All around, a pretty great week for me. I went back to see my spinal surgeon, and got some x-rays. Everything looked good, and he lifted the majority of the restrictions that I have been living with. Couldn't have gone better, and I am so happy.
I can now drive, and work out beyond just walking. I am allowed to go swimming. I can now bend, lift and twist. I was very excited, and took full advantage, went swimming a couple of times, and went out and got a burrito from my favorite local burrito shop. I joined a gym, as I am not allowed to get on my rowing machine here at home quite yet.
I've watched an absolute ton of UEFA Euro 2024 over the last week. Fox has made some peculiar decisions about where they put some of the games. The level of play is excellent.
We also finished Mr. & Mrs. Smith Season 1. Really enjoyable, and I hope we get Donald Glover and Maya Erskine back for at least some part of season 2, which is confirmed.
I finished Right Thing, Right Now by Ryan Holiday, the next book in his virtue series, and really got a lot out of it. I will say, though, that if you want to get started with his writing, I would suggest starting with The Obstacle is The Way. He turns Stoic philosophy into something accessible and applicable to one's daily life by linking ideas to anecdotes from history. As I work on myself, forever, these ideas have been helpful and inspiring.
If you're looking for something refreshing to cook this Summer, may I suggest this really nice, lemony, Black Rice Salad recipe from Bon Appetit. We've been making this salad for years, and I always enjoy it.
I got this Belkin BoostCharge Pro for my desk and I really like it. (It's not on Belkin's site anywhere that I could find, so I am linking directly to Amazon, no referral.) It converts from a stand that supports MagSafe charging and Standby for my iPhone to a small pad that I can rest my AirPods Pro on. I haven't seen something quite like this anywhere else, and I really like having both options, and being able to fold it down flat.
Finally, this episode of the Smartless podcast, with John Williams as their guest, was the best one in quite a while. He's a legend, and he doesn't do many things like this. They were uniquely qualified to have the conversation with him, and it made for a really good listen. (Give it a few minutes though, it starts kind of slow.)
This week has been a lot, trying to balance my health restrictions due to my spinal surgery recovery with a ramping up work schedule and still also digesting as much WWDC content, both from Apple and from third parties, as I can. I've struggled with my energy level, but generally feel good. I go back for some x-rays and to see my surgeon this week, hoping for a good progress report, and some lifted restrictions.
This week, I finished Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. Many of you will have heard this title because of the Netflix show. I will admit that I have not finished the Netflix show, but I had started it before deciding to read the book. The book holds much of the same plot arc, but largely occurs in China with Chinese characters. I really enjoyed the book, and will definitely now finish the show. I also plan on reading the second book.
I also finished The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant this week. I found this book via Ryan Holiday's excellent Reading List email newsletter. I highly recommend that one, it's helped me find some really incredible books. I adored this book, which is about a true story of a Siberian Tiger attack in 1997. The book is part history, part detective story, part biology, and all captivating. I learned so much about tigers, the Russian Far East, the relationship between primates and big cats, and the on-the-ground outcomes of perestroika. Add this one to your list. It also led me to this excellent YouTube documentary.
A reminder that you can find me on goodreads. I am trying to read a little less this year, with my goal being around 75 books by year's end.
On to WWDC, I watched the Keynote and State of the Union live. I think Apple knocked it out of the (pardon the pun) park this year. My less technical friends and family seemed less excited about this keynote than others from years past, but I think the focus that Apple chose, and what they are releasing, are the perhaps the best possible options for the good of the company. Having said that, I want more foundational iPadOS improvements.
I, of course, had FOMO about not being able to attend, but my health comes first. I miss the in person format, especially with the sessions. I've watched about 15 sessions, and these pre-recorded ones just aren't as effective for me. I have the iPadOS beta installed on my iPad mini, and haven't found many rough edges so far. (The more interesting stuff that was announced isn't in the betas yet.) I did play with the new Calculator app and Math Notes with my Apple Pencil. It's really well done, but not something I can see myself using on a regular basis.
These Macintosh Wallpapers that Basic Apple Guy captured have a really nice retro touch for us old timers.
I've decided I am going to try to do something roughly in the vein of The Installer Newsletter, which I look forward to every Saturday. Many browser tabs are opened.
