The Year of Livewire

Ian

Hello.

Aaron

Welcome back. We're gonna start right away. I got a bone to pick with you, Ian.

Ian

Oh, baby.

Aaron

Yeah. Welcome home from vacation.

Ian

Welcome to the podcast.

Aaron

You said

Ian

controversy.

Aaron

You said on Twitter that Taylor Swift is the greatest businessperson of her generation as if Taylor Swift and I weren't born in 19 89, the same year. So here's here's the issue. If we're judging by money or sold out sold out stadiums or cultural impact or Sure. Platinum albums, sure. Fine.

She's the best. If we're judging by GitHub repos, I'm I'm on the list. I gotta I gotta be above her. Right?

Ian

You have to be. Right?

Aaron

I think

Ian

so. I can imagine My point

Aaron

is what are we judging on is the question.

Ian

I can't imagine her GitHub repo game is as strong as yours. Right? Like, I I just can't.

Aaron

I just can't. I was just looking for a little, like, a little nuance to the conversation.

Ian

Oh, man. Yeah. No. It's, she's so good. I don't know.

But yeah.

Aaron

So she's now selling she's now outselling, like, Avengers in pre what is it? She's she's doing a a concert movie that she's preselling?

Ian

Yeah. So she's had, like, the biggest concert series ever over this past year, and it actually continues into next year. But, you know, tickets are I don't know. A friend of mine, just bought tickets for, like, $3,000 ticket for next November. Audio recording videos of herself.

I think all artists do this. Like, they record the audio and the video, whatever, just in case they ever wanna use it for something. But she's obviously got more of a plan than that, and she's releasing it in, in the movie theaters. So you can go see it in this break of the tour over the winter. She's not performing till next spring.

She's gonna have the movie. So people who can't spend $3,000 can go, see it in movie theater for $20 or whatever. So I, of course, got tickets to go see it. Of course. IMAX.

You know, I need a 7 story Taylor Swift.

Aaron

Of course.

Ian

And, Yeah. I'm pretty excited

Aaron

about that. My wife and several of our friends went to the tour, and they resurrected the group chat. We're like, alright. When are we we when are we buying tickets to go see the movie? It's like, yeah.

Of course they're

Ian

gonna go see it. Yeah. Yeah. All the angles you couldn't see.

Aaron

I think I saw AMC movie theaters said that they were, like, beefing up their infrastructure so that they could start doing the the presale. And somebody was, like, talking about how Taylor Swift is an ops queen because she's making all of these companies increase increase their ops so that they can handle the rush.

Ian

Yeah. And that's what you were saying is that AMC broke all kinds of records for presales and things. And, yes. I mean, she's just gonna print all the money. It's like she's totally ready.

Right? She's she's had a plan. Like, I didn't even consider this. I don't think many people even, you know, thought about it. I don't think anybody knew about it.

And she just comes out of the blue, obviously well planned, not actually out of the blue, and it's like, boom. Oh, tour's ended for this year. Here it is in movie theater. Everybody can go.

Aaron

And And super smart that she didn't cannibalize her own tour sales because it was like, there will be a movie. You don't have to come.

Ian

Yep. Nope. She's and, like and then while the iron's hot, right, while everybody's talking about it and it's a huge cultural moment, it's like, boom. Nope. It keeps going.

We're not stopping the train. Blah blah blah. And, yeah. So, I mean, it's just gonna lead into it next year.

Aaron

I will allow her to etch me out for business person of the year 19 89. The that sounds fine to me.

Ian

What an honor that you were born in the same era of Taylor Swift. I know. That's amazing. I would have

Aaron

to say

Ian

that. Unbelievable.

Aaron

It's it's really it's an honor, and it's also, like, oh, dang. We're the same age. Shoot. That sucks.

Ian

She's a little

Aaron

ahead. Yeah. We're playing a different game. That's all.

Ian

We're we have plenty wise,

Aaron

not open source repo wise.

Ian

You know what? If you listen to her songs, you know she has not done so well in the love department.

Aaron

That is true. If you're

Ian

ahead in the love department and your kid department and all the you know, that end of the world, you're in the lead.

Aaron

That is true. That is fine.

Ian

On the money, but you're working on that.

Aaron

But we'll get there. Yeah. We'll get there. Y'all come to my movie. Okay.

So you're back.

Ian

I'm back, and and you're back. We're this is the 1st episode that we're in. We're both in home turf. So this is exciting.

Aaron

How was the return

Ian

home? Cameras. Good. We also had a lot you know, you were on long trip. We this is, like, the longest trip like, road trip, I think, we've really ever taken down to the Outer Banks.

So that was a bit of a haul, but the kids are big now. So it wasn't too bad. Not too much fighting and crying and stuff like that. That's good. Humanoid now, which is awesome.

So, yeah. So we actually stopped in DC both ways to, just, like, break up trip to avoid the 11 or 12 hours straight through. Did you have any,

Aaron

like, sightseeing, or was it just overnight?

Ian

Yeah. The first the way down, we did do sightseeing. We've been there a few times before, but, you know, kinda walked the National Mall. Yeah. I love the Lincoln Memorial.

It's my favorite. So hit up Lincoln. No. Did that kind of area. And then, I know we went out to dinner or whatnot.

And then way back, we were gonna go to the postal museum. We didn't even realize it was a postal museum. We're like, oh, postal museum. But, anyway,

Aaron

didn't happen. The letters or what do they have there?

Ian

This is what the kids' theory was. Just stamps. It's just lost mail. Stamps. Yeah.

It's all lost mail. So I don't know what's there because I didn't get to it because we got going kinda late, and then it was wasn't gonna work out. So everybody was exhausted. But we just went to the hotel. I played poker because there's a

Aaron

Did you win?

Ian

Casino there. I lost a few $100, so not too bad. But I did play, like, a super long session, and it was a good game. Like, there was it was a great game, actually, but I just couldn't find the right spots. So

Aaron

If I know anything about gambling and I don't, the the strategy is you should chase your losses. I think that's what you're supposed to do. Like, if you're down, you just keep playing, and eventually it turns around.

Ian

Yeah. So, I mean, this is this is sort of the level. It was, like, a 5:10 for those of you who play poker. So $300 loss is actually, like, almost kind of even, which is fine.

Aaron

5:10. That feels like a lot.

Ian

Yeah. Because that's a bigger game than I normally play. Yeah. So

Aaron

Jeez.

Ian

But, you know, when I have these opportunities to play bigger games, I have to take it because, like, where I play locally never has that. So that was good. But oh, we went to Topgolf. That's the thing. We did that.

And then we went to Topgolf, which that was another first. So we did the Waffle House. First time at Waffle House. First time at Topgolf. And that was a lot of fun.

Food was better than I expected and whatever. Just get out there and smack the golf ball around a bit. So that was cool.

Aaron

It's fun. It's fun that they bring they bring the food and drink out to you, and it's Yeah. Just hanging out. Like, you know, it's bar food, but it's it's so fun. I don't even know golf, but it's a lot of fun.

Ian

I don't love golf either. My middle kid is kind of in this I don't know. He picked up golf in the last month, and he's kinda super in the zone on it. So That's fun. He was all jazzed.

And, yeah, it was good. It was good. So but good to be back. I have, like, 8,000,000 things to do.

Aaron

Yeah. That's what I was gonna ask. How's the return to So return to the office life for you?

Ian

Man, it's been a crazy morning. I need the first day back. It's absolutely bananas. We're doing this, like for HubSpot, we're rolling out this new store. So HubSpot has it's not like a regular SaaS app or in the app, you do things.

It's got this whole store setup that's separate from the app, because we partially because it's ancient. And so that's, like, how you did things in the old days when you had on premise apps. Apps. But also, we do a lot of other stuff that isn't even that easy to do with Stripe even still, like, invoicing. I know they do invoicing, but we handle all kind of types of payment.

You can send us a check and whatever. Blah blah. So we have our own thing for that. And, so that's a new version that's rolling out today. And in the middle of that Yeah.

