 Five four three The Mac observers Mackie gap episode 890 special Apple event edition for Tuesday, September 14th, 2021 Welcome to the Mac observers Mackie gap the show where you send in usually you send in your questions your tips your cool stuff found today We're gonna learn five new things by dissecting what we just heard about at the Apple event we're not gonna recap it because Because you can do that you can go and watch it yourself, and maybe you have already watched it But we are here to share our thoughts and reactions. We always say these could go 20 minutes They could go an hour and 20 minutes I'm curious to see where this one goes, but for now here in Durham, New Hampshire. I'm Dave Hamilton And here in Fairfield, Connecticut with no upcoming natural disasters that I know about this is John Laughin' about natural disasters since 19. I don't know whatever So Let's talk about this you are in Connecticut I'm in in New Hampshire, but Apple's event was California streaming and they streamed from all over California They used all kinds of different locations and stages and and not stages and makeshift stages and all of that stuff Which made it really interesting and fun to watch All the different backdrops and everything so it is worth watching. It was very scenic this time around more so than than others I think the only person that was in the Steve Jobs Theater was Tim Cook if If I'm remembering but I wasn't taking those kinds of notes So I could be and and you know I gotta say I saw more than one person So I was on Twitter during our live coverage Which? live.macobserver.com ah Thank you. Um, but anyways, I saw more than one person that was Following or not following us saying, you know what? These events are actually pretty well done. Oh, do I miss the in-person thing and and The majority of people that I follow were like, I don't know if I really need it Yeah, no they the the pacing is so much better when I mean look They're they're creating the pacing of these events as opposed to having to plan for it But then sort of just deal with it in real time when you have an audience and live things happening and people walking at different speeds On and off the stage and all of that right and and the other thing is the the number of people that I've Learned about as far as what they do in Apple They do an excellent job in these presentations. I'm like who's this person like there was a brawn, you know Hey, I'm a brawn and she's a brawn One of the product managers. It was Lauren brawn talking about the Apple watch. That's right. Wow. Yeah. Hey Yeah, I didn't know about you before now. I do so um, so yeah Yeah, no, I like that they that they they I agree with you. I agree that it's and they get a lot of more people on stage so you get a better feeling of What's happening? Behind the scenes. I agree these versus the on-stage events. So I agree I liked it from from that lens now. There are other lenses which we're going to talk about sure sure Uh, yeah, so let but let's talk about these things because it it and and you know Apple has their order We have ours. I would very much like to start with the iPad mini Uh, which I think is the biggest Certainly the the the device that has The most change that we are seeing for this and man like that device really makes me Like that's the thing that I am going to order first. In fact, I should have already ordered it But instead I'm doing this show. So hopefully there are some left But um, but yeah that iPad mini that's a that's a pretty pretty interesting thing We have uh, let's see. I'm looking at it here. So we do this show audio and video as many listeners probably know We really try to prioritize The audio portion of this since most of you are are listening With these reaction shows we sometimes will allow ourselves the opportunity to to focus on the video But I am sharing some of the images that I captured from the Um from the event including Apple always puts out these feature grids Which I really really like because it it allows us to see all of the things that they have put into these devices And the iPad mini feature grid of course starts with it being an 8.3 inch Display edge to edge. They it still got touch ID, which they moved to the bezel Like they did with the uh with the other which I like correct. No I'm I'm still torn on Apple's hesitancy to offer I'll say right now. It's kind of a mess. Okay, and that's just my personal opinion What part of it's a mess in what I think is a mess is that there is a You either have touch ID or face ID Correct, and it's kind of willy-nilly as far as what technology they offer no Apple device that I know of offers both I wish they could but they don't as yet They could I don't think they will I think devices that move to face ID will remain face ID But you know say I mean face ID you've got to put more Uh more sensors in to do that right and so I think it's a I think it's a cost thing as well as You know you don't want to have to dedicate part of the bezel to face ID with an iPad Which you're going to be putting, you know multiple hands on and that sort of thing So it's not as awkward. I I think I think it's I think there's a lot of thought put into Would touch ID be be awkward on this device and on a phone It you know without a if you had to touch the top of your phone right because the home button's gone Right, so they're putting it in the bezel when they do these edge-to-edge things like they have here with the iPad mini so the question is is there a an awkward use case For having to touch the edge of the device to wake it up and with a phone I think that's like a resounding yes Right, you just want to be able to pull the phone out of your pocket And have it unlocked and look at it and and so there you go face ID Right, but whereas with the iPad, you know, it's a two-handed device for most of us So to to have to touch the button That's not that big of a deal. You're not, you know, it's not the same function And and and user experience that you would have with a with a phone So I think that's where your that's where the difference comes from I I don't I I think it might seem willy-nilly But I don't think it's willy-nilly and in fact, I think if you had Touch ID versus face ID versions of all of their devices, which you know, they have built right, you know, at least to mock up I think you would find that they are making the choice that's that's based on the You know on the on the smoothest wake up experience Whatever they call it But yeah, I this 8.3 inch screen the fact that it supports apple pencil 2 The fact that it's using usb c so all of those accessories Like, you know, you want to plug it into a hard drive You want to plug it into ethernet you want to do fast charging all of power delivery, right? All of that stuff now is available to the ipad mini it it effectively has become, you know, an ipad pro mini with uh with all of that which I really really like so so You know, uh, although although the ipad pro has face id if memory serves me and and of course the ipad