Andy’s demo of Magic Cap from a CS537 class at Stanford in 1994. Again, IN 1994. I still get chills when I go back and look at how much true magic they had in their hands that we’re still unpacking in iOS and other mobile platforms.
Wonder what the world would have been like had they succeeded?
Huge but not surprising news this week from Apple with the release of iPadOS 13.4. In addition to the recent announcement of new the 2020 iPad Pro Apple has fully added external trackpad support for the iPad. Additional announcement included a new Smart Keyboard with trackpad.
To some these announcements boarded on heresy but I digress. Functionally Apple has executed some unique touches with the translation of a touch interface into the mouse/pointer paradigm. The “ghost finger” (trademark and copyright John Siracusa) rules in this new world.
Hard to pick some of my favorite articles on the release but here’s a few:
MacRumors - Apple Explains How to Connect and Use a Bluetooth Mouse or Trackpad
Joanna knocks another one out of the park. It was with a good bit of envy that I watched her 6+ minute video. I’ve had this actual idea before, without the Hell part.
Are our lives truly any better because of all this technology? Sometimes I say yes, today I say no But, who am I anyway?
WSJ - Joanna Stern - 24 Hours in Hell With Only 2010 Technology
Set the wayback machine to October 2010 when I heard from a California friend about this new thing called “Instagram”. I knew no one else using the app but I dove in head first. Quick friends were made and filters were enjoyed. Over the years I become more mindful of the impact of this new world: the Facebook purchase, the stolen features from Snapchat, the influencers, the narcissism, the cynicism, and more.
As if waking from a dream I woke up one day and realized that Instagram simply wasn’t for me anymore. I deleted my account and that was that. It’s been well over a year and while I do miss friends I can’t bring myself to go back to that world. I regained literal hours of time each week and overall feel a much healthier outlook on the real world.
This Vox.com article captured so many of my thoughts, great read!
Dear reader…you’ll have to pardon my quoting myself in jest.
Sad to see the passing of Ive’s influence at Apple. Events of this magnitude serve as milestone markers in the history of our glorious world of technology. History will write the legacy of Ive’s time at Apple but for me I have deep sentiment and appreciate for his team’s designs.
From my sacred, in perfect condition original generation iMac to countless iPods to the iPhone and more I have benefited from his work.
Fascinating visual depicting the actual transistor count of CPU/GPU along with the progress of Moore’s Law.
I wonder where Apple’s SOC would show on this.
Excellent read from Jason Snell, echos some of my initial reactions.
My notes:
Camera is worth the upgrade, don’t forget the non-default option for “Photos capture outside the frame”
I’m using the 11 Pro, the matte finish is a nice touch, feels more secure in my hand, even in tougher situations with a two-year old around
The separation between 11 and 11 Pro is noted. However, I want the purple on the Pro. Please?
Putting aside the oddity that I’m sharing an article from Sinofsky of Microsoft fame…this is a fabulous read. By 1981 we’re now in a time where I have memories and was using technology. The more distance I get from Steve Jobs life and career the more I realize that I simply didn’t understand the genius of it all.
Watching Jobs at 26 on Nightline is mind blowing…I think I was a complete doofus at 26, thank goodness I lived through it.
Fascinating work by Troy Davis. Tell your friends and then ask them to tell their friends and them to tell their friends and so on. Great stuff that I’m tacking on the back of the PSA Yelp post.
The more you know!
Old news but have been meaning write on this. Good writing from the Verge, link below.
These topics are tough for the everyday user to understand or see an issue. This falls into the same thread as overall privacy on your mobile devices, what information do apps collect, and who truly owns your data.
GrubHub just makes me feel “icky” (technical term)
Anyone else catch this? I’m an Annual Pass Holder at Disneyland and recently noticed that the mobile POS systems for the mobile carts like ice cream, cotton candy, etc. (not that I’ve ever purchased anything from those carts) now have a small Samsung tablet attached to them. Looks like it’s the POS card process portion.
It gained extra attention today as I stopped at every mobile cart and asked them if it was functioning, “do you take cards?” I only found one cart that successfully took cards and multiple other carts that stated it just didn’t work. One employee sited regular issues with the signal strength on them and error messages that don’t mean what the message actually says.
I took some time to try and find any public notice about the switch to Samsung online but couldn’t pin it down? Anyone else catch this? @ reply me on twitter or DM me, @prelusionescape
What was your favorite iPhone design? I’m still not sold on the “why” of it all but the 5S is my favorite. it’s likely part of why I’m enjoying the 2018 iPad Pro so much. The way it feels in my hand, the balance on a table, and specifically how well I typed on the iPhone 5/5S are all part of it.
