Monthly Archives: December 2019

A Siri Anecdote

A couple days ago I posted an update to what appears to be a long running, though not necessarily intentional, thread on Siri.

Yesterday, while driving to the store, I got a text reminder from my dentist about an appointment next week. When I parked I read the text and called them to reschedule. I ended the call and asked Siri via AirPods to “cancel next week’s dentist appointment”. She confirmed the date and appointment to cancel and then deleted. I probably could have asked to reschedule rather than delete. Afterwards I asked Siri to create a new appoint for the dentist in January. I gave her the date and time and of course the appointment was created.

It really does feel like living in the future.

iPad Journal: Zugu Case Review

As I mentioned in my recent post about my evolving iPad workflow and workspace, I’m currently trying out the iPad Pro in a Zugu Muse case with an external keyboard. This is a change from recent months using the iPad with no case and having it in a stand when typing or hand-held for browsing. Previous to that I usually had it in the Smart Keyboard Portfolio.

Briefly, the move to the Zugu case is not so much about protecting the iPad (though the case is designed to be very protective and in that regard it’s much better than Apple’s Portfolio) but more about having a variety of angles possible as well as ease of use in my lap or on the futon beside me.

The Zugu Muse is the specific case I have and the first selling point listed on the website is exactly why I’m giving it a go. It’s designed to allow for 8 angles which are securely set but easily changed with magnet-based slots. The many reviews echo the product demo video in saying that the case is very sturdy and stable when the iPad is in use. The metal stand I’ve been using is very stable and sturdy but only useable on a shelf, desk or other hard surface. Also, unfortunately, the angle on that stand is not easily adjustable.

I’ve had the Zugu for a couple weeks and can report that it is very sturdy and stable as promised. This is true for all 8 angles. At the moment I’m sitting/reclining on my beanbag chair and my legs stretched out straight in front of me. The iPad is fairly stable in the Zugu just above my knees and my keyboard is sitting in front of the iPad.

I can move my legs around a bit, stretch and so on with no fear that the case will flip. If I want or need to reposition my legs I can adjust the angle of the iPad/Zugu accordingly to get what I need. It’s not as easy as a laptop but it’s close enough.

I have only three critiques at this point.

First, when, changing the angle I do have to be careful to get both of the slots set. The magnets are very strong once the folding flaps are in place though.

Second, there is room for one more slot closest to the iPad/hinge that would result in an even more vertical position and still retain the stability of the other positions.

Third, I’m still not quite sure what the best way is to pick this up when I’m moving a short distance, say from my futon to the desk 10 feet away. It just seems a bit clumsy to move around. In that regard, the Smart Keyboard Portfolio seemed a bit more stable and sturdy when picked up in it’s typing position and moved. With the Zugu sometimes I’m not sure where to put my hands when picking up and as a result I’ve knocked the folding brace from the magnet slots a few times causing a moment of panic as the cover/bottom flops loose. Perhaps more practice?

So, to compare the set-up to Apple’s solution, the Smart Keyboard Portfolio. For the 12” iPad Pro the SKP is $200. I love the typing experience of the SKP and find it very stable in the lap. It does not flop around or seem unstable at all. The downsides: lack of backlit keyboard, no special function/media keys and only two angles to choose from.

Another downside with the SKP, as I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve already had to replace it once. From my experience with the current and previous version I expect that these cases won’t last for much more than a year given the amount of daily use they get. Now, I’ve got a replacement under warranty that should last another year. But, $200 for a keyboard that only lasts a year, so two keyboards in two years at $200. That’s not acceptable. These should be more durable. I expect to use this iPad for at least 2 if not 3 more years. A $200 case should last 3 to 4 years.

The Zugu with an external keyboard, usually my beloved Logitech K811, is still fairly mobile. The Zugu and Smart Keyboard Portfolio weigh about the same and are about the same thinness. But, of course, with the Zugu there is the added weight of a separate keyboard though it is a more functional keyboard. I’ve also got the very thin and light Logitech Keys-to-Go that I can take instead though it is less functional and not as nice to type on.

As mentioned above, the iPad in the Zugu is very stable and a pleasure to use at all 8 angles, on the desk or shelf or on my lap or on my chest when laying down. It does not easily tip. The separate keyboard can be a hassle at times but is a great benefit at other times.

Another difference between the two is that with Apple’s portfolio it’s possible to easily pop the iPad off entirely. With the Zugu it’s held in the case pretty snuggly, not something I’ll be taking off very often. So, it’s semi-permanent. But, it’s super easy to fold back the cover/bottom piece behind the iPad just as one might do with Apple’s portfolio. And, again, it weighs about the same so hand holding, should I want to do that, is comparable to the experience with Apple’s portfolio folded back.

