Editorial

Happy 50th Birthday Apple!

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When I got my first Mac, I have never thought I will become a Mac person, having used Windows my whole life up till entering NUS. The iBook G4 happened to be the cheapest computer available for freshies, so I bought it. That white, overly heavy, yet fun and fresh laptop still remains one of my favorite Macs up till this day, even as it sits in a drawer untouched for years. I hope the LCD still works (LCD displays have a tendency to explode by themselves if you leave them in the Singapore living room weather, this happened to my 2007 MacBook).Then I joined the Mac User Group in NUS, firstly as the VP, and then as the representative and the rest is history.

I never managed to have enough money then to own more than one PowerPC Mac, which is a pity. I always wanted to own a G4 Cube.

Then of course the iPhone came out and suddenly Apple became the company everyone wants to buy their consumer devices from.

Many years of buying Apple devices and keeping up on Apple news eventually resulted in a career shift during COVID-19 where I began working for Apple. Once you start working for the company you admired for a long time often the fantasy ends. Which was not exactly the case for me, I do see more negative aspects of the company and its ways, and while I do not follow Apple news daily any more (more like weekly now), I still remain a strong Apple fanboy. It is almost always better to be Apple’s customer than to be Apple’s employee.

Speaking of which, Tim Cook’s “I promise you celebrations” really meant celebrations for the executive teams and some influencers, as they spent hoards of cash inviting artistes to perform in Apple Stores around the civilized world, but only invite themselves and local influencers. Their worldwide employees? A poster, T-shirt, pin, or what we term as swag, were given to each employee. And Apple often gives out swag, so these are nothing out of the ordinary. For locations with campuses, employees were allowed to join in uneventful beer bashes (small scale rather than big), which is just a bit of free beer and lousy finger food. I guess only Apple employees in Apple Park are actual employees worthy of celebration (Sir Paul). And that is what is negative about an Apple employee, more often than not you are under appreciated and wonder why you toil for the company.

I am no longer an employee, so i hope to continue enjoying their products for the next fifty years at least. Now John Ternus will you please make me my 12 inch MacBook replacement already.

The End of the Mac Pro

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Apple announced that the Mac Pro was being discontinued today.

While I have never been a Mac Pro user (other than using them in school labs and/or at work), and have never owned one, they always had the wow factor for Mac users, and most old school Mac users aspire to own one “eventually”, yet most never do.

The Mac Studio is way more affordable, and definitely fits in with Steve Jobs’ wish for the Pro desktop to be in a small, cube like form factor (the original Power Mac G4 Cube, the 2013 Trash Can Mac Pro even), and always have been where Apple was working towards right from the start.

Even though the naming conventions are now completely different, but 3 laptops and 3 desktops make for a good Mac lineup.

Speaking of Mac Pros, do you know that the 2013 Mac Pros, until very recently, were leading a second life as the core of the system in Apple’s Maps Lookaround imagery data collection vehicles?

Ex-Apple

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I am now officially an ex-Apple employee. 

While I never mentioned it (for obvious reasons), I joined Apple during the height of the pandemic, and fulfilled my lifelong wish of working for Apple. 

The work was good, the experience was fulfilling, and the benefits then were worthwhile (even if the pay is not fantastic, compared to the competition). 

As the pandemic ended, things began to change. Restrictions were increased gradually, benefits were reduced, and the work got dumbed down while the work load doubled. Changes were made to benefit Apple at the expense of employees and IMHO, customers. 

The last year was a pain. 

So I am happy I am out. 

Sometimes it is much better to be an Apple customer than an employee. 

MacRyu.com fell into disrepair during the last few years, due to work restrictions and a general lack of time. I intend to fix the necessary and slowly upgrade the site, all while bringing back my podcasts one by one. 

With a refreshed perspective on all things Apple, I will continue to bring my take on Apple related news and products for the foreseeable future (while not breaking any NDAs). 

Here’s to many more decades of MacRyu.com. 

This Tweet is Pure Genius

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In case you don’t understand the context, here is what happened earlier today.

Fuck DHH. And Spotify and Match Group and Tile. Because they are just nothing more than a bunch of evil, greedy people that the world does not need in this day and age.

Chromeisbad.com

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Loren Brichter, creator of the Tweetie (now Twitter) app and the pull to refresh interaction technique, created Chromeisbad.com days ago, after realising that completely removing Google Chrome and the Chrome Updater (also known as Keystone), solved all the performance issues he had with his MacBook Pro and his family’s iMac.

