"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome to a special episode of the Apple Insider podcast today we have special guest Chris from Daily Tech he has a great YouTube channel over 400,000 subscribers where he talks about iPad and iPhone productivity apps creativity and a bunch of other stuff Chris thanks so much for joining us today hey it's a pleasure to be here thank you I wanted to get the most controversial topic out of the way here at the top of the show and uh I didn't warn you about this but I was watching your videos and I saw that you listen to podcasts at 2x speed is this accurate wait wait wait is that controversial that's normal right oh no no no see it's controversial to me because I find that to be sacriligious I mean 2x you you said that you worked up you know to that speed you know one and a quarter one and a half but for real you you listen to all your stuff at 2x speed for the most part it depends on the talker I guess and you're not alone like most people are like why do you do that um it seems counterintuitive but it's weird right because the real world seems to move slow now to me like when I'm in a normal conversation like you right now it seems really slow um okay I see I see how it is very good but no honestly it's just it's a matter of like productivity for me I'm trying to cram so much into the day and there's so much that I want to consume that's just been like a really useful hack for me and people really do hate it like when they hear it they're like why um but it just works for me I don't know you know I do audio books at like one and a half because I find a lot of audio books are slow a lot of like right you know spaces or whatever and you know I'm trying to get through a book you know I actually want to finish it yeah so yeah I totally get that podcast you know there's just uh there's natural breaks in the conversation you know you got to let it breathe but I get it I get it I will say I like it better at normal speed like it's more enjoyable naturally that way it's just that I I get more accomplished that way for sure you know actually when I was in college I did a speech class and one of the girls in the class was visually impaired and she used a Mac to do her presentations and she' had voice over enabled on the Mac the accessibility setting but she had been doing it for so long it would speak to her at such a speed that it was unintelligible to all of us and the Mac would just say things so quickly to her and like you said you know you kind of get used to it and you build yourself up to it so it was really impressive you know yeah if user didn't know you could do that yeah that's amazing accessibility that's cool yeah so you actually started as a blogger writing a website Daily Tech when did you start that that was back in 2012 2012 actually and I was watching some of your videos talking about that time and it was going really well and then you said Google changed something about the algorithm and search results what happened and what did you do when that happened yeah that's right looking back I kind of wish I had got into video first but that's just not how it happened because the people that are getting into YouTube and the tech space when I was getting into the blog space uh really got a huge like first mover Advantage right which was good for them but yeah you know so yeah we we started you know in 2012 as a Blog because I was bored at my job and it was going to be like Daily Tech finds and I think the first weird thing that I posted was like a smart outlet or something that no one would really care about I was going to post something daily but it morphed pretty quickly because actually before that I used to do design stuff like I that's what I went to college for and so I I had some experience doing a design blog I wasn't brand new to it the thing that really took off pretty quickly was starting to do lists I don't know if you remember when everyone was doing listicles and so I came up with this format to do the top 100 whatever and the thing that really popped for the thing was the top 100 websites and to the point where we became known for that and people you know still ask me about it today but the web changes and that was back when like Mashable I think was really doing that making it popular right um and the reason it worked by the way was because we would feature all these really high-profile sites that would then you know retweet it yeah yeah anyways long story short yeah Google you know it really wasn't like high quality content it was because it saved people time because you know I did all the research for them and put it there but it wasn't like really long format stuff which is where things headed eventually right and I think it was the penguin update if I'm not mistaken that basically said we're not going to prioritize that kind of list content anymore and basically our stuff dried up overnight it was kind of scary and I remember spending like the last bit of our money like trying to hire this SEO consultancy firm to fix things and they couldn't and didn't and we were just out some you know the last bit of our money and so it was like okay and we eventually decided to shift into video and actually my wife and I put our retirement savings into the business we were like it's it's really now or never let's do it and we started over sh kind of from square one and that was in 2015 and uh just kept at it and here we are now that's awesome well now you have a very successful YouTube channel I love seeing it because you really pull some apps and services especially for the IP ad and iPhone that I have not heard about before or and you know I'm pretty up on it I try to look at all the creativity productivity apps but you really pull some great tools for pretty much any creative or productive field which includes everybody I guess I love a lot of the stuff you do for iPad so I wanted to ask you when it comes to your iPad productivity and apps you've mentioned so many in your videos what are the apps for the iPad that you still use regularly that you keep going back to for your productivity work well I guess it depends on the category I suppose and and honestly for me even I I change it up pretty frequently um like for instance I relied on drafts for the longest time right and in fact that was how I would catalog stuff so because kind of to back up what I do when I find these apps is I I don't go out and like search you know for stuff when I run into something I catalog it which basically is just storing it you know give it some tags and stuff and I used to do that in drafts and it had a whole drafts workflow and that was on the iPad and that was on the Apple watch that was everywhere recently you may have seen I've talking a lot about this app called my mind you know that's one that I I've just become obsessed with mostly because of the search functionality and the and it's like a beautiful interface sure but right now that's sort of like my go-to thing outside of the Apple App Suite of apps right because you know for note notes I still use Apple notes really yeah I do yeah um especially on the iPad for you know I I just I like the apple pencil integration there sure um it's just too good to ignore the system baked in features yeah I use a lot of shortcuts and I always have to kind of go back to Apple's apps because they just have a greater integration with a lot of those automations and such right but for me when I have an app that I either want to use for like cataloging research database type stuff in my mind I'm like I would love to just use one app for years because then you have that whole back catalog and you can search for it and everything is in that one place so do you actually move all your stuff from app to app if you actually shift systems or do you just kind of start fresh every time right I see what you're saying yeah you know like if it's important I park it in Apple notes okay cuz I know I figure I'm going to have that for a long time sure sure and a lot of the stuff really a lot of the stuff that I use for like content it's temporary and I don't need to reference it over and over again I just need to have it accessible when I need it so yeah if it's important it stays in Apple so what do you use for your like project planning or project management where you say okay this is the upcoming videos and all that yes honestly you're going to laugh at this but I have just an apple note a single note that has like my video pipeline okay very good and because I tried a bunch of other stuff and I just it didn't sink with me like I I'm just not built that way to go crazy and I'll tell you the other thing that I do I just live on Siri reminders I've outsourced most of my brain to Siri reminder and I make the reminders with the Apple watch and just tell me remind me on this day or at this time and it just happens and I don't have to keep it in a note you know and you actually have a great video on supercharging reminders because reminders got some great features in the last couple of years and so if people haven't used it recently recommend you check out that video from Chris but there's also that Siri integration that's so tight with reminders because I use things and I love things for kind of project management subtasks and all that but adding something to things through Siri is just one degree more annoying because you have to say add this in things or whatever and it's just not not seamless so I totally get just coming back to those stock apps yeah and to your point like sometimes that's enough friction to make me stop using something yeah so I also see in a lot of your videos you use mind node is that something you use for like your planning and future stuff I do yeah I guess I don't really have like a system where it's like I'm going to use this for whatever it's just like when I need that tool I reach for it and so my not my node when I really need to like mentally organize something that's when I hit mind node because it's just so easy to drag drag and drop and rearrange stuff and so if it's like a really indepth more like Renee Richie style information video yeah where I need to keep things organized then I'll do that in my notes so I'm curious I asked this question on Twitter a while ago to like a tech YouTube of whether or not you keep your footage after a video is published and it sounds like from the way you use productivity apps and just kind of you know use it when you need it sounds like you probably delete your archive of footage is that accurate that is not accurate actually oh really it's funny it's funny yeah I used to do it like that and I used to be the the guy who would go back on YouTube and like start a screen recording and like recapture my old footage right or download from the studio yeah and so I don't I don't go super nuts and like actually save all my b-roll and everything but I do just save the exported version of a video