Tag: Tech

An Apple Christmas Wish List for 2023

Dear Santa Tim Cook,

I’m writing you to let you know what I would like from Apple for this Christmas. It’s not new hardware. The amount of Apple gear I own is more than enough and I’m quite happy with it. So thank you for that, and thanks ahead of time because I’m sure Apple’s vision is to keep cranking out new hardware in the future.

This is a wish list about a number of nagging things that I think you and your elves need to pay more attention to in your operating systems and software. Let’s call them fixes. Most of these nagging issues have been around for a while and oft-reported so it’s surprising you’d allow them to hang around for the users who love your products. I, and many others, have been reminding you of them quite frequently and for quite a while.

I know your elves are busy, but if they could find some time to address these things it would be one of those gifts that gives all year long, and for years to come.

So, here’s my wish list for iOS and macOS.

iCloud

This is the big ticket item on my wish list. You’ve tied so many services and functionality to iCloud and a user’s AppleID. That makes good sense for the eco-system and when it works it’s great. When it doesn’t it causes problems for users, your support personnel, and completely diminishes much of the good it intends to provide. I’ve been on the hunt for solutions to my iCloud woes for quite some time now. I won’t go into detail here, but you can follow the links in this article that chronicle my journey.

But just so you know, the issues aren’t resolved, aren’t closed to being resolved, and tend to pop up with some sort of Santa-like omniscience, knowing when we users can least afford a problem.

Your elves I’ve spoken with thought this had been resolved with Sonoma and were quite disappointed to find out that wasn’t the case. So they’re as perplexed as your users.

These iCloud issues affect features like Handoff/Continuity and Sign in with Apple Watch not working. They also include Photos not syncing, Shortcuts not syncing, Mail not syncing, Reminders not syncing, iMessages not syncing, and the list goes on. To be fair, Photos, Shortcuts, Mail, Reminders and iMessages eventually do sync and catch up. But when they randomly don’t and you’re counting on them it’s like receiving a hastily scribbled note in your Christmas stocking telling you the gift you were expecting will be arriving later. Certainly survivable, but disappointing and certainly not magical.

While, at times, the reoccurrence of these issues seems random, there seems to be some predictability about it. They far too often (not always) crop up just before or just after an update is released whether it be the next official OS release or the beta for the next version. My hunch, after months of observation, and talking with other users and your elves, is that each time you issue a software update for devices (beta or official), whatever accompanies that on the back end keeps stacking problems on top of unsolved problems.

To be quite honest it feels more and more like regardless of if we run OS betas or not, (I do not), non-beta users are subject to the same vagaries that any beta can bring and/or fall prey to back end operations that are required by these updates.

Mac Notifications in General

Please, oh, please. We all know notifications are tricky. We all know they are a mess. But please, oh, please give Mac users a way to bail out and dismiss all notifications with one button the way we can on iOS devices. Or at least time them out.

Reminder Notifications

I’m very pleased with the continual progress in the Reminders app. I like using Reminders for shared lists with my wife. But the notifications when adding a shared Reminder to a list need to at least follow the same rule as other Reminder notifications do and disappear after a short time, waiting to be recalled. I used to find it humorous that my wife could add a Reminder to our shared grocery list while I was on the way to the store. But not so funny after I picked up the item and cleared the item in the Reminders app, had returned home and placed the item in the fridge only to find the shared Reminder still showed up on my devices. I let some of these linger for a day once. And they never disappeared until I manually removed the notification.

Stand By

This is a nice new feature that I like quite a bit. Please fix it so the widgets I choose to show stay on the screen and don’t change randomly after I’ve set up my preferences. This feature either needs to be less smart or much more intelligent.

Apple Mail

I use Flags and Rules in Apple mail to help me manage my Mail workflow between projects. Different projects have different colored Flags. That works well most of the time switching between Macs. But not always. In fact currently the counts are so drastically off between my two Macs that it’s a little ridiculous. And it’s always changing.

