Photography on Numeric Citizen Blog

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 16:46:08 -0400

Probably one of the coolest images coming from the Artemis II mission. So cool.

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 17:02:48 -0400

Flickr deserves a lot of praise for a number of technical advances that I wish had seen wider adoption. Their API was one of the first and honestly still one of the most enjoyable to actually use as a developer. It’s still full of incredibly interesting API calls that you wouldn’t expect from it unless you read carefully. Did you know, for example, that flickr API will provide you with the bounding box co-ordinates of different types of places? From a neighbourhood all the way up to a continent?

Maybe one day, Glass will add these, too?

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 09:44:45 -0400

I found a video of mine in my archives showing a full edit session with Snapseed on my iPad. The resulting image was part of an old blog posts collection called The Perfect Imperfection series initially on Instagram and later on Exposure. Sadly, this photo collection no longer exists because I closed both my Instagram and Exposure account. You’ll understand why I chose this naming when you see the resulting image. Enjoy the short ride here in the video below.

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 19:02:33 -0400

Thinking of subscribing to VSCO pro plan. Just for fun. This would be the third photo-sharing service that I use. But it feels so different than Glass and Pixelfed. It’s all about filters!

Sat, 30 Aug 2025 08:19:24 -0400

When posting a new photo on Glass, I always look at my previous posts on my profile page to see my previous posts. I like to create a nice visual rhythm in my feeds for those who follow me.

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 09:12:06 -0400

Here is a strange issue in Photomator: during photo editing, an .XMP file is created, which likely contains the editing steps applied to the photo. Additionally, a Photomator native file is also generated. Some of these files are very small, while others are quite large. For example, one file is less than 300 KB, while another is nearly 120 MB. Despite using the same editing process, the file sizes vary significantly. These files aren’t package files, it’s impossible to peek inside them. This is strange.

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 21:32:41 -0400

Mornings are great for these scenes.

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 20:38:31 -0400

Some are doing vibe coding but me, I’m having a good vibe because of the view. 😬😜

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 15:31:45 -0400

Got this a few times already, is this legit?

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 19:59:50 -0400

I’m a lucky guy.

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 20:52:55 -0400

I’m testing the Comet browser with Perplexity integrated, though I’m not entirely sure what that means, yet. It took me less than 30 seconds to summarize a 23:40 minute video, as shown in this screenshot. If millions of people do the same, video creators will likely see a significant drop in view counts. And millions of people will probably save a lot of time watching a video that could have been a one-paragraph blog post. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 18:39:51 -0400

I love doing these accelerated movies about weather like this one. Fascinating.

Who Knew This Was Still a Challenge These Days

Sun, 20 Jul 2025 19:05:13 -0400

I took a trip earlier this year, and my sister, a seasoned amateur photographer, asked when she could see my photos. Even if I’m on Glass and Pixelfed, I’m sure those two platforms aren’t what she would like to use to browse my photos. To makes things more complicated, I do use iCloud Photos where I could share an album but also depend on file-based organization for RAW photos. I need a place to combine my best photos and share as a website that could be put together quickly and easily while having a great design and look. One possible solution is to use Fastmail Files, which will allow me to upload files easily and build the static website automagically. More on that soon.

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 06:50:59 -0400

How depressing this is. These are filtered Google News results with the keyword “ChatGPT”. Look at some headlines… Now, consider this quote.

“AI will not replace humans, but those who use AI will replace those who don’t.” – Ginni Rometty

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 08:09:13 -0400

It’s one of those Monday that will take a hard time to get started. 😅 I had such a great weekend. Let’s get this done.

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 07:08:19 -0400

With the addition of the traffic lights buttons on iPadOS 26, it’s now easier to spot which window is active because inactive windows has their traffic light buttons grayed with three little dots as seen on this screenshot.

Sat, 05 Jul 2025 20:44:49 -0400

My view tonight. 😍

Sat, 05 Jul 2025 09:23:15 -0400

This is the new readability standards from Apple, a trillion dollars tech company. Here’s a screenshot of two Finder windows. Which one is active? Why is the tab of the inactive window darker than the active one? Why can I barely distinguish the tab of the active window? And those “floating over the content” controls in the top portion, are just, weird and out of this place.

Sun, 29 Jun 2025 10:03:38 -0400

Under macOS Tahoe, I decided to remove any menu items that have a Control Center equivalent. Is this the start of a trend? I hope developers will add support for Control Center when it ships.

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 07:43:43 -0400

Look at the Finder’s window top. 😵‍💫 Not exactly the best overall visual effects. As in the real world, seeing through glass can lead to weird things, just like here. BTW, CleanShot X edit window top bar isn’t working on macOS Tahoe beta1. Beware.

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 07:30:50 -0400

In macOS Tahoe beta1 Finder, some app icons exhibit gray inset (Things icon for example in this screenshot). Weird. Speaking of the Finder, things feels janky in beta1.

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 17:13:52 -0400

Acquired. 🤩 cc @BasicAppleGuy@mastodon.social

Fri, 23 May 2025 13:34:39 -0400

I’m getting ready to pack my things and offload 559 photos from my Nikon Zf to my MacBook Air for in-flight processing with Photomator (8 hours, mind you). It should be fun to relive my just-completed trip.

Fri, 23 May 2025 08:43:38 -0400

Last day. Current stop. 🥲

Wed, 21 May 2025 03:58:52 -0400

Currently in Ibiza for three days which will conclude my two-week vacations. Found this Marshall speaker upon entering the room of our hotel. Great looking design. It goes along the design lines of the hotel. Very good sound. Planning to get one of these after coming back home: a Marshall Acton III Bluetooth speaker, a more recent and improved design for controls.

Mon, 19 May 2025 09:24:56 -0400

Couldn’t make the city walk I had hoped for but managed to get that one done. Not bad. I always liked symmetry that can be found in cathedrals.

Thu, 15 May 2025 07:48:30 -0400

Currently in Catalina, Sicile. Rainy day. Brought my camera with me but got no inspiration to take photos, except that one which is in line with the current weather.

Tue, 13 May 2025 03:19:01 -0400

I love those courtyards which are everywhere in Europe, especially in bigger and denser cities like Rome. Always something interesting or intriguing to see and catch.

Sun, 11 May 2025 12:53:16 -0400

Back on the train after a day in Pompeii, Italy 🇮🇹 . We can see the Vesuvius volcano in the backdrop. What a beautiful and fascinating place. If you go there, spend the whole day. Don’t miss a pizza at the Pizzeria de la gare. 😋

Sat, 10 May 2025 10:26:51 -0400

Finally made it to Rome Italy 🇮🇹 . The first day is always the hardest one, thanks to the jet lag 😵😵‍💫🥱. But I always try to keep my photography eye on alert.

Tue, 06 May 2025 07:51:12 -0400

Since Apple bought Pixelmator, here’s what happened so far: No new features. No new subscription. No more release notes. Enjoy the silence. Couldn’t be more excited about the future of Photomator and Pixelmator. 😒

Thu, 01 May 2025 11:42:09 -0400

Travelling by train often offers point of views unavailable otherwise.

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 11:04:52 -0400

This was the best connector on the market. Only two devices still need this: my second gen AirPods Pro and my first-gen AirPods Max. I don’t see when I’m going to upgrade those.

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 08:27:10 -0400

We live in a hyper connected world. Gare Centrale, downtown Montréal.

Simply THE Best

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 09:13:47 -0400

Just spent 10 minutes on Glass, just browsing and glancing at other people’s work, and I was blown away by the quality of photos that you can find there. I discovered many great photographers this morning that will brighten my view of the world. I would argue that Glass is probably THE best and most successful photo-sharing service of all that I experienced in my life.

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 08:47:03 -0400

One thing that I really appreciate about ChatGPT is their native macOS app. It would be too easy for them to do like so many developers these days and offer the “good enough” solution.

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 06:47:30 -0400

Yesterday, while waiting for the bus on Sherbrooke Street, downtown Montreal. It’s the first time I notice this street art piece. It is so contemporary.

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 07:51:44 -0400

I wish Ghost would expand their support for what are called “social accounts.” Given our current situation, I find this approach short-sighted. I wish Mastodon and Bluesky received more attention for this type of configuration.

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 20:52:51 -0400

Still about the iOS 19 mockup, the redesigned Tabbar is so much better. 😍

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 20:38:32 -0400

There is a lot to like about some of the iOS 19 redesign mockups, but the “rounder” app icons is certainly not one of them. 🤢

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 06:49:53 -0400

What do Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WordPress, Tumblr, Flickr, 500px, and Smugmug share in common? They represent my former digital homes. Can you see the trend from this mind map?

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 18:56:43 -0400

A newcomer in the sources of trafic in my analytics: ChatGPT.com. 🤨

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 16:41:13 -0400

WWDC25: Still entirely online? No in-person labs or sessions? Only the keynote to be live? Is that it? Oh, and this glassy font, I’m not too fond of that.

A Canadian Discovered the iPad Fold Prototype!

Sun, 16 Mar 2025 21:02:32 -0400

BREAKING NEWS: a foldable iPad prototype was found on a table… at an IKEA store in Canada. The prototype was turned on and was running a special version of macOS Touch™. Tim Cook wants it back, but the guy who found set two conditions: you must resign because of Apple Intelligence fiasco, but before you must ask Trump to remove tariffs against Canada. Canadians can be nasty, too.

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 16:23:30 -0400

I need to find the time to update and finish this photo-sharing services comparison table. Anyone interested in the completed table?

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 07:29:56 -0400

I don’t know how to feel about the rumored visual redesign of Apple’s upcoming OSes summer releases… I’m still traumatized by the iOS 7 redesign. Not sure what I’m talking about? Here’s a reminder. What I do know is that I like visionOS visuals quite a lot and having that trickled down to the iPhone would be cool. Unifying macOS look and feel with mobile OSes? Not so sure. I also don’t want gamification of these OSes. I know that a younger generation is slowly taking over, and that is fine, but…

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 07:33:34 -0400

And just like that, AI summaries arrives in Inoreader and they are called Inoreader Intelligence! While you can’t ask to generate summaries automatically for a specific RSS feed (yet?), the addition of manually triggered customizable summaries is super handy.

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 16:23:53 -0400

I think I found a viable way to replace Readwise with Craft¹. The fun thing is that I found this while recording my next video. It’s possible because of a recently launched browser extension that saves an article into Craft. More details in my upcoming video. Here’s a sneak peek.

I cancelled my Readwise subscription today. ↩︎

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 22:05:51 -0400

Using the new Reeder.app∗ to read content from some Bluesky users I follow is a rather surprisingly good experience. Quote posts, replies are all beautifully rendered, like you could expect from Reeder’s developer.

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 07:58:47 -0400

In the past seven days, two snow storms, back to back, dropped a total of 74 cm of snow in Montreal, Canada. That’s a lot. The second storm hit harder than the first. During a snow storm, temperatures often inches close to zero Celsius with weak winds. This time, it was -10 degree Celsius and windy, creating blizzard conditions. I love these, but the aftermath is not fun to cope with: I won’t be able to take the car for the next few days, sidewalks are mostly not usable. I’ll remember that one for a long time.

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 08:38:53 -0400

Yesterday we had our second snow storm in less than five days. It was a big one, probably the biggest one in a decade. It was the best time to go out for a walk and snap as many pictures as possible. Here’s one.

How Do You Feel About That?

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 08:18:29 -0400

I don’t know how many Americans will read this post, but I feel the need to get the message out by amplifying this post from a Ukrainian soldier. How do you feel about Trump wanting to talk to the enemy, because this is exactly what he is? I find the link with 9/11 especially right on. The only difference, there as been hundreds if not thousands of 9/11 in Ukraine since February 2022. And it goes on, and on, and on. Wake the fuck up.

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:29 -0400

I wrote this about Apple’s Aperture more than five years ago. Now we have something to talk about.

Sat, 15 Feb 2025 15:13:14 -0400

I’m not too fond of text quotes shared as beautiful pictures (coming from Readwise, for example), especially if they don’t come with ALT text description. They look pretty, though. Here’s an example. I don’t like them because they hinder content indexing in some ways.

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 08:57:36 -0400

Another big snowstorm is coming right at us this Sunday. It should be a bit smaller is intensity compared to yesterday’s storm. So far, snow accumulation estimated range is 20-30 cm. ❄️

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 20:03:59 -0400

A rather big one is coming at us this Thursday, the first big snow storm of the season. Mostly heavy snow, rather weak winds. North shore of Montreal to get the most snow. Working from home that day for sure.

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 11:13:20 -0400

I love the complexities and sometimes anarchic flavours of cities.

Sat, 08 Feb 2025 13:35:41 -0400

Thinking about next summer season while waiting a few snowstorms in the next ten days.

And the Winner Is...

Sat, 08 Feb 2025 10:24:04 -0400

Three apps, three different designs. On the left, Tapestry, in the middle Reeder (new), on the right Reeder (old). For me, the winner is the new Reeder which offers a much cleaner design. I’ll keep an eye on Tapestry, but I don’t see how its design could change much.

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 21:32:58 -0400

I detest the feeling of discovering that I’ve shared a photo more than once. I yearn for a foolproof method to distinguish between the photos that have been posted and those that haven’t. I’m not always using the same method or same device for posting photos online.

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 07:37:00 -0400

I’d love to be there right now instead of enduring winter.

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 07:29:40 -0400

It’s -18C this morning, and I’m dreaming of this. ‎⁨São Paulo⁩, ⁨Greater São Paulo⁩, ⁨Brazil⁩

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 22:08:00 -0400

Got my new Keychron K2 HE mechanical keyboard today. It’s so nice, cool, different, unique. I’m loving it, so far. My wife told be: wow, it looks like a Commodore 64 keyboard! She couldn’t be more right!

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 18:46:58 -0400

Eighteen months ago, in July 2023, I wrote an article about migrating from Instagram to Pixelfed. It was well received, but something is happening right now for sure, if this graph from Plausible Analytics is any indication. People are massively looking at Pixelfed as an alternative, and I think it’s a good sign.

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 15:46:07 -0400

Here is a funny one: the Get Info box for an exported image from Apple Photos. The image was indeed touched up with Apple Intelligence’s Cleanup tool. 🤫

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 15:43:39 -0400

It’s winter here and getting really cold outside, so let’s go back in time, and travel to Morocco. Circa June 2023.

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 10:16:33 -0400

I was standing on an upper level deck on a cruise boat in Rio de Janeiro, on December 31, 2022. This is what I could see on port side. Again, I love contrasts. #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #architecture #graffiti

Sat, 18 Jan 2025 09:21:18 -0400

In a taxi to the airport, on a rainy day, somewhere in São Paulo. I love the mood of that one. #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #graffiti

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 08:34:36 -0400

I couldn’t resist.

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 08:12:05 -0400

A famous building in São Paulo, circa December 2022. Taking a photo of someone else’s artwork makes me pause and question my own contribution as a photographer. By adding a specific angle or using a unique perspective, I believe I add a layer of meaning and interpretation to the artwork. This helps me rationalize my internal debate and justify my actions.

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 08:07:15 -0400

Somewhere in New York, circa November 2024. Ephemeral whispers of the sky meet mankind’s steadfast monuments. #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #architecture

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 12:18:03 -0400

I like opposing things in photography. This is such an example that I took during a short walk. #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography

Sun, 12 Jan 2025 21:39:46 -0400

After nearly abandoning the idea, because it was too complicated to choose from the many different keyboards, today I ordered this mechanical keyboard¹ for two reasons: semi-retro look with the wooden sides and the sound of the typing experience.

Keychron K2 HE. ↩︎

Sat, 11 Jan 2025 12:32:23 -0400

Since moving into our temporary apartment, we’ve been relying entirely on the Apple TV for our “TV content” consumption. One takeaway is the realization that more than ever the TV experience is utterly fragmented, hence de proliferation of “TV” apps.

Sat, 11 Jan 2025 09:04:55 -0400

Can you figure out what’s this? It’s a macro photo of an old maple syrup bottle where we could see those crystals forming at the bottom. Shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Fascinating.

Update: for some reason, the original post didn’t include the actual image.

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 10:37:56 -0400

I NEVER take and share pictures of cats… but this one living in the building where I’m currently staying for a few months 🤩… worth enough to push to Pixelfed, too!

Hell On Earth - Los Angeles & Ukraine

Thu, 09 Jan 2025 12:27:37 -0400

I don’t want to offend anyone here, but what is happening right now in Los Angeles is certainly devastating. It’s really looking like hell on earth. At the same time, we can easily find the exact same hell in Ukraine and many more people are displaced or killed by a totalitarian and evil regime. It’s hard to fight climate change, but we can and must fight what Russia¹ in its current form and to for what it brings to this world. Two images, two tragedies.

the US does a lot already, but sadly that is not enough bot in money and speed. ↩︎

Who's Right? Apple Intelligence or Grammarly

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 08:19:50 -0400

While working on the next edition of the Ephemeral Scrapbook newsletter, I wanted to proofread and rewrite some text portions. I first started with Apple Intelligence Writing Tools then pasted the results into Craft. Grammarly instantly took the ball and verified the pasted text, highlighting everything wrong that needed some attention. Is Apple Writing Tools sloppy or Grammarly too picky? Writing in English is not an easy thing for me to do. And it’s not easy for generative AI either, apparently. From what I understand, Grammarly tries to be less wordy and is very iterative in its text proofing execution.

Here is the final tweaked version:

1️⃣ First and foremost, I want to extend my warmest wishes for a prosperous and fulfilling new year. I genuinely hope you find success and happiness in your professional and personal endeavors. 2️⃣ Secondly, this marks the inaugural edition of this newsletter for 2025, and I’ve decided to introduce a few changes. Firstly, I’ve decided to eliminate the summary at the beginning of each newsletter. This section provided an overview of the number of blog posts, photos, and other content I’ve shared since the previous edition. While I appreciate the interest in these statistics, I believe it’s unnecessary to brag about them, and it takes a significant amount of time to maintain and update this information. I’ve also officially decided to retire the podcasts section from my newsletter. While I enjoy podcasts, I don’t find them particularly relevant to my current content creation schedule, and I believe it’s not worth dedicating time and resources to them.

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 09:57:16 -0400

Microsoft is putting the “Copilot” tag everywhere… even on Microsoft 365 which will become Microsoft 365 Copilot. It’s fascinating to see a company like to playing with the branding of its services.

On Posting Images to Pixelfed from Micro.blog

Sun, 05 Jan 2025 10:39:10 -0400

My brief testing of posting images to Pixelfed from Micro.blog is positive (image1, image2). My blog visual theme (Tiny Cards) supports image posts without being too fancy. The only thing is the lack of image collection selection when posting from Micro.blog. This has to be done after posting. Might come later, if we call @manton attention! Posting from Micro.blog app is similar to Pixelfed app. The nice thing is that Micro.blog automatically generate an image description, something that is done manually with Pixelfed.

For 2025, I’ll use this workflow and see how it goes. I created a new image collection for the occasion: Travel.

Sun, 05 Jan 2025 09:22:08 -0400

Two years ago in Buenos Aires. #travel #Argentina

Sun, 05 Jan 2025 08:56:30 -0400

A somewhat old photo of me in front of a coffee shop somewhere in Brazil. I’m also testing cross-posting to Pixelfed.

Where The Social Web Fails

Sat, 04 Jan 2025 14:12:34 -0400

Dislike buttons on YouTube, or elsewhere for that matter, should come with a mandatory “here’s why I don’t like this” explanation text field. In this specific case, 2 people out of 18 didn’t like my video. Why? How can I improve myself if you don’t tell me what’s wrong? This is the part of social web that I feel doesn’t work.

Sat, 04 Jan 2025 13:58:08 -0400

My new home office for the next three months. Not bad at all.

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 09:48:23 -0400

I love this panel that Ghost presents after hitting “Publish and share”. That was the last edition for 2024.

Sat, 21 Dec 2024 08:46:03 -0400

Why doesn’t the Arc Browser provide Kagi search as a default search engine option? 🤔

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 10:37:19 -0400

Look what we’ve got here. Can you tell what is happening here? 👀

Sun, 15 Dec 2024 11:42:43 -0400

When writing, I start in Craft and then export to Ulysses for final review and online posting. It works great, but I’m not always satisfied with Ulysses, which sometimes feels overwhelming. Enter iA Writer, an app that I remember using in its early days and that I liked for its simplicity. This blog post from Greg Morris reminds me of the perpetual questioning of my decision to settle on Ulysses.

This morning, I decided to download a trial of iA Writer. The first thing I checked was which publishing platforms it supports. To my surprise, it supports all the ones I depend on: Ghost, Micro.blog, and, to a lesser extent, Medium.

This blog post was written on my 15-inch M2 MacBook Air using iA Writer trial edition. Sadly, iA Writer couldn’t post as draft, so I had to manually copy and paste the content into a blank post on Micro.blog.

My Ulysses subscription ends on March 25th, 2025, but this publishing bug is a deal-breaker for now. Back to Ulysses.

Sun, 15 Dec 2024 10:05:20 -0400

A quick behind-the-scenes post: the same overall content, with two different apps. This is the “script” for this video. On the left, Mindnote Next, on the right, Zavala. This is sort of a cue card for use during video recording, the Mindnote version was much easier to read. Zavala’s version is more for documenting purposes. Even the outline view in Mindnote feels better.

My Apple Intelligence Writing Tools Mixed Experience

Fri, 13 Dec 2024 08:51:18 -0400

My experience with Apple Intelligence’s Writing Tools is mixed. One significant issue is the absence of a feature to compare the original text with the revised version. In contrast, Grammarly excels in this regard, as its suggestions are contextual. Additionally, the constant need to select text to “feed” the Writing Tools becomes tedious. Another challenge arises when using Writing Tools with markdown content or links. These get mangled in the revised version. Finally, speed is also an issue. Even for simple text to process, it can take quite some time to get a response.

For now, Grammarly remains my preferred writing assistant, and I have no intention of switching to Apple Intelligence’s Writing Tools anytime soon.

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 11:13:23 -0400

Adobe Lightroom for Mac is the best Mac app of the year? In light of Apple buying Pixelmator, I find this a bit surprising.

Photo Sharing, The Web and Museums

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 22:07:07 -0400

Here is a thought about recent tweaks to RSS importer on Micro.blog. For example, now it’s possible to import photos in the RSS feed published by Glass. With this, when I publish a photo on Glass, it gets posted on my blog too. The same photo on two platforms. As much as I like the POSSE principle for writing, it doesn’t fit well with my desire to share photos on special places, like a photo-dedicated service. Glass is such a special place, just like Pixelfed. What would be the point of having a single photo spread out on other platforms? I see places like Glass like museums. Pieces of art hanged on the wall of a museum are unique to this place. It makes the place unique. I’m still thinking about all this.

Sat, 07 Dec 2024 09:38:26 -0400

It’s easier for me to discover (and like) a new photographer than discovering a new writer. Information absorption is faster in photography.

Thu, 05 Dec 2024 11:01:01 -0400

Got one of my photos selected in the monthly theme, Decay, on Glass. I’m happy. 😊

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 08:35:11 -0400

My newest photo series on Glass: Humans.

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 19:19:32 -0400

Migration in progress … 😎

Sun, 17 Nov 2024 22:46:52 -0400

I’ve been playing with Glass Series and I must say that I really like my experience with it so far. Series are like albums, like this example.

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 17:22:45 -0400

Leaving Haiti. 😍

Sun, 10 Nov 2024 12:36:39 -0400

Great use of Apple offline Maps in Miami. Works wonderfully well.

Sun, 03 Nov 2024 09:38:35 -0400

Why can’t I get macOS 15.2 beta on my M2 MacBook Air running 15.1?

Sat, 02 Nov 2024 07:58:46 -0400

This year, as I explained in this article, I completed a migration from Adobe to Photomator. I rarely use Pixelmator Pro, but I’m a fan of Photomator. I hope this week’s news won’t make me regret my decision.

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 20:59:22 -0400

Did anyone catch the pirate flag during the Mac mini announcement or on the mini website? 👀😉 I like this reference to Apple’s history.

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 07:23:07 -0400

For those using macOS 15.1 and have enabled Apple Intelligence, have you noticed a spike in your Mac CPU usage when requesting Apple Intelligence to proofread text? The longer the text, the more pronounced the spike. The CPU will reach 100% for a moment before slightly decreasing before receiving a response. Interestingly, I couldn’t identify an AI-related process associated with this spike. Instead, the kernel_task process is the one who consumes the CPU cycles. Apparently, Apple Intelligence runs in the kernel space.

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 21:39:50 -0400

I visited the Apple West 14th Street Apple Store this past weekend in New York City. As usual, the store was packed with people. However, one thing caught my attention: there was no one at the Apple Vision Pro tables. Despite being at the peak of their support, those devices felt quite lonely and unappealing. How long will Apple keep those devices for sale?

Sun, 13 Oct 2024 21:39:32 -0400

Walked 20KM, 28000 steps. Feeling exhausted. 😓 But I still love NY, 9 years since my previous trip in June, 2015.

Sat, 12 Oct 2024 20:49:08 -0400

Seeing people use their iPhone camera to take pictures and videos of a show and I think there is no tweak or improvement that Apple can do to the camera control to beat on-screen controls. Apple brought a gimmicky feature to the iPhone.

Sat, 12 Oct 2024 13:20:50 -0400

Perfect day for a long road trip. I’m going to a music show close to New York City: Sting.

Sat, 12 Oct 2024 09:40:33 -0400

Playing with Spectre on the road while heading to New York. That was a 5 sec exposure.

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 21:16:01 -0400

I found a font that I like a lot: Dosis. This will be the official font for my future consulting company. I find it to be a mix of modernism and retro style. Easy to read. Singular.

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 16:36:57 -0400

The iPhone 16’s back seems prone to scratching. I saw it today at the Apple Store. But I like this year’s colors.

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 10:01:40 -0400

More crowded than usual of course. 🤗

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 08:41:04 -0400

**Apple Watch backups** are not working, they never did. This is what I see on my iPhone now, two old backups, once probably worthless because of it ridiculous small size. Another proof: after unpairing my Series 6 this morning before going to the Apple Store to get a credit for it[^1], no sign of new backups in the Watch.app. Big fail Apple. We are at Series 10 / iOS 18 for fuck sake! [^1]: I'm upgrading to Series 10.

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 22:14:51 -0400

This is the default option for user profiles on... **LinkedIn**. Did you know that? Thoughts?

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 15:00:10 -0400

The fact that apparently Microsoft is not using an Intel CPU for their Cloud PC instances says a lot about Intel’s future.

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 08:42:42 -0400

Apple might have something else to improve in the next AirPods Max beyond USB-C connectivity and noise cancellation. Just sayin.

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 16:39:56 -0400

My boss’ 2015 MacBook Pro keyboard. I think he should move on to a new Mac.

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 07:23:20 -0400

I returned to Medium with enthusiasm but was disappointed by the clickbaity titles that we can find. For example, I read an article titled “iPhone 16 Pro Max Unveils New Features That Left Me Stunned!” only to discover that the author was excited about a potential new photo mode with the telephoto lens (macrophotography) without citing sources for the rumors. The author speculated on the revolutionary nature of the device without testing it. It raises questions about the possible involvement of generative AI in crafting this story. Oh, and the other article: “Why I Stopped Upgrading to the New iPhone Every Year (And You Should Too)”… I can’t wait to let someone tell me what to do. 👀🤷🏻

Compare this to my latest post about the M4 Mac mini: “The M4 Mac mini Will Be My Best Mac Ever”. I speak for myself only in the title.

Sat, 07 Sep 2024 14:00:14 -0400

Today, I’m again giving a serious try to iA Presenter. I want to love this app. It is so different from any other presentation app. I’m working on a YouTube video explaining concepts around Craft Objects.

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 21:00:14 -0400

Yesterday I went to see the 2024 World Press photography exposition. On our way out, there was a guestbook where I wrote: “I am speechless… but full of images… thank you to the photographers for their courage, without you, we would be in unbearable darkness.” I was troubled by the powerful images I saw.

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 11:20:58 -0400

I always found this picture of Steve Jobs in his home office very fascinating. It’s too bad that we cannot read all the book titles. But there are two pieces of equipment that I wonder what they are. On is something that looks like a Mac Pro but the size of the computer is too small, even though Steve is using a big Apple display (30"?). Next to this is a bigger vertical device which would be a UPS, but also looks like an external GPU (but that wasn’t a thing at that time). Oh and in the left segment of the bookshelf, there are many small bottles of liquid drops. What were they for?

Update #1: This post made it to the Hacker News site.

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 14:55:10 -0400

To me, this animated Apple logo is a clear visual reference to Apple Intelligence¹. Expect to hear a lot about it when Apple shows off their new iPhones.

Even if the service will slowly be rolled out over the course of the next 12 to 18 months. ↩︎

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 13:35:21 -0400

Today I experimented Slack Lists to track messages for which I want to make sure to get a response. It’s pretty useful. But I still don’t really like Slack in general🤦🏻‍♂️. The included screenshot is not from my own list but a template provided by Slack, just to give you an example.

The Mac Mini Needs a Redesign

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 13:08:54 -0400

Rumors suggest a “finally” moment, with Apple on the verge of completing the redesign of the newest generation of the Mac mini, this time featuring an M4 chip. This could result in the smallest Mac ever.

The current Mac mini design dates back to 2010, when Apple was still using more power-hungry and larger Intel chips. The only change over the years has been the back portion to accommodate a variety of port offerings. When Apple transitioned to Apple Silicon chips, right after the Apple Silicon Dev Kit was made available, I expected a redesign and saw the Dev Kit as a transitional step, simply because the chip is smaller, more power-efficient, and requires much less cooling. To me, this was the right time to do so. However, they did not.

If you look inside an M1 Mac mini, thanks to this teardown guide from iFixit you can see that there is some empty space. Coupled with what Apple can do with the M4 iPad Pro, and the environmental pressure to be more efficient in resource consumption (power, materials, etc.), it is clear that the Mac mini must be rethought from the ground up. Will Apple go with an external PSU for this? I don’t expect this to be the case.

One more thing: I’ve been a satisfied user of the M1 Mac mini since 2020, but I’m increasingly considering an upgrade, either to the Mac Studio or a more powerful Mac mini. I’ll be sure to pay close attention to my options.

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 17:57:27 -0400

That’s interesting. #ipados181 #appleintelligence 🧐🤨😏

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 18:32:44 -0400

In iOS 18 beta 4, look at user ratings in the App Dtore and the choice Apple made for the star’s gray shades… it’s very hard to spot how many actual stars were given out of the five. Is this on purpose? 👀🧐

Mon, 22 Jul 2024 08:52:18 -0400

It’s 8:45 AM. The joy of running beta software. 😱👀

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 16:51:25 -0400

You can’t make that shit up, right? WTF is wrong with them? 🫣🤮 sorry about this negative post right after a positive one. 🙃

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 10:36:01 -0400

My current view: in-flight infotainment screen where we can see the flight timeline. Easily spot when meals are served. First time that I’m seeing this. I find this really cool and probably helps answer many questions from people. Side note: I’d love to see Apple build a FlightPlay user experience (CarPlay equivalent).

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 02:48:12 -0400

I wish there was a “Edited with” mention in Apple Photos app because sometimes I’ll use built in editing and other times I’ll use Photomator.

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 09:25:03 -0400

An ATM in Montenegro shows a warning asking the admin user to login to activate Windows. 😱🤪

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 15:18:37 -0400

Our current view in Dubrovnik port, Croatia. That’s the moon that I love! 😍

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 01:19:11 -0400

Slowly but surely heading to Dubrovnik, Croatia, by the sea. 🤗 what a wonderful morning, isn’t?

Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:51:59 -0400

A summer taste of Croatia. 🤗

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 14:38:54 -0400

This one is for @maique ! With love ! 😗🤣

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 03:06:36 -0400

The “joy” of trying to be iPad-only while traveling. Hitting “try again” fixes the issue but it’s a recurring one. I’m just browsing a folder containing images stored on the iPad itself for god’s sake! 🤬

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 13:43:09 -0400

I’m in love with this city: Šibenik, Croatia! 🇭🇷

Sun, 30 Jun 2024 13:45:33 -0400

There is something that I find irritating on the my M4 iPad Pro (and probably on all devices which includes support for HDR content): when browsing photos in Photos.app and tapping on one photo in HDR format, the iPad screen turns itself very bright so that it can display the photo in full HDR… returning to the photos thumbnail view will turn off the HDR mode and photos turns in SDR mode… this flashing is not smooth. That’s the best Apple could do?

Travel update #8: Kornati Islands, Croatia

Sun, 30 Jun 2024 13:33:17 -0400

Here’s today’s travel update. What a wonderful day we had, thanks to this day-cruise around the Kornati Islands, starting from Vodice’s port at 9 AM. We had lunch at around 11:30 AM, right before a 3-hour stop at one of the island (can’t remember the name!) where we could spend some time swimming at the beach or in a very salty small interior lake. I decided to go for the trail around the lake instead, a 2.2KM quick trekking. While the temperature at the village was expected to reach 33C during the day, weather on the sea was cooler and very nice, with very little wind, except in the trail where the temperature probably reached more than 30C with partially shaded trail sections, thanks to tall pine trees. A bit scary discovery: while walking the trail in the forest, I encountered many big spider nets at about fifteen feet high each with a gigantic spider standing right in the middle, waiting for the next prey. It was a bit scary and disgusting, not my favourite thing to see. Overall, it was a great day.

I took my telephoto lens with me this time around and it was a judicious decision. I started editing my travel photos and I must say that without Adobe Lightroom’s built in catalog, it’s a bit cumbersome. I often get this error in Photomator as seen below. It’s a bit frustrating. I think it’s more of an iPadOS instabilities than a problem with Photomator.

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 11:33:02 -0400

Flights outlook for the day. I love Flighty.

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 08:33:37 -0400

What’s wrong with this? 🤔🙄

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 14:44:44 -0400

Refreshing take also a good reminder:

@stroughtonsmith After seeing WWDC, I’m actually buying a iPad Air M2 next to my mini 6. But I have never seen and expected iPad as anything more than what Jobs used in his introduction. Never replacing my Mac, never replacing my iPhone.
Yurgo@mastodon.social https://mastodon.social/users/Yurgo/statuses/112616416613503041

Sun, 09 Jun 2024 19:38:27 -0400

Dear Apple, please, fix this. Thanks you.

Sun, 26 May 2024 15:53:58 -0400

Finally sold my Nikon D750 with the kit lens on the second try on eBay and shipped today! The buyer got a really good deal. 😊

Sat, 25 May 2024 16:17:42 -0400

With Omnivore, these are the tags that cover 99% of my tagging needs.

Sat, 25 May 2024 16:07:57 -0400

Today was the day when I got rid of this little baby. It was a great looking computer. I gave it to a local tech refurbishing store¹. RIP 2007-2017.

Yes, the hard drive was reformatted before there. ↩︎

Thu, 23 May 2024 07:03:31 -0400

Each week, I try to discover a new photographer on Glass. It’s fun and stimulating. I share the discovery on my weekly creative summary newsletter, just for you to know.

Sun, 19 May 2024 09:03:26 -0400

I generally prefer high-contrast images when doing black & white photography. What do you think?

Mon, 13 May 2024 07:37:17 -0400

Posted a photo on my Ko-fi page this morning. It’s for supporters only. I shared some thoughts about street photography. I decided to use that page to share more personal stories that I don’t share elsewhere. It’s only the beginning. It will take time to open up more. It’s a journey.

Sun, 12 May 2024 14:43:48 -0400

My old camera is up for sale on eBay (link). Just saying. If interested, let’s talk hello@numericcitizen.me. Tell me you saw this on Micro.blog (or Mastodon / Bluesky).

Tue, 07 May 2024 06:06:32 -0400

I rarely do and share selfies! But here’s one. Walking on the “Promenade des anglais” in Nice, France.

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 17:33:25 -0400

In this image, according to AI bot, the 2013 Mac Pro is brown… a brown speaker! 😂

Sun, 28 Apr 2024 15:07:05 -0400

Calling for suggestions: I’d like to back up my iCloud Photos Library content locally on my Synology NAS, but I don’t want to use the built-in “Download Originals to this Mac” of Apple Photos. Any utility that does that? Thanks!

Sun, 28 Apr 2024 11:48:34 -0400

Today I might have hit the max my M1 Mac mini could give me: while exporting my video in ScreenFlow, I was editing a photo in Photomator. The latter couldn’t keep up with me trying different settings on my image.

Sat, 27 Apr 2024 14:06:27 -0400

More than half of my planned errands for the weekend is already completed! It’s a rather productive day. One thing that I did that wasn’t planned at all: doing photography! That’s my bike that I bought last year[^1]!

[^1] Unprocessed image taken with my Nikon Zf.

On Comfort Zones

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 07:06:34 -0400

Today, I’ll bring my camera to the office¹, as I’m declaring myself as the official photographer for the two-day yearly sales kickoff event. I’ll take photos of humans, which is not my cup of tea, but I need to try it more and get out of my comfort zone. Usually my problem while photographing humans is anticipation and timing. Some people are very good at it, but I’m not. So, I need to practice. Comfort zones are killing creativity and learning.

My iPhone will stay in my pocket, I’ll use my Nikon Zf with the 40mm F2 lens. ↩︎

Sun, 21 Apr 2024 11:21:50 -0400

Taking photos of decorative materials with the iPhone is really tricky. The automatic white balance makes everything look wrong and we cannot trust the photo to reproduce what we actually saw and perceived. How are designers doing with their phones?

Sat, 20 Apr 2024 08:52:30 -0400

I’m currently working on building a creator dashboard in Craft and it’s fun but Craft is rather limited compared to Notion. I’m working on an upcoming video about that! Stay tuned.

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 13:31:18 -0400

Went outside today for lunch and took my camera¹ with me. What a good idea it was. I like this a lot because it is an opportunity to take a mental break from work. When I’m coming back to work, I’m more enthusiastic.

Nikon Zf with a 44mm F2 lens. Great combo. ↩︎

Sat, 13 Apr 2024 17:21:15 -0400

A long time ago, around iOS 7, I played with my iPad to do some mockups, like this one: a redesigned Settings.app.

Sat, 13 Apr 2024 16:03:06 -0400

For the first time since its release¹, I’m using iCloud Shared Photo Library with my wife for the home improvement project. It’s really well done and fits perfectly my needs.

Released with iOS 16 in 2022. ↩︎

In Search of a New and Optimized Photo Processing Workflow

Sat, 13 Apr 2024 15:08:04 -0400

Now that I’m no longer in Adobe’s ecosystem for my photo processing needs, I depend on Photomator and Synology Photos. I need to create an optimized workflow: upload photos to Synology¹, browse and tag the pictures I want to process using Synology Photos tags, then edit them in Photomator. This is the last is a challenge: RAW images need to be converted to a DNG format², and then edited in Photomator before exporting the end results in JPEG. I need to download RAW images manually out of Synology Photos then import them in Photomator for processing. Processed images should then be imported into Apple Photos for easy access.

Done automatically over wifi from the camera to the Synology NAS. ↩︎
As of 2024-04, Nikon Zf RAW image format is not supported natively by macOS or iPadOS on which Photomator depends. This conversion process is cumbersome. ↩︎

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 20:36:58 -0400

Jony Ive searching for funding to help develop a dedicated AI device. I hope he will succeed with his iPad.🤣

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 20:55:59 -0400

Sold my little Mac Pro trash can for $600 CAN¹. Not bad for a 1TB SDD, 128GB of RAM and the 12-core Xeon 2.7 GHz configuration. And the Thunderbolt 2 cable and TB 3 to TB2 adaptor. Not the keyboard or mouse, as they are still useful for me. Sometimes. 🙂

I barely knew it. It’s sad because I loved this little machine. ↩︎

Sat, 30 Mar 2024 21:30:01 -0400

For your information: Nikon Zf RAW files aren’t yet supported with macOS and Photomator¹. You need to first convert them to DNG using Adobe DNG converter. With this conversion, you will lose some information along the way, like lens correction. Strangely enough, Synology Photos does display these RAW images correctly, unless it is showing the embedded JPEG part? 🤔

No preview available in Finder and Apple Preview can’t open the RAW file. ↩︎

Logging My Intentional Actions

Sat, 30 Mar 2024 08:47:31 -0400

I log quite a lot of things I do online using Things 3 Logbook feature to use this in my weekly creative summaries. I log what I do intentionally, of course, otherwise this would be way too noisy. One example is watching this video about Siegfried Hansen, a respected street photographer¹. Reading an article in Omnivore is another intentional action that I want to log.

The process is simple: I have many pending tasks in Things 3, in a project called “To Read, Watch, Listen & Process.” I do select a task, do it, then mark it as completed. It then goes into Things 3 Logbook. It’s cool.²³

If you are interested in street photographer, it’s a great interview with lots of great photos. ↩︎
I wonder if there is a name for people who log the things they do on a daily basis. ↩︎
I’m not sure why I do log these actions. ↩︎

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 06:54:43 -0400

Since March 13, 2020¹, I mostly work from home, coming to the office only once a week². One negative side effect of this important change of habit is that I don’t go out often, so photo opportunities are close to none. I don’t know how to compensate for this. 😔

Remember COVID-19? ↩︎
I do skip one in a while. ↩︎

Sun, 24 Mar 2024 19:19:31 -0400

Reading product reviews through Kagi’s summarize page feature is rather cool and a great time saver.

Sun, 24 Mar 2024 10:08:32 -0400

Here’s an idea: get a generative AI bot to browse all my photo posts on my Pixelfed profile page and generate a lengthy description of my photography style.

Sun, 24 Mar 2024 08:39:09 -0400

Now that my Pixelfed presence is well established with more than 650 photos posted, I officially closed my Smugmug account. My photo-sharing journey can now be summarized like this: Flickr ➡️ 500px ➡️ Smugmug ➡️ Glass + Pixelfed. And, of course, I still do use Unsplash. My profile pages are documented on my digital hub.

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 20:42:14 -0400

Colourful or black and white? Your call. I just don’t know if I should all in black and white with this one.

On Craft for iPhone

Sat, 16 Mar 2024 11:51:51 -0400

Craft on iPhone is so much different than on the iPad. It feels like a totally different app. If I were an iPhone-only user I wouldn’t buy a Craft subscription because the iPhone version is so bad. Thankfully the iPad version is much more workable and the Mac version is probably the best Catalyst-based app out there. It wasn’t always like that btw. Was much better before version 2.7. I don’t know when that situation will change.

Never Tamper Someone's Desire for Creative Tools

Wed, 13 Mar 2024 10:12:17 -0400

My wife gave me a surprisingly mildly negative reaction this morning when I shared with her my intention of getting a Nikon Zf mirrorless camera before going to Croatia this summer. Not because it’s not the best camera for this situation, no, because I already own an iPhone 15 Pro Max and a Nikon D750. 😩 But, I could get rid of my D750 or keep it but bring the Zf with me instead. I find it a bit sad that someone can put a break on someone else’s desire for creative tools. I’ll talk to her tonight after work.

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 20:32:24 -0400

When I don’t know what to write, I edit and share photos. 👨🏻‍💻👀

Sat, 09 Mar 2024 17:01:36 -0400

Still not clear if it will only rain or if we will get heavy and abundant snow. Weather forecast is predicting only rain. I’m ok with this. This winter has been so warm so far, that’s incredible. We will probably be in a drought this summer because of the lack of snow this winter. And you know what it means? Forest fires.

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 21:51:10 -0400

Photo-editing on the iPad using Photomator is such a joy. I can’t wait to go with the upcoming iPad Pro. The iPad is the perfect devide for photo-editing with the Apple Pencil. With the switch to the OLED technology, it will be even better.

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 21:06:57 -0400

Before. After. 📷

Sat, 02 Mar 2024 18:42:31 -0400

Experiment with Photomator on iPad. Thoughts?

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 10:01:56 -0400

🥺 Oh crap!
#Raindrop
tekphloyd :prami_neutral: https://social.lol/@tekphloyd/111969675489583131

I don't support Raindrop.io, because of [this](https://numericcitizen.me/when-war-in-ukraine-influences-my-application-choices/).

Sat, 17 Feb 2024 15:34:32 -0400

It’s the perfect coffee shop kit for me. At first, I didn’t think of going out today, but I realized that I spend all weekdays at home for work. I guess it was time to see the world and enjoy a creative session at the coffee shop while listening to music. Slow vibes¹.

the photo wasn’t post-processed beyond what the iPhone usually does. ↩︎

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 19:27:46 -0400

👀🕵🏻‍♂️

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 17:01:42 -0400

While I’m still waiting my invite for Scribbles (tick tock tick tock @vincent 😬), I’m thinking of a possible use case. And I think I might be on the verge of finding one. My digital presence goes like this: Space ➡️ Blog ➡️ (…something small, tiny blips…) Blips. More to come soon.

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 22:21:28 -0400

A satisfying exercise for me is to open Glass on my iPad and start to glance at photos and members. Each time, my goal is to subscribe to three members with photos that I like. Today, unexpectedly, I stumbled on the announcement of the upcoming Series feature. I can’t waitt for that one. Pixelfed isn’t really good at this, posting a bunch of related photos in one post.