So they're working on that. The guys are cranking away on that. And then, I come back to, like, other other decisions I made before I left that I don't love, so I'm fixing those decisions. And then Yes. And then, and then in the middle of that, I got one of these emails where, like so I've had ianlandsman.com for whatever, 20 something years.

Right? Mhmm. And one of these Reuters image, you know, copyright royalty services, has hunted me down and found an image I used in 2,005 on a blog post, and they want, you know, $2,000. So

Aaron

What?

Ian

Now I gotta go through all that headache. So I, like, took that down. But, of course, like, my site is built on, like, an ancient version of Jigsaw. So even just taking down the page was, like, I had to, like, update the whole thing and, like, whatever. So I got that done.

Got the stuff Wait.

Aaron

Somebody somebody tracked you down for what it's I guess a copyright violation?

Ian

Yeah. Like, I embedded Reuters image in a blog post in 2,005. Probably just, you know, not obviously intentionally, from somewhere else that globally

Aaron

5. It was run and gun, baby.

Ian

I know. So they have these services. Yeah. This is just the way they're making who else? I'm sure they make 1,000,000 of dollars a a quarter on juicing their numbers by hunting down random blog posts and sending threatening letters.

So

Aaron

So are you free and clear now? Are you just gonna ignore it?

Ian

I mean, it just happened this morning. I took it down. You are absolutely not free and clear.

Aaron

When this is legal advice. So, yeah, if you're paying attention, we're both attorneys for

Ian

sure. Yeah. So I think, you know, whatever. It's one of these games, right, where, like, I'm always gonna push back on them. Mhmm.

Hopefully, they cut it down a little bit. Do I think I could win in court? Like, I mean, I don't know. Probably not, to be honest with you, because, like, I use this image. It was there.

You know, obviously, when it's $1,000 or let's say we get down to, like, $1,000, like

Aaron

Mhmm.

Ian

Can I hire a lawyer and fight them for $1,000? Do I wanna, like, go through so it's this this whole thing. The the main thing I was worried about is is it even real? So I went through all that. It does seem to be real.

So I don't know. You know, it's like this game where, like, it's not enough money to fight it. So you're just kind of stuck paying the ransom for this ridiculous blog post that nobody's ever seen. Right. And even when it was new in 2005, 50 people saw it.

But whatever. So I went through every other image that's up there in my ancient history of blogs, and made sure there's nothing else, deleted a few things that whatever. I knew they weren't my images. I don't think they didn't seem good enough to be Reuters images, but whatever they were, just whatever, delete them. So, anyway, so that's been my crazy return to work.

Exactly. Exactly. So Now I

Aaron

was thinking we wish we should start a business that that, you know, exploits those images and emails and demands payment. That sounds pretty awesome.

Ian

This is exactly what my wife said. She's like, we needed one of these gigs. I'm like Yeah. Yeah. Or or what about we take the white hat version of that, a service that checks your websites and says, hey.

Some of these images look a little iffy. You might wanna clean this up before these, these bad guys get a hold of.

Aaron

Before we sell the lead to the bad guys who are gonna sue you.

Ian

Right. Exactly.

Aaron

I think that I think that's like a protection racket. So Yeah.

Ian

Yeah. I love a good gangster. There. Yeah. Gangster thing.

You know, I'm big on the gangsters.

Aaron

Things are good over here. We, we tried to do potty training for the kids over the weekend. Just total epic disaster. Disaster. Just not even not even close to not even close to working.

Yeah. So we didn't, let's see. We didn't fail. We're just gonna try again later. We we put Yeah.

We put a hold on it and said, okay. This isn't this isn't working. They are a little young, to be fair. And so we're just gonna try again later. But, boy, that was the worst.

Ian

That was not great.

Aaron

That was super not great.

Ian

Do they have an interest yet or they're not really interested?

Aaron

They're not really interested.

Ian

Yeah. I'll be honest. They're just interested

Aaron

in, like, peeing on

Ian

the floor. Right.

Aaron

Yeah. Not not a huge fan of that, I'll be honest.

Ian

Yeah. Until they get the interest until they're showing interest in, like, the toilet and stuff, I feel like it's kind of gonna be rough there.

Aaron

Yeah. So back to diapers, and everybody's happy. Kids are at school today, and so Woo hoo. My wife is feeling very light and free.

Ian

So yeah. Good.

Aaron

Yeah. Much much better. Yeah. And then yesterday was Labor Day, and I did a little I had a little fun me time and just redesigned my site a little bit. Actually, that's that's totally not fair.

Hugo, the designer at Tuple redesigned my personal site, and then Jason Beggs, good guy Jason part. Right. And they they couldn't have known, and so I'm gonna I am going to tweak it, which usually means, like, destroy the design. Exactly. But that's what I've spent a a a few hours doing was, like, playing around with, how am I gonna fit this content into this design?

And it was fun. You know? Tailwind, still pretty great. Still loving.

Ian

It's the goat.

Aaron

I used some of those wild, like, descendant selectors. Very, very cool. Lot of fun. So yeah. Good.

A good distraction after a a weekend filled with very few wins, I will say.

Ian

Yeah. Those potty trading days, those are rough. Those are it's just brutal. It's just brutal. Especially, I can't imagine 2 at once.

Forget Yeah. Even just one is a disaster. 2 is

Aaron

Yep. It scales linearly, I think. Right.

Ian

It was

Aaron

a it was a devil's ass kicker.

Ian

Yeah. Right. For sure. Yeah. Yeah.

You might have to do one at a time. Just because they're twins doesn't mean you have to do them both at the

Aaron

Can't go that route with

Ian

it. Yeah. Oh, man. How's the now I've seen some people talking about screencasting.com videos as if they've seen them, but then then I checked and it wasn't launched. So I don't know if you have some people, like,

Aaron

in there mailing list, man. So

Ian

Okay.

Aaron

Trying to do the whole, like, hey. Sign up for the mailing list. I'll send you stuff. Sign up for the mailing list. I'll send you stuff.

And it's working. Mhmm. And so I've sent out a preview of maybe, like, 3 or 4 of the lessons. And then I've started to do I started to solicit videos from other people. Be like, send me your video.

I'll do a video review of your video. Mhmm. And I've sent out a few of those, like, tear actually, I've sent out one of those tear downs, and I have another one going out to the list today. And so it's kinda like, you know, the incentive to sign up for the list is you'll get some content early. And then, hopefully, when launch time comes, the list will be, you know, bigger enough to make a difference.

So, yeah.

Ian

What are you looking at for launch? When when are you thinking that's gonna happen?

Aaron

Yeah. I think so today, we're recording is, September 5th. I think it's gonna be September oh, what is it? 20th maybe? Whatever the Wednesday of that week is.

So I think it's, like, 2 and a half away. Yeah. Very close. So lot of good lot of good stuff happening there. I've also started to reach out to people to do, like screencastter spotlights.

And so we got one in already, Matthias, who's, you know, friend of Laravel. Yep. I reached out to him and I was like, hey, man. I would love for you to do a video on, like, hey, I'm Matthias. This is what I do.

Here's kinda my setup. This is my camera, my microphone. Here's what I like. Here's what I don't like. So do like a short, you know, 3 to 5 minute video on that.

And then on the page have it listed below of like, here's all the gear that Matheus uses. Here are the links where you can find Matheus's stuff. That way, you know, it's a fun, like, it's a fun way for people to see what other people are doing.

Ian

Right.

Aaron

You know, if if they start to look around at, like, different cameras and microphones, they can look at some of these other screencasters and be like, oh, this guy uses the camera I was thinking about using. Let me watch his video or something like that. And I think it'll be good, like, social drive social behavior. Right? Because then every every screen caster that we spotlight is gonna wanna, you know, send people over there and be like, hey.

Look at this thing I have on screencasting.com that has, like, a backlink to my, you know, to my screen casting stuff. And so trying to round out some of the content there to make the site a little bit heavier for for SEO and and social stuff.

