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A few thoughts on cleaning up my Twitter accounts following list
Since last year, Iāve been making a major cleanup of my Twitter account. I came from following more than 2000 people down to less than 300ā¦ and my goal is to drop below 100. Iām slowly getting there. Here are a few take outs from this major cleanup of my accounts following list.
First, there are a lot of stale accounts on Twitter, which tends to artificially increase āfollowshipā. It looks like people stopped tweeting a while ago ā they left the building. Second, a bunch of accounts were iPhone developers that I started following during my indie developer era, back in 2009-2013. My interests have since then shifted to writing and blogging. I no longer need to get in touch with the developers community. Third, and this coud be the most troubling take out: Twitter has become less and less useful in my numeric life. Articles readings happens more and more though RSS feeds and Mailbrew. So, whatās left for me from Twitter? Getting reactions from people during specials events, related to Appleās announcements. Thatās pretty much it.
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The return of the Touch ID?
A recent poll ran by 9To5Mac gives surprising results about what people would like to see if Touch Id is to return to the iPhone. Touch ID under the screen wins popular favour… personally, I would prefer Touch ID to go on the power button, just like the iPad Air because it is easily accessible while holding the phone.
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Here is some relief for Safari 15 users who hate the new designā¦ (#ios15beta2 #apple)
For those like me who despise Safari redesign in iPadOS 15 & iOS 15: here is simple trick to better cope with Safari redesign: keep the number of open tab to ONE. Why do you think Apple thought it was a good idea to include a āClose Other Tabsā in the popup menu while pressing the address bar? With on,y one tab open, this is close to what we had before.
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Apple in a weakness positionā¦
I keep thinking of this phrase from Phil Schiller who once said:
“whenever we make a change we do it from a position of strength rather than weakness.”.
The window has closed a long time ago for Apple and they find themselves in a weakness position. I thought Mr. Schiller was still partly involved in the App Store related decisions.
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Letās pretend there is side-loading of apps on the iPhone, then what?
InitialCharge:
The only one that stands to lose anything in this scenario is Apple and thatās why theyāre doing everything they can to convince us that side-loading is inherently bad. But theyāre wrong.Source: Appleās Head of Privacy Doubles Down on Anti-Sideloading Stance - Initial Charge
I’m a bit late on this one but, let say Apple does go ahead and allow for side loading of apps. Besides the proliferation of App Stores, what will we get in this scenario that we donāt get today? Proponents of applications sideloading are always shy on providing the real long term benefits of such opening. Let me guess: lower prices for apps? Faster install? Better layout App Stores? Apps that use private APIs? What examples of previsouly missed innovations that we get with side-loading? Apps that can trick differently users in thinking they are safe? Or is this choices for the sake of choice?
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Pleaseā¦ stopā¦ usingā¦ ellipsisā¦ for gods sake (#apple #ux #design #iosdev)
In the following screenshot taken this morning on my iPad screen, how many ellipsis signs to you catch? I highlighted them for you to make it easier. To all developers, to all designers, to Apple: please, stop this shit NOW and find a better way, use your imagination, stop being lazy at design. Thank you.
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Iām starting a new trend: open writing.
If youāve been paying attention in recent months, did you know that you can have a peek at my upcoming blog posts that Iām working on? Thanks to Craft, You can peak at a selection of drafts, ideas, reference lists, etc. I give a name to this: open writing. Think of this as being this observer looking at a painter while he or she is painting a new artwork.šØš»āš»
What would be super cool is if someone interacted with this by posting commentsā¦ which is something Craft makes possible.
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On Appleās Hybrid work model ā Appleās employees to become targets?
Dave Mark for LoopInsight:
Did the pandemic make a foundational change to the way we think about where we do our jobs? Or was this a blip, with a slow slide back to the old ways?
I certainly hope that we wonāt return massively to the old days. For Apple, it looks like the pandemic was a blip and employees will need to be back at the office at least three days a week. Itās a corporate culture thing, which doesnāt get amended easily. Now, for employees not wanted to return to the previous model, even partially, they could become poaching targets by other companies where remote work is fundamental to them. This is where Apple could have to open up more.
