dewme

coolfactor said:

It's time for Apple to:

- streamline their approach to changelog notes across all software products
- separate security updates from feature updates
- do a comprehensive overhaul of release testing across a broader range of scenarios 

The fact that this release is going out without any notes is a red flag for how misaligned the software teams are.

I completely agree. Apple doesn't seem to have any notion of letting customers who wish to manage their own assets with finer granularity do so. I totally understand that some customers, probably a majority of Apple's customers, want Apple to manage their assets for them and are perfectly happy with the opaque methods that Apple employs. But for those customers who want or need to know (say in a regulated industry) exactly what's going on, the current state of all of their assets, and be able to apply their own asset management strategy - good luck trying to make that happen. Apple's processes are further hampered by having pieces of asset management functionality spread all over the place. I was hoping that Apple would at least use the Home app as a single console to consolidate asset management, including firmware updates, for all of the devices shown in the Home app in one place. It doesn't look like that's coming any time soon.

Sounds like a horror show in the making.

Yeah, I get screen shots aplenty and find my volume full-on or full-off quite frequently and find myself waking around with a glowing pocket because I accidentally reenable the screen while sliding it back into my pocket. Worse yet, when I pull my iPhone off its MagSafe mount in my car after I've turned off the car, for some reason it leaves the music app front and center on the screen paused and waiting for a screen touch to resume music playing.

So I'm walking around a combination indoor/outdoor shopping area in Charleston, SC listening to what I thought was low volume outdoor background "shopping" music. But unlike the other 99% of the time when I encounter background music, I say to my partner "This is really cool, they are actually playing music I like for a change." Unfortunately, I'm totally oblivious to the fact that I have my own little background music player doing its thing in my pocket. Until of course the next track comes on ... and I realize that there's no way a public venue would ever play songs from the same artist/group, one that I like, in album order no less. Then I recall the that 2 minutes ago I'm in a shop and the vendor is looking puzzled and asking, "Is someone playing music in my shop?" I actually said, "nope, it ain't me."

Recalling this interaction from 2 minutes ago couple with a realization that good music is playing, in album order no less, in public, I check my phone and, yeah, it was me. I felt so stupid. Turned everything off that was turned on accidentally when I slid my phone into my pocket. Soon thereafter the crappy background elevator quality music returns. My music was bluegrass with lovely vocals and fairly long and soothing instrumental-only sections. Of course I conclude during my period of cluelessness that everyone would truly enjoy this type of background music. Background music doesn't have to suck. I suppose If it was Black Sabbath, Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr, etc, I would have been in the "something isn't quite right here" mode and checked my phone sooner.

Fast forward to 2 days ago, riding as a passenger in my car and my partner who's driving asks me, "Do you hear music?" I reply "nope" because it was brief and very soft. In between tracks I suppose or a quiet intro. Then I get out of the car and walk into my house, hang up my jacket, switch shoes, and walk into a quiet space (food pantry) and lo and behold, the very subtle music suddenly returns. Same deal, same pocket, same stupid move, same dumbness brought on by having too easily activated controls on my iPhone. The volume reduction from inadvertently pressing the volume down side button mostly masked the other snafu. I probably should tell my partner that I had another pocket music incident (PMI) but I decided to keep it to myself for now and avoid having to use a murse, or god forbid, a phone holster.

Just say no to any more side buttons or controls, and get rid of the practice of leaving the music player controls up in a zombie state without the music app running.

Nice article. I know the article briefly touches on the audio port on 2021 and later Macs supporting high impedance headphones. However, I don't think most users really understand how much better Apple's built-in DAC is on their machines that support high impedance headphones than most PCs on the market. As a brand, Apple has always put a lot of thought and great engineering into the audio subsystems on their devices, from iPhones to Mac Pros. Audio performance is part of Apple's DNA.

Don't for a minute think that the vintage leaning 3.5 mm audio jack on a Mac is just along for the ride. Unless you've done all of your homework as an audiophile, removed all monetary restraints from your budget, and able to detect audio subtleties and nuances that only "true audiophiles" can mysteriously detect, there's a pretty good chance that Apple's built-in audio subsystem is going to be on-par or better than a lot of external add-on DACs, at least those DACs in the lower to moderate price range, i.e., $100-$300 dollar range, maybe higher.

The audio upgrade on Apple Silicon Macs is very significant and is yet another thing that older Intel Mac users are missing out on. If you needed (for whatever reason) an external DAC with your old Intel Mac, there's a very good chance that you won't need it at all with an Apple Silicon Mac. 

I learned about this firsthand. I brought my external (USB) DAC I used on my older Mac over to my Mac Studio so I could use higher impedance headphones. Everything worked great and sounded great. But recently, and after one of Apple's many updates, the Mac Studio no longer worked well with the DAC. Noisy and staticky as hell. I initially thought the DAC was fubar, but I saw other users online reported the same issue. I also confirmed my DAC still worked great on my old Intel iMac. I started Amazoning for a replacement, thinking a newer DAC with different components might be in order. Before I pulled the trigger I tried plugging my high impedance headphones into the lonely little 3.5 mm socket hiding in the rear of my Mac Studio. Wowser, not only did it sound as good or better than how my external DAC sounded, but the range of volume was at least as good and indiscernibly different than what the external DAC (actually a DAC+Amp) delivered, and without having to fiddle with knobs on the DAC. The Mac's built-in volume control works perfectly. This saved me from buying something that would not have improved my listening experience at all, at least for someone lacking audiophile mystical powers of audio perception. 

