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  • My Taxi Ride to The Past

    I recently took a taxi ride to leave the airport as Uber taxis were unavailable and plagued with longer than usual delays. We were directed to the traditional taxi lines. I couldn’t use an app on my iPhone to call a taxi instead.

    Boy, it was a trip in the past. The taxi driver had no Google or Waze open to know where to go, only his memory and his knowledge of the city. The taxi timer was this old and ugly box installed on his car dash, partially blocking his view.

    It was disorienting not to get any feedback about how long the trip would go, what was the best road alternatives along the way, and not having a driver reputation score.

    You would think that Uber would kick the butt of taxi companies so they evolve the customer experience and get their shit together to build a competitive experience, but no. They seem to have given up a long time ago.

    My message to taxi companies: enjoy the ride while it last.

    → 6:36 AM, Jan 24
  • Google’s official announcement of incoming layoffs:

    I have some difficult news to share. We’ve decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles. We’ve already sent a separate email to employees in the US who are affected. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices. Source: A difficult decision to set us up for the future

    And comment from Gruber:

    There are numerous reasons the tech industry wound up at this layoffpalooza, but I think the main reason is that the biggest companies got caught up in a game where they tried to hire everyone, whether they needed them or not, to keep talent away from competitors and keep talent away from small upstarts (or from founding their own small upstarts). These big companies were just hiring to hire, and now the jig is up. Source: Daring Fireball

    Here’s my view on this. Google is not alone. Microsoft and Meta announced major layoffs too. I’ve been working in IT for over thirty years, and I have never been in such a situation where we have so much difficulty finding or hiring new people. Big companies are competing for great talent not only with each other but also draining talent from smaller companies. It’s very difficult to compete in this context.

    I think what is happening is not as catastrophic as it sounds. We will see a redistribution of the workforce in the industry. A lot of talent is being freed in the process from the big ones and is now available for the smaller companies where management is more sound, and financial posture is in good shape.

    → 8:44 AM, Jan 21
  • When Matter Made a Major Strategic Error

    Thursday 19 Jan 2023 21 29 43

    Today I spent some time in Matter to read a few articles. I went to the Staff Picks section, noticed those tweets between articles and remembered Matter's decision to leave the social portion in their early days. They preferred to go the Twitter route instead. That was before the Elon Musk fiasco. As you might expect, it was a deception for me, and I preferred Matter to build its own thing instead. I actually like to comment on articles and share my thoughts on them within the Matter sphere. Oh well… 

    How ironic things can sometimes be. I think the Matter team made a significant strategic error by dropping the social portion of their initial offerings, and they should reconsider their decision.

    → 10:02 PM, Jan 19
  • Interesting (and sadly valid point) from Om Malik:

    Regardless of age, the big elephant in the room is that we are certified addicts to attention.

    It doesn’t matter whether it is Twitter, Instagram, or Mastodon. Everyone is playing to an audience. The social Internet is a performance theater praying at the altar of attention. Journalists need attention to be relevant, and experts need to signal their expertise. And others want to be influencers. For now, Twitter, Instagram, and their ilk give the biggest bang for the blast. It is why those vocal and active about Mastodon are still posting away on Musk’s Twitter.

    If we didn’t care for attention, we wouldn’t be doing anything at all. We wouldn’t broadcast.

    We care. I certainly care that you care about my content, my words, and my thoughts.

    Instead, we would socialize privately in communication with friends and peers.

    Even in this social scenario, we are broadcasting and expecting that people are listening. This is how we are programmed. This is why social networks, and the web in general, are so addictive.

    Source: Why internet silos win – On my Om

    → 6:58 PM, Jan 19
  • What's Really Behind a Subscription Fee?

    This video from birchtree@mastodon.social resonated greatly with me today. Here’s why.

    First, someone is finally calling out something about software subscriptions that I always wanted to call out myself. Every developer seems entitled to charge a subscription for whatever reason. Matt brilliantly illustrates that some subscriptions are ok, some are borderline ok, but others are not.

    For applications like Notion or Craft, developers must pay costs for hosting the backend. For example, Craft’s backend seems to be on the AWS cloud. In that specific case, it’s clear that a subscription makes sense. So we must help the developers pay their bills, right?

    Things get more controversial when the developers charge for a subscription, even though no backend services are required. Why would the developers go with a subscription model, then, you might ask? Well, this is where I want to chime in. The developers may not have to pay hosting costs, but what about their development time? It is as if we value infrastructure costs more than craftmanship time. It should not be this way.

    I’m willing to pay for software or service using a subscription if the product comes with updates regularly. Matt has shown Tweetbot as an example. Well, this isn’t the best example because Tweetbot rarely gets any updates; it doesn’t fit my criteria for using a subscription. CleanShot X, absolutely yes. I recognize, through my subscription, not only the value of the service but the time it took to put it together and keep it running fine. I’m willing to support the developer for that through a subscription.

    We pay 5$ for a drink that takes less than a minute to prepare at Starbucks. Why is it so hard to pay for developers' time, spending weeks or months writing great software? Also, we must try to consider not only backend bills when deciding that a subscription is ok; craftmanship is something to pay for too.

    → 5:02 PM, Jan 13
  • Physical buttons are increasingly rare in modern cars. Most manufacturers are switching to touchscreens – which perform far worse in a test carried out by Vi Bilägare. The driver in the worst-performing car needs four times longer to perform simple tasks than in the best-performing car.Source: Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, test finds | Vi Bilägare

    I’m not surprised by these results. My wife always told me she wouldn’t buy a car with a touchscreen-only dashboard. Not only that is the fact that it is far less secure to use a touch screen simply because we need to look at the screen for a long period of time, diverting our attention to what is happening in front of us.

    My gut feeling is that, eventually, we will return to a hybrid model when screens have to cohabit with physical dials and buttons. I’m paying close attention to what Apple will do in that space. The next generation of CarPlay that we got to see last June at the WWDC conference points in the wrong direction. But who am I to judge, you might ask!

    → 9:21 PM, Jan 8
  • If you don’t have a website, a blog or a newsletter and only exist on Twitter, then I give up. You’re not worth it. Thought of the night.

    → 10:22 PM, Dec 23
  • I get way better interactions here on Micro.blog (more often, better quality) than on any other platforms I ever spent time on. Just a not-so-random thought.

    → 11:52 AM, Dec 19
  • Twitter Is the Uneeded Intermediary and How I'm Planning to Get Rid of It

    Whenever I want to go to Twitter, I should remember that Twitter is mostly a big dump of content originating from other places. So, why not consume content at the source instead? In my journey to a Twitter-free world, I’ll need to rebuild my habits of visiting the following places:

    * Techmeme: for consuming news;

    * RSS Reader: for consuming news and articles;

    * Telegram: for consuming news;

    * Mailbrew: for consuming content;

    * Hackernews: for discovering content;

    * Reddit: for consuming content, exploring and discovering new content;

    A special mention about Mailbrew is required here: a portion of the content generated in my private newsletters comes from Twitter. I’ll need to revisit this sooner than later. Thankfully, Mailbrew supports RSS feeds as a content source. But then, maybe using my RSS reader will render Mailbrew mostly useless? 

    → 6:54 AM, Dec 14
  • On Rumours of Apple Working on Its App Stores Overhaul

    Bloomberg:

    Apple to Allow Outside App Stores in Overhaul Spurred by EU Laws.

    Boom. If true, it’s massive. I can imagine Apple's engineering efforts to make it happen for WWDC 2023. I wrote earlier this year that I  changed my mind about sideloading apps on the iPhone. I still stand with my change of heart. I expect the iPhone experience to suffer with increased complexity for ordinary users. Not by much, but somehow, things will have to change to accommodate new workflows. It’s not an easy task to keep things simple. I trust Apple to find a good compromise. 

    I don’t expect to use apps installed from other sources, except if there is a significant pricing difference or if it’s a unique app not available otherwise. 

    → 8:18 PM, Dec 13
  • When Ukraine Is Home of Great Software Makers

    I recently wrote my satisfaction about Readdle’s Documents.app on-boarding experience on the iPad. Now I’m reading about Spark’s cleverness take on emails. Without being as opinionated as Hey.com, Spark is a serious professional email client. Readdle’s home is Ukraine 🇺🇦 too. I’m considering integrating both software in my toolset. All good reasons to show some support to them.

    → 8:10 PM, Dec 12
  • Welcome to the TwitterDump

    I’m not a Qwitter. I don’t think I’ll ever close my Twitter account. But, there will be a day where I no longer post original content on Twitter, only cross-posting stuff from other sources. That day, I’ll refer to Twitter as the TwitterDump™.

    → 4:03 PM, Dec 11
  • I don’t know what will happen with Musk at the helm of Twitter. It’s probably going to turn really bad before turning potentially better (no guarantee here) but I have a backup plan: Micro.blog.

    → 5:53 PM, Oct 28
  • On This AI-Generated Podcast Interview Between Joe Rogan and Steve Jobs

    What. The. Fuck.

    This podcast example about a fake interview between Joe Rogan and Steve Jobs is a blatant example of where some more thoughts should take place before putting high tech to work. What is the purpose of this? Is this a tech demo or some bad-taste proof-of-concept? It’s not hard to imagine how it could derail in the future when used in politically-heated contexts. Oh, and no, I didn’t waste my time listening to this garbage, and I won’t share the link to this podcast, either.

    Image credits: generated using Dall-E with the following phrase: “an hand drawn Mac computer that never existed digital art”

    → 6:08 AM, Oct 18
  • On Software Subscriptions

    Tweetbot hasn’t been updated for over 6 months, I thought a subscription was going to mean more frequent updates? Source: Letting my Glass and Tweetbot subscriptions expire – LJPUK:

    This blog post triggered the following thoughts.

    The movement to subscriptions in the software landscape is MASSIVE but is far from being a guarantee of more frequent updates from the developers. I’m utterly infuriated when I see a yearly subscription for a small utility with a limited scope when no “lifetime” options are offered with reasonable pricing. Many devs are lazy, and greedy and send you a big middle finger.

