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On Slowing Down AI To Stay in Control
I had a discussion about AI yesterday with my wife. She came back from a two-day conference in Toronto. One of the sessions was about the place of AI in society and how it is time to engage in promoting and organizing some AI regulations. The more I read and learn about AI capabilities as exposed in tools like ChatGPT, the more I think we will eventually need some regulation. For example, one thing we discussed (and on which we couldn’t agree) is the introduction of a delay in AI training. Continue reading →
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Targeting the First Thousand YouTube Subscribers
My goal when I started doing YouTube videos about Craft (and now Micro.blog) was to reach a thousand subscribers during the first year. At the current rate, I won’t make it. Am I sad about this? No. Is it nagging me? Yes. Why? I think there are a lot of Craft users out there, and I think they could benefit from watching a few of my videos. That’s the whole purpose and “raison d’être” for my YouTube channel which was (and still is) to help users get better at using Craft or learning about Craft if they are not currently using it. Continue reading →
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From Weekly to Monthly Digest
Following the announcement of the tweaked Micro.blog newsletter functionality, I’m switching to a monthly digest instead with a specific category as the sole source for its content. Three reasons for this change: first, the digest will become a more intentional set of creative gestures instead of being the result of a weekly and automatic content spit out without any distinction. Second, monthly means less noisy than weekly. Third, less is more. Continue reading →
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Thoughts On FCP for iPad vs Screenflow
I’m more inclined and attracted by the idea of testing (and actually using) FCP on iPad than the Mac version. Without being an iMovie on steroids (something that I don’t want), I wish FCP for iPad to be a simpler (but not simplistic) version of FCP on the Mac. The problem: all my videos are all done with Screenflow for Mac because It’s all about Mac screen recording. What value would bring another app like FCP for the iPad? Continue reading →
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On Mimestream Going 1.0 & Native Mac Apps
Mimestream, a native Gmail email client, is out of beta and looks quite good if this video, by Matt Birchler, is any indication. As a subscriber to HEY, I can only salivate when I see such great Mac apps being launched for such a mature category. The guys behind HEY brag a lot about having a unique take on email, but they seriously lack in their take on being native because their software is not and is one of their biggest problems IMHO. Continue reading →
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From Authenticity To Attention and Eventually to Connection
I recently heard the notion of blogging for ourselves as opposed to writing for other people to read. I like this idea a lot, and after giving it some thought, I think I know why. If I’m being honest with myself in life and decide to share something like a thought about something, my guess is that writing for ourselves helps a lot in being authentic. I think it’s one of the best ways to attract attention and, eventually, maybe, make a connection. Continue reading →
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On Apple Stores Evolution
After 22 Years, Apple’s Very First Retail Store Is Reopening Its Doors in a New Location Source: After 22 Years, Apple’s Very First Retail Store Is Reopening Its Doors in a New Location | Inc.com I re-watched the video, where Steve Jobs is touring the very first Apple Store. It’s fascinating to see how things evolved over time. Software titles disappeared from shelves, thanks to the App Store. It’s no longer possible to put all Apple products on a single table. Continue reading →
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Apple's Headset — Alarming or Not?