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 11:58:29 -0400

Our @nileane reviews feeeed, a very nicely designed alternative to classic RSS readers. Instead of just following RSS feeds, this app supports RSS *and* a variety of sources like Mastodon, YouTube, Reddit, newsletters, and more.
We're going to see a lot of apps along these lines thanks to decentralized social media. This one looks very intriguing to me: https://www.macstories.net/reviews/feeeed-embracing-feed-diversity-and-personal-news-curation/
Federico Viticci :ticciseal: https://mastodon.macstories.net/@viticci/111879635685799969

Similar to the Tapestry project? Seems really well done.

Sun, 04 Feb 2024 11:21:06 -0400

Is the Apple Vision Pro good for photo editing? I would love to see Photomator for the Vision Pro¹. I wonder about colors fidelity and usability.

Is it ever coming to the headset? ↩︎

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 22:11:57 -0400

I’m unsure if I ever posted this image of me circa 1986 with my fat Mac¹. The image was created with a MacVision Koala digitizer connected to the Mac serial port and a close-circuit black & white video camera. It was impressive at that time.

A Mac with 512K of RAM. That one was an original Macintosh 128K that was upgraded with an updated logic board kit from Apple. ↩︎

Sun, 21 Jan 2024 19:57:38 -0400

Each week, on Sundays, I select a bunch of my photos that I plan to share on my Pixelfed profile during the week. Next Sunday, early in the morning, I look for the one that received the most likes, shares and comments and use it as the header image of my weekly creative summary newsletter. This process is like a disguised poll. 🙂 It is a way to share only the best of my work with my dear readers.

Sat, 20 Jan 2024 22:28:37 -0400

Hello Madonna! I don’t go often to see shows like this one. Can’t wait! #montreal

Sat, 20 Jan 2024 10:37:15 -0400

Another bill to pay, I guess. I love Keyboard Maestro.❤️

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:21:22 -0400

Each year brings the iPhone closer and closer to be a “real” camera in term of user experience and interaction with it. We have to wonder why it took so long for Apple to add the slight press to focus and zoom in and out using the same button.

GuruShots Is Still a Thing, Apparently

Sun, 14 Jan 2024 14:03:23 -0400

I just visited the photography challenge site GuruShots, where I used to play quite a lot a few years ago. I even wrote a few articles about this game ("GuruShots Tips, Tricks and Cheat Sheet","Tips & Tricks 2021 Edition, Part 1", “Tips & Tricks 2021 Edition, Part 2” and “How to Become a Guru at GuruShots”). I had a friend who was playing with me. He still does. Apparently, he is so advanced that there is only one explanation: he has a serious addiction. Personally, I stopped playing because it was too time-consuming. I wish I could update my articles because the game evolved quite a bit with new features. But, no, I don’t have that time at my disposal.

Sat, 13 Jan 2024 16:21:31 -0400

One of the things that is cool with Photomator: the before & after view. If find it helpful from a creative and teaching perspective.

Sat, 13 Jan 2024 11:32:04 -0400

Gearing up for video recording… smile, please. 😁

Sat, 13 Jan 2024 10:14:17 -0400

I can’t wait to share my first weekly creative summary of the year tomorrow. So much stuff in there! Meanwhile, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, flash the QR code! Or click this link if you are too lazy! 🤣

Fri, 12 Jan 2024 08:32:27 -0400

Another big snowstorm is coming over to the Montreal area. This one could produce more snow than the previous one, which gave us more rain than snow. Expect 15 - 20 cm of snow and some gusty winds. the worst will be Saturday morning, right when I’ll record my next YouTube video. For as far as I can recall, I always loved snowstorms. Image source.

How Many Apple Vision Pro Scheduled Demos Can Apple Provide in the First 10 Days?

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 18:15:46 -0400

As reported by MacRumors, Apple will have 80K Apple Vision Pro available on day one. Now, how many scheduled demos can Apple provide to customers in the first ten days of the availability of the Apple Vision Pro? Let’s try to find out. 243 Apple Store will have the headset. Let’s say there are 6 six guys in the store dedicated to supervising scheduled demonstrations. Could be more, could be less and might vary from store to store. Let’s say each demo takes 15 minutes, which allows for 4 demos per hour per supervisor. Let’s set at 8 hours per day of demonstration availability per store. Could be more. Could be less. This translates to 192 Apple Vision Pro demo slots available per store. If we think about the first 10 days of availability, Apple could potentially deliver more than 466K demos.

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 08:08:16 -0400

I feel relieved this morning because I finally moved out of Adobe and wrote an article about it. Spoiler alert: moving out of Adobe is not as hard as you might think, especially if your Lightroom setup is simple like mine. Open to questions. 😃

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 13:39:22 -0400

A big one is coming toward us. In Montreal, it will be a mixture of snow and rain, limiting the total accumulation thanks to a strong influx of hot air from the southeast. Up north of St-Lawrence River, this could be totally different with more than 40 CM of snow! And winds! Can’t wait for our first “northeaster” of the season! Stay tuned for more comments about this meteorological event!

Sun, 07 Jan 2024 18:04:04 -0400

I’m happy to announce my next trip: Croatia in June-July. First time over there! I plan to bring my big camera (Nikon D750); I’m not just ready to leave it behind yet. I would be frustrated if I missed photo opportunities because I had “only” the iPhone.

Sat, 06 Jan 2024 17:25:25 -0400

Zavala, an outliner for the Mac, iPad and iPhone, recently got a series of updates after a year of silence. I’m happy to see this app is still alive and well.

Sat, 06 Jan 2024 17:11:19 -0400

Frankly, I had to read these instructions many times but couldn’t figure it out. The Kagi Safari Extension 2.0 looks like a major change in design and how it works. They had to revert back because too many users reported issues. I understand Apple’s guidelines and privacy protection might be the root cause for this less-than-user-friendly setup.

Sat, 06 Jan 2024 10:19:35 -0400

Finally cancelled my Adobe photography subscription plan. Next to cancel: CleanShot Cloud. Just updated my subscriptions page.

Hey Calendar First Impressions

Fri, 05 Jan 2024 09:41:27 -0400

HEY Calendar is being rolled out to a limited set of users. It will be free, and a separate app will be released for the Calendar in the near future. It’s not as controversial a take as the email counterpart. Day view and week view only, by design¹. I’m not sure if this is a deal-breaker for many.

Time tracking seems limited and cannot replace Toggl / Timery in my workflow. Data can be exported as a CSV file. I wonder if it can be really useful in its current form. The jury is still out on that one.

Interesting habit tracking support: simple enough to be useful. Limited icon selection, though. No iOS app just yet, only web and desktop. No Microsoft Office 365 support yet. iCloud calendars can be integrated, but they must be made public to get an iCal URL that HEY Calender subscribes to. Same for Google calendars. Some tasks are managed as things to do eventually in the week, appear at the bottom, and move to the next week if not completed.

My initial impressions of HEY Calendar are neutral. That’s it for now.

This could be controversial. ↩︎

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 14:40:51 -0400

Why do we stilll get blank widgets on iOS 17.2? Who’s to blame? Apple? The developers? A combination of both? How do we fix these?

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 15:38:30 -0400

1000 subscribers goal achieved! Six month later than I would have hoped. Better late than never!

Sun, 31 Dec 2023 18:00:00 -0400

I wish you all a happy new year! May 2024 be a better one than what 2023 was. It shouldn’t be that hard. Peace.

Wed, 27 Dec 2023 16:39:38 -0400

Each year, at about the same period, I always feel a return of my desire for photography. It is as if photography is always the thing I drop first when I’m busy in life, preferring to keep the rest (writing, blogging). I hope this will change a bit in 2024.

Wed, 27 Dec 2023 15:21:27 -0400

Writing about leaving Adobe ecosystem and embracing once and for all the Photomator / Pixelmator combo: 1500 words and counting. 👨🏻‍💻😅

Tue, 26 Dec 2023 08:21:24 -0400

If I post a photo on Pixelfed that is marked as an NSFW image ¹, the image is still cross-posted on Micro.blog without any restriction. Can Micro.blog distinguish the post on Pixelfed and do something different based on that? cc @manton

No sexually explicit content, but it could contain references to some partial nudity. ↩︎

Mon, 25 Dec 2023 20:45:03 -0400

I’m so much closer than I thought to being able to close my Adobe creative cloud subscription. I love the holidays for the time it provides to do special projects like this.

Mon, 25 Dec 2023 14:01:11 -0400

Synology Photos as a webapp on macOS Sonoma is 👌🏻

Mon, 25 Dec 2023 10:49:47 -0400

Merry Christmas to all my followers! 🎅🏻 In other news, I fell into a rabbit hole when I started looking at my Adobe Creative Cloud migration¹. The process is far easier than I thought but it takes a little while to move files around. I could complete it before my next scheduled payment on January 8th. That is one of my 2024 goals!

I’ll be moving out of it so that I can focus on the Photomator / Pixelmator duo instead. ↩︎

About blog.numericcitizen.me visitors for 2023

Sat, 23 Dec 2023 10:24:36 -0400

Visitors to blog.numericcitizen.me increased significantly compared to the previous year. Leaving Twitter at the end of 2022 probably explains why. Embracing the POSSE model and my adoption of Mastodon and Bluesky also explains why more people visited my blog. It’s been a great year on Micro.blog, and I’m really looking forward to 2024!

About numericcitizen.me visitors for 2023

Sat, 23 Dec 2023 10:17:05 -0400

My main blog stats show a slight increase in visitors, especially in the last three months of 2023¹. The switch from WordPress.com to Ghost.org positively influenced the trend. The next post will be about the “blog.numericcitizen.me” site where the story is quite different.

It’s related to the launch of my weekly creative summary. ↩︎

Sat, 23 Dec 2023 09:37:57 -0400

Here are my five goals for 2024, as posted on my personal landing page.

Thu, 21 Dec 2023 22:57:40 -0400

I wonder if this QR code could be my next avatar.🤔

Wed, 20 Dec 2023 09:10:57 -0400

I’m happy to see Zavala is still being updated. 😊

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 18:06:38 -0400

I sometimes miss this type of user interface.

Mon, 18 Dec 2023 21:00:32 -0400

Apple Working on Software Fix to Avoid U.S. Apple Watch Import Ban https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/18/apple-watch-import-ban-software-fix/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
MacRumors.com https://mastodon.social/@macrumors/111604236893222090

Honestly, the blood oxygen sensor on the Apple Watch isn’t very useful because of a lack of precision. I wouldn’t mind having it removed entirely.

Mon, 18 Dec 2023 10:37:16 -0400

Apple Pausing Sales of Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in U.S. Due to Patent Dispute https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/18/apple-pausing-series-9-ultra-2-sales-in-us/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
MacRumors.com https://mastodon.social/@macrumors/111601838273362581

Massive blow. We don’t get to see Apple stopping selling a product often.

Sat, 16 Dec 2023 15:11:03 -0400

Just finished creating my 25-minute mix! I’m slowly getting there! I’m super excited for this. For those who might ask, I’m using Djay with a Pioneer DDJ-400. #techno #technomelodic 🎧🎶🕺🏻

Sat, 16 Dec 2023 12:38:59 -0400

Coffee shop time! 😃 For some reason, I always test their Wifi service each place I visit. Always¹. 🤷🏻‍♂️

The same goes for hotels while I travel. ↩︎

Mon, 11 Dec 2023 14:41:32 -0400

Apple Releases watchOS 10.2 With Health Data Support for Siri, Swipe to Change Watch Face Option and More https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/11/apple-releases-watchos-10-2/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
MacRumors.com https://mastodon.social/@macrumors/111563102881382545

Swipe to Change Watch Face option is BACK baby!

Mon, 11 Dec 2023 14:37:25 -0400

iOS 17.2 is now out for everyone! macOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS too!
Stephen Robles https://mastodon.social/@stephenrobles/111563142345839538

The scale at which Apple releases new software is still mind-blowing for me.

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 08:36:32 -0400

It’s my most “successful” image ever on Pixelfed, by far. 😊 Testing MarsEdit Micropost feature (again).

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 08:01:19 -0400

I made this. It is very handy to write an ALT description for an image posted on Pixelfed.

Sun, 05 Nov 2023 16:26:45 -0400

Ok, I may be late to the Mac automation party, but Keyboard Maestro is really nice and powerful. And approachable. It’s an almost instant buy me! ¹ It’s super handy to automate portions of my newsletter creation and many tasks in Craft, too!

And it’s a one-time purchase! No subscription! ↩︎

Sat, 04 Nov 2023 17:41:38 -0400

💡 Thought of the moment: owning my own Pixelfed instance would be cool¹. But how much work does this imply? 🤔

Imagining: photos.numericcitizen.me! Can we use a sub-domain with Pixelfed? Would I be able to migrate from my current instance? ↩︎

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 07:04:54 -0400

It’s probably my best screenshot of yesterday’s Scary Fast event. Happy Halloween, everyone! 👻

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 20:41:03 -0400

Apple to Intel-based Mac users: “It’s really the best time to upgrade!”¹.

Less subtle message: In case you didn’t notice, Apple revolutionized personal computers two years ago. Wake-up! ↩︎

Glass Opens Up a Little Bit More

Fri, 27 Oct 2023 06:51:37 -0400

Glass feels right at home in Capture One. Long adored as one of the best platforms for editing and managing a photography workflow, we’re thrilled to include publishing to Glass in Capture One. The final step in the creative process is sharing the work you’ve made — making that as easy and frictionless as possible is what we’re both all about. Source: Capture One x Glass — Glass

I like where Glass is going. The choice of Capture One as the first to take advantage of Glass’s APIs is telling and sending a message. How long before Publish to Glass support is added to Adobe Lightroom? Months? Years? Ever? How long before we get Fediverse support?

Fri, 20 Oct 2023 16:49:44 -0400

Getting mentally ready for a business trip to Las Vegas next week. I’ll try to put my 15 Pro Max to the test with night photography🌃. It’s been three years since the last travel, thanks to COVID. Can’t wait to see this city where everything happening in Las Vegas stays there. It better be¹.

I don’t play slot machines. I hate that. ↩︎

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 15:40:59 -0400

Remember when it was simple to buy an iPad? Now it is getting harder to buy an Apple Pencil, too.

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 14:56:09 -0400

My favorite Apple Watch face of all time.

A Definitive Solution to a Simple Problem

Sun, 15 Oct 2023 17:33:58 -0400

I finally found the right setup to definitively fix my audio record quality. The problem triggering this endless trial-and-error journey is that the Blue Yeti microphone can be too sensitive and pick up too much background noise¹. On paper, the macOS Voice Isolation recording should fix this. However, ScreenFlow 10.0.9 has issues with audio recording from a USB microphone while Voice Isolation is active².

The solution? Use Audio Highjack³ to record from the USB microphone with Voice Isolation active and output to the ScreenFlow audio capture driver. When recording, I start the Audio Hijack session, then switch to ScreenFlow and hit record. Voilà. I do use Adobe Podcast Audio Enhancer too. The results are quite good! You can hear it in my latest podcast episode. A screenshot of my Audio Hijack workflow is included so you can look at it⁴.

People in the house don’t always pay attention when I’m recording my stuff. We could hear them quite easily. ↩︎
The sound is highly distorted. It’s a known issue, apparently. ↩︎
Audio Hijack is a superb piece of software if you ask me. ↩︎
More tiles are included so I can make sure there are no lingering background noises after Voice Isolation makes its magic. ↩︎

Wed, 11 Oct 2023 18:48:47 -0400

I just received my Nomad leather case for my iPhone 15 Pro Max. Best case I ever used on an iPhone. Better than Apple’s leather case. It complements the Peak Design one for use with my bike. Another great case, btw. Not cheap but well worth it. 👌🏻

Sun, 08 Oct 2023 10:25:23 -0400

Who remembers this? Countless moments were spent looking at this back in 1984 and 1985. It’s one of Apple’s best and most timeless designs, even if it’s beige¹.

Taken out of a copy of an Apple Dealer Guide circa 1985. ↩︎

Sat, 07 Oct 2023 20:18:23 -0400

I’m still in my early phase with my iPhone 15 Pro Max 📸📱. Taking photos with this phone offers more possibilities, asking for more thoughts while shooting a scene. Am I the only one who wished Apple had created a profiling questionnaire during the iPhone setup, asking questions to determine our general experience level with photography? Depending on our answers, parameters would be set accordingly. ☝🏻

Sat, 07 Oct 2023 16:41:59 -0400

I made discoveries today while doing some much-needed cleanup in my home office. Here, this is what could be the first Apple dongle¹. More to come soon… 👀

This box was an AppleTalk network junction box. The smaller beige piece was for connecting two AppleTalk cables. ↩︎

Peak Design Case Issue With iPhone 15 Pro Action Button

Sat, 30 Sep 2023 10:22:34 -0400

For those looking to buy a Peak Design case for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, just like I did. I love the case but… here’s the kicker; the action button is really hard to press with this case, the cutout should have a button instead which would press the action button, just like for the other buttons integrated into the case. They plan to fix this. Check out this video to learn more.

Update: The way the company is handling this issue is a prime example of how customer satisfaction should be handled. Bravo.

What a Strange iCloud Drive Bug!

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 16:28:24 -0400

I have a folder named “Noto” in my iCloud Drive folder that keeps populating empty folders inside of it, on all my devices. Noto is a note-taking app that I tried in Feb. 2020. Today, I found out that I had more than 30K empty folders sitting there. I deleted the folders from my Mac mini, and it came back. Same with the MacBook Air. It came back. I visited all my devices to see if Noto was still installed. Nope. I reinstalled it on the iPad to see if it would populate something. Nope. I went on Files.app on the iPad to delete the root folder. Still re-appearing. On all my devices, I reinstalled Noto, to disable iCloud sync. I visited the iCloud storage section within Settings on the iPhone. The Noto folder isn’t there. But, on the iPad, it was there. I deleted the item from iCloud storage management. Yet, the folder keeps coming back. What a strange bug. Help.

Update: the issue went away after rebooting my M2 MacBook Air to fix an issue with Screenflow screen recording permission request. I went back to the iCloud Drive folder and sure enough, the Noto folder didn’t come back. I guess the issue is resolved.

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 06:30:46 -0400

When adding widgets on macOS Sonoma, there should be a visual cue telling me which widgets are coming from the iPhone vs from installed apps on my Mac. This screenshot shows two Dayone instances, and Fitness Totals is on my iPhone.☝🏻

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 21:45:15 -0400

What happens when you run Micro.blog.app and the web app side by side? Here is a peek at Activity Monitor on the memory consumption tab. There’s the native app. Fine. But, for each web app, Sonoma seems to spin three other processes (Graphics, Networking, and some root process using the web app URL name). Fascinating. Native apps don’t consume as much memory.

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 15:48:16 -0400

I’m weak. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 13:21:26 -0400

Why do I always feel nervous when changing my Apple ID password? 😨

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 07:20:39 -0400

One of the most confusing parts of iOS and iPadOS UI: configuring the share sheet options. The ⊕ sign and the toggle meaning are utterly confusing each time I visit this portion of the UI. The fact that some non-favourite items can be toggled on or off is probably part of the explanation for my confusion. I’m confused about my confusion. I must be getting old. 👴🏻

Sun, 24 Sep 2023 19:31:47 -0400

Shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max with the telephoto lens, at 25x digital zoom. The best I could do with a lot of post-processing tweaks (tweaked the saturation, highlight, contrast, sharpening, noise reduction, etc.) 😅

Sun, 24 Sep 2023 17:28:19 -0400

I finally found THE use case for the Action Button: running a shortcut¹ to 1) take a screen capture and 2) run the Apple Frame shortcut. It’s super handy. The camera already has a button on the screen that is easier to grab when I want to take a picture.

Haptly named “Action Button”. ↩︎

Sat, 23 Sep 2023 20:35:45 -0400

The first few iPhone 15 Pro Max images are making their way onto Glass. Mine included. 👈🏻

Sat, 23 Sep 2023 14:46:01 -0400

Testing iPhone 15 Pro Max telephoto lens. No processing. Shot in HEIF.

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 09:11:36 -0400

It’s going to be a big phone. Got my Peak Design iPhone case yesterday😃. I like it. Great design¹ and nice feeling to the touch.

I worry a bit about the effectiveness of the case buttons when pressed against the iPhone’s buttons. Lack of “travel” will diminish the pressing effect. ↩︎

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 13:06:04 -0400

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.

Sun, 17 Sep 2023 21:16:29 -0400

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.

Sat, 16 Sep 2023 08:30:36 -0400

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.

Testing Apple's USB-C to Lightning Adaptor with iPad Pro

Fri, 15 Sep 2023 13:17:49 -0400

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.😔

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. ↩︎

An Update About My New Quest of Leaving Adobe Lightroom

Fri, 15 Sep 2023 06:56:30 -0400

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.

I subscribe to the photography plan which gives me 2TB of storage, which is currently used at 110GB. ↩︎
Or change my mind. 🤦🏻‍♂️ ↩︎

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 19:07:50 -0400

How do you get out of Adobe Lightroom? What if I want to focus on Photomator and Pixelmator instead?

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 07:14:44 -0400

Did anyone notice this new “time-based” page indicator on Apple.com?¹. It is very well-designed and clever.

Can be seen in the iPhone 15 Pro sub-website. ↩︎

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 12:47:13 -0400

Apple Wonderlust T-15 min. ✅ Focus Mode: ON.

✅ Offline at the office.

✅ Apple.com open

✅ Tv.app open

✅ CleanShot Configured

✅ NAS ready

😎

Mon, 11 Sep 2023 21:47:00 -0400

First world problem: got this mic for my recordings (YouTube / Podcasts / ScreenFlow). Works fine. Now: how do I plug this into an iPhone 15 Pro with USB-C? 🤦🏻‍♂️ Can’t find an adapter with microphone support (many are audio out only…) 😔

Pixelfed Is Working on “Solo”

Sun, 10 Sep 2023 13:53:15 -0400

I’m really curious about this. The idea of having my personal instance of Pixelfed is tempting. I like the idea of having full control and not being at the mercy of some other admin, updating the codebase as I wish while being part of the Pixelfed federation¹. It’s expected to be released on October 20th. I should start planning my domain name and username.²

Of course, other instance could decide to block mine, but that’s not going to happen, unless I’m being a bad actor in the federation. ↩︎
Does that mean Micro.blog would need to do something in order to cross post to my personal instance? ↩︎

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 18:26:13 -0400

I wanted to increase my podcasts listening time. I decided to put Overcast on the first home screen page. It worked. 👌🏻🤓

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 06:32:38 -0400

Pixelfed is rolling out Stories. 😒🤦🏻‍♂️ I’m not a fan at all. I’m not sure that I want PixelFed to take that direction. I decided to unfollow anyone who shares one of these.¹

I left Instagram because it wasn’t about photography anymore. ↩︎

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 09:16:14 -0400

Glass is sending out emails to let us know that we can share and spread the word to our friends and family so they can join Glass too but at a reduced price. But, wait, we get nothing if they subscribe, really? Am I missing something or simply being needy?

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 21:30:28 -0400

Om Malik on Threads capabilities in regards to sharing and consuming photo content: Threads, Twitter, & Social Photos

The design is particularly conducive to viewing photos. The white space, the way the photos are rendered, and the styling of photo collections enhance the overall presentation. The vibe on Threads is the polar opposite. Even John Gruber, a long-time critic of Facebook, has been vocal in his appreciation of this new product from the same company. It’s surprising to see him overlooking the poor privacy-related track record of the Facebook family.

and

Still, Threads offers photos and photographers a second chance to find a home beyond a dying Instagram.

I deeply respect Mr. Malik😒, but there is zero chance that fancy web design will erase Meta’s business practices and business model. I refuse to consider Threads as an alternative to Instagram. It’s a matter of time before Threads becomes another Instagram-type platform. Just wait for it. Now, excuse me, I have some photos to post on Glass and Pixelfed. Thank you. 😜

Waiting for the iPhone 15 Ultra

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 07:51:08 -0400

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.

I skip a generation to limit my consumerism habits. It’s an environmental issue here. ↩︎
Kuo’s rumors about periscope lens. ↩︎
I depend on a 70-200mm zoom on my Nikon which is very useful on a trip. ↩︎
I still thing the best design was the matte black iPhone 7. ↩︎
I recently upgraded from the 13-inch MacBook Air to a 15-inch version. ↩︎

Fri, 25 Aug 2023 19:00:00 -0400

I’m a big fan of AnyBox (YouTube video) and in the latest update (v1.27), information density increased a bit. I love it. 😍

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 21:39:09 -0400

Am I alone who happens to get the iPhone keyboard displayed on the iPad instead of the full-size keyboard? My wife experienced the same thing many times. We don’t know how to make this thing revert to the normal size keyboard. Easy to make it disappear, but when it comes back, it’s still the small version. Very annoying to type on this.

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 21:29:41 -0400

I’m probably the only one, but I liked the Touch Bar on my 2017 MacBook Pro at work. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 08:40:18 -0400

I’ve been working on this for my podcast. You can tell that I’m no graphic designer. 😆

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 06:45:45 -0400

I glanced at photographers and photos on Glass this morning and realized that most photographers are men. Is it reflective of the photographers’ community in general? Photography is a men’s world?? I’d love to see more women because of their different sensibilities.

Wed, 23 Aug 2023 15:36:21 -0400

I decided to stop cross-posting my photos from Glass to my Mastodon account as I feel this is not the right community/instance for my photos. I prefer to enable cross-posting from Glass to Pixelfed, which I forgot to enable. Now, all is good. 📷

Wed, 23 Aug 2023 07:54:50 -0400

These transcript links give 404. Is this normal? Editing works fine, though. cc @help @manton

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 22:01:54 -0400

Craft Docs vs CleanShot: two different apps in different categories and two philosophies of asking for user feedback. Craft is closed, and opaque while CleanShot is outgoing and openly asks for “what we should work on next”. I’m a subscriber of CleanShot Cloud, and yes, I want a few improvements. If only Craft would change their mind…

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 14:19:37 -0400

Powerful hurricane Hilary headed toward the US southwest. Always impressive to see this from space. Less interesting is getting hit by it if you’re in this region.

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 06:58:08 -0400

Trying to post one or two or more of my pictures to Pixelfed every day so that I can move out of Smugmug by next year. It’s tedious, but it’s fun because I chose to add textual context to each image whenever possible. This wasn’t possible on Smugmug. 😅

Thu, 17 Aug 2023 07:03:07 -0400

I’d love to buy one of these, simply because it’s a great object of art and design.

Dear Original iMac, I Barely Knew You

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 21:15:23 -0400

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.

An Observation About the Photos From IPPAWARDS Winners of 2023

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 06:57:08 -0400

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.

Thu, 10 Aug 2023 20:45:20 -0400

I don’t like these two “disconnected” visual elements: the menu bar from the dropdown menu. The highlighted portion of the menu bar and the menu itself. There, I said it. On a positive note: on recent MacBook Air like mine, I love the rounded screen corners.

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 07:32:41 -0400

I just enabled cross-posting from Micro.blog to my Pixelfed account. I’m not sure I’ll use it, simply because I don’t post that many photos here. I prefer to use a dedicated service for photography. But who knows, it might come in handy at some point. Thanks, @manton, for being so quick to add these features!

On Apple's Migration Assistant

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 07:01:48 -0400

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.

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 20:44:27 -0400

Yep. 😎

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 07:03:14 -0400

On my last flight heading back to Montreal. This is where, for me, the iPad shines. Hey @manton look carefully at what is on my iPad screen… 👀 Ask @jean, she will explain to you what I’d like to do eventually with you.

Apple Should Introduce FlightPlay™

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 06:59:57 -0400

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?

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 13:14:20 -0400

It took Adobe Lightroom on my iPad Pro all morning to upload all my 350 photos to Adobe’s cloud. That is SLOWWWW! How does semi-pro photographers (or even amateurs) endure this? My upload experience always has been consistently slow with Adobe’s products. Am I alone?

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 09:50:12 -0400

Two used, two more to go. I accidentally dropped my Apple Pencil on the floor while getting my iPad in a security tray at the airport. Just like for toasts, they always fall on the wrong side. 😩

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 08:19:08 -0400

Back home. 😀 I have so many things to work on. It’s a typical return from vacation mood.

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 05:34:45 -0400

There is a lot to say about this new terminal A. Chairs with integrated cup holders, accessible charging ports (USB-A, USB-C, std power outlet), big information display panels with clear directions, easy to ear speakers, etc. I love this place! Remaining problem: too low temperature everywhere we go in the US. They are crazy to set temperature at 70-72F. It is fucking too cold!!! And not environmentally friendly.

Sun, 06 Aug 2023 04:24:12 -0400

Each passage in an airport is a reminder of how useful Flighty can be.

Fri, 04 Aug 2023 05:40:03 -0400

Surprisingly useful during travel. This is Series 8 with watchOS 10 beta 4.

Fri, 04 Aug 2023 05:32:58 -0400

If all goes well today, I should be able to make it to a site with many abandoned buildings. this could be a great photo opportunity. This would be the first site outside Canada where I practice urban exploration (aka “urbex”). Feeling excited. 😀

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 04:38:12 -0400

Yesterday, we went to visit the botanical garden of Puerto De La Cruz forgetting to bring my big camera with me, only with my iPhone. At first, I was wary that I would miss photo opportunities, but in the end, that wasn’t the case. Judging by the initial view of my photos, the iPhone wonderfully met the challenge. This garden was definitively a place for macro-photography! BTW, if you ever visite Tenerife, it’s a great place to visit and it is damn cheap.

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 13:57:04 -0400

Just for you! Right from Santa Cruz! 😂 @maique !!

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 06:01:53 -0400

Today’s plan: going to the beach and then visit Santa Cruz. I’m not a “beach boy” but I’ll spend the time exploring the beach surroundings and do some photography while they relax under the sun.

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 07:53:13 -0400

If you take more than two flights per year, Flighty becomes a must-have, IMO. What a great app. So many things could be said about it. Not cheap, though. Quality and craftsmanship have a price.

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 07:47:08 -0400

Seems a good time to fly! 😀

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 07:24:00 -0400

Pixelfed is way more interactive and busier than Glass. My feeling is that the federative nature of Pixelfed helps be discovered. This is something Glass developers should consider if they want to expand their reach, IMHO.

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 20:54:08 -0400

Introducing Patron! https://glass.photo/highlights/introducing-patron
Reader: mastodon.world
Glass https://mastodon.world/@glass/110775586144279718

I decided to support Glass as a patron because I think these alternatives are important. They help create some sort of equilibrium. It’s the same reason I’m investing my time migrating 95% of my photos into Pixelfed. I believe in the open web and in honest alternatives like Glass. More than ever we need them.

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 17:00:39 -0400

(…) the best way to improve your photography is to focus on your ideas, not your technique or gear Source: About — CJ Chilvers

I couldn’t agree more. To everyone who came up to me and asked what camera they should buy to start their photography journey, my answer always has been this one: Don’t focus on the camera model and let’s start discussing possible photo subjects.

The Beginning of My Journey to Midjourney

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 08:23:44 -0400

“A man sitting in front of a retro computer doing some important work”. 👀

This is my first ever prompt sent to Midjourney. I think this image is an excellent representation of my current state. A guy experimenting with Midjourney in front of my computer. I’m blown away. What a great time to be alive! Discord, as a client of this back-end service, is fascinating. 🤯

I subscribed for one month to the basic plan. I’m not sure how I’ll use the service. One example could be to create illustrations for my blog posts on Numeric Citizen Space. Another use case would be for illustration purposes for my work. I’ll see and continue experimenting. I’ll report back here my discoveries and impressions.

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 21:53:04 -0400

Right from Glass’s highlights website:

We’re wrapping up the final touches on our AI-powered Search beta that we’ll be releasing soon to Early Access. Early Access is an included perk for a new level of Glass membership that we’re announcing soon. Once we’ve tested it thoroughly over the coming months, it’ll be released to everyone. Source: New Member Search in Beta — Glass

In other words, Glass will add another subscription level where you’ll get pre-release features for testing. Subscriptions are not enough. Now we must pay to be beta testers. Great. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 21:46:11 -0400

A new camera app for the iPhone. Photon. 📸 By the makers of Camera+. I’m currently subscribing to Halide since my last trip in late June. I will skip that one, but Photon feels simpler to use yet more powerful. And I like the name.

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 09:00:30 -0400

One of the reasons I’m leaving Smugmug is the fact that most of their improvements in the last year are geared toward selling your images. I’m not into this business. I tried selling some of my images on Stock a few years back and made a few dollars. I do have some images for sale on Adobe Stock. The revenue I get for selling an image is RIDICULOUS! I’ve sold 12 images, generating more than… 17$ in revenue. Who’s buying images these days? There is so much free content available (looking at you, Unsplash! 👀). Why bother?

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 19:25:14 -0400

Poof Vanmoof!

July 17, 2023: “VanMoof was declared bankrupt in the Netherlands on Monday by the Amsterdam District Court, following the company's pandemic-time boom”
Sept 1, 2021: ↓
“This is the largest ever Series C investment for a European e-bike brand and brings VanMoof’s total raised to $182 million (£132 million) in less than two years, making it the most funded e-bike company in the world.”" loading=“lazy”>
Read: mastodon.social
counternotions https://mastodon.social/@counternotions/110742832402679227

Too bad for them. It was THE electric bike I was looking for since I heard about them. Sadly, they never expanded in North America. They don’t do business with partners. I always regarded Vanmoof as the Apple of the ebike.

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 07:19:08 -0400

I’m excited and upbeat about the upcoming weeks/months. I’ll have a bunch of images to process (from my trips to Morocco & Canary Islands). Plus the migration out of Smugmug to Pixelfed will keep me busy. Finally, the upgrade to the iPhone 15 Pro Max(Ultra?) will be an occasion for a few photowalk sessions. All contribute to a more photography-intensive fall. 🏞️🏙️📷

I wrote that for myself. I always like comments! 😊

Tue, 18 Jul 2023 22:00:00 -0400

I’m a big fan of Inoreader. Make no mistake. But one quick comment. Consider the following screenshot where you can see the article-sharing option. You can see options like Blogger, Evernote, and Twitter. The first two options are dead horses. I mean, Blogger, really? Evernote is the next in line to die. The third is soon to be a dead horse, too. No other options are provided. I’m surprised that we don’t get to send an article by Fax, too.

Tue, 18 Jul 2023 19:03:01 -0400

This is the Discover tab with the focus on “people to discover” on the @pixelfed@mastodon.social official app (still in beta). The problem with this “selection”: how is this list built? The same can be said of Micro.blog discover feature. Why is the criteria never or rarely explained? Why is this list mostly static? The open web should be about absolute transparency too. Cc @manton

Tue, 18 Jul 2023 07:03:15 -0400

When I decided to subscribe to Exposure, it was because I wanted to write short stories using my photos. I did share six of them so far (see my profile page here). Now that I’m on Pixelfed, I find myself writing more with each shared image than I did on Exposure. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Feeling Helpless About Climate

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 18:15:37 -0400

Due to Canada’s forest fires and easterly winds, bad air quality is returning to my town for the next few days. With all the bad climate-related news coming up from everywhere on Earth, trying to understand what is happening is essential, so we can better adapt our lifestyle. I like to read many things on a subject that I find interesting, but climate change topic is utterly depressing. The planet is clearly slowly burning. All indicators are going in the wrong direction. How can we not feel helpless? It’s hard to stay informed and keep faith in humanity. Prove me wrong.

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 20:46:46 -0400

It’s funny how much effort I put into writing a small description for each image shared on Pixelfed. I did not do this while on Flickr, 500px and Smugmug. I’m even writing an ALT description. It’s great for reading in an RSS reader. Your thoughts?

A 60-minute Video Tour of Pixelfed

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 07:16:16 -0400

I’m finally ready to share my 60-minute video tour of Pixelfed. If you’re contemplating the idea of creating your account on Pixelfed, I encourage you to do so, but after watching this video. You’ll learn about Pixelfed’s capabilities. It’s not a comparison analysis with services like Flickr or Smugmug, though.

Sat, 15 Jul 2023 12:18:35 -0400

Finished recording an hour-long video about Pixelfed. Yep. 60 minutes. If you are on the fence, that’s the one video that you should watch. Online soon.

Fri, 14 Jul 2023 22:22:50 -0400

How it started, how it ended. That was yesterday. 88mm of rain in two hours. Oh, and one tornado touchdown. Two others possible.

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 15:57:54 -0400

What is the motivation for Google to maintain this rather excellent photo processing app (Snapseed).

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 15:42:45 -0400

Tornado warning. We mostly never get those in our region. WTF?

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 07:14:50 -0400

A year from now, my photo-sharing digital landscape will look like this: Pixelfed + Glass + Unsplash + Exposure. Gone will be Instagram, Smugmug.

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 20:41:37 -0400

Don’t be surprised by my relentless posting of photos… I’m playing with my new toy: Pixelfed. Who’s on Pixelfed, here, btw?

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 06:51:56 -0400

That is going away soon. #Instagram

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 09:31:28 -0400

My experience with Pixelfed goes so well that I’m in the process of migrating my old photos from Instagram. And what comes after this migration? The IG account closure. While everyone goes wild about Threads and going in drove to Threads, I’m turning my back to this privacy nightmare and fully embracing Fediverse.

Sun, 09 Jul 2023 21:33:35 -0400

I spent quite some time on Pixelfed today. I shared a few photos but also started writing an article about my experience with the service. So far, I do like the experience. Much more than I originally thought. Is it because of its polished design? Or is it because of its openness and its citizenship of the Fediverse landscape? I still don’t know. I do sense a few red flags here and there, though. More on that later. But for now, I enjoy the beginning of the ride.

A New Start: Pixelfed

Sun, 09 Jul 2023 08:41:27 -0400

It didn’t take long. I’m now on Pixelfed (profile page). The reason it was a quick decision: I found a very specific use case for it. Since returning from my trip to Morocco, I have been looking for a way to share my best pictures with my family and friends. I prefer not to use Instagram / Facebook / Glass for different reasons. So here I am. Enjoy.

Tue, 04 Jul 2023 06:52:03 -0400

Related to a previous post, now I’m starting to look at how I can remove Adobe Lightroom Classic from my photo-processing workflow, to keep Lightroom only. I think I need to disable photo syncing between the two Lightroom editions. This would be a start.

Sun, 02 Jul 2023 21:12:39 -0400

The only time my M1 Mac mini with 16 GB of RAM struggles is when using Adobe Lightroom Classic. Even after all those promised and supposedly delivered “optimizations”, the classic version of Lr is still sluggish. Adobe Lightroom, being a brand new codebase, is actually way much faster in my experience.

Sun, 02 Jul 2023 21:03:19 -0400

Just added two photos to my Unsplash profile page. Spoiler alert: it’s coming from my last trip. Too bad Unsplash doesn’t support RSS feeds. Inoreader is of no help here, either.

Sun, 02 Jul 2023 18:39:11 -0400

Thought of the day: I rarely use my photos as a source of wallpapers on my devices. I’m wondering why.🤔

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 07:24:50 -0400

The time for a wrap up to this trip to Morocco is coming soon. Here’s one quick fact: I took 2 times more pictures with my iPhone than my Nikon. This ratio keeps increasing with each year. 🤨

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 10:05:12 -0400

I’m trying out “Weather on the way” (App Store link) for today’s road. Interesting take on weather forecasts. Carrot Weather should add this feature! We’re leaving Marrakesh one day earlier because of 🥵🥵🥵

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 05:18:41 -0400

We are staying at La Maison Arabe, a well-known Riad in Marrakesh. This hotel is full of corridors, stairs and interior jardins forming a complex maze where we can get lost pretty easily. It’s like Fes’s médina. Beautiful place, really.

Sun, 18 Jun 2023 14:22:00 -0400

An « Apple Store » in Tangier, Morocco!

On 15-inch MacBook Air: Is It Too Big?

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 20:17:31 -0400

When the 15-inch MacBook Air 💻 was officially announced, I was excited and knew it would replace my M1 MacBook Air. Since then, I read many reviews and watched many unboxing videos. People seem to enjoy the new bigger MBA, and all is good, right? But, is it?

Nobody talks about the device’s size when you use it on your lap like I do with my MBA right now as I write this post. It’s an important factor to consider for such laptop category which the MBA is targeting. Are 15 inches too wide? Is it still comfortable? For some reason, I have a few doubts. This 15-inch MacBook Air is… big, but is it too big for me? 🤔

When I come back from vacation, a visit to the Apple Store will help me decide once and for all.

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 13:21:20 -0400

Am I the only one who thinks that Adobe is slowly but surely morphine Lightroom Classic into Lightroom? From a distance, I sense that all the cool stuff appears in Lightroom first. The latest example: the capability of exporting a photo-processing session in a video file is available in Lightroom (iPad, iPhone only) but not in Lightroom Classic. 🤔

In Photography, the iPhone Can Be a Killer

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 06:53:30 -0400

My nephew, a semi-pro photographer, recently sold 90% of his photography gear (Canon). He only kept one body and one 50mm lens. 😱 He upgraded his phone to the iPhone 14 Pro. 😏He couldn’t be happier, he told me. Even with the iPhone, he essentially kept his photo-processing workflow as-is (Adobe Lightroom). This makes me pause a bit. Sure, he spends much less time doing professional photography work, but still. I call this the iPhone-photography killer effect.

He got his first exposure (pun intended) to the art of photography with me when he was still a child, more than thirty years ago, when he accompanied me for a short photowalk. He demonstrated that he could be a photographer, even at this young age, just by his numerous questions and suggestions.

I’ll bring my small (but heavy) camera gear (Nikon) on my trip to Morocco and when I visit the Canary Islands later this summer. Will these trips be the last ones where I use the big one? 🤔 I know that I’m going to upgrade my iPhone 13 Pro to the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max later this fall. This could trigger a similar fate to my camera bag.

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 07:15:07 -0400

I’m still slowly digesting Apple news of this week (think of a cow 🐄 in the field 🌿). About macOS Sonoma widgets 🖼️: it’s surprising that Apple is showing widgets to be perfectly aligned when they are dropped on the desktop background. According to some YouTuber’s early reviews, you can be messy with them and drop them wherever you want. People will get messy, for sure.

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 06:37:46 -0400

One week from now, it’s vacation time! I’m too busy at work, so this seems far away; I’m not in the vacation mood yet. This week-end, I really need to kick my butt and put myself in “get in the mood, get ready” mode! One way to achieve that, update my iPhone wallpaper. One step at a time.

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 22:04:43 -0400

I’m still digesting everything we heard and saw today. Like someone wrote today: what was that? I already read good (and dumb) reactions here and there, from which I’m trying to stay away, just to focus and maybe get my analysis and perspective one of my own. That’s not easy; it’s so noisy out there right now. Stay tuned for later this week.

Reflecting on My Photo Processing Strategy

Sun, 04 Jun 2023 16:43:30 -0400

For my next trip, I will bring my Nikon D750 and my iPhone 13 Pro (of course!), and my 2018 11-inch iPad Pro. How am I going to process my images? Will I continue using Lightroom for images from my Nikon? I usually use the iPad to import my photos into the Lightroom catalogue. What about pictures on my iPhone, which should be mostly in RAW format and shot with Halide? I like Photomator a lot; it is nicer than Lr and more approachable too. However, using Photomator to process images from my Nikon poses a challenge in file management. I’ll need to import the .NEF files from my SD card into my iPad in an iCloud Drive folder so I can work on imported files from any device (iPad, MacBook Air or iPhone). I prefer using iCloud Photos Library instead of managing files manually. I guess this will be this combo: Photomator + Halide for my “shot on iPhone” images!

Just writing this blog post made things a little bit less fuzzy. I’ll take any suggestions!

Sun, 04 Jun 2023 13:14:24 -0400

Getting ready for my trip to north west Africa. Halide FTW!

Sat, 03 Jun 2023 10:00:11 -0400

Getting ready for WWDC keynote. This WWDC23 button on my Stream Deck mini triggers a screenshot of my Mac screen using Cleanshot X. Each file will be saved automatically and later processed by Hazel rules and moved to my Synology Photos library for future reference and use. 😎

Sun, 28 May 2023 19:12:12 -0400

I never share my food over here but god this was delicious: aspergus, lobster for a risotto! Nothing left on the table. Sorry.

Sat, 27 May 2023 16:22:44 -0400

One of the best activity-tracking apps focused on steps tracking is StepsApp. I always find something new each time I use it. It is such a well-crafted piece of software. A vast array of widgets come with the app too. I paid for it. That being said, I’m not proud of my activity trend for the last two years. 😒

Wed, 24 May 2023 08:20:51 -0400

Eventually I’ll have to make a few decisions … 🤔🤦🏻‍♂️

From Weekly to Monthly Digest

Tue, 23 May 2023 22:04:06 -0400

Following the announcement of the tweaked Micro.blog newsletter functionality, I’m switching to a monthly digest instead with a specific category as the sole source for its content. Three reasons for this change: first, the digest will become a more intentional set of creative gestures instead of being the result of a weekly and automatic content spit out without any distinction. Second, monthly means less noisy than weekly. Third, less is more. Let’s try that. 🙂

Tue, 23 May 2023 07:23:43 -0400

Exposure asks me to upgrade to the business tier subscription to support Plausible analytics via custom HTML headers. Thanks but no thanks. My current subscription is already expensive enough, and I am barely able to justify the price. I’m not going to support something that I think should be builtin, like Google Analytics. Plausible is an external service and would require minimal changes on Exposure part to implement. They are being greedy here.

