Allan Tépper at ProVideoCoalition on ProRes in iPhone 13 turns out to be Variable Frame Rate

Allen Tépper at PVC has this article on tests by Carolina Bonnelly that show that the ProRes shot by the iPhone 13 are in fact variable frame rate and not constant frame rate. This is so disappointing as to really use this footage you will need to decompress it to a constant frame rate. especially disappointing since the footage already takes up much more space and need to re compress it to really use it properly to get it constant frame rate. And you will be losing a generation in compression (I know ProRes can handle it better than HEVC but still).

Why is Cinematic Mode on the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro only 30 FPS and not 23.976?

So with the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro, Apple added a cinemtatic mode to video that is basically Portrait Mode for video, which does a post processed Depth of field using the different lenses to create a depth map. It is not going to be perfect, but certainly will look more cinematic than the deep depth of field you normally get with an iPhone lens, and you can re-focus after the fact in Final Cut Pro, iMovie and in the Photos app. It even has HDR color depth, but then why is it only at 30 Frames Per second? I just don't get what Apple was thinking here, especially since it should be easier to process 23.976 than 30 frames a second. And films in movie theaters are in 23.976, and our eyes are used to that amount of motion blur to be cinematic, and not 30 frames, which is much more TV looking, as everything is sharper. I think eventually will add 23.976 to cinematic mode, but likely not till IOS 16 or the next iPhone with better Cinematic mode. Honestly I have an iPhone 11 Pro and Cinematic Mode would possibly tip me to getting a new iPhone, but it is the 30 FPS thing that really screws it up for me. Now I do have a weird relationship with 23.976 vs 29.97, as when I am cutting commercials I would prefer 29.97 because Motion graphics looks less stuttery at 29.97, but we are talking "CINEMATIC" here and for "CINEMATIC" that is 23.976! I think Apple made a mistep here, and hope they will fix it sooner rather than later. Of course I also think that they should have figured out a way to use the LIDAR on the Pro model which is used for low light photos to make a better depth map. I know it would split cinematic mode for the 12 and the 13 pro models, but a better depth map would be welcome.

Adobe updated Adobe Fresco to Version 3.0 October 2021 at Adobe Max

Adobe has updated it's awesome drawing app for tablets, Adobe Fresco to it's October 2021 release, version 3.0. It's new features are: •Apply Motion (ipad and windows) which I am interested in checking out. •Perspective Grids (ipad and windows) to help do proper perspective •Send to Illustrator on iPad •Vector jitter brushes to give a more organic feel to vector brushes Awesome, I need to spend more time in Fresco as it really is such an impressive and powerful painting program, and am certainly interested in seeing what the motion does, and see if will be useful for any video projects in the future.

iPhone 13 Cinematic mode and 13 Pro ProRes coming soon

Apple’s new iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro both feature a new Cinematic Mode, which is basically iphone’s portrait mode for video. So the video also has a depth map, and with AI can track faces and even switch faces or do manual rack focus. It is not true depth of field, but fake depth like portrait mode, and it only works in 1080 30p. According to the video you should also be able to focus after the fact, which would be incredible! This will be a very impressive feature, and will enhance video, though won’t be perfect just like portrait mode which enhances but not like a real lens with real depth of fieldh. And hopefully someone will make a plug-in for NLE’s that allows focus after the fact much like the awesome focos app. And let’s hope it can be integrated into Filmic Pro as well, as I find it unlikely to record at non-variable speeds And the extra GPU core of the iPhone Pro and at least 256gb of hard drive space will eventually be getting ProRes recording. Now I am sure that it won’t be ProRes RAW or even ProRes HQ, but instead lite or proxy, but that will beat H.264 or H.265. Of course ProRes is going to wreak havoc on icloud photo storage, and really show how slow lightning cables are. The Pro can also capture in dolby vision hdr up to 4k 60 fps. I think this means that cinematic mode doesn’t include Dolby Vision HDR, but then what computer monitor can play that back for adjusting color? I also wonder if the LiDAR scanner in the Pro will enhance the cinematic mode? I guess they would have said so if it did, though it’s depth map would be better you would think, though maybe it is only for night mode.

