Category: Apple

And by this, I mean being so impressed by something I saw at an Apple Keynote that I ran out and ordered it the moment it became available. Okay, we all know I'm a bit of a fanboy when it comes to Apple—a fanboy not afraid to call them out on their bullshit when I see it, to be sure—but during today's reveal of the new MacBook Pros, I was squealing like a 12-year-old schoolgirl. Could it be they finally listened to their customers?

Yes, I know there are more important things going on in the world right now, but I have the available funds, and after this past year if I can find something to help clear those dark clouds that are still hanging over my head since November, why the fuck not?

UPDATE 10/19: I canceled the order for the 16-inch model this morning. I was concerned about the weight and the extra real estate the beast would occupy, not only on my desk at home but also at work. (Yes, I take my personal computer to work.) It would also mean buying a new Timbuk2 bag since it would definitely not fit in the one I just bought about a month ago. I immediately ordered the 14-inch model with the identical specs as the 16 I originally ordered. Delivery date was pushed out another week, but I can live with that.

I'll admit it. When I first abandoned Microsoft in 2009 and moved over to Apple, I was one of those guys.

And while I still think Apple is doing a better job than Microsoft in the overall personal computing environment, as the years have passed, more and more cracks in the armor are appearing. I still recommend MacOS over Windows when asked, but as I've written before, Ben and I are quite fond of turning to each other and saying, "It just WORKS!" when something Apple-related doesn't.

I used to look forward to their special events—the gatherings of the faithful at the Altar of Steve Jobs—as it were, when new products would be announced, but while I still make time to log on to watch the proceedings, it's without the sense of excitement I used to feel. Now it's more often than not done with the full understanding that I will be disappointed.

Today's event, "California Streaming," was no exception. I knew there weren't going to be any new MacBook Pros (my main source of love for Apple) announced, but even what was announced didn't make me want to rush out and buy anything new.

Yes, there's a new iPad and a new iPad mini; the Series 7 Apple Watch, and of course, the almighty iPhone 13. I couldn't give a rat's ass about the iPads. I have a perfectly serviceable one from years ago that gets used rarely. I had been hoping for squared-off edges on the new watch (reminiscent of the iPhone 12), something that would have enticed me to upgrade, but alas…that did not happen. And the new fitness features exclusive to the new watch? Have you seen my physique?

I will probably get the 13 Pro later this year. Ben and I are both on a plan with our carrier that allows us to swap the devices out once a year, and while there's nothing wrong with my 12, I have been regretting not getting the 12 Pro almost from day one because of the better camera it possesses. Granted, I don't take anywhere near the number of photos I used to take pre-COVID, but I might be inspired to at some point and would like to be able to use the features that are exclusive to that model.

It's up to Beta 6, so that's a good indicator (at least for me) that it's stable enough to start using on the daily. I haven't run into any issues, but I cloned my drive to an external before I installed it…just to be safe. (I learned my lesson many years ago.)

I know there are dozens of changes and improvements, but frankly…I don't notice a huge change from Big Sur. Maybe it's because I keep my system pretty slimmed down and don't tweak a lot of the stuff that tends to break in these betas. Or maybe I'm just not that observant.

And the Safari tabs scandal? Whatever, dude. As long as they work (and they do) I won't get my panties in a bunch over how they're displayed.

Everything else I use daily is working just fine. Things seem a little snappier, but that could just be my impression because it's got a fresh coat of paint.

It was time.  I hope I don't ultimately regret my decision.

After the third and last butterfly keyboard replacement on my 2016 MacBook Pro about a year and a half ago, everything had been working well until a few months ago. Between battery life having dropped to less than four hours (on a good day), the weekly need to offload files from a too-small drive and the near constant beach balls I'd suffer through on a daily basis, I knew the day was coming that the machine would have to be replaced. I had been hoping to hold off until fall, when Apple is expected to release  completely redesigned MacBook Pros with 14- and 16-inch screens, mag-safe power connections, and the return of most of the ports it had removed in the 2016 models, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that something had to give, and sooner rather than later.

