Your 22 Questions for Waveform Answered!

Summary

---

Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast

Episode: Your 22 Questions for Waveform Answered!

Date: April 28, 2026
Hosts: Marques Brownlee (MKBHD), Andrew Manganelli, David Imel, Adam Molina, Ellis Roven

---

Episode Overview

In this lively and deeply engaging Q&A episode, the Waveform team answers a curated selection of over 1,600 listener-submitted questions about tech, podcasting, their personal journeys, and plenty of inside jokes. Expect insights on everything from scripting videos and audio engineering debates to the philosophical implications of AI—plus moments of real-life transformation and fan-favorite banter.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Podcast & Recording Behind-the-Scenes

[04:42-08:06]

• Ad Breaks & Recording Environment:
  • The ad breaks are both real and post-production artifacts; the team actually pauses for breaks to stretch, use the bathroom, and regulate the studio temperature, since AC is turned off during recordings for audio quality.
    • "Fun fact for those. I don't know if we've even said this on the pod yet: When we record, we turn all the AC/heating and cooling off in this room so it's as quiet as possible." —Marques [05:13]
• Shared Microphone Bit:
  • Adam & Ellis used to share a mic due to technical limitations, but now continue the tradition as an intentional running gag and to improve workflow.
    • "It is a kind of thing where the show works because it's so efficient, and...adding another mic, over the course of a year, actually does add a significant amount of time, so it's easier." —Ellis [07:15]

---

2. Tech Industry Deep Dives & Analogies

[10:03-13:02]

• Vertical Tabs Analogy:
  • Marques compares the “vertical tabs” browser interface innovation to the transformative effect Steph Curry had on basketball—changing the game’s standard.
    • "The vertical tab situation. It's Steph Curry. It's changed the game." —Marques [10:16]

---

3. First Tech Hack Stories

[13:11-16:32]

• Hosts reminisce over the first pieces of tech they hacked or tore apart, from Motorola Droids and Xboxes to CRT TVs—frequently breaking stuff as teens and learning about the dangers of capacitors.
  • "The first one I heavily modified was definitely my first smartphone...I probably flashed a new ROM every other day." —Marques [13:43]
  • "Is it really dangerous or something? ...Even when it's unplugged, you can electrocute yourself to death." —Ellis [16:04]

---

4. Scripting Video Content

[16:46-18:45]

• Marques explains his loose but conversational style of scripting, writing in his own speaking style and refining for clarity and efficiency.
  • "I just word vomit into a doc, and it's kind of just like a train of thought. And then I refine that into kind of how I speak." —Marques [16:46]
• For podcasting, bullet points are more common, and ultimately the key is to get comfortable talking to the camera.

---

5. Real-Life Interruption: Andrew Becomes a Dad!

[19:13-20:52]

• In a real and memorable moment, Andrew receives a call that his child is on the way and leaves mid-podcast—transforming into a father of two.
  • "I'm going to go have a son. Enjoy the rest of the pod." —Andrew [19:47]
  • "Sometimes Andrew leaves the father of one and returns the father of two. Huge transformation." —Marques [19:53]

---

6. Podcast Logistics & Being on Vox Media

[21:00-23:41]

• Audio vs. Video Podcast Release:
  • Audio releases early morning to serve listeners’ commutes; video goes up manually later.
    • "I think the original 4am time was so everyone's morning commute is covered." —Marques [22:16]
• Vox Media Relationship:
  • Being on the network provides advertising and logistical support as part of a larger tech podcast group.

---

7. Most Expensive Tech Broken While Reviewing

[23:53-25:55]

• Marques recalls the notorious Samsung Galaxy Fold screen protector fiasco, leading to multiple review units breaking and Samsung delaying the launch.
  • "It was a phone that folded in half...I start to peel the screen protector off and then some pixels start to go black...turns out that top layer was a very delicate layer of the actual display." —Marques [24:21]
• David shares his mishap with a Galaxy Note 10 sliding off a pizza parlor table and shattering.

---

8. Debating Frequency Response Charts—Science vs. Experience

[29:44-43:43]

• A big (and passionate) debate between Ellis and Adam: Are frequency response charts meaningful, or do they miss the point?
  • "A frequency response chart is...a curve plotted on an XY graph...The point of a photograph is not how much red is in it." —Ellis [30:07, 31:51]
  • Adam argues they're useful for internet comparisons and communities lacking rare access.
  • Marques draws parallels to car stats: “It’s like trying to compare two cars with just the horsepower number…” [36:30]

---

9. Weather Content Addiction (and Tornado Dreams)

[47:36-48:29]

• Marques talks about becoming enamored with weather content, from storm videos to lighting and wanting to see a tornado—driven by his time at Liberty Science Center.
  • "Like a lot of people…Actually, that's part of it, but the content part…I fell down the weather content rabbit hole." —Marques [47:44]

---

10. Channel Growth: What’s Missed and What’s Gained

[53:27-59:07]

• The hosts reflect on how being a larger channel means more scrutiny and less forgiveness for mistakes, but also pushes them to higher standards.
  • "As a big channel, when we put out a video…there is an ecosystem of criticism that echoes for days and weeks." —Marques [54:52]
• The "publish button feels heavier"—more pressure comes with a bigger audience.
• Early days were full of experimentation and growth.

---

11. Favorite Non-Speaker Tech Sounds

[67:41-71:08]

• Hosts reminisce on satisfying tech sounds not produced by speakers, including Hasselblad lens clicks, laptop hinge clacks, Pentax 67's shutter, and the flying faders on an Avid S1.
  • "I had a couple things pop into my head...Hasselblad lens clicking on." —Marques [68:06]
  • "Virtual drum scanner…when I scan with it, it goes..." —Ellis [69:01]

---

12. Staying Unbiased on Waveform

[71:12-75:10]

• The hardest part of remaining unbiased is getting accurate facts, informed by their own experience of launching products and being misunderstood online.
  • "The hardest part is just getting everything factually correct. The unbiased part is easy, I think." —Marques [71:19]
  • David emphasizes context and acknowledges perfect objectivity is impossible.

---

13. Old Phone Designs with Modern Cameras—Which Would They Bring Back?

[75:35-78:39]

• Debate over which retro phone design they'd modernize, with suggestions like the HTC One, Nexus 6P (for its “visor”), Galaxy Nexus, and the Sidekick.
  • "There's a correct answer. There's a couple correct answers." —Marques [75:42]
  • "Sidekick G1 or the Side? Y' all like the physical keyboard?" —Marques [77:49]

---

14. If Not Tech, Then What?

[79:22-80:21]

• The hosts would lean hard into basketball as a podcast topic if tech was off-limits.
  • "I think that's pretty clear. This would be an NBA podcast." —Marques [79:29]

---

15. Trivia Rounds

[82:42-85:14]

• Fun trivia segments with listener-submitted questions.
  • Q1: Last iPad to ship with iOS? Marques guesses correctly by chance.
  • Q2: How many emojis are on Apple’s keyboard? Over 3,700, which surprised the group.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "I'm going to go have a son. Enjoy the rest of the pod." —Andrew [19:47]
• "The vertical tab situation. It's Steph Curry. It's changed the game." —Marques [10:16]
• "It is a kind of thing where...adding another mic, it doesn't really make it more complicated, but when you take the 60+ episodes a year, that adds a significant amount of time." —Ellis [07:15]
• "There's a lot of German words that is just—if you say the English word angry, that's haus." —Andrew [04:10]
• "I get a lot of flack for not putting as much benchmark information in my reviews...because I think that works when I'm talking to a regular person." —Marques [36:10]
• "Like a lot of people…Actually, that's part of it, but the content part…I fell down the weather content rabbit hole." —Marques [47:44]
• "There's nobody who knows these products better than the people who make them." —Marques [73:43]

---

Important Segment Timestamps

• 04:42 – Bathroom/AC breaks explained
• 07:03 – Why Adam & Ellis share a mic
• 10:16 – Vertical tabs = Steph Curry
• 13:11 – First tech hacked/taken apart
• 16:46 – How Marques scripts videos
• 19:47 – Andrew leaves to become a dad
• 22:16 – Audio vs. video podcast release times
• 24:21 – Marques breaks the Galaxy Fold
• 29:44-43:43 – Frequency response chart debate
• 47:44 – Marques’s weather content obsession
• 54:52 – Upsides/downsides of channel growth
• 68:06 – Favorite tech sounds (not speakers)
• 71:12 – Staying unbiased on reviews
• 75:42 – The “bring back a phone design” debate
• 82:42-85:14 – Trivia segment

---

Episode Tone

Casual, irreverent, yet deeply thoughtful and always accessible—Waveform’s unique chemistry shows in every answer and tangent, punctuated by humor, expertise, and moments of unscripted authenticity.

---

Conclusion

This Q&A episode demonstrates why Waveform remains a standout tech podcast: it’s not just about gadgets—it’s about community, transparency, and having fun with tech (and each other). The hosts’ blend of technical knowledge, critical thinking, and wit offers both newcomers and longtime fans an engaging, honest look at everything that makes tech—and this podcast—tick.

---

Transcript

[A]

Hey, I'm Matt Buchel, comedian, writer, and floating head you may or may not have seen on your fyp. And I'm starting a brand new podcast. Wait, Don't Swipe Away. It's called that Sounds Like a Lot. You know that feeling when you check your phone, read a few headlines, and think, that sounds like a lot. I can't do this. Well, I can, and I'm going to get into it every Friday. You can watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcast. I'm going to start by breaking down whatever insanity is happening in the world. And then I'll sit down with a comedian or actor or writer or honestly, anyone who responds to my DMs. This is not the place to get the news, but it is a place to feel a little better about it. That sounds like a lot. Coming May 1st, part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

[B]

Burn your five pound weights. I'm Robert Arson. I'm an athlete and fitness instructor. And I am telling you, unless you have been limited to lighter weights by a medical professional, they're honestly inexcusable. You need to be lifting heavy. And I'm talking especially to the women out there. Toned arms. What can your body do? This week on Project Swagger, what heavy means and rules to bring into your routine? Listen, now.

[C]

The surface of the sun is colder than the inner core of the Earth.

[D]

The surface of the sun is closer than the pyramids being built.

[C]

I didn't know the core of the Earth was that hot, bro.

[E]

It's molten iron.

[C]

I know, but the surface of the sun.

[E]

Yeah, the surface.

[C]

Yeah, Hotter than the surface of the sun.

[D]

I can feel.

[E]

What about the core of the sun?

[F]

The surface of the sun wasn't the hot part.

[C]

Yeah, it's not, but it's the surface of the sun. Yeah, it's still really hot. I mean, I guess I just never thought about how hot.

[D]

Do you know what I might see today? The surface of my sun.

[E]

They call that the corona.

[F]

What is up, people of the Internet? I'm Ellis, this is Adam. And before we kick off this very special episode of Waveform, I want to ask the host the first question of Waveform, which is, how is this podcast different from all other podcasts?

[D]

This one right now?

[F]

Well, Andrew is the host, who does not know how to ask, clearly. But this episode is different because we're answering questions from you, our lovely audience, viewers, spectators. We have. We've gotten over 1600 questions from you guys.

