TL;DR: Your Apple Watch’s Stand ring is missing an hour. Maybe you really did stand up for at least a minute but the Apple Watch didn’t catch it, or maybe you’re cheating the system. Who am I to judge? Either way, just download and run this shortcut to fill in the hour to #CloseYourRings.

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If you’re anything like me, you like to keep up streaks. Whether it’s writing regularly, keeping up with a workout routine, drinking enough water, or closing Apple Watch fitness activity rings, something is compelling about not breaking a stretch of good habits. That’s why when my Apple Watch doesn’t accurately track my standing hours, it can be infuriating.

When your watch doesn’t accurately track the hours during which you stood — or you just can’t bear to see your streak go broken — the shortcut below can help.

Some background on the Activity Rings

The Apple Watch, since the beginning, has had the concept of activity rings that fill throughout the day. They are based on three goals: general movement counted by calories burned, exercise minutes, and stand hours. The first two metrics are pretty straightforward to earn. If you move around, you’ll burn calories and fill the red ring. More if your heart rate is elevated, less if simply moving about your day. Then if you start a workout, or the watch detects that your heart rate and movement is at or above that of a brisk walk, you’ll earn exercise minutes toward the recommended 30 minutes per day, which fills the green ring.

The blue ring, in my experience, can be the hardest to fill. It sounds easy enough; just stand up for at least one minute in each of 12 differnt hours throughout the day. Surely I do that without thinking. Well, it turns out that I do often need that extra prompting to get up. I use it as an opportunity to fill my water bottle or use the bathroom after an hour of sitting.

Other times (such as this very evening), my watch will prompt me with the “Time to Stand!” notification even though I had been standing for the entire hour. There seems to be something about how it expects a wrist to be held that if you don’t drop your wrist down by your side, the watch can miss real standing time.

The worst time to discover that you’re missing stand hours that you should have earned is after 11 pm when you can no longer make up for lost time. If the watch counted 11 or fewer hours, you’re shit out of luck.

Except not, with the utility of Shortcuts!

Shortcuts and the Heath app to the rescue

Fortunately, the database of health information stored within the Health app is accessible and writable by Shortcuts. I’ve created a Stand Goal Cheater shortcut that lets me quickly log a stand hour for ones that the watch missed. And it can be done with just one action! My implementation adds some accountability which makes it three steps long. Allow me to walk you through them.

Because I don’t want to use this shortcut to cheat on my fitness and activity goals, I start with a menu prompt, verifying that I did walk around during the hour I’m about to log. Suppose I answer Yes!, the shortcut proceeds. If I respond No, it reminds me to be honest with myself and ends the shortcut.

Presuming I did stand, the key is the Log Workout action. I use it to log a walking workout for a specific time. Within the Show More disclosure, I added “Today” and an Ask Each Time variable for the date. The duration is set for 1 minute, and no calories or distance is recorded.

When this shortcut is run (which is usually from Spotlight search for me), I’m presented with the menu and then the date prompt, which accepts natural language input. Since “Today” is set within the shortcut, all I need to type is the hour for which I want a stand hour recorded (e.g., “10 pm”). I hit Done, and then the workout is saved to the Health app.

Get the Stand Goal Cheater shortcut: Original Version | Latest Version

It can take some time for the Apple Watch to realize that data was manually added and reflect the additional stand hour in the rings, but it does always get there. So don’t worry if it crosses past midnight, the rings will catch up, and any relevant awards will be awarded. You can even overwrite the “Today” text to record a workout for days further in the past.

If you make a mistake on an entry, just head to the Health app to correct it. In Browse, search for the Workouts section, and then scroll to the bottom of the page. Hit Show All Data and then swipe left on the entry to delete the workout and its data.

A few other tips

There are some other ways to “game” the stand ring without using the Shortcuts app.

