Apple.

Portal.

As I get older, I’ve been finding it harder to focus on tasks. I’ve never been one for “deep focus” if the activity is not on my checklist of intense interests. Unfortunately, work tends to not be on that list.

In the past I have listened to music to try to eliminate distractions around me. This generally works, but over the past few years I’ve noticed that anything with lyrics in the music tends to be a distraction as well. I blame this on listening intently to the words, a habit learned since becoming a pilot, where I’m always listening to my call sign from Air Traffic Control.

There’s a part of me that wonders if this increased struggle with maintaining focus at work has something to do with my couple of rounds of COVID since 2020. I know most of the world believes COVID was a hit ‘n run sort of thing, where we got vaccinated, and if we feel recovered from it we were just as we were before we contracted it. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I know that I’ve never been able to shake off a certain amount of brain fog since my experiences of having COVID.

I have found that listening to soundscapes like thunderstorms or even brown noise has done wonders for my focus at work. Luckily, I’m in a position that lets me enjoy such a thing. I alternate between my Apple AirPod Pros and my Bose noise canceling over-the-ear headphones.

Today I discovered an app, via the Apple Store Story page, called Portal (link to the Apple App store). A beautifully designed app, not only is it a joy to use, but it provides gorgeous imagery to go along with the amazing soundscapes. Here I am enjoying the sights and sounds of a waterfall in Iceland.

At $49.99/year (or $250 for a lifetime) it’s a bit on the pricey side. I just started the seven day free trial today. So far in the past hour I’ve knocked out more work than I’ve knocked it in the previous three.

Peace of mind and feeling grounded through better focus might be worth that price of admission.

Eh Pad.

There’s a running joke in our family that my name is Cole Slaw. Usually, when folks of the gay community are looking through photos or approaching us out in public, they’re all about the rest of the family and their beards and beefy appearances and the what not. Occasionally I get a “and who’s this?” with a finger waggled in my direction. I tell the waggler that I’m the cole slaw and that I’m included with the main dish whether you like it or not.

I watched Apple’s event (after the fact) when they announced “their best iPad lineup yet”. I long for the day when Apple decides to take a left turn and NOT announce their best iPad lineup yet but instead just say, “here’s a bunch of iPads we thought of” just so everyone in the tech press can clutch their pearls, gasp, and then go on and on about how Apple is failing again.

So there’s new iPad Airs and iPad Pros that have all sorts of spec bumps and size bumps and new accessories and more importantly, thickness reductions that will allow you to bend the iPad like the Six Million Dollar Man or The Bionic Woman (depending on how you identify).

And while I’m talking about bending iPads, what was with the commercial at the beginning of the Apple Event where they crushed everything like so much garbage in a landfill, complete with something’s eyes bulging out as it gasped for its last breath. I mean, they were crushing guitars and televisions and all sorts of things and, perhaps it’s because of my brain chemistry, but I found the intro to be really off-putting and so unlike Apple.

Anywho, we have the new iPad Air and the new iPad Pro lineup. I was really hoping for something, anything, to be upgraded on the iPad Mini, but Tim barely mentioned its existence like so much cole slaw next to the main dish.

I can relate. And it looks like I’ll continue to use my rapidly aging iPad Mini for flying until something, anything happens to that particular model.

8 May 2024 by J.P. Apple. Geek 0

Apple Love.

I took this photo way back in 2007.

The original photo is in the linked blog entry in the previous paragraph. PowerBook G4.

I loved my Apple PowerBook G4. It was my first Mac laptop, after owning a used PowerMac G4 for a little while to make sure I wanted to jump back in the ecosystem. The photo was inspired by Apple fan iJustine. Back in the day she had a photo of her laying in bed with a PowerBook but I can’t find it anymore. I found her exuberance for Apple products a delight.

