Tomorrow - 177: Unsubscribing and Thriving

Episode Date: September 27, 2019

Apparently Josh and Ryan really, really feel overwhelmed by the glut of streaming services on the internet because the spend the majority of episode 177 ranting about them. There's also some talk of Facebook and Amazon's latest hardware announcements, as well as a tearful ode to Netflix's Unbelievable. Freeze your debit card, unplug your laptop, and run off into the nearest forest to start your new life as a luddite. Episode 177 is here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey and welcome to tomorrow, I'm your host Josh Wittipolsky. Today on the podcast we discuss impulse control, baby monitors, and Peter Parker's premature ejaculation. I don't want to waste one minute. So let's get ready. We're back Ryan. Hello. We're back and it's you are now a full-time employee. I am now a full-time member of the input team. I think a lot of people don't realize this, but you and I have had a contract relationship for the podcast and stuff where it wasn't like you had a full-time thing because you were doing a bunch of other stuff.

Yeah, I needed the legal, plausible deniability for any projects I would be able to do. Whenever the FBI showed up, you need to be able to be like, look, I just just produced in it. I don't really know why he had these materials. Yeah, I've been working on input for a while, but now I can officially announce that I am an editor at input, and I will be around full time. And whatever you see, you know, credit me for it, even if I didn't work on it. Whatever you see no matter what it is, no matter how bad it is, or how many laws and

how many countries it violates, Ryan's responsible for it, I think, but we all want to know. Anyhow, there's a lot of exciting stuff going on. We announced two other hires, Shia Mcdonald, who is joining us from Daily Mail, and she's amazing. And Raymond Wong, his official start is next week, but who's coming over from Mashable's incredible reviewer, super smart guy, extremely high energy. I'm very excited.

There's a bunch of me, a bunch more announcements over the next few weeks. So I'm very excited about that stuff. The team is tight. It's all happening. It's all happening. Also, on the inverse side, we've got a bunch of things happening too.

I'll be talking about that, but there's gonna be a really cool thing that's going to happen within VersaNinput in the near future. I'm very excited about it. They're gonna bang. Oh yeah, you know what, let's not go there, right? Oh, that's right, I'm legally bound to this now.

I gotta try your name. You'll be hearing from HR about that one. Before you can say whatever the fuck you want and now you're gonna get a call. Okay, let's do it, let's go. I have to, we have a tight, I got a tight, a tight pod timeline. I got a tight timeline. We're gonna do a tight pod and get a gig going. Well, there's no news. So that's the, that's great. This was a quiet week. I think what one thing we can

all agree on is nothing of note or importance happened this week in the world. I will say the day that they announced the impeachment inquiry of Trump, I called my mom and said, I actually picked a great day to be super busy because I haven't been able to get upset about the news and she was like, what's going on? And I had to explain to her and she was like, well, that sounds bad.

And I was like, oh. She was like, explain the news. And we elected the penguin and he's trying to get away with feats of villainry. I mean, the penguin was actually quite shrewd, I'd be honest with you. The penguin, don't diss the penguin by comparing him to Trump.

No, this shit's crazy. I just wanna say, I would not talk about Trump a lot because everybody's nose is going on, but you think of hearing us talk about it. Here's, I know, and I'm sick of talking about it, which is why I hope soon he will no longer be president so I can talk about other things, spend more time on the things that I actually want to talk about but Just like what's really not here?

Here's what's really not to me is like basically this is about like and by the way This is the one that we've heard of I I know for sure there are like many other instances of this shit going down But like I feel in my gut that that is true But like Trump is like to the Ukrainian president, it's basically like, yeah, like I wanna give you all this money that was authorized by Congress, but really need you to, really need you to launch an investigation into Hunter Biden, whose Joe Biden son, because like Trump's really

worried about Joe Biden, which is like I get it. He is the, he was for a long time, has been historically the Democratic front runner. But what's really, to me, what's really hilarious about this is like, what if Warren is the, or Sanders becomes the candidate? Like, like, all of this will have been truly for nothing. You know, like, what if Biden, because there's a, actually, I think a pretty good chance

that Biden is not the candidate. I think there's a pretty good chance that it's like Sanders or Warren. I honestly think, and I mean, supporters on both sides are gonna eat me alive. I honestly think that Warren and Sanders both understand the severity of the situation, and they might team up for a ticket. That would be so sick.

That would be so sick. I'm sorry, like, it would be really great. If we took the two really popular people and put them, I don't know why they never do this. They never seem to do this. It's always like, I mean, Obama did it, basically. People like Joe Biden, but they weren't like, I want you to be president, but people knew him and liked him.

And then he wasn't like, remember, who was Hillary Clinton's runny mate? Tim Cain. Tim Cain, whose main skill was that he was fluent in Spanish. Like, why not add, like, add a little bit of heat to the ticket, you know? Yeah, you can seem like an all around capable and nice man, but he wasn't like, nobody turns out to vote for capable and not be a turn. I don't know. Who are the other, I'm just going to, I just want to look on a 2016

democratic primary. Let me just see who some of the other people running were. Let's just take a look here. Okay, now I admittedly really Sanders is the only one who was in any of the primaries that you really could consider it to be like. I mean, I remember this, it's like a bunch of these weird anonymous white guys. But by the way, a lot of people in the Democratic party,

a lot of great people in the Democratic party that could have been a running mate that would have been given a little bit of extra, like, you know, oomph, oomph. Yeah, sure. But like, I think I do think, how amazing would it be if, I mean, I don't know, if I'm Bernie Sanders, I'll say this,

if Warren gets it and it's even an option. Like Bernie, he's not running next in four years. Like he'll be so fucking old. If I were him, I'd be like, I could do a lot of good if I'm like the vice president of the United States. I agree that it should be Bernie or whatever. And then in four years, that's how it works.

That's not how it works. Oh, you mean like Warren would step down? That's shit that does not happen. No, no, Bernie will step down and the Warren will run. No, that's not going to happen. If the primaries, people vote for somebody in the primaries, that's who they want to be president. And anyhow, the point is, I just think team up,

just team up. Just like definitely consider the fact that like if it was Warren and Sanders running together, whatever the arrangement, I'm fine with whatever arrangement, but like that would be a very powerful message for all Democrats and also for the Republicans, you know, we need to get our shit together. Just get it together. Now buy, I don't know what's going on Biden at this point. I know I feel like like, you know, I don't know. I kind of like,

did you see the footage of him at the LGBTQ town hall? Yes, I did. I didn't, like, didn't care for it. Didn't care for it. But like, that thing is, I was pretty bad. I, just like, I just want the main thing is again, I just, we have to stick with it. We just get here in a Trump. We just get Trump out of the fucking off out of the office of the president of the United States. All right, let's talk about other stuff. I don't want to talk about this anymore.

I think we know what's going on. So it'll be giving me a busy few months here. A lot of shit's going down. Yeah. Okay. Well, in other news, did you see all of the free thing that Facebook announced, including this Oculus weirdness? I, uh, I didn't honestly, this week's been so crazy that I didn't, I mean, you know, the

Oculus stuff is always like they have something to announce and typically I think it's not that good or important and nothing really happens. So you tell me what I missed this week. So Facebook announced like that the new Oculus Quest, which was their standalone, basically like a console. There was no computer you had to plug it into it's like the evolution of the Oculus Go it's an all-in-one VR experience with the store yeah no I know about we know about that but you have all those limitations of like

it's basically as good as like a good smartphone graphics wise sure but you know people bought it the their latest announcement is that they're coming up as new Yeah, you did people buy it not really but Right they're coming out with a link situation so that you'll be able to use your quest with a gaming PC So if you buy the quest you have the on-the-go experience if you want it for I don't know traveling who's traveling with a VR headset But whatever or you can plug it into your computer

and use it like the Rift S, which is another product that they still sell, which is only for use with PC, with graphics cards. So I don't understand who the Rift S is for now, along with the fact that they announced that they were not going to sell these physical touch controllers anymore that the inside out tracking cameras on the quest and the Rift S would do hand tracking connect style, so that your bare hands could be your controllers, which is going to suck,

by the way, like that as a user experience, you need to be holding something. I mean, let's just gloves with like force feedback or something, but that's not what they're selling. Right. In any event, this is Facebook announcing that their, their Oculus strategy that they just release is bombing and they're trying to come up with something else. That's right. I mean, this is just a very poorly executed and half-ass plan.

