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Connected

266: What Are You, an Accountant?

 

00:00:00   (upbeat music)

00:00:02   Hello and welcome to Connected episode 266.

00:00:11   It is made possible this week by our sponsors,

00:00:13   Smile, Pingdom, and FreshBooks.

00:00:16   My name is Steven Hackett and I am joined by my friend,

00:00:18   Mr. Federico Vittucci.

00:00:20   - Hello Steven, how are you?

00:00:22   - I am great, I'm excited.

00:00:23   We have a lot of fun stuff to talk about.

00:00:25   I like hanging out with you all.

00:00:26   It's a good Wednesday so far.

00:00:28   - Looks like it.

00:00:28   joined by my other friend, Mr. Myke Hurley. Why did you say that in that way?

00:00:34   What do you mean? Like you paused, you were like my other friend. Like I

00:00:40   don't understand. The other one. Federico will be the other friend next

00:00:45   week. That's how this works. We alternate. Hmm. What do you say about that? Myke, a funny thing

00:00:50   happened to you and I last week. So I'm just gonna bring listeners

00:00:56   in to this situation Myke and I find ourselves in. So the other day I was

00:01:01   going up through iMessage trying to find it. So this was on the 17th, so four or

00:01:06   five days ago. I sent you a link to a rare vintage Apple Parker roller pin on

00:01:15   eBay. So sometimes I just cruise the antique Apple, you know, vintage computer

00:01:23   section on eBay. I don't believe that it's that's true. I bet you have a lot.

00:01:28   No I don't, honestly I don't. Really? I just sometimes if I'm you know can't

00:01:32   sleep or stuck somewhere I'm like what's going on eBay and I found this pen and I

00:01:38   know that you're a pen guy and I sent it to you and I said I think that this is

00:01:45   something that you know would pique your interest and you replied... Is it a pen or is it a

00:01:49   pen Stephen hmm it's an ink pen okay I can't say those two words but they sound

00:01:55   differently I just can't do it so anyways there'll be a link to this in

00:02:01   the show notes you can look at it nice thing I recognize the brand Parker like

00:02:05   I know they are a pen company that does things so I sent to Myke and Myke's

00:02:10   exact quote was I must have it and then I thought you know we've had a busy year

00:02:16   Myke needs a present and so I bid on this pin

00:02:20   ultimately

00:02:22   losing to someone else

00:02:24   Myke who won this pin auction I

00:02:27   did

00:02:30   I said I must have it so I bid on it, right? I felt like that was clear

00:02:35   Say that was not cleared. I must have it

00:02:39   Therefore if I must have it, I can't rely on the universe dropping it into my lap sure

00:02:45   So I put a bid down, the original bid, and then I put my maximum in. And it turns out

00:02:51   that I ended up only there for Stephen made me pay more because he was bidding against

00:02:56   me.

00:02:57   Yeah. Sorry about that. But he did it out of love, so it doesn't really count.

00:03:02   Yeah.

00:03:03   Yeah.

00:03:04   It's just, there's, you know, it's worse things that happen to me. There's also another cool

00:03:07   pen now. See, this is how you get on eBay, right? There's a black one here too, which

00:03:11   looks kind of cool. But one of the reasons that I did buy this is because my expectation,

00:03:19   because it is a parka pen, that I will be able to get a different refill for this and

00:03:23   will actually be able to use it. Yeah, it would have been a good gift. Thanks for sending

00:03:27   it to me. It would have been a great gift. But now it's a great gift that I have bought

00:03:32   myself. For more than you would have. How did you find these products, Steven? Just

00:03:38   Randomly, blah, browsing eBay for vintage Apple as a search query.

00:03:42   No, there is a vintage Apple, I guess, section on eBay.

00:03:47   There's like a category, but then there's also vintage manuals and merchandise, and

00:03:51   there's always weird Apple stuff in there too.

00:03:53   So like right now I just searched and the first thing is new old stock vintage Apple

00:03:58   care, original rainbow logo, lapel pin spelled P I N.

00:04:02   Sure.

00:04:02   Sure.

00:04:03   That sounds nice.

00:04:04   I'll put that in the chat room.

00:04:05   So I'm not going to bid on that.

00:04:07   So feel free to bid on it.

00:04:08   You're not going to get into a bidding war with me.

00:04:09   Or is that what he wants you to believe?

00:04:12   Oh, that looks awesome.

00:04:14   That pin is amazing.

00:04:16   Why did they care so much about AppleCare that they made such a cool looking pin?

00:04:21   It's expensive.

00:04:22   Yeah.

00:04:23   You should, you should put that on and walk around the Apple store saying I'm the AppleCare guy.

00:04:28   You just be like, I'm the only one that cares.

00:04:30   You see, I've got the pin.

00:04:31   I'm pretty sure that you could at least convince two people to believe you.

00:04:36   if you do that.

00:04:37   Yeah.

00:04:38   Well, you all remember the amazing prizes I brought to WWDC this year.

00:04:43   This is the category from eBay in which they came.

00:04:45   Like that disc box and everything that all came from.

00:04:48   If you would have gotten me this AppleCare pen or the pen, I would have been much more

00:04:52   excited than the stupid old wooden box you gave me.

00:04:55   That's in your office now?

00:04:57   Yep.

00:04:59   My Incredible Hulk system.

00:05:01   And the trophy that I won in the family feud.

00:05:03   Like the real trophy that I won in competition.

00:05:05   You want the tiny coffin, right? At WWDC? No. Toilet. No, this year. Oh, you mean, when

00:05:13   you said the tiny coffin, you mean the wooden box? Yeah. That I got. Yeah, it was like a

00:05:17   tiny coffin. A disc at box. Floppy discs. That's our eBay follow up for the week. I

00:05:24   don't know. You bought the thing. I saw this, it's very you. Elago, who I keep thinking

00:05:31   is Elgato, but it's a different company. Very different company. They created a silicone

00:05:38   AirPods case that makes your AirPods case look like a Macintosh. I would say this is

00:05:48   not only completely up your alley, it's actually a really cool looking product. And will immediately

00:05:57   be destroyed. I've seen a lot of these types of silicon cases for AirPods. Really, they

00:06:04   don't seem... I can't really imagine they provide that much utility other than just

00:06:08   making your AirPods look cooler.

00:06:10   Well, cooler from a very particular point of view, but yes.

00:06:14   I think from most point of views. Like, I mean, even if you don't know what it is, it

00:06:17   looks like a weird little cool thing, right? Like, it's like a fun little thing. So, I'd

00:06:22   noticed that you bought one.

00:06:23   I did.

00:06:24   What is your review of the Elgato thing?

00:06:27   Elago?

00:06:28   There's no T in it.

00:06:30   I did the same thing.

00:06:31   The company name is very confusing.

00:06:33   It's beautiful if you're into this sort of thing.

00:06:37   As an AirPod case, it's totally fine.

00:06:38   It still wirelessly charges.

00:06:40   This company makes a bunch of cool things.

00:06:42   Yes, they make an Apple Watch charger thing that I reviewed on YouTube a few years ago.

00:06:46   But they also make one that looks like a Game Boy, and they make one that looks like the

00:06:50   iMac G3 and an iPod.

00:06:52   What looks like a Game Boy? Hold on.

00:06:54   It's all on their Amazon page.

00:06:56   Is it El Gato?

00:06:57   Is it El Gato?

00:06:58   El Lago.

00:06:59   El Lago.

00:07:00   El Lago.

00:07:02   Okay, so it's spelled like El Gato.

00:07:03   Together we can do this.

00:07:05   Okay.

00:07:06   El Lago.

00:07:07   All right.

00:07:08   Uh-huh.

00:07:09   Where is it?

00:07:10   Oh, there's one that--

00:07:11   They make a bunch of AirPods cases.

00:07:12   I found the Game Boy One.

00:07:14   Oh my God.

00:07:15   Game Boy One's cool, right?

00:07:17   They have something called EarHooks

00:07:19   that turn your AirPods into Powerbeats Pro.

00:07:21   like the thing over your ear. All sorts of stuff. I like the little uh the iMac G3 one.

00:07:30   Yeah it's cute. It's cute. A little blue. So anyways it's fine. It makes what is a slippery

00:07:37   little uh hockey puck charging case uh bulky and sort of awkward to get in out of your pocket but

00:07:43   it looks cool. Are you keeping them in there? No. Oh you just have some fun you know. Go to the gym

00:07:51   you know, whip those things out. Stand back everybody, I'm here with my Macintosh AirPods.

00:07:56   Does Google Docs support multiple windows on iPadOS?

00:08:02   So there was an update for Google Docs and Google Sheets just before this episode?

00:08:08   Yep, I also checked, but no.

00:08:10   That does not support it?

00:08:13   No.

00:08:13   I'm getting concerned about this follow-up item.

00:08:16   Do we have to do it forever?

00:08:18   I think it might be forever, yeah.

00:08:20   No, maybe we'd stop asking it and I just drop in this clip for like weeks

00:08:26   Over and over maybe like maybe they could just be like a coded. Mmm like message

00:08:32   You know, if you play the podcast backwards you find out if it's supported or not

00:08:36   Well still not supported I would love it to be supported it has not been supported

00:08:42   My time is running out because I said the end of 2019

00:08:45   Yeah, not my greatest pick in hindsight probably

00:08:49   I wanted to talk a little bit about the MacBook Air and I'm putting this as like a tiny topic/follow-up

00:08:57   because if y'all will remember, well y'all probably don't because you probably got up

00:09:01   and got a snack when I was talking about the MacBook Air, but listeners who paid attention

00:09:05   will remember that I bought my wife a MacBook Air to replace her original 12-inch MacBook,

00:09:12   which I actually got off the shelf the other day and oh boy that computer is tiny and slow.

00:09:17   But when I bought her air, I did 60 gigs of RAM in it, and I wanted to do a bigger SSD.

00:09:24   She has a lot of photos, a lot of documents, and it's just neat storage.

00:09:28   And at the time for the 2018 MacBook Air, you could do a 512 gigabyte SSD, or you could

00:09:35   do a 1.5 terabyte SSD.

00:09:38   And this was before Apple dropped their prices.

00:09:40   And it based I forget exactly what it was.

00:09:42   I think it was like almost $1,000 or $1,000 like upgrade to the terabyte and a half and

00:09:48   I just wasn't going to do that on a computer that cost $1,500 like it's couldn't do it.

