Clouding Around - AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud
Monday, May 5, 2025
If the 2025 iPhones Get 12 GB of RAM, Why Not the iPads?
AI and Education and Other AI Uses This Week
- What I need to get before the store shelves start to empty - I don’t know if this is going to happen but I do not need to get caught without essentials.
- Help me craft a 30-day to learn the basics of Japanese. I really want to see how much I can do done under intense schedule.
- I played with my dog and read to her at night. I know she doesn’t know what’s going on or understand what I am doing but it makes her less anxious and really puts her to bed quickly. I started recording it and posting on YouTube. I asked ChatGPT for a business plan. I made my own stories. I am interested in turning these adventures into a line of stories for children.
- Reading a couple of books. I used Gemini to help me explain concepts I did not fully grasp. I did have to fact-check a few times to make sure it was not hallucinating. I asked follow-up questions which I also had to fact-check.
- I am in the market for a new iPad. Given the news lately about iOS 19 with better MacOS-like features, I wonder if a refurbished iPad Air with M1 would be able to take advantage of it. I decided to go with the recently released iPad Air with M3. With Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference just a little over a month away, I decided to wait and see. Anything with the Apple Silicon including the M1 and 8 GB of RAM should be able to to run most of the UI changes and upgrades without any issue. However, I have a feeling that the next iPad Pro will get a RAM upgrade to 12 GB just like the rumored iPhone 17 line. I figure the upgraded RAM will be for more advanced Apple Intelligence features but it would not hurt to future proof for things like multi-tasking and other possible MacOS related features.
- Explored with ChatGPT on the news about possible 9th planet, or Planet X, tat might be lurking on the outer edge of the solar system. And explored possibilities that there might be even more large bodies and life fueled by extra-solar radiation and materials. Most of that life will not be like those found on our planet. It was a fun discussion to pass some time while having coffee and a cheesecake.
- Asked for recipes for chicken soup and banana chocolate bread puddings. For the chicken soup, I wanted a recipe similar to the one from the old Souplantation. And for the bread puddings, I asked about substituting ingredients beucase I did not want to buy cream for just this one use.
- I asked for a recipe on Japanese egg sandwich. I really wanted to follow this recipe closely as it will be the first time I will be making this. I had to drive a hour to a Japanese market but they had all the ingredients I needed.
- I researched robotic kits with regular search via DuckDuckGo and Google along with AI chats with the total of making an AI robot. I am deeply fascinated with how Anakin created his own droids with spare parts. Why can’t I do the same?
Monday, April 21, 2025
Signing Into iCloud On iPhone Helps Get Around One iCloud Account Per Device Limitation
Friday, April 18, 2025
Created An App And Other AI Uses This Week
- I asked about what my credit score means.
- I asked for other coupon codes that are available for savings whenever the Dodgers win. In LA at least, you can get a free Whopper with the purchase of a large drink after a Dodgers Win. Panda Express as well. It is still early in the season but I think I’ve had more two-items plates in 2025 than all of 2024.
- I asked what a magnetar is. And with a magnetic fields trillions of times stronger than those on Earth, you do not want to go near one. So yeah, shields up!
- Most people are not aware of Liberation Day and Trump’s “beautiful” reciprocal tariffs. I am in favor of reshoring certain manufacturing. Chips, computers, and other critical electronics. Items that are vital to national security. But do we need even one sock factory?
- On a related note, I ask Gemini to explain to me what the bond market is and its purpose.
- We had an online hobby of selling products but with the tariffs, we decided we do not want to do that anymore and solicited suggestions on possible pivots for our online business.
- My nephew is going to college and we have decided to get him a new laptop. Gemini and Copilot were helpful in provide specs and models that will help him get through college - 4K video editing, coding, machine learning, and, of course, gaming.
- Learning Japanese - I write a short passage or two each day in Japanese and while translation apps a re fine, they do not come close to what AI is able to help me with. Claude was very helpful with explanation of what a native Japanese person would say. And that is what I want. Unfortunately, I ran out of the free allotment really so I switched to Gemini when that happens. I also do cross checks in just case given that they still hallucinate or misunderstand what I ask of it.
