Transcripts Episode 107
Three Months for an iPhone Duo
Peter got his hands on an iPhone Duo and wants to replace his iPhone 17 Pro and iPad Air with it, so Scott walks through the cameras, Touch ID, the lease plan and AppleCare, until a three-month delivery date settles it. Plus Scott's Markdown brain for Claude, the Claude app over the terminal, and Peter's Claude daily briefing and recipe mode.
Scott: Coffee drinker, huh? I’d like to move us right along to a Peter- Nikolaidis. Peter Nikolaidis, we’re moving right along to you. And, first, let’s start with some drinks. This is Friends with Brews. By the way, we have a YouTube channel now. I’ve noticed that nobody watches it. We tend to get, like, 12 views. That’s on a good day or a good month, I should say. Guys, I know we’re not the greatest, but here’s the thing is, like, I don’t… I hate YouTube face. I hate YouTube algorithm. F*** them. F*** their horse. F*** the direction it rode in on. I just don’t wanna do that. I just wanna… We just have conversations, and apparently, people don’t like them, and that’s fine. But if you do like people who are just normal people, we’re not working towards an algorithm, we’re not having a new hook every day, you know, we’re those guys. We’re
Peter: I
Scott: them.
Peter: think what
Scott: We’re…
Peter: you’re, I think what you’re going for is authentic.
Scott: Yeah, we’re authentically bad, apparently, according to our stats. So anyway, here we are. We’re Peter. We’re Scott. I’m Scott. He’s Peter. He do- he drinks coffee. By the
Peter: But…
Scott: way, I will say it, it’s so simple, but I do like your videos where you say, “I’m Peter. I drink coffee,” or you say, “I’m Peter. I run.” It’s… I don’t know why that is good, but the fact that you just open that with that, very good. It’s short, it’s succinct, it tells you what the g*** video channel or whatever is, and I like it. All right. Peter, what are you drinking, and why are you drinking it, and who are you drinking it with besides yourself? [slurps]
Peter: I’m drinking today, for a return on
Scott: Mm-hmm.
Peter: this show, I’m drinking Athletic Brewing Company’s Athletic Lite.
Scott: Oh. Oh, you’re having a, a brewski. Wow,
Peter: I’m
Scott: you’re…
Peter: having a
Scott: [ice clinking]
Peter: brew because I’ve already had three cups of coffee and,
Scott: Yeah,
Peter: um,
Scott: that’s true. It’s 12:30 PM
Peter: my
Scott: for
Peter: time.
Scott: you.
Peter: Yes.
Scott: Yeah. [laughs]
Peter: So, so yeah, I’m doing, I’m doing– I’m switching to a beer, but it’s a non-alcoholic light beer. So
Scott: I
Peter: 25
Scott: think I’m gonna…
Peter: whole calories in this one. Um,
Scott: That’s
Peter: it’s
Scott: a good
Peter: been
Scott: amount
Peter: on the
Scott: of
Peter: show
Scott: calories.
Peter: before, so I will sc- spare you the review. I will spare you the review. I’m popping the can, and I’m pouring.
Scott: Sorry, what’s the name of it? Athletic Brewing. What kind? [keyboard clacking]
Peter: Athletic Lite. It’s been on the show before. L-I-T-E, lite. Athletic Lite. And as you can see, it’s light in color as well as in calories. Five grams of carbs.
Scott: Hmm. It’s very light in color as well as calories. It’s very light in carbs as worse- as well as color as well as calories.
Peter: Yes.
Scott: It’s light in everything that starts with C, so there’s no crack in there. Very
Peter: There’s
Scott: little.
Peter: n-no…
Scott: There’s a little.
Peter: Little crack. Just a tiny
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: bit, though.
Scott: Okay.
Peter: Yes. So. Whoo. Yes. so yes. Uh,
Scott: Okay.
Peter: we are, we are gathered… Yeah. Hmm. What are we drinking? What are you drinking?
Scott: Wait. Wait, you have to give a verdict on that, first of all, even though you’ve done that before. You’re… Okay, last time, here it is. I had my Clou- Cloud. I had Cloud. Look it up. Cloud. I just like to say Cloud.
Peter: Is that
Scott: Uh,
Peter: supposed
Scott: Peter
Peter: to be
Scott: drank
Peter: your Arnold
Scott: Athletic
Peter: Schwarzenegger
Scott: Light once
Peter: view?
Scott: on episode 88. I could use a giant femur bone. a, oh, a big giant femur bone. [laughs] Sorry, I forgot one of the, Anyway, he gave it a thumbs up. His review was zero taste, but he said it wasn’t actually that bad, and that his palate is adjusting to non-alcoholic beer, AKA zero taste. On the episode, he mentioned it was his third one, and it tastes like other Athletic beers and like American light beers, and noted it has a mild hoppy finish that isn’t IPA bitter. Do you agree with any of that stuff that you said previously?
Peter: Yeah.
Scott: Okay. And do you still give it a side th- oh, a thumbs up with zero
Peter: I’ll
Scott: taste?
Peter: give it a thumbs up. Yeah.
Scott: Okay.
Peter: For something that comes in as a non-alcoholic light beer, it kinda tastes like beer, so that’s a plus.
Scott: Okay. Now, my drink is one that, Cloud could not find in our database, so apparently, I haven’t had this particular Water Avenue. But it’s a Water Avenue Blue Creek,
Peter: Hmm.
Scott: and the things that are in this creek are hazelnut, milk chocolate, and just a hint of navel orange. So I’m drinking navel out of a creek, and, it’s immediate- slightly over medium roast. Taste profile is, somewhere between classic and complex, and not at all close to out there, so that’s good. So it’s not as complex as it could be, but that’s great. I don’t need a complex coffee today. So I’m gonna take me a sip. Here it is. It’s in my favorite “my cat has a better life than I do, so please kill me now” cup. It’s not exactly what it says, but it means it. [gulps] Hmm. Yeah. It’s, it’s not super complex, I will say that. What do I taste in here? Hazelnut, I believe that, and the milk chocolate and navel orange, I would say, are very subdued, if they’re present at all. So they may be in the class, but they’re sitting in the back row, and I’m going
Peter: Okay.
Scott: to have to have a serious talk with their mothers and let them know that they shouldn’t be in that frat that they’re in, because bad things happen. By the way, I watched a documentary about the Cornell Seven, so that was fun. If you are not into r*** and trauma, I wouldn’t watch that. Oh, we have to beep out the word r*** too, ’cause YouTube will take us down for that, so there’s that. Anyway, on that cheery note, happy,
Peter: Oh.
Scott: happy.
Peter: Cheers.
Scott: Peter,
Peter: It’s a Saturday.
Scott: I just…
Peter: Happy Saturday.
Scott: I feel like we should cover all the topics, whether they be happy or sad. All right, so now,
Peter: Ah.
Scott: why are we here today? Friends, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called iPhone.
Peter: iPhone, that’s where we’re… Bingo. That, that, that’s it. Yes So Peter’s dilemma, as you might know if you’re a frequent listener to this show and actually do pay attention, I’m rocking the iPhone 17 Pro.
Scott: And based
Peter: I have
Scott: on the
Peter: been…
Scott: stats, you’re
Peter: [chuckles]
Scott: not a frequent listener.
Peter: Right. no one is. So, and, and as you may recall, I also have an iPad Air M3
Scott: Mm-hmm.
Peter: processor and a MacBook Pro M4 Pro. And there’s a lot of overlap in those, that functionality. Generally these days, the iPad sits on my kitchen, in, in my kitchen or on the breakfast bar. I’ll use it when I do recipes. I will very occasionally use it for journaling because I like to write with it.
Scott: Hey, I have an app for you.
Peter: And that’s about it.
Scott: Mm-hmm.
Peter: And so I was, thought, you know… I, I got my hands on the iPhone Duo yesterday in the demo in an Apple Store. it’s essentially, I’ve described the form factor as iPad mini mini, ’cause it’s about an inch smaller than the iPad Mini. And I thought the iPad Mini form factor was amazing. Loved my Ma- iPad Minis, always have when I… I’ve had, like, three of them, I think.
Scott: Mm-hmm.
Peter: I got the bigger iPad Air. I don’t remember exactly why I
Scott: I
Peter: did.
Scott: don’t either.
Peter: I think…
Scott: I was about
Peter: [sighs]
Scott: to poke fun at you for loving your iPad Mini so much and yet rejecting it for an iPad Air.
Peter: Oh. I think I recall, I think I wanted it for more, processing power because I was using the journal feature a lot, and it was… I wanted something that could more quickly upgrade, update, like, the handwriting, cleanup and stuff.