00:09:54   So I got to the 512.

00:09:56   And of course, she's out of space.

00:09:57   And so I just did the dance of getting an external SSD and putting her photos library

00:10:02   on that she uses this basically as a desktop 98% of the time hooked up to a 4k ultra fine

00:10:09   display.

00:10:10   one of those little Samsung T5s hanging off the back of it,

00:10:13   moved her photos library to it.

00:10:15   But of course now, if I were to replace this machine,

00:10:18   which I'm not gonna do for this, but if I were,

00:10:20   there's a terabyte upgrade option and it's like 400 bucks.

00:10:23   Just like the thing that really bugged me

00:10:26   about this computer, they fixed, but too late to help me.

00:10:29   - It's 600 from the base, but 400,

00:10:33   it's $200 to 256, $400 to 512 and $600 for a terabyte.

00:10:38   - Okay.

00:10:39   the bass line. I would be willing to do that but I couldn't because it wasn't an

00:10:45   option then. Sorry about that. Myke tell us about your new computer. Oh yeah the

00:10:50   iMac Pro is here and long time listeners may remember that I bought this computer

00:10:56   through fear of Catalina and was getting increasingly concerned. I had lots of

00:11:02   people that claimed that they would know the answer to this as to whether my

00:11:06   computer would arrive with Mojave or Catalina on it telling me there was no

00:11:10   way that it would arrive with Mojave on it because Catalina was shipping. Well

00:11:15   the answer is that this machine in fact came out of the box running Mojave. I'm

00:11:21   very happy because now I have the machine that I wanted. Mojave is weird

00:11:27   in a bunch of places. It has lots of, I don't know if people remember this, it has

00:11:34   lots of security messages, which I wasn't expecting. So I've got that going on. There's

00:11:41   like lots of things, want permissions to do things because I've never run Mojave.

00:11:45   Well, I have it on my Mac mini, I think, but I never really do much with that Mac mini. I don't

00:11:50   use it like my machine, right? Like it's just set up and it's doing stuff for me. But I unboxed it

00:11:56   on my Instagram. I'll put a link to my Instagram story. The main problem that I had when transferring

00:12:02   over was migration assistant. Migration assistant sucked, to say the least. I bought cables

00:12:09   and dongles at Stevens Advice, like what is it, Thunderbolt 2 to 3, and then a Thunderbolt

00:12:15   2 cable or whatever, and I set it up on two instances and left it for multiple hours and

00:12:25   it just froze, like it just stopped working the time, stopped changing, nothing was going

00:12:28   on and then after getting frustrated I then did it from my time machine backup from a

00:12:37   one terabyte hard drive like spinning disk hard drive that I had as my time machine.

00:12:43   It took a very long time but it worked and it worked consistently which is something that the

00:12:48   iMac to iMac transfer was not doing right like it was getting to a point and it stopped and it

00:12:54   And it would be like two hours remaining for like five hours.

00:12:57   I was like, well, something bad has happened here.

00:13:01   So I did that.

00:13:02   And I ended up getting it all set up.

00:13:03   I would like to tell you a story of how I significantly upset Dropbox.

00:13:10   So I installed everything, got the computer set up, got Dropbox, synced everything.

00:13:14   And that was that.

00:13:15   It was all taken care of.

00:13:16   But then I noticed that my home folder was named weirdly.

00:13:22   So let's imagine my home folder was called Myke.

00:13:26   It was called Myke123.

00:13:28   That's your developer's name.

00:13:30   Exactly.

00:13:31   Nice.

00:13:32   That was good.

00:13:33   That was a nice, nice reference.

00:13:35   But no, it was the third migration assistant attempt, right?

00:13:40   So the machine was keeping 123 in there.

00:13:43   And I was like, I don't want to look at this forever.

00:13:46   So I Googled what you needed to do and I found an Apple support document which told you what

00:13:51   what you had to do to change it.

00:13:52   And there were a bunch of steps you had to go through

00:13:54   to make sure it was all done properly

00:13:55   without destroying things.

00:13:57   - Yeah, that used to be a real deal breaker

00:14:00   on older versions of macOS 10.

00:14:02   Changing your user's short name

00:14:03   would basically destroy your computer.

00:14:05   - And so I had to create a second account,

00:14:08   a second administrator account,

00:14:09   and log into that one and do it, which was interesting.

00:14:13   But they did it.

00:14:14   But this absolutely destroyed Dropbox.

00:14:18   It would not open anymore.

00:14:19   - Oh my God.

00:14:20   Dropbox was very, very upset.

00:14:22   And it gave me an error that when I pressed OK, opened byword and just gave me

00:14:28   this like massive text document that I was supposed to send to a support

00:14:31   individual.

00:14:32   What?

00:14:33   Yeah. Like it was like this huge error log.

00:14:36   It was crazy. So I Googled the situation and found some support documentation

00:14:41   and some forum posts. And it was all about copying and pasting things into the

00:14:46   terminal, which I tried, but nothing happened.

00:14:49   So I MacGyvered the situation.

00:14:51   I don't know if people will be proud of my problem solving here, but it worked.

00:14:55   What I did was I created a folder in my users folder, which replicated the name

00:15:01   that Dropbox was looking for.

00:15:03   Sure.

00:15:03   Right.

00:15:04   So I created like Myke123.

00:15:06   And then, so then Dropbox would open.

00:15:08   So then once I could actually get Dropbox to open, because I couldn't get it to open,

00:15:13   I could then remap the location of where the Dropbox folder was supposed to be.

00:15:18   Oh. Right, which was in the new, like what quote unquote new user folder.

00:15:23   And then I just copy and pasted all of the stuff into because then like Dropbox

00:15:28   created like a second stuff. It was like crazy.

00:15:30   It was doing weird stuff instead of my file system.

00:15:32   But then when I copy and pasted everything into what was the quote unquote new

00:15:37   Dropbox folder that Dropbox then set up because it found the right file path

00:15:41   and everything was fine.

00:15:44   And then I just deleted the mic one, two, three folder and then Dropbox was set again.

00:15:47   I did email a Dropbox support assistant, as I was supposed to do, and they just sent me

00:15:53   basically here's the five terminal commands, like the things I'd already found on their

00:15:56   website and I was like, don't worry about it, I'll fix it.

00:15:58   So that was my Dropbox situation.

00:16:00   This is a word to the wise, don't change the name of your home folder if you have Dropbox

00:16:05   installed because Dropbox gets really upset.

00:16:07   If Dropbox gets upset about a lot of things.

00:16:09   But it's not a very good app.

00:16:12   No, it's getting worse.

00:16:13   But I said, you know what?

00:16:16   iCloud shared folders, you know, so what you can do.

00:16:18   I'm going to stick on Dropbox.

00:16:19   I have no interest in moving to iCloud shared folders.

00:16:21   - Even if you could, check back in next year.

00:16:24   - Even if I could, I have no interest in it

00:16:27   because like this is one of those like features

00:16:29   like it has, they haven't been able to get it

00:16:32   out of the door, right?

00:16:33   Which just means that this is a very hard problem

00:16:35   which makes me feel less willing to trust things to it.

00:16:39   - Yeah.

00:16:41   - I bought a new time machine drive.

00:16:43   I had to, because I realized I had a one terabyte hard drive and I have two terabytes of storage in my new machine.

00:16:50   So I was like, eventually I'm going to have to replace it.

00:16:53   So I bought a two terabyte SSD, one of those Samsung ones.

00:16:56   Those things are so small.

00:16:58   Very small.

00:16:59   It's unbelievable.

00:17:01   That I just velcroed it to the back of the iMac.

00:17:04   Oh.

00:17:05   Poor iMac.

00:17:07   I also have a USB hub, tiny USB hub, also velcroed to the back of the iMac too.

00:17:16   These machines are meant for work, right?

00:17:19   This is just how it's going to be, I'm afraid.

00:17:22   I don't want things dangling down.

00:17:24   Yeah, I mean I've got a couple extra SSDs but they're stashed away neatly behind things.

00:17:30   That's fine.

00:17:31   It's better than tape.

00:17:32   I can get behind velcro.

00:17:33   David Sparks taped stuff to the back of his and I can't abide that.

00:17:36   I did it too.

00:17:37   taped to the back of my desk. Oh, what is, oh. But like, Stephen, the thing is the

00:17:43   velcro is still tape, so. No, but it's cleaner, right? I mean, Sparks, like,

00:17:48   do you remember that picture Jason put on Twitter before we all unfollowed him

00:17:53   for it, where he taped this SSD to the back of a MacBook Air to run Catalina this summer?

00:17:58   Like, that's what Sparks did permanently. I'm sure y'all did it in a nicer, cleaner

00:18:03   fashion. No, no, it's not nice, it's not clean, it's just tape, man. It's just a bunch of tape. I just did it, like I didn't measure it or like align it or anything. It's just stuck there. I did do a little bit of cable management though. Oh yeah? Yeah, I bought some of those like Velcro cable tie things and did a little bit of cable management. Good man. I'm sure everything was tied it up again before I installed the iMac Pro. I could unplug everything from this iMac Pro and buy a new one and put it here and like all the cables

00:18:32   is like go right in like it's all nice and tidy and neat.

00:18:35   The thing is though an uncable managed setup that will still work.

00:18:40   But it doesn't work as efficiently because the bits go in straight lines.

00:18:44   Ah right right right.

00:18:46   Of course everybody knows that.

00:18:47   You know I was I don't like at this point my Apple retail experience is basically irrelevant

00:18:52   because it's been a really long time but before I was a genius I was on the visuals team which

00:18:57   is like the team that kind of resets the store for new products and this sort of thing.

00:19:02   You know what my expertise was? Cable management. Yeah, I figured you didn't

00:19:09   need to ask that question. So we had, you know, the laptops out on the tables, they

00:19:12   had to be at a certain distance from everything, and all the cables were

00:19:15   supposed to run straight back into the back of the table, like the chargers or

00:19:19   whatever, and man, it was like, I just get in the zone and do that for hours. It was

00:19:23   awesome. You would have a great time here. There's a lot of cables that could be

00:19:27   manage better. Well next time I'm in your office we'll see how you've done.