They've always been someone half-ass about it. I mean, this is the problem with VR. I wrote this, you know, I wrote the thing like, I don't know, maybe a year ago about how like the whole VR, like the promise of VR has basically died. And I do think that like all of these plans are, like the technology's not there, everything is like in beta still, you know? And it's like, it's not,

there haven't been any leaps or any killer apps that have made people go, wait a second, this is the thing. I mean, there is a way it could mean, there is a way it could happen. There is a way it could become a much more popular experience for a lot of people, but I just don't see it coming together from Facebook whose eye is definitely not on this particular problem. You know? It's just like a Facebook is that it doesn't have

the resources that naturally lend it to this space. Sony has game studios that are like on contract to that. Like they have first party things, they have arrangements, they have people who they've been install based with the PS4, they have an entire gaming marketing team. Facebook's closest product to this was like Farmville. So I don't know like what, why I get that they wanted a piece of consumer tech,

they wanted to expand and diversify, they wanted to own a platform the way that Apple and Google now own mobile, but this isn't working out for them. And it's sort of funny because even Amazon or Google, or there are multiple companies that have a much closer expertise to this area. And if Microsoft decided that they were gonna release

a VR headset that was compatible with the Xbox NPC and they would sell it at cost or at a loss and then do first party software push, that would kind of be it for that market. So I don't know why you would get into a market that other people can and will slip into if it was to become at all profitable. Yeah, I just, it's tough to see how, I mean, I really wish something that like, I wish there was something that was like that could pick up, that was a more cohesive version of this.

First off, I hate the fact that Facebook is, is, is in, has any involvement whatsoever. I mean, honestly, the quest at this point, if it has that PC link, it's kind of a good deal for someone that wants to get into PC VR, you know, you get the standalone thing, but I do not want to buy a headset with Facebook software on it. I just don't. I hate the company. It's very scary to me. And so like, well, that's what I'm saying. I mean, that's what I'm thinking. What consumers like, I want a Facebook product. I want the portal. Yeah, I mean that's what I'm saying. I mean, that's what I'm like. What consumers like I want a Facebook product,

I want the portal. Yeah, I mean, like what's actually amazing is how much Facebook turns me off in general. Like, honestly, I just watched the season premiere of Modern Family and like half the show is like an ad for, it's like SpawnCon for the Facebook portal. And I only did it like make me continue to dislike the concept

of the portal, which is a TV, you know, a screen narratively, the episodes was narratively. There's like a whole thing where they're like, where they're like using like some like one of the characters is like using the portal to talk to the family. And it's like really, now they've done this before. They've done it with a bunch of stuff. They've done it with like pixels and they've done it with like, it's fine. It's so good. Like marketing integration is fine. Like I'm fine with them like integrating the product because that's like a better way to market it now because people don't watch ads. I totally get it. But what I don't like what I'm saying is the fact that it was Facebook was like I was like one, oh like gross. I hate this product and it sucks. And then it was like, oh, this makes me feel like this show kind of sucks for doing the ad.

You know? It's yeah, it's just like, I get it, it's money. But I'm just saying that the, I'm not on trust Facebook, I'm not on like Facebook and I don't feel that their products are good for humanity, generally speaking. So it kind of gives the polish, it takes the polish off whatever Oculus is doing,

but whatever Oculus is doing is like totally confused and not like not solving the problems that VR needs to solve. And I don't expect the kind of like the right kind of support or focus that for it to, you know, function that Facebook will, you know, that Facebook can give it that. So anyhow, so it's just kind of a bummer. But also, I think the artisism there yet, that technology is not there yet. There needs to be something that's way more advanced. And some, so there needs just kind of a bummer, but also I think the VR just isn't there yet. The technology is not there yet. There needs to be something that's way more advanced and there needs to be a killer app and nobody's figured that out. And also, listen, I'm glad that they're coming up with all these new things, but they

haven't answered the most important question, which is like, what am I putting on my dick? Okay? What is the accessory for my genitals? Okay, they have it. It's weird to me. It's a poor and hub flushed with money? Shouldn't this be what they're expanding into? I'm telling you, the success that that VR is looking for, I said it before and

damn it, I'll say it again, there needs to be the killer, uh, you know, porn experience. Just, I mean, just like VHG. I got my first VR heads that within the first night I had figured out how to watch porn. Yeah. Oh, we just be honest. Let's get honest with ourselves. You know, look, we're animals. We want porn, VR porn.

We want VR porn and genital adapters, okay? Is that too much to ask from Facebook? I mean, that's exactly, by the way, great example of where I would not want Facebook involved in anyway. Of course, they wouldn't get involved. They're fine with like, they're fine with like like Nazi terrorism, but if there's a boob, no thank you, sir. No, you know, I can't have that.

You can't have that. Okay, anyhow, let's move on. Well, in other pro-consmen, here we go. Here we go. You see Amazon's new suite of frame and did a good tweet, which is like their design process is like find a Chinese manufacturer putting Amazon logo on it and they're done I mean, I do think it's like it's very hard for me first off. I just did it by the way. I just did a poll on Twitter Let me give you an update from it because the Amazon's whole trip is like

You know talk to our devices talk to Alexa, you know, I've done a this is obviously you know My own goal is that you constantly are podcasting with a small Bluetooth speaker. I mean, this is my audience, you know, so there may be a little biester, whatever, but I have the right now 405 votes on this thing. This is, I just put this up, like a half an hour ago, whatever. 24% I asked people if they actually like talking out loud to their gadgets. 24% say yes, 76% say no.

But it was just, yes, 76% say no. But it was just yes or no question. So, and I really think, this is how most people feel. I don't think people actually, I think we're being sold a lot of the shit about how everyone loves talking to their gadgets, but I don't think people do.

Now I know a lot of people who use Alexa and use Google home and do like it. I'm not saying that there are no people that like it, but I do think that there are a lot of people who are like, this is a turn off and not exactly how I want to interact with my stuff. There's certain cases where if it were perfect, you could imagine it being really good,

but it's never perfect. But that's the thing. In concept, it's sort of like a mobile keyboard, like a keyboard on a phone. You think you want it, but once you live with the reality of what you're losing and what the transaction is there, the touchscreen keyboard was the correct move. And frankly, like voice stuff is fine in the car and like occasionally to get like while you're cooking to set a timer or ask the weather. But we have that and I don't need anything else out of it.

Like, we're good. We got to where it needs to be. I just think it's the kind of thing where there is a... I'm excited about the future where it's like... It's like, you know, hey, Alexa, whoever, like, make a reservation at, you know, this... Yeah, until the AI is there. What's the point?

You know, make a reservation at this neighborhood at this time for tomorrow night. And Alexa's like, okay, how about these restaurants? And you're like, yeah, that one. And it's like, okay, cool. Reservations may. Like, that sounds awesome. But nobody's able to do it.

A.I. Alexa, I want to fly to Italy in two months. Can you find me the cheapest flight out of New York airport? Right. I only like flying during the day. And I would prefer Delta. Yeah. And then she comes back with something and you say, great, but the AI is not there yet.