This is not a new development, it is not a Chrome “bug”. Most seasoned Mac users know that having Chrome installed on your Mac is the modern equivalent of having Norton Antivirus for Mac installed – it basically makes your brand new Mac into a years-old one, and an old Mac into one that seemed like its on the verge of its death. Getting rid of Chrome and Keystone has always been one of our first pieces of advice for anyone having performance issues on macOS.

Keystone, in particular, have been widely reported about in the news outlets for doing nefarious things to the system, being referred to by many (even some very very smart people) as malware. Just a year ago it was responsible for modifying system files that resulted in a large number of production Macs crashing.

If you need a browser that renders like Chrome, aka Chromium browsers, some of the popular ones to try are Brave, Vivaldi and even Microsoft Edge. I personally only use Brave on my Google Pixels and they run way faster than the built in Chrome (the ad blocking is a bonus).

Hit up Chromeisbad.com for the instructions to remove Chrome and especially Keystone, for it will sneakily reinstall itself in different parts of the system if you just delete it in the user library without removing Chrome (or other Google apps).

Have a brand new M1 Mac? Remember, DO NOT INSTALL CHROME.

On Black Friday and the MagSafe Duo

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Screenshot 2020-11-23 at 7.45.31 PM

The Apple product year has largely ended. It is quite unlikely for Apple to make any new product announcements from now until the start of 2021, so the next few weeks are likely to be light on Apple news. You will probably see worsening Covid-19 situations, news of lockdowns, and even mass hysteria episodes, instead of hearing about the AirPods Studio or the Apple Silicon iMac.

This week though, is Black Friday Week. On a certain e-commerce giant’s site in another country, the latest Apple Watches (both Series 6 and SE) are now available for 20% off MSRP. I am not going to get into the how-to of freight forwarding, DuckDuckGo is your friend for that. Seriously, if you are going to focus on only one thing this whole week, focus on getting the best deals from Black Friday. This is a once in a year thing, and everyone needs new toys to cheer up a bit from all the 2020 things.

Remember the MagSafe Duo? People make jokes about how it will end up like AirPower and never show up. But it is a extremely simple device. It is no different from making a dual-pad Qi charger or a Qi charger with an integrated Apple Watch charger. Reviews have already went up on YouTube since one or two weeks ago. Is it worth the price? Nah, probably not. You really have to want the “convenience” of the travel friendly folding design to justify paying 199 Singapore dollars for the thing. It is nothing more than a foldable rubber pad with the MagSafe and Apple Watch chargers nicely integrated. Yes you save on using separate chargers for two cables, but that issue is easily solved with any multi port chargers on the market. Sure, it looks nice. But I can spend that $199 on a leather case and a MagSafe wallet for my iPhone 12 and still have change left over. It is like the official Apple Watch dock. It is a simple accessory that is well made and nice, and the only question is if you like it enough to pay what Apple wants for it. I tend to answer no to that question. But you do you.

By the way, are there any fanatic genuine Apple Watch band collectors in Singapore? Do reach out.

I don’t know if I should buy the iPhone 12 Pro Max or iPhone 12 mini

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IMG_1833At the Apple Store looking at the accessories for the iPhone 12.

Less than 24 hours from Preorder Day, I am facing a dilemma – should I buy the 12 mini or should I go ahead and go straight for a 12 Pro Max?

The Plus size iPhones

I have always been using the plus size phones, ever since the 6s Plus came out. They have been hard to control one handed, and thus I have always stuck bunker rings on the back of the iPhone cases to make them usable. Simply put, I cannot control any of the iPhones today without a bunker ring. That is also why I have not been utilising wireless charging for the iPhones since the 8 Plus, as the bunker rings were preventing the iPhones from getting a proper charge.

The Pro Max is really heavy

The plus size phones also used to be thinner and lighter during the 6 Plus to 8 Plus era, but beginning with the Xs Max, they have grown in both absolute size and weight. The 11 Pro Max is now so heavy that when I am using the phone in bed, it always feels like my hand/finger is going to break from holding the phone up above my face. According to Apple, the iPhone 12 Pro Max has the exact same weight as the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Finally the return of a mini iPhone

This year, due to the introduction of the iPhone 12 mini, I had made up my mind to try out the smaller phone at launch, with the idea that if I do not like it, I can always let go of the 12 mini some months later, and get a 12 Pro Max at a lower price from alternative resale channels then.

iPhone 12 Pro component shortages?

However, today’s news that Apple is having issues locating enough components for the iPhone 12 Pros (and likely the Pro Max, since they share similar components) now make me wonder if I have made the correct decision to preorder the 12 mini tomorrow. Maybe I should just go ahead and order the Pro Max first tomorrow and only switch to a 12 mini in a few months if I do not like it?

