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Connected

506: The Sun Did Not Shine in Favor of Me

 

00:00:00   (upbeat music)

00:00:02   From Relay FM, this is Connected, episode 506.

00:00:12   Today's show is brought to you by Ecamm,

00:00:14   Adblock Pro and ExpressVPN.

00:00:17   I am your Ricky Benchman, Mike Hurley,

00:00:20   and I am introducing to you.

00:00:23   Wow. (laughs)

00:00:23   For drinko.

00:00:24   (laughs)

00:00:25   Oh my God.

00:00:26   And I am introduced to me.

00:00:30   Hi, Federico.

00:00:31   Hi.

00:00:35   I got too excited about Benchman.

00:00:36   That English language took a turn, for sure.

00:00:39   Yeah, man.

00:00:40   Yeah, man.

00:00:41   We're also joined by Mr. Steven Hackett.

00:00:43   Hello, Steven.

00:00:44   Hello, Federico.

00:00:46   Hello, Mike.

00:00:48   Hello. Yes.

00:00:48   Hello.

00:00:49   It's Friday, which is weird.

00:00:50   Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday.

00:00:54   Ricky's, Ricky's, gotta score on Friday.

00:00:58   That's the energy.

00:00:59   That's the energy today.

00:01:00   I love it.

00:01:02   Can we remind people about this introduction, Mike?

00:01:05   What happened in those first few seconds?

00:01:09   Well, I am now being officially referred to

00:01:11   as Ricky Benchman because I currently hold

00:01:14   both the keynote and annual chairmanships.

00:01:16   So my combined title is now Benchman

00:01:19   because if you have two chairs and you put them together,

00:01:21   they become a bench.

00:01:23   So I am the Benchman.

00:01:24   And I got too excited about that.

00:01:26   I am the Benchman.

00:01:27   I have to say the word introducing.

00:01:28   Okay.

00:01:31   Yeah.

00:01:32   Benchman.

00:01:33   Benchman.

00:01:34   Benchman.

00:01:35   Sounds like Hinchman.

00:01:37   Yeah.

00:01:38   There's also a website for this madness.

00:01:42   ConnectedIntro.com.

00:01:47   That is the new website where people can go to.

00:01:49   And it's actually quite helpful.

00:01:51   Okay.

00:01:52   Okay.

00:01:53   Federico, you're not doing a good job of the history.

00:01:55   You're not doing a good...

00:01:56   This site has been around for a long time.

00:01:58   I never used it.

00:01:59   I know, I put these in the show notes each week.

00:02:01   But it has been updated with our titles.

00:02:05   It's more useful now.

00:02:07   Wow.

00:02:08   Yeah, there it is.

00:02:10   James Thompson.

00:02:11   There's a bunch of people on this list

00:02:12   in the Connected Interest scoreboard.

00:02:14   Currently, as of June 12th, 2024,

00:02:18   Federico has introduced the show 43 times.

00:02:21   Mike has introduced it 216.

00:02:23   And I've introduced it 244 times.

00:02:26   So think about that, boys.

00:02:31   What is, what am I thinking about?

00:02:34   Just how you're living in my shadow, once again.

00:02:38   I met somebody at WBCC,

00:02:42   and the first thing they said to me,

00:02:43   they introduced themselves, and they said,

00:02:46   "You're taller than I expected."

00:02:48   Huh, they must respect you.

00:02:50   And I said, "Well, you know, I'm taller than Mike,

00:02:52   so that's all that matters."

00:02:53   You're actually not, though.

00:02:54   But you weren't there to defend yourself.

00:02:57   Well, I'm defending myself in front of everyone.

00:02:59   Hmm.

00:03:01   If only there was some way to know.

00:03:03   There is a way to know, I'm taller.

00:03:06   Okay.

00:03:06   Federico, can you tell our listeners what you discovered?

00:03:09   I discovered that the weird fish, a deep part,

00:03:14   like a very important part,

00:03:15   and a very deep, connected lore and piece of trivia,

00:03:20   found its way in the official hero image,

00:03:24   as well as in multiple slides of a WWDC session

00:03:28   about the new translate API,

00:03:31   which is actually a pretty cool technology this year.

00:03:33   But the thing is, weird fish, obviously the microbe emoji

00:03:37   that many years ago I mistook for, well, a weird fish,

00:03:42   is one of the characters, one of the fictional characters,

00:03:47   in this demo app that Apple put together for this session.

00:03:52   And weird fish is typing in these screenshots,

00:03:55   I believe it's Japanese, and the translate API

00:03:59   is translating the text back to English.

00:04:01   So there's not, but there's not only,

00:04:03   it's not just the weird fish reference and acknowledgement,

00:04:07   it's also the text.

00:04:09   In the translated text, weird fish wrote,

00:04:13   "The hike was great, but it was so difficult

00:04:16   that I had to pause the podcast,

00:04:18   and I was an experienced hiker,

00:04:20   and hiked all over Rome, London, and Memphis."

00:04:24   So obviously, the person, the Apple engineer,

00:04:27   put together this session is quite the connected superfan

00:04:32   to have this kind of reference and mention of our series.

00:04:38   So thank you, I couldn't believe it when I saw it,

00:04:41   and the fact that it's like actually shown multiple times

00:04:45   throughout the video is pretty amazing.

00:04:49   And it's a pretty incredible sort of nerd badge of honor,

00:04:54   if you ask me, to have this sort of thing

00:04:56   in a WWDC session, so thank you.

00:04:59   - Yeah, whoever this person is that made this,

00:05:02   this is amazing, and we really appreciate you.

00:05:05   And thank you for immortalizing us once again, you know?

00:05:08   - Once again, yes, that's right.

00:05:11   So weird fish, there you go.

00:05:15   - Do you know the episode where you came up with weird fish

00:05:18   wasn't actually called weird fish?

00:05:21   - No, it was, what was it called?

00:05:22   - The episode was called "Nanohippo."

00:05:25   - Nanohippo?

00:05:26   - Yeah, episode 212 from October 3rd, 2018,

00:05:30   was one of, this was before the game was called "The Jeremy's"

00:05:33   and it was every new emoji in iOS 12.1.

00:05:37   - Whoa.

00:05:38   - And that was where the microbe emoji was included there,

00:05:41   AKA the weird fish emoji.

00:05:44   But what I found particularly interesting about this

00:05:47   is I Googled connected relay FM weird fish,

00:05:50   and this was the first result,

00:05:52   and I don't know how Google knows that.

00:05:55   That was interesting to me.

00:05:58   Because it's not, weird fish is not referenced

00:06:03   in the show notes or the links at all,

00:06:06   but yet it knew that this one was the one to go for.

00:06:09   - Google's a listener.

00:06:11   - Yeah, that's what we thought.

00:06:12   - Yeah, thanks to Google too, I guess.

00:06:13   - Thanks, shout out to Google.

00:06:15   - Shout out to Google for the feedback for this, yes.

00:06:19   - So a friend of ours who remained nameless,

00:06:22   who clearly doesn't listen to our show,

00:06:24   first time I'd seen this person since 2019

00:06:28   and they wanted to see my additional tattoos,

00:06:30   like they're like, "Oh, you've got a COVID tattoo."

00:06:33   - Interesting.

00:06:34   - I just was like, "Eh."

00:06:35   I just kind of moved on, but clearly not a listener.

00:06:39   - They're not a listener, but one blast.

00:06:42   - I don't wanna do that because they have fans.

00:06:44   - So?

00:06:47   - It was Syracuse.

00:06:47   - Oh, John, come on.

00:06:51   See, this is why he's not the true John.

00:06:54   He is a lesser John.

00:06:55   These are the reasons.

00:06:56   This is one of the reasons.

00:06:58   - But I sat next to him at dinner.

00:06:59   It was great to see everybody.

00:07:00   - Disappointing, disappointing.

00:07:02   - Disappointed.

00:07:03   You know that meme?

00:07:07   The disappointed meme?

00:07:08   - No.

00:07:09   - So we're at the end of WWDC week.

00:07:12   How did we watch the keynote?

00:07:15   Steven, did you watch it with new eyes as a developer now?

00:07:19   How was that experience for you watching the keynote

00:07:21   and waiting for the segment

00:07:23   that was gonna make your life more difficult or not?

00:07:26   - It was interesting.

00:07:27   I definitely noticed as I was taking it in,

00:07:31   oh gosh, there are things that I pay attention to now

00:07:34   that maybe I didn't pay such close attention to,

00:07:36   like when they were talking about home screen customization,

00:07:39   I was laser focused on what was happening

00:07:42   and looking through the state of the union

00:07:45   and some other stuff later,

00:07:46   that's where I've been focusing

00:07:48   is some of the customization stuff,

00:07:50   some of the other things

00:07:51   that may impact the underscore family of apps.

00:07:55   So yeah, I definitely,

00:07:56   I didn't think about that much going into it,

00:07:58   but definitely noticed it was happening to me.

00:08:01   - What is your feeling about the stuff that was announced,

00:08:05   like the widget stuff and the theming stuff?

00:08:08   Like how does it make you feel

00:08:11   as part of the widget Smith organization?

00:08:15   - It's super exciting.

00:08:16   Anytime Apple gives people the ability

00:08:19   to customize their devices, it's a good thing.

00:08:22   And like there's a bunch of people on masses

00:08:23   and I'm like, oh, all these,

00:08:25   oh, these all look terrible.

00:08:26   Like it's fine.

00:08:27   - No, they do all look terrible.

00:08:28   I'm one of those people.

00:08:29   Every single example of tinting that I've seen looks bad.

00:08:34   Like they can fit that I believe genuinely,

00:08:36   they will tweak it over the course of the period

00:08:39   and it might look better.

00:08:40   But right now I have yet to see an option

00:08:43   that I think looks good.

00:08:44   With that, unless you sent me one,

00:08:48   if you put the app icons in folders, they can look good.

00:08:51   But I think the tinting, I just, I'm not convinced on it.

00:08:56   And it makes me wonder why,

00:08:57   because Google did a better job.

00:08:59   And I don't know if either of you know this,

00:09:01   does Apple not do like a image analysis

00:09:04   and recommend a tint?

00:09:06   Or is it you just always choose the color?

00:09:07   - No, they do analyze the wallpaper, I think by default.

00:09:11   - It can.

00:09:12   So it will suggest something you can pick

00:09:15   from the color picker or there's an eyedropper

00:09:19   and you can pick a color directly from your wallpaper.

00:09:22   So there are a couple of options there.

00:09:24   And yeah, I agree with you.

00:09:25   Like some of them, like it's a little rough.

00:09:27   I think it will get better.

00:09:29   But overall giving people more options to customize is good.

00:09:33   And there's lots of opportunities for developers.

00:09:35   Like being able to put a control widget

00:09:37   on the lock screen is awesome.

00:09:39   That, I mean, it's great for apps like Widgetsmith.

00:09:42   It's also great for apps like Obscura by our friend Ben.

00:09:45   Their camera application, super cool stuff.

00:09:48   They tie to the action button, they're in control center.

00:09:51   Lots of great stuff.

00:09:52   So yeah, I am pumped about customization and control widgets.

00:09:55   - The thing is like, look,

00:09:58   if you want to make your lock screen look a certain way,

00:10:02   even if other people let me think it's ugly,

00:10:04   that's like totally fine.

00:10:05   Like I'm not saying that like people,

00:10:07   look, I know how my home screen looks.

00:10:09   I know people don't like it, but I love it.

00:10:12   And so like, if you want all your icons

00:10:14   to be like Pearson blue, like go for it.

00:10:16   I just hoped Apple were going to do better.

00:10:19   Like I want to be able to not have to tint

00:10:22   all of the icons, right?

00:10:23   And like, so I think things might improve,

00:10:25   especially the way that Apple has done dark mode icons

00:10:28   is a little aggressive.

00:10:29   Like they've just gone, like everything that's white

00:10:31   is black, which is like pure black.

00:10:33   It's like, okay, we can kind of like,

00:10:36   we can maybe dial that back a bit, you know?

00:10:39   But hey, we'll see.

00:10:41   They're still early.

00:10:42   We all remember iOS 7, you know?

00:10:45   So they changed things over the beta period.

00:10:48   - What about you, Mike?

00:10:49   How was your WBC?

00:10:51   - Yeah, it was fine.

00:10:53   We didn't record, upgrade on Monday

00:10:56   because the scheduling just didn't work out

00:10:58   with Jason in California and me here.

00:11:01   So I watched it at home, which was fine.

00:11:03   You know, I like watching them at home

00:11:06   or other than just being at the studio.

00:11:08   And I would say the week has, it's been like a weird week,

00:11:13   but not like a bad week, if that makes sense.

00:11:15   Like some, you know, in the past

00:11:17   when I've missed these things, it's been really rough.

00:11:20   Maybe my experience in 2022 means that any WWDC I miss

00:11:25   will never feel as bad as that one.

00:11:27   So like maybe I'm scoring on like a different scale here,

00:11:30   you know, like being in the city where it's happening

00:11:34   and not being able to leave your room

00:11:35   is like a very different experience than being at home.

00:11:38   - You did hit rock bottom with that, I think.

00:11:41   - Yeah, and I think it's also helped by the fact

00:11:45   that like this time of year, I am reminded of that.

00:11:48   Like I get my photo widgets pop up

00:11:50   and I see what was going on.

00:11:53   - Gosh.

00:11:53   - No, but when I look back at it now,

00:11:56   there's two feelings of like one,

00:11:58   oh boy, everything's better.

00:11:59   And two, I think it's funny now.

00:12:02   I think the whole thing is actually a funny story

00:12:05   and like is a good story to have.

00:12:08   Like I have a good story, I think.

00:12:10   - It's an excellent story.

00:12:12   - It's a great story.

00:12:13   And like, even now, like I get to,

00:12:16   sometimes when I meet people at Apple PR

00:12:18   and like we're talking and I reference it,

00:12:20   some people are like, wow, some people are like,

00:12:22   oh, I know you.

