Mark In The Middle – The Verge

September 24, 2020
3 min read

First of all, as it often is with those types of stories – The Verge did a great job with presenting the article. Audio clips integrated into the story, so you can hear Zuckerberg’s voice, not only read the redacted quote is an interesting choice and I would actually like to see more of that.

Regarding the story itself. I think social media platforms, especially one as big as Facebook should be neutral. It is a rare thing that I agree with Zuckerberg, but here we are. A couple of quotes from him:

“That basically asked whether Joel can be in this role, or can be doing this role, on the basis of the fact that he is a Republican, or has beliefs that are more conservative than the average employee at the company. And I have to say that I find that line of questioning to be very troubling.

If we want to actually do a good job of serving people, [we have to take] into account that there are different views on different things, and that if someone disagrees with a view, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re hateful or have bad intent.”

Reading the US Twitter, I don’t know how anyone can remain sane. People are almost willing to kill one another because of the political affiliation. And I also find the way the question is asked regarding the Republican employee very troubling.

I also don’t get the walking out part of employees. If you don’t like the way the company is being run – leave. This “virtual walk out” for a day, when you have a nice job with pretty high salary is nothing more than a virtue signaling.

You shouldn’t work for a manager that you so strongly disagree with. Otherwise it is hard to believe your believes.

Can we build a quarantined Facebook city? an employee had asked ahead of the July 31st Q&A. Like, buying an island and all of us working there?

Zuckerberg read the question out loud, laughing gently.

“Gosh, I don’t think that that would be good long-term,” he responded. “I think it’s good to maintain connection to the rest of society.”

Fascinating answer. It shows how Zuckerberg really feels like something more than people at large. And I’m not sure how someone who bought out all the houses around his can say something about maintaining connection with the rest the society.

iPhone Homescreen – iOS 13 Edition

September 16, 2020
6 min read

Before the end of the year 2019, I’ve decided to start a new tradition, by posting my homescreen and looking at what changed over the year. I feel like it is a bit different right now, because of the WFH situation and also with the release of iOS 14 with a lot of changes focused on the homescreen. So let’s look at the last iOS 13 homescreen, before updating to the iOS 14, which I feel like will change homescreen dramatically (I’m actually running public beta, but screenshot was taken right before installing it).

Stayed

There are some apps that stayed on the homescreen, although some of them changed placement. I still use Telegram, Messages and WhatsApp and the Phone app for communication. After an absence for a month Twitter and Instagram are back. And of course Safari is still in the dock.

For keeping up with the news and blogs I still use Reeder and Pocket, and YouTube for videos, while Overcast remains my podcast player of choice.

I won’t be replacing CoinKeeper any time soon. As well as all of the photo apps, like Halide, Lightroom and Photos.

The one app I am considering switching but which is still there is Notes. I don’t know what to replace it with. For writing I’ve found the replacement, but I’m not sure about the archival stuff.

Removed

There are a a couple of apps that are no longer on the homescreen, but I do use almost all of them.

App Store and Settings I can usually get to from search or from the second screen, but I don’t do it often.

I very rarely use ExpressVPN on iPhone and as I’ve mentioned in my previous overview its placement on the homescreen was temporary. Just like Gemini – I now use it only when it sends push notification once a week, so there is no need to keep it on the homescreen.

The last two are a bit of a different story. I’ve started editing mobile photos in Lightroom, as I enjoy the way it changes photos more, so I’ve cancelled my VSCO premium subscription and removed it from the first screen, although I didn’t delete it from my phone, yet.

I’ve removed Waze because this past half a year I’ve driven much less and it doesn’t get a lot of use. On the rare occasions I drive to work I have a Shortcuts automation running when I get into the car which launches Waze automatically with driving directions.

Replaced

Kindle – Books

A little while ago Kindle app introduced a bug, where it would forget the place you’ve stopped reading. So I had to remember and find the place every time I’ve opened the app, which was … not ideal. So I’ve switched to the Books app. Although it opens a book for quite some time, I liked it in the end. It opens on the right place, shows words, what more do you need.

Music – Spotify

In the begging of summer Spotify had a deal, where new users could get three months for free (including Family plan). I’ve long ago wanted to give Spotify another chance and it seemed like a perfect opportunity.

The free trial ended and I am still paying for Spotify. I think algorithms are better. Music is the same. The only advantage Apple Music has – integration. But I don’t have HomePod and rarely use Siri asking to play music, so I don’t feel like I’m loosing much.

Reminders – Asana

I’ve been using Asana for work for a long time and actually liked it a lot, so decided to use it as a personal task manager and for cooperation with my wife. It has all the features I want in the task manager and it is free. Hard to beat that.

Added

Apollo

My Reddit client of choice. Like how it looks and feels and it gets updated all the time.

Revolut

I’ve been using the app more and more. It is now one of the places I have investments. So it made sense to bring it forward from the second screen.

Audible

Since we’ve had a child, I started listening to audiobooks more and more. It’s perfect for walks with a sleeping toddler. She is a bit older now, so I turn the subscription on and off, mostly waiting for the deals, since I don’t have time to listen to all the books I already have.

Ulysses

The app I’m writing this post right now. I’ve been looking for a writing app for a long time, since I don’t actually enjoy writing in the Notes app. This felt perfect, so now I’m a subscriber. I even started using Markdown, which I didn’t get before, but now it makes sense.

