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Keep The Pressure on Putin
š¤Ø As diplomatic talks progress, donāt be fooled by Russian words. The only viable solution is for them to leave what was known as āUkraine before 2014ā. Nothing less. We must keep pressure on Putin and our respective governments! Oh, and why do we feel so bad about recent Bidenās words about Putin? I mean, a lot of people wish for much more than simply ānot staying in power.ā
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Killing Quality
š§ Thought of the day: the narrative about having to publish on a regular basis to build an audience is killing content quality.
#musing #writing
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Is the Wind Slowly Turning?
šŖš» Stalled or retreating troops. Low morale. Decreasing attacks. High casualties and losts. Retaken cities by Ukrainian troops. Odessa and Kyiv free with minimal damages. Iām not a military expert or a military pundit, but these signs point to a turning point. Let me hope for even brighter days ahead. šš»āš»
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Venting My Frustration About Microsoft Teams
Itās March 2022. Spring is finally here. Moreover, among us, Apple Silicon, first announced in June 2020 and massively available since November 2020. Furthermore, also available is Center Stage, a new feature introduced with the 2021 iPad Pro and now available on the MacBook Pro and more recently the Apple Studio display.
Hereās the thing. Microsoft Teams, currently at version 1.5 still isnāt supporting Center Stage and worst, Apple Silicon. Running Teams on any recent Mac is an execrable experience: slow, bad image quality (compared to Zoom for example) and consume far too much memory. How is it possible for a company the size of Microsoft whoās so slow to move and fix Teams? I donāt buy the argument about Teams being built with the Electron framework. The latter already supports the M1 chip. Microsoft is supposedly working on Teams version 2.0 which will be presumably built on WebView2. Theyāve been working on this since June of last year.
Itās highly frustrating. Sorry for the bad mood, but Teams is one of the most used application for work giving me the right to vent my frustration.
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Feeling More Optimistic
š After reading the news this morning on the situation of the war in Ukraine, I feel more upbeat than usual. It appears that Russian advances in recent days and hours are very limited, except in the sky, but they donāt have sky supremacy yet. Far from it. Ukrainians are simply incredible at fencing one of the world’s most powerful (well, thatās what we thought) armies. šŗš¦
It will take ages to recover from this mess, but Iāll take any ray of light in a heartbeat.
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Dear Mobile Apps Developers
Dear iOS developers, dear @Substack, when building screenshots for the App Store, show us your software, not the device on which it is running. Thank you. With love. The Direction.
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Discussing War Matters
šŗš¦š½ I had this dinner yesterday night with some friends. The war in Ukraine subject came up. In fact, I brought it up, on purpose. As you might expect, I was adamant about our lack of support for the Ukrainian people. My point is that we must do much more even if we have to pay a price. I was emotional about it. Sure, it made my friends feel uneasy. I cannot envision a discussion about Ukraine without being passionate and emotional. šš¤
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Russia Isn't That Super Power
š¤ Iām not a military expert, far from it, but as we go further into this insane and highly criminal war, facts show there is something wrong with the Russian army. Highly exposed and long columns of standing still vehicles, attacking way too many fronts at once, and losing so many soldiers in such a short time frame are good examples that show how amateurish the Russian army is. Russia isnāt a superpower, both military and economically. Rumours are to the effect that missile inventories are at an all-time low. And Iām not even talking about troopsā morale. As much as 75% of the operational army of Russia is supposedly dedicated to the invasion of Ukraine. Only 25% of their active resources are left scattered across Russia. š·šŗš«
Russia apparently is failing at their primary military objectives: occupy territory in a sustainable way and seize Ukraineās leadership.
Now the question is: why are you so scared of Russia?
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Pausing My Apple Studio Display Buying Decision
Well, after a promising start, following reviews of the Apple Studio display, it seems that Iāll put my buying decision on hold. As I wrote, one of the reasons why Iām considering this display is the integrated camera and speakers for a better video conference experience. It appears image quality is not good at all, judging by the examples posted online. Itās close to being a deal breaker.
Apparently, the Apple Studio display is running a version of iOS 15.4. Yep, sounds overkill, and yet, itās the case, according to Gruber. Apple is promising a software update to fix the problem and bring image quality on par with the iPad Pro equipped with the same camera and essentially using th same software to enable Center Stage.
Hereās something: when we look at preview integrated cameras in MacBook Pro or the iMac and find the image quality to be bad, we try to excuse Apple of fitting a camera in a too-thin enclosure. But we know itās not enough to explain the issue of image quality. Software is the problem. Look no further than the iPhone for an example.