00:12:23   So, it's an interesting thing that happened to me.

00:12:27   So I guess now, no matter whatever happens at WWDC,

00:12:30   it's never gonna be as bad as that one.

00:12:31   - Well, no, I mean, you could still die at WWDC.

00:12:35   - Geez.

00:12:36   - But then I don't care about it.

00:12:36   - I mean, I'm just saying.

00:12:37   - But that's not a problem to me.

00:12:39   I can't look back on my death and be like,

00:12:41   oh no, that was a shame 'cause it's already done.

00:12:44   That's bad for, that makes your WWDC worse.

00:12:47   - If you die at WWDC, do you die in real life?

00:12:50   - Definitely, definitely.

00:12:52   'Cause I got COVID in real life.

00:12:54   So I carried that for months.

00:12:57   So I know that if something happens at WWDC,

00:13:00   it will continue.

00:13:01   But I didn't get it at WWDC, but I had it,

00:13:05   I tested positive during WWDC.

00:13:07   But yeah, so really as well this week, it looked fun,

00:13:13   but I think it helped for me that a bunch of people

00:13:17   weren't there, right?

00:13:19   Just like Federico wasn't there too.

00:13:20   So if I was at home and then you two were together,

00:13:24   it would have made me feel sadder,

00:13:26   'cause then I'd feel left out.

00:13:28   Steven, you were left out.

00:13:30   You should have come and stayed with us or something.

00:13:32   - I know, no press invite for me, which was a bummer.

00:13:35   I got 'em since 2019, but not this time.

00:13:38   The sun did not shine in favor upon me.

00:13:40   (laughing)

00:13:42   - That's a beautiful way to say that you're upset.

00:13:45   - That's not how I felt at first,

00:13:47   but I've come around to it.

00:13:48   - No.

00:13:49   (laughing)

00:13:51   Yeah, I think there was different word choices, I think.

00:13:55   - Yeah, I believe it was a slightly different tone,

00:13:58   but then you became a poet. - It was disappointing.

00:13:59   - You became a poet, it seems.

00:14:00   - If anything, I am serene now,

00:14:01   as the sun did not shine upon my eyes.

00:14:04   - Look, you spent a couple of days in California,

00:14:05   everything feels better.

00:14:06   - That's true, avocados, you know?

00:14:08   - Did y'all hear what happened to Dan Morin?

00:14:10   - Yes.

00:14:11   - Okay, so if listeners aren't familiar with this,

00:14:14   you haven't heard him,

00:14:15   that maybe I think you talked about

00:14:16   on the Six Colors podcast,

00:14:17   he was taking a photo during the keynote

00:14:19   and dropped his phone on his MacBook Air

00:14:21   and destroyed the screen of his laptop.

00:14:24   And I was in my hotel room in Cupertino,

00:14:26   all my friends were out keynoting together,

00:14:29   and I got a lot of text messages,

00:14:31   like a bunch of group threads, a bunch of Slack stuff,

00:14:34   like you won't believe what happened to Dan.

00:14:36   So rest in peace, Dan's laptop.

00:14:38   - But this feels like a very Dan Morin thing

00:14:41   to have happened.

00:14:41   - It kind of does.

00:14:43   - It does, it really does.

00:14:44   - This really feels like something that would happen.

00:14:46   Like if somebody told me this story

00:14:48   and was like, who did that happen to?

00:14:51   Dan would be very high up on that list from me.

00:14:53   - Are we sure this was not staged?

00:14:56   Are we absolutely sure?

00:14:59   - Is he doing it for the likes?

00:15:00   What's happening here?

00:15:01   - Yeah, I mean, he's talked about it on the podcast

00:15:04   and people are talking about Dan,

00:15:06   are we sure it's not staged?

00:15:08   - He's like, Mike got so much mileage

00:15:10   out of getting COVID that year,

00:15:11   maybe I should destroy my laptop.

00:15:13   You know?

00:15:16   - Yeah, why not?

00:15:17   - Maybe.

00:15:18   We need to look into this.

00:15:20   We need to look into this.

00:15:22   - Jason in the Discord says,

00:15:23   Casey would be the top of that list.

00:15:25   - Yes, Casey would be number one.

00:15:29   Yes, if somebody told me that Casey would be number one,

00:15:31   Dan would probably be number two,

00:15:33   but yeah, I would immediately think that Casey did that.

00:15:35   - Yeah.

00:15:36   I saw Casey too, it was great.

00:15:39   We had a company dinner, it was very nice.

00:15:42   Without y'all, which was sad.

00:15:44   - Yep.

00:15:45   - What betas are we running, if any?

00:15:46   - All of them?

00:15:48   - I'm running an iPad OS on my iPad mini

00:15:53   because it's not being used, so I figured why not.

00:15:55   And I put Vision OS 2 on my Vision Pro.

00:15:59   - Same.

00:16:00   - It feels like in theory it would be the riskiest,

00:16:03   but I think it's actually probably the most stable

00:16:05   would be my assumption because they didn't do

00:16:07   lots of changes and I'm loving it.

00:16:09   Vision OS 2 is fantastic because there's,

00:16:13   I love the new gestures, they're really great

00:16:16   for accessing the home screen and control center and stuff.

00:16:18   - You could say they're hand-tastic.

00:16:21   - I could, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say that,

00:16:24   but I could have said that.

00:16:26   I like the new environment, the beach environment

00:16:28   is really good, Bora Bora, and they've added

00:16:33   profiles to Safari, which means I can use Safari.

00:16:37   Which is always good to be able to effectively

00:16:39   use your web browser.

00:16:40   Only took a year, only took a year from when

00:16:43   Safari profiles were announced, but now I can finally

00:16:46   use my web browser effectively.

00:16:47   But yeah, I think overall it's actually very solid.

00:16:51   I mean, I've said this on other shows, but it's not

00:16:54   what you'd think of as a Vision OS 2, but it is a lot

00:16:58   of really good quality of life improvements for Vision OS,

00:17:01   so it's nice, it's very nice.

00:17:05   Yeah, I have, I guess all the betas except for TV OS

00:17:09   and Mac OS.

00:17:11   I put Watch OS 11 on my watch, iOS on my phone,

00:17:16   iPad OS on my iPad Pro, and yeah, and Vision OS 2

00:17:21   on my Vision Pro.

00:17:24   - What's been your experience so far with iOS and iPad OS?

00:17:27   - Pretty stable overall, with just a couple of things

00:17:33   that I wanna point out on the iPhone.

00:17:35   Spotlight doesn't work quite well, like sometimes

00:17:40   it just doesn't find apps or it gets stuck.

00:17:43   - It's missing its intelligence.

00:17:44   - It's missing the intelligence.

00:17:45   - It's spotlight a lobotomy, you got a light

00:17:48   for a few months, why don't you put the phone back in.

00:17:49   - Spotlight doesn't know what to do at the moment.

00:17:52   Literally, I'm gonna talk about this on App Stories,

00:17:57   literally every single one, like all of them,

00:18:01   of my things, shortcuts and automations, all of them broke.

00:18:05   - Oh no.

00:18:06   - So that was like my reaction, oh no.

00:18:10   And then I realized, well, the way I designed

00:18:12   these shortcuts, I can actually just swap the things actions

00:18:15   with the reminders actions and I'm gonna have

00:18:17   a functional task manager again.

00:18:20   So that's what I did.

00:18:21   - Do you know why this happened?

00:18:22   Have they like changed something in shortcuts?

00:18:25   Like significantly?

00:18:25   - I think it's, I don't know, I don't know.

00:18:29   These things, actions, it's not the first time

00:18:31   they break in shortcuts, it also happened

00:18:34   a couple of months ago in 17 point something,

00:18:38   so I don't know, but yeah, I wanted to test reminders anyway

00:18:42   because of my review and the calendar integration,

00:18:44   plus the fact that all of my shortcuts broke,

00:18:47   pretty good excuse to do so.

00:18:49   And on the iPad, which I'm using right now,

00:18:54   at the moment, the external monitor support

00:18:58   is using all the wrong size classes

00:19:02   for sidebar based apps.

00:19:06   So for example, right now, Files,

00:19:09   which has implemented the new top bar design in iPadOS 18,

00:19:14   and it actually implemented that design better than,

00:19:19   for example, the Books app.

00:19:21   In the new Files, you have the top bar at the top,

00:19:25   but if you don't wanna use it, you can press a button

00:19:28   and you switch back to a sidebar, like in iPadOS 17.

00:19:32   And that works well on the iPad display.

00:19:35   On an external monitor, basically,

00:19:38   iPadOS is always convinced that the window is too small,

00:19:41   and so it doesn't show me the sidebar

00:19:44   and the contents of the window at the same time anymore.

00:19:48   When you show the sidebar, it becomes like a model thing.

00:19:53   And yeah, so the size classes are all--

00:19:57   - I don't even understand how that could happen.

00:19:59   - I have no idea. - That's such a weird

00:20:02   thing to happen.

00:20:03   - So yeah, external monitor support on the iPad

00:20:06   is kinda glitchy right now, but overall,

00:20:09   pretty okay, I would say.

00:20:12   And these betas, Apple, I think, has done a pretty good job

00:20:17   over the years, making beta one relatively functional

00:20:23   overall, like it used to be much worse.

00:20:26   It used to be so bad.

00:20:28   - It used to be very, very bad.

00:20:29   - So bad, like some of them, obviously,

00:20:33   obviously the classic was iOS 7, right?

00:20:35   Like for many reasons, that one will always be the worst one.

00:20:39   The best thing is, I think Steven put it on his iPhone,

00:20:41   we were at WWDC, and I remember him losing like 1%

00:20:44   of battery life a minute on his phone.

00:20:46   It was incredible, when it was just doing nothing.

00:20:49   - iOS 7, baby.

00:20:50   - That was the best, that was the best one,

00:20:52   there'll never be a better one, for the wrong reasons.

00:20:56   But like, you know, I think now they know people

00:20:59   are gonna use it, and they think it's beneficial

00:21:01   for everyone if they can kinda just get it to a point

00:21:04   where it's runnable, and I think that's why we see

00:21:09   fewer features in beta one, right?

00:21:12   That like, not everything is in beta one,

00:21:15   and that tends to be the way that they do things, right?

00:21:17   Because they're giving some stuff a little bit more time

00:21:21   in the open before they put it in.

00:21:22   Maybe.

00:21:25   - So for me, beta wise, I have iOS and watchOS

00:21:30   on my underscore devices.

00:21:34   - What are they, what devices are they?

00:21:37   - Well, funny you asked that.

00:21:39   I got a slap underscores credit card

00:21:41   right on the Apple Store table this week, so.

00:21:44   - Ooh.

00:21:45   - Because the only watch I had floating around

00:21:47   was a Series 5, and that got kicked out this year

00:21:51   from system requirements.

00:21:54   'Cause my other watches have gone to family members

00:21:55   or sold or whatever.

00:21:57   And so I've got a Series 9 Apple Watch,

00:22:00   and my beta phone was an iPhone 12,

00:22:05   and so also have an iPhone 15 Pro as my beta device.

00:22:08   - So you bought an Apple Watch Series 9

00:22:10   and an iPhone 15 Pro this week.

00:22:12   - With David's money, yeah, it was awesome.

00:22:14   - With widget bucks.

00:22:15   - Widget bucks?

00:22:16   - Yeah, widget bucks.

00:22:18   - Yeah.

00:22:19   - That's pretty great, that's pretty great.

00:22:21   So my plan this afternoon is to install VisionOS 2.

00:22:24   Mike, everything you said is what I've heard from everybody.

00:22:27   Like, the features are great, it's really stable,

00:22:30   and so I will do that.

00:22:32   And I want to at some point get on a call with somebody,

00:22:34   'cause apparently these spatial personas can interact more,

00:22:37   like fist bump and high five more easily.

00:22:39   - Yeah, me and Jason had a call the other day,

00:22:43   and the hands are more, like, there's more going on in hands.

00:22:49   Like, it looks more realistic, people's hands and arms.

00:22:52   Just as an update that I'm sure you all want to know,

00:22:54   my mouth still does not move.

00:22:56   - Oh no.

00:22:57   - But you can customize glasses now, so yay!

00:23:01   You know, we're getting there piece by piece.

00:23:03   So I wear glasses now in my persona.

00:23:05   - Do they have temples,

00:23:06   or are they still like the Matrix glasses?

00:23:08   - I think they have, I think they have temples.

00:23:12   I think so.

00:23:12   - 'Cause they used to not, didn't they?

00:23:14   They originally didn't?

00:23:16   - I think some of them, I don't know.

00:23:17   I'm pretty sure that they have--

00:23:18   - Did I tell you all this?

00:23:20   - I don't know.

00:23:21   - Okay, I'm gonna be, that's not important.

00:23:24   I was in a meeting with somebody,

00:23:25   and they pulled some reading glasses out,

00:23:27   and they were Matrix glasses.

00:23:30   Just like clipped on the nose, no temples.

00:23:32   - Oh wow.

00:23:33   - No arms.

00:23:33   - Wait, hang on a second.

00:23:34   So you were meeting with someone,

00:23:36   who you should tell us who that is.

00:23:38   You gotta keep that trend going today.

00:23:39   - You won't know them.

00:23:41   - They put glasses, just like,

00:23:44   and they were just resting on their nose?

00:23:46   - Yes, they were like the glasses that Morpheus wears,

00:23:49   where they just like clip on the nose.

00:23:51   No--

00:23:52   - That is incredible. - Do you think it's possible

00:23:53   that this person would just,

00:23:55   they forgot their real glasses,

00:23:56   and they were just putting their clip-ons on?

00:23:58   - I don't know.

00:23:59   I'm gonna keep an eye out next time I see them

00:24:00   with reading glasses on.

00:24:02   - Interesting.

00:24:03   - Why would you have these if you didn't want them?

