technology – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

Thoughts on Thoughts About New iPad Pros

Let iPads be iPads. Trying to be all things to all people doesn’t work in life, and I don’t think it works in tech.

Years ago when I was a Microsoft MVP for Tablet PCs I attended an MVP Summit in Redmond. It was an exciting and stresssful moment for Tablet PC advocates, of which I was one. The winds of change were kicking up and hinting that Microsoft would favor Touch over pen based Tablet PCs in the future. For broader context, the PC Pundit industry had already declared the Tablet PC a largely failed niche device.

Then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was to give the keynote and take questions from the audience. As I lined up to ask a question I noticed that he was taking notes on a piece of legal paper. I never got a chance to ask my question which is probably a good thing because I changed what I had prepared to ask. Had I gotten the chance I was going to ask why he wasn’t using a Tablet PC to take notes. It certainly would have made a big statement if he had done so. It certainly did make one that he didn’t.

Preparing to watch Apple’s recent Let Loose announcement about new iPads I was reminded of that moment in watching the usual, now almost cliché, iPad criticism flow through my social media timelines. There are two routinely rhetorical responses about the iPad:

The iPad lineup is confusing.
The iPad Pro needs to be more Mac like and/or run macOS.

Each of the above is true. Clichés are rooted in variants of truth. Yes, there is confusion, but on the first point I think Apple largely let loose the air out of a that balloon.

There’s now an easy roadmap to follow if you’re interested in a full-sized iPad. $349 will get you an iPad without many of the bells and whistles, perfect for a child or a mother-in-law. You can spend upwards of $3000 for the fully kitted out iPad Pro. Or you can settle in the middle for a $700 starting point for the iPad Air that now includes most of the technology previously only seen in the iPad Pro lineup. That all makes good sense to me. Oh, and the iPad mini is still around and I’m guessing we’ll see an update of that later this fall.

Apple is largely to blame for the second confusion point, due to a rare misfire in its marketing years ago. Before we had Apple Silicon in MacBooks things weren’t looking great for the MacBook. There was lots of talk about the iPad being the future and what it would take to make it so. Apple even launched a What’s a Computer? campaign in 2017 promoting iPads that helped confused the issue.

Tech pundits took their cue. They pushed the envelope on their devices and pushed Apple to keep on keeping on and the iPad Pro (introduced in 2015) kept getting more powerful and more capable right along side the “The iPad is the only computer I need but it needs more” stories. But hardware is only part of the story.

Things continued to get confusing when Apple split the iOS operating system into two and birthed iPadOS in 2019. Certainly that hinted at more to come from the software. Even so, the software narrative continued to feel incomplete while the parallel story of the immediate success of Apple Silicon Macs intensified the dissatisfaction.

Now, let me be clear. I’m not one of those who feels the iPad needs to be more Mac like or run macOS. Could there be advancements to iOS? Yes. I’d love the File system to work more intuitively. Quite frankly, I’m fine with how iPads sort of multi-task now, Stage Manager being the exception.

I use an iPad Pro with a keyboard at times, but I mostly use it as a tablet in landscape mode for work with an Apple Pencil. I’m a use the right tool for the job kind of guy when it comes to tech. Since both Microsoft and I abandoned Tablet PCS, an iPad has always been the right tool for most of my work in the theatre, alongside a Mac for portions of that and other work. I don’t see that changing, given that I’ve tried most of the other tablet options out there. Let iPads be iPads and Macs be Macs. Trying to be all things to all people doesn’t work in life, and I don’t think it works in tech.

In my view, the “iPadOS isn’t complete until it can be a Mac software” story has created a myth like reverse branding similar to the negative one of Microsoft’s Tablet PC. So much so at this point, I don’t think Apple will ever be able to counteract it, even if it did create an iPadOS that runs macOS or some version of it. And that’s a damn shame.

I made this comment prior to the Let Loose event, yesterday.

I could very easily be wrong, but I don’t think we’ll ever see that mythical iPad that some wish for. Personally I don’t think it’s necessary and I’d be more than happy if we just let iPads be iPads and Macs be Macs. We’ll see how and if the story changes at WWDC in a few weeks. I’m guessing it won’t and I’m just fine with that.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

What Happens to Ads with AI Summaries of Web Pages?

Will AI summarize web ads into submission?

Artificial Intelligence is still the dominate tech craze of the moment. Big announcements are expected within the next several weeks from Apple, Google and just about anyone else who can prompt an AI generated press release into being. I’m sure AI will continue to be on the tips of most digital tongues.

Or will it all just be summarized?

One of the trends I’m seeing predicted is how users will take advantage of Artificial Intelligence to summarize web pages. That sounds like a useful, perhaps noble idea but it raises questions. The web relies so much on advertising to generate revenue. AI is supposed to help ad creators and marketers do better and more efficient designing and targeting. What happens when users stop visiting web pages and just rely on summaries? That’s a genuine question I have and would love to read some possible answers.

It’s not that I’m a big fan of ads, but I remember back in the heyday of RSS that there was all sorts of tension regarding losing ad impressions between web publishers and web users that relied on RSS readers. Then RSS feeds of web articles got truncated into teasers to send users clicking. Then ads got inserted into RSS. Will the same thing happen with ads being inserted into AI summaries? How would that work with something like an AI Pin or the Rabbit R1? (Although I doubt those devices will be around for us to find out.)

Given that one of the other predicted AI trends is being able to verbally converse with whatever AI machine you choose, how would that work with advertising? Will a user need to listen to ads before getting a response to their prompt? There’s already a lag in compute capacity resulting in delays delivering responses to queries with most current AI engines. I don’t imagine waiting for an ad insertion will help improve on that.

