2024-12-22 23:53:39
This year, the Ugly Christmas Sweater for the Mac pays homage to the 80s.
63,158 individual knitted stitches go into creating my Annual Mac Ugly Christmas Sweater. And like with the iPhone wallpapers released earlier in December, these wallpapers are more of a refresh than a brand-spanking-new design (or, in Apple's marketing parlance, an S-year update).
Ugly Christmas iPhone Wallpaper
Download the matching Ugly Christmas Sweater wallpaper for your iPhone by clicking on the image.
This year, I've scrapped the Happy Mac (but don't worry, he's still on last year's Mac wallpaper & the 2024 iPhone wallpaper) in favour of the Apple lettering. Backstory: the design & colour inspiration came from an old Apple catalogue from the 80s featuring mousepads, clothing, pens, and sailboards (not kidding). And in that catalogue was a heavyweight cotton sweatshirt featuring the Apple lettering in five garish colours and the Garamond typeface. Once I saw it, it felt right that it should adorn this year's Ugly Christmas Sweater wallpaper for the Mac.
Catalogue Description: “After a rough day windsurfing, the Apple sweatshirt is just the thing. And a perfect companion to our sweatpants. Unisex sizes (S-XL) in jade and black. Letter Sweatshirt #3950, $15.”
In addition to the new lettering, this refreshed design comes in four new colours: Arctic Blue, Cranberry Red, Mistletoe Green, and Amber Hearth, along with some minor edits, design tweaks, and a new row of icons on the bottom featuring an assortment of Apple Products; from AirPods to Vision Pro.
The design was entirely created in Sketch, after which it was imported into Pixelmator Pro for some final adjustments (noise, gradients, background, shading, etc.) before being exported and uploaded. Enjoy.
Arctic Blue | Cranberry Red | Mistletoe Green | Amber Hearth
I’m a one-person operation, working in healthcare by day & running this site as a passion project in my off time.
If you enjoy my work (the articles, the wallpapers, my general demeanour… anything really), consider leaving a tip & supporting the site. Your support is incredibly appreciated & goes a long way to keep this site and the works I produce ad-free & free of charge.
🎄 Tips2024-12-20 23:27:20
A refreshed Ugly Christmas iPhone Wallpaper just in time for the holidays.
Hoping to start an annual tradition, I am releasing my 2024 Ugly Christmas Sweater Wallpaper for iPhone today. The Ugly Christmas Sweater series began in 2020 and was rebooted in 2023 with an all-new sweater design featuring the Happy Macintosh and Clarus the Dogcow.
Ugly Christmas Sweater: Mac Edition
Download the matching Ugly Christmas Sweater wallpaper fro your Mac by clicking on the image.
While I wanted to do more, the lack of time and the myriad of other commitments got the best of me, and as a result, I could not churn out an all-new design for 2024. Instead, I am releasing a refreshed design of four new wallpapers featuring an updated Happy Macintosh, some minor design tweaks, a slight colour update, and an all-new bottom row featuring Apple hardware with a splash of their iconic six colours.
I hope you enjoy these garish & kitschy wallpapers that were all digitally hand-stitched with love during the holidays—my best to all of you for your support over the years. Enjoy!
Arctic Blue | Cranberry Red | Mistletoe Green | Amber Hearth
Edit 1: Fixed the missing mini white snowflake on the right of the Mac.
Edit 2: Fixed the mixing coloured stitch on the left of the Mac.
Edit 3: Fixed that the left diamond was higher than the right on either side of the Mac.
I’m a one-person operation, working in healthcare by day & running this site as a passion project in my off time.
If you enjoy my work (the articles, the wallpapers, my general demeanour… anything really), consider leaving a tip & supporting the site. Your support is incredibly appreciated & goes a long way to keep this site and the works I produce ad-free & free of charge.
🎄 Tips2024-12-16 22:59:20
Twenty-three hardware and software products are ranked for this year’s Third Annual 2024 Apple Tier Ranking. 
For the third year in a row, I am once again painting a target on my head and releasing my tier rankings of the products Apple released in the 2024 calendar year.
Ranking System Explained: If the product is brand new, like the Apple Vision Pro, I rank it based on my opinion of it, its value (including cost and utility), and the vibes of the public and tech ecosystem. If the product is an upgrade, like the M4 MacBook Pro, its ranking is based on comparing it to its previous generation (i.e. M3 MacBook Pro) or against current competing Apple products (MacBook Air, M4 Pro/Max Pros). If a product is ranked low, it doesn't mean it's a bad product (although it could be); it could just mean that its value compared to the previous iteration didn't make it a compelling update. For example, the AirPods Pro 2 with Lightning were S-Tier in 2022, while in 2023, the USB-C update was put into C-Tier only due to how minor the upgrade was.
The ranking system I am using is a pretty conventional hierarchical system where things are put into one of six letter grades:
S-Tier: Exceptional, the best of the best, flawless.
A-tier: Excellent, great to nearly perfect.
B-tier: Good, above average.
C-tier: Average but not outstanding.
D-tier: Below average, flawed in many ways.
F-tier: Poor, failing, or unacceptable.
Previous S-Tier products have included the AirPods Pro 2, Apple Watch Ultra, 13-inch M2 MacBook Air (2022) and iPhone 15 & 15-Pro in 2023. Meanwhile, previous F-Tier products have included the iPad 10th Generation in 2022 and the M2 Mac Pro in 2023.
I'm also including a link to a companion entry in The Haberdashery with files to help you create your tier ranking system for Apple's 2024 lineup. Enjoy!