00:24:05   - I mean, maybe they were from the 1830s or something.

00:24:08   (laughing)

00:24:10   - It was Casey, no it wasn't.

00:24:13   No one on the internet.

00:24:14   - He was John Church himself.

00:24:16   - They still can't deal with beards and mustaches,

00:24:19   but they have made some improvements to the personas again.

00:24:23   - So yeah, I'll do Vision OS 2 here soon.

00:24:26   I have not played with iPad OS,

00:24:28   but I'll probably do that just some point

00:24:30   later in the summer.

00:24:32   - What about Sequoia?

00:24:33   Sequoia, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:24:35   - Sequoia.

00:24:36   - Why have they done this again?

00:24:37   Why do they just keep picking things

00:24:39   that are impossible to spell?

00:24:41   - See, I know how it's spelled already.

00:24:43   - Why does everybody think it's difficult?

00:24:45   - It's so easy, Sequoia.

00:24:47   - Sequoia.

00:24:48   - It's Sequoia.

00:24:49   - To spell, not to say.

00:24:52   - To spell.

00:24:53   - You can just like, no problem,

00:24:56   remember the order of the U's, the O's and the A's.

00:24:59   - Absolutely.

00:25:00   - Well, then look, I'm the one who's wrong, all right?

00:25:03   But I can't, I can't do it.

00:25:05   I don't know what order they go in.

00:25:07   - Okay.

00:25:08   - There's every vowel in this word though, which is funny.

00:25:12   - I know it 'cause it's a toy to SUV.

00:25:14   So I know it from that context.

00:25:16   (laughing)

00:25:18   - Federico, why do you know?

00:25:19   Just like, no, is it like an Italian word?

00:25:21   - The Italian word is literally the same

00:25:24   with obviously different pronunciation, Sequoia.

00:25:27   It's more open.

00:25:28   - Do you have Sequoia trees in Italy?

00:25:30   - No, but no, we don't.

00:25:33   But it's pretty easy.

00:25:34   The O always goes after the U.

00:25:39   So you know it's how to spell, quo, right?

00:25:42   And then I A at the end.

00:25:45   And it becomes really easy once you know that, Sequoia.

00:25:47   - Sequoia.

00:25:49   - So what you're saying is once you've definitely learned

00:25:51   the order of the letters, it's easy to remember?

00:25:53   - Yes.

00:25:55   - See, that's my problem, I suppose.

00:25:57   (laughing)

00:25:58   - Once you know it, you have it in your brain.

00:26:01   - Yeah, once you know it.

00:26:02   - Well, yeah, that's where I'm falling down, I guess.

00:26:04   - Yeah, Mike's looking at all those letters

00:26:06   and like, they're not where you think.

00:26:08   - No!

00:26:09   - No.

00:26:10   - Yeah!

00:26:11   - Yeah, yes, thank you.

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00:28:35   and Relay FM.

00:28:36   The Ricky's is a game connected hosts play

00:28:40   before Apple Keynotes and the beginning of a new year

00:28:43   trying to predict future events.

00:28:45   It is made up of three rounds.

00:28:48   Each host makes two regular picks followed by a risky pick.

00:28:52   There are two types of Ricky's.

00:28:53   Today we are playing keynote Ricky's.

00:28:55   The keynote Ricky's winner is named the keynote chairman.

00:28:58   The position is held until the next keynote.

00:29:01   Hosts should be introduced at the top of each episode

00:29:04   according to their current titles.

00:29:06   We did that today.

00:29:08   - We did do that today.

00:29:09   - It felt good. - This is change.

00:29:11   This is actual legislation, you know?

00:29:13   - It is. - We debate it

00:29:13   and then it goes into a media effect.

00:29:15   - Yeah, who needs Congress when you have the three of us?

00:29:18   In the event that a host has both positions,

00:29:21   they shall be introduced as the Ricky Benchman.

00:29:24   Also happened today.

00:29:26   - See, effective legislation.

00:29:28   Really, that's the thing you can take away

00:29:30   from this show is that we're good at legislating.

00:29:32   - That we should rule the entire world.

00:29:35   After the Ricky's, the hosts then play a game

00:29:37   called the Flexies.

00:29:37   These two games are separate but related.

00:29:40   Please stand for the reading of the rules.

00:29:44   Correct regular picks are awarded one point.

00:29:54   The language used for regular picks must be finalized

00:29:57   and agreed upon during recording

00:29:59   and no partial points may be awarded.

00:30:01   Correct risky picks are worth two points

00:30:03   but wrong ones will cause a point to be deducted

00:30:06   from that host total.

00:30:08   Picks must have been approved as risky

00:30:09   by the two other hosts before the start of the game.

00:30:13   Picks made for keynote Ricky's cannot be reused

00:30:15   by the host who made them for the next keynote.

00:30:18   The annual Ricky's have their own set of rules

00:30:21   but they don't matter today.

00:30:23   For keynote Ricky's, the scoring window starts

00:30:25   when the live stream begins and closes

00:30:27   when the picks are scored.

00:30:28   That is basically right now.

00:30:31   Any information used in scoring must be publicly verifiable

00:30:35   at the time of recording.

00:30:37   All hosts are allowed to reuse picks

00:30:39   previously made by others.

00:30:41   Scoring is completed during recording

00:30:43   and cannot be modified once an episode is complete.

00:30:46   In the event of a tie, dice by PCalc must be used

00:30:49   in relay FM mode to pick a winner.

00:30:52   In the case of a three-way tie,

00:30:54   hosts all make their calls at the same time

00:30:57   with flipping continuing until a winner is named.

00:31:00   Now, speaking of flipping coins,

00:31:03   Jason Snell has a lifetime ban on flipping any coins

00:31:08   in relation to the Ricky's.

00:31:10   Coin flips by Jason on other podcasts are allowed

00:31:13   but are frowned upon and subject to public shaming.

00:31:17   The order of picks is set by previous performance.

00:31:20   The winner of the previous associated game goes first,

00:31:22   the previous loser goes last.

00:31:24   Winners will be recognized during the closing ceremonies.

00:31:29   As a reminder, Mike currently holds both titles,

00:31:32   annual and keynote.

00:31:34   Past results can be seen at rickys.co and rickys.net.

00:31:37   These sites also have pages about managing

00:31:39   your own scorekeeping at home.

00:31:41   You may be seated.

00:31:43   - Somebody wrote in, I can get the name in a moment,

00:31:49   and they were saying, considering last time we spoke

00:31:52   about some of the lore behind the Ricky's,

00:31:55   and we've done a little bit of it on this one

00:31:57   with the weird fish, they wanted to know, this is Ben,

00:32:02   why is Jason banned from flipping coins?

00:32:05   - Ah, that's a good story.

00:32:07   - So this was the 2019, 2018?

00:32:11   - 2018, I think, yeah. - I think.

00:32:15   - 18 or 19, yeah.

00:32:17   - We were doing a live show as we do.

00:32:20   I think we were in the Hammer Theater in San Jose,

00:32:23   and we knew the day of that we were gonna be going

00:32:28   to a three-way tie for the game.

00:32:31   I think it might have been 2019, the chance to say it,

00:32:34   but nevertheless.

00:32:36   And we kinda came to realize that we were gonna tie,

00:32:40   and we wanted to resolve it for there to be a winner.

00:32:43   This is when the game was still relatively early,

00:32:45   so we decided, there were a couple of ways

00:32:47   that we thought we could do it,

00:32:48   and the way that I thought would be the most stupid

00:32:50   was a coin flip knockout competition,

00:32:54   which is actually different to how we do this now,

00:32:56   but that was the way we wanted to do it then.

00:32:59   So we wanted somebody to help us who was independent

00:33:02   to flip the coin, and so during rehearsals,

00:33:07   we asked Jason if he would do it,

00:33:10   which is when we learned Jason cannot, cannot flip a coin,

00:33:15   like can't do it.

00:33:18   There is footage of this in the Podcastathon last year

00:33:21   because we asked Jason to flip coins

00:33:23   so people could see it.

00:33:24   Jason doesn't really flip a coin

00:33:26   as much as he throws a coin into the air.

00:33:30   Yeah, and so we ended up--

00:33:32   - And he doesn't catch it.

00:33:33   - He doesn't catch it.

00:33:34   He tries, but usually fails.

00:33:36   And so what Jason did do was I believe he came onto stage

00:33:41   and asked Siri to flip coins,

00:33:43   which is then how we started doing that for a while

00:33:45   until James Thompson built the coin flipping.

00:33:48   And I will be putting into the show notes,

00:33:50   Steven just made these, a couple of gifs of Jason

00:33:53   in the Podcastathon last year

00:33:55   when we asked him to flip coins.

00:33:56   So if you wanna see why Jason has been banned

00:33:59   for flipping coins and related to podcast games,

00:34:01   then you can go to the show notes and find out why.

00:34:04   - Yeah. - Yeah.

00:34:05   Okay, round one, Mike, you're up.

00:34:08   - More flexibility for app icon placement

00:34:11   on the iPhone home screen.

00:34:13   - Mm. - Ding.

00:34:15   - No, we're not doing that anymore.

00:34:16   - Oh, sorry.

00:34:17   Just make a ding sound.

00:34:18   You can just ding us, you know?

00:34:20   Ding us off. - Yeah.

00:34:21   Okay. - So this happened.

00:34:25   Federico, have you done anything fun with your home screens?

00:34:29   - Yeah, yeah, so I was playing around with it

00:34:34   and the only thing I could think of was like,

00:34:38   maybe I'm gonna leave an empty spot

00:34:41   in the upper right corner of my home screen

00:34:45   because like I mostly use my iPhone left-handed,

00:34:48   I discovered, and so the upper right

00:34:51   is where my thumb cannot reach.

00:34:53   So I thought, well, that area,

00:34:56   I usually don't reach with my thumb,

00:34:58   might as well try and put it empty,

00:35:00   but I gotta say, I don't think this feature is for me

00:35:05   because like now I'm looking at that empty spot

00:35:08   and I'm thinking, well, that could just be filled

00:35:10   with the widget or with icons.

00:35:13   I don't know, I think I just got so used

00:35:15   to an information-dense home screen

00:35:18   and also like I am not the type of person

00:35:22   who goes for like the home screen aesthetic,

00:35:24   I'm more utilitarian and so I don't think,

00:35:29   like I'm happy that they have done this.

00:35:32   They should have done it years ago.

00:35:33   I'm glad this feature now exists on the iPad as well.

00:35:37   Maybe it'll be more useful on the iPad, we'll see,

00:35:40   but it's not for me.

00:35:42   - I think it's gonna be more interesting

00:35:45   on the iPad in some ways to have empty spots.

00:35:48   'Cause I'm kinda like you, Federico,

00:35:52   like I want the density and I use a pretty plain

00:35:56   iPhone wallpaper on the home screen.

00:35:59   Like my lock screen's a photo of my wife,

00:36:01   but the home screen's like a kind of a gray background

00:36:04   and so it's not like I'm framing them around a picture.

00:36:07   I know a lot of people do that

00:36:09   and so for a lot of people it will be very good,

00:36:11   but I'm kinda like you, like on the iPhone

00:36:13   I've been playing with it and it's like yeah,

00:36:15   I already had widgets at the top of the screen

00:36:18   to move the icons down and I like having that data there.

00:36:21   So we'll see.

00:36:22   - Yeah, I think it might take time.

00:36:24   Like I remember when they had widgets at first,

00:36:28   like when they brought the new widget style in,

00:36:30   I was very much like, but I like all my app icons.

00:36:33   - Yeah.

00:36:34   - And over time I realized that no,

00:36:37   some widgets are better than,

00:36:38   so my thing is like I'm gonna give it time,

00:36:41   but I am in the same boat as you Federico

00:36:43   where it's like why would I have empty space?

00:36:46   Because we've been used to this for like 15 years

00:36:49   or whatever it's been now, not having empty spaces.

00:36:53   So, but you know, this is I think a fantastic feature

00:36:57   for the people that will use it.

00:37:00   Like and it should have been this way for a long time.

00:37:02   So I'm pleased that it's there,

00:37:03   even if I'm not completely sure how I'm gonna use it yet.

00:37:07   - Yeah, and speaking of widgets,

00:37:09   I just wanted to point out,

00:37:10   I believe this used to be a prediction of mine last year

00:37:15   or two years ago, but in iOS 18, it finally came true.

00:37:19   Legacy widgets have been discontinued.

00:37:22   - Oh.

00:37:22   - Yep.

00:37:23   - Like the Pcalc widget for example,

00:37:26   some people still had, I believe the HomeRun widgets,

00:37:30   I think.

00:37:30   Anyway, those widgets in the today page are no more.

00:37:35   - Does that page still exist?

00:37:37   - It does exist, but it's only for native modern widgets.

00:37:41   - I feel like we should get rid of that.

00:37:44   You know what I mean?

00:37:45   What's the point of that page anymore?

00:37:48   - I like having widgets just like nearby, you know?

00:37:53   - But you could just swipe over, write and get widgets.

00:37:55   - Yeah, I'm kind of ambivalent.

00:38:00   - Widgets can go anywhere, so why do they need to be there?

00:38:01   - Kind of ambivalent about it,

00:38:04   because I don't know, it is nice to have it.

00:38:08   I don't know, there's something about going

00:38:11   to the right side.

00:38:13   I'm not the type of person who has many home screens,

00:38:17   and I don't know, I kind of prefer having widgets.

00:38:20   Like I try to have one home screen going all the time,

00:38:25   just one page, and I kind of like the idea

00:38:28   of widgets on the left, app library on the right.

00:38:32   If you have a single page like I do.

00:38:34   But yeah, I get your point, Mike.

00:38:38   - Here's my prediction.

00:38:39   This is a long-term prediction, which obviously unscored.

00:38:42   The introduction of Control Center,

00:38:44   and the changes to Control Center,

00:38:47   is gonna kill off that page.

