#FF00AA

Hi! My name is Cédric Bozzi, I make websites and iOS apps, and this is my blog about technology (mostly a Twitter archive, really).

1 April 2015

@backlon:

Dear everybody hating on April Fool’s Day: I’m sorry you have to use critical judgment on the internet for a whole 24 hours. What a burden.

# 2015/04/01 - 03:18

3 April

The Wired feature on Apple Watch says iOS 7 was being designed in late 2011 or early 2012. It must be a mistake?

# 2015/04/03 - 00:33 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

4 April

Is it the watch that’s awful or just the videos?

# 2015/04/04 - 00:11 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

The root of the issue is that the watch is trying to do too much (in order to justify its existence). The end result is bad UX.

# 2015/04/04 - 00:22 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

I currently have 100% smartwatch envy and only about 2% Apple Watch envy. I really hope Android Wear ends up working well with iOS.

# 2015/04/04 - 00:37 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

The Making of Alto’s Adventure - Harry Nesbitt

# 2015/04/04 - 06:33 — originally published on @garoo

8 April

@BenedictEvans:

The phone is unique [pic.twitter.com]

# 2015/04/08 - 16:46

J’espérais un peu qu’iOS 8.3 ne sortirait jamais pour que je n’aie pas besoin de mettre à jour Uniconsole #flemme #aquoibon

# 2015/04/08 - 20:19 — originally published on @garoo

9 April

Is there a bug on my iPhone or does 8.3 actually force you to pick a separate color for each human emoji? I assumed choosing the color once would change all the faces simultaneously.

# 2015/04/09 - 02:00 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

A new Xcode update, new provisioning issues in projects that compiled just fine a week ago.

# 2015/04/09 - 17:19 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

My rational brain still rejects the Apple Watch on many grounds, but the buzz on Twitter is putting some damn pressure on my magpie brain.

# 2015/04/09 - 18:55 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

10 April

Tumblr’s post editor displays a little dot on non-breaking spaces <3 <3 <3

# 2015/04/10 - 01:55 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

Listening to the latest ATP, and in full agreement with Marco Arment that the Apple Watch would be a better product if it simply didn’t have “apps” — no launcher, just notifications and glances (some of the latter being provided by third-party iPhone apps). Not just because of initial performance issues with WatchKit, but because hunting for an app within that home screen looks to be the nadir of the device’s UX, only compounded by the fact that the display will switch back to the watch face as soon as you drop your wrist.

But even Apple would have trouble selling a $400 device (let alone $1,000 or $10,000) that only displays notifications and glances. It has to have “apps,” even if they turn out to be entirely useless.

Basically all my gripes with the Watch come from Apple’s need to justify its price range — i.e. they stem from Jony Ive’s nouveau-riche urge to create a gold watch. (Yes, I’m bitter because all I’ve wanted for years is a simple, well-designed first-party Pebble - a device that would be honest about what it is.)

# 2015/04/10 - 02:14 — originally published on Tumblr

@garoo:

Just received my new 3€ Watch — it has force touch and literally zero buttons [instagram.com]

# 2015/04/10 - 18:16

Elle va certainement arrêter de marcher après trois-quatre jours d’utilisation, mais à ce prix je peux bien en racheter une à chaque fois.

# 2015/04/10 - 18:19 — originally published on @garoo

11 April

Well, it definitely is a lovely object. Taptic Engine is great; not a fan of how freely the crown turns, but I’m sure you get used to it.

# 2015/04/11 - 00:10 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

Putting on the sport band however is as much of a pain in the ass as I expected, but maybe I’m still missing something obvious?

# 2015/04/11 - 00:12 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

My other try-on was the $150 Leather Loop, and that one is lovely.

# 2015/04/11 - 00:15 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

OS X’s Photos will happily kill your connectivity for days to upload your backlog

I’m not crazy, I went local only.

# 2015/04/11 - 05:15 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

@BenedictEvans:

Part of the growth of tech is that it moves beyond purely utilitarian use cases.

# 2015/04/11 - 18:10

Redditors having no qualms about calling the stainless-steel model “Apple Watch SS.” But then Chevrolet has used the “SS” badge for decades.

# 2015/04/11 - 21:38 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

13 April

Damnit, my old Wacom’s all screwy in Yosemite. But it’s taken me six months to notice, so it’s hard to justify buying a new one.

# 2015/04/13 - 19:29 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

15 April

How the fuck does that work?

