Francisco Cantu

I’ve done it. I’ve installed iOS 14 on my main phone and will be rolling back the development device to 13.

One of my first impressions from a full day of use is that alternate app icons for light/dark mode may become more important; widgets are creating significant contrast.

I really, really liked Greyhound. Not much going on story-wise, to be honest. But the movie hooked me. Tense action scenes were done perfectly. I hope more films like this make it to Apple TV+.

It’s nuts that my beta phone, an iPhone 6s Plus, is still able to run iOS 14. And that it still feels sufficiently responsive.

Credit where credit is due: Apple read my reply to their rejection and they seem to have understood they made a mistake. (Or it’s a birthday present, like @macgreg may have predicted.) Anyway, update is approved and now I can properly worry about the next OS features tomorrow!

Less than 24 hours until WWDC, so here’s my wishlist in no particular order:

Do Not Disturb Mode API for iOS.

Network Extension for tvOS.

Xcode for iPad.

Custom watch faces in watchOS.

Better iPad multitasking and window management.

A better macOS post-Catalina 🙃

The games begin anew with Apple rejecting the update submitted on Friday. I admit one cited reason is an error of mine, but the second reason… they seem to be confused and even gave me wrong instructions on how to rectify it. I’ve replied; let’s see how long this goes.

Made it! I’ve submitted an update to a personal app the weekend before WWDC. Now, will it pass review before the keynote?

PS5 looks like a baby Alienware.

Cristobal went easy on us compared to many others who were affected. We only lost power and had a room that we use for storage flood. Doing well now.

Rewatching Contagion with the family tonight. I was surprised to see that Apple now includes a COVID-19 PSA from the actors and health experts in the iTunes version of the movie.

Reviving an old, personal Objective-C app. It still compiles several years after its last update. Giving it dark mode support in macOS was a breeze.

One of the things I miss about Texas is Whataburger. A very good friend learned about this and sent me a surprise package. No burgers but this is perfect!

Saturday mornings with some ongoing tech nerdery is an enjoyable activity. But in these times, it helps take my mind off things. Still, I do recognize I am very blessed at the moment.

Unpacked my 2014 Mac mini and set it up as a kind of “lite” server. Trying different things, but the first script I have running every X minutes is an Amazon stock checker for quarantine goodies.

Next up is to unpack my real PC server with lots of storage for Plex and more.

“You know, if we’re to catch the coronavirus, it would be here because people from all over the world visit this place, right?”

That’s what I told my father late in January at Disney World when news of its spread in China and quarantines really started making the headlines.

Not surprised at all that WWDC has gone online for 2020. The question is whether there’s going to be virtual labs at a cost or not. Very interested to hear details.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Pixar movie with my family. Onward was the perfect movie to rectify that. My not-so-inner nerd enjoyed the portrayal of fantasy beings in a modern, albeit family-friendly, setting.

And on that note, Apple’s CallKit framework is interesting. Too soon for me to decide whether I love it or hate it, though 🙃

Feeling satisfied with a weekend project: I built a phone replacement app using Twilio. It’s unpolished and very niche, so I don’t think I’ll release it. Besides, there are bigger apps that do this better already. I just didn’t find any to my liking. Happy about this one, though.

As I was making a connecting flight in Mexico City, they separated a lot of people from an incoming flight and seemed to be testing them for the coronavirus or something. Good to see them being proactive, but also kind of scary to see it in person.

Good and caring customer service is always important, no matter where. (Emphasis on caring when things go sideways.)

Hands down, Disney beats Universal in this. This was evident in their parks, rides, and services in general… night and day difference.

Here’s me trying to grab some quick video of the broken down Rise of the Resistance ride after we’d been evacuated from the transport cart. It was an interesting perspective, after all. Only to be shut down by cast members 😂

It took three attempts on the same(!) day to experience Star Wars Rise of the Resistance in WDW because the first two times the ride broke and evacuated us. One time was halfway through the ride. Because of this, I don’t have the best impression of it. But it is good, I’d say.