https://numericcitizen.me/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Tim-Cook-in-Apple-Logo-150x150.jpeg
MediaMediaOh my god. This is insane. Apple released their latest financial numbers, and boy, and they are killing it. Again, again and again. Apple is on a roll, like many tech companies, for that matter. For many products, more than half of buyers are new to the product. Apple is still expanding.The MacNot bad for the oldest Apple platform. More than 70% increase in revenues year-over-year from the same period last year. After fixing their flaky keyboards, the M1 chip is now paying off big time. There is still room to grow even further with the just-announced redesigned iMac and the rumored upcoming MacBook Pro redesign. They are expected to come out this year.Apple:

Mac revenue: $9.1B, +70.1% YoY 
iPad revenue: $7.8B, +78.9% YoY 

Insane. Biggest Mac quarter ever. It shows just how loyal/strong the customer base is in the desire to move to M1. And this quarter has the new iMac.

And M1 iPad…— Steven Sinofsky (@stevesi) April 28, 2021The iPhoneStill the most important driving force for Apple, the one that drives everything else. With an increase of more than 65% year-over-year, the iPhone 12 seems to fuel a super-cycle upgrade. What else to say? The iPhone is the iPhone.Steve Jobs era gave us the $50-billion/YEAR Apple. In the Tim Cook era, the last two QUARTER revenues exceeded $111 and $89 billion. The Law of Very Large Numbers.— Kontra (@counternotions) April 28, 2021The iPadMore than 78% increase year-over-year for the iPad. This success is well deserved. One quick question: Are there any other manufacturers who can come close to Apple’s dominance and pose some challenge? I don’t think so. The iPad story is made of both the hardware and the software, which is due for a major upgrade in the coming months.Services and wearablesWith revenues steadily increasing for services, that looks to be a side effect of all other hardware sales increasing too. AirPods sales are probably maturing; I see them everywhere I walk, on the news, in Zoom meetings.Looking aheadThere is a lot of uncertainty for the next quarter thanks to shortages impacting production lines. Still, Apple is expecting double-digit growth of its revenues in all its product categories. That’s unprecedented to my knowledge. Apple’s challenges may not be on the financial side but on the regulatory side for the foreseeable future.Numeric-Citizen-Tip-Sheet-1Click image to jump to one of these destinations

via Numeric Citizen Blog
https://numericcitizen.me/2021/04/29/my-thoughts-on-apples-latest-financial-numbers/

TGIF! 🙏🏻 It’s a rainy Friday here. Friday is a slow and strange day for me as a blogger and content creator. I should go more often on Flipboard. In a way, Ello makes me think of Micro.blog. It’s been a long time since my publishing pipeline has been that low. I’m catching up, I guess. My Micro.blog feed is quieter than usual; is the Ulysses effect already fading? I’m not a good podcasts listener. I won’t get my four-pack AirTag today. I didn’t order the Apple TV 4K with updated remote; don’t know when I will. That’s a great question.

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/04/30/friday-musing.html

I find it a bit surprising that we don’t get reviews of the iMac today. Next week? #apple #imac2021

