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Microsoft: Wow. Your Turn, Apple.
Microsoftās announcements this week are nothing less than impressive. Microsoft is showing courage. Their Surface are striking. These things will probably be hot as hell (pun intended, thanks to Intel Inside). Iām hoping users will have a better experience than many of my colleague who had their Surface replaced in the last year because of over heating issues. Stylus On the surface (pun intended) may not work as well as the Apple Pencil on the iPad. Apple is at their best in that regard. Yet, we have to give them credits for what they are doing. They are iterating with more than incremental updates. They try new things. Itās interesting to see Microsoft aligning itself with Apple strategy: vertical integration (hardware + software: Windows) with a yearly release schedule. Designed for Windows 11. Well done.
Now, looking forward to Appleās next announcement: the MacBook Pro āredesignā. Donāt expect anything close to what Microsoft is doing. But expect Apple to reintroduce the HDMI port and the SD Card reader. According the latest leaks.
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Tim Would Love Stopping the Leaks
Of course the memo from Tim Cook about leakers is being leaked. Itās funny to read a leaked memo from Tim Cook expressing his concern and frustration about leakers working within Apple. After reading it, I do think part of the message is for outside leakers too, knowing the memo would beā¦ leaked.
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On iOS 15 Early Adoption Rate
Compared to lastās year iOS 14, early numbers show a much slower adoption rate for iOS 15. The problem? Last year was about the iPhone experience getting widgets. Thatās a very material change. This year? Even if widgets now come to the iPad, it is far less reaching than it was on the iPhone. Things like focus modes are not as flashy as widgets but are damn useful, to me at least.
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Happy iOS 15 & iPadOS 15 to you all!
After a long summer of beta releases, today we get to see the final releases of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. Are you feeling as excited as a few years ago at the same time? Personally, even if I think those are great iterative updates, I donāt. There is less to grab by developers it seems. Iām not expecting exciting new releases for any of my apps. What about yours?
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Bokeh is not going to happen apparently. It was written on the walls for quite some time. Too bad. I think Glass had a good start and updates are coming on a regular basis. I wish them success. So far, I’m happy with them.
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Dear @AppleInsider STOP THIS!
I don’t know who got the idea at AppleInsider of putting video auto-play right in the middle of every articles, but this doesn’t enable a great reading experience. Even worst, scrolling the page to the bottom while reading will put the video in the bottom right corner on top of the content. It makes me wonder if I should stop reading their content altogether. Ads are bad but this is even worst. It’s not a good reading experience at all. Please, reconsider. Thanks. A long time reader.
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The iterative Apple that delivers
If you think that this year’s updates from Apple are meh, I think, either you didnāt pay attention during the keynote or youāre simply bored. You may not like the iterative nature of Apple under Tim Cook, maybe you forgot to remember that the smartphone (and to some degree) the smartwatch are mature products. Since Apple is paying attention to what the majority of people actually care about, improving battery life, adding more storage, keeping prices steady, not having to wait three months to get a new device, stop expecting folding iPhone to prove Apple is still innovating.
There, I said it.
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The future of the App Store According to Marco Arment
One of the best recent take on the possible future of the App Store.
Regarding IAP purchases:
Most apps will be required to also offer IAP side-by-side with any external methods
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Many games will offer both IAP and external purchases, with the external choice offering a discount, bonus gems, extra loot boxes, or other manipulative tricks to optimize the profitability of casino games for children
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External purchase methods will evolve to be almost as convenient as IAP
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The payment-fraud doomsday scenarios argued by Apple and many fans mostly wonāt happen
Now, App Store side-loading and alternative App Stores:
Facebook would soon have apps that bypassed App Review installed on the majority of iPhones in the world.
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Without the threat of App Review to keep them in check, Facebookās apps would become even more monstrous than they already are.
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Alternative app stores would be even worse. Rather than offering individual apps via side-loading, Facebook could offer just one: The Facebook App Store.
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Maybe Google would bring the Play Store to iOS and offer a unified SDK to develop a single codebase for iOS and Android, effectively making every app feel like an Android app
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Media conglomerates that own many big-name properties, like Disney, might each have their own app stores for their high-profile apps.
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Most developers would probably need to start submitting our apps to multiple app stores, each with its own rules, metadata, technical requirements, capabilities, approval delays, payment processing, stats, crash reports, ads, promotion methods, and user reviews.
In a few words: what a fucking mess.
I donāt expect side-loading or alternative app stores to become possible, and Iām relieved, because that is not a future I want for iOS.
Iām not so sure this wonāt happen, but Iām sure thatās something I donāt want too. If only Apple could better read the roomās temperature and budge a tad.
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Readwise.io Reader App ā A Potential Game Changer?
In a recent announcement by Readwise.io:
We’re now in position to reimagine aspects of the digital reading experience itself, from how you annotate a document, to how you navigate. Readwise as you know it today isn’t going anywhere, but this is our future.
And:
With the new Readwise reading app, not only will these resurfacing and syncing features not go away, they will be enhanced through tight integration into the reading experience.
There is much more to digest on their published essay. Theyāve been thinking about this for a while and judging from a few screenshots, their reading app seems compelling and well done. Iām hoping they will support Safariās extensions. RSS feeds will be supported too. Sadly, it will probably be another Electron-based app. Weāll see if this doesnāt affect too much the experience.
Iāve been a subscriber of Readwise.io for a while, but I must admit that Iām not taking advantage of it as much as I would have liked. It does get synced with my Pocket account, but thatās about it. Oh, and my saved quotes get resurfaced in my Mailbrew summary newsletter, which is cool.