Introduced: 2024.10.29; Available: 2024.11.08
In a year crowded with B & C-Tier products, one device rose above the rest and became the best 2024 Apple Product of the Year: The M4/M4 Pro Mac mini.
It's the first redesign of the Mac mini in 1.5 decades. In 2010, the Mac mini introduced a new form factor, with an optical drive and spinning hard disks, and its exterior has stayed the same ever since. And as silicon improved, ports modernized, and bulky storage disks became teenie tiny flash modules, the space-to-component ratio continued to grow.
Finally, in 2024, we get the biggest small update to the Mac mini. Its volume has shrunk to 59% the size of the previous mini & 23% the Mac Studio. And perhaps most shockingly, the new Mac mini with M4 Pro is more performant (on single-core & multi-core tasks) than the current M2 Ultra Mac Pro, all at 1.6% the volume! It's a shockingly capable machine with a generous array of ports (HDMI, Ethernet, 2 USB-C Ports, 3 Thunderbolt Ports, and a headphone jack), a zippy M4/M4 Pro chip, and 16GB of base unified memory. All this is for $599 (and a 20% discount for education customers). That's a stupid good deal for a machine that, short of the 256GB base storage, has few actual compromises in its design or performance. If anything, the base model only underscores how outlandish Apple's markups on memory and storage are since you can buy two 16GB Memory/256GB storage Mac minis for $1 less than buying one Mac mini with 32GB memory/512G storage ($1,198 vs. $1,199).
I love the direction Apple has taken the Mac mini, and its balance of power, price, and adorableness rocket it to the top of the Apple Product Tier list for 2024.
Introduced: 2024.09.09; Available: 2024.09.20
The colours Apple infused into the iPhone 16 lineup alone are enough to earn a spot in A-tier.
This year, the iPhone 16 gets a new chip (not a binned hand-me-down like the iPhone 15 got), Apple Intelligence, Camera Control (I was sure they would reserve this new feature exclusively for the Pro line in 2024), and it got macrophotography and photographic styles as well. I'll still finger-wag Apple for keeping it locked at a 60Hz display, but I doubt most users outside the tech space care or notice this.
The iPhone 16 brings an enviable colour palette to the lineup and solidifies itself as the best iPhone for most people to buy, even becoming a compelling choice for people who may have previously bought the highest-tier Pro phone.
Introduced: 2024.10.30; Available: 2024.11.08
This year, the base model M4 dispenses with Space Grey and now gets the Space Black treatment. In addition to a shiny new coat of paint, you get a rig that gets a zippy M4 chip, 16GB of starting memory (hallelujah!), the best battery life in a Mac (24 hours), the best display Apple makes for a Mac (ProMotion, MiniLED, Nano-texture option), excellent speakers, and tons of ports. I would be hard-pressed to recommend a 15-inch MacBook Air over the new M4 MacBook Pro because Apple has made spending the extra $300 so compelling.
With the M2 and M3 MacBooks, online reviews chided Apple for creating a barebones product with a Pro name to help boost corporate sales. Now, with M4 and the doubling of memory, you get a very capable and attractive MacBook that'll last for years to come!
Introduced: 2024.10.30; Available: 2024.11.08
Last year's M3 Pro MacBook Pro felt nerfed compared to the M3 Max. It had only half the performance cores (6 vs. 12) of the M3 Max, with a greater emphasis on efficiency cores. This year, Apple elevated the M4 Pro to being nearly on par with the Max chip, with the primary differentiator being a doubling of GPU cores and memory bandwidth on the Max. Add the updated Nano-texture display option, a quantum dot display film for an even wider colour gamut, a brighter outdoor display, a 12MP camera supporting Center Stage, ~20% better battery life, and Thunderbolt 5, and you have an incredibly appealing portable powerhouse. Apple also bumped the starting memory by 50% from 16GB to 24 GB.
Introduced: 2024.05.07; Available: 2024.05.15
Controversial Crush! ad aside, this is a terrific update for the iPad Pro. It brings a stunning tandem OLED display to both the 11 & 13-inch model, giving us a sneak peek of what to expect when this tech finally comes to the monitor and MacBook lineups. The new M4 chip inside the iPad Pro is overkill for a product like this; it's 40-60% faster than the next chip down in the iPad lineup (M2). This means this iPad will run well for years and years (my family has been using my previous 2018 iPad Pro for the past 6 years, and it still gets the latest software updates and is more than zippy for daily tasks).
Other nice additions include the landscape front camera and a Nano-texture option (but that display is only available as an add-on with the priciest 1 and 2TB tiers). I don't mind that Apple removed the Ultra Wide rear camera (I never used it), and I love how much they reduced the weight by over 10% in the 13-inch model and shrank the thickness down 16% to make the 13-inch iPad Air the thinnest Apple product ever (thinner than any iPod nano!). All this while keeping it as torsionally rigid as the previous models and not having any appreciable loss in battery life.
A major annoyance is that anyone buying this iPad needs to consider getting new accessories as none of the previous keyboards, covers, or Apple Pencil 2 will work with this product, and adding a Keyboard and pencil alone can add nearly $500 to your purchase price.
Of course, I'm just ranking hardware and not the hardware + software integration, as there's no sentiment more accepted online than how the iPad Pro hardware is massively over-engineered relative to its software.