mini doesn't So it's you know, it still sits in between but yeah, and uh, what else uh 5g right and and they put 5g in it. Yeah Yeah, that's which is weird. I get a say because last I checked. I don't think my ipad air fourth generation. Is it I don't think it supports 5g Oh So it's kind of interesting that the mini now does now Eventually, I'm sure they're going to migrate all of the ipads to support 5g because of course. Well, why not duh Yeah, of course technologically possible, but I understand segmentation and yeah, sure But um, but yeah, I'm with you in that the uh, the the mini I think was the most significant Upgrade the other things we're going to talk about shortly Were I think more incremental, but this was like wow they they you know fixed all the problems Issues that a lot of people would be like yeah, yeah Why would I buy this because it has all this old technology and and they they they fix that so they fixed it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah Yeah, you're right. The ipad air is is lte not not 5g. I you know, I'm In and of course, you know, I look at the world as we all do through our own lens I'm less and less I see less and less utility for an ipad to have of A cellular radio in it when most people have seen to have Mobile plans on their phones that support tethering So it's like does it make does it make economic sense to a pay extra for those radios in your ipad and then b Pay extra for service on that ipad and I suppose it depends on how you're using it But you know at least certainly for me and with most people that I encounter and again I know the plural of anecdote is not data However, you know, I I I rarely encounter someone Who in person anyway who says oh, yeah, thank goodness I have you know a cellular radio in my or mobile radio in my in my ipad, but I'm sure you're out there and you're gonna let us know feedback at mackeykeb.com I would love to hear those use cases so But yeah, I would too, Dave, but did you say feedback at mackeykeb.com? I said feedback at mackeykeb.com Yeah, yeah, so I I am I am very likely to order a new ipad mini But we'll talk about our actually we'll talk about our shopping list at the end of this as we talk through after we talk through everything So I will I I apologize. I retract my statement. I will issue something later all right, so We have the ipad mini There is the ipad itself, uh, which You know has seen a moderate update. It uses the first gen apple pencil. It's got the 10.2 inch display I don't know. I like this didn't really do anything for me. Um No, I think it's like, okay. It's got you know, a newer chip. It has a better camera. Okay. Yes, we expect this Sure, uh center stage. Okay. All right. That that's kind of yeah center exactly looks very impressive For those that are not cinematographers to well no center stage center stage is not the cinematography features center stage is the feature that Uh auto focuses the FaceTime camera so aka the one that's facing you on you And center stage is really built for FaceTime calls zoom calls, you know all of those meetings So I think this device is very much focused primarily on education would be my guess and and putting that 12 megapixel center stage camera on the You know on the front of it if you will the the the part that faces you when you're looking at the screen that allows people to to be more effective On like zoom calls if they have to take classes over over zoom or you know think meetings over zoom and things like that So I think I think that's where center stage really shines and that's fine. Okay. Yeah Yeah, it's all right. That that was my take was it it it allows you to make better videos, but Better video you're in 10. Yes. You're you're You're in uh, I'll agree with your intent. Yeah. Yeah, they it's not really built for filming videos It's built for those calls is what center stage is really Really engineered for all right. Let's talk about um iphone 13 To me that was the that was sort of the next thing on the uh, the list here because that is That is um To me that the the the not pro iphone 13 is the thing that really sort of stood out to me is the next thing on the list Uh, I'm kind of blown away with with well, I'm blown away. I'm happy I don't want to say I'm blown away. I'm happy that they are retaining the mini size Um, because I I am super happy with the mini as a size I know that they're not selling lots of them. I'm a little worried that This might be the last of the minis that we see And I I I had hoped that they would have made the mini a pro iphone not a regular iphone To see if more people would buy the mini if it came with the better cameras That was that was sort of my you know my my selfish hope Because I thought maybe that would preserve the mini size going forward Um, I'm with you on that. So yeah, I like like you. I like the mini form factor. Um, so now So they now have two models. So it's the iphone 13 the iphone 13 mini which the last they checked I believe there are four models of the iphone 12. Is that correct? I thought well, um, no, there's the 12 and the 12 mini and then the 12 pro and the 12 pro max So, okay, so there are four their four models the same, so they've Kind of limited It To two models, right? No, this is exactly the same as what it was with the 12 that we had the 12 and the 12 mini And then we had the 12 pro and the 12 pro max and with the 13 We had the we have the 13 and the 13 mini and then the 13 pro and the 13 pro max So it's it's the same. I missed it's the same as what we saw last year. Yeah Yeah, there is the the pro bifurcation of the You know the pro or not pro bifurcation and there's two on either side of that line so um you know, but this um The the 13 better battery life because largely because of the the the new chip in there I I think is the you know, I think that's the big change That allows better battery life is is right the a15 the a15 dionic. That's right. Yeah Yeah, so and the display Brighter display they call it the super retina xdr display. Yeah, 28 brighter. Hmm. I know it's always good. Yeah Yeah, 800 nits is the outdoor brightness, which is I mean that's pretty good Uh, we will it's the a15 bionic now is a six core cpu with two high performance and four high efficiency cores and then Uh, how how many gpu cores did it have four gp four core gpu? It's a six core cpu four core gpu. Right, right is what's in it and then a 16 core neural engine And i'm just going through my notes here I'm sharing them on the video if you want to watch along But these are the notes I took um, I called them the notes I took they are Actually the things that I posted to live blog dot mac observer dot com, but they make for great notes Uh, so, uh, yeah the the the a15 bionic You know better faster. I I like the um You know, they they it's a 12 megapixel wide camera And then a 12 megapixel ultra wide camera on the back of the While the iphone and the iphone mini so the two non pro models um and they've got Sensor shift across the lineup, which is pretty good that new