Mon, 22 May 2023 18:26:14 -0400

From my experience (today I shared a visual story named “Cemeteries”), I don’t get much exposure with Exposure, which I find highly ironic.

Mon, 22 May 2023 16:49:46 -0400

Quick follow-up to my blog post earlier today about using Craft to create photo journals. Sometimes, I look too far to find the perfect solution when there is one in front of my eyes: Exposure. I’m already paying for a subscription! My next photo journal will be created on Exposure.

Mon, 22 May 2023 12:18:28 -0400

Last year, I went to Italy for my three-week summer vacation. What a trip it was. I built this travel journal with Craft to test Craft’s limitations. I concluded that Craft is great for building beautiful documents (and small websites), but for serious photography work: it’s far from perfect and needs big improvements. Can you imagine that nine months later, after so many releases, no single Craft release addressed any of my feedback? None!!! I’m going to Morocco in June. I guess I’ll look elsewhere for sharing a travel journal.

Sat, 20 May 2023 08:56:18 -0400

Photomator is an alternative to Lightroom. Pixelmator Pro is an alternative to Photoshop. Source: The Difference Between Photomator and Pixelmator Pro

That’s probably the best way to understand the difference between Pixelmator Pro and Photomator. I’m a big fan of the latter. I plan to use Photomator exclusively to process my iPhone photos for my upcoming trip to Morroco.

On Photomator 😍

Wed, 17 May 2023 07:44:48 -0400

Currently using Photomator for a small project. I love this piece of software. I bought it for 99CAN$ for a lifetime purchase. I prefer Photomator design in general when editing a photo. It’s more approachable to me. Editing with masks is super easy to use, and it creates great results. The Mac version was the one last piece of the puzzle missing. Now we get the full picture (pun intended).

It makes me wonder if I will ever get out of the Adobe subscription trap. The one missing piece from Photomator is the library management. I cannot rely on iCloud Photos Library for this.

This wasn’t a review, obviously. Just a glimpse of my enthusiasm for this great Mac app.

Fri, 05 May 2023 16:50:43 -0400

I’m going to Morocco this early summer for two weeks. I’ll bring my big camera gear but I wish I had the iPhone 14 Pro or better yet, the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max for this trip. The iPhone convenience is hard to beat and the big camera gear is heavy and the benefit from me getting this thing around is probably not much worth these days. It could be one of my last trip with the discreet camera. On my to do list: get my captor cleaned!

Fri, 14 Apr 2023 13:23:50 -0400

Still alive. Only on vacation. 😎

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 21:52:13 -0400

Percentage of the moment: 4%
https://9to5mac.com/2023/04/04/4-percent-of-teens-use-vr-apple-headset-challenges/
Mike Elgan https://mastodon.social/@MikeElgan/110148579136347400

You know what? I don't want this future.

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 18:31:42 -0400

Testing the latest Micro.blog beta with picture upload. This is a screenshot of the current list of threads on Wavelength (invite link). 😎

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 12:42:21 -0400

5G+ Is this new?

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 08:48:12 -0400

Yesterday, I got my first ever paid subscriber to Ghost website, even though it is basically a free website. Thanks to Ghost newsletters feature, I’m offering a way for users to pay anyway as a way for showing their support toward my writing efforts.

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 13:58:21 -0400

Sad news. DPReview is going away. 😔

Fri, 17 Mar 2023 06:57:46 -0400

Microsoft:

Today, we are bringing the power of next-generation AI to work. Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot — your copilot for work. It combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with your data in the Microsoft Graph and the Microsoft 365 apps to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet. Source: Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot – your copilot for work - The Official Microsoft Blog

It’s funny how great some of Microsoft’s promotional videos are in regards to Office and Windows user interface. But why, in actual usage, does Microsoft products’ UI suck anyway? We never seem to get the UI that Microsoft is presenting in their videos. Office doesn’t look like that at all. Windows doesn’t either.

Sun, 12 Mar 2023 08:13:24 -0400

Good morning! The third video in the series “Understanding Micro.blog” is out! It is about understanding the cross-posting feature of Micro.blog. This is something people are struggling with at first when they come to MB. I hope some of you will find it useful.

Fri, 10 Mar 2023 07:36:46 -0400

For the time of my life, I downloaded Obsidian and launched it. Wrote something. Clicked here and there. Then, I closed it. I’m afraid. 🫣

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 11:33:23 -0400

Mind blown. 🤯

Sat, 04 Mar 2023 14:13:04 -0400

🎦 Smile, guys; you’re on camera! 😃 I’m getting myself ready to record th first video in the “Understanding Micro.blog” video series. This blog post on blog.numericcitizen.me will appear in the video while I’m giving a quick tour of a typical website hosted on Micro.blog.

About This Special Apple Device

Fri, 03 Mar 2023 08:14:09 -0400

I couldn’t agree more with 9to5Mac here: There’s something special about the 2018 iPad Pro - 9to5Mac

The 2018 iPad Pro deserves a prominent spot in the Apple hardware hall-of-fame. No other product from Apple has remained so functional for so long without appearing long in the tooth. The 11-inch iPad Pro, specifically, has held up extraordinarily well for a product from nearly five years ago.

I used my iPad Pro quite often and for so many different use cases. During work days, it becomes a second screen next to my Apple Studio Display. At night, it’s a content-consuming machine. During the weekend, it’s a streaming device while I do some food.

There’s something else special about the 2018 iPad Pro: New features for any given year are often likely to make their way to cheaper versions of the same product given enough time. The 2018 iPad Pro hasn’t had to deal with this.

The 2018 iPad Pro feels snappy and a very capable device, except when Stage Manager is turned on. It’s not.

Upgrading from a 2018 iPad Pro would fetch you a LiDAR sensor, an ultra wide camera, 5G compared to LTE, and a modest new Apple Pencil feature with hover.

Next year I’m pretty sure to upgrade my aging iPad Pro. I’ll be looking for the hover capabilities with the Apple Pencil as well as get an upgraded screen quality with OLED.

Another Day, Another Discovery: TimeStory

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 18:51:09 -0400

After Anybox earlier this week, now is the turn of TimeStory to make its debut on my list of apps under consideration. About TimeStory, from the application’s website:

TimeStory is a Mac app for illustrating events on a timeline, designed to help you easily create plans and roadmaps, capture history, tell stories, and more.

I spent quite some time today on a project at work using TimeStory. I’m blown away by the simplicity and the craftsmanship that went into this app. It’s very focused, which makes it easy to learn. At every step of my experimentation with the app, I was met with an evident interaction and response from TimeStory. I built something that took me a few hours instead of days in MS Project. Consider me impressed.

I’m on the seven-day free trial. I’ll probably buy the app for two reasons: it brought me real added value in my workflow, joy, and some rewards along the way. Also, I can see a few use cases in my personal numeric life, for my Apple Rumours hub, for example.

We need more apps like this. Very focused, not trying to impress with undeeded features. On the Mac only. Native: AppKit + Swift. No subscription.

Oh, and I love TimeStory’s About page. It’s always interesting to learn about the behind-the-scenes story of an app. I hope this app continues to evolve and improve for as long as possible.

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 08:30:54 -0400

Massive migration going on right now… to Anybox. I’m in love with this little app. Currently moving out my bookmarks from Craft. Next up will be Safari. Thankfully, Anybox can import Safari-exported bookmark files.

I’m always anxious when I use an app built and maintained by a single guy, as seems to be the case for Anybox.

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 22:19:59 -0400

Glass introduces “Highlights”. Oh I like this a lot. They keep adding more and more dimensions to an already solid, simple, honest, photo-sharing service. I’m glad to be supporting them.

Sun, 19 Feb 2023 12:11:50 -0400

Seriously, what’s wrong with me? 🤔

Sun, 19 Feb 2023 09:46:57 -0400

I don’t know if it is a popular opinion or not, but Telegram is such a well-designed messaging app. It looks cool, and it has the right amount of gamification. Telegram.app feels native on all Apple platforms.

I use Telegram passively to subscribe to channels that publish news and information about the war in Ukraine essentially. Many of the publishers were on Twitter too, but I left this shitty platform. I don’t use Telegram for chatting with others.

I’m pondering about subscribing. there are things that I don’t like about Telegram (like insisting on getting access to my contacts and being owned by Pavel Durov). I don’t like the owner’s attitude toward Apple’s App store rules in general. He’s Russian with Ukrainian origins. Thankfully, is fled Moscow a long time ago to live in Dubai, a safe haven for many Russians these days. The fun fact is that Telegram is hugely popular in Ukraine and serves both sides in good and bad ways.

Are there any Telegram users here? Do you share my sentiment? Are you subscribing to the Premium tier?

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 21:15:19 -0400

I rarely post my photography work here on Micro.blog, as I prefer to focus on dedicated photo-sharing services like Glass. But tonight, while doing some cleanup on my WordPress website, I stumbled on this post, “Confinement – A Visual Essay”, published on April 13th, 2020, in the early months of COVID-19. I almost instantly remembered and felt what it was like during these dire moments of confinement.

If pictures can trigger memories of challenging moments, I think they are good enough. This is why I am sharing this montage here tonight. Look carefully at each of them, they each contain a specific message.

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 08:10:18 -0400

Mailbrew still works but sadly feels increasingly abandoned by its founders fooling around with TypeFully, a writing tool for Twitter. Now Twitter is dead. TypeFully too. And Mailbrew is dying too. How sad this story is.

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 07:41:58 -0400

🤔 @help @manton could look into this error message that I’ve been getting on my timeline for a few days now? Thanks a lot! Love ya! Sorry for the interruption. Returning to normal programming.

Sun, 05 Feb 2023 14:56:40 -0400

Benjamin Mayo commenting on laptops with touch screen:

All the time, I see people swipe up and down on their vertical laptop screens to navigate webpages and zoom into photos with a pinch gesture. The ergonomics of this are naturally poor. Stretching your arm out forwards to reach the laptop screen quickly becomes uncomfortable. And yet, people still do it frequently. The touch screen is used as an accessory to primary mouse input. They swipe around a bit, then they go back to the mouse. They read a screenful of content, then they swipe to the next page, and put their arm back down. It’s a surprisingly subconsciously natural thing to do. Source: Apple Working On Touchscreen Mac Laptops — Benjamin Mayo

I wonder if Apple could get away with only supporting minimal gestures on their touchscreen Mac. I’m thinking about things like “pinch to zoom” or “swipe” but nothing else… I could imagine using my left hand for a vertical swipe and the right hand on the trackpad to click on a button or text field. This way, I see only a need for a minimal macOS user interface rework.

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 07:53:46 -0400

I took back the iPad Air that my mom was using a few years ago. I would like to repurpose the iPad as a photo frame. It was updated to the latest iPadOS release the iPad can support, but unfortunately, slide options in Apple’s Photos are pretty limited. I wish there were a “Photo frame” mode in Photos. Synology Photos required iPadOS 13.

How would you reconfigure this iPad, so it becomes a photo frame?

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 11:42:49 -0400

Well well well, 15-25cm approaching. Winds should be under 60 KM/h. Some blowing snow is expected, more expected along the river. Very mild but snowy winter so far. I’m a weather enthusiast, as you can tell. The map is from Ventusky.

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:11:01 -0400

Adam Mosseri, Instagram boss, spoke about the controversy growing on its platform:

We definitely have a number of photographers who have been upset. I want to be clear: though we are leaning into video, we still value photos. Photos will always be a part of Instagram. Source: Instagram showed people too many videos last year, admits Adam Mosseri - The Verge

If you like photography, go elsewhere than Instagram. They focus on user engagement, not photography. There are so many great platforms these days that are built for photography enthusiasts.

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:04:48 -0400

For those who don’t know me, I love photography. I’m an amateur photographer myself. Today, I want to share a link about an inspiring photographer named Adrian. If you like the B&W style, consider subscriber to his work (he’s on YouTube too).

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 08:37:27 -0400

Here is something that I always find funny. On any photo-sharing platform, let’s say you like someone’s pictures. The guy will probably get notified and start looking at your photos, generally only the most recent ones. If you’re lucky, he or she will like a few of them and then boom, start following you. It’s like someone who’s clicking with another on the dance floor. 😂

When Matter Made a Major Strategic Error

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 23:02:47 -0400

Today I spent some time in Matter to read a few articles. I went to the Staff Picks section, noticed those tweets between articles and remembered Matter's decision to leave the social portion in their early days. They preferred to go the Twitter route instead. That was before the Elon Musk fiasco. As you might expect, it was a deception for me, and I preferred Matter to build its own thing instead. I actually like to comment on articles and share my thoughts on them within the Matter sphere. Oh well…

How ironic things can sometimes be. I think the Matter team made a significant strategic error by dropping the social portion of their initial offerings, and they should reconsider their decision.

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 12:07:37 -0400

“With the popularity of HomePod mini, we’ve seen growing interest in even more powerful acoustics achievable in a larger HomePod. We’re thrilled to bring the next generation of HomePod to customers around the world.” Source: Apple introduces the new HomePod with breakthrough sound and intelligence - Apple

What?? Am I dreaming? It really seems to be the same device from the exterior. Still expansive. Still wireless only. Old Bluetooth (5.0).

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 08:02:40 -0400

I’m dropping this here. It’s a matter of time. Mark my words.

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 21:32:17 -0400

One of the nice surprises about this morning’s announcements is the addition of two more USB-C ports to the Mac mini and the addition of a configuration with M2 Pro in a small package like the mini. This narrows the gap between a Mac Studio and a Mac mini. Oh, and up to three monitors are supported!

An M1 Mac mini owner. 🤔

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 08:17:33 -0400

My latest project… explaining this thing… harder than I originally thought. 😅

Sun, 15 Jan 2023 11:04:16 -0400

Today, for some reason, I decided to delve into the Write.as “ecosystem”. I’ve been subscribing to this writing service for nearly a year, I post from time to time like I did yesterday. I’m not so sure to grasp all of it. To get started, I went into Craft, and through the Craft Assistant, I asked a few questions (since ChatGPT seems overloaded). I got surprisingly good results, enough to get some context around the write.freely project. Then, I started a diagram illustrating all the components of the platform. This will become a blog post for sure. Today, I have a better understanding of this project.

What I want to emphasize here is the help that a service like ChatGPT (through an app) can bring to kick-start a small project like this. I’m blown away. But I’m staying critical too. More on that eventually.

This blog post was written by me.

Sat, 14 Jan 2023 10:43:09 -0400

While on Twitter, I was a fan of Tweetbot. Now that I'm on Mastodon (I have an account but don't plan to be very active for now), I feel at home with Ivory, their new client, still in beta. I wish they were doing a Micro.blog client. I would pay more to get it than I paid for Tweetbot.

cc ivory@tapbots.social

Sat, 14 Jan 2023 09:28:43 -0400

Thought of the Saturday morning: I like the principle of logging my digital life activities, especially my actions leading to content publishing. The Logbook in Things 3 and Dayone and IFTTT greatly help here. [Rewind](https://www.rewind.ai) would be fantastic on the Mac, but it is way too expensive.

PS. What you are seeing in the screenshot is my actual logbook in Things 3.

Fri, 13 Jan 2023 07:49:48 -0400

Something will have to happen in 2023 in the Mastodon world. I would love to join (even though I said I wouldn’t). Now that I’m starting to get it, to understand all this is about, I fail miserably at finding an instance that I can join and fit my content publishing desires.

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 22:49:47 -0400

Must watch video about the iPhone photography quality. Are the photos shot on the latest iPhone 14 Pro better than other high-end phones?? Are they the best ones? There is no universal answer for sure, but I find iPhone photos to be overly processed by Apple"s “magic sauce” called: software or, better yet, computational photography.

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 21:02:59 -0400

Has anyone noticed this weird behaviour in Apple’s Photos app when browsing images shot in RAW format? Let’s say you shoot a photo in RAW and then switch to Apple’s Photos app. Tapping on the thumbnail brings up the image, and after a few seconds, the image gets changed to a lower-quality version. Contrast is lost, and exposure is somewhat lowered. The result is a dull image. My possible explanation is that the thumbnail is a JPEG post-processed interpretation of the RAW image that is presented in the UI. When tapping on the thumbnail, the RAW version gets uncompressed and presented, which replaces the full-size JPEG preview version, hence the image quality degradation.

Do you have a similar understanding, or do you have another explanation?

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 20:43:58 -0400

I cannot count how often I select an image, thinking it will look nice as wallpaper. Most of the time, it sucks. Would it be cool if Apple added a smart album with selected photos based on their potential to be great as wallpaper? This could be something done using on-device AI, just like face recognition.

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 12:25:14 -0400

Can someone tell me what this iCloud Drive status means? I don’t appear to have any synchronization issue and yet, the icon seems to indicate the opposite. A special thanks to Apple here for the obscurity of their UI. 🫤

Sat, 07 Jan 2023 19:20:15 -0400

During my trip to South America, I decided to shoot every photo in RAW (using iPhone 13 Pro). If the picture isn’t worth editing or publishing, I can easily use my “RAW to JPEG” shortcut to convert the image into JPEG and delete the RAW version. If the photo has real potential, I leave it in RAW for later editing in either Apple Photos, Pixelmator or Lightroom, depending of the editing required. Those photos are added to a dedicated album, for easy retrieval. I no longer use Camera+, Halide or Lightroom Camera module. I want the iCloud Photos library integration.

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 11:09:13 -0400

This one for @maique from Punta Del Este. 😉

Fri, 30 Dec 2022 09:38:20 -0400

Editing the framing of a photo in Apple Photos.app is tricky. Initial framing suggested by Photos.app is always tight compared to the maximum possible. I generally prefer to relax Apple’s assumptions here. This is something important when working with relatively low resolution images at 12 MP, the native resolution of my iPhone 13 Pro.

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 08:59:46 -0400

AirTags can be quite useful and… stressful to track. Here we are in the plane quite ready to depart and yet my main luggage is still in the airport. 😵‍💫🫣

Technology shouldn’t create anxiety like this.

Which is Best for Photographers: Twitter or Flickr?

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 08:06:21 -0400

Which platform is best for photographer between Flickr and Twitter if you have about the same number of followers on both? You might think it’s Flickr? According to this experiment, you get 2x more exposure on Twitter, but you get 2x more engagement on Flickr. Things get even better on Flickr if your photo gets selected for Flickr Explore page.

The “views” count definition is not clear but I would think that Twitter’s definition is a wide one (I don’t trust them for being honest about anything). A tweet could get a view count if it goes through an API without guarantee of human actually seeing the picture.

Personally, I prefer engagement over views. This is something to expect I guess from a photo-sharing service like Flickr or Glass. Finally, this is an indication of Twitter being an empty promise for photographers.

Remembering Sad Souvenirs With Great Words and Images

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 22:11:40 -0400

Here’s a great visual recollection of a trip to Italy back in 2011, when Steve Jobs died. Great images. Gentle words. It’s not only about the iPhone as a great camera, but about Italy, a place I visited last summer, and how it felt to be there when Steve death made the news. Must see and read.

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 18:34:02 -0400

Would buy an iPad in a vending machine at the airport? The model was a 64 GB iPad latest model at 599 CAN$. Same price as in Apple Store.

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 16:25:55 -0400

Flighty is such a great iPhone app. Here Flighty is showing in a shiny and clever way that one of my flight is 2h20m late at destination. 😳🤦🏻‍♂️

30 Years of Platforms Learning

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 11:29:19 -0400

To celebrate my calculator app PCalc turning 30 today, I've written up all the history I can still remember:
http://pcalc.com/thirty
There's also a rare 30%-off sale, which runs until midnight tonight, PST:
Mac:
https://pcalc.com/store/pcalcmac
iOS:
https://pcalc.com/store/pcalc
A big thanks to everybody who has used PCalc during the last three decades!
James Thomson https://mastodon.social/@jamesthomson/109562907458479500

I never bought PCalc but for as long I’ve been following the Apple story, PCalc always was somewhere to be seen in a magazine, on the web or an App Store. What a great way to learn, explore over the years.

Leaving the Nikon D750 Behind

Sun, 25 Dec 2022 19:53:06 -0400

Can you believe it? As an amateur photographer, I’m leaving my Nikon D750 home for my upcoming trip to Brasil. This trip certainly classifies itself as a once-in-a-lifetime event, yet I won’t bring my camera with me. There are a few reasons for this. First, I’ll be on a cruise ship for most of my twelve-day trip. Second, I don’t feel it’s secure to bring such gear to some parts of Rio or Sao Polo when we go off-board. Third, it’s tough to beat the convenience of an iPhone 13 Pro in the pocket. The Nikon bag with all my lenses feels quite heavy at times. I’ll see when I return home if I made the right decision.

A Few Observations on Apple's Latest AirPods Pro

Sun, 25 Dec 2022 12:56:50 -0400

I got a pleasant surprise under the tree for this Christmas🎄: AirPods Pro 2. Some observations: I would say the clicking sound when closing the lid is different, with a bit lower tonality. The setup experience is top-notch, of course. Sound quality is definitively upgraded with more present bass and deeper sound. Noise cancellation is better too. I’ll have to experience it in a noisy place like an airplane tomorrow. For my next trip, I will leave my AirPods Max behind (they are too big for sleeping on the plane) and use the new, much lighter ones and easier to travel with.

Sat, 24 Dec 2022 14:58:01 -0400

Merry Christmas 🎅

Sat, 24 Dec 2022 11:54:34 -0400

As you can see, my plan to exit Twitter is well underway. I think I could turn this shit off by January 1, 2023. It was much faster than I initially thought. This to-do list gives you an idea of how deeply Twitter was embedded in my digital life. Well, no more.

The Digital Cleanup Continues

Sat, 24 Dec 2022 09:43:38 -0400

This morning, I visited IFTTT and Zapier to turn off ten applets which were using Twitter. My About page was updated to remove references to my Twitter accounts. While at it, I removed all references to Medium and GetRevue since they are no longer used.

I still have to figure out how I will follow people on Twitter who are valuable (there are a few) but refuse to move elsewhere. I might use News Explorer to follow them, cutting the noise because I refrain from using a Twitter client. It’s not a perfect solution because I would get all their replies which makes things noisy. Speaking of Twitter clients (Twitter & Tweetbot), these were removed from my devices too.

It is one of the most comprehensive digital cleanups I ever did since 2007. For the upcoming year: I’ll focus on the open web services and tools for publishing most of my content. There are a few exceptions: YouTube and WordPress.com.

I may sound a bit extremist.

Fri, 23 Dec 2022 18:21:00 -0400

That is a hell of a low pressure. Very windy now. Lots of rain earlier. Getting way colder by tomorrow.

Assign to All Desktops - A Must Know macOS Stage Manager Trick

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 21:01:09 -0400

Updated my last Mac to macOS Ventura and discovered something super useful when using Stage Manager. If you want to have an application always visible, make sure to select “Assign To: All Desktops” from the application icon in the Dock. This is particularly useful with the Finder so we can easily do drag & drop of a file into the active window; the Finder needs to always be available for this to be possible.

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 20:08:35 -0400

Found a great place for my Tidbyt.

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 17:49:23 -0400

The trend is clear: people are leaving Twitter. This is my follower count since June of 2022. If there was any doubt left about my decision to quit Twitter, no more.

My Experience With Tidbyt LED-Based Display

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 08:02:32 -0400

After six weeks of waiting, I finally got this little LED-based display called “Tidbyt”, a reference, I guess, to the old Lite-Brite game which came out in 1967 (I had one when I was a child).

Tidbyt is an intelligent wireless LED-based panel that displays content configured from the Tidbyt app available on a smartphone. Physically, the device feels high quality and well-designed and is framed with real wood, reminiscent of mid-century furniture.

Content is configured using applets that you put together on a canvas. The display content will switch from one applet to another in the order defined on the canvas. Applets can be set to display only on a specific schedule, but the scheduling options are rather limited. It’s very simple to set this up.

Once the display is plugged into power via its USB-C cable, it will wait for the configuration to be done from the smartphone, a six-step process. Bluetooth is required to detect the display, and a Wifi network is required for the display to get its data from the Internet.

The applets catalogue is growing but still is relatively limited. Thanks to an SDK and open APIs, developers constantly add new ones. The display is bright and can be adjusted according to a manual setting or time of the day. There is a night mode, too, if you want to put the device in one bedroom.

The screen resolution seemed low at first, but from a distance, it is surprisingly good, enough to display small images.

All in all, the Tidbyt makes a great addition to my home office, and people at work have already noticed it during Teams meetings and are asking questions about this little thing sitting on the shelf behind me.

Rewind: Thanks but No Thanks

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 08:32:44 -0400

After watching a recent video from Matt Birchler about Rewind, a constant screen recording utility for the Mac, I was excited to give my email address and get onboard the waiting list for early access to the app. I got my invite a few days ago. As much as I would like to test this app, here's this deal-breaker for me: 20 US$ per month to get on the early access program, no thank you. Why?

I understand Rewind is still in beta, but the developer wants me to pay for testing the application. Shouldn’t it be the other way around so I get a rebate when the app goes out of beta? I mean, even with a 30-day “trial” I still can’t get over this. If it’s 20 US$ a month now for the early access, what will be the price of the final product then? Even more expansive?

Rewind makes me think of CleanShot, and I find Rewind’s pricing overly expansive if I think about the scope of both apps.

Rewind is a great idea, even if it pauses many security risks, but I’ll pass for now.

Twitter Is Xenophobic Now

Sun, 18 Dec 2022 18:40:36 -0400

I’m in violation of Twitter’s guidelines because I do promote content coming from other social platforms. I do use Linktree and have my Linktr.ee URL set on @numericcitizen.

This new "Promotion of alternative social platforms policy" on Twitter deserves memorializing for the pure idiocy of it.

Jamie Thingelstad https://www.thingelstad.com/2022/12/18/this-new-promotion.html

"Accounts that are used for the main purpose of promoting content on another social platform may be suspended.".

The Stars of the Show for 2022 Are...

Fri, 16 Dec 2022 22:15:40 -0400

If I look back at my software usage in 2022, three stars stand out:

Raycast
Things 3
Screenflow

Raycast was a revelation. It is so pervasive in my workflow that I feel lost when returning to my iPad for serious work. I underutilize Raycast for sure. It's free and constantly evolving.

Things 3 returned after more than a year of trying Apple Reminders and Craft Daily notes. It was a futile exercise. Things 3 is beautifully supporting my content creator workflow. Managing to-dos has never been so enjoyable.

Screenflow is essential to my YouTube video creation workflow. I don’t use FinalCut Pro, Luma Fusion or anything that sophisticated. I could use Screenshot screen recording too, but Screenflow is really the simplest and most focused video creation app out there that clicks with me.

I love using great software.

Fri, 16 Dec 2022 10:13:23 -0400

Back in the nineties, I tried drawing a few things, like this Apple's Newton MessagePad. Not bad, hen!?

Fri, 16 Dec 2022 09:24:11 -0400

Raycast year in review. Wow. I love this thing so much!

Hands Down to Hand Mirror Plus

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 22:31:08 -0400

Just got my notice for the Hand Mirror update today. The latest release offers a paid version, for which I gladly paid. Why? Hand Mirror is a great example of useful software with attributes of the work of great craftsmanship. It was an instant buy because of this. The onboarding screen is simply gorgeous.

On Apple's Freeform and Tools Palettes

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 20:49:47 -0400

Freeform, the visual and collaborative application from Apple, is finally out for the iPad, the Mac and… I spent some time with it on the iPad and found it enjoyable and deceptively minimalistic. On the Mac, once updated to Ventura 13.1, Freeform can be used to continue working on the content, albeit with a different set of tools, since there is no Apple Pencil support over there. One question is, why is the tools palette on the iPad different from the one with Apple Notes? I mean, there are pencils or crayons that I prefer on Notes over the available choices in Freemform’s palette. Following is a comparison of both. At the top is the Apple Notes tools palette. At the bottom is Apple’s Freeform. The latter seems a bit childish, too simplistic. I really wish there were more pencil types.

Other than that, I didn’t test the collaborative work with someone else. I see Freemore as more for individualistic creative work. I’m not sure yet if I’ll ever make good use of it. Certainly not at work, as we’re more of a “Microsoft” business. Time will tell.

Sat, 10 Dec 2022 18:27:49 -0400

Isn’t that weird that we need to jump to an external website to enjoy the 2022 Replay? Why not have it within Music.app itself? 🤔

The Most Divisive Mac Pro Is a Thing of Beauty

Sat, 10 Dec 2022 16:15:47 -0400

This week, a new Mac joined the family. The 2013 Mac Pro. I always dreamed of owning one. It’s probably one of the most singular Macs Apple has ever designed. Yes, it has limited expansion. Yes, it is not the Pro Mac that the pros wanted back in 2013. Yes, you need to unplug everything from the machine to open it up. It’s borderline baffling. But this hardware piece, just like the monolith in the 2001 Space Odyssey movie, seems to come from an alien planet, far from earth. Once plugged in and turned on, you can hear it barely humming, just like in any space station depicted in science fiction movies.

I’m starting to use this Mac Pro for a project that requires an Intel processor. You can read about it here if you are curious.

Glass Is Evolving Nicely

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 14:29:55 -0400

It’s good to see Glass introduce new methods for discovering photos on its platform. I would love to see percentages relative to each camera and smartphone brand. Searching by lenses tells us that Nikon is way behind Canon regarding diversity and representation. Can’t wait for Glass’s next move.

Sat, 05 Nov 2022 15:01:31 -0400

Just released: my first visual story on Exposure.

Twenty days in Italy / Summer 2022.

Enjoy.

Sun, 30 Oct 2022 10:05:25 -0400

I’ve been quietly testing Exposure recently, an excellent visual storytelling service. I could probably replace my Smugmug page. That’s the goal of my experiment anyway: testing Exposure service’s ability to replace Smugmug. Stay tuned. This is my first short story.

Adobe, Lightroom and the Camera

Wed, 19 Oct 2022 07:00:14 -0400

The Adobe Max conference was held this week. With each conference comes a slew of new application update releases. I’m not really into Adobe ecosystem except for using Adobe Lightroom on the Mac and the iPad Pro. This is my main photo processing engine, coupled with the excellent Pixelmator Pro. For About a year, Adobe spent some of its development money to “augment” Lightroom, a photo-processing application, with video-processing features. Why? I don’t get it. I don’t want it.

As Adobe is adding video-processing features to Lightroom, I fear they are making it less focused and slowly becoming a bloated piece of software, on the outside but also the inside. Adobe Lightroom’s mission was to start over and make a new solid foundation apart from its aging Adobe Lightroom Classic.

I want Adobe to focus on photography; they already have video-processing apps like Adobe Premiere!

I’d love Adobe to focus on making the camera feature compete with a dedicated camera app like Apple’s camera app or Halide or Camera+. I cannot remember when the last release of Adobe touched this portion of Lightroom in significant ways. Why is it important? As a subscriber of an Adobe photography plan, I would use the Lightroom camera more, and my images would directly go to the Adobe Cloud, just like the Apple camera app saved photos in iCloud. It would be so much more convenient. I prefer Adobe cloud for my RAW images instead of having to transit my RAW photos through the Apple Photos library. The more Adobe improves the built-in camera module of Lightroom, the more I’ll stay within Lightroom while in a photography moment.

On the Dynamic Island Inception and Possible Future

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 18:39:36 -0400

A recent Twitter thread about the possible iPhone Dynamic Island inception by Matt Birchler caught my attention a few days ago but couldn’t find the required time to write my take.

How long could Dynamic Island have been in gestation at Apple? A few weeks, a few months? I think this has been in the works for quite some time. Besides the visual appearance, the API goes with it and needs a design period too. I’m sure Matt understands and knows about that. I would argue that Apple worked on this way before this year’s announcement. Best integration between hardware and software takes time because of how Apple is internally structured. Secrecy plays a significant role in making things longer to achieve too. Apple plan’s for the long run, and I think the pill shape was set in stone last year.

The second thing that caught my attention is this: How long will Dynamic Island be with us? What if Apple can make the camera disappear under the iPhone’s display? Would this make Dynamic Island pointless? No. My take is that the feature is here for the long run, even though the camera and all other sensors could disappear entirely. Apple is training us to accept Dynamic Island as a fundamental part of the iPhone experience. We may even expect the feature to be the de facto standard of the best iPhone user experience. I don’t think we will revert to the previous design that Dynamic Island is taking care of. The black pill share could be dynamically removed when not required but could then pop up to respond to the current context dictated by the user interaction.

The Dynamic Island is such a terrible name but the feature in itself is brilliant, so Apple.

AirTags Can Make a Difference

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 07:54:56 -0400

I want to chime in here, following the publication of this article from Om Malik about AirTags. I’m leaving for Italy in a few days. Knowing how bad the airport experience can get and reading those stories about airline companies’ inability to keep up and keep losing track of customers’ luggage, AirTags can make a big difference. I’m going to double-down on AirTags. I already own four, and I’ll buy another four before leaving, so I get my base covered. AirTags already saved me a lot of trouble in the past on more than one occasion by reminding me that I left something behind. It’s well worth the money.

Building a Photo Diary Using Craft — An Experiment

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0400

I started another experiment: a photo diary of my upcoming trip to Italy. I’ll be using Craft for this. My objective is simple: testing Craft for photography-related work. I explain why and how I will do it in much more detail on the website. Here’s the link.

Waiting for the Surprises

Sun, 14 Aug 2022 08:06:22 -0400

Interesting fact: I rarely look at pictures of the places I’m going to visit. I could go online and look at many images of Milan, for example, or all the other places I’ll be visiting starting next week, but I don’t. My trips are organized by my wife. She’s the one doing the scouting and spends hours looking at where we’re going. I’m the guy who spends hours post-processing images I’ll be taking during the trip, making our trip live forever.

My Photo Publishing Flow for Italy

Sat, 13 Aug 2022 07:31:07 -0400

Following my post earlier this week, I finally found my publishing workflow for my vacation in Italy. From time to time, I’ll write a story on my Photo Legend Series. Glass will be for regular publishing of my best shots of the day. I’ll use Craft to build a photo diary, it’s part of another project. I’ll share the link when I’m ready. Finally, Micro.blog will receive posts from my blog and Glass via the RSS cross-posting feature. What I think will be my best photos of the vacation will go to Unsplash and Smugmug when I return from vacation and after post-processing them in Lightroom. Unsplash will only get a few of them, while the full set will go to my Smugmug page.

No, no, no, and no.

Sat, 13 Aug 2022 07:15:13 -0400

I’m sorry, Dropzone, you’re good but not that useful. I mean, for such a narrow-usage utility, I’m not going to pay that much monthly. I’m the one who buys and rent software but come on. It’s becoming ridiculous. Provide a lifetime contribution, and I’ll make the deal. You’re a feature, not a product. Delete. 😞

Wondering About Photo Journal for My Upcoming Trip to Italy

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 07:45:21 -0400

I’m two weeks away from a long trip to Italy, and I’m wondering about posting photos while on the trip, but where? Since I’m not active on Facebook or Instagram but have a SmugMug and Glass account, what will I do? My Glass and SmugMug accounts aren’t for photo journaling, after all. I’m very selective with those. Maybe I could create posts in my Photo Legend series on Ghost? Could I try experimenting with Craft and adding photos to a shared page? Unfortunately, Craft isn’t the best app for images. Craft is much more about written words. What about posting here, on Micro.blog, using Sunlit? Decision, decision, decision. 🤔

But, fundamentally, who cares about my trip to Italy? 😉

About Heavy Camera Gear for Vacations

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 07:13:18 -0400

In The Weight Of Creativity – On my Om, Om Malik thinks about camera gears weight during trips. I’m on the verge of going to Italy for a three weeks vacation, and I’ll have to decide about the content of my camera backpack. As the iPhone is taking a more prominent role in photography, there are fewer incentives to bring heavy gear with me.

Switching from Instagram to ...

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 08:00:00 -0400

It is surprising and fascinating that we seem to skip Flickr or 500px as a replacement for Instagram when thinking like this about Instagram possible replacements. Those platforms should take advantage of the Instagram pivot to something other than photos. They don’t and they are missing an occasion to reinvent themselves. I’m a paid user of Glass and Smugmug, and I love them.

Sun, 29 May 2022 12:13:42 -0400

I never post this type of thing here but I wanted to share my enthusiasm about eating this! Simple and healthy. 😀

Tue, 10 May 2022 21:43:01 -0400

Today was a special day. So many memories.

Two Years Ago…

Sun, 13 Mar 2022 10:18:30 -0400

On March 13th, in 2020, the world flipped, my world flipped. So many things are different now. This short blog post is about reflecting on the last two years and how they became the foundation for what is to come in my life.

Time flies and making judicious decisions is more important than ever. Working from home is important. I’ll never return full time at the office. Even if I move to another job, working from home is now a requirement. Visiting customers for the sake of shaking hands no longer make sense to me. There has to be more than this. The price is too high to pay: wasted time.

Traveling is more important than ever too; that’s the only way for me to do more photography. Something that I didn’t do much in the last two years. This visual work posted in April of 2020 was the trigger to write this blog post. I’m sad about this because photography is my most important source of inspiration and my biggest creativity playground after writing. Still on the travel subject, I can envision traveling abroad for more than two weeks now and splitting my time between leisure and remote work. Leaving for a month or more is now possible.

Speaking of writing, I’ll probably continue to write but probably not as much as in the last two years. A more balanced life is taking place and will take away some of my writing time. It’s ok. It’s also part of making better choices.

The last two years of COVID-19, the more and more frequent climate disturbances and the recent events in Europe are telling me this: the world is more than ever in a constant state of emergency. I better learn how to cope with this otherwise I’m not finished at being in constant consternation mood while reading the news.

Thanks for reading this. I know your time is precious too and you made the decision to read this short piece.

Still Mystified by ProRAW

Sun, 20 Feb 2022 12:20:55 -0400

Even after reading this excellent article by the guy behind Halide, I’m still mystified by Apple’s ProRAW format. The question that keeps popping up in my mind is: if computational photography processing is involved in creating the ProRAW file (in DNG format), how can we still call this a variant of a RAW image?

Photo credit: Jason Strull on Unsplash

Bye Bye 500px

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 09:05:51 -0400

It was written on the walls: my subscription to 500px is coming to an end next week, and I won’t renew. It was a nice ride for sure, but Smugmug + Glass took over. Sure, comparing those services isn’t fair. For my needs, 500px doesn’t fit anymore. Another reason is the fact that I’m not taking as many photos as I used to, thanks to the pandemic.

I’ll keep my 500px account but in “read-only” mode for the year to come.

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 20:42:06 -0400

Working from home since March 2020. Over the months, I made quite a few tweaks to my home office. I’m so much more at ease at home than at the office with a desk, a chair, a lamp, and devices that I chose, instead of being imposed on me.

One More Gripe Against Apple’s Photos Memory Feature

Sun, 09 Jan 2022 19:58:50 -0400

Jim Novell & Stephen Hackett both have valid points against Apple’s 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 don’t 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.

Those Curves…

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 21:53:34 -0400

I’m a big fan of curves, but up until now, I didn’t really know how to take advantage of them. 🙃 Enter this short tutorial for Pixelmator Pro. 😂 You’ll 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 didn’t 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 isn’t a paid advertisement. I’m just being enthusiastic about great native macOS applications. 😌

He says "Hi!"

Sun, 26 Dec 2021 10:46:43 -0400

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. 😂

Completed The Servant Season 2 - At Long Last!

Sun, 26 Dec 2021 10:19:19 -0400

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.

Glass — Maybe We Need to Be Patient?

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 12:56:40 -0400

Matt Birchler blog post about his interest for Glass’s 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 I’ve cancelled my subscription.

Finally, Andy Nicolaides on Twitter thinking out loud about the introduction of “appreciation” (a term used instead of “likes”):

I’m not one of the folks that wasn’t a big fit of Glass adding the likes / appreciation function, but I’ll tell you this much, in my small case study of one, it’s completely killed off any comments I used to receive.

Let’s 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 didn’t fall in the “me too” trap yet. Aren’t 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 wasn’t the best moment to launch such a service, and yet, they’ve done a great job so far.

I do have a subscription to Glass (my profile page here) and I’m 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).

An idea. The iPad. A Brainstorming Session. Another Article in the Works.

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 18:53:48 -0400

I love the iPad. Apple’s Notes.app in dark mode is 😍. You’re 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: It’s a meta blog post. Another hint: https://numericcitizen.io.

Yes, I know, my handwriting sucks. 🤦🏻‍♂️😔😉

The Enigmatic Snapseed from Google

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 15:31:03 -0400

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?

Being Unsplashed — Take 2

Sun, 12 Dec 2021 09:33:19 -0400

If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, you probably know by now that I’m a big fan of Unsplash (“My Growing Love Affair with Unsplash”). I’ve been using Unsplash constantly to find and use pictures in many of my posts (when I cannot find one of mines that fit the post subject). My contributions slowed a bit in the last year because I spend more time building my online presence on Smugmug (my Smugmug page) and more recently on Glass (my profile on Glass).

This week, the picture above has been selected to be featured in the architecture category. I’m honoured. You can see my featured photo in the architecture category right now. The last time that I’ve been unsplashed was less than a year ago, I wrote about it on my main blog: OMG — I’ve Been Unsplashed!.

To see all of my contributions to Unsplash, visit my profile page. The expression of “being Unsplash” is a creation of mine. 😂

On #Glass Appreciation

Thu, 09 Dec 2021 18:38:02 -0400

Surprise! Today, Glass introduced something I thought would never come: Like! Oops, Appreciation (Announcement on Twitter)! In summary: they are private. They are note at the forefront of the experience. They don’t propels algorithms. They aren’t used to sell targeted ads. They are merely a check box in a database. They are gentle. They are a gift. The team behind Glass is showing sign of lucidity. I like what’s I’m seeing since the start of this special place.

On My Photographic Style

Sat, 04 Dec 2021 11:40:15 -0400

The photo thumbnails are from a personal trip to Austria in 1998. When I look back at these photos, I have to come to a conclusion that my photographic style didn’t really change in 30 years. It feels a bit depressing. It is basically revolving about architecture, nature. Very rarely about people, these are too hard to capture; I don’t have a good sense of timing, and I’m shy. I’m rarely doing street photography. The only addition to my subjects in recent years is urban exploration. Do we come into this world with a pre-determined photographic style?

Here is my Glass page.

And my SmugMug page.

Oh and my Unsplash page!

Testing Synology Photos as a digital assets management solution (#synology #beta #dsm7)

Fri, 03 Dec 2021 19:01:15 -0400

I’m currently testing Synology as a storage solution for all my non-personal, non-photographic digital assets that I often use to complement my blog posts. After testing Synology Moments, their previous solution for photo management on DSM 6.2, Synology Photos in DSM 7.x is a step in the right direction, a big improvement. I like what I’m seeing. It’s fast. The ability to use folders as well as albums to organize my collection is a big plus. I’ve yet to find a bug. There is an iPad version of their Synology Photos. It’s not perfect but it works. Lacking is support iPad multitasking, which is a shame but not a deal-breaker.

In order to test this solution, I’m using my DS720+ running DSM7 beta inside a virtual machine. DSM Virtual Machine Manager allows the execution of a Virtual DSM which is very cool for testing future releases of their software. I’m impressed by the relative speed of this setup running on 6 GB of RAM, 2 x 6 TB SATA drives and a Samsung M2 NVMe 512 GB cache drive.

Stay tuned for more.

Photo editing while on the beach

Fri, 26 Nov 2021 11:30:36 -0400

On my iPad Pro, in split-screen view: on the left, Lightroom. On the right, Apple’s Photos. Same photo in DNG format (ProRAW) edited with available features and possibilities of each application. Lightroom wins, obviously. Recent update to Lightroom adds editing masks which makes a big difference in achieving desired results. Picture taken with iPhone 13 Pro. On the beach. While in vacation. Cheers. 😎🍹

Sat, 13 Nov 2021 15:33:18 -0400

Some of my heroes over the years. Do you have any?

From ProRAW to JPEG — When JPEG is Simply Enough

Sun, 07 Nov 2021 18:13:04 -0400

Here is a situation for which I’m searching for a solution. Let’s say I’m going out with my iPhone 13 Pro to take a few pictures outside. After a while, I notice that all the pictures that I was shooting were in ProRAW format. What if the lighting conditions were great that day and my photos didn’t require post-processing of any kind besides the iPhone’s own processing? How can I convert from ProRAW to their optimized JPEG counterparts and keep them in my iCloud Photo Library? Such process would decrease image size by a factor of ten.

I cannot find an answer for this seemingly easy question. So far, it all comes down to exporting the photos from Apple’s Photos application and then reimporting them. Such process needs to be followed by the deletion of all the original photos to prevent duplicates. There has to be a better way. Shortcuts, on iOS or macOS doesn’t provide any solutions as far as I can tell. Why is such thing not possible? If you happen to have a solution for this, please let me know.

Sun, 07 Nov 2021 14:33:36 -0400

Here is my Sunday so far… how is yours going?

Sat, 06 Nov 2021 09:04:16 -0400

Comparing Notion and Craft running on an M1 MacBook Air. Notion takes 382 MB of RAM while Craft uses less than half of this. Both are native, but Notion is based on Electron. Well, Craft is based on Catalyst, it’s not pure AppKit. Yet…

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 17:27:02 -0400

Time to relax, it’s Friday after all. Who’s playing?