00:19:33   Would you like my review of the iMac Pro? Yes, please. An official review. It's

00:19:39   faster and quiet. Cool. That's about it really. I've noticed that, look, no hate

00:19:46   right? New Macs are not as exciting as new iOS devices. They're just, everything's

00:19:52   just like a bit quicker, by and large. Like there's those, and this is because of the

00:19:57   maturity of the platform. Hey we got the touch bar, don't you think that was a... oh I see what you're saying.

00:20:02   There's just far fewer new features, right? Like we're going to talk about the iPhone camera again

00:20:08   in a bit. That is like a huge leap that they made this year. Like the iMac Pro does a bunch

00:20:15   of things that are way better, but they're not like whiz-bang features, it's just like stuff is quicker

00:20:22   and it's quieter. It's like I'm very pleased to have those things in my machine, but by and large,

00:20:28   most of the time it doesn't feel like I'm using something different. I mean, I'm sure this is

00:20:32   partly because it looks basically the same, it's just a different colour. I do really like the

00:20:36   space grey. I'm very happy to have a space grey computer, it looked great. I hate that I have so

00:20:41   many aluminium things on my desk. None of it matches now, right? Like the audio gear I have

00:20:46   is silver aluminium, right? And none of it matches now with the computer, but I am very

00:20:52   happy with it because it is doing what I want, right? Like I am noticing multiple things

00:20:56   that are much quicker. So like all of the audio stuff that I'm doing, so anything that

00:21:03   exports, anything that processes, they are noticeably faster. But the biggest thing for

00:21:08   me that I have noticed is it's not the fact that it is faster, it's all of these things

00:21:12   would make my machines fans kick on and I have never heard this machines fans.

00:21:16   So it is a I am happy that I made this upgrade because I am now like I now have

00:21:23   another five years of a computer that's gonna feel really great right before I

00:21:27   have to even think about doing it again so I'm happy that I made the upgrade for

00:21:30   all the reasons that I made it I'm happy that I'm on Mojave and I don't have to

00:21:33   go to Catalina yet and I now have a super fast machine which will last me

00:21:39   quite some time. It's a great computer. I mean it's I've been so happy with mine

00:21:44   and the only time I hear the fans isn't working with 4k video footage like that

00:21:49   is it is silent the rest of the time it's it's sort of surprising how quiet

00:21:54   is especially if you've come from an older iMac or especially like a notebook

00:21:58   where fans kick up at any given moment. Oh I also love having USB C ports on the

00:22:05   back of my computer. Oh yeah you didn't have that before. Didn't have those. I like all

00:22:09   of the IO. There's a lot of IO on this and that's really great. I want to get that thing.

00:22:13   You have a little thing on your computer, right? Where you can plug stuff into the front.

00:22:17   Yes. What is that? What is that? I'm at Steven has this little, I don't know. It's like a

00:22:24   little thing that hangs off the back of like hangs below the monitor. It is the satachi

00:22:31   Type C Clamp Hub Pro.

00:22:34   - Type C Clamp Hub Pro.

00:22:38   What a terrible name.

00:22:39   - It is.

00:22:40   So here's the thing about this.

00:22:41   They have you, we'll put a link in the show notes.

00:22:44   They want you to have it at the very end of the computer,

00:22:47   but then the, so this goes into the grill

00:22:49   on the bottom of the computer.

00:22:51   It's sort of like with pressure and stays in there.

00:22:54   But at the end, it blocks the speakers.

00:22:57   And so it sounds really lopsided.

00:22:58   So mine is inset from the center a little bit.

00:23:01   And like, yes, that is part of the cooling,

00:23:05   but it's only about two and a half inches wide.

00:23:07   I haven't had any problems with it,

00:23:09   but it gives you, at least the one I have is USB-C,

00:23:13   three USB-A, SD and micro SD card slots

00:23:17   in the front of the computer.

00:23:19   It's matched, takes up a USB-C port on the back.

00:23:22   I've really been happy with it.

00:23:23   - 'Cause I hate the inevitable aluminum crunching

00:23:28   happens as you're trying to find a port without being able to get around to the

00:23:33   back of the computer so I'm gonna get one of these things. It also comes in

00:23:37   space gray so. It's got pro in the name so you know you can trust it. Yep.

00:23:41   In their product images they have it how you have it where it's inset a bit now. I

00:23:45   think they've changed that when I got it I think even like the booklet was like

00:23:48   put all the way at the end is like not not doing that. Cool I'm gonna get one of

00:23:52   those. Well that's that's my review of my iMac Pro. I might have more to say I've

00:23:55   I've only been using it actually like for work work stuff like two days. Mm-hmm

00:23:59   I'm intrigued to see how it handles like a really big edit that you know

00:24:03   I haven't done like a very serious editing project on this yet

00:24:06   So I mean you want to do this episode as a test now, I really like the

00:24:11   Magic keyboard with a number pad. No

00:24:14   No, I'm never gonna use it because I use the scope ergonomic like that is that that keyboard is great for me strong

00:24:21   I just really like having a number pad.

00:24:24   Nope.

00:24:24   So let me tell you why I like a number pad.

00:24:26   Why are you an accountant?

00:24:28   You need a number pad?

00:24:29   Well I used to work in finance, remember?

00:24:31   So like, I was very used to having a number pad.

00:24:33   Okay, fine.

00:24:34   Number pads are like the only thing that I can like touch type.

00:24:37   I can't touch type on a regular keyboard, but I'm very confident in number pads.

00:24:42   Number pads are the devil's keyboard.

00:24:44   You're making a very strong statement there.

00:24:46   They are bad. They destroy my muscle memory.

00:24:50   Okay.

00:24:51   They are only acceptable for, and this is my new clause,

00:24:56   people who used to work in finance or accountants.

00:24:59   Otherwise, this is just for you, Myke.

00:25:03   Otherwise, why would you need a number?

00:25:05   Why would you need a number, Pat?

00:25:06   It takes up more space.

00:25:08   So unless you have a very specific reason

00:25:10   or unless you used to work

00:25:13   at a financial institution before,

00:25:15   I so strongly wish that Apple would make

00:25:19   a space grey magic keyboard without the number pad. Like, please.

00:25:23   Just saw it off. See?

00:25:26   That's not how things with batteries work.

00:25:29   I'm pretty sure there's someone on YouTube that must have tried this. You know that guy

00:25:33   that does crazy things with iPhone parts in China? Maybe that guy has done it. You know,

00:25:38   the guy that puts a USB-C port in the iPhone or like a... what's it called? An amazing

00:25:45   YouTube channel where this person...

00:25:46   I have no idea what you're talking about.

00:25:49   Really? Okay, so there's this YouTube channel. This guy, I think he's an engineer, and for

00:25:56   various reasons he's often in China, or maybe he lives in China now, I'm not sure. And he

00:26:01   has this YouTube channel where he tries to modify devices, especially iPhones.

00:26:09   Oh yeah, he like built an iPhone from scratch, right? That guy?

00:26:12   He wants, yes, he wants built an iPhone from scratch, just out of spare parts that he acquired

00:26:18   in China. E did this video that I'm pretty sure we also linked on Mac stories a couple

00:26:22   of years ago. Here it is. It's called Strange Parts. Strange Parts. Thank you. E added back

00:26:29   the headphone jack to the iPhone 8 or something after Apple removed it. Oh, I know this guy.

00:26:35   Yeah. So maybe try to saw off the number pad from the Magic Keyboard. If there's a person...

00:26:43   I have some breaking news guys. Breaking news. This is in from John Voorhees. John Voorhees

00:26:48   reports that Federico has a number pad on his keyboard. See? Yes! Logitech MX Keys.

00:26:54   I hate it. Yeah, and I hate it. It's like I... So, you are unacceptable to yourself.

00:27:01   Yes! I hate myself for like, for using this keyboard. I'm being... Because you use a keyboard

00:27:08   called the Logitech MX Keys.

00:27:10   OK, so this keyboard is amazing.

00:27:12   Like the shape of the key, except for two things.

00:27:17   The twisted mind of the people at Logitech

00:27:21   who thought that it would be a good idea to only offer one version

00:27:24   with a number pad.

00:27:25   And the fact that it has to.

00:27:29   Like it needs to have both Windows and MacOS labels on it.

00:27:37   Like just do a Windows version and a Mac OS version.

00:27:41   I don't want to have like, what does it mean?

00:27:43   What does it even mean to have?

00:27:45   Well, what's the name of that key? Like?

00:27:48   Oh, start. What is a start?

00:27:51   I don't I don't care.

00:27:52   I don't care about Windows.

00:27:54   My my keyboard only has those

00:27:57   because I use a Microsoft PC keyboard with my computer.

00:28:01   It's very I love this keyboard and it works super well.

00:28:05   I love the shape of the keys.

00:28:07   I love the fact that it's got like some type of motion sensitivity so that it turns on

00:28:12   the backlit when it knows that your hands are about to reach the keyboard.

00:28:17   It supports multi-device pairing.

00:28:20   It's super good and I love typing on it.

00:28:23   And now my setup basically consists of the, thanks to your recommendation Myke, the Clear

00:28:29   Look iPad Stand, the MX Keys keyboard and the new MX3 mouse.

00:28:36   So I'm all in with the Logitech setup, but they should feel bad, like they should, you

00:28:42   know, when these people, the people that made the decisions, they go back home at dinner,

00:28:45   they should think about the fact that they're forcing somebody like me to use a number pad,

00:28:49   and they should feel bad about it.

00:28:51   And the fact that there's no macOS only specific version.

00:28:55   Otherwise it's a pretty amazing product, but they should feel bad about those two things.

00:28:59   Well at least we know where your line in the sand is.

00:29:03   The number pad and the window symbols, yes.

00:29:05   Yeah, but no, because it's after those, because you will still use a product even if it has

00:29:10   those two things that you hate.

00:29:11   Yeah, because at the end of the day I really care about the quality of my fingers and the

00:29:17   fact that my hands are comfortable. So that's important to me. But I look at it and I'm

00:29:22   like, "You could have been perfect, but you're not." And I don't even know what's this thing

00:29:28   about forcing people to use a number pad. Once again, we're not... The majority of people

00:29:35   thankfully are not accountants. We don't need numbers in our face at all times, and yet

00:29:42   we have these keywords. I don't know. I don't know. I honestly don't know.

00:29:45   But yes, I use it. So, you know, busted and all that.

00:29:53   Busted. All right, let's take a break, and then Federico, you're going to tell us about some sort

00:30:00   of friends and family situation that you have. This episode of Connected is

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00:31:03   of the show and Relay FM.