stabilization sensor Which yeah, and what else yeah 1.7 microns sensor 47 percent more light so Bigger and better Yeah, the cameras get and this might be what you were talking about before john The cameras across the board get cinematic mode, which which I you know I I I do I both do and don't buy my iphone for the camera. It is the camera. I use it's the only camera I use I'm not a crazy picture taking person Um, but I like to have a decent camera with me. And so, you know, will I be using cinematic mode? Me probably not Uh, you know, I'm not going to be filming movies on my phone But but it was a cool little demo that they showed uh with the Uh, you know with the with the cinematic mode It's worth it's worth watching where it it's doing some intelligent tracking Essentially think about it as portrait mode For video. That's that's sort of the right right way to look at it. Um, but yeah, the thing is I don't know about you, but I'm Not convinced. I need to upgrade to the 13. I'm pretty happy with my we're gonna talk about our shopping list at the end of this Okay, sorry. Okay, so I know now we're both breaking the rules here. It's like we both. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but yeah well perhaps the the way to To acknowledge that is to say the upgrade Certainly the upgrade to the ipad mini. That's a that's a huge evolution of that product. Yes. This is um The iphone 12 mini the iphone 12 slash mini to the iphone 13 slash mini Is an incremental upgrade, right? It's got some some it's got some things, but it's not huge For sure. So yeah, I'm I I I agree with that sentiment Um, so yeah Is there anything to talk about on the iphone 13's pro here? You know, they spent a lot of time. It was great. I got to catch up on my notes They spent a lot of time talking about the cameras on this thing Uh, they couldn't stop talking about the cameras on this thing. It was a little bit much if If you ask me but the you know that like the display got better That's up to a thousand nits outdoor resolution now, right? uh and and the the uh promotion which goes up to 120 hertz but but also slows down To keep that to maintain battery life or to preserve battery life like that I thought on the display that was actually kind of a nice thing to see them do And uh three x optical zoom on the 13 pro for people that care about that with their that like that's That's pretty impressive. That is a big deal and I got to tell you because I have what I'm going to call a uh Uh What do they call it travel pro class camera that has 30x optical zoom I use it mostly for Um Shooting wildlife because if you get too close they flee in terror Makes perfect sense. Yeah, and the thing is uh, there is a class of cameras like I think now I have I think it's a Nikon s 700 But there are a lot of cameras that have this having any form of optical zoom On the iphone to me was a big deal because I've taken some pretty good shots And the the the other thing that they introduced was when they introduced the image stabilization That's the other thing is that if you don't have that and you don't have good optical zoom You're gonna take terrible pictures, right, right? Sorry unless you're really good or you have a tripod or something like that so then Because you look at it Dave the lens on this thing is itty bitty teeny weeny You know not like these, you know big boy cameras that you know are like They're big so for them to engineer this into a lens that is like so small is is amazing in in my opinion Yeah, I I agree. Yeah. No, it's good and the uh the pro max will go up to 6x optical zoom Which yeah, I which is pretty impressive. So, you know, definitely uh You know if if cameras are your thing What they've done and continue to do with the pro is pretty impressive That really is the differentiator there though, right is is pro means, you know, you're getting the better cameras for sure And like remarkably better cameras Arguably better cameras than most people need but That I mean but not everyone and that's the point perhaps of the pro you do get some better battery life uh it um Like I said, oh we talked about pro res video Yeah, and pro motion that right on the on the display Which actually we didn't talk about pro is video. Sorry we talked about pro motion Pro res video is coming via software upgrade later the hardware is in there the software is coming later. So um Anything more on the pro No, I think we're good. Okay, and uh, I want to talk to fitness plus. Yes, because that that to me was the next And perhaps even more important than the iphone was fitness plus The the things that they've added here to fitness plus are really impressive Uh, the well the first was was pilates that I mean that's a big deal A lot of people really enjoy that pilates workout And I know I know People who you know wound up going back to the gym because they couldn't do the pilates thing on fitness plus Clearly apple heard the same thing and so problem solved pilates and fitness plus Uh meditation To the fitness plus that caught my eye guided meditation. I'm like, what is that? Yeah, I've never heard of that before and I know you and I know you and one of our sponsors actually but um Meditation is something that you're into. I'm not really into but it's like Maybe this will convince me to kind of get into it. Yeah guided meditation is a it's a fantastic way to get into meditation And even if you're a seasoned meditator guided meditation is awesome It's it's nice to have something to focus on someone to sort of Guide you through the you know a different type of meditation or just a different journey And so I'm I'm impressed with what they're doing and I'm glad that they're offering it as both a video option But also an audio only option So you can sort of do it where you might not have a screen to watch Because usually there's not a whole lot to watch With a uh, you know with a with a meditation, right? Like that's kind of This was something that they did along with some of their other services, which we'll talk about shortly. Um Is there enough value in Purchasing this Oh for 10 bucks a month man, you're not gonna. I'm saying before this Oh Fitness plus actually fitness plus is less than 10 bucks a month, right? Okay, but I I never had an urge to purchase it um Yeah, it's I mean, I don't sit at home all day. I mean I do get out and walk and hike and and you know Right about sure stuff like that. But but still uh, uh, I think this will push some people over the edge saying Okay. Oh, you're offering meditation. All right. Well, let's yeah, let's nice to pack it all in together now I I agree. Yeah the I mean, we're we're apple one subscribers in our house So, you know, we we get it all anyway It's cheaper for us to be apple one subscribers than it than it is not to Even though we don't use all of the services the ones that we do use it winds up being less expensive to do it that way I still have to do uh I'll play a count and figure out the thing is you don't have to charlotte already did it for you There's posts on on