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Thought of the Sunday morning: The biggest problem in my life is that I have too much to explore and do and not enough time. Unsolvable. 😅
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I decided to update the look of this blog by switching to the Cards theme by @ericgregorich. I think this theme looks cleaner and offers more possibilities than the current one by @Mtt. Here are a few highlights: better control of colours via the plugin settings web interface instead of editing CSS, support for reading time for longer posts with a title, display of post categories at the top, and more flexibility for displaying the post’s date & time, just to name a few. But I’m not ready to make the switch just yet because it requires a lot of fine-tuning to get the colours right. I also need to check for compatibility with all my current plugins and ask for a few fixes on the theme’s GitHub page. It’s another tweaking project on my plate. 😅
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Apple’s insistence on retaining control of the iPhone and the way it’s used is not about protecting the poor stupid users that need Daddy Cook to stop us downloading dodgy stuff off the internet it’s about protecting their bottom line. Source: Apple ruins its big week | The Dent
Well said.
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Introducing the Numeric Citizen Hub, a brand new landing page1. Thanks to the recently introduced “One-page website” feature on Micro.blog, you can now learn about the places I share my creativity right from a single place2. Enjoy.
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An original Mac. #MyFirstMac. numericcitizen.me/rememberi…
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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.
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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.
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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.
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🌞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.
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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.
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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? 🤔
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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.
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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. 😻
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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.
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Here’s another reason to be sad this morning. 😔 Over the past two years, I’ve invested much of my time and effort in building my digital space and presence in Craft. I spend numerous hours posting things and answering questions in the user community. I’ve become a Craft enthusiast or ambassador. One day, someone even asked me if I was working for Craft. I’m not. I don’t want to be paid. But what I want is a better collaboration with the team over there. I’d like to create videos about new releases that would be shared simultaneously as they come out. I’ve asked them, and they didn’t accept my offer. I’ve built The Craft Bible. I’ve created The Craft Feature Request Board. I’ve created content that best exemplifies Craft use cases. I get no real support from the Craft team. They fail to take advantage of me being this sort of Craft ambassador, and they could “use me” to help spread the Craft message out there1. I don’t understand why they pass over this opportunity. Capacities, a direct competitor to Craft, is doing the opposite. They have this woman who creates tutorials and other types of content and gets referenced in the Capacities release notes! That’s cool and useful for the community. But not Craft. Is this a corporate culture issue? Maybe. I just don’t get it. It’s frustrating. Maybe I should let it go and move on.
Sorry for the rant this morning.
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They used to have a community manager but he barely shows up in the community. ↩︎
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This morning, at work, I had the idea of creating a GPT that would act as a virtual resume for me. Colleagues would prompt this GPT about my professional journey with usual questions about my past experience, projects, certifications, abilities, etc. I uploaded a few files, including my resume and some other professional stuff, to try it out. It took me 15 minutes to create this virtual representation of myself. Tested many prompts against it. I’m blown away. The future is here, ladies and gentlemen.
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Micro.Blog — How Can I Help?
Following the publication of “What If” by Maique, an avid blogger on Micro.blog, his post prompted me to write my own. But before, here’s a summary of his post (thanks ChatGPT):
Micro.blog has been hosting maique.eu for years, but there have been some technical issues. Despite some annoyances, the community and features make it worth the cost. However, there are also cons such as lack of proper notifications and support. Moving away would be a hassle.
I do share most of his views on the current state of Micro.blog because I did experience some issues with the service myself. I won’t repeat it here. That being said, I love Micro.blog, and I certainly want it to thrive. I’m a believer. I’m a supporter of the ideas behind the service. I subscribe to the premium tier. I love it so much that I created a series of videos about Micro.blog so that others can take full advantage of its features set. But I want to do more. In fact, I can do more. How can I help? Where do I enlist?
As an IT guy for more than 30 years, I know how hard it can be to run such a service. I don’t know the technologies behind it, but Micro.blog seems to need constant nurturing. Sadly, I cannot help here. I’m not a full-stack developer in any way.
But there this help.micro.blog support site. I did tech support in the past. I do pay a visit from time to time to gather the mood and the subjects that people care enough to submit posts. Maybe I could help there? I don’t know. Could I do a first screening of the posts and direct level-2 requests to Manton for further investigation? He would be freed somewhat from glancing at all the incoming requests and focus on the hardest ones. I don’t know. Oh, and this feature requests topic contains more than a hundred of them. I could create a real Micro.blog feature requests board, like this one I built from scratch for Craft?
Then, there is this Discover section: I do pay a visit from time to time. I’m not sure how it is being maintained or how often. Can I help there? I don’t know.
What else? I could do podcasting, too! Maybe I could help Jean to revive the highly respected Micro Monday podcast! I have my own podcast; I’m not too bad because I have eight listeners, according to Podcasts Connect!
As you can probably see, I have many ideas. I’m creative. I do have some time to spare for my passions. Micro.blog is one of them. But, as much as I want to help, it means nothing if the doors are closed. I’m not saying that I received a “no thank you” from Manton or Jean. I didn’t ask, actually. Now, I’m officially asking: how can I help?
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Is Buying a Car Easier Than Buying an Apple Vision Pro?
If Mark Gurman is correct, the rumored sale process for the Apple Vision Pro is rather complex and lengthy. Watching a 20-minute video to learn about a product indicates many things: Apple is nervous, and the product has a novel approach requiring potential customers’ education or training so that they fully “get the experience” before deciding to put the money on the table. Also, I guess someone willing to pay the high price merits some special attention, too.
I’ll have to update my calculations on how many demos can be run in the first 10 days.
