Switchin' It Up with Nintendo and Gaining Focus with the Session App

Transcript

WEBVTT

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So yeah, crappy, watch band compatibility and FaceTime.

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All right, here we go.

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It is another show Tommy Jeff B, the B-A-F boys, basic A-F.

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We're back at it again, Dang.

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you planned that, didn't you?

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No, okay maybe a little bit.

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If I say I planned it and people don't like it, they'll be like God one thing if it's off the cuff.

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But he planned it and it still sucked.

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We suck every week with the best.

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Well, we do, it doesn't matter.

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We do Yep, and so real quick, before we get things started.

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As always, I want to say thanks for being here with us and if you've been listening for a while now, we appreciate you coming back again and again for the show.

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It means a lot to us.

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And if you're new, we want to say thanks for checking us out, giving us a shot.

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We hope to earn a spot on your playlist.

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If you do enjoy the show and you wouldn't mind doing us a solid, you could drop us a rating or review or both on Apple Podcast.

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Follow us there.

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Spotify Overcast all the big apps the podcast, all the big apps, that's correct.

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Every app that you can do it on.

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Actually, that's preferable.

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Download us from every single app.

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Listen to us three times a week.

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That's a good thing for all of us, yeah we're good with that.

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Yeah, come on.

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So, jeff, come on.

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Come on that nice intro music we have.

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Who's that?

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Courtesy of Jeff, why my?

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friend that is from PsychoKinetics and who you can also find as Celsius7 on all your favorite streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify and I don't know wherever else you're stealing music from these days.

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We can find a way to do it.

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But yeah, that is PsychoKinetics artwork, as always by the amazing, the incredible Randall Martin design, and so we encourage you to check out both PsychoKinetics, celsius7 and Randall Martin design, and you will find that you get your bump on and then you can get some good design work done.

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So good stuff Absolutely, and we thank them for helping us out.

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Yeah, definitely.

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And for donating music.

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And, randall, don't tell Mr Celsius7, we paid you, randall.

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It's our little secret.

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So, coming up in this show, we're going to talk about an app that Jeff and I have been using of late the Sessions app.

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If you were listening to the show we did with Adam Olsen a couple of shows ago, that was one that he recommended, so we've both kind of jumped on that one.

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We're also going to dig into some Nintendo Switch talks.

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We're going to talk games some as well.

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So I'm looking forward to that because I know that's something Jeff's been big into of late.

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So that's coming up.

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But before we get to that, just a couple of quick little things.

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Did you see this week the blurb from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg on the and this is all speculation, but the Apple Watch 10,?

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did you see that?

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No, did not.

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Okay, so he had a blurb.

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Tell me about it.

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Power on newsletter to give attribution appropriately that in 2024 or 2025, the kind of the first, I guess, major redesign of the watch, excluding the Apple Watch Ultra, which was a different design form, is coming up, and really the only reason I wanted to talk about this because it's so far out is that one of the things he mentioned is that this could be the break from the consistency that Apple's had with the watch bands being compatible with all generations of the watch since day one, effectively.

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It's interesting, yeah, so I thought that was that's what caught my attention in the rest of the stuff, because they have done for Apple, because we ding Apple sometimes for cash grabs, for adapters for different things or nickel-in-dimeing for storage, upgrades and things like that, and so I got to be honest.

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I have been very surprised with how long they've actually maintained compatibility with the watch bands.

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Yeah, across pretty much all of them.

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It doesn't matter.

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I think some of the larger ones you can't use on the smaller watches, but for the most part, yeah, yeah, because I mean everywhere, which for them is, if they do it, that's new Right.

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Right, yeah.

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And if they do it in a year or two, I think at that point it's like well, that was a good run, because I mean watch this, what 10 years.

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This would be series nine coming out this fall, yeah, so by then that's pretty good.

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I don't think I'd be upset with that at that point.

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How many?

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Yeah, and here's another.

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You know what, since we're bringing up changes, possible design changes, the Apple Watch Excuse me, I'm coughing without hitting the mute.

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Yeah you know we're cheap idiots.

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I don't have a real mute button.

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I'd have to do actual work to mute my mic.

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We I was.

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I'm actually back in California without getting my stuff stolen, which is pretty amazing.

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My mom had some surgery last week and so I'm here helping to take care of some things.

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But my brother asked me last night we were looking at the camera app that lets you, you know, control your iPhone's camera and you can see the video on there.