    → 6:30 AM, Sep 23
  • How Apple Is Encouraging Developers to Have Their Own Identity

    Telegram’s CEO, M. Pavel Durov, complains that Apple is making his life harder than necessary by having to wait for the review process to complete its job. When Apple finally accepts the update but requires him to remove the Telemoji package, he goes on to say:

    … this will motivate Telegram to make Telemoji even more “unique and recognizable.”

    He sounds like a whining baby. Thanks to Apple, Mr. Durov now gets the idea and his team will have to return to their drawing board and be more creative.

    → 9:29 AM, Aug 13
  • About This Reading Enabling Device

    For many reasons that I’m aware of, I forgot that the iPad is the best device for reading and collecting information tidbits that are fueling my content creation workflow. The iPad enables me to effortlessly annotate and store content into Craft using a Shortcut. In fact, unsurprisingly, the iPad actually is a devide that invites reading sessions into my morning routine. I should use my iPad more often; I’ll probably read more consequently.

    → 6:39 AM, Aug 3
  • The Disconnected Country

    We’re currently experiencing a major and nationwide cellular network outage here in Canada 🇨🇦, thanks to Rogers telecommunication company. It’s been going on since early this morning. Everything seems affected in one way or another: phone calls, internet access, emergency calls via 911, travellers, banking services via Interac, and lots of public non-urgent services, just to name a few. We will need a few days to comprehend the ramifications of what happened. It’s a major event illustrating that big telco companies concentration like we endure here in Canada isn’t a good thing. Also a good (and sad) example of how badly we’re dependent on technologies for everything.

    → 3:15 PM, Jul 8
  • On Keeping a Seperate Computer for Creative Work

    In a recent article from Josh Ginter for The Newsprint, If found the idea of having a separate computer for work and one for creative activities interesting and I’m close to feeling the same about my personal and work life. I do most of my work on an M1 Mac mini, while my creative work is done on an M1 MacBook Air. My iPad is used as a second screen on my Mac mini or for some photo processing stuff with Adobe Lightroom. The distinction between two worlds gets blurry when you consider how the cloud brings those two worlds closer to each other. If you are like me and use a single Apple ID for all your Apple services, as soon as you set up iCloud on both computers, you’ll get access to the same “virtual space and digital content” on both machines. This is where the idea of two separate computers becomes blurry and probably more of a theory.

    Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

    → 7:23 PM, Apr 30
  • Doing Some Cleanup in My Home Office

    After spending some time cleanup my office this today, I found these in my drawers and other places. I no longer use these. Do you? I know some people here on Micro.blog do. I don’t which I find fascinating because I did a lot in my younger times. Before the computers.

    → 11:49 AM, Apr 23
  • Two Years Ago…

    On March 13th, in 2020, the world flipped, my world flipped. So many things are different now. This short blog post is about reflecting on the last two years and how they became the foundation for what is to come in my life.

    Time flies and making judicious decisions is more important than ever. Working from home is important. I’ll never return full time at the office. Even if I move to another job, working from home is now a requirement. Visiting customers for the sake of shaking hands no longer make sense to me. There has to be more than this. The price is too high to pay: wasted time.

    Traveling is more important than ever too; that’s the only way for me to do more photography. Something that I didn’t do much in the last two years. This visual work posted in April of 2020 was the trigger to write this blog post. I’m sad about this because photography is my most important source of inspiration and my biggest creativity playground after writing. Still on the travel subject, I can envision traveling abroad for more than two weeks now and splitting my time between leisure and remote work. Leaving for a month or more is now possible.

    Speaking of writing, I’ll probably continue to write but probably not as much as in the last two years. A more balanced life is taking place and will take away some of my writing time. It’s ok. It’s also part of making better choices.

    The last two years of COVID-19, the more and more frequent climate disturbances and the recent events in Europe are telling me this: the world is more than ever in a constant state of emergency. I better learn how to cope with this otherwise I’m not finished at being in constant consternation mood while reading the news.

    Thanks for reading this. I know your time is precious too and you made the decision to read this short piece.

    → 9:18 AM, Mar 13
  • Apple is Finally Showing Courage

    I asked for this since the beginning of the Ukrainian war (on Twitter: first here, then here, then here), and today Apple delivered. Apple’s products are no longer being sold through its online store. While the App Store is still working apparently, I’m ok with their decision. On top of that, Apple will donate money, twice the amount that employees will give to help Ukrainians. It’s a good move, the only move, without using real arms, to make an impact. It’s even more powerful when many companies are doing exactly the same.

    Yep, finally.

    → 7:30 PM, Mar 1
  • Going Downwards

    I don’t know about you but I find current events in Ukraine very disturbing and distracting. As much as I’m happy to see Russia being more and more isolated every hour, I can see its leader being more and more pissed off and willing to commit the worst. The world seems to go in a spiralling direction toward even more violence and hard to resolve situations.

    → 8:13 PM, Feb 28
  • A Message for Ukrainians

    The news of the Russian criminal invasion of its sovereign neighbour, Ukraine, is appalling. Putin and his regime is committing an aggression that shall be punished, at the right time, at the right place with the right means. I cannot believe that we’re seeing such an invasion in Europe, in 2022. What’s next? Who’s next? We’re all going to suffer at various degrees from this utterly criminal invasion. I pay no respect to Putin, his government, his propaganda machine and every single Russian who support this aggression. This is an act of war against democracy.

    No wonder why Ukraine wanted to stay in NATO camp, because Russia is simply an antidemocratic land. Democratic governments and systems are far from perfect, but they are the least imperfect solution.

    For now, I’m sending my positive waves of support to the Ukrainians community of Montreal, Canada. I cannot wait for the next demonstration, so I can show my full support of the Ukrainians.

    Hitler must be so proud.

    → 6:48 AM, Feb 24
  • Old Computer-Related Memories

    From 1993 to 1994, I owned a PowerBook Duo 210 sporting a trackball, a low-profile keyboard and a grayscale screen. I didn’t like the trackball as the pointing device. The keyboard wasn’t that great either. But, it was small, highly portable. Coupled with the Duo Dock and an external monitor, it was a cool and novel setup. It’s been a long time ago. This article was written using a M1 MacBook Air, in a coffee shop.

    → 2:52 PM, Feb 19
  • Health of Developer Relations with Apple in Free Fall

    According to this year’s Six Colors Report Card, relationships between Apple and its developers' community is in terrible shape. The trend isn’t looking good either.

    Marco Arment said, “Apple’s tightening grip on App Store fees, attempts to reach into other parts of businesses that they don’t deserve, and extremely entitled and galling statements on the matter continue to be distasteful and extremely damaging to their reputation. It seems like a huge strategic blunder to inflame developer relations, generate bad PR, invite more regulatory scrutiny, and risk governments imposing much worse changes for such a small percentage of their revenue.”

    Is Apple still able to read the room temperature, or it is blind because of its financial successes? For once, I think Apple should copy Microsoft’s leadership.

    → 7:50 AM, Feb 10
  • "It’s not just how things look, it’s about how things work."

    Somehow, I missed David Sparks' observations regarding the Wallpaper feature of Apple’s Design Team (emphasis is mine):

    Instead of quoting Steve Jobs, I would have preferred an explanation from Alan Dye about his philosophy of user interface design and what his north star is when he does his work. I’d like him to make his case. If he explained the thinking behind this minimal approach, it might make more sense. Maybe this article was never meant to be that kind of deep dive on design philosophy, but it feels like a missed opportunity.

    Indeed. I’m not fond of Alan Dye’s work.

    Source: The Wallpaper* Feature on the Apple Design Team and a Missed Opportunity - MacSparky

    → 7:09 PM, Jan 9
  • Beyond the iPhone

    Remember when people claimed Java would replace all computer languages? Maybe you remember when tech pundits told us that network computers would replace Windows PC? Or what about those who said that netbooks would replace laptops? Why some people consider the tech world to be a place where technologies always get replaced with another one? I tend to view the tech world as a space where several waves hitting the shores. Not everything disappears with each wave, and most of the time, technologies keep adding up.

    What will replace the iPhone, you might ask? For me, nothing will replace the iPhone. But, according to Kelly Evans, the iPhone is going away. I don’t think her article will age well. Is she really thinking that a vast majority of people will wear goggles and stop buying smartphones? Really? Is she serious, or am I missing something in her writing?

    As much as I despise articles who pretend to predict a product failure on day one, I hate articles who predict success of an unannounced product like Apple’s AR headset.

    I should create a Craft document where I store those articles with a date attached to them, like five years from now, and get back to them to see how well the prediction came to be.

    → 7:38 PM, Jan 4
  • COVID — Did He Really Got Me?

    Here is an update following yesterday’s post about getting caught by COVID. I thought that I had been infected because of my symptoms. We all did a quick test after posting my article. The results came up positive for one of my friends, but everyone else was negative, including me. It could be false negatives, but I highly doubt it, except if we didn’t do the test correctly.

    How am I feeling 24 hours later? I had a not-so-good night with a sour throat. It was like if I had a fever, my body felt heavy. That’s a strange feeling. We still have two quick tests on hand, which we’ll probably use before going back home today. We’ll probably go to a clinic to get a PCR test, but long lines of people are waiting to get tested, which is discouraging. I should probably just declare myself as positive.

    The thing about COVID is that not everything is clear-cut, far from it. There is a lot of confusion, especially in this fifth wave with Omicron. We didn’t really know what to do with a single test coming out as positive. We spent the last week together, with the Omicron variant, It’s pretty sure we would become infected. My friends thought of leaving early but changed their minds because we all had very mild symptoms because we were all fully vaccinated. So we didn’t feel the need to panic or worry too much.

    Our holiday vacation is ending on a sour note, to say the least. 😒

    → 8:41 AM, Jan 4
  • COVID — Got Me!

    After close to two years of relentless fight to protect myself from COVID-19, after following all the government’s sanitary rules and telling others how it is important to get vaccinated, It appears that the virus won over me.

