I remember working on “A Guide for Preparing to Leave Your Numeric Legacy”, one of the cited challenges was to get access to the deceased person’s online data. I provided ways and a methodology to get ready for their numeric legacy. With iOS 15’s Legacy Contacts, Apple is making it much easier. The setup process takes less than 2 minutes to complete. An access key and a death certificate are required to ask Apple to let the legacy contacts to gain access to the online data. At long last, big tech companies now consider important to let people surviving people to keep access to deceased people in a simple and secure way. I can see countless headaches being prevented with this feature, first promised at WWDC last June. Bravo to Apple.

The previous screenshots show the release notes, as seen on an iPhone. I just can’t believe Apple cannot fix the font size. It’s been like this life forever. It’s all in the details, Apple, in the details. Gosh.

The most interesting thing for me is the App Privacy Report, which I love. As an IT guy in my professional life, I like to see what’s going on in my devices. App Privacy Report is a great way to show this to me.

Notifications Summary has a refined design. The summary goes edge-to-edge with the screen. It’s a bit weird. I don’t know if this is a bug or a feature. Yet, I like to see more information in the summary as each notification offers expanded content.

As a side note, apparently, Apple won’t release Universal Control this year. I couldn’t care less because I don’t see this as useful in my current workflow. Maybe there is something to Universal Control that I don’t get.

Wallpaper by Basic Apple Guy.

Readdle software released an update to PDF Expert with support for Apple’s SharePlay. Using FaceTime, up to 32 people can share and annotate a PDF. According to the documented workflow on The MacObserver website, while in a FaceTime call, opening a PDF file with PDF Expert enables the SharePlay feature.

I tried the SharePlay experience using Music and screen sharing to see how easy the SharePlay workflow is to master. Each of my test with Apple Music ended up with a popup saying the selected content couldn’t be shared (probably controlled by the owner of the music track-not surprising at all). With screen sharing, I had more success and the feature worked as expected.

I think this is all cool and SharePlay brings Apple’s ecosystem closer to what is possible within Zoom or Teams.

What I’d like to see is more application support for SharePlay. Apple’s Keynote would be another winner where people could watch the same presentation together. I find it surprising that’s not already the case. Maybe an upcoming update to iWork will fix that.

l’ll definitively play with this more in the coming days because I think SharePlay has a lot o potential, especially in the business space.

A story by MacRumors reports Tim Cook’s answer about not being able to sideload applications on the iPhone is not restricting customers choice. Here’s the beginning of Tim Cook’s answer:

“I think that people have that choice today, Andrew, if you want to sideload, you can buy an Android phone.”

Tim Cook’s answer reminds me of another one. Steve Jobs once said that if you want porn on a phone, just buy an Android phone. Apple’s stance is fascinating. You want shit? There’s Android for that.

Photo credits: Dainis Graveris on Unsplash

This seemingly insignificant box used to be sold by Apple and contained ten single-sided floppy disks. Those were meant to be used in a Macintosh computer. I had a bunch of them but somehow managed to keep an empty box. It was a great time.

Each floppy contained a whopping 400 KB of storage for a single-sided version. At one point we could get them for 70$ a piece. It was expansive compared to 5 1/4 inches flexible floppy disks that contained either 160 KB or 360 KB that were typically used in IBM PCs. From a design perspective, Apple’s floppy disks were rigid, smaller, sturdier and dust proof, hence a higher asking price.

The less than an hour Unleashed event took place yesterday, I was there… watching on my Mac mini. I had these observations.

• The opening sequence with the man in its garage building a song based on sound from Apple devices, like the Mac startup sound was different, some sort of Mac celebration. Is this garage setup intentional and a reference to Apple’s beginnings? Probably.
• Today, I would argue that Apple completed 80% of its transition to its Apple Silicon. The Mac Pro will probably be the last to get the Apple Silicon treatment. What a monster it will be. We’ll probably get a bigger iMac and beeper Mac mini meanwhile. 2022.
• There is not much not to like in Apple’s MacBook Pro announcement. These MacBook Pro are technical marvels. Lots of “speeds and feeds” for sure but hey, that was for the pros, right?
• The M1 Pro / M1 Max branding makes me think of Intel’s.
• The notch… comes with a bonus, more screen estate. Is there room to complain? I wonder how good apps with many menus will look like. Yet, with all the hardware prowess Apple is capable of, I still wonder why they cannot put the FaceTime camera in the bezel, even that thin. Center Stage? Nope. Requires a better camera for that.
• I’m not looking to buy a new MacBook or any Apple devices for that matter. I’m super happy with my M1 Mac mini and M1 MacBook Air. But, a friend of mine ordered the 14”. Can’t wait to have his comments.
• This design changes are more or less subtile and it is quite interesting to note that it is reminiscent of the PowerBook G4 Titanium. I love it.
• The keyboard, without the Touch Bar, with its black background, looks so… pro. I love it. The best combination to me is with the silver version of the MacBook Pro, the contrast is even higher, more pro.
• Now, am I alone to think that the iMac / Mac mini could be the next to receive the M1 Pro and M1 Max treatment?
• The ProMotion display, which is based on the Liquid Retina Display, looks impressive. We’ll see what the reviewers have to say next week.

Another solid virtual event for Apple. Oh, Voice plan for Music? That was weird. I don’t get it. I thought Siri was bad as an interface to search for music. Apple must have a different take with that one. Now, the big question, is there any new stuff left for Apple this year? I think so. And that’s ok.

After many weeks of trying, I finally sold my 2017 21.5 inches iMac. Even though Apple is currently selling M1 iMac at a competitive price, I thought that it would be easier to get rid of my Mac. It was a maxed out configuration, which helped me ask for a higher than usual price compared to other sellers. Yet, it wasn’t easy. As you might guess, I’m not the only one trying to sell an Intel-based iMac.

The next device put on sale was my iPhone 11 Pro with 256 GB of storage. One week before the officiel launch of the iPhone 13 Pro, I put up my older iPhone for sale. I got quite a few people interested in it, but the problem was the price they were willing to offer. It was way under my asking price, closer to what Apple is offering as a trade-in value. I think this is part of the problem. Many people are looking to get rid of their older devices to help pay for the new one, but potential buyers are comparing to what Apple is offering, which shouldn’t be used to fix the value of the second hand iPhone. Apple will refurbish the device or recycle it. This cannot be used as a comparison. After a week of getting my trade-in kit, I decided to return my iPhone instead of bothering to sell it.

When I bought my MacBook Air back in August, it came with a free pair of AirPods. I didn’t need them, so I put them on sale too. That one was easy to sell, though. It took less than half a day to find someone willing to get them.

It’s true that Apple hardware keep their resale value, but I think it’s not what it used to be. Apple is no longer the underdog, their devices are everywhere, which puts pressure on pricing.

What’s I’d like to see come in Canada is the iPhone upgrade program available in the US. I think I would pay a monthly price to always get the newer iPhone.

Today Apple is publishing an article on its newsroom website about all the new thing that comes with Maps in iOS 15. There is a lot to like in this update, like the 3D detailed views in some major cities like San Francisco. These 3D views remind me of SimCity, a game on which I’ve spent countless hours playing. Maps as matured over the years, following the iterative nature of Apple’s approach to everything they do. Some don’t like it, others see the value in it. I’m one of those who think this is the best approach as each iteration helps build the next one with good cumulative experience. Today’s Maps, nine year later after a rocky start, in 2012, is impressive and as good as other popular alternatives, in my area at least.

Microsoft’s 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). I’m 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. It’s 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 Apple’s next announcement: the MacBook Pro “redesign”. Don’t 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.