My tentative conclusion in comparing the two is this. If Apple sold a more durable Smart Keyboard Folio with backlighting and the special function media keys that would be my choice. I’d be willing to forgo the 8 viewing angles. But, given what that product is today, I would go with the Zugu and an external keyboard. The 8 slots are very useful and having a backlit keyboard with media keys is something I really do like to have. And considering the cost, the Zugu and an external keyboard also make sense. The K811 and Zugu is less that $170 and other keyboards are even less. I don’t yet know how durable the Zugu will be but it is made very well so I’m hoping it will last at least 2 to 3 years.

A final note (for now) and a consideration. Apple’s product is 1 piece, the Zugu and an external keyboard, 2 pieces. There are times when a 1 piece, laptop like experience is better. There are times when separate is better. In my scenario I think I’d choose the 2 piece because of where I usually sit to work.

Siri, I Trust You. Mostly.

Just as I keep track of the status of Pages on the iPad (as compared to the Mac) I also like to check in on the experience of using Siri. I recently browsed through a short thread on the Mac Power Users Forum and was reminded that I’d not written about the Siri experience in awhile. That thread was quite negative about Siri and in fact, most of what I seem to come across on the internet in regards to Siri is usually negative. Siri is like Lucy holding that football for Charlie Brown. In the early years many people learned that trusting Siri was just a set-up for failure and frustration.

Well, it’s been a few years now. Can we trust Siri?

I’ve been using Siri fairly consistently over the past three years and continue to use Siri many times a day from a variety of devices and generally find the experience to be helpful, usually successful and increasingly pleasant as the voice of Siri is improved to be less robotic. But it’s been a process getting here.

How I use Siri

I make Siri requests from the full ecosystem of devices ranging from an iPhone X to 3 iPads to the Apple Watch and HomePods. Also, occasionally to the AppleTV via remote.

At home most of the requests are handled by the HomePod as it generally takes precedence over other devices in the room. When I’m out it’s the iPhone via AirPods. On occasion I’ll also use a button push on an iPad I’m using to ensure that my interaction is with that iPad though that’s not all that common. I think I’d likely use Siri directly on the iPad if there were a dedicated Siri key or keyboard shortcut.

The Apple Watch and Apple TV are probably the least used Siri devices I have. One feature that may not be immediately obvious to some is that when using HomePods as the audio for AppleTV, it’s possible to control playback via voice, no remote needed. Just issue commands such as pause, play, rewind 20 seconds and the HomePod will control the video. Very nice!

As for the Watch, I’ve tried a few times and it does not work nearly as well as the HomePod or AirPods. More often than not I just get a long delay followed by “I’ll tap you when I’m ready”. Mostly, I’ve stopped trying but it’s no real loss because I’m always within earshot of the HomePod and if I’m not I’ve probably got the AirPods in my ears.

My common uses range the full range of what is possible with Siri. Early on I got in the habit of occasionally reading through the possible actions and check every so often to see what’s been added. As a result of being aware I’ve been able to take better advantage. From timers to adding calendar events to tasks to audio video playback to smart home devices such as heaters and lights. Before I list out more I’ll contrast this with a recent poll I conducted via a persistent group iMessage with my extended family. Here’s what I asked them:

  1. Do you currently use Siri regularly? If yes, how many times per day.
  2. If you do not, have you ever tried it in the past? If yes, why did you stop using it?
  3. If you do use Siri regularly what device(s) do you use to do so?
  4. What are your most common uses/requests?
  5. If you are a regular user, are you generally happy with the experience?
  6. If you are not a user do you think you might at some point try it again? Why or why not?

The results varied. An elderly uncle reported that he uses Siri two times a day from his phone and is happy with it. My aunt reports using it 4 times a day on her phone and she likes it. My dad uses it 10 to 15 times a day on his phone. He uses it to open apps, play music, make phone calls, ask sports questions and set reminders. He thinks it’s great.

My mid-20’s nephew doesn’t use Siri much, only once a day or so. He stopped because she often “can’t immediately answer some of my questions and sends me to Safari.” When he does use it it’s to activate maps and directions or to call people on the phone. My brother uses it in his car to play music. He also reports being turned off by the fact that he’s often sent to Safari after a query.

The last response I got was from my niece, also in her 20s who reports using Siri 10 or so times a day via her phone. She uses it to play music and control playback. She uses it to make calls, ask about sports information, send texts, set timers and check the weather and the time. She uses it while driving for hands free. She concludes by saying that for the most part Siri works well for her and notes improvement in that it picks up her voice better, possibly do to a newer phone.

