Linked List: January 3, 2017

Tuesday, 3 January 2017

Why Chris Adamson Bought a New Mac Pro Last Week 

Chris Adamson, “Capitulation”:

So, my last post was about my angst about replacing my 2008 Mac Pro tower, the best Mac I’ve ever owned. So what happened? Well, upon further reflection:

  • The idea of a 2012 Mac Pro, even the CPU-upgraded Ramjet aftermarket ones, fell off the radar because with Apple’s definition of obsolescence, that hardware will become unmaintainable as soon as 2018.

  • Similarly, someone pointed out that with the very idea of a third-party graphics card no longer in any of Apple’s shipping Macs, it could become difficult for the Hackintosh community to keep going. No idea if this is true, but it makes sense, I guess?

  • If I wanted a year-old iMac, or the new MacBook Pro, I could have bought either of those ages ago and wouldn’t be in this position.

  • Waiting isn’t really an option, with my 2008 machine not supported by Sierra.

I think my needs, for development and especially for video work (Motion and Wirecast, mainly) are best served by the Mac Pro. Even the pathetic, three-year-old Mac Pro, because what I want is lots of cores, silent operation, and expandability of RAM and storage, something the iMac and MacBook Pro can’t offer.

Given his situation and needs, I think he made a reasonable decision. But “capitulation” is exactly the right word.

Wesley Moore’s Search for an Alternative to MacOS 

Wesley Moore:

I deeply value the consistency, versatility, reliability and integration of Mac OS X and the excellent quality hardware it runs on. However the current state of the Mac has me considering whether it’s still the right platform for me.

He tried 13 different OSes.

Running each one I was looking for these attributes:

  • An integrated, consistent experience
  • Opinions and thoughtfulness:
    • One tool for each job.
    • A sensible/minimal selection of pre-installed applications.
  • Design:
    • Simple, easy to use/understand interface
    • Visually appealing and consistent
    • HiDPI support
  • Timely updates

His favorite was Elementary, which, at a glance, does seem to be the open source OS that most values good design. But I don’t see how most serious Mac users could switch to it happily. Moore might be able to do it because he’s a Ruby developer who works in vim.

The truth is, for most of us, there is no good alternative to MacOS. Nothing. And it took so long — not years but decades — for MacOS to get to where it is that I don’t think any other OS could ever catch up. That’s what’s driving the arguably paranoid fear that Apple is abandoning the Mac. It’s not so much the evidence (lack of updates to Mac Pro and Mac Mini, and concerns about software quality) as the high stakes: if the Mac goes away, the world will be left without a Mac-quality desktop OS.

AirPod Cases Disguised as Dental Floss Dispensers 

I can see the appeal as a gag (especially if you live in a multi-AirPod-user household), but I don’t see how this is an “anti-theft” strategy.

I think the fear that thieves will attempt to snatch the buds out of your ears is going to prove unfounded, but I at least see how it’s possible. But how would thieves even see your AirPods case? Only scenario I can think of is if you want to keep them on your desk at work and have untrustworthy colleagues. (I had a stack of CDs stolen from my desk at a temp job just after college — the CDs were worth more than I made from the gig.) But if you’re worried about your case being stolen, it’s a lot safer to keep it in your pocket than to keep it on your desk with a dental floss disguise.

How Donald Trump Tweets 

Interesting analysis of Trump’s tweet style from Evan “Nerdwriter” Puschak. In a nut, he uses speech-like language, not written language. Puschak puts it well: “Instead of asking us to read, he forces us to hear.”

It’s no secret I do not like the guy, but there’s no denying that his use of Twitter is masterly.

So Begins the Apple Watch Series 3 Rumor Chain 

Tim Hardwick, writing for MacRumors:

On Tuesday, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) claimed the next iteration of the wearable device will be manufactured by Taiwan-based Quanta, which was also responsible for the production of Apple’s first and second-generation smartwatch.

Citing market watchers with knowledge of Quanta’s plans, the paper said improving battery life is the manufacturer’s “main task”, but beside general performance improvements, the device’s other hardware would not see much change. Quanta declined to comment on the report, calling it “market speculation”.

I’ve been testing the Nike Plus Apple Watch, and it gets much better battery life than my original series Apple Watch. With WatchOS 3.1 it can go two days without a charge, even wearing it to sleep. If Series 3 improves battery life even further, it could turn Apple Watch into a “charge once or twice a week” device, which would be nice.

Update: Or even better, perhaps with increased battery life, Apple could give Series 3 an always-on display? That’s still my biggest gripe about Apple Watch.