I HATE APPLE

It got worse multiple iOS versions back but I still hate how picking a spot in a line of text works. Like if I search for something on Google and inevitably have to add modifiers and pluses and minuses because search is broken now, tapping a spot highlights the entire string. Then it takes four more taps to get it to just a cursor in the right spot.

My biggest gripe with Apple is the near-complete uselessness of searching mail in iOS.

tracer, apple will sell you a cure to your problem - an apple watch. bingo bango no more faceid gymnastics!

The latest WatchOS update has resulted in a worse UX, at least from my perspective of having used one for years. I suppose I just have to get used to how they've changed things up (a lot).

no when double click for wallet (not for approving payment) is enabled at all it slows down the process of the screen locking.

I get it. That setting controls how long it waits for the second click before locking. Just wondering if you’ve got it set to something other than the default. Single click to lock is not immediate for me but it’s pretty fast and I have double click enabled.

They're starting to undo some of the worst watchos changes, but the new Timer remains atrocious

Then it takes four more taps to get it to just a cursor in the right spot.

I usually hold Space and then you can drag the cursor anywhere.

I've had some issues with the new WatchOS, but I just chalk it up to lack of familiarity. I don't think it is necessarily better or worse than before. The biggest annoyance was the removal of the ability to swipe between watch faces, which I believe will be restored in a future release. I do love the new modular ultra watch face. Having 7 complications on the face is so helpful.

tracer i bet you're pretty tall? the few times i've used apple pay on the phone the phone was able to faceid me from the level of the pay terminal. are you able to unlock your phone by looking at it as it sits on your desk?

not even close. i am 5’10 and a half, which is basically 5’11”, which is basically 6’

smdh I'm a smidge over 5'10" but I'd never steal valor

try and see if you can unlock your phone holding it at arms length - you’d be surprised! xp

i’ve got it down now. tap the contactless machine to activate wallet, bring up to face, double click side button, face ID springs into action, then back down to the machine to complete the transaction. it’s a DOUBLE TAP. even looks pretty natural

yes this is all so the phone locks a fraction of a second quicker what of it

i’ve also disabled raise to wake, which never worked consistently

everything feels a little more predictable now

“Body Temperature Monitoring
Apple has been testing a temperature sensor embedded in the AirPods”

I’ve often thought, if only my earphones could tell my body temperature, that would really help

Anyone have a recommendation for a good outboard keyboard to use until I finally replace this 2015 MacBook?

The apple bluetooth keyboard is great, maybe you can get it on eBay and then sell it back at about cost when you don’t need it anymore

I see some knockoff called Macally.

Another called iClever.

Maybe I will just soldier on with this crappy Amazon Basics cabled keyboard I just unstuck a key of.

Apple Magic Keyboard is the Bluetooth one, you should be able to find it used for $40 ish (or $70 if you want the numeric keypad etc). Note that there is an iPad keyboard / cover / trackpad called that as well, but that's 2-3 times the price and easy to distinguish!

There's a bottomless rabbit hole of mechanical keyboards (of which vintage apple keyboards are prized), some of which have gotten astonishingly cheap, but most are geared towards windows, though you can usually assign CMD keys etc... in system prefs.

This one is $25
https://www.newegg.com/p/23-201-113?sdtid=17224243

This NES-themed one from 8bitdo is a rebranded keychron that a lot of people like and also comes with ludicrously large A and B buttons:
https://www.reddit.com/r/8bitdo/comments/17aszl4/8bitdo_mechanical_keyboard_on_mac/

None of them really feel like vintage apple keyboards though.

I see some knockoff called Macally.

there are a ton of the mechanical ones that come with Mac/pc switches (keychron’s one) and key caps for Mac keys. I guess it depends whether you want a keyboard for the long term or just one that works and doesn’t suck too bad

The latter really, thanks.

i have a logitech k380 for mac, it's not too bad and recommended by wirecutter i think. it's got round chiclets instead of the rounded rectangle but i don't mind. i think best buy may have em out on display so you can try before you buy.

Wire cutter recommendation + chicklet keys = hard pass

I would enjoy a logistical beatdown of Wirecutter, somebody do this please. i have been suspicious of their recommendations for awhile but have not been sure why

wirecutter has perennially been panned by enthusiasts/gear-heads
https://randomfoo.net/2014/03/22/the-wirecutter-is-always-wrong

but this one's been trending recently for whatever reason:
https://dynomight.net/ikea-purifier/

Fundamentally, I think the trap product review establishments fall into is it's very difficult to pick the best of an often subjective criteria (and keyboards are especially subjective unless they're literally not working which plagued macbook keyboards for awhile, but there are people who still love those objectively awful ones!), and numbers/stats offer an objective way out, so that's the route they take, but they don't always, or pretty much never settle on what ends up being the relevant numbers/stats for people who actually care about "the best" whatever the best means.