As soon as:
- I can go to an Apple Store to see the Apple Studio display for myself;
- Normal people are publishing their reviews and comment on their experience with the display;
- Apple fixes the camera image quality with an update to the display operating system;
Then, Iāll make a final decision. Now, I canāt wait to see in action the software upgrade process on this thing.
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Negociating
šŗš¦ While current negotiations between Russian criminals and Ukraine leaders are taking place, I sincerely hope that if ever a deal is signed between the two, the West will be the next to convince and deal with and the one who sets the conditions to undo even in small steps, the pressure on Russia. They have to pay the price for decades to come. Iām so angry at them. Does it show? š”
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āThe Mac Studio contains radical innards in a plain exteriorā
Benjamin Mayo in Apple Introduces MacĀ Studio:
āā¦the introduction of a brand new model of Mac is precisely the best time to do something entirely new.ā
And
āThe Mac Studio is a boring box with rounded corners, and has no party tricks to speak of. The trashcan was a truly wild, out-there, design.ā
I share the same sentiment. A new form-factor is a rare thing from Apple. An elongated Mac mini doesnāt do justice the Mac Studio interior, even less to its name. Another missed opportunity. I guess āreal prosā doesnāt give a damn about all of this.
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I wrote this some time ago (thanks to Surprise Me!). It was when I started using HEY World to publish posts. It didn’t last long. And I’m quite happy with this decision. Happy to be here. Happy to be there instead.
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Two Years Agoā¦
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. Iāll 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; thatās the only way for me to do more photography. Something that I didnāt do much in the last two years. This visual work posted in April of 2020 was the trigger to write this blog post. Iām 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, Iāll 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. Itās ok. Itās 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 Iām 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.
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Back to Telegram
š§ I decided to return to Telegram to get the news about the war in Ukraine. Itās fast. Simple. I subscribe to a few groups. We see things in there that are unavailable on other news feeds. I prefer Telegram to Twitter for that type of stuff. Some content is shocking, for sure. But it is. Call me a masochist. š
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Putin = Hitler
š” Letās face it. Vladimir Putin has no morale. Heās a criminal. His only goal in life is war. He doesnāt care about his people. He only cares about himself. He wants to make Russia āgreat againā but not for his people, for himself. After Ukraine, he will look around and select his next target. And invade. Eventually, he will make a mistake. Either he will pay for it, or we will all pay for it. Mark my words.
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Diverting My Attention to Survive
šļø The title may be a bit āclickbait-ishā, but it is what it is. Again, my creativity (writing, musing, photography) is taking me off the compulsive consumption of news about the war in Ukraine. In a way, my creativity is helping me survive and stay sane. How do you stay sane?
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Path to the WWIII
ā¼ļø š·šŗ Current events around the world, triggered by the criminal invasion of Ukraine, are setting the stage for WWIII. I cannot see how this conflict can continue without forcing more countries to get militarily involved. It could be anything involving another countryās reaction to help before Putin thinks it is an act of war. This criminal is just patiently waiting for it.
The longer the war continues, the more apparent it is to me: weāre not ready to admit it yet, but we are clearly on the path to the next world war in Europe.
#ukraine #war
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Duties of Russians Living Abroad
ā”ļø š·šŗ If people living in Russia donāt have access to objective news, only to state-controlled propaganda, then I would argue that Russians living abroad have a responsibility to tell the truth from the outside. They are being complicit in what is going on right now by not doing so. I would say to them: talk to your friends, family, or relatives inside Russia about what is happening. Tell the truth and ask them to regroup and organize demonstrations. NOWā¼ļø
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Peek Performance, Low Interest
Itās now official. Apple will host another virtual event next week, on March 8th. Itās the first Apple event of 2022, but itās far from being the first real event of 2022. Current events happening in Ukraine are troubling and make me pause on a lot of things. Apple-related stuff is one of these. Iām not in the mood for that. My thoughts and energy are diverted, seized. I donāt care if itās a new iPhone SE, a beefed up Mac mini or whatever else. These look so irrelevant in this incredible and terrible era. Low interest indeed.
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Morning Routines in War Time
šŗš¦ Each morning, I open my laptop and visit some news websites to get the latest news from the war in Ukraine. I expect the worst all the time. It looks like, between some good news for the Ukrainians, the fundamentals are bleak. The aggressors, the Russians, are making progress toward their goal of crushing the country. While tainted by sadness and sorrow, my morning routine is nothing compared to the peopleās routine in Ukraine: fear, sadness, abandonment, and distress. š¢š°