Introduced: 2024.05.07; Available: 2024.05.15
I did not enter 2024 hoping to spend more money on Magic Keyboards. Still, when Apple released the new M4 iPad Pro, it made the new Pro incompatible with the existing design but improved on the previous model in several ways. The new Magic Keyboard adds a dedicated row of function keys and has a much larger glass trackpad with haptic feedback (the old model was a physical cantilevered plastic pad). Apple has created the best trackpad in the business, and seeing all those technologies come to the iPad Pro is a fantastic addition. The new Magic Keyboard also has an aluminum top casing, improving the device's durability and comfort. However, it still has that weird grippy dirt & grease magnet polyurethane covering on the exterior. Finally, the "lapability" of the keyboard still sucks, and the lack of any indentation makes opening the keyboard a pain in the ass. Those last two issues notwithstanding, this Magic Keyboard is a terrific upgrade and companion product for the iPad Pro over the previous generation.
Introduced: 2024.05.07; Available: 2024.05.15
In 2024, Apple expanded the iPad Air lineup with the introduction of a new 13-inch version alongside its existing 11-inch offering. Adding a larger display option to the Air allows people to have a larger tablet without spending an additional $500 to get the entry-level 13-inch iPad Pro. Adding an M2 chip, a landscape camera, higher storage tiers (up to 1TB), and support for Apple Pencil Pro are welcome additions to the product lineup. All in all, the Air solidifies itself as the tablet that's best for most.
Introduced: 2024.09.09; Available: 2024.09.20
Year II of Titanium Pro iPhones. This year, the Pro gets even bigger (the bezels continue to shrink, and the width and height of the device have grown ever so slightly), making these phones, especially the Pro Max at 6.9 inches, absolute beasts.
Outside of the material difference, the Pro phones get an upgraded 48MP UltraWide lens, which extends to high-resolution Macrophotography, 4K Dolby Vision & ProRes video at 120fps recording, and Photographic styles. In addition to the material and display niceties (Always-On, ProMotion), the Pro phones continue to differentiate themselves with their enhancements to photos and video over the other models.
Camera Control, I'm sad to say, feels more like a gimmick than a compelling feature. I've used it a few times and have gotten routinely frustrated by it always working against the action I want to perform (or as Apple might argue: “you’re using it wrong”). As a result of numerous such instances, I've all but given up on the feature.
Introduced: 2024.06.10; Available: 2024.09.16
I initially had iOS & iPadOS 18 in C-Tier because outside of the app customization (i.e. icon tinting and placement) & Apple Intelligence features, this release offered very little enhancement. However, the more I looked at how I use iOS & iPadOS 18, the more I realized how much I benefit from the many upgrades sprinkled across the platform.
These upgrades included customizing the Lock Screen controls and the ability to create multiple Control Center pages and customize them to my heart's content, including offering a myriad of 3rd party app extensions to plug into these sections. Then, there were effects, RCS, and improved tapbacks in Messages, which significantly enriched my conversations with others. Notes continue to get enhancements that have solidified it as my de facto notetaking app, including colour, collapsible headers, and audio recording. Finally, the updates to Calculator, and adding reminders in line with the Calendar app have all been appreciatable quality of life improvements.
And this is even before we discuss the many new accessibility and safety features added to iOS, including eye tracking, motion sickness support, and SOS video messaging.
Points are lost for the Photos redesign, which continues to be frustrating for me both in my personal use & in the many frustrating messages I've gotten from family after the update asking for support.
Introduced: 2024.06.10; Available: 2024.09.16
Everything I've said about iOS 18, I'll echo for iPadOS. The bonus for the iPad is that after a decade and a half, we finally got a native Calculator app on the tablet (vindication!).
Introduced: 2024.06.10; Available: 2024.09.16
Everything I've said about iOS 18 & iPadOS 18 trickles down to apply to macOS Sequoia, except that the macOS version of Photos was spared the discombobulating redesign. Overall, many core apps (Notes, Safari, Calendar) have received meaningful improvements that improve their day-to-day usability, and the operating system has felt stable with no annoying glitches, battery drains, or oddities that made me regret updating.
But perhaps the killer feature is one I completely disregarded when it was mentioned at WWDC: iPhone mirroring. This feature has been a game-changer for my workflow. From allowing me to access iOS-specific apps (like Health, Lose it!, FordPass, Bluesky, etc.) to getting iPhone notifications (convenient for some 2FA logins) to just having the convenience of checking your phone without taking it out of your pocket and manage two devices, I utilize this feature daily, and it's had a meaningful impact on my overall productivity.
The final thing, I know Windows has had this feature forever, and Apple is Sherlocking a few third-party applications, but native window placement and resizing has been a fantastic addition to macOS.
Introduced: 2024.05.07; Available: 2024.05.15
Although I bemoan having to buy another Apple Pencil, I'm happy Apple has simplified the Pencil lineup for the current iPads from 4 somewhat cross-compatible options to two. Now there's the Apple Pencil (USB-C) and the Apple Pencil Pro. That's it.
The Apple Pencil Pro is a significant improvement over its predecessor, the Pencil 2. It introduces features like Barrel Roll for orientation-dependent drawing tools, squeeze, haptic feedback, and FindMy support. These enhancements, especially the ability to pull up your tool palette without racing to the corners of the display, are game-changing for frequent Pencil users.
Introduced: 2024.10.30; Available: 2024.11.08
Why is the M4 Max in B-Tier while the M4 & M4 Pro MacBook Air live in A-Tier? Because compared to the previous generation MacBook Pro, the M4 Max has a slightly more modest update than the M4 & M4 Pro. This includes a 36% faster memory bandwidth (400GB/s to 546GB/s), a brighter outdoor SDR display, an optional Nano-texture display, Thunderbolt 5, and a Center Stage camera. Now, the new M4 series does pack quite a performance punch (25% faster single-core, 35% faster multi-core, and 50% faster Metal GPU scores), but it's not like the M3 Max was a slouch, as it's still the 4th fastest multi-core Apple device according to Geekbench.