- Most of Apple V. Masimo’s case over blood oxygen monitor is more than a year old and I really want that feature back. Co-PIlot and Gemini provided some information about the appeal process initiated by Apple. It usually takes a year so perhaps we are weeks from an answer.
- Use ChatGPT to create a few Ghibili style artwork with my photos. It made my dog just so darn cute and my wife looking far younger and me like her grandfather.
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Apple, Be Courageous With Apple Intellgence
Monday, April 7, 2025
Is Signal More Secured Than iMessages?
I have heard that apps like Signal and Keybase are among the most secured messaging apps annually on the Android and iPhones. With privacy along Apple’s top selling points for users to pick its platforms over the Androids and Windows computers, why is it that its own messaging app Messages the most secured?
To date, neither messaging apps have had their encryption protocols breached. At least that is what Gemini have told me and what research I conducted on my own. This is good. However, as many of you already know, a few top Trump officials were caught using Signal discussing top secret war plans. From what I can gather, it should not have been shared with anyone and was likely safe if it was not for the fact a journalist was accidentally added to the chat that was supposed to be between the Vice-President of the United States and other top national security and state officials. Included by accident was an Atlantic journalist. So, that is not so good.
The question I have is that with privacy as one of Apple’s main selling points, why is iMessage not as secured at Signal. The answer depends on where you fall on this issue. Apple’s iMessage is very secured. Probably just as secured as Signal if not more so.
Apple secured iMessage with P3Q, a quantum level security for messaging. According to Apple, “Today we are announcing the most significant cryptographic security upgrade in iMessage history with the introduction of PQ3, a groundbreaking post-quantum cryptographic protocol that advances the state of the art of end-to-end secure messaging. With compromise-resilient encryption and extensive defenses against even highly sophisticated quantum attacks, PQ3 is the first messaging protocol to reach what we call Level 3 security — providing protocol protections that surpass those in all other widely deployed messaging apps. To our knowledge, PQ3 has the strongest security properties of any at-scale messaging protocol in the world.
In theory, iMessage should be the most secured messaging app in the world. However, Signal is considered to be more secured because it is open source platform and has its own quantum encryption. In fact, Signal beat iMessage to future proof encryption against the non-existent quantum computer. No one know when a working quantum computer will be deployed by bad actors for the purpose of breaking messaging encryptions regardless if whether it is iMessage or Signal.
One other thing to consider is that Apple backs up user messages onto the iCloud while Signal does not. Apple’s iMessage also provide time stamps which Signal does not, which could potentially be a privacy issue.
In choosing between the two messaging platforms, it is a matter of preference and convenience. I use iMessages for 90% of all my messaging needs and I’m happy with it. I used Signal with a friend who has since jumped over the iMessages for sheer convenience. If more of my contacts switch switches over to signal or another platform one day, I will likely follow as well, That is not likely to happen as most of my contacts love their blue bubbles.And as far as security, I am comfortable with the level of security Apple provides for iMessages. And if any bad actor or North Korean hacker target me for whatever reason, they will get a secret trove of Ghiblitized photos of our puppy.
What I would like to know how just much more secured and hardened are systems and devices approved for national security uses are compared to iMessages and Signal.
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
AI Buddies Because Agents Are Too Formal (and Intimidating)
AI agents are poised to revolutionize how we interact with technology. Imagine AI as a helpful assistant, integrated into apps and features, that proactively aids us in work, school, and daily life. These "agentic AI" are designed to be autonomous, making decisions to achieve specific goals without constant human input.
Apple users with devices supporting Apple Intelligence will get a taste of this with the iOS 18.4 update, which promises a significantly enhanced Siri. This updated Siri will represent an early step towards agentic AI.
If the 2025 iPhones Get 12 GB of RAM, Why Not the iPads?
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