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0:00:02From Relay FM, this is Connected, episode number 27.
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0:00:26My name is Myke Hurley, and I'm joined
0:00:28I'm Stephen Hackett. Hello, Stephen Hackett.
0:00:30Hello, Michael Hurley.
0:00:32And Mr. Federico Vittigi. Hello, Federico Vittigi.
0:00:34Hey, guys. Hey, Michael Hurley.
0:00:37Are you are you a billionaire yet?
0:00:39I am multiple times over a billionaire. Yes.
0:00:43So like I saw you're like a trillionaire.
0:00:46Mm hmm. Hmm. OK, cool.
0:00:47Is there any specific reason you asked me that question?
0:00:50Just so I know, because you you have been everywhere today.
0:00:54Oh, at least in my in my Twitter and RSS feeds.
0:00:58There's like Myke, Myke, Myke, Myke, Myke all over the place.
0:01:01Everywhere I turn my face there's Myke.
0:01:04Feels like I'm being, I don't know, like I'm being followed by you.
0:01:07I feel like I should reinvent podcasts every single day just so I can, I have to say it's
0:01:13very nice to see your name in lights in places, you know.
0:01:17I like it.
0:01:20In case you don't know what we're talking about, as a show that I do on Relay FM, this
0:01:25this network of which connected is a part of called inquisitive.
0:01:29And since like November I've been working on a new show.
0:01:33Well I've been working on a new kind of direction for inquisitive called Behind the App.
0:01:42So basically the show is like a series of maybe 10 to 15 episodes we'll see how many
0:01:46it will end up being where I'm looking at the history of iOS app development in episode
0:01:52one and it's going to go through to like what it takes to build iOS apps and kind of what
0:01:57it's like to have Apple as a gatekeeper and stuff like that.
0:01:59It's a very different type of show to the shows that we tend to make and I would hazard
0:02:05I guess to say to many of the podcasts you listen to from a production standpoint it's
0:02:08very different and I put a lot of work into it and I'm very proud of it and I think that
0:02:13you might enjoy it if you haven't already heard it so you should do that.
0:02:16So relay.fm/inquisitive/27 is the episode that you want to start with.
0:02:22I mentioned in my post today about it like this this sort of show is one
0:02:27reason that we started Relay so you know this is only possible when you control
0:02:34the whole stack and so you know you we you had the idea we fled we fleshed out
0:02:40the idea you have the time and your schedule to it's very I mean people just
0:02:45don't know this is for I don't how long the show in it being 40 minutes or so
0:02:4845 minutes, hours of editing.
0:02:51And yeah, just the piecing together of the episode, let alone cutting up all the clips
0:02:58or the interviews or the script writing.
0:03:00Like just the actual edit of the episode probably took about three hours.
0:03:04Yeah.
0:03:05I mean, I don't know how many drafts and pieces of it I've heard over the last couple of months,
0:03:10but I know I'm super happy that you're doing it, Myke.
0:03:14It's really exciting.
0:03:16Myke you are now full-stack podcasters
0:03:20Yeah
0:03:24You control it all you control all the pieces you're like
0:03:27What's the like the mastermind of?
0:03:31inquisitive
0:03:33No, seriously, man. It's it's so like I listened to the first episode twice three times maybe
0:03:39It's it's really great. And and again, I say this not because you're my friend
0:03:44I mean, you are.
0:03:46You know, like, you are my friend.
0:03:49But I think objectively, it's a great show.
0:03:52And I think it's a great idea at the right time.
0:03:55The format is really, feels fresh, but also,
0:03:58it doesn't feel strange.
0:04:01Like, it feels just right to me.
0:04:03And so, I know that you and Steven have been doing so much planning for this,
0:04:08and, you know, all the work behind the scenes.
0:04:11scenes, so I'm a big fan myself. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, I'm very proud
0:04:18of it. I'm very proud of it. But you are my friend, so don't worry when I say that kind
0:04:24of stuff. You are my friend. Okay, good. I was worried. I was really. Nothing happened,
0:04:30Myke. I can assure you. No, I am worried. Shall we do follow-up and leave us break it
0:04:40behind. So Microsoft is still on the move. Outlook for iOS, which we've talked about
0:04:47the last couple weeks, it's really kind of stuck around, offers straight up IMAP support.
0:04:51So if you're like me and have mail at Fastmail or some other IMAP service, you can use Outlook
0:04:57now. And I plugged my Fastmail stuff in, it seemed to work just fine. I'm not using Outlook
0:05:02day to day, but it's great to have some options in here. And they just keep, they keep rolling
0:05:09the updates out to the stuff.
0:05:11The whole Office Suite actually this week also picked up support for iCloud Drive and
0:05:15other cloud services.
0:05:16So for a while it was just OneDrive and then it was OneDrive plus Dropbox and now you can
0:05:21use iCloud Drive or anything else.
0:05:25Microsoft is doing stuff, they're making their apps sort of better on iOS and that's a good
0:05:30time.
0:05:31I still need to add my IMAP accounts to Outlook.
0:05:37But this is what, like a month that it relaunched?
0:05:42Maybe three weeks, I don't know.
0:05:45I'm really enjoying Outlook.
0:05:47And especially I find myself when I need to look up a time or just my schedule in general,
0:05:54instead of opening my calendar app, I open Outlook, which is kind of weird because it's
0:05:59my email client.
0:06:01But I don't know, I formed this new habit and it's been working fine for me.
0:06:10I wanted to ask you, Steven, because you seem to be the person who's an expert about this
0:06:15sort of stuff.
0:06:17Do you guys have certified email?
0:06:23Basically in Italy, if you own a business, you have to create these, if you want to receive
0:06:29like government messages over email and you want them to be certified you need
0:06:34to create this special it's called a PEC it's spelled PEC in Italy and it's
0:06:40basically like a certified email account that allows you to I don't know it's
0:06:46like it's got like a special signature or whatever do you have this sort of
0:06:51email I guess there's like different name outside of Italy yeah we we don't
0:06:57here in the States, I mean, I've heard of that before, but it's not something that goes
0:07:03on here.
0:07:04I mean, if I wanted this, you know, for instance, the state of Tennessee where the LLC is located,
0:07:12they send me emails about various things and that could go to an AOL address for all they
0:07:16care.
0:07:17It seems like that's going to the state website changes.
0:07:19So I don't think there's anything real special about that.
0:07:22It's probably one of those bureaucracy things that we do in Italy.
0:07:28It's not a bad idea though, right?
0:07:30Like if you send email attacks information, it just goes to somebody.
0:07:33I mean, I don't know.
0:07:37Yeah, it's kind of cool, I guess.
0:07:39It's just the process of stuff.
0:07:41I remember last year, it was kind of awful.
0:07:46We have a special ability in Italy to overcomplicate things, and this is one of them.
0:07:52So all this to say I'm going to add this account over IMAP for those occasional government
0:07:59emails that I get.
0:08:00Right.
0:08:01They're just like, "Hey, Federico.
0:08:02How you doing?"
0:08:03It's a picture of a cat.
0:08:07How do you do it?
0:08:08How do you do the certification?
0:08:11You sign up.
0:08:12You have to provide your documents, like your ID, like business information, and you go
0:08:20through this process you pay with a credit card and there's like a couple of providers
0:08:25that you can use to buy one of these email accounts and they have like a @PEC.IT domain
0:08:33name and then you wait a couple of days and the email becomes active and you gotta go
0:08:40you gotta I basically gave this email to my local government business and like office
0:08:47I don't know how it's called in America.
