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The Unique-and-Distinct Edition Friday, June 7, 2019

iPadOS: Initial Thoughts, Observations, And Ideas On The Future Of Working On An iPad, by Shawn Blanc, The Sweet Setup

In the same way that using your Apple TV or your Watch are each their own unique and distinct experiences, so too is it a unique and distinct experience to be using the iPad. As the iPad hardware evolves and matures, the software must begin to evolve and mature in lockstep.

I’ve been using an iPad since the first day they shipped. And over the past few years I have pretty much gone all in, using my iPad as my only device for the vast majority of all my work. And thus, it is both encouraging and exciting to hear that Apple is not going to let the iPhone paradigm limit the development of the iPad.

It's Time For Apple Watch To Leave The iPhone Behind, by Scott Stein, CNET

I've thought about the Apple Watch becoming a more iPhone-independent device. Not because of any dream of being phone-free (I almost never find my iPhone absent from my pocket), but because not everyone owns an iPhone. And with Apple's push into serious FDA-cleared health tech, there will be cases where the Apple Watch could be used as a standalone health device.

We're not quite there yet, but in the fall the Apple Watch Series 5 -- if that's the name Apple decides to run with -- could be significantly more useful even when you don't have your phone nearby.

10-year-old Bay Area Boy Is Youngest App Developer At Apple's WWDC, by Amanda del Castillo, KGO

"I told Ayush, 'Look, this is a great opportunity. Let's base a project on whatever it is you want to do, and submit it to Apple and see what happens," the boy's father, Amit Kumar, told ABC7 News.

Apple made an exception, and Ayush was able to attend the conference on a student scholarship.

"I designed my app off of a catapult by looking at the trajectories and learning about the parabola, that's like the arch of the catapult projectile. I learned all about that, and I incorporated that all in my app," Ayush explained.

Stuff

Believe It Or Not, Using An iPod Touch In 2019 Is A Lot Of Fun, by Todd Haselton, CNBC

Most importantly, it's just so light. I can carry a couple movies, my music library and my AirPods in my pocket without really feeling it there at all. I can't say the same about my huge (but beloved) iPhone XS Max.

Develop

Apple’s Quiet CryptoKit Launch Could Bolster Blockchain On iPhones, by Jeremy Horwitz, VentureBeat

While Apple’s long-term goals for CryptoKit are somewhat ambiguous, blockchain applications are clearly on its radar. During a mid-week WWDC presentation, Apple’s Yannick Sierra jokingly opened his “Cryptography and Your Apps” talk by referring to it as the “Bitcoin session,” though the talk focused almost exclusively on less exciting uses, such as encrypting hiking app data.

Notes

WebsearchFodder: My Mouse Moves But Won’t Click, by Erica Sadun

Weirdest thing this morning. My mouse stopped working right. I could move the cursor but not click the mouse. So I swapped it out for another mouse. Same problem. So I rebooted. Same problem. I then switched to a wireless mouse and then a Bluetooth one. Same problem across the board.

Deprecating Scripting, by Dr. Drang, And Now It's All This

I suspect that Apple will have some standard way of installing scripting languages, probably through Command Line Tools, so developers will be able to quickly get their old scripts back up and working after the languages are removed. That would be good, but not if it gets installed through a .dmg download and a .pkg file. The only way to make the installation tolerable to regular users is to have it done through the App Store.

Or rather than going through all that trouble, maybe just leave the scripting languages where they are.

Bottom of the Page

When was the last time we've had a significant phone-specific features on our iPhones? Was that visual voicemail? (Which, by the way, is yet to be on the telco I'm using.)

I'd say it's time for iPhoneOS.

:-)

~

Thanks for reading.