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But one of the things he wondered and I kind of do too is how come we haven't yet gotten an Apple Watch with a FaceTime camera?

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You think that's coming in the next one.

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Do you want it?

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Come on, man, I see that.

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Look on your face.

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It's like nah, I don't want that.

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Dick Tracy watch.

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Well, see, now they just spin it that way.

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Of course I want it.

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Of course I gotta shape it.

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I mean, I was a kid once.

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It's a long time.

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But still.

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Yeah, it shows.

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I think it's one of those things.

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I'd have to see it.

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Yeah, because I don't do.

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I don't do phone calls through the watch.

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We've talked about how I don't really do many phone calls, so that shouldn't be much of a surprise.

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But you know, it's one of those.

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I don't know if it were there where I would use it and I might.

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Yeah, so have you turned on the cellular feature on your Apple Watch Ultra?

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I have not.

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Okay, so I have, and actually I have gone about not that I need to FaceTime anybody.

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You know that I could see similar to the touchscreen Mac, where you know who wants to have their fingers up on the screen all the time.

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I don't quite understand that.

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I get it on an iPad occasionally.

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But it's kind of a pain in the neck sometimes to constantly have to work with your finger up like that and I can see walking down the street with your watch in front of your you know face.

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You're not not going to work out too well, but it's.

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I think you know my brother had a valid question.

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Is that technology seems like it should be there and wonder if we're going to get something like that in some near future iteration of the of the watch Right Necessary?

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Would I use it?

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I might.

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I mean I do.

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I did turn on the cellular feature on my watch and I do use that without you know if I'm mowing the lawn or something.

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I got my watch out there and don't have to have it by my phone.

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I'm all good with that.

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So I don't know.

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I could see it being used.

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I could see a lot of people using it.

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Yeah.

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I just it's kind of surprising and he wasn't wrong in stating that it was surprising that Apple hasn't yet added that option on any of their watches.

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So yeah.

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Yeah, so we will find out.

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So yeah, crappy watch band compatibility and face.

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Man, that's quite a presentation, you're welcome.

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Yeah, hi, son of your consulting for you for that.

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Yeah, let me ask the boss if I can, if I can do that section of the presentation when the time comes.

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But, yeah, I think I don't know We'll find out, but anyway, I don't want to dwell on the watch too much today, but I just thought that was of note of note.

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That is notable, pretty interesting, and it would be interesting to see.

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If that's the case.

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I would like a couple more watch bands, I think.

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How many do you have now for the Ultra two?

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three, well, I had four but one got stolen, so that and it never got used.

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That's the sad thing.

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That was the.

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That was the swimming band, the ocean band that I had planned to use, but it found its way, I don't know.

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I think if I go by the In-N-Out in Oakland over on Heggenberger, I dig around in the weeds, I might get my watch band back.

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I might get my laptop and my iPad back too, because nobody's using that?

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Geez.

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Yeah, it would be interesting, that would be.

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But yeah, I have three.

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I have three, and the one that I wear most often is the I never know the names of these things the one with a loop and the orange tab on it.

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That's greenish.

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The trail band, trail band.

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Yeah, I like that one.

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I like that one too.

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Yeah, it's going.

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Yeah, I got the Alpine one and I kind of funky just and I've got a, I've got a trail band for for what color trail band did you get?

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So you said it's the black one with the orange tab.

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Yeah, okay, grayish black something like that Yep, yep and it's.

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It's probably grayer now, especially the orange tab, than it was the start.

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Sure Orange tab dirty it's filthy and I've tried cleaning it with a toothbrush.

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Yeah, it's just like.

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Yeah, just hopeless.

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Doesn't?

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It doesn't look very pretty.

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No, it doesn't.

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And I got the green Alpine green, whatever they call it the loop.

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I got that one, and then I got the orange one, and I'm finding the orange one is just as prone to picking up dirt as the orange tab.

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So that's that's my house band.

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I wear it around the house.

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Good yeah, so what a waste of money 100 bucks One idiot.

00:10:22.842 --> 00:10:24.753
Yeah, right, yeah yeah.

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100 bucks here, 100 bucks there, right, see, that are clothes.

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It's you only live once or you only wear one.

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I, you know, daily watch bands.

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Yeah, daily wear yeah.

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Yeah, no thanks.

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Okay, I do change watch faces for various occasions, like I have one that I change if I, you know, depending on what clothes I'm wearing, I make it match my shirt, or something like that.