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/04/30/i-find-it.html

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MediaMediaAccording to Hits Double Daily:“Apple will announce a new high-fidelity audio streaming tier in the coming weeks at the same $9.99-per-user price point as its standard plan, label sources are telling us.The announcement is expected to coincide with the launch of the third-generation AirPods. Whether these will be compatible with the new, improved audio offering is unknown.”I think this upgrade would make sense in order to stay competitive against Spotify, to bring a new category of more demanding users and add to add to Apple’s bottom line: more revenues dollars. Yet, I find this strange for a few reasons.Apple cancelled the original HomePod, a device where the audio quality is way above the HomePod mini. I would better understand if they would replace it with a better model, but there is no rumour to this effect. So, Apple is left with no Hi-Fi devices for the home. Second, as good AirPods can be, I’m not sure a Hi-Fi version of Apple Music would make a big difference in a typical listening scenario, maybe for the AirPods Max. Rumours point to an updated AirPods set, not a higher-end version. I would have better understand if such a service had launched with AirPods Max. The updated Apple TV 4K is rumoured to introduce support for eARC, which would allow outputting its audio to the speakers connected to a smartTV, not the HomePod. Am I getting this right? Apple can be a strange beast to try to understand.One last thing, would Apple Music Hi-Fi be a new tier on top of the current one, or would this be added to the current service? My understanding is for the former. Am I interested in subscribing to another tier? Only if reviews are overwhelmingly positive.I’m guessing the service will launch with iOS 14.6 just before WWDC. Apple tends to release a few things before the conference to better focus on the content during that week. By the way, this reminds me of the launch of Apple Music, which required its own version of iOS update, version 8.4, just before the WWDC conference back in June of 2015.Image credit: Susan Q Yin / Unsplash

via Numeric Citizen Blog
https://numericcitizen.me/2021/05/02/about-apples-strange-music-strategy/

It’s been a quiet week-end in term of content creation; I took a small break. As the week-end come to an end, I decided to spend some time in creating a web page using Craft. This web page is about my Apple purchase plans. It’s part of my Digital Garden. As you’ll see, my next Apple device is coming tomorrow: AirTags. I bought a four pack. Can’t wait to try these small wonders.Happy end of week-end.

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/02/my-apple-purchase.html

I never bought so many applications and utilities or subscribed to so many services since the beginning of the pandemic. For the latter, I had to use Apple’s Number just to keep track of all of them😳🤪. Because I’m working from home since March 2020, my work-related expanses are close to zero. I don’t go buy a coffee or snacks in the middle of the workday as I used to. I don’t buy transportation titles anymore. I no longer commute. Furthermore, I no longer travel. My home office setup upgrade is complete. This mean that I have more to spend on something else. I’m more inclined to buy digital goods. Some are impulse buys. That’s why I invested in many macOS applications and utilities which gave me the idea of writing this article “Tips & Tricks & Utilities for Boosting Your Productivity with Apple’s macOS Big Sur”.I don’t know if a return to normal will push me to cancel any of my applications or utilities subscriptions. I don’t think so as I think they are needed and useful to my blogger workflow. I return to this commuting world as I’ll keep working from home forever. I’m not alone and this makes me wonder how profound changes caused by this pandemic could be on so many economic levels.

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/03/the-pandemic-effects.html

MediaGot my four pack of AirTags. Unboxing is simple. Nice to hold and feel in the hands. Easily scratched. Setup is so Apple-esq. Love em! Keys. Backpack. Wallet. On for my wife. For her wallet. Obviously. Tested the Find My to locate my items. Works great. Will report back if I ever lose one of my things and find it back. For real. Can’t wait to use them for traveling.

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/03/found-apple-airtags.html

MediaOne evidence taken out of the Epic vs Apple trial yesterday, the above email. This email from Mr. Schiller shows how unhappy he was with scam apps being #1 on the App Store. His numerous questions are expressing frustrations. He saw what we keep seeing all too often today, nine years later. So, where are the reviewers? What value are they adding to the user experience’s bottom line? Apple could strictly rely on machine-based curation only instead, but they prefer the added touch of human-based curation for the editorial content. Does it make a real difference? On the surface maybe. With the scale of the App Store, cracks are obviously possible, hence bas actors are taking advantage of them, to create scams one after another.Apple doesn’t look good because some of their arguments aren’t backed with proven and irrefutable facts. As a gatekeeper of the quality on the App Store, Apple is failing. Big time. From scams apps to badly designed ones, to never updated ones, beneath the front page surface, the App Store feels and look like a junkyard.

