Apple iPhone 15 Pro

In my latest upgrade to my phone I moved to the iPhone 15 Pro. I ditched the Max and went for the regular phone. There wasn’t any real difference in the technology for me. I need a working phone without too many frills. If I wasn’t stuck on apple equipment I’d likely buy the Google Pixel. But I don’t think I could work without the Apple phone. The seamless integration with my email systems, calendars, and school systems is great. Being able to integrate with the family shared calendars and tooling is important for me too. I can tell when activities are scheduled for the whole family and get alerts for those appointments.

I use basic tools such as the calculator, email, calendar every day. Recently I have been using the Apple Pay tools in Wallet. These work pretty well and I have begun to trust it. Side note: It works fantastically late at night in the hotel vending machine when you do not have small bills or change.

Google Maps working with Apple Car play is my application for mapping tools. I often use this when heading somewhere. Even when I know how to get to the location I’ll set it to verify the time it will take me to get there.

I have a few games installed. These are not brain teasers, nor are they games that require interaction. I can put them down at any time and walk away from it. I may not return to a game for weeks or months between spending time with it.

The reason I moved from the larger format phone to the smaller is that I needed a smaller phone to manipulate and use without dropping it. I’ve been diagnosed with RA and have had issues holding onto the phone and typing when I need to. The smaller form factor allows me to use the device without worrying about dropping it.

Apple M3 Max

The laptop is something of a splurge. I am wanting to leverage it to learn some AI and the extra processing power will allow me the headroom to run some AI development tools. I also like to run some VMs to keep up to date with basic technology implementation and automation in non Apple products.

My basic tools of choice are part of Microsoft Office. I have apple’s office products loaded but rarely use them. For image editing I have been a long time fan of Adobe’s suite, but am thinking of working with some lower cost alternatives.

Some of the other tools I use on a regular basis are:

BBEdit - A Mac based text editor by Bare Bones. I used its predecessor TextWrangler for a number of years as an alternative to Notepad++. Notepad++ was my early goto when I was a PC user twenty years ago and I needed an alternative when I switched. This fits the bill nicely and has a variety of features I have grown to love.

CleanMyMac X - I’ve been leveraging Clean My Mac by MacPaw since version 2 I think. The tool does a great job at cleaning up the computer. I found it when I was on another machine and had too many VMs established and needed to keep the drive as clean as I could or they would crash. The software’s monitoring activities are silent in the background but it easily notifies me when there is an opportunity to tune my performance.

Disk Daisy - My introduction to visual disk mapping tools on the Mac. I used a free application to track and find large files and clusters of files on Windows for a long time that leveraged a visual representation. The Windows tool, SpaceMonger, has gone commercial and hasn’t kept up with the times. Disk Daily was the first tool I found that did the same on the Mac. I’ve run across other tools that do something similar, but this pie chart looking layout is great.

Divvy - When I was using four computer screens I started having issues managing some of the layout of my workflow. I started using Divvy to control layout since I always ran at the highest resolution. When I switched to 4K monitors the problem was worse and Divvy kept up nicely. When I need a complex layout for monitoring, reading, and especially development Divvy handles all my layout needs. I utilize Magnet as well. It offers some quick layout options that can be executed without opening a gadget to make adjustments,

Parallels Desktop - I used to be a diehard VMware tools fan but it has felt for a while that VMware was abandoning Apple products with the release of Apple Silicon. Parallels has always had undying support and was a product designed from the beginning with a commitment to cross platform users.

I’m working on getting back into some of my hobbies and a new work adventure so I think I will end up adopting some new tools and workflows in the near future.

iPad Mini 6th Gen

Not too terribly exciting. Interestingly enough the iPad fits in my pocket with my phone. I picked this up to let me easily read books for fun again and to read for school when the books assigned allow for it.

I do most of my personal reading through Apple Books. Most of my Academic work is read in Kindle due to the availability and cost difference (Kindle is generally cheaper). I like the form factor since I can easily hold it in one hand. Checking email is easy with Apple’s main program connecting to each of my email accounts and sources. The interface seems solid and I like the smart mailbox feature for what amounts to always on filtering. I’ve been a user of Apple’s mail products since I originally switched to Apple in 2006.

I am sure that there are a lot of things that the iPad mini can do, but I am pretty utilitarian with my technology uses. I am using this for email, reading news, connecting to my academic applications and institution, interfacing with my note taking tool (reMarkable), and my medical records. I do not use it for music, movies, TV, or much of anything else that it is advertised for it turns out. As life changes, I may opt to use it for more activities but I am just not seeing it right now. In the mean time, for a simple trip into a doctors office or something it appears to be saving me some time while I wait. I can easily pull it out and do some real work that I need to get done while I sit there.

iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Pro Max

I have two. I used to carry one. the advent of the electronic SIM was one of the best things in the world for a long time. it allowed me to have two phone numbers from separate vendors ran to one phone. I could choose which number to call from and text from and more. I had combined calendars, email, online resources in my pocket.

this year I broke down and got a second phone for work and divorced them. I cannot go through the day without both being happy that the lines are separate. I also cannot go through the day without wishing I had a single phone again. I am torn by the need to carry a separate phone just in case someone tries to call or so I can monitor email. the benefit is that I can just leave the thing on the desk at 5 o’clock and walk away.

I use the personal phone for my own email, texting, and calendar. there is no work content or applications on it at all. the storage is enough to allow me to store all my music. CarPlay is now a must in my vehicle. I don’t know how I would live without it and satellite radio when driving two hours each way to a doctor appointment.

if I move to a 15, I might look at combining them again. I don’t know. honestly, I just cannot decide which is best. it’s not that I am indecisive. its that my employer is not a fan of cargo pants.

iPad Pro (12.9 inch) 5th Generation

I have mixed feelings about this one. it has a big screen. I really like watching movies on it honestly. the picture is great, and the sound is good. and the thing is great for marking up a PDF and taking notes (I use notability with the Apple Pencil typically). the reason I got it was as a work alternative for specific work tasks. it is great for keeping a calendar and my employers messaging service. I can access both without actually joining the thing to enterprise system that monitors everything you do. one of the best things about it though is that I can connect it to my laptop when I’m out and about and have a second monitor. this feature is a godsend when I’m not at my desk.

what’s not to love? the downside is that it is big. when also attaching the Apple keyboard it feels like it more than doubles the weight. it completely doubles the size. but seriously, that keyboard is nice if you are looking to use this as a laptop replacement. I’ve used about every size iPad there is over the years and this one is too big to just use as a daily personal machine. don’t get me wrong. you will not be finding this one in my trash can on the curb. to read a book and my email I would just assume I had my iPad mini back.