C (2:22)

I played as a kid a little bit, but I wasn't super into it. But I think a lot of those sorts of games I played maybe before I was intellectually ready for them because I have an older sibling, so I just kind of was doing whatever he was doing. But so when I played the Sims and Rollercoaster, Tycoon and all those games, I always did like the Infinite Money modes so that I could just have fun with the roleplaying aspect and not worried about the financial aspect. And now I'm kind of like, I don't know, maybe. Maybe now that I'm managing finances in real life, I can manage finances for my Sims or also, like, roller coaster theme parks. My main engagement with the Sims now is that one of my friends has a sticker. Like, you know, like the iPhone stickers, or you can, like, react with them. That's like the. The minus sign of, like. So whenever I say something that they don't like, I get the minus signs. And then I'm like, wow, I really. I really messed up here.

B (3:26)

That's fantastic.

A (3:28)

I've never played the Sims ever. I think I was in the wrong age range, maybe. I don't know. I. And it's a type of game that I feel like I struggle with. I liked when I was a kid. I loved the original SimCity. I played Sim Earth, I played Sim Ant, and I loved all those games, although I found that I didn't really have. I didn't get so into them that I, you know, really spent a lot of time playing them. In part, I think, because for me, I really like games with narratives and the having to sort of do that heavy lifting on your own. Like, and not only that, there's no. There's no real end. It felt like, you know, in a lot of those games, right, like, your city might get destroyed, but you could just rebuild it, you know, it's kind of the same way I feel about stuff like Animal Crossing, where it's like the. It holds me for a little while, but then I'm just like, oh, my God, why am I just doing this with all my time instead of doing something else? So, yeah, so the Sims was never really my jam, though. I do kind of. I'm, you know, I was like, I do kind of want to go find a classic. A classic SimCity emulator there, the 2D. Come on, let's not. None of this 3D nonsense. Let's go back. I got my cheat codes for that one too. All ready to go. Stephen, what about you?

D (4:40)

You stole my answer. I was going to say Sim City was my thing back in the day. I've never played the Sims, but I remember the emotional trauma of that tornado ripping through my Sim City, and it was horrible. But I would just say on, like, mobile stuff, the only games I've played just quasi recently has been, like, the Alto's adventure games. I've played every one of those and accomplished all those objectives and those were super fun. But I need games that I can like pop in and out of on my iPhone and things like that. And the other one is Jetpack Joyride. I really enjoyed on iPhone and so I played that one. But. But no me.

B (5:12)

Well, I quite like the Sims. I will say that regardless of my ability to manage finances now, I am not shy to throw in a few more dollars in in. Well, I guess it's simoleons. Throw in a few more simoleons in in game currency by way of the cheats. Because it is nice when you need a toaster in the game just to be able to have a toaster. So I, yeah, I was curious to hear and I'm, I appreciate your answers to that topic. Uh, let's move along to our next one, which comes from Amanda.

C (5:46)

Apple unveiled its new chromebook competitor, the MacBook Neo today, which starts at $599. Um, there's a lot more to get into there, which I believe we will. In Dan's question, however, what I want to talk about here is that I find myself tempted to buy it. And in my heart of hearts, this really is just because it's pink. How often do the colorways of new hardware sway your choices to buy something?

A (6:15)

This is a good question. I think it is a, it's certainly a tipping factor. I don't go in thinking I need this because it's a certain color. Though I agree with you. There is a more visceral level of like, ooh, that looks nice. And I will say most recently, I mean, I've got an iPhone 17 Pro in that cosmic orange. It's a great color. I love it. It certainly, you know, was a no brainer for me. When I went to buy it, I was like, I'm getting the orange one. It looks cool. And I, you know, I missed the, the ibook era, the original colorful Apple laptop era because I was 20 something who was too cool for school and was like, I'm gonna get a black PowerBook G3. I do have a classic. I still have my classic blue and white G3 tower, which I do. You know, I do like that colorful era of. But you know, I'm glad to see Apple embracing this a little bit more. But I'd like to see them, you know, realize that pros like to have fun too. We can have, we can have more expensive laptops that come in fun colors too. I bought, when I bought my M4 MacBook Air last year, I bought the midnight one because of them. I Think that's the most fun. It's not that fun. It's like a dark blue, almost black, but it's. It's different than silver or space gray, which was every laptop I've had from them in the past decade. Um, so I think color is a big thing. I mean, I still have also, I will say the other one that I've got going for me here is I've still rocking my Series 7 Apple Watch that is blue because they don't make really good colors for the Apple watch anymore either. So I'm hoping. I'm hoping this and that. That base level iPad and the imac and the iPhones, like, I'm hoping this is all presaging a new era of color at Apple. I'm probably due to be disappointed, but you know what? I can dream, Steven.