So, the year-over-year update is only spectacular if you come from a several-year-old M-Series (M1 or M2) or Intel chip. This year, you will get more year-over-year improvement with the M4 & M4 Pro lineup than you will on the Max.
Introduced: 2024.06.10; Available: 2024.09.16
The handful of updates coming to watchOS 11 have made it a valuable release for the platform. Two of the most significant updates (IMO) have been the addition of the Vitals app and the enhanced prominence of the Smart Stack.
The new Vitals app tracks five metrics overnight: heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, blood oxygen, and sleep duration. It takes this data and provides a simple visual summary, highlighting any outlying trends that personal and environmental factors may cause. My most interesting experience of using the Vitals app was when it detected several outliers before I noticed any physical symptoms of an upcoming illness.
Secondly, the Smart Stack. In watchOS 10, I never used the Smart Stack, but now I find myself scrolling through it all the time. The addition of live activities, especially sports, more customizable widgets, and a better prediction of what widget I want to see have all added a ton of value to the Smart Stack.
Other notable features of watchOS 11 include training loads, the more dynamic photos face, pregnancy tracking, the Translate app and the accompanying Smart Stack widget.
Introduced: 2024.03.04; Available: 2024.03.08
A very meagre MacBook Air update over the M2 that added the M3 & updated the Wi-Fi.
This product would have slipped into D-Tier had it not been for the late October update that made 16GB of memory standard across all Macs and was extended to both the M2 & M3 MacBook Air. That change alone makes the MBA (both M2 & M3) one of the best laptops for most. It has a decent price, has incredible battery life, is lightweight, and overall is an incredibly performant machine for 90% of users for 90% of the things they do.
Introduced: 2024.09.09; Available: 2024.09.20
This year, the Apple Watch got another size bump, increasing its height by 1mm for each size (41mm became 42, 45mm became 46). The watch also got wide-angle OLED over the series 9, new material finishes including a Jet Black polished Aluminum finish & swapping stainless steel for polished titanium, faster charging, and the depth gauge and water temperature sensor introduced with the Apple Watch Ultra. While the watch got taller, it also got thinner (10.7mm to 9.7mm) and lighter (~6% for the aluminum and over 20% in switching from Stainless Steel to Titanium).
I appreciate Apple continuing to support existing bands and continuing compatibility with older bands from smaller watches, as the smallest series 10 Apple Watch watch is now as big as the largest first generation Apple Watch, which both had 42mm bodies. But Apple does lose a few points for not updating all their watch faces to support the new always-on secondhand; only two of the newest faces benefit from that feature.
Overall, this is an incremental update with some positive changes. I was wary of Apple ditching stainless steel, but I have really liked the polished titanium's look, lightness, and durability.
Introduced: 2023.06.05; Available: 2024.02.02
Although smushed in the middle of my article, I wrote my thoughts about the Apple Vision Pro last because I know that, except for perhaps Apple Intelligence, whatever ranking I give it will likely be the most controversial.
Introduced with little fanfare through a press release on January 8, Apple Vision Pro has been one of the most peculiar products to approach and discuss this year.
Strictly speaking, the Vision Pro is a beautifully over-engineered device. The level of detail for each component is through the roof. And you can tell by looking at the device that thousands of hours were poured over every square inch of this headset.
That fit-and-finish hardware experience continues once you put on the device. The Audio Pods deliver crisp, high-quality, spatial audio without being significantly detected by the outside world. Of course, the audio experience gets even better once you put on a pair of AirPods, but the standalone experience is terrific too. Then there are the two Micro-OLED Displays offering 23 million pixels of resolution, offering more pixels per eye than a 4K TV. They're the best panels many of us will ever view content through. Some people feel the field of view is relatively narrow, but while I notice it at times, it hasn't been a complaint of mine.
Now, I can't discuss the hardware without discussing weight. At 600-650 grams, this device is heavy and also very front-loaded. The solo knit band looks beautiful, but its technique of keeping the Vision Pro attached via a vice-like grip gets very fatiguing very quickly. The dual-loop band looks worse but functions better by distributing weight to the top of the head, but it's a lot more finicky. Third-party accessory makers are finally beginning to create accessories addressing this significant issue: Apple's $3,500 headset isn't comfortable to use.
I have a love/hate relationship with VisionOS; it offers some of the best software experiences I've ever had, but at the same time, has some of the most frustrating across nearly any platform.
I'll start with the positives first. Immersive content, although sparse, is jaw-dropping. Clips, including the parkour video or tightrope walking, actually elevated my heart rate because I felt like I was standing right next to someone who was about to drop to their death. Other times, I flinched as a basketball was thrown toward me and extended my hand as a baby rhino walked over to be stroked. I am continuously taken aback by how quickly and deeply immersed I become inside the Vision Pro.
The second most emotional experience is viewing panoramic photos, watching spatial videos, and the ability to turn any photo into a spatial image with visionOS 2. The level of emotion that welled up in me when I saw a family member convincingly represented as a dimensional photo was something I wasn't expecting, no matter how many reviews I read about the feature. Only after doing it could I understand why Apple showcased that weird video of a dad taking a spatial video at his daughter's birthday; those clips carry tenfold the emotion of any 2D photo or video.
Finally, the fit and finish of the native apps are second to none. From the shadows cast to the glassy texture of apps, VisionOS is a beautiful OS to be immersed in. Watching a movie while sitting lakeside near Mt. Hood and having the light ripple diffusely off the water doesn't get old, no matter how often you do it.