Scott: Mm-mm.
Peter: Essentially, it was just ev- it was a better journaling iPad, essentially. Did I need it? Absolutely not. it was just a quality-of-life upgrade. But I also wanted a keyboard for it and the Pencil, and, and I had a previous, my pre- I had another iPad before it ’cause I had the Apple Pencil, and I had to trade up that Apple Pencil because only Apple Pencil Pro works with the M3 Air.
Scott: I, I don’t wanna hear any i- Apple Pencil names today because they all confuse me, and you can’t keep track of what Apple Pencil inserts into what or doesn’t insert into what and
Peter: Well,
Scott: hangs onto what.
Peter: and that’s part of it too because now my Apple Pencil Pro is not compatible with the iPhone
Scott: Right.
Peter: Duo
Scott: Yeah. Yeah.
Peter: because there’s no place for it to magnetically attach, so I have, have
Scott: Correct.
Peter: to buy another Apple Pencil. So my thought was, can I replace the Air and my existing iPhone 17 Pro with the iPhone Duo? And I think I probably could. I think that the iPhone Duo in full expanded mode is iPad enough that I don’t need an iPad. I think it would be replacement for that. It’ll be just fine. and the question then comes down to, is it iPhone enough for me? And I know you’ve raised a couple of concerns, and a lot of people have, mostly around the camera. That’s the biggest concern,
Scott: Yeah,
Peter: is that
Scott: it’s
Peter: the camera’s
Scott: just not,
Peter: a step-down.
Scott: it’s just not the same. If you’re, if you like taking pictures with your iPhone, if you take tons of pictures with your iPhone, if you do anything with the cameras and you really, really appreciate the leap in quality that every, new iPhone brings, which is probably the one of the main reasons people upgrade iPhones these days i- is
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: improved cameras, then the Duo is got some compromises in that area.
Peter: Well, the, the biggest compromise that I see is the telephoto lens. What, what
Scott: Mm-hmm.
Peter: else is a compromise? I think that’s the
Scott: Uh-
Peter: only thing. It’s the, the, it’s lacking the,
Scott: Yeah,
Peter: 4X and
Scott: I
Peter: z-
Scott: thought
Peter: and
Scott: there
Peter: 8X
Scott: were…
Peter: zoom.
Scott: Correct, the zoom is a big one, but I also thought that… Are the- is it the same sensors on the- Is it the same, mega- mega pupils and-
Peter: 48-megapixel ProFusion camera system, 48-pixel
Scott: Okay.
Peter: main. the, the only thing that’s missing is the 48-megapixel Fusion Telephoto. That’s, that’s what’s missing from, again, the 17 Pro. Now, the 18 Pro Max has introduced even more stuff, and the 18 Pro has introduced more camera stuff that the 17 lacks. But everything else is the same or the Duo is better. So…
Scott: Uh, well, it’s better w- in the front camera, right? They improved the selfie cam.
Peter: y- well, yeah. [chuckles] Yes. so the center stage front camera, let me correct on that, is only 12 megapixels, whereas the, 17 Pro has 18 megapixels. But the new one has the new under-display FaceTime camera
Scott: Right.
Peter: and edge light for video calls, which I think is kinda cool. if, you know, I mean, if I’m taking a video call in a dark room, that could happen.
Scott: Yeah,
Peter: Um,
Scott: I don’t know.
Peter: it has…
Scott: I’ve got a 5K display s- in front of me here that’s huge, and edge light doesn’t make a damn bit of difference, so I don’t…
Peter: Yeah.
Scott: Okay, great. Call me skeptical. You might see the reflection in your glasses. I doubt I’ll see more of you, but okay.
Peter: It, it has improved low-light video, it claims, over the 17 Pro. and then it has Cinematic mode effects from Video Fusion Main, whatever that means. It has three photographic styles where, as opposed to two. And it’s got the Smart Take and the Duo Preview So, so strictly as far as the camera goes, that’s it. That’s– those are the differences, and it supports the Apple Pencil USB-C. So I’m trying to decide if I should take this plunge. Now, something that negatively affected my opinion to doing so is the value of both my iPhone, the trade-in
Scott: Oh.
Peter: of the iPhone, and the iPad Air both dropped by about a hundred dol- hundred or, more dollars since yesterday.
Scott: Okay. But here’s…
Peter: So…
Scott: Okay. That’s fair, and you should try to get the most you can. I honestly
Peter: Yeah, if
Scott: wouldn’t…
Peter: I had committed to the trade-in two days ago, I would be, like, up a couple hundred dollars, but
Scott: Right.
Peter: whatever, you know.
Scott: But
Peter: It’s kind of…
Scott: honestly,
Peter: Yeah.
Scott: if you’re going to spend that much on a Duo, I don’t… If that’s the deciding factor, I, I don’t know. I, I wouldn’t make it. So here’s the difference. There are some differences in the cameras besides the telephoto missing. One is the Duo
Peter: Talk.
Scott: is fixed, is 20- 26 millimeter versus the 24 of the Pro, and the Pro has the variable aperture. That’s a big difference. that matters a lot for image quality and, and flexibility in taking pictures in different conditions, and the Duo does not have that. So you absolutely, not just the telephoto, but you absolutely will see some quality differences in pictures between the Duo and the Pro.
Peter: And it’s funny that they– Oh, variable aperture. Well, wait a minute. Hold on. Variable aperture is in the 18 Pro. 17 Pro doesn’t have that,
Scott: Correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But
Peter: so I
Scott: if
Peter: don’t
Scott: you were…
Peter: have that.
Scott: You don’t have that, right.
Peter: Right.
Scott: But if you
Peter: So,
Scott: were a person buying an iPhone now and you were looking between those two, that would be a big difference. You’re right. We don’t
Peter: yeah.
Scott: have the variable aperture, so we don’t care.
Peter: Right. I’m comparing where I’m at now versus the Duo as opposed to– ’Cause I, I would not buy an 18 Pro for the variable aperture, right? If I was looking at that, looking at my 17 Pro and my 18 Pro, there’s nothing you could say that is gonna make me say, “Oh, I need to buy an 18 Pro today.” Nothing about the 18 Pro is
Scott: No,
Peter: compelling for me to buy
Scott: me
Peter: it.
Scott: neither, but it might make me upgrade in two years instead of three or three years instead of four. yeah, you’re right. So the difference i- the difference between the 17 Pro and the Duo is it’s 24 millimeter versus 26, so slightly wider angle with the Pro versus the Duo, whatever, whatever, whatever. You probably don’t care. it’s interesting that the 2X crop is slightly different but not a big deal. Yeah, it’s pretty comparable except for the telephoto, where the Pro lists all these wonderful telephoto features and the Duo just says none.
Peter: Mm-hmm. No. [chuckles]
Scott: 8X crop, there’s also none. Optical quality zoom range, w- with our phones now, we get a 16X optical quality zoom range. Optical, not software.
Peter: Right.
Scott: And on the Duo, you get a 4X optical zoom range.
Peter: Right.
Scott: so there’s that. I will say the cinematic mode on the Duo is better than our phones. I imagine the… I didn’t look at this on the Pro, on the new
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: Pro, the 18 Pro. I imagine it’s the same as the Duo, but the s- the Duo does 4K at 60 frames per second, whereas ours do- does 4K at 30 frames per second according to this. I thought ours could do 4K at 60 also, but that’s not cinematic mode maybe, I guess. Anyway, whatever. Anyway, keep going.
Peter: Which– A-and, you know, that kind of stuff is kind of cool to have. I think I’ve taken maybe three cinematic videos ever on my iPhone, like going
Scott: Well,
Peter: back to
Scott: I,
Peter: the 14 Pro.
Scott: well, I will say you, you are doing 100% HDR videos these days because
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: every time I edit one of your videos, it throws my computer for a loop because it goes, “Oh, I have to match the intro card. It’s not
Peter: Well,
Scott: HDR.“
Peter: but that’s, that’s a sort of a knee-jerk reaction to all those times when I sent you low-quality, photos in messages. So I
Scott: Now you’re
Peter: made
Scott: going,
Peter: sure,
Scott: now you’re going the other way. Yeah.
Peter: I
Scott: [laughs]
Peter: made sure, I said anytime that we’ve got an option, it’s maximum quality, highest, print ready, whatever. When it’s going to Scott, in fact, in fact, I tell Siri, “Throw some extra pixels in there.” I don’t care if it even,
Scott: Make ’em
Peter: like,
Scott: up.