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Gotcha, okay.

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Yeah, because I'm that nerd.

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That's why they give you the option.

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Right 100%.

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The only other thing real quick I saw was that the so the Apple cases for iPhone, the leather cases was reported by one of the rumor people that you can find it on Mac rumors.

00:11:10.049 --> 00:11:12.118
But it was some guy that just posts stuff on X.

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X, See that I got it right.

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X.

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What the freak.

00:11:16.875 --> 00:11:17.942
I don't even know what you're talking about.

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Are you watching the porn channel again, tom?

00:11:19.831 --> 00:11:23.283
I gave that up, right, but you're watching X.

00:11:23.283 --> 00:11:27.255
You're on X all the time, right, and we're not talking X to C.

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Every time I see that I think a DMX.

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I think I've said that a couple of times now but it's true.

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And people are working now are doing that too.

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Yeah, we're going DMX memes on the office but anyhow, they're not going to make leather cases.

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Was is what this guy was saying.

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Can I just sell it here so nobody can see this online.

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But I have this leather case.

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That was beautiful and I really liked it.

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But, dude, talk about filthy and falling apart.

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Yeah, the quality is going way down on those things and I think it happened when they switched to the.

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What did they switch to this kind of rectangle format again, or design, not format, but 12 that they did.

00:12:08.706 --> 00:12:17.158
That was the 11, still kind of the rounded one like the 10 series and 12, they squared them off again going back to kind of like the four vibe anyway, yeah.

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And I think when they did that is when they kind of nose dived on the quality because they used to wear really well and they looked nice and but these like the, it's like it's a painted die or something and the corners rub off and then it's just their I like.

00:12:31.993 --> 00:12:41.543
The biggest reason I like is because they're light and they feel great Right and they're very thin and they don't you know, but quality wise they haven't been that great.

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Yeah, I think after I am going to get the next phone and when I get that I'm going caseless again.

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I did that for a long, long time and then I got the leather case for the the 11 that I had, and then the leather case for this 13.

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I'm a odd number man and I, but I think I'm going back to no case.

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Yeah there you go.

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I like that feel.

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So yeah, it could make a joke, that's would be filthy and I'm not going to go that direction.

00:13:18.677 --> 00:13:20.604
But on to the next topic.

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Yeah, and promise, we're not drinking, we're both we don't really drink Right Sober.

00:13:27.972 --> 00:13:33.653
It's it's five o'clock in California on a Friday evening and I have only had water to drink all day.

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Eight 19 here and I'm in the same situation, so all right.

00:13:38.607 --> 00:13:43.421
So those two little things aside, let's get into the app that we want to discuss.

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So sessions really interesting.

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So when, when Adam Olson that we had on last last show, when Adam was talking about sessions, I mentioned that I had been using in my writing app in Highland Pro, I had been using the timer for that, which I do all the time.

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It's a great way for me to get you know if I'm feeling crappy about writing or putting any other words down.

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It's a good way for me to just kind of kick that up and get going.

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And then I had it would on occasion use an app called Vitamin R, which is a Pomodoro app, pomodoro being you know Pomodoro timer method, where you do something for 20 to 25 minutes, you take a break for five.

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You know that.

00:14:30.336 --> 00:14:31.340
That real quick, that app.

00:14:31.340 --> 00:14:42.984
Vitamin R yes, I think when we were doing the Revenge of the Fanboy podcast 12, 13 years ago, whatever that was, and that was one of John's picks, remember, we used to do picks.

00:14:42.984 --> 00:14:46.636
Like each show, we do a pick or something, and I think he had that as a pick.

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He may have.

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It's been around a long time and it is a great app.

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That's.

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That's a great, a great app.

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I and I've used it on the phone and I've used it on the on my.

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I've used it on my Mac quite a bit as well to do the same thing, just to kind of give me a kickstart.

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So but what Adam said about sessions that was kind of interesting to me was that he was essentially keeping a diary of what it was that he was working on as he was going along, and that it gave great reporting, that it gave you the ability to kind of really look at what it was that you were doing and gave you the ability to go back in time and see, you know, what you accomplished, where, when, why and how.

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So I did download the app.

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I had a lot of stuff going on, so did not pick it up before my free session ended but I I began setting it up, setting up different groups, and what I started finding was is that I was using it more than I had used any of those Pomodoro apps before, for for a couple of reasons.