I watch over a course of days how those numbers can change trying to sync up. When the counts get off so drastically, it tells me something is happening server side on the back end. That doesn’t help when I am attempting to use this organization structure to accomplish a task. By the way the differences in numbers is more often than not off between Mac and OS devices also.

I’d also like to be able to more easily track via color distinction those same Flags in iOS by having another menu drop down allowing access to the different color categories instead of just a list of emails with all of the different colored Flags.

When I’m triaging email I’d like to be able to choose a colored Flag after using the swipe gesture to Flag an email instead of having to go back and choose the correct color later.

Consistency Across Platforms

I know things are different between macOS and iOS. And yet, it seems like you keep trying to bring them into more and more into sync. (“Sync” might be a poor word choice there, given all the syncing issues you have. Or maybe it’s just too darn appropriate.) In trying to sync some things up you’ve created some cognitive dissonance and user frustration. These issues cut across Apps and Services like Shortcuts, the Share Sheet, Mail, Notes, Reminders, even Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple News. Features are almost the same, but not quite the same enough.

There are times when using a feature on one platform is just a small enough degree different than on the other that it creates a logjam in getting things done and makes me think I’ve lost track of how to perform the task. At times it makes me wish things were more separate and not less. But I know that’s not the goal much less the desire.

Wrapping Up

So that’s it. With the exception of the issues related to iCloud, I think it’s  a manageable list. Here’s hoping Apple’s vision for the future includes cleaning up these longstanding nagging issues before adding new ones on top of the old.

Merry Christmas!

Sunday Morning Reading

Chili was on the menu last night and it’s a chlly Autumn Sunday morning. So it’s time to share some Sunday Morning Reading featuring a little poetry, some politics, some not so intelligent moves in the Artificial Intelligence world (is it a world?) and just some damn good writing worth your time.

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Let’s start with the poetry. One of my favorite new writing discoveries is NatashaMH on Medium. She popped out a piece of poetry, Pereginations, the other day on Ellemeno and this morning she’s got a terrific piece called The Day I Learned Poetry. Good stuff. Good times. Good fun. Nothing artifcial about the intelligence happening there.

Speaking of AI, it was and still is quite a weekend on that front. OpenAI’s board surprisingly fired poster boy CEO Sam Altman, now he may come back after lots of hueing and crying.  Or he may not. Who knows. Om Malik has a great piece called Foundational Risks of OpenAI looking at the story but rightly hitting the bullseye that this is more than about corporate chaos and investment returns. I’m not sure AI, or its champions, is built for looking back with a long view.

Our politics here in the U.S is still a mess with no foreseable correction in the cards. Dan Balz, Clara Ence Morse and Nick Mourtoupalas take a look at some of the foundational biases in the U.S. Senate that, in my belief, need to change before any next card can be revealed. Check out The Hidden Biases at Play in the U.S. Senate.

Sometimes an outside view is needed for perspective. In this case not so much. Even so, The Economist weighing in with Donald Trump Poses The Biggest Danger to the World in 2024 offers good context in its global round up.

Like it or not, much of our life on the Internet is changing. Social Media is a crazy free-for-all and so is the world of entertainment. In How Social Media Is Turning Into Old-Fashioned Broadcast Media, Christopher Mims takes a look at the stew that’s stewing.

And where would we be without critics? Probably better off, but that’s not necessarily the point of Siskel, Ebert, and the Secret of Criticism by Richard Brody. Here’s a quote:

Criticism is a fraught profession because it’s parasitical. It depends on the work of artists, without which criticism couldn’t exist. A critic who acknowledges and accepts the fact of this dependence is trying to salvage the dignity of the activity; critics who don’t are just trying to salvage their own dignity.

David Todd McCarty is starting a daily column entitled A Bit Dodgy. I recommend subscribing, following, but most of all reading. I’m sure it will be quite a ride.

And in case you’re wondering, worried, or concerned about all of the insanity happening in the world that makes it feel like we’re approaching the End Times, Jeannie Ortega Law tells us that Left Behind author, Jerry Jenkins thinks that all of those End Times prophecies have been fulfilled. So check that off your list.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. 