mac observer with charts and and you you just go through and you're like yep This is what I do and at the end it'll tell you are you saving money with apple one or not? Yep So right and I will I probably do yeah because I do iCloud. I don't do apple music nor do I need to so Okay, I'll I'll I'll check. Yeah, I can already tell you that if you're not doing both iCloud and apple music Then apple one will not economically make sense. However, it may be the thing where you say well, I'm interested in fitness plus You know, I already do iCloud Maybe, you know, maybe it's only going to cost me an extra, you know $4 a month to wind up adding, you know apple one and then I get music and the other things that I want So like it may be uh, it the cost delta may be low enough for you that you say oh this actually would be worth it so But yeah, I was impressed. So guided meditation Super smart that they're doing these seasonally focused workouts. They were talking about you know workouts to get ready for snow season So that you can you know get your legs in shape for skiing and all that good stuff Really smart to do these these seasonally focused things and then group workouts Where you can work out with someone that's not In your home that it like like actual humans, you know, not just apples teachers who are great by the way their workouts are I I encourage you john, but really everyone listening Do a fitness plus workout on your tv like go through do one pick one of the quick ones 10 minute workout whatever it is My guess is you if you're like me Uh and like lots of other people you will find it a whole lot more fun Than you thought you would and often what happens You're like, I'm just too tired to do it a 30 minute workout So I'm just going to do 10 you do 10 and then you're like, oh well now I'm like energized in a week I'll do a 15-minute workout by the time you're done You've done 35 minutes of workout and you like you're good to go And heading into the winter where you know be getting outside and certainly for me riding my bike become impossible The apple fitness plus it was great last winter and my guess is I'll wind up using it more this winter too, but But those group workouts I could john you and I could do group workouts man. There you go Yeah, all right. All right. I'll Put it on my calendar get right on that. That's right All right, uh Okay, so Apple watch series seven Okay, that's next on our list You know, I um All right, I'm not an apple watch guys So I'm gonna let you uh, but I'll look at my notes to see if there was anything fantastic Like I mean, I think like you I think you said earlier. I mean it's incremental it does More things better or but you know, is it like a mindblower? I I think it I think for people who have an apple watch this um The the way they are the functionality that comes with this larger screen Will probably be a mindblower having a keyboard that you can tap and type on on the watch screen for those moments You know, I certainly wouldn't plan on using it all the time, but there are You know, probably once a week. There's a moment where it's like dang it. Okay. Yep fine I you know, I I can't Do the thing that I need to do on my watch because I need a keyboard so I have to pull out my phone or whatever Having that keyboard on there will I think make a big difference Um, and and it's you know, it's just a slightly larger screen that that makes that possible. Yeah No, I I see my notes here are more screen area smaller borders Um charges faster usbc again and usbc. So that's and you know, um Um Someday I think all apple. I mean the only holdout right now is the iphone, right? That's correct lightning. That's correct but I think every uh, and I mean, I'm sure somewhere in a smoke filled room at apple. They're like, okay We've got to get everything on usbc guys. I mean, come on. You know, I think the phone is too thin to get on usbc Um, I I think I mean, I think that's apple's feeling is they want to keep the phone too thin to be on usbc Personally, I would take a slightly thicker phone with more battery and usbc But that's just you know, dave's focused world. Oh, no, I I I agree with you. Yeah I mean Number one, you're going to crash the market for people that make lightning accessories or you know They're not going to be happy that hasn't really ever been a Uh An expansive concern of apples. Let's put it that way, right? Yeah So I I I don't think I've got a series five watch That series five watch for me replaced an og watch. We don't even call it series zero. I don't think Maybe we call it series zero now, but it's not series one and uh And I'm very happy with the upgrade from og to five I'm I'm still very happy with my series five watch The I'm I'm I'm not well, we'll talk about shopping lists in a minute But it's it's this isn't a simple purchase decision for me. Let me put it that way But you know the faster charging If I were to want to track my sleep That starts to become a really interesting scenario where you know, you can charge it for what did they say? Like eight minutes or something is enough to to charge it to to get to track for eight hours of sleep So that idea of it doesn't need to be charging all night I I kind of like that. So, you know, um, it's there I don't wear anything when I sleep not not a watch and not anything else. So I I'm just I'm not I don't know that um, you know, but well, you know, but I I don't know that I would ever be comfortable sleeping with Of device on I don't know. I mean I'm I get used to it, of course People get used to wearing, you know, the the masks for Uh for how what's the c-pap stuff and all that? So, I mean, I'm certain I'm sure I could get used to wearing a watch if I wanted to track my sleep, but All right, personally I I wear my mechanical Watch all the time I don't take it off. I'll take on my glasses though because yes sleeping your watch is quartz, right? That's time x. Yeah time x quartz, uh, quartz. Okay Uh analog watch mechanical in the horology world generally implies That it is not quartz Okay, that's that's all but but I get what you're I get what you're saying like it's it's not a digital watch It's a and you know, it has it has a movement in it. Yeah the hands. Yeah, it's got hands that move It's funny though, I've spoken to some people especially The younger folk. Yeah that I've interacted with and some of them are like What's that? Yeah, interesting on a watch I had a digital watches of course, man, but but I just like you So I think you have a collection of What I'll call mechanical or analog watches. Yeah And they're almost works of art even this the time x I would say is not a work of art But it's elegant and it's easy You know, we were taught to read time from a clock on the wall or a watch Not a digital display. I think about time In it with the hands of an analog clock like if you tell me it's 215 I am literally picturing 215 in my head and and I can I think about all right Well, I have you know 45 minutes to three o'clock and I I visualize what that is So even