It's not in your pocket. Is that in your pocket? I know, the argument is, well, the argument would be, well, we need to do all of this early stuff to train it to be really good. But I understand that, but I don't really want to be the beta tester. And also, I don't really want, like, I just

don't, I hate the idea of this ambient thing that's just waiting for you to talk to it. I mean, I have had good experiences with Google Assistant, but there's so few and far between. It's like, I mean, it just isn't, it's just anyhow, whatever. I just think the whole, I don't like, it's like also, if you're in a room full of people,

talking to your guy, there's gotta be a better way, you know, how about make the things work better? I mean, have you seen the share sheet in iOS? It's insane. We get so insane. It has no sense of like what you're actually trying to do. It's like, it's so overwhelming. The new one even more so now,

it's like, there's so many layers of like, what did it, it's like, do you want this? Or do you want this? Or do you want these things down here, or there's another thing down here that we don't really show, but you can go to it. It's like, have you ever like used the device, you know? Like, I mean, you have a section,

which is the link, you have a section of like auto-populated messages or airdrop, then you've got actual airdrop and messages, and then a bunch of icons, then a more with three dots. Below that, you can have a- Are icons, then a more with three dots. Below that, are you looking at? Yeah, yeah, open into the party, open and chrome. Below that, you have addable actions, which I don't know how that's different from the more share, but whatever.

It's so it's so it's so not. I don't understand what the separation of them are. When that comes up for, I have to assume my parents, they just tap the phone until it goes away. Like for instance, not a useful one. Yeah, like what's amazing is that like first, it's like assuming that you want to send an I message to somebody that that's going to be your first thing.

Then it has like these, I guess, I don't know if they're algorithmically recommended or what they are, but they're like, yeah, it's just like, and then if I go to more, there's if I go to more options, anyhow, whatever the point is, there's favorites and there's suggestions. Like the favorites, if I go to edit, there's even not even a way to add a thing to, oh, I guess I can add this to my favorites.

This is so poorly designed. It's just like not good. This is so... You know what it is? It's where they dump a bunch of stuff that are necessary for power users, but that they don't know how to make it seamless for everybody else part of the experience. So they dump it all in that share button

to like if you wanna move it between apps or put it in your iCloud or if you wanna message it. Like they don't know where to stick all of that on the screen. So it just gets shoved into this popup context menu. And it betrays the fact that iOS isn't like being updated or rethought. It's just sort of getting facelift after facelift. It's just, my point is, my point is this.

I'm just saying, like, I understand that they want that's a shining new feature about how it like talks here or whatever, but I really would love it if it were, if the actual devices worked better. Anyhow, do you want to talk about Spider-Man? I mean, I finally saw the new Spider-Man movie. Oh, you did? It wasn't good. It was bad.

And I have to say, I'm trying to figure out if the movie's actually met a commentary and having watched it now, passed all the hype cycle. You know, the movie is about, this is spoiler alert. If you haven't seen the Spider-Man far from home, okay, spoiler alert, huge spoilers coming up. The plot of the movies that Jake Gyllenhaal is like a special effects, he does like these special effects basically to fool people into thinking that there's like a threat and then

you know, he fights the threat and looks like a hero, which is like a really really silly idea. Like if you just think about it, it's an extremely silly idea. But there's some commentary about fake news and like, you know, manipulating like the public's opinion by what's in the press. A lot of the movies actually about the press when you think about it. It's like about what people see

and how it stories get sort of like disseminated and shared. But I also was wondering, is it actually commentary on the movie industry? Because it's kind of like the movie, which is filled with effects, is about how the effects aren't real, but people believe it anyhow, people believe anything.

And it's like the effects don't look real at all. And Spider-Man doesn't never looks real. And it all looks really fucking fake to me. Like I'm looking at it's like, the effects don't look real at all. And Spider-Man doesn't never looks real. And like, it all looks really fucking fake to me. Like, I'm looking at it going like, this all looks like a fucking video game. Like, I know it's really good CGI. It's like, Transformers where there's just too much CGI. But it's all CGI. And you know it's CGI. Even if it looks like how that would really look if it existed, our brains know that that would never exist. It's like, Transformers just have too much going on. And those shots of Spider-Man, there's nowhere to ground you.

The best CGI is like the David Fincher style where it's very subtle. Yeah. I mean, there's a little generally some great moments of action in the movie, but it's also one of those things where it's like, I never, you never feel that there are, I know that there's never really stakes, but the lack of tear, I think the word, the right word that you just said grounding. The lack of grounding makes it hard to be fully wrapped up in it.

So I guess what I'm saying is like, so what's interesting to think about as the movie's plot is very much like a reflection of what the movie is doing to the viewer. So I kind of want to almost go like, wow, there's sort of a deeper level to it. I don't think there is. I think it's sort of like on accident that they are making like a deeper commentary about special effects

With that like okay, so Tony Stark starts out being a guy who's like We need unlimited power and it needs to just go to someone who's smart enough to know what order and loss should be and So here I'll be the guy who's in a super suit and I'll fucking kill terrorists. I don't give a shit. I'm America bitch. Right. And then he realizes that's not good. And then he wants to turn around and register everybody with the government and have some kind of superhero accountability to the public, which is character growth. And then he comes to realize that all that does is submit all of their power even further to the government. And there's like a balancing act that he finds through like policy and through like discussion with Captain America. And there was never a super clear resolution to that storyline, but we did get to a place

where it felt like they found a balance of everybody's concerns. And meanwhile, there's super inflation going on in the background. We went from like a god to like a world eater who kills half of humanity. Like, everything just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger And eventually he dies and his Legacy is that rather than giving himself all the concentrated power all these people at the funeral have a bit of power And each of them is is well intentioned democracy world Yeah

Well, it's a soupocracy whatever it is takes a nation takes a nation takes us village I mean takes a village and I'm not saying I agree with all of this because there's a soupocracy, whatever it is. Takes a nation, takes a nation, takes a village, I mean, takes a village. And I'm not saying I agree with all of this because there's a lot of capitalist undertones there. I'm not saying like, but at least for him, it was growth. It was a philosophy. Yes.

Handing a teenager sunglasses, which is a good idea. Oh, yeah, okay, no, no, no, no, no. It's not consistent with his character. We're the message. No, no, no, forget about that. It's not consistent with any kind of any, like Tony starts supposed to be the smartest man in the world.

He's like, you know what? You know who'd be good to handle this network of planet surrounding nuclear drones is a teen who's in high school, but also here's the other thing. Like I wouldn't give that to Greta Thunberg. Okay, hold on. But here's also a teen in high school, but hold on a second.

It's not a great, but here's also a teen in high school, but hold on a second. It's not great. But here's the bigger thing. Like the glasses aren't activated by like scanning Spider-Man's DNA and being like, this is Spider-Man. So it's okay to use the fucking nukes or whatever. It literally is just like, whoever has the glasses. Yeah. He's like, hey, Jake Gyllenhaal, do you want the glasses?

I don't really need them. I think Tony Stark would like you to have him. Here they are, we're having a beer. Here's the glasses. And then he's like, cool, thanks. And he's like, activate nukes. And the glasses are like, okay, dude, whoever you are. Do the nukes stuff.

Like, who cares? I'm sorry, the plot's so fucking bad in time. But also, could you pick a more breakable product for a teenager? I know. How about a racist? How about like, yeah, could you pick a more breakable product for a teenager? I know. How about access? How about a fucking remote control made of titanium or a phone?

Just give them a phone or a computer. How about just, there's an actual box somewhere that you can interface with different devices. So you don't have to carry it around with you everywhere. It made no sense. You know why? It wasn't very good. It's bad, and it's dumb, and it stinks, know I wasn't very good. It's bad. It's bad.

And it's dumb and it stinks. And I'm sorry, but like, we have to get real. Also, this Spider-Man, he's like, doesn't even seem like the real Spider-Man. Yeah. I like him as his own little guy. Like, I like Tom Holland. I love Tom Holland. He's a great, that's a Spider-Man.