Peter: uh, I– Exactly. Just, just throw, throw crap in there. It’s, it’s
Scott: I was
Peter: fine.
Scott: wondering
Peter: Doesn’t matter.
Scott: why you were running down… While, why when you were jogging you were running down the street in blue tights with red underwear on the outside and a cape flowing behind you. But I didn’t ask. I just thought that was interesting.
Peter: Super runner. So,
Scott: Super runner.
Peter: so, so yeah.
Scott: S- so what
Peter: That’s,
Scott: are you gonna
Peter: that’s
Scott: do?
Peter: my– Well, I’m trying to decide. So, you know, now it comes down to opportunity cost, right? Theoretically, let’s say… Oh, and the other part is touch ID versus face ID, right?
Scott: Yeah, I gotta tell you, as… So when I had the last Touch ID phone that I had, I was obviously still working at Intel. I was going through a phase where I was uncrating new semiconductor test equipment on a weekly, if not biweekly basis, and just doing a little bit of work with my hands would f*** Touch ID right up the wazoo to degrees you cannot believe. I had to re-register my fingers every day, and sometimes my right thumb would never register. I couldn’t use it. And even now, even now with my MacBook Pro, this finger, the one that I would preferably use the most
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: because Touch ID is on that side of my keyboard, this finger changes enough just from doing daily life. I don’t work with my hands for a living anymore.
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: I sweep my kitchen. Occasionally, I go out in the backyard and I dig holes chasing that stupid tree down that will never die. but I don’t work with my hands, and yet I cannot keep this finger registerable or recognizable on my Mac’s Touch ID sensor. It’s insane. This one I can, so now I have to reach across all the time. It’s… Touch ID, wow, I’m so glad to be rid of it on the phone. I will be very curious if you get a Duo how quickly you become frustrated by that
Peter: So I don’t have that problem and I– like I– that’s… I don’t know. I mean, I usually program like three or four fingers, you know, two
Scott: So
Peter: thumbs
Scott: do,
Peter: and
Scott: s-
Peter: two fingers minimum.
Scott: s- s- so do I, but most of them are inconvenient to use besides one or two of them.
Peter: Yeah. There’s
Scott: Just the
Peter: your
Scott: way
Peter: thumb,
Scott: our
Peter: but
Scott: hands
Peter: then I
Scott: are
Peter: can
Scott: built.
Peter: like…
Scott: That’s right.
Peter: Yeah. Yeah. so here’s the problem. What I find is when I’m usually using Face ID, the only– when it becomes a problem
Scott: Mm-hmm.
Peter: is also times when it would become a problem with Touch ID, ’cause in the wintertime, if I’m using Touch ID, I have to take gloves off and
Scott: Right.
Peter: touch.
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: But
Scott: [laughs]
Peter: often when I’m outdoors and I’ll
Scott: You’re
Peter: be
Scott: wearing
Peter: running,
Scott: your mummy costume?
Peter: uh,
Scott: [laughs]
Peter: no, I’ll be wearing a face mask. I’ll be wearing
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: a, I’ll be wearing a running mask and glasses and a hat,
Scott: Yep.
Peter: and I look
Scott: Yep.
Peter: nothing like… So I have to pull all that off, which I could argue is actually more of an inconvenience than just a glove. So I don’t know
Scott: We’re
Peter: that
Scott: calling
Peter: that’s a
Scott: DHS.
Peter: huge thing.
Scott: You are clearly not Peter Nikolaidis.
Peter: The other part would be if I’m sitting in my car, that the, the iPhone is not always in a convenient
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: angle
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: for Face ID, so
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: I have to remove it from the thing, look at it, and then put it back on. Whereas
Scott: See,
Peter: with Touch ID, I could just reach and put a finger on the thing to unlock.
Scott: I, I don’t have one of those superior electric cars that refuses to support CarPlay, so I don’t have that problem. Uh,
Peter: I have CarPlay.
Scott: but why do you have to ever use your face to unlock anything then?
Peter: There are times when I want to unlock the phone for, like if I’m sitting there and I want to check my email or something, or if I want to like adjust li- or I want to see like the turn-by-turn directions on the, on the iPhone display.
Scott: I guess the difference between you and me is when I’m using CarPlay, my phone is in my pocket, so if I do need my phone, it’s a quick slip out of the pocket, and it’s right in front of my face. You must mount it anyway, even though you’re already using CarPlay?
Peter: Yeah.
Scott: Oh.
Peter: Because if you drive with it, with it, whether you’re using Google Maps or Apple Maps or Waze, you can see the turn-by-turn directions
Scott: Yeah, that
Peter: shown
Scott: is…
Peter: on
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: the phone.
Scott: Yeah,
Peter: So
Scott: yeah,
Peter: I do
Scott: yeah.
Peter: that a lot,
Scott: I understand.
Peter: so… But, but
Scott: That
Peter: after
Scott: is,
Peter: time, it will lock
Scott: that
Peter: [chuckles]
Scott: is a good
Peter: which,
Scott: point, actually.
Peter: which, you know, kind of, so you have to sometimes unlock it even if you’re just, just driving and stuff.
Scott: Actually,
Peter: So…
Scott: that, that is a good point. That is a very good use case for that. I’ve
Peter: Right.
Scott: never actually used it enough to get stuck on that, but I could absolutely see if I was using that particular feature of CarPlay maps, that I would
Peter: Yeah.
Scott: not wanna lose that. Okay. I’ll give
Peter: So
Scott: you
Peter: what
Scott: that.
Peter: it…
Scott: Hold on. I’ll give you that. I gotta give you a gong. [gong sounds] That’s Peter’s map use case gong.
Peter: So what it comes down to then is opportunity cost. Like would I get the benefits of the Duo, the larger screen, the do- the new form factor, the not having to carry an iPad around with me as well? Would I realize those benefits sooner, like if I buy a c- phone this year or would it make more financial sense to wait until next year with presumably Face ID, better pho- you know, better camera, better whatever, whatever stuff comes up? So that’s where
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: I’m, I’m stuck, right? ’Cause look, no one’s arguing. Like next year, I– based on what I’ve heard, iPhone Duo has sold out on pre-orders,
Scott: Yes.
Peter: so I will assume that we’ll have a new one next year, unlike the iPad Mini or the, sorry, the iPhone Mini or, you know, whatever, or the iPhone Air. It looks like this is a hit. There will most likely be a new version next year, right? And now the question is, is it worth upgrading now or waiting? And if I wait, you know, if I wait next year, I’ll get a better phone. No q- pretty… I wouldn’t say no question, but high 90 percentile, I’m pretty sure I’ll get a ner- better phone.
Scott: Well,
Peter: But
Scott: here’s
Peter: I’m
Scott: where
Peter: missing
Scott: I’m gonna…
Peter: having that feature for a whole year.
Scott: Here’s where I’m going to encourage you to do something that I personally can’t stand doing myself, and that is to follow the Mark Gurman rumors, because he’s already got rumors about the next version of the Duo,
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: and it
Peter: What
Scott: will
Peter: does
Scott: indeed,
Peter: he predict?
Scott: I think he already… Again, you’re asking a guy who can’t stand Mark Gurman and doesn’t wanna read anything Mark Gurman says.
Peter: But…
Scott: But my understanding through the APT Podcast if you have dyslexia, the ATP Podcast if you don’t, my understanding is that he is predicting Face ID for the next version. Now, is he talking about the very next year? I’m not 100% sure. I didn’t hear it. I didn’t remember if that’s what they were saying, and I certainly did not go seek Mark Gurman out. My, my biggest problem with Mark Gurman is, one, he’s kind of arrogant. Two, he is quoted by all other people to the extent that when you follow other Apple News sites, you’re basically getting a free, very watered-down version of whatever Mark Gurman said. And it just gets old. It’s just like, “Okay, fine. Why am I reading you guys? Why don’t I quit? Why don’t you guys go broke, and I’ll go pay for Mark Gurman? How’s that?” That seems like what you’re asking me to do. I don’t know. Peter, would you make a career out of quoting one specific person over and over and over and over until people wondered, “Why the f*** am I listening to this guy? Why don’t I just go to that other guy?”
Peter: Yeah. Sounds like easy money if you can get away with it.
Scott: Right.
Peter: So people say that… So apparently the biggest things he said is it would have Face ID and an action button. I– the, the action button, I don’t
Scott: Mm.
Peter: use… I don’t,
Scott: I
Peter: I
Scott: do
Peter: hardly
Scott: use
Peter: ever
Scott: my action
Peter: use anything.