Glass Profile Page — Finally?

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 19:43:14 -0400

After a successful initial launch, categories support addition, now here is profile page support. Glass is maturing, one step at a time. The web experience wasn’t part of the initial launch and I think it is fine. This is my profile page. Works great on iPhone, and on iPad which is cool. To join, you need to download the application. Works great on iPhone, not available on iPad. Oops. Next? Like support? I don’t think so. Hoping to meet you there!

Computational Photography Meet Traditional Cameras

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 20:52:51 -0400

But I wonder, where is photography headed from here? Surely, computational photography will play a big role in the short term. In my opinion, smartphones are not the future of photography, but they are hinting at where standalone, interchangeable lens cameras have to go in the next few years. I can’t wait to see what’s coming next. Source: Where is photography headed? — aows

What if Canon or Nikon were developing computational photography features in their cameras, just like Apple does for its iPhone? Imagine a “real” lens, a much bigger CCD captor, algorithms coupled with machine learning running on a powerful CPU. I wonder if this is the only way for Canon and Nikon to survive.

Understanding Halide Pro+ Capture Format

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 07:19:41 -0400

I’m still learning new things about shooting in ProRAW on my iPhone 13 Pro. The latest tidbits that I learned is not directly related to ProRAW usage, but to a setting in Halide related to photo capture modes.

When using what is called “Pro+” setting, Halide will take two photos for each shot. One is taken in HEIC format, the other is taken in ProRAW. Both photos are tied together and stored in Apple’s Photos library as one image. Here is the thing that I learned: when browsing previously taken photos from within Halide, metadata is shown in two different panels: HEIC and DNG (see above screenshots). Each component is taking a certain amount of space. The former being the smallest one. The latter, being the ProRAW version, is usually ten times bigger. But, when browsing the same photo in Photos, only the HEIC size is shown, as depicted in the following screenshot.

In summary, for pictures taken with Halide’s Pro+ format, don’t be deceived by Apple’s Photos showing only the HEIC size. The actual space consumed by this image is actually the sum of the HEIC part + ProRAW part (in DNG). That’s big, for only one image. Is it worth it? It depends, as I recently wrote about this.

Is the Cost of ProRAW Worth It? #apple #photography #proraw

Sat, 23 Oct 2021 14:45:14 -0400

I’m still trying to wrap my mind around Apple’s ProRAW. I know, I’m late to the party. Image size can be as much as 10x the size of a jpeg. I think that for non-edge cases (optimal lighting), ProRAW “cost” isn’t worth it. Also, ProRAW images taken with Halide are much smaller than using Apple’s camera app, for reasons I still don’t understand.

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 06:57:05 -0400

I’ve been playing with my iPhone 13 Pro last weekend. On the following diagram, the picture on the left was shot with the telephoto lens, while the picture on the right was shot in macro mode, in the area shown on the left. Both pictures were processed in Adobe Lightroom CC.

Where Should Glass Go? A Debate About Likes

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 06:47:21 -0400

One of my picture on Glass

Matt Bircher on the lack of “Like” on Glass:

Maybe this is a terrible idea and I’m in the minority here, but I really do think that I would enjoy the app more if I was able to give lower-friction reactions to people’s photos. I still like Glass quite a bit, and I browse it everyday, but I do often feel like I don’t have the energy to comment on all the photos I like, and that’s a shame.

Lee Peterson’s take on his blog:

Not having follower counts and likes is a great way to stop the comparison to others and help to reduce the stress of feeling bad about myself for not making engaging content.

It’s not an easy thing to consider. Matt’s point of view also echos mine. If Glass added likes, does that put them on the path of Instagram, ads, and algorithm-based feed? I don’t think so. Glass is a paid service. That’s the key.

What if the decision of enabling likes was delegated to the photographer posting photos? I would enable it, Matt probably would too, but not Lee. The same goes for seeing and showing the followers count on the profile page. What if those decisions were put in the hands of the content creator? Let the platform have it builtin and the content creator decide what to do with it. Twitter’s Revue offers such a feature of showing the subscribers count on the Revue profile page. I like it, and it is enabled, even though I only have two subscribers.

On Micro.blog, the situation is pretty much the same. We don’t get likes to our posts, we don’t get to see how many followers we’ve got. I made requests to the guy behind Micro.blog for the ability to see the followers count on Micro.blog without much success. This data could be made private, and we could enable to show it on our profile page.

Why is the platform the only one making those decisions? Let the content creators decide. You can find me on Glass under the Numericcitizen moniker, here is one of my shared photo.

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 07:06:51 -0400

👉🏻 This game was destined for the iPad. I’m in love. 🥰 Bye bye Steam! Currently in beta and pre-orders are open. Works great! Read my comments about this game here: A Simple Review of Townscraper - Numeric Citizen Blog

On the way back home

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 12:32:23 -0400

I’m on my way back home from a weekend in the Niagara Falls region. I put my iPhone 13 Pro to the test. I’m quite happy with my experience. Most of my photos are in ProRAW format. I’m not sure how I’ll process them: with Pixelmator? Lightroom CC? If the latter, the import process is putting me on the break instead of a more integrated experience with Pixelmator.

Thu, 23 Sep 2021 07:29:52 -0400

The waiting combo. It’s the story of a lonely couple waiting for something to happen. Tomorrow they will come together at last.

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 09:56:10 -0400

Bokeh is not going to happen apparently. It was written on the walls for quite some time. Too bad. I think Glass had a good start and updates are coming on a regular basis. I wish them success. So far, I’m happy with them.

Dear @AppleInsider STOP THIS!

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 09:00:08 -0400

I don’t know who got the idea at AppleInsider of putting video auto-play right in the middle of every articles, but this doesn’t enable a great reading experience. Even worst, scrolling the page to the bottom while reading will put the video in the bottom right corner on top of the content. It makes me wonder if I should stop reading their content altogether. Ads are bad but this is even worst. It’s not a good reading experience at all. Please, reconsider. Thanks. A long time reader.

The next #AppleEvent is coming!

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 18:49:39 -0400

Just in time for the upcoming Apple event, my rumours site has been updated to reflect the most recent rumours. New iPhone. New Apple Watch. New AirPods. iOS 15. iPadOS 15. No MacBook Pro updates. That is all.

The (short) story of a scratch

Sun, 05 Sep 2021 09:27:59 -0400

Here is a picture of my 2020 MacBook Air that I recently bought. I wanted to use it as a banner somewhere, but this visual defect on the Apple logo put an end to my intention. Then, I started to think how bad things go for Apple these days and I came to the conclusion that this scratch perfectly illustrates the current status of Apple as a symbol. What a useless post. 🙂🤦🏻‍♂️

A typical month on Substack

Thu, 02 Sep 2021 07:16:34 -0400

Five publications each month. Four Friday notes posts, one monthly newsletter. Some new subscribers. No comments. A lot of fun at writing and publishing these posts. I’m writing for myself. I don’t feel the pressure of regular writing schedules. It’s easier than I thought. The more I do it, easier it becomes. Substack is a slowly evolving publishing platform. I wish it was a bit more like Twitter’s Revue. Anyways. https://numericcitizen.substack.com.

And so it begins. What's next?

Tue, 31 Aug 2021 06:37:55 -0400

According to the Wall Street Journal:

South Korea today passed a bill that bans Apple and Google from requiring developers to use their own respective in-app purchasing systems, allowing developers to charge users using third-party payment methods

Now what? How will Apple respond? Will they create a different version of iOS for South Korea? Can they simply appeal this law, if such a thing is possible? How is this going to help other countries and parties to go after Apple’s practices? How much time will Apple be given to change its practices? Three months? A year? South Korea is probably a small market for Apple compared to other places in the world, but this new law seems like a tsunami in the making.

On Apple's M1 MacBook Air energy efficiency

Sat, 28 Aug 2021 08:28:25 -0400

Funny and fascinating to see that 95% of the time, the four energy-efficient CPU cores are doing all the legwork on my M1 MacBook Air. I rarely see the performance cores doing work for a long time.

Late to the party, but...

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 06:40:10 -0400

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. 🥰

I’m working on an essay about my new adventure in the MacBook Air land. Stay tuned.

Tue, 17 Aug 2021 19:06:11 -0400

Finally Apple. I love this!

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 12:06:58 -0400

It’s always saddening me a bit when, on the day of a new issue of my newsletter is being published, a few people decide to unscubscribe. I know, I cannot please everyone, people are busy, etc. And yet… 😒 oh well. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 21:40:44 -0400

I wish I could have used « Digital Citizen » instead of « Numeric Citizen ». Oh well. It’s a branding issue, nothing serious.

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 21:35:19 -0400

Hey, @Medium, what are these updates all about? Are you counting weeks, days? Meanwhile, on my iPad, using splitview… this has been an ongoing bug since forever… If you want to be taken seriously as a reading platform, get your act together and fix your app, once and for all. ❤️

Do you remember when you switched to Apple's ecosystem?

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 07:31:00 -0400

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 I’m 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 can’t 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 Tomás on Unsplash

On iPadOS 15 Photos improvements

Sun, 25 Jul 2021 08:34:13 -0400

I’ve 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 Photos’ 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.

Moving Adobe Lightroom from one machine to another

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 07:04:40 -0400

I’m finally done moving Adobe Lightroom Classic from my iMac to my M1 Mac mini. A few takeaways: it’s a tricky process involving many folders to copy (presets, settings, photos, catalog, etc.). Lightroom is bad at managing digital assets when things need to be reorganized. The Apple Silicon optimized version is faster but not as much as I thought it would be. My Mac mini never stop to impress me, it’s such a fast device. I’m close to being able to put my 2017 iMac for sale.

When a 2013 MacBook Air is > than a two-years old Chromebook

Sun, 18 Jul 2021 17:17:35 -0400

I’ll be getting a old 2013 MacBook Air for one of my son to replace an aging Chromebook that I bought about two years ago. Think about it. This eight years old MacBook Air is faster, much better design, much better screen quality, more memory and will be able to run macOS Big Sur and all other apps like iWorks et al. I find this incredible that we can read and hear people saying Apple gear is expansive and that is under Apple’s obsolescence progamming. I call this bullshit.

Sat, 17 Jul 2021 16:22:19 -0400

Weird.

Moving from Castro to Pocket Cast: 100% completed. 👨🏻‍💻⌛️👍🏻😁

Sat, 17 Jul 2021 09:50:30 -0400

I waited for close to a year for Castro to bring its podcasts app to the iPad. Today, with the announcement of Automattic buying Pocket Cast, it came back on my radar. It didn’t take too long to make the switch. Pocket Cast is a real multi-platform player, feature rich and has an as good design as the other players. After Tumblr, DayOne, now Pocket Cast, I want to give it a try and see how Automattic will build on it. Meanwhile, I’m really enjoying it.

On PC in the cloud

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 06:43:53 -0400

Microsoft announced their PC in the cloud offerings this week. While it is probably based on their previous offering, Windows Virtual Desktop service, it does look like a milestone to me. I’ve been in IT for more than 25 years. I saw the migration from the mainframe to the client-server applications architecture. After that, it was about virtualization taking over with the popular VMware hypervisor. In the last five years, I saw the cloud taking over the IT world. The latter has a much more profound impact than any trend I witnessed or was part of in my career.

PC in the cloud is only offered to business customers, for now. I can see Microsoft offering the service to the general public in a not too distant future. I’ll probably subscribe to an instance for my personal needs. Being able to run the PC in a browser means being able to use it on any of my current Apple devices, from the M1 Mac mini to my iPad Pro. This is something Apple will never enable itself, certainly not within Safari. The future looks interesting.

User Interface design dark age era

Wed, 14 Jul 2021 07:06:52 -0400

We are in the dark age (not dark mode!) of user interface design for sure. We get excited for new animated UI elements (example here), but overall, delight has been lost in translation a long time ago. As Mike Rockwell is a link post say:

“I can’t really identify anything that I’ll be nostalgic for in ten or twenty years.”

I wouldn’t go back to pre-iOS 7 days but there has to be some delightful in-between degree of crafted user interface that had some real joyful elements in them. Apple is not the only one at fault here. It looks like it is a design trend spanning many mediums (print, TV, web, etc.).

Has the industry decided that our devices have reached a level of maturity that warrants making everything minimal, sterile, and utilitarian to help “do work” and “get stuff done”?

Excellent question, Tyler Hall.

Bye Bye Skylum - I barely knew you

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 07:16:29 -0400

In preparing to move off my 2017 Intel iMac (and put if for sale), I must make sure to re-install remaining applications on my M1 Mac mini. Photography-related apps were the last to be updated for the M1 chip. Lightroom CC is now fully optimized, but none of the Skylum apps I was (rarely) using: Luminar 4 and Aurora 2019 HDR. After spending some time on their support forums, I found out that none of their apps are optimized for the M1 chip. I had to make the call: bye bye Skylum. I barely knew you.

If a software vendor like Skylum is unable to update their apps in a timely matter, more than a year after the M1 chip has been announced, I give up. It is sad because these are the kind of applications that would take advantage of the power of the M1 chip. Too bad. My photography workflow will focus on Adobe applications, for good or for worse.

A few thoughts on cleaning up my Twitter accounts following list

Sat, 10 Jul 2021 14:00:52 -0400

Since last year, I’ve been making a major cleanup of my Twitter account. I came from following more than 2000 people down to less than 300… and my goal is to drop below 100. I’m 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 “followship”. It looks like people stopped tweeting a while ago — 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, what’s left for me from Twitter? Getting reactions from people during specials events, related to Apple’s announcements. That’s pretty much it.

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 07:35:57 -0400

I’ve been experimenting with time tracking. I’ve been doing it as an experiment at first, but now it’s part of my workflow. I’m using Toggl and Timery. Ask me anything.

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 08:02:23 -0400

The power of iPadOS 15: setting up a workspace made of four apps with a simple shortcut from the home screen. So cool. 👨🏻‍💻🤓

The return of the Touch ID?

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 06:47:36 -0400

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.

Sat, 03 Jul 2021 17:43:53 -0400

Every few days, I go on the Apple Store app to configure a 12.9” 2021 iPad Pro with 512 GB just to confirm delivery date estimates. I’m crazy.

Please… stop… using… ellipsis… for gods sake (#apple #ux #design #iosdev)

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 12:11:59 -0400

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.

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 14:36:13 -0400

I rarely post my photos here… but here we are, it’s an exception day. This one is from the lake in front of my rented chalet. My photos are available here for those wondering: numericcitizen.photos

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 14:24:23 -0400

Public beta, already? That was fast. (#ios15publicbeta #ios15beta2) If my experience is any indication, I wouldn’t install that on an iPhone, if it’s the only device a user have.

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 13:58:22 -0400

Thought of the day: for me, Apple’s Widgets are more transformative to the iPad experience than they were to the iPhone, by far.

On design trends — sadness

Sat, 26 Jun 2021 09:59:33 -0400

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 can’t we get visually joyful icons anymore? Is it a matter of design costs being too high?

Apple and Architecture

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 14:22:12 -0400

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:

(…) 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 I’m 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. It’s a very respectful way to do it.

Apple’s Shortcuts and Photo processing

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 14:08:21 -0400

Now that Darkroom officially supports iOS Shortcuts (and will support Shortcuts on Monterey this fall), I can’t 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.

Full iOS 15 Beta Schedule Revealed! (#apple #ios15beta2)

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 10:20:30 -0400

As we are probably getting iOS 15 beta 2 this week (today?), here is a probable schedule for this summer betas. RED colour is for developer betas, blue is for public betas. We should get 8 betas for developers, first public beta set for July 7th. Let’s see if these guesses are good or not.

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 18:01:16 -0400

Apple did bring back the loupe for selecting text on iOS. Good. The only thing is that we need to find it, as shown here. I know, it’s beta 1 but come on, I can’t believe this sort of design comes out of Apple. Someone is clearly sleeping here.

App Clip can be really cool

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 20:03:49 -0400

I’m a bit late to the party but this use of Apple’s App Clip technology is clever: point your iPhone to the Apple Watch band package, an App Clip will pop up on your phone to help you get the matching Watch Face. Cool. Great case of Apple eating its own dog food, and showing a great integration experience.

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 19:45:02 -0400

macOS Monterey looks more and more exciting each day. Can’t wait for this update from the makers of Pixelmator Pro. I can see two of my Automator scripts that will easily migrate to Shortcuts this fall.

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 07:20:46 -0400

FaceTime in iOS 15: too little too late? Maybe. At least, FaceTime is better positioned as a videoconference platform for the next pandemic. Because, you know, one day, there will be another one.

Time to move off Apple’s Intel iMac? (#apple #adobe #lightroomclassic #applesilicon)

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 12:33:56 -0400

With Adobe finally releasing Lightroom Classic for Apple Silicon Macs, This could enable me to move off my 2017 21.5” Intel Mac for once. The prospect of Lightroom catalogs and data migration is not enchanting though. There the issues of plugins migration too. Is it time for me to go all-in cloud with Lightroom CC only? Not sure it is the right time either.

I have a few incentives for selling my iMac: one being to help me finance a shiny new 2021 12.9” iPad Pro with 1 TB of RAM. This could serve as my iPadOS 15 test bed for the second half of summer. I still have quite some time to think about all this as these devices are back-ordered for at least the second half of July.

You thoughts?

Sun, 06 Jun 2021 08:48:36 -0400

It’s always fun to re-watch a previous Apple Event. Just did the Spring Loaded one and used CleanShot to capture the best moments creating a library of 260 shots, all stored in Synology Photos, ready to be used, just in case. Tech is fun.

Certainly a massive leak... (#apple #iphone13)

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 17:31:09 -0400

This CAD view of the iPhone 13 shows a bigger than usual camera assembly on the front of the iPhone. It’s massive. Not sure what to make out of this leak. Good news for photography enthusiasts?

Time to move off Google Photos I guess (#photography #googlephotos)

Mon, 31 May 2021 17:17:58 -0400

Time is running out to those using and depending on Google Photos for their online photo library storage needs. The free tier is now capped at 15GB for new stuff added. That’s small. Why not consider moving to iCloud Photo Library if you are already invested into Apple ecosystem? And, if privacy protection is something you care about, now is the best time to switch.

Sun, 30 May 2021 17:47:44 -0400

Aaaaaah the joy of RAW photo processing.

A new home for my best photos (#photography #visualarts #creativity)

Thu, 27 May 2021 08:18:52 -0400

I’ve been more silent than usual in recent days. That’s because I was busy building up my new home for posting online my best photos. I’m also writing about my experience while doing so. As you wait for the whys and hows, here is a peek. Hope you enjoy.

https://numericcitizen.smugmug.com/

Mon, 24 May 2021 12:58:01 -0400

Working on something bigger than I thought. Can’t wait to share.

Sun, 09 May 2021 08:33:05 -0400

One quick question: do you think Apple already has a plan B to enable sideloading of applications, ready to go just in case? After all, they already allow this on macOS so they know how to do it. I don’t see it as a major rework of iOS. #apple #appstore

Where is Adobe Lightroom Classic for Apple Silicon? (#photography #adobe #lightroom)

Wed, 05 May 2021 20:25:14 -0400

That’s a serious question. I mean, we do have Lightroom CC for M1 Macs… (performance is good but not stellar compared to Intel version. There’s still work to be done by Adobe to take performance further). The absence of the optimized Lightroom Classic version is troubling. What does it mean about Lr or even Adobe? Is Adobe relying too much on cross-platforms libraries or components that are much harder to re-compile for the M1 chip? I find this fascinating that such a big company is falling behind compared to much smaller players… I’m thinking about Pixelmator here.

I’m waiting for this optimized version to complete my migration from Intel iMac to the M1 Mac mini.

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 10:58:59 -0400

I love it! Sooo soft. Thanks to @BasicAppleGuy for the design!

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 07:03:50 -0400

As I’m currently writing my thoughts on Apple’s “Spring Loaded” event, I’m wondering what are your thoughts? Anything that stands out? I’m genuinely curious. #appleevent #applevent2021

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 18:34:15 -0400

I rarely post pictures of mine here. But, hey, it’s Friday, why not. The structure.

Sun, 11 Apr 2021 09:05:23 -0400

Upcoming blog post on Numeric Citizen Blog: more than 2800 words 😳 to talk about how I tweaked and made macOS Big Sur a powerful and productivity friendly desktop experience for me with the use of more than 20 third-party utilities. 👨🏻‍💻

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 21:39:03 -0400

Well, if that was the case, this would add fuel to any anti-trust initiative. No?

iMessage Kept Off Android for iOS Lock-in initialcharge.net/2021/04/i…

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 20:39:08 -0400

Why I Love Taking Photos of Abandoned Places. world.hey.com/jf.m/why-…

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 07:29:56 -0400

I should read this every day. Thanks to @gr36.

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 17:59:00 -0400

> numericcitizen [numericcitizen.io](https://numericcitizen.io/)

Mon, 29 Mar 2021 07:14:19 -0400

The race is on. Can’t wait for the moment Notion’s APIs go live and Craft be updated to support them so it can suck all my data from Notion. #notionhq #craftdocs

Sun, 28 Mar 2021 14:06:01 -0400

This is a test with the most recent update to a little-know utility: Linky. I love it. 👍🏻

Substack vs Buttondown — Who’s Better? — My Observations - Numeric Citizen Blog numericcitizen.me/2021/03/2…

On iCloud Photo Library migration (#keyword)

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 21:12:54 -0400

In a surprising move, Apple starting today allows people to export their iCloud Photo Library to Google Photos. Why not provide a download to a local computer, outside the Photos app. I can see many use cases for doing so: backup purposes or simply to dump photos in a structure of directories for archiving purposes.

Sat, 27 Feb 2021 09:41:19 -0400

For those who likes newsletters, I’ve got one too! It’a about Apple, photography, privacy and climate change, in that order! https://numericcitizen.substack.com/p/2021-02

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 19:49:04 -0400

Twitter announces paid Super Follows to let you charge for tweets

More shit like this and I guess Twitter will be my next one to quit.

Gaby/mL https://gabz.me/2021/02/25/twitter-announces-paid.html

The beginning of the end for me and Twitter?

Who remember Motorola 68000 Assembly? I do. (#apple #history #macintosh)

Sun, 14 Feb 2021 09:36:45 -0400

I dug out my ancient Inside Macintosh reference books from storage. Remember when Apple’s developer documentation came as paper books? Volumes I-III on the original Mac APIs, IV on Mac Plus, V on color Macs, and the truly massive volume VI on System 7. 📚

David Sinclair https://dejus.com/2020/12/21/0927/

I did some 68000 assembly using my 512Ke Mac back in the days. Can't remember what was the development environment, though. And I remember these Inside Apple Macintosh books so well. That was a lot of stuff to learn. Time flies.

What the hell is going on with Flickr? (#Flickr #photography)

Sat, 30 Jan 2021 10:24:17 -0400

This morning I got the most recent update to the venerable photo sharing service: Flickr. The only addition to this update, support for iOS 14 widgets. Finally! It’s quite a change from the usual “Bug fixes and improvements.”. Even if I’m no longer actively using Flickr, I was happy to see that widgets were finally supported. So, I frantically updated the apps to have a look at the possibilities. What a let down. Sure, all three sizes are supported, but we cannot change any widget settings! How about being able to set the source for pictures or even stats or anything! Nope. I call this pathetic.

No wonder why I left Flickr and services like Unsplash took over the world. Over the years and during its tumultuous history, Flickr was a series of promises left without real and deep actions to transform the platform. They brag about having two million groups. It takes just a few minutes to see that a vast majority of these groups are ghost towns. And don’t get me started with the general design of the app and the website.

A fix is coming (#apple #M1macmini #bluetooth)

Tue, 12 Jan 2021 12:36:08 -0400

At long last, relief is in sight. My M1 Mac mini is not able to keep a stable Bluetooth connection with Apple’s Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse. It’s very frustrating. While waiting for a permanent fix, I’m using a USB PC mouse, and I keep my Magic Keyboard connected via a USB-C to lightning cable connected on my LG Ultra Fine 4K monitor. What a messy experience for such a small performance wonder.

Mac sales booming but the best is yet to come (#apple #m1mac #applesilicon)

Tue, 12 Jan 2021 10:58:05 -0400

Thanks to the small wonder, the M1 chip and the Apple silicon transition, Mac sales are booming. According to a recent IDC report, Mac sales are up by nearly 30% compared to the same period, a year ago. Apple’s market share increased globally by 1%, which is quite impressive for Apple.

My take: I have the feeling that we ain’t see nothing yet. As the work-from-home trend continues, with the rest of the MacBook Pro line still to transition to the M1 chip, a long-awaited redesiged iMac, 2021 could be a monster year for the Mac and Apple. And beyong 2021 and the pandemic? Ask Horace Dediu.

Programming, mathematics and brain activities (#research #computers #computerscience)

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 19:47:20 -0400

What does it take to be a hood programmer? Or better yet, what does it take to like programming hence writing or reading algorithms? Math? Language? Arts? A combination? When I started in computer science at the University, my friends thought that I was good at maths. It wasn’t the case. Before deciding which field I would like to study, I was afraid of computer science, thinking myself that we had to be really good with mathematics. My experience shows that it is not the case. I’m average at maths but good at programming and in computer science in general. Is it surprising? According to this article, no. In fact, computer programming isn’t the same thing as doing maths from a brain activity perspective. It is more like something very demanding where a totally different part of the brain is solicited. Fascinating. It may (or may not) explain why you can be good in computer science but not as good in mathematics. Who knows.

By having a better understanding of what parts of the brain are solicited, we may find common ground with other disciplines. It is really hard to attract people in computer science and knowing what it takes from a brain perspective could help direct efforts of recruiting the right people who will like to read and write algorythms but are not good at maths!

Ten Reasons to love RSS feeds (#rss #openstandard)

Sun, 10 Jan 2021 21:09:38 -0400

Alan Ralph, in a blog post, exposes ten reasons why he loves RSS feeds. I agree on all accounts. When I look closer, it all comes down to: control. Control is something we don’t have these days on social networks and social media. We live in a numeric world full of algorithmically-generated feeds and content. We lose control of our feeds. George Orwell was right.

RSS feed, a simple and open standard, is the key, within an RSS reader, of a more open and user-centered and mostly ads-free Internet. RSS feeds are important.

On the original iPhone, back in 2007 (#apple #iPhone #blackberry)

Sun, 10 Jan 2021 10:01:37 -0400

Thirteen years already. Gosh, time flies. Steve Jobs announces the iPhone. One of his best presentation. I remember it so well. At that time, I was a huge user (and fan) of the Blackberry. After using a RIM two-way pager for a while, I upgraded to Blackberry with a bigger screen with a monochrome display. But, with the iPhone, I knew, deep within me, this would be a real game-changer. My feelings were the same as with the launch of the Macintosh. What I didn’t know, though, was how profound and long-lasting the iPhone-effect would be on the rest of the tech world. We still feel its effect these days. I had to wait until the iPhone 3GS, in 2009, to get my hands on one for my personal use. I was still using a Blackberry for the office. Yep, I had two smartphones with me all the time.

How to turn me off big time (#signin #services #facebooklogin)

Sat, 09 Jan 2021 22:53:59 -0400

What’s out for 2021? These “Connect with Facebook” screen. Please, stop doing that. It’s 2021. If a service, in order to create a new account, offers a “Connect with Facebook”, it is a no go for me, no mather if alternatives are provided. Facebook is like cancer. Period.

Unsplash is growing fast — and I like it even more! (@unsplash #photography)

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 13:08:24 -0400

Unsplash started the year 2021 with a bang; they are introducing a visual search feature. How cool is that! Use cases for this feature are aplenty. Imagine you come across a great picture on Unsplash and would like to see if there are any more variants of it. Here comes the new visual search feature. Here is another one that could be a game-changer. Suppose you happen to find a picture online that is tied by a very restrictive license. Copy this image URL and paste it in the visual search of Unsplash to see if there are any similar pictures. Voilà! As the Unsplash library doubles every year, the probability of finding an alternative image increases. Lastly, the visual search feature helps you determine if a specific image on the way comes from Unsplash. It is useful to find the creator of the image when no credits are given.

Next week - back to a "normal" day job (#blogging #writing #personalnews)

Thu, 07 Jan 2021 18:21:57 -0400

Next week marks the end of a three-week vacation. I’m lucky. Three weeks where I forgot about my work and became a full-time blogger, writer, content creator. Time flies. There is a need for normality, I guess, and this means returning to work.

Expect a less frequent publishing schedule. Don’t worry; I won’t go very far, thanks to our new confinement and curfew starting this very Saturday. Oh well.

About My Friday Notes on @Medium (#writing #blogging #medium)

Thu, 07 Jan 2021 13:21:27 -0400

Today, I decided to remove my Friday Notes stories from Medium paywall. In other words, you can read them without paying a penny to Medium. They can be found here, in my Numeric Citizen Tidbits Newsletter. Please, if you like ’em, give ’em some hands claps! Thanks.

Use case for multi-user support on iPad (#apple #ipadOS #iPad)

Thu, 07 Jan 2021 11:20:41 -0400

In his predictions for iPad in 2021, iPadInsight puts multi-user support on top of its list for iPadOS 15 without mentionning a real use case beyond the obvious. Let me explain.

Do we ask multi-user support on iPad because it is something we take for granted on “traditional” computers? Or is because there is a real use case for that feature, beyond the classroom or the conference room? Does the multi-user support solve the problem of your friend borrowing your iPad while keeping him or her from seeing your stuff?

Enabling multi-user support on the iPad has profound implications. How would the instant-on, instant-use experience be impacted by having multi-user enabled? Is the security enclave capable of holding more than one user FaceID? How iCloud Drive data be handled if users both have their data in icloud, the same way as on macOS? What about apps collections being different from one user to the other, how the iPad homescreen change upon logoff-logon? How fast? What kind of pressure does this feature put on the iPad system memory? Would this feature enabled on the Pro line only?

For me, the iPad is a personal device, just like the iPhone. Apple likes it this way, for their bottom line. That’s my guess.

Another wild Microsoft rumour about Outlook (#microsoft #rumours #outlook #office365)

Wed, 06 Jan 2021 14:54:05 -0400

Here is another wild one: Microsoft is reportedly working on making Outlook a progressive web application for all platforms. Progressive web application isn’t new and Microsoft already makes a version of Outlook in this format. What is new is that it would replace all native versions of the Outlook client: no more are native versions of Outlook for Windows or the Mac.

I’m not sure if this is good or bad news. I’m always wary about cross-platform tech. There is always something lost in translation. The other question that comes to my mind, why is Microsoft moving way from native applications in its ecosystem?

Yet, not all is lost, a good side effect of this move would be to reduce memory consumption on the client. As use can see in this tweet, the native version of Outlook can use large chunk of your computer memory.

The port-less iPhone is coming (#apple #iPhone #rumours)

Wed, 06 Jan 2021 11:33:32 -0400

With patents like this, we can see clearly into Apple’s vision for the future of the iPhone. Apple is committed to remove the Lightning port from its iPhone line. I don’t expect them to go through USB-C. This is Apple. By adding more ways to charge without contacts, Apple removes the friction points off the user experience in a world of port-less iPhone.

About this rumoured big Windows visual overhaul (#microsoft #windows)

Tue, 05 Jan 2021 16:52:49 -0400

If only Microsoft could finish the job started with Windows 7. Windows 10 user interface is a bunch of previously used visual elements that Microsoft doesn’t care to clean up. For example, consider the computer settings area. On the surface, the iconography speaks the recent visual langague defined by Microsoft. But, as you try to go deeper to change a less frequently used setting, you’re back to a pre-Windows 10 era. I don’t believe Microsoft will do this “major” refresh as recently reported by Windows Central, not in a way they refused to do in the last ten years, anyway.

As a side note, colour me Apple fanboy if you want, but many pundits will grumble when Apple is actually refreshing the user interface like they did with macOS Big Sur (or iOS 7, remember?). At least, it is either consistently clean or consistently ugly, depending of your aestheticism tastes. You won’t as easily find a macOS Yosemite visual asset in macOS Big Sur or even macOS Catalina. Inconsistencies do exist in macOS but they are usually limited to very specific visual tweaks (like to trafic lights placements).

Wordpress.com: six years already (@wordpress #blogger #bloggerlife)

Tue, 05 Jan 2021 14:31:15 -0400

I got this notification in the Wordpress.app this morning. Six years already. Over the years, I became a paying subcriber of their Business plan. Automattic offers great support when you need it. But in the least year or so, I noticed a change in the way they do business with us, paying members. There are a lot of reminders about additional services available to us. which aren’t free, by the way. They keep advertising their ExactMetrics service that I don’t need with tricks that I don’t appreciate as shown in the second screen shot above. Recently, they started to advertise WordPress courses on the main admin page on WordPress.com. I really don’t like the trend. And this story by Alan Ralph doesn’t help either.

Thoughts on Flash and the iPad (#apple #iPad #adobeflash)

Tue, 05 Jan 2021 14:11:22 -0400

I want to pick from this blog post from Initial Charge. I remember a small story when the iPad came out in 2010. After a few days of playing with it, I went to the office to show it to a few of my coworkers when I got my iPad. After a few minutes of demonstration, I got two remarks. One was about the lack of a USB port. The second was about the lack of support for Flash-enabled websites. On that one complaint, I remember arguing about the simple fact that moving your mouse cursor around would trigger some flash-based animations like making a button bigger or showing up a menu on many websites. There was no such thing as a “mouseover” event on the iPad, so those websites that were dependant on this would break the interaction experience. At this very moment, I thought Adobe Flash was doomed. More than ten years to get rid of this crasp. That was long.

Don't forget about RSS feeds (#blogger #rss)

Mon, 04 Jan 2021 15:26:55 -0400

Paolo Amoroso writes on his blog:

Back in the early days of blogging, the tech press bashed RSS out of existence as it was supposedly too complex for ordinary users. To the point new bloggers don't even know what RSS is, some recent blogging platforms don't support RSS, and the blogs of new startups sometimes don't provide RSS feeds.

It’s a shame in a world where open standards are on the way out. RSS feeds are another important part of Podcasts, another open standard where big tech would like to monetize, i.e. make it proprietary.

Amoroso continues:

The readers who subscribe to your RSS feed always see all of your posts. No matter what Google, Facebook, or Twitter decide.

A long time ago I decided my blogs feeds would push the complete content of the articles. As I don’t have ads on my blogs, I don’t really care if the readers consume the content from the RSS feed only. RSS feeds are conduits who escape any algorithm-based feeds. It’s the most direct connexion between a blogger and their readers.

For the best part, Amaroso nails it:

They are the readers you want. The superfans who share your work. They may be bloggers themselves and link to your posts from theirs, or enable other opportunities such as guest blogging or podcast interviews. Those few RSS subscribers are much more engaged and valuable than the many who don’t even click links on social media.

If you know how to use RSS, you’re my best friend, you are more then welcome.

You can find my main blog feed here. For my micro blog, the feed is here. Hope you enjoy.

A new kind of goal for me - writer engagement (#writing #blogger #bloggerlife)

Mon, 04 Jan 2021 13:12:41 -0400

Writing is an important part of my life. It’s all about feeling creative, thinking, taking a pause of everything else. As a blogger, I like when people stop by and take the time to read my blog articles and then response with a comment. It doesn’t happen as often as I would like. I would say, one percent of my visitors will do it.

For 2021, I decided to set a new goal for myself: stopping by, taking the time to drop a meaningful comment on a blog post or an article from someone else. I call this goal writer engagement. Some platforms are easier to interact with than others. I like both Medium and Substack for this. Responding to an article or a newsletter is just a few clicks away.

So, today, I dropped two comments. One comment to a post from MG Siegler about writing more often on medium. The other comment about a way to consider the iPhone 12 Pro Max as a tool for photography, from a too technical point of view.

So, will you drop a comment today? Feel free to engage too and maybe start a conversation, why not!

Why I didn’t write a personal year in review for 2020 (#blogger #bloggerlife #writing)

Mon, 04 Jan 2021 09:52:07 -0400

The year 2020 came to an end without me posting my personal year in review. You might wonder why. I read many reviews in the last few days. Most of them are delightful to read as they contain gems about personal lessons learned, personal discoveries, etc. To write those reviews, you have to be prepared for that particular intention to write about it later. Without notes, it’s nearly impossible and takes too much time to prepare. It also would be too easy to miss essential tidbits.

What about 2021? Good news, for 2021, I want to be ready. Now it’s the best time to get organized. All year long, I’ll be using the excellent notes taking application called Craft. I already started to put things down. The picture at the top of this post is a glimpse at my journaling space structure, where personal notes will be confined all year long. I’ll use a monthly section for each domain or theme I want to touch on in this future year in review. I’ll see where it goes.

Pinboard, Pocket, Raindrop, Instapaper, Notion? Which tools is best for you? (#blogger #bloggertools #writers)

Mon, 04 Jan 2021 09:21:07 -0400

Alan Ralph on Why I Use Pinboard As My Reading List

I’ve mentioned before that I use Pinboard for bookmarking webpages of interest so that I can refer to them later. I realize this might seem like an odd choice, given that there are more obvious candidates such as Pocket or Instapaper, so I’ve decided to summarize my reasoning

I could add other apps and services like Raindrop (which I tried) or even Notion (which I love) as places to save bookmarks. It’s tempting to use more focused tools to fill a very specific part of a workflow. At the end of the day, it’s a matter of preference or workflow optimization (you can read about my recent workflow update).

I'm afraid your maths are right, @brentsimmons (#covid19 #vaccination #usa)

Sun, 03 Jan 2021 14:36:32 -0400

Brent Simmons trying to determine where the US should get back to normal. After some maths, he asks:

“(Is any of my math wrong? There’s no point in being overly-precise here — but please tell me if I’ve made some error that changes things significantly.)”

I’m afraid his maths are right, even if they aren’t precise. Things could change, though, after Biden is officially in his Office. Even though, change of government takes a lot of time in the US.

I said it in the past: COVID-19 shows how weak the US is as a country to fight this non military war.

So many questions lefts unanswered (#apple #iCloud #death #legacy)

Sun, 03 Jan 2021 14:28:15 -0400

In What to do about Apple devices and iCloud content when the owner dies from AppleInsider, there are so many unanswered questions. For example, are the requirements from Apple different from one country to another? Something critical when someone dies, having access to his or her smartphone with a PIN. Without it, the challenge is close to impossible to meet. That is one of the many requirements explained in A Guide for Preparing to Leave Your Numeric Legacy.

Bluetooth issues is killing the M1 Mac mini wonder (#apple #applesilicon #m1ship)

Sat, 02 Jan 2021 10:47:12 -0400

Two times today, I had to restart my M1 Mac mini because of the bluetooth devices being unresponsive. macOS 11.1 came out late in December without a fix to this issue. My hope is that this can be fixed via a firmware update from Apple. I’m not alone. No fix in sight. Very frustrating. 🤬

Grading Apple's response to COVID-19 (#apple #covid19)

Sat, 02 Jan 2021 10:02:14 -0400

From Basic Apple Guy’s top 5 of 2020:

“I appreciated the stewardship Apple has taken this year in balancing their product interests while also supporting the fight to respond to COVID-19.”

Two things. First, Apple’s response to COVID-19 was and continue to be faultless. Some governments should take notes. Second, the closing-reopening-closing dance of their physical stores didn’t impact their bottom line, not in a significant way, apparently. In a way, Apple is not only making and selling products, they are the product, it’s not only how they look, it’s how they work.

Microsoft + ARM: Why it took so long? (#microsoft #arm #surface #intel)

Sat, 02 Jan 2021 09:32:34 -0400

About Microsoft being Years Late to a Party They Tried to Start on iPadInsight:

“According to a recent Bloomberg report, Microsoft is finally getting into the custom silicon business. It looks like they are starting down this road primarily to aid their cloud and server business, but it’s hard to believe they wouldn’t have future plans to bring these new ARM-based chips to their Surface Pro X and other future models, replacing Qualcomm’s SQ1 and 2 processors.“

and

“The $10,000 question is, why did Microsoft wait this long? Why did they bother messing around with Qualcomm to produce ARM chips for the Surface Pro X only to get mediocre results from a chip that still isn’t fine tuned to both the hardware and Windows 10? Those results were completely and totally predictable. They took the easy way out and the Surface Pro X, while a really slick looking device, isn’t going anywhere because of it. Who wants to pay more and still have to make compromises in both performance and compatibility?”

Maybe Microsoft didn’t want to piss off Intel?

Documenting our numeric life (#journaling #tools)

Sat, 02 Jan 2021 09:26:32 -0400

Basic Apple Guy on DayOne, a popular journaling app:

“My current journaling habit is to make one entry per day, typically at night. However, I may add multiple timestamps to the entry throughout the day to capture a specific occurrence or thought. This daily journal is currently on a 2,668-day streak, with 4,325 total entries, and 3,297 photos.”

A streak of 2,668-day to capture thoughts, events, etc., manually? Consider me impressed. I used to write my thoughts too in DayOne, but eventually I stopped as I couldn’t keep up because of all my writing projects. Yet, I found a way to keep using DayOne, by automatically documenting my numeric life. I wrote a piece about it in 2018 that is still absolutely valid today: “Documenting my Numeric Life”. I’m using IFTTT as the engine to push updates into my many journals, inside DayOne. Works like a charm.

The Substack "clique"? (#substack #writers #newsletters)

Thu, 31 Dec 2020 10:46:32 -0400

Is Substack the Media Future We Want?

“on Substack, the most successful newsletters are almost always written by people who have already cultivated an audience at traditional publications or built up a following elsewhere.”

and

Substack is a natural fit for the influencer, the pundit, the personality, and the political contrarian.

Starting from scratch on Substack is quite a challenge. From the graph shown above, this is the curve of my subscribers count. It plateaued. The new reader feature coupled with the discovery tab didn’t move the needle at all. We have to wonder if Substack is just a clique in disguise.

You can read my past newsletters by visiting my Substack page. Be sure to subscribe, it’s free!

Not the best way to build brand loyalty, @LGUS (#smarttv #airplay2)

Wed, 30 Dec 2020 09:47:44 -0400

According to an article from MacRumors, LG is rolling out a software update to its 2018 Smart TVs to enable AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support. I personally own a 2016 model and I don’t expect to receive such update anytime soon. As a software-only solution, I don’t see why they couldn’t make it happen for 2016 models too. When you think about Apple supporting iPhone models dating back to 2015 with iOS 14, we have to wonder who’s playing programmed obsolescence here. As someone who’s looking to upgrade its 2016 LG Smart TV to a 2020 model, which will support HDR, Dolby Atmos, AirPlay 2, HomeKit and have a 120 Hz refresh rate, I don’t appreciate LG approach to brand loyalty building.

I don't care about the Apple Car (#apple #applecar #rumours)

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 16:44:58 -0400

According to Goldman Sachs, Apple doesn’t care about the car itself. I don’t care either. I’m fed up of these rumours. M.G. Siegler is fed up too according to a recent Medium article. Period. Enough. A car is the least personal product Apple could ever make. Apple’s products are about exhencing experience, life.

I can see Apple investing in in-car experience and selling it to cars manufacturers. But wait, there is a big gotcha: cars manufacturers doesn’t care about the user experience. Maybe Tesla, but that’s it. I cannot see them coming in drove to Apple to add the “Apple Experience” as an option anytime soon.

Thinking of closing my Google Analytics account − who knew (#googleanalytics #privacy @mailbrew @plausiblehq)

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 14:58:20 -0400

Mailbrew shared a blog post about the services they use internally for their needs. As a die hard fan of Mailbrew (see my profile here), it’s interesting to see what SaaS they use for their internal use. Especially interesting to me, Plausible, a privacy-friendly analytics. I’m currently using Google Analytics which is free but, you know, it’s Google and it’s too complex for my needs. On the eve of a new year, it would be a nice time to start fresh in that regards. I’m currently testing the service as I write this! I never thought closing my Google analytics account could be a thing. Every new year is the occasion to do things differently, don’t you think?

A visual reference to the iPod in iOS 14.3? (#apple #ipodclassic #applehistory)

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 14:43:17 -0400

Someone on Twitter thinks iOS 14.3 mediaplayer control is a nod to the iPod Classic. I think this redesign was introduced in iOS 14.2. Up until now, it didn’t came to my mind the design was similar to the iPod Classic. Nonetheless, it a step up compared to the previous version both in design and features. As Gruber puts it, it’s probably the best way to layout music controls on a small screen.

The original iMac — best of them all? (#apple #iMac #history)

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 13:25:51 -0400

When the original iMac came out, in 1998, a first tangible and public sign of Steve Jobs return at Apple, I was perplexed yet intrigued. It was so unique compared to everything else, just like for the original Mac, in 1984. There was a retro look to this machine that was seducing to me, especially when looking at it right in front of it. I never owned the iMac G3 and any of the following designs. I came back to the Mac in 2005 after a 10 years pause. This concludes the long series of “20 Macs for 2020” from SixColors.

Thoughts on my first contact with Disney+ on Apple TV (#appletv #disneyplus #streaming)

Mon, 28 Dec 2020 11:50:08 -0400

Yesterday I had my first real experience with the Disney+ streaming service on my Apple TV 4K. In a word: wow! I wanted to see the latest movie from Pixal: Soul. I decided to try Disney+ for the occasion. It’s the best streaming experience I ever had. From the mandatory signup process to browsing content and watching movies, I’m sold. Rightfully, Apple named the Disney+ Apple TV app the best of 2020. Not only Disney knows how to create great movies, they also know how to create great user experience for the Apple TV. Apple should take some notes here. Google, with its crappy YouTube app should just start over. Now the 9$ a month question: will I keep the Disney+ subscription?

