of, maybe this

01:02:01 ◼   ► sounds bad but like I never really, no this isn't bad, I never need to track my

01:02:05 ◼   ► Amazon things because Amazon does everything it possibly can to let me

01:02:09 ◼   ► know about the deliveries?

01:02:11 ◼   ► Yep. They send you push notifications,

01:02:13 ◼   ► emails.

01:02:14 ◼   ► My Echo lights yellow, like

01:02:16 ◼   ► yeah, pajama gram.

01:02:17 ◼   ► There's one type of delivery in my

01:02:19 ◼   ► life I don't need extra help

01:02:20 ◼   ► tracking. It's Amazon deliveries.

01:02:22 ◼   ► But it's cool that it's in there,

01:02:23 ◼   ► right? Like a fun feature.

01:02:25 ◼   ► The reason I love this application

01:02:27 ◼   ► is twofold.

01:02:28 ◼   ► One, it has support

01:02:30 ◼   ► for way more services

01:02:32 ◼   ► than Deliveries does.

01:02:34 ◼   ► But the other thing is it does a

01:02:36 ◼   ► vastly better job of pulling

01:02:38 ◼   ► the information into the application. So the biggest one for me is Royal Mail, right, the

01:02:45 ◼   ► postal service here in the UK. In deliveries, every Royal Mail delivery, it just says you

01:02:51 ◼   ► have to log in to the website to view the information about this delivery. I have to

01:02:55 ◼   ► tap the link and it does a good job of pasting the code where it needs to go. Sometimes I

01:03:00 ◼   ► need to fill in a capture, which I hate doing because it's one of the image ones. The image

01:03:03 ◼   ► captures are the worst. Show me bicycles. No, I don't want to do that. Stop trying to

01:03:08 ◼   ► your car AI with me, Google, I know what you're doing. But Parcel somehow gets the

01:03:14 ◼   ► data and just shows it in the application. It's fantastic. So like all

01:03:18 ◼   ► of my Royal Mail deliveries, they just show up right there. It is really

01:03:24 ◼   ► good. It has support for way more services. I really like it. I only wish

01:03:28 ◼   ► wished for one feature which was, this is an I think probably a pretty unknown

01:03:32 ◼   ► feature for good reason in deliveries. You can just add a URL to the

01:03:37 ◼   ► application, so it's like a placeholder, and some services like the end of the URL,

01:03:42 ◼   ► you know, you put the code at the end of the URL and it will just take you straight there

01:03:45 ◼   ► to it. The reason I need this is I'm sometimes tracking freight company deliveries, right?

01:03:52 ◼   ► For like when I'm shipping products and stuff. Freight companies are not something that people

01:03:57 ◼   ► need typically, so none of these person, like the, you know, regular person deliveries,

01:04:03 ◼   ► apps put freight companies in there, right? So like this is when you're booking huge pallets

01:04:09 ◼   ► of notebooks and sending them all over the place. Deliveries has it so I can save the

01:04:14 ◼   ► URL somewhere, right? And then I can just tap it and see it. Parcel doesn't have this.

01:04:19 ◼   ► They only take any like codes. So I wished it would have had this. So I could just paste

01:04:24 ◼   ► the URL there so I can just tap the URL whenever I want. It's just there. I would love that.

01:04:30 ◼   ► It doesn't have that. But for my regular human being deliveries, it is far better at getting

01:04:39 ◼   ► the data and displaying the data than deliveries is. In a way that I don't understand how they're

01:04:47 ◼   ► so different in the amount of information Parcel is able to surface than what deliveries

01:04:52 ◼   ► is surfacing. It's intriguing to me. I like it a lot.

01:04:56 ◼   ► It's very good. I've also been using it for the past couple of weeks. There's a couple

01:05:00 ◼   ► of things that I love the fact that the Amazon integration it all works locally

01:05:07 ◼   ► the authentication like the session is stored on device it doesn't it doesn't

01:05:14 ◼   ► communicate right I wasn't sure about this I was a little bit concerned that I

01:05:18 ◼   ► was giving my Amazon information to some random company it's all stored on device

01:05:24 ◼   ► you have to log in to Amazon on each of your devices you have exactly yes fine

01:05:29 ◼   ► I prefer that then. Because it is kind of weird, it's just like a regular Amazon login

01:05:35 ◼   ► window. What happened? What did I just do?

01:05:39 ◼   ► You may see every few days, like I only got this once today, I think Steven got it more

01:05:46 ◼   ► often maybe, that it kicks you out of that authenticated session. But then you just get

01:05:52 ◼   ► a notification for it. And at least in my case, I just got a notification today saying

01:05:56 ◼   ► your Amazon session expired, please log in again.

01:05:59 ◼   ► And I did that and now it's fine.

01:06:01 ◼   ► - Yeah. - Okay.

01:06:02 ◼   ► - The other thing, I also have been using it.

01:06:05 ◼   ► The other thing I've been having, I'm having it right now,

01:06:07 ◼   ► is that they're not syncing with each other.

01:06:10 ◼   ► I used the sign in with Apple option.

01:06:12 ◼   ► - Me too. - And I added something

01:06:14 ◼   ► on my phone and the phone seems to be updating

01:06:17 ◼   ► but the Mac app just stopped updating like two days ago

01:06:20 ◼   ► and I cannot get it to sync.

01:06:22 ◼   ► So that's cool. - I've just opened it

01:06:23 ◼   ► on my Mac mini and it's not syncing.

01:06:25 ◼   ► But my iPhone is fine, my iPad is fine,

01:06:28 ◼   ► and my MacBook Pro is fine,

01:06:30 ◼   ► but my Mac Mini that I'm on now, it isn't syncing.