So, a mix of negative and positive. The negative seems to center on being kicked out to Safari results after a Siri request. What isn’t clear from the responses is what questions are asked that lead to that result. I took note that the two most positive responses, my dad and niece, both specifically indicated a broader range of Siri requests and I think that touches on something important in regards to voice-based computer usage, in this case Siri. Both of these users have made it a point to use voice requests over a broader range of activity. Put another way, it seems that they are being more deliberate and, as a result, are getting better results. My guess is that an interest in using Siri results in more persistence and more practice and, not surprisingly, better results over time.

Of course, it’s just a tiny pool responses from one family but it seems an accurate reflection of much that I’ve read on the internet.

In my own experience I’ve found that over the past 3 to 5 years my usage has certainly increased both as Siri improved and as I learned more about getting better results with the service. This seems obvious if we view Siri as a tool, as a form of interaction that can be improved upon by users over time, but I think because of it’s personal nature of the technology and the sense of possible embarrassment or frustration with failure, we don’t quite view it the same as we view the development of other skills.

By design, Siri and other voice assistants are presented as just that, assistants. They take on a kind of personal role, a sense of relationship. Apple and others have made it a point to make voice assistance sound increasingly human and natural in their interactions and I think one result is possible frustration and embarrassment when we encounter failure. It reminds me of Charlie Brown trusting Lucy to hold that football. Of course, she pulls it away at the last second and he flies through the air. When we trust Siri and she fails us there’s an element of frustration that we went out on a limb to trust that she could help. I think there’s also an almost “out of body” observation we make of ourselves. Oh, how silly, there’s me talking to my phone again and there she is making me look even sillier with her failed response. I may be getting too far out in the weeds here but there may be something to it.

I’ll wrap up with a list of my most useful Siri interactions. And to reiterate, I think this list is getting longer all the time and that the success rate is, in my use, almost always improving.

  • Reminders: I constantly add items to various lists. Both via HomePod and AirPods. This is 100%.
  • Calendar events: This is also 100%. Almost everything I add to my calendar is via Siri.
  • Timers: All the time and it works perfectly.
  • Weather: All the time and again, it works perfectly.
  • Phone calls: I don’t use my phone as a phone much but when I do make a call it’s via AirPods to phone and it’s 100%
  • Sending and replying to texts. This one has gotten much better and I use it all the time when walking, again via AirPods to phone.
  • Audio playback via AirPods when walking is excellent. Pause, play, skip, fast forward, initiating playback of an artist, playlist or album. The hardest part here is my ability to remember the names of things. Great with podcasts too.
  • Control of Homekit devices. All day everyday. About 95% success here. One of my favorite things relates to the fact that I live in a rural area and have an outside well-house that has to stay heated in the winter. In the past I’d go out and visually check on things to confirm proper heating in the cold weeks of late December thru February. Now I can simply ask Siri: “What’s the temperature in the well-house?” It’s the perfect compliment to the Home App.

My Siri Wish List

Right now, at the time of this writing, I’ve got just two big things that I’d love to see and they both are iPad related:

  1. On the new iPads Pro with FaceID, there is no Home Button which is a pretty convenient way to access Siri on older iPads. Even better, when using an external keyboard with older iPads a long press of the keyboard home button activates Siri. Very conducive to using Siri on those devices. For some reason this does not work on the new iPads Pro and so I find I don’t use Siri as much on device as I used to.
  2. When activating Siri on iPads, is there a reason that Siri should take control of the whole screen. Might it be better to do something similar to the Mac and have a smaller Siri window pop-up? Maybe the size of a slide-over window? Or, at most, a half-screen split-view.

I’m sure there’s more to be done to improve Siri but those are the two I’m hoping to see.

iPad Journal: Shortcuts Update

Many in the iOS user community really, really love Shortcuts. This is especially true of the iPad power users. There are some that have made Shortcuts a key component to most of their workflows.

Apparently I am not one of these users. Way back when it was Workflow I built out a few and downloaded a few. I usually ended up just using 2-3 of 20 that I had. And that’s fine. Sometimes you don’t know what’s going to prove useful and it doesn’t hurt to try. The app is now Shortcuts and is more deeply integrated and more powerful. I’m using it more than before but nothing like what some do.

A few thoughts. When I see what power users like Federico Viticci, Mathew Cassinelli and David Sparks do with Shortcuts I’m often not sure whether I should be impressed or if I should laugh. I’ll explain.

There’s no doubt Shortcuts is a powerful way to assemble workflows. But often what I see happening is the creation of Shortcuts that don’t seem to do much more than what an app can do on it’s own. Or, it may just be that the examples provided are un-relatable to my needs as they are often very specific to the workflow of the user. And for that user it seems they are very useful.

Something else I’ve noticed, and I’m sort of restating the above, but many shortcuts seem to just be solutions in search of a problem. Again, solving something that already is solved in the app. I can illustrate with an example that popped up on Twitter as I’ve been writing this post. Federico has tweeted that in this week’s Club Mac Stories he is introducing a new series on using Shortcuts with the Apple Music API. His tweet states that:

The first shortcut I’ll share lets you search the entire Apple Music catalog in 2 taps.