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/04/what-the-hell.html

Surprisingly, Apple’s Night Shift does not help in any way to fall asleep, according to a study. Intuitively, I thought of the opposite. When Apple launched this feature, in 2016, they said it would help. It seems it’s not the case after all. Will they backtrack and remove the feature in a future version? I highly doubt it. Many people do like this feature (I do on the iPhone, I hate it on the Mac), others like @Gruber don’t. What I don’t like is when the feature is in action, opening Photos abruptly turn the visual effect off. The effect is brutal as the screen turns blueish and cold because of the contrasting mode. I would prefer a more gentle disabling of the feature.

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/05/on-apples-night.html

That could prove to be quite useful! Link posts are always a pain to prepare. Thanks to @cdevroe 🙏🏻 Source: Introducing the Micro.blog Posting Bookmarklet – Colin Devroe

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/05/that-could-prove.html

That’s a serious question. I mean, we do have Lightroom CC for M1 Macs… (performance is good but not stellar compared to Intel version. There’s still work to be done by Adobe to take performance further). The absence of the optimized Lightroom Classic version is troubling. What does it mean about Lr or even Adobe? Is Adobe relying too much on cross-platforms libraries or components that are much harder to re-compile for the M1 chip? I find this fascinating that such a big company is falling behind compared to much smaller players… I’m thinking about Pixelmator here.I’m waiting for this optimized version to complete my migration from Intel iMac to the M1 Mac mini.

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/05/where-is-adobe.html

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MediaMy father's hand holding my sister's fingerMy father’s hand holding my sister’s fingerHaving part of my life suspended for more than a year, thanks to COVID-19, wasn’t enough it seems. Recently, I saw my father die, from a distance, through FaceTime calls. It was a reminder that technology can play unexpected roles in our lives. Here is a short personal story.After battling a severe urinary infection, my father was brought to the hospital on a Monday morning in early spring. According to the nursery staff, his heart pulsations were faint. He was partly conscious but acted confused. Following my father’s recent end-of-life wishes, he didn’t want to be treated by doctors; only comforting treatments were all he was asking for.He was admitted to the hospital on Monday morning, March first. He died six days later, on March seventh, late at night. Alone, at the time of his death. He was 92.When I learned he was sick; I knew this was his last round trip to the hospital. A question quickly came up to my mind: should I travel seven hours to see him, one more time? I wasn’t even sure he would wait for me. I was torn. I felt guilty for not going. Then, I remembered my friend’s personal story about losing his father. I wasn’t the only one with a desire to preserve positive memories of my loved ones.My father was surrounded by my sisters, my brother, and at some point by my old mother. Thanks to all of them, my father probably felt their comforting presence in his last moments. During the first few days at the hospital, they sent me pictures of him through iMessage1. During that trying week, with my sister’s help, I had a chance to see my father slowly die through many FaceTime calls. I took the opportunity to talk to him and tell him how much I loved him2. I remotely saw my father quit this world through my iPhone screen. At some point near the end, I asked them to stop sending me pictures of him; his physical appearance started to deteriorate seriously. I didn’t want to see him like this as it would spoil my recent and mostly positive memories of him, still alive.The last time I saw my father was last summer, between two COVID-19 infections waves. He was in relatively good shape at the time, albeit suffering from Parkinson’s disease and advanced ageing. I was sad to see him so old and slowly losing his capabilities.It’s been two months since my father died. We don’t always know what is the best decision in enduring moments. In retrospect, what I know is that I’m ok with my decision. What really helped me come to terms with my decision was the reaction of my two sisters and my brother. They were very respectful of my decision. They told me they could understand. I will always be grateful to them. They don’t know how much they made a big difference.My nephew, who is a serious photographer, went to see my father and took a few pictures with his iPhone. They are so touching and beautiful. Seeing history through pictures can be so powerful. ↩My sister was holding her iPhone close to my father’s ear. She told me he was reacting to my words. It was relieving. ↩

via Numeric Citizen Blog
https://numericcitizen.me/2021/05/08/seeing-death-from-a-distance-through-facetime-calls/

