Competing at World Ultimate Frisbee Championships in Australia

Team USA Mixed competes at the World Ultimate Frisbee Championships in Australia, showcasing dedication and skill after years of striving for selection.

### Competing at the World Ultimate Frisbee Championships and Insights on Tech Trends
* 🌏 " As I publish this, I'm in Australia for the World Ultimate Frisbee Championships, representing **Team USA Mix**, a goal I've pursued throughout my Ultimate career.
* 🏆  My previous experiences include winning **bronze at the Beach World Championships** and **gold at the Club World Ultimate Championships**, highlighting my **dedication to the sport**.
* ✈️  The tournament will feature matches against **strong teams** from Switzerland, Austria, Argentina, and Japan, and I plan to share updates via **Twitter** during the event.
* 📱  In a recent Q&A, I discussed Cristiano Ronaldo's rapid rise on YouTube, noting that while he gained **20 million subscribers in 24 hours**, sustaining that growth will depend on the **content strategy**.
* 🖥️  I also shared my minimal use of AI tools like ChatGPT for brainstorming, emphasizing that I primarily rely on my **calendar app and studio monitors** for daily tasks.
* 📊  Regarding the Apple Vision Pro, I expressed curiosity about its future success and the potential for a **more accessible version to follow**, as the current model has not sold well at its **high price point of $3,500**.
* 🎥  Finally, I highlighted YouTube's stability as a video platform, noting that its **monetization and discovery capabilities** make it unlikely to be disrupted in the near future, barring a significant event like an **adpocalypse**.

[Music] All right, so if you're watching this when I'm publishing it, then that means that I am in Australia right now, competing for a world championship, the World Ultimate Frisbee Championships, where I'll be playing for Team USA Mix. Now, this is different from the Beach World Championships, where I also played with USA Mix and we got bronze, and it's also different from the Club World Ultimate Championships, which we got gold with Pony in 2021. But Ultimate is confusing, but basically, the story is every few years there's a world championship, and USA invites a bunch, like 200 people, to a tryout and then selects like 25 people per team to represent USA in the world championships that year. There's a men's team, a women's team, and a mixed team, and I've been trying out for or trying to play for these teams basically for my entire Ultimate career. That's been like the thing that I look up to, so I remember right out of high school, Junior Worlds, U20s, I applied, got a tryout.

didn't make the team. Uh, a little after that, U23s. I applied, also got a tryout, didn't make that team. And then I've been trying, not even getting invited to tryouts for the, you know, the past couple World Championships. Then 2023 comes along. I end up getting on the beach world's team. And then 2024 for the grass team. I got a tryout, and I actually made the team. So, Team USA mixed. That's where we're at. So, I tweeted about this earlier this year, that this will be a bit of a busy year for ultimate for me, just between the pro teams and the club team and the USA training camps and then the actual tournament itself. So, kind of already knowing I'm probably going to end up actually missing a few tech things, but that I'm totally fine with that. But so, yeah, by the time you see this, I am heading down or I'm in Australia or something. I'm going to edit this on the plane, but um, that's a weekl

long tournament where we'll be competing internationally against all the best teams from all over the world, which is super exciting. It's an honor, it's a thrill, it should be really cool. There is a site called Ulti World that will be covering the tournament, maybe live streaming a few of the games, but behind a paywall probably. But I'll also try to post some stuff that I can on Twitter when it's available, just so you guys can be updated with what's going on. But yeah, that's uh. I do know, so our first few games we know already are against Switzerland, Austria, Argentina, and Japan. But that's also an extremely long flight, so I'm gonna edit this on the flight and hopefully that keeps me busy for some of the hours. But I haven't done one of these in a while, a Q&A. I asked you guys on Twitter what you wanted to know about gadgets, tech, YouTube, ultimate, whatever, life, anything, and these are your best questions. By the way, some of you asked me last time what this mic is.

this is a teenage engineering cm15. I have loved this mic for the past couple of years. I need a better stand for it, so I'm handholding it. But anyway, okay, first question. What do you think about Cristiano Ronaldo joining YouTube and his meteoric rise? 20 million subscribers in a little over 24 hours is crazy. Yeah, that is pretty insane, and it's continued. I think it's like 30-something million plus now. Yeah, that's sick. And I think that's just a testament to where YouTube is at. Not a lot of people who are that famous are not on YouTube. And also, YouTube. I don't think people realize Ronaldo's like one of the most followed humans on social media. He's got like 600 million on Instagram, so 30 million is like a rounding error to this guy. But also, yeah, people are saying he might be passing Mr. Beast soon or something like that. I would pump the brakes on that. I just want to see what he actually does on YouTube because