01:06:33 ◼   ► - And I'm just trying to add right now

01:06:34 ◼   ► a tracking number to UPS for something,

01:06:36 ◼   ► and it's just spinning and then saying,

01:06:38 ◼   ► check my internet connection.

01:06:40 ◼   ► So it can be, it can be buggy.

01:06:43 ◼   ► - Oh, there's one other feature that Deliveries has

01:06:45 ◼   ► that I just remembered that Parcel doesn't have.

01:06:47 ◼   ► So like, I ordered the iPad Pro

01:06:50 ◼   ► and the Smart Keyboard for Leo, right?

01:06:53 ◼   ► It's one delivery with Apple,

01:06:55 ◼   ► but it's technically two deliveries.

01:06:56 ◼   ► The smart keyboard's already here.

01:06:58 ◼   ► In deliveries, when you have multiple items

01:07:02 ◼   ► as part of an overall delivery,

01:07:04 ◼   ► it says like one of three, two of three, three of three

01:07:07 ◼   ► or whatever on the entry.

01:07:10 ◼   ► If you tap the one of three or two or three,

01:07:13 ◼   ► that's the one that then shows up in the main view.

01:07:16 ◼   ► But Parcel doesn't have that.

01:07:19 ◼   ► So I, my iPad Pro entry in Parcel says shipped,

01:07:24 ◼   ► but it hasn't. What shipped was the smart keyboard folio, right? The iPad Pro is actually

01:07:29 ◼   ► still in processing, but I don't get that until I open it up. So, you know, little things.

01:07:35 ◼   ► What I love about the, about Parcel too is that when you buy stuff from Apple, and you

01:07:40 ◼   ► put in an Apple order, right, and it's usually W and a bunch of numbers. Like when the order

01:07:47 ◼   ► ships from Apple, Parcel detects if it's got a tracking number for...

01:07:52 ◼   ► Yeah, I just had this for something else.

01:07:55 ◼   ► For like UPS or DHL.

01:07:57 ◼   ► And it asks you, additional information

01:07:59 ◼   ► was found in this item.

01:08:01 ◼   ► Do you want to switch to the tracking company?

01:08:06 ◼   ► And you say yes.

01:08:07 ◼   ► And it automatically changes the Apple order item

01:08:10 ◼   ► to a UPS or DHL, whatever Apple uses in your country, which

01:08:14 ◼   ► usually has more information for the step-by-step tracking

01:08:19 ◼   ► timeline than what Apple does.

01:08:21 ◼   ► Oh, yeah.

01:08:22 ◼   ► Apple just like they stop tracking. It seems like it just stops but if you're able to get

01:08:28 ◼   ► or find the actual number for whether it's like DHL, DPD, UPS or whatever you can actually

01:08:35 ◼   ► get the up-to-date info. I think it kind of feels like Deliveries is made by a team who

01:08:42 ◼   ► are really good at design in little detail and Parcel is made by a team that's really

01:08:47 ◼   ► good at extracting data.

01:08:50 ◼   ► feels to me like Parcel is made by somebody who, like us, buys a lot of things online.

01:08:57 ◼   ► What I really want, honestly, is for these two apps to just come together. That's what

01:09:01 ◼   ► I want. I want the design and the detail and that kind of modern feel of deliveries with

01:09:08 ◼   ► all of the data and information that Parcel has.

01:09:11 ◼   ► And that's the thing, deliveries are so pretty.

01:09:13 ◼   ► It's so beautiful.

01:09:16 ◼   ► And even the widget, you can compare the widgets.

01:09:19 ◼   ► The widgets are so nice, the icons are so good.

01:09:22 ◼   ► Like Parcel has some fun icons, but they're just like fun, but Deliveries icons are just

01:09:28 ◼   ► like really good.

01:09:29 ◼   ► But I'm pretty sure I will continue to use both of them for my weird needs, but I think

01:09:36 ◼   ► for my personal deliveries and stuff, I'm going to be using Parcel going forward purely

01:09:43 ◼   ► because it just does a vastly better job at surfacing the information I want inside the

01:09:49 ◼   ► app.

01:09:50 ◼   ► And also, like, to your point, it also works better than deliveries in Italy with a couple

01:09:55 ◼   ► of shipping companies that we have here have had a better experience in parcel.

01:10:00 ◼   ► So it seems like it's got better international support as well going for it.

01:10:07 ◼   ► It's been around for a few years also, like, and I never actually paid attention to it.

01:10:11 ◼   ► It was the Amazon integration that pulled me in, honestly.

01:10:16 ◼   ► Pretty cool discovery.

01:10:19 ◼   ► You certainly made a good first pick for your... what did you call it?

01:10:25 ◼   ► Appetite?

01:10:26 ◼   ► No, I just have an Appetite.

01:10:29 ◼   ► So I like apps.

01:10:30 ◼   ► I wish I never would have said it, but I'm also kind of proud of myself too.

01:10:33 ◼   ► Well, you said it.

01:10:35 ◼   ► This one is not an app that I have used, but I'm excited about it.

01:10:40 ◼   ► four. It's been announced. I've used this. I'm sure you have because I don't because

01:10:46 ◼   ► you are the big app boy but I'm really, maybe you can tell me some stuff

01:10:52 ◼   ► about it. I'm really excited about it. I'm an only focus user and have been for a

01:10:56 ◼   ► while. It's in beta now. There's some images coming out and I think it looks

01:11:00 ◼   ► good. There's a much more modern design which I'm sure is helped by the fact

01:11:04 ◼   ► that it is built entirely in Swift UI. Yeah. And I saw David Sparks say about

01:11:08 ◼   ► this is probably the most complex application built entirely in SwiftUI at this point, because

01:11:15 ◼   ► OmniFocus is no joke, right? It is a big, serious application with a billion different

01:11:23 ◼   ► features, right? It is a lot going on in this application, so that's interesting to me that

01:11:28 ◼   ► it's all built in SwiftUI. I'm hoping for a comparable Mac version in design and functionality.