Ben was suffering similar problems with his 2017 machine, and out of the blue last week he came home with a new M1 MacBook Air. I have to admit I was a little jealous. The keyboard alone was such an improvement over that butterfly piece of shit that alone was worth me getting a replacement. Since Apple was willing to give me $460 in trade for the old machine, it was a no-brainer for me to pull the trigger and buy something new—even if I was going to end up losing 2 USB ports in the process.

I did not get an Air. The M1 Air is nice, but I'm not a huge fan of the wedge shape. I had an Air back in 2011, and while I didn't hate it, I felt like I had to handle it with kid gloves because the display was so damn thin. So I ordered a slightly upgraded M1 MacBook Pro. I opted for 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD in case I'm not blown away by what Apple releases in the fall and end up keeping this machine for the next four to five years.

I've had it for a couple days now, and I while I didn't notice much of a speed increase at first, once everything got indexed, some things are now happening much faster. That does not include Adobe Bridge (which is actually slower in generating thumbnails), but it's not a native M1 application so it's running through the Rosetta 2 emulator and Bridge has always been a big steaming pile of crap to begin with, regardless of the platform it's running on.

The keyboard is a joy. I've yet to hear the fans kick in (even with Bridge, which in the past had been the biggest offender), and it stays absolutely cool to the touch.

"Oh, you mean it's repairable?"

H/T to Sean for that.

Ready for Prime Time

Every year I do the same thing. I jump on the macOS beta train, bitch about what a mess it is, uninstall it, and finally end up returning to it shortly before it's released to the public.

This year was no different. I threw caution to the wind and installed Beta 10 on my main drive a few weeks ago. There were some issues, but nothing I wasn't able to eventually iron out. Then there was RC1 (formerly known as the "Gold Master" edition.) At this point everything was running smoothly, so like a lot of other Macolytes, I eagerly awaited the release of the official, production OS. I took myself out of the beta program but knowing the final product wasn't due to be released until the 12th, for shits-n-giggles I checked for updates after Tim's little presentation anyway.

What? Another beta update? I wasn't even in the program any more, so I couldn't understand why I was being offered RC2. But whatever. It was probably the same as the one that would be released anyway, so I went ahead and installed it. No problems.

Then of course, yesterday Big Sur was released officially. RC2's version number was 20B28. The final was 20B29, so they weren't identical, but probably close enough that I'd never run into a situation where it would make any difference.

Unlike for a lot of people, my experience downloading and upgrading went off without a hitch.

Everything works as it should; even Avast, which was giving me grief on the beta.

Yes, some of the icons are still butt-ugly and in places it looks like the UI was designed by first-year graphics students, but it's not a deal breaker; certainly not worth giving up all the positive aspects of the new interface.

Would I recommend an upgrade? Maybe, maybe not depending on what you use your Mac for. For browsing, blogging, email and watching porn, it's probably a safe bet if you want a brand new coat of paint on your experience. If you're involved in multimedia editing, I understand there are still some incompatibilities between Big Sur and some well-known audio hardware and software, so in that case you might want to hold off.

 

Because while we wait for the final vote count to come in, I got nothin'…

Okay, I'm sure you're wondering what am I doing in an Apple Store in the middle of a pandemic when the number of infected individuals is slowly creeping up again?

As I wrote about last week (gawd, was it only last week?!), I received my Apple Watch.

I ordered it with a size 10 solo loop band, after revising it from a size 9 while waiting for the order to be processed. (Apple's measuring tool is not particularly accurate, despite what they claim.)

The 10 is snug. Perhaps a bit too snug. After a few days it was starting to itch, and soon I was breaking out.

It was either too tight or the silicone material itself was the issue. Since I had the option of first exchanging it for a different size, I thought I could just walk into an Apple Store and do this.

I was already in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd just drop in to the Apple Store at Arrowhead mall.

But no. There was that whole pandemic thing going on.

And there were appointments available until the next day.

