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On the original iPhone, back in 2007 (#apple #iPhone #blackberry)
Thirteen years already. Gosh, time flies. Steve Jobs announces the iPhone. One of his best presentation. I remember it so well. At that time, I was a huge user (and fan) of the Blackberry. After using a RIM two-way pager for a while, I upgraded to Blackberry with a bigger screen with a monochrome display. But, with the iPhone, I knew, deep within me, this would be a real game-changer. My feelings were the same as with the launch of the Macintosh. What I didn’t know, though, was how profound and long-lasting the iPhone-effect would be on the rest of the tech world. We still feel its effect these days. I had to wait until the iPhone 3GS, in 2009, to get my hands on one for my personal use. I was still using a Blackberry for the office. Yep, I had two smartphones with me all the time.
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Use case for multi-user support on iPad (#apple #ipadOS #iPad)
In his predictions for iPad in 2021, iPadInsight puts multi-user support on top of its list for iPadOS 15 without mentionning a real use case beyond the obvious. Let me explain.
Do we ask multi-user support on iPad because it is something we take for granted on “traditional” computers? Or is because there is a real use case for that feature, beyond the classroom or the conference room? Does the multi-user support solve the problem of your friend borrowing your iPad while keeping him or her from seeing your stuff?
Enabling multi-user support on the iPad has profound implications. How would the instant-on, instant-use experience be impacted by having multi-user enabled? Is the security enclave capable of holding more than one user FaceID? How iCloud Drive data be handled if users both have their data in icloud, the same way as on macOS? What about apps collections being different from one user to the other, how the iPad homescreen change upon logoff-logon? How fast? What kind of pressure does this feature put on the iPad system memory? Would this feature enabled on the Pro line only?
For me, the iPad is a personal device, just like the iPhone. Apple likes it this way, for their bottom line. That’s my guess.
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The port-less iPhone is coming (#apple #iPhone #rumours)
With patents like this, we can see clearly into Apple’s vision for the future of the iPhone. Apple is committed to remove the Lightning port from its iPhone line. I don’t expect them to go through USB-C. This is Apple. By adding more ways to charge without contacts, Apple removes the friction points off the user experience in a world of port-less iPhone.
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Thoughts on Flash and the iPad (#apple #iPad #adobeflash)
I want to pick from this blog post from Initial Charge. I remember a small story when the iPad came out in 2010. After a few days of playing with it, I went to the office to show it to a few of my coworkers when I got my iPad. After a few minutes of demonstration, I got two remarks. One was about the lack of a USB port. The second was about the lack of support for Flash-enabled websites. On that one complaint, I remember arguing about the simple fact that moving your mouse cursor around would trigger some flash-based animations like making a button bigger or showing up a menu on many websites. There was no such thing as a “mouseover” event on the iPad, so those websites that were dependant on this would break the interaction experience. At this very moment, I thought Adobe Flash was doomed. More than ten years to get rid of this crasp. That was long.
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So many questions lefts unanswered (#apple #iCloud #death #legacy)
In What to do about Apple devices and iCloud content when the owner dies from AppleInsider, there are so many unanswered questions. For example, are the requirements from Apple different from one country to another? Something critical when someone dies, having access to his or her smartphone with a PIN. Without it, the challenge is close to impossible to meet. That is one of the many requirements explained in A Guide for Preparing to Leave Your Numeric Legacy.
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Bluetooth issues is killing the M1 Mac mini wonder (#apple #applesilicon #m1ship)
Two times today, I had to restart my M1 Mac mini because of the bluetooth devices being unresponsive. macOS 11.1 came out late in December without a fix to this issue. My hope is that this can be fixed via a firmware update from Apple. I’m not alone. No fix in sight. Very frustrating. 🤬
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Grading Apple's response to COVID-19 (#apple #covid19)
From Basic Apple Guy’s top 5 of 2020:“I appreciated the stewardship Apple has taken this year in balancing their product interests while also supporting the fight to respond to COVID-19.”