01:11:34 ◼   ► David seems to suggest that it will hopefully be the case.

01:11:39 ◼   ► Like, I trust David Sparks in this.

01:11:44 ◼   ► It seems like from OmniFocus' blog post it has proper sidebar on iPadOS.

01:11:51 ◼   ► Is that right, Federico?

01:11:52 ◼   ► That is right.

01:11:53 ◼   ► It's a proper sidebar.

01:11:54 ◼   ► I bet that makes you happy, huh?

01:11:55 ◼   ► It makes me really happy.

01:11:56 ◼   ► I like consistency for these kinds of things, like context menus, sidebars, keyboard shortcuts.

01:12:03 ◼   ► OmniFocus are good with this stuff.

01:12:04 ◼   ► Yes, yes, they are. And I also love how you can collapse the sidebar,

01:12:11 ◼   ► and you can put all of your custom perspectives in there,

01:12:14 ◼   ► and you can collapse it and it looks like on the Mac,

01:12:17 ◼   ► where you just see the icons and it looks really good.

01:12:20 ◼   ► Oh, that's nice. I just like that they're putting perspectives in a place

01:12:23 ◼   ► where I can get to them more easily.

01:12:26 ◼   ► Yes, exactly. And this should be great for Silvia's icons,

01:12:30 ◼   ► because they are so much easier to use now,

01:12:33 ◼   ► the custom perspective icons that she's made.

01:12:36 ◼   ► So it's all very nice,

01:12:37 ◼   ► and they have that really useful quick switcher,

01:12:41 ◼   ► which I feel like it's the kind of feature

01:12:43 ◼   ► that is becoming more and more prominent

01:12:45 ◼   ► in productivity apps.

01:12:47 ◼   ► So like when you hit Command,

01:12:50 ◼   ► usually it's like Command + Shift + O

01:12:52 ◼   ► or Command + O in apps.

01:12:54 ◼   ► Like Kraft has it, Ia Writer has it,

01:12:57 ◼   ► Agenda has it, like Obsidian of course has a similar version.

01:13:01 ◼   ► What does it do? Is it like an integrated spotlight?

01:13:04 ◼   ► It's basically like in-app spotlight.

01:13:07 ◼   ► Like it lets you search and navigate for like sections or documents,

01:13:12 ◼   ► depending on the app. It's basically always the same feature.

01:13:15 ◼   ► Each developer does it differently. It's kind of a trend right now, I feel like.

01:13:19 ◼   ► And OmniFocus 4 is going to have this thing where you can navigate your perspectives,

01:13:24 ◼   ► your projects, your folders, just by typing on the keyboard, which is very cool.

01:13:30 ◼   ► And I'm very excited about the reference quick entry coming to iOS and iPadOS.

01:13:36 ◼   ► Because I said before, I built a shortcut because entering a task in the OmniFocus iOS

01:13:44 ◼   ► app is a nightmare of things that you have to add, and the Mac app has the quick entry

01:13:50 ◼   ► field, which you can just bring up anywhere, which I really love, so I just built my own

01:13:53 ◼   ► shortcut to do it. But sometimes, I'm not kidding, I'm in OmniFocus doing something

01:13:58 ◼   ► and need to add a task, I leave the app and go to my shortcut because I just find it so

01:14:04 ◼   ► cumbersome to add tasks. But I don't find this on the Mac because the quick entry does

01:14:09 ◼   ► exactly what I need. So I'm really pleased that they're doing that. And they also reference

01:14:13 ◼   ► inline editing of task details. So I guess when I'm looking at a task, I can just tap

01:14:17 ◼   ► it and change the text of it or something. Again, like the Mac. So I've submitted my

01:14:24 ◼   ► email address to the beta list and as soon as I get approved I'm going to try it out

01:14:28 ◼   ► because I'm super excited about this. Looks nice.

01:14:32 ◼   ► What's very nice is that the main outline is editable.

01:14:39 ◼   ► So like when you're...

01:14:40 ◼   ► Yeah, that's what I meant, like the inline. I don't think I explained it very well. Because

01:14:43 ◼   ► also, they call it outline which doesn't jive in my brain. This is just like the list of

01:14:47 ◼   ► Yeah, I think it's called an outline in Swift. It's like a developer term.

01:14:55 ◼   ► Don't use that.

01:14:57 ◼   ► I know, I know. But basically, there's way less back and forth between the main view,

01:15:04 ◼   ► like the list view, whatever you want to call it, and the inspector. If the inspector is

01:15:08 ◼   ► still there, but if you want, you could just keep it always disabled. And you can tab through

01:15:14 ◼   ► the title, the due date, the project, all those things.

01:15:18 ◼   ► And it's so much easier than before.

01:15:20 ◼   ► The only thing, I would really like to use OmniFocus

01:15:25 ◼   ► as my main task manager, but there's a big problem.

01:15:29 ◼   ► They don't have a web API, right?

01:15:33 ◼   ► - I thought they were building that.

01:15:35 ◼   ► - I thought so too, but I couldn't find anything online

01:15:39 ◼   ► on the OmniGroup forums,

01:15:42 ◼   ► Because they have a web client, right?

01:15:44 ◼   ► - Oh, but it's not an API, okay.

01:15:46 ◼   ► - But it's not an API.

01:15:47 ◼   ► They have a web app you can use on--

01:15:49 ◼   ► - A website, yeah.

