Cortex

00:00:00 ◼   ► OK, so Apple Intelligence has been out for a while, and I feel like everyone's got their, like,

00:00:06 ◼   ► hot AI takes.

00:00:08 ◼   ► Like, how do they feel about large language models. Is this good? Is this not good?

00:00:12 ◼   ► We two have done our entirely uncontroversial AI episodes as well on those whole things.

00:00:18 ◼   ► I don't want to revisit all of that here.

00:00:22 ◼   ► But with the arrival of Apple Intelligence, there is one thing that has, like, driven me crazy

00:00:30 ◼   ► that I feel like I haven't heard other people point out.

00:00:34 ◼   ► It's a deep frustration over this thing, which is in Instant Messenger.

00:00:40 ◼   ► It gives you suggestions about what to say.

00:00:45 ◼   ► Do you have any thoughts on this feature, Mike?

00:00:48 ◼   ► There are many things that I wish they would do better, and I'm a little bit disappointed about mostly image playgrounds.

00:00:53 ◼   ► But I think the absolute fundamental failing is that they have, I'm assuming at this point,

00:00:59 ◼   ► millions of words that I have typed into messages, but yet feel like they've never met me at all

00:01:05 ◼   ► because I do not speak in the way that Apple Intelligence would like me to reply to anybody.

00:01:11 ◼   ► Ah, OK. All right. So you feel like a tone mismatch when it gives suggestions.

00:01:16 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:01:16 ◼   ► You don't always have chipper replies with correct punctuation every single time.

00:01:21 ◼   ► Is that not how you reply to people when they send you messages?

00:01:24 ◼   ► No, not at all. Not at all.

00:01:26 ◼   ► So every day I send my mum the same message in the morning.

00:01:31 ◼   ► I wish her a good morning and ask her how she is.

00:01:34 ◼   ► She will tell me how she is, and I usually respond in the same way by saying, like,

00:01:38 ◼   ► "I'm all good," and I send her an emoji.

00:01:41 ◼   ► Hot, right?

00:01:41 ◼   ► That seems like a very simple pattern.

00:01:43 ◼   ► But every day she'll send me her message and it's like, "Ha ha comma, I'm good!"

00:01:49 ◼   ► Or like, "Sounds great!"

00:01:51 ◼   ► But I've never ever once said this message to my mum.

00:01:55 ◼   ► Like, my theory on these auto replies or these suggested replies is it's actually not using any LLM at all.

00:02:04 ◼   ► Oh.

00:02:05 ◼   ► And it is the same system that they have been using previously,

00:02:08 ◼   ► because this kind of thing has existed in iOS for a long time,

00:02:12 ◼   ► but I believe that they have just given it the little glow of Apple intelligence to suggest it's smart.

00:02:18 ◼   ► Because it doesn't feel like anything at all which is doing any kind of sentiment analysis based on my language.

00:02:28 ◼   ► Because when I use the writing tools, I think it does do a half decent job of still sounding like me,

00:02:34 ◼   ► even if it's like changing a tone, it still uses the words that I've used.

00:02:38 ◼   ► But I just don't really feel like it's doing anything smarter than anything they've done before.

00:02:43 ◼   ► Because I really do feel like if you wanted to do this, they could do this.

00:02:49 ◼   ► They have all of my messages on my phone.

00:02:52 ◼   ► They could point a model at that and build a model unique to me.

00:02:57 ◼   ► That doesn't sound like an easy thing to do, but it's a thing they could do and I would love them to do.

00:03:03 ◼   ► Right?

00:03:03 ◼   ► My iPhone has so many words that I have written.

00:03:08 ◼   ► They really have the opportunity to create the most natural sounding LLM for writing like me.

00:03:17 ◼   ► Because it's all there.

00:03:20 ◼   ► But these like pre-canned responses feel like they were just written by somebody else.

00:03:26 ◼   ► I feel like if I started sending messages to people, it would be like there was a meme years ago,

00:03:30 ◼   ► where it was like, if I say this, you'll know I've been taken hostage.

00:03:35 ◼   ► And I feel like if I started sending these to people, there would be a natural assumption that either I was mad at the person or something was wrong with me.

00:03:43 ◼   ► Okay, yeah, this is interesting.

00:03:44 ◼   ► I have to say I quite like this Mike conspiracy theory that they haven't actually done anything except add the glow.

00:03:50 ◼   ► I am unconvinced, but like all good conspiracy theories, it's intriguing, right?

00:03:54 ◼   ► Because I kind of like this.

00:03:55 ◼   ► I wonder if someone can dig into the code and try to find out.

00:03:58 ◼   ► I do feel like they're different from the suggestions from before.

00:04:03 ◼   ► The suggestions from before felt more like whatever they do on the watch where there's just like 20 pre-canned things.

00:04:08 ◼   ► So like yes, no, or whatever.

00:04:10 ◼   ► It does feel like they're more.

00:04:11 ◼   ► I'm confident they're reading the message that's sent, right?

00:04:14 ◼   ► And so maybe that's better.

00:04:16 ◼   ► But just the responses are not based on what I write at all, I feel.

00:04:22 ◼   ► Yeah, so you want it to be better.

00:04:25 ◼   ► You want it to be a better mic bot for replying.

00:04:29 ◼   ► And I don't think that's an unreasonable request because it isn't good right now.

00:04:33 ◼   ► I have that same feeling of I don't like this.

00:04:36 ◼   ► One of the reasons is it definitely doesn't sound like me.

00:04:38 ◼   ► Like I wouldn't write any of these things.

00:04:41 ◼   ► But I have a deeper problem with this, which is a bit like even if they could do it perfectly.

00:04:48 ◼   ► Let's say Apple does a thing where they do exactly what you want.

00:04:51 ◼   ► They train an LLM on everything you've ever said.

00:04:54 ◼   ► I'm sure they have enough data for this level of like text conversation back and forth.

00:04:59 ◼   ► And it can write the way that you can.

00:05:02 ◼   ► I feel like the thing that I'm trying to articulate about what I don't like here is

00:05:09 ◼   ► I don't have any better words than feeling like there's something anti-human about this use of AI.

00:05:16 ◼   ► And what I mean by that is, like with text messages, you're talking back and forth with a person.

00:05:22 ◼   ► And it's triggering the same thing that I've talked about, about like why don't I want to use AI for writing and writing suggestions?

00:05:30 ◼   ► Is because it forecloses thought in a certain way.

00:05:36 ◼   ► Now, for emails and stuff, it feels like it's fine, right?

00:05:40 ◼   ► Like emails are like business land, right?

00:05:42 ◼   ► We're just trying to get things done.

00:05:44 ◼   ► Having the AIs summarize and then write replies to each other in email is like it's a bit weird, but I have no problem with this.

00:05:52 ◼   ► But the message is, it feels a little bit more like if you kind of imagine, imagine you were having a conversation with a person in real life.

00:05:59 ◼   ► And what you also had in your ear was a little earpiece with an AI.

00:06:05 ◼   ► And then every time someone said something to you, the little earpiece had some suggestions about what you could say back.

00:06:13 ◼   ► And what happens in this moment then is it feels to me like, oh, I'm not talking to the person anymore.

00:06:21 ◼   ► What's actually happening is I'm evaluating some pre-made options.

00:06:28 ◼   ► Even if those options are very good, even if those options were to sound like something that I would say,

00:06:35 ◼   ► I just feel very strongly that it is a totally different thing to read a message that someone has sent you and think about how you wish to reply.

00:06:46 ◼   ► That is different than reading the message someone has sent you and then seeing two or three things you could say back.

00:06:56 ◼   ► And the quality of those things is irrelevant to the objection.

00:06:59 ◼   ► The objection here is evaluation is not thought.

00:07:06 ◼   ► That's my objection here.

00:07:07 ◼   ► Picking from options is not the same thing as thinking about how to respond to a person.

00:07:17 ◼   ► So while I'm like, I'm lacking a better word for this, the reason that I'm coming up with anti-human, I feel,

00:07:27 ◼   ► of all the things that have happened with AI, this one feels like it is the most direct attack on some kind of humanity.

00:07:38 ◼   ► It feels like it is the most direct attack on a kind of very subtle distancing of human connection

00:07:48 ◼   ► by having this interlocutor who is suggesting the way that the conversation should go.

00:07:55 ◼   ► And then it just totally changes your thought pattern.

00:07:58 ◼   ► And I feel like no matter what people think, it's like, again, imagine it's the perfect version and it has things that you would say.

00:08:08 ◼   ► And then you could even be like, but I'm going to say something different.

00:08:11 ◼   ► And then you just type it.

00:08:12 ◼   ► But more cognitive process has now just gone into what you have done.

00:08:18 ◼   ► You've had to go over a slight hill of rejecting the options and then creating yours.

00:08:26 ◼   ► Picking from the pre-built options is always easier.

00:08:30 ◼   ► And then I think there's one more layer here, which is expressing thoughts, I think is a kind of feedback loop.

00:08:38 ◼   ► Like the way you talk affects the way you think.

00:08:42 ◼   ► And so I truly think that from picking from pre-built options, I feel like it is a feedback loop in a very slight way,

00:08:51 ◼   ► even to your own mind about like, how are you feeling about things?

00:08:55 ◼   ► How are you expressing things?

00:08:56 ◼   ► So this thing in particular, I feel it on a very, very visceral level of like, I do not like this.

00:09:06 ◼   ► I dug around in the settings today.

00:09:07 ◼   ► Eventually I was able to find where can I turn this off so that I don't see it.

00:09:13 ◼   ► So I can just reply.

00:09:14 ◼   ► But it doesn't change the fact that basically no one ever changes the options.

00:09:20 ◼   ► Nobody ever changes the default.

00:09:23 ◼   ► And I think this is just a huge injection of AI influence into like everybody's one on one conversations.

00:09:35 ◼   ► And I hate it.

00:09:37 ◼   ► I really hate it.

00:09:38 ◼   ► And I think it is anti-human.

00:09:40 ◼   ► Where do you turn it off, by the way?

00:09:43 ◼   ► Okay, you've got to go to settings.

00:09:45 ◼   ► You go to Apple intelligence and Siri.

00:09:49 ◼   ► You go to at the bottom about Siri dictation and privacy.

00:09:56 ◼   ► You can then scroll down to messages is one of the options there.

00:10:02 ◼   ► And there is a show Siri suggestions in application.

00:10:06 ◼   ► And if you disable that, it won't give you the auto suggestions anymore.

00:10:10 ◼   ► But boy, that is a buried option that is way deep.

00:10:16 ◼   ► Even people who care about settings are not going to find that without a lot of effort or knowing exactly where it is ahead of time.

00:10:23 ◼   ► So that's where you go to turn it off.

00:10:24 ◼   ► That's a really interesting thought process that you've posed that was completely different to where I was coming from.

00:10:30 ◼   ► I just think it's not done very well.

00:10:31 ◼   ► But I see what you're saying, right?

00:10:33 ◼   ► Where, let's say me and you are having a conversation and you say to me, shall we order five or shall we order ten, right?

00:10:41 ◼   ► If they just says order five, order ten is the two options.

00:10:45 ◼   ► And I just pick one of those.

00:10:47 ◼   ► I haven't really thought through the ramifications of either.

00:10:51 ◼   ► Like that maybe I just think to myself initially, my first blush is like, oh, we'll go for ten.

00:10:57 ◼   ► But not really thinking about what would that mean?

00:11:00 ◼   ► You're not really considering the ramifications of your choice in the same way that you would if you were just reading and thinking.

00:11:07 ◼   ► Like I can imagine somebody more easily just glossing over a message, right?

00:11:13 ◼   ► Because they've just got the two options at the bottom and that will do, you know?

00:11:16 ◼   ► So, yeah, that's a very interesting thought process that I had not considered.

00:11:21 ◼   ► Again, I think I feel this very strongly because of the early experience with trying to use it for writing and how just feeling like it forecloses potentially better options if you're using this to generate suggestions.

00:11:35 ◼   ► And again, whether or not it sounds like you is besides the point.

00:11:40 ◼   ► It really to me feels like this AI is now existing in between one on one conversations between people in a way that is just different from everything else.

00:11:51 ◼   ► Why is it instant message that hits so hard?

00:11:53 ◼   ► I think it is because it is the closest one.

00:11:56 ◼   ► So possible.

00:11:56 ◼   ► It doesn't feel this way in email.

00:11:58 ◼   ► Yeah, it is so personal.

00:11:59 ◼   ► Yeah, so I just I hate it.

00:12:02 ◼   ► I just really hate it.

00:12:03 ◼   ► And I really, you know, as is the way with these things.

00:12:06 ◼   ► Like I can turn it off for me, but I am absolutely convinced that this is subtly affecting everybody who uses it in just like ways that they're not going to notice.

00:12:17 ◼   ► And I just I don't like it.

00:12:18 ◼   ► I think it's I think it's bad for humans.

00:12:20 ◼   ► I think it's it's anti human.

00:12:22 ◼   ► This episode of Cortex is brought to you by ListenLater.net.

00:12:26 ◼   ► There's so much great educational, helpful content on the Internet.

00:12:29 ◼   ► The struggle isn't finding something good or entertaining to read.

00:12:32 ◼   ► It's actually having the time to sit down for 20 minutes to do the reading.

00:12:36 ◼   ► So you either save that great article somewhere to maybe a reading list and you just never look at it again or you just accept that you're not going to read it and close the tab.

00:12:45 ◼   ► That is where our friends at ListenLater.net come in.

00:12:48 ◼   ► You can convert articles to podcasts.

00:12:51 ◼   ► You like podcasts, right?

00:12:53 ◼   ► Now you can take any article with you on the go.

00:12:56 ◼   ► You email any articles, URL to them.

00:12:58 ◼   ► And with their AI, with its human like narration, it will transform it swiftly into a podcast episode that you can enjoy in any app that you use.

00:13:06 ◼   ► This is in your own personal feed accessible to you wherever you go.

00:13:10 ◼   ► And it's more than just articles.

00:13:11 ◼   ► ListenLater.net can convert email newsletters, PDF attachments, Google Docs into podcasts.

00:13:17 ◼   ► This feature is perfect for transforming work documents, newsletters or any text into enjoyable, listenable formats.

00:13:23 ◼   ► Listeners of this show knows that Mike does not like to read, but Mike likes to listen.

00:13:28 ◼   ► That is what's so great about ListenLater.net.

00:13:30 ◼   ► If I have a long article that I want to get to, but I know I maybe I've got a commute coming up.

00:13:35 ◼   ► This is a fantastic way to get that information into my brain.