My new M2 Pro Mac mini is working splendidly. I did quite a bit of video editing over this past weekend. I’ve been watching tutorials on using Final Cut Pro so I can get better at it. I’ve been using Final Cut Pro for a long while. In fact, I was making videos using Final Cut Pro before the iPhone came out.

Here’s another oldie from about 17 years ago.

Some of the Final Cut Pro tutorials have been by iJustine. I found her demo of Final Cut Pro for the iPad very compelling. I didn’t give the application much credence, but after watching her demo I tried editing some videos on my iPad and it was surprisingly easy and efficient. Apple offers a 30 day trial before the subscription kicks in.

I’m good with that.

I was telling how much positive energy I’ve been feeling since playing around in the creative space again, namely, making videos and the like. It’s a good feeling to create something instead of consuming Internet bits and bytes all the time.

22 April 2024 by J.P. Apple. 0

iPad Doom.

I was reading a blog post today from one of the Apple websites I follow. The blog post was a round-up of pundits’ opinions on the state of Apple and its devices in 2023. Predictably, the pundits all gave the iPad lineup a failing score and cautioned that popularity of the platform is plummeting fast.

I guess the pundits have never noticed the point of sale device most likely used at their favorite coffee shop or restaurant, or the number of pilots using iPads as “Electronic Flight Bags”, or the number of students at their favorite haunt plunking away on an iPad of some sort.

I’m finding pundits tedious at best these days.

The iPad lineup was never designed to be a Mac replacement. There are plenty of things one can do with the iPad. Whole suits of popular software (ahem, Microsoft Office, Adobe Products, Final Cut Pro, etc) available for the iPad. Plus, since Apple strives to give you all the tools you need by default (Photos, Notes, Mail, Web Browsing, etc), it is certainly up to the task for the average consumer. Hell, all the tools I use as a cross-platform power user are available on my iPad Pro and today it’s on the rare occasion that I can’t accomplish something using my iPad. It’s a nifty device to bring along when I don’t want to lug a computer around. And if I want to play a game of Solitaire or something? It’s perfect. Plus, it’s the best platform for watching movies on the go, reading a book, and a whole lot of other consumption related activities.

Yes, I’m writing this blog entry on my iPad.

Instead of getting into it with some of the Apple pundits that basically get paid to share their opinion of Apple products and nothing more, I decided it was easier just to delete a few of these folks out of my RSS feeds.

I’m not the Apple fanboy I used to be, but I will not jump on the doom and gloom bandwagon of Apple when 1. they’re one of the richest companies in the history of human kind and 2. their products are ubiquitous in society. Is the iPad perfect? No. But it’s certainly not the garbage dump worthy of a failing grade a bunch of people who get paid to be outrageous make it out to be.

Use the tools that work best for you. End of story.

19 February 2024 by J.P. Apple. 0

40.

Forty years ago today, the world was introduced to Macintosh.

And here’s the famous commercial (4K Restoration) that prepped the world for what was coming from Apple.

24 January 2024 by J.P. Apple. 0

Vision.

Today Apple announced they’ll start accepting pre-orders for the highly anticipated Vision Pro, Apple’s “spatial computer”. It’s a VR/AR (visual reality/augmented reality) device using goggles. Deliveries start on the 2nd of February and the unit starts at $3,499 US.

That’s a lot of money.

I’m having a hard time understanding the use case for this device, especially at this price point. The Vision Pro will undoubtedly be an amazing experience for the user, and when it comes to wearing VR goggles on your face, I’m sure Apple’s experience will exceed anything we’ve seen before.

But the old guy in me wonders, why do we need this? Is it to have an unlimited number of “monitors” in front of your eyes? Is it to further immerse the user in an online world, shielding them from the realities of real life? Other than a super nifty computing experience, how does this new spatial computing paradigm make this world better?

Vision Pro Glasses? Sign me up. Take my money. But fairly heavy goggles tethered to a battery pack in my pocket? For $3,499 US? Pass.

My husband is relieved. The credit card company is not.