01:15:50 ◼   ► - Yeah, because the whole system that I'm building

01:15:53 ◼   ► in Obsidian, it integrates with Todoist,

01:15:57 ◼   ► but it could easily, you know,

01:15:59 ◼   ► if I ever wanna switch to a different API,

01:16:01 ◼   ► I could easily switch to that.

01:16:03 ◼   ► - Yeah, we had some questions about that.

01:16:07 ◼   ► I meant to put it in follow-up.

01:16:08 ◼   ► Are you using Todoist as your task manager

01:16:10 ◼   ► or just for things in and out of Obsidian?

01:16:13 ◼   ► - No, no, no.

01:16:13 ◼   ► Because of that, I have gone all in.

01:16:16 ◼   ► I don't wanna use multiple task managers.

01:16:18 ◼   ► - Okay, so you're back in camp Todoist.

01:16:21 ◼   ► - Yeah, unfortunately,

01:16:23 ◼   ► I really miss the reminders integration on the Apple Watch

01:16:27 ◼   ► that I used to use a lot,

01:16:29 ◼   ► but because of that, I switched to Todoist.

01:16:34 ◼   ► Of all the apps within, the task managers within API,

01:16:39 ◼   ► It was also like the prettiest one.

01:16:43 ◼   ► I mean, have you seen TickTick?

01:16:44 ◼   ► Also, is there a TickTick API?

01:16:48 ◼   ► Not sure.

01:16:49 ◼   ► Maybe there's a remember the milk one.

01:16:52 ◼   ► - There is or was a command line tools that worked with,

01:16:56 ◼   ► remember the milk.

01:16:58 ◼   ► - That's not even close to what Federico asked for.

01:17:02 ◼   ► - No, it talked to their servers via an API.

01:17:04 ◼   ► So they had something.

01:17:06 ◼   ► - Okay. - Command line tools.

01:17:07 ◼   ► - Remember the Milk web API.

01:17:10 ◼   ► - Look, you don't--

01:17:12 ◼   ► - Services API, remember the Milk.

01:17:15 ◼   ► - Yeah, I guarantee they have it.

01:17:16 ◼   ► They have everything, except the one feature you want.

01:17:19 ◼   ► And that's kind of how they tend to work.

01:17:21 ◼   ► It's like they have everything, except that one thing.

01:17:24 ◼   ► Yep.

01:17:24 ◼   ► - Badges on the Mac app, remember the Milk.

01:17:27 ◼   ► Do it, do it now.

01:17:29 ◼   ► - No.

01:17:30 ◼   ► (laughing)

01:17:31 ◼   ► - That is the end of my app segment.

01:17:34 ◼   ► - Okay, thank you, thank you, Myke.

01:17:36 ◼   ► WWDC is just a month away,

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01:19:16 ◼   ► Go to hover.com/connected

01:19:19 ◼   ► and get a 10% discount on all new purchases.

01:19:22 ◼   ► That URL one more time is hover.com/connected.

01:19:26 ◼   ► Go make a name for yourself with Hover.

01:19:28 ◼   ► Our thanks to Hover for their support of the show

01:19:31 ◼   ► and Relay FM.

01:19:32 ◼   ► We are four weeks away from WWDC.

01:19:36 ◼   ► Oh no, don't mention that.

01:19:37 ◼   ► Holy moly.

01:19:38 ◼   ► So each week between now and WWDC, we've maybe the bet- I mean we'll try and squeeze one

01:19:44 ◼   ► of these into the Ricky's episode as well.

01:19:47 ◼   ► We are all going to be picking a feature that we would like to see, just one feature, added

01:19:52 ◼   ► to one of Apple's platforms.

01:19:55 ◼   ► Federico, would you like to begin?

01:19:57 ◼   ► This actual entire topic was inspired by a tweet that you put out over the last couple

01:20:02 ◼   ► of days about the Files app.

01:20:03 ◼   ► Yeah, because I was annoyed by the Files app, because it's a silly app that nobody cares

01:20:11 ◼   ► about it, it seems.

01:20:13 ◼   ► So yes, that's my pick.

01:20:14 ◼   ► I want to see a complete overhaul of the Files app.

01:20:17 ◼   ► I actually wouldn't mind if they just go ahead and call it Finder at this point.

01:20:21 ◼   ► I mean, let's just do something different, because this is not cutting it.

01:20:26 ◼   ► I complained in my tweet about the two basic features that I noticed when I was testing

01:20:36 ◼   ► the Samsung T5 on the old iPad Pro. I was trying to paste a folder and you couldn't

01:20:44 ◼   ► see progress, right? You have a 7GB file that you're copying and pasting between locations.

01:20:50 ◼   ► No, actually, I was doing a backup of my Obsidian database, because I remember what you told

01:20:56 ◼   ► me, Myke, about CGP Grey losing his database.

01:20:59 ◼   ► I was like, I got to do something here, and I want to make sure that I have a backup.

01:21:05 ◼   ► So I was literally moving a folder of plain text files.

01:21:10 ◼   ► That folder also contains, however, some attachments, some images.

01:21:15 ◼   ► So it's not like, I mean it's like a 15, 20 megabyte folder.

01:21:21 ◼   ► First I tried to confirm the size of the folder by checking out the inspector panel.

01:21:27 ◼   ► They have an info button in the files app.

01:21:31 ◼   ► It doesn't tell you the size of a folder.

01:21:33 ◼   ► You select a folder, you hit info, and it doesn't tell you the size of the folder.

01:21:39 ◼   ► I mean this is an incredibly inconsistent feature for Miro Mac OS, so there isn't too

01:21:43 ◼   ► much of a complaint there from platform to platform.

01:21:47 ◼   ► Then I tried to copy and paste this folder from local storage into my iCalc drive just

01:21:52 ◼   ► to make sure that I had a secondary backup of it.

