The Weekly Write-Up #6

Oct 29, 2022

I have more books to read!
Backyard Squirrel Maze?
Am I Disappointed with iPadOS 16?!
Top 10 Candies!

Something I Read

Something I Watched

BACKYARD SQUIRREL MAZE

Today I’m going to discuss something from one of the YouTube channels that I mentioned in a previous newsletter. This was NOT what I intended to be the first YouTube videos I talk about in this newsletter, yet here we are! This week I did not have a planned topic for this section, so I was searching for my topic. As I was doing this, I thought to check YouTube to see if there were interesting videos to watch. Sure enough, the first thing I saw was Backyard Squirrelympics 3.0- The Summer Games and I knew I had to watch it. This video is the third in a series of videos by YouTuber Mark Rober. This whole series is made up of multiple competitions for squirrels to complete, getting a reward. I know that it sounds dumb, but it is very entertaining and funny! Another plus to these videos is that Mark Rober actually teaches the science behind how squirrels jump and move themselves. The second video is my favorite, but they will all make more sense if you watch them in order! In conclusion, these 3 videos are entertaining and educational if you have some time on your hands…

Here are links to the entire series:

Tech Thoughts

IPADOS16

I don’t know if you know, but this week, iPadOS 16 finally came out! I’ve been waiting for this update for months after watching the event back in the spring. To make matters worse, Apple delayed the update one month after it is normally released. To make matters even worse, I had trouble installing it. You would think with how much I like technology, I would be able to figure it out, but nope. I went to install the update the night it came out, and it would not download for the life of me. It would finally download, but then not install! The problem was probably my patience because if it took longer than 10 min, I would restart it. I know this because I finally left it alone to play a game and it worked. So, all that to say, I was excited! Let’s get into my pros and cons with this new update.

First, let's change things up and start with the cons. Even though I was really excited about this update, I actually came into it with low expectations. This update was not iPadOS 15 which brought plenty of big things to the iPad. The biggest thing for this update is Stage Manager. If you keep up to date on tech news, you know that the 9th Generation iPad doesn’t even get this. My iPad is less than a year old, and it doesn’t even get the biggest thing. I don’t even know whether I would like Stage Manager or use it, but it would be cool to test out. I think that is the biggest con with this update. Going off this, since this was the “big thing,” we are only left with little things. A lot of these little things I don’t even use. Apple also advertised with this update that collaboration was getting a big update. While it is better, it isn’t that much better! One final thing that is sad is the fact that this update didn’t include Lock Screen widgets, like the iPhone update did! This is not the first time Apple has done something like this (Widgets on Home Screen and App Library are two prime examples). I’m hoping that we might see this in iPadOS 17! Those are my critiques of this update. There isn’t anything enormous, and the biggest thing, Stage Manager, doesn’t even work with most iPads.

Now, let’s get to the pros of this update. Since there were many little things in this update, a lot of these little things were good things. They added something I have been wanting for years on the iPad, but has just finally come in this update! It is the Weather app! This may not seem like a big deal, but Apple achieved impressive results with the Weather app. It is beyond functional and beyond beautiful! Since we are talking about something I’ve been wanting for years, let’s talk about iCloud Shared Photo Library! This allows you to have a shared photo library with your family members, so photos can be shared in one photo library! This is great for sharing photos from trips or family pictures from throughout daily life! One last thing that I’ve been wanting for a while is the ability to edit a message, unsend a message, and mark a message as unread. You can now do all of these with the Messages app on iPadOS 16! Speaking of communication, the mail app got a pretty good update (unsend messages, scheduled send, follow up, rich links, and improved search). Now, to share something that I was unsure about and still am. Desktop-Class Apps was announced back in the Spring, bringing “Countless app enhancement. Even more productivity.” I didn’t totally know what this would entail, but I was still excited for this. Now having the update, I really like this, especially in Keynote, which I’ve been using a lot this week! I really like being able to customize my toolbar, although it is hard to decide what to put there! A few more great things from this update: My Sports in the News app, templates in the Reminders app, and updates to focus modes!

In conclusion, iPadOS 16 is a great update, even though there isn’t anything massive that came with it (unless your iPad gets Stage Manager). If you haven’t already, you should definitely download it!

Wild Card

TOP 10 CANDIES

With Halloween coming up in 2 days, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about my top 10 favorite candies! I am actually a huge fan of Top 5 and 10s etc., so I had a fun time doing this! Please don’t judge my responses because I’m sure you will disagree with something. Also, this list was extremely hard to make because I like many candies. These are simply the ones I like the most and/or eat the most! Note: I’m excluding mints from this list because I am not convinced they count as a candy, but if they did, it would be in my top 3!

Starburst Jellybeans: This is easily my favorite candy! Although you won’t find starbursts or jellybeans on this list (they aren’t too far behind), when you put the two together, you get my favorite candy! I literally can’t stop eating these!
Skittles: Anyone who knows me well, knows that I like Skittles, and I have for years. For my birthday this year, I got at least 3 bags of skittles! This is another candy that I can’t resist!
M&Ms: Whether it be peanut M&Ms, pretzel M&Ms, or just the classic M&Ms, they are one of the best candies! They are also my favorite chocolate candy! This is certainly one of my family’s favs and one of mine!
Reese’s Pieces: Although Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are good, they are certainly bested by their smaller version!
Sour Patch Kids: This is the only candy on this list that is sour, but nonetheless, it is one of my all-time favs! The sour and sweet mixed gives a great taste! I love eating these and wincing because of the sourness!
Swedish Fish: Swedish Fish are one of my go-to travel candies, whether it be a plane flight or a long car ride!
Mike and Ike: Although I don’t get this candy as often, I do love to eat these capsule-shaped sweets whenever I can get my hands on them!
Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar: This is the first candy bar that is on this list! You can’t really beat this classic chocolate bar! I also love the Cookies and Cream version!
Crunch: I really like chewy and crunchy candies. This is definitely one of those, hence the name! I enjoy “crunching” into these whenever I can!
Runts: This isn’t a very popular candy, but I’m one to disagree! I really like these crunchy, sugary candies!

Dude Perfect also did a Top 10 Candies list, which can be found here.

Last week I published a survey to get an idea of how this newsletter was going. I had 8 people respond, and their feedback really helped me out! Thank you so much to those people! Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I have taken note of it! If you didn’t take the survey and would still like to, you can still take it here. (It is also on my website, along with a new table of contents section which you should check out!). Thanks for reading!