Numeric Citizen Blog

Here’s the latest edition of the Ephemeral Scrapbook newsletter! I hope you enjoy! Email version coming out soon! For those asking: it is entirely built using Craft Docs.

I’m reading good comments about the new subscription from The Verge. I’m not a fan of their website design, but I do read their articles from time to time. I’m tempted to give it a try. Yet, “serving better ads” to subscribers is not exactly a turn on. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Got one of my photos selected in the monthly theme, Decay, on Glass. I’m happy. 😊

Special announcement: for Craft Docs users wishing for a 2025 calendar template, here you go.

It’s easier for me to discover (and like) a new photographer than discovering a new writer. Information absorption is faster in photography.

I declare my year-long goal of resisting to join Threads to be accomplished.

According to Tim Cook, the old Steve Jobs office at One Infinite Loop is still intact and reserved for Tim Cook so he can enter it and “connect with him”? I would die myself to have a chance to see this place.

For all Craft users out there looking or already using Craft Collections, I made a video about that this past weekend. It’s a longer-than-usual one, but the subject is dense.

Those drone sightings stories in New Jersey are… troubling? How come authorities can’t figure out what they are? They are big drones yet too small objects for serious analysis? Where are they coming from? Who is operating them? What are the purposes of those low altitude sighting? 🤔

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.

I got an email from Ghost to participate in the ActivityPub beta for my blog. I’m not sure how my blog will be named in the fediverse, but I can imagine being able to get comments from people here on Micro.blog and having those comments appear at the bottom of my blog posts. Will see soon enough.

Image Playground is so underwhelming and pretty much useless for me. It’s barely a tech demo. All this for what?

Adobe Lightroom for Mac is the best Mac app of the year? In light of Apple buying Pixelmator, I find this a bit surprising.

Will we ever see some generative AI or AI-based features added to HEY Mail? 🧐

My Apple Intelligence Writing Tools Mixed Experience

My experience with Apple Intelligence’s 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 “feed” 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 Intelligence’s Writing Tools anytime soon.

I often share photos about Apple, apparently¹.

My brother-in-law got a M4 Mac mini recently. The last time he used a Mac was with the Macintosh LC III, more than thirty years ago. One thing he still struggles with, then and now: the menu bar that changes when switching apps. The other thing: he doesn’t get the Stage Manager. He turned that off.

A quick behind-the-scenes post: the same overall content, with two different apps. This is the “script” for this video. On the left, Mindnote Next, on the right, Zavala. This is sort of a cue card for use during video recording, the Mindnote version was much easier to read. Zavala’s version is more for documenting purposes. Even the outline view in Mindnote feels better.

When writing, I start in Craft and then export to Ulysses for final review and online posting. It works great, but I’m not always satisfied with Ulysses, which sometimes feels overwhelming. Enter iA Writer, an app that I remember using in its early days and that I liked for its simplicity. This blog post from Greg Morris reminds me of the perpetual questioning of my decision to settle on Ulysses.

This morning, I decided to download a trial of iA Writer. The first thing I checked was which publishing platforms it supports. To my surprise, it supports all the ones I depend on: Ghost, Micro.blog, and, to a lesser extent, Medium.

This blog post was written on my 15-inch M2 MacBook Air using iA Writer trial edition. Sadly, iA Writer couldn’t post as draft, so I had to manually copy and paste the content into a blank post on Micro.blog.

My Ulysses subscription ends on March 25th, 2025, but this publishing bug is a deal-breaker for now. Back to Ulysses.

So I finally got the iPad Magic Keyboard for my M4 iPad Pro. At first, I didn’t want to spend that amount of money on a freakin keyboard… but I’m a weak man and I did. While I love the added function keys row, the overall improvement, I’m not sure this keyboard is that magical.

I’m still exploring ways to monetize my experience with Craft. After creating The Craft Bible, now it’s Craft Support Call. I don’t expect much from this, but I’m curious to see how it goes if I ever get one request.

I don’t know why I’m paying for Ivory, I’m not often on Mastodon, much more often here and on Bluesky.

Tonight, I watched the iPhone 4 leak documentary. I don’t want to spoil anything but there was an unexpected and unknown twist to this story. It’s a great documentary. It made me think twice about this era which I kind of miss, actually.

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 getting tired of hearing people invoke their ADHD syndrome for everything… I mean, come on… either it’s diagnosed and you take the pills or it’s an excuse…

Update #1: Sorry to look offensive to some of my readers. I should have been more precautious when sharing such a thought. I was referring to some people, a minority, who invoke symptoms of ADHD without the condition so they can be more easily excused of certain things. Those people exist and their attitude is causing prejudice to people who actually have some degree of ADHD.

Look what we’ve got here. Can you tell what is happening here? 👀

At one point, for Apple, it might become more economical and less damaging to leave the EU market behind. Is it indeed getting personal?

At the office today, the last time for 2024. It’s an iPad Pro-type-of-day. Currently using an external display with Stage Manager on and Apple Magic Keyboard. It feels a little bit cramped but it’s ok. After two minutes, I can already see display bugs when using an app on the external display. I’m looking at you, Micro.blog.

Just bought Soulver 3 for iPad as a big fan of this app for the Mac. I cannot live without it on my iPad today while at work. Not cheap but so well done. I wish I couldd export a sheet into Excel with all the values and formulas transposed for me.

Microsoft Teams for iPad is probably the buggiest app of all when used with an external display. So many weird UI behaviors. It might Apple’s fault, too.

I’ve been playing with iA Presenter 1.4 again this morning. I like what I’m seeing with the share presentation online feature (example here). Now, I have to wonder: what is my use case for this? I always come down to this question when trying new features, new apps or new services.

Always fun to learn something about Micro.blog while recording the “What’s Up With Micro.blog” video. 🤭 Stay tuned for those who might be interested.

This is the last edition of the year of What’s Up with Micro.blog. I hope that you find it useful. cc @manton

Last work day of the year. It should be an easy one, mostly spent on writing a client proposal.

On iPhone 16 Pro Camera Control

I’ve played a bit with my wife’s 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 it’s hard to compete against discrete on-screen camera controls because these are much quicker to invoke and the error rate is low. I don’t see the Camera Control to live for a long time as I can’t see a single way of improving it and fixing this usability issue.

In recent days I’ve been thinking and imagining what could be a useful and powerful WebClipper for Craft. I’ve built a shared document for that purpose. Have a look.

New Bluesky subscribers rush seems to be easing because I’m stuck at 153 followers for the last week!

A strange image of Steve walking in an open space area (probably in One Infinite Loop). The visual mood of this image triggers other possibilities.. like Steve walking in heaven… I think I’m either exhausted or too sensitive.

It’s the time of the year where I feel the best action is “mark all as read”… 🫤

Meta blog post – Manu

I am not the biggest fan of meta blog posts, also called blogging about blogging. I do think they’re sometimes useful but they’re also quite uninspiring for me to read. And that’s why I try to stay away from the topic for the most part.

I find this statement surprising coming from the author behind the popular “People & Blog” series. Maybe I’m missing something here.

In my family, relatives are purchasing Macs in bulk: three Mac mini computers and one MacBook Pro. I’m quite perplexed about the reasons behind this sudden surge in Mac purchases. 🤯

On Header Images and Creative Liberty

Manuel Moreale link posting on the subject of header images on blog posts:

“I’ll go one step further Nelson, I have a growing hatred towards pointless images in blog posts in general, I don’t even care if they’re AI-generated or not. If they’re there as part of the content then by all means use them but if you’re just adding a stock image from unsplash to make the page “feel” more interesting then you’re just part of the broader problem that’s 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?

I still have three more articles to publish before the end of the year: one about Medium, the final edition of the Ephemeral Scrapbook, and a review of my creative year.

Fun fact: I often play “Did You Know?” with my wife to let her know about special features on her Apple Watch, iPad or other tech devices. She doesn’t like to remember things and the fact that many things are hidden by default in the Apple ecosystem.

Finished watching this video about a Macintosh IIfx computer full restore to working condition. This brings so many memories and contains some really cool tech stuff like this SCSI card emulator. Wow! I would love to see this in action in person.

I love this panel that Ghost presents after hitting “Publish and share”. That was the last edition for 2024.

Any Final Cut Pro users here? What advice would you give to someone who knows about Screenflow for recording his YouTube videos but is looking for something more powerful… mostly doing screen recording with my face as a médaillon…

I have twice as many followers on Bluesky than on Mastodon. Don’t know how many followers on Micro.blog… because… Micro.blog. 🙃

Hello 2025! 🎉 Happy new year folks! So this is it, that was my very first post of 2025.

