Connected

00:00:00 ◼   ► (upbeat music)

00:00:02 ◼   ► From Relay, welcome to Connected.

00:00:09 ◼   ► It's the world's greatest low key podcast

00:00:12 ◼   ► about the Apple devices we take with us.

00:00:14 ◼   ► This is episode 519.

00:00:17 ◼   ► It's sponsored by NetSuite, Fitbod, and Backblaze.

00:00:21 ◼   ► My name is Brendan Bigley.

00:00:22 ◼   ► I'm no chairman.

00:00:23 ◼   ► I'm a usurper king, I guess.

00:00:26 ◼   ► And I'm joined by the one true John.

00:00:30 ◼   ► - Hello, Brendan, how are you?

00:00:32 ◼   ► - Oh, I'm just spectacular.

00:00:34 ◼   ► I'm just spectacular.

00:00:35 ◼   ► We're also joined, of course, by the man,

00:00:38 ◼   ► the myth, the legend, it's Federico Vitici.

00:00:40 ◼   ► - Hello.

00:00:41 ◼   ► Hi, what an intro.

00:00:43 ◼   ► I love it.

00:00:43 ◼   ► - Legendary, legendary.

00:00:46 ◼   ► - I am the only familiar voice on Connected this week.

00:00:51 ◼   ► I thought we could come up with a funny backstory

00:00:55 ◼   ► as to where Steven and Mike are, what they're doing.

00:00:58 ◼   ► Like, have we replaced them?

00:01:00 ◼   ► And the answer is yes, we have replaced them.

00:01:03 ◼   ► This is gonna be Connected going forward.

00:01:05 ◼   ► We thank Mike for their decade of service.

00:01:09 ◼   ► It's been a pleasure,

00:01:11 ◼   ► but it's even gonna be more of a pleasure

00:01:13 ◼   ► with John and Brendan.

00:01:15 ◼   ► So yeah, these are like--

00:01:17 ◼   ► - They earned a break, I'd say.

00:01:19 ◼   ► - Next end of vacation.

00:01:20 ◼   ► - We're doubling the pleasure here, I'm telling you.

00:01:24 ◼   ► - Yeah, it's gonna be, it's...

00:01:25 ◼   ► So we're gonna try and somehow respect

00:01:31 ◼   ► the traditional structure of the show.

00:01:33 ◼   ► And yeah, I'm sure we'll hear from Mike and Steven

00:01:38 ◼   ► at some point over the internet, over iMessage.

00:01:42 ◼   ► But yeah, this is gonna be Connected.

00:01:43 ◼   ► So anyway, moving on, follow up.

00:01:45 ◼   ► This is something that Mike back when we used to do Connected

00:01:53 ◼   ► we used to play this game where we wanted to predict

00:01:56 ◼   ► where Apple was going to announce.

00:01:58 ◼   ► And Mike, in one of his risky predictions,

00:02:01 ◼   ► predicted that Apple was going to publicly state

00:02:05 ◼   ► the amount of RAM in the new iPhones.

00:02:08 ◼   ► And he also said that Apple was gonna do that

00:02:11 ◼   ► at the keynote for the iPhone,

00:02:13 ◼   ► and that they were gonna say that it was explicitly

00:02:15 ◼   ► for powering Apple intelligence.

00:02:17 ◼   ► Now, they did say that they were,

00:02:21 ◼   ► they did mention memory during the keynote.

00:02:23 ◼   ► They did say that it was for Apple intelligence.

00:02:26 ◼   ► They did not specify the amount of RAM.

00:02:28 ◼   ► That came a few days ago in an interview with Johnny Srouji

00:02:33 ◼   ► confirming that all iPhone 16 models

00:02:36 ◼   ► have eight gigs of RAM, as was expected.

00:02:40 ◼   ► So yeah, there you go.

00:02:42 ◼   ► Apple is now openly talking about RAM in iPhones.

00:02:46 ◼   ► If you asked, I guess, people in this community

00:02:48 ◼   ► a few years ago, they would have said

00:02:50 ◼   ► that it was unthinkable that Apple was gonna do this

00:02:52 ◼   ► for the iPhone.

00:02:54 ◼   ► - Oh yeah, RAM doesn't matter, right?

00:02:55 ◼   ► Wasn't that the line for a while?

00:02:57 ◼   ► - That was the line, that was the line.

00:02:58 ◼   ► Oh, Android cares about RAM because it runs so bad.

00:03:03 ◼   ► Which is funny because now everybody cares about RAM

00:03:07 ◼   ► because that's what powers large language models.

00:03:10 ◼   ► So yeah, there you go.

00:03:12 ◼   ► Mike was right, eventually, thanks to an interview.

00:03:17 ◼   ► We have a tiny topic that it started as fun news

00:03:22 ◼   ► and then very quickly became very sad news.

00:03:29 ◼   ► John, what's up?

00:03:30 ◼   ► - So this is about the legendary iOS game Flappy Bird.

00:03:35 ◼   ► And if people remember, this game has been gone

00:03:38 ◼   ► for a very, very long time.

00:03:40 ◼   ► It took the world by storm.

00:03:43 ◼   ► It was notoriously difficult to play.

00:03:46 ◼   ► As you navigated a little bird through obstacles.

00:03:49 ◼   ► And its developer ultimately pulled the game

00:03:53 ◼   ► from the app store because of online harassment

00:03:57 ◼   ► more than anything else.

00:03:58 ◼   ► He was not happy with the attention

00:04:01 ◼   ► and he just said, you know what, it's not worth it.

00:04:03 ◼   ► And pulled the game from the store.

00:04:05 ◼   ► And it's never been heard from since

00:04:06 ◼   ► until a couple of days ago.

00:04:08 ◼   ► He not only pulled the game from the store,

00:04:10 ◼   ► but he disappeared off of what was then Twitter.

00:04:15 ◼   ► And last week or maybe five or six days ago,

00:04:19 ◼   ► Flappy Bird burst back on the scene with a trailer.

00:04:23 ◼   ► And there was a website and it was called flappybird.org.

00:04:27 ◼   ► Which in and of itself is kind of a weird URL

00:04:30 ◼   ► to pick for a game.

00:04:32 ◼   ► But it was coming back.

00:04:33 ◼   ► And it was originally reported that this was a group

00:04:37 ◼   ► of enthusiasts who were taking over the game

00:04:40 ◼   ► and moving it forward and coming up with new characters

00:04:43 ◼   ► and all sorts of things, right?

00:04:45 ◼   ► And what had turned out to be the case

00:04:48 ◼   ► is that first of all, people started poking around

00:04:51 ◼   ► and they realized, well, the original developer

00:04:53 ◼   ► had no part in this whatsoever.

00:04:56 ◼   ► And in fact, the original developer's trademark rights

00:05:00 ◼   ► had been swiped from him in I believe a legal proceeding

00:05:04 ◼   ► in which these new developers got hold

00:05:08 ◼   ► of the trademark rights because they weren't being used.

00:05:11 ◼   ► And that's a very common thing with trademark.

00:05:13 ◼   ► I mean, if you don't use a trademark, you lose it.

00:05:15 ◼   ► And someone can challenge it and say,

00:05:17 ◼   ► hey, this person's not using this, we want it.

00:05:20 ◼   ► And that's effectively what they did.

00:05:22 ◼   ► So what they did is probably very legal.

00:05:24 ◼   ► It's not necessarily, it doesn't mean

00:05:26 ◼   ► it's not a little scummy.

00:05:28 ◼   ► And there also seems to be some notion

00:05:32 ◼   ► that this might be adjacent to cryptocurrency

00:05:36 ◼   ► because there was an old version of the website

00:05:39 ◼   ► where some people did some digging

00:05:40 ◼   ► and found references to cryptocurrencies

00:05:43 ◼   ► and Web3 stuff.

00:05:45 ◼   ► - Oh no, no.

00:05:47 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:05:47 ◼   ► - They said it's like the only game

00:05:51 ◼   ► where you can play and earn simultaneously.

00:05:54 ◼   ► - Oh no.

00:05:55 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:05:56 ◼   ► - And that's because all the other ones

00:05:57 ◼   ► that claim they could do that have failed.

00:05:59 ◼   ► (laughs)

00:06:00 ◼   ► - This is very sad.

00:06:03 ◼   ► Brandon, back in the day, Flappy Bird, yes or no?

00:06:08 ◼   ► - Oh, huge yes, huge yes.

00:06:11 ◼   ► I was like a Flappy Bird obsessive.

00:06:13 ◼   ► I needed to beat the high scores of everyone in my life.

00:06:15 ◼   ► I was like really on, I was sending screenshots

00:06:19 ◼   ► of Flappy Bird high scores to all of my friends

00:06:21 ◼   ► and like just a really overt attempt

00:06:25 ◼   ► to goad them into competing against me all the time.

00:06:28 ◼   ► I loved it.

00:06:29 ◼   ► The developer, one of the reasons that he claimed,

00:06:32 ◼   ► Dong Nguyen is his name,

00:06:33 ◼   ► one of the reasons he bailed on the app

00:06:36 ◼   ► outside of the harassment he was receiving,

00:06:37 ◼   ► both online and offline,

00:06:39 ◼   ► is that he said that the game was too addicting.

00:06:42 ◼   ► He didn't want to make a game that was that addicting,

00:06:43 ◼   ► which I thought was interesting.

00:06:45 ◼   ► I didn't consider the game to be addicting, honestly,

00:06:48 ◼   ► but I did consider it to be deeply, deeply fun.

00:06:53 ◼   ► And like maybe one of the most streamlined iOS apps

00:06:57 ◼   ► that existed.

00:06:58 ◼   ► I thought it was like,

00:06:59 ◼   ► as far as games played on a phone go,

00:07:01 ◼   ► really, really, really simple

00:07:04 ◼   ► in a way that was satisfying.

00:07:06 ◼   ► - Yeah, and the years since,

00:07:08 ◼   ► I mean, I guess he developed other games.

00:07:09 ◼   ► He had a game studio and none of them really--

00:07:11 ◼   ► - Swing Copters was the next one.

00:07:13 ◼   ► I loved that one too.

00:07:14 ◼   ► - Right, and none of them really took off

00:07:15 ◼   ► quite like Flappy Bird,

00:07:17 ◼   ► and I don't believe any of them

00:07:18 ◼   ► are being developed any longer.

00:07:20 ◼   ► - No, can I also just shout out

00:07:23 ◼   ► that the name of the company of quote unquote enthusiasts

00:07:26 ◼   ► who are excited about bringing Flappy Bird back to life

00:07:28 ◼   ► is a company called, and this is for real,

00:07:31 ◼   ► Game Tech Holdings,

00:07:34 ◼   ► which sounds like adjacent to the evil company

00:07:38 ◼   ► from like Alien.

00:07:39 ◼   ► Like it sounds like--

00:07:39 ◼   ► - Game Tech Holdings?

00:07:41 ◼   ► Is that-- - Yeah, it sounds like a bit

00:07:43 ◼   ► in a sci-fi movie about capitalism,

00:07:46 ◼   ► Game Tech Holdings.

00:07:47 ◼   ► - The Game Tech Holdings.

00:07:49 ◼   ► Okay, wow, this is quite sad.

00:07:53 ◼   ► I was excited for like five minutes when I saw this,

00:07:57 ◼   ► and then immediately I saw somebody saying,

00:07:59 ◼   ► "Well, it looks like the developer is not involved."

00:08:01 ◼   ► That actually there were legal proceedings against him,

00:08:04 ◼   ► and that soured the whole story pretty quickly.

00:08:07 ◼   ► Which is too bad. - It's brutal.

00:08:10 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:08:11 ◼   ► All right, moving on.

00:08:14 ◼   ► John, it's September.

00:08:17 ◼   ► Which means?

00:08:19 ◼   ► - Which means that Relay is raising money for St. Jude,

00:08:24 ◼   ► and in just a couple of days as we record this,

00:08:27 ◼   ► on Friday, Mike, Steven, and the Relay crew

00:08:30 ◼   ► will be doing their 12-hour podcast-a-thon.

00:08:34 ◼   ► That's Friday, September 20th,

00:08:36 ◼   ► to raise money for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month,

00:08:40 ◼   ► which is the whole month of September.

00:08:42 ◼   ► Now, if you listen to Connected,

00:08:44 ◼   ► you probably know a little bit about St. Jude by now,

00:08:46 ◼   ► I think, but it does incredible things

00:08:49 ◼   ► for kids and their families who have cancer,

00:08:53 ◼   ► because not only is it a research hospital

00:08:56 ◼   ► that is doing all kinds of great research work

00:08:58 ◼   ► to try to prevent childhood cancer,

00:09:01 ◼   ► but for the kids who do get sick,

00:09:03 ◼   ► it's a place where families can go,

00:09:05 ◼   ► they have housing, they have food,

00:09:07 ◼   ► they even have teachers there

00:09:10 ◼   ► from preschool all the way through 12th grade,

00:09:13 ◼   ► so that when kids go for treatments,

00:09:16 ◼   ► for up to six weeks, they can get their classwork done

00:09:19 ◼   ► and stay up to date with school,

00:09:22 ◼   ► so then when they go back home,

00:09:23 ◼   ► they're not behind all of their friends.

00:09:26 ◼   ► So that's a really great thing that they provide.

00:09:28 ◼   ► It's based in Memphis, Tennessee,

00:09:30 ◼   ► where Stephen Hackett lives,

00:09:32 ◼   ► but it's really a worldwide service,

00:09:34 ◼   ► because they're doing all kinds of collaborations

00:09:36 ◼   ► with hospitals around the world,

00:09:38 ◼   ► researchers, doctors, and things like that,

00:09:41 ◼   ► that make this the kind of place that helps kids,

00:09:44 ◼   ► whether they're in the United States or really anywhere.

00:09:48 ◼   ► So during September, Relay's been raising money.

00:09:51 ◼   ► You can go to the website and make a donation,

00:09:54 ◼   ► which we'd love you to do.

00:09:56 ◼   ► The website is stjue.org/relay.

00:10:00 ◼   ► On Friday, they'll be doing the 12-hour podcast-a-thon,

00:10:04 ◼   ► which is gonna be streamed on YouTube

00:10:06 ◼   ► from noon Eastern on Friday all the way till midnight.

00:10:11 ◼   ► It's always a lot of fun to watch that,

00:10:13 ◼   ► especially towards the end

00:10:14 ◼   ► when the guys are really, really tired,

00:10:16 ◼   ► and it's a perfect time to make your donation,

00:10:20 ◼   ► because you can send them over goals

00:10:23 ◼   ► and make them do silly stuff right there live

00:10:25 ◼   ► because of your donation.

00:10:27 ◼   ► So check it out today.

00:10:29 ◼   ► Go to stjue.org/relay and make sure you make a donation.