Again, these are sincere questions that I’d love to hear some thoughts on. Just don’t summarize them.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Time for Apple To Come Clean About iCloud: Part 2

It’s been a week and Apple needs to tell users what happened on April 27 when so many had to change their passwords causing confusion

Last week, beginning on Friday April 27, quite a few Apple users experienced a disturbance in the force when all of sudden they were prompted to relog into their Apple ID on their devices. On attempting to do so many discovered their accounts were locked for “security reasons” and needed to change their passwords in order to get back in. Eventually the situation righted itself as everyone eventually was allowed to change their passwords (there’s more to that part of the story later). It’s been a week and Apple has yet to publicly comment on what caused the issue. That’s a problem.

Apple and other companies spend enormous resources to keep users and systems safe, guarding against privacy attacks and security hacks. Apple also spends mountains of marketing money touting its approach to security and privacy as a key selling point. All that’s well and good. We live in an age of online paranoia when every security alert, every email, every text, every phone call, every link we are prompted to click on is suspect. Apple Security Notifications are now in that list.

When folks started receiving prompts on their Apple devices to change their passwords and then discovering that they were locked out of their devices, that paranoia rippled across the Internet as social networks, forums, and support networks burbled with users wondering if this was a hack, a glitch on Apple’s end, or just another run of the mill online inconvenience. Depending on which Apple Support rep you got on the phone you were told there wasn’t a problem or helped to relog back in. The event was blamed on all sorts of culprits from foreign countries to AT&T after its recently revealed compromise. There was no messaging from Apple. There’s been none since.

There are some signs that it might have been a system update on Apple’s end. Gone wrong or right no one knows. Was Apple hacked and did it pull a maneuver to protect users? Was Apple attempting to update or perform system maintanence? No one knows. No one knows still.

John Gruber on Daring Fireball pointed to Apple’s Developer System Status dashboard that showed maintenance scheduled for that Friday evening and another scheduled for the next day under “Account.” So that may be a possibility. Without any communication from Apple users are left in the dark.

In my opinion most likely this incident may have been related to a backend maintainence issue. Yes, that’s a speculative opinion, but it’s based on my long (too long) experience trying to sort out ongoing iCloud failures with Apple Support. My personal conclusion is that Apple has problems with its backend operations that it either can’t figure out or is unwlling to devote enough resources to fix in a timely manner before it cycles into finishing up the next OS release.

Before I get to that, and what I experienced on April 27, let me just say that Apple (hell all companies because every company is online and subject to hacks) owe users open communication at the very least. Equally as important, Apple owes its own tech support personnel open and better communication on these problems. That’s the reason for the Part 2 in the title of this post. Apple not only refuses to give users accurate information, but does the same with its own tech support personnel. It’s been an ongoing issue and in the wake of this latest situation apparently extends far beyond the typically convenient and meaningless excuse that only “a small percentage of users were affected.” The events of April 27 may not have affected all users, but this time there was more than a “small percentage.”

Selfishly, as the evening unfolded and things started to feel very familiar, I actually hoped that the larger number of users reporting complaints might actually lead to some communication that could possibly help resolve my ongoing issues. But so far that’s not the case.

Friday Night’s Apple ID Fracas

My wife and I were watching an episode of Palm Royale on Apple TV+ via an Apple TV. A message popped up on the screen saying I needed to update my Apple ID password. I thought this was strange as I never recall having to enter my Apple ID password on an Apple TV before. Typically with my iPhone nearby signing in just “magically” happened.

I grabbed my iPhone and noticed the same message there and then the Apple ID Locked message appeared. My first thought, like so many others, was that I had been hacked or there was an issue on Apple’s end. I went to my iMac and fired up social media apps and also headed to Apple’s System Status webpage. Nothing helpful there, which isn’t surprising. But on social media I started seeing the typical “Is this happening to anyone else or is it just me?” posts start to scroll through my feeds. Chance Miller at 9to5 Mac was the first publication to report on the issue.

I then got the same notification on my iMac which cascaded to my other Apple devices. As the event unfolded I experienced a very similar series of events as told by Michael Tasi in his excellent blog post Janky Apple ID Security. There were some differences. Bottom line: I just couldn’t log back in after several attempts to change my password on my iPhone.

Logging in with a new password would fail, spinners would spin, and prompts would overlay causing a guessing game as to which button to push. At one point I got the following screen on my iMac.

It’s curious. The date I’m publishing this post is May 3 and as you can see above there’s supposedly a new device on my account that can’t be used to edit my information until May 3, 2024. Which device? Who knows? I’ve had use of all of my devices since I successfully relogged them back in with the new password on April 27 and I’ve since edited account details from the iMac, which I assume is the device in question since that’s were the notification popped up. But who knows?

At one point while attempting to change the password on my MacBook Air I was asked to enter the device password for my iPad mini. Again that’s curious. I had not yet attempted to change the password on that device or even attempted to wake it up.

After successfully changing my iCloud password and relogging back in to my iPhone, iPads and Macs, I was still unable to do so with my Apple TV and Apple Watch until I manually entered the new password on each device. Again, I’ve never previously had to enter an iCloud password on either device. Also curious, as of this writing I no longer am able to control my Apple TV with my iPhone or Apple Watch. Is that the mysterious “until May 3” device? So far that hasn’t resolved if it is.

The “Not” Fun and Games Didn’t Stop on Friday Night

After feeling relatively confident that my passwords on each device had been changed succesfully we finished watching the episode for Palm Royale and retired for the night. Note that my wife’s iPhone and iPad did not experience any of these issues. Neither did other family members I support.

The next morning I discovered that I had more to do in order to bring my devices back up to full speed. First, I had to relog in to Messages on each of my devices. I also discovered that all my App Speciifc Passwords had been deleted, which of course required creating new ones. To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve done so with all of the apps that require them yet because all of the passwords were erased. I can’t remember which apps required them and which ones didn’t. Those I use frequently, such as Fantastical, let me know right away. I assume I’ll hear from the others as they rotate back into usage.

