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One More Gripe Against Appleās Photos Memory Feature
Jim Novell & Stephen Hackett both have valid points against Appleās Photos Memory feature. I would another one: memories are created on a very aggressive schedule. There are way too many; I miss most of them. I donāt know if this is related to the fact that my library contains more than 42K images or if other factors come into play here. There should be a way to reduce the frequency.
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Blue vs Green Bubbles ā Blue is In, Green is Out?
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal created a concerted reactions chain from news sites and people on Twitter. In āWhy Appleās iMessage Is Winning: Teens Dread the Green Text Bubbleā, the WSJ article paints Apple as using highly questionable tactics to keep its users locked in iMessage messaging service. I want to share my thoughts on this.
Peer pressure among teens isnāt a new phenomenon, far from it. Way before the Internet became accessible, when I was a teen myself, I vividly remember the feeling of not wearing the same brand of clothes as my friends. The problem here is teen’s social behaviour, not the technology. They are the one to blame if they reject people using non iMessage messaging service. I would argue that Apple as nothing to do with this. Sure, they like the stickiness of their platform, but I wouldnāt say it’s the defining goal when they add features to it.
Of course, Apple canāt provide the dot-dot-dot feedback showing people who are actually writing a response to a text message because the SMS standard doesnāt provide that. Duh.
When Mr. Hiroshi Lockheimer from Google refers to āstandardsā in one of his tweets to fix the interoperability issues of messaging platforms like iMessage, I wonder what standards he is referring to, Googleās RCS. And if this standard is actually a standard, why is it so hard to take off? Why are messaging services like Discord, Telegram, WhatsApp, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, etc.?
I would also argue that, for a company like Apple, the ecosystem stickiness is part of their differentiating factor. Of course, iMessage plays a major role here. For a company like Google, where massively providing free services with ads, the more people who get to use your services, the more revenues you get. Itās their differentiating factor. Itās easy to say: Apple should open up their messaging service.
My anecdotal experience is to the effect that when something breaks in the conversation between an iPhone user and an Android users, they usually go with Messenger or WhatsApp. People still have access to many alternatives.
WSJās article is a prime example that finding the right angle to portray Apple as the devil in the room attracts numerous clicks.
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On Talent Retention Challenges
Iāve been working in information technologies for nearly three decades. Finding competent people has always been a challenge. Keeping them too. But, in recent years, the situation has become simply critical, to the point where businesses are deeply impacted: delayed projects, abandoned initiatives, high pressures on other people, stress, etc. Businessesā bottom line if at stake here.
The news of the departure of one of the directors behind Appleās transition from Intel to Appleās own silicon, Mr. Jeff Wilcox, for its Mac product line is sad but probably just the tip of the iceberg. I wouldnāt read too much into this. I can imagine a team of many hundred engineers working on this program. People come, people go. Apple must cope with this. One could argue that when there are empty seats to fill, it becomes an opportunity for others to move in and try to be their best.
There are an infinite number of reasons why people leave a company. For Apple, the challenge is probably to stay attractive in a sea of opportunities for engineers. Apple cannot please everyone, all the time. I guess salaries is one of many other factors that come into play here. Apple is a legendary company where countless people would like to work there, me included. Pressure most be high in many key positions. Yet, the reward must be satisfying. I guess Mr. Wilcox has done what he thought could be done and succeeded. Itās often the good time to move on, and try something else while being at the top of their game.
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Those Curvesā¦
Iām a big fan of curves, but up until now, I didnāt really know how to take advantage of them. š Enter this short tutorial for Pixelmator Pro. š Youāll learn how to use the curves adjustment to tweak colours and luminance of any photos. I usually prefer to use sliders just because up until now I didnāt really get how to use the curves. Now, thanks to this tutorial, I have a much better idea. Many more tutorials are available on the Pixelmator Pro YouTube channel.