01:21:55 ◼   ► When I pasted the folder in the new location, the folder icon stayed dimmed, which I assumed

01:22:05 ◼   ► it meant that the copy and paste process was still in progress.

01:22:11 ◼   ► There was really no way for me to tell what was happening because there was no progress

01:22:15 ◼   ► indicator whatsoever.

01:22:17 ◼   ► But Federico, it just works.

01:22:19 ◼   ► No, I don't, I don't, I don't believe you.

01:22:22 ◼   ► You don't need to see, right?

01:22:24 ◼   ► It just works.

01:22:25 ◼   ► Why do you need a progress indicator?

01:22:26 ◼   ► No, I don't want to see.

01:22:28 ◼   ► I don't believe anyone here.

01:22:29 ◼   ► I just want, give me a progress bar.

01:22:32 ◼   ► Give me some kind of message that tells me, hey, this is what's going on.

01:22:35 ◼   ► Like, at some point, transparency is more user-friendly than believe in the system.

01:22:43 ◼   ► You know, just let me know what's occurring.

01:22:46 ◼   ► Just so that I know, it's fine.

01:22:48 ◼   ► Like it can be a slow transfer, I don't care, as long as you tell me.

01:22:53 ◼   ► So that, you know, I can plan my day accordingly or whatever.

01:22:57 ◼   ► Hey, we gotta go to the park, I moved some files around.

01:23:03 ◼   ► I mean, it gets even worse. I believe a friend of the show, Chris Lawley, tweeted at me,

01:23:08 ◼   ► showing me a screenshot of what he has a YouTube channel and showed me, like, I gotta move

01:23:14 ◼   ► like video assets between locations in files. And usually when I need to do this, because

01:23:20 ◼   ► there's no progress bar and it's slow, like I have to do this by initiating the copy and

01:23:27 ◼   ► paste process and then leaving two files windows in split view in the foreground

01:23:34 ◼   ► and then just get up and go do something else.

01:23:37 ◼   ► Because I guess if you started doing other things I mean the files app could just be

01:23:42 ◼   ► kicked out of memory and then you're starting all over again.

01:23:46 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:23:46 ◼   ► Federico, looking at the screenshot what is in the folder labeled Eddie?

01:23:51 ◼   ► Eddie is a plain text editor it's a free app from the App Store.

01:23:56 ◼   ► I'm afraid to shut down your EdiQ fanfic theory right away.

01:24:02 ◼   ► It's not happening. It's not happening.

01:24:05 ◼   ► It's just an app from the App Store. It's called Edi.

01:24:08 ◼   ► Edi is a... Edi... Her name is incredibly good.

01:24:12 ◼   ► That is pretty good.

01:24:13 ◼   ► I love that.

01:24:15 ◼   ► Also, the creator of Edi is in her Discord right now.

01:24:19 ◼   ► Oh, hello.

01:24:21 ◼   ► Sorry, I didn't know the name of your app.

01:24:25 ◼   ► So yes, files.

01:24:28 ◼   ► Complete overhaul, it will be the simple way

01:24:30 ◼   ► to describe what I want.

01:24:33 ◼   ► If I got to be more specific, let's see.

01:24:35 ◼   ► Starting from the basics,

01:24:36 ◼   ► let me change the extension of a file.

01:24:41 ◼   ► It's still not possible in the Files app.

01:24:43 ◼   ► Like, you want to turn something from --

01:24:46 ◼   ► You know, sometimes you have those files

01:24:48 ◼   ► that you got to change the extension

01:24:49 ◼   ► and they become something else.

01:24:51 ◼   ► Like, what's an example?

01:24:54 ◼   ► like it sometimes you change from .zip to something else and you can inspect the contents of the...

01:25:00 ◼   ► like sometimes you just want to change the extension all right?

01:25:02 ◼   ► but right from txt to md for example.

01:25:06 ◼   ► but it just works!

01:25:07 ◼   ► you cannot do that in files.

01:25:09 ◼   ► i'm gonna keep saying this as like i'm being annoying.

01:25:12 ◼   ► i know.

01:25:13 ◼   ► yeah.

01:25:13 ◼   ► this is the problem with a lot of ipad os stuff is in an ideal world you would never do any of

01:25:22 ◼   ► these things, right? The computer should do all of this stuff for you, it should be smart.

01:25:27 ◼   ► Yeah, but computers are actually dumb. But it doesn't work like that, right? Like,

01:25:32 ◼   ► it doesn't work like that. You shouldn't have to sit around and wait for files to transfer,

01:25:35 ◼   ► and you shouldn't have to care about how long it's going to take. The computer should just do it,

01:25:40 ◼   ► right? But it doesn't. Having done my job for 12 years at this point, my working theory of

01:25:50 ◼   ► of computers is that computers are not smart. Computers are powerful. We are the smart ones

01:25:55 ◼   ► operating them. Computers are stupid because they have no brain. Like they're just chips

01:26:02 ◼   ► doing things. We are the intelligent ones driving them, which is what causes the problem

01:26:08 ◼   ► when there's folks like, you know, some developers, like I guess some of the developers of the

01:26:15 ◼   ► files up thinking "oh but what if the computer had an opinion?" and that's where the problem

01:26:20 ◼   ► lies like the computer shouldn't have an opinion like "hey this is it just works" nope no the

01:26:26 ◼   ► computer is dumb we are the smart ones anyway let's see changing extensions um some any

01:26:35 ◼   ► kind of deeper shortcuts integration i think it's wild that if i want to have proper file

01:26:43 ◼   ► management features in Shortcuts, I have to use Toolbox Pro, because Toolbox Pro has actual

01:26:51 ◼   ► files integration with things like you can bookmark folders and you can search and retrieve,

01:26:57 ◼   ► you can rename, and Shortcuts has none of this built in. Speaking of Shortcuts, I would

01:27:04 ◼   ► love to see how on the Mac you have customizable quick actions in the Finder Inspector. You

01:27:13 ◼   ► have those quick actions for resizing, changing file types, and you can install third-party

01:27:20 ◼   ► quick actions in the Finder. I know that Jon made a custom one for him for image uploads

01:27:27 ◼   ► for the Mac series CDN, which is nice. It's pretty cool that you can do that. You should

01:27:31 ◼   ► be able to do the same thing in files and make your own custom quick actions using shortcuts.

