Numeric Citizen Blog

Information Architect¹ is working on something that could prove to be super useful for me: shareable presentations using iA Presenter. It’s currently in testing. Judging by their blog post, it looks slick. I could build online presentations that go with The Craft Bible or The Craft Starter Kit that I’m working on. Can’t wait to try it out.

The iPad revenue share is about 6% of total. Seeing Apple continue to invest in this platform is something that I wonder if other companies would do with such a “loss leader”. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the iPad next week.

It will be a challenge for me to watch the #AppleEvent today. I guess I’ll hit Apple.com later to read about all the new stuff.

I find it hard to save time for blogging while traveling. There is always so much to do that I kind of forget about writing. This post is an exception, though. 😂 we’re visiting Nice today. Been there once but it’s always fun to revisit great cities.

Nano glass option only available on 1TB & 2 TB configs. This is so Apple. 🤔☹️#appleevent

So, there are no “erasure” mode for the Apple apensil Pro?

I guess, I’ll have to go with the 11-inch 1TB configuration to get the nano display option and 16 GB of RAM. Oh well. One life to live.

Coming from a 2018 11-inch iPad Pro it will prove to be a massive update for me.

The M4 on the new iPad Pro triggers a need-to-upgrade narrative more than any iPadOS-only feature could. Sad but true. A macOS virtual machine could have been this “software-only” story that Apple chose not to be told.

Were these iPad announcements worth a press release or a keynote? For me, a press release would have been more than enough. I’m happy to see these powerful new iPad but since I’m coming from a 2018 iPad Pro, it’s not indicative of the current general mood.

After some reading about the new iPads, general sentiment seems to be: great but underutilized hardware. And getting more expensive.

I hate the way Apple is showing the new iPad Pro with a dark wallpaper we ain’t see the actual device! Is it on purpose so that we can’t compare bezels between old and new Pros?

If OpenAI upcoming announcement is about launching a search engine, I’ll take it in a heart beat. Anything that is challenging Google’s dominance is a win for all, even for Google.

Missed the opportunity to order an iPad Pro with nano texture glass and get it before my summer vacations on Jun 24th. Not great.

My old camera is up for sale on eBay (link). Just saying. If interested, let’s talk hello@numericcitizen.me. Tell me you saw this on Micro.blog (or Mastodon / Bluesky).

Posted a photo on my Ko-fi page this morning. It’s for supporters only. I shared some thoughts about street photography. I decided to use that page to share more personal stories that I don’t share elsewhere. It’s only the beginning. It will take time to open up more. It’s a journey.

Having to authenticate with Wordpress just to like a blog post is so “tired”.

To those who reviewed the new iPads and concluded that the hardware is great but iPadOS is the limiting factor: it is becoming tiring. The iPad is not and probably will never be a Mac. If you wanted utter flexibility, it’s the Mac. Why is it so hard? Can you just move on to something else? Thanks.

Mind Blown Again

I really liked the OpenAI short keynote, especially the few jabs at Google. What OpenAI is doing is simply mind-blowing. I’m still trying to wrap my head around all this. What isn’t clear, though, is as a paying member of ChatGPT, why would I continue to subscribe if I don’t use the live translation? One last thing: Siri looks like a prehistoric bot. Apple has to do something about this, and fast.

There is one thing that I really want to try and master with the new iPad that I couldn’t do before: explore and learn Final Cut Pro for iPad. It seems a more approachable version than on the desktop. Am I wrong?

Finally

Finally got the new iPad Pro: 11-inch, 512GB of storage, which means “only” 8GB of system RAM and no nano-texture display. I made the decision after spending 45 minutes testing the new iPad. The nano-texture display is super nice to the touch, but it does reduce image crispiness. With the Apple Pencil, that texture doesn’t really reproduce a paper-like feeling. That, I could add that later with Paperlike for iPad when it becomes available. Plus, I saved a lot of money. There is a limit to what I can and wish to spend on Apple hardware. 🤷🏻‍♂️ More details, like a mini-review, soon.

Skipping Nano-Texture Display on iPad — Why?

After spending half an hour in the Apple Store comparing iPads with and without the nano-texture display, I came to the conclusion to skip the nano-texture display and here are the reasons why:

1. The display doesn’t provide a paper-like sensation when using the Apple Pencil.

2. There is a subtle difference in image sharpness.

3. The blacks are less complete blacks, which cancels the OLED screen advantage.

4. The contrast seems to be a little bit lower on the nano-texture display.

The corollary of this decision is:

a) I’m saving some money.

b) Since I’m settling on the 512GB of storage, I’ll get only 8GB of system memory.

c) This iPad is a little bit less future-proof.

So, that’s it for the decision about this display finish!

This process of having to restore purchases to re-activate in-app purchase for each subscription even after a iPad migration or restore from the Mac is painful. 😣

When you think about it, not being able to mount an iPad as a USB drive on the Mac to do some files management, in 2024, it’s a bit … frustrating? In that respect, I do join my voice to those who think iPadOS is lacking in many areas, small and bigger.

Thought of the hour: I don’t think I’ll ever buy the Magic Keyboard for the iPad, thanks to having a MacBook Air. Yet, I do see that it is really improved compared to previous gen.

I’ve been baited into writing about touch screen Macs once more

I don’t think these Macs would look like today’s clamshell MacBooks, they would have a new form factor more similar to iPads.

What if a touchscreen Mac only allowed for scrolling content with fingers? If the touchscreen Mac is not convertible, what other use of touch than scrolling would people do with a touchscreen Mac? What are people doing on Windows with a touch screen, really?

On iPadOS, I wish I could tap outside a window (Stage Manager being active) to dismiss the front app and return to the Home Screen. I’m a Mac user too, so this is something expected. Why not on iPad?

🚨Hey, it’s Sunday! And you know what happens on each Sunday? It’s time for the new edition of the weekly creative summary newsletter! Here you go, ladies and gentlemen! Enjoy. Made with care and love. 😌

I generally prefer high-contrast images when doing black & white photography. What do you think?

Experiencing A Serious Bug With M4 iPad Pro

I’m experiencing an rather frustrating issue with my M4 iPad Pro: I’m experimenting with an external displayy (LG 4K UltraFine) with a thunderbolt cable. Everything works fine until the iPad starts acting up and disable the external display. It’s like if the cable was being disconnected and reconnected every few seconds. A restart of the iPad fixes the issue for a little while. Very frustrating to say the least. Probably a bug with iPadOS 17.5. I was hoping to test the external display but I’ll have to wait a little bit more.

I wonder if a good way to learn about Final Cut Pro is to start with the iPad version. I’ve started testing it with the sample project. Surprisingly, the iPad had trouble handling my UI interactions. This is a M4 iPd Pro, mind you. 😣😳 Also, FCP for iPad reminds me a lot about iMovie. And I’m not sure this is a good thing.

Just downloaded three YouTube videos on my Mac, ran MacWhisper¹ to generate the transcripts, then uploaded the resulting files into ChatGPT for a summarization and to get a few answers to my numerous questions. I saved about an hour of work. What a wonderful time to be alive!²

Slowly but surely, I’m refining my use case for my Ko-fi page: more personal stories and content, something that I don’t share elsewhere. The very small paywall makes me feel comfortable to share this kind of content. When I get millions of supporters, I might revisit this, but until then, I’m glad of doing what I’m doing there¹.

I’m happy to see some countries recognize Palestine as a state. Bravo to Spain, Norway and Ireland. Who’s next, Canada? Israel is furious. Who knew.

It seems that we communicate less and less by words… more and more by images and videos. I find it fascinating that GenAI and ChatGPT forces us (for now) to return to written words in order to communicate and interact with GenAI tools¹. Just a thought.

Each week, I try to discover a new photographer on Glass. It’s fun and stimulating. I share the discovery on my weekly creative summary newsletter, just for you to know.

Today was the day when I got rid of this little baby. It was a great looking computer. I gave it to a local tech refurbishing store¹. RIP 2007-2017.

With Omnivore, these are the tags that cover 99% of my tagging needs.

⚠️ It’s time for the 2024-20 edition of my weekly creative summary! Not my best week, but good enough to share! 👨🏻‍💻😅 Index to past editions can be reached here. Newsletter going out by email later today. 📬

With the new M4 iPad Pro, when using the Apple Folio at the lowest position, if the iPad is in my hands in portrait mode, when putting the iPad on the table, the screen won’t rotate in landscape mode unless I play with the iPad to force a rotation. That’s not exactly a tuned up experience.

Today I decided to cancel my subscription to Toggl time tracking service and to Timery, a wonderful Toggl client. I used to track my time as a creator but I think it’s time to move on and leave those behind. You can see my reports in each weekly creative summary. It’s quite a chore to always think to start and stop timers. I feel relieved now.

The last day of May 2024 is here. It’s hard to believe that June is just around the corner and that in 10 days, we’ll get a new iteration of Apple’s operating system at WWDC. I don’t have high expectations for Apple this year, so let the surprises unfold.