I think he's great. He's wonderful, but like, Spider-Man is not like this like, you know, this Spider-Man is basically like a guy who like, I mean, I don't want to, I don't want to be rude, but he's like like this, like, you know, this Spider-Man is basically a guy who like, I mean, I don't want to, I don't want to be rude, but he's like a guy who like, you know, ejaculates in his pants the second he gets like, a peck on the cheek, you know what I mean? He's like, he can't handle anything, you know?

Like, he's the kind of guy that people say quippy lines to and then he goes, oh man, he's not the kind of guy who says a quippy line, which is who Spider-Man is. He gets, he's, yes, he's not the kind of guy who says a quippy line, which is who Spider-Man is. He gets, he's, yes, he's like the victim of quippy lines. Like that. But also, Spider-Man does have a little bit of an ego in the comic books. Like he's not just like, he's not just like, he's not a sub-man self.

I don't know. He's selling them for money. He's got an original influence there. This guy's like, maybe, oh, Mr. Starka. You know, it's like, like, just shut the fuck up and do your job, man. I think I'm sorry. Why are you eating my hands? I'm sorry.

Yeah, I'm sorry. Like, two weeks of having Spider-Man's powers, you can be like, yo, I'm the fucking shit. You're not going to be walking. I've got the whole plot of the original, the last set of Spider-Man, the ones before Andrew Garfield, you know, Uncle Men's like, with great power, because great response, but he's like, I'm such a fucking awesome dude. Like, he fucks up. That's how that's the problem. It's like, he's like, doesn't know how to handle how like being awesome. Yeah. Anyhow, let's move on. Well, fucking Spider-Man. The reason we got into that is that Marvel and Sony have come

to me. Yeah, right. Sorry. I don't know. I think this is all I'm sorry. I don't want to be like everything is fake news or whatever. But I do think this is all like a hype cycle. I think that we're like, yeah, I don't know. We're not about to do it. It's no coincidence that Sony floated the rumor of a of a Madam web movie last night when they were in the final decision. Yeah, this is like the kind of thing. This like kind of thing where like somebody's like, you know, you go to the store and say, go, Hey, can you get me? Can you

get me some twinkies? You know, like your roommates, like, you can you give me some twinkies? And you know, you go to the store and somebody's like, oh, hey, can you get me, can you get me some twinkies, you know, like your roommates, like, can you give me some twinkies and you know, you come back and they're like, did you get the twinkies? And they're like, no, I got two twinkies. And it's like, okay, you know what? Just tell me you got the fucking twinkies. I don't need to like fake me out.

Anyhow, you know what I'm talking about, right? Yeah, I know, you're sorry. I need that shit. Like, actually, Zelda does it. It's not a game, bitch. I don't know where I'm talking about right? Yeah, I know you're sorry. I need that shit. Like, actually, Zelda does a Zelda thing. It's given a game, bitch. I don't know her piece. I don't know where Zelda got it, but all the time. I'm like, you know, we'll give her something for dinner.

I'm like, is it good? She's like, no, it's not good. It's great. I'm like, what the fuck, man? Just give it to me straight, Jesus. All right, anyhow, let's keep going. Similar to Apple doing its $5 arcade thing that I got all hype about last week.

Which I've subscribed to and have not touched since the one day that I looked at it after you were like, you should subscribe. I mean, to be fair, I don't have a lot of time to play games. This week's been fucking nuts. I literally have done nothing. I have been watching unbelievable on Netflix,

which we could talk about later, but go ahead. Oh, yeah, I watched this too. It's good. Similar to that, Android has announced. Oh, yeah. Google Play Pass. It's good. It's good. Similar to that, Android has announced. Oh, yeah, yeah, Google play pass I love it. Which is comes with 350 Android games and apps for 499 a month But you get the first month free and then it's a dollar 99 for a year after that. So it's very cheap But the thing that I find interesting about this is two things one is

Obviously, this is a response. They didn't have some exclusive games ready to roll out yet. They were doing this in response so they bundled together some of their best games. But I think it's really interesting because if all software moves to a Netflix subscription model, if everything is moving to a Netflix subscription model, like what does that mean for a consumer and also like how are the developers supposed to be making money on this? I understand that Apple and Google have money to spare to pay out the nose and make this like a loss leader situation.

But similar to Netflix, if these situations aren't making a profit, you're building up an industry and a bunch of people with jobs that are built on sand. And similar to, we haven't really talked about this, but the WeWork situation that's going down, or even what I think will eventually happen with Uber, which is that these companies are tying you in with the promise of $9.99 a month, you'll get a new show released every weekend.

Like, this is gonna be a big deal. Yeah, subscription culture is bad, in my opinion. promise of 999 a month, you'll get a new show released every weekend. Like this is going to be a big deal. Yeah, subscription culture is bad in my opinion. But like eventually you have to be making real money and you have to have a real, a business is profit and you can't just keep having investors or writing off a loss. And like playstation, Google and Apple probably can. But like PlayStation, Sony was like, we're willing to do a loss. We want to be in the DVD game and we want to be in the game game. But eventually it turned a profit.

And if it didn't turn a profit, they wouldn't be like the Vita. They didn't come out with a follow up. I mean, it's like Apple News Plus. I mean, that shit's not sustainable. I mean, there's no way they're making enough money to keep doing that. But if they reformat the entire software app ecosystem, and the way the consumers think about purchasing habits for the subscription model,

and then turn around and say, the only way to make this work is that the subscription model is now $200 a month. Like that's going to be... We're not saying, but it's already fucking up the model. I mean, like the idea that you have to be bundled into a subscription, and that you're limited by, however many subscribers,

this whole all you can eat shit, it works for some things that doesn't really work for others and the more bifurcated the market gets, or the more the competitors try to dismantle each other, the worse it is for consumers. I mean, the same thing is happening with streaming services. We talked about this before, but the amount of streaming services one is required now

to have to see the shows that everybody's talking about or the ones they want to see is the is the same as having a premium cable package, you know, and it forces it. It forces users or the way that it works for Spotify is different because Spotify doesn't it doesn't matter if a musician doesn't make a ton of money off of streaming because they knew that they were only gonna make money off of touring and merch. Well, no, but hold on, but there was a version of the world where, where there was another, there are other ways, you could make money by selling things like records. Like, there was a version of the world where you could sell.

And the App Store had a, there was a version of the world of the App Store, which maybe we'll go away and maybe won't, where you could be like a small developer and sell an app for a dollar and have like 10 million people buy your app and have it be a big success and you get fucking rich. And like, and that's like really good actually. That's a Star-Sew Valley situation. That's awesome. That guy would, one guy, mean that game.

This is what I'm saying. I mean, look at Minecraft. I mean, like the original version of Minecraft was not a, didn't come from a fucking gigantic triple A studio. It came from a small group of developers. Like, I'm, you know, it came from one guy, basically. But if you were Disney, you can, the TV shows on Disney Plus, and to some extent, the movies, even though the movies are still

profitable, and that's a different thing. Our ads for the merch, for the cruises, for the parks, for the, like, the reason that our rangers is one of the highest ranking, like, most biggest money makers in all of entertainment over the last, over the past few decades, is action figures. Like, not the TV show, that's an ad for the action figure. That doesn't work when it comes to productivity apps. action figure that doesn't work when it comes to productivity apps Yeah, that doesn't work when it comes to I mean look at me look at what microsoft's done with with office. I mean which I actually think in in the case of something like office

um It's so specific and expensive that I almost think it works for office. Yeah, I think um I mean, I'm just saying like it's okay It also is nice to not like drop like $200 on a product and then be like, well, I actually don't need it anymore or whatever, you know, it's like, like I think there's something interesting. I mean, with office, it makes more sense.

I feel like there's a lot more value inherent in that. Like I also like, you know, the idea that we're now, you know, bundling the, all of this stuff together and we're basically saying, now we're handing back the chances of success to all these conglomerates. Like on the app thing, I think is really detrimental. I mean, they have been, think about it this way. Apple was like, first of Apple didn't want to do an app store,

but we used to have computers where you could install whatever you wanted, right? And then the iPhone came out and Apple was like, and then it took a while, and then Apple was like, okay, we're going to have an App Store. And the App Store was like very controlled by Apple. Like, still is in many ways, but it's been opened up somewhat. But like, you couldn't have an app with like nudity in it or swearing. This is still true in a lot of cases.