After searching social media and other sites I began to notice that users who had fallen prey to whatever this was experienced a range of issues, but not all of the same issues I did. Some experienced more and different ones. Those running HomeKit and HomePods (I don’t) had their own set of different issues. Folks were confused and waiting for an answer.

One of the confusing discoveries is how Stolen Device Protection is supposed to work. Supposedly if you’re in a “Familiar Location” you don’t have to endure the waiting period unless you set up the system to require it at all times. But others, searching Settings for “Familiar” or “Significant” Locations, (Settings/Privacy&Security/Location Services/System Services/Significant Locations) discovered that their “Familiar” home or work locations were recorded outside of the radius for it to be “trusted” leading to the one hour delay.

Tying This Incident to Ongoing Issues

I won’t go into a blow by blow account with my iCloud Migraine issues. You can find those specifics in blog posts here, here, here, and here. That said, having to re-log into Messages after this event leads me to continue to believe that Apple has deeply rooted issues with iCloud. I’ve been fighting these issues (and Apple) for well over a year. Within the last five months or so a workaround that Dwight Silverman clued me into has been a way to get the ship righted in most instances when they reoccur.

Briefly, when I lose Universal Control, Sign in with Apple Watch, Handoff, Copy and Paste between devices, the fix is to sign out of Messages in iCloud and to sign back in. When these fuctions disappear from my Macs they are still available on iOS devices. I know it’s iCloud related from my conversations with Apple Support and because I always receive a notification that says I have to sign my Apple Watch into iCloud via my iPhone.

Note that there is no option to do so in the Apple Watch settings on the iPhone. An Apple Watch is signed in to iCloud when it is paired to an iPhone.

Dwight’s fix has worked most of the time. Often it will work right away. Other times I won’t be able to sign back in immediately, resulting in an endless spinner that eventaully times out.

One of the other odd things about this workaround is that often executing it on one of my Macs will fix the situation on both. Sometimes it will require me to execute the fix on each Mac. Occasionally it will fix things on one Mac and not on the other even when executed on both. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason to this riddle.

I’ll know the workaround works when I get a notification that tells me WiFi calling is now an available option on my Macs follwed by notifications on my iOS devices that a new Mac is now available in iCloud. Which is strange given that a check of Settings always reveals both Macs being available on the account before, during and after the event.

When this doesn’t work I’ll perform a dance of the devices, turning them off and on in various sequences. Sometimes that works. Sometimes not. Sometimes I just need to wait things out and eventually things will right themselves.

That waiting corresponds with what I and other users have been cryptically (often very cryptically) told by Apple Support. Here’s a quote from Dan Moren’s experience:

. . . after perhaps 20 minutes on the phone, he seemed to hit on something. I heard him laugh and say something along the lines of “that explains it” and then, with my consent, put me on hold. When he came back, he said—and I’m not exactly quoting, but close enough: “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you any more than this, but all your services should be back up pretty much exactly 12 hours after they went down.”

I and others have also been told to wait 24 hours. Regardless of the length of the waiting period the “I can’t tell you any more than this” is always consistent.

Some Theories

I can’t offer any conclusion about the events of April 27 beyond what I’ve previously stated as speculation. What I can offer is that whatever caused that issue and how it was rectified by Apple has many similarities with these ongoing iCloud issues.

What is consistent is that they resurface each time Apple issues a beta update for iOS and macOS or a full release of same. What’s inconsistent is that sometimes the issues surface the morning of a release, sometimes the day after, sometimes the day before. NOTE: I do not run Betas on any of my devices.

What this tells me is that concurrent with those device operating system updates, beta or otherwise, Apple is issuing corresponding updates on the iCloud backend. That’s only logical, and it points up a flaw in the process. If you’re a beta tester you can and should expect issues. That’s what betas are for: to find issues. However, If you’re NOT a beta tester you should not be subjected to issues related to betas.

When I’ve raised this timing issue with Apple Support I’ve gotten tacit agreement that it is an issue, but no definitive answer. My support dialogues through much of 2024 have consisted of me sending sysdiag files to Apple each and every time an OS update is released.

However, while I still religiously collect sysdiags to send each time the issues occur, the requests to send them stopped in March. That followed a period of time when I was asked to wait until after the next point release before submitting any further updates.

There was also a moment last fall when I was told that Apple engineers had recently put the issue back under investigation after the officlal release of Sonoma. I was told they thought they had solved it with Sonoma but realized shortly after they had not.

My theory of the moment, which I’ve expressed to Apple Support and gotten no official response to, is that with WWDC quickly approaching Apple has once again has put this on the back burner for current users in order to possibly address it in the next OS release. If my theory holds we might see the issue disappear at some point in this summer’s beta cycle or it will continue as it has since the days of Monterey.

Another theory I have, and that may tie in with the events of April 27, is that this somehow relates to when a user first set up an Apple ID. My initial Apple ID was a mac.com address and that’s followed me through the MobileMe era into the iCloud era. A number of users who experienced the problems on April 27 had mac.com addresses. I can’t speak to whether or not that was always the case with every user, but in trying to find solutions to my ongoing problems, many I’ve spoken with also acquired their first Apple IDs in the mac.com era.

Note that my wife and the family members I support all began their relationship with Apple in the iCloud generation. None of them experienced issues on April 27. None of them have experienced any of these issues that continue to plague me. That’s a small sample, but it fits within this theory of mine. I’ve also heard from some others who did not experience this April 27 issue that some have mac.com addresses at the root and some do not. So again, who knows?

Bottom Line: Fix and Communicate

Apple needs to solve whatever this long running problem with iCloud and Apple needs to communicate with its users and support personnel better. Certainly they need to do so when there are more acute failures such as that which occured on April 27, whether they be security related or just attempts to find a better solution. A week is much too long to wait for some sort of statement. We may all be At The Mercy of The Backend, but we don’t need to be at the mercy of poor communication. That’s a choice by a company. Contrary to what some might think or fear, saying there’s an issue and we can’t yet pin it down is a less bad PR move than going silent.

I use Apple products and follow Apple news throughout the evolutions of beta cycles into full blown releases. I like to follow that news. I don’t like and choose not to live and work through them. Each time Apple tries to improve things or add new features I know I’m going to experience failures before I can actually use the products and ecosystem as designed and advertised. And even after the situation may be fixed, worked around or righted, so far there’s no solution that has been able to solve the problems. To me that’s unacceptable.

It reminds me of days from my youth when I’d go out to start my old beater of a car and hold my breath wondering if it would actually turn over and start. Always a relief when it did. Always a pain in the ass when it didn’t and I’d have to lug out the jumper cables. Apple doesn’t make or sell beaters. But these issues sure are beating me down.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Sunday Morning Reading

The line between Winter and Spring can be as confusing as it is normal. That fine line between confusing/normal runs through most this week’s Sunday Morning Reading. Enjoy!

It’s a Spring Sunday morning in Chicago. Nippy temps frustrate the daffodils that keep brushing off the snowflakes. As confusing as the weather may be, it’s also quite normal. That fine line between confusing/normal runs through a lot of this week’s Sunday Morning Reading. Mostly tech, some music, some marketing, some fear, and a troll or two, Enjoy!

The big tech news this week was the U.S. going after Apple as a monopoly. It’s brought out the the explainers and turned legions of Apple fan boys into anti-trust lawyers. Even the lawyers are going to need lawyers to figure this one out in my view. One of the best early inning reactions to this was from Jason Snell at Six Colors in U.S. versus Apple: A First Reaction.

When Marketing is everything, everything eventually gets reductive. Doc Searls of The Cluetrain Manifesto fame tackles this in Getting Us Wrong, a piece from December that recently resurfaced in my feeds and is always a timely read. So too is The Cluetrain Manifesto.

The Disparity Between Fear And Progress by David Todd McCarty strikes a chord (actually chords) that I think many of us hear vibrating these days.

Grim Tales, Fairy Dusts And All That Makes Us Gullible At Bedtime by NatashaMH jumps into the space between wanting to know and suspending disbelief. An interesting troll on it’s own.

Social Media always seems to be at war with itself over most things, misinformation being one in a long list. I’m not sure Social Media presents more or less of that than other means of socialization, but Scott Duke Kominers and Jesse Shapiro think It’s Time To Give Up On Ending Social Media’s Misinformation Problem.

Joan Westenberg thinks the creator economy is a dead end for most creators. Is there an alternative? Check out The Creator Economy Trap: Why Building On Someone Else’s Platform Is A Dead End.

Musician and composer Stan Stewart thinks it’s dangerous to explain something before he does it, but he does so anyway in I’ve Got Some Explaining To Do. With all that’s going on in the world there’s something cooking up inside of Stan and I’m looking forward to the music that comes from this.

Christopher Mims spent a couple of weeks using AI tools to do his work and comes out convinced we’re on the cusp of a ‘Cognitive Revolution.’ As he puts it: “Here’s my verdict: The last time I had an experience this eye-opening and transformative was after I bought my first smartphone.” Check out his thoughts in Want To Know If AI Will Take Your Job? I Tried Using It To Replace Myself.

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. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Apple and the DOJ: You Can Do Anything You Want As Long As You Don’t Get Caught

You can do anything you want in the land of the free and the home of the brave. As long as you don’t get caught. Or as long as you have enough cash in the bank to hire the right legal beagles. That’s the American way. Always has been. The bigger you are the more you can toss around your weight. That works more times than it doesn’t. In the case of the United States vs. Apple, Inc, not so much. Thus far.

The Department of Justice swooped in on Apple charging that the iPhone is the crown jewel of an illegal monopoly. You can read the lawsuit here. I’m not going to get in to all of the legal issues. Not really my game. As to that lawsuit I’ll take the liberty of saying the following:

I don’t understand the equation that led to the monopoly designation. It seems odd given similar such cases in history. The fact that different percentages for different types of valuations is being tossed around in all of the first reactions I think bears that out.
I’m in deep in the Apple ecosystem. I use the hardware and software. I enjoy the tech (when it is working as designed), and I hope they’ll continue to make the high quality products and software they do. Having used hardware and software from other makers, I find Apple’s superior and better for my needs. When and if that changes so will I.
For the most part I buy Apple’s pitch about security and privacy. There are times I think the marketing around security and privacy leans too much towards myth-making, but in my experience the myth seems to have some foundation.
I’ve listened to the complaints from developers and other users through the years and find most of those I understand justified. Apple may have indeed created problems by creating and running the App Store the way it has. I personally don’t feel victimized by that, but I understand the issues presented by those that see it differently.

Bigger picture I will say the following. Apple, like some other familiar tech giants of note (Microsoft, Google, and Amazon), largely brought this on itself with a too big for its bank account britches attitude.

Arrogance and swagger isn’t just a feature of big tech companies. It’s a bug that infects any company or anyone who gets too greedy for their own good. I’ve seen it happen too many times.

History is full of these stories and many American myths are built on that foundation. You work hard, you make your pile, and you do it your way. The world beats a path to your door and you think you own the path and the world. You made your own rules along the way and bent some existing ones to your will. Perhaps broke a few.

That mythical song of good old American capitalism has been sung so often everyone knows the tune and the lyrics. When it comes to Apple’s stanza, you add in a chorus about Apple’s rise from an almost near-death experience and it becomes a siren song with a powerful resonance.

In my view, limited as it may be, Apple could have easily made some adjustments along the way and possibly avoided this current mess. But the powers that be obviously thought different. They also thought they could swagger their way through and beyond this. That may well prove out in the years to come. And it will take years.

Meanwhile, here’s some good early inning commentary on this story so far. I’m sure there will be much more ahead.