00:10:34 ◼   ► Thanks.

00:10:36 ◼   ► - This episode of Connected is brought to you by NetSuite.

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00:12:10 ◼   ► Our thanks to NetSuite for the support of the show.

00:12:13 ◼   ► - All right, so, John, Brandon, and I, we,

00:12:19 ◼   ► we do a podcast together.

00:12:22 ◼   ► It's called MPC on Mac Stories.

00:12:24 ◼   ► It stands for Next Portable Console,

00:12:26 ◼   ► and we talk about handhelds.

00:12:27 ◼   ► And we buy a lot of video game handhelds of all kinds.

00:12:31 ◼   ► - We do.

00:12:32 ◼   ► - The obvious ones like a Nintendo Switch

00:12:34 ◼   ► and the Steam Deck, but we are,

00:12:36 ◼   ► the three of us were collectively very

00:12:38 ◼   ► into emulation handhelds.

00:12:39 ◼   ► Android-based, Linux-based, that's what we do.

00:12:43 ◼   ► That's what we talk about.

00:12:44 ◼   ► But I thought, given that it's Apple release week

00:12:49 ◼   ► for operating systems and hardware,

00:12:51 ◼   ► I thought that we would talk, take a pause,

00:12:55 ◼   ► just briefly from gaming.

00:12:57 ◼   ► We are gonna talk about gaming later in the show.

00:13:00 ◼   ► - Of course we are.

00:13:01 ◼   ► - Of course we are.

00:13:02 ◼   ► I mean, it's the MPC crew, what are we gonna do?

00:13:04 ◼   ► But at the very least, let's pretend we can also

00:13:07 ◼   ► be professional about other topics.

00:13:09 ◼   ► And I thought we would talk about our purchases

00:13:13 ◼   ► in Apple land this week, if any.

00:13:15 ◼   ► And I also wanna talk about the new operating systems.

00:13:19 ◼   ► So I kinda wanted to go over what we ordered.

00:13:23 ◼   ► If we ordered anything, and Brandon, I wanna hear from you.

00:13:28 ◼   ► Did you get anything from Apple this week?

00:13:31 ◼   ► - Okay, so I know why you're going to me for it.

00:13:33 ◼   ► I get it.

00:13:34 ◼   ► I get it.

00:13:35 ◼   ► - No, no, no.

00:13:36 ◼   ► - I wrote a piece for your website last week.

00:13:40 ◼   ► It was called, you shouted out--

00:13:40 ◼   ► - People love that article.

00:13:42 ◼   ► People love the article, yes.

00:13:43 ◼   ► - It was very nice.

00:13:45 ◼   ► It was very nice.

00:13:46 ◼   ► You shouted out on this show last week as well.

00:13:48 ◼   ► It was called, "Maybe I'm Not a Pro Anymore."

00:13:50 ◼   ► And the conceit of the piece was,

00:13:52 ◼   ► while watching that event, it just started to occur to me

00:13:57 ◼   ► that because so many of the new interesting tent pole

00:14:01 ◼   ► features of the Pro phone were also available

00:14:04 ◼   ► on the base iPhone 16, the reasons to actually upgrade

00:14:08 ◼   ► to the Pro were pretty slim.

00:14:10 ◼   ► And the more I kind of ruminated what the vibe was

00:14:14 ◼   ► between those two, it was like, the Pro phones

00:14:16 ◼   ► are really actually just for pros now.

00:14:18 ◼   ► Like they showed somebody filming a music video

00:14:21 ◼   ► for the weekend and they were like, yeah,

00:14:24 ◼   ► check out also this film set where you can use

00:14:26 ◼   ► these different audio modes to isolate people's voices

00:14:31 ◼   ► in like a cinematic way, like things like that.

00:14:33 ◼   ► It was like, oh, this is all stuff that I'm not gonna use.

00:14:35 ◼   ► 'Cause I am a person who has gotten the Pro phone

00:14:38 ◼   ► since it first existed.

00:14:39 ◼   ► And I think like, you could go back and forth on this,

00:14:42 ◼   ► but I feel like the iPhone X is weirdly the first Pro phone

00:14:45 ◼   ► in a lot of ways.

00:14:47 ◼   ► Ever since then, I've been on the Pro track

00:14:49 ◼   ► and it's mainly just 'cause I love having the extra lens.

00:14:52 ◼   ► So anyway, I wrote that piece about like,

00:14:54 ◼   ► hey, I don't know if there's really a reason

00:14:55 ◼   ► to upgrade to the Pro phone.

00:14:57 ◼   ► And with that, drum roll,

00:14:59 ◼   ► I sure did upgrade to the Pro phone again.

00:15:01 ◼   ► I ordered the 16 Pro and it's really, truly this year

00:15:07 ◼   ► just because it comes in gold.

00:15:09 ◼   ► Desert titanium, sorry.

00:15:10 ◼   ► - Desert titanium.

00:15:12 ◼   ► - But I mean, it sure does look like gold

00:15:13 ◼   ► and I just really missed having a gold iPhone.

00:15:15 ◼   ► I find that the years I have a gold iPhone,

00:15:19 ◼   ► I usually switch off every year

00:15:21 ◼   ► between a black phone or gold if they have it.

00:15:24 ◼   ► I find that whenever I have a gold phone,

00:15:26 ◼   ► it just kind of makes me laugh like for the entire year.

00:15:30 ◼   ► I love having it.

00:15:31 ◼   ► It's like such a kind of silly color for your phone to be.

00:15:35 ◼   ► It just brings me a lot of joy.

00:15:38 ◼   ► It brings me a lot more joy, I will say,

00:15:39 ◼   ► than the natural titanium,

00:15:41 ◼   ► which I didn't love.

00:15:42 ◼   ► I was kind of surprised.

00:15:43 ◼   ► I thought I was gonna like it a lot more than I did,

00:15:45 ◼   ► but I've been using it for a year.

00:15:47 ◼   ► - Kind of boring after a while.

00:15:49 ◼   ► We started all natural titanium

00:15:52 ◼   ► and then after a year, I'm looking at this thing.

00:15:54 ◼   ► It's just a piece of metal.

00:15:55 ◼   ► It looks like a piece of metal.

00:15:57 ◼   ► - It's a little beige actually

00:15:58 ◼   ► is really what it comes down to.

00:16:00 ◼   ► - Yeah, could have been.

00:16:02 ◼   ► Yeah, there you go.

00:16:03 ◼   ► Like it's very--

00:16:04 ◼   ► - It's like Steven's old computers.

00:16:07 ◼   ► - Yeah, it's like an iPhone from the mid '90s or something.

00:16:11 ◼   ► - Wait a second though.

00:16:14 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:16:15 ◼   ► - I would love that.

00:16:15 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:16:16 ◼   ► - Like a beige plastic iPhone.

00:16:19 ◼   ► - Could you imagine?

00:16:20 ◼   ► - That looks like a Performa from 1992 or something.

00:16:24 ◼   ► - Legitimately, that would be very cool.

00:16:25 ◼   ► Like I am content, my kingdom for a PlayStation 5

00:16:29 ◼   ► that has the same color scheme as the PS1.

00:16:31 ◼   ► - Oh my God.

00:16:32 ◼   ► Did you see there was a concept image floating around

00:16:36 ◼   ► of a PS5 Pro styled like a PlayStation 1 classic?

00:16:40 ◼   ► Ah, so good.

00:16:41 ◼   ► So 16 Pro.

00:16:44 ◼   ► - I got the 16 Pro.

00:16:45 ◼   ► - Not a big phone guy.

00:16:47 ◼   ► - No, I am definitely not a big phone guy.

00:16:50 ◼   ► I just find that having a big phone, first of all,

00:16:54 ◼   ► I just want the thing to fit into my pocket very easily

00:16:57 ◼   ► and sometimes the Pro Max does not do that.

00:17:00 ◼   ► At least when I've like tried out other people's.

00:17:02 ◼   ► But also, I just like, that's what the iPad is for,

00:17:06 ◼   ► for me at least.

00:17:07 ◼   ► I feel like I don't have a lot of circumstances

00:17:10 ◼   ► in which having the Pro Max would be a worthwhile shift

00:17:15 ◼   ► for me over having something

00:17:16 ◼   ► that's a little bit more compact.

00:17:18 ◼   ► I'd be curious, I know you're my expert,

00:17:20 ◼   ► I'm curious why Max makes more sense for you

00:17:25 ◼   ► than a small one.

00:17:26 ◼   ► Like what is the use case for you specifically?

00:17:28 ◼   ► - I realized, and there's gonna be a lot of people

00:17:31 ◼   ► who are not gonna like this.

00:17:33 ◼   ► Sometimes, oh God, it feels good to confess this.

00:17:38 ◼   ► Sometimes I watch movies on my phone in bed or TV shows.

00:17:43 ◼   ► It's just, you know, it's a silly thing,

00:17:46 ◼   ► but it's already in my hand and I can turn it to landscape

00:17:50 ◼   ► and it's got a great screen

00:17:52 ◼   ► and I don't have to get out of bed and grab my iPad.

00:17:55 ◼   ► I don't, like I can just hold it with one hand

00:17:58 ◼   ► or I can lay to the side, you know,

00:18:01 ◼   ► and look at the phone while I'm--

00:18:03 ◼   ► - Very comfortably. - Moving on the side,

00:18:04 ◼   ► very comfortably.

00:18:07 ◼   ► And I mean, I love my iPad,

00:18:08 ◼   ► especially since I moved to the 11 inch,

00:18:10 ◼   ► it's so much more comfortable,

00:18:12 ◼   ► but sometimes like I watch a lot of YouTube,

00:18:14 ◼   ► like generally a lot of YouTube on my phone

00:18:18 ◼   ► and the occasional TV shows quite frequently,

00:18:20 ◼   ► especially stuff that Sylvia is not into,

00:18:23 ◼   ► I just watch on my phone.

00:18:24 ◼   ► It's just so much like lower friction

00:18:30 ◼   ► than even grabbing an iPad sometimes.

00:18:33 ◼   ► It's just, my phone is always with me anyway.

00:18:35 ◼   ► And I do like the tallest iPhone possible

00:18:40 ◼   ► for browsing the web or reading articles,

00:18:44 ◼   ► just seeing more text all at once.

00:18:48 ◼   ► It's very comfortable for me.

00:18:49 ◼   ► And the final thing I will mention,

00:18:52 ◼   ► I also do blog quite a bit from my phone.

00:18:56 ◼   ► Like I like, especially like quick posts for Mac stories,

00:19:01 ◼   ► just quick things.

00:19:02 ◼   ► I love typing them out on the phone.

00:19:04 ◼   ► And I think there's something about the fact

00:19:07 ◼   ► that you can only use one app at a time when you do that.

00:19:10 ◼   ► Like that self-imposed constraint,

00:19:13 ◼   ► it really sort of helps creativity

00:19:16 ◼   ► because like you just have that text editor open

00:19:19 ◼   ► and you gotta be concise

00:19:21 ◼   ► and you gotta put together a quick post,

00:19:23 ◼   ► might as well just do it on the phone.

00:19:24 ◼   ► And so it's kind of counterintuitive maybe,

00:19:28 ◼   ► like why would you do that on a phone

00:19:30 ◼   ► instead of grabbing your iPad

00:19:31 ◼   ► because you have your keyboard and everything,

00:19:34 ◼   ► but in a way it sort of helps

00:19:37 ◼   ► because that's the only thing you can do, right?

00:19:41 ◼   ► - Right. - Yeah.

00:19:42 ◼   ► - So yeah, I get the biggest phone possible

00:19:44 ◼   ► because I also use it for a lot of entertainment, yeah.

00:19:46 ◼   ► - Yeah, the funny thing is that everything

00:19:49 ◼   ► you just described is a thing that I also do

00:19:51 ◼   ► on my non-Macs phone, but I understand that,

00:19:56 ◼   ► it's literally just a subjective opinion between two people.

00:19:59 ◼   ► I understand why you would want the bigger one.

00:20:01 ◼   ► I do also write a lot of blog posts for my phone

00:20:03 ◼   ► as well like sitting on the couch.

00:20:05 ◼   ► It is nice, I like doing it.

00:20:06 ◼   ► I use IARider specifically,

00:20:10 ◼   ► which has the focus mode for when you're writing,

00:20:12 ◼   ► which I am obsessed with.

00:20:14 ◼   ► I love that app so much, shout out.

00:20:16 ◼   ► Shout out IARider team. - Very good app.

00:20:17 ◼   ► Very good app.

00:20:18 ◼   ► So just the iPhone 16 Pro.

00:20:23 ◼   ► - I got, yeah, just the iPhone 16 Pro.

00:20:25 ◼   ► I also got another SUTI phone back as my case.

00:20:30 ◼   ► - Yeah, they're making the new ones.

00:20:31 ◼   ► I got the-- - They're making

00:20:32 ◼   ► the new ones, yeah.

00:20:34 ◼   ► - I preordered one, I think.

00:20:36 ◼   ► Yeah, I preordered one. - Me too.

00:20:37 ◼   ► If you don't know SUTI, they make literally,

00:20:40 ◼   ► at least until the 16 Pro, they just had these

00:20:42 ◼   ► like silicone phone backs that you could get.

00:20:45 ◼   ► So it's not a whole case.

00:20:46 ◼   ► It's like a MagSafe back on your phone.

00:20:49 ◼   ► I got a white one for my natural titanium 15 Pro,

00:20:54 ◼   ► which honestly just made the phone look cooler.

00:20:56 ◼   ► Like suddenly it looks kind of more futuristic to me

00:20:59 ◼   ► in a lot of ways.

00:21:00 ◼   ► And ever since SUTI threw that thing out on the web,

00:21:03 ◼   ► I feel like a lot of other companies are starting to do it.

00:21:05 ◼   ► I feel like Nomad has their own version of this now.

00:21:07 ◼   ► - Nomad, they make one.

00:21:08 ◼   ► Isn't it called the leather back or something?

00:21:10 ◼   ► - I think so. - I think so.

00:21:11 ◼   ► Yeah, and they started introducing a bunch of new materials.

00:21:13 ◼   ► So now SUTI has their own lineup of new materials.

00:21:16 ◼   ► So I got a clear one, which I'm excited about

00:21:19 ◼   ► because I buy a gold iPhone.

00:21:20 ◼   ► Like it would be, makes sense to have a clear phone back.

00:21:24 ◼   ► - I couldn't choose.

00:21:25 ◼   ► So I got both the clear and the nano leather material.

00:21:28 ◼   ► - Oh, nice. - Oh, interesting.

00:21:30 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:21:31 ◼   ► And also the advantage of these cases,

00:21:34 ◼   ► you know they're gonna work with the iPhone 16 Pro

00:21:36 ◼   ► and the camera button because they don't cover the sides.