Like, you can't have, as far as I know, like, you can't have an app with nudity in it, right, on the App Store. And you can't have an app with nudity in it on the App Store. You can't have an app, they had, they had, they ban shit where they were swearing and stuff, they've eased on that a little bit, but it was very controlled. But at least you could be, it did give a vehicle for an independent developer for the most part a way to kind of reach a very large audience. And now it's like, but now they're kind of going, okay, so now we're going to have these subscription options where we bundle everything.

And so, yeah, you can sell it on the side or whatever, but if people spend this $5, they get it and we'll give you a cut of this $5 or whatever. And somehow now it's like all in Apple's hands. It's all in Apple's hands as to whether or not your app can be a successor or failure. I mean, their algorithms decide what's at the top of the charts. We know that they were gaming the charts to push people towards Apple products, unfucking surprising considering how their operating system works. And by the way, Google does the same shit. I mean, on Android, there's definitely like a hierarchy of what bubbles up to the top of these lists. But like, the more we move to these, like, all you can eat

subscription options, the more control we give, the owners of the all you can eat subscription options. Now, I'm not saying subscriptions are necessarily inherently a bad thing, but I think the subscription culture of modern tech and entertainment is very bad for consumers in lots of different ways. I would say that it's fine to say like, the audible model I think is actually pretty good, right?

I pay a monthly fee for audible and I get a certain amount of these credits for a book and the credits accrue over time and I can use them however I want. They're not like you have to use them on these sets of things or whatever. I also want to use the credit, but that's your book forever. Actually, I don't know if that's true. I don't know what it is. Is that true? Yes, I have to keep the book.

I have to keep the book. I have to keep the book. I have to keep the book. Okay. That's a great fucking model. That's a great fucking model. That's really nice. That's basically saying like, you're going to pay to access the stuff and you choose what you want. And, you know, we're not, it's not like, we're not trying to bundle like specific things in

and key other things out. It's kind of like all there. I think it's, you know, sort of similar to what Apple Arcade is doing. It's sort of similar to what Google is doing with these apps. I mean, I don't know what they put in their thing. But I do think it's like, it just creates this weird, but if you think about it, you buy an iPhone on a, like with monthly payments.

In addition, you get AppleCare Plus with monthly payments. Your watch is the same situation, let's say, even if it's just the AppleCare Plus, that's monthly payments. So say you're making those monthly payments. You're also doing news, music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade. What point are you, are you playing out the nose like $250 some month plus your cell phone fee?

I mean, all of this is, look, all of the, I mean, make no mistake about it to some degree all of this is a luxury. Like, you know. I mean all this is look all like the term I mean make no mistake about it to some degree all this is a luxury like you know what I mean if you- but do they expect people to be dropping $400 a month even even middle class that's that's that is where we're headed though right it's like it's like look Netflix is what $10 a month more than that 13 maybe 12 yeah 13 let's call $12 a month okay so now that gets you some Netflix stuff. Let's say you wanna watch the Avengers and you wanna watch these new series of Disney's doing. Okay, that's Disney Plus or whatever it's called. That's what, $6 a month, $8 a month.

Then it's like, oh, I love the office. Well, you can't stream it down and any of the other things you need NBC's thing. You're like, okay, that's $8, $6, whatever. And this is just, I wanna watch the new Picard show. Well, that's on CBS all-access. That's $10 a month. And like, okay, so now I'm spending what? What is that? $60, $70 just on just to watch some TV shows. That doesn't even give you live TV. You're really prime fee.

But it doesn't give you live TV. So that's another like 35 to 50 dollars So that's now you're I mean, it's like just do the fucking math then you're like subscribing to Apple arcade five bucks a month What's the ps4 thing is like how much? Yeah PlayStation Plus let's say it's a hundred dollars a year or something Yeah, I think it was a year. I don't know Maybe not yet, but I think in the next year or so we'll be at peak subscription, and we're gonna need to all like really look

at our debit card charges and be like, what is happening here? And I don't know that subscription, that everything needs to be a subscription. Like, Blue Apron, great product. Please advertise with us again. I like using your stuff, but like, that's a novelty.

I'm not ordering all my food from subscription, and that kind of goes with everything a novelty. I'm not ordering all my food from subscription, and that kind of goes with everything. I'm not buying all my apps, so that if there's a billing issue, I can't use all the apps on my phone. I need to know that I own them. Anyhow, look, I'm not saying that the idea of subscriptions is all necessarily bad.

It's definitely not. I think we're just a little too excited about them. There's a whole rest in the month. Yeah, I just think everybody wants to have a subscription. And you talk about this, I talk about this a people all the time. And I'm like, how many subscriptions can you potentially have? You know, like people like, well, I subscribe to Spotify and Netflix. I'm like, cool, those are all you can eat.

And obviously with things like, you know, with Apple News Plus, which is not all you can eat, because it limits like such a small amount of things you can actually get on there, comparatively, to like the stuff you want to read in the news, but also, you know, there's like, so you have a New York Times subscription, Washington Post subscription. You know, but then, but then, okay, so then it's like, you know, with apps and stuff and games. I mean, I like the idea of like a bonus, like I subscribed to like, if like you subscribe to PS4, I mean, there's, there's, I guess these two things, just like PS Plus of a bone as I subscribe to, like you subscribe to PS4. I mean, there's, there's, I guess these two things, just like PS plus, which I don't subscribe to.

And then there's the, just the general, what is the thing? What are the two things? They have two different things. I'm trying to like think of what they're called now. For what? PlayStation has two different like subscription products. So there's PlayStation.

One is like, you can do like online gaming. And the other one is like you get free games and you can stream games. So they have PlayStation Plus, which you've got two free games a month that you don't get to pick. And that's online games. And then they have PlayStation now.

Now, right, that's it. And it has like streaming games. Which is similar to Xbox Game Pass, except the PlayStation now is all streaming, as opposed to like... Which is, I mean, which I don't Xbox Game Pass except the PlayStation now is all streaming as opposed to which is I mean I've which I don't I actually don't think I subscribe to either one of those I think I keep renewing my Xbox gold for some reason which I literally have to turn my Xbox on and I have a yes, which online to this is a fucking nightmare. This is a consumer nightmare. It's ridiculous. It's so bad. I mean, it's fine. Like, if you use one game system, you're all set. I had to go through all of it.

My subscription servers is last week because I was like, I don't want any more random charges. This is definitely like, but this is definitely, I will say this is definitely like our problem. I mean, most people don't have like four game systems. We're on the game edge and it's, I agree. Thank you. I mean, we already had an issue last week where we were getting charged every month for ESPN plus and nobody in my family knew who purchased it. We had to hunt down who had at one point accidentally signed up for a free trial.

It's like, and that's going to be everything. No, I mean, I'm, yeah, at some point it's going to ran have to figure out like a holistic way to pull this all together. But it was one of those things like a few years ago, people were like, Apple's going to crack TV and they're going to have this centralized place where it all just works. And it's like, yo, my Apple TV is the most dumpster fiery of all the dumpster fire things that I have. It's like on a regular basis, it's doing shit like,

it's like, you need to log in with your TV provider. And I had like direct TV now, but that became AT&T now. And then it like logged me out and then I log back in. It's like, there's a new episode of Succession. It's like, cool, like I can watch it through my AT&T now so Christian, but then I go to like, it like takes me to HBO and it then I log back in. It's like, there's a new episode of succession. It's like, cool. I can watch it through my 18 team now, so Christian, but then I go to like, it takes me to HBO and it's like, log into HBO and HBO is like, go on to our website and activate your shit.