Scott: button, Peter.
Peter: I turned it on at Marco and Casey’s suggestion from the Accidental, Accidental Tech Podcast. I turned it into the flashlight, and I’ve
Scott: Here’s-
Peter: used that three times.
Scott: Here’s what it’s amazing for. For custom dictation apps, which I used to use, I don’t even remember what the one I u- or started using was, and then I went to Super Whisper, which kind of sucks, I’m gonna be honest. and now I have my own custom dictation app, as you know. And the action button is the best way… So Apple has a restriction to when something is going to take over your microphone. They can’t just start the dictation without it switching over to the dictation app and then switching back again. However, if you use the action button, you can avoid that. If you have a keyboard for your app and you have that keyboard active, if you press the action button, you can have a shortcut that just makes the dictation start right away. So I avoid the app hop for my dictation app by using that button, and I use it often enough that I would really miss that button if it was gone. Now, if I wasn’t using my custom dictation app or any of the other third-party ones and I had never done that and I didn’t know that there was any other way to live except having it hop every single time, I wouldn’t care. And also, if you already have audio playing, it’s gonna hop anyway. It’s gonna hop over to your app and back anyway. But that is a use case, I will just say. Again, w- I’m 100% with you. I couldn’t find a use for the action button before that, although I did have a shortcut run that would turn on my lights in here. but, you know, it was one half dozen or the other. It was convenient, but I could have lived without it. But the… That is the on- that is the basic use case. So just be, just be aware for people out there, the tens of, the literal tens of listeners, there is actually a use case for that action button, but it’s the only one. Now, the action button on the watch, I will say, is a little more useful, but, we’ll get into that. ’Cause you, you, you don’t care because you don’t use the Apple Watch anymore anyway.
Peter: Correct. That is correct. [sighs]
Scott: Okay, so what are you gonna do? What’s the, what’s the over, under… Give us a thumb rating of how likely you are to buy an
Peter: I’m
Scott: i…
Peter: leaning at about a 45-degree yes, so
Scott: Hmm.
Peter: leaning more towards doing it. The question is… And
Scott: Duo-ing
Peter: here’s the other–
Scott: it?
Peter: here’s another factor. I mean, it’s not a huge factor. I have, because of lots of previous Apple device trade-ins,
Scott: Mm-hmm. [gulps]
Peter: I have over $900 of Apple store credit.
Scott: Okay, so that’s, not half the iPhone Duo, but close to.
Peter: But then if I add in the iPhone 17 Pro and the MacBook Air, if I trade in all of those for gift cards, then that should pretty much cover the cost.
Scott: Then what are you waiting for?
Peter: Trying to decide now, do I buy it outright, or do I lease it with the Apple Upgrade plan?
Scott: I will say the Apple upgrade plan… So, so here’s the thing. You could do the lease plan and do it as a business expense and write it off. So you can write off your lease plan. The lease plan
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: looks pretty good. You’re not paying a whole lot, and then at the end, you get to decide, do you wanna keep this thing or not
Peter: Well,
Scott: keep
Peter: I can
Scott: this
Peter: do
Scott: thing?
Peter: the purchase as a, as a business expense too. I can do
Scott: Yeah,
Peter: either,
Scott: yeah, yeah,
Peter: either
Scott: yeah, but
Peter: one.
Scott: what I’m saying is I think that the cost of ownership for the lease plan from a bus- from being able, also being able to write it off looks pretty attractive.
Peter: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, and the other part too is if I do, like, the lease upgrade with just a 12-month lease,
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: I mean, right now… A-and again, of course, at the end of the period, you don’t have any value, right? You– They’re mi- they might give you a buyout option, or you get a new phone. But at the end, like, whenever it– pretty much whenever the leases are up or whenever the life cycle of the, the phone is up, I’m looking to just how can I trade this thing in anyway? So it takes
Scott: Hmm.
Peter: that off my plate. But if I trade this thing in right now, they’re saying it’s $18 a month for a year, or $25 a month for two years if I wanna do that to lease it. So,
Scott: I don’t… Yeah,
Peter: yeah.
Scott: there’s not a lot of downside there. Then, then the only thing you’re left with considering is, what about the phone itself?
Peter: Ah,
Scott: And…
Peter: here’s, here’s the catch, here’s the catch. AppleCare+ costs more than it will to lease the phone. [laughs]
Scott: Oh, I believe that, yeah.
Peter: Doesn’t include AppleCare, so… But again, I’m already paying for AppleCare on my iPhone,
Scott: Are
Peter: and
Scott: you,
Peter: I don’t remember
Scott: are
Peter: how
Scott: you
Peter: much
Scott: paying
Peter: that
Scott: for
Peter: is.
Scott: AppleCare one? Are you getting…
Peter: No, no. I did
Scott: Why?
Peter: that for a while, and then I dropped it because of the whole, Basically, John Siracusa scared me out of doing
Scott: I… But
Peter: it.
Scott: here’s the thing is that I don’t know what the blank John Siracusa’s doing,
Peter: Yeah.
Scott: but I ha- I also have a separate developer account. I’ve
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: never had to log into that account.
Peter: Yeah, yeah.
Scott: I, I’ve, I don’t know what he’s talking about. I don’t know why he’s constantly logging into that account. I don’t get
Peter: Yep,
Scott: it. He
Peter: yep.
Scott: must be… He’s developing something in a way that’s different than I’m developing it because,
Peter: Really?
Scott: “Meh,
Peter: You think he’s doing things different than him? Hmm.
Scott: uh, everybody has to log into their Apple Developer account. You can’t not log into… Why are, why is you not logged into your Apple Developer account?“ Yeah, he’s definitely doing something different than I’m doing ’cause I don’t… I understand his concern. I understand that that actually is a huge problem. I just don’t understand what’s the use case for him having to constantly be logging into that Apple Developer account. And when it, when I, when… The only time I’ve ever had to log in is log on the web to set up keys and tokens and so on and so forth, and I don’t have to keep it logged in on my computer at all.
Peter: Of course, you, you recall the iCare calculator that was on the Accidental Tech Podcast a while ago,
Scott: Hmm.
Peter: the… where you can go there and just say, like, “I have these devices. What’s the
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: best way to get…“ Well,
Scott: Yeah,
Peter: now,
Scott: yeah, yeah.
Peter: again, I went down from… You know, I have a HomePod I had a Mac Mini, an old one that was covered. I had, I have a MacBook Pro. I have an iPad. I had an Apple Watch and I had two iPhones. So at one point I had seven Apple devices covered under AppleCare One. That made sense back at the time. I’m not sure that AppleCare One does right now if I’m dropping back to a HomePod, an iPhone, and a MacBook Pro. ’Cause I, I
Scott: You’ve
Peter: don’t
Scott: got,
Peter: remember if that Mini is still under war- if I keep that
Scott: you’ve got
Peter: covered
Scott: two
Peter: or
Scott: Mac
Peter: not.
Scott: Minis. You’ve got two Mac Minis.
Peter: One, one of them, one of them, uh, the, window expired. It wasn’t covered, and
Scott: Oh,
Peter: so it was no longer
Scott: oh.
Peter: coverable. So, yeah, it’s kind of… It’s like, “Hmm, how do I… I don’t know.” I mean, it shouldn’t be a deciding factor, but when the cost of the warranty is- exceeds the cost of the, the device itself, it’s like, “Hmm.” So right now apparently I’m paying $14.99 a month for my AppleCare, for my phone, and it would be $19 for the Duo. But I’m dropping the cost that I would pay for the MacBook– for the iPad as
Scott: Just
Peter: well,
Scott: don’t,
Peter: so that’s…
Scott: just
Peter: Yeah.
Scott: don’t drop the iPhone Duo. I, and, but I will say, you,
Peter: Or
Scott: it is
Peter: let it get stolen.
Scott: more than obvious, more than obvious that for this hinging device, first generation, you absolutely have to have AppleCare. I don’t care what Ronnie Lutes says. Ronnie,
Peter: Yep.
Scott: shove
Peter: Yep.
Scott: your
Peter: [laughs]
Scott: AppleCare hatred right up your Duo duopoly.
Peter: So it
Scott: Because…
Peter: comes out to about the same. The, the cost of the… [laughs] See, the cost of, of AppleCare for the iPhone Duo is about the same as it is for an iPad and an iPhone. Huh,
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: it’s like Apple thought– saw what I’m planning to do here.
Scott: Wait, are you saying these guys have accountants?
Peter: Oh, man. Wow. Well, you don’t become one of the largest traded, you know, publicly traded companies in the world without having accountants.
