I’ve been thinking about the new Apple announcements at this week’s event and have a few random thoughts.

• Combining the iPad and iPhone events into one worked out okay. I can see this continuing into the future.
• Did you see the way Tim Cook lit up while talking about the iPad. Also, watch the way he proudly carried the iPad Pro on stage? It’s increasingly clear the iPad is Tim’s thing. He’s stated publicly before that he does a lot of work on his iPad. I’m guessing that will only increase with the iPad Pro.
• Lots of people are going to attack Apple for making a stylus. I disagree. A 13″ tablet is a much different animal than a phone and something that big can definitely use a stylus.
• The Apple Pencil seems longer than most stylii I’ve seen. I’m sure there is a reason but have no clue why. I’ll be curious to see how it balances in my hand.
• The comparison between the iPad Pro and Microsoft surface are obvious but there are some important distinctions. iPad Pro has a different screen ratio and doesn’t run OS X. To me it seems like the iPad is a tablet with PC leanings and the Surface is a PC with tablet leanings.
• Apparently the Apple Pencil can charge remarkably fast. Apple states on its website that with 15 seconds charging, you can get 30 minutes of battery life. That’s a good thing since hanging the $99 Apple Pencil off the bottom of your iPad or the side of your Mac seems like a really easy way to break it.
• It is strange that there’s no 3-D touch on the iPad Pro. Remember when Touch ID was on the phone but not the iPad and it made everyone a little crazy? Get ready for that again.
• I thought it was cute how they had the email from Phil to Craig explaining the release date for El Capitan is September 30 but never directly acknowledged it.
• I had no idea watches with bands that go around twice are a “thing”. My daughter has subsequently set me right on that account.
• I’m assuming the 6s plus camera still has image stabilization and the 6s camera does not.
• It is interesting that Apple chose to use big enterprise companies to demonstrate software on the iPad Pro. With the initial introduction of the iPad they also focused on productivity software but it was only Apple software (iWork). Now they’re bringing out Microsoft and Adobe.
• Looking at split screen apps on the iPad Pro, it just begs for drag-and-drop data transfer between applications. I hope that shows up soon.
• I’m curious to see how the fact that Apple now has its own iPhone rental program pans out. This puts them in direct competition with the carriers for phone sales. Maybe the carriers don’t care since they are about selling data more than devices but I suspect they do care and want us tied to them, not Apple,  for the phones. Either way, buying a new phone is about to change.
• I was disappointed to see that the low-end iPhone is still 16 GB. It seems nutty that in 2015 the entry level iPhone has just 16 GB of memory. This new phone can shoot 4K video and one of its big new features is the ability to add video to every photograph you take. That’s going to be difficult to manage with just 16GB of storage.
• I generally like the look of new Apple TV remote. I’m curious to see what one feels like in my hand. As a game controller, however, I have to wonder. I wish Apple would have made a legitimate first party game controller with buttons and joysticks. Leaving that to third parties seems a mistake.
• It is strange how they didn’t show much of the interface for the new Apple TV. It also looked a lot like the existing interface with a new coat of paint. Maybe I just answered my own question.
• Universal Search? Yes, thank you.
• The inclusion of volume control from the Apple TV remote makes a lot of sense. I often have to chase down the TV remote solely for this reason. I also suspect volume control through the Apple TV was necessary for Siri. I’m guessing when you press the Siri button, the TV will mute.
• The release of 32GB and. 64GB models is also curious. Under what circumstances will 32GB not be enough? Hopefully we’ll get a better understanding once we get our hands on the new Apple TV.
• Even though the Apple TV got bigger, they removed the optical out cable in the back. If (like me) you’re relying on this for your sound, you’re going to have to work around that.

Katie Floyd does a bang up job of explaining the best practices before sending your Mac in for service. The only thing I’d add is to disable your iTunes account and any other limited use licenses. If they end up replacing your logic board, iTunes will think it’s being used on another computer and that could run you against a device limits issue.

Tomorrow is Apple’s big new “Hey Siri” iPhone event. Since I’m no longer working for “the man”, I’ll be able to cover it. Follow my Twitter account (@macsparky) and I’ll be live Tweeting during the event. For the best rumor roundup, I’d recommend reading this article at 9to5 Mac.

inShort, the project planning system for Mac, iPhone, and iPad has a labor day sale. The Mac version is 50% off and the iOS version is 70% off. If you’ve been thinking about this app, today’s your lucky day. 

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While I first met Shawn Blanc while wearing his nerd hat, I’ve been really pleased to see Shawn writing about more productivity focussed subjects. Recently, Shawn released The Focus Course. This is a course of videos and PDFs to help you figure out where you want to go and how to get there. I’ve only started going through the materials and they are good. If you’re feeling adrift or just want to help get yourself more focussed, check this out.

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You may have noticed things have been a little quiet around here as of late. I’ve hinted around about me getting sick but not really explained in full detail. In February, just a few days after quitting my job, I woke up in severe pain and unable to get out of bed. It turns out I had a kidney stone. It wasn’t dreadful but was causing me problems about once a week. After four months, The thing was still rattling around inside of me and I went through a small surgical procedure to take care of the problem. That was late July. Unfortunately, the procedure didn’t work and the kidney stone just got pissed off. For much of August, I was experiencing between five and eight kidney stone attacks a day, which if you’ve never had a kidney stone, I can assure you is pretty miserable. So in summary, my productivity for the last month was all shot to hell.

I am all better now and kidney stone-free. This past week I canceled this site’s sponsorship knowing that I needed to dig out on the legal side. Now I’m back to filling my fitness rings on my Apple watch while I’m still behind on email (sorry!), things are getting manageable again and next week MacSparky will be back to its regular programming.

While they are quite uncomfortable, kidney stones are not the end of the world. Once you get rid of them, you’re done. It’s not like cancer or some other chronic illness. Nevertheless, the past several months gave me new appreciation for how difficult it is for people with chronic illnesses to get by. I think about guys like Federico Viticci, who built a flourishing website while at the same time fighting off cancer, and I have more respect than ever. Thank you everyone for the well wishes as I’ve been dealing with this.

I recently joined Erik Fisher on his Beyond the Todo List podcast to talk about transition, travel, and the Apple watch. Erik has a great show and you should check it out.

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