The Supply Chain and the Apple Silicon Release Schedule

Today 9to5 Mac put together some great sources indicating that the supply chain problems everyone else is facing are finally catching up with Apple. At the last quarterly earnings call, Tim Cook explained that for Apple, the supply chain problem wasn’t the big money parts, but the little commodity bits and pieces.

Apple made a fortune, partly because of its mastery of the supply chain. People will write books about how they did it at some point if they haven’t already. It looks, however, like that run may be hitting a few speed bumps.

There is a lot of speculation about new iMacs, MacBook Airs, and Mac Pros. I can’t help but wonder if these emerging supply chain issues may slow down that product release pace. At WWDC 2020, Tim Cook promised Apple would finish the Apple Silicon transition in two years. You can argue about whether that deadline happens at this year’s WWDC or on December 31. Time is running out either way.

If Apple is indeed going to be supply-constrained and not able to get everything out by this artificial deadline in sufficient quantities, will they announce on time and release in very limited quantities, or will they just let the date slip and wait to announce until they can deliver more units? Historically, I think the answer would assuredly be the latter. They’d wait. I know Apple is a different company than it was 20 years ago, but I hope that even with their current size, they’d still wait.

iPhone Video vs. Dedicated Camera Video

I’ve spent a lot of time shooting videos with the iPhone lately. I made this video when the iPhone 13 Pro was first released, but I’ve also been using the iPhone a lot for MacSparky Labs videos and nearly exclusively for DLR Field Guide content.

My evolving preference for the iPhone over a more dedicated camera results from competing tradeoffs.

The dedicated camera has a better sensor and can have interchangeable lenses. That produces noticeably better video than video out of the iPhone. But for shooting video on the move, as we do with the DLR Field Guide videos, that regular camera comes at a cost. First, it’s heavy to carry around and awkward to wield. Second, and more importantly to me, is stabilization. My regular camera (a Sony) cannot hold a candle to the iPhone video stabilization, even with in-body stabilization, shooting with the Sony takes a ton of post-production effort to get stable where I can use iPhone footage pretty much “as is”.

Potato Jet (one of my favorite camera guys on YouTube) made his own comparison recently and came up with a similar conclusion. I’m not saying that they should shoot the next Star Wars movie with an iPhone, but for much of the stuff I do, the iPhone is plenty enough camera. So for now you need to choose your poison, slightly worse video, or deal with bulk and stability challenges.

The bigger question is where this is heading. If mobile phones continue at their current clip, exactly how long will it be before nobody can tell the difference?

Mac Power Users 624: Apple Apps That Need Some Polishing

Apple ships a wide range of applications across its family of operating systems. However, over the years, they have received uneven amounts of support and attention from the company. This week’s episode of Mac Power Users has Stephen and I talking about some of these apps and which ones could use some love from the folks in Cupertino. 

This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:

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My Comms Board

I’m giving a webinar today about how I journal. (There still may be time to sign up.) One of the slides shares what I lovingly call my “Comms Board,” and I thought it worth sharing here.

This is the array of apps I keep on a separate space to the left of my working screen. It’s a collection of my communication apps. The idea of this is to keep communications separate from my working screen and require me to intentionally switch screens to go into that mode. On good days, I only visit the Comms Board a few times. You could set this up with Keyboard Maestro, Moom, or any window manager of choice.

The Apple Headset Possibilities

The smoke signals around the Apple VR/AR goggles are getting thicker. This week Mark Gurman weighed in, as reported by 9to5 Mac, explaining the new goggles may have 8K displays inside driven by MacBook Pro caliber Apple silicon and will cost above $2,000.

I’ve got the first generation Oculus Quest. I’ve done some gaming on it and even tried to work with it a few times. One of my favorite things to do with the Oculus is visiting virtual Machu Picchu or my virtual cabin in the Alps. It does feel pretty remarkable even with obviously underpowered hardware.

And that is the problem with my now-obsolete Oculus. The display is too pixelated, and the processor is too small. The now-shipping $300 Oculus 2 features a resolution of 1832 x 1920. (My Oculus Quest 1 resolution is 1440 x 1600.)

So, getting back to that 8K display and $2,000+ price point. That could be true, or it could be more smoke. You may recall that before the iPad release, there were “credible” rumors it would start at $1,000. When it turned out to start at $499, everybody lost their minds over what a good deal that was. If I were a betting man, I’d guess that the rumors are correct, and these things are going to be capital “E” Expensive.

So what if Apple were to take their engineering prowess to make something that is genuinely multiples better than everything else on the market? I think that product would be interesting. It could expand the possibilities of what you could pull off with AR/VR. In this weird time where it seems like we are all just one more variant away from getting stuck at home again, wouldn’t it be nice to get away to a much more believable digital Machu Picchu?

Regardless, these rumors and leaks will only increase in frequency as we move forward through 2022. The hype machine around this product feels much bigger than the hubbub that preceded the Apple Watch. This one has much more of an iPad-level hype. Buckle up gang.

Focused 143: Thinking Annually

Join Mike and me on the latest episode of Focused. We’re sharing some thoughts about what we’re up to in the new year and the personal changes we’re making to our routines.

This episode of Focused is sponsored by:

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My Free Journaling Webinar This Friday

One of the things that has been most helpful to me throughout this transition is my journal. Stopping to collect your thoughts and writing them down during times of significant change can help. First, it’s a way to record what you are going through. I can look back on those entries in years (or decades) and get a window into that prior version of me. More importantly, journaling helps me clarify my thoughts and ideas about what I am feeling and thinking in the moment. I learn a lot about myself in the process of journaling. The last few weeks have only reinforced that for me.

Also, when it comes to journaling, I’ve experimented with everything from fancy pens and paper, to custom scripts and software. I’ve made all the mistakes, and I have the scars to show for it. This Friday, I want to share a little bit of that wisdom in a free webinar all about journaling. I’ll share my thoughts on the process and some of my favorite workflows. Whether you want to go analog or digital, I’ll have some ideas for you. I would love for you to join in.​

Sparky’s Journaling Webinar

Date: January 21, 2022

Time: 10:00 Pacific

​Here’s the Sign-up Link​

If you can’t make it, no problem. There will be a video replay link available for a short time after the webinar for anyone that signs up. See you there.

Automating Idea Capture with Keyboard Maestro and Obsidian (MacSparky Labs)

This is a post for MacSparky Labs Members. Care to join?

With all of these changes lately, I’ve been exploding with new content ideas. I needed a way to capture and manage them so I built a little Keyboard Maestro script to take an idea and format it into a special note, and then save the note to my Obsidian database. Here’s how I did it …