[ā¦] Sir Jony Ive, Appleās chief design officer, will depart the company as an employee later this year to form an independent design company which will count Apple among its primary clients.
End of an era, but it does feel that Sir Jony has been leaving work early for a few years. This is good, I wouldnāt mind a few more daring designs from Apple nowadays.
Peter Wells on smh.com.au:
John Siracusa may not be a household name, but to Apple nerds and podcast fans he is an accidental superstar. Siracusa was first noticed for his ridiculously thorough reviews of Appleās macOS; reviews so long they were sold as Kindle books.
Nothing accidental about it, I remember saying up late reading his amazing OS X reviews on ars, and listening to every hypercritical podcast when I returned to Venezuela from Norway.
The display now features a ācolor adjustable front lightā so you can ācustomize the color tone from cool to warm to easily transition from daytime to a comfortable nighttime reading experience,ā Amazon says.
Warm color light, page-turn buttons, 7 in screen, all sound great. But the $250 starting price is too high for me. Even if my Kindle Voyage disappears today, Iād go for the newest Paperwhite.
This happens because the hive mind has a way of muddying up internal work into countless informal requests and unstructured conversations, archived haphazardly into ad hoc collections of old messages.
This sounds awfully relatable.
From the guardianapp.com blog:
The initial 1.0 release of Guardian Firewall primarily does one thing, and it does it well: Block those trying to track you, and tell you who they are as well as what types of data they likely tried to collect.
Very intriguing, at $9.99/month (or $99.99 per year) for VPN + Firewall capabilities, itās competitive but of course not free. Iām very curious to see how speed compare to not having a VPN, and to the upcoming Couldflare Warpāāāwhich will have similar benefits, but far from the same control. You could also argue that Guardian is a much more trustworthy provider than Cloudflare.
Today, weāre unveiling the new Dropbox. Itās the Dropbox you know and love, but better. Itās a single workspace to organize your content, connect your tools, and bring everyone together, wherever you are.
Certainly theyāre moving away of being just a feature, and congrats to them. This is a strong play to become a collaboration tool in itself - way more the a folder sync tool.
Sadly Iām not that interested at the moment. Itās not a cheap solution for an IT department, since it needs to work alongside either G-Suite or Microsoft Office 365.
I would have preferred a different path, one where a paid Dropbox account replaced Gmail, Google Photos and other ad-supported consumer tools. For a while with Mailbox and their photos solutions they seems to be headed that way ā¦ but the enterprise deep pockets won.
Busy week. Will pick up speed next week again.
tidbitsDieter Bohn on theverge.com:
I think Apple should go all in and make nearly all of its consumer Mac apps with the new UIKitā/āMarzipan frameworks, including Mail, Notes, Messages, FaceTime, Photos, Reminders, and Calendar. Apple should just go for it, sooner rather than later, and ideally right now.
Count me in. This will be painful, but it also clarify what Apple pro users should be looking forward to. If the Mac āis doneā, and iPads are whatās next, then make the iPad OS and real alternative.
Itās clear that Apple canāt make both macOS and iOS the next generation system. It doesnāt have the resources, and even if it did, it would be confusing. It seems that the original plan was to have iOS be the large screen future, but the pushback brought Apple back to the drawing board.
I believe that next Monday we will see Appleās reformulation of the plan, and how macOS and iOS fit on it.
Panic on play.date:
Itās yellow. It fits in your pocket. Itās got a beautiful black and white screen. Itās not super cheap, but not super expensive. It includes brand new games from some amazing creators. Plus it has a crank.
Iām not a gamer, but this makes me wanna be one. What an undertakingāāāthe more I read the press release the more I think how impossible it sounds. If it werenāt Panic, Iād be sure this was a bad April Fools joke. Wish them the best of luck.
Max Read on nymag.com:
You donāt ācheckā chats the way you check an endless feed: Conversation flows when enough people want to have it, but thereās no algorithm to find and surface an unseen chat message that you might engage with.
Great point. I specially like the next sentence.
What you get instead is distraction the old-fashioned way: with intention.
Weāre not machines. Itās human to be distracted, seek entertainment, daydream. The problem nowadays is that weāre being trained to stay in a continued state of attention.
Without algorithms fulfilling the dopamine rush after every click/corner, itās easier to take a step back.
Sam Byford on theverge.com:
None of that changes the fact that the 2019 iPad mini is a fantastic product that I would recommend to anyone. I might have preferred a more ambitious redesign, sure, but whatās here is hard to criticize. Itās never less than a delight to use, itās the only good product in its category, and itās earned a permanent spot in my tote bag.
Iām really enjoying mine. If it had a more natural way to carry the pencilāāāLogitech Crayon in my caseāāāitād be perfect.
[ā¦] Disney announced that a trio of untitled āStar Warsā entries that will come after āStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerā brings the Skywalker spinoff saga to a close this December. The first of the new three films will hit the big screen on Dec. 16 2022. There will be two other follow-ups to during the Christmas corridor on Dec. 20, 2024 and Dec. 18, 2026.
I can totally live with that. Robie and Bettina will be 7 and 5 years oldā¦ they will be ready.
