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About the Store, the Store Tab.
There is so much to think or write about a simple “Store” tab. Something so “obvious” can lead to weird design decisions, even for Apple. I love this (rare) blog post from Ken Segall. Sarcasm ON: “Iām feeling inspired by Appleās new way of thinking. Itās liberating. Who needs āAppleā when you have āStoreā? Generic is just so much easier, donāt you think?” - Ken Segall To be honest, I don’t remember when there was a dedicated Store section on the Apple. Continue reading ā
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(Re)Introducing the Store Tab
Yesterday, Apple made some changes to their website with the introduction of a new Store tab at the top of their website. Not only that, but the store design has been completely redone. I find it a bit disorienting at first, but after a few minutes, I think the elements and general reorganization make sense; I find it easier to navigate in general. Apple chose the horizontal scrolling sections instead of going vertical. Continue reading ā
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Magic Keyboard with Touch ID for Mac models with Apple silicon ā available separately. š³š¤šš»
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I Love This Machine
It is light, fast and an absolute design gem. Small, but not too small. It runs a powerful operating system. Itās highly portable. It is venerable. It is a rare āspeciesā. There is something really special about it. Furthermore, it has a real keyboard that I can trust. Battery life is good. It is out of the way. Itās the perfect device for writing and blogging. Itās a 2013 11ā MacBook Air. Continue reading ā
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Documenting past home screen arrangements
Matt Birchler had an interesting blog post this week about a screenshot of his 2013 iPhone home screen. There are a few interesting things to note. In 2013, it was the arrival of the controversial iOS 7 redesign. It’s interesting to look at the Camera+ icon design which was still not updated for the new style. The dock design style was pretty basic and felt out of place. A few apps are not longer among us these days: Path (which was really a great design example) but most of the third-party apps are still available today. Continue reading ā
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On Safari 15 in iPadOS 15 Beta 4
Apple is slowly but surely getting there with this release of beta 4 of iPadOS 15 and Safari 15. I like what Iām seeing, on the iPad. Yet, āwhen you donāt know what is best, just add an option to Settings so the user can decideā strategy seems to be the way to go this time. You know whatās my choice, donāt you? Continue reading ā
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Iāve been invited to test Safari 15 Preview on Big Sur
Iām going to jump in because on macOS, I donāt see the change as controversial as on iOS 15. I find it surprising that Apple seeks feedback on the new design. Itās a good thing but also surprising has they tend to do their thing alone. Now, they look a bit in distress while searching for a solution. Continue reading ā
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Do you remember when you switched to Apple's ecosystem?
Matt Birchler writing about Apple ecosystem stickiness: “As I buy more and more Apple products, all of those Apple products get better. My iPhone is more valuable because of the HomePod Mini I AirPlay my podcast to while Iām working. My iPad gets more valuable because it has seamless file sync with my Mac. Reminders is better because it works with Siri in a way no other app is allowed. The list goes on. Continue reading ā
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Part of my digital garden focusing on Apple’s rumours has been updated this morning. Most recent rumours about upcoming iPhone and Macs now added. Made with @Craftdocsapp.
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On iPadOS 15 Photos improvements
Iāve been using Photos in iPadOS 15 since beta 2 and I must say that Apple is in fact offering a major update to their photos application. Beyong the updated Stories automatic creation and management improvements, face recognition has become quite impressive. According to a published article by Apple, people faces should be more detectable and recognizable in more extreme conditions. I can confirm this is actually the case. A large number of new photos were surfaced by Photosā improved algorithms which brings more potential content for new stories creation. Continue reading ā
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How many times one of my colleage at work, knowing that Iām an Apple zealot, said that iPhone was losing ground to Android? Countless times. Where is this guy now? www.ped30.com
Apple vs. Android: In the U.S., theyāre neck and neck
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iPhone 13 Pro Max or iPhone 13 Pro ā That is the question
Iām planning to go big screen this fall with the iPhone 13 Pro (12s?) Max (I currently own an iPhone 11 Pro). I never owned the biggest iPhone (Plus or Max). There is one thing that makes me pause: information density of the Max seems about the same if not a bit higher compared to the non-Max model. There are six row of icons on the home screen on both models (Max and non-Max), which is kind of lame. Continue reading ā
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When a 2013 MacBook Air is > than a two-years old Chromebook
Iāll be getting a old 2013 MacBook Air for one of my son to replace an aging Chromebook that I bought about two years ago. Think about it. This eight years old MacBook Air is faster, much better design, much better screen quality, more memory and will be able to run macOS Big Sur and all other apps like iWorks et al. I find this incredible that we can read and hear people saying Apple gear is expansive and that is under Appleās obsolescence progamming. Continue reading ā
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User Interface design dark age era
We are in the dark age (not dark mode!) of user interface design for sure. We get excited for new animated UI elements (example here), but overall, delight has been lost in translation a long time ago. As Mike Rockwell is a link post say: āI canāt really identify anything that Iāll be nostalgic for in ten or twenty years.ā I wouldn’t go back to pre-iOS 7 days but there has to be some delightful in-between degree of crafted user interface that had some real joyful elements in them. Continue reading ā
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Googleās openness isnāt enough apparently (#antitrust #security #cybersecurity)
Wow, that one is close to being hilarious. Big tech companies are the target of hate these days. Google was hit by another antitrust lawsuit by no less than 36 states about their handling of applications side loading on Android. In summary, it is so cumbersome to side load an app on Android, thanks to security measures, that it makes it hard for competing App Store to compete. Google makes the sideloading process unnecessarily cumbersome and impractical by adding superfluous, misleading, and discouraging security warnings and by deterring users by requiring them to grant permission multiple times for a single app installation (discussed in more detail in Sections I. Continue reading ā
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What comes before the right to repair? (#apple #righttorepair)
The next step for Apple is to design for repairability which goes beyond recycling. AirPods are the worst example of this. When the battery life on these is reached, there is no practical way to replace them without throwing it to the trash and buying a new one. So for me, the right to repair goes way beyond having a choice of where Iām going to take a device for repair. Continue reading ā
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The Touch Bar is a great example of a divisive feature. I love the Touch Bar. Poll: Do you think Apple should kill the MacBook’s Touch Bar? - 9to5Mac
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The more we wait for beta 4, the more chance we will get a step back for Safari redesign. Thatās my guess.