That’s pretty cool. But here’s the thing, I can do that right in Apple Music. If I long press the Apple Music app icon I can jump right into a search in Music. Or, I can Command-Space to open Music then tap the search icon at the bottom. His shortcut allows for first typing a search term then presents a list of choices: song, album, artist, and playlist then presents the result. I’m just not sure that’s any faster.

Much of what I see being presented by Shortcuts enthusiasts falls within this category of tasks that apps already do without a shortcut. That said, I think Shortcuts can be very useful. In my case I get the most benefit when I use it to do specific utility type functions that iOS itself does not do. Or, it provides a noticeably faster way to do something.

Here are examples of my current favorites and they are fairly simple and usually saved as widgets for quick access:

  • Unit price calculations. I use this one on the phone when I’m shopping to do quick comparisons of items. The shortcut asks for unit quantity and the cost then gives me the cost per unit. Very fast.
  • File converters. These only get used on the iPad, usually when I’m doing work on a website. I often need to convert a png or pdf to jpg and while I can use an app like Affinity Photo this shortcut is much quicker.
  • Switching audio playback. Apple Music, Podcasts, Overcast and any other app has an Airplay icon to send audio to a HomePod or AirPods. It’s easy to use. But it often takes a few seconds and if I’m on LTE I may also have to first tap once or twice to turn on and connect to my WiFi if, for example, I’m coming back from walk and want to switch from AirPods to HomePods. With a shortcut on my home screen or a widget I can tap once and my iPhone connects to my WiFi network and then changes audio playback to the HomePod. It’s not a huge difference but it is noticeably faster and it’s something I do often.
  • Reliability and consistency have been issues for me. Shortcuts sometimes just seem to fail. Or they work for a period of time and then stop working. Sometimes it would seem something should be possible and I’ll spend time trying to build an automation only to find out that it’s not possible. A recent and very frustrating example. I often want to use a screenshot on a website but the native png screenshot files are huge. I can save to Files then share the png to a Shortcut to convert to a jpg, set quality and size. But I cannot do this directly from the screen shot interface to Shortcuts. I have to take the extra step of saving the file then opening it up. Why?

Another example. With iOS 13.2 a new feature is handoff from iPhone to HomePod or HomePod to iPhone. Sounds nice but in practice that’s been very slow or unreliable for me. Instead, I’ve got a Shortcut which has the added benefit of also working with iPads. If I’m playing a podcast or music on iPhone or iPad I can tap a widget or icon on my home screen to very quickly send the audio to the HomePod. It’s quicker and easier than using the Airplay picker which sometimes seems to have a long delay. BUT, I have to tap. I should be able to use Siri. It would be very cool to step inside after a walk and just say “Hey Siri, HomePod” to have my audio hop over to the HomePod. But there’s an error and it fails. While I mostly want to do this from the Phone I’ve also tested with iPad and it fails there too. Again, why?

Oh, and a note about using shortcuts that have been saved to the home screen, this experience feels weird because it actually opens the app when it runs the shortcut. Why not just do it with a progress indicator in the icon similar to what we see when an app is updating? Having the whole app open up seems janky.

I love the idea of Shortcuts but in practice it’s still bumpy and still very much for the tech crowd. I’ve asked my extended family and of 16 or so using iPads and iPhones, ranging from young students to older, retired folks, not a one is using Shortcuts. Most of them don’t even know that the app exists let alone what it does. And really, I think that’s for the best. I consider myself a fairly advance iOS user and if I’m struggling with Shortcuts they would very likely have an even more frustrating experience.

All that said, with iOS 13 Shortcuts have taken a big step in the right direction. I hope Apple keeps pushing it forward. I’m not sure it will ever be an app for most people but there’s great potential there for power users if reliability and consistency can be improved.

Frictionless Posting

I’m in search of a better posting process for my two Word Press blogs. Really, it’s not that difficult. I usually post from iA Writer, sometimes the Micro.blog app, sometimes from Apple Notes and lastly, sometimes via the built in Share Sheet in iOS. Again, not really difficult. Just more taps than I’d like.

Apparently I am extremely lazy.

Ditching Google for the Duck

An excellent article from Wired on switching to DuckDuckGo from Google.

Once you realize most things you search for online are boring and obvious, you realize you don’t really need Google in your life.

It’s super easy on iOS to change the default. Settings>Safari. It’s near the top.

I switched a couple years ago. I still have a Google account but have moved all my email to iCloud. Keeping the account for the moment because I’ve got a few shared movies on YouTube and for occasional need to access Google Drive.