Reluctantly I headed home, and once there tried calling Apple Support to see if they could just send a new size out. (You know, place a hold on a credit card and only charge it if the replacement doesn't get shipped back.) But this being Apple, well… you know how that went.

After a half hour on the phone and ultimately being told I needed to call Sales and not Support, I was less than thrilled at this "new" pandemic-era Apple.

So I called Sales. Twice. (Because at this point I wasn't trusting anything I was being told.) "You'll have to make an appointment to meet with an associate in store."

So I went online and booked an appointment for the following evening at the regular store we go to, Scottsdale Quarter.

TLDR, I walked out of the store with the same band I walked in with. The size 11 band was too loose, and was forcing me to unlock the watch constantly. While more comfortable, it made the health-tracking aspects (the reason I bought the watch to begin with) unusable.

While there I tried on the sport loop and it worked for me. No metal clasp, and fit nicely with my aesthetic (although I still preferred the solid navy of the solo loop). BUT—because there's always a but—they didn't have my first—or even second—color choice in stock.

So we left.

Strangely, my first choice color combo was available to order, so while I would've preferred just to do an even exchange, I knew damn well I wouldn't be able to go even a few more days since I was breaking out. So I bit the bullet, and ordered it. It delivered the next day.

My skin is no longer breaking out, so it was definitely worth the expense. And it's so comfortable sometimes I don't even realize I'm wearing it.

I stopped wearing watches a decade ago. The reason was twofold: the clasp on the watchband was scratching my brand new MacBook when I was typing, and with the arrival of cell phones, there really wasn't a need for something on my wrist when I simply had to pull my phone out to see what time it was. It wasn't exactly a subtle or elegant solution when you're wondering when that interminable could've-been-an-email meeting you were stuck in was going to end, but soon even pulling out a cell phone in those situations became socially acceptable, totally negating the need for an additional appliance.

To be honest, being somewhat of a fanboy, when the Apple Watch first came out, I was intrigued. Ultimately, however, I found the device too thick, it still had a wristband with a clasp, and I just couldn't justify the price-to-usefulness ratio, especially since my phone now did pretty much everything I needed it to do when away from my laptop.

My attention returned to the Watch when I developed the need to start seeing a cardiologist for my blood pressure a couple years ago. Even though the watch didn't monitor blood pressure (I'm holding out hope it will at some point), I nonetheless saw the always-on heart monitor as a very useful tool. For that reason alone, Ben has been urging me to pick one up (he's worn an Apple Watch since 2015), but I still couldn't justify the cost.

That changed about six weeks ago when Series 6 was released and the device now included a pulse oximeter and had an available wristband that didn't have a clasp! And that blue color? OMG. I was sold.

But still I hesitated.

After letting all this percolate in my head for a few days, one evening I went online and saw that the particular configuration I liked was available for immediate pickup at one of the local Apple Stores. I almost pulled the trigger, but—ignoring the little voice in my head—didn't.

After sleeping on it, the next day I woke, deciding to throw caution to the wind and go for it. I figured I could always return it for a full refund within Apple's 14-day window if I didn't like it. I went online to order for pickup at that store and…it no longer available. In fact, it was no longer available at any store in the entire state of Arizona. Well, damn! That's what I get for ignoring my intuition.

I went ahead and placed an order for delivery, and after a month's wait (it was shipped directly from China) the Watch arrived yesterday.

Last night Ben asked me if I was happy with my purchase.

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Meh. It's a watch. I like that it monitors my heart…and it is gorgeous."

Will I keep it? Yes. While I'm not to the point yet that I've taken any unexpected falls (unlike his mom), I have fall detection turned on, and along with the other health-monitoring aspects, it gives us both peace of mind.

And it is pretty. Damn pretty…especially with that watch face.

 

…this happened.

As long as I get the old phone returned to Verizon in a timely fashion, this was essentially an even trade on our current plan.

