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About iMessage - Again
Appleās Messages app, why does it only support iMessage and SMS? iChat had support for AIM, Yahoo Messanger, ICQ, and XMPP. Why hasnāt Apple gone beyond the blue and green bubbles, introducing support for additional protocols with more message bubble colors? Apple likes control. They didn’t have it with those protocols. How could they implement things like CSAM? Source: The Green Bubble Myth - Initial Charge Continue reading ā
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Iām a Big Fan of Craft Butā¦
As you probably know, Iām a big fan of Craft. This application is really at the center of everything I do online, as thoroughly documented in my blogger workflow. That being said, I always keep an eye open for competing services, thanks to my Twitter list āApps & Servicesā. Notion is one of them. Before Craft, there was Notion, which I loved too. But it felt too complicated or overkill for my needs. Continue reading ā
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Exploring the World of DJing
I always liked electronic music, but Iām not a musician. In recent moths, Iāve been exploring the world of DJing. Itās a way for me to feel that I can do music without deep knowledge of musical theory. Itās a fascinating world. Last year I bought a Pioneer DDJ-400 controller for use with my Mac mini. There is two major roadblocks in my experience so far: finding good quality tracks to mix and selecting the best DJ app. Continue reading ā
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Green vs Blue Bubbles: The Definitive And Honest Point of View
A few days ago, I wrote a small commentary post regarding the WSJ article on Appleās iMessage, its effects on the crowd of young iPhone users, and how Apple is being evil. Man, itās a pale and superficial perspective compared to Gruberās view of the article, and the controversy that followed. Must read, if this short-lived controversy is picking up your curiosity. Continue reading ā
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On iOS 15 Update Conundrum ā Why Apple Is Changing is Mind
Apple finally published the numbers of people who upgraded to iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. While the percentages show the vast majority of users upgraded their devices, there are more people than with previous years who didnāt. Itās probably Appleās fault. With iOS 15, Apple is no longer forcing users to adopt the latest release to get the latest security updates. A user running iOS 14.7 can stay there as long as he can apply the security patches made available for that version. Continue reading ā
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Bye Bye 500px
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. Continue reading ā
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Carriers vs Apple
Om Malik writing on the iPhone fifteen anniversary and the carrier companies at the time (emphasis is mine): These were wireless walled gardens crammed with absolutely rotten apps, games, and everything from mobile backgrounds to ringtones. They were an opportunity for carriers to nickel-and-dime their customers and extracted mafia-like fees from startups. Source: Looking back: iPhone & its impact on mobile industry & us. ā On my Om I have great admiration for Mr. Continue reading ā
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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.
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"Itās not just how things look, itās about how things work."
Somehow, I missed David Sparks’ observations regarding the Wallpaper feature of Apple’s Design Team (emphasis is mine): Instead of quoting Steve Jobs, I would have preferred an explanation from Alan Dye about his philosophy of user interface design and what his north star is when he does his work. Iād like him to make his case. If he explained the thinking behind this minimal approach, it might make more sense. Maybe this article was never meant to be that kind of deep dive on design philosophy, but it feels like a missed opportunity. Continue reading ā
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One More Gripe Against Appleās Photos Memory Feature
Jim Novell & Stephen Hackett both have valid points against Appleās 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 donāt 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. Continue reading ā
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Blue vs Green Bubbles ā Blue is In, Green is Out?
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal created a concerted reactions chain from news sites and people on Twitter. In āWhy Appleās iMessage Is Winning: Teens Dread the Green Text Bubbleā, the WSJ article paints Apple as using highly questionable tactics to keep its users locked in iMessage messaging service. I want to share my thoughts on this. Peer pressure among teens isnāt a new phenomenon, far from it. Continue reading ā
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On Talent Retention Challenges
Iāve been working in information technologies for nearly three decades. Finding competent people has always been a challenge. Keeping them too. But, in recent years, the situation has become simply critical, to the point where businesses are deeply impacted: delayed projects, abandoned initiatives, high pressures on other people, stress, etc. Businessesā bottom line if at stake here. The news of the departure of one of the directors behind Appleās transition from Intel to Appleās own silicon, Mr. Continue reading ā
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Those Curvesā¦
Iām a big fan of curves, but up until now, I didnāt really know how to take advantage of them. š Enter this short tutorial for Pixelmator Pro. š Youāll 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 didnāt really get how to use the curves. Now, thanks to this tutorial, I have a much better idea. Continue reading ā
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On iPhone 14 Pro Max Pricing
Kuo has also said that the iPhone 14 Max, or whatever it ultimately ends up being called, will be priced at under $900. For comparisonās sake, the current iPhone lineupās āMaxā only includes the 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max, which is priced at $1,099. I highly doubt that Apple will reduce the price of the top-of-the-line model of their iPhone line-up. Why would they do that? This would put pressure on lower-end models to go down in price too. Continue reading ā
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Surprise Me!
The Surprise Me! plugin for Micro.blog is undoubtedly a lot of fun to play with. It will pick a random post from this blog out of 1578 posts published since 2018. It’s a fun way to resurface old yet still relevant content. Try it! I wonder how many hours of my life were used to write and publish all that stuff? Continue reading ā
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Beyond the iPhone
Remember when people claimed Java would replace all computer languages? Maybe you remember when tech pundits told us that network computers would replace Windows PC? Or what about those who said that netbooks would replace laptops? Why some people consider the tech world to be a place where technologies always get replaced with another one? I tend to view the tech world as a space where several waves hitting the shores. Continue reading ā
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On NFTs: What Am I Missing?
First, consider this announcement from Samsung: āIn 2022, Samsung is introducing the worldās first TV screen-based NFT explorer and marketplace aggregator, a groundbreaking platform that lets you browse, purchase, and display your favorite art ā all in one place.ā What? Why is there so much talk around NFTs these days? What problems do they solve? What am I missing? This short Twitter thread makes me think that Iām not missing a lot, and that I should probably move on. Continue reading ā
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COVID ā Did He Really Got Me?
Here is an update following yesterdayās post about getting caught by COVID. I thought that I had been infected because of my symptoms. We all did a quick test after posting my article. The results came up positive for one of my friends, but everyone else was negative, including me. It could be false negatives, but I highly doubt it, except if we didnāt do the test correctly. How am I feeling 24 hours later? Continue reading ā
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COVID ā Got Me!
After close to two years of relentless fight to protect myself from COVID-19, after following all the governmentās sanitary rules and telling others how it is important to get vaccinated, It appears that the virus won over me. We had this āget together weekā planned for a long time, with friends. We were six. Everyone limited their contacts to the minimum in the week before, in accordance to the rules in place at the time. Continue reading ā
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The Real Cost of Crypto
The real cost of Crypto. We need to stop buying into this shit and fast. Why is it so hard to think about these “side effects” when creating new technologies? I recently wrote about not getting into Crypto, NFTs, web3 because I’m probably just getting old. I know just enough to understand the costs of the technology behind and how bad it is for the planet. Continue reading ā
