Connected

00:00:00 ◼   ► (classical music)

00:00:02 ◼   ► Hello, and welcome to Connected, episode 510.

00:00:11 ◼   ► My name is, I didn't know what number it was.

00:00:14 ◼   ► I saw it was stalling while

00:00:15 ◼   ► I was looking at the top of the document.

00:00:16 ◼   ► It was good.

00:00:17 ◼   ► It's pretty good, right?

00:00:18 ◼   ► I'm your keynote chairman, Steven, that's me.

00:00:21 ◼   ► That means I'm really good at a very specific game we play.

00:00:24 ◼   ► It doesn't really matter.

00:00:25 ◼   ► I'm joined by Annual Chairman Mike.

00:00:27 ◼   ► He's very good at another game we play.

00:00:30 ◼   ► Yeah, I'm good at predicting the year, it would seem.

00:00:33 ◼   ► I just wanna let everybody know Federico is fine.

00:00:37 ◼   ► We have OTJ here.

00:00:39 ◼   ► Now, the reason I say this, hi, John, John Vois.

00:00:42 ◼   ► Hello, how are you?

00:00:44 ◼   ► Good to see you guys.

00:00:45 ◼   ► Because we have set the rules,

00:00:48 ◼   ► the triple J succession rules, right?

00:00:51 ◼   ► Right.

00:00:51 ◼   ► That if one of us dies, right?

00:00:55 ◼   ► Someone else will step in.

00:00:56 ◼   ► So every time, if Federico's not here, but John's here,

00:01:00 ◼   ► I feel like we have to make it clear

00:01:01 ◼   ► that Federico's not dead.

00:01:03 ◼   ► He's not dead.

00:01:04 ◼   ► Right?

00:01:04 ◼   ► He's not dead.

00:01:05 ◼   ► He's on a beach.

00:01:06 ◼   ► He's on a beach.

00:01:07 ◼   ► So John's here.

00:01:09 ◼   ► Thank you for joining us, Mr. One True John.

00:01:11 ◼   ► Well, thanks for having me, guys.

00:01:12 ◼   ► It's always good to be here and chat with you guys.

00:01:15 ◼   ► Yeah, gonna be good.

00:01:16 ◼   ► We got some good stuff planned today.

00:01:18 ◼   ► I should say, because I got derailed at the beginning,

00:01:21 ◼   ► this episode is made possible by Ecamm, Fitbot, ExpressVPN.

00:01:24 ◼   ► Thanks, guys.

00:01:26 ◼   ► And John, John made this episode possible.

00:01:29 ◼   ► Yeah, you guys wouldn't have a show

00:01:30 ◼   ► if it weren't for me, obviously.

00:01:32 ◼   ► I say that every week.

00:01:33 ◼   ► I say that every week.

00:01:33 ◼   ► Without the One True John, that'd be no show.

00:01:36 ◼   ► John's like the air we breathe.

00:01:39 ◼   ► The reason we get up in the morning.

00:01:41 ◼   ► So that's probably going a little too far, Steven.

00:01:43 ◼   ► Like, don't make it weird.

00:01:45 ◼   ► Follow up.

00:01:46 ◼   ► Phil Schiller can't keep a job.

00:01:49 ◼   ► Just eight days after it being announced

00:01:52 ◼   ► that Apple would be taking an,

00:01:54 ◼   ► what's the term, John, observatory role?

00:01:56 ◼   ► What's the name of the board seat?

00:01:58 ◼   ► Yeah, a board observer, really.

00:02:01 ◼   ► A board server, if you will.

00:02:04 ◼   ► Phil Schiller will not be taking that

00:02:06 ◼   ► because Apple and Microsoft both

00:02:08 ◼   ► have given up those board seats.

00:02:12 ◼   ► So remember, I think we talked about last time,

00:02:13 ◼   ► I know others did as well.

00:02:15 ◼   ► I don't think we spoke about this a lot.

00:02:17 ◼   ► I don't know.

00:02:18 ◼   ► People know about it.

00:02:19 ◼   ► It's out there.

00:02:20 ◼   ► Okay, it's just weird follow up,

00:02:22 ◼   ► where it's like, here's information

00:02:25 ◼   ► about a news story we didn't discuss.

00:02:27 ◼   ► It's follow up to the rest of the world, really.

00:02:29 ◼   ► That both Microsoft and Apple had these roles

00:02:34 ◼   ► because they both have partnerships,

00:02:35 ◼   ► although very different partnerships with open AI.

00:02:39 ◼   ► And both have given them up,

00:02:41 ◼   ► potentially because of regulatory concern

00:02:45 ◼   ► over big tech and AI and all of those things, who knows?

00:02:49 ◼   ► But yeah, it's over.

00:02:51 ◼   ► I wonder if he got to go to a meeting at all.

00:02:54 ◼   ► Good question, I don't know.

00:02:56 ◼   ► It's a weird story, right?

00:02:58 ◼   ► I'm not sure I buy the regulatory thing,

00:02:59 ◼   ► but this is not really that unusual in the corporate world,

00:03:03 ◼   ► and it's not like Phil Schiller would have a right to vote

00:03:07 ◼   ► on the board of open AI.

00:03:09 ◼   ► He'd just be there kinda hanging out, right?

00:03:11 ◼   ► And basically a babysitter for Sam Altman

00:03:14 ◼   ► is essentially what I would have considered that role.

00:03:16 ◼   ► But for whatever reason, they've decided

00:03:18 ◼   ► that that wasn't a good idea.

00:03:19 ◼   ► And companies generally don't like to do this kind of thing

00:03:22 ◼   ► because you're there, you're discussing your secrets,

00:03:24 ◼   ► and you don't wanna share that with the whole world.

00:03:27 ◼   ► If these people aren't part of your company,

00:03:29 ◼   ► why should they be there listening in

00:03:31 ◼   ► on all your secret plans?

00:03:32 ◼   ► So Phil doesn't get the dirt now.

00:03:36 ◼   ► - I don't understand how this is a regulatory concern.

00:03:38 ◼   ► - I don't either.

00:03:39 ◼   ► - Because shouldn't it be more of a regulatory concern

00:03:42 ◼   ► that Microsoft have invested tens of billions of dollars

00:03:45 ◼   ► into this company, essentially owning their technology?

00:03:49 ◼   ► Where Microsoft keeps doing,

00:03:51 ◼   ► I don't know, there isn't a term for this yet,

00:03:53 ◼   ► but this is happening so much more in Silicon Valley,

00:03:55 ◼   ► these secret acquisitions.

00:03:58 ◼   ► - Well, sure, but the FTC and the EU

00:04:02 ◼   ► are already looking into open-ized deals

00:04:05 ◼   ► with other companies.

00:04:06 ◼   ► So the regulatory stuff is already happening.

00:04:08 ◼   ► It's in the early stages.

00:04:10 ◼   ► - I don't think this fixes it though,

00:04:12 ◼   ► because this doesn't change the deals.

00:04:14 ◼   ► All this means is they're not gonna be in the room

00:04:16 ◼   ► with no vote.

00:04:18 ◼   ► - That's why it's odd to me.

00:04:19 ◼   ► - Look, Phil Schiller's very busy

00:04:21 ◼   ► making everyone in Europe angry.

00:04:22 ◼   ► And he just couldn't juggle it all.

00:04:25 ◼   ► - He just wants us to think about the children, Steven,

00:04:28 ◼   ► come on, let's all help the kids.

00:04:30 ◼   ► - I do.

00:04:31 ◼   ► So there you go.

00:04:32 ◼   ► Follow up to a topic that maybe we didn't actually talk about

00:04:36 ◼   ► but I thought we did.

00:04:37 ◼   ► We did talk about Bluetooth having a funny name.

00:04:40 ◼   ► And listener Matt wrote in talking about this.

00:04:45 ◼   ► And back in 1997, Intel employee Jim Kardesh,

00:04:50 ◼   ► I'm gonna pronounce that.

00:04:54 ◼   ► - Sure.

00:04:55 ◼   ► - Kardesh was working with a special interest group

00:04:59 ◼   ► which was forming a new wireless technology.

00:05:02 ◼   ► Didn't have a name and he suggested the name Bluetooth.

00:05:07 ◼   ► - Kardesh was inspired after speaking with Sven Matteson

00:05:10 ◼   ► who was also on the SIG, the special interest group.

00:05:13 ◼   ► Matteson was interested in Scandinavian history

00:05:16 ◼   ► and had read about Harald Bluetooth,

00:05:19 ◼   ► who was a king of Denmark and Norway in the ninth century.

00:05:23 ◼   ► - The guys thought his reign was a great analogy

00:05:25 ◼   ► for a technology that would unite devices

00:05:29 ◼   ► the way that ye olde Bluetooth united the tribes of Denmark

00:05:32 ◼   ► into a single kingdom.

00:05:33 ◼   ► - The Bluetooth logo is made up of his two initials

00:05:36 ◼   ► taken from the ancient runic alphabet in use at this time,

00:05:40 ◼   ► which is why it has that very particular look,

00:05:42 ◼   ► the Bluetooth logo.

00:05:43 ◼   ► - And we don't have time to open that can of worms today,

00:05:45 ◼   ► but yeah, runic alphabets are cool.

00:05:48 ◼   ► - Steven, did you just do an ingenious Trojan horse

00:05:50 ◼   ► inside of this episode?

00:05:51 ◼   ► - I did.

00:05:52 ◼   ► There's an ingenious slipped inside the envelope

00:05:54 ◼   ► of connected this week.

00:05:56 ◼   ► - Steven is very, Steven has gone pretty wild

00:05:58 ◼   ► with the show document today.

00:05:59 ◼   ► This is just part one of Steven's genius.

00:06:03 ◼   ► But yes, if you like to hear us talk

00:06:06 ◼   ► in that very specific way about weird things,

00:06:09 ◼   ► you should go check out "Ungenious"

00:06:10 ◼   ► which is a show that me and Steven do every two weeks

00:06:12 ◼   ► where we pick a weird Wikipedia thing

00:06:15 ◼   ► and share some information with you.

00:06:17 ◼   ► - People in the discord are like,

00:06:18 ◼   ► they're doing their ingenious voices,

00:06:20 ◼   ► which we definitely do when we read those scripts.

00:06:22 ◼   ► - I didn't know that and I don't like that that happens.

00:06:25 ◼   ► - Yeah, you do it, you do it for sure.

00:06:27 ◼   ► I think it's just the reading means we're faster.

00:06:30 ◼   ► - Reading voices, yeah, reading voices.

00:06:32 ◼   ► I think we have good reading voices,

00:06:34 ◼   ► but they're still reading voices, you know?

00:06:36 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:06:38 ◼   ► - Ivory 2.0 is out, an update to the really lovely

00:06:43 ◼   ► Macedon client made from the folks behind

00:06:47 ◼   ► rest in peace tweet bot.

00:06:49 ◼   ► John, tell us a little bit about what's in Ivory 2.0.

00:06:52 ◼   ► - So there are a couple of things here.

00:06:54 ◼   ► There's a reworking of how the hashtags tab works.

00:06:59 ◼   ► It's gonna let you create lists that contain

00:07:01 ◼   ► up to four hashtags that you can follow, which is nice.

00:07:04 ◼   ► I mean, I'm not really a hashtag person.

00:07:06 ◼   ► I see that you have put some in here helpfully, Steven,

00:07:09 ◼   ► like Relay 10 and OTJ Day.

00:07:12 ◼   ► I didn't know there was such thing as OTJ Day,

00:07:14 ◼   ► but if there is gonna be one, it ought to be today

00:07:17 ◼   ► because here I am, right?

00:07:19 ◼   ► In all my OTJ glory.

00:07:24 ◼   ► So if you're a hashtag person, go for it, make your list.

00:07:29 ◼   ► - This is one, like, I don't know,

00:07:31 ◼   ► why did I think hashtags weren't even a thing in Macedon?

00:07:35 ◼   ► - Because they're not very well surfaced in a lot of apps.

00:07:38 ◼   ► And now they are, so maybe people,

00:07:40 ◼   ► since so many people use Ivory, maybe they'll catch on,

00:07:43 ◼   ► but it's probably not gonna catch on with me,

00:07:45 ◼   ► just kind of spoiler.

00:07:47 ◼   ► But the bigger feature here, I think,

00:07:51 ◼   ► is a reworking of the share sheet.

00:07:54 ◼   ► So it's just a lot nicer.

00:07:56 ◼   ► I mean, it's easy to get to the controls

00:07:59 ◼   ► for how public your post is gonna be,

00:08:02 ◼   ► to get to the language, to see a little preview

00:08:05 ◼   ► of the link that you're sharing,

00:08:06 ◼   ► if you're sharing a link, that sort of thing.

00:08:08 ◼   ► It's a very nice design and works really well

00:08:11 ◼   ► in my experience.

00:08:13 ◼   ► - What is, wait, what's the share sheet?

00:08:15 ◼   ► - So in the iOS share sheet, so if you're like on the web

00:08:20 ◼   ► and you decide you wanna share a link to a webpage

00:08:22 ◼   ► or something, for instance, on Macedon.

00:08:26 ◼   ► - When people say share sheet, I think of like

00:08:29 ◼   ► where you get all your apps and your people,

00:08:31 ◼   ► like the iOS system.

00:08:33 ◼   ► - Oh, I see what you're saying.

00:08:34 ◼   ► - You know what I mean?

00:08:35 ◼   ► Like I'm sharing a post inside of Ivory,

00:08:37 ◼   ► but no, this is like, okay, it's from the share sheet.

00:08:41 ◼   ► Like if I'm on a website-- - It's a share extension.

00:08:42 ◼   ► - Share extension, yeah. - It's a share extension

00:08:44 ◼   ► inside of other apps.

00:08:45 ◼   ► Right, right, right.

00:08:46 ◼   ► So that's been reworked, much better design now.

00:08:49 ◼   ► So I'll say again, this is another feature

00:08:52 ◼   ► that I don't use a lot.

00:08:53 ◼   ► For whatever reason, when I post something on Macedon,

00:08:56 ◼   ► like a link or something, I tend to copy it

00:08:58 ◼   ► and then just go into Ivory.

00:09:00 ◼   ► - Yeah, me too, I'm not sure if that makes us old,

00:09:02 ◼   ► but yeah, I feel like I wanna-- - Probably.

00:09:03 ◼   ► - I wanna be in the app, like doing the thing

00:09:06 ◼   ► and then posting it, you know what I mean?

00:09:07 ◼   ► - First, you gotta go to your Google and you know,

00:09:10 ◼   ► you gotta go to Google-- - Type in www.yahoo.com.

00:09:13 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:09:14 ◼   ► - Yes, exactly.