And I'm like, this is so easy. Like, do you have, do you have, what? What? The best thing is on demand cable. Cable or the other option, both of which are from 20 years ago bit torrent, you know, dude, I'll be honest with you. I got to tell you I pay for all these shows. I pay I do not steal a single show that I don't already pay for,

but it is so much easier to bit torrent a show and then just watch it than it is for me to hunt down how I'm supposed to like it. No, I agree. I have done the same thing recently. In fact, increasingly I have been like, okay, this is a nightmare. I'll just be trying to watch something. It's like, you're logged out of this thing.

I'm like, you know what? I'm just gonna, it literally inform you and it's gonna download the show and watch it. It's literally easier to get in my laptop. I'll have it locked up. I'll have no ads. I won't have any weird pop-ups. I want to have to download an app.

And frankly, I'm already paying for it. So I legally feel like I know it's not kosher. It is. It's sort of like a know it's not kosher, it is. It's sort of like a rom of a game that I already own. If I have the, the, the, the, the cartridge,

it's mine. I don't care. Listen, information wants to be free. Free the bits. Free your mind. Free the bits, free your mind. That's my new t-shirts.

Welcome to the lore-inflessing cast. Limit 100, 100, 100 shirts. Limit the addition. Get them now. Josh, JoshTipulski.com. Josh with Topolsky.com. Okay, anyhow. Well, speaking of all of these subscription issues with our phone. All the lock-in, speaking of all the lock-in. And frankly, speaking of piracy. And one of your passions. One of my like what the fuck, they're like what the fuck are they talking about?

You know, like what the fuck, they're like what the fuck are they talking about? But if it was a weird sex thing, definitely is speaking of on iOS this week, Riley Testett, who is an iOS developer, has dropped an alternative app store with a complete holistic workaround for keeping it outside of Apple's ability to stop you, which has been previously been the problem with like, city or any of those like app valley, any of those like third party around the system app stores. Riley Testett has come up with a pretty solid solution where you sort of run a server on your laptop and it checks in and refreshes behind the scenes, the certificate that allows you to install third party apps.

It's called Alt Store. You can find out the exact way to do it. I did it. It's very easy. You can do it by googling it. It's very, I think it's also at Altstar.io. It's very easy to set up if you have like basically any computer literacy. And it allows you to install apps that Apple doesn't want you to,

but that frankly are totally not illegal. They're not bad. Like, yeah, like emulators, which is your... Yeah, and they drop their flagship emulator Delta, which lets you do SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, N64, like it's basically Nintendo-centric emulator for your devices. And I now own a phone on the phone on the market

with the best processor, and I want to be able to run an emulator on it because I love emulation. And this is the easiest way to do it. And Apple has to frankly grow up. Like if you're gonna make everything into a subscription model, you also have to like,

if you're gonna shoehorn me into that, you also have to let me like, go outside if you occasionally. I need to be allowed to install. I mean, this just gets to my- I think $2000 for the phone. I mean, it just gets to my kind of like, look, my number one gripe is,

I mean, I have many gripes, but my number one gripe with Apple is like, the way that they try to force users into their ecosystem is feels extremely, to me, I know from a lot of users that are like, this is great for me, but it feels extremely, it's like the whole Amazon thing. Like in the Amazon app on my iPhone, it's an insetion insane, like my brain doesn't even,

these like, this doesn't even like work in my brain. In the Amazon app on my iPhone, I can buy everything but a book, okay? Maybe I can't buy music, either digital music. I can't buy a digital book in the Amazon app. But I can't buy digital items because Apple is like, you need to give us a 40% cut of that Amazon. And Amazon's like, I'm not doing that.

So Apple's like, okay, then you can't do it. And Amazon's like, fine, I'll make people go to Safari to purchase whatever. And it's so ridiculous because it just harms me. Yeah, digital music is not available for purchase from this device. Now look, so basically it's like, I can buy a Spotify subscription, listen to all the digital music I want.

I can go into the browser and buy a song on Amazon. But for some reason, there's this little thing that's just like, it just makes it like, you know, like, apples like, we got to defeat Amazon at books. It's like, you're not going to do that. You're never going to do that. Like, it's not going to happen. Now, you can compete with them,

but that won't change the fact that a vast majority of your users probably use Amazon to do things like buy a Kindle book. Like, a lot of your fucking users and all you're really doing is making things harder for the people who give you a lot of money for your fucking devices. Apple's not making the most of their money from the app store.

They're making most of their money from selling fucking iPhones. And if you wanna keep selling iPhones, you should make your customers feel like the devices work really, really well. Like, I know you want me to use Safari, but I prefer to keep selling iPhones. You should make your customers feel like the devices work really, really well. Like, I know you want me to use Safari, but I prefer to use Chrome. Why do you make it so fucking hard?

But the time for these tricks was back when Steve Jobs was like, you know what? Fuck flash. That was when that trip was gonna work. We are now at a place where it's a $2,000 phone that is sitting in front of me. And I paid that outright in cash with a nut. And I'm not allowed to run a Game Boy game.

Are you fucking kidding me? I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I like, I can't run an emulator. But also, I now have the world's most compact and like the apotheosis of the Star Trek communicator. We have like a magic wand in our hand and I'm not allowed to purchase an MP3 from Amazon. Yes, or downloaded to the fucking device. I'm still like, people are still ridiculous. I mean, Laura's like, oh, like, like, Zell does in this, she's doing this thing,

this musical thing and they sent songs. They're like, these are the backing. Laura's like, oh, like, Zeldas and she's doing this thing, this musical thing, and they sent songs. They're like, these are the backing music for the songs. They have to practice for this thing they're doing. And she's like, how do I get this onto my phone and then play it on the sonos? And it's like, I'm like, here, I did it on my Android phone in like two seconds. This isn't, it's not about controlling the marketplace.

It's about like considering, like if you're, if you're so in this world where everything is like, you're just all in one lane and you don't care, totally fine. But most people are in multiple lane. Most people use Amazon and search in Google and have Gmail, but also love their iPhone. And it's like, all of these things need to coexist. And everybody's kind of acting like, well, not everybody. Mainly it's Apple. It's acting like they won't coexist

that Apple will someday have total dominance in all areas. It's like, you're not gonna have total dominance in all areas. You're just not, it's not happening. And like just really one other quick thing. Literally the other day, I was having a conversation with Elias, RCO, who was like,

I need a text file from you. And you can you write somebody instead of me? I don't need it. Don't write it to me in Slack. Send me a text file. I'm like, okay, cool. I'm like, file from you. Can you write something instead of to me? I don't need it. Don't write it to me in Slack. Send me a text file. I'm like, okay, cool. I'm like, I wrote something. I saved it.

I put the text file in Slack. He's like, it's like a couple minutes when I buy. He's like, can you just email this text file to me? I'm like, why? He's like, I don't want to talk about it, but it has to do with my iPad not being able to download this text file. And it's like, yeah, the iPad they want you

to be is like a computer stand-in. Can't handle like getting a text file out of Slack and onto like a drive somewhere. It's insane. And this isn't an Apple bashing like session, but the, how it is, it is. But my frustration is, why do you make it so easy to dislike the way that you do things? Why are you doing this? It's not actually helping you because this denial, like in order to be the place that I purchase audiobooks, you have to have the best audiobook buying experience and you don't.

So I'm going to use Amazon whether you let me have a good experience or not. And eventually if this experience isn't good, I'm not gonna buy your phone anymore. And who is that hurting? I mean, you know, but they're like, they're like, we know that's a lie because we have eye message. So they got you there. I didn't they?

I guess I guess I'm going to be ostracized by your friends. Wait a second. Amazon made a smart oven. Yeah. They also made a dog collar. It's a good. We got a dovetail at Amazon. I'm sorry. We bitch about Apple all the time. I want to talk about this insane shit that Amazon released. We started to talk about it. And how do we get off topic? I don't know. They made a dog collar and an oven and they're just frankly,

let's discuss it. Jeff Bezos gets that up. You know what happened? We started talking about voice control. That's what we were doing. And then I was like, we were dovetailing into the Amazon glasses, which are like, you could talk to the glasses.