But VisionOS is not perfect; it's very far from it. My first gripe has to do with how few apps Apple has ported over to the platform, including offering no new apps when it launched VisionOS 2.0. First, iPad apps running in visionOS are considerably poorer than native apps: they don't look good or function well either. Second, I feel that Apple not investing in getting their apps to VisionOS doesn't inspire developers to do so either. The market is already so small, so why should a developer devote time, money, and energy to create something when a shittier iPad app would do? I know the platform is young, but it feels like a huge miss that we'll go nearly 2 years from its release before we might get any new native apps from Apple.
The Vision Pro feels like Apple at its most exposed. It's Apple publicly building toward a possible game-changing product future (or a dead end, only time will tell) in a market that struggles to know how to make the most of that device today. It's groundbreaking in some particular ways and good for some things, but overall, it is a product struggling to define a convincing niche in Apple's pantheon of products.
Introduced: 2024.09.07; Available: 2024.09.20
Apple simplified the AirPods lineup by ditching the long-stemmed AirPods 2 and 3 in favour of two variations of AirPods 4. Adding an H2 chip, USB-C, dust-resistance, and a much smaller charging case over the Airpods 3, the base-model AirPods 4 are an appreciable update over the Series 2 & 3. However, Apple also added a higher tier Series 4 for $50 more, which boasts active noise cancellation, adaptive audio, conversational awareness, transparency mode, and a wireless charging case.
These are generous updates to the AirPods lineup, and I appreciate Apple's focus on adding these upgrades while keeping the AirPods price the same at $129.
They belong in C-Tier for being a decent update, though I find the added noise cancellation in AirPods 4 a little weird. Unlike the AirPods Pro 2, which benefits from some passive noise reduction due to its seal, the AirPods 4 doesn't. As a result, the noise cancellation is not nearly as good, and in my use of the product, it produces a distinct artifact noise as it battles to cancel out the surrounding sound. Added to that is that the AirPods Pro 2 are now regularly on sale & competing with the AirPods 4 in terms of price but offer significantly better noise cancelling, more controls on the stem, and some groundbreaking hearing aid/protection features.
Introduced: 2024.10.28; Available: 2024.11.08
Similar to the MacBook Air, the iMac got a chip update (M3 to M4) and updated memory (16GB as standard), and it is otherwise a very similar and decent all-in-one. The colours got a bit of a tweak, and while the pastel fronts of the devices look similar, the aluminum backing is more vibrant. The one significant display tweak is that a Nano-texture option has become available. I see a lot of iMacs at retail stores and well-lit business areas, so having the glare significantly tamed with this option may be well worth the added $200 cost for some buyers.
I am quite annoyed that Apple eliminated the option of buying the colour-matched mouse and trackpad; instead, people must pick one or the other. I imagine it's a small market, but as a user of both, I'd prefer having both (and having them match).
Introduced: 2023.06.05; Available: 2024.10.28 (US English)
The best thing Apple Intelligence has done to date is force Apple to give its devices, particularly Macs, a respectable amount of base memory. Selling Pro laptops with 8GB of base memory into late 2024 was criminal, and I'm pleased that all Macs in 2024 now begin with 16GB of unified memory.
So far, we've seen the roadmap of where Apple intends to take Apple Intelligence but have only gotten an appetizer to date. As of the latest point releases (i.e., iOS 18.2 & macOS 15.2), Apple Intelligence offers writing tools, photo clean-up, notification summaries, prioritization in mail, smart replies, Genmoji, Visual Intelligence, ChatGPT integration, and a more natural language, Siri.
Those have all been nice, but the promise of Apple Intelligence is its ability to understand personal context, gain the ability to perform in/cross-app actions and have on-screen awareness to act on information. The example Apple has used is asking Siri, "What time does my mom's flight land?" and having the OS look through Mail data, understand who your mom is, and cross reference the latest flight information to give you an up-to-date answer of her arrival. Features like that won’t roll out until early/mid 2025, nearly a year from the date Apple Intelligence was announced.
Apple was caught a bit flat-footed regarding AI compared to outfits like Google & OpenAI, and this trickle of features we’re starting to see appears to be Apple trying to satisfy us with samples while it furiously works on the tentpole features of its AI push.
But the features it has rolled out so far have ranged from cute to handy. Genmoji is adorable, if sometimes a bit finicky, and Image Playgrounds is a novel app to play with, but something I feel will fall by the wayside. Currently, its generations are pretty constrained and bare, but hopefully Apple continues to refine them over time. The summary tools for mail & messages have been particularly helpful in helping me get the gist of messages with reliable accuracy. Finally, the writing tools, although basic, have made valuable recommendations on improving my writing (and the .2 release now adds the option to type a request for the types of change you would like to see).
Overall, the available Apple Intelligence features suite gets a C-Tier ranking. There's still a long way to go in this rollout, which notably includes introducing the central promises of Apple Intelligence. I'm interested to see how my rating of Apple Intelligence changes by the end of 2025.
Introduced: 2024.10.15; Available: 2024.10.23
Three years ago, Apple introduced an updated 6th generation Mac mini. That mini was a significant upgrade over its predecessor boasting a new form factor, larger display, updated 12MP read and front cameras, 4K video recording, USB-C, 5G, Apple Pencil support, and more. But Apple's 2024 iPad mini refresh felt half-baked, seemingly only released to make the product compatible with the rollout of Apple Intelligence.
Featuring a binned A17 Pro Chip with a 5-core GPU versus the 6 that came on the iPhone 15 Pro, there were little to no upgrades over its last refresh 3 years prior. We got faster Wi-Fi 6E, a storage bump (base starts at 128GB vs 64GB with an added 512GB tier), and some new features with Apple Pencil, but that's it.