    We had this “get together week” planned for a long time, with friends. We were six. Everyone limited their contacts to the minimum in the week before, in accordance to the rules in place at the time. Yet, the virus got in. One of my friend got infected probably following a quick visit to their family for a gift exchange. They stayed half an hour then left. It was enough, apparently to get infected. So they came to this vacation week with us, without knowing they would bring the virus with them. I’m not angry. I’m resigned.

    I’m not feeling that bad as I write and publish this post. I have very few secretions, but I feel my lung irritated and I cough sometimes. No fever. No out-of-ordinary fatigue. My sleep is unaffected. It’s seems to be in line with people who got two vaccines. I’m hoping this will stay that way for the coming days.

    Now, I’ll have to tell my kids that I got it in a social gathering that I asked them well too often not to do with their friends. That’s the hardest part. Guilt. 🤦🏻‍♂️

    → 9:17 AM, Jan 3
  • The Real Cost of Crypto

    The real cost of Crypto. We need to stop buying into this shit and fast. Why is it so hard to think about these “side effects” when creating new technologies? I recently wrote about not getting into Crypto, NFTs, web3 because I’m probably just getting old. I know just enough to understand the costs of the technology behind and how bad it is for the planet.

    → 9:54 AM, Jan 2
  • Doing Nothing Useful and Feeling Guilty About It

    First day of holiday vacations. I’m not into Christmas at all this year. It’s the kind of day where I should work on my many writing projects or even do some photo processing! Yet, I feel in a lethargic state. I’m barely able to finish my newsletter. I’m unable to organize myself. Reading seems the best option. Or Netflix. I feel guilty for doing nothing useful. At least, I was able to express myself on this. 🤷🏻‍♂️

    → 2:30 PM, Dec 23
  • Like the Dislike — Put the Decision in Creator’s Hands

    Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

    So, YouTube will remove the dislike button soon from its platform. In one of his recent video, the popular YouTuber, Marques Brownlee, expresses his dissatisfaction about Google’s decision. His view echos mine. I’m not a big consumer of YouTube content, but when I do spend time there, I want to spend it on good quality content. The like / dislike ratio is an important indicator for me, and I suspect it is for many people.

    We heard during the experiment that some of you have used the public dislike count to help decide whether or not to watch a video. We know that you might not agree with this decision, but we believe that this is the right thing to do for the platform.

    I think the content creators should play a bigger role in all this: let them decide. The same way a blogger can turn off the comment section at the end of each blog post, people’s reactions on each video could be turned off by the author’s decision. In fact, I would argue that the ultimate decision to allow likes and dislikes should be held by the content creators. Simple as that. Make it an opt-in or opt-out default, but put the decision in creator’s hands. I would go as far as saying that the counters could stay private to the author if he or she decides so.

    To me, one of the best rewarding indicator is the one that shows how far users are watching videos. They may agree or disagree, but as soon as they watch most of it, anything else is irrelevant.

    I wonder if this decision by YouTube better serves their interests. I mean, without any ratio indicator, users have no choice but to start to play the video to decide if it is worth the time. This simple change makes people spend more time on the platform. Or is it the other way around and users will instead look at the comments to get a better idea of the video quality? I doubt it, as reading takes too much time to decide. People are busy, their attention span is short, a quick glance at the like dislike ratio is the way to go.

    Once the decision to let people react to a video is made, then the platform could finally make it available only if the user watch “most of” the video. That no rocket science. There are probably other tricks that could be played to better control what’s going on in user’s reactions. But at this stage, it seems closer to be only implementation details.

    As for the creator’s mental health issue, again, I would argue that if they tend to rely too much on the likes to feel rewarded, they could turn off the option. That’s something that could help others in dealing with this.

    Glass, a photo sharing service, didn’t provide a like button from day one and doesn’t plan to add one. Is it good? Well, it depends. One thing is clear, from the comments I’m seeing posted by others, I have to ask myself: what is the difference between getting dozens of “I love it” or hitting the “like” button? Not much.

    Photo credit: Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

    → 1:55 PM, Nov 13
  • Exposure Notifications — Still Useful?

    The other day I was looking at my iPhone battery consumption only to find out that the Exposure notifications feature was consuming close to 10% of the power on a 24 hours period. It’s not the first that I see Exposure Notifications to take so much juice out of my iPhone battery. I’m not alone, apparently, according to a Google search with the “exposure notifications battery drain” keywords.

    The question is simple: considering that I’m fully vaccinated, considering the state of the pandemic here in Canada, considering that hardly any people actually enter their test results if found positive, why should I continue to care about having this turned on? I think I could turn it off.

    → 4:50 PM, Nov 7
  • Going to the movies still sucks

    We went to the movies yesterday night. The first time in two years. “No Time To Die” was good. As much as other types of business has evolved in this time frame, buying tickets, bad quality lighting, flaky sound systems are still part of my usual subpar experience at the movies. No wonder why this is a dying business.

    → 11:19 AM, Oct 17
  • On the way back home

    I’m on my way back home from a weekend in the Niagara Falls region. I put my iPhone 13 Pro to the test. I’m quite happy with my experience. Most of my photos are in ProRAW format. I’m not sure how I’ll process them: with Pixelmator? Lightroom CC? If the latter, the import process is putting me on the break instead of a more integrated experience with Pixelmator.

    → 11:32 AM, Oct 11
  • Dear @Viticci, I’m Not a Professional Reviewer, So What?

    Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

    This podcast episode from MacStories featuring Viticci triggered quite a few reactions. Why? Because of these two sentences in the first moments of the episode talking about the iPad mini:

    “You wouldn’t want to read/or watch a review by someone who is not a professional reviewer. It wouldn’t be enjoyable.”

    Yep. Viticci said that. In “The value of a non-reviewer’s perspective” from Mere Civilian:

    ”I agree, a review from a person who does not write for a living may not be enjoyable. However, I strongly disagree with the first sentence. “

    What? Really? Then, I read this reaction from Lee Peterson on his blog:

    ”MacStories posts some great stuff but not everyone wants to read long articles, some like smaller easy to digest articles from independent writers, I like to think I do that here. I get to the point and try to respect my audiences time, does that make my opinion invalid or not enjoyable?”

    And here is my response. Viticci comments make him look full of himself. Period. I’m happy for him if he can live from writing reviews. I would rather read review from real end-users because the point is to get comments and observations from real use case scenarios. Sure, I like reviews from Marques Brownlee because he has well-balanced and critical point of views on a lot of stuff. It also touches the subject of what makes someone a blogger or a writer. If you write constantly, then you are a writer. Are you Shakespeare? Probably not. There is a starting point for everyone. Some will fall along the road, others will thrive. I tend to think of reviews by professionnel reviewers as synthetic reviews, where there is a lot of speed and feed talk. At some point, we want to go beyond that and have comments coming from experience. So, sure, I’d like to read comments from pilots about the real usefulness of the iPad mini. They are the one who can make a judgment on the subject.

    Last year I wrote “I’m not an audiophile, but here are my thoughts on Apple’s AirPods Max” which is not of “review” but a collection of observations. I concluded with this:

    ”So, do I like the sound quality of my AirPods Max? Yes. Do they sound better than my Bose QC25? Yes. By a wide margin compared with the price difference with my Bose Q25? No. But, hey, they are wireless, convenient, comfier, have transparency mode, spatial audio and they fit within Apple’s walled garden.”

    Is there any value in this? I think so. Should Viticci care? Certainly not. I do have genuine thoughts and opinions, and this is my ultimate right to share them with the world for exactly what they are: thoughts and observations. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

    → 5:56 AM, Sep 30
  • Courage, Apple?

    John Gruber on Apple’s lack of courage regarding vaccination of their employees:

    So where’s Apple on this? Why isn’t Apple requiring proof of vaccination for employees, including for retail employees and customers? Why reserve courageous decisions only for removing headphone jacks?

    Boom.

    Photo by Marisol Benitez on Unsplash

    → 6:49 AM, Sep 11
  • Remembering that day

    I was at the office. A normal day. It was a perfect sunny and more than usual mild September day. Blue sky. Then the news struck. At first, I didn’t understand what was actually happening. The internet went slow, to the point of becoming unusable. My colleagues started to leave their desks. We all turned to the TV set in the employees cafeteria. It was such a unique accident, we all thought. Then, the second plane, which marked a turning point in our history of modern barbarism. We are still trying to recover from it. I think of this day so often, each time with deception and bitterness because we didn’t learned the right lessons.

    Side note: I find the American society fascinating. They seems to treat those who died on 9-11 differently then those who die each year from guns. The latter are more than three times those who died on 9-11. Each year. The US spent close to 6 000 billions dollars on war since 2001. It didn’t fix anything. How much do they spend on guns to try to fix this problem? Fascinating indeed.

    Photo by Magnus Olsson on Unsplash

    → 6:27 AM, Sep 11
  • About the Store, the Store Tab.

    There is so much to think or write about a simple “Store” tab. Something so “obvious” can lead to weird design decisions, even for Apple. I love this (rare) blog post from Ken Segall.

    Sarcasm ON: “I’m feeling inspired by Apple’s new way of thinking. It’s liberating. Who needs “Apple” when you have “Store”? Generic is just so much easier, don’t you think?" - Ken Segall

    To be honest, I don’t remember when there was a dedicated Store section on the Apple.com website. Apple brought it back, leaving “Buy” buttons scattered around every single product pages. It is now so much easier to buy something from Apple these days.

    Sarcasm OFF

    → 7:15 PM, Aug 9
  • Four days week day? We can only dream it seems

    Again, Matt Birchler:

    technology and improved general productivity always had the promise of letting us work less, and yet today we work more than ever and have less than before Source: A Four Day Work Week? Yes, Please!

    I sure wish we had this four days work week. I cannot see the day it will become reality. The problem in IT where I work, there is a worsening trend of a lack of qualified people for many IT fields. This trend puts pressure on those who are qualified to do more working hours.