John Gruber on Daring Fireball

Jason Snell on Six Colors

M.G. Siegler on Spyglass.org

Stephen Robles on Beard.fm

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

At The Mercy of The Backend

Part of the Information Super Highway traveled some rough road this morning. Meta experienced an outage in all of its services today that took down Facebook, Threads, Instagram, Messenger, and I imagine everything else in the Metaverse. A source told the Daily Mail that the company’s internal systems were also down. Boomshakalaka, another day on the Internet.

We’re somewhat accustomed to Internet outages. In much the same way we’re sadly becoming accustomed to extreme weather events. Some are caused by malicious hacks, some by incompetence, some by rodents chewing through cables. Internet connectivity has made so much of our current world more convenient and convenience always comes with a cost. It’s a cost that those who own the servers, the services, and the connections, sometimes don’t want to pay for, leaving users stranded at times. It’s apparently tough to value an ounce of prevention on the Internet.

We hear about these outages when big ones hit. That’s sensational news. But far too often there are “backend” issues that happen that we never hear about. Those are the ones that only affect “a small percentage of users” or companies that don’t command the public’s day in day out appetite for connectivity.

Intriguingly enough, those charged with communicating with users when problems do arise sometimes never hear about them either, or if they do are they are told not to talk about them. Again, nothing surprising.

The corporate PR pros may or may not issue lawyered up responses, but rarely do users get any nuts and bolts answers as to what went wrong. Vague apologies, promises to do better, free credit monitoring when user info is hacked, etc… We’ll’ hear the now-clichéd “small percentage of users” modifier trotted out whenever things get righted. It’s funny/not funny how we all just move on.

Earlier this morning I was chatting with some folks on Threads who were seeing issues with Apple’s Weather app not updating as designed on their Apple Watches. I casually replied that it was probably an issue with iCloud’s backend and how it was associated with the provider Apple uses to offer up weather info. These issues with Apple always seem to manifest as they are rolling out new operating system updates, so my guess is more than a guess. (Apple rolled out iOS updates today.)

I’ve been going round and round with Apple for almost two years now trying to solve what is apparent to me, after much effort and investigation, an iCloud related issue. It’s not just apparent to me, there are several other users experiencing the same issues I’m having, as well as other users with other iCloud related issues in similar but different veins.

When I talk to Apple Support (a regular occurrence) we’ve developed this coded, often unspoken, acknowledgment that the issues are iCloud related. But as I said in this post, Apple needs to allow its support personnel to acknowledge directly what the problems are. And in my case, and those of others, so far that continues to not happen.

(Side note for those who might read the links above or are familiar with the situation: I’ve discovered a workaround to sometimes get things back to normal thanks to Dwight Silverman. Signing out of Messages and then back in works about 8 times out of 10. Otherwise I just have to wait it out.)

The problem is bigger than a social media network going down, or a streaming service buffering out during the big game for lack of bandwidth. Those may be frustrating but in the grand scheme of things merely inconveniences. But the more connected our daily lives become to our banks, our medical institutions, our governments, etc… the more reliant we become on services being well run, well maintained, and frankly just available and working as advertised.

I think of it as I think of streets and roads. We’re reliant on them and need them well maintained. The big difference is we see the potholes and understand the inconvenience we’re about to experience when the construction barriers go up.

When Apple, Microsoft, or Google releases a software update, they are not just updating the bits and bytes on your device. Corresponding updates happen on the backend as well. When your favorite app updates the same thing occurs. If that app provides a service, whether it be a social network, streaming media, or checking your bank balance something’s cooking on the backend.

And that’s just the backend updates we’re at least peripherally aware of. Perhaps we need better signage on the Information Super Highway.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome

Apple Vision Pro: Thoughts After the Demo

They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. That may be so. But this old dog is certainly willing to try out a few new things, tricks or not. And the Apple Vision Pro certainly qualifies as a new thing. It is certainly not a trick. Understand I don’t own one. I’m not currently contemplating owning one. But I did schedule a demo at a local Apple Store and I’m very glad I did. These are my thoughts about the demo and after.

First, let’s talk about the demo. If you’re remotely interested and live close enough to make a trip to an Apple Store I’d highly recommend you do so. Certainly to check out the device and the limited look at the technology Apple lets you experience for 30 minutes, but also because in the end it’s as much fun as any entertainment experience you might put on your calendar. It’s also free. It’s well done and it’s a no pressure to buy interaction.

I equate it to the first time I attended an IMAX screening back in the day when that was a brand new thing (old dog here, remember.) The number of IMAX screens was small and the brand actually meant something beyond a higher ticket price. I remember marveling at the pre-show demo revealing all of those speakers and the technology more than I remember whatever movie I watched. The Apple Vision Pro demo is that sort of experience. At least it was for me.

As I mentioned, the demo is indeed limited. You don’t get to watch the entire movie. You learn the basics of using the device and what it feels like to strap this thing on your face. After your face is scanned with an iPhone to get the right fit, the device is shortly served up to you on a wooden platter with a panache that feels like you’re being served in a fine dining establishment.

It might feel like the main course, but think of it instead as being served up a large Charcuterie or a Mezza. You get to sample bits of the magic: 3D/Spatial video and photo experiences, the pass through mode, and moving windows up down and around. You don’t get a full course meal. For example, you don’t get to experience using it with a Mac which is understandable, but also a disappointment.

On the day I had my demo there were two folks completing demos in front of me and two waiting when I finished up. I was in a smaller Apple Store, so your experiences may vary depending on where you go. It will be interesting to see how this goes in the days and weeks ahead once the novelty has worn off.

So, those are my thoughts on the demo. Again, my recommendation is to do it if you’re even mildly interested. It’s worth the 30 minutes and whatever travel time it takes to get to an Apple Store. And it’s the only way you’re really going to discover whether or not this device and what it may or may not offer might be right for you. It’s also a lot of fun.

Now that I’ve experienced this small taste here are some of my thoughts about this new thing. Again, these are based only on the demo and along with what I’ve read, viewed and listened to online. I mention that because by and large I think most of the reviewers and early adopters are being quite fair in their praise and criticism of the Apple Vision Pro. Sure, there’s some over the top excitement, but that is well tempered with some realistic descriptions of issues and pitfalls that some are experiencing.

