Daniel’s blog

Last week Apple announced the new Macbook Neo range of laptops which is an affordable entry-level Macbook for new-to-the-Mac customers as well as Students and teachers. It is the cheapest Macbook ever sold by Apple at $599 and fills the gap in the lineup that used to occupied by the “Macbook”.

In my opinion Apple were inspired by the 2006 Macbook line which was available for a few years. I got mine in 2008 and it was my first Mac ever. Ever since I was a young boy of about 7 years old back in 1982 when I first saw the six coloured Apple logo on a sticker on the back of my friends chair while we were playing games on his new Atari, I wanted an Apple computer.

I asked my friend what this coloured Apple logo was and he told me it was a company that made computers. From that multi coloured Apple and the font they used on the “Apple” text below it, I knew I had to have it. I knew somehow that their computers would be way better than the grey box with a green screen IBM his mother had just acquired and was using for work.

For context, I grew up in South Africa, the child of immigrants who went there in search of a better life. We had nothing to do with apartheid, never supported it and always tried to treat all people equally kindly. I don’t know if there were sanctions already on the country or if it was because we were far away from the Western countries, but we could not buy Apple computers at that time. And many other things. There was therefore no advertising for them hence I’d never heard of them. I think my friend’s dad travelled for work and perhaps acquired the Apple sticker on his journeys.

My friend’s family were also immigrants. They were from Armenia. My parents were from Portugal and Germany. In fact there were several immigrant communities from all over such as Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Germany, Portugal, Madeira, Lebanon and also a large Jewish community. Not everyone who lived there was racist as the media would have you believe. All the people I knew were not racist. The government was, but even many of the Afrikaans people whose government it was, were not racist and didn’t agree with apartheid. As always life is much more complicated and nuanced than how it’s made out in the media.

Getting back to the Macbook Neo, it is in my mind the spiritual successor to the 2006 onwards plastic Macbook which had the Intel Core2Duo CPU with 2GB RAM and a 120GB hard drive. The Neo even appears to have the same white chicklet keyboard from that Macbook and it’s overall shape looks very similar. Not to mention it’s “old school” mechanical trackpad. Obviously not the same trackpad as in 2006 but still an older design.

In short, seemingly humble specs in a beautiful enclosure.

My 2008 Macbook would have also been considered low spec at the time. And it was plastic. The Neo is metal. And don’t underestimate the A18 Pro CPU. The latest benchmarks show that it outperforms the M1 chip which was found on the Macbook Pro not too long ago. That means it should be able to multitask like an M1, run VM’s, Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Photoshop and the like. It’s not underpowered like some people think, I believe but I’m eagerly awaiting to see the tech media put the Neo through it’s paces.

Either way I think it’s a great Mac and fantastic value. In 2008 my wife and I moved to the UK and at last I could buy a Macbook. It costs around £750–800. The Neo will cost £599 apparently, which is £150–200 cheaper than what I paid and the Neo is vastly better and more premium.

Anyone getting this as their first Mac will not be disappointed, quite the opposite, I think they will love it. And the fun colour options inspired by the original iMac will further add to that love.

_below are photos of my 2008 Macbook, taken today. The coloured logo is a sticker I bought years ago to complete the look. _

iA Writer is an incredible notes and markdown editor app which I first discovered back in 2011/2012. Its main feature is writing without distraction and it’s perfect at that.

Especially if you want to compose blog posts, social media posts, or capture something quickly. I use it on iOS but it’s also available on MacOS.

What I didn’t realise is that it also integrates with Micro.blog the affordable and elegant blogging platform created and run by Manton Reece. That means it’s super easy to type up your blog post from wherever you are (I’m at a car testing station as I write this ) and publish straight to your blog.

Now that’s cool. 😊

Have you ever had something in the back of your mind that you liked and wanted to do but somehow it was never the right time or life got in the way?

For me that was pipes. Whether it was Captain Haddock in Tintin or Sherlock Holmes or movies like Lord of the Rings where the characters smoked a pipe, pipe smoking impressed itself on me.

But as we know tobacco has been vilified in society as “cancer causing” and so the idea of smoking in general is looked down upon. Which partially explains why I probably delayed getting a pipe.

The other reason is that I always thought I was too young for it. Pipe smokers are generally portrayed as being older and that was my impression.

Now that I’m 51 years old I decided I’m old enough to sport a pipe without looking odd.