Upgrade later? Downgrade later?

I have always preferred to have the 512GB version of the Pro Max, but however, I can not afford Apple’s MSRP for that particular model. Preordering tomorrow will mean that I have to settle for the 256GB, and might regret my decision in a few months. Also, as the prices of the Pro models are a lot higher, their value also drop quite a bit more in the resale channels after some time, compared to the regular models. Downgrading from a 12 Pro Max to a 12 mini runs the chance that I will likely lose more money overall than if I upgrade from a 12 mini to a 12 Pro Max after a few months. And money is important in a year where I am jobless. Seriously I should not even be buying the iPhone 12, but this is the only time of the year when I am the happiest, and saving up to purchase the yearly iPhone is one of the main drivers keeping me sane from work (and for this year, from COVID-19). So I really want one.

But I still do not know what I want.

iOS apps have to stop going subscription

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subapp

With Halide joining the likes of Fantastical, Twitterrific, Weather Line, among others, to go subscription, the number of good iOS apps on the platform still not on a subscription is dwindling fast.

Yes, maximizing profits is important for a company or any individual developers, and yes, there is a general idea that Apple users are financially well-off compared to Android users, but to capitalize on that, especially during a year when people are losing their jobs at an unprecedented rate, is just wrong.

Think of the bills you hate to pay the most. Utility bills, telco bills, are likely what you hate the most. The idea of pay once, use all the time, is so prevalent in the human psychology that paying every month or year for something you might or might not use, is absolutely in everyone’s minds, a wasteful process.

Like a gym membership?

Nobody likes to pay for a gym membership to only realize that one year later, you have wasted your money because you did not go to the gym. People are thus forced to go to the gym because they don’t want to let their membership money go to waste. What does that do for their experience at the gym? Probably not very well.

Same for apps on a subscription service. The very idea that you have to use an app because you already paid for the subscription, makes your experience of using the app less than ideal, or maybe even hateful. I do not understand why any app developer who love their creations will want to sour the experiences of their customers using their apps.

The apps we should support

For now though, there are at least a few shining examples of great apps which have not turned to the dark side, Tweetbot and Reeder for example.

Reeder had just released Reeder 5, with new features and support for iOS 14 widgets, as a brand new app costing 4.99USD.

However, if you have already purchased Reeder 4, or even 3, exactly because Reeder has chosen to make the new features a new release, people who do not want the new features or are financially unable to make the purchase are able to keep using their old versions. That very choice that the developer chose to give all users is exactly why we should support the developer. Same with Teeetbot.

Holding users hostage?

Developers who hold their users hostage by updating an app that you have previously paid full price for and now can no longer use without an subscription are just disgusting and despicable. How will they like if a new government in power suddenly tell them they have to start paying new monthly mortgage if they have paid for their homes in full?

Developers tell you that you can chose to stop using their app if you do not want to pay the new subscription fees, but will they move out of their homes that they already paid for if they don’t want to start paying more money for it?

Choices? Not really.

Some developers try to argue that they are not deceitful by offering a very expensive “lifetime” or “one time purchase” pricing, saying that you can pay that sum if you choose not to pay subscriptions. However, how can the customer know how long the “lifetime” of the app is? What if the developer comes out with a new version of the app in a year and wants another “one time purchase”? The very fact that these developers have chosen to go subscription make a large number of their current users suspicious of their future intentions, and they are more likely to seek alternatives than to pay what the developers want.

A way that these developers could have chosen to make things better for their users is if they chose to release the subscription as a new app, but none of these developers do that, for they know that the majority of their current users will stick with the old app and not even consider moving to subscriptions if the developers gave them a choice.

Developers and well-to-do people will tell you that the developers need to feed their families too. But if you think Apple choosing to remove the power bricks this year is a dick move, then choosing to go subscription in 2020 is almost criminal. That is why Android users like to call us suckers, because we put up with such behavior.

P.S. On 27th Jan 2021, Tweetbot 6 was released and it went subscription. If you have already purchased Tweetbot 5 it will show up in your purchased apps section.

On the switch to Apple Processors during WWDC2020

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I bought my first Mac in 2004.

It is a 12” iBook, the last model to be assembled in Taiwan, just before production is moved to Mainland China. As most will know eventually, the PowerPC Mac laptops were somewhat slow, stuck at G4 processors because IBM can’t make power efficient G5 processors that won’t burn the skin off anyone’s legs if a G5 processor was ever used in a Mac laptop. 

The Intel switch was announced in 2005, with the first MacBook Pro released around Jan 2006, and the first MacBooks around April 2006 if I remembered correctly. I was quite involved in the educational sales of Macs in some of the major tertiary institutions in Singapore, and to an extent, the aftersales support in one of these institutions for a few years.