I've been recovering from having lumbar spinal fusion surgery over the last few weeks, and have been limited in terms of what I'm able to do. I returned to work this week, but my energy level is nowhere near as robust as it normally is, yet.
This week, I finished On Photography by Susan Sontag. She passed away 20 years ago, but many of the thoughts about the art of photography in this book endure. With the emergence of digital photography and now ai applied to photography, someone could easily write a thoughtful sequel to this book.
I also finished In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larsen. This non-fiction book about William E. Dodd, who was the US Ambassador to Hitler's Germany in 1933, was actually a pretty quick read. I am going to read more Erik Larsen in the short future. Lots of really interesting pre-war context in this book. Shout out to Libby for making it easy to borrow these Kindle books from our Public Library.
I watched Godzilla Minus One the moment it was up on Netflix, and have been re-consuming it in bits and pieces in my home office while doing glamorous CTO tasks like my expense report. It's excellent, not just the best Godzilla movie, but a really good movie in it's on right.
I've also been watching a lot of music on YouTube while spending my doctor mandated times on the couch here at home. Lots and lots of OMA, who do instrumental covers of hip-hop songs, this video is a good jumping off point for them, but you can't go wrong with anything on their channel. Perfect background music for your day. If you want something a tad more aggressive, this live performance by DJ Z-Trip is a classic.
I've been enjoying the new multi-column layout that Threads has released on the web. It works pretty well on iPad as well. I do wish they had lists, like vintage Twitter did, that's how I consumed so much of my Twitter content over the years.
I'm (still) playing a ton of World of Warcraft Remix: Mists of Pandaria. I'm enjoying it so much that I didn't even start playing the new Destiny 2 expansion as planned this week. My gaming time is limited as I am only allowed to sit up for 30-45 minutes at a time. Still also doing Wordle and Spelling Bee almost every day too.
I listened to a lot of podcasts this week, catching up on the ones I missed. The State of the Hardware 2024 Episode of Cortex is the one that had me buying a new microphone for future audio pursuits. Really enjoy all the "State of the" episodes of Cortex.
My job is very time zone intensive, we run events in many parts of the world. We also have regional offices in various locations, and my team is largely remote and scattered throughout the globe.
On my Mac, I utilize Clocker to keep track of the time across all these places. It runs as a menu bar item, is highly configurable (You can see my setup) and can also live in its own window on my desktop. In addition to the display of the various times, you're able to see your next meeting or two.
Highly recommend this software if you manage a lot of time zones.
Making meetings effective is something that I think about every week. I spend a lot of my time in meetings, and it always seems like I could use more time outside of them for the rest of my job. Everyone seems to agree about this. Meetings are a necessary evil, but they don't have to be wasteful.
A key to making meetings more productive for me has been providing my meeting agenda items to the other person in advance. It does two great things for me. First, it makes me think carefully about what I want to use the time to talk about. Second it makes me organize topics either in order of priority if I think that time is a consideration, or in a flow that makes sense for the conversation. Finally, it makes me prep for the meeting and identifies any prep work that I need to do to get ready for the meeting.
I have a fairly simple system for collecting potential agenda items. I keep an agenda folder in whichever notes app I am currently using, for instance Apple Notes or Bear. I'm currently using NotePlan all day, and should probably blog about that at some point.
For each person or group who I meet with on a regular basis, I have a separate note in an "Agendas" folder, even if those meetings are sporadic. As I go through my day, as it occurs to me or comes up in a meeting that I need to discuss something with one of those people, I will command tab over to their agenda note and add the item.
Then, the day before or a few hours before I meet with the person or group, I comb through the items I have collected, and turn them into an agenda that I either email or Slack to that person. I generally try and do it well before the meeting, this allows the other person or people to think about the topics and prepare if need be. There are times, however, when I am just using that list in the moment to make sure I don't miss something.
A week later, or whenever I need to meet with that person or group again, I’m also able to see what we discussed last time, and can leverage that to follow up on any items that require more conversation.
This system is pretty simple, but it has worked really well for me.
Here are some things I've been enjoying recently, in no specific order. I am not compensated in any way, even referral payments, for these links. Hope I turn someone else onto something they enjoy.