Scott: Good
Peter: So…
Scott: morning.
Peter: [laughs] Hey,
Scott: That’s
Peter: Steve.
Scott: what Tim says.
Peter: I mean,
Scott: He- those
Peter: Tim.
Scott: are the, those are the only
Peter: T-
Scott: people he greets every morning are the accountants.
Peter: Tim Apple. [sighs]
Scott: And I would absolutely believe that about Tim Apple too, by the way. So the, here’s the thing that Marco brought up, and I would say I- besides the touch ID face ID thing, is you’re not a big pants person.
Peter: Ah. I’m
Scott: You
Peter: not…
Scott: don’t wear super skinny jeans that are tight and… But what I’m saying
Peter: Not
Scott: is
Peter: super.
Scott: this is a
Peter: Not anymore.
Scott: th- this is a thick, heavy device.
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: This is a thick, heavy device, and presumably you being a man will want to put it in a pants pocket as opposed to buying a messenger bag to carry around just for your iPhone Duo.
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: So what do you think? How do your
Peter: I am
Scott: pa- how
Peter: often
Scott: do your pants feel
Peter: ca-
Scott: at this moment, Peter?
Peter: Well, especially, like, when I’m on vacation wandering around town and stuff, I will often have all four pants pockets loaded. So there’ll be a phone,
Scott: Oh, God, don’t, don’t go to
Peter: a
Scott: Rome.
Peter: wallet, a phone, a wallet, a,
Scott: Don’t go to Rome.
Peter: um, AirPods, and keys are normally what I put. No, it’s different in pickpocket central. You
Scott: I
Peter: know,
Scott: was
Peter: I don’t,
Scott: gonna
Peter: I
Scott: say.
Peter: don’t do the same thing. For then, no, but that’s, that’s when I’ll usually wear, like, a flip belt or something under my shirt and have it tucked in under. So…
Scott: That’s when you usually wear your taser.
Peter: Right. [laughs] So, yeah.
Scott: So what
Peter: So,
Scott: do…
Peter: so,
Scott: Did you
Peter: s-so…
Scott: put it in your pocket? Did you… What did you… Did you, how did you…
Peter: No, I couldn’t, couldn’t really ’cause it was tethered to the, to the desk, you know? So I couldn’t
Scott: But isn’t
Peter: really…
Scott: it tethered
Peter: [sighs]
Scott: at one end? You can’t just shove it down your pocket and let the
Peter: I
Scott: tether
Peter: c- I
Scott: hang
Peter: could
Scott: out?
Peter: have. I didn’t, I didn’t really see what that would be like. So no, I
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: didn’t really do that.
Scott: Mm.
Peter: Um, in general though, like, again, if I’m wearing athletic clothing where it would bounce around and flop around or something, I will either also have a, you know, a waistband, waist belt, or my running vest with me. So it’s not gonna
Scott: I
Peter: be
Scott: can’t
Peter: sitting
Scott: imagine
Peter: in those pockets.
Scott: taking an iPhone Duo on a run with me. I can’t imagine. I would not, could not in a boat with a goat or any kind of other green ham and egg thing. [laughs] Yeah, I, I can’t. I don’t even take my… I w- I would… The only reason I would e- even take my iPhone on a run is, like, if it was some event and I just had to have my phone with me,
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: which is what you do, which is your use case. But boy, that would suck. I just don’t like any weight on me when I’m running that’s not necessary, and hydration alone is enough to make
Peter: Yeah.
Scott: me angry.
Peter: It’s, it’s only about… It’s not even two ounces heavier than the 17 Pro, though.
Scott: No, no, no. Than the 17 Pro Max. It’s
Peter: No.
Scott: quite a bit heavier…
Peter: The 17 Pro… The 17 Pro weighs 204 grams. The 17 Pro Max is 230.
Scott: Huh.
Peter: Oh, and here’s the other thing too is if I order now, it will deliver on the 25th
Scott: What’s today? The
Peter: of January.
Scott: 24th.
Peter: [laughs]
Scott: Oh. Don’t be so bitter, Marco.
Peter: Three months out.
Scott: I mean, Peter, not gonna lie, that happens
Peter: So, like,
Scott: a lot
Peter: three
Scott: with iPhones.
Peter: months.
Scott: Yeah,
Peter: Three
Scott: that
Peter: months?
Scott: I’ve s-
Peter: No.
Scott: yes,
Peter: No,
Scott: yes.
Peter: we have not seen that long of a delay in a long time.
Scott: we’ve seen a couple months out for a, for some
Peter: W-
Scott: not,
Peter: W-
Scott: maybe
Peter: Uh,
Scott: not last year, but…
Peter: no, it’s been a while. We haven’t seen this, this, this l- this long of a delay. A three-month, a full quarter? No, sir. Disagree.
Scott: I,
Peter: Let’s, let’s, let’s, let’s, let’s… This is a good use case. Claude, look this up for me.
Scott: My friend is a liar, Claude, and he says that people have to wait years to get iPhones, and I say
Peter: Well,
Scott: they don’t.
Peter: if you’re a, if you’re a liar, then yeah. But, I mean, that does affect the calculus, though. So, all right. So here it says the three-month is the longest timeframe for any iPhone model according to Claude. iPhone X or Ten hit a
Scott: Yep.
Peter: five to six-week delay. iPhone Pro 14, it, ’cause of COVID lockdowns, pushed estimates into late December. And then iPhone 6 Plus was about three to four weeks.
Scott: Oh, I was thinking of COVID. You’re absolutely right. Tell it it’s
Peter: The
Scott: absolutely
Peter: w-
Scott: right.
Peter: the white iPhone 4,
Scott: Yeah,
Peter: which
Scott: I don’t
Peter: slipped
Scott: care about that.
Peter: about 10 months, was a launch delay rather than an order backlog.
Scott: Tell, tell it it’s
Peter: So,
Scott: absolutely correct. I was thinking about COVID.
Peter: you’re absolutely right.
Scott: Comment from the chat.
Peter: Comment from the chat. But that affects the calculus, right? ’Cause we’re talking about, like, is it worth doing this? Now, if I could have had
Scott: Why?
Peter: one tomorrow, then sure, I’ll do it, but now you’re telling me I have to wait three months. I’m already three months into potentially getting the new version next year, right?
Scott: Yeah,
Peter: Because
Scott: okay.
Peter: the whole–
Scott: That…
Peter: It’s the whole,
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: it’s the whole opportunity cost. You’re telling me twenty-five percent of the opportunity cost I was concerned about has just been taken, well, forced onto the table
Scott: [keyboard clacking] I guess
Peter: or taken
Scott: I didn’t
Peter: off
Scott: even,
Peter: the table.
Scott: I guess I didn’t even think about the impact of the three months, meaning you’re three months closer to a new one, because I wouldn’t buy this first generation anyway. I just would
Peter: Right.
Scott: not. Absolutely wouldn’t. I think you should wait. In that case, I, I think you should wait. I already did, but now you’ve just given yourself a reason to wait
Peter: Yeah, if I
Scott: without…
Peter: can’t have it until next year, now I’m like, “Eh.” And then who knows? Maybe say June or July, that’s when this one goes on sale and Verizon will, you know, like lease it to me for like a dollar. No, they’re not gonna do that, but they might–
Scott: There, yeah.
Peter: by that
Scott: [keyboard clacking]
Peter: point, they will, they might come up… ’Cause usually it’s a mid-cycle where they start to, you know, where the carriers start to give you a break on it, or they’ll give you, me a bigger, bigger trade-in on my phone or something like that,
Scott: I think they have to charge
Peter: so.
Scott: at least $3. there’s three screens on this thing,
Peter: Probably,
Scott: right?
Peter: well, one for, one for each quarter too, right? Yeah, that
Scott: yeah.
Peter: makes sense. So, all right. So I think we’ve, talked me out of taking any immediate action since
Scott: Good.
Peter: there’s, there’s no need because it’s freaking three months.
Scott: Good. Now, I think that you thought possibly that I was gonna have strong opinions. I didn’t have strong opinions either way. The only, the only opinion I had was would I personally, even cost aside, you know, it’s a lot of money for a phone. Even cost aside right now, would I buy the first generation of this? No, I absolutely would not. It just doesn’t seem like a good idea because I do think that this is a product that’ll get quite a bit better quite rapidly.
Peter: Mm-hmm. But again, if I do the lease and it’s a one-year lease,
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: I’m always on the
Scott: Yep.
Peter: newest version. And I’ve
Scott: Correct.
