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While waiting for iCloud Private Relay...
I’m using NextDNS.io for a better web experience… not the same but it does a great job of making the web more privacy friendly and a lot faster too. Too bad that we will have to wait for iOS 15.1 or later for iCloud Private Relay. Each year there are features that get dropped from the initial release… remember iMessage in the cloud, anyone?
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Late to the party, but...
Just got this yesterday. You know what this mean, right? Well, maybe not. Anyway, I’m a bit late to the MacBook Air party, but this thing is probably THE best Mac Apple ever made. It’s not the best Air Apple ever made, though. A tad too big probably, yet so powerful. And this keyboard… a real and trusty keyboard. š„°
I’m working on an essay about my new adventure in the MacBook Air land. Stay tuned.
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Feeling honored
It doesnāt happen too often but when it does, I feel very proud about it. One of my blog post about the story of 1Password 8 going ElectronĀ on https://numericcitizen.me received a backlink from Michael Tsai (look for āJF Martinā and youāll see the excerpt).
Mr. Tsai does a tremendous work with his link posts in general. I can imagine how much work he puts into this each day.I would love to have a peek at his blogger workflow.
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About this āin-publicā design
Gruber writing about how Apple mostly fixed Safari 15 on iPhone with beta 6 (emphasis is mine):
The unusual part is that we got to see Appleās design process play out in public. The Safari team has been kept busy this summer. (There has to be one hell of backstory here, right?) There was a certain pessimism amongst some who perceived the problems with the original iOS 15 Safari design, simply because Apple seldom makes drastic UI changes between their unveiling at WWDC in June, and when they officially ship in the fall. But seldom isnāt never.
Iād love to read the behind-the-scene-story about this āin publicā design process that we all witnessed. The Safari team surely scrambled to fix the design issues between beta 1 and beta 6ā¦ or was just all planned in advance? I bet on the former. The whole saga was unusual for Apple. They look less confident from a design perspective.
I love Safari 15 in beta 6. They nailed it, and it is an improvement compared to the pre-iOS 15 implementation.
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When designers canāt decide...
iOS 15 beta 6 is out and Apple is making great progress with Safari on iPhone. For me, they finally hit the right notes. I think thatās the design they should have included since day one of iOS 15. Yet, I find it funny to see Apple put a new option in settings for those who prefer the pre-iOS 15 release. I guess itās another case of āIf you canāt decide which design is the best, just add another option in Settings so the user decide.ā
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We will have to wait for these... sadly.
SharePlay, ID Cards, App Privacy Report, Custom email domain, detailed 3D navigation in CarPlay, Legacy Contacts, Universal Control wonāt ship with iOS 15.0 this fall. Weāll have to wait for an update later, like 15.1, 15.2 or even later. Thatās a lot of stuff missing the deadline. I was looking forward to Legacy Contacts and Universal control… Apple is often a waiting game.
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What a bizarre advice
A successful Apple investor, Paul Lane, had advice to give to other Apple investors, as reported on PED: buy Apple gear to return some money to Apple as a sign of appreciation and support. Thatās the most bizarre advice I ever heard of from an investor. I would expect something along the line: buy low, sell high. I, personally, own a few Apple shares and a lot of their products. Yet, I donāt feel invested in a mission to show my support to Apple, either by buying shares or their products.
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Doing all the things I love
After an emotional week-end, long in coming, today I’m doing all the things I love the most: doing computer stuff ā writing in a coffee shop ā feeling like a real blogger ā doing some photo processing ā walking ā biking. I know time will fly.
Life is good. Those days are so rare. I’m enjoying every single minutes of it. Work resumes tomorrow.
Photo by karl chor on Unsplash
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Appleās cheap labour: concept creators
Parker Ortolani for 9to5Mac published a two-parts concept on a future version of macOS named Mammoth.
macOS Big Sur did a great job of refining the Mac desktop, but it didnāt fundamentally change any of its behavior. Weād like to see that change with the next version of macOS. With Monterey being mostly full of small refinements rather than big ideas, weād expect Mammoth to be a monstrous release.
Iām using one of his screen design that pertains to widgets improvements. I recently wrote about those and Appleās sad design decision to keep them in the notifications center for Big and Monterey. I think Ortolaniās design is interesting and plausible. Freedom of placement certainly makes the experience more satisfying. Itās so true they liberated widgets on iPad with iPadOS 15.
There is so much work going into these visual essays. I mean, there are release notes too! I often considered people doing these mockups has being Appleās cheap labour. I wonder if Appleās designers notice those.
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On this unexpected and mysterious macOS Big Sur 11.5.2 update
Dear Apple, as an owner of an M1 Mac mini, a MacBook Air and an iMac, donāt you think that Iām entitled for an explanation about what does this update fix? I think I do.
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Excited for aā¦ keyboard
I got the new Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. I chose the one without the numeric keypad; the desk space being scarce. Setting this thing up took one minute. I had to read the (slim) manual as I wasnāt sure how the pairing would work: connect the keyboard to my M1 Mac mini with the provided USB-C to Lightning cable, quickly press the M1 Mac mini power button two times to trigger the setup process for Touch ID configuration (Bluetooth is automatically configured). The Touch ID setup screen looks similar to the one on the iPhone when settings up Touch ID for the first time. Itās one of the best Apple keyboard; keys feeling is similar to the previous generation. Touch ID is the star of the show here, and I love it. Only works with M1 Macs. This Magic Keyboard brings to the Mini, a feature otherwise only available to the MacBooks (and the M1 iMac). Thatās why I bought the keyboard. Itās not cheap, but convenience has a price for Apple.