Macworld’s take on iPhone adding scanning for Child Abuse Materials and Privacy

I have been reading a lot of articles on Apple's recent move to add CSAM or Child Sexual Abuse Materials in any photos you sync with iCloud (which is all of them if you have iCloud backup on). I really like the depth that Jason Snell at Macworld has taken on the issue, and why it is an issue. Apple’s approach here calls all of that into question, and I suspect that’s the source of some of the greatest criticism of this announcement. Apple is making decisions that it thinks will enhance privacy. Nobody at Apple is scanning your photos, and nobody at Apple can even look at the potential CSAM images until a threshold has passed that reduces the chance of false positives. Only your device sees your data. Which is great, because our devices are sacred and they belong to us. Apple’s approach here calls all of that into question, and I suspect that’s the source of some of the greatest criticism of this announcement. Apple is making decisions that it thinks will enhance privacy. Nobody at Apple is scanning your photos, and nobody at Apple can even look at the potential CSAM images until a threshold has passed that reduces the chance of false positives. Only your device sees your data. Which is great, because our devices are sacred and they belong to us. The risk for Apple here is huge. It has invested an awful lot of time in equating on-device actions with privacy, and it risks poisoning all of that work with the perception that our phones are no longer our castles. And while it is noble to try and do something about Child Sex Abuse, it also does fly in the face of Apple and them being the arbiter of privacy. And that isn't even talking about false positives. And then there is where does this lead, because if they are scanning your photos won't they soon be scanning everything, and where is the privacy there.

Stop mail spy pixel tracking on Mac Desktop in Apple Mail with this Plug In

 This awesome little plug in for Apple Mail, MailTrackerBlocker hosted at Github is a must install. If you don't know, companies install something called a tracker pixel into the html of an e-mail they send you, and when it loads the image off their server they can track your location and often more information. These spy pixels should be illegal, but they aren't so do what you can to stop them!Honestly I would think Apple would do something about them, and especially on the iPhone and iPad. They are so into not letting companies track, then they should stop this insidious behavior. At least you can do something about it on the desktop.It is scary how many e-mails have these built in trackers, which you can see once you install this app. Basically every e-mail with html formatting has one. 

MacRumors is reporting that Apple is delaying it’s anti-tracking feature from iOS 14

 MacRumors is reporting that Apple is basically bowing to pressure from major developers and delaying it's Ad Anti-Tracking feature from iOS 14. I have to say I think this totally sucks. If I am going to have to deal with Apple stopping things like Game Streaming on my iPhone, then I should at least have the privacy bonuses that they push so much in their adds.I don't want any app to be able to track what I do at all. In fact I think Safari should have containers on iOS to keep things like Facebook locked away from anything else.Delaying this feature does not help it's customers, it helps the big money making companies to continue to bilk apple customers.

OMG iOS sync on Catalina is f***ing garbage!!!

OK so I been having problems with the iTunes replacement Music in Catalina since upgrading, but the worst part seems to be the finder iOS sync! Not only are anything in folders shown in the finder in completely random order, but the sync itself barely every works! if you select any music to sync the sync button gets grayed out! Sometimes if you let it do an initial full sync but make the changes in itunes after a sync you can hit the sync button and it will work, but it is far from assured that this will work.It usually takes me multiple restarts, and connect and disconnects to get the damn sync to do anything, and I am running a fairly new iMac Pro! WTF!Apple doesn't give a shit about you syncing your own music anymore, they just want you to use their cloud music and Apple Music, so they have relegated syncing to the dumpster fire of Catalina Finder sync! WTF!

iOS 13.2 memory bug makes multitasking impossible

So iOS 13.2 seems to have way too aggressive memory controls in place, so apps that are in the background are almost always restarted when switching back.This can be super frustrating. Here is an example, when I am using google maps for navigation and I switch to Podcasts to start a different podcast, often google maps will have to restart, meaning my navigation is lost. This is dangerous when driving, and means you would need to pull over to enter your destination again (an impossibility on the freeway).It is also duper frustrating on mail on the ipad which is constantly reverting to 3 column view whrn in landscape mode!Apple needs to fix this quick!

Catalina Finder IOS Sync doesn’t tell you what stage of syncing

So I did make the move to Catalina after SoftRaid upgraded to 4.8 with Catalina support, and overall I am OK with the split Music, Podcasts and TV apps that replace iTunes. In fact the TV app is superior because it now will play back 4K movies on my iMac Pro.My biggest complaint so far is with the Finder Sync for iOS. It seems mostly the same, save for a few things I don't like. First off your apply and Sync Buttons are greyed out while the phone is syncing. So if I connect the iPhone or iPad it starts syncing, then I can make any changes I want, but can't apply them until the current sync is finished. In iTunes I could apply as soon as I made the changes I want to.And the problem with having to wait is not knowing when it will end. At least iTunes had text based feedback of what was going, and would tell me that it was in the backup portion which always took forever. Now all you get is a little spinning ball next to the device in the finder which gives no indication of how long the sync is going to take!And then after that it does give a little indicator to give you some idea of how long it will take, but not text information of what is syncing at that point. You can see the white filling up means how much time it is going to take.So what did the first spinning thing mean? I am going to have to assume that is the backup. If so it went much faster at least the first time.And I always sync playlists, and every time you open the program it reverts to Albums. How hard would it be to remember where you were? Really?