Beep boop - this is a robot. A new show has been posted to TWiT…
What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!
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Congratulations on the launch of a modest subscription service for twit listeners. 7 bucks a month shouldnt break anyones bank, the potential for additional content and additional conversation directly with hosts certainly seems worth it. As understand it, initially, this will make the pre-game and post-game conversations available for podcast listeners, and be commercial free, will include a discord channel, and possibly a “office hours” style chat with different hosts on different days. “Beer chat with Mary Jo” got a lot of potential attention. I expect there will be a lot of ppl who want to talk food. I think Leo will be pleasantly surprised with the response.
As for me… I watch live all the time. I cant imagine watching/listening any other way. So much of communication is thru facial and body expression. I was surprised when Leo said that so few ppl watch the video. They are missing half the show.
Id love to see Denise Howell and the Law, altho im probably one of the few. Id also like to have the opportunity to have discussions with the hosts and others, but IDK what the real potential for that is. I watched Alex Lindsays “office hours” a few times, and it was really for ppl who make a living in video production. I asked a question thru the chat once, and was pretty much blown off as asking something to simplistic. And I have no interest in “travel talk” or “Food talk”, which will probably be winners.
As for commercial free, I really enjoy listening to Leo do commercials, seriously. Im an advertising and marketing geek. The analytics that my company gets back from email campaigns is just amazing. We dont sell info to anyone, but the info we get is pretty amazing.
So as I say, I think the 7 bucks a month, commercial free, more content for the podcast listeners, discord, and maybe an “office hours” and extra podcasts, for 7 bucks a month, will do well.
beth marshall
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The rest of the twit episode…I liked the guests, but lots of re-hashing of all the usual social media issues. Where is the line between freedom of speech, and yelling fire in a movie theater.
After all thats happened over the last 4 years, I can handle ppl who arent seated in reality, being banned from social media.
Id rather hear more about the business side of podcasting. 
beth
ps…not that u asked…but since Leo talks about everything he buys all the time…
I just bought a refurbed 2012-2016 Macbookpro…with the 7 ports, the optical drive, the good keyboard, magsafe charger, new battery, core i7 processor, runs catalina, upgraded to 16 gigs of ram and 500 gig ssd, and 2 year warranty from OWC…for 800 bucks and change. You can think what u want out there…I love this machine. No dongles, no external drives. YAY!
This is the 4th macbookpro from OWC we have here, and they’ve all performed flawlessly, fwiw.
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The shows run late at night or early in the morning here (I think TWiT starts just before midnight, for example), so watching the show isn’t really an option. I download the podcasts the next day and listen to them in the car or whilst walking the dog / doing sport. There really isn’t an option to watch the shows. I will occassionally go back and watch a show with video, but it is very rare that I do so.
I also have no problems with the adverts, but I do have a problem with the additional tracking that is being added, therefore I am happy to pay the sub. Also, some of the shows recently haven’t been able to attract advertisers or not enough advertisers to fill all the required slots - meaning that additional ads are being inserted on their way to the listener by third parties.
I put a 3 figure sum in the TWiT cookie jar at Christmas, from my bonus, because I want to support TWiT. Club TWiT is another way of achieving this.
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Live stream is great but might not be possible because of time zone differences or because of commuting.
Also Leo said nobody downloads shows any more, well guess what, I do.
When I am walking or commuting I am not streaming. Also when I am in Greece the network speed is rubbish so it makes sense to download the show in order to avoid buffering.
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Really happy this is finally happening, as a longtime listener over the last ten years I’ve had an increasing need to find a way to support TWiT and this does it. Now, give me an annual subscription option @Leo!
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I’m glad that TWiT’s setting themselves up with a more reliable revenue stream. I’ve been nervous listening to some of the shows these past couple weeks and hearing no ads at all. I also shamefully admit that I fast forward through pretty much every single ad Leo does. I wait to hear the company he’s promoting, then just dash through to the end of the commercial. I’ve done that for like 15 years now so I’m pretty sure I’m just going to buy in and end this charade. Y’all have earned the money by now!
For what it’s worth, $7 made me pause. I would’ve done this last night the minute I saw the tweet but for some reason being almost the same price as Netflix got me to reconsider. I’m not saying you must change your price, just wanted to offer one data point because I know you said you’ve wrestled with how to price this.
Looking forward to the end of skipping through ads!
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Good for you Leo! $7 is the right amount. Maybe it’s the same as Netflix but I consume Twit a lot more than I do Netflix.