Mike Hoye on his blog exple.tive.org:
In the next small number of months, Mozilla intends to deprecate IRC as our primary synchronous-text communications platform, stand up a replacement and decommission irc.mozilla.org soon afterwards. Iām charged with leading that process on behalf of the organization.
Iām going to follow this closelyāāāmore for the process than the actual end result. But even the first post offers a learnings in the clarity of the requirements, and no-nonsense managing of expectations.
Itās not going to be an easy job, and if he shares even the highlights, we can all learn from it.
Macs carry the flame for the revolution. Theyāre the computers we own, right? Theyāre the astounding, powerful machines that we get to master.
Except that lately, it feels more and more like weāre just renting Macs too, and theyāre really Appleās machines, not ours.
Is a nagging feeling, but itās there.
Guilherme Rambo on 9to5mac.com:
Itās also likely that the Shortcuts appāāāa result from the acquisition of Workflowāāāwill be available on macOS, the inclusion of system-wide support for Siri Shortcuts on macOS 10.15 strongly suggests it.
If it has decent AppleScript/Automator like support, my mind will be blown.
Though we are sad to say goodbye, the time has come to sunset the BBM consumer service, and for us to move on.
Full circle in this blog, from arguing that Twitter DMs should be able to replace BBM, to rolling my eyes at BlackBerry not releasing iOS/Android apps soon enough.
The saddest thing is how irrelevant the goodbye is.
Steve Troughton-Smith on twitter.com:
I am now fairly confident based on evidence I donāt wish to make public at this point that Apple is planning new (likely UIKit) Music, Podcasts, perhaps even Books, apps for macOS, to join the new TV app. I expect the four to be the next wave of Marzipan apps.
I still pay for iTunes Match, so usually when on a deadline Iāll close everything but iTunes and the task at handāāāonly listening to my brain circa 2012.
But even the webish chimera of Spotify on the desktop is a better music app than iTunes. I donāt think an Apple Music on the Mac app will never get the love and attention that iTunes once got, but if itās an iPad based version, it might me good enough.
Adam Grant on the nytimes.com:
A better option is attention management: Prioritize the people and projects that matter, and it wonāt matter how long anything takes.
āWhich sound very kumbaya, but when carefully defined it becomes a bit more defendable in real life:
Attention management is the art of focusing on getting things done for the right reasons, in the right places and at the right moments.
And the money quote for me:
If youāre trying to be more productive, donāt analyze how you spend your time. Pay attention to what consumes your attention.
This last one made me pause, Iām deep into the if you donāt measure it, it doesnāt exist camp, and tracking what youāre up to is a given. But this suggest that should put more effort into where you attention wanders towardsā¦ a mindfulness concept that I can buy into.
I love articles like these which make me question my current truths. Will probably digest for a few more weeks, but itās to bookmarked to reread in a few months. ā
Ron Amadeo preserves for future generations, this is what Google Inbox was like:
The Sweep button and at-a-glance info cards represent my favorite bit of design philosophy in Inbox: by default, it treats emails as groups of disposable garbage.
Bundles, sweeps and all the features added to my favorite email app since Sparrow. Its ability to deal with a lot of noise and finding the signal still doesnāt exist in Gmail.
Burger Kingās chief marketing officer, Fernando Machado, said that in the companyās testing so far, customers and even employees had not been able to tell the difference between the old meaty Whopper and the new one.
Not sure this is a feature of Impossible Foods, or a bug of Burger King. Still, Iāll try this as soon as I get a chance.
Casey Chin:
The technology that Cloudflare is betting will make Warp fast is a protocol invented by Google called QUIC, and it could one day make the rest of the internet faster and more reliable.
Hold on a second, this sounds fishyā¦
Cloudflare is using a draft of the IETFās QUIC specification for the connection between its mobile app and its servers.
Never mind. Thatās better.
This all sounds as a modern version of Opera Mini, and something that Opera and Google have been trying to do in recent years but technology and privacy concerns held it back. Iāve used the 1.1.1.1 app for DNS and the speed improvement is noticeableāāāso I have no doubts Cloudflare can make the tech work.
The privacy verdict is still out there, but if they deliver on the speed claim, it becomes a game of lesser evilsā¦ do you trust Cloudflare more than your ISP and/or mobile operator? I know I do.
Tasha Eurich interviewing Whitney Johnson:
Journaling is helpful, when done properlyāif you spend too much time on āwhyā questions and emotions, you will wallow in the past. Tasha suggests asking yourself three questions:
- What went well today?
- What didnāt go quite as well today?
- How can I be smarter tomorrow?
Really good journaling tips on their conversation. The above structure feels similar to me, but could be a clearer tip for someone who wants to start journaling.
HT to Christian for the recommendation.
The etiquette of texting is, of course, different than an in-person conversation, but it can still feel like your conversational partnerās silence means something. Did I say something weird? Or is she just busy?
When almost all of your family and friends interaction happens on a WhatsApp group, the implications of this take a whole new level.
In an email, Appleās SVP of Hardware Engineering writes:
After much effort, weāve concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards and we have cancelled the project.
