Macbook: The Next One May Not Be A Huge Leap But Expect Apple To Stay Ahead of Everyone Else

  Source:  Appleinsider, Macworld.

Do you compare yourself to others or just your previous self?  I'm not a fan of the former but I am fine with comparing myself harshly but fairly against myself a week ago, a month, ago, a year, ago, and even five years ago.  And sure, once in a while, I'll question what I am doing and how I am doing compared to others in similar positions.  I still favor self comparisons and evaluations.

So, when Apple's latest M1 chip currently powering its lower end MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and 2021 iPad Pro was released late 2020, there were benchmarks after benchmarks that compared Intel-based MacBooks and Windows laptops against the M1 Macs.  And Apple was the clear winner in many if not most of the tests. However, time for those comparisons are over and we should be focusing on the next chip from Apple and how they match up to the M1.  It'll be faster, running cooler, and maybe even smaller but how will it compare to the M1?  That's the comparison we like to see.

More at On Apple.

Go Ahead, Leave Your Phone At Home

I have an Apple Watch with cellular support that I have been using for about nine months for emergency purposes or when someone really needs to reach me when I am out without my iPhone.  I have been doing more and more of that lately and I find it very liberating.  It’s not easy coming from a tech enthusiasts like me but if I can do it, so can you.  Now, I’m not suggesting forgoing tech completely.  I’m just suggesting that perhaps we do not need to have it around us as much as we think we need it.

You know letting go is like.  Here is something that we might all understand.  Facebook.  It’s toxic and maybe of us have gotten rid of it.  In the beginning, it might have been difficult.  You vow never to use it but then a week later, you find yourself logging back in but you tell yourself just this once because you’re bored.  Then another week past and you’re back on it.  But hey, it has been a week.  And perhaps, you fell off the wagon a bit and got sucked by Facebook’s addictive algorithms.  You’re wondering if anyone of your hundreds of friends missed you or if your past update had received comments or emoji reactions.  Or if that one friend seems like they’re on a perpetual vacation.

Then you find yourself sick of it again and you start all over.  Eventually, you succeeded.  Two weeks goes by before you log back in. And then a month and finally you’re like me - no more Facebook and it’s liberating.  

Well, I’ve left my iPhone on and off in the past six months, sometimes on purpose and other times I just forget.  And I’m loving that I’m forgetting to bring it.  In the beginning, there was anxiety.  Some are warranted and some are not.  

• Did anyone call me?  Work or family emergencies?  That still happens but it is what it is with life.  Things either happen or not and most are out of our control.  While I’m out, I’m going to enjoy myself or dedicate myself to whatever chore I’m out and about for.  
• How are my online games doing?  Oh yeah, Clash of Clans, anyone?  I still play it because a few close friends and I are in the clan and it’s our social network - we chat about college sports, birds (a couple of us have bird/hummingbird feeders), fitness, and of course, WAAARRR!!!  I’ll be sure to bring my phone with me if there is an ongoing war but that’s about it.
• Photos - what if I miss an interesting opportunity to capture a memory with my love ones?  Honestly, I have yet to truly go back and look at the tens of thousands of photos I’ve taken since the original iPhone.  Most recently, I went to Disneyland and took a few photos.  While I was looking at them, I came across other Disney photos I took while I was there two years ago and found that I took almost identical photos or at the same locations.  Creature of habits I guess.  
• Important thoughts while I am without my phone.  There are times when I think of something and by the time I get home, I forget what it was.  For a while, I thought with my mobile device with me, I can type them into my note taking app.  But then I realized I should really make an effort to remember things.  I’m sure we all have had times when we have thought of something brilliant (not quite eureka moments) or just remember something you have to do.  Again, it is what it is and we just have to try to remember them somehow.