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What if nobody really knows what is going on? (#google #privacy #surveillance)
What if nobody at Google knows exactly what their data hungry engine is all about? I mean, what if nobody has a global picture, so nobody can say āoh my god, it’s terrible, we must stop it!ā. This makes me think of the nazis in second world war: very few had a global picture of what was really going on. It was devised this way so it was easier to āmanageā and keep the machine humming.
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Another coat of paint to Windows UI mess? (#windows11)
So Windows 11 is a thing. Is it a revolution to Windows? Maybe, maybe not. It depends if you can install it on your PC, which is far from certain. But letās say you can, how deep goes the UI refresh? Is it like it was for Windows 10 which was supposedly a redesign of Windows 8 which was tweaks to Windows 7 UI that came before it. Here is a simple question: Did Microsoft really clean up the Windows UI mess that it has become over the years? I donāt care too much about windows transparency level, toolbars, icons. Getting rid of UI legacy feels a more useful and laudable endeavour.
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On design trends ā sadness
While reading a recent article from Basic Apple Guy about News+, there is this illustration that shows how far Apple News icon has come since its beginnings. I have included the illustration here. It shows how bad design has become in the last five to ten years. That is really depressing to see. As much as things like AR and LiDAR technology help bring real world and virtual world closer together, UI design seems to go the opposite direction. Why is that? When will that trend stop and maybe revert a bit? Why canāt we get visually joyful icons anymore? Is it a matter of design costs being too high?
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A few observations on my iPadOS 15 beta2 experience so far
So, I took the plunge and installed iPadOS 15 beta2 on my iPad Pro. A few observations. Itās beta and it shows. Home screen and widgets placement is janky. One springboard crash so far. All my apps are working just fine. Battery life is taking a hit. Text recognition in pictures is jaw breaking and open up all sort of new use cases. The QuickNote feature is a nice addition that will complement my blogger workflow. QuickNotes appear as regular notes on iOS 14. The loupe is back, thanks god, but I think refinements are needed: it is hard to distinguish from the surrounding text. I completely redone my home screen arrangment. I didnāt setup Focus modes yet as Iām not done with home screens setup yet, both are tied together. I love the new notifications design. Iām really liking iPadOS 15 so far. I use App Library a lot, much more than on my iPhone. 1x1 Widgets are replacing application icons on my first home screen page and I love it! Reordering of home pages is alone enough to justify upgrading! Didnāt use the new multitasking a lot yet, just played a bit with it and itās a good improvement. Alt-tab in split-view will switch focus between the apps, welcome in 2021. Unpopular opinion: I kind of like Safariās new design, not sure if this will hold true on the iPhone, though. I love the new keyboard overlay at the bottom of the screen; it is no longer as wide as the screen. I like the refreshed design of the shortcuts editor and the suggestions. Thatās it for now. Back to home pages setup.
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When hackers strikes personal NAS-type devices
Pool Western Digital My Book Live NAS ownersā¦ many of them woke up to find out that their content was gone from their devices. Apparently, hackers came in by using an unpatched vulnerability on devices where the last update was issued in 2015 by Western Digital. This brings me to ask the following questions: were those devices directly connected on the internet? If yes, that dumb. If this was a known vulnerability, why WD didn’t issue a patch? Companies should be required to publish security-only fixes for far longer than they do right now. I’m sorry but 2015 isn’t that old for such a type of devices. Finally, I personally own a Synology NAS, obviously not directly connected on the Internet, yet, I have to wonder if it is still secure. I’m planning on enabling 2FA to add another layer of protection, though.
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iPadOS 15 beta 2: install or not, that is the question (#ipados15 #ipadod15beta2)
Iām on vacation. I have some time to spare. My vacation time is spent between my home and a rented chalet. The iPad Pro and my iPhone 11 Pro are my main devices. Beta 2 came late this week and reports are starting to come in. In summary, lotās of fixes, a bit faster and apparently no big show stopper. Iām mostly using Craft these days and Appleās stock apps like Reminders and Notes. What could go wrong?