on my apple watch my display is always with hands I never look at it digitally because that doesn't make sense to me. I have to do the translation in my head So, yeah, so you're right. I was taught to think about and there was even it was funny The other day I was in line at the store and a guy asked me he's like what time is it and I'll make 20 of 10 Yeah, or 20 of one And it was just like I just made that conversion in my brain because that's how I was taught to read time That's how you think about him. Yeah, yeah, he understood me though, which was good. He wasn't like, huh? That's good iOS 15 is required for I believe all of the things we have talked about so far apple to my knowledge during the event did not announce a release date for iOS 15, but it Lots of little bits of information that have come in Uh Indicate that it will be Monday September 9 20. Yeah, Monday, September 20th And then if you go to apple.com slash. Yeah, the apple has a page and they're saying available 9 20. So Okay, you're you're I think we're on the same page here. iOS 15 iOS 15. I'm looking here. We are well, we can all look we can we can do this together Available 9 20. There you go. Yep. Okay. Perfect. So iOS 15 comes out Monday 9 20 I can take the question mark out of the show notes All of these devices Well, iPhones will start arriving on the 24th. Happy birthday, Dave and uh and I the iPads iPads will start arriving possibly even earlier than that. So And I'm told that iOS 15 release candidate Is now out. So I will update my devices Yeah, all right, cool While we're here, john You do you have any You have not been playing with iOS 15. Do you have any questions about iOS 15? That we can talk about here because I I you know, this will be Uh, potentially the last episode that people hear before Uh before they Um, right. Um, I think so. What has your experience been? So the most compelling thing that I saw was the sharing ability Whether it be tv shows or news or faced Shareplay, I think is what I call it. Yeah. Um, that to me seems to be the most compelling Additional feature at the moment. I mean, there's you know, moji's and messages and and and stuff like that But to me, that's the most compelling feature. So what what what is your feedback on? I well, I I don't or your experience with that. Yeah, I've messed with it a little bit. I mean, it's It's an interesting thing most of the apps aren't there yet So that feature isn't as testable as it will be when it's in the wild and everybody has those devices So I really don't have a lot of hands on with that just because of the the the state of the thing All right. So how about all right? So the next on the list is apparently the notification Structure has been Yep Updated what has what's your reaction to that? Apparently they they allow much better filtering and notifications that you want to see and you don't want to see Yeah, you I mean you have to spend a little bit of time massaging it but it even by default it starts to Do a better job of coalescing notifications together notifications look different. They they I mean, they're they're basically the same But there is a different look to notifications. And then of course, there's the whole focus system where you can tell it Uh, you know, when I'm at this level of focus, I only want notifications from you know, that match these filters and these other filters and and that that can be a really handy little thing I I am You know, the so yes the new notifications thing It makes is a whole lot more intuitive. I think the focus thing feels to me like They want me to spend time Managing how I don't want to spend my time Right, it reminds me of The gtd system for to dos where half of your life You've got to spend managing your to-do list so that you can be efficient with your to-do list And it's like well do that How about if I just keep one list and I just do it, you know It kind of feels like that get what you're saying because And it's actually kind of surprising because apple now I mean in this presentation and past ones they go all on about machine learning and and machine learning In theory should be able to figure this out. It's like what does dave or john do At this time and all that or what what interactions do they have with their mac or i device? Yeah, and should I pay attention to it or not? Yeah, that's not machine learning right machine learning is when you take huge data or ai ai Right ai ml whatever right ai is a is a better But you're right it and it I mean our devices do that already right if they took that out we would notice it um And and they you know, they do sort of figure. Okay. Well, you don't you know, you dismiss these kinds of notifications Let's deprioritize those. Let's do that. So um It like that part of it Again, it's not a thing that I I've played with the focus part a little bit it like I said it just seems too It's too much management To be valuable to me. Yeah. Yeah, and and you know, there will be folks out there Who's mileage is totally different because your minds work differently than mine. That's totally okay Alex in the chat room says maybe it's over engineered. That's I mean that remains to be seen. I'm not I'm not ready to put that label on it yet But but that's how it feels to me. But again, I'm use case of one um robin Sorry, not robin rob in the chat room points out that the real-time translation is rather killer. That is true. That is a fantastic Feature and I can see myself wanting to use that when I'm in those scenarios where perhaps There are two people trying to communicate without the without a common Common known language. So yeah, yeah Um, yeah, what else the maps? I mean the maps look pretty handy I want to talk about safari for a second because I I think that's the the one that's going to impact people the most Uh, because well because it's people the most. Yeah, it's radically different, right? You you have this whole new url tab bar paradigm that's happening in In safari for well also safari on monoray too, which I've been running But uh since ios 15 is coming out sooner. We'll we'll focus on that and You can go in and set it to be Basically like it was in ios 14 and prior But I've left mine on ios 15's, you know url slash tab bar at the bottom mode And yet first it was Remarkably jarring every time I went into safari I would go to tap at the top to type something in and it's like a surprise It's down here at the bottom But I left it there because I know how we humans are with change resistance and I I'm certainly human and especially so in that regard and It's not so bad now like I've gotten used to it and I wouldn't say that I'm at the point where I've I'm preferring it, but I am very used to it now and that's only been a week or so So it like it's it's it's worth giving You know if the point of this this segment is to To guide people into ios 15 I would say it's worth giving yourself a little bit of time To see how you like it because it does give you a smoother scrolling experience It gives you more screen real estate right