The production quality of these tutorials is impeccable. I really love Pixelmator in general, and I always thought this photo processing application could have been done by Apple, when they cared enough about making one, back in the days. This isnāt a paid advertisement. Iām just being enthusiastic about great native macOS applications. š
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On iPhone 14 Pro Max Pricing
Kuo has also said that the iPhone 14 Max, or whatever it ultimately ends up being called, will be priced at under $900. For comparisonās sake, the current iPhone lineupās āMaxā only includes the 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max, which is priced at $1,099.
I highly doubt that Apple will reduce the price of the top-of-the-line model of their iPhone line-up. Why would they do that? This would put pressure on lower-end models to go down in price too. Non sense.
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Surprise Me!
The Surprise Me! plugin for Micro.blog is undoubtedly a lot of fun to play with. It will pick a random post from this blog out of 1578 posts published since 2018. It’s a fun way to resurface old yet still relevant content. Try it! I wonder how many hours of my life were used to write and publish all that stuff?
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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. Not everything disappears with each wave, and most of the time, technologies keep adding up.
What will replace the iPhone, you might ask? For me, nothing will replace the iPhone. But, according to Kelly Evans, the iPhone is going away. I donāt think her article will age well. Is she really thinking that a vast majority of people will wear goggles and stop buying smartphones? Really? Is she serious, or am I missing something in her writing?
As much as I despise articles who pretend to predict a product failure on day one, I hate articles who predict success of an unannounced product like Appleās AR headset.
I should create a Craft document where I store those articles with a date attached to them, like five years from now, and get back to them to see how well the prediction came to be.
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On NFTs: What Am I Missing?
First, consider this announcement from Samsung:
āIn 2022, Samsung is introducing the worldās first TV screen-based NFT explorer and marketplace aggregator, a groundbreaking platform that lets you browse, purchase, and display your favorite art ā all in one place.ā
What? Why is there so much talk around NFTs these days? What problems do they solve? What am I missing? This short Twitter thread makes me think that Iām not missing a lot, and that I should probably move on. Nothing to see here. Yet, how long before platforms like Unsplash steps in? š¤¦š»āāļø
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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? I had a not-so-good night with a sour throat. It was like if I had a fever, my body felt heavy. Thatās a strange feeling. We still have two quick tests on hand, which weāll probably use before going back home today. Weāll probably go to a clinic to get a PCR test, but long lines of people are waiting to get tested, which is discouraging. I should probably just declare myself as positive.
The thing about COVID is that not everything is clear-cut, far from it. There is a lot of confusion, especially in this fifth wave with Omicron. We didnāt really know what to do with a single test coming out as positive. We spent the last week together, with the Omicron variant, Itās pretty sure we would become infected. My friends thought of leaving early but changed their minds because we all had very mild symptoms because we were all fully vaccinated. So we didnāt feel the need to panic or worry too much.
Our holiday vacation is ending on a sour note, to say the least. š
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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. Yet, the virus got in. One of my friend got infected probably following a quick visit to their family for a gift exchange. They stayed half an hour then left. It was enough, apparently to get infected. So they came to this vacation week with us, without knowing they would bring the virus with them. Iām not angry. Iām resigned.
Iām not feeling that bad as I write and publish this post. I have very few secretions, but I feel my lung irritated and I cough sometimes. No fever. No out-of-ordinary fatigue. My sleep is unaffected. Itās seems to be in line with people who got two vaccines. Iām hoping this will stay that way for the coming days.
Now, Iāll have to tell my kids that I got it in a social gathering that I asked them well too often not to do with their friends. Thatās the hardest part. Guilt. š¤¦š»āāļø
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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.
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A New Project for 2022 ā Every Apple Computersā¦
What if I documented all Apple computers I ever actively used or owned? For each of them, there is a story worth remembering and to write (like this one from 1986), the general context of its use, what software did I use on it at the time, how I bought it, how long did I own it and which new computer replaced it? There is even a ten-years pause where I left the Apple bandwagon to switch to the other side. What happened? Why?
Using the excellent and must-have utility, MacTracker, which I should have included in my post āThe Perfect Apple Enthusiast ā Find Out Where You Standā, I started to process of going back in times. It wonāt be easy to go back forty years back, but itās worth it. I want this article to be as complete as possible and fun to read, full of high-quality pictures. Be patient, it will be a long journey.