Numeric Citizen Blog

So, Apple is buying Pixelmator, the maker of my now beloved photo-editing app: Photomator. My fingers are crossed for Apple to not to fuck this up. But, business-wise, if they have FinalCul Pro, it makes sense they do it for photo-edition too. Next up: podcast-editing software?

This year, as I explained in this article, I completed a migration from Adobe to Photomator. I rarely use Pixelmator Pro, but I’m a fan of Photomator. I hope this week’s news won’t make me regret my decision.

I find this fascinating that according to what I’m reading here and there, I never cross paths with Trump supporters. I didn’t make it on purpose, but it might be because my interests, my online vibes, only attract non-Trump supporters?

Why can’t I get macOS 15.2 beta on my M2 MacBook Air running 15.1?

Just finished the latest edition of The Ephemeral Scrapbook, edition 2024-43. Enjoy. Email version coming out soon to my dear subscribers!

Bye bye Tot; I’m so in love with Raycast Notes!

Many tech reviewers are discussing the unusual placement of the power button on the M4 Mac mini. However, none of them, to my knowledge, mention the size of the power light. It is much larger than before. Could this be annoying? Are Apple designers failing again? Is Apple doomed once more? These are serious questions. Why am I the only one asking them?

This is how he does it. Incredible the amount of BS being said in such a little crowd and so little time. All white and rich guys. 🤮

Great use of Apple offline Maps in Miami. Works wonderfully well.

At Fort Lauderdale Airport: I was really impressed by the scanner they use at the security gates. The operator uses a big screen similar to a big iPad and uses touch gestures to tilt and rotate luggage in 3D, uses a slider to see slices of the bag’s internal content. Really cool.

If I’m less active here it might be because I’m more active on Bluesky. 😬 @numericciten.me

As I’m getting ready to receive my new M4 Mac mini¹, I’m starting to think that my decision to go with a 1TB model was not really future-proof and probably downright a mistake.

I’ve been playing with Glass Series and I must say that I really like my experience with it so far. Series are like albums, like this example.

In preparation to receive the new M4 Mac mini which supports at least two screens¹, I decided to rework my desk setup and bring back the LG UltraFine 4K display on my desk. Once the migration from the old Mac mini is complete, I’ll be using a two-display setup. My Synology NAS was moved to a separate table to make some room for the LG display. My Elgao StreamDeck+ was relocated too, this time on the desk shelf.

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.

How does an app get updated on a weekly basis without any new features or apparent bug fixes? Exhibit A: Medium. Is someone trying to game the App Store?

Migration in progress … 😎

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.

My newest photo series on Glass: Humans.

It’s been a while since the last edition of The Ephemeral Scrapbook edition. Here’s the latest one where I talk about Glass, Realmac Software Elements, Apple Intelligence, the iPad, Apple a many more digital tidbits. Coming up by email to subscribers later today. Hope you enjoy!

Selling to the Devil?

So I put my M1 Mac mini for sale this weekend on Facebook Marketplace. 🤢 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 I’m being scammed👀🤨🧐. From the buyer’s 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. 🤮

I came close to cancel the deal… but I didn’t. Just give the money and GTFO.

Up until now, I was able to keep Micro.blog at the center of my blogging activities and my social networks presence but with Bluesky taking off, I can’t keep up with new follows… I follow people on Bluesky from Bluesky, not always from Micro.blog. Low friction probably explains this behaviour.

Today, I submitted my resume for a new job out of curiosity. The submission form included a section for adding websites, but I didn’t include any of my many sites. I often feel shy about sharing them in my professional life. I may be missing an opportunity to show some of my abilities, who knows.

I’ve seen a drastic increase in new followers on my Bluesky account (+50%) in the last 3 weeks while no new followers on Mastodon in the last six months. 🧐🤨

I’m 90% of the time posting on both (from Micro.blog), like this post.

Numeric Citizen Blog

I found a font that I like a lot: Dosis. This will be the official font for my future consulting company. I find it to be a mix of modernism and retro style. Easy to read. Singular.

iPhone mirroring on macOS Sequoia is so handy. For example, getting a notification on my iPhone to approve a request in the MFA application is so handy.

When I created my Ko-fi page, I said that I would be sharing more personal stories about me on it. Today, I just did. Plus, my supporters are getting a free perk. Want to become a supporter too? Thanks.

I can’t stand watching and listening to Musk for more than five minutes. He is such a bad speaker, really. I think he should let someone else talk for him, like one of his robots, it might be much better and bearable.

I’m starting to warm up to Tapestry… I’ll expand my testing of it this week-end!

Playing with Spectre on the road while heading to New York. That was a 5 sec exposure.

Perfect day for a long road trip. I’m going to a music show close to New York City: Sting.

Seeing people use their iPhone camera to take pictures and videos of a show and I think there is no tweak or improvement that Apple can do to the camera control to beat on-screen controls. Apple brought a gimmicky feature to the iPhone.

I visited the Apple West 14th Street Apple Store this past weekend in New York City. As usual, the store was packed with people. However, one thing caught my attention: there was no one at the Apple Vision Pro tables. Despite being at the peak of their support, those devices felt quite lonely and unappealing. How long will Apple keep those devices for sale?

New iPad mini: Apple Intelligence support, Apple Pencil Pro. New storage tiers. Oh, almost forgot: new colors. Meh.

Maybe Apple will announce a new product each day through a press release with a shipping date of Oct 23th, with a culmination point with the redesigned M4 Mac mini? I think it wouldn’t be the first time they did it this way.

Thanks to the Elgato USB Hub for Stream Deck +, all my USB-A ports on my M1 Mac mini are now free, making it a USB-C-only connected device. I can now upgrade to the M4 Mac mini when it shows up this week!

I love what Inoreader just released. Massive.

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.

Ubiquiti is out with a new… NAS? 👀 Too bad it’s a biggy, but bring a smaller form factor and I might be in.

Thought of the day for me: Apple Intelligence will take off with ChatGPT integration at the operating system level, in iOS 18.2 or later. Why? Become most people won’t see the difference and associate ChatGPT answers to Apple Intelligence / Siri¹. Of course, it will depend on the way this integration is presented to the user.

This morning, I’ve been experimenting with Apple Intelligence writing tools using a beta version of Ulysses. Initially, I’m torn between my feelings. The requirement to select specific text to activate the writing tools disrupts my writing flow. On the other hand, I find Grammarly’s continuous monitoring of my writing more preferable. I suspect Apple prefers the intentional nature of this feature over feeling constantly tracked.

I’m still on the waiting list for Image Playground… more than a day after installing and requesting access. Seems longer than what people are saying… being from Canada might explain?

The new M4 Mac mini: more mini than ever™

I’m in a writing lull. Not too many things worth writing about, I guess. So, I focus on photography.

Bought a 10th generation iPad to my stepmother for her 80th birthday. She was using a second gen iPad Air. Great upgrade. Data transfer was seamless. Finding past Apple Account info and password wasn’t an easy task, though. Elderly people aren’t well equipped in managing those modern intricacies.

You know how everyone’s all excited about the next iPhone announcement? Well, for me, it’s the Mac, especially this year. This week is going to be super exciting for me. To celebrate, I’ve decided to put my thoughts on paper, just like someone keeps a journal, as the week unfolds. I can’t wait to share them with you all at the end of the week!

Bye Bye 1Password, Hello Apple Passwords.

I’ve finally completed the arduous migration from 1Password and canceled my subscription. I didn’t 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 it’s 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.

For those using macOS 15.1 and have enabled Apple Intelligence, have you noticed a spike in your Mac CPU usage when requesting Apple Intelligence to proofread text? The longer the text, the more pronounced the spike. The CPU will reach 100% for a moment before slightly decreasing before receiving a response. Interestingly, I couldn’t identify an AI-related process associated with this spike. Instead, the kernel_task process is the one who consumes the CPU cycles. Apparently, Apple Intelligence runs in the kernel space.

It the same fuckin mouse, but with USB-C port. Seriously?

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.

One of the best Apple Ad in a long time. So cool.

Did anyone catch the pirate flag during the Mac mini announcement or on the mini website? 👀😉 I like this reference to Apple’s history.

I genuinely believe that the Mac has never been in a better position to expand its success than it is this week. Well done, Apple.

ChatGPT Search is probably the final nail in the coffin for my usage of Google Search (and maybe Kagi Search too). Still testing and exploring the feature.

