Maybe Apple will announce a new product each day through a press release with a shipping date of Oct 23th, with a culmination point with the redesigned M4 Mac mini? I think it wouldn’t be the first time they did it this way.

New iPad mini: Apple Intelligence support, Apple Pencil Pro. New storage tiers. Oh, almost forgot: new colors. Meh.

I visited the Apple West 14th Street Apple Store this past weekend in New York City. As usual, the store was packed with people. However, one thing caught my attention: there was no one at the Apple Vision Pro tables. Despite being at the peak of their support, those devices felt quite lonely and unappealing. How long will Apple keep those devices for sale?

I like the physical design, but it is too flush with the iPhone flat edge for my taste. It is easier to use with my thumb while the iPhone is in portrait mode. The required pressure to take a photo makes me shake1 which is not always good when taking a photo in low light conditions. I kind of … read more

The iPhone 16’s back seems prone to scratching. I saw it today at the Apple Store. But I like this year’s colors.

More crowded than usual of course. 🤗

**Apple Watch backups** are not working, they never did. This is what I see on my iPhone now, two old backups, once probably worthless because of it ridiculous small size. Another proof: after unpairing my Series 6 this morning before going to the Apple Store to get a credit for it[^1], no sign of new backups in the Watch.app. Big fail Apple. We are at Series 10 / iOS 18 for fuck sake! [^1]: I'm upgrading to Series 10.

I plan to go to the Apple Store tomorrow and see the new stuff since I can’t make it today. Maybe I’ll get the Series 10 if the one I want is available. I’ll unpair and reset my Series 6 as I’ll get $75 credit for it.

I’m rather happy to skip the iPhone 16 this year. Next year, Apple Intelligence will be more broadly available and more mature, the iPhone 17 will gain more hardware to support Apple Intelligence the newest features, too. As a blogger, Apple Intelligence writing tools are very handy and a year from now, most if not all my go-to apps will gain support for these. On the photography side, I expect more meaningful upgrades to the cameras.

The iPhone 16 this year is so iterative in nature that many YouTube reviewers separated the review into two rather short parts: the unboxing (generally less than 10 min¹) and the general review (rarely more than 15 min).

Apparently, a bunch of compromised old-school pagers exploded remotely in the middle east… what an horrific event (seriously)… THAT is real programmed obsolescence (less seriously).

As a long-time Apple fan¹², I find it sad to see the downward trends surrounding Apple. It’s no longer anecdotal. Something is really going on. Apple is no longer the same under Tim Cook and since the Steve Jobs death. How could this be otherwise? Well, yeah. That’s life. Anger, ennui, boredom are just a few things that I’m noticing more and more. This super megacorp is printing money, investors are happy, but meanwhile, something is slowly rotting that will eventually trigger Apple to transform itself. Eventually.

More or less random thought: Maybe Apple won’t return to live events until Tim Cook leaves the company. When COVID hit, it may have provided some relief for Apple, as it spared Cook from direct comparisons to Jobs’ performances at live events. We all know that Cook isn’t the showman Steve Jobs was.

If I were in charge of IT infrastructure at Apple, I would be more than happy to have a phased deployment of Apple Intelligence. This staged deployment mode allows for better control over resource allocation, performance tweaking based on demand. It is the right time to establish the baseline metrics that will help further larger-scale deployment later in the deployment schedule. People find that Apple is behind, but I say it is more of a realistic approach that makes a lot of sense from a user experience perspective.

iOS 18, iPadOS 18 are coming out tomorrow. That’s cool. But you know what is even cooler? This GPT that can answer your questions about those releases. Try “What’s new in iMessage?”

You’re welcomed.

I’m torn between the Apple Watch Series 10 in silver and Jet Black. The silver finish enhances the screen’s visibility, while the Jet Black option blends the screen seamlessly into the casing. Waiting for Sept 20 before making my final call, after visiting the Apple Store and hoping for in-store stock.

I’m feeling a bit odd about having an iPhone that’s no longer available (15 Pro Max). It was a great phone, but it only lasted about a year. Yeah, I know, still a great phone.

Apple might have something else to improve in the next AirPods Max beyond USB-C connectivity and noise cancellation. Just sayin.

It just occurred to me that Apple (and other “gatekeepers”) are getting a bit of their own medicine with the DMA. Developers in the App Store have always had to live with unclear and changing rules, as well as the risk that Apple will effectively shut down your business with an absolute rejection. Suddenly the bully is being bullied, with changing rules and unclear guidelines — and they don't like it.

Well said.

M4 Mac mini: Deep black, please.