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He says "Hi!"
For no apparent reason, I started a photo series of this little guy in all sorts of visual contexts. I’m using an album to store them all. I’m currently at 23 photos of him. He’s so cute, isn’t he? I got my inspiration from someone here on Micro.blog who did the same in recent months. I can’t remember who, though. So who knows where this is headed. It’s the time of the year for frivolous projects. š
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Completed The Servant Season 2 - At Long Last!
Finally was able to finish season 2 of The Servant on Apple TV+ yesterday, just in time for the third season. What a weird story. The only occasion I can spend time watching TV series is during the holidays. Using AirPods Max for the listening experience is pure magic; nobody in the living gets distracted by the TV, and the sound quality is impressive. Now, I should finish For All Mankind Season 2.
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A Message for Christmas
To all of you, even though I donāt know you personally, since I spend quite some time here all year long reading your posts, I kind of feel familiarity. Itās like being part of a small community. I like this a lot. Itās something not possible on Twitter. So, I want to wish you a merry Christmas to all of you. Take care of you, of your family and your friends. š
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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. š¤·š»āāļø
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Phasing Out My Vimeo Account
Well, Iām not a video guy. I prefer photography. My experience with Vimeo is coming to an end. I wonāt renew my subscription. Iāll keep my account but returning to the free tier will remove many of my previously published content. This prompts me to remove some content from my main blog too. Deleting content is something that I donāt like to do. Itās like putting hard work, countless hours of work down the drain. š
You can have a look at my Vimeo profile if you are curious.
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Glass ā Maybe We Need to Be Patient?
Matt Birchler blog post about his interest for Glassās fading out:
I was very high on Glass, a new photo sharing app this summer, but my enthusiasm for it has dropped in perfect sync with the temperature dropping here in the Midwest since then.
Lee Peterson blog post about his interest is so low that he canceled his Glass subscription:
I still feel it was a bad slope to start down by adding appreciation and Iāve cancelled my subscription.
Finally, Andy Nicolaides on Twitter thinking out loud about the introduction of āappreciationā (a term used instead of ālikesā):
Iām not one of the folks that wasnāt a big fit of Glass adding the likes / appreciation function, but Iāll tell you this much, in my small case study of one, itās completely killed off any comments I used to receive.
Letās be honest: Glass has been alive for less than four months. They kept updating the service since the beginning to improve the experience and discoverability. They didnāt fall in the āme tooā trap yet. Arenāt we expecting too much too soon from such a small organization? Should we expect them to come out with the right recipe on day one? Could this be much more difficult to be different and yet familiar in the crowded space of on-line photo sharing? I would argue that your feed is as good as the people you follow. Sure, Glass needs to attract great photographers. I suspect they are working on it as I write this. People are busy. Living in a pandemic put a lot of stress on everybody and cancelled so many opportunities for doing photography, but it created others too. It wasnāt the best moment to launch such a service, and yet, theyāve done a great job so far.
I do have a subscription to Glass (my profile page here) and Iām willing to be patient here. I have a goal of posting at least one picture a week, even though I have another place to do so, on Smugmug (my profile page here).
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An idea. The iPad. A Brainstorming Session. Another Article in the Works.
I love the iPad. Appleās Notes.app in dark mode is š. Youāre currently seeing a brainstorm of ideas for an upcoming blog post in early 2022. The subject? Can you tell just by looking at my notes? Hint: Itās a meta blog post. Another hint: https://numericcitizen.io.
Yes, I know, my handwriting sucks. š¤¦š»āāļøšš
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The Enigmatic Snapseed from Google
Surprising to see Snapseed being updated since it is owned by Google. I use this photo processing application to create the posts in the Perfect Imperfection Series on my Smugmug account. If Google was to kill this app, it would probably put an end to my photo series. I tried to find other apps to replace Snapseed but failed to find something that comes close. Now, why is Google even bother maintaining Snapseed? How does it fit their business model?
