Some of my Expectations for Apple’s Upcoming “Wonderlust” Event

This is going to be about the iPhone, mostly. The iPhone 15, to be more precise. Of course. Apple will probably talk a lot about the A17 because of its new 3nm manufacturing process, ensuring some battery power savings while bringing faster processing. This will be welcomed for an always-on display device since the iPhone 14 Pro performance in that respect is not as good as it used to be. Will the A17 be Bionic? Something else? I trust Apple’s marketing cracks about this.

The titanium finish on the Pro line, a first for the iPhone, but something the Apple Watch is already sporting, will get some attention too. Maybe more than the A17. I’m looking forward to it because I wouldn’t say I like the current finish on the iPhone 14 Pro1. I hate it, actually. Thanks to my iPhone case, it’s a non-issue. If the Apple invite is any indication of the upcoming titanium colour finish, I’m in love already!

But the star of the iPhone 15 show will be the Ultra with the periscope lens, bringing telephoto photography beyond the 3x optic possibilities for the first time. This is what I’m waiting for. I expect an Apple twist to it.

I expect some updates about the Apple Vision Pro2. Apple will probably talk3 about how excited developers are for the device and remind us about how it will change the world4. Something on the gaming front could be in the cards, too, thanks to the game porting toolkit introduced at the WWDC conference. Are Macs finally good at gaming? Is a software trick enough?

And then what else? The Apple Watch will get updates, but not the redesign we are starting to hear about for 2024. The Ultra 2 is probably not for me. But we will learn about it, for sure.

Macs? Crickets.

This is what I expect for the upcoming “Wonderlust” event.

  1. I hate the finish of my iPhone 13 Pro for that matter, too. Too glossy. To “chromy”. ↩︎

  2. I still think the “spacial computing” moniker should have been “spacial experience” instead. More approachable if you ask me. ↩︎

  3. Brag is probably a better term ↩︎

  4. For better or for worst ↩︎

Episode 02 — I’m an Iterative Type of Guy

While writing my next edition of the Friday Notes newsletter (#107), I realized that writing has never been a one-stretch thing for me. It takes countless writing iterations before getting things done. In this episode, I share my anxieties 😰 about writing in general ✍🏻. Plus, a few words about my expectations for the upcoming Apple Event “Wonderlust”! 👀

Links

Episode 02 — I’m an Iterative Type of Guy

Hi, this is Numeric Citizen and you are listening to the thoughts and tribulations of a compulsive creator podcast.

This is episode number two.

I am an iterative creator type of guy.

This week, I’m working on my next Friday Notes edition newsletter.

This is a newsletter that I started two years ago.

And it used to be a weekly newsletter, as the name implies.

And this is a newsletter that was inspired first by Monday Notes, which is a newsletter that used to be published by Jean-Louis Gasset, which is a former Apple employee and the founder of the Bee computer company back in the days.

And so I was inspired by this idea of creating a newsletter on a weekly basis.

And so instead of going the same way with the Monday Notes, I decided to go and set my schedule to be on the Friday Notes.

So I stopped, kind of reduced my publication pace because I couldn’t, I didn’t have enough inspiration and subjects to write about every week.

But I decided to keep it, to keep doing it.

And I’m number 100 in edition 107, but I’m doing it on a sporadic basis instead.

And the theme for this week’s edition was set a while ago, but the problem I have is I’m not the guy who is able to sit down at the computer and then write for an hour and get the thing done.

I’m more, I’m more in a piece by piece, a paragraph, one paragraph at a time type of guy.

And it’s, it’s really an iterative process.

Most of my writing results come from a iterative and somewhat endless process.

I wish I could write more easily, but it’s usually a set of disjoint ideas that eventually will form a coherent piece, but the time it takes for me to write a simple newsletter or an article on my blog, it’s way more than I think I should spend time on.

I’m not, I’m not sure if I am the only one who has this challenge, but it’s not, it’s not easy for me to sit down and I’m following a lot of bloggers who seem to write, like constantly writing all day, all night.

And, but I know they have a daytime job, but they can, they can put things out there so quickly that it’s, I’m kind of a feeling that, wow, what am I doing wrong for me to take so long to write a simple piece?

It usually starts in craft and ends up in Ulysses before being published.

And I’m always, I’m getting some help from Grammarly and ChatGPD, and also the macOS built-in dictionary and teaser feature.

Because of them, I think I can move faster a bit.

And I think my, my quality, my English quality is kind of a bit better.

As you know, maybe you don’t know, but I am a French Canadian.

So writing and thinking in English, for me, it’s not natural.

So I have to spend more time than maybe other bloggers or writers.

So yeah, that’s, that’s something that I’m stressing a lot about.

And when I’m, when I think I’m not good for commenting on time-sensitive events, like there is sometimes there’s the, the Apple events that happens a few times a year, and it takes me so long to put things together that by the time it gets published, all the attention moved elsewhere.