This is an equivalent for rowing to Peloton, and by all accounts the best interactive rower on the market. I grew up as an endurance athlete, but I just hate riding stationary bikes, and I find rowing a better workout as well. Hydrow offers great instructors, a great community of people to support you as you progress, and it has worked for me. I know, this thing is crazy expensive, and also requires a monthly subscription, but I was able to cancel my gym membership altogether. We’ve had ours for about 11 months now, and I have worked out on it 300 days. This device, and the service it comes with, which includes guided yoga, pilates and strength classes, has been a key to maintaining my sanity and improving my fitness over the last year. Since we purchased it, I have lost about 26 pounds. (I don’t care that much about weight, I care about fitness, but it’s still an encouraging metric.)
I love this little wireless charging stand that I keep on my desk. It holds/charges my iPhone 12 Pro Max in either portrait or landscape, making it great for my ten hour shifts monitoring the live streaming coverage of our events through our app. It also wirelessly charges my AirPods Pro. It’s a game changer to be able to see your phone screen while sitting at your computer.
You may not be able to find these too far outside of Atlanta yet, but I'm fairly certain that you will be able to at some point. While most cocktails in a can that I have tried have been, frankly, gross, Tip Top came to the table with Old Fashioned, Negroni and Manhattan cocktails in a well designed can that are delicious, and have become a staple for me. In the last month, they added new Daiquiri and Bee's Knees cocktails to the lineup, and these two are both a welcome taste of Summer. I am not recommending their Margarita though. Start this Summer with the Daiquiri, you won't regret it. So great for a delicious cocktail on the go.
This neighborhood burrito joint opened last month in Kirkwood, on the edge of the Atlanta/Decatur line. If you are local, I would recommend joining their mailing list, which gives you ordering access to their Wednesday pre-order an hour earlier than people not in the know. Most burritos are protein-rich breakfast bombs, really flavorful and very filling. Each week they change their menu, introducing a new meat burrito, a new veggie burrito and a new frozen burrito, typically all named in some theme. (This week is Steve Martin themed.) There have been weeks, since they opened, when I have consumed one of their burritos for lunch 5 out of 7 days.
I really like(d) Vesper, but it never stuck for me. I was a day one user, mainly because I am huge fan of all three of these guys, and also consider their QA lead an internet friend.
I don’t know what they could have done differently, especially with only three of them, I do think that, for their core audience, there are three platforms that matter:
mobile/iOS
Desktop Mac
Web
I think to be successful in the market segment they were in, you need to have solutions for all three. Other solutions, like Apple's Notes app and SimpleNote, while they might not be as elegant as Vesper, win based on the utility on multiple platforms. That's why Vesper never stuck for me. Having said that, even Evernote, which appeared to be a juggernaut in this market, are having their own issues with a subscription business model.
Only Brent, Dave and John know for sure, but from my outsider’s view, this was a part time job for all three of them. I suspect that if even one of them had made this more of a full time job, it might have generated perspective and possibly drive to succeed. Just guessing on that bit, and I could be completely wrong.
I’m currently using Apple Notes as my primary phone/tablet/desktop text tool. iCloud sync has worked great for me.
Up until a week ago, my main carry phone was an iPhone 6. I replaced it with an iPhone 6s Plus, which arrived on launch day, but, due to some work travel, I have only had it since Sunday, for five days. Here are some high level observations from those five days of using this new device.
Overall, I’m quite pleased with the new device itself, especially the obvious hardware improvements. Having said that, and I have had every iPhone to date, this was the least smooth transition from one phone to another on the software side. I am still working on getting my new phone to the place my old phone already was. This is not intended to be a comprehensive review, I don’t have the patience or time these days to do that.
This phone feels ridiculously fast, faster than my iPad Air 2 even.
The battery life seems a little worse than my couple of months old iPhone 6 Plus.
My initial observation was that this phone is heavier than the existing iPhone 6 Plus, but still comfortable to me for extended use and carry. I purchased an Apple silicone case, I have been very happy with the 2014 silicone case that my work iPhone 6 Plus is in. I am a little disappointed in the 2015 silicone case, it’s got a smoother finish, and feels less grippy in your hand. As a result, I feel the phone slipping in my hand a little when I am not expecting it. I may end up getting another case that has a better tactile feel to it.