00:31:06   So what you should know is that while I have no extended family, Sylvia does, and her family

00:31:11   members have taken on the habit of often calling me and requesting my services in terms of

00:31:18   assistance with computers and whatnot. So here's what happened. Her cousin, she's

00:31:25   So this is for context, like she's a young person who's somewhat used to technology.

00:31:32   She uses an iPhone, she's relatively proficient in using the iPhone and apps and all that.

00:31:38   She's a young person, she knows in theory how to use computers.

00:31:42   But she's not a nerd, she doesn't read tech blogs, she has no idea what Mac stories is,

00:31:47   you know, exactly the average user, you may say.

00:31:52   She called Sylvia and then I talked to her because Sylvia of course had no idea what

00:31:56   her problem was.

00:31:59   And basically the problem was posed as such.

00:32:01   My MacBook updated overnight, iTunes is gone, how do I backup my iPhone now?

00:32:10   And I thought, oh, okay, that's easy enough.

00:32:13   The Mac was set to have automatic updates and it updated to Carolina and she skipped

00:32:19   all of the notifications like "here's what's new in Mac OS Carolina" and all that stuff.

00:32:24   She has no idea that iTunes has been removed and this is going to be an easy one. I'm just

00:32:29   going to tell her to open the finder, connect the iPhone and she's going to find the iPhone

00:32:32   in the finder sidebar, right? Well, real quick, real quick, if we can take a sidebar on this one.

00:32:37   What did you recommend not using the Mac to back up like iCloud or whatever? Okay, so you're just

00:32:44   Yes, great question. Really great question. I have no idea why so many of my friends and

00:32:52   my family members are so strongly opposed to paying one euro per month for iCloud storage.

00:33:04   None of them have an iCloud subscription. They're all on the 5GB free iCloud plan. They

00:33:12   They spend money on new iPhones, right? Thousands of euros. And yet when it comes to paying

00:33:19   every month, one euro, which would be like $1.20, for iCloud, they're like, "Oh no, I'm

00:33:28   not giving my credit card to Apple." Like, that is such an interesting psychological

00:33:34   phenomenon. I have no idea.

00:33:36   I think a lot of people are like that.

00:33:37   I think a lot of people are like that, though. Like, I've been talking to friends like, "Why

00:33:42   Why do you spend so much money on a new phone, but when it comes to having a recurring subscription

00:33:48   for iCloud, you don't want to?

00:33:50   Most people devalue the idea of paying for software, but they understand what they're

00:33:53   paying for a physical product like an iPhone.

00:33:56   They don't see the purpose of paying for iCloud storage.

00:34:01   Anyway, they don't pay for iCloud, so that is why I needed to figure out the local backup

00:34:08   solution using a computer.

00:34:11   And I told them multiple times, like, look, this is going to be so much easier if you

00:34:14   just decide to pay 99 cents every month for 50 gigabytes of iCloud storage.

00:34:20   But you don't want to, so it's fine, we're going to figure out another way.

00:34:23   So I thought it was going to be an easy one, right?

00:34:26   Apple should also be providing that level of storage to everybody for free.

00:34:30   Oh yeah.

00:34:31   Oh yeah.

00:34:32   That is the secondary point.

00:34:34   Yes, yes, I totally agree.

00:34:36   It's not that difficult.

00:34:37   I totally agree.

00:34:40   So I thought it was gonna be easy, but here's what happened. Before calling me, because

00:34:48   she couldn't find iTunes on her computer, running Catalina, she obviously googled "download

00:34:56   iTunes". And she downloaded iTunes from the Apple website, and she called me, so here's

00:35:05   what happened, she called me, and I told her "Okay, iTunes is gone, it's been removed this

00:35:09   easier, you need to open the finder and the device management screen will be in the finder."

00:35:15   And she was like, "Yes, that's the other problem that I wanted to talk to you about,

00:35:20   because whenever I click on the finder..."

00:35:21   I was like, "Oh, God.

00:35:23   Because whenever I click on the finder icon, it shows me a full screen view saying 'Install

00:35:29   iTunes.'"

00:35:30   I was like, "What?"

00:35:31   And at that point, my brain went, "What?"

00:35:36   And then she continued, she continued the story saying, and I tried to install iTunes.

00:35:42   I was like, Oh my God, what have you done? And she was sending me screenshots of this

00:35:49   on WhatsApp in the meantime. And when I tried to install iTunes, it gave me an error at

00:35:55   the end saying that it was only supported up until macOS version 10.12 or something.

00:36:01   I was like, yes, so you try to install iTunes on the latest version of the Mac OS software,

00:36:09   that's no longer possible. You can no longer install iTunes. So she's like, okay, then

00:36:13   how do I find all my music and backup my iPhone? I was like, okay, so your music is going to

00:36:20   be in the music app and your photos are in photos and the management and backup stuff

00:36:25   will be in the Finder, but it appears that you cannot open a new Finder window.

00:36:31   So what was happening was she downloaded iTunes, she opened the DMG file

00:36:37   containing the iTunes installer, and macOS has this behavior that I've

00:36:42   always found incredibly absurd, that if you DMGs, they can offer like these

00:36:49   full-screen views with custom backgrounds, right? And so the double

00:36:54   clicking on the DMG file open this full screen view, which is technically the finder, it's

00:37:00   the disk viewer built into the finder for disk images, but it takes over the finder

00:37:05   and it hides the sidebar. And she couldn't navigate out of that view, and the main problem

00:37:11   was she couldn't open a new finder window. And I told her like...

00:37:16   I still cannot believe that the disk image system for installing software continues to

00:37:22   exist.

00:37:23   Yeah.

00:37:24   bonkers system to present to a user. Yes, she was stuck with a full screen

00:37:30   finder view, well not full screen in the sense that it was filling the entire

00:37:34   screen, but a finder window with no sidebar just showing the custom

00:37:39   background of the DMG and the icon for the iTunes installer and I told her like

00:37:44   either right click on the finder icon or do command N and she was unable to

00:37:50   to perform either operation, which says a lot about, you know, we take these features

00:37:55   for granted, like right-clicking and keyboard shortcuts, but maybe most people don't know

00:37:59   how to do them, and it's not their fault, really. I totally get it. So what she ended

00:38:04   up doing to sort of get unstuck from the Finder showing the DMG background was she rebooted

00:38:11   her computer, and I guess that at that point the DMG was automatically unmounted from the

00:38:18   finder and then she figured out how to connect the iPhone via cable and open the finder sidebar

00:38:25   and perform the backup from the finder. So that was the first story. The weird combination

00:38:31   of the removal of iTunes and somebody who didn't know what was going on, she thought

00:38:36   that she needed to reinstall iTunes from the web and she tried to do so but the DMG took

00:38:42   over the finder and she needed to call me on the phone to fix it. Story number two,

00:38:48   my friend, almost my same age, he lives in Spain, but we keep in touch, he used to live

00:38:55   in Rome. You don't need to know that. Anyway, years ago, when he used to be my neighbor

00:39:06   here in Rome, I recommended installing...

00:39:10   It was like his computer was running very...

00:39:13   It was very sluggish and, you know, the usual stuff that happens to an old Macbook.

00:39:19   And so I was like, maybe you should install something like CleanMyMac and keep your cache

00:39:23   in check, perform some basic cleanup tasks, that kind of stuff.

00:39:30   So he calls me.

00:39:31   I was like, "My Mac was updated to the latest version of Mac OS, and why is CleanMyMac not

00:39:39   working anymore?"

00:39:42   And at first I thought it was like a permission issue with all the changes to security in

00:39:47   Catalina, but it turns out that it was an older, really old version of CleanMyMac that

00:39:52   was somehow the 32-bit version.

00:39:55   He never bothered to upgrade.

00:39:58   never bothered to check out what the dialogues last year said about "this app

00:40:04   is going to be unsupported in a future version of Mac OS" and of course just one

00:40:10   day he upgraded to the latest version of Mac OS and that app became useless. And

00:40:15   so he called me because he didn't know what to do and eventually I

00:40:18   convinced him to upgrade to the latest version of Kleemimech X which runs as a

00:40:23   64-bit binary on Mac OS. So that was not as traumatic as an experience on the

00:40:30   phone, but it still brought me to this conclusion that the more I

00:40:36   think about it, the more I keep thinking that Apple handled this Catalina

00:40:40   transition very well for people like us and very poorly for regular people. Most

00:40:48   people don't read the tech blogs, they don't read Mac stories or listen to connected, they

00:40:55   don't read documentation, they don't follow WWDC, they had no idea that there was going

00:41:02   to be the removal of iTunes or that 32-bit apps were not going to be capable of running

00:41:11   on Mac OS anymore because they don't even know what 32-bit means. And I'm pretty, and

00:41:16   I'm convinced that, you know, having these tiny alerts or notifications on screen, they're

00:41:23   not enough. People ignore these notifications. People don't read. People don't read what's

00:41:30   on screen.

00:41:31   Well, because these things are always getting in the way of something you're trying to do.

00:41:37   Yes.

00:41:38   It's the same reason the new security dialogues are silly, right? The exact same reason.

00:41:43   don't care. So for a critical transition such as removing iTunes, which like it or

00:41:51   not so many people still rely on iTunes for syncing music locally because again

00:41:59   they don't want to pay a subscription for Spotify or Apple Music, or cutting off

00:42:04   older apps from the OS, Apple should have been more in your face or

00:42:11   or more clear, more aggressive, I don't know how,

00:42:14   but do something, right?

00:42:17   A single notification or a single alert

00:42:19   that gets in the way and bothers you

00:42:21   when you're trying to do something is not enough.

00:42:24   Like, where's the Instagram campaign?

00:42:28   Like a funny video that tells you,

00:42:29   iTunes has gone away,

00:42:30   but now you have all these new apps on your Mac.

00:42:32   Like, you need to reach the regular people

00:42:35   in the way the regular people must be reached.

00:42:38   Not notifications, not tech blogs,

00:42:40   not going to the K-base on apple.com.

00:42:44   That's not enough.

00:42:45   You gotta explain to normal people

00:42:47   what's gonna happen to their computer in normal terms.

00:42:52   And I am 100% convinced

00:42:56   that I will keep getting these phone calls

00:42:58   from other friends and family members.

00:43:00   - Oh yeah.

00:43:01   - This will not stop for the next year, I'm sure.

00:43:05   And so yeah, that was my point.