[E]

We're going to answer all of them.

[F]

We're not going to answer all of them. It was so many questions. We picked our favorite ones. We're going to kick it off before we just honorary mention like a third of the questions. Like over a hundred of them, I want to say were just like, what do you guys think about Zen Browser?

[D]

So shout out Zen browser.

[F]

What do you guys think about Zen Browser?

[C]

I think it's pretty solid and it needs a couple more features for me to switch to a full time.

[D]

I just don't like those types of browsers. But it's run on the Firefox.

[F]

That's why everyone is like, Andrew, you know, you're right.

[D]

I should, but I don't.

[E]

I haven't given it. I have not given it a shot yet. Mostly because everyone keeps telling me to and I just don't want to do what they tell me. As you know, Rage against the machine would say.

[C]

Let's just say two.

[F]

Two really good references in the first, like two minutes of this podcast. I like it. You guys all got my reference, right?

[E]

What'd you say?

[F]

Don't even worry about it. The people listening, they'll know, okay, it was a Judaism reference.

[E]

I definitely missed that one.

[F]

Literally, the form we sent out was. What's your question? Who are you? Like, there's no categories. We're just going to. We're going to spit them off. This first one is from Constantine and it's a question for David, specifically. David. The question is Khan, David, das lesson.

[C]

Yeah, I got this.

[E]

K Lessen.

[C]

What? What language?

[E]

That's German. Can David understand this? That's what he said.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[F]

Nice.

[D]

How much did you practice pronunciating that?

[F]

No, that was off the dome, baby. Wow. I also speak German. Speak any spreken Deutsch over here? I don't know how to say over here. I actually don't know how to say anything other than Spreut Berliner.

[E]

I think it's pretty simple.

[C]

Am I the only one who doesn't speak German?

[D]

There's a lot of German words that is just. If you say the English word angry, that's haus.

[C]

It's haus.

[D]

I think I made this joke on the podcast.

[E]

It's hausa. It's not haus.

[C]

That's the same thing.

[E]

It's not haus, it's hausa.

[C]

But you'd know what they meant if you went to Germany and said, yeah,

[E]

I mean, English is a Germanic language. No, it's hausa. Play it.

[G]

Play it.

[B]

Haus.

[C]

She wasn't as angry. Not very angry, not very hangry. There all right, that's hilarious.

[G]

Well, okay, next question. This one comes from Shah for ad breaks. Do you guys take actual breaks or is that just a post production thing?

[E]

Sometimes we gotta pee.

[C]

We do take little breaks. Yeah. Stretch our legs a little bit, stretch our brains.

[D]

I mean, sometimes the breaks are too long because we start talking about stuff that has nothing to do with the show. And then we realize we're way too deep. But yeah, it's usually bathroom break, stretch break in the summer, turn the AC on break for a couple minutes, which

[E]

we might need to do today.

[C]

Fun fact for those. I don't know if we've even said this in the pod yet. When we record, we turn all the AC heating and cooling off in this room so it's as quiet as possible. So it sounds good.

[D]

The vent is right there above, like our logo in the back, which means it would be blowing directly on all of the microphones.

[C]

So we're very nice. We turn that off for you guys. But that means this room, which is surrounded by glass, if it's super hot outside, that means as we're recording, the temperature of this room slowly goes up as we're recording the podcast. If it's super cold outside. Yes. This temperature of the room actually slowly goes down as we record this podcast. So in the winter, we would warm it up in here before we record. And then we turn it off and we record the pod and we were done. We'd all be a little bit cold and shivering because it's 12 degrees outside now. Today. I think it's 90 degrees today outside.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

So we are slowly being cooked as we record this Q and A. But that's okay. Cause we take those little breaks and we cool it off.

[E]

The point is, it's really uncomfortable to do this shit.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

I mean, there's a lot of times David and I are just wearing, like full winter jackets in here.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

And people are like, why? It's like, it's freezing. I took a video of.

[E]

I'm already considering taking off my second layer.

[D]

It got hot real fast and it's only 10:00am Yep. And we've been recording for, it's 15 minutes already.

[G]

It's been working out.

[E]

Yeah. All right.

[F]

This question got asked another, you know, dozens of times. It's the classic, why do Adam and Ellis share one mic?

[D]

That's on you guys.

[E]

We can't ever tell them that, Right?

[F]

Well, the answer is sort of different now because the excuse used to be like, we were using the rodecaster and we were out of inputs and so why would we do anything about it? Now we have The Tascam Sonic Vue 16, which is just, you know, it has inputs.

[E]

Each have two mics.

[F]

Yeah, we could each have two mics, but it's just kind of part of the bit now.

[C]

Yeah, it feels like the box of Cheerios.

[G]

Yeah, exactly. This was a conscious effort. When we got this machine, we were like looking at each other like, okay, do you want to each have a separate mic now? And we, like, paused for a second. We were like, nah.

[F]

Also, like, it is a kind of thing where it's like, this show works for us as, like a business because it's so efficient and we have such a system for, like, the reason we can be creative with it is because so many parts of it are like this very systemized thing. And it might not immediately seem like it, but over the course of a year, like per episode, adding another mic, it doesn't really make it more complicated. But when you take the 60 plus episodes we do a year, that actually does add a significant amount of time, so it's easier.

[D]

We also get 50 free comments an episode telling why would we screw engagement.

[C]

Yeah. Also the live show that each had

[F]

the sexual tension of Adam and I's heads constantly being so close together, like, this is gold.

[E]

If you had vision pros on, it'd be even harder.

[F]

This is showbiz, baby. But, yeah, so that's all the reasons

[D]

why that's a good bonus episode. One mic.

[G]

That's actually a nod song. All right, next question comes to us from Claire Cole. Is David's fetiverse corner dead?

[E]

I can bring it back.

[C]

Figuratively.

[D]

Is it the corner that's dead or the Fediverse that's dead?

[E]

Must be the corner.

[C]

The Fediverse is definitely.

[E]

No, no, no, no.

[D]

Welcome to David's Fediverse.

[E]

Welcome to David's Fediverse. We give us a quick update. Meta has probably given up on it because Mark Zuckerberg sucks.

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

And they just don't care anymore. And that's sad. But I did go to the Blue Sky Atmosphere Conference in Vancouver a couple weeks ago. There's a lot of stuff happening in the atmosphere. I will say the majority of the Fediverse is now made up of Blue sky and rss, because threads, you can still federate in threads, but they actively try to make you not. I get a notification on my thread, threads all the time. That's like you've been federated for 30 days. Are you still sure that you want

[C]

to keep that on? Are you sure.

[G]

You want to share to the Federers.

[E]

And it's like they're actively trying to like bury that under the. Under a rug.

[D]

That's so funny because the Fediverse is supposed to be this really, you know, not simple thing, but a simple thing to where all the things using it, it shouldn't really affect it. So the fact that they're saying, like, are you sure you still want to do that even though it doesn't change your threads profile at all?

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Red flag.

[E]

It's a big red flag. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

And I asked them about that and they were like, well, you know, some people don't really know where their data is going. And I'm like, that's so bull. Adam.

[D]

Yeah, the meta account are worried about their data.

[E]

Yeah, Adam is there. Just go. Just go answer your Instagram questions. Just stay away from my. Stay away from my Fediverse. You know what? Now that you asked that question, I'm bringing it back. Every week we're going to have a lame update.

[C]

That is not.

[G]

Next question, next question.

[C]

See what you've done, guys.

[F]

This one's coming to you.

[C]

Okay.

[F]

Because we frequently describe things that happen in basketball in tech terms. However, Danny would really like you to explain the vertical tab situation in basketball terms.

[C]

The vertical tab situation. It's Steph Curry.

[F]

It's Steph Curry.

[C]

It's Steph Curry. It's changed the game. You know, before Steph Curry came along, peak basketball was just what we all expect. You know, Michael Jordan from the mid range was the greatest thing we'd ever seen.

[D]

Horizontal tabs are Michael Jordan.

[C]

Yes.

[D]

Greatest of all time.

[C]

However, the game has changed. It simply has evolved and we've realized that there's a more efficient way to get more done and that is to shoot from further away. And that's exactly what happened with vertical tabs. We went, oh, wait, it's widescreen. Duh, we could be doing this better. And now everyone shoots threes the same way that, you know, the game has moved on.

[G]

Even Andre Drummond shoots threes. We were talking about.

[C]

We just learned that. Yeah, I did not realize how many threes rebounding goat was shooting.

[F]

Yeah, I do have the exact number this season. Look, it's not, you know, as many as you would hope. It's 1.4 a game.

[C]

That's a lot more than I expected.

[F]

It's a lot more. And he's making them at about 36% clip. So, you know, Andre Drummond has a three point in his bag. He made a two last night.

[C]

Now is it just wide open corner threes or is he like doing dribble handoffs and like stepping out of screen and roll like backing out and like step back threes and stuff or what is he doing?

[F]

So Andre Drummond is a 12 year NBA veteran in his mid, mid-30s.

[C]

Yeah.

[F]

Approaching 7ft tall, if not over.

[C]

Yep.

[F]

No, Andre Drummond is in the corner. He gets passed a ball and the defense goes. He's not going to make that. And then he does, baby.

[C]

I love that.

[D]

Wait, so he's shooting 36% and averaging 1.33 point attempts.

[F]

1.4 per game.

[G]

Yeah.

[D]

So he makes a three pointer once every three games.

[F]

Yes. Remember it in for the past like 12. I forget if it's 12 or 14.

[D]

That's the vertical tab right there.

[F]

He averaged one per season, not one made. Yeah, one attempt per season.

[C]

That's the Andre Drummond I know.

[F]

So he's shot. He's shot 60 or 70 this season and made 20. Don't talk about Andre dropping.

[C]

He's slandering vertical tabs by doing this during vertical tabs right now.

[F]

It's because he's seven feet tall. So it's like anything vertical.

[D]

Approaching seven feet tall.

[G]

I don't.

[D]

He hasn't grown yet.

[C]

I think he's seven feet.

[D]

Yeah.

[F]

Andre Drummer has to be.

[E]

Is he approaching or is he done growing?

[D]

That's what I was confused about when he said approaching seven feet.

[C]

He could still be approaching seven feet.

[G]

He's old enough now where he's done growing.

[E]

Yeah. Well, Mike.

[F]

Okay, I just want to say underdraven is 6, 11. I think approaching 7ft is the perfect way to describe that.

[E]

But he's not still growing. All right, well.

[F]

What.

[D]

The game's changing, David.

[E]

All I'm saying is Mike Bibby would have made those threes.

[C]

Oh my God.

[G]

Nice. Good reference. Love it. All right, next question comes from Poncho. What was the first piece of tech that you hacked, modified or took apart?

[D]

Motor Droid, HTC Droid errors.

[E]

Really does like a computer count.

[G]

What computer do you remember?

[E]

I. It was a custom built computer. My friends in first grade, my friend's dad built computers for movie studios as like that was his job. So we built them with him sometimes.