00:09:15 ◼   ► - See what Google gives me?

00:09:18 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:09:19 ◼   ► - Get your Yahoo Finance link.

00:09:21 ◼   ► Yeah, that's how it works, Mike.

00:09:22 ◼   ► - John!

00:09:24 ◼   ► - You know, the other day, the other day,

00:09:28 ◼   ► I saw someone post a link or maybe it was in our group chat

00:09:30 ◼   ► or something and it was something Apple related,

00:09:35 ◼   ► but it was a Yahoo Finance page

00:09:37 ◼   ► that Reuters was embedded inside of.

00:09:40 ◼   ► - Oh, that's weird.

00:09:41 ◼   ► - I was like, what is going on?

00:09:44 ◼   ► It was a very strange, like how is that,

00:09:47 ◼   ► like there obviously is some content licensing deal,

00:09:50 ◼   ► but it was very weird, very strange.

00:09:55 ◼   ► - Yeah, that's really weird.

00:09:56 ◼   ► There is a bug in there. - It was you, John.

00:09:57 ◼   ► You sent it to me.

00:09:58 ◼   ► Here it is, I found it in my group chat.

00:10:00 ◼   ► It was the Apple OK's Epic Games Marketplace app in Europe.

00:10:05 ◼   ► And it is a finance.yahoo.com,

00:10:10 ◼   ► but it has the Reuters logo on the top.

00:10:13 ◼   ► Like very strange, like a very strange thing to exist.

00:10:16 ◼   ► So you are actually the person that goes in Yahoo Finance.

00:10:19 ◼   ► - I am at fault.

00:10:21 ◼   ► Yeah, I think I found that on Masterjohn in fact.

00:10:23 ◼   ► So I'll blame the Don on that one.

00:10:26 ◼   ► - Somebody used the share sheet straight from Yahoo Finance.

00:10:29 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:10:30 ◼   ► - Probably, probably.

00:10:32 ◼   ► There is one bug in Ivory worth noting,

00:10:35 ◼   ► which is right now you can't access the profiles

00:10:40 ◼   ► of people who are on subdomains.

00:10:42 ◼   ► So that means that the entire MacStories team

00:10:46 ◼   ► who are on our own subdomain for the MacStories server,

00:10:50 ◼   ► if you tap on, for instance, @MacStories

00:10:53 ◼   ► in a post in Ivory right now, you will not be taken

00:10:56 ◼   ► to the MacStories profile.

00:10:57 ◼   ► Or if you tap on my name or Federico's,

00:11:00 ◼   ► you won't get to us, but I think they're working

00:11:03 ◼   ► on a fix for that.

00:11:03 ◼   ► - That's odd. - We're not the only ones

00:11:06 ◼   ► who use a subdomain, that's a fairly common thing.

00:11:09 ◼   ► But it's not so common that it obviously slipped through

00:11:12 ◼   ► with the cracks on this one.

00:11:14 ◼   ► - A subdomain's different to like custom servers?

00:11:21 ◼   ► - Yeah, because ours is mastodon.macstories.net.

00:11:25 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:11:26 ◼   ► - And so-- - You're safe.

00:11:29 ◼   ► - Yeah, I'm not sure how it differs.

00:11:30 ◼   ► Alex, you're okay. (laughing)

00:11:33 ◼   ► But 'cause you didn't have Alex set up your server for you.

00:11:37 ◼   ► - So Alex is the problem is what you're saying.

00:11:39 ◼   ► - Yes, yes, yes.

00:11:40 ◼   ► - If y'all had done mastodonstories.net

00:11:45 ◼   ► as your server name, you would have been fine.

00:11:48 ◼   ► - Yeah, we would have been fine.

00:11:48 ◼   ► - Or mic.social, just to pull one out

00:11:50 ◼   ► of the air.

00:11:51 ◼   ► - Just to know, a word to associate,

00:11:53 ◼   ► it's just that, just to, hey John, if you wanna come over,

00:11:57 ◼   ► I'll offer you, if you wanna be the second

00:11:59 ◼   ► and only person on mic.social, you just let me know, man.

00:12:01 ◼   ► - Ooh, boy, that'd be cozy.

00:12:03 ◼   ► That'd be really cozy, I'm looking forward to it, yeah.

00:12:05 ◼   ► - OTJ@mic.social, that username is just ready for you

00:12:09 ◼   ► whenever you want it.

00:12:10 ◼   ► You can share as many Yahoo Finance links as you like.

00:12:13 ◼   ► - This episode of Connected is brought to you by Ecamm.

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00:14:39 ◼   ► and Relay FM.

00:14:42 ◼   ► - So iOS 18 Beta 3 is out.

00:14:46 ◼   ► I think all the Beta's are being revved,

00:14:48 ◼   ► but obviously iOS is the one where the most is happening.

00:14:52 ◼   ► And there are a couple of interesting features

00:14:55 ◼   ► that have been released.

00:14:57 ◼   ► I guess you guys, I'm assuming both of you guys

00:14:59 ◼   ► have updated, but there are a couple of things

00:15:01 ◼   ► I wanted to point out.

00:15:02 ◼   ► I'm not using iOS on any device.

00:15:05 ◼   ► I just have the Beta's on my iPad mini,

00:15:08 ◼   ► which is not a great device to test.

00:15:10 ◼   ► - No, it's not.

00:15:11 ◼   ► - Anything, everything is real.

00:15:13 ◼   ► I'm gonna tell you boys, it's getting real slow and hot

00:15:17 ◼   ► on that iPad mini.

00:15:17 ◼   ► Things are bad, it's a bad time.

00:15:19 ◼   ► And the battery is dying very quickly.

00:15:22 ◼   ► It's terrible, don't do it.

00:15:24 ◼   ► The thing that is most interesting to me

00:15:27 ◼   ► is Apple has made some tweaks and changes

00:15:29 ◼   ► to the way that icons are working in dark mode.

00:15:32 ◼   ► A thing that was previously seemed to be a bug,

00:15:34 ◼   ► which was that you could separate widgets and icons

00:15:37 ◼   ► from dark and light mode,

00:15:38 ◼   ► it seems to have become just the way the system works.

00:15:42 ◼   ► So you actually can't separate, which is kind of annoying.

00:15:45 ◼   ► So if you want dark widgets, you have to,

00:15:48 ◼   ► they're basically tied icons and widgets together

00:15:50 ◼   ► in light and dark mode, which I don't love.

00:15:53 ◼   ► But the thing that is of note is Apple is forcibly changing

00:15:58 ◼   ► the look of icons if you choose dark mode.

00:16:04 ◼   ► So developers will be able to supply to Apple

00:16:07 ◼   ► a dark mode icon, but if they don't,

00:16:10 ◼   ► Apple is doing something about it.

00:16:12 ◼   ► And what I would love to know,

00:16:15 ◼   ► and I don't know if anybody could tell us this,

00:16:18 ◼   ► it seems like some icons are being particularly changed.

00:16:24 ◼   ► Like somebody has made some decisions

00:16:27 ◼   ► about how an app icon could be changed.

00:16:31 ◼   ► And some just look like they're being darkened

00:16:33 ◼   ► or like inverted or something.

00:16:36 ◼   ► But like, for example, the Facebook icon, right?

00:16:39 ◼   ► Currently it's blue with a white F.

00:16:44 ◼   ► In dark mode, the background is black and the F is blue.

00:16:49 ◼   ► Now that's not an invert.

00:16:52 ◼   ► That feels like a decision that has been made to me, right?

00:16:56 ◼   ► About the way that that is going to be displayed.

00:16:59 ◼   ► And there are lots of instances of this.

00:17:01 ◼   ► I'll put a couple in the show notes so people can see,

00:17:04 ◼   ► but like some are simple, right?

00:17:06 ◼   ► Like Google Maps, they just take the white

00:17:08 ◼   ► that's in the background and change it black

00:17:10 ◼   ► and keep the colors on the little pin the same and stuff.

00:17:13 ◼   ► But to me, it feels like something's going on,

00:17:15 ◼   ► whether it's Apple intelligence

00:17:18 ◼   ► or a designer has made some choices, like I don't know.

00:17:21 ◼   ► And then icons that are like full color,

00:17:25 ◼   ► they have been dimmed a little bit.

00:17:27 ◼   ► It's kind of weird, but yeah, Apple's making some choices.

00:17:30 ◼   ► - Yeah, it's interesting.

00:17:32 ◼   ► It seems like the rule tends to be that

00:17:35 ◼   ► if it's a simple glyph with hard contrasting edges

00:17:40 ◼   ► like the F in Facebook or I don't know,

00:17:45 ◼   ► Slack's logo or something like that,

00:17:48 ◼   ► or threads for instance,

00:17:49 ◼   ► that those are being kind of inverted,

00:17:52 ◼   ► although it's not strictly an inversion at all.

00:17:55 ◼   ► It's pulling colors from the icon itself

00:17:59 ◼   ► and replacing white areas with those colors

00:18:02 ◼   ► and then darkening the other parts.

00:18:05 ◼   ► So that seems to be where the biggest action is.

00:18:08 ◼   ► And I got to imagine that's automatic

00:18:11 ◼   ► because there's just too many icons on the store,

00:18:13 ◼   ► except for maybe they're designing around

00:18:15 ◼   ► some of the really biggest apps,

00:18:17 ◼   ► like the top 100 or something.

00:18:18 ◼   ► - That is what I think.

00:18:20 ◼   ► I would love to understand the answer to this,

00:18:24 ◼   ► but just like the Facebook one specifically

00:18:26 ◼   ► really jumps out to me.

00:18:27 ◼   ► - Yeah, I agree.

00:18:28 ◼   ► - Because it's not an inversion.

00:18:31 ◼   ► It's weird.

00:18:32 ◼   ► So I could imagine that there are some apps

00:18:34 ◼   ► that they might be making some decisions on,

00:18:37 ◼   ► but ultimately developers should be providing these

00:18:40 ◼   ► to the system.

00:18:41 ◼   ► And I think Apple wants it to happen,

00:18:44 ◼   ► so they've now enacted this,

00:18:46 ◼   ► so it will happen, so you should probably do it yourself.

00:18:49 ◼   ► You know what I mean?

00:18:50 ◼   ► So I think it's a smart way to do it,

00:18:52 ◼   ► even though I think it's probably gonna upset some people.

00:18:54 ◼   ► - The more skeuomorphic and 3D looking the icon is,

00:18:58 ◼   ► the less likely it's going to change much.

00:19:00 ◼   ► That's where the dimming really happens, I think.

00:19:02 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah.

00:19:04 ◼   ► - And developers still have the opportunity

00:19:05 ◼   ► to do their own thing and supply them to the system.

00:19:09 ◼   ► We're kind of talking about a couple of different things

00:19:11 ◼   ► where the system is making some decisions,

00:19:13 ◼   ► I think, in the absence of direct,

00:19:17 ◼   ► like this is what I want you to do from the developer.

00:19:20 ◼   ► So I'm not surprised there's like some hodgepodge,

00:19:23 ◼   ► like mixed up things right now.

00:19:25 ◼   ► Clearly, at least in beta one and two,

00:19:27 ◼   ► Apple didn't have this finished.

00:19:29 ◼   ► And I kind of suspect it's still not done,

00:19:32 ◼   ► so we may still see some more changes.

00:19:35 ◼   ► - It's definitely more polished now than it was in beta one,

00:19:38 ◼   ► but it does have a ways to go yet.

00:19:40 ◼   ► - Yeah, they did fix the bug

00:19:42 ◼   ► where if you switch back and forth,

00:19:44 ◼   ► sometimes just all of your icons would disappear

00:19:46 ◼   ► and become like the default white round erect.

00:19:49 ◼   ► It's like, well, all my icons are just white boxes.

00:19:52 ◼   ► They got that going for them.

00:19:54 ◼   ► - But the thing I'm maybe most excited about

00:19:57 ◼   ► is they've finally done it.

00:19:58 ◼   ► Stickers can be emoji.

00:20:00 ◼   ► - Yes.

00:20:01 ◼   ► - They like look like emoji and act like emoji

00:20:04 ◼   ► inside of messages, as well as in reactions and stuff.

00:20:08 ◼   ► Like this is the thing that they've wanted them to forever.

00:20:11 ◼   ► So now if you wanted, you could use me emoji,

00:20:16 ◼   ► emoji instead of the human emojis that exist.

00:20:20 ◼   ► So I think this is a very cool thing

00:20:23 ◼   ► that they've finally done.

00:20:25 ◼   ► - Yeah, I'm still not used to it.

00:20:26 ◼   ► It's odd to look at your recently used

00:20:29 ◼   ► or your most used emoji and see your stickers in there.

00:20:32 ◼   ► I mean, it's not that I dislike it.

00:20:34 ◼   ► I'm just, I'm a little surprised every time I see it.

00:20:36 ◼   ► - Yeah, and I think to do this though,

00:20:39 ◼   ► they have, I think, had a regression with the emoji picker

00:20:43 ◼   ► where they've made the emoji bigger

00:20:45 ◼   ► so you see less at the time.

00:20:48 ◼   ► And I think they're doing that

00:20:49 ◼   ► because obviously stickers tend to be more complicated.

00:20:52 ◼   ► And so you maybe need a little bit more visual

00:20:55 ◼   ► for seeing those.

00:20:56 ◼   ► But I will take that for this

00:20:59 ◼   ► because I think we could finally get

00:21:01 ◼   ► what I think people have wanted for a really long time,

00:21:04 ◼   ► which is maybe we're gonna get back

00:21:06 ◼   ► on the old sticker roundup, John.

00:21:08 ◼   ► Because this was the original promise

00:21:11 ◼   ► of stickers and messages.

00:21:14 ◼   ► Like people thought they were emoji, but they never were.

00:21:17 ◼   ► - Never were.

00:21:18 ◼   ► - But now you actually could use a Mickey Mouse emoji pack.

00:21:24 ◼   ► Or like a, I don't know, insert your favorite character here,

00:21:28 ◼   ► emoji pack.

00:21:29 ◼   ► Or like, you know, people have created like chef kiss emoji

00:21:32 ◼   ► and stuff like that.

00:21:33 ◼   ► - Right.

00:21:34 ◼   ► - And now you could have that.

00:21:35 ◼   ► I mean, let alone the fact that we can all look forward

00:21:37 ◼   ► to creating our own emoji with Genmoji.

00:21:40 ◼   ► So I guess I would expect that they are essentially,

00:21:43 ◼   ► what we can see here,

00:21:44 ◼   ► like the Genmoji are essentially stickers,

00:21:47 ◼   ► but they have now pushed the idea of stickers

00:21:49 ◼   ► to act like emoji.