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One, I was scheduling everything that I was doing, and the upside to that for me was, you know, you get some days where you're doing a bunch of little things here and there, it really doesn't seem like you've done much of anything at all.

00:16:15.993 --> 00:16:26.960
It gave me a little better view, actually a lot better view, into those kinds of days, including days when you know it's a weekend.

00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:27.981
I'm not really doing work.

00:16:27.981 --> 00:16:30.798
Work I'm doing, you know, housework.

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I'm cleaning dishes, cleaning the house, mop on the floor, mowing the lawn, you know, doing all that kind of stuff that those appear to be decent accomplishments.

00:16:39.874 --> 00:16:43.230
But I didn't realize, you know, when I mow the lawn I'm putting like three hours into it.

00:16:43.230 --> 00:16:44.436
I have a big piece of property.

00:16:44.436 --> 00:16:46.322
I mow it, you know, by hand.

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And it gave me, if I can say this, like a greater sense of satisfaction around the work that I was doing and like the setup I mentioned right before we started this session here.

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I kicked off a session's session before our recording session.

00:17:06.460 --> 00:17:06.720
And it has.

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Before you begin every session, you have the option of turning on this breathe feature, and it's really crazy for me how that kind of settles me into whatever it is that I'm doing.

00:17:23.736 --> 00:17:28.435
I look forward to that, that breeze which, by the way, I just want to point out.

00:17:28.435 --> 00:17:35.545
I have set it up so that each of my recording things is supposed to have three breaths, not just the one to kick off the session.

00:17:35.545 --> 00:17:43.001
There's some bug going on, it's not working, it's doing one and I'm disappointed every time I use it.

00:17:43.001 --> 00:17:52.443
But it's become a really useful tool that actually I like using every day as a means of not tracking my time.

00:17:52.443 --> 00:17:54.675
I have time tracking app called Time.

00:17:54.675 --> 00:18:07.079
That's excellent TYME if anybody's looking for a great tool to be able to do some time tracking for billing purposes, but to track what it is that I was doing when, where, why and how.

00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:10.029
So I'm kind of thrilled to be using that.

00:18:10.069 --> 00:18:18.978
So sort of time tracking, but not for billing purposes or anything like that, it's more just so you're aware of what you just said.

00:18:20.101 --> 00:18:52.025
Yeah, so I have some awareness around what it is that I'm doing in days that sometimes feel like you didn't do crap today, dude, which sometimes I didn't do crap today, but which is okay, there's nothing wrong with that no, there's something to be said for that as well but it's helping me to get a better idea of what it is that I'm actually doing and allowing me to keep notes around those same things, saying I did X, Y and Z.

00:18:54.590 --> 00:18:56.787
Now, I was just going to say talk to me a little bit about the scheduling.

00:18:56.787 --> 00:19:02.718
You mentioned that you were scheduling it, so are you Like scheduling the day and then working?

00:19:02.718 --> 00:19:04.345
No, I don't do it that way, or okay?

00:19:05.230 --> 00:19:09.298
I usually have work to do it, so it what it does is it spits stuff onto the calendar.

00:19:09.298 --> 00:19:10.785
Yeah, I can see it from two to three.

00:19:10.785 --> 00:19:13.761
I did this from three or four, okay, so kind of all that kind of stuff.

00:19:13.761 --> 00:19:14.707
Right, it's a.

00:19:14.707 --> 00:19:18.097
It's more historical information in the calendar rather than you know.

00:19:18.218 --> 00:19:26.964
Let's do something like a time blocking type thing it's no here's what I'm working on, and then when I go back Then you, then you see how the day broke down, and stuff like that.

00:19:27.586 --> 00:19:30.855
Yeah, exactly that and and I like that, I'm not.

00:19:30.855 --> 00:19:33.249
Adam does time blocking.

00:19:33.249 --> 00:19:36.837
Do you do that kind of thing where you block out like an hour to?

00:19:37.078 --> 00:19:40.308
do x dipped into that and out of it a Few times.

00:19:40.308 --> 00:19:47.674
It hasn't really stuck for me Because I just find work it's easier if it's like side hustle stuff, like for this.

00:19:47.674 --> 00:19:50.768
I can put okay, saturday morning 9 to 11, I'm doing whatever.

00:19:50.768 --> 00:19:57.736
But for like day-to-day work, it things just very too much at the office because it's a support role.