    → 8:49 PM, Jul 26
  • Do you remember when you switched to Apple's ecosystem?

    Matt Birchler writing about Apple ecosystem stickiness:

    “As I buy more and more Apple products, all of those Apple products get better. My iPhone is more valuable because of the HomePod Mini I AirPlay my podcast to while I’m working. My iPad gets more valuable because it has seamless file sync with my Mac. Reminders is better because it works with Siri in a way no other app is allowed. The list goes on. But this is of course also a bit of a trap. I can’t really get an Android phone, even if I think I would enjoy it more than my iPhone, because then my HomePods become worse, my Mac gets worse, my iPad gets worse, and my Apple services get worse. Because each additional Apple product makes all my other Apple products better, likewise removing something from that mix brings down everything else.”

    You cannot use an Apple Watch with an Android smartphone. In Apple’s garden, every product has an extension that takes the form of a service or another physical product from Apple. Did we forget that once upon a time we made a switch from platforms like Windows or OS/2? When a new offering is really making a difference, we tend to switch. Back in the days, a Windows PC was an island, leaving it for the Mac meant that you had to re-buy new software, a few accessories. All things equal, the switch wasn’t necessarily funny. Today’s digital world is quite different, for sure, but pose a similar kind of challenge when switching.

    Photo by Miguel Tomás on Unsplash

    → 6:31 AM, Jul 26
  • When a 2013 MacBook Air is > than a two-years old Chromebook

    I’ll be getting a old 2013 MacBook Air for one of my son to replace an aging Chromebook that I bought about two years ago. Think about it. This eight years old MacBook Air is faster, much better design, much better screen quality, more memory and will be able to run macOS Big Sur and all other apps like iWorks et al. I find this incredible that we can read and hear people saying Apple gear is expansive and that is under Apple’s obsolescence progamming. I call this bullshit.

    → 4:17 PM, Jul 18
  • User Interface design dark age era

    We are in the dark age (not dark mode!) of user interface design for sure. We get excited for new animated UI elements (example here), but overall, delight has been lost in translation a long time ago. As Mike Rockwell is a link post say:

    “I can’t really identify anything that I’ll be nostalgic for in ten or twenty years.”

    I wouldn’t go back to pre-iOS 7 days but there has to be some delightful in-between degree of crafted user interface that had some real joyful elements in them. Apple is not the only one at fault here. It looks like it is a design trend spanning many mediums (print, TV, web, etc.).

    Has the industry decided that our devices have reached a level of maturity that warrants making everything minimal, sterile, and utilitarian to help “do work” and “get stuff done”?

    Excellent question, Tyler Hall.

    → 6:06 AM, Jul 14
  • What comes before the right to repair? (#apple #righttorepair)

    The next step for Apple is to design for repairability which goes beyond recycling. AirPods are the worst example of this. When the battery life on these is reached, there is no practical way to replace them without throwing it to the trash and buying a new one. So for me, the right to repair goes way beyond having a choice of where I’m going to take a device for repair. It is about buying a device that was designed for and built to use recycled materials, but also it is about buying a device that can be repaired for basic things like battery replacement.

    → 7:37 PM, Jul 11
  • Going to space… to watch a burning planet.

    So Richard Branson went to space. Next, Jeff Bezos. And then, what? Is there any scientific purposes in these flights to space? Nope, not directly at least. Is this a publicity stunt? Yes and no. I’m not at ease seeing billionnaires spending their pretty money on something that don’t bring value to a community except for themselve. Oh, they want to start a new commercial flight in space business apparently, for billionaires:

    Branson’s flight — which came just nine days before Amazon bilionaire Jeff Bezos is slated to rocket into suborbital space aboard his own company’s spacecraft — is a landmark moment for the commercial space industry. The up-and-coming sector has for years been seeking to make suborbital space tourism (a relatively simple straight-up-and-down flight, as opposed to orbiting the Earth for longer periods) a viable business with the aim of allowing thousands of people to experience the adrenaline rush and sweeping views of our home planet that such flights can offer.

    Is there a better way to spend our resources to see the burning planet from space? Gosh.

    → 6:38 PM, Jul 11
  • What if nobody really knows what is going on? (#google #privacy #surveillance)

    What if nobody at Google knows exactly what their data hungry engine is all about? I mean, what if nobody has a global picture, so nobody can say “oh my god, it’s terrible, we must stop it!”. This makes me think of the nazis in second world war: very few had a global picture of what was really going on. It was devised this way so it was easier to “manage” and keep the machine humming.

    → 3:11 PM, Jun 28
  • Since I began extensively testing iPadOS 15, my idea of upgrading my 2018 11” iPad Pro to a 2021 12.9” version is suddenly less tempting… what does this even tell about the very nature of iPadOS 15 for the iPad Platform?

    → 11:11 AM, Jun 26
  • On design trends — sadness

    While reading a recent article from Basic Apple Guy about News+, there is this illustration that shows how far Apple News icon has come since its beginnings. I have included the illustration here. It shows how bad design has become in the last five to ten years. That is really depressing to see. As much as things like AR and LiDAR technology help bring real world and virtual world closer together, UI design seems to go the opposite direction. Why is that? When will that trend stop and maybe revert a bit? Why can’t we get visually joyful icons anymore? Is it a matter of design costs being too high?

    → 8:59 AM, Jun 26
  • On Antitrust legislation and Apple iPhone experience

    I always thought that politicians and their aides don’t really have clues about technology in general. If you want to fuck up something in tech, ask the politicians. This is exactly what could happen if these antitrust legislation proposal become laws.

    Imagine that: you take out your brand new iPhone out of its box, turn it on only to be welcomed with an empty screen, no builtin apps, just a simple “Hello”. In the name of what: competition. Developers like the one behind Basecamp and HEY would be so happy, because in this hypothetic world they would feel in better position to compete against Apple. What a bunch of retards.

    I just wish this type of legislation would be in effect in the US, so that here in Canada, we would continue to get the standard iPhone experience.

    → 12:20 PM, Jun 19
  • It was a reminder that technology can play unexpected roles in our lives. Source: Seeing Death From a Distance, Through FaceTime Calls - Numeric Citizen Blog

    → 7:55 AM, May 8
  • The Pandemic Effects on my Digital Good Purchases

    I never bought so many applications and utilities or subscribed to so many services since the beginning of the pandemic. For the latter, I had to use Apple’s Number just to keep track of all of them😳🤪. Because I’m working from home since March 2020, my work-related expanses are close to zero. I don’t go buy a coffee or snacks in the middle of the workday as I used to. I don’t buy transportation titles anymore. I no longer commute. Furthermore, I no longer travel. My home office setup upgrade is complete. This mean that I have more to spend on something else. I’m more inclined to buy digital goods. Some are impulse buys. That’s why I invested in many macOS applications and utilities which gave me the idea of writing this article “Tips & Tricks & Utilities for Boosting Your Productivity with Apple’s macOS Big Sur”.

    I don’t know if a return to normal will push me to cancel any of my applications or utilities subscriptions. I don’t think so as I think they are needed and useful to my blogger workflow. I return to this commuting world as I’ll keep working from home forever. I’m not alone and this makes me wonder how profound changes caused by this pandemic could be on so many economic levels.

    → 6:17 AM, May 3
  • Well, if that was the case, this would add fuel to any anti-trust initiative. No?

    iMessage Kept Off Android for iOS Lock-in initialcharge.net/2021/04/i…

    → 8:39 PM, Apr 9
  • I should read this every day. Thanks to @gr36.

    → 6:29 AM, Apr 7
  • My micro.blog instant joy

    Friday thinking… I find is so refreshing to be able to have decent conversations on the open web. There is no drama here, everything seems so… simple. It brings back some confidence about human’s capabilities to engage in respectful conversations…. That’s be because there are lots of nice guys here on Micro.blog… it is lacking elsewhere (no finger pointing here, I won’t name a platform… but, well, ya know, right?).

    Returning to normal programming.

    → 4:21 PM, Mar 26
  • About these Read Later apps or services

    Thought of the day: read later lists are useless for me. I tend to forget about the items I save in them. It was true with Instalaper, Pocket, Safari and now Reeder. I don’t read more because I save things in them. The trick for me is to read it now or else. Simple. The longer I wait to pick an article out of these lists, the less likely I will read it. So, I end up with a mass of unread and expired content. Are you more successful than me?

    → 7:26 PM, Mar 19
  • Guilty of Digital Consumerism (#apps #services #workflow)

    Greg Morris on digital consumerism:

    The level of consumerism and marketing tricks being used to sell apps and services is growing over time. They all promise to fix that gap in your work life, just like adverts promise to fix the one in your love life, or improve your happiness, or whatever it is. It’s all lies.

    I cannot talk for others, but for me, when I’m jumping on another service or a new app, it’s because it offers a seizable improvement. Going from Notion to Craft is my latest example of such move. I’ll elaborate on this at length in a feature post in the very near future.

    I recently wrote “Are we digital nomads?” My answer is yes. It seems we cannot stay in one place for a very long time, looking for the new, the latest and greatest, all the time. We’re bored. This is what it is. Form takes over function. Or is it? Again, my blogger workflow is full of moving parts and I consider it is an ongoing experiment.

    → 8:08 PM, Mar 11
  • About those WebP images (#google #usertracking #nonstandard)

    WebP image format goal, according to Google:

    WebP is a modern image format that provides superior lossless and lossy compression for images on the web. Using WebP, webmasters and web developers can create smaller, richer images that make the web faster. WebP lossless images are 26% smaller in size compared to PNGs. WebP lossy images are 25-34% smaller than comparable JPEG images at equivalent SSIM quality index.

    I’ve seen more and more WebP images in recent months when I try to download an image from Safari. It’s frustrating. It’s not a standard. Making the web load faster so tracking scripts can run more easily, that the reason behind all those “initiatives” from Google. WebP is a terrible idea. AMP pages was a terrible idea. And FLOC is a terrible idea. Google is full of terrible ideas. Even for searching, Google is bad. Boy, I hate Google.