D (7:57)

So, I mean, I've been in the world of all the pro devices, so you have silver and black, and that's all I've ever gotten. I did get the Sky Blue MacBook Air, which is like the. I don't even know. It's barely blue. Should have been the name. But I will say the one place I do love getting colors is Apple watch straps. And so I prefer the solo loops with my Apple Watch where there's no clasp. You have to get it sized properly. But I find them to be the most comfortable and in all scenarios. And so I'm all about the solo loops and the braided solo loops. I have many different colors of those and it's where I really like to do the colors. I did get a MacBook Neo. Of course I got the indigo, which maybe is the least fun of the colors, but I wasn't sure where it was going to go after I used it. I should have gotten the citrus or something.

C (8:43)

The silver is the least fun of the colors.

D (8:46)

Okay, good, good.

C (8:46)

I think you have the second least fun color, which is also the third most fun color.

D (8:51)

Oh, thank you. Thank you for that. I do want to submit one complaint to Apple though, is they refreshed their colors for iPhone cases and sport loops just earlier this week, Monday, when they announced the 17e. There's a new guava color which looks amazing, but they did not make a solo loop of that color. They updated the sport loop, but not the solo loop. And so I feel like that's a personal affront.

B (9:18)

Colors do matter for me in terms of. You know what? I am excited about what I'm going to get anytime there's something green. I mean, this morning when I looked at the MacBook Neo. I was like, do I maybe possibly need the green one? And I don't and I have no reason to have it. But did my mind go, you probably need that one? Yeah, it did. I think colorways are fun and I think that any time that Apple is making that choice is some is a time that I'm going to celebrate because I want more of that. The green iPhone. Oh, that was a day I, I think people have made memes out of me reacting to that green iPhone. And so yeah, I think it's great, but it's not a matter currently of oh, if there's a product and it has a color, which in my case would be green, that I immediately am like, well, that's something I will be owning, thank goodness. Because otherwise again, I would have a MacBook Neo on the way. And I have no reason to have a MacBook Neo on the way. Amanda, why don't you read this out here?

C (10:29)

Yeah, I just, I've been thinking about this because I feel like I don't need a new laptop, but for work, my corporate issued laptop is like one of the massive 16 inch MacBook Pros.

B (10:42)

Oh yeah.

C (10:43)

And then I honestly, I just use my work laptop for literally everything. One day, surely that will bite me in the back. But the other laptop I have is a 2020 MacBook Air and I'm like, it works. But also I could spend $600 and get a shiny new thing that's pink. But then I think to myself, I'm like, if there wasn't the pink colorway, I don't think I would even be considering this. And maybe is that a sign that I don't actually need this?

B (11:13)

It probably is, but it's also really cool. Alrighty folks, we've reached halftime here on cl, which means it's time for me to tell you about our sponsor. It's one of my favorite tools tool I use every week, multiple times a week. And that is ecamm bringing you this episode of Clockwise. If you're a Mac user who creates video, creates podcasts, you need eCamm. ECamm Live is the all in one studio built exclusively for Mac. So it looks, feels and performs like a native pro app should. Whether you're live, streaming, recording a podcast, producing training videos, ECAMM is going to give you broadcast level control with drag and drop simplicity. You can switch cameras, share your screen, cue overlays, control, audio, all without ever leaving your Mac. I mentioned I use it every single week for the shows that I do and it is such a helpful tool that again, I just bring it up. I record what I need to record or I stream what I need to stream and it is magnificent. I have a show I do called Micah's Crafting Corner and it requires overhead cameras. Switching back and forth between cameras and doing that in ECAMM is very simple. It integrates with other other tools like the Stream Deck and it's just amazing. With eCamm you can brand your show with titles, graphics, lower thirds, pull in guests via interview mode, record multitrack audio for perfect post production. And if you're into automation, as I mentioned, ECAMM works beautifully with tools and apps like Stream Deck, like Loopback, many other Mac tools you already know and love. You can upgrade to Pro to unlock ECAMM for Zoom. That will let you feed your polished setup straight into Zoom meetings or webinars share Zoom comments on the screen. You can even capture each participant's audio and video separately for easy post production work by way of ECAMM for Zoom. Don't wait any longer. Go and check it out. Now to get 15% off. 15% off, go to ecamm.com clockwise use code clockwise15, that's 15% off ecamm.com clockwise with the code clockwise15. And of course, our thanks to ECAMM for supporting this show and all of relay. All right, we are back from the break and that means it's time for Dan's topic.