The design was durable but comfortable, balanced and light, felt great in a pocket. As a current victim of big screens I think I want to go back to a smaller size and use the iPad Pro as a larger brother to fill in when a bigger screen is needed.
Over the years I had hopes that my workflow would support doing more and more on my iPhone and lose the long term need/want for an iPad. However, that just didn’t play it. Too many trade-offs to have the larger screen in your pocket. Let’s hope that Apple gets this gap and provides a smaller screen solution for people like me.
First heard of this clip when I listened to The Midnight’s (you must check them out) new album, the song “Youth”. It’s crazy to see how rare souls truly understood what was going to happen and how it would impact how we interact with each other.
My first experience with a computer, my literal FIRST MEMORY of using a computer was an Apple IIe and the program was VisiCalc. My Dad’s business had purchased a computer because someone on their board thought it might be a good idea but after they got it they weren’t sure what to do with it. My Dad brought it home for a time and I vividly remember using VisiCalc first and then a few others. Eleven-year-old me was blown away by pretty much anything on that machine, let alone a spreadsheet.
I had no understand of the market for these things and certainly wasn’t aware of what was happening in the industry for much of the 1980s. My next spreadsheet was Lotus, but that plays into the “rest of the story” which WSJ details quite well.
Hmmmm, I do still have my 5 1/4” disks and a working Apple IIe, maybe I should take a stroll down memory lane?!
Early in my childhood I became a fan of the Christian band “Petra”. I made friends from church camp and youth retreats who shared their music with me. I especially connected with the song “Computer Brains” (link below if you’re so inclined). This thought is similar to what Brian posts, follow along and be prepared for some sobering thoughts to consider.
Thoughts lead to beliefs, beliefs lead to…
As a workplace user of a Mac this article title caught my eye. Having multiple iCloud accounts logged in and separated via APFS volumes is smart and easy manage!
I’ve been avoiding the beta’s for both iOS and MacOS but things like this make consider trying it.
The more that time rolls on the more respect I have for Bill Gates. The work that he has done, post direct day to day involvement at Microsoft will impact the lives of billions for many years. Such grace and maturity in all that he does while still doing it all with child-like wonder and enthusiasm.
This retelling of the story of Paul Allen and their history together truly inspires and is a must read.
A treasured gem of a catalog. By 1989 NeXT had settled on both it’s image and the powerful combination of hardware and software. Amazing to see the threads here that are still influencing Apple and it’s platforms today. The former NeXT team eventually and not initially successfully brought the successor to NeXT’s OS forward as OS X in 2001.
My favorite sections are the third party portions of the catalog.
For further reading if you’re asking yourself “who was NeXT and why should I care?”. Also, it’s prerequisite to know who Avie Tevanian is.
The 90s were a dark time for relatively penniless Apple fans. I was young and the possibility of owning an Apple computer was an impossible dream. Each year that went by found me sliding deeper into a Microsoft Windows-induced technological depression. Oh hi there Windows 95 you look nice but why are you so mean to me? Oops, I made the mistake of buying version A. Curse you, oh failed SDLC dictated by delivering a product whether it’s ready to ship or not! Wait, where’s plug n’ play?
Steve comes back into the picture and randomly brings Microsoft’s money and a relatively unknown Jony Ive with him. My beloved delivery of the newest Mac Mall catalog would later tease me with this crazy computer called an iMac that I wouldn’t be able to afford for a decade. No PS/2 ports, all usb, no floppy drive, crazy cool colors…I wanted it all.
And now the news that Jony is moving on from Apple. Congrats to FT on an awesome, scoop-laden article.
While my head swirls with mixed feelings while I digest all of this I’ll simply leave with quotes from “A Day In the Life”:
“I read the news today, oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, I just had to laugh”
Intriguing to see a NYT on a topic that often swirls in my head. As a Sabbath-keeper many of the principles Ms. Tsui speaks to are well known to me. There is extensive research showing the positive impact on health, happiness, and even productivity when you take time to observe a rest of Sabbath.
“In a recent post on LinkedIn that went viral, Ian Sohn, president of the digital advertising and marketing agency Wunderman Chicago, wrote in defense of his vision of a healthy and humanistic workplace: “I never need to know that you’re working from home today because you simply need the silence. I deeply resent how we’ve infantilized the workplace. How we feel we have to apologize for having lives. How constant connectivity/availability (or even the perception of it) has become a valued skill.””
Perhaps it’s worthy to think of our expectations of others, especially in off hours when rest should be valued.