00:13:38 ◼   ► This can be stuff that I'm doing for work or even just for fun.

00:13:42 ◼   ► It is an easy way for me to be able to get the content that I want in a format that works best for me, which is audio.

00:13:50 ◼   ► So go now to ListenLater.net and you could try it for yourself and stop missing out on great content that you don't have the time to read.

00:13:57 ◼   ► There's two dollars in free credit waiting for you.

00:13:59 ◼   ► So there's no reason not to try it.

00:14:01 ◼   ► They're going to let you try it for free at ListenLater.net and you'll also get up to 25 percent extra credits on your purchases.

00:14:07 ◼   ► So don't miss out. Head to ListenLater.net and grab your bonus credits today.

00:14:12 ◼   ► That URL one more time is ListenLater.net and there's a link in the show notes.

00:14:17 ◼   ► Our thanks to ListenLater.net for the support of Cortex and Relay.

00:14:21 ◼   ► I think in a little bit of brighter AI news, since we spoke last, OpenAI have added search to ChatGPT, like actual web search now.

00:14:30 ◼   ► Oh, have they?

00:14:31 ◼   ► I don't think you can spend any time with it, but it's really good.

00:14:33 ◼   ► Like you can ask questions and it will perform web searches if it thinks it should to get the accurate live up-to-date information.

00:14:42 ◼   ► Or you can just straight up click a button to perform just a search of the web by asking ChatGPT.

00:14:48 ◼   ► And I found that experience to be really good.

00:14:50 ◼   ► I actually think they do a better job than most of their competitors at highlighting the sources, like the sources to the articles.

00:14:57 ◼   ► They do it in line so you can easily click through and get more information if you want to.

00:15:02 ◼   ► But I've used it a bunch now and I've been really happy.

00:15:05 ◼   ► Like, for example, I wanted to find out if a certain company that I'm thinking of buying something from does Black Friday deals.

00:15:12 ◼   ► Now, Googling that nightmare, right?

00:15:14 ◼   ► But searching for ChatGPT, they were like, these three companies look like this product is going to sale, but also the brand themselves tend to do it, but later in the month.

00:15:24 ◼   ► That was just a great response, right, that Google would not have given me in the way that I wanted.

00:15:30 ◼   ► So I find that experience to be very good, actually.

00:15:33 ◼   ► How does that compare to Perplexity?

00:15:35 ◼   ► Because you recommended that, I think you mentioned in the state of the apps last time, I can't quite remember, but I immediately started using that after you suggested it, because I felt a little bit like...

00:15:42 ◼   ► There are still cases where I want a search engine in a way, and I've been hugely impressed with Perplexity, but I feel like it is ChatGPT under the hood with some options on top.

00:15:52 ◼   ► Well, you can choose.

00:15:53 ◼   ► I don't really have much of a feeling about them one-on-one against each other.

00:15:57 ◼   ► I think from a UI perspective, I actually prefer the simplicity of ChatGPT.

00:16:03 ◼   ► That's true, yeah.

00:16:03 ◼   ► Perplexity's got a lot going on.

00:16:05 ◼   ► There's a lot going on in there.

00:16:06 ◼   ► And I do actually think that sourcing is more important with these, because I do want to check what they have to say.

00:16:15 ◼   ► And I think ChatGPT does a better job because it does it in line with what you're reading, rather than need to go to a...

00:16:20 ◼   ► Write down to the bottom or something like that with Perplexity, like go to a different place.

00:16:24 ◼   ► And it's got a bunch of sources where like ChatGPT is like adding the source in next to the piece of information that is taken.

00:16:31 ◼   ► So like rather than just like here are my sources, it's like doing it in line with the words that it's giving you.

00:16:37 ◼   ► So like it gives you two paragraphs and it puts the sources in line with the text showing you where it's gotten that piece of information from.

00:16:45 ◼   ► I just think that that is like a really nice way of doing that.

00:16:48 ◼   ► So I can then go and get more information if I want it.

00:16:51 ◼   ► And I know where I can go check that information or get more about it.

00:16:55 ◼   ► This is the absolutely exhausting thing about the world of AI now.

00:16:58 ◼   ► It's like the rapid switching of tools.

00:17:01 ◼   ► It's like I just started using Perplexity.

00:17:04 ◼   ► I was like, I just convinced everybody I know, like, hey, never use a regular search engine again.

00:17:09 ◼   ► Use this instead.

00:17:10 ◼   ► And it's like, ah, 14 days later, time to switch again, everybody.

00:17:14 ◼   ► It's like maybe ChatGPT is in the lead now.

00:17:16 ◼   ► Who knows?

00:17:17 ◼   ► But Perplexity is definitely very complicated.

00:17:19 ◼   ► Well, now I've told you this.

00:17:21 ◼   ► I can give you another piece of information.

00:17:22 ◼   ► Mike, please no.

00:17:23 ◼   ► A listener Ken wrote in.

00:17:25 ◼   ► It's too much.

00:17:25 ◼   ► It's too much, too fast.

00:17:27 ◼   ► I hate it.

00:17:28 ◼   ► Gray discussed how he finds Claude to be smarter than GPT-4, but keeps having to use GPT-4 for his internet access.

00:17:36 ◼   ► For the past couple of months, I've been using Kagi Assistant.

00:17:39 ◼   ► For $25 a month, you get unlimited use of Claudesonic 3.5 and Kagi's paid search engine combined.

00:17:46 ◼   ► So Claude has internet access.

00:17:47 ◼   ► All right, I guess I'll take a look at that too.

00:17:49 ◼   ► Although I guess it's like, the thing is all these things also overlap in such a confusing way.

00:17:54 ◼   ► Because it's like, oh yes, I am using Perplexity, but I think Perplexity is using ChatGPT-0 to search the web.

00:18:02 ◼   ► And then I have it set up to feed that information to Claudesonic to summarize is I think how it works.

00:18:10 ◼   ► But it's like, I swear to God, there's every one of these companies, it feels like they're 10 layers on top of something.

00:18:15 ◼   ► And then at the very bottom, it's still just ChatGPT or Anthropic.

00:18:20 ◼   ► - One of the things that turns me off Perplexity and why I actually quite like using ChatGPT for searching

00:18:25 ◼   ► is I don't like the paralysis of choice for Perplexity, where I always feel like I could be using the wrong LLM.

00:18:33 ◼   ► Because you can choose.

00:18:34 ◼   ► - Right, right, right, yeah.

00:18:35 ◼   ► - I always have this feeling of like, am I getting the best experience I could from this tool?

00:18:39 ◼   ► Like, should I be using Sonnet?

00:18:40 ◼   ► Should I be using Perplexity's blended version of them all?

00:18:44 ◼   ► Well, what I like about ChatGPT is I just use 4.0 or whatever, right?

00:18:48 ◼   ► And that's just what I'm gonna use.

00:18:50 ◼   ► So there is a real problem with these tools and branding.

00:18:54 ◼   ► I don't understand why they're all branded so badly, but that just seems to be the way they are.

00:19:00 ◼   ► Like I, as a user, don't ever wanna have to think about models.

00:19:04 ◼   ► I don't wanna ever have to think about what model I'm using.

00:19:07 ◼   ► I don't want that.

00:19:08 ◼   ► You tell me, and I think people are working on this stuff, I'm sure.

00:19:12 ◼   ► A model that's entire use is to choose the model.

00:19:16 ◼   ► - The meta model, yeah, that's gotta be in the works, yeah.

00:19:18 ◼   ► - You work it out.

00:19:19 ◼   ► You should know what I've asked.

00:19:20 ◼   ► And I do think like, some of ChatGPT is doing it now,

00:19:24 ◼   ► because I can ask it a question,

00:19:26 ◼   ► and then it decides if it goes to the web, right?

00:19:29 ◼   ► So like, I think that that is kind of like,

00:19:31 ◼   ► there should just be this layer on top.

00:19:33 ◼   ► - That's an excellent point.

00:19:34 ◼   ► I definitely want a meta model.

00:19:35 ◼   ► I cannot count the number of tools that I have opened up,

00:19:37 ◼   ► which have some element of AI.

00:19:39 ◼   ► And then step one, choose between these 20 models,

00:19:44 ◼   ► many of which I have never even heard of before.

00:19:46 ◼   ► It's like, I don't know.

00:19:48 ◼   ► I have no ability to evaluate these things.

00:19:50 ◼   ► - And I'm sure that by the time we record our next episode,

00:19:54 ◼   ► there'll be six new companies

00:19:55 ◼   ► that are doing a meta model service.

00:19:57 ◼   ► - Yay.

00:20:00 ◼   ► - Like, even though this stuff is complicated,

00:20:02 ◼   ► and my opinions on it are morphing and changing all the time,

00:20:06 ◼   ► it really is incredible to be seeing this all unfold

00:20:10 ◼   ► in real time.

00:20:10 ◼   ► - Yeah, I will agree.

00:20:12 ◼   ► And actually, that's why I was thinking

00:20:13 ◼   ► about "Proplexity" a bunch,

00:20:14 ◼   ► because I feel like I had mentioned it

00:20:17 ◼   ► on one of the previous shows,

00:20:18 ◼   ► but I was very aware in the last few years

00:20:20 ◼   ► of feeling like searching the internet

00:20:24 ◼   ► has just become functionally worthless.

00:20:26 ◼   ► Like, Google searches, the quality of the returns

00:20:29 ◼   ► were just much, much worse over time.

00:20:31 ◼   ► Like, finding things was increasingly hard.

00:20:33 ◼   ► And this is really, like, perhaps the most directly,

00:20:38 ◼   ► immediately beneficial use of AI for me is,

00:20:42 ◼   ► like, you search the web and summarize it for me

00:20:45 ◼   ► and find it.

00:20:46 ◼   ► - Starting through the harm

00:20:48 ◼   ► that the SEO industrial complex has caused to the web.

00:20:52 ◼   ► - Yes, yeah, that's exactly it.

00:20:53 ◼   ► Yeah, it's a weapon against SEO stuff.

00:20:55 ◼   ► And I have felt in the last two weeks

00:20:57 ◼   ► since I started using, like, a direct search engine

00:21:00 ◼   ► in that way to be like,

00:21:02 ◼   ► "Oh, the web is useful again?

00:21:05 ◼   ► I can actually just find answers to technical problems."

00:21:10 ◼   ► 'Cause again, it's the difference of the LLMs

00:21:13 ◼   ► that are built, they're just baked into existence.

00:21:16 ◼   ► And so if it happens to know the answer

00:21:18 ◼   ► to your technical question, it can tell you.

00:21:20 ◼   ► But the search engine thing is so much better.

00:21:23 ◼   ► - And I absolutely know that we are just in a window of time

00:21:28 ◼   ► until the systems are gamed again.

00:21:31 ◼   ► But I'm going to choose to enjoy this system of time

00:21:34 ◼   ► where, like, web searching can be better

00:21:36 ◼   ► because of these tools.

00:21:37 ◼   ► - Yeah, it's a never-ending arms race.

00:21:41 ◼   ► But an arms race increasingly

00:21:44 ◼   ► where people are not participating.

00:21:47 ◼   ► No way, Jose, could that go south?

00:21:50 ◼   ► - Court Accents, this is your final call

00:21:56 ◼   ► to grab yourself something from this year's subtle range,

00:22:00 ◼   ► including wonderful T-shirts, comfortable hoodies,

00:22:04 ◼   ► perfect sweaters.

00:22:05 ◼   ► We have all the colors you could wish for

00:22:08 ◼   ► as long as they're one of the five colors that we offer.

00:22:10 ◼   ► And they're available until November 26th, so do not delay.

00:22:15 ◼   ► When you're hearing this, you have not got long left

00:22:17 ◼   ► to pick up your item from the subtle range.

00:22:20 ◼   ► I will once again advocate strongly

00:22:23 ◼   ► for our new heavyweight tee, the premium heavyweight tee.

00:22:27 ◼   ► I am wearing one of the samples right now, Gray,

00:22:29 ◼   ► and I could not be happier with this new edition this year.

00:22:33 ◼   ► But no matter what you pick, any of our T-shirts,

00:22:36 ◼   ► any of our sweatshirt, crew necks, or zip-up hoodies,

00:22:39 ◼   ► you're gonna be happy.

00:22:41 ◼   ► They're really wonderful items.

00:22:42 ◼   ► I've been describing them to people this year, Gray,

00:22:44 ◼   ► as a wardrobe staple because the subtle tee

00:22:48 ◼   ► is the most staple item of my wardrobe.

00:22:51 ◼   ► I today am wearing two items from the subtle range,

00:22:54 ◼   ► as is very normal, especially this time of year.

00:22:57 ◼   ► You know, like this is when I turn to sweaters

00:22:59 ◼   ► and I'm wearing the sweaters all the time.

00:23:00 ◼   ► That's why the sweater came into existence

00:23:02 ◼   ► and the hoodie came into existence too

00:23:04 ◼   ► from when we're in those transitional seasons

00:23:06 ◼   ► and you just want something nice and lightweight.

00:23:08 ◼   ► So I really love these items

00:23:09 ◼   ► and I think that our listeners will too.

00:23:11 ◼   ► - I am also appreciating the reminder

00:23:13 ◼   ► because even though we are the ones who do the sale,

00:23:16 ◼   ► somehow I also never put in my order until like,

00:23:20 ◼   ► "Oh right, we're doing the final promo for this."

00:23:23 ◼   ► 'Cause otherwise I'm like, "I've got loads of time."

00:23:26 ◼   ► But actually no, it is closing down very soon.

00:23:29 ◼   ► So yeah, if you do want to get your staple subtle shirts,

00:23:33 ◼   ► which are just like fantastic base layer

00:23:36 ◼   ► over which everything else goes,

00:23:37 ◼   ► like there's such a versatile useful shirt

00:23:40 ◼   ► that you could put everything over, love it.

00:23:42 ◼   ► This is the time to do it.

00:23:44 ◼   ► So yeah, go to cortexbrand.com

00:23:47 ◼   ► to get your subtle stuff today.

00:23:50 ◼   ► - If you'll permit me for just a moment,

00:23:51 ◼   ► we have asked on our Instagram account,

00:23:53 ◼   ► we are @cortexbrand,

00:23:55 ◼   ► for people who already own these products

00:23:57 ◼   ► to write in with why they like them.

00:23:59 ◼   ► And so here are some testimonials from real cortexes.

00:24:02 ◼   ► One person says, "I like to wear mine

00:24:04 ◼   ► when I'm working from home

00:24:05 ◼   ► and need to look good for the camera."