Two things. First, Apple’s response to COVID-19 was and continue to be faultless. Some governments should take notes. Second, the closing-reopening-closing dance of their physical stores didn’t impact their bottom line, not in a significant way, apparently. In a way, Apple is not only making and selling products, they are the product, it’s not only how they look, it’s how they work.
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Microsoft + ARM: Why it took so long? (#microsoft #arm #surface #intel)
About Microsoft being Years Late to a Party They Tried to Start on iPadInsight:
“According to a recent Bloomberg report, Microsoft is finally getting into the custom silicon business. It looks like they are starting down this road primarily to aid their cloud and server business, but it’s hard to believe they wouldn’t have future plans to bring these new ARM-based chips to their Surface Pro X and other future models, replacing Qualcomm’s SQ1 and 2 processors.“
and
“The $10,000 question is, why did Microsoft wait this long? Why did they bother messing around with Qualcomm to produce ARM chips for the Surface Pro X only to get mediocre results from a chip that still isn’t fine tuned to both the hardware and Windows 10? Those results were completely and totally predictable. They took the easy way out and the Surface Pro X, while a really slick looking device, isn’t going anywhere because of it. Who wants to pay more and still have to make compromises in both performance and compatibility?”
Maybe Microsoft didn’t want to piss off Intel?
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Not the best way to build brand loyalty, @LGUS (#smarttv #airplay2)
According to an article from MacRumors, LG is rolling out a software update to its 2018 Smart TVs to enable AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support. I personally own a 2016 model and I don’t expect to receive such update anytime soon. As a software-only solution, I don’t see why they couldn’t make it happen for 2016 models too. When you think about Apple supporting iPhone models dating back to 2015 with iOS 14, we have to wonder who’s playing programmed obsolescence here. As someone who’s looking to upgrade its 2016 LG Smart TV to a 2020 model, which will support HDR, Dolby Atmos, AirPlay 2, HomeKit and have a 120 Hz refresh rate, I don’t appreciate LG approach to brand loyalty building.
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I don't care about the Apple Car (#apple #applecar #rumours)
According to Goldman Sachs, Apple doesn’t care about the car itself. I don’t care either. I’m fed up of these rumours. M.G. Siegler is fed up too according to a recent Medium article. Period. Enough. A car is the least personal product Apple could ever make. Apple’s products are about exhencing experience, life.
I can see Apple investing in in-car experience and selling it to cars manufacturers. But wait, there is a big gotcha: cars manufacturers doesn’t care about the user experience. Maybe Tesla, but that’s it. I cannot see them coming in drove to Apple to add the “Apple Experience” as an option anytime soon.
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A visual reference to the iPod in iOS 14.3? (#apple #ipodclassic #applehistory)
Someone on Twitter thinks iOS 14.3 mediaplayer control is a nod to the iPod Classic. I think this redesign was introduced in iOS 14.2. Up until now, it didn’t came to my mind the design was similar to the iPod Classic. Nonetheless, it a step up compared to the previous version both in design and features. As Gruber puts it, it’s probably the best way to layout music controls on a small screen.
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The original iMac — best of them all? (#apple #iMac #history)
When the original iMac came out, in 1998, a first tangible and public sign of Steve Jobs return at Apple, I was perplexed yet intrigued. It was so unique compared to everything else, just like for the original Mac, in 1984. There was a retro look to this machine that was seducing to me, especially when looking at it right in front of it. I never owned the iMac G3 and any of the following designs. I came back to the Mac in 2005 after a 10 years pause. This concludes the long series of “20 Macs for 2020” from SixColors.
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On Apple Fitness+ Launches (#apple #services #fitnetsplus)
Benjamin Mayo on Apple Fitness+ Launches
“They did a good job with this. It’s not a deeply technical proposition but sometimes simple ideas and good execution are all you need. Fitness+ is high quality and well produced workout videos overlaid with live metrics readouts from a connected Watch. Straightforward, technologically trivial, but effective.”
I started to use the service since day one. For now, I’m doing treadmill workouts ranging from 10 min to 30 min. I like the whole thing so far. The next thing I’d like to try is the dance workouts.
