nikhil.io

fifteen things tagged “apple”

Note 0017-liquid-ass

I would be very dismayed if I spent my creative and professional energies on a half-baked abjectly unnecessary UI and UX abomination that neither adds to nor improves my users’ lives, causes confusion and squinting in many, elicits "meh"s from the rest, and leads to lengthy articles on how to disable my disruptive work so the people I purport to serve can get theirs done.

Via DaringFireball with the observation:

A useful guide for today  –  and, I bet, a useful look back at the first versions of Liquid Glass for the future.

Indeed. Looking forward to when Apple admits to making good things worse for no reason and doesn’t double-down on bullshit visions borne of arrogance, fart-sniffing, and desperation.

iPhone Air

I did like the mood (and soft-spoken narration) of the introduction but I absolutely loved that background music. It’s called Lambent Rag by Clark and is worth a listen and a watch1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNrt1FWmPA4 The Air looks nice2 but I’ll baby my iPhone 13 Mini, perfection as far…

Note 0009

Read these two articles on the OpenAI and Jony Ive collab. Smelled some familiar bullshit first and felt some déjà vu next.

Altman told employees that they had “the chance to do the biggest thing we’ve ever done as a company here,” he said after announcing OpenAI’s plans to purchase Ive’s startup, named io, and give him an expansive creative and design role.

Berber Jin, “What Sam Altman Told OpenAI About the Secret Device He’s Making With Jony Ive”, Wall Street Journal

Thought the biggest thing you set out to do was Artificial General Super Intelligence (for the benefit of all humankind, of course).

Anyway. Ive’s company has a “staff of roughly 55 engineers, scientists, researchers, physicists and product development specialists” (source) who appear to be experimenting furiously with what to make, for this is what we’re told the thing will do:

The product will be capable of being fully aware of a user’s surroundings and life, will be unobtrusive, able to rest in one’s pocket or on one’s desk, and would be a third core device a person would put on their desk after a MacBook Pro and an iPhone.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that the device won’t be a phone, and that Ive and Altman’s intent is to help wean users off of screens. Altman said the device also isn’t a pair of glasses, and that Ive had been skeptical about building something to wear on the body.

Sounds like a sleeker version of this flaming piece of shit daring foray into the future of artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction:

Rabbit R1

Marques Brownlee thought it was “Barely Reviewable”. I do like how it looks though.

Can’t wait for the Ive video introducing it. And he wouldn’t be the first ex-Apple person with too much money who had an idea on how to transform our relationship with our computers. Altman invested in that disaster too.

But I’m a know-nothing curmedgeon and it’s certainly possible that this will be an unalloyed success in the hands of these wizened titans of industry (even if Uber-Curmudgeon Ed Zitron doesn’t think so.) I wish the happy couple the very best of luck 💝

AppleTalk

“For all that we’ve been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other,” [Tim Cook] said. “Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply…