Crashing Clockwise #529: ‘Dear Tim Apple, You Fix It’
Hey guys, thanks for having me back on this 529th episode of Clockwise! I didn’t hear my audio get into the podcast last time; maybe my track was muted? Anyway, I’m happy to be part of the conversation here on these four five tech topics.
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Dan Moren: Do you have any plans to start capturing spatial video even if a Vision Pro may not be in your immediate future?
I would love to capture spatial videos for viewing on a Vision Pro whenever I get one. I think having that extra data will be useful in the long run, and I think it’ll be a worthwhile trade-off for those videos to be 1080p rather than 4K for the time being. Surely Apple is working on upping those specs and having a vertical video mode.
The only problem is that I’m currently rocking an iPhone 13 mini, and don’t have any plans to replace it. Spatial video capture could push me towards upgrading, but certainly not before there’s a Vision Pro in my possession.
Maybe next September’s iPhones will be the ones to finally tempt me away from the mini form factor. (Or Apple could bring it back and include spatial video capture on that device too. That sure would be great.)
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Joe Rosensteel: Does anyone have strong opinions about the fonts that they use for work or note-taking in their lives?
I’m typing out this very blog post in Drafts, where I changed the default font to whatever monospace version it has built-in (it’s Menlo). For text and Markdown files, I prefer a (read: any) monospace font. Otherwise, I’m a big fan of the San Francisco typeface and its variants, so I will typically choose them if given the option.
I’m pretty basic in that regard. But I do appreciate good fonts, expertly used.
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Mikah Sargent: Have you ever used or do you currently use a journaling app or service? And how long have/did you stick with it if you do/did?
I’ve tried the journalling thing several times, but it’s never stuck. I’ve primarily tried Day One, but I’ve also done a few stints with the Theme System Journal. I still haven’t filled the first one that I started years ago, and although I like Day One’s prompts, I’ve not been able to make journalling a habit.
I’ll certainly give Apple’s Journal app a shot, but I’m not expecting a miracle here.
(I’m not counting the automatic import of my Instagram posts, blog posts, and New York Times newspaper covers as journaling, even though those do all make it into Day One. It would be hard to give that automatic archive up if I were to make the switch over to Apple’s app.)
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Kathy Campbell: When do you tell your non-tech people in your life to update the software of their devices and do you make different recommendations for different devices?
I used to be so bad about this. And by “bad” I mean that I was a monster about pushing people to update to the latest OS. I would let my wife that a new update was available pretty much as soon as it came out in September (I was probably already on the beta). Then, if she didn’t update on her own within a few days, I would do it for her. Cringe. There were a couple of times that something moved, was removed, or just generally different enough that it disrupted her day, and she was not pleased.
I’ve stopped doing that.
Now, I’ll generally not say a word and let the news reach her organically. Or, if there’s a particularly handy feature in the new version, I’ll show her on my phone, and then if, and only if, she asks about how to do it, I’ll let her know that she’d have to update to get it. This sometimes happens throughout the beta period, giving her a stack of reasons to update in the fall.
My parents, on the other hand, routinely ask me to audit their devices when I’m home to make sure that they’re up-to-date. They’re getting better about doing it on their own, but I think they appreciate having someone on hand to help them figure out the new stuff, or fix the broken stuff if needed.
In general, I now try to practice the art of not interfering with other people’s lives when they haven’t asked for it and it doesn’t affect me. Folks can choose for themselves if they want to update their stuff, and choosing not to do so is totally fine too.
To come completely clean, though, I will say that if my wife has already updated to a major OS version and then a security patch comes out later, I’ll make sure that her devices get that patch. I feel like that’s just good looking out, and is rarely disruptive.
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Bonus Question: What was your favorite playground structure to play on as a kid?
I was always a big fan of the monkey bars. The classic ones, and the ones that formed a sort of dome structure, were always so fun to swing around on. I was also known to push my luck from time to time by getting on top of the monkey bars to crawl or walk across.
I suppose it’s no wonder that I still love to climb and swing around on things.
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My Question: It’s getting to be wintertime here in the Northeast, and I’ve been scheming about what I’m going to do to fill the short days and long nights. What are your winter objectives this year?
This summer, my objective was to rock climb the intimidating and remote Wallface big wall, located in the heart of the Adirondacks. Which I did! 🎉
But I don’t have one big, overarching goal that I’m set on yet for the winter. There are a couple of fuzzy goals that I’ll aim toward: do my first ice climbing lead and maybe complete the arduous Johannsen’s Last Call backcountry ski by the end of the season. But both of those things will depend on how confident I feel in my abilities, and will take significant time investments to build up skills.
I think I can do them, and I’m going to try, but I’m still considering if there’s something else that I can really sink my teeth into and keep me motivated throughout the cold days.
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Another fun one in the can. Now I’m watching the clock say that it’s pushing past 2 AM and it’s time to go have a long visit with my pillow. Thanks again for having me on!