0:08:51And then they use this email when they want to send you notices when you do something
0:08:56wrong and you don't want to get those emails.
0:08:58So I just get the good emails like, "We remind you that you gotta file your taxes between
0:09:06January and whatever."
0:09:08Those kind of messages.
0:09:10And I need sign up.
0:09:12The good news is that normally you would be forced to go to a website, to like a web app
0:09:17for email that looks like Windows 95.
0:09:21But thankfully you can configure this special email over IMAP.
0:09:27So that's what made me think of my email account that I need to add to Outlook.
0:09:34That seems a little crazy.
0:09:40This was not where I expected the conversation to go.
0:09:45Businesses and government?
0:09:46It's a fun conversation.
0:09:47Oh yeah, my favorite of all conversations.
0:09:50I bet that there must be some sort of, this sort of expert out there who will send us
0:09:56some follow up for stuff that I got wrong.
0:10:00I'm sure there must be some government email certified expert.
0:10:05Yeah.
0:10:06I did find the link to the page.
0:10:10The parts of it that are in English seem to be...
0:10:12They're talking about the PEC.
0:10:15So, Federico, if someone wanted to find this in our show notes, where would they go?
0:10:22They would go to the web and just go to Google and type "connected show notes" and Google
0:10:29will just give them to you.
0:10:31I will.
0:10:33I think you gotta go to relay.fm/connected, which is the name of the show, and then another slash, and you type 27 for 27, and you get the show notes for this very episode.
0:10:47- Google would probably work as well, though. - It actually does.
0:10:50- It does? Really? - Yeah, it pulls up episode 8 or something first.
0:10:55- That doesn't make any sense. - But if you only want to see the show notes for episode 8...
0:10:59It was a good episode. Yeah, just listen over and over to episode 8. Yeah, just what was episode 8
0:11:06It was I've closed the tab now it was
0:11:09Squidges we talked about Twitter and health apps and then the current state of iOS 8
0:11:14Like every episode for like a month true
0:11:18We all talk about this was leading up to the retina iMac now. We're just
0:11:23Reading our own show notes. So we're gonna move on. So I've got a little follow-up
0:11:28we spoke last week about how Memphis doesn't do very well in snow and ice. I
0:11:34have no idea how that became a topic, but it was. And the prompt
0:11:41curse has followed us to connected, and now it's about weather. So we,
0:11:48Memphis woke up Monday morning to like an inch and a half of just solid ice
0:11:53over everything and tomorrow is the first day that the schools will be open
0:11:59this week because like you can't I was out yesterday and today and it's sketchy
0:12:03to drive and because we don't have snow plows and snow plows don't even deal
0:12:07with ice we got a little snow last night on top of the ice and now they're calling
0:12:11ice plow dude go to Kickstarter and start that it's just all it is is me
0:12:19driving with Federico in the back of my car with a shovel like scraping it long
0:12:22as I drive.
0:12:23Do you want me to use a shovel?
0:12:25I don't know.
0:12:26I don't think I ever use a shovel in my life.
0:12:28I don't think a shovel's going to help you with ice too much.
0:12:32You know when it snowed in Italy a couple of years ago and it was really, really bad
0:12:36in Viterbo because there was like two meters of snow.
0:12:40That's like 20 miles, Steven.
0:12:45So basically it snowed so much that my family was like, "You need to go outside with a
0:12:50shovel and remove the snow from your car. I was just like, yeah, whatever. I don't want
0:12:56to. I stayed inside for like three days. I basically ran out of food at one point. I
0:13:04was forced to bake my own cookies.
0:13:08I remember that! I'm sure I remember you taking pictures of what was in your fridge.
0:13:15Yeah, all I can do is make cookies.
0:13:18Exactly. It was a really popular Instagram picture, I remember. I got a lot of likes
0:13:25for cookies. So I stay inside, Steven. Don't try to make me use a shovel. The only shovel
0:13:34I use is a shovel knife. Right, Michael?
0:13:37Oh yeah. We'll pivot then to something else. But now they're calling for more snow and
0:13:44ice now tomorrow night so I might never see you guys again but uh so we've
0:13:49cursed it and we got ice and everyone is dead so that's that's a good time so
0:13:57moving on to the follow-up we got an email this week from a listener named
0:14:02Spencer and I thought was interesting I thought it'd be worth talking about
0:14:07Spencer writes I wanted to know what you thought of a price reduction strategy
0:14:12for the Apple Watch. This individual device would be expensive. With the iPhone, there's
0:14:16less initial cost because of a two-year contract with the cellular provider. Basically, could
0:14:21Apple do that and somehow subsidize the watch with iCloud storage or vice versa?
0:14:26I thought it was interesting. I don't ever foresee that sort of thing happening for a
0:14:34bunch of reasons, but what do you guys think about this?
0:14:40It doesn't to me like those things don't really seem to like add up like that it would happen.
0:14:47Like it just doesn't seem like those two things would really make much sense for Apple to
0:14:53do because like the subsidizing of the iPhone is not something that Apple subsidizes.
0:15:02Like they are selling them at full price just to the cell companies and then they subsidize
0:15:08it for Apple.
0:15:09So like Apple still making all of the money and like then they still make money on the iCloud?
0:15:14Like selling you iCloud services feels like money left on the table?
0:15:18Because they would sell you the iCloud services anyway?
0:15:22Yeah, I totally agree. I mean that really sums up my thoughts.
0:15:27And I think it's especially problematic when you consider how often Apple has changed the iCloud pricing scheme over the years.
0:15:36It started as one type of service and then they changed the price and then they changed
0:15:43the price again.
0:15:44And I think that maybe just trying to sell the Apple Watch in this way would force Apple
0:15:50to never change iCloud pricing again.
0:15:54I don't know.
0:15:55It just seems, it doesn't seem to me like the sort of thing that Apple would do.
0:15:59yeah and may I think above all of that
0:16:02iCloud and the watch that from what we know today don't have a ton of
0:16:07interaction right because the watch is basically a satellite for the phone and
0:16:12so if Apple was ever going to do more with with iCloud and and may make the
0:16:18pricing better more aggressive or or something like that
0:16:23I don't think the watch is the product they would attach it to just you know
0:16:27back in the day when you bought a Mac you know I remember very clearly the
0:16:31Apple Store like trying to sell .Mac memberships because that was an add-on
0:16:34and you know right now iCloud doesn't really connect to the watch it connects
0:16:39all these other products and so I do think iCloud pricing is still a little
0:16:44weird in places I hate that I can't pay for just a year but that they paying my
0:16:48debit card for 99 cents a month but I don't really see a world where the watch
0:16:55is somehow subsidized or iCloud is subsidized by the watch or anything like that honestly.
0:17:00But an interesting point I think. So something to talk about. Michael.
0:17:08Yes sir.
0:17:09You want to tell us about some of our friends?
0:17:11Oh I would love to. This week's episode of our fine podcast radio program is brought to you by
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0:20:05All righty.
0:20:09So the New Yorker published a, I think I saw 16,000 word.
0:20:14It's crazy, it's a book basically.
0:20:16Did you read it Myke?
0:20:19- No, of course I didn't.
0:20:21- Hey, I read it.
0:20:23I've read it all on my iPad and it was great.
0:20:27It is long and it is at times a little tedious,
0:20:32but definitely the best look the public's been given
0:20:37of Ive and his work and so I thought maybe, I mean I'm sure lots of people have read it
0:20:42again it'll be in the show notes, but I thought maybe we could just kind of touch on some
0:20:47high points that sort of we thought were interesting and then go from there.
