Tomorrow is OS 27 day! I’m excited to catch up on and test any updated apps related to Siri AI and Apple Intelligence. So far, my experience beta testing Craft has been mixed. Siri AI seems to have limited access to Craft content, especially with nested documents (pages inside a main document container). “Play” is a great one where it can summarize YouTube videos using Private Cloud Compute.
Today I deleted my Flipboard account, one of the first iPad apps I used daily. I was using it to cross-post content to a Flipboard magazine, hoping it would attract more readers, but it didn’t gain much popularity. As a user, I also didn’t rely on this service for content consumption, preferring an RSS sync service with my preferred client. I like the concept of flipping cards; it was novel back then, but not anymore.
I wasn’t expecting this at all. Last year, I started using Screen Studio for its dynamic zooming effects. I really like those, but one thing I thought was a drawback: ScreenStudio isn’t really a native Mac app and doesn’t have the polish of CleanShot. I bought it. I made a few videos with it, then stopped using it. I used CleanShot for screenshots and a few very short clips for bug reporting. CleanShot is a game changer.
Studio Mode recording is not only a welcome addition to CleanShot but a superb implementation. Everything seems in the right place, at the right time. I see no reason to return to Screen Studio. Not only that, but I expect my ScreenFlow usage to drop quite a bit.
I have included a short clip just for fun, demonstrating a few clicks in another excellent piece of software: Birchfeed.
Well, what a day… both at work and for my digital hobbies. I saw a teaser from @mattbirchler late last week, which made me think that he might be onto something with RSS feeds… Today I found my answer with the official release of birchfeed.app. There is quite a lot to unpack there.
First, from my experience with Birchfeed after a few hours using it (on the free tier), I came out impressed. It is another case of “build the best tool for myself”. Matt is an RSS feed junky just like me. I also built an RSS reader, but the end result is quite different. It’s not a sync service like Birchfeed, but an RSS reader for a blogroll (i.e. a very limited list of RSS sources).
Second, my RSS reader maintains its own data persistence. It’s not connected with my current RSS sync service: Inoreader. I’d like to have a single source of truth. Birchfeed seems to fit the bill, thanks to its APIs, and it would allow that for a fraction of the cost of using Inoreader APIs. After a quick investigation using Claude AI on my codebase, I could make the switch rather easily, and eventually drop Inoreader when my subscription expires next year. So I’m not in a rush, and Birchfeed will keep improving until then.
But, because I’m a nice guy who likes to support cool guys, I’m might subscribe to Birchfeed right before my free trial ends…
Recently, I discovered two digital spaces for exploring the web: bubbles.town and Standard Reader. They are two entirely different but complementary approaches. Standard Reader is very focused on discovering publications. Bubbles.town relies on reader participation by letting users vote for an article, similar to Digg. I have set a goal to visit these two spaces every day over the next few weeks.
I would love to find a viable alternative to the ARC Browser, the digital zombie, and again, Dia isn’t one. Why is this browser so slow compared to the former?
I’m putting the final touches to an upcoming review of Quick Reads, built by @mattbirchler. Below is a work-in-progress diagram, from jotted notes to the final version. Much more detail tomorrow.
For those braves people who are running macOS 27 beta 6, Mac App Store updates are not working. Anyone with same behaviour?
I always wondering if publishing In-the-moment audio bits could be something that I could explore. Consider this the first step. 😉
For the second time in as many days, I’ve seen paid promotion from Incogni (one in a YouTube video and on the 9to5Mac website). According to the Incogni website:
Incogni is a personal data removal service that automatically removes your information from data broker websites, significantly reducing your digital footprint. Anyone can get instant access to personal data online—Incogni makes sure it stays private.
I was curious and headed to their website, where you can enter your email address to test the service. The problem is that, according to their ToS and privacy policy, they collect email addresses this way so they can bug you with promotions and all that. I find this against their value proposition and it weakens their credibility. People willing to pay for such a service are probably protective of their email address, and yet, this is the first thing Incogni collects. If they offered a way to test the service, albeit in a limited way, while saying they don’t collect email addresses to perform these tests, it would be quite another matter, and I would be more willing to test and maybe even subscribe! But no. Bummer. I’ll pass.