Numeric Citizen Blog

This is the final edition of the Creative Summary newsletter, which will be renamed “The Ephemeral Scrapbook Newsletter.” Over the past two weeks, the author has shared 20 posts, 12 photos, and one podcast episode, but no YouTube videos. The author feels conflicted about using Facebook and have rediscovered Medium, where they plan to publish more articles.

The newsletter also includes discoveries from MG Siegler, highlights from the iPhone Photography Awards, and insights on Apple’s upcoming event. The author is considering freelancing and will document the journey on Medium. He discusses app recommendations and express concerns over AI in photography and deepfakes.

Footnote: this summary was generated using ChatGPT as an experiment.

I find myself preferring to listen to podcasts via Apple Podcasts web interface instead of the native app on Mac. It feels lighter.

Craft developers aren’t shy of sharing teasers and opening a private beta for Craft Objects and Style. While we all wait for any official release, I made this video today.

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“On your birthday, only do what you like the most and fuck the rest.” — Numeric Citizen

How writing can help you solve problems - Eric Gregorich

Writing is thinking.

So true.

Today, I had no choice but to request the use of a Cloud PC by Microsoft for using a crappy app: Visio. I like this idea of renting a PC instance in the cloud, though.

I have one thought regarding apps like Reeder (the new one) and Tapestry. I fail to see any comments regarding the inherent limit of those apps. How do they fare when you are adding a few dozens of sources, some with high volume of posts? Merging those feeds into a single timeline make the latter rather overwhelming to consume.

My newest Craft video, this time for beginners: what should you do when you are just starting using Craft? I chose to organize these actions into five categories.

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Today, I’m again giving a serious try to iA Presenter. I want to love this app. It is so different from any other presentation app. I’m working on a YouTube video explaining concepts around Craft Objects.

I did a test login to my Twitter / X account. It still works, but didn’t post anything. Scrolled my timeline for a few minutes. 👀🫣 What. The. Actual. Fuck. Is. This. Place. Now? Super random and controversial content appearing. This place has become the Internet dumpster.

I returned to Medium with enthusiasm but was disappointed by the clickbaity titles that we can find. For example, I read an article titled “iPhone 16 Pro Max Unveils New Features That Left Me Stunned!” only to discover that the author was excited about a potential new photo mode with the telephoto lens (macrophotography) without citing sources for the rumors. The author speculated on the revolutionary nature of the device without testing it. It raises questions about the possible involvement of generative AI in crafting this story. Oh, and the other article: “Why I Stopped Upgrading to the New iPhone Every Year (And You Should Too)”… I can’t wait to let someone tell me what to do. 👀🤷🏻

Compare this to my latest post about the M4 Mac mini: “The M4 Mac mini Will Be My Best Mac Ever”. I speak for myself only in the title.

The first edition of my third-generation newsletter “The Ephemeral Scrapbook”, edition 2024-35, is out! Email version coming out later today! Consider becoming a supporter on my Ko-fi page. 🙏🏻

Job title of the day¹ “SaaS Content Writer”. 👀🤦🏻‍♂️

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.

Eight years, really? Time flies.

M4 Mac mini: Deep black, please.

It just occurred to me that Apple (and other “gatekeepers”) are getting a bit of their own medicine with the DMA. Developers in the App Store have always had to live with unclear and changing rules, as well as the risk that Apple will effectively shut down your business with an absolute rejection. Suddenly the bully is being bullied, with changing rules and unclear guidelines — and they don't like it.

Well said.

Apple might have something else to improve in the next AirPods Max beyond USB-C connectivity and noise cancellation. Just sayin.

I’m feeling a bit odd about having an iPhone that’s no longer available (15 Pro Max). It was a great phone, but it only lasted about a year. Yeah, I know, still a great phone.

I’m going to watch the whole debate tonight. Even as a Canadian, I think it’s important to get direct reading values instead of going through social / news networks to help me forge my opinion. If I were an American, I would vote for Harris, without a doubt, but I want to see more of her tonight, to get a better idea of what she really stands for. Hoping for civility and clarity.

I’m torn between the Apple Watch Series 10 in silver and Jet Black. The silver finish enhances the screen’s visibility, while the Jet Black option blends the screen seamlessly into the casing. Waiting for Sept 20 before making my final call, after visiting the Apple Store and hoping for in-store stock.

I’ve been spending more time on Bluesky in recent days, since the Apple Event. I like the feel and of this service. It’s fast, there are no ads, features-wise it’s rich and useful.

This is the second edition of the Ephemeral Scrapbook, edition 2024-36. Email version coming out later today.

iOS 18, iPadOS 18 are coming out tomorrow. That’s cool. But you know what is even cooler? This GPT that can answer your questions about those releases. Try “What’s new in iMessage?”

You’re welcomed.

My general sentiment towards iOS 18 is rather vastly positive but improvements come at the cost of complexity. More than ever, we need to « manage » our devices to get them work as we want them to work.

If I were in charge of IT infrastructure at Apple, I would be more than happy to have a phased deployment of Apple Intelligence. This staged deployment mode allows for better control over resource allocation, performance tweaking based on demand. It is the right time to establish the baseline metrics that will help further larger-scale deployment later in the deployment schedule. People find that Apple is behind, but I say it is more of a realistic approach that makes a lot of sense from a user experience perspective.

The fact that apparently Microsoft is not using an Intel CPU for their Cloud PC instances says a lot about Intel’s future.

More or less random thought: Maybe Apple won’t return to live events until Tim Cook leaves the company. When COVID hit, it may have provided some relief for Apple, as it spared Cook from direct comparisons to Jobs’ performances at live events. We all know that Cook isn’t the showman Steve Jobs was.

As a long-time Apple fan¹², I find it sad to see the downward trends surrounding Apple. It’s no longer anecdotal. Something is really going on. Apple is no longer the same under Tim Cook and since the Steve Jobs death. How could this be otherwise? Well, yeah. That’s life. Anger, ennui, boredom are just a few things that I’m noticing more and more. This super megacorp is printing money, investors are happy, but meanwhile, something is slowly rotting that will eventually trigger Apple to transform itself. Eventually.

Currently curating my Bluesky home feed to my liking. If someone on Bluesky didn’t post since last year, when Bluesky was red-hot, I unfollow. I’m using Bluesky lists to curate my best accounts and build a custom timeline with them. I did something similar back in the day for Twitter as documented here.

Apparently, a bunch of compromised old-school pagers exploded remotely in the middle east… what an horrific event (seriously)… THAT is real programmed obsolescence (less seriously).

The iPhone 16 this year is so iterative in nature that many YouTube reviewers separated the review into two rather short parts: the unboxing (generally less than 10 min¹) and the general review (rarely more than 15 min).

I’m rather happy to skip the iPhone 16 this year. Next year, Apple Intelligence will be more broadly available and more mature, the iPhone 17 will gain more hardware to support Apple Intelligence the newest features, too. As a blogger, Apple Intelligence writing tools are very handy and a year from now, most if not all my go-to apps will gain support for these. On the photography side, I expect more meaningful upgrades to the cameras.

I plan to go to the Apple Store tomorrow and see the new stuff since I can’t make it today. Maybe I’ll get the Series 10 if the one I want is available. I’ll unpair and reset my Series 6 as I’ll get $75 credit for it.

More crowded than usual of course. 🤗

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?

I have a love & hate relationship with the US as a country. Going to Las Vegas today for a four-day business trip falls in the “hate” part because I think we cannot have those Las Vegas cities any longer. This city is everything but real. I hate to see our resources spoiled like that.

WTF? 😳 A “social” network with AI-based-only followers? Really? Are we that desperate?

I’m happy to share the newest edition of my Ephemeral Scrapbook newsletter. Email version coming out much later today.

Numeric Citizen Blog

Apple results: big increase in services, big increase in iPad sales, increase in Mac sales, wearables sales in decline (AVP doesn’t move the needle, Watch in need of a reboot), China in decline. That’s pretty much it.

When one of my colleagues presents me with a text produced by ChatGPT (or any other comparable tools), I am sometimes astonished by what I read, but what interests me much more is the initial prompt that allowed the content to be produced. It helps put the results into context.

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.

The latest edition of my weekly creative summary is out! This is a jam pack one. Email version coming out soon to subscribers! Pass editions available here.

Something really BIG is coming to Craft: Objects. Thoughts?

At the very least, I could reserve my username on Instagram and Threads, just in case. While maintaining strong principles is important, being open-minded and reasonable can also be valuable. May the night be beneficial. 😒

Next Apple Watch SE Could Be Made From Plastic

Apple used to sell a plastic ‌iPhone‌ 5c, for example, and it came in vibrant blue, yellow, pink, and green colors. Plastic would also better differentiate the ‌Apple Watch SE‌ from the standard Apple Watch models as the current ‌Apple Watch SE‌ is basically a modified version of the aluminum Apple Watch without the latest features.