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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.com website. Apple brought it back, leaving “Buy” buttons scattered around every single product pages. It is now so much easier to buy something from Apple these days.
Sarcasm OFF
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(Re)Introducing the Store Tab
Yesterday, Apple made some changes to their website with the introduction of a new Store tab at the top of their website. Not only that, but the store design has been completely redone. I find it a bit disorienting at first, but after a few minutes, I think the elements and general reorganization make sense; I find it easier to navigate in general. Apple chose the horizontal scrolling sections instead of going vertical. Iām not always sure this is the best way to go, though. The bouncing effect is inconsistent, itās there while going to the right but not when hitting the limit on the left. AirTags have their section, which is surprising for such a small device.
Itās interesting to note that Appleās top navigation bar is now spanning a store, physical products, services, support, search, and a shopping cart.
Apple is getting ready for this fall slew of new products. Oh, one of the first thing I noticed is that the Magic Keyboard With Touch ID that is bundled with the 24ā iMac is now sold separately. I ordered one for my M1 Mac mini. It will take less space on my desk and Touch ID will so much more convenient for the mini. One last thing: convenience has a price: 179 CAN$. Ouch.
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I Love This Machine
It is light, fast and an absolute design gem. Small, but not too small. It runs a powerful operating system. Itās highly portable. It is venerable. It is a rare āspeciesā. There is something really special about it. Furthermore, it has a real keyboard that I can trust. Battery life is good. It is out of the way. Itās the perfect device for writing and blogging.
Itās a 2013 11ā MacBook Air.
Iāll explain in the coming week or so.
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Documenting past home screen arrangements
Matt Birchler had an interesting blog post this week about a screenshot of his 2013 iPhone home screen. There are a few interesting things to note. In 2013, it was the arrival of the controversial iOS 7 redesign. It’s interesting to look at the Camera+ icon design which was still not updated for the new style. The dock design style was pretty basic and felt out of place. A few apps are not longer among us these days: Path (which was really a great design example) but most of the third-party apps are still available today.
I wish I had kept screen shots of previous home screen arrangements in the past. Something that I have kept is many screen shots of my password manager user interface dating back pre-iOS 7 era. Here is an example below. When I saw iOS 7, I didnāt have the courage to rework my design. The development of my app stopped right there. I made five thousands dollars with this adventure, between 2009 and 2013. Now Iām using a combinaison of 1Password and Appleās passwords vault.
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On Safari 15 in iPadOS 15 Beta 4
Apple is slowly but surely getting there with this release of beta 4 of iPadOS 15 and Safari 15. I like what Iām seeing, on the iPad. Yet, āwhen you donāt know what is best, just add an option to Settings so the user can decideā strategy seems to be the way to go this time. You know whatās my choice, donāt you?
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Iāve been invited to test Safari 15 Preview on Big Sur
Iām going to jump in because on macOS, I donāt see the change as controversial as on iOS 15. I find it surprising that Apple seeks feedback on the new design. Itās a good thing but also surprising has they tend to do their thing alone. Now, they look a bit in distress while searching for a solution.
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Four days week day? We can only dream it seems
Again, Matt Birchler:
technology and improved general productivity always had the promise of letting us work less, and yet today we work more than ever and have less than before Source: A Four Day Work Week? Yes, Please!
I sure wish we had this four days work week. I cannot see the day it will become reality. The problem in IT where I work, there is a worsening trend of a lack of qualified people for many IT fields. This trend puts pressure on those who are qualified to do more working hours.
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Do you remember when you switched to Apple's ecosystem?
Matt Birchler writing about Apple ecosystem stickiness:
“As I buy more and more Apple products, all of those Apple products get better. My iPhone is more valuable because of the HomePod Mini I AirPlay my podcast to while Iām working. My iPad gets more valuable because it has seamless file sync with my Mac. Reminders is better because it works with Siri in a way no other app is allowed. The list goes on. But this is of course also a bit of a trap. I canāt really get an Android phone, even if I think I would enjoy it more than my iPhone, because then my HomePods become worse, my Mac gets worse, my iPad gets worse, and my Apple services get worse. Because each additional Apple product makes all my other Apple products better, likewise removing something from that mix brings down everything else.”
You cannot use an Apple Watch with an Android smartphone. In Apple’s garden, every product has an extension that takes the form of a service or another physical product from Apple. Did we forget that once upon a time we made a switch from platforms like Windows or OS/2? When a new offering is really making a difference, we tend to switch. Back in the days, a Windows PC was an island, leaving it for the Mac meant that you had to re-buy new software, a few accessories. All things equal, the switch wasn’t necessarily funny. Today’s digital world is quite different, for sure, but pose a similar kind of challenge when switching.
Photo by Miguel TomƔs on Unsplash
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On iPadOS 15 Photos improvements
Iāve been using Photos in iPadOS 15 since beta 2 and I must say that Apple is in fact offering a major update to their photos application. Beyong the updated Stories automatic creation and management improvements, face recognition has become quite impressive. According to a published article by Apple, people faces should be more detectable and recognizable in more extreme conditions. I can confirm this is actually the case. A large number of new photos were surfaced by Photosā improved algorithms which brings more potential content for new stories creation. Managing tagged faces is easier too and provides a refined experience overvall. Photos enhancements in iPadOS 15 is a big reason to upgrade.
