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How old are they? (#apple #macosbigsur)
Hereās a quick and unrelated question: how old, on average, are people who love the design language of macOS Big Sur? Seriously, my bet goes to a much younger crowd than those who prefer macOS Catalina. Why? People who grew up with the iPhone and iPadOS has a much different design reference frame that those who grew up with macOS. The latter group seems to see Big sur as some sort of iPadification of macOS.
Youāre thoughts?
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Please, come to Canada (#apple #iphoneupgradeprogram #iphone)
I wish the iPhone Upgrade Program would come to Canada. I’m not holding my breath, though. I think carriers here wouldn’t let it happen because they know they suck at selling their shit, and this would greatly affect their bottom line. In any case, if it does come to Canada, I would upgrade my iPhone every year, for sure.
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Mac Pro mini (#apple #rumours #macpro)
Surprising rumors by Bloomberg about Apple working on a new Mac Pro, about half the size of the current model:
āApple engineers are currently developing a new Mac Pro that looks like the current design at about half the size. Itās unclear if that Mac will replace the current Mac Pro or if itās an additional model.ā
As someone who is seriously contemplating to buy a Mac Pro, this information makes me pause a bit. My use case is for virtualization software which requires an Intel chip for running Windows versions in virtual machines. Windows on ARM is not on the horizon. I will enjoy an Intel Mac Pro for quite some time.
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The "real" One More Thing... (#appleevent #apple #macosbigsur #macbook #onemorething)
There is a difference between what I expect and what are the things that I would really like to see. Here is a short list for this last Apple Event of 2020.
I hope for an Apple Silicon Mac with a full physical redesign of the Mac it is replacing. The re-introduction of the 12" MacBook with a refreshed design language, something that would be start of something new for all the upcoming MacBook updates in the future. I want Apple to mark the beginning of a new era for the Mac, not something in the form of continuity. I want Apple to turn the page and move beyond the Jony Ive’s era. Let’s start fresh, be forward thinking. Go past Microsoft’s Surface. Oh, this brings me to another wish: Touch support on macOS Big Sur and Apple Silicon Mac. Signs are pointing to this. That would be the real kicker of this year. Please, Apple, make it so. Impress me.
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Troubling rumours about the Mac (#apple #mac #imac #applesilicon)
According to AppleTrack.org, there is a shortage of many different Mac models. Some shipping dates are slipping into December. It the case for the 21.5ā iMac and iMac Pro. Troubling.
When Apple announced they were transitioning their Macs to use the new Apple Silicon, they also said they would keep updating current Intel-based models for a while. I don’t know this will translate in reality. If the iMac Pro is being updated this month, it could be for an updated configuration with an Intel CPU, not an Apple Silicon. The case of the 21.5ā iMac is more interesting, tough. The 27ā iMac was updated recently but not the 21.5. I’m not sure it is the first prime candidate for the Apple Silicon. I’m thinking more about the MacBook or the MacBook Pro which would highly benefit from the Apple Silicon.
It’s interesting to note that the Mac Pro is still in stock. This could signal that it won’t get updated this fall. The Mac Pro wasn’t updated since its release in 2019. As I’m looking to get one for my SDDCbox project, I’d would love to see a refreshed configuration in time for me to consider and pickup.
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On iStat Menus 6.5 (#macosbigsur @bjango)
One of my favorite macOS utilities, iStat Menus, just received an update to version 6.5 which adds support for macOS Big Sur. I know, yesterday I wrote that I was done with Big Sur… but it was for testing… I still have time in front of me to convince me this is the best release of macOS Apple has ever done.
iStat Menus will be ready when I’m doing the switch to this Mac Pro for my SDDCbox project. It will play an important role in giving me insights on the CPU and SSD access. For now, there are a lot of tweaks which will make this utility even better. Even their release notes is art!
There seems to be less and less high-quality apps and utilities like this these days…
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Iām done with macOS Big Sur (#apple #macos #macosbigsur)
Since the beginning of September Iāve been testing macOS Big Sur. I’m still undecided about how I like or hate this release. I’m unable to get over the way Apple messed up the notifications center with widgets. Clearly, it is a regression. There was no good reasons to merge them on the same space. Widgets should have gone in their own area, taking full advantage of the big screen. I just don’t understand it.
I’ll reuse this 1 TB SSD USB-C drive for something else: put my SDDCbox project virtual machines on it.
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Release Candidate (#iosdev #apple #iOS)
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the end of an era. Apple is leaving behind the term āGolden Masterā in order to adopt āRelease Candidateā to refer to a version of its operating system sent to its developers that will probably be released to the general public. An an IT guy, Iām used to the term ārelease candidateā, āgolden masterā was such an Apple-only thing. Iām glad they make this change as it reflects the state of a release.
Photo credits: Photo by Tirza van Dijk on Unsplash
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Edge cases (#iphone12 #iphone12pro #photography #apple)
Iām an iPhone 11 Pro owner. Photography-centered reviews are interesting to me because they tend to compare this yearās iPhone with last yearās. MacRumors published such a comparison. Judging from it, if I could summarize the iPhone 12 Pro photographic advances, it would be like this. The iPhone 12 Pro improvements are mostly about edge cases because in normal situations, improvements are much more subtle. The addition of Night Mode on the Ultra wide camera is part of features uniformisation across cameras which is welcomed, though.
