It doesn’t feel like the world is ready to treat my iPad as an equal to a PC yet—even if that iPad is a lot more powerful and user friendly. Now that Apple has declared the iPad is a PC, it should take more of the guardrails off of iOS and strongly encourage developers to treat it like they do the Mac. It’s time for iOS to grow up and get a job.
The iPad Pro is one of the most powerful computers you can own. It could be the best PC, too. Or better than a Mac. For now, it still has to settle for being best tablet money can buy.
Is the new iPad Pro a stunning engineering achievement? Without question. Has Apple once again produced mobile hardware that puts the rest of the industry to shame when it comes to performance, battery life, and design? Yep. Is the iPad Pro the best, most capable iPad ever made? It certainly is.
But you know what? It’s still an iPad.
The iPad Pro really has the power of a full computer now -- a really good one. It's just that it could be so much more, if iOS wasn't quite so limited.
The Pencil is one of the most impressive version 2 devices that Apple has released ever. It scratches off every major issue that users had with the V1. A very impressive bit of execution here that really enhances the iPad Pro’s usability, both for drawing and quick notes and sketches. The only downside is that you have to buy it separately.
Drawing and sketching with the new Pencil is lovely, and remains a completely stand-out experience that blows away even dedicated devices like the Wacom Cintiq and remains a far cut above the stylus experience in the Surface Pro devices.
The debate over tablet vs. laptop will rage on for many years, but it’s clear that Apple’s new MacBook Air now faces stronger competition than it has ever faced before. The PC industry has changed for the better, thanks to both the MacBook Air and the iPad, but it’s the iPad that will now shape its future and not the new MacBook Air.
Personally, I think Apple would be better off coming up with more mature colors for its iPhones — to make them distinctive but also desirable. The iPhone XR colors are too bright and tacky, in my opinion.
Even considering replacement costs, she texted me, “I could buy ten pairs of them and it could cost the same as Apple [AirPods], they’d still be more comfortable, and I wouldn’t look like a dick. Also they come in purple.”
Why would I shell out for a pair of earbuds or headphones that’ll be many times more expensive than the pair I know and love, for an “increase” in sound quality that’s basically negligible to me?
These were fun times and our numbers contributed to the mood. We became Apple’s largest business outside the US. When on a European tour US execs liked to end it with us because we’d lift their spirits.
The anti-tracking feature embedded in the newest version of Apple's Safari browser is causing pain among marketers, making it harder to calculate the return-on-investment for digital ads, industry experts say. The version, released 10 weeks ago, completely prevents tracking cookies from working in the open web.
But three years later I’ve come to feel that a system that promised to increase my mastery over my work has, instead, increased my work’s mastery over me. I’m not the only one. A 2016 study found that physicians spent about two hours doing computer work for every hour spent face to face with a patient—whatever the brand of medical software. In the examination room, physicians devoted half of their patient time facing the screen to do electronic tasks. And these tasks were spilling over after hours. The University of Wisconsin found that the average workday for its family physicians had grown to eleven and a half hours. The result has been epidemic levels of burnout among clinicians. Forty per cent screen positive for depression, and seven per cent report suicidal thinking—almost double the rate of the general working population.
Something’s gone terribly wrong. Doctors are among the most technology-avid people in society; computerization has simplified tasks in many industries. Yet somehow we’ve reached a point where people in the medical profession actively, viscerally, volubly hate their computers.
I wish the upcoming -- there has to be an upcoming one, right? -- iPad mini has a smart keyboard. Please, Apple, surprise me!
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Thanks for reading.