Linked List: September 23, 2021

Thursday, 23 September 2021

Om Malik:

The best way to extract the most out of the smallest iPad is to think of it as a device enhanced by non-keyboard input methods — Scribble with Pencil, snapping photos with the cameras, or using Siri/voice input. The improved “Scribble” allows you to make notes, do quick searches, and even find directions. It is a very addictive way to use the iPad, especially in the smaller size. […]

The more I use the device, the more I realize that most computing has been defined by a singular idea of work and productivity. Mobile devices have and will continue to redefine our work. In the past, most of the computing involved being in the office. Now, non-office tasks have access to computing resources and thus offer an opportunity to make them more productive. Devices like the iPad are about making non-office work a bit more productive. Whether it is doctors, field engineers, or delivery drivers, devices such as the iPad in general and iPad Mini, in particular, could help change the very notion of productivity.

What makes Om’s perspective interesting to me is that he switched to an iPad Pro as his main computer a few years back, and loves it. The iPad Mini isn’t an alternative to those sort of use cases — but as he points out, there are so many things people do with “computers” today that just weren’t imagined even a decade ago.

I’m sort of the anti-Om in this regard. I have a 2018 iPad Pro that I generally keep in my kitchen, connected to a Magic Keyboard. Ever since the Magic Keyboard came out (with trackpad support and good keyboard shortcut support in iPadOS), I’ve found the iPad Pro much more useful for my work. But nowhere near as useful as a Mac. I’m not arguing that a MacBook is better than an iPad for work. I’m just saying MacOS works better for me. Not even close. Getting in the flow on my Mac, I feel 10 times more productive than I ever do on my iPad Pro. But the iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard is good enough that I now suspect it leads me to punt around in the kitchen drinking coffee much longer than I should at the start of my workdays. I like an iPad for reading the news at the start of the day, but I might be better served with a more limited iPad Mini than a significantly more useful iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard, just because it’d push me to get to my office and sit my ass in front of my real work machine.

The Microsoft Event Had In-Person Hands-On Time With Products ★

Carolina Milanesi, on Twitter:

I had the opportunity to see the new @surface devices live … and I am so glad I did.

Holding #SurfaceDuo in my hand, seeing the clever case that secures the #SurfacePen that looks like a finish rather than a case not adding any thickness, the fluidity of the screen and the clever gaming controls…. Very much looking forward to giving it a spin!

Amen to this enthusiasm for seeing the product introduction live. I get it why Apple did not hold an in-person press event last week — iPhone events are huge, and while I think small events can safely be held in person now, there’s no practical way to shrink the iPhone event.

I miss having hands-on time with new devices as soon as keynotes end. You pick up on things immediately: that something is heavier or lighter than you expected. That certain colors or finishes look different. Remember the Jet Black iPhone 7? You had to see it in person to understand how it looked. And I miss in-person briefings, both official ones and unofficial. In-person communication simply cannot be beaten for conveying subtlety.

Product reviews are hampered too. With in-person Apple events, most reviewers get kit in the hours after the keynote ends. With virtual Apple events, the kit ships for delivery the next day. An extra day makes a big difference when the review embargo drops just one week after the event.

Highlights From Microsoft’s Fall Surface Event ★

Nice supercut video from The Verge squeezing Microsoft’s Surface event yesterday into eight minutes. A few thoughts:

It seems like Microsoft is letting the Surface division stand on its own, brand-wise. They’re not distancing themselves from Microsoft in any way, but branding-wise they’re just letting the products be the “Surface Whatever”, not the “Microsoft Surface Whatever”. There’s even a moment in the event, regarding the folding Duo 2 phone, when a guy says it has “the most precise and reliable hinge mechanism ever engineered at Surface”. I.e. that it was “Surface” who engineered that hinge, not “Microsoft”. I think Surface works as a Microsoft sub-brand like that.

Speaking of the Surface Duo 2 — their folding phone with two screens — they’re now just calling it what they should have called it all along: a phone. It’s a very interesting and unique form factor, but it’s a big folding phone, not a small folding tablet. It supposedly has real cameras this time, too. Starting price: $1,500.

The new Surface Laptop Studio looks really dumb to me. I don’t understand why one would ever want to use it in either of the new folding positions. I guess maybe if you really want to draw on it, you might want to fold it flat, but if you really want to draw that much, why not buy the Surface Pro 8 that detaches from the keyboard? This design just seems dumb.

The Surface Slim Pen 2 introduces haptic feedback, to simulate the feel of a pen on paper. I love stuff like that.

