I’m super excited about this year’s iPhone announcements. It’s probably because I’m getting one of them1. I try to skip one or two iterations. I went from the iPhone 7 to the iPhone 11 Pro, then to the iPhone 13 Pro, and now the iPhone 15 Pro Max. I’m looking forward to these improvements: the cameras2 and battery life3. Sure, the Dynamic Island will be cool. Oh, and USB-C, finally4! Continue reading →

This week, Apple will release its latest iPhone models. I’m excited. It will be an exercise of balance between news consumption, analysis and writing. It’s the perfect mix for a stressful week. 😟 Learn why in this podcast episode. Links My iPhone 11 Pro review: “From iPhone 7 to iPhone 11 Pro: The Return of Delights” My iPhone 13 Pro review: “Upgrading From the iPhone 11 Pro to iPhone 13 Pro — the Love Story Continues” Transcript Continue reading →

What a strange move by Apple. This website made by Apple promotes first-party apps for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, etc. Why? Why now? I would understand in the context of being forced to allow third-party App Stores. Apple reminding people about their apps while people are getting excited by side-loading and third-party App Stores would make sense. Is Apple up to something here? They usually plan for the long run. Continue reading →

I’m curious, is anyone using Apple’s Freeform? For what use case? Personally, I was curious about Freeform and experimented with it for a while, but then I stopped using it. I prefer using it on the iPad than on the Mac. Continue reading →

This is my favourite month of the year1. It’s my birthday month2. The weather is generally absolutely amazing3. Gone are muggy and hazy days; the air is crystal clear. It’s a transition month. It is a colourful month. It’s an Apple keynote month! I am looking forward to this long week-end with my family. Expect a few images, too. An happy guy! 😃 It dates back to my childhood where it September marked the return to school. Continue reading →

This is going to be about the iPhone, mostly. The iPhone 15, to be more precise. Of course. Apple will probably talk a lot about the A17 because of its new 3nm manufacturing process, ensuring some battery power savings while bringing faster processing. This will be welcomed for an always-on display device since the iPhone 14 Pro performance in that respect is not as good as it used to be. Continue reading →

While writing my next edition of the Friday Notes newsletter (#107), I realized that writing has never been a one-stretch thing for me. It takes countless writing iterations before getting things done. In this episode, I share my anxieties 😰 about writing in general ✍🏻. Plus, a few words about my expectations for the upcoming Apple Event “Wonderlust”! 👀 Links Jean-Louis Gassée’s “Monday Note” newsletter https://mondaynote.com/. Be Inc: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_Inc. Transcript Continue reading →

I’m really looking forward to the iPhone 15 Ultra👀. Coming from the iPhone 13 Pro, I skipped the 14 Pro1; I expect the camera improvements to be tangible. The telephoto lens could see the most significant improvements driving sales of the Ultra to new territories2. Using a periscope architecture, telephoto could jump from 3x to 6x or more. This could be the last thing that makes me sell my Nikon D7503. Continue reading →

After so many years of blogging, I think I have finally settled on the styling of each blog post. 😅 I like to emphasize key words with bold, making it easier to detect what this post is all about. Next is the use of emojis to make things a bit less serious and more approachable.🙂 Next is the selective use of Micro.blog’s post title for longer and more significant posts.1 😜 More recently, I started using footnotes because they add another dimension to the reading experience and are displayed in a nice popup on the site. Continue reading →

I always subscribe to my own content distribution channels for quality control purposes 1. I’m using Overcast, Pocket Cast and Apple Podcast to display my latest podcast episode. In these screenshots, I selected the info button to display the episode details. I’m a paid subscriber of Pocket Cast. I prefer the Pocket Cast display, but it has a caching issue as it doesn’t get the latest podcast artwork, but the other two do2. Continue reading →

Bad weather 🌧️ means time to the coffee shop for creative work ☕ 👨🏻‍💻 on my next YouTube video about Craft YouTube Integration. I paid a visit to the Apple Store to get my iPhone screen replaced 🛠️. I came out without a replacement; learn why in this episode available on Apple’s Podcast. 👀 Transcript Continue reading →

A Eulogy for Dark Sky, a Data Visualization Masterpiece The design of Dark Sky was so wonderful that I could understand the shape of the weather at a glance, even from a zoomed out view of the app. Great analysis of the now-defunct Dark Sky weather app. I’m a bit late on that one. I don’t remember using Dark Sky because I think it wasn’t working in Canada. I’m not sure about this. Continue reading →

Today, while reading this blog post, I found out that we could have a “popup” note inline in a blog post. I was curious and asked the author, who gladly responded with all the required information to do the same on my blog. A plugin is required, which I gladly installed in a snap1. This blog post is a test of that feature2. The day I learn something which in turn helps me improve one of my things, is a great day. Continue reading →

This is the second pilot episode of my brand-new podcast (“Thoughts & Tribulations of a compulsive creator”). I made many changes to the recording setup. I like the results. 😊 My support templates are ready (one in Screenflow, Things and Craft) for the first real episode that should be coming soon. One last note: I discovered yesterday that Microblog will automatically generate a transcript of each episode. This is so cool! Continue reading →

I’m excited to introduce something new: a podcast. 🎙️Something short & sweet. At least, it is one of my goals. I don’t have a grand plan, just a desire to share my thoughts and tribulations of the creator that I am in a different medium: audio. Nothing fancy. It’s done with modest technical means and a dead simple workflow. The end product: something approachable. I want to keep it that way. Continue reading →

Happy 25th anniversary, iMac! As I started documenting in my series about remembering every Mac I ever owned, in 1998, I wasn’t invested in Apple’s ecosystem at all. I was a “PC” guy because of my job. Right before the iMac came out, I got rid of my Power Mac 7100 in 1996. I barely saw the iMac in stores or public spaces where a computer was made available for things like web surfing. Continue reading →

I just went through the complete process of an Apple Trade-In for the return of my “old” 13-inch MacBook Air after getting my brand new 15-inch MacBook Air. I’m super impressed by the logistics behind all of it and how the user (me) is guided in the process. The final step was to cancel the AppleCare+ that I originally bought with my old device. Took a 5 min call from somewhere in Texas. Continue reading →

I forgot to linkpost to the IPPAWARDS winners of 2023. Lot’s of great photos. Really. Twenty photos come from the iPhone 12 series (which came out in 2020). Five from the iPhone 13 series and another five from the iPhone 7 (which came out in 2016). Only four from the iPhone 14 series. What can we conclude from this? It doesn’t matter which camera you’ve got. The best one is the one you’ve got with you at the right place and time. Continue reading →

Being locked out of an Apple ID account is probably one of the worst nightmares I could imagine. This story (Reddit link) makes me pause for a bit. If you spend some time reading the comments thread, it seems the original poster doesn’t tell the whole story. There are some grey zones here. Nonetheless, the possibility of losing complete access to my previously purchased and subscribed content is really something that I wouldn’t want. Continue reading →

Ok, can we agree that Apple’s Migration Assistant is magical? 🤯 After the new Mac got updated, it was required to match the version of the source Mac. It took about 45 minutes to transfer 375GB of data (with a peak speed of 650MB/s over Thunderbolt 4 cable), and boom. Of course, I had all those required permissions to be set again. But, wow, writing this on my brand new 15-inch MacBook Air this morning. Continue reading →