Ian

And And everybody loves gear posts. Like, gear posts Yes. Classic win. Like, you're just gonna have people wandering through there just because why not? I just love seeing what gear people are using and what they're doing with it and everything.

So that's a a definite win there. Yeah. And and the things to work together are definitely useful too just like yeah. Which camera maybe I already have a piece of something. Like, maybe I can see, like, well, what are people pairing with this and how's that going and everything.

Like, oh, you need to do this or the microphone setup should be that, especially with the mic stuff tends to be a lot of Yeah. Things like that or specific cameras having, like, whatever the good settings for streaming or or even video setup sometimes since they're usually kind of more photography focused by default, in their default settings. Sometimes you have a few tweaks there you need to do to get it set up for the video. So

Aaron

Yep. Yep. And I think we'll end up with a I think we'll end up with a page that's like screencasting.com/cameras. And it'll be Yeah. It'll be a whole listing of, like, the different camera options.

And then in each section for, like, the Canon M50, which is what I'm running, then we can have links out to all the profiles of people that use the Canon M50. And then Yeah. We can have, like, a full super heavy in terms of content page for screencasting cameras. And I think given the domain and the fact that we can put a ton of content on there, I think we'll we'll rank pretty highly for screencasting cameras.

Ian

Yeah. Especially the camera. I think, or even the mics too. I mean, I think if you had a page for each of the big camera systems and mic systems and then even just whether it's you or some you know, pay somebody to go through and do the work of, like, either building these or even just finding the good videos about on YouTube about how to set them up. Because, like, when I was setting up for this new setup I have here, it's like it took me, like, 4 YouTube videos and, like, 3 hours for this particular camera, which is like the Sony a 7 c.

And so, like, this and this is actually a really good camera potentially for streaming. Like, it's a video oriented camera to some degree anyway. But it's like even that didn't have, like, here is how you would set this camera up for streaming and the things you should do. And, like so I think just having that for you know? Because, basically, if you do the Sonys and the Canons, you don't have to do every single one even, but, the big ones, a lot of them are same across anyway.

It's like, you know, the menuing system, and everything's the same across multiple cameras in the series. So I think that'd be super useful, and you get a lot of links for that because it's actually pretty hard to find that. They're pretty hard to find. So you just

Aaron

went through this. So, like, what part was hard for you to find? Was it concise or comprehensive? Or what was the

Ian

part that was missing? End up t there's there was, like, nobody as I found anyway, at least for this particular camera that really went through in, like, how to set it up, especially for the streaming, which might be a little different than what you're doing. But even for the video, there was just a lot of, like, here's some of the settings, but then I knew other stuff. I mean, I know a little bit about it, which helped. If I'm starting from less knowledge, I think it would have been even worse.

But, yeah. Just and just even things like how do you run the power to it. Like, can you do HDMI out? Or a lot of the cameras have USB c, which can pipe over it, but there's actually a difference. And HDMI is probably better, but not necessarily always.

And so there's kind of things like that in terms of the setup physical setup of how you're gonna power it and how you're

Aaron

gonna That's infused. Out.

Ian

And then also then the Sony system, all these camera systems, the menu is a disaster. So, you know, how do you find all the little spots where you need to set it up for whether it's changes for the continuous power or changes for, like, what setting this should be on for video and all that stuff. So just to get that initial setup so you have something reasonable Right. And you're not you know, some of them have overheating issues. Is there certain things you have to do?

Maybe you shouldn't run it at 10:80 p or whatever. Like, whatever. All the different things to be aware of for the particular camera. So you, you know, your first run experiences aren't you get 20 minutes in and it's shutting down and

Aaron

Right. Or in the middle of the recording session, which is super frustrating. Right.

Ian

Oh, no.

Aaron

It's a good idea. This is a really good idea. I think, so one of the things I'm thinking for, like, continually filling the top of the funnel, because I want this course to last forever, you know, as as forever as possible. I'm thinking I'll do a separate YouTube channel that is just screencasting focused.

Ian

Makes sense.

Aaron

And this could be a really good this could be a really good couple of videos where I synthesize all of the information about you know, because people are trying to teach you how to use the camera for everything.

Ian

Right. And

Aaron

I could synthesize all of that into here's how you use it just for a webcam or a screen cast, basically. Yep. That is really interesting. I like that idea. The question is, am I gonna have to buy a bunch of cameras

Ian

to, like, do it honestly?

Aaron

Because I don't wanna do that.

Ian

Well, I mean, there's a bunch of services for renting cameras. So for, like, $20, $30, or whatever, you can just, like, rent the camera and the lens for 2 days, do the video, send it back.

Aaron

Yeah. Of course. Ian, this is why we do this. We do we do this podcast for my benefit. This is amazing.

Okay. Yeah. That's obvious. Yep. What is it called?

There's one that's, like,

Ian

like, last

Aaron

rent or or I'm thinking of Rent the Runway, which is different. I'll I'll I'll look it up.

Ian

That's fine. Yeah. Yeah. It should be good to find. Yeah.

I can't remember the names, but I know a ton of people who use them. Everybody seems to have pretty good results with it. So I think that you're getting, like, pretty, you

Aaron

know Yeah.

Ian

Good gear and good shape, and it'll be fine for your purposes of Yeah. I I don't need I don't

Aaron

even wanna keep the gear, so it's perfect. So

Ian

Okay. And you only need one lens probably or whatever. So,

Aaron

Yeah. Okay. Cool. That'll be fun. And this will

Ian

be another project for the list.

Aaron

Yeah. Seriously. I count this I count this as a subproject, so mentally, this doesn't, like, this doesn't take, this doesn't take a slot.

Ian

Yeah.

Aaron

Exactly. I don't feel like, oh, man. I got a million. No. I only have, like, 4 things to juggle of which Right.

Subtask a is record a 1,000,000 videos. So I have a hard

Ian

time with that. I start I I get down that path. This is part of the stuff I've been eliminating from Mhmm. Decisions I made pre vacation. Yep.

Is it's just like I get too much stuff going, and I'm not as good at that. I've never been that good at it. If I get too many balls, then I just start to get, like it just weighs on me, and then I don't do even the things I need to be doing. It's just like, oh, it's too stress and pressure. So then I gotta go back to and be like, nope.

Don't actually need to do those things right now. Like, that'll be fine. Get we can wait a few months or 6 months, whatever. Put it on, like, a separate Notion page for, like, kind of backlog of ideas. Just leave it over there so it's not, like, in my day to day vision.

And then, yeah.

Aaron

Yep. You are super not alone. I feel I feel the same way. I feel like I have, like, a natural kind of ebb and flow cycle almost of, like, expand. Let's do everything.

And then I get I get to, like, the the maximum expansion, and I'm like, uh-oh. This is too much. And then I can track down and focus on the few things that I think are most important maybe or most pressing. And then that kinda just that just kinda ebbs and flows over time. And I don't know if that's bad.

Like, I I don't know if that's bad. I maybe

Ian

wish I maybe wish I didn't get to the

Aaron

point where it was, like, this is way too much. I'm gonna die. Yeah. Which is where where I am now.

Ian

So There is this entrepreneurial, I think a lot of entrepreneurs have that issue, and it's like you get that little bit of space. Like, you actually get some space and you're like, I must fill this space. Like, I must there's more things to do. Let's pile stuff into the gap. And then all of a sudden, you look around a week later, you're like, oh, I actually have tons of stuff to do.

And then the thing you know, you have no capacity for, like, when someone comes out of the blue and wants to charge you $2,000 for a photo you used 20 years ago or, like, all these, you know, random stuff that comes up when you're running a business or even side projects or even just your day job needs you to work longer or whatever. Like, who knows? Like, just having the extra capacity to take on those unknown things. Yeah. I hit that all the time where I'm, like, running too close to capacity.

And then, like, something happens, and I'm like, oh, no. I gotta deal with that and rework things.

Aaron

Actively trying to, like, shed projects. You're like, god. I can't do that. That's I mean, Hugo Hugo designed my website, I think, back in, like, September or October of last year, and it's now September of this year. And it was just one of those things where at the time, I was like, yeah.