0:20:51How about you two just tell me the interesting things that you found?
0:20:55Okay so basically Johnny Ive secretly he comes from Mars and he came to our planet to basically
0:21:05finish all our aluminum resources, so that basically the human race will end. And it's
0:21:12like it's part of Johnny Ives' master plan, is to finish us off by using all the aluminum
0:21:20on Earth.
0:21:21>>Steve
0:21:21depleting the world's aluminium sources.
0:21:23Yeah.
0:21:24That's the takeaway from the old pieces, this one.
0:21:29Well, I wouldn't have expected that.
0:21:31I'm pleased that the New Yorker was able to capture this very important piece of information.
0:21:35It's also awesome reporting by the New Yorkers.
0:21:38[laughter]
0:21:39Should we move on?
0:21:42Okay, so basically, I will start.
0:21:45I think the general theme of the article is that Johnny Ive is a really tired and stressed
0:21:52person that he works a lot and he oversees a lot of projects.
0:21:57So he's in charge of iPhone, iPad, Mac, hardware design.
0:22:03He handles the human interface group, so that means software and other design initiatives
0:22:09in general.
0:22:10is also in charge of, I mean, he's basically overseeing a major redesign of the Apple Store,
0:22:17which would include, according to the article, new see-through tables for the Apple Watch.
0:22:23He's also overseeing the new Apple Campus 2 project, and he drives there basically every
0:22:29day to check on the status with the Norman Foster company guys working at the site.
0:22:40What else?
0:22:41I think that those two things maybe somebody else could do.
0:22:45Yeah, that was kind of weird.
0:22:47Basically it's like obsessed over the construction of the site.
0:22:52There's a lot of details in the article about how the floor and the walls will form some
0:23:01sort of corner when they collide.
0:23:04It's like a lot of details, like a lot of, you know, minimal details, small details of
0:23:13the old structure is in charge of those and it's changing stuff.
0:23:18Again, I apologize.
0:23:19I'm just going to apologize once for my ignorance because I haven't read this.
0:23:23But like when you say about like the floors and walls corner thing, is that like when
0:23:27you create like a lightbox out of photography and it's got this specific term to it where
0:23:33Yeah, kinda. That's my understanding. Like the transition is seamless. That's what I understood from...
0:23:42No, not meant to be a joke.
0:23:43No, no, no. I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at the thought that now they'll just do those product videos from any corridor.
0:23:51Just any office. And if you get lost, you find where they're keeping Scott Forstall.
0:23:56And he's just like touching an original iPad over and over.
0:23:59No, no, get this mic.
0:24:01Basically, I'm not joking.
0:24:04Johnny Ivey has a problem with sharp corners, so he specifically mentions that he wanted
0:24:12to change the shape of icons of iOS 5 and iOS 6 to more soft and rounder corners in
0:24:23iOS 7 because he was annoyed by the shape before iOS 7.
0:24:29And like the article mentions in other sections that is really like he has a basically a personal
0:24:36problem with corners of stuff and that he used to argue for hours with Steve Jobs about
0:24:42corners of basically everything.
0:24:44Clearly he doesn't use folders on his iOS devices because the corner radius still changes
0:24:48after load.
0:24:50I can't look at it.
0:24:53Yeah, it does.
0:24:54Oh man, I didn't know that it still did that.
0:24:56Yeah, at least in iOS 8.1.3 it still does.
0:25:00Wow.
0:25:01Yeah, Federico, I was impressed too by the fact that he just seems to be doing lots of
0:25:07things.
0:25:08Now, I'm sure that he has lots of people helping him in all these things.
0:25:11And I know because I've been through a commercial construction project that there's a lot of
0:25:18parts and a lot of people but it does seem like
0:25:21Why does he have to go on site and
0:25:25The question is did he do that because there was a reporter and there's trying to show that he's doing all these things or is
0:25:31this like is he really as
0:25:33Thinly stretched as it seems and it definitely is a little concerning
0:25:39Someone's word of the day was like we're gonna get to the car stuff
0:25:44but like Apple will do a car to keep Johnny I for being bored like I
0:25:47Don't think boredom is is the risk with Johnny. I think it's I think it's like
0:25:52utter
0:25:55annihilation of your time
0:25:57Actually, if anything, I think they're making the Apple watch because this guy needs to take care of his health, you know, yeah
0:26:04They mentioned that there is being so stressed out and so tired before the introduction of the iPhone 6 and the Apple watch
0:26:14and Apple Pay, the September event, that he was basically really ill and that he needed
0:26:20to rest so he took a vacation for the first time in years.
0:26:25Like this guy needs to take like six months off and just sleep.
0:26:30I feel like that maybe the construction project, like the architecture project, that might
0:26:38just be something like he wants to do because he's never going to get to do that again,
0:26:43in theory like you can imagine someone being like really interested in that because he's
0:26:49probably not an architect right by training like I'm just going to assume that that's
0:26:53the case. I mean I might sound stupid but I don't know what he's off the top of my head
0:26:58what his formal training was. So like he's probably in a situation where he can play
0:27:04architect like in this scenario like and nobody's going to tell him he can't and he might just
0:27:10be interested in that process?
0:27:12So I can kind of see that one, but maybe some of the other stuff, like the idea of helping
0:27:19redesign the Apple stores.
0:27:20Like there was just to me, just allow the people that do that to just do that.
0:27:26You don't need to do that.
0:27:27Yeah, the article says what we already knew, that basically Steve Jobs set up Johnny Ives'
0:27:33role in a way that he can basically have his say in everything that Apple does.
0:27:39So and also they say that at Apple the role of designers is held in such high regard that
0:27:47it's like when a priest walks into a church.
0:27:51So when a designer walks into a meeting it's like whatever the designer says you got to
0:27:56basically shut up and listen.
0:27:58So yeah, Johnny I basically can go to the retail team and say yeah I don't like the
0:28:03corner of the table.
0:28:05Then he goes to the campus site and he's like yeah I don't like the corner of the wall.
0:28:09He's just done Corner Brigade.
0:28:12Where are the corners?
0:28:15Well let me eradicate them.
0:28:16Maybe he has a Tumblr where he makes fun of bad corners.
0:28:19Johnny AI redesigns corners.
0:28:23Tumblr.com.
0:28:24But you know, I think that is interesting.
0:28:28There was a quote in the article comparing the way design works at Apple and the way
0:28:33design works at other companies.
0:28:35that instead of being like one vertical stripe as you move through a product
0:28:39lifestyle that oh I'm in design now I'm out of design that it's horizontal that
0:28:43you are always design is always involved and there you know comments the article
0:28:48about like retail packaging and all these things and it's really you know we
0:28:53made the joke about being full stack podcasters but with Apple it really is
0:28:56like full stack design like world where you know the guys in this lab can can
0:29:03can speak into any project and are involved from the very inception, you know, they're meeting with engineers. They're milling things
0:29:11I mean, I know they had had
0:29:13milling machines have put in in Cupertino that's been written about before
0:29:17but like they just go make prototypes and they had a prototype for all the iPhone sizes when they were going to go bigger and
0:29:24they, you know, settled on 4.7 and 5.5 by
0:29:28ruling out all the others and I think that approach
0:29:32while I'm sure
0:29:34Exhausting like that's why this stuff is so
0:29:36Especially the hardware is so good
0:29:39And there was a there was a bit in the article Myke about the desks that the tables actually that they use in the design
0:29:47lab, which is basically this
0:29:49large room where
0:29:51What's the number like 40 people Steven 50 people?
