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Very neat.

Shawn Blanc on the Keyboard Folio:

The new Keyboard Folio is nicer than the previous Smart Keyboard Cover, but I’m not in love with it.

Because the Keyboard Folio attaches to the entire back of the iPad, it’s not as easy to quickly connect / disconnect the iPad as it was with the predecessor. This is something that I’ll either get used to or will be annoyed by. Only time will tell.

Come, give us a kickstand already Apple.

With the price increases at GORUCK I know many have been waiting for a sale. There’s good deals to be had on the Bullet Rucks, and the clothing. I snagged a pair of midweight Simple Pants, as I love the ones I already have. I’d also get another Bullet Ruck if I needed it, but I don’t, right?

Good post from Ben Lovejoy on his experiences with the iPad Pro so far. What really stands out in his post, which I’ve seen all over with this round of iPad coverage, is that many people (rightfully) feel that software companies don’t take the iPad seriously enough.

This couldn’t be more true. Just look at Google’s apps, absurd. In the past the money wasn’t there for big companies to take the iPad even half as seriously as they do the iPhone. I wonder if these new models, and the seemingly renewed interest in wanting to use these devices full time, will drive companies to take the iPad seriously, and to innovate for it. Just like the iPhone did in the past.

The ideal of course being that new apps come out iPad first, then maybe make it to the Mac. I can dream, right?

Lots of headlines I could have used for this piece written by Dave Smith (don’t bother reading it in full):

I insist the iPad Pro is not a real work computer because even trying to perform the most basic of tasks felt underwhelming and compelled me to use a laptop instead.

Many people I’ve heard from tell me iPads can’t publish to their CMS because those CMS’ are tragically bad. Smith is no exception there. (Though that photo rotation bug he mentions is real, and annoying.) The issue with Smith’s post is that he never gave the iPad Pro a real chance. You can’t switch to an entirely new computing paradigm and give up after trying to publish one thing. The items he is frustrated about really have more to do with his stubbornness for preferring the way his Mac works than anything else. You can even see it in the first post he wrote about his new iPad.

Ultimately this feels like a post written by someone planning on hating the iPad Pro and returning it no matter what to make a quick buck off of the article. It’s not at all representative, and the only good arguments against the iPad Pros are:

• they cost way too much
• if you already have an iPad Pro you don’t need a new one

Complaining that this device is not pro because you can’t publish to your CMS is not valid. Go ask a photographer how to use an iPad Pro like a Pro.

Francisco Mejia Uribe:

However, reality has caught up with Clifford. His once seemingly exaggerated claim that ‘it is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence’ is no longer hyperbole but a technical reality.

Erin and I were talking the other night, where she made the comment about how she wondered if later generations would look back at this period of time and laugh, wondering what the fuck we were all thinking. My take is that they would look back seeing the pattern we can’t see ourselves. That we had given ourselves the immense power of instant global communication and instant information at our fingertips, all without the forethought of some way of knowing what is actually truth and what is a lie.

But where does that burden lay, perhaps it is on all of us. Perhaps not. What’s clear is that what we have now is not working.

Craig Mod has an excellent essay about the pitfalls and hopes of the iPad. This sentence is spot on:

The problems begin when you need multiple contexts. For example, you can’t open two documents in the same program side-by-side, allowing you to reference one set of edits, while applying them to a new document.

I hear that. But what people miss (beyond how amazing the hardware truly is) is the hope this OS has, Mod again:

But it’s also kind of fun. When’s the last time we’ve been able to watch a company really figure out a new OS in public?

That’s the thing with the iPad. The iPhone is figured out, so is the Mac. The iPad isn’t and if you want to know the most realistic take on using an iPad (like a normal person no less) full time and also dealing with the annoyances and seeing the hope, then Mod’s essay is a must read.

My take away from John Gruber’s review of the new iPads is that iPads are going to become the go to tool for photographers going forward. Gruber ends his review noting:

These are serious iPads for serious iPad users.

I initially chuckled and thought “too bad no one knows who those people are”. Then I realized that Gruber stated it earlier in his review, it’s photographers, and I really suspect that will be readily apparent come this time next year. Category to watch for sure.

From the Pixelmator blog in the upcoming release:

Pixelmator Photo is a powerful, beautiful, and easy to use photo editor for iPad. It features a collection of nondestructive, desktop-class photo editing tools, a set of stunning, machine learning-enhanced film emulation presets, a magical Repair tool to remove unwanted objects from your photos, support for editing RAW images, and more. Simply put, it’s best way to edit your photos on iPad.

Add that to what Affinity is doing and Adobe is about to do, and it’s pretty clear that in a pretty short order the iPad will be the best photo editing device you can buy. Especially when you factor in a like system with a Pencil like device. Amazing.

I’ve really played with the camera on the new iPhone so little it is embarrassing, but my wife has really been going nuts with it. She’s getting some insane shots as always too. She wrote her thoughts up for The Sweet Setup, check it out.