Recently I set up a “Jazz” feed in Apple News. Checking in on it tonight, here’s the score:
8 Articles
1 About Covid
3 About the Utah Jazz Basketball team
1 About movie soundtracks
1 About R&B
2 Articles about jazz music.
Ugh.
Mac Power Users 547: Of a Certain Age, with Jim Metzendorf
On the latest episode of Mac Power Users, Jim Metzendorf, the editor of Mac Power Users, talks to Stephen and me about his background in audio and photography, and how the gear and workflows have changed in those fields over the years.
This episode of Mac Power Users is sponsored by:
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1Password: Have you ever forgotten a password? You don’t have to worry about that anymore.
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Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code MPU at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
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The Intrazone by Microsoft SharePoint: Your bi-weekly conversation and interview podcast hosted by the SharePoint team.
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TextExpander from Smile: Get 20% off with this link and type more with less effort! Expand short abbreviations into longer bits of text, even fill-ins, with TextExpander from Smile.
The TikTok War
In light of current events, I’ve been paying more attention to TikTok lately. By “paying attention”, I mean I’ve been watching the nightly batch of puppy TikToks that my daughters have lovingly curated for me.
So from this perspective, I didn’t understand what the big deal was with TikTok and why folks are talking about banning it in the United States. It turns out the issue is much more complicated than puppy videos. If you’d like to get up to speed, Ben Thompson summarizes and adds some insight.
Automators 55: Drafts with Agile Tortoise
In this episode of Automators, Rosemary and I are joined by Greg Pierce of Agile Tortoise to talk about Drafts and how they’re using it and text-based automations to improve their lives with everything from dinner alerts to complex project templates.
This episode of Automators is sponsored by:
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Mint Mobile: Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month.
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DEVONthink: Get organized—unleash your creativity. Use this link for 10% off.
In Praise of the Moshi iVisor iPad Screen Protector
I have never been a fan of screen protectors. Apple devices are beautiful. Screen protectors are not. However, all of my tech friends have been bragging about the Moshi iVisor screen protector for the iPad, so a few months ago I bought one and installed it on my iPad. I did that skeptically. I kept the packaging. I fully expected to hate it.
I don’t.
For thirty bucks, the iVisor turns your glossy iPad into into a matte screen iPad. It removes, nearly entirely, the accumulation of screen smudges and dramatically improves the Apple Pencil experience, which will be an even a bigger deal with iOS 14.
The manufacturer claims I can remove, wash, and re-apply it, but, despite heavy use, it still looks the same as the day I installed it. The product comes with a 10-year warranty, which is kind of ridiculous considering the life-span of an iPad.
This isn’t for everyone. It changes the look and feel of your iPad. But if you use the pencil a lot, hate smudges, and wouldn’t mine a matte (instead of glossy) screen, I give the Moshi iVisor two thumbs up.
Do iPhone Delays Equal iOS 14 Delays?
There have been a lot of rumors about delays with the new iPhones this year, most recently from Qualcomm. If there was ever a year for Apple to get a pass on shipping the iPhone promptly in September, it’s this one.
The question that occurs to me, however, is if there is a delay in hardware, will that also result in a delay in software? In years past, Apple has released the iOS update shortly before the release of new hardware. When I say “shortly,” I’m talking days, not weeks. If the rumors are correct, we are looking at a delay in shipping the new iPhone of a month or possibly more. I can’t help wonder if that will mean a delay in shipping iOS 14 and iPad OS 14 too. If I had to place a bet, I would say they will.
Technically, there’s no reason not to release it early. Throughout the beta period, a lot of us have been running iOS 14 on older generation hardware, and there is no reason technically why they couldn’t just let the older phones have the update a month early.
But there are several good arguments against this. First, over the last few years Apple has had some pretty rocky iOS launches. Why not take an extra month to add some extra spit and polish so that the released version is all the more stable? Second, I always feel like I get a new phone when I install a new operating system. I’m sure for many people who would consider buying the new phone, after spending a month with iOS 14, they may not be as inclined to buy a new phone when it eventually arrives. Lastly, every year Apple holds a bunch of code out of its beta versions of the new operating system. The final version includes additional references, code, and sometimes even apps specific to the new iPhone. If they release the final version, I guarantee you that smart folks all over the planet will take it apart and figure out even more details of the new iPhone before Apple wants you to hear about them.
While Apple may release iOS 14 much earlier than the new phones, I would be surprised if they do.
How Much News Is Too Much News?
I have always prided myself on being someone who does not need to delete apps. You know, someone who deletes Twitter or Instagram every few months so they can avoid getting lost in that and instead focus on creating something. I am lucky enough that I can put limits on those things—or at least I thought I could. It turns out that the news can be my undoing.