I still have my Medium account and content. I’m not sure what to do with it. I still get trafic to my posts. I updated my profile page this morning to remove a reference to my Linktr.ee page that I’m phasing out later this year.

Lock him up NOW. Lock him up NOW. Lock him up NOW. Lock him up NOW. 🤡
#trump

I’m getting really tired of the West being afraid of conflict escalation and of Russia. The more we wait to really get our act together, the worse it will get.

Numeric Citizen Blog

Brought my iPad with me but failed to use it once after arriving at the hotel as I prefer my iPhone¹. I wonder what it means, if it means anything regarding my love of the iPad and my future plans of upgrading.

I like HEY mail but I rarely use the client to read The Feed, which is a bit sad. There was no improvement to the reading experience since HEY release. Anyone with the same experience?

Testing Micro.blog macOS app version 3.2. I should use it more often when I’m on a Mac, which is 95% of the time! Fun fact: If I understand Micro.blog premium subscription capabilities correctly, I have one more blog available in my five-blog allotment¹.🕺🏻👀🤔

If rumors are true that Trump’s plan to end the war in Ukraine when he returns to the Office is for both sides to save face. How do you achieve that if the rumoured plan is for Ukraine to cease Crimea and Donbas regions to Russia? How is Ukraine saving face here? What a motherfucker this guy is. This “plan” really reflects the way he conducted himself during is “business career” and as an acting president. I hope he goes to hell. 😡

Feeling Undecided — Thinking Out Loud

Believe it or not, I’m still undecided about what to use for my summer travel journal. My options are 1) A new dedicated blog with Micro.blog, 2) Scribbles, 3) Pixelfed, 4) None of the above. I’m also undecided about how much effort I want to put into this. Micro.blog’s image handling concerns me¹. Scribbles is in a similar position². This leaves me with Pixelfed. Yet, this question is fundamental to my decision: it is more about images or words. It’s the former. I might end up with Pixelfed. Or with a bit of everything³. Decision. Decision. Decision.

I hate to put things like Apple gear for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Most people are rude, lacking any civility, and not trustworthy. Still looking for a serious buyer for my 2013 Trashcan Mac Pro. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’m seriously considering selling my 2018 11-inch iPad Pro, Apple Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil as a bundle, very cheap, before the new iPad Pro comes out, while dollars value is still reasonable. The thing is that I don’t want to setup my new iPad from an iCloud backup, these are slow and are missing quite a few pieces of data. The Migration Assistant method is so much more effective. I should decide this weekend. 🤔

Sold my little Mac Pro trash can for $600 CAN¹. Not bad for a 1TB SDD, 128GB of RAM and the 12-core Xeon 2.7 GHz configuration. And the Thunderbolt 2 cable and TB 3 to TB2 adaptor. Not the keyboard or mouse, as they are still useful for me. Sometimes. 🙂

So, the US defence secretary doesn’t like this idea of Ukraine hitting oil refineries in Russia, because they are civilian targets and because it could affect the global oil market. How about Russia, who’s 99% of the time hitting civilian targets in Ukraine for more than two years? This position is not defendable. Imagine if Russia hit 1% of the US civilian targets. Imagine that.

Jony Ive searching for funding to help develop a dedicated AI device. I hope he will succeed with his iPad.🤣

After my iPad Pro, my “old” 2020 Mac mini is next¹.

Ten years (oops, fourteen) years of iPad. This article, first published more than four years ago, takes another dimension on the eve of new iPad releases.

Can you imagine having spent $12,000 up-front for Tesla’s “full self driving” only to see it descoped to “supervised driving” and then price slashed to $99/mo? Congrats on being given the privilege of training Elon’s model for a huge fee!

Can you spell “class action lawsuit”?

🚨 After a three-week pause, here comes the latest weekly creative summary, a day earlier. I hope you enjoy this edition. Coming later by email to my dear subscribers. ✌🏻

In Search of a New and Optimized Photo Processing Workflow

Now that I’m no longer in Adobe’s ecosystem for my photo processing needs, I depend on Photomator and Synology Photos. I need to create an optimized workflow: upload photos to Synology¹, browse and tag the pictures I want to process using Synology Photos tags, then edit them in Photomator. This is the last is a challenge: RAW images need to be converted to a DNG format², and then edited in Photomator before exporting the end results in JPEG. I need to download RAW images manually out of Synology Photos then import them in Photomator for processing. Processed images should then be imported into Apple Photos for easy access.

For the first time since its release¹, I’m using iCloud Shared Photo Library with my wife for the home improvement project. It’s really well done and fits perfectly my needs.

Funny that, reading a random post this morning, stumbled on that one. A year later and I found a use case for Bear.

On Micro.blog, Scribbles, And Multi-homing

It’s easier for me to do this using Scribbles editor. I don’t know why. Might be a combination of how the compose screen is styled and laid out, plus the use of a WYSIWYG editor. But whatever it is, it all combines into an experience where the words flow a little easier for me. That’s probably the only way I can describe it. There’s nothing really empirical about it all, but maybe that’s the point. It’s involves the emotional side of writing: the “look and feel”.

I prefer Scribbles editor to Micro.blog’s, too. There is something about Scribbles that makes the experience more enjoyable. But I’m still using Micro.blog for longer posts and Scribbles for short ones, except maybe the /Now posts. Well, it’s complicated. Anyhow, I think Micro.blog’s post editor needs some more love.

The Magic Is Gone - Initial Charge

The magic of Apple’s retail stores is gone.

Except when the new iPad Pro launches, which should be the case pretty soon.

Went outside today for lunch and took my camera¹ with me. What a good idea it was. I like this a lot because it is an opportunity to take a mental break from work. When I’m coming back to work, I’m more enthusiastic.

The House of Representatives are going to vote on separate bills for Ukraine and Israel aid this weekend. My fear is that aid for Israel gets a go but not Ukraine which would be devastating. This could be a turning point.

I’m currently working on building a creator dashboard in Craft and it’s fun but Craft is rather limited compared to Notion. I’m working on an upcoming video about that! Stay tuned.

I’m cautiously happy to see the American settle and go ahead with the military aid for Ukraine (and Taiwan). Time is seriously running out, and I’m afraid that the West falls in the “too little too late” trap. Now finish this and ship the good stuff out ASAP FTW!

I want to discover a new blog, any suggestions for me?

Now ☀️9 °C - 🌡️2 °C - 🌧️29%

1. Today, I wanted to try something different and write this post on Micro.blog instead of Scribbles. Since the Micro.blog editor is so far behind Scribbles’, I’m using Ulysses for this experiment. Sadly, people won’t be able to reply using a contact form because my blog on Micro.blog doesn’t offer one. In any case, say hello@numericcitizen.me!
2. Today is a special day—video recording day! I’m excited to share more about my creator dashboard, a project I’ve been passionately building in Craft.
3. I’ve been editing photos with Photomator recently and discovered that for some photos, Photomator would create a sidecar file which is more than 100 MB in size, while for other photos, the sidecar file is only around a hundred kilobytes, under similar editing workflows.
4. I find Grammarly to be overly iterative when suggesting corrections. After applying a suggestion, it will iterate and suggest something else that it could have figured out in the first place. They are transitioning to AI, and I think it will help. Oh, and Grammarly considers markdown formatting marks to be corrected.
5. Yesterday, after watching this video, I wondered if I should switch to FinalCut Pro for my video production. There are things that I find super cool and useful in FCP that I don’t have in Screenflow like Gling.ai.
6. It took me 22 minutes to write this post.
7. Maybe I could alternate between Scribbles and Micro.blog for this /Now post. What do you think? Don’t miss previous /Now posts on Scribbles.
8. This is a photo that I processed yesterday night. A better version will soon be available on my Glass page, though.

🚨Okay, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the newest edition of my weekly creative summary! Thanks for taking the time to have a peek at it. 😊 If you prefer the email version, it’s coming up later today, but be sure to subscribe here!

Design Is Hard

I’ve been discussing a lot about design in general with my wife recently regarding our home improvement project. Design is hard. The process of redesigning a 3D space (a room, a bathroom) is not trivial but I think we should always try to start from a minimalistic concept from which we can build on step by step later. Also, not everyone has the same ability to visualize something in 3D without first seeing it for real, even with 3D computer assisted design. It will be a long journey.

Taking photos of decorative materials with the iPhone is really tricky. The automatic white balance makes everything look wrong and we cannot trust the photo to reproduce what we actually saw and perceived. How are designers doing with their phones?

Dashboards are among the most popular use cases for Notion. As a Craft user, it is tempting to try creating a dashboard that suits my needs, but that gets its inspiration from what others are doing in Notion. I tried it and the following video tells it all. Enjoy.

{{< youtube “z7Z1rJhtmk0” >}}

On Comfort Zones

Today, I’ll bring my camera to the office¹, as I’m declaring myself as the official photographer for the two-day yearly sales kickoff event. I’ll take photos of humans, which is not my cup of tea, but I need to try it more and get out of my comfort zone. Usually my problem while photographing humans is anticipation and timing. Some people are very good at it, but I’m not. So, I need to practice. Comfort zones are killing creativity and learning.