now I have for the last several years yeah because it's com in handy like basically every video yeah just have the final render kind of thing so in addition to productivity apps creativity apps you talk a lot about you also have videos on some of the extensions cuz you can actually have extensions now an iPad and iPhone Safari as well as the Mac I actually found a lot of extensions from your video that I still use today what are some of your favorite extensions that you really find valuable as you use Safari on the iPad yeah two that are kind of cool be implosion uh which kind of gets rid of those Google amp Pages yes and the other one that I actually really like is uh open in Apple Maps which is exactly what it sounds like it will redirect me from a Google map to my Apple Maps app which I prefer I know that really makes some people M no no I I actually prefer Apple Maps I don't even have Google Maps I don't think even on my phone so oh really I'm with you there yeah yeah yeah it's gotten better I've actually started to get some of the like speed check warnings and traffic like the ways type features I've been seeing more of that at least here in Central Florida as people actually cuz you could submit that kind of stuff now in the maps app directly well I'll put links to that video as well if people have not used extensions in Safari especially on mobile devices it's really great couple more iPad things I saw your white magic keyboard video and I also got the white magic keyboard when the M1 iPad Pro came out I love the look such a clean look that white magic keyboard and like you I also got it marked up by something and so I was watching your video and looked like you you tried to get it off have you managed to clean your white magic keyboard to get that Blue Streak off yes well I have to admit that I left that on there for weeks and weeks so just so I could show it in the video right can see it but did you look at the comments in that thing every probably 90% of the comments were did you use a magic eraser on it oh my goodness and and so afterwards I did and it got it right out so it's no big deal at all actually yeah is yours still all messed up or so you know I bring it to like cafes or whatever and I like to just put it on there I try not to worry about it you know you could be real Precious about it or just use it like you're going to use it yeah you got to use it you got to use it so it had some dark marks on it some dark streaks and so I looked up up like the official Apple cleaning method which is hydrogen peroxide and so I used hydrogen peroxide on it and it works really well the problem was there was this one dark streak that I had to really rub to get out and I was foolish I used a red polishing cloth with the hydrogen peroxide and as I was rubbing it on the white magic keyboard it started to turn pink because the the red cloth started coming off on it so the hydrogen peroxide works great do not use a colored cloth to actually rub the device use something white you know what you got to do now I got to buy another one you got to use a magic eraser oh okay yeah yeah yeah that too do does the Magic Eraser actually get like just smudges too a little like dirt spots dude it's crazy because I think technically it's sort of abrasive you wouldn't know it from touching it but it probably like peels off a little micro layer of it you know right is what I assume but now are you one to if you have your iPhone say and maybe you drop it maybe you don't but maybe you get nicker scratch on it are you want to utilize the Apple Care Services for cosmetic reasons or do you wait till that thing's well and cracked before you use it right I I don't know I used to I've only done like one or two Apple Care things for the iPhone over the years yeah just because I've gone through different phases I think we all go through phases right like uh right now I'm on like an ultra thin case again I say again CU I used to be and then I get more protective and then I don't care again because I think it's different I think it's different like for you and me right like we're reviewers and I know I'm going to get one every single year and upgrade and it's just a matter of putting it up you know putting up with it for a couple months more maybe that one terrible scratch or whatever right right so I I went with the screen protector this time which I usually hate um but it's been treating me all right really screen protector on your iPhone really I usually don't yeah okay but I haven't minded it so now do you have what finish Apple watch do you have well I'm currently rocking the new green one and it's the cell okay which I didn't think I would like but it was the new one so I gave it a chance and actually do like it yeah I love the series 7 and I kind of splurged I went with the titanium model so I have titanium and it's get it's gets scratched I don't know why for some reason I just I don't know if I hold my arms just too far out but I hit it on doorways you know as I'm walking around the house and so I got a bunch of marks on it yeah and I have not worked up the courage yet to use one of those like wire brushes to actually smooth out the scratches have you done anything like that for an Apple Watch no and but I mean that's what I hear I've never had one of those I always think about it but that's what I hear they're just pretty easy to scratch right yeah I mean the the stainless steel shows a lot of scratches the titanium shows less but I go with those models because it has the sapphire glass top yeah and I have found that there's a big difference my wife has broken those glass tops that aren't Sapphire like just in the kitchen hitting against the tile so I go with the sapphire models which are the steel or the titanium but yeah just yeah I can't scratch it like I can't use that little brush wire brush I bought the whole kit I had it like in my hand almost touching the watch I just couldn't bring myself to do it couldn't do it it was ready to go it was ready to go you know what's crazy I I had the ceramic the White Version however many years ago yes which was awesome right but it was a little more expensive and I figured well I'm just going to trade it in you know for the next model and it Apple wouldn't take it back really did you know that the yeah the ceramic I couldn't trade it back in for the tradeing program that's why so I actually had a titanium Series 6 and I actually went and looked for the trade in value they would have traded in the titanium but they were going to give me like 150 bucks which the titanium models are not that cheap when you buy them new and so I just decided to keep it yeah or just gift it to somebody but that's interesting that they didn't take the ceramic back that's weird right I was going to get like four new ones for the price of that you know exactly I'm kind of hoping they bring the ceramic back because I missed my opportunity for it and they look pretty sweet oh so yeah it was so cool maybe they'll bring the 24 karat gold one back for $10,000 yeah that one no one needs no no I doubt it now you also had a great video on the iPad mini and I'm a big iPad fan because I actually edit all of my podcasts on iPad exclusively H I edit the Apple Insider show and hkid Insider movies on the side what do you use I use fite on the iPad and for that editing podcast with the apple pencil in the farite app on iPad mini is I think the best podcast editing experience I have a a whole video on it I I'll send it to you but that is super cool I edit the fastest on that device in that way and so I love it and I had a 12.9 in M1 iPad Pro when it came out which I still love the screen is incredible PR motion it's so fast but it's also so heavy like holding that big iPad gets so heavy for so long and so I saw you really love the Mini too what have you been finding yourself using it with well I do and it's funny that you would bring that up right now cuz I just shot an iPad Mini accessories video today okay excited about that good timing good yes well you know the obvious thing is is it's like great for consuming stuff because portable but I've always been kind of fascinated with like turning it into a bit of a mini workstation yeah I just paired it up here recently with the uh new Logitech MX Keys mini the Mini version came out yeah in all black which looks cool and the Logitech Pebble which is specifically for iPads m and you know it's funny because the keyboard is bigger than the iPad Mini right exactly itself so it's not really but you know looking at the keyboards that actually fit on a cover that fold up for the iPad Mini I just don't think I'd want to use hly so if I was going to take it and make it into a work station somewhere I'd rather have the full-size keyboard sure so I've been experimenting with that and and liking it it's just it's so light and so small um I actually talked about on a recent show I was camping the day of the big game I don't know if I could say the official name of the big game on a a podcast if NBC Sports will come after me but we were actually camping and so I brought a projector a USBC to HDMI adapter and my iPad mini and actually streamed the game projecting it on my pop-up camper in the middle of the woods that's awesome and it was awesome experience and I could do it with a larger iPad you can do with an iPhone but the lightning HDMI things are weird and so the iPad Mini for that kind of portability it really is awesome it's kind of a unique device cuz the USBC right it makes a b exactly because so many years of the MacBook Pro being all USBC I have dongles everywhere that I don't need anymore cuz the new Macbook Pro is so good yeah but yeah I just I love how portable it is and exactly and when I edit podcast I actually hold the iPad in one hand pencil in the other if I'm on a sofa or whatever and the mini does not give me like carpal tunnel like the big iPad I feel my hand strain as I'm holding it so that's why I love doing it on the iPad Mini you know that is an AES just yes apple pencil works surprisingly well with the mini yeah it does in any concept I didn't think it would but when I tried it I said no this is cool especially for like note taking or whatever I really like it cuz it's like a notepad and but but I had to tell you something before I move on and you're going to find this hilarious I I love faite Pro but I can't edit on it and the reason why is because I can't edit at two times speed oh my goodness and you know where I do edit my podcast you're going to laugh at this too what's that in Final Cut Pro on the Mac no yeah that's where I edit because I can edit it two times speed oh my God okay now i' and that makes me weird but I've had canis the developer of frite on this show I interviewed him and so I'm GNA send him this clip of the episode canis if possible 2 x speed for Chris so he can edit on the iPad and stop editing podcast and Final Cut no isn't that funny Oh I thought