00:24:08 ◼   ► Someone says that they wear a cortex subtlety,

00:24:11 ◼   ► even after they have donated

00:24:12 ◼   ► over 90% of their clothes this year,

00:24:14 ◼   ► this was one of the items that stuck around.

00:24:17 ◼   ► The hoodie is a must, it's my go-to for Canadian fall.

00:24:21 ◼   ► Someone said that they always wear theirs on planes

00:24:23 ◼   ► because the items are so comfortable.

00:24:25 ◼   ► And also there are multiple people saying

00:24:27 ◼   ► that they like to wear them for working from home

00:24:29 ◼   ► because they're comfortable but professional.

00:24:31 ◼   ► - The hoodie is also great.

00:24:32 ◼   ► Very cozy airplane gear for sure.

00:24:35 ◼   ► - I've got to say though, it's like,

00:24:36 ◼   ► I know you love the premium heavyweight,

00:24:37 ◼   ► I do like the premium lightweight shirt

00:24:39 ◼   ► and I've got to say that Black Forest Tri-Blend,

00:24:42 ◼   ► the green very much calling to me.

00:24:44 ◼   ► I always like the navy for the hoodie,

00:24:47 ◼   ► they just look so good.

00:24:48 ◼   ► So I've got to put in my order now.

00:24:51 ◼   ► That is what I am going to do as soon as the show is over

00:24:54 ◼   ► and that is what you two should do listener,

00:24:56 ◼   ► if you don't want to miss out this year.

00:24:58 ◼   ► - Cortexbrand.com.

00:25:00 ◼   ► Someone wrote in and said to me,

00:25:02 ◼   ► "Mike, why don't you share your iPad home screens

00:25:05 ◼   ► when you do state of the apps?

00:25:06 ◼   ► Because surely that's a device

00:25:08 ◼   ► that you do a lot of work from."

00:25:10 ◼   ► And while I do agree, there is a thing where

00:25:13 ◼   ► there's only so many hours that we can commit

00:25:17 ◼   ► to that episode.

00:25:19 ◼   ► And I understand the thinking,

00:25:20 ◼   ► but for me, a lot of the apps are similar,

00:25:23 ◼   ► but I thought, yeah, why not share iPad home screens

00:25:26 ◼   ► in this episode?

00:25:27 ◼   ► So, you know, you can see that too.

00:25:29 ◼   ► And I actually thought when I got this

00:25:31 ◼   ► that you might like the fact that

00:25:32 ◼   ► on the two iPads that I use,

00:25:34 ◼   ► I have one which is mine

00:25:35 ◼   ► and one which I use for Cortex brand work

00:25:37 ◼   ► that stays here at my studio.

00:25:39 ◼   ► - Oh, right.

00:25:40 ◼   ► You've got the two now.

00:25:41 ◼   ► I forgot about that, of course.

00:25:42 ◼   ► - I thought you may potentially be happy to know, Gray,

00:25:45 ◼   ► and you can look at the image here,

00:25:47 ◼   ► which will be in our show notes for people to click on.

00:25:49 ◼   ► I use a different home screen wallpaper

00:25:53 ◼   ► for the Cortex brand one,

00:25:54 ◼   ► because can you imagine if I sullied

00:25:57 ◼   ► this professional device with that fun wallpaper?

00:26:00 ◼   ► - I mean, I do feel like, praise be, Mike.

00:26:02 ◼   ► Yes, I know you're very happy with your wallpaper,

00:26:04 ◼   ► but I am genuinely relieved to see

00:26:07 ◼   ► that Cortex brand is able to get a different wallpaper

00:26:11 ◼   ► so that it feels like it's a different space

00:26:13 ◼   ► when you're using your--

00:26:14 ◼   ► - I'm not a maniac.

00:26:15 ◼   ► - Hmm.

00:26:16 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:26:17 ◼   ► - Only a little bit.

00:26:17 ◼   ► - You say that, right?

00:26:19 ◼   ► But I do just wonder,

00:26:21 ◼   ► if there was some alternate universe

00:26:23 ◼   ► where you were still doing Cortex brand,

00:26:25 ◼   ► but somehow like this podcast didn't exist

00:26:27 ◼   ► and I wasn't in your life,

00:26:29 ◼   ► I do wonder if that, Mike,

00:26:31 ◼   ► would still be using the exact same wallpaper everywhere.

00:26:35 ◼   ► And if I look in my heart of hearts,

00:26:38 ◼   ► I think that that is true.

00:26:39 ◼   ► I think that is what would happen.

00:26:41 ◼   ► - I don't know.

00:26:42 ◼   ► - But you know what?

00:26:43 ◼   ► I feel like even if you have done this for me,

00:26:46 ◼   ► it doesn't matter.

00:26:47 ◼   ► It makes me very happy.

00:26:48 ◼   ► - Not this iPad, so my Cortex brand iPad,

00:26:50 ◼   ► which is, so this stays at my studio and it stays on my,

00:26:54 ◼   ► I have a special table set up, all of our products on,

00:26:56 ◼   ► and when I'm doing any design work,

00:26:58 ◼   ► I go and sit at that table and it helps me kind of mode

00:27:00 ◼   ► shift and get in that mindset.

00:27:02 ◼   ► This iPad I set up completely from fresh.

00:27:05 ◼   ► - Oh wow, okay.

00:27:05 ◼   ► - And it has only certain accounts logged in.

00:27:08 ◼   ► There's a lot of stuff I don't have logged into any

00:27:11 ◼   ► of my other accounts, like any of my relay work

00:27:14 ◼   ► is not on there, my personal stuff,

00:27:15 ◼   ► a lot of it's not on there.

00:27:16 ◼   ► Like I really wanted to try and set this up

00:27:19 ◼   ► as purpose driven as I could.

00:27:22 ◼   ► So like when I do sit down to work on this iPad,

00:27:26 ◼   ► it is purely for this stuff.

00:27:29 ◼   ► Like I have, it's always in reduced notifications,

00:27:32 ◼   ► you know like the AI powered focus mode,

00:27:34 ◼   ► reduced interruptions, I just leave this one

00:27:36 ◼   ► in that one all the time.

00:27:37 ◼   ► So when I'm sitting there, I'm really like focused

00:27:40 ◼   ► on just trying to do the work that is best

00:27:42 ◼   ► for when I'm trying to work on Cortex brand stuff.

00:27:45 ◼   ► And I have it set up totally differently

00:27:47 ◼   ► to how I have my personal iPad, which of course

00:27:50 ◼   ► is adorned with the wallpaper I love so dearly,

00:27:52 ◼   ► but that is more focused in its home screens

00:27:55 ◼   ► on entertainment as well as like a little bit

00:27:58 ◼   ► of work stuff where this one is like pure work stuff.

00:28:00 ◼   ► I even have different Widget Smith themes for this one.

00:28:04 ◼   ► So it fits with the blue and gray aesthetic

00:28:07 ◼   ► that we've got going on.

00:28:09 ◼   ► - Yeah, I noticed that straight away

00:28:10 ◼   ► with the Widget Smith time zone thing.

00:28:11 ◼   ► That's, I really like that.

00:28:13 ◼   ► The one that I'm picking up on here is,

00:28:15 ◼   ► so you've got your design tools, right?

00:28:16 ◼   ► It's like free form and you've got Figma

00:28:18 ◼   ► and you've got Canva, which remind me

00:28:21 ◼   ► which one's Canva again?

00:28:22 ◼   ► - Boy, that's hard to explain.

00:28:24 ◼   ► - So I didn't mean to stump you.

00:28:26 ◼   ► - Well, no, because now Canva is a lot of things.

00:28:29 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:28:30 ◼   ► - Like Canva has kind of exploded in the last year.

00:28:33 ◼   ► They've really done a good job of integrating

00:28:36 ◼   ► generative AI to help people make stuff

00:28:39 ◼   ► like invitations to birthday parties.

00:28:41 ◼   ► Like that's just like a big area that they're in,

00:28:43 ◼   ► but I don't use any of that.

00:28:45 ◼   ► So Canva has been used for Kerry and our design team

00:28:49 ◼   ► to share stuff that we're gonna post on socials,

00:28:52 ◼   ► but we're moving to Figma fully for that.

00:28:55 ◼   ► Canva is there right now,

00:28:56 ◼   ► but it won't be there in a couple of months.

00:28:59 ◼   ► We're gonna move away from it.

00:29:01 ◼   ► - Okay, and what are you using Photoshop for?

00:29:03 ◼   ► I'm actually, I'm a little surprised to see that one there.

00:29:04 ◼   ► Is that just for sharing files with other designers?

00:29:07 ◼   ► Is that what that's for?

00:29:08 ◼   ► - There's a little bit of that.

00:29:09 ◼   ► Like sometimes there's just some files

00:29:10 ◼   ► where it's just most helpful for me to open in Photoshop,

00:29:14 ◼   ► but also I've actually found it quite helpful.

00:29:17 ◼   ► So I've been working on different physical sizes

00:29:21 ◼   ► of our products, right?

00:29:23 ◼   ► Like I'm playing around with some different physical sizes

00:29:25 ◼   ► of things and sometimes what I've been able to do

00:29:30 ◼   ► with Photoshop is to take a picture of one of our notepads

00:29:34 ◼   ► and like, what if I just made it half the size

00:29:37 ◼   ► and use Photoshop's generative fill

00:29:39 ◼   ► to just remove the backgrounds and like,

00:29:41 ◼   ► so just cut it in half essentially,

00:29:43 ◼   ► like make a box, get rid of this.

00:29:46 ◼   ► And so I can get like a visual representation

00:29:48 ◼   ► of what would this look like in a different size.

00:29:50 ◼   ► It's a weird use case, but I've been kind of playing around

00:29:53 ◼   ► with some of those Photoshop tools to do that.

00:29:55 ◼   ► Are you familiar with generative fill?

00:29:57 ◼   ► Like what it's doing?

00:29:58 ◼   ► - So like, are you saying you're just trying

00:30:00 ◼   ► to place the smaller object in the room?

00:30:02 ◼   ► Is that the idea of what you're doing there?

00:30:03 ◼   ► - No, it's like, what if I took a sidekick notepad

00:30:05 ◼   ► and cut it in half?

00:30:07 ◼   ► - Oh, sorry, you cut the physical thing in half.

00:30:09 ◼   ► Okay, I see, right, right, okay.

00:30:11 ◼   ► And then you're using generative fill

00:30:12 ◼   ► to like cover up the edge?

00:30:13 ◼   ► - Yeah, create a fake background essentially.

00:30:15 ◼   ► Like, so it's like it's only half of the space.

00:30:18 ◼   ► So that's one thing, but mostly my use of Photoshop here

00:30:21 ◼   ► is people send me Photoshop files, right?

00:30:23 ◼   ► And so this is just like a really easy way

00:30:25 ◼   ► for me to be able to open them and look at them

00:30:27 ◼   ► because Photoshop on the iPad is actually really good.

00:30:30 ◼   ► It's basically just Photoshop.

00:30:31 ◼   ► They've done a very good job of that, I think.

00:30:33 ◼   ► It used to be like, oh, this is Photoshop for iPad.

00:30:36 ◼   ► But now it is very much just like,

00:30:37 ◼   ► oh no, this is just Photoshop.

00:30:39 ◼   ► It's just on your iPad.

00:30:41 ◼   ► - Well, I'm very happy to see this iPad looks different.

00:30:44 ◼   ► It warms my heart, Mike, it really does.

00:30:47 ◼   ► So that you can get yourself in that different head space

00:30:51 ◼   ► when you're at the office, feels different.

00:30:53 ◼   ► Obviously you need to do that.

00:30:55 ◼   ► Be the designer that you want to be.

00:30:57 ◼   ► Be the designer who, let's get real,

00:30:59 ◼   ► at this point really should be in an Apple commercial

00:31:03 ◼   ► using his iPad to do all the sorts of stuff

00:31:06 ◼   ► that Apple wants you to do.

00:31:07 ◼   ► That's what this iPad is, so I love it.

00:31:09 ◼   ► - I take pictures of our products

00:31:11 ◼   ► with the camera on my iPad.

00:31:13 ◼   ► Can you imagine such a thing?

00:31:14 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:31:16 ◼   ► Or something I do a lot of,

00:31:17 ◼   ► if I'm talking to the designers that we work with,

00:31:21 ◼   ► or I'm talking with our product manufacturers

00:31:24 ◼   ► and I have things, I just shoot video.

00:31:27 ◼   ► So I put the product in front of me

00:31:29 ◼   ► and I just grab the iPad, I press record,

00:31:31 ◼   ► and just start shooting video talking about

00:31:34 ◼   ► what I want to show them or get across to them.

00:31:37 ◼   ► Or even yesterday, we were working

00:31:38 ◼   ► on some product descriptions.

00:31:40 ◼   ► And what I did is I opened Slack

00:31:43 ◼   ► and I pressed record audio button

00:31:45 ◼   ► and I was just talking through to send that to Carrie

00:31:48 ◼   ► so she could help me polish it into something.

00:31:50 ◼   ► I genuinely, when I am at that table,

00:31:52 ◼   ► I could be in a commercial at this point.

00:31:55 ◼   ► 'Cause I'm using this iPad in all of the ways

00:31:58 ◼   ► in which they want me to use it.

00:32:01 ◼   ► It is a very funny thing, really.

00:32:03 ◼   ► - I mean, the taking the photo with the iPad

00:32:05 ◼   ► is somehow the funniest thing,

00:32:06 ◼   ► 'cause that's always the thing I see in the commercial

00:32:08 ◼   ► and I think, ah, nobody does that, right?

00:32:10 ◼   ► But Mike does that. - Mike does it.

00:32:11 ◼   ► - You're shooting the video.

00:32:13 ◼   ► I like it when they'll show something like,

00:32:14 ◼   ► oh yeah, you're filming your friend skateboarding.

00:32:17 ◼   ► What are you gonna use?

00:32:18 ◼   ► You're using your iPad.

00:32:19 ◼   ► Like, no one on earth is doing that.

00:32:21 ◼   ► Ah, I was like, Mike actually is shooting video

00:32:24 ◼   ► for things that he's doing on his iPad.

00:32:26 ◼   ► I'm just gonna say right now,

00:32:27 ◼   ► I'm gonna try to manifest this into the universe

00:32:30 ◼   ► because I really do feel like you are

00:32:34 ◼   ► an absolutely primo pic to be featured in

00:32:38 ◼   ► one of those little shorts of like,

00:32:39 ◼   ► what do people do with their iPad?