A recent report on Apple’s upcoming headset: Key figures including software chief Craig Federighi have also kept their distance from the headset during its development and have seemed wary of it. Apple’s senior vice president for hardware technologies, Johny Srouji, is believed to privately be a skeptic of the device, comparing it to a science project. He has warned that designing the high-performance chips that the headset requires could distract from new iPhone chips that drive more revenue. Continue reading →
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On Android Switchers Coming in Drove to the iPhone
Report reveals Android users switching to iPhone at 5-year high 15% of new iPhone owners report having an Android device as their last smartphone. That’s a 4% increase from what CIRP saw last year, and 5% higher than the data seen in 2020 and 2021. The last time new Android switchers made up 15% of new iPhone buyers – according to CIRP – was back in 2018. The highest rate of switchers in the last nine years was 21% back in 2016. Continue reading →
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On Photomator 😍
Currently using Photomator for a small project. I love this piece of software. I bought it for 99CAN$ for a lifetime purchase. I prefer Photomator design in general when editing a photo. It’s more approachable to me. Editing with masks is super easy to use, and it creates great results. The Mac version was the one last piece of the puzzle missing. Now we get the full picture (pun intended). Continue reading →
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Important Housekeeping Announcement
If you consume my work through RSS, read carefully. I’ll be transitioning to FeedPress to act as the entry point for all my RSS feed publication needs. Consider updating your RSS client to use this new “superfeed”. Anything coming from long articles (Ghost), blog posts like this one (Micro.blog), photos (Glass) & videos (YouTube) will appear on this feed. I call this rather convenient, don’t you think? I’ll share the individual feeds soon if you prefer to be selective when consuming content. Continue reading →
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Two Thoughts On Apple’s New Upcoming Accessibility Features
Today, Apple announced upcoming features for people with critical disabilities. Here are some thoughts. First, Personal Voice is incredible! I can’t wait to try this out. I always feared being diagnosed with ALS, but I can see this new accessibility feature, coupled with Live Speech real game changer for people with ALS. Second, looking at some user interface samples, especially the iPhone with iMessage (see below), we can see the return of shadows, depth, and better contrast, compared to what we have now. Continue reading →
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Can't Wait for the Upcoming Publishing Weekend
This weekend, I will publish a 6000 words thousand article about my migration to Inoreader. I’ve been working on that one for at least three months. While doing so, for the first time, I used Ulysses’ “multi-sheets” feature, where each sheet is a different section tied together as a long article that I can publish as a whole. Pretty handy stuff when working on very long articles. Thanks to Ghost’s publishing feature, it will also be the first time that a portion of my article (the last three sections) will be made available to my subscribers only. Continue reading →
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Like Anything Else, The World is Hybrid
DHH wrote “In defence of the office”: I salute Apple, for example, for sticking to their in-person culture now that the pandemic is long gone. They’re making that choice knowing that some, talented portion of their workforce will leave as a consequence, yet have the confidence that others will fill those chairs. Isn’t this what we wanted? The freedom to choose how we’d like to work by picking between a plentitude of companies offering the style of our preference? Continue reading →
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A Peek Into My Typical Creative Week
Have you ever wondered what my typical creative week looks like? Here you go, courtesy of Things 3’s Logbook. As I was completing this week’s stretch, I had a look at the logbook, I thought it could be fun to share with you a behind the scene look. I love Things 3 logbook because it gives me a look at my past work. If you want a closer look at my Things 3 usage in my creative workflow, you might want to watch this video. Continue reading →
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A Seemingly Mundane Visit to the Apple Store — Random Thoughts
It’s been quite a while since I visited an Apple Store. Last I went for a quick stop after work since I was working at my downtown offices. There are soooo many iPad models to choose from! Too many? The 12.9-inch iPad Pro screen is unbelievably gorgeous!! I wish it would come to the 11-inch version. Maybe next year? Of all the iPad models that I looked at, Stage Manager is not enabled. Continue reading →
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Message to Those (Still) on Twitter
After seeing this post by Chris Hannah: It’s incredible to see the effect of the various recent changes on how the “blue checkmarks” are given out and what they seemingly represent to different demographics of people. Here’s my take on this. It’s straightforward: you don’t need to be verified by Twitter (or any of these centralizing platforms) to feel that you exist, are relevant and be fabulous! Just be. If you’re uncomfortable with recently introduced changes at Twitter, move on elsewhere. Continue reading →
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Major Updates Coming to WriteFreely And WriteAs
Matt, the founder of the WriteFreely ecosystem, recently wrote a promising post: It’s become clear over time that in order to make WriteFreely (and Write.as) as useful as it can be, it needs to have a much more unified experience. … I don’t think it makes sense for our self-hosted product to be chopped up into multiple components like our hosted tools are. Instead, I want to bring all those tools into a single application in WriteFreely. Continue reading →
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Hello, Bluesky. Nice to Meet You.
In my Friday Notes edition #102, I shared my thoughts about my last four months without Twitter and how calm and quiet my digital life has become. I even wrote that I might ignore Bluesky. But that was last week. Well, it didn’t take long to contradict myself! As you might have guessed, I’m now on Bluesky as @numericcitizen (of course), thanks to a generous donator of an invite link (looking at you @Maique). Continue reading →
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And Just Like That Micro.blog Syncs with Readwise.io
Today, I unexpectedly came across this announcement from Micro.blog: Highlights are now synced to Readwise.io, provided that you have an account with them and that you are on an Micro.blog Premium plan! How cool is that! I immediately configured my Readwise.io connection in the Bookmarks section and exported past highlights in a CSV file. Next, I tried the feature on an article from MacRumors. After a few minutes, I could read the archived version of the article and highlight some portions. Continue reading →