you were going to say audacity or something but no Final Cut I'll accept that now listen we we've been gushing about the iPad for a while and so I need to I need to hear the real deal because it's not perfect when it comes to the operating system iPad OS and so I have some wishes for this upcoming WWDC but when it comes to iPad OS 16 the next version what do you hope if anything Apple adds to the operating system to make it even more productive okay this is a big topic right MH you know I I used to feel like I wanted the iPad to inherit more mac-like features MH whether that was on the software side or the hardware side and then universal control came out M that changed my thinking a little bit because you know so the setup that I have right now and I did a video on this recently is that I've got the iPad Pro with its magic keyboard and trackpad controlling I got my Mac shut and clamshell mode in a dock and I've got two external monitors hooked up to that and it's really fun to and it works well with you know there's a few bugs so when those get ironed out would be crazy but to use the magic keyboard on the iPad Pro to control the mac and the trackpad m it's crazy and and what it does is it lets the iPad retain its uniqueness so you know I can use iPad specific apps like procreate and I can use the apple pencil I can verify things with face ID um not on the Mac but you know if I make a purchase or something and it's just a really really productive setup for me so uh with with that as a background I'm starting to feel better about leaving the iPad as an iPad and not trying to make it too Mac like and I don't feel like apple maybe always knew where they were going in terms of like let's get to the spot where universal control makes more sense um it felt like things were a little a drift and and really arbitrary for a while right but now that we're here like it's making more sense so that being said in the next version of iPad OS the thing I would really really love it's a small thing but it's the thing I really want is just to be able to see three or four apps side by side without having to use slide over right um because slide over is cool it's nice but I don't always want things in that format like sometimes I want to drag and drop between three or four things even if it's just the width you know if I have my iPad horizontal even if it's just the width of my iPhone screen I'd like to have four things stacked up there right or three three or four apps so that's the one thing I would really really like and obviously better external monitor support would be cool right I I think just necessary but again with universal control maybe it doesn't need that because that's the Mac thing you know I could go either way on that yeah I'm less inclined to care about the external display support just because I never do that and universal control is really cool I do think the window management would be a big Improvement especially in the larger iPad which kind of had some unique uh multitasking features in the past like you know apps functioned differently on the 12.9 in screen when you did two side by side you actually got like the full version of the App instead of the you know smaller version like you get on smaller size iPads right and so that kind of stuff even if it's just for the largest screen size I think it would be beneficial for me because podcasting is my biggest thing the audio support audio device support on the iPad is what I keep harping on I hope Apple lets you have multiple apps utilize a single USB device at the same time so I could actually record podcast just as easily on my iPad as on my Mac because right now I can plug in a USB device to my iPad even a USB interface with multiple tracks and farite can record it but I can also Skype someone at the same time Skype will say you know there's already an app using this device and you know that's something that everyone talks about visual complexity that's not what the iPad is for it's actually nothing to do with visual complexity in this regard it's just give the multiple apps the ability to use the same USB audio device that's all I want yes and I think what you're what you're putting your finger on there is the iPad is really good for like just average stuff but a power user is going to run into things in whatever their workflow is that leaves them wanting more I think yeah like for me I would love to edit my video on the iPad but the reason I stick with Final Cut Pro right now is for like obscure features you know they've been adding uh to uh what's the iPad app for video editing Luma Fusion yes thank you they they've been adding uh multi-cam editing you know stabilization those were big things for me but the Obscure things that a power user wants are still not there and I don't know when they will be right like a big one for me is Optical flow so I can slow stuff way way way down and I can't do that in Luma Fusion right so that's that's similar that's my thing that's what you're talking about but for video yeah and I I would love Final Cut on the iPad Pro my goodness especially when traveling or you just don't want to use your Mac you know that's one of the few recording a podcast and editing a video it's the two things that I really need my Mac for and it'd be awesome to do it on the iPad right what is what so what is your uh default podcast recording setup then are you doing like a Scarlet interface or so I have a sound devices mix pre3 which is really a field recorder for video production but the reason why I love it is it will read as a USB audio device including yeah 8 in Stereo in plus 3 xlrs it's got great preamps it can drive the shore sm7b but it can record to an SD card and the Mac can record to audio hijack which is the app that I use on the Mac so as I said when we started recording I have multiple redundancies right it's because I have audio hijack running on my Mac recording recording a Skype call and it's recording to the SD card in my mix pre 3 and so even if my Mac totally crashes I can get it off the SD card and in this regard I've never had to re-record a podcast episode in years and so knock on W but it's yeah it's it's my ideal setup for that so uh not to get too nerdy for your listeners but are you using a cloudlifter for that s sm7b or not necessary you don't need it with the mix pre3 that's it has plenty of Headroom yeah the gain is at like 2:00 and you know you could I could crank all the way to like 5:00 in the mix pre3 settings and you get no noise and it's driven the sm7b wow but I'll nerd out even more I'm actually using right now the Earthworks ethos microphone and I actually got to review it for Apple Insider and I'm still deciding I really love the sound of this microphone I think I might prefer it over the sm7 and because it's a type of condenser it really doesn't need any kind of special preamp so you could run this with a Scarlet 2i2 or any low and USB device and it sounds incredible and it still has great so noise rejection because of its like pickup pattern so right yeah I'm on the fence I mean I'm looking at my smm7 right now it's sitting on the floor it's it has a sad face uh but I don't know I really like this one too so my listeners for the Apple Insider show they've heard me on both microphones I would love to know what what they think I've been using this for the last couple months so we'll see interesting now now when you're portable are you plugging in a USBC mic you know if you're traveling or something I guess it's been a couple years years since anyone's done a lot of travel but I did a family trip about a year ago and I recorded up in the North Carolina mountains and for that I did bring the uh actually have a Shore beta 87a which is XLR microphone I brought that and I brought my mix pre 3 because I didn't bring my Mac and that was the one time I tried to remote record a podcast with just my iPad and it was quite the setup I was recording to the SD card I had an airpod in one ear FaceTiming my co-host with my I phone but it worked I was able to record locally but I didn't have the redundancy that I normally do because the iPad couldn't do the call and the recording at the same time so it's just weird like that yeah but I also have a Audio Technica ATR 2100 which is a USBC microphone it's 100 bucks right and I highly recommend that for people especially just starting out in podcasting super portable you can plug it directly into an iPad has a great gain level you you have to worry about preamps or anything like that so and it has a XLR if you ever want to use it in an upgraded setup later right yeah I don't know if that's the same Audio Technica that I once put in a accessories video or not but when I played that audio in for that section of the video the comments were like hey that's better than your regular mic right right it does it sounds incredible yeah so okay sorry I nerded out on podcasting stuff for a minute there you get get me started so when it comes to iPhone do you have any kind of apps that you use specifically on the iPhone maybe different than the iPad for your tasks productivity or you stick pretty much much of the stock stuff for the iPhone yeah I have a pretty interesting setup which I partially got from canoopsy because there's a really cool app I don't know if you saw his video where you can yes yeah hide sort of like get these widgets to kind of mask yes um certain areas on your phone yeah so I got that going on and then I do have some hidden widgets under there um I've kind of categorized those but but in terms of apps one app that I've really liked is uh ground news news have you ever messed around with that yet I've not heard of that yeah I've added this one lately just because of the political climate things are kind of crazy and what it does I don't know if it's using AI or uh you know human curation but it will give you kind of the center view on any issue and it'll also show you the left and the right side of stuff and depending on your preference you can you know it'll show you like your blind spot and it's just it's actually been in that app quite a bit lately cuz I found it really useful I will look that up I had not heard of that yet looks like a cool design just on the face of it yeah other than that obviously using my mind and and and you know the the usual stuff but I've really been getting into crypto stuff lately oh gone deep down that rabbit hole so my phone's full of that stuff too I went so deep down the rabbit hole that I made a course I took basically December off and made a course on crypto crypto and web 3 for absolute beginners wow which was killer now one other interesting video I wanted to ask you about you actually compared the pixel 6 Pro or you kind of did you didn't call it a review right but you got the phone and you tried it out for a while compared it to the iPhone 13 Pro and it's one of those things I almost got one I almost got one one because I was like