-
Where The Social Web Fails
Dislike buttons on YouTube, or elsewhere for that matter, should come with a mandatory “here’s why I don’t like this” explanation text field. In this specific case, 2 people out of 18 didn’t like my video. Why? How can I improve myself if you don’t tell me what’s wrong? This is the part of social web that I feel doesn’t work.
-
On Header Images and Creative Liberty
Manuel Moreale link posting on the subject of header images on blog posts:
“Iāll go one step further Nelson, I have a growing hatred towards pointless images in blog posts in general, I donāt even care if theyāre AI-generated or not. If theyāre there as part of the content then by all means use them but if youāre just adding a stock image from unsplash to make the page āfeelā more interesting then youāre just part of the broader problem thatās plaguing the web.”
Header images do add to the page load times, yes I do use AI-generated images from time to time, like in this post where I wanted to make a point, and I use many of my personal photos… like in this edition of the Ephemeral Scrapbook newsletter. Yes, I prefer header images on that specific blog because it is part of its visual theme. So then what? That’s MY corner of the web. I do what I find cool and creative and whatever.
I’m guessing he’s reading none of my blogs because of this, among other reasons?
-
On iPhone 16 Pro Camera Control
Iāve played a bit with my wifeās iPhone 16 Pro Camera Control. I think it is cool but not practical. It is the best case of feature or functions overloading on a single control. I think itās hard to compete against discrete on-screen camera controls because these are much quicker to invoke and the error rate is low. I donāt see the Camera Control to live for a long time as I canāt see a single way of improving it and fixing this usability issue.
-
Craft & Gumroad - A Match in Heaven?
I’be been trying to build a small business around Craft using Gumroad in the last 18 months. So far, it’s a hit or miss. I’m currently having paying 20 subscribers for The Craft Bible1. I sold quite a few Craft templates, too. I have many more ideas for 2025 to continue to grow this offering. Yet, it won’t replace my day job.
I like Gumroad as a selling platform but also for writing articles and sharing them with my customers. This is not something that I planned on doing when I started, but I must admit that it’s fun to build a small community around an app like Craft, away from the public scrutiny of Reddit and Slack. Today, I shared a long op-ed article on my feelings about Craft. It’s a long piece that I took quite some time to write. I’m quite happy with the results. I can’t wait for user reactions and feedback.
-
I’m currently running a promotion until the end of December where new subscribers to The Craft Bible get a one-week trial. To my surprise, It is not attracting more subscriptions. I must be doing something wrong. ↩︎
-
-
My Apple Intelligence Writing Tools Mixed Experience
My experience with Apple Intelligenceās Writing Tools is mixed. One significant issue is the absence of a feature to compare the original text with the revised version. In contrast, Grammarly excels in this regard, as its suggestions are contextual. Additionally, the constant need to select text to āfeedā the Writing Tools becomes tedious. Another challenge arises when using Writing Tools with markdown content or links. These get mangled in the revised version. Finally, speed is also an issue. Even for simple text to process, it can take quite some time to get a response.
For now, Grammarly remains my preferred writing assistant, and I have no intention of switching to Apple Intelligenceās Writing Tools anytime soon.
-
Photo Sharing, The Web and Museums
Here is a thought about recent tweaks to RSS importer on Micro.blog. For example, now it’s possible to import photos in the RSS feed published by Glass. With this, when I publish a photo on Glass, it gets posted on my blog too. The same photo on two platforms. As much as I like the POSSE principle for writing, it doesn’t fit well with my desire to share photos on special places, like a photo-dedicated service. Glass is such a special place, just like Pixelfed. What would be the point of having a single photo spread out on other platforms? I see places like Glass like museums. Pieces of art hanged on the wall of a museum are unique to this place. It makes the place unique. I’m still thinking about all this.
-
Selling to the Devil?
