I’m loving the new automix feature in the Music app in iPadOS 26. It’s another one of those “hidden” examples of Apple applying some AI in a new and useful way. Check it out!
Category: iPadOS
I was traveling on Monday so I wasn’t able to tune into the Apple WWDC 2024 keynote until later in the day. When I did, I skipped through the first hour (with the various OS updates) and went immediately to the discussion of Apple Intelligence, Apple’s name for the application of generative artificial intelligence. I was blown away.
I expected Apple to leverage its unique privacy-protecting access to our data stored securely on our mobile devices – but I didn’t expect the technical elegance that Apple applied to its approach.
Apple’s AI discussion reminded me of a similar feeling I had back when Apple Pay was introduced. As someone who had grown up in the credit card industry working at Visa and being a “techie” who enjoyed following technology developments, I could see the piece parts to a mobile payment solution based on contactless/NFC technology. But I didn’t anticipate the elegance with which Apple applied the technology as well as the creativity it brought to the business aspects of working with the payment card industry to introduce perhaps the best possible mobile payment solution.
Utilizing our private information with locally executed machine learning models makes logical sense. The challenge is how to do so when the compute or memory resources required of the model are beyond the capabilities of the mobile device. That’s where Apple’s invention of Private Cloud Compute provides the answer. And it’s brilliantly architected to provide access to those resources in a privacy protecting fashion.
We don’t yet have any access to these new Apple AI capabilities – and the proof will be in the pudding when we do – but the promise laid out by Apple in Monday’s keynote is very exciting. I’m looking forward to seeing how well Apple executes on its very differentiated approach.
Have the winter blues got you yearning for something more?
As winter rains descend upon Northern California once again, I find myself embracing the cozy ambiance indoors while embarking on a journey of discovery amidst the inclement weather. Instead of succumbing to the lull of hibernation, I’ve delved into a world of newfound inspiration and innovation, primarily through the vast expanse of online resources.
Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing some of my recent discoveries here. Perhaps you’ll find something of value from what I’ve found! Included is a nifty tip below for quickly capturing fleeting ideas during the day, creative uses of ChatGPT, a series on how some great authors actually write, a field guide on personal productivity, an online course of developing your PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) system, and more. Let’s get started…
A couple of years ago, I was hardly aware of YouTube. Once in a while I’d see a video returned in one of my Google searches – often for help in fixing something or another. Somewhere along the way, I discovered all of the content on YouTube – and, in particular, the value of YouTube Premium which enables uninterrupted and background YouTube video playback..
Now, YouTube is my spare time enjoyment channel – where I discover new creators sharing new ideas and stimulating conversations. Have you discovered any hidden gems online during your rainy days? Share your discoveries in the comments below! Here are a couple of my recent delights:
Have you ever lost a great idea in a blink? Rich Bowlin has a great YouTube channel that is a goldmine with down-to-earth, straightforward how-to videos about using iPhones and iPads.
Inspired by one of his videos on the use of shortcuts, I built one that captures fleeting ideas with just two taps on the back of my iPhone! Imagine never losing another one of my brilliant thoughts again! I can quickly enter text about the idea which it appends to a daily note for today – or creates a daily note for today if it hasn’t already been created. Later, when I have time, I can open that note and be immediately reminded of my fleeting ideas from early that day. Here’s Rich’s video where he describes his approach.
I’ve been using this handy utility for a few years now – but increasingly so over the last year. It’s kind of magical in the functionality it provides. While there are other good note taking apps – including Apple’s Notes app – Drafts is especially useful for capturing spur of the moment ideas for later processing. The developer describes Drafts as “where text starts. Quickly capture text and send it almost anywhere.”
Because Drafts is available everywhere in the Apple ecosystem – Mac, iPad, iPhone and Watch – it’s universally available whenever you need it. Apple Notes is mostly everywhere – but weirdly not on the Watch.
The way that Drafts works is simple but takes a bit of learning to grow accustomed to using it regularly. When you open Drafts on the Mac or iOS/iPadOS, it opens as a blank note – waiting for you to enter something. It’s designed for that quick capture – type in some text – or dictate it – and away you go. Sometime later you can come back to Drafts and review all of the notes you’ve captured – and decide what you want to do with each one.
I’ve put a complication for Drafts on my Apple Watch face so that with one tap I can open Drafts and begin capturing an idea using dictation on the Watch. After I’ve captured my idea, Drafts on the Watch will sync the note containing my new idea via iCloud and make it available to Drafts apps running on my other devices – Mac, iPhone, or iPad – where I can open it later and decide what to do with it. For example, if I have an idea for an email I need to send or a blog post I want to write, I can capture those initial thoughts using Drafts and later go back and “revise and extend” those thoughts as I choose – and then send that final version of the text out via email or into my blog application. It doesn’t get any handier.
Drafts has a number of additional features that continue to evolve as the developer releases new versions and as members of the Drafts community contribute actions and themes which extend the functionality of the app.
Drafts is no youngster – this month the developer is celebrating the app’s 10th anniversary. The app is available for free – but the advanced features require a Pro subscription which is available on a special deal this month (through April 2022) for $4.99 for the first year.
I’m a big fan of Drafts – and a Pro subscriber. It’s become a regular part of my daily tech life. I’m such a fan that I just wanted to highlight how useful it is to me – thus this post – which itself began on Drafts! Perhaps you’ll find Drafts a useful tool as well if you’re an Apple user.
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