this is Google's chip it's like the next phase in Android whatever and then I I saw MKBHD talk about the bugginess of the software and I was like eh right forget it but you actually had some pretty strong feelings about it too seems like you weren't crazy about it yeah you know these phones just keep showing up I didn't ask for it it's cool so as long as it's arrived you know I'll check it out and you know cuz people view me I think as in different ways like Chris is an Apple guy and and an iPad guy but you know I I really just like Tech in the on the channel I talk about Apple stuff because that's you know where I'm at but and what I actually use I want to be authentic but I honestly am honest to goodness interested in all Tech you know yeah yeah and you know earlier in the channel before we did choose to just focus more on Apple stuff I was talking about you know Playstation Xbox TVs more yeah when it comes to Android phones you I made a big long video about this I tried to do the best phone comparison video I could between Android and iPhone stuff and gets a lot of interesting comments every day sure but for me it really does come down to the ecosystem there isn't an Android phone that can pull me out of the Apple ecosystem and so we can have this whole convers conversation about sunk cost right that's what the critics of Apple are going to say right well sure they they've got you because you you've sunk all these costs in already it's hard to switch um but also I'm here cuz I want to be cuz I like it you know I got in this ecosystem on purpose and there isn't an Android phone even the pixel 6 the flag ship stuff that can pull me out the things that really really interest me the most tends to be any camera enhancements on the Android side of things like I really do wish um that the iPhone could come out with a periscopic zoom that wasn't trash that would be like really cool for me sure but a lot of the stuff ends up just and I said this in my comparison video I think it's not really Android versus iPhone that much I think it's really Android phones versus Android phones and so that's why you get all these wacky things because they're all trying to grab attention away from all the other Android phones cuz there's so many and on the iPhone side it's just the iPhones yeah and there's too many there's a lot of gimmicks over on that side I feel like for me not that the iPhone doesn't have its own right so I actually tweeted a while ago because the whole iMessage lockin thing was like you know that's the only reason people still use an iPhone is because of iMessage lock in and I tweeted you know there are so many reasons why like you're saying the ecosystem yes iMessage is great but shortcuts is such a powerful tool that there's nothing like it on Android let alone the third party app ecosystem there's incredible apps for iPhone that you just can't get on Android like things audio hijack on the Mac again just the ecosystem and also I have kids and I find the screen time controls the smart home and homekit sharing features uh the Apple watch like family setup that I have for one of my sons all those features together you just really can't find anywhere else nor does it work as seamlessly as anywhere else you know just kids requesting to download an app or requesting more screen time it's just so good in the Apple ecosystem I agree and you look at what we were just talking about universal control how are you going to get something like that in any other ecosystem right you got to use a Chromebook which let's be honest no yeah no one wants to do that that's I tried you know I tried a Chromebook for a while I actually tried the Google pixel book when that came out because you know like you I love TCH stuff you know this it looked great it was really nice Hardware but it's like man this thing just doesn't have the apps like you just can't use it really yeah I agree I remember that in particular and it was like there was something appealing about it but then it just not to you can't use it day in and day out when you're used to what you're used to right exactly or and there's no equivalent you know that's the big thing is yeah if you can find equivalents you know the podcast app I use is pocketcast and that's literally available on Android and iPhone so that's an equivalent but there's so many other apps and you know tools and just other parts of the ecosystem that there is no equivalent like there's just not a one to one also you know whenever I do really give an Android phone a go and download my favorite apps if they're there and try to make it work good for testing purposes of course one thing I found consistently is that the Android version of a lot of apps just isn't as good not always but often right and the one thing I will give Google is the Google Assistant you know Siri is pretty uh lackluster sometimes I'll just say it graciously it can be a little slow especially on the homepods so you know totally get that but Siri is also improving and I use it more and more really especially when it comes to hods and running shortcuts and stuff but I'll give Google The Edge there for now oh absolutely and and it's not like there there are things that the other manufacturers definitely excel at like absolutely but at at the end of the day like it's just not enough to pull me out of the ecosystem yeah exactly all right so a little bit of a mini lightning Round Here final questions as a tech YouTuber 24 or 3 frames per second 30 absolutely okay this was a hot debate on Twitter the other day I don't know if you saw it MKBHD now has an entire shirt that uh says 30 fra but anyway okay yes 30 frames per second I Justine is 24 just for the record she's she's standing by it ow that's too bad okay I'll tell her you said so what are you excited for this year for Apple to release you know we have new Max on the horizon the pro level Max we have possible new product categories what most excited to see apple release this year I'll just say like uh generally across the board what I really do like about Apple is usually it's hardware and any piece of Apple Hardware will get me going nuts like really excited Macs obviously new iPhones it's all going to be great that the thing that has me really really really excited um is the potential to see some AR and VR headset news for lots of reasons well that was actually going to be my my final question because that's the big new category that's coming up for Apple we've talked about on this show what it could be used for you know you have share play Fitness Plus entertainment type things what are you excited to use an apple VR headset for yeah well so VR it sounds like you correct me if I'm wrong right I haven't been following the rumors too closely it sounds like the VR is slated to come out first right with the AR later correct does that sound accurate okay I'll I'll just phrase it this way the the main competitor out there right now is meta's Oculus product right which I don't even think it's I forget how they're phrasing what they're calling it it's it's the meta Quest Oculus Rift 3 I think that's the technical name yeah something awful yeah yeah and I picked one up a while back to to check it out cuz I knew Apple was coming out with something soon you know after playing around with it there's some things that are interesting about it mostly I didn't really get sucked into anything other than the Star Wars games right those are cool I've tried those yeah those were cool yeah but you know so there's all this talk about metaverse stuff aside from Facebook changing their name which is ridiculous you know especially on the crypto side of things that's a big topic over there and I am excited for Apple to come out with something that can be my window into the digital world just as an alternative to Facebook right because I think we need that and I want that I don't want Facebook no owning that realm and of course A lot of people are just saying like you know Facebook um they want to own the next platform obviously who who wouldn't right they don't have the iPhone you know um but I don't want them to so I I really just want that for Apple to just have that alternative yeah I agree just because of nature of what I do I'll probably get the VR headset but I'll be honest I have not been tempted to get the quest you know when it was just the Oculus Quest or whatever I tried it Star Wars game was super cool the beat saber game was cool but I just couldn't think of ongoing reasons to use it on a regular basis you know I don't know if I want to work in the metaverse you know I don't know right I I'm I'm more excited about AR probably and I didn't always feel like that if you could do VR right like it is cool you know there's something to it but I think AR is just more practical and it sounds like Apple's really taking the approach of like we don't want people to live in this device 20 all day and whatever it is let's do short Sprints um is what it sounds like so AR it's just you know you know you see the the renders and it's something I've thought about for years like if you didn't have to actually buy a Mac Book but you could virtually have you know a screen on your desk in augmented reality or multiple screens or a screen on your whole wall like the possibilities are crazy and apple wants to do it cuz they want a whole new app store right yeah true for people to to access so yeah I I think AR I'm more excited about but both yeah I'm excited for AR I forget to use it sometimes we're actually constructing a new house that we'll be moving into and I was using the Best Buy app to look at TVs and I was like wait a minute there's like an AR feature here where you can just visualize the TV on the wall and it works pretty well you know it's pretty cool and it's actually useful to try in different TV sizes and picture the furniture around the room so I'm I'm very excited for the AR aspect of it yeah and you know that stuff it's cool I just think it's like it's nothing compared to what's coming when stuff is persistent right and it feels like it's like actually in the room you know oh yeah um that's going to be crazy yes Minority Report will finally come to fruition right well Chris thanks so much for coming on the show we'll put links to your YouTube channel and your Twitter and the show notes or where else can people find your work yeah U that you know that's the main stuff right now there's always new plans uh for stuff in the works if people are interested in crypto what it means you know any you can check out my uh course is what I'm about to say but you know for me it was like um I didn't know if I was going to like it or not but I kept hearing about it so I figured I I might as well know about it and uh and that's designed to help people do the same thing very cool well our listeners can find links to all of that in the show notes and to Chris's videos that we talked about in the show again thanks so much Chris