I included some links to early reviews in a prevous post after the review embargo dropped and I’ll include a few more below that have come out since. I don’t think you’ll go wrong checking these out because folks are putting this device and its operating system in what I view as the proper context: something brand new that’s attainable now, but is largely undefined as to its future.

And undefined it remains for me. If I lived alone I could see the Apple Vision Pro as how I possibly would choose to watch entertainment. In this first version it offers a very cool way to do so whether you’re in the immersive experiences or not. Even with the demo’s soupçon of this viewing magic it’s easy to see the appeal and be drawn to it. But that’s not enough alone for me to make the investment in this first generation.

I think the isolation factor many have mentioned shouldn’t be overlooked. I can see it being very easy to get lost in the world of spatial computing. That may be just fine for some, but this old dog wants to spend some time with friends and grandkids, sharing experiences and not keeping them to myself. How that part of Apple’s “vision” plays out is yet to be seen or really discussed in these early days, but it will need to be sooner rather than later in my opinion.

That said, the opposite could also be very true when it comes to providing shared experiences for folks already living in an isolated situation. For example, I was out of town on a gig for portions of December and most of January, with travel plans to be back home for a break during the holidays. COVID intervened and I spent the holidays on the road in isolation until the illness resolved. I can imagine folks in similar isolated situations, being able to share spatial videos or photos in the future. And yes, those are amazing, and indeed somewhat emotional experiences. But we’re far from that being even close to our current reality of quickly firing up a Zoom or FaceTime session and sitting in as a talking head during a holiday dinner.

As for the interface and working with the device, Apple has made it pretty easy to get acquainted with controling what you see with your eyes and gestures. The eye tracking worked as advertised with a few quirks. I expect it is only going to continue to improve. So that’s a win.

The biggest adjustment (and a number of reviewers have mentioned this as well) is that you have to keep your eyes focused on what you want to manipulate in order to excercise control with gestures. Certainly that probably becomes second nature with longer use, but it is certainly different than the way I use a trackpad, keyboard, or touch in relating to what’s on a screen. In the limited demo I found that I had to slow myself down in order to make selections, zoom, or move windows about and was encouraged to do so by the Apple rep guiding me. I do often use a multiple screen setup and this is a different way of working from how I may take a glance at one thing on one window, while scrolling through another almost without thinking about it.

As I mentioned earlier the demo understandably doesn’t offer a chance for you to see how the Apple Vision Pro will work with a Mac. There are plenty of videos and reviews online that discuss this in good detail. Many describe how effortlessly this works with Universal Control, using a keyboard and trackpad to go back and forth between a Mac and the Vision Pro. That’s encouraging, although I hope that doesn’t fall prey to some of the iCloud related issues with Universal Control that I’ve been experiencing for quite some time now that Apple doesn’t seem to have an answer for.

Honestly, this would be a headline feature for me and from what I’ve read it is designed and works well enough to warrant that sort of headline. Couple that with entertainment viewing and the Apple Vision Pro might be a bigger temptation for me a generation or two down the road, and again, I see this feature only getting better in versions ahead.

Apple Stores are very well lit. Much better than the environments where I work and how I actually prefer to work. In those bright light conditions everything I saw was crisp and easily readable. However, there was a noticeable difference between the brightness of the real world before and after putting the headset on. It does feel as if you’re entering into a darker place. I’ve read that in low light conditions the visuals aren’t quite as crisp or stunning, but there’s no way to verify that from the my participation in the demo.

As to the comfort of the device there’s no doubt it is something heavy on your face. We checked the fit several times in my demo, but the device kept wanting to slide down my face slightly. I was wearing the Solo Band. When that occured I had to constantly adjust my neck and viewing angle in much the same way I used to do with my eyeglasses back when I wore progressive lenses prior to catarct surgery several years ago. That adjustment felt minor with eyeglasses. It felt a bit more burdensome with the Apple Vision Pro. I’ve read and heard that the Dual Loop band included in the package that fits over the head might prevent that sort of slippage. I had no opportunity to try that out in my demo.

I hesitate to share this next bit of info because it’s very personal and it’s not necessarily something that can be attributed directly to the Apple Vision Pro. Later in the day of my demo I experienced some dizziness and disorientation that turned into what my doctors described as a Vertigo episode. I have never had or been diagnosed with anything resembling Vertigo previously. Because my blood pressure also rose significantly I ended up in the ER that evening. I was quite disorientated and out of whack.

Again, I am not saying there is a direct correlation here with the Apple Vision Pro. I have other health issues that could be the cause and it could very well be coincidental. I am in the process of doing quite a few tests to try and figure out the cause as some of the issues still persist. That said, Apple does have a support document about motion sickness, dizziness and nausea and I did take note that it mentions it can take up to 30 minutes for symptoms to start. My symptoms began well after that time frame, but when something scary like that happens you consider all external and unique possibilities and circumstances leading up to the event.

The point of including this info here is that it is just possible I fit one of the pre-existing medical conditions that might make me more susceptible to motion sickness symptoms as Apple mentions in the support document. So, while I encourage follks to take advantage of the free demo Apple is providing, I’d also urge them to follow Apple’s guidance and check with your medical provider if you have any of the conditions mentioned in this other document. The larger point here is that as much potential as the Apple Vision Pro offers, it may not, at least in its current form, be a device for everybody. Especially if you’re an older dog with some existing medical issues.

Is there a future here in Apple’s Vision Pro? I think so. I don’t know what it is or will be. I don’t know who it’s for or not for. I doubt Apple actually does either and is anxious to find out in the months ahead. What is certain is the elements of something exciting is here and we’re living in a time when we can experience that as its story reveals itself in the years to come. Note I said “years to come.” I think it will take awhile. But this is now. Take advantage of the demo if you can or are able. It’s a chance to see and try something brand new for yourself. Trust this old dog, that doesn’t happen every day.

