< Notes...

A user on Slashdot, referring to Steve Wozniak’s decision of selling his Apple stock, wrote: “Smart man. Great engineer. Bad decision. Happens to all of us.” To which Woz himself replied:

“I gave all my Apple wealth away because wealth and power are not what I live for. I have a lot of fun and happiness. I funded a lot of important museums and arts groups in San Jose, the city of my birth, and they named a street after me for being good. I now speak publicly and have risen to the top. I have no idea how much I have but after speaking for 20 years it might be $10M plus a couple of homes. I never look for any type of tax dodge. I earn money from my labor and pay something like 55% combined tax on it. I am the happiest person ever. Life to me was never about accomplishment, but about Happiness, which is Smiles minus Frowns. I developed these philosophies when I was 18-20 years old and I never sold out.”

I know this is about business, yet, I still hear the question in my head, why? As presidencies are ephemeral, can’t Apple widthstand the rough seas for 3.5 years?

Coming across a few MacPaint arts from the mid-1980s brought me a lot of memories, even though I saw them in the early 1990s. I remember vividly when I got my very first Mac around that time (Performa 575) at Sears. Over $2,000.

➝ Via Decryption.

I know it is way early, but in preparation for macOS 26 I have now removed Raycast, and will soon remove Maccy. Who knows what else I will be able to remove when 26 comes. I really can’t help it.

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is coming up once more and, as always, I feel like kid before Christmas. The rumours I allowed myself to read tell something about Tahoe, and version 26, to match with year. Let’s see.

It is here, now! “Tune” in! Liquid Glass, oh my! Absolutely loving the upcoming updates for all versions 26s. With iPadOS 26, the iPad becomes one step closer (but not quite, since “macOS is superior”, as George pointed out) to becoming a “lite” laptop.

Apple’s Lisa 2 computer. I know it is old, I know it is retro. My old eyes will certainly complain at the screen size and resolution, but damn, such a beautiful machine, and keyboard design! Yup, I am certainly on “boomer’s” mood.

I thought that with RCS coming to iPhones, the old SMS/MMS problems between Android and iOS users were to be a thing of the past. Enter “spotty data coverage”. Each time a member of an RCS group goes out of mobile data coverage, the RCS group will break into two, equally named ones. A lovely royal mess.

John Gruber describes fluidly why the dream of making iPhones in the United States is just sheer fantasy.

“United States doesn’t have anyone with the necessary vocational skills, who would want to work tedious factory jobs at factory-job wages, and China does. That’s part of the fever-dream mad-king fantasy of this entire cockamamie endeavor by Trump: these are difficult, low-paying, long-houred jobs that Americans don’t want. That these jobs are all in China and India is proof that America is far ahead, not that we’ve fallen behind.”

Of course I agree! Asking Apple to make the iPhones in the US is rotten non-sense coming out of a necrotic mind.

I know it is a complex relationship—just like any other big company CEO—that of Tim Cook and Trump. Yet, Tim should have never donated money to Trump’s inauguration, nor attended to it. If favours were what he was after, he failed. He should have known better.

“I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s [sic] that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” he said. “If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S.”

Since when does a US president have the rights to interfere with free commerce, without congressional oversight?

I want Apple to do something like this on the iPhone. That is, connect the iPhone to a display, and make it emulate a desktop UI. I don’t think it will happen, though, as it would dent their other computers sales.

Apple has announced their latest Mac mini, and it’s everything I wanted to see. The task ahead is to convince partner that we need one (note that’s a need, not a want), which we do (well, we need a computer, not an Apple computer per se, but I wouldn’t have it any other way). Yet, I need to do the convincing without adding any stress. Let’s see how I can engineer to do so. Certainly with extreme finesse.

I have decided to use Apple’s Journal app more. Towards that aim I have placed it on my mobile device home screen. That will not interfere with any of my public interactions, as Journal will simply be that, a personal journal, and thus not for public comsumption.

My aim is to document the mundane, “what did I eat last night?” kind of thing, to recollect, and preserve, daily happenings and thoughts at day’s end.

And… the first two are here! Took a little over 1 hour to transfer data to mine. Kid’s will have to wait until after pickleball. The 16 Pro’s soooo buttery smooth. Oh my!

Tomorrow is the day. Cases are already here, all that’s missing is the VIP. 🤣 Oh, and I will have to buy new cables too (USB-C), but that will be easy, and paintless (Amazon for the win!).

This is good news. I can’t help thinking of my father, as he could have benefitted from a device like this.

“Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid software device, Hearing Aid Feature, intended to be used with compatible versions of the Apple AirPods Pro headphones. Once installed and customized to the user’s hearing needs, the Hearing Aid Feature enables compatible versions of the AirPods Pro to serve as an OTC hearing aid, intended to amplify sounds for individuals 18 years or older with perceived mild to moderate hearing impairment.”

Well, “that” deed is done! 🥳 Now the wait starts. Some will deliver on 20th September, other will not arrive until October! 😩😂

“Face with bags under eyes” is the Emoji I didn’t know I needed, and can’t wait to abuse the bejesus out of it once arrives. Though not Emoji, Apple is going to take this to the next level on iOS 18. I am all for rich, international, ways to communicate!

I don’t have a desktop computer. My “main” computer runs iOS, and it’s carried in my pocket. I miss macOS; I want to experience Sequoia. I want a Mac so badly!

Now, this is some promise!

When we launch Private Cloud Compute, we’ll take the extraordinary step of making software images of every production build of PCC publicly available for security research. This promise, too, is an enforceable guarantee: user devices will be willing to send data only to PCC nodes that can cryptographically attest to running publicly listed software. We want to ensure that security and privacy researchers can inspect Private Cloud Compute software, verify its functionality, and help identify issues — just like they can with Apple devices.