00:19:57.736 --> 00:20:02.556
So support it's the way I'm of support mercy of whatever the heck's going on.

00:20:02.737 --> 00:20:07.259
Yeah, so that, by the way, is the kind of stuff I find this really valuable for.

00:20:07.259 --> 00:20:10.651
So I get a call from a client says hey, my website's down, can you do this?

00:20:10.651 --> 00:20:17.296
I can click that on in sessions and say I'm gonna work on this for 25 minutes, mm-hmm, and see where I get.

00:20:17.296 --> 00:20:37.505
And I say I'm working with, you know, the fengelstein law firm, or whoever it is that I'm working with, to do some, some piece of work, and I've I'm able To quantify that, whereas going to do a normal day I might say you know what I'm gonna sit down I'm gonna write for for an hour and a half to two hours today.

00:20:37.505 --> 00:20:42.317
I'm gonna edit for an hour and then I'm a revise for, you know, an hour more.

00:20:43.387 --> 00:20:55.393
But because of the nature of what I do, work wise, you know I kick off that hour and then I get that message saying hey, and it helps support and, and so I Jump over the the help thing.

00:20:55.393 --> 00:20:58.994
But then I go back and go dude, you didn't write.

00:20:58.994 --> 00:21:01.765
You know, like you said, you're gonna write for two hours today.

00:21:01.765 --> 00:21:03.269
You didn't even write for two.

00:21:03.269 --> 00:21:04.294
You know it's.

00:21:04.294 --> 00:21:12.835
It's helping me to see those Things a little differently, and then you know, judge myself.

00:21:12.835 --> 00:21:20.195
I often do, oh, no, not too harshly, I hope oh every day come on.

00:21:20.945 --> 00:21:22.813
Yeah you know right so let's, uh.

00:21:24.605 --> 00:21:42.396
Let's go back a couple of steps and maybe talk about kind of the premise a little more of the app, kind of what the, the foundational setup components would be, because one of the pieces of feedback I got on the show that we did with Adam that was that content itself was great.

00:21:42.396 --> 00:21:54.785
But if we would had taken a minute or two for each of the apps to just explain a little bit more what the app is Conceptually, some of the kind of the basics to help frame it up a little bit, that might help.

00:21:54.785 --> 00:21:59.689
So maybe sure for folks here if you want to kind of run through that a little, Sure.

00:21:59.950 --> 00:22:05.805
So first of all, I would say, feel free to download the session app on the app store and just have a first look at it.

00:22:05.805 --> 00:22:12.769
But what it is as I said, or I started to say in the beginning it's it uses Something called the Pomodoro method.

00:22:12.769 --> 00:22:22.096
Pomodoro method and I'm no deep diver in this Basically breaks your work down into bite-sized chunks.

00:22:22.096 --> 00:22:27.778
Typically, the default for the sessions app is 25 minutes.

00:22:27.778 --> 00:22:30.974
So you say, even I'm gonna switch over to the app right now and look at it.

00:22:30.974 --> 00:22:33.231
I'm gonna create a new session.

00:22:33.231 --> 00:22:37.809
I have categories for those sessions, so I have a general category.

00:22:37.809 --> 00:22:39.355
That is just kind of whatever.

00:22:39.355 --> 00:22:41.525
You know, nothing in particular.

00:22:42.650 --> 00:22:43.374
I have housework.

00:22:43.374 --> 00:22:44.459
I have writing.

00:22:44.459 --> 00:22:47.830
I have reading Believe it or not, that I've.

00:22:47.830 --> 00:22:49.114
I've rolled into this.

00:22:49.114 --> 00:22:49.675
That's a good one.

00:22:49.675 --> 00:22:53.005
I've had podcast rolled into this.

00:22:53.005 --> 00:22:54.407
I've got personal stuff.

00:22:54.407 --> 00:22:56.133
You know where I'm doing stuff around the house.

00:22:56.133 --> 00:23:10.173
I have play, believe that or not, but I've added that in as a thing because you know, for me, being raised as a is a prize.

00:23:10.173 --> 00:23:14.424
Protestant with the Protestant work, ethic play is not something you do.

00:23:14.424 --> 00:23:16.951
So I've.

00:23:17.310 --> 00:23:20.198
I've added we're gonna talk about that play stuff in a little bit too.

00:23:21.526 --> 00:23:25.990
We are gonna talk about play in a second, which I'm excited about, consulting in theater.

