Today is a day at the office which means an iPad-only day to take notes. I love those days. The iPad is such a great device for this use case.

I’ve been playing with Substack in recent days and boy this platform is different now compared to its initial launch. I’m not coming to write there but I do want to read more content there, a few times a week.

Today I experimented Slack Lists to track messages for which I want to make sure to get a response. It’s pretty useful. But I still don’t really like Slack in general🤦🏻‍♂️. The included screenshot is not from my own list but a template provided by Slack, just to give you an example.

This morning, I submitted an article to a Medium publication. The subject is about considering going freelance. It’s been a long time since I have done this. Back in 2020 when I was much more active on Medium, submitting articles to Medium publications was the only way to get noticed and hope to make a few dollars along the way.

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. Continue reading →

After Maps, now Podcasts. Apple is opening up more and more to the web. Why?

Side node: ​I cancelled my Pocket Cast subscription (due for renewal in about 11 months 🙄).

Bye bye Apple frames shortcut¹, hello Shareshot!

I’m currently testing a new blog post editor on Micro.blog. On the surface, everything looks familiar. The preview button behaviour is the one that surprised me the most as it replaces the blog post content with the preview, unlike before where the preview was underneath. Not having “auto-save” functionality is still a bit troubling to me, in 2024, though.

I think Apple should bring back the iPod to the iPhone in the form of a virtual device within the Music app. Imagine if each year, Apple would release a new design of its virtual iPod¹. This would add some coolness factor for those who have known and used the iPod.

When things go wrong at work, when numbers don’t add up to meet high sales expectations, only then people starts to question things. It’s 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. I’m also referring to the company I work for presently. ↩︎ Continue reading →

Forbidden Fruit

Independent developers work for the entire sale, but Apple doesn’t even work for their cut. In many ways, just being on the App Store is incredibly frustrating. We’re paying for pain while Apple gets paid for just relaxing.

People are frustrated with Apple’s behavior regarding the App Store, leading them to make exaggerated claims. While one may disagree with Apple’s policies, stating that the company is simply relaxing is an overreaction.

Forbidden Fruit

Apple used to fight for their lives, but now they barely have to work to make insane amounts of money.

Oversimplifying statement.

Forbidden Fruit

At some point Apple should ask who is in better need of that money. I know they won’t, but I’d like to think we live in a world where they could. They don’t need more money. They don’t even need the money they have

Capitalism 101: Ask the shareholders.

Forbidden Fruit

Apple was a better company when they were an underdog.

Me too, but are we being a bit nostalic here?

Recently some people complained about Apple’s latest ad in the « The Underdogs » series to be offensive, and Apple « promptly » 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 ways… many people are noticing and find this shit show exhausting and damaging. Continue reading →

@mcelhearn @davemark Related:

"We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.” - Ursula K. LeGuin

I still believe in this. We can (and should) make Apple change course.

The United States announces a new tranche of military aid to Ukraine, at the same time as the latter carries out a significant incursion into Russian territory, an unprecedented gesture that could give a new dynamic to this protracted conflict. The signal from the United States is clear: we continue to believe that Ukraine is only defending itself.

The Ukrainian forces have been advancing deep into Russia, in the Kursk oblast, for the past few days, destroying the Russian army on the roads while advancing, without much resistance. They have now progressed approximately 30 kilometers past the Ukrainian border.

This is a major development in this insane war.

Surprisingly, it is not widely covered in the news here in Canada. The Ukrainian army is establishing currency exchange facilities in the near future. I don’t see how Russia is going to “fix” this without a bloodshed, again. Putin must be a little bit upset, I guess. Or maybe not.

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. Continue reading →

Thought of the day: Watch out democrats, Trump and Vance aren’t just weirdos. They are disfigured fascists.