Here’s some additional review links that are worth your time::

Jason Snell in Six Colors: Eyes On The Future

Brian Heater in TechCrunch: Apple Vision Pro review: The Infinite Desktop

Matt Birchler: Like Buying an iPhone in 2007

MKHBD: Apple Vision Pro Review: Tomorrow’s Ideas…Today’s Tech!

Upgrade #498 (podcast): Leap the Uncanny Valley

Stephen Robles: Should Anyone Buy Apple Vision Pro?

Christopher Mims in the Wall St. Journal: Apple’s New Face Computer Is for Work.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome and check out The Lehman Trilogy Diaries here.

Apple Vision Pro Thoughts After Release to Reviewers

Well now. I wish I could say I’m surprised. But I can’t. After reading and watching reviews of Apple Vison Pro there weren’t many suprises in the many lists of pros anc cons. Well, maybe one. I’ll still be looking forward to real users trying it out and posting their reactions, along with the tech press that didn’t get in on the review cycle. But by and large everything I’ve seen confirms what I’d already imagined..

It’s a terrific piece of tech by all accounts, albeit a bit heavy. Yes, there’s some intriguing tech and quite a few innovations. Yet it is still a very version 1.0 device that I’m perfectly happy to let others discover the ins and outs of as Apple continues to advance this new platform. $3500-$4000 is a steep price for beta hardware and a software eco-system, no matter how much of a new paradigm it seeks to introduce. The interesting thing to watch will be how many developers work to create for the device.

The other interesting theme that runs through these early reviews is that while Apple Vision Pro might open up new worlds it only does so for the wearer. It’s a solitary device. There’s no escaping that this is a device for isolating yourself in those worlds separate from the one around you.

The one surprise I mentioned is that Apple marketing apparently goofed big time when they rolled out the device regarding the EyeSight feature. You know the one when someone can see your eyes, or rather a digital representation of your eyes. Those pictures were everywhere, and apparently the reality is most of the reviews indicate that the feature doesn’t match the hype. No wonder there have been rumors that the EyeSight feature might not survive into future versions.

As for me, I’ll journey to an Apple Store and try it out at some point. Meanwhile I’m stting this one out for who knows how long. I still find the spatial computing concept intriguing and promising. I imagine that might be the way long after I’m gone. In the meantgime I hope it actually turns into something useful beyond just watching entertainment. But maybe that will be enough.

That said, here are some links to some of the reviews and articles, (one featuring Tim Cook wearing the thing), that I found worthwhile. There are plenty more out there. There’s a combination of writing and video, so pick your poison. The first two links really offer comprehensive coverage. Or as comprehensive as you can get this early in the game. The real story will be told down the line.

Apple Vision Pro Review: Magic, Until It’s Not from The Verge

MKBHD’s video look at the device.

The Vision Pro from John Gruber

Apple Vision Pro Review: A Revolution in Progress from Tom’s Guide

Why Tim Cook Is Going All In On The Apple Vision Pro from Vanity Fair

Apple Vision Pro Review: The Best Headset Yet Is Just A Glimpse of The Future by Joanna Stern

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome and check out The Lehman Trilogy Diaries here.

Apple Vision Pro Excitement Running Hot

Apple started taking pre-orders for the Apple Vision Pro this morning and the excitement from those jumping into the pond for this first generation new device is running hot. It’s fun to see. I’m glad to see it. I’m not jumping in. I’ll be anxious to see how real users report their experiences as opposed to all the very clever and promotional marketing Apple has released.

Apple released a couple of videos about the experience that I’ll share below. Slick stuff. But I’m more interested in the real world impressions and wondering just how those are going to be conveyed on the web. Since those who pre-ordered will start seeing deliveries in February it’s going to make that an interesting month to follow the news on this device.

This next one is a “Making Of.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not doubting that this is a cool new thing, but just like with the first gen iPhone I’m not gonna early adopt (especially at these prices) until we’ve got some real world feedback. Or is that virtual world?

The iPad Is My Perfect Theatre Rehearsal Tool

For some the iPad can be a strange beast. For some the iPad is just what they need. Of course that depends on which iPad you might have or use. That’s where the “strange” comes in. Most of the follow the leader tech press thinks the iPad lineup is confusing. Following along, I happen to agree to an extent. If you know what you’re looking for it’s not that difficult a choice. But if you are in the market for the first time it can be confusing. There’s size differences. There’s iPad Pros, iPad Airs, just plain iPads, and then there’s the iPad mini.

Apple hasn’t helped with the confusion because it’s sent mixed signals along the way. I’m not one to be that concerned because my needs are clearly defined. I’m not looking to use an iPad as full computer replacement, though there have been times I’ve used it as such and reliably well. I’m in the game for mobility for both work and play. Frankly, while the lineup may seem confusing to the easily distracted, the variety in the lineup does offer an array of choices.

My family is one example. For my wife an iPad is primarily a content consumption device. For me it serves that purpose, and is also an indispensible work platform. I keep up to date with current hardware. That’s my gadget geek side. My wife is still quite happy with a much older version. (It still has a Home button!) My wife defines the case for many that frustrates the “must have new hardware” and “growth at all costs” crowds. For lack of a better analogy, she sits in the larger main section of the theatre often referred to as the orchestra. I sit in the “always ready for the new thing” smaller mezzaine or balcony. That analogy flips the pricing equation on its head, given that the main floor tickets are usually higher priced, but I think it holds in terms of numbers.

I own the latest models of an 11-inch iPad Pro and also an iPad mini. Love them both. I use them in similar but different ways, fitting the tool to the job of the moment. I may be a gadget geek, but I’m primarily a theatre professional. Most of my work is directing plays. Both serve me well in my job. Currently, I’m working out of town on staging The Lehman Trilogy. Both the iPad Pro and the iPad mini suitably fill my down hours with entertainment and are reliable work horses for the gig. To be honest, their roles as tools are so familiar that to call my usage “rote” would be accurate.