This past weekend, I went to the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.  I got there often and 9 out of 10 times, I bring my iPhone with me to take photos.  I did not this time.  I had my Apple Watch with me to record my health stats (steps, calories) and to close the circles (it’s Apple’s way of allowing watcher wearers achieve daily goals).  I was totally fine.  The gardens mostly look the same and I’ve taken thousands of photos there.  The trees too.  Nothing new since the start of the pandemic more than a year ago.  And I found it to be very liberating.  As a said above, my watch has cellular service but for some reason, it was not working while I was there the whole time.  When I finally managed to get it to work, only one message came through from a local store offering a discount on their pizza.

And no anxiety whatsoever while I was enjoying the evening stroll there.  Six months ago, I think I would be anxious about getting home to see what I miss or if I had an important call during that time.  Afterwards, instead of going straight home, we went to get gas for the car.  Then we came back and parked it and went out to get ice cream.  Six months ago, I might have made an excuse about how I need to use the bathroom to go inside and check on the phone.  Not this past weekend.

Try it.  It’s okay.  We are not so special that if we miss a couple of calls or texts or app notifications that the world will fall apart.  The world does not revolve around us and your world certainly should not resolve around your phone.  Just remember to bring a small notebook and pen for when you have important thoughts you like to write down.  Not recommended for showering though.

Apple Watch Can Benefit With Nap Tracking (Sleep)

As someone who can easily fall asleep, I do not have an understanding of people who have difficulty falling asleep are unable to get a good night’s sleep.  I was not always like this.  When I was young, falling asleep did not come easy for me.  Now that Apple Watch has had sleep tracking since WatchOS 7, it is perhaps one of the most undervalued features that I think most users ignore.  On weekends, I do like to nap and maybe it is a feature Apple should add in future OS upgrades.

As I said above, sleeping comes easy for me.  I keep pretty much alert as anyone else during the day.  I prep for bed around 10 and hit the pillow by 11.  I set my watch to wake up around 6 AM but I tend to get up around 4:30.  It’s not a full 7-8 hours of sleep.  During COVID, I did not sleep longer because I do not save time commuting since my work is within a 10 minute walk.

As you can see here, my sleep is quite consistent.  Oh yeah, the Apple Watch mentioned as much.  On weekends, I like to nap if I happen to be at home with nothing to do.  During this July 4th weekend, my Saturday was very free.  I had gone for a run in the morning, the house was cleaned last week, and I did not have a lot of chores.  Sitting on the couch after lunch, I dozed off for a good two hours.  

If I can go back and add some sleep minutes, that would be a nice feature to have on the Apple Watch or have it automatically ask if I had been napping based on my heart rate and lack of movements of my body.  

It’s too late for WatchOS 8 to have a napping feature.  However, Apple has gone step further with sleep tracking in the upcoming OS.  Now, sleep tracking includes respiratory tracking through the Apple Watch 6’s ability to track movement and oxygen rate in the blood.  

I’m still trying to understand now sleep tracking helps people get a better night’s sleep.  It’s a subject I would like to study a bit more in-depth.  As someone who would like to get the most out of my waking hours, if I can use the sleep metrics to help me do that, I would be very interested.  

I would appreciate any suggestions.

Coding Adventures - Coding A Choose Your Own Adventure App

 Update on my coding adventure:

It's been busy. Good busy but even that can get a little much at times.  So, I've started a process that I use for my personal life and work for my adventures into learning to code and coming up with something  remotely useful.

First, Python.  I did lessons on variables, strings, booleans, and loops. I am still chugging along.  I’ve done list else where and touched on functions. With the long weekend coming (BTW, happy Fourth of July, everyone and stay safe), I have plenty of time to hack away at beginner projects.  And I like writing so I thought I would try a basic text adventure.  

It has not been easy for me since I’m juggling work, family, and trying to work on the garden and yard, not to mention other projects.  I’ve been using a personal 10-minute rule.

So, the 10-minute rule is where I stop all work early before the end of the day and I write down important points and I need to do the next time.  It has been quite effective and I find myself lost if I go too long without doing this mental exercise. I do it for my personal/family life and I do it for work.  