My situation is similar to James Rogersā from iPadInsight. Last year, I went all in with iOS 14 betas on my iPad and iPhone. This year? Iām a bit more caution. Iām looking to test iPadOS more than anything. As I write this, I get a feeling that Iām trying to convince myself of either waiting for the public beta of simply live dangerously and make the plunge. But what happens in Photos memories on non-upgraded devices? What about Messages in the cloud? What if I create a new reminder item on iOS 15 but want to check it off on a non-iOS 15 device? So many questionsā¦ Help me with this.
I know that I should put some time in writing my next issue of my monthly newsletter instead of writing this microblog post. š¤·š»āāļø
Just got an idea: have a look at the release notes and see if there are any deal breaker in there. Stay tuned. š
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Are Facetime Links Enough to compete against Zoom or Teams?
Benjamin Mayo on FaceTime 15 in the landscape of collaboration tools like Zoom and Teams:
FaceTime is more like an add-on of Messages, competing against WhatsApp and traditional phone calls if anything. You also see this in how each service handles identity; Zoom and Teams have abstracted user accounts, whereas on FaceTime you connect by sharing your personal phone number or email address ā information that you only want to give out to close friends. Source: FaceTime in iOS 15 āĀ Benjamin Mayo
Surprisingly, to use FaceTime, you need to give very personal information like your phone number of your email addressā¦ while other competing platform has abstracted that account information a long time ago. FaceTime links represent a step in the right direction, as sharing a link is enough for others to get onboard. Time will tell if this proves to be enough in the enterprise.
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One design doesnāt fits all device sizes ā Safari in iOS 15
This Safari redesign concept misses the point of Appleās decision to redesign Safari on iPhone. Appleās intention was two-fold: provide a better navigation on the iPhone with the thumb and bring the navigation model of switching across open websites closer to switching between apps. Appleās intention were good but where they fail is to provide the exact same design for things like opened tabs the same across all screen sizes. Itās probably not needed on the Mac, itās good on the iPad but messy on the iPhone. I wonder how Apple will backtrack on this one and when.
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On Gruberās annotating Appleās latest white paper
This blog post by Gruber is probably one of its best. He annotates Appleās publication regarding Anti-Sideloading White Paper. You may disagree with him (I do agree with him), he points to very solid arguments.
By having side-loading available, I can already see a bunch of lazy-scammy developers who will skip the App Store because, you know, itās a pain in the ass to deal with these app reviewsā¦ so letās drop a bin file with a download link on a Facebook page, that should be just āgood enoughā. Oh and clusless IT guys who will require those apps to be downloaded because, you know, they are mandatory for this or thatā¦ schools would probably be the first in lineā¦. wake up guys, we donāt need this shitty world.
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Apple and Architecture
This is one of the many reasons why I love Apple. They put so much money into this building restoration, it is mind blowing. The amounf of efforts that went into renovating this historic site is beyond any public-founded projects could have done. This brings me to this interesting question by Basic Apple Guy:
(ā¦) should corporations be allowed to get their hands on this historic architecture and turn them into private businesses? Rightly or wrongly, the fact of the matter is that many governments don’t prioritize or have the means to prioritize the extensive work required to take on this scale of restoration.
I tend to have a polarizing view on anything related to architecture. My father was an architect and so Iām profoundly sensitive on the subject. Yes corporation can take over abandoned historic buildings as long as they do it under the supervision of an urbanism council or something like it. Here, Apple transformed a building into a store but each time Apple chose to do it in a gentle way. I mean, it is barely noticeable from the outside that this is an Apple Store. Itās a very respectful way to do it.
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Appleās Shortcuts and Photo processing
Now that Darkroom officially supports iOS Shortcuts (and will support Shortcuts on Monterey this fall), I canāt wait to get Pixelmator to do the same, as this is my go-to alternative to Lightroom CC for photos editing on the iPad. I like Darkroom by the way but I do have to make choices. Screenshot from MacStories.
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Let me repeat it: we donāt need another Android platform (#apple #privacyprotection)
As I wrote in this essay, we donāt need another Android platform. I understand Apple being on a PR blitz. I know Apple is holding a contradictory position when talking about the iPhone and the Mac. It is well documented that side-loading doesnāt fix the lack of choice issue, quite the opposite actually. I donāt accept the idea of weakening a platform in the name of āchoiceā for a minority of techy guys.