for coming on thank youwelcome to a special episode of the Apple Insider podcast today we have special guest Chris from Daily Tech he has a great YouTube channel over 400,000 subscribers where he talks about iPad and iPhone productivity apps creativity and a bunch of other stuff Chris thanks so much for joining us today hey it's a pleasure to be here thank you I wanted to get the most controversial topic out of the way here at the top of the show and uh I didn't warn you about this but I was watching your videos and I saw that you listen to podcasts at 2x speed is this accurate wait wait wait is that controversial that's normal right oh no no no see it's controversial to me because I find that to be sacriligious I mean 2x you you said that you worked up you know to that speed you know one and a quarter one and a half but for real you you listen to all your stuff at 2x speed for the most part it depends on the talker I guess and you're not alone like most people are like why do you do that um it seems counterintuitive but it's weird right because the real world seems to move slow now to me like when I'm in a normal conversation like you right now it seems really slow um okay I see I see how it is very good but no honestly it's just it's a matter of like productivity for me I'm trying to cram so much into the day and there's so much that I want to consume that's just been like a really useful hack for me and people really do hate it like when they hear it they're like why um but it just works for me I don't know you know I do audio books at like one and a half because I find a lot of audio books are slow a lot of like right you know spaces or whatever and you know I'm trying to get through a book you know I actually want to finish it yeah so yeah I totally get that podcast you know there's just uh there's natural breaks in the conversation you know you got to let it breathe but I get it I get it I will say I like it better at normal speed like it's more enjoyable naturally that way it's just that I I get more accomplished that way for sure you know actually when I was in college I did a speech class and one of the girls in the class was visually impaired and she used a Mac to do her presentations and she' had voice over enabled on the Mac the accessibility setting but she had been doing it for so long it would speak to her at such a speed that it was unintelligible to all of us and the Mac would just say things so quickly to her and like you said you know you kind of get used to it and you build yourself up to it so it was really impressive you know yeah if user didn't know you could do that yeah that's amazing accessibility that's cool yeah so you actually started as a blogger writing a website Daily Tech when did you start that that was back in 2012 2012 actually and I was watching some of your videos talking about that time and it was going really well and then you said Google changed something about the algorithm and search results what happened and what did you do when that happened yeah that's right looking back I kind of wish I had got into video first but that's just not how it happened because the people that are getting into YouTube and the tech space when I was getting into the blog space uh really got a huge like first mover Advantage right which was good for them but yeah you know so yeah we we started you know in 2012 as a Blog because I was bored at my job and it was going to be like Daily Tech finds and I think the first weird thing that I posted was like a smart outlet or something that no one would really care about I was going to post something daily but it morphed pretty quickly because actually before that I used to do design stuff like I that's what I went to college for and so I I had some experience doing a design blog I wasn't brand new to it the thing that really took off pretty quickly was starting to do lists I don't know if you remember when everyone was doing listicles and so I came up with this format to do the top 100 whatever and the thing that really popped for the thing was the top 100 websites and to the point where we became known for that and people you know still ask me about it today but the web changes and that was back when like Mashable I think was really doing that making it popular right um and the reason it worked by the way was because we would feature all these really high-profile sites that would then you know retweet it yeah yeah anyways long story short yeah Google you know it really wasn't like high quality content it was because it saved people time because you know I did all the research for them and put it there but it wasn't like really long format stuff which is where things headed eventually right and I think it was the penguin update if I'm not mistaken that basically said we're not going to prioritize that kind of list content anymore and basically our stuff dried up overnight it was kind of scary and I remember spending like the last bit of our money like trying to hire this SEO consultancy firm to fix things and they couldn't and didn't and we were just out some you know the last bit of our money and so it was like okay and we eventually decided to shift into video and actually my wife and I put our retirement savings into the business we were like it's it's really now or never let's do it and we started over sh kind of from square one and that was in 2015 and uh just kept at it and here we are now that's awesome well now you have a very successful YouTube channel I love seeing it because you really pull some apps and services especially for the IP ad and iPhone that I have not heard about before or and you know I'm pretty up on it I try to look at all the creativity productivity apps but you really pull some great tools for pretty much any creative or productive field which includes everybody I guess I love a lot of the stuff you do for iPad so I wanted to ask you when it comes to your iPad productivity and apps you've mentioned so many in your videos what are the apps for the iPad that you still use regularly that you keep going back to for your productivity work well I guess it depends on the category I suppose and and honestly for me even I I change it up pretty frequently um like for instance I relied on drafts for the longest time right and in fact that was how I would catalog stuff so because kind of to back up what I do when I find these apps is I I don't go out and like search you know for stuff when I run into something I catalog it which basically is just storing it you know give it some tags and stuff and I used to do that in drafts and it had a whole drafts workflow and that was on the iPad and that was on the Apple watch that was everywhere recently you may have seen I've talking a lot about this app called my mind you know that's one that I I've just become obsessed with mostly because of the search functionality and the and it's like a beautiful interface sure but right now that's sort of like my go-to thing outside of the Apple App Suite of apps right because you know for note notes I still use Apple notes really yeah I do yeah um especially on the iPad for you know I I just I like the apple pencil integration there sure um it's just too good to ignore the system baked in features yeah I use a lot of shortcuts and I always have to kind of go back to Apple's apps because they just have a greater integration with a lot of those automations and such right but for me when I have an app that I either want to use for like cataloging research database type stuff in my mind I'm like I would love to just use one app for years because then you have that whole back catalog and you can search for it and everything is in that one place so do you actually move all your stuff from app to app if you actually shift systems or do you just kind of start fresh every time right I see what you're saying yeah you know like if it's important I park it in Apple notes okay cuz I know I figure I'm going to have that for a long time sure sure and a lot of the stuff really a lot of the stuff that I use for like content it's temporary and I don't need to reference it over and over again I just need to have it accessible when I need it so yeah if it's important it stays in Apple so what do you use for your like project planning or project management where you say okay this is the upcoming videos and all that yes honestly you're going to laugh at this but I have just an apple note a single note that has like my video pipeline okay very good and because I tried a bunch of other stuff and I just it didn't sink with me like I I'm just not built that way to go crazy and I'll tell you the other thing that I do I just live on Siri reminders I've outsourced most of my brain to Siri reminder and I make the reminders with the Apple watch and just tell me remind me on this day or at this time and it just happens and I don't have to keep it in a note you know and you actually have a great video on supercharging reminders because reminders got some great features in the last couple of years and so if people haven't used it recently recommend you check out that video from Chris but there's also that Siri integration that's so tight with reminders because I use things and I love things for kind of project management subtasks and all that but adding something to things through Siri is just one degree more annoying because you have to say add this in things or whatever and it's just not not seamless so I totally get just coming back to those stock apps yeah and to your point like sometimes that's enough friction to make me stop using something yeah so I also see in a lot of your videos you use mind node is that something you use for like your planning and future stuff I do yeah I guess I don't really have like a system where it's like I'm going to use this for whatever it's just like when I need that tool I reach for it and so my not my node when I really need to like mentally organize something that's when I hit mind node because it's just so easy to drag drag and drop and rearrange stuff and so if it's like a really indepth more like Renee Richie style information video yeah where I need to keep things organized then I'll do that in my notes so I'm curious I asked this question on Twitter a while ago to like a tech YouTube of whether or not you keep your footage after a video is published and it sounds like from the way you use productivity apps and just kind of you know use it when you need it sounds like you probably delete your archive of footage is that accurate that is not accurate actually oh really it's funny it's funny yeah I used to do it like that and I used to be the the guy who would go back on YouTube and like start a screen recording and like recapture my old footage right or download from the studio yeah and so I don't I don't go super nuts and like actually save all my b-roll and everything but I do just save the exported version of a video now I have for the last