When I read the news about Apple Intelligence, it is most often related to the perception that Apple is way behind their competitors in the field of artificial intelligence¹. It is rarely about what sets Apple Intelligence apart from its competitors: privacy protection. It’s as if this is not important to the majority of users or the tech press. However, it is an important differentiating factor that I believe will work in Apple’s favor in the long term. Fortunately, some articles highlight this fact, such as this article from 9to5Mac.

I took a trip earlier this year, and my sister, a seasoned amateur photographer, asked when she could see my photos. Even if I’m on Glass and Pixelfed, I’m sure those two platforms aren’t what she would like to use to browse my photos. To makes things more complicated, I do use iCloud Photos where I could share an album but also depend on file-based organization for RAW photos. I need a place to combine my best photos and share as a website that could be put together quickly and easily while having a great design and look. One possible solution is to use Fastmail Files, which will allow me to upload files easily and build the static website automagically. More on that soon.

I received a reminder this morning about my upcoming Grammarly renewal. After reviewing past invoices, I decided to cancel my subscription on a whim. It’s an expensive service. As I’m planning some changes on other areas of my digital presence, I’ll reallocate the money to that instead.

For the next new weeks, my subscription ends on August 14th, I’ll be turning off Grammarly and see how things goes. I might use AI service from Raycast, ChatGPT or even Apple Intelligence Writing Tools to compensate. I do use the free version of LanguageTool, too. I’ll report my conclusions in due time.

I overheard people at the office talking about their weekend activities. I wasn’t in the conversation, but I’m always prepared for those. I never talk about my writing hobby or the many websites I maintain. Most people would find this strange. They’d say things like, “What, you have a blog? Really?” Yes, that’s 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.

Jim Mitchell, on his blog:

As is customary after posting my own, I’m extending the challenge to Numeric Citizen (@numericcitizen) and David Johnson (@crossingthethreshold) to answer the same questions:

Here are my answers!

1. 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.
2. 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!
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. When do you feel most inspired to write? All the time, mainly in the mornings when my head is still pristine (can’t tell if this is something we can write!)
6. 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.
7. What’s your favorite post on your blog? So hard to tell because what I write is so short. The whole thing is what I’m 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.
8. 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?” website with the idea to replace another website built using Craft. 🤭

Thanks for calling me out on that, @jimmitchell ! How about @abc ? Will he catch the call?

Heeeeeeere’s Johnny!! Just kidding, I’m testing a blog post from Raycast. Sounds cool, right? Yes, it is!

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?

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, we’d 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… 😒

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.

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.