00:23:25.990 --> 00:23:27.193
You know, these are all things.

00:23:27.193 --> 00:23:28.960
And then, finally, cooking, believe it or not?

00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:37.996
Because I spend, you know, I do the majority of cooking, which I like a lot, but you know, that's Typically an hour or so on every day.

00:23:37.996 --> 00:23:42.029
But I've created these various, these various groups.

00:23:42.631 --> 00:23:47.506
And then, for example, for tonight, for our, for our podcast session Recording.

00:23:47.506 --> 00:23:57.942
What I would do is I would prep this, I would say I'm doing a podcast, I'd give it Essentially what they call an intention, but I'm just saying we're doing episode 16.

00:23:57.942 --> 00:24:02.340
Believe it or not, folks, this is 16th episode of the Bay, of A basic AF show.

00:24:02.340 --> 00:24:03.345
So thank you.

00:24:03.345 --> 00:24:07.288
And then I set a time for it.

00:24:07.288 --> 00:24:10.657
Default in the application is 25 minutes.

00:24:10.657 --> 00:24:14.433
You can set up your default to be whatever it is that you want it to be.

00:24:14.433 --> 00:24:25.596
And in this case I just wound the clock to an hour and 15 because I know, you know, we BS off mic for the first 15 minutes or so and we BS on mic for the next hour.

00:24:26.150 --> 00:24:29.840
Right, but we get all the dirty words out Right At the beginning.

00:24:30.170 --> 00:24:45.478
We get our threats out of the way early, yeah, yeah, and then I kick off that timer and go about the business of doing whatever it is that I need to do Once a session is completed.

00:24:45.478 --> 00:24:53.695
Once you've completed a time session, you can either go to a break or you can end the session, or you can continue the session.

00:24:53.695 --> 00:25:09.996
If you end the session, what you have the option of doing is then rating how it is that you were during that session Were you distracted, were you neutral, were you focused and then you can put some notes in.

00:25:09.996 --> 00:25:11.494
You know, we recorded for an hour.

00:25:11.494 --> 00:25:16.875
I was mostly focused, although, you know, not as focused as I should have been.

00:25:16.875 --> 00:25:21.512
Tom was getting pissed at me, and so I'm gonna be a better boy next week, you know.

00:25:21.512 --> 00:25:23.901
But you can put those kinds of notes in.

00:25:23.901 --> 00:25:35.919
So you've got the ability to review what it is that you're doing, or what it is that you have done in that, in that proceeding session, and then, once you complete that session, you can create a new one.

00:25:36.150 --> 00:25:54.559
If you repeat the session or go on a break, you break for a set amount of time, again determined by you, which that's kind of the idea behind the Pom Dora method as well is you need to focus for a specific period of time and then you need to let your brain breathe for a couple of seconds.

00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:56.010
So you go do something else, you know.

00:25:56.010 --> 00:26:02.758
You go walk outside or you do some other thing, and then you come back to whatever it is that you were working on before, and so it goes.

00:26:02.758 --> 00:26:21.038
So what it's doing is helping you to break your day down into chunks, into manageable chunks, and I think sometimes the most overwhelming thing is to look at the task at hand and think, oh my God, how am I ever gonna get this done today?

00:26:21.789 --> 00:26:34.819
And by saying, instead, I'm just gonna do some stuff for 25 minutes, I'm gonna do what I can, and then I'm gonna take a little break and then I'm gonna come back and do it for another 25 minutes and continue through that process until you get it done.

00:26:34.819 --> 00:26:45.279
What it does is, for me at least, that overwhelmed feeling that I can often get when I have a large task at hand.

00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:59.836
It pulls that back for me and that's oftentimes what I say, that I use that in my writing app, oftentimes the idea of starting writing again if you've got a lot behind you and you're in the middle of writing something.

00:26:59.836 --> 00:27:02.798
Just the idea of, oh my God, I'm working on a novel.

00:27:02.798 --> 00:27:03.693
What am I gonna do?

00:27:03.693 --> 00:27:14.039
You know, just saying you know what I'm just gonna write for 25 minutes, right, and I'm not gonna worry about it is a really useful feature.

00:27:14.230 --> 00:27:18.432
It just feels like a much more manageable chunk rather than right.

00:27:18.432 --> 00:27:23.135
So much of it is mental and to be able to do that.