00:21:50 ◼   ► And so they just decided to do it for everything.

00:21:52 ◼   ► - I would imagine that was the impetus for this.

00:21:55 ◼   ► Like, oh, we want to treat those as emoji.

00:21:57 ◼   ► And so stickers get to come along.

00:22:00 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:22:01 ◼   ► - I agree with you.

00:22:01 ◼   ► The new layout is, the new visual layout is a little weird

00:22:06 ◼   ► being more spaced out,

00:22:08 ◼   ► but I kind of tend to think that may just be

00:22:10 ◼   ► like an adjustment period, but.

00:22:13 ◼   ► - Yeah, you get used to it.

00:22:14 ◼   ► - Yeah, but it is good.

00:22:15 ◼   ► Like you in particular, Mike,

00:22:17 ◼   ► have talked about this for a long time.

00:22:18 ◼   ► Like stickers are like, you know,

00:22:20 ◼   ► they go on top of text and I know Jason

00:22:23 ◼   ► has talked about this as well.

00:22:23 ◼   ► And like they go on top of text and they block text

00:22:26 ◼   ► and like, if I want to use something like this,

00:22:29 ◼   ► I kind of have to make some decisions about where it goes.

00:22:32 ◼   ► And sometimes that's fun.

00:22:33 ◼   ► And you know, all that stuff still exists,

00:22:35 ◼   ► but a lot of times I just want to inline

00:22:38 ◼   ► with what I'm typing.

00:22:38 ◼   ► And so I kind of felt like they finally done

00:22:40 ◼   ► what we all want,

00:22:42 ◼   ► even if it comes with some trade-offs

00:22:44 ◼   ► in terms of the density visually,

00:22:47 ◼   ► but I'm glad they're doing it.

00:22:49 ◼   ► - And hey, this is a very helpful feature

00:22:51 ◼   ► to add to iMessage when you add RCS to iMessage.

00:22:55 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:22:56 ◼   ► Right?

00:22:57 ◼   ► - Yeah. - Oh yeah.

00:22:58 ◼   ► - If people adopt this and really start using it,

00:23:01 ◼   ► then it increases the iMessage experience

00:23:04 ◼   ► and decreases the RCS experience.

00:23:06 ◼   ► So. - Yeah, good point.

00:23:08 ◼   ► - Which, you know, look, I'm not saying,

00:23:10 ◼   ► I don't believe that they did this for that,

00:23:12 ◼   ► but I bet when someone realized that they were like, great.

00:23:15 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah.

00:23:16 ◼   ► - Like Apple's saying is they need to increase

00:23:18 ◼   ► the lock-in for iMessage.

00:23:19 ◼   ► Like I understand it.

00:23:20 ◼   ► Like I see what the point of that is.

00:23:22 ◼   ► Like iMessage is one of the most important features

00:23:26 ◼   ► on the iPhone for creating the Apple ecosystem.

00:23:29 ◼   ► And so anything that they,

00:23:30 ◼   ► it's why iMessage gets significant updates

00:23:32 ◼   ► every single year, right?

00:23:35 ◼   ► And so I think this is the thing

00:23:37 ◼   ► that they've just keep pushing on

00:23:39 ◼   ► to keep making iMessage better and better and better.

00:23:42 ◼   ► And I do think these features make it better.

00:23:46 ◼   ► - Anything you guys wanted to point out

00:23:48 ◼   ► from developer beta three at all?

00:23:50 ◼   ► Are you both using the betas on a lot of devices?

00:23:53 ◼   ► John, I'm sure you're probably

00:23:54 ◼   ► on everything everywhere, right?

00:23:55 ◼   ► - Yeah, everything except for my Apple TV.

00:23:58 ◼   ► So I have not tried the Insight yet thing,

00:24:00 ◼   ► the Insight feature yet that showed up

00:24:02 ◼   ► in this most recent beta,

00:24:03 ◼   ► because that's one of those things where it's like,

00:24:05 ◼   ► if I screw up my Apple TV

00:24:06 ◼   ► and Jennifer sits down to watch TV at night,

00:24:09 ◼   ► I'm gonna hear about it. - I think that it is

00:24:10 ◼   ► available on the iPhone too though.

00:24:12 ◼   ► - Yeah, I haven't, but I don't, yeah,

00:24:14 ◼   ► I haven't tried it yet. - Like if you watch

00:24:15 ◼   ► a show on your iPhone,

00:24:16 ◼   ► I think you can also get that feature.

00:24:18 ◼   ► But obviously it's just more natural to use on Apple TV.

00:24:22 ◼   ► - Yeah, makes sense, makes sense.

00:24:23 ◼   ► Yeah, I haven't tried it yet.

00:24:25 ◼   ► I do have betas on iPads, Apple Watch, iPhone, and Mac.

00:24:30 ◼   ► And as a result, I am recording on Mac hardware.

00:24:34 ◼   ► That's not my normal setup.

00:24:36 ◼   ► That's my, that's what I do in the summer.

00:24:38 ◼   ► I replace my keyboard with my MacBook Pro

00:24:40 ◼   ► and sit here looking at a MacBook Pro instead.

00:24:44 ◼   ► - One of my favorite things listening to App Stories Plus

00:24:47 ◼   ► around this time of the year is Federico

00:24:49 ◼   ► wanting to install Mac OS and you trying to stop him.

00:24:53 ◼   ► - Yes, thank you for that.

00:24:55 ◼   ► I was thinking of you guys and myself.

00:24:57 ◼   ► - For me, I'm kind of just like at this point,

00:25:01 ◼   ► let it fly because I don't have to worry about it,

00:25:04 ◼   ► but I know Stephen does.

00:25:05 ◼   ► And so I work for Stephen.

00:25:07 ◼   ► - It's all fun and games until we don't have a podcast.

00:25:09 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:25:11 ◼   ► - You just have to worry about it.

00:25:12 ◼   ► - Well, you know, I worry about my part.

00:25:15 ◼   ► - Yeah, you have to have a good backup plan.

00:25:19 ◼   ► And he's becoming kind of a minimalist

00:25:22 ◼   ► and it concerns me that he's not,

00:25:25 ◼   ► doesn't have a backup Mac really.

00:25:27 ◼   ► And that's why I put the brakes on him

00:25:29 ◼   ► this year a little bit.

00:25:30 ◼   ► Plus there's not that much.

00:25:31 ◼   ► - He doesn't even have a whole Mac, John.

00:25:33 ◼   ► He has half of a Mac.

00:25:34 ◼   ► - Yeah, he has half of a real Mac.

00:25:36 ◼   ► That is pretty minimal, right?

00:25:39 ◼   ► I have half of a computer.

00:25:41 ◼   ► Like that is about as minimal as you can get.

00:25:43 ◼   ► - That's pretty good.

00:25:44 ◼   ► - True.

00:25:45 ◼   ► - The only thing I'll add here is I suspect

00:25:47 ◼   ► that developer beta three will be public beta one next week.

00:25:51 ◼   ► It feels pretty solid at this point.

00:25:53 ◼   ► We're now basically halfway into July, you know,

00:25:57 ◼   ► here at the end of the week.

00:25:58 ◼   ► So I think we will see developer beta three

00:26:03 ◼   ► get graduated to the public beta.

00:26:05 ◼   ► And I would just say, you know,

00:26:06 ◼   ► I think we do this every year.

00:26:09 ◼   ► Just know what you're getting into.

00:26:10 ◼   ► I think listeners of shows like this

00:26:11 ◼   ► know what they're getting into,

00:26:12 ◼   ► that your battery life's gonna be terrible.

00:26:14 ◼   ► Some of your apps aren't gonna work right.

00:26:16 ◼   ► And things may change out from underneath you.

00:26:19 ◼   ► But if you live that exciting life, you know, go for it.

00:26:22 ◼   ► I'll put the public beta on my phone after London.

00:26:25 ◼   ► Right now it's on a secondary phone,

00:26:27 ◼   ► but I'll make the move after our trip, I'm sure.

00:26:30 ◼   ► - Yeah, one of the things that's interesting

00:26:32 ◼   ► is that we didn't get a Sequoia update this week for--

00:26:36 ◼   ► - It just came out.

00:26:37 ◼   ► It is out now.

00:26:37 ◼   ► - Oh, did it?

00:26:38 ◼   ► Okay, all right.

00:26:39 ◼   ► Look at that.

00:26:40 ◼   ► I do not feel right now any desire to put iOS 18 on my phone.

00:26:46 ◼   ► I just don't have it.

00:26:49 ◼   ► - Is it because the AI stuff's not there?

00:26:51 ◼   ► - It's not because the AI stuff isn't there.

00:26:54 ◼   ► It's because there isn't a lot of stuff there currently.

00:26:57 ◼   ► There's more of it, right?

00:26:58 ◼   ► That like the majority of stuff that Apple

00:27:01 ◼   ► is going to spend the most time talking about in iOS 18

00:27:04 ◼   ► will probably not be in 18.0, right?

00:27:07 ◼   ► And if they end up putting some intelligence features,

00:27:11 ◼   ► which we believe they will, into 18,

00:27:14 ◼   ► that's probably when I'll jump on

00:27:16 ◼   ► because I think it's gonna be the biggest thing.

00:27:18 ◼   ► But I'm looking forward to Control Center

00:27:22 ◼   ► and having these emojis.

00:27:25 ◼   ► But outside of that, there isn't really anything else

00:27:28 ◼   ► that I'm dying to use because I think

00:27:31 ◼   ► that the dark mode stuff is interesting,

00:27:34 ◼   ► but it's not what I want.

00:27:36 ◼   ► And I think right now it's gonna give me an experience

00:27:38 ◼   ► that I'm not looking for, like where I want dark widgets

00:27:43 ◼   ► and like dark UI elements

00:27:47 ◼   ► that dark mode currently gives me on 17,

00:27:50 ◼   ► but light icons, 'cause I don't like

00:27:52 ◼   ► the majority of Apple's dark icons.

00:27:54 ◼   ► I don't think that the colors are right

00:27:57 ◼   ► and they're still not changing them.

00:27:59 ◼   ► But if I choose light icons, all of the dark mode interface

00:28:04 ◼   ► on the home screen doesn't exist, right?

00:28:06 ◼   ► Like all of my widgets are brighter, my dock is brighter,

00:28:11 ◼   ► and so I'm not keen on that.

00:28:12 ◼   ► So I'm not super enthused to install the beta yet,

00:28:17 ◼   ► but I just don't have the thing that's pulling me.

00:28:19 ◼   ► - Yeah, there isn't much to it, I don't think,

00:28:21 ◼   ► at least right now.

00:28:22 ◼   ► I mean, I really do like the new Control Center

00:28:25 ◼   ► and I like the ability to put those control widgets

00:28:28 ◼   ► on my lock screen too.

00:28:29 ◼   ► That's been really handy.

00:28:31 ◼   ► But beyond that, not so much,

00:28:33 ◼   ► but it's even less so on the Mac.

00:28:35 ◼   ► The Mac is just, my day-to-day work on my Mac

00:28:39 ◼   ► has not changed at all hardly.

00:28:40 ◼   ► It's just like, it's really thin

00:28:42 ◼   ► without the Apple intelligence stuff on there yet.

00:28:44 ◼   ► - Is the iPhone mirroring in the Mac yet?

00:28:47 ◼   ► - It is, and it broke with the last developer beta

00:28:50 ◼   ► of iOS 18, although I'm assuming that today's Mac update

00:28:55 ◼   ► will probably fix that. - Probably fix today, yeah.

00:28:58 ◼   ► So I think it was interesting.

00:28:59 ◼   ► I had a call with a friend and we wanted to do

00:29:01 ◼   ► a persona call and it wouldn't work with them

00:29:04 ◼   ► 'cause they weren't on the beta.

00:29:06 ◼   ► - Oh, interesting. - Which I thought

00:29:08 ◼   ► was really weird, but there you go.

00:29:10 ◼   ► - Our friend, the HomePod with display,

00:29:16 ◼   ► the DisplayPod is back in the news.

00:29:19 ◼   ► So this is a pair of stories, one from 9to5Mac,

00:29:22 ◼   ► one from MacRumors, that tvOS 18 beta three,

00:29:26 ◼   ► honestly, Mike, you should have brought this to the show

00:29:27 ◼   ► as the tvOS guy.

00:29:29 ◼   ► - No, I retired, no, sorry, I was fired

00:29:32 ◼   ► from that position, if you remember.

00:29:34 ◼   ► - Forced out.

00:29:35 ◼   ► - You're ousted.

00:29:36 ◼   ► - Yeah, you were part of the reason, John, don't come to me.

00:29:39 ◼   ► - I was part of the cabal that got rid of you.

00:29:41 ◼   ► - Yeah, there was--

00:29:42 ◼   ► - You gotta pull the same off and just come back in.

00:29:45 ◼   ► - You know what, I should do that,

00:29:47 ◼   ► but I don't know who I'm appealing to.

00:29:49 ◼   ► Who am I appealing to, you know?

00:29:51 ◼   ► - That's the masses.

00:29:53 ◼   ► The tvOS 18 beta three includes something called

00:29:57 ◼   ► plasterboard, springboard is basically the background task

00:30:01 ◼   ► that runs the home screen on the iPhone.

00:30:03 ◼   ► And I forget what it's called on watchOS,

00:30:05 ◼   ► but watchOS is a separate name for it, I think.

00:30:07 ◼   ► But anyways, plasterboard apparently is what it's called

00:30:10 ◼   ► here, and there's a touchscreen friendly UI,

00:30:14 ◼   ► like go look at this article,

00:30:16 ◼   ► it looks like an iPad unlocked screen.

00:30:18 ◼   ► It's very basic, very simple, but obviously tvOS

00:30:23 ◼   ► is not something that's touchscreen friendly,

00:30:26 ◼   ► and this kind of is on the back of the idea

00:30:29 ◼   ► that whatever a home pod with a display would be,

00:30:32 ◼   ► would be based on tvOS.

00:30:34 ◼   ► You know, that UI, sort of that stack of technology

00:30:37 ◼   ► would move over.

00:30:39 ◼   ► So this is showing up in beta three of tvOS 18,

00:30:42 ◼   ► and then Aaron over at MacRumors reports that

00:30:46 ◼   ► there is a product called home accessory 17,1

00:30:51 ◼   ► that Apple has been working on,

00:30:53 ◼   ► that's a string identifier that they have located,

00:30:56 ◼   ► and this would be similar to the audio accessory identifier

00:31:01 ◼   ► used by current home pods.

00:31:04 ◼   ► So a new name, new internal name

00:31:06 ◼   ► seems to kind of line up with this.

