Trackpad on iPad Pro via iPadOS 13.4

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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

Daring Fireball - 2020 iPad Pro

Six Colors - iPad 2020 review: Small steps

All things digital - even Hot Wheels →

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From time to time a new take on an old toy catches my eye. The new offering from Hot Wheels intrigued me from the start. Ten-year-old me is super jealous!

PSA - I’m trying to figure out the name of a toy that my sister and I had back in the 80s. It was a wand that you typed a word into and then you swung the wand back and forth and the word appeared in the air via the flashing LED’s.

The Verge - Hot Wheels goes digital

The more things change, the more they're different →

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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.

Apple Leadership

It's one louder - iPhone 11 review →

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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?

Jason does a better job than me…

Best looking iPhone design ever? →

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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.

iPhone 5 (Slate Black) was the best looking iPhone ever

Fascinating - NeXT 1989 Catalog →

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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.

NeXT 1989 Catalog

Ode to Sir Jony →

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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”

FT Article

Catalyst to the Rescue? →

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Watching from the sidelines the WWDC keynote was mind-glowingly awesome. I don’t have much time for development work in my day to day life but I did get that the biggest announcements were developer-oriented…Catalyst, SwiftUI, Combine, and more.

Still re-reading this article from MacStories’ John Voorhees, one specific sugget says it all, “So, if Catalyst isn't fully automatic and SwiftUI is the future of UI development across all Apple's platforms, why introduce Catalyst now? The answer lies in a product realignment of the Mac and iPad relative to each other and the rest of Apple's product line that's designed to address weaknesses in both platforms' software ecosystems.”

Lots to unpack here but the future looks bright for both iOS and MacOS.

MacStories read

WWDC - still reeling in the years →

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We used to complain that WWDC keynotes had become victims of a successful formula - Tim’s opening with a stock market inspiring message about innovation and retail sales, some new products, vast majority of time to iOS along with a light mention of OS X (I’m still challenged by calling it MacOS). Thankfully 2019 was vastly different than recent experience.

As an Apple fan from the midwest these keynotes were something of an event for us. We would gather together 10 or more of us at a local restaurant with wi-fi for lunch, order our food, and get ready for the 12 PM CT broadcast. We would have multiple tables full of people watching a live blog of the event, this was pre-live video stream by Apple. Some would read twitter feeds while others did both. Throughout it all was deep passion and excitement for what was shared.

When Steve’s journey ended I admit that these events felt different. I vividly remember the Fall 2011 event and Steve’s absence where we later found out that the team was well aware of Steve’s health status. Having visited Apple’s campus and heard of the depth of Steve’s impact on Apple’s spirit I believe there was a years-long impact that continues to ripple out on these events.

This past June 3, 2019 event felt different, more alive, more proud than any event in recent memory. I saw a team running at full speed, executing at a high level, and revealing a masive amount of transformational technology that I’m still trying to wrap my head around. Will hold off on commenting on the individual reveals and only say that I was very, very proud to watch the hard work of so many awesome people be received so positively and know that I’ll have lots of awesomeness coming my way.

More soon!

MacWorld did a great job of summarizing everything from the keynote as it was released.

Cue Apple - please come home →

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Like Rene I continue to hope that Apple will step back in to the home wi-fi market to augment the strength of the HomeKit platform. I was a proud AirPort user for many users. While I’ve enjoyed my Eero it’s led to a crisis of sorts that I’m now using an Amazon product to connect and type this.

Check out Rene’s take on this, great as always!

Speaking of Apple...Disney announces Disney+ →

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The most mysterious release at Apple’s March 25 event was Apple TV+. While the endless parade of celebrities was moderately interesting, the complete lack of details regarding this service was certainly NOT interesting. This is in stark contrast to Disney’s announcement this week of their $7 a month service.

I think there’s a virtual line around the world already queued up for this, me included.

9to5 Mac has a good summary.

Magazines in Apple News+ - how/what/where? →

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News+ was the first product/service announcement from the Apple March 25 event and the only one that you can try out right now. I was and am excited about this as it helps meet some of my personal goals of lowering overall monthly expenses and being a better steward of our limited resources in this world.

Apple has some work to do on the UI and overall workflow. I can only guess that trying to shoehorn the offerings from the former Texture acquisition was hairy than they expected. Let’s hope they get this ironed out over time. It’s already a great value.

Good read from Mac Rumors on how to use the Magazine capability.

How Apple Card works →

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After Apple’s March 25 event there has been a lot of discussion regaring every moment of the presentation. I’ll save my overall thoughts for another day. As someone who grew up in financial services and used to have a day job associated with card processing I was intrigued by the Apple Card (especially daily cash).

Here’s a good read from Tech Crunch on specifics…

How Apple Card works

Garage Band vs. Logic Pro vs. Reality →

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As a musician of 40 years and a regular user of Logic Pro I must admit that I haven’t spent much time in Garage Band. I keep reading positive accolades like this article from Apple Insider and wonder if I should pay more attention. It’s interesting to see the word “Emagic” in an article! Flashback.

Will avoid my usual long diatribe about the death of real music. #saveforanotherday

Appleinsider article