00:27:23.135 --> 00:27:34.298
And you mentioned the categories there and one of the things I liked is it's kind of up to the person, the individual, to see how many categories they want, and so it sounds like you had maybe 10 or 12.

00:27:35.099 --> 00:27:35.580
I have about 10.

00:27:36.111 --> 00:27:39.474
Yeah, and I think I ended up with about the same eight to 10, something like that.

00:27:39.474 --> 00:28:06.096
And I'll tell you, like this week I'm still developing the habit, Like I don't think I've gotten as far as you have with the consistency of it, but like I think it was yesterday I was working on something and I forgot to put it in like as the session, so I just went in and added like a little 15 minute session, Right Cause you can do it after the fact too If you forget or just want to add it.

00:28:06.096 --> 00:28:09.550
For you know, historical data purposes, and.

00:28:09.550 --> 00:28:15.973
But today in particular, there were a couple that I ran this morning when I was doing something.

00:28:15.973 --> 00:28:19.638
And do you keep the menu bar thing up there?

00:28:19.638 --> 00:28:25.757
Up in the menu bar that shows the current session and the time remaining and that sort of thing.

00:28:26.529 --> 00:28:31.362
I do, but because I use the menu bar app that hides it.

00:28:31.529 --> 00:28:38.951
So if I open it up right now, it says I see podcast episode it.

00:28:39.151 --> 00:28:42.515
you know I could see it if I do it now and it kind of gives me a little timer.

00:28:42.515 --> 00:28:44.616
I really don't need that or want that.

00:28:44.616 --> 00:28:50.279
In fact, the other thing that this app does is it can make like little ticking sounds in the background.

00:28:50.410 --> 00:28:51.153
Yeah, I turned that off.

00:28:51.990 --> 00:28:52.559
Same.

00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:53.230
I don't not want that.

00:28:53.250 --> 00:28:53.632
It freaked me out.

00:28:53.632 --> 00:28:56.255
The first time it kicked in I was like what is that clock?

00:28:56.255 --> 00:28:57.137
That's right.

00:28:59.250 --> 00:29:06.638
But what I do like is the two minute warning and it will give you a warning again, something that you can set a time on that.

00:29:06.638 --> 00:29:09.959
But at two minutes it'll say, hey, you've got.

00:29:09.959 --> 00:29:13.317
You know your session's about to come to an end, oh, I've checked that out.

00:29:13.357 --> 00:29:14.019
I haven't looked at that.

00:29:14.430 --> 00:29:15.836
Yeah, it's a really nice feature.

00:29:15.836 --> 00:29:27.958
So you turn that on and what it does is you know it'll say this session is gonna end in two minutes and then you have the option of tacking on five or saying you know what, I'm gonna be complete with it.

00:29:27.958 --> 00:29:28.510
This.

00:29:28.510 --> 00:29:37.316
And I've had situations where, say, I'm reading a script and I'm five, six pages from the end and I want to start a new session like that.

00:29:37.316 --> 00:29:43.218
So it's like you know, add it, add it, add it, add it and then get it done and then put my notes in.

00:29:43.218 --> 00:29:48.920
Integrates well with Apple Watch, but no app for the Apple Watch.

00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:50.035
You can't kick it off.

00:29:50.035 --> 00:29:54.435
It all as it does is gives you notifications, but it's a nice and allows you to.

00:29:54.435 --> 00:30:01.135
You know, either end it or you know, add five minutes and that's great.

00:30:01.155 --> 00:30:06.913
if you walk away like you get distracted or something happens and you have to leave may not just be a distraction if something comes up.

00:30:06.913 --> 00:30:20.739
The thing with the menu bar thing that today I was when I was working on those couple of things, I actually reached for my phone so I was like, oh, I'm gonna check something on social right.

00:30:20.739 --> 00:30:24.833
Then I saw my clock ticking up in the menu bar thing and I put the phone down.

00:30:26.009 --> 00:30:27.161
So it served the purpose, right.

00:30:27.181 --> 00:30:29.872
So I was like yeah, yeah, I was like that's good and it did.

00:30:30.890 --> 00:30:31.913
So are you using?

00:30:31.913 --> 00:30:37.598
Because the other feature that's there is if you have the phone app.

00:30:37.598 --> 00:30:42.159
The phone app also has that feature.