If Ukraine has been outgunned 5 to 1 or 10 to 1 is some parts of the front for weeks, why is Russia not making more advances?

“🇬🇷🇪🇸 The EU and NATO are putting “strong pressure” on Greece and Spain to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems, the Financial Times reports, citing its sources. This pressure is justified by the “safe geographical location of the countries” and the presence of more than a dozen Patriot and S-300 systems.”

This is insane that those countries keep their systems while Ukraine is in such needs. 🤬

It’s a bit sad that I won’t be able to watch the new iPad announcement in two weeks as I’ll be abroad on a cruise ship. I won’t pre-order the new iPad Pro either because I won’t be able to read all the news beforehand. This could mean that I’ll face delays in getting the new device. 😩

Ghost and ActivityPub Support - We All Win

I’m a bit late to the game but I just read the announcement by Ghost about their ActivityPub support that is coming to their platform. I find this development super exciting; one of my site is on Ghost. Having people subscribe to my content via their favorite Mastodon client is super cool. But what is cooler is that people will be able to reply to my articles right from here on Micro.blog and get their reply published right under my articles, just like on Micro.blog. I think this is a good way to offer a reduced friction experience compared to having to log in to post a reply, which is the standard way to interact with a Ghost blog post. Can’t wait to see this coming this year.

Hey guys, I’m looking for an app that can browser folders containing photos. This app would display photo’s metadata too and allow for adjusting the thumbnails size. Any recommendations for me? I’m looking for an alternative to Adobe Bridge. Thanks.

Overrated x 1000

Microsoft 365 or Office 365, if you prefer, is so overrated. Microsoft is the master of selling licenses but when it comes down to doing real serious collaborative work with Teams and the rest of the software suite it falls apart really quickly. For example: trying to collaborated on a Word document, creating comments and assigning a task toi someone… nobody knows really where the task is actually saved! And no one seems to get a notification… or nobody cares to look at the activity tab in Teams because it is so overwhelming! Oh and don’t get me started with Microsoft Loop, a pale copycat of Notion. And should we talk about Visio? I prefer not.

I’m so fed up of working in an IT field where everyone is short sighted with Microsoft. I mean, there are so much more powerful collaborative apps out there.

/rantoff

It’s been such a long time since Apple redesigned their Magic Mouse. Is this the only solution to an old problem? And this charging port underneath, could they try to fix this nonsense too? Hard to believe Apple can be so slow at fixing the obvious.

Security Is Hard for Everyone

This morning, my wife picked up her iPhone and tried to unlock it¹. She couldn’t after a few try². She tried a few times with a slight variation, but the iPhone refused to unlock itself, now showing a 15-minute delay on the lock screen. Her passcode is a complex one as per corporate security rules. She knows it by heart, she told me. She doesn’t know what to do, and she is in deep doubt now. Eventually, she asked me for help, but I told her I cannot do much about it³.

At first, I thought it was the infamous Apple ID being locked out, but it’s not the case. As a reminder: the passcode used to unlock your iPhone has little to do with your Apple ID. But, when using 2FA, the iPhone is required to get access to the Apple ID and must be unlocked for this to work. Maybe this is why people think they are both linked together. It’s not the case.

As I finish writing this up, my wife tried again to unlock her iPhone and it worked. All is good now. But it’s a reminder that, for most people, security is hard. It’s hard to experience. It’s hard to explain. It’s hard to get over it.

Today I might have hit the max my M1 Mac mini could give me: while exporting my video in ScreenFlow, I was editing a photo in Photomator. The latter couldn’t keep up with me trying different settings on my image.

You want to know more about all the new features and tweaks introduced on Micro.blog in the last two months? Here’s a video that I made today for you guys. Enjoy. cc @jean @manton

{{< youtube “M0-0d0vgMKM” >}}

🔥 It’s still Sunday where I live, and it’s time to share the newest edition of the weekly creative summary! Coming up soon to a mailbox near you¹. 😅

Calling for suggestions: I’d like to back up my iCloud Photos Library content locally on my Synology NAS, but I don’t want to use the built-in “Download Originals to this Mac” of Apple Photos. Any utility that does that? Thanks!

On AI Pin, Rabbit R1 and Apple Vision Pro.

From what I’m reading and seeing, the AI Pin and Rabbit R1 are terrible devices for potentially great AI use cases, while the Apple Vision Pro is a technology marvel device with weak use cases. The former are probably DOA because they risk lacking funding to keep the show going, while Apple’s massive resources might save the Apple Vision Pro from a complete failure.

For some reason, tonight, I miss Medium. I used to love writing for it and reading from it. I still have close to 800 followers, albeit the number really never change, which I find strange.

Three years later and it’s funny to remember where I came from and why I’ve migrated to Ghost for everything¹, not only my newsletter.

Numeric Citizen Blog

On Single-Purpose Device Attractiveness

This week during a work meeting with my office colleagues, one of them was using a “remarkable” tablet to take notes. I was sitting right next to him and could see the tablet in action. I must say I was impressed. It’s certain that a “remarkable” tablet offers very limited functionality compared to an iPad, but it raises the following question: Should Apple consider going back to creating single-purpose devices? For example, the iPhone killed the iPod, but I think if Apple re-entered the market with a new line of iPods, it would be very popular. And I think the same would be true for a note-taking tablet.

I made a big cleanup in my Shortcuts this morning. Boy, do I feel this app needs so much more work to be enjoyable to use. Can Apple fix this mess? Editing a long shortcut is not optimal. There should be a compressed or text-only mode with inline hyperlinks for variables and actions. Syncing is broken—no debugging option. There should be a way to turn off a shortcut so it doesn’t appear in places like share sheets. I wish Apple spent more time on Shortcuts than they do on Swift Playground. Oh, is Apple going to enable creating Shortcuts using GenAI? That would be really cool. 👀🤔

Week number eight is complete. You can read my weekly creative summary right HERE! Coming up later for newsletter subscribers. Thanks for reading about my work. 🙏🏻

For Micro.blog lovers and enthusiasts, I made a video summarizing February improvements and additions. Enjoy.
{{< youtube “PsrrvDhFY98” >}}

One Big Regret of My Digital Life

One of the things I regret the most is not having had the idea of creating a blog in the 90s (and keeping it until today). Surprisingly, I learned about HTML, web servers like Apache and Netscape when it became popular¹. I didn’t click with the idea of owning a small portion of the Internet to share what I was becoming at that time. What a missed opportunity.

🔗 Source: Apple to Announce New Products This Week - MacRumors

Apple plans to announce new products with press releases on its website this week, a proven source familiar with the matter told MacRumors.

After over a year without any new iPad, is Apple going through the press release route? It can’t be about cost-cutting. Or is it? I can’t wait to see what’s in store for potential upgraders like me.

AI Training: Ethics or Coverage?

Some authors on the internet are against using their content without permission to train the models behind generative AI. As a blogger, this question often comes to my mind. On one hand, I believe that training without permission poses an ethical issue. I am unsure if we have genuinely addressed this question as a society. On the other hand, I question the danger of many authors wanting to silence their voices by blocking the training process to access their online content. Now more than ever, I feel that all voices are essential in ensuring that model training reflects our diversity as much as possible. I don’t want bots and haters to win the race. We, as authors, need to offer resistance. I’m not sure how this challenge will be solved, if ever.

Photo-editing on the iPad using Photomator is such a joy. I can’t wait to go with the upcoming iPad Pro. The iPad is the perfect devide for photo-editing with the Apple Pencil. With the switch to the OLED technology, it will be even better.

When my sons got old enough, I offered them their first email address on Gmail. That made them happy. They didn’t have an iPhone to use it but they could sit down in front of a computer and start writing emails. I wonder if I came up with an empty but ready-to-use blog if they would react the same? Probably not.

I prefer Bear 2 over Craft for managing my reading notes created when using Omnivore and Readwise. This is what the following video is about: migrating from Craft to Bear and why I made that decision. Enjoy.

{{< youtube “wZCgVYwqz8E” >}}

I’m done with this week’s creative summary, edition 2024-09. I hope you enjoy as much as I do putting them together, each week. 👨🏻‍💻

Just finish experimenting with Obsidian¹. I’m always fascinated by Obsidian but also unpleased by its user interface’s uninspired and unfinished feel. Passing for now.

I wish Apple made special editions of their current and past products. A special edition of the iPod would be a killer and I would buy one. Something running a stripped down iOS version, with a fix set of apps (music, podcast, video) a in unique device that takes cue from the past but also try different new things. It could be a way for Apple to experiment in public and get feedback. Apple could try MacBook with different casing materials, colors and finish. Those special edition products would be available for a while.

I wish Apple would try to reinvent itself more often.

Been testing FeedLand this morning. I’m still trying to figure out what it is really about. As a subscriber to Inoreader, I wonder if I really need FeedLand in my digital life. Anyone using FeedLand here? 👀

Why is Dave Winer still caring about Twitter and Facebook? Mr. Winer is such a proponent of the open web… and interoperability… Twitter and Facebook are the antithesis of those principles.