The blue is definitely an interesting color. It's not exactly what I was expecting, but then again, it's nothing I can't live with. There wasn't anything wrong with my old phone; I did this to get back to the squared off corners and ditch the need for a case on the thing just so I wouldn't drop it.

Is it faster? Does it take better pictures? How's the 5G working?

To be honest, I haven't noticed any major speed differences. I'm a basic bitch when it comes to my phones. I don't do any gaming or video recording/editing, so any purported speed increase is being lost on me.

I haven't taken many photos yet, so we'll have to wait and see if they're any better than what I'd been getting previously. This is still the base model, so I'm not going to be seeing all the whiz-bang effects that are touted for the Pro or Pro Max models anyway.

5G? I can't get any consistent readings via Speedtest. If 5G is set to ON (vs. Auto) in iOS, it's reporting at best 33.4 Mbps down and 6.1 up. Alternately, if set it to Auto, I get 12.7 down and 3.6 up. If I turn off 5G altogether and select LTE, it's testing at 31.8 down and 5.03 up. So I guess this confirms the initial reaction Ben and I had when it was announced these phones would do 5G: "Don't care."

Undeterred by my experience two weeks ago, I took the plunge again yesterday and committed myself to beating macOS Big Sur into submission.

Why? Why not wait until it's officially released? To be honest, boredom more than anything else. And I always love a challenge, especially when it comes to misbehaving software.

I traced the flickering screen problem back to cDock, and more specifically it's "helper," a handy little program that I've been using for years to change the Apple Boring dock to something a little more interesting—including previous OS versions. Once I uninstalled it, the system booted normally and the flashing screen disappeared.

Then I was faced with a couple other things not working. Bartender 3 told me it was incompatible with Big Sur, but still offered the option to load on startup. (Okay, whatever.) So I uninstalled 3 and upgraded to Bartender 4 (beta). Nag screen gone.

Then there was Avast. None of the shields would load, so I just uninstalled it and left that for another day.

I did some searching regarding the cDock issue and saw that a new version had been released that was "compatible with macOS Big Sur." Upgraded and installed.

Big mistake. Sure, the flashing screen was gone, but when logging in the entire screen would go black for anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes.

Uninstalled.

Everything else seemed to work normally. Yeah, most of the new icons are still butt-fugly, but I know if I really want to go to the trouble, I can harvest the icons from my Catalina backup and substitute them.* I'm not at that point yet and frankly may never be; I'm sure I will just learn to live with the iOSification happening here. Resistance is Futile.

And on the subject of the UI, it seems like the current design team can't decide if they want everything to remain "flat" as it's been since macOS Sierra or return to the skeuomorphism of the Scott Forstall years, so overall it's a hot mess. I know Jony Ive was completely burnt out by the time he left Apple, but at least things under his design leadership were consistent. (Sometimes consistently bad, but at least consistent.)

One interesting "oopsie" I stumbled upon when starting up Sensei (a great little app, by the way) is that apparently Big Sur wasn't the first name assigned to this new OS. It appears it was originally…

Yup. Cupertino.

Were they going to use a flyover photo of the spaceship for the default wallpaper? [Shudder.]

I forwarded this tidbit to Apple. Let's see if it's fixed by the time the final product ships.

It's taking me a bit to adjust to the new dialog boxes and whatnot. It hasn't brought me to an operational standstill, but I find myself actively searching for some of the most basic of functions that used to almost be a part of muscle memory. They seem to have adopted the Microsoft mantra of moving stuff around because they can.

But you know, other than the few aforementioned glitches, everything seems to be working okay; a definite improvement over the state this beta was in a few months ago. Should you upgrade? It's really up to you. There are a few new features (graphic and otherwise) that I do like. I haven't noticed anything in particular that's missing, so that's always a positive. Some things seem faster, some things seem slower. In other words, another day with Apple ending in Y.

*Turns out I can't substitute the icons either by directly replacing them in the application or by dragging and dropping, probably because these apps are on the locked down system partition.