A (13:24)

Indeed it is. Apple has started playing more for price with offerings like the iPhone 17e and last year 16e, as well as the new previously mentioned MacBook Neo, which starts at just 599. But if you're an education customer, 499, it's almost the cheapest Mac that Apple has ever made. Is this a strategy that you think will work for them? Is this something that they're really feeling like there's an opportunity here? Or do you think this is all just about the upsell? Hey, you spend $200 more, $300 more, you can get this way better thing. Steven, where do you think this pricing strategy is going?

D (13:57)

The 17E is such a weird place because the 16E bombed. And I don't think it was because of MagSafe. I think it was just because when it comes to the phone, it's a status symbol. It's also everybody's camera. And even the air, you know, didn't sell as good as the pro. So I feel like in some categories, like the phone, people are still going to go for the more expensive the Nicer ones. But the MacBook Neo 100%. I think that one's going to sell like crazy. I'm curious if there are any school districts out there that will go to the Neo instead of the Chromebook. Obviously the Neo is still more expensive, probably by several hundred dollars, but I think it's a great deal. And so I think for the Mac side, I think they are going towards the price on Amazon. There's probably going to be crazy sales on this Neo where you can get it for $500 even without an education discount, especially by the holidays. So I think on the Mac side they're definitely trying to push down into the pricing, but I feel like with phones, the expensive ones are still the most popular. I don't. The 17e feels like a weird thing this year.

B (14:50)

I think Steven said how I feel. Yeah, the phone is, it's fine. But I do think that people will just be more interested in more. And as far as the Mac goes, yeah, let's make that more available. And I can remember, I think middle school would have been the first time that I started to see these. But those Mac carts and they were so fancy and had like the charger situation all built right in. And I think that with these colorful options, although will they offer colors in the, in the schools? I don't know. It just is. Is ripe for, you know, making a place once again perhaps where Chromebooks have taken over. Amanda, what are your thoughts?

C (15:38)

I feel similarly that I think the 16e and the 17e is a little like, I don't know who this is for exactly, but the Neo there does feel like there is a clear customer, I think especially just whenever I write these sort of here's the new Apple product posts. It's like every year they're like our new M5 chip can do things at a billion times faster than you ever imagined. And the on device AI and blah, blah, blah. And like a lot of this is just far beyond what the average person needs. And I think that if you're someone who is a student or someone who has like an email job where they don't need to like edit video or whatever, like you don't really need the amount of power that's in a MacBook Air. I mean that's kind of what makes it tempting for me. But also, then again, I do podcasts and things and sometimes photography and sometimes video things and I have a MacBook Pro through work and if I lost the MacBook Pro through work, I don't think a Neo would necessarily fit all of my needs. But maybe I'm wrong. I have yet to use it, but we'll see.

A (16:55)

I'm really intrigued by the distinction you're all making between the phones and the Mac line. In particular, what Amanda just said. Because I would argue the same holds true of the phone as the computer there. Most people don't need an iPhone Pro, right?

B (17:10)

Yeah, the.

A (17:11)

It's very capable. But to Steven's point, you know, there is a status symbol aspect to it in a way that I don't think we see as much with laptops these days, in part because laptops have become commoditized and they've been around so long and they, you know, tend to be things you keep longer, they tend to be associated with work, etc. Etc. So I think it's interesting to, to like draw that line there because it does point to a certain degree of unsurprisingly human, human irrationality when it comes to these kinds of buying choice. Like, you know, a lot of people would probably be fine with the 17E. It's a very capable phone. I actually just sent it to my like a few weeks ago. I was having, having lunch with my literary agent and he's like, I need to replace my old, you know, terrible phone. That's just a cheap phone. And he doesn't, you know, he, he got dragged kicking and screaming into the smartphone era. And I was like, well, this, the 17E is supposed to be coming out in a few weeks and that's probably the phone for you. And I just sent it to him this morning and he's like, did you bill him?

B (18:08)

Perfect for consulting.

A (18:10)

I should bill him. I should. Yeah, we'll just. And I'll take 15% of his purchase. I think it's interesting to see how that, that sort of lines up there. I think Apple is very smart to have devices in that line that are both. If it can hold this, these two truths in its head, right? One is let's sell a device at a price point where we're still making a profit on it, but let's also position it so that if people want to give us more, they can give us more. But like having that flag in the sand where it's like our iPhone starts at 599 or our, you know, Mac starts at 599 is good, right? It looks good. It helps dispel some of the long held like belief that it's like, oh, their products are just too expensive. Again, money people are more than happy to pay for phones, just like to complain about with computers. So it's an interesting situation we're in. Thank you for your thoughts on that. Let's go to our final topic, which comes from Steven. All right.