there's a bunch of videos out now. He's not running it; there's somebody running it for him. But how long do they keep it up? What types of videos do they actually make? Do they like lean into the YouTube culture? Do they collab with anyone at all? Or do they just like make highlight reels of his day or whatever it is? I don't know. Mr. Beast is at like 300 million, so that's a long way from 30 million. But uh, we'll see how the trajectory goes based on what they actually post. Uh, what app is number one in your screen time? Probably Waze, honestly, with all the recent road trips and stuff. Um, or it may, it's also probably TikTok. I just, just to-do list apps. I'm just always in there. Oh, this is a good one. This is a good one. What's a piece of technology that you have that isn't worth making a video about, but you now couldn't live without? That is a really, that is a good question. My real answer is probably my calendar app. Just

cuz like I'm not going to make a video just all about my calendar and how I maybe I should I don't know but that's something I could not live without um but it's it's accessory stuff like my mouse like that I've made an MX Master Video maybe I do make videos on these things my uh my studio monitors at the studio I have the Yamaha hs8s I've never made video about those but I've had them for years and years and years and they are so tried and true so I'm going to I'm going with that cuz they are some my favorite equipment I know you probably wanted like an everyday Gadget but Yamaha hs8s are the truth M okay how long before we get to know if the Vision Pro Apple Vision Pro was a success or a failure and they haven't launched the second one yet of course it has been fascinating to watch like the Arc of the Vision Pro I also tweeted recently because I'm curious if people who have Vision Pro still use it every day I know

I don't know. I started using it a lot in the beginning, and then my usage just fell off a cliff. There are new experiences for it, and there are new apps, but I think everyone's usage for Vision Pro was very high in the beginning and now has stabilized to some level. But is Vision Pro a success or not? I mean, a lot of people are saying no because it hasn't sold well, and it's $3,500. Of course, it hasn't sold well. That's not really a shock. I am mostly curious, though, about the second generation part. What the second generation is is the thing that teaches you the most about how that company feels about that product, about how it's hitting the market, about what actually worked with the first gen. And I suspect that Apple's next version of The Vision Pro is not pro; it's just Vision. I mean, they put the word Pro on the end because this is the high-end one, but there will be an Apple Vision or whatever.

so vision air, whatever they call it, but a lower PRC version that will aim to be a stripped-down, more mass-produced version for more people. That one's going to be the most interesting one, obviously. Vision Pro is exciting and at the bleeding edge, but what comes after Vision Pro, that's what I'm interested in. Oh, someone said, What is the oldest phone you think you could use as a daily driver today? Whoa, okay, to be honest, because there's some old, there's some throwback phones that I really like. So, my mind is going to the last few. I'm looking, I'm thinking about OnePlus 7 Pro. That phone was super smooth, super, like, very usable for a long time. When did that come out? The OnePlus 7 Pro was unveiled on May 14th, 2019. Okay, so a 2019 phone, that's, I guess, that's five years ago, is kind of a long time in tech terms. But the other one I think is the Pixel 3 XL, you know, the bathtub notch, the big, big bathtub notch pixel. That one might

be the same year, oh, 2018. Okay, October 9th, 2018. 6-year-old phone, Pixel 3 XL, still has a good camera, still has that clean software. I don't know about getting all the software updates at this point, but those are like some of the oldest phones I think I could legitimately stale daily today. What is the best Ultimate Frisbee move you have ever witnessed? Wow, okay, I've seen a lot in person. I've had the pleasure of playing with some all-time athletes and players. You know, if you look up Ultimate Frisbee highlights on YouTube, it's crazy because it's still a young sport, and there's not a lot of great footage of lots of games that get played. And so, crazy highlights and athletic plays happen all the time, but they aren't really filmed very well. When they are, they immediately make like ESPN top 10, and they're like some of the sickest highlights to watch. But, um, I got to think of... So, there's actually two.

throwing highlights that come to mind just as someone who's trying to become a better thrower. One is my teammate Jimmy's throw in semis in 2022 at Nationals. This crazy upwind flick hook that was just, it was just ridiculous. It needs so much strength. And then also Harper, my other teammate, he's also playing on this worlds team, by the way, had this sick sick Hammer from the sideline in the finals of the pro league in, I want to say that was 2021 maybe, but against Dallas. And that was one of, I was right on the sideline next to it, and I've never seen a throw like that in my life. Oh, possibly my favorite game though. I've played in a lot of fun games, comebacks though, always the most fun to play in. And there was, I really hope my teammates remember this. When we were in high school, we played against a YCC team, so a like a high-level youth team, youth Nationals team on our home field in front of our parents. And we

went down 80 at halftime, and then we came back and won the game 15-14. It was one of, it was probably the most fun I've ever had on a field, uh, and on a sideline, like cheering on teammates, like that type of game, that's very rare. I will never forget that. How much do you use ChatGPT or similar in your daily life? Do you use AI as well to check, correct, or edit content? And how much AI is used in content creation in general? What's your feeling about it? I've been asked a lot about this AI stuff, uh, a lot lately, like how much do I use AI tools, how much, how do I feel about them. Obviously, there's a lot of controversy with them being trained on our content. Um, it's actually pretty minimal for me, so I use it occasionally for brainstorming and for expanding on or rewriting ideas. Uh, I, and obviously not these Q&A videos, but I, I do write out basically almost everything in the actual reviews and the topical videos that I make, and so