Apple Watch Series 7 Supports 60.5GHz Wireless Data Transfer, Perhaps Only for Apple’s Internal Use ★

Joe Rossignol, reporting for MacRumors:

Apple Watch Series 7 models are equipped with a new module that enables 60.5GHz wireless data transfer, according to FCC filings viewed by MacRumors, but this functionality may be reserved for Apple’s internal use only for now.

The filings indicate that the 60.5GHz module is only activated when the Apple Watch is placed on a proprietary magnetic dock with a corresponding 60.5GHz module, but this dock will likely be reserved for use by Apple employees. For example, it’s possible that Apple Stores might use the dock to wirelessly restore an Apple Watch, and if so, it will be interesting to see if Series 7 models still have a hidden diagnostic port for wired connectivity.

This is a little interesting in and of itself. But if you look at the long-term trend, it’s a sign that Apple — along with the rest of the industry — is moving toward wireless technology for both charging and data transfer. Apple Watch exemplifies that — it’s never had a port, either for charging or data. There’s a diagnostic port hidden inside the bottom channel for the watch strap, but those diagnostics are neither charging nor data.

It’s long been my guess that iPhone is never going to support USB-C. I think it’s Apple’s intention to go straight from Lightning to wireless/inductive, with no “port”. Portless is the future for all devices. Yet the product design geniuses at the European Commission want to mandate all devices have one specific port in 2024 and indefinitely thereafter — a port that by that time will already be 10 years old.

European Commission Unveils Long-Awaited Stupid Proposal to Mandate USB-C on All Cell Phones and Devices ★

Elian Peltier, reporting for The New York Times:

The European Union unveiled plans on Thursday to make USB-C connectors the standard charging port for all smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices sold across the bloc, an initiative that it says will reduce environmental waste but that is likely to hit Apple the hardest.

The move would represent a long-awaited yet aggressive step into product-making decisions by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm. Apple, whose iPhones are equipped with a different port, has long opposed the plan, arguing that it would stifle innovation and lead to more electronic waste as all current chargers that are not USB-C would become obsolete. […]

The new legislation is likely to come into effect in 2024 because it first needs to be approved by the European Parliament and then adopted by manufacturers. Besides phones, it would apply to cameras, headphones, portable speakers and video game consoles.

Benedict Evans:

This is a profoundly stupid way to approach product design and standardisation. What happens in 5 years when someone wants to use a better connector? What if they’d picked USB 3 five years ago?

How stupid? This stupid:

But Apple has also argued that if the European Union had imposed a common charger in 2009, it would have restricted innovation that led to USB-C and Lightning connectors. In a statement, Apple said that although it welcomed the European Commission’s commitment to protecting the environment, it favored a solution that left the device side of the charging interface open for innovation.

Mr. Breton said on Thursday that he was familiar with Apple’s concerns. “Every time we try to put a proposal, such companies start to say, ‘It will be against innovation,’” he said.

“It’s not at all against innovation. It’s not against anyone,” he added. “It’s for European consumers.”

Mr. Breton said manufacturers, including Apple, could choose to offer two charging ports on their devices if they wanted to keep a non-USB-C connector.

Two charging ports on the same phone, what an elegant idea. This is like a parody of overzealous regulation of something that is not in need of any regulation at all. Why not mandate that all phones, tablets, and cameras have to run the same operating system, too? Oh, you say, it’s only about reducing waste? Why not mandate that all phones must be the same size and shape, so that they’re all compatible with the exact same cases? Great idea.

These E.U. meddlers have indeed been clamoring for this legislation since 2009 — Apple didn’t pick that date out of the air. At the time, iPhones used 30-pin iPod USB 1 adapters and most other phones used adapters like Micro-USB and (gag) Mini-USB. You don’t have to be a computer engineer to look back at your lifetime and realize that computer plugs and adapters keep getting smaller and better. Do they really think no one is going to come up with an adapter better than USB-C? Ever?

And don’t even start with any sort of argument that legislation like this won’t impede progress, but will instead force the industry to work together via committee to agree upon new better standards in a prompt fashion. Almost everything that goes through such committees takes years longer than one company can do on its own, and comes out worse — often far worse. Look at all the horrendously shitty USB plugs the USB consortium has come up with over the years.

And people in the E.U. wonder why England wanted out, and why nearly all the major tech companies are from the U.S. and Asia.

Austin Mann’s iPhone 13 Pro Camera Review: Tanzania ★

No big deal — just a safari expedition to Tanzania. Lions, leopards, giraffes. Ultra wide angle 4K 60 video shot from an iPhone 13 Pro mounted to a helicopter. Your typical iPhone camera review.

The review starts with a terrific movie — including some truly pro-looking Cinematic mode shots — by Taylor McKay.