It's not a bad product; that's not why it's in D-Tier, is that it's a pretty uninspired upgrade after three years of waiting for a refresh, a bare minimum upgrade required to keep this product in their lineup with the rollout of Apple Intelligence.
Final thoughts: I don't notice the jelly scroll on this device and am completely unbothered by it. Reviews are varied, but they suggest it still exists on this product but has improved since the 6th generation mini. Finally, however barely blue it is, I love that Apple finally gave us a blue mini!
Introduced: 2024.09.07; Available: 2024.09.20
Every AirPods Max fan who patiently waited for 1,371 days can be forgiven for being frustrated with the dead cat bounce update these headphones got in September. With Apple doing so much to enhance audio capabilities across its devices, most notably glimpsed in the AirPods Pro 2, getting even a sprinkling of those features into the Max (wired lossless audio, conversational awareness, "Siri" support) could have significantly improved the appeal of this product.
Instead, what we got was a new port, some colour tweaks, and the loss of features like wired playback. And the price? It remained unchanged and prohibitively high. To add insult to injury, Gurman has reported that Apple has 'no concrete plans' to update these headphones 'in a meaningful way.' This update was a missed opportunity to bring the AirPods Max up to par with the rest of Apple's audio lineup, and it's a disappointment for those who were hoping for more.
I hope this isn't the final pair of AirPods Max we get, although I fear it will be.
Introduced: 2024.10.28; Available: 2024.11.08
I personally enjoy using these accessories. While some may have quibbles about the Magic Mouse's ergonomics or the Magic Keyboard's travel, I find them to be enjoyable and use them daily without issue. Apple had an opportunity to make changes to the accessory lineup, but we only got a port swap (Lightning for USB-C).
Worse, the weird Black tax continues for all three accessories: the black Magic Trackpad, Magic Keyboard with Black keycaps, and Magic Mouse, each $20 more expensive than their white counterparts. These would all be rated higher if just released, but for this update to be just a port swap after nearly a decade without any other update earns this trio of accessories an F-Tier designation.
The AirPods Pro 2 OTA update to give it hearing aid/protection capabilities
MacBook Air (M2) updated to 16GB of base memory
Apple Watch Ultra 2 getting a Black Finish
Over 5,000 words in, what more do I have to say? The ability of Apple to update, release, and have all their products work so well with each other is truly a feat worth celebrating. My office of 10 people struggles to organize potlucks, and here Apple is redesigning Macs, releasing spatial computers, and creating a software ecosystem that works. My main disappointments this year are not because the products were bad (i.e., AirPods Max, Apple Vision Pro); they didn't get the priority and attention I wanted them to get. Apple Intelligence brought some good benefits with it (16GB of memory). While the features are handy, Apple Intelligence still feels, at times, gimmicky and unguided - like Apple is keeping up with the Joneses without defining its whole approach to AI.
2024-12-02 22:59:39
Introducing Liminal Spaces, a vibrant and minimal cubist-inspired wallpaper series.
Liminal Spaces is a wallpaper set created while playing with different shapes, textures, patterns, and perspectives. Each wallpaper is a collage of varying design and pattern cutouts that give some semblance of space and perspective while remaining simultaneously ambiguous. My aim was to create a background for my devices that looked vibrant, uncluttered, and fascinating.
Each wallpaper started inside Sketch, where a 12000 x 12000 canvas was broken into 15-20 pieces. Leading lines were added to give some sense of a focal point and perspective, though many shapes were randomly carved out. From there, a colour palette was selected. Finally, textures were collected from several sources, including photography from Unsplash (e.g., sand, clouds, concrete walls), while other textures were generated in MidJourney (fluted glass, gold foil, and distressed fabric are some examples).
The finished designs have been sized for the Mac, iPhone, and iPad. And if you want, feel free to share your desktops and devices adorned with these new designs! Enjoy!
LIMINAL I: iPad | Mac | iPhone
LIMINAL II: iPad | Mac | iPhone
LIMINAL III: iPad | Mac | iPhone
LIMINAL IV: iPad | Mac | iPhone
LIMINAL V: iPad | Mac | iPhone
I’m a one-person operation, working in healthcare by day & running this site as a passion project in my off time.
If you enjoy my work (the articles, the wallpapers, my general demeanour… anything really), consider leaving a tip & supporting the site. Your support is incredibly appreciated & goes a long way to keep this site and the works I produce ad-free & free of charge.
☕️ Tips2024-11-20 23:00:24
In late 2016, Apple released Designed by Apple in California, a 300-page book reviewing nearly two decades of Apple design from the late 1990s through the mid 2010s.
On November 15, 2016, Apple debuted a brand new product. It wasn't a new Mac, an iPhone, or anything quite like that; it was a book, or rather, two books. Titled "Designed by Apple in California," the 300-page book was available in two sizes: a small $199 260x324mm size and a larger $299 330x413mm book. It remained on sale from 2016 and was discontinued in August of 2019.
The two sizes of the Designed by Apple in California Book. Photo credit: Apple
"This is a book with very few words.
It is about our products, their physical nature, and how they were made.
While this is a design book, it is not about the design team, the creative process, or product development. It is an objective representation of our work that, ironically, describes who we are. It describes how we work, our values, our preoccupations, and our goals. We have always hoped to be defined by what we do rather than by what we say."
- Jony Ive, Excerpt from the Introduction
The iMac G3 was introduced in the spring of 1998 in Bondi Blue. These five colours: Lime, Strawberry, Blueberry, Grape, and Tangerine, debuted in January of 1999. Photo taken on iPhone of the inside of the Designed by Apple in California book.