A major thing during the first year was the old Mac people commenting on how stupid the term “MacBook” sounded, after years of PowerBooks and iBooks. Seriously today MacBooks are how the common non-Mac users define a Mac laptop, and in hindsight it was a great name, just like many of Steve Jobs’ other ideas. “We are done with Power”, he said during the MacBook Pro reveal.

Today I doubt we will see a change of product names though, when the Macs with the Apple processors are eventually unveiled next year.

One big issue the early MacBooks had were that the first Core Duo/Solo CPUs ran really hot, and with Apple’s legendary cheapskate-ness of putting enough ram in their laptops a lot of these early MacBooks were slower, hot, and did not seemed to be that much faster than the G4s they replaced. More RAM (we did a institution-wide program for upgrading RAM) and the Core 2 Duos eventually solved the problems.

Will next year’s A14 MacBooks be as problematic as the first MacBooks? I wonder. Apple has a track record of having problematic first generation machines (first intel logic boarded unibody MacBooks, first Retina MBP, first TB3 MacBook Pros, amongst others) though the first 2nd-gen MacBook Air, and the first Retina iMacs were absolutely perfect. 

A huge factor in the problematic first MacBooks were that the Core processors from Intel were relatively new, coming from the Pentium M design that a small team in Israel made, and Apple probably had at most a year of work with the Core processors before implementing them in the MacBooks, like every other Intel customer.

Apple has more than 10 years of experience working with the Apple A-series processors, and more than 10 years of experience putting them in machines that are way way way smaller than even the smallest Mac — the 12” MacBook. Heat, stability and performance won’t be an issue in the upcoming early Macs for sure – and with the rumored first machine being my favuorite 12” MacBook design, I will sure be saving up for one.

Monday can’t come soon enough.

Why I no longer have much to write about Apple

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These days Apple is hitting the news cycle for everything it dabbles in, from watches to a tv subscription service, but I largely stopped writing about Apple because I no long find much to write about.

Yes I can write rumors about the upcoming iPhones, but do you really need to hear them from me? This year’s iPhones are going to be largely the same as last year’s, with some additional feature here or there. Honestly, the whole phone market is just full of iPhones and iPhone clones, and we have reached the point where nothing new can be truly new. Yes, folding phones (with foldable screens) are not “new”, they are an evolution of the folding “productivity” phones of the early 2000s, which never really caught on. I buy iPhone and will continue to buy iPhone because the competition is both shitty and atrocious, and iOS is great, despite its flaws.

But I digress. I find nothing to write about Apple these days because Apple these days is more like Sony twenty years ago, or even Microsoft during their MSN days. There is so much going on because so many people are doing so many things separately at the company, and you can no longer tell what Apple’s “plan” because everything is so diverse. Hell I bet even Tim Cook don’t have a hold on everything that is happening at the company.

Yes I can write about flaws like the recent keyboards with butterfly switches, or highs like iPadOS, but you know, the MacBook Pros always go through one design generation of being slightly shitty, then the next generation being almost flawless, then to another generation of being slightly shitty again, eg. titanium G4 (slightly shitty), aluminum G4/MBP (almost perfect), first unibody MBPs (slightly shitty), Retina MBP (almost perfect) and now we are at the TB3 MBPs (slightly shitty) generation again. So it will likely get better.

iPadOS wise, if you are a serious follower of Apple throughout even just the last decade, it will have been easy to spot how Apple has always been slowly building up iOS on the iPad to this stage, especially since five years ago. The problem these days are people like MKBHD and other well-known youtubers without an actual history of following Apple sprouting fallacies like “Apple is finally giving us this and that..” when really, it was in the works all along. I mean, the guy makes good-looking videos, but that does not mean he is John Siracusa.

Oh you want to talk about Jony Ive leaving? The guy’s a massive asshole. After Steve died he used all his influence to get rid of Scott Forstall and his people, with the excuse of “unifying software and hardware design under the same person”. After Forstall was fired, Ive then reassigned software design and hardware design to two different men, splitting the responsibilities up again. Getting rid of Forstall and his men drove a stake into iOS’s stability that it really never recovered until iOS 12 recently. So yeah, Ive’s gone, so what. I considered him to be capable enough to be in the running to succeed Tim Cook eventually, but apparently he is not interested. So out he goes.

I have no insight on Apple Card, Apple TV+, Apple Music (I still think Eddy Cue’s a bozo) and I generally disagree with everything Apple is doing on the subscription front. But that is a story for another day. Or maybe one I will never write.