Wrist position - As I mentioned above, the watch can be particular about how it expects a wrist to be held while standing. I have found that dropping my hand to my side, fingers pointed down, and slowly swinging it forward and back will convince the watch that I’m moving around. You can test this by trying it while sitting — just drop your wrist for a minute and see the hour get counted. It’s also helpful to remember when you are specifically trying to earn standing credit. If you’re holding something up with your watch hand, it may not get counted.

Add in Health directly - Seeing as this shortcut relies on writing to the Health app, you can write data within the Health manually. Although a section for Stand Hours exists, you can’t add there, only delete existing data. Instead, you still need to rely on the Workout section, and it works the same as the Shortcut described above. Here are the steps to get you there:

1. Go to Health app → Browse → Activity → Workouts
2. Hit Add Date (top right-hand corner)
3. Choose an Activity Type (I usually go with walking)
4. Adding Calories and Distance is optional
5. Ensure the start and end times are (1) during an hour that you missed earning a standing hour and (2) at least one minute apart.
6. Hit Add to finish recording the workout

Change Stand Goal - Introduced last year in watchOS 7, you can change the number of hours needed to fill your ring and maintain your streak. Adjusting is beneficial when you’re having a rest day or can’t catch up with the number of hours remaining in a day. Here’s how to do it:

1. On your Apple Watch, go to the Activity app.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
3. Hit Change Goals.
4. Hit Next on the Move Goal and Exercise Goal pages.
5. Use the on-screen buttons or the Digital Crown to adjust your Stand Goal to a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 12 hours.
6. Hit Ok to accept the changes.

It’s important to note that these goals do not reset each day. So if you change them intending to maintain a streak for one day, you’ll need to change them back the next day.

Shortcuts Tips Greatest Hits

1. If you’ve ever used a CARROT app, you’ll appreciate this video, Meatbag. 🤣
2. Now is the time to start putting in your wishes for Apple’s 2022 operating systems. I’ll throw a +1 onto the ideas in this concept for iOS 16 by 9to5Mac.
3. I look forward to Noah Kalina’s newsletter each and every week. If he wrote more, I’d slurp up every last bit. Not only does each issue feature some of his fantastic photography, but he tells a story with it. A funny story. A funny story using the kind of dry humor that often catches me off guard and produces a snort.
4. This piece from The Atlantic got me thinking about the airflow of my own home. I should crack a window. Well, two of them, according to the article.
5. I discovered this album, Year of the Sunflower, by Jake Scott and really liked it. It turns out he released a new album, Goldenboy, this week, too!
6. Season 2 of Central Park came out this week on Apple TV+. My wife and I loved season one —- it was one of our favorite shows last year. We watched the first two episodes, and they’ve kept the quality.
7. The long-anticipated Big Mail app by The Not So Big Company (🙃) came out this week, as well. I’m a sucker for email apps, so I’m giving it a try. It’s got a bunch of features like HEY, but done on-device and is more native to the platform. I plan to write a review after I get more time with it.

7 Things

Microsoft introduced the next version of Windows this week, as I’m sure the whole internet has heard by now. After reportedly saying that Windows 10 would be the “last version of Windows,” they’ve turned it up to 11.¹

As someone who lives firmly in Apple’s ecosystem and has only interacted with the Windows operating system sporadically and reluctantly for the past nine years, I felt oddly drawn to this introduction. So here are a few thoughts I had on the new operating system and the event in general. (If you don’t have 45 minutes, here’s a slimmed-down version of the video provided by The Verge.)

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Am I just taken in by visually impressive introduction videos, or is Microsoft finally doing some good stuff with design? It looks modern, more inviting, and yet still distinctly Microsoft in a way that Windows 10 didn’t.

Panos Panay is an engaging presenter, but he always seems just a little off — like he’s not sure what he’s going to say. Not nearly as distracting as Elon Musk, though.

Snapping is a real winner with preset arrangements that I’d actually use. It looks like the maximize button retains that behavior by default and snapping appears on hover. Clever. It reminds me of what Apple just did with the multitasking control in iPadOS 15, but Microsoft has the edge here with additional convenient options.