00:32:42 ◼   ► I am going to really try to manifest this into existence

00:32:47 ◼   ► because it is just amazing what you're doing with this

00:32:50 ◼   ► to like be the thing that they want you to be,

00:32:53 ◼   ► perhaps more than anybody else on earth

00:32:56 ◼   ► because you're actually taking photos and videos

00:32:59 ◼   ► with the iPad.

00:33:00 ◼   ► - I mean, I think honestly,

00:33:01 ◼   ► I don't think any of this is encapsulated more

00:33:03 ◼   ► and then in the fact that we use numbers

00:33:06 ◼   ► to run our business.

00:33:06 ◼   ► - That's true, that's true.

00:33:08 ◼   ► - I think more than the camera

00:33:10 ◼   ► that me and you are doing stock management in numbers.

00:33:13 ◼   ► - I don't even have any doubts about this anymore.

00:33:15 ◼   ► It's like, I am absolutely certain

00:33:17 ◼   ► no business is using as big of a spreadsheet

00:33:21 ◼   ► as we are in numbers to do real things.

00:33:24 ◼   ► It was like, ah, why is that?

00:33:26 ◼   ► Because Gray thinks it's so pretty.

00:33:28 ◼   ► That's why he uses numbers.

00:33:29 ◼   ► - I open this spreadsheet

00:33:30 ◼   ► and sometimes it takes a literal minute

00:33:32 ◼   ► to finish the calculations before I can use it.

00:33:36 ◼   ► - I love all of this.

00:33:38 ◼   ► I love that you're using your iPad so hardcore.

00:33:41 ◼   ► It almost makes me feel bad

00:33:43 ◼   ► because I'm realizing now that

00:33:47 ◼   ► without even fully noticing it,

00:33:51 ◼   ► my iPad has just completely fallen off the rotation

00:33:56 ◼   ► of devices that I use.

00:33:58 ◼   ► - I think the iPad's very seasonal like that, honestly.

00:34:01 ◼   ► - Yeah, explain more.

00:34:02 ◼   ► What do you mean by that?

00:34:03 ◼   ► You think it's seasonal?

00:34:04 ◼   ► - I think I look at myself

00:34:05 ◼   ► and all of the other people that I work with

00:34:08 ◼   ► who are just big computer nerds

00:34:11 ◼   ► and it feels like we have these times

00:34:14 ◼   ► in which an iPad is the right tool

00:34:17 ◼   ► and it exists for a period of time

00:34:19 ◼   ► and then it will be replaced usually by a Mac

00:34:23 ◼   ► until another reason comes around again.

00:34:25 ◼   ► Like I look at myself, right?

00:34:27 ◼   ► I was all iPad.

00:34:28 ◼   ► Then Apple Silicon brought me back to the Mac.

00:34:30 ◼   ► Then I was no iPad.

00:34:31 ◼   ► Then the iPad Mini brought me back to the idea of

00:34:34 ◼   ► what about just for consumption?

00:34:36 ◼   ► We'll just do it for that, right?

00:34:38 ◼   ► And then the iPad Pro was like, yeah, but this screen.

00:34:42 ◼   ► And so I moved to the bigger iPad and really loved that.

00:34:45 ◼   ► And then just the nature of my work,

00:34:48 ◼   ► the product design work,

00:34:50 ◼   ► really lends itself to big screen

00:34:53 ◼   ► that I can hold in my hands and use the pencil

00:34:55 ◼   ► and it has a camera and it can move around, right?

00:34:57 ◼   ► So like that has just become the right tool.

00:35:01 ◼   ► And I think that I see this in myself

00:35:03 ◼   ► and pretty much everybody that I work with

00:35:05 ◼   ► that just there are these seasons of work

00:35:08 ◼   ► and capability in these devices

00:35:09 ◼   ► and the iPad either comes in or out.

00:35:12 ◼   ► Because it is, let's be honest,

00:35:14 ◼   ► the most superfluous of any computer, right?

00:35:17 ◼   ► Like the tablet is the one which is less needed

00:35:20 ◼   ► and is the most luxurious

00:35:22 ◼   ► and it just depends on if you're gonna use it or not

00:35:26 ◼   ► for most people, right?

00:35:27 ◼   ► You're not giving up your phone

00:35:29 ◼   ► and you're not giving up your Mac.

00:35:30 ◼   ► Will you use an iPad to replace any of these types of work

00:35:34 ◼   ► or make the work feel better?

00:35:36 ◼   ► It goes in and out, I think.

00:35:37 ◼   ► - Yeah, actually it's funny,

00:35:39 ◼   ► just tier ranking my own devices,

00:35:41 ◼   ► I'm realizing right now I would give up the iPad

00:35:44 ◼   ► before I would give up my watch.

00:35:46 ◼   ► Like that's not even a question, right?

00:35:48 ◼   ► If I had to pick like,

00:35:49 ◼   ► oh, you can only have one or the other,

00:35:50 ◼   ► I would give up the iPad before I gave up the watch.

00:35:52 ◼   ► I think that shows for me how far it's fallen.

00:35:56 ◼   ► I feel kind of sad about it

00:35:58 ◼   ► because it's also very much like,

00:36:00 ◼   ► oh, this is the device that I want to use the most

00:36:03 ◼   ► in some way, but it just never quite is the thing

00:36:07 ◼   ► that makes the most sense.

00:36:08 ◼   ► I think that's partly because the Mac has really come back

00:36:11 ◼   ► and it's just very hard to beat efficiency

00:36:15 ◼   ► and rapidity of doing things on the Mac.

00:36:18 ◼   ► Yeah, I don't know, it's competing with everything else

00:36:23 ◼   ► and I think for me really this year,

00:36:26 ◼   ► it's like what has in particularly killed it

00:36:28 ◼   ► is actually the Vision Pro.

00:36:30 ◼   ► It's like, oh boy, the Vision Pro has just destroyed

00:36:35 ◼   ► my iPad use.

00:36:36 ◼   ► If I'm trying to think through why,

00:36:39 ◼   ► it's because the Vision Pro is weirdly both good

00:36:43 ◼   ► at intense productive work and also at the relaxing work.

00:36:48 ◼   ► It can do both of those things.

00:36:51 ◼   ► It's like, oh yeah, lots of times when I want to do more

00:36:55 ◼   ► casual thinking sort of work, in previous times

00:36:59 ◼   ► when I would have grabbed the iPad,

00:37:00 ◼   ► I find myself going much more towards the Vision Pro

00:37:03 ◼   ► to be like, oh, I want to do some high level thinking

00:37:07 ◼   ► and just be casual about what I'm working on.

00:37:10 ◼   ► It's like, yeah, the Vision Pro and going into

00:37:12 ◼   ► the right environment is perfect for that.

00:37:14 ◼   ► Oh, I really want to do work now?

00:37:18 ◼   ► Well, also the Vision Pro is the best thing for that.

00:37:20 ◼   ► This is the best way to be locked in.

00:37:23 ◼   ► I think I hadn't really quite realized this real dual

00:37:28 ◼   ► purpose of it, of it is the default tool with my Mac

00:37:32 ◼   ► in almost all cases of what can work best.

00:37:36 ◼   ► And a lot of brainstorming stuff that I might have

00:37:40 ◼   ► previously done on the iPad has been completely consumed

00:37:43 ◼   ► by that, let alone any media consumption, of course.

00:37:47 ◼   ► If I'm going to watch something, there's absolutely

00:37:49 ◼   ► no question where the best place to watch it is.

00:37:51 ◼   ► It's totally fallen off so much.

00:37:53 ◼   ► It's not even worth me taking a screenshot.

00:37:55 ◼   ► I just have a blank homepage on my iPad

00:37:58 ◼   ► and a couple of things in the dock.

00:38:00 ◼   ► There's just literally nothing to look at.

00:38:01 ◼   ► And I've spent no time at all trying to tweak it

00:38:05 ◼   ► to be like, ooh, how can I get this to be most effective?

00:38:07 ◼   ► Because it just doesn't even seem like it's worth it.

00:38:09 ◼   ► I think I didn't fully realize that until just now.

00:38:13 ◼   ► It's like, yes, of all of my things,

00:38:14 ◼   ► this one is absolutely on the rock bottom of the list.

00:38:18 ◼   ► - Full little iPad.

00:38:19 ◼   ► - Even for reading, the thing that I would probably

00:38:22 ◼   ► want to do on the iPad is like, ah, but Amazon came out

00:38:24 ◼   ► with that new color Kindle and it is amazing.

00:38:27 ◼   ► - Oh, did you get one?

00:38:29 ◼   ► - Yeah, I got one.

00:38:30 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:38:31 ◼   ► - Okay, so I don't even read things with color a lot,

00:38:34 ◼   ► but it's funny to realize that there was a small resistance

00:38:38 ◼   ► that I didn't even notice.

00:38:41 ◼   ► So when I'm reading, you can highlight in different colors.

00:38:44 ◼   ► And I haven't even used that a ton, but the only thing

00:38:47 ◼   ► I've ever done is like, oh, when I'm reading a book,

00:38:50 ◼   ► the default highlight is yellow.

00:38:52 ◼   ► And then if I think something is really important,

00:38:54 ◼   ► I'd always highlight it in pink.

00:38:57 ◼   ► And I didn't know until I got the Kindle color,

00:39:00 ◼   ► that's like, oh, the last thing that was pushing me

00:39:03 ◼   ► towards the iPad is that I can see the difference

00:39:06 ◼   ► in the color highlights, which I didn't even really think

00:39:10 ◼   ► that I cared about.

00:39:11 ◼   ► But now the moment I can actually see the highlight colors

00:39:15 ◼   ► when I'm reading, it's like, oh my God,

00:39:17 ◼   ► I'm never picking up my iPad again to read.

00:39:19 ◼   ► It's just interesting to notice these small little

00:39:22 ◼   ► resistances that you didn't even know were there

00:39:25 ◼   ► until they've been solved.

00:39:27 ◼   ► - Did you look at the new Kindle Scribe again at all?

00:39:29 ◼   ► - Yeah, I did.

00:39:31 ◼   ► I took a look at it and I decided against it

00:39:34 ◼   ► because I think we talked about this a while ago

00:39:37 ◼   ► of the other aspirational tool in terms of work

00:39:41 ◼   ► is the e-ink tablet.

00:39:42 ◼   ► It's like, ah, the most aspirational of tools.

00:39:46 ◼   ► And I kind of wanted the Kindle Scribe to be like,

00:39:49 ◼   ► maybe this is the thing that can fill this role.

00:39:54 ◼   ► But this is also part of what happened with the iPad

00:39:56 ◼   ► is I was very aware with my Kindle Scribe of,

00:39:59 ◼   ► especially when traveling, it's like, ooh,

00:40:02 ◼   ► the iPad and the Kindle Scribe are kind of competing

00:40:04 ◼   ► with each other because the Kindle Scribe is quite big.

00:40:08 ◼   ► It's like, you know what I don't want to be bringing

00:40:10 ◼   ► on every single flight?

00:40:12 ◼   ► I don't want to be bringing a Mac, a Vision Pro,

00:40:15 ◼   ► an iPad Pro and a Kindle Scribe.

00:40:19 ◼   ► It's like, this is too many devices.

00:40:21 ◼   ► Like something's gotta go.

00:40:23 ◼   ► And the Kindle Scribe, it didn't have enough functionality

00:40:28 ◼   ► for the size compared to the iPad.

00:40:33 ◼   ► But now what has happened is like, yes,

00:40:35 ◼   ► but the iPad is not remotely as small

00:40:39 ◼   ► as the Amazon color Kindle.

00:40:41 ◼   ► So that's what has happened here.

00:40:42 ◼   ► It's like, I think the iPad is just not coming

00:40:44 ◼   ► with me anymore. The actual thing that's going to come

00:40:47 ◼   ► is the color Kindle because with the Vision Pro,

00:40:50 ◼   ► like boy, does that add a lot of bulk to travel.

00:40:52 ◼   ► So something has got to get out of here.

00:40:54 ◼   ► And so I think that's going to be the end result

00:40:55 ◼   ► of what occurs.

00:40:56 ◼   ► So I like the idea of the Kindle Scribe,

00:41:00 ◼   ► but I just felt like for its size, especially for traveling,

00:41:04 ◼   ► it just wasn't worth it.

00:41:06 ◼   ► It's like, I liked that big screen,

00:41:08 ◼   ► but really the only place that made sense was reading

00:41:11 ◼   ► at a desk, even something like reading in bed.

00:41:14 ◼   ► It just wasn't quite worth it.

00:41:15 ◼   ► So yeah, no Kindle Scribe for me, that one's out.

00:41:19 ◼   ► - There was one feature on it that I thought

00:41:21 ◼   ► you would find it interesting,

00:41:23 ◼   ► which is that you can write directly in a book

00:41:26 ◼   ► and it moves all the text around to fit your notes in.

00:41:29 ◼   ► I just thought that was like a really interesting idea.

00:41:32 ◼   ► - I think that's the most interesting part of that.

00:41:34 ◼   ► Like for sure, that is the feature to sell it.

00:41:39 ◼   ► It's like, I do want that, but I don't want it enough

00:41:42 ◼   ► to have the big device.

00:41:44 ◼   ► I'll wait until they do like an Amazon color scribe.

00:41:48 ◼   ► Like, can we get a little pencil on that one?

00:41:50 ◼   ► - Yeah, that's the one.

00:41:51 ◼   ► When they get to that, that's the thing.

00:41:53 ◼   ► 'Cause Remarkable have a color one now, right?

00:41:55 ◼   ► But yeah, you're not getting the Amazon books.

00:41:58 ◼   ► - Again, one of these things I've just like made

00:42:00 ◼   ► this decision of like, I'm all in on the Amazon system.

00:42:02 ◼   ► It's like, well, there's a bunch of frustrations.

00:42:04 ◼   ► There's also just like a million upsides.

00:42:07 ◼   ► In particular, one upside,

00:42:08 ◼   ► which I don't think I've ever really mentioned very often,

00:42:10 ◼   ► but is surprisingly useful is like having everything

00:42:14 ◼   ► in the Amazon system means also through Readwise,

00:42:19 ◼   ► I can get it to dump directly into Obsidian as well.

00:42:23 ◼   ► And so that is like a total killer feature of like,

00:42:26 ◼   ► oh yeah, I can just have all of the highlights and notes

00:42:29 ◼   ► that I've taken in any book I've ever read

00:42:32 ◼   ► right there in Obsidian.

00:42:33 ◼   ► And it's like, that's fantastic.

00:42:36 ◼   ► - That's really great for you, right?

00:42:38 ◼   ► Like for the research work,

00:42:39 ◼   ► like to be able to make these highlights

00:42:41 ◼   ► and just have them show up in the research tool

00:42:43 ◼   ► outside of the book, like that is good.