out of the gate with whatever content you're looking at So it like the the reasons for apple choosing to do this are obvious The question is can you and I mean you specifically you know for each person listening Come around to it. Can you give yourself enough time to get used to it? Right? If we rewind 15 years Well, we weren't used to anything right? So if they gave us this we would have been like great That's fine, but they didn't they gave us what we you know what we've gotten used to And so now we need to just unget used to that Um, whether this actually turns out to be better or worse Is a judgment none of us can make on day one And I I think that's the most important thing to factor in but I may get to a month Just like any of you might and say all right. I've given this a fair shake I'm done with the change resistance I can truly evaluate this for what it is because I've spent a month living in this world And I want to go back to the other world and then just flip the switch and you go back to the other world Like many of us have done with mail and you know classic mode or whatever the heck they they still call it so give yourself time With the safari thing it it does allow for smoother switching from tabs and all that good stuff So but expect to be shocked because certainly I was and and I think most people have been so yeah Yeah, um, I personally Don't like sudden ui ux changes. Oh, you of course for no good reason That's unless there's a good reason. It's like well, why did we put this at the bottom instead of the top? And I'm like Okay Present your case explain to me why you think it's better to put it there than where every other browser in existence puts it Well, and if you could convince me, okay, but no, you gotta just try it You I mean you have to just experience it you gotta give you try it But I want to be able to undo it tree. You absolutely can it is totally undoable But because I believe earlier versions did not let you undo it the the technology previews We're like, okay, you're stuck with this and it's like no that that that's terrible But no, you're not getting a technology preview You're gonna get the release and the release has the switch to change to either either mode Give yourself two weeks that because that's the period of time it takes most humans to get over change resistance so you got to give yourself two weeks because you're a human being and Like finding I find that, you know, my thumbs are at the bottom of my screen And so I have to move to the top like that's the that's the case. So give yourself time. You'll be there air tags Hmm air tags. Did you have a question about safari because I wanted to go to air Um, I did so what has your experience been so apparently now you can share extensions I haven't done between mac os and ios. So apparently the extensions are now extended Um, uh to ios so you can use the same one or if the developer chooses to do so you can use a safari extension On ios in addition to mac os, but you haven't done that. I haven't mess with extensions on safari I don't do a lot of it on my mac so it you know But they I am looking forward to developers Sort of getting things in there, you know one password things like that where it can be more integrated Into the safari experience as opposed to just being a password manager like that sort of thing I'm looking forward to you know, uh for sure Uh air tags get some additional functionality The the best part Yeah Is a notify when left behind option Something I wanted with tile for a long time and you you know a great example would be Uh your keys or your wallet right if you put an air tag in your wallet You can have it notify you when you have separated from that device And that's fantastic and the best part is you can set exceptions So for me I have an air tag in my backpack I don't need to be notified if I leave home without my backpack But if I leave any other location without my backpack I want to be notified and believe it or not. That's the default way it's set up Your home is put in as an exception to everything because otherwise you drive yourself crazy every time you left the house But leaving you know Like you know starbucks without your backpack that'd be a really good thing to know And and you and I would get notified about that now. So yeah air tags get get some fun stuff Which is good, which is good We get hide my email and iCloud private relay. We've talked about iCloud private relay On the show before it works as advertised. It works really really well You also get the safari intelligent tracking prevention that effectively uses iCloud private relay But it uses it whether you're an iCloud paid subscriber or not All the known trackers are routed through a you know the uh the apple's Obscurity network will call it for um for everyone. You can turn that off of course if you want but by default It's on hide my email is so much easier To use now than the the previous thing because you actually get an address that you can just paste in anywhere It's not this whole well sign in with apple and it creates an address on the fly And you have no idea what it's doing hide my email. You just tell it create me an address And now that's an address and you can expire it or not. It's it's a it's a much smoother experience And um that the other thing I noticed john last night was carplay I noticed in the messages portion of carplay. There's a little uh announce Trigger or or toggle I should say and so I turned it on Normally in carplay when I get a message it shows up that I have a message on the screen It'll say you know new message from john f brawn If I tap that it will then Read me what you have typed to me, which is great If I put announce mode on when your message comes in it reads me what you have typed to me I don't have to do anything So for those long car rides where or even short car rides if it's just you if it's just me in the car I would leave announce mode on so that if a message comes in it's just announced into the car I'm good to go. I don't have to like be fumbling around and tapping anything it It's a smoother experience. Um, so but it it yeah, it the sort of Overall experience is that ios 15 has been a very smooth upgrade. Uh, I am comfortable recommending it to people I haven't had weird crashes It's been stable But other than the the jarring safari experience thing that we talked about It's it's all pretty smooth again notifications will look different But if if you don't dig in and start changing things they won't function all too differently so I I You know, I I think it's Based on my experience day one is a fine day to to upgrade For yourself. So any other questions on ios 15 before we get past that no no questions. The only thing is uh speaking of Uh os updates update your mac os or ios because there's a nasty security thing out there I've upgraded all my devices. So uh, if you haven't yet go to um software update and take care of that Yes, that's yeah, if it's a Some kind of pdf some zero day. Yeah, yeah Pretty nasty No bueno uh So the