Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3<p><strong>Random Thoughts and Links Looking Ahead to an Apple Beta Summer</strong></p><p>We’re already several weeks deep in Apple’s beta season for all of its operating systems. As of this writing the second developer betas have been released. We’re due to see the first public beta this month and that’s when things will really heat up. I’m not a developer and I no longer run betas on any of my Apple hardware, choosing to live vicariously until the official releases this fall.</p><p></p><p>I have to admit though that I was tempted to pick up another iPad given the changes to iPadOS 26 and the general early positive reactions to it. But I stuck to my guns and will look forward to what some trusted sources have to say over the course of the summer.</p><p>Speaking of, if you’re interested in following how the new operating systems develop and evolve over the summer, I’m going to list several links to sources you might want to follow, if you don’t already. That list will come at the end of this post.</p><p>As to my random thoughts I have three.</p><p>First, it looks like Apple’s big <strong>Liquid Glass</strong> design change will indeed garner most of the focus this year. That was certainly the intent, and from what I’ve seen Apple is on the way to pulling it off, certainly on the iPhone and the iPad. The jury is still out for the Mac at this early juncture in the beta season. Even so, it appears Apple has managed to add a shiny new coat of paint that won’t confuse most users when it comes to familiar functionality of their devices.</p><p>Second, as I said previously I’m excited to see the changes in iPadOS 26. Depending on the job at hand, and whether or not I’m home or away, I jump between Macs and iPads frequently. I’m looking forward to what these changes mean when I’m primarily working on an iPad away from home.</p><p>Third, the deeper integration of <strong>Shortcuts</strong> with Apple Intelligence (whatever that may come to mean) and also with Spotlight has me intrigued. I don’t use a ton of shortcuts and currently rely on Raycast as a launcher for those I do use. If I had two wishes on this I would hope that this plays out the way it proposes to do, and I would hope Apple could finally find a way to keep what happens behind the scenes with Shortcuts from constantly breaking. Giving app developers access to the App Intent Framework and the Foundation Models Framework promises good things, if Apple can avoid the infrastructure hiccups of the past. Although I’m sure that will usher in a different sort of hiccups going forward.</p><p><strong>Good Apple, Bad Apple</strong></p><p>On another note, I, like many this year, have had a hard time reconciling my views about what I consider wrong moves from Apple the corporation with my preference for Apple hardware and software. I’ve thought long and hard about it and at the bottom of that deep well of thought the decision to stick with my current Apple tool set comes from the fact that I support a lot of friends, family members, and a few small businesses that use Apple products. I have no desire to abandon that part of my life, even if Apple’s actions pisses me off to the point where I’m occasionally ready to chuck gear into the trash.</p><p>So, I’m sticking with things for the moment, but I will say that I’m paying close attention to folks like <a href="https://beardystarstuff.net/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Denny Henke</a> who’ve made different choices than mine. I admire their approach and am always learning. I’m also paying close attention to how Apple handles things going forward. I despise this dilemma.</p><p><strong>Links</strong></p><p>I’m going to link to a few specific articles from which you should be able to get back to the homepages of the various sources, some are just the homepage links.</p><p><a href="https://mjtsai.com/blog/2025/06/12/apples-spin-on-ai-and-ipados-multitasking/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><strong>Michael Tsai’s</strong> Blog</a> always contains an excellent collection of links to various sources worth following. In fact, it may be the one stop source for quite a bit of Apple News.</p><p><a href="https://sixcolors.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Six Colors</a> is an excellent source for information and reviews. This is one source to look to when the first public betas drop for good reviews of what we will know at that time. <strong>Jason Snell,</strong> <strong>Dan Moren</strong>, and now with <strong>Glenn Fleishman</strong> as a contributor, always provide excellent coverage.</p><p>Speaking of reviews, <a href="https://www.macstories.net/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">MacStories</a> is another go to site when reviews of software drop. While they cover a range of gadget topics beyond Apple, the coverage there is quite good, even if it sometimes is aimed more at advanced users.</p><p><strong><a href="https://parkerortolani.blog/2025/06/13/wwdc-through-liquid-glassno-longer.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Parker Ortolani</a> </strong>has recently started blogging and his thoughts are always worth a look.</p><p>If you’re looking for a developer’s perspective check out <a href="https://furbo.org/2025/06/08/history-repeats/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><strong>Craig Hockenberry’s</strong> furbo.org. </a>Craig is a founder of the<a href="https://apps.iconfactory.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"> iconfactory</a>, which is responsible for a number of apps including, Tapestry, Wallaroo, Linea Sketch, Tot, and more including the original Twitterrific for Macs and iPhones.</p><p><strong>Craig Grannell’s</strong> blog, <a href="https://www.stuff.tv/features/i-got-hands-on-with-the-next-gen-ipad-software-has-apple-finally-fixed-ipad-multitasking/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Stuff,</a> is also a good source to add to your reading list or RSS reader.</p><p><strong>Myke Hurly</strong> has also started blogging in addition to his many podcasting chores. Check out his blog, <a href="https://www.theenthusiast.net/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Enthusiast.</a></p><p><a href="https://lmnt.me/blog/ive-got-better-things-to-do-than-this-and-yet.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><strong>Louie Mantia, Jr</strong></a>. is an artist and designer who lends that perspective to his writings about Apple and its designs.</p><p><strong>John Gruber’s</strong> <a href="https://daringfireball.net/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Daring Fireball</a> is always a must read.</p><p>There are certainly more that are worth your time, but the ones I’ve linked to here continue to provide me with not only good information, but some good and deeper thoughts beyond the surface news. It’s going to be an interesting beta season viewing it from the sidelines.</p><p><em>You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at <a href="https://medium.com/@WarnerCrocker" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">this link</a>, including in the publications <a href="https://medium.com/ellemeno" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Ellemeno</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/rome-magazine" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Rome.</a></em> <em>I can also be found on social media under my name as above. </em></p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://warnercrocker.com/tag/apple/" target="_blank">#Apple</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://warnercrocker.com/tag/beta/" target="_blank">#Beta</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://warnercrocker.com/tag/ios26/" target="_blank">#iOS26</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://warnercrocker.com/tag/iphone/" target="_blank">#iPhone</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://warnercrocker.com/tag/mac/" target="_blank">#Mac</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://warnercrocker.com/tag/macos26/" target="_blank">#macOS26</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://warnercrocker.com/tag/tech/" target="_blank">#Tech</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://warnercrocker.com/tag/technology/" target="_blank">#technology</a></p>