So I’m kind of always, I’m too late for the party each time.

So yeah, it’s, I wanted to share this with you guys, if you are listening.

And speaking of which, the Apple event for September of this year has been sent today, as I’m speaking earlier today.

And the Wanderlust name they gave to this, this year’s fall event, the invite has been sent.

I wasn’t invited.

I wonder why.

Maybe my English is not good enough.

I don’t know.

Yeah.

So I’m, I’m really looking forward for this event because first this year, I’m going to upgrade my two years old iPhone.

I have a iPhone 13 Pro and I will go with the Ultra this year.

If this is the name they decide to put on this iPhone, I’m going to the big phone.

It’s the first time I’ll be using the biggest phone.

And one of the reasons for that is to get the, the better telephoto lens and also a better battery life.

So yeah, I’m going to, I’m in for an upgrade this year.

I’m trying to skip a generation.

So yeah, that’s, that’s my year this year.

And I can’t wait for that to, to, to, to watch the, the event.

And also I’m expecting that we should get an updated version of the Apple Watch and the Ultra, the Series 9.

But I, I do expect to have an update on the Apple Vision Studio.

I think they will try to, to put a message that the developers are excited about this new platform.

So yeah, we should be getting an update about the Apple Vision and I can’t wait to see what they are going to talk about.

So yeah, this concludes the episode number two, already two episodes.

Don’t be shy and share your thoughts and comments on microblog, mastodon, or on blue sky, where this is cross-posted thanks to microblog’s cross-posting feature.

Thanks for listening and please, in this challenging world, in constant crisis and state of emergency, take care until the next episode.

Bye.

Waiting for the iPhone 15 Ultra

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.

  1. I skip a generation to limit my consumerism habits. It’s an environmental issue here. ↩︎

  2. Kuo’s rumors about periscope lens. ↩︎

  3. I depend on a 70-200mm zoom on my Nikon which is very useful on a trip. ↩︎

  4. I still thing the best design was the matte black iPhone 7. ↩︎

  5. I recently upgraded from the 13-inch MacBook Air to a 15-inch version. ↩︎

Finally Settled on Blog Post Visual Attributes

After so many years of blogging, I think I have finally settled on the styling of each blog post. 😅 I like to emphasize key words with bold, making it easier to detect what this post is all about. Next is the use of emojis to make things a bit less serious and more approachable.🙂 Next is the selective use of Micro.blog’s post title for longer and more significant posts.1 😜 More recently, I started using footnotes because they add another dimension to the reading experience and are displayed in a nice popup on the site.2

  1. This blog post is such an example of using a title. ↩︎

  2. Footnotes are far easier to create in Ulysses than in the web interface, tough. ↩︎

I played with Apple’s Maps Places feature, as shown in the following video. It’s nice, but it’s not exactly intuitive. There are many missing features, like setting a path between places and adding photos to a place within the guide, from the Photos.app for example to name a few. Also, it’s not clear if a shared guide gets updated if new places are added, or places are removed.

In a world where we all struggle with how much we use our devices (let’s be real, we mean our phones), I think it’s kinda nice to have some places that just give up and tell us, “my dude, you’ve read it all, go do something else.” Source: Let the internet run out

I relate to this thought so much. Sometimes, enough is just… enough.

My About Me page as seen on the web

This morning, I updated my online About page1, taking some ideas from Brian Lovin’s website. The page was built entirely with Craft’s shared document and custom domain name2. I wonder if this is something that Micro.blog should expand on and be added to the premium subscription. Cc @manton

  1. I probably have too many about page. Another one can be found on Linktr.ee. 🤦🏻‍♂️ ↩︎

  2. I should probably do a new YouTube video explaining the process. ↩︎

I updated my toolset website today1 with three additions under consideration: Digest2, Lazy3 and Heptabase4. The statuses of my current projects were also updated. Thanks for paying a visit.

  1. Use the table of content at the top of the site to locate the right section. Convenient, heh? ↩︎

  2. To replace Mailbrew. ↩︎

  3. A super-charged “save-for-later” service. Could replace Omnivore or complement it. I put myself on their waiting list. ↩︎

  4. A hard-to-define service / apps for supporting research. Could complement Craft. Or not. Another subscription. Gush. ↩︎

One Podcast, Three Looks

From left to right: Overcast, Pocket Cast, Apple Podcast

I always subscribe to my own content distribution channels for quality control purposes 1. I’m using Overcast, Pocket Cast and Apple Podcast to display my latest podcast episode. In these screenshots, I selected the info button to display the episode details. I’m a paid subscriber of Pocket Cast. I prefer the Pocket Cast display, but it has a caching issue as it doesn’t get the latest podcast artwork, but the other two do2. Bold text is missing on Apple Podcast for some reason. The overcast look is… mildly ugly.

  1. This blog post looks like a mini-plug for my podcast. It is. ↩︎

  2. The artwork display issue is also present on the web version of the Pocket Cast player. ↩︎