Happy Sunday and Happy Father’s Day! Of all days during the year, today is the day I always feel most blessed. This morning, my daughters rushed into our bedroom bearing handmade gifts from school and daycare. We had a quick family breakfast before heading to church, where there’s always a quick reminder of how good I have it. Praise the Lord for the opportunity to be such a blessed father.

This was a busy week — in the sense of having lots to do, but also in the sense of having plenty to talk about. In one quick week, we had more real world Nintendo Switch 2 reviews hit the airwaves, a first look and test run of iOS/iPadOS/macOS 26, and more. New is fun, risks are exciting, and change can be overwhelming.

My First Impressions of iPadOS 26

iPadOS 26 is, indeed, new, fun, risky, and full of change. For some, potentially not enough new, fun, risk, or change, and for others, too much new, fun, risk, and change. I'm most certainly in the middle — I don't want too much new or change to hit my work devices, but a little risk here and there is always welcome. I'm particularly excited to see where Apple takes these new operating systems in the coming months.

This is the first time I have ever tried a developer beta, let alone Developer Beta Number One. Indeed, it has its issues. The software keyboard seems to cause all sorts of issues and I've had a few crashes along the way. But, in general, I've been really surprised at how well this very first developer beta has held up. I attempted to write this Sunday Edition on iPad while connected to the Studio Display and ran into enough issues that I had to switch over to my Mac. Other than this, iPadOS 26 has operated impressively smoothly for me.

I personally love this Liquid Glass design ethos. It feels new and fresh in so many ways and showcases Apple's attention to detail in such a unique way. The refractive elements throughout iPadOS are simply stunning. I just want to play with the iPad, move windows around, tap on elements, and try new things. I was reaching for my iPad for all sorts of personal computing in the evenings before. I'm now finding myself reaching for the iPad for new reasons.

Windowing in iPadOS 26 represents the most significant indicator ever showcasing Apple's ear to the floor — it may have come five or six years after many of the most demanding iPad users were calling for it, but windowing has now arrived, and operates quite well. And it's not just windowing either — the traffic lights in the top-left corner provide extra options for organizing your open windows, while the pulldown menu bar offers a "Window" list for centering apps, moving them around, and more. You can mould and shape your iPad experience now more than ever. And it works well as a version 1 considering this is optimized for your blunt finger rather than a precise mouse cursor.

I wasn't a major iPad productivity artist in the past, though I've had someone ask me if I was using a new version of the iPad, as the software on-screen wasn't shaped the way they were used to seeing (a Quick Note and ChatGPT window alongside Books in Stage Manager was how I had the screen set up). I had learned my way around the iPad's Stage Manager.

This windowing system is a step up from Stage Manager in terms of power. You can have more than four apps open at once (though so far I haven't found a need for more than that at once). Windows can now be nestled slightly off-screen or behind other windows (Stage Manager always kept at least part of an app open so you could tap on it to bring it to the top of your view). And there seems to be more of an incentive now to plug into an external display and whip out a mouse and keyboard — a more precise cursor and more-easily adjusted window sizes makes for a quicker window setup on an external display. I'm excited to put this external display support to the test once Apple has more of the bugs ironed out in the coming weeks.

Lastly, Preview — I'm a PDF Expert subscriber on the Mac, which means I have the iPadOS version available to me as well. Preview by no means provides the same kind of value as PDF Expert on the iPad. It finds itself midway between the old previewer available on iPad and the power of PDF Expert. Highlights don't stick to a line of text in Preview (I can't stand this, personally), while form autofilling is available (and works reasonably well, too). I use PDFs a ton on iPad and a better Preview should push other PDF app makers to stay ahead of the pack.

All in all, my iPadOS 26 impressions are so good that I want to install iOS 26 on my iPhone. I'm really impressed with Apple's ability to weigh the call from the tech community to push the boundaries of what's possible while still ensuring the current (massive) user base isn't entirely alienated. Bugs will get ironed out. Design mistakes will be altered or removed. But the current rendition is a really impressive first take at the next 10 years of Apple's software design.

One side-note: I'm disgusted with how distasteful criticism has become online. The minutes, hours, and days following Apple's WWDC keynote were filled with some of the worst kinds of criticism a person can muster when it comes to a piece of technology. Being happy about something is now frowned upon. And positively cheering for someone is a sign of weakness.

One person put it this way: "The only way to have your opinion heard online is to be mean, so I guess I have to be mean."

No, you don't have to be mean. You don't need to resort to harshness for someone to hear you. Being slow to speak and quick to hear can provide that same critique you're hoping to get across, and is 100% more likely to be productive in the long run.

Negativity is a demon that fuels some people. That's not good fuel. Put a filter on the tongue. Watch, wait, and see how things shake out.

The Second Cup

Brendon Bigley on Liquid Glass

More on iOS 26/iPadOS 26/macOS 26 and how it's bringing some newfound — and perhaps unexpected — joy to seasoned Apple users.

Bauhaus Clock

Here's a fun, unique, and nicely designed wallpaper for your Mac. As a bonus, it looks like the designer has a great work setup as well.

How to regain control of your life today

I enjoyed this video about how an analog notebook changed Maurice's productivity workflows. I used a paper notebook this week for tracking some tasks and found it did a better job than Things or Reminders or time-boxing for staying on task. Searching for past completed tasks? Not as good for that, of course.

Nintendo Switch 2 Review - It's A Switch, Too

Gamespot's review of the Nintendo Switch 2. I'm excited to outline my thoughts on the Switch 2 next week. For now — it may be my favourite purchase in years.

Happy Sunday. Hope you have a great week ahead.