This event is well-produced, but Apple’s quality of presenters, videography, and transitions remain unmatched. They nailed remote presentations on their first try with WWDC20 and have only gotten better.

Microsoft has an intriguing relationship with Android. They’ve now introduced Android apps on Windows, which adds to the partnership they’ve had still making Android phones. It’s a little odd that they’re using the Amazon App Store as a mediator. Does this new feature make Windows tablets the best Android tablets available?

The taskbar sure does look like the macOS dock these days. The frosted glass aesthetic, too. I know Vista started this trend, but Apple took ownership in iOS 7. Meanwhile, Windows moved away from that style in Windows 8 and 10. It makes Microsoft feel like the follower here.

Microsoft is finally all its core software (e.g., Teams) and services (e.g., Game Pass) closer together in their flagship product. Maybe they’ve been integrated before, but it sounds like they’re doing more here. I bet this will get a fair number of people to try them out who usually wouldn’t have gone searching.

Microsoft brings the heat with its app store announcements: bring-your-own commerce engine, support for many types of app frameworks, alternative app stores, and a lower cut of revenue share, to name a few. These are surely going to put pressure on Apple, which is excellent! Should Apple replicate everything they introduced? Probably not, but alternative payment options alone are a big deal. Competition, what a concept!

Satya Nadella is very well-spoken. He seems legitimately excited and keen on the future of Windows. I may not use many Microsoft products, but I’ve always had respect for Satya, and I think he’s the right person to be leading the company.

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For the first time in living memory, I could see myself not hating Windows if I had to use it. But I’m thankful that I don’t. Nevertheless, I’m happy to see the operating system take a few steps forward. It brings some competitive features, which I hope will compel Apple to make a satisfactory response. I also glad to see the version number bump, as it looks to be a good release for Windows users, and going to version 11 adds hype.

Likes

• Rounded corners
• Lots of snapping options
• Tipping creators (but I have questions about how this will work in practice)
• Alternative payment engines in the Microsoft Store
• Updated icons
• Widget view. I’d prefer to pin widgets on the desktop, but I like that it looks like it can expand out to the full screen in the style of Dashboard.
• Disconnect external display and app windows get minimized. And then they remember where they go when the display is reconnected. Yes, please!
• Android apps via the Amazon App Store. I thought they already had this, to be honest. It sounds like iOS/iPadOS apps on the Mac. Hopefully, fewer developers will limit them than they have on macOS.

Dislikes

• There’s too much going on in each window, which, I know, is just the Windows style. I’m still not too fond of the ribbon. Maybe those controls should live in a sidebar as they’ve done with browser tabs.
• There are still bits of very old classic Windows hidden in there. While most people won’t find them, some will, and it won’t be clear why. If not now, when?
• AI-powered widget feed. I will hold out for more feedback, but if it’s anything like other machine-learning news feeds, it gives me way too much distracting crap.
• Subsequent reporting has revealed that the system requirements are pretty restrictive. I know Microsoft has a vast swath of devices to support, but for an update that seems like it was built on the bones of Windows 10X, this decision will severely limit who can take advantage of the new OS — which is a shame because there’s a lot to like.

Jon Brodkin, writing at Ars Technica:

Europol noted that there is “a huge demand for encrypted communication platforms” among criminal networks but that the market for encrypted devices is “volatile.” Law-enforcement takedowns of the EncroChat encrypted platform in July 2020 and the Sky ECC communication service tool in March 2021 helped agencies steer criminals toward the FBI’s own encrypted devices

Clever stuff. I’m impressed how the FBI created both the supply of encrypted phones, and the demand for them by shutting down another encrypted messaging service favored by criminals.