My guess is Wirecutter folks are on a deadline, would like to do better roundups but are doing well enough traffic-wise that it's hard for them to make the case to Times management that their content should be more expensive.

my guess is that Wirecutter is one of the most successful affiliate link sites ever. you’d think they could afford to up their game

To be fair, people have been complaining about the wirecutter since way before the NYT buyout -- I'm surprised Amazon doesn't beat them by making their own list of products with highest customer satisfaction and the fewest percentage of returns -- returns are really expensive to Amazon! you'd think they'd have an incentive to promote products that don't trigger them, but they seem to just go by "best seller" instead.

amazon's in the advertising game way too much to want to try to suggest actually good products

See also all the promoted books at the top of the search instead of the one you actually searched.

solving the user problem of not giving enough money to amazon's promo partners

In a roundabout way, I guess you could say their basics line is cobbled from data showing which products people want, then making/ripping off that product, so in that sense you're probably not going to do much better than an amazon keyboard at that price, from an aggregate customer POV.

If you are getting into the $20-$30 range though it might be worth the gamble in snagging that entry mechanical keyboard (I'm shocked by younger typers preferring the experience of typing on a tablet but also the same generation getting sucked into vintage keyboards that sound like thunderclaps), but that could also be a gateway into a very expensive and often ridiculous hobby, and also you might find it annoyingly loud in a lot of senses.

i dunno guys, the revive was about a cheap external keyboard that'll hold out until a replacement macbook can be bought. the keychron is not that. the apple bluetooth keyboard is not that. the logitech costs $40 (closer to $30 on sale), is wireless, and is tailored to macos.

i agree that the wirecutter is pretty sus but i think this is the wrong product category to be fighting this fight

otm

Back on topic , I hate that apple is now a media studio and producer

I miss iMessage notifications multiple times a week. I hate the notification center.

while we’re on the subject, how come the “Reminders” app, yknow that thing that’s supposed to remind you about stuff, has so few notification options? I need it to blare shit at me loudly even when my ringer is turned off or down, i need it to give me two extra reminders beforehand, etc. what else is a phone for than to fave you from yourself

(i realise someone is about to tell me how to do these things and that they are in fact very easy to do, and i am steeling myself for it)

fave = save

apple whines from the 1600s

the Vision seems devoid of any creative tools. It’s just another device to facilitate media delivery and consumption. Dud

eh, it’ll be interesting to see what developers do with it. apple’s got a fair number of first-party apps in house now and you can definitely use a mac or iphone to create things out of the box, but they still position their products as a platform for developers

sticking it in the pro market makes sense and I’d guess a lot of the spatial tools (design, architecture, etc) that let you create interactive mixed reality things on a phone would play a lot better on a headset. seeing what furniture would look like in a room in your house is a neat trick on a phone. in AR, it’s a different game. throw in tools like Autodesk’s or w/e and you have mechanical building walkthroughs

Probably more people will end up using these things to watch basketball games from courtside than to sculpt 3d models, so I get it financially. Apple used to prioritize creatives, though. Used to be a child could kick a ball in the street in Cupertino

It’s a commentary in itself that this lack of creative facilitation has gone entirely without note in the press. It’s not expected and apparently not missed.

The #1 thing everyone is yelling at Apple about (among many) is what their AI plans are... it has sucked out much of the oxygen needed for Apple to explain itself better as to the possibilities of Vision as something other than a monitor you wear on your face. I'm reminded a lot of the introduction of the iPad - a grim "look, you can use office programs" trudge that only confirmed those of us in the "hurm. it's a big phone" camp. Never expected an iPad would become one of my main synths. I dutifully downloaded the visionOS SDK and after a couple of looks I think that a year from now there will be some interesting tools in the vertical markets esp. the spatial ones already mentioned. Curious to see if any tiny 1-2 software shops write stuff for it.

it definitely takes some traction in the market to get the more useful applications (in both senses) rolling

this headline seems like it’s defeatist if you’re rooting for apple or the vision pro’s success in any way, but it’s more like we’ve come full circle back to the original iphone’s app-less, browser-first launch. which wasn’t going to work because the ability to do things effectively in a browser wasn’t there, but we’ve gotten to the point where a lot of apps are written as web browser views and bundled: https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/20/24044343/apple-vision-pro-safari-killer-app

I want one, but I don’t really watch movies/tv shows, which seems like what it is best for right now.