0:29:54Yeah, I think that I don't remember but I think that's the high end
0:29:59>> This is just Johnny's team, right?
0:30:02>> Yeah, the design team.
0:30:03It isn't like the really special people at Apple.
0:30:07They have these tables.
0:30:09Again, Johnny, I and Steve Jobs obsessed over these tables because they
0:30:15made them that they are basically low enough when you want to sit down and work,
0:30:23but also high enough when you want to demonstrate stuff while standing up.
0:30:28That seems like it defies the laws of physics.
0:30:31No, they say it's possible. It's a table that you can stand at
0:30:35and sit at and it's the exact right height for both things.
0:30:39The giant magic table. They have a trademark.
0:30:43Yeah, well, the table thing really pulls through Apple.
0:30:48An interview with Tim Cook several years ago, I think maybe right after he was CEO,
0:30:53named CEO, he had this quote of "everything we make we can put on this table"
0:30:59he repeated it on the Charlie Rose show, that's sort of an idea that Tim Cook likes to spout
0:31:04that "everything we make we can put on your dining room table" and that's our business,
0:31:08right?
0:31:09All of it.
0:31:10And thinking back at this article, they're talking about they would have all these iPhones
0:31:15on the table and then the old stuff gets cleared off and the new thing is on the table and
0:31:20That sort of like hands on collaborative approach to design, I think, is something that resonates
0:31:26even with Tim Cook, on the product side that you know, this is really, it's, there's a
0:31:31lot going on here, but it's sort of simple to understand.
0:31:33And that's really, I think, why I was so good at what he does is like, these things are
0:31:39complicated devices, and iOS seven and eight are complicated pieces of software, but they're
0:31:45doing what they can to make it simple to use and easy to understand, you know, that one
0:31:50One of my favorite bits of industrial design ever out of Apple is the iPhone ringer mute
0:31:57switch where if it's on mute you get a little sliver of that sort of orangey red down there.
0:32:01So even if it doesn't vibrate, if you can't remember, you can just look at it and know
0:32:06okay it's on mute because you know what that red means.
0:32:09It's those little types of touches that really set their stuff apart.
0:32:13One of the other great parts from the article Myke is when the reporter asks about how do
0:32:23you relate to the fact that people are about to walk into an Apple store in September and
0:32:29buy a new iPhone and you're already working on the next iPhone.
0:32:33And I says when we develop a new product in this way like an iPhone, of course when the
0:32:42current iPhone comes out we're already using the next iPhone and he says, he looks at the
0:32:49iPhone 6 and he says this is already boring to me because he's using the iPhone 6s or
0:32:57the iPhone 7 and I think that's fascinating because we know that of course Apple is working
0:33:02already, probably they have already finished the next iPhone but just to think that a person
0:33:08like me and you were all excited to get the new iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus and there's somebody
0:33:14on this planet who thinks it's already ugly and boring. I think that was kind of funny.
0:33:20Yeah, because you probably assume, right, that he's using a version of the iPhone 7
0:33:29when the iPhone 6 comes out because they don't need to start thinking about the 6s or whatever
0:33:34because it's the same like for Johnny's perspective like his team is done like for a whole like
0:33:41two years.
0:33:42I mean, maybe I mean the 4S and 5S did have minor hardware revisions, but I see what you're
0:33:48saying right that it's adding touch ID or changing the antenna breaks.
0:33:52Not a huge deal as opposed to the next major release.
0:33:56Yeah, like he's already thinking about like the whole next full redesign.
0:34:02Right.
0:34:03I'm sure there's people in his team that are working on the minor revisions, but he's not.
0:34:07Like I can't imagine that he's doing that.
0:34:10They began testing the bigger iPhones with the iPhone 4 design in 2010, 2011.
0:34:19And basically because of the design, it was all, you know, it was basically with the sharp
0:34:24edges.
0:34:25You're carrying like a VHS tape around.
0:34:28Yeah it was.
0:34:29I bet he hated it.
0:34:32They tested this 5.7 inch iPhone 4, and it's like it was too bulky and uncomfortable.
0:34:40We just decided to wait.
0:34:42Probably a good call.
0:34:43Yeah, yeah, the rounded corners, as slippery as it makes it, does help with the kind of
0:34:47making it seem smaller.
0:34:50I think kind of the last thing that I wanted to touch on was the sort of Johnny Ive outside
0:34:58of the lab.
0:34:59So that means they he interviewed him in his house. He talked to people who know him
0:35:03They kind of made it a sort of a story about how he
0:35:07He chauffeured to work now like he was in a car accident several years ago, and I think people were like, okay
0:35:13Someone needs to drive you
0:35:15He kind of makes jokes about Toyota's because he rides into Bentley. I
0:35:18None of that really rubbed me the wrong way. Like dude has been super successful. He's super wealthy because of it
0:35:24Like that's great. But what what struck me was
0:35:28the the writer whose name has escaped me
0:35:32they get to his house and he
0:35:36apologizes that they got there after
0:35:38dark like I know part of that's like
0:35:41sort of like I can kind of like see him
0:35:45in a top hat with the British flag like
0:35:47that some of that is sort of ingrained I
0:35:49think in the in the British culture but
0:35:52maybe Myke could disagree with that but I
0:35:55I just, that little thing kind of like, that little story reminded me like he is, he is
0:36:01a real person, right?
0:36:02Like he's not just this machine that's cranking out aluminum things, but that sort of like,
0:36:06Hey, you know, I'm sorry we got here after dark.
0:36:08Like that, that little like human touch, uh, I thought it was a really nice all, you know,
0:36:13all throughout this article, really nice touch of seeing him not only at work, but kind of
0:36:18like, what makes him tick.
0:36:20And um, I don't know, that little story just kind of jumped out at me.
0:36:23I thought it was pretty, pretty nice.
0:36:25And also when they say that he has a poster in his office with a lot of curses in this
0:36:32poster, like a lot of words that we cannot say here, I was like, yeah, Johnny keeps posters
0:36:39like teenagers.
0:36:40It's kind of human, you know.
0:36:43There's always the thing that I love about Johnny Iov, which was the video of him on
0:36:49the British TV show called Blue Peter.
0:36:52Oh, yes.
0:36:53I'll put it in the show notes in case you've never seen it, but it's such a great moment.
0:37:00It makes sense to me because if you are a British person and was a child as a British
0:37:07person in the last 40 years, you would feel that way and that happy about being on Blue
0:37:15Peter and getting the gold badge like he does.
0:37:18It's this whole thing.
0:37:20You can look it up.
0:37:21much upon me going into it, but the idea is like it really showed to me that like he has
0:37:27a very human side and I think that especially under Steve Jobs like there was you know
0:37:35there was at least a time where we kind of thought of Apple executives as kind of like
0:37:42not real people you know what I mean? - Yeah because he's an alien. - Oh yeah except for the fact
0:37:49fact that it's an alien. No, I get it. Because like Jobs was such a like, obviously was a
0:37:55human, you know, but like was was you never saw him that way. And it kind of that that
0:38:02kind of in the secrecy helps that kind of permeate. Yeah. But it, you know, that that
0:38:10for me, like it really showed like a personal side to him that I really liked. And I think
0:38:14It's a personal side that Tim Cook, Tim's Apple, is bringing out in the executives now.
0:38:22Where Steve's Apple was very much like, "We are not real people.
0:38:27We are like the machine that you mentioned."
