Digital Revolution

There are two primary models for working with PDF files on the cloud with Apple devices. One is to store PDF files in iCloud Drive and use apps like Preview to access the PDF. Another is to store PDF files in Apple Books and read it directly. Supposedly, the former is more flexible, while the latter is more focused. However, due to implementation issues, both models work awkwardly. First the iCloud Drive model, it's really flexible to use iCloud Drive to store whatever PDF at wherever organization finds suitable. With Preview on the Mac, reading PDF files is really tidy. For example, consider bunch of research papers and books in various folders on iCloud Drive. Classification can be added with Finder. Annotation can be added with Preview. The problem is that Apple didn't ship Preview on the iPad. Viewing PDF files in the Files app on the iPad just sucks. Then the Apple Books model, due to limited organization functionalities, it's best used to store only important PDF file...

The biggest news this week is of course the launch of Apple Watch Ultra. Before covering the topic, however, there is a point about hardware and software that seems worth making. Hardware innovation depends on material properties, whether it's faster, more durable, or thiner. To match market sector and hardware, there are lots of experimental/physical facts to be harnessed. Physical laws don't bend, that's the hard part of hardware innovation. Gut feeling is that hardware ideas are harder and harder to come by, which is why software innovation is more important in the long run. Software ideas are almost limitless, but the trouble is that the entire landscape is a mess. To be wise enough to blast a trail is crucial. If the judgement here is correct, vendors will drastically improve software locked onto hardware to deliver whole package. Hardware will be small steps forward, and software advances, though huge, will be severely subject to hardware. The future isn't closed ...

Compared with Google, Apple is slow in delivering a cloud platform for developers. Apple's consumer cloud business has been a spectacular success, but its developer cloud offer, Xcode Cloud, is very limited. So far, developing cloud applications that run on macOS relies on third party vendors, and macOS isn't built for the cloud. Clearly, there is a lot to improve. Modern applications often contain cloud components and if Apple is serious about a all-Apple developer process, it should build its own cloud platform. Cloud platforms have been known to be extremely messy. Apple's philosophy is simplicity. There are huge challenges to be overcome in order to build a cloud platform by Apple's standard. However, the advantages of building critical applications like ERP on Apple platforms definitely make sense for better corporate adoption of Apple products. In the business world, Microsoft wins big with good desktop-cloud integration. Apple should consider. Sure, cloud is not ...

Steve Jobs 為 iPhone 問世所下的註腳是一場使用者介面革命。懷疑者認為使用者介面沒什麼了不起，從而低估了 iPhone 為世界帶來的重大變革。時任微軟總裁的 Steve Ballmer 就認為手機就該有硬體鍵盤，iPhone 虛擬鍵盤多此一舉。從微軟在智慧型手機市場大敗不難看出，懷疑者的論點不堪一擊。但 iPhone 的成功，遠較使用者介面深遠，甚至連蘋果也沒有預料到，iPhone 掀起了行動裝置與雲端的浪潮，接連推出的 iPad, Apple Watch, iCloud, Apple One，與 iPhone 重新定義了人類與電腦。 要闡述行動裝置與雲端造成的影響，只需看地圖這個應用程式。過去使用紙本地圖，礙於版面，道路、店家無法詳盡，更新更是困難。Google 將地圖雲端化，從此資訊得以整合，但以電腦瀏覽，不易攜帶。舊型手機無觸控，無法自在瀏覽地圖。蘋果 iPhone 一舉兩得，解決了電腦與舊型手機的限制，從此隨時隨地查詢雲端地圖詳盡資訊。這不單是使用者介面進步，更大大促進資訊普及化。 蘋果當初沒預料到的是：各類行動裝置與雲端一體，結合起來遠較個別智慧型手機強大。以寫日記為例，過去雲端不成熟、iPad 還未問世時，很少人使用智慧型手機寫日記，多半在紙本或電腦完成。今日在雲端同步下，隨時隨地有想法、事件皆可立即記錄，不論是手機照片、平板上閱讀的文章、電腦上的創作，皆可透過蘋果 Pages 與 iCloud 即刻登載於日記裡，更有為懶惰者發明的日記應用程式，僅記錄照片與標題，日記從此成為二十四小時日常。市場也有所反應，針對個別平台開發的日記應用程式逐漸被雲端整合取代。 App Store 的發展，更確立了 iPhone 不僅是使用者介面突破。過去少有人在舊型手機上編修照片上傳社群網路，因為使用困難。於電腦上操作，則需較高技術門檻，且軟體不易取得。今日於 App Store 有無數照片編修應用程式，使用 iPhone 立即拍照編修，與好友在社群網路上分享已是家常便飯。事實上，iPhone 也逐漸取代了過去電腦提供的部分功能，例如隨時隨地看影片。 美國有許多激進份子，以壟斷之名，揚言分割蘋果。美其名為提升市場競爭，實則不見行動裝置與雲端整合之威力。試想，若蘋果無法在行動裝置上藉雲端提供整合服務，還有多少市場前景。難怪激進份子的意見為微軟採納，目的只是為了...

These days, much of IT is on the cloud. One reason is convenience. However, there are situations where private servers are better than clouds, like sensitive data storage for small businesses. Cloud apps are accessible everywhere, while the point of private servers is to restrict access to locally authenticated users. It may sound trivial, but the current affair is that private servers lag behind clouds in usability. Take drive for example. Cloud drives allow users to sync data while keeping local storage size in check. There is no latency working with a local copy. On private servers, users connect to storage services resembling external disks. There is no sync. The latency of working directly with online copies is often unacceptable. Users are forced to first copy the content from servers, then work locally, and finally upload the result back to servers. The workflow is outdated compared with clouds. It seems that private servers can benefit from offering functionalities found in clo...

Due to undecidability of the halting problem, outcomes of many computations can not be predicted by a fixed Turing machine. Direct computational experiments are often employed to study properties of specific computations. Many computations are done locally, but it would be nice to perform them on the cloud so that they are accessible everywhere. Wolfram Programming Lab is a good example of computational experimentation on the cloud. Since computations can be written into apps, Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine, Apple Xcode Cloud, etc. may also be employed to experiment with code. Legendary particle physics computations are a great place to start with. Eventually, general computations may attract experimenters' attention, due to intricate patterns computation may produce. It's difficult to formulate a theory about computational patterns beyond Turing completeness, but nevertheless interesting patterns that resemble those in nature may be found by computational experiment. This ...