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Thatās clever, Apple.
To run an internal version of iOS, each employee must first install a special profile on the device ā just as we do for downloading beta versions. However, each profile sent to employees determines which of these features will be enabled for each person working on new versions of iOS and possibly other Apple operating systems as well.
Source: Apple doubles down on secrecy with a new way to hide iOS 15 features from engineers - 9to5Mac
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I was over-simplifying quite a bit
After publishing my essay on what I was hoping Apple would do in response to the developers community, Matt Birchler wrote a small response regarding my assertion about payments processing platform being a limited feature in the grand scheme of things. It appears I was wrong. Thanks to Matt blog post, I have a better view of what goes behind the scene here.
That being said, Appleās payment processing service within the App Store serves Apple’s purposes and is the one that is very narrow, very focused. It’s a good thing. I’m not sure Apple has to compete against this industry. Allowing third-party payment processing services would need to focus on the minimum in order to protect privacy or help guarantee that privacy is in good hands. It’s an attainable goal.
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iPadOS 15 to limit certain features to iPad Pro? (#apple #ipados15 #wwdc21)
If Apple ups the game with iPadOS 15 (background tasks, better multitasking, external monitor support, etc.), we could see a situation where iPadOS crawls on lower or mid-range iPad while working like a breeze on the iPad Pro. Could Apple limit certain features to the high end only? Quite possibly. Your thoughts?
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It’s always fun to re-watch a previous Apple Event. Just did the Spring Loaded one and used CleanShot to capture the best moments creating a library of 260 shots, all stored in Synology Photos, ready to be used, just in case. Tech is fun.
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The iMac vs a Simple Monitor
The Thunderbolt display is now a vintage product for Apple. When I look at this beautiful monitor, Iām thinking about the recently introduced redesigned iMac. Many people would have preferred to see the iMac chin disappear. We should know better and see this is a distinctive design attribute of the iMac which make it look different than from a simple monitor. Itās an important visual differentiation factor in my opinion. The iMac is not a simple monitor.
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Certainly a massive leak... (#apple #iphone13)
This CAD view of the iPhone 13 shows a bigger than usual camera assembly on the front of the iPhone. It’s massive. Not sure what to make out of this leak. Good news for photography enthusiasts?
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One WWDC wish: bring back that loupe! (#apple #wwdc #wwdc21)
Donāt you find it weird and contradictory to see Apple investing so much in accessibility features at the operating system level yet they thought it was a good idea to remove the loupe in text selection interactions? Is this a typical āone team not talking to the otherā? Please, Apple, bring back the loop in iOS 15. Thanks.
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Tempted by a 2013 MacBook Air. Yep, 2013. Runs Big Sur. I want a small laptop running macOS for writing. Bad idea with macOS Big Sur?
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Where iPadOS Current Multitasking Experience Falls Apart (#apple #iPadOS #ipados15)
Multi-Tasking on the iPad is Actually Pretty Great - The Newsprint:
Slide Over is genuinely convenient. Certain apps work better than others inside the Slide Over deck, and when theyāre optimized, their convenience is unmatched. I keep a calculator app in Slide Over at all times, I keep an iteration of all messaging apps in Slide Over, and I like to keep an iteration of the Files app available at all times. These kinds of āin-and-outā apps are exceptional for Slide Over.
At least one person really likes multitasking on iPadOS. The thing about the Slide over feature is that it requires setting it up. It doesnāt happen ājust like thatā. I rarely find the right app to use in the Slide over viewā¦ I need to ābring it inā and this is where the experience falls apart. This is where I want to see Apple improve things.
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If iOS 15 actually brings an updated lock screen design based on the concept of complications like on the Apple Watch, Apple will be able to say that this is the next (and final?) phase of the iPhone experience to be revisited (widgets being the first phase with iOS 14).
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Following the end of the recalibration period for my iPhone 11 Pro battery under iOS 14.5, the verdict is in: before = 89%, after: 89%. I was expecting more. š
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Everything Comes From China These Days
Appleās Troubling Relationship With China - Initial Charge
This problem isnāt unique to Apple. Most, if not all, of the major companies whose products and services we interact with each day are being influenced by China. And I expect that influence is growing with each day that passes. If youāre in favor of freedom, liberty, and individual rights, you should be concerned about this.
Itās refreshing to see that Apple isnāt the only one where its products are made and a lot of them are sold to. What can we do instead of just bashing on Apple?
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Letās the iPhone Become Android (#apple #android #security #appstore)
There is apparently no money to be done from having apps on Android; all money being on the iPhone side. So developers are asking for their share of revenues from Apple, by reducing their commission, urging Apple to open up the App Store, weakening the security model along the way, making the user experience worse, making iOS experience more like… Android… we have a full circle.
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iPadOS is holding the iPad back (#apple #2021ipadpro #ipados)
Daring Fireball: The 2021 M1 iPad Pros:
The elephant in the room is iPadOS. Itās just not good enough. In the same way that Intelās chips were holding back Macs, iPadOS has been holding back iPad Pros. With Intel chips, the hardware was holding back the Mac platform. With iPads, itās the software holding the platform back. This hardware is indisputably amazing, and iPadOS is fine for casual use. But it still feels like Iām trying to do fine detail work while wearing oven mitts for my day-to-day work.
I like Gruberās introduction in his review of the M1 iPad Pro. But his review echos other reviews. Nearly all M1 iPad Pro reviews that I have read note the same issue: iPadOS lacks maturity to sustain iPad Pro aspirations. Canāt wait for Appleās WWDC in three weeks.