00:38:49   I reckon next year that page is gone,

00:38:51   because people will migrate a lot of their quick actions

00:38:55   that they think that go on that page

00:38:57   to Control Center actions.

00:38:59   - Maybe. - It's possible.

00:39:01   - So you're swiping left on the Today View,

00:39:03   is what you're doing.

00:39:04   - Yeah, here's the fun thing though.

00:39:06   I don't know. - Isn't that what you do?

00:39:07   You swipe left if you don't want.

00:39:08   - I don't know whether left or right is the good one.

00:39:10   - Swipe left meaning?

00:39:13   Swipe left. - We're very old.

00:39:15   None of us needed Tinder in our lives.

00:39:19   - Swipe left means to reject.

00:39:21   - Yeah, yeah. - Okay.

00:39:22   So I am swiping left on it then,

00:39:25   'cause I don't want it anymore.

00:39:27   - Glad we cleared that up.

00:39:28   - Wow, that was bad, rough.

00:39:30   - Okay. - Yeah, can we move on?

00:39:33   - Let's move on, Federico.

00:39:35   - Round one, I said there are some design

00:39:38   and navigation updates to the Settings app

00:39:40   across multiple platforms.

00:39:42   - Ding.

00:39:43   - Yeah.

00:39:45   So we did not get a major Settings revamp on macOS,

00:39:50   I think, but there are changes on iOS and iPadOS for sure.

00:39:55   The main thing they've done is, as we predicted,

00:39:59   they copied VisionOS, and so now all of your apps settings

00:40:03   are into an apps subpage of settings,

00:40:07   which has made the main Settings page shorter,

00:40:10   and if you wanna change something for an app,

00:40:14   you know that you gotta go into the apps section.

00:40:16   There are also some new headings for sections.

00:40:23   The iCloud Settings page has been redesigned

00:40:26   with some new colors, some new icons.

00:40:30   Obviously passwords has been moved out of Settings

00:40:34   and into a standalone app,

00:40:35   so there's a bunch of things like that.

00:40:36   - Apple account, right?

00:40:37   So they changed stuff. - Apple account.

00:40:38   - So Apple ID is now Apple account.

00:40:40   - Now it's your Apple account, which is a good name.

00:40:42   - I think that's just a good branding change.

00:40:45   - I like it. - It's a good name.

00:40:47   - Apple ID, now when you say it, it's like,

00:40:49   what does that even mean?

00:40:51   (laughing)

00:40:51   What are we getting at here?

00:40:53   Yeah, Apple account is better.

00:40:54   - Apple account, much better.

00:40:56   So yeah, it's not like a drastic redesign.

00:40:59   It's more of a reorganization of sorts.

00:41:02   And I think it's, at least from what I've seen on iOS

00:41:06   and iPadOS, they've done a pretty good job, I think.

00:41:09   - It doesn't seem like they've actually really done

00:41:11   what everybody wanted,

00:41:12   which was a big change on the Mac though, which is a shame.

00:41:14   - Yeah, yeah.

00:41:16   - That's a shame.

00:41:17   - Okay, my round one pick was,

00:41:22   there is no new hardware announced or released.

00:41:26   - Ding. - Ding.

00:41:28   - Yeah.

00:41:28   - This one seemed a bit tentative for you

00:41:30   for a little bit, right?

00:41:31   'Cause it took the store down.

00:41:32   I was like, whoa, here we go, here we go.

00:41:36   Thought you were gonna get some phone case or something,

00:41:38   but no, you made it out.

00:41:40   - I did, I was nervous when the store went down.

00:41:43   Like, I was like, oh, what are you doing, Apple?

00:41:46   Don't do it to me.

00:41:47   But escaped without any hardware.

00:41:51   Software only show for almost, what was the final time, Mike?

00:41:55   A little over two hours or right at two hours?

00:41:57   - It was like, it was about an hour and 45,

00:42:00   something like that.

00:42:01   - Okay, okay.

00:42:02   So yeah, no new hardware.

00:42:06   So at the end of round one, we are tied.

00:42:10   - Question for you both, like talking about the runtime.

00:42:14   Maybe densest feeling WWDC?

00:42:17   - Probably, yeah.

00:42:21   - 'Cause like really this was over two WWDCs.

00:42:24   Like I imagine a world where if they just did everything

00:42:28   that was in the first half, it would have been fine, right?

00:42:31   We would have come away and been like,

00:42:32   there's some good stuff here, I suppose.

00:42:34   Like you thinking back to like,

00:42:36   was it '13 where they introduced Swift

00:42:39   and basically had nothing else?

00:42:40   Do you remember that year?

00:42:41   - 2014. - 2014.

00:42:43   - We watched it at Twitter's office.

00:42:45   - Yeah, 24 hours. - It was at iOS 8.

00:42:48   - If I'm not mistaken. - Think about that now.

00:42:49   That was a time.

00:42:50   And I remember it was just like,

00:42:52   there just wasn't really much to talk about,

00:42:55   if I'm remembering it correctly.

00:42:57   But it definitely wasn't that, right?

00:42:59   Like they really had their stuff together.

00:43:04   - They, yeah, yeah.

00:43:07   They were hinting the whole first half, right?

00:43:09   They kept mentioning like the machine learning intelligence

00:43:11   and I felt like, okay, we know what's coming.

00:43:14   But yeah, really it was the platforms, WWDC,

00:43:17   that we've come to know over the last 10 or 15 years.

00:43:21   And then all the intelligent stuff,

00:43:23   it kind of dropping back into the platforms as they went.

00:43:26   I still think and kind of hope for a day

00:43:29   where the keynote is arranged around features

00:43:32   and not platforms, but that's a pretty inside baseball.

00:43:37   And I think they like highlighting

00:43:38   that they're moving all their platforms forward

00:43:40   even if it's uneven.

00:43:41   So it's probably how it's gonna be.

00:43:45   - That's an interesting thought.

00:43:48   I wanna think about that a little bit.

00:43:50   Like what would that look like

00:43:52   and what would the ramifications of that be?

00:43:54   Like in a different year, like if it's very normal,

00:43:59   there would be like things coming to the iPhone

00:44:01   that aren't on the iPads.

00:44:03   Like what do you do in that scenario, do you think?

00:44:06   If you're doing a features one.

00:44:08   - Sure, I mean, that could have happened this year.

00:44:10   We didn't really talk about it,

00:44:12   but the home screen stuff is on both the iPhone and iPad

00:44:15   at the same time.

00:44:16   And that's a first with widgets on the home screen.

00:44:19   Like then they were like stuck in the weird sidebar

00:44:21   on the iPad, like that was a weird year.

00:44:23   They weren't on the lock screen.

00:44:26   This year they're in step, but to your point,

00:44:29   more often than not, they're out of step.

00:44:31   And so, yeah, I guess that does throw a wrench

00:44:33   in a feature based keynote.

00:44:36   - Feels like that could have, like that to me

00:44:40   could have been like a very easy,

00:44:41   somebody made that as their first round pick, you know?

00:44:44   Because like we would just naturally assume

00:44:46   that the iPad would not get it.

00:44:48   And, but luckily nobody made that pick this time around.

00:44:52   - Okay, so round two, Mike you're up again.

00:44:57   - Notification summaries are powered by a new AI system.

00:45:02   - Ding?

00:45:05   I mean, yes.

00:45:06   - Yeah, no, why?

00:45:07   - Why question my ding? - No, sorry, sorry, sorry.

00:45:09   No, I shouldn't have questioned, it's fine.

00:45:11   I shouldn't have questioned the ding.

00:45:13   You have the point.

00:45:14   - Never question the ding, okay?

00:45:16   - I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

00:45:18   But I don't, I was kind of surprised at how fast this went.

00:45:23   Like, I don't know if I have my hands around

00:45:25   what this actually looks like yet.

00:45:27   - Oh, this is like my favorite thing.

00:45:29   Like there's a couple of things going on here.

00:45:33   And Federico, you can correct me if I'm wrong

00:45:34   about any of it.

00:45:35   So point one is like, if you have loads of notifications,

00:45:39   Apple intelligence is going to bring forward

00:45:43   to the top of the list, the things that it believes

00:45:46   are the most important for you to look at.

00:45:48   - Yeah.

00:45:49   - If there is a group chat, which is popping off,

00:45:53   and my hope would be that it would also do this

00:45:55   for stuff for like third party apps too,

00:45:58   but I don't know about that yet.

00:46:00   It will actually look at the contents of the message

00:46:02   and summarize what's going on in those messages.

00:46:05   So like, you know, Bob and Mary and Jim are talking

00:46:10   about this update to the latest house rules or whatever.

00:46:15   You know, like it's going to look at the content

00:46:17   and like sum it up for you.

00:46:18   And then also there is a new focus mode,

00:46:21   which is called something that I will-

00:46:26   - Reduce interruptions.

00:46:27   - Thank you Federico, reduce interruptions.

00:46:30   And that one, you just turn that on.

00:46:32   And if the system believes there is something you need to see

00:46:35   it will tell you.

00:46:37   - Yeah.

00:46:37   - So I think this is all really good.

00:46:41   Clearly notifications are a problem.

00:46:43   They're always going to be a problem.

00:46:44   Maybe we should just have the AI manager for us.

00:46:46   - Hmm.

00:46:48   - Yeah, yeah.

00:46:50   - I do think it's interesting

00:46:53   'cause it's like the summarization tools,

00:46:55   like in mail or other places,

00:46:56   but kind of across different things.

00:47:00   I don't know, something about that is interesting.

00:47:02   - There's a lot of summarization

00:47:04   and that is like overall my favorite

00:47:06   of all of the AI features.

00:47:09   It's just anywhere they're summarizing anything.

00:47:11   Like the email thing where they summarize

00:47:13   what's in the email in that little preview line.

00:47:16   - Super smart.

00:47:17   - If you get a long email and they give you a TLDR,

00:47:19   all of that stuff is fantastic.

00:47:21   Like summarize or like the stuff that's in Safari,

00:47:23   which isn't Apple intelligence,

00:47:25   it's just available in Safari.

00:47:27   But it feels like that kind of thing

00:47:30   where you can go to a webpage and reader

00:47:32   and the first thing it will show you

00:47:33   before it shows you the reader view

00:47:35   is here's what's on this webpage.

00:47:38   So I think all of that stuff is great to be honest.

00:47:42   - You guys know me, I don't like to read.

00:47:44   Do the reading for me computer.

00:47:45   You know, I don't wanna read this.

00:47:48   - Computers love reading.

00:47:50   - Yeah, I have mixed feelings

00:47:51   about the summarization in the browser,

00:47:53   but we'll talk about that in a bit, I guess.

00:47:56   - Yeah, look, the feature and how the feature is possible,

00:48:01   different things, right?

00:48:02   - Can you separate the art from the artist?

00:48:07   - No, no, but that's not actually what I'm saying.

00:48:10   When I'm saying like there is a feature, right?

00:48:11   And that, but like if they would have gotten to that feature

00:48:15   by not scraping the open web,

00:48:17   then you would be okay with it, right?

00:48:19   - Oh yeah, oh yeah.

00:48:20   - Yeah, so that's what I'm saying.

00:48:21   What it's doing is one thing,

00:48:22   how it got there is another thing, important,

00:48:25   but I believe there is a distinction between the two.

00:48:28   - So round two, my pick was there is a new system

00:48:33   for changing the colors of icons on the home screen.

00:48:37   - Ding! - Ding, yes.

00:48:39   - Oh, that was a emphatic ding.

00:48:40   (laughing)

00:48:43   - Well, no, look, look, look, okay.

00:48:46   I think, I also think this is not for me.

00:48:51   I think some people will manage to make it look nice.

00:48:55   I don't think my personal taste, okay,

00:48:58   just my personal opinion, my personal taste,

00:49:01   I don't even think Apple's own marketing images look good.

00:49:05   Like I just think even the good ones

00:49:10   are horrible.

00:49:12   - Like the one they showed in the keynote

00:49:14   with the dog and it's yellow, it's like that just, to me-

00:49:17   - And they were so proud of it.

00:49:19   I thought I was losing my mind.

00:49:20   Like I thought I was like,

00:49:23   I should have looked around for cameras pointing at me

00:49:25   or something like, okay, I mean, I'm the joke.

00:49:27   Like, okay, I get it.

00:49:29   Now we're all like convinced that this is looking nice.

00:49:33   Sure, no, I don't think it looks nice.

00:49:36   I think it's also like, you know me, I love customization,

00:49:41   putting the power in the hands of consumers.

00:49:44   Like I'm all in favor of it.

00:49:47   But I think there could, should maybe have been

00:49:52   a better developer story other than,

00:49:56   hey, when you sign the updated developer agreement,

00:49:59   you're also agreeing that users will be able

00:50:02   to change the colors of your icons.

00:50:04   And I think maybe there could have been an API

00:50:07   or something better to say,

00:50:09   hey developers, people will be able to do this.

00:50:13   Here's a few ways for you to properly optimize your icons

00:50:16   or maybe there could have been a way to say,

00:50:21   maybe the icon could be of a certain color,

00:50:24   but like multiple shades of the same color.

00:50:27   Like I just think that applying a blue filter

00:50:31   or a red filter on top of icons and just call it a day,

00:50:35   while easy, right, as a concept and as an implementation,

00:50:40   I also think it leads to some very,

00:50:43   very questionable visual results.

00:50:46   - Yeah, I think that they came to the conclusion

00:50:50   that I think we were talking about maybe last week

00:50:52   of big brands aren't gonna let,

00:50:54   they're not gonna allow this if they're given the choice.

00:50:57   Right, that if it's like a thing where you have to provide us

00:51:00   with a certain icon so people can do this,

00:51:02   they're not gonna do it.

00:51:04   So this is like the only way they could do it,

00:51:06   it's just they apply it broadly

00:51:08   and you have no choice in the matter.

00:51:09   But I believe like you that the actual implementation

00:51:13   that Apple has gone with leads to not good results.