Hell, yeah. Let's freaking let's do a website. That seems awesome. And then he designed it, and I was like, oh, gosh.

Ian

I don't have time to do this.

Aaron

Like, yeah. Yeah. I can't do this anymore. That's that's one thing where I think I I do get in trouble sometimes is I'll have, like I'll start the projects and have, like, other people, you know, pay them, of course, but have other people do parts of it. And then I'm like, oh, no.

Now it's back to me. And so, you know, hopefully hopefully, Hugo's happy, 1, to see his design out there. And 2, of course, I did pay him for it. But now I'm finally like, alright. Here we go.

This is now it's come back around till I have time to do this.

Ian

The number of people and the amount of money I paid for people to not do the things I asked them to do is completely insane. Yes. I know I paid you. I'm I'm fine with you not doing it. Just forget it.

Like, just the what you were gonna do and then place on me, like, I'm fine just paying you to not just make that money, enjoy it. I don't even want you to produce it. Yeah. I just wanna not worry about it. So, yeah, I do have had that happen numerous times.

So Yeah.

Aaron

And it's kinda like if they do produce the thing, it's like, yes. I'm thrilled to death with the work you've done. It's amazing. I love it. I just I'm gonna sit on it for a little while.

Sorry about that.

Ian

So we should get the full the full update. What's up with the hello query? I don't think we've even talked about that on We have not talked about that in

Aaron

a while. So we've been doing we've been doing a push with, do you know Boris Lepkin in the Laravel community? He's the guy who wrote Advanced Inertia.

Ian

Okay. Yes. I know that.

Aaron

So he's the, Inertia typescript. He's he's he's a wizard. Like, I thought I thought for a long time that I was a really good developer, and I think I am. I'm not as good as Boris. Like, Boris is Boris is a gosh dang machine.

Yeah. And it also happens that he's, like, really, really good at the front end, and I'm I'm okay at front end. But in terms of, like, alright, let's wire up inertia and Vue altogether with typed stuff on the back end, like, I don't I don't hold a candle to Boris. Right. So, anyway, we've hired Boris to help us build out some of that stuff.

Ian

Oh, awesome.

Aaron

Because like I said, I got to this point where I was like, oh, this is too much. Yeah. And we were just moving too slowly because I just I was also having a hard time, like, project's been going on for a 1000 years. Right. And losing some of that motivation for that side.

And so bringing Boris on to, like, just plow through some tasks has been really awesome. So that's been going well. We're reaching the point where it's like, alright. Let's let's let's onboard some customers here. And so, yeah, Colleen and I are talking about, like, okay.

We're we're about to approach the starting line of this project. Like, even though it feels like this should be the finish line, we're approaching the starting line. Let's talk about, like, what that's gonna look like going forward. Yeah. And so there's still some, you know, there's still some decisions and and stuff to be made there.

But just having someone else that's really, really talented help me on the development side has been, like, a huge boost in terms of, like, like, emotional fortitude to have somebody else picking up some of that Slack. So that's been great. So thanks, Boris. Thanks. Yeah.

Thanks thanks for being thanks for being a a 10 x developer. That's amazing.

Ian

Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. I think there's getting to shipping is so important. And, like, that's something I haven't always factored enough in.

And actually with a huge new project that we'll talk about on here eventually, I've been reworking a lot of that so that to try to get to that shipping part faster. Yeah. And and, yeah. So I think, I think that's super important. Like, sex, when you're just on that March of, like, an ever ending March, it is it is very difficult to, like, stay motivated and even to remember what you were trying to do at times and things like that.

And so I think, having that yeah. Whether it's help or just reorganizing, I think there's actually Jason Cohen has a really, interesting blog post about this where kind of indirectly about this, but he was more talking about, like, MVPs and how he doesn't like MVPs. Yeah. But more about the idea than doing something where it's it's just smaller but complete so that, like, even if you then don't add on to whatever or even if it takes longer than to get to the full vision, it's not that you're shipping this kind of junky, doesn't even work for the customer tool. It's just that you're shipping something that is small, but that there is a use case for even if it's just that small feature set.

Aaron

Yeah.

Ian

And people could love that small feature set. And then, you know, you can either build

Aaron

on it, hop on it.

Ian

But, like but that different take on it, which I kinda like that idea of it as well.

Aaron

Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like there is there is, like, a big emotional win from having that in people's hands. So that you can start to get that, like, that, you know, that dopamine from people actually using the thing instead of Yeah. Just sitting quietly alone working on it all the time.

Ian

Money changing hands and all that stuff.

Aaron

Yeah. Exactly. So when when are you you mentioned it in passing. You got a big secret project we're gonna talk about at some point?

Ian

Yeah. We'll talk about the big secret project.

Aaron

Oh, right. I love it.

Ian

We're not there.

Aaron

So y'all stay tuned. Come back. Come back next week, and we'll keep coming back.

Ian

Probably next week. But Eventually,

Aaron

we will talk about it.

Ian

Eventually, we'll get to it. We're definitely gonna talk about it, but not not yet. Yeah. We have lots of other stuff to talk about, though.

Aaron

Let's do it.

Ian

No worries. What else we got here? So alright. So what about, well, alright. I'll we can talk about this.

So I'd post about year of LiveWire. What did you think about that? I think I think 2024 year is the year of LiveWire, is the year of Filament, is the year of the LiveWire ecosystem. To me, it's gonna be Livewire.

Aaron

Tell you any thoughts. Tell me, like, what you were doing and what kind of prompted the the year of Livewire tweet.

Ian

Well, I've just been super deep in LiveWire again. So sort of a long story, but the short version is I plan to do a bunch of stuff with Livewire 3 last year when it was, you know, sort of supposed to come out. Mhmm. And actually, you know, did some sponsoring to help do some of that, whatever. It just took longer as these software projects do or whatever.

So it's fine. So I that's this is what where I kinda go and got over towards into the react and all that, which we've touched on a little bit here. I was like, well, I've never looked at inertia. I've never looked at react. Let me go off in that direction for a bit.

So I went over there, learned react, played with inertia, and all that stuff. Fine. So then Livewire 3 comes out, and, you know, new Filament comes out, and there's a bunch of other, you know, projects along the ecosystem. The Spouti stuff's all being updated to Livewire 3. I know the Laravel core stuff that use Livewire has has been updated or will be updated soon.

So so I've been back in Livewire 3 streets. I'm like, alright. Let me get in here since this was kind of my original plan. And and we use Livewire for other stuff anyways. So, Lara Jobs uses it, and our the store thing that's launching today for HubSpot uses it and whatever.

So we use Livewire a bunch of places. But and, I just love love it. Not even, like, super, super deep it yet, but I've been loving all the changes. I just think it's, like, so obviously, like, the foundation to then build on for world domination. Oh, wow.

So, yeah, I'm all about the world domination. And Yeah. And I just think this is, like, it's so integrated with Laravel in the way that none of the other things can ever be. Right?

Aaron

Yeah.

Ian

And so, yeah, it's just great. And I think what the filming guys are doing is great and how they've expanded that where you can build it's not just like an admin panel anymore. It's, you know, got bigger ambitions than that and you can really use it to build other sorts of apps and things. And, I mean, Filament's sort of a little bit intense, and and Yeah. Have you get started with?

Aaron

Filament. Because I thought it was I thought it was an admin panel, but now I'm seeing people like you say, it's like application builders. So, like

Ian

Right.

Aaron

What what is the scope? What is the scope there?

Ian

Yeah. I mean, the scope is kinda massive. So, I mean, it's definitely where you could use it now for and maybe you always could to some degree, but I think been flushed out a little bit more where it's not just like admin for the, like, the little literal admins of the system to manage an a SaaS app, but you could definitely use it whether, it's gonna be a little hard to explain, but they have this kind of a panel, which is sort of like an admin dashboard, but you could use it for actually the UI of your app now with what they've done with it, or or part part of the UI. Like, maybe you have, like, you know, like, a user area, but then there might be other areas that don't necessarily use Filament for, like, the front, let's say, that may be more custom or things like that. So you could mix and match.