It was a reminder that technology can play unexpected roles in our lives. Source: Seeing Death From a Distance, Through FaceTime Calls - Numeric Citizen Blog

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/08/it-was-a.html

MediaKen Segall on Apple’s stubborn attitude:“It’s disappointing that the modern Apple is so willing to stonewall, and that it can take an inexcusably long time to set things right.”Mr. Segall piece is baffling. Taken together, those bad apples make Apple look terrible at design. Apple is opinionated and takes bold risks when designing new products and services. This comes at a cost, occasionally. Apple is far from perfect, but they should know that quickly admitting when they fail makes the mistakes more easily forgiven.What Apple product currently shipping that has baffling design flaws for which Apple doesn’t seem to care fixing, beside the Magic Mouse? I don’t see that many as they silently fixed most of them in recent years.Photo credit: Maria Teneva / Unsplash

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/08/apple-opinionated-and.html

MediaI’m so proud of people right now: medias are reporting that 96% of them chose to protect their basic right for online privacy. I wasn’t expecting that many people to select the “Ask Not To Track” option. This is a game changer. This should serve as a clear message to businesses with business models essentially based on personal data mining and online profiling without user consent. Enough is enough. For those who are ok with hyper targeted ads, fine, but not at this cost. I salute Apple for moving forward with this feature in iOS 14.5. Coupled with services like NextDNS, I’m starting to see quite an improvement in my web surfing experience and being more at ease doing so.Those who selected “Allow” probably didn’t know what it was all about.

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/09/asknottotrack-privacy-privacyprotection.html

One quick question: do you think Apple already has a plan B to enable sideloading of applications, ready to go just in case? After all, they already allow this on macOS so they know how to do it. I don’t see it as a major rework of iOS. #apple #appstoreMedia

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/09/one-quick-question.html

On Apple’s Shortcuts notifications: I second this! Notifications are not needed for most of us and should be silenced in iOS 15. At least, provide an option to make it quieter. I like the idea of a status bar indicator, just like the localization services when they are trigerred.Apple Shortcuts Is Great, but It Needs a Notification Toggle - Initial Charge

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/10/apple-please-consider.html

Apple is under so much pressure on so many fronts these days. It is so fashionable to put pressure on them. The App Store is one big target. I’m getting tired of people wishing for changes that I don’t want to become reality. Sure Apple is far from perfect, yet, people should be careful for what they wish for. I decided to express my voice and started to write on the subject. It will be controversial, but it will be honest and true to my beliefs and wishes. I don’t really care if I’m right or wrong. I expect to publish my article just before WWDC. Stay tuned.

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/12/be-careful-for.html

I am re-falling in love with Apple’s Sidecar with my iPad Pro connected to my M1 Mac mini. Such a useful and really fast duo. For some reason, I stopped using this setup for a while. Was it because at some point it wasn’t stable enough? Can’t remember. Are you using Sidecar?

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/12/i-am-refalling.html

Browsers look more and more like operating systems. Apple knows this, and they are probably afraid for their App Store business.This article from Alex Russell of Infrequently Notes is very convincing: Apple purposely delay implementation of new web standards to refrain developers to build web applications. New web standards are enablers for new kinds of web applications with richer features set. Those richer apps could go against Apple’s App Store profitable business. No wonder why so many people are using alternative browsers to Safari. But that’s not all. Since Apple, in general is a big player, its influence is unquestionably high, the lack of support from them for so many basic and essential web standards discourage new application opportunities. That’s too bad and makes me wonder how sites like Mailbrew who offers a web application could improve if all browsers, including Safari would support most web standards. Mailbrew is already good on the iPad, closely mimicking a native application, yet I wonder.Can we hope for changes at the next WWDC conference?

via Numeric Citizen Microblog
https://numericcitizen.micro.blog/2021/05/13/here-is-why.html