TOPIC: Don't provoke Dan.

This week, Dan and Merlin (once again) complain about what works and what just kiiiinda works with smart devices. Who's winning the voice control game, and who's struggling to play catchup? Ecosystems!

Next up, the boys talk about some surprisingly handy and useful cases for that befuddling Apple TV remote. Also, Dan needs your help to back up Cash's Windows box. Merlin has an important request, too.

Also provided are scientific updates on how much a scale weighs.

Finally, Merlin offers a whole goddamned book's worth of awesome productivity advice via a cheap notebook and five (5) daily bullet points.

Links for this episode:

• Amazon Echo devices now support multi-room audio playback | AFTVnews
  After several leaks, Amazon has now added support for multi-room audio to the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Show. The new feature allows you to group together multiple Echo devices and play music on all devices simultaneously. The feature is also being made available to 3rd-party speaker manufacturers so non-Echo devices can also sync music with Amazon’s own speakers.
  
• 5by5 | Back to Work #262: Large Platinum Spoon
  TOPIC: Staying out of Technology Detention
  
• Ungainly X-Mann Meetup #18 — Merlin Mann
  MERLIN MANN (Back to Work, Roderick on the Line, Reconcilable Differences, Do By Friday, You Look Nice Today, et al.) invites you to drop by Two Cats Comics on the evening of Thursday, September 21st to hang out, talk about comics, and just say, “Hi.” It's free and it's fun.
  
• Upgrade #156: The Silly Season - Relay FM
  Special guest Merlin Mann joins Jason to talk about Apple event rumors, why we care about Apple kremlinology, our approaches to keeping and deleting files in our digital libraries, and Jason's recent 11-day road trip to the total eclipse.
  
• Remote Case for Apple Tv 4th Generation, Akwox Light Weight [Anti Slip] Shock Proof Silicone Remote Cover Case for New Apple Tv 4th Gen Siri Remote Controller with Lanyard (Black)
  
• Amazon.com: elago R1 Intelli Case [RED]-[HEAVY SHOCK ABSORPTION][MAGNET TECHNOLOGY][LANYARD INCLUDED] for apple TV Remote: Cell Phones & Accessories
  
• Deep Learning for Siri’s Voice: On-device Deep Mixture Density Networks for Hybrid Unit Selection Synthesis - Apple
  
• Mack Weldon | Men's Pima Long Sleeve - 100% Peruvian Pima Cotton
  More Pima, more comfort. Designed with a slim fit and an enzyme wash for a smooth finish, this crew neck long sleeve T offers premium softness on colder days, indoors or out. Imported.
  
• SuperDuper!
  
• Macrium Software | Your Image is Everything
  
• 5by5 | Back to Work #337: Cognitive Bottleneck
  
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity: David Allen: 9780142000281: Amazon.com: Books
  
• "True Love Ways" Buddy Holly - YouTube
  
• Ring Video Doorbell for Your Smartphone | Ring
  
• Merlin Mann on Twitter: "OMG. Just tried this and it totally works. Synced and everything. Holy crap. (h/t @joesteel) https://t.co/6sGGhElISf"
  
• Sonos to announce new smart speaker on October 4th - The Verge
  

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