0:38:31We are above you as a next level human.
0:38:34I get this sort of feeling from the old Apple.
0:38:37And what's really sad is that the Steve Jobs biography failed miserably to capture this
0:38:45human side.
0:38:47It was factually wrong and it's not really a biography.
0:38:50And of course, Johnny, I cannot remember the exact quote, but it's not really happy about
0:38:56the biography in the article.
0:38:58He says, I think I couldn't hold it in lower regard.
0:39:03Was really bad.
0:39:04I did read that. I read that somewhere over the last,
0:39:07like I've seen a few quotes here and there, you know,
0:39:09but like I did see that, I was like,
0:39:11"Oh, like, do you know that just put it down like--
0:39:13- That's a sick burn.
0:39:14- "You knew exactly what he wanted to say.
0:39:16"Like, I could not hold it in lower regard."
0:39:19What a great line.
0:39:21And that must be so upsetting, like,
0:39:23to people like Johnny who,
0:39:25Steve was such a close friend of his
0:39:27and maybe thought that this biography,
0:39:29when he knew it was happening,
0:39:31would finally give people a taste
0:39:33what he knew one of his closest friends to be like and kind of the book just
0:39:38didn't do that. it must suck. I think I'm gonna start saying my regard
0:39:43couldn't be any lower like in meetings and stuff like what do you think about
0:39:46this logo concept? I should also get a driver Steven. I should. I bought a Toyota though.
0:40:01Just buy a Bentley logo and put it on the car.
0:40:08Done.
0:40:09I'll be on eBay during the next ad read.
0:40:17Anything else?
0:40:19From Jadikal?
0:40:20Yeah.
0:40:21I mean there's the Apple Car but we're going to talk about that in a few minutes.
0:40:25Now I think we summed up the most relevant quotes.
0:40:29Those are some funny bits that I don't remember.
0:40:34One more thing that I want to mention, there's no, like, the reporter got access to Apple,
0:40:39to Johnny Ives' wife, to close friends, to, what's the guy, Mark Newsome, the designer.
0:40:47He didn't talk to Phil Schiller at Apple for some reason.
0:40:53That kind of stood out to me, because Phil, we always see him on stage, you know, in videos,
0:40:59And he talked to Mansfield, I think, to Big Bob, and he didn't talk to Schiller.
0:41:06Was kind of strange.
0:41:08If there's, you know, we were talking about like the bigger than you, kind of like look
0:41:14down upon you type Apple, maybe he's the only person left who's kind of like that.
0:41:20Probably.
0:41:21I don't know.
0:41:22I don't know.
0:41:23I mean that's allegations to make about the man, but all I mean is like if there's going
0:41:27to be anybody that's potentially going to still be like that in the Apple Executive
0:41:32Team.
0:41:33He may still be in that mindset.
0:41:36Or he was probably busy just taking pictures of squirrels.
0:41:39Probably was doing that.
0:41:42With the iPhone 7, I don't know.
0:41:45About that, very quick aside, the families of the Apple Executive Teams are very different
0:41:52all the time.
0:41:53They have huge families.
0:41:54They're always talking about their family vacations that they go on and they've got
0:41:58completely new families in their photos.
0:42:01There should be a TV show about the Apple executive families.
0:42:06Call it like I have friends.
0:42:11I feel like there could be such great stories in this show.
0:42:16I don't know.
0:42:20They have dinners together and they talk behind their backs, you know, like a parenthood for
0:42:26Apple executive families.
0:42:29That could be such a great show.
0:42:30Man, where's Joe Steele when you need it?
0:42:32I need to talk to Joe.
0:42:35This week's episode of Connected is also brought to you by igloo, the internet you'll actually
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0:44:22So I guess we should talk about the car thing.
0:44:27Yeah, sure.
0:44:29I've sort of been...
0:44:30I feel like Myke should talk about cars.
0:44:35Why?
0:44:39Because I know that you're a very passionate driver.
0:44:44Oh, right, I get it. Yes, yes, of the three of us I don't have a driving license, that's
0:44:50correct.
0:44:51So, let me ask you, if Apple does a car, would you buy one and finally get a license?
0:44:58No.
0:44:59Oh, come on!
0:45:01It's nothing to do with car manufacturers, I just can't...
0:45:03He could buy one and just keep it at home.
0:45:07He's a strong drummer.
0:45:10It's difficult to warrant the cost of a car in London.
0:45:16Is it really that bad?
0:45:17It's just a lot of congestion and public transport's really good.
0:45:21So you can kind of get everywhere you need to get with public transport.
0:45:25So it kind of seems pointless to spend all that money on a car.
0:45:30Or maybe, maybe when you all have a family you will move to the British countryside,
0:45:38in a house in a very big house in the country, Myke, and you will get a car to commute to
0:45:47London.
0:45:48I think what will end up changing me is when I have a family, so when I have kids, that's
0:45:52probably what will change me into getting a car because then you kind of, there are
0:45:55more tangible reasons for owning a car at that point.
0:45:59Okay, thank you.
0:46:00So Steven, tell us about Project Titan.
0:46:03Project Titan, which is an epic name.
0:46:05This came out last week or over the weekend I think.
0:46:09Just a couple links, one to the Wall Street Journals, one to Reuters.
0:46:13Reuters?
0:46:14Reuters.
0:46:15Reuters.
0:46:16Reuters.
0:46:17It's not like where you connect your internet to.
0:46:20That's a modem.
0:46:23Modem-ters.
0:46:25So Do-It-J and Modemers.
0:46:28Kind of conflicting, WSJ says that Apple is working on a car project, could it be as many
0:46:34is a thousand people working on it. It is for an electric car. This comes on the heels
0:46:39of a lot of reports that Elon Musk and Tim Cook are fighting over employees in the valley
0:46:46to work on their apparently respective car projects.
0:46:50Did you feel like Tim Cook could take down Elon in a fight?
0:46:53No, Elon Musk is like Iron Man.
0:46:55Yeah, I don't know, but Tim Cook has some serious bulk. The guy's big.
0:47:00Yeah, yeah, but Elon Musk has like rocket hands, so you're gonna lose.
0:47:05I feel like you made up the rocket hands thing.
0:47:08You don't know that.
0:47:09Okay.
0:47:10I made it up.
0:47:14So obviously like our corner of the internet sort of just went crazy with this.
0:47:20A lot of people, including myself, my knee jerk reaction was an apple car sort of made
0:47:26laugh because finder had just crashed
0:47:31for like the fifth time that day but
0:47:35I think big picture it's pretty
0:47:39interesting you know a thousand engineers
0:47:41working on this they're not pulling
0:47:44engineering resources from like you know
0:47:47the Swift framework team more likely
0:47:48than not you know it's not it's not like
0:47:50these people were working on iCloud
0:47:51infrastructure and now working on seat
0:47:55belts it's I don't think this is a big
0:47:55of resource drain in terms of they're hiring people in.
0:47:57But I don't know, like.
0:48:01Is is an Apple car the most ridiculous thing in the world?
0:48:04I don't think it is because the.
0:48:06Technology industry and the car industry are just like
0:48:10merging more and more every year, and so I don't know.
0:48:14It's it's it's weird.
0:48:16The ways in which the emerging
0:48:17that were still so very far away from each other, like.
0:48:22Just because a car runs on electricity doesn't make it a consumer electronic.
0:48:28I know we've had this discussion, I believe, a few times.
0:48:30My feeling about it, yes, it is electric, but it's very different.
0:48:36A car will cost 20 grand as opposed to a computer which costs one.
0:48:43These are very different things.
0:48:48as well, Apple tends not to have to worry about a myriad of things.
0:48:54Like, if the computer hits a wall or the computer crashes, will it kill anyone?
0:49:02Like, no. All it will do is make a Skype recording really upset and you have to
0:49:06use that and then all of the listeners get upset, you know, if your computer crashes.
0:49:11Oh, when does that happen?
0:49:15- Not today.
0:49:16It's not the same, like the ramifications of issues
0:49:22are so vastly different, like fundamentally
0:49:25you have to start thinking things differently as a company.
0:49:28And where I had the same feeling that you did initially,
0:49:32like this is insane, and I still do to a point think
0:49:35this is insane, it's like, I just, like, you know,
0:49:40I just, like, you know, I get what you're saying.
0:49:45Like your piece on it, I thought was very, very thoughtful
0:49:52and I quite liked it.
0:49:54I still think that like, this is such a huge change
0:49:57for the company that it doesn't even really make sense
0:50:00to me, like it would seem so peculiar.
0:50:02- Oh yeah, oh, it definitely is.
0:50:04And it's beyond consumer electronics for sure.
0:50:07I mean, you know, Apple doing CarPlay, like that's still Apple doing iPhone type things,
0:50:13right?
0:50:14But this is something totally different.
0:50:15And I think the reality is that, you know, Apple is the largest, the largest tech company
0:50:24in the world, one of the largest companies in the world, period, tech or not.
0:50:28So they're playing with all sorts of things, you know, is Project Height never going to
0:50:34end up sitting in my driveway?
0:50:36I don't know but it's not crazy for Apple to be playing with things.
0:50:43You know one thing that I had kind of came to memory under Steve Jobs R&D at Apple was
0:50:49very small for the size of the company they were and it's expanded under Tim Cook if you
0:50:53look at their at their earnings reports and I think I don't think it's necessarily a bad
0:50:58thing I think Apple needs to be experimenting and thinking about different things but as
0:51:02As far as a car swimming up in two years or five years, I'm not sold on that.
0:51:07But um, I don't know.
0:51:09What do you think Federico?
0:51:12It all sounds so far away from me.
0:51:16Not in just in the sense that I'm not really a car expert.
0:51:21Like I don't think about my car.
0:51:23I like I just want to drive my car because it needs to take me places.
0:51:28I don't follow car news.
0:51:31Not just in that sense that I don't care that much, but also all this talk about self-driving
0:51:39cars, Tesla, electric cars.
0:51:44I mean in Italy we are very much far away from this Silicon Valley type of car news.
0:51:52And also here driving old school manual shift is still very much what most people do.
0:52:03And I myself have grown up and I learned to drive manual.
0:52:09And to me driving is manual because I actually like driving.
0:52:15I like all the gestures and not the gestures in the sense of stereotype, but all the stuff
0:52:22you need to do to drive a car, to you know, the shift and the steering wheel.
0:52:28So thinking about these electric cars with presumably automatic shifts and
0:52:34maybe even self-driving, it sounds so, you know, so different, so new to me.
0:52:43And so it's difficult for me to imagine this sort of Apple car stuff.
0:52:48And also, it seems like what you said, Stephen, it's a massive undertaking, it's a massive change.
0:52:56Because making a car is not like making an iPhone.
0:53:00And I think Craig Hockenberry made a great point on his blog about you cannot ship thousands of
0:53:10Apple cars overnight from China on a plane like you can with iPhones.
0:53:17It's a really big plane. Unless you have a really big plane, exactly. I don't know.
0:53:23It's so... And I have a friend who works at Maserati here in Italy. He's a project manager.
0:53:32And when we talk, when he comes down to Viterbo and when occasionally we meet and we catch up,
0:53:38and he explains to me the process of the manufacturing and all the different pieces
0:53:46and how many people are involved and all the machinery and they constantly need to upgrade
0:53:52these machines and like how they build stuff all the little details it's just it's a completely
0:53:58different manufacturing marketing everything is different so while you can reuse like apple makes
0:54:07iphones they make ipads and they can reuse components they can reuse people they can share
0:54:12I don't know, marketing people making a car is like a whole different market. It's not another type of computer
0:54:19It's another type of object with a completely different type of price
0:54:24And so for this reason, I don't know it seems
0:54:28If they're really doing this and this is my other the other half of my feelings about this
0:54:35I think Apple is working on this stuff because it just makes sense. They have all that cash
0:54:41They are crazy enough to have people like Johnny Ivo basically don't sleep anymore and they want to oversee everything
0:54:49and they seem to be
0:54:51in a good way self-conscious enough that they know that they can make better design than others and
0:54:57also considering Apple's interest in, you know, being green and
0:55:03supporting renewable energies that kind of stuff making a car that allows people to drive without, you know,
0:55:11pollution or that sort of old school, like you need to put gas into your tank
0:55:16mindset, it makes sense, but it's a massive undertaking and change.
0:55:22So I'm kind of torn between, you know, my nature of an Italian who drives a manual car and doesn't follow car news and
0:55:28the idea that Apple is in theory well positioned to do this sort of effort.
0:55:35But in practice, it's a massive change. And
0:55:39So, I don't know it's it's fascinating much more fascinating than the iPad stylus for sure
0:55:45So I'll leave you with that. What if the car will come with a stylus that he could do real work in it?
0:55:51Yeah, I agree totally it's it's such a different ballgame the
0:56:01ex CEO of GM who has been in the news a lot recently for building cars that kill people unfortunately
0:56:09They've got to recalls and whatnot going on right now.
0:56:13You know, he had a quote that was eerily similar to like Steve Ballmer rejecting the iPhone
0:56:18and kind of the they're not going to walk in and figure this out type of feeling.
0:56:26And that is, you know, it's not shocking, but I think even more so than with Ballmer
0:56:33and the phone and these other companies looking at Apple in the past.
0:56:37This really is a huge jump.
0:56:38I mean going from a computer to a smartphone, that's a jump, but it's still a computer type thing and a car is not a computer type thing
0:56:46You know, maybe all we see out of this is carplay gets a lot better or you know
0:56:50It's easier to use or something. I would love to see Apple take over the dashboard and in a more robust way. I mean
0:56:56What can I look for?
0:56:59Mmm widgets inside my inside my car and
0:57:03When you add a new and you get the little ripple effect be exciting Steven stop
0:57:08You like the ripple effect? No, just widgets. Just widgets. Widgets are really helpful. Um,
0:57:14for some people.
0:57:16Yeah, I don't know.
0:57:18Time will tell with this. I think this is, I think Project Titan is one of many things Apple is doing that we don't know about.
0:57:25This one leaked obviously because it seems to be really big. The fact that it is so big
0:57:30I think leads credence that Apple is taking it seriously, you know,
0:57:33it's not just a handful of people in a room somewhere like tinkering with something, but
0:57:38It would definitely mark a new chapter in the company if this were to come true
0:57:43I think it would be a really really big deal
0:57:46It doesn't mean they're losing focus does it mean that the software quality is gonna continue to suffer for the Mac and iOS
0:57:53I don't know if they're if those things are hand in hand, but it would definitely be an adventure
0:57:59I think I think for now that's all we could really say
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1:00:15So there was something that we kind of wanted to bring up today after Dropbox announced
1:00:22that they've kind of beefed up their app by adding extensions.
1:00:29And I'm kind of interested to understand how is everybody using extensions these days.
1:00:39From the share sheet?