Photo credits: from MacRumors article.Ā
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It's a deal! (#apple #appleone #applemusic #fitnessplus)
Sometimes in your life you come across some deals that you cannot refuse. Apple One is one of them. As a Canadian, by subscribing, on top of Apple News+, 2 TB iCloud storage and Apple Music, Ā Iām getting Fitness+ and Apple Arcade andā¦ to my surprise, now I have 4 TB of iCloud storage. How good is that? Canāt wait to try Fitness+ and maybe help me go through these enduring times this coming winter while getting in a better shape?
Now, what comes next Apple One? Apple //?Ā
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Optimized for Mac (#apple #applesilicon #ios #ipados)
Here is one of the most fascinating part of upcoming Apple Silicon Macs: the implicit support for iPhone and iPad apps on the Mac (as long as the developers care to update their apps, obviously). I wonder how massive this change will be. How will it change the third-party applications landscape on the Mac? How will it influence the pricing of both iOS/iPadOS apps and macOS apps? We tend to take for granted that software on the Mac is always more expensive compared to their iPad counterpartā¦ The next year sure will be interesting to watch for Mac lovers like me.
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Fascinating times (#apple #microsoft #google #amazon)
Here is a fascinating chart: brand value calculated by Interbrand. Apple is on top again this year. They have been there since 2012. What I find interesting is the first row is occupied by companies reflecting our new way of life as we depend on smartphones (Apple, Samsung), online shopping (Amazon) and the cloud (Microsoft). What about Google you might ask? Well, first, as we donāt like to pay for online stuff, we prefer to be the product of advertisers. Second, we stopped using bookmarks a long time ago, we prefer the Google search field.
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Weāre humans ā Tim Cook (#apple #timcook)
āWork canāt solve for all the things weāre missing right now, but a shared sense of purpose goes a long way. A belief that we can do more together than we can alone, that people of good will, driven by creativity and passion and that certain itch of a big idea, can still do things that help other people in our own small way to teach, to learn, to create, or just to relax at a time like this. Even as the things we make require us to operate at the very cutting edge of technology, in materials, products, and ideas that didnāt exist just a few years ago, this year has forced us to face plainly the things that make us humanāāādisease, resilience, and hope.ā ā Tim Cook
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Apple is doom! (#apple #iphone #mac #ipad)
Poor Apple, iPhone sales are 20% down compared to last yearās quarter. Look, people, it's 2020 and we are in the middle of a pandemic. Stores are closing, opening, then closing again. Yet, Apple is able to pull it off big time. Thanks to the Mac, iPad and services, Apple is able to come out with a great quarter! Thatās what is interesting: when one product line is performing poorly, others take the lead. September quarter is going to be a monster one as the iPhone 12 and Apple Silicon Macs sales takes over the stage.Ā
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Apple's Clips is Underated (#apple #clips)
Apple this week updated their strange application, Clips, to version 3.0. Clips looks like a technology demonstration to me. I hear it is popular among the young crowd. Maybe. Ā Iāve played with the new version a bit and really like the new design which is cleaner and more enjoyable to use. After playing with, boy this app is power hungry; my iPhone 11 Pro getās very hot! Still an interesting ting to play with.Ā
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On Apple Search (#apple #siri #search @parkerortolani)
Here is an interesting design concept of a possible Apple Search service. What I find interesting is the use of the Siri branding. I donāt know if Apple would use it or simply call the service: Apple Search. I would prefer the latter as Siri is not known to sound like āgoodā more like āgood enoughā or ābehind the reste of the crowdā.Ā
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11.0.1 beta, really? (#apple #macos #macosbigsur)
This curve ball wasn’t expected: Apple comes up with beta 1 of macOS Big Sur 11.0.1. Why? Why now? Does this mean 11.0 GM is really around the corner and will ship soon on new Macs, including the first Apple Silicon ones? Why do I keep thinking Big Sur (based on Beta 10) was far from ready? Something is clear to me, I’m not upgrading my iMac anytime soon, but I understand that my upcoming Mac Pro could come pre-installed with it.
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That was fast! (#apple #ios14 #ios13)
Iām always impressed by the turn over speed of major new releases of iOS. iOS 14 adoption rate is already surpassing iOS 13 after less than six weeks of availability. Wow.
Appleās iPhone ecosystem is running at blazing speed to adopt new technologies. There is nothing like that in tech. Even if people are keeping their old iPhone longer, by supporting old devices, Apple can set the bar for new privacy features and make them available to a vast portion of the users. This is something we rarely talk about.
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Twisted dialogue (#apple #iphone12 #environment @mattbirchler)
Matt Birchler in a funny post hightlights how twisted Appleās stance can be when it comes to pushing their agenda: in this cas, the protection of the environment.
I think it is a mandatory thing to openly challenge something Apple does even if you like their products as much as we possible can. I did it in my long article āThe Rotten Side of Tim Cookās Appleā and lāll continue to do it.
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Basic Apple Guy but gorgeous! (#apple #blog #discovery @basicappleguy)
Thanks to an article from John Gruber’s website, Daring Fireball, I discovered a new Apple-centric blog yesterday: Basic Apple Guy. After spending a few minutes on it exploring the content, I kind of fell in love with it and and started to wish it was mine. I’m impressed by the simplicity and the content quality. RSS feed already added to my collection.