The sheer volume of drugs and other illicit items seized is mind-boggling:

This culminated in a “series of large-scale law enforcement actions [that] were executed over the past days across 16 countries resulting in more than 700 house searches, more than 800 arrests and the seizure of over 8 tons of cocaine, 22 tons of cannabis and cannabis resin, 2 tons of synthetic drugs (amphetamine and methamphetamine), 6 tons of synthetic drugs precursors, 250 firearms, 55 luxury vehicles and over $48 million in various worldwide currencies and cryptocurrencies,” Europol wrote.

I hope they’ve got a few shelves in the back for it all.

Go to the linked site →

Linked

It took a few tries, but I’ve figured out how to use my favorite tools together to smoothly get from fleeting ideas to published blog posts. Let me tell you how I got here.

Choosing a home and designing the site

Last year, when I decided to make HeyDingus a reality and publish a blog, I faced many choices. Primary among them was where to create it. It seems like the standard place to go is WordPress because of all the bells and whistles that you can install to make it work and feel like your own. Then there was Squarespace — the place to “make your next move” that I’d had piped into my ears during years of podcast ads.

I had questions:

• Could I write in Markdown and publish still publish easily?
• How would I add images if I wanted to include them in a blog post?
• Could the site be the home for multiple projects if anything else piqued my interest?
• Say it didn’t work out. Could I get my content off of the blog host without difficulty and take it somewhere else?

Indeed there were mountains of opinion about the best hosts that I could sift through — and I did for a while — but the best way for me to make a decision is to get in and kick the tires around.

First, I tried Squarespace. It turned out that starting a new website in 2020 meant getting their new editor, version 7.1, and I had been familiar with version 7.0 from a previous work project. While the theming and styling tools in the new version were an upgrade, many features were still in development, and 7.1 wasn’t as intuitive or flexible for blogging as I had expected. It wasn’t a complete loss, though, since I used that first iteration to develop my vision for my site’s visual design.

That brought me to WordPress. I wanted to like WordPress because I figured it would be most viable for a long-term host. If blogging “stuck” for me, I didn’t want to have to move a year from now to a more capable platform. Plus, I knew WordPress played nicely with other tools like Shortcuts. So I took the general layout, colors, fonts, and page structure that I had created in Squarespace and fiddled around enough to recreate it in WordPress. The tools were undoubtedly more powerful but also more complicated and unfamiliar coming from Squarespace. So after trying a few posts, and with regret since the Markdown support and posting integration were so convenient, I said goodbye to WordPress as well. If the focus was to be on writing, I needed familiarity, not endless ways to tinker.

I ended up back where I started, on Squarespace, but found I could (thankfully) still create a new site using the old 7.0 version. It took more finagling, but I managed to remake the same basic layout and design for the third time. I tweaked the heading sizes, adjusted hyperlinks to my preferred blue, and ensured that the margins were a healthy size appropriate for reading. I knew I was giving up on some power-user features, but, hey, if others can run a multimedia empire from Squarespace for years, I’d probably be alright too.

Some other pros and cons:

Squarespace
Pros

• Easier to design
• Better iOS and iPadOS app
• More usable in Safari on iPad
• Can quickly adapt URLs to the format that I prefer (heydingus.net/blog/YYYY/M/slug-name)

Cons

• More expensive
• Markdown support isn’t ideal
• More manual publishing flow

WordPress
Pros

• Can publish directly from writing apps
• Shortcuts integration
• More options for tinkering and expanding
• Better Markdown support

Cons

• Basic sites have limited design options
• Intimidating to get started
• Content block structure not as adaptive

Developing a writing flow

I had the site built. Now to refine the process of getting from idea to draft to a published article. From the beginning, I’ve had a website scratchpad note where I outlined my ideal blogging flow.

Ideas can strike from anywhere. So I wanted to quickly capture ideas then be able to finish them later. If I could publish straight from the text editor, that would be great, as long as I could manage the images I wanted to include. But publishing from a web interface wouldn’t be a dealbreaker.

Writing flow

I knew Drafts would be where everything started. I’ve been using Drafts for years to capture text of all kinds — it’s perfect as my external brain. Its excellent Markdown support, customizable actions, and action directory meant I could quickly get ideas in and out of Drafts. But there’s too much happening in Drafts for it to be a focused area for my long-form writing. I needed a dedicated text editor.