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s an Autumn Sunday morning. That means there’s Sunday Morning Reading to share. There’s a real mix this week from con artists to cruelty, from the political and the cultural to famous fart jokesters and a bit of tech thrown in for good measure.

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Con (I hesitate to call them) Artists are thriving in all forms of human endeavors these days. As blatant as some are, you never know who’s conning who. Pick your field and you’ll find them picking your pocket and often celebrated for it. Sean Williams takes a look at the True Story of Maverick Miles Nehemiah and The CONfidence Chroncies. Great story.

What is it about evil? Natasha MH cuts through some of the wonder in The Cost of Knowing and Our Thirst for Cruelty. “We are who we are. The question is can we live with the truth of who we are, and with the things we’ve done?”

Did you know that there was a new anarchy? Adrienne La France takes a look in The New Anarchy, arguing that here in this country we don’t know how to stop extermist violence. I’d say she’s spot on.

It’s the end of an era. Jezebel, long a source for great coverage of women’s issues is shutting down. Erin Gloria Ryan takes a good look back in Jezebel Is Dead. Long Live Jezebel.

In How the World’s Most Famous Book Was Made Tanya Kirk lays out a history of how Shakespeare’s First Folio was created and published.

Back to the con game that is life these days, Mike Lofgren takes a look at how Right-Wing Fake History is Making a Big Comeback—But It Never Went Away.

Did you know that an egg laying mammal that shared the planet with the dinosaurs still exists? They’ve been called ‘living fossils’ and are extremely rare. Jordan King takes a look in Echidna: Egg-Laying Mammal ‘Who Roamed the Earth With Dinosaurs’ is Rediscovered.

Technology drives so much of our lives. Always has. Always will. Joan Westenberg argues that 20 Years of Tech Has Made Life Easier, Not Better. I happen to agree with her.

On the other hand (or lapel) is the newly announced AI Pin. I’m not sold on the concept but find the technology cool, even if the announcement left me a bit cold. Om Malik is excited about it and lays out his thoughts in The Real Personal (AI) Personal Computer and also interviews one of the founders, Imran Chaudhri. This will be worth paying attention to as AI becomes more and more a part of our lives. I’m just not sure this product is the fulcrum.

And to round out this week, how about a look at 9 Outlandish Stories Of Court Jesters Throughout History, From the Medieval Flatulist to Lord Minimus from Austin Harvey. Thought you could use a laugh.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. 

Tech Predictions for 2023

I thought I’d jot down a few tech predictions for 2023. So here we go.

There will be tech news in 2023. There will be grand promises and grander failures. It will be entertaining, a bit crazy, and ultimately meh as the latest in a round of bad bets come due or come closer to being so.

Apple will make a ton of money in 2023 even though some governments want to design products for them. Apple won’t have as easy a time of it as it has in recent years for a number of reasons including some self-inflicted wounds.

Artificial Intelligence will continue to be a dominant story until chat bots start writing most of the tech stories.

The Metaverse will further try to wriggle out of the pond with or without legs. With other companies jumping into the “let’s put an expensive, goofy-looking, headache inducing gizmo on your head” it will be one of the comic tech highlights of the next few years before this whole thing ends where it was always destined to: an enterprise play.

Cyrpto will continue to falter as the denizens of the latest refuge of scammers discover that they’ve sucked all the money they can from the available suckers. There certainly won’t be any Super Bowl commercials.

Streaming Entertainment will continue to figure out that they haven’t figured it out yet. Consolidation will begin in earnest, hopefully before the streamers cancel all of the shows.

Twitter. Who the hell knows. It’s owner sure doesn’t.

Mastodon and federated social networking will continue growing pains as it continues to grow and becomes less of a pain for new users to gain entry.

Humans. Humans will be the biggest tech story behind the stories that capture the headlines. The humans who create tech will continue to be in some form of tension with the humans who use it. Humans who do use tech will continue to look less and less for tech to solve their problems, understanding before tech creators that all tech solutions aren’t necessarily going to change the world.  At least until the tech creators understand that they need humans to talk to humans to help them solve the problems with the products they create. Or until the robots show up.