Finally, I understand those who are reluctant to leave Intel Macs for virtualization reasons. I too have Windows apps and to a lesser extent Linux apps that require me to keep a PC or virtual PC around. VMWare Fusion has served me impeccably well in this regard. The fact that I can now use VMWare Fusion (Player) for FREE saves me the costs I was previously incurring with upgrades tied to every new release of macOS. It's the deal of the century. When Apple Silicon came around all of that changed. I could no longer run Intel images of Windows or Linux on my Apple Silicon Mac. I could however run Windows 11 Pro ARM on my Apple Silicon Mac using the latest (still free for me) version of  VMWare Fusion and it works extremely well and is very stable.

But what about my Windows apps that require an Intel processor? While Microsoft provides a runtime environment for x86 apps on Windows ARM, I really need as close to bare metal as I could get. Solution: I bought a mini PC that cost me $250 USD that sits right next to my M2 MacBook Air, with both machines sharing a glorious 4K monitor, Bluetooth keyboard, and Bluetooth mouse. The mini PC is not equipped with the latest and greatest components, and it isn't as well endowed with memory, storage, I/O, and metal chassis parts as my Intel NUC, but it has a fairly recent vintage 7 nm Ryzen 6-core/12 thread CPU, integrated Radeon GPU, HDMI 2.0, DP 1.4, expandable memory and storage, 10 Gbps USB-A and USB-C ports, gigabit networking, Wi-Fi 6, etc., and has about a 3" x 5" footprint. Doesn't make a sound and has been working for months with no hangs, shutdowns, or restarts other than Windows Update. Probably doesn't play the most demanding PC games particularly well, but I don't play games.

The performance of my mini PC sidekick for my Mac setup completely blows away of my Intel dependent virtual machines that I was running on my Intel Macs. I could even install the free VMWare Workstation Player on it if I wanted to have different Windows or Linux images available on the mini PC. Sure, if I want to take it on the road with my M2 MacBook Air I would need a portable display, keyboard, and mouse as well. You can pick up a usable 15" 4K portable monitor for about $225 USD and I already have the required Bluetooth kb/mouse. As a bonus, a portable monitor would also extend my MacBook Air's visuals to two monitors. At the price point I got the mini PC I knew it wasn't getting the latest & greatest specs to use for more processor intensive tasks. But it's reliable, runs very cool, and if you dig around a bit more you'll find newer mini PCs that have very impressive specs but haven't gotten part their teething problems quite yet. There are also a plethora of cheaporoni mini PCs on the market that have low end Celerons and Atom CPUs or newer Intel CPUs that have no performance cores at all. Sounds a bit nasty, but for some folks it may still be a better platform performance-wise than what they're getting from VMs running on their Intel Macs that they're still reluctant to leave behind.

Of course you can always keep your old Intel Mac around as a VM host and backup Mac.

Your mileage and needs may vary, but there are very logical and viable paths to making your move to Apple Silicon sooner and finally getting to enjoy the many benefits that come with such a move. Depending on your needs, a hybrid approach with a mini PC sidekick may actually deliver more utility and better performance than what you are getting with an older Intel Mac laden with VMs.

I can absolutely see the VP being used for live guidance for any number of intricate processes that must be performed in a precise sequence using precise tools and parts. Ideally the application would be able to discern all of the individual pieces as well as track how far the user has progressed and how the tools are being used to minimize the probability of making mistakes. For example the VP camera could capture the torque readout from the torque wrench and compare it to the assembly requirements spec. 

citpeks said:

Am I the only one who wishes Apple would move the power button back to the top edge of the phone?  Like it was on past phones, and how it has remained on the iPads?

I curse Apple every time I unintentionally take a screenshot after trying to put the phone to sleep.

Putting the power button directly opposite the volume buttons in an invitation to make such mistakes, if one need to grasp both sides to gain some leverage.

You are not alone. The side buttons frequently interfere with my ability to handle my phone without triggering an unintentional action. I’ve taken plenty of odd photos of obscure things like my hand, leg, edge of my pocket, and magnetic docking station while holding my phone. I’ve also had several situations where I find the volume is turned all the way up or all the way down. I’ve had a couple of occasions where the phone is in a state where it’s asking me to trigger an emergency call. My partner actually triggered an emergency call while driving but was lucky enough to receive a callback to see whether it was intentional or not.

In Apple’s defense, some of my inadvertent side-button triggering issues are probably due to the way I handle my phone. I’m extremely careful not to touch the screen with my fingers so all of my grip is on the edge of the phone/case. Maybe Apple expects iPhone users to hold their phones like they hold a TV remote, with their fingers and thumbs firmly grasping the back and screen. This results in a greasy, fingerprint covered, smeared screen with layers of who knows what that is rather sickening to observe. Apple never seems to get some things right, and putting more side buttons on a glass slab that you have to hold by the sides is a dumb move. At the very least, recess the buttons or do something to avoid unintentional triggering. To add insult to injury, the latest Apple TV remote, which I despise in different ways compared to its predecessor, has a side button so you can summon Siri at the most inopportune times.  

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s not an Apple problem. I’m obviously holding it wrong. My bad.