On Apple Fitness+ Launches (#apple #services #fitnetsplus)

Sun, 27 Dec 2020 10:04:02 -0400

Benjamin Mayo on Apple Fitness+ Launches

“They did a good job with this. It’s not a deeply technical proposition but sometimes simple ideas and good execution are all you need. Fitness+ is high quality and well produced workout videos overlaid with live metrics readouts from a connected Watch. Straightforward, technologically trivial, but effective.”

I started to use the service since day one. For now, I’m doing treadmill workouts ranging from 10 min to 30 min. I like the whole thing so far. The next thing I’d like to try is the dance workouts.

Was this lab setup real? (#apple)

Sun, 27 Dec 2020 09:38:36 -0400

In 2020, we started to get a better peek at Apple’s labs, at least, this is what Apple wanted us to believe. My question: was this setup a real lab or was it entirely made up? I tend to think they were real. If that’s the case, in this particular image, can you spot a very old Macintosh?

Best wishes to all my followers and readers

Thu, 24 Dec 2020 16:31:53 -0400

Original image from Unsplash, the wishes are from me. LOL. Done with Adobe Spark Post.

I don’t buy commercial Christmas cards. (#adobe #sparkpost #creativity)

Thu, 24 Dec 2020 12:08:51 -0400

Every year, a few days before Christmas, I spend some time to create all my own and original Christmas cards for my beloved ones. It’s a pretty simple process involving two different apps. One is Unsplash and the other is Adobe Spark Post. I usually start by browsing Unsplash for finding the right photo for inspiration. Once I settle on one picture, I download it and launch Adobe Spark to create the initial montage. I make sure to reserve some space for the best wishes text. This year, I’ll do things a bit differently as my cards will be digital-only. I’ll send them via iMessage. Some people would prefer to have a printed version, but 2020 being… well… 2020, I’ll go ahead with a digital version only.

I’m a big fan of Adobe Spark Post. For some reason, I don’t see a lot of noise around it on the web. I use it for many other things than creating Christmas cards, as the picture above can show. You can read my review of Adobe Spark Post here on my main blog.

Learning by example can be addictive (#photography #adobe #lightroomCC)

Wed, 23 Dec 2020 16:42:33 -0400

After installing Lightroom CC on my M1 Mac mini, I spent some time with the Discovery feature. It’s a place where you can see other photographer’s photo edits. I find it fascinating and very helpful in learning how artists decide to process their photos. There are probably as many ways to edit a photo as there are photographers. The discovery feature has been introduced this year and can be very addictive. Be aware.

You can one of my many edit session by hitting this link.

ProRaw and the Gradual Gradation of Grays – On my @Om (#photography #iphone12promax #proraw #apple)

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 14:05:14 -0400

ProRaw and the Gradual Gradation of Grays – On my Om:

When reviewing these images on a big iMac Pro screen, I was gob-smacked by the details that were visible to the naked eye. I was able to get my shades of black and whiter whites from the files. The gradual gradation of grays is part of my editing process, and I didn’t need to do anything much to achieve that. You can feel the fog dancing among the trees. You can feel the sunshine trying to fight its way through the damp.

Man, I wish I had an iPhone 12 Pro Max, right now. From this article, my favourite pictures are the ones with trees, proudly standing. And yes, black & white is often my favourite way to look at a scene. The pictures above are mine.

Tempted by Vimeo, again. (#vimeo #YouTube #experiment)

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 10:55:25 -0400

I have too many projects on my plate to complete and experiments that I want to try. Today, I’m thinking about subscribing to Vimeo, again. I used to have an active account where I would publish photo processing session recordings with voice over. These sessions are still available by the way (one example here). I stopped doing those because they were time consuming to create and publish.

Subscribing to Vimeo’s first paying tier is not cheap. I know what you’re thinking, why not use YouTube which is free!? First, I don’t like YouTube and the business model behind it. I don’t like to depend on Google for my stuff. Vimeo is better in my opinion as a video content platform, for what I want to do. I prefer their embedded video player compared to YouTube’s. I don’t want ads on my feed and on my content. For all these reasons, Vimeo > YouTube.

My Vimeo page: https://vimeo.com/numericcitizen

Now you know. 😎

My current Applications folder on my M1 Mac, what is yours? (#apple #m1chip #applesilicon)

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 18:32:12 -0400

I’m mostly done with the re-installation of all my most used and mandatory apps on my Mac mini. To give you an idea of my apps collection, here is a screenshot of my applications folder. Most are universal apps or Apple Silicon only.

I’m curious, what is yours?

I'm less and less using my Intel-based iMac. And that's ok. (#m1chip #applesilicon #apple)

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 12:35:54 -0400

As more and more applications get the universal binary treatment to support M1 Macs, my iMac usage outside of my daytime job has decreased significantly. The list of apps that I cannot use on my M1 Mac mini is shrinking every week. It’s a good sign. Things are moving faster than I initially thought. Yesterday, I decided to let go the weird idea of not installing Intel-only applications on my M1 Mac mini, and everything is really working just fine.

What do you use as a shortcut menu utility on macOS? (#apple #macOS)

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 11:59:34 -0400

I’m currently writing a piece about the tools and services I use to help me be more efficient in my blogger workflow. Currently looking at Shortcut Bar - Instant Access on the Mac App Store. I had this utility in my list that I never bought but the features are exactly what I would like to get. Is there any alternatives to this utility? It’s a bit on the expansive side and is not yet updated for M1 Macs and Big Sur look and feel.

My still pristine M1 Mac mini is a thing of the past 😔 (#apple #m1chip #macmini #rosetta2)

Sun, 20 Dec 2020 16:36:30 -0400

Can you believe it, up until today, I was still resisting the installation of any non-native applications on my M1-based Mac mini. I refrained myself from letting in any Rosetta-dependant apps to run. I shouldn’t have made a big story about this non-issue, but it’s was more psychological than anything else.

The list of non-native apps is small, but it started to negatively affect my ability to complete specific tasks. These apps waiting in line were: SafariMarkdownLinker (Safari Extension), Grammarly (Safari Extension), Adobe Creative Cloud installer (required to install the native version of Lightroom CC), 1Password.

Today, I finally let it go and went ahead with installing these remaining pieces of my application landscape. I feel good, and everything is working just fine, as expected.

A few thoughts on Twitter's Space feature (#twitter #experience #audio)

Sat, 19 Dec 2020 15:26:57 -0400

Today, unexpectedly and for the first timr, I had a chance to experience Twitter’s Space. It’s a virtual room of twitter users who can speak to each other. When there is an open space, a small icon appear at the top of your timeline among twitter fleets. Tapping on it allows you to enter the space. By default your mic is disabled. You have to request permission first in order to be able to speak. There is a speaker who controls people’s requests to speak. People who are listener can react using emojis. It’s pretty interesting, much more interesting than audio tweets in fact.

I spent maybe ten minutes chatting with the space owner about things like COVID-19, confinement in Christmas time and how to use Twitter space. Others in the room were just listeners. It was pretty cool. I can see myself using this instead of doing a podcast for example. It’s easier to setup up, doesn’t require a distribution platform to maintain. I could setup a space to talk about Apple, photography, privacy or climate change. Can’t wait to try it out with my followers, once the feature officially rollout.

Where does our data go when we die? (#digitallife #death #legacy)

Sat, 19 Dec 2020 12:28:24 -0400

What happens with your numeric assets when you die? I mean, think of your online presence: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Where all that stuff ends up a few years after you die? That’s the type of question “Where Does Our Data Go When We Die?” tries to answer. It’s something that I find interesting and a big challenge, something that I wrote about in my piece titled “A Guide for Preparing to Leave Your Numeric Legacy”. Long read yet very important subject.

On Apple's ProRAW: extending the range of possibilities (#apple #proraw #photography)

Sat, 19 Dec 2020 12:11:28 -0400

From “ProRAW Is Here!” By Austin Mann:

I suggest turning on ProRAW when you are shooting in extreme conditions of any kinds (extremely low light, extremely high dynamic range with super bright highlights and dark shadows, mixed light temperatures, and so on). Also, use ProRAW if you plan on enlarging the images (on screen or in print).

ProRAW is about extending the possible scenarios where you can take great looking pictures. Just like in traditional photography gear, adding different lenses allow for more possibilities. It’s incredible how far iPhone photography has come since 2007. I’ll have to wait for fall of 2021 before being able to take advantage of all this as I’m not planning to upgrade to the iPhone 12 Pro. If all goes well, I should be able to bring a shinny iPhone 13 (or whatever name they give for next’s year iPhone) with me on my next trip to Europe, on October of 2021.

Time for something. Again. (#me #avatar)

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 16:18:21 -0400

Introducing my new avatar for 2021. It was made by hyxcreations, available on Fivrr. I wanted something along the lines of this one. I’m very happy of the end results. It is a blend of the previous avatar and the other one I use for @numericcitizen, my official Twitter account.

Expect a slow rollout over the next few weeks. ☺️

The shear power of Apple on its install base (#apple #ecosystem #installbase #iPadOS #iOS)

Thu, 17 Dec 2020 14:36:49 -0400

Is this new? I mean the format in which Apple is presenting the current iOS and iPadOS usage? The last time I paid attention to this, Apple was using a pie chart. I prefer this level of details. A few thoughts about these numbers are in order.

First, iPhone users are quicker to update their devices compared to iPad users. Second, Apple makes a clear distinction between devices recently introduced (in the last four years) from the rest. In both categories, the numbers shows that a vast majority of users adopt the latest release of the operating system. Third, even though people keeps their device longer than before, Apple keep supporting older devices (older than four years). All of this helps keeping the adoption rate at very high levels. Kudos to Apple.

These numbers also tell another story: Apple’s shear power over its install base is impressive. Apple has the ability to move it in new directions pretty quickly as users are quick to embrace new features, either by buying new devices or by updating their current ones because they are still supported by Apple. Will 2021 bring a different tone to this story with iOS 15? Maybe, maybe not.

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 22:28:43 -0400

I love those App Clip codes. So approachable. Artful. So Apple.

The big problem with Sign in with Apple (#apple #security)

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 08:43:19 -0400

Here is an issue that I ran into yesterday with “Sign in with Apple”. I suspect I’m not alone in that situation.

The excellent website building tool, Universe, came out with an update that introduces Sign-in with Apple. After updating the application on my iPad, I launch the app. I’m welcomed with a sign-in screen. The Sign-in with Apple option is prominently displayed. I tap on it. I’m then presented with the typical panel to decide if I expose my real email address and my real name. Now the troubles begin.

I’m already a user of Universe, which email did I use to create my initial account? I can’t remember. What if I choose the wrong one? I try one of my email address that I decided to reveal. Hit sign-in; after a few seconds of working progress, I’m met with welcome screen for new users. Duh. I’m trying to get back, to no avail.

This issue reveals a big flaw in Sign in with Apple: when you are already a user of a service, switching to the more secure sign-in option makes it hard to associate this login to your existing account. I ran into the same issue with most of the services where I tried to make the switch. I suspect this is hindering the adoption of an otherwise secure upgrade to traditional authentication service. Too bad.

My first contact with Apple’s Fitness+ 😍 (#apple #fitnessplus #service)

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 18:11:26 -0400

Yesterday Apple launched their latest service offering: Fitness+. I gave it a try, and I fell in love. The first step was to update all my supported devices: the iPhone, my Apple Watch and my Apple TV. After spending a few minutes glancing at the different type of workouts, I elected to do a twenty minutes treadmill workout using my iPhone and my AirPods Pro. For this session, Jamie-Ray was my coach. As you can see, I think I made pretty well. I liked everything about the experience, from onboarding to the actual workout session with on-screen feedbacks and the finale. The music choice was good too! After my session, I gave a look at the Apple TV Fitness application. Upon launching the app, you have to select the Apple Watch associated with the person who will interact with the service. One note, if your Apple Watch name is too long, spacing on the screen won’t allow you to easily see which Apple Watch is which; you’ll have to wait so see the text to scroll, it’s a bit of an annoyance. I checked a few workout previews and sure enough, the video quality is exceptional on the Apple TV 4K.

All in all, this is a great start for Fitness+. It’s probably the best example of the whole being larger than the sum of its part. The combination of great devices, great content, great user experience, impeccable execution are the ingredients and enablers for the best experience. Bravo Apple.

Oh, I’ll try to exercise five to six days a week.

Thanks, Apple (#apple #privacy #privacyprotection)

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 11:46:25 -0400

Thanks to all the teams at Apple for putting this App privacy feature together. Just like food labels, application labels were long overdue. Apple is far from perfect, I wrote about that a few weeks ago, but at the very least they do move the needle quite a bit. Bravo.

What happens when an M1 Mac starts up? Fascinating. (#apple #m1chip #applesilicon)

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 21:01:30 -0400

What happens when an M1 Mac starts up? – The Eclectic Light Company:

You can learn a great deal from the unified log entries of a system startup, and that for an M1 Mac is even more fascinating for the insights it gives into the hardware in the M1 system-on-a-chip (SoC). These were obtained from an M1 MacBook Pro with 8 CPU cores and 8 GPU cores running macOS 11.0.1 fairly clean, and in full Secure Boot.

I always liked low level stuff in computers. I learned 6502 assembly language (if we can call this a “language”) when I was a teenager. If you’re into these type of things, it is a fascinating short read that opens the door to what is going on in your M1 Mac.

The unexpected good side effect of COVID19 on me as a blogger (#writing #blogging #blog)

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 14:14:13 -0400

Who knew COVID-19 would have a very positive side effect on me. It started on March 13th of 2020, and it’s still going on nearly uninterrupted. What is it? I have more time than ever to focus on my writing and publishing activities. Why?

As I’m working from home from mi-March of this year, I no longer have to commute. I save countless hours per week just because of this. On top of that, consider many activities on the weekend that no longer can take place because of the on-and-off restrictions in place.

I never wrote or published as much stuff in the last nine months as in the last year or so. I have a lot of projects in my head, small and more significant. I did spend quite a lot as I no longer travelling on software, services, work-from-home equipment. I also have more time for reading than before, it makes a difference.

COVID-19 is transformative at the society level but also a personal level. There are things that I don’t want to return when COVID-19 is no longer among us. Time is a precious resource, once you have it, you don’t want to mess with it.

Remember de Macintosh Quadra 700? (#apple #vintage #Mac #Macintosh)

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 09:31:59 -0400

Working from home at 25MHz: You could do worse than a Quadra 700 (even in 2020) | Ars Technica:

The '040 was a substantial upgrade over the '030 that had previously been used by Apple. It featured 1.2 million transistors, over four times as many as its predecessor. This processor increased the L1 cache size by a factor of eight to 4096 bytes, and it was the first 68k processor to have an on-board floating-point unit (FPU). While not without its drawbacks, the '040 processor was an obvious candidate for Apple's next line of premium workstations at the time. And this line would become known as “Quadra,” starting with the Quadra 700 and 900 models in late 1991.

In 1990-1991, I was working for an Apple authorized dealer. I remember the Quadra line, in particular, the 700. It was the most popular machine among desktop publisher. It was fast. I liked its vertical and boxy look. It was different. What is interesting is the description of the Motorola 68040 processor. Compare this to the Apple Silicon, it’s simply unbelievable. The M1 chip comes from an alien world.

Uniformity across diversity (#youtubers #YouTube #design)

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 08:37:55 -0400

Recently I spent more time than usual on YouTube for different reasons: to look at AirPods Max first impressions, to learn more about Synology DSM 7.0 beta, etc. After a while, it’s easy to see a trend that bugs me: design uniformity across the board. See the previous image gathers a few popular YouTubers channel content pages. They all look about the same or at least designed by the same designer. On top of that, there seems to be a trend where the weider you look, the better. When did that trend start?

Here is a throwback... (#Apple #iOS6 #iPad)

Sun, 13 Dec 2020 10:08:31 -0400

During my digital assets cleanup this weekend as I’m preparing a move to Synology, I came across this screenshot of my iPad running iOS 6. Looking carefully to this image, it’s fascinating to see all the things we lost since then. First, many of those apps no longer exist. Second, design.

Enjoy in all its glory.

A broken Apple timeline (#apple #history #myarchives)

Sat, 12 Dec 2020 19:00:51 -0400

I use to keep a time of all the news and announcements emanating from Apple, Cupertino. It was fun but time-consuming. I failed to find a good use of it, so I stopped updating it. Maybe I should have continued, as a blogger, it could have been really useful.

Detailed Apple Maps comes to Canada 🇨🇦🗺! (#apple #applemaps)

Sat, 12 Dec 2020 11:34:32 -0400

At long last, Apple’s detailed maps is now available for Canada! Not only we get more details in maps and better driving directions, we also get guides and the look around which is, in my opinion, way better designed than Google’s street view. I wasn’t expected them but they are certainly nice bonuses! Detailed maps were first introduced in iOS 13, more than a year ago.

Now, if only we can get rid of COVID-19, I may start to use Maps more frequently. 😔

The end of the “hackintosh” era? 🥷🏻 (#apple #applesilicon #m1chip)

Sat, 12 Dec 2020 10:35:47 -0400

Ernie Smith writing on Tedium about the hackintosh necessity in a world with the M1 chip for the Mac:

”I hope, now that Apple has a chip architecture that doesn’t get in the way, it ramps up its industrial design … and more importantly, it reads the reviews and iterates more thoughtfully and consistently.”

That’s exactly what I’m hoping too. The iMac and the MacBook design in general were highly influenced by the thermal pressure the Intel chip was imposing. The next iMac design revision will certainly take advantage of the Apple Silicon low thermal dissipation and put Apple in a more creative mode when it comes to imagining what a desktop computer should be.

Too bad @AppleNews, this could have been fun 😔 (#applenews #blogger #bloggerlife #writer)

Sat, 12 Dec 2020 10:12:56 -0400

Now it’s official, Apple is no longer accepting blogs on their news platform, Apple News. I got my rejection mail today (read about my original submission). I understand Apple News as being a… news platform, yet I think Apple is missing an opportunity here. Why? One word: Substack. Another word: Medium. Apple could have done to the written space what they did for the audio world with podcasts. Apple could have created a special place on Apple News for individual writers, not only bloggers per se. This would have been a message of inclusion, diversity and openess. Instead, Apple is again sending a message about begin a walled garden, exclusion, elitism. Too bad.

Where are you all? 🤔 👀 (#blogger #bloggerlife)

Fri, 11 Dec 2020 16:56:11 -0400

Fridays are always slow, it seems. Are people simply taking time off social networks, blogs, etc.? Maybe. In any case, I want to send a “have a nice week-end” to my dear readers and followers. 👈🏻 I do have a lot on my plate for this week-end: writing, writing, writing. And some time off too.

Photo credit: Jonas Jacobsson / Unsplash.

What came before the diagram (#blogging #tips)

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 22:57:41 -0400

I use Apple’s Notes app to jot some ideas, all the time. When the concept is clear in my head, I go ahead and select my tool for the next phase. In this case, it was Apple’s Keynote which proves to provide a quite capable environment for diagramming. The subject: how I process information that eventually will enable me to write blog posts. More details here.

Dear Adobe... (#adobe #lightroom #creativecloud)

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 22:31:25 -0400

Wanted to give a try to Lightroom CC on my new and still pure Mac mini (no Rosetta installed). Guess what? The creative cloud installer needs Rosetta as it is not yet native. I know, it’s no big deal, it will be fine. If that wasn’t enough, Adobe installers put a lot of things on your system that I don’t like. Then, I remembered about “Suspicious Package” utility which inspect an installer and show what it is actually doing. But, again, this software has yet to come in a universal binary. It will be hard to resist longer.

Remembering Desk Accessories (#apple #macosbigsur #iosapps)

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 17:29:55 -0400

I’m currently trying a few iOS or iPadOS apps on my M1 Mac mini. I came across the Castro Podcast player for with I pay a subscription. Castro doesn’t support the iPad, yet, which is a bummer. On Big Sur, the application looks like what we used to have on very old versions of MacOS: Desk Accessories. Depending of your age, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I kind of like the use of small apps like this.

A Substack reader, really? (#substack #mailbrew #hey #newsletters)

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 09:26:07 -0400

From Chris Best, Substack CEO: “Something that we think about a lot is readers tell us, ‘Hey, I’m subscribed to six different Substacks now, and I want to read them all, and it sucks that they’re in my email inbox along with all my other stuff,’" 😳🤦🏻‍♂️

A reader app from Substack would certainly be a good idea. I’m already on the private beta. I wonder if Mr. Best knows about Mailbrew? Or Hey? While waiting for such a reader app, Mailbrew is certainly capable of doing just that: consolidating newsletters in one place. Read my review of Mailbrew on my blog. https://linktr.ee/numericcitizen

We’ll certainly take speed gains we can possibly get (#adobe #lightroom #photography #m1chip)

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 22:44:44 -0400

Adobe Lightroom 4.1 is now available with native M1 support. We didn’t see a lot of comments about the speed increase beside Apple’s during their “One More Thing” special event. Adobe’s software on the Mac is not always the best in class in regards to pure performance. So, this release for the M1 chip will hopefully bring a meaningful increase in performance. I didn’t test it yet on my M1 Mac mini as I’m still slowly installing my stuff, one app at a time. I’ll certainly report on that subject later in the month. Stay tuned.

Someone had to do it! 😍 (#apple #airpodsmax)

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 20:28:45 -0400

There is a maximum of 25 combinaisons available. Someone on MacRumors forums posted an image of them all. To get a different color, you’ll have to lay more money on the table. Anyway, I expect Apple will sell a boat load of these in the coming months. Are you planning of buying the new AirPods Max?

Oh I love their retro look! 😍 (#apple #airpodsmax #design)

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 13:43:32 -0400

Many were expecting an update to the aging and expansive Apple TV 4K. Instead, we got a brand new retro-looking and expensive AirPods Max. I can see people already calling out how absurd it is, and the lack of charger or any cables, bla bla bla. Put that aside and enjoy their lovely retro look. Oh, and since their ear cushion can be replaced, I guess they don’t have to match the colour of the over-ear “cups”, right?… Lots of possibilities here. Shipping dates are already slipping in 2021… expect to see them everywhere next summer, when covid is behind us (most of it) and people can return to a simili normal life.

How Synology NAS can improve my blogger workflow (#synology #nas #storage #blogger #tools)

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 08:40:11 -0400

As an IT guy, looking at what Synology has in store for 2021 makes me pretty excited. I wrote about that yesterday but I took a deeper look at what is coming in DSM 7.0, their NAS operating system. I didn’t pay too much attention to their photo management software that comes with a Synology NAS, but that might change. In my blogger workflow, there is something I can optimize is the use of a photo management to store all my screen shots, stock photos, visual assets, etc. Synology Photos could be the tool I was looking for for a long time. I don’t want to use Apple’s Photos application as I don’t really like to see screenshots intermixed with family pictures. If Synology Photos is as solid as it looks, if their mobile application is much improved to their current version, I’ll certainly give it a serious try. On top of that, this photo feature also enable remote access to the photo library. Very interesting.

I’ve been shopping around for a home NAS for a long time and only made the plunge this year. After much thinking and reading, I settled on Synology because I saw a mature company offering mature products with a solid reputation. Again, DSM 7.0 brings a lot of new features and improvements which makes me feel happy about my choice of going with them. Can’t wait to try what’s new.

1.0 vs 14.0 - So different, yet similar (#apple #iOS #iPhone)

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 21:57:15 -0400

Jordan Singer on Twitter posted this picture showing the iPhone with iPhoneOS 1.0 side by side with an iPhone 12 running iOS 14.0. The original iPhone home screen design was durable and endured the test of time. Some people will find it depressing to see so little changes but I do think it is a sign of an initial good design. iOS 14 brought the most significant upgrade, even more profound than the iOS 7 disaster.

Massive update coming to Synology NAS users 😍 (#synology #dsm #update #nas)

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 13:32:01 -0400

I’ve been using a Synology DS720+ NAS for a few months now and boy do I like it! On my blogger to do list is a review of this device. The breath of features never stop to impress me. I’m a big fan. I use it for archiving, space reclamation on my Mac and much more. It’s fast and reliable as I had a chance to test the repair feature after losing a hard drive (yes, already!). It worked flawlessly.

This week, Synology will make DSM 7.0 available for beta testers, the braves. Looking at the announcement web page, it looks like a massive update. Refreshed screens, more cloud integration, admin rights delegation and added feature like Active Insight will certainly be exciting additions. One question: I think Synology is about to add a subscription for this, which I’m not sure I’ll pay for, depending of its usefulness in its final form. We’ll see.

Here is a stressful user experience (#apple #iphone #ux #ui #design)

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 13:15:33 -0400

See that UI of the iPhone when you receive a call while being on another with someone else? Pretty confusing, right? You stress out to understand what to do while hoping you’ll have enough time to not miss the call. it is a stressful user experience. Why is Apple not giving any attention to this very specific UI is beyond me. They made notable change in iOS 14 with the notification-like interface for incoming calls, which was more than welcomed.

The way I came over this challenge is to concentrate on the icon labels instead of the icon itself. It does help a lot in my case.

Of course they do! Duh (#apple #applesilicon #m1chip #macpro #imacpro)

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 12:14:45 -0400

An article today by the infamous Bloomberg news site reports that Apple is working on much more powerful Apple Silicon chips for higher end machines like the Mac Pro and the iMac. We all know 2020 was in fact the entry point for next year’s act two of this transition. From what we can read in the article, Apple could make high-end PC obsolete from a RAW power perspective with as many as 32 cores. Does anybody wonder if Intel has good sleep these days?

Apple's Sidecar to the rescue (#apple #macos #sidecar)

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 09:20:42 -0400

I’m currently using an iMac with a 23.7” LG UltraFine 4K external monitor (read my review here). With the M1 Mac mini coming today, this setup will have to change. The LG screen will transit to the Mac mini and I’ll lose the pleasure of the second screen working environment. Using the macOS virtual desktop feature is nice but not always the best solution when working on many different things at once. This is where Apple’s Sidecar comes into play. Prior to this, I rarely used Sidecar, but not anymore. I’ll use it with the Mac mini or the iMac, depending of the current work session. As a bonus, I get to use a “soft" Touch Bar at the bottom of the display, which is cool because I love the Touch Bar.

The modern business card? (#blogger #writer)

Sun, 06 Dec 2020 16:05:56 -0400

Over the last two years, I expanded my online presence. Maybe a bit too much; it’s hard to keep up. I came across something interesting recently: Linktr.ee. According to their website, the purpose of the service is to “Connect audiences to all of your content with just one link”. It’s exactly a case of “you don’t know you need it until you see it!”. Building the mini-website is quick and easy. There are enough layout options to make your page look like your own. I opted for the paying tier which enables more design choices and better analytics. Hope you like it and pay a visit to learn the breath of my online presence. I think of it as some form of a modern business card.

I started to replace my links to the following one which makes things simpler in places like my Twitter profile page. Check it out: https://linktr.ee/numericcitizen

The Unifi Dream Machine gets a major update! (@ubnt #udm #update)

Sat, 05 Dec 2020 14:08:38 -0400

My home router got an update this week, version 1.8.3. I’ve been running the Unifi Dream Machine since spring without any issues. This update was long in the works and highly expected. Among the changes, a redesigned and simplified controller dashboard with real-time statistics which are really helpful. The device management UI also received a redesign. Some of the previously available information has been removed or moved around. CPU, Memory consumption and internal temperature are higher than before (around +10%-30%), though. Overall, its’a solid update. Oh, and it is running an 4 cores ARM processor.

Remember, this router replaced an aging Apple AirPort Extreme. If you are still looking for a great home router, please, do yourself a favor and buy this one. This post is not sponsored.

Using Twitter Fleet, why not! (#twitter #creativity)

Fri, 04 Dec 2020 13:38:15 -0400

As you know, Twitter came out with « Fleets », its clone of Snapshat’s Stories. People don’t really like it. Or do they? My timeline is constantly filled with my followers posting fleets. I guess some do like them. I decided to give it a serious try. I think they add another dimension to Twitter that I happen to find interesting for highlighting purposes. It’s simple to use, just enough design flexibility. There are is one drawback: they only show up on the iPhone (not the iPad or the web), which I find strange and somewhat arbitrary.

Following are screenshots of my experiment. Let’s see where it goes from here.

Let's meet! Here is a free idea for calendaring app makers (talking to you guys! @macguitar @flexibits)

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 18:14:30 -0400

Let’s play a game. One of your customer calls you and ask for a meeting (virtual or in person). Before answering this request, you have to look at your calendar to see your free/busy time. It’s a time consuming and error prone process. What if your favorite calendaring app could generate a map of your weekly schedule with all sensible information masked out, like in the following example (made with Fantastical). This could be sent as a PDF file to the customer, would save a lot of time. It’s surprising that, to my knowledge, no calendaring app offer this option. I would pay to get this.

Oh I love that one from @gruber (#apple #applesilicon #m1chip)

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 09:16:24 -0400

Gruber publishes a piece today about how hard it can be for some people to accept that Apple is yet again did the unthinkable.

This one is simply priceless: “Intel and AMD have learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make decent PC chips. Apple hasn’t just magically figured this out. They’re not going to just walk in.”

It’s a liberal transposition of a famous quote on how Apple, a PC guy, just can’t walk in and make a great phone. With the M1 chip, yes, Apple just walked in and did it. Again.

Many pundits were quick to jump the gun on software compatibility issues, the translation layer called Rosetta, the meager 8 GB of RAM, the lack of ports, etc. As proven by the numerous independent reviews, none of these “issues” are affecting the value of what Apple just did.

It will take a few years before Intel and their friends finally realize what just happened in late 2020 and recover from it. Years.

Dear Microsoft... (#microsoft #privacy #privacyprotection #surveillance #office365)

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 18:31:47 -0400

Following this statement from Microsoft, here is one question for you, Microsoft: why haven’t they thought, at the very beginning, that this Office 365 feature wasn’t a good idea to begin with? Here is another question: Who do you think you are to devise a “Microsoft Productivity Score”? “a tool that helps organizations measure and manage the adoption of Microsoft 365” — Microsoft

There is a difference in semantic here: measuring adoption vs measuring productivity score. What is “being productive” anyway? The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as they say.

What is holding back the hardware, again? (#apple #iphone #ios)

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 11:48:32 -0400

“…until there are some changes with either iOS, the iPhone or both, bigger isn’t really better. It’s just bigger.” — James Rogers writing for iPad Insight about the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Things like picture-in-picture is a step in the right direction on the iPhone. The situation is obviously better on the iPad, yet there are still many low hanging fruits.

I'm already afraid (#apple #m1macmini #applesilicon #intel #imac)

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 10:33:50 -0400

Just saw that tweet today. It’s too late. I’ll be installing my new M1 Mac mini along the side of my 2017 iMac. Thwy will be both in direct competition. I’m afraid that I’ll find my beloved iMac too slow. I’m not there yet. I’m still waiting for my new thing to get delivered. I’m getting myself mentally ready for the shock. I’ll have to keep my iMac for a while for my daytime job.

About those iOS Apps screenshot on the App Store (#apple #appstore #iosdev)

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 10:11:28 -0400

I hate those screenshots montage. They lack emphasis on the application itself, the product. They waste precious space. At the very least, why not put a video showing the application in action. People don’t like to read long application description page. Is it Apple’s fault. Probably. Not sure. Apple is not enforcing their own rules on these screenshots.

This post was triggered by another Matt Birchler post.

Don’t touch this screen (yet!) (#apple #mac #macos)

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 21:10:19 -0400

Steve Jobs once downplayed flash memory based MP3 players when the iPod was just beginning its ascension. We know what came after the iPod with a small drive. The iPod nano, an MP3 player using flash memory. If you see a stylus, they blew it. The iPad eventually came with support for a stylus… oops, a pencil. What came after that? Support for a mouse with iPadOS 13.4. See the trend? Are you getting it?

Now, about the Mac. Sure Apple could have used this historic moment to a add touch screen to the M1 MacBook. It didn’t happen. I, myself, was one of them, thinking it was about to happen as exposed in this blog post. My short experience with macOS Big Sur updated design screams out loud that we are far closer to a touch supported Mac than Apple is willing to admit.

I don’t know when, but it will come, in a perfectly chosen moment by Apple. Apple likes to move forward, one step at a time. The next window of opportunity is next year with a redesigned MacBook body. This year’s was about the internals while keeping familiarities: performance, battery life and transition. Next year is about redefining the way we look at the MacBook and enhance the way we always knew how to interact with it. The Big Sur update this year is just the first step toward a touch friendly operating system. In a typical Apple way, they will have thoroughly thought about all this and we will be amazed about why it wasn’t done this way before. Next year has the potential to be exciting.

This blog post by Matt Birchler triggered this one you just read. 👀😎

The Mac mini renaissance? (#apple #applesilicon #m1chip #macmini)

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 14:40:20 -0400

I don’t know if this is because I’m eagerly waiting for mine, I’m in a distortion of reality, but the Mac mini seems on the verge of a major regain of popularity. Sales of the little box are booming in Japan and now AWS is offering an Intel version as an EC2 instance… while waiting for the real deal, a M1-based version. The latter brings renewed interest in a platform a lot of pundits were considering dead a few years ago, thanks to Apple’s apparent lack of interest.

Apple’s Reminders is so underrated (#apple #ios #ipados)

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 10:02:48 -0400

How many To Do apps are available on the App Store? A lot. They all have a different take on how we should create, manage and check our To Do. The best one maybe just in front of your eyes, on your iPhone and iPad: Apple’s Reminders. Here is why for me it does the job quite well.

I’ve been using OmniFocus and Things in the past, but after Apple redesigned Reminders in iOS 13, I came back to using it. Besides supporting basic things like URL, images and notes, you can group To Do lists in folders, lists can be shared with others, Shortcuts are supported, it synchronizes seamlessly across my devices.

Apple’s Reminders is one of the app at the center of my blogger workflow to help me process information and publish content online.

Why getting a Mac Pro can still make sense (#apple #macpro #applesilicon #mac)

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 08:15:45 -0400

In light of all the raving reviews about the M1-based Macs, you might wonder why someone would still need and buy an Intel-based Mac Pro? For many reasons. First, some high-demanding pro software might not be compatible on M1 Macs. Second, if you run software who takes advantage of multiple cores, the Mac Pro with its Xeon processor is hard to beat. Example of this is VMware Fusion. Other use cases demand the most powerful CPU you can get, and they come in the Mac Pro, for now. Third, the Mac Pro is still the most expandable Mac out there. I’m one of those contemplating the Mac Pro for my SDDCbox project, but I must say that my priorities shifted a bit. I’m a few days away from receiving a M1 Mac mini. It will keep me busy until the beginning of 2021.

Did Apple just killed the Mac resale value? Oh yes. (#apple #applesilicon #intel #mac)

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 18:43:45 -0400

The M1-based Macs ramifications are far reaching as we are still pondering about their impact on the future. Reading this tweet from Parker Ortilani, we have to wonder if Apple, with its M1 chip introduction, just killed the resale value of any Intel-based Macs. Credits: Tables from the author. Simple answer: YES.

AppleOne - Expired or Tired? (#apple #appleone #subscriptions)

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 13:52:27 -0400

My AppleOne signup went weird when it was announced by Apple. I was billed for some of the individual services as well as the bundle. I’ve been looking for credits since then, which are still yet to come. I think it will be a mess to fix unless Apple gets their act together before then. Now, it looks like my subscription has ended and I cannot renew it. Something bad is really happening. I’m not alone feeling the pain, according to MacRumors.

Building his ideas and pushing boundaries on the way (#apple #iosdev #developer #designer @jsngr)

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 08:04:09 -0400

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the TestFlight App Store and how cool it was. The guy behind it, Jordan Singer, is also on Substack. I’m already a big fan of his work.

As a former indie iOS developer (2009-2013), I find it interesting to see other people’s ideas, work and initiatives. This guy is on a roll and tests some App Store review process boundaries, which is more than needed these days. I wish him success with Airport.

Apple is no longer doomed. Intel is. (#apple #intel #applesilicon)

Sun, 29 Nov 2020 18:26:18 -0400

Who is winning between Apple’s M1 chip and Intel’s Tiger Lake chip? Well, if benchmarks are to be believed, Apple is winning, by a wide margin. The results are pretty worrisome for Intel which seems incapable to go beyond a 10 nm process. Intel will become the emblematic image of inefficient processors for years to come. Dell, HP et al. should be worried too because they are in the exact same position Apple was just before their M1 announcement. The only thing now favouriting the Wintel world is the need for Windows for a vast majority of users.

Shortcuts to frustration (#apple #shortcuts #ios #ipados)

Sun, 29 Nov 2020 16:17:57 -0400

Let’s put it straight: Apple’s Shortcuts are the weirdest, most cumbersome and utterly frustrating thing to build, test and eventually use. I cannot count how many hours I spent trying to understand their intricacies and most useful use cases. As much as I want to get empowered by them, it often ends in frustration. Here is why.

You cannot disable old shortcuts that are no longer used but that you want to keep as a reference. There is no way to export them in a clean and readable PDF format. There is a lack of some form of runtime debugging tools. The editor doesn’t scale beyond a few dozens instructions. There is no way to write shortcuts in a text editor à la AppleScript. Share sheets bad design and organization make shortcuts invocation a trial and error experience. As your shortcuts collection grows, it hard to remember which shortcut does what in what context and what is required to launch it. And the list goes on and on. Documentation within the Shortcuts editor is lacking, very limited. A big part of the story is dependant on the willingness of developers to support them. It’s so frustrating to see an app lacking any form of exposure to the shortcut engine.

Make no mistake, I like the idea of automation on the iPad or iPhone. I’m happy to see Apple improving on them with each release of their operating systems. But, there is so much left to cover.

On using Lightroom on a Mac (#apple #adobe #applesilicon)

Sun, 29 Nov 2020 10:50:09 -0400

Let’s set the tone: Adobe software, Lightroom in particular, is not a very efficient piece of software to use on the Mac… even on a higher-end configuration. Recent updates in the last year or so tried to improve things a little bit, but there is still a long way to go. It’s not clear why Lightroom Classic is so bad. Is it because it is a multi-platform software? Probably. If so, we pay the price at every single use.

Does the M1 chip in a Mac can change the game? Well, yes and no. The following YouTube video compares Lightroom Classic running on an Intel-based MacBook Pro to an M1-based MacBook Pro. With Rosetta 2 translation layer running to support the non-optimized version of Lightroom Classic, we could think the experience would be awful. In fact, not only it isn’t, the M1-based Mac makes the experience a bit better. Who would have thought.

Now, Adobe is working on a native or universal version of Lightroom for the M1 chip. Note that I’m referring to Lightroom CC here, the cloud version of Lightroom, not the Classic version. Depending of who you are and what is your relation to photo processing, it may be a good or a bad news. Nonetheless, the prospect of a universal of Lightroom CC is certainly exciting. Will Adobe take advantage of the GPU cores or the ML cores of the M1 chip? I highly doubt it. If the iPad version of Lightroom CC is any indication, though, not all is lost. We’ll see.

Selling a piece of my Apply history (#apple #imac #2007 #elcapitan)

Sat, 28 Nov 2020 15:04:22 -0400

Today I sold my oldest Mac in the house: a 24 inches 2007 iMac running El Capitan. When I look at this computer, I see many similarities with the current iPad Pro design: round bezels, boxy frame. I hope Apple will return to this design, albeit in a refreshing way, for their upcoming M1-based iMac.

Now, waiting for my M1-based Mac mini. 24 days before adding another piece to my long story with Apple products.

A must have utility for Mac: HazeOver. (#apple #mac #utility #minireview)

Sat, 28 Nov 2020 12:53:41 -0400

Just bought a Mac utility: HazeOver! How come I didn’t know about this one?? What is it? It’s a small utility which helps bring better focus to the active application on your Mac. It does this by dimming the out-of-focus application windows. It works with multiple displays. If you prefer to work in Light mode over Apple’s Dark Mode, it will make things a lot easier on your eyes. Think of it as a visual compromise. Makes Big Sur even better. Highly recommended.

The M1 chip never cease to amaze (#apple #applesilicon #m1chip #tech #amdryzen)

Fri, 27 Nov 2020 17:45:42 -0400

Another excellent Twitter thread about the M1 chip. This time, it is a comparison with the AMD Ryzen. From a thermal design power, the M1 chip is simply unique and unmatched. On a per-core basis, top of the line AMD Ryzen chip and Apple’s M1 chip are of equal performance. On top of that, the M1 chip is much more than a standard CPU. Oh, and it is only the beginning. Who thought 2020 was such a bad year.

The future of widgets on iOS (#apple #ios #ipados #widgets)

Fri, 27 Nov 2020 17:32:57 -0400

There is a lot to like from this short video showing vivo’s OrigiOS in action. Expandable widgets, user-adjusted widget size, dynamic content, super clean animations, a few touches of skeuomorphism where it counts, dynamic icons, immediate feedback on touch, all those things which are lacking on iOS home screen could see the light if Apple choose to. Widgets 1.0 were long to come for us, iPhone and iPad users, but here they are. Yet, there is still so much untapped potential.

What are your thoughts?

The future of the iPad, according to an M1 chip (#apple #ipadpro #applesilicon #mac #m1mac #ipados)

Fri, 27 Nov 2020 09:14:35 -0400

In a blog post “Your Move, iPad”, by Becky Hansmeyer, the author asks “So if raw power isn’t enough, and new display tech isn’t enough, where does the iPad go from here? Will it be abandoned once more, lagging behind the Mac in terms of innovation, or will Apple continue to debut its latest tech in this form factor?”

In light of the massively successful M1-powered Macs, what can we infer for the future of the iPad Pro?

Apple doesn’t need to add touchscreen to their MacBook line if they unleash the iPad with a much more complete iPadOS experience. I think Apple missed the occasion with iPadOS 14 by not adding a more flexible widgets experience, by refusing to improve external display support and by not revisiting the multitasking interaction model. See? It’s not only a matter of adding 5G wireless support or LiDAR or a second USB-C port. These will only be as good as the software will allow them to be useful. The just begun new era for Mac with the M1 chip combined with Apple’s tight software integration should give us answers on why the iPad Pro future lies in the software.

A fascinating Twitter thread about Apple Silicon Wizardry (#apple #applesilicon)

Fri, 27 Nov 2020 08:05:44 -0400

Here is a super fascinating Twitter thread that I reproduce here. Find the original tweets here. It’s is about Apple Silicon wizardry. For techy people only!

“In case you were wondering: Apple’s replacement for Intel processors turns out to work really, really well. Some otherwise skeptical techies are calling it “black magic”. It runs Intel code extraordinarily well. The basic reason is that Arm and Intel architectures have converged. Yes, the instruction sets are different, but the underlying architectural issues have become very similar. The biggest hurdle was “memory-ordering”, the order in which two CPUs see modifications in memory by each other. It’s the biggest problem affecting Microsoft’s emulation of x86 on their Arm-based “Surface” laptops. So Apple simply cheated. They added Intel’s memory-ordering to their CPU. When running translated x86 code, they switch the mode of the CPU to conform to Intel’s memory ordering. With underlying architectural issues ironed out, running x86 code simply means translating those instructions to the Arm equivalent. This is very efficient and results in code that often runs at the same speed. Sometimes there isn’t a direct equivalent, so the translation results in slightly slower code, but benchmarks show x86 being consistently at least 70% of the speed. In any case, a surprising number of popular apps already run on it. Apple seeded developer systems a few months back, allowing people to get their code ready. Normally, that wouldn’t have been enough time. When you recompile code for a new architecture, it usually breaks. But as I said above: Arm and Intel architectures have converged enough that code is much less likely to break, making recompiling easier. Apple has made surprising choices. They’ve optimized JavaScript, with special JavaScript-specific instructions, double sized L1 caches, and probably other tricks I don’t know of. Thus, as you browse the web, their new laptop will seem faster and last longer on battery, because JavaScript, even though other benchmarks show it roughly the same speed as Intel/AMD. The older MacBook Air had a dual core CPU that ran at 3.8 GHz, but when in low-power mode, 1.2 GHz. Switching between fast and slow modes is how it conserves power for mobile. But it’s ultimately inefficient. The Intel CPU is designed to run at 5 GHz. Downclocking to 1 GHz saves power – but not as much as if you’d designed the processor to run at 1 GHz to begin with. Apple’s strategy is to use two processors: one designed to run fast above 3 GHz, and the other to run slow below 2 GHz. Apple calls this their “performance” and “efficiency” processors. Each optimized to be their best at their goal. When they need to conserve power, they turn off the “performance” processors and run code on their “efficiency” processors. They have 4x performance processors (twice that of their older Macs) plus 4x efficiency processors. All 8 can be active. When doing something that can use 8 processors, such as compiling code, it goes real REAL fast. 8 processors vs. 2 processors in their old notebooks make a difference. A big part of this story is that Intel is about 3 years behind on Moore’s Law. Apple Silicon uses the latest 5nm tech from TMSC, while Intel uses the older 10nm/7nm generation. Much of Intel’s product line uses the even older 14nm/10nm generation. None of this is actual “black magic”. It’s all pretty understandable. It’s just all the various things have been executed really well, leading to a combined result that is a great leap forward. Another “magic” trick is how their “Swift” programming language uses “reference counting” instead of the “garbage collection” in Android. They did something in their CPU to double the speed of reference counting. …even when translating x86 code, all that reference counting overhead (already more efficient than garbage collection) gets dropped in half. Yet another weird performance enhance to add to all the others.”