I wonder if Apple could use 3D printing for the SE plastic case. There are rumors that Apple might use 3D printing in building devices. That could be it.

Cookie banners show everything that’s wrong with the EU

It makes it hard to cheer for even much-needed antitrust action, like the Digital Markets Act. Because if the EU can screw up something as basic as cookie banners this bad, and prove so incapable and uninterested in re-calibrating its approach, what hope is there for the thornier issues?

A shit show in the making.

What the “can’t do real work on an iPad” narrative is really about

people like me do want a Mac for getting all of our stuff done, but Apple doesn’t make exactly the Mac we want, so we lust after the iPad and lament how it doesn’t get the job done for us. If the Mac we wanted existed, we’d buy that and not have nearly as much to say about iPadOS.

I think Matt is nailing it. Apple doesn’t want to make an iPad run macOS, fine, but are they as much vocal against making a Mac touch-friendly? I don’t think so. Mike Gurman wrote this past week-end that one Mac will see a major redesign in the next 12 months. Could this be to introduce touch support?

When I read the Threads app data privacy fact sheet on the App Store yesterday night and read a few « reviews », I quickly came back to earth and decided (again) to not join Threads. Time to focus on what I already have.

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

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.

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.

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.

@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.

If Apple Were Consistently Listening

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.

Forbidden Fruit

Apple was a better company when they were an underdog.

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

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

Oversimplifying statement.

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.

Hard Times Are Sometimes Needed

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 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.

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.

Bye bye Apple frames shortcut¹, hello Shareshot!

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 🙄).

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

A great morning read from Medium: the State of Medium. Here is something that I came across:

“I think the fragmentation creates interesting options for people.” - Medium CEO

I like where they are going.

To me, this animated Apple logo is a clear visual reference to Apple Intelligence¹. Expect to hear a lot about it when Apple shows off their new iPhones.

I always found this picture of Steve Jobs in his home office very fascinating. It’s too bad that we cannot read all the book titles. But there are two pieces of equipment that I wonder what they are. On is something that looks like a Mac Pro but the size of the computer is too small, even though Steve is using a big Apple display (30”?). Next to this is a bigger vertical device which would be a UPS, but also looks like an external GPU (but that wasn’t a thing at that time). Oh and in the left segment of the bookshelf, there are many small bottles of liquid drops. What were they for?

Update #1: This post made it to the Hacker News site.

Yesterday I went to see the 2024 World Press photography exposition. On our way out, there was a guestbook where I wrote: “I am speechless… but full of images… thank you to the photographers for their courage, without you, we would be in unbearable darkness.” I was troubled by the powerful images I saw.

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.

Numeric Citizen Blog

Travel update #9: Krka National Park & Sibenik, Croatia

It’s been a day with ups and downs. We left the apartment at around 10:30 AM in direction of the Krka National Park, 45-minute drive to see some other waterfalls and translucide lakes. The first part of the visit was really nice because it was like a repeat of the other visit to the national park that we visited earlier in the week with great waterfalls and gorgeous lakes with transparent blue water. Unlike the first national park, this time, it was much more crowded to a point of being unpleasant at some point because we had to wait for people to finish their selfies. 🤨

We left to see another part of the park where a bigger waterfall was expected and was located further in the park, but we couldn’t locate it and wasted our time waiting for the bus to get us back to the parking lot. The last stop was to visit a secluded church rather hard to locate on the maps. We eventually ended up at the entrance and couldn’t buy any tickets to visit the area but a priest did let us anyway visit the monastery and the areas with a little smile on his face. It was a welcomed gesture.

Next up, we had to return to the apartment to exchange my pair of glasses otherwise I would have been enable to drive at night when coming back to the apartment. For dinner, we decided to go to Sibenik, a great little village near Vodice. Oh boy I instantly fell in love with it. I didn’t have my main camera so I was left with my iPhone to take as many pictures as I could. We decided to come back tomorrow and this time, I’ll bring my other big camera. I can’t wait for this.

On My Writing Style As a Traveler

As you probably know, I’ve been writing and sharing my travel notes since the beginning of my trip to Croatia. I’m proud of maintaining the regularity to post each day, but not as proud of my writing itself. I can’t quite describe the quality of my writing, but when I read it back, it feels rather superficial. Why do I feel this way?

Well, my writing tends to list the places I visited and whether I liked them. But I almost always fail to explain why I loved visiting them. Take yesterday’s travel update, for example: I wrote that I fell in love with Sibenik and shared a photo of banners adorned with children’s drawings. What exactly resonated with me in this place? What were my emotions when I entered the narrow streets of the village and first saw the banners everywhere? It was surprising—the children’s drawings added a contrast to the old buildings’ walls, giving the city a sense of humanity. And you know what? It was the children’s festival! It’s a great way to celebrate humanity.

Part of my problem is that I’m not a native English speaker, but a French speaker. I don’t have the same level of vocabulary to describe feelings or physical places. I’m wondering if I could first write a version of my travel update in French and then ask ChatGPT to translate it into English. For today’s travel update, that’s what I’m going to do. We’ll see how it comes out this time. Let me know if you notice a difference.

Disclaimer: this text was first written in English (yes, in English!) and I asked ChatGPT to improve to the writing. It made a big difference, trust me, but I still have this feeling of owning the ideas and the final results.

The “joy” of trying to be iPad-only while traveling. Hitting “try again” fixes the issue but it’s a recurring one. I’m just browsing a folder containing images stored on the iPad itself for god’s sake! 🤬

My next trip to the US is to see a Sting show in New York in October. After that, I’m not planning to visit the US for at least five years. I refuse to visit totalitarian states. Fuck #Trump. Fuck those who supports this buffoon and clown.

Travel update #10: Sibenik Take #2, Croatia

Once again, what a beautiful day we had in Sibenik. The main objective today was to visit the three forts of the city, which offer a splendid view of the town and the islands off the coast. The weather was magnificent even though storm cells were threatening the region. Fortunately, we were spared from rain and lightning!

We visited the three forts, which were overall interesting but are mainly worth visiting for the views they offer. We took advantage of the occasion to have a picnic at lunchtime while the wind was blowing moderately across the area. It was pleasant to hear the wind rustling through the trees, mostly mature pines.

After visiting the forts, we descended back into the city, this time making sure to choose a parking spot on the west side of town so we could walk along the long promenade by the docks. We ended up in the old part of the city to revisit and complete our tour from yesterday, which was merely a preview. This time, I had the good camera in hand, and I took the opportunity to capture new perspectives different from those taken yesterday.

We were back at the apartment around 6:30 PM to freshen up before heading out to a small neighboring village of Vodice, i.e., Tribunj. I can’t wait to see this little village.

I can’t wait to share some of my best pictures.

Observation of the day: because of the trees, we can hear the wind. Travelling has great influence on my spirit.

Biden is losing much more by staying than by leaving. His career legacy will be: he lost because he didn’t want to let it go. For whom? For what? A real leader would just step back.

Travel update #11: From Sibenik to Split, Croatia

Yesterday, I didn’t have time to write the daily update because it was a transition day by car to our next destination: Split in Croatia. Of course, we took advantage of our route to stop in Trogir to visit and have lunch there. It was our last stop by car as we had to leave it at the airport in the suburbs of Trogir. From now on, we will take a boat. More details to come on that.

Our journey continued to Split, taking a taxi via Uber. The trip took a little over half an hour. Once there, we went to drop off our luggage at our apartment and took some time to explore the surroundings. What a strange but beautiful urban environment. Our apartment is located inside the old palace of Split. Accessing it is not easy as there are winding corridors and numerous stairs to climb. We felt like we were living within the walls of a medina like those found in Morocco. It’s lovely.

I took advantage of the late afternoon light to take some photos. What a beautiful city. I already know that I won’t have enough time to see everything and try to capture photos that are off the beaten path. I’ll do my best, and it will serve as an excuse to wish to return someday.

Travel update #12: Visiting Hvar, Bisevo, Vis Islands, Croatia

Once again, with a bit of delay, I’m sharing a new update on my trip to Croatia. Yesterday, the day was primarily spent on the waters in front of the city of Split. We took a small speedboat cruise to visit three beautiful large islands. The tour lasted more than ten hours. We also passed through the popular Blue Lagoon and visited a cave located on the island of Bisevo, where the turquoise water offers a surreal setting. It was absolutely magnificent. We had a mini lunch in Hvar and spent two lovely hours there, strolling and enjoying this beautiful place. A fishing village welcomed us. Fishing is still practiced there, but tourism is by far the largest economic activity. The architecture of the buildings is similar to what is found throughout the Croatian coast, with light stone buildings and terracotta-tiled roofs in shades of orange. This is also similar to what you find in Italy, by the way. We had a quite bumpy return to the coast as the sea was much more agitated than in early morning. It was quite an experience. Thankfully, the boat operator was experimented.