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Was this lab setup real? (#apple)
In 2020, we started to get a better peek at Apple’s labs, at least, this is what Apple wanted us to believe. My question: was this setup a real lab or was it entirely made up? I tend to think they were real. If that’s the case, in this particular image, can you spot a very old Macintosh?
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My current Applications folder on my M1 Mac, what is yours? (#apple #m1chip #applesilicon)
I’m mostly done with the re-installation of all my most used and mandatory apps on my Mac mini. To give you an idea of my apps collection, here is a screenshot of my applications folder. Most are universal apps or Apple Silicon only.
I’m curious, what is yours?
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I'm less and less using my Intel-based iMac. And that's ok. (#m1chip #applesilicon #apple)
As more and more applications get the universal binary treatment to support M1 Macs, my iMac usage outside of my daytime job has decreased significantly. The list of apps that I cannot use on my M1 Mac mini is shrinking every week. It’s a good sign. Things are moving faster than I initially thought. Yesterday, I decided to let go the weird idea of not installing Intel-only applications on my M1 Mac mini, and everything is really working just fine.
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What do you use as a shortcut menu utility on macOS? (#apple #macOS)
I’m currently writing a piece about the tools and services I use to help me be more efficient in my blogger workflow. Currently looking at Shortcut Bar - Instant Access on the Mac App Store. I had this utility in my list that I never bought but the features are exactly what I would like to get. Is there any alternatives to this utility? It’s a bit on the expansive side and is not yet updated for M1 Macs and Big Sur look and feel.
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My still pristine M1 Mac mini is a thing of the past 😔 (#apple #m1chip #macmini #rosetta2)
Can you believe it, up until today, I was still resisting the installation of any non-native applications on my M1-based Mac mini. I refrained myself from letting in any Rosetta-dependant apps to run. I shouldn’t have made a big story about this non-issue, but it’s was more psychological than anything else.
The list of non-native apps is small, but it started to negatively affect my ability to complete specific tasks. These apps waiting in line were: SafariMarkdownLinker (Safari Extension), Grammarly (Safari Extension), Adobe Creative Cloud installer (required to install the native version of Lightroom CC), 1Password.
Today, I finally let it go and went ahead with installing these remaining pieces of my application landscape. I feel good, and everything is working just fine, as expected.
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On Apple's ProRAW: extending the range of possibilities (#apple #proraw #photography)
From “ProRAW Is Here!” By Austin Mann:
I suggest turning on ProRAW when you are shooting in extreme conditions of any kinds (extremely low light, extremely high dynamic range with super bright highlights and dark shadows, mixed light temperatures, and so on). Also, use ProRAW if you plan on enlarging the images (on screen or in print).
ProRAW is about extending the possible scenarios where you can take great looking pictures. Just like in traditional photography gear, adding different lenses allow for more possibilities. It’s incredible how far iPhone photography has come since 2007. I’ll have to wait for fall of 2021 before being able to take advantage of all this as I’m not planning to upgrade to the iPhone 12 Pro. If all goes well, I should be able to bring a shinny iPhone 13 (or whatever name they give for next’s year iPhone) with me on my next trip to Europe, on October of 2021.
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The shear power of Apple on its install base (#apple #ecosystem #installbase #iPadOS #iOS)
Is this new? I mean the format in which Apple is presenting the current iOS and iPadOS usage? The last time I paid attention to this, Apple was using a pie chart. I prefer this level of details. A few thoughts about these numbers are in order.
First, iPhone users are quicker to update their devices compared to iPad users. Second, Apple makes a clear distinction between devices recently introduced (in the last four years) from the rest. In both categories, the numbers shows that a vast majority of users adopt the latest release of the operating system. Third, even though people keeps their device longer than before, Apple keep supporting older devices (older than four years). All of this helps keeping the adoption rate at very high levels. Kudos to Apple.
These numbers also tell another story: Apple’s shear power over its install base is impressive. Apple has the ability to move it in new directions pretty quickly as users are quick to embrace new features, either by buying new devices or by updating their current ones because they are still supported by Apple. Will 2021 bring a different tone to this story with iOS 15? Maybe, maybe not.