    I’ve been using WebP Converter recently.

    → 7:18 AM, Mar 7
  • [@Gaby](https://micro.blog/Gaby) I get a morning email digest from Mailbrew with my Twitter timeline and funnel YouTube and Reddit into RSS. The social apps are filled with recommendations and features designed to keep you “engaged”. But there’s always an actual bottom to my unread emails and RSS feeds.

    Throughout the day, the only types of apps I “just check” are email, RSS, and my Micro.blog client. Micro.blog gets a pass because it seems to be filled with genuinely good people that post things that make me happy — at least that’s what I see in my timeline. :)

    This setup gives me more time to read my read later items, to write, and work on other projects that actually accomplish something.

    Mike Rockwell https://micro.blog/mdrockwell/11079723
    Here is a great way to put Mailbrew to work and help us create free time in our busy schedules.
    → 10:24 AM, Feb 26
  • Twitter announces paid Super Follows to let you charge for tweets

    More shit like this and I guess Twitter will be my next one to quit.

    Gaby/mL https://gabz.me/2021/02/25/twitter-announces-paid.html
    The beginning of the end for me and Twitter?
    → 6:49 PM, Feb 25
  • Owning media > streaming services

    Mike Rockwell https://mike.rockwell.mx/asides/1006
    On paper, yes, but how do you cope in a "streaming-only" world?
    → 12:10 PM, Feb 25
  • Are we digital nomads? (#blogging #internet)

    In the last few months, on Twitter and on Micro.blog, I’ve been witnessing something that takes the shape of a small phenomenon: people are moving from one place to another in the digital space. Many are writing about their experience of moving from one hosting site to another. Some are leaving WordPress to return to Ghost. Others are proudly putting together their hosting solutions. The same happens in the newsletters hosting space: people are leaving Mailchimp to go to Substack or Revue. People are looking to get better return on their investment both in time and money. Others are simply trying to optimize their blogging workflow. There is a myriad of reasons why people decide to leave a place for another one.

    I find these numeric movements quite fascinating. Are you one of those guys?

    → 4:33 PM, Feb 21
  • Welcome back to the Mac computer club @mattbirchler (#apple #macbookair #applesilicon)

    As much as you can like to work on the iPad, there are edge cases where the iPad falls short. Since I got an Apple Silicon powered Mac, and thanks to many nifty Mac utilities, I rediscovered what it really means to be productive and efficient on a computer platform. This blog post by Matt Birchler is an example of an edge case being better served by a traditional yet powerful computer.

    On the subject of small and focused Mac productivity utilities, The list of application purchases I made since moving to this Mac mini is pretty long. Here it goes, in no particular order.

    • HazeOver
    • Unclutter
    • Keysmith
    • Bartender 4
    • DefaultFolder
    • Hush
    • StopTheMaddness
    • Alfred
    • Hazel
    • CheatSheet
    • PopClip
    • Downie
    • Permute
    • SafariMarkdownLinker

    There is something those utilities have in common: in one way or another, they augment the macOS experience. Such things are not quite possible, yet, on the iPad.

    → 7:03 AM, Feb 17
  • The challenges with online speech and publishing (#socialnetworks #socialmedia #platforms)

    A recent article by Benedict Evans exposes how hard it is to “fix” social networks.

    “The internet and then social platforms break a lot of our definitions of different kinds of speech, and yet somehow Facebook / Google / Twitter are supposed to recreate that whole 200-year tapestry of implicit structures and consensus, and answer all of those questions, from office parks in the San Francisco Bay Area, for both the USA and Myanmar, right now. We want them to Fix It, but we don’t actually know what that means.”

    I often think about issues that platforms like Facebook brings to our society. I don’t pretend to have any solution. I can’t quite define what Facebook is actually from a societal point of view. That being said, a lack of definition and understanding cannot prevent me to wish for things to be done differently. And I have one simple wish.

    I want the eradication of algorithm-based feeds. I want them to be regulated, prohibited even. At the very least, it should be an opt-in “feature”. I want the return of chronological feeds. No tweaks, no tricks, nothing more. Nothing less. I want all people to have a look at the same reality. Two people having the exact same followers and following the same guys should give the same timeline. Period.

    Without hyper-manipulated feeds, we have to wonder about the usefulness of all gathered data about us and our behaviours. Maybe ads targeting doesn’t make as much sense in tact hypothetical context.

    If two people don’t see the same thing, it’s because the choice was made by an individual wishing to control his or her exposure, not by a corporation’s algorithm or an arbitrary group of people.

    That’s my wish. Let’s try it and see if things change for the better.

    → 4:02 PM, Jan 24
  • The Insurmountable Problem for Intel (#intel #apple #applesilicon)

    Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger

    Let’s start with a quote from Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger (as reported by The Oregonian)

    “We have to deliver better products to the PC ecosystem than any possible thing that a lifestyle company in Cupertino. We have to be that good, in the future."

    The fundamental problem with Intel is that they will never make the whole widget (the products) like Apple does. That’s the key for insanely great products. Intel’s CPU are small enablers at best. The vertical integration of the whole stack (hardware, OS, apps, services) makes what Apple is all about. There is no way for Intel to emulate that by cooperating with hundreds of OEMs.

    Sorry, Pat, nice try.

    → 7:43 PM, Jan 16
  • Programming, mathematics and brain activities (#research #computers #computerscience)

    Florian olivo Ek9Znm8lQ1U unsplash

    What does it take to be a hood programmer? Or better yet, what does it take to like programming hence writing or reading algorithms? Math? Language? Arts? A combination? When I started in computer science at the University, my friends thought that I was good at maths. It wasn’t the case. Before deciding which field I would like to study, I was afraid of computer science, thinking myself that we had to be really good with mathematics. My experience shows that it is not the case. I’m average at maths but good at programming and in computer science in general. Is it surprising? According to this article, no. In fact, computer programming isn’t the same thing as doing maths from a brain activity perspective. It is more like something very demanding where a totally different part of the brain is solicited. Fascinating. It may (or may not) explain why you can be good in computer science but not as good in mathematics. Who knows.

    By having a better understanding of what parts of the brain are solicited, we may find common ground with other disciplines. It is really hard to attract people in computer science and knowing what it takes from a brain perspective could help direct efforts of recruiting the right people who will like to read and write algorythms but are not good at maths!

    → 6:47 PM, Jan 11
  • Where does our data go when we die? (#digitallife #death #legacy)

    Nikko macaspac 6SNbWyFwuhk unsplash

    What happens with your numeric assets when you die? I mean, think of your online presence: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Where all that stuff ends up a few years after you die? That’s the type of question “Where Does Our Data Go When We Die?” tries to answer. It’s something that I find interesting and a big challenge, something that I wrote about in my piece titled “A Guide for Preparing to Leave Your Numeric Legacy”. Long read yet very important subject.

    → 11:28 AM, Dec 19
  • The unexpected good side effect of COVID19 on me as a blogger (#writing #blogging #blog)

    Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

    Who knew COVID-19 would have a very positive side effect on me. It started on March 13th of 2020, and it’s still going on nearly uninterrupted. What is it? I have more time than ever to focus on my writing and publishing activities. Why?

    As I’m working from home from mi-March of this year, I no longer have to commute. I save countless hours per week just because of this. On top of that, consider many activities on the weekend that no longer can take place because of the on-and-off restrictions in place.

    I never wrote or published as much stuff in the last nine months as in the last year or so. I have a lot of projects in my head, small and more significant. I did spend quite a lot as I no longer travelling on software, services, work-from-home equipment. I also have more time for reading than before, it makes a difference.

    COVID-19 is transformative at the society level but also a personal level. There are things that I don’t want to return when COVID-19 is no longer among us. Time is a precious resource, once you have it, you don’t want to mess with it.

    → 1:14 PM, Dec 14
  • It's time to call out @iphoneincanada (#tracking #ads)

    Ads

    Wait for the previous gif to load and animate. What the fusk is wrong with the owners of iPhone in Canada website? This animated gif shows how wrong the web can become. There are 21 trackers on this website. The more trackers, the more ads, the less content there is. What a pity. For this reason, I don’t visit their website, I only subscribe to their RSS feed and Safari notifications. They should know that at some point, they cross the inflexion point where too much is like not enough.

    → 9:54 AM, Dec 13
  • The future of the iPad, according to an M1 chip (#apple #ipadpro #applesilicon #mac #m1mac #ipados)

    In a blog post “Your Move, iPad”, by Becky Hansmeyer, the author asks “So if raw power isn’t enough, and new display tech isn’t enough, where does the iPad go from here? Will it be abandoned once more, lagging behind the Mac in terms of innovation, or will Apple continue to debut its latest tech in this form factor?"

    In light of the massively successful M1-powered Macs, what can we infer for the future of the iPad Pro?

    Apple doesn’t need to add touchscreen to their MacBook line if they unleash the iPad with a much more complete iPadOS experience. I think Apple missed the occasion with iPadOS 14 by not adding a more flexible widgets experience, by refusing to improve external display support and by not revisiting the multitasking interaction model. See? It’s not only a matter of adding 5G wireless support or LiDAR or a second USB-C port. These will only be as good as the software will allow them to be useful. The just begun new era for Mac with the M1 chip combined with Apple’s tight software integration should give us answers on why the iPad Pro future lies in the software.

    → 8:14 AM, Nov 27
  • Apple is not what it used to be (#apple #analysis)

    Someone on Twitter shared this YouTube video in which the guy tries to explain why and how Apple is not what it used to be. In a few words: now, they actively compete with others. It’s a massive difference where before they seemed to act alone without caring about the surrounding competitive landscape. Highly recommended.

    → 12:58 PM, Nov 23
  • Microsoft already feeling the heat (#microsoft #apple #m1chip #applesilicon)

    Carefully look at this add by Microsoft bellow. The phrasing of this ad clearly shows the roots of the company making the product. “Pen supported” is one example. Why not write something like “Touch interface” or “Touch screen”. The word “supported” sounds wrong and makes me feel Microsoft is not fully confident about the real nature of this computing environment. The other thing is the removable SSD option. That’s typical geeky-PC-world-thing. Do we really care in a world of cloud-based storage being an extension of our devices? Really bad ad.