Sometimes it's useful to use Gemini or Chat GPT to twist an idea or to come up with something and brainstorm. So that's one thing. I don't use AI to edit almost anything. We don't use AI-generated music. We don't use AI-generated images or anything. That's kind of just like a fun tool to play with. When are you releasing your next sneaker? Um, all I'm going to say is teber is going to be pretty sick. I'll put it that way. We already know teber is usually very busy, and it will be busy again, but we've got some extra stuff planned for tember and beyond. So I just, if you haven't subscribed already, get subscribed. There's so much good stuff coming up. Oh, how did it feel to have Steph Curry respond to you? Oh, you didn't know? Steph and I are like, we're super tight. Like, we're, yeah, we're super close. Like, that one time that I met him, that we shot a commercial together, that, yeah, we've been, yeah, bros.

ever since then, obviously no. I think it's hilarious. I tweeted at him. I tweeted mentioning him during. I didn't even mention him. I just said Steph Curry is my goat during the Olympics when he was going on that barrage at the end of the finals game against France. And then I guess he logged into Twitter this week and decided to reply to one comment, and it was mine. Hey, talk that talk, Steph. Okay, Quinn asks what percentage of your driving time is spent in each of your cars. Valid question. I do review a bunch of cars. I spend time with those, but when I'm not there, there are three vehicles in the fleet, and I'm probably going to get rid of one of them soon. But I spend 90-something percent of the time dailying the Turbo S. I have 12,000 miles on it at this point in a couple of months, and it's everything I was hoping it would be. I got to say it is pretty incredible. Then the last few percent are spent in the Rivian R1T, so the Cybertruck don't really

use very much, and there's also that clause in the sales, uh, that, or the purchase agreement that you can't sell it within a year. So we just kind of have it, uh, maybe we'll still try to sell it, I don't know, maybe we'll attempt. I mean, it's good for work. We've used it for work a bunch of times, shooting rollers, uh, going to shoot that PGA tour video. Like, it fits the most gear. It's the biggest truck. It's the most stuff. Great for road trips with the team. But yeah, it's like 95% dailying the Turbo S, 4% r1t, 1% cybertruck at this moment. Okay, do you think Tim Cook actually believes the Magic Mouse's ergonomics are done well? No, I do not think he believes that. You, if you're, if you are unfamiliar, I did ask him about it in my interview with him recently. And when I ask him about the Magic Mouse, you can see it in his eyes genuinely. That is the first time anyone has even mentioned a magic

mouse to him in years, and I actually, honestly, now I'm saying this out loud, this is one of the things that I think most people don't understand about these types of interviews. The small-time example is Tim Cook. Obviously, he does not deal on the daily with the specific ergonomics of the Magic Mouse. I mean, almost nobody does at Apple, but definitely not Tim Cook. Tim Cook is the CEO, which means his job description is the highest level stuff. It's the strategy, it's the business, it's if you're Tim, it's the supply chain stuff. That's what Tim Cook makes daily decisions on. And so, when I'm interviewing someone like this, it feels like that would be the thing to talk to them about, but also that's like some of the less exciting stuff. I want to get into nitty-gritty about tech. So, the thing I guess, the point I'm trying to make is the talking teex series. It started as I want to do interviews and talk to people with

interesting perspectives on technology at all, and the first episode was a virtual interview with a tech person, but then it was also Kobe Bryant mixed in with Neil deGrasse Tyson, mixed in with Will Smith. Like, there's a wide variety of people who have interesting thoughts on tech, but it turns out when you do one or two other tech executive interviews, all the rest of the tech executive PR teams also reach out and want to do an interview. And then we just kind of fell down that slippery slope of like, we just did all the tech CEOs, and most of them are, let's be honest, they're media-trained PR machines. So I want to talk to more product people. I want to talk to more, like, people who are in the nitty-gritty of actual product stuff, and also who are not even in the tech world, just for their perspectives on tech. Like, I saw you're probably wondering, I saw the Lewis Rossman video, and while I think he has a lot of good points and is totally valid to feel like, you know, Oh