00:42:46 ◼   ► - Absolutely fantastic.

00:42:47 ◼   ► And it also has a little bit of the serendipity

00:42:49 ◼   ► of sometimes when I'm searching for something

00:42:51 ◼   ► by having all of the things I've ever highlighted,

00:42:53 ◼   ► I occasionally come across something else.

00:42:55 ◼   ► It's like, ooh, I wasn't even thinking of that,

00:42:57 ◼   ► but it's still useful and it's relevant to here.

00:42:58 ◼   ► So there's like a,

00:42:59 ◼   ► there's just a real compounding effect

00:43:01 ◼   ► of keeping everything in the one place,

00:43:03 ◼   ► which is why a lot of those other e-readers

00:43:05 ◼   ► is like they're just immediately off the table for me

00:43:07 ◼   ► as like, no, sometimes it's good to just make a decision

00:43:10 ◼   ► about like, this is the thing I'm doing

00:43:11 ◼   ► and I'm just gonna stick with it

00:43:12 ◼   ► and not try to like switch back and forth all the time

00:43:15 ◼   ► between these other things.

00:43:16 ◼   ► But yeah, it's been a surprisingly interesting year

00:43:18 ◼   ► in terms of like hardware and devices

00:43:20 ◼   ► and all of the changes.

00:43:21 ◼   ► And oh my gosh, I don't even know.

00:43:24 ◼   ► Have you tried the new wide screen option on the Vision Pro?

00:43:29 ◼   ► Have you tried this one out?

00:43:30 ◼   ► - No, I really try not to put beta software on my Mac.

00:43:35 ◼   ► - So listen, Mike.

00:43:36 ◼   ► - Uh-oh.

00:43:37 ◼   ► - Listen to me, right?

00:43:38 ◼   ► I too, after this summer, I was like,

00:43:42 ◼   ► I'm never doing a beta again.

00:43:44 ◼   ► Not gonna happen.

00:43:45 ◼   ► But I had a friend who was like, listen, bro,

00:43:49 ◼   ► you've gotta try the wide screen thing.

00:43:52 ◼   ► I was like, no, no, no, I'm gonna be good.

00:43:54 ◼   ► I'm never--

00:43:54 ◼   ► - Does this person actually call you bro?

00:43:56 ◼   ► - Yeah, he actually does.

00:43:57 ◼   ► - Oh, wow.

00:43:58 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:43:59 ◼   ► Wow, okay.

00:44:00 ◼   ► - Like, you've gotta do it.

00:44:01 ◼   ► And I was like, no, no, no, I'm not gonna do it.

00:44:04 ◼   ► I've sworn, I've sworn off of this.

00:44:06 ◼   ► I'm never gonna do it again.

00:44:08 ◼   ► I don't know if it was just all the Apple intelligence stuff

00:44:10 ◼   ► but beta season this year was just particularly brutal.

00:44:13 ◼   ► I felt like there was like a thousand little problems

00:44:15 ◼   ► but I was like, I'm not gonna do it.

00:44:18 ◼   ► They were like, bro, you had, like, trust me, just do it.

00:44:21 ◼   ► - Trust me, bro.

00:44:22 ◼   ► - Yeah, and so I went, no, I'm not going to.

00:44:26 ◼   ► And then of course, like hours later,

00:44:28 ◼   ► it had gotten in my head and I was like,

00:44:30 ◼   ► ah, but let me try it.

00:44:32 ◼   ► I cannot even begin to explain how this is the case.

00:44:37 ◼   ► But the widescreen feature on the Apple Vision Pro

00:44:42 ◼   ► for mirroring your Mac, I thought it was going to be good.

00:44:47 ◼   ► It is so much better than I expected

00:44:50 ◼   ► in a way where I have sat there trying to think like,

00:44:54 ◼   ► how on earth is this so good?

00:44:57 ◼   ► I cannot pin it down.

00:44:58 ◼   ► It's like I have used in real life,

00:45:00 ◼   ► widescreen curved monitors and I've never really loved them.

00:45:05 ◼   ► But in the Vision Pro, it's like perfect.

00:45:09 ◼   ► It is a hundred times better

00:45:11 ◼   ► than any real widescreen monitor I have ever used.

00:45:15 ◼   ► And it's like, oh my God, I did not know

00:45:18 ◼   ► this is the perfect way to use a Mac

00:45:22 ◼   ► is with this big widescreen virtual monitor.

00:45:26 ◼   ► I swear they've made it more clear,

00:45:29 ◼   ► but I just keep trying to think like,

00:45:30 ◼   ► is it something about the way it's being held in my vision?

00:45:34 ◼   ► But man, it's like I thought before

00:45:37 ◼   ► that sharing your screen from your Mac in your Vision Pro

00:45:40 ◼   ► was like killer and this has made it so much better.

00:45:44 ◼   ► It was almost like an entirely new experience,

00:45:47 ◼   ► which here's the thing, it's like,

00:45:48 ◼   ► I know the way I'm describing it now

00:45:50 ◼   ► sounds like a crazy oversell,

00:45:53 ◼   ► but this is like how it was sold to me.

00:45:55 ◼   ► And it's like, no, it is.

00:45:57 ◼   ► It is fantastic.

00:46:00 ◼   ► It is insanely good.

00:46:02 ◼   ► This is basically from now on,

00:46:04 ◼   ► this is how I am going to be using my Mac

00:46:07 ◼   ► almost all the time is with this like widescreen monitor

00:46:10 ◼   ► in the Vision Pro, like 10,000 thumbs up

00:46:13 ◼   ► to the developers on this one.

00:46:15 ◼   ► They nailed it and I don't even know

00:46:17 ◼   ► how they made it so good.

00:46:18 ◼   ► - All right, maybe I need to go to point two on my Mac.

00:46:21 ◼   ► I just.

00:46:22 ◼   ► - Bro, you should try it.

00:46:23 ◼   ► Trust me, it's really good.

00:46:25 ◼   ► - Yeah, I've been seeing a lot of people online,

00:46:27 ◼   ► like on threads and stuff,

00:46:29 ◼   ► like combine the new tiny Mac mini

00:46:33 ◼   ► and the Vision Pro together.

00:46:35 ◼   ► - Oh, I didn't even think about that.

00:46:38 ◼   ► Can you do that?

00:46:38 ◼   ► - You can.

00:46:39 ◼   ► Any Mac can work with it.

00:46:41 ◼   ► You just initiate it through the control center

00:46:43 ◼   ► on the Vision Pro and it searches for Macs on the network

00:46:45 ◼   ► and will connect to it.

00:46:46 ◼   ► - Oh, wow.

00:46:47 ◼   ► - Of course you'll need a keyboard and mouse, right?

00:46:49 ◼   ► You'll need a keyboard and mouse still

00:46:51 ◼   ► that are attached to the Mac mini,

00:46:52 ◼   ► but yeah, they would be a pretty sweet pairing together.

00:46:55 ◼   ► - That is fascinating.

00:46:58 ◼   ► That is a fascinating option.

00:46:59 ◼   ► I just didn't even think.

00:47:01 ◼   ► - Think about, Gray, think about this, right?

00:47:03 ◼   ► A Mac mini Pro, right?

00:47:07 ◼   ► With tons of storage, tons of RAM, on a graycation.

00:47:12 ◼   ► - I'm very intrigued.

00:47:16 ◼   ► - Now you have a full final cut, like ready machine, right?

00:47:22 ◼   ► Now I know MacBook Pros can handle it these days too,

00:47:24 ◼   ► but that is like a very small thing

00:47:27 ◼   ► that you compare this together

00:47:29 ◼   ► and you would be having a good time.

00:47:30 ◼   ► That is a lot of power to put into a machine.

00:47:34 ◼   ► And something Jason told me,

00:47:35 ◼   ► which I could not believe is true,

00:47:37 ◼   ► the Mac mini is the lightest Mac ever made.

00:47:39 ◼   ► - Oh, right.

00:47:43 ◼   ► - It's lighter than any laptop.

00:47:44 ◼   ► - Oh, no.

00:47:45 ◼   ► - Isn't that incredible?

00:47:46 ◼   ► What an incredible statistic.

00:47:48 ◼   ► - Oh, no, Mike.

00:47:50 ◼   ► What is this idea you have put in my head?

00:47:52 ◼   ► - Think of it.

00:47:52 ◼   ► - Oh, I will.

00:47:56 ◼   ► I will.

00:47:58 ◼   ► - This episode of Cortex is brought to you by Squarespace,

00:48:02 ◼   ► the all-in-one website platform for entrepreneurs

00:48:05 ◼   ► to stand out and succeed online.

00:48:07 ◼   ► Whether you're just getting started managing a growing brand

00:48:10 ◼   ► or whatever it is you want to do online,

00:48:12 ◼   ► you can stand out for a beautiful website,

00:48:14 ◼   ► engage with your audience and sell anything,

00:48:16 ◼   ► products, services, even the content that you create

00:48:18 ◼   ► because Squarespace has everything you need

00:48:21 ◼   ► all in one place and all on your terms.

00:48:24 ◼   ► With Squarespace, you can make the most

00:48:26 ◼   ► of Design Intelligence.

00:48:27 ◼   ► They have combined their two decades

00:48:29 ◼   ► of industry-leading design expertise

00:48:31 ◼   ► of cutting-edge AI technology

00:48:33 ◼   ► to help you unlock your strongest creative potential.

00:48:36 ◼   ► Design Intelligence empowers anyone

00:48:38 ◼   ► to build a beautiful, more personalized website

00:48:41 ◼   ► tailored to their unique needs

00:48:42 ◼   ► and craft a bespoke digital identity

00:48:44 ◼   ► to use across your entire online presence.

00:48:47 ◼   ► But what I love about Squarespace

00:48:49 ◼   ► and what I always love about Squarespace,

00:48:50 ◼   ► they always make it easier than ever

00:48:51 ◼   ► for you to make those designs, but also to tweak them.

00:48:54 ◼   ► This is a wonderful place to get started,

00:48:55 ◼   ► but then their incredible tools allow you

00:48:57 ◼   ► to personalize your website in the exact ways that you want.

00:49:00 ◼   ► You can move things around on the pages,

00:49:02 ◼   ► you can add in the content that you like,

00:49:03 ◼   ► change the colors, change the branding, change the fonts.

00:49:06 ◼   ► It's so easy to do, but they're making it easier than ever

00:49:09 ◼   ► to give you that starting point.

00:49:11 ◼   ► You can then keep track of the stats

00:49:13 ◼   ► that matter to you with Squarespace's analytics.

00:49:15 ◼   ► You can measure your end-to-end online performance

00:49:18 ◼   ► with powerful website and seller analytics,

00:49:20 ◼   ► get insights on top traffic sources,

00:49:22 ◼   ► understand how your reach is growing, track sales metrics,

00:49:25 ◼   ► and learn to add to focus new engagement.

00:49:27 ◼   ► It's all the data you need to scale your brand or business

00:49:30 ◼   ► fully integrated and clearly displayed.

00:49:32 ◼   ► And once again, another fantastic thing

00:49:34 ◼   ► I love about Squarespace.

00:49:35 ◼   ► They give you these tools built in

00:49:36 ◼   ► so you don't have to worry about trying to integrate things.

00:49:39 ◼   ► They make it really easy for you.

00:49:41 ◼   ► Another one of these is integrated SEO tools.

00:49:44 ◼   ► So every single Squarespace site is optimized

00:49:46 ◼   ► to be indexed with meta descriptions

00:49:48 ◼   ► or to generate the site maps and more.

00:49:50 ◼   ► This makes sure that you're showing up more often

00:49:52 ◼   ► to more people in global search engine results

00:49:55 ◼   ► without having to worry about exactly how to do it.

00:49:57 ◼   ► They take care of it for you.

00:49:59 ◼   ► But don't just take my word for it.

00:50:01 ◼   ► Go and build your website today.

00:50:02 ◼   ► Go to squarespace.com.

00:50:04 ◼   ► You can sign up for a free trial.

00:50:06 ◼   ► You can build your whole site, see how it looks,

00:50:08 ◼   ► and then when you're ready to launch to the world,

00:50:10 ◼   ► go to squarespace.com/cortex and you'll save 10%

00:50:13 ◼   ► of your first purchase of a website or domain.

00:50:16 ◼   ► That is squarespace.com/cortex when you sign up

00:50:18 ◼   ► and you'll get 10% of your first purchase

00:50:20 ◼   ► and show support for the show.

00:50:22 ◼   ► Our thanks to Squarespace for their support

00:50:24 ◼   ► of this show and all of Relay.

00:50:25 ◼   ► (chime)

00:50:26 ◼   ► Our listeners write in and they ask us questions.

00:50:29 ◼   ► It's very easy to do that.

00:50:30 ◼   ► If you ever have a question, you can always go

00:50:31 ◼   ► to askcortex.com and you can leave us a question.

00:50:35 ◼   ► This first one comes from Greg who wants to know,

00:50:37 ◼   ► Greg, are you still working with Wednesdays and Saturdays

00:50:40 ◼   ► as your day off?

00:50:41 ◼   ► If not, why not?

00:50:43 ◼   ► Weekend Wednesday?

00:50:44 ◼   ► If so, do you have any comments after doing it

00:50:47 ◼   ► for such a long time?

00:50:48 ◼   ► Oh dear.

00:50:51 ◼   ► - Yeah, look, I mean, sometimes people ask a question,

00:50:53 ◼   ► right, and it seems like a simple question,

00:50:56 ◼   ► but they don't realize it goes to just the heart

00:50:58 ◼   ► of so many things.

00:50:59 ◼   ► - Of course, yeah.

00:51:00 ◼   ► - It goes to the core.

00:51:01 ◼   ► This is actually a question that's a little bit

00:51:03 ◼   ► of a theme preview in a way.

00:51:06 ◼   ► This is a question that actually gets right to the core

00:51:08 ◼   ► and kind of bridges the theme from last year

00:51:11 ◼   ► and the theme for next year.

00:51:13 ◼   ► Okay, so I did Weekend Wednesday for a while as a schedule.

00:51:18 ◼   ► So it's like Monday, Tuesday working, Wednesday off,

00:51:22 ◼   ► Thursday, Friday, Saturday working, Sunday off.

00:51:26 ◼   ► And I really do think for a lot of self-employed people,

00:51:30 ◼   ► that is perhaps like an ideal schedule in many ways.

00:51:34 ◼   ► And so I really liked it.

00:51:36 ◼   ► But the idea has kind of grown while also running

00:51:41 ◼   ► into some of the things that I have complained about before.