    Clearly, Microsoft is already feeling the heat and is on the defensive. It’s only getting started. Others will follow.

    → 7:33 AM, Nov 18
  • Here is why Microsoft should start to worry (#microsoft #surfacego #macbookair #apple #m1chip)

    In light of Apple’s recent products introduction, consider the recently introduced Microsoft Surface Go. A Windows laptop that starts with 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB SSD, 12.4” touch screen using the Intel Core i5 which will get you 13 hours on battery for 550$. If you want a 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB SSD, the price goes up to 899$, but you keep the same lame CPU.

    Now, compare this to the new MacBook Air (a much more powerful laptop) for 899$ (education pricing), same amount of RAM and SSD, 5 hours more of battery life, a much better non-touch display.

    How is Microsoft supposed to compete against Apple in this market now?

    They simply can’t, and they should start to worry.

    → 9:09 AM, Nov 15
  • PC Gimmicky features rarely used (#windows #windowslaptop #microsoftsurface)

    PC laptops introduced pencil support, touch screen, screen-based touchpads, et. al. because these are the only things they could do to try to stay on top in a commoditized technology platform. I will take in a heartbeat 3X or 5X performance gain and 6 more hours of battery life over the gimmicky features. This is one of the many reasons I’m so upbeat with the M1-based Macs.

    Photo credit: Alexander Andrews on Unsplash.

    → 9:14 AM, Nov 12
  • I can breath. (#bidenharis2020) 😀🇨🇦

    Well, I can breath a little bit better now that this clown is on the way out. Good riddance. As a Canadian, I’m so happy to see this clown go. If there was a way to start fixing 2020, it would be it. Yeah, I know, he won’t concede victory, he probably won’t do a concession speech. Who cares.. we knew all that, already. Now, let’s hope Americans start to unite a little bit and fix their shit, because, it’s pretty ugly out there.

    → 12:54 PM, Nov 7
  • The transition iPhone (#apple #iphone12 #iphonepro)

    A recent tweet from @LeaksApplePro made me think about the significance of the iPhone 12 in the grand scheme of things.

    Apple is about to remove the last port on the iPhone, so they are training us with the MagSafe. Next year’s version will fix many of the issue we’re facing today. 5G may not be ready, but next year it will be much better. LiDAR is fascinating, but next year we will depend on it. We tend to forget about the notch, next year it will be Apple who will forget it by putting it to rest.

    We’re still in the middle of the pandemic. We’re not out of the woods. We’ll continue to work from home for a long time. Trips are not really a thing right now. But, in the fall of 2021, can we hope that most of this will be behind us and return to normal life? It would help a lot to enjoy the portless iPhone 13 or whatever stupid name they will name it. Right now, I’m a bit tired of not being able to go out and use the cameras to build my visual memories.

    The iPhone 12 is the transition iPhone that will lead us to a better world, a year from now. I hope.

    → 8:20 AM, Nov 7
  • Facebook is bad at everything. Period. (#facebook #privacyprotection #design #privacy)

    Interesting post from @Gruber about Facebook application design. The lack of support for basic things like dark mode, more than a year after its introduction is a simple example, but very telling about something: Facebook doesn’t give a shit about those things. They don’t give a shit about privacy protection either. They don’t give a shit about democracy. They are are bad at design. They are bad at everything. And their growth is slowly declining which is a bit of fresh air to know.

    → 8:21 AM, Nov 3
  • Fascinating times (#apple #microsoft #google #amazon)

    Here is a fascinating chart: brand value calculated by Interbrand. Apple is on top again this year. They have been there since 2012. What I find interesting is the first row is occupied by companies reflecting our new way of life as we depend on smartphones (Apple, Samsung), online shopping (Amazon) and the cloud (Microsoft). What about Google you might ask? Well, first, as we don’t like to pay for online stuff, we prefer to be the product of advertisers. Second, we stopped using bookmarks a long time ago, we prefer the Google search field.

    → 6:19 AM, Oct 30
  • We’re humans — Tim Cook (#apple #timcook)

    “Work can’t solve for all the things we’re missing right now, but a shared sense of purpose goes a long way. A belief that we can do more together than we can alone, that people of good will, driven by creativity and passion and that certain itch of a big idea, can still do things that help other people in our own small way to teach, to learn, to create, or just to relax at a time like this. Even as the things we make require us to operate at the very cutting edge of technology, in materials, products, and ideas that didn’t exist just a few years ago, this year has forced us to face plainly the things that make us human — disease, resilience, and hope.” — Tim Cook

    → 5:57 AM, Oct 30
  • Is this called “Evolution” or “Modernism"? (#apple #ios7 #UI #design)

    An image is worth a thousand words. We are still paying the price of this shift in design, every single day, for every single interaction we have with our iPhone… who asked for that? Why? Will we return to normalcy? I’ll never forget the “before” it was so shitty. Never.

    → 3:16 PM, Oct 16
  • Nine years, already.

    I miss him. The world is different. Apple has become something else. He would probably like what it has become without him, probably not all of it but most of it. I don’t care what he would have done differently. It’s no longer relevant as we need to keep looking forward, something he always did. But I still miss him dearly.

    → 8:13 AM, Oct 5
  • Here is a free tip to those developers thinking of adding widget support in their apps: widgets are not a great way to display information from high density, high speed info channels like social network feeds (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc). You are welcome. #iosdev #apple

    → 8:59 PM, Sep 30
  • Lost in a see of content

    There is way more content online than we can humanly consume. There, I said it. I’m myself part of the problem, as a content creator too, albeit in a very small tiny fashion. To make things worse, I consider myself a writer. It’s not helping as less and less people are reading these days.

    → 11:46 AM, Sep 28
  • Stupid 5G Marketing

    Saw that picture of a guy paying an VR game on a Rogers website to promote 5G networks in Canada. How stupid is this marketing!? What are they thinking when they “design' their marketing campaign? You tell me.

    → 7:15 PM, Sep 11
  • You cannot trust the human race. #covid19

    → 5:13 PM, Sep 7
  • Thought of the day: I think that blogs and newsletters are more than ever critical conduits for crafted content in a world of AI-generated feeds. #writing #newsletters #blogging #blog

    → 7:31 AM, Aug 31
  • Steve Ballmer’s reaction to the launch of the iPhone. LOL. Same applies to car companies reactions to Tesla. We all know how this will probably end up. twitter.com/sawyermer…

    → 6:46 AM, Aug 28
  • Forgot to put the evidence for my previous post. Here it is.

    → 6:54 PM, Aug 27
  • The Social Dilemma by Center for Humane Technology

    I can’t wait to watch this, even if I know it will be a troubling portrait of our modern society. While waiting for it, here is something even more troubling. The email I got announcing this new short film to be shown on Netflix does contain a tracking pixel, according to Hey. How curious this is. 🧐

    From Center for Humane Technology. youtu.be/uaaC57tcc…

    → 6:44 PM, Aug 27
  • Interesting trend indeed. For each movement, their is a counter-movement. For AI generated feeds movement, there will be a slow-feed, user-selected feed content movement. And I like it. The Rise of Slow Feeds

    → 8:05 AM, Aug 24
  • Remember Apple inviting professionals to learn about their workflow so they could use that input to reimagine the Mac Pro? What if Apple asked developers to a round table discussion to get input to reinvent the App Store? #iosdev #apple #apple

    → 9:01 AM, Aug 22
  • I want to be paid or get credits on my account to answer questions of potential buyers about things I bought on @Amazon. Who do you think I am?

    → 6:17 PM, Aug 20
  • Super interesting read. Careful explanation of where things come from and why it has to change. #appstore #apple App stores, trust and anti-trust — Benedict Evans

    → 8:59 PM, Aug 18
  • It’s pretty much how I see the American society, if I put it mildly. twitter.com/thefarmer…

    → 3:27 PM, Aug 16
  • Something I should show to all my friends on Facebook who doesn’t care about privacy…

    twitter.com/snowden/s…

    → 8:18 AM, Aug 16
  • On EPIC PR Stunt - Because this is exactly that!

    On Apple vs The World: I’m all in for Apple to change its App Store rules, whatever it could mean, and reduce its cuts, etc. But @gruber post is dead on, Epic move this week is pure PR stunt. Plain and simple. EPIC can’t be selective and hit only Apple. They have to hit them all on the basis of their suposedly principles.

    daringfireball.net/linked/20…

    → 8:56 AM, Aug 15
  • If Epic doesn’t play the same game with Sony and all the other online stores, they are making fools of themselve. If you fight for principles, do it diligently.

    → 7:42 AM, Aug 14
  • That’s what teachers are for. 🧡 twitter.com

    philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) Tweeted: This is extremely wholesome t.co/AmC4I1ZOb…

    → 4:12 PM, Aug 13
  • Sadly, I think we’re not done yet with 2020.

    → 5:31 PM, Aug 10
  • How Long Apple can stand like this?

    On Apple’s stance on its App Store policies.

    Developers are complaining. The tech press is complaining. Governments are complaining. Now Microsoft is complaining. And Facebook too.

    Google? Are users complaining? I don’t see that. Does it make a big difference for Apple?

    How long Apple can stand like this?

    → 7:25 AM, Aug 7
  • As I see it, Twitter could easily differentiates itself from Facebook by actually acting on wrong content and locking their owner out of their account. Something Facebook is not doing. twitter.com/craigsilv…

    → 4:57 PM, Aug 6
  • Interesting question. 🤔

    twitter.com/benedicte…

    → 8:32 PM, Aug 4
  • The race for the bottom of everything

    On Apple’s 30% cut. Again.