1:00:41Yes.
1:00:42Good topic.
1:00:43I'm sorry, mate.
1:00:45Okay, so this is a topic that in all seriousness, I'm sorry, guys.
1:00:50I like to be funny on occasion.
1:00:54I want to talk about extensions because it's been a few months since IUSAC came out and
1:00:59I know that I, I mean, you also know that I use my iPhone and iPad a lot but I want
1:01:05to start from you, Steven, because you seem to be the more Mac OS X type of guy here.
1:01:12So tell me, when you use your iPhone or your iPad, do you use extensions much?
1:01:18Do you use them for, excuse me for using this terminology, consumption type of stuff or
1:01:26do you use to actually do stuff more quickly that is not reading or watching a movie or
1:01:32whatever?
1:01:33Yeah, so my usage is really based around only a handful of extensions, but the ones that
1:01:42have stuck around I'm using pretty heavily.
1:01:46The big three for me are day one, Instapaper and Pinner, which is a pinboard application.
1:01:51And so with with day one, for instance, you can have a photo, you can be in the camera
1:01:55roll, and send it off to day one and add information to it.
1:01:59That makes it really easy to you know, I really like day one, but it can be a little slow
1:02:04to go in, add a new post and tell it what info you want.
1:02:07You can do it all from the share sheet, which is really fast, really nice.
1:02:11my day one usage has gone up incredibly since that extension has worked.
1:02:15Instapaper and Pen are definitely more in the consumption space of things, of "hey I
1:02:21want to send something to one of these two services" but it's definitely something that
1:02:26makes it a lot faster.
1:02:27I have gotten rid of almost all of my little bookmarklets that I used to run in Mobile
1:02:31Safari to do all this stuff.
1:02:32Extensions have just completely taken over all of that.
1:02:37And of course there's some others, there's some utility ones like 1Password and the Workflow
1:02:40extension which are both super powerful and 1Password in particular has really made browsing
1:02:49and like the other night I bought something on Amazon just on my phone because I knew
1:02:53that I had the 1Password extension and didn't have to go and copy my Amazon password in
1:02:57and do all that crazy stuff.
1:02:59So it was definitely a time saver for me on kind of both sides of that question.
1:03:05Myke, what about you?
1:03:08So I think my main problem is that the majority of the time I forget that extensions exist.
1:03:17Like I might be doing something or I open up that extension and it's paying for something
1:03:23and I'm like "oh yeah, that extension is here that I can use to do these things" or like
1:03:28I'm thinking about a way to get something done and don't even consider to think "maybe
1:03:33an extension could fix this, maybe I should go and find an app that has an extension".
1:03:38Like that has yet to really truly become part of my kind of thinking.
1:03:46And I don't know why that is.
1:03:49Maybe just there aren't as many use cases as there could be yet, or like there aren't
1:03:54as many ways in which you can pass this information around.
1:03:58Like maybe there needs to be more extension types before...
1:04:01Do you feel like the way that you need to activate extensions makes you forget about
1:04:08extensions?
1:04:09Yeah, that makes sense.
1:04:10Like you need to hit this share icon and then there's a panel.
1:04:14Because one of my, I think I will start, you know, every year I do this annual iOS WISH
1:04:23round up on Mac stories.
1:04:26This is the period of the year when I create my note with all my wishes for the next version of iOS.
1:04:34And one of my big things in this article that I'm starting now is being able to activate extensions
1:04:42in different ways. Because I imagine, what if instead of going through all these steps,
1:04:51that I need to press the share icon and then scroll through extensions. What if I could just
1:04:56customize shortcuts to specific extensions directly in the toolbars or the menus of the
1:05:04apps that I use? So imagine if you have Instapaper installed, you get an Instapaper icon in Safari
1:05:10instead of going through the share icon and or for instance, allow me to...
1:05:18this is gonna sound weird but again allow me to have an extension side by side with the current
1:05:25app that I'm using so that I don't have to choose either you use the app or you use the extension
1:05:31that comes on top of the app. You can do stuff for like a few seconds maybe with both apps and
1:05:39the app and the extension next to each other. So I'm thinking that maybe in iOS 9 it'll make,
1:05:44because you made me think of this point
1:05:50that I was just considering.
1:05:52I get it, it makes sense that you
1:05:54forget about extensions because
1:05:57the entire environment, and I guess for
1:05:59security reasons but also because Apple
1:06:00didn't have much time,
1:06:02it feels kind of limited in the ways
1:06:03that you
1:06:06as a user can get into extensions and it
1:06:07seems a bit
1:06:09slow after a while and then because
1:06:11it's slow you forget about
1:06:11the share sheet and extensions. So yeah, all these to say, Myke, that's a great point,
1:06:15Dana. I think it makes sense. And it needs to change.
1:06:18Yeah, I've got a couple things I would add to that wishlist. I wish that you could turn off
1:06:23some of the built-in Apple stuff. So like, I never want to send anything to Reading List.
1:06:28I never want to print anything.
1:06:31I also, even though they said they fixed it, they really haven't fixed it. Where if you reorder
1:06:38something so I remember this and with tweet by and Safari like I can't ever get my ordering
1:06:43what I want because I change it one place it has a tendency to affect it the other place
1:06:48that the ordering is still sort of buggy but um honestly I would love to order them per
1:06:55app even like that would be fine with me just leave them where I put them and let me turn
1:07:00off ones I don't want but I definitely agree with you it is it's sort of weird that they
1:07:05sort of hijack the share button for this and I get it gets philosophically like
1:07:09most extensions send data somewhere else but I do think that by putting them one
1:07:16layer away it's it's a little bit removed from like a lot of people's a
1:07:22lot of people's minds I will say though that on the iPad especially like using
1:07:28something like tweet bot that hasn't been updated yet it I look for them
1:07:32because you know tweet bot can do some of that stuff natively but it's sort of
1:07:35weird and like I you know I'm looking for a share button and that's not there
1:07:39so it has sort of stuck for me but I do wish that someone said there was a
1:07:44little more polish in the in sort of the experience of actually using and editing
1:07:47them and that sort of thing. For a second like I heard you say it but then like
1:07:52didn't think that you said iPad and I was like bro I've got something to tell
1:07:57The iPhone app was updated ages ago.
1:08:02- Oh no, I've been running the old one.
1:08:04Everything looks like metal all the time.
1:08:09- So basically the only extensions that I use
1:08:13instinctively of any sort of frequency are workflow.
1:08:17I mean, I use that a lot because there are some things
1:08:19that I wanna do and the only way to do them is workflow.
1:08:25So if I ever think of doing a certain thing,
1:08:27it's like the only way I can do it.
1:08:29Or it pops up at certain points, like for example,
1:08:31it's a bit like, one workflow that I use a lot
1:08:35is just very simply take the current URL and open in Safari.
1:08:40And there are a couple of things as being a Chrome user,
1:08:43which is super frustrating.
1:08:44Like if you click a link, if I click a link in mailbox
1:08:49to open the TestFlight app,
1:08:51because I get an email or something,
1:08:54it will just, it opens in Chrome
1:08:57and then opens the app store
1:08:58and takes me to the TestFlight app in the app store.
1:09:01And it's like, you're just trolling me.
1:09:03Like that's fine.
1:09:04Someone here is trolling me
1:09:06because that doesn't make any sense.
1:09:07- You know which email client
1:09:09can open TestFlight links correctly?
1:09:11- Outlook.
1:09:12- Outlook.
1:09:13- There you go.
1:09:14- So Myke, question.
