Three Years Already

Three years of ChatGPT. Time flies. A few thoughts on that are mandatory it seems. ChatGPT certainly turned things upside down not only for me as a writer but for many creators. The entire software industry also was turned things even more upside down. It’s hard to imagine what would have been software roadmaps or new features pipelines without generative AI. See? We almost forgot about what it was like before ChatGPT. Can’t imagine where things are going. Generative AI integration into apps and user experience is the next frontier where things will be interesting to watch.

AnyBox

I’ve been a long time user of AnyBox, after leaving Raindrop.io, and Pocket, but I was a light user until recently. I revisited the app thoroughly and now it’s sitting at the center of my newsletter preparation workflow. I love this app so much; it feels native, fully-featured, and offers the right information density. The only missing thing would be to have a cloud-based version…

Paperlike 3 take 2

Bought the Paperlike 3 for my M4 iPad Pro except that it was for a 2018 iPad Pro. Ordered the wrong one. 🫤 Asked my wife if I could give it to her and install it on her iPad. Initially, she said no. 😔 She eventually abided to my offer. I ordered a new one for my iPad. Reason: there is a small scratch on the screen that I want to hide. 🤦🏻‍♂️

I had the first edition of the Paperlike for my previous 2018 iPad Pro and really liked it. The installation process was very different from today’s version. While the new process is more complicated, it allows for a more controlled installation that minimizes dust and bubbles. The surface texture of the film is also much finer. I’ll have to wait for another week before getting mine.

iPadOS 26.2 with External Display: Are We There Yet?

I’m giving the iPad Pro with external display another try (under 26.2 b3). As far as I can see, it’s not all Apple’s fault if there are many paper cuts: third-party apps support with external display is lacking. Make no mistake: iPadOS 26.2 as come a long way… but iPad-only rules still make the iPad a bit too far from the macOS experience. Borderless-windows in dark mode makes it hard to distinguish which app is which.

Long story short: no.

Bye Bye Zapier, IFTTT, Still a Keeper

I have finally deleted my Zapier account after a few years of inactivity. It’s significantly more complicated than IFTTT and much more expensive. IFTTT is far from perfect. It seems to be stagnant even. But, for my needs, it’s ok. I have two applets: 1) Save all posts on my RSS superfeed into a **Day One **journal, 2) Save a link into a Google sheet of a YouTube video that I like. The latter could probably be eliminated.

Google and Apple - A Convenient Wedding?

Apparently, if rumors are any indication, Apple’s next AI provider for integration into Apple Intelligence is Google’s Gemini, or a derivative of it. It would go along with Apple’s own LLM models running on Private Cloud Compute.

I wonder if Google’s contribution is free for Apple or part of a larger deal, tied to the Google search agreement, where Google is the default search engine on the iPhone.

Imagine that1, Apple probably said: “You know what, I’ll reduce your cost for this search deal, but you accept to build a specific version of Gemini LLM for use on Private Cloud Compute and develop a conduit for Gemini on-device that integrates with Apple Intelligence.”


  1. Matters are probably more complex than that. ↩︎

Building a 'Relationship' With Corporations

I tend to be super loyal. I’ve been an Apple fan forever (read “The Roots of my Passion for Apple”), even though there are things that put me off (too many to list here). The same is slowly happening with OpenAI. I’ve tested alternative services but always come back to OpenAI’s offerings. They’re far from perfect—just like Apple—both from a corporate point of view and in terms of products and services. And yet, I’m increasingly hooked on ChatGPT, Atlas, and their LLM “personality.” The conversation memory in ChatGPT and the browser memories are helping build this relationship on the knowledge OpenAI is slowly building on me. It’s scary.

ChatGPT Atlas is for?

I’ve been testing the ChatGPT Atlas browser heavily in recent days. It’s already controversial, but I’m in the camp that likes it. Of course, this is Chromium with a ChatGPT button bolted on. But that’s the point: helping eliminate app switching that I was constantly doing anyway. Of course, it’s not the real web experience, but who said OpenAI was pretending to offer the classic web as we’ve known it over the last 30 years? Those years are already behind us, you like it or not. One thing I do is summarize my browsing activities, focusing on reading my RSS feeds in Inoreader. It’s very impressively done, complete with a back link to each Inoreader article. I’m not using, and don’t plan to use, agentic browsing activities due to their apparent lack of maturity and highly questionable security issues.

Speaking of Inoreader: the service allows you to summarize a bunch of selected articles using AI, but it’s an extra that costs more! With ChatGPT Atlas, a simple prompt while browsing an RSS feed or a group of RSS feeds does the job wonderfully.

More to come soon.

Hot Take on ChatGPT Atlas - More Thoughts

The original ChatGPT Mac client is now mostly integrated into this new web browser. Chrome extensions are supported. My use of the Mac client might decrease significantly over time. Having ChatGPT inside the browser has big implications for my reading and information workflows. Processing YouTube videos is easy; everything happens within the same app. Thought: Google’s cautious AI integration in its browser (Gemini) might stem from a fear of conflicting with its business model, which involves tracking users to sell ads. How do you sell ads within AI-generated content? I could try using ChatGPT Atlas as my main desktop browser for a few days to see if it truly makes a difference.