I've been playing with the macOS Big Sur betas on an external drive from the moment the first one became available. Much like the graphic overhaul that was done with Sierra, Big Sur is redesigning the user interface from the ground up. The difference this time is that there is no Jony Ive at the helm, and the results are—in my humble opinion—butt ugly. Early on I knew there would be inconsistencies and things that just didn't look right, but considering we're now up to Beta 9, these bits of flotsam and jetsam should've been swept away.

Sadly, there have not been, and the once-elegant Mac UI is starting to look like it was designed by disparate groups of first year graphic design students who don't like each other, much less speak to each other.

There are certain things about the new OS that I do like. Certain little tweaks that were mirrored on iOS that I am looking forward to putting into use on my Mac. Unfortunately, since the external drive I load these betas on isn't as large as the drive in the Mac, I can't recreate my profile and transfer all my data to test out in a real world environment.

So yesterday afternoon I decided to throw caution to the wind. I cloned my main hard drive and installed the latest beta directly on my laptop.

All I can say is I'm glad I made that backup.

I didn't experience any issues updating the OS, but when I logged in and things started loading, the screen started flashing and wouldn't stop for nearly a minute. This was not normal, and wasn't anything I'd experienced either while running the OS off an external drive or booting into a different account on the Mac. I knew it be something incompatible in my profile that was trying to load on startup, so I started pulling items one by one but to no avail. When I finally removed everything that was attempting to load on startup and the flashing persisted, I gave up. I completely wiped and drive and restored the cloned image I'd made earlier.

I may try this exercise again at some point, either by doing a virgin install of the OS and restoring my data through Migration Assistant, or with a virgin install, manually installing apps, and transferring my data by hand. But not today. Or even tomorrow.

 

Yes, it's installed on an external drive. I'm crazy, not stupid.

First impressions: it's very pretty. It's fresh. The Yosemite-era UI is now six years old and was looking a little long in the tooth. The new design is probably as radical as the transition was from Mavericks to Yosemite and of course people are already bitching about it; about the "iOSification of macOS." Deal with it. Life marches on and no one's going to force you to upgrade if you don't want to. As to the experience of using it right now, it's rough—very rough. Lots of things are broken/don't work. (Which I've been dutifully reporting back to the mothership as I run across them.) I now understand why it took so long for Apple to release this to the public beta testers. I can't imagine what the earlier developer versions were like.

 

It's not like I woke up this morning and said, "I'm going to buy some ridiculously expensive headphones today," even though they'd been on my radar since they came out a week after I bought my original series 2 AirPods.

I bought a pair for Ben for Christmas, not knowing if he'd actually like them or not. He'd been having so many issues with his own bluetooth earbuds that I figured it couldn't hurt. And since he'd just come back into the Apple fold with a new phone, I knew—based on the experience with my AirPods—they'd work flawlessly. (One of the few "it just works" things about Apple that actually does work the way it's supposed to.) Unfortunately they were on backorder and just finally arrived this past week. At first he didn't want them because of the cost and because he didn't need them. "You take them. You listen to your headphones much more than I do."

Well TLDR, he finally acquiesced to my demands that he keep them and he's loving them. I was still happy with my original AirPods except when I tried to use them in noisy environments (like Starbucks, where they still seem to think the music needs to be at disco volume). The noise cancellation feature—which by all accounts was awesome—was reason enough for me to lust for my own pair. Unfortunately, they've remained on backorder, and the fact no matter when I ordered them they wouldn't arrive until next month was reason enough for me to hold off buying them.

That was, until today. Out of curiosity I went online and checked availability. Still showing next month for a home delivery date, but they were in stock and available for immediate pickup at not just one, but both the Scottsdale Apple stores. We were sitting in Starbucks at the time and I waved to Ben across the table to get his attention  (because the noise cancellation is that good) and after plucking one bud from his ear, I asked, 'Wanna drive over to Scottsdale?"

And the rest, as they say, is history.

UPDATE 1/12: In use, the noise cancellation is AMAZING. It easily blocks out 98% of the horrific music at our local Starbucks.

