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Late to the party, but...
Just got this yesterday. You know what this mean, right? Well, maybe not. Anyway, I’m a bit late to the MacBook Air party, but this thing is probably THE best Mac Apple ever made. It’s not the best Air Apple ever made, though. A tad too big probably, yet so powerful. And this keyboard… a real and trusty keyboard. š„°
I’m working on an essay about my new adventure in the MacBook Air land. Stay tuned.
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Decided to put everything I read online through @Pocket. Highlights are synced to my @Readwiseio account, and I share a lot of them with comments on my Pocket page here. Feel free to follow me there.
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If all goes well, I should be getting my CraftingMAChine today. šš» šØš»āš» #macbookair #applesilicon #m1chip
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Gosh, importing my stuff from Notion into Craft is not funny. There has to be a better way. šµāš«
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I’m trying something new, again. I’m testing Revue, by Twitter. What I found is quite interesting, from a Substack user perspective. You can read all about it here, on Revue. Tell me what’s your impressions.
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Feeling honored
It doesnāt happen too often but when it does, I feel very proud about it. One of my blog post about the story of 1Password 8 going ElectronĀ on https://numericcitizen.me received a backlink from Michael Tsai (look for āJF Martinā and youāll see the excerpt).
Mr. Tsai does a tremendous work with his link posts in general. I can imagine how much work he puts into this each day.I would love to have a peek at his blogger workflow.
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About this āin-publicā design
Gruber writing about how Apple mostly fixed Safari 15 on iPhone with beta 6 (emphasis is mine):
The unusual part is that we got to see Appleās design process play out in public. The Safari team has been kept busy this summer. (There has to be one hell of backstory here, right?) There was a certain pessimism amongst some who perceived the problems with the original iOS 15 Safari design, simply because Apple seldom makes drastic UI changes between their unveiling at WWDC in June, and when they officially ship in the fall. But seldom isnāt never.
Iād love to read the behind-the-scene-story about this āin publicā design process that we all witnessed. The Safari team surely scrambled to fix the design issues between beta 1 and beta 6ā¦ or was just all planned in advance? I bet on the former. The whole saga was unusual for Apple. They look less confident from a design perspective.
I love Safari 15 in beta 6. They nailed it, and it is an improvement compared to the pre-iOS 15 implementation.
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When designers canāt decide...
iOS 15 beta 6 is out and Apple is making great progress with Safari on iPhone. For me, they finally hit the right notes. I think thatās the design they should have included since day one of iOS 15. Yet, I find it funny to see Apple put a new option in settings for those who prefer the pre-iOS 15 release. I guess itās another case of āIf you canāt decide which design is the best, just add another option in Settings so the user decide.ā
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We will have to wait for these... sadly.
SharePlay, ID Cards, App Privacy Report, Custom email domain, detailed 3D navigation in CarPlay, Legacy Contacts, Universal Control wonāt ship with iOS 15.0 this fall. Weāll have to wait for an update later, like 15.1, 15.2 or even later. Thatās a lot of stuff missing the deadline. I was looking forward to Legacy Contacts and Universal control… Apple is often a waiting game.
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Finally Apple. I love this!
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What a bizarre advice
A successful Apple investor, Paul Lane, had advice to give to other Apple investors, as reported on PED: buy Apple gear to return some money to Apple as a sign of appreciation and support. Thatās the most bizarre advice I ever heard of from an investor. I would expect something along the line: buy low, sell high. I, personally, own a few Apple shares and a lot of their products. Yet, I donāt feel invested in a mission to show my support to Apple, either by buying shares or their products.
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Doing all the things I love
After an emotional week-end, long in coming, today I’m doing all the things I love the most: doing computer stuff ā writing in a coffee shop ā feeling like a real blogger ā doing some photo processing ā walking ā biking. I know time will fly.
Life is good. Those days are so rare. I’m enjoying every single minutes of it. Work resumes tomorrow.
