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Two Years Agoā¦
On March 13th, in 2020, the world flipped, my world flipped. So many things are different now. This short blog post is about reflecting on the last two years and how they became the foundation for what is to come in my life. Time flies and making judicious decisions is more important than ever. Working from home is important. Iāll never return full time at the office. Even if I move to another job, working from home is now a requirement. Continue reading ā
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Apple is Finally Showing Courage
I asked for this since the beginning of the Ukrainian war (on Twitter: first here, then here, then here), and today Apple delivered. Appleās products are no longer being sold through its online store. While the App Store is still working apparently, Iām ok with their decision. On top of that, Apple will donate money, twice the amount that employees will give to help Ukrainians. Itās a good move, the only move, without using real arms, to make an impact. Continue reading ā
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Going Downwards
I don’t know about you but I find current events in Ukraine very disturbing and distracting. As much as Iām happy to see Russia being more and more isolated every hour, I can see its leader being more and more pissed off and willing to commit the worst. The world seems to go in a spiralling direction toward even more violence and hard to resolve situations. Continue reading ā
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A Message for Ukrainians
The news of the Russian criminal invasion of its sovereign neighbour, Ukraine, is appalling. Putin and his regime is committing an aggression that shall be punished, at the right time, at the right place with the right means. I cannot believe that weāre seeing such an invasion in Europe, in 2022. Whatās next? Whoās next? Weāre all going to suffer at various degrees from this utterly criminal invasion. I pay no respect to Putin, his government, his propaganda machine and every single Russian who support this aggression. Continue reading ā
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Old Computer-Related Memories
From 1993 to 1994, I owned a PowerBook Duo 210 sporting a trackball, a low-profile keyboard and a grayscale screen. I didnāt like the trackball as the pointing device. The keyboard wasnāt that great either. But, it was small, highly portable. Coupled with the Duo Dock and an external monitor, it was a cool and novel setup. Itās been a long time ago. This article was written using a M1 MacBook Air, in a coffee shop. Continue reading ā
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Health of Developer Relations with Apple in Free Fall
According to this yearās Six Colors Report Card, relationships between Apple and its developers’ community is in terrible shape. The trend isnāt looking good either. Marco Arment said, āAppleās tightening grip on App Store fees, attempts to reach into other parts of businesses that they donāt deserve, and extremely entitled and galling statements on the matter continue to be distasteful and extremely damaging to their reputation. It seems like a huge strategic blunder to inflame developer relations, generate bad PR, invite more regulatory scrutiny, and risk governments imposing much worse changes for such a small percentage of their revenue. Continue reading ā
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"Itās not just how things look, itās about how things work."
Somehow, I missed David Sparks’ observations regarding the Wallpaper feature of Apple’s Design Team (emphasis is mine): Instead of quoting Steve Jobs, I would have preferred an explanation from Alan Dye about his philosophy of user interface design and what his north star is when he does his work. Iād like him to make his case. If he explained the thinking behind this minimal approach, it might make more sense. Maybe this article was never meant to be that kind of deep dive on design philosophy, but it feels like a missed opportunity. Continue reading ā
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Beyond the iPhone
Remember when people claimed Java would replace all computer languages? Maybe you remember when tech pundits told us that network computers would replace Windows PC? Or what about those who said that netbooks would replace laptops? Why some people consider the tech world to be a place where technologies always get replaced with another one? I tend to view the tech world as a space where several waves hitting the shores. Continue reading ā
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COVID ā Did He Really Got Me?
Here is an update following yesterdayās post about getting caught by COVID. I thought that I had been infected because of my symptoms. We all did a quick test after posting my article. The results came up positive for one of my friends, but everyone else was negative, including me. It could be false negatives, but I highly doubt it, except if we didnāt do the test correctly. How am I feeling 24 hours later? Continue reading ā
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COVID ā Got Me!
After close to two years of relentless fight to protect myself from COVID-19, after following all the governmentās sanitary rules and telling others how it is important to get vaccinated, It appears that the virus won over me. We had this āget together weekā planned for a long time, with friends. We were six. Everyone limited their contacts to the minimum in the week before, in accordance to the rules in place at the time. Continue reading ā
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The Real Cost of Crypto
The real cost of Crypto. We need to stop buying into this shit and fast. Why is it so hard to think about these “side effects” when creating new technologies? I recently wrote about not getting into Crypto, NFTs, web3 because I’m probably just getting old. I know just enough to understand the costs of the technology behind and how bad it is for the planet. Continue reading ā
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Doing Nothing Useful and Feeling Guilty About It
First day of holiday vacations. I’m not into Christmas at all this year. It’s the kind of day where I should work on my many writing projects or even do some photo processing! Yet, I feel in a lethargic state. I’m barely able to finish my newsletter. I’m unable to organize myself. Reading seems the best option. Or Netflix. I feel guilty for doing nothing useful. At least, I was able to express myself on this. Continue reading ā
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Like the Dislike ā Put the Decision in Creatorās Hands
So, YouTube will remove the dislike button soon from its platform. In one of his recent video, the popular YouTuber, Marques Brownlee, expresses his dissatisfaction about Googleās decision. His view echos mine. Iām not a big consumer of YouTube content, but when I do spend time there, I want to spend it on good quality content. The like / dislike ratio is an important indicator for me, and I suspect it is for many people. Continue reading ā
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Exposure Notifications ā Still Useful?
The other day I was looking at my iPhone battery consumption only to find out that the Exposure notifications feature was consuming close to 10% of the power on a 24 hours period. Itās not the first that I see Exposure Notifications to take so much juice out of my iPhone battery. Iām not alone, apparently, according to a Google search with the āexposure notifications battery drainā keywords. The question is simple: considering that Iām fully vaccinated, considering the state of the pandemic here in Canada, considering that hardly any people actually enter their test results if found positive, why should I continue to care about having this turned on? Continue reading ā
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Going to the movies still sucks
We went to the movies yesterday night. The first time in two years. āNo Time To Dieā was good. As much as other types of business has evolved in this time frame, buying tickets, bad quality lighting, flaky sound systems are still part of my usual subpar experience at the movies. No wonder why this is a dying business. Continue reading ā
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On the way back home
I’m on my way back home from a weekend in the Niagara Falls region. I put my iPhone 13 Pro to the test. I’m quite happy with my experience. Most of my photos are in ProRAW format. I’m not sure how I’ll process them: with Pixelmator? Lightroom CC? If the latter, the import process is putting me on the break instead of a more integrated experience with Pixelmator. Continue reading ā
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Dear @Viticci, Iām Not a Professional Reviewer, So What?
This podcast episode from MacStories featuring Viticci triggered quite a few reactions. Why? Because of these two sentences in the first moments of the episode talking about the iPad mini: āYou wouldnāt want to read/or watch a review by someone who is not a professional reviewer. It wouldnāt be enjoyable.ā Yep. Viticci said that. In āThe value of a non-reviewerās perspectiveā from Mere Civilian: āI agree, a review from a person who does not write for a living may not be enjoyable. Continue reading ā
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Courage, Apple?
John Gruber on Appleās lack of courage regarding vaccination of their employees: So whereās Apple on this? Why isnāt Apple requiring proof of vaccination for employees, including for retail employees and customers? Why reserve courageous decisions only for removing headphone jacks? Boom. Photo by Marisol Benitez on Unsplash Continue reading ā
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Remembering that day
I was at the office. A normal day. It was a perfect sunny and more than usual mild September day. Blue sky. Then the news struck. At first, I didnāt understand what was actually happening. The internet went slow, to the point of becoming unusable. My colleagues started to leave their desks. We all turned to the TV set in the employees cafeteria. It was such a unique accident, we all thought. Continue reading ā
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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
