Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

I'm a bit out of iPhone practice but I've been enjoying iPad pro / MacBook combo lately and my contract is running out on my Pixel. Toying with an iPhone for interacting between devices but I fear I would miss widgets - specifically Calendar and Keep. Any iPhone equivalent system of embedding calendar in desktop so I don't have to enter apps to see things? I don't really get on with the 'today' view. I like to be able to see a week or so at a time of Calendar. Do-able?

Thanks @rogan @Muppetteer

Looks like a big improvement on the Smart Keyboard and the cursor interactions look like they work well. Might have to pick one up myself.

The light is part of the top case assembly of the computer, which also includes the battery and trackpad. Get your wallet out.

Seriously, the backlight LEDs are mounted on a membrane that's glued to the back of the keyboard, and on many models the keyboard is riveted to the top case.

try epoccam?

..ha did not know something like this exists, thank you!

Took me a while to make it work on Catalina even after jumping through the hoops as detailled on their support page (as seen below, for anybody finding themselves in the same spot), restarting app / phone, restarting mac / app, and manually killing it in activity monitor..
..but now it seems to work; will probably buy the full version.

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Doesn't work with apps like Zoom, SnapCam, Skype for Business on macOS
Recently many macOS application have started enabling security feature called library validation. This disables using virtual webcams like EpocCam. You can leave feedback to application developers to bring back support for virtual webcams but there is also a workaroud. You can remove signature from the app allowing it load again load third party libraries such as EpocCam plugin. Here is video how to do it using following steps

Install Xcode command line tools via Terminal.app by typing: xcode-select --install Remove application's code signature with Terminal.app, for Zoom type: sudo codesign --remove-signature /Applications/zoom.us.app/
Quit and relaunch the app with signature removed, it will now detect EpocCam
Similarly if you want to remove signature from SnapCam, type: sudo codesign --remove-signature /Applications/Snap\ Camera.app/

I want it to feel to the viewer like I am looking at them.

Been thinking about this since you posted. I normally use my LG 5K 27" for video calls but as the camera sits so high compared to my face everyone looks down on me. This isn't the case on my MBP so I'll start using that for calls instead I think

Good point - thank you

Thanks for the info, I’ll cope with the “O” being unlit I think.

Yeah, I'm trying to get the camera as close to my eye level and direction as possible when I'm in a video call and looking at someone else. It makes a huge difference on their experience, whether they think I'm engaged and listening to them.

I think the best way to do 2nd displays is to only ever do video calls on the smaller display with the camera either integrated or placed as close to the screen as possible.

Further, I think that looking at documents, etc should require a noticeable turn of the head, or to look down or up... outside of the direction of view of the person in video conference. Precisely so that the times at which you do check documents, graphs, data during a call have their place, and that when I'm looking in their direction they know I really am focused on them and no-one and nothing else.

Video conferencing is a user experience problem, the user is the remote viewer and it's up to us to shape their experience.

This is also why I don't wish the 2nd monitor to dominate the experience I have... for then I make the remote person secondary. So my MBP screen will stay my primary and be in the most comfortable position for me, and a second display won't be significantly larger and will require me to turn my head... it will be the second display.

I still like the thought of the iPad Pro 11/12.9 for this. I'd spend £1k on a second display made by Apple and matching the size, colours and experience of the MBP display. i.e. change the brightness on the MBP and it adjusts both, drag a photo from one display to the other and the colours remain the same, text is equally readable in both, etc. The annoying thing about the iPad is that once you're £1k in, it seems obvious to upgrade the specs to make it capable by itself, and then it's no longer £1k, throw the pencil in and it's really increased.

But as the iPad Pro is an IPS True Tone display of almost identical spec to the MBP this is probably what I will buy once I quit dithering over the decision. The only difference is in brightness 500 nits vs 600 nits. I actually imagine a miniature artists easel being the stand so that I can put it the same height and angle to the MBP screen.