[D]

I built my basement earlier but this was take. I never took it apart after because I was not going to try that variable again at that age. It worked.

[E]

The first one I heavily modified was definitely my first smartphone for sure.

[C]

Yeah. I had my droid running custom ROMs, custom kernels, overclocked. I probably flashed A new ROM every other day. I was going to say it worked.

[D]

Every other other day.

[E]

I did the nightlies on Cyanogen Mod.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

And it's crazy because that wipes all

[C]

your data every time. Every single time. And it was nightly. And I was like, I can't wait for the new build.

[E]

Every morning you log into everything again. It was such a. I don't know

[F]

what the hell I was thinking.

[C]

Those are the days.

[F]

Seriously, Those are the days.

[C]

Yeah.

[F]

Yeah.

[D]

Oh, I painted an Xbox once, which I had to take apart.

[G]

Oh, I wanted to do that so bad to make it white and blue.

[D]

Mine was orange. And you had to, like, take the circle with the green Xbox out and like, acetone, but I couldn't find acetone, so I just sandpapered it and totally screwed it up. And then the paint I used was way too thick. And then my Xbox just looked like hot garbage.

[C]

But did you put it back together and it worked? It worked.

[D]

Yeah. It just had like a quarter inch of orange paint all over it.

[E]

I did that to a keyboard, one of my first keyboards that I like, heavily modified. It was like a cooler master keyboard with like toper switches or something. And I painted it with spray paint.

[G]

A horrible idea.

[E]

The texture was like, tacky.

[C]

Like, it would sticky.

[D]

Like, put your thumbnail in it. It would, like, make an indent.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[E]

It was terrible. Stupid. It was like neon blue.

[D]

Nice.

[E]

That I painted it in purple. Yeah.

[F]

I modded a lot of Minecraft stuff and did a bunch of weird stuff as a kid. But, like, the big breakthrough moment for me was my some point in college getting an old. My first VCR of that was just someone like, I think this is broken. Do you want this? And I was like, sure. And it would spit out tapes all the time. And so I took it apart and took the IR sensor out. And I think I just literally soldered the two connections together.

[E]

And.

[F]

And then it worked. And I was like, oh, my God, I'm imagining.

[C]

How old were you that you had access to soldering?

[F]

This was like, I must have. I was in Philly, so it must have been like my junior year of college.

[C]

I was picturing like a first grader soldering. Whoa.

[F]

I was not that cool.

[G]

My first one, I remember I was like 4 or 5. And it was a CRT TV that I took apart.

[C]

No, no, do not take apart a CRT tv.

[D]

Seven Edited my dryer.

[F]

I did fully disassemble a dryer once before Googling how to disassemble a dryer. And then Finding out that that was the last thing I should have done.

[E]

Is it really dangerous or something?

[F]

It's unbelievable. You can electrocute yourself to death in, like, nine ways. Even when it's unplugged, you can electrocute yourself to death.

[E]

How?

[C]

That's true about a crt also.

[F]

It is true about a ct. How?

[E]

Capacitors.

[F]

Yeah, there's capacitors in there. Capacitors and transformers that store a lethal charge.

[C]

Yeah.

[F]

And if you. If you. I mean, I don't want to. Never mind.

[C]

Just don't do it.

[F]

And if you're going to do it.

[C]

No, don't.

[E]

If you're going to do it, don't.

[G]

This one comes from Owen McCarty, specifically for Marques. And it was a long question, so I'm gonna summarize. How do you script your videos? Because he's a small content creator and he's trying to work through that part of the process.

[C]

The literal answer is I just spew, I just, like word vomit into a doc, and it's kind of just like a train of thought. And then I refine that into kind of how I speak. I've gotten really good at writing how I talk, so I write out literally how I want to say things, how I want to explain things in the actual recording process. I have that doc on my phone in front of me, usually on a table next to me or literally on my lap, and I'll read what I want to say and then put it down and then deliver it. Pretty close to word for word. Not exactly perfect, but as long as I get the point across that I meant to say when I wrote it down, then it's a success. So it's not perfectly scripted, but it's kind of like writing a conversation down as I talk, if that makes sense.

[D]

Podcast totally different, where a lot of bullet points on here. It's perfectly scripted, get the really important numbers in. But I mean, if you're trying to figure out what you should do, you should try a couple different ways and then watch the videos and be like, which one of these felt like it worked the best?

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

Because some people can do bullet points. Some people need to read straight from a script.

[C]

I will say you learn by doing. So you might think you need to script everything and then you. You watch yourself back reading from a scri. And it's super unnatural, and that doesn't work for you. I think the best tip, really, just to skip the whole scripting process is to try to get good at talking to a camera. Like it's A person. Right. And then if you need to write some things down to remember them, that's good. If you need to write it down verbatim, that might be you. But the whole point of scripting for me is to get good at saying the thing I want to say in as few takes as possible efficiently. But it's really just about delivery, I

[E]

think, is most people, when they're new to talking to the camera, they are enunciating in weird ways. And for some reason, some reason, there's like a disconnect there. But if you're able to just figure out how to have a natural conversation and look straight ahead of you.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Then that's when people connect with you

[G]

the most, which is not normal and very not normal.

[D]

It's hard.

[E]

It takes a long time.

[D]

I mean, Marquez has been doing this for how long? Like the old videos, there's probably sometimes where it's like five to ten takes of a single paragraph. You see the end result. There's a lot more on the other side of that.

[E]

Yeah.

[F]

And the next two I'm going to read together because they're stuck different, but both kind of like Inside Baseball podcast producing questions.

[D]

Claire's calling me.

[E]

Oh, oh, oh.

[G]

Live on the pod. Andrew's water breaking live.

[D]

Hello.

[C]

Hi.

[D]

Hey.

[C]

What you doing?

[D]

Middle of podcast, but I can leave it.

[C]

Oh, it's the podcast today.

[D]

A second one. Oh, sorry. Is this not a come home call?

[B]

No, it kind of is.

[D]

Oh, okay.

[F]

Wait, Andrew, put your headphones on real quick.

[D]

Cool.

[C]

Thank you all.

[D]

I'm going to go have a son. Enjoy the rest of the pod.

[E]

Is the surface crazy?

[C]

That's crazy. Like you could sometimes, like someone leaves a video and comes back and they have a different shirt. That's like a mild transformation. Sometimes. Sometimes they leave and they come back the next episode and they have a different haircut and you're like, wow, they changed a lot. Sometimes Andrew leaves the father of one and returns the father of two. Huge transformation. All right, so I don't know how much of that is gonna make it into the podcast, but what did just happen is Andrew just got a phone call and he had to go leave and have a son.

[E]

So that's crazy.

[C]

Now literally, we've adjusted the cameras and David and I will continue answering questions.

[E]

You know, somebody had a baby live on Twitch for the first time. I think we might be the first podcast to have a baby live on a podcast.

[C]

Yeah, kinda. Kinda.

[F]

There's no way we're first to that.

[C]

That's only if Andrew Comes back to this podcast and is a father of two. Wouldn't that be crazy in one episode?

[E]

If he came back next week?

[C]

If he comes back just at the end of this episode and he's like, by the way, now I have two kids.

[G]

Normally it takes nine months for that to happen.

[C]

Yeah, but he just did it in a day. Andrew just did it in a day.

[E]

All right, well, yeah.

[F]

Do we want to do the inside baseball podcast question still?

[C]

Sure.

[F]

All right, sweet. So these are our two sort of similar questions I want to ask them together. Chris asks, why is the audio podcast available so much sooner than the video podcast? Meanwhile, Sean Paul says, not that Sean. SeanPaul on X. Excuse me, Jesus.

[E]

Twitter.

[F]

SeanPaul on Twitter.

[E]

Nice.

[F]

Asks, what does being part of the Vox Media Podcast network actually entail?

[C]

Valid question. Adam, do you want to do the audio episode one?

[G]

Sure. So the audio part of this happens because I don't know how this actually started. I think it was Studio 71. When you guys were initially planning it came up with a time that was like, we'll launch at 4am because we'll hit like every major time zone at a decent ish time, you know, and that works fine for audio. But then when we started doing video as well, it's like publishing at 4am Eastern time is a little weird. So we had a discussion. We were like, do we just move the whole publish time entirely? And we were like, nah. People kind of like got used to expecting it. When it comes out, let's just keep the audio what it is and video will come out when it's ready. And that's pretty much what we've been doing ever since.

[C]

Yeah, I think the original 4am time was like, so everyone's morning commute is covered. If you're an audio only listener, it's probably in your feedback time you're going to work on Friday.

[F]

It's interesting that like the audio podcast, like audio podcasts are something people consume with some sort of regularity and we can like sort of plan around that. Whereas YouTube videos, it's like, I'm gonna watch a YouTube video.

[C]

Yeah. And also we collectively don't trust automatically publishing on YouTube.

[F]

Yeah.

[C]

So we manually publish it.

[E]

It gets time zones wrong all the time somehow, or at least it did when we were publishing a lot.

[C]

Now the Vox Media Podcast Network question is another interesting one. Essentially it just means that we are part of a larger group of podcasts to which you can go to to buy ads, basically. So Vox Media Podcast Network sells the ads that you See that support this show. And when you're part of a larger group of podcasts, what that means is someone like Vox Media can bring a group of shows to an advertiser and say, look at all these tech shows that we have. And you can reach all these audiences with one fell swoop, basically. So it's a nice advantage there. And they've been great support for some of the stuff we've done with the live shows and some other fun stuff we wanted to do. So it's all good, friendly support for the show.

[E]

If you want to reach Waveform's audience and Esther Perel's audience at the same time, you know where to go.

[C]

Vox Media Podcast network.

[F]

Guys, this is a great question for you too, because you both have been getting shipped review units for quite some time. Marques, I think I know what you would probably answer this question, as I

[C]

would love to hear.

[F]

It's a terrible way to say that, but what's the most expensive tech you've broken while reviewing? I will also substitute this for any fun. Oops, I broke this while reviewing its stories. You may have.

[C]

Yeah, well, what do you think I would say?

[F]

I assumed you were going to say the classic. Why did the ship with a screen protector?

[C]

That is a classic. How much was that when it came out? The first fold?

[E]

1800.

[C]

So if you weren't around for that, what Ellis is referring to is the first ever Samsung Galaxy Fold. It's kind of a big deal. It was a phone that folded in half and there was a lot of unknowns about it. And I shot my unboxing video and the way it went is I actually shot my entire unboxing and first look video, edited it all together, got it ready for upload, and then as I was going to upload, I said, I need to shoot a thumbnail. What I'll do is I'll take the screen protector off and take a photo of it. So I upload the video and then I start to peel the screen protector off and then some pixels start to go black and then I peel it a little further and more of it starts to go black and I'm like, whoa, wait a minute, this is weird. What's going on? Turns out that top layer, we didn't really know at the time, and it wasn't really explained to any of us, but was a very delicate layer of the actual display. Yeah. Quickly put it back on. I published the unboxing in first look still, but then I started to see other people post on Twitter that their displays were Breaking. And so I chimed in and I said, mine is also breaking because of this top layer coming off. And other people had essentially tried the same thing as me. They tried to take the top layer off. So, yeah, I broke it. A couple other people broke it. We all sent it back. Samsung had an internal crisis. They fixed it, they revised it and shipped it a couple weeks later.