Iāve subscribed to their private beta testers waiting list and I canāt wait to try it out. If all goes well and is up to what they say on their blog post, this could entirely replace Pocket for me.
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E-Bike and the Apple Watch ā a Quick Question
So, youāve got an e-Bike. Good for you. Iām jealous. Youāve got an Apple Watch too. Good for you, just like me. Now you want to go for a ride and record this activity with your Apple Watch. Which activity type will you select? Selecting Bike will probably record wrong data as you can move much faster than a regular bike and getting lower than normal heartbeat rate. Should Apple provide another type of biking activity?
Photo by Wolfram Bƶlte on Unsplash
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Courage, Apple?
John Gruber on Appleās lack of courage regarding vaccination of their employees:
So whereās Apple on this? Why isnāt Apple requiring proof of vaccination for employees, including for retail employees and customers? Why reserve courageous decisions only for removing headphone jacks?
Boom.
Photo by Marisol Benitez on Unsplash
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Remembering that day
I was at the office. A normal day. It was a perfect sunny and more than usual mild September day. Blue sky. Then the news struck. At first, I didnāt understand what was actually happening. The internet went slow, to the point of becoming unusable. My colleagues started to leave their desks. We all turned to the TV set in the employees cafeteria. It was such a unique accident, we all thought. Then, the second plane, which marked a turning point in our history of modern barbarism. We are still trying to recover from it. I think of this day so often, each time with deception and bitterness because we didnāt learned the right lessons.
Side note: I find the American society fascinating. They seems to treat those who died on 9-11 differently then those who die each year from guns. The latter are more than three times those who died on 9-11. Each year. The US spent close to 6 000 billions dollars on war since 2001. It didnāt fix anything. How much do they spend on guns to try to fix this problem? Fascinating indeed.
Photo by Magnus Olsson on Unsplash
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Canāt wait to try this
This is the Opal webcam. For the Mac. Made by Apple people. Canāt wait to try this out. Not cheap, though. Not ready yet either.
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Quick Ranting On Medium App Updates
Consider this screenshot of the Medium.app updates streak. Itās not a joke. At least one update a week for reimagining their app. I used to like Medium but their app, probably a major conduit to their content, is broken on the iPad and it never gets fixed (mainly layout issues).
How are we supposed to take online publishers seriously when for months they let bugs hinder the user experience ofā¦ reading their content? I greatly reduced my use of Medium for reading content, partly because of this.
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On VMware Not Supporting the Mac Pro
Due to various challenges of COVID-19 and the recent announcement from Apple on their transition away from x86 to Apple Silicon, VMware will no longer pursue hardware certification for the Apple 2019 Mac Pro 7,1 for ESXi.
This is sad news and probably not a surprising news. In early 2020, I came close to buy an entry-level Mac Pro in order to build a lab-in-a-box for experimenting different environments and software, all related to my work. I started this thread on my blog about my SDDCbox project, and was nearly ready to make the decision. Somehow, priorities shifted and I dropped my project entirely.
It is one thing to see new apps being non-native to the Mac, like 1Password 8 and maybe the upcoming Readwise Reader app, but it is another when a major player like VMware no longer consider the Mac as a viable platform for things like ESXi. Appleās transition to its own silicon has obviously something to do with it. The Mac has never been more popular than today, yet, on the software side, I feel there is a āmalaiseā.
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The next #AppleEvent is coming!
Just in time for the upcoming Apple event, my rumours site has been updated to reflect the most recent rumours. New iPhone. New Apple Watch. New AirPods. iOS 15. iPadOS 15. No MacBook Pro updates. That is all.
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The (short) story of a scratch
Here is a picture of my 2020 MacBook Air that I recently bought. I wanted to use it as a banner somewhere, but this visual defect on the Apple logo put an end to my intention. Then, I started to think how bad things go for Apple these days and I came to the conclusion that this scratch perfectly illustrates the current status of Apple as a symbol. What a useless post. šš¤¦š»āāļø
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A thought on the Apple Watch Series 7
In recent days or weeks, rumours are rampant on the updated design of the Apple Watch: bigger but flatter screen, boxier design are the main themes, with no new health sensors. Iām not so sure about the boxy design. Itās ok for the iPad or the iPhone but for a watch? To me, it could make it less approachable, less jewelry. Weāll see in a few weeks. There is one thing that Iād like to point out about the Series 7: Apple is not only presumably launching an updated design, they are creating a new price point. The bigger screen helps legitimate this. They have been doing this since Tim Cook is CEO.
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A typical month on Substack
Five publications each month. Four Friday notes posts, one monthly newsletter. Some new subscribers. No comments. A lot of fun at writing and publishing these posts. I’m writing for myself. I don’t feel the pressure of regular writing schedules. It’s easier than I thought. The more I do it, easier it becomes. Substack is a slowly evolving publishing platform. I wish it was a bit more like Twitter’s Revue. Anyways. https://numericcitizen.substack.com.
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And so it begins. What's next?
According to the Wall Street Journal:
South Korea today passed a bill that bans Apple and Google from requiring developers to use their own respective in-app purchasing systems, allowing developers to charge users using third-party payment methods
Now what? How will Apple respond? Will they create a different version of iOS for South Korea? Can they simply appeal this law, if such a thing is possible? How is this going to help other countries and parties to go after Apple’s practices? How much time will Apple be given to change its practices? Three months? A year? South Korea is probably a small market for Apple compared to other places in the world, but this new law seems like a tsunami in the making.
