Jim Willis

Author: sjwillis

  • HomePod for $200

    BestBuy has an early Black Friday special up today, $200 for the Apple HomePod. One of these is nice, but a stereo pair is a very listenable alternative to a full-blown stereo system. I’ve got a pair in our living room and I love them. A pair is about 10x better than a single HomePod…

  • dodging raindrops in the stadium

  • Messages (SMS) not syncing between iPhone and iPad

    I’ve noticed, annoyingly, that when I send a message on my iPad it’s not always showing up on my phone and vice versa (especially when sending to non-iPhone users). This, despite the fact that in Settings->Messages both devices are using the same Apple user account. Turns out the problem is that both devices also need…

  • Turn off Spotify video loops

    Man, those annoying video loops that Spotify added are distracting as hell. Annoying to the point that I turn off my screen whenever they appear. Just figured out how to disable them. The feature to disable is called “Canvas.” Instructions here.

  • iOS gestures

    It’s been a couple of weeks now with the iPad Pro and I’m still struggling to understand gestures. I never use my iPad without an external keyboard and have quickly become adept at most of the useful key combinations to navigate iOS. And to be clear, iOS is pretty keyboard accessible. As someone who has…

  • Password review and sanity check in iOS

    My Spotify account got hacked the other day. I was using a really insecure password that was identical to that of another login I used from a site that had been compromised. So either someone guessed it or “acquired” it. Either way, I know it got hacked because at 5:15AM yesterday morning I was listening…

  • Whoa. Just saw my first Saul Leiter photographs.

    Taxi, New York, 1957 © Saul Leiter Convalescing from a head cold last night I watched 13 Lessons in Life with Saul Leiter. Leiter shot some amazing sort-of-abstract, i don’t know what to call it exactly, photos in NYC from the 1950’s onward. I had never heard of him before (not surprising since I could…

  • HomePod Automation

    Man, i spent way too long trying to get my HomePods to work with Apple’s HomeKit automations this AM. I noticed in my Home app that the latest (the really latest that doesn’t brick your HomePod) update had been installed on my stereo pair of HomePods so I was like, sweet, now I can have…

  • iPad WordPress blog tips and help

    With my beloved 13″ MacBook Pro Retina (early-2015) aka THE last good MacBook Pro in the shop, I’ve had to get productive on the iPad Pro I recently picked up. Probably have a whole host of things I’ve learned on making the transition to iPad that are worth sharing but top of mind is getting…

  • WordPress iOS app post

    With an image!