Tot

You might say it’s silly to have three writing apss on the homescreen and I might actually agree. But they are all for different purposes and Tot is for short bits of text which I need for a short period of time. I’ve tried using Drafts for a similar reason before, but Tot fits much better. It’s a very pricey app, but sometimes it’s ok to overpay for something you enjoy.

Mimo

I’ve decided to learn programming. I probably won’t become a full time programmer, but I want to understand code. Also as a business analyst it’s very helpful to know at least some code.

Mail

I’ve been using Mail.app for a long time, only now did I bring it to the homescreen. It’s only for my personal use, I don’t have notifications turned on, so I check the app 1-2 times a day.

Formula 1

As I’ve said earlier, after watching the Drive To Survive documentary I decided to try to watch Formula 1 races. We are half way through the season right now and I enjoy it a lot.

Morning

Recently I’ve tried to delete all social media apps for 30 days (and was successful at it), the app gave me the rundown of the most important news of the day.

Apple Event – 15.09.2020

September 15, 2020
5 min read

Although it is strange to watch September Apple Event and not see new iPhones, we do live in different times, so here we go. The presentation itself was good, the same style as WWDC 2020 and I enjoyed watching it (in case you are wondering, I realize that it is an hour long ad by a trillion dollar company).

Apple tried to manage expectations when it announced the event (a lot of journalists covering Apple immediately said there won’t be new iPhones) and at the very start of the presentation Tim Cook said they will talk Apple Watch and iPad today.

Apple Watch

Apple Watch Series 6

Same design as last year, although they’ve added three new colors – Gold, Blue and Red. I think they look good, especially the blue one (it will look great with the new blue iPhone).

There is a new sensor which will measure your blood oxygen levels. The manual measurement takes only 15 seconds and it does periodic background measurements, even at night if you sleep with your watch on. Although Apple didn’t say it, but it is helpful for the COVID-19.

The Always-On display got 2.5 times brighter outdoors.

Starting price remains the same at $399 in the US.

Apple Watch SE

The same display size and design as a Series 6, but without Always-On display and with an older S5 chip, which is 2x faster than Series 3. It is available both without and with cellular.

The price starts at $279 and Series 3 still remains in the lineup for $199.

Right now, if you are able to find discounted Series 5 it will be a much better deal – it has an always-on display, more health sensors and the same processor and design.

Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop

New bands for Apple Watches that don’t have a clasp or a buckle. That means you have to buy one that fits you, it has a lot of different sizes. What interesting, it says on the ordering page that it is not compatible with Series 3 and older watches, but I always thought the band connectors were identical.

Family Setup

You can now use your iPhone to set up an Apple Watch for someone in your family, who doesn’t have an iPhone. They will have a dedicated phone number and cellular connection. This is an amazing feature for kids or older family members and another step to the iPhone-less future for the Apple Watch.

Apple Fitness+

“First fitness service built around Apple Watch.”

Interesting how they presented it as something only possible with an Apple Watch. There will be 10 types of workouts, provided by world class trainers, with Apple Music (you don’t need a subscription for the service to work). New workouts will be added every week.

The new service is available on the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. It will show all the metrics during the workout on the screen and when a trainer will remind you to check your heart rate, the metric will get bigger.

When you start your workout on one of your devices, it will automatically start the workout on the Apple Watch.

There is an absolute beginner program, with all the basics covered and personalized recommendations in the app.

It will cost $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year (Family Sharing included) and you will get 3 months free with an Apple Watch purchase.
Unfortunately service is available only in handful of countries, so we will have to wait for it’s launch.

Other

There are a lot of new watch faces, including GMT which shows multiple time zones at once, typography with a lot of combinations, Chronograph Pro and a lot more.

Apple also announced that it will remove power adapter from the box, basically trying to present the cost-saving measure as an environmental thing.

Everything else that will be changed and added in watchOS7 got covered in the WWDC2020 presentation.

Apple One

The long rumored bundle from Apple is here, but unfortunately it’s not that simple. First, the name – Apple One. There are actually Three different bundles and only Two available everywhere.

First one – for $14.95 you get Apple Music, TV+, Arcade and 50GB of iCloud storage.

Second – for $19.95 you will get the same bundle, but with 200GB of storage.

And Premier – for $29.95 you will get 1TB of storage and News+ and Fitness+ as additional services.

The Premier one is available only in the countries where Apple News+ and Fitness+ are available and there are not a lot of those.

Because of the iCloud storage, the only one that makes sense for me is Premier, which will be unavailable. It is possible to add more storage to the first two, but at that point I’m not sure it will be a good deal. So no Apple One for me.

iPad

8th generation

This is the same plain iPad with a better processor (A12 Bionic), which means it will be more powerful. The design remains the same, with Touch ID button and screen bezels. It will still only support 1st generation Apple Pencil. But for the price of $329 it is an amazing value.

iPad Air

The iPad Air on the other hand got a complete redesign, it now looks the same as 11” iPad Pro, with rose gold, green and sky blue options available.

For the first time in a very long time, iPad gets new SoC before iPhone and iPad Air has A14 Bionic, which is industry leading 5 nanometer processor.

It also has a Touch ID sensor which is now in the Top Button (yeap, they’ve renamed Power Button in this one).

What is similar with the iPad Pro, except for design – it now has USB-C connector, support for 2nd generation Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard.

What it lacks is Pro Motion (120Hz) display, FaceID, camera array and microphone and speaker system.

For $599 right now it looks like a much better purchase than 11” iPad Pro and Apple tablet lineup remains weird and complicated.