I’m a huge fan of Touch ID, and it’s significantly faster with the new phone for both Apple Pay and unlocking the device. It’s so fast, in fact, that I am sometimes accidentally unlocking the device when I wanted to wake the phone up to see the time.
3D Touch seems to have a ton of potential. It turns out that I am a “hard presser” to begin with, and so my long touches are often being interpreted as a 3D Touch. Once I understood the pressure differential, mainly while I was re-organizing my home screen, things locked into place, and now I have the hang of it. It will take even longer for me to get into the routine of thinking to use it.
The camera is noticeably better, and was one of my main reasons for upgrading the phone. Focus is faster, and low light photos look better to me. I am not sure that I am that enchanted with Live Photos, but that may just be that I haven’t taken many yet. Since a lot of what I do with my pictures is sharing via Instagram and Facebook, I am not sure I will use Live Photos much until they are supported on those platforms.
So now a few words about the transition from my iPhone 6 to this new phone, which has not been a good experience. First, I was a part of the iOS 9 public beta this Summer. Not the developer releases, but the public beta. I did this because I thought it would mean a smoother landing when everything came out this fall. I was wrong. They rolled the people in the iOS 9 public beta right onto 9.1. Once you have backed up on 9.1, you can’t restore onto 9. So I had to start with my last good backup from earlier this Summer. I understand what running a beta means, that there may be sharp edges. I think someone at Apple should have thought through the customer experience before just rolling everyone on to 9.1.
The transition between phones for Watch is terrible. You have to un-pair your watch from the phone, deleting everything off the watch, then re-pair it with your new phone, finally restoring from whatever your last backup was, and losing some data pretty much no matter what you do. So much room for improvement here.
Finally, I have relied on the Health app and Activity app as my primary activity and fitness trackers for the last few months. Shame on me for not looking into this more, but that data does not get backed up via iCloud backup. You can back it up by doing an encrypted iTunes backup, which I will now be forced to switch to. There is a way to migrate this data using two third party apps, and I am going to spend the time to try and do that this weekend. Very disappointing from a user experience standpoint though, seems like they are making the customer do too much work. I wouldn’t expect to have to manually migrate this data myself.
Update: It seems that Health and Activity data is in the iCloud backup after all, but some folks, myself included, are having issues with getting it to the new devices.
On the whole, WWDC 2015 brought less news and less change than its two immediate predecessors. Apple is still on top of the world, but this year, it's about refining and polishing, not wide-reaching changes. - WWDC 2015 Debrief — 512 Pixels
I didn't get to attend as much WWDC as I would have liked, as I flew across the country for some meetings and an NBA Finals game in Cleveland part way into the week. I would overall say that the atmosphere seemed a little more subdued in years past, yet didn't lack the enthusiasm that comes with these Apple events either. It's a recognition that things are evolving, they are the biggest company in the world, and there's a need to go back and dot some i's, albeit without admitting that they weren't dotted in the first place.
I’m looking forward to the iPad enhancements, and to the watchOS (rhymes with nachos) with real apps etc. I’m worried about the strain this puts on developers with limited resources at the same time.
I definitely love my Apple Watch. I ordered the Stainless Steel Apple Watch with a black sport band at 12:01 am on the night they went on sale, received it the very first day they shipped, and haven’t really taken it off, except for charging, since. I really like the black sport band, but have wanted to pick up more bands as well. I see the sport band as a good every day band, and only really liked the black color. I wanted some variety, but found the other Apple options to not really be for me when I tried them on in store. A few weeks ago, when the Monowear bands went up for pre-order, I placed an order for Monowear red nylon band.
I received the band while I was away at WWDC, and was pretty excited to try it out when I got home. I liked the red color as a contrast to the black band I have been wearing. I have to say that I am not disappointed in this band in any way. I like it so much that I may be ordering additional bands from Monowear in the near future. Given the current dearth of third party bands that are available, and the premium construction, I don’t think the $59.99 price tag is unreasonable.
The band installed flawlessly on my watch, as easily as any of the Apple bands. Removing and re-installing my Apple Sport Band also proved to be a breeze. I was definitely concerned about this the most of the various aspects of this purchase, and this band passed with flying colors.