00:31:08 ◼   ► What's interesting is the 17,1 would be,

00:31:13 ◼   ► like 17, is gonna be used for the A18 chips

00:31:17 ◼   ► coming in the iPhone 16.

00:31:19 ◼   ► Yes, Apple's numbers and naming are out of control,

00:31:21 ◼   ► we just, it is what it is.

00:31:23 ◼   ► And so maybe this thing could be powered by something

00:31:26 ◼   ► much more powerful than, you know,

00:31:28 ◼   ► the Apple Watch chip found in something like

00:31:30 ◼   ► the home pod mini, could also mean something like this

00:31:33 ◼   ► could potentially pick up some Apple intelligence things,

00:31:37 ◼   ► who knows, but it seems like there's a lot of smoke

00:31:40 ◼   ► to this fire that Apple is working on something

00:31:44 ◼   ► that combines something like a home pod and an iPad mini,

00:31:48 ◼   ► and maybe we're beginning to see the pieces

00:31:51 ◼   ► of that come together.

00:31:53 ◼   ► The name in a smart plasterboard is used to make homes.

00:31:57 ◼   ► Yeah, true. Oh yeah.

00:32:00 ◼   ► I hadn't really thought about that.

00:32:01 ◼   ► I think in America it's called sheetrock,

00:32:03 ◼   ► but here we call it plasterboard.

00:32:04 ◼   ► Sheetrock board.

00:32:06 ◼   ► So like, you know, it is something that is used

00:32:10 ◼   ► to build homes, so obviously they love their board names,

00:32:13 ◼   ► right, like they've been doing forever.

00:32:16 ◼   ► And like Carter in the Discord is saying posterboard,

00:32:19 ◼   ► I remember this now, is the customizable lock screen

00:32:22 ◼   ► on iOS, right, that has its own name.

00:32:24 ◼   ► And so a home accessory being called plasterboard internally

00:32:29 ◼   ► that would make a lot of sense for how they would

00:32:31 ◼   ► call this UI.

00:32:32 ◼   ► This product makes so much sense, right, like I,

00:32:35 ◼   ► I believe it's coming because it's so logical as a product.

00:32:40 ◼   ► Where Apple already make all of the things

00:32:44 ◼   ► that you would need to make a product like this,

00:32:47 ◼   ► they just need to physically connect them together.

00:32:50 ◼   ► Put an iPod, you can put an iPod on it if you want to,

00:32:53 ◼   ► but I meant to say put an iPad on a HomePod,

00:32:56 ◼   ► you've done the thing, right, like you've done it.

00:32:59 ◼   ► And you know, there's also all these things where like

00:33:02 ◼   ► in the, I believe in the last Global Accessibility

00:33:05 ◼   ► Awareness Day, one of the iOS 18 features is like

00:33:08 ◼   ► an eye tracking feature for a iPad.

00:33:10 ◼   ► I'm convinced that they're gonna do something,

00:33:12 ◼   ► either eye or hand tracking based for controlling

00:33:16 ◼   ► a device like this because I think that would be brilliant.

00:33:19 ◼   ► Like I think all of the pieces are coming together

00:33:22 ◼   ► to create something really nice and really expensive.

00:33:25 ◼   ► Especially if it has the robot arm that Mark Gurman

00:33:30 ◼   ► keeps talking about.

00:33:31 ◼   ► - Right, that's what I was gonna say,

00:33:32 ◼   ► this is gonna be the entree into tabletop robots.

00:33:36 ◼   ► - Yes, yeah, he keeps talking about that, he loves it.

00:33:40 ◼   ► But look, we are in an Echo Show family.

00:33:45 ◼   ► - Echo. - I hate it.

00:33:48 ◼   ► I hate it, but my wife loves it and I want to replace it

00:33:53 ◼   ► and I think this could replace it.

00:33:56 ◼   ► - What does she use it for?

00:33:57 ◼   ► Is it for mostly photos or news or weather?

00:34:00 ◼   ► - She likes it for photos. - Okay.

00:34:02 ◼   ► - But she prefers to talk to the Echo

00:34:05 ◼   ► to control the smart home devices.

00:34:07 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:34:08 ◼   ► - We don't have any HomePods at home,

00:34:09 ◼   ► so those devices really are the best way

00:34:13 ◼   ► to communicate with things.

00:34:15 ◼   ► And so if we had one, this would do it,

00:34:17 ◼   ► but for me, there's no point just bringing a HomePod

00:34:21 ◼   ► and setting it up at home for this thing

00:34:22 ◼   ► because she's still gonna want to use the Echo.

00:34:25 ◼   ► - Sure. - And she likes the combo

00:34:28 ◼   ► of what the screen shows things to her

00:34:31 ◼   ► that she finds interesting.

00:34:32 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:34:33 ◼   ► - Sometimes new stuff or whatever, which I hate, but.

00:34:35 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:34:37 ◼   ► It's just one of these things where I'm not,

00:34:39 ◼   ► I don't have something to replace this product with

00:34:42 ◼   ► that is better than this product

00:34:43 ◼   ► at all of the things that it does.

00:34:45 ◼   ► So I'm not gonna force it, there's no point.

00:34:47 ◼   ► It doesn't harm me,

00:34:48 ◼   ► but I would love to be able to do this right.

00:34:52 ◼   ► Because the photos, we have to manually upload

00:34:55 ◼   ► to Amazon photos, right?

00:34:57 ◼   ► So I would prefer how I have photos on standby,

00:35:00 ◼   ► which is just, it's just pulling from the library.

00:35:03 ◼   ► I don't have to do anything about it, right?

00:35:05 ◼   ► The same as calendars, right?

00:35:07 ◼   ► I can't connect our family calendar

00:35:10 ◼   ► to the Echo in a way that I'm happy.

00:35:13 ◼   ► But if it was an iOS device,

00:35:14 ◼   ► it could just pull the family calendar in

00:35:16 ◼   ► and show it to me on a widget, right?

00:35:17 ◼   ► Like it would be a fastly superior product

00:35:21 ◼   ► in a bunch of ways that I know that she would appreciate,

00:35:25 ◼   ► but right now there isn't anything.

00:35:27 ◼   ► So why pull the rug from under the way

00:35:30 ◼   ► that she's used to doing something?

00:35:31 ◼   ► I'm happy that she wants to use the smart home devices.

00:35:34 ◼   ► I don't wanna like.

00:35:35 ◼   ► - I don't wanna make her.

00:35:36 ◼   ► - Oh, the way you do this, you can't do it anymore.

00:35:38 ◼   ► Why?

00:35:39 ◼   ► - You're holding it wrong.

00:35:40 ◼   ► - Because I don't like this device, 'cause it's old.

00:35:42 ◼   ► Like there's like kind of nothing.

00:35:44 ◼   ► There's no reason.

00:35:45 ◼   ► - Yeah, I get it.

00:35:46 ◼   ► I get it.

00:35:46 ◼   ► Yeah, I'm trying to figure out whether there's a place

00:35:48 ◼   ► in my life for one of these type of devices.

00:35:50 ◼   ► I don't really know if there is.

00:35:51 ◼   ► I mean, a lot of that kind of stuff I use my phone for.

00:35:55 ◼   ► And the way our house kind of works now,

00:35:59 ◼   ► that we're on three floors,

00:36:00 ◼   ► most of the technology is concentrated on the first floor

00:36:03 ◼   ► where I work.

00:36:04 ◼   ► And then it gradually lessens as you go up the floors.

00:36:08 ◼   ► I was realizing this the other day.

00:36:08 ◼   ► - There's no power in the attic.

00:36:10 ◼   ► - No, right, well, so you go to the second floor,

00:36:13 ◼   ► which is like where our living space and kitchen is.

00:36:15 ◼   ► And yeah, there's some automatic lights there,

00:36:18 ◼   ► but not all of them are automatic.

00:36:19 ◼   ► And there's an Apple TV, but that's really about,

00:36:22 ◼   ► and there's the HomePods, which are connected to the TV,

00:36:24 ◼   ► but that's about it.

00:36:26 ◼   ► And then you go upstairs to the third floor

00:36:28 ◼   ► where the bedrooms are, and there's really nothing.

00:36:31 ◼   ► I mean, other than when you bring something up there,

00:36:34 ◼   ► whether it's a phone or whatever, iPad,

00:36:37 ◼   ► but that's kind of just how it is.

00:36:39 ◼   ► I also realized that I think my original HomePods,

00:36:41 ◼   ► which are still kicking and are still a stereo pair

00:36:44 ◼   ► with my television, are my first device that I've owned

00:36:48 ◼   ► until they've been declared obsolete by Apple.

00:36:53 ◼   ► I think that's the first Apple thing I ever had to do.

00:36:55 ◼   ► - I think that's the same for me too.

00:36:56 ◼   ► I'm still using my two original HomePods.

00:36:58 ◼   ► They were ones that I had at home,

00:37:00 ◼   ► and then I didn't know what to do with them for a while

00:37:02 ◼   ► when we moved, 'cause we went Sonos,

00:37:04 ◼   ► which I'm way happier with.

00:37:05 ◼   ► But now I have them as a stereo pair here at the studio

00:37:07 ◼   ► connected to my TV here at the studio.

00:37:10 ◼   ► Way too loud, just in general.

00:37:12 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:37:13 ◼   ► What's so loud?

00:37:14 ◼   ► They're just so loud.

00:37:15 ◼   ► There's no way to make them not loud, but I like them.

00:37:19 ◼   ► You know, they are good, but I would not recommend it.

00:37:22 ◼   ► I would not recommend HomePods as a stereo pair.

00:37:25 ◼   ► I just would not.

00:37:26 ◼   ► My recommendation now is Sonos for this stuff,

00:37:30 ◼   ► because it's just so much more flexible.

00:37:34 ◼   ► - I'm the opposite way.

00:37:35 ◼   ► - Why? - I really am.

00:37:37 ◼   ► I bought a Sonos portable speaker, and I was like,

00:37:41 ◼   ► I hate this, I don't like the Sonos app.

00:37:44 ◼   ► - But they made it so much better recently.

00:37:46 ◼   ► - Well, you know, but what I'm saying,

00:37:48 ◼   ► for connecting to your TV, you never use the app.

00:37:51 ◼   ► - Yeah, that's true, that's true.

00:37:53 ◼   ► - You connect it to the soundbar,

00:37:55 ◼   ► and then you can also connect

00:37:56 ◼   ► like left and right speakers in the app,

00:37:58 ◼   ► and then once you configure them, that's it.

00:37:59 ◼   ► And now like when we play Nintendo Switch, it uses Sonos.

00:38:03 ◼   ► When we play PlayStation, it uses Sonos.

00:38:05 ◼   ► - Yeah, that's nice.

00:38:06 ◼   ► - It doesn't matter, and that's what I like about it.

00:38:08 ◼   ► And I know that eARC exists.

00:38:10 ◼   ► I've tried it out, and it's okay, but it's still a pain.

00:38:14 ◼   ► Like it doesn't work reliably.

00:38:16 ◼   ► There's zero problems with the Sonos system.

00:38:19 ◼   ► - Yeah, eARC works for me.

00:38:20 ◼   ► The trouble that I've been having

00:38:22 ◼   ► for the last several months is with HDMI

00:38:26 ◼   ► and the TV just turning on all by itself,

00:38:29 ◼   ► which is really annoying throughout the day.

00:38:32 ◼   ► All of a sudden, I'll hear someone watching television

00:38:35 ◼   ► upstairs when no one's home except me,

00:38:37 ◼   ► and I have to go shut it off

00:38:38 ◼   ► or use my iPhone to shut it off.

00:38:39 ◼   ► So that's a fun thing.

00:38:41 ◼   ► That's some sort of conflict.

00:38:42 ◼   ► - When that happens, what is the TV showing?

00:38:45 ◼   ► - Whatever it was last on.

00:38:48 ◼   ► Sometimes it turns on, this is a new thing.

00:38:52 ◼   ► It used to turn on the Apple TV,

00:38:54 ◼   ► which would then trigger the TV.

00:38:56 ◼   ► That's really what was happening.

00:38:58 ◼   ► Though yesterday I went upstairs and just the TV was on,

00:39:01 ◼   ► and it was just like the LG screensaver or something.

00:39:04 ◼   ► So I don't know what in the world is going on at this point.

00:39:08 ◼   ► For a while, I thought it was because of the betas,

00:39:10 ◼   ► and every time I updated my phone or opened my phone

00:39:13 ◼   ► or did something, I guess, significant with my phone,

00:39:16 ◼   ► like opened the home app or something,

00:39:17 ◼   ► it would turn the television on by accident

00:39:20 ◼   ► 'cause it was connecting to the home hub or something.

00:39:22 ◼   ► I'm not, because that Apple TV is our home hub.

00:39:25 ◼   ► I think I need to try to move the home hub

00:39:27 ◼   ► somewhere else in the house

00:39:28 ◼   ► and see if that makes a difference.

00:39:30 ◼   ► - I am so excited about the fact

00:39:32 ◼   ► that you'll be able to choose home hubs.

00:39:34 ◼   ► 'Cause the Apple TV at the studio

00:39:38 ◼   ► causes me so many problems, and I don't know why.

00:39:40 ◼   ► It just does.

00:39:41 ◼   ► And it's very frequent, not very,

00:39:45 ◼   ► frequently enough, I'm away from the studio

00:39:47 ◼   ► and I get the, "Your home hub isn't responding."

00:39:50 ◼   ► And I open the home app,

00:39:51 ◼   ► and it's like all the home pods are connected,

00:39:52 ◼   ► but the TV is like, "No, it can't connect."

00:39:56 ◼   ► But it won't change to the,

00:39:58 ◼   ► like it won't move to the thing that is working.

00:40:01 ◼   ► It's just like, "Oh no, there's no way.

00:40:02 ◼   ► Like I'm dead now."

00:40:04 ◼   ► And so I will just move it to my home pod mini,

00:40:07 ◼   ► which is much more reliable for this stuff

00:40:10 ◼   ► than the Apple TV has been for me.

00:40:12 ◼   ► So I'm happy that they're adding that feature.

00:40:13 ◼   ► And I guess this is why,

00:40:15 ◼   ► because these devices can act weird.

00:40:18 ◼   ► And when you're, then like you've got your security camera

00:40:21 ◼   ► relying on this device being available on the network,

00:40:25 ◼   ► like that's a problem, you know?

00:40:26 ◼   ► - This episode of Connected is brought to you by Fitbaud.

00:40:33 ◼   ► When you want to change your fitness level,

00:40:34 ◼   ► it can be hard to know where to start.

00:40:37 ◼   ► That's why I'm pleased to let you know

00:40:38 ◼   ► that Fitbaud is an easy and affordable way

00:40:42 ◼   ► to build a fitness plan that's just for you.