D (19:08)

Is the studio display XDR a bad deal? What monitors do you guys use right now? And I don't know, am I crazy that I actually want this thing?

B (19:18)

Listen, I respect your desire to want the thing. If I had unlimited power and otherwise unlimited funds, I would have two studio display XDRs. But I think they are a little ridiculous. I'm rocking on one side a Dell ultrasharp 27 inch monitor and on the other side a Gen1 studio display non xdr. I like my studio display, I do. But for the price that it was, even then it was kind of silly. And then I, I think it was in just last episode I said I wanted to see how Apple is going to differentiate with this next model and I'm thoroughly underwhelmed. Overall, I think that there are better deals found elsewhere and a lot of people have found those better deals. So is it necessary? No. But if I were to like be invited to your home and see that you had studio display xdrs, I would not look down upon you. I would probably high five you and say nice. And that's, that's pretty much how I feel about it.

A (20:33)

This is a very weird hypothetical situation, Mike.

D (20:35)

Weird.

B (20:37)

Okay. Yeah. Amanda, what are your thoughts?

C (20:40)

I think the, the whole studio display line, I've always sort of felt like that's just not for me. It reminds me of like in college they had something, I think it like, I don't know, did they have studio displays then?

B (20:55)

But they were called something else. But yeah.

C (20:57)

Yeah, Cinema displays monitor that was like extraordinarily fancy and the color was like calibrated within like an inch of perfection. And they had those in the like photography studios with like the, the hoods around them so that God forbid, like another color entered your eyesight. Everything was perfect and it just felt excessive. But also. Yeah, similar to what Maiko was saying, they're like, it's cool. Like obviously, like I want the cool new shiny thing, but I just don't know if I need it in my life. But I currently, in addition to my corporate issued MacBook Pro, I have the non corporate issued Samsung M8 monitor, which it's almost like a dupe. It kind of has the sleekness that Apple products have, but obviously it's like, like I think I got it for like $400. Like it's like not that degree of fit.

B (21:56)

And finish.

C (21:57)

Yeah, it's just kind of like this is a big monitor that looks nice on my desk and it gets the job done. And it has a built in webcam that absolutely sucks. And I still haven't figured out the best way to navigate around that besides opening my laptop in front of the monitor, which is what I'm doing right now.

A (22:16)

I've got the original studio display here and I was a little worried when they came out a new one because I bought this a few years back when I switched from having an imac on my desk to a Mac mini. And my thinking at the time was, well, this will be, you know, I put it on a vase amount so it's adjustable and everything, but you know, it'll be something that lasts me a while. I can always swap out the mini and put in a new computer because that was my frustration with the imac. I had a gorgeous one of those retina imacs and when it was done, the screen worked fine, but you couldn't do anything with it. You had to recycle the whole darn thing, which was a real bummer. So this way at least there's some modularity to it. And it's like, it's expensive, but it felt like a good investment. And so, you know, I'm always wary of like, oh no, they'll come out with a new one and I'll feel like, do I need to upgrade to that one? And then I looked at the specs for the new studio display and they're exactly the same. So I don't. So as far as the XDR model goes, it's certainly a nicer model. It's positioned kind of, I think, well between the studio display and the old pro display xdr, which was ridiculously expensive. Honestly, a lot of the benefit you get is just having that height adjustable stand included. I think that which normally costs you another couple hundred bucks through 400, I don't even remember. It's a lot. You know, Apple's displays are expensive a lot like a lot of their products, but they're premium. And I will say they're really nice. I love my studio display. It's gorgeous. It's, you know, it's not like a most advanced panel you can find, you know, higher resolution. You can find stuff with hdr, whatever. I don't find this, any of this to be an impediment to me getting my stuff done because I'm not working with graphics or anything like that. So I think it looks great. The studio display XBR it's pricey. I don't think I would ever buy it because I think it's more display than I need. But for people, you know, who want it, I get that. I understand it. You may still need to buy an external webcam because who knows if it's any good or not. Yeah.

D (24:06)

All right, well, here's the thing. MacOS.

A (24:09)

You bought it while we were sitting here, didn't you?

D (24:12)

I did in fact buy it before we recorded.

B (24:14)

But anyway, here's the thing.