…I essentially have a brand new computer. (Not that I'm complaining.) You replaced everything except the bottom cover plate and the display? Apple, I know you have more money than God, but how can this possibly be cost effective? Why not just replace the entire machine outright?

And that is exactly what will be happening—per Apple—if the keyboard goes out again within the next six months when my Apple Care finally runs out (and possibly thereafter because of the extended keyboard repair program). This repair (thankfully completely covered) was the third strike.

And did I mention all my holes ports are nice and tight again?

Last week the space bar on my MBP stopped working. Thankfully it was only for a brief period of time, but it was a sign that I needed to get off my ass and get that machine back to Apple for yet another top case/keyboard replacement. In addition, the machine has been "popping" for months. The best way to describe it is the sound an empty plastic drink bottle being squeezed. There's no rhyme or reason to when it pops; sometimes it happens when the machine's cool, sometimes when it's warm. And lastly, the USB ports on either side of the machine have become laughably loose—and whatever's connected randomly loses connection (usually external drives. Annoying.).

I still have about seven months left on my Apple Care, so I knew sooner rather than later I would have to bite the bullet and get the machine in for service. As I've bitched before, it's a huge hassle to part with the machine for the typical 3-5 days it takes Apple to replace this, but thankfully we still have Ben's old 2010 model that I can use while mine is out for repair. It's a [first world problem] pain in the ass to transfer my data now because that machine can't be upgraded to the same OS I'd been running on mine, and—because Apple—you can't utilize the built-in Migration Assistant to seamlessly transfer data from the newer machine to the older.

So I have to go in manually and move stuff. I left Microsoft ten years ago because of this kind of bullshit. But Apple…it just works!

If you count the original exchange of my laptop a week after getting it, this is the fourth time this issue has been addressed, and—per Apple—this would automatically qualify me for a complete machine replacement.  But in Apple's view, this policy is by serial number, so this repair is only the third time now. So…no soup for me!

On the other hand, I was told they're no longer making parts for my 2016 model, meaning I'll probably end up with the newer iteration of the top case containing the (marginally) better butterfly assembly. Still not ideal, but if this replacement craps out before the expiration of my Apple Care, the Genius at Apple told me I'll end up with a new laptop altogether. (A 2019—or if the timing is right, hopefully the hotly-anticipated 2020 model with the scissor keyboard if it comes out by then.)

There was a time when I used to understand macOS's underlying disk structure—admittedly only on a rudimentary level—but now even that is long gone.

The illustration above is so much voodoo and black magic to me.

The other day while in Adobe Bridge I noticed there was a disk icon appearing on "Macintosh HD" called "dev". Not remembering ever seeing this before, I became kind of alarmed. I had unsuccessfully attempted to install the McAfee Security Suite available through Cox (yeah, yeah, I know), and while I thought I'd managed to get it all ripped out afterward, I was concerned that this "dev" drive was an unwelcome remnant.

Interestingly, I couldn't touch it, and it was only visible in Bridge. Even toggling all files visible in Finder it didn't show up. I could log in as Root and manually find it through Terminal, but was still untouchable. I had a full backup from the night before, so I just resolved to restore the entire machine when I got home that night.

Booted into the backup clone drive and lo and behold, it was even there on that drive, a drive that had been completely disconnected when I was messing around with McAfee. Okay, I thought, it's obviously been there a while, leading me to believe it was a glitch with the latest version of Bridge I'd installed a couple days earlier.

I uninstalled Bridge 2020 and reinstalled Bridge 2019, and guess what…it was gone. If I toggled hidden folders in Bridge it showed up, but was otherwise not visible.

Mystery solved. It's a glitch in the Adobe Software. A glitch in a piece of Adobe software?! Color me shocked.

Further research into exactly what this "dev" volume was what led me to the diagram above. Realizing I'd never fully understand why it's there, but knowing it's supposed to be there, I walked away and got on with my life. Much like theoretical physics, the new volume structure in macOS is something I'll never understand.