00:40:46 ◼   ► Everyone's fitness path is different,

00:40:47 ◼   ► which is why Fitbaud uses data

00:40:49 ◼   ► to make sure they customize things exactly to suit you.

00:40:53 ◼   ► Adapting to you as you improve,

00:40:55 ◼   ► so each workout will be challenging,

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00:41:00 ◼   ► Superior results are achieved when a workout program

00:41:02 ◼   ► is tailored to your unique body, experience,

00:41:05 ◼   ► environment, and goals,

00:41:06 ◼   ► all of which are stored in your Fitbaud gym profile.

00:41:10 ◼   ► It tracks your muscle recovery so you can avoid burnout

00:41:13 ◼   ► and keep up your momentum.

00:41:15 ◼   ► And it builds your best possible workouts

00:41:17 ◼   ► by combining AI with exercise science.

00:41:21 ◼   ► They've analyzed billions of data points

00:41:23 ◼   ► that have been fine-tuned by certified personal trainers.

00:41:27 ◼   ► And you can make sure you're learning new movements

00:41:28 ◼   ► the right way,

00:41:30 ◼   ► thanks to more than a thousand demonstration videos.

00:41:33 ◼   ► Muscles improve while working in concert

00:41:35 ◼   ► with the entire system.

00:41:36 ◼   ► So overworking some muscles while underworking others

00:41:39 ◼   ► can negatively impact your results.

00:41:42 ◼   ► That's why Fitbaud tracks muscle fatigue and recovery

00:41:45 ◼   ► to design a well-balanced workout routine.

00:41:47 ◼   ► It also means you're never gonna get bored.

00:41:49 ◼   ► So the app mixes up your workouts with the new exercises,

00:41:52 ◼   ► rep schemes, supersets, and circuits.

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00:41:57 ◼   ► You can stay informed with progress tracking charts,

00:42:00 ◼   ► weekly reports,

00:42:01 ◼   ► and you can even let your friends know

00:42:03 ◼   ► what you're up to with sharing cards.

00:42:05 ◼   ► It also integrates with your Apple Watch,

00:42:07 ◼   ► Wear OS Smartwatch, and apps like Strava, Fitbit,

00:42:10 ◼   ► and Apple Health.

00:42:11 ◼   ► One of my favorite things about Fitbaud

00:42:14 ◼   ► is that I can tell it exactly what equipment I have.

00:42:16 ◼   ► So it knows all about my home gym

00:42:18 ◼   ► that I've built out in my garage over the years.

00:42:20 ◼   ► But if I'm traveling and maybe I'm in a hotel

00:42:22 ◼   ► with more or less equipment,

00:42:24 ◼   ► or I'm just doing a body weight workout,

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00:42:29 ◼   ► and it reconfigures my workouts to meet the situation.

00:42:33 ◼   ► And it's really cool to be able to do that

00:42:35 ◼   ► and not have to like skip around

00:42:37 ◼   ► trying to find something you think you can do.

00:42:39 ◼   ► Personalized training of this quality can be expensive,

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00:42:53 ◼   ► So go now and get your customized fitness plan

00:42:56 ◼   ► at Fitbaud, F-I-T-B-O-D,

00:43:00 ◼   ► fitbaud.me/connected,

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00:43:06 ◼   ► Our thanks to Fitbaud for the support of the show

00:43:08 ◼   ► and Relay FM.

00:43:09 ◼   ► I had a brainwave the other day.

00:43:14 ◼   ► And I figured John's here, we should play a game.

00:43:19 ◼   ► And I've titled this game the Teach Olympics.

00:43:23 ◼   ► Yep, perfect.

00:43:24 ◼   ► Teach Olympics.

00:43:25 ◼   ► Very appropriate with the Olympics going on in Paris,

00:43:27 ◼   ► just around the corner.

00:43:29 ◼   ► Exactly.

00:43:30 ◼   ► We all know Federico's from Paris, so.

00:43:32 ◼   ► He's very French.

00:43:33 ◼   ► Makes sense.

00:43:33 ◼   ► He's a man of the French people, really.

00:43:38 ◼   ► He really is.

00:43:38 ◼   ► Long bread and windmills.

00:43:40 ◼   ► I don't know if I said it in French.

00:43:41 ◼   ► Long bread.

00:43:42 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:43:44 ◼   ► That's very French.

00:43:46 ◼   ► Yep, that was it.

00:43:47 ◼   ► So this is a new game brought to you by the minds

00:43:51 ◼   ► that brought you things like the Rickies

00:43:53 ◼   ► and the Jeremy's and the Uy's.

00:43:56 ◼   ► The Uy's and the Annie's.

00:43:59 ◼   ► Yes, and the Annie's.

00:44:00 ◼   ► We add today the Teach Olympics.

00:44:02 ◼   ► So we are going to make picks

00:44:04 ◼   ► on what sorts of technology experiments

00:44:07 ◼   ► our friend may undertake in the next 12 months.

00:44:11 ◼   ► And to avoid a space-time paradox,

00:44:14 ◼   ► Federico has been forbidden

00:44:16 ◼   ► from looking at our show planning document

00:44:19 ◼   ► and is not allowed to listen to this episode.

00:44:21 ◼   ► Federico, if you're listening, you gotta stop now.

00:44:26 ◼   ► Time to stop.

00:44:27 ◼   ► I will remind him in iMessage when this episode goes up

00:44:30 ◼   ► that he cannot listen to it.

00:44:31 ◼   ► 'Cause if we make a pick and he hears it,

00:44:35 ◼   ► he can influence the outcome.

00:44:36 ◼   ► And we all know what happens--

00:44:37 ◼   ► We should disable his connective pro membership, Stephen.

00:44:39 ◼   ► You know, you should just shut him off for the week.

00:44:43 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:44:46 ◼   ► So we will each make three picks

00:44:48 ◼   ► and a correct prediction will earn one point

00:44:51 ◼   ► when graded in July of 2025.

00:44:55 ◼   ► We also have a set of passion picks.

00:44:57 ◼   ► They are ungraded and just for bragging rights.

00:45:02 ◼   ► Yeah, passion.

00:45:04 ◼   ► So we're gonna do this round robin style

00:45:08 ◼   ► because we don't have a precedent of who gets to go first.

00:45:10 ◼   ► There's no winners or losers yet.

00:45:11 ◼   ► So round robin it is.

00:45:14 ◼   ► John, kick us off on round one.

00:45:16 ◼   ► All right, I'm gonna go with what I think

00:45:18 ◼   ► is kind of a gimme for the next 12 months,

00:45:20 ◼   ► which is that Federico is going to find a way

00:45:23 ◼   ► to use Thunderbolt 5.

00:45:26 ◼   ► So Thunderbolt 5--

00:45:26 ◼   ► It's the only man in the world excited by Thunderbolt 5.

00:45:30 ◼   ► Yeah, right, right.

00:45:31 ◼   ► I mean, look, this is the guy who recently ordered

00:45:35 ◼   ► a 10 meter long USB 4 cable that was handmade

00:45:39 ◼   ► for him in China, all right?

00:45:40 ◼   ► That I think is not quite public knowledge yet,

00:45:44 ◼   ► but listen to NPC on Mac stories.

00:45:48 ◼   ► We'll be talking about it soon.

00:45:49 ◼   ► But he loves himself a good cable.

00:45:53 ◼   ► And Thunderbolt 5, I think it's 240 watts of power delivery

00:45:58 ◼   ► and something like 120 gigabits per second.

00:46:01 ◼   ► It's fast, delivers a lot of power.

00:46:03 ◼   ► It's perfect for things like eGPUs,

00:46:06 ◼   ► which is one of his favorite topics.

00:46:08 ◼   ► And I think this is where he's going.

00:46:11 ◼   ► Right now though, I mean, the problem is,

00:46:13 ◼   ► is that I think that was Sean Hollister at The Verge

00:46:15 ◼   ► who wrote about this cable that just was recently released,

00:46:18 ◼   ► is that there's really only one thing you can do

00:46:21 ◼   ► with it right now, which is you can connect

00:46:22 ◼   ► two $4,500 Razer gaming laptops together

00:46:26 ◼   ► and transfer files between them.

00:46:28 ◼   ► Because Razer is using a proprietary controller

00:46:33 ◼   ► for its Thunderbolt 5 ports because Intel hasn't released

00:46:39 ◼   ► these to the general, I don't know, OEMs yet.

00:46:43 ◼   ► And so it's gonna be a little while still, I think,

00:46:46 ◼   ► before we see true Thunderbolt 5 accessories.

00:46:49 ◼   ► But you know that the first person who is gonna get

00:46:52 ◼   ► one of those controllers shipped to him from somewhere

00:46:55 ◼   ► in China or wherever it comes from to Italy

00:46:59 ◼   ► is gonna be Federico because he's gonna put it inside

00:47:02 ◼   ► that eGPU of his and he's gonna find a way

00:47:05 ◼   ► to get the longest Thunderbolt 5 cable in the world.

00:47:07 ◼   ► I think that this is a lot like Thunderbolt 4

00:47:10 ◼   ► where you really can't get yourself past like a meter or so.

00:47:14 ◼   ► But where there's a will, there's a way.

00:47:16 ◼   ► He did it with USB 4.

00:47:17 ◼   ► I think he can do a Thunderbolt 5

00:47:19 ◼   ► and he'll have a use for it.

00:47:21 ◼   ► - Where there's an intelligent person in China,

00:47:23 ◼   ► there's a way.

00:47:25 ◼   ► Do you think he will spend a lot of time on Reddit

00:47:29 ◼   ► trying to find a circuit board that is capable,

00:47:33 ◼   ► that someone will make for him in a shed somewhere

00:47:37 ◼   ► in Memphis or something?

00:47:38 ◼   ► - Right, or like his friendly guy in Las Vegas

00:47:41 ◼   ► who printed his eGPU case and all that.

00:47:44 ◼   ► - Very friendly guy in Las Vegas.

00:47:46 ◼   ► You know, I will say, I'm just gonna say

00:47:49 ◼   ► for the record here, right?

00:47:50 ◼   ► I know of a tichy surprise.

00:47:54 ◼   ► I know you do know one that I don't know about yet.

00:47:57 ◼   ► - It's not in my picks.

00:47:58 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:47:59 ◼   ► - Right, so there is something I know that he's done

00:48:02 ◼   ► and I know there's something that he's doing

00:48:04 ◼   ► but I will not share it.

00:48:06 ◼   ► And so, you know, this is all above board here, okay?

00:48:09 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:48:11 ◼   ► - All right, my pick is actually somewhat related

00:48:14 ◼   ► to yours, John, which is Federico drills a hole in a wall

00:48:19 ◼   ► for running a cable to an external GPU.

00:48:21 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:48:23 ◼   ► So currently Federico is playing video games in bed

00:48:28 ◼   ► using an eGPU in another room.

00:48:35 ◼   ► So he turns on his eGPU and he runs the cable

00:48:39 ◼   ► through out of the hallway into the other room,

00:48:42 ◼   ► sometimes causes small fires.

00:48:45 ◼   ► Again, there's so much of this information available

00:48:48 ◼   ► on MPC you should listen to it.

00:48:49 ◼   ► Sometimes things catch fire in the middle of the night

00:48:51 ◼   ► and Federico has to go investigate them in the other room.

00:48:54 ◼   ► And I am convinced at some point he will run a cable

00:48:59 ◼   ► through the wall because he will find the perfect cable

00:49:02 ◼   ► like his Thunderbolt 5 cable,

00:49:04 ◼   ► it'll do everything he wants,

00:49:06 ◼   ► but it's like a meter too short.

00:49:07 ◼   ► And so he will have somebody come to the house,

00:49:11 ◼   ► probably when Sylvia's not there,

00:49:13 ◼   ► drill a hole through the wall, run a cable,

00:49:16 ◼   ► and pretend it never happened.

00:49:18 ◼   ► - Yeah, that was one of my first questions to him was,

00:49:21 ◼   ► is Sylvia okay with you unrolling this cable

00:49:24 ◼   ► down the hall every night?

00:49:26 ◼   ► Or is it there all day?

00:49:27 ◼   ► I mean, what's going on here?

00:49:28 ◼   ► He unrolls it every evening when he wants to play a game.

00:49:31 ◼   ► - I bet she became less happy when the fire broke out.

00:49:34 ◼   ► - Oh, she was not pleased about that, I can tell you that.

00:49:37 ◼   ► - Yeah, me and him were texted in that day

00:49:39 ◼   ► and it was the first thing I said to him

00:49:40 ◼   ► when he told me about it.

00:49:41 ◼   ► I was like, "Oh man, she's gonna be so mad at you."

00:49:44 ◼   ► And she was. (laughs)

00:49:46 ◼   ► - When he fixed it, when he fixed it,

00:49:48 ◼   ► she made him fix it outside on the balcony.

00:49:50 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:49:52 ◼   ► God bless her.

00:49:54 ◼   ► - I did also, for the record,

00:49:58 ◼   ► tell him to invest in a fire extinguisher.

00:50:01 ◼   ► - I did, I actually did.

00:50:01 ◼   ► - I think he's gotten to the point, he did, he did good.

00:50:04 ◼   ► I recommended a brand to him that I own.

00:50:08 ◼   ► I've never used, but I own.

00:50:10 ◼   ► - Yeah, I got one of this.

00:50:12 ◼   ► If it's the one from Cortex, I also have one in my office.

00:50:15 ◼   ► - The Firexo, I think, or Fire Joe is the brand.

00:50:20 ◼   ► Basically what I like about this company

00:50:22 ◼   ► is their fire extinguishers are all purpose,

00:50:25 ◼   ► which I think is one of the most insane things

00:50:28 ◼   ► about fire extinguishers, is that you have to know

00:50:31 ◼   ► that the one you're using is correct

00:50:33 ◼   ► for the fire that you have, which is just like,

00:50:35 ◼   ► "This is not a decision I wanna make

00:50:38 ◼   ► "at the point that the fire's broke out."

00:50:40 ◼   ► And that's their whole thing.

00:50:41 ◼   ► - I think, you know, I think Mike of the four of us,

00:50:44 ◼   ► he's the person who has to own this thing

00:50:46 ◼   ► more than anybody else. - Oh, definitely.

00:50:48 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:50:49 ◼   ► I'm not worried about causing a fire, but I have it.

00:50:51 ◼   ► I'm worried he's gonna cause a fire,

00:50:53 ◼   ► 'cause he already has, so he needs it.

00:50:55 ◼   ► I'm happy he's got it.

00:50:56 ◼   ► - So I have a pick, but I'm gonna leave it

00:51:02 ◼   ► to the two of you to see if it's still valid.