Ouch. No conspiracy theory here, they just couldnāt deliver. I find it surprising they didnāt reduce the scope to something similar to the dozens of Qi wireless chargers that exists already.
Keybase on Whatsapp:
We actually DO take great issue with their claim of forward secrecy while encouraging your chat partners to āback upā their chats with you to the cloud, entirely defeating the purpose.
Excellent point. I keep forgetting about these backups as the weakest link.
This is not one of those apps. It is an app written from the ground up for macOS, which works as expected with the system features.
I recently started using Drafts on iOS again and while the UI still feels like a flight cockpit, the level of power is amazing. For the Mac, it translates to a much simpler app, but that will change when it gets actions.
For a taste of the feature check this overview by MacSparky.
The iPad 2019 lineup clarity is something I wish for the Macās 2020 lineup. Five models: iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, iPad Pro (11in), iPad Pro (12.9in). Starting at $329 for the iPad 9.7in 1, it increases to $399, $499, $699 and $999 for each base model respectively.
As geeks we lament that inconsistency between technologies: Apple Pencil 2 and FaceID on the Pro versions versus Apple Pencil 1 and TouchID in the rest of the models. Or the biggest gripe for me, the obsolete design language of the bottom devices once you compare with the Pro versionsāāātheyāre not different designs, one is old and the other new.
If you donāt get too geeky though, when asked the critical question by a friend or relative: which one should I get?, youāll actually see consistency. They all support a pencil, yes one is better, but the other one isnāt bad. They all have a good screen, again one better and another one that doesnāt refresh at 120 Hz. You can go on and on with the processor, connector, speakers, etc.
In an age of complex technology, you arrive at a simplified matrix of consistent features with good vs better implementations. With each of the models being a clear response to a corresponding: if youāre willing to spend $X, Y is the best model. Try doing that with a Mac nowadays.
Iām writing this on my 2017 iPad Pro 10.5 512Gb. It was my family wide birthday gift that year. Itās an amazing machine - two years in, I still havenāt managed to slow it down with anything I throw at it. This iPad Pro es effectively the new iPad Air, with an older processor, faster refresh screen (Pro Motion), better camera, and 4 speakers vs 2 of the new Air. But a week ago the 10.5 Pro was $649, while the remixed Air starts at $499. Itās a simplified version for its target audience. In fact, if you have a gullible geek friend with a 10.5 Pro, bait him/her to upgrade, and get the device at a hefty discount. Or try to find one in a clearance sale, because at the same price, the old 10.5 Pro is a better device than the new Air in my opinion.
Before the iPad, the iPhone, the Pocket PCs, the iBooks, the Palms, there was a Newton 2100 MessagePad in my heart bag. The Newton 2100 was a powerful 8.3in x 4.7in device with a stylus that could replace your desktop computer for certain tasks, but it wasnāt meant to. The iPad mini 2019 is a 8.0in x 5.3in device that supports the 1st Gen Apple Pencil and can replace your MacBook for certainā¦ you see what Iām getting at?
It took Apple 7690 days to launch a proper replacement, at least on paper. Because even though the iPad mini design is 7 years old, the pencil was needed for it to be considered as viable descendant.
As you might imagine, all this is just me justifying my upcoming purchase. Iām not planing to add an iPad to my gear bag, Iām actually going to replace the iPad Pro 10.5 with the mini. I will miss the bigger screen for watching video, reading comics and books. The magazine size of the iPad 10.5 is the perfect around the house device. Itās true that more than any other previous iPad, I do stuff on it for which Iād pulled out the laptop before, and the laptop sized screen has a lot to do with it.
But when I really need stuff done, or Iām heading out the door for a trip, the MacBook is the one that goes in the bag. Right now, thatās how I work. Hereās where the Moleskine sized device beacons for me. Itās why I still have and use my 2013 iPad mini 2, even though itās painfully slow. Because for me, thereās less confusion between what a MacBook, a small iPad, and an iPhone are for.
There are two nonexclusive scenarios that might make me regret or be glad of replacing the Pro, these are:
So this is the state of my iPad mind at the moment. I havenāt ordered the new iPad mini yet, but mostly for logistics reasons. Iām also going to put my iPad Pro for sell in the coming days, and hope not to be left without one or the other for long.
$250 if you search for sales.ā©ļø
Jason Fried:
Group chat is like being in an all-day meeting with random participants and no agenda.
Forgive me @channel, for I have sinned.
As one of the main proponents of adopting Slack at my organization at the start of the year, I have mixed feelings with the results.
On one had, I do believe that it has been an improvement of the Skype free-for-all party that was the norm. Itās now easier to have an idea of what is happening on multiple remote teams 1. Sharing is also way easier on Slack and, thereās more IT oversight over accounts and users ā at least versus Skype.
However, how much better it is compared to just having clearer rules on Google Hangouts (which we have with our G-Suite account), is debatable. The Slack app itself is a much better experience, and the integrations are plain fun.
But just like social networks, thereās something to be said about these services need to grab attention. The fact that they feel like work, should make us even more suspicious.
Main office plus 2 outsourced teams in San JosĆ©, Costa Rica, and my office in Miami.ā©ļø
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