Regarding food, restaurant offerings mostly consist of grilled dishes, mainly fish and meat. Tuna salads, Niçoise, and Greek salads are also on the menu. Some restaurants feature typical Croatian dishes like goulashes. The sale of ice cream and gelato is very common in southern villages, where it’s warmer. I succumbed a few times, actually. The brightness on clear days here is absolutely perfect, just like everywhere on the Côte d’Azur.

We are halfway through our stay in this beautiful country. Tomorrow, we will embark on a small cruise for a few days to visit other islands, ultimately leading us to our final destination: Dubrovnik, where we will spend a few days. I’m really looking forward to it.

Travel update #13: Bye Bye Split, Let’s Do Another Cruise to Dubrovnik!

Today was our last day in Split, Croatia. We strolled through the streets of Split once again and had breakfast at the “Bepa” restaurant, which is accessible from one of the public squares. Once again, we ate very well. However, the prices for food are even higher than we expected. We’re coming to the conclusion that traveling in Croatia is almost as expensive as traveling in countries like Italy!

Today also marks the beginning of a short cruise that will allow us to visit the islands of Korčula and Mljet before arriving in Dubrovnik, our last stop before returning to Canada. We still have many beautiful things to discover, fortunately. I don’t know if it’s a good sign or not, but the early experiences from the beginning of our trip already feel distant.

We met a couple in their thirties, from Dallas Texas, this evening at the cruise opening diner. Eventually, near the end of the diner, politics came up in the discussions. Nowadays, it’s a tricky subject and we don’t force it outselves. We quickly discovered that they were anti-Trump and very caution about the Democrats too. It’s refreshing to meet people coming from those areas of the US that shares some of our views about the US, politics and general values. I’m French Canadian, mind you.

A summer taste of Croatia. 🤗

Slowly but surely heading to Dubrovnik, Croatia, by the sea. 🤗 what a wonderful morning, isn’t?

Our current view in Dubrovnik port, Croatia. That’s the moon that I love! 😍

It’s been a few days since my last travel update, but a more pressing matter has been monopolizing my spare time: writing a heartfelt message for my son, who is turning 20 this September. This task holds greater significance because my message, along with others, will be compiled into a printed book as a special gift for him.

An ATM in Montenegro shows a warning asking the admin user to login to activate Windows. 😱🤪

Finally booked my Apple Vision Pro demo session for this coming week. I’m not buying this thing but I can’t wait to try it out. Side note: during my vacation in Croatia, we went to see a museum in Split where we were handed Meta Quest headset. The experience was interesting but the visual quality left to be desired.

Brought a book with me for vacation. Didn’t read it as I always find better things to do. Typical me. 🤷🏻‍♂️🙄

My current view: in-flight infotainment screen where we can see the flight timeline. Easily spot when meals are served. First time that I’m seeing this. I find this really cool and probably helps answer many questions from people. Side note: I’d love to see Apple build a FlightPlay user experience (CarPlay equivalent).

I support LGBTQ+ cause. I read MacStories story about Threads murky management of controversial posts. My personal take is simplicistic: stop using Meta platforms. I do understand that for some people to be heard, they want to be on Meta’s platforms, though.

People are so quick to say “I don’t want him to win but I also don’t want him to die” as if there’s some prize for not wishing death on someone who does more than wish us dead. If someone in power actively attempts to do unthinkable damage to the world and people around you, just a reminder: you get absolutely nothing in exchange for kindness toward them.

Some food for thoughts.

Yep, Fucking Guns

Great take by Gruber on this week sad but highly predictable events. The US is a sick country. Sidenote: on my last few trips, all Americans that I met told me after presenting themselves as Americans: “I know, we’re one of those stupid Americans…”. I reserve this thought mostly to Trump supporters which I never met personally, thanks god.

But Techies Will Be Happy

Google Chrome, Along With Other Popular Chromium Browsers, Grants System Monitoring Privileges to *.google.com Domains

But speaking of the DMA, Chromium is, far and away, the most popular browser engine that the DMA compels Apple to allow on iOS. There are legitimate reasons to wish that Apple allowed third-party browser engines on iOS. But there are also legitimate reasons why Apple doesn’t allow them. Chrome really is bad. Better to let the market decide than let clueless regulators decide.

I’m on the side of Gruber here. Governments are usually not very good at tech. We should always be on the doubters side when they want to regulate. Opening up the iPhone will make it weaker than today, not better. I would even argue that the vast majority of users will lose more than they gain. But some techies will be happy.

So, iPadOS 18 beta3: nothing obvious, really. Feels snappy. Less buggy than expected. Some rough edges, of course. Autocorrect seems way better. Finally. Tempted by iOS 18 now. 🤦🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

I 🥰 the new design of Photos in iPadOS 18. Probably the most controversial opinion about iPadOS this year.

Trying to Find Comforting Thoughts

Manuel Moreale reflecting on one hundred people who took the time to sign his guestbook (I did):

It’s the number of people who have taken a few minutes out of their busy lives to write something on my guestbook. One hundred doesn’t seem a lot in the grand scheme of things, especially on the web. If you have one hundred followers you might as well have zero. One hundred views on a YouTube video? That’s nothing. You need at least one hundred thousand to be part of the conversation. And yet, I find one hundred signatures in a guestbook to be a lot. Can you imagine having one hundred people in front of you, all saying something to you, one after the other? It would feel overwhelming.

I often think about this. Just like Manuel, I have a blog, a YouTube channel, a podcast (sort of). Globally, my follower counts are very low (even lower than Manuel’s) when looked through the Internet scale lens, but if those people were in front of me, in the same room, that would be quite something else. I find this thought to be comforting.

Apple Is Telling Half the Story

There is something incomplete in how Apple is portraying Safari as a way to stay private when surfing the web. The ad is certainly visually striking, with surveillance cameras flying over people as they browse the web on their non-iPhone devices. It’s a compelling analogy. It reminds me of another Apple ad where a person is in a similar situation, being watched and followed by a group of people who want to know their online whereabouts.

But you know, Apple is mum about its deal with Google as being the default search engine in Safari. The last time I checked, Google isn’t the type of privacy-protection company you might think they are.

If Apple were to design a new router, the resulting device would likely resemble this one from Ubiquiti. The box has a similar aesthetic to Apple’s iconic networking hardware.

Taboola + Apple News? No thanks

Apple’s decision to strike a deal with Taboola is shocking and off-brand — so much so that I have started to question the company’s long-term commitment to good customer experience, including its commitment to privacy. As it chases more and more revenue to appease Wall Street, it’s clear Apple will become one of those companies that prioritize shareholders over paying customers and their experience.

I hate ads. I hate ads. This is a sad day. That is not cool at all. How can Apple brags about protecting user privacy (see that ad on YouTube?) and al while serving ads through an external ads network? More than ever, Apple is becoming like everyone else and IS profiling its users, for money. I’m starting to hate Tim Cook’s Apple. As soon as I see a change in News, I’ll cancel my subscription to Apple One.

In today’s positive post, it’s about Inoreader filtering capabilities. Without them, cutting out the noise from feeds from AppleInsider or MacRumors just to name a few obvious abusers would be impossible. These feeds are usually filled with ads disguised as posts. Filtering keywords include: Amazon, Deal, Rebate, Gift, Discount, Prime, Amazon. You get the idea.

Tomorrow I’m going to the Apple Store for an Apple Vision Pro demonstration. For some reasons, I’m not that excited for this. And I’m a big Apple fan. I was excited for the AVP when it came out, but like everyone else, the hype is no longer there. Apple is still working to find THE killer app or use case for this. And, something is broken with Apple these days…

Today’s positive post: I’m happy to have installed iOS 18 beta 3 on my phone. A few bugs here and there and glitches but nothing earth chattering. 🤗

The AT&T Data Breach Shows Why RCS Can’t Be Trusted and the Downside of Apple Adding Support for It in iOS 18

Eddy Cue doesn’t lose many arguments but he lost that one. All of the effort spent pushing Apple to support RCS would have been better spent pushing Apple to ship iMessage for Android. And without a supported iMessage client for Android, that role ought to go to WhatsApp, not RCS. WhatsApp is free, secure, and works equally well on all phones.