00:21:39 ◼   ► - It doesn't cover anything.

00:21:40 ◼   ► - They don't cover anything at all.

00:21:42 ◼   ► - They just cover the back.

00:21:43 ◼   ► So you're good to go.

00:21:44 ◼   ► - I'm considering getting one of the silicone

00:21:46 ◼   ► Apple cases though.

00:21:48 ◼   ► The like sapphire glass thing that they're doing

00:21:50 ◼   ► with the camera control button, I'm curious about it.

00:21:53 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:21:54 ◼   ► I did get an Apple case, but we'll talk about that later.

00:21:58 ◼   ► John, what did you get?

00:22:00 ◼   ► - So I went with the 16 Pro Max

00:22:03 ◼   ► with 512 gigabytes of storage in white.

00:22:08 ◼   ► And I think I have only ever had two white iPhones

00:22:14 ◼   ► and I've always enjoyed it.

00:22:17 ◼   ► I usually get black.

00:22:18 ◼   ► I had natural for the 15 Pro Max,

00:22:22 ◼   ► but this time I'm going back to white

00:22:24 ◼   ► because I've always enjoyed that particular color.

00:22:26 ◼   ► And I guess for me, the bigger one,

00:22:29 ◼   ► the reason I get the big one

00:22:31 ◼   ► is somewhat similar to you Federico.

00:22:33 ◼   ► I feel like it's my mini iPad mini.

00:22:36 ◼   ► You know, it's the most mini of the--

00:22:38 ◼   ► - Yes, yes.

00:22:39 ◼   ► - Is really kind of what it comes down to

00:22:41 ◼   ► 'cause it's really good for reading.

00:22:43 ◼   ► In particular, I do a lot of reading on it,

00:22:45 ◼   ► a lot of browsing the web.

00:22:46 ◼   ► I don't write articles on it like you guys do,

00:22:49 ◼   ► but I do watch a lot of video on my phone too.

00:22:51 ◼   ► So that's another good reason for it, I think.

00:22:54 ◼   ► But yeah, I don't mind having a big phone.

00:22:57 ◼   ► And to me, the biggest screen,

00:22:59 ◼   ► I always wanna get the biggest screen that's not too big,

00:23:03 ◼   ► which is very, very subjective.

00:23:04 ◼   ► Like for a long time,

00:23:06 ◼   ► I thought that the 12.9 inch iPad Pro was the one for me.

00:23:11 ◼   ► It turned out it wasn't, it's the 11 inch

00:23:13 ◼   ► because that's like right at the margin

00:23:15 ◼   ► where it's not comfortable to hold anymore.

00:23:18 ◼   ► - Yeah, I totally agree.

00:23:19 ◼   ► - You know, and I love the iPad mini.

00:23:21 ◼   ► I've been using an iPad mini for a long time,

00:23:23 ◼   ► but I think I'm gonna kinda settle in

00:23:26 ◼   ► with an 11 inch iPad Pro and this big phone.

00:23:30 ◼   ► And that's gonna kinda be my iPhone/iPad combo

00:23:33 ◼   ► going forward for quite a while.

00:23:35 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah.

00:23:36 ◼   ► - You know, Federico,

00:23:37 ◼   ► I also got one of the new charging pucks

00:23:38 ◼   ► 'cause I wanna be able to charge at 25 watts.

00:23:42 ◼   ► And so I also got one of those little Anker GaN chargers.

00:23:46 ◼   ► It's a little tiny one,

00:23:46 ◼   ► like the old iPhone charging bricks,

00:23:49 ◼   ► but it can handle 30 watts.

00:23:51 ◼   ► So I picked up that as well as the puck to use at my desk.

00:23:56 ◼   ► - Mm, nice.

00:23:57 ◼   ► Brandon, didn't ask you about storage.

00:24:00 ◼   ► - Oh yeah, 256.

00:24:03 ◼   ► - Same here, yeah.

00:24:04 ◼   ► - Yeah, I am like constantly bumping up against the edge

00:24:09 ◼   ► of it just because of the amount of photos that I take.

00:24:11 ◼   ► So it's really just, I need to be diligent

00:24:13 ◼   ► about how many photos I'm deleting.

00:24:15 ◼   ► But I used to go with 512 back in the day.

00:24:19 ◼   ► And then I just found that I never crossed 256 really,

00:24:23 ◼   ► usually, but these days,

00:24:24 ◼   ► I think just because of the size of photos

00:24:26 ◼   ► and how much I'm doing with like ProRes stuff on there,

00:24:30 ◼   ► I'm hitting the storage limit a little bit more

00:24:32 ◼   ► than I used to, but still not enough

00:24:34 ◼   ► to make me wanna upgrade to the 512 personally.

00:24:37 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:24:39 ◼   ► - What about you?

00:24:40 ◼   ► Where'd you go with Federico?

00:24:41 ◼   ► - All right, so it's been a very busy week for me.

00:24:43 ◼   ► I got the full slate of things, so.

00:24:47 ◼   ► - I love this.

00:24:49 ◼   ► - So 16 Pro Max, 256 white.

00:24:53 ◼   ► I realized I was only using like 100 gigs

00:24:56 ◼   ► of storage on my phone.

00:24:58 ◼   ► I use the iCloud, like iCloud for a library online,

00:25:03 ◼   ► not locally saved on the phone.

00:25:04 ◼   ► So storage doesn't matter.

00:25:06 ◼   ► I was only using those 100 gigs

00:25:08 ◼   ► for like basically cache of apps,

00:25:10 ◼   ► like Spotify, YouTube cache, Safari cache,

00:25:14 ◼   ► and a bunch of games.

00:25:15 ◼   ► Like I wasn't really using storage.

00:25:17 ◼   ► So I got the base model, but yeah, 16 Pro Max in white.

00:25:21 ◼   ► It's been a few years since I got a white phone.

00:25:23 ◼   ► So I figured, you know, let's just try it.

00:25:25 ◼   ► Like I mentioned, I ordered a couple of the SUTI phone backs,

00:25:29 ◼   ► but I also couldn't resist

00:25:31 ◼   ► and got the very bright yellow Apple silicon.

00:25:36 ◼   ► - Oh yeah, that's a nice one.

00:25:37 ◼   ► - I forgot what the name of it was, like a super,

00:25:39 ◼   ► I thought, you know, I can kind of rock a yellow case,

00:25:42 ◼   ► I think I'll do it.

00:25:45 ◼   ► Then AirPods 4 with noise cancellation.

00:25:48 ◼   ► I was so looking forward to this.

00:25:53 ◼   ► So my realization over the past month and a half

00:25:58 ◼   ► has actually been a couple of things.

00:26:01 ◼   ► The first one was that I still love,

00:26:04 ◼   ► and I, Brendan, you wrote about this, I linked to it.

00:26:08 ◼   ► I still love the wired earbuds, the ear pods,

00:26:13 ◼   ► the Apple ear pods. - Yes, all right.

00:26:16 ◼   ► - I bought a little stock of some new ear pods

00:26:21 ◼   ► for when the time comes that Apple will discontinue them.

00:26:25 ◼   ► I have a few backups in storage.

00:26:27 ◼   ► I realized that that shape always worked for my ears

00:26:33 ◼   ► and that I was a fan of them.

00:26:35 ◼   ► So that's what I've been using

00:26:37 ◼   ► with all my video game handhelds.

00:26:39 ◼   ► - This is my biggest question about those new ear pods.

00:26:43 ◼   ► I'm curious to see how you feel about them.

00:26:45 ◼   ► I'm gonna need to trust you with my life on this

00:26:48 ◼   ► because I am considering getting them as well.

00:26:50 ◼   ► I want to use ear pods so badly

00:26:54 ◼   ► and they've never fit in my ears.

00:26:55 ◼   ► - So the second realization that I had

00:26:58 ◼   ► over the past month and a half was that

00:27:00 ◼   ► I've been using AirPods Pro

00:27:04 ◼   ► since they came out a few years ago.

00:27:06 ◼   ► I thought I was like the biggest AirPods Pro fan,

00:27:10 ◼   ► but lately whenever I was leaving them on

00:27:13 ◼   ► for like three, four hours,

00:27:15 ◼   ► I was always feeling this discomfort in my ears.

00:27:19 ◼   ► And I realized I thought I was a fan of AirPods Pro,

00:27:22 ◼   ► but actually wearing them for like longer listening sessions

00:27:27 ◼   ► or watching a binge in a TV show,

00:27:30 ◼   ► like the discomfort of the unique tip

00:27:34 ◼   ► was actually bad for me.

00:27:36 ◼   ► And I also realized that I was not taking advantage

00:27:40 ◼   ► of any of the AirPods Pro specific features.

00:27:43 ◼   ► I don't commute,

00:27:46 ◼   ► so I don't really need to use noise cancellation.

00:27:48 ◼   ► When I'm home, I have two dogs.

00:27:51 ◼   ► And so I always want to be able to at least hear

00:27:54 ◼   ► if something is going on.

00:27:56 ◼   ► Dog owners will understand.

00:27:57 ◼   ► Like you need to, like dog is throwing up,

00:28:00 ◼   ► you need to know.

00:28:00 ◼   ► - Dog owners rise up.

00:28:03 ◼   ► You gotta hear that puke. - Exactly.

00:28:04 ◼   ► You gotta get the puke and you gotta be fast.

00:28:06 ◼   ► You know, especially if you have one of them

00:28:08 ◼   ► that for whatever reason, she likes doing it on the sofa.

00:28:12 ◼   ► Because I don't know why.

00:28:14 ◼   ► At least the other one-

00:28:15 ◼   ► - It's happened at this point.

00:28:16 ◼   ► It's hard to break a habit.

00:28:17 ◼   ► - At least the other one gets down and does it on the floor.

00:28:20 ◼   ► But yeah, on the sofa.

00:28:22 ◼   ► So you gotta be able to hear, you know, strange noises.

00:28:25 ◼   ► And so I realized, well, I'm not using noise cancellation.

00:28:30 ◼   ► These tips are not comfortable.

00:28:32 ◼   ► I thought, you know, it's been a few years.

00:28:34 ◼   ► Why don't I reevaluate the regular AirPods instead?

00:28:39 ◼   ► And that was one of the best decisions I've made this year.

00:28:44 ◼   ► Just getting the plain AirPods 3 a couple of months ago,

00:28:48 ◼   ► life-changing.

00:28:49 ◼   ► Like it made me fall in love

00:28:52 ◼   ► with the AirPods category all over again.

00:28:55 ◼   ► Now I'm fortunate because the, like I said,

00:28:57 ◼   ► that shape always worked for my years.

00:29:01 ◼   ► Like I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.

00:29:05 ◼   ► And so I was anticipating these AirPods 4

00:29:09 ◼   ► with a USB-C instead of Lightning.

00:29:11 ◼   ► The AirPods 3 still had Lightning.

00:29:13 ◼   ► And I thought if they do,

00:29:16 ◼   ► if they actually do a version of them

00:29:18 ◼   ► with noise cancellation, I will get it.

00:29:22 ◼   ► Because there is the occasional time

00:29:24 ◼   ► when like maybe I'm on a plane or maybe, I don't know,

00:29:27 ◼   ► I'm waiting somewhere

00:29:28 ◼   ► and I want to block out external noise.

00:29:30 ◼   ► There is the occasional time when I may want to use it.

00:29:34 ◼   ► And they did it.

00:29:35 ◼   ► They did two versions of AirPods 4,

00:29:38 ◼   ► both of them with USB-C.

00:29:39 ◼   ► Better sound, it seems from the reviews,

00:29:42 ◼   ► but also a version that is slightly more expensive

00:29:45 ◼   ► with noise cancellation.

00:29:46 ◼   ► And it seems like it's actually pretty decent at that.

00:29:48 ◼   ► Not as good as AirPods Pro,

00:29:50 ◼   ► but like then again, I don't care.

00:29:52 ◼   ► So yeah, I got the AirPods 4 with ANC.

00:29:55 ◼   ► And lastly, Apple Watch Series 10,

00:30:00 ◼   ► is it the 10?

00:30:01 ◼   ► - Yes, it is the 10. - Yes, it is 10.

00:30:03 ◼   ► - 10.

00:30:03 ◼   ► I was, for the past couple of years, I've used the Ultra 1.

00:30:08 ◼   ► Never upgraded to the Ultra 2.

00:30:12 ◼   ► I like my big watch,

00:30:13 ◼   ► but if the big watch can be slimmer

00:30:16 ◼   ► and not as rugged as the Ultra on my wrist, I'll go for it.

00:30:21 ◼   ► So this one is 46 millimeters instead of 45.

00:30:25 ◼   ► So it's actually slightly bigger than the Ultra.

00:30:28 ◼   ► I never, ever used the action button on the watch.

00:30:33 ◼   ► The thing is I got the Ultra,

00:30:34 ◼   ► not because I'm a very active person,

00:30:38 ◼   ► like I'm not into any of the sports

00:30:41 ◼   ► that the Ultra was designed for.

00:30:44 ◼   ► I just got it because it was the big watch

00:30:46 ◼   ► with the big display.

00:30:47 ◼   ► So if there is a base model watch that has a big display,

00:30:50 ◼   ► I'll switch to that.

00:30:52 ◼   ► Like I don't need the Ultra.

00:30:53 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:30:54 ◼   ► - I think to me, Federico,

00:30:56 ◼   ► one of the biggest downsides of the 10

00:30:59 ◼   ► that I'm gonna be curious to see

00:31:00 ◼   ► how you feel about this is the battery life.

00:31:04 ◼   ► When you're coming from an Ultra,

00:31:05 ◼   ► one of the things about the Ultra.

00:31:06 ◼   ► - Yeah, I guess.

00:31:07 ◼   ► - Besides being a big screen is having that battery life.

00:31:11 ◼   ► I use the action button myself quite a bit,

00:31:14 ◼   ► but that watch, the Ultra, is such an expensive model

00:31:17 ◼   ► that it's really not, and I think Apple realizes this.

00:31:21 ◼   ► They're not upgrading it on a yearly cycle

00:31:23 ◼   ► in the same way they are with the regular Apple Watch

00:31:26 ◼   ► because I don't think very many people

00:31:28 ◼   ► would upgrade it every single year.

00:31:30 ◼   ► My battery is down to like 88% capacity,

00:31:33 ◼   ► which is noticeable.

00:31:36 ◼   ► It's definitely noticeable,

00:31:37 ◼   ► but it started at such a high place

00:31:39 ◼   ► that it's still perfectly fine.

00:31:41 ◼   ► And so I feel like I will probably go Ultra again,

00:31:45 ◼   ► but I do think that I can probably go

00:31:47 ◼   ► on like a three or four year schedule at this point.

