AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

 "Make it so," Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation starship, the USS Enterprise, commanded in his familiar British accent even though he's French because, I did not know this, that by the 24th Century, French was became an obscure language. My hope is that Picard can just as easily command the USS Cupertino to get their engineering team finally allow MacOS work on any iPad with the M1 chips and beyond because it makes sense, it is doable, it is in high demand, and it will make Apple a lot of money.  One reason why I do not think Apple is ready for MacOS to run on an iPad is the experience - there are some UI issues that Apple needs to work out for touch interface. Of course, like most Mac users and increasingly iPad users as well, we have been using our iPad with a keyboard and mouse.  I have used Windows 10 and 11 on a HP laptop for work and half the time, I do not even remember that the screen has touch features. And I hesitate to use it because of smudges and it ...

It's been a while since I've visited the 12" MacBook. Based on what I have been reading and doing some light research, I think the M1 on a 12" MacBook would not have been feasible but a 4nm M2 chip would be just what Apple is looking for in order to release a 12" MacBook.  I'm currently working on this post using my very old 2016 MacBook. It's old. It works fine for the most part but the keyboard is not going to last much longer, maybe another year, and the battery life is not what it used to be. I had thought about getting the MacBook Air with the M1 but given all the rumors about a redesign, I decided to wait. And meanwhile, it'll give me a chance to fulfill my promise to myself to use  my MacBook to become a proficient coder, content creator (being dabbling with Youtube video, animations, and blogging.  One of the reasons I went with a 12" MacBook early on instead of a MacBook Air or a Pro was that I thought I was going to write on it for a va...

 Do you talk to yourself sometimes? I do. I talk to myself sometimes. Perhaps, I should talk to myself more often. The best way to do this in the mobile world is through texting yourself. That’s what I do on my iPhone with Messages. It could probably be done with any other app you choose to use. And it has been a great help in helping me keep track of some things while allow me to quickly post thoughts that I don’t want to forget the moment I walk into the house or out the the shower. In essence, my messaging app has become my default personal and private (as much as I can keep it that way) feed for my daily life.  I have included locations that I’ve been to that I want to revisit, where I parked my car, and where I want to visit for the first time. I have also posted links to things that I want to check out later that day. Other things that I have messaged myself includes quotes, ideas, things I want to consider more in-depth or research, and reminders. I get that there are a...

 Today, Bloomberg was leaked by someone at Apple that the iPhone maker is still trying to become an iCar maker (I am pretty sure Apple's car will not be called the iCar) by trying to leapfrog competitors in a 4-5 years time frame. The thing about this is that it seems more of a plausible leak of Apple's actual plan rather than those spread by "sources" who in the past really does not seem to know what Apple's plans really are. While it is typical for Apple car rumors to surface a couple of of times a year to give the stock a jolt upward, it is also typical for rumors of trouble from Asian sources that Apple cut iPhone production in the January quarter to drive the Apple's stock price down, what makes this leak more news worthy is that it seems to be what I think about how Apple will engineer and release a car.  Apple is going to where no car company has gone before - a fully autonomous vehicle that require no direct control from a driver. If true, it will achi...

I miss the original iPhone SE (it is the same as the iPhone 5) a lot as I am sure many other iPhone users do as well. While the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 mini are decent replacements as far as sizes go, there is nothing like the feather weight SE that easily slide into pockets and bags. So, I want to explore what the chances are that the 4” screen iPhone with its 4.87” x 2.31” size ever make a comeback? In my mind, it is complicated - I would not bet on it but I do believe that the chances of it happening are better than anyone realizes. Until that happens, we can only imagine what such an iPhone SE would be like. Look-wise, an imaginary iPhone SE with the original form factor would look pretty much the same as far as the size is concerned. If Apple keeps the screen size the same at 4”, it means we will have a home button with Touch ID. To keep costs down, it will not have FaceID.  If anything, Apple would likely increase the screen size to about 4.5” that would encompass the surface...

I know, the title here makes no sense to some. The iPad mini is tablet. The iPhone Pro Max is more of the Swiss army knife of the mobile world - it can do a lot. You can do a lot with it on the go. The Max can do it all. It is why is has garnered the most attention year after year during Apple events. The Max is the device that is evident from the billions of R&D Apple poured into it. While that is great, I think it is time to evaluate its use from consumption and productivity points of view. And in my mind, even my iPad mini 5 and the just released 2021 iPad mini has a lot to bring to the gaming, reading and viewing videos for content consumption while productivity is where is shines for a vast majority of users.  I guess I'm suggesting that unless you need the latest and best of the Max features, the iPad mini brings a lot to the game and could be the option to go with if you're looking for a device with a bigger screen than the Max but not quite want to carry around the ...

 I figure I need a MacBook for coding.  As I continue my slow coding trek, I assumed that I need a Mac in order to do that. However, I’m still at the level where I can get away with a Mac while I use online sources and apps to beef up my coding muscles. This week is going to prove it. I will be having a change of scenery as I am staying closer to work so we do not have to suffer the Los Angeles traffic. LA is flat and you have to drive pretty much everywhere you go. This morning, I packed my wife’s MacBook Air, I was about to put my 12” Macbook into my bag when I realized that I have been doing a lot of work on the iPad mini and the iPad Pro over the weekend.  Over the weekend, I did the following in terms of productivity: Research products Sketched some artwork Writing Used Numbers (Apple’s spreadsheet) and Google Sheets (Google’s spreadsheet) Worked on online store (Yup, starting a hobby to learn how e-commerce works.  What better way than to create an online store...