00:51:16   And I think it would be better

00:51:18   if people could actually choose different colors.

00:51:23   - Yes, yes, yes.

00:51:26   - And I don't know if they're gonna do this,

00:51:28   but I hope that they do.

00:51:29   - And like, I don't even think Apple,

00:51:32   sometimes this happens with Apple

00:51:34   when they listen to feedback.

00:51:36   And I think they misunderstood

00:51:39   what a lot of people were asking for.

00:51:43   In fact, Matt Bertler was posting about this

00:51:48   on Masterdome a few days ago, I think.

00:51:50   If you look at any, literally any,

00:51:55   of the most popular aesthetic home screen icon packs

00:52:00   or tutorials on places like Etsy,

00:52:03   Gumroad, YouTube, or TikTok,

00:52:05   and if you sample, say, the top 20

00:52:08   of those aesthetic home screens,

00:52:09   none of them are based on this style.

00:52:13   All of them are based on maybe all pastel color icons

00:52:18   or maybe beige icons or maybe pure black icons

00:52:22   and white color glyphs.

00:52:24   They're not going for this style.

00:52:28   And I think if you wanted to make those people happy

00:52:31   rather than doing this,

00:52:33   you would have done something different,

00:52:34   which is let me customize the icon

00:52:38   by choosing from a photo or by choosing from a file

00:52:41   right there from the home screen

00:52:42   instead of having to make a shortcut for it.

00:52:45   And so I think this is a case of Apple

00:52:47   misunderstanding what the market wanted

00:52:49   and making a feature that, in theory,

00:52:52   like power to the people.

00:52:53   I mean, sure, like the principle

00:52:56   is based on a strong foundation

00:52:58   of users should be able to do what they want,

00:53:01   but the implementation, let's face it, it's a little ugly.

00:53:06   - I wonder if it would be better if you could choose,

00:53:09   'cause every time you do this, they turn the icons black.

00:53:11   I don't know why, but that's what they do.

00:53:13   Like it's black and then the color you've chosen.

00:53:16   Maybe it would be better if you could just choose two colors.

00:53:20   - Maybe, maybe, yes.

00:53:22   - Like maybe that would produce-

00:53:24   - Maybe the, like my actual problem

00:53:27   is the black color of the icons.

00:53:30   I just think, like even if you look at that example,

00:53:34   they just paste it into Discord, the second one,

00:53:37   with the photo of the person walking on the sand dunes

00:53:40   and the icons around the photo,

00:53:42   like the contrast between those black icons

00:53:44   and the rest of the picture is so ugly to me.

00:53:48   I can't believe this is a marketing material from Apple.

00:53:51   - Those are from the, which I'll put in the show notes,

00:53:54   the iOS 18 preview page.

00:53:56   Like they're the two examples that they've picked.

00:54:00   - Okay, all right, so yeah, you can change.

00:54:02   Anyway, once again, I get the point, yeah.

00:54:07   Steven.

00:54:07   - Apple mentions that it has created its own LLM.

00:54:13   - Ding.

00:54:14   - Ding.

00:54:15   - Ding. - Yeah.

00:54:16   - Ding?

00:54:17   - No, no.

00:54:19   - Ding?

00:54:20   - Ding.

00:54:21   In this economy, yes, so Apple has its own

00:54:27   large language models.

00:54:28   Apple's collectively calling these models

00:54:30   the foundation models, that's kind of how they refer to them

00:54:33   and we have some links in the show notes

00:54:35   to Apple's machine learning blog.

00:54:37   But this I think is, we touched on it a second ago,

00:54:41   but Federico, do you wanna talk about the training

00:54:42   a little bit?

00:54:44   - Yeah, so they almost offhandedly mentioned,

00:54:49   in one of the Q&As that they did at Apple Park,

00:54:53   moderated by iJustine, I believe Craig Federico

00:54:56   first mentioned that they also used

00:54:59   crawling using Apple bot on the open web,

00:55:03   which is also something that they confirmed

00:55:06   on the machine learning website.

00:55:09   - And the talk show, it came up in the talk show as well.

00:55:11   - And the talk show, okay.

00:55:12   I personally am very offended by this

00:55:18   and I find it very insulting to publishers

00:55:23   and to creators on the web,

00:55:26   not just because of the technique being used,

00:55:30   obviously scraping the web to use the data

00:55:34   as training for AI that would be in a commercial product,

00:55:39   but to add insult to the injury is the fact

00:55:43   that we were told after the fact

00:55:46   and we were given instructions on how to block

00:55:49   Apple bot extended, now that the training has been done.

00:55:53   So yay, thank you for that.

00:55:54   Now I can block it now, but you've been scraping websites

00:55:59   for months at this point.

00:56:00   And the reason I'm so upset is that

00:56:04   of all companies that do this,

00:56:09   and literally every AI company does this,

00:56:11   save for like, I think one exception,

00:56:15   I think I did some research,

00:56:16   I only was able to find one LLM based on

00:56:21   like all licensed and open source content.

00:56:25   I believe LLM 360 is the only one that does this,

00:56:29   but of all companies.

00:56:31   - That sounds made up.

00:56:32   It's like a Roma 360.

00:56:34   - Trust me, it's not,

00:56:36   but of all companies that were expecting more from Apple

00:56:42   and to just say this in a blog post,

00:56:45   like, yeah, we also use data from the open web,

00:56:48   like I am not okay with it.

00:56:52   And I think it's pretty disgusting.

00:56:54   That would be- - It's disappointing.

00:56:56   - Yes, yes.

00:56:58   - It's disappointing and I think it is

00:57:00   another of the symptoms of how recently

00:57:06   they started this project,

00:57:08   that they felt like they needed to be on this quickly

00:57:13   and it did not give them the opportunity to do it better.

00:57:20   - I'm sure that's part of the problem.

00:57:26   - That's what I believe is the case.

00:57:28   - I hope that's the case

00:57:30   and I hope it's not instead a case of thinking,

00:57:36   I see this misconception

00:57:38   and it's what's part of the responses that I got

00:57:41   after I posted about this on Mastodon,

00:57:44   that anything that is on the open web,

00:57:47   you should be okay with AI crawlers ingesting that content.

00:57:52   And I think that is so wrong as an assumption to make,

00:57:57   that it's okay to-

00:57:59   - This is the excuse people will tell themselves

00:58:02   and tell others after they've done it

00:58:03   to excuse the fact that they-

00:58:04   - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:58:07   And if it was okay,

00:58:10   we wouldn't see these instances of companies

00:58:13   suing other AI companies,

00:58:15   like for example, the New York Times suing OpenAI

00:58:18   and then making a deal,

00:58:20   like an official deal with OpenAI,

00:58:22   Vox Media has made it similar.

00:58:26   - There are, I don't think the New York Times

00:58:27   is on a deal with OpenAI.

00:58:28   - Oh, they haven't made one?

00:58:30   Okay, so the New York Times-

00:58:31   - New York Times is suing OpenAI.

00:58:33   - Okay, so New York Times is suing-

00:58:33   - They're holding out, they're holding out.

00:58:36   - But Vox Media has cut a deal with OpenAI.

00:58:38   - Yeah, and a bunch of others,

00:58:40   like Business Insider maybe,

00:58:44   there are lots of deals that are being done,

00:58:45   but the Times is like, they wanna win, right?

00:58:50   And-

00:58:51   - Yeah, so look, if OpenAI knew

00:58:55   that what they were doing was morally

00:58:57   and legally acceptable, right?

00:59:01   That anything that is on the open web,

00:59:03   it's fair use to appropriate it and use it for training,

00:59:06   they wouldn't cut deals now, would they?

00:59:08   If it was okay.

00:59:11   - I think this is, well, I think they think it's okay,

00:59:14   but they also don't wanna lose in court.

00:59:16   I think that's the situation.

00:59:18   - Yeah, yeah.

00:59:20   - They're just trying to protect themselves.

00:59:22   But I do believe that these people think that it's fine

00:59:28   and that to me is the affront of it all.

00:59:31   - Yes, and what I find even more concerning

00:59:35   is the fact that, for example, in a bunch of interviews

00:59:38   that, as an aside, Apple has been

00:59:42   on a bunch of different interviews

00:59:49   with YouTubers this week.

00:59:50   You can find Tim Cook and Craig Federighi

00:59:52   on a lot of, everywhere on YouTube.

00:59:54   - Full cult press this past week.

00:59:58   - And it seems like Craig, for example,

01:00:00   genuinely loves image generation in Apple Intelligence,

01:00:05   to the point where he actually went on an interview

01:00:10   and said, "Oh, I love sending generated images

01:00:14   "of other people to my friends."

01:00:16   And I felt like, I don't know.

01:00:19   I will just point people to your excellent discussion

01:00:23   with Jason on Upgrade, Mike, where you both summed up

01:00:28   a lot of my feelings on the situation very well.

01:00:30   So instead of rehashing that here,

01:00:32   people should go listen to that.

01:00:34   - If you wanna see how emotional I get,

01:00:38   we also clip that part on YouTube.

01:00:40   I'll put both in it.

01:00:41   I am very upset about the image stuff.

01:00:44   Like, we haven't even gotten to that yet.

01:00:45   But can we, before we get to that,

01:00:48   I don't know if we have somewhere

01:00:50   that we will naturally get to that in this show,

01:00:52   so maybe we'll just like squeeze it in after this.

01:00:55   But you have made decisions, Federico,

01:00:58   that I think I would like to unpack a little bit.

01:01:01   - Yeah, yeah.

01:01:03   For now, we have disallowed all AI crawlers

01:01:08   from Mac stories.

01:01:10   Over the weekend, we are gonna go one step beyond.

01:01:14   Right now, we're just telling crawlers

01:01:17   not to crawl our website for AI using the robots.txt file,

01:01:22   which is just like putting up a warning sign

01:01:26   that anybody can ignore.

01:01:28   But over the weekend, we are actually going to roll out

01:01:32   server-side change that will actively block those crawlers,

01:01:38   including Applebot Extended,

01:01:42   from accessing Mac stories, period.

01:01:45   Because I am done with these things.

01:01:49   I am not okay with it.

01:01:50   It's a, fundamentally, I believe it's a technology

01:01:54   that will kill the web as we know it

01:01:57   and will hurt people and their businesses for years to come.

01:02:01   And these companies and we collectively

01:02:03   will come to regret it.

01:02:05   We just don't see it now because we are collectively blinded

01:02:08   by the shininess of it all.

01:02:10   But we will come to regret it once we realize

01:02:14   that in order to power these fancy features,

01:02:17   we have killed dozens and hundreds, maybe,

01:02:21   of websites and web-based businesses

01:02:24   that got their content stolen from them

01:02:26   just to power these fancy new functionalities.

01:02:29   So that's my opinion, yeah.

01:02:31   - Steven, what's your thoughts on all this?

01:02:35   The tech stuff, the AI training stuff, all of that?

01:02:40   - Yeah, I don't know if I've had enough time

01:02:42   to think it through as thoroughly as Federico has,

01:02:45   but on first blush, I don't like that content

01:02:48   is being sucked into these things

01:02:50   without a return to the maker of that content.

01:02:54   I saw somebody on social media argue,

01:02:56   like, well, how is it different from Google search?

01:02:58   Where I was like, well, I'm getting a page view out of it.

01:03:02   This, I'm not.

01:03:03   And on one hand, I want these chatbots

01:03:07   to be really knowledgeable about the Macintosh Performa.

01:03:11   And so they have my content to make that possible,

01:03:15   but I'm not seeing any return from that.

01:03:17   And they are, and that's pretty gross.

01:03:20   - Or maybe at least you were never given the option.

01:03:24   - That's, I think, the biggest thing,

01:03:26   is that Apple did this and then talked about it

01:03:30   after the fact, and a little, at least in the talk show,

01:03:34   my impression of it when they gave the answer

01:03:39   was they were kind of sheepish about it.

01:03:41   One of my kids did something wrong,

01:03:44   and we both know they did it,

01:03:45   and I asked them if they did it, kind of that vibe.

01:03:49   And I just, I wanted them to be better than that.

01:03:51   - It is particularly interesting in a situation like,

01:03:58   you know, an interview like that.

01:04:00   And I'm sure it's gonna be interesting going forward,

01:04:05   where Apple is participating in these journalistic endeavors

01:04:11   because they want people to hear about their products,

01:04:15   while at the same time devaluing the work of the same people.

01:04:20   - Yeah.

01:04:23   - I am intrigued to see what that relationship adapts to

01:04:28   over time for people that produce content like this.

01:04:32   For me, with the content that I make, it doesn't bother me.

01:04:40   I am very sure that my voice is a part of any voice

01:04:45   transcription model that exists because I produce hundreds,

01:04:50   I've produced hundreds of hours of free podcasts, right?

01:04:53   Like if you're building something like whisper, right?

01:04:55   Like OpenAI's whisper, the easiest data set in the world

01:04:59   is the podcast directory.

01:05:01   It's already there.

01:05:02   Like you can just point something at it and go for it.

01:05:06   For me, it doesn't just, like, because what podcasts are,

01:05:10   it doesn't really bother me.

01:05:11   Like page views or whatever, you know what I mean?

01:05:15   I feel like for written text--

01:05:16   - But it's not okay for them to use your voice.

01:05:20   Like it's not okay.

01:05:22   - Yeah, 'cause we didn't agree to it, right?

01:05:24   And so like, I'm just saying like for me personally,

01:05:27   like it doesn't bother me for me, it bothers me for you,

01:05:32   if you know what I mean.

01:05:34   I am more upset about the idea of them taking texts

01:05:38   that's on the web than audio that's on the web.

01:05:41   I don't know why, it's just my emotions.

01:05:43   But I, because just 'cause like also it's like

01:05:46   the business models of it all, right?

01:05:49   So like podcasts don't make money based on how many people,

01:05:54   at least the way we do it, listen to the episode, right?