The band itself is well made, and its metal matches the Apple Watch hardware color perfectly. This includes the three band loops, as well as the small pieces that attach the band to the watch body. I can’t find any flaws there at all. The nylon is what I would expect from a premium nylon watch band. It came out of the packaging a little stiff, and so will be a little itchy/scratchy the first few days until it’s fully broken in, but I think that’s to be expected.
Overall, this band is a good option for those seeking a red band, something Apple does not offer. I’d really like to try out their leather bands next, but may have to wait for my next paycheck to make that purchase. Keep in mind that I have only had/worn this band for about 36 hours, and my opinion may change with wear, but, for now, it’s a definite go ahead and buy rating.
“Interaction with a watch is measured in seconds and rarely minutes.”
This definitely implies that people are going to be using the wrist device for quick bursts, but not for any sustained time period.
Earlier this week, I read this article by Kevin Tofel that makes the case for Watch apps being “usable” in ten seconds or less.
I actually agree that the first generation of apps for these devices are more than likely going to be for small burst activities. I think, however, that that will be because most people haven’t had access to a device prior to this first release of apps. It may also be because of battery life, but that remains to be seen at the moment, I expect we will know more tomorrow.
I think that this device will, in the more long term, be used for longer things than people realize at the moment. I keep imagining some addictive watch based game that people play. Think tamogotchi for your wrist (which I imagine someone has to be making the equivalent of somewhere at this very moment) and you have the general idea. I think that the limiting factor, aside from the aforementioned battery life concern, is that people will think of this like a watch until they don’t.
I’ve only had my iPhone 6 for about twenty four hours, but here’s some of my first impressions. I upgraded from an iPhone 5S. This is not intended to be a full review, nor do I intend to do one. It’s also not a review of iOS 8, you should read this one if you want that. I went for the iPhone 6 Space Gray, 128 Gb. My carrier is AT&T.
First, the software and data transition between phones was the easiest one I have ever done. I had upgraded my 5S to iOS 8 last week, and did a lot of purging beforehand to make sure my backup was as small as possible. Having said that, I was up and running pretty quickly, and most everything just works today. iCloud keychain, and iCloud backups, have taken this process lightyears ahead of the “old days.”
It’s a fistful of phone for me, but not too big by any means. I can reach all areas of the screen. Your mileage may vary based on your hand size and dexterity, but I am totally comfortable with the size of the phone.
That screen! Wow. The colors, the resolution, it looks amazing. Feels like a substantial upgrade from the 5S screen to me. Not just the size, but also the quality.
The Sleep/Wake button location change to the side of the device went against my muscle memory for the first few hours of use, but today it seems like I’m well on my way to getting used to this change.
It worked, without any obvious issues, with my car kit and other accessories, except for my Elevation Dock, which it doesn’t fit in. (Anyone want to buy an Elevation Dock for their 5S or 5C?)
I went for the Apple Leather Case (Black) because I used the same/similar case from Apple on my iPhone 5S. I’m not disappointed in any way, it feels great. I think that most people will want a case for this phone, it’s very smooth and rounded, and I think, easier to drop than the last four iPhones.
I haven’t taken many pictures yet, but the pictures I took to test looked markedly better than similar shots with my iPhone 5S.
I’m very enthusiastic about this device. It seems better in all the right ways. It’s not really worse in any way that I have found after a day.
Last night, the people who were among the select group of writers to receive review units of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were finally allowed to release their hands on reviews of the new devices.
Every year, I find this night a little overwhelming as I try to read and digest the opinions of a catalog of people who I trust, and, in some cases, revere, for their opinions on this stuff. This is kind of hilarious in that every previous year at this point I’ve already ordered my device. This year, however, more than any other, I was reading these reviews hoping that I haven’t made the wrong decision in which device I ordered. Really for the first time in the iPhone’s history, there are two “top of the line” devices to choose from. Did I get it right?
I ordered an iPhone 6 Plus at 3:40 am ET last Friday, after 4o frustrating minutes of trying to order a phone while simultaneously reloading Twitter to see if others had been successful. My reasoning behind choosing the iPhone 6 Plus was that I wanted the extra battery life, and that, given how much I value the pictures I take with the device, that the camera with optical stabilization would be something that I would want.