What is the best way to fix the FOMO syndrome when it comes to RSS feeds? Simply hit “mark all as read”. You are welcome.

The future doesn't belong to optimists or pessimists. It does what it wants. Here's what's plausible to me: Apple has a lot of brains, brand loading and market power... So AVP will find its place. To me, this didn't change everything. The iPhone had that effect. On top of that, the device doesn't have the usual Apple fetish character. It doesn't say "You want this, don't you?" **It doesn't make you look good and part of a cool tribe. From outside makes you look confused, foolish and sad.**

Oliver Reichenstein writing about his experience with the Apple Vision Pro. Emphasis is mine.

I find this fascinating that yesterday, I was in such bad mood about a lot of things (work life, personal life) and now, today, after a good night, I’m feeling much more upbeat! I can’t tell why because I don’t know. Human mind is a complete mystery. 😌

Like a few others, I’m proud to join the One a Month Club put together by @jarrod [^1]! You can show your support here on Ko-fi! I might post exclusive content on Ko-fi like a photo or a small personal text on a monthly basis. I’ll see where it goes!

[^1] I’m not sure how to get my page registered on Jarrod’s page, though. 🤔

Is a corporate “blog”, still a blog? Take for example: Information Architects news site. Some posts like this one are really about musing on specific subjects, not directly related to the company’s products. I understand the marketing value proposition is maintaining a blog for a company, and yet…

Asking for a friend. 🫣🕵🏻

Gearing up for our next trip to the United States of America[^1] on October, 2024: going to New York for a long weekend. Right before the elections. And you know what? It will take a long time before I back in the US if this dangerous clown ever gets elected[^2].

[^1] I prefer the long version.
[^2] That will happen my friends. Mark my words.

Must Have Public Mental Health Disclaimer

I’ve been reflecting on blogrolls deeply in recent days and started writing an article on that subject. While doing so, an idea came up and I decided to write something that I think anyone who builds and shares a blogroll should add on it as an introduction. I’m reproducing it here.

This is my blogroll. This is a list of blogs that I visit often for different reasons. If you are a blogger and you don’t see your blog in this list, don’t be sad or offended. But I want to say that I’m sorry if you feel that way. Now, why not get in touch with me and share about your blog. I love to discover new things. hello@numericcitizen.me

If I were in my thirties, I would run my own instance of Pixelfed. If I were in my twenties, I would build a Pixelfed alternative.

It’s Sunday, It’s time for the weekly creative summary, edition 2024-10! Enjoy! Please, consider supporting my creative work and visit my Ko-fi page! 🙏🏻 Thanks. The email version is coming out later today for my subscribers! Hold on!

Apple seems to be on a streak of really questionable decisions regarding the App Store and the developer’s community in general that will take years for them before they can say: oh gosh, we fucked up. But it might be too late when they do because developers will be doing their things elsewhere. I’m looking for the day Apple more openly admits it is doing wrong.

On Presenting

Just completed a one hour customer presentation this morning. It was the culmination of a six-week project that shoud lead to bigger opportunities. I love doing presentations and I’m really comfortable doing so in front of people, especially when it is directly related to my field of expertise.

Each time I prepare such presentations, I always think about Steve Jobs keynotes. Always. He was a model for me. And still is. There is a little bit of his way into my presentation delivery: setting the stage, telling a story, and a « one more thing » whenever possible.

Added a new entry to my blogroll: Enthusiasms. A great blog about many things: sciences, weather, sometimes about Apple, gardening, etc. This guy do have many passions and is enthusiastic about many things. Warning: some rabbit holes in there¹.

Not Everything Should Be "Timeless"

Today, I came across a blog via someone’s else blogroll, and to my surprise, while browsing the blog’s content, I couldn’t find a single post with a publication date. So, let me be clear: I’m not feeling at ease when visiting a blog that don’t display publication date for each post. I can of understand the idea of “timeless” content, but I feel at lost with the author’s decision. I need time references in my digital life so I can better understand the content and the context. Call me old school if you want. I’m ok with this.

On Stage Manager - Again

So, I don’t miss Stage Manager on macOS and my M2 15-inch MacBook Air, apparently. I realized today that I disabled Stage Manager a while ago and forgot to reenable it. Speaking of Stage Manager, it is permanently turned off on my 2018 iPad Pro because it isn’t usable, but this is something that I’m looking forward to reenabling on the new iPad Pro and plugging my iPad into my LG UltraFine 4K display, and see, maybe, a new iPad experience since a long time¹. I can’t wait to try that.

On Writing Inline Links

Each time I write a sentence with an inline link to something else, I’m hesitating. Here are two examples.

V1: When I read this article I simply couldn’t believe it.

V2: When I read Gurman: No iPad Announcement Planned for March 26, I simply couldn’t believe it.

Which version makes better sense? Which version will trigger a click to visit the link? Linking from within sentences (inline) gives great explanations on how to do the latter¹. Right now, I’m 99% of the time using the version 1 but I consider changing my writing style to go with version 2 as often as possible.

I decided to use my Ko-fi page to share more personal tidbits about me and my creative journey. These are behind the One-a-month subscription. I feel at ease sharing these things because they are behind a tiny shield: the paywall. If you want to know more about me and get virtually closer, now it’s possible. Please, come in and enjoy the ride.

I find it insulting and inhumane to ask Ukraine to stop hitting the oil refineries in Russia for fear of causing a rise in gas prices. The Americans didn’t hesitate to go take down Saddam Hussein and trigger the Gulf War, nothing less. What a bunch of hypocrites. I’m fuming.

DOS vs Apple - Am I Getting Too Old?

I’m unsure if I’m getting too old, but topics like DOJ vs Apple and everything preceding it are too complex for me to dive into. It may be a vital part of Apple’s current history, but I struggle to grasp it. I appreciate the efforts of non-professional tech pundits and Apple enthusiasts who delve deep into this and share their perspectives tirelessly. I’m not reading all the comments and takes on this, again because there as way too many. I do understand too that the course of the iPhone experience might see an inflection point in the coming years, if what is currently happening in the EU is any indication. I think it’s sad because the bases for this aren’t forming a consensus; something probably unachievable.

This all explain my indecision about who’s right, who’s wrong. I don’t trust governments’ capabilities in understanding our tech world, that’s for sure, which means I’m not optimistic about the future of this particular case. Apple is big. So is Google. Facebook. And the like. They are the fruit of the “American way”. I guess that at some point, we prefer mediocrity in the name of “open markets” and to give an “equal” chance to all who wold like to compete.

“One way or another, real competition may be coming to the iPhone” - The Platformer about the DOJ vs Apple lawsuit.

Oh, come on.

Raycast is becoming a powerhouse; it’s almost unbelievable. I just finished testing the latest release, which includes a Chrome companion extension. This extension allows invoking Raycast to perform tasks within the context of the currently open website in the browser. It’s super handy for summarizing an article or a YouTube video. I’m considering upgrading my Raycast subscription to support more advanced ChatGPT integration and models. 🤑

Now that my Pixelfed presence is well established with more than 650 photos posted, I officially closed my Smugmug account. My photo-sharing journey can now be summarized like this: Flickr ➡️ 500px ➡️ Smugmug ➡️ Glass + Pixelfed. And, of course, I still do use Unsplash. My profile pages are documented on my digital hub.

Here’s an idea: get a generative AI bot to browse all my photo posts on my Pixelfed profile page and generate a lengthy description of my photography style.

Today, 2024-03-24, it’s Sunday, and it’s time for the latest edition of my weekly creative summary, edition 2024-11, available right here. Available later today by email to my dear subscribers! Enjoy.

I’ve been setting up a group of to-do lists in Apple Reminders for managing our home improvement project. Each list is shared with my wife which means that each task can be assigned to one of us. I really like my experience so far.

Since March 13, 2020¹, I mostly work from home, coming to the office only once a week². One negative side effect of this important change of habit is that I don’t go out often, so photo opportunities are close to none. I don’t know how to compensate for this. 😔

@Denny wrote:

I don’t view myself as a “content creator” and recoil at that phrase. I keep a blog as a way to stay involved in the world. Simply put, my motivation is to write, share, read, engage, learn. My contribution is a drop in the ocean and irrelevant to me beyond it being my tiny contribution to the collective whole.

This thought really resonated with me. So much that I’m considering to replace “compulsive creator” to “compulsive contributor” in my bio. It is so much more meaningful and positive.

I just finished a quick Facebook session to see what’s new for my Mac Pro that I put for sale on the marketplace. I switched to my late father’s Facebook account to see if something needed attention. Nothing. Depressing. What the fuck is Facebook now?

Logging My Intentional Actions

I log quite a lot of things I do online using Things 3 Logbook feature to use this in my weekly creative summaries. I log what I do intentionally, of course, otherwise this would be way too noisy. One example is watching this video about Siegfried Hansen, a respected street photographer¹. Reading an article in Omnivore is another intentional action that I want to log.