I’ve started doing one just for coding and the last couple of days, I find myself being able to hit the ground running when I get back into it. Right now, I’ve given myself 150 days to really do some damage, if you will, in the coding world - really put what I learn into it.

Swift - this has been going slower because I just have not put in the time to do it.  Honestly, it’s about me being too comfortable and complacent. 

With iPadOS 15 beta, I read that Apple will allow coders to submit apps to the App Store.  I’m frankly very excited about this on so many levels.  First, there is a future when a Mac is no longer needed and users only need an iPad to do development.  And second, I’m more of an iPad fan and there is simply no hard choice on that front.  Even now, I only use my MacBook for work because of Excel.  And third and lastly, I enjoy the mobility the iPad provides.

I just installed iPadOS this week so I’m very excited about the new features, particularly Playground and Swift.  I’ll be back to report on my progress.

If you’re interested in joining me on your own coding adventure, it’s never too late to start.  

Apple Watch - Rethinking Challenges and Goals

 I've been an Apple Watch user stating with the 2nd generation.  It is Apple's first mobile device that I did not jump on right away - I was an enthusiastic user of the original iPhone and iPad.  For some reason, it just was not for me.  And the second generation was not for me but I got it as a gift.  Before that, I was a Fitbit user if not a happy Fitbit user.  But I decided to give Apple Watch 3 a go and I'm now a believer.  It is largely due to the more mature apps, especially the fitness app and features.  It has been a while since Apple has made changes to the rings of goals and I'm hoping Apple will do that soon.

I look at the Fitness app on the Watch every day that I have the watch on my wrist.  And probably a few dozen times a day to see where I am.  It's great.  I am comfortable setting my goals at 700 calories, 30 minutes of workout, and getting up 12 times a day.  It took a while for me to decide this is what works for me - it is achievable, it makes me work for it, and it also makes me struggle a bit especially at the end of the day when I am still coming up short.  But there are two additions I like Apple to add to this.

I like another ring to be added.  And this ring can be set by the user.  Certainly, there is enough room on the watch for Apple's developers to add another ring.  Even two.

See that middle of black space within the blue ring?  That nothingness?  Apple can certainly make the rings thinner for another ring and a features to fill out the middle.  Maybe like solid circle that fills up as the user gets closer to that goal.  

And what would users like to use these custom goals for?  I like a steps per day goal.  I'm sure by now, everyone knows about the arbitrary 10,000 steps per day goal.  My goal is around 11,000 steps a day (I'm around 11,500 days a day average so far this year).

Perhaps, the number of stairs per day is a worthy goal to pursue.  Hours of sleep, ounces of water intake, minutes of mediation, or workouts.  These are just some that I easily thought of that I think many users would be interested in. And smarter readers like yourself could certainly think of other things that I have not considered as goals that would be of interest to users should Apple ever allow users to determine goals for additional rings.

One other thing about the Apple Watch I like is the ability to challenge other users.  Here are some thoughts about this I would like to see Apple implement.  A couple of weeks ago, I was challenged by someone.  And what Apple used to determine the winner is the how many percentage points is earned by the user at the end of seven days.

I like to see more challenge features.  

• Allow users to set the number of days.  The current seven-day challenge is prety good but that mgiht be too long for some users or some users might want more days to go up against another.
• Ability to challenge yourself.  This might not be as much as a challenge as a need for Apple to help users track how their fitness and workout is progressing or lack there of.  Some of the data are in the Health app on the iPhone which makes it not easily accessible for any use other than for me to see how I did last week, last month, or the past year.  All that information should be made available for use like a self-challenge game.  I'm doing a lot of tracking on my Numbers sheet but it would be a nice feature use that info so can instantly know how I'm doing against myself.  
• Having a friend who you can challenge is great.  So is the self-challenge above. I like to see challenges expanded to data collated by Apple against someone in my age group, sex, and similar physical activity.  Make this available on Game Center would be neat as well.