I had printed out the PDF of the devices, and cut them out. It did nag at me a little that the 6 Plus was the same size as my (work provided) Samsung Galaxy Note 3. When my order went through, the app informed me that my device would be shipping the first week in October. Unacceptable, but I went back to bed anyway.
The next morning, I found that there were iPhone 6, Space Gray, 128 Gb still available for store pickup at two of my local Apple stores with a 9/19 availability date. I cancelled my iPhone 6 Plus order, and placed one for an iPhone 6 for pick up. (I can’t pick mine up until Monday because I am out of town at a family wedding the next few days.) I’m hoping that I don’t spend much time in the next 12 months regretting that decision. My reasoning was that the iPhone 6 is still a good jump from the iPhone 5S I am using now in terms of size. We’ll see.
Here’s some thoughts on a few reviews from around the web. I don’t intend this post to be a summary of the reviews, or a review of reviews, it’s mostly my reaction to each.
This review made me feel a little better about my decision to go with the iPhone 6, particularly this part, where he makes his recommendations.
If you simply want a bigger iPhone, get the 4.7-inch iPhone 6. That’s what it feels like: a bigger iPhone.
In the rest of the review, the only section that caused a pause of iPhone 6 Plus regret was the one on battery life. The paragraph on Reachability made me even more curious about this feature, that I suspect one has to try to really understand. I liked how much time Gruber spent on how the units fit into your pocket. He covers virtually every aspect that a regular to advanced user would want to know about. I was wondering about this aspect, and he confirmed my concern.
After seven years, it is hard, really hard, to get to used to the new side placement of the sleep/wake button.
The rest of the review aligns where I would expect it too. If you're looking to spend a few minutes reading a review, this is the one I would start with. He's the man.
That’s one heck of a line wrapping title. Jason does a great job of putting this set of device releases in the context of the history of iPhone releases at the beginning of the review. He seems to feel almost exactly the same way that Gruber does about the 6 Plus.
That being said, the iPhone 6 Plus is unlike any iPhone before it. Not quite a phone, not yet an iPad, it’s a tweener of a device that’s going to be fantastic for some people and completely wrong for others.
This review then fits into the sort of regular formula for MacWorld reviews, covering off on the various components of the phone experience. It spends some time on the new displays, and comments on the Reachability in the following manner.
Reachability isn’t the most elegant concept I’ve seen Apple develop, but it does make the size of these phones more manageable when you’re using only one hand.
The review minimizes the difference between the Plus camera and the regular 6 camera, except in low light conditions, and largely stays silent on the battery life matter. Given that the battery life is one of the three major differences in models, I was disappointed that MacWorld didn't do more with it. Overall, this review didn't invoke iPhone 6 regret in the least.
On a side note, Jason Snell has left MacWorld, and has a new site, Six Colors. There are some interesting deeper insights about the screens and display technology in his first article on that site, iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 Plus: A tale of scale. Looking forward to seeing what else he does with his newfound freedom.
First, I think that it was a curious decision to do these as two separate reviews by two different writers. The two reviews above got this right, in my opinion. A single review for both makes for better reading, and they are so similar in so many ways, that this style of review is more efficient for the reader.
The iPhone 6 review does a good job of putting this phone, and it’s size, in the context of the larger market, fairly comparing it to the Android devices that the Daring Fireballs and MacWorlds would typically not mention. This review has the nicest product photography and better screen shots than any other review I have looked at for these phones as well. It talks more about iOS 8 than the previous two as well, mentioning Spotlight for instance.
I’m particularly smitten with Spotlight, which now includes the App Store, web, local, and other search results as you type. It’s become my go-to way to find anything; it’s much faster than opening Safari or dealing with Siri, which can be fantastically useful but remains hard of hearing.
For me, the addition of the app store to Spotlight closes a Radar that I filed a very long time ago. I've always thought this belonged there.
The iPhone 6 plus review did cause me some regret. Particularly this section on battery.
Huge phones get to have huge batteries, and the iPhone 6 Plus is a huge phone with a huge battery: I consistently got about two days of battery life from the 6 Plus in regular daily use — slightly more than the day and a half we got from the iPhone 6
Doing the iPhone 6 Plus as a separate review did allow The Verge to dive a little deeper into the software advantages of that lovely large screen. Again, some regret was felt, but not in a fatal dosage.