Photo by karl chor on Unsplash
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Switching to a weekly beta cycle this week? #ios15beta6 #apple
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Appleās cheap labour: concept creators
Parker Ortolani for 9to5Mac published a two-parts concept on a future version of macOS named Mammoth.
macOS Big Sur did a great job of refining the Mac desktop, but it didnāt fundamentally change any of its behavior. Weād like to see that change with the next version of macOS. With Monterey being mostly full of small refinements rather than big ideas, weād expect Mammoth to be a monstrous release.
Iām using one of his screen design that pertains to widgets improvements. I recently wrote about those and Appleās sad design decision to keep them in the notifications center for Big and Monterey. I think Ortolaniās design is interesting and plausible. Freedom of placement certainly makes the experience more satisfying. Itās so true they liberated widgets on iPad with iPadOS 15.
There is so much work going into these visual essays. I mean, there are release notes too! I often considered people doing these mockups has being Appleās cheap labour. I wonder if Appleās designers notice those.
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On this unexpected and mysterious macOS Big Sur 11.5.2 update
Dear Apple, as an owner of an M1 Mac mini, a MacBook Air and an iMac, donāt you think that Iām entitled for an explanation about what does this update fix? I think I do.
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Excited for aā¦ keyboard
I got the new Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. I chose the one without the numeric keypad; the desk space being scarce. Setting this thing up took one minute. I had to read the (slim) manual as I wasnāt sure how the pairing would work: connect the keyboard to my M1 Mac mini with the provided USB-C to Lightning cable, quickly press the M1 Mac mini power button two times to trigger the setup process for Touch ID configuration (Bluetooth is automatically configured). The Touch ID setup screen looks similar to the one on the iPhone when settings up Touch ID for the first time. Itās one of the best Apple keyboard; keys feeling is similar to the previous generation. Touch ID is the star of the show here, and I love it. Only works with M1 Macs. This Magic Keyboard brings to the Mini, a feature otherwise only available to the MacBooks (and the M1 iMac). Thatās why I bought the keyboard. Itās not cheap, but convenience has a price for Apple.
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About the Store, the Store Tab.
There is so much to think or write about a simple “Store” tab. Something so “obvious” can lead to weird design decisions, even for Apple. I love this (rare) blog post from Ken Segall.
Sarcasm ON: “Iām feeling inspired by Appleās new way of thinking. Itās liberating. Who needs āAppleā when you have āStoreā? Generic is just so much easier, donāt you think?” - Ken Segall
To be honest, I don’t remember when there was a dedicated Store section on the Apple.com website. Apple brought it back, leaving “Buy” buttons scattered around every single product pages. It is now so much easier to buy something from Apple these days.
Sarcasm OFF
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(Re)Introducing the Store Tab
Yesterday, Apple made some changes to their website with the introduction of a new Store tab at the top of their website. Not only that, but the store design has been completely redone. I find it a bit disorienting at first, but after a few minutes, I think the elements and general reorganization make sense; I find it easier to navigate in general. Apple chose the horizontal scrolling sections instead of going vertical. Iām not always sure this is the best way to go, though. The bouncing effect is inconsistent, itās there while going to the right but not when hitting the limit on the left. AirTags have their section, which is surprising for such a small device.
Itās interesting to note that Appleās top navigation bar is now spanning a store, physical products, services, support, search, and a shopping cart.
Apple is getting ready for this fall slew of new products. Oh, one of the first thing I noticed is that the Magic Keyboard With Touch ID that is bundled with the 24ā iMac is now sold separately. I ordered one for my M1 Mac mini. It will take less space on my desk and Touch ID will so much more convenient for the mini. One last thing: convenience has a price: 179 CAN$. Ouch.
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Magic Keyboard with Touch ID for Mac models with Apple silicon ā available separately. š³š¤šš»
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I Love This Machine
It is light, fast and an absolute design gem. Small, but not too small. It runs a powerful operating system. Itās highly portable. It is venerable. It is a rare āspeciesā. There is something really special about it. Furthermore, it has a real keyboard that I can trust. Battery life is good. It is out of the way. Itās the perfect device for writing and blogging.
Itās a 2013 11ā MacBook Air.
Iāll explain in the coming week or so.