only thing I have left from the california streaming event john to talk about on my list anyway is tv plus In fact, I I think it came from your list. I didn't really have anything to say about tv Um, the only things so one I did watch so tv plus As most people know You can get a free one-year trial and so i'm like, you know, so I I think when I bought my ipad air Um, they were like, hey, you want a free year and i'm like, okay, sure. Um, But I wasn't driven to watch anything really. Oh, um, but well because As opposed to netflix I like netflix because I can binge old shows that i'm familiar and comfortable with Whereas apple tv plus is a little different of its original content. So how do you deal with that? The thing is you watch the new shows But the thing is they finally so I was convinced to watch one, uh called uh, uh schmigadoon. I think it was hilarious It's oh, you like it. Oh good. Okay Yeah, and then they're uh, and then what's coming up which i'm very looking forward to is foundation I don't know if you remember mr. Asimov. Of course, but um Yeah, I read that entire series and and it's epic the thing is I I I can't wait to see how they realize it on a screen because it's a really It's worth watching some of the trailers Story and I've seen some of them and they've been floating more more and more of them out But they've also got other I mean they just had the emmy's I think or the or the video music or whatever But but they just had awards and stuff and apple got like awards white and left because Have you not watched ted lasso? I have not yet though. I heard it's excellent, dude Dude, it will warm your it will warm the cockles of your heart It no it's fantastic. It's so well done I you know I started watching it and I know it i'm probably telling John might be the only person that hasn't watched ted lasso and that's okay I'm sure there's others out there, but I might be telling most of you what you already know You know, I I did not know what to expect going into that I'm a huge jason sudakis fan But for things like you know, we're the millers and horrible bosses and and you know that type of of comedy I watched ted lasso because I thought oh i'm gonna get that type of a show It is not that type of a show It is so much it was such a shock for me to see sudakis in this You know, not just in this role but creating this type of show And it is fantastic Like I cannot wait for each episode to come out So I highly recommend it. I have to appreciate their strategy because You know me right now it's death by a thousand cuts, right? I mean there's peacock. There's this there's everybody So it's like why should I pay for this? So it's really good because their strategy was number one here. We'll give you for a year and number two We're gonna come out with some kick-ass content and that's it being coming out with the kick-ass content So it's the only streaming service that I have right now that Is primarily original content and not old stuff, but it's only original content. Yeah Well, I need you need both though. So so I have right now. I have apple disagrees with you I mean you you might need both but but apple doesn't feel they need both in their In their thing and the part of the reason for that is they want the freedom to be apple They want to be able to say we don't have any licensing restrictions for this content anywhere that we want it to go We can put it because it's ours. They're not Dealing with some weird like, you know netflix is constantly We've talked about it on this show like, you know, the express vpn ads that we did they'd send us the creative for it and say use You know express vpn so that you can watch this show on netflix in this country because it's not allowed in that country and blah, blah, blah I mean, I get it like that's how licensing works for netflix. They have to do that But apple doesn't have to because they they own all of this But while you're at it john, I I would check out we've enjoyed home before dark and mosquito coast I did not care for for all mankind. It never resonated with me But a lot of people like for all mankind. Okay, you might tom hanks, right? Yeah. Nope for all mankind is Oh, maybe is he no tom hanks isn't in for all mankind. It's it. It's uh That was um, oh the guy who did battlestar galactica, right did um Did for all mankind, um, but servant and taeron were fantastic Lisi's story was fairly well done Calls is bizarre if you want to like blow your mind Losing alice again really really good defending jacob. I'm just looking through the list here of the things that we've watched There's so much good content here Uh, I didn't care for schmigadoon, but I'm not a big fan of musicals. I know that sounds strange I'm not which is funny because you're a musician more than I am anyways, but I play theater shows Yeah, I liked it because it was Yeah, it was a parody of of you know, like 30s and 40s. Um musicals Yeah, I just I just don't like shows where people are Suddenly singing for no reason like it just well, that's what happens in this one. So you won't let no, I know I watched it. I like I've watched a few episodes But I mean I don't like It's again It's weird because I play drums for musicals on a regular basis But I I generally don't like going to see musicals. It's just weird For me, but you know, it's fine. Like I don't I certainly don't have anything against people who do like musicals It just doesn't uh, mr. Corman has been interesting I will warn everyone though if if you are if you do have the same weird Predispositions as me episode three. I think it was three somewhere in there There is a musical-esque moment, but it it it's a surprise Uh in terms of the just the flow of the show because it's not a musical and we have thus far Not seen that repeat itself. So Perhaps they they perhaps they they won't continue with that silliness. So But yeah, there's great stuff on on apple tv plus if you've got it for free, man I would I would spend some time experimenting with it. It doesn't cost you anything Yeah, so yeah, right now. I have apple tv Netflix and um Disney plus I also like because yeah, they're constantly adding new original content Yeah, in addition old stuff like you know every now and then I want to watch an old star wars. So right, right, right, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, which is great. Yeah All right. So john before we or as we wrap up here What's on your shopping list from today? I'm not sure Anything is on my list Okay, so the way you were talking about the cameras in the iphone pro I thought maybe a 13 pro was was on your list the thing is The 12 mini takes good enough pictures for my taste and I have a better point and shoot camera. So There's not enough honestly dave in the 13 To convince me to upgrade this phone I've skipped cycles as I think you have but they're again. There's not enough um the mini is interesting the ipad mini but And actually my parents have one and they they really like it. Uh, my dad has it. It's like his primary thing um But I have the air