00:31:50 ◼   ► - I think my favorite thing about the Apple Watch

00:31:52 ◼   ► as a product category for Apple right now

00:31:55 ◼   ► is that they kind of anticipate

00:31:57 ◼   ► people aren't upgrading year to year.

00:31:59 ◼   ► Although they are upgrading the actual Apple Watch itself

00:32:03 ◼   ► year to year, and as you mentioned,

00:32:04 ◼   ► the Ultra, it's getting upgraded,

00:32:06 ◼   ► or just got an upgrade, finally.

00:32:08 ◼   ► It's in black, shout out.

00:32:10 ◼   ► I love that I went from the Apple Watch

00:32:12 ◼   ► literally series zero to series five,

00:32:16 ◼   ► and then I went from that to the eight,

00:32:17 ◼   ► and now I'm just hanging out on the eight

00:32:19 ◼   ► until I don't know when.

00:32:20 ◼   ► I guess when this one's done.

00:32:22 ◼   ► I just wear them until they're done.

00:32:24 ◼   ► And I love that as a person who generally

00:32:27 ◼   ► does upgrade a lot of my Apple stuff very frequently.

00:32:31 ◼   ► It's a nice feeling that there's an entire piece

00:32:34 ◼   ► of that ecosystem that I don't need to do every year.

00:32:37 ◼   ► It's good. - Yeah, absolutely.

00:32:39 ◼   ► Absolutely, and I think I got into the habit early on

00:32:43 ◼   ► when the Apple Watch is relatively new

00:32:45 ◼   ► of doing an annual upgrade,

00:32:47 ◼   ► because there were some pretty big leaps and bounds

00:32:50 ◼   ► in terms of what the software could do,

00:32:52 ◼   ► what the battery life was like,

00:32:54 ◼   ► the sensors that were being added,

00:32:56 ◼   ► and we're already at a place where the Apple Watch

00:32:58 ◼   ► is fairly mature, and so while these are nice upgrades,

00:33:01 ◼   ► they're not revolutionary, so I'm totally fine

00:33:04 ◼   ► with sticking around with the Ultra One for now.

00:33:07 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:33:08 ◼   ► - I'm excited.

00:33:10 ◼   ► I'm gonna be that person.

00:33:11 ◼   ► I'm excited about the fact that you can use

00:33:12 ◼   ► the new Apple Watch with a speaker to listen to stuff,

00:33:16 ◼   ► not because I'm gonna bother people.

00:33:18 ◼   ► - You're not gonna be that guy

00:33:19 ◼   ► at the grocery store, are you? - No, no, no.

00:33:20 ◼   ► - Who's listening to a podcast while he's buying bread?

00:33:24 ◼   ► - So here's the rule, okay?

00:33:26 ◼   ► When I'm around other people, AirPods,

00:33:30 ◼   ► and usually one AirPod only at a time.

00:33:33 ◼   ► I'm that person, like Steven.

00:33:36 ◼   ► - Interesting. - I just wear,

00:33:37 ◼   ► yeah, one AirPod in my left ear, usually.

00:33:39 ◼   ► - I love that.

00:33:42 ◼   ► - If I'm walking the dogs, and so it's during the day,

00:33:45 ◼   ► usually in the afternoon, listening to podcasts

00:33:49 ◼   ► with my Meta Ray-Ban glasses.

00:33:53 ◼   ► So I'm just, I'm walking.

00:33:55 ◼   ► Other people may pass in my vicinity,

00:33:58 ◼   ► but it's just for a second.

00:33:59 ◼   ► So if they hear, "Oh, that guy is listening

00:34:02 ◼   ► "to stuff in English," whatever, I don't care.

00:34:05 ◼   ► When I'm walking the dogs, I caught up on so many episodes

00:34:08 ◼   ► of "Into the Aether" while walking the dogs

00:34:10 ◼   ► with the Meta Ray-Bans, it's kinda ridiculous.

00:34:12 ◼   ► But when I wake up in the morning,

00:34:16 ◼   ► and I'm doing stuff around the house,

00:34:18 ◼   ► like I'm doing chores around the house,

00:34:19 ◼   ► or I'm cooking lunch or something,

00:34:22 ◼   ► like I'm preparing things,

00:34:24 ◼   ► I don't put on my Meta Ray-Bans immediately, right?

00:34:28 ◼   ► Those are also like sunglasses, so it makes more sense.

00:34:32 ◼   ► Like when I wake up in the morning,

00:34:33 ◼   ► I grab my regular glasses that I always keep

00:34:36 ◼   ► my Meta Ray-Ban stand.

00:34:37 ◼   ► And I don't like the idea of wearing AirPods

00:34:42 ◼   ► inside the home.

00:34:45 ◼   ► I know that's probably a stupid thing,

00:34:46 ◼   ► because literally millions of other people do.

00:34:49 ◼   ► So the watch, having a speaker, is gonna be perfect for me,

00:34:54 ◼   ► for those times when in the morning,

00:34:56 ◼   ► I don't have my Meta Ray-Bans on,

00:34:59 ◼   ► I am not wearing AirPods, I am doing stuff around the house,

00:35:02 ◼   ► so I'm moving between rooms,

00:35:06 ◼   ► and I just have the watch with me.

00:35:08 ◼   ► I don't have to rely on the phone,

00:35:10 ◼   ► I can just listen to podcasts on my wrist,

00:35:14 ◼   ► as I'm doing the laundry, or brushing the dogs,

00:35:18 ◼   ► like all those things, I just have it on my wrist.

00:35:21 ◼   ► - Yeah, I can totally see that.

00:35:22 ◼   ► - I'm not bothering anybody.

00:35:23 ◼   ► Yeah? - Yeah, I can totally see that.

00:35:24 ◼   ► I mean, I do that with my phone now,

00:35:25 ◼   ► I just walk around with my phone

00:35:27 ◼   ► when I'm doing chores around the house,

00:35:28 ◼   ► and it would be easier if it was the watch, I think.

00:35:31 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah.

00:35:32 ◼   ► - I'm using AirPods for that these days.

00:35:34 ◼   ► AirPods have become my walking around the house thing,

00:35:37 ◼   ► although now I'm obviously going back to the early 2000s

00:35:41 ◼   ► and getting them caught on every single thing in my house,

00:35:44 ◼   ► anytime I try and do anything,

00:35:45 ◼   ► smashing them into the washing machine door and stuff.

00:35:49 ◼   ► - Isn't it nice though, that you can just plug those in,

00:35:53 ◼   ► and you don't have to care about anything else?

00:35:57 ◼   ► - I love it, I love it so much,

00:35:58 ◼   ► and also, because they're not noise canceling anything,

00:36:01 ◼   ► I can still hear everything perfectly,

00:36:03 ◼   ► although I do find, as a person who does commute,

00:36:06 ◼   ► they are not conducive at all to my commute.

00:36:09 ◼   ► I do need, I don't know if I need noise cancellation,

00:36:12 ◼   ► but I do need a tighter seal, I think, when I'm commuting.

00:36:16 ◼   ► I use the Beats Fit Pro right now,

00:36:18 ◼   ► is kind of my main headphone when I'm walking around.

00:36:20 ◼   ► They have the wing tips,

00:36:20 ◼   ► so they stay locked in my ears, basically,

00:36:23 ◼   ► but I usually don't have noise cancellation turned on.

00:36:25 ◼   ► I just kind of, I don't even have transparency mode on.

00:36:27 ◼   ► I just rock 'em normal.

00:36:29 ◼   ► Can I go back quickly to both of you

00:36:33 ◼   ► having the max phones, and ask you the big question,

00:36:36 ◼   ► based on all the rumors about maybe

00:36:37 ◼   ► the next couple years of Apple stuff?

00:36:39 ◼   ► - Yes.

00:36:40 ◼   ► - I, for about six months, had the Pixel Fold,

00:36:44 ◼   ► and was obsessed with it.

00:36:45 ◼   ► Where are you guys at on that?

00:36:48 ◼   ► 'Cause that serves both masters.

00:36:50 ◼   ► You're getting the big display,

00:36:52 ◼   ► and you're getting the pocketable form factor.

00:36:54 ◼   ► I loved it to death, but I couldn't use it,

00:36:57 ◼   ► because it had a bunch of issues right when it came out,

00:36:59 ◼   ► where the battery was draining super fast,

00:37:01 ◼   ► and I was about to go to Japan,

00:37:02 ◼   ► and there's no world in which I'm gonna go to Japan,

00:37:05 ◼   ► and wake up, and find out that the thing didn't charge

00:37:07 ◼   ► because of a bug, and I'm just stuck, lost,

00:37:10 ◼   ► wandering around in a place where I don't know the language.

00:37:12 ◼   ► But where are you guys at on the folding iPhone?

00:37:14 ◼   ► - There are two products I want Apple to make.

00:37:19 ◼   ► Glasses, like the ones I'm wearing now,

00:37:22 ◼   ► the metal ray lens, but made by Apple,

00:37:25 ◼   ► and a foldable device.

00:37:28 ◼   ► The dream for me is a folding iPhone

00:37:31 ◼   ► that is a regular phone, and then you open it up,

00:37:34 ◼   ► and it's like a small iPad.

00:37:35 ◼   ► I am so jealous of the new generation

00:37:42 ◼   ► of the Samsung foldables, but even the new Pixel,

00:37:46 ◼   ► what's it called, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel Pro 9?

00:37:48 ◼   ► - That is the full name, it's the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

00:37:51 ◼   ► - Yeah, that one.

00:37:52 ◼   ► It looks so good, and the idea of a hybrid device from Apple,

00:37:57 ◼   ► so with the ecosystem of the apps that I like,

00:38:00 ◼   ► like all the indie apps that I love,

00:38:02 ◼   ► with that design and the fact that it's like

00:38:06 ◼   ► a phone on the outside, but then you open it up

00:38:08 ◼   ► and you've got some basic multitasking going on,

00:38:11 ◼   ► that's the dream for me.

00:38:12 ◼   ► And as soon as Apple announces that sort of device,

00:38:15 ◼   ► if they ever announce that sort of device,

00:38:17 ◼   ► even if compared to a Pro Max, it's smaller,

00:38:21 ◼   ► as a phone on the vertical side,

00:38:24 ◼   ► I'm immediately upgrading to that device, no matter how,

00:38:29 ◼   ► I mean, sure, if it costs $10,000, no,

00:38:33 ◼   ► I am not gonna get it for $10,000, but for like,

00:38:35 ◼   ► here's my hot take, for the price of a Vision Pro, yeah.

00:38:41 ◼   ► - Wow. - I would do it.

00:38:41 ◼   ► I would do it. - Wow.

00:38:42 ◼   ► - I mean, I got a Vision Pro.

00:38:45 ◼   ► - Yeah, you did. - And it's like

00:38:46 ◼   ► in the closet behind me, because I never use it.

00:38:50 ◼   ► - Yeah, that's unfortunate.

00:38:51 ◼   ► - I would generally use a foldable phone.

00:38:54 ◼   ► - I'm with you on the foldables.

00:38:55 ◼   ► I do think that the form factor folded

00:38:58 ◼   ► should be smaller than the Pro Max, though.

00:39:00 ◼   ► I think it should be closer to just the iPhone Pro,

00:39:04 ◼   ► because when you unfold it, you'll get a really nice size.

00:39:07 ◼   ► It's pretty close to an iPad Mini,

00:39:10 ◼   ► and that's really what I'd like,

00:39:11 ◼   ► is basically to have an unfolded iPad Mini

00:39:14 ◼   ► and a folded regular phone.

00:39:15 ◼   ► Even if it's a little thicker, that's all right with me too.

00:39:18 ◼   ► - You have me really wondering

00:39:19 ◼   ► how much I would spend on this, Federico.

00:39:21 ◼   ► I'm like, I almost don't want to admit it to myself

00:39:24 ◼   ► or to the listeners of this podcast,

00:39:26 ◼   ► what number floated into my head.

00:39:28 ◼   ► But I think it's around what you're talking about.

00:39:31 ◼   ► I think it's like Vision Pro.

00:39:33 ◼   ► - If they're gonna do it, they're gonna pitch it

00:39:34 ◼   ► as like this futuristic nobody's ever done it before.

00:39:37 ◼   ► Spoilers, they have done it before.

00:39:39 ◼   ► But it's coming from Apple, right?

00:39:41 ◼   ► And it's gonna be the nicest looking foldable thing ever.

00:39:45 ◼   ► And so like, I'm just gonna ask you.

00:39:47 ◼   ► So assuming that we are staying below

00:39:50 ◼   ► Mac Pro pricing territory, would you rather spend $3,500

00:39:55 ◼   ► on a Vision Pro or a super premium,

00:39:58 ◼   ► fancy looking foldable phone?

00:40:00 ◼   ► I get the foldable phone immediately.

00:40:02 ◼   ► - Yeah, phone, no question.

00:40:03 ◼   ► - Yeah, that's pretty easy.

00:40:04 ◼   ► That's an easy decision.

00:40:05 ◼   ► - Especially if they're pairing it alongside

00:40:08 ◼   ► something related to the iPad.

00:40:11 ◼   ► If they're saying like, this is both an iPad and an iPhone.

00:40:13 ◼   ► And that means hypothetically,

00:40:15 ◼   ► like an M chip in there or something.

00:40:17 ◼   ► - Oh my God.

00:40:18 ◼   ► - I mean, I'll pay MacBook Pro prices for that.

00:40:22 ◼   ► It's the most important device I own

00:40:24 ◼   ► and the most important device I will always own.

00:40:26 ◼   ► And I want to take that as one.

00:40:27 ◼   ► - And also, they gotta make up for the fact

00:40:30 ◼   ► that you're not gonna buy a phone

00:40:33 ◼   ► and an iPad individually anymore.

00:40:35 ◼   ► - Yes, exactly.

00:40:36 ◼   ► - You're buying two.

00:40:38 ◼   ► - That's why it's gonna be at least 2,500, you would think.

00:40:41 ◼   ► - At least, because then it doesn't matter

00:40:43 ◼   ► that you're not buying two Apple products.

00:40:45 ◼   ► You're buying a really expensive single Apple product.

00:40:48 ◼   ► Brandon, did you see the tri-fold Huawei device?

00:40:53 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:40:55 ◼   ► - That thing's wild.

00:40:57 ◼   ► - So now actual hands-on videos have started coming out

00:41:01 ◼   ► and it's real.

00:41:04 ◼   ► Now durability is a big concern.

00:41:08 ◼   ► - Big question.

00:41:09 ◼   ► - The folding screen, when it's closed,

00:41:13 ◼   ► it's gonna be outside.

00:41:14 ◼   ► - It's on the outside, yeah.

00:41:16 ◼   ► I think that that's a really bad decision.