01:05:59   Because it's all done before.

01:06:01   So that like me losing, yeah, I don't know.

01:06:07   It's just my, it's hard to explain your emotional reaction

01:06:09   to something, but I am upset at the fact

01:06:12   that they did this to websites.

01:06:16   It bothers me.

01:06:17   And I have bigger problems for me than this,

01:06:21   but like I'm very disappointed in them that they did it

01:06:26   and they didn't tell anyone they were doing it.

01:06:28   And now they just want us to accept it and forget about it.

01:06:31   And I think that that is, it's a shame.

01:06:34   It's a great shame in my opinion.

01:06:36   - And let me say, because I've seen this happen

01:06:39   as well on social media, it's okay for people

01:06:42   to have complicated and potentially conflicting feelings

01:06:46   about these things, right?

01:06:47   We can be excited about the technology

01:06:50   and disappointed by how the technology was formed.

01:06:53   We can be excited about the creative tools

01:06:56   at things like image generation unlocked,

01:06:58   but also be worried about things like bullying

01:07:01   or deep fakes, right?

01:07:03   Those things can all exist in the same person.

01:07:06   And so when you hear us or other people,

01:07:08   or even as you think about this yourself,

01:07:11   it's okay to be conflicted or have complicated feelings

01:07:16   because this is a complicated

01:07:18   and honestly pretty new thing to consider.

01:07:22   I mean, I felt myself really struggling with that

01:07:25   at the talk show, like listening to this interview

01:07:28   and kind of like rapidly going from excitement

01:07:32   to sort of horror, like all, like kind of back and forth.

01:07:36   And I just, I've come to the place to like, you know what?

01:07:38   This is just big and complicated,

01:07:40   and it's okay if my feelings

01:07:42   aren't completely sorted out yet.

01:07:44   And it's okay if our feelings change over time, right?

01:07:46   So this is, we all just need some grace in this

01:07:50   because I think that it's a new world for so many people

01:07:55   and we're gonna feel different about it as content creators

01:07:57   than a regular consumer.

01:07:59   I'm gonna think about differently as a parent potentially,

01:08:02   as someone who doesn't have kids with iPhones, right?

01:08:06   There's a lot of stuff here,

01:08:08   so I would just keep that in mind

01:08:10   when we're having these conversations,

01:08:11   when you're listening to us have these conversations

01:08:13   that we're figuring this out as we go

01:08:16   and it's okay if that changes over time.

01:08:20   Feelings.

01:08:23   Yeah.

01:08:25   Who knew?

01:08:26   It is a very feelings heavy WWDC.

01:08:30   Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you can't get away from it.

01:08:33   Like, it's, I think for a lot of people,

01:08:38   their conception of Apple is changing further.

01:08:45   And I think that that is very complicated

01:08:48   for a lot of people to be able to handle.

01:08:51   I feel like I can handle it because I for a long time

01:08:57   have had complicated feelings

01:09:00   with the way that they manage their business endeavors.

01:09:03   But ultimately I am a fan of technology

01:09:06   and exciting technology.

01:09:08   And I think that there is exciting technology here,

01:09:10   even if I don't agree with all the ways that it's been done.

01:09:13   But I think there is a whole new wave of people

01:09:16   that are trying to work out how to navigate their emotions

01:09:21   and the realities of the situation.

01:09:22   And I think that's just gonna play out for a little while

01:09:25   and we've all just kind of got to strap in

01:09:28   and deal with it, you know?

01:09:30   Oh yeah, everybody will deal with it their own way.

01:09:34   I guess, yeah.

01:09:35   Let's move on onto funnier things maybe.

01:09:40   Okay.

01:09:41   Yeah?

01:09:42   Yeah.

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01:11:28   So we're gonna circle back to image generation

01:11:35   and then we'll get to the risky picks.

01:11:37   This is something that I was a little surprised to see.

01:11:42   It feels like this is the riskiest thing

01:11:45   Apple has introduced.

01:11:46   And even though they have a lot of,

01:11:53   seems like a lot of boundaries

01:11:54   around what this technology can do,

01:11:57   there are some things in here that are a bit surprising.

01:11:59   So for example, there's only three styles of artwork

01:12:03   and lifelike or realistic is not one of them.

01:12:07   They're gonna look cartoony or hand-sketched or animated,

01:12:11   but they're clearly trying to steer clear of deepfakes.

01:12:16   But you can create an image of anybody in your photo library

01:12:20   and that feels not great to me.

01:12:23   I think about this in the context of my two,

01:12:28   well now high school students in my house

01:12:31   and like that can be pretty hurtful

01:12:33   if someone makes an image that is making fun of somebody.

01:12:36   And I said this on Mac power users,

01:12:39   but image generation doesn't feel new to us

01:12:43   because we've been playing with these tools

01:12:45   for a couple of years, right?

01:12:46   We've all played with Dolly and the other things,

01:12:50   but this is gonna be now in the pockets

01:12:52   or on the desks of a whole bunch of people

01:12:56   who are experiencing it for the first time.

01:12:58   And I just kind of wish Apple hadn't gone so far

01:13:00   down the road of the image generation stuff.

01:13:03   - Yeah, yeah, this is the,

01:13:06   in addition to the web scraping,

01:13:09   I just find this so sad.

01:13:14   And I think they shouldn't have done it.

01:13:19   I was hoping they wouldn't do it.

01:13:21   And this is where unfortunately I can feel a,

01:13:26   for the first time in maybe years

01:13:28   that I've been doing what I do for a living,

01:13:31   I can feel a disconnect between my opinions and my thoughts

01:13:36   and what this company is pushing forward.

01:13:40   And for me, seeing Federighi in interviews,

01:13:45   being so wildly excited for image generation,

01:13:49   a feature that I personally find so gross

01:13:54   and potentially dangerous, I'm like,

01:13:57   how, like, it makes me worried about future features

01:14:03   that this company will make

01:14:08   because I strongly, strongly dislike this one so much.

01:14:13   And I think it's so sad that they,

01:14:18   I'm sure they felt almost obligated to do it.

01:14:21   And I hate, like, I'm gonna do something

01:14:25   that I don't think I've done in years

01:14:28   because I think it's such a silly argument,

01:14:31   but I've been thinking about it and I'm just gonna say it.

01:14:34   And I hate being that person,

01:14:36   but I'll take the responsibility.

01:14:38   Yes, do it, oh, do it.

01:14:41   I wonder if Steve Jobs would have done it.

01:14:44   Yeah, you go.

01:14:44   And you know what?

01:14:46   I agree with you.

01:14:48   I hate using this card in this argument, but I-

01:14:53   'Cause it's a terrible argument, right?

01:14:55   But it's everything I've been thinking about, literally.

01:14:58   So.

01:15:00   I think that this move lacks taste.

01:15:04   Yeah. Right?

01:15:06   And I think that's what you're getting at, right?

01:15:09   And I think it's an easier thing to say

01:15:12   than the Steve Jobs thing, right?

01:15:14   But I actually do completely agree with you.

01:15:16   I had not thought of that, but I agree with you completely.

01:15:19   As I said, as we were saying earlier,

01:15:21   everyone has their own emotions.

01:15:22   This is the thing that upsets me the most

01:15:24   because I don't think that they,

01:15:29   this did not even cross my mind

01:15:31   as a thing that they would do,

01:15:33   because honestly, I don't even think they need to.

01:15:36   Like, I don't think people are particularly calling

01:15:40   for this type of stuff.

01:15:41   I know.

01:15:43   This felt like the thing that happened

01:15:46   and has mostly gone away,

01:15:47   because I think in general, people don't like AI art.

01:15:51   Like, I feel like if you spend any time

01:15:53   on Instagram right now, and you see like any brand

01:15:56   that posts anything that looks like it was animated,

01:15:58   people think it's AI art, and they're so mad about it.

01:16:01   Yeah. Right?

01:16:02   Yeah.

01:16:03   And I feel bad for artists,

01:16:05   'cause there are a bunch of brands

01:16:06   where I see this and I'm like,

01:16:06   "I'm convinced that this company is not using AI art,

01:16:09   but everybody thinks they are because it's not a photo."

01:16:12   And I don't really understand why they've done this.

01:16:16   I think it's particularly bad that it's of other people,

01:16:19   as you said, Steven,

01:16:20   and that is the part where I'm like,

01:16:22   "All right, you've decided to go

01:16:26   in this complete different direction

01:16:27   that nobody else has done."

01:16:29   And like, what's the path here?

01:16:32   Like, at what point are these images photorealistic?

01:16:35   Like, why would they not do that too in like three years time?

01:16:39   Why is it always gonna be a cartoon?

01:16:41   Like, I think there's only a cartoon right now

01:16:43   because it's all they can do.

01:16:44   And they can't even do that well.

01:16:45   That's the thing that annoys me the most.

01:16:47   They look terrible.

01:16:48   They look terrible.

01:16:48   You didn't even do it well.

01:16:50   They want to ease you into that.

01:16:52   So obviously they're not gonna do realistic now,

01:16:55   but can you be sure that they never will?

01:16:58   No. No, you can't.

01:16:59   No, you can't be sure.

01:17:00   And I really think that they just can't right now,

01:17:03   which is why one of the reasons they haven't.

01:17:04   There's also that.

01:17:05   There's also that. Yes.

01:17:07   So I just, this part to me is just like,

01:17:10   you didn't need to do it and you did it

01:17:12   and you didn't even do it very well.

01:17:13   So what is the point?

01:17:15   Yeah.

01:17:16   The emoji?

01:17:17   Fine.

01:17:18   The emoji, you know what?

01:17:18   That's good. Fun. Right?

01:17:20   I like that.

01:17:21   Even I will, it's a thin line,

01:17:25   but the fact that you can make an emoji

01:17:27   that looks like a Memoji, it looks like someone else.

01:17:29   I still don't love that, but that's okay-ish, I guess.

01:17:33   Right?

01:17:33   Like when it's actually like the,

01:17:35   sorry, not the Memoji,

01:17:37   you can make an emoji character

01:17:40   somewhat visually represent someone else, right?

01:17:43   This is in the like emoji creation thing.

01:17:46   I still don't love that,

01:17:47   but like that is as far as I think they should have gone

01:17:50   rather than the create a Memoji,

01:17:52   which is more on the lifelike,

01:17:54   is going to actually take more of somebody's facial features

01:17:57   and try and cross something that looks like them.

01:18:00   But like the emoji, Genmoji terrible name,

01:18:03   but you know, fine, right?

01:18:04   That I can not just have a pizza,

01:18:06   I can create an emoji, which is pineapple on a pizza.

01:18:09   That feels like a fun thing to do with your friends

01:18:11   and they're going to look like emoji.

01:18:13   That would have been, you know what?

01:18:15   A great feature that everyone would have been excited about,

01:18:17   but this now lives in the shadow of,

01:18:20   what is it? Image Playground,

01:18:21   which is just out and out for me, distasteful, bad feature.

01:18:26   Even the ones where it's like making an animal object,

01:18:29   again, it's like, it just doesn't look very good, gang.

01:18:33   Like I don't, I'm not sure that you really got out of this,

01:18:38   what you wanted.

01:18:38   The AI, like, sorry, the UI that you've built looks great.

01:18:43   The result, I don't think it does.

01:18:45   And like, maybe your model's going to get better over time,

01:18:49   but like maybe you should have faked it

01:18:51   for the presentation then,

01:18:52   because if this is your best foot forward,

01:18:54   I'm not really sure that the juice

01:18:57   was worth the squeeze on this one.

01:18:59   - Hmm.

01:19:00   - Yeah.

01:19:01   - I felt like this is the most,

01:19:03   we have to catch up part of all that they're doing.

01:19:07   And I don't like that feeling either.

01:19:13   Like I can tell y'all from being there for a few days,

01:19:16   I've never been to a WBC, and I've been since 2013,

01:19:20   every year except the two COVID years.

01:19:22   I've never been to one of these things

01:19:26   where when you ask somebody like,

01:19:27   hey, what are your thoughts on the keynote?

01:19:29   The first thing out of their mouth is, well.

01:19:33   - Yeah. - Yeah.

01:19:34   - Yeah.

01:19:35   - And it all came down to this.

01:19:37   And the feeling that Apple is doing something

01:19:41   because they think that they have to,

01:19:42   not because they think that they should

01:19:44   or that it's best for their customers.

01:19:47   And that's weird, y'all.

01:19:48   Like it's weird to see Apple doing features

01:19:53   and adding technology to their platforms

01:19:57   because they think the world has a leg up on them,

01:20:01   which is very unusual.

01:20:02   Not something I've seen very much in my career

01:20:05   covering this company.

01:20:06   - Yeah, and I'm seriously debating with myself right now

01:20:11   what to do with these features in my iOS review.

01:20:15   - Oh my word. - Later this year.

01:20:16   - I hadn't even thought of that.

01:20:18   Yeah.

01:20:19   - I gotta say right now I am leaning toward

01:20:23   not reviewing parts of it

01:20:26   because I just refuse to touch them.

01:20:28   But I could be swayed in different directions.

01:20:33   I know that it's objectively in a way my duty

01:20:37   to review them.

01:20:38   But also should I review and shine a spotlight

01:20:45   on a technology that I find disgusting

01:20:48   and potentially dangerous?

01:20:50   Probably not.

01:20:51   - Here's what I will say.

01:20:52   This is your choice.

01:20:53   I would say you should do it

01:20:54   and then say how you feel about it.

01:20:57   Because it's not like these features don't exist, right?

01:21:00   - They do exist.

01:21:01   But yeah, very complex feelings.

01:21:04   - You need to decide that for yourself.

01:21:05   That's a better reconstruction.

01:21:07   - We'll see when the day comes.

01:21:10   Let's move on to the risky picks,

01:21:13   which is another sad moment, but in a different way.