00:51:04 ◼   ► So my pick that I wrote many days ago

00:51:07 ◼   ► was Federico tries an e-ink phone

00:51:09 ◼   ► to help reduce distractions and get more into reading.

00:51:12 ◼   ► But then after I wrote it, but before we recorded,

00:51:16 ◼   ► he on Threads asked the question we all ask ourselves,

00:51:20 ◼   ► "Should I buy a Bux Palma?"

00:51:23 ◼   ► Which is like this e-ink Android phone

00:51:25 ◼   ► that's popular at the moment.

00:51:27 ◼   ► So I don't, I would like to keep this pick.

00:51:30 ◼   ► I feel like it's still okay,

00:51:31 ◼   ► because he also talked about Thunderbolt 5,

00:51:33 ◼   ► but I just wanted to double check with you all

00:51:35 ◼   ► that you were okay with this.

00:51:36 ◼   ► - I think you can keep it, but he has to say,

00:51:39 ◼   ► "I'm using this to get more into reading," and like, keep it.

00:51:42 ◼   ► - Okay. - Well, I will say this.

00:51:45 ◼   ► I was very surprised when I saw that post,

00:51:47 ◼   ► because I thought that he owned a Bux Palma,

00:51:50 ◼   ► that he just never told me. (laughing)

00:51:51 ◼   ► - No, I do, I do, but I don't think he does.

00:51:53 ◼   ► - I don't know, I could swear he told me that he owned one,

00:51:58 ◼   ► because I have one, and when I told him about it,

00:52:00 ◼   ► like, "Oh, surprise, I have this Bux Palma,"

00:52:02 ◼   ► he said, "Oh yeah, I've had one of those for six months

00:52:04 ◼   ► "and never use it."

00:52:05 ◼   ► Now, a Bux Palma is not an e-ink phone.

00:52:07 ◼   ► There are e-ink phones out there.

00:52:09 ◼   ► - No, it is an e-ink.

00:52:10 ◼   ► It's just straight up Android phone.

00:52:11 ◼   ► - It's like an e-ink iPod Touch.

00:52:14 ◼   ► - Yeah, it's like more for reading.

00:52:16 ◼   ► It's an Android device, but it doesn't have a SIM card in it,

00:52:19 ◼   ► is I guess what I'm saying.

00:52:21 ◼   ► - I still think this pick is fine.

00:52:23 ◼   ► Even if it was just a Bux Palma,

00:52:24 ◼   ► I think it would still be fine,

00:52:26 ◼   ► 'cause like, you know, it's basically a phone,

00:52:28 ◼   ► because even if he owns one, he ain't talking about it.

00:52:32 ◼   ► So he needs to state, right?

00:52:35 ◼   ► He needs to state, "Oh, I got this thing,

00:52:37 ◼   ► "and I'm using it for reading," you know?

00:52:39 ◼   ► - Yeah, okay, yeah, no, I think that it's probably good,

00:52:41 ◼   ► 'cause if it, you're right.

00:52:42 ◼   ► If he does have it, it's one of those many things

00:52:45 ◼   ► that he has in storage.

00:52:46 ◼   ► He has infinite storage.

00:52:48 ◼   ► It's like Fred Flintstone going into the closet,

00:52:51 ◼   ► and the Brock bowling ball falling down his head,

00:52:54 ◼   ► that's Federico's closet.

00:52:55 ◼   ► - But it's just an eGPU.

00:52:58 ◼   ► - It's an eGPU, and it books Palma.

00:53:00 ◼   ► - Yeah, okay, okay, so that's the end of round one.

00:53:04 ◼   ► Mike said another, oh, sorry.

00:53:07 ◼   ► John says Federico finds a useless Thunderbolt 5.

00:53:10 ◼   ► Mike says he drills a hole in the wall for running a cable

00:53:13 ◼   ► to an external GPU.

00:53:14 ◼   ► Now I say he tries an e-ink phone to reduce distractions

00:53:17 ◼   ► and get more into reading.

00:53:19 ◼   ► I feel pretty good about those.

00:53:21 ◼   ► - Yep.

00:53:21 ◼   ► - Mike, start us on round two.

00:53:23 ◼   ► - So my round two pick is that Federico

00:53:27 ◼   ► buys another Windows handheld and declares it to be the best,

00:53:31 ◼   ► then sells his Legion Go.

00:53:33 ◼   ► - I think that's a good pick.

00:53:36 ◼   ► I think that's pretty much a lot.

00:53:37 ◼   ► - This is the thing, he does this on an annual basis.

00:53:39 ◼   ► - Well, yeah, and these devices are coming out so fast

00:53:42 ◼   ► and furious these days that I'm sure there'll be

00:53:45 ◼   ► something better within the next six months.

00:53:47 ◼   ► - Yeah, I mean, do you know if he has any interest

00:53:51 ◼   ► in the ROG Ally X?

00:53:53 ◼   ► - Oh yeah, he definitely does.

00:53:55 ◼   ► Yeah, he definitely has his eye on it.

00:53:57 ◼   ► But I don't think, it's better in some ways,

00:54:01 ◼   ► but because the chipset is basically the same as the Go,

00:54:04 ◼   ► my guess is he won't go with the X,

00:54:06 ◼   ► but I think there'll be something else that kind of--

00:54:08 ◼   ► - There'll be something.

00:54:09 ◼   ► - Goes the next step beyond that.

00:54:11 ◼   ► - It could be from Xbox, honestly.

00:54:14 ◼   ► - Yeah, absolutely.

00:54:15 ◼   ► - But yeah, the key is for me,

00:54:18 ◼   ► because I know that this is so likely,

00:54:22 ◼   ► and it's not because of Federico,

00:54:23 ◼   ► because of the rate of improvement in these devices,

00:54:26 ◼   ► the key for me is that he sells the Legion Go.

00:54:30 ◼   ► That's when he's committed, you know?

00:54:33 ◼   ► And so that's what he's gonna have to do that.

00:54:36 ◼   ► - Yeah, and he has a reason to do it now,

00:54:37 ◼   ► a work reason now too with NBC.

00:54:39 ◼   ► So I mean, I think that this is kind of a lock personally.

00:54:41 ◼   ► - So all tax write-offs now, baby, you know?

00:54:43 ◼   ► - That's right.

00:54:44 ◼   ► It's not like it costs money if it's a tax write-off.

00:54:50 ◼   ► - It's just free, it's free.

00:54:52 ◼   ► You advise him on this, right John?

00:54:54 ◼   ► - Yeah, I'm an accountant, a tax attorney,

00:54:58 ◼   ► and all those things rolled into one.

00:54:59 ◼   ► - My second round pick.

00:55:02 ◼   ► Federico speaks before a government body

00:55:05 ◼   ► in an official capacity about AI training.

00:55:08 ◼   ► - Wow.

00:55:10 ◼   ► - So I have a couple of things feeding into this, right?

00:55:13 ◼   ► Y'all are, I think, rightfully so,

00:55:16 ◼   ► talking a lot about LLM training.

00:55:18 ◼   ► I missed last week's episode, but it was a great one.

00:55:22 ◼   ► You've written letters to your representatives,

00:55:25 ◼   ► both in the US and in Italy,

00:55:28 ◼   ► and Federico's been in the New York Times twice.

00:55:31 ◼   ► And so I feel like the next step is to speak

00:55:35 ◼   ► in front of, what do they have in Italy?

00:55:37 ◼   ► Parliament, I guess, something?

00:55:39 ◼   ► And, or maybe here, maybe, but something official, right?

00:55:43 ◼   ► Not just like sending a letter or an email,

00:55:45 ◼   ► but like an official something

00:55:49 ◼   ► in front of a government body on this topic.

00:55:51 ◼   ► - I think this is a long shot, but it's possible.

00:55:55 ◼   ► - We don't have risky picks in this game.

00:55:56 ◼   ► You know, the rules are set. - No, I know.

00:55:59 ◼   ► My next one's kind of a risky one too.

00:56:01 ◼   ► - Agreed. - But yeah,

00:56:02 ◼   ► I think it's definitely a possibility.

00:56:05 ◼   ► I mean, I think, I just can't wait for the content prospects

00:56:10 ◼   ► of going to Brussels with Federico and marching

00:56:14 ◼   ► into parliament or into a committee meeting

00:56:17 ◼   ► and talking about AI, but yeah, it could be possible.

00:56:20 ◼   ► I've heard back from at least one of the,

00:56:21 ◼   ► from one of the senators that we wrote to already, so.

00:56:23 ◼   ► - Awesome. - Oh yeah?

00:56:25 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah, one of the ones from North Carolina.

00:56:27 ◼   ► I mean, you know, they, nothing committal in any kind of way

00:56:31 ◼   ► but I mean, they definitely got some attention

00:56:34 ◼   ► from a couple of people so far.

00:56:36 ◼   ► - They're kind of like, I guess they're kind of happy, right?

00:56:39 ◼   ► Like they want, they want you giving them,

00:56:41 ◼   ► like if, I don't know if this senator specifically

00:56:44 ◼   ► is like focused on AI legislation.

00:56:47 ◼   ► I think Federico mentioned

00:56:48 ◼   ► that you were targeting those people.

00:56:50 ◼   ► - Yes, although at the last minute,

00:56:52 ◼   ► I also sent it to both of the North Carolina US senators,

00:56:54 ◼   ► because one of the problem, I mean,

00:56:56 ◼   ► this is just a thing of American politics

00:56:58 ◼   ► is that me writing to a senator from another state,

00:57:01 ◼   ► they are more likely to throw that letter into the bin

00:57:03 ◼   ► just because I'm not one of the constituents.

00:57:06 ◼   ► So North Carolina has fairly conservative US senators

00:57:11 ◼   ► and this guy was not particularly,

00:57:14 ◼   ► he didn't strike me as particularly interested in AI

00:57:18 ◼   ► or in regulating startups.

00:57:20 ◼   ► - Anything? (laughs)

00:57:22 ◼   ► - Right, anything probably.

00:57:23 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:57:26 ◼   ► But I got a polite response back.

00:57:28 ◼   ► - There you go. - Hey, it's great, you know.

00:57:30 ◼   ► - Sometimes it's just nice to be noticed.

00:57:32 ◼   ► - It is. - Right.

00:57:34 ◼   ► - Two quick things, real-time follow-up,

00:57:35 ◼   ► Italy does have a parliament.

00:57:37 ◼   ► Thankfully, Federico never-- - Congratulations, Italy.

00:57:40 ◼   ► - Never hear me make that.

00:57:41 ◼   ► I put the Wikipedia page in the show notes,

00:57:43 ◼   ► you can go check it out.

00:57:45 ◼   ► They have sick logos for the Republican

00:57:47 ◼   ► and Senate of the Republican Chamber of the Deputies.

00:57:50 ◼   ► Very, very cool.

00:57:51 ◼   ► Secondly, I, not over AI, but in the past,

00:57:56 ◼   ► over other things have reached out to my Congress people.

00:58:00 ◼   ► And heard back, had good conversations.

00:58:04 ◼   ► They, in the end, disagreed with me

00:58:06 ◼   ► on the particular issue of some healthcare stuff.

00:58:10 ◼   ► But I will say, the people that you interact with

00:58:14 ◼   ► in congressional offices and stuff

00:58:16 ◼   ► generally are there to try to do a good job.

00:58:20 ◼   ► Yes, some of them are nutty

00:58:22 ◼   ► or may believe something that you don't,

00:58:23 ◼   ► including in my case, where we came at the end

00:58:25 ◼   ► to a disagreement, which I knew we were going to do,

00:58:28 ◼   ► I felt listened to and had good conversations.

00:58:30 ◼   ► And so it's an important thing to do.

00:58:32 ◼   ► - Yep, same thing here.

00:58:34 ◼   ► - In theory, and I do believe still in practice,

00:58:38 ◼   ► the majority of these people are professionals.

00:58:40 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:58:42 ◼   ► Their bosses may be insane, but the people in--

00:58:45 ◼   ► - Even, I still think, not all,

00:58:48 ◼   ► but I still think that a lot of people

00:58:49 ◼   ► that appear crazy on the outside,

00:58:52 ◼   ► they just do it for show, but anyway.

00:58:56 ◼   ► - Maybe. - Not all.

00:58:57 ◼   ► I will state that for the record.

00:58:59 ◼   ► - You guys have some particularly nutty people.

00:59:02 ◼   ► - Including in my state.

00:59:04 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah.

00:59:05 ◼   ► - But really what I mean,

00:59:08 ◼   ► like staff in congressional offices

00:59:10 ◼   ► and parliamentarian offices,

00:59:12 ◼   ► like people who are professional,

00:59:14 ◼   ► like, yeah, it's good.

00:59:16 ◼   ► - Yeah, there's no doubt in my mind

00:59:17 ◼   ► that the letter that I got said it was signed

00:59:20 ◼   ► by the senator, but it was written by somebody in his office.

00:59:23 ◼   ► But it was well done.

00:59:25 ◼   ► It was a thoughtful response,

00:59:26 ◼   ► even though it wasn't really in line

00:59:28 ◼   ► with my thinking on the issues,

00:59:30 ◼   ► but I appreciated hearing back from them.

00:59:33 ◼   ► - They're doing a better job

00:59:34 ◼   ► than Apple is with the feedback system.

00:59:35 ◼   ► At least you heard something back.

00:59:37 ◼   ► So, there you go. - There you go.

00:59:38 ◼   ► - Remember when we were gonna talk about that

00:59:40 ◼   ► a couple weeks ago?

00:59:41 ◼   ► Jam it in there.

00:59:42 ◼   ► Okay, John, your round two pick out of all of these

00:59:46 ◼   ► is the most wild to me, so please share it with the group.

00:59:49 ◼   ► - Well, I think Federico's gonna break down

00:59:52 ◼   ► and buy a 3D printer this year

00:59:53 ◼   ► because he has been buying endless little adapters

00:59:58 ◼   ► and other things from Etsy,

01:00:00 ◼   ► whether it's the comfort thing for the Vision Pro

01:00:05 ◼   ► or something to adapt his various game controllers

01:00:10 ◼   ► and consoles and things like that.

01:00:12 ◼   ► He's buying a lot of stuff on Etsy that's all 3D printed.

01:00:16 ◼   ► And although he doesn't live in an apartment

01:00:20 ◼   ► where I think particularly Silvia would like him

01:00:24 ◼   ► setting up a 3D printer in his office,

01:00:26 ◼   ► he does have some storage space in his garage

01:00:29 ◼   ► that I think he could use for this or out on the balcony.

01:00:32 ◼   ► I think he's gonna do it.

01:00:33 ◼   ► I think he's gonna start printing things up.

01:00:35 ◼   ► And I don't know.