01:27:40 ◼   ► searches or smart folders, right? I mean, this is a much bigger issue that we mention

01:27:48 ◼   ► on App Stories every few weeks, basically. I don't know what kind of problem Apple has

01:27:53 ◼   ► with the idea in general of smart folders, because none of their apps have it on iOS

01:28:00 ◼   ► iPadOS, mail, music, files, just let me save a search, let me make a smart folder, again,

01:28:10 ◼   ► I know what I'm doing.

01:28:11 ◼   ► You are the smart folder, remember?

01:28:15 ◼   ► You are the smart one.

01:28:17 ◼   ► I am the, well, I'm not smart enough to sort my files though, what's the problem?

01:28:23 ◼   ► The computer's smarter in that regard, as long as it can actually give you the folder.

01:28:29 ◼   ► sorting options, again, matching what they do on the Mac. And lastly, I will say a

01:28:37 ◼   ► built-in versioning system. Again, this is weird because it's actually an

01:28:43 ◼   ► API for developers. If you're a developer of an iCloud Drive-based application, you

01:28:49 ◼   ► can use versions. For example, MyNode has a native versioning system based on

01:28:55 ◼   ► on iCloud Drive, but Apple itself is not using it. They're not using versions in files for

01:29:02 ◼   ► iCloud Drive. I don't get it.

01:29:03 ◼   ► Wow, I didn't know that.

01:29:04 ◼   ► I don't get it. It's been an API for like the past three or four years or something.

01:29:08 ◼   ► And remember, this is the last item, remember how back in the days of iOS 13 they rolled

01:29:17 ◼   ► out all those fancy changes for files, like you could pin your files, for example, you

01:29:24 ◼   ► could keep certain files always offline. There were other changes for developers in the files

01:29:31 ◼   ► framework for things like search and for adding, I believe they're called decorations, so like

01:29:37 ◼   ► little status icons to documents in the files app. And then they removed those features

01:29:45 ◼   ► from the iOS 13 data at some point, and they never came back.

01:29:50 ◼   ► Have a good back. That was the end of that.

01:29:55 ◼   ► I want to know what happened to the person, to the intern that was working on pinned files.

01:30:02 ◼   ► Did they also go back to Scotland? Because, like, I don't get it. Like, it was a feature.

01:30:08 ◼   ► That was peculiarly specific.

01:30:10 ◼   ► It's a James Thompson joke.

01:30:12 ◼   ► Oh, okay.

01:30:13 ◼   ► Yes. Please get my references. Come on.

01:30:15 ◼   ► James was in Ireland then. So, you know, get your chronology right.

01:30:21 ◼   ► Oh, I got the chronology. I'm sorry.

01:30:23 ◼   ► I mean, he lives in Scotland now.

01:30:25 ◼   ► Oh, see, that's why I was confused.

01:30:27 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:30:28 ◼   ► I didn't know James in the past. You know, I wasn't born. So.

01:30:32 ◼   ► That's not to say that James is old.

01:30:34 ◼   ► Oh, you're really digging this one, huh?

01:30:36 ◼   ► No.

01:30:37 ◼   ► Really, just really going for it today.

01:30:39 ◼   ► Still, somebody made that feature and then disappeared. Why is, like, let me pin my files.

01:30:45 ◼   ► I'm done.

01:30:46 ◼   ► For my first WWDC feature request, I'm going for a big one, I'm going for an obvious one,

01:30:52 ◼   ► everyone's talking about it, so I'm picking it.

01:30:54 ◼   ► I would like, as part of an overall expansion of iPadOS's capabilities, I want to be able

01:31:03 ◼   ► to plug my iPad into an external monitor and get access to a windowed focused iPadOS system.

01:31:11 ◼   ► What does it mean, window focused?

01:31:13 ◼   ► Right.

01:31:14 ◼   ► this many times before I think windowing like the idea of windowing on Mac OS and

01:31:19 ◼   ► on Windows is ugly right like applications overlapping each other and

01:31:23 ◼   ► all that kind of stuff I find it ugly but ultimately best for my productivity

01:31:28 ◼   ► because I can have apps laid out however I want I can see multiple apps at once

01:31:33 ◼   ► without needing to switch between them if I want to just by resizing things I

01:31:37 ◼   ► can have like I have like six windows in front of me right now and I can look at

01:31:41 ◼   ► You do?

01:31:42 ◼   ► Yeah, I have the Discord, I have Audio Hijack, I have Zoom, I have Safari.

01:31:48 ◼   ► How do you arrange them?

01:31:50 ◼   ► How tiny are they?

01:31:51 ◼   ► Not that tiny, I've got a big monitor here.

01:31:53 ◼   ► They're not nice, they doesn't look nice to have all these application windows open at

01:31:57 ◼   ► once, but it is useful.

01:31:59 ◼   ► That sounds like an nightmare.

01:32:02 ◼   ► Well this is the thing Federico, I became really allergic to this idea because I was

01:32:07 ◼   ► in the world of iPad for a long time and now it's like slowly started to creep out of me

01:32:12 ◼   ► now that I'm using the Mac again and I'm very much in the lots of windows kind of thing.