01:21:17   - My risky pick was VisionOS 2 has keyboard pass-through

01:21:22   in an environment and it works with any keyboard,

01:21:24   not just the ones that Apple makes.

01:21:27   This is the closest I think I've gone

01:21:32   to a risky pick in a long time.

01:21:33   I'm like so close, so close.

01:21:36   - Very close.

01:21:38   - If only you removed the part after the comma.

01:21:41   - Yeah, but I don't think you would have let me do it.

01:21:43   - No, and you said with any Apple keyboard,

01:21:46   like yeah, but we probably wouldn't have let you.

01:21:49   - I don't think you would have let me.

01:21:50   I thought about it.

01:21:51   Like if I would have said that they have a keyboard pass-through

01:21:54   in an environment, I don't think you would have let me

01:21:56   pick that.

01:21:57   - No, probably not.

01:21:59   Some people that have gotten this to kind of work

01:22:04   with their party keyboards, but it seems accidental.

01:22:06   Apple says--

01:22:07   - I've not been able to do it.

01:22:08   - Okay, yeah, I think someone at the Verge said

01:22:10   like it works occasionally, but this is something

01:22:13   that Apple says is for their keyboards,

01:22:15   that's what they've trained, I guess, their models on

01:22:18   to let you see the keyboard when you're fully immersed

01:22:22   in an environment, which is a good change because if you,

01:22:26   if you can't see what you're typing,

01:22:30   that can be problematic.

01:22:32   - Yep, it's a very good change, but I wish that they would

01:22:35   have taken it one step further than this,

01:22:39   but it's a good feature.

01:22:41   It's another good quality of life feature for VisionOS,

01:22:43   but it does not get me a point.

01:22:45   - Yeah, sorry, bud.

01:22:46   - I said Apple shows a Siri camera, not official name,

01:22:52   feature that lets you point the iPhone at something

01:22:54   and use AI to understand what you're looking at.

01:22:56   It'll use AI to determine various types of information,

01:22:59   such as objects or text in real time.

01:23:02   It may not ship this year.

01:23:04   Obviously, I did not get this, and I mean,

01:23:07   they couldn't get their little AI figurines look right,

01:23:10   imagine real time information on the camera, so.

01:23:13   Yeah, I did not get this.

01:23:17   - I like AI figurines, by the way,

01:23:19   it's like as a way to reference these little characters

01:23:23   that they've built. - They're not art.

01:23:24   They're not art, art is something else.

01:23:27   - Little figurines, I like that.

01:23:30   - That's good.

01:23:31   I did not get my related risky pick.

01:23:35   Apple previews a new VisionOS feature that puts overlays

01:23:38   over the camera pass-through with information

01:23:40   about objects in view.

01:23:41   - Which, to be fair, I think collectively,

01:23:45   these three sort of AI-based features

01:23:48   would have been better AI features

01:23:50   than whatever they announced.

01:23:53   - Well, I get, look, where we've gone into the upset spiral,

01:23:58   I think the system features for Apple intelligence

01:24:04   look really good, and I'm very excited about them.

01:24:06   I'm excited about the notification stuff.

01:24:09   I'm excited about my phone remembering things for me

01:24:12   that I can say, like I had this today

01:24:15   where I know I'd taken a picture of some notes,

01:24:19   but I didn't remember when they were,

01:24:22   and search wasn't helping me.

01:24:24   And I feel like if I asked my phone, I was like,

01:24:26   "I took pictures of these notes after meeting with

01:24:28   my accountant, can you help me?"

01:24:30   Like all of that kind of stuff looks incredible

01:24:33   and I can't wait, like, "Better Siri?"

01:24:35   "Fantastic, like give me it."

01:24:36   Like there's so much of the operating system features,

01:24:40   like the mail stuff, like prioritizing email messages for me

01:24:44   the automatic sorting, which is happening anyway,

01:24:47   but like all of this stuff, like anything where

01:24:50   it's the device helping me do stuff, love it.

01:24:54   It's anything generation, like create new

01:24:57   that I don't like, right?

01:24:59   I can draw a line from me where I'm happy with the idea

01:25:03   of take my text and rewrite it for me.

01:25:05   Like I can accept that 'cause I do these features.

01:25:07   Like I do this stuff with chat GPT.

01:25:10   Like I write stuff out and I'm like,

01:25:11   "Help me fix the grammar here, make this read better."

01:25:14   And it does it for me.

01:25:15   Like I'm fine with that.

01:25:16   It's the image stuff is my biggest bugbear, right?

01:25:21   I even liked the way that they've integrated chat GPT.

01:25:26   I think of all the ways you could have done that,

01:25:28   they chose the best way of doing it.

01:25:30   Where like open AI is not in the OS,

01:25:33   like we thought it was gonna be, right?

01:25:34   Like powering something.

01:25:36   No, it's just replacing Google essentially.

01:25:39   Like instead of Google searching,

01:25:41   which is what Siri currently does,

01:25:42   it will chat GPT search for you instead.

01:25:45   - Well, they are not sending user data to chat GPT,

01:25:49   but they do that with Google.

01:25:51   So, you know, there are some differences.

01:25:54   - They send user data with Google?

01:25:56   - I mean, right?

01:25:57   Like Google knows what you're searching

01:26:00   and where you are and all that stuff.

01:26:02   - Well, I mean, I understand what you're saying.

01:26:05   I don't know that if I ask a thing and in serious,

01:26:08   like I found this on the web for you,

01:26:09   I don't know if that's being attached to me, right?

01:26:13   - Fair.

01:26:14   - Like, I don't know.

01:26:15   - Yeah, and open AI is not getting the big money

01:26:17   from Google that Apple gets.

01:26:20   - They're getting anything.

01:26:20   No one's paying anything apparently.

01:26:22   - Doing it for exposure.

01:26:23   - Yep, well, yep.

01:26:25   And yeah, so I think that Apple intelligence

01:26:29   has a lot of features that I'm interested about,

01:26:32   but I just don't think that they nailed,

01:26:35   I don't think that they landed the plane

01:26:37   on this one very well.

01:26:38   And I think that there are a lot of holes in this

01:26:40   and it's awkward and upsetting and frustrating.

01:26:43   But I know, I'm just saying like,

01:26:45   I don't wanna throw all of this out as like,

01:26:47   I hate it and it's bad, personally.

01:26:49   Everyone can feel free to do whatever they want,

01:26:52   but that's where I'm coming from.

01:26:54   - So we're tied once again.

01:26:56   - Yeah. - Yeah.

01:26:57   We got closer though.

01:26:58   Like I think we're getting there, right?

01:27:00   Like if the goal is get the risky picks,

01:27:03   I think we're closer to that being a thing.

01:27:05   So we're just gonna keep working hard as a group.

01:27:07   - Yeah.

01:27:08   - I think so.

01:27:09   - Which means we gotta flip coins.

01:27:13   - Yep, I'm gonna say heads.

01:27:15   - I'm also gonna say heads.

01:27:17   - I will also say, no, I'm just kidding, I will do tails.

01:27:21   - I mean, this could be a quick one then.

01:27:23   - Tails.

01:27:27   - Boom!

01:27:27   - That's how it happens.

01:27:30   - That's it.

01:27:31   - There you go, no more benchmen.

01:27:32   Goodbye, benchmanship.

01:27:33   - Steven wins.

01:27:34   - I am the keynote chairman.

01:27:37   - Congratulations.

01:27:38   - Congratulations, Steven.

01:27:39   - Okay, y'all have to flip for a second.

01:27:40   - Welcome to Chairman Club, Steven.

01:27:42   It's nice here.

01:27:43   - Oh, it's so good.

01:27:44   - Welcome to chairmanship.

01:27:47   - The air is fresher, the water is cleaner.

01:27:49   - Welcome on board the chairmanship.

01:27:53   - Oh, the chairmanship.

01:27:55   Like that's where we are?

01:27:56   We're on the ship?

01:27:56   - Uh-huh, me and you.

01:27:58   - Okay.

01:27:58   - Me and you, you're flying, Steven.

01:28:01   - Okay.

01:28:01   ♪ Near, far, where ♪

01:28:04   (laughing)

01:28:06   - Okay, y'all have to go for the loser.

01:28:09   - Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

01:28:11   I forgot about that.

01:28:13   You pick Federico, heads or tails?

01:28:15   - Heads.

01:28:16   - Okay, the sound didn't work, but it is heads.

01:28:20   So you are second and I do lose.

01:28:22   And then you think this is a conspiracy

01:28:24   is your want to think in these things.

01:28:27   Are you happy with this scenario?

01:28:29   - No, no, it's only a conspiracy when I lose.

01:28:31   - Ah, good to know.

01:28:32   - So.

01:28:32   - I mean, it's good to hear you say it, you know?

01:28:34   - Yeah.

01:28:35   (laughing)

01:28:37   Look, at least I'm honest, you know?

01:28:39   - So.

01:28:40   - I don't have many qualities.

01:28:41   - Let me update my trophy.

01:28:42   I bet I, well, I guess in the break

01:28:44   I'm gonna go update my trophy.

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01:30:42   The Flexis is a game held after each edition of the Riki's.

01:30:48   It consists of a series of additional picks

01:30:50   in relation to the upcoming Apple event or year.

01:30:53   Scoring is completed separately from the main game,

01:30:56   but like the Riki's, the order of picks is set

01:30:58   by the results of the previous game,

01:31:00   and ties will be broken by using dice by Pcalc.

01:31:04   Please lie down as the rules are read.

01:31:06   Hosts must make a minimum of five Flexi picks.

01:31:16   Each correct pick is awarded with one point.

01:31:19   Wrong picks do not remove any points,

01:31:21   and no partial points may be awarded.

01:31:23   The winner is determined by comparing the percentage

01:31:26   of correct Flexis made by each host.

01:31:29   The winner can use their chosen title

01:31:31   as long as they are the winner.

01:31:33   Federico shall be named Prince Flexi,

01:31:35   and is known as King Flexi when having won

01:31:38   both the keynote and annual games.

01:31:40   Mike has chosen Duke of Flexington,

01:31:42   and uses the name Archduke Flexington when applicable.

01:31:46   Steven, which is me, I just read my name out,

01:31:49   is the Attorney General of Flexi,

01:31:51   and uses the title Secretary of the Flex when necessary.

01:31:55   Loser of the Flexis must compensate the winner

01:31:57   of the Flexis by donating to a charity

01:32:00   of the winner's choice.

01:32:01   The amount of the donation is $25 per wrong Flexi

01:32:05   made by the loser, and the money, of course,

01:32:07   must be donated on air.

01:32:09   I am currently the winner of both the keynote

01:32:11   and annual Flexis, making me the Secretary of the Flex.

01:32:15   We'll see if that holds up after today.

01:32:18   If someone holds all four titles,

01:32:20   so in the regular game and the Flexis,

01:32:23   they're allowed to choose their own nickname,

01:32:25   you may be seated.

01:32:26   All right.

01:32:30   Okay, I was first, and,

01:32:34   well, let's just start at the top.

01:32:38   We do not see Sam Altman's face in the presentation.

01:32:42   Ding.

01:32:43   Although he was in attendance.

01:32:45   There's a very funny picture of him and Eddie Q.

01:32:50   Mm-hmm.

01:32:52   That's very good.

01:32:53   It goes downhill from there.

01:32:56   Some AI features on the Mac require an M2 or later.

01:33:00   M1.

01:33:02   M1, which is good.

01:33:06   It's much more brutal on the iPhone side,

01:33:08   where you need an A17 Pro, so the 15 Pro or Pro Max.

01:33:12   That's rough.

01:33:13   Okay, my third pick.

01:33:19   It, again, still not good.

01:33:21   At least two of Apple's first-party apps

01:33:23   escape iPad compatibility mode on Vision OS

01:33:26   to become full-blown native apps.

01:33:28   Hmm.

01:33:29   I don't think any got updated.

01:33:31   I haven't seen any.

01:33:33   Not good.

01:33:35   Improvements to Stage Manager are announced.

01:33:38   No.

01:33:40   So Corey got tiling.

01:33:42   I think that personally would be kinda cool on the iPad,

01:33:45   but not there.

01:33:46   So I'm not sure if this is true.

01:33:48   I've tried to verify this myself and some places say

01:33:51   it's true and I'm not 100% sure,

01:33:54   but this was patented by Microsoft as part of Vista,

01:33:59   and that patent expired last year.

01:34:04   I don't think that's true.

01:34:05   I checked.

01:34:06   I did some Googling and found that there was a patent

01:34:09   that expired, but I don't know.

01:34:11   This is what I'm saying.

01:34:12   I've not been able to find it definitively,

01:34:15   but I like that story, if it's true.

01:34:17   You know?

01:34:18   It's, man, Vista.

01:34:20   Anytime we talk about Vista is exciting, really.

01:34:24   They had some weird ideas in there.

01:34:25   Something in iOS 18 picks up the UI

01:34:30   used in the iOS 17 picker and messages.

01:34:33   Nothing.

01:34:36   It's still weird. One of the weirdest.

01:34:37   One of the weirdest picks, not UI.

01:34:40   Yeah.

01:34:42   Journal app comes to iPad OS.

01:34:44   It's not.

01:34:46   Let's get search though.

01:34:47   That's good.

01:34:48   The next version of Mac OS is named Tahoe.

01:34:52   More like Tah-no.

01:34:55   Okay.

01:34:58   Yep. Good job.

01:34:59   What is that?

01:35:01   That's one out of seven or 14.2%.

01:35:06   14.2% sounds better than one out of seven.

01:35:09   Okay.

01:35:14   So I start with RCS has not spoken aloud in the keynote.

01:35:18   It was.

01:35:20   I was close to where it was going to fit on the Bento board.

01:35:23   It was like one spot over from the bottom left,

01:35:25   which was my just verbal pick, which is not committed.

01:35:30   Standby mode for iPad OS did not happen.

01:35:32   I'm really sad about that.