[E]

They added gaskets to it.

[C]

Yeah, they added a bunch of stuff.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

So that was $1,800 phone broken during the review process. And I actually never reviewed that phone later.

[E]

Oh, wow. Really?

[C]

Because I shipped it back to them. They took them all back.

[G]

Wow.

[C]

So, yeah, that. That might be my answer at 1800 bucks.

[E]

I remember I flew to Vancouver to do the hands on video for that and I shot it and then like, as I was editing it, you tweeted about that happening. So I had to revise my. I had like, added to my video. And I was like, okay, breaking news. Marques broke his and Dieter broke his. And then I'm editing again. And then Samsung releases a statement. We're delaying this now. And I was like, breaking news again. So in one video, there's like three segments of me being like, actually, actually, actually, yeah.

[G]

In like different locations and everything.

[E]

Yeah, yeah. The most expensive review unit I ever broke was the Galaxy Note 10. It was like completely made of glass. And the front and back both like the glass kind of like beveled around the backs. And I was at a pizza parlor, like the day I got it in New York, and I was sitting at

[C]

a high top and I can see this is going.

[E]

It had this coating on it that made it slippery.

[C]

Yeah, the Note. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yep. And it's in your pocket?

[E]

No, I had it on the table.

[C]

Oh.

[E]

But it was like one of those metal tables.

[C]

I think a lot of people don't realize how many phones just slowly slide across huge amount of surfaces.

[E]

Just autonomously. Yeah, it was just slowly kind of

[G]

moving and I didn't know the world is not level.

[E]

Yeah. And it fell from like four feet or whatever. And because it had the glass that sort of like beveled over all sides, it hit the corner and just like cracked up the whole side. And then I tweeted about it and then I got a really angry call from Samsung. Yeah.

[C]

As if it was your fault.

[E]

Was this necessary? And I was like, no, is anything necessary?

[C]

You made your phone a slip and slide.

[F]

I literally.

[E]

The crazy thing, I think earlier that day I had tweeted like, damn, this phone seems like it's gonna be the most fragile phone that Samsung's ever made. And then, lo and behold, it was.

[C]

I've had various scares like that. Luckily, a lot of the carpet in the studio where we shoot is carpeted.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Which is nice. I don't know. What did I just say? A lot of the carpet is carpeted. A lot of the carpeted. A lot of the carpet is carpeted. The studio where we shoot is carpeted.

[E]

Right.

[C]

I've come into the studio and seen like three phones on the floor next to my desk and realize that they slid off my desk.

[E]

That's crazy.

[C]

Which is why a lot of, you know, I have a mouse pad on my desk now that I put phones on.

[E]

Grippy mouse pad.

[C]

Yeah.

[G]

This is from Alex. Will you be doing any content around the World cup this summer? Lots of cool tech used in soccer.

[C]

Oh, I did learn that recently. And I learned that because I was digging into if we should make a video on some of that stuff, that could be cool. I think what I might end up doing is just focusing on the coolest individual thing that I find. I'm not sure what that's going to be yet, but I am now aware, just like Alex is, of a bunch of cool tech being used in the World cup, which some of you might know. The finals are going to be 30 minutes from this studio.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

It's going to ruin traffic for a long time.

[E]

I need to rent out my apartment and get the hell out of here.

[C]

Yeah. Make it an Airbnb for whatever week or two so somebody can pay you a ridiculous amount of money and then. Yeah, it'll happen.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

You gotta beat Cleo Abram to the video, though. Cause she always does the tech of sports videos.

[G]

Of course.

[C]

Of course. Maybe it's a collab waiting.

[E]

You should collab.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[E]

You heard it first on this podcast.

[G]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[F]

This one got asked by a lot of people and it's gonna become a big fight between Adam and I on one microphone.

[G]

Also have the same question pulled up.

[F]

Cause I. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so you guys can decide who's more. Right. And why it's me. Which is. I'm reading Katie, but it looks like someone named the man, the myth, the legend also asked this question.

[E]

Who's to say it's not the same person?

[F]

Why does Alice hate frequency response charts so much?

[E]

Can we first explain what a frequency response chart is for people?

[F]

Yes, a frequency response chart.

[C]

Should Alice be the one explaining. It's this bull chart.

[E]

It doesn't mean anything important. Sounds Like a bee's.

[F]

Okay, okay, okay.

[E]

Yeah.

[F]

Okay, okay, okay. A frequency response chart is an X Y. It's a function. I guess it's not technically a function, but it's a curve plotted on an XY graph where the Y axis is volume or loudness or amplitude. I can't believe I just said volume. That's one of my biggest pet peeves. So I'm already off to the races.

[E]

Is it a knob or a jog wheel?

[F]

Well, it's loudness, which is very different than volume. And the X axis is frequency from usually about 20 Hz to usually about 20,000 Hz. This line represents how much loudness, how many decibels are added or subtracted from a device like a loudspeaker or a microphone at a given frequency. So if something has a big Spike at around 3K, 3000Hz, you know that that device is either going to be receiving or outputting 3k at a much louder volume than other frequencies.

[D]

Yeah.

[F]

Is that satisfactory, Adam?

[C]

Yeah.

[F]

All right. David, uh. Oh, do me a favor. Think about your favorite photograph you've ever taken. Not, not the best, but the photograph that you, you took that just really like moves you, you know, that you think like every time I look at this, I get excited about photography and how good a job I did and, and just like, wow, I really have come so far in this practice. Right? You have the picture in your head,

[C]

there's a twinkle in your eye.

[F]

I want you to describe the picture to Marques, but you are only allowed to describe it in terms of how much red there is.

[C]

That's not fair.

[E]

There's some orange in the photo,

[A]

but

[F]

red, we're thinking about red.

[E]

Desaturated red.

[F]

No, no, but just give me a number. What, like from 1 to 10, how much red is there?

[E]

1.2.

[F]

All right. Marques, can you describe the picture?

[C]

I'm seeing it, I'm seeing it. Now.

[F]

This is a frequency response chart. Okay. It is really good at explaining a very small, very small modicum of information that can be useful, that has these very specific uses that when you're directly comparing. No, I'm not even gonna go that far. If you're trying to find a very specific piece of information, the frequency response chart is where you will find it. If you are trying to express the sensory experience of listening to something, it's the exact same as being like, look at this picture. How much red is in it? That's the picture.

[C]

I think most people see these charts in headphone reviews, right?

[E]

Yes.

[C]

So you'll see a pair of headphones maybe compared to another pair of headphones and they'll put the frequency response charts next to each other and go see, look how much more sub based response there is in these headphones. Because the chart's higher over here than the other one. Is that valid?

[F]

No, Because David, think of the second best photograph you've ever taken. Now think about how much red is in that. Is that a good way to compare those two photographs?

[C]

Well, if you're looking specifically at how much red is in it, then yes.

[F]

Yeah, but that, you're usually not doing that. The point of a photograph is not how much red is in it.

[C]

I think your argument is the frequency response is a unimportant factor.

[F]

I wouldn't say it's necessarily unimportant, but it's leaving out most of the story. Because what does sound need in order to exist?

[C]

Needs a medium.

[F]

Well, it needs time. That's actually a really good point. That's bigger brain than I was gonna say. I was gonna say it needs time. Like there's no such thing as a paused sound. A sound can only exist over a spread of time.

[C]

I have a good analogy for this.

[F]

What is missing from the frequency response chart?

[C]

Yeah. How fast the response, how fast it is.

[F]

Another thing that's missing is this is sort of the idea of like you can think of sound as like, oh, there's more 3k than there is 600. So we can do a little bump here, but that's assuming that you're giving it one flat input of 0 decibels. All these speakers, all these headphones, they have these non linear curves. Like you might get a bigger boost at 3K from a sound coming in at minus 10 decibels than a sound at minus 20. You know, like, like, like there, there's different sensitivities, there's different ranges there. There's almost like each one of these frequencies is going through its own lookup table, right?

[E]

Yeah.

[F]

And so just saying like there's more 3k actually says nothing about how you would perceive these headphones. Because just a little, you can see a free two frequency response charts of a headphone and see one of them that has like a crazy boost. And then you'll put them on and it will not sound significantly brighter because that boost might only be for really loud sounds, or it might only be for really slow sounds, or it might only be for really fast. Like there's so much information that is like left out of this thing that if you're I will say, like, a great example is sometimes they're useful with microphones, you know what I mean? Like, what is this microphone good at picking up? But even then, the parts of microphones that sort of give them their really distinct sound, I don't think are captured in frequency response charts because the dynamic range information is missing. And I just want to follow this up with one other thing. A lot of people ask, like, well, Ellis, like, we use spectrographs all the time, and you don't seem to have a problem with those. And I don't. I really like spectrographs. But spectrographs a, have a time. The X axis is time in a spectrograph.

[E]

Right.

[F]

The Y axis is frequency. And the point of a spectrograph is to be able to visualize a specific sound, not. Not a device. So when you need to understand, like, I'm hearing this sound, where am I actually hearing things? Spectrograph. Really awesome. There's nothing that a spectrograph can do to explain speakers or headphones or microphones.

[C]

All very valid, I think. Yeah, I actually get a lot of flack sometimes for not putting as much benchmark information and graphs in my reviews. And instead I rely on describing the sounds, the feelings, the materials, things like that, because I think that works when I'm talking to a regular person.

[E]

More important.

[C]

But I do hear from people who are like, yeah, but you gotta measure this and really be able to back it up. And sometimes we even do measure it and don't include that in the video. But I think a lot of that is the reason why. And the analogy I thought of as you were talking is it's like trying to compare two cars with just the horsepower number or just the 0 to 60, which could tell you that one of them is more powerful than the other and maybe is faster. But when you line them up over a quarter mile, the way they behave, the way they go through gears, if they even have gears, there's so many more things to consider in how they will drive than just 805 horsepower might suggest. And that's the same.

[E]

It's not too dissimilar to MTF modular transfer function charts on lenses, which are supposed to. Yeah, they're supposed to measure sharpness from, like, the center of the lens to the edge of the lens. That's obviously useful for, like, medical purposes if you just, like, want as much sharpness and fine contrast as possible. But the actual human experience of using a lens is not peak sharpness and peak.

[F]

Exactly.

[E]

It's like the experience of the Lenses. It's different looks. And you're doing creative looks.

[F]

If this is not enough for you and you need scientific proof that I'm right, go on your computer and search Fletcher Munson curve. That's Fletcher F, L, E, T C, H E R, M U N S O N Curve. This is the frequency response curve of our ears. Like the most famous frequency response curve in history. And you'll see there's like nine lines.

[C]

Yeah.

[F]

Because our ears respond to different frequencies at different volumes, just like every transducer.

[E]

Because our brains are dope.

[F]

It just goes to show when you actually need a frequency response curve and it's like of medical importance, you don't use these silly little one line nonsense burgers. You use the Big Chad Dynamic Range Measurer. You know.