01:32:17 ◼   ► And look for me personally now my mind has changed. I love the focus that iPadOS can

01:32:23 ◼   ► provide so I don't want to make the typical iPad experience like this right? Like I don't

01:32:28 ◼   ► want to have six tiny windows on my 11 inch iPad like I don't want that. But if I plug

01:32:35 ◼   ► get into a bigger monitor, I want that flexibility.

01:32:37 ◼   ► Like the modular computer, as Federico said many times,

01:32:40 ◼   ► like I want it to go that extra step.

01:32:42 ◼   ► And so like when it's in this environment,

01:32:44 ◼   ► now I can have, say, six apps, right?

01:32:47 ◼   ► Even if you put them in a grid, right?

01:32:50 ◼   ► I'm fine with that.

01:32:51 ◼   ► But what I want to be able to do is

01:32:53 ◼   ► have more than two applications active, available,

01:32:57 ◼   ► and on screen at one time.

01:32:59 ◼   ► Now, that I agree.

01:33:00 ◼   ► My problem is with the potential of like freely

01:33:04 ◼   ► resizable windows and the overlapping windows.

01:33:06 ◼   ► I don't need freely resizable.

01:33:07 ◼   ► Right. Like I wish that there was a way on the Mac natively and in a way that

01:33:13 ◼   ► looked good to have everything just snap to these certain sizes.

01:33:16 ◼   ► And I don't like the overlapping.

01:33:18 ◼   ► I'd never really I do not overlap windows.

01:33:22 ◼   ► Right. I don't let the windows overlap each other.

01:33:25 ◼   ► I just resize them so I can see them all at once.

01:33:27 ◼   ► That's what I like. And so I would be fine with this if they even if they limited it

01:33:32 ◼   ► to like five or six that would be great because this would make things more

01:33:35 ◼   ► useful for me I think really as well like it would actually finally make

01:33:39 ◼   ► multiple app instances or windows on iPad OS useful because I mean I just

01:33:46 ◼   ► find it messy right like when you like oh you tap that but you go to press and

01:33:50 ◼   ► hold and then you can choose between the two that you want but like now I could

01:33:54 ◼   ► actually have two versions of Safari and two versions of I don't know discord

01:33:58 ◼   ► It's the first app there. Two versions of numbers open and I could use them all at once.

01:34:05 ◼   ► That's what I'm able to do on my Mac very easily, but on the iPad I've always found

01:34:09 ◼   ► that experience somewhat lacking. And I think the ability to be able to have multiple, many

01:34:17 ◼   ► like multiple app opens at a time would be much nicer. I need more control over how many

01:34:26 ◼   ► things can be on screen, where they are, and their size. That's what I want to see. And

01:34:31 ◼   ► I don't need this to be a thing for the regular iPad experience, but I really want it to be

01:34:38 ◼   ► a thing for giving me more opportunity to use my iPad in different environments and

01:34:43 ◼   ► plugging it into a monitor would allow me to do that. I think it'd be great.

01:34:47 ◼   ► So I'm going to pick something on the Mac. I'm definitely not alone in this. In fact,

01:34:51 ◼   ► mentioned a similar thing on App Stories this week, but

01:34:54 ◼   ► Notification Center on the Mac has never been good. It's always just been stuck over there on the right-hand side

01:35:00 ◼   ► It used to have a dedicated icon in the menu bar and now you have to click the clock to get to it, which makes

01:35:07 ◼   ► just

01:35:09 ◼   ► no sense

01:35:11 ◼   ► whatsoever

01:35:13 ◼   ► the

01:35:14 ◼   ► top half of it or the top section of it is

01:35:17 ◼   ► notifications

01:35:19 ◼   ► By default you get three stacks of notifications, and then you can click more so few

01:35:24 ◼   ► And see the rest of them. I never go in here, so I just have hundreds of notifications in here and

01:35:30 ◼   ► Then underneath that you have widgets, and they're they look great. They are from iOS, so they're not

01:35:38 ◼   ► Interactive the way that they used to be but they look really nice, and you know I guess you can

01:35:44 ◼   ► stash some stuff over there and and see what's going on, but

01:35:48 ◼   ► They also made notifications worse because they do stop being interactive in Pixar

01:35:55 ◼   ► It's like you used to be able to apply to an iMessage right on the notification itself. You can't do that anymore

01:36:01 ◼   ► I don't know about messages in particular, but there are some that do have some

01:36:06 ◼   ► Like mail you can delete or a message. So there's some interactivity

01:36:11 ◼   ► I just don't know about messages off the top of my head, but this whole

01:36:14 ◼   ► deal. Cramming it into a corner, only showing three stacks of widgets at a top,

01:36:20 ◼   ► three stacks of notifications, having widgets under them, it just

01:36:25 ◼   ► doesn't work. It's way too crowded. I think having it behind the clock means

01:36:30 ◼   ► most people just think that this just went away. Like, "Oh, there used to be this

01:36:35 ◼   ► thing over there I would hit sometimes accidentally, and now it's gone."