Since writing apps are an evergreen topic in the places I read, I knew the best two options were iA Writer and Ulysses. So I tested them both for a few weeks. I liked that Ulysses had powerful organizational tools and a more striking design. Included writing goals, feature-rich spelling and grammar check, and its sheet metaphor were all appealing. But its downfall was the way it hid Markdown formatting while writing. I write in Markdown because I want to see everything in the text, which meant hiding the URL for in-line links was a no-go. Plus, Ulysses has a subscription — which, to be clear, I’m not opposed to — and I already owned the full copy of iA Writer.

I’d been using iA Writer for several years after discovering it in college to help me focus while writing papers. One of iA Writer’s key advantages was that it’s a traditional text editor, meaning everything written in the app is saved as native .txt or .md files within the file system. That meant I could take all my files to any other text editor at any time. iA Writer doesn’t rely on a unique file format or markup for its features, so I don’t lose anything by writing in plain text.¹. While Squarespace supports exporting blog data for moving to a different platform (which answered one of my initial questions), I wanted the backup of my plain text files just in case.

I also like iA Writer’s design, which is stark but pleasant, and its focus mode (which I keep set to highlight the current sentence when writing). iA Writer may lack customizable options, but that keeps me keyed in on actually getting words down on the page rather than adjusting dials. I write, edit, preview², and nothing more. There’s just enough in this app to get the job done. Some of the whizzbang features in Ulysses still call to me, but I think it’s better in the long run for my writing for iA Writer to be simple and focused.

Publishing flow

I’d chosen Squarespace, and while I was happy with the design and my ability to adapt and add to it, there were a few downsides when getting text from iA Writer and into a blog post:

1. Squarespace would prefer that you write in rich text by using their built-in editor. It does support Markdown formatting through a Markdown block, but not for all variants like footnote markup.
2. No Shortcuts support.
3. iOS app doesn’t allow using Markdown block.
4. No easy way to upload images without using content blocks on the web.

Through research and experimentation, I’ve solved most of these issues over the past few months of blogging:

1. Copy Markdown as HTML when using footnotes, and paste into a Markdown block. Markdown is designed to support raw HTML, so it renders perfectly. If I’m not doing anything fancy, I can just paste in the Markdown text.
2. There’s no real solution, but I can still do all my text editing using Shortcuts in my text editors and then copy it into Squarespace on the web.
3. Without Markdown support in the app, I use Safari for making blog posts. The desktop-class browser on iPad plus cursor support makes it as easy to publish from my iPad as from my Mac.
4. This was my most recent solution, and I resorted to using a traditional CDN to deliver photos for my posts. All I need is a direct link to each uploaded image, and then I could include it in my Markdown while writing. Sure, I could use the image blocks in Squarespace on the web, but I abandoned that process. It took me out of the writing flow and difficult to get images positioned correctly within the Markdown block. I found an image CDN with an easy-to-use API to upload images using Shortcuts, and get the appropriate block of Markdown to paste into my text editor.

Putting it all together

I’m finally happy with my writing setup. Here’s how it happens as of today:

1. Ideas start in Drafts, usually from Shortcuts that build linked post formatting, accept general ideas, and add appropriate tags to get it into my HeyDingus workspace.
2. Work on the outline or first draft in Drafts. What a concept, I know!
3. Send the next post (or a few) that I want to publish to iA Writer, where writing is completed and edited.
4. Use my Image Uploader shortcut to add images to CDN and get back Markdown formatting to paste into iA Writer. Preview the finished and rendered blog post there.
5. For longer posts, copy text into Grammarly as an extra proofread, then copy the revised text back into iA Writer. I appreciate that Grammarly ignores markup formatting.
6. Convert the level 1 heading to title case using iA Writer’s native highlight actions.
7. Copy the title and body as raw Markdown into the blog post editor on Squarespace’s website in Safari. I’ve set it to use a Markdown block in blog posts by default. If the post uses footnotes, I can copy the post as HTML directly from iA Writer and paste it into that same block.
8. Add tags, set up automatic social starting, and check the permalink. I use emoji for linked post titles, which makes the URL look weird, so I manually adjust those.
9. Take a deep breath, and publish the blog post.
10. Move the .md files in iA Writer to an archive folder.

