Apple WWDC 2020

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Does it require print script only or will it allow cursive script too? My cursive script is gosh awful, so I doubt it could interpret that. Sometimes I can’t even interpret my own cursive script! Print script would be fine, but cursive would be a bit faster.

I was switching between print and cursive the entire time while taking notes this morning.

Like I said, I’m amazed Scribble was able to handle that so well.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

I was switching between print and cursive the entire time while taking notes this morning.

Like I said, I’m amazed Scribble was able to handle that so well.

I’m glad they included cursive script capability too. Many schools don’t even teach kids to write in cursive anymore, so it will be a lost art in a generation or two.

[OtinG]

Here is a MacRumors Youtube video on using Scribble in iPadOS 14.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Scribble is one of the features I’m hoping works well. Interesting that my Palm Pilot had rather good handwriting recognition back in the 1990s. It was of course very crude compared to what is available today, and you had to enter each letter/number using a specific font style, but it worked so much faster than pressing a tiny keyboard with the stylus. At IBM we used their relabelled Palm Pilot, the IBM Workpad. I’m looking forward to a much more sophisticated feature like Scribble once they get it running well and app developers start adapting it. I’m not clear on whether Apple is making Scribble work in all apps or if the developers have to code it into their apps. Hopefully the former as the latter will take longer to see it appear and be way more problematic.

The old newton actually had pretty decent handwriting recognition. I had one for work. No idea what I did with it.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

You can upgrade RAM on an iMac. It's very easy to do. The big issue for me is upgrading the hard drive. It's possible, but when I tried to do it with my old iMac, I ended up wreaking the machine. My eyes just are up to it anymore.

I have an external thunderbolt drobo that works great, my only problem is the some Apple programs insist on using the internal drive.

Not the 2019 iMac 21.5”, unless you are prepared to remove the glass (‘professional installation recommended’):

https://eshop.macsales.com/installvi...?filter=memory

In which case you might as well upgrade the internal drive as well.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

The old newton actually had pretty decent handwriting recognition. I had one for work. No idea what I did with it.

I wanted one, but they were too expensive. Apple gave up on it relatively quickly too. Sony came out with a similar device too, but gave up on it almost immediately. I bought the Sony device but it never worked well at all. Total waste of money. The Palm Pilot was the first device that I could actually use to great benefit. And it fit in my shirt pocket. I still have it, though I doubt it will boot up anymore. I think it was the Palm Pilot III.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

The old newton actually had pretty decent handwriting recognition. I had one for work. No idea what I did with it.

The Newton was the first piece of Apple hardware I owned. My employer worked out a deal with them for 50% off or something like that of a limited quantity. This was the early days of PDAs and people still carried around Daytimers. I quickly realized I had no use for any sort of PDA, and the thing didn’t even play chess (maybe later on there was a chess app). I sold it to another employee a couple of weeks later for what I’d paid for it.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by tomsem

The Newton was the first piece of Apple hardware I owned. My employer worked out a deal with them for 50% off or something like that of a limited quantity. This was the early days of PDAs and people still carried around Daytimers. I quickly realized I had no use for any sort of PDA, and the thing didn’t even play chess (maybe later on there was a chess app). I sold it to another employee a couple of weeks later for what I’d paid for it.

Yes, it was a fun toy for a while, but wasn't particularly useful. I got a lot more use out of my palm pilot some 3 or 4 years later. The first table computer that I actually found useful was a windows based full sized tablet that had Microsoft notes on it.

[OtinG]

Apple had the right idea in general terms when it came to the Newton, which was more like a tablet than a PDA. A lot of companies were churning out PDAs including Sharp, Hewlett Packard, Palm, etc. Most were useless due to battery issues and device resetting which wiped all the data. Since most PDAs required tedious hand entry, the constant resets were a deal killer. The PDAs though were basically designed to replace your Rolodex by giving you an electronic list of contacts, plus it provided a simple calendar and a few other simple features. Basically the PDA was an electronic version Fonzie's "little black book" on steroids. They were never intended as app machines in the early days. Palm added app capability later on, as did other manufacturers, and we discovered that they made nice little portable eBook readers in an era predating eInk devices, though your eyes had to be much better than more are now in old age! Someone came up with a way to convert text files into a Palm database file, and we were then converting books from text to Palm files. But that low resolution screen of my Palm Pilot III only had 160x160 px.

[OtinG]

Has anyone heard anything about Apples tvOS 14? I'm really enjoying my Apple TV 4K, but I'm wondering what new features might come our way in tvOS 14.