several years yeah because it's com in handy like basically every video yeah just have the final render kind of thing so in addition to productivity apps creativity apps you talk a lot about you also have videos on some of the extensions cuz you can actually have extensions now an iPad and iPhone Safari as well as the Mac I actually found a lot of extensions from your video that I still use today what are some of your favorite extensions that you really find valuable as you use Safari on the iPad yeah two that are kind of cool be implosion uh which kind of gets rid of those Google amp Pages yes and the other one that I actually really like is uh open in Apple Maps which is exactly what it sounds like it will redirect me from a Google map to my Apple Maps app which I prefer I know that really makes some people M no no I I actually prefer Apple Maps I don't even have Google Maps I don't think even on my phone so oh really I'm with you there yeah yeah yeah it's gotten better I've actually started to get some of the like speed check warnings and traffic like the ways type features I've been seeing more of that at least here in Central Florida as people actually cuz you could submit that kind of stuff now in the maps app directly well I'll put links to that video as well if people have not used extensions in Safari especially on mobile devices it's really great couple more iPad things I saw your white magic keyboard video and I also got the white magic keyboard when the M1 iPad Pro came out I love the look such a clean look that white magic keyboard and like you I also got it marked up by something and so I was watching your video and looked like you you tried to get it off have you managed to clean your white magic keyboard to get that Blue Streak off yes well I have to admit that I left that on there for weeks and weeks so just so I could show it in the video right can see it but did you look at the comments in that thing every probably 90% of the comments were did you use a magic eraser on it oh my goodness and and so afterwards I did and it got it right out so it's no big deal at all actually yeah is yours still all messed up or so you know I bring it to like cafes or whatever and I like to just put it on there I try not to worry about it you know you could be real Precious about it or just use it like you're going to use it yeah you got to use it you got to use it so it had some dark marks on it some dark streaks and so I looked up up like the official Apple cleaning method which is hydrogen peroxide and so I used hydrogen peroxide on it and it works really well the problem was there was this one dark streak that I had to really rub to get out and I was foolish I used a red polishing cloth with the hydrogen peroxide and as I was rubbing it on the white magic keyboard it started to turn pink because the the red cloth started coming off on it so the hydrogen peroxide works great do not use a colored cloth to actually rub the device use something white you know what you got to do now I got to buy another one you got to use a magic eraser oh okay yeah yeah yeah that too do does the Magic Eraser actually get like just smudges too a little like dirt spots dude it's crazy because I think technically it's sort of abrasive you wouldn't know it from touching it but it probably like peels off a little micro layer of it you know right is what I assume but now are you one to if you have your iPhone say and maybe you drop it maybe you don't but maybe you get nicker scratch on it are you want to utilize the Apple Care Services for cosmetic reasons or do you wait till that thing's well and cracked before you use it right I I don't know I used to I've only done like one or two Apple Care things for the iPhone over the years yeah just because I've gone through different phases I think we all go through phases right like uh right now I'm on like an ultra thin case again I say again CU I used to be and then I get more protective and then I don't care again because I think it's different I think it's different like for you and me right like we're reviewers and I know I'm going to get one every single year and upgrade and it's just a matter of putting it up you know putting up with it for a couple months more maybe that one terrible scratch or whatever right right so I I went with the screen protector this time which I usually hate um but it's been treating me all right really screen protector on your iPhone really I usually don't yeah okay but I haven't minded it so now do you have what finish Apple watch do you have well I'm currently rocking the new green one and it's the cell okay which I didn't think I would like but it was the new one so I gave it a chance and actually do like it yeah I love the series 7 and I kind of splurged I went with the titanium model so I have titanium and it's get it's gets scratched I don't know why for some reason I just I don't know if I hold my arms just too far out but I hit it on doorways you know as I'm walking around the house and so I got a bunch of marks on it yeah and I have not worked up the courage yet to use one of those like wire brushes to actually smooth out the scratches have you done anything like that for an Apple Watch no and but I mean that's what I hear I've never had one of those I always think about it but that's what I hear they're just pretty easy to scratch right yeah I mean the the stainless steel shows a lot of scratches the titanium shows less but I go with those models because it has the sapphire glass top yeah and I have found that there's a big difference my wife has broken those glass tops that aren't Sapphire like just in the kitchen hitting against the tile so I go with the sapphire models which are the steel or the titanium but yeah just yeah I can't scratch it like I can't use that little brush wire brush I bought the whole kit I had it like in my hand almost touching the watch I just couldn't bring myself to do it couldn't do it it was ready to go it was ready to go you know what's crazy I I had the ceramic the White Version however many years ago yes which was awesome right but it was a little more expensive and I figured well I'm just going to trade it in you know for the next model and it Apple wouldn't take it back really did you know that the yeah the ceramic I couldn't trade it back in for the tradeing program that's why so I actually had a titanium Series 6 and I actually went and looked for the trade in value they would have traded in the titanium but they were going to give me like 150 bucks which the titanium models are not that cheap when you buy them new and so I just decided to keep it yeah or just gift it to somebody but that's interesting that they didn't take the ceramic back that's weird right I was going to get like four new ones for the price of that you know exactly I'm kind of hoping they bring the ceramic back because I missed my opportunity for it and they look pretty sweet oh so yeah it was so cool maybe they'll bring the 24 karat gold one back for $10,000 yeah that one no one needs no no I doubt it now you also had a great video on the iPad mini and I'm a big iPad fan because I actually edit all of my podcasts on iPad exclusively H I edit the Apple Insider show and hkid Insider movies on the side what do you use I use fite on the iPad and for that editing podcast with the apple pencil in the farite app on iPad mini is I think the best podcast editing experience I have a a whole video on it I I'll send it to you but that is super cool I edit the fastest on that device in that way and so I love it and I had a 12.9 in M1 iPad Pro when it came out which I still love the screen is incredible PR motion it's so fast but it's also so heavy like holding that big iPad gets so heavy for so long and so I saw you really love the Mini too what have you been finding yourself using it with well I do and it's funny that you would bring that up right now cuz I just shot an iPad Mini accessories video today okay excited about that good timing good yes well you know the obvious thing is is it's like great for consuming stuff because portable but I've always been kind of fascinated with like turning it into a bit of a mini workstation yeah I just paired it up here recently with the uh new Logitech MX Keys mini the Mini version came out yeah in all black which looks cool and the Logitech Pebble which is specifically for iPads m and you know it's funny because the keyboard is bigger than the iPad Mini right exactly itself so it's not really but you know looking at the keyboards that actually fit on a cover that fold up for the iPad Mini I just don't think I'd want to use hly so if I was going to take it and make it into a work station somewhere I'd rather have the full-size keyboard sure so I've been experimenting with that and and liking it it's just it's so light and so small um I actually talked about on a recent show I was camping the day of the big game I don't know if I could say the official name of the big game on a a podcast if NBC Sports will come after me but we were actually camping and so I brought a projector a USBC to HDMI adapter and my iPad mini and actually streamed the game projecting it on my pop-up camper in the middle of the woods that's awesome and it was awesome experience and I could do it with a larger iPad you can do with an iPhone but the lightning HDMI things are weird and so the iPad Mini for that kind of portability it really is awesome it's kind of a unique device cuz the USBC right it makes a b exactly because so many years of the MacBook Pro being all USBC I have dongles everywhere that I don't need anymore cuz the new Macbook Pro is so good yeah but yeah I just I love how portable it is and exactly and when I edit podcast I actually hold the iPad in one hand pencil in the other if I'm on a sofa or whatever and the mini does not give me like carpal tunnel like the big iPad I feel my hand strain as I'm holding it so that's why I love doing it on the iPad Mini you know that is an AES just yes apple pencil works surprisingly well with the mini yeah it does in any concept I didn't think it would but when I tried it I said no this is cool especially for like note taking or whatever I really like it cuz it's like a notepad and but but I had to tell you something before I move on and you're going to find this hilarious I I love faite Pro but I can't edit on it and the reason why is because I can't edit at two times speed oh my goodness and you know where I do edit my podcast you're going to laugh at this too what's that in Final Cut Pro on the Mac no yeah that's where I edit because I can edit it two times speed oh my God okay now i' and that makes me weird but I've had canis the developer of frite on this show I interviewed him and so I'm GNA send him this clip of the episode canis if possible 2 x speed for Chris so he can edit on the iPad and stop editing podcast and Final Cut no isn't that funny Oh I thought you were going to say audacity