[E]

Adam, do you have a response?

[G]

My response is one, Headphones use these curves as well to they account for this. It's not like they don't think of this stuff. The people that make these. There's like the Harman Kardon curve. There's a bunch of these. But two, you're talking about frequency response graphs and sound as if it's art. But that's not art, it's science. Music is art. The way that the speaker moves and pushes air, we can measure. And if you are comparing two things, if I have one speaker that does the exact amount of air as another speaker, me personally know that speaker will sound the same to me. Not to you, not to anyone else in this room, but to me, those two speakers will sound the same. Everyone's ears are different. But the speakers aren't. I mean, they are because there's like minute differences in how we make things and nothing's perfect, whatever, blah, blah, blah.

[F]

Which is if you play the exact same sound at the exact same volume.

[G]

Yes. Which is why when you're testing headphones, you usually play the same songs. You usually play the same things because you want to compare them A, B, you're not like, nothing's in a vacuum. You're comparing these things. And frequency graphs in particular are useful for the Internet. Not when you're talking about. If we're in person and we're talking about headphones, just try the headphones. Trying the headphones will always be the best thing you can do.

[F]

Yeah.

[G]

Unfortunately, not everyone has access to very expensive headphones all over the world.

[C]

Exactly.

[G]

The next best thing is how we share information on the Internet are these graphs. If you have a pair of headphones that you have access to and you can try them on and you can See their frequency response. And there's another trusted source that uses this technology to measure the exact same frequency responses in another pair of headphones that you don't have access to. And they're expensive. You can be relatively confident that they're going to sound more or less how your headphones are. And if you have a preference, that's where trying a lot of this comes into play. If you have a preference with how you want your headphones to sound, then you know what to look for in the frequency response graphs. And again, that's not 100% true, because you might try a pair of headphones that you thought you wouldn't like because of the graph, and then it ends up being great. But that's like the beauty of trying out a bunch of different headphones. That's why people fall into these rabbit holes.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

It's hard to compare things online when you can't play. You can't put the headphones on their head and let them hear it. So we are trying, with these graphs and measurements and words to give them the experience, and it's hard.

[G]

Which is an issue that Ellis had with his speaker that broke Physics video, because everyone was like, why didn't you give us a test? Because you don't understand. The speaker is pushing air, which needs to be picked up by a microphone, which is then being digitized in your phone. You wouldn't understand what it sounds like. There's no way.

[E]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think that we just should start a debate club, because that sounded. That was pretty crazy.

[F]

Adam, which one of these two microphones is brighter?

[C]

Are you looking at a chart?

[G]

Yeah, I'm looking at two charts. The one on the bottom is the RK87 cardioid response graph chart.

[F]

RK87 is the name of the capsule. It's not the. These are two different microphones.

[D]

Yeah.

[F]

And their frequency responses.

[G]

And I'm looking. The first one I'm trying to describe for audio. So the one on top is like a bump in the lows. Then it slopes down a bit around 1k, and then it bumps up again around 10k. Then the one on the bottom is bunch of peaks and valleys, but pretty much flat around zero all the way up until about 8 or 7k. Then there's a big bump. So judging by this, my guess would be the bottom one. Because there's a bump into 10k,

[F]

you are technically correct. But what you're missing is that this microphone that you said is very flat is famously the least flat microphone money can buy. It's the Neumann U87AI. It famously has the pointiest, most cutty dynamic like mids of all time.

[G]

It looks like it.

[F]

No, it doesn't. Because the reason is, is because the power of the U87 comes from an extremely limited dynamic range. In those mid frequencies, nothing is going to ever get boosted. But it also means that your quiet mids are just gonna get brought up by the capsule. So when you hear it, it's like, it doesn't sound flat at all. You can look at this almost completely flat line and think like, oh, I need a flat mic.

[C]

This is the exact same thing as, like, seeing an EV with 800 horsepower and a gas car with 800 horsepower. Because an EV, you also need to know that it makes all of its torque instantly, all the time. And a gas car makes peak horsepower at certain RPMs and also builds torque over and over through the different RPMs. So you can have two cars that both have 800 horsepower, but you put them on the line next to each other, and the race looks like this. And you're like, why is the EV not slowing down? Because the gears. There's gears, there's different torque. There's like, all these other variables that are not explained in this one. So you could be right by looking at a graph of horsepower and going, okay, I think the one that's lighter is gonna do better. But, like, there's. There's a lot to it.

[G]

There's another. A bunch of factors.

[F]

I'll die on this hill, but I'll end it with saying, if you want to know how something sounds, type in the google.com the name of the thing, and then type in sound on sound and it'll take you to the website of this magazine where they do great gear reviews.

[C]

That's what you need.

[F]

And someone will tell you how it sounds.

[C]

Great gear reviews.

[F]

That's what you need, baby.

[C]

I will also dial on the hill if you need great reviews. Yeah, yeah, I know that's a shocker, but I believe it. Yep. I think that's a great time to take a break.

[F]

Sound of. Yeah, see you.

[C]

We're not doing trip. We're not doing trivia.

[F]

Not only did we get questions for you guys, but we also got a few trivia questions submitted via this forum, which means we have the very rare bonus episode trivia. And I have no idea how we're going to make sure Andrew can get points. Isn't he winning?

[C]

Yeah, he's winning by.

[E]

No, I'm winning.

[C]

Oh, by a lot.

[F]

We'll Keep track of point. We'll figure it out later.

[E]

Yeah.

[G]

All right, this question comes from Mojave. The question is, what was the last iPad to ship with iOS?

[E]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Oh, I know this.

[F]

That's a good question. I know.

[C]

Yo, I should know this. Okay, so they switched to IPADOs when they added. I'm talking through it out loud.

[F]

Mojave.

[C]

They added widgets to like 17, right? Wait, did you say which iPad?

[F]

Which iPad?

[E]

IPad.

[F]

IPad 17.

[C]

Well, iPads 17.

[E]

What are we on now?

[C]

So it was iOS 16 and then iPads 17.

[E]

Isn't it just iPad 2026 or whatever?

[C]

Well, then we need to know which iPad came out when. Cause there's like the air that comes out staggered from the pro, which comes out separate from the mini, but that was definitely after. And then the base iPad, which sometimes comes at the same time as the air. There's no way I get this right, but I'm going to try to get close,OS 17. Okay, well, I guess. Did they give an answer in their question? They did.

[E]

Can you verify it?

[G]

Yeah, I just fact checked it. He was correct.

[C]

Okay, well, you know, we'll do the same thing we usually do. Answers at the end, like usual. We'll be right back.

[B]

Pepsi Prebiotic Cola in original and cherry vanilla that Pepsi taste you love with no artificial sweeteners and 3 grams of prebiotic fiber. Pepsi Prebiotic Cola, Unbelievably Pepsi. I'm Maria Sharapova, and I'm hosting a new podcast called Pretty Tough. Every week, I'm sitting down with trailblazing women at the top of their game to discuss ambition, work ethic, and the ups and downs that come on the path to achieving greatness. We'll dive into their stories and get valuable information, insights from top executives, actors, entrepreneurs, and other individuals who have inspired me so much in my own journey. Follow Pretty Tough wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Mitch, first two time indigocelled champion, championship mvp, and forward for the US Women's National Team. Before I went pro, I graduated from Harvard with a degree in psychology, which comes in handy more than you think. Any athlete pursuing greatness knows there's a certain mentality you have to have. What people don't know is what that costs. In my podcast, Confessions of an Elite Athlete, I sit down with the best athletes in the world and explore the psychology, mindset, and unseen battles on the path to greatness. So take a seat and learn from the Confessions of an elite athlete on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

[C]

All right, welcome Back. We've got some more questions from y'.

[F]

All.

[C]

Thank you again for asking them. Hopefully we can answer as many of them as we can in this pod.

[E]

Go.

[F]

I've made a promise to myself that if I didn't know how to pronounce any of your names, I would Google them. Instead of being like, I'm sorry if I mispronounce this.

[E]

Yeah.

[F]

Because I really try to, but I googled it and I cannot find anything. So I really hope your name is Jason Abe.

[C]

I.

[F]

And if it's Jason Abe, I sincerely apologize, Jason. I could have just said Jason and skipped all of this.

[C]

Yeah.

[F]

This question comes from Jason Marques, what started your addiction to weather content?

[C]

Jesus.

[E]

Small talk.

[C]

Like a lot of people. Like a lot of people. Actually, that's part of it, but the content part, I think came in the last couple of years because of just. You fall down a rabbit hole sometimes, and instead of the conspiracy theory rabbit hole, I fell down the weather content rabbit hole. I think this was right around, like, big. Yeah. Big winter storms. So we're sitting here, we're sitting duck on the East Coast. We get these big blizzards that wipe across the country. And then you watch one video about the blizzards, and then you're like, okay, now I know that was a pretty good video. And then you get another suggested video about it, and you're like, all right, I'll watch this one too.

[F]

Is it related? Because I. A distinct memory I have working here is like, in my first, like, two or three months of working here, like, I barely knew you, only knew you from the Internet. Really? Someone at lunch asked you, like, what your bucket list items were. The first one you whipped out, like, no hesitation, you're like, I want to see a tornado.

[C]

Yeah.

[F]

I remember being like, like what?

[C]

Interesting. Yeah. Well, I've always wanted to observe a bunch of natural phenomena, and I've always been interested in natural phenomena, including weather. And every time we get a big hurricane or a crazy low pressure system, or even wild thunderstorms or whatever, that is fun for me. I love lightning and thunder. I love that. So, yeah, naturally, I would like to see. But the tornado thing was specific, though, because I worked at the Liberty Science center and I was in this little exhibit a lot, which was basically a 360 set of displays, and you step into them and it would play a video of a tornado coming down a path at you, an actual video of a tornado passing over the top of you because somebody managed to go get a probe with a bunch of it Was like a cone with a bunch of cameras in it that they put in the path of the tornado and drove away.

[G]

Yeah, they made a movie about it called Twister.

[C]

You didn't see it about the probe?

[G]

No, I'm joking.

[C]

I mean, it was super cool to watch. And the video even starts with the guy putting you on the ground and driving away. And then the tornado goes over the. And I was like, that is crazy. And I learned way too much about tornadoes. And I'm like, this is the craziest information anyone's ever seen. How does this exist on Earth? I gotta see this. It's crazy that it's real.

[E]

We should take a field trip to go see a tornado.

[G]

I've looked into this. Really?

[C]

I really want to do that.

[E]

Maybe a fire tornado.

[C]

It's hard to, like, coordinate safely. It's not like a safari where you just go, oh, there's one that's been sitting there for a couple days. It's, like, very sporadic.

[E]

A few days ago, I was walking around in Bushwick and I saw a trash tornado.

[C]

That happens sometimes. Yeah, that's a very easy. It's just a trash tornado.

[D]

It's trash.

[C]

Like.

[E]

Yeah, it was awesome.

[C]

Anyway, I like weather. I've always liked weather, but maybe more than the average person.

[E]

Are you still using acme?

[C]

Not as much as carrots.