Overwhelming reactions — When Apple makes history, again (#apple #applesilicon #m1chip #mac)

Thu, 26 Nov 2020 08:25:53 -0400

After Apple announced their M1-based Macs and people started to get their hands on them, reactions were enthusiatic and unanimous. At one point, I wanted to create an archive page that would have gathered the most interesting reactions, but it was too late and overwelming. Well, someone else did it. Here is a great blog post: “Apple Silicon M1: Black. Magic. Fuckery” gathering reactions to these new machines from Apple. There are many gems in there. Check it out! I really have the feeling that Apple is making history, again.

Apple's worst ad in years? (#apple #applead #advertising #christmas)

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 13:43:29 -0400

Apple this year is back with a long and… weird (?) Christmas ad. I must say that’s a quite different and ordinary one compared to previous years. It’s no longer about touching hearts but just having fun and selling you something. This doesn’t reasonate as much with me as it used to. Contrary to previous years, Apple is focusing on one product, the HomePod mini. Again, I prefer when they don’t try to sell us something this way. There is plenty of other companies who do just that. Please, Apple, no.

Mac nano (#apple #applesilicon #m1macs #macmini)

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 08:30:24 -0400

Following my read of this article published by Macworld, the propect of a Mac nano looks more than possible. It is inevitable. Apple’s focus this year was on the internals but I expect them to switch to the outside on the next iterative evolution of the Mac mini. Besides physical compatibility reasons, a much smaller Mac mini, close to the size of an Apple TV for example could be in store. One possible constrain is the number of ports Apple will have to squeeze on the back. If they keep the same number of ports, the newly redesigned Mac mini could be something in-between the current one and the Apple TV. We’ll see. Meanwhile, I’ll patiently wait for my own M1-based Mac mini to arrive in 28 days. Its external size won’t matter much to me.

Better recovery options (#apple #applesilicon #m1macs)

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 07:57:39 -0400

According to an article published by SixColors, M1-based Macs offer a much different and improved boot and recovery options. Looking at the picture below, and I noticed the same while testing Big Sur, the icon for the boot disk is one showing an old mechanical HDD, not an electronic SSD. Was Apple feeling nostalgic when they designed this icon?

How ironic (#apple #ios14 #widgets #android @notionhq)

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 20:18:04 -0400

Read on Twitter today: “Notion widgets are only for iOS 14 for now. We’ll get there, Android 😓 Our mobile team is heads down on offline mode right now, but we learned a lot during development that we can use for an Android widget down the road. Thanks for your patience in the meantime 🙏” - Notion.

Widgets came to Android in 2008-2009. What am I missing here? How ironic is this? A lot if you ask me. I’m not calling out Notion, far from it. My observation is all about the fact that, despite Android having widgets for so many years, they were probably not as good, well designed and useful as there are now on iOS 14.

Saving at least 2 Billions a year (#apple #applesilicon #intel #m1chip)

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 08:06:02 -0400

A lot has been written on Apple switch to their own processors already. But one side of the story is still lacking some insight. Apple is probably saving a lot of money by putting their own Apple silicon in each Mac they sell. According to this Medium article, Apple could save at least $2 billion a year with just three entry level MacBook sporting the M1 chip. We can only try to approximate the amount of money Apple is no longer paying to Intel. We can also start wondering the amount of money Apple has directly invested in developing the M1 chip and how fast they wil recoup their investments. My gut feeling says that it will be fast.

My prediction for next year's MacBook (#apple #macbook #applesilicon #m1chip)

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 07:54:54 -0400

Here is a simple theory. This year’s MacBook didn’t bring an upgrade to the FaceTime HD camera, and unanimously, people is complaining. But what if this lack of attention to the very specific feature from Apple is part of a bigger plan for next year’s MacBook? Here is my guess.

Apple is targeting next year for the real deal: the full redesign of the MacBook line to be announced around WWDC 2021. Part of this plan would include much better FaceTime HD camera assembly that would include Face ID, a highly expected feature for M1-based machines. Offered in sizes of 12", 14" and 16" with an impossibly thin screen bezel, Apple wanting to keep the size of these machines the smallest possible as the power sipping CPU can handle smaller batteries yet providing long battery life. I would expect the M1x chip as the more powerful M2 one would go to the iMac, iMac Pro. The new MacBook, to be named MacBook X, will will mark the first year of the Apple silicon transition.

Until then, keep enjoying your Apple Silicon Mac, version 1.

A fascinating possibility coming to the Mac, next year (#apple #applesilicon #m1macs)

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 21:02:17 -0400

On Substack, I recently stumble on an interesting article from https://apple.substack.com: when Apple introduces a new round of Macs next year, what if they keep previous generation around but at a lower price point?

It’s a highly possible scenario considering how Apple under Tim Cook operates. The iPhone models multiplication, same is happening with the watch…. next, the Mac? Probably. Is this a good thing? For their bottom line probably, yes, but for the customers? Yes and no.. yes, it makes the brand more accessible but it makes the buying experience a little bit more complicated than it should be with fewer models available. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Which is faster, then? (#apple #applesilicon #m1macs)

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 20:07:07 -0400

Following of new round of benchmarks from MacRumors, my take outs are: 16 GB is (much) better than 8 GB from a speed point of view (well, duh!), the Mac mini is the best most of the time with a few exception (slower than MBP on SSD write speed is one such exemple, hard to explain). Adobe Lightroom Classic doesn’t take advantage of the RAM difference, which is not surprising to me (thanks to multiplatforms Adobe’s software) You can get all the details from MacRumors website: here and here. Graph from MacRumors.

Apple is not what it used to be (#apple #analysis)

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 13:58:31 -0400

Someone on Twitter shared this YouTube video in which the guy tries to explain why and how Apple is not what it used to be. In a few words: now, they actively compete with others. It’s a massive difference where before they seemed to act alone without caring about the surrounding competitive landscape. Highly recommended.

He should go work for Apple (@michaelsteeber #apple #applestore #appleretail)

Sun, 22 Nov 2020 11:38:24 -0400

Have you seen this short YouTube video on the Apple Store holiday shopping experience? Take a moment because it is a masterpiece of execution in visual quality, content and execution in general. 9To5Mac published an article about it and I thought they were referring to Apple’s material. It took me quite a while to get it: the author of this clip is Michael Steeber, a well known Apple enthusiast and writer for 9To5Mac. His focus is directed to Apple retail in general but from a design point of view most of the time. I like what this guy is doing, I’m a bit jaleaous of his talent, and he should work for Apple already. Congrats!

Publishing on Apple News, soon? (#apple #applenews #publishing #writing)

Sun, 22 Nov 2020 10:06:24 -0400

After months of silence, I’m finally getting some response from Apple regarding my submission to publish on Apple News. I can’t remember when I first submitted my Numeric Citizen Blog for publication on the Apple News platform. In a unexpected twist, they got in touch with me and asked to fill a questionnaire, which I promptly did. They are putting a new review process in place. I also updated my selection of articles submitted for review to use more recent ones. We’ll see how fast they respond and if they open the gate!

The list is growing (#apple #macosbigsur #iOS14 #iPadOS14 #M1Chip)

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 15:58:38 -0400

Surprisingly, the list of iOS 14 and iPad OS 14 apps that are made available or updated to work better on the M1-Based Mac is growing. Here is my current list: Newsify, Ferrite, Luma Fusion, Castro, Buffer, Opener, Apollo Reddit Client, Darkroom, Darknoise. The thing that I should do now and glance my current iPad apps and mark those that I want on the Mac too.

Is It Apple Silicon Ready? (#apple #applesilicon #m1chip #macOSBigSur)

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 08:44:28 -0400

It took a while but here is the first and most comprehensive list of application compatibility with Apple’s M1 Macs. You can search and sort the list easily and use the category filter too to locate application in the list. Well done. Design or photography applications compatibility level is high but productivity isn’t, which is not surprising. Most of my apps are already universal binaries. https://isapplesiliconready.com

The era of customization comes to the iPhone (#apple #ios14 #widgets)

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 20:41:31 -0400

Seeing this level of high interest in iPhone homescreen customization holding on since the launch of iOS 14 tells me that people really want to make their device more personal. Is it too far fetched to imagine Apple bringing system level customization a basic feature of iOS? I don’t think so. Maybe in iOS 15. Image from idownloadblog.

For Icons lovers (#macos #ios #apple #design #ui #ux #visualarts)

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 07:56:37 -0400

I’m a user of Timing for Mac, and recently the app got updated in order to support macOS Big Sur. The update brings a fresh and entirely new app icon to better fit the visual style of Big Sur, and I love it 😍. The icon has been designed by Matthew Skiles. Looking on his Twitter profile, I discovered two interesting web sites: https://www.macosicongallery.com/ and https://www.iosicongallery.com/. These are catalogs of the best icons for macOS and iOS of well known apps. Check them out. These sites made me realize how much we lost in design quality over the years, great icons are hard to come by these days.

It’s overwhelming and unanimous (#apple #applem1 #applesiliconmacs #m1chip)

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 12:52:27 -0400

Following Apple’s “One More Thing” event, I wanted to gather positives reactions to Apple’s M1-Based machines. It’s simply overwhelming. I just can’t keep up. It’s all over the place. I can only imagine Apple’s marketing department current putting a press release doing just that.

“I can’t remember the last time reviews for an Apple product were so universally positive, especially considering these are machines that look the same as the previous-gen. Apple simply excelled themselves with the ARM transition.” — Benjamin Mayo

It’s not only overwhelming but unanimous. What a great time to see history being made.

Is 8 GB of RAM enough? (#apple #macbookair #applesilicon #M1chip ) 🤔

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 08:27:47 -0400

Many are asking if they should go with a 16 GB RAM configuration for their new M1-based MacBook Air. Some others think Apple should have made a 32 GB of RAM configuration for the 13” MacBook Pro. According to this informal benchmarking video, 8 GB seems enough for most people. During his tests, the user opened many different apps and documents in Excel, tabs in Chrome, Photoshop and the MacBook Air stayed cool and never ever started to fall on its knees. At no time the idle CPU metric went down below 60%. The fan-less computer never got hot. Why? Three letters: SoC.

The M1 chip gathers many different components close together on the same chip so they don’t have to go through the PCI bus to move data around. I think it plays a big role in Apple Silicon Macs efficiency. We can no longer compare the RAM configuration of an Apple Mac with a Wintel machine, just like we cannot compare a 12 GB of RAM Android phone to a 6 GB of RAM iPhone. It’s just two different worlds.

Yet, I ordered a 16 GB Mac mini. 😳

The Rosetta 2 tax (#apple #m1chip #applesilicon)

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 21:45:36 -0400

One of the best take on Apple’s new M1-based Mac is from TechCrunch. What I learned in this review is, thanks to Apple’s Rosetta 2, the cost of running an un-optimized app on these machines: 26% performance hit. The more interesting thing is the fascinating fact that, even with this hit, apps can still run faster than on Intel-based Mac counterparts.

I can’t remember the last time I didn’t mind paying taxes.

Pixelmator Pro 2.0 — A Small Wonder (@pixelmator #applesilicon #m1chip #universalapp)

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 13:55:00 -0400

I’ve said it before, Pixelmator Pro is one of the best app in the Apple ecosystem for three reasons. First, the Pixelmator team is always fast to take advantage of Apple’s latest software and hardware technologies. Second, it’s a real native app, designed and built for the Mac. Third, Pixelmator Pro is close to how Apple’s own apps should be designed. Make no mistake, I love Apple’s iWork. Pixelmator feels familiar and Apple-ish, something that I like. They probably read the HIG documentation dozen of times. Congrats to them.

Oh, and look at this “What’s new" welcome page when you first launch the app after upgrading to version 2.0. Look familiar to you? Can’t wait to install this on my upcoming Mac mini.

Microsoft already feeling the heat (#microsoft #apple #m1chip #applesilicon)

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 08:33:18 -0400

Carefully look at this add by Microsoft bellow. The phrasing of this ad clearly shows the roots of the company making the product. “Pen supported” is one example. Why not write something like “Touch interface” or “Touch screen”. The word “supported” sounds wrong and makes me feel Microsoft is not fully confident about the real nature of this computing environment. The other thing is the removable SSD option. That’s typical geeky-PC-world-thing. Do we really care in a world of cloud-based storage being an extension of our devices? Really bad ad.

Clearly, Microsoft is already feeling the heat and is on the defensive. It’s only getting started. Others will follow.

If Rev(Y-1) < 1M$ Then Comm=15% otherwise Comm=30% (#iosdev #apple #developers)

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 08:17:28 -0400

Big news today by Apple. It’s a step in a (new | right) direction. Some are already applauding the move, others are vehemently calling it a tactical one. Apple will never satisfy everybody, except when launching their new M1-Based Macs. Apple can change when they feel the pressure, just like any big corporations. They’re not different on that front. We tend to forget this.

11.1. Beta. Already. (#macosbigsur #apple #beta)

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 14:30:45 -0400

Apple is on a roll with the release to developers of [version 11.1 of macOS Big Sur](11.1. Beta. Already. (#macosbigsur #apple #beta)). My hope for this update is for Apple to tweak the UI a bit and make it faster on Intel MacBook Pro. (Notifications, low contrast, etc.). The other thing, I hope it will be ready by the time I’m getting my Mac mini (mid-December).

About this crappy FaceTime Camera. (#apple #m1chip #macbook #facetimecamera)

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 11:25:58 -0400

“We really considered giving these machines 10 out of 10 review scores, but this camera is bad enough to keep that from happening, especially on a pro laptop that costs more than the Air.” - The Verge

“Unfortunately, that similarity extends to the webcam, which is still 720p resolution and still terrible. Apple has tried to borrow some of its real-time image processing from the ‌iPhone‌ to try to spruce up the image — and I do find that it does a better job evenly lighting my face — but mostly what I notice is that it looks bad (only now it’s a more processed version of bad).” - The Verge

Here is a real comparison. It’s less crappy but it is not good.

Take that, Apple. It was a near perfect moment.

Dear M1 Macs reviewers… (#M1chip #applesilicon #mac #review).

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 08:55:31 -0400

Here is what I’m hoping to see from reviewers of the M1-based Macs today. How fast is the machine booting? Is wake from sleep that much better? When you start a non-optimized app, how does Rosetta 2 kicks in? How long does it take? What happens when you start the same app a second time after a while? Was Rosetta kick out and has to relaunch? How is window resizing doing, we know that was never really fast on Intel-based machines. How is scrolling speed in Photos? Can you really feel the difference on an optimized app compared to their Intel counterpart? Does installing 11.0.1 update was faster than on previous macOS release on Intel? Is the Mac mini the fastest among the three? Does GPU intensive tasks are really that much faster? What about SSD speed for reads and writes compared to an Intel Mac? is it much improved? Is macOS Big Sur buggier than on Intel? Is 8 GB of RAM enough or 16 GB is really a must? Have you tried Pixelmator Pro, how fast is it now?

Hoping for a few answers today.

Podcasting (#podcasting #blogging #writer #blogger)

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 21:04:18 -0400

My podcast adventure was too short (The Numeric Citizen Podcast). I prefer written words over audio. I prefer photography over video. There is something about moving content that I find difficult to grasp, as a creator. I’m may be too old for podcasts creation or YouTube, I don’t know. I loved creating those episodes (in French), though, using Ferrite.

While waiting for "real" benchmarks... (#m1chip #applesilicon #mac #apple)

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 10:20:04 -0400

These “behind the scenes" benchmarks of the M1 GPU are again impressive to say the least. Is the Mac bound to become a gaming machine?

My Growing List of Universal Apps (#m1chip #apple #macos #macosbigsur #macmini)

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 09:07:46 -0400

Here is the list of apps that I use and that are ready for my upcoming M1-based Mac mini. The list is growing almost on a daily basis. I didn’t expect it would go that fast. The prospect of much faster Macs could trigger an even faster adoption by developers. Apple’s bet is paying off.

U = Universal. U-C = Universal, Catalyst-based port from iPadOS. U-S = Universal SwiftUI based app, C = Non universal but compatible.

My wish is to install Universal apps only as I don’t want to trigger Rosetta 2.

[U] Omnigraffle
[U] Pixelmator Pro
[U] Affinity Photo
[U-C] Universe
[U] Transmit
[U] Little Snitch
[U-S] Aviary
[U] Darkroom
[U] Apple’s iWork
[U] Apple’s iMovie
[U] NewsExplorer
[U-C] Twitter
[U] Screens
[U] Ulysses
[U] Things
[U] Fantastical
[U] AirBuddy
[U] CleanShot
[U] Reeder 5
[C] iStats Menu
[C] DayOne
[C] Carbon Copy Cloner
[C] Timing

It will be (much) faster (#apple #macmini #imac #m1chip)

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 17:59:14 -0400

Comparing the performance of a 2017 iMac to a M1-based Mac mini, based on Geekbench numbers. Sometimes, a picture, oops, a graph is worth a thousand words.

My current experiment of macOS Big Sur on a 2017 MacBook Pro is not very impressive. I can feel the difference compared to Catalina.

Here is why Microsoft should start to worry (#microsoft #surfacego #macbookair #apple #m1chip)

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 10:09:00 -0400

In light of Apple’s recent products introduction, consider the recently introduced Microsoft Surface Go. A Windows laptop that starts with 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB SSD, 12.4” touch screen using the Intel Core i5 which will get you 13 hours on battery for 550$. If you want a 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB SSD, the price goes up to 899$, but you keep the same lame CPU.

Now, compare this to the new MacBook Air (a much more powerful laptop) for 899$ (education pricing), same amount of RAM and SSD, 5 hours more of battery life, a much better non-touch display.

How is Microsoft supposed to compete against Apple in this market now?

They simply can’t, and they should start to worry.

What's wrong with Medium's stats…? (@medium #writing #bloggerlife) 🤔

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 08:16:51 -0400

What’s wrong with Medium’s “reading time" stat? Here, this story “Thoughts on ‘One More Thing’ - The Ultimate Mac Transition”, got 34 views so far, 12 reads, 2 two responses, 4 fans, 53 claps but the total reading time is 50 seconds? What’s wrong with that? 12 reads x 11 min estimated reading time = 132 minutes. Someone wrote: “very informative talk”! Did this guy really read my story or he is trying to get some attention? 🤨

Exposure Notification and battery life (#apple #covid19)

Sat, 14 Nov 2020 18:46:45 -0400

Why is exposure notification taking so much battery power? Do you experience the same thing? I’m running on iOS 14.3b1 but it was the same behaviour under previous iOS releases. I’ve been monitoring this for a while. I don’t want to turn that off. Oh, and by the way,amI alone who doesn’t find very intuitive these graphics?

The list is growing... (#apple #universalapps @elemanssoftware)

Sat, 14 Nov 2020 13:20:25 -0400

My favorite RSS reader News Explorer (read my review here), is already supporting macOS Big Sur, M1-based Macs. The updated News Explorer UI on Big Sur is much cleaner in general. I’m on the list to test the iOS 14 friendly version, adding support for Widgets and I can’t wait to see their implementation.

Big. (#apple #bigsur #macos #macosbigsur #update)

Sat, 14 Nov 2020 11:12:45 -0400

Big Sur update is certainly big. Full of goodies and the enabler for the next decade of excitement for the Mac.

Massive Big Sur Review (#macos #bigsur #macosbigsur #apple #review)

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 23:08:49 -0400

Ars Technica put together a massive review of Apple’s macOS Big Sur. It is quite impressive. It’s exactly the kind of review that I’m looking for. Visuals and internal architectural features are exposed, explained but rarely justified, only when it serves a purpose of contextualizing the matter. Kudos for the author: Andrew Cunningham

Now, I’m so anxious to get this thing running on my upcoming Mac mini. Big Sur is not only a refresh of the user interface but also an important sum of things under the hood that is being upgraded and modernized.

On Big Sur - Maybe I was wrong (#apple #macosbigsur #widgets #design)

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 13:00:21 -0400

Maybe I’m wrong with my perception of the disaster Apple created with the introduction of widgets in combination with notifications center (read my comment here on micro.blog). After reading the excellent MacStories.net review of Big Sur, I finally saw the combination in action. Notifications are see big improvements and look closer to what we get on iOS.

Still, Apple lost the opportunity to make widgets available in their own space, something like what we used to have, the Dashboard. It’s ridiculous to confine widgets in such a small space, considering modern screen sizes. Oh, and I hope the interaction feels much more fluid on M1-based machines because the last time checked on a 2017 MacBook Pro, with Big Sur beta 10, it was super laggy

Picture credits: from MacStories’ review of Big Sur.

One Computer, Three form factors (#apple #macbookair #macbookpro #macmini)

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 14:26:00 -0400

“The new M1-based MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini are best thought of not as three different computers, but rather three different manifestations of the same computer.”

Astute observation by @Gruber in his commentary post on “One More Thing" event. People are trying to figure out why there is so few differences between the three Macs Apple announced this week. Sometimes, the answer is simple.

PC Gimmicky features rarely used (#windows #windowslaptop #microsoftsurface)

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 10:14:24 -0400

PC laptops introduced pencil support, touch screen, screen-based touchpads, et. al. because these are the only things they could do to try to stay on top in a commoditized technology platform. I will take in a heartbeat 3X or 5X performance gain and 6 more hours of battery life over the gimmicky features. This is one of the many reasons I’m so upbeat with the M1-based Macs.

Photo credit: Alexander Andrews on Unsplash.

When the low-end beats the high-end... (#apple #macbookair #M1processor)

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 08:12:49 -0400

Twitter is ablaze since yesterday when first benchmarks of the MacBook Air were published. They show the M1-based and fan-less Mac to surpass the top of the line iMac! It’s impressive if not mind-blowing!

Now here is a simple theory: native apps will certainly perform really well but non-native apps will run under the Rosetta layer, which happens to consume CPU cycles. This performance room being consumed by Rosetta, the actual performance of a non native app will probably fall down to a more reasonable level.

Impressive nonetheless.

Hourra, Ulysses ! (#macosbigsur #writingtools #blogger @ulyssesapp)

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 08:00:52 -0400

My go to app for blogging, Ulysses, is now ready for macOS Big Sur. Yeah! I’m doing my part, as I’m going to order this M1-based Mac mini today so I can run Big Sur on its own machine and experience the future now. And that icon is lovely, not too iOS-ified, enough Big Sur-ified to feel at home! Ulysses 21, Pt. 2 - Ulysses Blog

Another experiment: Mac mini (#apple #macmini #m1processor #macosbigsur)

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 22:59:37 -0400

Recently published benchmarks of the upcoming M1-based Macs are impressive enough for me to take a deep breath and make a decision. A week ago, I didn’t think of this as a possibility. But here we are.

I’m going to make the plunge into the world of Apple Silicon-based Mac, Big Sur and universal apps. It’s the beginning of a new era, and I want to be part of it, experience it. I’m not waiting for the reviews next week.

I’ll get a Mac mini equipped with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TD SSD. Expected delivery date is mi-December at the earliest, just in time for Christmas holidays. I never owned a Mac mini, BTW.

I’ll use my 4K LG display that is currently plugged into my iMac. I’ll be testing universal apps as they come out. Applications like Adobe Lightroom CC, Omnigraffle and Pixelmator Photo will certainly take advantage of the M1 processor.

Tim Cook's Apple: not perfect but utterly impressive (#apple #timcook #2020)

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 17:01:00 -0400

I recently wrote and published a very critical view of Tim Cook’s Apple. It’s not pretty, but it is my honest take. Now, looking at Apple’s strategy execution for 2020 which is close to an end, I must confess that I’m really impressed. Apple delivered. On all fronts. There are a lot of unknowns, for sure. Yet, I have the felling that Apple set the stage for its next phase of growth for the next decade.

On M1 based Macs Unified Memory Architecture (#apple #mac #m1processor)

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 11:52:24 -0400

Here is the thing: the new M1-based Macs use the new “unified memory architecture” that is at the center of our iPhones and iPads. If you plan to buy one of these shinny new Mac, my recommendation would be to go with 16 GB of RAM, not 8 GB. Why? Consider this: Rosetta 2 is a new emulation software layer that will consume memory, something that is not present on Intel-based machines. On top of that, memory will be consume for video processing. My guess is: the biggest monitoring, the higher the resolution, the more memory will be consumed. What’s left for the applications? Even if SSD is fast on reads and writes, application launches are fast, nothing equals the speed of RAM. I’m afraid 8 GB of RAM is the new meager 5 GB iCloud storage tier for M1-based Mac. We’ll see with the upcoming reviews and benchmarks.

Intel: shit. (#appleevent #m1processor #apple #intel)

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 08:37:55 -0400

The graph put together by Anandtech is a wakeup call for Intel and the Wintel world, for that matter. These trajectories are incredible, impressive for Apple, worrisome for Intel. We are on the verge of a major shift in the portable landscape. Apple seems unstoppable.

Lingering Questions… (#appleevent #apple #mac #macbook)

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 21:53:55 -0400

Why no clock-speed information about the M1 processor? How are iOS-based apps be presented on the Mac App Store? Why so little difference between a MacBook Air configurations, CPU-wise, RAM-rise compared to MacBook Pro? What “virtualization technology support" actually means for normal users and tech enthusiasts? Why not bring back the 12" form-factor, an ideal candidate for power-efficient M1 processor? Will there be updates to Intel-based iMac Pro and Mac Pro? Why no 32 GB RAM configuration option for the MacBook Pro? What kind of performance levels should we expect to reach for non-Metal optimized graphic apps? Why does Apple can’t understand the need for an updated FaceTime camera in 2020?

What's missing? A lot. 😳 (#appleevent #apple #applesilicon #mac #macbook)

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 21:19:46 -0400

No touch screen. No pencil support. No 5G or 5G wireless option. No high-quality FaceTime camera. No Face ID No redesign, no slim bezels. No 12" MacBook. No clock speed specs. No eGPU support. Fewer ports options. Third-party native software support still to come.

Am I missing something?

That’s the new Apple MacBook using Apple’s M1 silicon ship.

Still excited?

History repeats itself (#appleevent #apple #applesilicon #mac)

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 21:05:13 -0400

From rewatching Steve Jobs announcing Apple’s transition to Intel processors, here are a few interesting observations, just in time for tomorrow’s #AppleEvent.

Steve Jobs reminds the crowd of transitions in Mac history: 68K to PowerPC, OS 9 to OS 10 then introduces the third transition: going to Intel. Each time, he uses the expression “to set Apple for the next 10 years". It’s all about the CPU roadmap’s ability to enable the Apple’s vision. Also, even at that time, power consumption was an issue. He also repeatedly mention great updates still coming to the PowerPC-based Macs.

Can’t wait for tomorrow’s version of the very same playbook.

Honest iPhone 12 Pro review. (#apple #iphone12pro #review @basicappleguy)

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 16:10:48 -0400

I love those balanced review, even partial, of the iPhone 12 Pro. They feel credible, and I tend give them high credence. We should get more of these these days of highly nuanced upgrades offered by Apple, year after year. Photo by the article author.

When Software Holds Back the Hardware (#apple #iphone12promax #ios14)

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 12:32:39 -0400

This quote from the Wall Street Journal’s review of the iPhone 12 Pro Max is priceless as ti summarize one of the biggest issue, in my opinion, about Apple’s current state of its software in general:

“It is crazy to me, however, that Apple hasn’t enabled us to do more on a phone that is practically iPad-size. Why can’t I view my inbox on the top half of the screen and my calendar on the bottom, like Samsung allows with its Multi-Window mode? Why does the tiny iPhone Mini allow the same number of rows of home-page app icons and widgets as the iPhone Giant? Why can’t I use an Apple Pencil to take notes on the notebook-size device?”

These are all valid questions. Even before the iPhone 12 Pro Max, these questions were valid. Software, like for the iPad, is holding back the iPhone. Is it a ressources issue being spread too thin? Is it something about product differentiation? I hope the answer is the former, not the latter.

Photo: The Verge.

Deception waiting to happen? (#appleevent #apple #applesilicon #mac)

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 09:13:22 -0400

I have a feeling that we are in for some deception tomorrow at the “One More Thing” keynote. Is this a natural mental process, some sort of auto-regulation of my own expectations, currently happening so I can be pleasantly surprised, tomorrow?

Yet, reading my Twitter feed today and people are expecting 15 hours of battery life while beating current Mac equivalent performance. And then what? The Apple Silicon story is more about the unification of software platforms at Apple than enabling endless hardware innovations on the Mac.

Change my mind.

Another iPhone 12 “Virtual” Experience by @MichaelSteeber (#apple #iphone12 #experienceapple)

Sun, 08 Nov 2020 09:17:03 -0400

After spending sometime with the virtual experience from Apple, I found out another one by the well known @MichaelSteeber that is built with Adobe’s XD. The experience is quite similar, and I’m still not able to find a fully satisfactory combinaison of the iPhone, the MagSafe case and the wallet. Really, the iPhone 12 is not for me.

My iPhone 12 « Virtual » Experience (#apple #iphone12 #experienceapple)

Sun, 08 Nov 2020 09:05:54 -0400

Apple launched a webpage to experience the selection and visualization of different MagSafe cases and wallets for the iPhone 12. I played with it for fun from my iPad Pro. It’s an interesting way to try different combinaisons of iPhone, cases and wallet in a world where going to a real store to do the same is challenging.

This year’s iPhone and cases prove to be hardly satisfactory, though. The colours options are not really in line to my tastes. After spending a while, I found two probable configurations that I would buy if I was on the market for such things. Because of bad reviews of the wallet, I would skip this one as I would fear losing my three most important cards. I hope Apple will fix the issues with next year’s round of the products.

I can breath. (#bidenharis2020) 😀🇨🇦

Sat, 07 Nov 2020 13:54:27 -0400

Well, I can breath a little bit better now that this clown is on the way out. Good riddance. As a Canadian, I’m so happy to see this clown go. If there was a way to start fixing 2020, it would be it. Yeah, I know, he won’t concede victory, he probably won’t do a concession speech. Who cares.. we knew all that, already. Now, let’s hope Americans start to unite a little bit and fix their shit, because, it’s pretty ugly out there.

The transition iPhone (#apple #iphone12 #iphonepro)

Sat, 07 Nov 2020 09:20:10 -0400

A recent tweet from @LeaksApplePro made me think about the significance of the iPhone 12 in the grand scheme of things.

Apple is about to remove the last port on the iPhone, so they are training us with the MagSafe. Next year’s version will fix many of the issue we’re facing today. 5G may not be ready, but next year it will be much better. LiDAR is fascinating, but next year we will depend on it. We tend to forget about the notch, next year it will be Apple who will forget it by putting it to rest.

We’re still in the middle of the pandemic. We’re not out of the woods. We’ll continue to work from home for a long time. Trips are not really a thing right now. But, in the fall of 2021, can we hope that most of this will be behind us and return to normal life? It would help a lot to enjoy the portless iPhone 13 or whatever stupid name they will name it. Right now, I’m a bit tired of not being able to go out and use the cameras to build my visual memories.

The iPhone 12 is the transition iPhone that will lead us to a better world, a year from now. I hope.

The screen computer. (#apple #imac #mockup)

Fri, 06 Nov 2020 18:52:33 -0400

I want this to be the next iMac, running an ARM-based CPU. That’s what a computer should look like: a screen. On a stand. Nothing more. We’re close to this. Consider the iPad. We are already there. I don’t expect such a computer to be revealed next week, though. We will have to wait a bit more.

Mockup credit and more available here: https://svetapple.sk/english/imac-2021-exclusive-renders-from-svetapple-sk/

On the Mac pivotal moment (#apple #appleevent #applesilicon #mac)

Fri, 06 Nov 2020 09:12:45 -0400

The Mac has gone through many transitions in the past and I was there for each of them. From the Motorola CPU, to the PowerPC and the Intel processors, Apple’s execution was almost flawless.

At the upcoming Apple Event, Apple will unveil their highly anticipated Apple Silicon Macs. When thinking about what Apple could do for this pivotal moment for the Mac, there is two possible roads Apple can take in regards to the general design of these machines.

First, Apple could choose to do the same they did when they switched to Intel processors back in 2005. Apple kept the same designs. There are a few advantages to this approach. By going the conservative way, Apple sends a “don’t worry, this is a Mac, everything will work just fine” message. This would probably helps keep the confidence level about the expected compatibility of these machines with current software. But there is one big drawback from a marketing standpoint: Apple chose to switch to its own CPU in order to enable new things on the Mac that wasn’t possible before. I’m not sure that keeping the same external design of the Mac is the best way to do it; it would be too conservative.

The second approach, the one that I prefer, would be for Apple to introduce a refreshed and modernized design. This could take the form of new materials, new textures, new tones. Screen bezels could be dramatically reduced in order to bring the machine down in size. On top of that, better FaceTime camera with 4K resolution, always-on Siri could also make their debuts. If battery life can show major improvements, Apple would have a winner here. Such a move by Apple would help mark the turning point for the Mac, a new era, just like they did in 2012 when they introduced the unibody design. The Mac is in need of such refresh and this is the right time to do it.

If Apple is really aiming to produce 2.5 million Apple Silicon MacBooks by February 2021, there has to be something special besides a powerful and power efficient A14X CPU. Let’s see which strategy Apple decided to chose.

Side note: it is fascinating to see that the PC never went through these transitions like the Mac did. It is something unique in the technology world. No other company ever did this, that many times. Now, we might wonder if this Apple Silicon transition will spark a similar move in the Wintel world. Why? Because Intel is no longer a synonym of real platform evolution, ARM-based design is.

On Apple Watch “unique” requirement (#applewatch #iphone #apple) ⌚️

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 12:57:11 -0400

In the last few weeks, I repeatedly got a simple question regarding the Apple Watch: does it require an iPhone? One person expected to “pair” the watch with an iPad. The other is an Android user. These questions tell me something interesting. One, the Apple Watch is gaining traction among non-Apple users. Two, the quicker Apple can remove the iPhone requirement to get an Apple Watch, the better it will be for their bottom line. This could be something as important as the iTunes for Windows was back in the days.

Photo credit: Brina Blum on Unsplash.

About those "one more things"... (#appleevent #onemorething #history)

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 08:26:52 -0400

On the eve of another “one more thing” moment, please read this interesting article on Medium. The author spent time to review all previous cases of “one more thing” announcements. They were not all game changers but the following ones were turning points: MacBook Air reveal, Apple Watch. Can’t wait for the next one as I expect it will be another game changer moment for the Mac.

How old are they? (#apple #macosbigsur)

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 21:50:12 -0400

Here’s a quick and unrelated question: how old, on average, are people who love the design language of macOS Big Sur? Seriously, my bet goes to a much younger crowd than those who prefer macOS Catalina. Why? People who grew up with the iPhone and iPadOS has a much different design reference frame that those who grew up with macOS. The latter group seems to see Big sur as some sort of iPadification of macOS.

You’re thoughts?

Updating my Apple purchase plans (#appleevent #apple #macpro #onemorething)

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 14:26:09 -0400

As it becomes clearer what Apple won’t announce next week, an update to their Mac Pro, my purchasing plans needs to be updated accordingly. It makes no sense for me to go with an Apple Silicon Mac in the near future as I need Vmware Fusion to run Windows virtual machines in my SDDCbox project. Only an Intel-based Mac Pro can do it for me as we speak. Still, I can’t wait for next week’s announcements.

Please, come to Canada (#apple #iphoneupgradeprogram #iphone)

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 14:11:50 -0400

I wish the iPhone Upgrade Program would come to Canada. I’m not holding my breath, though. I think carriers here wouldn’t let it happen because they know they suck at selling their shit, and this would greatly affect their bottom line. In any case, if it does come to Canada, I would upgrade my iPhone every year, for sure.

Pray. (#vote2020 #electionnight)

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 21:09:41 -0400

I rarely if ever post political stuff here. As a Canadian, my sincere hope is that the American people make the furst step in order to put an end to this endless nightmare.

On a side note: I’m using  News to follow election night. So far, I like what Apple is doing here. Results are quick to be reflected on the maps, which can be drilled down up to the state level.

Facebook is bad at everything. Period. (#facebook #privacyprotection #design #privacy)

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 09:21:12 -0400

Interesting post from @Gruber about Facebook application design. The lack of support for basic things like dark mode, more than a year after its introduction is a simple example, but very telling about something: Facebook doesn’t give a shit about those things. They don’t give a shit about privacy protection either. They don’t give a shit about democracy. They are are bad at design. They are bad at everything. And their growth is slowly declining which is a bit of fresh air to know.

Widget Radar (#widgets #ios14 #weatherapps @rjonesy)

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 07:52:47 -0400

Another wonderful and really useful widget is finally available for iOS 14 and iPadOS 14: a precipitation radar. I’m a big fan of MyRadar but the app wasn’t yet updated to support widgets. Widget Radar, which is free by the way, is simple and minimalist yet effective. It is proudly sitting on my homes creen now, on the weather page.

Side note: Weatherline is another useful weather app, but it doesn’t allow the placement of the radar image as a widget, yet.

Mac Pro mini (#apple #rumours #macpro)

Mon, 02 Nov 2020 21:27:22 -0400

Surprising rumors by Bloomberg about Apple working on a new Mac Pro, about half the size of the current model:

“Apple engineers are currently developing a new Mac Pro that looks like the current design at about half the size. It’s unclear if that Mac will replace the current Mac Pro or if it’s an additional model.”

As someone who is seriously contemplating to buy a Mac Pro, this information makes me pause a bit. My use case is for virtualization software which requires an Intel chip for running Windows versions in virtual machines. Windows on ARM is not on the horizon. I will enjoy an Intel Mac Pro for quite some time.

The "real" One More Thing... (#appleevent #apple #macosbigsur #macbook #onemorething)

Mon, 02 Nov 2020 14:35:01 -0400

There is a difference between what I expect and what are the things that I would really like to see. Here is a short list for this last Apple Event of 2020.

I hope for an Apple Silicon Mac with a full physical redesign of the Mac it is replacing. The re-introduction of the 12" MacBook with a refreshed design language, something that would be start of something new for all the upcoming MacBook updates in the future. I want Apple to mark the beginning of a new era for the Mac, not something in the form of continuity. I want Apple to turn the page and move beyond the Jony Ive’s era. Let’s start fresh, be forward thinking. Go past Microsoft’s Surface. Oh, this brings me to another wish: Touch support on macOS Big Sur and Apple Silicon Mac. Signs are pointing to this. That would be the real kicker of this year. Please, Apple, make it so. Impress me.

One More Thing. (#appleevent #mac #applesilicon #macosbigsur)

Mon, 02 Nov 2020 13:47:51 -0400

Big surprise today, it came early, Apple sent their invites for a November 10th Apple event. Rumours were pointing to November 17th date. Happy the wait will be shorter than anticipated.

I love this tag line; it was used at many occasions by Steve Jobs to show something that could be a game changer or of high significance.

This early invite adds credence to those who think macOS Big Sur 11.0 is already being put on unreleased new Macs. Expect 11.0.1 to follow pretty quickly.

Here is what’s on the menu for this last Apple event of 2020.

macOS 11.0 “Big Sur” make its official debuts (100%)
Universal apps running simultaneously on iOS, iPadOS and macOS are now supported (100%)
First round of Apple Silicon Macs are release: MacBook or MacBook Pro (100%)
Side announcements of updated configurations for 21.5” iMac and 27” iMac Pro still on Intel (70%)
Apple TV refresh using Apple Silicon and new game controller (40%)

Can’t wait for next week.

Troubling rumours about the Mac (#apple #mac #imac #applesilicon)

Mon, 02 Nov 2020 08:10:07 -0400

According to AppleTrack.org, there is a shortage of many different Mac models. Some shipping dates are slipping into December. It the case for the 21.5” iMac and iMac Pro. Troubling.

When Apple announced they were transitioning their Macs to use the new Apple Silicon, they also said they would keep updating current Intel-based models for a while. I don’t know this will translate in reality. If the iMac Pro is being updated this month, it could be for an updated configuration with an Intel CPU, not an Apple Silicon. The case of the 21.5” iMac is more interesting, tough. The 27” iMac was updated recently but not the 21.5. I’m not sure it is the first prime candidate for the Apple Silicon. I’m thinking more about the MacBook or the MacBook Pro which would highly benefit from the Apple Silicon.

It’s interesting to note that the Mac Pro is still in stock. This could signal that it won’t get updated this fall. The Mac Pro wasn’t updated since its release in 2019. As I’m looking to get one for my SDDCbox project, I’d would love to see a refreshed configuration in time for me to consider and pickup.

On iStat Menus 6.5 (#macosbigsur @bjango)

Mon, 02 Nov 2020 07:45:54 -0400

One of my favorite macOS utilities, iStat Menus, just received an update to version 6.5 which adds support for macOS Big Sur. I know, yesterday I wrote that I was done with Big Sur… but it was for testing… I still have time in front of me to convince me this is the best release of macOS Apple has ever done.

iStat Menus will be ready when I’m doing the switch to this Mac Pro for my SDDCbox project. It will play an important role in giving me insights on the CPU and SSD access. For now, there are a lot of tweaks which will make this utility even better. Even their release notes is art!

There seems to be less and less high-quality apps and utilities like this these days…

I’m done with macOS Big Sur (#apple #macos #macosbigsur)

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 12:11:49 -0400

Since the beginning of September I’ve been testing macOS Big Sur. I’m still undecided about how I like or hate this release. I’m unable to get over the way Apple messed up the notifications center with widgets. Clearly, it is a regression. There was no good reasons to merge them on the same space. Widgets should have gone in their own area, taking full advantage of the big screen. I just don’t understand it.

I’ll reuse this 1 TB SSD USB-C drive for something else: put my SDDCbox project virtual machines on it.

Release Candidate (#iosdev #apple #iOS)

Sat, 31 Oct 2020 08:39:06 -0400

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the end of an era. Apple is leaving behind the term “Golden Master” in order to adopt “Release Candidate” to refer to a version of its operating system sent to its developers that will probably be released to the general public. An an IT guy, I’m used to the term “release candidate”, “golden master” was such an Apple-only thing. I’m glad they make this change as it reflects the state of a release.

Photo credits: Photo by Tirza van Dijk on Unsplash

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Edge cases (#iphone12 #iphone12pro #photography #apple)

Sat, 31 Oct 2020 08:24:05 -0400

I’m an iPhone 11 Pro owner. Photography-centered reviews are interesting to me because they tend to compare this year’s iPhone with last year’s. MacRumors published such a comparison. Judging from it, if I could summarize the iPhone 12 Pro photographic advances, it would be like this. The iPhone 12 Pro improvements are mostly about edge cases because in normal situations, improvements are much more subtle. The addition of Night Mode on the Ultra wide camera is part of features uniformisation across cameras which is welcomed, though.

Photo credits: from MacRumors article.

Measuring my success (#blogger #writer #newsletter)

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 17:22:40 -0400

As a blogger and a content-creator, how can I measure my success? Well, it’s not an easy one to answer. Each blogger could have its own way at looking at this. Personally, I could pay attention to my blogs visitors statistics, but there is one thing that I keep an eye on these days. I recently started publishing a free monthly newsletter on Substack. The membership is increasing, but what I'm looking for is easy: following a new issue of my newsletter, how many are unsubscribing? None, so far. To me, it’s some form of success.

It's a deal! (#apple #appleone #applemusic #fitnessplus)

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 12:41:54 -0400

Sometimes in your life you come across some deals that you cannot refuse. Apple One is one of them. As a Canadian, by subscribing, on top of Apple News+, 2 TB iCloud storage and Apple Music, I’m getting Fitness+ and Apple Arcade and… to my surprise, now I have 4 TB of iCloud storage. How good is that? Can’t wait to try Fitness+ and maybe help me go through these enduring times this coming winter while getting in a better shape?

Now, what comes next Apple One? Apple //?

Optimized for Mac (#apple #applesilicon #ios #ipados)

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 07:36:38 -0400

Here is one of the most fascinating part of upcoming Apple Silicon Macs: the implicit support for iPhone and iPad apps on the Mac (as long as the developers care to update their apps, obviously). I wonder how massive this change will be. How will it change the third-party applications landscape on the Mac? How will it influence the pricing of both iOS/iPadOS apps and macOS apps? We tend to take for granted that software on the Mac is always more expensive compared to their iPad counterpart… The next year sure will be interesting to watch for Mac lovers like me.

Fascinating times (#apple #microsoft #google #amazon)

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 07:19:37 -0400

Here is a fascinating chart: brand value calculated by Interbrand. Apple is on top again this year. They have been there since 2012. What I find interesting is the first row is occupied by companies reflecting our new way of life as we depend on smartphones (Apple, Samsung), online shopping (Amazon) and the cloud (Microsoft). What about Google you might ask? Well, first, as we don’t like to pay for online stuff, we prefer to be the product of advertisers. Second, we stopped using bookmarks a long time ago, we prefer the Google search field.