00:51:45 ◼   ► And one of those things is I just don't like

00:51:48 ◼   ► the seven day week.

00:51:50 ◼   ► I find it very frustrating.

00:51:52 ◼   ► As a prime number, it just doesn't work with anything.

00:51:57 ◼   ► And earlier in this year when I was traveling out West

00:52:01 ◼   ► and doing a lot of work, I feel like what I started

00:52:05 ◼   ► to think about is there's just no way that seven days

00:52:11 ◼   ► is the correct number of days.

00:52:13 ◼   ► This is just not optimal.

00:52:15 ◼   ► Everybody has agreed on seven and that sort of creates

00:52:20 ◼   ► a lot of incentive for everybody else to agree

00:52:22 ◼   ► on following weeks.

00:52:24 ◼   ► But I don't have to do that.

00:52:26 ◼   ► I don't have to follow a week.

00:52:28 ◼   ► Okay, so what I'm trying to figure out is

00:52:30 ◼   ► the thing that I liked from Weekend Wednesday

00:52:33 ◼   ► is I liked this thing where it was like you have a big work,

00:52:38 ◼   ► like a big push three days in a row and then a break.

00:52:40 ◼   ► And then there's like a little work push and then a break.

00:52:44 ◼   ► I feel like that's a very natural rhythm.

00:52:47 ◼   ► But I started to feel like three days and two days

00:52:50 ◼   ► is not the correct number.

00:52:52 ◼   ► And especially when I was just working a bunch on my own,

00:52:55 ◼   ► just like totally unconstrained.

00:52:57 ◼   ► It's very obvious like, oh, I don't actually need

00:52:59 ◼   ► to take a break after three days.

00:53:01 ◼   ► There's something longer.

00:53:03 ◼   ► So what I've been playing around with,

00:53:06 ◼   ► which you don't know, you have been a real thorn

00:53:10 ◼   ► in my side with trying to get something to work.

00:53:12 ◼   ► And it's like, Mike, I will not be constrained

00:53:15 ◼   ► by this seven day week.

00:53:17 ◼   ► But I have the problem that I need to record cortex

00:53:20 ◼   ► and we need to do cortex days on Thursdays

00:53:24 ◼   ► because we're planning and coordinating

00:53:25 ◼   ► with a bunch of people.

00:53:27 ◼   ► But I keep trying to come up with a pattern of numbers

00:53:31 ◼   ► that is something like a repeatable sequence

00:53:34 ◼   ► of long stretch of work, break, shift,

00:53:39 ◼   ► short stretch of work, break.

00:53:42 ◼   ► And so I feel like my natural rhythm is something more like

00:53:47 ◼   ► six days in a row of working and then two or three days off

00:53:53 ◼   ► and then do something like three or four days working

00:53:59 ◼   ► and two days off, something like that.

00:54:02 ◼   ► So I cannot tell you how many spreadsheets

00:54:05 ◼   ► and how many calendars I have played around with

00:54:07 ◼   ► trying to figure out is there a way I can have some kind of

00:54:12 ◼   ► long push of work, longer time off, short push of work,

00:54:16 ◼   ► shorter time off that repeats that also lines up with

00:54:21 ◼   ► this very annoying I have a commitment every seven days.

00:54:25 ◼   ► And I basically don't think that's really quite possible

00:54:30 ◼   ► but I am absolutely determined.

00:54:33 ◼   ► I am going to find a pattern that works

00:54:36 ◼   ► if it kills me, so help me God.

00:54:39 ◼   ► But I'm also very aware for anybody who has any experience

00:54:43 ◼   ► in math that I am literally fighting prime numbers here

00:54:48 ◼   ► and declaring like I shall be victorious.

00:54:51 ◼   ► Like this is the math version of like I will push back

00:54:54 ◼   ► the sea but I'm somehow still convinced I'm gonna find

00:54:58 ◼   ► a pattern that works to my liking.

00:55:00 ◼   ► - I have two thoughts on this.

00:55:03 ◼   ► Thought number one is I don't in any way feel bad about

00:55:07 ◼   ► the fact that I wanna have a meeting with you once a week.

00:55:10 ◼   ► - It's such a burden, Mike, so unreasonable.

00:55:13 ◼   ► - There's nothing you can ever do

00:55:14 ◼   ► that's gonna make me feel different.

00:55:16 ◼   ► The fact that we have to have one 30 minute meeting

00:55:19 ◼   ► on Thursday.

00:55:20 ◼   ► - It's unbearable, absolutely unbearable, unmanageable.

00:55:24 ◼   ► - You have to plan your Thursdays around the fact

00:55:27 ◼   ► that I will always be in them

00:55:28 ◼   ► and there's nothing you can do about it.

00:55:30 ◼   ► That I'm fine with that.

00:55:31 ◼   ► - The second part is, so I was honestly could not keep

00:55:35 ◼   ► in my mind the schedule that you were trying to imagine

00:55:38 ◼   ► for yourself like six days on, three days off,

00:55:41 ◼   ► four days on, two days.

00:55:42 ◼   ► Why even have that?

00:55:44 ◼   ► Why not just work when you are working

00:55:47 ◼   ► and don't work when you're not?

00:55:48 ◼   ► Like why do you need it to be planned out?

00:55:51 ◼   ► I don't understand.

00:55:51 ◼   ► - Okay, so that's actually a good question

00:55:53 ◼   ► because basically what was happening

00:55:57 ◼   ► as I was like observing myself working

00:55:59 ◼   ► is just recognizing like, oh, this is actually something

00:56:03 ◼   ► like the natural pattern if I'm just left to my own devices.

00:56:08 ◼   ► So in a way you are right of like,

00:56:13 ◼   ► oh, I don't have to do this.

00:56:15 ◼   ► Like I'm self-employed.

00:56:16 ◼   ► I don't need to have it on a calendar

00:56:18 ◼   ► that this is the big work push

00:56:20 ◼   ► and this is the small work push.

00:56:21 ◼   ► I can just kind of wing it

00:56:25 ◼   ► and I think I do naturally fall into a rhythm

00:56:28 ◼   ► that is like this when unconstrained.

00:56:30 ◼   ► But part of the actual thing that I'm trying to do here

00:56:35 ◼   ► is by formalizing it a little bit.

00:56:39 ◼   ► I think one of the problems I can run into

00:56:41 ◼   ► is I try to do too many days in a row of working

00:56:45 ◼   ► and then it's like, ooh, I've gone too far.

00:56:49 ◼   ► Basically what I'm trying to do is take the thing

00:56:51 ◼   ► that feels like this is what I want

00:56:54 ◼   ► a natural work rhythm to be.

00:56:57 ◼   ► Big push, longer break, smaller push, smaller break.

00:57:02 ◼   ► That kind of feels right to me.

00:57:03 ◼   ► But instead of just winging it, formalize it

00:57:07 ◼   ► so that I can tweak it a little bit and see like,

00:57:10 ◼   ► ooh, if I stick to this, is six days too many?

00:57:15 ◼   ► Or like, or maybe if I'm sticking to the pattern,

00:57:17 ◼   ► it's like, ah, seven days is something I can actually do

00:57:19 ◼   ► if I have like a slightly longer break.

00:57:20 ◼   ► I want to be able to consciously play

00:57:24 ◼   ► with where are the boundaries for this of what works.

00:57:27 ◼   ► Because I think if I'm just winging it,

00:57:31 ◼   ► it's just not as good.

00:57:32 ◼   ► I'm trying to like optimize what is the maximum amount

00:57:36 ◼   ► of like rest per work.

00:57:38 ◼   ► That's the kind of thing that I'm trying to figure out here.

00:57:41 ◼   ► And that's why I say I find it weirdly frustrating

00:57:45 ◼   ► that we have this constraint of the seven day week

00:57:47 ◼   ► because I just think there's no way this number

00:57:51 ◼   ► happens to be the correct number.

00:57:54 ◼   ► It's even a thing like, if you look at any exercise advice,

00:57:57 ◼   ► people will give you like, here's how many times

00:57:59 ◼   ► you should do a like strength exercise in a week.

00:58:02 ◼   ► And so it's like, ah, you should exercise

00:58:03 ◼   ► three days a week or something.

00:58:05 ◼   ► But muscles don't know that there are weeks.

00:58:08 ◼   ► It just seems incredibly unlikely to me

00:58:11 ◼   ► that three strength sessions or four strength sessions

00:58:15 ◼   ► per unit seven days is actually the correct number

00:58:19 ◼   ► if you were trying to do something like min/max

00:58:22 ◼   ► your time at the gym.

00:58:23 ◼   ► It's possible that that's the correct number,

00:58:26 ◼   ► but it just seems insanely unlikely, right?

00:58:29 ◼   ► Surely the actual schedule would be something much more like

00:58:32 ◼   ► you go to the gym three days in a row

00:58:34 ◼   ► and you hit all your muscle sets

00:58:36 ◼   ► and then you take two days off

00:58:37 ◼   ► and then you do like three days in a row.

00:58:39 ◼   ► Like that seems like the thing that would work better

00:58:43 ◼   ► for muscles, but nobody ever thinks about it this way

00:58:46 ◼   ► because you have to plan your life in a week,

00:58:48 ◼   ► which I just feel again, I do not wish to be constrained

00:58:51 ◼   ► by this calendar trying to tell me what to do.

00:58:55 ◼   ► So I'm trying to do that in a sense for work.

00:58:59 ◼   ► That's why I'm trying to plan it out.

00:59:01 ◼   ► You're right, I could wing it in the same way

00:59:02 ◼   ► that you could like wing going to the gym of like,

00:59:05 ◼   ► oh, today feels like a day I can go.

00:59:07 ◼   ► Or like, oh, I'm very sore today, maybe I shouldn't.

00:59:09 ◼   ► But I just think that there's something

00:59:11 ◼   ► to be gained from planning.

00:59:13 ◼   ► And then on top of that, because I do work with other people

00:59:17 ◼   ► and there are constraints from the outside world,

00:59:21 ◼   ► if I have some kind of schedule like this,

00:59:24 ◼   ► it does allow others to know when I'm available,

00:59:27 ◼   ► when am I not available, when can I do things,

00:59:30 ◼   ► when can I not?

00:59:30 ◼   ► So it's also partly to like plan with other people

00:59:34 ◼   ► and to have that work.

00:59:35 ◼   ► - But if you're like in a flow, right?

00:59:38 ◼   ► Like you're on a roll for a few days

00:59:40 ◼   ► and the next day is weekend day,

00:59:43 ◼   ► is it best for you to take that day

00:59:45 ◼   ► if you're like really in it?

00:59:47 ◼   ► - When I'm really in a flow,

00:59:49 ◼   ► I will just keep rolling with it.

00:59:50 ◼   ► Like I'm always gonna just do that.

00:59:52 ◼   ► But I think the danger that I run into

00:59:55 ◼   ► is when I feel like, ooh, I feel like I'm behind,

00:59:59 ◼   ► I will keep pushing to try to overcome a feeling

01:00:02 ◼   ► like, oh, I'm behind.

01:00:04 ◼   ► But that's not actually what I should be doing

01:00:06 ◼   ► in that moment.

01:00:07 ◼   ► But yeah, I have a general rule.

01:00:08 ◼   ► Like if I wake up and I feel inspired to work on something,

01:00:12 ◼   ► like just go with it.

01:00:13 ◼   ► I never ever push back against that.

01:00:15 ◼   ► I would never be like, oh, it's the weekend.

01:00:17 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah.

01:00:18 ◼   ► - Even if it's supposed to be like one

01:00:19 ◼   ► of the three off days or whatever it is

01:00:21 ◼   ► in the six days of the moon or however it is it works.

01:00:26 ◼   ► - Yeah, exactly.

01:00:27 ◼   ► And this is one of the reasons why I like to wake up

01:00:30 ◼   ► really early is because that's a thing that I have learned

01:00:33 ◼   ► works again with trying to plan your life

01:00:36 ◼   ► which involves other people.

01:00:37 ◼   ► It's like if I wake up early,

01:00:40 ◼   ► if I wake up and I feel inspired to work on something,

01:00:43 ◼   ► it is almost always the case that I can get through

01:00:46 ◼   ► that like period of like, ah, this is great.

01:00:49 ◼   ► I have some good ideas in time to still have

01:00:52 ◼   ► like a normal day with normal commitments

01:00:54 ◼   ► even if it's supposed to be like a day

01:00:56 ◼   ► where other things are happening.

01:00:57 ◼   ► So that's also partly reason why I like to wake up early.

01:00:59 ◼   ► So yeah, the like really on a roll, I will always keep

01:01:04 ◼   ► but it's more like I just want to try to figure out

01:01:07 ◼   ► if I'm in a more normal work mode,

01:01:10 ◼   ► when is the time that I should stop

01:01:14 ◼   ► because I think my inclination is to push

01:01:16 ◼   ► like a little too far.

01:01:18 ◼   ► And that's the thing that the weekend Wednesday

01:01:20 ◼   ► was originally doing for me is like, ah,

01:01:23 ◼   ► those breaks were good.

01:01:25 ◼   ► Like when I was in that groove of three days, two days,

01:01:27 ◼   ► it's like, ah, I feel like this is good

01:01:30 ◼   ► but it just kept growing on my mind of like, ah,

01:01:32 ◼   ► but I don't think this is actually optimal.

01:01:34 ◼   ► I think I can push these work times a little bit more

01:01:37 ◼   ► if I can also expand the rest times a little bit more.

01:01:41 ◼   ► And then like, once that idea gets in my head,

01:01:44 ◼   ► it's like, I'm gonna figure this out.

01:01:45 ◼   ► I just need to make it work with a cortex somehow,

01:01:48 ◼   ► which is the tricky part.

01:01:50 ◼   ► - This episode of Cortex is brought to you by Fitbod.

01:01:54 ◼   ► If you're looking to change your fitness level,

01:01:56 ◼   ► getting started can be pretty difficult.

01:01:58 ◼   ► That's why I'm pleased to let you know

01:02:00 ◼   ► that Fitbod is incredibly easy and an affordable way

01:02:03 ◼   ► to build a fitness plan that is made just for you

01:02:06 ◼   ► because everybody has their own path with personal fitness.

01:02:08 ◼   ► This is why Fitbod uses data to make sure

01:02:11 ◼   ► they customize things to suit you exactly,

01:02:12 ◼   ► adapting as you improve,

01:02:14 ◼   ► making sure every workout is challenging and interesting

01:02:17 ◼   ► while pushing you to make the progress you're looking for.