Some wish list items

While I’m pleased with where I have ended up with my writing process, nothing is so perfect that it can’t be complained about, so here are a few things that I’d like to see improved:

• I would love to see some proper integration for publishing to Squarespace from Shortcuts like you can with WordPress.
• Since I’m already paying for Squarespace, being able to upload directly to its CDN via an API would be great.
• More functionality within the iOS and iPadOS Squarespace app. Let me use Markdown blocks, and don’t confine that non-traditional text editing to a small code box in the corner.
• I’d like to be able to dial in the syntax highlighting while editing in iA Writer. I’ve customized Drafts to show headings, links, emphasized text, and pull quotes in different colors and styles, and it would be nice to have that replicated in my text editor.

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I’m sure there are other solutions out there, some of which might address my remaining concerns. But I’m excited to have built a streamlined process to get ideas out of my head and onto the web. With it, I’ve been able to file down some of the rough spots of using Squarespace in a way for which it wasn’t entirely designed. If you also want to use Squarespace as a blogging platform alongside more advanced tools like Shortcuts and a CDN, I hope my trials and tribulations have been helpful.

Shortcuts Blogging

I’ve been trying more music with Spatial Audio and staying tuned in to how others are receiving it across the internet. While some people are smitten, others think it’s a passing gimmick. Matt Birchler at Birchtree, for instance, doesn’t think it’ll take off in the long term:

I’m hopeful that surround sound AKA Dolby Atmos AKA Spatial Audio results in some truly unique and delightful musical experiences that I’ve never had before, but the more time goes by, the more I feel like this has real big “3D movie energy”.

I have to disagree with Matt here. Sure, trying to remix every older track probably won’t result in a better product, but I think the more exciting way to think about Spatial Audio is how artists will approach their new work with it.

It feels to me like giving artists more dimensional space to play with is a natural progression for audio. When done well, it’s uncanny just how much the music sounds like you’re in a physical space with the band. I imagine that many artists work really hard to make their recorded music sound as close to the live performance as possible. Spatial Audio is an additional tool to help them do just that.

Although it may already be overused, I think the SD to HD/4K transition is a more apt comparison than 3D movies. It, too, was a natural progression of technology, and creators now default to it. Everyone watches HD video, and it would be weird if something new came out that was of lesser quality. But older video isn’t criticized for not being redone in HD, just as I don’t think it’s necessary to go back and redo the entire catalog for the sake of completeness. Only if the artist thinks their older work would be enhanced with Spatial Audio do I think it should be redone. But I think, and I hope, that Spatial Audio will be become the default.

Music

I always look forward to Steven Aquino’s analysis of new OS features and how they benefit the accessibility community. Here he is at Forbes, writing about Live Text:

Secondly, the contextual menu to call or email someone, for example, is a boon in terms of reducing cognitive load. A person with atypical cognition, for instance, doesn’t need to copy the phone number, find the Phone app, paste the number, and hit Dial. All they need to do is tap Call right from the photo and the system initiates the call. More than immediacy or convenience, Live Text’s data detectors consolidates a multi-step process into a single step.

Viewing data detectors as a key way to reduce cognitive load is obvious in hindsight. It makes data more useable for everyone, including people with disabilities, people uncomfortable with or new to technology, and techno-geeks alike. I’m a little embarrassed I had never considered them in that way before.

Steven’s whole piece is, as always, well worth reading.