The process is simple: I have many pending tasks in Things 3, in a project called “To Read, Watch, Listen & Process.” I do select a task, do it, then mark it as completed. It then goes into Things 3 Logbook. It’s cool.²³

Numeric Citizen Blog

Basic Apple Guy writing about the Apple Vision Pro:

For now, Vision Pro remains a very exclusive playground for developers and enthusiasts, clay waiting to be moulded into something quite incredible for the future.

Craig Hockenberry writing about the Mac turning 40:

Apple Vision Pro is a technical marvel, but ultimately falls short in ways that satisfy the natural curiosity of developers.

Time will tell if a new generation of developers will find their way to be creative and think outside the box¹. Otherwise, Apple will eventually have to try harder to think outside the box.

I’ll probably buy an Apple Vision Pro when it arrives in Canada. My wife doesn’t know it. She will undoubtedly question my decision. She can be challenging at times. But I’ll go ahead anyway. We don’t have a home theatre by today’s standards. We never invested money into these technologies. But this time, it’s different. It’s a too important moment in technology to pass.

I'm Sorry but Apple Vision Pro Is Another VR Headset, or Is It?

Of all people who reviewed or are now active users of the Apple Vision Pro, some are mentioning, rightfully, that this is not about AR¹ but 95% about VR². Apple doesn’t want to admit it, but this is a VR headset. Why is that? Is is because it is “easier”³ to recreate something from the ground up (the virtual world enabled by visionOS) than taking the reality and adding meaningful and useful stuff to it? I see much more limited use case for augmented reality than for virtual reality. It might change in the future, now that people are now exposed to it through other people using the headset sharing their experience.

The Next One Is My Best

I just completed recording my next YouTube video (my YouTube channel), which will come out early next week. It’s probably the one I’m the most proud of at many levels. The release will match the release of a new version of an app that I like a lot 🤫. Technically, the sound is good. I’me using Bezels to demo the app on the iPad and the iPhone, a first for me. The video structure seems logical and should help the viewers in learning new things. Can’t wait to share that one. I hope it will get the attention I’m hoping for. 🤞🏻

If you’re a Craft user and are looking for ways that Gen AI could add value to the Craft Assistant, I wrote this document. I think there is an untapped potential in Craft because of minimalistic support for the ChatGPT entry-level model. Feedback is welcome.

Folks, I think I’ve finally rationalized it. Don’t think of it as a PURCHASE. Think of it as an advanced prototype that you’ve paid Apple for the PRIVILEGE of testing.

Thinking about the Apple Vision Pro, the right way.

Craft release v2.7.0 is a big one. There are lots of improvements that should please a majority of users. I played with it while in beta and created a video to give users a visual look at what’s new. The Craft Bible also was updated to include the release analysis, now part of the subscription.

About This Permanent State of Being Undecided With Apps

I have been a happy user of Apple Safari for the last decade. If possible, I prefer using Apple’s browser, thanks to its privacy protection and features. If something doesn’t work in Safari, I will try Firefox. I’ll do everything possible to skip Google Chrome. I use Microsoft Edge because of its integration with Microsoft 365 at work. But Safari is never too far, just in case. It’s now my fall-back plan. Why this change? Because of the Arc Browser, which is now my main browser.

I’m the type of user who always tries to find a use case for an app that I really like, even if it is superseded with a better one. I love Craft. I always use it in my creative hobbies, but I found a great use case for Notion at work. I like Apple Reminder for family-related tasks but use Things 3 for my creative hobbies. I like Apple Calendar for my personal life but prefer Fantastical for the office. I keep both. I like HEY mail but must use Outlook at the office.

This constant duality in my choices about which app to use sometimes looks like psychological trouble. 😬🤷🏻‍♂️

It’s now official: Trump and his clown followers are complicit of Putin. Disgusting. Disclaimer: this blog hosts my thoughts and mild-venting about the war in Ukraine 🇺🇦.

A satisfying exercise for me is to open Glass on my iPad and start to glance at photos and members. Each time, my goal is to subscribe to three members with photos that I like. Today, unexpectedly, I stumbled on the announcement of the upcoming Series feature. I can’t waitt for that one. Pixelfed isn’t really good at this, posting a bunch of related photos in one post.

Since getting a MacBook a few years ago, my iPad usage drastically dropped, to a point where sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever upgrade my aging 2018 11-inch iPad Pro. Yesterday, I spent the whole evening on it for reading and watching YouTube. It was a reminder that I still the love the iPad form factor and I couldn’t live without one.

Sometimes, I have an idea for what would be a short blog post, and start writing it, thinking I’ll share it here on Micro.blog. As I’m writing my article, it grows and grows and grows to a point where I need to reconsider where I’m going to share the article. When I cross the 500 words mark¹, this is where it makes more sense to post on my main website which is dedicated to long and less in-the-moment thoughts. I’m working on a long one about micro.blog. Stay tuned.

While I’m still waiting my invite for Scribbles (tick tock tick tock @vincent 😬), I’m thinking of a possible use case. And I think I might be on the verge of finding one. My digital presence goes like this: Space ➡️ Blog ➡️ (…something small, tiny blips…) Blips. More to come soon.

I’ll be blipping soon. 👀

From an Idea to Blips

As I wrote earlier today, I’ve been wondering about a possible use case for Scribbles¹. It took me about 5 minutes to get my idea, and it is called Blips, Numeric Citizen Blips, to be more precise². Blips will enable me to share… short blips of my digital life. I should be fun, noisy at times. But not too much. Enjoy. Or not. 🙃

🔥 It’s still Sunday where I live, and it’s time to share the newest edition of the weekly creative summary! Coming up soon to a mailbox near you. 😅

When people are nervous and under pressure, their worst tendencies often surface easily. 😌

My uneducated expectations tell me that Apple will announce Apple Vision Pro expanded availability to Canada during their highly expected and anticipated event announcing the iPad Pro refresh.

It’s the perfect coffee shop kit for me. At first, I didn’t think of going out today, but I realized that I spend all weekdays at home for work. I guess it was time to see the world and enjoy a creative session at the coffee shop while listening to music. Slow vibes¹.

I wrote a little article¹ explaining how I’m using Ghost’s API to “browse” published articles so that I can select an article that I want to update.

It’s time for the 2024-06 issue of my weekly creative summary! Not my best week, but good enough to share! 👨🏻‍💻😅 I created an index for the past editions. Newsletter going out by email soon. 📬

I wasn’t invited to share my thoughts on this year’s SixColors Apple performance performance report, So I’m writing my own performance report. 😛

Apple Vision Pro Returns https://initialcharge.net/2024/02/gurman-vision-pro-returns/

I wonder, sometimes, about the Apple Vision Pro ending up in the drawer, just like pre-iPod era MP3 players. Time will tell.

Apple Journals is iPhone only. Apple Sports is iPhone only¹. Apple Classical is iPhone only. Did Apple forget about the iPad? What should we conclude from this? Will it take years to come to the iPad, just like the Health app? Isn’t that easy to make an iPad version of an app?

🔗 Elon Musk nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Billionaire Elon Musk — whose businesses range from satellites to social media — was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by a Norwegian lawmaker who praised the X owner as a “stout proponent for free speech.”

You must be kidding me! While at it, why not nominate Putin for his fight against nazis in Ukraine. Beyond ridiculous.

Yesterday I did a 20-min presentation on how to take advantage of ChatGPT and GenAI tools at work, for my colleagues. Many of them didn’t learn anything because they already experimented with these tools. For others, they learned quite a bit and I saw their enchantment in their eyes. This reminds of 1993 when I gave a similar presentation about tools like Netscape, Newsgroups, Gopher, and Mail and how to use http requests. Today, we need to learn how to create effective “prompts”.

I’m still looking into new use cases for using Micro.blog’s new blog limits¹. Porting a portion of my meta blog is one such use case, but porting this portion would be really difficult. I might go ahead with a dual publication: I keep the Craft version because it is richer and faster to publish but also publish on Micro.blog because of RSS support and better integration with my Micro.blog digital community.

After much thinking, I decided not to create exclusive content for paying subscribers of numericcitizen.me. Reason #1: I don’t publish often enough to warrant such a decision. Reason #2: I don’t have the time to create such content and don’t want to feel the pressure. Reason #3: I prefer asking for support for my whole creative journey. In a sense, someone subscribing encourages the pursuit of my journey by saying: can’t wait to read what’s coming! Are you one of those? 🙂

Finalizing This Week's Creative Summary — Plus: An Idea

It’s Sunday, and you know the drill: it’s time to share my latest edition of the weekly creative summary. It’s mostly complete, so this week’s edition partially follows the “build in public” movement. I wonder if I should start sharing the document at the beginning of the process so that you can see the whole creation process as I’m working on the current edition. What do you think?

I’ve been doing these summaries since last September and enjoy putting them together. It’s issue number 22. Enjoy. The email version is coming out later today.

Built with care and love on 100% recycled electrons.