I actually imagine a miniature artists easel being the stand so that I can put it the same height and angle to the MBP screen.

I use the Compass stand by Twelve South with my iPad Pro. Works great. Good in the kitchen too. I just wish the angle was a little bit steeper.

They have an eBay store where they sell refurbished ones, so I went for the first version at a fraction of the pretty pricey retail.

Steeper angle and the base of iPad a few inches higher is what I would like.

When I have the MBP on a stand, how to get the iPad Pro in landscape at the same height next to it.

I do like the look of that Twelve South stand though... it definitely plays into something else I'm enjoying that I have achieved unintentionally... my entire work environment of laptop, keyboard, camera, microphone, hub, desktop speakers, everything... can fit in a single holdall bag and I can create this setup in any hotel room or apartment in the world in about 10 minutes.

It makes a huge difference on their experience, whether they think I'm engaged and listening to them.

Did you see this last year? It was in the iOS 13 beta but it seems like they pulled the feature in the end.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/7/3/20680681/ios-13-beta-3-facetime-attention-correction-eye-contact

Yeh I get that, it makes for a nice portable set up and I think it works better as a stand that you move around often.

Very much the opposite of that but maybe a gooseneck iPad stand would work.

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ah, that is an excellent idea.

I wonder if/when they'll actually emplace a camera behind the display itself, looking through the display. This seems impossible now with an optical element, but if a sensor was an array of sensors with micro-optical elements, it could be distributed over the surface of the display and then software would produce the image... looking at the screen would be to look at the subject.

Speaking of stands. Anyone tried something along the lines of a note stand to support a laptop? Thinking abuot using it for shoots

Couple of Android phones have experimented with this although not sure any have been commercially released yet

https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/26/18759380/under-display-selfie-camera-first-oppo-announcement

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/6/5/18654365/xiaomi-camera-under-screen-no-notch-transparent-display-technology

I think it will be done differently than this.

The smaller the optics, the less light... hence the drive towards having multiple optics of differing capabilities (iPhone, Pixel 4, etc) and blending them in software to create the single image.

Once you've got the software to blend information from multiple sensors, iterating on that to have a greater number of smaller sensors... i.e. imagine a grid of a few hundred micro sensors... and these become small enough to be invisible.

Apple are ahead here as their XDR displays are lit by individual LEDs and they have consistent lighting across the panel, so placing sensors means they all have to compensate light in an equal way, which makes the software easier. Edge-lit panels (almost every other screen in the world) have uneven light, so accounting for differences at points in the panel is really hard.

We're still at least 5 years away from losing mobile phone sized optical elements... but Apple are on the right path to achieve it, and thus make a major hardware leap that others will find difficult / impossible to follow on.

I've discovered I can scale the things on the screen! Suddenly I love the MacBook more.

I think the only solution on iPhone, at least on iOS 13, are the widgets on the left swipe from your first home screen page.

All the app specific widgets you can pin to the iPad home screen, on iPhone that’s where they go.

Rumour is that iOS 14 will have a completely redesigned home screen though. So if we’re lucky, it might finally be more in line with how we use our devices now.

Maybe you should hold out for the mini-led iPad Pro that is apparently coming next year. Although, Covid19 maybe changes that timeline.

yeah im really hoping for this.

I switched back to iOS from Android and the main thing i miss is having a homescreen that contains enough information for me to unlock.. read, lock. The android homescreen can be setup for instant information.
iOS homescreen is still setup to lure you into apps for consumption.

Thanks - might wait until September then and see what's what.

I need to get something like this for my studio this looks great.

I ordered the iPad Pro 12.9" to be the second display for my MBP 13".

Should arrive tomorrow.

Did it arrive? Does it work as you expected?

Due today... one of those "arrives tomorrow" fibs... but I have the stand set up ready for it.

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Got an Apple Pencil 2 for my iPad which I'm impressed with.

Can also use it as a tablet for the MacBook with Sidecar... incase you were looking for more gadgets