D (24:16)

I have the original Studio display on a VESA mount and it's been great. I could never swallow a Pro display XDR price point. And if you look for 5K monitors, there's actually not a ton out there. And 5K at 27 inches where macOS looks normal. Otherwise you get weird scaling stuff. And 6K at 32 inch, although there's no larger size. So it's actually kind of hard to find a 5K 27 inch 120Hz monitor. That is also nice hardware. Samsung supposedly had some that were coming out. They showed them at Cesar. They're not available yet. I didn't see any pricing. So while surely Apple's gonna have a premium price tag, it actually is slightly unique. Plus the six speaker design. I probably, to my detriment, I edit videos and I just have the audio playing out of my studio display. I don't have any.

A (25:03)

Speakers are good. They are good.

D (25:04)

They're really good. And this new model actually has improved speakers and so I'm actually looking forward to that and better bass. So because I use my studio display speakers all the time, it is my main monitor. Yeah, I got the studio display xdr. It's probably more expensive than it should be, but I think I'm going to enjoy it. The one thing that was really frustrating is because I have a VESA mount. I was like, maybe by chance the Vesa mount model will be cheaper. No, I just get less aluminum in the box. But I still have to pay the same price.

A (25:33)

Yeah, I will say I have a pair of stereo homepods next to my Mac and I never use them.

D (25:38)

Same with this. I have a pair of HomePod 2 sitting right here on my desk and all they do is I switch to

A (25:44)

them and it's like, you know what, it's only like 10% better than the Studio display speakers.

D (25:48)

Yeah. If they had a headphone input. If they just had an 8th inch jack input, I would 100% use the HomePods as my main speakers. But literally all they do is I say hey, dingus, I'm done working. And it turns off all my studio. That's it.

C (25:59)

Unfortunately, now I'm like, there is a pink imac, which, which is a thing I need even less than I need a MacBook. I just, I mean, it is full circle because my first Apple product I ever owned was an ipod mini that was pink. But I think I need to not buy something just because it's pink.

A (26:18)

Step away.

B (26:18)

Step away from the computer. Everything's okay, folks. That just about brings us to the end of this episode of Clockwise. But we've got enough time for a bonus topic. I'd like to know what's something in your city that you like to take visitors to see or experience? Amanda, we'll start with you.

C (26:37)

The Philadelphia Museum of Art, which also has been rebranded to the Art Museum or the Philadelphia Art Museum, which then can be abbreviated to fart. So there's been a lot of discourse around that. But name aside, I think people are attracted to it because the Rocky steps and there's like the Rocky statue, but it's like an amazing art museum. It's kind of like I'll go out on a limb and say it's like a mini Met. And by that I mean they have like contemporary art, they have rotating exhibitions. They also have like suits of armor and like weird stuff from all eras of history. And I've been there like a bajillion times. And then whenever I go, I'm still like, hey, I never noticed that they have a bunch of chain mail before. That's fun.

A (27:31)

I. I really like the, the Museum of Science down here that we have, which is straddles the river between Cambridge and Boston, is just super fun. And I don't only say that because I bring my child there like once a week. But yeah, there's lots of great stuff. And I would say down if it's summer and it's nice. Baseball game at Family Park. It's a great time, it's a great afternoon.

D (27:53)

I bring people. I'm near Tampa and there's a place in Tampa called the Oxford Exchange, which is like multiple things in one. There's like a Buddy Brew coffee place. There's like a bespoke tea place. There's a really nice restaurant. There's also a candle making, a bookstore. There's a new podcast studio on the second floor. There used to be a Warby Parker. It's like, but it's this mid century modern designed building and it feels very like swanky and like it's just a really fun place to go. Everybody can get what they want. You can eat. There's. There's also like this gift shop with like really weird trinkets and these obscure books. And it's just fun to kind of walk around and just be there in that environment. Get a coffee, get a tea, and it's fun to hang out in. So the Oxford Exchange in Tampa.

B (28:36)

I would take people to Pittock Mansion here in Portland. It's like a huge house museum that is just fun to walk through and think about the way we used to live. And then also of course, Powell's Books, which is the big popular bookstore here in Portland. I don't think I've ever had someone come visit without a making a Powell's run. So it's just a requirement if you're visiting Portland, I think. Thank you all for your answers on that. If you can believe it, we have reached the end of this episode of Clockwise, which means all that's left is to remind you that if you'd like to get ad free episodes of an extra unwound episode every week, you could become a member of Clockwise. Go to Relay FM clockwise. Sign up $7 a month, $70 a year to help support the show. Amanda Silberling, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today.

C (29:31)

I'm happy to be here and thanks for helping me through not buying something just because it's pink.

A (29:39)

And Stephen Robles, thank you so much for joining us and buying something.

D (29:43)

Your mind makes it real.

A (29:44)

Neo and Michael will be back next week, but until then, we remind everyone listening out there watch what you say

B (29:53)

and and keep watching the clock.

A (29:55)

Bye everybody.