01:00:36 ◼   ► I mean, I think it is a long shot,

01:00:38 ◼   ► but I do think there's a chance

01:00:39 ◼   ► that Federico will start 3D printing things this year.

01:00:43 ◼   ► - Federico needs a studio.

01:00:45 ◼   ► - Oh, he definitely does.

01:00:46 ◼   ► I've had this conversation with him

01:00:48 ◼   ► and said this exact thing to him.

01:00:49 ◼   ► It's like, why don't you just put it downstairs

01:00:51 ◼   ► in your garage area or whatever?

01:00:53 ◼   ► Like, if you have power down there.

01:00:55 ◼   ► I don't know if he has, but he does.

01:00:56 ◼   ► - He does. - He does have a camera.

01:00:58 ◼   ► - Yeah, he does.

01:00:59 ◼   ► He has, I think it's a little bit like a storage unit

01:01:01 ◼   ► that he's got this car parked there

01:01:03 ◼   ► and there's a little room that he has that has power.

01:01:06 ◼   ► So I think he could probably do it.

01:01:08 ◼   ► - 'Cause there's no way he's putting that.

01:01:09 ◼   ► And there's no way actually he should put it in the house.

01:01:12 ◼   ► 'Cause I don't think the fumes of these things

01:01:15 ◼   ► are particularly good.

01:01:17 ◼   ► - It depends on what you're printing.

01:01:19 ◼   ► Mine is in my studio.

01:01:21 ◼   ► And if I'm printing--

01:01:22 ◼   ► - Yeah, but you're not there all the time

01:01:23 ◼   ► when it's running though.

01:01:24 ◼   ► - No, no.

01:01:25 ◼   ► Usually I run it overnight.

01:01:26 ◼   ► But it depends on the material you're running.

01:01:29 ◼   ► I have had the thought before of all these Etsy things.

01:01:32 ◼   ► I could design and print and ship a bunch of that stuff.

01:01:34 ◼   ► But I already have a full-time job.

01:01:36 ◼   ► I'm not gonna get into the Etsy world.

01:01:40 ◼   ► But it is helpful.

01:01:42 ◼   ► And it is a fun thing to have around.

01:01:44 ◼   ► Over on MPU, David Sparks and I have talked a lot about it

01:01:47 ◼   ► over the last year or so as we've gotten into it.

01:01:49 ◼   ► So you can make 10,000 smiley, happy sponge faces

01:01:54 ◼   ► for a podcast-a-thon, you know?

01:01:56 ◼   ► It's a business expense, Jon.

01:01:58 ◼   ► - It is, it is.

01:01:59 ◼   ► It's a tax write-off.

01:02:00 ◼   ► It's basically free.

01:02:01 ◼   ► - It's basically free.

01:02:02 ◼   ► (laughing)

01:02:04 ◼   ► - Remember everybody, Jon is alive.

01:02:06 ◼   ► - That basically is carrying a lot of weight in that sentence

01:02:08 ◼   ► the fact that it's basically free.

01:02:10 ◼   ► - Connected is not legal advice.

01:02:13 ◼   ► Nor has it ever been.

01:02:15 ◼   ► - And then if you think about it in the long term,

01:02:17 ◼   ► if you start spying things off of Etsy,

01:02:19 ◼   ► then he's like making money.

01:02:21 ◼   ► - It's paying for itself.

01:02:22 ◼   ► - It's paying for, and that was,

01:02:24 ◼   ► he already paid for itself.

01:02:25 ◼   ► Taxes did that, it's free.

01:02:26 ◼   ► So he's up.

01:02:27 ◼   ► - MaxStories is gonna compete with Etsy.

01:02:29 ◼   ► That's the next thing that's coming, I'm telling you.

01:02:31 ◼   ► It's our own little 3D shop.

01:02:33 ◼   ► - Yep, love it.

01:02:34 ◼   ► - Etsy stories. - Look forward to it.

01:02:35 ◼   ► - This episode of Connected is brought to you by ExpressVPN.

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01:04:39 ◼   ► and Relay FM.

01:04:40 ◼   ► Round the third.

01:04:44 ◼   ► I will start with this.

01:04:47 ◼   ► Federico adds a water feature to his balcony.

01:04:50 ◼   ► - I like this one a lot.

01:04:53 ◼   ► - He's got lights. - Big balcony boy.

01:04:55 ◼   ► - He's got plants.

01:04:56 ◼   ► The other day, I sent us a photo where he was pulling up

01:04:59 ◼   ► the tile and running power under there.

01:05:03 ◼   ► It's just a matter of time before there's a fountain

01:05:06 ◼   ► or some sort of shooting water thing.

01:05:08 ◼   ► A water feature, it's coming.

01:05:12 ◼   ► - I think so, and I think, like you said,

01:05:14 ◼   ► he's got the lights.

01:05:15 ◼   ► He'll get the colored lights going on in the evening,

01:05:17 ◼   ► the water feature going, then he'll put on the Vision Pro,

01:05:21 ◼   ► dive into one of those meditation sessions,

01:05:24 ◼   ► and just, you know, that'll be how he unwinds.

01:05:26 ◼   ► I think you're absolutely right about this one.

01:05:27 ◼   ► - He's gonna become a man of Zen.

01:05:30 ◼   ► - Yeah, I think he's pretty close to that,

01:05:33 ◼   ► but it feels like this could push him over the edge.

01:05:35 ◼   ► Not of the balcony, gosh, not of the balcony.

01:05:37 ◼   ► - Yeah, he's got a lot of space out there,

01:05:39 ◼   ► so I think he could definitely fit it.

01:05:40 ◼   ► It's a huge balcony, and they've put a ton of plants

01:05:42 ◼   ► out there already.

01:05:43 ◼   ► - Yeah, it looks good.

01:05:45 ◼   ► - It does look good.

01:05:46 ◼   ► - I think he lives at a resort now.

01:05:47 ◼   ► That's what I told him.

01:05:48 ◼   ► I mean, it really is beautiful.

01:05:49 ◼   ► - It looks like a resort.

01:05:50 ◼   ► It just looks like a resort.

01:05:52 ◼   ► Like, it's kind of incredible.

01:05:53 ◼   ► - It's a beautiful building,

01:05:53 ◼   ► and there's so many nice amenities there,

01:05:55 ◼   ► a pool, and all kinds of things.

01:05:57 ◼   ► All right, so for my third round pick,

01:06:02 ◼   ► I think Federico is going to re-explore the world

01:06:06 ◼   ► of AR glasses to use as an external display,

01:06:10 ◼   ► because, as I'm sure listeners remember,

01:06:13 ◼   ► last summer, he and I both were using the X-Reel glasses,

01:06:18 ◼   ► and those fell by the wayside when the Vision Pro came out.

01:06:22 ◼   ► And I recently got mine back out,

01:06:24 ◼   ► and I think he did too, just to see how they worked

01:06:29 ◼   ► with things like an Android gaming device.

01:06:32 ◼   ► And it's really a pretty nice experience.

01:06:34 ◼   ► I mean, the resolution's not anything close

01:06:38 ◼   ► to the Vision Pro, but if you're playing pixelated

01:06:40 ◼   ► retro games and things, it's totally fine,

01:06:43 ◼   ► and it's actually quite nice.

01:06:45 ◼   ► I think that he's going to look at these,

01:06:48 ◼   ► and I think he's also had his eye on the Vitcher glasses,

01:06:52 ◼   ► which came out, I don't know, one or two months ago or so.

01:06:55 ◼   ► It's kind of like the X-Reels, but a little nicer.

01:06:59 ◼   ► And so, it's a whole category that continues

01:07:01 ◼   ► to evolve slowly over time, and it's only getting better.

01:07:05 ◼   ► And I think that for times when he doesn't want

01:07:08 ◼   ► to have a full-on Vision Pro helmet on,

01:07:11 ◼   ► he might go back to the glasses.

01:07:13 ◼   ► I mean, he's a glasses guy with the meta glasses now too.

01:07:17 ◼   ► So, I think it kind of fits with the whole vibe.

01:07:21 ◼   ► - Yeah, I think this is definitely something

01:07:23 ◼   ► that's going to happen, and I feel like he has given up

01:07:28 ◼   ► some of the flexibility he had with X-Reel, right?

01:07:30 ◼   ► 'Cause you could use it on, couldn't he?

01:07:32 ◼   ► Was he using it with his iPad?

01:07:34 ◼   ► - Yeah, he was.

01:07:36 ◼   ► - Yeah, and you know, Vision Pro didn't have that, so.

01:07:38 ◼   ► - You can use it with anything, yeah, anything.

01:07:41 ◼   ► - That's good, that's good.

01:07:43 ◼   ► All right, Mike, you're up.

01:07:45 ◼   ► - My, so this is the final pick, right?

01:07:49 ◼   ► This is the final pick of all three rounds.

01:07:51 ◼   ► I've decided to do game inception,

01:07:54 ◼   ► and pick the Federico makes more than 10 Flexi picks

01:07:58 ◼   ► in one game of the Ricky's over the next year.

01:08:00 ◼   ► - Oh, wow.

01:08:01 ◼   ► - And I just, he just needs to be feeling

01:08:06 ◼   ► particularly confident, and I think he'll do it.

01:08:10 ◼   ► - I think so too.

01:08:12 ◼   ► - That's really good.

01:08:14 ◼   ► What's the record, seven or eight?

01:08:16 ◼   ► - I think he got up to 10 once.

01:08:18 ◼   ► - Maybe he did, maybe someone--

01:08:20 ◼   ► - There was that one where we all went really high,

01:08:22 ◼   ► you know, we all got a little bit excited,

01:08:25 ◼   ► and Federico got the most excited.

01:08:27 ◼   ► - Yeah, and the most wrong, I think, too.

01:08:30 ◼   ► - Yeah, so I mean, that's natural,

01:08:32 ◼   ► like that's just gonna happen, you know?

01:08:33 ◼   ► - It seems like he's done 12.

01:08:34 ◼   ► - That might be why he doesn't do it,

01:08:36 ◼   ► like, oh, he's done 12 before?

01:08:37 ◼   ► Yeah, see, this might be why he doesn't do it,

01:08:39 ◼   ► but I'm still thinking at some point he's gonna do it.

01:08:43 ◼   ► - We should also say, this has now come up in Discord,

01:08:51 ◼   ► that Federico can't listen to this episode

01:08:53 ◼   ► because we don't him shaping the future.

01:08:55 ◼   ► We also are taking a pledge

01:08:57 ◼   ► that we're not shaping the future, right?

01:08:58 ◼   ► We're not gonna subtly push him into like,

01:09:00 ◼   ► I'm not gonna be like, hey, look at this cool fountain

01:09:01 ◼   ► I found, it'd be sick on your balcony.

01:09:04 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:09:05 ◼   ► - Yeah, so we all take the pledge.

01:09:08 ◼   ► - The pledge of the Teachy Olympics.

01:09:09 ◼   ► - That's right, yeah, yeah, no doping in the Teachy Olympics.

01:09:12 ◼   ► He has picked 12 two times in May 2024 and September 2022.

01:09:19 ◼   ► And he picked 10 at WWBC 21,

01:09:25 ◼   ► so this is a good pick, Mike, I like this.

01:09:27 ◼   ► - I will do my best, like, 'cause you've also got to,

01:09:31 ◼   ► I gotta remember this, right?

01:09:32 ◼   ► Like, you know what I mean?

01:09:35 ◼   ► Like, I've got to remember that I can't take him on,

01:09:37 ◼   ► but also, if I don't egg him on,

01:09:40 ◼   ► is that gonna be a problem?

01:09:42 ◼   ► So we'll have to just see,

01:09:43 ◼   ► we'll just have to see how we go on that one.

01:09:45 ◼   ► I can't make any promises at this stage.

01:09:47 ◼   ► - Just gotta play it as straight as you can, Mike.

01:09:49 ◼   ► - Yeah, I will do my best.

01:09:50 ◼   ► - All right, so those are the three rounds.

01:09:55 ◼   ► We are now moving into Passion picks.

01:09:57 ◼   ► These are ungraded just for the Passion.

01:10:00 ◼   ► Jon, you got a couple, Mike has three and I have one.

01:10:03 ◼   ► So Jon, what are your two?

01:10:05 ◼   ► - All right, my first one is I think a pretty,

01:10:07 ◼   ► pretty much a lock, which is he's gonna build something new

01:10:11 ◼   ► with magnets, Federico and magnets are just like, you know,

01:10:14 ◼   ► it's this thing. - Match made in Berlin.

01:10:16 ◼   ► - Yeah, he loves the magnets.

01:10:17 ◼   ► And there's always a good use,

01:10:18 ◼   ► there's always something you can stick

01:10:19 ◼   ► to the back of your phone, right?

01:10:21 ◼   ► So, or your MacBook or whatever it happens to be.

01:10:25 ◼   ► So I think he'll do something with the magnets.

01:10:27 ◼   ► But I also think, and this is one's maybe a little riskier,

01:10:31 ◼   ► I think he's finally gonna break down

01:10:33 ◼   ► and admit that his friends were right

01:10:35 ◼   ► and buy an Aionodent 2, which is that Android game device

01:10:40 ◼   ► that we talked about a little earlier in the show.

01:10:43 ◼   ► And I think there's a particular reason

01:10:44 ◼   ► why he hasn't done this yet.

01:10:46 ◼   ► And this is, you have to get into the mind of Titi

01:10:48 ◼   ► for this, which is, he wasn't the one

01:10:51 ◼   ► to come up with this idea.

01:10:52 ◼   ► All right, this goes right to, right?

01:10:57 ◼   ► This goes right to the humility and humbleness

01:11:00 ◼   ► of Mr. Vititi, which is, which is,

01:11:03 ◼   ► I bought one of these in late November

01:11:05 ◼   ► around Thanksgiving last year,

01:11:07 ◼   ► and I told him it was great.

01:11:09 ◼   ► And he's like, "Oh yeah, that looks really cool."

01:11:11 ◼   ► Then I kinda convinced Brendan Bigley to get one

01:11:14 ◼   ► because he saw me writing about it

01:11:15 ◼   ► and talking about it here and there.

01:11:17 ◼   ► And he got it and he goes, "Oh, this is amazing,

01:11:18 ◼   ► "this is great."

01:11:19 ◼   ► And Federico's like, "Hmm, I don't know,

01:11:21 ◼   ► "I think I'm gonna try this one,

01:11:22 ◼   ► "I'm gonna try this other one."

01:11:24 ◼   ► 'Cause he has to be first, it's like bragging rights.

01:11:27 ◼   ► He wants to be the one that people follow

01:11:30 ◼   ► and not be the follower.

01:11:32 ◼   ► - That's incredible.