01:02:19 ◼   ► You're gonna see the best results

01:02:21 ◼   ► when a workout program is tailored to your body,

01:02:23 ◼   ► your experience, your environment, and your goals.

01:02:26 ◼   ► Fitbod stores all of this information

01:02:27 ◼   ► in the Fitbod gym profile.

01:02:29 ◼   ► Distract your muscle recovery,

01:02:30 ◼   ► making sure you avoid burnout and keep up your momentum,

01:02:33 ◼   ► and Fitbod builds your best possible workouts

01:02:35 ◼   ► by combining AI, machine learning, and exercise science.

01:02:38 ◼   ► They have analyzed billions of data points

01:02:40 ◼   ► that have been fine-tuned by certified personal trainers.

01:02:43 ◼   ► You're also gonna be sure that you're learning

01:02:45 ◼   ► new movements the right way,

01:02:46 ◼   ► thanks to their more than 1,000 demonstration videos

01:02:49 ◼   ► that I love in the app.

01:02:50 ◼   ► So when I get a new exercise, and I get new exercises

01:02:53 ◼   ► 'cause they mix it up for me,

01:02:54 ◼   ► I'm able to watch some videos and see exactly how it's done,

01:02:57 ◼   ► shot from multiple angles along with instructions.

01:02:59 ◼   ► It makes me feel confident

01:03:00 ◼   ► that I'm doing the exercises correctly.

01:03:02 ◼   ► And this is one of my very favorite things about Fitbod

01:03:05 ◼   ► is it gives me the confidence that I need

01:03:07 ◼   ► to make that incredible foundation

01:03:08 ◼   ► and those leaps into my personal fitness.

01:03:11 ◼   ► Your muscles improve when they work together.

01:03:13 ◼   ► So overworking some while underworking others

01:03:15 ◼   ► can negatively impact your results,

01:03:17 ◼   ► which is why Fitbod tracks your muscle fatigue and recovery

01:03:20 ◼   ► to design a well-balanced workout routine

01:03:22 ◼   ► that is also mixed up to make sure

01:03:24 ◼   ► that it is exciting and interesting to you.

01:03:26 ◼   ► The Fitbod app is easy to use.

01:03:28 ◼   ► They have tracking charts, weekly reports, and sharing cards

01:03:31 ◼   ► so you can keep track of your achievements

01:03:32 ◼   ► and personal bests and share them with your family.

01:03:34 ◼   ► And it also integrates with your Apple Watch,

01:03:36 ◼   ► your Wear OS Smartwatch, and other apps that you use

01:03:39 ◼   ► like Strava, Fitbit, and Apple Health.

01:03:41 ◼   ► Personalized training of this quality can be expensive.

01:03:43 ◼   ► Fitbod is just $12.99 a month or $79.99 a year,

01:03:47 ◼   ► but you can get 25% off your membership

01:03:49 ◼   ► by signing up at fitbod.me/cortex.

01:03:52 ◼   ► That is F-I-T-B-O-D.me/cortex.

01:03:55 ◼   ► Go there now and get your customized fitness plan.

01:03:57 ◼   ► That is fitbod.me/cortex,

01:03:59 ◼   ► and you'll get 25% off your membership.

01:04:01 ◼   ► Our thanks to Fitbod for their support

01:04:02 ◼   ► of this show and Relay.

01:04:03 ◼   ► - All right, next question.

01:04:06 ◼   ► Alex says, "Do you have any new music recommendations

01:04:09 ◼   ► for productivity?"

01:04:10 ◼   ► - So there was a time where I was listening to,

01:04:13 ◼   ► and we spoke about it on the show,

01:04:14 ◼   ► where I was looking for a lot of music about lyrics

01:04:17 ◼   ► to have on while I was working,

01:04:20 ◼   ► like working on my show prep and stuff like that

01:04:22 ◼   ► so I could like kind of focus and be in the zone.

01:04:25 ◼   ► This was when I was working at home,

01:04:27 ◼   ► and I was using this at the time, I think,

01:04:30 ◼   ► as a way to kind of like create a barrier

01:04:33 ◼   ► between the fact that I'm home and I'm also working

01:04:37 ◼   ► and trying to like separate home and work.

01:04:40 ◼   ► I felt like I need that way less

01:04:42 ◼   ► since I have my own studio space.

01:04:45 ◼   ► It's very obvious to me that I'm at work

01:04:47 ◼   ► because I'm at work now,

01:04:49 ◼   ► so like I don't really feel like I need that divide

01:04:51 ◼   ► in the same way to force me to focus.

01:04:52 ◼   ► - And your iPad looks different.

01:04:54 ◼   ► - And my iPad looks different.

01:04:55 ◼   ► Me being here is like the focus of the work, right?

01:04:58 ◼   ► But something that I, again, have found to be very helpful

01:05:02 ◼   ► and enjoyable to me when I'm working at my design desk

01:05:06 ◼   ► is to put on music in that time

01:05:09 ◼   ► as like an enforcement of similar thing, different work.

01:05:13 ◼   ► And because that work doesn't require writing or reading,

01:05:18 ◼   ► like my show prep work does,

01:05:20 ◼   ► I can put on any music I like.

01:05:23 ◼   ► - Right, right, of course, of course.

01:05:23 ◼   ► - And so that's good for me

01:05:25 ◼   ► because I can tend to put on music that I like,

01:05:27 ◼   ► and what I find to be really helpful

01:05:28 ◼   ► is to put on upbeat music

01:05:31 ◼   ► because being in a good mood

01:05:34 ◼   ► really enhances my ability to do that work effectively.

01:05:38 ◼   ► It's like something that lifts my mood and changes my mood

01:05:41 ◼   ► helps with that kind of tactile design thinking,

01:05:44 ◼   ► broadening work.

01:05:46 ◼   ► - Oh yeah, that makes sense.

01:05:47 ◼   ► You can have more like upbeat kind of pop music with lyrics

01:05:50 ◼   ► if you're not doing reading or writing work.

01:05:52 ◼   ► Oh, that's good, that's really good.

01:05:54 ◼   ► - And for me at the moment, just as a recommendation,

01:05:56 ◼   ► this is not new, really new to anyone,

01:05:58 ◼   ► but I've really been enjoying Chaperone for this.

01:06:00 ◼   ► She's a new artist taking the world by storm,

01:06:04 ◼   ► and I like her music a lot.

01:06:05 ◼   ► - I'm gonna mention an app called Endel.

01:06:08 ◼   ► I mentioned this briefly on State of the Apps,

01:06:11 ◼   ► but I just really do wanna plug it again here.

01:06:14 ◼   ► So this fits into the category of a bunch of these things

01:06:17 ◼   ► like Brain.fm and Pizzizz, I never know how to say it.

01:06:22 ◼   ► - Oh my gosh, that goes back.

01:06:24 ◼   ► That's an old app. - Yeah, it's like

01:06:25 ◼   ► a thousand years old.

01:06:28 ◼   ► There's been a bunch of these auto-generate music

01:06:32 ◼   ► kind of apps, but I have been just wildly impressed

01:06:36 ◼   ► by how good Endel is at doing this as a job,

01:06:40 ◼   ► and it's like, boy, it has taken over a larger

01:06:44 ◼   ► and larger percentage of my music listening time.

01:06:48 ◼   ► I feel like they just do a very good job of music

01:06:52 ◼   ► that either locks you in for focusing

01:06:54 ◼   ► without being distracting or the relaxing.

01:06:57 ◼   ► It's like you're reading now,

01:06:59 ◼   ► or they even have a thing that works surprisingly well,

01:07:02 ◼   ► which is like this auto mode of don't even try

01:07:05 ◼   ► to pick the thing you're doing, let them just pick.

01:07:10 ◼   ► It's really quite impressive how, with that one,

01:07:13 ◼   ► if you become more active, it really does match

01:07:15 ◼   ► the music to you of what it is you're up to.

01:07:18 ◼   ► But yeah, I cannot get over how good it is.

01:07:21 ◼   ► And the key thing of these is what fails

01:07:24 ◼   ► with a lot of the other apps is they're doing things

01:07:28 ◼   ► that's more like music, which you can then become attuned to

01:07:33 ◼   ► or you feel like, oh, I don't like this song

01:07:37 ◼   ► that they've rotated in, which is like what Brain.fm

01:07:39 ◼   ► and Pizziz do, is they have a library

01:07:42 ◼   ► that they're rotating through,

01:07:43 ◼   ► whereas Endel really is much more,

01:07:45 ◼   ► it sounds like it is auto-generating this stuff live,

01:07:49 ◼   ► so you're just less aware of when it shifts.

01:07:52 ◼   ► They shift very, very slowly between one kind of sound

01:07:55 ◼   ► and another, it's just hugely effective.

01:07:58 ◼   ► And what I particularly like doing with this is using Portal,

01:08:02 ◼   ► which is an app for environmental sounds

01:08:05 ◼   ► to additionally match whatever it is that I'm doing.

01:08:09 ◼   ► So if I'm in the Apple Vision Pro,

01:08:12 ◼   ► I know that they have sounds to use

01:08:14 ◼   ► with all those environments, but I never wanna do that,

01:08:16 ◼   ► I wanna have my headphones connected to the computer.

01:08:19 ◼   ► So I just have like, oh, a bunch of Portal sounds

01:08:22 ◼   ► that kind of match the environment that I'm in

01:08:24 ◼   ► with the Vision Pro, and then also by playing Endel,

01:08:28 ◼   ► I just find that combo is really, really good.

01:08:32 ◼   ► And also having just the background sounds, I'm convinced,

01:08:36 ◼   ► really helps with noise cancellation,

01:08:38 ◼   ► so it just totally can lock you into an environment.

01:08:42 ◼   ► So yeah, I've been using that a shocking amount of time,

01:08:46 ◼   ► highly recommend it.

01:08:47 ◼   ► - Do you mix them together?

01:08:48 ◼   ► Like you can listen to them both at the same time?

01:08:51 ◼   ► - You can listen to them both at the same time.

01:08:53 ◼   ► There's also a thing which I've only done it

01:08:56 ◼   ► a couple of times, but I actually think it's good,

01:08:58 ◼   ► this is gonna sound wild.

01:09:00 ◼   ► Endel gives you an option where you can mix their music in

01:09:05 ◼   ► with your phone call, so you can have it on

01:09:09 ◼   ► in the background when you're taking a call.

01:09:12 ◼   ► - I can't think of why anyone would need that.

01:09:17 ◼   ► I've done it a couple of times, and I don't know.

01:09:20 ◼   ► I'm convinced there's something here.

01:09:23 ◼   ► I don't know if I will use that feature a lot in the future,

01:09:27 ◼   ► but I don't know, maybe for the right kind of person,

01:09:30 ◼   ► it just works.

01:09:31 ◼   ► But there have been a couple of work calls.

01:09:32 ◼   ► - Maybe if I'm having a really boring call,

01:09:34 ◼   ► or a call that I know is gonna annoy me,

01:09:37 ◼   ► that maybe I might have something upbeat in the background,

01:09:41 ◼   ► I don't know, but that is a very peculiar use case.

01:09:44 ◼   ► - I have to say, when I saw,

01:09:46 ◼   ► oh, there's an options that you can mix the music in

01:09:49 ◼   ► with the call, I was mostly just curious about

01:09:51 ◼   ► how does this even work?

01:09:53 ◼   ► But I'll tell you, it's a testament to the success

01:09:56 ◼   ► of it being non-distracting.

01:09:58 ◼   ► And so I have tried it on a couple of work calls,

01:10:02 ◼   ► and it's like what I said, there's something here,

01:10:04 ◼   ► this is an interesting idea.

01:10:06 ◼   ► I don't know if it's a thing that I will do in the future,

01:10:09 ◼   ► but if you are at all intrigued by that description,

01:10:12 ◼   ► it might be worth something to try.

01:10:14 ◼   ► - Do you use either of these apps for sleep noise,

01:10:17 ◼   ► like for white noise?

01:10:18 ◼   ► - I use Portal for the sleep noise.

01:10:20 ◼   ► It's a nice thing that has shortcuts integration,

01:10:22 ◼   ► so I have like a little timer where it can turn on.

01:10:25 ◼   ► I just realized, it's so sad,

01:10:27 ◼   ► that is actually the thing that I most do with my iPad,

01:10:31 ◼   ► is use it to have it automatically turn on

01:10:33 ◼   ► the portal noise, right?

01:10:35 ◼   ► So it's like, hey, fantastic computer device,

01:10:39 ◼   ► you are a white noise machine that helps me sleep.

01:10:42 ◼   ► But yeah, I use Portal for that.

01:10:45 ◼   ► Endel has a sleep music thing.

01:10:48 ◼   ► I tried it, but that was the only mode

01:10:50 ◼   ► that I decided I didn't like.

01:10:52 ◼   ► I found it, somehow while it does a very good job

01:10:54 ◼   ► of being non-distracting during the day,

01:10:56 ◼   ► I found the slight music thing just distracting

01:11:00 ◼   ► while I was trying to sleep.

01:11:01 ◼   ► So I don't use it for that,

01:11:02 ◼   ► but the Portal for white noise while sleeping

01:11:05 ◼   ► is like absolute requirement.

01:11:07 ◼   ► There's no way I can sleep in a room without white noise.

01:11:10 ◼   ► Jesus asks, Mike, what are your opinions on Mastodon

01:11:13 ◼   ► and Threads having used them for more than a year now?

01:11:16 ◼   ► - That's a very interesting question.

01:11:18 ◼   ► The social media landscape is very complicated now.

01:11:21 ◼   ► And this is like something I was talking about

01:11:25 ◼   ► in state of the apps, right?

01:11:26 ◼   ► That was very happy to have this app called Quasant,

01:11:28 ◼   ► which I can now post to multiple services at once,

01:11:31 ◼   ► which is, I love that because now that I do use

01:11:35 ◼   ► both services, I like that I have a tool where,

01:11:38 ◼   ► it's usually like if I have something that I need to promote

01:11:41 ◼   ► you know, for work, then I can just fire it all out

01:11:44 ◼   ► in the same, you know, all in one go.

01:11:46 ◼   ► There was a time where I was intrigued about the prospect

01:11:52 ◼   ► of Threads being federated.

01:11:55 ◼   ► - Yeah, you were very bullish on Threads.

01:11:57 ◼   ► - Yeah, and I thought that maybe I could just like

01:11:59 ◼   ► use the one thing because I figured that these would just be

01:12:03 ◼   ► the same kind of thing, right?

01:12:05 ◼   ► Like text, social media in a way.

01:12:08 ◼   ► But I have actually come to over time,

01:12:11 ◼   ► value them both differently for what I want from them.