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About These Apple Watch Series 7 Mockups (#apple #applewatch #series7)
According to circulating rumours, the Apple Series 7 will go through a small redesign. The Series 4 introduced a bigger screen but the overall shape stayed the same. This time, a more boxy look is expected. Iām not sure that I like what Iām seeing here on this mock-up. To me, the Apple Watch would loses some of its iconic traits. If this boxy design allows for more internal space, hence probably more sensors or new features, better battery life, so be it.
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About Those Tiny Release Notes (#apple)
I wonder when Apple will fix the issue of tiny release notes, on the iPhone. I canāt remember since when the issue started, but itās been a very long time. Itās all the details, Apple, all the details.
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This is so Clever (#apple #applewatch #watchOS8)
To support users with limited mobility, Apple is introducing a revolutionary new accessibility feature for Apple Watch. AssistiveTouch for watchOS allows users with upper body limb differences to enjoy the benefits of Apple Watch without ever having to touch the display or controls.
Source: Apple previews powerful software updates designed for people with disabilities - Apple
The demo on Appleās Newsroom website is really impressive. Surprisingly, it looks like the feature will work on recent Apple Watch generations (Series 4 and up).
One question: why announce these initiatives now? Weāre 17 days away from WWDC. Looks like WWDC will have more room to announce even more exciting stuff. š
Another question: if you look at the following screenshot taken from todayās announcement, we can see that table cells are narrower than what we have on iOS 14. Is this a first glimpse of what is coming in iOS 15? I certainly hope so because it looks much better, friendlier. It reminds me of the pre-iOS 7 era.
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Iām Closing my Telegram Account ā Here is why
First:
Apple is very efficient at pursuing their business model, which is based on selling overpriced, obsolete hardware to customers locked in their ecosystem," Durov wrote. “Every time I have to use an iPhone to test our iOS app I feel like I’m thrown back into the Middle Ages. The iPhone’s 60Hz displays can’t compete with the 120Hz displays of modern Android phones that support much smoother animations.
And:
Durov added that the worst part about Appleās technology is not āclunkier devices or outdated hardware,ā but that users who have an iPhone are a ādigital slave of Apple.ā
āYou are only allowed to use apps that Apple lets you install via their App Store, and you can only use Appleās iCloud to natively back up your data,ā he said.
āItās no wonder that Appleās totalitarian approach is so appreciated by the Communist Party of China, which ā thanks to Apple ā now has complete control over the apps and data of all of its citizens who rely on iPhones.ā
Source: Telegram founder says iPhone users are digital slaves | AppleInsider.
Mr. Durov can go to hell. Typical talk from an Android guy. Nobody his forcing him to develop for the iPhone. Nobody. He is a digital slave of Apple himself. I canāt stand this attitude and Iām voting with my digital means: closing my Telegram account.
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Keep it Simple, Apple, will ya? (#apple #m1chip)
For the new MacBook Pros, Apple is planning two different chips, codenamed Jade C-Chop and Jade C-Die: both include eight high-performance cores and two energy-efficient cores for a total of 10, but will be offered in either 16 or 32 graphics core variations.
Source: Apple (AAPL) Readies MacBook Pro, MacBook Air Revamps With Faster Chips - Bloomberg(https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-18/apple-readies-macbook-pro-macbook-air-revamps-with-faster-chips)
The āone chip SKU to rule them allā wonāt last forever it seems. Apple will take advantage of its ability to decide what goes in its chips to help differentiate each models within the same product line. We already witness this with the 7-core vs 8-core variant of the M1 chip in the 2021 iMac, but this variability will increase over time. My hope is that Apple doesnāt try to hard to be greedy with this strategy and keep the product’s differentiation simple to grasp.
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About Appleās Flaky Bluetooth Devices (#apple #imac2021)
The keyboard flaked out on me once. I wanted to spend time testing the Touch ID button, so I moved an application to the Trash, which requires authentication. That worked. Then I tried to move the app back to the Applications folder, and ā¦ Touch ID just didnāt work. After 30 seconds of trying, I realized the whole keyboard just wasnāt working. I turned the keyboard off and on again, and boom, everything has been normal sinceāāāincluding Touch ID recognizing my finger very quickly.
Source: Daring Fireball: The 24-Inch M1 iMac(https://daringfireball.net/2021/05/the_24_inch_m1_imac)
Ah, ah, another moment of Appleās Bluetooth device not working as expected. Since I got my 2017 21.5ā iMac, Iāve experienced unstable Bluetooth connectivity with Appleās mouse and keyboard. I donāt know when it started, if itās related to a certain release of macOS, but it is happening all the time. The worst part is the mouse being jerky while moving on the screen. Bluetooth’s instabilities also impact my AirPods usage with the Mac. My AirPods simply drops from receiving the Mac audio while in Zoom meetings. It is infuriating. Eventually, I need to reboot the Mac to reset the Bluetooth stack.
When I got the M1 Mac mini, I thought Bluetooth connectivity issues would be a thing of the past. I couldnāt be more wrong. It was worst. The mouse and the keyboard are both having instabilities. They need to be turned off and on to temporarily fix the problem, but eventually the Mac needs a full reboot. Again, this is exasperating. It is a well documented issue which macOS 11.1 and 11.2 tried to fix but the problems still happen, albeit a bit less often.
There is something wrong with Appleās Bluetooth implementation in general. Is it the driver, the firmware, the chip, a combination of these that is at fault? I donāt know but the fact that this shiny new iMac with the wireless keyboard with TouchID stops working like Gruber experienced is not a good sign.
