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Episode 04 — Did You Know?
Inspired by a recent podcast episode where Martin Feld interviewed John Gruber, for this fourth podcast episode, I decided to talk about my early years as a blogger.
Links:
- Really Specific Stories podcast: https://pca.st/pcp6rwjs
- Interview with John Gruber episode: https://pca.st/i0xdkxfh, his announcement on his blog: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/09/20/really-specific-stories-yours-truly
- A reply to John Gruber about his interview: https://micro.blog/numericcitizen/23822941
- Search for the “BuildingiPhoneApps” keyword on the internet archive for a glimpse of my very first blog, and locate 2010 and beyond on the timeline.
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My expectations for the iPhone 15 Pro Max fit and finish and how it feels in my hands are very high. I’m looking for something similar to the iPhone 4s, iPhone 5 and iPhone 7 feelings… those never were matched by subsequent iPhones.
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My iPhone 15 Pro Max is still in “Preparing to ship” state. Delivery is scheduled for tomorrow. I’m guessing the device is waiting in a warehouse somewhere near Toronto or in Canada. 🙏🏻🤓
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I Rarely Visit the App Store
I opened the App Store this Monday to see how Apple would promote new app releases supporting iOS 17. Then I realized that I rarely open the App Store except to go and get app updates. When was the last time I went to browse the productivity category? When did I last browse the store for popular photography apps or new utilities? I can’t even remember when I last bought an app discovered in the App Store1. I wonder if this is only me or reflects a more general trend.🤔
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I usually make my discoveries by external reference. ↩︎
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Where's The Magic in Adaptive Audio?
Adaptive Audio and Conversation Awareness don’t click for me
I’ve been using Apple’s new AirPods features for the past week, and I’m sad to say that I don’t really understand either of them
I’m with Matt here. I fail to find the magic here. I’ve read Gruber’s take on the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C, and I’m afraid I don’t feel anything magical about Adaptive Audio. When activated, I hear too much from the surroundings; I prefer noise cancellation. Can we get adaptive noise cancellation instead? 🤔
I feel that Apple’s engineers couldn’t figure out which new audio profiles to include and couldn’t decide, and they suggested including both. Then, the marketing guys came in and named these profiles Adaptive Audio and Conversation Awareness. Boom. I’m half-joking here.
I’ll keep trying in the next few days to find the magic.
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How I Automatically Include a Blog Description in My RSS Feed
I’ve been asked a couple of times how I get this short site description to be included in every entry of my RSS feed.
I’m one of those curious who asked the question. Wondering if this could be addressed via a new plugin by @Mtt or by @manton Micro.blog base service.
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Review of Reviews: Great Updates to Already Great iPhone but...
Today, I read many iPhone 15 Pro reviews and watched many YouTube videos too. For some reason, I get the feeling of a slight deception mood across many reviewers. Those are great upgrades, but since they are compared to last year’s iPhone, the improvements are dimmed as mostly minor. A mentioned the superiority of the iPhone in the video recording field, but in the photography field, it’s less clear. Sharpening seems a tad less aggressive with more natural tones. The 24MP resolution by default is a welcomed addition, and yet… it’s not a home run. Device physical tweaks are unanimously welcomed, though. Maybe tomorrow, my interpretation will be different. 🤷🏻♂️
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Playing with recently updated apps and their respective interactive widgets. They all come out to their default view. Rebooting the iPhone is mandatory to fix this issue. Adding another widget and again defaults to the blank screen.🤦🏻♂️ iOS 17.0.1, I guess, will help fix this.
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Some Thoughts About Apps Support of StandBy Mode and Interactive Widgets
Many apps are getting updates today and this week. Yes! 😃 But, so far, I have found some bugs in iOS 17 to display interactive widget content once they are added. They often stay blank with a white background. Rebooting doesn’t help. I don’t know if it is an iOS 17 bug or an issue with the app. 🤔 One design issue: if an app supports the StandBy mode1, it should also support the landscape orientation, not only the portrait orientation. Tapping a widget to launch the app and the app comes up in portrait mode. It’s bad. WaterMinder is such an example, and… Apple’s Stocks app! The latter is inexcusable. In general, StandBy mode seems a work-in-press, to be honest.2
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After three years of availability, I experienced the first App Clips case today. I was close to a Dairy Queen-type so I was presented with an App Clips allowing ordering from my iPhone. There aren’t a lot of App Clips, apparently.
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This is how much forests burned so far this summer in Canada. ☹️ There are still close to a thousand fires still in action. This is freaking bad for so many reasons. First, we need forests to remove CO2. In a sense, removing trees diminishes the capacity of nature to limit climate change. We lose this capability. Second, all that burning created a lot of CO2. Third, it will take half a century to regain those lost forests.😔 It’s really hard to feel positive about our future.
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Testing Apple's USB-C to Lightning Adaptor with iPad Pro
I wanted to follow up a previous post of mine about using my Lightning-based Lavalier microphone with a USB-C device, like my 2018 iPad Pro1. I ordered the USB-C to Lightning adaptor on the day of the Apple keynote. I got it this morning. If you are wondering if it works with Ferrite and Apple’s Voice Memos on my iPad Pro? No, it doesn’t.😔
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A positive conclusion would have been a good sign on the prospect of making it work with the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max. Now, it’s not sure at all. ↩︎
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Ordered. I’ll wait before buying a case from Apple because I’m not sure about the new FineWoven texture and durability. Some YouTubers said the feeling to the touch is similar to suede and I’m not a fan. #iphone15pro #iphone15promax
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An Update About My New Quest of Leaving Adobe Lightroom
Yesterday night, I spent nearly an hour reading articles and forum posts about the implications of closing my Adobe Photography subscription1. The implications and how to recover my photos differ for Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC. It’s not that hard, but it will be a tedious process if I want to keep some organization that the Lightroom catalog currently provides. I’ll put this project on my list of things to do in 2024. This will give me some time to plan for the migration2.
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How do you get out of Adobe Lightroom? What if I want to focus on Photomator and Pixelmator instead?
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Waiting for more interactive widgets…
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“Get Ready for iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro” on Apple.com1, is this new, or was it available for the iPhone 14 launch last year? I find this to be a great way to limit frustration on the day the new iPhones will go on sale (tomorrow). 🤔
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The new website feature enables anyone to build their iPhone order, including setting up the return of the older iPhone for a credit. In theory, on the day of availability, you’ll click “Buy”. ↩︎
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