or something but no Final Cut I'll accept that now listen we we've been gushing about the iPad for a while and so I need to I need to hear the real deal because it's not perfect when it comes to the operating system iPad OS and so I have some wishes for this upcoming WWDC but when it comes to iPad OS 16 the next version what do you hope if anything Apple adds to the operating system to make it even more productive okay this is a big topic right MH you know I I used to feel like I wanted the iPad to inherit more mac-like features MH whether that was on the software side or the hardware side and then universal control came out M that changed my thinking a little bit because you know so the setup that I have right now and I did a video on this recently is that I've got the iPad Pro with its magic keyboard and trackpad controlling I got my Mac shut and clamshell mode in a dock and I've got two external monitors hooked up to that and it's really fun to and it works well with you know there's a few bugs so when those get ironed out would be crazy but to use the magic keyboard on the iPad Pro to control the mac and the trackpad m it's crazy and and what it does is it lets the iPad retain its uniqueness so you know I can use iPad specific apps like procreate and I can use the apple pencil I can verify things with face ID um not on the Mac but you know if I make a purchase or something and it's just a really really productive setup for me so uh with with that as a background I'm starting to feel better about leaving the iPad as an iPad and not trying to make it too Mac like and I don't feel like apple maybe always knew where they were going in terms of like let's get to the spot where universal control makes more sense um it felt like things were a little a drift and and really arbitrary for a while right but now that we're here like it's making more sense so that being said in the next version of iPad OS the thing I would really really love it's a small thing but it's the thing I really want is just to be able to see three or four apps side by side without having to use slide over right um because slide over is cool it's nice but I don't always want things in that format like sometimes I want to drag and drop between three or four things even if it's just the width you know if I have my iPad horizontal even if it's just the width of my iPhone screen I'd like to have four things stacked up there right or three three or four apps so that's the one thing I would really really like and obviously better external monitor support would be cool right I I think just necessary but again with universal control maybe it doesn't need that because that's the Mac thing you know I could go either way on that yeah I'm less inclined to care about the external display support just because I never do that and universal control is really cool I do think the window management would be a big Improvement especially in the larger iPad which kind of had some unique uh multitasking features in the past like you know apps functioned differently on the 12.9 in screen when you did two side by side you actually got like the full version of the App instead of the you know smaller version like you get on smaller size iPads right and so that kind of stuff even if it's just for the largest screen size I think it would be beneficial for me because podcasting is my biggest thing the audio support audio device support on the iPad is what I keep harping on I hope Apple lets you have multiple apps utilize a single USB device at the same time so I could actually record podcast just as easily on my iPad as on my Mac because right now I can plug in a USB device to my iPad even a USB interface with multiple tracks and farite can record it but I can also Skype someone at the same time Skype will say you know there's already an app using this device and you know that's something that everyone talks about visual complexity that's not what the iPad is for it's actually nothing to do with visual complexity in this regard it's just give the multiple apps the ability to use the same USB audio device that's all I want yes and I think what you're what you're putting your finger on there is the iPad is really good for like just average stuff but a power user is going to run into things in whatever their workflow is that leaves them wanting more I think yeah like for me I would love to edit my video on the iPad but the reason I stick with Final Cut Pro right now is for like obscure features you know they've been adding uh to uh what's the iPad app for video editing Luma Fusion yes thank you they they've been adding uh multi-cam editing you know stabilization those were big things for me but the Obscure things that a power user wants are still not there and I don't know when they will be right like a big one for me is Optical flow so I can slow stuff way way way down and I can't do that in Luma Fusion right so that's that's similar that's my thing that's what you're talking about but for video yeah and I I would love Final Cut on the iPad Pro my goodness especially when traveling or you just don't want to use your Mac you know that's one of the few recording a podcast and editing a video it's the two things that I really need my Mac for and it'd be awesome to do it on the iPad right what is what so what is your uh default podcast recording setup then are you doing like a Scarlet interface or so I have a sound devices mix pre3 which is really a field recorder for video production but the reason why I love it is it will read as a USB audio device including yeah 8 in Stereo in plus 3 xlrs it's got great preamps it can drive the shore sm7b but it can record to an SD card and the Mac can record to audio hijack which is the app that I use on the Mac so as I said when we started recording I have multiple redundancies right it's because I have audio hijack running on my Mac recording recording a Skype call and it's recording to the SD card in my mix pre 3 and so even if my Mac totally crashes I can get it off the SD card and in this regard I've never had to re-record a podcast episode in years and so knock on W but it's yeah it's it's my ideal setup for that so uh not to get too nerdy for your listeners but are you using a cloudlifter for that s sm7b or not necessary you don't need it with the mix pre3 that's it has plenty of Headroom yeah the gain is at like 2:00 and you know you could I could crank all the way to like 5:00 in the mix pre3 settings and you get no noise and it's driven the sm7b wow but I'll nerd out even more I'm actually using right now the Earthworks ethos microphone and I actually got to review it for Apple Insider and I'm still deciding I really love the sound of this microphone I think I might prefer it over the sm7 and because it's a type of condenser it really doesn't need any kind of special preamp so you could run this with a Scarlet 2i2 or any low and USB device and it sounds incredible and it still has great so noise rejection because of its like pickup pattern so right yeah I'm on the fence I mean I'm looking at my smm7 right now it's sitting on the floor it's it has a sad face uh but I don't know I really like this one too so my listeners for the Apple Insider show they've heard me on both microphones I would love to know what what they think I've been using this for the last couple months so we'll see interesting now now when you're portable are you plugging in a USBC mic you know if you're traveling or something I guess it's been a couple years years since anyone's done a lot of travel but I did a family trip about a year ago and I recorded up in the North Carolina mountains and for that I did bring the uh actually have a Shore beta 87a which is XLR microphone I brought that and I brought my mix pre 3 because I didn't bring my Mac and that was the one time I tried to remote record a podcast with just my iPad and it was quite the setup I was recording to the SD card I had an airpod in one ear FaceTiming my co-host with my I phone but it worked I was able to record locally but I didn't have the redundancy that I normally do because the iPad couldn't do the call and the recording at the same time so it's just weird like that yeah but I also have a Audio Technica ATR 2100 which is a USBC microphone it's 100 bucks right and I highly recommend that for people especially just starting out in podcasting super portable you can plug it directly into an iPad has a great gain level you you have to worry about preamps or anything like that so and it has a XLR if you ever want to use it in an upgraded setup later right yeah I don't know if that's the same Audio Technica that I once put in a accessories video or not but when I played that audio in for that section of the video the comments were like hey that's better than your regular mic right right it does it sounds incredible yeah so okay sorry I nerded out on podcasting stuff for a minute there you get get me started so when it comes to iPhone do you have any kind of apps that you use specifically on the iPhone maybe different than the iPad for your tasks productivity or you stick pretty much much of the stock stuff for the iPhone yeah I have a pretty interesting setup which I partially got from canoopsy because there's a really cool app I don't know if you saw his video where you can yes yeah hide sort of like get these widgets to kind of mask yes um certain areas on your phone yeah so I got that going on and then I do have some hidden widgets under there um I've kind of categorized those but but in terms of apps one app that I've really liked is uh ground news news have you ever messed around with that yet I've not heard of that yeah I've added this one lately just because of the political climate things are kind of crazy and what it does I don't know if it's using AI or uh you know human curation but it will give you kind of the center view on any issue and it'll also show you the left and the right side of stuff and depending on your preference you can you know it'll show you like your blind spot and it's just it's actually been in that app quite a bit lately cuz I found it really useful I will look that up I had not heard of that yet looks like a cool design just on the face of it yeah other than that obviously using my mind and and and you know the the usual stuff but I've really been getting into crypto stuff lately oh gone deep down that rabbit hole so my phone's full of that stuff too I went so deep down the rabbit hole that I made a course I took basically December off and made a course on crypto crypto and web 3 for absolute beginners wow which was killer now one other interesting video I wanted to ask you about you actually compared the pixel 6 Pro or you kind of did you didn't call it a review right but you got the phone and you tried it out for a while compared it to the iPhone 13 Pro and it's one of those things I almost got one I almost got one one because I was like this is Google's chip it's