The year 2020 has been a doozy. Getting lost in the news is a lot easier this year than in years past, and I am spending too much time on it. Keeping informed is good. Reading different versions of the same story repeatedly is nothing more than a fancy bit of procrastination. When I was growing up, the news was contained for us. It came on in the evening and lasted about 30 minutes. With 24-hour news channels and so many websites, now the news can get crammed down your throat like Homer Simpson’s donuts. This is bad for several reasons:
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It takes a lot of time. I need to make a living and support my family. Excessive time with the news gets in the way of that.
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It closes my mind. With the way modern algorithms work, once I read one story, the computers decide what kind of news I like and try to feed me more of that. The longer I go, the more biased and extreme the feed gets.
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It wipes me out. This year. This year. Do I need to explain how reading too much news drains me of the will and energy to do anything productive?
So, I am taking steps. I am rerunning my timers, this time with the idea of putting a 30-minute box around the news every day. Once I hit 30 minutes, I am done. Rather than get lost in the news, I would rather use that time for something else. Maybe I can spend a bit of it trying to make things better.
Desk Setups: Stephen Hackett
This week I am featuring the desk of my friend and Mac Power Users co-host, Stephen Hackett (Twitter)(Website). Recording MPU with Stephen is one of my highlights every damn week. So Stephen, show us your desk
My desk is a door that once hung in our house. When we bought it from my wife’s grandmother, we did some light remodeling and this particular door was going to come down. My previous desk was smaller, and I knew I wanted something bigger, so I rescued it from the junk pile, and screwed it to a set of IKEA desk legs. It’s not pretty, but the upside is that it’s not a big deal if I have to cut into it or mount a mile of cables underneath it.
The desk sits in my studio, which is a stand-alone building behind our garage. It’s not big, measuring 14 feet wide by 10 feet deep, but everything out here was designed to make the most of the square footage. The building itself was built back in the 70s, but we gutted it, putting in insulation, think drywall, an AC/heat unit like you’d see in a motel room and lots and lots of sound deadening foam.
The desk sits along one of the long sides of the room, separated from a large rack, which houses part of my Mac collection by a partial wall. I cut the door to fit the space, and am happy with the layout.
Most weeks, I’m out here every weekday, from 9 AM to 5:30 PM or so, as well as some evenings or weekends if my schedule requires it. However, the studio is only for work; I don’t hang out in it with friends, watch movies at my desk or use it for non-work reading. Crossing the backyard has become a threshold of sorts, and the separation has been good for both me and my family.
Under the desk sits my 2019 Mac Pro. I couldn’t be happier with this computer, and believe it will serve me well until the day I am forced to replace it with something powered by Apple silicon, years and years from now. One of its great features is the ability to upgrade it over time. I’m keeping a build log of the machine on 512 Pixels documenting how it goes.
The Mac Pro is hooked up to a mess of podcasting gear and is often used to edit video for my YouTube channel. You can read about my gear here.
As far as improvements to my setup, I don’t have anything big on my list. I’m fortunate in that my job and hobbies have merged.
As you can see from the photos, the studio’s walls are pretty much taken up, but I love three items I have to the left of my desk.
One is a signed print of the dogcow, designed by Susan Kare. I have a long history with this little icon, and the print was a gift from my Relay FM co-founder, Myke Hurley.
Next to it is a poster by Aaron Draplin, my favorite graphic designer. He was on a tour a few years ago, and made a poster for each city. I got in line early for the event to snag one.
Last is a framed, signed Mayor’s Proclamation from the day I was born. My uncle was mayor then, and while it’s silly, it makes me chuckle when I see it.
Thanks, Stephen!
Good Sudoku
Zach Gage nailed another game for iPhone and iPad: Good Sudoku. Sudoku is one of my favorite puzzle games, and this version has all the sudoku fun without any of the sudoku pain. Easy-to-use hint system? Check. Focus mode? Check. If you like Sudoku but don’t like the tedium of tracking numbers, check this one out.
Of Cubes and Butterflies
Steven Levy wrote a great piece about the 20th Anniversary of the Power Mac G4 Cube. I remember sitting at a friend’s house back in the day and gazing at that beautiful computer with Sméagol-like envy. It turns out that the Cube was a dud, but nerds still talk about it.
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“But here is something else about Jobs and the Cube that speaks not of failure but why he was a successful leader. Once it was clear that his Cube was a brick, he was quick to cut his losses and move on. ”
John Gruber wrote about this article hypothesizing how useful this willingness to change course could serve Apple in the App Store. I can’t help but think how useful this could have been with the recently deceased butterfly keyboard. The butterfly keyboard was, like the Cube, a marvel of engineering and completely unsuited to everyday use. The difference is that rather than pulling the plug quickly, Apple continued to make it for years. The MacBook products of the last several years, and Apple’s reputation for quality laptop hardware, would be in such better shape if they got rid of the butterfly keyboards as fast as they did the Cube.