Peter: wanted to do that for the longest time, but every time I’ve thought about doing it, I’ve been under contract with my Verizon phone,
Scott: Mm-hmm.
Peter: so I’ve never done that. And I haven’t wanted to do the Verizon lease for reasons. I don’t know, I just didn’t wanna get caught up with them or, you know, tied to Verizon. I’d rather be tied to Apple than Verizon, I guess.
Scott: Yeah, for sure.
Peter: So, you know. Anyway, yeah. I don’t know.
Scott: I mean,
Peter: All right.
Scott: just
Peter: I
Scott: by
Peter: guess
Scott: the
Peter: I’m
Scott: nature…
Peter: not gonna– Well, definitely not gonna do anything until next year. So,
Scott: Okay.
Peter: but maybe, maybe come around late January, maybe I’ll revisit the leasing options and then, you know,
Scott: Yeah,
Peter: whatever. Yeah.
Scott: that’s true.
Peter: So, but there’s no reason to do anything right now.
Scott: Now, with the Apple– with the leasing options, what are their terms? One year and two years? Like, can you…
Peter: That’s what
Scott: If
Peter: I
Scott: they,
Peter: saw, yeah.
Scott: if they come out with a new Duo before your year is up, which it will be,
Peter: Yep.
Scott: which they will presumably, w- are you able to end that lease and transfer it over to
Peter: I–
Scott: the new model, or do you have to do the full frigging
Peter: That
Scott: year?
Peter: I don’t know. I don’t know how that works, you know. So I might, I might need to just go and set a, Genius Bar appointment or something and, you know, see what
Scott: Well,
Peter: they have
Scott: have
Peter: to say.
Scott: your, have your super-duper assistant say– tell you how the,
Peter: The last time I asked my super-duper assistant something, it said, “A quick visit to the Genius Bar will settle this question.”
Scott: You know what? Lately, the super-duper assistant keeps telling me this, and it doesn’t bother me because it’s not information that I necessarily need looked up, although there have certainly been a couple instances where I said, “Well, why don’t you go look that up?” But lately, it’s constantly saying things like, “This is just based on my general knowledge. I didn’t go look this specific thing up or verify this other thing.” And then, and it’s happened enough recently that I’m kinda thinking, “Well, why don’t you do that? You have access to the internet and nothing but time on your hands. Why– what exactly is it about this harness that is currently making it not wanna look stuff up?” When one of the beautiful things d- you remember as well as I do the days when, “My knowledge ended as of 25,000 years ago. I’m sorry, I can’t tell you what happened after the things collided that created the Earth.” And now it can look up anything, anytime,
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: [laughs] and it just
Peter: Oh, yeah.
Scott: doesn’t wanna do it.
Peter: I, I had Claude update my stock options trade journal earlier this week, and it was saying like, “Oh, you said that you bought this back for a seventy-five cent credit, but, but you initially logged it as a dollar.” what does the Google Sheet say? I’m like-
Scott: [swallows]
Peter: You were literally just updating the Google Sheet. Why didn’t you look? Oh, you’re right. I could have checked. [laughs]
Scott: I know.
Peter: You know,
Scott: It’s
Peter: it’s
Scott: like,
Peter: like…
Scott: why do you think you’re here, guy? It’s because
Peter: But we’ve
Scott: you
Peter: seen
Scott: can
Peter: that
Scott: look
Peter: before,
Scott: stuff
Peter: though.
Scott: up for
Peter: We’ve
Scott: me.
Peter: seen the AIs
Scott: Yeah, I know.
Peter: both, you know, like GPT. Remember Marco went on that rant about telling it, you know, count to a million. It’s, “Oh, to count to a million, I would go one, two, three, four, and so on.”
Scott: Well then, why don’t you?
Peter: You know. So we’ve seen them get lazy. I–
Scott: Yeah,
Peter: That’s a
Scott: and,
Peter: cyclic thing, I think. I think they’re just going…
Scott: but here’s
Peter: I think
Scott: the
Peter: it’s
Scott: thing.
Peter: gotta be a cost-cutting saving, savings measure.
Scott: That’s where I was going. My brother and I have seen this happening often enough, and it’s in cycles, and I’m talking about micro cycles too. It’s not like it happens for six months, and then it doesn’t happen for a year. I’m talking about within a week, you can see it happen several times and then go back out again to where it gets really lazy and then doesn’t get lazy. And we’re convinced that it has something to do with them just shifting resources around, and it’s probably
Peter: Yep.
Scott: that simple. It’s like
Peter: Yeah.
Scott: right now they can’t afford to put tons of compute into Scott Willsey’s Claude subscription because they’re using it for
Peter: ’Cause
Scott: something
Peter: he’s, ’cause
Scott: else.
Peter: he’s only paying $100 a month, and that’s not enough for us to make anything close to money.
Scott: Ah. Yeah, so anyway, speaking of Claude, I don’t know if you’ve heard of any of the brain concepts, but there’s like the gbrain, there’s like the Karpathy brain. There’s like all these different ways of getting your agent to have all the context it needs about you and your documents, and that way, whenever you have a conversation with it, you don’t have to re-explain stuff. It just knows everything about you. I will say that current modern versions of Claude Code and Claude already do a remarkably good job of having all that information available. Even if I start a new chat, even if I start a new thing in a new context, it already has available to it that we discussed this thing at a specific time, and here’s what it found last time. Already pretty damn good these days at that. But I was looking at these different brains, and I wanted… I don’t like having my stuff spread across the file system anyway. Like, for some work-related stuff, I will have some documents here and some scripts there. For my personal websites and other stuff, I will have my sites here that I can spin up and run and, and, make my changes to and then deploy, and then I will have scripts over here. And s- pretty soon I’ve got stuff all over my file system related to the same topics, right? And that already kind of drives me insane because I want to always remember where is my stuff, how does it work. I don’t want to have to keep remembering how my system works, if you will, okay,
Peter: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Scott: in order to use it. And so that’s the sign of a bad system is when you have to remember things in order
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: to use it. So I said, “Well, I’m gonna make one of these brains,” and so I gave it gbrain as an example. I gave it a couple other brains. I gave it my brother’s brain, so to speak. I didn’t actually hack my brother’s head open and… But he has a brain system that he created, and, it’s not suitable for me because he’s using it for a very specific purpose. But I quickly came to the decision, I don’t want to use Supabase or any other stupid vector database. I want it to use Markdown files, and I want it to search those. And by the way, most of the AI people who do use the brains have come to the conclusion that just using simple Markdown is best. Forget all the fancy vector databases or any other kind of database. that way also it’s transportable, but it also seems to be better in terms of performance for the agent. They do a better job of getting the information they need and maintaining it and not losing things. But anyway, so I had it create me a custom system yesterday. Right now I’m in the process of moving all my files around into a subfolder of my brain folder. And by the way, if you do this, don’t put it under your Documents folder.
Peter: Okay.
Scott: Put it outside that. Put it as a subfolder of your home directory,
Peter: Okay.
Scott: and the reason why is because macOS has restrictions on certain things that can happen inside your Documents folder, and it will bite you whenever you ask Claude to do specific things, like when it wants to run scripts in certain locations or you want… I- it will bite you, and then it will develop workarounds. Like I had a, I can’t remember what it was. It was some kind of extension or MCP, and it needed to make a link to it and put that actual code outside the brain directory, and I said, “Hey, if we’re doing that, this is b*** Get it out of my documents, and let’s move it to my home directory so we don’t have to have pointers to things. I don’t want to have pointers to things.” ’Cause it was like, “Hey, every time we update the code in this repo that’s in the Documents folder, we’ll just have to make sure we update the thing that it, that it’s linking to outside.” And I’m like, “No, we’re not doing that. If I have to remember to update something else somewhere else, that’s
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: a failure already. I’m not doing that. I’m not gonna do it. I won’t remember, and I don’t even wanna think about it.“ So I moved everything. So then I went through a second move where I moved my brain folder from outside my Documents folder into my root folder. That solved a whole bunch of problems. So do it that way. That would, that’s what I would recommend. But yeah, so now I have a hybrid system. If I figure out exactly if this does give me benefit and how it works for me, I will come back to the podcast with many more details.
Peter: Okay, then.
Scott: Yep.
Peter: Cool.
Scott: And
Peter: Um, yep.
Scott: one more Claude-related thing.
Peter: I have a Claude-related thing to add too, so go for it.
Scott: The Claude app has come a long, long, long way,
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: to the point where I don’t use Claude in the terminal almost ever anymore. The
Peter: Hmm.