I thought this was a pretty interesting observation from Mann:

Although the iPhone 13 Pro still only has three lenses, the addition of macro capability is like adding a new lens altogether, and for the serious photographer I think it’s perhaps the strongest advancement in this year’s camera system. […]

Photographer or not, you’ve seen the big and heavy backpacks photographers carry with them on every shoot. Whether it’s local or international, we lug these bags full of lenses around because each one offers a new perspective on whatever story it is that we’re telling.

As a photographer passionate about the natural world, I carry a macro lens with me no matter what project I’m working on, just because I never know what tiny detail of interest might present itself. Now with the macro capability of the iPhone 13 Pro, I feel like I have my “in-a-pinch” macro shots covered and I can leave the rarely-used macro lens at home.

Everything you see in this video was shot with a $1,000 device meant to fit in your pocket.

Some great iOS 15 tips from Mann, too, including using the new Focus feature to create a custom “Shoot Mode” with no notifications whenever he’s using the Camera app or Halide. Also, Mann’s custom Photographic Style settings.

Software Update Adds Bluetooth Audio Support to the Nintendo Switch, Four Years After It Debuted ★

A story like this is why you shouldn’t misuse finally in headlines. Four years!

How Apple Built the iPhone 13’s Cinematic Mode ★

Great interview by Matthew Panzarino with Apple vice president Kaiann Drance and human interface designer Johnnie Manzari from Apple’s Camera team:

That’s not even counting tracking shots, where a focus puller is continually adjusting focus as the camera moves and even the subject moves in relation to the camera. It’s a highly skilled operation. To pull off a tracking shot, a focus puller must practice and train extensively for years. This, Manzari says, is where Apple sees an opportunity.

“We feel like this is the kind of thing that Apple tackles the best. To take something difficult and conventionally hard to learn, and then turn it into something automatic and simple.”

So the team started working through the technical problems in finding focus, locking focus and racking focus. And these explorations led them to gaze.

“In cinema, the role of gaze and body movement to direct that story is so fundamental. And as humans we naturally do this, if you look at something, I look at it too.”

So they knew they would need to build in gaze detection to help lead their focusing target around the frame, which in turn leads the viewer through the story. Being on set, Manzari says, allowed Apple to observe these highly skilled technicians and then build in that feel.

Panzarino includes this three-minute video consisting of nothing but Cinematic mode clips from the trip to Disneyland he took with his family to test the new iPhones. There are some really neat shots in the video — I particularly like the one around the 1m:32s mark with his kids on the carousel. That change in focus is exactly what Cinematic mode was meant for.

But the other thing that Panzarino’s video exemplifies is that you don’t have to work to use Cinematic mode. No help from someone else (let alone a crew), no extra lighting, no more difficult than just shooting a regular video mode clip. Something anyone could do — and might want to do — on a hectic day at a fun theme park. If you screw up the focus while shooting you can easily fix it — or just improve it — later.

Apple’s Texas-Sized Problem ★

Judd Legum, writing at Popular Information:

On Friday, CEO Tim Cook answered a question about Apple’s stance on the Texas ban at an all-staff meeting. Cook said that “the company was looking into whether it could aid the legal fight against the new law.”

Apple has considerable leverage over the abortion debate in Texas and across the country — but it is not related to its ability to pay for lawyers. Apple’s leverage rests in its status as a major employer and driver of economic growth.

If Apple believes that its employees should be able to “make their own decisions regarding their reproductive health,” it could publicly state that it will not expand its workforce in states that limit abortion rights. That would have a major influence not only in Texas but in numerous states considering following Texas’ lead.

Last week, TechCrunch published the text of a company-wide memo posted to an internal Apple message board regarding Texas’s near-outlawing of abortion. It began:

A message about women’s reproductive health care

At Apple, we support our employees’ rights to make their own decisions regarding their reproductive health.

Legum is right — it’s untenable for Apple, or any other company, to “support our employees’ rights to make their own decisions regarding their reproductive health” and ask any woman to work for the company in a state with a law like Texas’s. An immediate hiring and construction freeze in Texas — explicitly tied to this outrageous law (which makes no exceptions for rape or incest) — is the only tenable action compatible with Apple’s stated values.

David Simon, linking to Legum’s post:

If an employer, this is beyond politics. I’m turning in scripts next month on an HBO non-fiction miniseries based on events in Texas, but I can’t and won’t ask female cast/crew to forgo civil liberties to film there. What else looks like Dallas/Ft. Worth?

That’s the answer. You move your business out of Texas. Any company that expands or initiates new operations in Texas implicitly supports Texas’s abortion ban.