Background

Back in the day I was a Tablet PC fan boy. I used them primarily as a work device in the theatre. I was at one time a Microsoft MVP for Tablet PC. Those devices allowed me to quit using paper scripts in rehearsal and write my notes directly into a digital script. I could set aside my beloved yellow legal pads and not so beloved folders of research and have everything handy in digital format on a Tablet PC. The debates then were over slates versus convertible Tablet PCs.

Microsoft screwed the pooch with Tablet PCs leaving the door open for Apple. And along came the iPad. It certainly wasn’t perfect for my work initially, but it offered promise. I can’t remember how many different stylus solutions I went through (from Adonit to Zagg) until the Apple Pencil came along. Along the way I’ve tried most of the other tablet solutions but as far as my work needs are concerned the iPad is hands down the only viable choice. I include Microsoft’s Surface tablets in the reject pile.

My Work

When I’m doing a show, work includes reading and working from scripts; research gathering and consumption; using, taking and making notes in rehearsal as well as on the research. Working with scripts, once a page gets too filled with my indescipherable scribbles, I simply open another copy and start afresh. GoodNotes is my app of choice for this. (I’ve tried them all.) It’s an easy solution for scribbling notes in the margins of a script in prep or in actual rehearsal. It also provides a way for me to archive scripts once I’m done with a show.

As a director I often walk into rehearsal with a clean copy of the script so that I’m more focused on the actors and the text and less on my notes. It’s a snap (swipe?) to switch back and forth when I need to reference my notes or research. Time is money and a limited commodity in rehearsal and I have to maximize what time I’m given.

In the early days of staging I’m primarily using the iPad Pro. It’s a Goldilocks device as far as size goes. The text and my notes are large enough to read at a glance and the size of the device is easy to tote when I move around the theatre or rehearsal room. In the stages of rehearsal when I’m mostly taking notes as the actors rehearse what we’ve done, I switch to the iPad mini for even more mobility and a bit of discretion.

My research is ongoing, but primarily done prior to rehearsals beginning. I do some of that on the iPads, but use a Mac for quite a bit of it. Apple Notes is my app of choice for all of that research gathering, though I’ve tried many others and still do. Prepping for a day’s rehearsal when I may need specific research I’ll create a note with links to those notes, the research directly, or a work list and have them handy via Slide Over. I’m still not a fan of Stage Manager although I’ve given it several attempts to win me over.

Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message” in the 1960’s about human communication. For me, the same is true with my work tools. When I’m staging and working scenes the larger iPad Pro is the medium of choice and feels natural as I’m moving actors and scenery from moment to moment. When I’m watching and note-taking as the actors move through scenes on their own, the smaller iPad mini serves to remind me that I’m an observer, not a participant in the moment. If I move about the theatre while the actors are working it can be distracting if they see me a take a note. They can fall out of the moment and into a “what did I do wrong” mode of self-monitoring. So I try to be as discreet as possible.

Once we’re down to the final days of rehearsals and I have limited hours for giving notes I’ll actually return back to my Mac for preparation and organizing my notes for efficiently relaying them via email or in note sessions with the cast. Often I’ll use the Notes app on my iPhone when giving those notes in person. Once we invite the audience in for previews, I’ll stick with the smaller iPad mini for taking those notes, again for discretion purposes. When you tell an audience to put away their smartphones it’s not a good look to see a larger iPad light up while the director is taking notes. There was a time that I used a Samsung Galaxy Note in this scenario using OneNote or Evernote as the note-taking app. But those days are gone as my routine has become more focused.

For this current gig, we conducted some early table work and read-throughs of the script using Zoom. I’d be on my Mac, but have my script on the iPad Pro. My actors were using iPads for their scripts as well.

My work also consists of a lot of meetings and since I’m a now happily a freelance director I often travel for work. That means I’m often doing pre-production virtually using whatever video conferencing app the theatre uses. I’m also auditioning actors in virtual auditions. Video submissions also play a significant role. Both devices serve well in those aspects of the job, though I typically prefer the iPad Pro in those cases.

Play

Throughout this article I’ve also mentioned that I use both iPads for play as well as work. That is indeed the case. There’s downtime, and like many I use an iPad for consuming media and reading. I read a lot of scripts. The iPad mini is perfect for this whether I read the scripts as PDFs imported into Apple’s Books app, (my preference), in the Kindle app or in a PDF reader. As I’m working on this article on my Mac, I’m watching two football games in the background, one on the iPad Pro and one on the iPad mini.

Stall Surfing

Back in the day I often spoke and wrote about Tablet PCs as great Stall Surfing devices. Yeah, Stall Surfing. That thing you do when sitting on the toilet. You know you do it, whether it’s on a smartphone or a tablet. I’m here to tell you, that if nothing else, the iPad mini is the perfect Stall Surfing device. It’s sure beats reading scripts in paper or bound versions. I doubt we’ll ever see a marketing campaign featuring Stall Surfing, though.

Future Wishes

If I had a wish list for future iPads (both Pro and mini) it would be simple. I’ve heard talk that Apple might be moving away from the 11-inch size of the Pro models, thinking the Air liineup might be sufficient for most who need that size. I hope that’s not the case. It’s the perfect size and power house for my line of work. Sure, improve the larger Pros or make even larger ones, but don’t forget those of us who move around while we work and want a document sized device to work from that offers us power when we need it.

As for the iPad mini, I’d love to see that power up a bit in the next generation with an M-series processor. As to the design of both, I know new iPads without significant design changes can be boring to many. I’m not in that camp. I’d be content with these hardware designs for quite awhile to come. Both work exceptionally well for me as is. But I’m sure I’ll jump at the next models that come out regardless.

After all, I’m both a gadget and theatre geek.