You could also just use the individual components like the table builder. Like, I just saw, like, Spouty's using the table builder.

Aaron

Yeah. I've seen the table builder.

Ian

The media media library, I think. Yeah. And the form builder and things like that. So and, you know, it's basically the missing component library of the Laravel Livewire kind of I see. Ecosystem, in terms of if you want the, like, fully integrated components.

Now I still don't think they're all the way and they're definitely not all the way to sort of the full on polishness of, like, the React ecosystem. But I do think it's gotten a lot closer and is a lot better. And then you're making different trade offs. Like, maybe it's not quite as uber polished as that in areas. But then on the flip side, like, it's super tied into Laravel and

Aaron

Right.

Ian

It understands Laravel, and you can just totally ignore a whole bunch of annoying kind of API validation Yeah. All that stuff, you know, networking communication type things, because it all just magically works. So yeah. So I don't know. So are you

Aaron

using Filament for anything at this point?

Ian

So I'm not well, we use actually one of the components, like, the table builder in the new store, But I am evaluating for a super big secret project, possibly using it pretty heavily. So Okay. Yeah. So that's what I've been kinda digging into to that stuff. But, yeah, I just think it's, like, all reaching this place.

I think it's all gonna get a lot better too. Like, they're coming out with, like like, Filament's the lead designer, I think he is at Filament is coming out with, like, a theme package so that you can have some different styles in there if you want something a little cleaner than the default, things like that. Mhmm. And, yeah, there's just a lot of activity on LiveWire end and the Filament end with people, you know, doing a lot of active dev work around it. So

Aaron

It does seem to be a very active project. Yeah. It seems like there are a lot of people working on it, and there's a lot of there's a lot of motion on it. And a lot of people are, like, contributing to it. Is there a paid component?

How do how do these people make money?

Ian

Filament, I don't believe has a directly paid component. No. You can sponsor Dan

Aaron

Got it.

Ian

Kinda runs it.

Aaron

And same with working for a company. Right?

Ian

Yeah. I think he works for Kirschbaum. Yeah. So I think he's on semi sponsored in that way. I don't know exactly the exact deal there, but I do think they do give him at least some time to work on it is my impression.

And then, you know, Caleb has the kind of LiveWire, the Alpine components. That themselves, and he has a lot of GitHub Sponsors. Although GitHub just kinda messed that up a little bit on the sponsorship front. But, and they and Livewire also has a paid support channel now too if you wanna get paid support for, like, if you have a big Livewire project and wanna be able to have kind of direct access to the core brain trust, then, you can can pay them for that, which is a great program too. So yeah.

I mean, all these things, I think, like every open source project, it's like how do you Mhmm. Monetize it to kind of survive, and pay the bills so you can build the open source thing people want.

Aaron

Okay. So LiveWire 3 plus ecosystem plus tight integration with Laravel. That's why you think 2024 is the year of of LiveWire?

Ian

Yeah. I just think with this new foundation, like so there's always been a little bit of, like, kind of rough edges to LiveWire Mhmm. When you get in there and, like, build something more complicated where there can be just more kinda difficult error states or a lot of sort of subtle things you have to be aware of Yeah. To make that work. And so I think that's a was always a little bit tricky.

Or for pages with lots of components, there'd be, like, a lot of network stuff going on and things like that. And a lot of that stuff is I mean, almost all of it really has been, you know, made a lot better fixed. Yeah. If it was, like, kind of more bugs or more sensible defaults or optimized in terms of like the networking. So like the foundation is like super strong.

And then I think with filament on top, then you just have this nice way to actually get started Mhmm. With Bam. I can, like, build out an idea really quickly, which I know has always been also kind of one of Taylor's, core tenants, so to speak, with Laravel. It's like, can you get to building something, you know, pretty quickly, which why Laravel always does such a great job with, you know, the other elements of like, you know, authentication and having all those Yep. Jetstream and all those things to make it really easy to just get all that boilerplate stuff that is terrible to build kinda out of the way right at the beginning, and Laravel just can give you that.

So so yeah. I don't know. I just think, you know, you know, now having just gone through all the React stuff too, it's like, you know, even with inertia, it's still, you know, it's still JavaScript. Right? Like, ultimately

Aaron

Got them. Welcome home, baby.

Ian

Yeah. I'm good.

Aaron

You're back. Whoo. It's still JavaScript.

Ian

Yeah. It's still JavaScript. And it's like, if you don't have to be in there or something can make it nice for you, so that you you're in there, but you don't have to really know too much about it except for when you really need to. And then Livewire does a great job with that. It's all integrated with Alpine, like, fully now.

So it used to be this sort of, like, they weren't actually one and the same, but now it's essentially, like, they're one and the same. And so you can use Alpine, which I like a lot. And you can they can cross communicate really easily where you need to. And so for those times we do need to do something JavaScripty that's literally only in the browser, then great. Like, you can do those weirdo JavaScripty things Mhmm.

And sync it up with Livewire if you need to and have that all work magically. So

Aaron

yeah. I buy it. I buy it. Yeah. I'm I'm with you.

So I think I think Livewire 3 is, like a step change, like a fundamental improvement over Livewire 2. Just I was never a heavy Livewire user, and I'm still not, actually. But I have used Livewire 2, and I have used Livewire 3. And I do think all of the time and energy that Caleb put into Livewire 3 was worth it? Because I think I think a lot of a lot of the, like, I I feel like a lot of the drive by criticize criticisms of LiveWire 2 was around performance and requests and that kind of stuff.

Ian

Right. And I feel

Aaron

like Caleb went to the nth Caleb went to the nth degree trying to solve some of the batching and, like you said, tight integration with Alpine. So you can do some stuff that is strictly front end but is still fully integrated to LiveWire such that when you do send a request, like, it all goes together.

Ian

Right.

Aaron

And so I think I think my point of view on LiveWire is I actually don't mind writing JavaScript that much because I write Vue and not React.

Ian

We'll we'll barb to React. But I'm not going to Vue. Yeah. That's for sure. Okay.

But we don't have to talk about that yet.

Aaron

Yeah. But what I do love about LiveWire is just the network chasm has been crossed, and you don't have to worry about I think you mentioned, for you. And that is just it's just a delight to use to not think about, like, alright, how am I gonna serialize this and send it across the wire and validate it and send some response back and respond to it. Like Jason wired up my my new web site, and there's, like, a a listing of content, and you can filter between, like, videos and articles and talks and that kind of thing.

Ian

Right.

Aaron

And he did it all in LiveWire 3. And I think with, with Folio is that the single page 1, or is Volt the single page 1? Which one's the page router?

Ian

Well, well, the Volt is the single page LiveWire component. Yes. And then

Aaron

yeah. Folio is the page routing. Okay. So he did it all with Volt style LiveWire. And so you just open up this content list dot blade dot PHP, and, like, you see a little bit a little bit of LiveWire at the top and then the view or the template at the bottom, it's like, oh.

There. I get this. This is Right. This has, like, collapsed the level of mental complexity in my mind. And I I I really dig it.

So I do think I do think, the ecosystem is developing. I think all the work that Filament is doing is great. I think also, Filo, everything that Philo touches in the LiveWire ecosystem is is incredibly high quality, and he's got I don't I don't know all of his projects, but he's got a lot of stuff going on over there. But I could see it. I could see 2024 being the year of LiveWire.

And hopefully with, like, the the PHP resurgence, and me trying to convince people that PHP is good

Ian

That'll be cool.

Aaron

We we yeah. We we get some momentum going here.

Ian

Well, the other thing too, I think, that's huge for LiveWire is, the sort of, that it's been fully brought into the fold under the Laravel domain. So it's like livewire.laravel.com. So that's always the other thing is, like, you know, you can drop LiveWire in for sure and just, like, use it here and there. But also it's, you know, I think ideally in some ways, like, you'd be especially in 3 where there's, like, kind of the single page mode where it can really be pre loading things.