We’re humans — Tim Cook (#apple #timcook)

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 06:57:34 -0400

“Work can’t solve for all the things we’re missing right now, but a shared sense of purpose goes a long way. A belief that we can do more together than we can alone, that people of good will, driven by creativity and passion and that certain itch of a big idea, can still do things that help other people in our own small way to teach, to learn, to create, or just to relax at a time like this. Even as the things we make require us to operate at the very cutting edge of technology, in materials, products, and ideas that didn’t exist just a few years ago, this year has forced us to face plainly the things that make us human — disease, resilience, and hope.” — Tim Cook

Apple is doom! (#apple #iphone #mac #ipad)

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 20:17:27 -0400

Poor Apple, iPhone sales are 20% down compared to last year’s quarter. Look, people, it's 2020 and we are in the middle of a pandemic. Stores are closing, opening, then closing again. Yet, Apple is able to pull it off big time. Thanks to the Mac, iPad and services, Apple is able to come out with a great quarter! That’s what is interesting: when one product line is performing poorly, others take the lead. September quarter is going to be a monster one as the iPhone 12 and Apple Silicon Macs sales takes over the stage.

Apple's Clips is Underated (#apple #clips)

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 17:56:07 -0400

Apple this week updated their strange application, Clips, to version 3.0. Clips looks like a technology demonstration to me. I hear it is popular among the young crowd. Maybe. I’ve played with the new version a bit and really like the new design which is cleaner and more enjoyable to use. After playing with, boy this app is power hungry; my iPhone 11 Pro get’s very hot! Still an interesting ting to play with.

On Apple Search (#apple #siri #search @parkerortolani)

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 15:50:24 -0400

Here is an interesting design concept of a possible Apple Search service. What I find interesting is the use of the Siri branding. I don’t know if Apple would use it or simply call the service: Apple Search. I would prefer the latter as Siri is not known to sound like “good” more like “good enough” or “behind the reste of the crowd”.

11.0.1 beta, really? (#apple #macos #macosbigsur)

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 07:24:49 -0400

This curve ball wasn’t expected: Apple comes up with beta 1 of macOS Big Sur 11.0.1. Why? Why now? Does this mean 11.0 GM is really around the corner and will ship soon on new Macs, including the first Apple Silicon ones? Why do I keep thinking Big Sur (based on Beta 10) was far from ready? Something is clear to me, I’m not upgrading my iMac anytime soon, but I understand that my upcoming Mac Pro could come pre-installed with it.

Third edition is out! (#newsletter #blogger #writing #apple)

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 19:28:40 -0400

After much writing and compositing, the third edition of the Numeric Citizen Introspection newsletter is out! I’m quite happy with the end results. It’s getting better with each release. It’s still free. Can’t wait to build the next edition!

Please, read, share and like! 👈🏻 🙏🏻

Comments are welcomed!

That was fast! (#apple #ios14 #ios13)

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 07:55:56 -0400

I’m always impressed by the turn over speed of major new releases of iOS. iOS 14 adoption rate is already surpassing iOS 13 after less than six weeks of availability. Wow.

Apple’s iPhone ecosystem is running at blazing speed to adopt new technologies. There is nothing like that in tech. Even if people are keeping their old iPhone longer, by supporting old devices, Apple can set the bar for new privacy features and make them available to a vast portion of the users. This is something we rarely talk about.

Basic Apple Guy but gorgeous! (#apple #blog #discovery @basicappleguy)

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 11:22:52 -0400

Thanks to an article from John Gruber’s website, Daring Fireball, I discovered a new Apple-centric blog yesterday: Basic Apple Guy. After spending a few minutes on it exploring the content, I kind of fell in love with it and and started to wish it was mine. I’m impressed by the simplicity and the content quality. RSS feed already added to my collection.

It's all about the story, right? (#apple #mac #applesilicon)

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 07:00:35 -0400

Here is what I’ll be looking for at the Apple Silicon Macs introduction: the story they will tell for their introduction. Remember when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone or the iPod? There was a story to hit so people could understand the “why’s”. Now, in the age of smartphones, what is the relevancy for Apple Silicon Macs? Why now? What pain points do they address? Can’t wait for November. Photo credits.

I kind of like what I’m seeing (#myblog #blogger #bloggerlife)

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 21:43:40 -0400

This is my Micro.blog.

Using the popular Newsify RSS feed reader, I used my own feeds to see how it would look through it. I was pleasantly surprised by the end results. It’s been a while since I found the best way for me to post on Micro.blog. All posts have a title, hashtags, a picture and use at least 280 characters so the boundary where a title becomes available. Without it, Micro.blog cross-posts the whole text on Twitter which I don’t want to happen; I prefer a summary titled.

Everyone has their price (#apple #google #privacy #privacyprotection)

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 19:11:46 -0400

According to the New York Time regarding the antitrust lawsuit in the works, Google is paying between 8 to 12 billions $ a year to be the default search engine on iOS. That is a lot of money, but apparently, that’s the price to pay for Apple to bend over their privacy stance.

If there is one reason why Apple should get out of this deal and build their own search tech or buy DuckDuckGo altogether: put the walk behind the talk.

The master in action (#stevejobs #ipod #apple #history)

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 07:34:58 -0400

This short clip showing Steve Jobs introduce the iPod is a pure joy to re-watch. It is 9m 11sec of presentation mastery. The way he set the stage, draw attention to pain points, show the “solution” is perfect. This is how you do it. This clip should go in tech and marketing history books.

Now, let’s try to imagine how he would do it for the introduction of the first Apple Silicon Mac in a few weeks.

The more I read... (#iPhone12 #iphone12pro #apple)

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 20:07:33 -0400

The more I read comments on Twitter about the iPhone 12, the more I’m happy to skip this upgrade cycle: wireless network performance (spotty), battery life (highly hit by 5G usage), finger prints magnet (Pro edges), mildly controversial colours (not as unanimous as last year’s colours), weak cameras upgrade (from the 11 Pro), MagSafe design and performance (too weak magnets). I’ll be waiting for the iPhone 13 patiently.

iPhone heritage (#apple #design #iphone #iphone12)

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 09:21:44 -0400

_“Enduring design doesn’t need constant reinterpretation. It needs tweaking, polishing, and subtle improvement” _— Om Malik

Great take by Om Malik on the the significance of timeless design in “Why great design is timeless”. As I wrote in my previous post, to me, the iPhone 5 was the best Apple design before the iPhone 12. Om Malik refers to the iPhone 4 as being an example of timeless design that was later only tweaked, refined and polished in following iPhone iterations. I find it a bit surprising as the iPhone 4 metallic edges never really came back after the iPhone 4S.

Looking back at the iPhone design genealogy, we can infer six major groups of iPhone design language: the original iPhone up to the iPhone 3GS is group #1, the iPhone 4 and 4S is group #2, the iPhone 5, 5S and SE is group #3, the iPhone 6 and 6S is group #4, the group #5 encompasses the iPhone 7 up to the iPhone 11 including the SE 2. Finally, group #6 is the iPhone 12. I expect Apple to iterate within that group for at least another year.

The iterative polishing, refining process of Apple is in full glory since the iPhone 7. The latter is heavily based on the iPhone 5 heritage. The iPhone 12 is heavily inspired by the iPhone 5 era and the group #5 of designs.

If Apple plays their card well, next year’s iPhone could surpass this year’s line up by fixing the Pro glossy edges, removing the notch (it won’t happen), thinner bezels and less controversial colours selection, just to name a few attributes.

Apple did it again. (#iphone12 #apple #design)

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 08:09:32 -0400

In my opinion, this year’s black iPhone 12 is now their best design of all time, surpassing their previously best design, the black iPhone 5. It took them 8 years. I can’t wait to see that in person, for now, this tweet by Brian MacDuff is enough to convince me. Blacks are deep blacks, the edges mat finish is way better than on the Pro models. What could come next to beat this? A notch-less design. Maybe next year or in 8 years. Who knows. Picture from Mr. MacDuff.

Staying home... (#iphone12 #apple #applestore)

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 09:26:51 -0400

For as far that I can remember, I won’t go to an Apple Store to see the new iPhone this year. Thank’s to… well.. you know, it’s 2020. Twitter threads like this one I’m sure is not doing justice to the look and feel of these new devices.

Exposure notification (#iphone #apple #google #covid19 #pandemic)

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 09:19:33 -0400

I recently got this notification on my iPhone. I didn’t know the exposure feature would keep the user informed about its “behind-the-scene” work. Interesting.

I wonder how Apple will remove that from iOS in a post-pandemic world. Will they keep it and make it usable for other types of highly contagious deceases? My feeling is that they will generalize it and keep there.

They're here. (#iphone12 #iphone12pro #apple)

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 06:58:56 -0400

I don’t remember seeing Apple posting photos of behind-the-scenes workers working at distribution centers to make it all possible and magic for the first day of availability of a new iPhone. It’s an interesting move. We tend to forget how massive the required logistic is needed for these roll outs to happen smoothly, year after year. This year is special, the pandemic is certainly increasing the difficulty level quite a bit for Apple. We’ll see how Apple’s bottom line is affected, later this year.

On 2021 iPad Pro (#ipadpro #apple)

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 20:33:48 -0400

Is it a question of a few more months before the iPad Pro line distance itself from the 2020 iPad Air. This will put the 2021 iPad Pro in a league of its own. Features like mini-led display, faster A-series processor… but what else? More system memory at 8 GB? Bigger screen? Wifi 6? 5G option? daringfireball.net

The 2020 iPad Air

Jony Ive working with Airbnb. Who knew. (#jonyive #apple #lovefrom #airbnb #design #UI)

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 07:03:14 -0400

In a surprising move, Airbnb has a new partnership with Apple’s former designer chief, Jony Ive. As much as I like this guy’s work, something quite surprising struck me: Airbnb doesn’t sell any form of hardware. The last time I check, Jony Ive’s reputation is not about crafting the best user interface designs in the world, far from it. Who remember the switch to iOS 7? I do. Jony Ive was quite instrumental in the design of iOS 7 and it was a disaster. We are still paying the price today. It will be interesting to watch what comes from this partnership. Press release here.

SDDCbox project - update #2 (#macpro #apple #vmware #vmwarefusion)

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 06:52:58 -0400

My possible future Mac Pro configuration is taking shape. It all started here btw. Reading carefully the spec sheet, the base configuration sets the memory clock speed at 2666 MHz while the 12 cores CPU configuration is at 2933 MHz. Considering my use case, virtualization with VMware Fusion, I’ll take any non-GPU improvements possible. Speaking of GPU, I’m not sure about the performance difference between the base GPU card, a AMD Radeon Pro 580X, and the more powerful AMD Radeon Pro W5500X. I’ll probably keep the entry-level one saving memory for a bigger SSD. Maybe.

I’m not close yet to make the plunge and I’ll have to wait for November announcements as configuration updates, price changes or something else could greatly affect my buying decision. Stay tuned for update #3.

RIP. Remote.app (#apple #appletv #appstore)

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 18:53:28 -0400

Great story about the start of the Apple TV remote app that was removed today from the App Store. Reason? Duplicate functionality with iOS Control Center. Time to move on I guess. I love those stories from the inside. Can’t get enough of them.

Photo credit: @badashproducts on Unsplash.

twitter.com/accannis/…

Waiting for iPhone 13. (iphone12 #iphone12pro #apple)

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 07:13:02 -0400

Thanks to iPhone 12, I can’t wait for the iPhone 13. The MagSafe is cool but is not perfect. 5G is nice but comes with a spotty coverage and puts a lot of pressure on battery life. The iPhone 12 Pro is a powerful monster but with fingerprint magnets and fragile glossy edges. Bezels are thinner and thinner but this big notch is still there. I’m skipping this year’s iPhone 12 and anxiously waiting for iPhone 13. Or whatever name they call it. Maybe just: iPhone Pro?

This is a drill (#iphone12 #apple #magsafe)

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 06:49:13 -0400

With the iPhone 12 and MagSafe, is Apple training us for a port-less iPhone 13? I think so. The removable of the Lightning port and skipping USB-C would be so Apple, an act of courage I guess. If they do remove all the ports from the iPhone, how do we deal with CarPlay? What about developers who use testing and development devices which requires the fastest transfer speed possible? Is there something in the works at Apple that would mitigates these challenges for the users? Another type of adaptor? Or maybe Apple is just waiting for a more drastic iPhone redesign (no notch?) to bend themselves to USB-C?

Stairway to “heaven”? (#apple #iphone12 #iphone12pro)

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 20:20:56 -0400

Tim Cook once said that all products Apple sell can fit on a table. Well, depending of the table size, maybe. But, you will have to remove products variants from the equation, though. Look at the iPhone product line. Now, think about how it will look next year.

twitter.com/asymco/st…

These edges... (#iphonex #iphone12 #iphone12pro)

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 21:16:02 -0400

As much as I like what the iPhone 12 brings to the table in general… edges got my attention. Up until now, I didn’t really like rounded edges since the iPhone 6. I much prefer the square edge on the iPhone 12… but not on the Pro models… they are way too much polished and are probably finger prints magnets.

I want a Pro iPhone with the matte version of the non-Pro iPhone edges.

twitter.com/msfslm/st…

Stucked on the phone (#magsafe #iphone12 #apple #design #UX)

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 07:52:37 -0400

When I first saw the MagSafe snapping into the iPhone, I asked myself: how about taking the iPhone away? Is it hard? Is it gentle? Do we need two hands to separate them? Now listen to the video segment from a guy asking a few troubling questions… should we worry or just wait for the iPhone 12 to ship and see how the whole thing actually works?

A14: from the iPhone to the Mac (#apple #A14 #applesilicon)

Sun, 18 Oct 2020 16:54:24 -0400

I love those feature highlights. Apple started to use them recently (September of last year?). If you look closely at the A14 feature highlights, I wonder what features aren’t required in a Mac? There is so many things that make sense on an iPhone, like everything related to ML. But, on a Mac? I’m not so sure. And, what features should be added to the A14 that doesn’t make sense on an iPhone? Increase high-performance CPU cores? And then what? What features are Mac specific that aren’t already handled by the T2 chip?

The 5G Enabler (#iPhone12 #apple #5G)

Sun, 18 Oct 2020 16:24:24 -0400

Last year, the iPhone 11 lacked 5G networks support. Apple was doomed. This year, the iPhone 12 does support 5G networks. Now the operators are doomed because of spotty coverage. There is something bad to look for if you want to get clicks.

I think 5G is more marketing than anything else at this point. The iPhone 12 will be the enabler of 5G network. People will demand it (even if their use cases don’t require it). This will in turn force operators to accelerate their deployment.

A wild dream (#apple #macpro #vmware #virtualization #lab)

Sun, 18 Oct 2020 09:48:38 -0400

I’ve been thinking of something really wild recently, for me at least: replacing my 2017 21.5 inches iMac with a Mac Pro. Here is why.

I work in IT (information technologies) as a data center related technology architect. Server virtualization, storage area networks, networking technologies are at the center of my professional universe. In the coming months, I’ll have to invest in self-training and experimentations a lot around VMware-related products and services. How can I do that efficiently while working from home? Here comes the Mac Pro idea.

In order to be able to run many virtual machines, a powerful physical computer is required: lots of memory, powerful CPU (more than 6 cores) and fast storage. My current iMac doesn’t meet these basic requirements (it is maxed out at 32 GB of RAM and it has a relatively modest CPU). A Mac Pro with the following specs would easily meet the challenge: at least 128 GB of fast memory, 8 cores CPU, builtin SSD and expandability.

Virtualization will required VMware Fusion Pro running on top of macOS. Then, the sky is the limit as I can then install ESXi hypervisor which will allow me to branch into more complex setup. This type of environment do require a lot of memory (a typical VM is about 4-16 GB each) and multi-cores CPU. Installing ESXi directly on the Mac Pro is not an option as I will need to have macOS running for all other tasks (I’m not even sure if it is att all possible).

How do I get there? Well, I’m still thinking about how I’ll buy that machine and get the additional RAM (I won’t go with Apple’s because $$$). Stay tuned.

Technical datasheet can be found on Apple’s website, right here in PDF format. I don’t want to switch to a Windows machine BTW, I’m too much invested in Apple’s ecosystem for that to happen.

A follow up to @mattbirchler on why opting for Newsletters instead of a blog? (#blogger #blogging #writing #substack)

Sat, 17 Oct 2020 15:07:17 -0400

In a recent blog post, the well known blogger and content creator, Matt Birchler, wants to understand why so many people are opting for emails (newsletters) over the web. I want to give my perspective on each of his questions.

What about writing in a newsletter is more enjoyable than writing for a blog?

My Numeric Citizen Introspection newsletter is a monthly one. I start writing the next issue at the beginning of each month. I hit “Publish and send” at the very end of each month. It gives me four weeks to nurture its content. When the end of the month approaches, the newsletter content is mostly complete and I like how it evolved from the beginning. It is a satisfying process. Then, I take a pause and look forward to start the next one. I like the regular beat of all this process. I wouldn’t do a weekly newsletter, though, as it requires much more time to do.

Are newsletter audiences more engaged than blog subscribers?

I’m not sure about this one in general. For me, it is too early to tell. My gut feeling is that people are more or less engaged the same way as they are with blogs. I’d like to be wrong, though, and have people engage more with newsletters.

As a reader, do you prefer reading in your email app to an RSS app (or just the web in general)?

I use Substack to build and send my newsletters. Each of them are also available via an RSS feed. Depending of the client used, the reading experience can be enjoyable on both type of clients. Personally, I do subscribe to Hey and reading newsletters with their client is really nice and provides a nice clipping feature which is very handy.

Do you not miss things like link posts and “going viral” which are much harder, if impossible to do with emails?

Link posts can be done in newsletters and they won’t go viral for sure. But, I’m not really looking for this kind of fame to be honest.

Is it easier to get people to sign up for a paid subscription compared to the web?

I’m still building this stuff and my newsletter is free for now. I get new subscribers regularly but not as much as I would like. I guess I still have to get the word out and be more “famous”.

A simple wish (@ulyssesapp @microdotblog #writing #blogging #tools)

Sat, 17 Oct 2020 14:41:58 -0400

You know what I would like that would be really really cool and useful for me and probably for many others? I’d like to see Ulysses add support for Micro.blog as a publishing destination (Ghost, Medium and WordPress are already supported). That would be really nice. 👌🏻I kind of like Micro.blog native app for the iPad but it’s not a writing tool in my opinion. My fingers are crossed. Please, share this post if you think you would benefict from this as a writer and Ulysses user.

Look who’s in town (#rssreader #rss #reading @reederapp)

Sat, 17 Oct 2020 11:02:19 -0400

The venerable RSS reader app « Reeder » turned to version 5 yesterday. I don’t know how I missed that one. Maybe because I moved from Reeder to News Explorer. I pay a lot of respect to the developer of Reeder. I’ve been using it for a long time. I wanted to have a look at version 5 so I bought it. Here is why.

Widgets. News Explorer hasn’t been updated to support them yet. Reeder now does. I love them. Read Later. Sending URLs to Reeder Read later is interesting and provides a better experience than in Safari Read Later. Tracking my own RSS feed for quality control. Oh and Shortcuts are also supported, something News Explorer don’t.

I think I’ll have to update my blogger workflow. 🤔

Is this called “Evolution” or “Modernism"? (#apple #ios7 #UI #design)

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 16:16:58 -0400

An image is worth a thousand words. We are still paying the price of this shift in design, every single day, for every single interaction we have with our iPhone… who asked for that? Why? Will we return to normalcy? I’ll never forget the “before” it was so shitty. Never.

Software is art (@airbuddyapp, #macOS)

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 06:44:00 -0400

If you have a Mac, many battery-powered Apple devices, you need AirBuddy. Version has been in the works for a very long time and it is a major update. I’m so anxious to get my AirBuddy updated!

We don’t get to see this level of craft on computers these days. This reminds me how dire the macOS native application landscape has become over the years. With macOS Big, Catalyst, Apple Silicon Macs and universal binaries, one can hope for a brighter future.

Am I alone who think the AirBuddy logo is upside down?

Is there a pattern? (#apple #airpower #magsafeduo)

Thu, 15 Oct 2020 12:58:59 -0400

With the (re)introduction of the MagSafe for iPhone, Apple is trying to redo their AirPower introduction of 2017. On paper and on video, MagSafe looks cool, MagSafe Duo seems even better (more useful, transportability), but no word on availability and pricing, just like with the initial AirPower announcement. Is there something Apple didn’t learn here? Whatever happens, it is on my wishlist even if I’m not going to upgrade to the iPhone 12 this year.

Secured. (@medium, #blogger, #blog)

Thu, 15 Oct 2020 07:27:21 -0400

A word about my other home: Medium, which I love. Following their latest update, they now offers publishers to secure their own domain name as well as allows better customization of publisher’s profiles. This is mine).

Im still pondering how I’ll make use of Medium’s new love for bloggers.

I’ve been robbed by... @duggu24 (#bloggerlife #blogger)

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 08:19:55 -0400

For the first time in my numeric life (at least, from what I’m aware of), one of my article has been robbed by another guy. After discovering it, I asked for immediate removal but without success. So, today, I’m calling him out.

The robbed article is the one about upgrading from an Apple Watch Series 4 to Series 6 published on my main blog on October 3 of 2020 and on Medium. You can see the stolen article there. This article was then pushed on this fake Twitter account with 1628 followers. This Twitter account is apparently owned or operated by this guy, the thieve who is following four people and has only one follower (poor guy).

This hosting website seems to enjoy quite a bit of traffic. Good for him. All his articles is stolen stuff without any mention of the source. He must be proud of himself, I wonder if his parents are, though?

The main take out: I’m must be a good writer after all so people are starting to notice and copy my stuff.

I won't upgrade to the iPhone 12 Pro (#iphone12pro #appleevent #apple)

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 06:56:34 -0400

As great looking and powerful the shinny new iPhone 12 Pro might be, I’ll skip the upgrade this year. Sure, I tend to skip a few generations but there is one unexpected reason not to do so and another one more obvious. First, the problem is because of the current pandemic, I cannot see when I’ll return traveling around the world. Traveling is the best photography opportunity for me. Without travel, working from home all the time, there is no need to get the latest smartphone technology. Second, 5G networks maybe powerful, but the coverage is spotty at best. I prefer to wait a year for this coverage to increase before making the jump on the new iPhone.

Last year I upgraded from an iPhone 7 to an iPhone 11 Pro and I was delighted.

It Just Works™

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 07:13:04 -0400

Yesterday, just like mostly everyday since March 13th of 2020, I went for a long walk with my wife. Both of us had their AirProds Pro with us. I had the idea to try the audio sharing feature of iOS 14 (introduced in iOS 13 if I’m not mistaken). We both put our AirPods in and I selected a playlist. Then, using the media playback UI, I selected the audio sharing option, waited for my wife’s AirPods to show up, after tapping this pair, she then had to accept my invitation and voilà! We both had music in our ears! It’s a great case of “It Just Works”, something that we see less and less often these days, I guess.

On newsletters rising popularity #blogger #blogging #writing #writers

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 16:48:38 -0400

The rising popularity of paid newsletters is good news for many reasons. First, it’s a signal that people are willing to pay for great content without ads all around it. Second, some people value the direct relationship feeling with the writer compared to a traditional website. Third, the popularity of independent writing is rising which is giving back control to the writers.

In a recent article by Nick Heer on Pixel Envy, the author writes:

Yet, despite all of these clear advantages, I still find it difficult to think of my email inbox as somewhere I will go to find something enjoyable to read.

I find newsletters a wonderful medium that cut the noise from social networks. The reading experience can further be improved with a great email client like Basecamp’s Hey which provides a specific reading mode for newsletters call The Feed. You can read my review of this email client here.

Read more comments from Mr. Heer in his blog post. I started a newsletter a few weeks ago. For now and the foreseeable future, it will be free. I have to prove myself that I can meet the deadline every month with quality content. I’ll see how it goes.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

The web in 2020.

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 11:18:23 -0400

Please, have a look at this ten seconds GIF to appreciate how bad the web experience is in 2020. This is the “iPhone in Canada” website. I won’t include the hyperlink in this post. There are 30 trackers in this web page according the Apple’s Safari. Thirty. This is just one example of so many more that illustrates what happens when you no longer care about the actual end-users.

I accidentally clicked on a link to this website and then I remembered why I stopped reading it a long time ago.

Third-party Apple Watch Faces - Yes but no

Sun, 11 Oct 2020 10:00:00 -0400

Here is a super interesting article from David Shayer on Tidbits about why there may never be third-party Apple Watch Faces. According to this software engineer who worked on the first two releases of watchOS, there may be four reasons why Apple probably won’t make a watch face store: battery life, buggy code, Apple’s image, copyright worries. Besides many interesting insights on watchOS development and testing, the reason that caught my attention is about Apple desire to control their image.

What is the killer app of the Apple Watch? The watch face, duh! Apple is an image control freak and I don’t think they want a watch face store full of crappy and bad taste designs to show up on users’ Apple Watch. They lost control of the App Store, they don’t want the same story to happen with the watch. And I agree with this position. But there could be some sort of compromise, though. As pointed out by Matt Birchler in his commentary post to Tidbits article:

“CarPlay is a great example of how Apple could do this right with watch faces: only allow a certain number of companies to make custom watch faces. have them sign additional agreements and have them go through tougher reviews. Maybe there are literally 10 companies who are able to make watch faces. Maybe Apple can reject a watch face simply because they don’t like how it looks.”

My guess is that Apple will look to add more watch faces through collaborative work, just like they did in watchOS 7 with the Artist watch face.

Photo by Daniel Korpai — Unsplasg

Thanks Apple, you’ll make me like November

Sun, 11 Oct 2020 08:32:06 -0400

Bloomberg, via Mark Gurman, is reporting that Apple will hold another event in November for Apple Silicon Macs. Besides my comments yesterday on the opportunity for Apple to present redesigned Macs, having a separate event is a no brainer to me. This is a major transition for Apple and they certainly wants to get the message loud and clear.

If rumors are sound, Apple still have some time ahead to polish the upcoming macOS Big Sur release. As it is today, it is not ready for prime time. It may be the equivalent of the iOS 13 buggy release of this year. Even if Apple announces Macs in November, they could be ready to ship only in December, who knows, giving Apple even more time. Anyhow, I’m not is a rush to upgrade to Big Sur. Apps will have to follow the new look and feel and I’ll wait for them to be updated first. The list is long.

On the upcoming Apple Silicon Macs

Sat, 10 Oct 2020 15:18:45 -0400

While many pundits still wonder which Mac Apple will start transitioning the platform to their shiny and speedy silicon, my attention is on something else. I’m wondering if Apple will take this opportunity to introduce redesigned machines. Let’s say they start with the MacBook Pro, could they use this occasion to reimagine the laptop? What about the iMac which is way overdue for a redesign?

There are two avenues for Apple. One in which they opt for continuity. The other is to make a bold statement and turn the page on the Intel-based era. If prefer the latter as I’d like to see what it looks like after the era of Jony Ive. It’s a golden opportinity IMHO. Besides my preference, Tim Cook’s Apple is conservative and they will probably opt for the former approach.

What do you think?

Deliveries 9.0 - Does it deliver?

Sat, 10 Oct 2020 08:30:13 -0400

Here are a few quick comments on Deliveries 9.0 that came out recently. Deliveries 9 helped me track my Apple Watch Series 6 (read me review here).

As you know, Junecloud, the maker of Deliveries, switched to a subscription model with this release. I don’t really like this model but what can I do? Their pricing is fair and they give to previously paid users a six months break.

Version 9 brings refined visuals and more details tracking history among other things. The importation workflow has been updated and simplified too. Once delivered, package tracking can be archived forever. iOS 13’s dark mode is now supported but iOS 14 widgets aren’t yet. I think Deliveries is the perfect candidate to support widgets and I can’t wait to see what Junecloud will come up with in that regard.

All in all, as a long time user of Deliveries, I’m ok with this update albeit the switch to the subcription model. If it get’s more frequent feature additions, I’m ok with it, I guess.

Ready for a 99$ convenience

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 17:33:31 -0400

At 99$ each, the HomePod mini would find a space on my desk for sure. I care more about size than Siri lacking intelligence with the HomePod. Being able to play music while I work without having to use headphones would be an improvement for me.

www.macrumors.com/2020/10/0…

Thanks again, leakers!

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 07:25:44 -0400

Will there be anything left for Apple to announce next week at the Hi, Speed event? Thanks to leakers on the internet, probably not much. I can’t thank them enough for spoiling things, again.

There was a time where leaks helped people to adjust their buying decisions, but I feel they no longer fit that purposes. It is more like a search for some kind of fame.

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 20:53:22 -0400

What am I doing wrong while doing https://numericcitizen.micro.blog from Safari from iPadOS 14? @help

How well will it age?

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 07:29:55 -0400

I’m keeping that one mockup to see how well it will age when Apple releases the new iPhone lineup next week. I like the dark blue color. But what is missing from these mockups is the edge of the devices. The iPhone 4 and later the iPhone 5 squarish design were one of the best Apple came up with. We’ll see how they execute around the same idea with the iPhone 12.

MMMM everything comes in mini version?

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 17:02:54 -0400

Rumors are swirling around upcoming products from Apple. What is becoming more persistent is the possibility of an HomePod mini announcement. I’m not sure if it is already “dead on arrival” or if Apple is about to give the smart speaker market a second try. Will it take more than a smaller footprint, better sound quality and lower price? Yep: an ecosystem of apps built on something like “siriOS”. There are no signs at all of this… which would be a massive surprise.

Is this a sunset or a sunrise? #apple #appleevent

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 12:51:00 -0400

We should never read too much in Apple’s invite graphics. They rarely have anything to do with the content of the event itself except maybe with the iPad with Retina Display invite a few years ago. Remember the finger on the screen?

Besides the obvious, an iPhone 12 line up announcement, what’s in store? AirTags? Updated Apple TV with Apple’s own game controller? HomePod mini? Don’t expect Apple Silicon Macs until November. I don’t expect Apple to talk about these next week. Apple Silicon Macs need their own stage time in their own event.

Funny is the fact that iOS 14.1 is held back by Apple to fit this event. Probably contains a lot of hints of what is coming down the line.

The year 2020 can be an exciting one after all. I guess.

On Ulysses Latest Release for iPadOS 14

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 08:15:51 -0400

Using the latest release of Ulysses for iPadOS 14, it is a joy to write on the iPad. Now, what am I writing, you might ask? More than 1700 words to express my current view of iOS 14 widgets: where are we, what’s left and where it could be going. It was supposed to be a 5 min reads… now I’m at more than 7 min. Oh well. Should be out in the coming days on my main blog at https://numericcitizen.me

HEY, here is an important update!

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 17:08:31 -0400

Today is Christmas! Basecamp just released version 1.1 of their email client for HEY which supports WIDGETS among other things! I played with it and I LOVE the way they added the feature. Nicely designed and useful! Congrats to them!

Now, I have to get back to work on my article on widgets and remove HEY as an app without widgets support!

Nine years, already.

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 09:13:46 -0400

I miss him. The world is different. Apple has become something else. He would probably like what it has become without him, probably not all of it but most of it. I don’t care what he would have done differently. It’s no longer relevant as we need to keep looking forward, something he always did. But I still miss him dearly.

From 2018 11” iPad Pro to ... ?

Sun, 04 Oct 2020 21:26:49 -0400

I have a 2018 11” iPad Pro. Today, I asked myself: what upcoming features or improvements could entice me to upgrade my iPad Pro? I’m still scratching my head.

Faster? Nope. 😐 Lighter? Not quite. 🤨 More system memory? Mmm not really. Maybe. Maybe not. 🙂 Better screen? Is it even possible? 😬 Longer battery life? Nope. 🙄 Better speakers? Nah. 🥱 Integrated U1 chip? 🤔 A new size? Depends. 😶 Smaller bezels? You like to see first. 😌 Touch ID in power button? On iPhone please. 😉

What’s left? You tell me.

One year of iPhone 11 Pro...

Sat, 03 Oct 2020 17:07:25 -0400

By curiosity today, I went in the battery health section on my iPhone 11 Pro to find out the current status is 96%. Already. I’m a bit surprised by this as I’m mostly at home and using my computer or my iPad. How could I loose 4% in a year?

Sat, 03 Oct 2020 09:50:45 -0400

I’m currently testing the beta of the upcoming reimagined Medium mobile app and I love it 🥰. For once, a redesigned experience is not synonymous of going backward. More on this soon.

One major observation on @mattbirchler’s iPadOS full widgets experience

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 08:02:36 -0400

I’m thinking way too much about widgets these days, thanks to iOS 14 most prominent new feature. I’m still reflecting on the possible reasons why the full widgets experience is not available on iPadOS 14. That being said, @mattbirchler this week came out with an interesting and informative video showing how Apple could possibly enable the full widgets experience. This morning, still thinking about this concept, I realized something: Apple doesn’t need to keep the today view support on the iPad in order to enable the full widgets experience.

I would argue that, in fact, Apple should get rid of the today view that came from the iPhone. One of the reason for this is how bad scrolling the today view works when you have a few widgets stacks; if you don’t pay attention on where you put your finger to scroll this view, you actually end up scrolling through the stack itself instead of scrolling the whole view. That’s not a good experience. The other reason is the iPad screen canvas makes it easy to rebuild the side view just by using the right widgets. No need to have scrolling.

I think Apple will eventually come up with an iPad-specific version of the widgets experience but not with the iPadOS 14 releases streak. And that’s too bad.

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 07:13:40 -0400

My Numeric Citizen Introspection newsletter is out! Check it out, it’s free! Lots of stuff about Apple, photography, privacy and climate change! #newsletter #apple #photography #privacy #climatechange

From Apple to Ubiquiti

Wed, 30 Sep 2020 21:30:21 -0400

Learned something really cool today. A few weeks ago I published my review of the well known router, the Unify Dream Machine (available here). The context of this review was the fact that this new router was replacing my aging Apple AirPort. One of the reasons why I chose this device was because of its external look and finish as well as its superb management app.

One of the founder of Ubiquiti is an ex-Apple employee according to this 9to5Mac article: “an ex-Apple employee went on to found a company that currently sells enterprise networking gear. Robert Pera, the founder of Ubiquiti, Incworked for Apple in the early 2000s as a Wi-Fi engineer.”. Woah. It does explain a few things. This article is well worth your time.

The second edition of my Numeric Citizen Introspection Newsletter is on the launchpad!

Wed, 30 Sep 2020 07:33:32 -0400

My upcoming (and free BTW) Numeric Citizen Introspection Newsletter for September is done. I’m just waiting for September to conclude before hitting the send button. Crafting newsletters like this is so fun. Meanwhile, why not give a look at the first edition?

Waiting... waiting... and waiting.

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 20:45:30 -0400

It’s coming. Two days. Thanks to the soon to be updated Deliveries app. I can “see” where my order is. Can’t wait for version 9.0 launching tomorrow and see how much improved the app is. Can’t wait for my Apple Watch Series 6, coming this Thursday. Still so far from home, yet it feels so close.

Micro.blog 2.0 - Testing, 1-2-3, Testing...

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 17:51:48 -0400

I really like what I’m seeing here on macOS. Only request is the default view of a New Post window should show the Title and Categories by default. On the web, the improvements are massive. I’m surprised the Bookmarking feature is available in a new Premium tier only. I want this feature but not the others (podcasting, richer media support). I’ll give it a try while it is free and I’ll see. On iOS and iPadOS, the workflow of selecting a photo from the library is still broken, otherwise, I love the changes. There seems to be speed improvements too. In other words, it is snappier!

All in all, I like where Micro.blog is going with these updates.

Testing an embedded bookmark here.

For the Micro.blog 2.0 launch week, we’ve enabled the new bookmark archiving and highlights feature for everyone to try out. You can upgrade to Micro.blog Premium at any time and also get podcast and video hosting.

Read: www.manton.org
Manton Reece https://www.manton.org/2020/09/29/for-the-microblog.html

Deliveries: what’s in for me?

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 12:51:43 -0400

I’ve been a long time satisfied user of Deliveries. They are now switching to a subscription model which isn’t a surprise. I do think the pricing is just about right for the type of app. But, looking more closely to what’s new in the upcoming release, I see support for darkmode which is fine but please, don’t try to sell us this upgrade because you support basic OS features that are available for more than a year. Those should be a given. You may disagree.

Here is a free idea for iOS 14 widget developers

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 11:37:43 -0400

Who can remember the Pinball Construction Set? If you do, or you are well documented or you are probably as old as me. Now, consider iOS 14 and the widgets feature: how long before someone comes up with something like a “Widgets Construction Set” for iOS? What I’m seeing now isn’t close enough to my taste.

Lost in a see of content

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 12:46:00 -0400

There is way more content online than we can humanly consume. There, I said it. I’m myself part of the problem, as a content creator too, albeit in a very small tiny fashion. To make things worse, I consider myself a writer. It’s not helping as less and less people are reading these days.

On iOS 14 Widgets: So much untapped potential

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 09:07:19 -0400

We have to realize that we are only at the early stage of widgets support for iOS 14. There is a lot of untapped potential and frustrating design choices. Widgetsmith is having a moment right now but looks like a work-in-progress to me. It is a great idea but it can be tricky to configure and is not fully intuitive. There is so many more data sources the developer could add. And tell me how I would pay to get weather data in Widgetsmith while I can get it all for free with other apps. The added value of Widgetsmith lies in its configurability, not the fact that you can add weather as a source.

ok, the widgets experience on the iPad is crippled, so what?

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 18:00:35 -0400

When iPadOS 14 beta came out, we were all quick to notice how crippled the widgets experience was compared to iOS 14. So we got frustrated. I’m still unable to get over it. Apple is holding back the iPad. Again.

In the last few days, I tried to understand the possible reasons behind this. To my surprise, it’s not easy and there could be many explanations to why the iPad widgets experience is limited to the Today view. More to come in a blog post this week.

Meanwhile, you are more than welcome to share your thoughts! I’m curious.

Apple’s Upcoming Products #apple #iphone12 #airtags

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 20:20:02 -0400

To get a bird’s eye view of the current Apple’s rumours landscape, check out my daily “Apple’s Upcoming Products” newsletter with all the well known leakers in one place. There is still a lot going on for the rest of 2020 and beyond. Subscribe, it’s free and time saving. You’ll thank me later. It’s the best way to spoil any upcoming Apple events. Trust me.

A message to attention seekers

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 06:53:57 -0400

Here is something for attention seekers: GTFU. I don’t understand. What do you expect from me by liking 10 photos in a row on my 500px profile page. The same goes for this case (see screen shot) of someone clapping for all my stories on my Medium page. Do you have something to sell? Probably, but I don’t care. You are making noise all around the web, just because you seek my attention.

Software has never been more powerful. The web is a big tracking machine, yet websites can’t figure out a way to recognize such behaviors in order to stop them. Baffling.

Apple’s best general purpose apps...

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 07:58:42 -0400

I wrote about that a long time ago but here it is again: Apple’s iWork suite is probably the best expression of Apple software these days. This week, the venerable suite got updated to take advantage of iOS 14’s latest features (scribble, new import photo library, etc.). Keynote got an outline mode! 😍

On increasing COVID-19 cases...

Sun, 20 Sep 2020 12:56:11 -0400

Quick question: when you say “oh my, COVID-19 cases are on the rise!” and you get the following response “well, sure, they do more testing!!”. Is this a valid response? If not, what is the counter argument?

I have the feeling there is something wrong with this statement but I cannot put the finger on it. Ideas?

The Rotten Side of Tim Cook's Apple.

Sun, 20 Sep 2020 08:37:43 -0400

Apple, the everlasting success story has been in troubled water in recent years. From faulty or badly designed products to tense relationships with its developers, more than ever Apple is showing its rotten side, attracting regulators’ attention. The family picture is not pretty.

link.medium.com/tcLmxS16V…

I'm never satisfied. Why?

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 12:11:58 -0400

Are you like me and never satisfied with your Apple Watch face arrangement? Why is it so? Why is it so hard to come up with a watch face configuration that totally fit my needs and my taste? iOS 14 helped me solve part of my problem, but it isn’t enough. watchOS doesn’t help either as it allows for even more flexibility. A third-party application named “Buddywatch” is super cool, yet doesn’t fix the problem.

Now, thanks to widgets support in iOS 14, I’m even less satisfied with my iPhone home screen arrangement. I think it’s worse than on my Apple Watch. Widgets, when I find one that is perfectly designed and really useful, lack some flexibility. I never had so much different pages on my home screen. What the hell is happening? Technology should remove the burden on us, not the opposite.

Can Apple pundits see the reality as it is?

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 08:47:28 -0400

I’m working on something that Apple fanboys won’t like at all: a cornerstone piece of more than 4000 words about my personal view of Apple’s less glorious facets. Many Apple pundits will disagree. I don’t care. I worked hard on this one in the last few weeks and my undistorted field perception is finally about to come out. Wait for it. 👨🏻‍💻

No trackers on Apple.com. Really?

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 07:39:34 -0400

After installing Safari 14 on macOS Catalina, I went on Apple.com to see what trackers would be reported. Unsurprisingly, Apple doesn’t use any trackers. Now, the big question: do you believe Apple doesn’t track its main website usage?

On Developer’s Questionable Choices with iOS 14 Widgets Design

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 21:27:00 -0400

There is something fundamentally wrong with the way iOS 14 widgets are being implemented by many developers. Here is a simple example. The popular Reddit client, Apollo, introduced widgets support, see the following picture. Now, how can a widget with two posts can be useful if you are following many subreddits with dozens of new posts each day? What is the point in doing that?

Who's in charge of saying "no, this is shit"?

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 20:32:24 -0400

Look, look closely at this leadership page from Apple. Now, ask yourself, who is directing the product directions part? Who says “no, we won’t do that!” or “come back when it is done!” or “Yes, that’s the direction we will go!”? It used to be Jony Ive and before, Steve Jobs. But, now? How is it possible that someone in charge of “products design” is not on the leadership page? For a company like Apple, it is deeply troubling.

daringfireball.net/2020/09/a…

I'm falling in love, again.

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 19:56:26 -0400

I’m falling back in love with Tweetbot 🥰. For a reason that I don’t remember, I was no longer using since a while ago. I think it was related to the fact that the official Twitter client was getting all the new features while Tweetbot couldn’t keep up (thanks to highly guarded APIs by Twitter. I’m kind of frustrated by the non-chronological timeline. It’s exhausting. I want to focus on a clean UI providing me a clear view on my timeline. That is all.

Warning: doom and gloom ahead. #AppleEvent

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 07:57:01 -0400

On the eve of #AppleEvent tomorrow, I can see a lot of deception on the horizon. The tag line is clear: it’s about time, or the watch. It’s not about the iPhone. It’s not about the Mac. It’s not about the Apple Silicon. It’s about the iPad and the watch. A weird combinaison if you ask me. These updated iPad should be launched with a press release IMHO but Apple needs some stuff to fill the event schedule I guess.

For what reason do we pay Apple for?

Sun, 13 Sep 2020 17:57:23 -0400

Man I still miss him. Steve Jobs had a way of making his point so damn clear. You could disagree with him, but I least you knew what he was trying to say. No bullshit. Plain and simple. Boom. twitter.com/robcorean…

Thought of the day for bloggers and written content creators

Sun, 13 Sep 2020 12:26:17 -0400

Competing against Google’s YouTube, Facebook, Instagram et al. In order to grab users attention is impossible, even with great content to a certain degree. Coupled with the general trend towards more visual content instead of written words, It’s hard to build things like newletters or even simple blog with a reasonable readership. I guess this is the numeric world we must accept to live in. Your thoughts?

numericcitizen.substack.com

From Overcast to Castro — Quick Observations

Sat, 12 Sep 2020 14:12:04 -0400

Re-discovering Castro podcast player 🎧. Much better than Apple’s Podcast app 👍🏻. Better design than Overcast 👌🏻. Super nice Watch app 😍. Impressive Shortcuts support. 👨🏻‍💻 No iPad version, though 😕. Looking forward for iOS 14 widgets support and maybe a universal version with support for all platforms (is this even in the cards? 🧐). Proudly supporting the developer by being a yearly subscriber now.

castro.fm

Apple Card, Apple Cash in Canada soon?

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 20:39:08 -0400

Can’t wait for this to come over here, in Canada 🇨🇦. One question though: would this mean Apple Cash would also come with it? They both look tied together for cash backs. Am I right? I don’t expect this to come out on next week apple event, but eventually in 2020 - 2021 timeframe.

appleterm.com/2020/09/1…

Stupid 5G Marketing

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 20:15:04 -0400

Saw that picture of a guy paying an VR game on a Rogers website to promote 5G networks in Canada. How stupid is this marketing!? What are they thinking when they “design’ their marketing campaign? You tell me.

After Tim Cook

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 10:17:28 -0400

Having discussions about what comes next after Tim Cook is only a good thing. There is nothing to worry about this. That being said, I can see someone like Greg Joswiak to take over. I’m a bit tired of people in the ops field to lead Apple.

appleinsider.com/articles/…

Not too fast, people, not too fast

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 07:14:18 -0400

Following the #AppleEvent announcement yesterday, I saw many comments about a possible schedule of events this fall. Many of them are putting the release of the Apple Silicon Mac in October.

There is no way this is going to happen that early. macOS Big Sur is still at Beta 3. Developers are hard at work adding support for widgets and other iOS 14 stuff. I would expect iOS 14 to be released at the end of September. iOS 14.1 will come out in beta at the beginning of October in order to support the new iPhone shipping later in October.