I think Apple made a big mistake by not shipping iMessage for Android.

Apparently, a social network like X does not promote posts containing links to external websites. While this policy may be frustrating¹, there are possible responses to this practice to consider. If someone shares a post with a link to X, you could choose not to open the link². Encouraging others to adopt a similar stance can be an effective way to voice your opinion and influence the platform’s practices through your engagement, or lack thereof.³

In a meeting this morning at the office, I was quick to point out that those running Macs were just fine (we’re a Microsoft shop with a few weird guys like me promoting the Mac). I got booed. I guess people in IT are masochist. #crowdstrike 🤷🏻‍♂️

Today’s CrowdStrike update is probably the most expensive update of all time in IT history. Will we really learn from it? Some big players probably will but in general, I doubt it. #crowdstrike

Today I made a template. Who knows, it might be useful to some big company.

“We will release {insert product or service name here} over the coming months, but not in the EU due to the unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment,” {insert company name here} said in a statement to {Insert news agency name here}.

You are welcome.

👋🏻 I’m a little bit late, but hey, here is the newest edition of my weekly creative summary newsletter. The email edition is coming up later today. 😅

It’s 8:45 AM. The joy of running beta software. 😱👀

In iOS 18 beta 4, look at user ratings in the App Dtore and the choice Apple made for the star’s gray shades… it’s very hard to spot how many actual stars were given out of the five. Is this on purpose? 👀🧐

Seriously considering closing my Reddit account. It’s not worth it. And their corporate attitude don’t align with my values.

Jeff Perry on Reddit deal with Google for content access exclusivity in indexing their content: The Enshittification of Search Continues

This could set a precedent for other sites like Hacker News and Pinterest to start searching for the highest bidder to make their content exclusive on another search engine. Eventually other sites might do the same in hopes to thwart the serial scraping of their content for AI models to learn from and make a few bucks in the process. It is just another byproduct of the Enshittification of the web.

Troubling, indeed. Emphasis is mine.

I had a bug in one of my IFTTT applets that usually gets each post I share and stores it on Day One. The applet hasn’t run since July 7th, but I only found out today. Sadly, the IFTTT RSS feed service doesn’t keep a pointer of the last successful import. I’m not sure what to do to recover the posts that weren’t saved. 🤔😒

Is today’s world (AI models training, security, etc.), I wonder if site owners are well equipped with robots.txt as the only way to control who’s in and who’s out when it comes to deciding free and massive content consumption on their site.

So iOS 18.1 is a thing, after all. Well, as I live in Canada, I’m not going to set the region to English US on my phone¹. I rather wait and see other devs and YouTubers delve into this beta of Apple Intelligence and see how it goes. That should be fun and interesting.

Update: changing the region of the device doesn’t do much except for date formatting, temperature metric and dollars amount formatting. Oh, and if you set one device (iPad) to use one region, the other device (iPhone) will also use the same region. Why?

I am installing iPadOS 18.1 beta 1 on my iPad Pro right now because… just for text proofreading¹ and summarizing, it’s worth it. Most of my creative hobby happens to be done in English. Also, changing the device region (not the Apple ID region) to US is not a big deal. Finally, I don’t talk too often to Siri on my iPad (which I do in French on my iPhone, though).

I believe it could take anywhere from 12 to 18 months for Apple Intelligence to make its way to Canada and support the French Canadian language. (This text was originally written by me than processed by Apple Intelligence to make it more friendly). #appleintelligence

Memories

Today is my mother’s 91st birthday. She passed away 18 months ago, but the memories of her remain vivid. This morning, my iPhone suggested a video memory highlighting cherished moments with her, which nearly brought me to tears. Time may have flown by, but my affection for her endures, even though I wasn’t that close to her, not has much as I would have liked. One of my last photos of her. 😔

I’d like to try non-Apple mechanical keyboards because they look cool and they got stylish design but the problem with those third-party keyboards like Lofree is the lack of non-English language support.

Numeric Citizen Blog

First Narrated Blog Post Experiment

Hi everyone. I might be late to the party, but I finally sat down for a few minutes to test Micro.blog’s new feature: narrated blog posts. It is strange because this is my first use and I cannot write a full review because as I’m writing this, my audio recording is still not done, and I don’t know how is the audio attachment and processing will actually work. It might be similar to when I post a new podcast episode. In any case, I think this is a clever addition to an already useful and enjoyable blogging service. Thanks to @Manton for this. Now, should I say, “have a great day and see you for another blog post?” Probably not.

[Update #1]: It seems the play button doesn’t show up. Probably a bug with the Cards theme. Investigation started.
[Update #2]: I found out that narrated blog posts come out as podcast episodes on Podcasts. I’m not sure this is what I want.

HEY World is probably “mostly” dead. Each week, I hit the dice to visit a random HEY World site and 9 out of 10 sites were last updated in 2021, around the time HEY World was launched.

When I launched my weekly creative summary newsletter, I wanted its structure and format to remain consistent for a long time. However, after 17 editions, I’ve decided to refine the newsletter’s structure. I’m never fully satisfied with my tools, workflows, and past decisions about how to do things.

Apple may be overhauling Spotlight in macOS 15, and potentially on other operating systems as well. This suggests the company is focusing on enhancing the user experience when interacting with AI-generated responses to user requests. I’m really curious as to how it will come out.

I’ve been relying on Raycast AI more and more in recent days to help me summarize the articles I read through my RSS feeds in Inoreader. I’ve also found it useful for improving the quality of my own writing. I’m quite tempted to upgrade my Raycast AI subscription so that I can fully leverage its capabilities, despite the fact that I’m already subscribing to ChatGPT. However, the cost of the upgrade is something I need to weigh carefully before making a decision.

Side note: why do I keep thinking that Apple will introduce Siri+ this summer?

The new narrated posts feature of Micro.blog has an unexpected twist. Since my blog also hosts a podcast, any narrated blog posts will end up on Apple’s Podcast directory. I’m unsure if this is what I want, but I appreciate the possibility for those who prefer to consume my content as an audio file.

For the first time since joining Mastodon, I wanted to get an idea of what was happening with ChatGPT¹. I conducted a search using the #chaptgpt tag to see the live updates. This was something I used to do frequently when I was on Twitter while big events were happening.

The M4 iPad Pro Regression Nobody is Talking About

The new M4 iPad Pro, with its repositioned FaceID camera, feels like a step backward compared to the 2018 iPad Pro. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, but I frequently receive prompts to enter my PIN due to failed FaceID attempts. Swiping up to unlock the device momentarily covers the camera and sensors, disrupting the process. While Apple may have enhanced the FaceTime experience, the unlocking experience has become more frustrating. In my opinion, this is a significant regression.

Here's Why I Hate Template In Office Work

Using templates in office work can sometimes be counterproductive, leading to less original thinking, reduced engagement, and fewer creative problem-solving opportunities. Templates can make it easy to fall into a routine of just filling in blanks, resulting in more generic outputs and a checkbox mentality. This reliance on templates can also make it challenging to adapt and innovate when a task doesn’t fit the template. To keep creativity and innovation alive, it’s helpful to use templates as a starting point while encouraging team members to think critically and adapt as needed.

Some of my colleagues are highly dependant on them, I’m not. I’m staying away from them. It’s a creative thinking killer.

In case you didn’t know me, I’m on this week’s People & Blog edition. It was fun to answer Manuel Moreale’s questions.

Apple's AI Push at WWDC 2024

“Apple will put a major emphasis on AI at its upcoming WWDC, as the company aims to catch up to competitors in this rapidly evolving space. While Apple’s approach has been more measured, the pressure is on to provide a clear growth narrative, which its AI initiatives may struggle to directly deliver. Unlike Microsoft and NVIDIA, Apple does not have an obvious path to monetize AI, instead focusing on using the technology to enhance its existing products and services.” — ChatGPT summarizing this article from M.G. Siegler.

I’m more than ok that Apple doesn’t try to monetize their AI journey.

It’s Sunday, and it’s time for the new edition of My Creative Summary newsletter! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I love putting it together!

Apple Intelligence & Current Apple Silicon

If Apple Intelligence¹ requires a new generation of hardware to be fully appreciated, I would be surprised and be a little sad. My expectation would be that last year’s generation of hardware should be, at the minimum, enough. Otherwise, it might send a wrong message that even current Apple Silicon isn’t enough to power generative AI-based experience. How could this be, after all, Apple always brag about its silicon superiority. Tim Cook said that their silicon was their current competitive edge… but was he referring to future chips only? I hope not.

Dear Apple, please, fix this. Thanks you.

Mind blown. That’s all for now. More thoughts to come soon. 🤯 #wwdc #apple #appleevent #wwdc24

I’ll save money with Apple Intelligence in the next 12 months as indicated in my subscriptions page. #apple #appleevent #wwdc24 #wwdc

Two of my preferred visual things in iOS 18¹ is the colorful visual effect of Siri and the default wallpaper, which is also very nice. Siri animation is so relaxing and less intrusive than the big colorful ball. These are small changes but welcomed changes nonetheless.

Referring to this post from MacStories’ Viticci, I might be living or coming from a different planet, but I do not want to block any of my sites from AI bot crawlers, none of them, even if it is from Google, OpenAI, Apple or even Meta. I want to embrace this new era while being critical to what is happening. More to come soon.

Two Highly Different Approaches

Microsoft is recalling “Recall” after all, and this makes them look rather bad. This happens on the same week of Apple revealing Apple Intelligence which received a more positive set of reactions.

We are witnessing two different approaches to the challenge of intelligently integrating generative AI prowess to the base operating system. These two events couldn’t be more evocative of how different Apple and Microsoft strategy and culture are. Guess which approach I prefer? I’m excited for Apple Intelligence, but I appreciate the time it will take to make it right.

Refreshing take also a good reminder:

@stroughtonsmith After seeing WWDC, I’m actually buying a iPad Air M2 next to my mini 6. But I have never seen and expected iPad as anything more than what Jobs used in his introduction. Never replacing my Mac, never replacing my iPhone.

Apple Private Cloud Compute Curiosities

Apple announced a significant development at this year’s WWDC: the creation of its own cloud infrastructure named “Private Cloud Compute” for securely handling certain Apple Intelligence requests. As an IT professional working in data center technologies, I have a few questions that remain unanswered even after watching John Gruber’s The Talk Show Live:

1. What CPU is used in each server? I wonder if Apple is utilizing high-end versions of its Apple Silicon chips. It’s worth noting that there was no update to the Mac Studio this year. Is Apple diverting M3 Max or M3 Ultra production to build its Private Cloud Compute data centers (which currently feature 32 Neural Engine cores in the M2 Ultra)?

2. What type of case design is Apple using for the servers? Are they modified versions of the Mac mini, or are they using a rack-mount variant of the Mac Studio?

3. Is Apple deploying data centers only in the United States or across multiple continents? I suspect the latter, for the sake of redundancy and capacity.

I expect that sometime in the future, perhaps at WWDC 2025, Apple may reveal details about the first year of Apple Intelligence in a short video. We’ll have to wait and see.

It Sunday time and so my weekly creative summary is out! This is the Craft hosted version. The email version is coming out later today. Enjoy. By the way, the Craft version, this week, contains a sub-page that won’t make it in the newsletter edition, thanks to Craft.

📝 Just like my old iPods, the iPod name is just collecting dust, despite being the best name they ever came up with.
https://lmnt.me/blog/ipod.html

I agree. The iPod name more accurately describes the current iPhone. However, it’s unlikely that Apple will revert to this name, despite its strong brand recognition.

Claim of the moment: Perplexity AI ignores robot.txt files and crawls websites even when the site owner says no. https://rknight.me/blog/perplexity-ai-is-lying-about-its-user-agent/

Woah, that is not cool, at all. Even if I don’t care too much for AI bots to crawl and ingest my content, I would expect them to respect those author and site owners who decides otherwise. It’s not the best way to build trust.

When Will IT Support Guys Learn?

The CEO of the company I work for (450 employees) called me today over Microsoft Teams because he was seeking for help and explanations for a problem with repeated authentification requests when using Microsoft 365 services on his devices (an iPhone, an iPad). He wasn’t sure why he was getting that many requests. After calling the IT department for support, he was baffled by the responses he got for his problem: reboot your phone, uninstall Apple Mail and re-install, that type of shitty responses. After a few tries, he finally got the “real” reasons: iPhone aren’t supported officially and weakening the security posture of the whole company, he should get an Android. What a shitload of bullshit, which is often typical from IT guys who don’t understand or know Apple devices. I’m so tired of this, after all those decades.

Back to my call with my CEO, after trying to understand the situation and find a sound explanation, I told him that the type of answers he got was unacceptable. We are an IT company for god’s sake! He was shy of admitting the same and surprised by this nonsense. He is the CEO, a smart guy. We should do better.

The iPhone is not weakening the security posture of the company, some IT support guys are¹.

On iPadOS, you can hit CMD-Q on your keyboard to « quit » an app… in fact, only the icon is removed from the app switcher view while pressing CMD-TAB. If you re-launch the app from the home screen, the app is stilll in memory. Who said iPadOS is a strange beast?

For my M4 iPad Pro, I decided to skip the Magic Keyboard for iPad purchase. Instead, I’ll be using a Magic Keyboard and a mouse. I think it’s a great compromise and a very light one, by the way.

Yet, iPadOS and many apps aren’t really keyboard aware. As an example, using Micro.blog native app, if I select a few words and hit CMD-B, the command is ignored and I have to reach the screen to select the bold option. This adds friction to my writing experience. Cc @manton

We are starting to see some cracks in the AI bubble castle… AI stock market will probably go through the same scenario as the tech bubble in the early 2000. You probably read it first here.

Of all the PowerPoint presentations that I need to attend for my job¹, it is baffling how many times the presenter don’t bother putting the presentation mode ON. Can Microsoft do something do about it? 🙄

For all of its purported goals to 'foster a better digital market', having foreign tech companies delay features into the EU market will have huge effects not just for consumers but for developers. I can't see that becoming an economic advantage to an already-lagging EU tech economy.

Well said.

★ The EU Is Reaping What It Sows With the DMA: Uncertainty
https://daringfireball.net/2024/06/eu_reaping_what_it_sows

For once, I’m on Gruber’s side here. But who am I? A clueless north American who doesn’t get the EU’s laws and law’s spirit? Maybe.

Comparing generative AI model capacities to a school study level is plain stupid (OpenAI pretends GPT-5 to be PhD level). AI is not about intelligence just like having a PhD. The latter is a mere indicator or proxy, at best.

I wish I had an embedded “recent photos” feed on this blog, something along the line of Greg Morris’ blog, but I’m clueless to add such a thing to a Micro.blog hosted website. 😞

What’s wrong with this? 🤔🙄

I finally completed the Digital Legacy Management Guide (available here on Gumroad). It comes as a Craft document that can be duplicated as a template, as well as PDF and Markdown files downloads. The goal here is to help people plan for their digital legacy handling.

Last minutes adjustments before traveling: revisited the “on vacation” focus mode on my iPhone to make sure to receive notifications from certains apps¹, updated the home screen and lock screen wallpapers to be more in line with traveling mode. I also bought and installed my eSIM from Airalo². Decided not to renew Halide subscription but will I’ll try to use it anyway over Apple’s camera app³.

My /nope page is up.

I decided to use Day One for my travel journaling instead of Apple’s Journal. Reason being very simple: Day One is available on all my devices. Most of my text probably won’t be shared, but if I decide to publish someone, I’ll use the Day One export feature.

Update: sadly, images aren’t exported while exporting in Markdown format. Not surprising, but it’s a nearly a dealbreaker.

A new iOS 18 beta should drop tomorrow, where SharePlay improvements and iPhone Mirroring will be included for the first time. Except that they won’t be available for people in EU. Apple made the announcement last Friday. Poor EU users. 🙃 Here in Canada, we don’t have Apple Card nor Apple Cash. But that’s for quite different reasons. When iOS 18 ships, we won’t get Apple Intelligence either, unless we set our phone to English US, which I won’t do, except for testing the thing for a few moments. EU isn’t alone in their “misery”, I guess.

Is it me, or Automattic is missing a big opportunity by not enabling users to publish their journal entries to a custom blog or website directly from Day One? I think they do.

Travel update #1: Zagreb, Croatia

First full day in Croatia. It is the morning here in Zagreb. Yesterday, we arrived and spent the first few hours wandering in the city center where all the night life is happening. It was the time to spot the places that we were to revisit later (today). We were tired following our two flights by night.

There was a soccer match at 9PM and people were quite excited and were looking forward to it. It ended end up in a tie 1-1 Croatia against Italia. I don’t care too much about soccer but Croatian do quite a lot!

I didn’t take my camera with me as I felt my iPhone would be enough. It was a good call anyway because it was rather late in the evening. We had dinner at a restaurant and had goulash and beer. It was a typical plate for Croatian apparently. We came back to the B&B exhausted by our air travelling. I do feel the jet lag this morning but I expect thing to improve in the next two to three days.