I'm having a lot of issues streaming Philo on it though, but I also have those issues with my Fire TV, so that is likely a Philo issue. On the Apple TV 4K some of the Philo channels freeze up fairly often and I get error 11839. This is a fairly new issue and it seems to be getting worse over time, but again I think it is a Philo booboo rather than an Apple TV 4K or Fire TV issue. All other streaming services are working fine, and I have an ethernet connection to both devices which provided 200+ Mbps DL speed to the Apple TV 4K and about 100 Mbps DL to the Fire TV.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Has anyone heard anything about Apples tvOS 14? I'm really enjoying my Apple TV 4K, but I'm wondering what new features might come our way in tvOS 14.

I'm having a lot of issues streaming Philo on it though, but I also have those issues with my Fire TV, so that is likely a Philo issue. On the Apple TV 4K some of the Philo channels freeze up fairly often and I get error 11839. This is a fairly new issue and it seems to be getting worse over time, but again I think it is a Philo booboo rather than an Apple TV 4K or Fire TV issue. All other streaming services are working fine, and I have an ethernet connection to both devices which provided 200+ Mbps DL speed to the Apple TV 4K and about 100 Mbps DL to the Fire TV.

I've had a few issues with Hulu from time to time, but the worst of them were fixed with an updated Hulu app.

It looks like the new tvOS 14 features are - YouTube 4K support, multiuser game support, home app and picture in picture support.

[tomsem]

‘Multiuser game support’. What I’d like are ability for pass-and-play games or on-the-same-screen games (separate controller for each player).

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I've had a few issues with Hulu from time to time, but the worst of them were fixed with an updated Hulu app.

It looks like the new tvOS 14 features are - YouTube 4K support, multiuser game support, home app and picture in picture support.

Yep, I looked up the new features for tvOS 14 and there isn't much new of any interest to me, but that is okay I guess since the Apple TV 4K seems to work really well. I do wish they would unclutter the home screens though and allow us to turn off suggestions to services we don't subscribe to. This is also a complaint I’ve got against Amazon Prime too. I get tired of searching for a movie but then learn I have to sign up for another paid service or rent/buy the darn movie or TV show!

I've been going back and forth the last several days with Philo CS trying to get them to address their live TV streaming. They are bullheaded and don't want to admit the fault is on their end. I've got Fire TV and Roku and Apple TV 4K and all of them have the same streaming issue with Philo live TV constantly freezing on several channels, but none of my devices have this issue with any other streaming service. Occasion issues occur with all streaming services of course, but the Philo issue is a daily PITA. I get so tired of CS telling me to restart the device, update the firmware, restart the app, and all the other standard crap we all know to do before we even call them. Three days into the CS back and forth and I’m still only getting that kind of a response. I guess I’m going to have to search for another streaming service, but their price of $20/month will be tough to match. Philo is cheap because they don’t have news or sports channels or local programming. Hulu and Sling are way too expensive and designed to make you get extra packages. AT&T sux, so I won’t deal with them and whatever streaming service they have today or tomorrow. No desire whatever to go back to cable.. I’ve got a few services like Netflix, MotorTrend, BritBox, and Curiosity which I periodically purchase for a few months, then after I’ve seen all I want to of their current programming I cancel and wait several months or a year and purchase it again if they have new programming.

[pwalker8]

I did load the MacOs Big Surr on my laptop. It's a different feel for sure. I am disappointed that they didn't improve the sync and the apps, but maybe they will do that before the final release. I haven't run across any apps that don't work, but then again, I have a fairly minimal set of apps on my laptop. I pretty much just use it when I'm downstairs.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I did load the MacOs Big Surr on my laptop. It's a different feel for sure. I am disappointed that they didn't improve the sync and the apps, but maybe they will do that before the final release. I haven't run across any apps that don't work, but then again, I have a fairly minimal set of apps on my laptop. I pretty much just use it when I'm downstairs.

Which MacBook did you install it on? I’m thinking about using my Mac Mini 2012 as a Win 10 machine and High Sierra for 32-bit Mac apps. That way I can install Big Surr on my MacBook Pro 15” 2014 without losing the ability to use my 32-bit apps since I can run them on my Mini. I’ll wait until the public release in the Fall though.

Both of my Macs are pretty old now, so I will try to get the most out of them before switching to Win 10 or its next iteration. I doubt I’ll ever buy one of the non-intel models. I just don’t see software developers wanting to port their intel Mac apps over to the new chips. A few like Adobe and Microsoft will, but many of the others likely won’t. I hope I’m wrong on this, but only time will tell. I might upgrade to a newer intel based Mac at some point though.