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What, You Have a Blog? Really?
I overheard people at the office talking about their weekend activities. I wasnāt in the conversation, but Iām always prepared for those. I never talk about my writing hobby or the many websites I maintain. Most people would find this strange. Theyād say things like, āWhat, you have a blog? Really?ā Yes, thatās right. I prefer to skip all that and talk about a walk in the park, in the forest, and maybe about photography. Blogging is like people collecting stamps back in the day. Sad.
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Micro.blog Question Challenge
Jim Mitchell, on his blog:
As is customary after posting my own, Iām extending the challenge to Numeric Citizen (@numericcitizen) and David Johnson (@crossingthethreshold) to answer the same questions:
Here are my answers!
- Why did you start a blog in the first place? It was when Apple had iWeb, part of MobileMe. It was a family thing only. iWeb died, so did my blog. Eventually, I returned to blogging on Blogger, now part of Google, while developing iPhone apps in 2009. It lasted until 2013. Then it all died. I returned to blogging in 2015, using WordPress, then migrated to Ghost and Micro.blog; both serve different purposes. The rest is history.
- Have you blogged on other platforms before? Yes, all in all, I experimented with iWeb, Blogger, WordPress, Micro.blog, Write.as, Substack, Medium. Am I missing one? Oh yeah, Scribble.pages! Sorry, Vincent!
- Why did you choose Micro.blog? Back in 2018, when it launched. Initially, I wasn’t sure about it and viewed it as an experiment (I shared some thoughts about this). I went all in during COVID. Couldn’t be happier.
- Do you write your posts directly in the editor or in another application? It depends. Most of the time, I wrote on the web editor, but with recent updates to the Mac app, I do it more and more on the Mac app. Oh, MarsEdit is also one app that I use, from time to time.
- When do you feel most inspired to write? All the time, mainly in the mornings when my head is still pristine (canāt tell if this is something we can write!)
- Do you publish immediately after writing or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft? Most of the time, I write and then publish, especially on Micro.blog. For longer posts, I let it simmer for a while.
- Whatās your favorite post on your blog? So hard to tell because what I write is so short. The whole thing is what Iām most proud of: having the time and the gut to think and write about anything away from big platforms, it’s something to be proud of IMO.
- Any future plans for your blog? Since last year, I decided to focus more on what I already have. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. So, Micro.blog forever! For now. I recently launched “Who Is Numeric Citizen?ā website with the idea to replace another website built using Craft. š¤
Thanks for calling me out on that, @jimmitchell ! How about @abc ? Will he catch the call?
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Directly from... Raycast!
Heeeeeeere’s Johnny!! Just kidding, I’m testing a blog post from Raycast. Sounds cool, right? Yes, it is!
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I'm Already Feeling The Upcoming Loss
The last time I used a Windows PC was with Windows 10 sometimes around 2020. Since then, Windows 11 came out with a few major releases along with it. I’ll have to relearn so many small things to flex my muscles memory. Also, and it’s probably the biggest lost: so many small utilities like Raycast, CleanShot X, Paste, PopClip and so many more that were making me much more productive are gone with Windows 11. Am I going to survive?
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Ten Years of... Bad Watch Faces?
David Sparks from MacSparky expresses his disappointment with the usability of Apple Watch faces since the original model was released in 2015. This resonates with me a lot. Using the Series 10 and I use essentially the same watch face, all the time: utility, because it’s the most readable. A possible solution to this conundrum? David Sparks’ suggestion:
Even better would be an Apple Watch Face Store, where classic watch makers and indie designers can sell digital versions of their iconic dials. Apple could take a cut, weād get endless variety, and everyone would win.
I think this could help move the needle with sales of the Apple Watch while taking a cut, something Apple is well-known for… š
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On Managing Digital Good Purchases
I just spent some time trying to find the payment provider for a specific app that charged me the wrong amount (paddle.net, which I won’t name). I realized I used different emails for different apps, so my purchases are scattered across those addresses. It’s a mess and hard to manage. The Apple App Store has many questionable rules, but having one place to manage purchases and subscriptions is invaluable.
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Five Years Ago - Confinement
Five years ago. COVID was hitting hard after two months of confinement. Distant memories already. Hard to believe. I still wear emotional injuries from that time. It wasn’t easy, and nothing really returned to normal since then. With current geopolitical events, things seems different and somewhat worse to some degree. Difficult times, indeed.
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Bring What Device on My Next Trip?
Iām going for a trip in southern Europe at the end of next week for two weeks. Iāll visit Italy and Spain from a cruise ship and the many stops that are planned. Iām still undecided as to what device should I bring: my iPad or my MacBook Air? The former is highly portable and much lighter, but the latter would allow me to spend more time learning Elements during flight time. I may be overestimating how much free time Iāll have to use these thingsā¦ š„“š¤·š»āāļø
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Thinking Outside
Thinking right now: people love to consume content the closest to their platform of choice. People on Substack wants to consume content over there, people on Medium, the same, on Medium. Thatās why the idea of manually cross-posting my newsletter to Substack often comes back haunting me. This newsletter is currently only available from Ghost (and RSS + email, of course).
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Incoming: AI subscription fatigue...