Now back to the Mac. I expect Big Sur to be released at the very end of October if not November. The actual Apple Silicon Mac will probably be announced at a different moment than the iPhone. Apple doesn’t like to mixed up things in their keynote. The actual shipping date could be at the very end of the year, just in time to catch the ramp up of the A14X production rumored to be starting in Q4.

In summary: Apple Silicon Mac to be released late in 2020.

Mon, 07 Sep 2020 20:50:43 -0400

Time to record current Apple Watch website before Series 6.

Mon, 07 Sep 2020 18:13:06 -0400

You cannot trust the human race. #covid19

Mon, 07 Sep 2020 08:58:42 -0400

Updated many of my photo albums on my Adobe Portfolio. numericcitizen.myportfolio.com

Sun, 06 Sep 2020 07:46:02 -0400

Just in case you missed it, I started a newsletter touching subjects like Apple, photography, privacy protection and climate change. You could be surprised to see how often these are interrelated. It’s free. #newsletter #blog numericcitizen.substack.com

Sat, 05 Sep 2020 17:56:33 -0400

Have you ever carefully looked at Apple Leadership page? Tell me what’s wrong. Nah, I’m going to tell you: who in charge of Design? Is it a bit weird that, following Jony Ive departure, Apple leadership page is still missing someone for the design side? I think so.

Sat, 05 Sep 2020 16:51:37 -0400

I would pay a lot of money for this kind of table.

Sat, 05 Sep 2020 08:23:02 -0400

There you have it. #newsletter #blog #writing #blogger Hoping for a long series.

https://numericcitizen.substack.com/p/numeric-citizens-introspection-newsletter

Fri, 04 Sep 2020 16:47:15 -0400

This is my Twitter family. I wonder what my Micro.blog family would look like.

Fri, 04 Sep 2020 07:17:47 -0400

And we’re ready for launch, tomorrow! All systems are ready! Weather is a go too! Don’t miss the officiel launch of my newsletter and subscribe NOW! It’s exciting! #newsletter #writing #blogging #blog #apple #photography #privacy #climatechange numericcitizen.substack.com

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 13:04:26 -0400

It came to my mind that preparing and sending my first newsletter is like putting a message in a bottle and dropping it in the sea. #writing #writer #blogging #blog Picture from Javardh from Unsplash. numericcitizen.substack.com

Sun, 30 Aug 2020 19:05:55 -0400

Where is the folder name? Dear @Apple, why is it so hard? #ios14beta6

Sat, 29 Aug 2020 11:51:37 -0400

Why Substack? My answer.

https://numericcitizen.substack.com/p/this-is-an-experiment

Sat, 29 Aug 2020 09:34:39 -0400

I’m still on the fence with Substack. It is free to start. I don’t know if I’ll be duplicating efforts that I already put in WordPress, Micro.blog and Medium. Writers discovery is limited if I understand it well. This is a web-only publishing experience. #blogging #writing

Sat, 29 Aug 2020 09:15:42 -0400

Here is a side-effect of using @HEY. I no longer use (or rarely use) Apple’s Mail. When an email provider forwards an email to HEY, it is not marked as read (a few offers this option which help keep unread count lower).

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 19:54:35 -0400

Forgot to put the evidence for my previous post. Here it is.

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 12:12:04 -0400

The Siri App suggestions widget in iPadOS 14 beta 6 is not very intelligent. On the following screenshot, suggested apps can be found on the Dock. No added value here, redundant. Filling feedback report now. 👨🏻‍💻 #ipados14beta6

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 22:23:05 -0400

It’s coming. #fall

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 10:38:56 -0400

I wish we could see more collaborative work among bloggers, just like in the podcasts sphere. Why is it not common or is it? #blogging #blogger #bloggerlife #writing #collaboration

Sun, 23 Aug 2020 11:53:48 -0400

What’s a computer?

BREAKING: Adobe Lightroom CC 5.4 Users - Data Loss

Thu, 20 Aug 2020 14:33:26 -0400

Major issue affecting Adobe Lightroom CC users at version 5.4: the cloud-based photo procesing software. Users affected by the bug lost portion or all their photo library (I’m not one of those, thanks god!). According to an Adobe statement: We know that some customers have photos and presets that are not recoverable. We sincerely apologize to any customers who have been affected by this issue.

Ouch. In other words: Adobe says: fuck you. That’s the price of cloud-based storage services (on top of the monthly payment). No service is immute to this. We should be pressuring companies like Adobe, Apple, etc. to stop this non-sense. https://www.macrumors.com/2020/08/20/adobe-lightroom-ios-update-photos-deleted

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 16:43:44 -0400

The lack of a per-picture sync status in iOS 14 is baffling. #ios14 #apple

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 18:22:45 -0400

I decided to turn that off under iPadOS 14. It’s the consequence of not having the full widgets experience like on the iPhone.

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 13:34:06 -0400

Here is an app idea: how about an app allowing bloggers to easily create « link posts » which would allow for easy insertion of links and text quotes and the blogger’s own comments. I would pay for that one. I’m currently using Linky but it is very limited (single quote).

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 08:55:03 -0400

If you are not on iOS 14 beta 4, hold off and wait for Beta 5. I do experience the same issues exposed in this Twitter thread. Very buggy release. It reminds me of iOS 13 betas. #ios14beta4 #apple

twitter.com/marcoarme…

On Apple's latest iMac update

Fri, 07 Aug 2020 08:43:31 -0400

Great reviews on the latest iMac update. As a serious amateur photographer, the thing that stands out to me is the new nano glass option. At 500$ it is not cheap but reviewers are liking it a lot. Could this option eventually come to the iPad Pro? Or the iPhone? I would pay a premium for this on the iPad Pro.

Now, why the 21.5” iMac has not been updated is a mystery to me. I currently own a max-out 2017 21.5” iMac. The size of this machine is better for me, but I would prefer a 24”. Could this mean the lower size iMac will be the first desktop to receive the Apple Silicon treatment as well a the long overdue redesign? I think so.

www.macrumors.com/review/20…

How Long Apple can stand like this?

Fri, 07 Aug 2020 08:25:56 -0400

On Apple’s stance on its App Store policies.

Developers are complaining. The tech press is complaining. Governments are complaining. Now Microsoft is complaining. And Facebook too.

Google? Are users complaining? I don’t see that. Does it make a big difference for Apple?

How long Apple can stand like this?

On iOS 14 Design Considerations

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 06:28:44 -0400

Dear iOS developers: be careful when considering widget design and content. Space on my iPhone screen is more constrained than ever with iOS 14. Here is a bad example: showing the three most recent tweets from my twitter timeline is useless as I’m following many hundreds persons. Be more creative than this.

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 21:47:19 -0400

Five gone, one to go. #apple

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 20:51:06 -0400

Apple is really not done with Intel in the Mac. It is clear to me that Apple Silicon will find its way in lower end machines first, certainly portable ones with today’s announcements.

www.apple.com/newsroom/…

On Phil Schiller (departure) of Apple

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 19:33:00 -0400

Aside from the iMac updates coming out of Apple today, here is another (more important) news: Phil Schiller is now an Apple Fellow. That was not expected. People come and go. Mr. Schiller as done a lot for Apple. Time to (slowly) move on.

I don’t like Greg “Joz” Jozwiak.

Sun, 02 Aug 2020 17:52:51 -0400

Feels like summer. #mbaug That’s the camp fire in the foreground and the (near full) moon up there behind the clouds. #iphone11pro

When I wanted to work for Apple...

Fri, 31 Jul 2020 15:26:26 -0400

Here is a short story. In 1985, I was working for an authorized Apple dealer in my home town. I was an Apple zealot (surprise?) and I wanted to work for them. So, I created my (short) resume and sent it (by mail) to Apple’s headquarters. A few months later, I got a polite response: Thanks, but no thanks. I was eighteen.

Fri, 31 Jul 2020 13:03:37 -0400

Hoping to help you forget about all the ugly things right now. Enjoy.

Fri, 24 Jul 2020 14:16:35 -0400

I’m getting there. Where? No idea. Entirely random city design and building. That is what playing is all about. #townscraper

Fri, 24 Jul 2020 13:55:09 -0400

A byproduct of the coronavirus pandemic: traveling apps like Flighty won’t get my renewal this year. Sad for the developer. Really nice app. See you next year, maybe.

Fri, 24 Jul 2020 07:00:06 -0400

If anyone had doubts on why Apple is transitioning to its own silicon for the Mac: Intel is (again) delaying it’s 7nm chips to… 2022 or 2023. www.tomshardware.com/news/inte…

After 14 major iOS release... and yet...

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 13:07:50 -0400

Everybody is talking about Apple Music new icon since Beta 3 but, think about this: after 14 versions of iOS, and here we are: the “More” “button” lingering bad design. How many times I try to hit this and I bring the detail view of the app instead. Frustrating.

Let me be clear: wrong place, too small, text overlapping, not a real button.

Come on, Apple!

My suggestion: add a “Details” button accessible when sliding the table cell to the left (the same gesture that reveals a Delete button).

On Widgets Management Interfaces on iPhone

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 13:00:40 -0400

Very valid complaint from Dieter Bohn of The Verge on Apple’s implementation of widgets management on iPhone. Two different user interfaces for basically the same objective. I prefer the look of the new design, but I understand the previous one is still there for compability purposes.

iOS 14 Beta 3 brings back the « Edit » button at the (very inconvenient place) bottom of the list. Hitting the button brings you back unexpectedly to the top of the widgets list. Going back down the list and you’ll find a “Customize” button. Really? Also, tapping and holding on old widgets doesn’t invoke edit mode. Not very consistent. I should probably fill a feedback report and send it to Apple.

I do think this is a transitional design. Transitions are rarely pleasant.

twitter.com/backlon/s…

The race for the bottom of everything

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 07:35:28 -0400

On Apple’s 30% cut. Again.

We all know where this all goes. Yesterday it was a deal. Today, 30% is way too much. So, let’s fight and try to force Apple to set the cut to 20%. No, 15%. That is way better, right? A few years down the road, a well known developer comes out and complain about 15% being way too much of a cut. Poor guy. Let’s start a fight and bring that down. Apple respond and set it to 10% because they are forced to. And the story continues.

Let’s face the reality. We don’t like to pay for something. We want it all. We know the price of everything but the value of nothing. How do you think China came to be so powerful? How do you think Amazon or Costco is sucking air from small local businesses in our communities? Why do you think our life is full of shitty ads are everywhere? Why do you think we are the product of Google, Facebook? Because we don’t like to pay for something, anything. We want it all free.

There is a pattern. There is a race for the bottom of everything. And I don’t agree in Brent’s views on what would happen if Apple lowers their demand from developers. I certainly don’t believe developers would lower the price of their apps.

Remember what capitalism is all about?

Change my mind.

inessential.com/2020/07/2…

Wed, 22 Jul 2020 20:37:32 -0400

13th iPhone Photography Awards winners are out! Some incredible pictures in there. Congrats to the winders. My prefered one is the waterfall in B&W. #photography #ippawards IPPAWARDS - iPhone Photography Awards - Celebrating the creativity of the iPhone users since 2007

The iPad still held back with iPadOS 14

Wed, 22 Jul 2020 06:55:03 -0400

iPadOS 15 concept imagined by Parker Ortolani certainly looks interesting. I’m not sure about some ideas put forward but it certainly shows how the iPad is still held back with iPadOS 14. The lack of flexibility in widgets placement is, put mildly, baffling. I love those widgets on my iPhone but the lack of space forces us to create tons of pages. And the problem will only get worst this fall after developers start adding widget support in their apps. It will be crazy. #iPadOS14 #apple

www.behance.net/gallery/1…

Wed, 22 Jul 2020 06:45:00 -0400

If blog post from Readdle’s is any indication, expect a LOT of widgets to be available when iOS 14 launch this fall. In fact, more widgets will be available than any number of home screen pages can accommodate. #ios14 readdle.com/blog/ios1…

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 21:03:53 -0400

Apple is already setting the table for the iPhone 12 lack of charger in the box. You may not like this decision but this is clever marketing. www.apple.com/environme…

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 20:23:01 -0400

I love this game. Spent a few hours building this unknown city. 😍 #townscraper

Sun, 19 Jul 2020 11:51:21 -0400

My first experiment with an ND1000 filter. Quite happy with the results. Classic subject for this. Next up? Cloudy skies.

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 14:24:34 -0400

Dear Apple, please, oh please, allow us to move around our many screens in this view. Thank you.

A friend. #apple #ipados #ios14 #ios14beta

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 18:55:16 -0400

Welcome to iOS 14 beta 2. 👨🏻‍💻🤷🏻‍♂️ But I love it. Very stable on iPad. 😎 #apple #ipados14

Sun, 05 Jul 2020 09:43:25 -0400

For the next two months. Life is good to me, even in 2020. #bloggerlife #blogger

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 11:58:00 -0400

My first email to Apple’s top lieutenant: Craig Federighi. Yep, I did it, following my recent blog post. Now, waiting for a possible answer.🤞🏻 numericcitizen.me/2020/07/0…

Thu, 25 Jun 2020 21:03:05 -0400

I told you that @mailbrew + HEY was a killer combination. Clips. 👊🏻😎👨🏻‍💻

On macOS Big Fur surprising visual and design attributes #wwdc #wwdc20

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 22:43:49 -0400

Taken out of one of @gruber recent post. In red: the Cancel button looks like being disabled. Very bad. The menu bar transparency, why? Is Apple trying to make us forget about this distinctive UI element? In yellow: the window title being no longer at the center, to make room for buttons (that look less and less like buttons)…
In green: a depth effect with surrounding shadow, thumbs up. General look of the refresh popup dialog, very iOS is refreshing on the Mac.

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 21:29:43 -0400

For those wondering… I’m still trying to wrap my head around the start of the WWDC20 week, started by this exceptional opening keynote. So far, the best words for describing my feelings are “a near perfect balancing act”. #apple #wwdc20 #wwdc2020 #wwdc

Stay tuned for more.

Sat, 20 Jun 2020 09:08:57 -0400

About HEY/Basecamp founders. Found on the Internet. 😳

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 15:29:36 -0400

Woah. So. Nice. twitter.com/andrewapr…

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 20:31:18 -0400

Oh this is so cool… for photography beginners who want to learn how to use Lightroom… new in release 5.3 of Lightroom: sharing your edits to the world! lightroom.app.link

The following edit from the Lightroom community has been shared with you: Broken Glass and Butterflies

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 20:23:36 -0400

There is a lot to like and love in the latest release of Adobe Lightroom for iPad. Played with is for a while and I like it a lot! #adobe #lightroom

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 07:06:48 -0400

Been playing with this guy for 12 hours now… I’m… ecstatic. Expect a full review soon. @ubnt twitter.com/ubnt/stat…

BREAKING NEWS: iBooks Author is dead.

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 13:34:03 -0400

Now it’s official, Apple iBooks Author is being retired. Upcoming update to Pages will be able to import Books from iBooks Author. It is a sad day for many content creators, I’m sure, me included.

Sun, 07 Jun 2020 13:25:36 -0400

Today, I read on a website that Polarr is a good alternative to Snapseed. Well, truth to be told: it is far from being the case. Polarr is not free. Very hard to replace special effects like Grunge. #photography #photoapps #applications

Sat, 06 Jun 2020 17:49:00 -0400

By refusing to build an iPad version of their app, Instagram makes a big mistake. I think serious content creators would love to use bigger devices. But Facebook just doesn’t care.

Sat, 06 Jun 2020 17:39:55 -0400

It takes time to build a meaningful presence on Instagram. Https://www.instagram.com/theperfectimperfctions

Tue, 02 Jun 2020 07:22:56 -0400

On smartphones sales numbers declining because of COVID-19: everyone were hit. Apple much less than others. #apple #iphone #sales

Sat, 30 May 2020 17:51:07 -0400

This looks like summer to me.

Sat, 30 May 2020 13:36:25 -0400

Ok, guys, iOS 13.5 stability and quality is a downgrade compared to 13.4 for me. For the second time this week, after waking up, my iPhone is hot and and battery charging is capped at 80%. I have to reset my iPhone to fix the issue. Not good. #ios135 #applebugs #apple

Thu, 28 May 2020 13:04:25 -0400

Please, Apple, do something about this in iOS 14. Thank you. #ipados #ios #apple

Thu, 28 May 2020 07:31:55 -0400

While working within Adobe Photoshop for iPad. 😩😳Lost part of my work session. After restarting the app. Had to remove it from iPad and re-install. iPad has more than 170 GB of free space. 🤔

Tue, 26 May 2020 20:13:58 -0400

Trying to learn to use Photoshop for iPad. Even a simplified version of this venerable app is hard to master. 😞

Sun, 24 May 2020 10:45:00 -0400

My gosh: Instagram is such a massive mess in UX/UI. It is a great story on how numeric entropy took over the whole space. The fact that it has such a wide spread user base is baffling.

Sat, 23 May 2020 14:56:52 -0400

I rarely post pictures here. Taking a quick break from bike ride. Great weather; dry, sunchine, windy. Loving every seconds of it. 🚲😷

Sat, 23 May 2020 11:21:58 -0400

Exposure notifications are not yet available here in Canada. Our Prime Minister did mention yesterday the government is looking into recommending specific apps based on this kind of technology. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

Sat, 23 May 2020 09:33:40 -0400

Each time I’m looking at a video comparison of Lightroom against Capture One, I’m wondering if it would be a good idea to switch… but I do like many of the other apps that comes with the Adobe Photography plan like Spark, Adobe Portfolio. 🤨 #photography #adobe

Wed, 20 May 2020 18:53:10 -0400

Is 500px trying to be more like Viewbug or GuruShots? It surely looks like it. I’m not sure I like it. 🤔🧐🤨 #photography #photographer

Tue, 19 May 2020 21:12:55 -0400

Oh, another nice update. Stay tuned on why.

Notion is now (mostly) free!

Tue, 19 May 2020 20:00:07 -0400

Oh, one interesting update today on the App Store: Notion now free and a new personal pro tier introduced on which I’ll be upgraded. Cool. Many other new things included in this update, like 2x speed increase for app launch. 👀

My review of Notion here 👉🏻👉🏻 numericcitizen.me/2020/04/1…

Sat, 16 May 2020 18:45:21 -0400

Pretty old one but I still love it.

Fri, 15 May 2020 22:23:40 -0400

That is all.

Fri, 15 May 2020 12:15:54 -0400

Seeing Facebook buying Giphy in order to integrate it into Instagram says a lot about how downhill Instagram is going. So sad. I'm still in search of the good old days of this platform but on other services.

Thu, 14 May 2020 15:03:24 -0400

Woah, 1Password you are being needy! Always freaky.

Feeling nostalgic today

Tue, 12 May 2020 07:08:28 -0400

Very telling chart of past disruptions in the photography world. I don't want to look too nostalgic but seeing how fast the smartphone is taking over the photography world is a bit sad.

Something is different about Unsplash

Mon, 11 May 2020 19:18:28 -0400

There is something different about my beloved photo sharing service, Unsplash. I'm not sure if it's for the better. It's hard for me to put a finger on it but there is something different.

Stopping mass surveillance

Sat, 09 May 2020 18:43:14 -0400

I’ve been working from home since March, 13th. My employer is fully supporting remote work by monitoring the output of my work, not the input. Stop mass surveillance by reporting when you disagree with the policy. If no change, just quit.

Employee-surveillance software is not welcome to integrate with Basecamp m.signalvnoise.com/employee-…

On the lack of Flash support on the iPhone

Sat, 09 May 2020 10:45:38 -0400

I remember arguing with a guy on supporting flash challenges like transposing « hovering » events with the mouse pointer. How on earth someone could « hover » with their fingers on the screen for content to change accordingly? That wasn’t possible obviously.

Now, look at the iPad with the just introduced pointer support. It’s exactly that, hovering on buttons make the pointer morph into the button’s shape. Fascinating.

Vintage 2007 Claim Chowder: Josh Quittner Returned His iPhone daringfireball.net/linked/20…

Thu, 07 May 2020 20:30:29 -0400

A 299$ piece of art.

When macOS behave like Windows

Wed, 06 May 2020 07:52:37 -0400

I had to reboot my iMac this morning to fix weird issues (no sound in FaceTime calls, iCloud sync not going anywhere, etc.) And now this, after reboot. WTF. iCloud-based services can be scary. How am I supposed to fix this now. Don't tell me I have to turn off iCloud Photo Library and turn it back on. Please.

Wed, 06 May 2020 06:59:04 -0400

Really nice visual.

Tue, 05 May 2020 21:40:44 -0400

So true. Sad. Frustrating.

Washington Post Poll: ‘Americans Widely Oppose Reopening Most Businesses, Despite Easing of Restrictions in Some States’ daringfireball.net/linked/20…

Tue, 05 May 2020 07:19:31 -0400

My Ghost experiment is to try to find a better solution to replace this. So far, I don't see the plus value of switching, even if Ghost general experience is positive.

Sun, 03 May 2020 22:09:16 -0400

Nothing more to add.

Apple CEO Tim Cook Delivers Virtual Commencement Address to Ohio State University Graduates www.macrumors.com/2020/05/0…

Fri, 01 May 2020 07:37:42 -0400

Liking this a lot. But, I upgraded to the iPhone 11 Pro last fall. I’ll probably wait next year.

Still far from fully recovered from Google's search algorithm changes of last November

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 07:10:16 -0400

Last day of April. Time to look back at this month's stats. It was a great month for my main blog visitors but still far away of full recovery of the big Google search crash of last November. I wonder if I will every recover from it, despite all my efforts to write fewer but longer and higher quality posts. On a brighter side, I’m faring much much better on Medium. (xpost)

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 21:16:04 -0400

See what happens when you start using the things that you make. #apple #facetime

Another iOS 13.5 Beta Tweak: An Option to Disable ‘Automatic Prominence’ for the Current Speaker’s Tile in Group FaceTime daringfireball.net/linked/20…

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 07:58:21 -0400

That is my feeling too. #apple #ipadpro #magickeyboard

Magic Keyboard: Apple’s Laptop Conversion Kit – His Dork Materials hisdorkmaterials.com/magic-key…

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 07:46:03 -0400

The Internet in 2020. Can you see the problem? I don’t know what they think when they “design” these web sites but… and what you don’t see is a giant popup pushed on you taking over the only portion of actual information. GTFO of these sites, fast.

Tue, 28 Apr 2020 07:38:13 -0400

Speaking of iPadOS 13.4 with pointer support… my favourite writing app Ulysses just received an update. Using the trackpad to swipe left and right to show or hide panes is brilliant. 🥰

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 21:43:58 -0400

So spot on. This is the beauty of the iPad. #apple #ipadpro #magickeyboard

Jason Snell Reviews the 12.9-Inch iPad Magic Keyboard daringfireball.net/linked/20…

Sun, 26 Apr 2020 09:01:28 -0400

Question of the day: have you ever wondered why FaceTime settings are not located in iCloud settings? Working on a special blog post related to FaceTime.

Sat, 25 Apr 2020 12:52:49 -0400

This is why I chose “transformative accessory” in my blog post reviewing the Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro. Happy to see it is seen that way by others too.

Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro review: Living the dream sixcolors.com/post/2020…

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 09:12:51 -0400

👉🏻 Nice exposure and validation for @gruber review of the 2020 iPhone SE. 😉

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 07:49:43 -0400

This picture of a woman working from home is so fascinating. There is a lot to observe here. Source: CNN.

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 21:17:47 -0400

My first micro.blog post from… 🤫 I’m delighed. Probably one of the best keyboard ever designed by Apple.

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 12:59:03 -0400

Apple: let’s help us practice and iron out details before the big show… WWDC.

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 13:31:25 -0400

Big update to Ferrite today. Version 2.5 introduces something that should be made at the operating system level: presentation mode where user interactions are explicitly shown on the screen. With iOS screen recording on, this makes great learning videos.

Sat, 18 Apr 2020 14:53:39 -0400

In the following image, how do you call this graph style and what application can generate them? Very curious about this.

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 11:46:26 -0400

Remember Apple’s Mail Drop? Nice reminder of its existence this morning for sending two large files. Nice. 😁

On iPhone 12 Pro Max Design Leaks - woah #iphone12 #leaks

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 07:22:39 -0400

Major design mockup of the iPhone 12 Pro Max. All based on CAD files in the wild. These guys 3D printed it so they could get a feeling of the device in their hands. The boxy design seems to be really nice to handle. Looking forward for more details. And the bezels will be much smaller too, making it a real full screen device. youtu.be/ZUXwDpGyl…

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 11:46:19 -0400

This will be a long 14 days.

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 07:45:37 -0400

Some very jaw-dropping pictures here. 👀 Sony World Photography Awards: Year’s best photographs revealed - CNN Style

Sun, 12 Apr 2020 21:42:33 -0400

Part of something very special to be published tomorrow. Stay tuned. #me

Sat, 11 Apr 2020 13:02:19 -0400

These are the reasons that I don’t read CNN while on a traditional computer. Same goes for www.imore.com or www.macworld.com as these are simply tracking monsters.

The Bullshit Web pxlnv.com/blog/bull…

Another potential iPadOS game changer: introducing the iPad Main Menu.

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 19:53:39 -0400

I think I just saw the future of iPadOS. Please, if you are an avid iPad user, take a moment to take a look at a potential feature that could be the next big game changer after the mouse support introduced with iPadOS 13.4. The following website perfectly illustrates a potential new system wide feature: iPad Main Menu. Dear Apple, please, oh please, consider this for iPadOS 14. 🙏🏻🥺

www.ipadmenu.study

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 07:01:56 -0400

If you want to get a glimpse of the rumoured widgets design for iOS 14, look no further than the currently shipping iOS 13’s Control Center. I can see Apple’s desire to present a coherent look with this design. #apple #ipados14 #ios14

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 18:36:59 -0400

There are so many great photos. This pandemic is a great opportunity to freeze images of our empty cities. I wish I could do the same. iPhone 11 Pro camera meets an empty London - 9to5Mac

Sun, 05 Apr 2020 19:15:22 -0400

Wonderful shot. 😍 twitter.com/thamkhaim…

Sun, 05 Apr 2020 17:32:31 -0400

Great summary of major photo processing software. twitter.com/500px/sta…

Sat, 04 Apr 2020 18:02:28 -0400

Wearing a face mask is now fashionable. #coronaviris #covid19 😔

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 11:14:48 -0400

My thoughts exactly. This crisis is a general repetition of what is really coming ahead of us. 😔

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 19:44:41 -0400

The Magic Trackpad + iPadOS 13.4: the perfect match, while waiting for the real thing to come next May, the Magic Keyboard with trackpad. #ipados134 #trackpad

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 16:03:15 -0400

Made by Apple for iPadOS 13.4. I’m in love with the iPad. Again. 🥰 #apple #ipados134 (Side notes: much better experience than with the magic mouse. Enabled the click on tap option.).

When you have to eat your own dog food

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 13:51:26 -0400

Now Apple will better understand how their software can be frustrating as hell…

Apple staffers suffer work-from-home setbacks due to security guidelines, travel bans appleinsider.com/articles/…

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 11:53:06 -0400

Google is being greedy and stupid for putting a simple feature like background play under their paywal. Oh, and, on iOS, does Premium enable another basic feature like 4K video?

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 10:59:23 -0400

Patiently waiting for this to arrive… because, you know… iPadOS 13.4. #ipados134 #apple #trackpadsupport

This is why I’m so angry 🤬

Sun, 29 Mar 2020 20:09:33 -0400

The root cause of why I’m so angry at the The Clown in Chief 🤡 and the whole political class in the US. They don’t care about humans except themselves.

Opinion | Who Will Win the Fight for a Post-Coronavirus America? www.nytimes.com/2020/03/2…

Sat, 28 Mar 2020 13:05:02 -0400

I have high hopes on Apple to re-invent the WWDC conference. #iosdev #apple

Chris Lattner Talks Swift, WWDC and More on This Week’s ATP Podcast www.macrumors.com/2020/03/2…

Sat, 28 Mar 2020 11:40:52 -0400

Hey #iosdev, here is a free idea for an app: Unsplash screensaver for the iPad displaying content from Unsplash as a slideshow. Boom.

I have an old iPad on a stand where this could be a great picture frame.

Sat, 28 Mar 2020 09:56:36 -0400

One thing that I would like to do is go for a walk downtown Montreal to take pictures of an empty city. But I won’t because of the confinement rules. #coronavirus #covid19

Tue, 24 Mar 2020 20:42:03 -0400

Woah, just wrote something similar… taken from my Twitter feed…

Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:59:37 -0400

Dear USA, I wish you good luck. #covid19 #coronavirus

Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:55:42 -0400

Effect of coronavirus on App Store downloads. Fascinating. #coronavirus #covid19 #appstore

Sun, 22 Mar 2020 10:47:39 -0400

Putting the final touches to my take on iPadOS 13.4 mouse support and a few other things surroundings Apple’s announcements this week. More than 2000 words coming up! Stay tuned. #apple #ipados134

Sat, 21 Mar 2020 21:46:10 -0400

Who knows if Apple will re-invent the typical conference like they reinvented the phone in 2007. I would be really surprised if they cancel WWDC altogether. #coronavirus #covid19

Google Cancels I/O Entirely daringfireball.net/linked/20…

Fri, 20 Mar 2020 08:24:57 -0400

Sadly, I think there is some truth to this. #covid19 😔

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 18:26:59 -0400

I’m sorry to interrupt but the external keyboard was part of the original concept of the iPad. ☝🏻

Apple finally admits Microsoft was right about tablets www.theverge.com/2020/3/19…

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 08:22:40 -0400

This is the pure beauty of the iPad. #apple #ipad #ipados

The iPad cursor is here, no wait required sixcolors.com/post/2020…

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 21:48:51 -0400

Show by example. Max ten people. In this press conference, out of SIXTHEEN people, only THREE of them talked to the journalists. Others were standing there like bubble heads figures. WTF! #covid19

Get him off Twitter

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 10:55:06 -0400

In other words, put the Clown in chief in quarantine.

‘Isolate him’: Ex-Trump official calls on president to go into ‘verbal quarantine’ during COVID-19 crisis www.rawstory.com/2020/03/i…

Sun, 15 Mar 2020 13:02:09 -0400

Love these shots… fits current crisis. Photography is about bringing emotion and questions. twitter.com/briscoepa…

On watchOS 7 and shareable watch face - an edge case example (hit link for the details)

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 12:16:16 -0400

What if a watch face uses a complication from a third-party app that the other user don’t have installed? How would this situation be handled? Highly probable edge case IMHO.

watchOS 7 to include new ‘International’ Apple Watch face with multiple country flags - 9to5Mac 9to5mac.com/2020/03/1…

Tue, 10 Mar 2020 17:19:35 -0400

Not sure about this one. The wording is to the effect that it will be a separate page with a list view, not a full new mode.

iOS 14 to include new homescreen list view option with Siri suggestions and more - 9to5Mac 9to5mac.com/2020/03/1…

Tue, 10 Mar 2020 17:15:33 -0400

What? 😳🤔🧐 I’m not sure how I feel about that one. #apple #ios14

iOS 14: Major accessibility features, Alipay Apple Pay, wallpaper app integration, more - 9to5Mac 9to5mac.com/2020/03/1…

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 20:54:14 -0400

🙁😔

Exclusive: The Strongest Evidence Yet That America Is Botching Coronavirus Testing www.theatlantic.com/health/ar…

I wish you good luck with that (COVID-19) - (follow link for my take).

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 20:32:59 -0400

Well, let me guess for you: look no further than of your (insert worst adjective here) President.

Exclusive: The Strongest Evidence Yet That America Is Botching Coronavirus Testing www.theatlantic.com/health/ar…

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 18:34:02 -0400

This is soooo Montreal. By a great Saturday afternoon while taking a walk with my wife. #shotoniphone

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 09:55:38 -0400

One of the best shots of the Burning Man event that I have seen. 😍 Burning Man : Photos by Scott London – Scott London

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 08:45:06 -0400

I’m working on something new. Again. 😎 📷 #photographer #creativity numericcitizen.me/series/th…

Fri, 06 Mar 2020 17:09:55 -0400

Just discovered that within WordPress, with Automattic at least, there is a free library of very high quality, royalty-free stock images available at my fingertips. Very cool. I love Unsplash but these are very good too. I’m an happy camper.

Intel: Houston, we have a problem (follow link for the details)

Fri, 06 Mar 2020 13:38:09 -0400

I’m not a security expert but this “bug” seems quite serious. Macs not affected. AMD no affected. Trust going downhill. 😳🙁

5 years of Intel CPUs and chipsets have a concerning flaw that’s unfixable arstechnica.com/informati…

Fri, 06 Mar 2020 09:27:58 -0400

Photography lovers, your opinion count. #photographers #photography See here: numericcitizen.me/2020/03/0… Vote then there: poll.fm/10516091

Thu, 05 Mar 2020 12:35:48 -0400

Oops. Not related in any way to #COVID19. Move on.

Tue, 03 Mar 2020 08:18:58 -0400

Adobe apps running on modern hardware… or another reason to hate Adobe?

Mac Pro review: power, if you can use it www.theverge.com/2020/3/2/…

Apple, WWDC and COVID19

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 22:39:40 -0400

Apple usually show the way when it’s time to put humans interests above anything else. Apple cannot be far behind. WWDC2020 will (should) be a virtual event this year.

Google, Adobe cancel live segments of upcoming conventions due to coronavirus concerns appleinsider.com/articles/…

On Apple and Default Apps

Sun, 01 Mar 2020 19:39:32 -0400

I have some doubts that Apple will feel the pressure to up their game with the stock apps because they allow third-party apps to act as default ones. Why? What do they lose in case of status quo? Keeping pressure on them with constructive comments as bloggers has more effects. Why? It comes down to public image management.

On Apple Letting Users Switch Default Apps on iOS chambyte.net/on-apple-…

the man in charge

Sun, 01 Mar 2020 18:41:25 -0400

With this guy in charge, we have nothing to worry about.

Inside Trump’s frantic attempts to minimize the coronavirus crisis www.washingtonpost.com/politics/…

Sun, 01 Mar 2020 17:05:17 -0400

The sad state of buying software these days. I did pay for Enlight back then. Deleted. Too bad, it was great while it lasted.

Sat, 29 Feb 2020 11:50:10 -0400

Processed in Pixelmator Photo on the iPad. Winter. The perfect imperfections?

Sat, 29 Feb 2020 10:18:36 -0400

A few very interesting tidbits in this interview of Mrs. Powell Jobs.

Laurene Powell Jobs Is Putting Her Own Dent in the Universe www.nytimes.com/2020/02/2…

On iOS 13’s Share Sheet Design - Better? Worst?

Sat, 29 Feb 2020 09:25:15 -0400

The share sheet design in iOS 13: I find it confusing. 🤷🏻‍♂️ It is a step ahead of iOS 12 but yet I’m not satisfied and I don’t know why exactly. The inclusion of Shortcuts is ok but should they have been put in a separate section? Also missing in iOS 13: a way to maximize/minimize popover windows like this one. I understand the need to keep sight of context of invocation. Your take?

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 12:41:18 -0400

Just found out that Unsplash stats page now shows from where the traffic comes from. Cool. @unsplash #photography My profil by the way. unsplash.com @numericcitizen

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 21:43:48 -0400

From my blogger’s notebook: What the HomePod should have been. #apple #homepod

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 21:36:10 -0400

A bit hold but still relevant. On the pervasive use by Apple of the ellipsis in iOS.

Less… Is More? Apple’s Inconsistent Ellipsis Icons Inspire User Confusion - TidBITS tidbits.com/2019/08/3…

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 08:40:31 -0400

I don’t publish pictures often here on Micro.blog but this one, I kind of like it a lot. This is downtown Montreal, close to my offices. Enjoy. #shotoniphone

Tue, 25 Feb 2020 12:28:20 -0400

A by-product of switching to News Explorer, a powerful RSS reader, the deletion of these apps from my iPad. RSS FTW! Review available here: numericcitizen.me/2020/02/2…

Desjardins' modern offices in Montreal's olympic stadium tour

Tue, 25 Feb 2020 07:39:47 -0400

Desjardins, a major financial institution here in Canada, deserving mostly Quebec province and well known for a major data breach they were victim of recently, occupies modern offices near my home. They rented and rearchitected the internal space available in the olympic stadium’s main tour. Impressive. See the link here to have a look. design-milk.com/montreals…

Apple’s iPhone 11 Pro: the perfect companion for urban exploration #urbex #shotoniphone

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 14:29:23 -0400

Today’s session of urban exploration was the first since I bought the iPhone 11 Pro last fall. As you might expect, going in with such a phone makes a great difference while shooting quick shots in dark places. This device is simply amazing (you can read my lengthy revew here btw).

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 14:11:53 -0400

Just (re)discovered Camera+ during my urban exploration session today. How come I didn’t spend more time with this wonderful camera app?🤦🏻‍♂️ I should (and I will) write a review of this app as it will probably find a special place in my photo processing workflow. #photography.

First urban exploration session of 2020

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 07:55:04 -0400

Going to my first urban exploration session of 2020 with two other friends. It’s been a long time. The place is not exactly very exciting but who knows what we will discover. We never really know how a session turns out. Stay tuned for a sample later today. #urbex #urbanexploration #photographer

Sat, 22 Feb 2020 23:17:34 -0400

Thinking about buying ND filters for my camera. 77mm required. Variable density or discreet ones? 6-10 stops. #photography #gear #nikon

Fri, 21 Feb 2020 22:58:18 -0400

Waiting my turn. #shotoniphone

On Apple Music app feedbacks

Fri, 21 Feb 2020 13:10:28 -0400

One of the things that I don’t like with Apple Music.app is this: the visual feedback that comes with adding or loving a song. Too obstructive, too slow. Reminds me of the volume hud… that Apple finally got rid of with iOS 13. Oh, and by the way, why burry Add and Love in a sub-menu? Agree? #applemusic #apple #ui #ux #design

On Medium as a platform for bloggers

Sun, 16 Feb 2020 10:12:24 -0400

For those wonder about using Medium as a publishing platform. Here is a summary for my last four publications. See the difference when a story gets approved? The last three stories were not approved for publication behind their paywall. Not cool. It is a hit or miss and so you don’t want to build too much confidence in the platform to help build any form of sustainable revenue, even small.

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 20:59:49 -0400

I’m still amazed by the quality of the iPhone 11 Pro cameras. A concert hall is a great place to experience it! #shotoniphone #apple

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 13:31:45 -0400

Sometimes, just sometimes, I would like to go back in time, way before today. Just to see and feel what it was like before our numeric society. I know that I wouldn’t have to go very far in time but… just before any computers existed. This photo is from Havana, Cuba.

Tue, 11 Feb 2020 17:51:49 -0400

This Lightroom CC update seems a bit uninteresting on the surface but I’ll give it a close look, we never know. You can see by these update notes what type of customers Adobe wants to please and attract. Stay tuned for more comments. #photographer #adobe #lightroom

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 20:03:57 -0400

Another day, another 15cm of snow here downtown in Montreal, Canada. We have a very well known song here that says “My country is not a crounty, it is simply winter”. This is the kind of day. Photo processed with Apple’s Photos.app on iMac. #montreal #canada #winter #snow

Sun, 09 Feb 2020 21:35:00 -0400

Where are designers gone? #eero #ui #ux

Sat, 08 Feb 2020 18:57:33 -0400

I think I need some help understanding these. #1: posting new content on my micro.blog can be cross posted to Twitter (Apple_Observer)? #2: new posts appearing from my main blog (WordPress feed) could be cross posted to ? I’m confused. Any hints? Thanks 🙏🏻

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 18:43:31 -0400

A snow storm makes up for good photography experimentations. 😃

Imperfection is good!

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 08:44:00 -0400

I love this idea of aiming for the imperfections in photography. In the age of hyper processed and over saturated images where they more or less seems to come from the same photographer, imperfect images will give you personality, a visual distinctive look. In praise of imperfect images — aows

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 20:40:04 -0400

On managing Fonts on iOS. Why is this happening? Lost of my installed fonts because I didn’t pay attention to this. There has to be a better way. #apple #ios13 #adobe

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 16:29:09 -0400

Thought of the day: Photography and passion: two things that belong together more than ever. #photography #photographer aows.co

Photography is about passion

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 22:44:17 -0400

Eventually I’ll have to make a decision. Feature wise, design wise: one of them provide a satisfactory solution. None. And I’m not even talking about pricing. ☹️

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 21:28:37 -0400

From iOS 13.4 beta 1. Amen. Here is a simple question: who thought it was a good idea to redesign the toolbar of Mail.app in iOS 12? Now Apple changed his mind and reverted the redesign introduced in iOS 13. #apple

Tue, 04 Feb 2020 08:31:16 -0400

I like this photo more than its technical or subject merit. Taken in Iceland in 2018.

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 20:34:07 -0400

Trying to find my style, my signature, my colours. Havana, Cuba. Made with Lightroom + Pixelmator. On iPad Pro. #photography #blacknwhite #sepia

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 15:51:36 -0400

Speaking of online photo-sharing services, is Apple entering the space be a good idea? I can see them build an extension to iCloud Photo Library. They are close already with shared albums. A service with no ads, no tracking, great design… man I would love this. #apple

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 11:41:00 -0400

I’m finally done with my upcoming long blog post about my experience with 500px in my post Flickr world. More than 1700 words to express the goods, the bads and what’s my overall take on this. There is hope but caution is mandatory. #photographer #photography #500px #flickr☝🏻

Sat, 01 Feb 2020 13:40:25 -0400

Can you believe it, this is Havana, Cuba.

Fri, 31 Jan 2020 21:39:59 -0400

What a bunch of clowns… As much as I respect what Microsoft is doing on hardware, software and cloud business, Forbes is again playing the headlines game.

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 22:10:03 -0400

Been like this for more than a year. Flickr is artificially maintained on life. #flickr

Mon, 27 Jan 2020 13:43:30 -0400

The iPad is 10 years old. Times fly. I was there (not on the picture). After the iPhone, the iPad is the most transformative piece of tech in my numeric life. #apple #ipad #tenyears

Sat, 18 Jan 2020 21:13:45 -0400

Here. Now. Guess where. Not an hockey fan but still cool. 🤷🏻‍♂️👍🏻😎

Fri, 17 Jan 2020 20:05:07 -0400

Here is the coolest credit card reader I ever seen and used. All white. Touch screen. Apple Pay ready obviously. A bit bulky though. 😍

Fri, 17 Jan 2020 01:47:37 -0400

Stucked in an airport with no place to sleep. How can I use these chairs to sleep? No way. 🤬😡

Sat, 04 Jan 2020 16:39:35 -0400

Spent one day in Havana, Cuba and it was such an unexpected discovery. So many great pictures to process now. Stay tuned for news on this subject in the coming days and weeks. A sample from my iPhone. #shotoniphone #cuba

Sun, 29 Dec 2019 13:43:54 -0400

From Cuba with love. Slow internet speed. Don’t expect too much in the next few days. #photography #shotoniphone

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 11:03:07 -0400

End of the year cleanup: cancelled my Pro Vimeo account. I don’t use that anymore as video editing requires way too much time. Cancelled my Pro Flickr account because I’m pretty sure I’ll stop posting photos there. #photography #flickr #photographer.

Tue, 24 Dec 2019 09:57:26 -0400

My best iPhone pictures of 2019. #shotoniphone

Sun, 22 Dec 2019 18:17:58 -0400

Upgraded to macOS Catalina today on my main Mac. A few issues with Apple’s own apps. Photos is one of them. More to come in an upcoming blog post here: ‪numericcitizen.me‬

Fri, 20 Dec 2019 18:57:16 -0400

It is a question of point of view.

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 21:39:24 -0400

Today, walking downtown Montreal, from my office to meet one of our client. Sometimes, winter can be beautiful.

Sat, 02 Mar 2019 12:35:08 -0400

Trying to see how this ceiling photo will perform on Unsplash.

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 20:59:25 -0400

That was a pretty big one. 😳❄️

<>

Mon, 22 Oct 2018 09:48:41 -0400

Aperture. Made by Apple. For Apple users. This was the time when they were serious about photography. They could have made a version for the iPad. But they dropped the ball. Adobe came in with their multi-platform solution, neither optimized for Apple

Sat, 20 Oct 2018 15:57:30 -0400

That is me. New glasses.

Sat, 13 Oct 2018 16:57:26 -0400

I used to be active on @Medium. medium.com/@jfmartin… Stopped publishing there because of what Medium became… trying to monetize us instead of rewarding us. Hope this won’t happen here on Micro.blog.

Going To The (abandoned) Church.

Sat, 13 Oct 2018 11:02:21 -0400

These were taken while doing urban exploration with friends downtown Montreal, Canada. Many churches are agonizing here… some pictures are from an iPhone 7, others from my Nikon D750 processed with HDR technique.

Sat, 13 Oct 2018 10:53:53 -0400

This is an unedited photo taken with a plain old iPhone 7. Can’t wait to upgrade next year… another test on Micro.blog but this time from the iPad client. Simple yet great experience.

Sat, 13 Oct 2018 10:36:55 -0400

Testing the native Micro.blog macOS client. Very simple. Very clean. Can add a picture. Here is one from me. I don’ really like to show picture of me but hey, this is for testing purposes.