00:43:08   I think Catalina, we understand,

00:43:11   other people do not and will not,

00:43:13   and I will keep having to fill in the role

00:43:16   of Apple Store Genius on Apple's behalf

00:43:19   because my friends and family don't know what to do.

00:43:22   - There is a screen if you run the Catalina installer

00:43:25   yourself that says, "The following recently used apps

00:43:30   "will require an update to work

00:43:32   "after installing this update."

00:43:33   And so that's fine if you run the installer.

00:43:37   I don't know what Apple means by recently used apps.

00:43:41   I don't know how they define that,

00:43:42   because I had other apps on the system I ran this on

00:43:46   that I knew were 32-bit that I hadn't opened in a long time.

00:43:49   But what I don't know is if you run this,

00:43:53   if your Mac automatically updates to it,

00:43:55   I guess you don't see the screen.

00:43:57   And I think that's a mistake.

00:44:00   - What is the point in just showing me recently used?

00:44:03   Like, why not just show me everything?

00:44:06   - 'Cause I know like on this system

00:44:07   I ran this for the screenshot there were multiple 32-bit apps that this didn't catch and I think

00:44:12   I just don't see how that benefits people like why not just show them all of the apps

00:44:17   like it seems so strange to me be like oh you ran this in the last three weeks because then it looks

00:44:22   bad that oh this mac update is going to break all the stuff even if you haven't used a lot of

00:44:27   those things for years isn't it worse if you then do it I agree I'm not arguing with you

00:44:32   but like yeah i know it's it's really it's really a pain

00:44:37   software man how does it work doesn't that's the problem uh so federico

00:44:44   while we are we have you here i mean you're gonna be here the whole

00:44:47   episode

00:44:49   i want to talk i want to talk a little bit about your iphone 11 pro review

00:44:56   i would also point people to app stories this week where you talk a lot of

00:45:00   behind the scenes of how this came together,

00:45:02   but you have put a super ambitious project together

00:45:05   that I think everyone should go check out

00:45:07   because it's really awesome,

00:45:09   where you took the iPhone 11 around Rome

00:45:12   and just tested the camera in all sorts of situations,

00:45:16   and I wonder if you could give us

00:45:17   a short version of your findings.

00:45:20   - Sure.

00:45:21   First of all, my,

00:45:22   I guess my main goal was to

00:45:27   offer readers something unique that they hadn't seen before and that they couldn't find on

00:45:34   any other tech blog. I thought long and hard about this. Like every year I'm lucky enough

00:45:42   to get these review units and I always struggle with my angle. Most people identify me as

00:45:51   the guy who writes about iPad and writes about shortcuts. And so my question was what do

00:45:57   do I do about the iPhone? What's my angle? How can I be... and I always try to do this,

00:46:01   right? If you know the way that I like to work, I always try to be different or to sort

00:46:06   of have a specific angle that sort of sets my stories apart from the rest. And I know

00:46:12   that I got my review unit as the second wave of press units. And I knew that I couldn't

00:46:21   offer a standard review, most people wouldn't care. At that point, the people, the Mac series

00:46:28   readers that wanted to have an iPhone 11 Pro, they would have bought an iPhone 11 Pro already.

00:46:34   So there was no point in...

00:46:35   And also, it is probably unlikely that you would be able to come up with something incredibly

00:46:40   like unique.

00:46:41   Right.

00:46:42   Right.

00:46:43   Right.

00:46:44   Every review has been written in every possible way. You can say it in your way, but you're

00:46:47   not going to stumble upon something that nobody else had found.

00:46:51   I kept thinking about this and I realized,

00:46:55   so what is it exactly that makes me different?

00:46:58   And sure, it may be my iPad coverage.

00:47:01   Sure, it could be my shortcuts coverage,

00:47:03   but I don't want to do an iPhone 11 Pro review

00:47:05   from the perspective of a shortcuts user.

00:47:07   Like, what does that even mean?

00:47:09   You don't need to fit in shortcuts in everything you do.

00:47:12   So that was out as a potential idea.

00:47:18   And I realized what makes me unique in this regard.

00:47:22   So we're talking about an iPhone,

00:47:23   and the main feature of an iPhone is the camera.

00:47:25   And with the camera, you take pictures of stuff.

00:47:28   And what is it that could make my pictures different?

00:47:32   And then a sort of light went on in my brain.

00:47:36   I was like, it's where you live that makes you different.

00:47:41   You don't have any quote unquote competitors

00:47:45   that live in Rome and have an English website.

00:47:48   Maybe there's some Italian websites,

00:47:50   but, you know, Italians read those.

00:47:52   For an international audience,

00:47:55   you're the only person that lives in Rome

00:47:56   and could do that kind of story.

00:47:58   And so I realized I could do

00:48:00   an iPhone 11 Pro photography tour around Rome,

00:48:04   and maybe if it's successful,

00:48:07   this could become an annual thing.

00:48:09   Like every year there's, you know, Matthew Panzareno

00:48:13   does a review of the iPhone, the new iPhone at Disneyland.

00:48:16   And there's Austin Mann that goes on a wild trip around the world.

00:48:19   I could be the guy that takes pictures with a new iPhone in Rome or around

00:48:24   beautiful places in Italy, because Italy, it's the most beautiful country in the

00:48:28   world. That's my opinion.

00:48:30   And I'm lucky enough to live here.

00:48:32   So why not take advantage of it?

00:48:34   So that was my approach.

00:48:36   What I really like about that is you always say, in my opinion, after making

00:48:41   statement and it's just like a very particular way of doing it. It is the most beautiful

00:48:45   country in the world in my opinion. Yeah because I remember every time that I need to qualify

00:48:54   my statement otherwise there's gonna be somebody who's like "no France is the greatest, it's

00:48:58   the most beautiful country in the world" and so it's like look I remember to say in my

00:49:03   opinion so I say after but you know this anyway so that was my angle I figured out my angle

00:49:09   was I am gonna be testing the iPhone 11 Pro's cameras at night and during the day around

00:49:18   Rome. Of course, I live in Rome and I can navigate the center of Rome, at least some

00:49:28   parts of it, but I have friends who know the city and especially the center of the city

00:49:35   much much much better than I do and especially they know they know how to

00:49:42   drive around the center of Rome while avoiding the no cars areas of Rome I

00:49:50   don't have that type of knowledge yet I've only been living in Rome for the

00:49:55   past six years some friends of mine have been living in Rome for 30 years so I

00:50:01   requested the assistance of two close friends of ours. They acted as our tour guides at night,

00:50:09   so we planned out this entire trip starting from the Colosseum and navigating through the center

00:50:17   of Rome. We would drive around Rome, stop the car near one of the points of interests that we wanted

00:50:24   to photograph and then we go back in the car and move on to the next location. So

00:50:31   that was the night tour, it took about four hours and then the daytime tour I

00:50:36   only did it with Sylvia and the dogs because we wanted to just take a day for

00:50:41   ourselves, walk around Rome and it was much easier because it's the the area of

00:50:45   Rome, the Spanish Steps and the the the terrace that I show in the photos that I

00:50:51   I know how to navigate myself. It's also easier during the day because there's a lot of people

00:50:57   that you can ask information. So that was sort of the main plan and the main approach.

00:51:05   You didn't, I know you didn't edit anything. No. What was the thinking behind this and

00:51:10   did you consider any additional edited versions of photos? I did consider them. My thought

00:51:18   was "this is the first time that I'm doing this kind of story, I don't want to overdo it"

00:51:24   if it's successful I will add sort of a... if it's like a 1.0 product. If it goes well I will add

00:51:37   more features to the story next year and obviously video or edited versions using Apple's built-in

00:51:46   editing tools are on the list of things that I may consider, but I didn't want to do it all at once.

00:51:52   Just like, there were going to be so many more locations around Rome that I could have taken

00:51:58   pictures of, but I wanted to start small and iterate and do it again next year and add more

00:52:04   sections, add more types of comparisons if it goes well, and it went, and I can say it went really

00:52:11   well. Much, much better than I was actually expecting. So I'm super happy with the response.

00:52:17   Yeah. I can tell you, it's been expensive as a story with the CDN, because...

00:52:23   Yeah, I was gonna say you uploaded full res images.

00:52:27   Full res, maximum quality, with all the metadata intact. It was 400 megabytes worth of pictures.

00:52:37   So if you multiply...

00:52:38   Is that, was that, is it necessary, I mean I don't know, I don't understand how compression

00:52:41   works, nobody does, but is it necessary in your opinion to have done full quality?

00:52:48   Probably not. I mean if instead of maximum quality I did best quality, would it have

00:52:56   been the same? Probably. The viewing experience on a phone or on an iPad probably wouldn't

00:53:05   have changed. But I wanted to have a story where you could find 50 pictures and they

00:53:12   were exactly as they came out of the camera. Nobody could have told me, "Yeah, but you

00:53:17   exported them and they are compressed," or like, "Yeah, but you edited them." No, this

00:53:21   is exactly what the camera took, viewed as a JPEG version, because of course web browsers

00:53:27   cannot display HIF images. So it was probably not necessary for the user, but it was a way

00:53:35   to future-proof the story. Like, this is what came out of camera, not my fault.

00:53:40   And obviously there are, I mean there are like three main reasons to do it this year.

00:53:44   You've got like the general image processing, night mode, and the multiple lenses, right?

00:53:48   Like it's what makes a story like this interesting. So like I wonder, this isn't the question,

00:53:52   but like I wonder in future years if you even would want to do the story because if, who

00:53:57   knows there might not be massive camera updates. Like it's just going to be an interesting

00:54:01   thing to see over time, right? But anyway, kind of my point I wanted to ask you was,

00:54:07   do you feel like you have a better understanding now of when you might want to use one lens

00:54:13   over another?

00:54:14   Yeah, I think I do. Especially with the decision of do I want to use the ultra wide. For me,

00:54:22   right now the ultra wide is out. If I'm trying to take a low light or night shot, because

00:54:30   It's really bad in low light.

00:54:31   Yeah, it really struggles with that.

00:54:34   But also, I feel like I have a better understanding

00:54:37   of the distortion that the ultra-wide lens causes

00:54:41   at the edges of the image.

00:54:44   And that's just a natural consequence.

00:54:45   I've been doing some reading on what happens

00:54:48   for specific types of lenses.

00:54:50   And that is just a natural consequence

00:54:52   of this type of lens.

