Tag Archives: Steve Jobs

Miseries in life

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Without realising it, summer 2021 has ended. In the past we knew it’s summer when we had holidays and roamed over the sweating hot streets in Mongkok, not knowing (and couldn’t care less) what would happen next. You know you’ve grown up when friends are even busier in August, a month meant for relaxation in the past.

For a certain adult who experienced enough midlife crisis that he went back to school, full-time, he certainly enjoyed a month off in August. But that did not necessarily mean he could care nothing about what happens next. Being an adult means one carries so much burden that life simply cannot pause. When one endeavour offers you a break, another responsibility arises and consumes every bit of your soul. That’s what being an adult means.

When do we take a break? For the lucky ones, they finally earn everything they’ll possibility need at their 50s or 60s and retire, in exchange for their youth and, sadly, their innocent and pure souls. They then “enjoy” (the remainder of) life, with an exhausted body that can barely move. If they’re rich enough, they can afford fancy luxuries that they couldn’t buy when they were young, like a sports car, Leica cameras, or vacations on first-class flights and in 5-star hotels. But they only get to enjoy such luxuries in a body with grey hair, rheumatoid arthritis and hypertension.

But remember, the above is already for the lucky ones. For those unfortunate souls, they die early; or worse, their loved ones died early. That’s how gloomy I suddenly realized life is.

How to avoid disappointments and regrets? SJ offered a solution in a motivating speech: live life as if every day is your last. That way, we focus on what’s really important, what we are truly passionate about, and put aside things we don’t care.

The end of an era, the Jobsian era

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So, Apple announced that Jony Ive is leaving Apple. Many viewed this as the end of an era, given that Jony Ive contributed to so many iconic Apple designs throughout the years. But to me things are a little more complicated than that. Jony Ive’s departure signifies the end of Steve Jobs’ influence, eight years after his death.

You see, SJ himself was a visionary, a true giant. But Apple products have always been the result of the Jobs-Ive creative binary. You can’t tell which part of a product is Jony’s idea and which part is Steve’s, because they work so closely together and influence each other so much. Following SJ’s death I was still confident with Apple because I knew Jony Ive would carry on Steve Jobs’ legacy. His designs are ones that Steve would approve. But with Jony Ive no longer in charge, I’m not sure what changes would appear in future products, whether products would still be meticulously designed and built.

And his videos featuring his posh accent will surely be missed. No one can replace him in this area. If I’m to pick a favourite video among the many, I’d pick the 2009 iMac’s. The 2009’s iMac itself wasn’t very impressive, but I like how he told the story of the iMac evolution.

Commenting the new iPad

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Apple’s new iPad is out. Before going any further we need to understand the structure of the iPad family. First there’s the iPad-iPad (including the original iPad, iPad 2, New iPad [Apple’s nomenclature disaster began after SJ died], iPad Air, iPad Air 2, and now simply iPad), then there’s iPad mini (which is all but abandoned), and finally iPad Pro, which tries to imagine the future of computing but failed. Well, I just wish to say I have no plan to upgrade my iPad at this moment. I think my iPad Air 2 is the best iPad ever.

iPad mini is too small to be useful. Period.

iPad Pro is a failure in that there’s a camera bulge at the back and it can’t lie flat on the table. SJ said there’s no need for a hard keyboard. The soft keyboard should be good enough. But if it wobbles on a table, how can you type (in SJ’s recommended way)? And then they invented the Smart Keyboard. When you have the Smart Keyboard on the iPad, the screen assumes a normal notebook angle. I remember Phil Schiller said the reason there’s no touch screen MacBook is that the ergonomics is just wrong. Well? iPad in a notebook angle suddenly have the right ergonomics?

This new $329 iPad is 1.4mm (one-fifth) thicker than iPad Air 2, and has a crappy sceeen (no optical lamination). Owners of this new iPad or the iPad Air may think the difference is tiny — only because they can’t admit they have a crap screen. I remember @EugeneY used to say (in 2001/2002) “you think Windows XP is unstable because you don’t have it”. Likewise you think you don’t need an Audi because you don’t have an Audi. You don’t have a good screen and a thin iPad so you think there’s no difference.

So to sum up, iPad Air 2 is still the best iPad ever because 1) it doesn’t have a camera bulge, 2) it has a good screen, 3) it is the thinnest iPad to date.