with touch id. Yeah, generation. I think um Again, there's not enough. I really don't use my ipad that often. So, you know I gotta say there's really nothing in the lineup that I personally would Would buy if they had introduced and the thing is now also so I have what will probably be my last mac mini and I Uh, you're talking about the wrong shopping list. I'm not I'm gonna I'm gonna Well, no that shopping list I'm gonna say is not there because they didn't announce them. So, okay Well, yeah, that's that's that conversation. Yes, that's next month's shopping list. Yeah, but as far as my current i devices. Um, yeah I Nothing is on my shopping list So And I'm just gonna ask because because there were some things that you said you were interested in So fitness plus is not on your shopping list because that okay even for the meditation stuff. All right. Just checking correct And uh, no still no apple watch for mr. John f brawn, huh? I'm still Analog dude Well, I am both you can be both, but maybe uh, no, I understand that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah I mean, maybe I'll You know scan the uh reefer You know store and I would go for something of a prior generation I mean, I probably wouldn't get a gen zero if you couldn't even get those these days No, I I would go for at least a series five if you're going to um If I want to get like gps and stuff and I think five has gps five was the yeah, exactly Yeah, yeah, yeah So let's let's take a look at the refurb store and see what Serious so you can go back to a series five on the refurb store and you can get them for 309 If you want to do that. So yep, there you go. I and I again I have the five It's worth looking at the difference between the five and the six to see if if there's enough there to want to jump up Uh on the six, but um because you can get uh, oh, I need to turn off series five I see how this works. So for another 60 bucks, you can go up to the six They've got a nice pink one there for you john with a gold case. So Maybe that's uh, maybe that's your thing. So for me the um, the shopping list Almost certainly includes an ipad mini that I think that's that's you know, I have not bought an ipad in a very very long time and I've I've always been a fan of the mini right now I have a 10 inch ipad pro kind of the old in og 10 inch if you will and so it's it's I mean It's time for that one to go for sure and uh to bounce up to the ipad mini For me, I think it's a pretty much a no-brainer So I should have ordered that before we did this but you know, I wanted to get here and do the show So I'm gonna go order one of those and then um, I think well I As a as a if I were treating myself solely as a user of devices I think I'd be in the same boat like I don't the differences between the the 12 and the 13 Uh for the iphone aren't really enough to convince me that I need to go for a new one But I'm not just a user. I also am the co-host of mac geekab and we Absolutely need to be able to answer your questions about these things So I am absolutely going to get up on Friday or stay up whatever the timing works out to be and order an iphone 13 mini Most likely the mini I've really appreciated this size of the phone and I don't think I want to change so so Uh, you know, plus I there are the rumors that say that this is the last year of the mini sizes So maybe I don't upgrade next year if they don't do a mini size because I really really like this And so I I trade up and and do that and I may actually wind up trading up our household, uh, you know our our History has been that we we sort of my devices sort of fall through into the the system of the household I don't think there's anybody else in the house that wants the mini size phone. So um, so I may be trading my mini in for a new mini. So there you go yeah the thing is So I have a corporate Verizon store Which actually when I've done my iphone upgrades, I've done it through them, right and And they're fine, you know, it's like, okay, give us your old phone We'll give you credit and we give them a new phone they get it directly from apple And actually they've had them available the day of release Because they're a corporate store and not a franchise. I think franchises are like, you know Not as Don't get as much supply as the corporate stores. Oh, okay. I mean, I can just buy it from apple. I mean, I may pop in and say All right, you know, here's my less than a year old, you know, iphone 12 and What are you gonna give me and if they give me enough? Maybe I will just keep up the date Just like I told you the battery on my iphone is it like 87 percent which oh a year is Yeah, mine's at 94 But I don't use chi and I only charge once a day I have no idea if any of that makes any difference, but um, Yeah, yeah, yeah All right, folks. Well, that's uh, that's gonna do it for us. Let us See, I don't like this when my mixer doesn't There's a weird thing that happens with my audio my external control surface, right? It's a usb-based control service effectively. It turns into a midi based one And uh, it's got, you know control faders and stuff on it, but After a period of time It will not let me adjust the controls. It will move when I move things So like if I move this down on the screen, it moves down on the thing But if I move the fader up it just resets. I don't know why that is So it kind of drives me crazy, john Now where's the thing? Oh, I have the wrong one. Let's see. Let's see It drives me crazy, john I gotta figure this out. It's a new problem What did I do with my google chrome window? This happened, you know that thing where your mouse brings things to new parts of the screen? It just happened again, but I found it. It's all good. Uh, anyway, so the band came screaming in today But uh, yeah, send us your shopping list feedback at mackeycup.com We want to hear what you have to say and what you're going to get or what you've already ordered Let us know. Let us know your thoughts about any of these things. Let us know your thoughts about ios 15 We will be doing Next week's episode eight 91 Uh, we will record that on friday morning So we can absolutely include your thoughts about ios 15 if you've been running any of the the Public were or developer betas. We'd love to hear about it That's what we got john. You got anything else for today I got nothing got nothing. All right folks. Thanks so much for uh spending your time with us this If you did it live with us, there were tons of you live a huge live audience today But uh, if you spent your time with us live or or uh, or you're listening to either the audio or watching the video Thanks so much for hanging out and we will um We'll see you next time Appreciate it. We um, yeah, it's fun We all get to rock and roll here together Let us know feedback at macintail.com john before we um Before we we leave this particular episode. Do you have any uh any last thoughts to share my friend? Yes, I do. Um Especially if you're thinking of purchasing A new apple device. Just make sure of one thing. Don't get caught