01:11:33 ◼   ► - Right, but I do think he's gonna get the Odin too

01:11:35 ◼   ► because I don't think they're gonna come out

01:11:37 ◼   ► with another Odin too soon.

01:11:39 ◼   ► They just came out with a Mini,

01:11:41 ◼   ► which is essentially the same device but thinner.

01:11:43 ◼   ► And I don't know, I think he's gonna do it.

01:11:46 ◼   ► I think he'll finally do it.

01:11:47 ◼   ► 'Cause he does break down once in a while.

01:11:49 ◼   ► He just wants to be the person who discovers the thing.

01:11:51 ◼   ► And this is one of those where

01:11:53 ◼   ► he's not gonna be able to do that.

01:11:54 ◼   ► He's just gonna have to say, "Oh, Mike's got it,

01:11:57 ◼   ► "and John's got it, and Brendan's got it."

01:11:59 ◼   ► I guess I'll get it too. - Maybe what he does

01:12:00 ◼   ► is he gets the Mini and he's like,

01:12:03 ◼   ► "Oh guys, you don't even know, this one's way better."

01:12:06 ◼   ► - I know, I've thought about that.

01:12:08 ◼   ► - That's the way he'll do it?

01:12:10 ◼   ► - Yeah, Brendan already got the Mini,

01:12:11 ◼   ► so he can't be first with the Mini either.

01:12:14 ◼   ► - 'Cause he's buying that weird square one, right?

01:12:16 ◼   ► - Yeah, the cube one, which is really weird looking.

01:12:19 ◼   ► I mean, it looks pretty good,

01:12:21 ◼   ► but it's gotten pretty well reviewed,

01:12:22 ◼   ► but that's the Ambernic RG cube, as it's called.

01:12:26 ◼   ► - Yeah, 'cause that's Android, right, that one?

01:12:29 ◼   ► - Yeah, it is.

01:12:30 ◼   ► I think it's their first Android.

01:12:32 ◼   ► - I think it is, yeah.

01:12:32 ◼   ► - Well, maybe it's not their first.

01:12:33 ◼   ► They put out so much stuff, but it is Android, yeah.

01:12:37 ◼   ► - That's hilarious, oh my God, I love it.

01:12:41 ◼   ► All right, am I up?

01:12:43 ◼   ► - Yeah. - Yep, you're up.

01:12:44 ◼   ► - All right, Federico returns to WWDC

01:12:47 ◼   ► and tries a new food, and he doesn't like it.

01:12:49 ◼   ► (laughing)

01:12:51 ◼   ► - Yeah, it's good.

01:12:53 ◼   ► - Yes, I think he's gonna hire you, Mike.

01:12:55 ◼   ► I think he's gonna hire you as a taster next year

01:12:58 ◼   ► to make sure that his food hasn't been poisoned

01:13:00 ◼   ► because I'm convinced that he thinks I poisoned him

01:13:02 ◼   ► because the last thing that happened--

01:13:04 ◼   ► - I forgot about this until I read it in a document today.

01:13:07 ◼   ► - Right, the last thing that happened in 2022

01:13:11 ◼   ► before he went to the airport was he and I went off

01:13:13 ◼   ► and got a sandwich at some local sandwich shop.

01:13:16 ◼   ► We got different sandwiches.

01:13:18 ◼   ► He got food poisoning and was violently ill

01:13:21 ◼   ► all the way to Heathrow, and so I think that he--

01:13:24 ◼   ► - On the flight.

01:13:25 ◼   ► - On the flight. - Yeah, it was bad for him.

01:13:26 ◼   ► - Like barely able, I mean, really badly sick,

01:13:29 ◼   ► and I'm convinced he blames me for it

01:13:33 ◼   ► and that he's gonna worry that I'm gonna poison him.

01:13:36 ◼   ► Just like he's convinced that you stole

01:13:38 ◼   ► his heart rate monitor, he's gonna be convinced

01:13:40 ◼   ► that I tried to kill him.

01:13:41 ◼   ► - The thing that made that worse, I think, in a way

01:13:45 ◼   ► was I was trying to convince him to come to lunch

01:13:48 ◼   ► with me that day because he was super busy,

01:13:53 ◼   ► and I was worried that he wasn't gonna eat, right?

01:13:57 ◼   ► 'Cause he had a bunch of meat, and so I'm like,

01:13:58 ◼   ► look, just, you know, instead of taking this time

01:14:01 ◼   ► to write something or whatever, come get lunch with me

01:14:03 ◼   ► and then you'll be good, and he was like, no, no, no,

01:14:05 ◼   ► like I'm gonna go with John, like fine.

01:14:07 ◼   ► 'Cause yeah, it was bad.

01:14:10 ◼   ► - And it was a big rush.

01:14:11 ◼   ► We did this really quick sandwich right before

01:14:14 ◼   ► he went to the airport, and he basically,

01:14:16 ◼   ► we ate a sandwich, I said goodbye to him,

01:14:18 ◼   ► he went to the airport, and he started throwing up.

01:14:21 ◼   ► - Isn't that, it's kind of incredible

01:14:23 ◼   ► that the body can respond that fast.

01:14:25 ◼   ► - Right, yeah.

01:14:26 ◼   ► - Like that was something terribly wrong with that sandwich.

01:14:28 ◼   ► - Oh, it was something horrible wrong with that sandwich.

01:14:30 ◼   ► - It was a media, it was an immediate issue.

01:14:33 ◼   ► Oh man, do you remember what was in it?

01:14:36 ◼   ► - I, no, I don't. - Do you remember?

01:14:38 ◼   ► - I don't, it was like a sub shop that we went to

01:14:40 ◼   ► that was somewhere near campus,

01:14:41 ◼   ► but I don't remember what he had.

01:14:43 ◼   ► - I think it was like the sub shop with the,

01:14:47 ◼   ► it was like a cartoon mascot of a bald guy, right?

01:14:50 ◼   ► Or something? - Yeah, I think so.

01:14:51 ◼   ► I think so. - 'Cause I saw that shop

01:14:53 ◼   ► a few times and was confused by it.

01:14:55 ◼   ► - Yeah, I haven't gone back. - I think it is a small chain.

01:14:57 ◼   ► - Yeah, don't, don't go back.

01:14:58 ◼   ► (laughing)

01:15:00 ◼   ► - You won't be allowed to go back.

01:15:02 ◼   ► All right, my second passion pic is that Federico

01:15:05 ◼   ► creates another Frankenstein computer device.

01:15:07 ◼   ► I think he's not gonna stop doing this now.

01:15:09 ◼   ► He's gonna keep cutting up computers.

01:15:12 ◼   ► Like that's gonna happen.

01:15:13 ◼   ► And also Federico will discover a new kickstand technology.

01:15:18 ◼   ► - Okay, what does that mean?

01:15:20 ◼   ► - He'll find something from somewhere,

01:15:22 ◼   ► either like from a 3D printer on Alibaba or I don't know,

01:15:27 ◼   ► but he's gonna be like, guys, I've got a new kickstand.

01:15:29 ◼   ► And we'll all be excited for him.

01:15:32 ◼   ► - Maybe it's like a multi-angle

01:15:35 ◼   ► or has some sort of like friction lock.

01:15:38 ◼   ► There'll be something for sure.

01:15:39 ◼   ► - I gotta say, by the way,

01:15:42 ◼   ► I really want you to do this for me

01:15:46 ◼   ► the next time I'm off the show.

01:15:48 ◼   ► - Okay, yeah.

01:15:49 ◼   ► - Because I wanna hear what people think about me.

01:15:54 ◼   ► (laughing)

01:15:56 ◼   ► - You can't hear it, that's the thing.

01:15:57 ◼   ► You can't hear it.

01:15:58 ◼   ► - No, but he will hear it a year later.

01:16:00 ◼   ► - Eventually, yeah.

01:16:01 ◼   ► - Eventually I'll hear it.

01:16:03 ◼   ► - But like I really wanna know like what are my memes

01:16:06 ◼   ► that I may be unaware of.

01:16:09 ◼   ► So it's exciting, very fun.

01:16:12 ◼   ► All right, Steven, what's your passion pic?

01:16:14 ◼   ► - I just had one and it was Federico gets

01:16:18 ◼   ► a new technology related tattoo.

01:16:21 ◼   ► - That is a good one.

01:16:23 ◼   ► Maybe it gets kickstand tattoo.

01:16:25 ◼   ► - Oh my God, he should get like a kickstand on his ankle.

01:16:29 ◼   ► - That would be like the strangest tattoo to get.

01:16:31 ◼   ► What is that on your ankle Federico?

01:16:33 ◼   ► It's a kickstand.

01:16:34 ◼   ► Get out of my house.

01:16:36 ◼   ► - He should get a kickstand or a magnet.

01:16:38 ◼   ► He should get a tattoo of a magnet.

01:16:40 ◼   ► - Or like the costume magnet.

01:16:41 ◼   ► - Hang on, I'm putting a second one in there.

01:16:44 ◼   ► Federico considers,

01:16:48 ◼   ► Federico considers implanting a magnet into his body.

01:16:53 ◼   ► - Oh my God.

01:16:56 ◼   ► Oh my God.

01:16:58 ◼   ► - You know, to like unlock the door or do something.

01:17:01 ◼   ► I'm gonna say magnet and or NFC.

01:17:04 ◼   ► - Yeah, NFC chip.

01:17:04 ◼   ► - There's gonna be like,

01:17:06 ◼   ► there is the potential for great moments in the show here.

01:17:09 ◼   ► - Where like-- - Oh yeah, for sure.

01:17:11 ◼   ► - He just says it and me and Steven start screaming.

01:17:14 ◼   ► - You lose it.

01:17:15 ◼   ► (laughing)

01:17:18 ◼   ► - He said it, he said it.

01:17:20 ◼   ► He's gonna have no idea.

01:17:21 ◼   ► This is exciting.

01:17:22 ◼   ► - It's very good.

01:17:23 ◼   ► - What a great idea you had Steven.

01:17:25 ◼   ► This is so good.

01:17:26 ◼   ► - Yeah, this is brilliant.

01:17:27 ◼   ► It has come out so much better than I ever hoped.

01:17:29 ◼   ► So thank you for playing along.

01:17:31 ◼   ► And we'll see how this goes.

01:17:33 ◼   ► I have a thing to check in July of next year.

01:17:37 ◼   ► So we'll see what happens.

01:17:38 ◼   ► - Nice.

01:17:39 ◼   ► - And you know he's gonna take another vacation then too

01:17:41 ◼   ► so we can bring John back on.

01:17:42 ◼   ► - Exactly, it's perfect timing.

01:17:43 ◼   ► - He's always gone in July.

01:17:44 ◼   ► Yeah, this is perfect.

01:17:45 ◼   ► - Yeah, okay, so that's the Teach Olympics.

01:17:49 ◼   ► There we go.

01:17:50 ◼   ► If you wanna find links to the stuff

01:17:52 ◼   ► we spoke about this week, we have them in the show notes.

01:17:56 ◼   ► They're in your podcast player.

01:17:57 ◼   ► They're also on the web at relay.fm/connected/510.

01:18:02 ◼   ► You can become a member.

01:18:03 ◼   ► There's a link right in the show notes.

01:18:05 ◼   ► Members get connected pro,

01:18:06 ◼   ► which is a longer ad free version of the show

01:18:09 ◼   ► each and every week.

01:18:10 ◼   ► This week we spoke about the CMF phone one,

01:18:14 ◼   ► a new device from the folks over at nothing.

01:18:17 ◼   ► And Mike gave us a solo top iPad, Vision Pro update.

01:18:22 ◼   ► So all that's in there.

01:18:24 ◼   ► - I didn't know where you're going with that.

01:18:25 ◼   ► Honestly, like just pausing on solo.

01:18:28 ◼   ► I was like, what did I do?

01:18:30 ◼   ► (laughing)

01:18:31 ◼   ► But yeah, you can find out for yourself, I guess.

01:18:33 ◼   ► - Yeah, get connected pro.co.

01:18:36 ◼   ► - Co.

01:18:37 ◼   ► - It's in the show notes, that's the whole point.

01:18:39 ◼   ► You can also submit feedback or follow up.

01:18:42 ◼   ► We have a form online.

01:18:43 ◼   ► There's also a link to that in the show notes.

01:18:44 ◼   ► We'd love to hear from all of y'all.

01:18:46 ◼   ► And you can find us all online.

01:18:49 ◼   ► You can find Mike on Mastodon and Threads as iMike.

01:18:54 ◼   ► And he is the host of a bunch of other shows

01:18:57 ◼   ► here on relay.fm.

01:18:58 ◼   ► And of course does excellent work over at Cortex Brand.

01:19:02 ◼   ► You can find me as ismh86 on social media.

01:19:06 ◼   ► I write 512pixels.net and I co-host Mac Power Users.

01:19:09 ◼   ► It comes out each and every Sunday here on relay.

01:19:13 ◼   ► John, where can people find you?

01:19:15 ◼   ► - They can find me on macstories.net

01:19:17 ◼   ► and I am @JohnVoorhees on all the social media.

01:19:21 ◼   ► And I'm on three podcasts these days

01:19:23 ◼   ► or four podcasts actually.

01:19:24 ◼   ► Now I can't even keep track of them all.

01:19:26 ◼   ► There's App Stories, Mac Stories Unwind,

01:19:28 ◼   ► NPC, which is Next Portable Console,

01:19:31 ◼   ► and Ruminate all on Mac Stories.

01:19:34 ◼   ► - Awesome.

01:19:35 ◼   ► John, thank you for joining us today.

01:19:36 ◼   ► - Thanks for having me guys.

01:19:37 ◼   ► - This was a lot of fun.

01:19:39 ◼   ► I'd like to thank our sponsors this week,

01:19:40 ◼   ► Ecamm, Fitbaud and ExpressVPN.

01:19:44 ◼   ► And until next time guys, say goodbye.

01:19:46 ◼   ► - See you later.

01:19:49 ◼   ► - The problem was we wait for Federico,

01:19:55 ◼   ► but Federico's not here.

01:19:56 ◼   ► - I know.

01:19:57 ◼   ► - And I think John would necessarily assume

01:20:01 ◼   ► that he was going first.

01:20:02 ◼   ► - It was a long pause.

01:20:05 ◼   ► I had to fill the dead air.

01:20:06 ◼   ► - I didn't know who was gonna do it.

01:20:08 ◼   ► And it turned out it had to be you John.

01:20:10 ◼   ► - It went exactly the way I wanted it to.

01:20:12 ◼   ► - Ciao Mike.

01:20:15 ◼   ► - Ciao John.

01:20:16 ◼   ► - Bye y'all.