I would be doing The Verge a disservice if I didn’t mention how well done the video reviews are. Both are excellent, and I found myself wondering why some of the other publications/sites don’t do this, as it’s way more revealing about a product like the iPhone than a written review with some screenshots. I especially enjoyed the shot of the reviewer walking by the line at the 5th Avenue Apple Store in Manhattan, walking past the people waiting in line for the iPhone 6 while talking on the iPhone 6. Funny.
This one is another combo written review and video review in a single page. The written review sticks to the basics, and really steers clear of making a recommendation, as I think you would expect from a more mainstream media review.
The video review is excellent, and seeing the phones in her hands was great. It made me realize just how huge the iPhone 6 Plus is going to be for people with smaller hands. (Which I don’t have.) The video review has a lot more flavor and opinion to it, and I wish that had come through more in the written review.
Neither review impacted my possible buyer’s remorse.
I’m pushing this post out, but plan on adding additional reviews today as time allows. There are a lot of reviews. - RO 11:44 AM ET
This post on MacRumors, iPhone 6: Everything We Know is a great comprehensive wrap up of the current conjecture about the all but confirmed larger screen iPhone we expect to see in late 2014. I don’t really have much to add, but the image above, from the article, really did grab my attention. (The image is from MacRumors, not me.)
Instagram doesn’t have an official iPad client. Who knows why this is? I have used a bunch of different iPad apps, most recently Iris, which is also quite good, to use this service on my iPad. Recently Flow was released, and I really like it, I think it’s the best Instagram client for iPad.
There are a few different reasons why I like this over the other alternatives out there. First, it’s all about the pictures. As you can see from the image above, the app is designed to only be used in landscape orientation, and fits the maximum amount of pictures into the iPad viewport with a minimum of chrome. Second, the app is snappy, and the transition animations between screens are well thought out, pleasing, yet not over the top. Third, they’ve made it easy to navigate the sea of pictures, allowing you to move picture to picture while viewing in detail mode. Also of use, and well designed, are the abilities to search and bookmark specific tags, users and locations. I have a small list that I check on a regular basis, for example #vscocam, which yields a really nice set of pictures. All the expected Instagram functionality you’d expect is there, and well supported.
Flow is free to download, and does not currently contain any advertising, so I am not sure what their long term plan to make this app into a real business might be. I guess I always wonder about this whenever I download a new app these days. I’d just much rather pay for the app than wonder what could happen in the future. In this case, given that Instagram is still figuring out how to make money too, I think I would be a hypocrite to not use this free app when I am already using this free service. The app is not perfect. The lack of portrait support, while not a deal killer, seems like an oddity in an otherwise well thought out application. I’ve also had to fiddle with it to get the pictures to refresh at times, but I do think, in lieu of an official Instagram client for iPad, that this is a really nice replacement.
I’ve had one iPad from every release generation so far. I ordered the original iPad from the hospital on the day my first son was born. In many ways, and most of them that count, my iPad is my primary computer at this point. It travels with me, attends every meeting I attend, and is my constant companion at home. I read my news feeds on it using the newest generation of Reeder. I answer most of the email that I actually answer on it. It’s a work tool, and a personal tool, and, as a result, the yearly release of the new iPads is an assumption of upgrade.
For the last year, I have had two iPads that have seen some amount of use. An iPad 3, only 18 months or so old at this point, and the iPad Mini, which was purchased/provided by my employer. As the year went on, I used the iPad 3 less and less. I love the iPad Mini’s weight, despite the obvious tradeoffs that came with, these are well covered on the web already, and old news, I won’t cover them here. When this year’s iPads were released, it seemed like a slam dunk that I would wait for the Retina iPad Mini, and that would be the penultimate iPad for me.
Oddly, that’s not the way that I went. I purchased a 64Gb Verizon iPad Air, and I couldn’t be happier with it. It weighs about what the Mini weighed, and it’s just so much better for typing. As I have started using the device more and more as my personal computer, the size of the on screen keyboards touch targets has become important to me, I have meaty brawler hands. I’m sure that I could have been happy with the Mini as well.