Footnote: Wow, this is probably the happiest blog post I’ve written for ages. I didn’t force myself to add a poetic touch and use good language in this article, hence the above crappy English. But it’s fun.

Intimacy

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So, I eventually got an iPhone 7 after much struggle. Holding one in hand [iPhone 7 Plus in jet black :) ] eliminates all previous doubts. When Phil Schiller first announced it, I thought it’s either the new finish or the dual camera system that would appeal to me. But at the end it’s the waterproofing and the solid state home button that’s the most satisfactory. The solid state home button with a natural tactile feedback make me feel that this is the way the home button should be at the very beginning. And all modern electronics should be made waterproof, because they are made so intimate, so integrated to all parts of our lives, that they shouldn’t be excluded from wet conditions.

Yes, the iPhone is in no doubt the most intimate object in our lives. I bet for most people the first and last object they touch in a day is the iPhone. It’s part of our living, not merely an assistant for it. I became more certain about this theory every time I go on a trip. How many of you can travel without your phone?

What else are intimate?

A camera must be one when travelling. Some says “the best camera is the one you have with you” and they may be satisfied with their phone’s camera. But when you also have a proper camera with you then it becomes the best camera with you, a better camera than your phone.

My car is actually equally important. A few weeks ago the windshield broke and I couldn’t drive for two weeks. It was the most annoying period for the past few years. I just hated the feeling of wasting time on commuting. Life’s too short for traffic jam, slow computers, waiting for a table, you name it.

So, this is it. This basically sums up what I’ve experienced in September. I wish I could talk a bit more about my trip in September. Let’s see.

Tiniest things that upset me

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It is often said that we should let go of the trivial matters that cause sorrow and focus on the delightful moments in life. I’ve tried and gained some degree of success, but there are at least a few seemingly trivial things that upset me at this moment.

1. Apple products innovate less these days.
This wasn’t so obvious at first, but reading about Microsoft’s latest hardware event made me realize, reluctantly, that the tech company that innovates nowadays is Microsoft, not Apple.

For the past few years iPhone has been upgraded with boring new features: fingerprint sensors, better and better camera, 3D touch, fitness tracking, etc.. (Who fuxking care about their health?) They’re handy, but they’re not innovative. As for iPad, since its debut in 2010 it has dominated tablet sales, remaining to be the only real tablet that matters. But given the release of Windows 10 (which fixes the mess Microsoft created in the past few years, under Steve Ballmer), I can see that the future of computing is not towards the post-PC concept introduced by SJ, but the modern hybrid PC best demonstrated by Surface Pro.

This worries me: Apple is no longer the driving force of computing innovation. True I’m very impressed by the latest super thin MacBook — elimination of all but one port and fanless design, but that innovation is too little, too late.

2. Kai leaving DRTV
What is DRTV? It’s my fav YouTube channel on photography. It’s not known for being informative or accurate in its product reviews, nor the photography knowledges it introduces. It’s really just Kai’s showmanship that entertains. He has now left HK for England, doing some occasional reviews there. But given that Digitalrev is posting online recruitment for a new presenter, Kai’s leaving is all but confirmed. This again upsets me. It’s like ER/Desperate Housewives’ ending all over again.

3. Work sucks. No this isn’t tiny.

Thoughts on iPhone

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There hasn’t been anything important in life lately. Lots of things sucked, though, but I’ve learnt to let go of those adversities, or at least not mention them, lest they affect other’s mood. But in just a few hours one of the most exciting events will take place: Apple’s “Wish we could say more” keynote. It’s been rumoured that the latest iPhone as well as an iWatch will be unveiled, so perhaps I should express some of my thoughts here.

First, it’s been said, and even confirmed, that the new iPhones will be bigger — 4.7” and 5.5” to be exact. A lot of Apple fanboys will be so disappointed because Steve Jobs used to say that a phone must be fit for single-hand use. Enlarging the iPhone screen is like hell freezes over.

Well, in Apple’s history there were quite a number of moments when hell froze over: switching to Intel processors, iPods played videos, iTunes worked on Windows, etc.. So it’s not entirely surprising that there would be a larger screen iPhone. I’ve always said when a large screen is coupled with software that is fit for single-hand use, we can have a larger iPhone. And that’s exactly what Apple needs to address in the coming keynote.