Apple is expected to sell 350,000 units in 2024. That’s $1.25 billion dollars. There’s a lot that could change in the world via $1.25 billion dollars.

8 January 2024 by J.P. Apple. 0

Sync? Sunk.

The whole purpose of iCloud syncing in iPhotos is your snapshots are instantly available from any Apple device after you take a photo. That’s what Apple likes to tout in their marketing messages. I want to believe it’s true but it’s simply not.

Granted, everything works great when you’re home on your home internet connection. Most of the time. But when I’m on vacation I don’t want things to fall apart, and iCloud syncing just falls apart once you’re out and about. The last thing I want to do when I’m engaging in a few days R&R is troubleshoot IT issues.

I took a bunch of photos during our vacation day yesterday. We also had quite a few photos taken by Disney cast members which I imported into iPhoto via my iPhone.

None of these photos showed up on my iPad nor my MacBook Air. Yes, I’m a fool that brought along both on vacation because that’s what I do.

I took a peek at my iPad and it had paused iCloud photo sync to preserve battery power. The iPad was plugged into the wall. iPhoto sync on my MacBook Air had been paused due to “poor network connection”, though a speed test shows Disney’s Internet connection is more robust than what’s found in most of the United States.

A bit of cajoling and tapping on messages and things got moving. Almost. Then the imported photos didn’t appear on the iPad but they did appear on the MacBook Air.

I had also created a shared album with my husband so we could easily share photos between our accounts because after all, “It Just Works”. Though it’s not working. It needs more cajoling and noodling. AirDrop is a crap shoot at best.

So we send text messages back and forth with the photos.

I like what Apple is trying to do, and I’m willing to pay the premium price so I don’t have to think about these things because after all, I am on vacation and I don’t want to spend our vacation troubleshooting IT issues.

But Apple needs to step up their game here.

15 December 2023 by J.P. Apple. 0

Scary Fast, Part 2.

On Monday I noticed in the credits of the Apple “Scary Fast” event that the entire 30 minute production had been shot on an iPhone 15 Pro Max.

I find this impressive.

Apple released a “behind the scenes” video showing how this was done and it’s amazing to me that an iPhone can be used to film an entire promotional video. This area of technology is moving forward quickly.

This has further inspired me to use my iPhone as my primary video device when storm chasing. At the moment I’m still using an iPhone 13 Pro, but I’m sure the next iPhone in my pocket will be the “Pro Max” version of whatever is the latest at the moment.

I wonder what Hollywood productions are being shot on iPhone (outside of the current actors’ strike). I imagine the days of miles of film and large cameras on top of a rig are long gone.

Just for fun I took a random shot on my iPhone 13 Pro just prior to writing this blog entry. It’s the corner of my work desk.

To my amateur eye I find the quality of this two year old iPhone to be amazing.

1 November 2023 by J.P. Apple. 0

Scary Fast.

I miss the days of Apple events being full of surprises. So many journalists and pundits share every scrap of Apple speculation and rumor possible. I try my best to avoid these things; I like my Apple event experience to be somewhat old school Apple.

Tonight Apple had their “Scary Fast” event. The company took 30 minutes to introduce the latest iteration of their M-series chips, focusing on their beefed up MacBook Pro line. They also introduced the new chips to their colorful line of iMacs.

I’m sure the new M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips are going to be crazy, crazy fast. My M2 MacBook Air is wicked fast for my needs, heck, my M1 Mac mini is still being used by Jamie for his photography needs and he finds it to be amazing. Apple has made amazing strides with their custom silicon. The user experience is amazing. And the new Space Black color offered for their MacBook Pros looks quite impressive. I can’t wait to see it in person.

For the time being I am quite pleased with my existing MacBook Air so I have little need to upgrade. I found the polish of the presentation to be quite enjoyable and I am happy to see Apple moving the needle forward with their technology advances.

30 October 2023 by J.P. Apple. 0