And it's like, yeah, one number one, you made one side of glasses and they suck ass. Number one, the glasses are ugly. Number two, what do you get? What do you want to walk around talking to Alexa all day? Like, what the fuck is that? I've used those Bose glasses that do the like bone conduction into your bone. Bone conduction. It's my second my second favorite porno. You can definitely hear something. Um, I know the bone connection on the on the glass was fine. What the fuck is echo glow? I really did not keep up with this. There was a lot of shit going on this week. Here's everything with the bone connection. This is fucked up. I don't want this. I'm not dropping $200

on a, on a headphone situation that sounds worse than like the original iPod earbuds. Like, you know, listen, maybe I'm an old man, maybe I'm a, maybe I'm a dad now, you know, you can accuse me of being out of touch, but I don't, they're like, it's for your kids' room. It's like, I don't fucking want your shit in my kids' room. I don't, I don't want Apple shit in my kids' room. I don't want Google shit in my kids' room. I want my kid to be a child who doesn't talk to fucking devices when they're growing up.

I really do. I really want them to know what it's like to communicate with human beings in a normal way. I don't want Zata to be like, hey Alexa, also like fuck off with like, asking Alexa for all the things you need. How about like, you figure it out. How about you go learn it?

Maybe kids shouldn't, I like the idea of screen time because it's like, okay, you'll learn how to use this, but there will also be limits. But maybe kids shouldn't just be able to ask the air or the solution to math problems. This is what I'm saying. I learned how to do math.

You know, I know, oh, they made a ring, get the fuck out of here. No, look, here's the thing. I mean, I don't want, I don't think it's good. And I'm not saying this is like a fear monger, but like I know for a fact, I have the luxury of being in this intervening generation, this like, this generation in between the insane onslaught of technology innovation that we've

experienced, which is awesome, and my favorite thing ever that happened. And what things were like before that onslaught, right? Like I have the luxury of having, like, seen both worlds and known them pretty well. Not everybody has. And I think that, I think that like the people who have grown up in the generation where it's been always on will, will find new ways to live and work around this stuff where they actually, it's actually like healthy. I think teens are already like literally doing this right now. I mean, Cheyenne and I were talking about the other day that like it comes down to,

we had these really formative experiences that formed the way that like we interacted and then we're socialized, which was about aim. Like America Online. You mean the aim messaging? Yeah, America Online was like, let's make an instant messaging thing so you can send text messages really quick

if you're both on AOL. Then they spun that off into like a side app that they never updated. And it literally shaped how an entire generation of American teenagers communicated with each other and saw themselves and understood like the digital world and social cues. And like there's an episode of pen 15

about how much this fuck does up. And the idea that like Amazon is trying to get into a baby's room is like, guys, do you, do any of you stop for a second and say this shit out loud to each other and understand like what it looks like? Because it doesn't look great. I think on that point, there's a really interesting thing that I was talking about with Laura the other day about the baby monitors that everybody uses. And everybody I know has purchased and used a baby monitor that is basically like really basic shit. It's like it's on like RF, right? It's not Wi-Fi, it's not Bluetooth. It's like has a receiver and a transmitter that are like work in the house.

And it's like the most reliable, most real time way to check on your kid. And people I know who are absolute fucking nerds have been like, yeah, this is the best thing. People I know have been like, oh, we bought the Nest Cam and it was a nightmare. There's a fucking delay on it. If your wife goes out, you're screwed.

There's no dedicated way to look at a screen. My cousin purchased the Nest Cam and he was obsessed with it. If your wife goes out, you're screwed. There's no dedicated way to look at a screen. My cousin purchased the Nest Cam and he was obsessed with it. And he put one in his baby's room. And that Nest Cam was hacked. And he walked in one day to someone looking at and talking through the speaker and microphone to his kid and his kid responding because he thought it was okay because it was in his bedroom. And it was a device his dad gave him. And his parents talked to him through it eventually every occasionally. And so he thought oh so he was talking to some random adult hacker who was watching him. He could have been naked anything and they had to rip it out of their out of their house and they

switched brands for their security cameras outside and they decided not to have them in their house and they switched to an old-fashioned baby monitor because they were like, this is disgusting. I'm like, I'm saying that convenience is not worth the one time that that happened. It's never worth it. There's there's there are things that are good ideas and there are things that are not good ideas and we should definitely consider reality a little bit before, you know, before we just make the product. I mean, Apple's developing these tag, these tracker tags that you can slap on things

that we all know with the coming. This is gonna be another weird social. I can be somewhat useful though. Sure for key people. You think people are gonna be like, you think people are gonna be like low jacking, they're like significant others. I think people are going to be like low jacking. They're like significant others. I think people are going to be slapping one on their kids' ass and they're going to be, I mean, we're going to, it's going to get weird and it's going to be good if

you can like track your kid, right? Well, what happens when your work throws on on the work laptop and then now your work knows where you are when you're, go to happy hour. Because you don't have your laptop with you. What happens when you like slip it into your loved ones bag and you're like, where are they? They're supposed to be home and they're far right now. What happens when you give it to your teen son and then he goes to an LGBTQ gay youth thing and then he's outed and traumatized.

Yeah, you send him to conversion therapy, obviously. Right after that. All right. And the conversion therapy is available via subscription. Yeah, it's a subscription. 1099 a month, you'd be cured of being gay. It's incredible service. You just pull just get you get it on your I can get it downloaded on your iPhone right

now. But not Amazon's version. You can't buy that. You can't get it on Amazon. You can't you have to do it through the apps to our obviously. It's called street plus. All right. Should we what's going on?

Oh my god. You know, a honnard can I just say something this Vco girl shit needs to stop all right. It just needs to stop I was just scrolling through my feed and somebody's like visco girls It's like why you can't stop here about visco girls and it's like I got news for you the only people talking about Visco girls or the people and media writing writing about visco girls in the rest of the real world nobody gives a fuck Get pull you gotta pull up off the internet and not worry about what the visco girl It's truly broken my ability to conduct relationships with people who aren't extremely online to a degree

that I'm starting to be troubled by. No, I'm sorry, there's an article on Vox right now it's like Visco girls and how teen culture goes viral. It's like it goes viral because thirsty fucking bloggers like you need something to write about. I'm sorry dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, hold on. And I just drop this in here. These are just teens.

They are, this is what like teens wear in our monk. These are just like regular suburban teens. This is what teens look like. These are just teenage girls. They're just girls. They're just people. They're not like special. This is not a thing.

Not a movement. I'm sorry, wearing fucking Berkenstocks is not a thing. Drinking Starbucks is not a thing. Taking pictures withkinstox is not a thing. Drinking Starbucks is not a thing. Taking pictures with an instant camera is not a thing. None of these things together are a thing. They are the things that teens do. Here. I'm sure Daria can tell you all about edgy.

She is it, and I'm in it with a capital IT. Daria, you've barely said a word. Yeah, Daria, tell your dad what edgy is. As far as I can make out, edgy occurs when middle brow, middle age profiteers are looking to suck the energy, not to mention spending money, out of the quote unquote youth culture. So they come up with this fake concept of seeming

to be dangerous when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan. Where is that from? Where can I get that video? Sorry. She's sitting next to a 32-year-old magazine editor who like does pieces on youth trends, and it's just so perfect for a moment.