Second, it’s about the design, and the design leaks. In the old days Apple was absolutely secretive about their unannounced products. It was quite a big shock when the iPhone 4 got into hands of a Gizmodo editor and got published. Pushing time further back, we see that an old rumour site Think Secret was forced to shut down after publishing rumours about “a new Mac” (which was later identified as the Mac mini). They didn’t even have the pictures of the actual product! People used to joke that those who leak Apple rumours would be executed by Steve Jobs. Well, this is apparently no longer the case. We see Apple product parts on the web a few months before product launch. These days we even see working products (on the contrary back when iPhone 4 was leaked the device couldn’t be switched on, and no one knew about the stunning retina display until Steve announced it). Why does this happen? And on the other side why have we never seen parts of the iWatch? In short, most probably the iWatch isn’t made in China. Yes, the Chinese is the culprit of all the modern day evil.

Aren’t you a Chinese, Kevin? No, I’m not. I’m a global citizen who believes in democracy, equality, freedom and civic responsibility, who happens to live in Hong Kong.

OK, back to talk about Apple. A third thought on the upcoming event is whether the iWatch, or smartwatches, will become a new necessity, a global phenomenon, like the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad? What I mean is that before the iPod/iPhone/iPad, music players, mobile phones and tablets existed, but it was Apple that reinvented them into something no one could have imagined. Watches have existed for a long long time; smartwatches nowadays basically are useless. Will Apple be able to make smartwatches a new necessity?

This question poses a dilemma. Many think only Steve Jobs, the modern day Thomas Edison, could have done that. If the new Apple can do that too, Steve Job’s legacy would be diminished. But on the other hand, I sure want to see something groundbreaking. After all, if money can buy happiness, why not?

Against nature

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It’s been a month since 2014 begins; yet we’re close to another new beginning — year of the horse. All these don’t mean much to me. Life sucks anyway: work is busy but unrewarding, my everyday life lacks excitement, … These are just a few of the many setbacks in my life for the past few months. Steve Jobs said if life sucks too many days in a row, it’s time to change something. I think it’s a reasonable time for me to change something now. What should that be?

There was a time when I talked about my boring life with a friend, and got some useful feedback: if you find your life too dull, you either do something more interesting, or adapt to it. You don’t need to accept boredom; instead you should look for those interesting moments out of an otherwise boring life and intensify them. It could be a nice cup of coffee at a so-so restaurant, a pretentious photo you’re able to take at an ordinary place you visit every day (I’m sure the word “pretentious” didn’t come from that friend’s mouth), or even just a “thanks” from a new patient.

Of course, those things are easier said than done. I heard that advice like two or three years ago, but I’m still constantly affected by my mood swings. Worse, I don’t even have the energy to find those extraordinary moments after work. You’ll be surprised how early I go to bed nowadays. I used to go to bed at 2-3 am; now I sleep at 10:30pm. This is against the nature (of K.Chan), but it’s true. I’m officially fucked up.

“A pretentious photo you’re able to take at an ordinary place you visit every day”

Lost focus

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Once again I’ve lost focus in life. I’m not in particular determined to study, nor am I interested in indulging myself in other interests, such as photography, blogging, and so on. I feel like a machine, going to work routinely, and punctually, every day, doing the same kind of dutiful things which often are of low return, and when I get home, I get dead tired and go to bed early.

That’s not the typical stylish life K.Chan used to live. In the old days, K.Chan also got up early and go to school on time, but when school finished, he’d go to a Starbucks to enjoy an evening sip of coffee, sometimes reading a dental article, sometimes working on materials for an English tuition he was about to give, and sometimes just meditating. And when he was back to where he lived, he never went to bed early. He poured himself a small glass of wine and thought things. Not until 2-3 am would he finally get tired and go to bed. That’s how one should consume life.

And even if work confines one’s lifestyle, such that one needs to behave like a machine, one should choose to work like a beautiful old Leica camera — to execute things with aesthetic, precision and proficiency. But now, the way that I work, the life that I live, is no different from a crappy, poorly made Pentax Chinese point-and-shoot.

So, my focus is lost; my pride is in jeopardy. But perhaps I shouldn’t feel too upset, because in photography while most of the time we really want razor-sharp focus, sometimes it is the out of focus area, the bokeh, that truly appeals to others. And yes, a beautiful old Leica camera doesn’t have auto focus. You have to focus manually. The same applies in life too. If you’ve lost focus, you refocus for yourself.