like the next phase in Android whatever and then I I saw MKBHD talk about the bugginess of the software and I was like eh right forget it but you actually had some pretty strong feelings about it too seems like you weren't crazy about it yeah you know these phones just keep showing up I didn't ask for it it's cool so as long as it's arrived you know I'll check it out and you know cuz people view me I think as in different ways like Chris is an Apple guy and and an iPad guy but you know I I really just like Tech in the on the channel I talk about Apple stuff because that's you know where I'm at but and what I actually use I want to be authentic but I honestly am honest to goodness interested in all Tech you know yeah yeah and you know earlier in the channel before we did choose to just focus more on Apple stuff I was talking about you know Playstation Xbox TVs more yeah when it comes to Android phones you I made a big long video about this I tried to do the best phone comparison video I could between Android and iPhone stuff and gets a lot of interesting comments every day sure but for me it really does come down to the ecosystem there isn't an Android phone that can pull me out of the Apple ecosystem and so we can have this whole convers conversation about sunk cost right that's what the critics of Apple are going to say right well sure they they've got you because you you've sunk all these costs in already it's hard to switch um but also I'm here cuz I want to be cuz I like it you know I got in this ecosystem on purpose and there isn't an Android phone even the pixel 6 the flag ship stuff that can pull me out the things that really really interest me the most tends to be any camera enhancements on the Android side of things like I really do wish um that the iPhone could come out with a periscopic zoom that wasn't trash that would be like really cool for me sure but a lot of the stuff ends up just and I said this in my comparison video I think it's not really Android versus iPhone that much I think it's really Android phones versus Android phones and so that's why you get all these wacky things because they're all trying to grab attention away from all the other Android phones cuz there's so many and on the iPhone side it's just the iPhones yeah and there's too many there's a lot of gimmicks over on that side I feel like for me not that the iPhone doesn't have its own right so I actually tweeted a while ago because the whole iMessage lockin thing was like you know that's the only reason people still use an iPhone is because of iMessage lock in and I tweeted you know there are so many reasons why like you're saying the ecosystem yes iMessage is great but shortcuts is such a powerful tool that there's nothing like it on Android let alone the third party app ecosystem there's incredible apps for iPhone that you just can't get on Android like things audio hijack on the Mac again just the ecosystem and also I have kids and I find the screen time controls the smart home and homekit sharing features uh the Apple watch like family setup that I have for one of my sons all those features together you just really can't find anywhere else nor does it work as seamlessly as anywhere else you know just kids requesting to download an app or requesting more screen time it's just so good in the Apple ecosystem I agree and you look at what we were just talking about universal control how are you going to get something like that in any other ecosystem right you got to use a Chromebook which let's be honest no yeah no one wants to do that that's I tried you know I tried a Chromebook for a while I actually tried the Google pixel book when that came out because you know like you I love TCH stuff you know this it looked great it was really nice Hardware but it's like man this thing just doesn't have the apps like you just can't use it really yeah I agree I remember that in particular and it was like there was something appealing about it but then it just not to you can't use it day in and day out when you're used to what you're used to right exactly or and there's no equivalent you know that's the big thing is yeah if you can find equivalents you know the podcast app I use is pocketcast and that's literally available on Android and iPhone so that's an equivalent but there's so many other apps and you know tools and just other parts of the ecosystem that there is no equivalent like there's just not a one to one also you know whenever I do really give an Android phone a go and download my favorite apps if they're there and try to make it work good for testing purposes of course one thing I found consistently is that the Android version of a lot of apps just isn't as good not always but often right and the one thing I will give Google is the Google Assistant you know Siri is pretty uh lackluster sometimes I'll just say it graciously it can be a little slow especially on the homepods so you know totally get that but Siri is also improving and I use it more and more really especially when it comes to hods and running shortcuts and stuff but I'll give Google The Edge there for now oh absolutely and and it's not like there there are things that the other manufacturers definitely excel at like absolutely but at at the end of the day like it's just not enough to pull me out of the ecosystem yeah exactly all right so a little bit of a mini lightning Round Here final questions as a tech YouTuber 24 or 3 frames per second 30 absolutely okay this was a hot debate on Twitter the other day I don't know if you saw it MKBHD now has an entire shirt that uh says 30 fra but anyway okay yes 30 frames per second I Justine is 24 just for the record she's she's standing by it ow that's too bad okay I'll tell her you said so what are you excited for this year for Apple to release you know we have new Max on the horizon the pro level Max we have possible new product categories what most excited to see apple release this year I'll just say like uh generally across the board what I really do like about Apple is usually it's hardware and any piece of Apple Hardware will get me going nuts like really excited Macs obviously new iPhones it's all going to be great that the thing that has me really really really excited um is the potential to see some AR and VR headset news for lots of reasons well that was actually going to be my my final question because that's the big new category that's coming up for Apple we've talked about on this show what it could be used for you know you have share play Fitness Plus entertainment type things what are you excited to use an apple VR headset for yeah well so VR it sounds like you correct me if I'm wrong right I haven't been following the rumors too closely it sounds like the VR is slated to come out first right with the AR later correct does that sound accurate okay I'll I'll just phrase it this way the the main competitor out there right now is meta's Oculus product right which I don't even think it's I forget how they're phrasing what they're calling it it's it's the meta Quest Oculus Rift 3 I think that's the technical name yeah something awful yeah yeah and I picked one up a while back to to check it out cuz I knew Apple was coming out with something soon you know after playing around with it there's some things that are interesting about it mostly I didn't really get sucked into anything other than the Star Wars games right those are cool I've tried those yeah those were cool yeah but you know so there's all this talk about metaverse stuff aside from Facebook changing their name which is ridiculous you know especially on the crypto side of things that's a big topic over there and I am excited for Apple to come out with something that can be my window into the digital world just as an alternative to Facebook right because I think we need that and I want that I don't want Facebook no owning that realm and of course A lot of people are just saying like you know Facebook um they want to own the next platform obviously who who wouldn't right they don't have the iPhone you know um but I don't want them to so I I really just want that for Apple to just have that alternative yeah I agree just because of nature of what I do I'll probably get the VR headset but I'll be honest I have not been tempted to get the quest you know when it was just the Oculus Quest or whatever I tried it Star Wars game was super cool the beat saber game was cool but I just couldn't think of ongoing reasons to use it on a regular basis you know I don't know if I want to work in the metaverse you know I don't know right I I'm I'm more excited about AR probably and I didn't always feel like that if you could do VR right like it is cool you know there's something to it but I think AR is just more practical and it sounds like Apple's really taking the approach of like we don't want people to live in this device 20 all day and whatever it is let's do short Sprints um is what it sounds like so AR it's just you know you know you see the the renders and it's something I've thought about for years like if you didn't have to actually buy a Mac Book but you could virtually have you know a screen on your desk in augmented reality or multiple screens or a screen on your whole wall like the possibilities are crazy and apple wants to do it cuz they want a whole new app store right yeah true for people to to access so yeah I I think AR I'm more excited about but both yeah I'm excited for AR I forget to use it sometimes we're actually constructing a new house that we'll be moving into and I was using the Best Buy app to look at TVs and I was like wait a minute there's like an AR feature here where you can just visualize the TV on the wall and it works pretty well you know it's pretty cool and it's actually useful to try in different TV sizes and picture the furniture around the room so I'm I'm very excited for the AR aspect of it yeah and you know that stuff it's cool I just think it's like it's nothing compared to what's coming when stuff is persistent right and it feels like it's like actually in the room you know oh yeah um that's going to be crazy yes Minority Report will finally come to fruition right well Chris thanks so much for coming on the show we'll put links to your YouTube channel and your Twitter and the show notes or where else can people find your work yeah U that you know that's the main stuff right now there's always new plans uh for stuff in the works if people are interested in crypto what it means you know any you can check out my uh course is what I'm about to say but you know for me it was like um I didn't know if I was going to like it or not but I kept hearing about it so I figured I I might as well know about it and uh and that's designed to help people do the same thing very cool well our listeners can find links to all of that in the show notes and to Chris's videos that we talked about in the show again thanks so much Chris for coming on thank you\n"