Reuters report:

U.S. tech giant Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab has paid a Russian fine of 1.2 billion roubles ($13.65 million), imposed over the company’s alleged abuse of its dominant market position concerning in-app payments, Russia’s FAS antitrust agency said on Monday. Source: Apple pays $13.7 mln Russian fine, antitrust agency says | Reuters

It’s like paying a fine to an organized crime group. Utterly shocking that the West still helps this criminal government in its war efforts in Ukraine. I can’t wait to see Trump licking their butt when he’s back.

Each week, on Sundays, I select a bunch of my photos that I plan to share on my Pixelfed profile during the week. Next Sunday, early in the morning, I look for the one that received the most likes, shares and comments and use it as the header image of my weekly creative summary newsletter. This process is like a disguised poll. 🙂 It is a way to share only the best of my work with my dear readers.

So, I made the decision: Bye-bye Write.as👋🏻. It’s fun to move things around on the internet, but I pay the price for being too impulsive and not intentional in some of my decisions. It was an impulsive decision to subscribe to Write.as. There was something seductive in the post editor, and being open source is the way to go. But I have to admit that it was a diversion. Now, focusing on Micro.blog. 😊

Sidenote: I find great satisfaction in simplification. This reminds me of when I was an indie iOS developer: I remember the instants of removing lines of code and making things leaner. It procured a lot of satisfaction.

🌞It’s Sunday, and it’s time for the second edition of the weekly creative summary newsletter! I was late working on this edition and wasn’t sure how it would come out. I’m pretty satisfied with this week’s edition.😀 I’m seeing more and more people heading to the Craft edition of this newsletter, and I’m highly grateful for the interest that this newsletter generates.

Microsoft Office apps for the Apple Vision Pro? Really? Color me surprised. I’m not convinced by the typical productivity use case for the Apple Vision Pro. Judging from what I see, working with things (windows, palettes, etc.) suspended in space doesn’t feel natural. What does it bring that the desktop doesn’t provide? Visualization use cases, sure, though. Being able to manipulate 3D models is a big yes. Is working with a flat spreadsheet in 3D space great? What does it fix that the desktop couldn’t? Maybe the convenience of having the flat spreadsheet besides the 3D model is the right use case. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this.

Steve Jobs was incredible in bringing partners on board when launching a new platform. I wonder how different the launch of the Apple Vision Pro would be if he was still among us. Would we have more content available on day one? Or more apps? Even better: a real killer app? 🤔

While many are ordering the pricey Apple Vision Pro, I bought tickets for the Madonna show in Montreal, Canada. It is much cheaper and is a lifetime experience.¹

Each year brings the iPhone closer and closer to be a “real” camera in term of user experience and interaction with it. We have to wonder why it took so long for Apple to add the slight press to focus and zoom in and out using the same button.

One more yearly subscription to my website¹ and one more subscriber to The Craft Bible². It’s a good day for me. I don’t have thousands of subscribers (yet), and they all count as if they were my first one. 😻

9to5Mac reporting about WhatsApp usage in the US:

The fact that more people in the US have been using WhatsApp recently is definitely intriguing. Source: WhatsApp has been getting more attention in the US

iMessage usage in Canada is probably similar to that in the US. I started using WhatsApp when I went to Morocco last summer. I also have a friend who moved from Canada to Mexico, and he switched to WhatsApp, so now I have to use WhatsApp to reach him. I must say that I like it. I also follow some news channels, just for fun. I like the messaging app format to get news; that’s why I also use Telegram for the same purpose: to follow news from Ukraine.