01:36:40 ◼   ► I think there are a lot of things they could do to fix this. I think let

01:36:43 ◼   ► notifications run the full top to bottom the way they used to. It used to be a

01:36:47 ◼   ► segment of control so you could flip in between notifications and widgets. I

01:36:52 ◼   ► think you just make this all notifications. I think you put widgets on

01:36:55 ◼   ► the desktop or you know bring back dashboard, a place for widgets to live on

01:37:00 ◼   ► their own. Because the thing that's frustrating to me is if you hit the edit

01:37:04 ◼   ► widgets button you get, in my case, in my Pro Display, it's about half the screen

01:37:09 ◼   ► and I can see a bunch of widgets all at once but not to use them but to pick

01:37:14 ◼   ► from them to see which one that I want over in the sidebar. I'm assuming you are

01:37:19 ◼   ► not using widgets on your Mac. I have calendar, world clock, and parcel. So my

01:37:26 ◼   ► widgets on the Mac they just reset all the time. Oh do they? So like I add a bunch of

01:37:30 ◼   ► widgets and then they just disappear which is great. It's what I want so like

01:37:34 ◼   ► I want to lay out all my widgets set them all up and then the next then

01:37:37 ◼   ► something I do something maybe I restart my Mac or whatever that's bad and then

01:37:41 ◼   ► they're just gone again. Okay, thanks for that. So this corner of Mac OS has never

01:37:48 ◼   ► been great but Apple has made it noticeably worse in Big Sur. Yeah. And I

01:37:54 ◼   ► think they really need to rethink it. You have this giant screen, use it, you know?

01:38:00 ◼   ► And I just find it really frustrating because this could be really useful and

01:38:05 ◼   ► cool and it's just not. Long live Dashboard. It is funny that they got rid

01:38:09 ◼   ► of Dashboard and then created a whole new widget thing. Especially because like

01:38:12 ◼   ► these widgets are confined to a tiny overlay sidebar. Yeah. I really do miss

01:38:19 ◼   ► that. It's not a sentence that I would have ever thought of saying in 2021 but

01:38:25 ◼   ► I miss the freedom of Dashboard. Well because Dash... I mean the reason it's

01:38:30 ◼   ► funny it's just because like Dashboard became useless because there was nothing

01:38:33 ◼   ► going on right it was an old technology that nobody was using anymore like it

01:38:38 ◼   ► wasn't a bad idea just then nobody great idea that's why it took off and people

01:38:43 ◼   ► loved it you know but then it just became something that nobody updated

01:38:48 ◼   ► anymore nobody did anything for it and I got stuck now like these widgets it's

01:38:53 ◼   ► perfect for it right like we have the one on our iPhone you know we have one

01:38:57 ◼   ► our iPad somewhat look they brought back Rosetta and they've brought back

01:39:02 ◼   ► universal apps just bring back dashboard dashboard - there you go - one - dashboard

01:39:08 ◼   ► - I think that does it this week mm-hmm all right if you want to read more about

01:39:13 ◼   ► stuff we spoke about the trackers that we ordered head on over to the website

01:39:18 ◼   ► relay.fm / connected / 3 4 5 it's an easy one to remember this week you'll

01:39:24 ◼   ► find all those links there you can also send us an email with feedback or

01:39:28 ◼   ► follow-up from the webpage. There's also a link to join and you'll get connected

01:39:34 ◼   ► pro which is a longer ad free version of the show each and every week. This month

01:39:38 ◼   ► a bunch of relay FM shows are putting out bonus content for all relay FM

01:39:43 ◼   ► members so even if you support another show like Reconcileable Differences you

01:39:47 ◼   ► can hear our special connected pro members can listen to theirs. Lots of fun

01:39:51 ◼   ► stuff going on so now is a great time to join. Go do it. Myke what's the

01:39:56 ◼   ► fancy URL people can go to. GetConnectedPro.co. You can find us all online. You can find Myke

01:40:03 ◼   ► on Twitter as @IMYKE. Myke hosts a bunch of shows here on Relay FM and has an awesome

01:40:10 ◼   ► Twitch channel where he does keyboard-y stuff at Myke.live. You can find Federico on Twitter

01:40:16 ◼   ► of Itichi, V-I-T-I-C-C-I. He is the editor-in-chief of MacStories.net, the home of the newest

01:40:26 ◼   ► app reviewer on the block, Myke Hurley.

01:40:28 ◼   ► Hello, it's me.

01:40:30 ◼   ► Federico, you have hired Myke. Congratulations.

01:40:32 ◼   ► Sure, thank you. Are you not asking me the questions anymore? Have we stopped dating?

01:40:37 ◼   ► Well, I took a little break a couple weeks ago, and I just haven't found a good time

01:40:42 ◼   ► to get back into it.

01:40:43 ◼   ► Could have told me.

01:40:44 ◼   ► So we'll see.

01:40:45 ◼   ► been ghosting me. I'm sorry. Sure. No, no, Stephen's the kind of guy who just

01:40:49 ◼   ► leaves you on red. Yeah, that's rough. That's how he leaves you. Sure, alright. Clearly you didn't do a good job of your

01:40:56 ◼   ► answers Federico. Yeah, I mean now I feel judged. You didn't intrigue him enough.

01:41:02 ◼   ► Yeah, I guess. Wow, way way to boost my self-esteem Stephen. Thank you.

01:41:08 ◼   ► You can find me on Twitter as ismh.

01:41:11 ◼   ► I like both of these two guys.

01:41:14 ◼   ► I post a bunch of shows here on the network, and you can find my writing at 512pixels.net.

01:41:22 ◼   ► I'd like to thank our sponsors this week, Fitbaud, Mack Weldon, and Hover.

01:41:26 ◼   ► And you're probably into podcasts because you're listening to a podcast, and we're podcasters.

01:41:30 ◼   ► And so let me tell you about another show here on Relay, a show about art history for

01:41:33 ◼   ► anyone and everyone.

01:41:35 ◼   ► You don't need an art degree or in my case half an art degree to listen.

01:41:40 ◼   ► It's hosted by Quinn Rose and Betty Chin.

01:41:42 ◼   ► They are so much fun together.

01:41:43 ◼   ► It's a great show.

01:41:44 ◼   ► Relay.fm/pictorial or search pictorial wherever you get your shows.

01:41:50 ◼   ► Until next week, gentlemen, say goodbye.

01:41:53 ◼   ► Arrivederci.

01:41:54 ◼   ► Cheerio.