Tech Tan Han Wei does a great job breaking down the actual benchmarks of the new M1 chips vs specific high-end PC graphic cards.
The numbers are even more impressive than Apple stated.
https://tanhanwei.com/apple-quietly-benchmarked-the-m1-pro-and-m1-max-against-top-tier-gaming-laptops-2ae0c235bc21
I would like to make the world a better place
…but they won’t give me the source code.
Latest Xcode brings a lot of auto-complete additions, better Source Control options (including better Diff), and changes to the Organizer.
Adi Mizrahi article hits some of the major changes with Xcode 13.
https://medium.com/@adi.mizrahi/xcode-13-whats-new-ebffaf348f5f
Today the US Copyright office added some new exceptions to the DMDC (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) to allow repairing of digital devices.
The previous Copyright protection was one-way many device makers prevent unauthorized repair of their devices. A win for the “Right to Repair” crowd.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/27/22747310/us-copyright-office-dmca-section-1201-exemption-rulemaking-report
One of the latest videos from Tom Scott covers an experiment in Germany to provide Electric power to long-haul truck drivers.
Fascinating. One expert says the saving will pay for the trucker upgrade within a year and a half. You still need to build the highway infrastructure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3P_S7pL7Yg
Magic Leap, the fair hair child of VR for awhile, has announced they will concentrate on Enterprise use (I.e expensive, non-consumers).
But they will be willing to license their unproven tech, to anyone wanting to gamble on consumer product, something they won’t do. Ok, I admit I have never been impressed with their business sense.
https://www.roadtovr.com/magic-leap-enterprise-focus-consumer-licensing/
No one can reject the impact it has had, and it is technically interesting, so it pays to know about it.
I am not a fan of cryptocurrency, I still feel it is an open pyramid scheme, someday it will tilt.
https://javascript.plainenglish.io/11-cryptocurrency-terms-explained-in-less-than-280-characters-each-e52c7ba27eed
Kamil Tustanowski keeps pushing out great articles on Vision framework.
This one show how to use it within Swift Playground to identify images like cupcake and planes.
https://cornerbit.tech/working-with-the-vision-framework-in-the-playgrounds/
Why did the programmer quit his job?
Because he didn’t get arrays.
Why do programmers like dark mode?
Because light attracts bugs.
How programmers curse?
Oh shift!
Example code is always the best way to learn programming.
The latest iOS AP is SwiftUI, so here are some open source apps using it.
https://asilarslan.medium.com/2021-best-open-source-ios-apps-written-in-swiftui-cd972b57e338
Almost silently, Apple has release a Swift Package for “parsing, building, editing, and analyzing Markdown documents”.
I can think of a lot of useful product based around this SDK.
https://github.com/apple/swift-markdown
Everyone should learn to write good Apple Unit Tests, this article will help you along the way.
To paraphrase Scotty, uses the right Assert for the right Test.
https://www.basbroek.nl/xctassert-asterisk
So many protocols, so little time. Thankfully we have people like Antoine van der Lee to help educate us.
The Sendable protocol/keyword indicates that value of the given type can be safely used in concurrent code
https://www.avanderlee.com/swift/sendable-protocol-closures/
I have no idea who run this site, but I wish to thank them for a great iOS Resource.
I suspect Split Software is responsible for iOS Example and the list of various open source and example project.
https://iosexample.com
Mix the Matrix with Halloween, and a little bit of light technology, and you get this video.
Thanks to Tom BetGeorge, and be sure to take a look at some of his other animated Holiday Lights videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK36ghMnit4
Another Primer video, demonstrating when Altruism is good for a species.
Yes, the models are simplistic, but it is a great use of computer simulation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goePYJ74Ydg
Tech Humor
Everyone talks about how Instagram is bad for mental health, but what about Jira?? - Isha Kasliwal
I was expecting this to happen, Paddles release the first 3rd In-App purchases system for iOS.
While court decisions and Apple implied announcements says this will be allowed, I have yet to see in the Apple App Store. Time will tell!
https://paddle.com/platform/in-app-purchase/
Yes, they charge considerably less than Apple system.
A great analysis by Matthew Quinn on why iOS 3D Touch was replaced by Apple.
A feature that is so hidden, even if it is great, will ultimately fail
https://medium.com/@mattq022/why-apple-killed-3d-touch-fb3aa13531f4
I found some of my old Mac programs, as well as other beloved ones, on some forums boards. How could I run these on my latest Mac?
