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Episode 02 — I’m an Iterative Type of Guy
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.
- Jean-Louis Gassée’s “Monday Note” newsletter https://mondaynote.com/.
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Waiting for the iPhone 15 Ultra
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. The softer and rounder edges and titanium finish might make this iPhone the best design of all time4. And, finally, USB-C will certainly simplify charging the damn thing! I wonder if I’ll still be able to use my Lightning Lavalier microphone using a Lightning-to-USB-C adaptor.🤔
It will be my first “Max” iPhone. Apparently, I’m on a stretch of going for the bigger screens5.
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I skip a generation to limit my consumerism habits. It’s an environmental issue here. ↩︎
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I depend on a 70-200mm zoom on my Nikon which is very useful on a trip. ↩︎
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I still thing the best design was the matte black iPhone 7. ↩︎
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I recently upgraded from the 13-inch MacBook Air to a 15-inch version. ↩︎
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Finally Settled on Blog Post Visual Attributes
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.2
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One Podcast, Three Looks
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. Bold text is missing on Apple Podcast for some reason. The overcast look is… mildly ugly.
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Episode 01 — This Is Not a Drill!
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. 👀
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On Dark Sky and Apple's Weather
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. Once Apple took over and brought the redesigned weather app with iOS 16, we could visually feel the Dark Sky’s influence on it. But Apple being Apple, they dropped a few things here and there and made a few things their own. I tend to use Carrot Weather more, but recently, I deep-dived into Apple’s Weather, and frankly, they did a good job. Yet, there was something unique in Dark Sky that I don’t feel in Apple’s offerings. Is it too close to the Yahoo Weather look & feel? Maybe.
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Learned Something New Today
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. 😊 I love this community so much! 🫶🏻
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Pilot Episode #2 — Testing, Testing, Testing, 1-2-3
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! 🤯
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Introducing the Thoughts & Tribulations of a Compulsive Creator Podcast
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. This is a pilot episode. Listen to learn more. Your feedback is welcome. 😊
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Dear Original iMac, I Barely Knew You
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. What an iconic but somewhat weird-retro-style computer.
Isn’t the starting point of USB ports for the masses? Thanks, Apple.
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The Apple Way
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. The call was automatically initiated from a web form I filled out by selecting a few options. Got a confirmation email before the call and after stating the actual amount of the refund. All done. Great user experience. The next time will be for the replacement of my iPhone 13 Pro with the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro. 😃
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An Observation About the Photos From IPPAWARDS Winners of 2023
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. Period.
In case you didn’t know, the iPhone 15 is coming soon.
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On Being Locked Out of an Apple ID Account
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. I would feel helpless.
Mike Rockwell’s comment on the subject:
I hope we’re nearing a future where you can realistically use an iPhone without an Apple ID at all — replacing all of Apple’s services, including the App Store, with independent alternatives.
Mike’s wishes are not going to be fulfilled anytime soon. Even with alternative authentication mechanisms and third-party stores, the prospect of losing access to previously purchased content is real. Somehow I think the government should step in and ask companies to provide secure content recovery means.
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On Apple's Migration Assistant
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. It was my first experience with this process of getting a new Mac set up. I already feel at home on this machine.
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Apple Should Introduce FlightPlay™
Recently, while on a flight with United from Tenerife to Newark, I played with the infotainment screen in front of me. These infotainment systems really improved in recent years. Screens are bigger, speed is much faster, and interaction has improved quite a bit. Some of these systems look like iPad-in-the-seat, literally. It occurred to me that Apple while offering CarPlay, could try to find a way to create a version for flight infotainment systems. Let’s call it FlightPlay because Flighty is already used, and AirPlay, too!
I want each plane to offer a complete set of flight data, ready to be consumed by my iPad or iPhone while in flight via a local wifi network. The iPhone or the iPad would then turn into a special StandBy mode where data would be visually presented dynamically, allowing for great interactions with the user. Modern devices have so much powerful CPU, the interaction would be much more fluid and enjoyable. The data provided would be based on a standard model and would provide speed, altitude, current destination, path, atmosphere metrics (temp, headwind speed, etc.), and so much more. The airplane company could directly provide TV shows, music, etc., to our devices. The same would be for games. But Apple could also allow consumption of locally stored content from the device itself. I can imagine Apple’s designers working on a great graphical dashboard.
Is anybody at Apple reading this? What are you waiting for?
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My Non-Review of Apple's Latest Betas
Earlier this summer, when Apple’s OSes were at Beta 3, I installed iPadOS 17 on my iPad to test the latest improvements and additions to a maligned OS. Maybe I was bored too. I started gathering my notes, thinking that it would be part of a mini review. Then I upgraded my iPhone because my experience with iPadOS 17 was good for a beta. Then I upgraded both of my Apple Watch (Series 4 and Series 8). Then my two Apple TVs. All is good, and generally speaking, these are all great improvements to what can be considered a set of mature OSes. I tried to put my observations together, but I don’t think it’s worth it. Besides having the general impression of getting a new Apple Watch, thanks to Apple, who dare to revisit many fundamental aspects of the UI and many micro-interactions with watchOS 10, for all other platforms, most of the changes are great and show that Apple is headed in the right direction. Your mileage may vary, and this is ok. The end.
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Adding Bookmarks to my Blog
I decided to expose my Micro.blog bookmarks, in the spirit of the “open blogger” movement (“I’m an open Blogger”), I think it’s a good thing to let other people know a portion of what I find interesting. The recently introduced tags for bookmarks is an indication that the premium feature continues to grow in functionality and usefulness. I’m happy with that. I didn’t play with the formatting, leaving the default one in place.
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The Post-COVID iPad Era
Apple’s services help other Apple lines of products soften their respective crashes. COVID and work-from-home, learn-from-home was a boon for the iPad and Apple will suffer the post-COVID for quite some time. Knowing the longer-than-usual replacement cycle of the iPad, recovery is not for tomorrow. Great summary by Six Colors.
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Apple Can’t Kill Siri Just Like That
And gone is Microsoft Cortana. What a weird name that was (Bard is not better in that respect). Some are suggesting Apple should do the same with Siri. I don’t think so because Apple has no apparent alternative to Siri, so they cannot just dump Siri because others are dumping their assistant. They do because they actively work on alternatives. Microsoft is clear in that respect and already shows what the alternatives are. Siri is a high-value brand name. Apple should build any next-generation AI-based tool to replace or complement the current back-end.
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On The Refinement Game in Tech
I won’t bother linking to the original piece, linking to Math Birchler’s link post instead will be enough. Is the iPhone refined enough? It depends on how you define « refinement ». To me, the iPhone isn’t refined enough in a way that new tech can help make the iPhone even better. If this year’s rumors are true, this is exactly what will happen (faster processor, more power efficient, etc.). Craftmanship also is a big part of the refinement story (softer edges, etc.). I can’t wait for iPhone 15 Pro, coming from the 13 Pro, I’ll certainly enjoy all the refinements, big and small.
Oh and apparently, unlike Apple, other companies don’t bother keeping the refinement game going. Well, this is exactly why I love Apple, they care to refine and try to improve things, year after year.
