I gotta say, one of my favorite features to come out of iPadOS 16 this year has been the increased screen density that comes with the ‘More Space’ option in Display Zoom. For years, I’ve longed to get the benefit of two full-sized apps side-by-side like you’ve always gotten with the 12.9-inch iPad. But I’ve never wanted to carry around that lunch tray of a tablet. So I suffered the inefficiencies of being limited to compact views when using two apps at a time and given too much jealous side-eye to those larger iPads with their gloriously unconstrained screens.
But no more! If you haven’t yet tried it out yet, fire up your iPad Air (5th gen or later) or 11-inch iPad Pro and head to Settings → Display & Brightness → Display Zoom and choose ‘More Space’. Everything will scale down a little smaller, providing just enough room that you can use two apps in their 50% mode without them converting to a compact layout.
I find the full-size layouts most helpful when taking notes whiles browsing in apps like Safari. I can switch between notes and tabs all the extra clicks. ⌘
While text and UI elements are a bit smaller, I still find them completely usable. Certainly no smaller than on the iPad mini. Your mileage may vary based on your eyesight, but I think it’s the best way to use the roughly 11-inch iPads.
In fact, it’s almost like getting a new 12.9-inch iPad Pro, but without the added bulk and weight. So, thanks, I guess, goes to Stage Manager, which brought about the necessity of this feature. The apps themselves needed to be able to scale down to show the rest of the Stage’s UI. So even though I’m not rocking Stage Manager day-to-day, I’m pleased it’s given me this treat.
I thought the Mac mini and MacBooks Pro announcement would be the only new products we saw from Apple for a while, but they’ve gone and done a double-hitter! Maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll get a longer run of press release announcements like that week back in March 2019, which was like a clearing of the decks before a full-on keynote later that month.
As it is, I got a shock of excitement when a buddy texted this morning, “NEWHOMEPODS!!!!!” Like in the days of old, I rushed to apple.com to check out the newest goodies with all the thrill of Christmas morning. It was fun to be surprised by Apple once again.
As for the second-generation HomePod itself, there seem to be relatively few new whizz-bang features since the original (temperature and humidity sensor, S7 chip, Thread radio, and Ultra Wideband chip) — and a few regressions (fewer tweeters, fewer microphones). That being said, I’m still delighted that it exists. I haven’t had any of the failures that have plagued other first-generation HomePod owners, but if I did, I wouldn’t hesitate to replace it with the new one. The impeccable room-filling sound quality and convenience of Siri as a hands-free kitchen assistant have been firmly planted in our home. I wasn’t looking forward to trying to slot something else in its place if and when the original dies.
However, I did do a double-take at the new HomePod’s price: $299. That’s the same price that the original sold at when it departed for the big orchard in the sky. I would have bet that Apple would shy away from that high of a price, considering that they struggled to sell even the first batch they manufactured.
On the other hand, Adders, writing on their microblog, makes a good point about the price compared to another Apple audio product:
I just don’t understand why people think £250 for Airpods Pro - single user devices, with a lifespan of a few years - is fine, but £299 for a HomePod, a whole household device that will last half a decade or more, is not.
It remains to be seen — well, heard — if the new HomePod’s quality can stand confidently next to the original’s. But I remain hopeful! I do wish, though, that Apple had bitten the bullet and added a physical audio input. That way, if the software ever does crap out, its high-quality hardware could live on. So it goes.
Although for a while there, Apple seemed like the only company rallying against “speeds and feeds”, they’ve really dived back into them. And even though we’re only a few chips into the Apple silicon translation, already my eyes glaze over and ears muffle up when they’re blazing through the stats of these, admittedly, incredibly chips.
Day-to-day, the only M2 chip improvement I’d be excited to have is more and faster unified memory. I see the “This Website Is Using Significant Memory” message from Safari far too often on my RAM-maxed M1 Max mini.
I had also hoped that when the next Mac mini update materialized, it would bring with it the silver and black “mini” version of the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. But I haven’t heard anything about that particular white (well, black, in this case) whale. And — checks apple.com/store — well, well, well…the plot thickens:
So it looks like the Magic Keyboard (not that Magic Keyboard, this one) did get updated today. It’s got the “New” badge and a mouthful of a name I don’t think it had before. The go-to keyboard that Apple wants you to buy is now officially known as the “Magic Keyboard with Touch ID for Mac models with Apple silicon”. There is another version known simply as the “Magic Keyboard” which lacks the Touch ID button and is compatible with all Macs — including Intel ones like the lone Mac Pro. Both still charge via Lightning rather than USB-C. And neither comes in that glorious silver frame with black keys. 🙁
I’ll just leave this here:
Release the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID in black/silver without the numeric pad, you cowards!
And finally, I was glad to see some new faces presenting the products today. And, as much as I like Johny Srouji in his lab, Tim Millet, as heard on Upgrade, did a great job introducing the new chips. I could see Tom moving up the chain into Johny’s position down the road.
All-in-all, we got some very welcome — if unsurprising — upgrades today.