I want to do a clap tweet where it's like the only people making teen culture viral are people who write articles about teen culture going viral. Nice things. What are my nice things? Unbelievable. It's not not nice, but it's good. Not nice, but it's good. It's my it's not right. It's okay. That's what he gets exactly right. First off, watch the show unbelievable on Netflix. It's based on a Marshall project, ProPublica story called an unbelievable story of rape about a serial rapist. It's not a perfect show. I mean, I have some issues with it that are small, but overall, it's really fucking good. Amazing actors on it. What's really interesting is like, and Laura pointed this out, so this is her

take, but I totally agree, it is not about like the rapist. It's about the victims and the people who are investigating this crime. And it is very much about like, you know, you sort of understand, like there's a lot of information in the show about the kind of culture of rape that we live in in this country and in this world and It's really fucking interesting and also super fucking depressing but an amazing like Procedural like please procedural but like with a really a very different like most police stories that you see on television are like mind hunter It's like oh the crazy murder or whatever, or like, the government, espionage or whatever. It's like, this is like, it kind of like,

I think it's like, there's not been a show that I've seen that has made, that has really exposed like the problems in our country with like the policing around rape and sexual assault. And I think like this really kind of exposes in a way that is done in a completely gripping dramatic manner. Like one, how very much like we should go quate rape with murder in many ways, like in terms of our level of seriousness with which we take the cases and the crimes,

but also like how behind the processes are on rape by comparison to what we're doing now with crimes like violent crime, other violent crimes are murder, and how fucked up like the policing around it is and how bad it is at listening to and understanding like the experiences of women in that. So anyhow, it's totally recommended. Like, I think it's a fucking A plus program and I think everybody should watch it. It's very upsetting.

Insted in a day, loved it. And I- But you watched the whole thing? I really loved that. No spoilers, I haven't finished yet. We spend a lot of time like we've really over analyzed murder or serial killer psychopaths to the point that their caricatures and There's not a ton left to mine there that I mean there you could definitely keep doing it in the same way

We've been doing it in the way that like murder mysteries have always been fascinating But the formula we figured it out like we figured out how to make a show about a serial killer where it's twisted and dark. Like we got it. Yeah. Like the sounds of the lambs, great movie. But there hasn't been something that makes the victim compelling and sympathetic and fascinating. And that analyzes what it means to be the victim of a crime or what it means to not be believed or what it means to like live years at a clip without justice and yeah, and that level of that level of attention paid to that part of What is you know some of life's biggest conflicts violent crimes is?

you know, some of life's biggest conflicts, violent crimes, is I, I, I, I had always hoped that that true crime would be more attentive to the victims and put them in the spotlight more, even though I didn't know a way to make them fascinating. And I think that sometimes when you listen to a murder podcast, they'll be like, and then she got him and they all arrested him. And it was like, she's's a badass bitch But they really just spent an hour telling you about the crime about how gruesome the details were in grizzly and the background of the killer And then they sort of phoned in rooting for the victim at the end and this found a way to make the victim's story as compelling And interesting as a serial killer story which I as a storyteller I would have no idea how to do have done that.

And while I do have like problems with the show, like there are things that I think they could step up if they were to do it again or as another season or something, but it's really fresh. And I like loved that. It was new. It reminded me a little bit of top of the lake, which I also recommend.

I have to recommend they're open. Yeah, I like, I like the first season. I found some things about it somewhat unbelievable. I did not get into the second season at all, so on top of the lake, I mean. So my other nice thing is, I know I talk about buying things a lot on the nice things, because that's my outlet for, that's how I call myself as I make purchases. Imp'll tell you what happened. The other day, two days ago, I was walking out of our office, and there was a big V-tra, which is a furniture company. Sample, sell next door, just completely random. And we walked in and I bought a new sofa for my living room.

At a steep discount. I've been shopping for a new sofa for six years. Laura was like, you know, you're gonna have to buy a new sofa for your own house. I'm gonna buy a new sofa for my living room at a steep discount, steep discount. I've been shopping for a new sofa for six years. Laura was like, you've been shopping for a sofa. I was like, what should I do?

Is like, should I get the sofa? It's like a really good price. She's like, just get it because I really can't, like you've been shopping for a new sofa for six years and I can't handle it. So I'm pretty excited. Yeah. I saw that.

I was like, what is this random building filled with random chairs? Oh my God, it's amazing. You should go in. No, but also like sample sales. I've never excited. Yeah. I saw that. I was like, what is this random building filled with random chairs? Oh my God, it's amazing. You should go in. No, but also like sample sales. I've never been to one. They're from the wild. No.

I would really into it as a teenager. It's cool. It's really cheap. Like way cheaper than like a normal price. Like I recommend it. It's like going to a very specific thrift store. It's like being on eBay at the beginning. I guess so.

You're like, how could this be so cheap? I gotta get it. All right, what are your nice things? There's a podcast series on luminary, which I usually, I'm not like, Oh wow, luminary. That I'm not gonna pay for a podcast, but I got really into this one called tabloid, which is

doing a season about the psychology and background of Ivanka Trump. And it's the scariest shit I've ever heard. It's really good, but the fact that she is so normalized both in society and in her own mind, and yet is such an insane, just as bad as her dad. She's her dad in a really nice wig. It's crazy. I highly recommend it. Do the free trial because they're wrapping up this season and you could listen to it all in a month and then not have to pay for it. But sorry, Luminary. I also wanted to plug on becoming a God in Central Florida, which is that cursed and dunged. I think you've already plugged it.

Did I? I think you did. Yes. We've definitely talked about it on this podcast. This is a repeat nice thing then, because I just love it so much. I mean, if I'd I'll watch it. Jesus. And then my, I guess second now, but was going to be my third if I hadn't had that brain moment.

My like final nice thing is there's, this is gonna sound a little ridiculous, but there's a new Lindsay Lowe hand single out. And it's, okay, it's pretty good. I liked it. I've always been a fan of her music. I was a big fan for growing up. She's a ginger from Long Island, got her represent. I was always been a fan of her music. I was a big fan for growing up. She's a ginger from Long Island. Got her represent. I was always like a big Lindsey Stan, but obviously she's an insane person who like is spying for the Turkish government now, and the woman's not well. But if she comes out with a song and we're gonna listen to it, she can't have this new song called Xanax. And it's like a mid tempo bop, and it's like a mid tempo bop and it's like pretty good. But then I was listening to it last night with John and I realized that it feels a little slow. So I increased the speed to 1.25 and listened to it

and I think what happened here is she released, or someone wrote a song for her 10 years ago and she was gonna come out with another album during the like Gaga Days of Pop music. Like Katie Perry was doing Teenage Dream. Someone wrote this song around then and she never got around to putting that album out. So then when she wanted to do music again, she just pulled this song off the shelf. But because songs are less dance pop and more like mid tempo vibey, she slowed it down.

And if you speed the song up to like 1.25%, you get it to about where I think it's supposed to be as a track. And it's like total dance, pop, ballad. Well, it's called Manax, right? I mean, it's called Zanac. It's like, you know, it's like, it's slowed, it's like life, but slowed down. Yeah, maybe. I mean, that's the whole, maybe the song is like super,

it's super meta that like, they're like, yes, of course the song is supposed to be faster, but you're on Xanax. Exactly. Amazing. Anyhow, I retweeted your thing and I thought it said it pretty good to be honest. It's a good, it's a pop, it's a banger. I'm going to listen to it this weekend because I'm going out to Long Island, my friend rented Airbnb to Castle for us to throw a 1920s themed birthday party for him in.

And so I've put together a playlist of songs that like obviously the music from the 20s is not necessarily like danceable. So I put together a bunch of songs that are sort of would fit with the theme and the vibe that we're going for. And this doesn't, but I'm going to play it all weekend and everyone will just have to deal. That's their problem problem isn't it? Yeah.

All right, we're wrapping up. All right, let's get out of here. Bye. I'm an editor now. Bye. Well, that is our show for this week. We'll be back next week with more tomorrow. And as always, I wish you and your family the very best, though I've just been informed that your family's love has been switched to a more tomorrow, and as always, I wish you and your family the very best, though I've just been informed that your family's love has been switched to a subscription model, and your credit card has been declined.

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