This blog post was a writing exercise to practice my daily journaling while traveling abroad.

Travel update #2: Zagreb, Croatia

I’m currently writing this from our room as there are some heavy showers outside. We had a chance to walk a lot since morning in Zagreb and had a great lunch at the restaurant called “Heritage” which is close to our B&B. It’s a very small place where only maybe ten people can have lunch at the same timee (counting those 3 tables outside!). They make absolutely great sandwiches with Croatian ingredients (ham, truffle spread, local cheese, etc.). We also all a great walnuts salad and a drink. Eating is our great pleasure when visiting a place like Zagreb. This place has five stars and is not that expansive.

Back to our room, I’m writing this post after I imported my first batch of images (62 in all) and started to tag which one I would process. All this is done on my iPad, Files and Photomator. Works great so far. The only thing is that I forgot to change the time zone so my pictures got the wrong time stamp. Not that big of a deal. If the internet speed was better, I would have included an image to this post, but that’s not the case. Too bad.

Travel update #3: Zagreb, Croatia

We went for another walking session in Zagreb after the rain finally went on pause in the second half of the afternoon. We visited another portion of the city before ending up near the restaurant where we planned to have dinner, a Sri Lanka restaurant called “Curry Bowl” which again was rated five stars. It was absolutely delicious. But just before going for the dinner we stopped at a little bar because the rain started again. It was “apéro time”. All in all we enjoyed Zagreb: a nice, relativelyely quiet European city where we always felt in safe.

Tomorrow heading off to Plitvice Lakes National Park for two days. It will be quite a different environment.

Travel update #4: Plitvicka Jezera Nation Park, Croatia

We left Zagreb today to go visit the Plitvicka Jezera national park. it was a two hour drive from Zagreb. After a nice and smooth ride we arrived at around 11:15 AM in the park ready to tackle the 4-6 hour circuit. Boy this place is wonderful! It took us about four hours. We had a rain shower or two but each time we were lucky to be at the right place either on the boat or in the forest so we didn’t get wet! Lucky me because I wasn’t ready for rain with my unprotected photo equipment. Speaking of photography, I don’t know how many shots I did but I’m pretty sure there are a few quite impressive with such natural surroundings. I can’t wait to process those images.

Tonight, we’re going to have dinner at a house near our B&B in Grabovac, a very small village be close to the national park. They served grilled fish and meat. It supposed to be really good. We’ll see, but I trust the Croatians so far!

Travel update #5: Rastoke, Croatia

Earlier this morning, the weather was better than yesterday, so we decided to revisit Plitvicka Jezera National Park. The improved lighting allowed us to better appreciate the lake’s renowned blue and green hues, and there were fewer tourists. However, we didn’t stay as long as our previous visit because we wanted to explore a small village called Rastoke. This village, known for its charming houses and numerous waterfalls, was highly recommended by our host. We enjoyed a picnic there before exploring, and we were not disappointed; the place was delightful.

On our way back, we stopped to see the river’s source near the road. To our surprise, we found several old, barely standing buildings, which made for great photography. However, a thunderstorm was forming nearby, forcing us to cut our visit short. After checking the local radar, we realized we had just enough time to escape and return to our car.

And we were back at our B&B at four fifty. It’s another great day in Croatia. Now loading up a new batch of photos into my iPad.

Travel update #6: Zadar + Vodice, Croatia

Today we left for Zadar and Vodice where we will stay for five days in a small apartment. We arrived at noon in Zadar and had a nice picnic in a small park, under the shade of big trees. It was a quiet place and we wondered about how few tourists seem to be present since we arrived in Croatia. It might not be peak season just yet. We spent nearly three hours in Zadar, a great coastal city of Croatia, to walk in the city’s small streets behind the fortified perimeter. It felt a bit hot even for a coastal city, yet the weather was splendid. We saw (and heard) the sea organ and we were pleased by the sound of it.

We left Zadar for Vodice at 3PM, a one-hour drive on a coastal road. As we drove away from Zadar we saw the surroundings slowly change in appearance. Vodice is a small village where we can find great places to have dinner and visit the marina surrounded by typical summer houses and beach clubs. Tomorrow I should have more to say about this small village.

Thanks for reading my short travel updates!

Maybe We Should Stop Crying Fool: We’ve Been Trained Ourselves!

Thinking out loud about generative models training.

In a way, we’ve all been trained ourselves in our life by the books we read, the movies we saw, the music we listened. Some people have been trained on very specific knowledge bodies, in very specific fields. People use this accumulated “training” also forming “culture” to create new things and produce new content. Some people might be trained on a specific music style or dancing style. We’ve been trained by teachers. As “trained” creators, do we ask a permission when writing something new or writing music using our training data? Now because it happens at a large scale by large (and “nasty”?) corporations to create products, we cry foul?! Where is the line to be drawn here? I don’t know.

Could Generative AI Content Usage Be THE Biggest Problem?

I’m wondering if the way someone elects to use generated content from generative AI models is way more potentially problematic and subject to debate than anything related to models training using content from the open web.

Also: generative AI content used to train generative AI models is also source of concerns to me. I call that process “knowledge desinfection” or “knowledge toxification” or even better “knowledge asphyxiation”. Or should I replace “knowledge” with “intelligence”?

One more thing: the more I think about generative AI training, the less I think it should be considered plagiarism. More on that one soon.

Pressure Might Be Mounting on Apple with Apple Intelligence in Unexpected Ways

Warning: Unsettled thoughts: I think many tech pundits are overestimating Apple Intelligence capabilities and influence potential. If Apple fails to deliver, even slightly, it might trigger a crash like the dot com crash. Some tech pundits are fast at expecting Apple to be the gateway to generative AI legitimacy. In this logic, if Apple fails, AI will fail too. I might be over simplifying things here.

Travel update #7: Vodice’s Beaches, Croatia

We didn’t do much today: taking our time early in the morning when preparing and having breakfast and then spending time on the beach and relaxing. I did some writing too, from my iPhone while sitting on my sunbathing chair. It’s far from being ideal for writing longer posts but it is what it is. I had some thoughts to share about AI, generative AI more specifically (like this thought, this one and that one).

We came back to the apartment after having a drink at a beach club nearby. Then, again, we were quietly spending time online before getting ready to prepare the meal for dinner. Our plans for the rest of the day is to return in the village’s center to feel the village’s night life. It’s only a ten-minute walk from where we stay. It’s very convenient.

Thanks for reading.

M. G. Siegler musing about possible next iteration of the Apple Vision:

The most compelling idea would be allowing/forcing the ‘Vision’ to tether to an iPhone or Mac to run the computing of the device. Frankly, I think they should do this. I know they view it as a stand-alone computing device, one that could potentially do it all one day, but that day is far, far away. You already have to use the ridiculous (and ridiculously inconvenient) external battery to power the device. They should either put a Mac SoC in that brick or use their software screen-casting smarts to offload much of the work to an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

Now that people know they have to live with an external battery pack in order to use the Vision Pro, putting a small Mac-in-that-box to offload some of the weight off the Vision Pro could be a game changer too. Apple is clever at iterating on things to make them better. The Apple Vision is not done yet, just be patient.

In other notes: the Vision Pro is coming to Canada this July and I can’t wait to book myself a 30-minute demonstration appointment.

Travel update #8: Kornati Islands, Croatia

Here’s today’s travel update. What a wonderful day we had, thanks to this day-cruise around the Kornati Islands, starting from Vodice’s port at 9 AM. We had lunch at around 11:30 AM, right before a 3-hour stop at one of the island (can’t remember the name!) where we could spend some time swimming at the beach or in a very salty small interior lake. I decided to go for the trail around the lake instead, a 2.2KM quick trekking. While the temperature at the village was expected to reach 33C during the day, weather on the sea was cooler and very nice, with very little wind, except in the trail where the temperature probably reached more than 30C with partially shaded trail sections, thanks to tall pine trees. A bit scary discovery: while walking the trail in the forest, I encountered many big spider nets at about fifteen feet high each with a gigantic spider standing right in the middle, waiting for the next prey. It was a bit scary and disgusting, not my favourite thing to see. Overall, it was a great day.

I took my telephoto lens with me this time around and it was a judicious decision. I started editing my travel photos and I must say that without Adobe Lightroom’s built in catalog, it’s a bit cumbersome. I often get this error in Photomator as seen below. It’s a bit frustrating. I think it’s more of an iPadOS instabilities than a problem with Photomator.