[E]

Because I found out new features of ACME that I want to try. But it's $25 a year, which is, like, a lot.

[C]

But the radar part of ACME is actually pretty interesting.

[E]

Yeah. Apparently they have a Waze like feature

[C]

where you can report.

[E]

You can report hyper local weather.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

But you can also report rainbows. If enough people report a rainbow in your neighborhood, then you get a notification. And now they also will alert you if the sunset's gonna be sick.

[C]

That's cool. And I'm like, earth is sick.

[E]

$25. I know, I know.

[C]

Sick outside. I'm in the middle of Project Kilmarian.

[E]

I'm just keep thinking you're in the middle of.

[C]

Wait, the book. Sorry.

[E]

Yes.

[C]

Oh, wait. Yeah. You're reading. It's an audiobook. I say reading, though. Cause I don't like to say listen. Yeah, I'm listening to it.

[G]

Especially this book. The audiobook is crazy.

[C]

The audiobook's good. It's good. Anyway, it just makes me appreciate Earth a lot. And it has all kinds of crazy stuff everywhere.

[E]

Cool. Very cool.

[C]

Yeah. Shout out to the weather.

[E]

You know, I used to not give a rat's ass about the weather.

[C]

Cause you lived In California?

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

In San Francisco, the same every day. Why would you care about the weather? You don't even have to check it out, just vibe.

[E]

No, but yeah, I remember in 2020 when I started to. Weirdly, it's kind of like when you become a birder, you know, it's not like. It's not if you become a birder, it's when you become a birder. It's the same with weather, I think, because I remember waking up one day and just asking my router, what's the weather like today? And I remember that that was a really weird experience.

[F]

You asked your router, what does that mean?

[E]

I asked my Google Nest, what has

[C]

an assistant built in.

[E]

My Nest router. Yeah. Has a built in Google assistant speaker.

[C]

That's hilarious.

[F]

I'm so sorry. Speaking of this, you might already know this. So, like the nest thermostat that's on the wall. I was at an Airbnb last weekend and we were trying to get music to come out. All the TVs had like these like big surround sound sound bar systems. We were trying to figure out how to get music to come out of there via casting.

[E]

Does it have speakers? The Nest thermostat?

[F]

Well, so we were like, we found a device called kitchen or it was called living room. And we were like, oh, that must be the living room tv. And so we like hit cast and we hear music coming out of the bedroom where there is a tv. So we're like, oh, we must have accidentally casted Spotify. And we go in and I realize it's coming out of the nest thermostat.

[C]

Did that sound like a bee's hole? Cause for sure it was terrible.

[F]

We were all just like, these things are Bluetooth speakers too.

[E]

Well, WI FI speakers.

[C]

Wow.

[E]

But the Internet of things is truly a utopia. Really came out the way that they pitched it.

[F]

Next question comes from Hemonth July. They want to know what is something you miss about being a smaller channel and what is something you are happy the channel grew out of?

[C]

Hmm, that's good. That's a good question.

[E]

Is this for waveform or for.

[F]

I think. I think it applies to lots of different things.

[C]

We can probably all answer.

[G]

I'm going to answer for Marques. He misses not having us around because we just annoy him all day.

[C]

He loves us. No, I think you love us.

[E]

You love us, don't you, Marquez?

[F]

You love having us here.

[E]

You love copy patties, don't you?

[C]

You know the thing that came to mind when you read that about being a smaller channel is it's both the upside and the downside at the same time. So I watch a lot of YouTube and a lot of tech YouTube in the process. And so I see lots of great tech videos that are inspiring. I see lots of pretty mid tech videos and I see lots of low effort tech videos. Fine. And when I'm a smaller channel and I put out a tech video that has maybe a little bit of shortcomings or I missed something, or there's a little bit of, oh, we could have done that better. It's just one of the tech videos. Yeah, but as a big channel, maybe just as this channel, when we put out a video where we kind of like crunched at the last minute or we were onto the next one and something got missed or whatever, There is an ecosystem of criticism that echoes for days and weeks on that one issue, speculating on way more malice and negative intent than just, oh, I was an idiot and I forgot something. And so I do miss the smaller channel days where it was like you could just toil away and get better on camera over and over until you're just good at it. But on the other side of it, it's actually a good thing that we're under such a big microscope because we have such a big platform, obviously. But then also it makes us better even faster. We have to do the best possible work. It's an extra pressure. We've described it as the publish button, feeling heavier. But yeah, there's two sides to that coin. So I remember the days of being a smaller YouTuber and making a video every other day. And if you asked me about the video I made earlier that week, I'd be like, oh, yeah, I just made a video. I don't know, I didn't really think too hard about it. That doesn't happen anymore. It's interesting.

[E]

When you're smaller, people are nicer. That's another thing, because people want to root for the underdog. So if you're a growing channel, people are impressed for, oh, I'm surprised that a channel of your size, that your channel doesn't have more subscribers. They're very nice about it. But then when you get bigger and bigger, I think people are sort of just more critical and they're just meaner because it feels less bad to be mean to a bigger.

[G]

It's punching up.

[E]

It's punching up.

[C]

You can only be overrated. Yeah, you can never again be. Just like when you're young, you're like, wow, you're so young. You're so smart for your age. Smart for your age or whatever. And then you get older and they're like, yeah, yeah, no, I know.

[E]

People for years were always telling me like, oh, you're so introspective for your age. I'm like, when will that stop? At a certain point, I'll be 40. And then you're gonna be like, wow, you're so introspective. And I'm like, no, I'm an old man, bro. Yeah, an old man.

[C]

Do you guys miss anything about the old days of the waveform podcast?

[G]

Oh, I feel like I never had that experience with waveform podcasts in particular because from day one of the video launching, it was like the most subscribed channel I've ever been a part of. So it was like from 0 to 100 real quick. But I do miss making videos, so I remember making videos all the time in my bedroom, doing a bunch of reviews.

[E]

I made a video in your bedroom?

[C]

Yeah, you did make a video in my bedroom. Yeah.

[G]

And it was in Oregon. Yeah. When I lived in a tech video.

[E]

Yeah, I was in.

[G]

I didn't say that. No, it was a tech video. Yeah.

[E]

Jesus. But we were wearing Vision Pro, so it was okay.

[G]

We were wearing Vision Pro, so it's fine. But yeah, it was like. It was more so. That up and coming part of it was fun. And I feel like now this is more of a very established. We have a flow. We are more professional in this sense. But I think it also reflects just like where I am in life and my age. So I'm like, riding this because it feels right. If I was, like, still doing what I was doing back then, I don't know if I'd have the energy for it right now because I'm an tired man now.

[C]

So the up and coming thing is just a special, like, grinding phase that can last a short time or a long time. But it is, it is very unique and you never get that again after you've done it. I guess some people are like serial entrepreneurs and they kind of like, do that all the time. But it is kind of in YouTube land anyway. You kind of just get it once.

[E]

Yeah. When we were both learning, I remember your motto was like, try to make every video better than the last.

[C]

Yes.

[E]

The way I got better was I did. Every single time I make a video, I want to try a new technique. So whether it's like a new editing technique that I need to learn by watching videos on YouTube about, or a new, like, shooting technique or a new Way of describing something. Like, you sort of like grow a repertoire over time. And that repetition is like so good and so important. And eventually, you know, the curve is like this, but then it eventually kind of like caps out a lot. And then every time you're doing something new, it's like this much more.

[C]

Nowadays it feels like we can never do anything without a plan. And like a. It's almost. I feel like this happens in tech companies. Like, you need a multi stage rollout, like, plan for how to do something. Like when they were making the iPhone air, they were like, well, we're gonna have an Air 2 and then the next thing or whatever. For us, it's like, if we're gonna try something new in videos, it's like, well, are we gonna do that forever? Forever? Or are we just gonna try it once for fun? And I still like doing the random things. We just try for fun once in a while.

[E]

Yeah. Something I miss about early waveform, though, is like a lot of the experimentation that we were doing at the time, just like random weird long form episodes and random weird special episodes.

[C]

Random Q and A's just in the middle of random stuff. Yeah.

[E]

So, you know, it's possible to bring that back. But people do get into a flow about the kind of show that they expect every Friday, so. So they can do their dishes.

[G]

You know, dishes are important.

[C]

The dishes would never get done if we didn't do this.

[E]

Nah, Nah.

[G]

Yeah.

[F]

Abrar asks, what is a video or a video idea that you were really invested in and wanted to make but never did?

[C]

Mm.

[E]

I have one right. When ChatGPT came out, I went down this insane rabbit hole of, like, what is a large language model? How does a transformer work? And then I also went down this, like, really philosophical rabbit hole about what does it mean to be alive? And I wrote this, like, long. Adam remembers this because we were on a run together and I was like, venting to him about this, and I went down this really deep philosophical rabbit hole about, like, Socrates's like, five steps of Living, like, consciousness. Consciousness. Oh, yeah. And then eventually I sat next to him, like, yeah. And eventually I just was like, hmm, none of that matters. Yeah, it was interesting. I was, like, caring so much about it, and then at one point I just hit this wall and I was like, why are we caring about if the computer should have rights? I feel like that's not something we should worry about. I don't think we need to, because that was like. Like kind of part of the video was like, will there reach a point in which the AI need to have rights. And then I eventually was like, maybe not, and that's okay. And I wrote, like, three quarters of the video, and then I was just

[C]

like, I've done that.

[E]

It's kind of pointless. Yeah.

[C]

I've done really deep rabbit hole stuff where I'm like, what's the point here? Also, when you said the AI stuff, I mean, we. There's a lot of videos that are kind of just on the back burner, like, in the back of my head, that we just haven't quite figured out a reason or a way to do. One of them is, you know how we did, like, Google Assistant versus Siri versus Alexa versus. Whatever. Bixby.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

I was thinking we should, you know, in this height of everyone's talking about all these AI models. Let's do Gemini versus ChatGPT versus. And every time I think I should do that video, I look at how fast they're changing, and I'm like, there's no way to do this video. And even if I do thoroughly cover 45 minutes of all the things they're capable of, literally the next week, it'll be like, now it can do better code. Now it can do this. Now it can do that. It's like, well. Well, I guess while we were recording

[E]

this podcast, Opus 4.7 just dropped.

[C]

Yeah. And I'm like, all right, I guess I'm not gonna do that. Yeah, it did.

[D]

Are you serious?

[E]

I'm serious.

[C]

See, we could publish the video today, and it would be wrong, so. Yeah, that's a tough one.

[E]

Exactly. Yeah.

[C]

Trivia. Wow. Y' all really came through. Trivia questions. That's hilarious. We didn't even ask for trivia questions. They just decided to give us trivia.

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

Wow.

[F]

Guys, this question is from Sasha, who had. I just. Sasha gave us a lot of questions. One of them I just thought, I'm not gonna ask because there's no way you guys would know, but apparently the German keyboard layout is, like, different and has lots of weird shortcuts.

[E]

I did not know that.

[F]

Thank you.

[E]

It's annoying. The L is, like, at the bottom instead of on the left.

[G]

Yeah.

[E]

It's so annoying.

[F]

Thank you for blessing me with that info.