01:35:34   Three, at least one of the coming soon environments

01:35:38   in Vision OS 2 is removed.

01:35:41   I mean, technically,

01:35:44   one of them was replaced with the actual thing.

01:35:46   So there is one less coming soon instance in Vision OS 2.

01:35:52   No, that's not what you meant.

01:35:53   No.

01:35:54   Sorry.

01:35:55   Well, I mean, it depends on what you think I meant,

01:35:58   but unbelievably, the one that says coming,

01:36:01   the other one is still there and says coming soon,

01:36:04   which is, I kind of can't believe that that's the case.

01:36:07   Point four, Apple announces some new immersive video content

01:36:12   coming to Vision Pro.

01:36:14   Ding.

01:36:14   Thank you.

01:36:16   Apple announces an AI deal with Google.

01:36:19   They want it, but they didn't.

01:36:20   They really want it.

01:36:21   They want it, but they've not gotten it

01:36:23   because they think Google want cash

01:36:25   and Apple doesn't want to give them that.

01:36:27   Yep.

01:36:28   Vision Pro international availability is mentioned.

01:36:32   Ding.

01:36:33   It was actually announced.

01:36:34   So it's rolling out in a couple of phases of June and July.

01:36:38   Lot of Asian countries.

01:36:39   To start, yeah.

01:36:41   And some Europe.

01:36:42   Yep.

01:36:43   And finally, chatbot features from AI partners

01:36:47   are available only to iCloud Plus subscribers

01:36:50   after a free trial.

01:36:52   Nope, it's free.

01:36:54   Free.

01:36:55   Well, unless you pay chat GPT

01:36:57   and you get a little bit more.

01:36:58   Yeah.

01:37:00   So that's two out of seven or 28.5%,

01:37:03   which is even more impressive than 14%.

01:37:05   Okay.

01:37:07   All right.

01:37:10   So it's my turn now.

01:37:11   And spoiler, I'm very happy with my results.

01:37:15   Number one, some AI features will be region locked.

01:37:18   Are they?

01:37:19   Well, it's US English only.

01:37:22   But you can set your device in any region

01:37:25   to US English and they'll work.

01:37:27   Well, but technically,

01:37:28   if you need to put your region in the US,

01:37:32   it is region locked.

01:37:33   I think we give it to him, but I think it's close.

01:37:36   You know?

01:37:38   Yeah, I think I give it to you,

01:37:39   but I don't consider region locked as like...

01:37:42   It's also not gonna change the results much, but I think...

01:37:44   No, I know, I know.

01:37:45   But hey, look, if we can't debate the answers,

01:37:48   then what is this game?

01:37:49   Sure, sure.

01:37:50   Because what I would think of as region locked

01:37:53   is like the DMA stuff.

01:37:56   Like I can change my region to whatever I want

01:38:00   and I'm not gonna be able to download it.

01:38:01   Well, they're saying in the chat

01:38:03   they're language locked and not region locked.

01:38:06   So I'm happy to give this away.

01:38:07   It's not region locked.

01:38:08   Let's give you the point 'cause like whatever,

01:38:10   let's make Steven pay more money, but like...

01:38:13   Okay, cool.

01:38:14   (laughing)

01:38:16   I'm glad for that on that reason,

01:38:17   but yeah, this doesn't feel like region locked to me.

01:38:21   Which is good by the way, like I'm super happy.

01:38:23   And Apple is just saying it like in briefings apparently.

01:38:26   They're just like,

01:38:27   "Oh, you can just change your language and you can use it."

01:38:29   It's like, "Great, thank you."

01:38:30   Yeah.

01:38:31   Number two, some new iOS 18 features

01:38:34   will be exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro line.

01:38:38   Yeah.

01:38:39   Yeah.

01:38:40   All of Apple intelligence.

01:38:41   It's wild, right?

01:38:43   Like look, I understand it, but it's like...

01:38:46   It's rough. Oh boy.

01:38:47   Yeah, like if you bought an iPhone 15, it's like,

01:38:50   "Oh well, I hope you enjoy your iPhone 16 next year."

01:38:53   Can we go down conspiracy lane for a second?

01:38:55   Yeah, man.

01:38:57   Well, not conspiracy lane.

01:39:00   I don't think this is so they can just sell new iPhones.

01:39:03   That's not what I mean.

01:39:04   But when they were putting the iPhone 15 on sale,

01:39:09   did they know this was gonna be the case?

01:39:11   No.

01:39:12   I genuinely don't think so.

01:39:14   Probably not.

01:39:15   Or at least, okay, let me...

01:39:17   On sale, maybe.

01:39:19   When they made the plan for this phone,

01:39:21   I don't think they did.

01:39:23   Okay.

01:39:24   Can you guys do me a favor?

01:39:27   Can you please not give me the first point?

01:39:29   Because otherwise, some folks will be upset

01:39:33   that it's marked as correct and it's technically not.

01:39:36   And also my points do not- No, we make the rules

01:39:37   around here.

01:39:38   No, we make the rules around here.

01:39:39   No, no, please, I'm asking you.

01:39:40   My points do not affect Steven's money anyway.

01:39:43   Steven donates based on how many pics he got.

01:39:46   Good point, good point.

01:39:47   I still think that the precedent should be

01:39:49   that we make the decisions,

01:39:50   but if you wanna change it, Federico, you can.

01:39:54   I feel better knowing that everything is objectively correct.

01:39:58   Yeah. Okay.

01:40:00   Thank you.

01:40:03   Number three, notes gets new features

01:40:06   such as math calculations and voice recording.

01:40:09   Yeah. Yes.

01:40:10   Nailed it.

01:40:11   I think it's very interesting to start seeing this.

01:40:15   One of the trends, smaller trends, maybe this year,

01:40:18   is this two-way app communication

01:40:22   that is happening in iOS and iPadOS,

01:40:24   like math notes in calculator and inside notes,

01:40:30   and also reminders in reminders and in the calendar.

01:40:34   Like this two-way thing, I wanna see more of it.

01:40:38   I think it's interesting.

01:40:39   Yeah, reminders kinda comes home.

01:40:41   It was in calendar like 100 years ago.

01:40:43   It used to be in iCal many, many years ago.

01:40:45   Really?

01:40:46   Yeah.

01:40:47   Wow, I don't remember that.

01:40:48   It was a sidebar, and I'll see if I can take up a screenshot

01:40:51   in my photo library. Incredible.

01:40:53   I just wanna say math notes is the best.

01:40:58   I love math notes.

01:41:01   They crushed it.

01:41:02   Like this is just like, oh man, I love it so much.

01:41:06   It's so great.

01:41:07   Did you see that they're even suggested

01:41:10   like anywhere in the quick type keyboard?

01:41:14   So like if you type out like in a message, an iMessage,

01:41:17   if you type out two plus two plus 27

01:41:20   and you press the equal sign, then above the keyboard,

01:41:23   you will see the results suggested.

01:41:25   Yeah, it's very cool.

01:41:26   Oh, I love it.

01:41:27   You know what's so good?

01:41:28   That I like that computers just do all my math for me

01:41:31   because you know what I don't wanna do?

01:41:33   Math.

01:41:33   So I love that the computer will now just do it all the time.

01:41:37   So that's great for me.

01:41:39   Number four, now please, please allow me to gloat

01:41:43   for this moment.

01:41:45   Number four, the next version of macOS is called Sequoia.

01:41:49   (clapping)

01:41:50   You could have had it.

01:41:50   It was a risky and we would have given you it.

01:41:53   Where did this come from in your bones Federico?

01:41:55   Like why Sequoia?

01:41:56   Do you just want it?

01:41:58   I gave up on the idea that they were gonna use Skyline

01:42:02   and I thought of all the names.

01:42:05   This sounded the coolest, you know?

01:42:07   So it's Sequoia, like the huge tree.

01:42:11   I don't know, it just sounded cool.

01:42:12   That was my reasoning for it.

01:42:13   It's a good name.

01:42:15   It's a good name.

01:42:15   Yeah, I think so.

01:42:16   Number five, Apple shows off the ability for Siri

01:42:20   to control apps, but it's not launching this year.

01:42:24   Yeah?

01:42:25   They showed it off and it's not coming in 2024.

01:42:29   It's a next year feature based on app intents.

01:42:33   There's gonna be a new API, new developer story,

01:42:35   but for next year.

01:42:37   Not in this cycle in 24.

01:42:41   Number six, the calculator app comes to iPad.

01:42:46   Yep.

01:42:47   It did.

01:42:47   They found a way to make it all fancy

01:42:50   and like to productize the calculator with math notes,

01:42:54   which is clever.

01:42:55   Number seven, this is a sad moment for me.

01:43:00   The next version of stage manager supports

01:43:02   more than four windows at once on some iPad models.

01:43:06   Oh, 'cause this was also, if you got this,

01:43:09   you got your annual risky, right?

01:43:12   Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:43:13   That was my two in one, so to speak,

01:43:16   and I did not get it, which is sad.

01:43:20   But that means I got five out of seven correct

01:43:25   for a 71.4% winning ratio.

01:43:30   That's more than 14.

01:43:32   That's more than 14, more than 28,

01:43:34   so please salute Prince Flexy coming back

01:43:39   where he rightfully belongs.

01:43:42   Yeah.

01:43:43   Congratulations, Prince.

01:43:44   (laughs)

01:43:46   It's a fantastic comeback, fantastic comeback.

01:43:48   Oh, thank you.

01:43:49   Steven, you as a loser.

01:43:51   I was thinking about the charity.

01:43:53   Unfortunately, I wanted you to donate

01:43:56   to some Italian charities, but it seems like

01:43:59   they're not gonna accept a US address, unfortunately.

01:44:03   They were both dog shelters in Italy.

01:44:07   The closest I can get is the World Wildlife Fund,

01:44:11   so the WWF, you can just go to worldwildlife.org

01:44:16   and make a donation there.

01:44:18   Okay.

01:44:19   And that donation will be for $150.

01:44:22   Yes.

01:44:27   Yeah, it's for the animals.

01:44:30   That's a pretty high one.

01:44:32   That's a pretty high one.

01:44:33   Do it for all the creatures around us.

01:44:35   I am.

01:44:37   Make a donation.

01:44:37   Donate in someone's name, that's what I'm gonna do.

01:44:40   I'm gonna donate in your name.

01:44:42   Mike, do you wanna do the closing while I donate?

01:44:47   This is where I had to think, what is closing?

01:44:49   What is the closing?

01:44:52   The closing is now.

01:44:54   Closing time.

01:44:56   It's time to end the show.

01:44:57   Go to Mastodon and Threads to find us.

01:45:02   Federico is Viticci at maxstories.net on Mastodon.

01:45:07   And I'm Mike, Steven is ismh86 on all of them.

01:45:13   Federico is Viticci on there.

01:45:14   This is terrible.

01:45:15   I don't like the way that this is--

01:45:16   No, you're doing it.

01:45:17   You're doing it.

01:45:18   No, I'm starting again.

01:45:19   This is how I would do it.

01:45:20   This is how I would do it.

01:45:20   Thanks so much for listening

01:45:21   to this week's episode of Connected.

01:45:23   You can find us online in a variety of places.

01:45:26   If you wanna find Federico online, go to maxstories.net

01:45:28   and he is @Viticci on social media.

01:45:31   Federico is on a selection of podcasts all over maxstories

01:45:36   'cause you're a podcast network now.

01:45:38   Congratulations on doing that.

01:45:39   I like it.

01:45:40   Where is MPC though?

01:45:41   Where is it?

01:45:42   On Tuesday, episode two.

01:45:45   Good.

01:45:46   All the details of the surprise

01:45:48   that I prepared for John and Brendan.

01:45:50   Yes.

01:45:50   Excellent.

01:45:51   Oh, and by the way, I should mention this at the top.

01:45:54   If you want more of me and Federico,

01:45:56   I did my annual tradition of crashing an episode

01:45:58   of App Stories during WWDC week,

01:46:01   which is a thing that I do purposefully.

01:46:04   So sometimes, I don't know.

01:46:06   I've never told you this Federico.

01:46:07   So if I'm at my desk during WWDC week

01:46:11   and I see that you are live in Discord,

01:46:15   I just join and expect that you will call upon me.

01:46:19   Like I moved to my recording desk

01:46:22   because I thought that you might bring me in.

01:46:23   So it was on an episode of App Stories.

01:46:25   Yeah, it's a pretty accurate prediction.

01:46:28   It always happens.

01:46:29   Because John got lost.

01:46:29   So I got to join for a bit, which was fun.

01:46:33   If you want to find Steven online,

01:46:34   you go to firetailpixels.net.

01:46:36   Steven is also the host of Mac Power Users

01:46:38   and is, I don't know what the job title would be,

01:46:41   @Widgetsmith and various underscore.

01:46:44   Do you have a job title, Steven?

01:46:46   - Managing Director.

01:46:47   - Managing Director.

01:46:48   That makes it sound like you're David's boss,

01:46:50   which I like the thought of that.

01:46:52   He manages and is apt to direct over at WidgetSmith

01:46:57   and Podometer++ and other applications.

01:47:00   And Steven is @ismh86.

01:47:03   You can find me online here on Relay FM,

01:47:05   where I host many shows.

01:47:06   I also produce products over at Cortex Brand

01:47:09   and I am @imike, I-M-Y-K-E.

01:47:11   I would like to thank again our sponsors

01:47:13   for this week's episode.

01:47:15   That is ExpressVPN, Ecamm and Adblock Pro.

01:47:18   And most of all, I'd like to thank you for listening

01:47:20   and for the people that support us directly

01:47:23   and get longer ad-free episodes of Connected every week.

01:47:26   We call it Connected Pro,

01:47:28   and you can go and find out more at getconnectedpro.co.

01:47:32   Thanks so much for listening.

01:47:33   Until next time, say goodbye, guys.

01:47:35   - Arrivederci.

01:47:36   - Cheerio.

01:47:37   - Bye, y'all.