Aaron

Just super cool.

Ian

So you can just have it be everything, basically. But that's a huge commitment. And then, obviously, everybody's always scared about, like, well, this is, like, kind of a thing. It's run by, you know, 1 or 2 people. Like, do I wanna have my entire app built on this thing?

And so, you know, being in the official Laravel fold just has that extra level of of assurance that, you know what, like, the Laravel in crew is gonna take care of this project. Like, no matter what, LiveWire is here to stay, and it's gonna get better. And it's gonna be either even more integrated into Laravel core in the future in different ways. And so and same with Volt being released by Laravel Inc. So you have that support there.

So it's just like everything's coming everybody's on board with LiveWire that this is how this is, like, the default way to me to write a Laravel app. It's like it's it's livewire. And then, like, then there's, you know, obviously, there's other reasons why you might use Mhmm. React or Vue or just Blade in a super simple scenario or whatever. But kind of your main line, I'm building a real app, that's, you know, significant in size.

I feel like LiveWire is the the front end technology you're looking at for that on on Laravel. And that's what kind of where things are going in my mind. So anyway, so I think all that kind of comes together to be the year of LiveWire. So we'll see.

Aaron

You you wanna hear my spicy take on the subdomain subdomain thing? Yes. Subdomain thing. Want there to be inertia.laravel.com too. And I know I know that inertia is, like, all things to all people, a little bible reference there, but I know that inertia has all these different frameworks.

I want I want it to be first party.

Ian

To be in the fold. Yes.

Aaron

I want it to be in the fold, fully adopted. And I know that it's, like, feature complete or whatever, but I just want it to be more specific to Laravel. Laravel. And maybe, like, sure, continue on with the other frameworks, you know, bless their hearts. But, like, I want it to be more specific to Laravel.

Ian

This is a very interesting point because this is actually one of the things I hit with inertia. And now it's been, like, 2 months, so I don't even remember the exact details. But, basically, I hit a thing where, like, I thought it should be doing something a little bit differently. And I wish I could remember the details, but I literally don't even remember the details. This is gonna

Aaron

be a good one. This is gonna be good content. Yeah.

Ian

But but that's not really the point. The point is that, like, the that is like, everybody's like, yeah. It's done. It's feature complete. And I'm like, well but, like, here's the thing of how it's handling something, like, across the wire that, like, I feel like it should be doing a little bit differently that would be easier to then manage.

I believe it was, like, on the Laravel side, it could be doing something a little differently to to be better. And everybody's like, no. It's feature complete. And I'm like, I kinda get where they're coming from. That's like, well, like, the yes.

Like, maybe, like, literally the wired protocol of it is feature complete, but I feel like there's these other maybe rough edges. And then I'm poking around. Other people seem to have the same rough edges and things. And I'm like, I don't know. Like, then I do I wanna be on the thing that's, like, feature complete.

Like, what's where is this software that's done? Like, I'm dying to find the done software. I've never had done software ever. I feel like that's not really a thing. And so that it's done feels a little anti me.

Whereas, like, LiveWire is like, hey. There's all activity. I know Caleb's super building it out. And it's like, I'd rather have the thing that's moving forward and, is not feature complete since I don't know what that means in software exactly. I know.

Really? So I know. I know. I know. That's kind of where I'm at.

So I agree. I would love it to see it. I think whether I'm using it or not, it would be awesome if it was sort of fully I think it has been, like, sort of mostly adopted, but, yeah, something not official official. And so and I don't know if Taylor's inclined to, like, put a bunch of work into it and things like that, especially since it isn't, like, just a Laravel thing. It's sort of Right.

Has to then maintain the Ruby version, and I think there's all whatever other random frameworks it supports. So

Aaron

Yeah. There's all kinds. Yeah. I wonder if there's an opportunity for someone with good taste to, like, build on top of inertia that is Laravel specific?

Ian

I think there is a project where someone forked it and was doing a lot of the stuff that people have been kinda complaining about, but I don't know where that's been. Yeah.

Aaron

Yeah.

Ian

That's the thing. It's like, to get that momentum is so hard in open source to Yeah. Like, you can fork anything, obviously, but can you then, like, build up the crew around it

Aaron

who are

Ian

interested in in participating in it?

Aaron

Oh, you know who should do this is Boris. Genius genius machine Boris. Yeah. Boris, if you're listening, you should do this. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We should definitely take on more. That's a good idea.

Okay. You're of LiveWire. I buy it. Good Alright. Good, good segment there.

I think I wanna talk about LinkedIn. Oh, going from

Ian

the new school to the old school.

Aaron

Not terrible? Like, actually, smart good? Yeah. Okay. So here's That

Ian

is far, but let's hear

Aaron

your stuff. Well, I said not

Ian

terrible. Yeah.

Aaron

I maybe wrote down good, but I I said not terrible. So, historically, here's what I've thought about LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a place where you go to tell made up inspiring stories about how wonderful you are. Right? So, like, I'm walking to a job interview, and there's a a dog that needed water.

And I gave it water, and I got to the interview, and the dog was the boss. Like, wow. That's amazing. That's incredible. It's like that's that's how I viewed LinkedIn forever.

It's cringe. It's terrible. It's corporate speak. It's nothing. And to be fair, there's a lot of that still there.

But I went over and posted some stuff on Linkedin. I think the one that really, surprised me was there's a PHP developers group over there. And I went and posted my PHP doesn't suck anymore video, and it got, like, 400, reactions, I think is what they call it. Several dozen comments and like 30,000 views, of the post, not the video. So, like, 30,000 impressions on this LinkedIn post.

And I was, like, what who's active over here? And I think that's, you know, indicative of of my small mind is, like, I only see Twitter as social media, but there's a whole Right. World out there.

Ian

Yeah.

Aaron

So I've started posting a little bit more a little bit more content over there. And I think one of my rules is always gonna be be yourself. And so I'm not doing, like, the, you know, the the cringe business content. I'm just basically saying the same things I would say on Twitter. And I've noticed that it's getting a lot of, like, a lot of traction, and I'm super surprised.

And so I tweeted something like, you know, LinkedIn might be a viable place to to hang, and you said something like, yeah. It's it's always been pretty good. So where what have I been missing?

Ian

Well, I don't know. I said something along those lines, but really,

Aaron

I mean You're really walking back the good thing.

Ian

On that because

Aaron

You don't wanna be on the record as saying it's good.

Ian

No. Well, not that. It's just so it's very interesting. First of all, that you even had a more, sort of a deeper understanding of it than I did until, like, maybe a year or 2 ago when I started relooking to it again. It's more like I literally just thought it was a directory of corporate people.

Like, I was on there, and occasionally people would be like, you know, can we connect to you or whatever they called it. And I would just go through, like, once a year and, like, check all the little check boxes for the hundred people who asked to be connected, and I would let them be connected. And then I wouldn't go back for a year. Yep. And I know you could InMail.

And so I I was like, okay. Well, I guess people are over there In Mailing each other and, like, whatever. Fine. But then, like, recently, I don't know if it's, like, the fall of the, you know, kind of the semi fall from grace of Twitter reignited it or this has always been going on. So maybe somebody can tell us the history.

But then I was like, oh, there's, like, actually people like, I didn't even know about the Boss Dog story. Like, I just thought there was, like, nothing going on there. But there's actually people posting stuff there, like, you know, Twitter ish social media like fashion. And I was like, oh, wow. And so then yeah.

Like, then looking around a little more, everybody's like, yeah. Of course. Like, LinkedIn's, like, the best place to post your stuff. And I'm like, really? Yeah.

I gotta we would think I can't even think of LinkedIn. Like, anytime I go to valuable. Say anything in a social context, I never consider LinkedIn. I never think about it. I've been recently trying to make myself think about it unsuccessfully, but I'm going to keep trying because I do think I mean, it makes sense.