01:12:16 ◼   ► So I consider Mastodon to be mostly where my quote,

01:12:21 ◼   ► unquote people are, right?

01:12:25 ◼   ► It's where the nerds are, it's where the people talking

01:12:28 ◼   ► about computers can be found.

01:12:30 ◼   ► Like in the way that I think of it to be.

01:12:34 ◼   ► Because I get lots of computer conversation on Threads,

01:12:37 ◼   ► but it's really different.

01:12:39 ◼   ► And I'll come back to why in a minute.

01:12:41 ◼   ► But like Mastodon is, you know, a non algorithmic timeline

01:12:45 ◼   ► with the people that I've chosen to follow

01:12:47 ◼   ► and the thoughts that they have.

01:12:49 ◼   ► And it's by and large people I know,

01:12:51 ◼   ► like have personal relationships with

01:12:53 ◼   ► are the people that I follow on Mastodon.

01:12:56 ◼   ► And I have a very small following list compared to any

01:12:59 ◼   ► of these other types of services I've used in the past,

01:13:02 ◼   ► or any social media app that I've used in the past.

01:13:04 ◼   ► And, you know, maybe I'll check in on it

01:13:06 ◼   ► a couple of times a day or whatever

01:13:08 ◼   ► and just read what's there.

01:13:10 ◼   ► It is where I get the most show follow up, you know,

01:13:13 ◼   ► like people sending me things.

01:13:14 ◼   ► But we actually did a really good job

01:13:16 ◼   ► when I left Twitter a couple of years ago

01:13:19 ◼   ► and was not sure whether I was gonna use any

01:13:21 ◼   ► of these kinds of services,

01:13:23 ◼   ► really kind of promoting the feedback forms,

01:13:25 ◼   ► which is where we get all these questions.

01:13:27 ◼   ► And that is how I like to get my show feedback

01:13:29 ◼   ► because I go and look once a week or whatever, right?

01:13:34 ◼   ► And like collect all the feedback up.

01:13:36 ◼   ► And like that is just a way better system for me

01:13:39 ◼   ► for that kind of work.

01:13:41 ◼   ► But that, you know, I feel like Mastodon is where

01:13:45 ◼   ► most of the stuff related to podcasting

01:13:48 ◼   ► and the topics that I cover is there.

01:13:51 ◼   ► Threads, I kind of see differently.

01:13:53 ◼   ► Threads, I use as an algorithmic app.

01:13:57 ◼   ► Lots of people just, you know, they say,

01:13:59 ◼   ► "Oh, I just want my following feed."

01:14:00 ◼   ► No, I want the Threads algorithm to just serve me stuff

01:14:05 ◼   ► based on the interests that it knows that I have

01:14:08 ◼   ► because of Instagram.

01:14:09 ◼   ► So like I get tons of stuff about F1

01:14:13 ◼   ► from accounts that I don't follow

01:14:14 ◼   ► and I don't want to follow, but I get it.

01:14:17 ◼   ► And I like that Threads has a,

01:14:19 ◼   ► I think that their tools for managing the algorithm

01:14:21 ◼   ► are better than anything I've used before.

01:14:23 ◼   ► If I don't like a post, you just swipe it away

01:14:26 ◼   ► and it learns from you.

01:14:27 ◼   ► And I find that to be right for me.

01:14:29 ◼   ► And so again, like the types of things that I see on Threads

01:14:34 ◼   ► that are about computers are like totally different in vibe.

01:14:37 ◼   ► So like we were talking about the Mac Mini

01:14:39 ◼   ► and Vision Pro thing earlier.

01:14:42 ◼   ► The only people I really saw talking about that

01:14:44 ◼   ► were people on Threads.

01:14:45 ◼   ► And I consider these as more like content creator-y

01:14:49 ◼   ► kinds of posts, which are not really what I see

01:14:51 ◼   ► from most of my friends, right?

01:14:53 ◼   ► Like it's people who want to be like tech content creators

01:14:57 ◼   ► on social media, right?

01:14:58 ◼   ► Which is a different kind of vibe to the people in my life.

01:15:03 ◼   ► - Right, 'cause from the way you're describing it,

01:15:04 ◼   ► it feels like Mastodon is a little bit like

01:15:06 ◼   ► the social media of old in a way.

01:15:09 ◼   ► And so when you said, oh, with the Mac Mini thing,

01:15:12 ◼   ► I kind of assumed that you were gonna come across it

01:15:15 ◼   ► on Mastodon, but I guess that makes sense

01:15:16 ◼   ► because the Mac Mini plus Vision thing

01:15:20 ◼   ► is much more like a stunt.

01:15:22 ◼   ► So that's why you're seeing it on Threads

01:15:23 ◼   ► because it's like, oh, this is a thing

01:15:25 ◼   ► that an influencer is doing to specifically say,

01:15:29 ◼   ► look at this cool thing that has visual appeal.

01:15:33 ◼   ► - Exactly. - Okay, right.

01:15:34 ◼   ► - And also like my Threads algorithm serves to me

01:15:37 ◼   ► a lot of like people who are building their first apps

01:15:41 ◼   ► and they're really interesting.

01:15:42 ◼   ► I get a lot of that kind of content too.

01:15:46 ◼   ► And it's because I interact with the algorithm in a way.

01:15:49 ◼   ► I am a serial liker of content.

01:15:52 ◼   ► I've always been this way.

01:15:53 ◼   ► I put likes on everything.

01:15:55 ◼   ► If I find something even mildly interesting, I like it.

01:16:00 ◼   ► But my biggest thing that I cannot believe in myself

01:16:04 ◼   ► that has maintained is I have 15 minute app limit on both.

01:16:08 ◼   ► And that's what I use.

01:16:09 ◼   ► And most days I don't even care.

01:16:10 ◼   ► - Wow, you're still sticking with that.

01:16:12 ◼   ► That's impressive actually.

01:16:13 ◼   ► - And that's been hugely important

01:16:14 ◼   ► because I was spending hours a day on Twitter,

01:16:19 ◼   ► which was not good.

01:16:20 ◼   ► And so when I started using these services,

01:16:22 ◼   ► I kind of was saying to myself, right,

01:16:24 ◼   ► look, you're gonna use these tools

01:16:27 ◼   ► for a limited amount of time every day,

01:16:29 ◼   ► unless there is a specific reason why you wouldn't.

01:16:32 ◼   ► Like there are big news days or like days

01:16:36 ◼   ► where I am doing something which requires

01:16:39 ◼   ► a lot of social media engagement.

01:16:41 ◼   ► And on those days I will say like,

01:16:42 ◼   ► no, the timer is, you know, whatever.

01:16:44 ◼   ► Or like, you know, there's something going on.

01:16:46 ◼   ► Like maybe it's an Apple event day, right?

01:16:48 ◼   ► Well, I'm gonna blow past the 15 minutes on that.

01:16:50 ◼   ► So I will just get rid of it for that day.

01:16:53 ◼   ► But by and large, most days and my screen time

01:16:57 ◼   ► tells the story, like I'm using text-based social media

01:17:02 ◼   ► for no more than 30 minutes of my day,

01:17:04 ◼   ► which I think is great.

01:17:05 ◼   ► And so I think for me now,

01:17:08 ◼   ► like considering these two tools differently

01:17:11 ◼   ► where I have one which is like early days of social media

01:17:15 ◼   ► and then one which is like,

01:17:16 ◼   ► I just lean into what social media companies

01:17:20 ◼   ► want social media to be, which is all algorithmic.

01:17:22 ◼   ► I think that's a pretty nice balance

01:17:24 ◼   ► 'cause I use them differently.

01:17:25 ◼   ► I think about them differently.

01:17:27 ◼   ► And also I find what's really interesting

01:17:29 ◼   ► is my audience engages very differently.

01:17:31 ◼   ► So like, let's say I post something work-related,

01:17:35 ◼   ► like say a personal achievement or whatever in work.

01:17:38 ◼   ► I post it to both platforms.

01:17:40 ◼   ► I get more likes and re-shares on threads,

01:17:44 ◼   ► but more replies on Mastodon.

01:17:46 ◼   ► Don't know why that is, but I find that very interesting.

01:17:51 ◼   ► I don't really have an idea as to why that's occurring,

01:17:54 ◼   ► but it's just a thing that I noticed.

01:17:56 ◼   ► - It's like if there's the more computer-y people

01:17:58 ◼   ► on Mastodon, I feel like,

01:18:00 ◼   ► ah, those are the more technically correct kind of people

01:18:03 ◼   ► that feels like they're the people

01:18:04 ◼   ► who are much more likely to add a comment.

01:18:07 ◼   ► Whereas it's like places select for different kinds of people

01:18:11 ◼   ► and so maybe everybody who's on threads

01:18:13 ◼   ► is using it much more like you.

01:18:14 ◼   ► They're just there to like a bunch of stuff

01:18:17 ◼   ► and they're not there to talk.

01:18:18 ◼   ► They're not there for any of the details.

01:18:20 ◼   ► They just like, they want the algorithm to show them stuff

01:18:22 ◼   ► and that's what they're there for.

01:18:23 ◼   ► - They just like to like, like I do.

01:18:25 ◼   ► - They just like to like.

01:18:26 ◼   ► I'm happy that a year on, it seems like you have

01:18:29 ◼   ► found yourself in a good place with your social media.

01:18:31 ◼   ► That is, in the modern world, quite an achievement.

01:18:35 ◼   ► - Let me make you feel terrible for a moment.

01:18:37 ◼   ► It's two years on.

01:18:39 ◼   ► - Time flies when you're checking your social media.

01:18:42 ◼   ► - Cortex sense.

01:18:45 ◼   ► We're gonna let you know about something we do

01:18:46 ◼   ► just once a year, which is offer a discount on Moretex.

01:18:51 ◼   ► What is Moretex, you may ask?

01:18:54 ◼   ► It is a longer ad-free version of this show.

01:18:57 ◼   ► Every episode of Cortex, you can get ad-free,

01:19:00 ◼   ► including an ad-free back catalogue with extra content

01:19:03 ◼   ► at the end of every episode.

01:19:05 ◼   ► This is a 20% off an annual plan.

01:19:07 ◼   ► It is available until December 18th.

01:19:10 ◼   ► There'll be a link in the show notes

01:19:12 ◼   ► or you can use the code 2024holidays

01:19:15 ◼   ► at checkout@getmoretex.com.

01:19:18 ◼   ► So let me tell you about what you get

01:19:20 ◼   ► if you sign up for Moretex.

01:19:22 ◼   ► So you get ad-free, no ads in the show,

01:19:24 ◼   ► including the entire back catalogue of the show without ads.

01:19:28 ◼   ► I went back and remastered all of them.

01:19:30 ◼   ► They're actually in higher quality too

01:19:32 ◼   ► because I started encoding episodes in a higher quality

01:19:36 ◼   ► at a certain point, so I went back

01:19:37 ◼   ► and did that for Moretex.

01:19:39 ◼   ► All of the ads are taken out for the entire back catalogue.

01:19:41 ◼   ► You get the extra content at the end of every episode.

01:19:44 ◼   ► You get access to all of the previous ones.

01:19:46 ◼   ► There's now over 50 episodes of the show

01:19:48 ◼   ► that have a bonus segment at the end,

01:19:50 ◼   ► which is only for Moretexans.

01:19:51 ◼   ► I really liked what we did for the state of the apps

01:19:54 ◼   ► where the two of us went through

01:19:56 ◼   ► and we took a look at Gray's original state

01:19:59 ◼   ► of the apps post from 2014 and went through

01:20:02 ◼   ► and spoke about if or what of any of the apps

01:20:05 ◼   ► that Gray is using now, right?

01:20:06 ◼   ► That was a lot of fun.

01:20:07 ◼   ► I like this one. - Yeah.

01:20:08 ◼   ► Who were the survivors?

01:20:09 ◼   ► Quite surprising, actually.

01:20:11 ◼   ► - That was a really fun Moretex segment,

01:20:13 ◼   ► which is only available to Moretexans,

01:20:15 ◼   ► but we also have a ton of other bonus content

01:20:17 ◼   ► that you get access to.

01:20:18 ◼   ► So the Lord of the Rings specials

01:20:21 ◼   ► that we recorded earlier this year

01:20:23 ◼   ► where the two of us went and watched

01:20:25 ◼   ► the Lord of the Rings movies, me for the first time,

01:20:27 ◼   ► and we recorded an episode about each of them.

01:20:29 ◼   ► There's over five hours of discussion

01:20:31 ◼   ► about the Lord of the Rings, if that is of interest to you.

01:20:34 ◼   ► - I mean, no surprise here.

01:20:36 ◼   ► That's one of my favorite things that we've done in years.

01:20:38 ◼   ► I'm genuinely really happy with the way those came out

01:20:41 ◼   ► and I feel like I'm just gonna sell it here.

01:20:44 ◼   ► I think because of you, Mike,

01:20:46 ◼   ► it is a uniquely interesting discussion.

01:20:49 ◼   ► It's like I have consumed a ton

01:20:51 ◼   ► of Lord of the Rings content in my life

01:20:53 ◼   ► and listened to a lot of discussions,

01:20:55 ◼   ► but I have never heard a discussion with someone like you

01:20:59 ◼   ► who was so unfamiliar with the series.

01:21:02 ◼   ► Like it was interesting for me to participate in

01:21:04 ◼   ► and I think it makes really interesting listening.

01:21:06 ◼   ► So I am gonna sell those episodes

01:21:09 ◼   ► as like I think they are great for more text.

01:21:13 ◼   ► - You also get another 15 hours of bonus episodes

01:21:17 ◼   ► that we've done over the years

01:21:18 ◼   ► from text adventures to RPG specials,

01:21:21 ◼   ► as well as the benefits that every relay member gets.

01:21:24 ◼   ► So you get access to our relay member discord

01:21:26 ◼   ► and monthly bonus content from relay hosts and wallpapers.

01:21:30 ◼   ► So the Cortex wallpaper that was on my Cortex brand iPad

01:21:35 ◼   ► is a wallpaper available for relay members.

01:21:38 ◼   ► So you can get 20% off an annual plan.

01:21:41 ◼   ► So you get access to all of this content

01:21:43 ◼   ► and for the next whole year.

01:21:45 ◼   ► So you can get 20% off.

01:21:46 ◼   ► It's available until December 16th.

01:21:48 ◼   ► There's a link in the show notes that you can click in it.

01:21:50 ◼   ► We'll pre-fill it for you,

01:21:51 ◼   ► or you can use the code 2024holidays

01:21:53 ◼   ► at checkout@getmoretext.com.