-
I think he meant that PopClip should be part of macOS! Instant buy for me!As far as Iām concerned, PopClip is part of macOS.
-
On Appleās rumoured VR headset (#apple #rumours)
Here is a simple one: Apple, please, no.
I donāt get the idea of such product. The audience for this seems to be too small for Apple. I do understand that Apple research in VR can have broader ramifications, but to build such a limited appeal product for the mass, I donāt get it.
I think Appleās interests has much more potential in augmented reality products, services or features. Their work is already bearing fruit with AirPods spatial audio and transparency mode. These are much more appealing to the mass than a VR headset.
-
Mapping Appleās mapping efforts (#apple #maps)
Apple Maps is so much better than it was when it first launched back in 2012. Itās my go-to apps when in comes to finding my way. I never use Google Maps. Over the years, Apple upped its game. Recently, Apple added the detailed mapping and the look around feature for Canada, and it made such a big difference. But how much different? Well, look no further than Justino Beirneās latest essay: āWHY DOESNāT āLOOK AROUNDā COVER MORE AREAS?ā. It is a massive piece of work detailing Appleās every advances regarding its mapping efforts. I wonder if anyone at Apple ever looked at his work. Itās just mind blowing how much details and analysis goes into this essay.
-
The look of desperation (#intel #benchmark #m1chip #apple)
I think Intel could have done better than this in a world without the M1 chip. But the problem is that the M1 chip is among us. Obviously, the carefully selected benchmarks results are published to people who doesnāt know about Apple. Itās an issue of perception manipulation. Apple is only getting started. Intel is freaking out and look desperate. 2021 will make matters even worse.
Another one with a look of desperation: Facebook because of iOS 14.4 tracking exposure to the users.
-
The iPad legitimacy (#apple #iPad #computer)
Matt Birchler is writing yet another post about the iPad. The last paragraph (emphasis is mine):
āWe live in a world where weāre surrounded by computers. People have a home computer, a work computer, a phone, a watch, a smart TV, and smart speakers. Hell, even the iPadās harshest critics often have one that they use for watching video and playing games. The iPad is the only device in that list that some people mandate has feature parity with another item on that list.ā
That is so true. I never thought about it this way. Why do we need to constantly compare the iPad to other computing devices to find its legitimacy? For me, the iPad is one of the best computing device of all time. There is nothing like it, it is singular.
-
Itās Rosetta 2ās fault (#apple #rosetta2 #bigsur)
According to a recent small survey by AppleInsider, 53% of apps are running natively on M1-powered Macs. What about the remaining 47%? Well:
āWithout native support, they’re run in Rosetta 2 emulation. That may conceivably turn out to mean that they run faster than they did on old Intel hardware, but it’s not why you’ve bought an Apple Silicon Mac.ā
One of the problem is that Appleās Rosetta 2 is too good at running non-native apps. Itās so good that they can run faster than on an Intel-powered Mac.
A lot of things are on developerās shoulders. There are enthusiastic developers and then there are the lazy one. The former rush to add M1 support for their apps even if the performance gain is negligible. The latter either doesnāt care, think itās good enough or they donāt have full control of the software stack they use to build their apps. Think about the Electron framework. It does support the M1-powered Macs. Developers need to upgrade their apps to take advantage of the latest Apple technologies. An example if the email client for HEY. The last update came in September of last year.
As someone who use both, native and non-native apps, on my M1-powered Mac mini, I donāt see much difference, most of the time. Apps like Lightroom CC or Pixelmator Pro do show a big improvement in many operations. But for the rest? Again, Rosetta 2 is doing a marvellous job and the whole experience on Big Sur with M1 is really good.
-
On the Lack of Safariās extensions support (#apple #safariextension #browserextension)
Itās becoming quite frustrating to see Appleās Safari not being supported for browser extensions. Safari is now reportedly supporting standard web extensions but with an Apple twist making it cumbersome for developers to add support. Apple being Apple, I think it is related to the requirement of having to download an application in order to be able to expose an extension to Safariās engine. Thanks to privacy protection, Apple is forcing the game here, but this has real consequences.
-
Apps cannot be installed errors (#appstore #apple #bug)
Since running macOS Big Sur, I quite often get these āUnable to Download Appā error when trying to update my apps on my M1-based Mac mini. I need to try a few times or even reboot the machine in order to fix this issue. The app is being downloaded, but the installation phase is failing at the very end. Version 11.2 of Big Sur didnāt fix the issue. And itās not related to an app being open or in use.
Is anyone getting these too? Itās kind of annoying.
-
Desktop vs Laptop vs Mobile vs Tablet (#blog #bloggerlife #analytics)
Here is something absolutely fascinating and surprising to me. According to my main blogās visitors statistics, thanks to my recent switch to Plausible, over the last thirty days, the distribution of devices type used to visit my blog puts the tablet far behind the desktop, the laptop and the smartphone. One would think the tablet form factor to be much more popular.
The iPad is massively popular. Iām still in love with this form factor after all these years. These numbers doesnāt jive.
-
Appleās macOS Big Sur updates on the path of iOS updates? (#apple #macos #bigsur)
After the release yesterday of macOS Big Sur 11.2, Apple today released the first beta of macOS Big Sur 11.3. It does look like macOS is following the trails of iOS with updates that brings many small features, improvements and tweaks. Weāre not used to that, as before Big Sur, macOS updates used to be mostly about bug fixes. Iām happy to see Apple change course for macOS, if this update is any indication.