Scott: one time I use Claude in the terminal now is when I, Claude Code in the terminal now is when I’m doing a brew update or some other package update. I will fire up Claude, and then I will do exclamation mark and then the brew update or whatever. And the reason I do that is ’cause I have a rule. Claude Code, if you see me doing a brew update inside of you, you, that is your cue to go out and vet every single one of those packages, look for supply chain attacks, look for risks- Look for all that stuff and give me a chart with check marks. Yes, no risk. Green check mark is no risk, and then give me concerns all the way down, and then all the details underneath. So I have a go, no-go chart right in front of me, and then I have all the details down below. And the reason why is because everything on the internet is getting pwned, and supply chain attacks are a thing, and I just don’t wanna get pwned by– because some idiot got their NPM or GitHub repo hacked and, you know. So anyway, that’s the only time I use it in the terminal now. I use Claude Code in the app. You can do split pane, you can do the terminal inside there, you can do your file trees inside there. Everything you wanna do, it’s beautiful. I love it. I never thought I would say that about the Claude app. There you go.
Peter: That’s cool. I’ve just been using the Claude app for more interactive things, and any time that I need it to… I-I-if– I’m, I’m doing all of my, like, vibe coding and stuff still in terminal, in Claude Code
Scott: That’s
Peter: on,
Scott: how
Peter: in
Scott: I was
Peter: the terminal.
Scott: doing it too, but I found that I was multitasking so much better once I started actually doing it all inside the app.
Peter: Hmm, interesting.
Scott: There’s, there’s, there’s keyboard shortcuts that you can use to switch between the different sessions. You can open things in split windows, you can open things in split panes. It’s just, it’s become so far…
Peter: I have found that I’m better and more productive and less frazzled if I’m not trying to vibe code more than one, maybe two things at a time. Because
Scott: Well,
Peter: I find myself just constantly task switching. Even though it’s doing all of it, I’m juggling all the different sessions, so I
Scott: and I
Peter: try
Scott: found that,
Peter: not to let myself do that.
Scott: I found that in the terminal, but I don’t find that as much in the app. And the reason why is because if I have two things going that I need to keep track of at one time, I just set up a split view, and you can literally… So it’s kind of cool. To switch between things in the left-hand pane, like I’m working on this thread here, I’m working on that thread here, you can do the standard Mac Command, Shift, bracket left and bracket right. If you wanna switch between two split windows that you have open, you can do Control, bracket left, and Control, bracket right. And what I’ll do is I’ll leave one of those threads highlighted, and that’ll be my main thread.
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: And the other one I’ll have visible, but I will get to it when I g*** well get to it. And
Peter: Okay.
Scott: I won’t make myself– What I won’t do is say, “Oh, the minute this thing needs my attention, I have to care.” No, because this other one is more important. I’m gonna focus my brain power on that, and then when it’s doing something, I’ll look back and see what the other one’s doing. And I found that that doesn’t tax my brain, what am I doing, as nearly as much as having things in separate terminals, where I have to remember, where did that tab go? What was it doing again? Because they’re both visible at the exact same time, and, I get a better sense of what the progress is and what’s waiting for me. And that’s one of the things where the app is pretty good, but I s– there are times where I still have to look over in the left-hand pane and go, “Show me again where something’s running.” And it does show you when an agent’s doing something. but yeah. Anyway, I, I am 100% with you on that. I don’t do too many things at one time, but I have found that using the app as opposed to terminal does give me the ability to better multitask without getting to that overload factor.
Peter: Mm-hmm. All right. All right. That’s cool. so my related Claude update is I had at, on my work account, I had been getting, daily updates on, like from Copilot in my M365 environment,
Scott: Mm-hmm. [laughing]
Peter: and Gemini had been giving me daily updates in my Google environment. But since all of my Gmail now immediately gets pulled into Fastmail, it didn’t have a lot of context for like, you know, this is what sort of emails you’ve had overnight because they just pass through, and they’re gone. So as of this morning, I put together…
Scott: I can just see your poor agent. Oh, Peter’s gonna– Whoa,
Peter: There’s,
Scott: where’d it go?
Peter: uh, there’s nothing to do. [chuckles] So, so as of this morning, I have Claude analyzing my emails for work, personal, yoga, and it also checks,
Scott: [laughing]
Peter: my,
Scott: Work yoga,
Peter: uh,
Scott: personal yoga.
Peter: Slack channels. No, it checks my Slack channel for, stock options trading information, and it checks
Scott: Mm-hmm.
Peter: Teams for work stuff. So now I have Claude giving me my more comprehensive daily view of things, so I don’t have to go to, “Oh, okay, Cla-Copilot, tell me what’s going on here. Okay, Gemini, tell me what’s going on there. Oh, but you didn’t really see everything.” And then, “Hey, Claude, tell me what’s going on in Slack.” So now I’ve got
Scott: Oh. So
Peter: one
Scott: tell me
Peter: full
Scott: how…
Peter: view.
Scott: Okay, number one, couple questions. Number one,
Peter: Yep.
Scott: the Gmail stuff is all personal, or was some of that work-related too?
Peter: Personal. All personal.
Scott: Okay. So how are you giving Claude access to these various, channels, so to
Peter: Uh,
Scott: speak?
Peter: the existing MCP connectors.
Scott: So there are– Is there an MCP connector for– There’s an MCP connector for Claude for Microsoft products.
Peter: Correct.
Scott: For M3065.
Peter: Yeah. Yeah, you can go into that or you can just, yeah, you can just go into your settings and I’ll see. Let’s go, let’s see what,
Scott: I’m assuming
Peter: what connectors
Scott: that you’re giving it read-only
Peter: is Peter working?
Scott: access.
Peter: It depends on the service. so Claude has access to, I enable that thing to give it access to my 1Password, so it can
Scott: Mm-hmm.
Peter: pull the passwords that I want it to. Um,
Scott: Oh, interesting. So
Peter: f-Fastmail
Scott: I,
Peter: via,
Scott: I have
Peter: via…
Scott: to talk to you about that.
Peter: Okay. Fastmail
Scott: Not,
Peter: via
Scott: not…
Peter: MCP.
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: GitHub, because otherwise it can’t, you know, push and pull, code changes.
Scott: It can’t get
Peter: G-Gmail,
Scott: your hub.
Peter: mostly that’s for sending automated responses and stuff.
Scott: F***
Peter: really
Scott: right off
Peter: don’t
Scott: you.
Peter: need-
Scott: [laughing]
Peter: I really don’t need the Gmail connector as much though now. I could, I could kill that ’cause it could do the same… Well, no. With Fastmail,
Scott: Automated
Peter: it can’t actually
Scott: responses.
Peter: send any emails, so it can only
Scott: Dear spammer
Peter: draft them. So, Google Calendar, kind of need that. Google Drive, ’cause it frequently updates, you know, files for me there. Google Sheets, ’cause that’s how it updates and I track my stock market. Instacart, because I’ve been– Oh, that was the other thing too. I have routinely now, like at least once a week, I will look for a new recipe and have Claude, put all the ingredients into my Instacart shopping list, and then I can just check it out that way.
Scott: Damn.
Peter: Um, last night’s use case, let’s pause on that for a second. Last night, I said, “I have these ingredients,” and most of them were leftovers. Like, I had taken some sword- a swordfish steak out of the freezer, and I had some polenta from a dish I made a couple of weeks ago, dry, you know, like, on, in, on the shelf, not like leftover. But I said, “I have, a swordfish steak, a lemon, a bunch of Italian parsley, an onion, some polenta, and a mango, a couple of mini cucumbers, some feta cheese,” and I think that was, that was it. I was like, “What can I make with all of these things?”
Scott: And a flour tortilla and a two-month-old jalapeno bagel. What can I make with these?
Peter: So get this. So, so I… Let me just dig up the exact prompt to see whatever, what I, what
Scott: Swordfish
Peter: I told it. Hold
Scott: steak,
Peter: that thought.
Scott: my God, you are living on the– You are making too much money, Peter.
Peter: well, it had, it had been sitting in my freezer for a while, but. all right. So I’m gonna go to the project, and okay. So the prompt was, da, da, da, da, da, da. “Tonight I have a swordfish steak. I also have a lemon, a couple of mini cucumbers, a leftover hunk of Pecorino Romano, and some Italian parsley, two cups of kale, a mango, onions, feta cheese. I also have some polenta. What can I do with these? I can get other ingredients if necessary, but would like to use as much of the above as I can.”
