🎬 Final Cut and Logic Coming to iPad

iPad Finally Goes Pro

It actually happened, Apple has finally created a version of Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro X for iPad and they’re launching May 23rd! While there are no hands-on or early reviews just yet, Apple’s landing page appears to show off a feature-dense app. While it may not be “full Final Cut on iPad,” it’s going to serve the needs of many. Watch my video diving into some details here.

Features that I’m excited to try and may persuade me to spend time editing on my M2 iPad Pro:

• Multicam clips

• Pencil with hover editing

• Live drawing with auto-animation

• Auto crop for vertical video

That last one is a big deal. With the rise of TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts, Apple has yet to offer a compelling tool to quickly generate that kind of content. Instead, you can see many creators using apps like CapCut, or just creating content in the social apps directly.

Auto Crop is the first Apple-built tool with vertical video as the focus, and I imaging I’ll be using it a lot. Ideally this should make taking my long-form videos on YouTube and creating 30 second clips much faster. With Live Drawing, background scene removal, and third-party motion effects (which Apple says is coming soon), Final Cut Pro on iPad may be the ultimate short-form creation tool. It is a separate cost from Final Cut on Mac though: $5 / month subscription of $50 / year.

Google Goes All-In on AI

When it comes to big tech events, Google’s developer conference, named I/O, garners little attention from the mass public. But after watching their keynote in its entirety, I think anyone who publishes content on the internet needs to take notice. Here’s the 2 hour keynote boiled down to 10 minutes:

The official count was well over 100, but Google said the word “AI" many, many times. And with good reason. They are building AI features into every aspect of their business, from magic photo editing to developer tools, but most importantly, to search.

Take a look at this image of what Google search results will look like very soon:

Notice anything missing? Plain old search results. Soon, asking a detailed question via Google search will trigger their AI to generate content on the spot attempting to answer your question, pulling from all the knowledge of the internet.

If this new type of search performs well, it may help the average user find the information they’re looking for, faster. But I see a major ramification. Businesses that profit from page views and display ads (probably 90% or more of the internet), there’s a good chance these kinds of results will obfuscate the need to ever visit an actual website.

You may argue there will need to be some kind of content creators for Google AI search to pull data from, but Google could very easily generate it’s own articles and re-write them enough to avoid plagiarism.

The internet was built on the back of advertisements on webpages, and this new kind of search could very well disrupt the business model of thousands of companies.

Also consider the individual creator, like myself. My content is largely dependent on platforms like YouTube (owned by Google) or social media networks for discovery and monetization. Will Google continue to be incentivized to promote my content for views and clicks if it can auto-generate content that’s close-enough?

This may be a little worse-case-scenario, but it does seem like the wave of AI currently hitting companies like Google and Microsoft will have a significant impact on the internet economy. And we have yet to see what Apple chooses to do with AI…

Speaking of Apple

Apple’s World-Wide Developer Conference (or WWDC) is happening on June 5th. I will be creating videos and podcasts covering all the news, so stay tuned for that.

Considering WWDC is mainly for Apple to introduce new software features and developer tools, the fact they pre-announced Final Cut and Logic in a press release weeks beforehand probably means there are even bigger things coming.

All the rumors up until this point have been that Apple’s VR headset will be the big news at WWDC. Honestly, after seeing the wild AI features Google announced, a VR headset feels like it would be lackluster.

I’m convinced that Apple won’t say the word “AI” even once during the Keynote. Frankly, AI is a misnomer, but it’s a buzzword in this moment so it’s overused. All the places you see “AI” used on the internet today, it really means “large-language models,” “machine learning,” and at the very core, “a bunch of powerful computers working really fast.” Not, The Terminator.

I think Apple has huge potential in utilizing AI tools across its apps, but whether they execute on it this year or wait until 2024 remains to be seen. As quickly as AI is progressing, it feels like waiting a year to release anything of the sort would mean they fall significantly behind the curve.

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to be a guest on MacBreak Weekly and Clockwise podcasts. On Clockwise, I mentioned several ideas for Apple integrating AI into their app suite, such as:

• Generative language in Pages

• Select text and ask Keynote to generate slides

• Select a table and ask Numbers to generate a pie chart

• Developers could ask Siri for assistance in XCode

• Steps in Shortcuts that include text generation or summaries

The list goes on. I do think the Auto Crop and Background Removal tools in Final Cut for iPad are moving that direction, but Apple could do much more. I’ll be watching closely for how many times Apple says Machine Learning in their Keynote.

Website Are Back

The last few episodes of the Decoder Podcast with Nilay Patel have been particularly interesting, especially in the context of Google I/O and AI. First, take a listen to this episode with the previous editor of Buzzfeed.

If you hadn’t heard, Buzzfeed is shutting down. You know, that seemingly massive site that posted articles like “which Disney princess are you”? This episode goes in-depth on the changes across social media networks and the importance of building an actual brand people want to hear from directly.

This second episode is with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Hearing how Chesky has re-invented the company, quickly pivoting when required, and is bringing the team into a new era is fascinating. Highly recommend this one as well.

Where to Find Me

In light of all the Google AI news and hearing those two episodes of Decoder, I’ve decided to renew efforts in keeping my own online presence up-to-date.

So, my website will now be updated regularly and all the videos, podcasts, and articles I produce will appear right at the top! You can visit my website at: beard.fm

And I also reviewed my new favorite iPad stand which you can watch here:

Finally, if you’d like to keep an eye out for my guest appearances on other podcasts (hoping there will be more to come), you can visit this page: