Longer posts

This evening, using an Apple Shortcut called Clips, I imported the « Apple in 2022 The Six Colors report card » by Six Colors into Craft. It’s a 25 000 article that I started reading on my iPad, within Craft. Then, fifteen minutes into my reading, I asked Craft assistant to summarize the Mac section. It came out with this summary:

« In 2022, Apple released the M2 MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Studio Display. The hardware in the Mac lineup is powerful and impressive, and the M2 MacBook Air has become a favorite of Mac users due to its light weight, zero noise, and long battery life, as well as its ability to handle workloads that used to require a pro-level desktop. macOS Ventura has some great features, but there is still backsliding represented by bugs that have gone unfixed and apps that don’t work well. While many users are disappointed that an expected Mac Pro did not arrive, Apple is still praised for their strong hardware lineup and the Mac Studio, which might be a success except for the long shipping delays. »

Because I’m an Apple pundit; I read a lot about Apple in general, I find this summary « plausible », but also because I read the entire Mac section of the Six Colors report. Otherwise, I could I really know? This is where this article ChatGPT from Matt Birchler comes into view « The Computer is Wrong »: it’s fun to play with ChatGPT or any derivative services but staying critical, curious is still a mandatory thing to be these days.

Eternally Unsatisfied With My Reading Apps

February 10, 2023 7:41am

I’ve been a News Explorer RSS reader user for a long time. It’s a less-known RSS reader compared to Reeder or anything else. It’s really good, but missing a few things that keep bugging me. There is no web version, no filtering feature, and no text highlighting either.

I started testing Inoreader yesterday and Feedbin. Both seem good RSS readers, but none of them is satisfying. In fact, I’m never satisfied with anything when it comes to RSS readers and reading applications or services in general. It’s been going on forever.

Read-later apps are unsatisfying, too, for me. None of Instapaper, Pocket, Matter, and Readwise’s Reader satisfy my needs. Readwise is too busy and still immature, Matter is nice, but some things like tags handling don’t scale well.

The perfect combination of a read-later function with an RSS reader doesn’t exist. If I were twenty years younger, I would write my own.

Highly Troubling—Ops are Taking Over Apple My Friends

February 2, 2023 7:50pm

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Don’t bother reading too much into the latest Apple financial numbers. They’re not too bad. What you should be paying attention to is this:

Apple is eliminating one of its most high-profile executive positions. According to a new report today, Apple is eliminating the role of “industrial design chief” as part of a broader shake-up. This role was once held by Jony Ive, and most recently held by Evans Hankey.

More specifically:

Under this new structure, the design team will report to Apple’s chief operating officer Jeff Williams. Source: Apple is eliminating its iconic ‘industrial design chief’ position

This comment by one of the 9To5Mac staff members is not reassuring at all:

I think it’s important to keep in mind, however, that Williams has been involved with the design team for several years at this point. Hankey has reported to Williams since 2019. The difference now is that the middle ground between Williams and the rest of the design team is being removed.

Maybe Hankey saw this coming and couldn’t adhere to this direction. Here’s my take: ops are taking over Apple, and design is no longer the top priority. It is utterly troubling to read rumours of Williams possibly replacing Cook which looks like being more of the same if you ask me. Maybe Williams has more design experience, but not as a first-party involvement. Troubling.

My Taxi Ride to The Past

January 24, 2023 7:36am

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.

Integrating Adobe Enhance Voice Tech Into My Video Production Workflow — In Search of a Solution

January 21, 2023 12:56pm

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I don’t know if anyone knows about this free web tool by Adobe: Enhance Voice (link), but it is really impressive (@MattBirchler knows about it). Here is what I’d like to do: find a way to integrate this tool into my video production workflow.

So, I’m producing YouTube videos with ScreenFlow (my YouTube Channel). So far, I’m ok with the results, but I think my voice, and the sound in general, could be improved (I’m using the Blue Yeti Microphone, but Adobe Enhance Voice is really impressive).

So, how can I:

Do my recording sessions as usual
Do my video montage as usual
Extract the audio track
Use Adobe Enhance Voice to re-process the audio track
Replace the audio track in my Screenflow document
Export the final video

Step 3 and 5 are not possible in the current release of Screenflow. Any suggestion of tools I could use instead?

Here’s what I know or already use:

Permute allows for easy conversion of audio files, including converting video files into the audio-only version.
QuickTime Player can export the audio track only out of a video file.
I know how to use iMovie.
I’m a happy user of Audio Hijack
I don’t really want to get rid of Screenflow. LumaFusion, FinalCut Pro, etc., maybe could do the job here, but it would be ok if I could find a simple utility that can replace the audio track easily instead.

This question has been posted to the Screenflow Telestream forum.

Update #1: corrected a few typos but added the solution using iMovie. Here’s the solution.

Do my recording sessions as usual
Do my video montage as usual and export the video
Extract the audio track using Permute in .MP3 format
Use Adobe Enhance Voice to re-process the audio track
Convert .WAV into .MP3
Launch iMovie and create a new Project
Import the produced video in step 2
Detach the audio track and delete it
Add the enhanced version of the audio track
Export the final video using iMovie’s share option

Voilà!

Update #2: there is a major issue with this process, the video and audio are not in sync over time, even though both files are of the same duration. This is not something easy to fix. Back to the drawing board. 😒

Thanks for Paying Attention

January 20, 2023 11:05pm

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Blogging

There’s this question that keeps popping up in my mind all the time since I’m being more active on Micro.blog. Why am I getting way more interactions with others on Micro.blog compared to Twitter? What am I doing differently? I write about the same subjects, albeit maybe more frequently. I think I have a few possible explanations.

First, Twitter is full of bots. Twitter is a dumpster. I suspect many people or organizations are simply cross-posting stuff on Twitter without real human beings behind the content. I did exactly that myself via Buffer for a few years. Optimizing exposure by scheduling posts at the “right” time was the idea. A bot worked for me.

Second, and this is probably the most probable reason: algorithmic timeline. The Twitter engine is tuned to generate higher engagement. The more you engage, the higher the probability that your content will appear on people’s timelines. If you’re well-known, again, the higher the likelihood that you will make it to the timeline of others.

I’m not well-known. I didn’t engage that much with others. Both made me a near-nobody on Twitter. So I didn’t get exposure, hence the lack of engagement with my content.

Third, there is just too much noise on Twitter to get noticed. My content competes against the rest of the Twittosphere. My context was noise for others, hence the lack of feedback, comments, and interactions.

Here on Micro.blog? Night and day. I’m not a star, far from it. But I get a sense that some people are paying attention.

Thanks for that anyway. 🤗

When Matter Made a Major Strategic Error

January 19, 2023 11:02pm

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.

What's Really Behind a Subscription Fee?

January 13, 2023 6:02pm

Reading Time: 2 minutes

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.

Should Apple Offer AI-based Services at the OS Level?

December 29, 2022 10:32am

In recent months, we’ve seen the addition of many AI-based features in apps like Notion and Craft, two apps that I know pretty well. Now I’m wondering if it would be a good idea that Apple integrates such features at the operating system level. Just like we can double tap a word in a text and get its definition from the dictionary, wouldn’t be cool if we could select a whole text and ask for a summary or anything involving the selected content? Apple would have to decide which AI sources to use or provide users a choice, just like for search engines. Any apps manipulating text would instantly benefit from this added capabilities. Your thoughts?

Which is Best for Photographers: Twitter or Flickr?

December 28, 2022 8:06am

Which platform is best for photographer between Flickr and Twitter if you have about the same number of followers on both? You might think it’s Flickr? According to this experiment, you get 2x more exposure on Twitter, but you get 2x more engagement on Flickr. Things get even better on Flickr if your photo gets selected for Flickr Explore page.

The “views” count definition is not clear but I would think that Twitter’s definition is a wide one (I don’t trust them for being honest about anything). A tweet could get a view count if it goes through an API without guarantee of human actually seeing the picture.

Personally, I prefer engagement over views. This is something to expect I guess from a photo-sharing service like Flickr or Glass. Finally, this is an indication of Twitter being an empty promise for photographers.

Remembering Sad Souvenirs With Great Words and Images

December 26, 2022 10:11pm

Here’s a great visual recollection of a trip to Italy back in 2011, when Steve Jobs died. Great images. Gentle words. It’s not only about the iPhone as a great camera, but about Italy, a place I visited last summer, and how it felt to be there when Steve death made the news. Must see and read.

On Making Apple Lovable Again

December 26, 2022 12:07pm

The DMA holds the promise to return Apple to an earlier age without these gluttonous service and tax aspirations driving seemingly every major decision at the company. The EU just might make Apple lovable again by outlawing their monopolistic excesses. What a twist. Source: Apple’s big monopoly loss comes curtesy of the EU

For once, I agree with David Heinemeier Hansson. Apple’s arrogance is slowly killing all the magic.

30 Years of Platforms Learning

December 26, 2022 11:29am

To celebrate my calculator app PCalc turning 30 today, I've written up all the history I can still remember:
http://pcalc.com/thirty
There's also a rare 30%-off sale, which runs until midnight tonight, PST:
Mac:
https://pcalc.com/store/pcalcmac
iOS:
https://pcalc.com/store/pcalc
A big thanks to everybody who has used PCalc during the last three decades!
James Thomson https://mastodon.social/@jamesthomson/109562907458479500

I never bought PCalc but for as long I’ve been following the Apple story, PCalc always was somewhere to be seen in a magazine, on the web or an App Store. What a great way to learn, explore over the years.

Thinking About 2023 and My Future Creative Projects or Experimentation

December 26, 2022 10:07am

It’s the time of the year where I start to think of my upcoming year from a content creation perspective and as someone who likes to try new things. Here are a few things that I’m going to explore. First, as a subscriber of SoundCloud, I’m finding it hard to find content for my DJ mixing experimentation. More often than not, those publishing content on SoundCloud wants you to buy what's available on Beatport. Someone told me recently to use Beatport instead. I may switch from SoundCloud to Beatport for 2023. Second, I’ll continue my slow migration from Smugmug to my Exposure page. Smugmug was good but didn’t fit well with what I expected from a modern photo-sharing service. Third, I finally found a use case for recording videos with CleanShot. I’ll use it to add short video clips showing how to use specific features and tricks in Craft. Those clips will be added to The Craft Bible (a website dedicated to Craft, the document writing app) and will come as a complement to my YouTube channel. It’s fun to be full of projects.

Leaving the Nikon D750 Behind

December 25, 2022 7:53pm

Can you believe it? As an amateur photographer, I’m leaving my Nikon D750 home for my upcoming trip to Brasil. This trip certainly classifies itself as a once-in-a-lifetime event, yet I won’t bring my camera with me. There are a few reasons for this. First, I’ll be on a cruise ship for most of my twelve-day trip. Second, I don’t feel it’s secure to bring such gear to some parts of Rio or Sao Polo when we go off-board. Third, it’s tough to beat the convenience of an iPhone 13 Pro in the pocket. The Nikon bag with all my lenses feels quite heavy at times. I’ll see when I return home if I made the right decision.

A Few Takeaways About My Mastodon-Related Questions Today

December 25, 2022 7:21pm

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Thanks to all who replied to my question regarding Mastodon. What a great community over here! Never had this in fifteen years on Twitter. 😊

Here are a few takeaways (many may be obvious, duh!).

Just like for emails, one cannot "reserve" a username in the Mastodon-friendly world. Makes sense.
Registering with a specific instance (or server) is mandatory just like opening an account with an email provider.
Using a custom domain that I own is something I should consider doing.
I should probably go ahead with my custom domain name for Micro.blog before doing anything related to Mastodon.
Setting my websites (I do have a few) to display my Mastodon username or profile is a good idea too.
Setting my Mastodon profile to display my website is another good practice.
Finding an instance I can relate to is probably the most daunting task if my research is any indication. I didn’t find any so far.
I still don’t understand how a Micro.blog compatible Mastodon name is helping in any of this.
Having a registered account on a Mastodon won’t do much for me. I already get everything I want on Micro.blog. People can follow me from their Mastodon instance, and I can, too, from Micro.blog.
Thinking about all this on Christmas day shows that I don’t have a life! LOL

Anyway, happy holidays to you all! 👋

A Few Observations on Apple's Latest AirPods Pro

December 25, 2022 12:56pm

I got a pleasant surprise under the tree for this Christmas🎄: AirPods Pro 2. Some observations: I would say the clicking sound when closing the lid is different, with a bit lower tonality. The setup experience is top-notch, of course. Sound quality is definitively upgraded with more present bass and deeper sound. Noise cancellation is better too. I’ll have to experience it in a noisy place like an airplane tomorrow. For my next trip, I will leave my AirPods Max behind (they are too big for sleeping on the plane) and use the new, much lighter ones and easier to travel with.

Comparing Elon Musk at Twitter to Steve Jobs at Pixar

December 25, 2022 11:36am

Qwitter

When I read articles like this one from The Washington Post about Elon Musk’s current tenure at Twitter, I think about Steve Jobs's tenure at Pixar. Both are quite different leaders, but I think Steve Jobs had a much more positive impact on Pixar than Musk on Twitter. My comparison comes from the belief that Steve could be seen as a jerk or be very hard on people. Elon is certainly seen and behaves like a real jerk. His leadership image is being tarnished every single day.

The Digital Cleanup Continues

December 24, 2022 9:43am