00:54:53   And I think I also have a better understanding

00:54:56   of how to frame like a specific building that I want to take pictures of or a monument or

00:55:06   something like that to get that dramatic effect in the picture.

00:55:11   I found that with the ultra wide you can take the photo and still crop it in a little bit,

00:55:17   get a lot of what you were looking for out of the image and also lose some of the distortion

00:55:23   around the edges by cropping it in a little bit. And you still end up with a much, much

00:55:27   wider picture than the regular wide angle can do.

00:55:30   Yeah, that's true.

00:55:32   Yeah, I thought this was really nice. I liked the story a lot. It was a beautiful story.

00:55:38   I like pictures and videos, so I was happy for that. You didn't do any video, right?

00:55:43   That was not a...

00:55:44   I considered it, but then again, I wanted to start small and do more in the future.

00:55:51   I didn't want to do it all at once with the risk of, you know,

00:55:54   maybe people are not going to care about this and I'm just going to do a bunch

00:55:57   of work for nothing. But no, um, and that was really surprising to me.

00:56:02   Like the amount of attention that the story got,

00:56:04   even though it came out basically a month after the new iPhones,

00:56:09   uh, were announced or came out. So that was really remarkable for me.

00:56:13   And I was really happy about that. Um,

00:56:15   makes me want to do more in the future.

00:56:17   It's nice to look at pictures of Rome.

00:56:18   Yeah.

00:56:19   Yeah, so that was my point. Like, what better way to write a story about the new iPhone

00:56:27   than letting the story itself do the work for you. And in a way, I didn't... Yes, I

00:56:35   put together the story, but in a way, Rome as the city did. Because without the subject,

00:56:41   this story would have been super boring. Just pictures of buildings taken from my balcony

00:56:47   and my dogs. I mean, sure, pictures of dogs are fine, but, you know, when you look at

00:56:51   the Coliseum and the obelisks and all the other stuff, and the fountains, that, you

00:56:57   know, again, I'm lucky to live here and to have all this material around me. And there's

00:57:05   so much more that I want to do for next year. Like, my friends and I were already talking

00:57:09   about the next version of the story. We're gonna go underground. So that should be fun.

00:57:16   Oh boy.

00:57:17   Yeah.

00:57:18   Yeah.

00:57:19   The sewers of Rome.

00:57:20   Uh-huh.

00:57:21   That's what we're looking for.

00:57:22   You've got to turn this into some sort of European tour, right?

00:57:24   Like eventually, photos of Rome will be boring and you've got to go somewhere else.

00:57:28   So my thought right now is that I can do Rome for another year, but then I've got to switch

00:57:34   locations.

00:57:35   So we'll see.

00:57:38   We have some ideas in mind already.

00:57:40   is going to be an Italy tour and there's so much more here that we can use for photographic

00:57:47   material. But then maybe eventually Europe. But then as soon as I expand to Europe there's

00:57:53   going to be more competition because there's other, you know, there's people from the UK

00:57:56   of course and people from France and Germany.

00:57:58   - 'Sup.

00:57:59   - And they have English blogs.

00:58:00   - I'm coming for you.

00:58:01   - Exactly. So as long as, you know, I'm the only relatively popular English blog based

00:58:08   in Italy, I should be relatively okay in terms of competition. So hopefully I can continue

00:58:16   doing this. It's been super fun to do and very different and a nice way to get work

00:58:24   done after the iOS review. I needed something like this, something very different and very

00:58:29   fun and unique that also involved my friends. So that was really fun.

00:58:33   Alright, we're going to tackle a bunch of new slash rumored hardware.

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01:00:07   There are a bunch of rumors about new AirPods, AirPods Pro, perhaps I think that would be

01:00:12   the name.

01:00:13   So these sort of fall into a couple categories.

01:00:17   According to China Economic Daily, their supply chain reports of these AirPods Pro apparently

01:00:24   coming this month at a price of around $260. What these rumors say, that's always like

01:00:30   the sketchiest part of these. People just don't know what Apple's gonna charge for things.

01:00:34   But they would be in-ear with noise canceling, potentially a metal design, which I have a

01:00:39   lot of questions about. You may think, well, that's just one report. Well, Apple, you know,

01:00:44   from time to time, they, they like their own products and their software. You remember

01:00:49   HomePod data leak a couple years ago, leaked the iPhone X. What's happened

01:00:53   again iOS's 13.2 beta includes an icon that appears to be redesigned AirPods

01:01:00   with rubber tips which would probably be needed for this noise cancellation

01:01:05   feature so you get a better fit around your in your ear. There's also some

01:01:11   leaked parts it looks like and a weird charging case and there's all sorts of

01:01:15   weird things going on. I'm curious what you guys think about this as something

01:01:19   that you would like to have. I have a lot of questions about the metal design in

01:01:23   particular, like would that be heavy, would it be cold in your ears in the

01:01:26   mornings? That's no good. Historically I've never liked the in-ear rubber tips.

01:01:33   I've always found them uncomfortable. Like after a few minutes my ears start

01:01:40   to hurt. And I've tried like different sizes of the rubber tips. I've tried the

01:01:44   foam ones, they always end up with me with some kind of strange headache. And I very

01:01:54   much prefer the normal AirPods design. They don't hurt my ears. That's a weird thing to

01:02:03   say, but it always happens when I've tried in-ear buds with the rubber tips. And I get

01:02:09   that they help with isolation and I will be interested in checking them out, you know,

01:02:15   depending on what Apple does, but I'm relatively concerned right now because, again, traditionally

01:02:23   those rubber tips, they've always been uncomfortable for me to wear for prolonged periods of time.

01:02:27   Questions about metal?

01:02:29   Yeah, that too.

01:02:32   Seems like it would be cold in the ears a lot of the time, like metal design is peculiar

01:02:39   Shouldn't it be heavier?

01:02:41   Right?

01:02:42   Yeah, I don't think I really buy this part of it unless maybe they're using metal someplace

01:02:49   where they use plastic, but I don't see them doing the enclosure.

01:02:52   I don't know if aluminum would be lighter than plastic at this size.

01:02:56   I'm not some sort of materials engineer.

01:03:01   I'm not a scale.

01:03:02   But I just don't know.

01:03:05   That part rings false to me, but we'll play this back in two weeks and learn that we're

01:03:09   wrong.

01:03:10   Yeah, because by the end of October is the rumor, right?

01:03:13   Yeah.

01:03:14   And MacRumors pointed out that this leak from the 13.2 beta was very similar to an old photo

01:03:21   posted on a photo leak from months ago, showing this sort of like the shell, the plastic shell

01:03:30   of the new AirPods and the redesigned case, which is sort of shorter and wider than the

01:03:37   current one, and these AirPods with a different, sort of like a different shape and a shorter

01:03:44   stem compared to the current ones.

01:03:48   They sure do look like AirPods that you could pull a rubber tip in.

01:03:58   I'm not, again, I don't know, I'm not sure I...

01:04:01   Then again, do I really want noise cancellation with AirPods?

01:04:07   I've always felt somewhat uncomfortable wearing AirPods

01:04:13   on planes, for example, out of fear of dropping one

01:04:18   and losing it forever.

01:04:19   So when I'm on a plane, I use my Sony headphones,

01:04:23   over-ear headphones, with noise cancellation.

01:04:26   Sure, it would be nice to have AirPods that can do it all.

01:04:29   That can be standard AirPods for workouts and phone calls and listening to music when I'm taking a walk,

01:04:35   and also noise cancellation earbuds when I'm on a plane, or just want to block out outside noise.

01:04:41   That would be nice.

01:04:43   But then again, I would still feel uncomfortable about dropping the AirPods when I'm on a plane,

01:04:47   and the rubber tips have always been physically uncomfortable for my ears.

01:04:54   So I have many questions and many doubts and many concerns about this.

01:04:56   And I also want to talk about the rumored release schedule with you guys.

01:05:01   Do you think this is a product that can just go out as a press release?

01:05:07   I think at this point it has to.

01:05:10   Yes. I mean, Gruber wrote a thing this week

01:05:14   looking at the dates in the past, like Apple's out of time for October.

01:05:17   And of course, November 1st is the Apple TV launch.

01:05:21   and some people think that that would preclude

01:05:23   any other Apple event that they're focused on that instead,

01:05:26   which makes sense.

01:05:27   So for me, the longer we get into this month,

01:05:32   I think an event is less and less likely.

01:05:34   And I think they could do this,

01:05:37   put it in the hands of some reviewers,

01:05:39   and put it in the hands of hip influencer people,

01:05:42   because AirPods have become this cultural thing

01:05:44   all of a sudden, and if they gave them to the right people,

01:05:49   I think that it would be totally fine.

01:05:54   I mean, more people watch an MKBHD video

01:05:57   than would watch the keynote.

01:05:58   Sure.

01:05:59   Right?

01:06:00   Well, maybe.

01:06:02   But I think, too, you've got to remember

01:06:04   that this would be an upscale version of the AirPods

01:06:08   for people who want more.

01:06:10   That's the way I read this, and this is a SKU.

01:06:12   It's in-- what are those Sonys, those little Sonys,

01:06:16   the in-air ones?

01:06:17   I don't know.

01:06:17   Their names are inscrutable.

01:06:18   you guys know what I'm talking about? They've got like that crazy naming thing but like

01:06:22   WF-1000XM3. It's like that market, right? That was like 250 or something and they come

01:06:34   in like a weird long case. I expect that like that case would be bigger because they would

01:06:39   need more battery in the case, right? Because you'd probably need to charge these more frequently

01:06:45   if you was using the noise canceling noise cancellation.

01:06:48   Yeah, I don't know.

01:06:50   That's another question I have.

01:06:52   But I guess look at the question I come back to like the release and how they how they

01:06:56   position these, like for the holidays would the AirPods as we know them today, the standard

01:07:02   AirPods be more popular than these over these?

01:07:06   Does Apple want to push these and make these the sort of default AirPods and if you want

01:07:11   the cheaper ones without noise canceling, they're available to which I hope they are

01:07:14   because I for one do not like noise cancelling. If these were the only AirPods and you cannot

01:07:21   turn it off, I would not buy them. I do not want noise cancelling headphones. And so I

01:07:27   think there's room for both of these to exist at once. And so you know, you got AirPods

01:07:33   for the holidays and if you want something nicer, these are available. In which case,

01:07:35   yeah, put them in the hands of some cool people on Instagram and YouTube and just let it go.

