November 3, 2020 8:21am

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

November 3, 2020 6:52am

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

November 2, 2020 8:27pm

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

November 2, 2020 1:35pm

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

November 2, 2020 12:47pm

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

November 2, 2020 7:10am

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

November 2, 2020 6:45am

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

November 1, 2020 11:11am

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

October 31, 2020 7:39am

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

October 31, 2020 7:24am

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

October 30, 2020 4:22pm

Numeric Citizen

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? Continue reading →

October 30, 2020 11:41am

Numeric Citizen

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? Continue reading →

October 30, 2020 6:36am

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

October 30, 2020 6:19am

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

October 30, 2020 5:57am

Numeric Citizen

“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. Continue reading →

October 29, 2020 7:17pm

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

October 29, 2020 4:56pm

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

October 29, 2020 2:50pm

Numeric Citizen

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”.  Continue reading →

October 29, 2020 6:24am

Numeric Citizen

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. Continue reading →

October 28, 2020 6:28pm

Numeric Citizen

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! Continue reading →