1:09:16Is the workflow extension slow sometimes
1:09:19to come up for you?
1:09:20- If it is, I don't remember it being.
1:09:23- Okay, yeah, because I'm running into this strange bug
1:09:27and I need to tell the developers.
1:09:29- You probably have like a billion in there.
1:09:31And there are other things that pop up,
1:09:33like I want to use,
1:09:36like send something to Huffduffer or whatever,
1:09:38but the thing is,
1:09:40the workflow extension is like a whole other thing.
1:09:42Like I don't even think of it as an extension,
1:09:44it's just like the way I use that app.
1:09:46But anyway, the other one that I use
1:09:49of any kind of frequency is group text plus.
1:09:52And the only reason that I use that frequently is because I open up the share sheet to send
1:10:00something to someone by text message and then that one's right next to it.
1:10:05I'm like, oh yeah, that one's easier.
1:10:07Like I never think, oh, I better send this in group text plus.
1:10:10It's just like it's right next to the message icon.
1:10:13This is your problem, your process.
1:10:15You surprise yourself every single time.
1:10:18That is effectively all it is.
1:10:19That's an awesome way to live life, Myke.
1:10:22They are, they are, you know, it's just little miracles.
1:10:25They are literally the only ones that I use
1:10:28of any kind of frequency.
1:10:29- Interesting.
1:10:33I didn't think it'd still be using Workflow that much.
1:10:37- It's just, there are a few things
1:10:39that I have it do frequently
1:10:41that just no other app can help me with as easy.
1:10:45- Yeah, yeah, of course, yeah.
1:10:47- Yeah.
1:10:48So there you go. - Nice.
1:10:49Nice, very nice, Michael.
1:10:51So is anyone asking me or should I just start talking by myself?
1:10:55I was just about to ask you, but carry on.
1:10:57Thank you.
1:10:57As you were, sir.
1:10:58As you were.
1:10:59Thank you.
1:11:00I appreciate it, Myke.
1:11:01So the ones that I use the most, the extensions, Todoist, Workflow,
1:11:08Clips, and 1Password.
1:11:10These are my big ones.
1:11:12Todoist, because this has been such a huge help for me.
1:11:17I always forget to remember things I need to do and thanks to the extension, Todoist
1:11:26is the todo app that I use.
1:11:27I switched to Todoist last summer.
1:11:31I feel like I can remember stuff because I can create todos more easily.
1:11:38So there's less friction.
1:11:41It's always right there in the share sheet which I always open so I don't forget about
1:11:46extensions because I think for work and for, you know, maxstories articles I use them a lot so it's
1:11:52kind of become really a habit for me and because Todoist is there like I'm forgetting less stuff
1:12:00I'm still, I still need to get better because I often just don't save something that my girlfriend
1:12:06or my somebody else tells me to do and then I don't save it manually and I forget but I'm
1:12:12getting better and the extension has been a huge help.
1:12:15Clips, it's a clipboard manager for iOS and I love the ability to, like you can
1:12:24save multiple bits of text like when I'm in Twitterrific
1:12:30because the Twitter app doesn't have the sharesheet and I want to save, I don't
1:12:35know, like links to a bunch of tweets that people have sent me. I can just save
1:12:40them to clips and then using the widget I can pull the link back and like paste it in
1:12:45my text editor or my or slack or whatever.
1:12:49Super useful.
1:12:501Password of course to log in into websites and apps and especially impressive because
1:12:57of Touch ID and I didn't think that I would use Touch ID on my iPad much but thanks to
1:13:04apps like 1Password and stuff that implements Touch ID authentication, it has been useful.
1:13:12Touch ID on my iPad and 1Password is I think the app that I use the most with Touch ID
1:13:16every day.
1:13:18And Workflow, I do so much stuff into this app and I think I do all this stuff because
1:13:26it has this crazy action extension.
1:13:29I use it to share links, like when I'm reading in Pocket or in Nasl, these apps use their
1:13:40own custom short links.
1:13:42And when I share a link on Maxories or on Twitter, I don't want to use these custom
1:13:47domains.
1:13:49So I have a workflow that expands the real link for me, which is super useful.
1:13:54I have workflows to create what people call text shots, which is like when you want to
1:14:01tweet a quote from an article and you just assemble.
1:14:05I learned this terminology from MG Sigler, text shot.
1:14:09It's a thing that people do.
1:14:12There's a whole theory on the best color and the best typography to use for text shots,
1:14:17if you're interested, Myke.
1:14:19I recommend using the sepia theme because the contrast is much better.
1:14:26Anyway, I used to share links, I used to save files in Dropbox and getting the link back.
1:14:34I used this crazy workflow for Virtual and Mac Sorry Weekly.
1:14:40I save all the links that I want to talk about in an Evernote note.
1:14:47When it comes to the time that I need to record with you, Myke, or to put together the newsletter,
1:14:52I want to open all these links back again into Safari and go through them, go through
1:14:58each link to make sure that I want to talk about it.
1:15:01So I have a workflow that takes all these links from a note and it opens all of them
1:15:07at once in Safari.
1:15:09It's crazy, I don't know how to do it.
1:15:11These guys are geniuses.
1:15:13So yeah, I use Workflow to... a lot of the stuff that I used to do in Python with Pythonista
1:15:18or Bookmarklets in Safari, now I have this visual way with Workflow and it's got the
1:15:25extension.
1:15:26So for me, from the productivity perspective, these days working on iOS is much better thanks
1:15:37to extensions.
1:15:38There are many others, like today I needed to track a shipment and I used the Deliveries
1:15:44extension, which is really nice.
1:15:46There's the Anylist extension that I used to save recipes.
1:15:51I also basically forced the developers to support Italian recipe websites.
1:15:56They were awesome, they added support for my favorite recipe website.
1:16:03I love how like me and...
1:16:05I knew this was going to be the case that me and Steven have like one or two.
1:16:08And then it's like, "Oh, let me list the ways."
1:16:11I mean, because the phone doesn't have any apps anymore, all it is is extensions.
1:16:16It's like Safari and just a bunch of extensions and nothing else is happening.
1:16:21That is not too far from the truth.
1:16:22That was the awesome, really awesome view source, extension to view the source code
1:16:29of a web page.
1:16:30I used that on my iPad.
1:16:32Yeah.
1:16:33That's good.
1:16:34tend to be a web developer. Look at me, I'm looking at code. And that's really, really
1:16:40funny. Yeah, extensions, guys. I cannot wait to see what happens in iOS 9. Assuming it
1:16:48is going to be called iOS 9.
1:16:50What else are they calling?
1:16:53I don't know. iOS next.
1:16:568.6. Semicolon. We're bad at new OSes.
1:17:00Maybe they'll go with Apple phone OS 4.
1:17:03I think they go with iOS 10, just like Microsoft.
1:17:07I think that does it for this week.
1:17:12iOS X.
1:17:13If you would like to find the show notes for this week's episode, go to relay.fm/connected/27.
1:17:21If you'd like to find us online, you can find Federico.
1:17:24He is @vitiici, V-I-T-I-C-C-I, and he writes at maxstories.net.
1:17:28Stephen is @ismh on Twitter and you can find him at 512pixels.net and I am @imike and I
1:17:38host a bunch of shows at relay.fm of which this show is a part of that commitment.
1:17:45Thanks again to our sponsors for this week, our friends over at Lynda, Squarespace and
1:17:51igloo.
1:17:53And thank you for listening and we'll be back next time.
1:17:57Say goodbye gentlemen.