talking to someone at Apple is just shilling. Uh, I guess you guys don't know I cut like 90% of the actual interview and things that I talked to him about. I talked to the head of hardware at Apple, hoping to get even more nitty-gritty with hardware, but still got a lot of fluff and cut almost all that stuff. I kept like the 10% that I felt was actually compelling and interesting about, you know, hardware being designed for longevity versus repairability. But people didn't love that either. But either way, yeah, I'm hoping to talk to more people who are actually doing the stuff on the ground and who are heavily involved in the product stuff. So long story short, I feel like I'm probably done with tech CEO interviews. We've also kind of done them all at this point. It's not like people are clamoring for the next one. So I'm interested if you guys have suggestions on what people should be next on the list for talking tech. Who

should we actually add and have a chat with oh this is a good a good one maybe to end with so YouTube is the crown jewel of video platforms right now. I would agree. Why is that? Will a different platform disrupt it in the next 10 years? And if so, why would that happen? Uh, and the short answer is stability and money. Like people for the entire history of time, they go where the money is. So YouTube has been the most stable platform for Discovery and for monetization for the longest time, and that is why they are the crown jewel of YouTube. That's why Instagram is like spinning its tires and trying to find way, way to compensate creators to get them to stay and be discovered. That's why Tik Tok number one is trying to compete with YouTube. They just enabled like super long videos, but also if they don't pay people, that's why you see Tik tokers getting huge on Tik Tok and then moving over to YouTube. That's why you see Cristiano Ronaldo starting a YouTube channel. It's just the place that you can

be discovered and make money now. Will it ever be disrupted in the next 10 years? Because at this point, it's like also now the world's video library. It feels huge, like too big to fail, and it all kind of seems like it can't fail. Like, the one thing that could take down YouTube would be what? An adpocalypse, right? Some event, some horrible series of things that ruins advertiser trust in being able to advertise on YouTube and for creators to make money. A literal adpocalypse that drives advertisers away. And that happened, and then months slash years later, slowly they all came crawling back. 'Cause guess where the eyeballs are? Oh, they're on YouTube. So yeah, I always say YouTube is so big that if it ever were to fail, it would be such a slow, catastrophic, played-out failure that we'd have time to see the sinking ship and jump to the next ship, if there is one, that's doing a better job. But yeah, they've been the most stable for a

while and I don't mind that one bit. But yeah, I think that's it. That's a good place to end it. There's some good questions in there. Let me know if you have other questions. I'll hang out in the comment section below. Of course, I'm probably not going to for the first week, 'cause like I said, I'm in Australia right now. I'm in the upside down, hopefully winning some hardware. But yeah, taking a little break while I do that. I'll see you on the other side. Thanks for watching, thanks for listening, and subscribing, and I'll catch you guys soon. Peace.

I'm Taking a Break

Marques Brownlee

Competing for Team USA at the World Ultimate Frisbee Championships

The speaker is currently in Australia competing for the World Ultimate Frisbee Championships with Team USA Mixed.

They have a history of trying out for various USA teams but only recently made the mixed team for 2024.

The tournament will feature games against Switzerland, Austria, Argentina, and Japan, and the speaker plans to provide updates on Twitter during the event.

The Impact of Social Media and Technology

There's a new video series featuring someone running it for a popular figure, with questions about their content and collaborations.

The speaker's top screen time apps include Waze and TikTok, with a calendar app being an essential but unremarkable technology.

The success of the Apple Vision Pro is uncertain, with its second-generation version anticipated to be more mass-produced and accessible.

Memorable Moments in Ultimate Frisbee and AI Usage

The Pixel 3 XL, a 6-year-old phone, still has a good camera and clean software.

The speaker has witnessed incredible Ultimate Frisbee throws from teammates, with one standout being a powerful flick hook and another a stunning hammer throw.

The speaker's most memorable game was a comeback win against a high-level youth team, while their use of AI tools for content creation is minimal, primarily for brainstorming and rewriting ideas.

The speaker uses AI for brainstorming ideas but not for editing or generating music and images.

They have exciting plans for their upcoming sneaker release and are offering extra content for subscribers.

The speaker spends most of their driving time in a Turbo S, with a small percentage in a Rivian R1T and hardly using the Cybertruck.

The interviewer's approach to tech interviews has evolved, initially starting with high-profile CEOs like Tim Cook but now seeking to engage with those more involved in product development.

The series has unintentionally attracted a majority of tech executive interviews, leading to a desire for more diverse perspectives.

The interviewer aims to move away from CEO interviews and is looking for suggestions on who to interview next in the tech field.

YouTube's Dominance in the Video Platform Space

YouTube is currently the most stable platform for video discovery and monetization, attracting creators and users.

Its dominance is challenged by platforms like Instagram and TikTok, but YouTube's size and influence make it seem "too big to fail.

" While an adpocalypse could disrupt its success, the platform's history shows that advertisers eventually return, solidifying YouTube's position as the crown jewel of video platforms.