Thought of the day: Micro.blog is probably the most fun and flexible thing on the open web these days that I can play with. It is approachable which in itself is a great quality. It is a creativity “unleasher”. When something is fun, I want more of it. I want to spread the word and share my excitement. 👊🏻

A Metablog That You Can Follow via RSS

💡 Today, I want to share the newest addition to my digital publishing space: my metablog, hosted on Micro.blog. This isn’t entirely new; another version is already in place, but it is hosted as a series of Craft-shared documents. What I’m sharing today is hosted on Micro.blog using the recently introduced increase in the number of blogs you can have with a single premium account¹. From this migration, my metablog will gain RSS feed support, enable POSSE, and be closer to my online community here on Micro.blog, but also on Mastodon and Bluesky.

One last thing: this is a work-in-progress, a build-in-public thing. I’m slowly transposing most of my content to this new home, one post at a time. You’ll know it because of cross-posting and the RSS feed provided that you subscribe. 👈🏻 Some posts date back to 2020, but you might be surprised by discovering a few gems.

The Craft team is introducing collaborative whiteboards to Craft. I tested the feature and made a video about it.

{{< youtube “vw91P5vV8ls” >}}

On Apple Car Project Cancellation - It Did Make Any Sense Anyway

This whole Apple Car didn’t make any sense to me. It’s not Apple. A car is not a personal device. A personal device is a phone. A computer. Or a bike. One positive byproduct of this car journey is probably the birth of CarPlay 2.0, which was probably worked within the Apple Car project. But then, what else? AI? Maybe. I’m reading that the AI portion of the project will be folded into the other AI team(s) within Apple. It’s good because Apple needs all it can get in AI to stay relevant in that field and imagine the future beyond Siri.

Today is the kind of day where I feel that I’m in a constantly moving mode: from Craft to Micro.blog or Bear 2. Closing this subscription, starting a new one. And all this for what? Content preservation? Data silos fighting? It’s exhausting.

Yesterday, while writing and editing a report for one of our clients, I used ChatGPT for two different use cases. One use case was to ask for a summarization of what “firmware” is and how critical it is. The second use case is to define the pillars of a data management and governance policy in the enterprise. On that one, I asked for more details about managing unstructured data. The ChatGPT results were mind-blowing. I know a lot about this specific IT field, and I could validate the correctness of the answers. I saved a lot of time because of ChatGPT.

But what about my ethics?

Should I write a disclaimer in this report that says GenAI was used to put together some portions of this report? Is the client ready and mature enough to read this disclaimer? Will he understand that ChatGPT is in fact like an assistant to whom I asked to summarize what a data governance policy is? How do I cite my sources?

Lots of meetings today at the office. Used my iPad Pro all the time for note-taking. It’s such a wonderful and mighty device for that purpose. Even with iPadOS limitations. I’m excited for the next iteration. I can’t wait to see what’s coming next to this platform.

Numeric Citizen Blog

Just finished going through my monthly newsletter come out of Micro.blog. 😳 It’s long and feels a bit messy. 🤨 For 2024, I decided to be more selective of the posts that will make it to the gate each month. Not everything is worth being summarized.

This year, my writing habits will be impacted by my desire to spend more time interacting with the community here. Reaching out and connecting might lead to new opportunities and writing triggers.

Hey Calendar First Impressions

HEY Calendar is being rolled out to a limited set of users. It will be free, and a separate app will be released for the Calendar in the near future. It’s not as controversial a take as the email counterpart. Day view and week view only, by design¹. I’m not sure if this is a deal-breaker for many.

Time tracking seems limited and cannot replace Toggl / Timery in my workflow. Data can be exported as a CSV file. I wonder if it can be really useful in its current form. The jury is still out on that one.

Interesting habit tracking support: simple enough to be useful. Limited icon selection, though. No iOS app just yet, only web and desktop. No Microsoft Office 365 support yet. iCloud calendars can be integrated, but they must be made public to get an iCal URL that HEY Calender subscribes to. Same for Google calendars. Some tasks are managed as things to do eventually in the week, appear at the bottom, and move to the next week if not completed.

My initial impressions of HEY Calendar are neutral. That’s it for now.

Zavala, an outliner for the Mac, iPad and iPhone, recently got a series of updates after a year of silence. I’m happy to see this app is still alive and well.

Today, I spent some time with a friend to talk about Craft, among other things. Video available here (In French). Tagging @abc because he likes French content!

{{< youtube “D9HSuhzLte0” >}}

Is Apple TV Really Improving With tvOS 17?

I’ve extensively used Apple TV (the physical device), Apple TV+ and the Apple TV app during the holidays to play music, videos, movies and series. One thing is clear: tvOS 17 is a regression in terms of usability, for me anyway. I especially don’t like the new left sidebar in the TV app. Navigating back to the home screen is cumbersome, requiring too many “<” back clicks. I often wonder if I’m in the Apple TV app or the Apple TV+ service. Up Next queue is intertwined with the rest of the content, it feels less obvious, to me. Content promotion (while starting a new episode, ending a series, etc.) is annoying. Apple feels like Amazon. Apple isn’t quite there after so many years of iterative updates.

I feel relieved this morning because I finally moved out of Adobe and wrote an article about it. Spoiler alert: moving out of Adobe is not as hard as you might think, especially if your Lightroom setup is simple like mine. Open to questions. 😃

If the 2024 iPad Pro pricing is what the rumors are referring to, ridiculously expensive, not counting the new Magic Keyboard that would be needed to replace mine, this might be the deal breaker for me. I might not upgrade¹ at all and focus on my M2 MacBook Air. This would be sad because I like using the iPad a lot but can’t convince myself to settle for anything not pro. 😑🤷🏻‍♂️

Dan Moyen, writing for MacWorld

The Vision Pro is a brand new platform with a brand new interaction method–so its release needs a new approach. Source: Vision Pro is already changing everything we know about Apple | Macworld

I’m glad to see that he agrees with my personal take on this already controversial product launch.

Introspection time: I chose to be in IT because I thought it was much easier to deal with computers than humans. I’m not an introvert, though, far from it. But, it happened without explicit thought back in the day. After 30 years in IT, I still think the same, and I often say that the challenge in the information technology field is not about technology per se, but it’s mostly about human issues with technology. Ironically, most of my job today is to build teams of people to make things happen. I’m still focused on technology, but in reality, I try to ensure that all members of a team work towards the same objectives. I’m pretty good about it and people are appreciative of my work. How ironic.

I can’t wait to share my first weekly creative summary of the year tomorrow. So much stuff in there! Meanwhile, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, flash the QR code! Or click this link if you are too lazy! 🤣

One of the things that is cool with Photomator: the before & after view. If find it helpful from a creative and teaching perspective.

It’s time for the first edition of 2024 of the weekly creative summary newsletter! Lots of stuff related to projects, writing, articles, etc. Fun fact: putting this summary together takes about two hours per week. This version was created in Craft, which offers the best experience, the email version is coming later to my dear subscribers! Past editions are available on my main website by following this link. Enjoy.

Is Buying a Car Easier Than Buying an Apple Vision Pro?

If Mark Gurman is correct, the rumored sale process for the Apple Vision Pro is rather complex and lengthy. Watching a 20-minute video to learn about a product indicates many things: Apple is nervous, and the product has a novel approach requiring potential customers’ education or training so that they fully “get the experience” before deciding to put the money on the table. Also, I guess someone willing to pay the high price merits some special attention, too.

I’ll have to update my calculations on how many demos can be run in the first 10 days.

Micro.Blog — How Can I Help?

Following the publication of “What If” by Maique, an avid blogger on Micro.blog, his post prompted me to write my own. But before, here’s a summary of his post (thanks ChatGPT):

Micro.blog has been hosting maique.eu for years, but there have been some technical issues. Despite some annoyances, the community and features make it worth the cost. However, there are also cons such as lack of proper notifications and support. Moving away would be a hassle.

I do share most of his views on the current state of Micro.blog because I did experience some issues with the service myself. I won’t repeat it here. That being said, I love Micro.blog, and I certainly want it to thrive. I’m a believer. I’m a supporter of the ideas behind the service. I subscribe to the premium tier. I love it so much that I created a series of videos about Micro.blog so that others can take full advantage of its features set. But I want to do more. In fact, I can do more. How can I help? Where do I enlist?

As an IT guy for more than 30 years, I know how hard it can be to run such a service. I don’t know the technologies behind it, but Micro.blog seems to need constant nurturing. Sadly, I cannot help here. I’m not a full-stack developer in any way.

But there this help.micro.blog support site. I did tech support in the past. I do pay a visit from time to time to gather the mood and the subjects that people care enough to submit posts. Maybe I could help there? I don’t know. Could I do a first screening of the posts and direct level-2 requests to Manton for further investigation? He would be freed somewhat from glancing at all the incoming requests and focus on the hardest ones. I don’t know. Oh, and this feature requests topic contains more than a hundred of them. I could create a real Micro.blog feature requests board, like this one I built from scratch for Craft?

Then, there is this Discover section: I do pay a visit from time to time. I’m not sure how it is being maintained or how often. Can I help there? I don’t know.

What else? I could do podcasting, too! Maybe I could help Jean to revive the highly respected Micro Monday podcast! I have my own podcast; I’m not too bad because I have eight listeners, according to Podcasts Connect!