[E]

Sorry. On the right. Yeah.

[F]

The question we do want to ask is a classic Price is Right rules question, which is how many emojis are there in the Apple keyboard?

[G]

Oh.

[C]

Oh. I kind of think I might.

[F]

In the Apple keyboard, Price is Right. Price is right.

[E]

Okay.

[C]

Okay, that's good. And it's like the current number because, you know, add some. Yeah, we're gonna double check iOS 26.4 or whatever.

[E]

They only had like six here though.

[F]

Wait, how do you have a 0.4 of an emoji?

[C]

No, iOS 26.4. Got some emojis. So yeah, they had like six up to date numbers.

[F]

Joking.

[E]

All right, Emoji consortium.

[C]

We'll think about that.

[G]

We'll be right back.

[B]

This episode is brought to you by indeed. Stop waiting around for the perfect candidate. Instead, use Indeed sponsored Jobs to find the right people with the right skills fast. It's a simple way to make sure your listing is the first candidate seat. According to Indeed data, Sponsored Jobs have four times more applicants than non sponsored jobs. So go build your dream team today with Indeed. Get a $75 sponsored job credit@ Indeed.com podcast. Terms and conditions apply.

[A]

No one goes to Hank's for his spreadsheets.

[E]

They go for a darn good pizza. Lately, though, the shop's been quiet, so

[A]

Hank decides to bring back the $1 slice.

[E]

He asks co pilot in Microsoft Excel

[A]

to look at his sales and costs

[E]

and help him see if he can afford it. Copilot shows Hank where the money's going and which little extras make the dollar slice work. Now Hanks has a line out the door. Hank makes the pizza. Copilot handles the spreadsheets.

[A]

Learn more at m365copilot.com work spring is

[C]

in the air, which means now is the time to save during spring. Outdoor power deals at the Home Depot make cleanup easier when you go cordless with the Milwaukee M18 string trimmer, designed to deliver more runtime, more speed and maximum performance. Then grab a select Milwaukee fuel attachment like the pole saw edger or brush cutter included at no extra cost when you buy the Milwaukee M18 String Trimmer Shop. Seven days of spring Outdoor Powered Deals at the Home depot now through April 29th.

[F]

Okay, welcome back. We're gonna kick off this third segment of the pod with some rapid fire questions from you guys. I'm bringing my computer closer so I can read rapidly and fire them off. Question number one comes from Bongus. He wrote Bongus question. Question number two comes from Tim. Tim wrote it hurts a little when I pee, which is not a question, but I wanted to let you know anyway. I get that Oliver asked what is the best Taco Bell item? I like anything with the Doritos Loco shell. That's kind of my answer.

[C]

Cheesy chips, potatoes.

[E]

David, I don't go that often, but the crunchwrap supreme is classic. Yeah, pretty classic.

[F]

You don't really like Taco Bell.

[G]

I do not.

[E]

Crunch. I haven't gone in a long time, but yeah, it's good.

[C]

Same.

[F]

Anonymous says, no question. Just love heart emoji.

[C]

Appreciate you.

[E]

Are they gonna hack us?

[C]

Anonymous?

[E]

Yeah.

[F]

Harvey asks Ellis, why are you so funny? Born this way.

[C]

Nice.

[F]

Taco Bell's chimichungus asks, when is DJ Cafe 84 coming back? DJ Cafe 84 is a name that I DJed with in college all of three times. I don't know how you know that. That's crazy.

[E]

It was Anonymous.

[F]

That.

[C]

That is Nardoire.

[F]

That's like the level of this. Still keep me nameless, please. Asked, is Ellis real or is he actually Adam's ventriloquist puppy?

[C]

Interesting. Interesting.

[F]

Very true. Brandon asked, how many total responses to this survey? Like 1600. I want to say maybe even more.

[E]

We've only answered like 10 questions.

[F]

Thank you guys for, for. For coming out in mass for this. Yeah, like 1617 ish hundred. 1666.

[C]

Good year.

[F]

Craig Hyundai asked.

[E]

I don't know. That's probably a war.

[F]

Wait, Craig Hyundai, which I can only

[E]

assume is that like John photography?

[F]

Yeah, it's like John photography.

[C]

I like what you're doing with cars, man.

[F]

Craig Hyundai. Killing it. Top three chrome extensions. I'm gonna sit out from this one because I only use one and it's cloth.

[C]

I should look at what I'm using.

[E]

Yeah, okay. Okay. I know. I really like. What font is a great chrome extension?

[F]

That one is good.

[E]

Good. You can highlight anything on any page and it tells you what the font is. Amazing. Ublock origin is classic. Send to Kindle for Google Chrome.

[C]

Good.

[F]

Do you have a Kindle?

[E]

I have the Kindle app, yeah. Oh, the hide shorts for YouTube is good.

[C]

Yeah, Yeah. I only have the Amazon Price Tracker 1 and Google Docs offline. That's it.

[E]

Interesting.

[G]

This one comes from Katin Jazz and it's just an interesting question. What is everyone's favorite sound made by a piece of tech that is not produced by the speaker? So, for example, a hinge closing a certain brand, mouse click, lens attaching to a camera, things like that.

[C]

Whoa.

[F]

That's so good.

[C]

That is so good.

[E]

Really good.

[C]

Okay, I had a couple things pop into my head. I want to pick a best, but there's some really good ones. David, you'll agree with this one. Hasselblad lens clicking on.

[G]

That was mine.

[E]

That's a.

[C]

That's a nice. I wish I had it right. I could put it right. In front of the mic and you could hear it. That is a primo funk sound.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

The Leaf shutter as well. But I also think of like a really nicely sealed,

[E]

like the MacBook closing. It's pretty good.

[D]

Subtle.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Decent. There are definitely multiple devices that I think are generally bad devices, but have such good, like, clamp feeling or like when you close them, it's such a satisfying, like, clomp that I keep using it.

[C]

Just because it's satisfying.

[E]

Yeah, yeah. Multiple foldable phones are like that where, like the action force of closing it is just very satisfying.

[F]

The OnePlus Open has a really nice

[E]

sound. Okay. My Hasselblad Flex tight drum scanner. Virtual drum scanner. When I scan with it, it goes. And it goes.

[C]

Sounds like it's struggling for the first half. And it does get off the phone.

[E]

Yeah, it does that for 15 minutes. So I like that. I like the last sound.

[C]

It's nice. I'm trying to remind myself of these. This is such a good question.

[E]

Yeah. But there. There are many. There are quite a few.

[C]

Yeah.

[G]

I definitely thought of first the Hasselblad Leaf shutter from the phones. Even like, not even the cameras. Just like the phone that have the partnership. Oh, that's the orange button and you get the Leaf.

[E]

Okay.

[C]

But you gotta. That's a speaker.

[G]

Oh, you're right. You're right.

[C]

I'm thinking the actual Leaf shutter, you gotta explain experienced.

[E]

The Pentax 67 is this old. The Pentax 67 is this Old medium format film camera. And the shutter on that is insane. It's like you're shooting a bazooka.

[C]

Andrew's gonna have some keyboard suggestions.

[F]

Oh, God. Yeah. I don't know if it's like a favorite all time, but we recently, for the Avid heads, we just got an avid S1 in our audio room, which is a Pro Tools controller with flying faders. And so when you load up a layout or a preset, all of the faders, like, jump the correct point. And it sounds kind of like this.

[E]

Ooh.

[G]

I don't know if it's like a

[F]

nice sound, but I just get really excited watching the faders go like.

[E]

You know what that reminds me of is the Logitech MX Master. When you switch it into, like, free flow mode versus, like the clicky mode,

[C]

it's like, yeah, this is an ASMR episode. I just thought also in the car world, there's so many of these certain switches in cars are really good. But the door closed sound on some of these cars, the German cars. Oh, my God. The perfect seal. Wow. Really good question.

[F]

Great question.

[C]

Yeah. Oh, also, my water bottle makes this sound.

[F]

Yeah, that's sick. Where can I get one of those?

[C]

Mkabechi.com Love it.

[F]

This question comes from Ohelvia. Which is what is the hardest part about staying unbiased on waveform?

[E]

Hardest part?

[C]

The hardest part is just getting everything factually correct. But that's. The unbiased part is easy, I think.

[E]

Yeah.

[F]

I feel like sometimes I try to. If I know I'm, like, dunking, like, making a lot of jokes, because I feel like it's all jokes. You know what I mean? If I'm making a lot of jokes about a product, I'll try to be like, okay, well, here's something nice about it to. To balance it out a little bit. But I don't know. I think. I don't know. Yeah, I guess you guys are right. It's not hard.

[C]

I do have a thing now where I. This came from making a product. So we made panels, and there was a good week where everyone on the Internet was relentlessly dunking on it. And that gave me a good window into what it's like when everyone's relentlessly stunking on your thing. And 75% of it was just wrong. And it was weird because people would pile on repeating the wrong thing, and it wouldn't make sense for me to pop out and be like, hey, here. This is wrong. Because we knew that so many other things were wrong. It wouldn't make sense for me to defend certain things and leave other things. So I just kind of let it all happen. And so now when we go in to criticize something, I have this extra lens of, like, we need to make sure we're right about the things we're criticizing, because if we're just repeating something that someone else repeated wrong, then that makes us look worse, especially to the person who made the product. And we might meet that person, we might know that person. We might lose respect from people in the industry who see us repeating the wrong thing. So I want to make sure every time when it's correct or when it's incorrect, we're at least saying the correct thing. Like, the right thing, the accurate thing. Yeah, because I've seen what it looks

[E]

like when they don't. I think it's valuable to get context, too. Like, most people are like, how could they have let this slip through the cracks? And it's like, a lot of the time, they know that a thing is like that in a product. Right. And usually they have a Reason for doing it. Now, that reason could be valid or less valid. You could be like a regular person doesn't use this thing this way. But usually there's a reason why they made a thing a certain way.

[C]

Sometimes there is no reason. Yeah, sometimes the volume of the Subaru is full screen. No reason.

[E]

Well, there's a reason. I mean, someone made that decision.

[C]

Someone did make that decision. And we can ridicule that, but we should think long and hard about why they made that decision and then go, okay, yeah, that was dumb.

[E]

It's dumb.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Which is fine. They can be wrong.

[C]

Yes.

[E]

It's like Samsung making the part of the screen, the inside of the fold, like a screen protector, but it's actually the screen.

[C]

You know, we do criticize products all the time and we always have to remember that there is nobody who knows these products better than the people who make them.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Because they know what it could be capable of. They know where they stopped in development, where it could have done something else and it didn't. They know exactly where its boundaries are, what its limitations are, and they strategically thought of ways to minimize costs and what boundaries they wanted to hit. All these things that we find out by using it. But that I'm always conscious of that relationship because when we make a product and we know things about it that other people don't know and then they're just spewing wrong things, I'm like, oh, yeah, damn.