It's like especially if you're on the angle of, you know, the more business y angle where I'm trying to get my name out there for my products or services or whatever. Well, like, just talking to pure business people probably makes more sense than just the randos on Twitter. Right? But, yeah. I don't know.

The there is, have you solved this barrier? Like, to me, there's things I still don't even understand. Like, you can be followed, but that's different than the thing with the check mark. And I don't understand. I guess you

Aaron

can just

Ian

follow me without the check mark, and these are 2 separate systems.

Aaron

I guess You can, like

Ian

other than both of them.

Aaron

Turn on I think you can turn on creator mode or, like, some something like that on LinkedIn, and that, that allows you to have followers. And then Mhmm. You can have the traditional, like, connections where Yeah.

Ian

And those are

Aaron

like, those people can message you or like you know them or something

Ian

like that. The 1 degree 2 degree whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Aaron

And so I don't like I I am I don't really care about connections over there, to be honest. So sometimes I'll get a whole bunch of connection requests, and I'm like, I don't know any of you people know. And then sometimes I get some, and I'm like, sure. Whatever. I don't care.

And so I don't have really good rules on that. But, yeah, the the turning on creator mode or follower mode or or whatever it's called, separates the number of connections you have from the number of followers you have, which I think makes it more like a social network than just a, like, a, you know, a traditional networking type thing.

Ian

Well, that's why I was talking to I think the thing that really woke me up was just, like, a few months ago. And I was talking to Eric Barnes of VIRAL News, and he was saying how he had they have a 100,000 followers on LinkedIn. And I was like, what are you even talking about? It's like, it's like a 100,000 followers. I'm like, holy cow.

Like, who would have even thought? I haven't even considered LinkedIn. And

Aaron

He he said on Twitter that LinkedIn drives more clicks to Laravel News than Twitter does.

Ian

Yeah. Which makes sense. It all makes sense. But now it's just like, how do I retrain my brain? I I know.

It's very difficult.

Aaron

I know.

Ian

But I I do want to because I think it just makes a lot more sense over there. But, we'll see. Maybe with some of this new stuff coming down the pike, I can I can try to rework my brain over to there a bit more? But so what have you utilized? Like, have you posted about screencasting or what have you done?

Aaron

Screencasting. I've posted. I've shared some of the YouTube videos. And then Mhmm. Something I'm trying to do something I'm trying to do as much as makes sense, whenever I have something visual to share is make a little video about it.

Even if it's just like a screen recording, not like a talking head or anything. Yeah. Because to my understanding, which I don't spend a lot of time, you know, researching the rules of these networks, but to my understanding, every network is, like, they want you to stay they want the viewers to stay as long as possible. They want video. They want engagement.

And so I I think I always think, like, what do the networks want? What do I want to do slash what am I comfortable, like, putting out there publicly? Like, I don't ever wanna end up in the spot where I'm I'm, like, tweeting these wise business sayings because they get a lot of engagement. So, like, there's some happy medium between what does the network want, what do I wanna do, what is honest to me. And honestly, video video is very easy.

So, like, with the with the site redesign, you know, I'm tinkering around and I'm like, hey, I like the way that this looks. I could do a screenshot and that's better than nothing. Or I could make a little video of the interaction and then tweet that and put that also on LinkedIn. And that, I think, drives the engagement up a little bit and at least drives the watch time up. And then so then Twitter's like, yeah, we'll push this to more people.

Right. So that that's kinda that's kinda what I've done recently is, you know, take these short little screen recording videos that are, like, you know, 30 seconds or whatever. Right. And then put a little bit of text with, like, hey. I'm working on this thing.

And that's another thing. I always wanna be, like, a little bit of the moment and talk about what I'm actually doing and not, like, I'm sitting in my ivory tower talking about, you know, how you should think about software development or business. Like, that's just not my brand, and I don't wanna do that. So that's kinda that's kinda what I'm thinking in terms of what am I putting on in specifically LinkedIn at this point.

Ian

Yeah. Now that I have the new video set up, I I kinda wanna do more video too. I think that makes sense. It is it is pretty quick to do, really. And, and I'll have the screencasting course to make sure I'm doing it correctly.

Because that is part I I get into, like, ScreenFlow, and I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing in here.

Aaron

Forget it.

Ian

So, like Yep. I got you. That'll be good. Yeah. So, yeah.

So doing more video. How do you handle this? Like, there is this so I'm starting to think about some of the stuff for, like, my new projects. And it's like how early you talk about them. Like, I think you know, because you're so small whether you're, like, just you or even with a small team, it's like stuff just comes up and then you're sidetracked for a month.

That just happens all the time. Uh-huh. So then you don't make any progress for a month. And so I hate talking about it too early, but also you have to talk about it. I think a lot of the interest of engagement is like, here's what I'm doing.

This is what went wrong. Like, so if I'm not talking about it early, then it's just like, oh, it's launch day and then whatever. You haven't built up any momentum. So there is this, like, balance of, like, I want it to be functional to some degree before I really get into talking about it, but also not too far along that it's already too far along. So

Aaron

I feel that I feel that deep in my bones. Yeah. Because, like, we talked about, you know, expansion contraction, you do a thing and then you're like, I can't do this thing right now. And then, you know, you cut it. And I'll be honest, it's a little embarrassing to talk about something you're doing.

Yeah. That's

Ian

true too.

Aaron

Have to, like, have to pull back for a second. And then months later, people are like, oh, are you ever gonna finish that thing? I'm like, yeah. Honestly, I'm trying. Like, yes, I want to, and I will.

But, like, I I have a full life full of things that I'm doing that are not just like the one thing that I'm tweeting about or the one thing that you latched on to that I'm tweeting about. Right?

Ian

Right.

Aaron

So, yeah, I I feel that a lot, and I think the risk so the benefits let's talk about the benefits. The upside, I think, is potentially unlimited. You know?

Ian

Right.

Aaron

You you share the thing, somebody shares it, whatever whatever. The whole the whole deal of, like, you put yourself out there, good things are gonna happen. The downside is you're gonna potentially be embarrassed, and I feel that a lot. Like, I feel that a whole lot of I'll put something out there and then have to drop it for sometimes a long time, and people are like, why didn't you do that? And it's it is embarrassing, and it sucks, and I hate it.

But I think it's better. Like, I have found that it's better to just, like, talk about what you're working on at the time, and then, like, just kind of hope hope that you carry it through. Like, I have a lot of open I have a lot of open threads on what I'm doing and what people know that I'm doing and that sort of stuff. And sometimes I'll pick up a thread and, like, push it down the road a little bit, mixed metaphor. I'll push the you know, kick the ball down the field, whatever.

Ian

Right.

Aaron

And sometimes I I have I have to drop it. But, like, I think the screencasting one is a good example. I didn't really tweet much about it at all until I was pretty close to being done. Yeah. Because that one I knew, like, man, you got a long road ahead of you.

Like, you just got the design done, and that the design is very cool. I got the design done in, like, April or something.

Ian

Right.

Aaron

But I hadn't recorded a single video, and I was like, I'm not I'm not gonna start this treadmill until I'm pretty close to done because I got

Ian

one good example for me. I like that.

Aaron

Yeah. Yeah. I wanna keep the hype. Like, I wanna carry the hype through to, like, the launch day where people pay me money and buy the thing instead of, like, this is something I'm just kinda working on. Let's all see how it develops together.

So I don't know. It's tough.

Ian

It is tough. It's it's a very tough call. Yeah. But I like the idea. I mean, I guess that's kinda what I was thinking.

It's like, I wanna get things to a point where they're, like, semi functional and more than just an idea in my head, but then Yes. Definitely way before, yeah, it's coming out in a month or whatever. Like, it's gotta be before that. What kinda gets into this whole idea too of, like, I don't know. Maybe we should save this for another episode, but I wanna get into that Tony Fadell tweet at some point.

I'm obsessed with and let's save that. Because I feel like that's

Aaron

that's gonna be a big one. You know what you know what I wanna end on?