01:07:39   Solo Pro. These are new on-ear Beats headphones with active noise cancellation.

01:07:46   They also have the pass-through feature so you can selectively like choose to

01:07:49   hear what's going on right. You can press a button and it uses microphones to pass

01:07:53   the sound through to your ear. Released just to impress people. No press event.

01:07:56   Yep. They have a H1 chip in them so they have the chip that the most recent AirPods

01:08:02   have in them. 22 hours of audio when you're using noise cancelling, 40 hours

01:08:07   audio without. They turn on and off when you fold and unfold them, which is clever.

01:08:12   It costs $300 and in a bunch of colors. I'll put a link to an Unbox Therapy video where

01:08:23   Lew of Unbox Therapy opens them up, you can take a look at them. You can see what they

01:08:27   look like if you want any. Tries them out and stuff like that. These look cool, but

01:08:35   is that price? Like what is that price compared to those Sonys that everybody loves? Yeah,

01:08:41   it's similar. I think it's the same price. I think those are $299. So, or maybe $349.

01:08:50   Close, basically. It's very close. I don't know. I mean, maybe my head is the problem

01:09:00   the solos always also give me a headache too. They are too tight and the top of my

01:09:08   head hurts after like 30-40 minutes wearing the... I have the Beats Solo 3, Solo 2.

01:09:15   They're cool. I like the Beats sound myself, you know, for certain types of

01:09:24   music. But yeah, they give me a headache, so I cannot wear them for two hours. But I

01:09:33   also wanted to point out how the Control Center integration for active noise cancellation

01:09:39   is not exclusive to the new Solo Pro. If you have the Beats Studio 3, those from last year,

01:09:47   You will also get this new UI in Control Center for 13.1, I believe, an app, that you will

01:09:55   be able to toggle the active noise cancellation as a...

01:09:59   There's a new icon if you select the playback device.

01:10:02   Actually, I think if you press on the volume slider, you will get this new icon in the

01:10:06   middle of the screen at the bottom that lets you toggle the noise cancellation on and off

01:10:11   from Control Center.

01:10:12   So no need to fiddle with the touch controls, which I can never remember.

01:10:17   headphone that I have, the features touch controls, I cannot remember them. So the...

01:10:23   because they are Beats and they're made by Apple, they have this custom

01:10:28   integration with iOS which is super cool because you can do it all from Control

01:10:31   Center. So they are $350 to the Sony ones. Yeah, okay. HeadPods. This was a

01:10:40   product that we had assumed would exist at some point and we'll assume naturally

01:10:46   these are basically the features of what would be over-ear, like headphone version of AirPods.

01:10:53   These are on-ear. The solos are on-ear.

01:10:56   I don't really know if we know whether Apple would make over-ear or on-ear, right? Like,

01:11:03   I don't think that people would really know that, but whatever it is, right? Like, these are close

01:11:08   to feature set wise. And I wanted to ask you both, does a product like this mean that Apple

01:11:17   wouldn't make headphones that are like AirPods?

01:11:21   They could still make a $400 version that's over a year. And that's bigger and better

01:11:31   and has more battery. And I would buy it, honestly. Like if they can make them...

01:11:36   I mean, there is a world in which Powerbeats and AirPods both exist.

01:11:41   The difference in those products is pretty great, right?

01:11:44   The Powerbeats Pro have the little hook over your ear, they have the rubber tips.

01:11:50   The question for the HeadPods is for me is, how would HeadPods be different than the Beat

01:11:56   Solos and the other Beats products?

01:11:58   Maybe you make it where there's no buttons on them, or it's some material that they're

01:12:02   not used elsewhere.

01:12:04   the question is there room enough to make something different than what they

01:12:07   already have because Powerbeats and AirPods are different products for

01:12:10   different people. So I don't know is there enough room in headphone world for

01:12:14   Apple to do something different and call it different? I mean maybe, maybe there is.

01:12:17   I just don't know. I mean I guess even though AirPods Pro could

01:12:23   essentially be getting closer to Powerbeats, the Powerbeats still have like

01:12:28   the over ear hooks and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, the AirPods Pro

01:12:33   definitely bring them closer together but they have noise cancelling and the

01:12:38   Powerbeats don't so it's yeah we need to have Mary back on because she switched

01:12:42   from the Beats X after she killed like 17 pairs of them to the Powerbeats Pro

01:12:48   and we need to have her on I'm gonna talk to her about coming on next week

01:12:50   and giving her a view of that. Imagine if next week we're here doing connected and

01:12:54   we're gonna be talking about the new AirPods like imagine if imagine it just

01:13:00   come out on Tuesday with press releases and a bunch of videos with YouTubers and that's

01:13:05   it. We have new AirPods. That would be fun. I know nothing, by the way. Do not speculate

01:13:11   on this. I know absolutely nothing. I'm just imagining that type of scenario.

01:13:15   Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It'd be cool. It's definitely possible. Yeah. That and some Mac Pro coverage.

01:13:21   It could be a busy week next week. And a 16-inch Retina MacBook Pro. All at once. We're

01:13:26   or grab the edge of so many things.

01:13:29   Or nothing.

01:13:30   Who knows?

01:13:31   And don't forget our tile competitor that everybody apparently wants.

01:13:36   That's never gonna happen, man.

01:13:39   I've been thinking about this product.

01:13:41   I kinda don't care about it, I think.

01:13:44   It's the air power of tracking.

01:13:46   It's not that exciting, is it, really?

01:13:48   I mean, like, I'm pleased.

01:13:49   Go for it.

01:13:50   You do you.

01:13:51   that I could be a person that loses things more often to use that kind of product. But

01:13:57   also I do not wish to be that kind of person. Like, do people really track that many objects

01:14:02   in their lives? Like, if I forget my keys or if I lose my keys, like, I have another

01:14:09   problem to worry about than using the tag. Like, I don't know. And of course, now that

01:14:16   I've said this, I'm going to be losing something, like, tomorrow.

01:14:19   You're going to lose everything.

01:14:20   Yeah.

01:14:21   Just like everything.

01:14:22   I jinxed myself.

01:14:23   Your website, everything.

01:14:24   Oh no, no.

01:14:25   I don't.

01:14:26   You cannot track a website.

01:14:30   This episode of Connected is also brought to you by FreshBooks.

01:14:33   If you were a freelancer and you were just walking down the street and you found a lamp

01:14:39   on the sidewalk and you rubbed a lamp and a freelance genie came out and he said, "I

01:14:44   can give you 192 hours," you'd probably take the freelance genie up on that.

01:14:48   I had no idea where you, I was like, a lamp?

01:14:51   What is he reading?

01:14:51   - Yeah, freelance genie. - Very good, I like it.

01:14:53   Freelance genie, they should take that.

01:14:55   That could become their new mascot.

01:14:56   - Freelance genie. - It's good.

01:14:58   - The freelance genie is not real,

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01:16:15   Alright, phone wallet.

01:16:16   - Okay, so, you should, something you should know about me

01:16:20   is that I fundamentally despise

01:16:23   having to carry a wallet with me.

01:16:26   I do not like the feeling of a wallet in my pocket.

01:16:31   In an ideal world, I would just have my watch

01:16:35   and my phone with me at all times.

01:16:37   Sometimes even just the watch itself, no phone.

01:16:41   I do not like the fact that I have to use a wallet

01:16:43   because for many reasons in Italy cash is still very much a thing that so many shops and other places exclusively accept.

01:16:55   Fortunately it appears that we are introducing new regulations around having to offer contact-class payments and credit card payments,

01:17:07   but that's another discussion. I still have to use cash sometimes.

01:17:11   This is why what I'm gonna be talking about is not a definitive approach, in the sense that

01:17:17   I still have to use cash sometimes, and for that I have to carry a wallet. Or I can just throw some

01:17:28   cash in my pocket, but that's not ideal. So what I'm gonna be talking about is the average

01:17:36   setup for most days because I don't need cash most days. So this story begins with Instagram

01:17:43   in a very, in a very mic way. I was browsing Instagram, I came across an ad and it was

01:17:57   And truth be told, it was a very accurate ad that perfectly captured me as a person.

01:18:06   I have zero problems with Instagram ads because Instagram ads most of the time know what I'm

01:18:12   looking for and they present me with products that I want.

01:18:15   Because they're listening to you talk.

01:18:16   Yeah, I mean whatever you're doing, Facebook, keep listening because it's working.

01:18:21   Yeah, whatever you're gonna do because Twitter's ads are terrible, right?

01:18:27   Instagram's ads, very good, so you know.

01:18:29   - I mean sure, keep on listening,

01:18:32   because this stuff is great.

01:18:34   No, I'm kidding, but yeah, the ad was accurate.

01:18:37   And it was an ad for a company that I was familiar with,

01:18:40   but never, for some reason,

01:18:41   never bothered to check out myself.

01:18:43   So Bellroy.

01:18:45   - Ah, yes, what a beautiful company.

01:18:48   - They make iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max cases,

01:18:53   in leather, of course, because it's Bellroy,

01:18:56   that's what they make.

01:18:57   Do you have the one with a little door in it?

01:18:59   Uh huh, I sure do.

01:19:01   Aww, I've seen this ad.

01:19:03   So I saw the ad for the, it's called the phone case, I'm sharing the link with you guys.

01:19:09   Right now, I saw the ad for the phone case 3 card Bellroy case for the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

01:19:19   I've been a little bit fascinated with this product.

01:19:22   with a little door in the back. The door reveals a compartment where you can fit

01:19:27   in up to three cards. And the door, when it's open, it also doubles as a kickstand

01:19:35   if you want to put your phone on a table or a desk and watch a movie or something.

01:19:40   That also works. And the inside, it's made of the usual soft microfiber

01:19:47   lining and it also contains like there's a there's a SIM card slot on the inside

01:19:54   of the case and there's even a slot for the SIM ejector tool which is you know

01:20:00   kind of handy to have I you know I never thought about this but I never have one

01:20:05   on me so I'm probably gonna put one in there but yeah the main feature is it's

01:20:10   a leather case made of quality leather because you know Bellroy they make this

01:20:13   quality stuff. And it's available in four colors. And it's got a door and you can put

01:20:20   in three cards in it. So I...

01:20:23   What color did you get?

