AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

 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 ...

 When we think of health these days, we have plenty of options and tools available to us to stay health, lose or maintain weight, or other health related goals we have.  In the Apple world, the most obvious one is the Apple Watch.  Before that, we have the iPhone with its ability to count steps and GPS to let us know how far we have walked, ran, or rode.  Today, with the different sizes of iPhones available to us, only the iPhone mini is the perfect choice for  There are plenty of apps with the sole goal of achieving better health.  How much water to consume, what to eat, and much more.  Some apps even duplicate what the Apple Watch does very well - measure your heart rate.  The iPhone 12 mini, the regular iPhone 12, and the two iPhone Pro models all do that very well because they can run all these same apps.   However, only the mini does all of these and is easier to carry around on the go.   This is obvious - the mini is smaller than a...

 At the latest Apple event on April 20th, this past Tuesday, I was looking forward to a new iPad mini but Apple totally went in another direction. I was expecting an iPad mini. Instead, Apple went for power and updated the iPad Pro with its most power chip, the M1 that currently powers the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.. Now, I fully expect Apple to upgrade the iPad mini later this year also with the M1 while it migrates everything else to the M2. However, I have picked up learning to code again and I am doing it part time on my MacBook and iPad mini 5. And I’m having a blast. Now, I’m not sure I’ll be upgrading later this year when Apple does release an M1 powered iPad mini.  Working on Python, I realized for my current level of the language and what I plan on doing with it, I can do what I need with just what’s available to iPad OS.  And at the same time, I discovered that I could do Swift exercises using the playground module on Apple’s Playgrounds app that Apple develop...

 Do you remember what the UMPC is?  It's the ultra-mobile PC from 2000s before the iPad was released by Apple.  The UMPC was a light weight PC that ran mostly Windows and had a battery life of 5 hours.  Real world use was obvious very disappointing as the class of PC did not live up to its aspirations.   When it was first introduced, along with a few upbeat commercials that claim we have finally be delivered to the mobile promise land, I was very skeptical.  I owned both Windows laptops and Powerbooks from Apple through college and I know what power and battery life was like in real life.  Luckily at the time, the time I needed to tax my computers was when I was playing games.  Excel work and plotting graphs were easy enough for the computers to handle with data from lab work.   When I did have to do photo editing, I did it on the Powerbook if I had to but I had access to the PowerMacs of the time in the late 90s. Through the 2000s, processin...

There are a couple of reports in the last few months about how the iPhone 12 mini is not selling well and Apple has been cutting back its productions even as the iPhone 12 and the pro versions are flying off the shelves.  It is disheartening to say the least but I think it is too early to write off the mini considering. I have written about the mini a few times since I got it.  I enjoy reading reviews about it since they're mostly very positive.  For those us who do own it, I am sure I'll have a hard time finding someone who isn't happy with it.  Sure, I would not mind having a longer battery life but since I'm home bound due to COVID, I have not found myself worrying about charging it up.  And if rumors are true, I'll be the first in line for the Apple MagSafe battery.   One thing you want to keep in mind about the mini despite smaller form factor (of course, smaller but not so small screen) is that on the size, it is every bit an iPhone 12 as its bigger s...

MacObserver pointed out a security risk on an app called Call Recorder that allow conservations to be stolen.  I'm not user of this app so I cannot say whether this is some sort of a trojan app that is allowing some nefarious groups or governments steal calls.  But I can say for sure that this would be high on the wishlist of an iOS update to record Facetime audio for podcasting purposes. Why would Apple allows such a feature?  Simple.  Privacy.  If this is implemented only for Facetime, it would do many things for Apple users, least of which, is the assurance that their calls are private.  Before each call can be recorded, everyone connected on the call should give their consent.  Those who do not will simply have their audio muted. On top of that, this would have a wide range of private and commercial uses - calls for posterity for users. I occasionally record FaceTime calls with my baby niece and nephew.  Adorable, right?  And how about th...

 Source:   Apple . In November, Apple released new Macs based on its own chip, a move way from Intel forever, that has long-term disruption to the Mac market for years to come.  Essentially, the M1 is based on the design that has been powering the iPhone and iPad for years now.  The difference is that the M1 was designed for the Mac.  The late 2020 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and the Mac mini is just a taste of what is to come.  And judging by media coverage, reviews, and general excitement, people are loving what they see.   Overlooked is what it means for the Mac market in the long term.   These new Macs were barely on sale before fans are talking about the M1X, presumably the next M1 upgrade that may power MacBooks with bigger screens and the iMac.  Oh, and you have to throw M2 into the mix of what Mac fans are excited about.   M1, M2, or M5.  Consider this.  Whenever new iPhone comes out, Apple has kept around some of th...