I carry camera gear with me, in my backpack, just about everywhere I go. I’ve almost always had a DSLR, a point and shoot, and some kind of phone camera, and I bring some version of this set of gear with me when I go out of town, or out on the town. Sometimes, it’s a hard decision on which version of this set of gear I should bring. I mainly use my Sony NEX-7, which I absolutely love as my point and shoot now, but it’s too big to fit in my pocket comfortably, meaning that I leave it home when I would sometimes like to bring it. A lot of the time, I am just carrying my phones, and I take about half the photos I take with my iPhone 5.
I’m intrigued by the new Sony QX10 and QX100 smartphone attachments that are compatible with the iPhone. This attachment approach seems a little fiddly to me at first glance, but also seems like the next step that makes sense in the evolution of pocket camera gear. I already carry a small pack of extras for iPhone photography including a Glif, a small tripod, and the stock headphones to use as an off phone shutter trigger. This would be a natural extension of that kit, assuming it fits in my pocket comfortably. I suspect that they should have designed it with the average pocket size in mind, and doubt that they did. I’m going to take a flyer on the cheaper one and see if it fits my gear profile somewhere between just the iPhone 5 and the step up to the Sony NEX-7. As always, Digital Photography Review has a pretty thorough overview post with a lot more detail.
This was my fifth straight WWDC, and was unique for me in a number of ways. I got a couple of opportunities I have not had in previous years, and had a really packed schedule over the four days I was in San Francisco.
I’m impressed by iOS 7. They’ve done so much in seven months. Having said that, they have a lot of ground to cover for release, and I am holding my breath a little for the release on iPad.
Barbelith talks about his daily site stats. I've never discussed Bump's daily stats because I really didn't think anyone cared how many hits this page gets. I also am pretty unconcerned about how many hits the site gets, getting millions of page views is not my primary reason for posting things to this site. I don't think there is any taboo on it, rather, I think people don't really care.
Here's a gift: this service offers 300 Mb of online storage for free. They have a Mac oriented version too. This makes Apple's 20 Mb iDisk look paltry.
I finally moved the January entries off to their own page in the archive.
The Slashdot interview with Steve Wozniak was posted today. He shares his very perceptive opinions on a variety of subjects.
I'm pretty close to 100% after a brutal bout with the flu. I hate being sick, but when I get better I am always more motivated and focused than I was before I was sick.
There's a hilarious net based matrix spoof going on at this site . He adds panels every day.
I found Apple's Internet strategy announcement's today a little disappointing. The new services they are providing are far from remarkable or unusual. The only thing they did that I think is neat was to integrate the free drive space on their servers directly with the Mac OS Desktop. Since I've got mac OS 9 going on here, I signed up for the free services tonight. The Kidsafe service takes a better approach to keeping things safe for kids than other similar packages have, and the free Web page doesn't seem to be available right now.
It's that special time of year again for Mac users. MacCentral has pictures from setup day at MacWorld SF. One of them makes me think we may see Internet Explorer 5.0 for the mac tommorrow.
Jane and Ted, the closest thing Atlanta has to a royal family, are separating .
Macintouch is reporting that SuSe will be demonstrating a version of their Linux distribution for the Power Macintosh at this week's MacWorld conference. It's interesting to me, because it won my recent five distribution face off as the easiest to install(on my hardware) for Intel. I'm running it on my fast Intel machine at home right now. It would also mark the first major Linux distribution to have a Power PC version.
I definitely love my Apple Watch. I ordered the Stainless Steel Apple Watch with a black sport band at 12:01 am on the night they went on sale, received it the very first day they shipped, and haven’t really taken it off, except for charging, since. I really like the black sport band, but have wanted to pick up more bands as well. I see the sport band as a good every day band, and only really liked the black color. I wanted some variety, but found the other Apple options to not really be for me when I tried them on in store. A few weeks ago, when the Monowear bands went up for pre-order, I placed an order for 
First, the software and data transition between phones was the easiest one I have ever done. I had upgraded my 5S to iOS 8 last week, and did a lot of purging beforehand to make sure my backup was as small as possible. Having said that, I was up and running pretty quickly, and most everything just works today. iCloud keychain, and iCloud backups, have taken this process lightyears ahead of the “old days.”