-
And here goes beta 1 of iOS 14.5 (#apple #ios14.5)
iOS 14.5 beta 1 is out today with a slew of new features and small tweaks. Unlocking your iPhone while wearing a face mask, thanks to your Apple Watch, falls in the category of āfinallyā moments. In the tweaks category, the Apple logo of an iPad booting up iPadOS āfinallyā follows the deviceās orientation. Updates to Apple Card too to support shared cards. Now, if only this could come to Canada!
-
Design is how it works (#apple #design #ux #ui)
From John Gruberās Apple report card:
“Iām reminded of all the UI and interaction designs and changes in iOS and MacOS that are just bad. Thereās a real sense that _Ā Appleās current HI team, under Alan Dye, is a ādesign is what it looks likeā group, not a ādesign is how it worksā group_. Exhibit A: What MacOS 11 Big Sur has done to document proxy icons. Arguably it looks better to hide them. (I disagree, but I can see the counterargument.) Inarguably, they work far worse nowāāāharder to use for people who use them, and much harder to discover for people who donāt yet know about them.”
Gruber often has an effective way of putting out his take on Appleās issues. If you look and use macOS Big Sur for a while, you should get a feel that only the visual parts were redesigned, not the way it works in response to the user behaviour. Big difference.
-
Apple in 2020 (#review #apple #appletv)
Really insightful score card report from Six Colors. Take out for me: Apple TV is the new 2013 Mac Pro.
-
Today is about data privacy (#privacy #dataprivacy #privacyprotection #apple)
Today, January 28th, is data privacy day. I didnāt know that. Now I know, thanks to Mr. Phillip Schiller. I paid a visit to Appleās privacy web page. What I found is a super nicely designed page with highlights of Appleās ecosystem privacy focused features. To me, Appleās privacy stance is a product, not a feature.
āPrivacy is a fundamental human right. At Apple, itās also one of our core values. Your devices are important to so many parts of your life. What you share from those experiences, and who you share it with, should be up to you. We design Apple products to protect your privacy and give you control over your information. Itās not always easy. But thatās the kind of innovation we believe in.ā ā Apple
-
If trueā¦ (#apple #timcook #theclown)
-
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication (#apple #airpodsmax)
iFixit completed their usual teardown of one of Appleās latest product. This time, the AirPods Max were taken apart. This thing is so complicated! No wonder why we pay $550 for. It is fascinating to see how such a device from the outside is so complicated in the inside. This makes me think of the Apple Pencil exterior beauty but interior complexity. I still love mine, even if Iām not an audiophile. š¤
-
Apple is Undoing the MacBook Pro (#apple #macbookpro #rumours)
Bye bye dear TouchBar. Hello MagSafe power connector. Hereās some more ports. Rumours are pointing toward the same thing. Apple will revert many of its controversial decision of the last five years. Many will be pleased. Function is winning over form. I think Apple is following the trend they started with the 2019 Mac Pro which essentially erasing five years of non sense with the 2013 Mac Pro. Apple is fully back to the Mac. And down on earth, with all of us.
Clearly, actual creatives and professionals disagree with Appleās soul-searching because if all of these rumors come to fruition, Apple will be returning to what was already considered the MacBook Proās zenith. Coupled with Apple Silicon and Apple could experience Mac growth that it ceded to PC laptops during these past years of stumbling. ā Raymond Wong for Input magazine
Something we wonāt get, though: a touch screen. We canāt have it all, right?
-
Improving my Apple Watch Heartbeat Readings (#applewatch)
Since getting my Apple Series 6 last fall (see my review here), my heart readings arenāt working as expected. Iām not alone who is experiencing this problem (just google it!). During a workout, heartbeats readings are not available for the first 5 to 10 minutes into the workout. On a 30-minute workout, it can make a big difference.
I think I found a way to greatly improve the heartbeats readings. Simply by wearing my Apple Watch as shown on the picture above. I must say that it is not perfect. As shown below, I do get a few minutes of lost readings, though, but not as much as before. The problem could be related to the presence on some fur on my front arm. Also, always making sure the Apple Watch band is tied close enough to the wrist is a must.
Are you experiencing the same issue? Let me know if you permanently fixed it.
-
The Insurmountable Problem for Intel (#intel #apple #applesilicon)
Letās start with a quote from Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger (as reported by The Oregonian)
“We have to deliver better products to the PC ecosystem than any possible thing that a lifestyle company in Cupertino. We have to be that good, in the future.”
The fundamental problem with Intel is that they will never make the whole widget (the products) like Apple does. That’s the key for insanely great products. Intel’s CPU are small enablers at best. The vertical integration of the whole stack (hardware, OS, apps, services) makes what Apple is all about. There is no way for Intel to emulate that by cooperating with hundreds of OEMs.
Sorry, Pat, nice try.
-
Persistent Rumours about Upcoming MacBook Pro Redesign (#apple #macbookpro #m1chip #applesilicon)
The latest report from MacRumors about Appleās upcoming MacBook Pro redesign is quite interesting and intriguing.
First, the removal of the TouchBar and the return of the MagSafe technology is utterly surprising. If this is the case, Apple would be undoing five years of design decisions. A side effect of the TouchBar removal would be a more competitive pricing of the MacBook Pro line.
Second, the rumour about Apple opting for an all-out flat edge design makes me think the new MacBook Pro would be similar to two iPad Pro linked together with a hinge. Obviously, the screen parts would be thinner than the lower body of the MacBook Pro. Intriguing.
Now, if these rumours materialize, to me, it would mean that the current 13ā MacBook Pro would be no longer necessary with a 14ā model in its place. If thatās the case, the 13ā MacBook Pro was only a transition and temporary move from Apple.
We are at the beginning of another exciting year for Apple.