Scott: By
Peter: “Everything
Scott: the way, what…
Peter: you
Scott: [laughs]
Peter: listed fits into one plate. Seared swordfish with lemon parsley gremolata over a creamy Pecorino polenta, garlicky kale with onions on the side, and a bright mango cucumber feta salsa on top. Only pantry items needed: olive oil, garlic, butter, salt, pepper, and milk for the, the polenta if you want it.“ And I
Scott: Did it…
Peter: followed the instructions, and it came out great.
Scott: Where’s the glue? Where’s the glue, Peter? [laughs] Did it
Peter: The
Scott: tell
Peter: polenta
Scott: you to glue
Peter: and
Scott: anything
Peter: the Pecorino.
Scott: together?
Peter: No, the Pecorino Romano cheese acts as the glue. That’s what you need.
Scott: Okay, okay.
Peter: the only thing was, I swear as I was going through it, it referred to half of a lemon like four times. So there were either
Scott: So two
Peter: three
Scott: lemons.
Peter: or f-
Scott: [laughs]
Peter: well, there was either three or four halves of the lemon. The other part that’s funny is that the in- the instructions will also say like, “Have half a cup of diced cucumbers, diced, and also have three tablespoons of minced garlic, minced.”
Scott: Minced.
Peter: I was like, “As opposed to sliced minced garlic?” I mean, right? [laughs] So, other than that, it’s great, and then you put it into recipe mode, and it will say, “Okay, start this,”
Scott: Wait,
Peter: and then
Scott: recipe
Peter: you
Scott: mode
Peter: can
Scott: in
Peter: hit
Scott: what?
Peter: it
Scott: What– Put
Peter: in Claude,
Scott: what into recipe?
Peter: in the Claude
Scott: Oh, seriously?
Peter: app. You can say, “I wanna start cooking,” and it’ll go into recipe mode, and then it will include timers. So like the first step, you click Start Cooking, make the salsa. I do that. I move to the next step, make the gremolata. I did that. I click the
Scott: And
Peter: next
Scott: you can do
Peter: step.
Scott: this on your phone?
Peter: Or the, or the app, any of the Claude Code apps. Well, or
Scott: No,
Peter: the,
Scott: that’s what
Peter: the Claude
Scott: I’m saying,
Peter: apps will do
Scott: the
Peter: that.
Scott: Claude,
Peter: Any of the
Scott: the
Peter: Claude
Scott: Claude
Peter: apps.
Scott: app on the phone. Yeah, yeah,
Peter: Any
Scott: yeah.
Peter: of them. Then I click Start the Polenta. Bring two cups of water or stock to a boil with a pinch of salt, whisk in half a cup of polenta, slowly reduce to low, stir occasionally, and it has a twenty-five minute timer. So I click Start on that, and then I can move on to the next part. And so I can move through and have multiple timers running on the iPhone, and it tells me like, “Okay, now it’s time to go back to polenta. Take that off of the back burner while I’m making the salsa.” And
Scott: Finally.
Peter: I’ve used this numerous times. It’s great. [laughs]
Scott: Finally, an Apple device that can understand multiple timers in a cohesive way and not brought to you by Apple.
Peter: Well, to be clear, it’s using– it, it sets the Apple timers, you know, a, a timer in the Apple, like the, the, the Timers app.
Scott: Yeah,
Peter: But
Scott: but
Peter: it’s
Scott: it’s not…
Peter: cool that it does it on its own, so.
Scott: It’s being the brain behind the process, so Siri
Peter: Bingo.
Scott: doesn’t stumble around and do stupid things.
Peter: Exactly.
Scott: My
Peter: So…
Scott: God, that is absolutely freaking amazing. I didn’t know it had a recipe mode. That is
Peter: Yep.
Scott: super cool.
Peter: Yeah. And I found it
Scott: Wow.
Peter: quite by accident. I just told it one day, it was like, “Yes,” you know, “let’s start cooking.” And it’s like, “Okay.” And next thing I know, it’s in recipe mode. So it was pretty
Scott: By
Peter: slick.
Scott: the way, I don’t know if you noticed, but Foodnoms has an MCP server for Claude now and for ChatGPT, and I, I have
Peter: Oh,
Scott: it connected, but I didn’t look to… I haven’t
Peter: I
Scott: looked
Peter: did not.
Scott: yet, and my iPhone’s currently being used as my video camera, but I didn’t look to see if, it’s… You know, some of the MCP servers that you connect to Claude, they’re in
Peter: Yep.
Scott: your account, so they can be used from anywhere. I haven’t looked to see if that actually applies to the iPhone yet too or not.
Peter: I haven’t, I haven’t checked into that, but I, I should look into that. Resuming. Back to where we were, though, as far as, connectors, MCP connectors. interactive brokers, because I have it help me stage stock options trades.
Scott: Mm-hmm.
Peter: Microsoft 365, you know, I’ll use it
Scott: Question,
Peter: like Excel in the browser or Excel. Yep.
Scott: if you have multiple M three sixty-five accounts,
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: can it handle that?
Peter: I don’t know that it can. I don’t…
Scott: That was my giganticest fear, Peter.
Peter: It- Because most of the things I’m seeing are usually a one connector, and, like, the part where that’s mostly
Scott: And they have
Peter: a
Scott: you
Peter: pain
Scott: auth,
Peter: for
Scott: yeah.
Peter: now is I want to start doing some, actively managing my own Roth IRA account for stock options trading, and Claude can only interact directly with one account at a time, which is kind of a pain.
Scott: So here’s the thing that I think might be a worthwhile endeavor.
Peter: Mm-hmm.
Scott: Tell Claude, “Reverse engineer this MCP connector,” or, “Figure out what it does.” Doesn’t matter if you reverse engineer it or not. Reverse engineer the capabilities and specs.
Peter: Mm-hmm. Hmm.
Scott: Now create a new one called something else, and all it does is connect to the same service, but allows me to authenticate to this other account. I think that might actually work. Just have it create you a new MCP server specifically that works the same way, but lets you authorize to a different account.
Peter: Hmm.
Scott: Right?
Peter: I don’t– Well, maybe because I had… So here’s the thing. With Interactive Brokers, I had two instances of the same connector, but there were two separate instances,
Scott: Mm-hmm.
Peter: and it complained, “You can only have one at a time.” So as soon as I would connect one, it would disconnect the other. I wonder if I add a custom or if I add another, if I could add another Microsoft three sixty-five connector. I don’t know if it would let me do that. It doesn’t
Scott: Maybe
Peter: seem to
Scott: you
Peter: want
Scott: could try
Peter: to.
Scott: that, but I, but I,
Peter: It,
Scott: I would
Peter: it doesn’t
Scott: try…
Peter: seem to want to. Make
Scott: Right,
Peter: a,
Scott: ’cause
Peter: another custom one,
Scott: it recognizes
Peter: though. That’s interesting.
Scott: the same connector. That’s why I’m saying try
Peter: Yeah.
Scott: making a custom version
Peter: Interesting.
Scott: that doesn’t call itself a Microsoft connector, but that
Peter: Yeah.
Scott: does connect to a Microsoft account.
Peter: Yeah. Oh, give it a shot. Tony, M three sixty-five, Notion, PubMed,
Scott: Yes.
Peter: because I will frequently say, like, “I just heard such and such. Please search PubMed for, you know, articles that support or disprove this, you know, what I just heard on the internet.” Slack. [coughs] As I said, Slack monitors mess- [coughs] messages for me in my options trading, uh, community. And then, that’s, uh, that’s pretty much it. So yeah, it’s pretty slick.
Scott: Hey, you just reminded me, I’m using a program from my friend called fnMute, and I really like it, and I have it now set up so that the keyboard shortcuts don’t interfere or overlap with any other apps that I’m using whatsoever, and
Peter: Cool.
Scott: I do Control + Option + Command, and then Backspace. It’s the key to the right of the l- right bracket. So right above the Enter key. So I do that, and it works great, and I
Peter: And
Scott: really
Peter: you,
Scott: like
Peter: and
Scott: it.
Peter: you- you good. I’m glad that it works.
Scott: Yeah.
Peter: Hey, as I mentioned, I had already drunk three cups of coffee, and I’ve had a beer, so I need to, punch out for obvious reasons, so we should wrap this up.
Scott: All right, Peter, if the people that don’t watch this want to find us, how do they find us?
Peter: They go to friendswithbrews.com. That’s B-R-E-W-S. They can also find me at pn72.com, and they can find you at?
Scott: Scottwillsey.com.
Peter: Tell your friends.
Scott: Tell your friends. Tell your friends.
Peter: There’s an echo in here.