Across its 300 pages, Designed by Apple in California includes 450 images taken by photographer Andrew Zuckerman, guiding people across nearly two decades of Apple design, from the 1998 iMac G3 to the 2015 Apple Pencil. The book is titled after the iconic Apple phrase, Designed by Apple in California, which first appeared on their products after Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997. The book includes a dedication to Steve Jobs on the opening page and an introduction written by Jony Ive. In the back, a supplemental booklet is provided that provides further details about the images, components, and processes visualized on each page.
The Power Mac G4 Cube was introduced in July of 2000. Image Credit: Apple
“The entire computer is suspended within a clear acrylic enclosure to enable a quiet, convection—cooled architecture. Hot air exhausts from the chimney on the top surface.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California
Ive described the purpose of the book in an interview with Wallpaper magazine:
“We asked ourselves, 'What is the value of a book like this, when most people know these objects so intimately already?' First, to see the objects out of their functional context. Next, to see them in a context of the subsequent products and hopefully how we have learned as a team how technology shifts, moves and evolves. And the other reason was to do with the fact that many people don't really have much of a sense of how their manufactured environment came to be. Most people wouldn't understand how the chair they are sat on is made. One of the things we wanted to do was try and explain as clearly as we can – through photography – how you transform a raw material into a product that you recognise and hopefully use as a daily tool.”
- Jony Ive, Interview with Wallpaper
The original iPhone, debuted by Steve Jobs on January 09, 2007. Image Credit: Apple
Taking over eight years to produce, the book was spearheaded by then Chief Design Officer Sir Jony Ive and his team. The book is an homage to Apple's design history and a rare instance of Apple looking back rather than ahead. In an interview with Wallpaper*, Ive admitted as much: "because we've been so consumed by our current and future work we came to realise we didn't have a catalogue of the physical products." Funnily enough, Apple had to go out and buy many of the products featured in the book as it didn't have its own archive of physical products to photograph in the creation of this book. According to Ive, every product was reshot for this book, and the process of creating this book took so long it required Apple to "re-photograph some of earlier products because of how photographic technology had changed and improved."
The unibody Mac mini debuted in June of 2010. Photo credit: Apple
“A custom-designed T-cutter enabled the removal of the maximum amount of material to ensure that all internal components could fit inside a single unibody enclosure.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California
"You understand the nature of an object so much more when you understand how it came to be"
- Jony Ive
The linen bound hardcover book featured custom paper, low-ghosting inks, and a gilded matte silver edged paper. Photo credit: Apple
And in classic Apple fashion, the book became an over-engineered project in its own right. Apple had to develop custom-milled German paper with low-ghosting inks to capture the vibrancy and provide sufficient contrast against the white paper their products were showcased on. The book featured a soft white linen hardcover with a debossed Apple Logo, a Spine that featured the debossed name of the book, and gilded matte silver edges. The book follows the same tradition of obsessive craftsmanship and design that the products it contains came to be known for.
"We strive, with varying degrees of success, to define objects that appear effortless. Objects that appear so simple, coherent, and inevitable that there could be no rational alternative."
- Jony Ive, Excerpt from the Introduction
“These custom-designed, high-performance tungsten carbide cutting tools were used to manufacture the iPhone 4 bezel.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California. Photo Credit: Apple
Although the book contains many assembled Apple products, it also takes a rare glimpse at some of the manufacturing, design tools, and processes involved in realizing these products. For example, there is a full 2-page spread dedicated to showcasing the custom cutting tools used in manufacturing the iPhone 4 bezel and another that shows the custom-designed tool used to remove aluminum for the Mac mini unibody extrusion. These deconstructed images help provide a material appreciation for the products that seem so self-evident once they are assembled. Flipping the pages, you witness the material and process evolution these iconic products experienced over the decades. You see the molds used to form the EarPods, the multistage process of how a Mac mini and Mac Pro go from aluminium billet to a finished product, to the sapphire tank growing crystals for the display on the Apple Watch.
The cylindrical housing of the Mac Pro was made out of a single 9-inch aluminum billet and polished to a mirror finish. Photo taken on iPhone of the inside of the Designed by Apple in California book.
“The 6063 aluminum housing was robotically buffed using a fine—particle abrasive compound, bringing the surface roughness down to an average roughness of less than 20 nanometers. The buffing wheels were stitched in Germany using cotton grown and sourced from a single mill in Pakistan.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California.
Jony Ive spoke about the importance of approaching each design with a sense of care:
"Above all, I have come to feel sure that human beings sense care in the same way we sense carelessness. I do think we respond, maybe not consciously, to something much bigger than the object. We sense the group of people behind the products, people who do more than make something work, people who sincerely care about the smallest unseen details, as well as the big idea and primary function."
- Jony Ive, Excerpt from the Introduction
“Leather Smart Cover after years of use.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California.
Photo taken on iPhone of the inside of the Designed by Apple in California book.
While most of the book features Apple products at their most pristine or disassembled and arranged with the utmost care, two images buck that trend: A distressed leather iPad Smart Cover and an absolutely beaten-up original iPhone. The iPhone, Ive disclosed, belonged to Evans Hankey, who worked alongside Ive since 2007 and was promoted to VP of Industrial Design following his departure. Ive shares that "we design tools to be used" and these images convey the character we impart to our Apple products through their use & service.
“iPhone after years of (ab)use.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California.
Jony Ive shared in an interview that this particular iPhone actually belonged to Evans Hankey, who work alongside Ive & became VP of Industrial Design following his departure.