00:30:42.159 --> 00:30:57.739
So on a lock screen Right, you've got the little widget that when you pick up your phone to it goes yo, dork, you're supposed to be doing thing number three or whatever it is that you were doing Yep, and it'll throw the live activity up in the thing too.

00:30:57.910 --> 00:30:59.394
On the 14th.

00:31:00.096 --> 00:31:02.355
Yes, and here's another thing that you can use the app for.

00:31:02.355 --> 00:31:16.161
I haven't really done this yet because I'm pretty good at it, but you can make it so and Adam actually alluded to this last week you can make it so it turns apps off when you begin a session.

00:31:16.161 --> 00:31:20.796
So no messages, no teams notifications, no Slack notifications.

00:31:20.796 --> 00:31:23.252
It has direct integration with Slack, which is kind of nice.

00:31:23.252 --> 00:31:27.750
Although I don't use Slack, or I don't.

00:31:27.750 --> 00:31:30.078
If I don't have to, I don't use Slack.

00:31:30.078 --> 00:31:36.799
There are instances where Slack is definitely a requirement, but what it will do is you got to open messages.

00:31:36.799 --> 00:31:39.298
It goes no, kicks messages off.

00:31:40.250 --> 00:31:40.673
That's what he said.

00:31:40.734 --> 00:31:54.674
he thought it was crash, yeah he thought it was crash, and every time he opened it he was just in a session, but it is able to do that, and then it turns those, those app blocks off as soon as your session is done, so it's not like you have to go back in and reopen the application.

00:31:54.915 --> 00:31:58.434
Yeah, you do anything with shortcuts I haven't yet.

00:31:58.434 --> 00:32:04.076
Yeah, I did the real simple, built in ones where when it starts the session it just turns on, do not disturb.

00:32:05.692 --> 00:32:06.454
And I just roll with that.

00:32:06.454 --> 00:32:08.997
Yeah, I haven't done any of that.

00:32:08.997 --> 00:32:16.955
I plan to do that a little more, but haven't done that, although I will say I'm starting to play with shortcuts a little bit more.

00:32:17.509 --> 00:32:18.977
Yeah, I think we're going to come back to that.

00:32:18.977 --> 00:32:21.993
I think that's a show we should do just on shortcuts stuff.

00:32:21.993 --> 00:32:25.298
And see what we can come up with.

00:32:25.769 --> 00:32:27.715
Yeah, and maybe we're going to stick a couple out there.

00:32:28.278 --> 00:32:34.630
Yeah, can download them and see what uses people, yeah, be curious to see Because shortcuts is interesting.

00:32:34.630 --> 00:32:36.457
So I think we should definitely come back to that.

00:32:36.569 --> 00:32:37.756
Yeah, absolutely true.

00:32:37.756 --> 00:32:39.075
So how about you?

00:32:39.075 --> 00:32:41.538
So you said that you started using it, but not a lot.

00:32:41.538 --> 00:32:54.849
I will say I want to hear how you're doing it, but I will say that I got a little anal about it and with every single thing that I was doing, I would just say you know what A session I'm going to put it on a session?

00:32:54.849 --> 00:33:03.577
Yeah right, it was easy, especially after I created those categories, to say, okay, this is what I'm doing, donk, donk, donk, boom, right, and let it go.

00:33:03.577 --> 00:33:04.739
Yeah.

00:33:05.105 --> 00:33:06.308
So last.

00:33:06.308 --> 00:33:07.814
So I've got it up and I'm looking.

00:33:07.814 --> 00:33:28.409
So one of the nice things and you touched on it a little bit is, after you've done the sessions and everything, there's a section in the app for activity I think that's what it's called and you go in there and you can look at your activity day, week or month and it's got your typical day ranges right so you can do today, yesterday, this week, last week and so on, last 28 days, 14, whatever.

00:33:28.409 --> 00:33:46.096
And so for last week, for example, I had an average focus per day and of course this is all because of it's based on what you put into it, but it was hour and 16 minutes says I was most focused at noon.

00:33:46.096 --> 00:33:53.473
Not sure what to take from that, but the total focus for the week was seven hours and 41 minutes.

00:33:53.473 --> 00:33:57.015
So let's see how it looks this week, fairly consistent.

00:33:57.015 --> 00:34:05.871
So this week I had six hours, 28 minutes, which was down 16% from last week, still most focused at noon.

00:34:05.871 --> 00:34:14.235

Switchin' It Up with Nintendo and Gaining Focus with the Session App

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