[E]

And that's the hard thing about the Internet too, is that everyone sees a different timeline. So the things that you could correct somebody about something and most of the people will not see your correction will just keep repeating the incorrect, you know, statement. So it's tough. I mean, first I gotta say, like, the concept of bias is not. Like, it's impossible to not be biased. Like, it's literally impossible. You know, you can go, you can just deliver facts. Sure. But almost every way that you deliver the fact, if you rearrange the sentence in a different way, it's got a different connotation. It's gonna skew things a little bit differently. Everyone has their personal opinions about whether it's anthropic versus OpenAI, whether it's, you know, like every single thing. Your personal opinion, as hard as you try to not let it influence your reporting, will in some way influence your reporting. That's just a fact.

[C]

So that's what you sign up for as a reader.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Or a viewer. Like, when I am watching this person's review, what I'm signing up for is Their take on this thing.

[E]

Right.

[C]

Because if you just want a spec sheet, you can read a spec sheet. But that's, I think ultimately what people are here for is they trust our take on things.

[E]

The bias that people generally talk about is like, is someone getting like paid to say a certain thing? Like, that's a true. That's like a obvious bias.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

But yeah.

[F]

Ramanam2 asks, if you could pick an old phone design and put modern cameras and software on it, what would it be and why?

[C]

There's a correct answer. There's a couple correct answers.

[E]

But you're saying Nexus 6P.

[C]

No, I think you guys are glazing that phone for no reason. What? Why are you so. No, Nexus 6P is nice, but like iconic. It's not the correct answer.

[E]

It's iconic.

[C]

The 6P?

[E]

Yes.

[C]

The Huawei with the visor at the top.

[E]

Yes.

[C]

Why that one?

[E]

It was metal. It was beautiful. Had a great screen.

[G]

It didn't rock on a table.

[E]

The visor was awesome.

[C]

Okay. But if you just want a nice metal, well built phone, super thin with new specs, do the HTC One.

[E]

Yeah, but that one big. That one had huge bezels.

[G]

Yeah.

[C]

Because it had boom sounds and had a kickstand.

[G]

Who needs speakers?

[C]

It had. Had incredible speakers.

[E]

I would say the HTC Thunderbolt with the kickstand was pretty thick, but it

[C]

was also my first kickstand was nice.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

The kickstand was a phone, the Thunderbolt, but actually lasting all day on a charge would be nice.

[E]

Yeah. The Thunderbolt burned me. I had to return it because it burned my hand. Damn. And I got a Samsung Droid Charge instead, which was worse by a factor of like 30.

[C]

It's funny because these phones all have such like electric names and then have horrible batteries.

[E]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

I think the correct answer is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

[E]

The correct answer.

[C]

No, it's not.

[F]

No.

[C]

What, that phone?

[E]

That. No.

[C]

That oled?

[E]

No.

[C]

That slightly curved screen, that perfect size.

[D]

Nada.

[C]

It was made of plastic camera. Yeah. But if that had the charger, pop the battery out the back and swap a new one in. That was nice. Keep that.

[E]

Yeah, I guess. I mean, yeah, Bring that back. Yeah, yeah.

[F]

The real correct answer, guys, is the Samsung exclaim M550.

[C]

You're gonna make me Google this?

[F]

It's a feature phone.

[C]

Oh, I'm not gonna Google this feature phone.

[F]

And has a slide out numpad and a separate slide out keyboard.

[C]

So what are you modernizing the camera and the battery?

[F]

Yeah. And get Google Maps and email. That's all you need. Well, and the antennas, because I don't think it had anything past 3G in it.

[G]

T mobile G1 or the sidekick? Give me one of those.

[C]

Sidekick G1 or the side? Y' all like the physical keyboard?

[F]

I would love a Sidekick.

[C]

Well, they both had physical keyboard. Oh, the digital. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The trackball is nice.

[F]

The trackball's nice.

[C]

Wait, what was the. So the Galaxy Nexus didn't have the trackball, but what? Oh, the Nexus one had the trackball.

[E]

Trackball, yeah.

[C]

That's a good one.

[E]

That was the first Android phone.

[C]

Wait, well, the G1.

[F]

The G1.

[C]

The G1 had the keyboard, but then the.

[E]

Yeah, sorry, not Nexus One.

[C]

But then the Nexus one had the RGB lit Trackball. That, with today's tech, pretty sick.

[E]

That was fire.

[C]

That'd be nice.

[F]

Here's a question for Andrew. Why do you look at the ceiling when you're speaking?

[C]

Well,

[E]

I'm looking for the answer.

[C]

I just thought of a really sassy answer to the last question.

[G]

What?

[C]

The iPhone air. Give me the iPhone air. But with modern internals.

[G]

That's so good.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Anyway, if they put silicon carbon in it.

[C]

Yeah. Give me like two good cameras. Silicon carbon, like real speakers.

[E]

Telephoto. Yeah.

[F]

Man O o n Z oons asked, is there a company like Pantone but for sound, which is. Whoa.

[C]

That would be a frequency response chart.

[E]

It's like Uber for sound.

[F]

There are various sound standards organizations that set standards for various things. The short answer is kind of thx. Yeah, THX would be an example of one of these companies. Dolby would be another example of one of these companies. And what they're doing is they're saying if you deliver your audio meeting these specs, it will sound like this on these systems. So kinda.

[G]

All right, this question comes from Owen. If you couldn't talk about tech on the podcast, what would it be about?

[C]

I think that's pretty clear. This would be an NBA podcast.

[E]

What would I do?

[C]

We would explain everything to you in technical component.

[F]

That would actually be really fun.

[D]

Like.

[E]

Like the token dumb guy.

[F]

No, we don't, because.

[E]

Get out of here. No, Andrew wouldn't know what to do either. Right?

[F]

Yeah.

[E]

Andrew and I would start our own podcast and you guys could have your basketball podcast.

[C]

Tech is kind of everything, though.

[E]

Tech is everything. That's.

[C]

That's like. If you say photography, it's just tech still.

[E]

I know, it's even policy is tech. I know it's crazy.

[C]

It's like if you say cars, it's

[E]

Kind of when we used to cover tech, it used to be just for the nerds and, like, geeks, and then eventually it just bled into everything. And the tech companies are everything now because everything is a tech company. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[G]

Even Allbirds.

[C]

It's not gonna get old anytime soon.

[G]

This one comes from AJ who do the waveform podcast hosts listen to as their waveform podcast?

[E]

Oh, wow. I'm kind of embarrassed.

[C]

Tech.

[E]

Am I allowed to say?

[C]

I don't really know they specifically asked

[G]

about tech, but I figured it doesn't have to be about tech. If you listen to something else. I don't know what.

[C]

You guys stop listening a lot?

[E]

I listen to a lot of podcasts.

[F]

I. I don't. I. I read the Verge. I really like. Yeah, I'll usually go through, like, tech meme once a day and see what's going on. Who are some, like, tech writers? I really like. I really like.

[E]

I think Hard Fork is, like, one of the best shows right now. Yeah, they're really good. I know it's not exactly tech.

[F]

There's a substack by a guy named Matt Stoller called Big that's about monopolies, and so it ends up covering, like, he covered all the antitrust stuff.

[E]

Is it a limited series?

[F]

It's a substack.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[F]

It's a word.

[E]

Is it a limited series?

[F]

Infinite. Matt Stoller will never stop. I really like that.

[E]

Yeah.

[F]

I like the American Prospect.

[E]

Prospect.org I will say I hate even. Okay. I like listening to Pivot. I disagree with both Kara and Scott a lot. However, when Scott is gone, I really dislike the episodes. So there's something about their chemistry. Like, a lot of people say they listen to Waveform because of our chemistry. Right. Because we're all in love with each other.

[C]

It's electric.

[E]

It's electric. It's electric. Anyway, and they just have really good chemistry, and it's just really fun to listen to people who are enthusiastic with good chemistry, who are also pretty smart in a number of categories, even if they're wrong a lot. Like us.

[F]

I think that show also is good to listen to for us because we don't necessarily need other people's opinions on new devices. You know what I mean? I love hearing other people's opinions. But. But generally, we form our own opinions, but for things like Big Tech Policy News generally has, like, a really large part of their podcast dedicated to those topics.

[E]

Hard Fork is just great in general. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They also have very good banter.

[C]

Yeah. Holy smokes.

[E]

Sorry.

[C]

Trivia time.

[E]

Trivia, dude.

[F]

Question number one.

[G]

Coming to us from Mojave.

[E]

Mojave.

[G]

What was the last iPad to ship with iOS?

[E]

Oh, last to ship with iOS.

[G]

Yes.

[C]

Shoot.

[G]

Correct.

[E]

I'm just gonna leave it, see what happens.

[C]

Like, specific model indeed.

[E]

The WH1000XM5 iPad.

[C]

I don't even think I'm right.

[E]

The iPad Air Gen 6.

[C]

What do you got? Okay, well, we're both wrong. I said iPad Air 3. What? What? Oh, I was right. That's crazy. The piss yellow one. Oh, I actually got it. Wow.

[E]

Another piss device.

[C]

Wow.

[E]

Yeah, I wrote iPad Pro Gen 1. Yeah. Cause remember, last iPad 2 had. Have iOS and I was thinking first iPad to have iPados. Yeah. But that's not the same thing.

[C]

Wow. I'm shocked I got that right.

[E]

Well, I'm also shocked you got that right.

[C]

Stab in the dark. A broken clock is right twice a day, folks.

[F]

Question two is closest. Without going over, how many emojis are there in the Apple keyboard?

[C]

I'm gonna write the number that I. That popped into my. And cross my fingers.

[E]

Cross my fingers, hope to die.

[C]

I think I'm wrong, but last time I thought I was wrong.

[E]

You're right. Yeah, man.

[C]

I think I'm.

[E]

You might be right twice a day.

[C]

I am way too low.

[E]

Remember, I said wow when I saw the answer many years ago. Oh, yeah, you're.

[G]

What do you got?

[C]

I have 6, 4, 7, and.

[F]

David.

[E]

3,100.

[F]

David, the point is yours there.

[E]

Is it 3,000, 247 or something?

[F]

I'm finding a few different numbers, and I think it's because some of them are counting all the different, like, skin tones and stuff as different emojis and others. But it seems like the general consensus is There is about 3,700.

[E]

Nice.

[C]

3,700 emojis.

[E]

Yep.

[F]

Yes. That number feels high.

[C]

It does.

[E]

It does. But I also saw that number recently, and I was like, crazy.

[C]

Well, we learned something new. David got another point. He really didn't need it.

[E]

You got another point too?

[C]

I got a point.

[E]

Basically, nothing happened except Andrew fell below in the rankings.

[C]

Yeah, I desperately needed that.

[F]

Do you think Andrew will name his new son Emoji?

[E]

I would.

[C]

I don't know. We'll have to ask him. We'll see.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Anyway, thank you so much for all the questions. It's fun when we kind of get to go off the rails on our not so regularly scheduled programming. Our next episode, we will be back on our regularly scheduled programming. And so for that, we will see you soon. Peace.

[E]

Waveform is produced by Adam Molina and Ellis Roven. We are produced. We are. We are part of the Vox Media podcast network. And our intro after music is by Vane Sil.

[C]

There were still woolly mammoths alive when the pyramids were built.