WatchOS 10 is unusable for me. I sent mine back to revert to OS 9.

The vast majority of my interactions with Apple Watch is swiping to change faces to quickly observe a bunch of data in a glance or to launch apps. With this user interface entirely deleted, it feels to me that they’ve handicapped the OS to a mere shadow of what is has been since this feature was introduced in WatchOS 3.

They should instead add a lock button for the people who are so greatly burdened to have to flick their finger to change from a face they accidentally flipped to.

“Smart Stack” is dumb AF. It looks nice and it’s probably usable if you’re sitting still crouched over your watch but to try to use it while you’ve active is a nightmare. It’s too small, doesn’t show enough information, it’s fluid, lacks permanence, isn’t possible to always be in the order of intention… it’s just a UX bag of turds.

Not a fan of moving Control Center but not the end of the world. It and the previous crown and action button presses were all much more ergonomic as they were.

The Weather app doesn’t make much sense. I imagine I’d get used to it but it’s certainly a downgrade, as is the rest of the OS, in usability.

It’s pretty though. I absolutely admire it for its prettiness. But I’ve lost count of the ways it’s taken a step back in usability. It’s a smart watch. Its primary reason for existing is to present data as clearly and efficiently as possible.

People may have their preferences and subjective feelings about things but WatchOS 10 is objectively more cumbersome to use than WatchOS 9.

Reuters also points out that Apple’s research and development spending grew to $22.61 billion during Q3 2023, an increase of $3.12 billion compared to the same quarter last year.

Holy fucking fuck. $22 billion a quarter?!

This just makes me angry that we don’t get to see any of this shit. I’ve been using Apple products for so long and it just feels like nothing has happened with this company aside from the silicon advancements. Nothing that’s relevant to me at least. Mostly what I’m seeing is their choices to make their user interface less intuitive. I don’t care about AI. I care about fixing bugs and responding to years and years of user requests.

I would think that as long as a battery is replaceable, it should suffice to meet environmental requirements.

Specifically regarding the iPhone, with the current battery replacement cost being under $100, I find it difficult to understand this being such an issue where an entire continent needs to make a rule against the design.

But I understand some people just want the ability to fix their own shit without having to bring it in for service. And I know this isn’t just about phones but nearly everything that has a battery.

the more limited people are, the more ingenious they begin to get

Just another way of saying necessity is the mother of invention. Which I don’t disagree with at all.

I think the opposite has taken place over recent years though - Invention has replaced Necessity.

Smart people have invented “cool” technologies often for the sake of being cool. The spectacle and wizardry of technology can distract us from what’s behind the curtain and from a task that only a human mind can or should unwind. I can’t tell you how many times my boss would tell me to integrate some cool new widget into something then when I asked why he’d say, “cause it’s cool”. Yeah, where’s Google Wave now?

I think taking the leap into unknown technology has been the problem. For me, at least. I wound’t have a career without doing so but at this point, the weight of my choices is building up.

Home automation is something I struggle with. In fact, I’ve worked in the home automation industry since 1998. Ironically, I have nearly zero home automation in my home other than the recent addition of smart bulbs via HomeKit. Maybe my experience with troubleshooting automated technology for over two decades has something to do with my philosophy here.

I have a small home with a handful of lights from Ikea and Voco. As has been my opinion for 25 years, automated lights are one of the single best home improvement investments someone can make in their lives. But now with everything so dependent on Updates, it’s incredibly easy for an iPhone or WAP update to break your app-controlled automated lights. You might need to wait weeks or months for the manufacturer of your lights to push out a firmware update so you can use them as you always have. Or Apple, or Philips, etc., may simply decide they have a better idea to use something that’s contrary to what you and your family is used to.

So, yeah, technology is great but my point is aren’t we too reliant on it? We’re slaves to software and firmware updates with essentially zero recourse other than disable auto-updates on everything we own.