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Same with me, after a few months with Netflix I found that there is nothing interesting for me there any more. On the other hand, I follow quite a few TWiT shows and I have been doing that for the last 15 years…
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I was a bit frustrated with @Leo in the discussion of Facebook. When Ed Bott said that among the remedies for Facebook, we should consider burning it down - and one of the other panelists said ‘who could have predicted Facebook could have been used for an insurrection’ - the first and immediate response should have been Amy Webb.
Amy Webb has been modelling this stuff for ever, and she’ s been pressing companies to include this kind of analysis in their planning. So she absolutely could have predicted an outcome like FB being used for false information and insurrection and armed revolts.
What good is it to have brilliant panelists like Amy on, and then not take the information she provides and bring it into subsequent conversations? Some of the people on in the past few weeks have been incredible. Why have them on if not to inform the conversation - not just for that moment, but for future conversations as well.
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The Tesla situation is complicated: my understanding is that they are actively watching the internal cameras at least on the FSD beta. Elon has said that they would be disabling FSD for people who break those rules. I do agree that the branding is deceptive.
For a company who is so convinced that their cars can figure out enough to drive themselves, not being able to figure out a person isn’t paying attention or even sitting in the seat is pretty damning.
The thing is - the Tesla situation shouldn’t be complicated at all. For example - why aren’t there sensors in the car seats to tell when someone is sitting in them? My 2002 RAV flashes a seatbelt light if I start the car without having first fastened my seattbelt. My turn-of-the-Millenium car can identify when I’m sitting in a seat. So why can’t a Tesla?
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Ed Bott rocks! Raising all the right points at the end of the show!
Instead of thinking about where (the technology) can go, we’re thinking about the processes and deployment today, and the reason we’re in trouble with Facebook and genocide in Myannmar is because nobody thought about where this is going to be in five years or ten years - where it could be, and how we guide it in the right way and prevent the bad scenarios from happening. So the question shouldn’t be ‘do we build these robot dogs’ … we think about “where does this end” and how do we make sure it doesn’t end in a way where we say in ten years “Holy crap - i didn’t see that coming.”
Bullseye, Ed! Commentary like this is what makes Club TWIT a prospective worth paying for.
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Agree they need that… but they SHOULD need that for seat belt pre-tensioning and decisions on air bag deployment as well. What they need for “not quite self-driving” is a sensor like other cars have to make sure you’re not dead or dying and that your eyes are on the road. The simple solution to this is the seat shaker and other means to force your compliance, and if you fail to comply, the car should pull over and stop, and refuse to self-drive again for some period of time (say 24 hours) unless you have a conversation with a Tesla safety person and convince them you’re not an idiot.
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My thoughts exactly. It was a deliberate choice to nor use seat pressure data in determining whether someone is in the seat. My much cheaper 2009 car beeps for a seat belt when I have a heavy package in the passenger seat.
My question is - why has no regulatory body either stopped them or demanded they change how self driving works?
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There is something to be said about getting away from advertising since you can do things that, maybe, the advertisers would object to you doing. My primary complaint with Club TWiT are the price and no PayPal as a payment option. If PayPal were supported, so that I didn’t get charged a transaction fee (which my bank does when it’s a non-sterling transaction), then I would probably subscribe
I’ve heard @Leo say that you shouldn’t spend less than $500 on a laptop and, while I can see the logic in that, I bought a laptop about 7 years ago for £280, bought a cheap SSD for it and, honestly, it was fine but it depends what you want it for
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Signed up! And not because I mind the ads, I just want to support the network as it’s been the background to my life for years.
The one thing that’s making me feel old is Discord! I’m listening to the ‘Is this thing on?’ recording and I’m kind of enjoying it, but I can’t imagine tuning in often and definitely not ‘calling in’. I don’t even really recognise your voice, Leo! But the more options the better.
Anyway, I’m very happy with Club TWIT and glad to be part of it.
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I wonder if Apple’s Podcast subscriptions announcement just now will be supported or impact the slate of offerings.
Well, I love the ads, especially Leo’s ad reads, and I have no intention of permitting an auto renewing monthly charge on my credit card, and no time to consume any extra content. So I just put $84 in the tip jar and set myself a reminder on my phone to do the same in 12 months’ time.
A small complaint: I couldn’t find the tip jar on the menu and had to use the search to find it. Please don’t hide it too much.
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