As you can probably see, I have many ideas. I’m creative. I do have some time to spare for my passions. Micro.blog is one of them. But, as much as I want to help, it means nothing if the doors are closed. I’m not saying that I received a “no thank you” from Manton or Jean. I didn’t ask, actually. Now, I’m officially asking: how can I help?

This morning, at work, I had the idea of creating a GPT that would act as a virtual resume for me. Colleagues would prompt this GPT about my professional journey with usual questions about my past experience, projects, certifications, abilities, etc. I uploaded a few files, including my resume and some other professional stuff, to try it out. It took me 15 minutes to create this virtual representation of myself. Tested many prompts against it. I’m blown away. The future is here, ladies and gentlemen.

Here’s another reason to be sad this morning. 😔 Over the past two years, I’ve invested much of my time and effort in building my digital space and presence in Craft. I spend numerous hours posting things and answering questions in the user community. I’ve become a Craft enthusiast or ambassador. One day, someone even asked me if I was working for Craft. I’m not. I don’t want to be paid. But what I want is a better collaboration with the team over there. I’d like to create videos about new releases that would be shared simultaneously as they come out. I’ve asked them, and they didn’t accept my offer. I’ve built The Craft Bible. I’ve created The Craft Feature Request Board. I’ve created content that best exemplifies Craft use cases. I get no real support from the Craft team. They fail to take advantage of me being this sort of Craft ambassador, and they could “use me” to help spread the Craft message out there¹. I don’t understand why they pass over this opportunity. Capacities, a direct competitor to Craft, is doing the opposite. They have this woman who creates tutorials and other types of content and gets referenced in the Capacities release notes! That’s cool and useful for the community. But not Craft. Is this a corporate culture issue? Maybe. I just don’t get it. It’s frustrating. Maybe I should let it go and move on.

Sorry for the rant this morning.

9to5Mac reporting about WhatsApp usage in the US:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reuters report:

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

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

An original Mac. #MyFirstMac.
numericcitizen.me/rememberi…

Introducing the Numeric Citizen Hub, a brand new landing page¹. Thanks to the recently introduced “One-page website” feature on Micro.blog, you can now learn about the places I share my creativity right from a single place². Enjoy.

Apple’s insistence on retaining control of the iPhone and the way it’s used is not about protecting the poor stupid users that need Daddy Cook to stop us downloading dodgy stuff off the internet it’s about protecting their bottom line. Source: Apple ruins its big week | The Dent

Well said.

🚨So, what’s up with Micro.blog this January? Well, quite a lot, if you ask me. Here’s everything new in this short video. Tell me if this is useful. 🙏🏻 cc @manton @jean

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I decided to update the look of this blog by switching to the Cards theme by @ericgregorich. I think this theme looks cleaner and offers more possibilities than the current one by @Mtt. Here are a few highlights: better control of colours via the plugin settings web interface instead of editing CSS, support for reading time for longer posts with a title, display of post categories at the top, and more flexibility for displaying the post’s date & time, just to name a few. But I’m not ready to make the switch just yet because it requires a lot of fine-tuning to get the colours right. I also need to check for compatibility with all my current plugins and ask for a few fixes on the theme’s GitHub page. It’s another tweaking project on my plate. 😅

Thought of the Sunday morning: The biggest problem in my life is that I have too much to explore and do and not enough time. Unsolvable. 😅

🚨Hey, it’s Sunday! And you know what happens on each Sunday? The new edition of the weekly creative summary newsletter has been released! Here you go, ladies and gentlemen! Enjoy. Made with care and love. 😌

Weekend done. I spent a significant part of it on my Mac doing things, mostly creative things. And guess what? I have no regrets. I did what I loved the most. Have a great week to you all! And do what you like!

I’m feeling a bit all mixed up this morning after reading an email from “a fan” (his words), being so appreciative of my work but also telling me he won’t be around much longer to appreciate my creative journey because of his health issues. I find this heartbreaking and a reminder that nothing is eternal 😔. I’m unsure how to frame my reply beyond saying, “Thank you.”

Technologies At Play in a "Compact" Device

I have this thought right now as I’m watching the first reviews of the Apple Vision Pro: it is utterly fascinating to see all the basic technological elements (both hardware and software¹) that are at play here and put together in this headset. Besides a product still looking for its use cases, I find this product to be the most ambitious one to be launched by Apple to date. Bravo for trying. And I’m pretty sure it’s only the beginning. You bet Apple is going to iterate on this for quite some time. I feel excited for this thing.

Either AirPods Max is overpriced, or Apple Vision Pro is not expensive enough¹.

Remember that, at some point, it was strange to see someone working at a computer and holding a mouse on a table beside the keyboard. #AppleVisionPro

Imagining Micro.blog’s Next Big Offering — I Think I Cracked It!

I’m wondering about this upcoming Micro.blog “big new feature” quite often. What new feature could require its own section on the left sidebar? What could mandate the release of companion apps on iOS and Android? Let’s try to think about it for a minute.

So, MB already covers text (as blog posts), more generic content (as pages), photos, books, newsletters, and podcasts. What’s missing here? Videos? Movies? Something else? Could Podcast be more explicitly exposed where the Transcript section becomes Podcast? Is MB building its own podcasting player app? Or a podcast recorder? Can AI play a role in this new feature?

But what else is missing from Micro.blog? Instant messaging? I own a Wavelength group of Micro.blog users. The group is currently hosting 50 users. Here’s the invite link. Near real-time interactions are something I wish Micro.blog had for supporting discussions about specific events¹. Frankly, instant messaging is probably the closest thing I can think of that would require a dedicated section and a dedicated set of apps on mobile devices.

Your thoughts? Please join in! 🙏🏻

Today, I was watching many YouTube videos and was thinking about how impressive it is that some people¹ build their online careers as YouTubers for talking about one application or ecosystem².

Microsoft supports the Apple Vision Pro headset with Office 365 Suite, Teams and Copilot. At least five apps, on day one, for a use case (productivity) still to be demonstrated as viable. For the most probable day-one use case of the Apple Vision Pro, Netflix refuses to create a single app, a “simple” video library browser and player. WTF? Politics. 😑

Numeric Citizen Blog

There is so much buzz around the Internet about the newly released Ubiquiti Unify Express router. To me, it seems to be a capable router at a reasonable price. Man, I wish Apple was still in this market¹.

My First Genuine Ah Ah Moment With Generative AI

Here is a quick recount of my “Ah ah moment” this morning, involving generative AI in a simple workflow. I’m still in awe about it.

If I stumble on a long and chatty YouTube video that might be interesting, I’ll use this workflow to quickly get the gist out of it. First, I use Downie (a Mac utility) to download it on my M2 MacBook Air. Then, I use the Whisper Transcription Mac app to transcribe the spoken discussion into text that I export in a PDF¹. Next, I open ChatGPT, upload the PDF file and let ChatGPT ingest the content. Finally, I prompt ChatGPT with things like: what is the subject of this discussion? Are there any apps mentioned in the discussion? Who is talking? Is this a controversial subject? Generate a title for this discussion. Generate a summary in less than 300 words. Etc. It’s very effective. You can use the GPT I created for this². Oh, and I guess you can use the same workflow for a podcast episode!

This workflow was also documented in “My Micro-Workflows Explained” mini website.

For those who are new to the Micro.blog hosting service, in this video, I share a few tips and tricks for reading efficiently your Micro.blog timeline. If you aren’t new to Micro.blog. Well, you might discover a few things anyway!

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💥 Hey, it’s Sunday! And, it’s time for the new edition of my Weekly Creative Summary! Enjoy. Coming up later for my lovely subscribers! 💌

I had many personal goals for this week-end¹, a week-end already coming to a conclusion. I’m happy to report that they were all met! I feel good about this. 😊

HEY, what about Improving Newsletters Reading Experience?

As a paying subscriber to HEY mail, I find it strange that the newsletter consumption feature has never been updated since its initial release¹. A product is rarely perfect on its first try. For example: newsletters are presented in a semi-expanded form, but I wish I could display them as “newsletter titles only”. Also, there is no integration whatsoever with third-party read-later service to easily send a newsletter to Omnivore, for example². Once expanded, it’s not obvious our to return to the list of newsletters sitting in the bin to read the next one.

Wish of the day: I’d like to connect an Apple TV to an Apple Studio Display.

If Apple were to release an M3 MacBook Air early in 2024, I would be pissed off¹.

If Apple’s iPhone 16 brings Siri / Gen AI exclusivity, I don’t see that enough for me to consider upgrading. Some tech pundits will probably say that Siri needs much more than an upgraded microphone for a better experience. Photography enhancements are what make me upgrade for the most part.

I created the Craft Feature Request Board on Canny.io, because the Craft team doesn’t want to do it themselves, apparently. If you are a Craft user with feature requests, file yours!

Strike One

After publishing more than 70 YouTube videos on my channel, today I got my first content violation warning for sharing a review about Play 2.0, a video manager for YouTube that facilitates downloading YouTube content for free. Oopsy.🫥 I did the highly recommended training by Google.