    We all know where this all goes. Yesterday it was a deal. Today, 30% is way too much. So, let’s fight and try to force Apple to set the cut to 20%. No, 15%. That is way better, right? A few years down the road, a well known developer comes out and complain about 15% being way too much of a cut. Poor guy. Let’s start a fight and bring that down. Apple respond and set it to 10% because they are forced to. And the story continues.

    Let’s face the reality. We don’t like to pay for something. We want it all. We know the price of everything but the value of nothing. How do you think China came to be so powerful? How do you think Amazon or Costco is sucking air from small local businesses in our communities? Why do you think our life is full of shitty ads are everywhere? Why do you think we are the product of Google, Facebook? Because we don’t like to pay for something, anything. We want it all free.

    There is a pattern. There is a race for the bottom of everything. And I don’t agree in Brent’s views on what would happen if Apple lowers their demand from developers. I certainly don’t believe developers would lower the price of their apps.

    Remember what capitalism is all about?

    Change my mind.

    https://inessential.com/2020/07/22/apples_thirty_percent_cut

    → 6:35 AM, Jul 23
  • Smartphones going forward and Zoom going backward

    Modern smartphones replaced most if not all specialized tools like camera, microphone, etc. Zoom wanting to sell dedicated screens for meetings would be going backward and… really, who want’s to buy a 27" monitor just for Zoom meetings? daringfireball.net/linked/20…

    → 3:42 PM, Jul 21
  • Fascinating how the Trump administration did exactly the opposite in order to tackle this pandemic crisis. Inside Trump’s Failure: The Rush to Abandon Leadership Role on the Virus - The New York Times

    → 10:30 AM, Jul 19
  • When I talk about this virus to my kids, my recurring message is the fact that this is not like the flu, far from it.

    www.theguardian.com/world/202…

    → 8:02 AM, Jul 11
  • Something fascinating and disturbing about COVID-19 and the US: everything that makes the US what they are is making them weak against this virus. #livefreeordie #againstthefed

    www.nytimes.com/2020/07/0…

    → 7:59 AM, Jul 11
  • If you think not wearing a face mask is a free ride, think again. More than $ 330 Billions deficit for Canada because of the pandemic.

    → 1:14 PM, Jul 8
  • Well, I’m glad you asked! twitter.com

    → 6:08 PM, Jun 14
  • This is the Apple that I love. Thanks, Mr @Tim_Cook. www.apple.com/speaking-…

    → 10:00 AM, Jun 4
  • So much work in front of all of us. m.signalvnoise.com

    On current events

    → 6:02 AM, Jun 3
  • Lives matter. Period.

    → 8:28 PM, Jun 1
  • Plot. Plan. Strategize. Organize. Mobilize. #georgesfloyd

    I like that.

    → 7:33 AM, May 30
  • I’ve always been fascinated by the US society as far back as I can remember. And as far as I can remember, my relationship has always been of « love & hate » type. These days, it is more on the « hate » side, sadly.

    → 5:52 PM, May 29
  • Is it me of Trump is getting worse and worse by the day… trying to bring the country in fire with him when he will lose this coming November…?

    → 7:20 AM, May 29
  • Absurdities

    This is the absurdities of our economic system. This coronavirus crisis is going to cause a big reset. Daring Fireball: Hertz Files for Bankruptcy, Somehow Accumulated $17 Billion in Debt

    How in the world does it make sense for a company in a low-margin, long-established business with financials like this to rack up $17 billion in debt? When times were good this amount of debt would consume decades of Hertz’s profits. This is bananas.

    → 12:58 PM, May 24
  • Stopping mass surveillance

    I’ve been working from home since March, 13th. My employer is fully supporting remote work by monitoring the output of my work, not the input. Stop mass surveillance by reporting when you disagree with the policy. If no change, just quit.

    Employee-surveillance software is not welcome to integrate with Basecamp m.signalvnoise.com/employee-…

    → 5:43 PM, May 9
  • So true. Sad. Frustrating.

    Washington Post Poll: ‘Americans Widely Oppose Reopening Most Businesses, Despite Easing of Restrictions in Some States’ daringfireball.net/linked/20…

    → 8:40 PM, May 5
  • Nothing more to add.

    Apple CEO Tim Cook Delivers Virtual Commencement Address to Ohio State University Graduates www.macrumors.com/2020/05/0…

    → 9:09 PM, May 3
  • Remember those waiting lines in the seventies?

    When I go for a walk my mostly empty city, thanks to the long lasting confinement, I see many lines in front of different grocery stores. These are unfamiliar scenes for us.

    It reminds me of when I was a young child. It was at the height of the cold war. At that time, medias were portraying communism as the bad guys. I cannot count how many times I saw in the news, scenes from USSR of people waiting in front of grocery stores to get a few vegetables and bread. It was in the seventies. And we were kind of laughing at them and their failed society. And here we are. Different cause for sure but mostly same effects.

    → 7:21 AM, May 2
  • Berlin, July of 1945. Devastation. These remastered movies are always poignant.

    youtu.be/R5i9k7s9X…

    → 6:48 AM, May 2
  • The Internet in 2020. Can you see the problem? I don’t know what they think when they “design” these web sites but… and what you don’t see is a giant popup pushed on you taking over the only portion of actual information. GTFO of these sites, fast. 

    The Internet in 2020

    → 6:46 AM, Apr 29
  • This tweet is aging very well my friends.

    twitter.com/alexmuenc…

    → 2:28 PM, Apr 24
  • We aren’t out of the woods in the US and neither in Canada. 2020 is going down the drain. Fast. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc…

    → 8:11 AM, Apr 19
  • Data visualization can be fascinating, especially during this coronavirus crisis. rt.live

    → 5:20 PM, Apr 18
  • I hope their predictions become reality and sooner the better. I don’t like open-space offices. Period. How coronavirus could change your office space - Vox

    → 8:16 PM, Apr 14
  • Super interesting article on “forced experiments” because of COVID19. Can’t wait to see what stick. www.ben-evans.com/benedicte…

    → 1:55 PM, Apr 13
  • At long last… what is the plan, dear clown in chief? #covid19 #coronavirus twitter.com/CNNSotu/s…

    → 4:54 PM, Apr 12
  • These are the reasons that I don’t read CNN while on a traditional computer. Same goes for www.imore.com or www.macworld.com as these are simply tracking monsters.

    The Bullshit Web pxlnv.com/blog/bull…

    → 12:02 PM, Apr 11
  • Economy is crashing because people are buying only essentiel things. 😳

    Mmmm. 🤔

    Think about it for a second.

    → 6:49 AM, Apr 10
  • This is not the iPhone 9 launch nor the AirTags announcement. But this is important, relevant, at a time where there is such a deep and troubling lack of leadership. Thank you Mr. Cook. #apple #coronavirus #covid19 twitter.com/tim_cook/…

    → 6:03 PM, Apr 5
  • I applaud this gesture my Bill Gates’ foundation. But, I cannot help but feel uneasy because of “economic only side” of the equation being put forward. Is it all about the economy, all the time? #coronavirus #covid19 twitter.com/damocrat/…

    → 10:36 AM, Apr 5
  • Probably the best looking and the most accurate dashboard on coronavirus. coronawiki.org

    Coronavirus statistics and information

    → 10:04 AM, Apr 5
  • What a disaster. Denial and dysfunction plagued U.S. government as coronavirus raged - The Washington Post

    → 9:29 AM, Apr 5
  • America can be so arrogant 🚨😤twitter.com

    → 1:36 PM, Apr 4
  • I guess 2020 is the year where wearing a face mask will no longer be a social stigma. #coronavirus #COVID-19

    → 6:33 AM, Apr 2
  • My thoughts exactly. This crisis is a general repetition of what is really coming ahead of us. 😔

    → 10:14 AM, Apr 1
  • This is why I’m so angry 🤬

    The root cause of why I’m so angry at the The Clown in Chief 🤡 and the whole political class in the US. They don’t care about humans except themselves.

    Opinion | Who Will Win the Fight for a Post-Coronavirus America? www.nytimes.com/2020/03/2…

    → 7:09 PM, Mar 29
  • Today, I was thinking about AIDS, which is still a major worldwide issue (one million death per year)😳😔, we have to wonder about our reactions to COVID-19.🤔 #coronavirus #covid19

    → 6:09 PM, Mar 29
  • Too many questions, not enough answers ...

    Some questions that come up in my mind during this pandemic crisis:

    • Is criminality going up or down?
    • Is there less suicides?
    • Where do we put used testing kits and used protective gear trash after use?
    • From where does all the government money for stimulus programs come from?
    • What if coronavirus mutates to a much more deadly virus?
    • Will we ever return to “normality”?
    • And many more…
    → 8:23 PM, Mar 28
  • Imagine If We Responded To The Climate Emergency In The Same Way We Are Dealing With The Coronavirus Pandemic #coronavirus #covid19 apple.news

    → 11:57 AM, Mar 28
  • This is what journalists should have done since this Clown in Chief has been elected. Shame on them. They are being lazy. Period. Daring Fireball: How to Turn Trump’s Daily Virus Misinformation Show Into a Vector for the Truth

    → 8:40 PM, Mar 27
  • By the way, coronavirus crisis is something earth would need for many years, even decades just to fix our mess. #covid19 #coronavirus

    → 5:22 PM, Mar 26
  • Returning to Facebook because of Coronavirus? (hit the link for my thoughts)

    For the first time in more than a year, I’m considering returning to Facebook. My thoughts and feelings are still the same though. But this coronavirus crisis makes me want to get in touch we people I know. I don’t have much time to spend on this platform. I know I’ll quickly face the things that I couldn’t bear. I know… but.

    I’m torn away. 😔 #covid19 #coronavirus #deletefacebook

    → 7:22 PM, Mar 24
  • Interesting read. beckyhansmeyer.com

    The Great Slowdown

    → 8:25 AM, Mar 22
  • If something has to change after COVID-19 it is: electronic payments only.