00:41:18 ◼   ► - It's all kinds of stuff is gonna get

00:41:22 ◼   ► underneath that display and that plastic

00:41:24 ◼   ► is gonna be exposed to the outside world.

00:41:27 ◼   ► So durability there will be a concern.

00:41:30 ◼   ► But just conceptually speaking though,

00:41:34 ◼   ► a phone that transforms into a 10-inch tablet,

00:41:38 ◼   ► mm, it's, you know, it's pretty hot.

00:41:40 ◼   ► - With almost a cinema aspect ratio

00:41:43 ◼   ► so you can watch movies the way they were intended

00:41:46 ◼   ► to be seen?

00:41:46 ◼   ► - Not like a phone.

00:41:47 ◼   ► If Martin Scorsese were to look at what I do in bed

00:41:51 ◼   ► with my phone watching movies on my Pro Max.

00:41:53 ◼   ► - He would not be happy.

00:41:55 ◼   ► - Not be happy, but here I am.

00:41:57 ◼   ► Sorry, Martin, that's what I do.

00:41:59 ◼   ► All right, well, so yeah, that's what we're getting

00:42:03 ◼   ► this week and we'll see how we like these things.

00:42:08 ◼   ► I'm sure we'll come up for a gaming angle

00:42:11 ◼   ► for the new iPhones on MPC.

00:42:12 ◼   ► - Oh, there's always a gaming angle.

00:42:15 ◼   ► It's always a sad gaming angle.

00:42:16 ◼   ► - Do we need to buy new controllers?

00:42:18 ◼   ► Do we need to buy new controllers for the phones?

00:42:20 ◼   ► - I doubt it.

00:42:21 ◼   ► They're not that much bigger.

00:42:22 ◼   ► - Right, okay.

00:42:23 ◼   ► Oh yeah, they're not that much bigger.

00:42:24 ◼   ► All right, cool.

00:42:25 ◼   ► - The GameSir is still gonna work

00:42:27 ◼   ► and that's the one that matters to me.

00:42:28 ◼   ► The Galileo.

00:42:29 ◼   ► - The Galileo, the G8, yes.

00:42:32 ◼   ► - That's the one I'm using.

00:42:33 ◼   ► - And the Razer Ultra.

00:42:34 ◼   ► - The Razer Ultra.

00:42:36 ◼   ► - John is a pro gamer and is a Razer Ultra.

00:42:38 ◼   ► - I got the RGB going on.

00:42:40 ◼   ► - Oh, God.

00:42:41 ◼   ► - This episode of Connected is brought to you by Fitbaud.

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00:44:52 ◼   ► and of Relay.

00:44:52 ◼   ► - All right, Federico.

00:44:56 ◼   ► We have been beating around the bush

00:44:59 ◼   ► this entire episode so far,

00:45:01 ◼   ► because this of course was a very big week.

00:45:03 ◼   ► Apple dropped, in kind of an unprecedented way,

00:45:07 ◼   ► all of its OS updates on a single day on a Monday.

00:45:11 ◼   ► And I think, I will, you know,

00:45:13 ◼   ► I'm not gonna break my arm,

00:45:14 ◼   ► but I'll pat ourselves on the back

00:45:15 ◼   ► for kind of sensing that this was gonna happen

00:45:17 ◼   ► all the way back in June, and kind of,

00:45:19 ◼   ► and being ready for it.

00:45:21 ◼   ► But we had a whole series of reviews out this week

00:45:24 ◼   ► on Mac stories.

00:45:25 ◼   ► The, you did iPhone and iPad OS 18,

00:45:29 ◼   ► I did Mac OS Sequoia,

00:45:31 ◼   ► Devin did Vision OS 2,

00:45:34 ◼   ► and Jonathan did Watch OS 11.

00:45:37 ◼   ► And I wanted to dig in a little bit with you

00:45:40 ◼   ► to talk to you about your review this week,

00:45:43 ◼   ► because it was a really different,

00:45:46 ◼   ► a really different approach than we've had in past years.

00:45:48 ◼   ► And you and I talked about this a little bit

00:45:50 ◼   ► on app stories already.

00:45:53 ◼   ► But, you know, we,

00:45:55 ◼   ► the biggest thing, I think the thing people will notice

00:45:57 ◼   ► the moment they open the page,

00:45:59 ◼   ► is they'll say, instead of like some sort of motion graphics

00:46:02 ◼   ► of realistic looking iPhones with screenshots on them,

00:46:05 ◼   ► they see illustrated art.

00:46:08 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah.

00:46:09 ◼   ► Brandon is actually responsible here.

00:46:12 ◼   ► - He is, hello.

00:46:13 ◼   ► - Yes, you.

00:46:15 ◼   ► Well, so yeah,

00:46:17 ◼   ► Brandon is the person we need to thank here,

00:46:22 ◼   ► because it was Brandon who introduced us months ago

00:46:24 ◼   ► to the incredible artist that is Scout Wilkinson.

00:46:28 ◼   ► Scout did, we worked with Scout for the podcast artwork

00:46:33 ◼   ► for "Comfort Zone," which is the other show

00:46:37 ◼   ► that we introduced alongside MPC Mac stories back in May.

00:46:41 ◼   ► And I loved working with Scout,

00:46:45 ◼   ► the process, the back and forth,

00:46:47 ◼   ► the ideas, the brainstorming, everything.

00:46:49 ◼   ► The process was just fantastic.

00:46:51 ◼   ► - Hire Scout.

00:46:52 ◼   ► - Yes, hire Scout.

00:46:54 ◼   ► And so when the time came when Apple announced iOS

00:46:59 ◼   ► and Apple OS 18 at WWDC,

00:47:01 ◼   ► and I saw Apple intelligence

00:47:02 ◼   ► and the generative features of Apple intelligence,

00:47:07 ◼   ► specifically those,

00:47:08 ◼   ► like those are the kinds of AI features

00:47:12 ◼   ► that I have a really strong stance on,

00:47:16 ◼   ► and it wasn't sitting right with me.

00:47:19 ◼   ► It was something that is pretty much antithetical

00:47:23 ◼   ► to all the things I believe in,

00:47:24 ◼   ► in terms of like creating stuff on the web,

00:47:27 ◼   ► being creative on the web,

00:47:29 ◼   ► and sharing your work on the internet with people.

00:47:32 ◼   ► I find it very gross being able to generate images

00:47:37 ◼   ► and replacing human input with an AI model,

00:47:40 ◼   ► and I don't like it.

00:47:42 ◼   ► And the whole thing was putting me in a bad mood in June,

00:47:47 ◼   ► going into the summer,

00:47:48 ◼   ► knowing that I had this massive project ahead of me.

00:47:52 ◼   ► I didn't want to do it.

00:47:53 ◼   ► I felt like I was stuck,

00:47:55 ◼   ► because the whole community of Mac stories readers

00:47:58 ◼   ► was waiting for me to work on my 10th annual review,

00:48:02 ◼   ► and I was dreading the feeling.

00:48:05 ◼   ► I didn't want to do it.

00:48:06 ◼   ► And so I started thinking, well, I have to do it.

00:48:10 ◼   ► We also have a sponsor lined up.

00:48:12 ◼   ► I gotta do it, but how?

00:48:16 ◼   ► And so I realized, instead of feeling down about it,

00:48:20 ◼   ► I thought, you know what I'm gonna do?

00:48:21 ◼   ► I'm gonna put a different spin on this thing,

00:48:24 ◼   ► where Apple may, at the time,

00:48:27 ◼   ► we still sort of thought that Apple Intelligence

00:48:29 ◼   ► was gonna launch in September.

00:48:31 ◼   ► They delayed the features later,

00:48:33 ◼   ► but at the time it was gonna launch in September.

00:48:35 ◼   ► And I thought, well, what I'm gonna do is,

00:48:37 ◼   ► in the same OS that has the feature

00:48:39 ◼   ► that lets you generate images,

00:48:41 ◼   ► and that has the feature that lets you take a sketch

00:48:43 ◼   ► in Apple Notes and turn it into a, quote unquote,

00:48:46 ◼   ► "beautiful artwork" using AI,

00:48:49 ◼   ► I am gonna do something different.

00:48:51 ◼   ► I am gonna hire an actual artist, a real person,

00:48:54 ◼   ► and I'm gonna ask them to create art for the review,

00:48:58 ◼   ► to illustrate the review.

00:49:00 ◼   ► And that was, just like using regular AirPods again,

00:49:05 ◼   ► one of my best decisions this year,

00:49:08 ◼   ► like working with Scout.

00:49:11 ◼   ► - Scout and AirPods, there we go, that's a duo.

00:49:13 ◼   ► - What a combo.

00:49:15 ◼   ► She was better than the AirPods, I'll give you that.

00:49:19 ◼   ► But just the whole process of working with her

00:49:24 ◼   ► researching, coming up with ideas for the chapters,

00:49:29 ◼   ► and with that process, with that back and forth,

00:49:33 ◼   ► it also led me to this very different place

00:49:39 ◼   ► for the conclusion of the story,

00:49:41 ◼   ► where there is the usual recap

00:49:44 ◼   ► and looking ahead at what's coming next,

00:49:47 ◼   ► but it's more of this conclusion

00:49:49 ◼   ► that sets the tone for what I think,

00:49:51 ◼   ► regarding what's the role of Mac stories,

00:49:54 ◼   ► and our approach to creators, right?

00:49:58 ◼   ► Developers, designers, artists,

00:50:02 ◼   ► what can we do as Mac stories to celebrate those people

00:50:08 ◼   ► and to be useful to our readers

00:50:13 ◼   ► with content, articles that are useful,

00:50:16 ◼   ► but also at the same time celebrating creativity.

00:50:19 ◼   ► And so I am very happy,

00:50:21 ◼   ► I am very happy with that conclusion.

00:50:24 ◼   ► Because it's the sort of conclusion

00:50:28 ◼   ► that was the result of this three month process

00:50:31 ◼   ► of working with an artist and working with,

00:50:34 ◼   ► surrounding myself with people

00:50:36 ◼   ► that helped me in this process.

00:50:38 ◼   ► And it's a little blog post, the conclusion, basically,

00:50:43 ◼   ► it's about 1,500 words,

00:50:46 ◼   ► but it's the sort of thing where it doesn't matter

00:50:49 ◼   ► if you disagree with me, because it's what I think,

00:50:53 ◼   ► and when you believe strongly in what you think,

00:50:55 ◼   ► people may disagree with you, people may ignore you,

00:50:57 ◼   ► but you're still gonna feel good about what you think.

00:51:01 ◼   ► It's like, if I say, "Oh, you know what?

00:51:03 ◼   ► I like cheese."

00:51:05 ◼   ► And you come to me and you say, "You know, you're wrong.

00:51:06 ◼   ► Cheese sucks."

00:51:07 ◼   ► And I'm like, "I don't care, I like it."

00:51:09 ◼   ► And so when you have an opinion

00:51:10 ◼   ► and you believe strongly in it, it doesn't matter.

00:51:13 ◼   ► And so, yeah, the fun fact that I wanted to mention,

00:51:17 ◼   ► not that Brandon is here,

00:51:20 ◼   ► the idea for using a first-person perspective

00:51:24 ◼   ► for the artwork,

00:51:25 ◼   ► Scout was coming up with a bunch of different ideas.

00:51:30 ◼   ► Initially, the direction was gonna be,

00:51:32 ◼   ► "We're gonna feature this Apple Steve Jobs-like mini mascot,

00:51:37 ◼   ► like this cute little guy with an apple head

00:51:41 ◼   ► wearing a turtleneck, sort of like Steve Jobs."

00:51:44 ◼   ► And it was gonna be in all the shots.

00:51:46 ◼   ► But then we were also talking about,

00:51:49 ◼   ► how do we convey this idea of like,

00:51:51 ◼   ► this review usually helps people discover

00:51:54 ◼   ► a bunch of features of iOS?

00:51:56 ◼   ► And so we were sort of brainstorming this idea

00:51:59 ◼   ► of an instruction manual.

00:52:00 ◼   ► And Scout, at some point, she said,

00:52:03 ◼   ► "Why don't we draw an actual like instructional manual?"

00:52:08 ◼   ► And that sort of, that idea sparked something in my mind.

00:52:12 ◼   ► And so I sent her screenshots of "Firewatch,"

00:52:16 ◼   ► the video game.

00:52:18 ◼   ► And I told her, "I don't know if you ever played 'Firewatch,'

00:52:20 ◼   ► but what if we do something like in the game

00:52:23 ◼   ► where when you need to open the map,

00:52:25 ◼   ► you actually see the animation in first person

00:52:28 ◼   ► with your hands reaching into your pocket

00:52:30 ◼   ► and unfolding the map in front of your eyes?"

00:52:32 ◼   ► And she loved it.

00:52:33 ◼   ► And so that's how she came up with all the other shots

00:52:37 ◼   ► in first person, including the one that is my favorite.

00:52:40 ◼   ► There's a very meta shot of, in first person,

00:52:44 ◼   ► of the iPad that Scout is drawing on.

00:52:49 ◼   ► And if you look inside the iPad,

00:52:50 ◼   ► there's Procreate with the images of my dogs

00:52:53 ◼   ► that are featured in other images of the story.

00:52:55 ◼   ► So yeah.

00:52:56 ◼   ► - I love that.

00:52:57 ◼   ► I love that so much.

00:52:58 ◼   ► - That's the backstory working with Scout.

00:53:01 ◼   ► And I'm so glad I did.

00:53:02 ◼   ► You should hire Scout.

00:53:03 ◼   ► She's incredible.

00:53:05 ◼   ► - I love two things about this.

00:53:06 ◼   ► First of all, and the silliest one of the two

00:53:10 ◼   ► to get it out of the way,

00:53:11 ◼   ► is that we can now trace the lineage of your iOS review

00:53:14 ◼   ► all the way back to the success

00:53:17 ◼   ► and then failure of Far Cry 2,

00:53:20 ◼   ► because your review is inspired by Firewatch,

00:53:25 ◼   ► which is made by Campo Santo.

00:53:28 ◼   ► Campo Santo made up of the hosts

00:53:31 ◼   ► of no longer existent video game podcast, Idle Thumbs,

00:53:35 ◼   ► who were obsessed with Far Cry 2,

00:53:38 ◼   ► which kind of revolutionized this idea

00:53:40 ◼   ► of you never break first person.

00:53:42 ◼   ► You are always in first person throughout the entire game.

00:53:44 ◼   ► - Great game.

00:53:45 ◼   ► Played it a couple months ago.

00:53:46 ◼   ► - It's a great game.

00:53:46 ◼   ► - Yes.

00:53:47 ◼   ► - Great game.

00:53:48 ◼   ► I love that.

00:53:49 ◼   ► I love that we can now go back

00:53:51 ◼   ► and say Clint Hocking in some way

00:53:53 ◼   ► had some kind of influence on your iOS review.