# 2015/04/15 - 03:41 — originally published on @garoo

@nickbilton:

I found out how teens (likely) hacked into my car last week, and how to stop them with the help of my freezer: [nyti.ms]

# 2015/04/15 - 17:44

16 April

I never watch music videos so I hadn’t thought about the potential for VR: bite-sized experiences that immerse you in the artist’s universe while remaining short enough not to make you sick (and not to completely bankrupt the production company). An actual video game would be hell to design, because you’d have to think very hard about how the music will sync up with the player’s actions, but it totally works if the interactivity is limited to moving your head.

# 2015/04/16 - 04:22 — originally published on Tumblr

18 April

A Qi iPhone case without the usual chin

Are they using a counterfeit Lightning connector, or is there finally a smaller option officially available?

# 2015/04/18 - 03:34 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

20 April

@lgorithm:

“Make any animation half as long as you think it should be. And then possibly halve the timing again” (B. Scott - Designing Web Interfaces)

# 2015/04/20 - 16:43

I’m still waiting for a full-featured tablet/laptop with the same color e-ink as Pebble Time. Several-day battery + usable in sunlight.

# 2015/04/20 - 17:23 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

E-ink is (hopefully) gonna be the one differentiator that allows Pebble to survive, and I can’t see why it wouldn’t work for tablets too.

# 2015/04/20 - 17:24 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

21 April

Wow, I submitted an iTunes Connect bug and it was fixed in five days. It would almost encourage me to post more (but not really).

# 2015/04/21 - 01:48 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

Flashlight hacks Quicksilver/Alfred functionality into the Spotlight UI

Awesome — feels like texting Siri.

# 2015/04/21 - 16:50 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

22 April

Buying a digital camera is so hard. There are multiple brands to choose from! It’s anarchy!

# 2015/04/22 - 22:52 — originally published on @garoo

Am I really gonna have to buy a wifi-enabled camera and use its shitty app just because Apple’s Lightning camera adapter only works on iPad?

# 2015/04/22 - 23:00 — originally published on @garoo

23 April

@landonfuller:

Apple, you so evil. App rejection: “… your app and app description declare support for the Pebble Smartwatch” [forums.getpebble.com]

# 2015/04/23 - 16:34

@lukew:

Don’t ever say you don’t have choices on mobile. [pic.twitter.com]

# 2015/04/23 - 19:45

Literally the first app screenshot that makes me think “hey, this would be convenient to have on one’s wrist”

# 2015/04/23 - 22:18 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

Oh right, I too should have added completely useless Watch support to my apps

# 2015/04/23 - 22:25 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

24 April

I don’t want to defend the Apple Watch but I’ll place my bet on this only looking ridiculous on paper

# 2015/04/24 - 02:40 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

Wonder if Apple may enable the blood oxygen monitor by software update or they’ve 100% given up on it [for 1st gen]

# 2015/04/24 - 13:52 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

25 April

As could reasonably be hoped, the Pebble app rejection is not official policy [but just a reviewer mad with power]

# 2015/04/25 - 03:49 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

Cherchant à utiliser mes bons pour des domaines gratuits Gandi :

$ whois romantis.me

NOT FOUND

Tellement parfait, j’hésite à le laisser.

# 2015/04/25 - 15:00 — originally published on @garoo

Okay, that one’s cool

# 2015/04/25 - 17:56 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

I was adding black rounded corners to my iPhone apps before the Watch made it fashionable again.

# 2015/04/25 - 18:36 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

Cool idea — this kind of notification triage has to be coming in iOS 9; Watch users need it

# 2015/04/25 - 22:34 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

26 April

Trouble getting iTunes to sync my Photos albums to iPhone. Is there gonna be a point when iOS devices are just unusable without paid iCloud?

# 2015/04/26 - 17:18 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

27 April

Just figured out that what people call the Watch’s “air gap” must be the glass needing to be thicker to withstand Force Touch. (I knew it had to be the glass’s thickness, but blanked on the reason why.)

# 2015/04/27 - 05:57 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

The problem isn’t that stainless steel gets scratched, but that the Watch isn’t designed to look good with scratches #realworlddesign

# 2015/04/27 - 15:26 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

“Nokia is gonna make smartphones again” is the new “webOS is coming back.”

# 2015/04/27 - 15:37 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

An in-depth look at the Apple Watch’s materials and their durability

# 2015/04/27 - 16:42 — originally published on @cedricbozzi

Hmm. So much less whimsical, and feels like it could have been avoided?