01:20:24   So in hindsight, I should have trusted my instincts more. So here's what I did. I bought

01:20:31   the standard version with no door, just the Bellroy leather case in coral. And I thought,

01:20:41   know I don't want to risk it with the with the wallet case I'm just gonna get

01:20:46   the the black one and I should have gone with the coral one for the all the

01:20:53   caramel like the brown I don't like I don't like the brown it makes me look

01:20:56   like an old person okay so but I should have gone with the coral because the

01:21:01   coral looks beautiful the I have the standard leather one with no door in

01:21:05   coral and it's so pretty I'm looking at it right now and I actually prefer it to

01:21:10   the Apple leather case. It's got this matte sort of edges that are dark gray. It sort

01:21:16   of looks like a Google Pixel. I was watching the Google Pixel 4 review from MKBHD last

01:21:21   night and see I was like, "Hey, it's got the same cases." He was like, "No, that's the

01:21:27   Google Pixel. It's the default color scheme of the Google Pixel 4. This is an iPhone case."

01:21:33   But yeah, it's got that color scheme. And I should have gone with coral for the three

01:21:36   card as well. Maybe I'll buy another, I don't know. Anyway, so I have two. Here's what I'm

01:21:44   doing. When I go out, I have my driver's license, which also works as an ID in Italy for law

01:21:53   enforcement if they want to see an ID, that also works. And it's a tiny pink card. Then

01:22:00   And I have my ATM card and my credit card.

01:22:03   So three cards, they go into this iPhone case and it's glorious because it's everything

01:22:10   I need.

01:22:11   How thick is it?

01:22:12   It's not that thick, honestly.

01:22:15   It's thinner than an iPhone, obviously, it's thinner than an iPhone with the smart battery

01:22:19   case.

01:22:21   It's a bit thicker than the standard leather case.

01:22:24   It's not too bad.

01:22:25   It's not as thick as having the battery case on.

01:22:29   And I used an iPhone XS Max with the battery case for six months and I survived.

01:22:34   And having the wallet case is totally fine.

01:22:37   I've been going out with just my iPhone and these three cards for about a week now and

01:22:42   I love it.

01:22:43   I don't have to have a wallet on me anymore and I can just open it and every time I open

01:22:48   it I get a little bit of joy.

01:22:49   It's like, yes, I have a phone that is also a wallet.

01:22:52   I've become one of those people and I love it.

01:22:54   I made fun of those people for years.

01:22:57   How does the door stay closed?

01:22:58   It stays closed very well, it's magnetic, so it snaps in place, never opens, it's not

01:23:06   a mechanical system in that, like, there's no button or switch that you need to press.

01:23:12   It just, there's a little, you just flip it open, it's magnetic, there's a little section

01:23:17   that's like indented and you put your finger in there and you flip it open and then when

01:23:22   you're done you close and you hear the magnetic snap.

01:23:25   It's very satisfying and it stays closed.

01:23:28   course the leather, super high quality. My only complaint is that yes, I should have

01:23:33   gone coral. I should have trusted my instincts more. But otherwise, now when I go out and

01:23:41   I don't need cash, I have an ID, an ATM card, because some places it's a debit card and

01:23:50   some places do not accept my credit card, and I also have my credit card. So I have

01:23:54   everything I need to be identified and spend money or get money at an ATM and I also have

01:24:02   my iPhone of course which is configured with Apple Pay and I also have my Apple Watch which

01:24:06   is also configured with Apple Pay. So it's pretty good man, it's a pretty good setup

01:24:11   and I love it and I've been showing it off to all my friends, they are all in love with

01:24:16   the idea. And of course every time I use it, now I get questions from cashiers in stores

01:24:24   and whatnot. They are all asking about "Oh, is that a case that is also a wallet?" or

01:24:31   "Oh, is that the iPhone 11 Pro?" Because of course when they're asking you for a card

01:24:35   and you open your phone, you know, it's something that people notice. It's not exactly subtle

01:24:40   as a gesture, unless you do it before. But I guess I like to do it in front of the cashier,

01:24:45   You know, sort of like a power move.

01:24:47   Look at my phone and my phone is also a wallet.

01:24:52   What power do you have now?

01:24:53   Do you use wireless charging?

01:24:55   No, with this one.

01:24:57   I haven't even tried.

01:24:58   You've got stuff in the way.

01:24:59   So I keep this wallet, this case where I keep my keys and wallet just basically in the entrance

01:25:08   of my apartment by the front door.

01:25:11   So I see it every time I'm about to go out.

01:25:13   It does work with NFC stickers.

01:25:16   I have an NFC sticker in my car that I tap when I want to run certain shortcuts for like

01:25:22   texting Sylvia or triggering my home security system or playing music.

01:25:27   And it does work.

01:25:29   It does work.

01:25:30   The NFC sticker is scanned successfully with this case on.

01:25:35   So that was cool.

01:25:36   But I haven't tried the wireless charging.

01:25:38   Okay, it looks great and they make really high end, like nice stuff.

01:25:44   So this should last you longer than you'll keep this iPhone.

01:25:47   Yeah, I think so.

01:25:48   I've had one of their wallets for many, many, many years.

01:25:52   The little, I can't remember what it's called, but it's just this tiny little wallet that

01:25:58   you just pull out a little string and the cards pop out.

01:26:01   Yeah.

01:26:02   Card sleeve it looks like.

01:26:03   That's what it's called.

01:26:04   Yeah, that's probably it's really great.

01:26:06   I like their products a lot.

01:26:07   They make nice stuff.

01:26:08   Yeah, so yeah, I've become one of those people.

01:26:12   I never thought I would honestly,

01:26:16   but life is surprising in that way too.

01:26:18   - Well, I know like Underscore swears by it.

01:26:22   He's lived this life for a while now

01:26:24   and I think really likes just,

01:26:26   I have my phone and have everything that I need

01:26:28   and don't have to worry about anything else.

01:26:30   - I mean, it's way more likely

01:26:33   that I'm gonna be losing my wallet than my phone.

01:26:38   I think like...

01:26:40   - Well, now if you lose your wallet,

01:26:41   you will also lose your phone.

01:26:42   - Sure, but I have a way to...

01:26:44   - You think about it that way.

01:26:45   - I have a way to retrieve or at least track my phone

01:26:49   thanks to find my iPhone remotely.

01:26:52   I don't have a way to track my wallet.

01:26:54   - When the Apple tag comes out,

01:26:56   you stick one in your wallet and you'll be fine.

01:26:59   - No, I don't wanna keep multiple things in my pocket.

01:27:02   So this is a great life, honestly.

01:27:05   It's a great improvement for me.

01:27:09   And I was about to say something, but I forgot.

01:27:12   Yeah, anyway, I recommend it.

01:27:15   I've Googled other iPhone 11 Pro Max wallet cases,

01:27:21   and they all look terrible.

01:27:24   I cannot believe that there's a bunch of roundups

01:27:27   in other tech blogs I've never heard of before.

01:27:30   They look like roundups assembled by bots, honestly,

01:27:34   not by regular people. This is, yeah, I mean, it's like, I'm not sure about the picks here

01:27:42   made by random companies, but this one is elegant. It's high quality. It's not cheap.

01:27:48   It's 79 euros. Not sure what the USD pricing is, but you can tell.

01:27:53   A thousand. Sure. 23 inches. But you can tell that 400 Fahrenheit, but you can tell.

01:28:03   12 nautical knots, whatever.

01:28:09   A furlong.

01:28:11   It's a good product.

01:28:12   I recommend it.

01:28:13   This was my official review, and you're welcome.

01:28:16   Well, thank you.

01:28:17   I'm glad we did that this week.

01:28:18   I'm glad we cleared the air there.

01:28:19   That was unexpected, but yeah.

01:28:21   I think we have run out of time for our Pixel 4 conversation, so we'll shelve that for next

01:28:26   time.

01:28:27   That works for everybody.

01:28:28   Let's not promise that.

01:28:29   We never spoke about catalysts.

01:28:30   Let's not make any promises that we won't keep.

01:28:33   Like you asking for listener questions.

01:28:35   And you said, "I'm going to take them out in the document."

01:28:38   Wait a second. Nana, let's address this, shall we?

01:28:43   I had the questions and then was told that I had run out of time on the episode, so had to not do them now.

01:28:50   You said, "No, no, I want to talk about this right now, about my wallet case."

01:28:56   So...

01:28:57   I did want to talk about it right now.

01:28:59   I have no problem with the fold listener questions.

01:29:03   They've been there since last time.

01:29:04   I just never removed them.

01:29:05   They're going to stay in the document.

01:29:07   And one day I'll get some.

01:29:08   OK, perfect.

01:29:09   At some point, they'll move below the header called

01:29:11   topic graveyard, and they never come out.

01:29:13   There's a lot of things down there.

01:29:15   What have we got in there now?

01:29:17   We have Apple's AR headset that moved from today,

01:29:20   more on Mac Catalyst, Myke is off Gboard,

01:29:23   PopSockets, recent developer changes,

01:29:25   and now Google Pixel 4 reviews.

01:29:27   They're all in there.

01:29:28   Maybe one day.

01:29:28   make the font color white so it blends in with the background, you're never going to

01:29:33   see it again. It's still in there. Over time they slowly turn from black to white. We go

01:29:38   through steps of gray and then they're gone. And also we have sign in with Apple. Oh yeah,

01:29:43   remember that? But if you make the font color white, you're never going to... you stop feeling

01:29:48   bad about the fact that you're looking at it and that it's down there, but you also

01:29:52   feel good about the fact that you didn't actually remove them. You just changed the color. You

01:29:56   never deleted it. It's just white. So it just so happens that you don't see it

01:30:01   anymore. Well that's our show. If you want to find links to iPhone cases and

01:30:07   Instagram stories and rumors about AirPods, all those links are available in

01:30:13   your podcast app but they're also on the web at relay.fm/connected/266

01:30:20   While you're there you can send us an email with any feedback or follow up or

01:30:24   or you can find us on Twitter.

01:30:27   You can follow Myke there as I-M-Y-K-E.

01:30:30   You can find Federico there as Vitici, V-I-T-I-C-C-I.

01:30:34   And you can find me on Twitter as I-S-M-H.

01:30:37   I'd like our sponsors this week,

01:30:39   Smile, Pingdom, and FreshBooks.

01:30:41   And until next time, guys, say goodbye.

01:30:43   - Adios, El Chio. - See you later.