Photo taken on iPhone of the inside of the Designed by Apple in California book.
“it’s the designer’s job to try and solve problems that in their resolution do not allow complexity to become apparent.”
- Jony Ive, Interview with Wallpaper
The original iPod debuted in October of 2001. With a 5 or 10GB spinning disk drive, the iPod began Apple ascent to becoming one of the most successful companies of our time.
“Molding a double shot of white PC/ABS under clear polycarbonate achieved visual depth and provided protection for the display without requiring extra parts. A free-spinning mechanical scroll wheel is surrounded by four transport control buttons.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California.
The book presents as a love letter to the work that Ive, the team he assembled, and Steve helped realize over the years. Shortly after its publication, Ive left the company, ending a nearly 30-year tenure at Apple.
"This book is dedicated to him.
This is a body of work that would not exist without Steve. The many thousands of people who worked together would never have worked together. These products would never have been designed, never have been made, never have been used."
- Jony Ive, Excerpt from the Introduction
Image Credit: Apple
My reason for putting together this entry is to share a closer look at a unique product that many people will never have access to. Apple is unlikely ever to produce a book like this again (though they did release that weird Apple Music book), and the few remaining copies are being sold on eBay for thousands of dollars, depending on their size and condition. I also tried to tie in the most significant sources that shared expanded details about the book, most notably Jony Ive's interview with Wallpaper Magazine & Dazed in 2016.
The Apple Watch was announced in late 2014 and released in April of 2015. It was the first major new product category debuted by Apple since the passing of Steve Jobs in 2011. Image Credit: Apple
“Made from 316L stainless steel cold-forged to increase its hardness by 80 percent, the case is machined in a 12-station multi-axis CNC milling machine, then polished to a mirror finish using a custom-designed 4-axis 'l' force-feedback wheel.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California.
I'll also direct people to two full walkthroughs of the book, one posted by DetroitBORG and a longer 48-minute video created by Greg Wyatt of Apple Explained. They're both worth a watch. I will also include a link to the Jony Ive narrated video introducing the book and explaining the intention behind it.
“Apple grows extremely high-quality, single-crystal sapphire ingots - called boules - over two weeks. The front crystal is sliced from the boule using a diamond-encrusted cutting wire, then cut, ground, polished, and laser ablated to create the final geometry. The result is an incredibly precise, optically clear, scratch—resistant crystal.” - Excerpt from Designed by Apple in California.
Photo taken on iPhone of the inside of the Designed by Apple in California book.
2024-11-02 04:27:21
On November 1, Pixelmator announced that it was being acquired by Apple.
Apple made many announcements this week: Monday ushered in the new M4 iMac, Tuesday the adorable & redesigned M4/M4 Pro Mac Mini, Wednesday the terrifyingly powerful M4 MacBook Pro lineup, and Thursday's Apple held their quarterly earnings call, but perhaps the most surprising announcement came on Friday when Pixelmator (the company behind Pixelmator, Pixelmator Pro, and Photomator), the photo editing and design application that's been available on the Mac since 2007, announced they were being acquired by Apple.
Screenshot of Pixelmator 1.0 in 2007.
In a press release on their website, the team wrote:
"Pixelmator has signed an agreement to be acquired by Apple, subject to regulatory approval. There will be no material changes to the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps at this time. Stay tuned for exciting updates to come."
It's unclear at this time what will come out of this. Will this ultimately lead to Apple keeping Pixelmator around as a native application as it did with Shortcuts and having it become part of the pantheon of apps like Garageband or iMovie, or will the apps be dissolved, their technologies migrated into areas like Photos and Apple Intelligence.
Pixelmator is so old it came in boxes.
I have been using Pixelmator since day one, over 17 years! I've watched it grow, advance its capabilities, and add features, becoming my preferred image editing app. You've heard me make countless compliments about the app and how instrumental it is to nearly everything I create for this site. And I’m not alone in singing their praises, their apps have earned numerous accolades from Apple, including three Mac App of the Year Awards (2011, 2018, 2023), a 2014 iPad App of the Year award, and two Apple Design Awards (2011, 2019).
Although there are apps in the Adobe & Affinity suite, Pixelmator has always remained my go-to for its speed, simplicity, and power. I've also always respected the team for offering years of free upgrades, beyond fair pricing, and continually iterating & adding valuable features. The acquisition by Apple is bittersweet because it shows the team that they have created something extraordinary. Still, at the same time, I hope that a monolithic company like Apple appreciates the history & importance of this app and doesn't just tear it apart for its intellectual property. That's my fear because I love these apps and, selfishly, don't want to relearn another image-editing app after nearly two decades of use.
Top: Pixelmator 1.0 launched on the Mac on September 25, 2007. Pixelmator Pro was launched on November 29, 2017 as a paid update from Pixelmator, which was renamed Pixelmator Classic.
Middle: Pixelmator for iOS launched on the iPad on October 23, 2014, with support for the iPhone arriving in 2015.
Bottom: Pixelmator Photo, later Photomator, was released on iOS in 2019 and released as Photomator 3.0 on the Mac on May 16, 2023.
If it were up to me (though it's not), I would prefer Apple keep Pixelmator around as a standalone app and continue its development alongside the founders. And I could see them integrating Photomator into photos, creating an Aperture-esque photo-editing palette of advanced tools and technologies. But that all remains to be seen.
Lastly, a massive congratulations to the Dailide brothers, Saulius and Aidas, for starting something incredible, and a huge thank you for the love and care you've crafted into every pixel and line of code in this app for so many years. I have some worries, but I remain optimistic about a great future and the continued legacy of these fantastic apps.