2️⃣ This is a raw, heart-wrenching, yet uplifting story from Alena Smith about going through, well, a lot in the hope of birthing and raising kids and not dying. All while writing and directing the excellent Dickinson. [🔗 Alena Smith // nytimes.com]
3️⃣ It seems super unfair that truckers don’t get overtime pay (they’re typically paid by the mile), so things like delays, cargo loading, and inspections are all basically free labor. [🔗 David Zipper // theverge.com]
4️⃣ It makes total sense to me that what is essentially a sophisticated predictive text program nailed so many of the “correct” responses to these prompts. But it’s still pretty wild. [🔗JONASDEGRAVE // engraved.blog]
5️⃣ Scruff the dog picked up over a thousand water bottles last year. The Good News Podcast has the details in a tight three minutes. [🔊 thegoodnewspodcast.fm]
6️⃣ Jacob Collier is officially on my shortlist of performers I want to see live. The guy is supremely talented. Just watch this short of him building a loop with like half a dozen instruments in just 60 seconds. [📺 Jacob Collier // youtube.com]
One thing I’ve noticed is that everyone is going to great lengths to make something that replaces the clients we’ve known for years. That’s an excellent goal that eases a transition in the short-term, but ignores how a new open standard(ActivityPub) can be leveraged in new and different ways.
Federation exposes a lot of different data sources that you’d want to follow. Not all of these sources will be Mastodon instances: you may want to stay up-to-date with someone’s Micro.blog, or maybe another person’s Tumblr, or someone else’s photo feed. There are many apps and servers for you to choose from.
It feels like the time is right for a truly universal timeline. That notion excites me like the first time I posted XML status to an endpoint.
I feel that excitement too. That’s why I’m all in on Micro.blog for my social media, pared with this, my very own old-school blog and website.
What’s the best system to rate media or products? Grades from F to A? Stars from one to five? A simple thumbs up?
Online catalogs like Goodreads and Letterboxd stand behind their five star standards. Amazon and eBay give percent ratings out of 100. Netflix takes thumbs up and down and converts them to a percentage as well. But faced with adding ratings for books I’ve read to my own short reviews on Micro.blog, I’ve waffled.
At first, I just shifted over my out-of-five book ratings from Goodreads. But too many were the cowardly three stars. Did I like it or not? Even I didn’t know! And don’t get me started on how you can do half-stars, which essentially make them out of ten instead. Too many choices! I briefly courted with ratings out three. Bad/okay/good seemed like it should be enough for anyone. But I quickly saw how any odd numbered rating system has the same fatal flaw: it allows you to sit on the fence between good and bad, deflecting an actual decision.
And so, as you might have guessed from the title, I’ve landed on four-star ratings. Poor/okay/good/great, as it were. Or oof/eh/ooh/wow. Four stars forces a definitive decision, and leaves just enough room for nuance — unlike thumbs up/down. Three stars communicates a positive recommendation and four that it was stand-out, while two or one says that it can probably be skipped or was notably bad.
A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.
Happy New Year, folks! I hope you achieve something that you’re proud of in 2023. 🎉
1️⃣ Universal Control has been one of my favorite additions to the Apple ecosystem in the past few years. I love that it makes using two completely different operating systems so seamless. Jason Snell points out some other fantastic use cases for Universal Control in this article. [🔗 Jason Snell // macworld.com]
2️⃣ I had no idea that user stylesheets were a thing, but of course, they were a thing. Their need is largely supplanted by read-it-later apps, RSS, and ad blockers, but I’m still intrigued. [🔗 Nick Heer // pxlnv.com]
4️⃣ I just discovered the OfferUp service this week. It’s kind of like eBay and kind of like Facebook Marketplace, but with a bunch of the friction removed. It’s geared toward selling your items locally, but they’ll help you ship stuff, too. Worth a look if you’re doing some new year clearing out. Here’s my sales page. [🔗 offerup.com]
5️⃣ An absolute banger from P!nk that my wife and I have had on repeat. It was the best dancing song for New Year’s Eve. 😉 [🔗 P!nk // song.link]
6️⃣ Did you know that there’s a Season 2 and 3 of the classic Neature Walk videos from back in the day? Me neither! But they’re pretty neat! [🔗 vicscrappyvideos // youtube.com]
7️⃣ An app just for joy: Pixel Pals. It works best with an iPhone with the Dynamic Island, but still super cute on any phone. You get little animated animal friends that can hang out on your home screen and lock screen. 😊 [🔗 Christian Selig // apps.apple.com]
A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.
🎄 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone! 🎄
1️⃣ I’m glad to see the USPS take the “go big” route for electric vehicles. They upped their original purchase plan by a lot! [🔗 Umar Shakir // theverge.com]
2️⃣ Drafts is my perennial pick for the best iOS app, so I’m thrilled to see it recognized by the MacStories team with their Lifetime Achievement award. If there’s something I need to write down, remember, or get out of my head, I always reach first for Drafts. It’s the never-ending notebook in my pocket. [🔗 Alex Guyot // macstories.net]
3️⃣ This short article and interactive “thingy” is super instructive for a basic understanding of why the free market inherently redistributes wealth to the lucky few. A salient quote:
But imagine what would happen if we played this game with real people: Some of the wealthy players would inevitably argue that they deserve to be rich because they’re better at guessing the result of a coin flip.
4️⃣ David Smith reveals how automatic Backtrack works. A handy tip to share with anyone with an Apple Watch Series 6 or later! [🔗 David Smith // david-smith.org]
5️⃣ I loved this old-school climbing video showing an iconic climb in Yosemite back in the 60s. It’s what I imagine Reel Rock would have been back then. I recognized Royal Robbins right away but was tickled to see it was Yvon Chouinard climbing with him. [🔗 Donut Smasher // youtube.com]
6️⃣ Greg Morris has the wheels in my head turning with his blog post about reducing his contact points with the internet essentially down to just one. [🔗 Greg Morris // gr36.com]