So I put my M1 Mac mini for sale this weekend on Facebook Marketplace. š¤¢ Got an offer for 50% of my asking price. I said, no, nice try . Got a second offer from someone else with a slightly reduced priced. I said ok. I went poking his Facebook profile page just to see if Iām being scammedšš¤Øš§. From the buyerās profile and posts I can infer the following: he believes in conspiracies, he is an anti-vaccine, he is a proud pro-Trump, and the icing on the cake: he is pro-Russian. š¤®
I came close to cancel the dealā¦ but I didnāt. Just give the money and GTFO.
-
Migrating From M1 Mac mini to M4 Mac mini - A Flawless Migration
Got my M4 Mac mini yesterday and completed the migration off the old M1 Mac mini. The process took me about 2.5 hours, where about 1.25 hours for data migration only using the Apple Migration Assistant1. Upon first login, I got only a handful of security-related popups, much less than I was expecting. Many apps like Microsoft OneDrive, Synology Drive client, worked perfectly with minimum reconfiguration, which was a pleasant surprise. A few app licenses to reconfigure and hop I’m ready to go!
This is the first time that I’m using a two-monitor setup at home (Apple Studio Display + LG UltraFine 4K). It’s quite a setup upgrade. Today will be my first full work day with this setup, I’ll report back later for more impressions.
-
I used a Thunderbolt 4 cable between the two machines. Actually transfer speed were between 100 MB/s & 600 MB/S, while being rated at more than 900 MB/s. ↩︎
-
-
Paying to Be a Beta Tester? Really?
Paying to be a beta tester: is this a new trend? Glass Series was available to patron subscribers only while being in beta testing. RealMac Software offers Elements in beta as a subscription but at a reduced price. Active beta testers are actually paying of their time to use a software still being debugged and refined. Isn’t that enough? I understand that building software is hard and requires resources… but paying to be a beta tester seems to cross a line here.
-
Bye Bye Omnivore, It Was a Short Nice Run
Omnivore’s future is not looking good, following the announcement received by email yesterday night, by one of the founder himself. Omnivore was the best read-later service after Matter and Pocket, two services I didn’t really like or were too expansive. But now, with Omnivore’s future and slow demise, I’m getting fed up with those one-man-shop open-source projects. Pixelfed is another one that I’m getting tired of1. So, I’m going to refocus on Inoreader for read-later functionality and text highlights. Following their recent redesign, which is actually much better than the previous iteration, I’m more than ever committing to Inoreader.
-
More of that Pixelfed fatigue in a later post. ↩︎
-
-
Bye Bye 1Password, Hello Apple Passwords.
Iāve finally completed the arduous migration from 1Password and canceled my subscription. I didnāt encounter any issues with 1Password transitioning to an Electron-based application. While it was an excellent and overkill solution for managing my passwords and secrets, I generally prefer integrated solutions for fundamental products or features like password management. Is Apple Passwords the perfect solution? No, but itās more than adequate for my needs. One positive outcome of this migration is an enhanced security posture, as I had to revisit many credentials and enable two-factor authentication for numerous services.
-
On Using Notion AI
Today I decided to give a serious try to Notion AI to support my study of some Microsoft Azure materials. So far, I’m liking it a lot. Basic workflow goes like this: I visit the webpage, save it to Notion using a browser extension, then upon archival of the content, I ask Notion AI for a summary that is inserted at the beginning of the page. I read it then I read the actual original content. I’ll highlight some words or phrases and I might add some inline comments while reading. It’s a great study experience.
-
My Five Minutes Experience With the Camera Control Button
I like the physical design, but it is too flush with the iPhone flat edge for my taste. It is easier to use with my thumb while the iPhone is in portrait mode. The required pressure to take a photo makes me shake1 which is not always good when taking a photo in low light conditions. I kind of “Digg” the UI which feels organic just like for the Dynamic Island but using multi-purposes buttons requires some time to get used to and learn the numerous modes. Apple is still working off the half-pressure mode for taking pictures and I wonder how it will affect the general use… will it make it even harder to use?
-
Might be age-related issue, I know. ↩︎
-
-
Dear Apple, Think Differently, Again.
Tomorrow is Apple keynote. I want to be surprised. I want something different. I want to see Apple push harder, differently. I want this “one more thing”. I want to see Apple think outside the box. I want them to show the way, the right way. I want them to not be afraid, and do it differently. I want them to stop looking at their past successes. Think like the underdog. Think Differently, again.
-
Hello Again, Facebook!
Today, I posted something on Facebook; and honestly, it felt weird. I can’t remember exactly when I last wrote on Facebook. I also had this symptom of missing out on things from my old colleagues and friends just by glancing at my timeline for a few minutes. It felt heavy. My post was about telling my “Facebook friends” about the two sites where I share my photos online: Glass and Pixelfed. I don’t know if people will take time off their busy lives to visit or even bookmark the sites. I shouldn’t care about that. Those who pay attention might even notice a link to my digital hub, where I share all my other sites. Because I’m curious, I’ll return back to Facebook in a few days to see if I got some comments. I’ll report back here in any case.
-
I'll Never Buy a GM Car in My Life
GM didn’t want to carry CarPlay (and Android Auto!) in their cars because they were dimmed as unsafe. Was GM in fact hoping to open up these, instead, but why? Apple didn’t want to open their platform. Now we have a better idea as to why. In other news, GM is laying off hundreds of software engineers. I guess GM learned that doing software is hard. Well, fuck them.
-
Hard Times Are Sometimes Needed
When things go wrong at work, when numbers donāt add up to meet high sales expectations, only then people starts to question things. Itās only in these harder days that we can really start to find new ways, reimagine how we do business. Those hard times are sometimes necessary for a company to evolve.
Looking at you Apple1.
-
Iām also referring to the company I work for presently. ↩︎
-
-
If Apple Were Consistently Listening
Recently some people complained about Appleās latest ad in the Ā«Ā The UnderdogsĀ Ā» series to be offensive, and Apple Ā«Ā promptlyĀ Ā» said sorry and removed the ad.
If only Apple showed a similar attitude towards developers who are more than fed up with their App Store practices and voiced their complaints so many times in so many waysā¦ many people are noticing and find this shit show exhausting and damaging.
-
The Mac Mini Needs a Redesign
Rumors suggest a “finally” moment, with Apple on the verge of completing the redesign of the newest generation of the Mac mini, this time featuring an M4 chip. This could result in the smallest Mac ever.
The current Mac mini design dates back to 2010, when Apple was still using more power-hungry and larger Intel chips. The only change over the years has been the back portion to accommodate a variety of port offerings. When Apple transitioned to Apple Silicon chips, right after the Apple Silicon Dev Kit was made available, I expected a redesign and saw the Dev Kit as a transitional step, simply because the chip is smaller, more power-efficient, and requires much less cooling. To me, this was the right time to do so. However, they did not.
If you look inside an M1 Mac mini, thanks to this teardown guide from iFixit you can see that there is some empty space. Coupled with what Apple can do with the M4 iPad Pro, and the environmental pressure to be more efficient in resource consumption (power, materials, etc.), it is clear that the Mac mini must be rethought from the ground up. Will Apple go with an external PSU for this? I don’t expect this to be the case.
One more thing: I’ve been a satisfied user of the M1 Mac mini since 2020, but I’m increasingly considering an upgrade, either to the Mac Studio or a more powerful Mac mini. I’ll be sure to pay close attention to my options.
-
On ARM Laptops, Windows And... The Usual Stuff Needed With Windows...
I always enjoy MKBHD’s videos, and this one about the Microsoft Surface ARM laptop is no exception. His views are well-balanced and feel honest. Now, about this specific lap, supposedly being fast with long battery life, great built quality and… a touch screen, certainly feels like a leap beyond Apple’s offerings, but… it’s running Windows. And that, is the problem. I wouldn’t buy one of these for the simple reason that running Windows required running a bunch of security-related software to keep it secure. How much processing power these apps takes out of the base configuration? Certainly a few percentage points, but for me, it’s ruining the whole thing. And that, MKBHD don’t mention anything about it.
