Updating my SE to iOS 11. I’ve had the beta on my iPads, but resisted installing on my main phone until release day.

→ 2017/09/19 3:35 pm

iPhone 8 standards

So many great iPhone 8 and iOS 11 reviews out today. My favorite aside has to be the headphone jack mini-rant in Nilay Patel’s The Verge review:

And I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that there’s no headphone jack, which is still routinely annoying on every phone that omits it. Apple’s own headphone dongle is one of the lowest-rated products on the Apple Store, with just 1.5 stars. It’s been a year, and the Lightning audio ecosystem is still extremely immature.

When I was at STAPLE! last week I bought a t-shirt from an artist who had to enter credit cards into the Square app manually because he had lost his Lightning dongle for the Square reader. Minor inconvenience, and fixed with an extra $9 purchase from the Apple Store, but nevertheless a real compatibility issue that will never go away.

We’ll eventually get used to this. Many people already have, thanks to the AirPods. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t the wrong decision, though. (I’m happy to give Apple full credit when they embrace a standard, like Qi charging or USB-C.)

I don’t see the iPhone X notch going anywhere. Even if it does nothing other than give Apple space to improve the front camera, it stays.

→ 2017/09/18 2:44 pm

Micro.blog iOS 1.1

Micro.blog for iOS version 1.1 is now available. This release adds a number of new features:

  • Added support for longer posts with titles. Type more than 280 characters to reveal an optional title field.
  • Added Markdown syntax highlighting while typing.
  • Added formatting bar for common styles. Select a phrase and tap the link button for easier markup.
  • Added support for uploading multiple photos.
  • Added a Browser sharing item to open the current post on the web.
  • Fixed a potential crash in profile links and glitch when holding down to select text.

Here’s a quick screencast showing some of the highlighting and title support:

Hope you like the update. You can download it from the App Store

Friday afternoon slipping away. Really wanted to post about version 1.1, but still in review at Apple.

→ 2017/09/15 2:18 pm

Face ID confidence

Some people are concerned that replacing Touch ID with Face ID is a design compromise. While I rarely give Apple the benefit of the doubt when they scrap an existing standard, like the headphone jack, this new Face ID skepticism seems premature. John Gruber writes:

There is clearly skepticism out there about Face ID. Some people think Face ID is going to suck, and a lot of people are flat-out assuming that they’re going to miss Touch ID. We saw the same thing with Touch ID when it was announced, and the skeptics were very wrong. I haven’t used it personally, but I am pretty sure already that the skeptics are going to be wrong about Face ID too.

With Touch ID, there are some obvious limitations that we just accept. For example, of course Touch ID doesn’t work with gloves on. How could it? But with Face ID, the technology is so advanced that we have no basis for judging when it should or shouldn’t work, so I think we’re going to expect it to work all the time.

For Face ID to be successful it has to be delightful, like a magic trick. The threat to magic is inconsistency. One glitch and the illusion is ruined forever, and you never believe in it again.

I’m not worried about Face ID. I’m not even worried about the notch, which is a compromise. Apple seems very confident in both Face ID and the iPhone X. Not confidence from hubris. Not feigned confidence, justified as courage. They actually believe they’ve got a winner, and so do I.

I’m going to take Micro.blog down tonight in about an hour for some quick maintenance. Hosted blogs will remain up.

→ 2017/09/14 9:04 pm

Tomorrow matters

As I plan for the iPhone X pre-order, I wanted to write a blog post about all the iPhones I’ve bought, and when. I’ve skipped a few generations, and even made some seemingly oddball choices like getting the iPhone 5C when all my friends got the 5S. In the process of searching old blog posts to confirm whether I even bought the 3G or waited for the 3GS, I found this old blog post about WWDC 2008.

In the post I had collected 95 tweets from myself and others during WWDC. This was 9 years ago, so it’s a bit of a blur. But reading them again brings back memories. These old tweets are gold.

If I hadn’t collected the tweets, I would never find them again. And if anything changes at Twitter, they could just as easily be lost. Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that you couldn’t go back more than 3200 tweets in your timeline. Searching old tweets is still impossible in third-party Twitter clients.

Obviously I’m all-in on indie microblogging. I post to my own blog and let Micro.blog sort out cross-posting a copy to Twitter. But looking at these old tweets, I’m just struck with how foolish it was to ever post content exclusively to Twitter. It was an assumption that today mattered more than tomorrow, when the opposite is often true.

A photo is the most clear expression of this truth. Taking a photo doesn’t improve the moment. It’s for later.

Twitter in 2008 was a mix of microblogging and conversations. It was writing without pretense, with no expectation of likes and follower counts. It felt ephemeral, and maybe it still does to many Twitter users today. But you never know when you want that fleeting comment to actually last, and if you don’t control the post, there are few guarantees that it will.

Core Intuition 296

We posted a new Core Intuition, all about the iPhone X and other products from yesterday’s event. From the show notes:

Manton and Daniel react to the announcement at Apple’s annual iPhone event, comparing notes on the allure of the iPhone X, Apple Watch 3, and new Apple TV. They talk about the impressiveness of all the significant product updates being made in parallel, and lament the slightly confusing state it leaves the high end iPhone market in.

Approaching 300 episodes over 9 years. If you’re new to the podcast, consider subscribing in your favorite podcast app. Thanks!

Waiting for the iPhone X

Michael Gartenberg writing for Six Colors about the iPhone X:

It’s arguably the most beautiful product ever made by Apple and the jewel in Apple’s crown. The aesthetics must be seen to be appreciated. This is something Apple competitors aren’t even close to. If the iPhone 8 raises the bar, iPhone X raises the bar so high it can’t be seen. This is, quite simply, the best smartphone money can buy.

High praise. Apple had me at the cameras, but I’m relieved that the design of the phone itself is so great. On Core Intuition last week I had worried that if the design fell short (or Apple did something clunky like put a Touch ID sensor on the back) that I’d have second thoughts.

This is the first iPhone in years that many people are going to stand in line for. It might not be priced high enough.

I submitted a new iOS build yesterday morning thinking I might beat the rush of iOS 11 submissions, but now I’m not sure. Still waiting.

→ 2017/09/13 9:04 am

Love the iPhone X, but showing “animoji” cheapens the rest of the presentation. Serious, high-quality $1k phone… with silly cartoon faces.

→ 2017/09/12 1:48 pm

Thumbs up on the first hour of the Apple event. All good stuff. Sky for Apple TV looks really nice.

→ 2017/09/12 12:57 pm

New Apple Watch looks great. Going to skip this generation, but definitely have wanted cellular when outside. Super useful.

→ 2017/09/12 12:37 pm