We are still in the infancy of the wearable revolution and Apple will likely evolve and update the Apple watch fitness app with more features with each passing year.  I think all the features I would like to see are really low hanging fruits that Apple can easily implement.  And perhaps, Apple has other features in store that will blow away any of these features I want. Either way, I would not want to miss this boat with each watch and WatchOS update.

Coding Journey: Start Simple But Aim Higher Than “Hello, World” and Other Important Lessons

 My coding journey is still ongoing.  And I’m close to writing an app beyond what I’m learning on online classes and tutorial apps.  One lesson I learn is that patience is very much needed.  A lot of patience. And if you keep at it, you will have a breakthrough in terms of speaking the code language.  And while patience is paramount, make sure to aim higher than doing exercise on playgrounds.

Everyone starts with “Hello, World”. We all get pass that and then things could get complicated from there if you approaching learning to code incorrectly.  That’s right.  Expect a lot of time trying to figure things out even in the beginning.  

Here are a few lessons I picked up:

• You’ll be asked to write something like “print(“Hello, World”).  Go beyond that.  Between the quotations, writing anything other than “Hello, World”.  What city do you like to move to?  Country?  Replace “World” with Los Angeles or Seattle or the Shire.  This quickly makes the code yours.  It’s a small step but take it because it’s something more real.
• I don’t want to rehash what I have learned but you know you have gained knowledge when you’re ready to pass it on.  I’m not a computer scientist so I’ll speak the language of a commoner.  If you can rethink or rephrase what you just learn into a language you speak, you get it.
• Go back again and again. You have no idea how many times I’ve watched some lessons over and over again.  Go back over the lesson you just went through 
• Exercises are important.  I’ve done all that I need and sometimes it’s not enough so I do google and see what other examples that are out there that I can incorporate into what I just learn. 
• Prepare to invest a vast amount of time into learning to code.  Look, I’ve read and heard about people who have no coding experience coding an awesome app within a month.  I’m not saying that its impossible but I’m saying that it will not be the case for most of us.  Those folks who developed new apps that Apple brought on to demo likely got a lot of helps from Apple engineers.  You and I likely do not have access to those kinds of resources. We have online courses, maybe books, and, oh, search engines.
• Don’t give up.  More importantly, do not let too many days and certainly not weeks pass before going into the next lesson.  You’re going to forget things and be forced to relearn things because you’ve forgotten.  Last week, I did go through four days between lessons. During that time, I went over in my head things that I learned so I do not have any sort of set backs. 
• Ask for help,  I had a chance to corner a software developer friend and asked all sort of questions in person.  The wonders of all of us being vaccinated.  I learned a lot but I also learned that I knew squat.  Not quite squat but there is a lot I have to learn.  

Why am I doing this?  Personal enrichment is at the top but certainly with coding to add to my resume, it could not hurt.  More importantly, I think coding is certainly indispensable regardless of which field you work in.  Finance, law, the sciences, liberal arts, or you working in a mine or serve drinks at a bar.  Many of us cook (sort of) but we are not professional chefs.  It’s like that.

Next, I’ll be back with more detailed progress on my coding adventure.  If you’re going to join me, please do and let’s share our experiences and move forward together.

My Coding Journey - Cannot Wait For The Snowball Effect

 I am waiting for the snowball effect for when I need to solves a problem, I can fire up the Python IDE or Xcode and hack away. From what I’m reading online, that is about 4-6 weeks away is I continue at the pace I’m on. For now, I’m experiencing a different snowball effect: really doubling down on learning how to code and hope this will expand my skill sets for work but, more important, personally.

For the last week, I put in time for Python with online contents, exercises, videos, and experiments with what I’ve learned. I find Python easier than Swift for the moment. What I’ve realized is the importance of having a fundamental understanding of coding. That will cut back on a lot of growing pains later on and avoid wasting time. 

I am giving self self 14 days until I start writing own own apps. I think I can do it sooner. 

Anyway, back to work.