The latest medical research shows that nicotine is actually beneficial to human health and the human body has nicotine receptors built into it.

Certain vegetables like tomatoes and aubergines actually contain nicotine.

People have also realised it’s the added chemicals in cigarettes which cause cancer, and not the tobacco.

Tobacco smoking goes back to about 5000 - 3000 BC according to Wikipedia. That’s a long time. Tobacco smoking is not new to man, it is in fact an ancient practice.

Besides, there are countless pipe smokers in ripe old age who have smoked their entire lives with no trace of cancer or other smoking related issues. The oldest I’ve heard of was 96 years old and he smoked a pipe since the age of twenty but no doubt he is far from unique in this aspect. On YouTube alone I’ve read many comments from people who’ve smoked a pipe 40+ years.

All this gives me peace of mind that pipe smoking is safe and even healthy, and so I can enjoy it without worry. Ironically pipe smoking is a very relaxing pastime which forces you by its nature to slow down, smoke slowly and relax. So you could say it benefits both body and mind.

I’m still learning and it’s not as easy as you might think. You need to taste a lot of ash as you persist in practicing until you master the correct technique. But it’s something all pipe smokers have had to endure. Learn by doing.

I am finally getting better at it and I find it more enjoyable than cigar smoking because cigars have one taste (I’m taking about non flavoured cigars) whereas pipe tobacco is surprisingly complex in flavour and variety of flavours obtained through blending various types of tobaccos. You can get aromatic blends where a flavour like vanilla or cherry has been added but I avoid those and only use pure tobacco blends because I want it as pure and healthy as possible.

Maybe you also were impressed on by pipe smoking when you were younger? Did you try it? If not, maybe it’s time you did as well? Just saying.

I came across this video on a brand new You Tube channel called “ThinkingDifferent-yt” where the host talks about how Apple first went wrong with flat design under Jony Ive and his iOS 7 redesign, and now has added a further layer of poor design with Liquid Glass, courtesy of Alan Dye.

It’s a really great video and very thoughtfully put together. And it provokes thought.

Click HERE to watch it.

Watching this and seeing OS X and iPhoneOS it made me realise how much we lost when Jony Ive took over software design at Apple.

Jony is is great designer, but only when it comes to hardware. That’s his speciality. Even Apple Park was designed by Ive because its hardware. And anyone who has seen Apple Park will agree he did a good job.

But software design is not his strength.

This video makes the point that if you look at what Ive did with iOS 7, and the language used at the keynote, it’s clear that he never understood or appreciated why iPhoneOS (and by extension OS X since iPhoneOS was based on OS X) was designed the way it was. That’s quite the statement. I wholeheartedly agree.

iPhoneOS is so much more approachable, fun, has depth and context and buttons and was also inspirational at the same time. The same goes for OS X. Even down to the design of the icons, buttons, shadows, gloss etc. It was insanely great design that Ive couldn’t understand in his eternal quest for minimalism.

I don’t know about you but if they reverted both MacOS and iOS to the older design or design principles, while retaining the newer features and sharpening it up for high resolution screens, I’d update in a heartbeat.

If you have some time head over to iLounge to see their guide to iPhoneOS. It has some great screenshots to remind you how good we had it.

When you’re finished there, head over to YouTube and watch THIS video of the MacOS Leopard Welcome video. Why did Apple ever stop making these videos?

We have lost quite alot. I hope we get it back someday.

I was reading something this morning which mentioned plugging in a charging cable to your phone and it struck me that I virtually never charge my iPhone via cable.

I have a basic MagSafe charger on my bedside table and every night I just put my iPhone on that to charge, and also turn my iPhone into a bedside clock.

I don’t think about using a cable unless I’ve had a really heavy battery day and need to top up quickly. Which is rare. That one MagSafe charge overnight gets me through the day easily.

It struck me how MagSafe has quietly made wireless charging a daily part of my life over the past 18 months since I got my iPhone 13.

I’ve had wireless-charging-capable phones in the past, on Windows Phone and Android, but only ever used the charger a handful of times because it would either not sit properly or slide off somehow. So I’d just use a cable every night to charge.

By simply adding a magnet, Apple has quietly made wireless charging mainstream. And most of us haven’t even really realised it.

That’s Apple doing what it does best. We need more of that from Apple.

Hello World!

Happy to have joined Micro blog.

Looking forward to future posting.