00:53:55 ◼   ► The other thing I want to mention,

00:53:56 ◼   ► and this is more serious,

00:53:58 ◼   ► it's a thing you talked about on App Stories

00:53:59 ◼   ► and the thing you're touching on here,

00:54:00 ◼   ► and it's centered around your conclusion specifically.

00:54:03 ◼   ► I really appreciate your embracing of subjectivity.

00:54:07 ◼   ► I think that that's a huge thing for me personally as well.

00:54:12 ◼   ► I think over time what I've learned

00:54:14 ◼   ► about the people who I like to read

00:54:16 ◼   ► and the opinions I trust online

00:54:19 ◼   ► are embracing the idea of being opinionated.

00:54:23 ◼   ► I think there's this real fallacy to the idea

00:54:26 ◼   ► that anyone can be objective really about anything.

00:54:28 ◼   ► - Yes, oh my God.

00:54:29 ◼   ► - The making of a person leading up to their decision

00:54:34 ◼   ► to have an opinion about something

00:54:36 ◼   ► influences that opinion and therefore is subjective.

00:54:40 ◼   ► Even if you're trying to remove your own opinion from it,

00:54:43 ◼   ► you are in fact imbuing it with a different opinion.

00:54:47 ◼   ► So I feel like at the end of the day,

00:54:49 ◼   ► the embracing of subjectivity is really important

00:54:52 ◼   ► I think for most people who create.

00:54:54 ◼   ► And I'm glad to see you doing that.

00:54:57 ◼   ► As your friend and collaborator,

00:54:58 ◼   ► I think that's a really exciting future

00:55:00 ◼   ► for you to be going down.

00:55:02 ◼   ► 'Cause the people whose work I respect the most these days

00:55:05 ◼   ► are the people who are not reviewing video games

00:55:09 ◼   ► and just saying like graphics, 10 out of 10,

00:55:12 ◼   ► sound, nine out of 10, fun factor, whatever out of 10.

00:55:16 ◼   ► And then like not-- - This is my honest review.

00:55:18 ◼   ► This is my honest-- - Yes, yes.

00:55:19 ◼   ► Saying like, yes, this is my honest opinionated

00:55:23 ◼   ► but objective review is like that.

00:55:25 ◼   ► None of that is real. - Yeah.

00:55:27 ◼   ► - None of that is real.

00:55:28 ◼   ► I think we're seeing people start to approach

00:55:32 ◼   ► tech journalism and film and video game criticism

00:55:37 ◼   ► and music criticism with this idea of who I am

00:55:41 ◼   ► and who I have been makes up how I feel about this thing.

00:55:44 ◼   ► And I think that's a really powerful sentiment.

00:55:46 ◼   ► And I think that also bleeds into your decision

00:55:49 ◼   ► to work with more creatives across the board.

00:55:51 ◼   ► People like Scout, which I think is a really smart decision.

00:55:54 ◼   ► I think this idea of like,

00:55:56 ◼   ► let's get as many minds as we can together

00:55:58 ◼   ► because the collective influence will make something new

00:56:01 ◼   ► is really powerful.

00:56:03 ◼   ► So good work.

00:56:05 ◼   ► - Thank you.

00:56:06 ◼   ► Yeah. - I liked it.

00:56:07 ◼   ► - Yeah, thank you. - It was fun to read.

00:56:09 ◼   ► - Thank you.

00:56:10 ◼   ► Yeah, that was also like,

00:56:11 ◼   ► it was also part of it like trying to write from,

00:56:16 ◼   ► and this is something that I,

00:56:18 ◼   ► that I still learning how to do.

00:56:22 ◼   ► When I started doing these IIS reviews, right,

00:56:26 ◼   ► 10 years ago, I like to think that I,

00:56:30 ◼   ► I'm still young and I feel young.

00:56:32 ◼   ► I'm 36, but I still feel very young from my age

00:56:36 ◼   ► compared to other people around me.

00:56:37 ◼   ► I think I look younger and I feel younger

00:56:40 ◼   ► than some of them.

00:56:41 ◼   ► But I was a younger person at the time, obviously.

00:56:46 ◼   ► And I mean, let's face it, my role model at the time was,

00:56:51 ◼   ► what I was telling myself was,

00:56:53 ◼   ► oh, I wanna be the John Siracusa of IOS reviews.

00:56:58 ◼   ► That was my goal, right?

00:56:59 ◼   ► And I feel like I fell into this trap

00:57:04 ◼   ► of trying to be as detailed and objective

00:57:09 ◼   ► and cold maybe as possible.

00:57:14 ◼   ► And I don't, and in looking back, I don't like it.

00:57:21 ◼   ► I mean, obviously these reviews were successful,

00:57:24 ◼   ► but I feel like they have remained successful

00:57:28 ◼   ► because I was able to tone that down

00:57:30 ◼   ► and progressively embrace who I am

00:57:35 ◼   ► as a person with opinions and my stupid jokes,

00:57:40 ◼   ► my silly references.

00:57:43 ◼   ► And I just feel like it makes for a better creative output

00:57:47 ◼   ► to fully embrace the person you are

00:57:49 ◼   ► and the things you're into, even when,

00:57:52 ◼   ► and especially when other people may think those are weird

00:57:56 ◼   ► because the internet's a pretty big place

00:57:59 ◼   ► for there to be other sickos like you

00:58:02 ◼   ► and other weirdos like you

00:58:04 ◼   ► who are gonna appreciate the strange things you may say

00:58:07 ◼   ► and how you may be able to jump from one topic

00:58:11 ◼   ► and a serious thing to a totally stupid, ridiculous

00:58:15 ◼   ► kind of joke that maybe a 12-year-old would laugh at.

00:58:18 ◼   ► But it doesn't matter.

00:58:19 ◼   ► And so over the years, I have tried,

00:58:23 ◼   ► and it seems to be working

00:58:25 ◼   ► because people tell me this,

00:58:26 ◼   ► and at some point I gotta believe what people say,

00:58:29 ◼   ► it seems that it makes for this better balance

00:58:34 ◼   ► of information but also with character.

00:58:38 ◼   ► And that is a healthier,

00:58:42 ◼   ► at the end of the day, it's a healthier thing for me to do

00:58:45 ◼   ► for this sort of project.

00:58:47 ◼   ► - I think it connects more with people, Federico.

00:58:49 ◼   ► I mean, I've kind of been along for the ride

00:58:51 ◼   ► for a lot of these reviews,

00:58:53 ◼   ► and I can see it's good to be influenced

00:58:58 ◼   ► or inspired by other people,

00:59:00 ◼   ► but it's also easy to fall into a trap

00:59:03 ◼   ► where that inspiration becomes imitation.

00:59:06 ◼   ► And I think maybe that's kind of a little bit

00:59:08 ◼   ► of what you're describing.

00:59:10 ◼   ► And I think as you put more of you into these reviews,

00:59:14 ◼   ► that's where you really, I think,

00:59:15 ◼   ► not only teach people what these OSSs are about,

00:59:19 ◼   ► but you also connect with them on a different level

00:59:21 ◼   ► because there is a segment of people

00:59:26 ◼   ► who really like that high level of detail

00:59:29 ◼   ► and technical analytical analysis

00:59:32 ◼   ► because after all, a lot of people who read Mac stories

00:59:34 ◼   ► are like developers.

00:59:35 ◼   ► People have that kind of technical mindset.

00:59:38 ◼   ► But I think even they,

00:59:39 ◼   ► even people coming from that background,

00:59:41 ◼   ► often will connect more with the material

00:59:43 ◼   ► when it's also got more of you

00:59:45 ◼   ► and your personality in it too.

00:59:47 ◼   ► - Yeah, and look, like also from a purely financial

00:59:52 ◼   ► and economical perspective,

00:59:57 ◼   ► I got so much competition these days,

01:00:00 ◼   ► not anymore in websites.

01:00:02 ◼   ► My biggest competition is in YouTube,

01:00:04 ◼   ► and I have so many competitors doing, in fact,

01:00:09 ◼   ► a much better job than me,

01:00:13 ◼   ► listing 500 features.

01:00:18 ◼   ► I've seen a three hour long video by Brandon Butch,

01:00:23 ◼   ► I wanna say, we're gonna put a link in the show notes.

01:00:25 ◼   ► Like people like them,

01:00:28 ◼   ► they do such a better job than me

01:00:31 ◼   ► at listing and documenting and visually showing you

01:00:35 ◼   ► all the new things.

01:00:37 ◼   ► So instead of competing with them,

01:00:40 ◼   ► and there used to be a time when I could say,

01:00:43 ◼   ► you know, all the features in this YouTube video

01:00:46 ◼   ► are also mentioned in my review.

01:00:48 ◼   ► But instead, I think there's more value

01:00:50 ◼   ► in having something that is maybe,

01:00:52 ◼   ► it maybe doesn't mention 500 features,

01:00:56 ◼   ► and maybe it doesn't, you know,

01:00:58 ◼   ► it's not as extensive as a documentary,

01:01:01 ◼   ► like a mini movie about iOS 18, but it's fine.

01:01:04 ◼   ► Because I think what I hope that I can bring to the table

01:01:08 ◼   ► is a lot of historical context,

01:01:11 ◼   ► because I've been doing this for a long time,

01:01:13 ◼   ► and the perspective of someone who lives and breathes iOS

01:01:18 ◼   ► and iPadOS, and has for the past 15 years,

01:01:23 ◼   ► and I still like to have fun with it.

01:01:26 ◼   ► And especially now, you know, working with other people,

01:01:30 ◼   ► and it's sort of that feedback, right?

01:01:33 ◼   ► That feedback look like I'm working with Scout

01:01:35 ◼   ► and Scout mentioned, so you know,

01:01:36 ◼   ► I've done this on the iPad using Procreate,

01:01:38 ◼   ► and actually there's time lapses for each chapter.

01:01:42 ◼   ► And then I had an idea of like,

01:01:44 ◼   ► what can we do with these videos?

01:01:45 ◼   ► And then I talked to James Thompson, shout out to James,

01:01:48 ◼   ► the developer of Peacock and Dice by Peacock,

01:01:51 ◼   ► two excellent apps.

01:01:52 ◼   ► And James was able, you know, a different type of art form,

01:01:57 ◼   ► James deals with code, but he was able to turn those videos

01:02:00 ◼   ► into a screensaver on Mac OS.

01:02:02 ◼   ► And so like, I think this approach

01:02:06 ◼   ► of working with creative people around me,

01:02:09 ◼   ► and surround, again, it's all about surrounding myself

01:02:13 ◼   ► with like, people like John and Devon, who edit my reviews,

01:02:17 ◼   ► Scout making the art, Silvia working on the eBooks,

01:02:21 ◼   ► James working on this screensaver,

01:02:25 ◼   ► like it's been an incredible process, and so invigorating.

01:02:29 ◼   ► You know, just, it felt good for these past three months

01:02:34 ◼   ► to work on this, and it never felt like a slog,

01:02:38 ◼   ► is what I'm trying to say.

01:02:39 ◼   ► And so yeah, those YouTube videos,

01:02:41 ◼   ► they are so much better than this review,

01:02:43 ◼   ► if all you care about are the list of the features.

01:02:47 ◼   ► - Yeah.

01:02:49 ◼   ► - Mine's a little different, with a little more opinion,

01:02:52 ◼   ► a little more color, quite literally.

01:02:55 ◼   ► I mean, go take a look at those illustrations,

01:02:56 ◼   ► they're beautiful.

01:02:57 ◼   ► And yeah, that's it.

01:02:59 ◼   ► I, you know, ultimately, I'm happy.

01:03:03 ◼   ► Like, I'm really, really happy.

01:03:05 ◼   ► - Good.

01:03:06 ◼   ► - Yeah.

01:03:07 ◼   ► - Well, happy 10th anniversary on your review.

01:03:09 ◼   ► - Thank you, thank you, thank you.

01:03:11 ◼   ► Now, oh, come on.

01:03:13 ◼   ► All right, enough about me.

01:03:18 ◼   ► Next, we're gonna talk about this fun idea that I had.

01:03:23 ◼   ► What if we had infinite power and infinite money at Apple,

01:03:29 ◼   ► and we wanted to fix gaming at Apple?

01:03:32 ◼   ► We're gonna talk about this after the break.

01:03:34 ◼   ► This episode of Connected is made possible

01:03:39 ◼   ► by our friends over at Backblaze.

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01:03:55 ◼   ► And it's not just for personal use.

01:03:56 ◼   ► Backblaze is also great for businesses,

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01:05:36 ◼   ► - All right, so as I was saying,

01:05:40 ◼   ► we wanted to come out, given that we are the MPC crew,

01:05:43 ◼   ► we wanted to come out with a gaming angle

01:05:46 ◼   ► for at least one of the topics on connected.

01:05:49 ◼   ► And I was thinking about like,

01:05:50 ◼   ► oh, do you want to talk about controllers?

01:05:52 ◼   ► But no, we talked about controllers before.

01:05:54 ◼   ► You don't want to talk about handhelds

01:05:56 ◼   ► because obviously-- - Don't get me started

01:05:57 ◼   ► with controllers, Federico.

01:05:58 ◼   ► - No, exactly, also John has all the controllers.

01:06:01 ◼   ► Like, it's gonna become a monologue

01:06:04 ◼   ► and we don't want to have a monologue.

01:06:06 ◼   ► I thought, okay, we always talk about this in private.

01:06:10 ◼   ► So what if we had infinite power,

01:06:14 ◼   ► infinite money to spend at Apple?

01:06:16 ◼   ► It's not our money, it's Tim Cook's money.

01:06:19 ◼   ► And so one day we wake up and we have been blessed

01:06:23 ◼   ► with the power of fixing, improving gaming at Apple

01:06:28 ◼   ► with no questions asked, just infinite resources.

01:06:32 ◼   ► What do we do?

01:06:34 ◼   ► Brandon, your app first.

01:06:36 ◼   ► - Yeah, I think it's twofold.

01:06:38 ◼   ► Number one is invest some more resources

01:06:43 ◼   ► in your Proton compatibility layer-like thing

01:06:46 ◼   ► with the Apple Boarding Toolkit.

01:06:48 ◼   ► - Yeah, that was also mine, yeah.

01:06:50 ◼   ► - Yeah, that's like the obvious slam dunk here.

01:06:52 ◼   ► I've been using Whiskey a lot on my Mac studio.

01:06:54 ◼   ► - Oh, you have?

01:06:55 ◼   ► Okay. - Oh, yeah.

01:06:57 ◼   ► And it's weird what games it works for

01:07:00 ◼   ► and which ones it doesn't work for.

01:07:01 ◼   ► Like if you want to play Elden Ring on your Mac,

01:07:03 ◼   ► you can use Whiskey to play it.

01:07:05 ◼   ► If you want to play Fields of,

01:07:10 ◼   ► oh man, I just forgot the name,

01:07:11 ◼   ► Fields of Mystria, yes, the new great magic-based farm sim

01:07:16 ◼   ► that's like Echoes of Stardew Valley does not even boot.

01:07:20 ◼   ► - Really? - Really?

01:07:21 ◼   ► That's weird.

01:07:22 ◼   ► It's really just very hit or miss.

01:07:23 ◼   ► So my experience has been like,

01:07:26 ◼   ► I'm interested in playing this game.

01:07:27 ◼   ► I'll download it, see if it works.

01:07:29 ◼   ► Maybe it works, maybe it'll work a little bit.

01:07:31 ◼   ► Maybe it won't work at all and see how that functions.

01:07:35 ◼   ► But I feel like they are so close

01:07:37 ◼   ► to just having the Steam thing.

01:07:40 ◼   ► My big question about that is what happens

01:07:43 ◼   ► to the App Store?

01:07:44 ◼   ► Like, will you need to purchase all of your games

01:07:47 ◼   ► through the Apple App Store?

01:07:49 ◼   ► And will developers be cool with that?

01:07:52 ◼   ► Versus something like allowing, I don't know,

01:07:55 ◼   ► developers to include something like the porting toolkit

01:07:58 ◼   ► through Steam so you could just download all your games

01:08:01 ◼   ► through Steam as you were able to before,

01:08:03 ◼   ► but this time it's using a compatibility layer

01:08:05 ◼   ► to make it run on Apple hardware.

01:08:07 ◼   ► That feels like a little in the weeds.

01:08:10 ◼   ► I feel like Apple's gonna want to make it

01:08:11 ◼   ► like as easy quote unquote as possible,

01:08:13 ◼   ► and by doing so, end up making it too hard for developers.

01:08:16 ◼   ► That's one feeling.

01:08:18 ◼   ► The other feeling that I have about this,

01:08:20 ◼   ► really at the end of the day is,

01:08:23 ◼   ► and I know you're gonna talk about this, John,

01:08:25 ◼   ► so sorry to steal your thunder a little bit.

01:08:26 ◼   ► It's a taste thing.

01:08:28 ◼   ► It's like, it's totally a taste thing.

01:08:30 ◼   ► And the thing that's really bouncing around my head

01:08:33 ◼   ► thinking about this is the entirety of Annapurna Interactive

01:08:37 ◼   ► all just walked out like literally this week.

01:08:40 ◼   ► 25 people.

01:08:41 ◼   ► Yes, all just bailed.

01:08:44 ◼   ► They were working on spinning off Annapurna Interactive

01:08:47 ◼   ► into its own entity outside of Annapurna.

01:08:50 ◼   ► Talks fell through, didn't go very well.

01:08:53 ◼   ► You have 25 of the best taste makers

01:08:56 ◼   ► in the industry right now who made,

01:08:59 ◼   ► and it should be noted and published,

01:09:01 ◼   ► some incredible games for Apple Arcade's launch,

01:09:05 ◼   ► and some of the sustainment there,

01:09:07 ◼   ► who are now free agents looking to form a new entity.

01:09:12 ◼   ► Yep.

01:09:13 ◼   ► And it's not even just Arcade,

01:09:14 ◼   ► because Stray, for instance, is an Annapurna game,

01:09:17 ◼   ► and Stray's on the Mac too.

01:09:19 ◼   ► Yeah, I mean, this is, the taste thing to me

01:09:22 ◼   ► is the big question, because part of me wants to say

01:09:25 ◼   ► I kind of quarrel with this premise from the get-go,

01:09:28 ◼   ► which is you can't really buy taste.

01:09:30 ◼   ► You can't, you know, you can't, you can't,

01:09:32 ◼   ► money's not gonna fix taste, but it can hire people.

01:09:34 ◼   ► You can hire people with taste, yes.

01:09:36 ◼   ► Yes, you can, you can.

01:09:37 ◼   ► And here's the thing that, to me,

01:09:39 ◼   ► the greatest mystery of all is that Apple has spent

01:09:42 ◼   ► an extraordinary amount of money

01:09:45 ◼   ► and hired a lot of really talented people

01:09:48 ◼   ► to develop movies and TV shows,

01:09:51 ◼   ► and they can't do something similar with video games

01:09:53 ◼   ► for the life of them.

01:09:55 ◼   ► And that I don't really get.

01:09:56 ◼   ► And I think it comes down to treating game developers

01:10:00 ◼   ► like app developers, and I don't think

01:10:02 ◼   ► that that's the right approach.

01:10:04 ◼   ► You need to be treated more like movie creators,

01:10:07 ◼   ► TV show creators, that sort of thing.

01:10:10 ◼   ► Yeah, I feel like almost institutionally,

01:10:14 ◼   ► there's this idea at Apple that games are not an art form,

01:10:19 ◼   ► and I don't wanna have the discussion,

01:10:22 ◼   ► "Ooh, are video games art?"

01:10:23 ◼   ► I mean, I feel like we're past that, from my perspective.

01:10:27 ◼   ► Obviously, they are.

01:10:28 ◼   ► But I feel like institutionally at Apple,

01:10:31 ◼   ► they think of games as just software,

01:10:34 ◼   ► and yes, it is software.

01:10:37 ◼   ► - So are movies these days, really,

01:10:39 ◼   ► when you think about it, right?

01:10:40 ◼   ► - Right, exactly, especially with Dolby Atmos

01:10:43 ◼   ► and all the fancy audio and video stuff.

01:10:45 ◼   ► But like, Elden Ring or a, I don't know,

01:10:50 ◼   ► a Final Fantasy VII are fundamentally different

01:10:53 ◼   ► from a calendar app and a task manager.

01:10:57 ◼   ► Like, something, on the one hand,

01:11:00 ◼   ► you have entertainment and an art form,

01:11:03 ◼   ► and on the other, you have a productivity tool, a utility.

01:11:08 ◼   ► It would be like comparing a hammer to a painting.

01:11:13 ◼   ► Like, yes, both are objects,

01:11:16 ◼   ► and I guess this is the problem with, right?

01:11:19 ◼   ► Because this is the problem with Apple.

01:11:20 ◼   ► They're thinking of both forms as digital objects, right?

01:11:25 ◼   ► It's like saying, "Oh, a hammer, a hammer, it's an object.

01:11:29 ◼   ► A painting, yes, it's an object on the wall.

01:11:31 ◼   ► Both are physical objects."

01:11:33 ◼   ► Like, they're fundamentally different.

01:11:35 ◼   ► - I think that is the core of the issue would be,

01:11:39 ◼   ► first off, like, before the money

01:11:41 ◼   ► and before the infinite power,

01:11:43 ◼   ► you need to institutionally understand

01:11:45 ◼   ► that you're dealing with something fundamentally different

01:11:48 ◼   ► from a calendar app or Snapchat or whatever.

01:11:53 ◼   ► Like, there's apps and there's games,

01:11:54 ◼   ► and those are two separate things.

01:11:56 ◼   ► And dealing with the creators

01:11:59 ◼   ► of those two different types of software

01:12:04 ◼   ► requires two different approaches.

01:12:06 ◼   ► - Yeah, I agree.

01:12:07 ◼   ► I think one of the traps that Apple fell into

01:12:09 ◼   ► is they got into gaming by mistake.

01:12:12 ◼   ► I think that once they had the free downloads

01:12:16 ◼   ► with in-app purchases,

01:12:17 ◼   ► they stumbled into a business model

01:12:20 ◼   ► of kind of the candy crushes of the world,

01:12:22 ◼   ► and it has made them an extraordinary amount of money

01:12:27 ◼   ► that they don't really understand

01:12:28 ◼   ► how they ended up where they are,

01:12:31 ◼   ► but they don't want to screw that up in some way.

01:12:35 ◼   ► And I also feel like it's going too far

01:12:39 ◼   ► to say that there's no taste in Apple,

01:12:41 ◼   ► because there are good games on the App Store,

01:12:43 ◼   ► on the Mac App Store.

01:12:44 ◼   ► I think the balance is off.

01:12:46 ◼   ► I think that the problem is is that there's one person

01:12:49 ◼   ► in the corner advocating for artistic indie games,

01:12:53 ◼   ► and they lose more often than they don't.

01:12:55 ◼   ► - Yeah, and I feel like we had

01:13:01 ◼   ► high hopes for Apple Arcade to sort of become

01:13:05 ◼   ► the symbol of that balance of like,

01:13:08 ◼   ► yeah, you can have the easy to play,

01:13:12 ◼   ► family-friendly games, but also it can be a place

01:13:16 ◼   ► for the more niche indie,

01:13:21 ◼   ► artsy games that the press loves to talk about

01:13:26 ◼   ► and the sort of games that we knew are words, right?

01:13:31 ◼   ► But the balance has quickly started to feel off

01:13:36 ◼   ► in Apple Arcade to the point where Netflix

01:13:39 ◼   ► is actually doing a better job, maybe, with that balance.

01:13:42 ◼   ► Like, yeah, they have the games for, you know,

01:13:45 ◼   ► what's the TV show that also has a game for Netflix?

01:13:50 ◼   ► Like the--

01:13:52 ◼   ► - They have a Stranger Things game on there.

01:13:54 ◼   ► - They have the video game tie-ins for--

01:13:55 ◼   ► - They have a lot of dating game type.

01:13:57 ◼   ► - Lot of dating games.

01:13:57 ◼   ► - Like Love Island, I think, and stuff like that.

01:13:59 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah, but also they are cutting deals

01:14:03 ◼   ► with developers of actually, like,

01:14:07 ◼   ► I don't wanna, serious maybe doesn't quite describe it,

01:14:10 ◼   ► but like the sort of indie games that, you know,

01:14:13 ◼   ► are more, are traditionally covered

01:14:16 ◼   ► in mainstream video game press

01:14:19 ◼   ► and the sort of games that you see at the game awards

01:14:21 ◼   ► and the win awards, you know, around the world.

01:14:24 ◼   ► - The people making the decisions over at Netflix games are,

01:14:27 ◼   ► I mean, they have taste coming out of every pore.

01:14:32 ◼   ► Like having immortality available on Netflix,

01:14:36 ◼   ► that is, it was, you know, it was a big deal.

01:14:38 ◼   ► Video game got nominated for some game awards stuff,

01:14:41 ◼   ► but by all accounts, like not a huge, huge, huge video game,

01:14:46 ◼   ► but the choice to have that thing ported to mobile

01:14:49 ◼   ► was incredible.

01:14:50 ◼   ► Same thing with like Into the Breach.

01:14:52 ◼   ► The fact that Netflix is the reason

01:14:53 ◼   ► we have Into the Breach on mobile,

01:14:56 ◼   ► I could not thank them more vocally for that

01:14:59 ◼   ► 'cause that is one of the best mobile games

01:15:01 ◼   ► I think ever made.

01:15:02 ◼   ► And I remember thinking that when it came out on Switch,

01:15:04 ◼   ► like, man, I wish this was on my phone

01:15:06 ◼   ► and Netflix made that happen.

01:15:07 ◼   ► And I feel like Apple should be making that happen.

01:15:10 ◼   ► To launch with something like the new RPG

01:15:14 ◼   ► by the creator of Final Fantasy,

01:15:16 ◼   ► who is looking back on his entire career

01:15:18 ◼   ► and deciding to make one last magnum opus

01:15:22 ◼   ► and now to be in a place where I'm like,

01:15:25 ◼   ► you know, I'm excited that there's a new retro bowl out,

01:15:28 ◼   ► but I was having enough fun with the original retro bowl.

01:15:32 ◼   ► - Yeah.

01:15:34 ◼   ► Here's a question for you guys.

01:15:36 ◼   ► What do you think about the push into the AAA space

01:15:40 ◼   ► that Apple has seemed to be really pushing at its events?

01:15:43 ◼   ► Because it seems to me that to kind of get this house

01:15:47 ◼   ► in order, if we're spending Apple's money,

01:15:49 ◼   ► I think they ought to be starting with the kind of things

01:15:52 ◼   ► that Netflix is doing first,

01:15:54 ◼   ► because we know those kinds of games typically can run

01:15:57 ◼   ► a lot better on an iPhone or a Mac or an iPad,

01:16:01 ◼   ► whereas they're really struggling

01:16:02 ◼   ► with some of this AAA stuff,

01:16:04 ◼   ► whether it's, you know, Assassin's Creed

01:16:06 ◼   ► or Death Stranding or some of the other things.

01:16:10 ◼   ► I know I just played Frostpunk 2,

01:16:14 ◼   ► which is out on Steam.

01:16:17 ◼   ► And I haven't played it a lot yet.

01:16:18 ◼   ► I did fire it up on my Mac on a very high-end MacBook Pro,

01:16:22 ◼   ► and it really struggled to get over 20, 25 frames per second.

01:16:27 ◼   ► I mean, not to get really too deep in the weeds

01:16:30 ◼   ► on things like frames per second,

01:16:32 ◼   ► but the fans spun up immediately, got really hot,

01:16:36 ◼   ► and the battery just started dropping precipitously.

01:16:38 ◼   ► I mean, it was having a hard time.

01:16:40 ◼   ► And I just don't think that Apple Silicon

01:16:42 ◼   ► is really quite ready yet for AAA-type titles.

01:16:46 ◼   ► - Yeah, I mean, we've seen some,

01:16:50 ◼   ► I think rumored, not confirmed numbers, right,

01:16:53 ◼   ► from Capcom's Resident Evil endeavors,

01:16:56 ◼   ► some pretty small numbers of attach rate

01:17:00 ◼   ► when it comes to those games having sell-through.

01:17:03 ◼   ► And that's a bummer.

01:17:05 ◼   ► I think one of the big things here that is worth noting,

01:17:09 ◼   ► and this is true, I think,

01:17:10 ◼   ► of pretty much any endeavor like this,

01:17:13 ◼   ► is it's all about time.

01:17:16 ◼   ► Like, you need to continue doing it,

01:17:17 ◼   ► just because the new Assassin's Creed didn't sell well

01:17:22 ◼   ► doesn't mean, okay, we tried that,

01:17:23 ◼   ► and now we move on to the next thing.

01:17:25 ◼   ► You need to make a continued concerted effort

01:17:27 ◼   ► to court these developers

01:17:28 ◼   ► and give them enough visibility

01:17:33 ◼   ► into the fact that this stuff is available on Apple devices

01:17:36 ◼   ► to continue to push against the now two-decade-old narrative

01:17:41 ◼   ► that you can't play games on Apple hardware.