I feel like I am late to the party for not having dropped a note here right after, or during, Apple’s WWDC. Yes, I saw it live. Yes, I am excited about iOS/iPadOS/tvOS 18, and macOS 15. Of course I don’t have a problem with the way Apple is implementing AI (which, from now on, stands for “Apple Intelligence”). I love it all, and can’t wait for it!

It is that time of the year again, with less than two weeks to Apple’s WWDC (which has run yearly since 1983). Looking forward to see what’s to come to iOS, and macOS!

“I awoke one night in Quito, Ecuador, this year and came up with a way to save a chip or two from the Apple II, and a trivial way to have the 2 grays of the Apple II be different (light gray and dark gray) but it’s 38 years too late. It did give me a good smile, since I know how hard it is to improve on that design.”
— Woz thinks of an Apple II improvement over 35 years later

Now, that’s truly something, eh? Just as Steve Jobs was, Steve Wozniak sure is an interesting fellow.

Finally I decided to order a pack of 4 AirTags. Experiencing their flawless setup, and how they automagically show up on the Find My app, is truly something. Love it when technology works so smoothly.

A ★★½ for iCloud for Windows is one and a half stars too many. It truly is rubbish. Is that on purpose, Apple? 😒

I have used Journal. I want to use it more. As soon as more simple formatting (bulleted and numbered lists, links, and blockquotes) are added it will become my go to diary, 100% of the time.

I recently discovered that bold, italics, and underlined formatting is available on selection menu. 🎉

On the U.S. suing Apple on iPhone’s monopoly (is that even a thing?!), a comment on The New York Times:

“I bought, own and use an iPhone from Apple because I like it. I like that Apple creates what I think is a safer environment, and that my data is better protected. I like how smoothly it works. In fact, I’m ecstatically happy with it. Much more than I am with most products I purchase and use.

I am looking at cars, and find that there are tech products that use proprietary technology and require subscriptions. Tesla will charge me to activate an auto garage door opener that’s already installed in their $50,000 car. BMW wants me to pay a subscription to use a heated seat that I’d buy (and own) with the car.

I suppose I don’t have to buy a Tesla or BMW (and I’m not). People also don’t have to buy an iPhone.

For those who want them, don’t wreck the features we buy it for. That seems the antithesis of a competitive market.”

Yesterday’s brief iCloud outage was a scary one. All my domains email are on iCloud’s Custom Email Domain, and emails sent to them were bouncing with “user unknown”. Not a good feeling.

On a day I can’t walk, nor exercise, Fitness telling me “You can still do it - 250 calories and you’ll close your Move ring, David.” Out of 250, I only need 250. LOL. Talk about wishful thinking!

Was too busy—or too lazy—to drop a note on new year’s evening. I have been using iOS Journal, which now holds some notes I would have dropped here otherwise. Journal has bugs, and it isn’t great, but I am betting on it getting better.

It is already 2 January 2024, but not too late to wish you all a happy new year!

iOS 17.2 released yesterday, and within it, the highly anticipated Journal app. As I commented to a friend, I am finding it to be “bland”, and “a bit of a disappointment”. Comes to prove, always set your expectations as low as possible, then chances are you will always be dazzled. :-)

I had forgotten how much Apple Music improves my working day. And my hobby time in front of the computer. And my driving time. I had forgotten how much I love the service. Now, with Apple One, it is mine once again!

The iPhone 15 Pro Max camera is getting amazing reviews at DXOMARK. Too bad that I will not be getting a new phone this year.

My first web browser was Mosaic, then Netscape, then Mozilla which became Firefox. Firefox became my default go-to web browser for many years. If Microsoft Windows was my OS platform of choice it would probably still be. Ever since I completely, and absolutely, moved to macOS/iOS/iPadOS, the choice has been Safari. I had had no reason to look elsewhere.

Apple new devices (iPhones 15, and Watches 9) worldwide arrival news announcement makes me happy. Beautiful people from around the world, smiles, and feelings of overall happiness make me happy.

As a sign that I wasn’t kidding when I said I would move from 1Password to iOS Passwords, I have now done so. This weekend I will dedicate some time, and clean my list, making sure all important stuff works and, once that’s achived, I will get rid of 1Password, and cancel my subscription.

Film director Rian Johnson has lifted the lid on a secret in the world of product placement – Apple will not allow its kit to be used by a villainous character on screen.

“Apple, they let you use iPhones in movies, but – and this is very pivotal – if you’re ever watching a mystery movie, bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera,” Johnson, whose credits include Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Looper and Knives Out, revealed in a video recorded for Vanity Fair.

Thank you, George, for spoiling a few shows and movies for me. This is something I hadn’t correlated, but now cannot miss. Ha!

I have decided to move from 1Password (for which I pay a yearly subscription) to iOS native Passwords before the year is over. The ability to share passwords with family tilted me over. I will not wait for Passwords to become an app of its own—though I am sure that’s coming—because I don’t think that should hold me back now.

So many iOS apps debuting their iOS 17 versions today! I find it amazing how rich, and responsive, the iOS community is—not sure community is the right term, but I hope you get the idea. Need I to point out that, at the time I am writing this, iOS 17 is not out yet.

Last week I spent 11h 21m screen time on all my devices (a Mac, and an iPhone). The tally goes: 6h 57m on iPhone, 6h 38m on Mac. That’s just macOS and iOS “vanilla” apps almost exclusively. Most macOS apps do not get recorded—perhaps because my Mac runs macOS Monterey. For example, I spend a lot of time on Teams, Chrome, and iTerm2 under macOS during work days, but none of it gets recorded.

Does Safari has an offline mode (like Firefox, for example)? No.