MacWorld UK posted this article on the best old MacOS emulators.
https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/emulation-on-mac-our-guide-macos-emulators-for-retro-gaming-3654729/
At 2015 CES, one of the largest Flip-dot displays, a type of screen that uses physical flipping panels as pixels, was shown off.
I have seen smaller one, but nothing this size. There is something very enjoyable watching, and hearing, one of these things.
https://hackaday.com/2015/01/14/the-giant-flip-dot-display-at-ces/
Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJU2-1X8kHQ
Will Remove workers return to work at Apple full-time, part-time or not at all? Internal rifts at Apple are appearing.
As of now, Apple plans to have worker return to at least 3 days a week, when COVID lessen (whenever that is). Many in the tech industries are resisting.
https://www.vox.com/recode/22690190/apple-remote-work-from-home-employee-cher-scarlett-janneke-parrish
Similar The Verge article: https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/4/22491629/apple-employees-push-back-return-office-internal-letter-tim-cook
Thanks to Jean-marc Buchert for this walk thru the history of NASA Man & Machine interfaces.
The balance of manual controls vs automatic controls was important then, and even more important with latest tech.
https://manplusmachines.com/nasa-spacecraft-interface/
UXDesign version of article: https://uxdesign.cc/how-iconic-nasa-spacecrafts-took-the-best-of-digital-and-human-controls-5080f19ad83d
In honor of Steve Jobs memory, on the Anniversary of Steve’s passing, James Dempsey and the Breakpoints has released this single.
Since 2018, “One More Thing” has been the bands encore song.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/one-more-thing/1588956156
I downloaded a VR app to simulate the Titanic...
...but I can’t use it, it’s still syncing.
I often have friend/coworker complain about the price of Mac equipment. The original price of the Mac 128K was $2495. in 1984! That is equivalent of $6215 in 2020 dollars. The current iMac starts at $1299. The original Mac prices consistently went down until it reached that level, while at the same time, coming out with more features & power. Consistently, similar PC with all the hardware of the Mac, come in at higher prices.
Caltech has come up with a walking, flying robot, with the advantages of each mode of movement.
Still a work in progress (it uses the wings to stabilize the walking), but it allows the robot to go places usually inaccessible.
https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/leonardo-the-bipedal-robot-can-ride-a-skateboard-and-walk-a-slackline
Youtube video: https://youtu.be/DhpMlI8jb5o
Megerility appears to be a R&D project from last year from Carnegie Mellon & Google, demonstrating using computer devices within AR.
Notice how the image on the computer/pad screen can be pulled into VR for manipulation. Fantastic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CPcc2xp3_s
Most times you don’t penalize someone for being successful, but Netflix seriously affected South Korea’s internet, and the IP wants to sue.
They have some of the fastest consumer Internet in the world, so Squid Games must have been watched by Everybody to have this effect.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/isp-sues-netflix-over-network-usage-citing-squid-game-popularity
Another article by Kamil Tustanowski on using the Vision Framework.
This time, he shows how to calculate body position, very useful for game animation, based on photos.
https://cornerbit.tech/detecting-body-pose-using-vision-framework/
John Carmack, CTO of Oculus, stated that the Oculus Go will soon have it’s boatload unlocked.
This will allow future 3rd party development for this discontinued product. “This opens up the ability to repurpose the hardware for more things today”.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/27/22696030/oculus-go-root-access-unlocked-os-homebrew-developers-john-carmack
AirBus Air Taxi may be close to production.
I can only imagine the Air Traffic Control this will require. Perhaps it will be digital, computer controlled.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/airbus-reveals-its-latest-electric-air-taxi
Evidence has surfaces of Time traveling iPhone user in historical Art. Is this a new Apple project?
Well, maybe not evidence, but it is fun to think that.
https://medium.com/science-and-critical-thinking/iphones-in-old-paintings-is-this-evidence-of-time-travellers-7f49a12d5780
Since I made fun of C++, let expand our horizons…
FORTRAN was the language of choice for the same reason that three-legged races are popular.
A computer without COBOL and Fortran is like a piece of chocolate cake without ketchup and mustard.
What is the most commonly used computer programming language? Profanity.
Taiwanese Digitimes report Apple AR/VR headset will count out in Q2 2022.
Their claims is based on information from “supply chain sources”, and states the headset will have high quality color cameras (something missing on Oculus devices).
https://uploadvr.com/report-apple-headset-launch-window/