01:17:45 ◼   ► Like, it's been going for so long at this point

01:17:48 ◼   ► that the only thing that you can do

01:17:50 ◼   ► to combat the time that it took

01:17:52 ◼   ► to build that view in people's heads

01:17:55 ◼   ► is reverse the flow of time

01:17:58 ◼   ► by continuing to push back against it.

01:17:59 ◼   ► And I would like that to be a world in which we live.

01:18:05 ◼   ► I would like a world in which the next version

01:18:08 ◼   ► of the Apple TV or something

01:18:10 ◼   ► allowed you to play that stuff as well.

01:18:14 ◼   ► I think it's all right there.

01:18:17 ◼   ► This is the big frustration point for me, at least,

01:18:19 ◼   ► is, and I don't know how you two feel about it,

01:18:22 ◼   ► it feels like it's right there for the taking.

01:18:24 ◼   ► Like, they are so close to having a world

01:18:28 ◼   ► in which Apple is like a serious other competitor

01:18:32 ◼   ► against even Xbox and PlayStation if they want to be,

01:18:36 ◼   ► and it's just like somebody internally there

01:18:40 ◼   ► doesn't want to or doesn't know how to just reach out

01:18:45 ◼   ► and grab it, you know?

01:18:46 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah, I agree.

01:18:48 ◼   ► I mean, it's to the point now where even though

01:18:49 ◼   ► you can do streaming game services on iOS and iPadOS,

01:18:54 ◼   ► no one's doing it because I think that those bridges

01:18:57 ◼   ► have been kind of burned with the old rules on the App Store

01:19:02 ◼   ► and I could see a world where, yeah,

01:19:04 ◼   ► you could play GeForce Now on the Apple TV,

01:19:07 ◼   ► maybe you would get Xbox streaming on there,

01:19:10 ◼   ► Apple could do its own thing.

01:19:12 ◼   ► I would love Apple to make a controller.

01:19:14 ◼   ► I think a lot of the technologies that are in things

01:19:16 ◼   ► like the AirPods would make for an amazing game controller.

01:19:20 ◼   ► You know, instead, it's very un-Apple-like

01:19:22 ◼   ► when you think about it.

01:19:24 ◼   ► I mean, I'd give them credit for the deep support

01:19:26 ◼   ► for the DualSense and the Xbox controller,

01:19:29 ◼   ► but really, that's not a very Apple-like thing to do,

01:19:33 ◼   ► to be relying on third parties for that important

01:19:35 ◼   ► input device for gaming on the Mac or on the Apple TV.

01:19:39 ◼   ► - Yeah.

01:19:41 ◼   ► I feel like, so the big thing for me was gonna be

01:19:47 ◼   ► if I had infinite money and power at Apple,

01:19:50 ◼   ► I would build, and this is something that Brandon said,

01:19:53 ◼   ► I would build something like Proton.

01:19:55 ◼   ► If there's a company that I would trust to know

01:19:58 ◼   ► how to build a translation API,

01:20:03 ◼   ► you know, I mean, look at Apple and their history,

01:20:06 ◼   ► what they've done with Rosetta,

01:20:08 ◼   ► with the intro transition, what they have done,

01:20:11 ◼   ► what they have done, once again,

01:20:12 ◼   ► with the transition to Apple Silicon.

01:20:14 ◼   ► This is a company that has, over the years,

01:20:16 ◼   ► historically built multiple translation layers

01:20:20 ◼   ► to make sure that their platforms could continue

01:20:23 ◼   ► working for users, and they have shown some signs of that

01:20:28 ◼   ► with the, what's it called, the game porting toolkit.

01:20:31 ◼   ► - Yeah, yes.

01:20:32 ◼   ► - But like, and something like Proton,

01:20:35 ◼   ► which is a very low level, sort of this,

01:20:37 ◼   ► Proton, for those unaware, it's what the Steam Deck uses,

01:20:39 ◼   ► for example, to let you play all sorts of PC games

01:20:42 ◼   ► on a Linux-based machine, and it's a collaboration

01:20:45 ◼   ► between Valve and Code Weavers, I wanna say,

01:20:49 ◼   ► to basically take Wine, which is this piece of software

01:20:52 ◼   ► that translates some low-level Windows APIs,

01:20:55 ◼   ► like DirectX and Direct3D, to Vulkan-based APIs on Linux.

01:21:00 ◼   ► And so, an Apple version of that, where you have Mac OS,

01:21:05 ◼   ► or even just like any Apple platform,

01:21:08 ◼   ► becoming capable of translating Windows APIs,

01:21:11 ◼   ► because let's face it, developers are gonna build games

01:21:15 ◼   ► on Windows, it's their biggest addressable market,

01:21:18 ◼   ► and Apple needs to start from that recognition, right?

01:21:21 ◼   ► They're not gonna build Mac-native games,

01:21:24 ◼   ► but if Apple could only build the equivalent of Proton

01:21:29 ◼   ► for Apple devices, that would immediately,

01:21:33 ◼   ► and work with Valve, obviously, to get that going,

01:21:36 ◼   ► and I wouldn't, I don't think Valve would be against it,

01:21:41 ◼   ► because yes, they have the Steam Deck,

01:21:44 ◼   ► but at the end of the day, they're running a store,

01:21:46 ◼   ► and the more copies they can sell--

01:21:48 ◼   ► - Yep, that's where they're making the money.

01:21:49 ◼   ► - And the more money they can make off of commissions,

01:21:51 ◼   ► I have a feeling they're gonna be happy,

01:21:53 ◼   ► which is why they're already teaming up

01:21:55 ◼   ► with third-party manufacturers to build native

01:21:59 ◼   ► Steam Deck alternatives, they're just,

01:22:01 ◼   ► yeah, you won't buy a Steam Deck,

01:22:03 ◼   ► but you're still gonna use Steam,

01:22:05 ◼   ► and you're still gonna buy those games on Steam,

01:22:08 ◼   ► and so imagine if I had infinite money cutting a deal

01:22:11 ◼   ► with Valve and working on an Apple version of Proton,

01:22:15 ◼   ► and getting the entire Steam library over time running

01:22:19 ◼   ► on Apple devices, that's the dream,

01:22:22 ◼   ► and at the same time, having a cultural change,

01:22:27 ◼   ► where you have a service like Apple Arcade,

01:22:30 ◼   ► where the mobile-first games have a much better balance,

01:22:33 ◼   ► something more akin to Netflix games, for example,

01:22:37 ◼   ► having that two-pronged approach of like,

01:22:40 ◼   ► there's the desktop gaming, and there's also a better,

01:22:43 ◼   ► more balanced take on Apple Arcade for families,

01:22:47 ◼   ► and for people who wanna buy iOS and iPadOS originals

01:22:52 ◼   ► in Apple Arcade, that's the dream for me.

01:22:55 ◼   ► - What would you think, Federico,

01:22:57 ◼   ► of Apple buying a publisher?

01:23:00 ◼   ► Bringing Annapurna in-house, basically,

01:23:02 ◼   ► having a group like that.

01:23:03 ◼   ► - I thought about that.

01:23:04 ◼   ► I also thought about, like, should Apple be a publisher?

01:23:07 ◼   ► - That's what I mean, yeah.

01:23:09 ◼   ► - And I don't know, given the circumstances, right,

01:23:13 ◼   ► and given the developer relations now,

01:23:16 ◼   ► and the stories that we have seen

01:23:18 ◼   ► from developers dealing with Apple Arcade,

01:23:21 ◼   ► seems like a scary prospect, but again,

01:23:25 ◼   ► there needs to be a cultural change, right?

01:23:27 ◼   ► - Right, right.

01:23:28 ◼   ► - And the thing is, why would Apple do it, right?

01:23:34 ◼   ► - They did it for movies, right?

01:23:35 ◼   ► - They did it for movies, and it's not making them

01:23:39 ◼   ► a huge amount of money.

01:23:40 ◼   ► - Yes, but it supports the hardware sales.

01:23:42 ◼   ► If you have stuff that can push the hardware,

01:23:44 ◼   ► then you can sell more hardware.

01:23:47 ◼   ► - I also think, in some ways, and I know that, you know,

01:23:50 ◼   ► at the end of the day, it's all about

01:23:52 ◼   ► how much money they're bringing in,

01:23:53 ◼   ► but I do think there is a little bit of long-term thinking

01:23:55 ◼   ► when it comes to Apple TV, specifically,

01:23:57 ◼   ► where them being able to build themselves up

01:23:59 ◼   ► as a reputable place to see the best television available,

01:24:04 ◼   ► you know, now that HBO has become what it has,

01:24:08 ◼   ► I think there's a huge value in continuing

01:24:12 ◼   ► to pump out great television over time,

01:24:16 ◼   ► because eventually, that will, again,

01:24:19 ◼   ► push through to hardware sales, right?

01:24:22 ◼   ► - And then you've got a catalog,

01:24:23 ◼   ► and that's really what it's, you know,

01:24:24 ◼   ► that's where it started talking about,

01:24:25 ◼   ► which is having a long-term view of this stuff,

01:24:27 ◼   ► which is building up a catalog, and right now,

01:24:29 ◼   ► it kind of feels like a lot of Apple Arcade stuff.

01:24:32 ◼   ► It comes on to great fanfare, it sticks around for a while,

01:24:35 ◼   ► but then it leaves, 'cause an awful lot of games have left

01:24:38 ◼   ► and either gone back to the paid app store

01:24:40 ◼   ► or are available on other platforms now.

01:24:43 ◼   ► - I don't know if this is true about Apple,

01:24:45 ◼   ► but I know that there's been a lot of reporting

01:24:47 ◼   ► to kind of confirm this about what it's like

01:24:50 ◼   ► working internally, at least at Google,

01:24:52 ◼   ► where there's a lot of, as you were saying, fanfare

01:24:56 ◼   ► when you release a product,

01:24:58 ◼   ► and getting a product through to release

01:25:01 ◼   ► is the thing that gets you promoted in-house

01:25:03 ◼   ► and then moved on to another product,

01:25:05 ◼   ► but if you are part of the, like, sustainment crew

01:25:07 ◼   ► that gets left behind to continue working on a thing

01:25:10 ◼   ► after it's launched, you kind of get no ribbons

01:25:12 ◼   ► for that whatsoever, and I'm curious

01:25:15 ◼   ► if there's something similar at Apple,

01:25:17 ◼   ► if that's a similar internal vibe.

01:25:20 ◼   ► It may be, it may not be,

01:25:22 ◼   ► but with the way Apple Arcade was introduced

01:25:25 ◼   ► to great fanfare and then totally fell off so quickly,

01:25:28 ◼   ► I'm concerned that it's more of like

01:25:32 ◼   ► an internal culture thing than anything else.

01:25:35 ◼   ► - Could be.

01:25:37 ◼   ► Well, I think we did it.

01:25:41 ◼   ► Not only did we fix gaming at Apple,

01:25:43 ◼   ► but we also did a successful episode.

01:25:46 ◼   ► We did, but we also did a successful episode

01:25:49 ◼   ► of "Connected" with this new lineup.

01:25:51 ◼   ► - Well done, well done, team.

01:25:53 ◼   ► - Well done, well done, good job,

01:25:55 ◼   ► and, you know, we were successful.

01:25:58 ◼   ► I'm gonna try and wrap everything up.

01:26:02 ◼   ► This was episode 519.

01:26:04 ◼   ► I wanna thank our sponsors again.

01:26:06 ◼   ► Those were NetSuit, Feedbod, and Backblaze.

01:26:10 ◼   ► Go check out the links in the show notes

01:26:14 ◼   ► for Relay's fundraising for St. Jude

01:26:17 ◼   ► with the upcoming podcastathon on Friday, September 20th.

01:26:21 ◼   ► It's gonna be a 12-hour livestream

01:26:24 ◼   ► featuring Mike and Steven

01:26:26 ◼   ► and a selection of other Relay hosts and friends

01:26:28 ◼   ► doing crazy things and doing it for the kids

01:26:31 ◼   ► because cancer for kids sucks.

01:26:33 ◼   ► And so if you can, you know, donate,

01:26:36 ◼   ► go check out the links, make a donation,

01:26:38 ◼   ► big or small, it doesn't matter.

01:26:39 ◼   ► Obviously the bigger it is, the better, you know?

01:26:41 ◼   ► I mean, let's face it, you know, more money is better,

01:26:44 ◼   ► but, you know, any amount helps.

01:26:46 ◼   ► And you can go to stjude.org/relay to do so.

01:26:49 ◼   ► I wanna thank Brandon for joining us

01:26:54 ◼   ► on this special episode of "Connected."

01:26:56 ◼   ► - I wanna thank you also.

01:26:58 ◼   ► - Well, you're welcome.

01:27:00 ◼   ► You can find Brandon, you can find Brandon

01:27:04 ◼   ► in a bunch of places.

01:27:05 ◼   ► First off, you can find Brandon at Wavelengths.Online,

01:27:09 ◼   ► this rejuvenated blog and YouTube channel

01:27:14 ◼   ► and video series/podcast that I absolutely love.

01:27:20 ◼   ► - Thank you.

01:27:21 ◼   ► - Your video on the PS5 Pro is really good.

01:27:25 ◼   ► - Oh, I love the Nintendo predictions one too.

01:27:27 ◼   ► - I love the Nintendo Switch predictions video,

01:27:31 ◼   ► which we're gonna talk about at some point.

01:27:33 ◼   ► But yeah, Wavelengths.Online.

01:27:35 ◼   ► You can also find Brandon podcasting into the aider.

01:27:39 ◼   ► That's into the cast.online.

01:27:41 ◼   ► As you can see, Brandon is very online in a lot of places.

01:27:45 ◼   ► - It's one of our people.

01:27:47 ◼   ► - One of our people.

01:27:48 ◼   ► Into the other excellent video game show.

01:27:50 ◼   ► It's a low key video game podcast.

01:27:52 ◼   ► It is my favorite, personally speaking.

01:27:56 ◼   ► And you can also find Brandon with the two of us,

01:27:59 ◼   ► actually at MPC.

01:28:01 ◼   ► That's on Mac Stories.

01:28:02 ◼   ► Just go to macstories.net/mpc.

01:28:05 ◼   ► And that's where we talk about how we spend our money

01:28:07 ◼   ► on handhelds and portable consoles and portable devices.

01:28:11 ◼   ► And Brandon is also on Threads and Mastodon.

01:28:13 ◼   ► And there's gonna be links in the show notes

01:28:15 ◼   ► because I cannot be bothered to repeat the username.

01:28:17 ◼   ► Just click the link and you can find the profile.

01:28:20 ◼   ► - Click the linky.

01:28:22 ◼   ► - Yeah, links are good.

01:28:23 ◼   ► Hyperlinks are a nice piece of technology.

01:28:26 ◼   ► You can find Jon in also a bunch of places.

01:28:30 ◼   ► Jon runs Mac Stories with me.