Ian

Yeah. It's good. I wanna

Aaron

end on the fact that your kids aren't gonna drive. What what's going on there?

Ian

Trust me. It's this is a very interesting interesting story. You as a young a young parent, I'm gonna come down, be the old wise man Alright. Yeah. Impart knowledge.

But, like, you just have all these thoughts about your kids when they're little or before you have kids or all these things. And then, like, what actually how the world changes along the way is quite interesting. And then how that impacts your children is quite interesting because the world you have your kids in will not be the world that they grow up in and then become young adults in. Yeah. And so yeah.

Like, everything's changed in the world. So I don't know. Of the 3 kids, only the oldest so far has not got his license and doesn't have really any interest

Aaron

in the job. So again. How old are they?

Ian

So he's 17.

Aaron

17.

Ian

And then the younger 2 are 2 young guys, 13 and, 10. So Okay. So the 70 year old at least right now, are the younger 2 are, like, we wanna drive. Like, they are a little more like how I felt. I mean, I was there literally the day I turned

Aaron

16 Yeah. Same.

Ian

In in the DMV to, like, get my license and do all that stuff on. But, yeah, the oldest, he's not interested in it. And then at first we were How

Aaron

does he get around?

Ian

It's so the he is okay with sacrifices I would not be okay with. So

Aaron

Okay.

Ian

Like, obviously, we take them or pretty much, like, obviously, we're taking most of the time. He has a girlfriend, so sometimes the girlfriend's family takes him. But, like, even right

Aaron

there drive? The The girlfriend doesn't drive either?

Ian

The girlfriend doesn't drive and he doesn't What? I know. And so like when I'm

Aaron

Oh my goodness.

Ian

I'm married to the woman that I was dating when I was his age. So we are married. My wife and I have been together the whole time. And, like, I was I, like, lived at her house. Like, I like, as soon as I got my license, I was gone.

I was at her house all day every day. And we would go we whatever. We're driving all over. We went to go to New York City even though that was illegal, because you have to be 18 to drive there. We'd be all over the place.

Right? And so we just I mean, I literally was never home. The minute I got my license, that's it. That's the last my family saw me. I was out, like, 8 AM till midnight every day.

I was out in the world. And I don't know. He's, like, fine with it. I and part of that is, like, not the technology, like, whatever. He can talk to his girlfriend.

He can message her. He can video chat with her. He could do whatever. Like, I don't know. Like, they're okay with it.

And so then we started, like, just seeing these articles pop up. This is not even weird. Like, this is just a this is a thing now. Really? It's like a huge percentage of kids are not getting their license when they're 16.

It's like 50% or something crazy. And and yeah. So I don't know. Like, is it because they know there's Uber? Is it because, like, people are gonna live in cities and they feel like they don't need it?

I I I don't know. But he doesn't really have any interest, and he's okay with the limitations of, like, obviously only being able to go places when we can take him for the most part. And, yeah. Wow. So it's very it's very interesting.

Aaron

Okay. So being 16, driving through McDonald's and getting a McFlurry. Live to McDonald's. Drive around at, like, 11 at night listening to postal service, thinking how you're never gonna die. Like, that is

Ian

being 16. I know. It's very strange to me. That is be yes. I would just drive up and down our main road, like, listen to music.

Aaron

Take the long way home. Yep.

Ian

Yep. Just, like, back and forth. And, yeah, like but, you know, that's a whole weird thing, I mean, with technology, I think. I mean, this is all part of the I guess I feel like it's possibly a detriment. Who knows if it's actually detriment?

Aaron

Breath. You were you were stealing yourself about whatever you were about to say there.

Ian

It's like even just driving around in my town, which is the town I grew up in, so I know this town very well. I mean, when I'd ride my bike around before I had a license Mhmm. There was kids everywhere. Kids on bikes. I remember being scared of the kids on bikes.

I remember being friends with other kids on bikes, kids walking, kids everywhere. And there's no kids anywhere now. Like, there's no kids riding bikes. There's no kids walking. There's no kids anywhere.

So I do think there is and then, yeah, I mean, you think about, like, like, how did COVID impact all that? Like, all these kids in their kind of formative years were like, well, no. Now, like, you're already staying inside a lot because you have game systems and phones and all these things. And now, like, no. You're really staying inside.

And I don't know. So it's just like that this is the culture for this age range, but I don't know. He said he might get it at some point, so he's not totally totally written it off, but he's not in any rush. Wow. Which is very interesting, and definitely one of these things where, like, yeah.

Like, I would never in a 1000000 years think I'd have a kid who didn't wanna drive because, like, I was, like, miss driver number 1. Like, I was there.

Aaron

Number 1 doing it.

Ian

So, yeah, it's interesting.

Aaron

Yeah. I mean, my my bet with my wife is that our kids will never learn to drive because cars will drive themselves. I see.

Ian

I'm not say that. Yeah.

Aaron

But not because they won't want to. Maybe I'll win the bet on a technicality. So, like, maybe that's Yeah.

Ian

There you go.

Aaron

I love winning. Yeah. As long as I win, I'm happy. But I've I've been watching, like, the I think it's Zooks. Maybe z o o x has won.

Cruz has won. But, like, the Zooks cars are it's interesting when you go to, like, autonomous vehicles, like, for real autonomous vehicles.

Ian

Mhmm.

Aaron

They don't have to be the interiors don't have to be designed and shaped like cars of the past. Right?

Ian

That's what I want. Yeah.

Aaron

Yeah. And so these Zooks cars are like mobile living rooms, basically, or they're like, you know, single, like, single parts of a train but on wheels. So you have, like, 4 seats that face each other. And you just kinda push a button and it shows up and the little, you know, the little doors open and you climb in and then they close. And I think that's gonna be frankly, I think that's gonna be the future.

I think it's gonna be, even if you own 1, maybe maybe you own 1. Maybe not everything is a rental or, on demand or whatever, but you have a vehicle that, like, you can you can get in and tune out until you get to the spot you're going. And we don't have time to talk about it today, but, also, I think tunnels are the future. You get me started about tunneling.

Ian

The Elon. We can do it. Trade.

Aaron

Yeah. We can do a whole hour on how everything should be underground. So but I think I think that's the future. But, hey, if I went on a technicality of, like, you know, kids just wanna stay inside, I I guess so.

Ian

I mean, you should check the fine print of your I know. I know. I mean, I mean, I actually is does it have to be truly autonomous or just that nobody drives anymore? Because everybody I'll keep bringing it up

Aaron

to her, and I'll just drop, like, the autonomous.

Ian

Headsets and, like, nobody actually leaves the house anymore. So Exactly. Yeah. Could be. Could

Aaron

be. Yeah. Okay. Well, we'll see. Check back in let's see.

Ian

They're 2

Aaron

years old. Check back in 14 years. So stay tuned. Yeah.

Ian

7,008100 and 46 will Yeah. Exactly. Know for sure, but, I mean, sounds good.

Aaron

Alright. Talk to you soon.

Ian

See you. We will yeah. I wanna Hey. Hey. Hold on.

Aaron

Oh, oh, well, we have all of

Ian

this now. Where to find us. Yes. Because every episode, you're, like, telling

Aaron

me to find us. Last time.

Ian

Yeah. It was. I don't know where to find us. Yeah. Yeah.

Aaron

Yeah. Do the thing where you say, alright, man, and I'll say, alright, and then we'll go

Ian

to where to find us.

Aaron

So start over. Go ahead. Alright.

Ian

Alright, man.

Aaron

Alright. Well, Ian, where can people find us? That's perfect.

Ian

You can find us at mostlytechnical.com, on Twitter at mostlytechpod. I I guess we should get a LinkedIn. I don't know if that's even a thing, but

Aaron

we should do that. I know.

Ian

And then, mostlytechnicalpodcast@gmail dotcom. So if you have feedback, you can, send that there, or just hit us up on Twitter, and we will note that for the feedback segments. But, alright. Thanks a lot, everybody.

Aaron

Okay. Now that's the end. See you.

Ian

See you.