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Simply THE Best
Just spent 10 minutes on Glass, just browsing and glancing at other people’s work, and I was blown away by the quality of photos that you can find there. I discovered many great photographers this morning that will brighten my view of the world. I would argue that Glass is probably THE best and most successful photo-sharing service of all that I experienced in my life.
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My Next YouTube Video About Micro.blog
I finally found the subject and inspiration for my next YouTube video: how people can interact with Micro.blog users. In it, I’ll explain how posts can be cross-posted to other platforms and how people can reply to them, keeping the discussion ongoing even from seemingly different platforms.
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My Current Incomplete and Troubled Bucket List
While revisiting my writing projects pipeline, I found this unfinished blog post. Itās a bucket list. It was inspired by Manton Reeceās Revisiting 43 Things blog post. Recent comments in italic.
- Rent a country house for the whole summer, outside Canada ā I would have been in the US, but this plan is on hold, because of Trumpās America.
- Get my house renovated ā Completed!
- Do another trip with my two sons ā TBD.
- Return to California to see the new Apple headquarters ā This plan is on hold, because of Trumpās America.
- Visit Chicago ā This plan is on hold, because of Trumpās America.
- See the launch of a rocket from Space X ā Fuck Elon Musk.
- Return to Iceland ā Most probable.
Given the current political environment, I must carefully reconsider each item on this list and remove the ones that will not happen.
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Dear ChatGPT, Describe Me Based on All Our Chats
“š Iām a tech veteran by trade, creative by heart. With 30+ years in IT ā from data centers to cloud, storage, and security ā I help businesses build smarter, more resilient infrastructures. But when the day job ends, my creative side kicks in.
Iām a lifelong Apple fan, blogger, photographer, and content creator who loves blending tech with design. Whether Iām exploring the latest in cybersecurity, testing new apps, or writing about digital privacy, I bring a thoughtful eye and a creative edge.
I believe staying curious ā and staying creative ā is the best way to thrive in a tech-driven world.”
Not bad.
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Must Have Features in a Read Later Service
Read later service for me should have these features and attributes.
- Be cloud-based to enable access and syncing across different devices and platforms.
- Support metadata (tags, folders & description).
- Offer a well-designed share sheet implementation on iOS and iPadOS.
- Offer a great browser extension.
- Offer a native mobile application.
- It should work well with my go-to RSS reader, Inoreader.
- Be good at data mobility. In other words, it offers a data export option.
- Support article summarization with generative AI.
- Should be free if possible.
- It must support all Apple platforms.
Inoreader check them all.
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Can you say Chaps?
Intriguing new product coming from the makers of Craft: Chaps. It seems to be a conversational service where users can build their own AI-based agents. Not integrated with Craft in any way, at least for now. The demonstrated UI seems polished as we can expect from them, but sadly we don’t get to see how those agents are built. I think “Ch_apps_” would have been a better name than “Chaps”, though. I hope they don’t get too much distracted from Craft because it still needs a lot of work and long-lasting issues are yet to be addressed.
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That Question That Keeps Coming Back
For some time now, Iāve had a question that keeps coming back to my mind because I often use Bluesky to express my distress or frustration against Trump, Musk, and the entire little clique of authoritarians at the head of the United States. If, in the near future, the situation in the U.S. deteriorates to the point where government groups start hunting down activists like me, who openly denounce Trumpās authoritarian policies and his inner circle, should I censor myself to avoid any form of persecution when I decide to return to the United States?
I fear the day when bloggers will be hunted down to silence themāor worse, to have them arrested in the name of disrespecting the American presidency. Is it precisely the presidencyās game to instill fear so they can continue their authoritarian actions by manipulating people like me?
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A Canadian Discovered the iPad Fold Prototype!
BREAKING NEWS: a foldable iPad prototype was found on a table… at an IKEA store in Canada. The prototype was turned on and was running a special version of macOS Touchā¢. Tim Cook wants it back, but the guy who found set two conditions: you must resign because of Apple Intelligence fiasco, but before you must ask Trump to remove tariffs against Canada. Canadians can be nasty, too.
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Questioning Apple Intelligence Improvements
Here is an observation about Apple Intelligence (yet another one you might say?): Image Playground was announced at WWDC2024. It finally made its debut with iOS 18.2, in December 2024. Since then, we got iOS 18.3, now iOS 18.4 is in beta. Did Image Playground improved? A new image style was introduced, in 18.3, I think. Does it provide better results? Not really. Is it easier to use? Nope. On this subject, I must confess that I personally find Image Playground not to be the best UX Apple ever created. I find it clunky and not always intuitive to use. After two releases, Image Playground is basically the same. Isn’t it surprising, coming from a company who’s playing catch up in AI space? The same questions could apply to Writing Tools. I didn’t test text proofing with each release of Apple Intelligence, but I would bet that it didn’t really improve. Strange.
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What Are They Gonna Do Now? What a Waste!
One quick question tonight: those people who worked for a government agency in the US and got laid-off by DOGE or anyone close to them or because of them, what are they doing now? Where will they find their purpose? I’m thinking about the scientists, social workers, phycologists, Are they going to work for the private sector or simply increase the unemployment rate? I mean, there are so many human dramas unfolding right now.