    → 5:01 PM, Mar 20
  • Each day I’m a bit more disgusted by the American political class and by those voters who doesn’t understand anything in anything…. #covid19

    → 11:32 AM, Mar 20
  • Sadly, I think there is some truth to this. #covid19 😔

    → 7:24 AM, Mar 20
  • Where are americans asking Bloomberg to spend money on the COVID-19 crisis? Oh, he doesn’t have any money left after spending that much trying to buy his election. So sad.

    → 6:27 AM, Mar 17
  • My sincere and deepest hope is for this crisis to force people reconsider open space offices. It wasn’t a great idea before COVID-19 and certainly won’t be for the foreseeable future. Are we getting it? #covid19

    → 7:34 PM, Mar 16
  • This COVID-19 crisis will change many many things in our life for a long time. Daring Fireball: Use Both Soap and Hand Sanitizer

    → 7:17 PM, Mar 16
  • My kids are now discovering the fragility of the economic system and the potential difficulties they will confront in their own personal life. Maybe they will be less picky when being offered a new job.

    → 2:23 PM, Mar 15
  • That is a powerful image. Stay home. #covid19 twitter.com

    David J. Schow (@DavidJSchow) Tweeted: t.co/vtOyF8gxm…

    → 10:45 AM, Mar 15
  • This COVID-19 crisis is a reminder of how people can be so dumb. #covid19

    → 8:46 AM, Mar 15
  • For as much as I can remember, I’ve always been in a “love & hate relationship” with the US as a society. I’m sad to report that since a few days I’m in the « hate it » phase. 🙁 #covid19 🇨🇦

    → 6:21 PM, Mar 14
  • COVID-19 and my PhD Friend

    I have a dear friend living in Denver, Co. He has a PhD in human comm. He is brilliant. But, he doesn’t understand all the fuss about COVID-19. For him, shutting down everything is over reacting. I tried to explain the curve, the pressure on health care system, etc. He thinks the flu is worst and yet we don’t shut down the country. I said yes and no.

    We shouldn’t trust current numbers in the US because they are way undervaluated. There is no reason to think the US population will be affected differently than other population in other countries without containment. They will. And it will be much worst becaue there is a lack of major containment as of this writing. The US is a the beginning of the curve. The exponential curve. This will be ugly. Remember: a single day of “wait-and-see” does make a big dfference and we have the numbers and the experience of other countries to prove it.

    → 7:56 AM, Mar 14
  • The speech that should have aired yesterday night. But the clown 🤡 in chief just can’t do this. Read this Twitter thread. #covid19 twitter.com/jeremykon…

    → 11:33 AM, Mar 12
  • Thought of the day: I guess we have to get used to live in a constant state of emergency 🚨 #climatechange #covid19 #economy

    → 7:33 AM, Mar 12
  • That one is not a short read but I feel obligated to share it. Highly recommended read. The outlook is grime. Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now - Tomas Pueyo - Medium

    → 7:32 PM, Mar 11
  • The ugly and sad state of online “news” websites. Every single day of my online life, I’m exposed to what is described in this article. It doesn’t get better, far from it. I’m not the target for these websites, obviously. www.cjr.org/first_per…

    → 6:18 AM, Mar 11
  • Anxiety over #COVID-19 (follow link for details)

    Are we at a turning point where there will be a before & after world as we know it? I mean, this shit is here to stay among us for a long time… right? This long streak of economic growth (since 2008) really look to be coming to an end. Young generations will find things, economically speaking, to be harsh from now on and will have to get their shit together when looking for jobs as unemployment will start to be on significant rise… I’m Gen X, I do know what is it like when future is uncertain from a jobs perspective… in case you asked. Full employment may be a thing of the past from now on. We’ll see.

    → 5:43 PM, Mar 6
  • Intel: Houston, we have a problem (follow link for the details)

    I’m not a security expert but this “bug” seems quite serious. Macs not affected. AMD no affected. Trust going downhill. 😳🙁

    5 years of Intel CPUs and chipsets have a concerning flaw that’s unfixable arstechnica.com/informati…

    → 12:38 PM, Mar 6
  • I’ll never really understand. I’ll never own bitcoins or this type of s*** twitter.com

    I couldn’t agree me. What a waste of resources.

    → 12:19 PM, Mar 5
  • Here is a very personal one: getting older is accepting things that are profoundly irritating about how we lose abilities. One example: typing on the on-screen keyboard on my iPhone is getting harder and produce too much typing errors. 😔

    → 7:15 PM, Mar 4
  • On Apple betting too big on China. Well, I have some news for you: because of our obsession with paying low prices on everything, we pushed every company in the world to depend on China’s cheap labour. We are the ones who depends on China. Think globally, act locally.

    → 9:59 PM, Mar 2
  • the man in charge

    With this guy in charge, we have nothing to worry about.

    Inside Trump’s frantic attempts to minimize the coronavirus crisis www.washingtonpost.com/politics/…

    → 5:41 PM, Mar 1
  • The sad state of buying software these days. I did pay for Enlight back then. Deleted. Too bad, it was great while it lasted.

    → 4:05 PM, Mar 1
  • Can you imagine when she will be 20 or 30? Can’t wait. twitter.com/zmaragoud…

    → 11:19 AM, Feb 29
  • Well, yes, thank you to all developers

    I was an indie developer from 2009 to 2013. I made three apps that got me about $5000 in revenue. I don’t know how much per hour this represents. I loved this time of my life where after a long work day I would sit in front of my Mac to learn Obj-C, Interface Builder, etc. until later in the night. Now, I can really appreciate what it is like to build apps and let the world know about them. Expressing Gratitude to Developers

    → 8:24 PM, Feb 28
  • On Apple, Catalyst and ARM-Based machines...

    This thread is very interesting (from Steve Troughton-Smith): twitter.com/stroughto… Reading my piece on Marzipan, now called Catalyst, dating back from March of last year, I think it did age well. 😎 numericcitizen.me/2019/03/0…

    → 12:36 PM, Feb 28
  • Images can be so powerful. twitter.com/danrather…

    → 9:32 AM, Feb 28
  • Interesting view about life. I’m dropping it here. TGIF. twitter.com/kocienda/…

    → 7:05 AM, Feb 28
  • Thought of the day: for bloggers, it is taboo thing to do to share the blog visitors statistics on social media. #blogger #bloggerlife #blogging

    → 6:13 PM, Feb 26
  • How do you tackle your old parents numeric life? A personal story with some hints here. Enjoy. numericcitizen.me/2019/08/0…

    → 11:06 AM, Feb 25
  • I’ve always been fascinated by the web service called “Notion”. Anyone here using this platform? I’m wondering if this can be useful for me and how it would fit in my current workflows. Maybe I’ll open my account there and see how it goes.

    → 6:48 PM, Feb 24
  • Thoughts on Noto - Elegant Note

    Interesting newcomer in the note taking apps landscape: Noto - Elegant Note. Really nice design. Not sure about long term viability (remember Evernote?). Not sure about design scalability with a lot of notes. Another subscription to take care of. Not cheap for a young app. MacStories.net has more to say about it for sure. I’ll keep on eye on that one. apps.apple.com/ca/app/no…

    → 5:43 PM, Feb 21
  • On social networks as debating tools

    You know what? When reading replies on Twitter, I rarely go past 5 replies… this is usually the point where things are getting either ugly, out of control and not related to the original tweet. This is why I think social networks are not good instruments for debate and discussions.

    → 7:55 AM, Feb 20
  • On Photoshop turning 30. The last version on which I really spent time was version 3. Other game changer apps? Multiplan. Pagemaker. twitter.com/flargh/st…

    → 6:40 PM, Feb 19
  • Cocooning, really?

    Are we ready for a new social network? Do we need this? Judging by their website, the nice design of Cocoon certainly looks enticing. But do we need this? It will take a lot of traction to make people leave Facebook or other well established data-ungry players. I certainly hope new players to come in and shake this rotten industry. Judge for yourself. cocoon.com

    → 7:28 AM, Feb 17
  • Things I look for when evaluating an app for my own use

    When evaluating a new app for my own use, the first things I look for are (in no particular order): update frequency, update notes quality, user ratings, multi-platform support (macOS, iOS, iPad support), sync mecanism used, one-time purchase vs subscription based, web service backend. I may elaborate on this subject on a longer blog post in the near future. Currently using this against Raindrop.io apps.apple.com/app/id102…

    → 12:03 PM, Feb 16
  • Here is a citation of Galieo. In the age of social medias where it all comes down to opinion sharing and amplification, I find it to be disturbingly on point. twitter.com/proffeynm…

    → 8:13 AM, Feb 16
  • Where is the date of publication?

    Here is something that I notice quite often while browsing the web: the lack of a publish date on articles, blog posts, etc. While living in the age of fast content consumption, where content relevance is depleting fast, it seems important, more than ever, to put a publishing date. I know we can sometimes infer the date from the URL but to me it isn’t the right way to do it.

    A content creators, If we suspect content we publish will age well, let’s put a publishing date on it! If we do think this is ephemeral stuff, a publishing date helps put some context for the content. Makes sense?

    → 8:37 AM, Feb 15
  • When time was on a different scale

    I’m still not finished with Apple’s « For all mankind » TV series. I like it for an unexpected reason: having a peak at the way people were living before the personal computers, smartphones, the Internet. It seems like time was slower so people had time to think. Oh, and they had a private life.

    → 6:26 PM, Feb 12
  • Where are designers gone? #eero #ui #ux

    → 8:35 PM, Feb 9
  • On paying for software

    There is a lot of push back about software subscriptions these days it seems. But we should remember about past scams with promised updates for paid software that never came. So many examples of “significant” updates that are merely excuses to charge the user base again. There is no perfect and definitive solutions when it comes to pay for software. It is a matter of trust between the developer and the users or potential customers.

    → 7:39 PM, Feb 4
  • Today I did some cleanup in the basement where we used to have a TV room. Found VHS tapes, DVD and CD, all of which we cannot play in any way in our house these days. All the content we do consume now is streamed and rented. What a change a decade can make.

    → 5:30 PM, Jan 12
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