Go to the linked site →

Linked WWDC

We live in a world of endless entertainment. As Bo Burnham puts it, the internet has “anything and everything, all of the time.” And while that unlimited access is a modern miracle for which I am grateful, I also find myself paralyzed by choice.

There are so many great things to enjoy that even if I limit myself to recommendations from other people (rather than endlessly scrolling in search of content), my list still grows faster than I can work it down. And it does feel like work, sometimes, to read through my “read later” list, to check off that next episode or season of TV, to try out that next video game, to watch that saved YouTube video or developer session.

And that’s to say nothing of what I want to create. Should I tackle that next coding lesson? Or perhaps I should get to the blog post I’ve meant to write. Could I make a cool wallpaper? Maybe I’ll take a walk to clear my head. But actually, a walk is a prime opportunity to listen to one of the podcasts in my queue.

The problem, of course, isn’t that there are too many things to do and enjoy—the problem is that there isn’t enough time. Perhaps if I didn’t need to sleep, but no, I’m trying to catch up on that, too.

And to what end? To reduce the things I had set aside to enjoy to a simple checkmark? No, I take pleasure in the books and articles, the games, the podcasts, the movies—all of it. But with so much to get to, it’s not uncommon that I spend more time contemplating what to do than doing it.

The answers are simple. Cut down on the noise so that the signal can be heard. Create more, and consume less. Spend more time in silence. Throw out and start over.

The answers are simple but not easy.

Parker Ortolani, writing at 9to5Mac, imagined an Apple-designed smart display:

When a smart display isn’t in use, it should show a beautiful clock and/or pertinent information of your choosing. Apple already knows how to make beautiful clocks. They could extend the same watch faces that make Apple Watch such a beautiful timepiece to a larger display. Some of the complications could make the jump too, like Fitness rings.

There’s a lot to like about Parker’s concept. He’s right that all the pieces already exist within Apple’s ecosystem between aerial screensavers from tvOS, watch faces from watchOS, apps from iPadOS, and compelling hardware of course. One thing that I would add to the concept is widget support, which would be perfect for more dynamic, glanceable content.

Personally, I’ve had my eye on a Google Nest Hub as a kitchen device since the right solution from Apple doesn’t exist. While sticking an iPad in the kitchen is close, what it’s missing is a hands-free mode (Siri doesn’t cut it), and an ambient mode. For an ambient mode, I’m thinking of how the Nest Hub displays photos or a home status dashboard when not in use. A digital photo frame that ties into iCloud Photo Library would help my wife and I to more frequently enjoy all the memories we’ve captured over the years.

For FaceTime calls in a kitchen environment where people are rarely stationary, Center Stage would probably do the trick. But additional flexibility from a physically moving stand, like the Echo Show, would be welcome, too.

If such a device was introduced by Apple (running homeOS?), I’d be sorely tempted. Check out Parker’s piece for more on how Apple could pull together technologies from their various product lines and services, plus concept images.

Go to the linked site →

Linked

Oliver Haslam, writing at iMore:

As we found out yesterday, not all macOS Monterey features will not be available to those on Intel Macs. Portrait Mode in FaceTime, some Maps features, and on-device dictation are all out and that’s just the start. The missing features can be blamed on Intel chips and their lack of a Neural Engine in some cases. In others, it’s just a case of good old-fashioned performance — Apple is only confident that its M1 Macs can handle features like the high resolution, detailed all-new city maps experience it showed off on Monday.

The reasons for the features going walkabout on Intel Macs isn’t really important here. It’s the messaging. Or lack of it.

We all found out that Intel Macs were getting left behind two days after macOS Monterey was announced. Why? Because it was hidden at the bottom of the update’s preview page on apple.com.

I actually think this was a calculated decision. Apple is rumored to still have more Intel Macs to introduce. Understandably, they wouldn’t want to draw additional attention to OS features that those brand-new Macs won’t be able to use.

I’m sure when the whole lineup is powered by Apple silicon, Apple’s marketing team won’t pull any punches when compared to the competition.

Go to the linked site →

Linked