If you are a serious YouTube video consumer, consider using Play 2.0. That is all.🤫¹

It seems that at the current rate, 2023 will be my second-most active year on Micro.blog, after 2020. Ref. Blog stats.

And here we go for the week: the weekly creative summary for 2023/49 is out! The newsletter version coming up soon for my dear subscribers! I hope you enjoy this week’s edition!

Being a compulsive creator is not always easy. There are good days and bad days. Yesterday was a bad one. Early today started on a sour note too, but thanks to the supporting comments I got, it turning into a better day now. 💙

I wish Ghost.org provided an easy way to directly respond to users’ comments from the dashboard. I need to log in to my own site to respond, but I can’t because of this two-step process where I don’t receive the email for logging in. Grr. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Just two hours in the work day and I have already used ChatGPT three times to better understand two different concepts in IT¹. Last year, these prompts would have required many Google searches and much more reading. I’m curious to see how ChatGPT and Gen AI are influencing Google’s market share.

iOS 17.2 is now out for everyone! macOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS too!

The scale at which Apple releases new software is still mind-blowing for me.

Apple Releases watchOS 10.2 With Health Data Support for Siri, Swipe to Change Watch Face Option and More https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/11/apple-releases-watchos-10-2/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Swipe to Change Watch Face option is BACK baby!

Why does logging in Slack have to be so unfriendly? I’m not exactly sure which email I used for which space. I’m lousy at keeping track of this information, I know… but…

Today is the day I realize that my M1 Mac mini doesn’t support two external displays. 😒 I wish I had that capability for today’s work I need to do¹.

Omnivore is out with a new beta today (1.4). Boy, this thing is moving in the right direction and pretty fast. It makes me wonder if one day I’ll get rid of my RSS reader to be all in with Omnivore’s RSS reader. I can see that happening.

I’ve been a long-time blogger with WordPress.com before switching to Ghost. Today, I wanted to leave a comment on someone’s blog but was rebuffed with a login form. Authentication methods offered were WordPress.com, Facebook¹, and Email. Am I alone who finds this to be a show-stopper for leaving simple feedback?²

After the My Defaults trend, here comes the My Subscriptions trend.

Believe it or not, I’m looking at use cases for Capacities. 🙄

Added Kagi search to my subs. F*** Google and their business model!

I’m not really fond of this rumoured design.

Episode 06 — Wrapping Up 2023

It’s time to wrap up 2023! In this last podcast episode for the year😌, I reflect on twelve months of creative work. It was a busy year😅👨🏻‍💻, and I’m grateful for all of it.🙏🏻

Links to some of the things I’m referring to:

• Bye Bye WordPress — Hello (Again) Ghost

• My Creator Workflow

• My Creator toolset

• Craft templates for sale on Gumroad

• Celebrating and Reflecting on my 30 Years Career in IT

I went to the Micro.blog’s Discovery section and set the category to Podcasts. I didn’t know there were that many podcasts hosted here on Micro.blog. 😳

Coffee shop time! 😃 For some reason, I always test their Wifi service each place I visit. Always¹. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’m curious: who in this room is using Apple Advanced Data Protection? If yes, are there any issues? If not, why? 🤔

Just finished creating my 25-minute mix! I’m slowly getting there! I’m super excited for this. For those who might ask, I’m using Djay with a Pioneer DDJ-400. #techno #technomelodic 🎧🎶🕺🏻

I’m considering replacing/upgrading from an M1 Mac mini to the Mac Studio🤑. Upon looking at Apple’s Mac Studio website, I was surprised that the Mac Studio wasn’t yet updated to the M3 processor yet🤨. For some reason, I thought it was updated with the MacBook Pro this fall. I should have known better. 🤷🏻‍♂️ I’ll wait for the next update.

Time for a shameless promotion. To #Craft users out there looking for a great calendar year template for 2024, head to Gumroad (link). Only 5$. Starting in January, the price will go up. End of the shameless ad.

It’s Sunday; it’s time for the next weekly creative summary! Edition 2023-50 will be my last one… until 2024!¹ The email version is coming up later today for my lovely subscribers! Expect some improvements in 2024! Stay tuned!

Thought of the day: 500 years from now, when someone discovers a piece of plastic with a QRCode on it, intact and readable, I wonder what they will think of it and if they’ll try to “decode” the thing.

That could be a clever tool for developers to attract new customers and subscribers with the following change to the App Store. I’m all for it.

Apple Pausing Sales of Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in U.S. Due to Patent Dispute https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/18/apple-pausing-series-9-ultra-2-sales-in-us/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Massive blow. We don’t get to see Apple stopping selling a product often.

Contingent pricing for subscriptions on the App Store — a new feature that helps you attract and retain subscribers — lets you give customers a discounted subscription price as long as they’re actively subscribed to a different subscription.

It’s often better to change something in a position of strength, not weakness. That is a good preemptive move by Apple, IMO.

There is also a chance that the ‌MagSafe‌ charging for the ‌iPad‌ that we’re hearing about refers to a Mac-like magnetic charger rather than an iPhone-style magnetic charger. Apple is working on a more Mac-like aluminum Magic Keyboard for the 2024 ‌iPad Pro‌ launch, and the new iPads will also use the same M3 chips that are in the MacBook Pro. Source: Next iPad Pro Might Support MagSafe Charging - MacRumors

The next-gen iPad Pro looks more and more enticing by the day. A Mac-like MagSafe connector makes more sense to me. But I have a feeling this thing will be pricey!

Apple Working on Software Fix to Avoid U.S. Apple Watch Import Ban https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/18/apple-watch-import-ban-software-fix/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Honestly, the blood oxygen sensor on the Apple Watch isn’t very useful because of a lack of precision. I wouldn’t mind having it removed entirely.

I’m happy to see Zavala is still being updated. 😊

LLM on my iPhone? That sounds like a super interesting development. Suddenly, an iPhone with 1TB of storage might seem like a good buying decision, albeit expansive.

I wonder if this QR code could be my next avatar.🤔

Some possible Micro.blog marketing taglines. Add you own.

Micro.blog means Macro Power.

Micro.blog means Macro Flexibility.

Micro.blog means Macro Openness.

Micro.blog means Macro Privacy.

Micro.blog means Macro Connectivity.

Micro.blog means Macro your take here

Micro.blog means nothing but Macro.

cc @manton

In Montreal city, two days before Christmas, there is no snow. No precipitation is expected either until maybe Dec 27th at the earliest. This is so different from what I experienced as a kid.

Going to my sister’s house tomorrow for holidays celebration. She got a new MacBook that she wants me to configure 🤓

Here are my five goals for 2024, as posted on my personal landing page.

About numericcitizen.me visitors for 2023

My main blog stats show a slight increase in visitors, especially in the last three months of 2023¹. The switch from WordPress.com to Ghost.org positively influenced the trend. The next post will be about the “blog.numericcitizen.me” site where the story is quite different.

About blog.numericcitizen.me visitors for 2023

Visitors to blog.numericcitizen.me increased significantly compared to the previous year. Leaving Twitter at the end of 2022 probably explains why. Embracing the POSSE model and my adoption of Mastodon and Bluesky also explains why more people visited my blog. It’s been a great year on Micro.blog, and I’m really looking forward to 2024!

Playing Christmas music everywhere in the house using HomePods and AirPlay is quite cool. You cannot escape Christmas! 🎅🏻🎶🦌

Merry Christmas to all my followers! 🎅🏻 In other news, I fell into a rabbit hole when I started looking at my Adobe Creative Cloud migration¹. The process is far easier than I thought but it takes a little while to move files around. I could complete it before my next scheduled payment on January 8th. That is one of my 2024 goals!

Synology Photos as a webapp on macOS Sonoma is 👌🏻

I’m so much closer than I thought to being able to close my Adobe creative cloud subscription. I love the holidays for the time it provides to do special projects like this.

If I post a photo on Pixelfed that is marked as an NSFW image ¹, the image is still cross-posted on Micro.blog without any restriction. Can Micro.blog distinguish the post on Pixelfed and do something different based on that? cc @manton

Is GenAI a Product or a Feature?

Just like Steve Jobs once said that Dropbox is not a product but a feature, I wonder if the way we consume GenAI today makes it look like a product, but it’s actually a feature. Don’t get me wrong, GenAI is utterly important and a game changer, but I feel that in the future, there will be something bigger that will encompass GenAI that will actually be THE product.

Writing about leaving Adobe ecosystem and embracing once and for all the Photomator / Pixelmator combo: 1500 words and counting. 👨🏻‍💻😅

Each year, at about the same period, I always feel a return of my desire for photography. It is as if photography is always the thing I drop first when I’m busy in life, preferring to keep the rest (writing, blogging). I hope this will change a bit in 2024.

I wish you all a happy new year! May 2024 be a better one than what 2023 was. It shouldn’t be that hard. Peace.

It’s the time of the year where the page is white, everything feels possible and in its place. It’s up to me to decide how 2024 will unroll as a creator.