Digital Revolution

John Gruber once described mobile web app platform as public parks, opposed to the App Store walled garden. Years later, due to standard stagnation and limited support from Apple, mobile web app platform has become sort of wasteland. After all, if Gruber felt the original iPhone web app development offer can be compared to a shit sandwich, there is no reason to expect a better outcome. Web apps aren't significant business for Apple. Case closed. It's a sad status because custom business apps like dashboards and ERP arguably can take advantage of lower development cost for web apps to give companies much more timely and coherent information. The web wasn't born for app programming. Many current web apps look much more like web sites than native apps. Consistency across browsers is a serious problem. Perhaps it's hopeless, but one can not leave without grief that the stagnation of the web will make iOS a largely closed ecosystem. The only purpose of the web for app dev...

Politicians often exploit surveillance coverage provided by tech corporations for political ends . As reported by Jack Nicas, Daisuke Wakabayashi and Katie Benner for NYTimes: On Feb. 6, 2018, Apple received a grand jury subpoena for the names and phone records connected to 109 email addresses and phone numbers. It was one of the more than 250 data requests that the company received on average from U.S. law enforcement each week at the time. An Apple paralegal complied and provided the information. The issue is related to and much bigger than antitrust against big tech . Despite all privacy advancements Apple made through the years, user's data, at least data stored on iCloud, still aren't fully encrypted . Unencrypted mails stored on iCloud provide conveniences that ProtonMail lacks, but also introduced risks. It's difficult to balance between surveillance coverage and privacy. Both sides have advantages and disadvantages for users. One solution would be letting the use...

App Store revolutionized how apps are distributed. Apps are controlled to protect the user . User may find desired apps all in one place, instead of searching through the web. Features like App Privacy and App Clips  further make app evaluation more informative. Although the fee Apple collected from developers is much criticized , App Store is still a overall success. App Store's success attracts attacks. Some believe the App Store acts as a monopoly, and enabling sideloading is necessary to provide more choices. Apple countered with claims that sideloading would destroy iOS security . As Craig Federighi admitted, the level of Mac malware is not acceptable . Many similar attacks boil down to the fact that many people have ideals different from Apple design, like pro-choice versus pro-security. Such conflicts of ideals are hard to resolve. However, there are problems arising from App Store's success that might be even more pressing and could be resolved. For example, App Store...

Advantages of paperless office are numerous. Businesses may maintain digital operation records much more complete than paper-based workflow. Mobile work can be instantly issued without cumbersome mails and fax. Workplace automation improves business efficiency. Recently, due to pandemic, Work From Home (WFH) also proved the flexibility and resilience of paperless office. Many paperless office workflows build on Adobe Acrobat. PDF documents resemble printed forms may be digitally filled and signed. The disadvantage is that bulk operations on bunch of PDF documents tend to be difficult. Another solution is provided by custom ERP. ERP employs databases that can be easily programmed. Bulk operations and automation can be straightforwardly accomplished. The disadvantage is that ERP tends to be costly and poses portability problems. Perhaps ERP that automatically generates PDF documents for exchange may provide some progress.

Recently, there is a lot of talks about antitrust against big tech. Certainly, part of it is anti-competitive behavior from giant tech corporations, but it's hard not to feel that political dissatisfaction from politicians of all persuasions, however secret, is the main drive behind antitrust. Otherwise, why not break up big finance, which is much more dangerous economically, too? Or, why accept Microsoft's monopoly in workplace while focusing on Google and Amazon? Breaking up big tech without also breaking up big finance is modern political cynicism. Politicians don't like being slighted, however imaginary, so they break up big tech. Politicians need donations from Wall Street and revolving doors for retirement, so they protect big finance. While algorithms and content moderators are responsible for accentuating extremism and conspiracy theories, it's human nature for herding that produced the fiasco. Addressing tech without also addressing human nature is misleading a...

On Apple devices, there are two main ways of socializing. One is the Apple way, with FaceTime, Messages, Mails, etc. Another is using integrated social networks, like Facebook. There are significant differences between the two approaches, like discoverability, publicity, and organization. Do they pose competition to each other? Facebook makes a person's connections public. It's easy to discover people via friends' connections. Apple does it privately and the problem of discovery is left to individuals. Clearly, using Apple apps for private communication and Facebook for public/semi-public posts is valid. Thus, there is less competition, but more complementarity. Interesting stuff discovered on public social networks can be easily shared privately, and vice versa. The complementarity can be awesome without compromising privacy. There are many people who hate Facebook, but feel Apple's solution too limited. It seems that the two corporations can learn from each other to p...

Microsoft has a lot of strengths, but UI isn't one of them. Does it matter? Microsoft's monopoly in workplace computing likely won't improve much even if the company miraculously decides to roll out better UI. As long as Office for Mac remains slightly incompatible in document rendering, there is no worry that Mac would spur a workplace revolution to challenge Windows. Markets rule. But bad UI is disrespect for users. Windows 8 UI was so wrong that usability experts described it as throwing users under the bus . Had Windows 10 not been freely upgradable for Windows 8 users, millions would suffer confusion indefinitely. The install base for Windows 7 and 10 is much larger than Windows 8 in many places, which tells something. Still, even with Windows 10, Microsoft is lagging far behind Apple in terms of UI. A task as simple as browsing for apps requires lengthy scrolling and continuous examination under the rigid and small Start Menu. Why not take advantage of screen size an...

Internet of Things (IoT) has found profound applications in industrial computing, like research labs. There is reason to expect IoT driving innovations in diverse fields like smart home and smart city, etc. It's a interesting question to ask whether IoT may benefit personal computing. If smartwatches are regarded as IoT, we may examine the status quo and explore possible lines for the future. Apple Watch works closely with the iPhone, sharing much information and secured with considerable authentication. It's natural to expect IoT for personal computing may also take advantage of the link with smartphones and tablets. Smartphones and tablets possess superb interface for simulating control panels. A starting point for IoT may be about control. Consider playing music in a room or building. All speakers and accessories may be centrally controlled with ease by smartphones or tablets. Music volume may be automatically reduced when phone rings. Spatial configuration may be employed ...

There is a dilemma around Mac/PC mail clients. One can use a native mail app and suffer huge mailbox downloads, or one can use web mail and suffer inferior GUI. Native mail apps have tendencies to mess up a large amount of mails due to bugs compared with reliable web mail. Web mail offers far less features like personalized stationeries than native mail apps. It's possible to have the best of both alternatives: a native mail app that processes mails directly on the cloud. Good GUI doesn't have to come with huge mailbox downloads. Features like personalized stationeries don't have to come with sacrifice in reliability. Will the option to process mails directly on the cloud arrive in major Mac/PC mail clients?